NFU-O now accredited

The National Farmers Union, Ontario branch, is once again accredited to receive funding under the province’s annual registration fee system.

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Tribunal has granted accreditation because it was ordered by a court in Ottawa to do so.

The appeal tribunal had refused to re-accredit the organization because it felt too much control over its finances and policies was held by the parent National Famers Union office in Saskatoon.

As with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, the tribunal also ruled that there was no clear evidence that farmers who directed their fees to these organizations want to be members.

The province intervened to support all three organizations on that issue, prompting the tribunal to approve the OFA and CFFO.

Hub to offer poultry disease insurance

After years of effort to set up a reciprocal insurance program for poultry and livestock diseases, a private company, Hub International Ltd., has entered the market.

Deborah Whale of Alma, Ont., spent years spearheading an effort to undertake research so insurers could measure their risks and establish a multi-layered system to insure against catastrophic losses in the case of an outbreak of a foreign animal disease.

While the effort began with poultry, it evolved into proposals that include the livestock industry.

To date there has been less-than-enthusiastic buy-in by marketing boards and farmers.

The Ontario Broiler Hatching Egg and Chick Commission was the first to establish a reciprocal insurance program for salmonella enteriditis.

Despite all of the work to form a farmer-driven program embracing all poultry marketing boards, the Ontario egg marketing board decided it would run its own program.

Now Hub International Ltd. has announced it will insure poultry farmers against avian influenza, Infectious Laryngotracheitis

 and Newcastle diseases.

 “This new insurance product will be a critical tool to assist Canadian poultry and egg producers in managing the risks of disease,” Jim Henry of Hub said in a news release. 

“Up until now, producers had to seek coverage for SE (salmonella enteriditis) from insurance reciprocals and assume the risks associated with this strategy. To the best of our knowledge, there is no protection available for AI, ILT and Newcastle and now that has changed”.

Belmont says it’s not to blame

Belmont Meat Products Ltd. says it’s not to blame in the expanding recall of its hamburger because of contamination with E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria.

The source is beef Belmont bought from other packers, says Duffy Smith.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed that it is trying to track down the source of the E. coli.

So far nine people in Ontario have been reported ill to the Ontario Ministry of Health.

The hamburger was sold by Sobeys and all of its affiliated stores in Ontario under its Compliments brand name, by Loblaws nation-wide under its SunSpun and President’s Choice brands and by Webers Bucket of Burgers.

Tyson won’t buy Canadian cattle

Tyson Foods won’t buy Canadian cattle because it can’t afford to meet the U.S. government’s County-of-Origin Labeling rules.

Worth Sparkman sent an e-mail to Meatingplace Magazine this week saying the buying ban took effect this week.

Tyson will, however, continue to buy Canadian cattle that have been finished in U.S. feedlots.

Tyson’s announcement steps up the pressure on the U.S. government to revamp its Country-of-Origin labeling rules to bring them in line with a World Trade Organization ruling that they unfairly and illegally discriminate against imported cattle and hogs.

Canada’s beef industry figures the rules cost Canadian farmers more than $600 million a year and the Canadian Pork Council puts its loss at $1 billion a year.

The U.S. proposals to meet the WTO ruling are, Canadian and U.S. meat packers agree, even worse than the existing rules.

"Like many others in the North American beef industry, we're very disappointed by the changes made in the U.S. country of origin labeling rules,” said Sparkman.

“These new rules significantly increase costs because they require additional product codes, production breaks and product segregation, including a separate category for cattle shipped directly from Canada to U.S. beef plants without providing any incremental value to our customers," Sparkman said.

Tyson does not have enough warehouse capacity to accommodate the proliferation of products requiring different types of labels due to the regulation, he said.

                    

Barn parties are dead

Barn parties are effectively dead, killed by a decision this week from the Ontario Fire Safety Commission.

The commission ruled in favour of Wilmot Township and against John Jordan of Shingletown, about 15 km. west of Kitchener.

It’s decision sets a new and impossibly-tough standard for most who want to hold a barn party, such as a wedding.

The commission ruled that the barn owner must obtain a permit from the municipality to hold the party and that the municipality must inspect and approve the barn.

The barn will need alarms, sprinklers, fireproofing around structural supports, emergency lights, exit signs and easy property access for fire-department vehicles. In Jordan’s case, it means a widening of the driveway.

And, of course, the barn owner will require a building permit to carry out the necessary renovations.

Wilmot Township’s chief building inspector, Doug Robertson, says many municipalities did not want the issue to go before the Ontario Fire Safety Commission.

But Wilmot Township would not back down because Robertson said that would leave it liable in the case of a tragedy at a barn party.

It’s all about liability, said some of the people involved in the commission’s public hearing in Kitchener earlier this year.

“I am dumbfounded,” said Jordan, who was sure he would win, especially after the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office said it has no issue with one-off parties.

“We can’t have parties at this point,” he said of his barn where his son liked to practice music with friends and they sometimes held parties for family members and friends.

Wilmot Township earlier forced the closure of a grieving circle that met in a barn near St. Agatha and a book club that met in a barn near New Hamburg.

Canada holds Chilean pork market

Canada has beaten back an effort in Chile to impose high tariffs.

The Chilean government considered the request and Canada’s arguments and decided that the “safeguard” measures the Chilean pork industry requested cannot be justified.

Under World Trade Organization rules, there are provisions for “safeguard” tariffs if imports surge to the point of swamping the domestic industry.

Canada successfully argued that Chile’s pork industry does not qualify under the World Trade Organization rules.

Gary Stordy, spokesman for the Canadian Pork Council, welcomed the decision because Chile has become an important market for Canadian pork.

Canada is Chile’s second-largest pork supplier and sold more than 5.7 million tonnes worth about $17 million last year.         

Erie Innovations closing

Forget what federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Prime Minister Stephen Harper say about the importance of research, development and innovation.

Watch what they are doing.

Erie Innovations and Commercialization is closing at the end of the month because the federal government has cut its support.

Others involved in funding the research and development have pledged ongoing support, but without a continuation of federal support, the management says it cannot continue.

One option would be to continue with funding for individual projects, but the organization has rejected that option.

“Erie Innovation and Commercialization has been an excellent program to deal directly with diversification of opportunities for agricultural and horticultural producers in Ontario,” said Art Smith, chief executive officer for the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.

“New companies and organizations have strongly benefitted from the efforts of our staff,” said Smith.

The centre is Quick Freeze, endamame, maple sweet water, castor, Russian dandelion, quinoa and biomass.

Under vice-president John Kelly, the staff shifted focus from the research approach of the Delhi Research Station to innovation and commercialization.

There has been no comment from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada about its funding lapse. It has been quick to issue news releases to announce its funding support in the past.

The board of directors for Erie Innovations and Commercialization includes Smith and Harold Schooley from the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, Dr. Gord Surgeonor from Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, David Sparling from the University of Western Ontario’s business school, Frank Ingratta, former deputy of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Steve Peters, former Ontario minister of agriculture who now works for the Alliance of Ontario Food Processors, Jim Grey of IGPC Ethanol Inc., Clark Hoskin, manager of tourism and economic development for Norfolk County and Mary Shabatura of Shabatura Farms Ltd.