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BEHINDTHELINESIs biotechnology reaching a new phase where it can be redefined? Ontario agriculture certainly hopes so.Bio is from the Greek word "bios," meaning living organisms or tissue. For now at least, the processes involved in tinkering with live organisms are somewhat maligned. Recent surveys show that Canadian consumers still aren't really keen about eating foods produced using biotechnology that is geared to help growers. With any luck, though, they won't mind driving cars sporting parts that are made with hemp, fuelled with alcohol made from corn and cellulose, or a substitute for diesel fuel made from used-up vegetable oil from restaurants. They may be even more willing to drive cars derived from, and fuelled with, plant material, if a barrel of crude oil settles on $50 as a floor price rather than a ceiling. Is this the next phase? If it is, as this month's cover story suggests, it can't come soon enough for farmers. If they are going to take advantage of the biotechnology that is apparently linked to economics, they must be able to survive the economics, such as expensive fuel and farm inputs, that seem to be necessary to make these new developments go forward. Elsewhere in this issue, OMAF's Peter Coughler takes us to Wildberry Farm in Madison, Wis., where the Gatzke family are successfully making the transition from a traditional commercial vegetable operation to an agri-entertainment business serving a serving of 750,000 in the Madison area.
And, still in the United States, weatherman Henry Hengeveld takes an extended look at the hurricanes that played such havoc in Florida last fall. He advances the possibility that the United States may be in for several decades of enhanced hurricane activity, whether or not the climate is warming. With Canadian consumers, as a result, already paying higher prices for fruit and vegetables, that too is something for Ontario farmers to keep a watch on.
BF
ROBERT IRWIN & DON STONEMAN
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