Agriculture committee  I certainly can. Right now there's a program in Canada, and there may be other ones going in eastern Canada or whatever, but in the west, there's a program called Canada Gold Beef. They started a program at the end of February of hormone-free beef for export to the EU. They have customers who want it.

Agriculture committee  We don't have a dependency other than the fact that.... On the previous panel there were quite a few comments about how these programs have become capitalized into the farm—and they have. It's a reality, especially if you are a single commodity producer; you depended upon those programs to stay viable.

Agriculture committee  Randy, obviously trade is extremely important in the cattle industry and in the hog industry as well, but I think we have to look at some internal things. We've talked about the CFIA before. CFIA is holding us back on markets that we could get to. One of our big problems in the cattle industry is that we are so dependent on one market.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely.

Agriculture committee  It's obvious that trade built this country, and we have to continue to trade, but we have to have a fair basis for trade. We also know that our biggest customer—and we're also their biggest customer—is the U.S., and they're not fair traders. In my business, we make the most money when we can trade with the Americans, but for the good of Canadian agriculture, we need to protect our own food supply.

Agriculture committee  I hate to use the words “safety net”, but if AgriStability was structured in terms of what it's done for Brad, it's what any young farmer in any sector of the industry would need, which is a stop gap. He needs something that's bankable. AgriStability is not bankable right now. Therefore, unless we can come up with an insurance program for livestock that's similar to an insurance program for crops or a whole-farm program, which AgriStability is supposed to be, that would guarantee that at least loan payments are made and the cost of production is paid, the banks are not going to be interested, even with an 80% loan guarantee such as the livestock cash advance that Carter talked about.

Agriculture committee  Yes. These aren't through the existing banks. It's not hinged on whether or not you have a contract. If you purchase your inputs and get a crop production loan from company A, you have to sell your product back to company A. On the livestock side of things, let's face it, this industry is extremely volatile and extremely risky, and profits have been virtually zero since 2003.

Agriculture committee  Farm Credit is the alliance partner in those programs.

Agriculture committee  I just want to make a few comments, but they're not based on our own operation, Carter's and mine. In our business we deal with a number of producers from across western Canada and into eastern Canada and the U.S. Despite the colour of my hair, in a lot of places when I go in to look at their cattle, I'm the young guy.