b"The Canadian pulse sectors most important trade challenge involves exports to India. The world really changed for our pulse industry in 2017 with the imposition of various restrictive trade policies in what was our largest market historicallyIndia, says Mac Ross. He is director of market access and trade policy at Pulse Canada, a national association of growers, traders and processors of Canadian pulse crops.Right now, India has import tariffs of 33, 50 and 66 per cent for lentils, peas and chickpeas, respectively, as well as quantitative import restrictions limiting pea imports into India to 150,000 tonnes from April 2019 to April 2020.We shipped 40 per cent of our pulses to India as recently as 2016. That has really decreased in the last few years. In 2018, we were at about 85 per cent of our usual exports to India, and this year we have climbed up a little bit. India is probably our third largest market this crop year, but our exports to India are still nowhere near the magnitude that they have been in the past. Anytime you lose such a large market and such a largeCam Dahl is the president of Cereals Canada.PHOTO: CEREALS CANADApercentage of your overall export market, the farmers are going to feel that at the farm gate, says Ross. Trade Disruptions a Fact of Life? International trade disputes seem to be constantly in the headlines. Are continued trade disruptions in Canadian crop exports expected?Agriculture and the food sector have always been sensitive to trade disruptions because consumers and governments are concerned about food safety and because farmers in importing countries are concerned about how the imports might affect them, says Innes. However, Canada is facing unprecedented uncertainty in the world of international trade, he adds. Geopolitics is affecting trade in a way that it hasn't in the past.From Dahls perspective, world trade has gone through a major change over the past two or three years. Prior to that, we had a time where the world was looking for ways to facilitate trade. We were negotiating trade agreements that were reducing trade barriers, like the agreement with Europe or the TPP, he says. Now, we have moved to a new age of protectionism where countries are pulling back from supporting multilateralMac Ross is the director of market access and trade policy for Pulse Canada. and global trade. They are looking to put up trade barriers;PHOTO: PULSE CANADAItaly is a prime example of that. And often countries look to phytosanitary issues, such as disease or pesticide residues orCanada has done a very good job over the past few decades weed seeds, they can use to block trade. I expect to see more ofof entering into free trade agreements with a lot of key export these trade issues going forward.markets. We like to say we are the only G7 country that has a Ross views the pulse industrys current trade issues as afree trade agreement with every other G7 country. But now that symptom of two inherent realities of the industry. One is thatwe have secured duty-free access, we are seeing countries are Canada is super reliant on the export market. We have only 37using other non-tariff means to keep products out if they wish million mouths to feed here in Canada, so we cant eat all thatto do so.we produce. We are able to grow a lot of high-quality, safe, food, but we depend on the export market to purchase it and for theStrategies to Keep Markets Opencontinued success of our industry, he says. And in the casePulse Canada, the Canola Council and Cereals Canada are each of pulses specifically, we have been over-reliant on one or twoactively working with their value chains, Canadian government export markets. When some uncertainty arises in one or two ofagencies, and others to find solutions to current trade issues and these markets, the effects can really reverberate right throughprevent market access problems from emerging in the future. our entire industry. The Canadian pulse industry and Pulse Canada have a Still, Ross agrees with Innes and Dahl that we are seeing astrong emphasis on market diversification. Pulse Canada higher level of uncertainty in the global marketplace at present.has developed a 25 by 2025 strategy which aims to move 25 Fall 2019 23"