Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My thanks also to the witnesses for being here.
Some consumers are concerned about genetically modified foods, but also about the producers. Let me give you an example about grain producers. About 20 years ago, it was relatively easy to harvest a crop and sow it again. Today, professional seed producers have a number of advantages, including in terms of the quality of the grains, the starch, and the yield. However, there is also a gene inside that makes it impossible to harvest the crop and sow it again the following year.
In my riding, people had difficulty producing winter wheat, because the seeds came from another province. My neighbours, my friends and my family had the same problem. So the yield was not necessarily very well adapted to the weather conditions in my region.
We found a variety with a relatively average yield, but after seven or eight years of the same variety being sowed, it naturally adapted to the region. So after about 10 years, there was a natural mutation of the grain in our region and the results were very satisfying, which thrilled a number of producers in the region.
That being said, we are on to the third generation of genetically modified seeds where it is possible to keep some of the beneficial traits and eliminate other less desirable ones. However, our producers are concerned about our ability to find the original traits of the plants or grains should there be a global shortage of seeds. After 10, 15, 20 or 30 years, would we be able to find the original seeds from which these plants were modified?
Does Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada contribute to a Canadian or international seed bank, to at least ensure the future of agriculture overall?