The waxing (and waning?) of Jose Bové

It remains to be seen whether this jail sentence will end Bové's presidential candidature hopes this year. Eighteen months ago, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) predicted that farmer/activist Jose would run for that position. WSJ pointed out that so popular was Bové with press and television in France during a trial for vandalism that he was no longer referred to as the "sacker" of a McDonald's restaurant in the village of Millau (Bové's home) a year earlier. Gradually, the media terminology changed to refer to him as the "dismantler" (as his lawyer called him) of the partially constructed burger joint. Never mind that the so-called 'dismantling' caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage.

Brushes with the law certainly haven't stopped Bové from protesting. Last July, a Paris judge ordered an investigation of Bové for allegedly defaming animal feed manufacturers by saying they had brought BSE into France.

In March, 2001, Bové marched with Zapatista guerrilla leaders on Mexico's capital city. A year ago Agence France-Presse reported that Bové was ordered to leave Brazil after leading an invasion of experimental farms run by Monsanto, uprooting plants, burning seeds and destroying documents in the company's offices. Not bad for a sheep farmer.

However, world events may have turned against Bové and the anti-globalism movement. A plan to sail three boat loads of protestors into a World Trade Organization meeting in Qatar last November was scuttled because of fears that they would be associated with terrorists. The world had changed.

Furthermore, there has been more widespread critical reporting of the 48-year old Bové recently. He apparently spent his first seven years in Berkeley, Cal., the son of well-to-do scientists teaching at the nearby university, and migrated to a farming area of France in the late 1960s to protest the planned construction of a huge military base. After nearly a decade, the protests were successful and Bové continued squatting on expropriated property where he had been raising milking sheep to make Roquefort cheese, and collecting government subsidies. (Begging the question: Is Bové really a revolutionary or fighting to maintain his own personal status quo?)

In an interview with Z magazine in 2000, Bové described the riots in Seattle in 1999 as "absolutely non-violent . . . the only thing the media had to focus on was the 20 or so people who broke some windows. There was no real damage."

Bové told Z that the only way that McDonald's will be forced out of France is if its operations are unprofitable. In that respect, it is questionable whether Bové's larger-than-life campaigns have been successful. It's estimated that 30,000 protesters came out to see Bové at his first trial for "dismantling" a McDonald's restaurant. But as the U.K.'s Channel 4 News reported, the McDonald's restaurant that Bové "dismantled" in Millau "is doing a roaring trade. The French like Bové, but they also like burgers." BF

Where tourism and pigs do mix

The promotion of methane for cooking and lighting began in 2000. Pig manure isn't hard to come by -- 223 of 367 households raise pigs and 180 of them have now built methane ponds. There is also biogas from sugar processing in the area.

The major benefit here is in the greatly reduced use of firewood for cooking and heating in homes. Alternate energy sources started being promoted in Guangxi Province in 1997 and so far more than one million manure ponds have been constructed.

The Chinese government estimates that the widespread use of methane in Guangxi Province saves 850,000 acres of forest a year. One family claims that its consumption of wood dropped from more than a tonne annually to less than 50 kg. The percentage of the province under forest is reported to have increased to 41.3 per cent from 34.4 per cent. BF

Illinois takes its manure spills seriously.

Jackson had pleaded guilty to water pollution. He and partner Todd Jackson, 33, of Ursa, Ill., will be on probation for 18 months and each is ordered to pay $3,000 to the Illinois Environmental Protection Trust Fund. They are also ordered to share the cost of cleaning up contaminated area downstream from the confinement operation. The two farmers were blamed for a hog manure spill near Sutter, Ill., just north of the Hancock County line.BF

'Fat cats' next door

Other countries, in order downwards are the Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Belgium and Ireland, which has 10 per cent of its citizens ranked as obese.

Then the list goes down through France, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland. All of them have obesity rankings in excess of five per cent of their populations. The only "developed" country with less than five per cent obesity was South Korea, with just over two per cent. BF

Something stinks in eastern Ontario

The treatment plant had overflowed for hours on a Sunday night. Firefighters were forced to don waders and step into the watery muck, sometimes chest deep, to find the breach. The incident appears to have been caused by "a major blockage of the large chamber that marks the opening of the plant where all of the city's sewage is gathered under high pressure into the facility for treatment." The city reported the flooding to the Ministry of Environment's Spills Action Centre, as well as the county health unit, and took samples of the contaminants to determine what was in it. (We can guess.)

