AGCanadaTV: In case you missed it; your national ag news recap for July 4, 2025
Tax walk-back avoids trade negotiation breakdown
Canada scrapped its digital services tax on Monday after U.S. president Donald Trump threatened to end trade negotiations.
In a social media post on Friday, Trump had called the tax a “blatant attack” and suggested he’d impose new tariffs.
Negotiations resumed after the Carney government dropped the tax, which was set to take effect at the beginning of the week. However, supply management could add another sticking point. Trump specifically attacked Canadian tariffs on dairy in Friday’s social media post.
Dairy was a sticking point in negotiations for the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Trade Agreement. That agreement provided duty-free quotas for U.S. dairy and put levies on anything above those levels. Washington has previously challenged how Ottawa sets these quotas.
Parliament recently set legislation to protect supply-management in future trade talks. However, this legislation may not be as binding as farmers think, said Tyler McCann – managing director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute.
Bunge-Viterra merger closes
A controversial merger between Bunge and Viterra closed on July second, creating a grain giant on par with Cargill and ADM.
Bunge CEO Greg Heckman called the day a defining moment for the company. Bunge said the merger would create better geographic balance in its supply chains, and would connect farmers to areas with the fastest-growing consumption. It also expects more stable cashflow.
The merger raised concerns about market consolidation. A producer-commissioned study found that the merger could lead to a 770 million dollar net annual loss to farmers due to increased export basis and crush margins. Canada’s competition bureau also said the deal was likely to result in substantial anti-competative effects. Bunge and Viterra disputed these findings.
Digital agriculture needs policy focus, report says
Not making digital agriculture a priority in Canada’s agriculture policy framework was a mistake. That’s according to a recent report from the Canadian Agricultural Policy Institute and tech accelerator EMILI.
The report said that digital agriculture offers powerful tools to meet current challenges, however Canada’s piecemeal approach isn’t working. Adoption of digital tools like precision agriculture and farm management software is patchy. With cost of implementation a key concern. Interoperability, rural connectivity and time constraints also pose challenges.
The agriculture sector and multiple levels of government should see digital agriculture as a key sprint, said report co-author Dan Lussier. If they invest heavily and focus for the next 10 years, the sector could look quite different at the end.
