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4 THE RURAL VOICE
Keith Roulston
Fear on the farm
Keith
Roulston is
editor and
publisher of
The Rural
Voice. He
lives near
Bluth, ON.
Consumers — some anyway —
are afraid of the necessities of life.
They're worried about E. coli in their
water. They're worried about E. coli
in their hamburgers. They're worried
about Mad Cow Disease turning their
brains to sponge. They're worried
about pesticide residues. They're
worried about genetically -altered
food.
Many farmers would say
consumers have gone way overboard
in their concerns to the point of
paranoia, But farmers have their fears
too. First it was Foot and Mouth.
Then BSE. Then avian influenza.
These diseases can devastate a
farming operation and there's fear on
the farm when they are around.
Recently I heard some B.C.
poultry farmers interviewed on the
radio about new biosecurity regimes
implemented on their farms since the
bird flu outbreak. One said nobody
was allowed onto his farm anymore.
At the height of the panic about a
mysterious, highly -mobile infection
like bird flu, this reaction is under-
standable but I found myself hoping
this isn't what's being called "the
new normal". Imagine if biosecurity
becomes so stringent that the
neighbour's kid selling Girl Guide
cookies can't come to the door?
Imagine if you -can't have the
neighbours over for a barbecue? 1
found myself wondering if we get to
the point, in the long run, where we
have to live with this kind of fear, if
we're doing something wrong in
modern farming.
One of the farming branches most
vigilant on biosecurity is the pork
industry. A couple of years ago I
interviewed Dr. Cathy Templeton on
the value of greater biosecurity on
pork farms. Proponent of biosecurity
that she is, even Dr. Templeton
wondered if things can go too far.
"Because of the rules we've set up
of not allowing people to move from
barn to barn, pig production has
become a lonely business," she said.
"I'm not exactly advocating that we
throw open the barn doors, but 1 do
know that (the isolation) affects
people. l know that when we bring
people together for producer
meetings, the formal part of the
meeting will be over at nine and you
kick them out at I I because they
spend two hours after the formal
meeting talking about things... Fear
of disease has kept people from
visiting, so 1 think we need to open
the doors a crack — with proper
precautions — for the good of the
industry."
One of the most sociable livestock
groups has been dairy producers. but
on-farm biosecurity issues are
something else again. Recently a
dairy producer called to express
outrage that under new milk board
regulations, dairy farmers are no
longer allowed to pasture horses with
their replacement heifers because a
rare disease can cross between the
two types of animals. He also
predicted that within a short time
dairy producers won't be allowed to
have dogs near cattle, ending an
animal -handling practice that goes
back almost to the beginning of
agriculture.
Concern for the safety of food and
the health of consumers is commend-
able, of course. Not only do farmers
have a responsibility not to harm
consumers of their products, but it's
also bad business to turn off your
customer.
Still, where's the balance between
reasonable care and paranoia? We
seem to have a fear of nature these
days. We're used to having total
control �f production under scientific,
industrial processes and the variables
of natural production are troubling.
But if we can't live naturally in
communities of people who visit each
other, if we can't keep a dog or a
horse, maybe we need to take a look
at the whole direction food
production is heading in. People need
to have a life while making a living.0