Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm speaking to you today on behalf of Deputy Minister Paul Moore. With me today is Kirk Price, our director of agriculture.
We need not take up too much of your time today, but I wanted to ensure that the north was represented.
Yukon agriculture has been a key part of Yukon life for over 100 years. We import much of our food from the south—from Ontario, from Alberta, from British Columbia—but Yukon farms continue to fulfill the important role of providing fresh, healthy products to feed communities.
You'll find that there's a little bit of every farm across the country up here, albeit often on a much, much smaller scale. Yukon farm operators specialize in a variety of products—vegetables, fruits, dairy, eggs, honey, sod and bedding plants. Hay remains the largest portion of the Yukon's industry overall. Yukon producers breed and raise a variety of livestock as well, including cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, ponies, llamas, alpacas, you name it. We also have bison and elk up here. Producers breed and raise poultry across the spectrum as well, with turkeys and eggs and so forth.