Canada announces $89M investment for supply-managed sectors

Canada will invest $89 million to support supply management systems for dairy, poultry and egg processors in the country.

The move was made to lessen the effects of recent trade agreements on supply-managed industries like dairy, poultry, and egg processing; 49 initiatives will be supported nationwide by the funds.

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay said the resource will enhance production capacity and productivity and address environmental challenges and labour shortages.

“Examples of the projects include milk pasteurizers, ultrafiltration systems, robotics for packaging systems, and new machines for grading, setting, and breaking eggs,” MacAulay said.

The announcement was made at Lactalis Canada’s cheese plant in Ingleside, Ont., which stands to receive up to $3,343,000 from the fund. Lactalis will acquire new automated cheese processing and packaging equipment. Along with modernizing the production plant, the modifications will increase productivity and decrease waste.

“The Government of Canada remains committed to preserving, protecting, and defending Canada’s supply management system. This system ensures Canadian producers receive fair returns for their labour and investments, brings stability for processors, and provides consumers with a steady supply of high-quality products,” MacAulay said.

Approximately 100,000 direct employment in production and processing operations and roughly $14 billion in farm-gate sales in 2022 will be created by the supply-managed industries, which are essential to Canada’s agricultural landscape. According to a statement, the processing of dairy and poultry brought in an astounding $27 billion to Canada’s manufacturing shipments in 2022 alone, or 17 per cent of the country’s total manufactured shipments of food and beverages.

In 2022, the government introduced a six-year, $397.5 million Supply Management Processing Investment Fund initiative to help supply-managed commodity processors adjust to changes in the market brought about by international trade agreements.

The program’s non-repayable contributions can support up to 50 per cent of qualified project costs for small and medium-sized businesses and up to 25 per cent for bigger firms with 500 employees or more.

“The Government of Canada has fulfilled its commitment to fully and fairly compensate producers and processors who have lost market share due to the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). The total compensation is expected to surpass $4.8 billion,” MacAulay said.