Exports of fruits and vegetables are important to Ontario farmers and the sector is watching the upcoming Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) review carefully.
Richard Lee, executive director of Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG), said the organization is taking a strategic, multi-level approach to prepare for the upcoming CUSMA negotiations. This includes co-ordinated government relations at the provincial and federal levels to reinforce the importance of stable trade frameworks for greenhouse vegetable producers.
Lee said OGVG is also actively engaging with U.S. partners to ensure the industry’s priorities are well understood and aligned across the border.
WHY IT MATTERS: Diversifying Ontario’s ag export markets is one thing, but its fresh perishables can only be exported so far.
He noted that, with a population one-10th the size of the U.S., Canada cannot consume the volume grown in Ontario alone.
“This partnership is integral, and uninterrupted access to the U.S. market remains essential for Canada,” he said.
Lee said this was evident in March 2025, when blanket tariffs were applied to all U.S.-bound imports.
“During that period, Ontario growers paid more than $7 million in tariffs to ensure our produce continued reaching consumers,” he said. “As importers of record, our members are fully responsible for tariff remission and the required bonding, which adds further financial strain on the integrated North American trading bloc and ultimately leads to further trade disruptions.”
Despite these pressures, Lee said OGVG members responded proactively. Through early discussions with retail partners, many agreed to absorb most, if not all, of the tariff costs to maintain stable food supplies for U.S. consumers.
To manage the risk around the agreement, Lee said OGVG has participated in federally sponsored trade missions to explore potential markets in the Indo-Pacific region.
“While these opportunities hold promise, expanding beyond North America remains challenging due to the perishability of our products and the high transportation costs required to maintain freshness, integrity and quality during long-distance transit,” he said.
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Submitted
In the past, a pilot project to ship a pallet of long English cucumbers to Hong Kong, conducted 10 years ago, cost approximately $10,000. Lee said this demonstrated that the logistics required to reach markets such as China remain prohibitively expensive, making large-scale expansion into these regions unfeasible.
Currently, Ontario’s greenhouse sector benefits from access to 58 per cent of the U.S. population within a one-day drive. Lee said this proximity enables producers to maintain product quality far more reliably than longer-haul transportation options such as air or rail, each of which presents operational challenges.
He said investments in agriculture and food production, combined with fair and free trade, offer significant economic opportunities for Canadian businesses.
As a safeguard should negotiations stall, Lee said OGVG will continue to evaluate alternative support mechanisms that could help offset volatility or disruptions.
He said business risk management programs require modernization to reflect today’s greenhouse production realities and to scale appropriately with the significant investments made by growers.
Lee is also calling for the removal of phytosanitary restrictions and regulatory barriers that currently limit diversification opportunities. Addressing these long-standing impediments, he said, could help identify additional markets that may become economically viable, particularly if transportation and compliance costs decline.
U.S. buyers continue to move Canadian produce
Marcus Janzen, president of Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada (FVGC), is a fourth-generation greenhouse pepper farmer. His family’s Calis Arms Ltd. farm is located in Abbotsford, B.C.
Janzen said the impact of last year’s tariff announcements did not have the effect some experts predicted.
As potential changes to CUSMA loom, he said diversification may be impractical due to perishability and freight costs.
Unlike many Ontario growers, Janzen noted about half of his produce is exported to the U.S. while the remainder is sold in Canada.
“Last year, we really didn’t feel the border thicken in any meaningful way, and the U.S. customers we have long-standing relationships with continue to want Canadian production,” he said.
He noted the U.S. administration is keenly aware of the impact of high grocery prices linked to tariffs, adding he would be surprised if policies were introduced that further increased costs, particularly for perishable food.
Janzen also pushed back against claims that the U.S. does not need Canada.
“I guess it depends on how well you want the American citizen to be able to eat,” he said.
Janzen noted Canada has strengthened its relationship with Mexico on potato exports. Canada accounted for 34 per cent of Mexico’s frozen potato imports in 2024, ranking second only to the United States, according to Province of Manitoba data. Manitoba is a leading Canadian exporter of potatoes to Mexico, accounting for 82 per cent of Western Canada’s prepared potato exports to the country in 2024.
These are the kinds of relationships that must continue to be nurtured, Janzen said. He recommended farmers focus on what they can control, including production costs.
He added it’s also important to set aside political differences to move forward.
“It’s important to differentiate between your views on the U.S. administration and the mainstream American citizen,” he said.
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