Hensall grain elevator gets heat over noise

In February, Parrish and Heimbecker pleaded guilty to two charges of contravening the Environmental Protection Act for discharging a contaminant (normal operating noise) that caused an adverse effect upon a local homeowner. One charge dated back to 1999, the other to 2000. On June 14 a justice of the peace fined Cook's $15,000 and imposed a series of eight conditions on the company. "Now they are choosing to appeal three of these eight conditions," says Laura Webber, Tilbury-based crown counsel for the Ministry of the Environment.

More than a month later, Parrish and Heimbecker was able to get another justice of the peace to issue a stay of the conditions, one of which was to restrict hours of operation to between 7 am and 5 pm.

On August 30, in Superior Court, a judge "exercised his jurisdiction to stay the three conditions only until October 1," says Webber "so that Parrish and Heimbecker can go to the proper appeal court to stay those conditions. It will be up to the appeal court (the Ontario Court of Justice) to make the decision." It's likely this appeal will take place this fall or winter, she says.

Earl Reichert, co-ordinator of health safety and environment at P&H's eastern grain division, says the stay has allowed the elevator "to operate in the hours associated with the business." P&H missed a major portion of the wheat harvest, he says, because of a delay in getting the conditions of stay in effect and filed in court.

Other elevators face problems of noise and dust as well, says Dave Buttenham, general manager, Ontario Agri-Business Association. "We are very concerned." In many cases, in small towns, elevators are in close proximity to residential neighbourhoods. "Production agriculture doesn't work from seven in the morning until five at night," Buttenham says.

Located in the heart of Huron County's cash crop area, Hensall (pop.1,050) is touted as both the White Bean Capital of Canada and as the largest inland grain terminal in eastern Canada. Other elevators located there are Hensall Co-op and W. G. Thompson and Sons Ltd.BF

Holy Cow! Is nothing sacred any more?

Jha contends that "the holiness of the cow is a myth and that its flesh was very much a part of the early Indian non-vegetarian food regimen and dietary traditions" and cited sources from 3,000-year-old scriptures as well as data from archaeological digs.

The New York Times reports that Jha is a casualty in a culture war waged since the Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took office five years ago and that his offence was to say that early Hindus ate beef. Cultural pluralism has been under attack. Scholars and journalists say that sometimes history books are rewritten. And so has the widely accepted belief that Hindus have never eaten beef. Hindus make up about 80 per cent of the population of India. Moslems, who do eat beef, make up much of the rest of the population.

Vegetarianism took hold about 1,500 years ago. Of course, it doesn't help that Mahatma Ghandi, considered the father of modern India, declared the cow to be "the mother" of the country.

Ironically, this book would likely have received little attention if attempts had not been made to suppress it. It has been described as "a dry work of historiography buttressed by a 24-page bibliography" and it is possible that without the uproar it would have been destined for a dusty library shelf.

Instead, it has been published in Britain and the United States under a new and more provocative name: The Myth of the Holy Cow. Don't expect to find it on bookshelves in India though. BF

Boared off his bike?

After an athlete ingests the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone, a major byproduct left after chemical reaction in the body is 19-norandrosterone. This metabolite is also found after consumption of pork meat from uncastrated boars, say researchers from Portugal. The scientists, working at the National Laboratory of Veterinary Investigation, published their results in a national journal of veterinary sciences in March. It didn't get much attention worldwide until just after Guest was forced out of his planned competition.

The incidence of positive tests for nandrolone has risen sharply in recent years. Last year, a Portuguese football star was banned after testing positive for this drug. In June, the goalkeeper for the same team also tested positive. At the University of Nantes in France, people who had eaten 300 grams (about two-thirds of a pound) of boar liver failed tests for nandrolone.

British research has been ambivalent about the possibility of foods containing this hormone causing a positive test in athletes. A study by UK Sports in 2000 said that a "small scale study of 25 animals" demonstrated that nandrolone was present in livers from uncastrated animals.

"We have concluded that it is unlikely that eating good quality unprocessed muscle meat could cause a positive urine test. In the present state of knowledge, it seems prudent to avoid offal (liver and testes) from boar and horse."

