The laboratories have been dismantled and we need to do more. Last week, we surveyed farmers as part of a study we're doing. They aren't fully aware of the environmental and productivity gains they could make if they adopted better practices. One reason for that is they don't put enough financial resources into this type of monitoring.
We do a lot of that type of monitoring at the university, not for commercial purposes but as part of projects. It can easily cost $250‑$300 per hectare. However, surveys show that, because they underestimate the long-term gains which are very hard to see, farmers think it would be impossible to spend more than $15‑$20 per hectare on monitoring. This results in widespread underinvestment.
Incentives are already available through a number of programs. I don't know the programs in Western Canada. I can say that in Quebec, support is available to consulting firms so that we can get a clearer picture and conduct better monitoring. It's not just the farmers themselves who can do it.
However, and I'm referring to my second point, farmers have adopted soil improvement practices—