The closures, combined with soon-to-take-effect closures of two further-processing pork factories in Quebec, leave primary producers of both vegetables and livestock hoping this isn’t a sign of things to come.

Pickle specialists Whyte’s Foods closed the doors on its Sainte-Rose plant in Laval, Que. on Dec. 30, with the “relocation of certain employees and equipment” to existing facilities in Saint-Louis de Richelieu, Que. and Wallaceburg, Ont. At the end of January, TruHarvest Meats stopped taking in cattle to its Toronto slaughterhouse, thereby leaving Ontario with just two federally-inspected beef plants.

Why it matters: The closures are evidence that, despite various government support programs aimed at easing the effects of COVID-19 and its aftermaths on food processing, uncertainty remains a reality in the sector.

A Nov. 3 news release from the Quebec-based Whyte’s stated “persistent labour shortages create(ed) the inability to meet minimum production thresholds” in Saint-Rose.

And in a recent interview with Farmtario, TruHarvest vice-president Chuck Oulton said an inability of the company — founded two years ago by the Forest-area beef-producing Burgin family — to secure approximately $5-million in financing for a plant upgrade and expansion to the former Ryding-Regency facility prevented them from achieving the economies of scale benefits of full, five-day-per-week processing capacity.

Importantly, it hasn’t been all bad news recently in central Canada’s food processing sector. France-based Bonduelle, with Ontario vegetable processing facilities in Tecumseh, Strathroy and Ingersoll, saw its parent ownership switch in late 2022 from France to the U.S. It now falls under the Nortera umbrella.

According to Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers general manager Keith Robbins, a recent meeting with the new owners gave him confidence that what he referred to as “strictly a structural change” in the company could lead to “a significant increase in (vegetable processing) capacity in Ontario.”

“They’ve already announced a fair number of investments already since taking over control,” Robbins said of Nortera, including expanded “tunnel capacity” in Ingersoll for handling sweet corn and enhanced tomato-processing equipment in Tecumseh.

On the meat side, Beef Farmers of Ontario chair Jack Chaffe says provincially licensed plants handling cattle have been running, on average, at over 100 per cent rated capacity thanks to a number of funding programs aimed at smaller-scale upgrades such as expanded freezer space and food safety compliance. “Really since 2019, with a few blips through COVID… everybody’s been putting lots of animals through” their provincially licensed facilities.

Food and Beverage Ontario CEO Chris Conway, meanwhile, said government-supported efforts to soften the effects of the ongoing labour shortage on Ontario’s food processing sector are starting to gather steam. He told Farmtario a basket of federal, provincial and industry-financed programs under the “CareersNOW” banner “has placed hundreds of people in jobs and has over 400 companies participating.”

The danger, though, is that upturns elsewhere in the economy cause the severity of food processing’s labour challenges to eventually slip off the government and societal radar screens. If that happens, Conway warned, CareersNOW — including virtual job fairs, training courses, mentor programs and high school outreach — could revert to the old model of receiving funding for a couple of years but then is expected to continue on its own without taxpayer support.

“In the past,” he noted, “the funding has always been fragmented and sporadic, with one-time programs” that could be cut off at the whim of politicians. “With CareersNOW, we’re going to need three to five years to be able to see long-term results.”

TruHarvest’s Oulton didn’t pinpoint labour shortages for leading to that plant’s closure. But it seems likely that if the Burgin family did manage to loosen government purse strings to support their hoped-for $5-6 million expansion, labour shortages would have quickly thrown up a new barrier to full-capacity meat packing.

Likewise, labour shortages weren’t given as the main reason for the recently announced closure of two pork further-processing factories in Quebec effective April 28. Olymel, which says the closures are part of a “reorganization” it embarked upon two years ago, due “to the ability of other (Olymel-owned) facilities to produce the same products and therefore achieve savings and efficiencies.”

One hundred and seventy jobs will be lost from the Olymel closures.

But labour shortage lurks in the background. In a Feb. 1 news release, Olymel CEO Yanick Gervais said the decision “should enable us to achieve our operational optimization objectives more rapidly in the context of unfavourable economic conditions, with rising raw material costs, labour shortages and the weakness of certain markets all affecting the company’s profitability.”

