Not From There

(Source: The Globe and Mail)

by Carly Weeks

The federal government is considering new restrictions that may prevent food manufacturers from labelling processed meat products as “natural” if they contain cultured celery extract, a preserving agent that is a source of potentially unhealthy nitrates and nitrites.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is “currently reviewing the use of certain claims used in conjunction with meat products made with cultured/modified celery extract,” the agency said in an e-mail.

The issue is receiving fresh attention as a result of controversy over the fact that new lines of hot dogs, bacon, ham and deli meats branded as natural contain cultured celery extract, a source of nitrates and nitrites, which a growing number of consumers are trying to avoid.

The products, which include those sold under the Schneiders Country Naturals and Maple Leaf Foods Natural Selections brand, are labelled as being made with “natural ingredients” and containing no artificial preservatives.

But some food and nutrition experts say that type of language may mislead consumers into thinking the processed meat products don’t contain nitrates or nitrites, which some studies have linked to a possible increase in cancer risk and other problems.

Maple Leaf Foods, which also owns Schneiders, disputes the veracity of those studies and says nitrates and nitrites occurring in cultured celery extract are natural and pose no risk.

Under the current system, there are no specific or binding regulations surrounding use of the word “natural” when it comes to food products, according to the CFIA. But the agency said it does have guidelines that suggest meat products can only be labelled “natural” if all the ingredients are from a natural source. The “natural” claim cannot be used if the product contains nitrates or nitrites.

However, companies are allowed to claim that products are made with “natural ingredients” with no preservatives “except those naturally occurring in the ingredients” if the ingredients are from natural sources, such as cultured celery extract, according to the CFIA.

But it’s unclear whether consumers are aware of the distinction between “natural” and made with “natural ingredients,” say food and nutrition experts.

Now, it appears the CFIA may take action to ensure consumers are aware when nitrates and nitrites are present in processed meats, even those branded as natural. The agency was unable to provide an interview, but said in an e-mail it is looking into the matter.

Maple Leaf Foods says the labels on its natural meats are in full compliance with federal rules and that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has expressed no concerns over the labels or ingredients in the products.

The company says consumers shouldn’t be concerned over the presence of nitrates or nitrites.

“I believe that the evidence [processed meats may be unhealthy] is very weak,” said Randall Huffman, chief food safety officer at Maple Leaf Foods. “The ingredients that we use are used at safe levels in our products. We follow the regulatory requirements and nitrite is safe. We consume nitrite and nitrate in a variety of food products every day.”

Although nitrates are found naturally in vegetables, nutritional experts say they are safe because the presence of vitamins cancels out any negative impacts. The concerns stem from the fact they may be converted into nitrites when they are consumed. The World Cancer Research Fund states that nitrites can react with protein-rich foods, such as meat, and produce nitrosamines, which have been linked to cancer.

Maple Leaf Foods said this isn’t a concern when it comes to eating processed meats and that the only time nitrosamines are formed is when bacon is badly scorched.

The World Cancer Research Fund states that while frying meat at high temperatures can produce nitrosamines, they can also be formed by consuming processed meats. The research body produced an expert report that found people who consume 50 grams of processed meat every day face a 20 per cent increased risk of developing bowel cancer.

Andrew Milkowski, adjunct professor in the animal sciences department at the University of Wisconsin and scientific adviser for the American Meat Institute, which represents the interests of companies selling meat products, agrees with Dr. Huffman that research linking nitrates and nitrites to health problems is flawed.

He pointed to the fact that many studies saying processed meats and nitrates or nitrites may lead to certain forms of cancer or other health problems are based on epidemiological research, which attempts to determine what factors may be involved in the development of certain diseases.

Epidemiological studies can never prove cause and effect, only that factors, such as smoking and an increased rate of lung cancer, appear to be linked.

For that reason, Yoni Freedhoff, medical director of Ottawa’s Bariatric Medical Institute and advocate on a variety of nutrition issues, said that it is difficult, if not impossible, to ever prove that processed meats are definitively linked to an increased incidence of cancer or other diseases. In order to do so, scientists would have to expose one group of people to a diet filled with processed meats while another consumes no processed meats over a period of several years or decades, which is virtually impossible.

Studies involving animals exposed to nitrates have found that those that consumed nitrates were more likely to develop cancer.

But meat-industry officials say no evidence shows those results apply to humans.

Regardless of what the research says, Joe Schwarcz, director of the McGill University Office for Science and Society, says moderation is an important key to health.

