That context made me think about our own choke point: the Second Narrows rail bridge in Vancouver, broken for several days in late February and locked in its down position.

The CN-owned lift bridge is the only rail access to North Shore grain, potash and coal terminals. Its centre span rises several times daily to allow ships through, including tankers serving the Westridge Marine Terminal that loads oil from the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

Locked in the down position, the disruption had little impact on rail traffic but prevented about 13 ships from transiting the narrows.

Critical infrastructure carries one-third of port cargo

I’ve written about this bridge before. Canadian grain farmers and shippers have identified it as a major economic risk, as this breakdown highlighted.

Built in 1968, the bridge now carries almost one-third of all cargo moving through the port — 43.7 million tonnes in 2024. That includes the G3, Richardson and Cargill grain terminals and the Canpotex potash facility.

Recent efficiency improvements

The port and CN have taken steps to improve efficiency in recent years. A real-time vessel management system and central scheduling now co-ordinate movement and reduce delays.

CN improved the Thornton Tunnel access and added large rail sidings, allowing quick train movement across the bridge when available. Another project under construction — a vehicle overpass over a busy road — will allow even more fluid movement when completed next year.

These improvements let CN boost train movement to the North Shore by 10 per cent, even as the bridge raises more often to accommodate Trans Mountain Pipeline tankers.

The port posted record handlings in 2025 — 170.4 million tonnes, up eight per cent over the previous record.

Concerns about aging infrastructure

However, I remain concerned. So many investments squeeze more capacity from a 58-year-old bridge that’s behind the times in earthquake survival engineering.

It’s like widening the top of a funnel while leaving the spout unchanged.

Will these improvements accommodate potential capacity gains when grain terminals finally solve the “loading in rain” problem?

Loading in rain could boost capacity seven per cent

Port spokespeople say grain companies and the federal government have worked on engineering controls and operational procedures to make it safe for workers to load in rain. Pilot projects are complete, but no announcements about rollout. We haven’t heard what port unions think.

If available, rain loading would increase capacity by an estimated seven per cent — equivalent to adding another grain terminal.

These advances will be needed to maintain Canada’s market share in global grain trade with rising crop production at home.

Record wheat exports drive port volumes

Vancouver’s 2025 record included 30.3 million tonnes of bulk grain, with a 20 per cent increase in wheat exports contributing mightily.

Wheat exports from all ports and Prairie elevators total 13.03 million tonnes as of week 30 in the crop year (to March 1), according to the Canadian Grain Commission. That’s up about a million tonnes, or eight per cent, over last year.

Of that total, Vancouver handled 7.4 million tonnes, up from 6.04 million last year. The one million tonne increase is entirely due to higher Vancouver throughput.

Surprisingly, Vancouver’s total grain handlings are ahead of last year despite canola export problems with China. Increases in wheat, barley, soybeans, peas and lentils more than offset smaller canola volumes.

Vancouver has handled 18.34 million tonnes total, up from 17.21 million last year. Prince Rupert is also slightly ahead at 2.92 million tonnes, compared to 2.83 million.

Now that China is again accepting Canadian canola, exports are making up lost ground. In the last five weeks, 1.02 million tonnes of canola shipped from all ports, up from 785,000 in the same period last year.

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The provincial government has hired WSP Canada, a professional service firm which combines science, advisory and engineering expertise. WSP will conduct a study on whether to build a storage reservoir and dam on the Belly River, which flows through southern Alberta and northwest Montana in the United States.

The research will also determine if improvements need to be made to the canal between the Waterton and St. Mary reservoirs. These changes could strengthen water resilience across southern Alberta. Several irrigation districts depend on the Belly River as a water source including Magrath, Mountain View, Raymond, St. Mary River, Taber and the United Irrigation Districts.

The government’s water management infrastructure is used for irrigation, municipal, industrial, agricultural and recreational use. Water management supports fish and wildlife habitat, flood mitigation and erosion protection. Water security guards against drought and flood and helps farmers and ranchers.

To ensure Alberta’s growing communities are protected and have the water supply they need, the government of Alberta says it will continue to invest in strong water management infrastructure.

RJ Sigurdson, Minister of Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, said the province is taking a whole-government approach to managing and maintaining provincial water infrastructure systems to ensure Alberta has a safe, reliable water supply.

The proposed reservoir on the Belly River, about five kilometres northwest of Mountain View in Cardston County, could improve water security, provide drought and flood resiliency and support the aquatic ecosystem.

