NAFTA Poisioning

With the liberalization of trade regulations, and the neo-con agenda of de-regulation, reducing public services, the privatization and contracting out of inspection services leads to consumer poisoning.

And it ain't just China that's to blame.

NAFTA2 aka the SPP is also to blame.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning the public not to consume Los Angeles Salad Company Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots because the product may be contaminated with Shigella.

The item is labelled as product of Mexico and is sold in 672 gram plastic bags and sell by dates up to and including August 13th, this year.

The agency says the product was sold in Costco stores in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland.

This is not the news story the three amigos and their corporate buddies wanted to hear this morning.

The Canadian Press reported Sunday night that the leaders will issue a statement regarding procedures aimed at keeping borders open should another 9/11-type emergency occur, yet political activists say there's apparent secrecy on other issues up for discussion.

They say business leaders have been invited to meetings with the "Three Amigos" in Montebello, while protesters have been shut out. Their signs and shouts will only be available to leaders via video link.

"We want Canadians, Americans and Mexicans to know that this is a big-business driven process, for them and by them, to deregulate all sorts of regulations across the board -- environment, health, safety worker standards," said Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of Canadians, the main group behind a protest in Ottawa on Sunday.

Last time it was organic American spinach, then organic carrots. And under the SPP agreement being discussed today America wants Canada to reduce its food safety regulations.

Regulatory harmonization, or regulatory co-operation as it is euphemistically called, is another top priority for business. Leaders have asked their officials to complete a "regulatory framework agreement" in time for the Montebello meeting. This will set the guidelines for many SPP initiatives. It is unlikely that we will see the full framework agreement, and even less so that we will see how it is applied in specific circumstances. Critics believe the government is preparing to weaken Canadian health, safety and environmental regulations and standards in the name of trade.

Let’s take the example of food safety. The SPP’s business council (the NACC) called for the harmonization of Canadian and U.S. lists of toxic substances, which are preventing some U.S. products from being sold in Canada. We also know that an SPP committee is working to resolve differences in pesticide maximum-residue limits. But will we ever know the outcome of these negotiations?

In this case, we do know now, thanks to an astute Ottawa Citizen reporter, who discovered that the Canadian government is in fact planning under the SPP to relax its requirements on pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables entering from the U.S. Some 40 per cent of the pesticides Canada regulates have stricter limits than U.S. regulations. The U.S. sees them as trade barriers and wants the list of priority pesticides to be relaxed. With the Bush administration aggressively dismantling its own regulatory systems, this harmonization concession amounts to Canada importing U.S. deregulation. Will this be the norm or the exception?

SEE:


The Truth About the Farm Crisis

Alberta State Capitalism

Fish Contamination

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Record Declines in Grain Prices May Ease Global Food Crisis

By ZeroHedge - Jan 02, 2024

• Corn futures fell 31%, and wheat contracts decreased 21%, the largest drop since 2013.
• 
  
• The decline in grain prices is attributed to bumper crops in Brazil, the U.S., and Russia, along with expectations of reduced costs for staple foods and animal feed.
• 
  
• Despite the decline in global food prices, there's still uncertainty about the pace of price reductions and its impact on preventing food riots in emerging markets.
• 
  

Despite the El Nino-related weather disturbances affecting key agricultural areas globally and the disruptions in the Black Sea stemming from the war in Ukraine, there is encouraging data suggesting further easing in food inflation in the new year. This development comes amid the soaring risks of food riots in emerging markets, as the weakening of EM currencies against the dollar has made staple foods increasingly more expensive for poorer populations worldwide. 

Bloomberg data shows corn and wheat prices have recorded their largest annual declines in a decade. This is primarily because of bumper crops in key ag regions and might lead to further easing of food inflation into the first half of 2024. 

Corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade plunged 31% this year, and wheat contracts fell 21% - the largest annual declines since 2013. Soybeans were down 15%. This led the Bloomberg Grains Spot Subindex to slide 22.8%. This is good news for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization World Food Price Index, which has already come off record highs. 

"The rout was driven by bumper crops in key crop suppliers Brazil, US and Russia following years of disruptions caused by extreme weather, the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine that pushed prices to record highs in 2022," Bloomberg wrote in a note, adding, "Lower prices for staple grains could bring down the cost of bread and make it less expensive to feed livestock, dairy herds and even biofuels. Analysts are anticipating even lower prices for corn and soybeans in 2024, while wheat is expected to rebound amid tighter supplies." 

However, there is still uncertainty about whether global food prices will decrease swiftly enough to prevent food riots in EM countries. The current food price levels are comparable to those that sparked the Arab Spring riots in the Middle East in 2010.

Sara Menker, founder and CEO of Gro Intelligence, warned last month in an interview with Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of Bloomberg's New Economy Forum in Singapore that the current food crisis surpassed the one in 2007-08. She explained this is mostly because of elevated crop prices and steep declines in local currencies against the dollar. 

