Agriculture committee  There are a couple of things I'd like to say before I get to the answer. First of all, there was an election review commission to look at how CWB directors are elected, and it goes to the word “producer”. Producer is defined in the act, as it stands now, and that's the only way you can get a vote.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Menzies. To clarify a few of the facts, I'll have our CEO speak to where we are in terms of the marketing of last year's crop.

Agriculture committee  I would like to briefly respond on the issue of Mr. Ritz's bill and the concept of value added. You've seen from our survey that 85% of the farmers believe that value-added processing is important and that the CWB should work with producers to ensure that this happens. It's right in our survey.

Agriculture committee  I disagree with the premise of the question. First of all, the U.S. does not provide their farmers with higher returns; they have numerous subsidy programs, including loan rate programs. They simply don't do that. As a matter of fact, if you are a farmer in western Canada now, we have an option, the daily price contract, where if you as a farmer think that's accurate, you can access that daily price contract and get exactly what the U.S. farmer is getting.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for the question. Yes, we've been closely following the developments in Quebec, and we have noted, with considerable interest, that farmers in Quebec have opted for a single-desk seller for wheat. Farmers in Ontario have opted otherwise, but it was their choice. We're saying that it should be our choice in western Canada as well.

Agriculture committee  I'm sorry, can you repeat that question, Wayne? I guess I should put my earpiece in.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chair, I'll just begin here briefly and try to preface this, and then my colleague Adrian will give you the specifics on the studies. Members of the committee, I want you to think of a number of things when you look at the Canadian Wheat Board. First and foremost, western Canada is very landlocked.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman , and welcome. For those of you who don't know it, the chairman of the committee is my MP. Hello, Mr. Ritz. Mr. Chairman and agricultural committee members, my name is Ken Ritter. I'm a farmer from Kindersley, Saskatchewan, and it has been my pleasure to serve as a farmer-elected board member and chair of the CWB board since 1999.