Go Green » Agriculture

Cut Flowers Cause Climate Change

Michelle — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:08:12 +0000

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “the earth laughs in flowers” but that was before the cut flower business came into being.

If you’re living in North America, chances are the cut flowers you are looking at come from Colombia, one of the major exporters. Three out of every four freshly cut flowers sold in the United States are grown in Colombia. Multinational companies such as Dole Food Company are major owners. These flowers are grown in high concentrations of pesticides including: mancozeb, methylbromide, captan, carbofuran, malathion, and diazinon with toxic effects on workers who know little about the risks to their health. Vast amounts of groundwater is piped in to grow the flowers while chemicals continually leach out. The workers, mainly women, cut the flowers, then dip them in fungicide before placing them in containers to be trucked out.

Every day, flowers are cut and make the long journey by truck and then airplane to distribution centres around North America. Typically, cut flowers are packaged in cellophane and placed in plastic buckets with water and preservatives, arriving “fresh” and put on display. At the most, cut flowers are for sale 7 days, after which they are discounted or thrown into the garbage.

Is this the kind of industry you want to support? Think of all the water, pesticides, plastics and fuel that gets used for one bouquet of soon to be wilty flowers. Is this a wise use of resources?

There are two organizations that are attempting to change the cut flower industry: Sierra Eco and Veriflora. Both organizations certify growers that are fair trade and whose flowers are grown sustainably. Try to support them if you really must buy flowers.

Roundup Ready Wheat coming to Canada

Michelle — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:37:08 +0000

Roundup Ready (TM) resistant superweeds are now spreading across Ontario. Thanks to Monsanto’s special seeds that come with herbicides, weeds have become mixed up too and despite all the toxic sprays, these weeds are thriving. Cough cough.

In the meantime, Monsanto is pushing for a Roundup Resistant wheat. Think about that next time you’re having your pizza!!! Wonderbread could have a new slogan, ‘herbicides in your bread never tasted so good.’

As one farmer said: “From the seed companies, you can expect vigorous denial while they continue to focus on short-term gain ahead of long-term sustainability of the industry. But who is standing up for the what’s really important – sustainability and best practice for health?”

Here are 6 reasons why YOU should resist roundup ready wheat:

1. Genetically-modified wheat crops will contaminate nearby wheat varieties, harming the diversity of wheat around the world and endangering the stability of the global wheat supply .
2. Roundup-Ready Wheat is genetically modified to be resistant to Roundup (glyphosate), but has not been altered to boost crop output. This means more Roundup will be used than before, but the amount of wheat harvest will remain the same.
3. Production costs of genetically-modified crops such as Roundup-Ready Wheat tend to be higher than conventional crops due to expensive seeds and herbicides.
4. Higher quality wheat can be, and has been, achieved through conventional plant breeding rather than through genetic engineering.
5. Unlike many genetically-modified crops grown for fuel and animal fodder, Roundup-Ready Wheat will be grown for human consumption. Some countries require all genetically-modified commodities to be labeled, yet research indicates that consumers reject genetically-modified food when it is labeled as such. Europe will reject any wheat exports if they contain RR!
6. Seed patents to many genetically-modified crops are owned by giant agriculture corporations. Because of these patents, farmers are no longer permitted to save seed from season to season.

Please sign the petition at the CBAN website

BC Peace River dammed

Michelle — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:00:10 +0000

The Premier of BC made an announcement this week, Earth Week, that the Site C hydro-electric dam will go ahead pending federal approval. BC Hydro has the following information on the Site C dam:

Site C dam would be located about seven kilometres southwest of Fort St. John on the Peace River, downstream of where the Moberly River enters the Peace River. It would provide about 900 megawatts of capacity, and produce approximately 4,600 gigawatt hours of electricity each year – enough to power about 460,000 homes. The reservoir would be 83 kilometres long, on average two to three times the width of the current river, and would flood approximately 5,340 hectares.

Site C dam which was given the go-ahead by the Premier (pending some minor technicalities) will devastate the agricultural region of the Peace River Valley. This pristine farming area which has been under increased pressure for drilling by natural gas companies will soon be flooded.

Only 3% of BC’s land is considered suitable for farming – the smallest amount of any province except Newfoundland/Labrador. Peace River farmland produces 86% of BC’s grain. This will soon be gone.

Who needs this hydro-electric energy? Oil and gas companies need a lot.

Have we not learned from similar giant hydro dam projects of the past like the W.A.C. Bennett dam?

A good site to look at is “Down the River” www.site-c-dam.com which shows what the Williston reservoir (a result of the W.A.C. Bennett dam) looks like today – not exactly a picture of paradise.

The Northeast News published an interesting article in February 2009 called “Dust has not settled for Tsay Keh Dene First Nations.” Here are few snippets from that article by Steve Roe (references omitted for easier reading).

In the early 1960s, when construction of the Bennett Dam began, several hundred Tsay Keh Dene occupied the Williston flood zone. At the time, no one fully understood how massive the devastation would be; the band tried to save as much of the wildlife as possible, but once the flood was unleashed, animals drowned even as the band members attempted to rescue them. Elders still remember the stench of rotting moose and other animal carcasses floating on the water’s surface. Around them, the pristine environment had become a living nightmare.