The consultant will also determine if the water flow in the canal between the Waterton and St. Mary reservoirs could be improved. These studies are anticipated to take several years.

Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation owns and operates more than 80 dams, 340 kilometres of major irrigation headworks canals, four pumping stations and flood protection berms and dikes in the province.

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The boost brings the districts’ total 2024 share to $19 million through the irrigation rehabilitation program (IRP), an agreement between the Alberta government, which contributes 75 per cent, and irrigation districts who fund the other 25 per cent.

David Westwood, general manager of the St. Mary River Irrigation District, said the additional funds bring the grant closer to where it was before cuts in recent years.

“It’s very welcomed, obviously. The funding increase is returning the IRP back to getting close to the levels that it was about seven to 10 years ago.”

Three districts contacted by Alberta Farmer Express identified plans for ongoing replacement of open canals with enclosed pipelines. Pipelines reduce water lost through seepage and evaporation. In 2022, about 9.2 kilometres of open canals were converted to pipeline under the program.

“A typical rehabilitation project would consist of converting on open canal system to a closed gravity PVC pipeline,” wrote Eastern Irrigation District general manager Ivan Friesen in an email. “The efficiency gains that have been achieved over the decades of this program has allowed districts to increase the irrigated area while using the same amount of water.”

These efficiencies also help districts adapt to variable climate, enhancing water security, he added.

Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District general manager Chris Gallagher said “this translates to drought resilience and staged expansion using a portion of our saved water and ultimately better crop yield and quality through improved service to our irrigators.”

The St. Mary River Irrigation District draws from the Belly, Waterton and St. Mary rivers. It is using IRP funding to replace the spillway that fills the Chin reservoir east of Lethbridge. The structure is being built in conjunction with the Raymond Irrigation District.

The existing spillway was built in the 1950s and has come to the end of its design life, said Westwood. The new structure is being built with major flooding in mind.

“It’s a larger scale in the sense it can handle larger volumes of water, so if we see significant flooding events, we can move as much (water) as we can.”

Completion is scheduled for fall 2025, said Westwood.

The biggest challenge for producers in the SMRID is doing more with less water. Like the other 10 irrigation districts that draw water from the South Saskatchewan River Basin, the SMRID agreed in April to reduce water use if there are severe drought conditions in this growing season.

These non-legally binding memorandums of understanding expire Dec. 31.

The SMRID is starting with an allocation of eight inches per acre at the farm gate with periodic reviews throughout the summer. A normal year would see an allocation of about double that amount. The number was determined based on summer meteorological forecasts, said Westwood.

Water allocations at the farm gate are determined by irrigation district boards. Alberta Environment and Protected Areas provides input.

Parts of southern Alberta received rain throughout May. More rain may replenish dwindling irrigation supplies, allowing the SMRID to increase its allocation. However, Westwood remains cautious.

“We’ll continue to monitor it throughout the irrigation season to see if we have the ability to increase it but we’d have to get some pretty significant precipitation,” he said.

Irrigation water supply will depend largely on mountain runoff, said Westwood. Snowpacks trended on the low side throughout the winter, but the slower the melt, the better.

“I think if we continue with these cooler temperatures, especially in the evening, it allows the snowpack to melt off in a nice gradual fashion into June and possibly make it all the way to July. That would be very beneficial for providing water longer into the irrigation season.”

SMRID irrigators are planning ways to manage less water, said Westwood. Much of that comes down to seeding choices. A popular option is to plant more cereals than usual and divert a portion of allocations for water-dependent special crops such as potatoes or sugar beets.

Meanwhile, Friesen asks “what drought?” when questioned on how the Brooks-headquartered Eastern Irrigation District — bounded by the Bow River in the south and the Red Deer River in the north — plans to deal with it this year.

“Today, the area within the EID has seen precipitation that is well above normal and not seen in quite some time, in the order of 100 millimetres more than 2023 at this time of year, and well above the long-term average for this time of year,” wrote Friesen May 21, citing results from the Brooks water measurement station.

“The challenge today in the EID is to complete seeding as some seeding has been delayed because of the wet conditions. June … is often our wettest month.”

The Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District is planning a preliminary eight-inch-per acre allocation, said Gallagher. As in the EID, wet fields have hampered some farmers’ ability to meet target seeding windows.

The LNID provides irrigation water on the north side of the Oldman River between Fort Macleod and Turin.

