Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of Parliament, and fellow guests.
My name is Gary Stanford and I am a director on both the Grain Growers of Canada and the Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission. I farm 1,200 acres in southern Alberta, where I grow wheat, barley, pulses, forages, etc. With me today is Richard Phillips, the executive director of the Grain Growers, with a long farming and agricultural policy background in Saskatchewan.
First I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to be here and to share our thoughts on Canada's recent trade initiatives, more specifically those related to Colombia and South America.
The Grain Growers of Canada represent grain, oilseed, and pulse commodity associations from every province in Canada except Quebec, but even there we have now formed a coalition to work together with the Quebec grain growers on the issue of funding for public research.
Today in our remarks I would like to touch on the need to keep our Canadian producers competitive.
Internationally, we have negotiated and are looking to negotiate trade agreements between ourselves and other countries, both multilateral and bilateral. Bilateral agreements are good in one respect because we can target key markets for Canadian exports. Examples are NAFTA, South Korea, the EU, and Peru.
It is with Peru that we have our most recent South American free trade agreement. Peru eliminated tariffs on virtually all Canadian exports, with most remaining tariffs to be eliminated in the next five to ten years. Agricultural products that have enjoyed immediate duty free access to Peru include wheat, barley, lentils, peas, and selected boneless beef cuts. Canada eliminated its tariffs on almost all Peruvian imports. The rest will be eliminated over a three- to seven-year period, with the exception of over-quota tariffs on dairy, poultry, eggs, and refined sugar, which are excluded from these tariffs.
Direct bilateral agreements with countries like Peru and Colombia are advantageous in trade because many of our imports are products that we don't produce in Canada and many of our exports are products they don't produce enough of. Canadian farmers are blessed with an abundance of land for crops like wheat, barley, canola, and pulses, while other countries have the advantage of a more temperate climate. That creates a situation in which trade can work for farmers in both countries.
In regard to the Colombian trade deal, two days ago you heard from a pulse exporter about the potential markets for pulse crops, and I would like to reinforce some of this potential. Colombia is Canada's seventh-largest market for pulses and special crops, with an annual import from Canada averaging over $53 million and 111,000 tonnes. In 2008, the pulse and special crop exports to Colombia were $80 million and 102,000 tonnes.
Pulses are Canada's second-largest agrifood export to Colombia, followed by cereals such as wheat and malt barley. The U.S.-Colombia agreement would immediately eliminate tariffs for U.S. peas, lentils, chickpeas, canary seed, and mustard seed, and would result in an immediate 15% tariff disadvantage for those Canadian products upon implementation of that agreement.
The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement would ensure that Canadian pulses and special crops are not disadvantaged relative to the U.S. competitors and might even provide Canada a tariff advantage for a period of time if the Canada-Colombia agreement enters into force before Colombia's agreement with the United States does.
The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement will initially provide 4,000 tonnes of tariff-free access for Canadian beans, the quantity increasing over time, compared to the 60% duty currently in place. This free trade agreement would provide competitive access for a set quantity of Canadian beans and would help Canada rebuild its market share.
Now I'll turn the time over to Richard, and he'll give you some important statistics.