Thank you for inviting us today.
Canadians can take pride in our agri-food system. We have long been fortunate to have a well-functioning and efficient system that allows us to have one of the cheapest grocery baskets in the world, despite our northern climate.
Our agri-food system first developed mainly with family-owned agricultural enterprises, which grew over time. The increase in their size was partly caused by a need for profitability. Downward pressure on prices led, over time, to a phenomenon where businesses had no choice but to grow larger to maintain profitability in the face of ever-decreasing margins.
The efficiency of our producers, processors, transporters, wholesalers and retailers in producing the commodities and delivering the products to the consumer no longer had to be demonstrated. The system worked because everything was efficient along the chain.
The pandemic showed us the weaknesses of our system. All it took was for one link in this well-oiled chain to falter, and the impact was felt throughout. COVID‑19 disturbed the various actors in the agri-food chain, resulting in a loss of efficiency. Because they moved more slowly, companies increased their production costs.
As we emerge from this pandemic, we can ask ourselves what lies ahead. With rising input prices, and therefore food prices, and labour issues in both the agriculture and agri-food sectors, we need to increase the value of jobs in the agriculture and agri-food sectors, both professionally and in terms of technical and academic training to maintain our ability to feed Canadians.
It is also important that the government put resources in place to better educate citizens about the realities of agriculture. We have, as a society, moved away from what producing food entails. So the work of valuing our agri-food sector must also be done with consumers, so that they better understand what we do and why we do it.
Thank you.