Last month Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada and the European Union have reached an agreement in principle on a comprehensive free trade agreement.

Last week Saskatchewan agriculture minister Lyle Stewart told those attending Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2013, as a farmer, he's seen these types of deal discussed for decades, they've come and gone with very little to show up to now but this one's different and if it's ratified in its present form it's a very good deal for Canada and Saskatchewan.

Lyle Stewart-Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister

There will be 80 thousands metric tonnes of pork admitted without any tariffs, 50 thousand pounds of beef plus another 15 thousand pounds of quality beef products that will be imported.

The tariffs are removed from the grains that we commonly have traded with the EU and the ones that we have to trade frankly.

It's a very good fit for the grains that we have to trade.

Bison, I think, three thousand tonnes I believe is the tariff-free allotment for bison which is very substantial.

This deal is very good for Saskatchewan.

I congratulate the federal negotiating team on getting to where we are with this thing.

They've been very good to keep us in the loop and keep us apprised of where we're at.

We've been consulted on this along the way and it's been a very professionally done effort on their behalf and we appreciate it.

Mr Stewart notes, with a population of 1.1 million people and 40 per cent of Canada's farmland, Saskatchewan is an exporter by nature and when we look to 2050 with a potential nine billion people on the planet is one of the few jurisdictions in that has the capacity to make a difference feeding the world.