B.C. task force aims to grow agriculture, food processing industries

Agriculture Minister Lana Popham speaks at an event in Vancouver, April 30, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

British Columbia is launching a task force focused on growing the agriculture and food processing industries after years of struggle due to climate, labour concerns and now the threat of tariffs from the United States.

Agriculture Minister Lana Popham says the task force will provide recommendations to government in the next 10 months on topics such as access to water, land and labour, as well as competitiveness and investment.

Popham says plans for the task force were underway before threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to put 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, but the added economic uncertainty means now is the time to be focused on buying B.C. goods.

Danielle Synotte, executive director of the BC Agriculture Council and co-chair of the new task force, says many farmers and ranchers are concerned about the “double whammy” of having to deal with both possible tariffs and counter-tariffs.

She says farmers are adaptable and are already looking to diversify or are considering other markets as a way to respond to the U.S. threats.

Task force co-chair James Donaldson, CEO of BC Food & Beverage, says even if the tariff threat goes away in the short term it is having a permanent effect on U.S. buying behaviour as Americans look to buy U.S. products to avoid uncertainty in their own supply.

“That’s going to cause us to change the way we do things, and we’re going to have to be able to find ways to keep more Canadian products in Canada,” he said. “So, it’ll be really key for industry to work with government as well as Canada’s retailers.”

Popham said B.C. shoppers are already “voting with their pocketbooks” and Canadian fruit is being sold more quickly in some B.C. stores than American varieties.

“But we have a lot of work to do also, as government and industry, to make it easier for people to grow food here, to process food, and then also to establish new markets that are stable,” she said.

“We thought we had a stable partner with (the) United States. That’s proven to be wrong. And so we need to find different measures to move our goods, but that also includes provinces and territories right here in our own country.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2025.

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press