Agriculture committee  That is something we're working towards, and I think the other thing we have to work towards is the environmental value of our crops, particularly perennial forage crops like alfalfa. These crops are fixing nitrogen at an enormous rate and can be used in cropping rotation, reduci

Agriculture committee  I appreciate that question, because promotion and development are the kinds of things we want to be talking about. Unfortunately, we can get caught up in problems with recognition and risk management. What we're interested in is development, and the development of cellulosic etha

Agriculture committee  You mentioned before that something could come from the grassroots. Federal departments do have people looking at different sectors. I don't know what to say. A group like ours represents 2,400 producers, 500,000 acres in western Canada. What we're trying to do is let federal de

Agriculture committee  Possibly. When a program like the grains and oilseeds payment program is developed, consultation with the departmental agencies is used to establish a list of commodities that are included in that program. Now, if a certain sector is not in the consciousness of those bureaucrats

Agriculture committee  As far as production insurance goes, forage seed is an interesting example. If you look at the three prairie provinces—at alfalfa seed production, for instance—in Alberta there is pedigreed alfalfa seed production; in Saskatchewan only common alfalfa seed production is insurable.

Agriculture committee  We're in ongoing consultation with crop insurance, but in our particular case, probably only 50% to 60% of our alfalfa seed acres are within crop insurance. In our particular sector, our producers don't necessarily subscribe to crop insurance, because it costs a lot and doesn't p

Agriculture committee  As far as the issue of recognition of an industry like ours, the forage seed industry, is concerned, we have a couple of ways to look at that. One of them is that 35 or 40 years ago, farmers were being urged to diversify in western Canada. Our growers, particularly the alfalfa se

Agriculture committee  First of all, I look at the problem within our sector of just having recognition, at the federal level, that we exist. That tends to supercede other considerations. We're asking to be included in programs. We're asking for fair and equitable treatment, but we also believe that go

Agriculture committee  Yes, I guess the take-home points here would be, one, there is a forage seed industry as opposed to a forage hay industry. And the other is that, yes, the forage and grass seed industry should be treated as the other grains and oil seeds, special crops in these national programs,

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to express my appreciation for the opportunity to address this committee. The producers I represent are involved in the western Canadian forage seed industry. Forage and grass seed production in Canada is concentrated primarily in Alberta, Sask