Market Access and the Role of the
Market and Industry Services Branch
Canadian Forage & Grassland Association
December 2010
Agridoc#1979296
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Outline
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
 General
Overview
• Market and Industry Services Branch (MISB)
 Roles
and Responsibilities
 Grains & Oilseeds Division
• Market Access Secretariat (MAS)
 Roles
and Responsibilities
• Status of China Protocol
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AAFC
• Our Mandate: AAFC provides information, research and technology, and
policies and programs to achieve security of the food system, health of the
environment and innovation for growth.
• The Minister of AAFC is responsible for all matters relating to agriculture.

Including: support for agricultural productivity and trade;

stabilizing farm incomes;

encouraging research and development; and

responsible for the inspection and regulation of animals and plant-life forms.
• The Minister has been assigned responsibility for coordinating rural
development and enhancing the quality of rural life.
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Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada: Basic Structure
• Minister’s Office

Deputy Minister’s Office
1. Strategic Policy Branch
2. Research Branch
3. Farm Financial Programs Branch
4. Agri-Environment Services Branch
5. Market and Industry Services Branch
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Market and Industry Services Branch
• MISB works with the agri-food sector to enhance its global competitiveness
and increase the sector’s share of both domestic and international markets
for agriculture and agri-food products.
• With an emphasis on market access, the branch provides market information
and analysis to industry and government decision makers.
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Market and Industry Services Branch includes
• Operations Directorate
• Food Value Chain Bureau

Value Chain Roundtables

Sector development
- grains & oilseeds, special crops, pulses; red meats, dairy, poultry; horticulture; food processors
• International Markets Bureau

Canada Brand

Global Analysis Division

Agrifood Trade Service

AgriMarketing Program
• Negotiations and Multilateral Trade Policy Directorate
• Bilateral Relations and Technical Trade Policy Directorate
• Market Access Secretariat
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Grains & Oilseed Division (GAOD)
• GAOD part of Food Value Chain Bureau (FVCB) under the
Markets And Industry Services Branch (MISB)
 Includes
Special Crops (and forages) and Pulses as of September 2010
• GAOD’s Mission:
 To
support a dynamic, vibrant, domestically and internationally
competitive Canadian grains and oilseed sector.
• GAOD is divided into two groups:
 Industry
 Market
Services Group
Analysis Group
• Program Liaison Role
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Challenges for Market Access
• Canada adheres to, and relies upon, science-based regulations and
international standards for the growth of our agricultural sector.
• Although market access issues are oftentimes technical in nature, their
resolution can be impeded by trade policy and other economic objectives.
• Need timely resolutions of issues to increase exports.
• Need to mitigate risks of future disruptions.
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MISB support for Market Access
• Negotiations and Multilateral Trade Policy Directorate

Responsible for the negotiation of bilateral and multilateral free trade
agreements.
• Bilateral Relations and Technical Trade Policy Directorate

Is responsible for securing, expanding and protecting the negotiated access of
Canadian agricultural and agri-food exports to foreign markets, and enabling
Canadian industry to identify and take advantage of market opportunities as a
result of this access.
• Market Access Secretariat
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Market Access Secretariat (MAS)
• Minister Ritz announced the creation of the AAFC Market Access Secretariat
in January 2009.
• An initial response to industry recommendations on how to strengthen
Canada’s market access approach.
• Designed to improve the level of coordination between key players to build
more effective consultation mechanisms to help strategically pursue, expand
and maintain markets

Other Federal Partners (e.g. CFIA, DFAIT)

Provinces and Territories

Industry Stakeholders
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MAS: Strategic Approach
• The MAS has two overarching functions:
 Rapid
response: MAS engages in addressing urgent market
access issues, as needed, with in-house technical expertise,
co-located from the CFIA; and
 Sustained
engagement: MAS will drive the development and
implementation of country strategies and work plans for
priority markets
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MAS: The Focus
• Ten priority markets, divided into two categories, focus the market
access agenda for the current year:

Emerging markets: China, Russia, India and Indonesia; and

Established markets: E.U., U.S., Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Chinese
Taipei.
• While priority markets focus our strategic efforts, issues in other
markets continue to be addressed, but in a more targeted, issue-specific
manner.
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Export of Canadian Alfalfa Hay to China
• Chronology of events: Then to Now.

With the interest of the Canadian hay industry, the CFIA approached China’s
General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ)
in an effort to export hay to China.

CFIA provided information for China to conduct a Pest Risk Assessment (PRA) on
timothy hay first (based, at the time, on the issue around verticillium wilt and
alfalfa seed and the fact that other large exporters deal in timothy hay).

The US had been working on access for alfalfa hay and exporters in Canada,
affiliated with counterparts in the US, were interested in exporting alfalfa hay it
moved ahead of timothy in the PRA queue and consideration by China.

Through a PRA, AQSIQ identified a number of quarantine pest that could be
associated with alfalfa hay originating from Canada.
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China Protocol Cont’d
• July 2009, Canada and China signed a “Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary
Cooperative Arrangement for the export of alfalfa hay to China” that
identifies a total of 29 plant pests.
• September 2009, AQSIQ sent a team of officials to evaluate hay production
and processing practices in Western Canada.
• Later 2009, AQSIQ, sent a letter to CFIA outlining the concerns that CFIA
would need to address before final approval allowing the import of alfalfa
from Canada to occur.
• March 2010, CFIA provided a copy of the revised hay certification program
and supporting manual to AQSIQ for their review.
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China Protocol Cont’d
• June 2010, during the Canada-China Plant Health Technical Working Group,
AQSIQ identified a number of concerns in the documents that Canada
submitted earlier in the year.
• CFIA made the final amendments to the Canadian Hay certification protocol
(CHCP) and supporting manual to address China’s concerns.
• Status: as of December 13, 2010, the CFIA has sent the final amendments
to Chinese authorities for their review and approval.
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