By Zerohedge.com

Harvest bust leaves Canadian grain companies scrambling

Jen Skerritt, Bloomberg News

Nov 12, 2021

A dearth of grain in Canada has left companies scrambling for supplies.

Grain companies are scouring Canada’s prairies for replacement crops to fulfill their export commitments after drought withered output, leaving many farmers unable to deliver pre-sold supplies, said Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association that represents major grain handlers such as Viterra Inc.

Barley and canola are particularly difficult to find and companies are paying “much higher” prices than the export value to convince farmers to sell, he said.

“They’re definitely taking a loss,” Sobkowich said Friday by phone, noting no company has been forced to default on sales contracts. “If they’re short they now have to figure out how much is it going to take to get the tons.”

Western Canadian grain production plunged this year as drought engulfed swaths of major growing regions. The canola harvest is the smallest in 13 years and wheat production fell by 35 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.

There are a lot of farmers who are “really short on what they forward contracted” and companies are billing them for the cost of replacing the grain so they are “sharing in the loss,” Sobkowich said.

“We’ve sort of grown accustomed to a higher level of production for the last eight or nine years,” Sobkowich said. “We haven’t seen so many forward contracts that were in question as far as being able to be fulfilled.”

IF THE CONSERVATIVES HAD NOT SOLD OFF THE CANADA WHEAT BOARD FARMERS WOULD NOT BE SUBJECTED TO THESE PRIVATE CONTRACT LOSSES

All the Tories Touch Turns To Merde

Let me count the ways;

The new foreign policy make war not love:Mideast, Afghanistan underpin Conservative slip in polls

Baby Bonus; clawed back by taxes

GST:GST cut arrives with a whimper, not a bang

Border Security which really is not about security at all but the creation of a North American Economic Union.

The Great Wizard of Oz is running the PMO.

What looked good in the Spring, today in the heat of summer, with apt tornado and severe weather warning across Canada, suddenly reminds me of Oz.

Speaking of Softwood as an example.


Lumber deal in trouble, Emerson warns
Scrambling to salvage the controversial Canada-U.S. softwood truce, International Trade Minister David Emerson warned the agreement could end up "dead before arrival" unless support for the deal grows within this country's forest industry.

His blunt words came as the head of Canfor Corp., Canada's largest lumber producer, predicted the deal is doomed unless it can be amended to assuage critics.

Industry unrest has continued unabated since July 1, when Ottawa and Washington initialled the deal that the minority Conservative government has celebrated as one of its major achievements to date.

Mr. Emerson, who began a public-relations counteroffensive yesterday to sell the deal, said there's no point in bringing an agreement before Parliament this fall -- as the Tories had planned -- unless industry support firms up.

"I think it is fair to say that if we do not have sufficient buy-in from industry there really isn't an agreement to bring before Parliament," he said.

"And so the first bridge we have to cross is to get the agreement supported by the appropriate number of players in the industry. Otherwise you're dead before arrival."

And if softwood is in trouble, imagine what a success a dual marketing scheme with the U.S. for Wheat and Barley will be like. The Tories are intent on killing the Goose, the Canadian Wheat Board, for the Golden Egg.

What priorities are left for the fall, and will they mean the fall of the teeny tiny Tory Minority Government. One can only hope.



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Vote of Confidence

With this recent ruling what happens when the Harpocrite government demands that the vote on its compardor Softwood deal be a confidence vote? Looking at a fall election are we. I don't think so. Like the current debacle in Afghanistan and Lebanon, the Softwood deal which looked like a winner for Harper is turning against him. His confrontational style of provoking the opposition to dare defeat the government will backfire.

In politics what appears as a golden opportunity can soon turn to merde, as the Harper is finding out. Just like the GST deal which was paid for by increased taxes on low income earners, and the baby bonus, which was paid for by reducing the child tax credit, again for low income earners. Now there is the seceret meetings to kill the Wheat Board, and of course the recent deaths of two more RCMP officers calls into question the whole Harpocrite promise to kill the "long Gun Registry".

It's going to continue to be a long hot summer for the Tories, and in the fall they will have no priorities left to announce or promote. But they will have chickens coming home to roost.



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ANCIENT GRAINS

Millet based diet can lower risk of type 2 diabetes and help manage blood glucose levels

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INTERNATIONAL CROPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR THE SEMI-ARID TROPICS (ICRISAT)

 

IMAGE: A FARMER SHOWS DHANSHAKTI, INDIA'S FIRST BIOFORTIFIED PEARL MILLET. view more 

CREDIT: ICRISAT

A new study has shown that eating millets can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and helps manage blood glucose levels in people with diabetes, indicating the potential to design appropriate meals with millets for diabetic and pre-diabetic people as well as for non-diabetic people as a preventive approach.

