Agriculture committee  Thanks, Alex. First, on the numbers of farmers leaving the farms, all of the indicators right now are that this is going to accelerate. Farmers leaving their farms will accelerate because of all the things we've been talking about here today and with the decrease in market power they're seeing.

Agriculture committee  Yes, that's right.

Agriculture committee  I'm not aware of how the clerk of your committee determines the name on the invitation. I accepted the invitation as it was given.

Agriculture committee  The invitation was extended as an individual. That's why I talked about our farm, my grandparents, and our farm history here close to Swift Current.

Agriculture committee  I don't think it's accurate to pull something out of context and try to read something into it.

Agriculture committee  I'd be much more comfortable with taking time to have the entire speech read into the record.

Agriculture committee  I'm not saying it was inaccurate. I'm saying that it may be taken out of context because I don't know where you are going with—

Agriculture committee  There is no actual category. There's nothing in the constitution that recognizes a past president. I'm still a member.

Agriculture committee  It's a mixed blessing when commodity prices go up. On the surface, everybody wants commodity prices to be higher than they are, but what they're really saying is that they want that margin to increase; they want their own take-home margin at the farm gate to increase. One of the negative things that happens when commodity prices go up is that the whole enterprise gets riskier, because all the input suppliers and handlers and all the other people the farmers have to deal with in this value chain all extract extra money as soon as commodity prices go up.

Agriculture committee  Thanks. I was—

Agriculture committee  Yes, thank you. I was a supporter of the Canadian Wheat Board marketing system, single-desk selling, before the change was made last year. In fact, I did run and was elected by farmers in southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan in the 2010 Canadian Wheat Board elections.

Agriculture committee  I think the point was really made by a study that was commissioned by farm organizations and the Canadian Wheat Board a couple of years ago. A fellow named John Edsforth did a very comprehensive report. That report was released in late 2010, I believe, and showed that the railways are currently overcharging farmers by at least $200 million per year.

Agriculture committee  Good morning. I'd like to start by thanking the committee for the opportunity to be here this morning. I know that Ken is a farmer as well, so a lot of the things I'm going to speak about, Ken has already touched on. But I think that's a good thing. Our farm is located in southwestern Saskatchewan, not far from Swift Current.