Industry committee  Our first recommendation is to introduce immediate enhancements to business risk management programs. Our strong preference is for the federal government to immediately contribute to Ontario's risk management program. In our belief, this is the most effective way to ensure suppor

Industry committee  Thank you for your question, Mr. Longfield. Yes, absolutely, we've been working with the supply chain in Ontario and our provincial ministry and minister, and so have my counterparts in the other provinces. Yes, it's frustrating that there seems to be somewhat of a finger-pointi

Industry committee  I was just going comment on the DDGs as a feedstuff for Ontario, most specifically eastern Canadian beef producers. The price of those products has doubled since COVID hit. Since March 1, the price of DDGs in Ontario has doubled, and that obviously relates to a major cost increas

Industry committee  I certainly can't speak for grain farmers or the ethanol industry, but beef producers are finding alternative ways to address supply shortages in certain areas and they are certainly working with nutritionists to close the gap in that area. However, it's certainly not ideal and i

Agriculture committee  Yes. Thanks, Mr. Ruff. I think Paul touched on it. Janice did as well. I don't proclaim to be an expert in the intricacies of the AgriStability program. Paul's “70% of 70%” when discussing the reference margin limit is one of the reasons why the program is so complicated, but

Agriculture committee  One of the concerns is the delay in the program payments that go out. The government has done a good job of increasing the percentage of interim payments that go out, and I think that's an excellent move, but when we're still processing AgriStability claims from 2018, it really s

Agriculture committee  Good afternoon. Thank you, Rob, and thank you, Mr. Chair. Another issue we wanted to touch on today that is contributing to processing capacity challenges stems from an ongoing trade issue with South Korea, which is having a negative impact on American packer interest in buying

Agriculture committee  I appreciate the question. Yes, delays in getting animals processed create significant costs to producers, in the form of discounts at processors for overweight cattle. Obviously, the costs in feeding an animal for longer periods of time also has huge implications in the hundred

Agriculture committee  I think some of that was touched on in our presentation. Investment by the federal and provincial governments and private industry is huge in making sure that processors that are here and are operating have the tools that they need to expand operations, improve efficiencies and

Agriculture committee  I would just add, from a beef perspective—the processors can tell you what they need—that we would underscore what Rob mentioned in his presentation. Make the funding programs targeted enough, with sufficient runway, to let the businesses decide how to best implement technology a

Agriculture committee  That's an excellent question. I think it's a balanced approach. We're going to need labour regardless of how much automation there is or how many in-plant improvements are made. The temporary part is the issue that we have a problem with. We want permanent residents, people who a

Agriculture committee  Yes, I think it's very simple on the SRM issue; we need to harmonize with the United States. The costs are prohibitive. They're creating an unlevel playing field between Canada and the United States. The science does not support the continued policies that we maintain in this c

Agriculture committee  I was waiting to see if Rob would answer, but I'll jump in here. Yes, Canada has a national identification program. All identification tags are retired at slaughter. There's also registration at birth. Between the CFIA and industry, we can do a pretty good job of tracing back or

Agriculture committee  That's an excellent question. Thank you. Touching on the investment for plants, it needs to be targeted and strategic. In terms of reaching out to plants— I apologize; I was getting interpretation in my headphones. Yes, on investment, small, medium and large-sized plants are