Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food

Comité permanent de l'agriculture et de l'agroalimentaire

For immediate release

Ottawa, June 03, 2022 -

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food will study the impact Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine is having on global food security through a study beginning Monday, 6 June 2022.

The Committee notes with concern reports that Russia has deliberately targeted Ukrainian food infrastructure, including transport networks and grain stores, as part of its military aggression in the country following its invasion on 24 February 2022. These actions not only threaten the food security of internally displaced Ukrainians, but also that of other countries, notably those in the developing world that rely heavily on Ukrainian grain to feed their populations.

“There is a real crisis right now around global food supply, and this study intends to examine how Russia’s military aggression has jeopardized food security and will call witnesses to speak to this,” said MP Kody Blois, Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. “The Committee hopes to further understand how this unprovoked attack by Russia has directly targeted Ukrainian agriculture infrastructure and the impact it is having in Ukraine and around the world.”

The study will include expert testimony from several important stakeholders who have witnessed the detrimental effects first-hand, including Mykola Solskyi, the Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Yulia Klymenko, a member of Ukraine’s parliament and First Deputy Chairman of its Committee on Transport and Infrastructure, Dr. Maria Bogonos, the Head of the Center for Food and Land Use Research at the Kyiv School of Economics, and Mykhailo Amosov, a Land Use Expert with the Center for Environmental Initiatives Ecoaction, a Ukrainian non-governmental organization. Over the coming weeks, the Committee will also hear from Canadian stakeholders on how the geopolitical situation has affected their operations, and the steps that Canada and its G7 partners can take to provide humanitarian and technical support, including efforts to mitigate the global food crisis.

The Committee plans on presenting a report of its findings, including recommendations for Government of Canada actions, in the coming months.

Any interested group or individual is welcome to submit a written brief for the Committee’s consideration. Once these briefs are translated, they will be distributed to the Committee members and posted on the Committee website. Those who wish to submit a brief are encouraged to consult the Guide for Submitting Briefs to House of Commons Committees.

The first two meetings of the study will be televised. For more information on the Committee’s members, meetings and work, please see the Committee’s website.