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Regional Consultations

Regional Consultation for Saskatchewan

November 2, 2005

Participant responses to Consultation questions

Bioresources (OPG 1) and Bioprocesses and Products (OPG 8)

Vision Exercise (Question #1)

What are the key drivers of change?

• Economic reality of farms now - profitability and market pulls.
• Emerging economies, e.g., China.
• US support programs.
• Sustainable farms.
• Wealthier consumers.
• Aging populations and greater concerns on health and wellness.
• Consumers edgy (fear), concerns about food safety and disasters, diseases jumping from animals to humans.
• Environment.
• Significant advances in science and integration (transformational changes in agriculture).
• Widening the definition of agriculture.
• Integration of disciplines.
• Agriculture of the future directed to produce specialized products - industrial platforms.
• Emerging opportunities, ethanol, biodiesel, hydrogen; agriculture is more than food and feed.
• Value across value chain.
• Market structure.
• Communication - direct sales to consumer.

What are the principle challenges?

• Need to continue traditional science (public good), but also need to conduct research in new areas.
• Understanding of market structure.
• Regulatory environment - need to rethink regulations.
• Obstacles - e.g., Canada Grain Commission, Kernel Visual Distinguish-ability (KVD) and obstacle for grain.
• Timeliness - bureaucratic bottlenecks.
• Have to work with more partners.
• Keeping the value-chain of research intact and still expanding research.
• Involvement/repositioning agriculture for wellness products.
• Agriculture to provide solutions - bio-energy, building products, health.
• Producers facing major economic crisis; need short and long-term solutions.
• Involving producers as owners - part of a value-chain approach.
• Interact with producers and new products.
• Funding for developing industries/opportunities.
• Having the capacity to do the entire project.
• Ensure that we have capacity to do research along the full spectrum.
• Capital is limiting - USDA - guarantee mortgages & investment - perhaps extend to tax credit for scientific investment.

What are the principal opportunities?

• Brand "Canada" - country of origin labelling.
• Value-chain approach. Agriculture evolving, need assured supply to develop products for value-added "public good".
• Health care costs are increasing - refocus health to wellness agenda (agriculture + nutrition).
• Building partnerships.
• Examine USDA "Priming the Pump" program in establishing value-added agriculture - need for safety for investment. Grants available to industry to fund feasibility studies, business plans, start up funds, legal fees, "working capital", "bricks and mortar".
• Presenting a unified multi-departmental approach to food, fuel, fibre opportunities to Treasury Board.
• Commercialization - POS Pilot Plant a good model for aiding develop new products/industries.
• Need for new agriculture contracts, i.e., support to SME's to ensure supply, value in needing specific quality.
• AAFC has opportunity to lead the bio-economy.
• Agriculture for production of fuels, fibre, paper; agriculture needs to interact with other industries.
• Change name of department from AAFC to Department of Food, Fuel and Fibre.
• Linkages with health.

Regional Consultation Mechanism (Question #2)

Who should be engaged in ongoing regional consultations?

• Check who is missing - health, pulp and paper, petroleum industry, building industry.
• Individuals or organizations who know what is happening now AND visionaries with wide scope (strategic view of the world).

How should this consultation be done?

• Topical meetings, i.e., consult by areas of opportunity, e.g., Bioproducts, to ensure engaging a national perspective rather than regional, also need a regional meeting.
• Electronic communication could be considered.

How often should consultations be held?

• On an as needed basis to dialogue on hot topics.
• Semi-annual.

How should consultation advice be channelled to the department?

• Concern that the governance structure within AAFC is no longer clear; who makes recommendations for funding; who is responsible?

