Mercy for Animals downsizing

Mercy for Animals – Canada – has tweeted that it is “downsizing”.

In fact, it is closing its office for Canada in Toronto and apparently plans to do everything for North America from its U.S. headquarters.

The closure in Canada will, no doubt, come as welcome news to Canada’s livestock and poultry farmers, but not animal welfare activists.

Mercy for Animals has captured national news media attention for underground videos depicting cruelty at Chilliwack Cattle Sales, the largest dairy farm in British Columbia and Canada, at an Ontario farm raising turkeys for Hybrid Turkeys of Kitchener, at a hatchery at Hanover, Ont., and at a hog farm in Manitoba.

In several cases, the news media exposure prompted fulsome apologies by the owners and promises to better train and manage staff.

Black proposes chicken auction

Glenn Black of Providence Bay says Ontario chickens would be better sold by auction than under the current cost-of-production pricing formula.

He proposes an auction similar to the Dairy Farmers of Ontario market-clearing auction for pricing quota.

He further suggests that the auction begin with the most efficient producers – i.e. those with the lowest cost of production – and gradually scale down to eventually cover all producers.

The Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission, which is reviewing the chicken board’s cost-of-production formula, is refusing to listen to Black’s proposals.

It has also refused to provide information about its process to Restaurants Canada and has denied that organization the right to participate as an “intervenor” or to observe its deliberations.

Given the commission’s response to the powerful Restaurants Canada organization – whose members rank second as buyers of Ontario chicken – Black, who raises one bird a year, stands little chance of influencing the outcome. Too bad because he pours a lot of research into the positions he takes.

Black writes on his blog, http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.com , that “currently there is false data in the marketplace about supply and demand, and these are frequently manipulated in a cyclic fashion so as to maximize the power and profits of the various players.

“Due to vertical and horizontal integration of the supply-managed (SM) chicken industry, the cost of capital systems, land, chicken feed, and chicks can be easily manipulated, and are being manipulated so as to force the cost of production (COP) to move in desirable directions; defeating any sense of accurate price discovery by free market forces.

“SM was originally designed to give the lone family chicken farmer the system under which they can unite against the powerful agriculture & food conglomerates who had been using predatory practices against individual farmers,” Black writes.

“Today, 99 per cent of those chicken farmers have been forced out of business since 1921; majority of that reduction has occurred during CFO's existence. 

“The multi-national food and agriculture companies are even more powerful than 50 years ago.  The Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO  marketing board) has joined forces with their former enemy, and have used their government-created monopoly as a weapon to extract maximum profits for their special interest group out of the pocketbooks of Ontario consumers.

“In short, COP has become a weapon of choice used against the best interests of Ontario consumers.

“As an alternative to COP, we have proposed a simple public auction system for live chicken so that buyers and sellers can achieve accurate price discovery, and productivity and efficiency become the main driving forces to help consumers get affordable chicken, while farmers and processors are assured market stability and coverage of their costs and reasonable profit margins,” he writes.

“This would eliminate the need for COP and its constant tinkering each quota cycle at great cost, bias, and attempts to manipulate unfairly.”

Tenth anniversary for Faces of Farming calendars

The tenth anniversary edition of the Faces of Farming calendar is coming out soon.

Farming and Food Care is already taking orders online.

Among those featured in the edition for 2015 are:

•       Two city girls who found their calling on Ontario egg and beef farms;

•       Winners of Ontario’s 2014 Outstanding Young Farmer competition;

•       Multi-generational fruit and vegetable farmers who were recognized for their environmentally-sustainable farming practices;

•       A race car driver who grows broccoli on his family farm;

•       Brothers who are active community volunteers as well as dairy farmers;

•       A family growing edamame beans – a crop new to Ontario - on land that has been in their family for over a century.

Scanning the QR codes found on the bottom of each calendar page directs viewers to video interviews with each of the farmers and farm families.

Almost 4,000 politicians, grocery stores, butcher shops and media sources will be mailed copies of the calendar and the soon-to-be-released 2014 edition of the Real Dirt on Farming booklet in November.

Copies can be ordered by filling out the online order form at www.farmfoodcare.org, or by calling 1(519) 837-1326.

A list of retailers selling the calendar is also posted on the Farm & Food Care website.

I have always been impressed by these calendars, and by Crystal Mackay, chief executive officer for Farming and Food Care. She produced the first calendar while she was with the Ontario Pork marketing board.

Egg board wins food donation award

The Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board is this year’s winnerof the Paul Mistele Memorial Award which honours farmers who donate to food banks.

The late Paul Mistele began a campaign in 1998 to persuade hog farmers to make donations in the midst of a period of heavy losses for hog producers.

