Short Takes - June/July 2008

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

The newest boss of the Canadian Restaurant and Food Services Association (CRFA) is also the boss of Starbucks shops in Quebec and he says that the milk he puts in $3.75 (plus tax) cups of coffee costs too much.

He wants supply management torn down.

Anti-supply management is a standard party line for the restaurant association. No one can accuse Michael Aronovici of changing his stripes. The newly elected president of the CRFA fought dairy pricing when he operated 45 Pizza Huts on Montreal Island and complained then about expensive mozzarella cheese.

According to Ontario Restaurant News, in his first speech as president, Aronovici referred to supply management as "bad public policy," even worse than liquor boards and "the discriminatory application of the GST." He said that supply management wouldn't exist if federal governments weren't trying to curry favour with Quebec farmers. But don't be surprised by this. The CRFA has been trying to change supply management for 15 years. Maybe Aronovici would like to use bootleg milk along with bootleg liquor.

For the uninitiated, in Ontario a Starbucks Latte Grande sells for $3.95 with taxes and contains about an ounce more drink than a large Tim Horton's coffee that sells for less than $1.50. Must be the extra milk in the Grande that jacks up the price. BF

Looks like the Irish had it right

There's a shortage of rice in the world and prices are going up by as much as four times in nations where the grain is a staple. The United States subsidizes its cultivation of rice rather heavily. Over three years, 2003-2005, the U.S. treasury poured nearly $1.3 billion into subsidizing rice production in 13 states. The biggest beneficiary was Arkansas, with  $502 million. Florida got $423 million, while California got $246 million.
Texas farmers got $173 million.

When it comes to cranking out calories, rice is a failure compared to good old Ontario potatoes. Based upon an average U.S. yield of 6,942 pounds and Canada Food Guide calculations on caloric values, one acre of American rice yields 3,516,808.04 calories. The average yield of potatoes in Ontario is about 25,000 pounds and a lot of that is water. But there's still 8,315,870 calories in that acre of potatoes.

And what are the subsidies on a field of Ontario potatoes? Hmm. BF
 

Every price spike is different

Daryll E. Ray, director of the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, says that the current corn price peak is different than four of the other five that have occurred since 1970. Like the current spike, high prices in 1972 were demand driven; the Soviet Union got into grain markets in a major way. The other four price spikes occurred because of low supplies. In 1983 and 1984, a double peak was triggered when the U.S. government instituted a Payment in Kind program which tried to reduce government grain stocks by paying farmers with crops from storage in exchange for reducing their planted acreage. Because there was also a yield drop, production fell 49 per cent.

There were price spikes in June, 1988, and again in October, 1994. The last one was triggered by a 26 per cent drop in production. "Because each event is determined by a unique set of circumstances, it is impossible to predict when the current spike in prices will peak," Ray wrote in a column published Apr. 25.

Government-sponsored ethanol production gets the credit, or the blame, for these price rises. However, rice and wheat crop shortfalls also ran up corn prices, Ray writes. And even after ethanol has run its course, there's an argument that increased population and income growth worldwide will support more demand, and higher prices, for grain and soybeans.

Ray warns that previous projections for long-term grain exports have been made before, and failed to materialize. BF

PETA's million-dollar craving for man-made meat

Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is offering a $1 million prize for the first scientist to produce and market laboratory-created meat.  

PETA refers to it as "in vitro" meat production. Animal stem cells are placed in a medium to grow and reproduce into a product which mimics flesh and can be cooked and eaten. Some promising steps have been made toward developing this technology, PETA says, but it's still several years before "in vitro" meat will be available to the general public. 

To get the prize, the participant has to produce a meat-like product with a taste and texture that's indistinguishable from real chicken flesh, manufacture the approved product in large enough quantities to be sold commercially and successfully sell it at a competitive price in a least 10 states in the United States. The deadline to manufacture and sell the "in vitro" chicken meat to the public is June 30, 2012.

"It's ironic that people who don't eat meat want their food to taste like meat," says
Ontario Farm Animal Council spokesman Kelly Daynard. BF

More on those 'free- range' cows

Last month, Better Farming published an item about a controversial ad campaign conducted by dairy processor Agropur. Its radio advertisements claim that its milk comes from "free-ranging cows" a description that an organic producer found distressing. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) returned our inquiries too late to meet publishing deadlines. It turns out there may be free-ranging cows in Canada, but producers better be able to prove it.

The CFIA has a position on "free range," even if it doesn't have a definition. The term "free range" was part of the CFIA's "method of production claims consultation" back in 2003, according to Angela Bilkhu, program officer, consumer protection division.

"It was quite apparent that it would be difficult to come up with a definition because the industry interprets it differently," Bilkhu says. "Claims of free range on their own without an explanation could mislead the consumer. We would want to see the manufacturer or producers explain what is meant by free range so that the consumer is not misled. We are recommending they provide a further explanation" and include the production programs in use when that food is grown or livestock is raised.

The CFIA watches labels on food products for improper claims and also takes complaints from consumers and "the trade," Bilkhu told Better Farming.

CFIA regulations apply to advertising as well as to food labelling, Bilkhu said. "Advertising should not create an erroneous impression either." BF

How organic is airfreight?

Britain's major airlines are finding that it is a good idea to have African farmers on side. The reason? They make a lot of money air freighting food and flowers around the world, and now organic certifications for these products are being questioned.

Under new regulations, according to Airline News, published in Australia, wholesalers and farmers who want their product certified as organic must file plans to reduce their use of airfreight. The Soil Association, which certifies the majority of organic food sold in Britain, says airfreight produces

177 times more greenhouse gases than shipping. However, perishable flowers and food produced in Africa are unlikely to survive the long trip in the hold of a ship.

In April, the airlines flew African farmers to Britain to state their case before the organic certifier. Anti-airfreight activists estimate that flying a kilogram of green beans to London from Nairobi, Kenya, produces four kilograms of carbon dioxide.

British Airlines carries 100,000 tonnes of fresh produce each year from South America and Africa to destinations around the world and estimates that one sixth of its revenue comes from this business. BF