If you see a half-full shopping cart in the aisle in your grocery store, it likely belongs to Bradford carrot growers John Balon or Joe Mendrek. If the two growers don't find any Ontario carrots in the produce section, they plan to leave the half-full carts in protest - taking a cue from none other than Loblaws' vice-president of environmental affairs Patrick Carson.

For years, Bradford carrot growers have complained that the chainstores switch to U.S. product in March without "blending in" the last of the Ontario carrot crop remaining in storage. According to one estimate, as many as 200,000 bushels of carrots, worth $500,000, remained on the farms at press-time. Ontario's 1994 carrot crop was valued at $14.4 million. Mendrek blames the chainstores, which switch to California carrots, even though they sell for $15 to $16 a master (50 pounds) versus $9 for local carrots.

When Loblaws' Carson told the Muck Vegetable Growers conference in Bradford late last month that he once left a full shopping cart at the checkout counter to protest a lack of Canadian produce, Mendrek vowed to try the stunt as well. "There's no reason carrots shouldn't be $3 to $3.50 a bushel, and they're now $2," he says. "There should be a time we are on the shelves with the American product...so nobody suffers. "Let the consumers decide," says Mendrek, who's no stranger to doing his own brand of in-store promotion. Seventeen years ago, he gave out free lettuce in a Dominion store to publicize the low prices to the grower. "The chain stores are powerful - very powerful," says Mendrek.

Carrot grower John Balon is sitting on 1,000 pallet boxes at 1,200 pounds of carrots a box at his farm in Bradford. But he says he isn't panicking as other growers did. Four hundred boxes will be sold on a processing contract, and he'll wait for better prices to sell the rest. But he says other growers panicked and sold at a take-it-or-leave-it price of $2 a bushel from the packers: "They force you to either play their way, or fold," he says.

Two dollars a bushel translates into four cents a pound to the grower; at press-time, California carrots were selling at retail price of 40 cents a pound.

Packers, however, who buy from growers and sell to chainstores, tell a different story. Nino Tomizza, of Dominion Farms in Bradford says while the large chains switch to California carrots to ensure supply, small stores still buy local product. "Today, I'm packing 50-50" local-imports, he says.

"When you get into this time of year, it's hard to find good enough carrots to satisfy everyone. Some customers are fussier than others." At press-time, he said most of the surplus on farms should be cleaned up.

Another packer, who wants his name withheld, says that any local crop left would be insufficient to supply a chainstore. Pushing poor-quality carrots wouldn't help the Ontario industry, the packer says. California carrots, meanwhile, are fresh, out of the ground for only a week.

"The chains in Ontario have been more than co-operative with the Ontario grower," says the packer. "Any grower bitching should see how the rest of the world lives." - JMM

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Don't plow down that $traw

In the children's story, the big bad wolf huffs and puffs and blows down the house of the foolish pig who built his house out of straw.

Now it turns out the little pig was simply ahead of his time. More companies across North America are buying straw to make wood substitutes ranging from furniture materials to structural panels.

Isobord Industries expects to start digging a foundation within weeks at Elie, Manitoba for a plant that will convert straw into 120 million board feet a year of high-quality particle board.

"We are already planning more plants," says Steve Simon, Isobord executive vice-president. "Our corporate plan is to build five plants in five years...wherever we can find straw." Simon says furniture manufacturers such as Ikea will use the straw wherever they currently use high-quality wood-based particle board, such as in shelving units, desks and dressers.

The straw-based particle board will also be used for new tongue-in-groove floor boards that are quickly eating into sales of hardwood flooring.

"We have five-year contracts for the whole output," Simon says. "We don't have a sales department." Three-quarters of sales are to Canadian companies, with the rest going to the U.S.

Gordon Reichert, analyst for the federal agriculture department, says the straw-board plants are expected to pay $35 to $40 per tonne for straw delivered to the plant. Net to farmers will be $6.70 to $11.70 per tonne.

Wheat crops produce an average 1.1 tonnes of harvestable straw for every tonne of grain, Reichert says. He estimates that western Canada alone produces 10 million tonnes of surplus straw, theoretically enough to form the basis of an industry producing $10 billion a year in wood and paper products. Reichert points out that North American forest output is falling. Permits in the U.S. northeast, for instance, have dropped in the last decade from 11 billion board feet per year to five billion.

American companies are also investing in straw. David Lorenz, author of a report called A New Industry Emerges, says that five years from now, there will be as many as 40 companies employing more than 4,000 people.

Lorenz points out that Iowa-based Agriboard Industries is building a plant to convert straw into eight-inch thick 4 X 8-foot panels that would replace both the studs and the insulation used in conventional home construction.

Agriboard says the building system will cut construction costs by $4 per square foot in a typical home. The Iowa plant will produce enough straw panels to build 500 houses a year, and the company expects to triple its capacity in the next few years.