The egg producers donated about $250,000 worth of eggs to food banks.

The board runs a program that enables members who make donations to add birds to their flocks. The concept is that their donation will cover the cost of eggs the extra birds put into the Ontario market.

However, some critics have noted that farmers who are making use of empty space in their barns can produce the eggs for less than their financial contribution so they actually profit from the program.

One can only hope these farmers don't also try to count their donation as a tax-reducing charitable donation.

The egg board said in March that it would donate the equivalent of 12,000 dozen eggs every month to the Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB), or 144,000 dozen throughout the year.

“It is an incredible and much needed commitment”, says Bill Laidlaw, executive director for the association, “and will make a huge difference in the health and accessibility of fresh food for those in need.”

“Ontario’s egg farmers have a strong record of donating to food banks and we wanted to give more through a program that makes it easy for egg farmers and all supporters to donate fresh, high-quality Ontario eggs to food banks across the province," said EFO Chair Scott Graham.

“Protein is essential for proper nutrition and is the most needed item by our food banks. The Egg Farmers of Ontario’s donation really helps fill that need,” says Laidlaw.

Black proposes chicken auction

Glenn Black of Providence Bay says Ontario chickens would be better sold by auction than under the current cost-of-production pricing formula.

He proposes an auction similar to the Dairy Farmers of Ontario market-clearing auction for pricing quota.

He further suggests that the auction begin with the most efficient producers – i.e. those with the lowest cost of production – and gradually scale down to eventually cover all producers.

The Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission, which is reviewing the chicken board’s cost-of-production formula, is refusing to listen to Black’s proposals.

It has also refused to provide information about its process to Restaurants Canada and has denied that organization the right to participate as an “intervenor” or to observe its deliberations.

Given the commission’s response to the powerful Restaurants Canada organization – whose members rank second as buyers of Ontario chicken – Black who raises one bird a year stands little chance of influencing the outcome.

Black writes on his blog that “currently there is false data in the marketplace about supply and demand, and these are frequently manipulated in a cyclic fashion so as to maximize the power and profits of the various players.

“Due to vertical and horizontal integration of the supply-managed (SM) chicken industry, the cost of capital systems, land, chicken feed, and chicks can be easily manipulated, and are being manipulated so as to force the cost of production (COP) to move in desirable directions; defeating any sense of accurate price discovery by free market forces.

“SM was originally designed to give the lone family chicken farmer the system under which they can unite against the powerful agriculture & food conglomerates who had been using predatory practices against individual farmers,” Black writes.

“Today, 99 per cent of those chicken farmers have been forced out of business since 1921; majority of that reduction has occurred during CFO's existence. 

“The multi-national food and agriculture companies are even more powerful than 50 years ago.  The Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO  marketing board) has joined forces with their former enemy, and have used their government-created monopoly as a weapon to extract maximum profits for their special interest group out of the pocketbooks of Ontario consumers.

“In short, COP has become a weapon of choice used against the best interests of Ontario consumers.

“As an alternative to COP, we have proposed a simple public auction system for live chicken so that buyers and sellers can achieve accurate price discovery, and productivity and efficiency become the main driving forces to help consumers get affordable chicken, while farmers and processors are assured market stability and coverage of their costs and reasonable profit margins,” he writes.

“This would eliminate the need for COP and its constant tinkering each quota cycle at great cost, bias, and attempts to manipulate unfairly.”

                           

Canafric loses poultry-processing licence

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) reinstated the licence it suspended Oct. 2 for Canafric Inc., a producer of poultry and meat-filled pie products and entrees, located in Burlington, Ont.

The company`s licence was suspended because it failed to meet regulatory requirements outlined in its Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) program. 

In addition, the operator failed to properly store products, in violation of the Meat Inspection Regulations.

There has been no food recall associated with this licence suspension.

Canafric regained its licence Oct. 21 after the CFIA deemed it had implemented “the necessary corrective measures” and regained the CFIA’s confidence “in the company's capacity to effectively manage food safety risks.”

CFIA seizes or trashes Ontario foods

A quarterly report indicates the Canadian Food Inspection Agency detained and in some cases destroyed everything from breads to hamburger as a result of inspections at Ontario plants.

The Healthy Butcher Inc. of Toronto had some of its breads detained on June 18.

Versacold Logistics Canada Inc. of London, Ont., had frozen chow mein detained on May 6.

Tropical Treets of Toronto had “various fruit beverages” detained on May 5.

Cargill Limited’s plant in Brampton had frozen beef patties detained because of E. coli contamination on May 1.

