Agriculture Committee on March 14th, 2012

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

One other issue that I hear about all the time, especially from small to mid-level processors, is the accessibility of shelf space amongst the major retailers. We have the Ontario Dairy Goat Co-operative in Bruce County, in my part of the riding of Huron—Bruce, and there are pretty tough obstacles for them. They produce millions of litres of dairy products every year and yet they have to fight tooth and nail to get a fraction of a space. Is that something that comes up at these discussions? Because obviously that's a huge issue in the processing industry.

[Susie Miller]

The food processing round table has recognized that accessibility to retail markets is a major initiative. In fact, we have just established working groups to take a look at it. This is one of the priority areas. Any information that your particular retailer could provide to us would be sent directly to that working group.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Mr. Lobb, your time is up.

Ms. Raynault, you have five minutes.

[Francine Raynault, NDP, Joliette, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Just now, I was looking at your document on the Food Processing Industry Roundtable. In 2011, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported that one third of food produced annually is lost or wasted during food preparation.

Do you talk about that issue, those significant losses, at the table?

[Steve Tierney]

There has been some discussion of that, and in fact in terms of wastage, a large part of wastage comes from vegetables and fruit that don't look nice. Consumers like to have product that looks nice. Under one of the programs the minister has put in place, money has been given to a company in the west to take those kinds of misshapen but good-quality foods and turn them into a purée that can be used as an ingredient in other foods. So not only have we been talking about how to deal with some of the wastage, but the minister has acted as well in support of companies that are actively involved in trying to deal with it.

[Francine Raynault, NDP, Joliette, QC]

In that case, would the fruit and vegetables that look nice be less expensive, and could the ones that are not as fresh be used for purée, jam or other products?

[Steve Tierney]

The fruit and vegetables I was talking about would be harvested at the field, but there's often a high percentage of crops coming from the field that cannot go into the retail sector, because they don't look nice. Those would be the product that's going into the purée. So it's perfectly good; it's just that it does not have the consumer-friendly look.

[Francine Raynault, NDP, Joliette, QC]

Okay, but that would not bring prices down for the perfect fruit or vegetables, be they apples or strawberries, because the wastage could be used in another way.

[Steve Tierney]

Yes, I guess it would depend on the elasticity of the demand curve. I think in the majority of cases, you would be correct. The economist in me is just hesitating to say 100%.

[Francine Raynault, NDP, Joliette, QC]

Under accomplishments, it says that the round table asked the FPCWG to develop an action plan to address issues in the sector. It seems that the industry agreed to that plan, which proposes 36 follow-up measures to address competitiveness in four areas: economy, access to markets, innovation and the regulatory system.

Could you briefly talk about access to markets?

[Steve Tierney]

Could you make your question about access to markets a bit clearer?

[Francine Raynault, NDP, Joliette, QC]

By taking part in round tables, the industry will have easier access to markets. You must certainly talk a lot about the fact that fruit and vegetables that don't look as nice cannot be served, even if they are good.

Do you talk about access to markets for all those products? Do you talk about how important it is for industries to have access to markets across Canada in order to use all those products, for example?

[Susie Miller]

I think in terms of access to market, it really does have a broad definition that would change from table to table. So for example, on the horticulture, they want more access to Canadian retailers for their product that is produced in season, and so they're undertaking some actions to do that. For other round tables, they're focused on international markets, because that is where their major markets are. They're also interested in how they produce the product that is required by the retailers.

It's all about making money. It's all about ensuring that everybody along the chain gets the best price for their product, and that does include things like how you handle waste product, for example. Organic is one area where they're very interested in replacing imports, because we provide so little of the organic products within Canada.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Allen, could you please take the chair?

Mr. Payne, you have five minutes.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Welcome to the witnesses for coming today. It's important that we look at the supply chain.

I was interested in some of your comments, Mr. Tierney, in regard to the pork industry. We know the pork industry has gone through some major upheavals in the last couple of years. Were they part of this round table process? Is that how we resolved some of these issues? What came out of that?

[Steve Tierney]

The pork industry has been a key part of the round table. There is a round table just for the pork industry. It discussed all aspects of their problems, but also all aspects of how they can get ahead of the game. Most producers feel there is going to be a protein deficit internationally. Pork and beef in Canada are now well positioned to take advantage of it. But it does seem to be one of those things where the deficit is always just ahead of you but never quite here.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

I was just looking at your sheet on the chain round table, particularly under your accomplishments. You talked about the modernization of feed regulations and an endorsement of the animal nutrition association policy paper. Is there anything there that would help us understand that a little bit better? I'm not certain about what comes out of that feed nutrition.

[Susie Miller]

Again, it's referenced to our colleagues that come behind us, but just where the round table fits in, it is of course something like feed—they're a part of the chain. It makes a big difference on the revenues, the net income of the producers, but also on the outcome of the meat product. For example, if you want omega-3 pork, it was endorsed by the round table because they felt that it was an important piece that didn't necessarily impact them directly, but indirectly it made the chain function better.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

As part of the round table, I'm assuming you're looking at all kinds of regulations. I don't know if that includes interprovincial, red tape issues, Canada-U.S., and the harmonization of those regulations. I don't know if you have any input for us on that.

[Susie Miller]

Where regulations fit into the round table discussions—for example, the pork has four initiatives. One is on cost competitiveness, another is on market access, a third is on the attributes of the product, and the fourth is on the innovation. There are regulations for good reason that impact on those four. As an example, they're not looking at regulation per se, but if it comes up in the context of what they want to achieve in any of those four areas, then it certainly gets discussed and that's why we have the regulators at the table for that discussion.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

How much time do I have left? Two minutes. Fine.

There are quite a number of different round tables here. So I'm just wondering how all of this gets put together. Is it like one super table? How does the department get involved, and the minister? How does that all compile to come out with some very good recommendations?

[Steve Tierney]

We have a unit of course, a very small unit, that keeps managing and looking for thematic issues across round tables. In addition, we have the two cross-sector round tables—organic and food processing sectors—which we can bring together. Finally, the deputy minister chairs an annual meeting where all the industry co-chairs of all the round tables, as well as his deputy colleagues from departments like Health Canada, Fisheries and Oceans, and Transport, and so on, are invited. The preparation for that meeting is part of the pulling together.

Then there are our regular briefings for the minister that attempt to pull together, because from our end, it's easier for us to solve a thematic issue all at once rather than trying to solve the same issue individually at different round tables. There is quite an incentive in the department as well to try to bring the issues together.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

I have one last question I can probably sneak in here. Are there any other areas of round tables that we should be looking at to get the whole supply chain in place?

[Steve Tierney]

There are new uses of agricultural products. That may be an area. As you talk to your industry witnesses.... In large part, the round tables are a really innovative way of engaging with industry. It's one that the minister has been pushing.

Industry has a stake in the game. They have to have a loud voice. How do we engage them? How do we engage them all at once and facilitate their engagement? In that spirit, this is a very good question to put to the industry people who will be coming.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

I'm assuming—