Drawing on research from 11 countries, the study published in Frontiers in Nutrition shows that diabetic people who consumed millet as part of their daily diet saw their blood glucose levels drop 12-15% (fasting and post-meal), and blood glucose levels went from diabetic to pre-diabetes levels. The HbA1c (blood glucose bound to hemoglobin) levels lowered on average 17% for pre-diabetic individuals, and the levels went from pre-diabetic to normal status. These findings affirm that eating millets can lead to a better glycemic response.

The authors reviewed 80 published studies on humans of which 65 were eligible for a meta-analysis involving about 1,000 human subjects, making this analysis the largest systematic review on the topic to date. “No one knew there were so many scientific studies undertaken on millets’ effect on diabetes and these benefits were often contested. This systematic review of the studies published in scientific journals has proven that millets can keep blood glucose levels in check and reduce the risk of diabetes. It has also shown just how well these smart foods do it,” said Dr. S Anitha, the study’s lead author and a Senior Nutrition Scientist at ICRISAT.

Millets, including sorghum, were consumed as staple cereals in many parts of the world until half a century ago. Investments in a few crops such as rice, wheat and maize, have edged nutritious and climate-smart crops like millets out of the plate.

“Awareness of this ancient grain is just starting to spread globally, and our review shows millets having a promising role in managing and preventing type 2 diabetes. In the largest review and analysis of research into different types of millet compared to other grains such as refined rice, maize and wheat we found that millets outperform their comparison crops with lower GI and lower blood glucose levels in participants,” observed Professor Ian Givens, a co-author of the study and Director at University of Reading’s Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health (IFNH) in the UK.

According to the International Diabetes Association, diabetes is increasing in all regions of the world. India, China and the USA have the highest numbers of people with diabetes. Africa has the largest forecasted increase of 143% from 2019 to 2045, the Middle East and North Africa 96% and South East Asia 74%. The authors urge the diversification of staples with millets to keep diabetes in check, especially across Asia and Africa.

Strengthening the case for reintroducing millets as staples, the study found that millets have a low average glycemic index (GI) of 52.7, about 36% lower GI than milled rice and refined wheat, and about 14-37 GI points lower compared to maize. All 11 types of millets studied could be defined as either low (<55) or medium (55-69) GI, with the GI as an indicator of how much and how soon a food increases blood sugar level. The review concluded that even after boiling, baking and steaming (most common ways of cooking grains) millets had lower GI than rice, wheat and maize.

“Millets are grown on all inhabited continents, yet they remain a ‘forgotten food’. We hope this will change from 2023, when the world observes the United Nations declared International Year of Millets, and with studies like this that show that millets outperform white rice, maize and wheat,” said Ms. Rosemary Botha, a co-author of the study who was based in Malawi at the time of the study, with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

“The global health crisis of undernutrition and over-nutrition coexisting is a sign that our food systems need fixing. Greater diversity both on-farm and on-plate is the key to transforming food systems. On-farm diversity is a risk mitigating strategy for farmers in the face of climate change while on-plate diversity helps counter lifestyle diseases such as diabetes. Millets are part of the solution to mitigate the challenges associated with malnutrition, human health, natural resource degradation, and climate change. Trans-disciplinary research involving multiple stakeholders is required to create resilient, sustainable and nutritious food systems,” said Dr. Jacqueline Hughes, Director General, ICRISAT.

Professor Paul Inman, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) of the University of Reading, stressed that “The rapidly accelerating threats of climate change and global health crises, including obesity and diabetes, require everyone to pull together in action. The partnership between ICRISAT and the University of Reading is doing exactly this, bringing together our world leading expertise in human nutrition with ICRISAT’s long established role as a leader in agricultural research for rural development.”

The study also identified information gaps and highlighted a need for collaborations to have one major diabetes study covering all types of millets and all major ways of processing with consistent testing methodologies. Structured comprehensive information will be highly valuable globally, taking the scientific knowledge in this area to the highest level.

“This study is first in a series of studies that has been worked on for the last four years as a part of the Smart Food initiative led by ICRISAT that will be progressively released in 2021. Included are systematic reviews with meta-analyses of the impacts of millets on: diabetes, anemia and iron requirements, cholesterol and cardiovascular diseases and calcium deficiencies as well as a review on zinc levels. As part of this, ICRISAT and the Institute for Food Nutrition and Health at the University of Reading have formed a strategic partnership to research and promote the Smart Food vision of making our diets healthier, more sustainable on the environment and good for those who produce it,” explained Ms. Joanna Kane-Potaka, a co-author from ICRISAT and Executive Director of the Smart Food initiative.

 

CAPTION

Proso millet rice with turmeric.

CREDIT

Joanna Kane-Potaka

NOTE: This research is also part of a special edition and theme section in the Frontiers journal - Smart Food for Healthy, Sustainable and Resilient Food System.  

About the authors’ organizations/affiliations

ICRISAT: The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international agriculture research organization specialized in the drylands across Asia and Africa to ensure food, nutrition and income security, with global headquarters in India. www.icrisat.org. ICRISAT is a CGIAR research center.

