A combine harvesting wheat near Cremona, Alta. Farm Credit Canada has landed $5-billion in investor commitments for farming and food innovation over four years.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Farm Credit Canada, a Crown corporation that finances agricultural operations, has landed $5-billion in investor commitments for farming and food innovation over the next four years.
FCC has convened a coalition of more than 20 investment organizations, including venture capital, private equity and Royal Bank of Canada. It will connect these investors to opportunities in land acquisition, manufacturing and new ag-tech startups, among other projects.
“We’re the breadbasket of the world,” said Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Heath MacDonald when he announced the news to a room of industry stakeholders at FCC’s annual conference in Ottawa on Tuesday. “We need to lead in that aspect. And this is just the start.”
The new funds add to the $2-billion FCC pledged in May, 2025, under its direct investment program, FCC Capital. The program was launched in 2024 and is part of the corporation’s strategy to go beyond senior secured debt (such as financing a barn) and deliver a wider range of capital solutions to innovative farmers and food producers.
FCC Capital is on track to deploy $325-million in new capital by the end of its fiscal year this March.
The pledge announced Tuesday is a non-binding commitment, but FCC is hoping it will ignite broad investor interest in a sector that has long struggled to secure capital and is losing its global market share as a result.
“We need to all come together,” said Justine Hendricks, chief executive officer of FCC, in an interview after the event. “The pie is huge and the opportunity is even bigger.”
Canada’s agricultural sector generated $149.2-billion in 2024, and accounts for one out of every nine jobs in the country, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Food and beverage processing contributed 1.6 per cent to the economy alone and – according to an RBC report published this week - agri-food startups present a $13-billion investment opportunity.
However, a dearth of funding means the sector is not meeting its potential, said Lisa Ashton, director of agricultural policy at RBC Thought Leadership.
According to the RBC report, Canada’s agri-food sector attracted only 4 per cent of total growth funds invested in the country over the past five years. Investment in the sector is lower than it was a decade ago, with values down 32 per cent and deals down 29 per cent.
Canadian agricultural exports have quadrupled since 2000, but the country’s ranking as a global agricultural and agri-food exporter has slipped from fifth to seventh place, and under the business-as-usual approach Canada could fall to ninth place by 2035.
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Other countries are doubling down on globally competitive, modern food manufacturing plants, said Kristina Farrell, chief executive officer of Food and Beverage Canada, in an interview before the announcement. And while Canadian agriculture is the largest manufacturing sector and has a presence in most jurisdictions across the country, it is typically not given the same attention as other manufacturing industries like auto. Some food manufacturing plants in Canada are 200 years old, she said.
FCC is effectively crowding in investment to create a “critical mass” that will ignite further investment, said Darren Baccus, executive vice-president, agri-food, alliances and FCC Capital. Bestowed with ample arable land, Canada is an attractive jurisdiction for agricultural investment, and the sector is becoming increasingly enticing to investors as geopolitical tensions and climate change threaten food security.
FCC’s role will be to “drive deal flow,” he said. The corporation will connect generalist investors with those in the sector who need capital. Since announcing the fund early on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Baccus said he received calls from two interested institutional investors.
The announcement is the culmination of three years of work for Ms. Hendricks who - since taking the helm of the organization in 2023 - is determined to invigorate and expand Canadian agriculture, and sees FCC as uniquely positioned to do so.
“I think the terrain is primed for us to step into our leadership role,” she said. “... Finally, we’re having a conversation we should have had a long time ago.”