Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, presenters. These are all very interesting discussions here today.
I'll start with you, Kevin. You talked about beef and the importance of it in British Columbia. You're absolutely right, but the one thing that has always struck me is that even though our animal numbers were down across the country with BSE and country-of-origin labelling, our tonnage was actually up. Our genetics are so much better that we're actually growing fewer cows but producing more beef to be consumed here or exported. It's a great thing; it's why our genetics are in such demand around the world as well. That's one of the major exports that we have available to us.
British Columbia is the perfect storm when it comes to animals. You need three things: grass, water, and access to market. Certainly, grass and water are here in abundance. Access to market we're trying to accomplish now with access back into the U.S., with country-of-origin labelling done.
We need diversity, however. You made the point about all the other cuts and offal and everything else that's in demand in the Pacific Rim that is so important to gain that diversity in your industry. We've also developed a beef centre of excellence in Calgary, so that when butchers and marketers from all of these other countries decide.... As I often say, we develop a 16-ounce T-bone here in Canada, but that will feed a village in Japan: they want a two-ounce cut, and so on. That's what this is doing.
Are you seeing response from all of those different initiatives that have been taken, in the demand?