Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members. I'm very happy to be here this morning. Thank you for inviting me here today to speak about the comprehensive economic and trade agreement with the EU.
The Canadian Canola Growers Association represents 43,000 canola growers across the country. It's governed by a board of farmer directors representing all provinces, from Ontario west to B.C. I'm really pleased to be able to speak to you on their behalf this morning.
Canola is a very important economic and agronomic contributor to the farms that span the country. Canola is a very large success story, increasing from marginal production back in the early eighties to the number one cash crop in the country last year and contributing about $19.3 billion to the Canadian economy. If you have our speaking notes, you'll see stated “over 16 million tonnes”. In fact, in StatsCan's latest production estimates that came out yesterday, we are close to 18 million tonnes of production this year. That surpasses by quite some tonnes our industry goal of 15 million tonnes by 2015. It is the highest-value agricultural commodity, contributing about $8.2 billion to farm cash receipts last year.
Canola farmers rely very heavily on international markets. We export more than 85% of our seed and canola products on an annual basis. Much of canola's current and future success is directly related to our ability to export and to our competitiveness in global markets.
CETA is a very significant opportunity for canola and canola growers. Improved access to this market is very impressive. The EU economy is worth about $17 trillion. It's about a sixth of global trade. It has a population of 500 million consumers with the financial means to buy our products. For Canadian canola, this agreement provides future market opportunities and a commitment to work through some of the market access barriers that canola is now facing. This is probably one of the most hopeful things that we have in this agreement.
Once this agreement is ratified, it will result in an immediate elimination of tariffs on canola oil, which could increase our exports of our oil to Europe by about $90 million a year, year after year. That's double what it is now. This access will create new demand for farmers’ canola seed and support Canada’s expanding crush industry.
In the longer term, CETA will provide a more formal avenue to discuss long-standing issues that farmers face with the EU non-tariff trade barriers, particularly their regulations regarding genetically modified canola. The importance of establishing transparent, science-based regulatory policy can't be overstated, and CETA represents an important opportunity to advance access for biotech products in a meaningful way.
In order to feed the world’s growing population and at the same time ensure that Canadian canola growers remain profitable in contributing to the Canadian economy, farmers must continue to adopt new and innovative technologies. This includes new biotech traits that allow for increased production and various agronomic benefits. In 2012, Canada had the fourth-largest area planted to biotech crops worldwide, with 97.5% of Canadian-grown canola planted with biotech varieties. Canola farmers quickly adopted the new technology, as it provides real economic benefits to their farms. Biotech canola has allowed for higher yields, more efficient weed control, and less reliance on crop inputs, such as pesticide use and fuel consumption. It has provided more opportunities for farmers to adopt no-till or minimum-tillage practices that have environmental benefits.
With respect to the approval of new canola traits, we are especially encouraged by the fact that Canada was able to use the CETA negotiations to get an agreement with the EU on a parallel letter committing the EU to ensuring efficient processing of canola applications and their expeditious movement through the EU approval process, which can be very long. Speeding up this process will allow growers to take advantage of innovation, which ultimately makes us more competitive.
To fully capitalize on this particular agreement and export it competitively, we also need to have some improvements in the Canadian regulatory process for exports of canola. We're pleased with recent changes to the Grain Commission, but we need to do more on the export side if we're to remain competitive and fully capture the benefits of this free trade agreement.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the committee today. I look forward to taking your questions a bit later.