Regional agriculture leaders urge renewal of USMCA to protect cross‑border supply chains

Panelists at the PENWR agricultural leaders roundtable said the USMCA (called CUSMA in Canada and sometimes informally referred to as “Kuzma”) is central to North American farm trade and supply‑chain resilience.

David Merritt, Minister of Agriculture of Saskatchewan, said his province "seeds over 40,000,000 acres every year" and emphasized that cross‑border fluidity matters because products and inputs move in both directions. Merritt noted Saskatchewan’s investments in research and market development — "we've been investing between $35,000,000 and $40,000,000 every year in ag research" — as part of a strategy to diversify and support integrated trade.

Mike Hunnicutt, executive officer for the Montana Department of Livestock, described the practical effects on livestock markets: "Canadian feeders are much more active in our marketplace" and he estimated Canadian participation at "probably 20 to 30%" of activity in some Montana stockyards. Hunnicutt warned the loss of that participation could represent "as high as $500,000,000" of market value, a disruption he said would harm processing plants and make domestic plants harder to operate year‑round.

Derek Sandison, director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture, stressed trade’s role in competitiveness: "Canada is our number 1 export market and Mexico is number 3," he said, adding that Washington’s high production costs make market access and predictability crucial to keeping farms viable. Several panelists linked high transport and logistics costs to food affordability.

Panelists pointed to concrete examples of integration: Saskatchewan seed potatoes that supply U.S. seed and U.S. crop‑protection products used in Canadian production; joint research that enabled canola and pulse crops to expand into new regions; and shared processing investments in the region.

The panel concluded with an action proposal: Merritt and others urged PENWR to consider a joint letter from governors and premiers to federal governments urging renewal of USMCA/CUSMA to preserve the integrated trading block and the predictability that agriculture requires.

The roundtable did not take a formal vote; the discussion closed with officials agreeing to continue advocacy through their networks and at the upcoming trinational conference in Calgary.