Agriculture committee  I understand that.

Agriculture committee  The reason 15% of the farmers are producing 80% of the food is that the policies in place have been discouraging young farmers from starting up, so it has just become bigger and bigger. I think that's the reason we're here today. The title of our meeting today is to help out the

Agriculture committee  As I said before, I think it would give an opportunity for someone to access the consumer dollar. If you have to ship your cattle all the way down south, and then if the meat is brought back.... There is a market out there. People are constantly coming to me and asking if they

Agriculture committee  I'll try to expand on what Sean said about the Cattlemen's Association not wanting to prevent packers from owning cattle. In Ontario here, Cargill is the big player. There are other small ones too, but there are a lot of farmers out there who are scared to stand up and say what

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  I wouldn't expect a young farmer to start with 600 head of cattle. Something like 100 or 150 head would be reasonable. But in this area, my operation is, I would say, compared with a lot of cases, maybe average. There are many operations much bigger than what I have. In this area

Agriculture committee  When you speak to some of the people at the small and medium-sized abattoirs and ask why they are being shut down, they will tell you the following. For example, I spoke to one fellow who has a considerable abattoir down south of Owen Sound, and he basically said that every week

Agriculture committee  Yes. I have a beef farm in this area. I farm about 600 head. I have been involved with the Ontario feeder finance program for about 16 years. As Steve just mentioned, it is a good program. It's been a great thing for producers. I don't know whether you're all familiar with i