International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  Definitely. I've asked some of them before they go into negotiations, and made them aware of what the tariffs are and that—

International Trade committee  I would say that's part of a non-tariff barrier as well. I really view it as such, and so do the growers and people in the industry. Especially in Korea, it does prohibit. There are some concerns in the markets we're going into that if there is some domestic production, this is some way that they can maybe slow down what's coming in, even though so many of the countries that we're looking at have such high populations that their internal production would never be able to feed their consumers.

International Trade committee  It's set by the other country.

International Trade committee  They actually look to us for that. They know that we know so much about blueberries. The countries that have started producing them lately don't really.... It's native to North America, the blueberry, and we've been doing this for many years. We're known as the experts for blueberries in the world.

International Trade committee  We're definitely in oversupply.

International Trade committee  It's increasing each year.

International Trade committee  I've been very vocal on that one, and that's what I meant by we're excited by what's moving forward right now. We are seeing an environment where these negotiations are finally benefiting the industry, but we have a way to go here. We have a lot of product. We have a product in demand, and we want to see all the negotiations that are on the table right now moving forward.

International Trade committee  There are many different facets for working on that, everything from having an agent on the ground who works with the trade commissioners to going and doing incoming and outgoing trade missions with that particular country as well as trade shows. The B.C. Blueberry Council always exhibits where we can under the Canada pavilion, and we find great benefit to that rather than if we went off by ourselves.

International Trade committee  Definitely. Blueberries being so popular right now, there are countries all over the place jumping on board trying to grow them. The main product we sell is mostly fresh and processed out of Canada, but there is a lot of interest emerging for value-added.

International Trade committee  It's part of the negotiations. We've been with China for a long time, and several things have come back on our pest risk assessment. This was something where they have so many countries coming at them right now for blueberries. It's a popular fruit, as you mentioned yourself. They are just trying to make sure that everything is in a row, and therefore, they're making sure that every single thing....

International Trade committee  Very valuable. What we've seen though this last year is the amount of personnel has been reduced vastly. They have had a lot of experience and have been very beneficial. When we go overseas the first thing we do is work with the trade commissioners overseas. They are eager to work with us, and they are very proficient and knowledgeable.

International Trade committee  I think the EU agreement was a huge step forward. I see the concern that some people have had, but the current environment for trade negotiations for Canada, the program that's in place right now is one of the most ambitious I've seen for any of the countries. So we're very encouraged by what's coming forward, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership is part of that.

International Trade committee  The growers have seen what you're mentioning, in the past, but what we're seeing going forward is having that EU trade agreement being negotiated and ratified right now. It encourages us that some of the delays that have maybe happened in the past are definitely moving forward, and that Canada is seen as somebody to negotiate trade deals with, whereas before there wasn't as much history.

International Trade committee  I'd like to thank you for this opportunity to give you a brief overview of the B.C. blueberry industry and our support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. B.C. Blueberry Council represents close to 800 growers who produce 96% of all the highbush blueberries in Canada. We are the largest producing region in the world and growing at a steady rate.