Read CFA’s submission for the 2023 Federal Budget
Several consultations are being undertaken during the lead up to the 2023 Federal Budget to gather recommendations on how federal dollars should be spent. CFA submitted a Pre-Budget submission to help inform the budget process.
Read the submission here.
As the heart of Canadian agri-food industry generating over $134.9 billion in GDP and 1 in 9 Canadian jobs, Canadian producers are a strategic pillar of Canada’s economic recovery, long-term growth, and the fight against climate change. The resilience and sustainability of Canadian agriculture is grounded in innovation, continuous improvement, and the need to produce more food with fewer resources.
Canadian agriculture has outpaced all other Canadian industries in productivity growth over the past half-century. The last 15 years alone have seen the value of Canadian agricultural production more than double, while GHG emissions have remained stable due to the introduction of various practices, new technologies and innovations.
Maintaining this productivity growth and enhancing agriculture’s contributions as climate solutions-providers requires a policy environment that supports investments in best management practices (BMPs) and innovation in the short-term, while making policy and investments that spur innovation and ensure its utility in rural regions across the country into the future. The following recommendations lay out a path to this policy environment:
Key Recommendations
Support for Climate Change Objectives
Recommendation 1: Establish an agri-environmental working group to engage on-farm and technical
expertise early in the development of all agri-environmental policies
Recommendation 2: Fund training of agrologists and incentives for farmers for adoption of 4R nutrient
stewardship.
Recommendation 3: Expand the Agricultural Clean Technology Fund’s (ACTF) Adoption Stream to include
funding for smaller budget projects and larger government cost-share for farms with insufficient capital.
Recommendation 4: Expand the ACTF’s Research and Innovation Stream to include technology for directly
measuring on-farm emissions.
Recommendation 5: Provide dedicated funding for the development of plant varieties with enhanced root
mass.
Recommendation 6: To help preserve native grasslands, producers need direct support from government
to bolster on-farm conservation efforts.
Support for Risk Management
Recommendation 7: Introduce measures in the Business Risk Management (BRM) suite that enhance onfarm climate risk management, mitigation and prevention of future damage from extreme weather events.
Recommendation 8: Formalize an aquaculture sector development mandate at Agriculture and Agri-food
Canada (AAFC), insulating shellfish farmers from catastrophic climate events and increasing funding for the
Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program (CSSP)
Recommendation 9: Establish food security programming to support producers who were negatively
impacted by federal government-imposed tariffs on imported Russian fertilizer.
Address Growth Constraints
Recommendation 10: Extend further funding to the National Trade Corridor Fund.
Recommendation 11: Ensure full and fair compensation to producers in supply-managed sectors for market
access concession in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
Recommendation 12: Improve accessibility of federal connectivity funding through a single portal, with
more nuanced eligibility criteria, and support for high-cost service areas.
Recommendation 13: Provide $10 million in funding to support ongoing implementation of the National
Agriculture, Food and Beverage Manufacturing Workforce Strategy (NWS).
Recommendation 14: Establish a public awareness campaign demonstrating the career pathways in
Canadian agriculture.