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Founded in 1909, UFA Co-operative Limited is an Alberta-based agricultural co-operative with more than 120,000 member-owners. UFA’s network comprises more than 114 bulk fuel and Cardlock Petroleum locations, 34 Farm & Ranch Supply stores and a support office in Calgary, AB. Independent Petroleum Agents and over 1,000 UFA employees provide products, services and agricultural solutions to farmers, ranchers, members and commercial customers in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.
It takes a certain kind of ambition to do what farmers do. Between the hours and the hard labor to the public scrutiny and bureaucratic maze running, it's not an easy task. While the agriculture industry feeds millions, quietly tilling and producing behind the scenes, many forget that our food comes from the hands of real people with real stories.
Join us as we share stories from those with boots on the ground and on earth. Unique perspectives on agriculture's biggest conversations. It's time to grab your shovel and get to work. I'm Don Shafer, and this is digging in. With UFA in this unique episode of digging in, we're exploring an all-encompassing topic that affects not just the food we eat, but the economy and the processes by which that very food gets to our tables. How do tariffs impact agriculture? They're often a controversial subject. How new trade policies influence and affect growers, producers, consumers, and the global market?
Today we're digging in to the truth about tariffs.
Farming is more than its product. It's generations of care rooted in the tilled soil of every acre. Learned and adaptable traditions of producing a bountiful harvest. The memories of lifetimes swelling with pride. When we look at policy and its effect on agriculture, it's important to have advocates bring the voice of those with boots on the ground to the decision-making table.
Who better than a producer to represent fellow growers? This is [00:02:00] Margaret Rigetti.
Margaret Rigetti: My name is Margaret Rigetti and I'm a fifth generation farmer from southeastern Saskatchewan. Uh, I co-manage a grain and oil seeds farm with my brother and cousin near the community of Lamb Bank, and we grow canola, uh, spring wheat, barley and oats on our farm.
I came back to the farm around the millennium, um, about 25 years ago, and it was a time of, of real change, herbicide resistance. Canola, um, had just been developed through biotechnology and that worked really well with our zero till seed system. Um, and it created a high value crop that we could include in our rotation.
And in addition to all that technological innovation that was, was happening, there was also a new era of global trade liberalization. Um. Emerging and it was that, um, expansion of secure access and [00:03:00] rules-based trade for Canada and, um, between Canada and other countries. That created, um, a real opportunity for Western Canadian farms like, like mine.
Um, I'm also a director with, um, Saskatchewan Oil Seeds, and I got involved because I believe in promoting canola through trade. Um, little did I know that we would find ourselves in a trade war with our two biggest customers at the same time. Um, I'd been watching an increase in protectionism play out in recent years, but, but truly, uh, the potential for a trade war with the us uh, that wasn't on my Bingo card.
Yet. Um, yet here we are. Um, uh, today we're in the process of putting this crop in the ground. And, um, while some of our tariff fears have have eased, uh, we continue to pay close attention to the news.
Intro: Trade relations are often complex. [00:04:00] Navigating a constantly shifting landscape of policy adjustments and their effect on the general public can be complicated. Despite the intricate nature of these relations, knowledge is the tool to best prepare you for policy shifts and disruptive agreements.
Sometimes all it takes is an expert with words of wisdom. This is Scott Crockatt.
Scott Crockatt: My name is Scott Crockatt and I'm, uh, vice president of External relations and communications for a group called the Business Council of Alberta. Uh, the Business Council is a, a non-profit, non-partisan public policy organization in think tank.
We represent, uh, 135 of, of the largest businesses in, in Alberta and Western Canada. Many of those businesses are in fields like agriculture, uh, energy, power, transportation, and finance. And our role is to, uh, is to propose really great. Public policy solutions, uh, ways that government and people and business can work together to make life better for everyone.
And we say that we like to do policy on both economic [00:05:00] prosperity and social prosperity. So things that make the economy do great and that make life do great. It's a job that I've been doing now for six years, which is how long ago we started the organization. So neither new nor old, and I love it. I enjoy every day.
Intro: In simple terms, tariffs are attacks. There are tax that is paid by the country that levies the tariff on someone else paid by their businesses or their people when they want to import a good, and that's one of the first and most important things to understand. Every time you hear the word tariff, just think tax.
And just like all taxes, when you tax something, you tend to get less of it. So when tariffs are put on a product that's coming into your country. A diminished amount of product is important because of this higher tax. Though tariffs can be used for many different economic functions, including a way to generate revenue, a tool in trade negotiations, or even as protection of domestic [00:06:00] industries from foreign competition, tariffs still have resounding consequences on all levels of agriculture and economic participation.
