International Trade committee  Very much so. I've always felt one of the biggest mistakes we made following BSE was to open our own borders to live cattle leaving the country because we took away our processing opportunities. The more we keep at home, the more jobs we create and the more opportunity we have to

International Trade committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today and to present to you on behalf of the B.C. Cattlemen's Association and its members. In a lot of ways, our industry is very much a national industry, so what is good for us here in British Columbia is the way it works for u

Agriculture committee  Certainly. There are certainly different things like chemical additives and growth promotants that will help those conversions. There's also genetics. There's always genetic research going on to find out which genetics convert better, which feeds convert better. We are trying to

Agriculture committee  I would say right now they're definitely in need of more scientists, for the simple reason they're just gearing up. To be quite honest, we still aren't exactly sure of where the program is going and how it will be facilitated. It's just within the last few months that it's change

Agriculture committee  Yes, and actually I apologize for not remembering that one; that's one of the most recent ones when you talk about federal involvement. Tags and technology are huge issues for traceability. We have almost two things happening here within our cattle and livestock industry in Canad

Agriculture committee  Sure. The one thing about research is that it is all encompassing. We do research everywhere from market studies to see what is more accessible.... We talk about how much of our waste we are putting out in British Columbia or Canada that...we can't export to some of these count

Agriculture committee  Can I make a comment about the waste side of things?

Agriculture committee  Another aspect of waste is not just what we're wasting in food. We use a lot of products. Ag plastic is one, which we utilize every day to cover and protect our feed. We have no place to get rid of it, because we can't get it clean enough for any of the recyclers to take. We need

Agriculture committee  Then you're pretty perceptive.

Agriculture committee  I just don't feel comfortable commenting on something that I'm not thoroughly involved in. Now, when it comes to the science cluster, to give you a bit of my brief history, I am general manager for the BC Cattlemen's Association, but that's only been two years. For 40 years pri

Agriculture committee  That's one of those age-old questions. Is it mistrust that we need to overcome, or is it education that we need to put out there? I think what has happened is that our consumers and society have reached a point at which we have created such a safe product that they are unwillin

Agriculture committee  In the one program we have put forward now in AgriFlex, you mean?

Agriculture committee  Right now it is very beneficial. We are just getting the program under way. There are several research program projects that are being put forward. But on the marketing end of things—and we're working very closely with the British Columbia government on this, on trade with the As

Agriculture committee  Yes, it did. Most of our research has been done and organized at the national level with the Canadian Cattlemen's Association through the science cluster. There's been an awful lot of research. We need only look to BSE--I refuse to call it mad cow in public because she wasn't mad

Agriculture committee  I would just add that for our industry one of the most important things in climate change is making sure that the forage and the grass technology and research continues to allow us to adapt to these changes.