Farmers have paid a lot of tariffs. That certainly is evident as we looked at bills this spring and as we look to the new season. I really think that there's an opportunity for government to take those tariffs and return them back to the farming community as a whole, to agriculture, and find ways to reinvest that. Whether that is to help with promoting more best management practices or whether that is to bring it back to the farmers themselves so that they can invest in better technologies that will help reduce emissions, there are a lot of opportunities there and a lot of creative ways to bring those dollars back to the industry, including even the potential for production of fertilizer in eastern Canada.
One thing I will say is that farmers are very, very nervous about the potential of losing the ability to use inputs, including fertilizer. There has been clarity that the government is looking to reduce emissions, and I understand that, but on the other side, many farmers see that if we measure using fertilizer, we're probably making a mistake, because when we use fertilizer, if we don't use enough, we actually degrade the soil. The plant will slowly but surely take the nutrients from the soil, and eventually you won't have a good quality of soil. If we use more but it is the right amount for the crop that we are currently growing, if the crop absorbs it and uses it the way it should, with the right trait, the right product, the right timing and the right placing, we actually will see good fertilizer usage and reduced emissions.
I think the better way to measure for emissions would be to use a reckoning of how many best management practices farmers are using on the land. We know from research that those actually will reduce emissions, and I do think that it also will provide us with the ability to continue to produce more and more food for the world. That's what your committee is looking for: answers that will make us the best growers.