Goals

Canada needs a Canada-First Food Policy that will dramatically increase domestic food production and processing, ensure national food security, drive economic growth, and build a more resilient Canada.

To do this, we support setting a bold national goal to achieve 95% of Canada’s nutritional needs met domestically by 2045, targeting 85% by 2035. 

Background and Motivation

Canada currently imports approximately $65 billion worth of food annually¹. This is 30% of the food and beverages we consume and includes 90% of our leafy greens and 75% of our fresh fruit. Imports of processed foods and beverages alone account for over $40 billion. 

After decades of focused attention and resources Canada has become proficient at exporting raw agricultural commodities like wheat and canola. This export-focused and trade-reliant approach, while contributing to trade figures, has created a food system susceptible to global shocks from pandemics, trade wars, and other global shifts such as climate change and population growth. We have the resources and ingenuity to process far more food domestically, but instead we send the raw materials elsewhere and buy back the finished food products. For seafood alone, Canada exports about 90% of what we harvest, and imports 80% of what we eat². 

• Our Supply Chains are Vulnerable to Disruptions: Canada’s heavy reliance on food imports exposes us to volatile global markets and supply chain disruptions caused by geopolitical tensions, climate change, and pandemics. Additionally, we have an over-reliance on the U.S. for 70% of our food imports³. Recent events have demonstrated the urgent need for greater food self-reliance.
• We’re not Prepared for Global Population Growth and Climate Change: In 25 years the world will need to be producing 70% more food than it does today. So competition for food imports will dramatically increase, all while the climate on which most agriculture relies is getting more erratic. Canada’s dependence on imports will become increasingly risky and unsustainable.
• Current Export Focus Neglects Domestic Needs: Current government policy sets a specific target for agriculture and agri-food exports of $75 billion by 2025⁴, and has no comparable national target for domestic food independence. Unsurprisingly, funding and support programs are disproportionately skewed towards export promotion.
• Internal Trade Barriers and Transportation Costs Make it Cheaper to Export: Canada’s vast geography can lead to long distances and multiple regulatory checkpoints when crossing provinces, and internal trade barriers can increase cost by 7.8 - 14.5%⁵. ‍
• Value-Added Processing Opportunity being Missed: At over $40 billion annually, processed foods and beverages are the largest share of our food imports. It is very common that Canadian raw materials are shipped to the U.S., processed, and sold back to Canadians. For example, Canada exported $8.5 billion in raw grains and oilseeds to the U.S. in 2022, much of which returns as flour, oils, or packaged foods⁶. Domestic food processing creates jobs, stimulates innovation, and captures a larger share of the economic value within Canada. ‍
• Domestic Production and Processing Benefit our Economy: The GDP multiplier for food exports ranges from 1.2 to 1.45, while domestically produced and consumed food generates multipliers between 2.0 and 2.5⁷. This means every dollar invested in strengthening our domestic food system has a significantly greater positive impact on the Canadian economy.

To address these issues we must start by setting a clear goal and plan that will refocus Canadian policy and financial efforts on food production and processing in Canada. This will increase our food self-sufficiency and have a powerful economic multiplication effect. 

Targeting food self-sufficiency will also establish Canada as a strong market on which entrepreneurs can build and innovate Canadian food technologies and products for export around the world. Solving our food dependencies will help the Canadian economy thrive –  achieving 95% by 2045 will add between $110B and $140B to Canada’s GDP and support the growth of our ag-tech sector. 

What Other Nations are Doing

The Netherlands – A Global Agri-Food Powerhouse: Despite being smaller than Nova Scotia and having a cool climate, the Netherlands is the world’s second-largest exporter of vegetables⁸, with exports valued at over $13B CAD⁹. In 2000, the Netherlands established a “twice as much food with half the resources” policy. Since then they’ve decreased water dependence for key crops by up to 90% and have nearly eliminated chemical pesticide use in greenhouses. Dutch greenhouses also achieve yields up to 10 times higher per hectare compared to traditional field agriculture. The Netherlands demonstrates how a strategic policy led by setting a bold target can marshal resources and innovation including significant public and private investment in agri-tech R&D.

