Agriculture Committee on May 30th, 2024

[Robert Ianiro]

Unfortunately, I have to take that one back to determine what the status of the request is. I apologize for not having an answer to that question.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Ianiro. I'll wait for your answer.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Barlow]

Thanks, Mr. Perron.

You can table that with the committee when you have an opportunity.

I'll now go to Mr. MacGregor for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Beck, there was a previous exchange about some of the gaps that exist with regard to monitoring emissions in the sector and in your department. On the other hand, you have a pretty good data indicator for soil organic matter. You can see the maps of Canada's agricultural soils and the relative change over time. Some regions have had a significant net increase in soil organic carbon matter. I also want to put this in the context that there's a highly anticipated Senate agriculture committee study on soils, which is going to be tabled in the very near future, I understand.

In what ways can we use the soil carbon sequestration measurement? I think farmers would like more of their good work to be recognized in policy. Are there any innovative ways that the department is looking at as a way of rewarding farmers for the good work they're doing? Are there other countries around the world that we can learn from? I know Australia has a national soil strategy. Add anything you can on that, please.

[Stefanie Beck]

Tom may have more after I've finished.

What we're finding particularly difficult is that the measurements across the country vary, not just by region but by last, current and future crop and by the weather of a year and of a month. That is making measurements difficult. Notwithstanding, we know that with the precision agriculture tools that are currently out there—for instance, seeders that are measuring as they go—we have many other ways of capturing the data.

Our plan ultimately is that there will be global standards—this is, of course, a conversation led by our colleagues at ECCC—on what the measurements would look like and what kind of carbon credit market could be established. We need global standards so that we're all measuring apples to apples, and we're very interested in what other colleagues are doing around the globe because, frankly, there's no single good answer on this. If we can come together to find solutions, that will be by far the best outcome.

Tom.

[Tom Rosser]

That was a very complete answer from Deputy Beck, but I have a couple of additional points to make.

One is about the national level. For national reporting, as the deputy alluded to in earlier remarks, there are challenges with getting more precise measurements of emissions at the national level, which are sometimes estimated based on emissions factors and modelling. Also as she alluded to, if we're going to operationalize offset systems at the farm level, we need to come up with efficient means of measuring and verifying carbon sequestered in soils. There's a lot of work going on there, not just in Canada but around the world, and in voluntary and mandatory markets. There are systems that do this, but finding one that does it efficiently and simply in a low-cost manner and that ideally, as she mentioned, is accepted internationally would be a major contribution in that regard.

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

Thank you for that, Mr. Rosser.

When the minister was making his opening statement, he made mention of the high input costs that many farmers are going through. I'm wondering if you can inform the committee of how the department actively tracks that. Is it more at a macro level? Can you help illuminate how you're tracking those higher input costs?

A big topic of conversation around here is the carbon tax, but we know that the costs of the inputs themselves have gone up irrespective of any taxes on them. Particularly in oil and gas, I think we have seen some stats showing a 1,000% increase in the net profits of oil and gas companies. That has coincided with farmers seeing massive increases in their fuel costs. I'm just wondering how you keep track of all that.

[Stefanie Beck]

We do, absolutely. On a weekly basis, in fact, we're tracking all kinds of different costs. We have strong collaboration with our colleagues at Statistics Canada, but we do our own tracking and analysis as well.

You will probably have seen the results out of Statistics Canada from yesterday looking at some of the costs. It noted that input costs in some cases have dropped in recent months and are perhaps stabilizing now. I don't think we're ever going to see anything as low as what we did prepandemic, unfortunately.

The other major input cost is labour. This is part of the conversation we were just having about temporary foreign workers and seasonal agriculture. It's something we track closely as well and another reason we want to be in regular contact with our colleagues across government so they understand it. In effect, we're advocating on behalf of the sector as well.

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

I have one final, quick question.

I'm always curious about how we're promoting Canadian agricultural production abroad. I know that the new office in Manila opened. Can you talk a bit about how that $31.8-million cost breaks down?

[Stefanie Beck]

Yes, I'm happy to.

