Thank you, Mr. Barlow, for the question.
As was mentioned by me and other panellists today, our view is that Canadian agricultural producers are already leading on the world stage in terms of production per unit of greenhouse gas emissions. Given the situation we're in globally, with tight supplies of crop commodities and fertilizers—and strong demand for each—we're acutely aware that any further disruptions to these supply chains could result in further tightness in the supply chain, putting food security at risk to a greater degree.
The war in Ukraine has exacerbated a situation that had already been worsening over the past few years. Food security was becoming more of an issue due to suboptimal production in North America and South America in 2021. Given the significance of Ukraine and Russia in the production and export of key global commodities, this situation has become much worse. Therefore, were we to impose a situation where fertilizers were cut arbitrarily, without consideration for food security, we could see that balance tighten even further and put the world in dire need of food supplies.
As I mentioned in my opening comments, many studies point to the fact that fertilizers account for up to 50% of global crop yields. Therefore, they are of paramount importance. Our focus is on continuing to increase performance on a greenhouse-gas intensity basis, while also accounting for food production.