The Effects of Globalization of Food on Farms and Agricultural Policy in Canada

The effects of Globalization of Food on farms and Agricultural Policy in Canada
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The effects of Globalization of Food on farms and Agricultural Policy in Canada
The global food industry is one of the emerging concerns amongst developed and developing countries. It has brought about far-reaching diet convergence while causing significant disruptions to dietary practices, food cultures and farming, in various countries, including Canada. This paper seeks to demonstrate the impact of globalization in the food and farming sector in Canada.
Globalization is dynamic, ongoing, and rapid global economic integration often aided by lower transaction costs, limited restrictions to increased mobility of capital, goods, and services. It demonstrates the emerging interdependence of global economies. The wave of globalization has not spared food and agricultural industries across various regions in the globe. It has had a far-reaching implication on food prices, cost of production, availability of modern farm technologies, posing threats to indigenous food, the influx of healthy and unhealthy foods, and increasing food labeling challenges. These implications have a resounding impact on farm and food policies in various countries and regions such as Canada. It is marked by ever-growing market liberalization and reduced government control on business due to creating a business environment that allows massive interaction and exchange of food and agricultural products in a web of a globalized economy. The food and farming flows are highly boosted by systematic eliminations of trade and investment barriers that restrict mobility and flow of these products capital and investment, leading to increased competition and market liberalization. This growing trend has profoundly influenced food on farms and the overall framework of agricultural policies in Canada.
The Food Policy in Canada is quite sophisticated due to a government approach in partnerships with diverse stakeholders who are on a mission of tackling the food issues. The Canadian agriculture and agri-food system (AAFS) is intricate and highly interconnected. It is an integrated system comprising i, agricultural service and farm input suppliers, producers, food and beverage processors, food-related retailers and wholesalers, and foodservice investors. AAFS comes with substantial economic benefits at the national and provincial levels. According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) (2016), AAFS contributed an estimated $108.1 billion, representing 6.6 per cent of country’s GDP in 2014, and the n was reflected in the employment industry where AAFS account for absorbing more than 2.3 Canadians in the same year. In the global arena, each component's performance in AAFs relies on its capacity to compete on a domestic and global scale. As a result of globalization, Canada was the world’s fifth-largest agricultural exporter after the EU, the U.S, China and Brazil as of 2014, where its exports sales rose by 12 per cent from 2013 to an estimated figure of $51.5 billion in 2014 (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) (2016). This data demonstrates the importance and relevance of globalization, as represented by international trade, to Canada’s economy. The benefits gained from globalization has led to Canada’s development of policies that encourage its export trade while at the same time re-evaluating the impact of globalization on Canadian agricultural, food industry and other sectors of the economy.
Some of the iconic Food Policies initiated by the Canadian government with support from various groups include Local Food Infrastructure Fund, Northern Isolated Community Initiatives Fund, Buy Canadian Promotion Campaign, Reducing Food Waste, Tackling Food Fraud, National School Food Program, and Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council. The overall food policy in Canada revolves around blueprints that support food systems that are healthier and sustainable. Thus, the critical concern would be how the growing globalization impacts Canada's sustainable and healthier food system. Canada’s food policy is anchored on the government’s desires to...