Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is really important to the canola industry.
One of the things I'd like to mention is that canola is the only Canadian crop certified under the international sustainability and carbon certification program, and we have been for a number of years. Greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of canola have fallen 65% from 1986 to 2006. It's an area that our industry has paid a lot of attention to for a number of years.
Innovation is really going to be important to improve sustainability and to adapt to climate change. Our experience in this industry around biotechnology has really shown us what kind of a return on investment you can make in tackling some problems like this. Since biotechnology was introduced into the canola industry, 86% of farmers have seen a reduction in soil erosion. Carbon dioxide emissions have been reduced by a billion kilograms, and that's the equivalent of taking half a million cars off the road. We've reduced our environmental footprint at the same time that we've increased yields and improved profitability.
We look at this as another opportunity. In terms of your question on what the government can do, I think it's important for us to continue investing in innovation, to continue investing in understanding the impact of agriculture, and, where we can, to not only improve our environmental footprint but to do that profitably.