The National Farmers Union Recommends Centring Food Sovereignty in the Next Policy Framework
The NPF must be guided by the principles of resilience, renewal, and sovereignty
Farmers need a food sovereignty policy that supports new farmers, a diversity of farm products and practices, and fair prices for the food they produce for both domestic and export markets. The National Farmers Union (NFU) is proud to submit its feedback to the federal, provincial, and territorial (FPT) governments to advance a food sovereignty policy in their negotiations of the Next Agricultural Policy Framework (NPF).
The NFU encourages the FPT governments to define food sovereignty as “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.”
“A successful food sovereignty policy will address corporate power in the agriculture sector, declining farm incomes, generational renewal, and climate resilience,” says Phil Mount, NFU Vice President of Policy.
“The NPF sets the table for five years of agriculture policy. In this time of transition, we are advocating that a strong Canadian food and agriculture economy must be guided by the principles of resilience, renewal, sovereignty, and diversity,” says Jenn Pfenning, NFU President.
The NFU believes that the NPF must prioritize five policy pillars: generational renewal; growing local markets and regional trade; food security through food sovereignty; long-term public agriculture research; and climate resilience.
Here is what our NFU leaders have to say in support of our recommendations:
Why Generational Renewal?
“We need to expand our understanding of generational renewal beyond intra-family transfers to include arrangements that bring new people from non-farming families or non-Canadian farm families into agriculture. Including new farmers requires looking at how the agriculture economy was built, and how certain inequalities are perpetuated through current policies. We miss out on a huge opportunity for getting more farmers on to the land by ignoring Black farmers, Indigenous farmers, other farmers of colour, and newcomer farmers who do not have farms to inherit. ”
Claire Perttula, President of the NFU BIPOC Caucus
Why is it important to grow local markets and regional trade?
“The NPF should invest in local markets and infrastructure instead of focusing solely on exports. We need systems in place that facilitate farmers’ access to local markets and make Canadian produce available to the local population. Farmers should not depend exclusively on the handful of multinationals that control the market.”
Alexis Légère, President of NFU New Brunswick
“As a grain farmer in Saskatchewan, I see a huge potential market opportunity for more local grain sales within western Canada if there was more market support. There is clearly an appetite among Canadian consumers for more local food options, and public investment in this area could provide huge benefits for both farmers and the general public.”
Will Robbins, NFU Board Member for Region 6 (Saskatchewan)
How will a focus on food sovereignty create food security?
“Investing in and building our regional food systems is how we can ensure people are eating food produced by farmers in their foodshed while also growing that same food system’s resilience and capacity.”
Josh Suppan, President of NFU Ontario
Why invest in long-term public agriculture research?
“Public agriculture research that produces seed varieties, informs best practices and collects crucial data through strong research stations across the nation has shown a consistent positive result for farmers and the entire agriculture economy. The NPF must re-establish the government’s social and economic contract to be the leader in agriculture research. Anything less diminishes the future of food reliability.”
Dean Harder, Regional Board Member for NFU Region 5 (Manitoba)
Why create support for climate resilient agriculture?
“As ecological farmers in Nova Scotia / Mi’kma’ki, we saw the positive impacts on our farm and community when governments invest in climate resilience. We got financial support to plant windbreaks, riparian zones, and to dig a pond, which was life- and business-saving during the 70 days of drought in 2025. Publicly funded ecosystem services programs can diversify landscapes and economic streams on the farm, and provide joy to the community. To extend these practices to other farms, we will need guidance from independent agronomists and support for peer-to-peer, farm-level knowledge exchanges because that’s how we learn best.”
Paul Wartman, Regional Board Member for NFU Region 1, District 3 (Nova Scotia)
“The Agricultural Policy Framework has the power to redirect billions of taxpayer dollars that are currently flowing through farmers to agribusiness to prop up a status quo that is unsustainable in many ways. Instead, FPT governments must invest in agricultural systems that build soil, restore watersheds, nourish people, and keep money circulating in our communities. The decisions that we make about land and our food systems now will either mitigate the harms coming for future generations and equip them with the things that they need to weather the turbulence or expose us to more frequent disasters. “
Hannah Dwyer, Regional Coordinator for NFU Region 8 (BC)
The NFU looks forward to working with the FPT governments and our allies to craft a food sovereignty policy that supports farmers and feeds Canadians.
You can find the complete list of the NFU’s preliminary recommendations to the FPT governments in advance of their negotiations of the Halifax Statement here.
