Agriculture Committee on Sept. 26th, 2017

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

Are youth telling you that agriculture is being taught at the secondary level in high schools? Is it still being taught? I have a few pilot projects in the riding, but I don't know if it's widespread across Canada.

[Shannon Benner]

I think it varies by region. We are a very outside-of-the-classroom model, so we don't specialize in the educational system, but I think it really varies in that presence from province to province.

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

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

We are almost out of time, but I know we have cut this group short. If everybody agrees, we could go with one quick question each, if we could maybe go a couple of minutes beyond.

Does everyone agree?

We will begin with Ms. Nassif and then move on to Ms. Boucher.

[Eva Nassif, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As a newcomer to this committee—

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Just one question, Ms. Nassif.

[Eva Nassif, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Okay.

I would like to thank the witnesses for their presentation.

Ms. Bérubé, in recommendation 13, you raised the issue of the supply and demand for organic products. A previous witness stated that this can be attributed to the high price of organic products.

What are your thoughts on that observation?

[Annie Bérubé]

In Canada, organic agricultural products account for about 4% of the food market. The organic agriculture sector in Canada receives less than 0.2% of federal funding for production, research and innovation. Investment is needed in order to stimulate this expanding market, to stimulate consumer demand. Right now, this sector's market share is much larger than the financial support provided by governments. That is a major problem.

One of the common obstacles in organic farming is the high cost of organic certification.

Many principles of organic farming can be applied on a broad scale and do not necessarily require a rigorous certification process. We would like to see research and funding to enable organic farmers to apply their practices and innovations to all farming sectors in Canada.

[Eva Nassif, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

May I ask another question?

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

You are entitled to one question only.

Ms. Boucher, please go ahead.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a number of questions, but my question is for you, Ms. Bérubé.

I worked for Health Canada at one time. The department's website says the following: “Pesticides are strictly regulated in Canada. Health Canada only registers products that will not harm human health or the environment.”

You have talked a lot about synthetic pesticides and the threat they represent. If there is a threat, do you have a plan B? What are you suggesting and how much would it cost?

In terms of addressing a threat or correcting a problem, in many cases there is a solution and we know what it will cost.

[Annie Bérubé]

That is a broad question, but I will try to be brief.

Consider for example neonicotinoid pesticides, which were introduced into the market to replace the use of organophosphorus in farming in Canada. The hope was that neonicotinoid pesticides would be less toxic than organophosphorus. Now we are seeing that is not necessarily the case.

We are on a kind of toxic treadmill. We are still waiting for the synthetic alternative to a product that must be restricted, as was the case with imidacloprid, whose risks to the environment the Minister of Health deemed unacceptable.

We recommend pest management by way of crop rotation, crop diversity, integrated control, and prevention, and that chemical products should be used as a last resort, very briefly and minimally. That is what our national strategy recommends.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Ms. Brosseau, you may ask one question only.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Okay.

The question I wanted to ask you before was about youth, because we are hearing that more and more often. It isn't in the four priorities announced by the government for the consultation of this elaboration of the food strategy. We have to include youth.

We recently had a private member's bill, which was sadly defeated in the House of Commons, that would have helped the transfer of family farms.

Can you make a recommendation to the agriculture committee that we could maybe include in the report to our Prime Minister, who is the Minister of Youth? I would like to get your comments on what we could do.

[Shannon Benner]

I haven't consulted with them very specifically on this matter, so I don't want to comment on behalf of youth in Canada on that issue.

What I will say is that on any issue, youth do want to be engaged and part of the conversation. I would encourage anyone to consult them on that issue.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Ms. Benner, and thank you to all of you for being here.

Your contribution will certainly enhance our report.

I would like to thank Ms. Bérubé and Ms. Latulippe for their testimony.

Ms. Benner, thank you so much for appearing with us today.

This concludes our meeting.