Re-branding Agriculture Canada

Jan 30, 2020

The federal government outlined a multi-million dollar program this week, to essentially rebrand Agriculture Canada.

The aim is to make consumers more aware of the many products made in Canada in the hope of having them purchase more of those products.

But there are some who would say one of the best ways to promote products made in Canada is to break down inter-provincial trade barriers.

In some cases, it is still easier for companies to ship products made in Alberta, for instance, to US markets than it is to ship it next door to BC or Saskatchewan.

Andrew Coyne with the Globe and Mail was one of the keynote speakers at the recent Cropsphere conference in Saskatoon and he made this comment later to Real agriculture.

"Even though we are setting a good example for the worlds in terms of free trade with other countries, we don't seem to be able to get it together at home in terms of internal free trade. That not only costly to us as an economy, in terms of the barriers trade between provinces. But also it is just embarrassing, it doesn't look like a functioning country."

"The only answer is to give the federal government the power to actually strike down the interprovincial trade barriers. There will have to be some kind of quick pro- quo where the fed get out of telling the provinces how to run their free health care systems and focus on the trade barriers. There is potential for growth there."

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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.