Study finds Canada's food sector 'remarkably adaptive'

Monday, June 6, 2011

by SUSAN MANN

A Conference Board of Canada’s observation that the country’s food sector makes an enormous contribution to our national economy isn’t news to farmers.

In its study, Valuing Food: The Economic Contribution of Canada’s Food Sector, the Conference Board says the food sector is responsible for more than nine per cent of Canada’s GDP and 2.3 million jobs, or roughly 13 per cent of all Canadian employment.

Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Bette Jean Crews says in Ontario the food sector is responsible for an even larger percentage of the GDP. Leaders in provincial farm organizations have known of the food sector’s contribution to the economy for quite some time and they’ve been using those facts as part of their lobbying message to governments.

“It’s nice to have the Conference Board of Canada supporting that,” she says.

In the report, released this month, the Conference Board listed three key innovations in the food sector. One is that farmers are using biological engineering and fertilizers to increase yields, facilitate specialization and expand variety.

Another is that food processors create new foods to address specific lifestyle and dietary needs, while the third is distributors use process improvements to reduce the costs of getting food from the farmer to the consumer.

“The food supply chain has shown itself to be remarkably adaptive to evolving consumer demands,” it says in the study. BF