Alberta farmers react to China’s tariffs on Canadian canola

Alberta’s canola farmers are waking up to a harsh new reality Tuesday after China announced steep tariffs on the crop.

For canola farmer Ian Chitwood, the announcement that the country plans on imposing a provisional rate of 75.8 per cent on Canadian canola starting Thursday means a loss for farmers like himself.

“Effectively China is saying we don’t want Canadian canola anymore,” says Chitwood. “No Chinese company is going to pay 75 per cent to bring canola seed in.”

The tariffs come when the industry was already going through a tough time, where producers are dealing with slim margins as they gear up to sell.

“We spent the money, we can’t reduce costs anymore, so it’s going to hurt,” says Andre Harpe, the chair of Alberta Canola.

The move from China comes just months after the country imposed a 100 per cent tariff on canola oil and meal. It follows an anti-dumping investigation launched last year in response to Canada’s tax on Chinese electric vehicles.

Sylvanus Kwaku Afesorgbor is an associate professor of food, agricultural & resource economics at the University of Guelph. He says the canola tariffs are mostly a retaliation for the 100 per cent levees Canada imposed on Chinese EVs.

“It feels like we are paying the price for a protectionist measure for the auto industry, but considering that the canola industry is larger than that industry, it feels a little bit unfair,” Chitwood says.

China is Canada’s second largest canola market, just behind the United States. China currently exports very few electric vehicles to Canada. 

The trade war is prompting calls for Canada to find better ways of diversifying its economy.

“Canola oil makes a wonderful beat stock for renewable fuel, basically just a slight increase in the amount of usage would effectively take away what we sell to China,” says Harpe.

The province of Alberta is calling on the feds to find a solution to the trade tiff.

Saskatchewan and Alberta have also adjusted the AgriStability program with Ottawa to increase compensation rates for farmers should their margins decline. 

Alberta Agriculture Minister RJ Sigurdson said Ottawa should move urgently and speak constructively with Beijing. 

“Alberta’s farmers, ranchers and processors did not create this situation, yet they are paying the price,” he said in a statement.

With files from The Canadian Press