Behind the Lines - November 2014

Monday, November 3, 2014

A theme runs through this month's cover story by writer Susan Mann on risk management for horticultural producers. Canadian farmers selling produce into the United States are in a unique position because, alone among growers from all over the world, they can take advantage of the U.S. Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) and quickly get their money back, ahead of lenders, if a buyer fails financially. However, American produce sellers shipping into Canada don't have the same advantage; their priorities are behind those of lenders, and unless the Canadian government brings in its own law similar to PACA, the Americans might retaliate and Canadian horticultural producers could lose their right to use PACA.

Ironically, just as we were in the final stages of magazine production, the worst happened, according to the internationally based Fresh Produce Alliance. With the loss of access to PACA, beginning Oct. 1, Canadian fruit and vegetable farmers have been deprived of an important financial risk management tool, says Ron Lemaire, president of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association. A small producer  owed $50,000 would have to post $100,000 in cash to make a claim, effectively removing $150,000 from their cash operating line for up to one year. The marketing association predicts that many growers will be unable to collect what they are owed.

Horticultural operators have been lobbying for a PACA-like law in Canada for years, but have been opposed by banking institutions. Mann's story on the complexities of financial protection for produce operators begins on page 10.

The winter season is coming upon us and some of our readers' favourite features are back. In our first Up Close feature this fall, writer Mary Baxter looks at Essex County's Henry Denotter, former president of the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, and his philosophy of "less is more." And in the first Crop Scene Investigation of the season, writer Bernard Tobin examines a 15 per cent germination reduction in a corn field. The prize for the right answer in this popular series is a wireless weather station.

We are also pleased to report that field editor Mary Baxter picked up two medals in the recent Canadian Farm Writers' Federation awards competition.

Mary won gold for her cover story in the May issue of Better Farming: "Our collapsing bee colonies: is neonicotinoid poisoning at fault?" Some excerpts from the judges' comments: "Astounding amount of sourced interviews . . . "; "not many would tackle this story – you did"; ". . . the writer did a tremendous amount of digging here . . ." Baxter also won silver for a technical feature in the same issue: "In search of a standardized soil test for Ontario farmers."

This is just the latest in a string of awards Mary has won, including one from the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists for the best agriculture story in the world and another from the Canadian Association of Journalists as a member of a Better Farming team that produced the best magazine story in Canada. BF

ROBERT IRWIN & DON STONEMAN