Agriculture committee  Probably the greatest strength of our young farmer organization is the networking. I know I've utilized a lot of information from our friends out west, some from farmers who were growing larger operations, on how they made the transition, or from people who have transitioned from their parents...what worked, what didn't work, learning from their mistakes.

Agriculture committee  I don't know if I have the answer. Educating the public is the biggest thing, especially in Ontario with the neonic and how that worked out. More regulation for farmers doesn't help us. It's not that regulation is bad. We're all trying to do the best thing for the environment and for animal welfare.

Agriculture committee  Definitely most, if not all, of the young farmers who I know that have gone through transition planning used lawyers, accountants, bank managers, to obviously mitigate any risk in the transition. I think typically now with young farmers, we do operate them as businesses, and we're not just talking to the accountant once a year at tax time.

Agriculture committee  It's actually really tough to find institutions that are...besides FCC or some of the ag accounting firms.

Agriculture committee  Exactly, yes. I know I've struggled with that, and I've now moved to very ag-specific companies to work with because of the knowledge base. I had my accountant out to my farm for a tour and he saw my gravity wagon. He said, “Oh, is that how you plant your field?” So, there's a big disconnect in the knowledge of those professionals.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. As you said, I'm Paul Glenn, the past chair of the Canadian Young Farmers' Forum. With me today is Justin Williams, our Ontario and Quebec director. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about the very important issue of farm debt and its effects on young farmers.