Agriculture Committee on Nov. 1st, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

You have 25 seconds left.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Thank you.

Thank you for your answers, Mr. Lemaire. I am very concerned to hear that one of the challenges you have faced is a labour shortage in the agri-food sector, especially for fruit and vegetables. That is exactly what is happening in my riding of Shefford. We touched on the apple industry. There are apples left on the trees due to the labour shortage. These apples do not reach the market, unfortunately, because there are not enough people to pick them.

I know you will not have time to answer this question, but we could come back to this later.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Breton.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

You could tell us what solutions you have in mind in this regard.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Breton.

I will turn it over to Ms. Lockhart now, for six minutes.

Sorry; it's Christine Moore for six minutes. I'll get it right.

Ms. Moore, you have the floor.

[Christine Moore, NDP, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Cherewyk and Mr. Lemaire, in your presentations you both talked about climate change and the need to do better with respect to the environment. The fact is that, as consumers, we often see things that don't make sense. The products available may have been transported great distances before they get to our plates, even though a farmer not far from where we live produces the same product. I would like to know what we can do so that products reach consumers or the processing sites as directly as possible? How can we cut down the distances travelled and include this approach in a strategic framework in order to have a positive impact on the environment by reducing the distance these products are transported and in turn reduce waste?

[Greg Cherewyk]

Thank you. It's an excellent question.

In the western Canadian cropping rotation, of course, we're not talking so much about moving fresh fruits and vegetables great distances. We're talking about achieving greenhouse gas emission reductions through efficient use of input, sufficient use of fuel, and incorporating best management practices such as minimum and zero tillage. These are the things that will have an impact, and they have had a massive impact in reducing in greenhouse gas emissions from western Canadian agriculture.

From the consumer's perspective and what you find on a shelf what you're not seeing today is a reflection of those reductions from the efforts that are taking place on the farm on the label and in in-store promotion. What you're finding is the work that has been done by food companies to address problems within their supply chain or within their product packaging.

I think there's a massive shift taking place now as food companies are starting to recognize that the biggest impact they have on the environment takes place in the supply of their ingredients. That's where Canadian ag is primarily focused right now. It's focused on ensuring that we understand what that impact is, that we make continuous improvement in reducing that impact over time, and as I said in my opening remarks, that we shift consumer behaviour, we shift choice architecture, to help consumers better understand and appreciate, both from a dietary perspective as well as from a food product perspective, how they can make a smarter choice for their health and for the environment.

[Ron Lemaire]

I agree with my colleague. It has to be a full system approach, not just at the grower level.

We have to recognize also that Canadians are price sensitive and ask ourselves if we are doing enough as industry and as government to ensure that we deliver the most cost-effective price to our food and are putting the right systems and regulatory framework in place to enable consumers to access low-cost, highly nutritious food that is grown locally or grown somewhere in the country.

The changing demands of consumers is an issue, and how to provide more varieties and more opportunities, whether it's bok choy or other products that we traditionally wouldn't grow, to that demand to try to reduce that footprint. Looking at new packaging and looking at the entire system, as opposed to just one piece such as transportation, is important.

I can give you an example in the supply chain approach of reducing emissions and reducing energy output: the simple activity of dimming lights. That is a strategy incorporated by one major retailer across the country, and at the retail level they've been able to save significant dollars in energy output and reduce their emissions by simply dimming their lights.

It doesn't have to be significant. Simple strategies within the entire supply chain can reduce the overall emissions and contribute to our overall goal of reducing our carbon footprint.

[Christine Moore, NDP, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Roughly speaking, what would you say farmers' transportation related losses are right now? What percentage of products do not get to market because they have been too damaged during transportation?

[Ron Lemaire]

We pride ourselves on being very efficient in how we ship. The grower and the industry have worked to ensure the cold chain is managed and that when we ship product, there is very little waste by the time it reaches the end user, the consumer.

There is, of course, waste within the system, but it can be as little as 3% within the entire supply chain, or upwards of 7%, depending on the type of retail establishment and consumer market it's going to. However, the industry has found efficiencies and continues to improve to ensure that when the product is picked, it gets to the consumer.

My colleague mentioned in the apple industry that our biggest concern is product on the ground that could not be picked because of labour shortages. In Quebec, $30 million's worth of apples didn't make it to market one year because we didn't have the workforce to be able to pick those apples. That was two years ago. That is the issue beyond management of the cold chain.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Ms. Moore, you have 20 seconds left.

