Behind the Lines - June/July 2013

Thursday, June 6, 2013

There's a bit of a local theme to this month's issue, focusing on catering to consumers' growing desire to get food that is produced locally and that also meets the high quality standards expected in this country.

First off, commodity producers of wheat and corn can't help but cringe as they watch consumers gravitate towards a growing number of food products containing exotic ingredients endowed with healthful attributes. Other farmers see an opportunity in finding new varieties and techniques. Staff Editor Mary Baxter writes about the challenges, successes and failures in her cover story starting on page 12.

When is "local food" local? That seems to be up for discussion after a heavy-handed crackdown by the  Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on restaurant owners serving food touted as "local" provided from facilities more than 50 kilometres away. Pull out a map of Ontario and draw a circle 30 miles away from the CN Tower. Seems like the opportunities for local food growing might be rather limited in Ontario's largest metropolitan area. Vegetables grown in the Holland Marsh, for example, don't qualify. That story, written by Susan Mann, is on page 28.

On May 10, about two weeks after being contacted for our story, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced it is reviewing its food labelling regulations, guidelines and policies including those involving the word "local." CFIA acknowledges its previous policy "is outdated and does not reflect current food production practices or consumer needs and expectations."

"A key ingredient of covering politics in any realm – private, public or personal – is to look beyond the usually vague statement to see what it really means, what the implications are." And so Parliamentary Press Gallery member Barry Wilson starts this month's The Hill column on removing food packaging regulations. The apparently unintended consequences of a few paragraphs in a mind-numbing 200-page budget might shock you. Wilson's column begins on page 44. It's worth noting, once again, that Wilson is the only full-time press gallery columnist devoted to writing about agriculture for Canada's farming community.

Cropping is all about scratching dirt, as the saying goes, and our crop specialists have some practical solutions in mind for growers. On page 36, long-time crop consultant and columnist Pat Lynch looks at a variety of cover crops that protect and strengthen that valuable soil. And Seedbed writer Keith Reid explains how low soil pH causes nutrient deficiencies in crops and how to deal with that. His column starts on page 38.

Finally, a few years ago, when former Teviotdale-area dairy farmer Ben Berendsen settled with the provincial government over highway construction waste dumped on his farm years before he bought it, there was an apparently happy ending, but the story was unfinished. Now there's a sequel: what is to become of that long-abandoned and unwanted property? That story can be found on page 34. BF

ROBERT IRWIN & DON STONEMAN