Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee. It is my pleasure to be here today as a representative of the Grain Growers of Canada.
My name is Shannon Sereda. I am the director of government relations, policy and markets with the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions. We represent over 17,000 grain farmers across Alberta and are member organizations of the Grain Growers of Canada.
Canadian farmers continue to be world leaders in their accelerated adoption of technology. Modern farming equipment is increasingly reliant on high-tech automized systems, with complex software design and digitized components. The tools to fix that machinery have also become increasingly complex. A laptop and software now often replace a wrench.
This continual innovation in farm equipment is essential for the sustainable growth, efficiency and competitiveness of the Canadian grain sector, yet studies have shown that farmers are often considering older, less efficient and less digitized equipment that they can repair themselves. This is because when a farmer experiences an equipment failure, in almost all instances they are beholden to one point of service, the OEM dealer, to unlock the equipment, provide the parts and have their technicians diagnose and repair the issue. Given that there are typically few centralized dealers servicing many farmers over a large area, this can often take many hours to many days, and can be further impacted by single-source supply chain disruptions for accessing parts.
Farmers are consistently at the mercy of weather. Any delay during what is already a very short growing season poses a major threat to crop yield and quality, and is a financial risks to farmers. For perspective, in one day a farmer can harvest multiple millions of dollars' worth of crop.
Creating a competitive market for equipment repair will give farmers a choice to safely conduct the repairs themselves, through a qualified third party or through the equipment dealerships, thus reducing both risk and cost. Farmers and other skilled individuals in Canada's rural economy are ready and able to safely contribute to a competitive market for repair.
The current legislative environment in Canada supports equipment repair monopolies by allowing OEMs to prohibit the bypassing of TPMs. This leaves farmers and third party independent mechanics limited in their ability to diagnose or repair many potential technical issues. To restore the competitive environment and market for repairs of farm machinery, legislative change is required. Bill C-244 represents the first step in helping to break the monopolization of repair services and allowing Canadian farmers the right to repair their machinery, putting them on equal footing with farmers in other jurisdictions.
The United States and the European Union have made moves toward modernized legislation and regulations specific to agriculture, and are actively working toward creating a competitive environment for third party repairs, data ownership and interoperability. Both the agricultural right to repair bill that was recently introduced in the U.S.A. and other pressures toward increasing competition in repair services are acting to send the right signals to industry.
John Deere, which previously opposed the notion of allowing farmers to conduct their own repairs, has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation. This MOU will formalize U.S. farmers' access to diagnostic and repair codes and manuals and product guides, allowing farmers and independent repair shops to purchase John Deere software and other information needed to service their equipment.
While this is a step in the right direction, it remains to be seen how deep the access will be, how it might be enforced or how reasonable pricing will be defined. The availability of these tools should be cost-conducive for both independent technicians and farmers.
To this end, and in conjunction with Bill C-244, there is a necessary role for modernized provincial legislation in order to further restore a competitive market. In Alberta, for example, the Farm Implement and Dealership Act can be revised to ensure access to tools at a reasonable price.
Farmers are innovators. They have a history of making improvements to existing equipment used on their specific farms to boost productivity. The design practices by OEMs limit ingenuity and innovation for farmers and third parties by disallowing interoperability or the full use of telematics. On-board computers on farm equipment report nearly every detail of what a farmer does. Telematics provide a modern method of using this data to monitor farm equipment to ensure that operations remain reliable and timely.
Farmers have become more tech-savvy and can use telematics together with AI and other software to manage their farms from their iPhones. With full access to telematics, they can see pending issues with machinery by observing engine speeds and tire pressure, or even forecast planting stages and harvest timing.
GPS systems allow them to precisely place inputs, such as fertilizer, to maximize efficiency in cost, which in turn creates positive environmental outcomes, such as emissions reductions.
The agriculture community is pleased that the committee has acknowledged and invited agriculture to be a part of its deliberations on Bill C-244. We would like to ensure that the proposed amendments in Bill C-244 remain free of any exemptions that could limit the potential development of the competitive market for diagnosis, repair and maintenance of farm equipment.
On behalf of farmers, I thank you for the invitation to be here today, and thank you for your time.