Notes from behind the lines

As our cover story on page 18 reveals, some farmers are big fans of these products and see their use as business opportunities to increase both the fertility and the tilth of soils. The biosolids business has become just that -- a business, with a lot of money at stake and one multinational leading the way.

Biosolids of a different sort, from a pulp and paper mill, show up in another feature this month. At first we wondered about the relevance of our story on "cold sand." The term is not scientific, nor is the material something many farmers or agrologists will be aware of or have to deal with. Nevertheless, we decided to run an article this month beginning on page 22, about the Reise family and their efforts to deal with the stuff which has handicapped their unproductive tract of eastern Ontario land for generations. As things progressed, we found ourselves wondering whether land improvement efforts like those of the Reises, in other areas and with other shortcomings than cold sand, will become more common. After all we continue to pave over our best land as more and more urbanites from all over North America decide that southern Ontario is a great place to live.

You might say biosolids represent the icing on the cake for the Reise family who, having already raised productivity remarkably, now want to use biosolids as part of a program to boost the critically low organic content of their soil. And, while on the subject of sewage, the letters and phone calls continue to flow into Better Farming's offices from readers reacting to our series of articles on sewage bypasses. We are pleased to be able to report that calls from reeves, mayors and municipal councilors and even a couple of MPPs continue to be positive about our coverage and about finding solutions to the pollution of our waterways.

We are intrigued by the ideas of former pork board chairman Carl Moore, who suggests an environmental audit be conducted to find out who the polluters are in Ontario and to determine how that pollution can be reined in.

You don't like what is going on in your neighbour's field next door? Is it really biosolids? Our investigations this month discovered that "septage" is a different, unregulated product. The provincial Ministry of Environment is planning a crackdown on spreaders.

Als, next month the impact that farming has on your life may surprise you.
Stay tuned.

       Robert Irwin & Don Stoneman

Notes from behind the lines

In our decades of agricultural journalism, Better Farming editors have never seen a response like the one we got to the issue of municipalities dumping less than adequately treated sewage into watercourses and lakes. Calls of support have swamped our telephones. We've fielded inquiries from and granted reprint rights to farm organizations and a diverse assortment of publications - from Farmers Forum to the Orono Weekly Times. We've also chatted with a number of mayors and municipal councillors who called seeking extra copies for their councils.

Stratford city councilor Roger Black is one such individual. He used Better Farming at a council meeting to help express the shame he feels at his city's sewage record. Black says it's a moral issue he feels compelled to raise, regardless of the reaction from those voters who would rather save tax dollars by dumping their sewage on others. Way to go. Roger!

It's apparent that livestock farmers across the province are feeling the fallout in the wake of the Walkerton tragedy. Some feel like pariahs in their own communities. A lady from one farm, who would not put words to paper, said her family is ashamed to admit at social gatherings that they are pig farmers. "People ask: 'What's going wrong at your barn,'" she related.

In fact, most farmers are environmentally responsible. Most also recognize there is always room for improvement. One caller said she is uncomfortable flushing a toilet when she visits Toronto because she feels she might as well be running it straight into Lake Ontario.

Our follow-up story in this issue on page 30 provides more perspective and profiles the worst offenders in the first eight months of this year. In pursuing this issue, we found it interesting - but not surprising, in this era of spin doctors and damage-control - consultants that sewage plant operators now have a somewhat different story to tell following publication of our first story about their business.

It's important to realize that the full effects of the fallout from Walkerton aren't being felt yet in the rural community. Many municipal councils are still putting into place bylaws to restrain the building of larger operations. Sometimes the target is liquid manure. Sometimes the target is just larger operations. (See Short Takes)

Another chord, though perhaps less loud, has also been struck when it comes to the upcoming Species at Risk Act, now being considered by lawmakers in Ottawa. Hundreds of species with feathers, fins and fur, as well as plants and trees, are feared to be disappearing from Ontario. Unfortunately, many of these species make their current tenuous homes in good agricultural areas. Finding ways of living with these creatures and plants won't be easy. The experience in the past hasn't always been positive. (See Cover story)

