Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the committee.
Thank you for the opportunity to address you today.
I'm going to start by giving you a little background. Sollio Cooperative Group has been in business for over 100 years and is the only pan-Canadian agricultural supply cooperative with roots in Quebec. We represent more than 123,000 members, agricultural producers and consumers in 43 traditional agricultural and consumer cooperatives.
We have more than 15,000 employees across Canada in our three divisions: BMR, Quebec's leading retailer of building materials and hardware products; Sollio Agriculture, which supplies farms; and Olymel, as Mr. Beauchamp explained, which specializes in pork and poultry processing.
Our agricultural cooperatives are corporations freely formed by agricultural producers to ensure the supply necessary for their operations, to improve production conditions and to facilitate the marketing of products, particularly by extending the value chain. As such, as mentioned by some of you, Olymel plays an important role in the Canadian agri-food ecosystem and makes a significant contribution to the member cooperatives of our network and to all players in the pork industry, particularly the pork producers who are members of our network and the pork division of our cooperative.
You should also know that the objectives of our group have always been to offer quality pork products at competitive prices to customers here and around the world. We also aim to generate enough wealth for all the links in the chain.
Our presence today can certainly be explained by the fact that the Quebec pork industry, the second largest production sector after the dairy industry, and the first in terms of exports, is facing the most dire economic situation in its history. On the one hand, as mentioned previously, processors must try to hold their own in a market where there is overproduction and where the price of pork has not kept pace with inflation like other comparable commodities. On the other hand, there are producers who are struggling to make ends meet with rising grain prices, given that 65% of the cost of raising a hog is its feed. Coupled with this are the rising interest rates that are dealing a blow to those who have invested in updating their facilities, especially to ensure animal welfare.
Olymel is certainly not happy about the bold decisions it has had to make to ensure its profitability and continue to play an active role in the value chain.
That said, we firmly believe that the pork industry plays an important role in the economy and vitality of our regions, and that it is important to invest in and support the industry's stakeholders.
We believe that we must now send a message of hope to the producers who represent the industry's future, because the situation of independent producers is cause for concern. In this regard, we invite the members of the committee to consider creating an assistance program to compensate affected producers. This could be based on two initiatives created by the federal government in 2009 and 2014: the hog farm transition program and the hog industry loan loss reserve program. This would be a concrete way to help the hog industry weather the current crisis, and even emerge stronger, with the support of provincial governments.
Lastly, the challenge of the labour shortage continues. We can count on the support of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada as well as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The contribution of foreign workers or immigrant workers is significant, if not essential, to meeting the needs.
We hope to be able to count on the support of your committee to ensure the full contribution of those who wish to work in the sector. We must continue to promote the value of careers in the essential sector that is agri-food.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm ready to take questions.