The Rural Voice, 1990-01, Page 24addressed with the facts. Now consumers are being scared by a
barrage of half truths and innuendo.
Farm produce is and has been "organic." I don't know of any
field crop or farm animal that is "inorganic." Quite frankly the so-
called "organic" food often seems to look more scrubby, scabby,
diseased, and unhealthy, possibly because its deficiencies have not
been tended to.
We must remember that our pres. nt system of food production
has provided us with an abundance of top-quality food. Other
parts of the world that don't use our modern technology in food
production are very often hungry. They often have to look to us
for their food (oftcn in the form of food aid). Maybe a period of
consumer hunger and food scarcity should be part of consumer
education. Hunger could be a good teacher. This sounds pretty
severe, but I think it might be quite effective.
BREWSTER KNEEN
AUTHOR OF FROM LAND TO MOUTH
FARM FINANCING
A joint federal -provincial program, Farmers (or Agriculture)
in Transition, should be established to provide financial support,
in grant form, to carry farmers through a three to five-year period
of transition from industrial to organic/sustainable agriculture.
(Prince Edward Island has taken a small step in this direction,
making up for returns, based on previous standards, that suffer in
the transition period.)
THE ENVIRONMENT
Broad public concern and insistence on effective action —
private and public — is most likely to increase as general health,
social cost, and justice issues are more deeply related to environ-
mental issues.
Instead of reacting defensively (and stupidly), as the CCA/
BIC have to public concerns over hormones, or the Horticultural
Council has over Alar, or everyone has over toxic residues, I
would like to sec the farm "community" regard environmental
concerns as an opportunity to address, with broad public support,
the structural issues and ideological assumptions of chemical -
industrial agricultural and food production. For example: Why are
chemicals used in the first place? Why do we farm the way we do?
Is public "dis-ease" with quality not related to growing distrust and
discomfort with the "system" ("system" meaning both of corporate
control/concentration and production) as such? This should lead to
questions of restructuring economics on a bio -regional, sustainable
basis, not on the ideology of "production" and "efficiency."
NOBLE VILLENEUVE, MPP
PROVINCIAL PC AGRICULTURE CRITIC
FREE TRADE
... the FTA has given us certain rights and access to the U.S.
market. But it does not mean that U.S. agriculture will stop using
legal and trade challenges as a way of making business more ex-
pensive for Canadians. We will have to become as aggressive as
they arc, challenging them in their own courts and at GATT, just as
they have challenged us. They will try to get away with as much
as possible.
... In a way, our system of marketing boards has given us an
existing structure which could be used to fight U.S. challenges.
Marketing boards, properly supported, could organize our chal-
lenges and help gain the access we need. As well as individual
companies, marketing boards have a greater role to play in
promoting trade. All of these steps will require most boards to
take on new and added responsibilities.
... The FTA has given the processing industry the opportunity
to complain about price differentials in order to obtain better prices
from producers. Whether this is a bargaining ploy or a legitimate
worry is already under considerable debate ... Some food proces-
sors have closed, but these have been older plants. Other plants are
actually expanding ... On the positive side, European operations
moving to North America now have an equal chance of choosing
Canada to serve the U.S. market.
THE ENVIRONMENT
Given the existing high deficits at both provincial and federal
levels, and the demand for environmentally friendly agriculture,
both governments will likely shift in the early 1990s to "carrot and
stick" programs. There will be direct funding for some environ-
mental projects while certain standards will have to be met to
qualify for other more general programs.
Farmers, as high energy consumers, could contribute to solving
the problem of harmful exhaust emissions resulting from burning
fossil fuels. A potential first step is the use of alcohol in fuels
produced from substandard grains and other agricultural products.
FOOD HEALTH
. consumer confidence in chemical manufacturers, scient-
ists, and government regulators will remain shaky in the early
1990s ... The popularity of organic foods has caught governments
by surprise. There is no standard, enforced definition of organic.
Such a definition will have to be established quickly.
Farmers should not view organic farming as a threat — there
is a great deal to be learned and re-leamed from the organic move-
ment. While organic farming is still largely an oddity among
"conventional" fanners, reports and studies show a higher than
necessary use of chemicals ... Yield loss associated with organic
farming now appears to end after two to three years, after which
yields increase. However, the need to rotate crops results in
decreased overall production and the need for higher prices.
Organic farming is "sustainable," an important consideration for
government policy -makers.
In the 1990s, the bulk of food consumed will still be produced
conventionally, although with fewer chemicals applied more care-
fully. Quick and accurate testing of both domestic and imported
foods will have to be provided by governments to maintain and
strengthen consumer confidence.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
New developments in biotechnology and scientific research
might first have to be polled for consumer acceptance. The con-
sumer confidence issue will be put to the test early in 1990, when
the FDA in the U.S. approves the use of BST for dairy cattle.
MAURICE FOSTER, MP
FEDERAL LIBERAL AGRICULTURE CRITIC
FREE TRADE
When all is said and done, the FTA will hurt our agricultural
sector, especially in supply -managed commodities. The dispute -
settling mechanism will be of little benefit to our farmers as all it
can do is determine whether U.S. law has been correctly applied.
The Mulroney government has already given up many support
programs even though the subsidy negotiations have barely begun;
the U.S. has done nothing in this regard. With the 1990 U.S. Farm
22 THE RURAL VOICE