Canadian potash — used as fertilizer — now 'geopolitically essential,' Freeland says
It has increased in demand both because countries are more reluctant to buy it from Russia and Belarus, but also because Russia’s war in Ukraine has provoked a global food supply crisis
Potash has become “geopolitically essential” internationally following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Wednesday after a tour of a potash producer in Saskatchewan.
“Farmers around the world depend on our potash… and that means that millions and millions of people depend on the work that is being done here,” Freeland said.
“At a time when Russia and Belarus are quite rightly being shut out of the global economy because of Vladimir Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine, the work being done here is more important than ever.”
Freeland said she gets “asked at international meetings about Canada and our ability to supply some of the strategic resources that the world no longer wants to buy from Russia.”
Canadian potash, which is used as fertilizer, has increased in demand both because countries are more reluctant to buy the product from Russia and Belarus, but also because Russia’s war in Ukraine has provoked a global food supply crisis.
Food grown in Ukraine feeds about 400 million people globally, and the United Nations has warned of “an unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution” caused by the war.
Saskatchewan is the biggest potash producer in the world, accounting for about 30 per cent of global production. The provincial government said in June it will ramp up production “to fill the market gaps left as a result of the sanctions placed on Russia and Belarus.”
But Freeland didn’t directly respond to criticism from farmers and provincial governments over the Liberal government’s proposed target to reduce emissions from fertilizer use by 30 per cent by 2030. It’s consulting on that proposed target until the end of the month.
In July, Saskatchewan and Alberta criticized the government over the new target. In a press release, Saskatchewan’s agriculture minister said his government was “really concerned with this arbitrary goal.” The release said Western Canadian farmers “cannot feed the growing world population with a reduction in fertilizer.”
Asked about those criticisms, Freeland said, “Canadian farmers are excellent business people. I know a lot of farmers, and I do not know a single farmer who uses more fertilizer than he or she absolutely needs to. Fertilizer is expensive.”
She added: “I absolutely believe it is a good thing for the world and for Canada for us to reduce our emissions in all sectors of the economy. I know farmers already are as precise as they can be in the use of all expensive inputs, including fertilizer, and I have tremendous confidence they’re going to continue to do that.”