Agriculture committee  I think the minister in his statements has been clear on his support for supply management, as well as that this item move forward on marketing choice, but those are....

Agriculture committee  Thank you for the questions. On the issue of disaster relief and response, on November 17 the federal and provincial ministers did agree to an approach to funding small and medium-sized disasters on the usual 60-40 basis. I'm sure Danny can provide the criteria that are there, but essentially, they distinguish between a large disaster and small disaster.

Agriculture committee  In respect of the crisis in the livestock industry, it has been clear when we discuss this with the industry, as we have over the last couple of weeks and before, that while they would like programs—the existing programs or additional programs—to address the liquidity issue, they were cognizant of the principles and accept the principles that federal and provincial ministers laid out.

Agriculture committee  Those of course are decisions for ministers, but there is certainly much enthusiasm out there in terms of the types of activities, particularly in the area of science and innovation. As I said, we did have some science and innovations planning in the APF, but it has become clear from the consultations that people want us to expand that to make the connection between the farm and the rest of the chain in terms of—

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  I'm not sure I know the secret to that, but I think what we've tried to do in the development of Growing Forward is engage the industry in a staged discussion, go out there and begin discussions about what is right about the current framework, what do we need to learn from experience and so on, and listen to producers, and then take that forward.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for the question. There are a lot of issues there. We could probably spend a lot of time discussing them. But very briefly, in terms of biofuels and producer participation, I think it's clear that the whole biofuels and bio-products area offers tremendous opportunities for producers.

Agriculture committee  I can confirm that the AMS limit is $4.3 billion under the Uruguay Round commitment. As Mr. Foster said, how much of it is used up depends very much on the take-up under the demand-driven programs. There are various components of that. I don't have the breakdown with me. There is the market price support and the supply management, which is calculated against that $4.3 billion.

Agriculture committee  Yes, of course. The three big non-business risk management programs under the APF that applied at the farm level were the environmental farm planning and best management practices aspect of environment, which involved essentially farmers engaging in a planning exercise to look at the environmental risks associated with their operation, and then assisting in addressing those through best management practices.

Agriculture committee  Again, we've seen a lot of focus on that in the consultations. We work with national partners such as young farmers' groups, 4-H groups, and so on to deliver those kinds of programs. I think that's one of the areas we're going to be focusing on in the next few months in terms of programming.

Agriculture committee  I'm not aware of any restrictions on the exploitive grains used for dairy feed.

Agriculture committee  As I recall, the committee recommended that Canada's supply management system be recognized as a business risk management, and that is part and parcel of the Growing Forward framework. It's explicitly recognized in there as a business risk management system.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for that question. Maybe I'll begin, and Danny can supplement my answer. On November 17, the federal and provincial ministers met in Toronto and struck an action plan to address the very difficult circumstances being faced by the cattle and pork industries. They set out a number of principles that should guide the approach, including a nationally coordinated approach, an approach that is in line with our trade obligations, an approach that supports long-term sustainability, among other things.

Agriculture committee  Certainly. Mr. Chair, let me begin by thanking the committee for your flexibility in scheduling this meeting. I know that you wanted to meet last week, but we were meeting with our provincial colleagues in Montreal. So we're very grateful for that. It is my pleasure to be here today to provide you with an update on the development of Growing Forward.