The Rural Voice, 2000-02, Page 24CROP ADVISORY
SERVICES
ERB CROP
MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS INC.
Mervyn Erb, CCA
Certified Crop Advisor
Brucefield, Ontario
NOM 1J0
(519) 233-7100
BRUCE
CROP
ADVISORY
Michael Hunter, CCA
Certified Crop Advisor
R.R. 4, Ripley, Ontario
NOG 2R0
(519) 395-0254
When you choose an
Independent Crop Consultant
"you are choosing independent advice."
'.AICC
MEMBERS: National Alliance of
independent Crop Consultants
SEED & GRAIN CLEANING SERVICES
It's that time of year for
EARLY ORDERING
of your pedigree seed!
Oats
OAC Paisley
AC Stewart
Beans
OAC Bayfield
Barley
AC Stephen
Chapais
Hamilton
Morrison
AC Sterling
Stop in or call for prices on pedigree seed or
custom cleaning & treating of your own seed
BRANT QUALITY SEEDS INC.
Cty. Rd. 10 N. of Hanover
Phone: 519-364-1525 Fax: 519-364-3835
20 THE RURAL VOICE
from the contract supplier, take it or
leave it! The lower farm gate
prices/free enterprise prices go, the
easier it is to herd farmers into
production contracts. You can dress
it up and say it extends the farmer's
hand further down the food chain,
you can dress it up and say it's a
response to consumer demands, you
can dress it up and say it's'the only
way for quality assurance, you can
dress it up and say it's needed for
ISO or HACCP, you can call it
anythingyou want, but she still looks
like Cinderella's ugly sister.
The next 12 months will be the
roughest ride for biotech-
nology, but it will be the time
frame needed to sort things out.
When the massive segregation and
labeling realities come to be
understood by the public, food
processing will then be understood
by the consumer. The consumer
wants value, taste and convenience.
If there is going to be truth in
labeling, then it is going to get very
complex, as processed food products
and ingredients come from around
the world. The most acceptable
applications of biotechnology are
those that offer a clear and direct
consumer benefit, as well as those
that are perceived to be ethical and
safe.
However, public attitudes about
agricultural biotechnology vary
considerably among countries.
Consumers from Canada, the U.S.,
Finland, Italy, Japan, the
Netherlands, and Portugal are more
positive about bioengineering than
consumers from Britain, France,
Austria, Germany, Sweden and
Denmark. Britain and France are
most negative as they've had mad
cow disease, food retailer panic,
Prince Charles, an effective network
of activists and are anti-American in
general.
The Europeans are worried.
Reports indicate that after a
November non-GEO shopping trip to
South America, European bean
buyers were surprised to find
Roundup Ready soybean seed had
been "brown bagged" in Argentina
and boot -legged into Rio Grande do
Sul. The governor of the state of
RGDS was offering farmers low
interest loans (another word for debt)