Through innovation and new technologies global agriculture is being transformed. Innovation is providing farmers with additional tools to build upon their commitment to sustainability and stewardship. Agriculture is continuing to evolve to address today’s challenges and to minimize agriculture’s footprint on the environment. From increasing yields, to using less water, to ensuring crops are disease and drought resistant, agriculture is providing sustainable benefits to Canadians, the environment and the overall Canadian economy. In order to be truly successful, agriculture, government and industry must work together to create an innovative, prosperous, sustainable agriculture sector to benefit the millions of consumers and the environment in which we live. This year’s conference will remind us that our future prosperity depends on the entire agricultural value chain working together to establish Canada as a world leader in developing new products and new solutions to challenges in the production of food, energy, and industrial products; both here in Canada and around the world.

Organic agriculture continues to capture the attention and interest of consumers and producers alike. What are the factors driving this sustained interest and what are the trends in both production and consumption that we should be looking out for? Capturing opportunities in organic agriculture requires good research and planning like most entrepreneurial endeavours. Fortunately we have some good examples of initiatives in multiple sectors of organic to use as examples.