Thank you, Mr. Chair.
On behalf of CropLife Canada and our member companies, I will say that we very much appreciate the invitation to appear today.
CropLife Canada is the trade association representing the manufacturers, developers, and distributors of plant science innovations, including pest control products and products of modern plant breeding, for use in agricultural, urban, and public health settings. Our mission is to enable the plant science industry to bring the benefits of its technologies to farmers and the public. Those benefits manifest themselves in many different forms, including driving agricultural exports, creating jobs, strengthening the rural economy, increasing tax revenue for governments, improving environmental sustainability, and increasing access to safe and affordable food for Canadians.
We believe that any discussion about a food policy for Canada should include agriculture. After all, agriculture is the industry responsible for food production, and Canada has built a reputation for producing some of the safest, highest quality food in the world. In order to continue to build on this success, a national food policy must encourage science-based decision-making around food and agriculture that enables innovation. This will help drive Canada's economy and build on Canada's position as a global leader in high-quality food production.
If we take a look at history, Canadian farmers have always been among the early adopters of technology. This has helped make them leaders in producing safe, affordable, and sustainable food for Canadian consumers and the world. Technologies like pest control products and biotech crops have played an important role in sustainably increasing agricultural production in Canada while maintaining the high safety standards we have established in this country. These advancements have resulted in economic gains, environmental protection, and cost savings for consumers. For example, plant science technologies alone contribute $9.8 billion to Canada's GDP every year. These technologies have also allowed farmers to be more productive on existing farmland. In fact, without pesticides and biotech crops, Canadian farmers would need to cultivate 50% more land to produce what they grow today. This would be devastating for Canada's biodiversity.
Consumers benefit from these technologies also. Without plant science technologies, Canadians would pay about 55% more for food on average. That's roughly $4,400 a year per family. Thanks to modern agriculture, Canadians enjoy better access to a nutritious, affordable, and abundant food supply nowadays, more than at any other time in our history. It is important that a Canadian food strategy enables this to continue.
We think it's very timely that the Government of Canada is consulting on a national food policy in light of the Advisory Council on Economic Growth's recent report to the government. A national food strategy can and should play a role in supporting some of the recommendations set out by the council. The report highlights the agrifood sector as an important area of potential growth for the Canadian economy. The report points out that Canada's potential agricultural output greatly exceeds the needs of our own population. This is our opportunity to become an even greater source of high-quality food for the world's growing middle class, while continuing to supply our domestic population with affordable, nutritious, and healthy food.
According to the Barton report, innovation is the key to unleashing agriculture's potential. Canada is not the only country pursuing innovations in agriculture, however. As others pursue advancements in data analytics, automation, and genomics, Canada must act quickly or risk being left behind.
The Barton report identifies several barriers to success for the Canadian agrifood sector, one of which is the challenge of how to increase productivity. Agriculture must continue to adopt new technologies and innovations, such as pest control products and products of modern plant breeding, to increase productivity.
One of the other key barriers to success identified in the report is the need to expand Canada's trade capacity. Canada lacks preferential trade agreements in several markets with high potential. Without access to these markets, Canada cannot successfully leverage one of its major competitive advantages: its large agricultural land base. A national food policy can help position Canada to achieve the agriculture and agrifood export targets that are outlined in budget 2017 and in the Advisory Council on Economic Growth's report.
When it comes to agriculture and food, Canada is respected around the world for its strong science-based regulatory system. This commitment to science-based regulation must continue, and we must seize opportunities to improve efficiencies and streamline regulations where possible to drive greater innovation and competitiveness. As you'll see in our full submission, when it comes to products of modern plant breeding and pesticides, there are various opportunities available to modernize and streamline regulations to drive innovation while still protecting human health and safety.
It's also critically important that a national food strategy guard against attempts to promote niche sectors of food production at the expense of the innovative and sustainable crop production systems that are responsible for providing the vast majority of safe, high-quality, and affordable food that Canadians enjoy. This is the same production system that is helping to drive Canada's agricultural exports and boost our economy.
To conclude, Mr. Chair, a national food strategy should build on our accomplishments to date and recognize how far we've come. Technological advancements, such as those in crop protection and plant biotechnology have helped to create an agricultural production system that is more sustainable than it has ever been before. Canadian farmers' adoption of technology has also driven greater food production than ever before, which has spurred economic growth throughout the country. It has also helped ensure that Canadians face some of the lowest prices and have access to one of the safest food supplies in the world.
I thank you for your time and look forward to the questions from committee members.
Thank you.