Agriculture Committee on Sept. 18th, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Welcome to the fall session of our agriculture committee.

I want to welcome everyone back. We have some new people around the table, at least for today.

Mr. Godin, welcome to our committee.

I hope everyone had a chance to relax, but maybe also to visit some farms and markets this summer, as well as to thank a farmer. I hope we all had a chance to do that; we all have that in common.

This morning, we are continuing our work on the advancements of technology

and research in the agricultural industry that can support Canadian exports.

With us this morning, from Colleges and Institutes Canada, we have Mr. Stuart Cullum, president, Olds College. Welcome, Mr. Cullum.

We also have Christine Trauttmansdorff, vice-president, government relations and Canadian partnerships. Welcome, Christine.

On video conference, we have Mr. Tyler Hopson. He might appear very far away, but as soon as he gets to speak it should focus on him. We should be able to, if not hear him, read his lips.

Welcome, Mr. Hopson. Can you hear us today?

[Tyler Hopson, Public Affairs Manager, Mosaic]

I can.

Good morning.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

We'll start with a seven-minute opening statement.

Mr. Cullum, you can get things going.

[Stuart Cullum, President, Olds College, Colleges and Institutes Canada]

Thank you.

I'll turn it over to my colleague.

[Christine Trauttmansdorff, Vice-President, Government Relations and Canadian Partnerships, Colleges and Institutes Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the invitation to appear this morning.

I am pleased to appear today on behalf of Colleges and Institutes Canada, an extensive network of post-secondary institutions from each province and territory, to which 3,000 urban, rural, remote and northern communities have access.

I am joined on this panel by Mr. Stuart Cullum, the president of Olds College in Alberta. We look forward to hearing from our colleagues from Niagara College later today and from Cégep de Victoriaville on Thursday.

We're going to tell you how our institutions are helping Canada achieve its ambitious goals for growing agriculture exports through advancements in technology and research, and offer recommendations to strengthen these contributions.

The government's innovation and skills plan states, "Innovative products, ideas or services only become real because of the creativity, work ethic and skill of the people who create them.... [W]e will need to build the world’s most skilled, talented, creative and diverse workforce."

Colleges and Institutes Canada could not agree more. We are very conscious of labour shortages in the area, particularly if the market for exports expands as predicted. According to our colleagues at the Canadian Agricultural HR Council, this shortfall is expected to increase to 114,000 jobs by 2025. Filling this gap lies at the heart of the college mandate. Colleges offer over 350 certificate, diploma and degree programs related to agri-food. Over 50% of agriculture graduates are trained in a college or polytechnic institution.

This training is designed to provide the skills learners need to become innovators. No matter what program they're in, students tackle problems from an industry perspective and solve them using the latest equipment and technology. They benefit from their colleges' deep connections to employers, from the guidance of faculty who work in the industry, and from the hands-on experience they get through co-ops, work placements and campus-based enterprises. One of the most effective approaches to experiential learning is applied research, where students work with employers to create prototypes, develop products, implement new technology and improve services and processes.

The benefits of applied research extend far beyond the student. Budget 2018 recognized this, making an important new investment of over $140 million over five years. This will expand the availability of R and D services to SMEs and companies in rural areas, which often have difficulty accessing the innovation ecosystem. It will also allow more students to become agents of technology transfer, ready to take jobs that support innovation and growth and move the results and know-how they've gained through applied research out to new markets.

Our members have more than 215 research centres and 400 labs across the country. Over 40 of these are in the agri-food sector. Last year, they worked with 5,500 companies, 85% of which are SMEs. The industry partner almost always retains the IP, and the majority of projects are completed in under a year.

Stuart and the team from Niagara are going to describe what these facts and figures look like to the students, businesses and communities served by institutions like theirs.

We thank you for the opportunity to meet with you today, and we look forward to your questions and the report on this study.

I'll turn it over to Stuart.

[Stuart Cullum]

I would like to express my appreciation for the work of this committee. I concur with Ms. Trauttmansdorff that the colleges and institutes in Canada play a key role in support of applied research and innovation, and concurrently in the development and enhancement of the talent needed for our agriculture industry to compete globally.

