<\/p>\n Read Also<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/10-PORTofChurchill.jpg\")
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Push for Hudson Bay port shouldn\u2019t rob funds from existing export hubs<\/p>\n
An expanded Port of Churchill would unlock the dream to end the Prairie\u2019s land-locked status with its own northern coast gateway to the world. <\/p>\n
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Sobool said it would seem counterintuitive that more of Canada\u2019s exports are now entering that market tariff-free. A staggering 97.5 per cent of Canada\u2019s agri-food exports to the U.S. faced no duty crossing the border in June.<\/p>\n
He called it a \u201creally good news story.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the bad news is that total trade volumes to the U.S. are down 21 per cent between January and July.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not like the rest of the world has absorbed those lost sales. Trade to all other countries is down 16 per cent over that time.<\/p>\n
Agriculture exports to the U.S. have fared better, falling only seven per cent, while food and beverage exports have remained flat.<\/p>\n
Sobool had a warning for those who think Canada simply needs to diversify away from the U.S. market, shifting from a north-south trade flow to an east-west flow utilizing Canada\u2019s ports to access overseas markets.<\/p>\n
He noted that 76 per cent of Canada\u2019s agri-food exports typically flow to the U.S. with a total value of $35 billion.<\/p>\n
There have been suggestions that Canada should decrease that reliance to 50 per cent, or $23 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d have to find other markets for that $12 billion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even if Canada could find the rail and truck capacity to get that volume of product to port position there would need to be a huge expansion in the already strained port infrastructure and capacity to ship the product overseas.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoving away from the U.S. is going to be tough,\u201d said Sobool.<\/p>\n
He noted that the North American agri-food supply chain is intertwined and would be difficult to unravel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to ride out the storm,\u201d Sobool told delegates.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Canada needs to focus on improving its agricultural productivity, which plateaued in the 1991-2000 period and has been on a steady decline ever since.<\/p>\n
Productivity for the 2021-2030 period is expected to slump to 1970s levels.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has eight times the population of Canada, but its investment in agriculture technology is 23 times as much.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are lagging behind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
If Canada\u2019s agricultural productivity got back to 1991-2000 levels it would boost net farm income by $3 billion per year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a huge amount to add to your margins,\u201d said Sobool.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why FCC has committed to investing $2 billion in AgTech companies by 2030.<\/p>\n
Sobool said improving productivity could be the \u201cgolden ticket\u201d to helping improve economics in the agriculture sector.<\/p>\n
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