Ottawa-Reducing the red tape of government regulations can make agriculture a cornerstone of Canada’s future, says Stephanie Lavasseur, Second Vice-President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

With a sizable agriculture sector, vast natural resources and a relatively small population, Canada is well positioned to make agriculture a strategic driver of economic growth, she told the Commons agriculture committee.

“It is strategically positioned to boost economic growth, drive innovation, support sustainability and productivity objectives and improve the standard of living of all Canadians.”

However, Canadian farmers are being squeezed between rising input costs, ongoing labour shortages, increasingly frequent and severe climate events and deepening financial pressures, compounded by growing global instability.

These challenges come “against a backdrop of declining agricultural productivity growth at a time when the demand for agricultural products and food security concerns has increased.”

Farmers need access to innovations, new technologies and pest control products if they are to compete and help grow Canada's economy, she said.

“We need to streamline and realign our regulatory priorities if we want to make that happen. The first step is to make agriculture a priority not just for the agriculture department, but across the Government of Canada.”

That means making agri-food a national priority by amending the cabinet directive on regulation to mandate that government regulations reflect the economic interests and competitiveness of Canadian producers and strengthen Canada's food security by ensuring a stable, competitive and sustainable domestic agriculture and agri-food supply chain.

The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) “directly impact the availability of pest control products as well as the labelling, packaging, licensing and certification of Canadian agriculture and agri-food products. As such, these agencies are major actors in this reform.” Lavasseur said.

“While their duties are critical to maintaining Canada's domestic and international reputation as a supplier of safe, quality agriculture products, decisions are made without sufficient consideration of food security, food prices and much less their economic impact on Canadian agriculture and its competitiveness.”

To level the playing field with Canada’s trading partners, timelines for the regulatory process need to be shortened and efficiency increased. “Re-evaluations should not take a decade. Evaluating drone usage for some crops, for instance, should not even take five years.”

Access to both innovative and existing products and technologies that farmers and producers require to produce the safe food that Canada and the world needs should be prioritized.

“Right now, Canada is lagging behind other countries in terms of access to much-needed pest control products, feed, feed additives and emerging technologies.”

To accomplish this, the CFA recommends better alignment and collaboration with trusted and like-minded international regulators to harmonize decisions and expedite decision-making, she said.

This news item prepared for National Newswtach.