Did anyone tell that to Kelly Guest? BF

Creation of stronger farm organizations one theme of Odyssey Group report

At the top of that list, he expects a recommendation to investigate a levy on food to pay for the benefits that society gets from agriculture, such as on-farm Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points for food safety, and undertakings to protect the environment, such as Environmental Farm Plans. "One of the themes of the report is that the consumer must share some of the costs of these societal benefits."

Another controversial recommendation, and one that strikes at the heart of existing farm organizations, is to put together a working group to explore building a farm organization for Ontario based on Quebec's Union des Producteurs Agricoles (UPA).

"This is to build on the strengths that we've got and to make the various farm organizations more cohesive through a more centralized group," says George, a former president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. To determine this new organization's shape and form, the Odyssey Group has recommended that a working group be put together to develop their own recommendations.

The creation of stronger farm organizations is one theme. Another that threads through the report is for farm commodity groups to work with processors and grocers. Concentration among processors and the grocery chains has been a concern for many farmers. George said the Odyssey Group members went to see the federal Competition Bureau in Ottawa, and found that they had little to offer farmers. "Anti-competition legislation is aimed to protect consumers," he says. As long as food costs as little as 10 per cent of disposable income, "the anti-competition people are happy" with the grocery chains, he says.

George told Better Farming that "there is no solution for agriculture by going to the anti-competition people. We have to learn how to do business with the grocery giants. It's in the best interests of large organizations to buy Canadian product. We have to maintain consumer confidence at all costs."

Moreover, farmers are going to have to work together in a more co-operative matter, perhaps through formal co-operatives and perhaps in less formal ways. It's almost certain, he says, that farmers "doing things alone...will be less prevalent" than in the past if they hope to compete.

The good news is that recently the federal and provincial governments signed a $5.2 billion agriculture agreement and there is money there to develop traceability systems.

"That is seen as a good start," George says.

May 2002

McDonald's opens the door to beef imports in U.S. and Canada

Speculation was rampant, however, that this had more to do with price than with supply and some even linked it to the continuing Farm Bill battle over packer ownership of livestock. McDonald's was thought to be taking a belt and suspenders approach to keeping its costs low. Some American producers considered this to be the thin edge of the wedge and were concerned that South American beef imports might be next on the list.

McDonald's is already fighting a battle to increase profits by heavily promoting a cheaper menu. It took major hits on the profit side last year in Europe, in particular because of concerns about ground beef and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy.

Although it isn't widely known, imported beef is already being served in McDonald's roughly 1,200 restaurants in Canada. A statement on McDonald's Canadian website says:

"The majority of McDonald's Canada's beef comes from Canada. However, in conjunction with this commitment to quality and value, we searched the world and found an additional supply of McDonald's quality beef in Australia and New Zealand. This is sourced from globally proven beef suppliers with whom McDonald's has solid, long-standing relationships.

"McDonald's is the largest quick service restaurant purchaser of Canadian beef and we remain totally committed to the Canadian beef industry and our supplier network. The decision to obtain a small portion of our beef from Australia and New Zealand was made after careful consultation with our long-time beef processor and leading Canadian beef expert, Caravelle Foods."

McDonald's acknowledgement that it uses imported beef in its hamburgers comes as a complete surprise to Saskatchewan rancher Neil Jahnke, current president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association. "I thought their policy was to use meat from the county they were operating their stores in."

Will Canadian producers raise a fuss when they find out McDonald's is importing beef? "I hope not," Jahnke says. "We are traders of beef and we want access to every market in the world. If the supply of the right product isn't here, we don't have a problem with them importing beef, as long as it isn't subsidized. I'm not going to yell and scream about it, but it's something we'll monitor."

Jahnke says he would be surprised if McDonald's was importing beef now. "Our figures show that cow slaughter is up two or three per cent." Fast food hamburgers are mostly made from lean cow beef, rather than from feedlot fattened steers and heifers.

Ron Usborne, vice-president of technical services for Caravelle Foods, Brampton, says he has no idea when McDonald's began using imported beef in its patties. "I don't keep track of those things," he told Better Farming. "It's generally McDonald's policy that we follow their specs. I'm not directly involved in the purchasing. I make the hamburgers and make sure they are safe for you to eat." BF

The dairying Berendsens go to court

Last fall, the Supreme Court of Canada gave Berendsen permission to proceed with a pollution lawsuit against the government of Ontario.