       Robert Irwin & Don Stoneman

Notes from behind the lines

It's important to avoid the blame game or developing an us-against-them mentality when it comes to the environment. Nevertheless, our story on water shows sewage from some urban centres may pose a greater threat to the environment and human health than anything farmers are doing. Even government officials question whether we are really getting the whole story when spills occur at municipal facilities. What is really in the stream which runs across your farm? And what does it mean to your family? Our cover story begins on page.... Extracting the names and number of municipalities that have trouble containing their overflow sewage from the highly political Ministry of the Environment (MOE) was not easy, Better Farming writers found. First, we sought to get the names of municipalities where bypassing of sewage treatment, as well as spills, had taken place for the last four years. Some employees of the ministry did not return calls.

Then a nervous staffer told Better Farming that we must seek those names from the ministry's access to information officer, who in turn told us that the information sought was not on a computer and would involve many hours of work combing through files at a cost of $30 an hour, plus relatively expensive photocopying. The cost was estimated to be a discouraging $6,000 or more.

A couple of days later, another environment ministry employee offered to provide us with two years of recent information on sewage spills and bypasses from the ministry's computer in four working days. It turned out that the information was on a ministry database after all, and the material was delivered as promised.

This summer, individual farmers and their organizations have generally done an admirable job of dealing with the frenzy of farmer bashing waged by urban media in the wake of the unprecedented tragedy at Walkerton. The farming community has demonstrated sensitivity and a willingness to communicate sometimes in the face of overwhelming ignorance.

At Better Farming, we sometimes receive calls from our urban media colleagues in search of sources or an explanation of a complex issue. For the most part, the callers are intelligent journalists with solid questions which we are happy to answer. But we're still not sure what to think about the following inquiry from a television station researcher far from Walkerton who was obviously anxious to come up with a local angle on the tragedy.

Researcher: "How do you remove manure?"

BF: Oh, has there been a spill?

Researcher: No, but I understand there is a new way to get rid of it instead of dumping it in rivers or something."

The farm of Frank and Gertie Hansma, who operate near Conestogo Lake in Wellington County, graces this month's cover. Lest our readers mistakenly think otherwise, the Hansmas are among the many farmers who are "doing it right." Manure and milk house waste from this tightly run dairy operation goes into the liquid manure storage. Electric fences keep cattle out of the watercourse even when it isn't swollen by rain, as in the picture. An Environmental Farm Plan guides spreading manure. The Hanmas' operation is an example of how it should be done.

During the past year we at Better Farming have enjoyed working with University of Guelph agricultural communications student Corie Lok. Corie has moved on to an internship in Virginia where she will be working on the science page at the Richmond Times Dispatch. Best wishes are certainly in order.

Finally, in our tradition of looking ahead, watch in our October issue for another in our ongoing photojournalism series about the family farm by Loyalist College journalism professor Joe Callahan.

       Robert Irwin & Don Stoneman

Notes from behind the lines

Eggs are popular again in the Canadian diet. After a decade of arduous and expensive marketing campaigns to fight the anti-cholesterol message, consumption is increasing. Ironically, the egg industry is growing faster than national marketing agreements can keep up. Souligny must wring an agreement from disparate provincial views in the Canadian egg industry so that producers here can benefit from the growth they have created. Otherwise, the spoils fall, by default, into the hands of importers. (See pages 18-23)

We also take a look at another tried and true system which has served Ontario farmers well. Tower silos are a favourite system for storing haylage on small and medium-sized dairy and beef farms, but the technology is aging. Silos are a fire risk if they aren't carefully maintained. In this issue, we offer some important warnings about the hazards. We also have a couple of first hand accounts from farmers who've experienced the worst with their silos.

In compiling the story, it became apparent that firefighters need to know what is in the storages on farms when they arrive to save your life, property and livestock. Some farmers have converted sealed forage silos to grain and vice-versa. The techniques for fighting in these different structures may be very different. They need the right information so that they can make decisions that ensure the safety of themselves and others. (See pages 24, 25)

What better time than early May to think about green pastures and crops? Transformed by biotechnology, better alfalfas are on the way, thanks to research at the University of Guelph. These new cultivars have genes that promise to fight winterkill and may turn the favourite legume back into a persistent perennial, rather than a crop that is considered to be little better than an annual in farmers' forage fields. You'll find that story on page 31.