Beef Farmers of Ontario have identified labour as a major stumbling block. Through partnerships with the Canadian Cattle Association on the federally licensed side and Meat and Poultry Ontario on the provincially licensed side, they’re calling on governments to initiate stronger programs for allowing offshore workers to get meat-packing jobs in Ontario, and put more money behind training for the meat-packing sector.

“We would also like to see more investment from governments for infrastructure to modernize the plants,” Chaffe said, “but tackling the problems with the workforce is definitely the key (lobbying point for the organization).”

Likewise, Ontario Pork identifies two “asks” of government according to board chair John De Bruyn: “Investment in Ontario’s pork sector… to address the current reliance on processing plants in other provinces and the United States” (80 per cent of the province’s market hogs are processed in Ontario, including at just two federally inspected plants, but the other 20 per cent crosses borders to the east or south); and “resolv(ing) labour shortages through greater government and industry collaboration to address the recruitment, training and retention of workers on our farms as well as for our industry partners.”

Conway acknowledges primary producers also face labour shortage concerns. But on most farms, he suggests, it’s one of a group of significant concerns vying for the top spot on the priority list.

In food processing, by contrast, over the past few years, labour has consistently topped the list. “I’ve heard the chair of our board of directors say repeatedly that we have three top issues,” he said. “Number one is labour. Number two is labour. And number three is labour.”

Food and drink manufacturing in Ontario numbers approximately 4,000 businesses, mostly with less than 100 employees, and directly employs 125,000 people. The loss of TruHarvest saw about 160 people thrown out of work.

Retirements looming

But the number most concerning to Conway is 25,000 — the number of jobs that will become available within the next three years due to retirements and other departures. He related a recent tour at a processing facility in Chatham when a facility manager explained “we’ve got good (employee) retention. We’ve got a really good team who enjoys working here and does high-quality work. But what I don’t think people are getting their minds around is that a lot of these employees are retiring in the next three to five years.”

Those retirements could pile onto already-existing challenges in finding employees that have seemingly multiplied in the post-COVID era.

“Because they can’t find enough workers, a lot of (food processors) are reverting to their core production strengths” and sometimes contracting out the higher labour needs products to offshore partners. Robbins cited a frozen product that a Food and Beverage Ontario member company recently had the opportunity to introduce for export to Australia. The company ultimately decided to let that opportunity pass because “they didn’t have the labour to do it.”

“And there are all kinds of weird things that have happened with respect to supply chain and costs of production over the past few years that are just adding to this labour situation.”

Robbins says Ontario offers numerous enticements to food processing companies looking to invest in new or expanded capacity. “We have major population centres, we have good (food) growing areas and competent growers, we have proximity to distribution infrastructure with links to North America and globally,” he said.

But if other jurisdictions have easier access to labour or stronger government programs to address labour shortage challenges, those companies may decide to build or expand elsewhere.

Conway has high hopes for further results from CareersNOW and other programs targeting food processing labour shortages – if the momentum of awareness among governments and society at large can be maintained.

“We’ve had a really good relationship with the provincial government and we really appreciate the support,” he said. “It’s coming through OMAFRA; it’s coming through Skills and Training.”

He added that when Lisa Thompson, minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, announced the ruling Conservatives’ Grow Ontario strategy in November 2022, the top three goals — increasing the consumption of food grown and prepared in Ontario by 30 per cent; increasing the production of food grown and prepared in Ontario by 30 per cent; and increasing Ontario’s food and beverage manufacturing GDP by 10 per cent, all by 2032 — were “right on the money.”

But “the challenge we have is we’re not thought of by very many people as manufacturing.” As a result, food processing tends to fall out of the conversation when governments and society talks about economic recovery.

“In fact, we’re the largest manufacturing sector by employee numbers in the province. And that surprises a lot of people.”

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“Unfortunately, the ownership paused operation at the end of January for financial reasons,” said TruHarvest vice-president Chuck Oulton, when contacted at the Toronto plant in early March.

“It’s tough. The team worked very hard over two years to build what I think was a very successful business. It’s just unfortunate there wasn’t financing to build the capacity at the plant to where we wanted to get to, and to where we would have been able to meet the demand that’s out there.”

Why it matters: The Toronto plant closure significantly decreases slaughterhouse rail space available to Ontario’s beef producers.

