Agriculture committee  Yes. With the investment from the Government of Canada of $173 million, we've been able to work with trail-blazing companies across Canada to inject almost half a billion dollars into innovation. I'm a firm believer that innovation will not only underpin the growth of the plant-b

Agriculture committee  I'm not familiar with diets in those areas, but the reality is that protein consumption on a global basis is increasing, just as population is increasing and just as more people are entering the middle class. Canada has a responsibility, as I've heard today, to be a global suppli

Agriculture committee  I think the variable costs will always be a consideration for wherever an organization is going to site a plant. When I talk to ingredient manufacturers on a global basis, they're considering everything from the competitiveness of the business environment to the geopolitical envi

Agriculture committee  I think what you've underpinned is the need for continued innovation in advanced breeding technologies, the development of varieties and farming technologies so that we can keep pushing yields up, because the more we divert cropland to industrial bioproduct use, the more challeng

Agriculture committee  I think I heard it here today: Farmers need all the tools in their tool box to be successful.

Agriculture committee  I think again it's a focus on what it is that we're exporting. I would contend that our biggest opportunity to insulate ourselves against those is better integration into international supply chains with high-value products such as ingredients in food products, as opposed to raw

Agriculture committee  I think this is a critical one, and the requirement for protein is going to grow on a global basis. What we need to do is provide additional choices for consumers on a global basis, based on the crops that we produce, but also domestically. The more we can help companies innovate

Agriculture committee  Thank you. I think what you've described underpins the imperative that we increase food and ingredient processing in Canada, because at the end of the day, consumers want choice and accessibility, and they want to choose food products for whatever reason, whether it's environmen

Agriculture committee  The only thing I would add is that local processing of crops and ingredients is really the foundation of the next stage, which is plant-based food production in Canada. Anything we can do to move further up the value chain in the conversion of our crops to plant-based foods is

Agriculture committee  Yes, I do think that would avoid non-tariff trade barriers, because what we're seeing mostly in trade barriers is at the commodity level. If we're better integrated into supply chains on a global basis with high-value ingredients in food products, it becomes more challenging for

Agriculture committee  There are a couple of things. To set the stage in terms of the numbers, we produce on average 90 million metric tons of crops in this country and we're processing 16 to 21 million metric tons, depending on what you put in the bucket, so the delta is huge. Incentives in investme

Agriculture committee  We have trade deals with a large number of global consumers. As you say, you can always do more, but the reality is that as a net exporter of food, crops and ingredients, we have to do a bit of both. The markets where we have trade deals today are probably the most lucrative for

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for having me here today. As mentioned, my name is Bill Greuel; I'm CEO at Protein Industries Canada. We are one of Canada's five global innovation clusters and are working to accelerate innovation in Canada's plant-based food and ingr

Agriculture committee  It's really critical, because it's the top of the innovation pipeline. For entrepreneurs to have methods of bringing commercial ideas to market is really critical as companies grow in scale. Dr. Charlebois touched on the concept of a food tech incubator, and I will hit on it ag

Agriculture committee  It's early days still. We're about two and a half years into our mandate, so I can't claim that we're responsible for foreign direct investment. What we're really trying to do is create an environment to attract organizations, companies and multinationals to invest. Helping to de