Building Resilience Across the Canadian Agriculture and Agri‑Food Sector
Organic sector organizations have submitted a high-level statement of priorities for the Next Policy Framework (NPF), the guiding Federal-Provincial-Territorial framework for agricultural programs and funding from 2028-2033.
Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector is navigating an increasingly complex operating environment shaped by climate change, rising input, labour, and energy costs, growing consolidation, and difficult generational renewal. Recent geopolitical uncertainty, trade instability, and supply chain disruptions have further underscored the importance of reliable domestic production capacity, reduced dependence on imported food and agricultural inputs, and diversified farming systems that can deliver on food security and affordability for Canadians.
The NPF presents a critical opportunity to strengthen strategic independence, long-term resilience, competitiveness, and sustainability across the sector.
Along with 16 other organizations, Canadian Organic Growers has provided a statement intended to inform the early stage of NPF consultations. The submission draws on perspectives from farmers, agri-food businesses, and organizations across the agricultural, environment, and food system. The challenges described, and the need for systemic solutions can be applied across the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector.
The statement contains two high-level recommendations:
- Adopt long-term resilience as the overarching objective guiding policy and investments through the NPF.
- Recognize and utilise organic agriculture (including aquaculture) and food as one strategic, cross-cutting pathway to deliver on resilience, competitiveness, sustainability, and sector renewal. In order to scale these impacts from organic agriculture, the NPF should include a development strategy for organic food and farming.
We encourage community members and all those interested in the future of Canadian agriculture to read our submission and use it as guidance when participating in Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Consultation on the 2026 Next Policy Framework. The deadline to submit your thoughts is June 30th, 2026.