Short Takes

Hugh Coghill, who retired as chief inspector of the Ontario SPCA in the fall, may be missed in the agricultural world.

Coghill, who had held the post since 2006, understood agriculture, says Ontario Farm Animal Council executive director Crystal Mackay. When Coghill ran a three-week training session for new inspectors last summer a full five days was spent dealing with livestock. Mackay points out that only 10 per cent of calls to the Ontario SPCA (OSPCA) across the province are on farm animals.

What do roustabouts, lumberjacks, ironworkers and dairy farmers have in common? They are the four least desirable of 200 occupations in the United States, according to an annual report prepared by CareerCast.com.

The job-finding company says the commonality for all four jobs is a less-than-ideal work environment, high physical demands, and an unimpressive income of around US$32,000 a year. On top of that, chances of finding a job in those fields are slim.

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Taking the “yuck” factor into consideration, the top of an old landfill site might not be where you would want to put a vegetable or fruit farm.

But there are possibilities for using the sites to grow biofuels, according to the Region of Niagara, which controls a number of landfill site properties.

Possible crops include red clover, timothy hay and bromegrass.

Niagara-based Walker Industries, which operates integrated waste management systems, has been looking at this concept, along with the University of Guelph. There are as many as 3,700 disused landfill sites in this province and many thousands of acres of otherwise waste land. BF

Prince Edward Island farmers are putting marketing before substance as they prepare to crack the potentially lucrative Wagyu beef market in Japan.

Prince Edward Island has no Wagyu cattle and it has no federal beef packing plant.
PEI’s powerful marketing weapon is its slim, redheaded celebrity, Anne Shirley, the star of Anne of Green Gables.

Prince Edward Island’s advantage, according to the Globe and Mail, is that 97 per cent of Japanese women recognize the iconic Canadian farm girl, and they plan the weddings in their island country. It is that highly specialized wedding market where Prince Edward Island marketers hope to sell their pricey beef products.

Nearly 90 per cent of dairy producers who responded to a mail-in survey reported that they or their families consume unpasteurized milk from their bulk tanks, according to the journal Preventive Veterinary Medicine. More than a third thought consumers should be able to buy unpasteurized milk in Canada.

Producers who had completed a dairy health management course or participated in the Canadian Quality Milk program were less likely to support availability of unpasteurized milk. Producers under the age of 30, operators of smaller herds and organic producers were more likely to support unpasteurized milk sales.

Most producers didn’t perceive that farm visitors have a high risk of introducing infections into their herds.

Tory Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was the first recipient of the Canada Beef Export Federation (CBEF) Jim Graham Award. The award, established in 2009, is to be presented annually in recognition of the greatest contribution made to Canadian beef and veal exports.

The now deceased Jim Graham served as chairman of the Alberta Cattle Commission, as president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and as board chair of the Canada Beef Export Federation.

Fewer chocolate fountains, more oil free salad dressings. That’s Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s recipe for the future, according to Associated Press. Goodbye to food as an indulgence and hello to food as a key to health.

The latter was behind Whole Foods’ early years of success. But indulgence became the mainstay of business in later years and those chocolate fountains, into which shoppers could dip morsels of fruit, for example, were the centre of some stores. Farmers who are suppliers of products that align with pricey imported sea salts and truffle oil should take note.

White-nose syndrome has killed so many bats in the United States that media reports warn it could affect agriculture. The reports are based upon a Texas study of eight counties that estimates the loss of Brazilian free-tailed bats would require use of an additional US $121,000-$1.7  million in pesticides to produce the state’s cotton crop.

The syndrome is named after a fungus that grows on bats’ noses and other membranes in low temperatures.

It disrupts the bat’s hibernation, waking it and depleting energy stores. A 2009
New York state survey indicates that only 10 per cent of bats survive in affected colonies.

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