Issue: January 2005 Behind the Lines Cover Story Letters Coming Events Short Takes Crops Business Letter From Europe Rural Roots   Contact Us

SHORT TAKES Rural property owners in Quebec win big over snowmobilers A highly controversial court decision in Quebec will likely add fuel to an ongoing battle between farm owners and rails-to-trails advocates. Last month, the Quebec Superior Court ruled in favour of rural property owners and against the provincial government and the county, which operated a snowmobile trail on an old railroad right of way near their homes. Based on evidence presented by the property owner's lawyer that the sound level of a passing snowmobile exceeded the noise levels recommended by the World Health Organization, the court ruled that 600 homeowners located within 100 metres of the 30-km long trail should be compensated with cash. Reports on the annual compensation awarded vary from $1,200 to $2,400 per affected resident dating back as far as 1997 with both the local municipality and the province paying. Local business owners were reported to be shocked by the decision and expect that some will close if the trail is shut down. It's not clear at all how this decision will affect Ontario farmers, who have also been putting up with disturbances from snowmobilers on trails near their properties. "I don't know how that would play out in Ontario. I'm sure it will be appealed," says Peter Jeffery, senior policy researcher with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. Nor is it clear whether a civil case that was decided in Quebec will have repercussions in Ontario. Quebec law is based upon the Napoleonic code while civil law in the rest of Canada is based upon English common law. "That said, the pesticide case in Hudson, Quebec, sure had implications for everybody else," Jeffery says. Two years ago, a high court in Quebec ruled that the municipality of Hudson could ban the use of pesticides on lawns and in gardens. Numerous bylaws have since surfaced in towns and cities across Ontario.BF top The Ministry of Natural Resources' deadstock double standard Last summer, a friendly young bull moose began frequenting the small acreage belonging to retired Prescott county dairy farmer Irvine Barton and his wife Marion on highway 34 near Vankleek Hill. Moose, common in the area, normally avoid people but occasionally they are involved in fatal car accidents. Throughout the summer, increasing numbers of local residents began to visit the moose at Barton's. By October, local Ontario Provincial Police officers and Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) officials began to worry that the animal posed a danger to highway traffic. They fired rubber bullets and bean bags in an effort to encourage the animal to move on, but that only drove him out of sight for a few minutes. Everyone, including MNR officials, seemed to agree that the moose, which had a shiny coat and good body condition, was healthy, so MNR made plans to relocate the animal. In early November, two MNR officials tried to tranquilize the moose in an area alongside a municipal drain. Barton says they declined his offer to lead the animal to an open field for the procedure. Only MNR officials know what happened next, but about seven metres from the municipal drain lies the moose's undisturbed, rotting carcass with a few branches piled on top. There is a visible wound in the animal's hip that might have come from a tranquilizer dart and its stomach has been cut open. There is also a hole in the middle of its head almost certainly caused by a bullet. Area residents, incensed at the killing speculate that MNR officials shot the animal because it drowned while being tranquilized. Barton and his wife Marion are shocked that MNR would leave a rotting carcass on their property about 100 metres from their home. "They told me it would be eaten by fishers and wolves," Barton says. Steve Aubry, MNR's wildlife enforcement supervisor in Kemptville, told local media the moose is "part of the food chain" and the best option is to "let nature take its course." Barton points out that farmers have to follow strict rules for deadstock disposal. And who investigates and prosecutes those who dispose of deadstock improperly? Why, that would be MNR. BF top Making a killing on tomatoes What's it cost to grow a box of tomatoes that goes for $70 Cdn wholesale in Toronto? The United States Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service reports that, in a normal year, the cost of production per 25-pound box for tomatoes grown in southwestern Florida is $9. Growers in California's San Joaquin Valley can cover costs for the same carton for $5-$6 US, based on 1,100 boxes per acre, but their harvest is winding down in November when Florida's production is still going strong. In a normal year, in November Florida production usually accounts for 57 per cent of total fresh tomato supplies in the United States, while California producers are winding down and supply only 20 per cent. This year, three hurricanes struck Florida's growing area in quick succession, while two major fall storms ruined production in California as well. A Florida newspaper reported on Nov. 12 that prices to growers had almost tripled from around $7 a box to more than $20 and shipping to northern markets cost $10 a box more. By the end of the month, Florida tomatoes were being offered in the Toronto area for a wholesale price of nearly $70 Cdn, if anyone was buying. Many restaurants were not.BF top Prion-free calves may lead to BSE cure American biotech company Hematech LLC, working in co-operation with Japan's Kirin Brewery (pharmaceutical division), has produced a line of calf embryos that do not have prions, the brain and nervous system proteins which cause BSE and CJD. In their quest to create a method to produce unlimited quantities of safe, fully human antibodies rapidly in cows for a variety of therapeutic uses (including immune deficiency, infectious disease, cancer and autoimmune disease), researchers have created a technique that has also been used to remove both copies of the prion-production gene. If the experimental embryos survive, Hematech believes these calves will be "unlikely to contract mad cow disease." Preliminary research results were published in the June 6, 2004, edition of the Advanced Online Publications of the journal Nature Genetics. The Holstein embryos are currently implanted in Angus surrogate mothers, but the company is not discussing due dates. According to Dr. Jim Robl, president of Hematech, two major factors affect embryo survival; one being their delicate nature as genetically modified clones, the other factor centering on the mysterious question of what role prions play in normal healthy animals. Prion-free mice have been shown to display normal health and survival rates, but it is unknown how the absence of prions will affect bovines.BF top back