Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I'll echo my colleagues in saying thank you to all the witnesses for helping guide us through.
In the part of the country where I live, on Vancouver Island, we're being faced by significant land price issues. Where I live, in the Cowichan Valley, I am very close to the agricultural land reserve, and you can certainly see the land values increasing significantly year after year.
Mr. Melvin, maybe I'll start with you, on the other side of the country. I think I heard you say in your opening statement that only 8% of farmers have a succession plan, but that 62% of Nova Scotia farms are set to be transferred in the next decade. There's obviously quite a discrepancy between those numbers.
Could you just reiterate, when most farms are set to be transferred in the next decade, why is it that so many farmers are not putting this planning into place? Is it because they are so overwhelmed with the amount of work they're having to do, or there is no heir apparent? We just want to have some additional information so we can provide some good guidance to the government on this.