Agriculture committee  It is a little difficult to tell how far away we are, because it's development of technology. All I can say is that the results look relatively promising. I am hopeful that maybe next year we may have something, but it would be hard to determine the exact time.

Agriculture committee  I'm not sure about that, but I think it's been for a number of years. The Canadian Wheat Board has certainly invested some millions of dollars in this over the last couple of years.

Agriculture committee  I think basically what has been said is correct.

Agriculture committee  Just because that would give us more time in the process in terms of getting ready for it. In the event that this isn't the case, I think as has been said, we're working very hard to make sure that all the bases are covered with regard to testing the quality. There's no dispute between the Canadian Grain Commission and us with regard to how we are now coping with that arrangement.

Agriculture committee  We are adapting to the new date. As has been said, the committees have been put in place and the industry working group is meeting on a regular basis and has, in my understanding, developed the protocols associated with delivery and quality. Of course, no system is ever without some risk.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Canadian Wheat Board has marketed the wheat, durum, and barley produced by western Canadian farmers on the basis of a branding strategy with customers that established their products as the gold standard for quality, consistency, and reliability for many years.

Agriculture committee  Yes, there is.

Agriculture committee  I'm sorry. I need to correct that. But I think that being referred to as sort of our farmer lobby—

Agriculture committee  Certainly.

Agriculture committee  No, I don't think I said I didn't know if that was the case. I said that to my knowledge, the board was not supporting any organization.

Agriculture committee  No. The only areas that the Canadian Wheat Board puts funds into are those--and we'll talk about it in the KVD area--where there is some future commercial benefit, such as variety, selection, and so forth.

Agriculture committee  Yes, just in the last month we have been doing our budgets for the next year, so I've had the opportunity of looking at those very extensively and going into them in great detail. They'll be the subject of discussions with the board of directors over the course of the next month or so.

Agriculture committee  Thank you.

Agriculture committee  We give farmers the choice of choosing the price, depending on what the daily market price is that they want to hedge, and it's entirely up to them whether they think that's a good price or not. We have seen a very large run-up in the wheat market, for instance, in the course of the last 12 months or so.

Agriculture committee  No.