Mr. Chair, vice-chairs, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, good afternoon.
Mr. Casper Kaastra, chief executive officer of our Sollio Agriculture Division, and myself, Ghislain Gervais, president of Sollio Cooperative Group, thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak to you today.
I operate a farm with my wife, my son and my brother in Saint-Guillaume, in the Centre-du-Québec region.
Sollio Cooperative Group has been in business for 100 years and is the only Canada-wide agricultural supply cooperative. We represent more than 123,000 members, agricultural producers and consumers, who belong to 48 traditional agricultural and consumer cooperatives.
We have more than 15,000 employees in our three divisions: Olymel, which specializes in pork and poultry processing; BMR, Quebec's retailer of building materials and hardware; and Sollio Agriculture, which supplies farms.
Over to you, Mr. Kaastra.