Agriculture committee  You know, throughout many parts of the country, we do have watershed management units. For example, in Ontario, where I live, we have conservation authorities that manage landscapes according to a watershed level. We know that with the warming of the climate, the atmosphere will have a greater capacity to hold moisture and therefore also to release it suddenly, so I think that planning at a watershed level is....

Agriculture committee  We've just come off a project that looks at different aspects of water management in Canada. The most recent piece was on the prospects for irrigation in western Canada. When we think about water irrigation and conservation, I think that another aspect that we have to bring in here is scarcity.

Agriculture committee  Yes, certainly. We look for opportunities in which agriculture can be a solutions provider. As one of only a few industries that are capable of sequestering carbon, we look at that as an option and look at what options there are to provide incentives for that. As we get into this, a lot of the discussion has been around mitigation.

Agriculture committee  Thanks for the question. I don't think we have the luxury of legislating organic foods. There are a number of concerns there, but the biggest one.... You started your question off with Sri Lanka. What occurred in Sri Lanka was that essentially the agricultural system fell apart when they stopped using fertilizer and at least certain pesticides.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chair and honourable members, I'm pleased to appear before you today and to provide my insights as a researcher at the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute. Horticulture is an essential element of Canadian agriculture and secure access to nutritious food. It's an important source for food manufacturing and the basis of Canadian export-oriented industries, and it's an area where Canada has an importing interest, both off-season and throughout the year.