Agriculture Committee on Feb. 7th, 2018

[Hans Kristensen]

Swine Innovation Porc is basically the hub of all of our innovative research in the swine industry.

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

Is that of all the research that's happening throughout Canada?

[Hans Kristensen]

Yes, it is coordinated in Quebec City.

Our focus going forward is on anything that's going to improve the overall efficiency and sustainability of the industry. Feed efficiency, as I mentioned, is a really big one, because to us that's like low-hanging fruit. Fifty percent of the energy we use to produce pork goes into growing the crops we feed them, so if we can do a better job with that and utilize that better, that will have a huge impact for us.

We also look at water consumption. We look at energy consumption and adaptation of new technologies. We had environmental farm plans when I was a young farmer, more years ago than I would care to admit today, but now we need to redo them and we need to look at energy audits, LED lighting, and things like that on our farms. These are the types of things we'll be concentrating on going forward.

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

You said that energy put into feed plays a major role, so is your industry looking at precision farming as well and using all the tools available to minimize environmental impact but also optimizing all the tools that you have?

[Hans Kristensen]

Absolutely. In our industry there is a phrase I like to use, which is that there are two types of environmentalists: environmental activists and active environmentalists. Hog producers are active environmentalists, not only because it's the right thing to do but also because it's absolutely necessary to compete globally. If I reduce my water usage, if I improve my feed conversion efficiency, if I reduce my energy footprint, those things are also making me a more efficient producer of my product. I'm producing a greener product, a more efficient product with a greater social licence, and that allows me to compete globally.

It is in our own best interests to make sure we do the very best we can, and we want to make sure we ensure continued partnership with the federal government in funding that program and also in moving forward and establishing the agency for which we have already done the public process.

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

Great.

Not that I want to talk about manure, but since you brought it up in your testimony, I think the beef guys were sort of working with specific types of feed that would reduce methane outputs from manure. Is your industry doing the same thing? Are you aware? I'm not aware, and that's why I'm asking.

[Hans Kristensen]

We're constantly looking at all aspects of that, not only methane production. Another big one for us is to focus on phosphorous output, so reducing the amount of phosphorus in manure as well.

We look at feedstocks. We look at genetics, different classifications of genetics of animals, anything that will improve the bottom line. It is a big focus of our industry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you.

Mr. MacGregor, go ahead for six minutes.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

I just want to start off by thanking Mr. Barlow for bringing forward that motion. I'm a little confused as to why my Liberal colleagues have voted that way. I know some of them were at the Dairy Farmers of Canada breakfast yesterday, and there was a very good presentation by the doctor. One of the notable things I took away from that presentation was the fact that the McGovern committee in the 1970s, which influenced, for three decades or more, all kinds of development of food policies, was based on incomplete science, and I thought all of us who attended had learned a lesson there.

I think that as a committee, we do ourselves a disservice and we do Canadians a disservice if we don't try to hear from a multitude of voices. You may have already made a decision as to which way you want to go on the food guide, but I think having those voices on the record is an important part of what we do here.

I just wanted to get that onto the record.

Now, I'd like to turn to our guests.

Mr. Kristensen, in your presentation you talked about the efforts to identify practical methods that will lead to improved feed, water, and energy efficiencies, and those are being worked on. Ultimately this study is happening in the context of what we can eventually recommend to the government, so can you provide a little bit more detail as to some ways that the government can help with respect to those specific areas?

[Hans Kristensen]

Absolutely. As I stated a bit in my testimony, Swine Innovation Porc and the research that's being done there is absolutely essential to us, and ensuring that we maintain the funding levels for that. That organization is currently funded on a 25:75 split between producers and government funding. It's absolutely essential that we maintain that level of funding going forward so we can continue the research.

Again I'll go back to our new agency, our check-off agency that we want to have developed. To be perfectly blunt, as a member of the hog industry, I'm disappointed at this point that it hasn't moved forward faster than it has. We have the public process done. This is nothing more than levelling the playing field between us and our American counterparts. I'm not asking anything more of them than what we do when we export pork their country. All stakeholders are in favour of this. This is essentially not a financial request from the government, this is a call for action. If I could leave this committee with one thing today, it would be to do whatever it can to move that process forward. If the government made this a priority and wanted to move forward with it, there's no reason that we could not have the rest of the process done, the public hearings done, and have this fully implemented and in place by the end of the year.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. MacLeod, you provided us with some amazing statistics. I don't think many people are really aware of just how vast Canada's forage area is. You talked a bit in your opening statement about programs to incentivize forage. I would like to hear a bit more about that.

Also, on a previous day, earlier this week, we had a presentation from Fertilizer Canada. That industry is trying to go forward using less fertilizer, using it at the right time and in the right place, and so on. What is your association's relationship like with fertilizer? I'd like to hear more about your efforts to reduce it, or are there efforts being made to actually go to a more natural method altogether?

[Cedric MacLeod]

In terms of programs, Hans and Gary had mentioned environmental farm plan programs and some of the incentives that become available for producers once those environmental farm plans are completed. Those are important programs for the forage industry, as well as in terms of the adoption of innovative technologies.