To dig deeper into how tariffs impact agriculture, we need to look at the current state of the nation.
Scott Crockatt: I think it's important to start by level setting where we're at today with the terrorists. I think most people are are somewhat familiar with, with what's going on. But even for those of us who follow it very closely, it can be difficult to figure out on any given day where the tariffs actually stand and that, that's partly because there can be this gap between what's announced and and and talked about and then what's implemented.
And then we've probably also seen in many cases, particularly between Canada and the United States in the last year, uh, tariffs have been talked about or, or put in very shortly and then, and then pause for a period of time. So yeah, to start with a bit of a level set, where do things actually stand right now?
So, from a Canadian perspective, Canada currently faces three kinds, tariffs from the United States that are. Place. One of them are tariffs that were announced, uh, very early this year, early in the Trump [00:07:00] presidency. These are sort of colloquially referred to as the fentanyl tariffs. And they were brought in with the justification of, of wanting some changes in terms of border controls, border security, immigration, and fentanyl, uh, issues that Canada has really worked hard to address, uh, I'll say as well.
And so those were 25% kind of on everything. And then 10% on, on energy and potash. The reality of those that we'll get into later is that they've since been clarified that any goods that that fall under the Canada US Free Trade Agreement, what today is called SMA or U-S-M-C-A, but what most of us probably still kind of think of as nafta.
Any goods that fall underneath that, uh, are, are exempt from those tariffs. So in practice, a lot of goods that might otherwise be subject to them aren't paying them. Who is paying tariffs is, uh, aluminum and steel. Um, and so those have been subject to a tariff under the first Trump presidency. A and then again, now are facing a tariff as well as auto parts, although that's an evolving situation of, of, of autos and auto parts, which are also receiving the same U-S-M-C-A [00:08:00] free trade treatment, although it's a bigger issue to trying to determine what the exact content, you know, American or Canadian content of, of a vehicle.
Okay, so that's the US side facing Canada. Now. Now, why are we talking about this so much at the moment? I mean, there's a couple things that are, that are happening right now. We're seeing, uh, you know, a period of time where tariffs and trade barriers are really going up around the world, uh, which is very unique because for most of my life, uh, tariffs and trade barriers have been going down.
You know, we've been talking about free trade agreements, global free trade, trying to get trade moving as much as possible. And, and now we're beginning to move in a bit of a, a different direction. You know, I think that's something that we'll get into a little bit more. But something that's worth mentioning about, uh, terrace, just sort of off the bat, is that there's, there's usually kind of two big reasons that countries will, will strongly consider them.
And, and I think both of those reasons are at play right now, particularly as we talk about Canada. The United States and China, and, and one of those reasons is, is protectionism. Tariffs are also often talked about as a way [00:09:00] to keep your own economy or your own industry protected from foreign competition, allow it to be more competitive within your own country.
So that, that's one reason, and, and that can be a reason, although it can be a bit of a flawed one as well. And then the other one, and I think we're seeing a lot of this right now as well, is as a tool for political leverage. And, you know, this is where I think that the agriculture industry producers, farmers, ranchers, uh, often feel like they get caught up in the, in the tariff fight.
Oftentimes the producers didn't do anything at all to, to cause the fight that they're part of. But, but food and agriculture is, is so important to people. I mean, food is important to us all. And also it can be politically important. People think about it and hear about it, and I think that's one of the reasons why ag gets caught up.
Margaret Rigetti: Uh, yeah. Well, egg commodities are used as political and protectionist tools all the time, and this happens both internationally and domestically. And as canola growers we're, we're used to that. Um. Um, you know, China is a, is a good example, right? They are masters [00:10:00] of geopolitics and, uh, they definitely know how Canadian canola is.
And so, you know, not only is it Canada's most valuable crop, but it's a made in Canada crop and a named after Canada crop. So yeah, the fact that their most recent tariff announcement came on the eve of a new. Prime Minister being sworn in. Um, that was no accident. It was strategic. And of course, it, it wasn't the first time.
And, uh, in fact, when I heard that China had announced tariffs in response to our a hundred percent tariff on Chinese EVs, I just, uh, had this sinking feeling of, oh no, here we go again. Canola farmers paying the price with China. Yeah, there's, there's nothing, nothing new about this
Scott Crockatt: When you add up. All of this tariff impact, and you sort of zoom out from it from a general public perspective, what does it mean?
It means that, uh, economies are slowing down. Both the Canadian and American economies are, are going to lose points off of their, their GDP, uh, as a result of [00:11:00] these tariffs. And, and, you know, that means pocketbook impact for every Canadian and every American, uh, tariffs are pro inflationary, so that means that there's a, uh, there's a very strong likelihood that they're going to increase inflation.