Olds College has a 104-year-long history of delivering education and training in agriculture. We began as a learning institution and demonstration farm where technology and production practices were tried and exhibited for an industry that needed to become more efficient and productive. Today, a lot has changed, but the need for learning and applied research environments remains key to the success and competitiveness of our industry. Olds College continues to use its 2,000-acre campus and field-to-fork enterprise to support hands-on learning and applied research.

Through the proliferation of technology and big data, and the application of tools such as digital sensors, controls, artificial intelligence and machine learning in the agricultural sector, we believe that our post-secondary environment can be an aggregator of companies, research organizations and other post-secondary institutions for the development, application, integration and demonstration of these technologies. The effects of this collaborative approach will be seen through faster and more effective adoption by our industry and the development of world-class learning environments that deliver the talent needed to ensure our sector's global competitiveness.

A good example of this is found in the work of our Technology Access Centre for Livestock Production, which is focused on meeting the needs of the Canadian livestock industry by providing access to new technologies for increasing production efficiencies, industry sustainability and producer viability.

Funded through NSERC's college and community innovation program, Olds College has been able to work with other key organizations, such as the University of Alberta, where we recently completed a three-year project for improving feed efficiency in purebred Hereford cattle using genomic tools. This project also involved the Canadian Hereford Association, Livestock Gentec, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Cattleland Feedyards, and other industry partners. Nearly 1,200 Hereford bulls were phenotypically and genomically tested for feed efficiency in this project, a major undertaking that has built a unique capacity that will allow for the selection of feed-efficient cattle and world-class genetics that are marketable around the globe.

Olds College and our counterparts across the country are building innovation ecosystems that will advance industries and produce world-class talent. This is exemplified in another important initiative that was recently launched at our institution called the Olds College smart farm. In its first iteration of around 100 acres, we collaborated with 15 organizations from the agriculture and technology sector to install monitoring equipment, sensors, weather stations, Wi-Fi connectivity, data visualization and management capabilities. Our smart farm provides a venue where companies, entrepreneurs and producers can develop, demonstrate and integrate technology and practices.

The Olds College smart farm is already attracting a community of global partners and investors for this development, because we are also focusing on system-level issues. It will eventually expand to encompass the whole of the Olds College farm and will provide a unique, cutting-edge learning environment in Canada for post-secondary students and learners around the world to come to.

At Olds College, we know that our impact is greater when we work with others, and we are prepared to lead in aggregating communities around system-level issues and opportunities to enhance and scale our effects.

An example of this is demonstrated in how Olds College led an effort that brought together more than 100 organizations, including 17 post-secondary institutions from across Canada, and $80 million in committed industry investment in support of an agriculture supercluster focused on enhancing economically and environmentally sustainable agriculture and food production through the application and optimization of smart ag tools, technology and science.

While our supercluster bid was not successful, it was shortlisted to the final round, and our collective efforts have spawned other initiatives across the country, such as the recent launch of the Calgary-Olds smart agri-food corridor and the pan-prairie academic working group in collaboration with Protein Industries Canada and the Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative in Manitoba.

Mr. Chair, I believe that Olds College is an example of how colleges and institutes across Canada are developing and leading to support industry and grow talent for enhancing global competitiveness. The challenge that colleges and institutes have is not around demand and performance. Our own applied research activity is expected to double in the next seven years.

What we need—and this is our recommendation to this committee—is a reasonable level of stable funding for the development of our research environments, our engagement with partners and our administrative capacity. The demand is great. However, our capacity is stretched, and we can scale to meet our potential and bring these communities together only if we have what is required in our physical environments and our administration. This is a key need for the colleges and institutes in this country.

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, in closing I want to convey our strong commitment to the work of this committee, the government, our industry, community, and post-secondary partners to leverage the full potential of our institutions to enhance the development and adoption of technology and science for the global competitiveness of Canada's agriculture sector.

I look forward to our discussion. We would be pleased to take your questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Cullum.

Now from Mosaic, we have Mr. Tyler Hopson.

