Agriculture Committee on Nov. 15th, 2016

[Sylvie Cloutier]

That depends; in the Netherlands, for example, it's a huge amount of their budget, as it is in Switzerland and....

[Carla Ventin]

I know that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has those stats. For some of them, industry investment in R and D, for example—this is on the company side—it's half that, as it is in the Netherlands or the U.S.

If you look at the whole departmental spending on everything, it's only 5% for food manufacturers, and that is our home department. As Sylvie said, a percentage of the economic contribution of our industry....

Don't forget what they did in the Netherlands, which is really important. They decided that it is a strategic sector, and they recognized the importance of the industry economically but also for food security purposes. It's important that we can make our own food and feed our own country.

[Alaina Lockhart, Liberal, Fundy Royal, NB]

You spoke about being sent back to your home department sort of thing. What you're saying is that you see a place as a whole of government to look at this sector as a potential for innovation and investment.

[Sylvie Cloutier]

I believe that every department involved in food processing—agriculture, health, industry, transport—should have an open door for our business and not work in a silo. We need to have the departments involved in food processing talking to each other, and if possible have a committee. The departments need to work together and have an open mind on how we can develop a strategy that will involve everybody.

[François Couture]

There's a lot of fragmentation here in Canada with regard to the agrifood industry. This is a large country with many resources and a lot of diversity from coast to coast. I think that is a challenge, but it's also an opportunity, a driving force that we should use as far as innovation is concerned. It's not only the funding but also how we manage this.

I like the concept of a Canadian food nexus working together and building new platforms to innovate more efficiently and more rapidly. This is really key, especially for SMEs. If we want to position ourselves down the road, we need to do things differently.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Couture.

Now we have Mr. Longfield for six minutes.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, all of you, for being here.

I'd like to continue on that phrase of the “food nexus”. The University of Guelph has received $77 million to try to position Canada as a food leader, but growing food is only part of the equation, as you've said. Processing and marketing food is a big part of where value is added.

Could you talk about what you would see a food nexus looking like?

[François Couture]

It's driven by communities, cities. We already have an initiative in the city of Lévis, which decided to implement a collective place where agrifood companies would be able to work directly with the users, les citoyens, the consumers, to reinvent the food of tomorrow.

I think this can be connected on a virtual or semi-virtual level. Projects like Guelph's and others that will come should be connected together, provide this very important expertise all across Canada, and facilitate the vertical coordination of all of that across the country to make it more accessible and easier, especially for SMEs and even larger companies, to understand what's available out there. If you work in the field, as I do, it's always complicated for the companies to understand what they really have access to.

Without that, we're going to do well, I guess, but not as well as our competitors, because it's going too fast.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Right. Thank you.

Ms. Ventin, do you have any comments on how we can bring all this together?

[Carla Ventin]

The only thing I would add is that there have been successful models of collaboration in different countries—for example, in the Netherlands. I think that's really important. The collaboration can't stop at the farm gate. It has to go throughout the value chain all the way to store shelves, restaurants, and people's homes.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

The Netherlands keeps coming up. They've worked hard to become number two in the world, and they're such a small country in terms of physical size. The fact that they've focused on this as a strategic sector.... I'm looking at Stats Canada's report from 2015 that has food processing at 255,000 Canadians, and automotive having 125,000 Canadians. Automotive does take a lot of attention and strategic focus.

Are there programs within the automotive strategy that you could see directly transferring over to food manufacturing and food processing?

[Carla Ventin]

I don't know the specific program names, but from what I understand there has been specific support for many, many years for technology development and integration. That is absolutely key. Automation and robotics increase productivity and competitiveness and innovation.

We don't have that focus or support, and our industry never has.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

What comes to mind is the automotive innovation fund. A food innovation fund equivalent is something that maybe....

[Carla Ventin]

Absolutely.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

I can't put words in your mouth, but there seems to be that massive opportunity.

You started talking about the greenhouse gas reduction targets and what businesses have done there. Through cap and trade or other mechanisms, a massive market is developing around greenhouse gas trade or greenhouse gas reductions. Has your industry looked at that as an opportunity for Canada in the future?

[Carla Ventin]

To go back to the point I was making, it's already being incorporated by successful companies, because consumers care. Our products have direct contact with consumers. They do care about the packaging and the recycling and their commitment to environmental sustainability, so a lot of that is already taking place. As I said, in the survey, the vast majority already has these reductions and tracking and monitoring in place, and they'll continue to do so.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

But companies in Guelph, like Cargill, have reduced their water consumption massively by three-quarters of their previous consumption. There is an economic driver on their energy consumption as well as a consumer driver, but there are going to be additional economic drivers as people start looking at who is producing most efficiently.

Is there a goal toward production efficiency that could translate into greenhouse gas...or could the government look at incenting that?

[Carla Ventin]

That goes back to the need for automation and robotics. As I was mentioning, why aren't we producing and inventing automation and robotics and equipment here for facilities that produce less water and that are more environmentally sustainable and greener? I think there are opportunities there.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Finally, from my side, the connection between ISED and agriculture is something that I've been trying to sort out as a new member of Parliament. You see innovation being funded through ISED that could easily be used in food processing and food manufacturing. Are your members aware of the ISED programs, or is there opportunity there to try to use existing programs or expand existing programs to include food manufacturing?

[Carla Ventin]

I think there is always an opportunity to do so. The innovation agenda, by the way, is excellent. We're very supportive of that, and we're working very closely with ISED. The challenge we've continued to face for a long, long time is that the department says it's Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada who has to help us with the money and the support. That's very challenging. Although we are part of the innovation agenda umbrella, we get punted back to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Ms. Ventin.

Could you or Lloyd define what the ISED program is, just for the record?

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

That's Industry, Science and Economic Development. It's the department. Navdeep Bains is the minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you.

You have the floor now, Mr. Gourde. You have six minutes.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank the witnesses for being with us here today.

Other witnesses have told us that the agriculture and agri-food sector contributes about 7% of Canada's GDP. Some people think this could increase to 14%. The food processing industry could play a major role in this regard. The population will stay the same though, so if we want to increase this percentage, we will really have to focus on exports.

Are you ready to face that kind of challenge?

[Sylvie Cloutier]

Yes, the industry is ready to some extent. Here too we need support to be more productive. We have to make sure we have strategic information that will enable us to export to new markets and to innovate. That is the key to exports.

We really need to be part of the federal government's overall innovation strategy, whether through Industry Canada or Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. We absolutely have to start seeing our sector as being innovative and having tremendous potential.