IFNH: The Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health at the University of Reading in the UK, brings together the university’s world-leading expertise in food, nutrition, agriculture, health and the environment to help deliver better diets and health. https://research.reading.ac.uk/ifnh/

IFPRI: The International Food Policy Research Institute, part of the CGIAR, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. It is headquartered in Washington DC, USA. www.ifpri.org

NIN: The National Institute of Nutrition is India’s premier public research institute for nutrition. Headquartered in Hyderabad, NIN continuously monitors India’s nutritional health and works to manage as well as prevent nutritional problems. www.nin.res.in

Kobe University: One of Japan’s largest and oldest national universities. It is an institute of excellence for the social sciences and promotion of interdisciplinary research and education. www.kobe-u.ac.jp

Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education of Women (deemed to be University) is dedicated to higher education for women and has a specialization in a wide range of Home Science (including food and nutrition), Sciences, Arts, Commerce and Engineering based in India. https://avinuty.ac.in

NTBN: The National Technical Board on Nutrition advises the Government of India. It provides evidence-based, technical and policy recommendations and guidance for matters of nutrition.

CAPTION

Foxtail millet and barley salad.

CREDIT

Joanna Kane-Potaka

JOURNAL

Frontiers in Nutrition

DOI

10.3389/fnut.2021.687428

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Potential of Millets for Managing and Reducing the Risk of Developing Diabetes Mellitus

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Jul-2021

COI STATEMENT

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

The Truth About the Farm Crisis

Finally the Liberal Ag Critic says what the Liberals would never say when they were the Government. That the WTO ruling on agribusiness benefits Cargill and the big agribusiness interests, not the producers or producing countries. Wayne Easter was talking with Craig Oliver today on CTV's Question Period. Strahl pledges Canada's farmers won't be forgotten

Easter finally admited the fact that the whole debate around subsidies to farmers is not about farmers at all but about global agribusiness as I have documented in my research on Cargill.

The industrialization of farming is the ongoing creation of capitalism, it has been since the industrial revolution and the origin of capitalism in England. And in terms of the world captialist agriculture, single crop production for export is leading to desertification.The destruction of the family farm is the agenda of agibusiness, it does not want food sovereignty nor sustainable agriculture the real basis of market agriculture. It wants to create large scale farms, run by managers using GPS technology for export crop production. WTO Who Cares?

Thus the destruction across the prairies of the community grain elevator and its replacement with the one stop shopping agribusiness like Cargill. They offer fertilizers, seed, seed cleaning and processing, shipping and selling of grains. In fact the largest port operation on the B.C. coast is Cargills.

This destruction of the family farm in the prairies began over thirty years ago, before Cargill, Kraft created the conditions of buying up dairy farms and prairie dairy operations in order to drive milk prices down by controlling the market. Thus the National Farmers Union in the early seventies called for the first ever national agribusiness boycott of Kraft.

In Canada the Kraft boycott in the seventies was the equivalent of, and cooresponded too, the grape boycott in the U.S. It was all about saving the family farm.

After Kraftco. came the American giant Cargill in the late seventies and early eighties buying up the grain elevator business. Green Cargill elevators dominated the prairies. Slowly at first and then becoming ever dominant. As the farm economy collapsed during the eighties more and more family farms in Canada and the U.S. were sold off to the agribusiness giants like Cargill and then ADM.

Farmers who survived did so because they bought up their neighbours farms, added mechanization, and cooresponding bank debt, and increased crop yeilds with fertilizers and seed from Cargill and then Monsanto. Crop production such as GMO Canola from Monsanto became a major export product. Farm production of grains was now part of the global agribusiness market, no longer did we have local food production for local use.

This was the changing and is the changing nature of food production in Canada. First the Loaf: And it has been subsidized and supported by the government. Regardless of political stripe. Mulroney Conservatives opened up the market to ADM, they allowed the last independent mill to be sold to them, Robin Hood Mills, and for a reward Mulroney was give a post as a director of ADM.The Ethanol Scam: ADM and Brian Mulroney


The Liberals before them had allowed Cargill in with a wink and a nod. Trudeau's disdain for the west and farmers was well known. And its cost was the death of the family farm. The farm crisis and corporate power

The new Liberal regime, under Chretien and Martin added the stake to the heart of farmers by allowing Monsanto's expansion of GMO production of canola, they opened up the possibility of radioactive food sterlization, and the Supreme Court allowed for Monsanto's patent and control of it's GMO seeds at the expense of the soveriegnty of the family farm.

No one is innocent in the death of the Family Farm in Canada, no government federally or provincially. The Farm Crisis & Corporate Profits A Report by Canada’s National Farmers Union November 30, 2005 View the report

It is inevitable the mechanization of farming, but it does not need to lead to agribusiness corporatization. Certainly in the 1930's we saw the greatest achievement of farm mechnization when thousands of combines cleared farmers crops across the North American prairies in just a few weeks. It was a colossal collective endeavour never achieved again, it was in response to the depression on North American prairie farmers.