Further east, the City of Kingston faces an investigation for the second time in 2001 for deliberately dumping 15 million litres of raw sewage into the Cataraqui River (part of the Rideau Canal system so popular with tourists). The dumping was blamed on heavy rainfall, about 31.5 millimetres in one shot.

The "bypasses" took place on Nov. 29 and 30 at the city's main sewage pumping station and lasted a total of 25 hours. Reports indicate that the station pumps 60 million litres of raw sewage across the river every day through an underground pipe to a treatment plant. A replacement for the fragile, 45-year-old pipe is being contemplated. In late summer, Kingston sewage was allowed to flow from a storm drain into the Cataraqui River for more than three weeks. A blocked line caused sanitary sewers to overflow into the storm system. Kingston's 15 million litre spill is equal to 3.3 million gallons, a substantial pig barn manure pit.

And speaking of manure pits, Manitoba-based Elite Swine Ltd., which runs two barns in southern Bruce County, donated $15,000 to the Municipality of Kincardine to compensate the township for an overflowing and possibly leaking manure pit on the 12th concession. The incident involved a 100-gallon (that's right, gallons) manure spill in October which was investigated by the township and the provincial ministries of agriculture and the environment.

Elite had 400 days of manure stored at the site and required an amendment to its nutrient management plan to spread it. The township agreed, but it was reported that in closed sessions the council contemplating legal action against Elite, Canada's largest pork producing company, a part of Maple Leaf Foods. The $15,000 donation quashed any legal action. Smaller pig farmers in the area fear this will set a precedent that they can't match. The sewage hypocrisy goes on. In Arran-Elderslie Township, just upstream on the Saugeen River from the Elite barn, a newsletter to ratepayers last year noted that in 2000 the town of Paisley's sewage treatment plant had bypassed for a total of 7.5 hours because of heavy rainfalls. No charges are being considered there.BF

Good news for cloned cows, not so for the lambs

Infigen Inc., based in De Forest, Wis., announced that it has produced cows and pigs with normal health and genetic characteristics and that the process is commercially viable. Infigen bases this conclusion on a four-year-old study that followed the original clones into adulthood. The Infigen study includes nearly 120 live calves and more than 50 piglets derived from somatic cells.

Based on biochemical fat and protein, milk from cloned Holstein cows was found to be biologically identical to milk from non-cloned cows in the general population and is deemed safe for human consumption. The results of the study will be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal within the next few months.

Australian researchers haven't been as lucky. Most of the 30 cloned merino lambs born in the last year at the South Australian Research and Development Institute died shortly after. Simon Walker, the principal scientist at the research station, says many lambs suffered because their lungs were too immature to sustain breathing, or their kidney and urinary systems were underdeveloped. The connection between the two shortcomings is unclear.

The failures are a major disappointment. A year and half ago, the institute unveiled Matilda, a two-week-old lamb born by somatic cell cloning. The plan was to raise enough lambs to test for their ability to withstand normal heat, cold and susceptibility to illness. A cloned ram is going into an artificial insemination study and his offspring will be tested for normality.

Walker wonders if "maybe cloning will not be part of a commercial breeding program." The hopes were that the lengthy breeding process could be shortened and that sheep could be developed that were tailored to markets.

Meanwhile, the U.S. National Research Council is preparing a report for the Food and Drug Administration on bio-engineered animals. Another company, Advanced Cell Technology, has announced that it tested 24 cloned adult cows and found them normal. Advanced Cell made world headlines world recently when it announced that it had cloned human embryos to derive stem cells for potential medical therapies.

Meanwhile the U.S. Agency for International Development has granted $425,000 US over four years to the University of Minnesota's Institute for Social, Economic and Ecological Sustainability. The study will evaluate and regulate the environmental safety of introducing a genetically enhanced tilapia fish to Thailand. Tilapia is an important food source there but is not native, and some of the fish have escaped from farms to the waterways. The Thai government has so far refused to allow the introduction of the fish, pending environmental investigations. BF

Former packer boss goes ranching

Peterson coughed up more than $9 million for the 10,040-acre Rio Timba spread, which includes pasture and a feedlot, near Grand River in Iowa. Maybe Peterson knows something that the rest of us don't about the future of the cattle business. Or maybe he just needed a tax break.