Producers plan to manage their risk through crop selection, rotation and insurance, wrote Gallagher. Although recent rain and mountain snowpack favour an improved situation over last year, the district still has a long way to go in terms of water storage.

However, Gallagher said one challenge been fixed. Last year a leak at the diversion from the canal system that feeds into the LNID reduced access to water.

“We have been advised that leaks on the Lethbridge Northern Headworks Canal have been addressed, with appropriate monitoring in place to evaluate performance as flows increase through the irrigation season,” wrote Gallagher.

“We are able to receive delivery from Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation through the headworks system without constraints associated with the Lethbridge Northern Headworks Canal.”

He added that the IRP will support replacement of existing, district-owned infrastructure downstream of the Keho Reservoir outlet. Funds will not be used for repairs to the headworks.

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The continent is facing its worst food crisis ever, with more than one in five Africans — a record 278 million people — facing hunger, according to United Nations estimates.

A major theme of the three-day summit in the Senegalese capital Dakar was that African countries need to boost their food production capacity rather than relying on imports that have left them vulnerable to price spikes and shortages.

The meeting brought together African leaders, development banks and international partners including the United States, the European Union and Britain to mobilize funding and political commitment.

Around 40 countries from across the continent presented agricultural development plans to the bank and other partners, who pledged support for the plans over the next five years to enable the countries to increase food production.

“We’re going to invest in markets, we are going to invest in infrastructure, energy, we’re going to invest in roads, we’re going to invest in storage, all the things that you need to make agriculture work,” African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina told Reuters in an interview.

“We must make sure that agriculture allows people to feed themselves. That’s the core of what we are doing here. It’s embarrassing that Africa is not able to feed itself,” Adesina said.

Heavy debt burdens from the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which raised prices of fuel, grain and edible oils, have added to long-term causes of food insecurity such as climate change and conflict, experts say.

The Ukraine war also disrupted the supply of fertilizer to the continent, pushing prices beyond the reach of farmers.

The bank last year reached a deal and got assurances from fertilizer manufacturers on the continent including Nigeria’s Dangote and Indorama, and Morocco’s OCP that Africa will not be marginalized in the fertilizer supply chain, Adesina said, adding that the bank had made investments in the manufacturers.

“I think we will not have a fertilizer crisis in Africa. The challenge we’re going to have is affordability problem,” he said, adding that governments would have to put support measures in place to make fertilizer affordable for farmers.

— Bate Felix is Reuters’ bureau chief for West and Central Africa, based at Dakar; writing by Nellie Peyton.

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The Communications Security Establishment (CSE), citing attacks on North American health facilities and a U.S. pipeline, said the scale and scope of ransomware operators represented both security and economic risks to Canada and its allies.

Ransomware and related cybersecurity issues took on added significance in the agriculture and agribusiness sectors following attacks on U.S. ag input and grain handling operations and multinational meat packer JBS earlier this year.

“Ransomware operators will likely become increasingly aggressive in their targeting, including against critical infrastructure,” said a report issued by the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, a unit of CSE.

The agency said it knew of 235 ransomware incidents against Canadian victims from Jan. 1 to Nov. 16 this year. More than half of these victims were critical infrastructure providers.

In 2021, the global average total cost of recovery from a ransomware incident has more than doubled to $2.3 million.

“Ransom payments are likely reaching a market equilibrium, where cybercriminals are becoming better at tailoring their demands to what their victims are most likely to pay,” CSE said.

The agency reiterated previous statements that actors in Russia, China and Iran posed a major threat.

“Russian intelligence services and law enforcement almost certainly maintain relationships with cybercriminals, either through association or recruitment, and allow them to operate with near impunity as long as they focus their attacks against targets located outside Russia,” it said.

— Reporting for Reuters by David Ljunggren in Ottawa.

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While no valuation was given in the announcement, the deal values Ports America at over US$4 billion, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The transaction comes amid heightened interest in logistics, with supply-chain disruption in focus as the global economy recovers from the paralysis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“There are lots of tailwinds for logistics assets writ large, but our approach is for the long term and so this type of strategic ports asset will be important to the U.S. for decades to come,” Scott Lawrence, head of infrastructure at CPPIB, said in an interview.

Under the terms of the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, the Canadian pension manager will take full ownership of Ports America.

CPPIB had previously held a 9.4 per cent stake in Ports America. The pension fund also owns a 34 per cent stake in Associated British Ports, as well as stakes in toll roads, utilities and digital infrastructure providers in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia, according to its website.