Varty, John F. "On Protein, Prairie Wheat, and Good Bread: Rationalizing Technologies and the Canadian State, 1912-1935"
The Canadian Historical Review - Volume 85, Number 4, December 2004, pp. 721-753

Dependent Harvests Grain Production on the American and Canadian Plains and the Double Dependency with Mexico, 1880–1950

The Social Bases of Technical Change: Mechanization of the Wheatlands of Argentina and Canada, 1890 to 1914

From Farm to Factory: Structuring and Location of the US Farm Machinery Industry

Changing Machinery Technology and Agricultural Adjustment

Mechanization is not the enemy of the family farm, technology is not either. Nor is collectivism and cooperation. Marketing boards are the life blood of the family farm, but not the corporate farm which can market itself directly.

The Cooperative Commonwealth ideology of prairie populism reflected the needs of farmers/producers and of workers. Today that ideal is gone, as agribusiness truimphs with its capitalist market of food production. Gone is the real market of farm/producer cooperatives, which are essential for individual family farms.

The modern Canadian farmer instead of sharing or creating equipment cooperatives, has sold their soul to the banks to keep up on the latest in seed or mechanical technology. That along with single crop production has left them vulnerable to corporatization.

Instead of moving to organic farming, mixed crops, truck farming, herb farming, organic animal husbandry, hemp farming, or with creation of bioenergy fuels, etc. along with cooperative farming of large areas in order to maintain soil conservation, cooperative/community equipment buying, the family farm today must grow or die. It must become a mini-corporation, which means it becomes vulnerable to corporate take over, mergers and aquistions by Agribusiness.

The alternative is cooperative farming and the creation of indigenous markets, like farmers markets in cities, supplying Halal and Kosher butchering and dairy needs, the vegatarian market, whole foods, etc. creating producer controled marketing boards and of course producer controled banks/credit unions for low interest loans, gaining control of transportation and grainaries, feedlots and slaughterhouses under producer worker control.

Those on the right who attack the Wheat Board for instance are those whose farms have succeeded in becoming a single crop corporation, having taken over their neighbours farms when they were driven to bankruptcy in the economic crisis of the eighties. The marketing boards in Quebec and Ontario are also reflections of this corporatist model of farming. And that is why agribusiness wants them destroyed, to allow the remaining corporate farms to taken over by them.

Also See:

Migration

A History of Canadian Wealth, 1914.

Origins of the Captialist State In Canada

The Real Story of Alberta's BSE Crisis

Lost and Found

Kids Are Commodities

Development Versus Population Growth

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WHY FARMERS CREATED THE CANADA WHEAT BOARD

Farmers in 'dire straits' over unfulfilled grain contracts


Unfulfilled grain contracts are pinching Saskatchewan farmers' pocket books.

Farmers losing grain revenue are in "dire straits" as they face penalties and administrative costs while attempting to leave contracts they have no hope of fulfilling, said Agricultural Producers Association vice president Bill Prybylski.

"Farmers are facing, in some cases, very significant financial penalties (for) contracts that — through no fault of their own — they're not able to fulfil due to the unprecedented drought," Prybylski said, adding that rising fertilize costs will only tighten the squeeze.

Many farmers are wrapping up their harvest after a drought baked their fields. Eighty-nine per cent of the province's crop is in the bin — far above the five-year average of 63 per cent for this time of year, last week's crop report noted.

“A lot of farmers simply don't have the grain this year due to the drought and with no 'Act of God' clause in some of the contracts, prices have continued to climb and the cost to buy out those contracts is now substantially higher,” Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president Ray Orb said in a prepared statement.

He wants the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA) to work with producers to reduce penalties and eliminate administration fees — which typically aim to prevent farmers from ducking out of a contract to capture a slightly higher price, a SARM statement said.

Early in the season, optimistic farmers eyeing high prices forward sold their contracts; grain companies did the same in domestic and international markets, said Wade Sobkowich, executive director of WGEA.

"The damage to the crop which occurred in late June and July has caused everyone to be short — farmers on contracts and grain companies on export commitments."

Grain companies see contracts as a competitive issue, so the WGEA can't influence how they price producer buybacks, he said.

Sobkowich said there's some cases where farmers oversold their production levels, but others where they oversold their "comfort level." In those cases, the grain company will ask the farm to send as many tonnes as it can before determining if it's short, he said.

"If there is any notion that the current scenario is a windfall for grain companies, I can say with certainty that no company is interested in receiving a farmer payment in lieu of a delivery."

That may not be enough for NDP agriculture critic Trent Wotherspoon, who has called on the province to pass emergency legislation allowing farmers to carry over their obligations to future years without incurring "unreasonable penalties."

He also wants an independent grain contract arbitration board, with farmers comprising at least 75 per cent of its members, to resolve grain contract disputes, he said.

Agriculture Minister David Marit wrote in a prepared statement that the province is contacting major grain companies to discuss the seriousness of the drought, asking them to be "lenient with producers and (to) consider scaling back their administration fees and penalties."

