Government of Canada invests in organic industry

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau has announced funding of up to $770,000 for the Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA) to support market development for organic products.

“Canada’s organic industry is one of our fastest growing sectors. These producers provide healthy and nutritious food to consumers across the country and, increasingly, around the world. Supporting the market development for organic products will further contribute to the growth of a more competitive and sustainable Canadian agricultural sector,” said Bibeau.

The funding will help create domestic and international export opportunities and promote the "Canada Organic" brand.

The project includes the development of market activities at major food shows in Germany and the United States with additional activities related to market accessibility and technical assessments. The investment, made under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership's AgriMarketing Program, will support the association in welcoming incoming missions, offering retailer training, creating market reports and developing a directory of organic producers and exporters.

“COTA and our members are very grateful for the continued support from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as organic agriculture and trade assist the Federal government to meet their goals on climate change. Canada’s organic landscape continues to shine on the world stage and grow at a pace that highlights the increased demand for climate-friendly products by consumers worldwide,” said Tia Loftsgard Executive Director, Canada Organic Trade Association.

With this investment, COTA has developed a 4-module retailer training program as well as a webinar training series on how to become ‘Export Ready’. It continues to expand the training program in order to deliver sessions virtually as well as in-person to a wide stakeholder audience. In the first two years of the program COTA has trained over 600 participants from 300 companies with estimated related sales close to $1.7 million.

There were more than 7,500 organic operations in Canada in 2019, accounting for roughly 2% of total agricultural land.