Agriculture committee  One of the sessions we held was in Vancouver. That was definitely a hot topic. With most farming operations there is a lot of off-farm income. Young farmers coming into agriculture typically are working off the farm as well. They're starting very unique agricultural businesses now, because they have to be very small, on small land bases, so it's a high-value crop that they're growing.

Agriculture committee  I think so. I can send some further information for you, but agriculture as a whole is an extremely fragile thing. Obviously, margins are very low. When it's good, it's really good, but when it's bad, it's really bad. We have to make sure we strengthen the industry as much as possible.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Shipley. Some events we did in some provinces across Canada included self-care. It was a small gathering of about 15 to 20 young farmers, just to talk about some of the stresses that they're going through. It was refreshing to hear that I wasn't alone in these stresses, in talking about the pressure from parents and other family members to be successful, or even just the way to take the operation.

Agriculture committee  In agriculture we dropped the ball a bit on public trust and showing what we do and how we do it. We've been struggling for the last few years to really catch up and get ahead of the activists because they have a very strong presence in social media, obviously. That's something we've been trying to do by sharing our story.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the committee for the opportunity to come before you today. I'm Paul Glenn. I'm from the Canadian Young Farmers' Forum, a national organization dedicated to young farmers 18 to 40 years of age from across Canada. Agriculture producers face unique struggles and stresses, time constraints, and demands on their time, young farmers especially, because they are building businesses and families and typically doing the heavy lifting in family farming operations.

Agriculture committee  I don't have anything specific that comes to mind right now, but I know transitioning farms is a big one, continuing on the family farm. Then the more we can train our young farmers and educate the public, the better.

Agriculture committee  In any of the data, we show there is a bit of a decrease in growth of the farm when there is a transition made. I can share that data with the chair later on. Basically, any time that the farm has to be completely bought out, there is a decrease in growth, at every stage. If you can transition the farm, there is very little decrease in growth, if not increase in growth, to continue on the transfer.

Agriculture committee  Generally speaking, it is a great time to be in agriculture. There's no doubt about that. I know you always hear the doom and gloom from farmers all the time, so I don't want to be like that. There are lots of young farmers excited to be in agriculture, really happy about pushing the envelope on technology and where we're going.

Agriculture committee  Yes, something we are working on is creating a mentorship and exchange program for exiting farmers to mentor and having an exchange program for young farmers to go to those farms. There already are some programs out there now that are linking farmers looking to exit the industry with young farmers looking to get in.

Agriculture committee  I think it's probably still in the theory area. I don't have a lot of data for you on that. It's obviously on our minds that we need to get more young farmers excited about agriculture and interested in it, because fewer people know about it, so there are fewer people wanting to get into it, too.

Agriculture committee  Education never stops when you're a farmer, that's for sure. A lot of your suppliers typically put on education for you. I don't know a lot of link going back to the universities, necessarily, once the farmers are on farm—and maybe you can speak a bit more to that, Mr. Deaton—but education never stops.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely.

Agriculture committee  That's a really great question.

Agriculture committee  Definitely, I think it's going to start in our education system. That's been lacking starting very early in the public school system. It's educating the general public on what modern agriculture is currently. Then there would be less disconnect on how we do things and why we do things for animal welfare.

Agriculture committee  Yes, it's all cost to production, so if you have some big equipment, you need some more land, then renting is definitely a very common answer. It is tricky being near more urban areas for people who are owning the farmland to rent. That farm rental relationship is a bit tougher as there are more environmentalists and less understanding of what farming today looks like.