{"id":24634,"date":"2026-02-09T16:02:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T16:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/?post_type=rbc_tl&p=24634\/a-higher-orbit-how-canada-can-build-and-finance-a-bolder-space-strategy"},"modified":"2026-02-12T18:20:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:20:34","slug":"seeding-scale-addressing-canadas-agri-food-growth-capital-gap-2","status":"publish","type":"rbc_tl","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/the-growth-project\/seeding-scale-addressing-canadas-agri-food-growth-capital-gap-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeding Scale: Addressing Canada\u2019s agri-food growth capital gap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Key Findings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Canada’s agri-food startups present a $13-billion investment opportunity. <\/strong>Capital flows in growing agri-food companies could help Ottawa achieve its target of unlocking $1 trillion in investment by 2030 <\/strong>to power economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country\u2019s agri-food sector is currently undercapitalized by domestic growth funds. <\/strong>The sector accounts for only 2% of government-backed growth, venture and infrastructure funds at the federal level, and brought in an estimated 4% of total growth funds invested in Canada over the past 5 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not that there isn\u2019t interest<\/strong>. Venture and institutional funds have attempted to flow but fragmented governance across provinces and sector fit for funds have pushed agri-food to the sidelines of mainstream approaches to deploying growth capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domestic agri-food companies got a piece of the growth capital boom\u2013$10.5 billion\u2013between 2015 and 2021. <\/strong>However, investments across sectors have dwindled. Today, growth investment in Canadian agri-food is lower than it was a decade ago, with values down 32% and deals by 29%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The basic mechanics of growth for an agri-food company can cut the sector out of fund priorities.<\/strong> To align investment with Canada\u2019s growth and sovereignty ambitions, funds like the $1B Venture and Growth Capital Initiative announced in the 2025 federal budget could establish agri-food lanes with tailored tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other nations\u2013including Finland, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates\u2013are explicitly linking food security, productivity, and industrial policy through coordinated growth capital strategies. <\/strong>To achieve food security goals, the UAE launched the Agri-Food Growth and Water Abundance (AGWA) cluster with the ambition to attract $48 billion by 2045 specifically for their agriculture, food and water sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opportunity for Canadian investors and innovators\u2013public and private\u2013is to better calibrate and scale capital and businesses to anchor economic value domestically.<\/strong> This starts at the idea stage, improving universities\u2019 weakening role in innovation and reverse trends in business outsourced investments to universities for agri-food R&D, which have fallen 64% in the past five years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Canada has one of the world\u2019s most productive agricultural systems, globally competitive farmers, and is a net exporter of value-added agriculture and food products. Yet, the country is steadily losing its position as a preferred place to start, scale, and retain agri-fooda<\/a><\/sup> startups. That\u2019s because the pipeline for investment and innovation has structural gaps and barriers, from seed to maturity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada is in building mode. Its ambition to attract $1 trillionb<\/a><\/sup> in investment over the next five years to drive growth for the country is a signal.1<\/a><\/sup> A key piece of mobilizing this investment is to put Canada\u2019s existing infrastructure, growth, and venture funds to work for potential high-growth sectors, such as agri-food industries. Most notably, the 2025 federal budget identified agri-food as one of three sectors that Canada enjoys a strategic global advantage. But Canadian agri-food accounts for less than 2% of growth-oriented government-backed funds. And over the past five years, agri-food companies have only captured 4% of total growth capitalc<\/a><\/sup> investment in Canada, which agri-food investors characterize as a stark under-investment in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Canada were to align its growth capital investment in agri-food with the industry\u2019s contribution to GDP as a benchmark to build from, it would require an estimated $13 billion from now until 2030\u2013a 36% boost in investment relative to the past five years. An investment ambition to focus action and position Canada as a thriving, global hub of agri-food innovation and products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global disruptions over the past five years highlight the need to advance Canada\u2019s sovereign capacity in agriculture and food innovation, production and processing. And the rest of the world is not waiting for Canada to perfect its approach. Without immediate action, Canada risks capping agri-food sector\u2019s growth potential by not hosting more value-add processing domestically. It risks hollowing out the agri-food innovation ecosystem as companies and talent look to other countries, including Australia, Japan and Germany, which are growing their investment in R&D and commercialization.2<\/a><\/sup> And it risks irrelevance in the era of disruptive technologies\u2014including AI-driven decision tools, gene editing, biological inputs, automation, robotics, and novel food processing\u2014that will shape productivity gains in the decades ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a mismatch between the framing of Canada\u2019s agri-food sector as a superpower and its strategic advantages with the actual scale and focus of investments domestically. Transforming Canada into an agri-food superpower requires a targeted, nimble approach to capital and growth that navigates the sector\u2019s restraints and fulfills its true potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Canada-based<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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The investment pipeline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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