Minister Bibeau highlights government support and announces new financial tools to help fruit and vegetable growers

Ottawa, Ontario – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau delivered a keynote speech today at the Canadian fruit and vegetable industry's first-ever virtual Fall Harvest event, where she spoke of the importance, strength and resiliency of Canada's fruit and vegetable producers and processors amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Minister Bibeau highlighted the Government of Canada's efforts to support produce farmers and processors who are facing significant challenges during the pandemic, including the new $35 million Emergency On-Farm Support Fund to support farm workers' health and safety and the $50 million Surplus Food Rescue Program to ensure surplus goods reach vulnerable populations while providing a fair return to producers. The Government has taken many steps to facilitate the arrival of temporary foreign workers into Canada, that has resulted in about 85% of workers to Canadian farms compared to the same time last year. The Government has also recently extended to November 30, 2020 the $50 million Mandatory Isolation Support for Temporary Foreign Worker Program, which helps growers cover the costs of observing the mandatory quarantine periods for those workers.

 

At the event, Minister Bibeau also announced three new projects to benefit the sector totaling $387,000 under the AgriRisk Initiatives program. These projects will examine better financial tools and insurance products to provide growers with greater stability and sustainability. They included:

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.