“It’s always a mistake to focus in on single foods either as angels or devils,” he said.

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(Source: The Globe and Mail)

by Carly Weeks

Bacon, hot dogs, deli meats and other processed meats have long been considered guilty-pleasure foods that contain unhealthy preservatives, additives and any number of chemical ingredients. Now, food companies are trying to change that image by creating “natural” lines of processed meat products from real ingredients with no added preservatives. But consumers who look beyond the label may be surprised at what they find in these “natural” meats.

A commercial for the Schneiders Country Naturals line asks: “What if natural ingredients were a promise, not a slogan?” It says the processed meats are “made with natural ingredients and no artificial additives or preservatives.”

Maple Leaf Foods uses a boy named Dylan Carter in a commercial for its Natural Selections brand. A butcher explains in a voiceover that Dylan’s parents wouldn’t let him eat hot dogs because of added preservatives, so the company made one with “no artificial preservatives and ingredients his parents can actually pronounce.”

The promises tap into the mindset of consumers looking to avoid artificial ingredients with complex names such as sodium erythorbate. For this reason, many are willing to pay higher prices for “natural” processed meats.

But the ads and packages for these new meat products don’t mention that they contain cultured celery extract, which is a source of nitrates and nitrites – preserving agents linked to an increased risk of heart disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

Food and health experts say promoting “natural” processed meats as being free of unwanted preservatives is disingenuous, and could even do harm to certain populations, such as children and pregnant women, who are told to avoid consumption of nitrates and nitrites.

“I think that it’s misleading,” said Rosie Schwartz, a Toronto-based dietitian, author and advocate on a variety of nutrition issues. “I think we’ve been hoodwinked by the term natural.”

Dallas Rocheleau, a mother who lives in London, Ont., purchased some of the new meat products, but became suspicious when she saw “cultured celery extract” in the ingredient list. After investigating, she found that the substance is a source of nitrates and nitrites.

“I think it’s terrible,” she said. “People, they don’t realize they’re actually being taken by these companies.”

Frustrated consumers, such as Melanie Jones-Njoku, are taking food makers to task for what they see as misleading advertising.

“I feel cheated,” Ms. Jones-Njoku wrote on the Facebook page for Schneiders, which is owned by Maple Leaf Foods. “And to find this out while I have been eating [these processed meats] while pregnant just upsets me more.”

Nitrates and nitrites are similar compounds that are used to cure meat. They help retain a pink colour, create a distinct flavour and prevent growth of clostridium botulinum bacteria, which can cause botulism.

When nitrates are added to meats, they slowly break down into nitrites. Many health experts are concerned about nitrites in processed food because they can lead to the formation of nitrosamines, which have been linked to cancer.

For this reason, the federal government restricts the use of nitrates and nitrites in food.

But careful wording in ads and product packages allows food makers to avoid disclosing that “natural” meats contain a preservative many consumers are trying to avoid.

In Canada, foods cannot be labelled “natural” if they contain nitrates or nitrites, which means that cured products cannot be called natural. But if companies use naturally sourced ingredients, such as cultured celery extract, they are allowed to label them as being made with “natural ingredients,” even if the product contains nitrates or nitrites.

Andrew Pollock, senior vice-president of marketing for Maple Leaf Consumer Foods, said consumers understand processed meats need to be preserved and that cultured celery extract is a natural ingredient.

“We’re being quite forthright about what’s in the product,” he said. “We want to be very proud of what we’re declaring to the consumer.”

When nitrates are found naturally in vegetables, the presence of vitamins prevents their transformation into potentially risky nitrites. Research shows that eating vegetables guards against disease.

The same is not true for nitrates and nitrites used as preservatives in meat, regardless of whether they are labelled as “naturally occurring,” food experts say.

“It’s misleading,” said Keith Warriner, associate professor in food microbiology at the University of Guelph. “They’re both the same.”

A study published earlier this year in the Journal of Food Protection found that “natural” hot dogs had up to 10 times the nitrites of traditional hot dogs. An investigation by Consumer Reports magazine found nitrates and nitrites in natural and traditional hot dogs are similar.

Even if it were possible to produce processed meats without nitrites or nitrates, they still contain high amounts of fat and sodium and nutritionists say they should be consumed in moderation.

