Agriculture Committee on Dec. 10th, 2013

[Keith Kuhl]

The technology doesn't end up being that much of a restriction, because there's mostly not a need for government registration or acceptance of most of the technology. Certainly on the pesticide side, and especially for some of our smaller acreage crops, the pesticide companies don't see Canada as a big enough market to actively pursue registration here. We have to try to romance them and bring them in.

That's where, if we move more to joint registrations on pesticides with Canada, U.S., and Europe, it will facilitate things and be a huge advantage for Canadian producers.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

If we do that, you have 500 million customers in Europe and how many hundreds of millions in the U.S., and you'll be the only producers able to market to both those at the same time. The impact of that should be substantial, especially if you can take on these new technologies, these new ways of doing things, and get the recognition of science. I would think our horticulture industry and our producers would be in a very aggressive seat at that point in time, would they not?

[Keith Kuhl]

Absolutely. Today's Canadian farmer is very technically savvy. If I climb into one of the tractors back home, I very often have to call one of my boys on the phone to figure out exactly how to program the computer on it so that the tractor can operate—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

—and make those rows straight.

[Keith Kuhl]

All of our warehouses, as an example, are computer controlled. I don't bother doing it anymore, because I have sons who do the work for me. My sons can be anywhere in the world and they can log in and check the irrigation system. They can check the warehouse to make sure things are going okay.

That's only a small example of the technology. The mapping, the variable rate fertilizing that we're doing, it's unbelievable right now.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Well, Chair, I am in the Christmas spirit, so I'll give the rest of my time to the opposition members.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

What a friendly group.

She's going to appreciate it. Madam Brosseau, you have five minutes.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

You should be more giving all year round. Let's get in the Christmas spirit more often.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

I think this trip to the U.S. worked; I don't know.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

It's a start, but keep the ball rolling.

Chair, I'd like to thank you, Randy, and most of all, our witnesses today.

I know we've talked a lot about pesticides and something that really has come to mind today is bee health, because it was brought up in the House of Commons. A member asked for an emergency debate on bee health when it comes to neonicotinoids that are being used as a pesticide.

I was just wondering if I could get your comments on the importance of bees. That product is banned in the EU but is still being used in Canada. There's an evaluation going on with the PMRA, but the report's going to come out in 2018. I was wondering if you could comment on the importance of bees and that pesticide.

[Keith Kuhl]

Certainly, bees play a very important role for many of our crops.

Very often when issues like bee health come up, we tend to look for a scapegoat. We look for one issue that is going to solve the problems. I can assure you that if we banned the neonicotinoids, that's not going to solve the problems. There are bigger and other issues we have to work out and that we have to consider.

With the growth in the industry, we're ending up moving bee colonies around the country on an ongoing basis and very often over long distances. Any time you move a living organism, it has a significant impact. The smaller the animal, the more impact it has. When we travel from here to Europe, we very often go through jet lag. Bee health is impacted by that same type of movement.

We need to ensure that we fully understand the issue and then continue to adopt the best management practices to ensure that we can maintain good bee health.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

I'd like to add that I agree that we can't blame it all on neonicotinoids, that one pesticide. I do believe it is a part of the puzzle, a contributing factor that is weakening the health of our bees. We should all be very concerned about it.

We've met before, and it was a pleasure meeting with you.

There's another issue I wanted to talk about. We've talked a lot about food safety and the overlapping that is happening in Canada when it comes to the CanadaGAP. I wonder if you could comment a little more on that, please.

[Anne Fowlie]

Certainly.

The CFIA takes major undertaking of everything it does, and food safety is a top-of-mind concern for the agency and for all Canadians. There's been a lot of good work done and, as Mr. Kuhl referenced in his comments, the CanadaGAP program was a collaborative effort with industry and the retailers. The buyers were very important in the development of the program, as well as, certainly, CFIA and Agriculture Canada.

We are pleased with what we see thus far in the way things are moving forward with respect to food safety, particularly with respect to the produce industry. One of the things we've indicated repeatedly is to not reinvent the good work that's already been done. The CFIA was very involved in a technical review of the on-farm food safety programs, not only for fruit and vegetables, but other commodities and sectors as well.

The benchmark in the GFSI has been key, and it does bring very important recognition and cachet to the program and adds a level playing field. Not recreating or reinventing is important.

What we're beginning to see in some of the consultation pieces that are coming out, particularly with the preventive control plan for fruit and vegetables, is very positive, because that is, in fact, what is happening. They're taking a lot of the good work they were involved in and applying that to what they're putting in place now. As long as things can continue on that collaborative path, which we believe is sound and well vetted, then that bodes well.

Again, we want to make sure that other products we consume that are coming into our country are also scrutinized to the same standards.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Absolutely.

Do I have any more time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

You have 30 seconds.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Perfect.

Is there any housekeeping or anything else you wanted to add?

Merry Christmas.

[Anne Fowlie]

And to you.

[Jane Proctor]

Could I add something to that?

[A voice]

And a happy new year?

[Jane Proctor]

Feliz Navidad.

Many of you met with some of our industry members, from both our organizations, over the period that we were here in November.

Since you've raised the issue of food safety and we've talked about it in our comments, it's going to be important that you keep something in mind as all of you consider the details of the act and the new legislation around food safety. Just as we want to make sure we're very cautious and that none of our growers or none of our industry are excluded during big agreements like CETA, it's equally important that you protect the industry itself by not allowing exclusions even within Canada as we start to look at these regulatory requirements.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

Thank you, Madam Brosseau.

I want to thank our witnesses.

As I mentioned before, this ends the study in terms of the witnesses coming in on the CETA and the impact it has. We will be asking that we receive our draft report. We'll have that when we come back in January to review, and at that time the committee will then look forward to what we'll be studying next.

Mr. Kuhl, in terms of your comments about the pesticide, that has been an ongoing issue for a long while. I do have to say, though, that in terms of some of the new pesticides that are coming forward, there are joint and global registration processes that are in place. It doesn't go backwards. It's not retroactive to some of those ones that are still used and likely will be used for a while. I think the horticulture groups are maybe the most impacted for that very reason. They are smaller amounts. They are not particularly large acreages, or they are in greenhouses. It is a challenge, but I think the movement going forward is the right one. You raise a very concerning issue that's been in the agriculture industry for a long while.

Quite honestly, we've seen the breadth of agriculture in front of this committee. Some of it we, all of us, likely, didn't know much about, but we've had great discussion from all the witnesses. I appreciate the questions the committee has put forward to all of them, trying to draw out as much information on all sides as we can.

With that, we're right on time.

I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and happy new year. Have a safe journey home, and we'll see you back in January.

Thank you very much.

The meeting is adjourned