Agriculture committee  You see, where I'm at, we go by bushels and not tonnes. We're about average. Maybe 40-45 bushels per acre. With how dry it was, we'll take it.

Agriculture committee  At the end of the day, farmers might decide to grow a shorter-season corn to try to get it off at a lower moisture, which is going to result in less production, or they may be looking at ways to plant less corn or fewer crops that need to be dried, creating a kind of shortage in those particular crops.

Agriculture committee  Yes. I think when we initially ran the numbers it was about 13%.

Agriculture committee  Once it leaves the farm gate, it can be used in animal feed. It can be used in ethanol. It can be used in whiskey. It can be used in a lot of different things. If you go through your grocery store, you will see high-fructose corn syrup. It will affect things across the board. Whether it is driving or groceries, there's less to be put into the marketplace.

Agriculture committee  I can start on that. It's going to be different across the province with moisture levels where the corn is coming off at and with how much it's used. I've talked to grain farmers who paid an $8,000 bill just in the carbon tax to dry their grain last year. With the escalation of how that will be going from now until 2030, you're not wrong in saying that it will be putting family farms at risk.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much for inviting me to be with you today. This is an issue that remains top of mind for our farmer members, so it's much appreciated that I was invited here today. My name is Brendan Byrne. I'm the chair of the Grain Farmers of Ontario. I farm in Essex, near the Windsor border, with my family.

International Trade committee  I can maybe add, as an example, that last year during harvest time, there was a time when we got a rain that slowed down the harvest. However, in talking to the delivery ports we would have, just in terms of our grain delivery, they were saying they were almost at capacity and not really able to take more soybeans at the time.

International Trade committee  Mr. Lewis might be able to attest that some of our rural Internet outside of Essex is not the greatest. I apologize for that. When the shipping containers or that logjam happens and farmers are unable to get the crop off and delivered in a timely fashion, it can delay harvest and cause some of these other stresses.

International Trade committee  Yes, I would say that there certainly are climate change pieces at play. Even in our region, we've been pushed to later plantings in the spring than we probably were when I started farming full time almost 20 years ago, and harvest goes out a little longer, but we do find that we are able to access genetics and whatnot that do survive those pieces.

International Trade committee  I think that was well said by Mr. Innes. On our end, we're looking to a level playing field with our competitors on this, the carbon tax, fertilizer tariffs and pieces like that which are at play. I'm in an area where I see U.S. crops coming across the border that are not subjected to some of the things that we are.

International Trade committee  I would probably look to Mr. Innes for that last part in terms of our largest competitors. I'd say that it's probably 35 years ago or so when my family—my uncle and cousin—went on a trade mission to Japan, which was looking at our identity preserved soybeans. Even at that time, they were known as the best in the world.

International Trade committee  We have farms across Ontario of all different sizes, so we look at it as something that all growers could take advantage of if it's right. We look to facilitate that, because we see some small enterprises that have found some specialty markets, as well as some larger growers that do the same.

International Trade committee  —impact food production. You'll have—

International Trade committee  Yes, that's no problem. On that fertilizer piece, there are farmers right now who are planting wheat. They're providing it with just a base level of nitrogen versus a full level, and that's where you [Technical difficulty—Editor]—

International Trade committee  Okay. I'm sorry about that. Anytime we're using less fertilizer because it costs more or because there is a tariff being applied to it, that is going to directly affect food production, because farmers are going to make decisions based on the amount they can put into the crop with the expectation of the return, knowing full well that they are at the mercy of the weather.