Agriculture committee  Basically, at the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission we're putting literally thousands of dollars into looking at ways to make a better canola meal—and not only a better canola meal: we're looking at developing varieties that produce more oil, so we will have less canola meal on the market.

Agriculture committee  I hope they're better than what we have today, that's for sure. I have some major concerns with the CAIS program. One of the problems I see with the CAIS program is that because they deal with a margin-based program, there are a number of producers who.... You can take a good look here at Saskatchewan.

Agriculture committee  Yes, I think that's one thing. I don't know how you address it to make it fair to all farmers out there. I know we shouldn't be subsidizing farmers out there who are poor managers; that is going nowhere. Nowadays if you're not a good manager, you're not there. If you look at crop production insurance over the last number of years, it has really fallen.

Agriculture committee  Those are interesting comments, and I agree with them. One of the problems coming from the province of Saskatchewan is that we're not the richest province out there, and a number of other provinces have the dollars to put into agriculture. We're not only competing within Canada; we're also competing with United States and European communities, which does create a problem.

Agriculture committee  I agree with that statement. The cost to the grain and oilseed sector.... It just doesn't matter on the farm. We talk about getting it out of the marketplace; it seems as soon as the marketplace moves up a little, our input moves up along with it, and usually faster than the marketplace moves up.

Agriculture committee  Well, that's a good question, and you hit the nail right on the head when you talked about costs of production going up tremendously. Fertilizer, basically, has doubled in the last six months. I think the one thing that governments can do is since the taxes are in the production of the products, if they could be removed, that's one of the ways I think you could deal with it.

Agriculture committee  With regard to the regulatory system, I'll go back Roundup canola. Patent was filed for that back in 1987, but it didn't get issued until 2005. The way they did it actually gave the company 34 years on that patent. I don't know where the patent office was when this was all taking place, but there definitely was a problem.

Agriculture committee  I just want to touch a little bit on food safety. I sit on the food safety for grains and oilseeds, and as we move down that road, it seems to me that it's trying to be pushed down instead of pulled along. I guess my concern is that if the people out there don't really want to pay for it, then we shouldn't be doing it.

Agriculture committee  That's a good question, and it's a tough one to answer. I know if I was in supply management I definitely wouldn't want to give away supply management, because they do take the dollars out of the marketplace, but I'm not sure how we address it. I just know that in the canola industry we have tremendous tariffs out there and subsidies coming out of the States and Europe, and if there were some way that could be addressed, it would sure help agriculture and relieve some of the subsidies that the Canadian government is paying to us.

Agriculture committee  Well, I think the biggest risks on my farm are the weather concerns. I mentioned that in my presentation. To put in an acre of canola basically costs us somewhere between $160 and $200 an acre. We have to have about a 30-bushel crop just to break even, and that can be a major problem.

Agriculture committee  We are very optimistic in the canola industry. I think we need the programs there to get biodiesel up and running. I think that's very important. If we don't have the programs there from the federal government, all these companies are going to be setting up their businesses across the border, where they are basically getting $1 a litre from the government to produce it.

Agriculture committee  That's right.

Agriculture committee  I know that I certainly, and a number of producers around the province, want to invest in biodiesel. We want to get biodiesel up and running. The problem is, again, that if we don't have the policy there from the feds to invest in something and to make sure producers are going to invest in something they're either going to have a return on, or at least a break-even, then they're not going to—

Agriculture committee  No, not right now. We're working with the provincial government in trying to set up something that would work, but again I think the problem with the biodiesel industry is...we are concerned about hydrocracking and where that's going to fall in. If hydrocracking comes in, and it can only be done by the petroleum industry, the producers won't have the opportunity to be part of that.

Agriculture committee  Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, and good morning to the members. It is a privilege to be here today to discuss business risk management. That is an important topic to the canola growers—not only to the growers in the province, but across Canada as well. I am here to represent the Saskatchewan canola growers; I farm at Kinistino.