Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We welcome the committee to Atlantic Canada and Nova Scotia. We appreciate your coming down to consult with us at this time.
The agricultural community in Nova Scotia appreciates the opportunity to meet with Canadian policy-makers and to discuss the future role of Nova Scotia. With the dramatic changes taking place within Canada's rural communities, and within the principal industry that underpins the sustainability of these communities, that being agriculture, it is critical that an open dialogue between the community and the public policy-makers take place.
No one can overestimate the impact of federal-provincial policy-making—namely, the agricultural policy framework. We're going into its second phase. We've had it for five years, APF I, and we're now moving into APF II. When we look at APF I, it hasn't sustained or transitioned our industry to sustainability. This is what we're looking for in APF II, a program that will sustain and then transition our industry.
The federation here in Nova Scotia represents some 2,500 farmers. We have 24 different commodities. When we look at our economic position at the moment, our debt load is some $700 million in this province. Our gross output at the farm gate is rising very slowly. Just to maintain the interest payments we need $42 million to cover that debt load. That debt load has risen very dramatically over the last few years.
Our vision here is to ensure a competitive and sustainable future for agriculture and a high quality of rural life in Nova Scotia. To accomplish this, our goal is the development of farm businesses that are financially viable, ecologically sound, and socially responsible.
The crisis in agriculture is not just about money. It's about social policy, environmental policy, and health policy. This is what the APF must address.
The industry here is very diverse. When you look at the business risk management framework we've had here, it hasn't applied greatly. Many of our farmers have multi-commodity farms. When one commodity rises, another commodity is down. So we don't create those disparities where we get benefits from the CAIS program.
When we talk about business risk management in the future, we must talk about renewal at the same time, not just business risk management. We're looking at the CAIS program, we're looking at crop insurance, and we're looking at renewal. This is what business risk management is all about. If you look at business risk management in isolation, you're not moving anywhere. You have to look at it with renewal.
We have to transition our industry from where it is now to where it's going to be sustainable. That's moving from commodity production to product production.
Now, I just happened to call in at Irving this morning. What's the most expensive cut of meat you can buy?