Evidence of meeting #53 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was farm.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
I have a couple of other questions. We as a committee went down to Washington last year to talk to them about the COOL agreement. I went down there before, too, with a U.S.-Canadian parliamentarian group to discuss COOL. We had support from the vast majority. A lot of them understood what the issues were.
You said that your organization has been down to visit our U.S. cousins. Do these kinds of topics come up, and do you speak to them?
4:55 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian Young Farmers' Forum
Yes, we do. COOL is definitely a hot topic. Most of the feeling we get back from Young Farmers & Ranchers is that they are basically on our side. Some of the southern states do have problems with the Mexican cattle. That's a large concern. All the northern states do so much trade in beef back and forth, bilateral trade, with Canada. The last lobbyist I spoke to down there in Nashville brought up something about chicken and pork, but that's actually not really much of a concern at COOL.
A lot of it is education: they just really don't know.
4:55 p.m.
Member, Canadian Young Farmers' Forum
I don't know if you're familiar with Denver's National Western Stock Show.
4:55 p.m.
Member, Canadian Young Farmers' Forum
It's the biggest stock show. I had the opportunity with AAFC to go down there. We met with some cattle producers from Colorado and the area.
We were sitting there one day comparing numbers, and they were astonished. They want our Canadian cattle. Their feedlots are sitting empty.
In northern Saskatchewan, we can raise the cattle. We were comparing costs and they were amazed. We can put 50 cow-calf pairs on 160 acres. They can only put three or four. But what hurts us is feeding them in the winter.
They were saying, “Why aren't you guys growing all the cows and then they should be coming south?”
4:55 p.m.
Member, Canadian Young Farmers' Forum
He wishes he could take his own truck and bring them down. Most of the producers we were talking to want our cattle.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
It was the same when I went to some of the western states. I think the one group of states completely understood it. There was unanimous support for what we were saying, because they understood the problem, but sometimes issues like this do get politicized, and that's what we ran into in Washington.
As a committee, we're all supportive of dealing with COOL and helping our farmers have access to the market once they have a fuller understanding of it. You guys do. We're preaching to the converted again.
I want to talk to Kerry about CETA and the benefits that could potentially be realized. Initially the Canadian Cattlemen's Association brought their concerns about this new market to us. There are definitely some regulatory differences in comparison with the way we normally do business selling cows to different groups. But we saw the tide shift, and they realized it was a huge opportunity. We saw that with dairy too. There is potentially a large market waiting there.
There's a bit of concern, too, because it's a new era. These markets, again, have their own different regulatory issues, let's say.
Kerry, from your perspective, especially as a poultry producer, have you seen that as an opportunity?
4:55 p.m.
Chair, Canadian Young Farmers' Forum
Personally as a poultry producer, I think that every country has its own protectionist way of protecting its borders. If it's not through tariffs, it could be through insisting that meat from a country be cooked to 500° before it comes in. That's an exaggeration, but I know there are things like that out there. They may have just closed the border for different reasons.
In Canada, when we produce for our country, we have a good supply management system. We don't do too much export other than for our market development programs. For a while there was basically no need for dark meat in Canada, so we created a market development program. You obviously can't grow a chicken with just white meat; you have to grow the whole chicken, so we were allowed to grow the whole chicken and export some of the dark meat through an export program.
Our costs of production in Canada compared to those in other countries are significantly higher. That's how it is in Canada. Most things in Canada are 20% higher than in other countries. Our imports are higher, and we have high standards of production through our on-farm food safety programs and our biosecurity programs. Our animal care programs are the highest in the world. For us producers, attaining those things costs money.
Being able to compete with other countries that don't have those programs does not benefit us as poultry producers, because it's hard for us to do it as cheaply as they can without those programs.
That being said, I'm not opposed to trade deals that can benefit other producers in our country, because we've made multiple trade deals in the past without sacrificing our supply-managed industries.
5 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bev Shipley
Thank you very much, Mr. Zimmer.
We'll now go to Mr. Eyking, please, for five minutes.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Eyking Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
Kerry, don't let Mr. Allen go near that cellphone. He'll shut your vents, and he'll shut the fans off, and you will be in big trouble. It takes one button. I know. My brother has egg-laying birds, and it's pretty scary when you have 20,000 birds and something gets shut off.