The simplest reason is because they make things cost more. And, uh, many of us may have seen headlines, particularly in the United States. I'm based in Canada, but particularly in the United States where tariffs have increased the costs of, of certain goods, and there's been some pushback against it. And then there's the big, big, big impact that there's a realistic chance of, of a global recession right now, and that's being priced into international markets.
Uh, and that's largely a result of the, the trade wars that have kicked off in early 2025.
Intro: Economically, we know that when taxes increase, consumer prices increase through the pipeline of production. We also know that the cost to produce will also increase affecting the overhead of production facilities.
Given the current and unusual tariff situation, our agricultural product prices [00:12:00] expected to change. And over the long term, what real world impacts could these significant tariff shifts have on both consumers and producers?
Scott Crockatt: Tariffs have this blast radius that they hit in terms of, in terms of how they affected industry and the overall economy.
So. Sometimes we can look up and we can see a direct product and we can see the, the price of the tariff that it's paying. We've talked already about, you know, the canola tariffs put on by China, but actually there's this collateral damage through throughout the industry. I'll tell you a few of the ways.
So agriculture is much more than the final food that's produced, although that's, you know, a really important part of it. There's all this structure and infrastructure and equipment behind it. Equipment is one thing in particular that I'd mentioned we're, we're really following with, with some level of, of concern would probably be the best description.
Heavy duty machinery, kind of machinery that's used in farming is potentially subject to, to tariffs, you know, on both sides. Of the Canada US border. And so I've spoken to companies who provide that equipment, who, who sell it to Canadian [00:13:00] farmers, uh, combines and other large pieces of equipment. And they tell me that they're concerned about these tariffs, but it's still unclear exactly how they'll be implemented and how they'll come in.
And so I think it's fair to say that the full impact of them hasn't been felt in that segment, in part because companies. Rushed to, uh, to put equipment on one side of the border or the other before the tariffs came into place, hoping to insulate at least this business cycle, this growing season, from as many of those implications.
And, and that's actually a great example of the other ways that tariffs have this, you know, this blast radius of an impact is that even the threat of them, even tariffs that don't come into place or come into place for a very short amount of time. Impact other areas in the industry, other areas of the ag industry.
You know, in the case of beef, just the, the threat of tariffs caused Canadian herds to be reduced significantly as people move their cattle over to the south side of the border. In, in anticipation of that, you know, every company that I've talked to that was able to s stockpile product on one side of the border or the other in anticipation of how the tariffs may hit.
[00:14:00] And, and all of these things have a cost, you know, from the perspective of, uh, of Western Canadian farmers as we record this, we're, we're right in the absolute. Thick of the seeding and planting season, and, and those farmers had to make decisions about what they're gonna plant based on imperfect information about what the tariff environment might look like afterwards and the prices they might be able to get for their products.
And, and so they had to just make the best of, of the situation without necessarily having all the information about what it's gonna look like on the other side. And that will change some planting decisions. All of these things have impacts. We, we hear really directly from, uh, folks, particularly in Alberta and, and also in Saskatchewan.
Our economies are just so incredibly integrated in terms of the impacts that these tariffs and the, and the threat of tariffs are, are having. I'd say the story really begins with canola. You know, we're, we're the world's largest canola exporter. And our largest market for canola, particularly canola meal is China.
And China has slapped a 100% tariff on our canola oil and canola [00:15:00] meal that effectively shut out our biggest market. You know, you, when you're exporting something in, you just can't possibly afford to pay a, a 100% tariff, and the domestic side of it can't afford to pay that either. So the, the biggest impact was felt on canola instantly.
Uh, you know, what I've heard directly from the, the folks involved in it is that was about a billion dollar impact on the Canadian economy. Almost with the stroke of a pound, a billion dollars in in one day. And, and how does that feel at the farm gate? Well, a way to think about that would be there's about 40,000 Canadian canola farmers, uh, primarily in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Alberta grows about a quarter of Canada's canola. Saskatchewan grows about half of it. And when you divide that billion dollars out, think about that, like $25,000 for, uh, an average sized farm. And, and averages probably don't do justice in this case. In many cases, it would be significantly above that for others.
So. So that's the one kind of firsthand canola bit. And, and I think it's also worth mentioning that the other firsthand [00:16:00] accounts that we hear are, are just the cost of the uncertainty. Um, there's a, there's a mental cost to this. You know, just the amount of mental calories that you end up going through, thinking about what you're gonna plant or, or how you're gonna be successful.