Today, the Bennett Dam still impacts the lives of band members. For the resilient people who now live in Tsay Keh village, at the north end of Williston reservoir, dust storms are a major health problem. In spring, when reservoir water levels are low, strong southeasterly winds raise severe dust storms on the barren flats of the reservoir foreshore, causing thick clouds of siltsized particles to sweep through the village. Many band members, particularly children and elders, have respiratory and skin problems. Furthermore, debris on the reservoir continues to create a transportation barrier, the water is undrinkable, and the fish, part of the traditional Tsay Keh diet, are contaminated with high levels of mercury and cannot be eaten.

Get Triffid out of our flax!

Michelle — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:06:10 +0000

Canada’s entire flax industry – worth $320 million annually – could flub out.

The European Union has put the brakes on flax exports from Canada because the exports were contaminated with the genetically modified version, Triffid. Triffid was a genetically modified (GM) flax seed developed at the University of Saskatchewan in the 1990s and de-registered in 2001. Farmers have not been growing this gm flax for over 10 years and now suddenly Triffid flax is starting to show up.

The EU normally accounts for 60 to 70 per cent Canada’s flax exports and doesn’t allow any contamination above .01%. One Triffid seed in 40,000, or the equivalent of one seed in 3,400 loaves, is enough to reject a 5,000-tonne cargo of flax worth almost $3 million. Richardson International, which handles everything from sourcing to logistics, already has 22,000 tonnes of flax worth $11 million stuck in EU port silos “that we can’t get in or out.”

Even this large company is quoting the NDP, saying that something needs to be done. It could take as much as 3-5 years to get the Triffid out of our flax.

You can also listen to Mr. Atamanenko and others discuss the topic on the radio show “Deconstructing Dinner” on Kootenay Co-op Radio. Audio clip: Talk about GM Flax on Kootenay Co-op Radio.

From official House of Commons records:

March 15, 2010 – Mr. Atamanenko (British Columbia Southern Interior) — That, in the opinion of the House, the government should take the following actions in order to avert another crisis similar to the one of 2009 which severely impacted Canadian flax farmers whereby their 2009 flax exports were found to be widely contaminated with a genetically engineered (GE) flax called CDC Triffid, which was not approved in our major export markets and which led to the wholesale rejection of all Canadian flax shipments to the European Union:

( a ) review the current regulatory process to include consideration of market harm in the approval of unconfined release and confined release of plants with novel traits (genetically engineered plants);

( b ) institute an immediate moratorium on the confined release and unconfined release of genetically engineered alfalfa pending the outcome of the regulatory review; and

( c ) report back to Parliament, through the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the results of the government’s review of the regulatory process within twelve calendar months or at the earliest opportunity following the twelve months if Parliament is not in session.

WTO and Canadian Wheat Board

Michelle — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:00:27 +0000

The Canadian Wheat Board is slated for extinction. The federal government is agreeing with the WTO (World Trade Organization) that the CWB should be eliminated.

The idea sounds simple enough – let the market decide how much the farmers should get. Sounds great right? Until you find out there are only a handful of corporations to do business with.

In January, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered the CWB cannot spend money on ‘advocacy to protect its monopoly’.

In the meantime, farmers in Manitoba’s Red River Valley are preparing for a flood this year.

The CWB is proactively implementing a program to assist affected farmers who may be in danger of losing their accepted, on-farm grain due to forecasted flooding in the portion of the Red River watershed from Emerson to Morris.

Additional rail cars will be allocated to elevators at Morris, Agassiz and Letellier to clear space in elevators so that affected farmers can deliver their accepted Series A and B grain. The CWB anticipates moving this grain from the end of March to the middle/end of April.

If you want to take action to save the Canadian Wheat Board or learn more about the issues, click here.

No fruit from the Okanagan Valley?

Michelle — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:00:26 +0000

Picturesque scenes of apple tree blossoms against the backdrop of Okanagan Lake may no longer exist as fruit packing houses in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley are packing up themselves.

In June 2008, the operations of four grower-owned packinghouses: Okanagan North Growers Cooperative, BC Fruit Packers Cooperative, Sun Fresh Cooperative Growers, and Okanagan Similkameen Cooperative Growers Association, merged into one entity - The Okanagan Tree Fruit Cooperative. Unfortunately, the merger has not been able to stop the downward spiral.

SunOpta Healthy Fruit Snacks announced the pending closure of its Summerland facilities on May 28, 2010. The company makes dried apple leather and fruit snacks under the Kettle Valley Fruit Snacks label. Approximately 40 employees work at the Summerland facilities.

The fruit packing house in Summerland which employs 80 workers, will soon close its doors permanently. This is the third packing house to close in as many years.

Without any government programs to help, these orchardists are seeing the end of their livelihood. They cannot compete against the highly subsidized fruit industry from Washington which allows much cheaper apples and fruits to be sold in chain grocery stores here.