“These are not particularly nutritious foods, but they’re cheap to produce and they taste good and they’re widely promoted by manufacturers,” said Joe Schwarcz, director of the McGill University Office for Science and Society. “What is marketing all about? It’s the attempt to make your product look better than what it really is.”

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If you’re the kind of person who brings Rice Krispie squares to a potluck, a food swap the hot new foodie event might not be for you.

Guelph, Ont., is the latest city to organize one, a gathering at which sophisticated home cooks trade jars of mango chutney for sourdough starter at scheduled gatherings. The event takes place on Oct. 5.

The trend has taken off in the usual foodie cities in the United States – New York, Los Angeles and Portland, Ore. Toronto recently played host to the Toronto Underground Market, where dozens of chefs and home cooks sold Scotch eggs and salted caramel macaroons to the hungry hordes.

But unlike Toronto’s event, at Guelph’s GO Food Swap, you can only “buy” goods with those you made yourself. This distinction gives it the folksy charm of bartering, but there’s another perk for organizer Kelly Hughes, a local chef: “Because no money changes hands, you don’t have to be inspected.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/trends/trends-features/guelph-serving-up-a-food-swap-with-a-twist/article2183394/

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(Source: The Globe and Mail)

by Wency Leung

When it comes to the safety and sustainability of your food, how much do you really want to know?

Would it help, for instance, to know that Dean MacDonald caught the frozen sockeye salmon you’re planning to eat for dinner with a gill net in Barkley Sound? Or that he’s been fishing for 21 years, that his home port is Maple Ridge, B.C., and that he landed with your salmon in Bamfield on July 30? Or maybe you’re curious to know that his vessel is named Old Style, number 26622?

Details such as these are now available to customers through a pioneering seafood tracing system launched by Canadian retailer Sobeys last week. And as consumers demand more transparency in the food system, other grocery retailers, suppliers and producers are expected to provide them with greater access to food traceability, an industry buzzword to describe the ability to track food through the supply chain back to its origin.

Access to traceability now allows shoppers in various countries to track all kinds of products, from pork to milk to coffee, fruits and vegetables. California-based HarvestMark, for instance, lets shoppers look up information on various coded grocery items, Brazilian food co-op Aurora allows customers to access information on the origin, processing and packaging of a milk product, and German meat co-operative Westfleisch reportedly offers a “Trace ’n Face” system that lets shoppers see a photograph of the pork producer by scanning the label with their cellphones.

In the hands of industry players and government inspectors, traceability promises to increase food safety and accountability, improve efficiency and help cut costs. But it remains to be seen how consumers will actually use the information – if, in fact, they bother to seek it out.

Sobeys’s new seafood tracing system, launched in partnership with the Vancouver-based non-profit conservation organization Ecotrust Canada, is meant to assure shoppers that certain products are sustainably caught. And according to Sobeys, it helps them to make informed decisions about their seafood purchases.

Customers can enter a code into a website called Thisfish (thisfish.info) or they can scan a quick-response code on the package using their smart phones. They can then access an abundance of information, such as photos of the boat and crew that caught the product, a map of where it was caught and where it landed, details about the fishing method, and information about the company that processed it. Consumers are even able to send notes directly to the fishermen.

“It’s a whole new level of transparency for the consumer,” says David Smith, vice president of sustainability at Sobeys.

The scope of the initiative is still limited. Only a few fresh fish and four premiumfrozen seafood products under its “Sensations by Compliments” label – wild sockeye salmon, wild Pacific halibut, wild albacore tuna and wild black cod, whichare certified by the eco-labelling group Marine Stewardship Council – are currently traceable. So, for now, the system appears more effective as a way to boost consumer confidence, than as a tool to allow shoppers to make meaningful comparisons between products.

Sobeys will continue to sell “red-listed” species, species that the environmental groups like Greenpeace believe have a high likelihood of coming from unsustainable fisheries. “If we disengaged and stopped selling the species that are ‘red,’ the management practices that are making them red will in all likelihood continue and they will sell their product to other markets that are less discerning,” Mr. Smith says. “We think it’s important that we can drive improvements by engaging, rather than disengaging.”

However, the traceability of this small selection of seafood is only the beginning, he says. “It’s clearly a sign of things to come.”

Tracing technology has been around for years, but until recently, the chips and tags needed to track products throughout the supply chain on a large scale were prohibitively expensive, says futurist Jack Uldrich, a Minneapolis-based author and expert on emerging technologies. As the technology becomes smaller, faster and cheaper, more farmers, producers and processors can now justify adopting it. Moreover, shoppers are becoming increasingly savvy about how to search for information using their cell phones, paving the way for traceability to be introduced in stores.

