Canada is in a much stronger position to change global food trade policies to its advantage because so many countries need the surplus food Canadians produce, according to a report from Agri-Food Economic Systems at Guelph.
But the world’s major economic and political powers are likely to use their clout to their own advantages, says the report from economists Al Mussell, Graeme Hedley and Ted Bilyea.
Countries that export food have already begun to ban exports so they can assure domestic markets they can be supplied, they write.
“Kazakhstan- a major exporter of wheat flour - recently banned that export, along with other cereals and staple foods.
“Other examples include Vietnam which has constrained rice exports, and Russia processed grains,” they report.
And the United States is adding to its already-inflated agriculture subsidies, making it difficult for Canada to export there and to maintain domestic customers in the face of competition from U.S. exports.
“Canada is among just a handful of net export countries, and has an important role to play,” they say.
“In a world in which some countries are inclined to hoard, the capacity and willingness of a country to supply others beyond its own needs, on a reliable basis, is highly valuable, and constitutes a form of soft power- especially with countries in agri-food deficit positions.”
On the other hand, major powers are jockeying to secure market access, to protect themselves and are undermining international trade rules.
Canada needs to craft new policies to address the new global situation, they say.
“Agriculture and food production and processing must be seen as a critical industry, including the infrastructure on which it relies. Major elements of this include:
• _Maintaining the supply of labour, other inputs and related services throughout the domestic sector;
• _Protecting the network of connections among agri-food supply chains, and capacity, as an element of public safety;
• _Assuring access to export markets under current and possibly future bilateral or mulilateral arrangements."
They conclude that “grasping and maintaining this opportunity will rely urgently on governments and industry to collectively seek out and agree on the myriad steps to implement domestic actions,
and to re-engineer food trade exports with willing partners abroad.
“Success in this regard will depend on other countries coming to terms with their optimum sustainable agricultural capacity.
“Without this, Canada will remain within the clutches of the big powers as they redesign trade policies to their own benefit, to the exclusion of small and medium-sized countries.”
