Agriculture committee  I'd have to echo Bob. The major part of the margin erosion has been at the primary producer level. Through the BSE and other things that have happened, we've seen processor margins and stuff stay up the same as ever, while the primary producer lost his margin. So we have to empha

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, it's important for government to have a long-term plan for agriculture. Included in that is succession planning, but just have a long-term plan with our agricultural policy, so that producers can see which direction the government is headed in. Of c

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think one way government can help in this is through the tax system and how the succession is taxed when it rolls over. There are two things you have to guarantee when you turn your farm over to your children: you have to guarantee that you have a comf

Agriculture committee  I think we can do the same thing with markets and food security on a global scale by identifying Canadian product as Canadian product and the highest-quality food in the world. I've worked with people in the United States before. When we were in dairy, we exported dairy products

Agriculture committee  It's been used by individual farmers in between farms, but according to my accountant, you pay the tax up front. That's what he's saying.

Agriculture committee  Well, that's the way I bought my farm when I bought it. That's the way it worked then. But according to several accountants I've talked to, now I have to pay the taxes up front on the total amount, even though I wasn't paid for it up front. And I'm not the only farmer who's don

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  I believe supply management is a business risk tool whereby producers can have some guarantee of their income over the long term. It comes with a sizeable investment also, but producers pay that out of their own pocket. They pay their own costs and they expect a return from the m

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members. My name is Don Bettle and I have a farm in Kings Country, New Brunswick. I'm a former chairman of the Dairy Farmers of New Brunswick, and also a director of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. What I'd like to talk to today is