I am the chairman of the Canadian Soybean Council. It is a fairly new organization in the last year and a half. It's a formal relationship between the Manitoba Pulse Growers Association, the Ontario Soybean Growers and the Fédération des producteurs de cultures commerciales du Québec.
Our organization represents approximately three million acres of production in Canada and approximately $1 billion in farm gate value. We represent about 25,000 growers.
The Canadian Soybean Council is an organization to better represent soybean producers at the national level. We have partnerships with the Guelph Food Technology Centre, the Canadian International Grains Institute, Soy 20/20, Soyfoods Canada, and the Canadian Soybean Exporters Association, just to name a few.
Since our beginning, the Soybean Council's key area of focus has included market development. Our initial focus has been on new export market development, but we've also moved forward with our traditional role on the domestic side of things as well: research and innovation, through Ag Canada-type projects and partnerships; involvement in stakeholder communications, with the National Oilseeds Roundtable; and also in the area of advocacy, with all of the APF-2 consultations.
I'll turn it over to Mr. Schneckenburger.