Alternative asset manager Oaktree has controlled Ports America since 2014, when it acquired Highstar Capital and the infrastructure-focused investor’s funds, which included the Jersey City, N.J.-based ports operator.

“Ports America’s growth, track record of innovation and strong financial profile have positioned the company for success in today’s cargo management and terminal operations environment, and we fully expect the business will only benefit from this new ownership structure,” said Emmett McCann, managing director and co-portfolio manager of Oaktree’s Infrastructure Investing strategy.

Founded a century ago, Ports America has operations in 70 locations across 33 ports in the United States. It currently handles 13.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) annually, which includes 10 million tons of cargo, 2.5 million vehicles and 1.7 million cruise ship passengers.

In the bulk/breakbulk sector — which handles commodities including grains, vegetable oils, raw sugar and refrigerated products, among other non-food cargoes — Ports America operates facilities at 24 U.S. ports.

In the containerized cargo sector, which includes pulses and specialty crops among other goods, Ports America provides services at 28 terminals across 18 U.S. ports, which it said gives it about a one-third share of the container market in the country.

— Reporting for Reuters by Sohini Podder in Bangalore and David French in New York. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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The Alberta and federal governments on Friday announced a total investment of $815 million — including repayable CIB funds, provincial support and irrigation district contributions — going to “modernize irrigation district infrastructure and increase water storage capacity” in the province.

The federal government had pledged irrigation support as part of a three-year, $10 billion CIB-backed infrastructure plan it announced the previous week, and federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said at the time that the West could expect “the lion’s share” of the irrigation money.

Provincial Ag Minister Devin Dreeshen, in a release Friday, hailed the “visionary investment” made possible by partnership between Alberta’s government, the CIB and irrigation districts.

The province announced it will put up $244.5 million while the eight irrigation districts — Bow River, Eastern, Lethbridge Northern, Raymond, St. Mary River, Taber, United and Western — will contribute a total of $163 million.

The resulting expansion, he said, “will see hundreds of kilometres of pipelines built, contribute about $436 million annually to Alberta’s (gross domestic product) and create over 8,000 jobs.”

In all, he said, the work is expected to bring irrigation to more than 200,000 more acres of Alberta farmland.

A memo of understanding and agreement in principle call for the CIB investment to be paid back by the irrigation districts, in what the federal and provincial governments described as “an innovative approach to financing a unique asset class.”

The projects to be funded will focus on “increasing water conveyance efficiency and allowing more acres to be irrigated with the same amount of water,” the governments said.

Modernizing and building new irrigation infrastructure, they said, will increase irrigated acreage, primary crop production and water storage capacity, improve water use efficiency, enhance water security and provide “flood protection to support long-term value-added processing activity.”

The Western Irrigation District, in a separate release, said the funding will allow it to “modernize our canals and pipelines in the coming months and years, sooner than we would have otherwise.”

“We will expand irrigation while increasing water efficiency,” WID chair Dan Shute said. “And with the savings we gain by becoming more efficient, we can make the service we provide to our water users even more secure.”

Increased flow

In related news, the province also announced Friday that flows on the Milk River within Alberta will increase “early next week” as repairs have been completed on a damaged diversion canal in Montana.

A concrete drop structure had failed on the St. Mary Canal in northern Montana on May 17, interrupting diversions to the Milk River, which runs through southern Alberta.

That interruption affected irrigators in Alberta in late July, but had no impacts to drinking water or household use, the province said.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which owns the structure in question, began Thursday diverting water from the St. Mary River to the Milk River by way of the newly repaired canal, the province said.

The canal is expected to operate through the rest of October, then go through its usual winter shutdown. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday launched a three-year, $10 billion infrastructure plan aimed at five different sectors, including agriculture. The $1.5 billion is expected to result in 700,000 acres of irrigated land.

Federal Liberals said the investment, to be funnelled through the Canada Infrastructure Bank, will create 60,000 jobs.

The $1.5 billion for agriculture is to target major irrigation projects, and the “lion’s share” of that will go to the Prairies and the West, Bibeau said, a region where she sees “opportunities for investment in this sector.”

The bank, she said, “has already started significant discussions with the provinces, the municipalities, the private sector to see how we could move forward.”

Bibeau didn’t mention specific projects, but Saskatchewan’s $4 billion, 10-year Lake Diefenbaker irrigation project is a top candidate to receive federal support.

