The Globe and Mail: Ottawa can plant the seed for Canada to feed the world
In the November 1, 2011 issue of The Globe and Mail, columnist Neil Reynolds writes about MLI’s recently released study by Larry Martin and Kate Stiefelmeyer on the opportunity Canada has to feed the world. In the study, Canadian Agriculture and Food: A Growing Hunger for Change, Martin and Stiefelmeyer argue that “we are uniquely positioned to benefit from the increasing demand for food due to our vast tracts of arable land, abundant water, infrastructure, and long experience in agriculture.” However, despite these opportunities, Canadian agriculture is in serious decline. Our share of world markets is falling, our agricultural productivity is rising more slowly than our competitors’, and our influence in world trade talks about agriculture is falling.
Reynolds reports, “Mr. Martin and Ms. Stiefelmeyer assert in a compelling paper (Canadian Agriculture and Food: A Growing Hunger for Change) that calls on Canadian governments to look to the future, not to the past, in farm policy. Writing from a global perspective, the authors argue that Canada must heed its moral and economic imperative to do better. Indeed, they suggest, the world’s ability to feed itself in coming decades depends to a significant degree on an agriculturally ambitious Canada.”
The authors note that the primary reason Canada is lagging behind is due to Canada’s backward-fixated regulatory system. Canadian farmers can get more productive only though more capital investment. In the past decade, however, capital depreciation has exceeded capital investment – “which is tantamount to disinvestment.”
Columnist Neil Reynolds concludes, “Mr. Martin and Ms. Stiefelmeyer’s report is an excellent – even inspiring – piece of work. Anyone who thinks that the Canadian Wheat Board will be the country’s final farm reform should grab a copy of the report off the website of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, the Ottawa-based think tank that published it.”
To read the full Globe and Mail article, click here.
To read MLI’s study, Canadian Agriculture and Food: A Growing Hunger for Change, click here.
Related posts:
- MLI study on the opportunities in the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector highlighted at Senate Committee On May 8, 2012, MLI authors Kate Stiefelmeyer and Larry Martin appeared before the Senate...
- MLI Paper – Prosperity in Canadian Agriculture: An Opportunity for More Jobs and Investment MEDIA RELEASE October 17, 2011, Ottawa, ON – More food will be eaten over the...
- The Vancouver Sun: The world craves our food, agricultural expertise, but outdated regulations keep us from seizing the opportunity November 3, 2011 – In today’s Vancouver Sun, MLI author Larry Martin writes about how...
- The Windsor Star: Building farms to compete internationally December 12, 2011 – In an op-ed in today’s Windsor Star, MLI author Larry Martin discusses why our...
- MLI Senior Fellow Linda Nazareth in The Globe and Mail: Canada lucky to have options if economy slows October 19, 2012 – In yesterday’s Globe and Mail, MLI Senior Fellow Linda Nazareth discusses...
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