“We’re now at the point [where] … you could use your cell phone to scan the produce in your local grocery store and say, ‘I want to know that was farmed within 75 miles, and if it’s truly organic,’ ” Mr. Uldrich says.

The question is how many consumers will actually do this.

“There will be a small subset [of the market] that is very curious and very vigilant,” Mr. Uldrich says, but “the average consumer, realistically, they’re interested in price.”

Mr. Uldrich predicts traceability technology will help weed out shady operators. But, he says, the biggest impact on improving industry practices will likely be made by “the data crunchers at the big food chains,” those interested in tracking details like transport distances, harvest dates and production efficiency to reduce business costs and increase accountability.This will have the added effect of improving food safety and reducing the impact on the environment. “Whether the consumer uses this or not is immaterial,” he says.

Companies are still figuring out whatkind of tracing information to offer to consumers. Giving shoppers the wrong kind of data can backfire on businesses, says Helge Kittelsen, chief executive officer of TraceTracker Canada, a traceability systems firm that focuses on the coding needs of companies within the supply chain.

Retailers, for example, may use tracing technology to ensure that the mercury content of a certain fish species is within food safety limits. But if that information is offered to uneducated consumers, “people say, ‘Oh, it contains mercury. I’m not going to touch that one,’ ” Mr. Kittelsen says.

At Hooked seafood store in Toronto, owner Dan Donovan does the legwork to ensure the products he sells are responsibly caught, so his customers don’t have to. Making sense of something as complex as determining which fish are sustainable isn’t easy, he says.

“It’s very difficult for us to do it. I’m going to say it’s impossible for consumers to do it.”

While he says offering traceability to consumers is a positive move, most consumersdemand simple solutions for making sustainable choices. They don’t necessarily want more information to process.

“People want ‘red,’ ‘yellow,’ ‘green,’ and it’s tough,” he says. “People are looking for very, very simple answers.”

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(Source: Postmedia News)

OTTAWA – A large majority of imported foods tested by government inspectors in the past three years had inaccurate nutritional information or misleading health claims, newly released statistics show. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s “importers at risk” program targets manufactured foods that haven’t been inspected for some time or are suspected to have compliance problems. The results, obtained by Postmedia News, show a consistently high percentage of foods with labelling problems, meaning the items were “non-compliant for quality.” Examples include rye bread lacking rye, wing steak labelled as a T-bone and a “no preservatives” claim on a product containing a preservative. In 2008-09, CFIA tested 285 samples and found a 75% non-compliance rate in the quality category, according to data released under access to information legislation. The following year, the non-compliance rate for quality was 74% and rose to 84% in 2010-11, the agency says. The program includes manufactured food imports subject to the Food and Drugs Act but not to other federal trade and commerce acts. These foods include grain-based products such as breads, biscuits, pastas and cereals, most beverages, confectionery, snack foods, oils, seasonings, condiments, infant formulas, and all retail prepared food.

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(Source: The Globe and Mail)

by Jessica Leeder

With the local food movement booming across Canada and the United States, farmers’ markets have been cropping up everywhere, from office buildings to hospital lobbies and even remote communities.

The heart of Canada’s breadbasket, though, is becoming the country’s most unfortunate place to be a foodie: In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, two of the nation’s most agriculturally oriented provinces, reams of requests for new farm markets are being turned down, and some markets regularly have dozens of empty stalls despite the crowds they draw.

The reason is paradoxical but simple: there aren’t enough farmers to go around.

“Because of the local food movement having this huge momentum now … I have calls on a regular basis from people wanting to start a farmers’ market. [But] we haven’t figured out a plan to recruit farmers’ market vendors,” said Dianna Mae Hocaluk, director of the Farmers’ Market Association of Manitoba. “There is a lack of affordable farmland for small scale farms,” she said. “We have a lot of large, corporate farms. They’ve taken over most of the land.”

With more than 7.7 million hectares devoted to farming (picture a sprawl of about 19 million football fields) Manitoba ranks third among provinces with the most agricultural land. Most of that has historically been devoted to cash crops such as corn and grain, and while small-scale farms have begun to increase, demand has outpaced them. In 2007, the province had just 13 farm markets; now there are 48.

The story in Saskatchewan is similar: The province leads the country with more than 26 million hectares of farmland, but struggles to entice large operators to local markets, which are running well below capacity.