And, and also a business cost. This uncertainty about, uh, how much to plant this year, what price we're gonna be able to get from it, for it. Uh, all that is really heavy. The, the other side that I think has been most significantly affected would be cattle. And, and this is more of a Canada US story, and again, it's a story of great uncertainty at the moment.
Most bo, you know, most folks that deal in the, in the cattle business have been on a rollercoaster ride, um, for this year. You know, cattle cross the border often, many times over the course of their, their growth and, uh, and production. And that's part of the value chain. These are highly integrated value chains that go and cows go from one side to the other and one side to the other.
And, uh, and there was real risk at one point. You know, would we be facing a tariff every time that cow crossed the board? [00:17:00] Now the, the reality is, uh, that on the beef side of things that I hear firsthand that the industry is actually doing okay at the moment, even with all that uncertainty. We've got quite high prices in a number of areas, record high prices in some areas, and, and even beyond that, uh, most of the cattle have, have, have, have been subject to the, uh, the U-S-M-C-A so are, are getting carved out from the tariff situation.
However, as we discussed earlier, you know, that that uncertainty has created this impact, but with folks being more reluctant, you know, to trade on one side or the other of the border in terms of the industry.
Margaret Rigetti: Well, um, we grow a lot of canola. It's our most important crop and it's what pays the bills. So the uncertainty has been hard, and not just for us.
Canola is growing on 21 million acres in Canada and 90% of that crop and its products are, are exported. So we simply can't consume it domestically. So trade is imperative. Um, we [00:18:00] built a farm, an entire industry based on trade, and that's been brought into question. Um, have we seen the worst of it? Will there be more tariffs?
And if so, how do we proceed? Right. We have, we have debt payments, we have children planning futures. Should they become farmers? That's a question they're asking. Uh, my son is planting his first canola crop and he wonders where the prices will be this fall and, and while prices have have come back, I can't completely reassure him because we could be collateral damage in a, in a trade war.
Well, we expect to see increases to, to costs from phosphate fertilizer, which we'd be typically looking to purchase in the upcoming months. And, um, we also expect to see an impact on farm equipment prices, although I would say that is, is still unknown. And, uh, basically it just makes it hard to move forward and that has such a knockdown effect on our, our rural communities because yeah, when farmers do well, um, our [00:19:00] communities do well.
I, I would say that our farms have the resilience to, to weather short term downturns. But, uh, what do things look like longer, longer term? And, uh, I attribute my own success in farming to trade, but I wonder if my children will be afforded the same opportunity. Um, the uncertainty about the future is difficult.
Yeah. So yeah, we're, we're focusing on the things, uh, we can control, like growing our best crop, managing costs, and staying connected to the, the people around us.
Intro: Tariffs and trade wars can create significant challenges for farmers, but governments can play a crucial role in providing support. What measures can governments take to help farmers, growers and producers navigate these turbulent times?
From direct subsidies and financial aid programs to market facilitation initiatives, are there policy interventions that can mitigate [00:20:00] the adverse effects of tariffs? Bottom line, is our government doing enough?
Scott Crockatt: This is an area that the Canadian government has indicated that they're focused on. And, and, and my work and our work at the Business Council of Alberta is public policy work.
And, uh, and so this is what we do is try and encourage governments to implement the, both the short and longer term strategies that they can to, to help Canadians to really, really well. You know, I can say first and foremost that we've been pushing for just more focus on the agricultural side. I think that that's, uh, that in itself is a really important point.
Canada has elected a brand new government now, uh, uh, and my hope is, and what our encouragement to them has been is that they, they put a really strong person in the agricultural portfolio and give that person a seat at, at the most important cabinet tables, you know, at the big table where the big decisions are made.
I think it's true that frankly, sometimes agriculture has been. Pushed to the sidelines as a secondary or tertiary concern, and even in the last few months, I think, uh, in Canada we've seen a lot of discussion about the auto industry. Tons and tons of discussion about the auto [00:21:00] industry and the tariff is it faces, which are significant and I'm not sure that the average Canadian has seen quite as much discussion of the tariff facing the ag industry.
Having said that, there are some things that the Canadian government has done and can do. Uh, first and foremost, the, the main program that the government of Canada has been using to, to address the, the tariff impact is agri stability. Uh, a program that many producers would previously be familiar with, but it's been really enhanced this year in two particular ways from a, from a maximum 80% compensation rate.
To a 90% compensation rate. Uh, this is similar to a recommendation actually, that we've been making for years to gra stability that they rethink this. Uh, and it's just a short term measure right now, but I think there's a good chance they may rethink it in the long term. And they've doubled the cap from, from 3 million to 6 million for 2025.
