Evidence of meeting #14 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was farm.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Thank you.
Just on that point that Mr. Phillips mentioned, when the committee did its study on the future of agriculture and basically getting young farmers involved today, or into the business, that was something, Richard, that came up fairly consistently: more of an exemption there to allow for the generational transfer. So it's a good point.
Mr. Zimmer, you have the last five minutes.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
Thank you.
I just want to commend Trevor especially for explaining that opinion that we thought...so well in terms of the CWB. That's why the plebiscite was so problematic to us. The option you listed—I call it the hybrid option—of having the Wheat Board and an open market wasn't simply offered on the ballot. I think if they had, it would have been a much more accurate plebiscite, to say the least. But thank you for going there.
I want to ask you specifically, because you're one who actually gets your hands dirty, and specifically more at a micro-level.... We've talked about red tape reductions and we speak to more of a bigger picture, but what are three of the biggest frustrations for you as a farmer in terms of red tape? Along with that, what would you offer to us as solutions to make that better?
Member, Alberta Barley Commission, Grain Growers of Canada
That's pretty deep.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
Yes.
What are the three things that make you mad about red tape?
Member, Alberta Barley Commission, Grain Growers of Canada
Can I come back tomorrow with my answer?
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
Or just even your top one. I'm sure it's paperwork.
November 24th, 2011 / 5:20 p.m.
Member, Alberta Barley Commission, Grain Growers of Canada
Certainly paperwork, yes, is one of them. I think a big frustration, and it's been brought up here today, is the lack of competition for what I have to buy to grow my crop.
Member, Alberta Barley Commission, Grain Growers of Canada
Well, I'm the only one in the food chain I can think of who takes whatever someone will give me, but I have to give what other businesses want, otherwise I don't get my product. If I want fertilizer, if I want fuel...whatever price they tell me, unless I do a little bit of shopping.... But they're usually so close to one another that there isn't really an advantage to switching the supplier that I've used for 10 years, say. You build trust with that supplier and you trust that they're doing their best to give you the best price they can.
I checked with my fertilizer agent a month ago about whether I needed to start buying my fertilizer. Well, they were hopeful that prices would come down a little bit. But without any competition out there, why would they?
Natural gas prices used to dictate the price of fertilizer. They have nothing to do with it anymore. Natural gas is as low as it's been probably for a long time, yet what am I paying for my fertilizer? It's about 150 bucks a tonne more for urea this year than what I paid for it last year?
Conservative
Member, Alberta Barley Commission, Grain Growers of Canada
It doesn't make sense. So I have a real issue with the lack of competition.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
I'm going to ask you, too, based on the new reality—it hasn't happened yet, but hopefully it will by next August 1—what are some of those new opportunities you spoke about in more of a general sense? I don't want to give away your market secrets to your competitors, but what are some of those new markets that you see? What's the buzz around some of the new domestic markets for wheat with the new reality? Can you expand on that? Maybe Richard could answer, too.
Member, Alberta Barley Commission, Grain Growers of Canada
I'm currently aware of money from overseas that wants to come in for malt. They're just sitting on their laurels, waiting to see when that's going to happen, and if it's going to happen. I know there will be a tremendous influx of money into Canada, just with the contacts the Alberta Barley Commission has and some of the grain buyers I deal with. I think there is going to be a lot of money brought into Canada to add value.
We are each known for shipping the raw product and I can't add value out of raw product being shipped. I need some value added to it before it's shipped. We ship grain over and then we get the value-added product back. Well, who is making the money? It's not me; it's somebody else in between. I would like to see this money come so we can start doing some value-adding.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
I have one more question, if I have time.
We talked about having that new generation of farmers. I'm from the B.C. Peace River area, and we have the BC Grain Producers Association there. They're a young group, and again, they want these options that you're speaking of. But it's retaining these guys and these ladies who want to get into farming.
What would you suggest we need to do to retain and also attract new farmers to farming? How do we do that, in your mind?
Member, Alberta Barley Commission, Grain Growers of Canada
It's been mentioned earlier today, too, that farmers don't want to farm the mail box. I don't want to go looking for a cheque from the government every week. I don't like ad hoc programs. I would just as soon be dealing in a competitive environment where I can make my living from what I grow rather than having to depend on programs.
So whatever the government can do to help us out to gain that competitive edge....
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
We need to get out of the way, is what you're saying in some respects.
Member, Alberta Barley Commission, Grain Growers of Canada
I wouldn't say get out of the way. We can't do it all on our own, either. We need the contacts; we need the help the government agencies have.
I farm to the best of my ability. I use GPS and EZ-Steer, I use my BlackBerry. There is only so much I can do, so the help is still needed from government. We've seen the government pull out a little bit both at the provincial level and at the federal level. It seems that every year there's just a little bit less there.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Your time is up, Mr. Zimmer.
I have just a couple of things.
Mr. Mann, you made a comment, and I think I wrote down your exact words, that we need to take a strong look at the Competition Bureau. I've heard this statement before. In your opinion, does the Competition Bureau not use the teeth it has, or the powers, or does it not have enough power or enough teeth to do the job? If you could answer that as briefly as possible, I'd appreciate it.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Farmers of North America Inc.
In our firsthand experience, it's a bit of both. Definitely, if you read the words in the act and the regulations, there are teeth there. It's a matter so often in the interpretation and how it's actually administered. But there is some of both.
But above that, it's having a policy. Are we looking at our big organizations becoming more competitive globally, or do we want to help our SMEs? I don't know if there's been a deliberate thought to that or if there has been a deliberate look at the agriculture side. I would recommend that we take a hard look just from the agriculture side.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Sure, okay. I appreciate your comment on that.
Ms. Labbie, I was actually surprised when I saw the low percentage in slide 9, where it indicates, “government has no role in assisting managing risks”. Do you have a provincial breakdown on that, by any chance?
Senior Policy Analyst, Saskatchewan and Agri-business, Canadian Federation of Independent Business
Yes, we do. I just don't have it with me. But that's something I could forward to the committee for sure.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Okay. That would be great if you could.
I have another comment and maybe a little bit of a question concerning the Internet survey you did. I was also pleasantly surprised by your comments that you found agriculture producers today are actually Internet savvy and their knowledge of technology is as good as or maybe a little higher than others. That kind of ties into another thing. I'm a farmer, and I know that all generations of farmers in recent years could always grow a good product, whether it was a field of wheat or canola, or a herd of cattle, or hogs, but we were poor marketers.
I think it's improved with all this use of technology or what have you. Would you say the farmers out there today are not only better at marketing their own products, but they actually want to do it? Is that a fair statement?