Agriculture Committee on June 11th, 2026

[Paul Connors, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

We're talking about the missing middle. In Newfoundland and Labrador, we talk a lot about storage facilities and the capability of farmers to work together or to have storage facilities. What's your experience with that, from your food hub experience?

[Joshua Smee]

Storage facilities matter. I think it's important to have more investment in shared storage, but I think we're finding that the bigger gaps right now are processing and distribution. If you operate a small store on the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland, and you'd like to buy food from Cormack, which is a couple of hours down the road, it's remarkably difficult to do that. Our distribution system is not set up to bring small quantities, often, from small producers to small retailers in small communities.

That's the gap. That's what we're hearing about more often. It's transportation and distribution more than shared storage, per se.

[Paul Connors, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

We also talk about farm gate sales in Newfoundland. A lot of farms rely on it. That's their market, farm gate sales; therefore, they don't have access to the larger retail operations. Can you see farms in Newfoundland and Labrador being successful through farm gate sales or through farm hubs?

[Joshua Smee]

Yes, we've seen it happen. I think the advantage of participating in things like food hubs is that you get a team on your side. You get someone whose job it is to promote what you're doing, to take care of the logistics and to let you get back to work on your farm. Farm gate sales are important, but they're also uncertain. You're taking a risk. You're harvesting things that might not be sold. Things like food hubs allow people to pre-sell what they're going to harvest. It brings efficiency into the system and lets people get back to their work.

I think one of the crises we face is a labour crisis in food production. If people are taking time out of their day to drive into town or to spend time out on their gate selling, that can be a real challenge. We've seen that producers are really enthusiastic, especially the small ones who are looking for a way into the market. When you look at people who are in their twenties and thirties trying to get a foothold in food production, those folks really benefit from instant access to a larger network of purchasers.

[Paul Connors, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Thank you very much.

You also mentioned in your opening remarks “joy and dignity” for people related to food security. Can you elaborate a little on what you think food security actually means to individuals?

[Joshua Smee]

That's a great question. When you talk about defining food security, it's not just about calories, as I said. It's about access to sufficient, healthy and culturally appropriate foods for people. When you think about what that looks like in reality, it's being able to share a meal with your family, with your friends or with your community. It's being able to participate. How much community life happens over food? How many stories could we all tell that involve food? It's the participation that matters. That's why access is not enough. Dignity matters. Joy matters. It's having that moment of celebration.

That's often where local food fits in. We hear it over and over. We have a lived and living experience advisory group. They're a group of folks who all have lived experience of food insecurity, and they talk a lot about local food. Folks who've experienced food insecurity would like to be able to participate in that part of community life. If your food access landscape is based on going to food banks and meal programs, sometimes you miss out on that. That's where joy and dignity fit in. It's why providing access to the same kinds of foods the rest of us have access to really matters.

[Paul Connors, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Thank you.

Once again, thanks to everybody.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you very much.

Next, we'll go to the Bloc for six minutes.

Monsieur Lemire.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Smee, I really appreciate the discussion and your remarks about food hubs.

My region, Abitibi‑Témiscamingue, is a six‑hour drive north up the Ottawa River. In some ways, it's the Newfoundland and Labrador of Quebec, if you will. It's a mining and forestry region as well.

The study that I carried out showed me that deficiencies are found everywhere. It's almost impossible to make just one stage of the food chain profitable. You spoke about the will of producers. They're there as well.

What pitfalls do you come up against?

Given the current context—where federal government officials are gathered and where the minister may be tuning in—I'm most interested in how we can use public resources to create community infrastructure that will make a difference in farm profitability. Otherwise, it wouldn't be profitable in regions where settling the land and towns is also becoming profitable for communities that want to live on their land.

What are your thoughts on this?

[Joshua Smee]

Thank you for the question. It's a great question. I think there are a lot of challenges when it comes to particularly the early stages of building up local food distribution networks. It takes time to build up a network of producers to get to scale.

There are moments at which these things become self-sustaining, but you have to get pretty big. Especially for non-profit organizations—I'm sure many people around this table have been involved—we don't have the same access to capital. We can't take out a loan. We don't have access to business financing. I think one of the ways that government and public resources are most important is in providing that kind of support to non-profits that are providing the infrastructure for private producers and buyers to meet.

For us, the critical point is that there are real limits if that support is only for capital equipment. I am very happy that I was able to get a grant to buy an electric van. It makes my program work. We wouldn't be able to afford to do it without it, but there also has to be someone to drive that van. That is the hardest part of the work to resource—the human capital of people to do the work of picking up the food, packing it and moving it. In the non-profit ecosystem, that's really challenging. That's the missing piece, up to this point, in some of the government support programs for this kind of infrastructure. They don't cover the soft costs that let us have that runway to get to a point where it can sustain itself by earning its own revenue.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I'll also talk about putting products on the market, which is often impossible to prepare in regions such as ours.

My office has been looking into the possibility of transforming the buses that help transport people by installing freezers or refrigerators in part of the vehicle. While we're going through the towns, we could also distribute fresh produce in the towns, in convenience stores. This would help everyone have access to fresh food, because accessibility is a major challenge.

I also want to mention something that came out of our first study. I'm happy to share it with you, because I think that we could influence each other in a positive way. The study concerns slaughtering. Our region has many beef producers in particular.

However, there haven't been any slaughterhouses in Abitibi‑Témiscamingue for over 25 or 30 years. This hasn't worked for a variety of reasons. One reason is that, even for savings of half a cent per tonne, producers often go to other places. Solidarity is a challenge.

