This month's cover story is about relationships between farmers and townsfolk. At first glance, one might wonder what an apparently esoteric interest of social scientists has to do with the business of farming. In fact, quite a lot.

"Town" isn't just where farmers and their families go for shopping, schooling, church and local sports. Recent municipal amalgamations mean that there is a political connection as well. What townsfolk know about agriculture and how they feel about farming can have a big effect on the acceptance of this rapidly changing industry in their community. In some Ontario counties, local federations of agriculture have taken the step of studying and making public the economic importance of agriculture in their area. Some commodity groups have done the same.

Some recent profiling of farmers shows that farming is still appreciated by townsfolk, at least in predominately rural areas. However, a warning note is sounded. The farmers who are the most aggressive in building their businesses are the ones least likely to be connected with nearby towns in social and business ways. Common experience says that the big farmers are most likely to come into difficulties with their local non-farming communities.

And that, of course, leads us back to nutrient management regulations, the hottest topic in Ontario this winter. At Better Farming, we've had a lot of telephone calls and letters about this. Farmers quickly woke up to the regulations being aimed at them.

One regulation that interested us reads as follows: "No person shall allow livestock in an outdoor confinement area to tread on any frozen surface water in the area." We made some inquiries at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and were told that this regulation is in place to stop the practice of some beef farmers in northern Ontario of hauling a feeder onto lake ice in the winter for their beef cows. They cut a hole in the ice for watering. In the spring, the manure disappears when the ice melts.

We can't help but wonder if the context of this regulation is clear enough that an environment ministry inspector can differentiate between a regulation designed to keep northern lakes clean and one which has the potential to be onerous for a feedlot operator in a spring freeze-and-thaw situation.

With increasing reader interest in environmental legislation, we are pleased to welcome farm environmental specialist Murray Blackie to the pages of Better Farming. Murray will be well known to many readers from his former role as an agricultural impact specialist with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. During his stint with the ministry between 1974 and 2001, his work placed him squarely at the centre of many high-profile environmental issues. He currently works as an environmental consultant. and is involved with Environment Canada in a project called Agricultural Pollution Prevention in the Great Lakes Basin.

Murray's column begins this month on page 24 and provides background on Bill 81. On page 58, Ontario Pork environmental specialist Sam Bradshaw deals with Phase 2 of the Bill.

ROBERT IRWIN & DON STONEMAN

"In Quotes" "Now there is a code that says that if it smells you have to get it into the ground in six hours." - John Fitzgibbon, Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition Chairman, commenting on the province's proposed nutrient management regulations

When we look back on Ontario agriculture in 20 years, 2003 may very well be regarded as both a benchmark and a milestone in Ontario agriculture -- the time when agriculture finally became "regulated" as if it were an industry. How well the industry copes with these regulations remains to be seen.

Provincially, a host of regulations are coming at farmers who raise livestock. A serious read of the proposed nutrient management regulations released back in December provoked a furor that hasn't been seen in a long time. The cost of compliance would have been overwhelming for many farms.

At this point, it appears that Ontario Minister of Agriculture and Food Helen Johns and her staff have taken much of the sting out of these regulations by making them more flexible, and also by giving farmers more time to comply. The first farms may not have to come into compliance until July 1. Derek Nelson, Johns' communications advisor, says the minister "put the option out there" at a meeting in Stratford and says that "in short, (a date) is not set" at press time. Still, it is clear that smaller and medium-sized farms face some challenges if they are to come into line. The delays in compliance should be regarded as just providing a bit of breathing space. Farmers must still spend some time thinking about how they will position themselves and their businesses to continue past the next few years.

On top of that are new medicated feed rules which will also challenge livestock producers, and in particular those who grow crops which they mix on the farm and feed to their livestock. These farms have been the mainstay of both the farrow-to-finish pork industry and also the beef feedlot industry.

A major concern there is the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's demand for inventory control, that farmers weigh the premixes and supplements containing medications both before mixing and after, just as a commercial feed mill would. This is relatively easy to do when using a pure ingredient in bags. It is tougher when the medication was delivered to the farm in a premix or a supplement and is sitting in a bin containing several tonnes. Auburn-based nutritionist Heather Durnin fears that many farmers may not understand the implications. As for the CFIA, it remains unclear as to how this issue will be resolved. This is another issue that Better Farming will keep an eye on in the future.

