Thank you, Mr. Chair, and my thanks to the witnesses. I was just filling in today, but I've learned a lot already.
You see one of the problems with government, with the Parliament. Two of the last three speakers from the government side only wanted to look back. I was pretty sure all of you today in your presentations wanted to go forward. You're looking for an answer. Something drastic needs to be done if we're going to help.
One of the problems with the rising costs—and Mr. Easter mentioned it—is you find out what the market can bear. We now know how high fertilizer can go at a certain price for a product, and those companies aren't going to change it. It's like the price of gas for a passenger vehicle. They know what somebody will pay now and they're going to charge it. That's a continuing problem and it's only going to get worse.
One of you mentioned—and it was raised by Mr. Lauzon—buying fertilizer at a different time of year. Mr. Meyer, I think you made the comment, fairly so, that a lot of farmers can't afford to buy fertilizer in the fall. Are there any numbers on how many actually do? Is there a percentage, say 25%, of farmers who are able to buy it at a cheaper rate in the fall? Is there any tracking like that at all?