Agriculture committee  We absolutely need transparency and accountability on all sides. What we saw last year, as I mentioned before, was a complete train wreck. Unless we have service-level agreements in place and there's accountability in the process, we're going to run into this circle again. We hav

Agriculture committee  I think the benefits for our own farm would be the profitability side, of course. The price of grains would go up, and any time you have extra demand...you know supply and demand. I know that the livestock sector has suffered over the last few years, in pork and beef. Eighty per

Agriculture committee  Thank you. Good morning. On behalf of Alberta Barley, I'd like to thank you for inviting me here to discuss the Canada-European Union trade agreement. As a farmer from Acme, Alberta, I'm here today to tell you what this agreement means for me and the future of my farm. My famil

Agriculture committee  With the adoption of Bill C-18, the agronomics should improve, attracting more investment in the research of new varieties on the barley side. Also, we're looking at increases in yields and different disease packages that could come with that. It's good for the farm families to

Agriculture committee  Well, it seems very positive. There's a lot of opportunity, as some of my colleagues have mentioned. There has been a switch to other varieties, whether that has been soybeans and expanding soybean acres or whether it's corn acres. That also puts in an opportunity for barley. W

Agriculture committee  Yes, for sure. It will open the door to more crops being grown or to the ability to grow different types of crops. It's exciting to have that idea and have it moving forward.

Agriculture committee  I think we'd certainly be excited to be part of the regulatory process. With regard to the consultations being transparent and open, if farmers have the voice to help steer and direct the process...because we are, once again, ultimately the ones who are going to be paying for it,

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good afternoon. On behalf of Alberta Barley, I'd like to thank you for inviting me here today to discuss Bill C-18. My name is Matt Sawyer and I'm here on behalf of Alberta's 11,000-plus barley farmers. The amendments to the Plant Breeders' Rights A

Agriculture committee  Yes, the losses we've been experiencing in the last year alone certainly makes it almost look plausible that you're grasping for ideas for how to put your own train on the tracks. This certainly is where we need to look at building the capacity, competition, and service. As an ex

Agriculture committee  I don't have those figures in front of me either, but certainly what I can say is there will be lots of carry-out on barley, I'm sure. I don't have the number in front of me. I certainly did hear from a couple customers I deal with on the way in today, and they wanted to voice th

Agriculture committee  Thanks, Rick, for coming out with that. That's exactly where we are, too. We certainly do welcome this as shedding light on the subject, but we're looking forward to the long term and moving this forward. We realize there is going to be a carry-out with the current shipping if it

Agriculture committee  As far as compensation to farmers is concerned, there's certainly an opportunity once we have the service level agreements in place, then that will be, as far as us, compensation to the farmers to have that transparent system in there. The widening of the basis has cost us so m

Agriculture committee  What we're really excited about are the service level agreements. We believe that within the service level agreements to have the teeth, if you will, to create a reliable and efficient system...so does it have enough teeth? I think it's certainly a good first step but we're looki

Agriculture committee  Good evening. On behalf of the Alberta Barley Commission and the Grain Growers of Canada, I’d like to thank you for inviting me here today to discuss Bill C-30, An Act to amend the Canada Grain Act and the Canada Transportation Act and to provide for other measures, the short tit