We're very pleased to have opened the office in Manila as part of the Canadian government's Indo-Pacific strategy. It's broader than just us, but this is Agriculture Canada's contribution. The staff there will be ultimately nine people. There are four people currently there, and two more are arriving over the summer.

Obviously, the bulk of the money is for the presence, but we're making sure they have big travel budgets because we want them out and about in the region meeting prospective clients. CFIA staff will also be on the ground as part of that contingent, opening doors and lifting trade barriers for Canadian exports.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Barlow]

Thank you very much, Ms. Beck.

Thank you, Alistair.

Now we'll go to Ms. Rood for five minutes.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Ms. Beck, I asked the Minister a question earlier about whether the Department of Agriculture was consulted with regard to the P2 plastics ban on the timeline for implementation, considering that it's affecting produce growers. Can you comment on whether the department was consulted on this prior to it coming out?

[Stefanie Beck]

I wouldn't have been there through that consultation period.

Normally, it's yes. I can assure you that since it has come out, and in the period right now where there is a pause in effect because of what has been happening in the courts, we have been in very close contact. Frankly, I would say it's on a daily basis.

It's about making sure that our colleagues understand what exactly the impact will be on every single part of the food supply chain—not just in Canada, but around the world. As you mentioned, what goes on with our neighbours to the south of us will be part of the solution here.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

I think the last time you were here, I asked you whether you had consulted with the U.S. At that point you hadn't. Can you give us a brief overview there? You mentioned that you are consulting with the U.S. Where are those consultations at right now?

[Stefanie Beck]

It's at every level. In particular, I would say that it's with our scientists. We have all kinds of scientific exchanges, on research in particular. We're doing some really interesting work with academics and government scientists looking at what alternatives there are to traditional plastic—let me call it that—to find some material we can use that's either recyclable or compostable.

I would also note that we're consulting with industry. We're asking some of the big producers what they're doing. It's not the same everywhere. In Europe, there are different kinds of packaging being used that, if possible, would be good to adopt here.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

That's excellent. Thank you.

I'll cede my time to Mr. Steinley.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you very much.

You talked about labour, but there's another issue with labour on the horizon for the ag sector. The Honourable Seamus O'Regan got a letter from 32 ag food sector groups about the upcoming pending issues of the rail strikes and the strike at the Guelph processing facility.

Have you had any consultations with the labour department on that? Have you talked about the issues at the Guelph processing facility? Are there any plans in place if this work disruption occurs in July, the most important time for the agriculture sector to get its goods to market?

[Stefanie Beck]

It is deeply worrisome, of course, and we're tracking it very closely.

We can't intervene directly with the railroads in the union discussions, but we are feeding pretty much daily information to our colleagues at both Transport Canada and Labour so they understand what the impacts will be.

We've done some pretty careful analysis. You are quite correct that there will be deeply consequential impacts if these strikes go ahead.

For cargo, if you'll permit, I'll pass it over to my colleague.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

What are the numbers, the per-day numbers? What will be the hit to the ag industry if this work stoppage occurs?

[Stefanie Beck]

There are some variables.

Tom, I don't know if you have that information with you.

Otherwise, we could share it with you later.

[Tom Rosser]

Certainly in the case of the strike at the meat processing facility, we track the heads of animals that get processed at that facility on a daily basis, but not in dollar terms.

As the deputy alluded to, we are actively analyzing the potential impacts of a rail stoppage. I'm not sure that we would be able to provide a precise dollar value, but we can share some of the analysis we've undertaken in that regard.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you.

Mr. Ianiro.

[Robert Ianiro]

In relation to Cargill in Guelph, we're in discussions with management. We'll require them to cease slaughtering runs and schedules, and we will relocate our staff to other facilities. However, that would obviously require them to move animals to other processing plants. We've been in discussions with them in our planning.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you.

The Minister of Agriculture admitted that he had no idea the capital gains increase was in budget 2024. Did anyone in the Department of Agriculture know that this change was coming and that it was going to devastate the ability of farm families to transfer their farms to the next generation?

[Stefanie Beck]

The way the budget process works is that we send proposals in and then discussions happen about our proposals. We don't have conversations about anything else that might be under discussion.