Malaysia – Ambitions of Self-Reliance: In 2020 Malaysia set a goal to go from 76% to 100% self-sufficiency in basic foodstuffs like rice, fish, chicken, and vegetables by 2033, with specific targets for commodities such as rice and beef. The country’s food self-sufficiency policies focus on sustainable, high-technology agri-food development. They emphasize increasing production through technological advancements like AI, regenerative agriculture, and climate-resilient crops.

Saudi Arabia – Aggressively Pursuing Food Self-Sufficiency: Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, targets 80% poultry self-sufficiency by 2025 (from 66% in 2021) after having achieved over 100% in dates (119%), dairy (129%), and eggs (100%) by 2023. This progress has been supported by the Agricultural Development Fund’s $1.6 billion in loans in 2023 and the Saudi Green Initiative’s 10 billion tree planting goal by 2030. Despite these successes, the Kingdom still imports 80% of its food due to its arid climate, underscoring ongoing challenges in scaling production across all sectors.

These countries realize that food security is national security, and they have created hard targets for food self-reliance and plans to achieve them. Canada has the ingenuity, energy and natural resources to do the same. 

What Needs To Be Done

We propose a comprehensive shift towards a Canada-First Food Policy starting with a legislated mandate to increase Canadian nutritional needs met domestically from 70% ¹⁰ today to 95% by 2045” with an interim target of 85% by 2035. The mandate would also establish category-based sub-targets across the food and beverage sector. 

The targets and plan should first focus on areas where technology is established such as Controlled Environment Agriculture for certain fruits, vegetables and herbs, expanding dairy and egg production, processing of raw inputs such as wheat, canola and seafood, as well as beverage production. As new technologies mature, targets will increase to capture new capacity for further import displacement using robotics, AI, Controlled Environment Agriculture and Cellular Agriculture such as tissue culture, fermentation, or other biotech. 

The following graph shows each category along with import displacement targets for 2035 and 2045.

In order to achieve these goals we must: 

1. Remove Regulatory Roadblocks: 

• Remove Inter-Provincial Trade Barriers: The Safe Food for Canadians Act established in January 2019 focuses on harmonization with international standards, but it needs to be augmented to also harmonize Provincial standards. It must align internal trade barriers like regulations, labelling standards, inspection processes, and certification requirements across all provinces. 
• Reduce Counterproductive Regulator Burdens: Conduct deep regulatory reviews at all levels of government with the intent to reduce barriers that make it unnecessarily challenging for Small and Medium Sized businesses (SMEs) to establish indoor farms and greenhouses, rural and urban farms, fishing and aquaculture operations, and food production and processing facilities. Measures to consider include streamlining CFIA approvals, harmonizing environmental assessments, revisiting land-use and zoning provisions, temporary exemptions from development charges, speeding up and facilitating utility hookups, and fast tracking permitting for food facilities and novel agri-food technologies.

2. Implement Strategic Incentives:

• Canada-First Food Tax Measures: Introduce time-limited, targeted, tax measures where needed to help domestic food producers get established, and ultimately achieve competitive prices to imports. Such measures would include: Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance (CCA) for agri-tech and food processing Investments, refundable tax credits for processing facilities that use domestic inputs, and enhanced SR&ED tax credits of 50% for cellular agriculture R&D.  
• Shelf-Space Incentives : Provide tax rebates for retailers based on aggressive thresholds for Canadian-sourced products priced equal to or below imports.

3. Rebalance Agri-Food Innovation Spending Towards Import Displacement Infrastructure:

• Invest in Food Infrastructure: Target grant and lending programs towards import displacement infrastructure to attract private investment in underlying technologies from Canadian and international innovators. These programs should focus in the areas of protein cultivation and processing, advanced fermentation and cellular agriculture, Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), seed production (Canada imports 80% of its seeds for fruit and vegetable crops¹¹), and seafood processing.

