As we enter a new year, it’s important to recall the year that was. With so much information coming and going through various channels, taking a moment to reflect on the major agricultural stories of 2025 can help move us into 2026.

This column space on rabble.ca has allowed for the chronicling of several actions, events, and initiatives that have generally not made the headlines during the year. Rural issues and food production is generally only covered momentarily, if at all, in legacy media. Alternative media, such as rabble.ca, an award-winning online space, is the exception.

In January of 2025, as the year opened, this space chronicled yet another misstep by the federal government when it comes to ensuring sustainable agriculture and rural communities. The column “The federal government empowers an oligopoly” outlined the final move to allow for the Bunge-Viterra merger, bringing full circle a network of corporate concentration that began many years ago with the dismantling and privatization of the Canadian Wheat Board. The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project (CAMP) released a statement on hearing of the merger approval noting:

“The government’s approval of the Bunge-Viterra takeover is a loss for grain farmers that depend on competitive markets to get a fair deal for the fruits of their labour,” said Keldon Bester, Executive Director of CAMP. “The approval of Bunge-Viterra continues the march of consolidation at all levels of Canada’s food system that has left producers and shoppers with fewer options and less competition in an environment of steadily rising prices.”

Then as February and March rolled in, and the impact of the January 20 inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump took hold, many of us began thinking increasingly about sovereignty and sustainability.

The threat of tariffs, and later the application of tariffs, confirmed what many rabble readers have known for some time – that the Canadian economy has been tied far too closely to the United States and that free trade agreements have the subjugation of Canada written into clause after clause.. And so this column “Trump’s machinations could provide an opportunity to change the way we look at food” as well as the March column “Time for us to grow more food at home” birthed important information on where our food comes from, and the back and forth border trade that has impoverished our agricultural model and family farmers, as well as Canadian consumers.

The February column outlined the impact of free trade agreements and emphasized where Canada’s agricultural strategy should invest to ensure food sovereignty in Canada. The March column detailed our current food pathways, the foods we are self-sufficient in, and ways in which we could lessen our reliance on the importing and exporting of foods. That column noted:

“The Beyond project, at the University of British Columbia, has an interactive map which shows the flow from Canada of imports and exports of vegetables and fruit. The map tracks imports and exports to and from the United States as well as 149 other countries. Here you can read a summary of how the US and other countries supply the Canadian food market. And for a more specific view of a particular vegetable or fruit, Beyond provides this interactive map.”

Rather than despair in the face of the tariff wars, we also need to see the positive side of what is possible in terms of food self-sufficiency in Canada. How many more jobs could be created by making our food systems more sustainable and ensuring self-sufficiency and distribution here in Canada? These are important questions that we are only just beginning to explore.

The April column reflected on “Planned obsolescence vs the right to report” outlining the push for legislation in Canada and beyond. The column also included important resources that folks can turn to in the meantime to try to lessen the impact of consumerism on the garbage dump, on climate change and on their pockets.

In late May, in the lead-up to National Indigenous History Month, this column shared information on a unique land-sharing initiative undertaken by prairie farmers and Indigenous communities. In “Land sharing – prairie farmers lead the way” we learned about how a small group of people wanting to engage in meaningful work related to Truth and Reconciliation have created a framework to advance the sharing of land. In so doing they are showing others what is possible when trust and cooperation become part of daily living. It’s an important exploratory project and read.

The June column reported on a letter to Prime Minister Carney from the National Farmers Union in response to a Cabinet Mandate Letter. That letter urged clarity and action on the part of the federal government:

“The NFU agrees that “Canada faces a series of crises” but it is troubling that the crises facing farmers, agri-food workers and our entire food supply chain have been overlooked. These crises include a farm income crisis, wherein grocery prices are rising for consumers, yet farmers’ net income fell by $3.3 billion in 2024 alone and total farm debt rose to over $166 billion. Farmers are also embroiled in the tariff crisis as corporations are taking advantage of trade uncertainties to pay farmers lower prices and further disempower them. And finally, farmers are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, a crisis which received only passing mention in the cabinet mandate letter, even while severe drought conditions threaten prairie crops and an unprecedented and devastating wildfire season rages in northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Canadian food sovereignty over the long-term demands serious federal interventions to mitigate climate change and develop resilience strategies to manage its impacts.”

As the fall of 2025 approached, the lead-up to the Carney government’s first federal budget meant many organizations were gearing up to advocate and respond in a variety of ways. In “Fall federal budget needs to take note of farmers’ and consumers’ food concerns” a review of pending issues is detailed. That column also provided information regarding two separate online Parliamentary e-petitions initiated to protect seed saving in Canada and calling for the labelling of all GMO products.

Then, In October, this space was used to detail the opportunities being seized and the optimistic policies being applied by the Mexican government, under the inspirational leadership of President Claudia Sheinbaum. “Could ‘Plan México’ be the guide for ‘Plan Canada” was published with the headline’s kicker: “As Mark Carney prepares to present the national budget, he could learn a thing or two from one of our other North American neighbours.” Indeed, Mexico’s Fourth Transformation is well-underway and provides a positive look at what is possible when leadership that cares about giving back to community is elected.

And last, but not least, a late November column took a look at what Canada might look like if in fact there was a federal budget built to empower community as opposed to corporations. “Carney’s budget pales in comparison to the Alternative Federal Budget” provides a look at various sections of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 2025 Alternative Federal Budget – a budget that offers a more hopeful and sustainable alternative to what Mark Carney’s Liberals offered earlier the same month. Would that it were so!! Or to coin Captain Picard: “Make it so!”

And so, those were the prime agricultural issues published in this space throughout 2025!

Onward to 2026!

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