Agriculture committee  We haven't looked at nutritional aspects of it, but as you know, we are working on a grown-in-Canada label to identify Canadian products, to clearly brand Canada in Canada as well, on top of what we're doing around the world. I also want to agree with Richard on the security issue.

Agriculture committee  I certainly think it bears taking a good look at to see if we can adjust the spring cash advance to provide farmers with money. There is one other challenge, though, and this has come about in the livestock sector now, in the hog industry. One thing we've been pushing for is a cash advance and then allowing farmers a longer period of time to pay off that cash advance rather than it having to come off other program payment that a producer is eligible for.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Miller twigged this point. When it comes to empowering farmers to buy some of these inputs, we've submitted what we call a co-op investment plan. That gives the ability to co-ops to generate more investment capital so that farmers can empower themselves, either in the selling market or in the purchasing market.

Agriculture committee  We met with the Competition Bureau quite a few years ago. They claimed they were doing everything right and everything was perfect. It was tough to penetrate that defence. One of the things.... This is not necessarily on fertilizer. It may apply to fertilizer. Perhaps these gentlemen could articulate that.

Agriculture committee  Ninety percent of the demand on fertilizer comes from developing countries. The three countries that are prominent are India, China, and Brazil. As far as doing other things on fertilizer, in response to your question, perhaps the minister should get up and address this issue and draw public attention to the fact that we are sending natural resources down to the U.S. and subsidizing U.S. farmers.

Agriculture committee  One of our members, Keystone Agricultural Producers, also requested that the Competition Bureau do an analysis on the study that KAP had done. The bureau wrote back and claimed that there wasn't enough information for it to go ahead.

Agriculture committee  We asked before for an excise tax rebate across the board. On your first question, on nitrogen, you're right. I've said that too, and emphasized it. I believe it doesn't matter if there's a lot of fertilizer lying around, because fertilizer companies know that if I get $5 or $6 or $8 per bushel more for whatever grain I produce, I can afford to apply more fertilizer and to buy more.

Agriculture committee  I'll answer four of them. I would like to talk about OUI and GROU a little later, though. I actually did mention regulatory costs, Mr. Easter. Just for the record, I did talk about regulatory costs. In fact, the hog industry will tell you that farmers in Canada pay for an awful lot of regulation that U.S. hog farmers don't.

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  I think you mentioned an energy policy. Let's keep in mind that natural gas prices have gone down and fertilizer has spiked up, and fertilizer companies, because they know that....You see, when the price of grains and oilseeds was low, a farmer tests his soil, he calculates how much fertilizer he wants to apply, and knows that the law of diminishing returns kicks in quite soon.

Agriculture committee  Thank you. Mr. Lauzon, I think you mentioned several things. One is transportation, and of course we supported and thank you for how quickly you brought back Bill C-8 when you came back to the House. We're also asking for a full costing review on the efficiency cap, and have already talked to the minister about that, as a complement to what's being done in Bill C-8.

Agriculture committee  Thank you. You make some good points. Look at the price index and the cost index, starting in 2002 at 100. You know how much grain and oilseed prices have gone up in 2007. We're looking at starting at 100 in 2002. Oilseeds are at just over 120 for 2007. But the fertilizer started at 100 and has escalated to 160.

Agriculture committee  What adds insult to injury is if the price discrepancies that we've seen in the analysis that was commissioned by KAP are correct, it means that our natural resources are subsidizing U.S. farmers.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. It certainly is a pleasure to be invited to this hearing, together with the other colleagues at the end of the table. I will keep my comments brief. As you know, when we start talking about input costs there is a lot of information, and I will certainly be willing to answer any questions you might have.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chair, I could suggest all kinds of ideas, but very quickly, that's CFA policy. As a first priority, everybody should move up to a common TRQ. As a hog producer, I'm getting 0.5% into Europe, as you said. As a turkey producer, I'm already giving up 5%. So as a priority, that's where they should go.