IBP calls itself "the world's largest producer of fresh beef, pork and related products," with sales in 2000 of $16.9 billion, 52,000 employees and 60 plants in North America.

IBP recently merged with Tyson Foods, headquartered in Springfield, Ark. Tyson bills itself as "the world's largest fully integrated processor and marketer of chicken and chicken-based convenience foods...with 68,000 team members and 10,000 contract growers in 100 communities."

IBP has controversy attached to it. On Aug. 22, IBP filed suit in U.S. District Court against Andrew J. Zahn, former owner and more recently Chief Executive Officer of DFG Foods LLG, an IBP acquisition. IBP lawyers allege that Zahn and former officers: "fraudulently inflated the financial statements of DFG by more than $50 million by manipulating the company's accounting records; omitted material information from those financial statements and records; made numerous false statements to conceal their fraud when questioned about those financial statements and records; and engaged in self-dealing and embezzlement for personal gain in violation of fiduciary duties owed to IBP and Foodbrands." The lawsuit charges that Zahn and friends enriched themselves by about $70 million by doing this.

The ranch that Petersen purchased is also controversial, having been sold at auction after its former owner, George L. Young, went bankrupt in August. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been pursuing allegations that only a fraction of more than 300,000 cattle Young had agreed to buy, feed and sell for investors actually existed. No charges had been laid as we went to press.BF

Modified corn debate pops up in Mexico

Corn originated in Mexico, and in November it was announced that one of the world's oldest varieties of maize, as corn is also called, has been contaminated with man-made genetics.

Researchers from the University of California, in Berkley, made the discovery in October, 2000, while working at a biological laboratory in the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca region in central Mexico. The Mexican government performed further testing last year and found transgenic corn DNA in corn grown in 13 of 22 communities. The results of the studies on contamination of a variety known as criollo were published in late November in the science journal Nature.

Mexico has banned the growing of modified corn since 1998 and the last-known modified corn crops were grown almost 100 km from where the contamination was found. It doesn't seem likely that the contamination occurred over that distance because corn pollen is heavy. Speculation is that it originated with food aid from the United States and progressed with time and multiple pollinations.

The good news out of Mexico this year is that the migration of Monarch butterflies is nearly the largest ever. Monarch butterflies are a flashpoint in the GMO debate, with opponents charging that pollen from corn modified with a Bt gene to kill rootworms also kills Monarchs, while GMO proponents claming that it doesn't. Stack up the scientific studies and the GMO proponents are currently on top.

Illegal logging in the Sierra Chincua Sanctuary in recent years has been cited as a threat to Monarchs. This year the preserve reports a turnout of 170 million, nearly as high as the peak in 1995-96. Some years, as few as 25 million Monarchs arrive at the preserve. BF

Cloud over Clark's "Potato Day"

Clark residents literally roll in the stuff -- one of the features of "Potato Day" is a potato wrestling competition. Photos of last year's contest are featured on the website's home page. However, another Internet page shows a darker side to Clark's love affair with the potato. http://www.clarksd.com/mccain.htm

The page is devoted to McCain's Foods, the largest employer in town with 125 employees, and shows a series of photographs with the following captions:

"Clark proudly serves as home to one of McCain Foods Inc.'s potato processing plants. The largest producer of frozen potato products in the world, McCain Foods has more than 50 processing plants in 10 countries on four continents. The factory produces French fried potatoes in three shifts daily, which are sold and distributed through the continental United States."

The next caption reads: "McCain Foods Inc. is proud to have one of its businesses located in the great city of Clark, SD, and to be an active participant of 'Potato Days.'"

The final caption, under photographs of a McCain's float in a local parade and a group of smiling McCain's employees, says:

"Due to excess capacity in the North American Food market, McCain Foods USA Inc. is permanently closing their facility in Clark, South Dakota. The facility will run next fall and winter until all potatoes that are currently contracted are used up. It is expected that the plant will cease production sometime in March of 2002."

Clark's next Potato Day will be "celebrated" on July 20, 2002.