Collaboration and Partnerships
Cross-sectorial collaboration, within the agri-food system, needs to be encouraged and fostered. It will improve knowledge transfer and help build consensus on key issues.
The agri-food system consists of a wide-range of industries and stakeholders within and across the private and public sectors. It also does not function in isolation: its activities are closely related to other sectors from robotics and AI to forestry and natural resources. It involves and impacts different segments of the Canadian population including underrepresented but essential groups such as indigenous people, women and newcomers.
Identifying barriers to further develop policies to help overcome these obstacles is key to meeting Canada’s growth objectives.
Conventional strategies and current structures of economic development leave much to be desired. Sector-specific approaches inhibit growth by creating silos of knowledge and information that lead to gaps in understanding.
These barriers to knowledge transfer also contribute to delays between agricultural innovation on the research level, and its adoption and use by farmers and producers.
To support the growth of the sector and ensure a more efficient flow of information, more collaboration is needed within the agri-food system, including within the government and across related sectors and segments of the population.
AIC recommends that the federal government supports a forum that brings together the key players of the agri-food sector and related groups, to discuss issues related to research and innovation.
The forum should be able to discuss and make recommendations on:
- Outcomes; and