We're also seeing private sector investment-type programs, such as ALUS Canada and Ducks Unlimited Canada, on the landscape promoting the use of perennial forages in our annual cropping systems to provide habitat for wildlife and maintain wetland systems across Canada, which we know are natural filters for nutrients on the landscape. Those programs are there, and we would certainly encourage the government, as we move into the Canadian agricultural partnership, to keep investment in those conservation programs top of mind and to continue those funding levels, because they do have a significant impact on conservation, for sure.

As you'll read later in my statement, the forage industry plays a very important role as a buffer along all our annual crop acres. With water that's coming off our annual cropping systems, either across our pastures or into our grass waterways, those are all providing filters for nutrients. We know some of the unique challenges that agriculture faces, such as what has happened with Lake Winnipeg.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. MacLeod. Unfortunately we've run out of time.

Mr. Breton, you have six minutes.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would also like to thank the witnesses today.

I was just reading about the various improvements that have been made in the pork industry. I say congratulations! I tip my hat once again to all these improvements.

Mr. Kristensen, I'm particularly interested in the promotion and research agency that you mentioned. I haven't heard about this file yet, and I apologize for that.

When did you do this and submit your application?

[Hans Kristensen]

I'll let Gary answer that question. You're getting into technical policies.

[Gary Stordy]

We've been working internally with our industry for well over the past seven years to try to build some consensus within our industry about how we can move forward. By industry, I mean producers and the provincial pork associations.

We put together a proposal that would be brought forward to the federal government through the farm.... I apologize, I'm having an escape of the name, but there's a process to go through to apply to develop an agency, and that requires a public hearing where stakeholders and other people who are interested move forward. This has been under review for the past two years and we'd like to see this move forward. This review is internal to government, to ensure what we're proposing is essentially legal and fair to those who would be contributing to it. If that is successful, it is required to go through a proclamation, which is a process of government.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

In your presentation, Mr. Kristensen, you mentioned that this agency would provide the organization with new possibilities or new opportunities to raise funds for your industry. I understood from a response you gave earlier that these funds were not necessarily government funds. Can you tell us where these new funds would come from?

[Hans Kristensen]

Absolutely. This agency is a check-off agency on imported hogs and pork products. Roughly about 35% of the pork consumed in Canada is actually imported from other countries, predominantly the U.S. and the EU. This will be a check-off agency so that, when that product is imported, there would be a small check-off charge applying to that product. That money would then be funnelled into research and marketing development for our domestic product.

It is essentially asking those people who are importing product to put up the same check-off that we do as domestic producers. When we export to the United States, I pay that in the U.S., so it's exactly the same system that exists in the United States and has for years.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much. This is very clear.

You may continue, Mr. Stordy.

[Gary Stordy]

I apologize, but I'll just to add this. The way our industry is currently set up, we have nine provincial members that have their own organizations and they have their own authority to collect a levy, so there's some level of co-operation. The establishment of this agency would increase that level of co-operation, similar to what we're doing with Swine Innovation Porc, but also do that to apply to promotion and research.

It's taking what funds are already being used domestically and providing more efficiency. Frankly, some of the issues that are in, we'll say, Alberta are very similar to New Brunswick or Quebec, and we use in this case the environment aspect, so there's part of that. There are domestic producer funds going to support the initiatives that Hans outlined: research, promotion, and whatnot.

However, in the pork industry we import a significant amount of pork globally, not just from the U.S. but also from Poland, the EU countries, and others. Because Canadians enjoy ribs, we need more and we mostly import. However, they enjoy the benefits of the work that the Canadian industry is doing at little to no charge, but when we export product—in this case to the United States—we contribute funds to the U.S. program. We're looking to set that up here in Canada.

It's not new. The beef agency has been operating for essentially the past three years, and it is a similar model that we're following, where they collect a domestic levy but also a levy on imported products. We're just looking for the same treatment, similar to our Canadian beef counterparts, but also to bring a level of balance and fairness in the Canadian domestic market for pork.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Thank you. That was extremely clear.

I only have 30 seconds left, so I will give that time to the next speaker. That's fine, it would be too short for Mr. MacLeod to answer a question.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Did you have something you wanted to add?

[Gary Stordy]

Yes, the name of the organization that we apply to, to initiate this process, is the Farm Products Council of Canada. I apologize, I should know that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you.

This completes our first hour of witnesses, so I want to thank Mr. Stordy and Mr. Kristensen again for being here, and of course Mr. MacLeod on the other end of the video. Your testimony will certainly be taken into consideration in our report.

We will suspend.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

We will continue our second hour.

This hour will focus on climate change. For the second hour, we will have

Canadian Organic Growers. We have Dr. Avinash Singh, Director, and Ms. Kimberly Cornish, Director of the Food Water Wellness Foundation.

With the Canada Organic Trade Association we have Ms. Tia Loftsgard, Executive Director; and with the Organic Center, Dr. Tracy Misiewicz, Associate Director of Science Programs.

Welcome to all of you.

We'll start with an opening statement of up to seven minutes.

Dr. Singh.