And, and furthermore, uh, extended out the enrollment period so that, uh, producers can enroll in the program quite a bit later than the otherwise. No. So those are a [00:22:00] few, you know, meaningful monetary actions. One of the challenges that the government of Canada is dealing with, and maybe we can get into this a little bit more, is that there's, there's very little revenue coming in on the Canadian side of these tariffs, and that can be one of the sort of offsetting pauses, but the tariffs that we've put on China are producing almost no revenue at all.
So there's very little to, to work with in terms of additional revenue to, to compensate Canadian producers. The other thing that the, the government candidate. Is doing, and I, I think we'd encourage them to do even more and more of is, it is a long-term strategy and, and there's two components to that. The first is diplomacy and negotiation.
You know, we are in a version of a trade war. All wars end with diplomacy. The end goal here has to be using negotiation and diplomacy to get back to a position of, of free trade, particularly with the United States and frankly with all of our. Our large trading partners. And then the second part of it is market diversification.
I think Canadians are realizing that we've been way too dependent on one [00:23:00] market or a couple of markets for a lot of our products, despite the fact that we have, you know, good trade and even free trade agreements with a lot of the world. And that's probably the medium to long term strategy is how can we open up more of these new markets so we have more options to sell our products into.
Intro: Advocacy and agriculture is not just about lobbying for favorable policies, it's about creating a unified voice that represents the diverse needs of the agricultural community. Advocacy groups play a crucial role in shaping policies that support farming practices, fair trade and economic stability.
Agriculture organizations leverage their extensive networks to influence policy decisions, raise awareness about critical issues, and provide valuable resources to farmers. This collaborative approach ensures that the interest of the agricultural sector are well represented in legislative processes.
Advocacy efforts help bridge the gap between growers, producers, and policy [00:24:00] makers, fostering a better understanding of the challenges faced by the agricultural community and enabling more effective solutions.
Scott Crockatt: One fantastic thing about the agriculture industry is, uh, is passionate advocacy groups and passionate advocates.
And, uh, and I've had the joy and pleasure of interacting with lots of those folks as a, as a broad based business organization. Uh, we tend to try and amplify their messages 'cause they're, uh, always subject matter experts on their individual commodities or, or industry segments. And, uh, and we've spoken to several of them over the course of this period.
You know, I think the, the first and foremost thing that, that many of those groups would say is that they want some, a level of awareness. You know, they're trying to communicate with, uh, the government of Canada and their provincial governments that, uh, that this is a major issue, what the costs have been, and in advocating for, for, you know, some consideration of that, that one of the first things that they, they say to us is, you know, do no further harm.
The first rule of whole is when you find yourself in one stop digging. And so on [00:25:00] behalf of the, you know, the Canadian producer groups and, and farmer groups and advocacy groups that I've talked to, I think the first message to Canada's new government would be, don't take any action that is gonna make this situation any worse than it already is.
Look to lower the temperature. And, and that, that takes us to the, the second point, which is that really what we need to be doing first is consultation and diplomacy. You know, no one wins in the trade war. We don't want something that's, that's wrapping up, ramping up and escalating further and further. Uh, if we look to the south, uh, with our American counterparts and their, frankly trade war that they're having with China, it's ramping up and up and up, you know, with, with blanket tariffs on all products in excess of a hundred percent.
Uh, the estimates that I was looking at this morning are that effectively the tariffs could be coming in above 140% for many goods. And then that's causing problems in supply chains and, and various goods are needing to be exempt. And things are changing almost on a weekly or, or a monthly basis. So, you know, we don't wanna find ourselves in that [00:26:00] situation.
Second piece of that would be support programs. So we've talked a little bit about equity stability that has been enhanced to help in, uh, help farmers this year in 2025. I think we should look seriously at if it should be enhanced long term. And if there can be other supports to make sure that we, we, we fill in that gap this year as much as possible to ensure that, that our producers are, are, if not whole, at least, uh, survivable for the, for the foreseeable future.
And what I hear from advocacy groups is that there's still a gap, frankly, the end and more needs to be done. Couple of the things that I think are, are worth considering in terms of our recommendations and those that we've heard from. From advocacy groups as well would be a, a reconsideration of the actions that have already been taken.
We talked about the reason why Canada put EV tariffs on China, and China responded back on Canada and what we were hoping to get out of that. Well, it appears that the justifications we had for why we wanted to do that have not strategically. So, and you know, I, I think it's fair to say that there may have been good reasons to, to put those chairs on.[00:27:00]
There may yet be good reasons to keep them on, but, you know, no matter how beautiful the strategy is, one must occasionally look at the results and the results of the strategy are not paying off at moment. It. And, and the last piece would be the, the long term, you know, putting into place a long term strategy.
