Short Takes

Europe approves more GMO corn hybrids grown in Canada

There’s been a flurry of approvals in Europe in recent months pointing to increased acceptance of genetically modified crops.

In late October, the European Union (EU) approved import and processing of corn containing two GMO transgenic recombinations that create new GMO lines: MON89034 (YieldGard VT Pro) and MON88017 (YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2). Pioneer
Hi-Bred’s 59122xNK603 was also approved.

Monsanto says the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said that these products were safe in December and April respectively.

Thanks, but I don’t need another old combine

Obsolete farm equipment is Grey County artist Steven White’s inspiration.  

White, a Collingwood school art teacher, used parts from an old Allis-Chalmers combine harvester found on his 50-acre farm near Walters Falls to make sculptures and prints. The abandoned harvester is the point of departure for a number of paintings. These works of art make up The Combine Project, exhibited at the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound Nov. 27-Jan. 17.

White says the abandoned combine is a metaphor of how the landscape in his area is changing. Farm equipment is more “massive” and “efficient,” there’s greater mechanization of farm tasks, and larger operators are swallowing up smaller farms.

Migrant workers bail on union

For years, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union of Canada (UFCW) has waged a fierce campaign in the courts to establish migrant workers’ rights to unionize. But it appears the union needs to pay greater attention to those it wants to represent to see if collective bargaining is what they really want.

Last summer, 26 Mexican migrant farm workers on a Manitoba fruit and vegetable farm voted unanimously to opt out of the union. They signed their union cards in 2007 and received their first collective agreement about a year ago. “The workers recognized that there is nothing the union could do for them,” says Mark Wales, Ontario Federation of Agriculture vice-president.

GMO canola escapes Australian quarantine

Australia lifted a moratorium on use of genetically modified canola in March, 2008, and already it has escaped from containment in the southern area of the state of New South Wales, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The Herald quotes farmers as saying they are growing GMO canola “whether we want to or not.” They are concerned that their commercial status as GMO-free growers will be compromised after canola matching Monsanto’s patented GMO seed was found growing beside a highway and at other locations.

A house made from soybeans debuts at the Royal

The Ontario Soybean Growers (OSG) have found a homey way to showcase the many consumer products from soybeans at this year’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto.

It’s called Soy House, an entire two-bedroom bungalow made and furnished with as many soy-based products as possible. Everything from the insulation, carpet under-padding, paint, kitchen cupboards, bedding and soy foam in furniture to components and fluids in the car parked in Soy House’s garage has soybeans in them. Even the potted plants inside are soybeans, says Dale Petrie, OSG general manager.

The nation’s capital – a repeat offender



On July 31, 6.5 million litres of sewage (6,500 cubic metres) ran into the Ottawa River after a two-foot by four-foot steel plate stuck in a shaft carrying sewage to a treatment plant in Gloucester.

The plant went into bypass mode, dumping sewage into the river behind the Prime Minister’s residence.

Because of the spill, Ottawa’s medical officer of health closed Petrie Island beaches for the Civic Holiday weekend, citing full body contact with the river as “unwise.”

Legislators learn it doesn’t pay to tax gassy cows



The farm vote still counts in key states in the United States, as the government there has found out to its detriment.

The Environmental Protection Agency has abandoned a nascent plan to tax cattle producing methane. The American Farm Bureau Federation says the tax was to be included in a climate change law and would have cost producers about $175 for every dairy cow, $87.50 for a beef cow and $20 for each hog to purchase permits for emissions.

“Farmers and ranchers do not profit $87.50 per cow or $20 per hog. This tax is not reasonable,” the American Farm Bureau Federation wrote last December.

Hot dogs on the hot seat


A branch of Washington-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is suing in a New Jersey court to compel wiener makers to put a cancer warning on packages of hotdogs.

The Cancer Project is seeking class action status, meaning that lawyers will take part of the proceeds of a successful suit as their fees. Most famous of the brands on trial is Oscar Mayer. The suggested label would read: “Warning: Consuming hot dogs and other processed meats increases the risk of cancer.”