Conestoga Cold Storage of Kitchener had frozen beef trim detained because of “biologic hazard” on April 29, frozen turkey breast for the same reason on April 24, and has three instances of frozen beef trim on April 4, 10 and 14.

Burnbrae Farms of Lyn, Ont., had unpasteurized liquid whole eggs detained at its plant at Upton, Que., on June 12.

CFIA cracking down on food imports

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency appears to be cracking down hard on food imports, judging by its website report on detentions during the first half of this year.

Ontario inspectors appear to have been particularly vigilant with 116 detentions listed.

They span companies large and small and a broad range of products.

Nestle Canada had a large number of Stouffer’s brand products detained, apparently for reasons unrelated to food safety.

Ronald Chisholm Ltd., which is a major importer of a variety of products, was hit by several detentions of beef.

Given Canada’s high tariffs, it’s somewhat surprising that there were detentions of chicken imported by companies such as Erie Meats and turkey by P&H Foods.

The list is posted at www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/accountability/compliance-and-enforcement/disposed-food-products/2014-15-q1/eng/1410289343544/1410289344419 .

Maple Lodge continues to be fined

Despite court cases and dozens of fines, Maple Lodge Farms Ltd. continues to violate chicken-transportation standards.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency hit Maple Lodge with three more fines totaling $23,400 in the second quarter of this year.

That brought the total to 50 fines and $314,600.

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. was fined $6,000 for one infraction during the second quarter, bringing its total to two fines and $12,000.

Aliments Breton Inc., which trucks pigs out of Ontario to its plant in Quebec, was fined 12 times during the quarter for $23,000, bringing its total to 15 fines and $82,000.

There were 23 fines under plant protection regulations in Atlantic Canada during the second quarter, three in Ontario and 19 in Western Canada.

Those fines totaled $372,000 during the second quarter, more than $200,000 from Atlantic Canada and $116,000 from the west.

In all, the federal government collected $547,800 in what it calls “administrative monetary penalties”.

Re-used containers pose risks

 Farmers who re-use containers are running a risk that they will bring diseases such as plum pox virus on their farms, says Keith Warriner who led a study from the University of Guelph.

Those risks are greater than the threat to human health, he says.

Yet people could be sickened by some of the bacteria he found, such as E. coli.

More troubling is that the percentage of contaminated containers has increased since he conducted his first survey and the industry said it would step up measures to sanitize containers.

This new study found some improvements, including fewer damaged containers, and found that Ontario RPCs were cleaner than those in Quebec.

“However, the same issue of labels from previous users and high microbial counts persists,” the report says.

“Growers could reject any crates at the point of delivery, but retailers need to do more to ensure standards are being met. Retailers are the ones demanding crates be used.”         

Cider recalled in Waterloo

Rolling Acres Cider Mill near Waterloo is recalling its unpasteurized apple cider because it might be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7.

Three people have been sickened enough to see doctors for treatment.

Some of the cider was sold Oct. 11 at the St. Jacobs farmers market on the northern outskirts of Waterloo and some was sold Oct. 10 and 11 at the cider mill.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which is supervising the recall, does not say how many people fell ill.

This situation begs for investigation.

First, the source of E. coli 0157:H7 is usually cow manure. How does that get on apples up in trees?

I can guess that the apples fell into cow manure and was picked up and used to make apple cider.

Yuck! And dangerous!

But why was the cider not pasteurized? Does Rolling Acres have so little regard for the health of its customers?

Why do I come across food-poisoning by unpasteurized apple cider every autumn? Do cider makers learn nothing from experience?

But, then again, some people insist on drinking unpasteurized milk. 

E. coli 0157:H7 is the same bacteria that contaminated Walkerton’s drinking water, killing seven and sickening 2,300.

That led to an inquiry and a host of measures to improve drinking-water safety. Why is so little done about unpasteurized milk and cider?

Maybe it's simply a matter of numbers arising from a single incident.
If you get sick in smaller numbers over many incidents, I guess it doesn't count so much.

Restaurants miffed by Farm Products Commission snub

Garth Whyte, president and chief executive officer of Restaurants Canada, is miffed by the lack of response from the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission.

The commission is reviewing chicken pricing and accepting submissions, but has so far not answered a letter Whyte wrote the commission early this month requesting further information.

Whyte also says the commission won't allow Restaurants Canada to participate in the pricing review, not even as an observer, let alone an intervenor.

Nothing commission chairman Gerry Kamenz does surprises me. I can't think of a more incompetent government appointee in Ontario.

Members of Restaurants Canada are second only to supermarkets as customers for Ontario-grown chicken.

Whyte has decided to go public, posting an open letter on the association’s website.