That means that we have more market access, uh, in particular to more of the Asian markets so that we can sell all of our products, uh, you know, energy and food into those and be less dependent on, on individual countries, you know, just makes you a stronger player in trade negotiations and, and it's a smart thing to do for the world.
Margaret Rigetti: Well, is the government doing enough and taking the right approach? Uh, well that's hard to say because as of today there's been a long period of government doing nothing. First we had a prorogued, uh, parliament, um, then we had a leadership race. Then we had an election period, so I guess the answer is TBD, but, uh, what could government do?
Well, uh, a decade [00:28:00] ago, uh, the Barden report said that agriculture could be a top driver of national prosperity, and so government could acknowledge that we are a trading nation and some bold commitments towards that would be very welcome. We could, we could optimize the many free trade agreements we already have, and we could develop new bilateral agreements.
Um, we could promote trade by opening more trade offices. Uh, we could work to hand to harmonize standards internationally. So, so there's lots we could do. Um, but we also need to make it easier to do business at home. By, by clearing the path, you know, building the infrastructure that we need, removing the red tape and bureaucracy that prevent the implementation of projects that have already been put forward, um, deal with the labor issues that reduce reliability.
Um. These would all be, uh, good for building prosperity in this [00:29:00] country. Um, I want, uh, the federal government to focus on open and stable trade with both China and the United States. I mean, I wanna trade with everybody all the time. Um, I, I want the federal government to immediately engage with China at the highest levels.
And of course, I'd like to see the EV tariffs removed. But, uh, truthfully, we don't know how the Americans will react and I don't wanna complicate things. But yeah, we can't talk about China without talking about our trade relationship with the US because it is part of a larger geopolitical situation. I.
But ideally I want a trade relationship with both. Um, I want agriculture to be recognized for the economic powerhouse that it is, and for government to commit to helping us, uh, achieve our potential. I. And they can do that through a commitment to trade infrastructure development and addressing the Canadian productivity gap.
Um, I hope that Prime Minister [00:30:00] Kearney knows that trade is our strength and that the answer to this trade war is not escalation. Uh, so to be very careful with, with counter terrorists, we can't win and it hurts Canadian consumers. And if we're going to fight back against protectionism, um, we also need to be willing to look at our own protectionism and the sacred cows we hold.
Um, I wanna make a living from selling my crops around the world. Um, I thought that was the promise of our trade agreements. But, um, if our farms are going to be collateral damage, um, in a Canadian trade policy that prioritizes other sectors like, like autos and dairy. Well, then we can expect to see hard times in farming communities and deep anger out west.
Intro: Knowing the systemic impact of tariffs and the pattern of shifting global trade policies, what does the future look like for trade impact on agriculture in the coming years, while difficult to anticipate? Do [00:31:00] experts have policy recommendations to help prepare the agriculture sector in mitigating the impact of current or future tariff implementation when the way forward is uncertain.
How can we ensure that agriculture continues to have a viable path?
Scott Crockatt: I'm, I'm really optimistic that diplomacy and negotiation and cool heads and frankly economic reality, um, all these things can come together to bring us through to a, to a new better place in the long run. And, and, you know, speaking specifically about the United States.
Uh, I strongly believe that the United States and Canada have the, the largest and most important relationship between any two countries in the history of the world. That, that relationship is economic, it's political, it's cultural, it's social, it's defense, and, and most years we have the world's largest trading relationship as well.
It's either number one or number two, depending on the year. I, I don't think. Even, you know, a, a few hard months or, uh, or some negative trade feelings are going to irreparably damage [00:32:00] that in the long term. That's all my optimism, though. There's some pessimism to go along with that, which is that I, I think the game has changed.
Um, I think that, uh, Canadians, I. Feel that they can't necessarily count on the United States anymore. Uh, I think Canadians have been woken up to say, we need to do things differently. We can't just sell all our products to the United States. And I think that there is frankly, some broken trust. Can we trust the trade agreements that are signed?
Can we trust our trading partners? And you know, like in any relationship when, when trust is broken, it can take a really long time, uh, to, to fix it. On the other side, in terms of the Chinese side of this, you know, I think that there is as well some. Some bad feelings and, and broken trust, but there's a little bit of a, a three way, uh, trade going on here.
Maybe to use a hockey analogy, this isn't just a discussion between Canada and China. This is kind of a tripod of Canada, China, and the United States.
Margaret Rigetti: Yeah, we do have existing supports in place and um, it might be an un. Popular opinion in, in green farming country to [00:33:00] acknowledge that governmental supports exist.
