Growth opportunities for Canadian agri-food in the ASEAN market

Dec 18, 2024

As Canada looks to further diversify export markets and reduce the marketing risk that comes from an overreliance on the U.S., Asia looms large. China and India are Asian markets that have not been fully tapped yet but ongoing geopolitical tensions are making it difficult to develop more significant trade relations. Another option for Canadian exporters is Southeast Asia, a key area within the larger Indo-Pacific region. Canada’s exports there have grown across the three major categories of agriculture, food and fertiliser, but there’s even more growth that’s possible.

In this post, we identify some food products and ag commodities highlighted in recent research that are currently not reaching their export potential.

The ASEAN market is one of the world’s largest

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional intergovernmental organization with 10 member states: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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Video: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.