Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
I am the elected president of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance. I am joined by Sandra Marsden, president of the Canadian Sugar Institute and member of the CAFTA board of directors. We welcome the opportunity to be with you today to discuss competitiveness in Canada's agrifood sector.
CAFTA represents producers, processors, and other agriculture and agrifood organizations with a strong interest in trade. In fact, the sectors represented in our membership--cattle, pork, sugar, and grains and oilseeds--rely on international trade as a market for their products. Many of our members have already appeared or will be appearing before this committee in the coming weeks to discuss competitiveness in their own sectors.
Our remarks will focus specifically on trade, the role that trade plays in supporting a competitive agriculture and agrifood sector in Canada, and the need for Canada to remain committed to trade liberalization and the implementation and maintenance of a rules-based trade arena.
Canadian agriculture depends on trade. We rely on it. According to Statistics Canada, we exported $34 billion in agricultural products in 2007, an increase over our 2006 levels and a number that is estimated to have grown again in 2008 to $41 billion. The WTO ranks Canada as the fourth-largest exporter of agricultural and agrifood products in the world, behind the EU, the U.S., and Brazil. To put this in perspective, in 2007 we exported over half our beef and pork production, 70% of our wheat production, and almost two-thirds of our canola production.
Trade matters, and it matters to farmers. Almost 80% of total farm cash receipts come from export-dependent commodities. In every province, including Ontario and Quebec, the majority of farm-gate receipts are now derived from export-dependent products.
We have built an industry that relies on trade. Without it, our agriculture and food production sectors would contract significantly. We need international markets, and we need a transparent and fair set of rules to govern our trading activities.
For several years, CAFTA has promoted agricultural trade liberalization through the multilateral agreement being negotiated under WTO. As a multi-country agreement, the WTO can address a comprehensive range of trade issues and barriers, including market access, export subsidies, and domestic support, in a manner that is transparent and rules-based.
In late 2007, CAFTA engaged the George Morris Centre to analyze the potential benefits to Canadian agriculture under a WTO agreement. Using draft modalities introduced by the WTO in July 2007, the centre estimated that Canada's beef, pork, canola, and grain sectors would realize $3 billion a year in increased exports through increased volumes and increased values in a post-WTO world, or a post-Doha world.
The most recent WTO agriculture text and modalities, presented in 2008, represent substantial progress towards a WTO outcome that will provide significant gains for Canadian agrifood exporters. Its adoption will eliminate export subsidies, substantially reduce trade-distorting support, and expand access to export markets. It will increase transparency, fairness, and discipline.
Canada has benefited greatly from the reduction in trade-distorting barriers in the NAFTA and other trade agreements. We believe that Canada and Canadian agriculture will continue to benefit from an expanded rules-based trading environment under the WTO.
I'll now ask Sandra Marsden to make a few comments about the impact of the WTO on competitiveness in the sugar industry. Then I'll conclude with a few comments.