Fast food giant faces one problem after another

The McDonald's restaurant chain is an economic powerhouse worldwide and has been a force in changing animal welfare standards in North America. While telling farmers how they should run their businesses, McDonald's Corporate, the head office, has been going through contortions trying to get its own sales back on track in the United States. On Sept 17, McDonald's stock price hit a seven-year low in response to a report that slow sales in June, July and August in the United States would reduce 2002 earnings below earlier estimates.

Earlier in the month, McDonald's announced plans to launch a new dollar menu in an attempt to boost flat domestic sales. However many stock analysts panned discounted food and expressed concerns that a lower average check may offset gains in traffic and margins on sales.

Franchise operators rebelled as well. They disliked the discount programs in the 1990s because their profits fell while revenue for the head office increased.

This fall, through a complex arrangement that has been reported in the U.S. business press, McDonald's offered to pay "downside support" subsidies to franchises experiencing lower profits when they sell cheap sandwiches. The arrangement is expected to be costly to head office and stock analysts are even more skeptical about the success of the project.

In another public relations debacle, McDonald's had to recall about 100,000 wooden figurines sold in Chicago-area restaurants because of concerns about lead in the paint, generating more bad publicity for the fast-food giant.

Meantime, trendsetters say that pricing alone is not the key to keeping customers coming through the doors. In mid-September, respected American supermarket and food trend critic Phil Lempert surveyed customers of casual restaurants and found that more than 80 per cent of diners were turned on by "great food" and "great atmosphere." Only 16 per cent cited reasonable prices and only one per cent would return to a restaurant because it provides children's entertainment. So maybe McDonald's should get rid of those play areas and put in some comfortable seats for a change.

It's enough to make one wonder if customers really care where their food comes from and how it is produced. And how will a struggling McDonald's manage to pay a promised premium to farmers who have promised to raise eggs, poultry and meat products for them in more humane ways? BF

New rural cop teams nab Almonte arsonist

Watson says there are five RACTs working in plain clothes and strategically placed in all areas of the province except the Greater Toronto area. There are separate squads covering northwestern and northeastern Ontario, a team in central Ontario, another one in eastern Ontario and a fifth team in the area west of London. Mostly they work independently and within their own regions. The Almonte arson success is an example of their mobility and co-ordination. Four of the provincial teams sent members to work in the Almonte area where the alleged arsonist was arrested.

The teams were formed in 2001 as part of the provincial government's commitment to bolster front line policing in rural areas, Watson says. One goal is to reduce the incidence of break and entry, a big problem in the countryside. There is also one person on each team who is a dedicated agricultural-forestry specialist, who looks at any crime affecting that industry, such as theft, break and entry, fraud and, of course, arson, Watson says.

These specialists want to get a better handle on crimes related to farming, one reason that the RACTs will be highly visible at the Ontario Federation of Agriculture convention later this month. BF

Why fish don't like swimming pools

On a weekend in September, fishermen working Irvine Creek, near Elora, were horrified to discover a strong chlorine smell, milky-coloured water and several hundred dead fish floating.

The Ontario Provincial Police were called, as well as the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. It is thought that as much as 2,700 litres of chlorinated swimming pool water were drained into a stream that has had very little flow during a droughty fall.

Several weeks after the incident, John Steele, a ministry of environment spokesman, said the Guelph office of the Ministry of the Environment had given up on laying charges. "The definitive cause and source of the fish kill could not be identified, so they will not proceed with their investigations," said Steele.

So how toxic is chlorine? The Provincial Water Quality Objectives, the guidelines for water management in the province, published in 1994, lists the tolerance for chlorine as two international units of "total residual chlorine." The maximum level for cyanide is five international units "for free cyanide in an unfiltered water sample."BF

Apprenticeships for Ontario dairy workers

Apprenticeships? Carpenters do apprenticeships. Plumbers and electricians do apprenticeships. And now Ontario dairy workers can do apprenticeships as well.

The dairy apprenticeship program began at the University of Guelph's Kemptville College in 1998 with six students as a two-year pilot project. With the program now fully recognized and sponsored by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, there are currently 11students enrolled and the college is looking for more to begin the new year in January. Registration for the year is $400.

Dairy apprenticeship program co-ordinator Blair Dow says it's an excellent opportunity for individuals already working on dairy farms and for those considering such a career. The college will help interested apprentices to find work on farms in the area, if necessary.

