Good morning.
I'm not sure that the committee is aware of the importance and uniqueness of agriculture in Nova Scotia, and the Atlantic provinces, actually, and of the number of opportunities we have here.
Some time ago, my husband and I lived out in Fort St. John, British Columbia, where we worked on a beef and grain operation. The farmer there thought we all lived in poverty in Nova Scotia, which is a very clear indication that across this country people have no idea of the impact and diversity of agriculture we have here. From our cranberries and blueberries, to vegetables, to all of our meat-growing operations, it's quite diverse. When you have the opportunity to take a tour here, I hope you'll recognize the intensity of what we have here in Nova Scotia.
Our region is different. The Atlantic region is different from other regions across Canada. For that reason, it's important that when we look at policies across the country, we realize that we are not all the same. Policies that may impact positively on the western provinces often will be to the detriment of our smaller region here. It's very dense. The policies don't seem to necessarily help us here in this region.
I don't have all the answers, so I contacted a bunch of people in my network and asked their opinions on what I should make sure to mention here. One thing everyone commented on was profitability. We have to get some mechanism in place to ensure profitability. We talk about the barrier to getting into agriculture being the cost to get involved. Well, that wouldn't be an issue if we had a strong business model that demonstrated that we'd get a return on our investment. Right now the challenge is that we can't figure out a way to pay back the debt we need to incur to get into it. Lots of other businesses in this world have a great deal of debt, but they seem to have a business model, because there's value in their product. Right now we do not have an appropriate value or an appropriate return to the farmer for that product. So profitability is major.
When something like the cost of pesticide--organic or conventional pesticide--is different just across the border due to regulatory challenges, we have to figure out how to make this a somewhat more equitable playing field in terms of trade and the cost of production.
We also have challenges with labour. The increase in the minimum wage is not helping the situation. We obviously want people to have a good level of income, but the increase in the cost of labour is very damaging to our ability here in this region, and I think basically across the country. This is not something that's specific to here, necessarily.
Those are a couple of issues related to profitability.
Also, the committee wants to consult farmers on how to better share information. I think that fostering cooperation is what we need to do. We need to figure out a way to work not in isolation from one another but collectively in our regions and across the country. We need to have common goals and common solutions and leaders and mentors to help us build that collaborative approach.
One part of profitability and agriculture here in this province is research. We have a research station in Kentville. That research station is critical to what we do here in Nova Scotia in terms of our cultivar development, in terms of supporting new entrants to agriculture, and in helping us make sure that we're adapting to change by trying to be innovative. It is a place where we can be developing new opportunities for agriculture. That station is critical to the continuity of productive and viable agriculture in this region.
What else did I have to say? Basically, I see that we need to do more work on incentives. It would be really great if we could have more money in marketing. I was thinking as I was driving here this morning about how so many Canadians know a lot about our history because of those wonderful long television commercials. They are helping us to build culture. But where are the commercials about supporting our local agricultural economy and local farmers, about eating well so that we can have a healthy country and a healthy rural economy, with lots of vibrancy, about supporting the small farms and large farms, and organic production as well, which was mentioned here by Cammie?
All of these different ways of supporting agriculture are what we, as a population of this country, need to take on and believe in and want to support and invest dollars in. We need to have some way--I think the federal government--of saying, here we are with Canadian agriculture. This is what's going on. This is a part of our fabric, of our culture, and of what we are as Canadians.
So it's about our research, our profitability, getting the message out, and putting farmers on the playing field in terms of recognition with the nation.