Agriculture committee  On the malt side, there is a condition mostly in Manitoba and in some of the northern tier states called fusarium head blight, and the farther you go west, the less chances there are of the disease. So if you look in the northern tier states, and in southern Manitoba, where that condition is very prevalent, the malting industry has moved out due to that fact.

Agriculture committee  Perhaps I could make a comment on that. You realize that a lot of producers have voted with their seed drills. They're voting to grow barley or canola or pulses that they cannot market themselves and get the best dollar. A lot of those producers might have to grow wheat or barley just for rotational purposes.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for inviting us to this committee. I'm very happy to be here. Firstly, I would like to make a few comments. I am a grain and oilseed producer at Olds, Alberta. I'm also an elected farmer director of Agricore United. We're very proud of the fact that Agricore United is a farmer-elected company run by farmers.