Here’s what he wrote to the commission:

“Canada’s restaurant industry purchases approximately $2.2 billion a year in Canadian chicken.  It is a popular menu item at many of our members’ restaurants, and Restaurants Canada has long said it would like to be a full partner in promoting the growth and further development of the chicken industry. 

“Your commission is currently examining the cost of production (COP) formula used in setting the price of Ontario chicken. This process is important because the price set for chicken in Ontario determines the price charged for chicken across the whole country.  

“As you are aware, the commission requested input on the proposed amendments to determine the "minimum live prices for chickens that Ontario producers are paid.” On Oct. 8, we sent you a letter requesting: 

• a copy of all the amendments proposed, along with proposed prices and costs; and
• a full description of the cost of production formula in place since 2002, including any modifications either in formula or assigned costs/prices.

“Restaurants Canada has not received any response.  We are frustrated because we want to contribute to the important review work taking place and respond to the amendments you are considering.

“The restaurant industry is Canada’s second-largest purchaser of chicken and has been denied intervener – even observer – status during this review.  

“Our association is unable to respond to the commission’s invitation to provide commentary on the proposed amendments by the deadline of Nov. 6, because these amendments have not been made known. “For that matter, details of the COP used since 2002 have also not been shared publicly.

“As a result, outside interveners like ourselves don’t know if amendments proposed by the current review significantly advance the consumer, our industry and – ultimately – the public interest.”

Earlier this year the commission ordered the Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board to roll back prices to more accurately reflect current feed-conversion rates.

Ontario makes appointments

The Ontario government posted website information today about a large number of appointments to various boards and commissions, including many related to farming.

John Core, former chief executive officer of the Canadian Dairy Commission and president of Core Brothers dairy farm, has been appointed a director of Agricorp.

Maureen Janisse, who farms in the Windsor area, Brenda Lammen of Spearit Farms asparagus growing and Arnold Strub, former chief executive officer of Strub Bros. Limited pickle-processing company have all been appointed to the OMAFRA Appeals Tribunal.

Marie Fortier, a deputy judge in small claims court in Ottawa, and Bradley Miller, an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario’s law school, have been appointed to the Animal Care Review Board. It has been active recently dealing with farmers’ complaints about enforcement actions by the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Fortier and Miller have also been appointed to the Fire and Safety Commission which has been dealing with farmers’ complaints that local fire departments are too stringent in forbidding gatherings, such as wedding parties, in barns.

Alison Robertson, program manager for the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, has been appointed a director at the Ontario Food Terminal.

Daniel Nelson, a Toronto lawyer and teacher at George Brown College, has been appointed to the Conservation Review Board.

Laurie Marie-Edith Bruce, a professional planner in Toronto, Marlene Cashin, a  client services representative with Legal Aid Ontario in Toronto, and Frank Philcox, lead lawyer for the Children’s Aid Society of Windsor-Essex, have been appointed to the Environmental Review Tribunal.

Maple Leaf losses continue

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. continues to lose money while it runs both old and new meat-processing plants until the transition to Hamilton has been completed.

The operating losses in the third quarter this year are $19.8 million compared with $26.7 million for the same quarter last year.

For the first nine months, the losses this year total $190.8 million compared with $93.5 million last year.

Revenues increased by 8.2 per cent, mainly because the company was able to increase prices just before pork costs began to decline.

Sales volumes declined, but company president Michael McCain said he believes that is temporary.

The losses may continue for the balance of the year because the company will still be running both the large Schneider plant in Kitchener and the new plant in Hamilton.

Durum wheat prices soaring

Prices for durum wheat have doubled and in some cases tripled this year, says Bruce Burnett, weather and crop specialist with the Canadian Wheat Board.

Stocks are tight and the quality of this year’s Prairie harvest is the poorest on record, he told those attending the Cereals of North America conference in Winnipeg.

Only four per cent of the Canadian crop is grading as number one and only 19 per cent is grading number two.

Thirty-seven per cent is grading, 25 per cent number four and 14 per cent number five, Burnett said.

Plenty of rain in Europe also impacted the quality or the durum wheat harvest in France, Italy and Greece.

Canadian durum is world famous as the best for making pasta.

                           

Monsanto files application to market big-ear corn

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says Monsanto has filed an application for approval to market a genetically-modified corn that has big ears.

The CFIA describes it as “Increased Ear Biomass”.

The CFIA also says the application is for approval to market the corn for livestock feed and as a “novel food”.

The genetic modification is known as MON 87403.

Health Canada is handling the part of the government review that relates to sale of this corn as a novel food.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, under Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, is handling the environmental issues related to growing this corn and its use as livestock feed.