Speaking Notes for the Minister
Check Against Delivery
Minister Strahl presents Science and Innovation Strategy to maximize breakthroughs
Montreal, Quebec
May 30, 2006
Introduction
- Thank-you Dr. (Marc) Fortin.
- Greetings.
- Honour to be here tonight before so many distinguished scientists.
- The Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology has been serving Canada and Canadians for more than 50 years and I'd like to congratulate all 1,200 of your members on the work you have been doing in advancing food science and technology.
- Proud that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada continues to support and participate in this conference.
- Developing our science and technology capabilities is critical to the future of Canada's economy - including our agricultural sector - and I am excited to be here to tell you about our vision of agriculture science and innovation going forward.
- AAFC is expanding its leadership role in agricultural science and innovation. We have developed a new strategy that has a clear vision and which is based on a clear set of principles that will change the way agriculture science and research is done in this country and which will have a positive impact on the agriculture and agri-food industry and for Canadians generally.
- Agriculture has been crucial to Canada's economy and our social fabric - going back to our earliest settlers, even before Canada existed as a country.
- Our farmers have fed Canada and people around the world thanks in large part to a remarkable breakthrough by an AAFC scientist - Dr. Charles Saunders - who developed Marquis wheat in 1903 and revolutionized the wheat-growing industry.
- This new wheat - a variety that matured early enough for the Prairie growing season and which provided superior baking quality - turned the Canadian Prairies into the breadbasket of the world.
- How good was this stuff? A few numbers tell the tale. Total Canadian wheat production in 1905 was only 2.5 million tons. Eight years later, it had more than doubled to 5.5 million tons. Two years later, in 1915, Canadian farmers produced 9.8 million tons of wheat. That's a production increase of nearly 400 per cent in a single decade.
- This was an incredible achievement and it was typical of the focus of agricultural research in the past, where the main goal was to increase the volume of production.
- That has been a good thing in a world where famine has been known too often, but it has also led to global over-production, which has, in turn, led to lower prices for commodities.
Agriculture at a crossroads
- As you can see from this slide, Canadian farmers - and Canada as a nation - can no longer rely on low-cost commodities to keep the sector robust and competitive.
- This has brought us to something of a crossroads for the agricultural industry, where there are many competing interests and different interests among consumers of agricultural products.
- Farmers want new opportunities that will increase their farm income.
- Industry wants new, value-added products and new uses for agricultural production that will open new markets.
- The general public wants safe and good quality food and a strong environmental performance by the agriculture and agri-food sector.
- Provinces and rural communities want economic development opportunities from agriculture.
A new vision
- The time is ripe for a new strategy that will ensure the success of agriculture science in supporting food and non-food opportunities for the sector and for Canada.
- That's why I'm here today: to present to you AAFC's Agriculture Science and Innovation Strategy and the contribution it can make to Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector both now and in future generations.
- As you know, we conducted extensive consultations on science and innovation last year, and our stakeholders sent us the clear message that it is time for change.
Seven priorities
- Based on those consultations, AAFC has identified seven national priorities. These
are:
- Enhancing human health and wellness through food and nutrition and innovative products;
- Enhancing the quality of food and the safety of the food system;
- Enhancing security and protection of the food supply;
- Developing new opportunities for agriculture from bioresources;
- Understanding and conserving Canadian bioresources;
- Enhancing environmental performance of the agricultural system; and
- Enhancing economic benefits for all stakeholders.
- Let me talk about each of these in some detail and tell you how this will change the way we do business.
Enhanced health and wellness
- Health is clearly a priority issue for the Government and for Canadians. This Government will work to make Canadians among the healthiest people in the world.
- AAFC has a role to play by performing the research to develop new, healthy food products that improve nutrition and wellness.
- We need to improve our understanding of the link between food and nutrition, and health and wellness.
- This will lead to increased opportunities for agriculture in producing foods and nutraceuticals and other innovative health-related products.
Enhanced quality of food and safety of food system
- The safety of the food system is the responsibility of the Government and we do that through the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which inspects food products and the food system to enforce standards.
- AAFC will perform the research to help us identify food-borne hazards and develop control mechanisms that will reduce them.
- We will continue to build on our international reputation as a world leader in quality preservation and enhancement strategies and practices.
Enhancing security and protection of food supply
- A country needs a safe and secure food system as a prerequisite to its overall security and the detection, monitoring and controlling of threats to our food supply is of great importance for the Government.
- AAFC's role is to perform the research that helps us to predict the probable spread, behaviour and impact of threats to the Canadian food production and distribution systems.
- Research that helps us understand the causal agents of potential and emerging threats enhances our ability to detect and mitigate those threats.
Developing new opportunities from bio-resources
- In part, the future of the Canadian agriculture industry lies in making the shift to a green bio-based economy.
- With 167 million acres of agricultural land, Canada is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the international demand for new products, new uses and new markets from agri-based biomass.
- Our government is committed to ensuring that all motor vehicle fuel in Canada will contain an average of five-per-cent renewable fuel content - such as ethanol or bio-diesel - by 2010.
- By identifying and developing opportunities for effective industrial development of bio-based ingredients and products, we will help to better position agriculture and rural communities for future success.
