I thank the committee for inviting me to testify today.
My name is Karine Bercier. I am a certified public accountant and a former agricultural tax specialist. For the past eight years, I have been a cash crop farmer, along with my spouse and my in-laws, near Saint-Isidore in eastern Ontario. We are also seed producers. We operate a seed-cleaning and bagging facility that processes seed for various Canadian companies. We distribute and sell the seed to farmers in eastern Ontario and western Quebec.
Today, I'm speaking to you as a farmer, an entrepreneur and someone who experiences the realities of food production first-hand. In my view, food security is often taken for granted in Canada. However, international conflicts, supply chain disruptions, inflation and weather events remind us that a country's ability to produce its own food is truly a strategic challenge.
This ability depends first and foremost on productive farmland and viable farms. As you know, Canada has a limited amount of highly productive farmland. In eastern Ontario, as in other parts of the country, this land supports family farms, livestock operations, agri-food businesses and regional food systems. Once farmland is taken out of production, it is rarely reclaimed.
In fact, this is why I got involved in the Alto high-speed rail project in eastern Ontario. Regardless of one's position on this project, it raises a fundamentally important question: Do we place enough importance on protecting farmland when making decisions that will have consequences for many generations?
Of course, food security doesn't stop at farmland. It starts with farmland and continues with seeds. As a seed producer and processor, I can tell you that every improvement in yield, disease resistance and drought tolerance starts with genetics.
Today's crops are the result of investments made in research decades ago. The investments we make today will determine our ability to feed future generations.
People in this sector are increasingly talking about a loss of confidence. Farmers invest when they have confidence. They invest when they believe their business will still be around in 10, 30 or 50 years.
The committee's motion speaks about investment, innovation, automation and strengthening local food production. Farmers support all of those objectives, but investment, like I said, follows confidence. Today, farm margins are under tremendous pressure. Fuel, fertilizer, financing, labour, insurance, machinery and repair costs have all increased significantly.
Many family farms are, yes, asset rich, but very much cash flow constrained. Rising land values may strengthen a balance sheet, but they do not necessarily generate the cash flow needed to invest in innovation, productivity or succession. Government also has a role to play in removing barriers to investment. Programs intended to encourage investment and innovation must work not only in urban Canada but also in rural Canada.
Consumers increasingly want food that is local, traceable and produced closer to home. To meet that demand, we need strong farms, strong processing capacity and continued investment throughout the food chain. Canadian farmers are among the hardest-working people in this country. They're not asking government to eliminate risk. They are asking for the opportunity to farm. They're asking for the opportunity to compete. They're asking for the opportunity to invest in their businesses and succeed through their hard work, their innovation and their ability to manage risk.
My message today is simple. If Canada wants stronger food security, we must protect productive farmland, invest in seed genetics and innovation, support domestic processing capacity and create the conditions that encourage long-term investment.
Food security starts with productive farmland and continues with seed. Food security depends on profitable farms, not simply productive farms, and investment follows confidence.
Increasingly, in an uncertain world, food security is national security, and a country that cannot feed itself is a country that is very vulnerable.
Thank you.