Evidence of meeting #7 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 agriculture.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph
Are you asking me?
Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph
There are projects that really focus on the science at the beginning, and it's sometimes hard to make that connection all the way to commercialization. Some of the larger projects involving the commodity groups and the growers help to focus on that activity at the beginning of the project, where some clear end points in terms of delivery are defined as a product enters the marketplace; but any product cycle is typically a ten-year endeavour. One of the ways in which you can achieve that is perhaps to look at long-term funding, because it takes so long.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Thanks very much.
I'll now move to Mr. Valeriote for five minutes.
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
Thank you both for appearing before the committee today.
I have concerns--and these are meant to be constructive, believe me. Last week the government's own expert panel on federal support for research and development noted that the percentage of Canadian GDP invested in research is only 1%, while the average in 34 OECD countries is 1.6%. This huge gap has been growing since 2006. Then last year I woke up to the surprise that we had actually been cutting our funding for research in food. In fact, NSERC dropped quality and novel by-products from its list of target areas for strategic grants—I think you know that—and the Networks of Centres of Excellence didn't renew its funding for the Advanced Foods & Materials Network, AFMNet. I know you're familiar with the people there, Peter.
What do you think should be done to restore agriculture and agrifood as a priority for granting agencies and for research and development?
Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph
Part of my motivation in some of the general comments that I made was really to try to support the idea that agriculture is central to what Canada is, that it is a high-tech endeavour and that it supports the jobs of many Canadians. Sometimes I think we take food for granted; it appears on our plates, and we don't realize the economic and intellectual ramifications of agriculture in the Canadian landscape. So that's why I said a public discourse on a food policy might help to remind some of the funding agencies of the crucial importance of agricultural research, writ large.
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
Can I be more specific, then? Would you recommend that quality and novel products be put back on the list of target areas for strategic grants for NSERC?
Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph
I think they should be explicitly stated. Agricultural and agriculture-related research should be part of NSERC's identified areas, for sure.
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
Let me ask you this. You mentioned a national food strategy. I absolutely concur, and I'm glad you raised it.
Many people don't understand the value of a national food strategy. I've looked at the strategies of Scotland, New Zealand, and Great Britain. For several years now, our party has been working on the structure of a national food strategy.
Why do you think it's valuable, and what do you think it would contain?
Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph
Again, I think it's valuable for raising awareness in the minds of the general population the importance of agriculture. Of course, it's not in front of us the way it was with our parents and grandparents, because only 2% of people are on the farm. In terms of the associated industries and all of the infrastructure that supports it, people don't realize the connection there.
I think it's important to have that discussion. In fact, it is being discussed almost daily in our newspapers, in terms of local food and sustainability. All of these are very good touch points. Everybody cares about food.
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
Do you think the federal government has a role to play in leading the discussion on a national food policy?
Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph
It would be brilliant if it did. Yes.
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
Mr. Groeneweg, do you have any comments on any of those three questions?
Director, Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission
I totally concur with Mr. Pauls. Agriculture needs to come back to the forefront of public opinion. The safety of our food is very important to the public, and there are misconceptions about how the food comes to the plate.
I'm not sure about the government leading that type of initiative; rather, it should be making everything possible to support that type of initiative. Canadians, if not the world, need to be reacquainted with the food production system. That's the only way we'll actually be able to increase our production and feed a world at a proper cost.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Thank you very much.
We'll now move to Mr. Lobb for five minutes.
Conservative
Ben Lobb Conservative Huron—Bruce, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is for Mr. Pauls.
About a month and a half ago, we had an announcement just outside of Hensall for the white bean and coloured bean associations through the DIAP program. For the committee's sake and so that we can have this on record, could you explain how the process begins and just run us through all of the different steps that are taken to actually get to the point of announcing that we're going to embark on this program. Would you be able to do that?
Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph
Okay, and I hope I've understood the question.
The DIAP program is a program that is available to Agriculture Canada scientists and collaborators in a university. In our case, we were working with the bean producers in Ontario, who have two organizations, the coloured bean and the white bean groups. They have committed to supporting the research for a period of five years at a total of $100,000 a year.
This is a small commodity relative to other commodities in Ontario, yet these organizations have made it a long-term commitment to invest in research, which means that, as researchers, we can go and leverage that funding through various sources. The DIAP funding was an important way of supporting the bean breeding program at the University of Guelph and Agriculture Canada. We have a unique partnership there. Also, that base funding from the growers allowed us to leverage funding from the Ontario government through OMAFRA, and also through the Ontario research and innovation fund.
So in total, that $100,000 a year over a five-year period grew to almost $9 million in terms of support for research in a commodity that is mostly exported out of Ontario and Canada and that brings foreign exchange back into Canada and promotes our quality agriculture in Ontario.
Conservative
Ben Lobb Conservative Huron—Bruce, ON
Obviously, that project has a lot of benefits. There are benefits for the university, the farmer, the industry, and for the export markets they could ship to.
Within that description, what was the timeframe between all of the parties sitting down and deciding this was the way to move forward and the project being approved by the department? I'm curious about the timeframe.
Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph
I don't know exactly when it started, but the commitments by the growers happened well before the start of the DIAP program. But I would say there were some discussions of whether we should use the DIAP program or a cluster program in terms of supporting the research. I would say it took a good eight months between the time we made a decision to go with the DIAP program—writing the proposal, getting feedback, looking at IP issues, getting advice on that, and getting final approval—and the funding actually landing.
Conservative
Ben Lobb Conservative Huron—Bruce, ON
I think all parties, all members of Parliament on the Hill, would support projects like the one we've been talking about. Are there any improvements that can be made within the application process to streamline it and make it easier?
If you have any ideas, or if they just aren't on the tip of your tongue right now, I hope you would have the time to submit them, because I think it's important to find ways of streamlining that process to be able to get an answer back more quickly and to get the work started.
Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph
Well, by the time we actually got the money, we were well into the fiscal year. So we had to hurry up and justify that we had been working on that project with this other, additional funding.
There are a lot of accountability issues around the money, and I realize these are important, but we may be tipping the balance in terms of how much work is required for that accountability to be met versus our spending that time on the research side. It means that a significant portion of the staff in the plant agriculture department needs to spend time with all of those accounting issues. The University of Guelph needs to spend a lot of time accounting. That particular program is actually resident in the commodity groups and they spend a lot of time making sure all of the paper work is in order. There's a lot involved in that.
Conservative
Jean Rousseau NDP Compton—Stanstead, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
My first question is for Mr. Pauls.
You said that you were disappointed with the way organic production projects were coming along under Growing Forward.
In terms of organic farming, what type of scientific development project could benefit agriculture in general?
Can organic farming survive in the medium and long term in Quebec and the rest of Canada?
Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph
I don't know if I said that I was disappointed with the organic sector. But to answer in positive terms as to how we can support organic agriculture, we do in fact teach an organic major in the B.Sc. Agr., and we do have some research going on in organic production systems. So we certainly endorse and support it.
I think what I would like to see in the long term is a point where the different production systems can work together, because, in fact, they do all end up in a common food system. In Ontario we work hard at segregating material, but the ideal is to have support and respect for the various ways in which food is produced, because they all have appropriate markets and niches to fill, particularly in Ontario.
NDP
Jean Rousseau NDP Compton—Stanstead, QC
You also talked about the need for qualified professionals. What types of workers do we need in agriculture?