Eight years ago, Ben Berendsen launched a lawsuit alleging that, during the 1960s, the Ontario Ministry of Highways used their farm near Teviotdale to dump asphalt from road construction, and that subsequent leaching into ground and surface water caused the death of cattle and rendered the property worthless for agricultural purposes. Berendsen purchased the farm before finding out about the dumping in 1989.

Lawyers for the government had argued that the lawsuit was commenced "out of time," on the grounds that a special six-month limitation period under the Public Authorities Protection Act started to tick when the family found out about the dumping in 1989. Last fall, in a unanimous judgment, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the six-month rule did not apply in this case and the Berendsens could proceed with their lawsuit.

"We are pleased that our clients will finally get their day in court," said Richard Lindgren, a lawyer with the Canadian Environmental Law Association, which represents the family. Also representing the Berendsens is Ottawa lawyer Donald Good. A pretrial hearing had been scheduled for April 26 in Guelph.

The Berendsens left the Teviotdale farm in December, 1994, and moved to Bruce County where they continue to run a dairy farm. The farm at Teviotdale remains vacant and property taxes haven't been paid on it for many years. The Township of Maryborough won't take over the farm for back taxes, says lawyer Good, because the municipality would have to take responsibility for the resulting pollution. BF

Air Miles rewards for canny farmers

The folks who run the Air Miles reward program says its extension, Air Miles for Business, has proven particularly popular with the agrarian set. Farmers are one of the largest groups of business collectors in the program and Air Miles claims that "tens of thousands" of farmers across Canada are using the program to get an extra benefit when they buy their inputs and lease or purchase machinery.

A coalition of high profile farm sponsors, John Deere Credit, Agline and Goodyear give farmers reward points for doing business with them. So do FS Co-operatives in Ontario, Co-op Stores in Atlantic Canada and Shell Canada on the Prairies. While some users are jetting off to Hawaii on a holiday, others use the reward points to buy merchandise such as TV satellite dishes, VCRs, movie tickets or toys for the kids.

Kim Hessels of Hessels Farm Supply in Dunville started saving air miles four years with John Deere Credit and Agline. A year and a half ago, they began adding input purchases for their cash crop operation. "That added up a lot quicker than going to the A&P and a clothing store," Hessels says. It was nearly enough to get her and her husband to Hawaii in February. They were 100 air miles short and bought the additional miles for 50 cents each. Hessels Farm Supply is part of the FS Co-op system and Kim Hessels says that a dairy farmer milking 40 cows and buying four to five tonnes of feed a week can fly every year to Europe, a popular destination for recent immigrants.

Are farmers going to switch suppliers to get on the Air Miles program? Hessels says probably not, but it make them think twice about going somewhere else, she says. BF

VIV show falls below expectations

Five thousand farmers and 200 exhibitors were expected when Royal Dutch Jaarbeurs Exhibition and Media ran their first Canadian VIV pork and poultry show in Toronto in March. Attendance was generally acknowledged to fall below expectations, but officials wouldn't give exact numbers.

"There were good people coming through the door, just not enough of them," said Rosemary Smart, international marketing program co-ordinator with the Canadian Swine Exporters Association, VIV's partner for the show.

"You can't introduce a new product into the market and not advertise it," said Wayne Blenkhorn, owner of Farmor Ltd., based in Shakespeare. A snowstorm one day didn't help.

Blenkhorn allowed that "we got a number of good leads " from the program. For the people who did attend the show "we had lots of time to give them attention."

Tom Robinson, director of the swine business group for AgriBrands Purina Canada Inc, said the show wasn't good for the sales people who came from Western Canada "because the turnout didn't come from outside Ontario."

The VIV show might have to change to get people like Wayne Blenkhorn back. Conflict was cited with the well-established Poultry Show, held annually in London in April. VIV shows are held every two years. It's possible that the next one might be held in Toronto in the fall of 2003, so that farmers don't have to choose one over the other. BF

End of an era

Now, of course, the packing plants aren't there any more. The time of terminal markets has passed and livestock moves directly from feedlots to packing plants. Often, the ownership of the stock has been determined long before the animals are shipped.

On the last Thursday in March, the last auction of live animals, totaling 600 pigs, was conducted before the gavel fell for the last time.

It will be replaced with a Home Depot, another sign of a different time. BF