Question #3 (Research Need Identification Exercise)

Priorities

• Need to be able to identify plants, herbs and spices etc. to species level.
• Heavy metals (Cd in durum wheat) and pesticides in plants. Need testing procedures that are cost effective and meet national and international standards. This is a marketing concern.
• Development of grading and standards for new products.
• Better connection between gene banks and breeders. Germplasm collections are important for maintenance of biodiversity as gene pool for desired traits. Need to develope collection technology. Are germplasm collections comprehensive or not?
• Bio-energy, bio-industrial, health/wellness.
• Bio-energy strategy based on ethanol or biodiesel.
• Bio-industrial oils for paints, linoleum; need a national strategy.
• National strategy for wellness model - nutrition, bioactive molecules, major diseases affected by nutrition, e.g., diabetes, obesity, cardio vascular.
• Biofibres - textiles and paper.
• Eco-industrial clusters - biorefinery.
• Processing support/marketing
• Find main use - discover alternative uses (whole plant utilization).

Partnerships

• Have industry help government (AAFC to lead).
• Get farmer ownership of value-chain through partnering.
• Need to partner with those who identify traits/requirements from commodities.

Federal Lead Required?

• AAFC role according to need - where industry is not involved.

General Comments

• Funding concerns - to bring Canadian dollars to research to be competitive at a world level.
• Don't want the constraint of keeping current provincial investment levels.
• Primary requirement to increase farmer profitability.
• Having a road map doesn't mean your going in the right direction.

Crop Production & Health (OPG 2) and Environmentally Sound Crop Production (OPG 4)

Vision Exercise (Question #1)

What are the key drivers of change?

• Food safety and quality issues.
• Need science to prove that Canadian crops are the safest and highest quality.
• Producers input and machinery costs.
• Public fear, e.g., BSE, Avian Flu.
• Emerging economies, e.g., India and China, populations and demand for products (food, resources, fuel, transportation, etc.) are increasing.
• New food opportunities.
• Transportation policy.

What are the principle challenges?

• Orphan research - programs such as MII drive the direction of research. Some areas not funded outside of government, e.g., long-term crop rotations. AAFC needs to remain involved in long-term public good research.
• Significant resources are being invested in health (food safety and quality, nutraceuticals) and environmental issues. Need to maintain R&D.
• Transportation policy, rural development, taxation, and social involvement are part of the challenges/opportunities facing agriculture.
• Regulatory barriers, e.g., health claims, labelling of crops ‘Pesticide-Free Product', need to be reduced or made more flexible and/or harmonized with other countries.
• Subsidized crop production in the European Union, the United States and other countries affects Canada's ability to compete.
• Rising input costs and costs of machinery for primary producers.
• R&D within AAFC needs to move from reacting to a more proactive approach.
• Need to keep producers competitive. "Money making" changes for producers have largely benefited industry, not necessarily the producers.
• Dollars invested in agriculture R&D are insufficient (hasn't kept pace with inflation). AAFC needs to do more than just maintain current level of investment in agriculture R&D. The public needs to be sold on the need for a larger investment in publically funded agriculture R&D. AAFC's plan to address all 10 mission critical areas is not doable without a change in funding levels.
• The agriculture vision for Canada is 100 years old and really hasn't changed. Other countries have policies, e.g., cheap commodities (United States), never run short of food again and maintain the sustainability of farms and rural life (EU). Canada's policy seems to be that other countries will change their policies that have an impact on Canada; but this has not happen.
• Research results need to be communicated to the farm community; it is necessary to see that the results of research are adopted. Extension services have been greatly reduced in Canada and there needs to be a better mechanism in place to communicate results. Need to do more than just publish scientific papers.
• Increased efficiency on the farm does not necessarily translate into increased profitability. Cost savings are generally passed on to the processors as lower costs for commodities. Food prices don't reflect increased costs of production.
• The higher costs for increased food safety, environmental farm plans, etc. will be absorbed by the producer and not passed on to the consumer. Is this reasonable? Other sectors don't do this, for example of the oil industry passes on increased costs for crude oil to the consumer. Why does this not happen in agriculture?
• Need a commercialization strategy for Canada that ensures that the innovations developed in Canada will benefit Canada and Canadians. Need to maintain the value for Canada.