We won’t be overreacting with wholesale changes to how our producers market their grain in this province," he said.

Nick Pearce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The StarPhoenix

Don Mazankowski, former Alberta MP and cabinet minister, dies at 85

EDMONTON — Donald Frank Mazankowski, a former Tory deputy prime minister, has died at the age of 85.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Speaker Anthony Rota announced the news in the House of Commons Wednesday and MPs held a moment of silence in his memory.

Whether working as Brian Mulroney’s right-hand man in Ottawa or selling cars in his hometown of Vegreville, Alta., “Maz” was known as a down-to-earth farm boy who got the job done.

The son of Polish immigrants, Mazankowski served in several top cabinet positions including finance and agriculture under Mulroney and transport under Joe Clark.


In 2003, Mazankowski was involved in behind-the-scenes talks to broker a deal to unite the former Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties.

During his 25 years in Parliament, Mazankowski also served as president of Treasury Board, government House leader, minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board and privatization minister.

Mulroney once called the tall, burly man who could play a mean fiddle and liked to croon old cowboy songs his “minister of everything.”

First elected to the Commons in 1968, Mazankowski strived to keep in touch with constituents in his sprawling rural riding east of Edmonton.

He was so popular that thankful citizens commissioned a statue of Maz in Vegreville before he retired from elected office in 1993.

“For 25 years Don Mazankowski has served his constituency, his party and his country,” reads the dedication for the one-tonne bronze depiction of Maz giving a speech.

“Even though he has risen to great prominence nationally and internationally, he has maintained a humbleness and genuine friendliness.”

Following his retirement from the Commons, Mazankowski remained active in politics and continued to draw the public spotlight.

Former Alberta premier Ralph Klein appointed him to lead a controversial commission to review Alberta’s health-care system.

The commission’s report in 2001 recommended dropping coverage for some medical services and drugs, increasing health-care premiums and expanding the use of private health clinics.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Mazankowski was a champion for his community and the country.

"Don Mazankowski dedicated his life to serving others. As Minister of Transport, of Agriculture, and of Finance, and as Deputy Prime Minister, he contributed a lot to Canada. My deepest condolences to all who are mourning his passing," Trudeau said in a statement.

"Don and his wife Lorraine stayed true to their rural roots, continuing to live in Vegreville, and more recently Sherwood Park," said a statement from Alberta Premier Jason Kenney

Mazankowski "personified the virtues of humility and servant leadership," he said.

“At the heart of his public service was a belief that Western Canada needed strong voices to defend its economic and political interests in the Canadian federation. Maz was such a voice for decades. For that and for all that he did, Albertans are deeply grateful."

Mazankowski was named as a companion of the Order of Canada — the highest civilian honour — in 2013. He had been an officer of the Order of Canada since 2000.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2020.

John Cotter, The Canadian Press

Alberta State Capitalism

As the Government of Ralph Klein sleepwalks on until a new party leader is chosen, it begins to look like the old Getty government. Gone is the mantra Government has no business being in business as it gives millions to Cargill the global agribusiness giant to expand its beef processing plant in Spruce Grove. Of course Gargill and Tysons and other big beef processors already reaped millions during the BSE crisis.

And will reap millions more as the Federal Tories hand them taxpayers dollars to develop their ethanol and biodiesel programs here in Canada. Both the BSE program of the Alberta Tories and now the Federal Tories Hot Air plan are toutedto be helping farmers, when in reality it is big agribusiness giants like Tysons, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midlands (ADM) that really benefit.

This is another reason for the destruction of the Wheat Board, to open up Canada's grain market to Cargill and ADM. It all began way back with the last Conservative government.The Ethanol Scam: ADM and Brian Mulroney


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Cargill, ADM, Alberta, Klein, taxbreaks, Sun, Valley, Foods, Spruce, Grove, What, Board, Canada, agribusiness, ethanol, biodiesel, beef, Conservatives, Green,

NO MORE WHEAT BOARD

Contract squeeze worries farmers

By Freelance writer, Mary MacArthur
WESTERN PRODUCER
Published: July 23, 2021

Farmers across the Prairies face significant yield losses this year because of heat waves and lack of rain. Now they may not be able to fill earlier-signed production contracts. | Randy Vanderveen photo


CAMROSE, Alta — As heat and drought burn up crops across the Prairies, many farmers wonder if they will have enough crop to fill what they thought were modest production contracts.

“I worry about my barley because my barley is 70 percent priced and my canola is at 50 percent priced. A lot of farmers are panicking,” said Gilles Roy, a farmer at Falher, in Alberta’s Peace River region, which has had very little rain since seeding.

Strong feed barley prices before seeding enticed Roy to price much of his barley because good crops of barley are common .

But drought stopped the plants from growing and heat may have stopped the heads from filling. Inquiries into whether he could cancel or buy out his priced contract haven’t eased his concerns.

