Evidence of meeting #7 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was processing.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Neil Ellis Liberal Bay of Quinte, ON
Thank you for that.
Mr. Lewis, what ways do you think we can encourage more advancements in technology in this industry, and how do you see the industry going with investments in technology?
3:55 p.m.
President, Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan
Really, I think big agriculture is leading in technology. I think we have lots of opportunity. One of the biggest impediments to it is just the availability of broadband Internet and cellphone service. I think if we can have the connectivity issues fixed, the sky's the limit, really. Canada has been the leader, western Canada especially, on big ag and big data and will continue to be, as long as we have increased broadband availability as well as cellphone service. None of it works if you're not plugged in.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Neil Ellis Liberal Bay of Quinte, ON
Definitely.
You talked a little bit about red tape with provinces, but what do you think is preventing this red tape in the processing sector from...?
3:55 p.m.
President, Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan
I think part of it is.... It's almost protectionism between provinces. People have their own markets. They want to continue to see that their local producers.... Local food is very important. What Ms. Stafford is talking about is not opposed to big agriculture. Local food is also important. But it's the base of things like meat processing, processed meats and those kinds of things. Why can't we ship them across the country? We've been talking about this for decades and we still haven't really made much progress at the end of the day.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Mr. Lewis. That's all the time we have.
Mr. Perron, you have the floor for six minutes.
3:55 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Hello to all the witnesses. I'd like to thank them for giving their time to come and testify. I am grateful to them.
I will start with you, Mr. Lewis. You talked about trade wars, international competition and heavily subsidized producers.
You are before a committee that can influence the government. What would you recommend for the future? One thing I'm thinking about is the trade dispute with China over the past few years, which has hurt you a lot.
November 24th, 2020 / 3:55 p.m.
President, Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan
I'm sorry, Mr. Perron, but I don't have any translation.
4 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
That's okay, I can start over. And here, I thought I delivered that so well.
4 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Perfect.
I will thank the witnesses again.
Thank you very much for being with us.
4 p.m.
Liberal
4 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, ask him if he's on “English”. It starts with interpretation on “floor”, so perhaps that's the problem.
4 p.m.
Conservative
Warren Steinley Conservative Regina—Lewvan, SK
Mr. Lewis, on your computer, go to the interpretation and put it on “English”.
4 p.m.
President, Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan
I have my IT expert here.
Here we go. Let's try that.
4 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Good afternoon, Mr. Lewis. Thank you for being with us.
In your speech, you talked about trade wars and the massive support foreign producers get from their governments. I assume you were referring to relations with China, which have taken a toll on your output over the past year.
You are before a committee that has the power to influence government decisions. Do you have any recommendations for the future, whether it's an assistance program or something else? What would you recommend?
4 p.m.
President, Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan
I think what producers are looking for from their governments.... The China situation has been very difficult for our national government, especially with the two Michaels situation. Those are people's lives hanging in the balance there, so I think farmers have been very patient with what has happened.
We recognize China as an important customer of other ag products, so it's a difficult balancing act to try to work our way through this. Really, I don't know that there is any right or wrong answer.
At the end of the day, if these kinds of trade wars continue, the Government of Canada could send a strong signal to foreign governments that it will support its farmers.
Certainly, in the United States we've seen huge subsidies paid, I guess on the idea that farmers need support because of trade situations with other countries. This really affects Canadian producers, just on machinery costs alone. Our machinery costs are still the same as they were, and it really is a false market because of the U.S. farm subsidies supporting machinery prices in the United States.
Those are examples of some trade wars that we get caught up in. They don't affect only Canadian producers, especially when we include the U.S. producers. We have such an integrated market in many ways in North America, and it makes it difficult for Canadian producers to compete.
4 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Thank you, Mr. Lewis.
What impact does this pressure have on processors? You just mentioned that neighbouring countries like the United States are getting a lot of support. Those products will end up competing with your products. So the heat is on for processors. In your remarks, you mentioned a lack of availability given your remote location, and how that makes it harder for you to gain access to processing.
What could the government do to encourage more small processors to set up shop throughout the region? First, do you feel that's a good idea? Second, what steps should be taken?
4 p.m.
President, Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan
We see the Infrastructure Bank, tools like that, which could be used to provide loans to smaller processors, beginning processors. It can't just be about the big companies being able to move in and set up shop. It's also local processors. That's how they become bigger, if they can get a start somewhere, and it may not take a lot of money to get them started.
That can make a real difference in local economies, and a lot of those small guys will grow into bigger manufacturers. We've seen that on non-food manufacturing here in the province with—
4:05 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Lewis, but I have a limited amount of peaking time. I have noted the last thing you said.
I will continue with Ms. Stafford, who told us about a large-scale local processing plant.
Ms. Stafford, can you quickly present your project and tell me what you need? You stated that you had applied for assistance and were told that the fund had run dry. People in my constituency have the same problem. What do you need?
4:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Cowichan Green Community
We applied for that funding back in June. In August, we were connected with a staff member and we have been working with them. I just had an email a couple of days ago with additional clarifications. It does seem to be a bit of a challenging application, which is fair enough. We have applied for $220,000.
Right now in Cowichan we have a commercial kitchen that we have been renting out to processors and small-scale farmers since 2015. We've had 43 farmers and processors use our kitchen, but it's small, and their competing interest now is our own programming, because so many of our programs have escalated. We do Meals on Wheels and emergency food services.
There isn't a commercial kitchen that can be utilized by a number of farmers and processors. We're not on the scale that Mr. Lewis is on, by any stretch. I feel like the little mouse over here. Certainly we have dozens of farmers who could ramp up and who are ready to ramp up and want to ramp up, especially in shoulder seasons here, but there isn't a commercial kitchen space available, so that's what we're trying to set up right now.
We're trying to set up these food innovation hubs from across B.C., so we have applied for this funding, and we are a non-profit. We feel that we can set up something and manage it and then have it available to use 24 hours a day. Some farmers only want to come in once a week. We're not talking about a huge-scale operation.
Does that make sense?