The province in early July announced plans for a project expected to allow farmers to irrigate 500,000 acres.

Western Economic Diversification Canada, a federal department, last month recommended Ottawa help fund the Diefenbaker irrigation project, contending the completed project would add $85 billion to Canada’s GDP and $20 billion in tax returns back to government.

While targeted to the agriculture sector, the project is also expected to be beneficial for the potash industry.

Adding to the likelihood of federal support is the role former Liberal cabinet minister and Saskatchewan MP Ralph Goodale continues to play within party circles. A long-time advocate for the project, Goodale remains a highly respected voice in the party.

Scott Moe, currently running to continue serving as Saskatchewan’s premier, said he was given a heads-up on the announcement.

“I hope this is positive news. There is some money earmarked for the irrigation project, irrigation projects,” he told reporters in Regina. “We have a significant irrigation investment that will be coming here in the province of Saskatchewan.

“We will be looking at the details of this very soon,” he said, adding he hopes it is an investment rather than a loan through the infrastructure bank.

Ottawa’s announcement also contained a $2 billion commitment to expanding high-speed broadband access. In its Sept. 23 throne speech, the government said it wanted to improve internet access in rural and remote communities.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture said in a release Thursday it’s “encouraged” by the infrastructure funding announcement, noting rural broadband has been a long-standing issue for farmers and rural communities.

“With the arrival of COVID-19, many services pivoted to become entirely online, highlighting the fact farmers’ lack of high-speed connectivity puts us at a significant business disadvantage,” CFA president Mary Robinson said in a statement.

“Rural broadband is not only necessary for today’s farmers to conduct business and take advantage of cutting-edge technology, it is also critical to attracting new, young farmers into the industry. We know younger generations see high-speed connectivity as essential to everyday living and business.”

The infrastructure bank will be rolling out these investments over the next 24-36 months, Robinson said, and the CFA “anticipates these investments will help accelerate the government’s promised timeline of connecting all of Canada by 2030.”

As for the irrigation funding, she said, “these types of investments will have positive impacts for years to come, helping mitigate the impacts of erratic weather events.”

Increased irrigation, she said, can help farmers grow higher-value crops and more crops per acre, while also making water usage more efficient.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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In an interview Thursday, Bibeau pointed to her minority Liberal government’s pledge in the throne speech to further support the food value chain.

That could mean a review of food infrastructure across the country, according to Bibeau.

Specifics aren’t yet available because the government is in “early steps” on such policy, she said, but added that the government has “realized even more” that the COVID-19 pandemic has made such discussion necessary.

“I want to have this discussion even more with the sector across the country to see what we can do to depend less, in some cases, on exports — but let’s be clear, Canada will remain a big producer and a big exporter of food,” she said.

“But I think there’s space for a bit more food autonomy and to be a bit more resilient, even if we are already in a good position, we can always do better,” she said. “We’ll see how it goes and what form of support it can take, but this is something that we do acknowledge and want to see how we can support it.”

The Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) has previously shown the sector had turned a $1.1 billion trade deficit into a $2.7 billion trade surplus between 2015 and 2018, while highlighting how accelerating regulatory approval and simplifying and modernizing taxes while also addressing labour shortages could further unlock the potential of the industry.

Given the chaotic nature of global trade and several countries abandoning rules-based trade, at the same time as frustrations over the outcome of recent trade deals have resurfaced, it makes sense Bibeau’s government is exploring how to make Canadian food more self-reliant.

Bibeau also continues to focus on making the industry more inclusive for women.

While she regularly hosts roundtables of women when she travels, COVID-19 has prevented her from doing so. Her very first digital roundtable of women involved in agriculture was held Sept. 18.

“It was really interesting. We had women from across the country, representing different sectors and generations so it was interesting to see the different challenges that they raised,” she said. “Many of them mentioned the importance of mentorship and networking.”

Too often, she said, women stay at home looking after the kids while husbands or fathers attend networking opportunities.

“They miss opportunities to network and to meet with other people or other women, to find a mentor who will be able to support, to give advice. This is something they miss a lot, and it’s a reality not only in the ag sector,” she said. “That’s why I was so impressed with the success of our initiative with Farm Credit Canada.”

Launched in March 2019, the FCC Women Entrepreneur Program was designed to offer financing and resources to women in the sector.

