Thank you very much for your question.
We often talk about the role of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, but the department is far from being the only player when it comes to innovation and the research and development system.
We should encourage the existing ecosystem and reflect on this system. It is an ecosystem that includes the private sector, universities and producers from coast to coast. The problem we have today is that, although all these players work together, there is a lack of real collaboration. The system is built in a way that does not really encourage this collaboration. We conducted a survey of the players in the system, and they told us in that survey that there were existing rules that did not encourage collaboration and that worked against it. I believe that this is a culture that should change. I believe that Australia is an example of this collaboration.
If you look at the grain sector in Australia and the way their model works, you'll see that the sector invests check-off dollars and royalty dollars that are matched by government. In the grain sector in Australia, several years ago they unveiled a 2023-28 research plan that will invest $1 billion in grains research. That's not just government money. That's government money, producer money and the ecosystem working together to deliver better results. We don't have that model of collaboration in Canada. For too long, we've kind of made efforts at it. We take the time to say we're working together.
The beef industry is, to be honest, a bit of an example, but it's the exception, not the rule. It's seen 600% increases in private sector and producer investment. We don't see that in other sectors, and that's partly because I don't think that government has been a very good partner in encouraging greater investment in the sector.