Agriculture has been in a time of renaissance over the last 20 years. We've seen phenomenal growth in the area being planted and the crops that we have traditionally grown just in the southwest, which are now spreading across Canada. Soybeans is the one I draw closest to, because that's the one I'm most affiliated with, but corn has a similar story, and wheat can tell a similar story in the future.
We've seen massive increases in the ability to produce these without detriment to our environment. We're doing things more responsibly, using less input, and getting more crop out.
The challenge is what you do with it afterwards. We're not seeing vibrant growth in populations here in Canada, so with that extra product we produce, we have to find homes for it. That very much depends on what interest we've been able to solicit from other countries. It's the export market that's been able to take a lot of our excess production and for us to be able to find a home for it, and it still buoys the Canadian economy.
When we look to the TPP nations—and I did an analysis on the nations that were affiliated and the ones that weren't—there are a number of them that haven't historically been large consumers of Canadian products, but they are starting to be. You're seeing some growth in those regions as their economies buoy up, and I think we have the opportunity to fill some of those opportunities.
That's where I see the hope in TPP.