NDP Has Plan For Canadian Food Strategy

Sep 13, 2021

The NDP has released its agriculture platform ahead of the September 20th federal election.

Margaret Smith is a candidate in the riding of Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman

"We would be supporting sustainable agriculture which helps people to cope with things like drought and grasshoppers. We're making sure that we're working with the agricultural sector so that we help them to access low carbon tools and technology and to adapt better to sustainable kinds of practices in farming, so that they can adapt to these climate induced weather changes and other aspects of climate change crises."

The NDP election platform also lists the following priorities in relation to agriculture:

- New Democrats have a plan for a Canadian Food Strategy that will take a whole-of-government approach to address regional needs and priorities by investing in agricultural communities, supporting young and new farmers and taking steps to ensure that rural livelihoods are good and sustainable.

- New Democrats are committed to fully protecting supply management and ensuring reciprocity in all trade negotiations, and supporting our supply managed sectors as they innovate and grow.

- New Democrats will make sure that high-speed broadband and cell phone infrastructure is available to connect our farmers and rural communities to the services and tools they need, no matter where in the country they are.

- New Democrats will introduce a payment protection program for produce growers and take immediate steps to restore protection for growers selling to the United States under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.