Thanks for the question.
It's something that's quite pertinent to our business, of course. I think I would acknowledge that there is a trend towards larger farms and I think in large respect it's not growth of opportunity. By that I mean that land prices are high, even for small farms. Farmers can exit with a very significant nest egg if they wish, but it's not cheap to consolidate and grow.
I think you're quite right in pointing out that the capacity of an individual farmer or farm family to run a big operation is vastly greater than it was not too long ago, and I'll give you a small example in the sector of dairy and supply management. The average size of a Canadian dairy farm is about 70 cows. That's a limit that most farms can handle themselves. I think it's a limit that reduces productivity within the capacity of an individual farm. One robotic milking machine can milk 70 cows a day, so there's an opportunity through technology for consolidation there. That's a significant benefit for a farmer, who would then not be on 24/7 duty but can monitor his or her milk production remotely. As well, the farmer has all kinds of wireless telemetry to monitor the health of the animal and the productivity of the animal at any given time.
On the crop side, the ability of farmers to use precision measurement of soil health, moisture, and crop advance is exploding exponentially, which gives them a significant advantage over scouting or going out and walking their acres. If you have an 800-acre farm, which I think is the average size of the Canadian crop farm these days, that's tough enough. If you have 5,000 acres, scouting your farm is a significant challenge. Technology is enabling that activity to a significant extent.