The Rural Voice, 1996-03, Page 27their milk is just as safe because milk
from cows treated with antibiotics
must be withheld from the market for
a prescribed period, and that no traces
of chemicals or pesticides used to
grow fodder crops are present in the
milk.
ut as anyone in marketing
knows, image is everything and
organic farmers, primarily cash
croppers, have worked for years
to successfully establish a
wholesome, healthy image for their
produce. Dairy products now being
added to the list are immediately
reaping the benefits.
At the same time, controversy has
been raging for the past few years in
the dairy industry about the use of
bovine somatotropin (BST) growth
hormone to increase milk production
in dairy cattle. It has been approved
in the U.S. and is currently under an
extended review process in Canada
while more studies are crone on
possible long-term health effects for
both cattle and consumers.
The average consumer has only a
limited knowledge of the
complexities of modern dairy farming
but the emergence of organic milk
and BST into the public eye at
approximately the same time has
provided a good-guy/bad-guy
scenario easily understood by the
casual observer.
Regardless of how the mainstream
dairy industry in Canada deals with
BST, the organic dairy farmers see
themselves as expanding the market
for milk rather than stealing a portion
of it, said Ineke Booy, manager of the
OntarBio co-operative. She and her
husband are also part of the group,
milking 60 cows on their Durham
area farm.
"We may reach people who don't
regularly drink milk," said Booy. At
the same time, she is aware of the
potential backlash from conventional
dairy farmers, attributing some of that
to the possibility that more
consumers may eventually demand
that all milk be produced organically.
She strongly defends the method,
pointing out that the farmers in the
co-operative were committed to
organic practices regardless of how
their milk was marketed. The
Organic Crop Improvement
Association (OCIA) must certify
farms as organic before crops can
marketed or fed to cattle as such.
This requires a three-year transition
period when no chemical fertilizers
or sprays are used, a time referred to
as a "healing of the land" by organic
farmers. A further year is required of
feeding cattle only organic crops
before the milk can be classified as
organic.
One member farm of OntarBio is
located just west of Amutree in Perth
County, operated by Marianne
Wilhelm, 23, and her parents. The
man-made forest of spruce and pine
surrounding their farmyard indicates
a commitment to ecology and long-
range planning.
The organic milk they produce for
OntarBio could easily be regarded as
a byproduct of their 36 milking cows
The image of milk as a pure food is
enhanced for some consumers by the
organic label.
and 200 -acre farm rather than the
main focus. The decision to farm
organically was based on respect for
the health of the soil and animals
while working with what nature
provides. Organic milk just
happened to fit into that all-
encompassing philosophy, said
Wilhelm.
Her parents have been farming
organically for as long as she can
remember, with the farm actually
certified in 1994, so there was no
conscious effort on her part to take
that route. But she is aware of other
neighbouring farmers watching them
more closely because of their
unconventional approach, especially
since agriculture forecasters and
consumers are giving organic farming
a closer look recently.
"It goes beyond the chemical and
drug-free thing. I don't know how
well they (public) understand that,"
she said.
Although use of antibiotics is
allowed under the organic code in
extreme cases of animal illness and as
a last resort, the Wilhelms have not
injected them into their milking cows
for many years. Instead they apply
homeopathic medicines, derived from
natural occurring objects as diverse
as bee stingers and snake venom to
herbal roots and parts of fish.
While studies completed at the
request of the federal government
must establish the safety of drugs
before approved for treatment of
livestock, Wilhelm believes a
mistrust still lingers with consumers
because of previously approved drugs
and products - such as thalidomide or
silicone breast implants - which later
proved to be harmful. She suggested
consumers with an interest in how
their food is produced may be more
willing to put their faith in the
smaller family farm operations that
characterize OntarBio. Certainly her
family's decision to go organic was a
moral, rather than a financial one.
Five years ago, organic farmers
approached the DFO wanting to ship
their milk but the offer was turned
down. Ms. Booy believes the request
for the specialty milk from Pine River
Cheese and Butter Co-op changed the
board's thinking. "The fact that a
processor was interested and not just
a few idealistic farmers made the
difference."
The owner of The Gentle Rain
health food store in Stratford
offered another reason. Eric
Eberhardt returned recently from
a business trip to California where he
observed milk offered for sale from
herds claiming not to use BST, milk
from herds using BST, organic milk
and even sterilized milk, all in the
same cooler. Americans, the great
marketers, have been quick to exploit
every possible avenue for milk sales
and with the borders possibly being
opened on milk sales undcr the North
American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), the DFO could have been
caught by not having a product there
is obviously a demand for.
"It would have looked silly,
having to import milk from the
MARCH 1996 23