You have up to seven minutes.

[Tyler Hopson]

Thank you for the introduction, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning to the committee members. I appreciate your time and the invitation today.

My name is Tyler Hopson, and I am the public affairs manager for The Mosaic Company. We do appreciate the opportunity to be here today, after an attempt earlier in the year had to be rescheduled.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, let me tell you a bit about Mosaic and the work we do. Mosaic is the world's largest combined producer and marketer of concentrated potash and phosphate fertilizers, with over 15,000 employees globally, about 2,200 of them in Saskatchewan. Our operations and joint ventures span nine countries. All of our Canadian operations produce potash.

We completed $7.4 billion in global sales in 2017. We have $3 billion in expansion projects under way, including the world's largest potash mine shaft project at our Esterhazy location in east central Saskatchewan.

In less than a decade, Mosaic will have invested more than $6 billion into Canadian expansion. We own assets through the full spectrum of the value chain. We take minerals from raw ore right to the finished product and deliver them to our customers in over 40 different countries.

Canada, as you may know, is the world's largest producer of potash, with over 30% of global supply. Farmers around the globe depend on our products to help nourish crops. They need to grow more food on every acre of farmland.

Mosaic has developed a number of premium products that increase crop yields and combat nutrient deficiency, while using the same amount or less of our products. These products are highly sought after by customers in Asia, South America and across North America.

Our mission as a company is to ensure global food security by helping the world grow the food it needs. The UN estimates that the world population will climb to nine billion by 2050. The world's farmers must produce more food and fuel, and will need more fertilizers to do it. In fact, fertilizers are currently responsible for producing a half of the world's crop yields.

The last several years in particular have been characterized by challenging conditions in agricultural and broader commodities markets. Adding to those challenges are the difficulties we've seen with rail transportation across Canada this year. Potash is Canada's largest mineral export, both by volume and in economic terms, so a reliable, safe rail transport system is absolutely critical to ensuring that exports can not only continue, but continue to grow. As it stands, 95% of Mosaic's potash is exported from Canada each year, almost half of which is shipped to offshore customers through Canpotex, the international marketing agency.

In a challenging economic climate, innovation is more important than ever as an ingredient to success. In recent years, we have conducted more than 1,000 product trials with highly regarded private researchers and universities, as well as customers and growers. Mosaic's innovation pipeline encourages bottom-up idea generation from within our workforce. On an annual basis, Mosaic spends about $11 million on continuous improvement, research and development, and new technology development.

Our Canadian R and D team evaluates ideas and advances the most suitable ones for further development. This process has created several major successes. I have a couple of examples.

Our Aspire premium product combines potash with boron, the world's second most deficient crop nutrient, allowing growers to save energy, time and money by applying both nutrients at once. Aspire has a slower release time, allowing less leaching and runoff. It was created by Mosaic and is now marketed globally and exported from our mine in Colonsay, Saskatchewan.

On the automation side, Mosaic has several automation projects using our in-house engineers and other specialists. These projects are aimed at increasing mining efficiencies, sustainability and safety. Though the automation project is in its pilot stage, we see it as a potential game-changer in the coming years.

Mosaic fully supports the continuation of the scientific research and experimental development, or SR and ED, tax credit for mining, as this program can make a significant impact on Canadian R and D investment decisions. However, we believe there is a need to review the current application process. We have experienced a process that is cumbersome and difficult to navigate. It potentially dissuades Canadian companies from further investment in Canadian R and D. A more efficient, streamlined process would benefit and grow the Canadian economy.

Before I close, I'd like to talk about environmental matters for a brief moment. Recent research conducted by a third party on behalf of Mosaic shows that Canadian potash producers are best in class in terms of greenhouse gas emission intensity around the world. In 2014, Canada's full life-cycle GHG emission intensity for potash was only 29% of the global average, and significantly lower than other major potash regions.

