Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I would also like to thank the witnesses for being here this morning.
The excellent quality of your testimonies will no doubt help us to draft our report.
Currently, in Canada, less than 2% of the Canadian population has agricultural assets. Unfortunately, the trend in my region is such that, among people my age, two out of three producers aged 55 to 65 are not going to transfer their farms. They will undoubtedly be sold to larger businesses because there isn't anyone to take over, which means that in 20 years, all the agricultural assets will be owned by less than 1% or thereabouts of the Canadian population. This includes new technologies, all the land and new buildings that cost about 10 times more to build than they did 35 years ago.
What might the impact be for the 99% of Canada's population that will not own assets, or who have little interest in owning them? Will the fact that there is only 1% of Canadians who own all the agricultural assets weigh heavily on the future of Canadian agriculture?