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As with the wider Canadian economy, the Covid-19 pandemic has represented an unprecedented shock to agri-food supply chains. Given the importance of Canadian agri-food exports, it is vital that supply chains rebound from the shock and disruptions are minimal. If this occurs, they should be able to respond to opportunities created by the supply chains of international competitors having to deal with Covid-19 in export markets. The demand for food is expected to increase in step with the forecast rise in global population to over 9 billion by 2050. In the next decade alone, total food use for cereals is forecast to grow by 1.2 per cent annually for cereals, 1.7 per cent for animal products and 1.9 per cent for pulses/roots and tubers. Agricultural production to be used as food, feed and in industrial applications will increase by 15 per cent in the next decade (OECD/FAO 2019). Canadian agri-food supply chains are well positioned to meet these future needs so long as they can maintain their resiliency. While the Covid-19 pandemic has not yet run its full course, it is already clear that Canadian agri-food supply chains, both those involved in provisioning the domestic market and those serving export destinations, have proved to be resilient in the face of the pandemic’s shocks and are rapidly returning to the high levels of efficiency they possessed prior to Covid-19. In the domestic market, while there were short run disruptions for some products, there were always sufficient substitutes on the shelves such that there was no threat to food security. As incomes fell, there have been increased calls on foodbanks but these are problems with the wherewithal to purchase, not food availability. Domestic supply chains proved themselves to be robust in dealing with major shocks including the shift to food consumed at home. The international supply chains for agri-food products also proved very resilient and are now well positioned to take advantage of opportunities. Some other countries’ supply chains have not proved as resilient or have suffered from government policy interventions. A number of Canada’s major competitors have imposed export bans, creating market opportunities that Canada could fill. Other competitors have been slower to deal with illness in their workforces. In some importing markets, their domestic supply chains are struggling, creating opportunities for imports from Canada. Due to projected global population growth, the increasing international market for major Canadian agricultural products such as wheat, beef and pork, and canola, are lucrative targets for Canada’s economic recovery and growth. Canada’s future success, however, depends on its agri-food supply chains not being encumbered by reactive regulations that reduce their efficiency, and by supportive policies that ensure producers in the supply chain weather the short-term pain from the Covid-19 crisis.

As with the wider Canadian economy, the Covid-19 pandemic has represented an unprecedented shock to agri-food supply chains. Given the importance of Canadian agri-food exports, it is vital that supply chains rebound from the shock and disruptions are minimal. If this occurs, they should be able to respond to opportunities created by the supply chains of international competitors having to deal with Covid-19 in export markets. The demand for food is expected to increase in step with the forecast rise in global population to over 9 billion by 2050. In the next decade alone, total food use for cereals is forecast to grow by 1.2 per cent annually for cereals, 1.7 per cent for animal products and 1.9 per cent for pulses/roots and tubers. Agricultural production to be used as food, feed and in industrial applications will increase by 15 per cent in the next decade (OECD/FAO 2019). Canadian agri-food supply chains are well positioned to meet these future needs so long as they can maintain their resiliency. While the Covid-19 pandemic has not yet run its full course, it is already clear that Canadian agri-food supply chains, both those involved in provisioning the domestic market and those serving export destinations, have proved to be resilient in the face of the pandemic’s shocks and are rapidly returning to the high levels of efficiency they possessed prior to Covid-19. In the domestic market, while there were short run disruptions for some products, there were always sufficient substitutes on the shelves such that there was no threat to food security. As incomes fell, there have been increased calls on foodbanks but these are problems with the wherewithal to purchase, not food availability. Domestic supply chains proved themselves to be robust in dealing with major shocks including the shift to food consumed at home. The international supply chains for agri-food products also proved very resilient and are now well positioned to take advantage of opportunities. Some other countries’ supply chains have not proved as resilient or have suffered from government policy interventions. A number of Canada’s major competitors have imposed export bans, creating market opportunities that Canada could fill. Other competitors have been slower to deal with illness in their workforces. In some importing markets, their domestic supply chains are struggling, creating opportunities for imports from Canada. Due to projected global population growth, the increasing international market for major Canadian agricultural products such as wheat, beef and pork, and canola, are lucrative targets for Canada’s economic recovery and growth. Canada’s future success, however, depends on its agri-food supply chains not being encumbered by reactive regulations that reduce their efficiency, and by supportive policies that ensure producers in the supply chain weather the short-term pain from the Covid-19 crisis.

