Ethanol woes. Enthusiasm for the Prairie ethanol
industry is fading fast. Terry Harasym, policy and
research director for the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool,
which is part-owner of the Lanigan, Sask., 
Pound-Maker integrated ethanol-feedlot operation,
says  the economics of ethanol "puts it in a
significant amount of jeopardy." The long-term
viability of the environmentally-friendly fuel will
depend on grain prices, processing and the ability
to  "convert it into fuel stock and to be able to
utilize that in a cost-efficient way relative to
the next best alternative which is gasoline." For
the gas alternative to be profitable, "inexpensive
feedstock must be integrated with either some form
of livestock operation, or develop high-valued
byproducts, government support, public acceptance,
and the market. But all those things have to happen
at the same time," he said. There are no plans to
expand the Pound-Maker plant, which uses feed wheat
to produce 12 million litres of ethanol per year.
"Returns do not seem to be there given the
environment that exits today," Harasym said.

Money in meat. U.S packing Giant IBP reported net
earnings of US$84.5 million on sales of US$3.3
billion for its third quarter, ending Sept. 30. For
the same period in 1994, IBP earned US$49.2 million
on US$3 billion sales. For the first three quarters
of 1995, net earnings total US$223.1 million,
compared with US$104.5 million for the same period
last year. IBP executives reported that its fresh
meats performance "has simply been outstanding,"
reported Feedstuffs.

Pady resigns. The last day of this year's Royal
Winter Fair closed the book on Walter Pady's term
as Chief Executive Officer of the fall farm
extravaganza. Pady has resigned his position citing
the need for a young, dynamic leader who will help
the Royal adapt to its new home in the National
Trade Centre, due to be completed for 1997. Pady
said the next two years will be a time of
transition that will be extremely demanding and
will require the undivided attention of a new CEO
who can help the Royal adapt  to the larger
facility currently under construction. Royal
president Hartland MacDougall says a search
committee will begin the search for a successor
immediately. MacDougall praised Pady's efforts over
the past four years. 

Trade numbers up. World trade is expected to grow
by  eight      per cent in 1995, says a new report
from the World Trade Organization. WTO chief Renato
Ruggiero says the strong growth is further proof
that protectionism is losing out to trade
liberalization and open markets. Although the 1995
projection is slightly lower than the 1994 level,
9.5 per cent, trade expansion should continue to
out-pace world economic growth, which is pegged at
three per cent. In 1994, the value of goods traded
on the world market reached a record $4.09
trillion, up 13 per cent over 1993. Last year,
North American exports, including Canada and the
U.S., increased by 11 per cent, while imports rose
by 14 per cent. 

Wine TV. Wine lovers can look forward to spending
snowy weekend afternoons developing their palate
thanks to two new half-hour wine shows that air 
throughout the winter months. CFTO's Simply Wine
and Cheese, hosted by Al Waxman, explores Ontario
and other wine regions Saturdays at 5:00 p.m.
Waxman is joined by Canada's Cheese and Wine Lovers
Cookbook author Shari Darling, who offers insight
on the art of matching wine with cheese, wine's 
historic companion. The series will include 34
episodes. On Sunday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. on CHCH
TV,  Jonathan Welsh's New World Wine Tour takes
viewers on a tour of Niagara vineyards and others
in southwestern Ontario. New shows air Sundays at
5:00 p.m. and repeat shows will air at various
times in different areas of the province. The show
run will include 26 episodes.

 Fertilizer buying spree. Ontario farmers faced a
27-per- cent increase in fertilizer costs last
spring and prices could continue upward thanks to
the merger of two of the industry's biggest
players. Last month, IMC Global Inc. and Vigoro
Corp., both of Chicago, joined forces to create the
world's second-largest potash producer behind
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. Industry analysts
speculate that further consolidation in the
industry would spark higher prices. With world
demand growing, analysts say more consolidation is
likely. Last month, fertilizer industry
representatives appeared before the House of
Commons agriculture committee to explain why
fertilizer prices had ballooned in the past year.
The committee was told that fewer plants producing
less fertilizer could not meet growing demand.
Production is expected to increase, but no new
production facilities are expected to be operating
until 1997.