What are the principal opportunities?

• Need detailed study of what markets are going to be demanding in the future and try to match up what we can do as an organization (regionally and nationally). AAFC should lead on a national level, but with input from the provinces and producers.
• What is the market mix that is needed? Food, energy, feed, nutraceuticals. The problem is that people don't want to pay for food (demand cheap food). Similarly, with the livestock industry, the stock growers want cheap feed. New crops are needed. Need more emphasis on industrial crops. Part of the problem may be changing the mind set of producers; there is more honour in growing food crops than industrial crops.
• How can we compete in a cheap food policy environment.
• Need to identify the markets (globally) that wil pay for safer, higher quality food. Canada needs to produce a differentiated product (branding) and get it into the market place.
• AAFC needs to invest in R&D related to supplying products for industrial uses, e.g. fibre flax breeding. The private sector won't invest in these types of programs until there is a clear opportunity for profit. Crops like flax represent an opportunity for the sector, but public investment in terms of resources that support flax breeding are minimal compared to private flax breeding.
• AAFC needs a succession plan for an aging work force, i.e., there are opportunities to staff new scientists based on strategic priorities.
• AAFC need to work with other departments, e.g., Environment, Transport, Revenue (taxation issues), Health Canada, etc. Many of the issues facing producers today are not solely an AAFC responsibility.

Regional Consultation Mechanism (Question #2)

Who should be engaged in ongoing regional consultations?

• The current mix of stakeholders invited to the regional consultations would be a good start.
• Need to involve those stakeholders who commercialize and sell to consumers, e.g., Cargill, meat packers.
• Need to engage organizations that provide inputs to producers, e.g., Federated Co-op.
• Don't limit participation to only those groups that have funding to attend.

How should this consultation be done?

• Current consultative format is a good model.
• Should be regional, not Research Centre based.
• Create subcommittees to look at aspects of the overall strategy, e.g., Bioproducts, Food Safety and Quality.
• Consider providing funding to attend on an as-needed basis for groups that may have limited resources.
• Need to ensure that there is feedback on consultative process back to the participants.
• What role do the value-chain roundtables play in the consultative process?

How often should consultations be held?

• No more than twice yearly.
• Consider one focussed consultation, e.g., Food Safety and Quality, and one global consultation (all issues).

How should consultation advice be channelled to the department?

• Need to ensure that decision makers are present during consultations, include DG's, ADM, and policy people (economists).

Question #3 (Research Need Identification Exercise)

Question the scope/wording of the outcome project, "catastrophic losses".

Priorities

• Improve competitive ability.
• Need production research to continue due to changing issues, e.g., new diseases.
• Genetic improvement of crops. We need to continue research in some areas where there may be the perception that the problem is solved, e.g., smut resistance in cereals. Not a problem now because varieties have good genetic resistance to current races of disease, but need to be vigilant with respect to the development of new disease races.
• New crop and new uses for all commodities being grown.
• Public good research is essential for innovation (new crops).
• Climate change - mitigation strategies. Need more work on drought proofing crops. Need to look at irrigation technologies.
• Need to develop risk management strategies. We need to keep in mind that producers need an above average crop every year just to keep the bills paid (break even). Risk management research is needed to reduce variability in farm incomes/crop production.
• Need balance between profits/technologies for producers and industry (relates back to commercialization strategy).
• Beneficial Management Practices (BMP's). Need research to support BMP's and develop environmental farm plans. We don't necessarily have the research to support claims of current BMP's. This could be an important factor in selling the Canada brand into foreign markets.
• Differentiation of crops - are Canadian crops better (higher quality or safer) grown under Canadian environmental conditions?
• Need to benchmark environmental indicators for development of environmental farm plans. Environmental indicators need to be tracked over time.
• Plant gene resources and biosystematics research.
• Agronomic research - public good long-term research, e.g., long-term rotations.
• Strategy does not mention profitability - need direct reference to profitability and diversification.
• Need to be able to address issues of regional importance, e.g., diseases, insects and weeds.