But, uh, they do exist and, uh, steps are being taken to strengthen those supports. Um, there's been an increase to the interest free portion of the cash advance, and there are potential changes to agri stability, uh, including an increase to the compensation rate. Um. Yeah. And our farms need to have resiliency to deal with short term losses.
And, uh, these programs offer a measure of support, but long term, we need to be able to make a living from the marketplace. And I had one more thing to say and that was just about trade diversification. Um, and, um, yeah, we've, we've heard a lot about trade diversification and as canola growers, uh, we have long recognized that as a priority.
Um, however, trade diversification, it's easy to say and, and hard to do, and I would. Say, it's not about moving away from a market, but adding new opportunities at the same time. And an [00:34:00] example of that might be biofuels. Um, we need to open and maintain markets, but yeah, we also need to make it easier to do business at home.
We need long-term strategic planning to diversify trade. And if we're going to diversify, um, we better have some redundancy and predictability with rail service and we better not have port bottlenecks. So we have some work to do. We also need to consider the, the magnitude of the market. And, uh, the reality is that we are located in very close geographical proximity to the largest economy in the world.
And so it is only natural that they are our biggest customer and we'll most likely continue to be our biggest customer. So I think we have no choice but to work through our issues with the us. You know, it's spring and I always feel optimistic at seating times. So I'm going to focus on growing my best possible crop this year.
And, and while tariffs could be very challenging in the short to medium term, um, I [00:35:00] believe that trade benefits everyone. So I have to believe that tariffs will be transitory and that longer term trade will prevail if average Canadian is wondering what they can do. I would say they could, they could buy Canadian and uh, when they're walking down the grocery store aisle looking for a cooking oil to put in their cart, they can choose canola oil.
It's heart healthy, it's versatile, it's grown and processed in Canada, and it's the only oil they need.
Intro: Throughout this process, it's become clear that both growers and consumers bear the brunt of the damage caused by tariff implementation through production costs and subsequently retail inflation.
Apart from the fiscal implications, are there any other short-term and long-term side effects that will change the agricultural landscape?
Scott Crockatt: I think the reality is that we're, we're into a new period here where the future is gonna look different than the past. Uh, it did. And where periods [00:36:00] of tariffs, trade negotiations and, and the ag sector getting caught up is some collateral damage in it.
I think a le a level of that is gonna be part of how the international economy works, um, in the foreseeable future. So I think one key message is buckle up. Having said that. I think that there is also a, a real likelihood that things can get a lot better than they're today. There there's a reason why we don't have, or we haven't had a lot of tariff in the, in the world in the last several decades.
It's 'cause they don't work very well. Um, you know, they can, they can occasionally create some small focused benefit in a specific area, but actually they cost the economy overall much more so. And actually we saw this with, uh, with Trump's tariffs in, in his, his first time in, in office, which were primarily relative to Canada on steel and aluminum.
They may have created a few extra steel, uh, jobs in the United States, but actually they cost more jobs elsewhere throughout the United States by just increasing the cost of the input steel, which slows down construction and all [00:37:00] kinds of other products. So, you know, these things don't work very well. So the, that gives me optimism.
That the, that things will in fact get better because reality has this way of imposing itself when goods cost more for people, when supply chains are harder to move around the things that we need, uh, that has a tendency to, to, to bring us tethered back to reality. And, and, and furthermore, there's political justification being used for some of these tariffs in addition to economic And, and I think those political, political problems have political solutions.
So, you know, we can, we can sort of talk about those things and, and, and do them differently. The other part of this is Canada has to have a look in the mirror. We've had, um, insufficient long-term strategic planning in Canada regarding trade diversification, trade planning in, in, in many ways, you know, that involves opening up new markets, but also just our own trade infrastructure, our, our ports and our roads and our rails and our pipes have not been kept up with and invested in, in a way that would.
You know, create a long-term trade diversification strategy. And, and so that's, that's one of [00:38:00] our messages. You know, for Credit Canada's brand new government, one of the first things they could focus on, even in their first few weeks is, is looking at a trade infrastructure task force, a way that we can move from where we are today, you know, at a, a c plus into b plus, a plus kind of territory as rapidly.
Possible. There are absolutely things that, that regular Canadians can do, and even for folks that are listening in other parts of the world, there's things that regular people can do, um, to assist this situation. You know, the, the place that I'd start actually would just be being aware of it, you know, particularly pa particularly paying some attention to the agricultural side of this, to the, the food side of these tariffs and making sure that other folks focus on those, those parts too.
