Canada taking steps to dominate food industry
Canada has the potential to become the next global food super-power, according to the Canadian Food Strategy.
The Strategy was unveiled yesterday as part of the 3rd Annual Food Summit — a conference held in Toronto earlier this week. The Food Summit highlights international best practices when it comes to food strategy as well as sessions on how to implement Canada’s own strategy.
The Food Strategy was created by the Conference Board of Canada to respond do the increasing need to help maintain and sustain Canada’s food industry. The Board felt confident that by following this strategy, Canada could position itself to move from being one of the top 20 food exporting countries to one of the top five.
“The food sector already contributes more than 8 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product and is directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs,” Michael Bloom, vice-president, industry and business strategy said in a press release. “But we can become even more successful if our producers capture a larger share of the growing international food market.
The Canadian Food Strategy outlined several actions to help Canada on its way to becoming a super-power:
- Expand presence in existing, emerging and new markets
- Link aid and trade to address the challenge of global food security
- Negotiate multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements to improve exporters’ access to international markets.
- Develop high-quality national, provincial, and regional food brands and product specializations for wide sale internationally.
- Strategy set out 8 goals and more than 60 desired outcomes, as well a110 action strategies
- Build a Canada Brand to reinforce food brands and products using positive images of Canada’s natural environment and culture and our reputation for product quality and safety.
“Taken as a whole, the food sector has the potential to be among the foremost industries in Canada,” said Bloom.