Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank the witnesses for coming today. It's quite a broad spectrum.
Recently in The Economist there was an article concerning the future food crisis that more or less stated that the world has gone through an economic crisis a bit, but that the food crisis is next and is going to be just as challenging—more challenging, definitely—than the economic crisis.
When we sit around the table, as the western world 20% of us are fortunate enough to have lots of food, and we can make decisions and choices about our food. The other 80% of the world just go day to day getting their food.
If this crisis happens—it is happening now, and we see it—although we should have been ahead of the curve with the economic crisis, if we're going to be ahead of the curve with this food crisis when we have to feed ten billion people, I see biotechnology as probably one of the few tools or the best tool to help avoid some of the problems, especially with world climate changes and distribution.
It has been stated that the more local food we can get produced, the better we're going to be able to adapt. For that to happen, you're going to have to have varieties and things like that.
Often we're looking through our own lens at our own consumers, our own tastes, our own concerns. But shouldn't the powers that be look at how we are going to start growing crops in the sub-Sahara or in parts of Africa or India or wherever? Shouldn't we be coming to grips with that? How do we come to grips with it, and how is biotech going to deal with it? And what leadership role should we be taking in that kind of way?
I will just open it up and I would hope everybody will have a few minutes.