Keystone Agricultural Producers' annual meeting wrapped up Thursday in Winnipeg.

One of the keynote speakers was Catherine Brodeur, vice president of economic studies with Groupe Agéco, based out of Quebec.

The company performs economic analysis on the agricultural sector.

She spoke about government intervention in the agriculture sector and whether it's relevant in the 21st century.

Brodeur noted that government intervention started around the time of the great depression due to issues with supply and demand, adding there are new risks for farmers today.

“The fact that markets are more globalized, the weather conditions will affect agricultural markets all around the world,” she explained. “Also, there's biosecurity issues...you also have climate change, the frequency of extreme climate events is higher.”

Brodeur says in her opinion, government intervention is still required in agriculture, however it must adapt to a new reality of the private risk management tools that exist.