4. Leverage Canadian Financial Institutions for Domestic Food Investment:

• Prioritize Domestic Food Projects in Lending Mandates: Direct Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) to prioritize lending and investment in domestic food production and processing projects over export-focused agriculture, particularly for import-displacing initiatives. ‍
• Government Loan Guarantees for Agri-Food Startups: Introduce a government loan guarantee program, similar to the current CMHC model, to mitigate the risk for private lenders and encourage investment in capital-intensive agri-food startups focused on domestic production. This will reduce or eliminate the stifling requirement of personal guarantees for entrepreneurs in this CAPEX-intensive sector to unlock investment.

Measuring Success and Ensuring Accountability

Success will be measured through clear metrics and transparent reporting.

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

  • Percentage of domestically produced food, by financial, nutrition, and caloric value, consumed in Canada (tracked annually).
  • Increase in investment and output for each of the pillars: Indoor & Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA); Advanced Field Agriculture & AgTech; Precision Fermentation & Cellular Agriculture; New Processing & Value-Added Food Production; and Aquaculture & Seafood Innovations; Agricultural and Food Inputs; and Food and Beverage Packaging. 
  • Value of import displacement in key food categories (fruits, vegetables, processed foods).
  • Growth of the Canadian food processing sector (measured by GDP contribution and employment).
  • Number of new agri-food businesses and jobs created in import-displacing sectors.
  • Trend of food prices for consumers (measured by food price inflation and volatility).

• Accountability Tools

  • Annual “Homegrown Scorecard” presented to Parliament by the Minister of Agriculture, detailing progress on KPIs and outlining future actions.
  • Publicly accessible online dashboard tracking food independence metrics and project implementation progress.
  • Regular reviews by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food Security and Independence.
  • Consider a performance-based funding model for provinces—those that exceed targets would receive greater federal funding for agri-tech and food infrastructure.

Common Questions

• Won’t “Buy Canadian” policies and increased domestic production lead to higher food prices for consumers?

  • Our recommendations are focused on stimulating local industry and increasing competitiveness of Canadian food growers and processors. Not on forcing Canadians to buy products at a higher price. The recommended measures must be carefully deployed with an eye to keeping near-term prices from going up, and targeting stability and lower prices over the long-term. 

• Is achieving 95% food self-sufficiency realistic given Canada’s climate and diverse food preferences?

  • It’s a bold target. But it’s achievable, and will be worth a national effort. The approach is to make strides over the next 10 years in areas where technology is ready and scalable today. Then the following 10 years and remaining 10% on the target will benefit from advancements in key agri-food technologies. For example, processed food imports accounting for around 60% of all food and beverage imports. This means we can make significant advances before even addressing primary agriculture. In the short term, Canada can replace 30-40% of processed food imports simply by expanding domestic production of key categories where we have a competitive advantage—such as ready-to-eat meals, canned vegetables, dairy-based products, plant-based proteins, and frozen foods. Accelerating advances in Controlled Environment Agriculture, Advanced Fermentation and Cellular Agriculture will then give us the tools we need to also displace a significant share of our primary agriculture. 

• Won’t a Canada-First Food Policy harm our trade relationships and violate international trade agreements? ‍

  • Food security is national security. Prioritizing food security for Canadians is a fundamental responsibility of any government and is consistent with international trade rules. This policy is about strengthening our domestic food system, not about protectionism. We are not recommending any kind of supply management, or tariffs that would distort natural trading patterns. We will remain a reliable trading partner, but ensure our own food security in an increasingly uncertain world through investing in our food producers and processors.

• How will this policy benefit average Canadians in their daily lives? ‍

  • Food independence translates directly to tangible benefits for Canadians: more stable and predictable food prices, reliable access to fresh, safe and healthy food on grocery shelves and in restaurants, and a stronger Canadian economy with more jobs. All with greater peace of mind knowing that our food supply is secure and resilient, regardless of global events.

Conclusion

Strengthening Canada’s food independence is a nation-building project of vital importance. It is about securing our future, strengthening our economy, and ensuring the well-being of all Canadians. Canada has the land, resources, innovation capacity, and entrepreneurial spirit to become a global leader in resilient, independent, and sustainable food systems. For too long, government policy has prioritized exports over domestic food security. It is time for a decisive shift.