Thank you very much, each of you, for coming today. I know you've taken time out of busy schedules, particularly on the farm, where you'd probably prefer to be right now.
As you know, we've been travelling across the country. The message, for at least me and other members of the panel, I know, is beginning to coalesce strongly.
We've had some people, more than one, say that we are in a constant decline in the farming industry, that the average age of farmers is now the late 50s, unlike other industries. In the last 10 years, 65% of farmers under the age of 35 have left the industry. We've heard some say that if something meaningful isn't done, rural Canada might soon be a ghost town.
That concerns me. It may not be your experience, but this is what we've heard. It doesn't suggest that people don't want to be farming. The lifestyle is something that's embraced. It's making a livelihood that's the problem. There are certain sectors that are surviving more than others, but I'm deeply concerned.
What I've also heard is that it's going to take more than just tweaking the business risk management program, or a program over here or a program over there. We need a meaningful farm and food policy where the federal and provincial governments come together and even the playing field for everybody across the country. I don't see any other option, other than tweaking here or there. To do anything less, as far as I'm concerned, is minimizing the problem and living in a certain degree of denial.
That said, Steve, you mentioned the SRMs. We visited a plant out in Alberta and they showed us the SRM material. It was about 108 pounds. What troubled me was this. The United States and Canada remove the SRM material. The United States can use most of that SRM material for farm feed or fertilizer, whereas we don't. What's left in the United States is two fistfuls. What's left here is still that 108 pounds.
Then I asked this question: Have we opened up any more markets to farmers in Canada because of our stand on SRM and how we're responding to it? They said no, not one new market.
I wonder how you would deal with the problem and if you would make a change.
Anyone can answer that question, but I think, Steve, you were the one who raised it—either you or Doug.