Agriculture committee  Many of those mergers are very small. If you're talking about Agrium-CF, it's very different from, say, Viterra purchasing Ross Agri in Alberta. I don't think the Competition Bureau is going to get down to that level of intervening in acquisitions.

Agriculture committee  I think anything that reduces the level of competition is something we obviously have issue with.

Agriculture committee  I had the experience recently of being interviewed by the Competition Bureau, but only on the matter of Agrium's purchase of CF Industries Holdings. CAAR, per se, has not taken a position, but we have directed the Competition Bureau to the members within CAAR who have stated their opinion.

Agriculture committee  Some of those businesses are actually part of the mergers. It's like being part of a court case; we can't comment because our members are affected directly.

Agriculture committee  Any reduction in transportation access and service may mean having to source from farther distances with more demurrage costs. Longer distances mean higher transportation costs. So intuitively, without knowing exactly the situation and where it will affect regionally the most, that could drive the cost of acquisition up, because transportation is a key component of that.

Agriculture committee  As you can appreciate, with the mandate I have, I'd prefer not to speak to any pricing strategies per se. That's not something CAAR generally comments on. But I think if you're a farmer in today's market, you know that every day, probably for the last five or six months, there has been a sale on crop inputs.

Agriculture committee  Yes. There was no response.

Agriculture committee  The American tax security credit is a 30% enhanced tax credit over and above the standard deductions that an agri-retailer would have through their tax system. In addition to that, however, they also have access to specialized security equipment. An example would be valve locks for anhydrous tanks that they can apply for to receive as much as a 50% rebate on those products.

Agriculture committee  Yes, 1,200 sites.

Agriculture committee  It was probably a little higher, probably in the 1,500 range.

Agriculture committee  Anhydrous ammonia must be stored either—

Agriculture committee  Oh, outside of that. That's correct. Granular and liquid must be stored in bins and in storage facilities.

Agriculture committee  Are you referring to the crystal meth issue?

Agriculture committee  I'm not sure what angle you're coming at related to granular fertilizers, but my facility--

Agriculture committee  Okay. I would not agree with that. This is not about anhydrous; this is about all products, including chemical pesticides and fungicides. This is all crop inputs. See, that has been the problem. We've been discussing this from the assumption that it's anhydrous, and that's not the case.