Teamwork essential to Canada being a world leader in sustainable agriculture.Ottawa—It might seem surprising at first glance to find references to success in sports in a presentation to a hotel meeting room packed with folks wanting to learn more about the potential of the agrifood sector.Mike Hoffort, President and CEO of Farm Credit Canada, included a photo of Canada's World Junior Men's Hockey Team celebrating their come-from-behind gold medal win in early January in his presentation to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Summit in mid-January.A three-part message overlaid on a photo of the Team Canada players celebrating their gold medal win--champion our industry leaders and new players; invest in production, processing and logistics, and being a global leader in sustainable food production.Speaking in an interview about his remarks at Canada Ag Day here, he said the message was about the steps Canada needs to take to boost the agrifood sector to an international champion. “The teamwork that brought the juniors the gold medal in January should show the agrifood sector the importance of playing like a team.”The sector needs to avoid pitting its different components “against each other. There's enough for everyone to go around. Coming together doesn't mean anyone will get less.”Canada has the ingredients to become a global food superpower, he said. Now it needs the teamwork to own the podium when it comes to being an international food supplier. “We should celebrate the champions in both primary agriculture and processing.”A major step the industry has to take is learning to work together to talk about all the measures it has taken or is implementing to improve its sustainability, he said. To accomplish that, the sector has to come together under a unified goal, which should be creating the best prospects for success, he said. “The future is bright.”In his Calgary presentation, Hoffort said Canada is already a global leader in certified sustainable food production. While cattle are often branded as a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, in fact they represent less than 2.4 per cent of Canada's emissions.“Canada is in the top 10 per cent of the most GHG-efficient livestock producers in the world,” he said. The sector has achieved this status through “increasingly efficient production practices, genetics, and general management practices.” He also noted that 86 per cent of what's fed to cattle is not suitable for human consumption.Canada has a wide variety to offer the world in plant and animal protein, grains and oilseeds, fruits and vegetables, ingredients and finished food products.While there are challenges in some markets, Canada has reached more trade deals with other countries than any other nation.The Calgary Summit was billed as building the framework for a national vision for our agricultural natural resources. It concluded that the agrifood sector has to become as telling its story, which is what Canada Ag Day is all about. The discussions in Calgary focused on how agriculture companies are working to address environmental, sustainable, and governance issues to measure sustainability and the ethical impact of investment.Also much talked about was the need to accelerate the commercialization of innovation and technology and the role cooperatives are playing from the farm, to retail, to kitchen tables.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.