Financed through the leadership of the Forest-based Burgin family, TruHarvest took over the former Ryding-Regency processing plant in early 2021. According to Oulton, the new company established a strong reputation in beef niche markets, including halal and kosher.

“I feel badly for some of our customers,” he said. “These companies, especially when it comes to kosher, really have no other place to go right now.”

The company vice-president said it was difficult to tell the plant’s 160 employees about the pending closure.

TruHarvest’s two-year business plan called for a production increase to 1,500 head a week, but instead it handled just 700 head a week at the time of closure, with employees working three days a week instead of five.

“With a new business, there’s only so much chance you have with the banks to get financing for expansions,” Oulton said. “The Burgin family put a lot out there to try and make this a success. I really do think they gave it their all.”

He believes there was justification for more provincial and federal funding to assist with TruHarvest upgrades, “but there just doesn’t seem to be any support from the government’s perspective.”

Cattle prices at sales yards have been strong over the last several months, which put upward pressure on processing costs.

“The market is the market. It’s not that part of the business that (led to closure),” said Oulton. “It’s the overhead.”

He estimated that a one-time investment of $5 million to $6 million would have allowed TruHarvest to increase capacity by 500 head per week. He still hopes “somebody comes up and want to do something with the operation” though they will need deep pockets to make it happen.

The plant and the potential employee base remain, he said.

“One of the hardest things to accept is that we worked for two years to build that great team.”

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Canada’s agriculture ministers are now calling on industry to lead the process.

They had formed the working group to study the issue in November, following complaints from suppliers that retailers were increasingly charging arbitrary, and costly, fees.

A summary report released Thursday said those fees are “causing tensions” in supply chain relationships, particularly between processors and retailers, as “fees have increased in their form and scale, and they have changed in the manner in which they are imposed.”

To find a regulated or legislated approach, the working group says provincial action would likely be required, but stakeholders operating on a national level contend doing so could lead to “disjointed provincial action, which could lead to inconsistent applications and loopholes if some provinces chose not to take action or do so differently.”

One potential approach being pitched is the development of a voluntary code of conduct with detailed rules to guide commercial relationships, while also providing a dispute resolution process.

Some stakeholders have proposed the creation of this, but there are concerns it might not be widely adopted and could lead to competitive distortions — for example, if only some businesses would be subject to paying compliance costs.

Making the code of conduct mandatory, which also has support in some sectors, could be implemented through legislation if needed. Critics warn doing so made lead to a lack of uniformity across the country as province’s each pass separate, potentially differing, laws.

Following Thursday’s meeting of Canada’s agriculture ministers, a readout from the proceedings called on “industry to lead a collaborative process to develop broad consensus around a concrete proposal to improve transparency, predictability, and respect for the principles of fair dealing.”

The ministers said the industry-led process will work alongside the working group.

Another update to agriculture ministers will likely be on the agenda at their next meeting, scheduled for December.

The dairy industry continues to be one of the loudest voices on the topic. In a release, the Dairy Processors Association of Canada (DPAC) welcomed the report’s findings.

“As a supply-managed industry, the arbitrary fees and penalties levied by large retailers create additional pressures for Canada’s dairy processors,” said Mathieu Frigon, DPAC’s CEO.

“We have heard from dairy processors across the country that this is a pressing issue and it is good to see that FPT ministers have come to the same conclusion. Now the important work toward an acceptable solution begins.”

The working group’s chair, Quebec Agriculture Minister Andre Lamontagne, said in a separate release Thursday it’s “essential to ensure more healthy relations between retailers and small processors and producers, who are particularly sensitive to uncertainty created by the fees imposed on them.”

However, he said he’s “optimistic” about sector players’ commitment to finding a mutually satisfactory solution.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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The U.S. Trade Representative’s office said its complaint alleges that Canada was improperly allocating CUSMA tariff-rate import quotas on 14 dairy products, diverting a portion of them to Canadian processors and unfairly limiting export opportunities for U.S. dairy farmers and processors.

USTR first requested consultations with Canada on the matter in December, when former president Donald Trump’s administration was still in office. USTR officials said that Canada had been “responsive” in discussing the U.S. concerns but that the dispute was not resolved.

CUSMA, which took effect in July 2020, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement, granted some additional limited access for U.S. dairy farmers and processors to Canada’s largely closed domestic dairy market, via tariff-rate quotas on 14 products from milk powder to ice cream and cheese.