Typically, an apprentice spends four days a week in a classroom the first week of the month and the rest of the time working on a dairy farm. The class work is conducted in workshops that Dow describes as very practical in nature. It's the kind of stuff that participants can easily discuss with their employers when they return to their host farms.

Naturally, topics include the theory and procedures of milking. There are also workshops on feeding, herd health and herd management, plus practical training in mechanical farm equipment, electrical systems and safety procedures.

Who knows? Your dairy worker might come home with something that he or she can teach you.BF

Hyperbole in the legislature over farm accidents

Kids will be kids, so pass the mustard for the hotdog, will ya?

The New York Times reported in October that the program to turn Berkeley High's cafeteria organic began nearly two years ago. The 3,000-student high school didn't have a cafeteria after the 1989 earthquake and the students descended on the local fast-food joints in such numbers that local business owners complained. The city's mayor suggested bringing fast food to the high school and the school board's nutrition advisory committee went ape. Its policies reflect a commitment to "nutritious, fresh, tasty, locally grown food that reflects Berkeley's cultural diversity." Besides, obesity is on the rise even in California, where where everyone is supposed to be thin and beautiful.

A theatre at the school was converted into a food court featuring organic barbecued chicken, tofu dishes and homemade pizzas made with cheese from a local co-op, fruit, apple juice and salad -- all organic. Alice Waters, the owner of a celebrated local restaurant, went there to cook Niman Ranch organic pork tacos with fresh tortillas. Few appreciated her efforts.

Only 200 to 300 customers a day used the food court, and as many as 50 of those were staff. Some blame was apportioned to poor marketing. Some critics suggested that few students knew about it and others felt their right to leave the school grounds at lunchtime was being impinged upon. And for some kids organic food was so common that it wasn't a novelty, so they went for the candy bar and coke. Chef Waters described the food court as "a compromise that went flat."

Elsewhere in California, efforts to connect farms to school cafeterias have been more successful. In Santa Monica, 15 schools stock salad bars with ingredients from local farmers' markets. And Joanne Ikeda, co-director of the Center for Weight and Health at the University of California (at Berkeley), says most parents give up on introducing new foods to kids too easily. She says research shows that many children must be exposed to a new food 11 times before it is embraced.

That means a lot of expensive organic salad is going to end up in the compost before these kids get to appreciate something besides Kraft Dinner.BF

Burger King and its pact with PETA

"The important point is that the hormones which cause the problem are naturally occurring and not man-made," Brighty said. A three-year study by the agency found that the synthetic female hormone from contraceptive pills was below the limits of detection at most sites. There was no effect on fish species in rivers downstream from sewage plants.

How things have changed. By 1999, the Daily Telegraph reported that another British study had concluded that hormones in sewage waste could be changing the morphology of fish in a creek that flows into the Hawkesbury River at Windsor. Fins crucial to the fertility and sexual function of mosquito fish (an introduced species) had shrunk in specimens found downstream from the plant.

By April of 2002, things had changed again. The Environment Agency confirmed that "the pill" is a major pollutant. The synthetic steroid approved for use in British contraceptives was showing effects in fish at concentrations below one nanogram (a thousand millionth of a gram) per litre of wastewater.

(Wasn't it Britain's scientific community that first determined that Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy was not transferable to humans by eating beef, and then later changed its mind?)

Sewage effluent is having an effect elsewhere as well. Last month, health officials in Phoenix, Ariz., were trying to figure out ways to prevent future outbreaks of a flu-like virus that has affected dozens of hikers and rafters in the Grand Canyon since last May. Water from the treatment plant at Glen Canyon Dam tested positive for a virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea for a day or two (Not a pleasant thing to have while hiking in the Grand Canyon. Tourists there are required to carry out everything they take in, and everything includes their own effluent.)

Finally, USA Today reported in November that seafood is becoming a health concern because of contamination with toxic methylmercury, an organic form of the metal commonly found in thermometers. Primary sources of methylmercury are medical incinerators, power plants and, you guessed it, municipal waste facilities. BF

Animal rights the United Way

At the Ontario Farm Animal Council in Mississauga, director Mike Cooper, says there have been no animals rights groups associated with the United Way campaigns in this province.

More on donations to groups in the United States. Animal agriculture south of the border is trying to get PETA's tax-exempt status removed because it has made donations to the Environment Liberation Front (ELF). PETA president Lisa Lange has said that the donation was made "for a specific program" but did not specify what that program was.