That said, I'm a great believer in community infrastructure. Isn't it the government's responsibility to take risks?

At this time, as a result of risk sharing and insurance—which must be taken into account—we need to cap the amount of public money available to invest with the provinces. There are so many standards for a slaughterhouse that it would cost at least $8 million to $10 million to build a slaughterhouse up to standard.

How do you think the government should assume the risks of this challenge?

I believe that it should assume all the risks, since a slaughterhouse is like infrastructure, like an aqueduct. It could be community infrastructure, which the government would fund through taxes.

Would this work for you?

[Joshua Smee]

That's a great question. I think you're right to name it that. We sometimes make these conversations about farming, and we drift into a conversation just about fruits and vegetables and crops, but local protein is a very important part of the mix. As an operator, I know that's one of the things that are most in demand.

On the affordability crisis, I think all of us in this room are feeling it when we walk into a corporate grocery store now. The price of protein is extremely high. Accessing local is one of the ways you can see the impact for people. They can reach a more affordable price point.

I don't have an answer on the exact place the federal government should sit in de-risking, other than to say that I think it is a very important project to gather people in community—in collectives, in co-operatives or in other shared structures—so that these kinds of facilities have community ownership and are governed by community and by more than one player in the ecosystem.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

We're talking about the cost of food. When we pay off a mortgage, there are associated interest costs. These costs are passed on to the consumers. If we want people in the regions to pay less, an infrastructure paid for collectively ensures that consumers ultimately pay less for their food.

Mr. Cantafio, would you like to add anything?

[Justin Cantafio]

Thank you.

Yes. I was just thinking that one of the ways you incentivize local affordability is through procurement minimums. Using your institutions as economic anchor institutions is important, especially since many of these provincially and federally funded institutions are located remotely. You create regional churn, and you lower the cost of production.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you.

We have about eight minutes before we have to stop and get ready for the next round. We'll do three minutes, three minutes and one and a half minutes.

We'll go to Mr. Barlow for three minutes.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Thanks, Chair.

I'll get right into it. I have only three minutes.

You all mentioned the importance of, as Ms. Nikkel called it, “foundational research”.

I'll ask Justin, just because of your neck of the woods and your comments and your discussions with farmers. We talk about how important research is, but the government is shutting down seven critical research stations and experimental farms, including the Nappan farm near Truro and Amherst in Nova Scotia. That will also impact and very likely lead to the closure of the Maritime Beef Institute.

These two facilities have been operating for almost 100 years, developing forage and beef genetics that thrive in Atlantic Canada. What impact will shutting down this type of research and these types of programs that have helped with that local food production have in Atlantic Canada in terms of food security?

[Justin Cantafio]

That's a great example of our relying on corporations to do the work that they cannot do well, when they're driven predominantly by profit extraction and capital accumulation. If we have surging rates of farmer loss and farmland loss, and we have decreasing food sovereignty.... In Newfoundland and Labrador, less than 10% of the food is from there. Less than 15% of Nova Scotia's food is from Nova Scotia. Less than 8% of the vegetables in New Brunswick are from there. What you're doing is you're eroding your region's food sovereignty. You're assuming that the very corporate entities that have been proven guilty of bread price-fixing and other forms of profiteering are going to solve these problems.

Food sovereignty means having place-based or community-rooted food infrastructure. That includes research. That's just required. It needs to be reflective of the place. You need to have folks who have that real wisdom—your farmers—involved.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Lori, you've raised the foundational research in your comments, too, and not only here. I highlighted Nappan. These research farms are in every province in the country, almost right across the country, and definitely have an impact.

We talk about cold storage and Lacombe. They're going to lose Canada's only biosecurity cold storage facility and meat-grading research. What impact is this going to have on local food production?

[Lori Nikkel]

Mr. Barlow, I'm not qualified to answer that question, full stop. I'm looking at research from a national perspective on what's happening in manufacturing. I think research is critical, but I don't know enough about those to really answer that well.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Josh, do you want to add anything to that?

[Joshua Smee]

I think I'm in the same boat as Lori is on this one. I don't know enough about the specific institutions to comment. Thanks.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

On the interprovincial trade issue, Bill C-5 exempted food from.... We talk about value added and processing. How important is it to reduce those interprovincial trade barriers so that it will encourage that local processing of value added as well?

Josh, you're from Newfoundland, and I'm sure that's an issue there.

[Joshua Smee]

I think that absolutely matters.

When we think about the kinds of layers to our food system, there are layers of local: local within your region, local within your province and local interprovincially. Reducing those barriers.... From the perspective of most people in our province, I think, it's better if we're eating Atlantic than if we're eating international, for example.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you very much.

We will go to the Liberals for three minutes with Mr. Kelloway.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Sydney—Glace Bay, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's great to be on this committee. I come from Cape Breton Island, and it's great to hear from two-thirds of you, and to learn from you, Lori, about the work that's being done across the country. It is really important.

There are a couple of things from the testimony that I want to highlight in the very short time we have.

I'm big on unpacking words. I come from the not-for-profit world. When someone says “operating”, my ears perk up, because in the not-for-profit world writ large, you're asked to do projects to obtain money to do them, which is fine, but it doesn't address the underlying challenges and opportunities.

Three of you mentioned this in a roundabout way—you directly—with respect to “capital” and “operating”. I'm wondering if you can unpack those words. I know what capital is. I know what operating is. I wonder if the three of you can unpack, within capital, consistent themes under capital, and within operating, consistent themes under operating.