After being at the helm of Cargill Canada and spending much of his career in the grain industry, Len Penner said these issues are key to Canadian agriculture’s future:
- Access to export markets
“Going forward, our ability to position Canada as a trade partner of choice is going to be very important.”
Much of Canada’s food production is exported, so it needs access to global markets.”
- Supportive regulations
“Do we have a competitive regulatory environment and is it an aligned regulatory environment with some of our key trading partners?”
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Nothing can be allowed to jeopardize food safety, “that’s a non-negotiable, but recognizing that there are ways to do that probably better than today.”
- Human resource development, retention, recruitment
“(Agriculture and food is) very dynamic … We’re in a business that people see is a long-term area to invest in.”
Employers like Cargill, which has almost 8,000 workers at its 18 business lines, also need access to immigrants, who often work at its facilities like the High River slaughter plant.
- Labour shortages are common and immigration is one source of new workers
“Canada has had a pretty progressive immigration policy that has benefitted us, us being the industry but also Cargill. (We) need to see that continue as well. It’s important.”
- Transparency
Farmers and others in agriculture need to expect more public scrutiny and to offer access.
“As Cargill we’ve taken the stand that we don’t have anything to hide. This is what it looks like.”
