Skip to content | Skip to institutional links

Institutional links

Agri-food

Canada’s Agri-food Advantages

Food for Thought

Investors with an appetite for high-quality products and matching profitability will satisfy their craving in Canada’s highly competitive food processing and bio-industrial sectors. Canadian advances in science, technology and government policy have spearheaded advanced food processing, organics, health and wellness, innovations in nanotechnology, genetic engineering, and the development of environmentally friendly, industrial products. It all starts with Canada’s vast agricultural land base that provides ready access to a rich supply of raw materials and fresh ingredients. Add in abundant energy, water and natural resources, streamlined corporate taxes and regulations, internationally-respected inspection systems and an integrated transportation network that assures rapid distribution across the continent and around the globe. Put them all together and you have the ingredients for a vibrant agri-food manufacturing industry that offers investors rewards as tantalizing as the safe, delicious, nutritious foods it produces.

Look what Canada has to offer:

  • Canada’s business environment is ranked 1st among G7 countries
  • Lower R&D costs than other OECD countries - 0.4% vs. 1.1% in the U.S. and 2% in Japan
  • 2nd among OECD countries in tax relief per R&D dollars spent
  • World-class product testing/pilot facilities, with flexibility for small trials and production runs
  • Canada’s geographic and ethnic diversity offers opportunities for test marketing and clinical trials
  • Intermodal freight transport connected to all points on the continent, unique access to Asia-Pacific with the closest port to Shanghai and the closest port to Europe
  • Agri-food clusters closer to major U.S. border cities than the nearest U.S. hubs

Areas of agri-excellence

Healthy products – Canadian companies are developing and implementing cutting-edge technologies to produce nutrient- rich natural health products, innovative functional foods and trustworthy health ingredients. Canadian breakthroughs include: healthier canola oils, flax bio-actives, oat and barley beta-glucans, berry-based polyphenolic antioxidants, phystosterols and stanols, and fibre-based prebiotics.

Healthy alternatives – As a world leader in grain and oilseed production, Canada’s bio-industrial sector is at the forefront of mining new bio-materials and fuels, and converting agriculture bio-waste into viable, alternative industrial and consumer products. Canadian innovations include: grain-based ethanol and bio-diesel, soy-based polyurethane foam, natural fibre composite resins, compostable bio-plastics and bio-based lubricants.

A snapshot of the industry

  • 2nd largest manufacturing industry
  • Employs 291,000 Canadians
  • 14% of all Canadian manufacturing shipments – worth $83.3B or 2% GDP
  • Exports of $31B – 69% to the U.S., followed by Japan and China
  • 6,700 food and beverage processing firms across the country
  • Planned investments in machinery and equipment of $1.8B in 2008
  • Operating profit margins range from 4%-6%
Sub-sectors – Meat, dairy, bakeries and tortilla, fruit and vegetables, grain and oil seed, animal food, breweries, sugar and confections, seafood, soft drinks and ice, distilleries and wineries.

The seeds of Canadian ingenuity

Canada boasts numerous research clusters that nurture innovation and advance the agri-food industry, including: