Agriculture committee  About the degrees I have obtained in France, I have a master's in animal production and a PhD in farm management and economics. My advice to a young farmer, to answer the previous question, is to take the time required to set up a strong business plan. Finally, at the National Bank we have a team specialized in farm economics to help young farmers prepare their plans for entering the industry or, in some cases, take over an existing farm.

Agriculture committee  It is an issue that we are well aware of. Looking at Statistics Canada data and subtracting the value of quotas from the balance sheet of the milk industry, for example, it is quite clear that there would be a loss of a significant part of the net value. This would probably also lead to a reduction of incomes.

Agriculture committee  About our vision of the specificity of agriculture, as the TD person said, agriculture is very particular. We have a specialized team and specific policies for agriculture. As far as the future of farming is concerned, I cannot speak about the total amount of debt in the industry since it depends on the future of supply management.

Agriculture committee  I would also say that the rate of default is significantly lower in agriculture.

Agriculture committee  The average rate of our portfolio.

Agriculture committee  It really depends on who the partners are and what their intentions are in the context of funding the agricultural industry.

Agriculture committee  I will give you a brief answer. First of all, in Quebec, banks represent about 35% of farm loans, the caisses populaires about 50%, and Farm Credit Canada about 15%. So, we are not the only ones lending money to farmers. Furthermore, generally speaking, the average rate for our agriculture portfolio is less than prime plus 3.

Agriculture committee  At first, we were very surprised because we had not heard of that on the ground. Later, it appeared that in that specific case, it may be a case of real estate fraud since the verifications carried out by the parties to the transactions did not provide definite answers. There is some doubt about the partner really being a Chinese investor.

Agriculture committee  I will start with this question. If you are talking about someone wanting to start in agriculture without any other support, there are some rules that we follow. Usually, we work with young farmers early on in order to help them build their funding structure. Our portfolio is mainly in Quebec where there are various avenues to build funding structures allowing young people to start in this business.

Agriculture committee  Briefly, all lenders in the agricultural sector are aware of the business cycles and they take account of the history of the business. We rarely base our decisions on a single year to know if the operation is profitable or not. We are knowledgeable about the industry because we are professionals, we are aware of the business cycles and we take them into account.

Agriculture committee  The National Bank does not have any specific interest rate policy based on the usual rate grid related to each client's level of risk.