Agriculture committee  I'll be very brief, Myron. On your comments about the involvement of government, clearly in the cattle sector the issues for us are competitiveness, market access, and regulatory burden. Those three things are critical for us. We also tend not to like a whole lot of government, but government does have a role to play in terms of foreign markets, maintaining markets.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Hubbard. In terms of who would benefit, it's clear, and I think we touched on it just a few seconds ago when we were talking about expecting higher feed grain costs for the foreseeable future. What that tells me is that we need more feed grains. The Americans have done a very good job of figuring out how to grow more feed grains, and they do that.

Agriculture committee  If that's the truth, I'm very sorry to hear that. The Beef Information Centre arm of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association has done consumer research. Consumers are starting to say they've done enough direct subsidization, putting this money in. I think we need to find ways that young farmers and middle-aged farmers and old farmers can all make money in the marketplace.

Agriculture committee  I'm sorry to say that I agree with you. I think what goes on in the States—I mean, they're saving so much money on their corn subsidies, they funnel that subsidy money into ethanol production. It's an easier deal for them. And of course, being importers of foreign oil, a situation we don't have in Canada, it's easier for them.

Agriculture committee  No. The price of any grain is an international thing, and the situation in the States rises all ships.

Agriculture committee  I agree with what I heard you say about the cellulosic thing. It's probably the way we need to go long term, but the technology is not clear yet, and we're not sure whether it's one year or forty years out for that. Brazil produces ethanol from sugar cane with an 8:1 energy ratio.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Miller. With respect to the disincentive thing, there are aspects of the CAIS program, particularly as it originally was trotted out, that did convey disincentives to some risk management. The CAIS program in some cases would work better in times of high volatility, and people could potentially manipulate their affairs in order to attract that sort of volatility.

Agriculture committee  Yes, country-of-origin labelling is something our sector has been quite worried about. I again emphasize that we live and die by international trade. We originally saw, and I guess to some extent we still see, country-of-origin labelling as essentially a non-tariff trade barrier that will complicate it and make it more difficult for us to sell beef in the American marketplace.

Agriculture committee  He asked about the best ways to help out young farmers, transfer of farms, how to support young farmers and that sort of thing.

Agriculture committee  On the disaster insurance part of it, for the cattle sector, border closures would be right up there. We saw what happened when we lost access to the U.S. border and other markets in 2003, when fat cattle dropped from $1.10 to 28¢. That's not something that's insurable in the open marketplace.

Agriculture committee  I agree with you about the quagmire part; it delays things. It's a bit difficult for me to suggest whether a major drought should be 60-40 or 90-10. I don't know. Living in Alberta perhaps colours my vision a bit, because this province can afford the 40% more readily than some of the other provinces.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. My name is Eric Butters. I ranch with my family about an hour and a half from here, west of Cochrane. I appreciate the opportunity to visit with you this close to home, and thank you for the opportunity. We recognize the value of the standing committee in providing input to the rest of government concerning our issues.