At the same time, we face taxation rates and shipping costs that are far higher than our main competitors', specifically Russia and Belarus, which negatively impacts Canada's competitiveness. We would encourage the government to think holistically when considering agriculture and Canadian exports, and to bear in mind the cumulative impact of current and proposed regulations. Right now, there are several major initiatives under way, including carbon pricing, the impact assessment review and regulations, and the clean fuel standards. These must not be viewed in silos, as the cumulative impacts of federal regulations could discourage global companies from continuing to make investments in innovation for the betterment of both the environment and the economy. In fact, some recent studies show that the rate of investment in Canada has already slowed considerably in the last several years.

We would recommend that the government earmark funding to establish an energy efficiency program that would assist with upfront capital costs for new projects and for retrofits of existing operations. These types of investments would help support mature energy-intensive and trade-exposed sectors such as ours as we work to access remaining emission reduction opportunities and increase competitiveness.

We would be pleased to continue the conversation with you at any time, and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Hopson. I just hope that's not your back window that we see there, with all the snow. That's a bit early for us.

I also want to welcome all the staff, the translators, and the technical guys, who make our work so much easier, and also the media. Thank you for being here.

We'll start our question round with six minutes each.

We'll start with Monsieur Berthold.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I hope that, like us, you had a great summer. We have indeed visited many farms. It was a pleasure to meet farmers all over Quebec and even sometimes elsewhere. I think the challenges are very real for everyone. The summer was a little dry in some areas, and we should spare a thought for those farmers today, since there are many questions about what will happen in the coming days.

Without further delay, I will ask Mr. Hopson a question.

At the end of your presentation, you talked about the carbon tax. I have noticed that, in recent years, Canadian companies have made a major effort to reduce their carbon emissions. I think you mentioned that your company is one of the most effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Am I mistaken in saying that every time a company like yours invests in Canada, we are concerned about reducing emissions and doing everything we can to ensure that, environmentally speaking, all the current climate change conditions are met?

[Tyler Hopson]

I'm not sure if I fully understood the question, but certainly we have made efforts over the last number of years and even decades to improve our environmental performance. As a company, we have set some internal targets—and that's global, as well as across Canada—to reduce our emissions by 10% per product tonne by the year 2020. As far as greenhouse gas emissions go, we've already achieved a 5% reduction, with more to come, as well as reductions in energy and freshwater use.

However, as I said in my remarks, when you compare Canadian potash production to some of our global competitors, we already come out quite favourably. In fact, some estimates are that the emissions we create are 50% less than those of other companies and other countries around the world. It's challenging for us to continue to see those major reductions in emissions. There are some opportunities, but for a mature sector that is energy-intensive, those types of further reductions would require significant research and upfront capital, which of course is a challenge for us.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Congratulations. You have done all that and you have achieved those results without anyone having to force your hand with a carbon tax. Let me emphasize that Canadian companies are proactive. They do not need to be penalized by imposing taxes and making them less competitive on the international scene. All we have to do is encourage initiatives like the ones you have mentioned, Mr. Hopson.

I will now turn to the representatives from Colleges and Institutes Canada.

I have had the opportunity to travel a great deal. You mentioned the workforce issue. Now, all the programs, whatever they are, are desperately trying to attract young people, students.

How do you get them interested in agriculture?

[Christine Trauttmansdorff]

That's a good question. We are concerned about this in our sector.

I think it's something that is not limited to the agriculture sector. It's about helping young people—as well as older people, because, more and more, education is becoming lifelong—understand what colleges and institutes offer and understand the job market better—what training they're going to need and what opportunities are open to them in the future—and then turning those into something that's fairly real and tangible and is going to attract them.

I think the opportunities that work-integrated learning provides are a tremendous way to attract people. If people have an opportunity, either before they start their studies or during their studies early on, to work in a company, to see what is involved in that industry and understand what the options are, because there are many career paths, this is a tremendous way to help people see the potential for their future careers.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

When you talk about innovation, new technologies, young people don't automatically think about agriculture. However, during my trips this summer, I noticed that there is tremendous development potential. Your Smart Farm Project is truly very interesting.

Isn't showing young people that today's agriculture is not the same like farms used to be encouraging them to discover agriculture as a fine occupation?