If the major retail chains are buying Canadian fruit, they are now making their purchases in Ontario and no longer have the same level of loyalty to B.C. fruit.

The new farmed fish disease – ISA

Michelle — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:00:49 +0000

Open cage fish farms are a common sight on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. On Vancouver Island, 29 of them are owned by a single company from Norway, where fish farms were first invented. As I mentioned in my post last August, there are a couple of major concerns with open cage fish farming.

The new concern is Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA). Unlike mammals, the red blood cells of fish have DNA, and can become infected with viruses. The fish develop pale gills, and may swim close to the water surface, gulping for air. However, the disease can also develop without the fish showing any external signs of illness, the fish maintain a normal appetite, and then they suddenly die. The disease can progress slowly throughout an infected farm and, in the worst cases, death rates may approach 100%. This was the case last year in Chile, where virtually all of their farmed salmon had to be culled resulting in the layoff of over 20,000 workers.

Although this disease is believed to only affect Atlantic salmon, it’s affect on other fish species has yet to be determined.

Norway is the largest producer of farmed salmon and owns fish farms around the world, including 90% of the fish farms in British Columbia.

There is a really interesting video series which is shown in four parts. This is the second part. If you want to see the others, go to www.youtube.com/puresalmon.

Genetically modified pig waits for approval

Michelle — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:14:12 +0000

The University of Guelph has been working on a new type of pig that they have trademarked “Enviropig” but just how ‘enviro’ is this new pig?

According to BetterFarming.com, “The Enviropig is a genetically enhanced pig with the capability of producing the enzyme phytase in the salivary glands. In the mouth, this enzyme mixes with cereal grains being consumed and, once in the stomach, it digests the phosphorus present in the feed into phytic acid, releasing phosphate that is readily absorbed in the small intestine.”

The Enviropig research group has made applications for approval of the Enviropig for human consumption.

Pigs usually rely on a feed of corn, barley and wheat and their manure is heavy in phosphorus. Phytase supplements are given to poultry and pigs in order that they absorb more of their feed. The question is who will change first, the pig or corn?

China, who is the world’s second largest producer of corn, has come up with a genetically modified phytase corn which would mean that phytase supplements would not be necessary.

Local farmers need mobile abattoirs

Michelle — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:19:37 +0000

A farmer from Dryden, Ontario was given a suspended sentence last week for attempting to transport 20 cattle for his neighbour to Winnipeg, a four hour drive away.

It is illegal for farmers to haul their commodities using farm plated vehicles.

“We have no way to get our crop to market. I’m not trying to make money off a farm-plated vehicle, I’m trying to get animals to market. There is no way we can get a commercial vehicle in here to haul four or five animals down to the local butcher shop.”

The Grand Forks and Boundary Regional Agriculture Society has been working on the concept of a mobile abattoir, however, the cost of the truck proved to be too costly at $300,000:

“Our thought was if it is mobile and has a government inspector working with it we were only going to be able to process for seven hours a day anyway - let’s make it small enough to be able to get to most farms, be pulled by a one ton truck, have UV treatment capabilities for water, and be convenient and affordable. The waste would not be a problem due to the farmer being able to dispose of it on the farm, providing he does not pollute.
The next problem is a unit like this would cost three hundred thousand dollars to build and stock including a truck to haul it to process the current one hundred and fifty animals at an affordable cost to the farmer (no way). The government did however provide funding (at 2004-05 costs) and funds for development and help to comply with rules to a max of 150,000$. This was still not going to be a bank pleaser.
So we thought we would make it dual purpose and on other days it would be able to process other farm fresh products like poultry. Back to the drawing board!”

Goodbye to Canadian Milk Producers

Michelle — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:32:41 +0000

Milk in Canada is getting more expensive to buy and more expensive for cheesemakers and others in the dairy industry. Why is this a concern? Food security is a green issue.

Currently, Canada does not have a national framework to deal with the dairy industry. Unlike the U.S., Canada has a quota system which used to work fine until the industry started to squeeze out a lot of small processors. While the U.S. ensures a free market approach for its dairy farmers, there are several ways in which they are subsidized in case they cannot sell all the milk they produce.

Saputo has been using imported dairy solids to make cheese for more than 30 years. Using modified milk helped lower production costs which enabled them to have 35% of the market share at the expense of locally run cheese makers. As an example, Armstrong Cheese used to be made in Armstrong, BC employing over 70 people and relying on milk from local dairy farms. Saputo bought them out and closed down the plant, but you can still buy something called “Armstrong Cheese.” This scenario is being played out all across the country.

With fewer places to sell their milk and the prices for milk beyond their control, dairy farmers face an uncertain future now that the WTO has ruled that the quota system constitutes an export subsidy for dairy products. This ruling resulted in the reduction of the Canadian export program. Claiming that milk is priced too high, companies like Kraft, Saputo and Parmalat continue to pressure for more imports of blends in the case of butter oils or caseins reducing the need for Canadian milk.

If you want to know more about what’s going to happen to our supply of food, visit www.farmsandfood.ca Provincial milk prices are to be re-calculated February 1, 2010.