Evidence of meeting #35 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was report.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Assistant General Manager, Prince Edward Island Potato Board
Do you mean in terms of a buyer who is also a seller?
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
You said there was a concern that had to do with market share and inventory of specific varieties and all that stuff, and that if you called Ontario, it's sort of illegal. Is that provincial or federal regulation?
4:45 p.m.
Assistant General Manager, Prince Edward Island Potato Board
It's federal. I believe the issue is with the Competition Act.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
I'm just checking, because I wasn't sure.
Mr. Norton, can you supply the domestic market?
4:45 p.m.
President, Okanagan Kootenay Cherry Growers Association
No, we cannot, not totally, but we want a bigger share of it.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
I'd like to move to Mr. Smardon.
BioEnterprise, I understand, was set up in 2003 and funded federally and provincially. Is that all the provinces?
4:45 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer and President, BioEnterprise Corporation
No, the funds come from Ontario only right now.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
So you were funded in 2003....
Actually, you have a very interesting report, and I appreciate it. You are rather negative, but the report brings out some things that raise some interest.
What is your mandate since 2003? I'm wondering whether you have something you could talk to us about among your accomplishments.
4:45 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer and President, BioEnterprise Corporation
The mandate of the organization—as I understand it, from the get-go, from day one—was to promote innovation within the agricultural community and seek out new, innovative products that would bring value to the agriculture community. We focus away from commodity-based products and more towards ways to save the farmer-producer money—in the form of processing costs, for example—or ways to add value.
One example of success stories would be the wine product I mentioned, whereby we are saving the Ontario wineries anywhere from $35,000 to $100,000 a year by taking their product and giving them back revenue in exchange for producing the wine flour, which is used in the ingredients business and the cosmetic business.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
I'm still not clear about the organization and the structure of it, when you have the federal government and one province. You're speaking for it. How does the funding ratio work? And why haven't the other provinces bought into it, do you know?
4:50 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer and President, BioEnterprise Corporation
We're funded under the Growing Forward program, which I believe has a 60-40 split.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
When you talk about what you did for the wine industry, is that 60-40 for Canada and Ontario, with only 60% for the other provinces?
4:50 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer and President, BioEnterprise Corporation
You'd like to make that mathematical equation. It doesn't work that way.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
4:50 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer and President, BioEnterprise Corporation
The original mandate was for Ontario only. The mandate has changed. It is now a national mandate. We are in discussions with the other provinces: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, B.C., ACOA in the Maritimes, and Quebec.
One of the ways we work is through the partnerships we have. We have a partnership with CQVB in Quebec, Ag-West Bio in Saskatchewan, AVAC in Alberta, the composite centre in Winnipeg, and so on.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Okay.
You were talking about the national commercialization and expansion program. Then you said a while ago, speaking about the entrepreneurs across the country, that there doesn't seem to be entrepreneurial expertise in all areas for getting through the regulations and understanding them. Are you suggesting, then, that this is what this national commercialization and expansion program would be, that it would be actually an expansion of that—because that's what it says—and that you would be the one to go to for all things?
4:50 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer and President, BioEnterprise Corporation
It wouldn't necessarily be us, but there is a need for organizations like, I'll say, ours and like Ag-West Bio, for example, in which there is specific knowledge. They have areas in which they do much better than we do, and we have areas in which we do something better than they do. Those two areas need to be distributed across the country so that others can do the same thing in the same manner, and that's just not the case today.
The manner in which it gets done will be through some form of partnership with the organizations that currently exist. We don't want to create new organizations. The half-dozen to a dozen organizations that currently exist would then be in a much better position to offer commercialization services than they are today.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Your time's up, Mr. Shipley.
Ms. Bonsant, please. You have five minutes.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
Thank you very much.
Mr. Smardon, I would like you to provide me with some information about crop science and functional foods. I would like to have some explanations, please.
I have no idea what that is about.
4:50 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer and President, BioEnterprise Corporation
Agri-technology, or agri-tech, includes any product, technology, or service that finds its basis in agriculture, in either animal science, crop science, or producer farm management. It's very broad. It can be things such as functional foods and nutraceuticals; agricultural products are used in functional foods and nutraceuticals. It can be alternative energy, in which you take the feedstock from agriculture and produce ethanol and butanol. It can be bio-oils and bio-fibres that are used in carpets and paint thinners. It's any product or technology that has a foundation in agriculture.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
All right.
Do you receive subsidies from the government for research and development? I am not only addressing you, Mr. Smardon, but you as well, Mr. Norton. In Quebec, we have many small family farms that do the second and third stages of processing.
Do you know if there are any subsidies for research and development regarding cherry farming? You could make a blackcurrant drink -- an extraordinary drink -- out of cherries. Instead of throwing cherries away, we may as well be making drinks with them.
4:55 p.m.
President, Okanagan Kootenay Cherry Growers Association
You have to understand that I come from British Columbia. Quebec farmers enjoy the largest infusion of provincial money into agriculture throughout the country; B.C. has the least support from the provincial government. As far as developing innovative things on the family farm is concerned, our culture on our farm doesn't do that. It's ultimately been left up to the industry as a whole to create the juice plants and the processing plants and things like that.
Without a large population very close.... Your farmers enjoy a rather close market for all the innovations and little ideas that come out. Having that market access makes it a lot easier. We have a much smaller population than we would need to go for that, so it's not part of our historical culture. The small side business hasn't been there.
However, my wife and I are starting a dried cherry business. We just started, last year a little bit, and more this year, but we prefer to do it without government subsidy, because the strings attached to government subsidies are far too time-consuming. We'll just do it on our own, thanks very much.
4:55 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer and President, BioEnterprise Corporation
We don't have access to research funding either, but there are various programs across the country to which we can help introduce the farmer, producer, or entrepreneur, and then help them arrange the research funding.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
Ms. Simmons, I would like to know how the potato market works. Is the product purchased by a broker who then distributes it, or do you sell potato products directly, frozen or otherwise, for example to the McDonald's chain, or does someone else do it for you?