Europe's got GMO jitters
An urban family from Paris, Ont., passes a field of Roundup Ready
soybeans while out for a Sunday drive. Yawn. Dad, what are soybeans?
An urban family from Paris, France, passes a field of Roundup Ready
soybeans while out for a Sunday drive. A lively debate over the merits of
genetic engineering ensues over the back seat, as Mom, Dad and the kids
watch the gendarmes drag away environmental protesters bent on biotech
bean bashing.
When it comes to food production, European consumers are as passionate about what goes on behind closed laboratory doors as North Americans are about what goes on at the supermarket cash register. North American food exporters, hungry for a market of half-a-billion affluent consumers within the 15-member European Union (EU), are getting a rude wake-up call as consumers across the Atlantic express strong reservations about so-called Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Last fall, for instance, protesters blockaded a boatload of American Roundup Ready soybeans in Amsterdam harbour, giving Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever a severe case of the GMO jitters.
While biotechnology-derived soybeans, corn and canola breeze to market in North America, farmers and exporters watch in dismay as all but a few imports of genetically-modified North American crops get lost in the labyrinthine maze of European food, feed and labelling regulations.
At press time, bureaucrats in Brussels, Belgium, the EU headquarters, had opened the door a crack to Roundup Ready soybeans and Bt corn. Two herbicide-resistant canola varieties also neared approval. Meanwhile, back on the Prairies, farmers planted a full one-third of the canola crop to genetically-modified varieties.
For Ontario soybean growers, 300,000 tonnes of soybean exports into Western Europe, worth $100 million, hangs in the balance. Most Ontario Roundup Ready soybeans planted this year were for seed, but look for an explosion in commercial acreage next year. As for the possibility of segregating GMO and non-GMO beans, exporters say it would be impossible to guarantee that a boatload was 100 per cent GMO-free.
Consumer education, often cited as the cure-all for food scares, won't be a panacea in Europe. A 1996 Eurobarometer survey of 16,000 European consumers reveals deep misgivings about genetic alteration of the food supply, with ethical concerns increasing along with knowledge.
Europe, torn 50 years ago by war and famine, and shaken more recently by Mad Cow Disease and swine fever, takes a very considered view of its food supply. Food security ranks higher than food convenience.
If North American food exporters want to get on supermarket shelves in Dusseldorf, they will have to commit to clear, honest labelling policies; "may contain GMOs" is a cop-out European consumers won't buy. Segregation of non-GMO crops, perhaps to specialty markets such as organic, will have to be explored. The benefits of biotechnology in human pharmaceuticals such as insulin will have to be communicated.
A Rambo-style damn-the-torpedoes approach to exports can only backfire.
LETTERS
Lame land use policy
I have read the article "OFA's land use policy proves a tough sell" in the
May 20 issue several times, but am unable to comprehend it.
Anyone who would, as a director of OFA, agree to such a land use policy
is spineless, short-sighted, politically or financially motivated and should
definitely not have anything to do with OFA. Fred Wagner was close to the
truth when he called land our most important resource. It is regrettable
that other board members have another agenda.
Anyone who thinks you can leave land use policy to local municipal
councils and have agricultural land preserved is living in a dream world.
This is why this power was taken away years ago.
There are thousands of acres of land in this province that are of no use
for agriculture. This is where housing development should be forced to go,
not on agricultural land just because it is adjacent to existing urban
areas.
The OFA land use policy should be very simple. Land class 1, 2 or 3
should only be used for one purpose - agricultural food production - now
and in the future. Use of land class 4 and 5 could be negotiated.
Michael Ault
Brinston
Horse sense
As a member of the OFA, I read your magazine with interest, even though
there are exceedingly few articles on the horse industry. Imagine my
delight to read the article entitled "Hay! There's money in horses" in the
September issue.
There are indeed differences in horse and cattle hay. Those involved in
the horse industry usually prefer first-cut hay that has been properly
dried and stored. Although there is some debate, high alfalfa content is not
usually desired in horse hay as there may be a relationship between it and
colic. There is no question that horses do have a more delicate system than
cattle, but our demand for square and round bales is just as great.
