Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Actually, I would like just to follow up on that, because there is a program that's almost the same as what NISA was. It's called AgriInvest. It's part of this suite of Growing Forward. With AgriInvest, for every dollar the farmer puts in, the government matches it with a dollar. It's meant to cover the first 15% loss in any given year. And the farmer can pull it out at any time for any reason. It's almost identical to what NISA was. So that type of thing still exists.
One of the challenges the government has with programs through AgriStability--just to follow up on something Nathan said--is that you have to be careful not to mask what I call market realities. If there's a bad year, the program is there. It will trigger if your farm has been hit due to circumstances outside your control. But if something is in decline for four or five years, there's a market reality going on there. There's something that's long-term. It's not just an unlucky year, the market is changing. And the government has to be careful that it doesn't artificially sustain a market reality--or an unreality, if you know what I mean. This is the challenge we always face.
The other thing that's important to note, too, is that about $3.4 billion, that's how much programming money flows out to farmers across Canada. So there's a lot of money that's moving through the programs. I don't say that it's all perfect and that everybody is getting everything they need, but I am saying that there is a lot of money that moves through these programs. We always seek to make them better. But it's always challenging, as well, because there is a countervail. There are the WTO challenges that kind of rise if it's not done properly either. Anyway, I just wanted to address that because it's come up a couple of times this morning.
One of the questions I wanted to ask Nathan in particular--and perhaps Corey, just because you're at the younger end of things here and getting involved in farming--is can you give me an idea how it is you got involved? I was asking one of the witnesses about succession planning. Are you working on the farm? Have you bought into the farm? If you are working on the farm but haven't bought in, how do you see succession taking place?