ELF has taken credit for setting a ski resort fire in Colorado and also destroying sports utility vehicles. The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers it to be one of the nation's largest domestic terrorist groups. BF

Will they eat cake, then?

When French master baker Lionel Poilane died in a helicopter crash with his wife in late October, retailer Holt Renfrew was left in the lurch in far away Toronto.

Holt Renfrew is favoured by the city's elite. Three times a week, an express courier shipped Poilane's sourdough bread from his store on Paris's Left Bank to Holt Renfrew's flagship store at 50 Bloor Street. West , where the bread provides the base for sandwiches in the new Holt's Café. Each round loaf weighed 1.8 kg and cost about $40. Each open-faced "tartine" cost between $15 and $18. Poilane launched the café with Holt Renfrew last June.

Each round loaf is handmade. The bread is derived from a very old family recipe and Poilane was regarded as the best baker in the world. Holt Renfrew told the Globe and Mail that it would wait to see how the remaining Poilane family would continue the business.

According to magazine articles about the baker, the Poilane bakery sells 15,000 loaves of bread a day, baked in 16th century wood-fired ovens, each manned by two bakers. Poilane, 56 at his death, had taken over the family business 30 years ago and expanded in recent years. He also ran a bakery in London, England, a three-hour train ride from his home base.

Poilane loaves are available on the Internet, and can be delivered to your door in Canada the day after ordering via Federal Express for $39.95 Cdn. BF

Maine targets Canada over milk powder imports

In November, the Bangor Daily News reported on its website that Milk Protein Concentrate (MPC) imports from Quebec and Ontario in 2000 "equalled a line of tractor trailer trucks 268 miles long, according to an industry expert." The story did not specify a volume for that year. When Better Farming did some calculating, we found that this would add up to 18,867 75-foot long trucks parked end to end. At 50,000 pounds payload each, those trucks would carry 943,360,000 pounds of payload. In metric, that's 427.9 million kg.

One could quibble about how far the trucks were apart in the Bangor News' example if it were not that the figures from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are so far apart from those published in the newspaper. The factor is about 40.

The Canadian government's figures show exports in 2000 of a little more than 14.2 million kg of "whole milk powder", "skim milk powder" and "whey protein concentrates in powder form." These are the ingredients that get labelled as MPC by Americans.

Furthermore, although the story referred to ever increasing imports from Canada, our milk powder exports actually fell in 2001, with powder milk exports totalling only 10.79 million kg. The trend line went up again in the first nine months of 2002.

So why are these numbers so far off? For one thing, it's politics. A University of Maine study released recently found that it costs the 412 producers in that state an average of $1.59 per hundredweight more to produce milk than other New England producers, which is itself known as a relatively high-cost production area.

Maine producers are looking for a handout. They want to impose a four-cent a gallon handling tax on milk purchases. The $1.656 million raised would go into the general tax fund and farmers would ask for tax help to prop them up.

The National Milk Producers' Federation says dairy imports have risen from 3.1 per cent of the American market in 1995 to five per cent by 2000. American producers claim that MPC displaces as much as 25 per cent of the domestic milk that would normally be used to make cheese. Because it is a relatively new product, there are no tariff rate quotas (TRQs) to keep it out. A bill that would introduce TRQs for casein and milk protein concentrates was brought before Congress in May 2001. It has been stuck in committees ever since.

"We are supportive of U.S. producer efforts to stem imports of this type," says Rick Phillips, director of policy and government relations for Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC).

"Dairy farmers in both countries have a shared concern about modified powders that substitute for milk and cream in the production of standard dairy products," he says. "Milk producers think that cheese, for example, should be made from milk and not modified milk ingredients."

Dairy Farmers of Ontario director Sharon Weitzel of Tavistock points out that butterfat sugar blends, which also are not covered by TRQs, are taking a similar-sized chunk out of Canadian milk production. DFC says that in 2001 these blends slipped through the cracks defending supply management and displaced production from 240 55-cow farms. BF

Sudden jump in U.S. farm employment

That's a rise of 13 per cent, easily the fastest growth in decades, and it has baffled analysts and statisticians alike, since it takes place at a time when other economic activity is headed downhill. A U.S. Department of Agriculture economist says there have been no developments in the industry to account for such an astounding pickup.