[Christine Moore, NDP, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

My question is for Mr. Cherewyk.

Are there enough options with regard to transportation? Is there still a war of sorts making it difficult at times to find a carrier? I know that has been an issue in the west for certain products.

[Greg Cherewyk]

Fortunately, on Thursday we'll be in Montreal to hear from Minister Garneau as he reveals his national strategy, his vision for transportation in Canada, which will address, hopefully, some of the issues that the Canadian agrifood industry has been emphasizing in two areas of focus.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Cherewyk.

Now we'll go to Mrs. Lockhart for six minutes.

[Alaina Lockhart, Liberal, Fundy Royal, NB]

Thank you, gentlemen. I just want to pick up on a question by my colleague Mr. Breton about labour shortages.

In the context of the agricultural policy framework, is there a mechanism in that framework currently to address labour issues?

[Ron Lemaire]

No, there isn't one that I'm aware of in the current framework. How we enable an industry to access labour is a collateral component that we need to look at under the new framework. We're fortunate within the produce industry with our foreign worker program. We do have access to some labour, but there are challenges with that, especially in Quebec with the visas; we are having challenges actually getting them approved and moving through the system.

Overall, though, under the new policy model, it's how we look at not only alternatives for supplementing some of this labour but also at mechanisms similar to what we do under risk management, to enable new labour to be brought into the country or developed in our own country.

[Alaina Lockhart, Liberal, Fundy Royal, NB]

Very good.

Is it as much an issue in the pulse industry as it is in produce?

[Greg Cherewyk]

It hasn't emerged as a priority for us at the national level. From time to time, depending on the labour demands in western Canada from the oil industry, you'll see a bit of a constraint on labour available in processing facilities across the west, but it currently isn't an issue, and it certainly hasn't been raised as a priority to us.

[Alaina Lockhart, Liberal, Fundy Royal, NB]

Some of the other groups we've had here have talked about the AgriStability program and some significant changes that have been made that affected their industries. Can you speak to that a bit, as well, as to the impact on your specific sectors?

[Greg Cherewyk]

Before I turn things over to Ron, I'll just say quickly that business risk management doesn't fall within the mandate of Pulse Canada. Our members address it directly or through their affiliations with other associations, so I would defer to them.

[Ron Lemaire]

Similarly to Greg, the produce industry relies heavily on the current business risk management tools that are in place within the current Growing Forward framework, and the development of those tools and improved access to them.

The biggest piece I'm going to add as an element into this is the question of transitioning existing farmers to new generation farmers within the business risk management model. There is right now a risk that we won't have farmers tomorrow. A lot of the younger generation are not looking at this as a viable business. How do we incorporate that transition or model that enables new farmers to come into the system?

[Alaina Lockhart, Liberal, Fundy Royal, NB]

Good.

I will pass it over to my colleague Mr. Drouin for a few minutes.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I want to touch back on the labour issue, because it is an important aspect. I know it was an objective in the past. Growing Forward 2, as I'm just reading right now, was an institutional, physical, and human resources infrastructure. I'm assuming that was to respond to the HR problem.

I'm trying to understand what worked the last time, what's currently working in providing labour, and what's not working. Of the five policy objectives from the Calgary Statement, HR is not part of it. We're making investments in colleges and universities, but is that enough? Obviously, right now, it's not enough. I'm just trying to get a better sense of what's been working in the past five years or 10 years, and what's not been working.

[Ron Lemaire]

I agree that the investment in the infrastructure is essential. Is there an opportunity to access funding that can support the development of the housing and the development of the tools that can provide education to the workers when they are here in Canada?

The bigger piece around all this is that we have multiple generations of workers within the produce sector—and I can only talk to the produce sector—who have come from the Caribbean, as an example, and who are experts in their field. Whether it's greenhouse, field, or orchard, they are coming in, and to replace their expertise is very difficult. By replacing it you remove efficiencies, because you're now retraining.

How do we enable and create the stream, recognizing that it wouldn't necessarily be under the purview of the agriculture framework? A stream to becoming a Canadian, for many of these workers, is important. How do we incorporate that model, so that we not only build a better community for them at the grower level with infrastructure, which the agriculture framework can support, but also look at the stream whereby after many years of investment—and truly, they are Canadian in many ways—they become truly Canadian and are part of the broader community year-round?

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you.

I'm probably out of time now. That's fine.