“I didn’t cancel out of any of mine. It is so expensive, the fee they want to charge you. It is up to $30 a tonne penalty they want to charge you. I will wait until I have it all in the bin and see how much I have.”

Then, Roy will begin negotiations on the missing bushels and any penalty.

“I want to know the terms before I haul one bushel.”

Bryan Woronuk of Rycroft said last year, grain companies were letting farmers out of their contracts with no penalty, just a promise to remember their good deed, but last year’s good will seems to have disappeared.

“I contracted what I thought was a conservative amount of grain and now wondering how it can be filled,” said Woronuk.

It’s a story heard across the Prairies, said grain marketer Derek Squair of Exceed Grain Marketing.

“I have customers who have average-sized crops and are not too concerned, but I have customers in poorer areas who maybe might get 25 percent of an average crop, which is quite devastating financially.

“Feed barley is one that keeps popping up because prices are quite good. We’ve never really seen that strong of prices for feed barley off the combine before. So, I think a lot of farmers will get caught. They maybe went a little further on feed barley because they were such good prices than they normally would and barley seems to be getting hit hard from drought,” said Squair, of Regina.

Not all grain companies are sympathetic to farmers who locked in tonnage and price and now can’t fill those contracts. Grain companies have already sold the grain, planned their sales and are now wondering if they will get grain for the price contracted.

“Some smaller, more nimble companies will let you roll contracts over to next year. They know they will get that volume sometime and they are comfortable with that. Other companies are just holding producers’ feet to the fire and asking for exorbitant buy-out clauses and will not give you a buy-out price,” said Squair.

For farmers who are unsure if they will have enough crop to fill their contract, good communication is key, said Derek Drey, regional manager for Saskatchewan North with FarmLink Marketing.

“The best thing to do is to start an open conversation. It is very difficult to exit out of most of these contracts. Whether you buy out or roll it over to the next crop year, there are different strategies you can work together with your buyer on.

“But unfortunately, it is not a simple phone call to cancel your contract or get even a cost to get out of the contract. That is why there is so much emotional pain right now when it comes to these contract buyouts,” said Drey, who farms west of Saskatoon.

Drey said last year he wasn’t able to fill his canola contract. As soon as he realized he wouldn’t have the required bushels he called the grain company. Luckily for Drey, the company allowed him to roll the contract over to the following year instead of paying out any penalty and money for the missing bushels.

“What that did for our farm is alleviate the cash flow pain of having to put physical funds out to buy out a contract. That was more of a favourable outcome,” he said.

“I have a lot of empathy for my farmer friends right now. It is one extra stress level on top of not having a crop.”

Delivery contracts and priced contracts aren’t just for farmers with a high risk tolerance.

Contracts have become the norm for farmers who want to deliver grain at harvest and receive money to pay bills in the fall, said Squair.

“The industry has gone to the point where you have to do some pre-pricing if you want money at harvest. The cash demand on a family farm is very high so you have to get in the queue. If you don’t pre-price, you are not going to be selling grain until December or January,” he said.

“In order to pay bills, you need to have some sort of forward pricing just to have a spot to deliver. The producers who are the most cash strapped would be on the higher end of that scale, more like 30 percent sold, and those are the farmers that are going to get beat up the most.

“Farmers don’t have much of an option. Good communication is the first option, but the grain company is saying they don’t want to talk to you right now. If they do talk to you they give such a high number to buy out at it is ridiculous.”

Squair worries inflexible positions by grain companies will permanently damage relations in the industry.

“Grain companies that work with producers this year, will negotiate with producers or defer some of the tonnage of payment will make out better in the long run because those customers will be very loyal to those companies that help them through a tough time.

“It is going to make every producer very gun shy to ever do a forward contract again and it is going to hurt the grain companies because they use these forward contracts to plan logistics and trains and vessels and make sure they have everything in place and the sales on the books to move grain in a timely manner,” said Squair.

Marlene Boersch of Mercantile Consulting Ventures said that during a recent producer meeting in Weyburn, discussions turned to the one-sided contracts by grain companies who shift all the risk to farms for everything from lack of grain to poor railway service.

“As a grower, I cannot influence how the rail contracts work out, how the railroad performs and it’s even worse when you talk about problems with ocean freight. You have no negotiating power. Elevator agents who used to have a little bit of leeway in how they serviced their customers, that is no longer the case. Usually head offices in Winnipeg or Calgary said these are the contracts; full stop.”

Farmers and industry associations need to develop a new contract template that is fair to grain companies and farmers, she said.

“The fact that you have no negotiation power from the farmer side of the contract and have a three-page list covering everything from railroad to God knows what, is no longer fair, in my view.”

Grower associations that take check-off money from farmers for pulse, oats, wheat, canola and barley all need to be advocating for contracts that are not tilted in favour of grain companies.

“They live off the farmers’ money. They charge a checkoff. In my mind, you represent the farmers and you must find a better way. You must represent the interests, but it doesn’t happen,” she said.

