Agriculture committee  I could address that issue. The controversial issue with labelling is the question of mandatory versus voluntary. I'm arguing that there is no such thing as an average consumer. Markets are differentiated. I would be on the side of voluntary labelling. If you have companies tha

Agriculture committee  I think it declined. The public sector portion of agriculture research has declined in a number of countries. I couldn't tell you, relative to the U.S., if we've fallen more or not, but that might be something to look into. Some of the sources I referenced in my speaking notes mi

Agriculture committee  I would say addressing the zero tolerance issue so that you can have differentiated supply chains and segregation that don't increase costs.

Agriculture committee  Could I add to the point made earlier? Canada is a small market and it takes a long time to get registry approval, so some companies will move south of the border. I think that's a big issue. We're a much smaller population, and it's a smaller market to get our product commercial

Agriculture committee  No.

Agriculture committee  I have some information that might be helpful. In 2007, total private sector investment in plant R and D in Canada was about 40%; Agriculture Canada A-based funding was about 21%; provinces were about 6%; and producer check-off funding was 4%. Someone earlier pointed out that NSE

Agriculture committee  I can't speak specifically to going back to exactly 1994 levels, but in general--and maybe some of my science colleagues can comment--I think we're heard about the importance of ongoing investment to make sure we have both the infrastructure and the people in place.

Agriculture committee  Yes, that was some work looking at the returns to public sector agricultural research in general. In the U.S., as in Canada, it's a mixture of private sector and public sector investment in research. The key point is that in Canada, and in the U.S. and elsewhere, the public secto

Agriculture committee  Yes. I think public sector investments in agricultural research have been declining in most developed countries, and that's a general concern in terms of what's happening to the agricultural productivity growth rate.

Agriculture committee  I have just one quick observation. The problem here is that there are tolerance rules. We create these. I think you're aiming at the wrong target here. It's finding ways to address those zero-tolerance rules in a trade context, and then you can have differentiated markets for org

Agriculture committee  It's good to see you too. Thanks for the invitation to speak to the committee this morning on the topic of the biotechnology industry. Allow me to preface my remarks very briefly with my background and expertise. I'm an agricultural economist in the department of bioresource p

Agriculture committee  The enforcement issue is a good point. That was my issue about distinction between a food safety issue.... If there is a food safety concern, then deal with it through those food safety mechanisms. The credibility issue around labelling is I think a different question. If those

Agriculture committee  Good morning, and thank you for your invitation to present this morning. I'm a faculty member at the University of Saskatchewan. I'm an agricultural economist. My research area includes food supply chains, traceability, and the economics of food safety and quality, so I'll be s