Agriculture committee  For sure, automation and technology definitely need to be considered as conditions change. At the end of the day, it just depends on how much capital industry is willing to put forward and how government can help support and incent that to support the overall automation of the industry.

Agriculture committee  I don't know specifically, but I certainly know that we have not only two large players in Alberta but also several meat facilities throughout the province in every major community. We have meat inspection throughout the province. Do we want it to grow? Of course. We have not only JBS and Cargill but also Harmony Beef, which has been open for, I think, five or six years now.

Agriculture committee  Yes, for sure. At an interprovincial level, our goal is to continue to create opportunities there. There is domestic equivalency work we're working through under the Safe Food for Canadians Act. Alberta is trying to advance this to demonstrate our domestic equivalency so that we can trade.

Agriculture committee  That's a very good question. I guess I would say that we monitor the supply chain very closely around ensuring we have strong food security. There is certainly a trend toward local products. There's a trend in which retailers and others are using locally grown products in the retail community to support those food security needs, whether it's greenhouses, the vertical type of greenhouses, or....

Agriculture committee  I want to be careful around how specific I am here. There are certain countries that have specific provisions in place with respect to COVID that sometimes impact on trade.

Agriculture committee  For sure. Not every company is successful. It has evolved from food product development to more commercialization and trying to scale companies. We've grown and expanded that facility over the years. In terms of measuring success, our hope is that we create a product, test the product....

Agriculture committee  I'll talk about opportunities. We think there are both livestock and crop opportunities. The market conditions will drive that. We work with all the stakeholders that are prepared to invest. At the end of the day, the policy environment needs to be competitive, and that's a critical piece.

Agriculture committee  I don't know the two biggest issues. In my opening remarks, I mentioned that access to capital is always a challenge for processing. The ongoing labour at some of our facilities for processing is always a challenge. Those are two things that come to mind. With respect to how we address some of those challenges, we have the lending tools through the Alberta Agriculture Financial Services, our private institutions and our federal counterparts with the former FCC.

Agriculture committee  That's a great question. In terms of lessons learned, I would say the ongoing relationship and preparation with their processing sector as a whole is important because we monitor supply chain. The preparation is a key part of it. As we adapted to the changing conditions of COVID-19, we learned a lot in terms of how we can work together in a collective manner and work very closely with processing sectors.

Agriculture committee  The province has committed to looking at long-term reform, not short-term reform.

Agriculture committee  It's a government asset located in Leduc, Alberta. It is certainly a partnership with industry and our food processing community, where we help develop products and help scale and commercialize products in both bioindustrials and food. It's been around in Alberta for many years, over 20 or 30 years.

Agriculture committee  For sure. We have specific examples of where industry has grown and created several jobs in testimonials for this specific tool.

Agriculture committee  With respect to the international offices, they're going to be in-market professionals. They have an understanding of the market conditions and have relationships in the business community. They will be able to foster and sell the attributes of the province to the world. With this addition, we'll have a presence of up to eight international offices.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food and to be part of the committee's study of processing capacity. I'm happy to provide some input on how the Alberta government is working to expand value-added agriculture and agri-food processing capacity in the province, and identify some opportunities and challenges for this important sector.