My name is Dela Erinth. I am representing the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers Association. That means predominantly apples in this province.
Without science, without scientific research and innovation, we would not be able to maintain any form of economic viability over the long term. We would be out of business. If you want to plant a new cultivar, for example the honeycrisp variety, which brings in five times the amount of a regular, traditional cultivar in this province, without science, we would not be able to grow that and sell it to the consumer as a quality product. We must have science. It must be regional, it must be multidisciplinary, and it must relate to primary production research. It must be targeted at the grower, at the producer level. Without it, we're going to go out of business.