Agriculture committee  Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I have one point to add. There was a fair bit of discussion around labelling, good comments around labelling and product of Canada. I think as most of you know, we're dealing with a challenge with mandatory country of origin labelling in the United States right now.

Agriculture committee  That's a pertinent question. We desperately need and we benefit from, largely, quite a competitive marketing process in Canada, not only isolated to auction markets. Quite a high number of cattle do continue to sell at auction markets. In terms of challenges there, what's really important is that adequate tolerances are applied when it comes to enforcing our mandatory ID system, which we all believe is incredibly important.

Agriculture committee  First, the beef value chain round table is a great venue to discuss traceability, because we have all sectors around the table. Approximately 10 or 12 years ago, the Canadian cattle industry made a big step forward in moving towards mandatory individual animal ID. This has provided us with the ability to do herd-of-origin trace back.

Agriculture committee  Thanks for that question. That's a great question. In light of dealing with limited resources with government, our industry's competitiveness depends on competitive global market access. Even with a smaller cattle herd, it's just as vital today. The efforts made by Minister Ritz particularly, but also Minister Fast and the Prime Minister, have been absolutely imperative to regaining the ground we have over the last few years.

Agriculture committee  There are a few things at play, but clearly increased market access has been a major contributor to the price increase, along with very tight supplies globally and in North America. We've seen prices almost double for the average rancher out there. They certainly have gone up in the neighbourhood of 60%, up to 90% or 100%.

Agriculture committee  That's a very good question. I'll give a really short answer and then a little longer one. Ultimately the beef value chain round table has a lot of value at any and every point in the value chain, right from the genetics industry in the cattle industry right through to the retail side, where the consumer is buying a product, or even the food service side.

Agriculture committee  That's an excellent question, Mr. Atamanenko. The veterinary technical expertise is valuable in countries such as Japan, Mexico, and others because of the depth of technical knowledge required for the technical market access negotiations dealing with the science around BSE and around specified risk material and its implications.

Agriculture committee  That's right.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for that question. It's a question that I think many producers ask across the country and it's a worthwhile question. I think that not only do we need to consider our retail distributors but probably our processing industry as well. As primary producers we depend on an efficient processing and distribution sector.

Agriculture committee  No, I think that covered it.

Agriculture committee  Sure. Thanks for that question. Really, the importance of having technical expertise abroad came to the forefront in 2003, when there was a massive effort to begin to reopen those markets. As for key markets that have received veterinarians, one has been Mexico and another one has been Japan.

Agriculture committee  I'll speak to the importance of an efficient infrastructure system. In the cattle industry, rail is not used significantly to move our product directly. However, rail is used to move feed stuffs across the country and into the country at times from the U.S. Obviously, because we're a global player, we have to be competitive on all fronts so we need a very efficient transportation system.

Agriculture committee  Yes, the Korean market is a very important market for Canadian beef. I was in Seoul earlier this spring and we met with the trade there. At this time, Canadian product is not disadvantaged significantly in terms of the duty that's applied. Over time, that spread is going to increase as we move past the U.S.

Agriculture committee  We can certainly talk about structural discrepancies. There's no doubt that, as with any industry that goes through difficult times, an industry restructures. Typically, those are the times restructuring takes place. I'm convinced that the Canadian cattle industry has emerged as a more competitive industry as a result of some of the restructuring that took place.

Agriculture committee  Sure. The Canadian Cattlemen's Association would really like to see a cattle price insurance program made available across the country, and thereby ensure that all regions have a competitive playing field, in other words, have the same risk management tools as those in other provinces.