Agriculture Committee on April 9th, 2014

[Gilles Saindon]

In terms of our own material, the bulk of our commercialization in the department comes from crop varieties, for which we have a clear system. We have some protections for the varieties in the country and we go through a request for proposal, asking people to bid on the varieties. That's well organized. I think it's working. We do it annually. That's our clear path.

Frankly, I think it's the bulk of our own technology transfer where we do the commercialization. Now that we're doing most of the research, a lot of it as part of a cluster, the industry leadership comes in and plays a big role in advancing and finding these opportunities, and they're players at the table. They in fact help guide some of the decisions on the particular traits to look at for market opportunities. I think the biggest asset you could have is good knowledge of exactly what the market wants and come up with the right product at the right time in the right place. I think it's very important. I think the clusters give us a chance to do that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

Thank you very much, Mr. Dreeshen.

Madam Brosseau, you have five minutes, please.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses.

I want to go back and touch on a question that I think my opposition colleagues mentioned.

Right now we have 19 research centres, is that right? When my colleague asked about some of them closing, you said that a few were consolidated, or moved elsewhere.

I got a press release a few days ago about the cereal research centre. What kind of work did the cereal research centre do?

[Gilles Saindon]

The centre works mostly in the areas of cereal breeding, pathology, genomics, as well as entomology and some value-added in the area of food production, cereal-based mostly.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

In this press release, it says that later this month the cereal research centre will be closed. What will happen to the people who worked there?

[Gilles Saindon]

Just to touch base a bit on that, the physical facility in Winnipeg is closed and our staff has moved. But as I mentioned earlier, the programs have not been closed. The programs are being consolidated at Morden, which is an hour and a half south of Winnipeg, and a group has also gone to Brandon, where we consolidated a lot of the breeding activities.

In Morden we do the pathology, some of the genomics, and the insect controls, and we would do that field work, and agronomy. The breeding is being done at Brandon, where we also do barley breeding. But it's focused on wheat.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Then the work that was started by certain people will continue on until it's finished?

[Gilles Saindon]

That's correct. They are continuing on site there. Some of the staff decided not to relocate, and so we're staffing positions right now in the area of wheat breeding. In fact, I think they're staffing as we speak.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

It goes on to say in this press release:

When the federal government invests $30 million annually in wheat breeding it creates at least $600 million in value that is distributed among farmers in the form of better crops, providing income to pay wages, taxes....

Madam Mithani, you spoke a little bit about international collaboration. Can you comment a little bit more on how that works and how Canada compares in investing in research and innovation?

[Dr. Siddika Mithani]

I'd first like to go back to your question with respect the CRC, just to let you know that we are currently hiring two spring wheat breeders, one durum wheat breeder in Swift Current, and two pathology positions to be staffed in Morden. The long tradition of wheat work in CRC that was done in Winnipeg is not lost. It will still continue. It's also important to recognize that we do have scientists who are embedded at the University of Manitoba.

When you look at wheat research, we compare very well with the international Wheat Initiative. We are one of the very strong members of the international Wheat Initiative. At a science level, it is about science, about research, about being able to share germ plasm and be able to work together to come up with varieties that will increase productivity.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

You also mentioned honeybees and work being done that is management-initiated, I guess because of the concerns over the last few years regarding the decline in honeybee populations. I was wondering if you could comment a little bit more on that initiative, because we've actually had witnesses come to this committee, and there's been a lot of work done in the Senate committee also.

Could you follow that up and update the committee on what's being done?

[Dr. Siddika Mithani]

Sure: there are two aspects to this. The issue of neonicotinoids and bees is a PMRA, or Pest Management Regulatory Agency, issue. This is an acute issue, something that is dealt with through regulatory mitigation measures that PMRA is putting in.

The kind of work we are doing is more long term. It's important to recognize that pesticides are just one of many factors that influence survival. There are nutrition and culture, which means the way you manage them and transport them. There are pathogens prevalent in bees as well. There are environmental factors. The quality of the queen is also important.

