Thanks for the opportunity to participate today. We appreciate it.
My name is Greg Schmidt. I'm a producer and an owner-operator of a cattle feedlot just north of Edmonton here, in the Barrhead region. I'm not used to this type of setting, but we'll give it our best.
The National Cattle Feeders' Association is the voice of Canada's cattle feeders. We work to improve the competitiveness of Canada's beef sector.
Our pre-budget recommendations address food affordability by tackling challenges at the farm gate, and our recommendations ensure Canadian agriculture is sustainable and can track alongside our global competitors.
Recognizing that Canada is in a time of fiscal restraint, our budget requests do not come with large price tags. NCFA presented four recommendations to this committee within our written submission, but today we'll focus on just two of those.
First, we recommend that the government consult on and develop a critical farm input strategy to ensure Canadian farmers have an affordable and stable supply of critical farm inputs needed to competitively produce high-quality agriculture products. The sector is facing unprecedented challenges to the accessibility and affordability of farm inputs such as fertilizer, feed, seed, machinery and fuel. Input costs have skyrocketed. The majority of these costs cannot be passed down the value chain, making farming in Canada increasingly less profitable.
Recent transportation challenges make obtaining inputs difficult due to rail and port strikes, as well as rural roads and bridges that are unable to withstand extreme weather. Geopolitics will continue to challenge access to farm inputs, and alternative pipelines need to be considered for Canadian agriculture to compete globally.
Just as the government has invested in a critical minerals strategy, it must now build and fund a critical farm input strategy. Without this, the consequences will be significant, both for producers and for Canadians at the grocery store.