USTR claims Canada is illegally reserving a portion of those quotas for Canadian processors.

“Canada is disappointed that the United States has requested a dispute settlement panel,” Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng said in a statement, adding the country is confident its policies “are in full compliance” with its tariff-rate quota obligations.

A dispute panel will take about 30 days to form under CUSMA’s dispute settlement system, and is due to file an initial report within about 120 days, with a final report 30 days after that — about late November.

USTR officials said that a ruling in the United States’ favour would lead to further consultations with Canada to resolve the matter but could ultimately lead to punitive tariffs imposed on imports from Canada.

“A top priority for the Biden-Harris administration is fully enforcing the USMCA and ensuring that it benefits American workers,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement, referring to the trade agreement by its U.S. name.

“Launching the first panel request under the agreement will ensure our dairy industry and its workers can seize new opportunities under the USMCA to market and sell U.S. products to Canadian consumers.”

— David Lawder is a Reuters correspondent covering international economic and trade issues from Washington, D.C.; additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa.

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Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Jan. 25 launched pre-budget consultations and since then, her schedule has involved several meetings with stakeholders.

“We want to hear ideas from Canadians, from all walks of life, on how to restore strong growth, forge a more resilient middle class, and build back better. This is your budget; tell us what matters most to you,” she said at the time.

A hard date hasn’t yet been set for the next budget, but Freeland’s consultation period is scheduled to close on Feb. 19. An online questionnaire for the public is available until that date.

In August, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture released its wish list for the 2021 budget. In these budget consultations, the organization plans to continue to refer back to that document, which offers three broad recommendations, each highlighted by specific measures that can be taken.

To kickstart the economic recovery, the CFA recommends the government restore the AgriStability program’s payment trigger to 85 per cent and eliminate the cap to reference margins.

Ottawa is prepared to remove the reference margin limit and boost the program’s compensation rate, but releasing extra dollars to farmers qualifying for payments is being held up by Prairie provinces reluctant to sign onto the deal. The provinces are responsible for covering 40 per cent of the government tab on AgriStability payouts.

CFA is also putting a particular focus is put on the processing sector. Citing a $77 million investment from the federal government to help food processors combat COVID-19, the organization says additional support is needed.

“To secure these critical food infrastructure links in advance of a second wave and the peak harvest season for many Canadian commodities, CFA recommends the next federal budget increase financial support to the food processing sector,” the document says.

“In addition to this support for existing food processors, CFA also recommends that the next federal budget invest in programming to support the development of more food processing facilities across Canada.”

CFA is also asking Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) “to reallocate underutilized AgriMarketing program dollars to implement a Buy Canadian campaign for Canadian retail channels, and engage exporters to identify and address key export opportunities.”

The 2020-21 spending estimates from the federal government show $20.3 million was transferred to partners through AgriMarketing programs, while talk of an Ottawa-led “Buy Canadian” campaign has floated around since at least 2019.

That year, the Liberals committed $25 million over five years to “develop a national approach to better connect Canadians with and instill pride in Canada’s food system and its agriculture, food and seafood products.”

In January 2020, AAFC put out a tender seeking a marketing firm to launch a “social marketing campaign to better connect Canadians with, and instil pride in, Canada’s food system and its agriculture, food and seafood products.”

The tender said an annual media buy budget between an estimated $1.5 million and $4 million would be available.

By June, Bibeau was saying the promotional campaign would “have to wait a bit longer” before being launched. At the time, concerns were being raised within her department over the timing of that program, and on which commodities it would focus.

On Jan. 15, the federal government awarded a $113,000 contract to Markham, Ont.-based digital ad agency Feast Interactive for the Buy Canadian campaign, but a timeline for its launch remains unclear.

CFA’s budget wish list also includes a call for better leveraging of agriculture’s environmental contributions. It asks the government to create programs allowing “producers to generate credits for agricultural activities under both the federal Greenhouse Gas Offset System and Clean Fuel Standard.”

Building resilience into Canada’s food system through a $3 million investment is another ask of CFA. They propose the dollars be used to reduce job vacancies “through career promotion, improve skills training opportunities for workers, support human resource management training/certification, and support commercialization of labour-saving technologies.”

