Canada Ignores Agri-Food Sector as Investment Summit Focuses on Energy and Infrastructure

The Canada Investment Summit in Toronto was a crucial event that brought together major investors, Canadian executives, and public-sector leaders to discuss investment opportunities. The summit highlighted various sectors such as energy, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, defence, transportation, and infrastructure projects, which are essential for Canada's economic growth.

However, the summit surprisingly omitted agri-food, a sector that is crucial to Canada's economy. Agri-food is Canada's largest manufacturing employer, supporting approximately 318,000 jobs, and connects Canadian farms to domestic consumers and global markets. It also plays a significant role in food security, regional development, trade diversification, and affordability.

Foreign direct investment stock in Canadian food and beverage manufacturing reached $64.1 billion in 2025, an increase of 10.4%. However, capital spending in the sector fell by 5.3% that same year, while the number of new food-manufacturing entrants declined by 14.9% during the first half of 2025.

Ottawa's $1 billion Agri-food Project Finance Fund is a positive step towards addressing the agri-food sector's needs. However, it should be just the beginning of a serious agri-food industrial strategy. Canada needs to develop a national pipeline of investment-ready agri-food projects and promote it internationally.