Agriculture committee  I don't have anything beyond what Patty has said.

Agriculture committee  I missed your first question, elaborating on.... What was the first part?

Agriculture committee  I would just echo what Archie was saying in terms of the increased additional crop types where there will be additional advantages in terms of the types of varieties that will be coming forward. With the additional investment, of course, there's going to be more work, more varieties.

Agriculture committee  Yes, okay, what that was about. In our field program we bring material. We don't do breeding, but we work with breeders from around the world, primarily in wheat, but also in other cereal crops, flax, and field beans. We bring their material and screen it for adaptation in western Canada for performance.

Agriculture committee  That's a very interesting question. First, we don't export, but anything that is going to protect the intellectual property of breeders wherever a variety is developed and wherever it ends up going, I think is going to be beneficial to those programs in continuing to generate those varieties.

Agriculture committee  No, we're not. We're western Canadian based. The majority of the ownership is western Canadian seed growers and agriculture retailers. We're focused on western Canadian agriculture.

Agriculture committee  Yes. The reason we have a field program is the small number of seed growers who established the company 18 years ago wanted additional sources of varieties beyond what they were able to source from the public programs. We do draw from public programs, but they wanted more. Our program has grown and we continue to plan to grow it.

Agriculture committee  Thank you. On behalf of Canterra Seeds I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to comment on Bill C-18 and specifically the sections dealing with UPOV 91, and the importance of this legislation for creating an environment that will attract new investment in initiatives that will lead to greater innovation and increased opportunity for Canadian farmers.