Stramit Industries, a British company looking to set up a plant in the U. S., is developing a straw-based alternative that would replace interior drywall and studs. Called Easiwall, the 2.25-inch-thick 4 X 8-foot panels have a one-hour fire rating, and also offer superior sound insulation, the company says.

Most straw-based materials will be made simply by squeezing straw under intense pressure and heat. Some panels will have glues. Some processes, such as making paper, will start by dissolving the straw into pulp.

David Pettijohn, manager of Minnesota-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance, says the trend is a move back to what he calls "the carbohydrate economy.

"By the 1980s, less than five per cent of our industrial products and fuels can from biological materials. "Now, industry may be moving away from the oil derrick and towards the silo." - TB

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500-million-pound garlic market beckons

Garlic's economic potential is great, but Ontario growers must be prepared for intensive labour costs and price competition from imports, says Alex McDougall of the Ontario Garlic Growers Association.

McDougall presented two economic scenarios to a group of 300 garlic grower wannabes gathered at the recent Ontario Horticultural Crops Conference in Mississauga. Under one scenario, one acre is planted in rows 36 inches apart with plants four inches apart. Under another, one acre is planted in rows 21 inches apart with plants four inches apart.

The first acre has 43,560 plants and yields between 4,500 and 7,200 pounds. Between 800 and 1,200 pounds is kept for seed stock, about 10 per cent accounts for losses and culls, leaving between 3,250 and 5,280 pounds to sell.

The smaller yield implies smaller size and brings a lower wholesale market price of between $1.25 and $1.50 a pound. The larger bulbs would earn a higher price of $1.50 to $2 a pound. It costs from $0.75 to $1.25 to produce each pound for a total cost of about $5,500 per acre. Gross revenue would range from $4,000 to $10,500 per acre, with the bottom line between a net loss of $1,500 per acre and a profit of $5,000 per acre.

The acre planted with smaller spacing could yield between 5,450 and 9,000 pounds for sale. Gross revenue is $6,800 to $24,700. Cost per acre is $9,000 with the bottom line between a $2,200 loss and $15,700 profit.

McDougall's figures are based on the assumption that labour costs $10 an hour. He includes cash outlays as costs, but excludes overhead, land costs, interest charges, taxes and capital investment costs.

Garlic consumption is rising in the U.S. and Canada. Ten years ago, U.S. commercial production totalled 0.4 to 0.5 kg per capita per year for fresh garlic and about the same for dehydrated garlic. Today, commercial production of both forms of garlic is 0.8 to 0.9 kg per capita per year, said Philipp Simon, United States Department of Agriculture garlic specialist.

Helping to spur consumption is garlic's reputation as a medicinal health food. Garlic is thought to reduce high blood pressure, prevent cancer and slow aging, and even fight colds and other contagious diseases. "Several compounds found naturally in garlic have been clearly implicated as part of these healthful attributes, but much work remains to be done," Simon said at the conference.

Just over half the 8,620 tonnes of garlic imported into Canada each year comes from China, valued at $0.25 per pound at the border, for a total value of $4.25 million. Other imports come from California, Mexico and Argentina, and range in value from $0.77 to $1.40 per pound, McDougall said.

Recently, Chinese garlic sold for $0.65 a pound at the Toronto Food Terminal, and Californian garlic for $1.26 a pound. At the same time, Ontario growers earned $2 a pound for loose garlic and $5 a pound for braided. "They sold everything they had because Ontario garlic is better and some growers take great care to produce the best possible," McDougall said. The garlic association has filed an anti-dumping complaint through Revenue Canada, and has notified Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada that Chinese garlic is imported at far less than fair market value. Chinese imports have grown in just a few years from filling about 10 per cent of Canada's market before 1994 to taking nearly 70 per cent last year.

To beat the competition, Ontario growers must produce the best quality garlic, McDougall said. "Properly grown and cured, Ontario garlic is truly a superior product and there is very little need to compete on a price basis."

Firmness, colour and size are most important when consumers buy garlic, a survey by the association found. But the same survey showed that Ontario wholesalers had gripes about home-grown garlic. Excessive rain during harvesting can cause staining. Wholesalers also cited poor drying and curing practices, and poor or irregular packaging, he said.

Producing superb quality is a challenge because garlic requires heavy labour investment, would-be growers were told. Cracking seed garlic, planting with care to ensure 100-per-cent germination, then popping false flowers, cleaning, grading, and trimming garlic are time-consuming tasks unique to garlic growing.

Economic potential exists, but growers must convince consumers that Ontario-grown garlic is better than imports, and supply quality as good or better than imports, said McDougall. "If these challenges can be met, then the 500-million-pound U.S. fresh garlic market beckons." - CM