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The Citizen, 1999-10-13, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1999. Ag. leaders discuss course of industry The consumer will drive the mar­ ket for food in the coming years. That was about the one thing six top Ontario farm leaders could agree on when they took part in a panel dis­ cussion “Charting a Course for Agriculture” in Brussels. Thursday. The'six were brought together at the annual meeting of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture. Included were John Core, president of Ontario Dairy Farmers; Anna Bragg, president of the Ontario Com Producers’ Association; Ed Segsworth. president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture; Will Nap. president of Ontario Pork Producers; John Maaskant. district 2 director and former president of the Ontario Chicken Producers and Stan Eby from the Ontario Cattlemen's Association. Nap said the market for food will be driven by the concerns of aging baby boomers who want healthy foods to prolong their lives. Concerns over genetically modified foods will change to support when there are products that will benefit the consumer, not just producers, he predicted. Consumers continue to worry about the use of antibiotics in ani­ mals feeds because they see it lead­ ing to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Even though consumers themselves are also to blame for overuse of antimicrobials in, for instance, household cleaners, “we're going to lose that argument,” Nap said. “We’re going to have to alter our production methods.” Consumers want to know more about the history of the food they buy. Nap said. “Producers want story pork.” The internet will allow them to trace back their food right to the farm. Already one such system has been set up in France where people can enter information from the food label on their computer and get infor­ mation about the farm where their beef was produced and information on the farm’s production methods. Core told of hearing a futurist who predicted that by 2020 each refriger­ ator would have a scanner on its door that would record the food removed and automatically order more. The refrigerator will have a door inside the house and a door outside where food can be delivered, the futurist said. “Think of the change that means for our food products,” Core said. Consumers are concerned about three things with food, the futurist said. They are concerned about how the food affects their health, how production of the food affects the environment and the use of genetic manipulation in food. Consumers polled were not worried so much about genetic engineering in pharma­ ceuticals but they were worried about its use in food production, he said. Nap and Segsworth agreed that there would be more free trade in the future. Segsworth envisioned more north­ south rather than east-west trade. Hog and beef production would switch more and more to western Canada to take advantage of cheap feed, he said with product Bowing south to U.S. markets. Ontario’s needs will be filled with pork and beef from the midwestem U.S. Ontario and Quebec will supply chicken and milk to the whole north­ eastern part of the U.S., Segsworth predicted. While agreeing there would be truly free trade with the U.S., Nap disagreed with the prediction pork will move west. Ontario's cost of production for pork is close to that of western Canada and below farms in the midwestem U.S., he claimed. Ontario has a big edge over western Canada through people with a long history of efficient hog production and an infrastructure already in place.. Asked if he believed there would be more free trade in agricultural products. Maaskant shot back, “Whose definition of free trade — ours or the Americans?” Maaskant said farmers need both strong commodity organizations and a strong general farm organization with World Trade Organization talks about to begin. The push for more vertical integra­ tion of food production will contin­ ue, he said. “Canada is the only country where, thanks to supply management, poultry farms have stayed independent and profitable,” he said. Overproduction and dependence on exports will accelerate vertical integration. Maaskant warned. “Vulnerable farmers are likely to see contracting as a solution.” As well, he said, farmers are more and more dependent on large companies for seed, feed and breeding stock. “They don’t want to own you,” Maaskant said of the big integrated companies. “It's the sector of the food chain that has the highest investment costs.” But the number one rule for these companies, he said, is to control and exploit the farmer. Core said the future of the dairy industry is totally dependent on trade negotiations. He cited figures from researcher Brian Doidge that showed American farmers get three times as much government support as Canadian farmers to show that farm­ ers could not compete with their U.S. counterparts without protection. “The future of agriculture depends on our farmers and producers having influence with government,” he said. Eby said Ontario’s small beef herd size helps it react more quickly to market trends than areas with larger operations. Ontario’s competitive advantage is good land, a good cli­ mate, top research and proximity to the market, Eby said. However there must be more flow of information from the market right back to the cow-calf producer, he said. “Information flow will allow rewards to farmers meeting (high) standards,” he said. Bragg predicted that biotechnolo­ gy will lead to more diversification in farming as well as reducing cost of production. “We need this technology,” she said. But government must also con­ tinue to guarantee there is competi­ tion in research so that farmers aren’t captive of large companies, she said. Core urged more young people to study agriculture, noting there were several job offers waiting for each graduate of agriculture at the University of Guelph, yet the num­ ber of students entering the course is declining. He also urged all farmers to use sound financial planning. “If it does­ n’t make sense on paper, it won’t make sense in the bam,” he said. He offered one other word of advice. “If we all drove a little older pick-up truck, we’d all be in a better place.” "BACK ATTACHED" CHICKEN LEGS "ONT. FANCY" EMPIRE APPLES HEINZ BEANS 14 OZ. 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