Originally given $500 million over three years, the program has since approved loans for 1,391 women at a cost of $994.5 million. Additional loaning capacity given to FCC this spring will be used to keep the program open.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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Thanks to longer summers, he has reaped three straight harvests. This spring he plans to sow canola on his family’s 450-acre farm near Whitehorse, a city not much further from the North Pole than from the heart of Canada’s crop belt in Saskatchewan.

“If you asked me five years ago if I would be growing wheat, I’d have laughed,” said Mackenzie-Grieve, 62, who harvested some 100 acres last year.

Canada’s average temperature over land has warmed by 1.7 C since 1948, with the north warming by 2.3 C, the government said in 2019.

More promising for Canada, one of the world’s top grain exporters, is that its frost-free season expanded by more than 20 days on average from 1948-2016, according to a 2018 paper by Environment Canada scientists.

Large-scale farming with quality harvests remains an elusive challenge in the far North, due to short summers and lack of infrastructure to store and transport commodities. But a warming climate makes crops possible in far-flung, isolated places.

Newfoundland and Labrador, with a tiny fraction of Canada’s arable land, plans to add farm area the size of Toronto, the nation’s largest city. The easternmost province has added 184 hectares (455 acres) of land for fruit and vegetable production since 2017, up nearly one-third, by converting public land to grow crops such as cabbages and cranberries.

It aims to produce 20 per cent of its own food by 2022 — double the existing rate — and has set aside 62,000 hectares for future farmland.

“Climate change will have a very negative climatic, social and economic impact on the province but there still may be some small offset gains by producing food,” provincial Fisheries and Land Resources Minister Gerry Byrne said in an interview.

Climate change has made Canada’s food prices “way more volatile” during the past five years, said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. Prices of salad greens, for example, spiked due to droughts or excessive rains in California.

Canada ‘uniquely suited’

The warming trend has led Santosh Kumar, the scientist who leads Canada’s wheat-breeding program for the northern Prairies, to begin this year assessing test sites further north than ever before.

Kumar said Canada is “uniquely suited” to add arable land as it has a lot of permafrost, or ground frozen for at least two years straight, that could thaw and become available.

Russia and Canada have the greatest “frontier area” suitable for agriculture, with 4.3 million and 4.2 million square kilometres respectively, as early as 2060, based on temperature and moisture levels, though not soil suitability, scientific journal PLOS One said in a February paper. For Canada, that means a potential quadrupling of agricultural land.

Arable land made up 11 per cent of the world’s land mass in 2016, the most according to United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization records dating back to 1961. Canada’s arable land has dropped by nearly five per cent from a peak in 2001 to 43.8 million hectares.

Expansion in Canada would mean less destruction of the Amazon rainforest and other sensitive environments for farming, said Lenore Newman, associate professor of geography and the environment at University of the Fraser Valley.

But “hoping for some magical windfall from warming is wishful thinking,” as it is unknown how suitable boreal soils are for agriculture in the Northern Hemisphere, she added.

Expanding arable land can also hurt the environment as it releases carbon from the soil, the PLOS One paper said.

Obstacles to expanding agriculture

Whether farming in remote areas can be profitable is a key question, Kumar said. “Farmers don’t want to put something in the field just because it can grow.”

Chris Oram has cleared five acres of new arable land in Newfoundland in each of the last five years with a government subsidy. He grows modest volumes of corn and melons, covering young shoots in plastic in early spring to trap warmth because of unpredictable weather.

“It has been a bit hotter, but this year we never took a (corn) harvest because it was so cold and wet,” Oram said.

But there are limits to expanding farm production, as many vegetable growers in Newfoundland and Labrador have no access to cold storage that would allow them to supply grocers year-round.

Byrne’s department last month put out a call for “expressions of interest” to establish up to four regional co-op vegetable cold storage and packing facilities in separate regions of the province, with a deadline of April 30.

Having cold storage available would allow farmers to “extend their marketing periods, meet wholesaler requirements for consistent quality and supply and increase opportunities for secondary processing,” Melvin Rideout, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Horticulture Producers Council, said in a release.

As for the Yukon, where Mackenzie-Grieve farms, much of the territory is too rocky for crops. Unlike southern Canadian farmers, he has no commercial grain handler to buy his wheat, so he blends it in livestock feed that he sells.

“It’s hard to do stuff here. We’re a long ways from anywhere. You just figure out how to make it work.”

— Reporting for Reuters by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg and Kelsey Johnson in Ottawa. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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