Agriculture committee  I have just a quick comment on the ability of the small abattoirs and even plants our size to compete, given the cost of $40 to $60 a head for rendering and land filling. We don't believe these new technologies are long-term solutions. These technologies are proven now, and they can be put into play relatively quickly.

Agriculture committee  The problem is timing and applications, and we've been talking both to the federal and provincial governments. The deadline is set. It does take eight to ten months to a year to build a facility. We've known about this for quite a number of months now. We've been chasing our good people in government, but you can see there's a level of frustration amongst producers and producer-owned plants that we have this challenge.

Agriculture committee  If we were at 800 head a day and all of the material was considered SRM, the cost would be in the range of $9 million to $10 million for a small plant. When you're in a very competitive business, that can be the difference between succeeding and not succeeding. If we can change that $9 million cost to $1 million or $2 million, we can eventually have a profit on the other side.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm sorry we're a bit late. Our messages were a bit at cross-purposes. I am a producer, and we represent a producer-owned packing plant in Alberta. Our packing plant started as a result of the issue of BSE. The price for our cattle diminished dramatically, and of course, out of tragedy often things happen.