Unless of course the promise of huge farm subsidies is taken into account. Could that be some kind of a reason? BF

What's in a name...or a label?

The Food Standards Agency in Britain says research has shown for example that terms such as "product of," "produce of", "origin", or "British," "Scottish" or "Welsh"' imply that the place of processing and the origin of ingredients are the same. The agency recommends that these terms only be used when significant ingredients come from the identified country and all of the main production and manufacturing processes associated with the food occur within that country.

The only exception, the agency says, is a product such as chocolate whose major ingredient is the coca bean, which obviously can't be grown in the United Kingdom. (Presumably this would also apply to banana cream pies.)

Meat is another concern, especially in the European Union where animals are routinely born, reared and slaughtered in different countries. This nomenclature is going to get interesting. Consumers will soon see products labeled not as "British ham" but as "Danish pork cured in Britain." There are major differences between the British labelling scheme and the American country-of-origin labelling law that is now going ahead. American producer groups figure to use it to keep out imports. The British scheme is touted by a government agency that thinks consumers care where their food was grown and processed. BF

Chicken film dynamite for censors

Such were the sensibilities of politically correct censors at the London Film Festival in Britain last November. The Dancers Upstairs, a film about the Maoist Shining Path guerilla movement in Peru in the 1980s and '90s nearly didn't get clearance to be shown. During its reign of terror, Shining Path resorted to extreme violence, strapping explosives to animals and blowing them up in crowded marketplaces, and also tying them to children as a method of extortion. Children wired to blow themselves sky-high didn't bother film censors nearly as much as seeing a chicken with a fake stick of dynamite strapped to its leg. And the controversial French film Irreversible, with a nine-minute rape scene, passed by the censors uncut.

In Tennessee, a little more sanity prevailed. Governor Don Sundquist refused to proclaim Vegetarian Month. Knoxville-based Tennessee Vegetarian Society president Lige Weill complained that the governor was discriminating against vegetarians. Here's what the proposed proclamation said:

"Our food supply should be safe and wholesome, rather than laced with pathogens, fat, cholesterol, hormones and carcinogens leading to heart disease, stroke, cancer and other chronic afflictions that each year cripple and kill millions. Meat farms destroy public lands and waterways, deplete water, soil and energy resources and animals raised for food are often mishandled and mistreated."

A spokesperson for the governor said "We don't use proclamations to get involved in political arguments and this fell into that category."

Lest one attribute too much sense to this particular politician, take a look back in history. In 1986, a former governor allowed a similar vegetarian proclamation to be used and was pilloried by agricultural organizations. Sundquist knows where his bread is buttered. BF

This fuel is the pits

Martin Reaney, research scientist for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Saskatoon, says chokecherries planted in an orchard situation produce about 6,000 kg of dry weight fruit per hectare. The pits are half of that weight, with about 30 per cent oil, and produce roughly 1,300 kg of oil per hectare. By contrast, canola crops average 1,300kg/ha of seed and about 42 per cent of that is oil, 546 kg of oil per hectare.

The carbohydrates left in the fruit total about 1,800 kg of sugar available for ethanol production, Reaney says. That compares to about 2,000 kg of starch in a hectare of wheat. Though he doesn't expect chokecherries to become the "palm oil of the north," Reaney says, "we are trying to push the breeders to realize that productivity could be two or three times what we are looking at now. They have to broaden their strategies."

The trees have been planted in orchards for maximum production, and also in multi-use orchards and shelterbelts. Recommended row spacing is 15-20 feet apart to accommodate mechanical harvesters, says Prairie Plant Systems, a privately held plant biotechnology company based at the University of Saskatchewan.

Small amounts of fruit appear in the third year after planting. By the fifth year production is going full tilt. The crop is harvested for the fruit and the pits are a byproduct. The Goertz variety, for example, was selected in Alberta, proven to be winter-hardy and grows to be as much as 12 feet tall. The black cherries are 10 mm in diameter and grow in clusters of 20 to 30.

The Garrington variety is a little more productive but is not self-pollinating, says Prairie Plant Systems. Another variety must be planted every 20 trees or so in order to facilitate fruit set.

Along with chokecherries, Agriculture and Agrifood Canada is looking at Ethiopian mustard seed as a feedstock for biodiesel. Its major attribute is that it will grow in Western Canada during a full-scale drought.BF