Farmers are the largest landowners in the country when you look at it, so when things happen with climate change, they impact you big time. Sometimes that's advantageous.
My first question is what opportunities not involving producing food do you see? I mean things like wind energy or agritourism or.... What do you see? You're talking to farmers right across this country. What are farmers doing, and what are young farmers looking at besides producing food with all the land they have and the opportunity they have?
5 p.m.
Member, Canadian Young Farmers' Forum
In the province of Nova Scotia, we do have some initiatives for biodigesters to generate power. There are some feasibility studies going on regarding wind. There are some opportunities in the east we're looking at through agriculture.
The regulatory burden makes it very difficult to step into that arena. Some would say outright that they don't think farmers should be involved in that. They don't understand that farmers are not just entrepreneurs, but we're also scientists and professionals, and we have done our homework. Across the world farmers are involved in these sorts of technologies.
There are some opportunities. There are some challenges and hurdles as well.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Eyking Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
Are there any other big things they're doing on the farm besides producing food?
5 p.m.
Member, Canadian Young Farmers' Forum
Perhaps I could step in here.
Research is one big thing. A lot of the farmers I know take part in research with seed manufacturers, or even with agribusinesses or whatnot, to produce top-notch, quality products. But there has been a lot of decrease in research throughout Canada. That's a big issue. Once we start falling back in our capacity to produce as compared with our neighbours down south.... If research is not done to a higher level, we're falling behind. We're not as competitive with our neighbours down south. It's hurting us.
I mean, take the grain commodity, Larry's area. If we can't produce that many bushels per acre, we're not going to be as profitable as we were.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Eyking Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
Just on that, what do you see in terms of the federal government initiating a program? Do you see more research stations? Do you see more investing in partnerships with companies, farmers, and even your buyers? Is that what you see: having that kind of input in research?
5 p.m.
Member, Canadian Young Farmers' Forum
It's a great question. I'm no expert in that field, but there are a lot of research farms throughout Canada. A lot of research is being done by manufacturers in privately owned companies that could definitely benefit from numerous advantages. Farmers could benefit from partnering with those companies and helping them out.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Eyking Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
Okay.
My second question deals with your app. I think that's the thing you're applying to the federal government for. Can you tell me more about it? Explain how it would work and how it would reach farmers right across Canada, and maybe not just young farmers but any farmer. Can you give us a run-through of how you would set it up and what it would look like? I'd like to hear an overview on that.
5 p.m.
General Manager, Canadian Young Farmers' Forum
Absolutely. We're really excited about this project moving forward, because we know that having an app at the fingertips of all ages of farmers will really be beneficial.
We know that a lot of programs out there are available to support agricultural producers in general. Particularly we're focused on young farmers. By having the app, we're hoping, with our scope of project, to put together a plan that will outline how we connect our producers of every commodity to the support that is out there. How do we encourage our young farmers to address key business tasks that need to be looked at on a regular basis? Through the app, there will be several components where we're connecting people to other organizations for resources and support, and these will be commodity-based. If you have a question, this is how you can reach out and get that support as quickly as possible.
Our app will be a three-year project. A lot of great things will be added to the resource as we develop and grow it. Initially, it is to do the connecting and to support the learning. It's also just to use the technology that young farmers are using to encourage them to continue to do what we're supporting them to do.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Eyking Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
Let's say you have a broiler farm and you're trying to reduce your energy. I don't know; would you press the app and indicate what it is you're looking for, which would lead you in the right direction to find out about efficiencies in electricity or things like that?
5:05 p.m.
General Manager, Canadian Young Farmers' Forum
Absolutely. We want to make it as broad as we can.
It's a project that we're really looking forward to taking on, but it will take some time to develop all those sections. Ultimately, that is the goal, that if you have a question as a beef producer, through that app and through the hub and the organization of the information you'll be able to get the resources very quickly at your fingertips to help you through that, and to connect you with people who will be able to assist you.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
5:05 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bev Shipley
These are discussions that wouldn't have happened 10 years ago.
Mr. Dreeshen, for five minutes, please.