Mr. Cullum, what do you think?

[Stuart Cullum]

I agree with you. What's exciting about the smart farm is that it was developed in collaboration with industry. We were very deliberate in engaging with industry to help us understand this kind of learning environment, because that's really what we've created, and that is needed in order to equip the future workforce.

What that does, then, is provide assurance to anyone looking at our college as a place to come in order to get a job. Each of our programs has an industry advisory committee that helps us ensure that both our academic programming and our learning environments are well positioned in order to ensure that the students coming out, the graduates, are going to be job-ready. That's exciting for our students and really provides them with assurance.

As well, the smart farm itself is highly—

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I'm sorry, Mr. Cullum, I'm going to cut you off.

[Stuart Cullum]

Oh, sure, absolutely. Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Berthold.

Mr. Longfield, you have six minutes.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and welcome back to everyone in the room.

I also visited some farms over the summer. We had an all-party visit to the Syngenta research centre just north of Guelph. I went to a national farm trust. It's very interesting to see the urban and rural connections there. I also visited an organic farm and saw some of the challenges around the drought that we were seeing in southern Ontario and what they were doing to combat that using labour from other countries. Part of that fits into the discussion this morning in terms of how we can become more competitive.

I'm really interested in the connections with colleges. As I've said in other meetings, I come from Red River College in Winnipeg. I know the connection between manufacturing and agriculture, and I want to start with that.

In your presentation, you mentioned work-integrated learning and the programs around upskilling, and how important they are to creating opportunities for people mid-career to keep up with what's going on as we get into digital technologies. Could you maybe comment on how the federal government could help or is helping with developing programs to upskill the workforce?

[Christine Trauttmansdorff]

This area is really emerging as perhaps the next wave of priority. Dominic Barton highlighted in his reports the need to become what he called a "learning nation", that lifelong learning. I think that is going to be a huge opportunity for colleges to build on the deep connections they have with their communities and their economic development, with players in their regions, and most importantly, with companies and industries that have those needs and see them.

It's great to talk about recruiting new graduates, new employees with all the right skills, but first of all, you can't recruit all the time, and second of all, those skills requirements are going to change over time. By having that conversation about how to develop the skills and keep the current workforce up to speed, there is an opportunity to build some really strong partnerships with post-secondary institutions generally, and particularly with colleges, which are very flexible and responsive and can put together small, short, tailored programs to keep people current.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

So there really is a distinction between temporary foreign worker programs and programs to upskill that workforce.

[Christine Trauttmansdorff]

Absolutely.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

That's good, because sometimes that distinction isn't made in the marketplace.

With my very limited amount of time, I want to reach out to Regina and thank you for joining us.

I've spent a lot of time in the potash mines in Saskatchewan. You mentioned some of them, the work going back to Kalium days—that's how old I am—and now what Mosaic is doing.

The price on pollution is something that our government is quite focused on. As we're working internationally to develop our export markets, showing a responsible approach to climate change—pollution isn't free—we also have to give credit to companies that are reducing their carbon footprints. Have you been able to take advantage of any of the carbon reduction programs we have in terms of greening infrastructure? Have you been made aware of those, or could we help with that? Is that something we need to expand more as we do this study?

[Tyler Hopson]

We've certainly looked at a variety of programs in recent years and definitely tried to find a fit where possible for suitable programs. To be honest, thus far we've struggled somewhat to find that right fit. Some of that may be us not having a full awareness of what's out there, or we've found that the funding available is either too large or too small in some cases for the types of projects we're working on.

We are keeping an eye on it, and we have been in some talks with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada to look at what the options may be. It's definitely something we are interested in pursuing.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

In terms of our study, maybe something we can suggest is promoting the programs we have through Environment and Climate Change, the green infrastructure programs. I know that the mining industry has always been a leader in reducing footprints and environmental impacts, and, again, it doesn't get credit for that.

In terms of your efforts, you're talking about runoff reductions, about competing against other countries, such as Russia, which is one of our largest competitors in the potash industry.

Are there other markets we could be developing and focusing on in terms of fertilizer production in Canada?