Thank you, Mr. Chair.
And thank you to the witnesses for coming here this morning.
When you drive through P.E.I. and you see that beautiful soil and the very well-kept farms.... But we're learning this morning there's a dark side to it all in the agriculture industry: how do we maintain farming in P.E.I.?
We've travelled the country. We've seen in the Okanagan Valley where there are big estates, big homes being built on these ten-acre plots, where people have a few horses in the yard, but the reality is they're not producing agriculture for the long term. Is that what's going to happen with P.E.I., where it's just going to be a place for people to come and have a good time, but at the end of the day there'd be no agriculture? I think that would be a tragic thing, especially with such good farmland.
How do we turn this around, assuming that for some reason all the government moneys...? Let's look at this differently. Let's look at P.E.I. differently. Not too long ago I was in New York, where you see a lot of products from Vermont. Vermont seems to be getting a name for itself as pristine, wholesome, and they're selling products in the New England area.
When you see this big market only a one-day drive away, especially with the bridge--100 million people--is there a way maybe P.E.I. can cultivate this wholesome image where we start looking at the way you grow products differently here, where you'd maybe stand out as unique and different?
We often talk about the problem we have with the beef farmers, and you have one plant here. I remember talking to one of the beef processors and asked what if we had this grass-fed beef that was grown here, and instead of saying we're getting less for it, how could we get more for it on the U.S. market by promoting it as a healthier animal with fewer antibiotics? So what I'm thinking is, should we be looking at...? I know some of you are already doing that, but overall, over the long term, should P.E.I. have a certain agriculture concept of maybe more organic, maybe more sustainable agriculture--not just organic where P.E.I. has that label of uniqueness so those 100 million people who are within a day's drive are looking at your product differently, and not just the cheapest potatoes or the cheapest beef or cheapest french fries.... It's a different concept, maybe.
I'm just throwing that out because the market is there. It's just to connect the right product and people, so they know that you're.... I'm kind of thinking along that line: that there should be a different master plan for P.E.I. in the next 50 years, of their food and who their customer is going to be. I think they have an opportunity and a niche, but I don't think it's happened the way it should. So how can that happen? Should it?