Partnerships

• Partnering is essential and cost-effective.
• AAFC needs to recognize that there are other institutions that have expertise and could take the lead in some mission critical areas.
• Give universities access to MII if needed to work in areas where AAFC is not taking the lead or does not have the expertise.
• Need to partner to accomplish expanded goals since it appears that there will be no new money for agriculture R&D at the department level.
• Avoid duplication. There was the suggestion that breeding of crop varieties could be passed to industry, but there was no consensus on this point.

Federal Lead Required?

• Universities could do more basic research, while AAFC could take the lead on applied research. Universities could take the lead on soil science issues - seems to be an area where they have traditionally had a strong role to play. AAFC's land resource units are largely based in universities, e.g., University of Saskatchewan and University of Manitoba.
• AAFC could take the lead on issues like Minor Use Pesticides. Although, industry with funding can assist in coordination.
• Coordination and communication with agencies (universities, grower groups, and other stakeholders).
• Cropping systems research - difficult to get funding for - AAFC need to take the lead.
• Universities and/or NRC could likely take the lead in genomics research.
• Universities might have a strong role to play in environmental monitoring and bench-marking. AAFC could play a supporting role.
• As an unbiased 3rd party. AAFC can play a critical role.

Animal Production and Health (OPG 3) and Environmentally Sound Animal Production (OPG 5)

Vision Exercise (Question #1)

What are the key drivers of change?

• Economics. Price is a driver of change.
• Current cost of production and markets, how do we fit science into this to assist with making a profit?
• Animal welfare issues.
• Environmental concerns.
• Energy costs and other inputs - a key driver.
• Renewable energy.
• Global food market.
• Increasing population and decreasing arable land base.

What are the principle challenges?

• Competitiveness.
• Food safety and quality. The consumers perception of food safety has an impact on farm production practices. Only one researcher identified for food safety and quality in science in Saskatchewan.
• Poultry/bird industry needs new research to stay ahead of food safety concerns.
• Increase research dollars. The governments research investment must be competitive with other countries.
• Communications between scientists, producers and consumers, i.e., technology transfer, application and adoption. Communication is important to reduce potential for duplication and enhance application. Academic requirements (publication) for promotion vs. what the industry needs for communication.
• How to add value to primary products.
• Need to move from being reactive to being proactive.
• Public vs. private ownership.
• Engaging the consumer - scientists working with consumers.
• Ownership of intellectual property with public investment for research; ownership erodes profitability.
• Objectivity (partnered industry research).
• Continuity of programs.

What are the principal opportunities?

• Renewable energy.
• Bioresources - agroforestry.
• Carbon credits - Kyoto - using science to gain carbon credits.
• Improved food quality and safety.
• Current sites/facilities - AAFC, Food Centre, WISDC. - significant capacity exists.
• Farm operators capable of adapting quickly.
• Non-profit (public good) and discovery research needs to be maintained.

Regional Consultation Mechanism (Question #2)

Who should be engaged in ongoing regional consultations?

• Comprehensive - all groups together?
• Industry
• University of Saskatchewan
• Saskatchewan Agriculture Food and Rural Development
• Producers.

How should this consultation be done?

• Specific groups. Focus on specific issues
• Diverse groups. General strategic direction.

How often should consultations be held?

• Twice per year.

How should consultation advice be channelled to the department?

• No comments provided.

