Global food security led discussions at the recent Group of Seven nations meeting of agriculture ministers in Japan.
Canadian agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the food supply chain, sustainable agriculture, innovation and open trade were all on the agenda.
The war in Ukraine continues to worsen the problem. Bibeau said Ukraine’s agriculture minister addressed the meeting and ministers discussed how to support it.
“What was the most shocking, I guess, was about all the personal mines that are spread in agricultural land,” she said in an interview. “You cannot farm. This is a big, big issue and Canada is actually already supporting in the sense that we are training Ukrainians to proceed with demining.”
She described the required effort as significant.
According to the Ukrainian Agri Council, many farmers have not seeded this spring because their land is contaminated. One estimate said 174,000 sq. kilometres of land in several parts of the country must be surveyed and have mines removed.
Meanwhile, Bibeau held bilateral talks with Japan, the United Kingdom and Italy.
Japan is Canada’s third largest export customer.
“They really want to secure Canada as a supplier of choice for them because they’re not food sufficient,” she said.
Bibeau said conducting business with Japan is “pure pleasure” because once an agreement is reached Canada knows it can rely on its partner.
“We know that if there are any issues, we’ll be able to sit at the table, have a genuine discussion based on evidence, and we’ll find a path forward,” she said.
Bibeau said she told the U.K. minister sanitary and phytosanitary concerns must be resolved.
“We feel they are putting some barriers on us that are not based on science, such as carcass washing,” she said. “I would say I was strong with them on these non-scientific, non-tariff barriers that we feel they are putting on us and saying that they have to proceed fast on the science and technical analysis of these things so we can open up our markets mainly for beef and pork.”
Bibeau added the location of the future Agriculture Canada office in the Indo-Pacific region hasn’t yet been established but she said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has designated Canada’s ambassador in Japan, Ian McKay, as the special envoy for the region.
