The AgriPost
March 28, 2025
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Resolve Trade Issues:
China Targets Our Farmers
Manitoba’s Canola Industry, Farmers Call for Federal Action on Looming China Tariffs By Elmer Heinrichs
John Kowalchuk, an Alberta canola grower, said Canadian canola growers are facing current losses of 15-20% due to trade disputes that have nothing to do with Canola. “We don’t want handouts! Please work on a resolution to this so we can go into spring planting with some optimism!” says Kowalchuk. File photo Harry Siemens
By Harry Siemens Throughout the professional journey of many in the agricultural sector, the work environment has often been likened to a fishbowl—a space defined by accountability, where honesty, fairness, and objectivity are integral to daily practices. This perspective requires careful management of interpersonal relationships, ensuring that professional boundaries are respected. In that close-knit ecosystem, mutual respect flourishes. However, the current state of the farm community paints a different picture; it now resembles an isolated island cut off from vital resources, particularly as the rise of battery plants in the East threatens farmers’ livelihoods in the West. John Kowalchuk, an Alberta
canola grower, said Canadian canola growers are facing current losses of 15-20% due to trade disputes that have nothing to do with Canola. “We don’t want handouts! Please work on a resolution to this so we can go into spring planting with some optimism!” says Kowalchuk. The Food Professor Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Dalhousie University, posted that Canada triggered a tariff war with China to protect a House of Cards with EVs. Ottawa is now scrambling to find a buyer for Northvolt’s massive battery factory in Quebec after its Swedish parent company filed for bankruptcy. Charlebois noted that farmers were hit with steep tariffs on exports to China.
“Ottawa is betting billions on a speculative electric vehicle industry while leaving Canadian farmers and fishermen to pay the price – proof that agriculture is merely collateral damage in this trade war,” said Charlebois. Cam Dahl, general manager of Manitoba Pork, said China has imposed a 25% tariff on Canadian pork in retaliation for Canadian tariffs on various products, a 100% tariff on Canadian canola oil, meal, and peas and a 25% tariff on Canadian seafood. Dahl emphasized the significance of China as a market, stating that it is Canada’s third most important market for pork, with average exports of about $500 million over the past three years. For Manitoba specifically, China ranks as the
fifth largest export market for pork, following the U.S., Japan, Mexico, and South Korea. It contributes just over $130 million in exports, constituting approximately 8.5% of Manitoba’s total pork exports. Moreover, he pointed out the importance of the volume shipped to China, noting that certain products, such as offal, do not have readily available alternative markets. “We know that the Chinese market needs Canadian pork and agricultural products, and we hope that both the Canadian and Chinese governments recognize their importance in the global marketplace,” said Dahl. Jonathon Driedger, VP of Left Field Marketing, said the consequences of the Chinese Continued on Page 3...
Impending Chinese retaliatory tariffs on some canola products has led Manitoba farmers and industry members to critique the Canadian government for not doing enough to protect farmers from financial harm and make amends with China. Jason Johnston, who operates a grain farm in Darlingford, Manitoba, about 117 km southwest of Winnipeg, said provincial and federal politicians haven’t acknowledged the impacts farmers are facing since China’s commerce ministry announced it will impose 100 per cent tariffs on canola oil and oil meal. “In the week since this announcement has been made, canola has dropped $2 a bushel, so on my farm that would mean about an $80,000 loss every year,” Johnston said, adding that he farms approximately 1,000 acres of canola on crop rotation each year. “We are definitely in the red on canola at these prices.” The looming tariffs are in retaliation for Canada’s 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicle and a 25 per cent levy on Chinese aluminium and steel products imposed on October 1, 2024. Canada followed the lead of the United States and the European Union who initially applied import levies on Chinese-made electric vehicles. Canola is Canada’s second largest acreage crop with more than 21 million acres produced annually, said a federal news release. Canola meal exports to China made up $920.9 million of Canada’s economy in 2024 while canola oil exports to China made up about $21 million.