Question #3 (Research Need Identification Exercise)

Priorities

• What is the difference between OPG 3 and OPG 5? Would you not be doing animal production and health and environmentally sound production in a similar manner?
• Nutrition. Assists industry with optimum feed rates for improved weight gains at lowest costs. Whole farm model to feed grains/grasses/production based on different regions, e.g., ILO vs. range fed. Winter feeding and intensive feeding systems.
• Livestock health and wellness. Transportation, pain, production methods, housing and general slaughter handling. Codes of practice.
• Animal genetics. Being able to identify traits for the future (genomics). Identify disease resistance in animals/herds. Sex selection for unborn calve.
• SRM - lower cost systems for disposal.
• Water quality - and rate of gain/production based on different types of water quality for animal consumption.
• Manure management. Can it be utilized to provide energy via processing? Fertilizers to organic industry? Create more products from manure (value-added). Positive message.
• Disease transmission. Prions vis a vis CWD and differences between domesticated and wild animal species. Which can be transmitted to humans? Need to be proactive rather than reactive.
• Functional properties - value-added products, e.g. Omega-3, CLA.
• Use of antibiotics in livestock - alternative approaches, e.g., flax in hog rations.

Partnerships

• Federal Lead Required?

Food Safety (OPG 6) and Food Quality (OPG 7)

Vision Exercise (Question #1)

What are the key drivers of change?

• Nutritional quality
• Energy
• Transportation system and costs
• Lack of profitability

What are the principle challenges?

• Engaging the consumer.
• Production costs - fossil fuels.
• Cheap grain - producers have to increase economic benefit.
• Cannot grow bigger crops for less money anymore.
• Find other uses for our land; 1/4 to 1/3 of farmland will need to be used for something else
• Farming not profitable - global politics a contributing factor.
• Tariff barriers and US Programs.
• Study things to death before implementation of new products; need more rapid tech transfer and implementation
• Aging industry - both the producer and scientific.
• No money on the farm - leaving for other industries - who is left to farm?
• Labour shortages.
• Retention of intellectual property in Canada.
• Government (public) money going to research that is then sold to companies cheaply - ownership issues surrounding publicly-funded research.

What are the principal opportunities?

• Grow more non-food products, e.g, for energy.
• Processing and using locally high value crops.
• Think outside the box. Are there opportunities that we've never considered?
• Low energy production systems, e.g., bison, more N fixation, alfalfa.
• Food, industrial components from agriculture.
• Products for health and wellness.
• Engage the consumer - what are their needs and ability/willingness to pay.
• More interaction between different Government Departments: (i.e. transportation, regulations etc)

Regional Consultation Mechanism (Question #2)

Who should be engaged in ongoing regional consultations?

• Consumer - "finicky".
• Provincial, Federal and Universities.
• Need to recognize the uniqueness of the regions.
• Retailers, e.g., Wal-Mart, McDonalds, McCains.
• Hotel Restaurant Industry.
• Processors
• Agriculture companies.
• Politicians and policy makers.
• Health care industry.
• Marketing organizations.
• Environmentalists.
• Food safety specialists.

How should this consultation be done?

• Similar to today's consultation - but need a report card (progress report) back to participants.
• Need a cross section of stakeholder groups represented.

How often should consultations be held?

• One to three years - as needed.
• When initiating changes in research strategies.

How should consultation advice be channelled to the department?

• Top down to change policy if policy changes are needed.

Question #3 (Research Need Identification Exercise)

Priorities

• Discovery science.
• Bio-energy.
• Bioproducts/wellness
• Molecular and analytical process.
• Smart Regulations.
• Into emerging problems.
• Traceability - documentation.
• Rapid detection methodology for chemical residues and pathogens.
• Efficacy testing of novel food additives.
• Food safety in new products and processes.
• Research to address regulatory issues.
• Conservation of composition - fitness of use.
• Functional qualities of food components, ingredients.
• Novel processing technologies.
• Minimally processed products.
• Post harvest systems.
• Shelf-life.
• Packaging technologies.
• Crop management to maintain inherent quality.
• Reducing chemical inputs in production - contributes to product differentiation and food safety.

Partnerships

• CFIA
• Universities
• Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO).
• National Research Council (NRC).
• Food Engineering.
• Food pilot plants.
• Health Canada
• Ag funders.
• Industry Canada
• Processors.

Federal Lead Required?