DON STONEMAN & ROBERT IRWIN

"In Quotes" "This is a country where they are attempting to disarm everybody. The rumour boggles my mind." -- Derek Nelson, communication advisor for Helen Johns, Ontario Minister of Agriculture and Food upon hearing of an unfounded rumour circulating that Nutrient Management Act inspectors will carry side arms.

For more than 30 years, the supply-managed dairy industry has been a relative island of stability as Ontario agriculture continues to be tossed by sea changes in world farm trade. That stability is one of the reasons why the price for quota -- the right to market dairy products -- has reached dizzying heights. Unfortunately, an inordinately thick wallet and a love of cows do not necessarily go hand-in-hand.

This month's cover story is about farm families facing a dilemma. Some dairy farmers took advantage of an opportunity several years ago to market milk exclusively into export channels. They believe that they are exempt from a World Trade Organization Appellate Body decision in December, which found that quota-holding farmers who also shipped milk for export were subsidized. Canada's milk marketing boards, which concede that the decision was "ambiguous" in respect to non-quota farmers, are under heavy pressure from the United States.

These families are not going to give up easily however, as our story by Loyalist College agricultural journalism professors Joe Callahan and Robert Washburn relates. (page 12) This story has a special poignancy for Callahan; his brother is a non-quota holder. Related developments in dairy trade policy occur almost daily. In mid-March, Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) published the following statement:

"At the WTO Dispute Settlement Body in January, Canadian government representatives clearly stated they believed the (December) decision goes far beyond the intentions of negotiators in the last round of WTO negotiations.

"DFC sees that the decision has far-reaching implications for many other WTO member countries. The best strategy to clarify this WTO decision and the rules on export subsidies, in DFC's view, is for Canada to challenge export systems in place in other countries (instead of remaining strictly on the defensive). Results of such challenges will bring clarification on the definition of an export subsidy based on cost of production."

The issue is far from being settled.

Journalists and farmers have at least one challenge in common; sifting through a morass of conflicting scientific claims and counter-claims. How do we decide whom to believe? Which scientific claims do we commit resources to?

For a journalist facing deadline pressure, there is a certain seductiveness in a scientist who speaks out against the prevailing wisdom or attacks his colleagues. Science, however, is based on research, and the research should be able to withstand the scrutiny of objective qualified experts. So-called peer-reviewed research is one of the cornerstones of good science.

In his article on page 48, climate change expert Henry Hengeveld deals with the deniers of global warming -- or "contrarians," as Henry terms them. Those in the media or the scientific community who deny the threat of global warming are, in our opinion, akin to those who claim that Elvis isn't really dead.

DON STONEMAN & ROBERT IRWIN

"In Quotes" "Do we have any questions around the Agricultural Policy Framework or food safety? Please." --Frank Ingratta, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, after being peppered with questions on nutrient management regulations at the Ontario Cattlemen's Association annual convention.

When a grocery chain as big as George Weston Limited jumps on a new trend in foods, it's hard to ignore. The trend towards organic foods sold in Loblaws stores is one example.

In the last couple of years, Loblaws has gone for organics in a serious way. There are now more than 150 organic products offered for sale under the President's Choice label. Ironically, most of these specialty foods are not raised in Ontario by organic producers at all. Fluid dairy products sold in Loblaws stores are coming from Quebec. Many fruits and vegetables are grown in California and shipped thousands of miles before being distributed to stores here in Ontario. Some might argue that these types of products have become a new commodity.

Local growers may find it impossible to fill the gap, and not just because of concerns about the volume required to meet the grocery giant's needs. There is also the question of price. Loblaws has made it clear that pricing organic products as close to conventional foods is a goal. On its website, Loblaws boasts that with its selection of organic products "you no longer have to pay those health food store prices." Can Ontario producers compete? Perhaps a special marketing initiative will be needed so that the province's growers can differentiate themselves from the organic "mainstream."

One of our readers' favourite columns has been Better Decisions, by Ontario Ministry of Agriculture staffer Rob Gamble. Since Better Farming launched its first issue in November 1999, Gamble has been providing readers with an array of tips and strategies to help them hone their financial skills.

Recently, Gamble has been assigned to work at the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission for a year. Starting with our June issue, Better Decisions will be written by Carl Fletcher. Currently based in Guelph, Fletcher has been working at county, regional and provincial levels for 23 years. We look forward to working with him in this magazine, and we hope that our readers do also.

In our April issue, the total tractor weight cited Ralph Winfield's Power at Work column should be 16,800 lb.. The article entitled "Developer finds common ground with farmers" should have indicated that the developer began his efforts in 1998.

ROBERT IRWIN & DON STONEMAN