Canada’s fruit and vegetable sector is highly exposed to trade disruptions, border delays, import surges, and changes in international market access.

Many fruits and vegetables are highly perishable and difficult to redirect once they are market-ready. When border closures, inspection delays, tariffs, dumping, or sudden import surges occur, growers cannot simply store products and wait for improved market conditions.

Federal trade policies must reflect the realities of perishable production.

Protecting market access and fair competition

FVGC recommends the Government of Canada:

• Maintain CUSMA and protect the stability, predictability, and market access that fruit and vegetable growers rely on.
• Ensure the fruit and vegetable sector is explicitly reflected in federal trade policy, trade negotiations, export diversification initiatives, and market-access programming.
• Invest in domestic processing capacity for produce to strengthen market options and reduce vulnerability during trade disruptions.
• Improve monitoring and safeguards against import surges, dumping, and non-compliant imports.
• Develop early-warning systems to track import volumes, pricing trends, and market displacement risks for fruit and vegetable products.
• Pursue regulatory alignment with key trading partners, or equivalent import standards, to prevent Canadian regulations from shifting production, investment, and jobs outside Canada.
• Reverse the decision to end the Destination Inspection Service.
• Ensure federal austerity measures do not weaken CFIA services that support exports, market access, inspection, and import oversight.
• Create a targeted relief program for trade interruptions caused by border closures, tariffs, or inspection delays affecting fruit and vegetable products.
• Create a market stabilization fund for fruit and vegetable growers affected by trade disruptions.
• Advance a Canada-U.S. Perimeter Strategy to strengthen plant health prevention, regulatory alignment, pest risk assessment, and response capacity.