The agrifood sector has to become creative in updating Ottawa's view of farming.Ottawa—Much of the federal government is stuck in the past when it comes to understanding agriculture and the sector has to be prepared to be very creative to fix all the misunderstandings, says Donald Buckingham.The President of the Canadian Agriculture Policy Institute (CAPI) says the 2016 Barton Report spelled out clearly the agrifood sector's economic importance and potential to be an economic powerhouse.That message has been delivered repeatedly ever since especially with the agrifood strategy table report in September, which offered a series of recommendations to make the government more helpful to the sector. “However much of the government is stuck in old ways of thinking about agriculture,” Buckingham said.The sector has to focus its efforts on six departments—Agriculture, Environment, Innovation, Global Affairs, Treasury Board and Finance, he said. “We have to get them together; they hardly know each other.”While the government set a $75 billion goal for food exports by 2025 in the 2017 budget, its actions since then haven't always supported that target.Agriculture and food industry groups need to bring together all the organizations connected to agriculture to deliver the message about agrifood's importance, he said.In a commentary published by the online news service Ipolitics, Buckingham said, “Virtually every federal and provincial ministry or agency has potential to engage with the agri-food industry,but most continue to see it as a 19th-century industry or as a problem to be fixed. Few see it as an opportunity.”The Canadian agrifood sector “provides more food to more people than ever before, and is generating new, high-paying jobs here in Canada.“Canada has the potential to be an agri-food superpower. We can — and must, one could argue — use this almost unique power for good. We currently export more protein and nutrition per capita than almost every other country.“We are the only major agri-food-exporting country that's improving its natural capital such as soil matter, water resources, and the natural ecosystem in farming areas. And Canada is forecast to be uniquely positioned to sustain productivity in the face of evenextreme climatic changes.”Buckingham said, “Now more than ever, Canada is poised to take advantage of the opportunities generated by new technologies and new markets opened by new trade agreements, and our governments realize the time for bolddecision-making is now.”To achieve the $75 billion export goal—the strategy table said it should be $85 billion, Canada needs “A nimbleness to seize opportunities, industry preparedness, and coherence of government policy are all required. One need only think of current trade conflicts that have shrunk the market for American agrifood exports, providing new opportunities for Canadian products to penetrate non-traditional markets. Sales of American soybeans to China have dropped 98 per cent since January 2018. How can Canadian industry step up to claim some of that prize?”One positive development is that federal departments “that historically ignored agriculture are now engaging,” he said. “Innovation, Science andEconomic Development has opened a range of its granting programs to agri-food research and development, and rolled out commitments of $950 million over the next five years to support fiveve regionally anchored superclusters.“Protein Industries Canada in the Prairies is uniquely locked onto the Barton vision, but each of the other four could support improvements in the Canadian agrifood industry.When CAPI talks with the men and women working in agriculture, their biggest concerns are “with those parts of the federal-provincial domain that either slow down commercial responses or work at crosspurposesto the underlying logic of Canada pursuing a sustainable, productive and profittable role in this vitally important global industry.”Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.