Mr. Wiggans basically stressed the fact that a new generation of farmers is needed, and that in our opinion this issue is first and foremost a cultural one. As Mr. Wells was saying earlier, we lost a whole generation which for various reasons decided they would not work on the farm. Some parents told their children it was preferable to go to university and choose another line of work. That is why the majority of those who want to get into agriculture now are not from farming families.
Consequently these people have not acquired experience from a young age. So it's a cultural issue. To begin to deal with this, we have to start in the schools and broaden the debate and involve all of the population, and promote the valuable work farmers do everywhere in Canada.
Mr. Wiggans mentioned several solutions. It is really very costly to start farming. All of those who spoke to us spoke of the cost of the machinery needed to get going. A person who is just starting out can't afford a million dollars' worth of machinery. And banks are not willing to lend such large sums. It's too risky to lend such amounts to people who are new to the sector. We submitted practically a full page of recommendations on how this process can be approached. I don't, however, want to talk about this at length and use up too much time to set it all out.