One of our industry's long-term concerns has been the lack of new soil scientists coming into the academic community. There has been a decline in the number of PhD soil scientists available to do research on issues like reducing on-farm N2O.
Much of our industry's focus on research has been on providing science to farmers. We assist them in using fertilizer products in the most efficient way. The efficient use of fertilizer helps farmers to save money and get the best profit possible, while helping to protect the environment. The more efficiently you use fertilizer, the less you lose to the air and water. This is in keeping with our stewardship system—right product, right rate, right time, right place. I think there's a lot more work to be done in this area.
As to new products coming on, we're engaged with some other industry associations in a partnership dedicated to optimizing the regulation of new fertilizer products. We have a project we call the Canadian Fertilizer Products Forum, which was greatly assisted by the ACA program at Agriculture Canada. It allowed for a consensus to be built among farmers and the fertilizer industry on changes to the regulatory system. We want to protect our high standards of product safety and efficacy, ensure that the products do what they say they're going to do, and streamline the entry of innovative products, particularly micronutrients and inoculants.