The requirement for straw, shavings and even peat moss for horse
bedding, as pointed out in the article, brings home the difficulty the horse
industry has in finding suitable products. Shavings are often preferred
bedding but when the construction industry dwindles, they can be hard
to come by. I would love to see more articles on the horse industry as it
is still a contributor to the economics of agriculture in this province and
worthy of more attention.
Heather Snipper
Ashton
Research dollars. The federal government is spending $3.8 million to
support 25 farm research projects in Ontario. Federal Agriculture Minister
Lyle Vanclief made the announcement at the International Plowing Match
last month. The money, which will be distributed under the federal
government's Ontario Research Enhancement Program, is "good news for
Ontario's agriculture sector", Vanclief said. Approved projects are expected
to assist in the development of value-added animal and crop food products
and ingredients that meet domestic and export market demands. Emphasis
has been placed on quality issues such as processing, packaging, shelf life,
new products, and ingredient development and probiotics, among others.
Processing profits. Last year was a big year for Canadian food processors. Continued strong sales growth pushed the industry's return on equity (ROE) from nine per cent in 1995 to 15.2 per cent last year, a 65-per-cent increase, says a Deloitte & Touche study. During the same period, U.S. processors watched their ROE drop by 10 per cent.
Registration deadline. Ontario's largest farm organization is reminding farmers to complete their farm registration forms before Dec. 31. On Jan. 1, 1998, the Farm Tax Rebate Program will be replaced by a 25-per-cent tax rate on eligible farmland, the same level as the rebate program. Farmers who miss the Dec. 31 date will have their work cut out for them, says Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Tony Morris. "If [farmers] miss that date, they won't be on the new assessment roles for the new tax rate," he says.
Roundup Ready soybeans, Flavr Savr tomatoes, Bt corn - farmers are familiar with the common cash crops that have been genetically modified through biotechnology.
With Hallowe'en coming up, trick-or-treaters will be pleased to know scientists are also working on biotech pumpkins. Could candle-free, glow- in-the-dark Jack O'Lanterns be around the corner?
It's actually not quite as exotic, says Manfred Kern, with AgrEvo biological research in Frankfurt, Germany. Apparently, the gourd gurus are setting their sights a bit lower for now, and taking aim at virus resistance.
It's been a rough year for the world's most famous sheep. Dolly the sheep
has become a celebrity since last February, when news came out that
Scottish researchers had successfully cloned her.
As if being hunted down by world media hounds weren't enough, Dolly has
now contracted blue tongue, a viral disease causing inflammation of the
mouth in ruminants, turning it a tinge of blue.
It's bad news for Royal Agricultural Winter Fair CEO David Garrick, who
had hoped Dolly would be the star attraction for the Royal's 75th running
Nov. 6-15. As Canada is free of blue tongue, Dolly would have had to be
quarantined for six months.
In the end, Garrick settled for the next best thing. In a joint promotion
with the Toronto Sun, identical twins will get in free on "Twos"day, Nov.
11 - "Dolly Day".
Baaaaad...
There's a black phone on the credenza in federal Agriculture Minister Lyle
Vanclief's Ottawa office. It doesn't ring often, but when it does, Vanclief
comes running. We're not talking voice mail here.
The phone, literally under lock and key, is a secure line reserved for
extremely high-level callers, such as the Prime Minister.
But some calls are even more important, as Vanclief discovered recently
when his Bat Phone rang and a voice at the other end inquired whether
it was the correct number for locating bathroom supplies.
"I guess there's nothing wrong with starting at the top," Vanclief quipped
at Canada's Outdoor Farm Show in Woodstock last month.
Ever heard of chain letters? Forward a letter to 10 of your friends and
fame and fortune is yours.
Rick Walden, plant research scientist with the Max Planck Institute in
Cologne, Germany, prefers clone letters, although they take more than a
simple photocopier.
"I've stopped sending bacteria in the post," says Walden, who claims to
have had a package containing a clone intercepted in the mail by an
environmental postie somewhere in Germany.
These days, Walden sends DNA right on the letterhead, and the Greens
don't know any better. "DNA is very stable when you dot it on paper," he
says with a straight face.
This, however, from a man who admits to drinking "bacterial broth, by
mistake."