Yes, that's excellent.
Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee on your study of Bill C-4, an act to implement the agreement between Canada, the United States of America and the United Mexican States, also known as CUSMA.
It is a pleasure to appear today on behalf of Canada's 43,000 canola farmers. My name, of course, is Rick White, and I am the president and CEO of the Canadian Canola Growers Association.
Thank you for accommodating my presentation through teleconference from Winnipeg, where CCGA's head office is located. I am also joined in your room by Dave Carey. He's our vice-president of government and industry relations based in Ottawa.
Canola farmers support CUSMA and encourage the government to complete the parliamentary process quickly. Canada's ratification will provide a strong signal to our trading partners of the importance of this agreement and reinstate predictability and certainty in the North American marketplace for Canadian farmers.
CCGA represents canola farmers from Ontario to British Columbia on national and international issues, policies and programs that impact their farms' success. Developed in Canada, canola is a staple of Canadian agriculture as well as Canadian science and innovation. Today it is Canada's most widely seeded crop and is the largest farm cash receipt of any agricultural commodity, earning Canadian farmers over $9.3 billion in 2018. Annually, the canola sector provides $26.7 billion to the Canadian economy and provides for 250,000 jobs.
With 90% of canola exported as seed, oil or meal, free trade and access to international markets are key success factors for our farmers' continued prosperity. Free trade agreements such as CUSMA preserve and provide predictable markets and rules of trade in which to sell and grow our sector. In an environment of growing protectionism, it is even more important for Canada to support open markets and enable trade.
The North American Free Trade Agreement has served canola farmers well. Since its implementation 26 years ago, canola sales to our southern neighbours have grown significantly and have directly contributed to the growth and development of the canola sector here in Canada. Today the U.S. is our number one market, and Mexico is our fourth. In 2019, Canada sold 3.5 billion dollars' worth of canola products to the United States, which represents 5.6 million tonnes of seed, oil and meal. Ten years ago, our sales were $1.6 billion, so canola has more than doubled in value over the last decade.
Importantly, the U.S. is a critical market for canola value-added products. The U.S. purchases over 50% of our oil exports and 75% of our meal exports. The economic activity generated from processing seed in Canada and exporting oil and meal is an integral part of canola's contribution to the Canadian economy. Furthermore, many of these processors are in rural Canada, close to canola production. The value-added activity supports local communities, sustains rural employment and provides sales opportunities for canola producers outside the traditional elevator system.
CUSMA builds on and strengthens the NAFTA. CCGA advanced three priorities prior to and throughout the negotiations that are largely met with CUSMA.
Our primary objective was to preserve NAFTA concessions and maintain market access into the United States and Mexico. Under NAFTA and continued under CUSMA, exports of canola seed, oil and meal remain duty-free and will continue to face little in the way of trade barriers. This provides long-term predictability and restores certainty to our trade and business relationships.
Our second objective was to streamline and align regulatory practices between NAFTA partners. CUSMA adds a new section on agricultural biotechnology, including the new generation of plant breeding techniques, recognizing the importance of innovation for North American agriculture. It confirms existing procedures and builds on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, covering trade facilitation measures, instances of low-level presence and the creation of a working group for co-operation on agricultural biotechnology.
Our third objective was to seek improvements for further processed canola products, such as margarine and shortening. CUSMA modernizes the rules of origin, improving access for margarine products of which canola or soy are primary ingredients. Making the vegetable oil market more competitive should generate additional value-added activities here in Canada and capture more economic activity domestically. lt is unfortunate that we did not achieve the same outcome for shortening as the market is significantly larger.
While I appreciate today's testimony is focused on Bill C-4, the last year has been a challenging one for farmers. The loss of the China market for canola seed, various rail challenges, adverse weather and geopolitical and macro forces out of farmers' control have created significant uncertainty and risk at the farm level. Farmers are again making 2020 production decisions with limited certainty and knowledge of demand, price and available sales opportunities.
While CUSMA restores certainty in North America, reopening the China market to canola seed, meaningful changes to government business risk management programs, and biofuel market diversification are also required to assist farmers to manage the current and any future trade disruption. The current risk management programs, most notably agri-stability, falls short in addressing farm financial losses, and significant enhancements are required to make it work for farmers. Additionally, a clear requirement in the clean fuel standard that all diesel fuel consumed in Canada contain a minimum 5% renewable content would create greenhouse gas reductions and increase domestic demand for canola seed by an additional 1.3 million tonnes to 2.3 million tonnes.
In conclusion, NAFTA was critical to the development and success of the Canadian canola industry, and its modernization through CUSMA provides a platform to further stimulate growth in our sector and in the larger economy. As such, I have one parting comment. CCGA respectfully urges parliamentarians from both Houses to complete the necessary review and swiftly pass Bill C-4 into law.
I look forward to your questions.
Thank you very much.