Evidence of meeting #51 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was canola.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:30 p.m.
Bloc
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
Do you think that organic farms are a part of sustainable development?
12:35 p.m.
Past President, Canadian Organic Growers
I think what I heard is, is it sustainable?
12:35 p.m.
Bloc
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
Did you understand my question? Are organic farms a part of sustainable development?
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Thank you. I asked if you had a closing comment, not a question.
Mr. Shipley, five minutes.
February 17th, 2011 / 12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for being here.
I want to go first of all to A&L Biologicals, a neighbour of mine from southwestern Ontario. I live just outside London, so Mr. Patterson and Dr. Lazarovits, I appreciate your taking the time to be here. It's interesting, and I'm so encouraged because you talk about your testing that is done in fields, not in laboratories. You're concerned about soil use, root structure. There's been all kinds of talk over the years about root structure. But what you're really talking about is variation in the soils as we cross a hundred acre farm. My farm is in dairy and cash crops.
It's interesting, though, that you talk about yield drops. In our area we continue to see yield increases. I don't know if it's because of the breeding. I'll disagree with those who say GM has lowered the yields. In my area, where we grow many soybeans, wheat, and corn, we've seen incredible yield increases. Not all of those are GM. The unfortunate part about this discussion is that everything is going back to GM. We've got so much. It's one small part of genomics. It's one small part of what biotechnology is about.
I'm interested that you're doing the soil health initiative using farms, universities...or is it strictly other...? Are they all independent labs, or are these publicly funded labs also?
12:35 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, A&L Canada Laboratories Inc.
The A&L Biologicals' approach was just to look at that other piece of the puzzle we haven't worked with. A&L Canada, which is owned by farmers, was started and research initiatives were put in place to address all production issues of all crops. So we deal with farmer groups. We cooperate with universities and industry to use all the technologies we have. We're involved in precision agriculture and soil testing and the like.
The A&L Biologicals portion was to look at the one piece of the puzzle we really know nothing about, and that's the ecology of the soil. We are doing a better job growing crops. Yields are increasing because of the technologies we keep using as we advance in agriculture. But we're also damaging a lot of things. Our approach is to continue using the technology, continue to produce bigger and better crops, more profitable cropping systems, but to start to address some of those things we're challenged with all the time in some of the negatives we create for ourselves as we go forward.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Is it regardless of what you grow or whether it's GM, non-GM, organic? Is it in the soils regardless of what type of structure you're using to plant? Is it just soils that have had GM crops growing in them? Is that the problem?
12:35 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, A&L Canada Laboratories Inc.
No, it's all soils, all cropping systems. We are stewards of the land, as farmers, but as we go into the unknown, there are products and pesticides we use. We need to understand a little better how to use them, not only more effectively but....
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Let's ask Mr. Taylor or Mr. Black. When we're talking cross-pollination--cross-contamination sounds like something hazardous--are you just concerned with GM crops? So when you have cross-pollination into your organic fields between IP soybeans that are not GM, and they've had a pesticide used on them, they've been grown with a commercial fertilizer, that isn't a concern.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
12:35 p.m.
Past President, Canadian Organic Growers
That's for genetically engineered products. But mutagenesis is different. With that type of plant breeding, it's still soybean genes inserted into soybean genes and propagated.
12:35 p.m.
Past President, Canadian Organic Growers
So that type of thing would be allowed, and if it cross-pollinates into my soybeans, that wouldn't be a problem.
12:40 p.m.
Past President, Canadian Organic Growers
But with the genetically engineered gene, cross-pollination is a problem.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
My daughter is an organic consumer, and her understanding would be that there is only “organic” in the product she's buying. I don't necessarily buy that.
12:40 p.m.
Past President, Canadian Organic Growers
Organic is a production system, a process.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
The organic field may be cross-pollinated with non-organic crops, yet it would be labeled “organic”, because these same pollens cross with IP soybeans. I don't know how you differentiate that.
12:40 p.m.
Past President, Canadian Organic Growers
You wouldn't even try. There's no need to, because it's soybeans.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
12:40 p.m.
As an Individual
We can have a buffer zone that protects us from pesticide drift from one to the other, but as far as what Arnold was talking about, you're talking apples and oranges.