Thank you, Mr. Chairman and honourable members. We appreciate the opportunity to present this morning.
My name is Travis Toews. I'm the president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association. My family and I ranch west of Grande Prairie, Alberta, in the Beaverlodge area.
In 2010 farm cash receipts from cattle and calves, combined with the multiplier effect from downstream economic activity, contributed $25 billion to Canada's GDP. The cattle industry has been through several years of turmoil, but we are now moving forward with a strong recovery, and we see tremendous opportunity for the industry, based on strong demand and positive prices.
Investment in research and innovation is critical to ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of the Canadian beef industry. Research provides the science necessary to demonstrate the integrity of our animal health and food safety systems, which are increasingly important in trade negotiations. It is also integral to reducing the incidence of food safety concerns and to growing consumer demand for high-quality beef.
Our being able to compete with other protein sources globally also requires research to improve feed efficiency, increase feed and forage productivity, and ensure animal health and welfare. Continued progress requires long-term research investments to ensure that our industry can respond and adapt to new issues and opportunities that arise. However, we are very concerned that a considerable loss of research infrastructure, funding, and expertise may hamper further progress.
Federal funding for beef research in Canada has declined significantly over the last 20 years. An 18% across-the-board cut in research funding in 1995 was followed by an additional 30% decline in funding between 1995 and 2007. Ongoing cuts have seriously and negatively impacted projects, scientific expertise, and facilities. As a result, the viability of some very important research programs in areas such as beef quality, food safety, and forages are faced with death by a thousand cuts. Combined with attrition, continued funding cuts threaten the maintenance of core federal research programs and have been a deterrent in attracting new expertise into research positions of importance to the public good. These ongoing cuts contradict the clear recognition that innovation plays an important role in enhancing competitiveness.
Industry recognizes the value of research, and this recognition has led Canada's beef industry to increase its check-off allocations to research by 150% over the last several years. One of the most significant recent industry-government investments was for the development of a beef cattle science research cluster that brings together Canada's largest industry and public beef research funders to deliver priority research. I'm convinced that the beef science cluster approach will result in a very coordinated, efficient research model.
However, funding will need to be increased to ensure meaningful results, and furthermore, federal funding research must be delivered on a minimum five-year basis. Program delivery has typically resulted in a three-year funding cycle with two-year funding gaps, which are not conducive to delivering strong research programs with meaningful results.
We would make three recommendations relating to research. Number one is that investments in research need to be increased to more appropriately reflect the importance of the beef industry to the economy and the public good, and to support its sustainability and competitiveness in the future.
Number two is that government and industry need to make long-term, predictable, research funding commitments, moving beyond the current three-year fragmented funding cycle.
Number three is that we must maintain a strong research community to train new expertise. Ongoing reductions and gaps in funding are not conducive to attracting or retaining talented researchers. Capacity is critical to ensuring that scientific expertise is available to respond promptly, effectively, and strategically to issues and opportunities.
The brief we submitted to the clerk contains two more recommendations. The first is for increased investment in market development. This is another critical competitive piece for Canada's beef and other exporting industries.
Growth in U.S. exports over the last two years has been phenomenal. Some of that is due to currency exchange levels, but some is also due to the United States Department of Agriculture's investment in export promotion. A report to the Office of Management and Budget puts returns to market promotion spending at $35 per dollar invested. We in Canada need to increase our investment in trade promotion to ensure we are not displaced or outpaced by our biggest competitor for customers looking for high-quality grain-fed beef.
Our other recommendation, Mr. Chairman, relates to reducing government spending. Currently, Canadian livestock producers must compete with ethanol manufacturers in the feed grain market. While beef is produced and sold on an open market basis and beef producers purchase grain on an open market basis, ethanol demand is supported by government mandate, is protected by tariffs against imports, and is produced with subsidies. We would like to see a sunset on all federal government mandates, subsidies, and tariffs against imports of ethanol.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I apologize for going over.