Food vs. fuel fights renew

The World Resources Institute has published a new working paper that says if crops such as corn, sugar cane or vegetable oils were used for food rather than for fuel, the world’s food needs would be largely met.

Called “Avoiding Bioenergy Competition for Food Crops and Land,” the paper notes that “phasing out the use of crop-based biofuelds” … is “a potent strategy for sustainably meeting future food needs.”

Authors Tim Searchinger and Ralph Heimlich say that biofuels made from what is essentially waste product, such as forest and agriculture residues, leftover municipal waste and methane gas captured from landfills, are functional without setting up competition for food production.

On the other hand, the tremendous political support for other types of biofuels from corn and the like benefit from what is a double-counting of its benefits.

The authors note that estimates are that food production must rise by 70 percent by 2050, but that allowing "crop-based biofuels (to be) were phased out, (means) the 2050 crop calorie gap would decrease from 70 percent to about 60 percent, a significant step toward a sustainable food future."

While there has been much written about the choice of marketing crops as food or fuel, the real issue boils down to how much money farmers want to make from crops, and that matter of money does not take the affordability of food or hunger into account.

Cargill has phased out sow gestation stalls

Cargill says it has completed conversion of its barns from stalls to loose housing for gestating sows.

It’s a year ahead of the schedule was for completion by the end of this year.

“We are pleased to achieve 100 percent group housing at Cargill Pork farms nearly one year ahead of schedule,” said Mike Luker, president of Cargill Meat Solutions Corp.’s pork business.

“This is a significant investment in the future of our pork business.”

The barn conversions puts Cargill in a strong position to market pork to restaurant and supermarket chains and foodservices companies who have announced deadlines after which they will no longer buy pork that comes from farms that use gestation stalls.

Do you think that high profits in hog farming and outbreaks of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus in farrowing operations might have had something to do with beating the company's deadline by 11 months?

Poultry training now online

 The Poultry Industry Council is launching PoultryPro, an online modular training program that is useful for farming all types of poultry.

This course was developed in response to a need identified by industry stakeholders for a relevant and comprehensive training opportunity applicable to the entire sector. Previously, no such industry-wide opportunity was available.

It's another example of outstanding leadership from the Poultry Industry Council.

PoultryPro consists of four online modules that focus on management in the barn, for feed and water, for breeders and for diseases.

The target audience is new farm workers, new industry employees, and new graduates hoping to work in the poultry industry.

"PoultryPro is all-encompassing for the poultry sector, it is not specific to any one company or poultry species," explains Laura Bowers, education and extension programs manager with PIC.

"There is a lot of information out there, but PoultryPro brings it all together in an online course format that is very practical and useful at the barn level," she says.

PoultryPro isn't meant to replace on-the-job training; rather, it will introduce those taking the program to important key poultry production concepts and make them familiar with relevant general information and aspects of the poultry industry.

PoultryPro is being delivered through a partnership with the Business Development Centre at the University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus. This group was chosen as they already deliver other online courses, and thus have the required infrastructure and IT resources in place.

Ridgetown also has a staff team experienced in online course delivery and transferring adult education materials into e-learning formats.

The course information consists of online materials and a textbook, and is provided in a variety of ways.

It has been designed to be interactive and features a number of interactive learning activities, clickable buttons, links and extra resources throughout each module.

While PoultryPro is a comprehensive training program, both the time commitment required and cost are manageable, the PIC  says.

The course fee is $180 plus HST; more information and course registration are available on the PIC website at: http://www.poultryindustrycouncil.ca/training-and-events/poultrypro-101/.

This project was funded in part through Growing Forward 2 (GF2), a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural Adaptation Council assists with GF2 delivery in Ontario.

Thunder Bay research station to close

The Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station will close March 31 because it has no more money.

So much for politicians' lip service to the value of research and innovation.

The station has been working under a three-year contract with Northern Heritage Corp., but that’s not going to be renewed.

Three staff worked with a budget of $200,000 a year.

The station has been operating for 25 and recently served about 40 to 50 local farmers, mainly helping to identify new crops suited to the short growing season in the region.

Meat and cancer issue arises again

The World Health Organization’s cancer agency is discussing the possibility of deeming red meat and processed meat as carcinogenic agents.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) will take up the issue in a meeting to be held in October in France.

“I’m deadly serious,” Mark Dopp, senior vice president of regulatory affairs and general counsel for the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), told people attending the International Production and Processing Expo.