'We make good food together:' MacAulay touts NAFTA at U.S. farm conference

Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay travelled to Nashville on the weekend to address more than 5,000 delegates of the American Farm Bureau Federation convention.

The P.E.I. MP was introduced as the first Canadian agriculture minister to speak to the meeting, gave a keynote address Sunday that focused on the importance of NAFTA for both Canada and the United States.

"From burgers to breakfast, we make good food together," MacAulay said.

"The fact of the matter is we're friends whether we like it or not. We've worked together too long."

MacAulay bolstered his argument with a collection of statistics.

• $47 billion in agriculture trade between the U.S. and Canada in 2017.
• A tripling of trade between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico since 1994.
• A quadrupling of U.S. agricultural product exports to Canada and Mexico since 1994.

MacAulay said any disruption of cross-border trade in produce would hurt both economies.

U.S. President Donald Trump will address the conference on Monday. Trump's speech is expected to focus on rural infrastructure.

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