It's more just a comment on freedoms that the rest of Canadian farmers had prior to marketing freedom. The western Canadians were looking for equality and we finally have it. Even though I'm not a farmer, I'm a western Canadian.
That being said, with full respect to Mr. Easter and his resume, I just wanted to ask some questions highlighting what we do in innovation and research. I talked to the minster to ask some questions about it. We often see millions of dollars flow past us, and we can take it for granted, but again it's an additional $30 million, which puts us at $549 million. If you total in another $223 million, we're almost close to a billion dollars. That certainly doesn't speak to a government that's cutting back on research. It's quite the opposite. We support research and see the good investment that it is.
I think farmers support that as well. We see them taking up different varieties and using them. That's one part—sorry, I'm coming to a question—but I think what's impressive about AgCanada and the research there is that it's not just to put in a file on a shelf somewhere. This stuff is really rolling out. We're seeing dramatic changes in the returns that farmers are experiencing.
I just wanted you to speak to the increases in research and innovation. How dramatic have they been? Obviously, they've been impactful. From your department's perspective, can you just speak to that?