Evidence of meeting #50 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was soybeans.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Executive Director, Organic Council of Ontario
I don't have our soybean numbers off the top of my head for Ontario and the rest of Canada, but since the advent of certification systems, we've seen 20% to 25% year-on-year growth, through from 2007. With the recession, we dropped to about 5% to 8%, depending on the markets. Our soybean export markets have indicated to me this winter that they're expecting that to go back up to about 12% for 2010 and on into 2011.
In Ontario, organic soybeans have been able to maintain their identity-preserved status, in large part through some of the efforts the industry has undertaken, which we aren't seeing in other crops, and certainly the canola did not have the opportunity to do so in terms of organics.
February 15th, 2011 / 12:25 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
Would it be possible for you to table the numbers?
Executive Director, Organic Council of Ontario
Absolutely. I can get you that.
Conservative
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
Thank you.
I don't have a ton of time here, but one of the things I would like to get quick feedback on is how we ensure farmers have choice. Obviously there are markets our producers need to be able to get into when it comes to organic, and also when it comes to GE, as you were talking about in other Asian countries.
I'd like everybody's opinion—quickly, in a minute or less—on how we can ensure choice.
Chair, Canadian Soybean Council
I'll start.
The bottom line is that farmers are business people; it's profitability at the end of the day. It doesn't matter what company is selling its wares, if that's not producing profit in my farm operation, that company is not likely going to be doing business with me, or I won't be doing business with them. Certainly I think we've been able to utilize quite a number of companies in the past, and I think we still have lots of opportunities.
But again, there has to be a quality product. It has to be a reputable company. The bottom line has to be profitability. And there needs to be the whole ethic of sustainability added into that as well, for our farm operation and the industry.
Conservative
Vice-President, Fédération des producteurs de cultures commerciales du Québec
One thing we'll say is that the farm has to be competitive, but it has to be able to make a profit. You also have to have varieties—be that GM or non-GM—with good yields and good resistance to diseases. To have those possibilities, you have to be able to make sure you have all the possible varieties of grain and seed.
Executive Director, Organic Council of Ontario
Quickly, the issue of choice also comes down to when one sector's choice impedes the other sector in making the choice they want to make. I use the example of flax again. Had that been a commercialization and a drift happened, the organic sector would lose its choice to produce organic flax.
We need to make sure we have appropriate regulation and oversight in the GM sector, to ensure that organic farmers maintain the choice to grow organically without losing their markets.
Conservative
Liberal
Ken Dryden Liberal York Centre, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
You have brought up a lot of areas of contention and controversy. I'd like to ask each of you to help me, and help us, to look ahead.
Given all of the contentious and many unresolved questions, could you go ahead ten years in time—and not to necessarily act as advocates on things you're advocating for, or even hoping—to try to give us a good sense of where you believe things will be in all of this area we've talked about today?
Maybe each of you, in whatever order, could answer that question.
Executive Director, Organic Council of Ontario
I think in ten years we're going to see dwindling supplies of oil, which is the basis of our conventional agriculture. Our synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers are derived that way, and our food is shipped that way. Depending on how quickly the price spike in oil happens, we're going to see the cost of our currently cheap food skyrocket.
We're going to see that the competitive advantage around organic production, where those same input costs aren't present—what is now considered an organic price premium—will come down closer to the conventional price.
I think we'll see the market even out. Conventional food will cost more, and organic food will cost less. Out of that we will probably see more organic production, because it means control over the farm effort will be held in the hands of the farmer; they can save their seeds. This isn't something that's happening under the conventional system now.
I think we're going to see a larger spike in organic production than even our sector is predicting in the ten-to-fifteen-year period.
Vice-President, Fédération des producteurs de cultures commerciales du Québec
I didn't talk about it in my presentation, but the population is going up in the world. We have to produce more. We have to have tools for the farmers to be able to produce more.
We'll still have choice, but the farmer will have to produce much more. If you still want to have wheat, barley, and oats growing in Canada, we have to make sure there are tools to have the varieties for the farmers to be able to grow them profitably.
Chair, Canadian Soybean Council
I think in ten years we're going to see probably much the same as we've seen over the last number of decades. As far as agriculture production and industry is concerned, we're striving to bring forward a quality product that consumers demand. Production per acre will increase as far as yields are concerned, just because there is that demand for more product in this world in a growing population.
Consumers are going to demand choice more so than ever. It's an opportunity for us in agriculture to step up to the plate and supply that product to those consumers, what they demand. Generally, we see acceleration in profitability or revenues associated with that demand. If that's what they want, most of the time they'll pay for it.
Michelle.
Manager, Canadian Soybean Council
I'll add one more comment as to what I see possibly happening domestically.
The soybean industry and the growers have been partnering with government and universities on a project called Soy 20/20. They're working on new value-added opportunities from soybeans to help increase the value for the Canadian soybean industry. I can see that with advancements through plant breeding, whether biotech or not, we'll be offering consumers new green products, whether it's industrial--car parts, foams, adhesives, soy-based candles.... And I can really see that if we have the investment into infrastructure and into research that we can provide the Canadian public and also international consumers with these products. It's a really exciting time in our industry. If all our ducks are in a row, we can truly be competitive. And it's exciting.
Liberal
Ken Dryden Liberal York Centre, ON
One last part to that is what's your greatest fear? If this is what you can imagine, what is it that could get in the way of that?
Vice-President, Fédération des producteurs de cultures commerciales du Québec
I might go back to what I was talking about. My greatest fear is that in certain parts of the country the farmers won't be competitive. Look where I am. I'm in zone 3. I'm farther up north in Quebec. I won't have varieties. I won't be competitive with the rest of the province.
I look at the corn. The yield is going up in Quebec. Now it's almost nine tonnes per hectare. The wheat is going down.
I can't grow corn where I am. Maybe sooner or later something will come up.
We need to put efforts into increasing yields and growing disease-resistant plants in the other crops.
Are we going to make the environment ready for companies to be able to invest in it? Or is the public going to do it? That's something we will really have to think about.
Conservative
Chair, Canadian Soybean Council
Probably the regulatory side of things. As an industry, and that includes government, we need to be always cognizant of moving forward and making sure that we're proactive on regulatory things that could impact us. It comes down to our crop, where 60% of our crop is exported. If we're going to maintain those markets, we better step up to the plate and make sure we can handle all the regulation and try to get some harmonization around the world. That's probably the biggest thing that I see that could be a detriment to our industry.
Certainly it's a situation where we have had an opportunity to differentiate ourselves in the soybean industry. That's what has put us forward over the years. That's been the differentiation, the quality product. But it doesn't matter how good a product you have, if you don't have the regulatory process in place and some harmonization globally, you're going to have some problems.
Executive Director, Organic Council of Ontario
I just want to quickly add to that. Our biggest fear is that our consumers are right, and there are issues with GMOs that the current regulatory regime has overlooked, and we're ten years further down the road with additional commercialization so that we can't pull back from the environment, and we have a food system that is then contaminated with a technology that's proving to have health impacts.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
It reminded me of my own part of Ontario. I'm a little farther north. It wasn't that many years ago that soybeans were a rare commodity to see growing, and they're quite common now. In fact, it's a regular cycle.
Just so I'm clear, you're basically saying that we need, or you want to see, the kind of research and development we've seen in soybeans and other crops in recent years--corn is another one--carry on. Is that basically what you're saying?