Mr. Chairperson, honourable members, and guests, my name is Sheri Strydhorst and I have a farm in northwest Alberta. I'm the executive director of the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission. With me today is Tom Jackson, a farmer who is an adviser to the Alberta Pulse Growers, from east-central Alberta.
The Alberta Pulse Growers represent 4,500 pea, bean, lentil, chickpea, and fava bean growers in the province. While we are here today on behalf of the pulse growers, I've been asked by the other Alberta crop groups to let you know that we are presenting important policy messages relevant to all members of the Alberta crop sector. Today we are going to be touching upon three initiatives that will secure a competitive advantage for our farmers by stimulating innovation with effective policy.
Our first request is increased investment in Agriculture Canada's research branch. For five of Canada's six largest crops, 98% of the research is publicly funded. Over the last 15 years, federal contributions to Agriculture Canada's research branch have been stagnant, with no increases for inflation. In 2009 dollars, this means that funding has dropped from $458 million to $280 million, a cut of nearly 50%.
The number of front-line scientists has dropped by more than 10% in just the last couple of years. The majority of Agriculture Canada's scientists are ready for retirement in less than 10 years. Agriculture Canada is suffering a corporate memory loss. For example, at Alberta's Lethbridge research centre, the plant pathologist there retired in 2006, but since then, a technician, not a trained scientist, has been the only expertise available for the development of disease research.
To address this growing problem, we are asking for a doubling of A-base funding to Agriculture Canada. This would cost $280 million phased in over 10 years, or $28 million a year. These resources would allow for the development of new crop varieties with drought resistance for the southern prairies, cold tolerance for the northern prairies, disease and insect resistance to reduce the use of pesticides, and healthier foods.
There's tremendous potential to make our food healthier for consumers. For example, peas and beans can help reduce diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, but additional breeding to increase the resistant starch and antioxidants could result in even more health benefits for Canadians.
Recent studies have shown a 12-time return for investments in breeding research for Canadian farmers, and we're not asking the government to do this alone. Investments in Canadian pulse breeding and agronomic research by Alberta and Saskatchewan producers exceeded $3 million last year.
Our second request is a proposal for a reduced production insurance premium for producers who use green agricultural practices. We're at a time in history when there's increasing national and international public demand for food that is grown using environmentally responsible practices. However, from a producer standpoint, environmental compliance is seen as a cost. We need to create a system whereby producers can profit from environmentally aware markets. In order to brand Canadian producers as environmentally responsible, we need to implement incentives for producers to access new technologies.
We're proposing a reduction in production insurance premiums by 20% for producers who use green agricultural practices that also tend to reduce production risks, such as, for example, reduced tillage, diverse rotations that include pulse crops, reduced fuel use, and more efficient irrigation practices.
Our final request is to provide Canadian producers with easier access to credit. The advance payments program is a financial loan guarantee program that gives producers access to credit via cash advances. This means producers have improved cashflow and better opportunities for marketing their agricultural products.
Under the current program, producers can qualify for a maximum of $400,000, with the first $100,000 being interest free. However, these current limits are becoming a constraint to more and more farmers. There have been significant increases in input costs. The prices of feed, fertilizer, and fuel have risen substantially. In adjusting for inflationary costs, we are asking for an increase in the interest-free limit to $150,000 and in the overall limit to $500,000.
In summary, our request is: increased investment in Agriculture Canada's research branch; reduced production insurance premiums for producers who use green agricultural practices; and providing Canadian producers with easier access to credit.
Thank you for this opportunity. We look forward to your questions.