Understanding and conserving Canadian bio-resources
- This kind of research will provide us with the information to pursue environmental, economic, social and security objectives.
- Assembling, conserving and using working collections of bio-resource information and investing in the facilities and practices to preserve the genetic diversity in Canada will be a key focus for AAFC.
Enhancing environmental performance
- Understanding and managing the interaction between commercial agriculture and natural eco-systems is of increasing interest to Canadians, as are environmentally responsible agriculture and processing methods.
- AAFC has a critical role to play in working with different partners to ensure that agricultural production and processing practices are sustainable and will safeguard our land, water and air for generations to come.
Enhancing economic benefits
- Taken all together, by expanding the horizons of agricultural research beyond improving productivity to include exploration of new production opportunities, new products, and prospects for total product utilization, we will help position agriculture as a key driver of the Canadian and rural economies.
- AAFC science and research will focus on providing agri-based solutions to national issues and priorities, while seeking opportunities to enhance the profitability and competitiveness of farmers, the agri-food system, rural communities, and Canadian industry.
- This is a national strategy that is going to have a positive impact on all of us.
Partnership and investment principles
- We will do this by focusing on several key principles, such as:
- Addressing national priorities;
- Generating critical mass of Research and Development in areas that have the potential to make a sustainable difference for the agriculture and agri-food industry and for all Canadians;
- Emphasizing projects that engage the required elements for a complete innovation chain; and
- Engaging the federal, provincial, academic and industrial collaborators and partners needed to create innovation chains that will deliver significant results.
- In today's context, with today's expectations, agriculture needs to move beyond food, feed, and fibre.
- While traditional food and feed markets remain key to Canadian agriculture, we realize that agriculture holds significant potential to contribute to other sectors of the economy.
- AAFC has already started discussions with other science and research providers in the provinces, the universities, and not-for-profit institutions to find new ways of working together collaboratively. We are also looking at international partnerships to access ideas and capabilities that exist elsewhere, to share and develop our own expertise, and to support Canada's international commitments.
- Over the next several months as we work to develop our business plan to implement this Science and Innovation Strategy we will be looking at all of our national resources to ensure we are all getting the best possible results from our investments in science and innovation.
New opportunities
- As you all know, even more so than the average citizen, many of our international competitors have already embraced the need to support a move toward bio-based economic opportunities.
- The European Union will double renewable energy use by 2010. The United States will triple bio-products and bio-energy production by the same year.
- China is investing heavily in bio-technology and biodiesel.
- And the market is responding. The big multinational DuPont derived 14 per cent of its revenue from renewable resources four years ago. By 2010, it expects renewable resources will account for 25 per cent of its revenue.
- This is the way forward. New products, new uses, and new markets for agri-based biomass will create new momentum in the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector.
- AAFC will not be operating in a vacuum in delivering this strategy. Meeting the challenge of achieving a globally competitive Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector is too great for any one stakeholder to take on alone.
- Partnerships are essential. Governments, academia, the private sector, the agriculture/agri-food industry… we all have to work together.
- Our partnership work will also include integrating this science and innovation strategy with the next generation of federal-provincial-territorial agriculture and agri-food policy consultations.
- Science is linked to policy, marketing, trade, regulations and economic development. For this reason, science is no longer the business of just scientists.
- So while we're moving on science, we are also working with partners to begin the groundwork needed to lay the foundation for the next generation of agriculture policies. This strategy will be the cornerstone for broader science and innovation initiatives under the next generation of agricultural policy.
- In the coming years, together with our stakeholders, we will be building on it to ensure long-term sustainable growth of our sector.
Critical role for Science and Innovation
- AAFC science and innovation initiatives are at the leading edge of change and are already influencing agricultural directions in Canada.
- In summary, our science and innovation directions and strategies are moving away from a “made in AAFC” approach to a “made in Canada” approach in which consultations and partnerships are the key enabling forces.
- Stakeholders have expressed a desire for change and we will be delivering change.
The way forward
- These changes can be summarized into six main points:
- AAFC will align its research efforts with existing and emerging national priorities;
- All science and innovation investments will be reviewed against a clear set of principles and criteria. Resources will be focused on a multi-year, peer-reviewed formula;
- Benefits for all Canadians will be enhanced through new coordination, cooperation and partnership strategies and architectures with other federal and provincial departments and agencies, academic institutions and industrial organizations;
- AAFC research will stimulate creation of new bio-based products that generate economic, social and environmental benefits;
- AAFC will play a leadership role establishing science and innovation clusters that bring together stakeholders to form complete innovation chains that maximize the benefits to participants, communities, and Canadians; and
- AAFC will be a leader in science and innovation in emerging sectors of the bio-economy, while continuing to be a reliable partner that complements efforts of other organizations in more mature sectors.
- As I said at the beginning of my remarks tonight, agriculture is and has been critical to Canada's economic and social fabric. And through our evolving partnerships and in concert with our internationally recognized and respected agricultural science, research, and innovation, agriculture will continue to be important as Canada moves forward in the 21st century.
- You, as food and technology scientists are part of the equation and all of us involved in the agriculture and agri-food sector look forward to your contributions to its success.
- Thank-you.