Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My colleagues and I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the agriculture and agri-food sector and the Government of Canada's response to date.
The current situation is stressful for agri-food operators. Our food production system has nevertheless shown strong resilience since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the continued and reliable provision of food for Canadians.
The food sector experienced unanticipated declines in demand from some industries such as food services and spikes in demand from retailers. This created short-term challenges across the supply chain.
The government has been working with processors, producers and the provinces to rapidly assess shifting demands, share critical information and find solutions to address the impacts of COVID-19 on the agriculture and agri-food sector.
We witnessed significant stresses in the system earlier in the crisis. For example, some meat processing plants had to significantly reduce slaughter capacity or temporarily close owing to impacts of COVID-19. This presents challenges for livestock producers upstream, needing to feed animals for longer periods of time without a destination for processing.
The horticulture sector is another critical component of Canada's food system. Our food supply in fruits and vegetables is highly dependent on access to labour, trade and the timely transportation of goods. It is also vulnerable to weather, disease and insect pests, as well as access to crucial inputs such as bees for pollination.
On the health and safety side, workers in the food supply, from the field and the barn to the processing plant and beyond to retail stores, are playing an essential and critical role in securing our food supply every day.
To ensure their health and safety, food processors, among others, across the country have adopted new measures including investments in additional personal protective equipment, temperature testing of employees with scanners, and retrofitting facilities to include plexiglass shields on processing lines.
In addition, Agriculture Canada, with the help of the Public Health Agency of Canada, has developed an evergreen document bringing together existing and relevant federal public health guidance for the agriculture and agri-food sector to help the sector implement measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
The availability of a range of personal protective equipment for the food sector remains a challenge. For example, the use of masks is a common practice in meat-processing facilities to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. However, some food processors, particularly the smaller facilities, are facing challenges procuring stable supplies of PPE.
As the growing season is under way, farmers are also facing challenges accessing the PPE they need to use on a daily basis to protect themselves from hazards, such as inhaling spores when handling and caring for mushrooms, or when using crop protection products.
The Canadian and global supply of PPE is slowly growing. The government and provinces have been very active in working to increase the Canadian supply of PPE. They have developed a number of mechanisms to improve access through supply hubs and programs to support PPE purchases, which we hope will help to alleviate some of the pressures the sector is currently facing.
I would like to turn to Mr. Jurgutis to continue on our behalf.
Thank you.