Agriculture Committee on March 3rd, 2022

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

That's good stuff.

I just want to say that I think small-scale farming is beautiful. We've heard a lot from a lot of stakeholders across our food system at the very large scale, and it is interesting to get your perspective as a smaller-scale producer to see what your supply chain looks like.

Would you say your supply chain is a little more regional in nature? Could you pinpoint a few of the stressors in your supply chain over the course of the pandemic? It has certainly been tested by the pandemic, extreme weather events, blockades at our borders this year, and even now a war from an international perspective, but I wonder about your regional supply chain. Is it shorter? How is it different?

[Cammy Lockwood]

It is different. We've always made an effort to emphasize local, and we have also done that with our feed. We've been fortunate working with Top Shelf Feeds, and we source most of our ingredients predominantly from Canada. We're one of the few farms that have done that. We deliberately chose not to go to an organic feed, because the organic grains were coming from India and China, and we could see the potential for supply chain issues already there.

I believe our effort in years previous has shielded us a bit from supply chain issues; however, realizing during the floods that Top Shelf Feeds was not going to be able to get feed from the mainland was very concerning to us. We called them right away, and they assured us that they had just had supply and they were good, but we also began to realize that they might be required to feed other farmers on Vancouver Island who were supplied through mainland-based feed mills. We were able to make it through, fortunately.

In the short term, our supply chain.... We also distribute much of our own product to Victoria, and the Malahat.... I'm not sure how familiar everyone is with Vancouver Island geography, but the mountain pass between North Island and South Island is about the only way, and it's single-lane traffic either way. During the floods, the Malahat was shut down for several days. Even north of us it was shut down, so we were landlocked, and we were very fortunate that during that time we were not trying to transport animals, because when we do need to transport animals, who knows what's going to happen that day? If we have to transport them on B.C. ferries and there is a supply chain disruption there, it can be very detrimental.

Again, it also brings up animal health and welfare issues when we have animals out on the road. They are much more open to public view, and that's always concerning.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

I want to follow that up with a thought and a question as to whether you think small-scale or regional food systems are more resilient when it comes to these international kinds of shocks. Certainly, from your testimony so far, we've heard that extreme weather events like flooding have impacted you, but perhaps some of the other things that I listed that are more international shocks in terms of nature are global trends.

Would you say that you're more resilient in relying on a more regional food system?

[Cammy Lockwood]

Yes, I believe so, and definitely the way I want to see Canada go is to look more inward to be able to meet our needs. We've felt the effects, too, with the NAFTA renegotiations and losing some of our market share for our eggs to the U.S. and other international trade deals. It is really important, I believe, to look locally. As we can see, there are definitely some advantages to economy of scale, but it also has the weakness in that resiliency just isn't there.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Maybe you—

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

No, I'm sorry, Mr. Turnbull. Your time is up.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Mr. Chair—

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Mr. Turnbull and Ms. Lockwood.

Mr. Perron, you have two and a half minutes.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Ms. Lockwood, I'd like to continue on the same topic.

If I understand you correctly, in terms of protecting local production and retaining market share, you'll agree on the protection of supply management by force of law for the next trade negotiations.

[Cammy Lockwood]

Yes, please.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

The door was wide open, so I stepped through.

[Cammy Lockwood]

Supply management is what made our business possible.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

We're going to work on it, Ms. Lockwood.

[Cammy Lockwood]

Thank you.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

The next point I wanted to talk to you about is regional processing. Dr. Mussell mentioned in his remarks that it's good to have large processing plants, but it's also good to have a complementary network of small processing centres.

We have a shortage of regional processing centres, especially in my region in Quebec. I don't know how it works in your region. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

Do you think the government has a role to play in supporting small processing infrastructures, such as the slaughter of your poultry?

[Cammy Lockwood]

Yes, absolutely. We don't have an option to slaughter our flocks on Vancouver Island. They have to be shipped to the mainland. It would be really wonderful to have more regional processing. We also do a small number of broilers, and we continually struggle with our local processor to have them done to the standard that we require when we sell directly to the consumer.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Do you think it would strengthen the supply chain in the event of a strike or COVID‑19 outbreak at a major processing centre, for example?

[Cammy Lockwood]

Yes, it would absolutely help strengthen it. It's also really important for the committee to realize that when it comes to processing, just because we have animals going out, it also means we have animals coming in and it means a lack of space. Again, it causes some major animal welfare concerns if we cannot get animals to a processing facility in a timely manner.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you very much.

[Cammy Lockwood]

Therefore, certainly strengthening—

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

In 10 seconds, Dr. Ronholm, on the same question—

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

I'm sorry, Mr. Perron, but that's all the time you have.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Really?

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Yes, there were only five seconds left. I'm sorry.

Mr. MacGregor has the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Dr. Ronholm, in your opening statement you were talking a lot about the antibiotic crisis and the resistance that's coming up. I'm interested because I want to know your thoughts about some of the technology that's coming out to help.

Particularly with mastitis, I remember in the 42nd Parliament, two Parliaments ago, when I was on this committee, our committee did a study on technology and innovation. One of our witnesses was EIO Diagnostics, which had developed the UdderHealth mastitis system, which combines advanced imaging and machine learning to provide real-time detection of mastitis.

Are you aware of some of those technologies or do you have any comments on that? Their big claim to fame was that you can basically detect mastitis before it starts manifesting any symptoms.