Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Kathleen Sullivan and I'm the executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance. I am joined today by my president, Richard Phillips, who is also the executive director of the Grain Growers of Canada. We would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about the Canada-Jordan Economic Growth and Prosperity Act.
Canada's agrifoods sector depends on trade. Canada is the fourth-largest agrifood exporter in the world. We export $40 billion per year in agriculture and food products. That is quite literally 50% of everything we grow in this country. If we didn't have access to foreign markets, the size and structure of our domestic production and processing sectors would be radically impacted.
Agriculture and food exports are critical to national, provincial, and rural economies across the country. They account for almost 10% of Canada's total merchandise trade. Across Canada, over 200,000 farms are dependent on export markets. Trade must be a priority for Canada. As we look to the future success of Canada's agriculture sector, we have three major trade priorities. The first is to continue seeking opportunities to conclude a multilateral trade deal that further liberalizes agrifood trade. The second is to aggressively and actively pursue meaningful bilateral and regional trade deals. The third is to address market access issues.
I just want to briefly mention multilateral trade deals. We certainly recognize that the WTO is at an impasse. The reality is that when we look at trade distortions and agriculture around the world, the only way to truly address them is through a multilateral trade deal. We do encourage the Canadian government to continue working with other WTO countries to try to reach some sort of solution to the impasse and breathe new life into the talks.
When it comes to bilateral and regional trade deals, it is critical that Canada act aggressively and uncompromisingly to pursue our export interests around the globe. The Canadian government has in fact put in place the most ambitious trade agenda that this country and its farmers have seen in a generation. We are now looking at the possibility of trade deals with lucrative markets that include the EU, India, South Korea, Japan, and the trans-Pacific partnership countries. These deals combined would increase agricultural exports significantly. In many cases, if we aren't involved in those trade deals it will have a detrimental effect on Canada's farming and food processing communities.
When it comes to Jordan, the truth is that Canada-Jordan trade in agriculture is relatively small. Last year Jordan ranked as our 73rd export market, with just $16 million in shipments. Having said that, like many of our smaller trading partners, Jordan is in fact a very important market for specific agriculture products--in this case, pulses. In 2001, 70% of all of the agriculture exports to Jordan were pulses, in particular chickpeas and lentils. It is a growing market. Our agriculture exports to that country grew by 40% between 2010 and 2011.
We strongly support trade in the agriculture community in Canada. It's critical to what we do. We welcome the government's strong approach to trade, in particular the commitment that both Minister Ritz and Minster Fast have made to finding new trade opportunities for our sector. We look forward to trade becoming a key component of the future of agriculture.
Thank you very much.