The CFA is also requesting the federal government reinforce a $50 million fund targeted at reducing food waste.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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The cornerstone of the reform, introduced in September, allows private buyers to deal directly with farmers.

Angry farmers, who say that will make India’s traditional wholesale markets irrelevant and leave them at the mercy of big retailers and food processors, have camped out on major highways outside New Delhi for more than two months.

Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the government was open to suspending the laws for up to 18 months, during which time representatives of the government and farmers should work to “provide solutions” for the industry.

Bilateral talks have so far failed to break the deadlock — landing Prime Minister Narendra Modi with one of his most significant challenges since he was re-elected in 2019.

The next round of talks is due on Friday, and farm leader Dharmendra Malik said the unions would let the government know then if they would accept the offer and call off the protests.

The government was “sympathetic to farmers’ concerns and is trying to end the stalemate,” it said in a statement, thanking them for maintaining “peace and discipline” during the protests.

Farmers plan a tractor rally through New Delhi on Tuesday, India’s Republic Day, which the Supreme Court on Wednesday declined a government petition to ban.

— Reporting for Reuters by Mayank Bhardwaj; additional reporting by Suchitra Mohanty and Nigam Prusty.

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The strength in soybeans pulled corn higher, which closed in positive territory after trading lower for much of the session. Wheat futures also were firm, recovering from Monday’s sharp sell-off on technical buying and bargain hunting.

U.S. soy processors crushed 181.018 million bushels of soybeans in November, their third largest monthly crush on record, according to the National Oilseed Processors Association. The report also showed the highest monthly soymeal export total in nearly eight years.

Chicago Board of Trade January soybean futures gained 14-3/4 cents to close at $11.84-1/4 a bushel (all figures US$). CBOT March corn rose 3/4 cent to $4.24-3/4 a bushel.

Investors were closely monitoring weather developments in key production areas of Brazil and Argentina after dry weather early in the growing season raised concerns about the prospects for both the corn and soybean crops.

“Uncertainty over the impact of this month’s weather will likely hang over the markets for a few more weeks,” StoneX chief commodities economist Arlan Suderman said in a note to clients. “Some crop losses are expected, but the scope of losses is still being determined.”

CBOT March soft red winter wheat futures ended up 3-1/4 cents at $5.99-3/4 a bushel, finding technical support at its 20-day moving average.

On Tuesday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed orders to implement a wheat export tax and grain export quota, aimed at stabilizing food prices.

Top wheat buyer Egypt bought 120,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat and 115,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat in an international tender on Tuesday.

The Egyptian wheat tender on Tuesday showed fewer offers of Russian wheat than in previous tenders and at much higher prices.

— Reporting for Reuters by Mark Weinraub; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Colin Packham in Sydney.

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Increases were reported throughout the canola and soybean crushes when comparing this October with October 2019.

October 2020 saw 931,060 tonnes of canola crushed, which bested the previous record of 899,331 tonnes set in December 2019. Also, the October 2020 canola crush was a 5.5 per cent improvement over the crush the same month in 2019.

From this October’s crush came 400,909 tonnes of canola oil, for an increase of 4.7 per cent compared to the amount of oil produced in October 2019.

There were 531,444 tonnes of meal from the crush, eight per cent more than was produced the previous October.

Statistics Canada also reported a soybean crush of 160,074 tonnes, up 7.6 per cent from October 2019.

The amount of soyoil produced this October came to 29,499 tonnes, a 9.2 per cent increase over last October.

There were 123,084 tonnes of soymeal last month versus 114,576 tonnes last year.

Table: Canada’s canola and soybean crush, in tonnes. Source: Statistics Canada.

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JBS USA, owned by Brazil’s JBS SA and one of four major U.S. beef processors, said it installed “ultraviolet germicidal air sanitation” equipment in plant ventilation and air purification systems that use a specific frequency range of light waves to kill germs.

Tyson Foods, which produces beef, pork and chicken, said it is doing extensive research on air flow and testing ultraviolet air treatment systems across several plants.

It is not known whether such technologies kill the new coronavirus.

The moves underscore the mounting pressure to protect workers in the U.S. meat industry, which has seen more than 16,000 plant employees in 23 states infected with COVID-19 and 86 worker deaths related to the respiratory disease.

