Canadian agriculture producers heavily rely on railway to export their products across the country to port. In 2022, Canada exported $84.5 billion in agricultural products (Dyck, 2024). According to Statistics Canada, roughly 57.5 million tonnes of agricultural goods were moved by rail in 2022 (Statistics Canada, 2024). Without railway transportation, there would be serious affects on production and costs in the land locked provinces. Late this summer we saw the jeopardization of our agriculture sector due to railway strikes and negotiations in both Canadian railway firms, CN and CPKC, leaving crop producers worrying whether they would be able to get this year’s harvest to market. These are just some of the issues agriculture producers are facing when it comes to railway transportation and by looking at scenarios such as rail strike, it is clear that railway movement should be of utmost importance to Canadian farmers. Many farmers are wondering if they will see some security from our railways. Will railway capacities and movement increase as yields increase?   

Importance of Increasing Railway Movement

Three key factors come to mind when considering increasing railway movement and its benefits to Canadian producers, increased economic growth, global competitiveness in the markets, and cost. “Today, around 70 per cent of all intercity surface freight and half of Canada’s exports are moved by rail (Railway Association of Canada, 2024)”. Knowing that 50% of our exports are moved by rail, and our agriculture sector is an export–heavy industry, rail movement is a huge component to the economic success and growth of our economy. With that being said, farm yields have increased exponentially, and farmers expect to be able to bring this extra product to market (Ritchie et al., 2023). Without increasing rail movement, our producers will fail to reap the benefits of the extra yields, and struggle to keep up in global grain markets. The final and arguably most important reason increased rail movement is critical to grain farmers is that lack of movement costs these producers money. University of Alberta researcher Mohammed Torshizi found that rail delivery backlog cost Western Canadian grain farmers between $5 to $6.7 billion dollars between 2013-2015 harvests (Betkowski, 2020). Lack of railway movement can be the cause of massive revenue losses for Canadian grain producers.

What Steps Can Be Taken to Ensure Increased Rail Movement Moving Forward? 

First, there are a few possible explanations as to why our Canadian railway duopoly may not want to increase railway movement in the West. With recent struggles between unions and railway companies, movement is very likely not the highest priority right now for CN and CPKC. For the first time this past August, Canadians saw both our rail companies struggle with labour disputes at the same time, threatening a massive hit to our economy (Shingler, 2024). Another reason they may not be so keen to increase movement is capital investment towards increased infrastructure, shouldering those costs is likely not in the highest of interest as well. 

To look at increasing railway movement moving forward, there certainly needs to be some stability labour wise, and a willingness to invest more time and money into new and current railway infrastructure. Investment in new railway infrastructure has drastically decreased since the mid 20th century (The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2024). These two factors are key elements in increasing railway movement. 

Conclusion

Producers depend on rail to move their products to market. For Canada to effectively trade and Canadian farmers to successfully market their larger harvests, there needs to be increased rail movement. Recent labour disputes and lack of willingness to invest in new infrastructure has resulted in barriers for increased growth and stability in the Canadian agriculture sector. Overall, increased railway movement will promote economic growth, enable farmers to transport larger yields more efficiently, and help maintain Canada’s global trade reputation.