Good morning.
I had requested to go near the beginning because I do have an off-farm job that does pay my mortgage payments on my farm, and after work I go work on the farm. It's just a note that I did mention that I'd like to go first.
Good morning, and thank you for the invitation here today. Patrick and I are here representing the P.E.I. Young Farmers' Association. Our membership is comprised of young farmers between the ages of 17 and 30 from all sectors of agriculture in this province, including big farmers and small farmers.
The P.E.I. Young Farmers' history runs deep in this province, as we were founded in 1948, and we continue to strive and help to continue the rich history of farming in this province. The following presentation is comprised of challenges and solutions that we bring forward from our membership, and this is to address national issues, and provincial issues, at the end of the day.
As Larry said, my name is Maria Smith, and I am president of the Young Farmers' Association. To my left is Patrick Dunphy. He is the vice-president, and he is going to introduce the national challenges and solutions to these from our membership that has provided information to us.