Jamaican junket. Ontario swine specialist Andy
Bunn, now  a member of the Canadian Executive
Service Organization, recently travelled to Jamaica
for four weeks to work with Jamaican pork
producers. The project was sponsored by Grace Food
Processors Ltd., which operates a packing plant, a
170-sow, farrow-to-finish operation and 15 contract
swine farms. The objective was to improve the
productivity of the swine farms. Bunn provided a
number of management procedures and record keeping
systems aimed at improving productivity. His wife,
Mary, joined him for the final two weeks of the
project.
 

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The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)
had  about two dozen provincial agriculture
ministry people added to its membership list just
before ministry cutbacks were announced late last
month. 
On Monday, Nov. 28, the agriculture ministry called
a number of agriculture representatives to a
special meeting to announce the change.
 Afterwards, many were elated. They thought they
had been called to the meeting to be fired. But on
Wednesday, an hour before the budget speech, some
were called to another meeting and told their jobs
had been terminated.
 Some have more than 20 years service with the
ministry. Their new union status gives them bumping
rights over existing union workers with less
seniority.
 A union negotiator, who spoke on condition he
remain anonymous, wasn't happy but conceded the
move was legal. 
Government officials say the timing of the move is
just a coincidence.

It's not uncommon for pranksters at engineering
faculties to go to great lengths to play practical
jokes on an unsuspecting prof. Entire Volkswagen
Beetles have been known to appear mysteriously on
the roof at the University of Toronto.
So it wasn't an entirely gullible Rob McLaughlin
who arrived one morning to resume his deanly duties
at Guelph's Ontario Agricultural College, only to
find a pair of ewes peacefully chewing their cud
and wondering what this stranger was doing in their
office.
A sheepish McLaughlin admits he had been so
preoccupied with other business that he had to be
sent back in to his office before he even noticed
the unusual occupants. Still, he took it all in
good fun. It seems OAC students are awarded "spirit
points" for innovative ways to boost school spirit
and morale.
As for the sheep, they left as quietly as they
came. No word yet on their grade point average.

Ontario's 15,000-member women's institutes have
come out tough against the use of bovine
somatotropin (rBST) in Canada.
At the institutes' annual meeting late November,
two resolutions were passed urging the federal
government to ban use of synthetic BST-BGH products
in the country. Those resolutions came from the
Grey-Bruce area and the northern district.
Another resolution, from the southwest district's
Lambton county, "insists" that more research be
conducted on both animal welfare and human health
before the use of rBST is approved.
A fourth resolution, also from the southwest,
requests that the federal health department require
dairy products made from milk from treated cows to
be labeled.
Jillian Catto, resolutions convenor for the
province's federation of institutes, says the fact
that the district resolutions were supported at the
provincial level "reflects the feeling of a great
number of people in the province" on the issue of
using this new technology.

Good postal service is a two-edged sword, as
Middlesex dairyman Bill Irwin trenchantly pointed
out at last month's Ontario Federation of
Agriculture convention in Toronto.
After a procession of delegates at the microphones
lambasted Canada Post for taking 10 days to get
their commodity cheques 10 miles, Irwin got up and
singlehandedly disarmed a resolution to lobby for
better mail delivery.
"Bills will get there earlier too," he quipped.

Federal Agriculture Minister Ralph Goodale has been
known to be a little long-winded when he gains the
floor of the House of Commons. Like many
politicians, Goodale's oratory skills allow him to
speak at length, while actually saying very little.
But at the Ontario Federation of Agriculture
convention last month, the minister showed he could
be short and sweet when he had to.
After a rambling five-minute answer to a question
from the convention floor, then-OFA president Roger
George made an appeal to delegates to keep the
questions, and answers, short, and called "for
equally succinct answers from the minister."
To the the following question on whether his
government would get better access to pesticides
for farmers, Goodale answered with a terse "yes".

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