[UPDATED] New federal Agriculture Minister Kody Blois says he’s taking steps to cut red tape from the Canadian agri-food sector in a bid to increase competitiveness and reduce costs for producers.
“We know that is a crucial time right now for Canadian farmers and we have to be doing everything in our control to reduce costs,” Blois said in a video posted on X.
“The Prime Minister has been clear: we have to focus on what we can do at home to be able to control our economic future,” he added.
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In a statement on Thursday evening, Blois announced that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency would take measures to remove unnecessary regulatory burdens.
These included speeding product approvals to provide alternatives to U.S.-sourced animal feed. The move was touted to alleviate tariff pressures on feed producers by making more feed ingredients available in Canada or from other countries.
Maximum slaughter age
Blois said the CFIA will address “stakeholder irritants” through regulatory changes. For instance, Canada will explore increasing the maximum slaughter age for feeder cattle to 40 weeks from 36.
This change would update rules related to veal production. Feeder calves imported from the U.S. must be kept in a quarantine barn facility. Then, once they reach 36 weeks of age, they must be slaughtered regardless of if they have been properly finished, said Jennifer Haley, executive director of Veal Farmers of Ontario.
“The maximum slaughter age is in place as a risk mitigation because they are intact males and ensuring that they do not move to other feeding facilities and have the potential to reproduce,” said Haley.
“However, with the quarantine process requiring a terminal direct to slaughter route, the age is irrelevant and the risk to the industry is no different than it was before.”
In 2021, the maximum carcass weight for veal calves was increased but maximum age wasn’t changed so producers were forced to send underweight calves slaughter.
“Since June of 2021, the (Canadian Veal Association) has been lobbying AAFC and CFIA to make this change to coincide with the feeding practices to no avail,” Haley said.
“The Canadian Veal Association is thrilled that Minister Blois has signalled his intention to finally get this updated completed to benefit the Canadian veal sector. It has been a long time coming and it is an encouraging sign that Minister Blois is prepared to work with industry to allow us to be more competitive in these challenging times,” she added.
BSE enhanced feed ban changes
The CFIA will also aim to harmonize Canada’s bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) enhanced feed ban with U.S. requirements. This, the federal government said, puts the Canadian beef sector at a competitive disadvantage compared to the U.S. industry.
Canada’s ban requires certain animal tissues, defined as “specified risk material” (SRM), from the animal feed and human food supply, including the skull, brain, eyes, spinal cord, and others.
“Removing specified risk materials (SRM) is costly and puts Canada’s beef industry at an economic disadvantage because of the differences between Canadian and American SRM requirements,” said Canadian Cattle Association president Nathan Phinney in an email.
“The differential cost of the more stringent SRM removal and disposal regulations in Canada is estimated to be from CAD$32 to $62 per metric tonne depending on the size of the establishment,” he said. “The costs of the Canadian SRM regulations place a significant burden on our industry, costing approximately $31.7 million annually.”
Harmonizing Canadian testing requirements for salmonella at hatcheries with U.S. regulations is also in the works.
Blois said “outdated prescriptive requirements” would be removed regarding labeling requirements for fresh fruit and vegetables. The CFIA will also continue to work on modernizing fruit and vegetable grades.
Committing to action?
Tyler McCann, managing director of the Canadian Agricultural Policy Institute (CAPI), said in a post on X that the statement appears to signal a commitment to action, which “is a pretty big change in itself.”
“It makes competitiveness a priority,” he wrote. “Lip service was paid before, but decisions made competitiveness worse and irritants were left in place.”
For example, the feed ban changes should have been made a while ago, McCann said.
“The biggest impact may be the signal sent to the bureaucracy that the old way of doing things is over. This should have ripple effects,” he added.
McCann said the change in leadership “shows promise,” but said he expects many in Canadian agriculture will have a hard time “forgetting some of the recent challenges.”