Plant employees and their families have said processors like JBS and Tyson Foods told sick workers to show up at plants, and moved too slowly to protect them with social distancing and equipment like masks.

As worker infections grew, so have meatpackers’ legal problems. In one case, the family of a Pennsylvania man who died from COVID-19 sued JBS USA parent company JBS SA for failing to protect him at the meat plant where he worked.

Low temperatures, which generally allow viruses to survive in the air longer, and crowded working conditions have made meatpacking plants global coronavirus hotspots.

In Germany, a COVID-19 outbreak forced meatpacking plants to review infection risks posed by their cooling systems. One meatpacker had to install high-efficiency HEPA filters typically used in hospitals before being allowed to reopen on Friday.

The World Health Organization last week acknowledged “evidence emerging” of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended meat companies consider consulting engineers to ensure adequate ventilation in work areas, but has not required changes to air systems.

JBS told Reuters it also installed “plasma air cleaning technology” in U.S. plants that uses bipolar ionization to neutralize particulates in the air, including virus cells and bacteria.

The company said it is still collecting data on how well the air treatment system works.

Some rivals are holding off. Privately held chicken company Perdue Farms said it has not made any ventilation changes because it has not seen scientific data that shows the virus is spread through industrial air systems. Employees are wearing masks and practicing social distancing for protection, according to the company.

— Tom Polansek reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago.

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CFC chair Benoît Fontaine warned federal MPs as much during a virtual meeting of the Commons standing committee on agriculture and agri-food on May 29.

Farmers and processors were left with a surplus in production for a short period of time at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, he said, but the supply-managed industry was able to quickly change its production levels to avoid a “worst case scenario” that would have resulted in the depopulation of flocks.

The industry dropped its allocations from May to July by 12.6 per cent, and plan to reduce production by 11 per cent throughout July and into early August.

“This choice was done under our own initiative in order to act responsibly and satisfy Canadian demand without too many surpluses,” Fontaine said in French, noting processing plants have reduced volumes to make way for physical distancing measures while combating absenteeism and some temporary plant closures.

Fontaine raised concern over the value of flocks not being covered under current federal financial backstops. Most government-funded programs only offer support to the industry when there is a major depopulation of flocks, he said, but only to help cover the costs of euthanasia and not the overall value of the flock.

Jean-Michel Laurin, CEO of the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council, said continuing to operate has had “significant financial impact on our sector.”

More than $87 million was spent in March and April on mitigating the impact of COVID-19 within member facilities, while at the same time having to adapt to market disruptions, he said.

“Because of the severe market correction, in poultry specifically, wholesale prices have dropped significantly since the beginning of the crisis,” he said. “What we want to stress is that this perfect storm creates vulnerabilities within our supply chain.”

While a fund of $77.5 million has been created by the federal government to help processors mitigate the impacts of the pandemic within their facilities, that money is not easily accessible because of certain eligibility requirements, according to testimony at the committee.

Concerns continue to be raised that money won’t be close to enough for Canadian agri-food processors.

“We can’t ask for reimbursement on disposable masks; it has to be reusable masks, and that will add to the costs,” council chair Joel Cormier said, noting his workers require disposable masks. “We’re trying to protect workers here, masks are absolutely needed. Washable ones are not good enough in this sector.”

Laurin said many companies began installing protective devices in February, prior to when federal assistance dollars were available to do so.

“We’d like to ensure that there could be reimbursement or compensation retroactive to things done before (the federal dollars were made available),” he said.

Like others in the processing industry, Cormier raised concern over not qualifying for certain wage supplements being made available by Ottawa.

“Right now, we are not eligible to the salary supplements, the wage supplements, because the thresholds, whether it’s eggs or poultry, our production is pretty steady, but demand has dropped like crazy,” he said, noting they couldn’t drop production in time to be eligible for the supplement.

During his testimony at the same meeting, Rory McAlpine, senior vice-president of Maple Leaf Foods, called for a forensic look at food systems to be completed by an independent body after the pandemic.

“There needs to be at least one inclusive, evidence-based post mortem or lessons learned,” he said, adding federal and provincial officials should be instructed to participate fully in such a study.

Such a report, he suggested, needs to ask why Canada did not have a cross-agency business continuity plan for food in place prior to the pandemic.

Meetings of the committee will continue to take place regularly until Sept. 21.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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