And, uh, food is the thing that unites us. It brings us all together. We all eat. And so every person, every Canadian has some things that they can do about this tariff and, and trade issue. And, and, and one of them is. Is to buy Canadian. You know, it's, it's simple. It's a little bit of a cliche. You can say to yourself, how much is [00:39:00] my own grocery gonna bill gonna make a difference?
But I can tell you it does. Um, buying Canadian makes a difference economically. It makes a difference in terms of emotional support to the Canadian producers that, that feel that they are getting some domestic support and they see that the, maybe the amount that they're selling elsewhere is going down, but the amount that they're selling here is going up and it does cause political pressure on, on other sides of it.
For us, you know, certain American states heavily export individual products into Canada. I, I think one of the ones that's made the biggest headlines is bourbon. Uh, and, you know, and, uh, Kentucky feels it when Canadians buy a lot less bourbon, but we could do that in a lot of other areas as well, in terms of the, uh, the meats that we buy and the ketchups that we buy and the produce that we buy, and all kinds of other things like that.
So for individual people, I think that's, um, one of the best things that you can do. And then just generally supporting local in, in all the other ways that you can, not just the food that we buy, but local restaurants, craft breweries, farmer's [00:40:00] markets, you know, thanking a farmer can go a really long way.
We've talked a little bit about the, the emotional and mental and mental health side of this. It, it does, it does take a toll. And then the other big thing that I'd say that people can do is, is engage politically. Half of the justification for tariffs involves political objectives. So that means that engaging politically can can help solve those things.
And, and for a regular, uh, Canadian, I'd say that means engaging with your MLA or, or your mp. Uh, Canada has just had an election, so we've got a, a whole refresh crop of members of parliament, many of whom maybe all of whom are really interested in hearing from their constituents about what they're worried about, and we can encourage them to do, to do a couple of important things.
One is to just put agriculture high on the mandate. And if you live outside of an agriculture focused region, if you live in a big city or something like that, it's even more important that you do this because you know, the MPS from downtown Vancouver and Toronto are often a little separated from the agriculture industry.
And hearing from you that you want this top of the agenda is [00:41:00] important, encourage them to, to put agriculture right around the big decision making trade table to put it at the top of the agenda. In terms of the mandate that's given to the next Minister of Agriculture and, and the selection of, of an important person there.
And then encourage the government once they've done that, to do some of the things that we've, we've talked about now, to, to engage in diplomacy, to support producers today and to create a better long-term trade and trade diversification strategy. I'm not sure I see that anytime on the, on the short or even immediate, uh, or medium term horizon.
I think that some aspect of, of tariffs and tariff fights. Are gonna be part of at least the medium term. However, I do think things will get. Better than they are today. In fact, I think as Canada enters into a, a review or maybe even a renegotiation of our trade agreement with the United States over the course of the next year or so, I think that's gonna create opportunities to smooth out some of these trade bumps and, and hopefully enter back into a place where we have mostly free trade [00:42:00] over the long term.
I, I, I think there's opportunities with the the Canada China relationship to pour some cold water on that fire as well and get things better. But I think frankly for, for all Canadians and in particular for those who produce our food, uh, they do need to settle in for a period of greater tariff and trade uncertainty over the next few years at a minimum than we've had for the, for, you know, for the last couple decades.
You know, maybe the, just the last thing, uh, that I'd say is engaging in this process is really important. You know, listening to podcasts like this, un understanding what's happening in the tariff and trade environment. The, the, the information flow can be overwhelming, but for regular people inserting themselves into it and being part of it is really important and, and especially for ordinary folks, I think engaging politically is one of the best things that we can do.
You know, put this on the agenda of our politicians say we want agriculture to be one of their core focus areas. And, and for Canadians, let's push ourselves to do way, way, way better. Let's pull together as a country [00:43:00] and uh, let's expand those ports and those rail lines and those pipelines and those roads so that we can be a stronger country so that our economy is doing better, and so that we're less dependent on decisions that are made in other countries capitals in the future.
Intro: At the end of the day, we look to our resiliency within ourselves and our communities to make our collective futures as bright as possible. All it will really take is conversations like these, some vulnerability. And a little digging.
Thanks to the support of UFA Cooperative, we're able to share stories from those who live and breathe agriculture. We'd like to thank our guests for sharing their insight into the future of agriculture and for being with us today. For more information and a new [00:44:00] episode every month, visit ufa.com with listeners like you.
We'll continue to dig a little deeper here on digging in with UFA. I am Don Shafer. Thanks for listening. Another everything podcast production. Visit everything podcast.com, a division of Patterson Media. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this podcast reflect opinions and perspectives from participating guests and not necessarily those of U-F-A-U-F-A cooperatives membership elected officials or stakeholders.