Canada\u2019s food security depends on reliable access to fertilizer and stable global supply chains, the head of Fertilizer Canada told senators Thursday.<\/p>\n
Senate Agriculture and Forestry Committee studies Food Security in Canada.<\/p>\n
Michael Bourque, chief executive officer of Fertilizer Canada, appeared before the Senate Agriculture and Forestry Committee as it continues its study into food security in Canada. Bourque said fertilizer plays a critical role in global food production and warned that ongoing geopolitical instability is putting pressure on supply chains.<\/p>\n
\u201cFertilizer is essential to food security in Canada and around the world,\u201d Bourque told the committee, noting it supports roughly half of global food production. He said growing populations mean more food must be produced on the same amount of land, something he argued is not possible without fertilizer.<\/p>\n
Supply chain volatility<\/p>\n
Bourque told senators that fertilizer markets are highly sensitive to disruption because the product is globally traded. He pointed to conflict in the Middle East, the war between Russia and Ukraine, and domestic transportation issues such as rail disruptions as examples of events that can quickly affect availability and price.<\/p>\n
Supply chain shocks, he said, create volatility that directly impacts farmers.<\/p>\n
\u201cFertilizer is often the single largest input cost for Canadian farmers,\u201d Bourque said, adding that market instability forces producers to make difficult decisions that can affect yields, farm profitability and food prices.<\/p>\n
Canada not fully self-sufficient<\/p>\n
While Canada is a major fertilizer producer, Bourque said the country remains dependent on imports for key nutrients.<\/p>\n
Canada is the world\u2019s largest producer of potash and a significant producer of nitrogen fertilizer, but relies on foreign sources for phosphate, which is not produced domestically. Bourque told senators that very few countries are fully self-sufficient across all essential fertilizer nutrients.<\/p>\n
\u201cFertilizer is inherently global and food security depends on very reliable supply chains and secure access to international markets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Study continues<\/p>\n
The Senate Agriculture and Forestry Committee is examining how agriculture contributes to food security in Canada, including vulnerabilities related to trade, transportation and global conflict.<\/p>\n
Bourque told senators that maintaining efficient import and export systems for fertilizer is essential, warning that restricted access to fertilizer markets could have serious consequences for food production and economic stability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere can be no food security without reliable access to the fertilizer market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s food security depends on reliable access to fertilizer and stable global supply chains, the head of Fertilizer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-611305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}