The Canadian government is contributing $50 million to help prevent grain in Ukraine from going to waste.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the funding while attending the G7 leader meeting in Germany on Sunday.
“Canada has valuable experience in grain storage. The knowledge and experience of our farmers will be very useful. We will continue to work with partners to support Ukraine and alleviate the global food security crisis,” tweeted Trudeau.
The government says the $50 million in funding will go toward grain storage units, including “mobile silos.” An additional $2 million (for a total of $52 million) is also designated for lab equipment in Ukraine for analysis that’s required to export grain and livestock.
Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau joined Shaun Haney to discuss Canada’s $52 million contribution to Ukraine for grain storage and lab equipment, fertilizer sanctions, and more:
The government says the opportunity to supply equipment will be open to both Canadian and international partners, and that the procurement will “be accompanied by technical assistance to address integration into Ukrainian agri-food systems.”
Meanwhile, Canadian sanctions remain in place on fertilizer imports from Russia and Belarus, including fertilizer that was purchased but did not arrive prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The 35 per cent fertilizer tariff is expected to generate $150 million in proceeds for the federal government this year, according to Conservative agriculture shadow minister John Barlow.
Canada is the only G7 country that is applying sanctions to fertilizer. The U.S. government is quietly taking the opposite approach, and is trying to remove barriers for companies looking to buy Russian fertilizer in an effort to stabilize climbing food prices, according to reports from Bloomberg and Reuters.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | All Podcasts