We triggered a lot of comments with our March cover photo of Oxford Federation of Agriculture president Nancy Walther locking the Woodstock ag office and the story surrounding it. The topic, you may recall, was the closing of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' field offices across the province at the end of winter. This month, Minister Ernie Hardeman has responded to our story, explaining why the province's support of agriculture and rural life has taken a new direction. But we're still unclear about widely reported plans to merge a scaled down OMAFRA with the ministries of environment and natural resources. Coincidentally, following our story, OMAFRA announced a one-year delay of the March 31 closing date for the Woodstock meeting rooms. The official word is that the government was unable to find a tenant. Looking beyond our own backyard, Alan Guebert, our columnist from south of 49 wonders if the unseemly haste with which the United States is seeking trade with China is justified and whether the benefits to North American agriculture may be vastly overblown page 35. In Ottawa, columnist Barry Wilson sees more concern for rural Canada shown by the governing party in the House of Commons, but notes that it stems from a desire for political survival, not from altruism page 34. And, in our June issue, watch for the lowdown on Ontario's newly privatized electrical system and what the changes mean for your farm.

       Robert Irwin & Don Stoneman

Notes from behind the lines

The editors of Better Farming have more than 40 years of full- and part-time reporting experience between us. Some of our stories have involved heavy investigation and many involved details which, from some viewpoints, should have been ignored. Still, you could probably count on two hands the number of industry players who have absolutely refused to talk to us during that time. Mostly, it happened when the individual didn't know us and had previously been badly misquoted by another publication; perhaps had even been denied a correction or retraction. As journalists, we were understandably simply all tarred with the same brush.

In preparing our cover story, we were shut out twice -- once by Maple Leaf Pork and once by one of the large production loops which supplies it. This is a first for us with Maple Leaf, a company which has many detractors but has always been willing to talk.

With spring around the corner, farmers are poring over the literature from seed companies as they gear up for spring planting. Corn is one of Ontario's most ubiquitous and popular crops -- feed for livestock of all types, the biofuel of choice for ethanol plants and for commercial uses of all sorts. A plethora of new hybrids is available to plant this year, some traditionally bred, some with biotech traits. (Chart starts on page 34)

Cropland lies asleep now, but developments come fast and furious in agriculture. Here's a flavour from last month. At press time farm groups were quick to respond to Federal Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief's offer of another $500 million a year for farm relief. Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Jack Wilkinson likes the idea of the federal cash advance to help farmers get crops planted this spring, but says the $20,000, while being "of some benefit," will not be enough to help many commercial farmers. Getting details of the program finalized in time for the money to get into the hands of the farmers for spring planting is a major concern, Wilkinson says. He was hoping to see even more money coming farmers' way from the provincial governments.

You'd think every inch of southern Ontario would be drained by now; not so. Tiles, or their modern plastic pipe equivalent, continue to go into the ground at a fair lick. The provincial government is reconsitering its long-term support of drainage programs. (see page 30.)

On the subject of farm supports, the Ontario Corn Producers Association was livid at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in mid-January, because the CBC news said on successive evenings that financial support was more important to Prairie farmers than to those in the east.

"Ontario farmers grow just as much grain as those in Manitoba, and crop prices are as depressed in Ontario as anywhere else in Canada," said Anna Bragg, president of the 21,000-member OCPA, in a widely distributed news release. "U.S. and European subsidies have been just as devastating for Ontario farmers as for farmers in other provinces."

In March, we will catch up with the Ontario Pork Industry Council, a broad-based industry group which is gearing up to meet the challenges it faces in the new century. The council will be looking at implementing the new Canadian Quality Assurance program as well as dealing with the issues that face intensive livestock agriculture. The non-profit organization is asking members, both organizations and individuals, to pay $250 each. We'll look at what they will get for their money.

The Editors