As with the wider Canadian economy, the Covid-19 pandemic has represented an unprecedented shock to agri-food supply chains. Given the importance of Canadian agri-food exports, it is vital that supply chains rebound from the shock and disruptions are minimal. If this occurs, they should be able to respond to opportunities created by the supply chains of international competitors having to deal with Covid-19 in export markets. The demand for food is expected to increase in step with the forecast rise in global population to over 9 billion by 2050. In the next decade alone, total food use for cereals is forecast to grow by 1.2 per cent annually for cereals, 1.7 per cent for animal products and 1.9 per cent for pulses/roots and tubers. Agricultural production to be used as food, feed and in industrial applications will increase by 15 per cent in the next decade (OECD/FAO 2019). Canadian agri-food supply chains are well positioned to meet these future needs so long as they can maintain their resiliency. While the Covid-19 pandemic has not yet run its full course, it is already clear that Canadian agri-food supply chains, both those involved in provisioning the domestic market and those serving export destinations, have proved to be resilient in the face of the pandemic’s shocks and are rapidly returning to the high levels of efficiency they possessed prior to Covid-19. In the domestic market, while there were short run disruptions for some products, there were always sufficient substitutes on the shelves such that there was no threat to food security. As incomes fell, there have been increased calls on foodbanks but these are problems with the wherewithal to purchase, not food availability. Domestic supply chains proved themselves to be robust in dealing with major shocks including the shift to food consumed at home. The international supply chains for agri-food products also proved very resilient and are now well positioned to take advantage of opportunities. Some other countries’ supply chains have not proved as resilient or have suffered from government policy interventions. A number of Canada’s major competitors have imposed export bans, creating market opportunities that Canada could fill. Other competitors have been slower to deal with illness in their workforces. In some importing markets, their domestic supply chains are struggling, creating opportunities for imports from Canada. Due to projected global population growth, the increasing international market for major Canadian agricultural products such as wheat, beef and pork, and canola, are lucrative targets for Canada’s economic recovery and growth. Canada’s future success, however, depends on its agri-food supply chains not being encumbered by reactive regulations that reduce their efficiency, and by supportive policies that ensure producers in the supply chain weather the short-term pain from the Covid-19 crisis.

Global population has grown from approximately one billion a hundred years ago to eight billion in 2022. To feed this rapidly expanding population has required sustained technological advances in agricultural production and food storage, transportation and processing. This technological progress is fostered by the application of science and engineering to mechanization, chemistry and genetics. While not everyone is well fed, most are. Feeding the additional two billion people expected by 2050 will require continued technological advances. Some countries, however, are in the process of eschewing the use of modem agricultural technology to return agricultural production to pre-modem methods. They do so at their peril and, in some cases, threaten the food security of their populations. The major mandated changes in production methods also have the potential to create barriers to international trade - again negatively impacting on food security. This paper reports on the results of three such experiments in Sri Lanka, Mexico and the European Union. The conclusion is that policy makers should take more care when making radical changes in agricultural policy pertaining to production methods.

This paper examines the ongoing process of structural change in Bangladesh from the lens of agricultural productivity and rural development, emphasizing the need to adapt and diversify its economy preceding and following its graduation from least developed country (LDC) status. We present the case to modernize, diversify and upgrade Bangladeshs secondary agri-food sector to continue its structural transition, production and exports, thereby further raising incomes and reducing poverty, particularly in the rural non-farm economy. The development of and productivity gains in the fish aquaculture sub-sector illustrates the secondary agri-food sectors productive capacity and potential. The article demonstrates that the prospects for structural change in the agricultural processing sector remain promising, and that there is a need to expand agricultural value chains into value-added, secondary processing, agrifood, and high-value products.

Economic and commercial relations between the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian States are mired by the aftermath of the 1997 Asian crisis. How long the ASEAN countries will be affected by it, no one can say with certainty, although there are some signs of a resumption of growth. The economic condition of Japan is crucial to the area's development. If the Japanese economy continues to grow, then the crisis in the ASEAN countries will not be prolonged. Eventually growth will reassert itself. What is important from the EU perspective is that it develops further and improves on its economic and commercial relations with ASEAN so that EU companies can benefit from the resumption of economic growth in the area.

Canada is currently negotiating a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union; the issue of Geographic Indications (GIs) is on the negotiating agenda and is expected to be one of the most contentious issues in the negotiations. While the exact nature of protection for GIs to be included in the agreement is not yet clear, there is a potential conflict over market access with the U.S. (and presumably the approximately 50 other countries that use trademarks instead of GIs to protect this type of intellectual property). This paper explores the wider issues surrounding differences in the protection of intellectual property and the effect on market access as well as the potential specific issues pertaining to the CETA for NAFTA members. General issues include, among others, how market access could be restricted either by de facto import bans or the imposition of additional costs on exporting firms; would this qualify as nullification of impairment of a benefit under GATT? Does the TRIPS provides any guidance for this issue and would GIs be treated in the same way as a country entering a customs union and having to pay compensation if it raises tariffs to the common level? Any potential conflict between Canada's NAFTA commitments and potential CETA provisions are also investigated.

Public policy makers in Canada should expect the US to object to the extension of protection to EU GIs in the CETA. The expected gains made in other areas of the CETA for agreeing to protect EU GIs need to be weighed carefully against the potential cost of trade actions through NAFTA. The NAFTA has relatively strong commitments pertaining to intellectual property, although they remain largely untested. In the case of geographical indicators, the NAFTA commitments are structured around the trademark system used by the US and Canada. Other aspects of the NAFTA, such as the investment provisions, may also be used to challenge the negative impact of Canada granting intellectual property protection to GIs.