Just before I suspend, I want to ask you to supply some extra information to the committee in writing.
As a farmer, I think there's no doubt that the biggest bang for our buck we've ever received from Agriculture Canada has been out of the research branch. The research program has made us who we are today. It's given us the genetics in our animal agriculture. It's given us the plant varieties to be successful as grain producers across Canada and in the international marketplace. So there's no question that this has been the greatest investment in the future of agriculture.
My concern has been that the focus in research has become more and more about secondary processing and more about food safety and environmental issues and is forgetting about that basic, primary agriculture at the farm gate.
So I'd like to see some numbers. What is the percentage of your activities and how many dollars are used in the area of primary producer research? You know, they are things like animal breeding, new plant varieties, animal health issues, and things of that nature. Then how much coming out of the research branch is for secondary processing? Then also, what are some of the long-term fundamental activities you're already starting to invest in, and how far out will that go?
If you can lay that out for us in writing and get that back to us as quickly as possible, I'd really appreciate that.
We do have to suspend, because we have witnesses coming up right after this.
Thank you very much for assisting us with our APF research.