Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada

06/04/2026

FVGC was pleased to welcome MP Michael Coteau, Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, to today’s face-to-face meeting of the FVGC Board of Directors in Ottawa.

The Board shared FVGC’s policy priorities and discussed the growing pressures facing Canadian fruit and vegetable growers, including the rising cost of inputs and the impact these challenges have on food security for Canadians.

FVGC looks forward to continuing to work with parliamentarians to ensure federal policy decisions are made through a food lens and support a strong, competitive Canadian fruit and vegetable sector.

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Les PFLC ont eu le plaisir d’accueillir le député Michael Coteau, président du Comité permanent de l’agriculture et de l’agroalimentaire de la Chambre des communes, à la réunion en personne du conseil d’administration des PFLC, qui s’est tenue aujourd’hui à Ottawa.

Le conseil d’administration a présenté les priorités stratégiques des PFLC et discuté des pressions croissantes auxquelles font face les producteurs de fruits et légumes du Canada, notamment la hausse du coût des intrants et les répercussions de ces défis sur la sécurité alimentaire des Canadiens.

Les PFLC se réjouissent de poursuivre leur collaboration avec les parlementaires afin que les décisions stratégiques fédérales soient prises dans une optique alimentaire et qu’elles soutiennent un secteur canadien des fruits et légumes fort et concurrentiel.

05/22/2026

FVGC has submitted its 2026 pre-budget submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.

Our submission calls on the federal government to apply a food lens to decision-making so policies, regulations, and programs support domestic food production, grower competitiveness, and food security.

We are also asking government to focus on four key priority areas for Canadian fruit and vegetable growers:

1) Timely access to crop protection tools
2) Modernized Business Risk Management programs
3) Trade stability for perishable fruit and vegetable products
4) Labour stability for fruit and vegetable production

Food security cannot be taken for granted. Budget 2026 is an opportunity to ensure Canadian growers have the tools, programs, and policy environment they need to continue feeding Canadians.

Read FVGC’s full submission:https://fvgc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Submission-to-FINA-Pre-Budget-Consultations-2026-2027-May-22-2026.pdf

04/30/2026

Aujourd’hui, Catherine Lessard, présidente du Groupe de travail sur la gestion des risques de l’entreprise des PFLC, comparaîtra devant le Comité dans le cadre de son étude sur les programmes de gestion des risques de l’entreprise en agriculture.

📺 À visionner ici, à 11 h HE : https://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony/fr/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2?fk=13452403

04/30/2026

Today Catherine Lessard, Chair of FVGC’s Business Risk Management Working Group, will appear before the Committee as part of its study on agricultural business risk management programs.

📺Watch here, at 11am EST , https://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2?fk=13452403

04/29/2026

Canada’s Spring Economic Update 2026 includes targeted measures that recognize the importance of applying a food lens to federal regulatory decision-making.

FVGC welcomes proposed updates to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act and the Pest Control Products Act to include consideration of food security, as well as proposed investments to expand economic analysis capacity and improve crop protection product review processes.

These are issues FVGC has consistently raised with government. Food security depends on resilient growers, including their ability to access the crop inputs they need when they need them.

For Canada’s fruit and vegetable growers, timely, predictable and practical regulatory decisions are essential. Regulations must continue to protect health, safety and the environment, while also recognizing the real-world impacts of regulatory delays, costs and uncertainty on Canadian farmers.

Implementation will be key. These commitments must translate into practical improvements for growers and support more efficient, predictable regulatory processes without shifting additional costs or uncertainty onto growers.

Read our full statement: https://fvgc.ca/2026/04/29/fvgc-welcomes-food-lens-commitments-in-spring-economic-update/

04/28/2026

Jeudi, Catherine Lessard, présidente du Groupe de travail sur la gestion des risques de l’entreprise des PFLC, comparaîtra devant le Comité dans le cadre de son étude sur les programmes de gestion des risques de l’entreprise agricole.

Catherine fera valoir les réalités auxquelles sont confrontés les producteurs de fruits et légumes, ainsi que la nécessité de programmes qui reflètent mieux les risques, les coûts et les pressions concurrentielles qui touchent le secteur horticole canadien.

📺 À visionner ici, le jeudi 30 avril à 11 h HAE :

Obtenez la date, l’heure et le lieu des prochaines réunions du Agriculture et agroalimentaire. La page offre aussi des renseignements sur les réunions passées.

04/28/2026

On Thursday, Catherine Lessard, Chair of FVGC’s Business Risk Management Working Group, will appear before the Committee as part of its study on agricultural business risk management programs.

Catherine will bring forward the realities facing fruit and vegetable growers and the need for programs that better reflect the risks, costs and competitiveness pressures facing Canadian horticulture.

📺Watch here, Thursday April 30 at 11am EST,
https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/AGRI/Meetings

04/13/2026

This gets to the heart of why policy must be made through a food lens.

As this article points out, “The next harvest will depend not only on rain and sunshine, but also on decisions made far beyond farm fields.” Energy, trade, input costs, regulation, and geopolitical instability all shape what growers can produce and what Canadians can rely on at the grocery store.

Food security does not begin at the checkout line. It begins with public policy that understands what it takes to grow food.

🗞️https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-food-system-protection-fertilizer-iran-war/

04/10/2026

Dans cette entrevue publiée dans notre numéro de mars de HortiConcis, Catherine Lessard, présidente du Groupe de travail sur la gestion des risques de l’entreprise des PFLC, explique pourquoi les outils actuels de gestion des risques de l’entreprise ne suivent pas la réalité des producteurs et productrices de fruits et légumes, et ce qui doit changer alors que les gouvernements travaillent à l’élaboration du prochain cadre stratégique.

Lisez l’entrevue : https://us5.campaign-archive.com/?u=975fd26019fdc960f8be4c4f2&id=3672c87712

04/10/2026

In this interview from our March issue of HortShorts, Catherine Lessard, Chair of FVGC’s Business Risk Management Working Group, shares why current business risk management tools are not keeping up with the realities facing fruit and vegetable growers, and what needs to change as governments shape the Next Policy Framework.

Read the interview: https://mailchi.mp/03f7c370fb48/hortshorts-march-2026?e=[UNIQID] %20to%20Know%20Your%20Industry