Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our witnesses.
Ms. Meck, it's interesting that you've taken this initiative.
I just have a couple of things. I was interested when you were talking about your communication strategy. It looks like what you started with and what you developed, in encouraging young women to be involved in agriculture, has taken wings and has grown. I say congratulations to you for that.
The other night, I was at a reception put on by a great organization called CropLife, and I met a number of young people. There were five of them standing together, one young guy and four young women, and all of those five people were finishing their degrees in agriculture.
I had the opportunity to speak to them a bit about where they were heading. Not only were they finishing their degrees in financial management, political science, and agriculture in general with soil degrees, but they were all going to go back into agriculture. I had to question them, and I asked, “When you finish and when you're looking around, are there job opportunities?” Every one of them said, “Yes.”
I talk to a number of students in high school, at times. I ask them what they want to do, and when they tell me, I always ask them at the end, “Are there jobs available?” because often they're going into maybe some course that is their choice, but it's not job opportunity driven.
I think the point you're bringing forward—and you're doing this as an entrepreneur, and congratulations—speaks clearly that this industry of agriculture we have is one of the strongest industries in Canada. It's one of the leading industries in Canada for the transparency of it and for the success of it over the last number of years.
It's really encouraging to see, when we read articles in our paper and our agriculture magazines, how so often we see a husband and wife, or just a woman, who have left a job to come into agriculture.
In your position, what do you hear from these young women, as they're coming forward and talking to you, about their future in agriculture?