It’s a sentiment echoed by Roy. The once strong farmer voice has been fragmented into small commodity groups only advocating for their own crop and not with a unified voice for farmers.

“I think farmers are left as an individual entity. We don’t have much of a body to go to bat for us,” said Roy.

Jim Beusekom, president of Market Place Commodities, a Lethbridge grain company, said they have received calls from farmers wanting to cancel their contracts. Some farmers want to buy out of their contract in hopes of cashing in on higher prices than the original contract. Others simply don’t have the grain to fill their contract.

“How do you separate the two? For the most part we take their word for it that they don’t have the crop,” said Beusekom.

Letting a farmer out of a contract is not a simple switch. Beusekom bought the grain and has since sold the grain to his customers.

“I do think it is both our problems.”

Letting a farmer out of a contract doesn’t solve his problem of finding grain. If one farmer doesn’t have a crop, likely neither does his neighbour.

“The farmer has it sold and it’s our grain and we have it sold to someone else.

“Trust me, we are really all in it together.”

Beausekom said many farmers carry crop insurance that helps cover their lost crop and will pay the difference between the contracted price and the now higher price.

“They do have a number of risk management options. We don’t have crop insurance for our company.”

MODI'S NEOLIBERAL GLOBALIZATION 

Changes in Indian farm laws could benefit Canada, 

(NOT REALLY)expert(s) says

"I mean people are still scratching their heads trying to figure out what the ramifications of these reforms are," 

SAY THREE EXPERTS  VS ONE NEOLIBERAL SHILL

VANCOUVER — Changes to India's farm laws could open up the second most populous country to Canadian farmers, although a lot remains unknown about how a liberalized market might affect nations looking to export their produce, experts say.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

A freer market in India would help corporations and countries that see it as a destination to sell produce, said Shashi Enarth, an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia's institute for resources, environment and sustainability.

"It'll be good for Canada if these three bills are introduced and they sail through," he said in a recent interview.

He said the bills stipulate "that you can sell (agricultural produce) anywhere you want, you can buy whatever you want, and so that way it is good for Canada."

India recently introduced three farm bills that constitute a step toward greater liberalization of her agricultural market.

But after two months of protests by farmers, the Supreme Court of India has temporarily put on hold their implementation and ordered the creation of an independent committee of experts to negotiate with opponents of the legislation.

THIS IS WHAT HARPER DID TO THE CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD

Among other things, the bills would allow farmers to sell their produce outside government-run market committees, and they would remove minimum support prices for certain products.

They also allow farmers to forge agreements with private companies to produce a certain amount, which is then sold directly to the companies.

The protesting farmers say they fear the government would stop buying grain at minimum guaranteed prices under the laws and subject them to corporate exploitation by driving down prices for their products.

The farmers are continuing a blockade of highways connecting New Delhi with the country's north. They have threatened to intensify the protest by organizing a massive tractor rally in New Delhi during Republic Day celebrations on Jan. 26.

Data from Statistics Canada show India was the world's largest market for legumes, with imports valued at $1.4 billion in 2018. Canada was the country's second largest supplier of pulses, such as lentils, dried peas, beans and chickpeas.

Raji Jayaraman, an associate professor at the University of Toronto's Munk school of global affairs and public policy, said Canadian exporters may benefit in the medium to long term, especially if there are further steps toward liberalizing agricultural markets in India.

“The farm bills don't directly affect tariffs on agricultural imports to India, so any effect is going to be indirect,” she said.

How Canadian agricultural exports fare will depend on how the changes affect the prices of agricultural commodities, she added. If Indian agricultural corporations exert their market power, then the new laws might result in lower prices received by farmers and higher prices paid by consumers for agricultural commodities, she said.

“Ironically, this may help Canadian farmers who are able to sell their products to the Indian market more cheaply.”

Greg Northey, Pulse Canada's vice-president of corporate affairs, said the organization is watching the developments in India closely and considering how they might affect farmers here.

"It's an important market for sure, one that we care about and one that we've had a long-standing relationship with, and one we want to continue to export to," said Northey, whose organization represents growers, traders and processors.

Most pulses in Canada are grown in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, with bean production concentrated in southern Ontario and Quebec, its website says.

The organization is analyzing how the new laws in India would impact Canadian farmers, he said. But they don’t have a good understanding yet and haven’t come across an analysis of how changes in India’s laws will affect imports and exports, Northey said.

Jayaraman said a lot of people are fearful about the liberalization of agricultural markets in India because it is a large employer. The majority of farmers in India own less than one hectare of farmland and operate on a subsistence basis.

"And so, anything that touches and reforms agricultural markets is going to have ramifications for subsistence livelihood for hundreds of millions of people," she added.

Jayaraman also cautioned that the future of the Indian farm market is still unknown under the proposed laws.

"I mean people are still scratching their heads trying to figure out what the ramifications of these reforms are," she said.

"I'm going to say the jury is out. It's really going to depend on how the market evolves as a result of these reforms."

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2021

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press