In terms of Canadian agriculture trade is paramount to success for producers.
It is well understood that Canadian producers can do one thing very well, and that is grow crops and livestock. Producers here are generally eager adopters of new technologies and ideas when it comes to production, a trait that goes back to the earliest farmers willing to try new varieties and ideas.
The result is that farmers in this country have always produced far more than can be consumed domestically in a broad range of crops and livestock.
When supply is far in excess of domestic demand the excess must be sold to export markets.
Canada has generally done a good job of accessing foreign markets, but that is becoming a more difficult thing today.
There are more countries in an export position in terms of agricultural products.
There are new trade agreements and pacts that now must be manoeuvered through.
And, while governments have always meddled in trade with sanctions made for political gain and nothing more, that interference had seemed in decline for a period. The emergence of Donald Trump as president in the United States has certainly reignited national protectionism in the States, and that has rippled through the world with other countries flexing their political muscle with tariffs and trade barriers.
So Canada needs to be more diligent than ever in keeping trade flowing as freely as possible to key foreign markets.
Generally, trade is best achieved seller to buyer on some direct level, but one should not discount the occasional influential hand of politicians.
It is after all, politicians who often muddy the waters of trade with sanctions, so having another politician sitting down to discuss freer access to trade is not a bad idea.
In that respect it’s hard to see a downside, at least agriculturally speaking, to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s trade mission to Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, his first trade mission to these markets.
According to a government release, “the Premier’s focus was on expanding and diversifying access in the Asian markets for Saskatchewan’s food, fuel and fertilizer.” Accepting that a release from government might be a touch biased, promoting those things Saskatchewan has to trade was exactly what Moe’s job was in taking the mission.
The mission involved more than 25 meetings and events, including the signing of 10 Memorandums of Understanding by Saskatchewan based organizations to expand and extend the relationships that Saskatchewan has abroad.
An MOU is not a trade deal, but it is a solid foot-in-the-door.
“Japan and South Korea represent key growth markets for our food, fuel and fertilizer, but also serve as launch points into developing markets in the Asian region,” Moe said in the release.
It is to be hoped the initiative becomes the foundation for more trade, because that is what the farm sector relies on.
Calvin Daniels is Editor with Yorkton This Week.
