Agriculture committee  Sure. We would agree completely with you that there's a lot of misinformation that's out there about agriculture and about the agriculture sector, about how food is produced in Canada and elsewhere. You know, it's very easy for somebody to post a blog that's taken as a truth abou

Agriculture committee  As I mentioned, we have a project under way now with a consortium of Canadian agricultural organizations to develop a sustainable calculator tool. We're also working with companies. General Mills, for example, is involved in this project. So is Cargill, and so are a number of oth

Agriculture committee  To begin with, I'm glad to hear that you're a big supporter of the pulse industry. That's great to hear. Canadians get less than 2% of their caloric intake from pulses, compared with around 20% from cereals and 20% from meat and dairy products. We have a long way to go in terms

Agriculture committee  I'm not quite sure how I can tie environmental sustainability in with the trade agreements specifically, but we are seeing that food companies are increasingly interested in environmental sustainability, and they are putting more and more requirements on suppliers of ingredients.

Agriculture committee  That's right, but you need to be able to quantify that sustainability measurement. That's what we're trying to do at Pulse Canada. We're working with all the partners, the other associations, and the Canola Council, as well as with flax, wheat, and barley growers, to try to come

Agriculture committee  It is a pulse crop. It's very small. There's a very small amount of it produced. It does not fall under the mandate of Pulse Canada, not yet, anyway.

Agriculture committee  It's a pretty small niche market.

Agriculture committee  That's a great question. In 2013 China was the largest buyer of Canadian peas for the first time in history, up until now. Of course India has been our largest export market for pulse crops, taking primarily peas and lentils, with typically between a million and a million and a

Agriculture committee  That's right. Exactly. I mentioned that we had a project at the Canadian International Grains Institute in Winnipeg. We received matching funding through the agri-innovation program over the last four years to look at how to mill pulses into flours that can be used in food prod

Agriculture committee  Fenugreek is a pulse crop. That's correct.

Agriculture committee  Good afternoon. I'm Peter Watts with Pulse Canada, the national association representing the growers, traders, and processors of pulses, that is, peas, beans, lentils, and chickpeas in Canada. Thank you for inviting Pulse Canada to speak to the committee today. I would be happy

Agriculture committee  It's both. I guess what I was trying to drive at in the presentation was that we need to take into consideration some of the regulatory issues that fall outside our control as we develop policies—recognizing, for example, that Health Canada is in the midst of developing new polic

Agriculture committee  I think I'll defer the question to my transportation guru.

Agriculture committee  I'll let Greg answer that question, if you don't mind.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here this afternoon. My name is Peter Watts, and I'm here with my colleague Greg Cherewyk. We work for Pulse Canada in Winnipeg. I have circulated a presentation to everyone in both French and English. I will be making my presentatio