Some of the work we are doing is really looking at the interaction of these influencing effects in the long-term survival of bees. We're also looking at molecular tools as we look at how we can improve the survival of these bees. So the work currently being done at AAFC is really focused on the long-term issues with bee survival.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Mr. Payne for five minutes, please.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the witnesses for coming today.

Certainly we know that research is an extremely important aspect of our agriculture. Certainly the innovation program contains science clusters, and you did talk a bit about your stakeholders. I'm just wondering if you have some comments on what they think about the clusters and the research and what their views are in terms of what's going on with the innovation and research.

[Gilles Saindon]

We receive a lot of ongoing feedback, because there is a lot of interaction with our scientists. Not only do we fund some of these clusters but we also participate, in many cases, in the delivery of these clusters. We're part of the scientific team. We're not always part of it, but very often we are. In these cases, we have lots of interaction on an ongoing basis with the players in terms of adjusting and comparing notes as to where we are and how the research is progressing.

So there is a lot of back and forth at the management level, so to speak, and also among the scientists. We're putting together teams of scientists, some from the private sector, some from the university, and some from the department. It gives them a chance to interact. They have regular annual updates on what they will go and present. They share their results, discuss, and adjust as needed, because it's also part of the feedback we get. The feedback we're receiving from industry has been very positive in terms of providing the right context for these discussions to take place.

That's basically what I would say about this.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

I talked to you earlier, and you were in Lethbridge, where there is one of the research centres. Of course, as we had discussed, that is my hometown. We both have children who were born in Lethbridge, so we have some real history in that part of the country.

I think one of the examples you have at the research centre is on vaccines, and it was critical in developing the vaccines to fight ticks and paralysis in cattle. Can you go into more detail on this particular innovation project?

[Gilles Saindon]

In reference to bluetongue at the border, I'm not sure to what extent we were involved in developing the vaccine. We probably collaborated in the science underpinning it and understanding what would be needed to provide a good vaccine. I don't know where the work was actually done, but our scientist was an entomologist who participated in this because he knew the biology.

That's a great example of what happens when you bring together a team. We had the strength in the biology, understanding the insects and how the insects would move and how the virus or pathogen would also move from cattle to cattle. I think that was brought to bear in the context of developing the vaccine. So it would be in that context that we participated in that project.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Well, that sounds quite positive.

Have you any other innovative research projects that are taking place in Lethbridge that benefit western Canadian farmers?

[Gilles Saindon]

This is where we focus the majority of our work, in the area of feedlot beef cattle production. This is where we do that research. There is a lot happening in this particular area. We're working in the area of some cereals, as well as some pulses, which are being developed there on the crop side.

In terms of a lot of the work that's been done over the years and that we've seen fruition in, one example is the area of minimum tillage. A lot of that tillage work was also done at Lethbridge. Now they're working in terms of integrating the impact on the environment and looking at the life cycle of carbons and nitrogen to see how it works in terms of greenhouse gas production and linking it with the cattle production.

That's the kind of innovative work we do, and that is linked internationally as well. You have the opportunity, under one roof, to have the interaction between the livestock production and the impact on soils. You have the feed as well, because we have forage work there. That gives us the integration.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

You're very close to “feedlot alley”, I think they call it. One of the other—

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

We are out of time.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

I had only one more question, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

We may get some more time. Thank you.

Madame Michaud, you have five minutes, please.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I very much appreciated your presentation. This is my first time on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. I usually sit on the national defence committee, but I am learning a lot of interesting things.

My riding, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, is a rural one. It is home to a number of research farms, including one belonging to Université Laval in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures. So I'm interested in the issue. I'm glad my colleagues raised the matter of research farms. You covered the topic quite well.

Now, in its 2014-15 Report on Plans and Priorities, the department is allocating $519 million to science, innovation, adoption and sustainability programs. How much of that money will go to research activities conducted within Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada?

[Gilles Saindon]

The new fiscal year just started. The department's budget for the fiscal year that just ended was just over $300 million; that includes what we do internally and what we fund through the AgriInnovation program. So it's a shared budget, if you will.