“I know there’s good spice production in this province, but they [producers] are too big to consider doing some portion at a small scale and getting the product right into the hands of the people that live here,” said Debra Claude, manager of operations for Saskatchewan Farmers’ Markets.

“We’d love to run more markets,” she said. “We just don’t have enough people that are really taking on market gardening.”

Making a sustainable living from small-scale farming can be a slog, especially during the early years when many farmers still work regular jobs to make ends meet. Between these jobs and work on-farm, people have to be strategic about where they sell.

“We have to be selective about the markets we choose,” said Kim Shukla, an agrologist and co-owner of Stoneland Orchard, a fruit and vegetable operation near Steinbach, Man. Ms. Shukla and her husband, Richard Whitehead, bought their farm 10 years ago. Now, they vend at two markets a week and operate a successful community-supported agriculture operation (consumers pay a fixed weekly fee for a box of bounty that is heavier in good seasons and lighter in bad ones, sharing both risk and rewards with farmers). Expanding sales to more markets, particularly at new and unproven locations, upsets their balance sheet, Ms. Shukla said.

“Last year, we did three markets. We ended up just working to pay the staff,” she said.

Ms. Shukla said she needs to take in $2,000 to $10,000 to make a market day worth her time.

Numbers like that are easiest to hit in areas with more density than the Prairie sprawl. A cross-country survey conducted in 2008 by Farmers’ Markets Canada showed that 64 per cent of farm market sales occur in Ontario, which has about 150 of the country’s 500 markets. Despite ranking fourth in terms of the amount of land farmed, the province has the most farms in Canada, more than 57,000. In the populous Greater Toronto Area, small-scale farmers have dozens of options each week.

Bert Andrews runs a pick-your-own berry operation west of Toronto at his farm, Andrews Scenic Acres. He also sends staff and a fleet of rented trucks packed with produce to 11 markets across the GTA each week. The vast exposure, he said, helps drive people to the picking operation at his farm, boosting the overall viability of his business.

“We go to four on Saturday morning alone,” he said. “If we had the ability, we’d go to more.”

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(Source: The Globe and Mail)

by Wency Leung

Move aside, maple. The latest flavour to tap is birch.

From birch syrup to birch beer to cooking with birch wood, chefs and gourmets are experimenting with various ways to bring the astringent flavour from the forest to the dinner table.

Birch syrup made by producer Érablière Escuminac (based in Sainte-Rita, Que.) was named one of the top 10 winning products of the annual Trends & Innovations Awards at last month’s SIAL Canada international food trade show in Toronto. The product was chosen as it’s a refreshing ingredient that can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes, says Isabelle Marquis, director of XTC North America, which tracks and analyzes food trends and innovations. XTC is also a partner company of the SIAL trade show, and Ms. Marquis was involved with the organization and judging of the awards.

“It’s interesting to take something from nature and to create just a new way to see it and make it very refined,” Ms. Marquis says, noting that several restaurants in Toronto are now using Érablière Escuminac’s birch syrup for glazing meats and drizzling on desserts. The syrup is darker in colour and has a subtler aroma than maple, but a sharp, sweet taste.

Consuming birch, of course, is nothing new. Birch has long been used in first nations cookery, its sap consumed as medicine, and the wood used for smoking meats and fish. But thanks to a renewed interest in foraged foods, birch is finally getting its moment in the culinary spotlight. Danish superstar chef René Redzepi of the internationally renowned Copenhagen restaurant Noma is perhaps the biggest champion of using birch products as an ingredient, incorporating them into dishes like bouillon of steamed birch wood (made by boiling wood and macerating the branches), birch wood dessert (which involves a sorbet created with simmered wood), and steamed egg white and birch wine with wild mushrooms.

It’s not only those into fine dining who are acquiring a taste for birch. Jennifer Brady, in charge of marketing at Hank’s Beverage Company (based in Trevose, Pa.), says her company’s birch beer is gaining popularity. The non-alcoholic pop, which is distributed in Canada, has been a favourite in the northeastern United States, particularly Philadelphia and New York, for years, she says, but demand for the product is growing throughout Canada and the U.S. Ms. Brady describes the taste as very similar to root beer, but the addition of birch oil gives it a distinct aroma akin to wintergreen.

“Birch beer’s got a little bit more kick,” Ms. Brady says. “Once people try it – once they, I guess, understand what it is – they really like it.”

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(Source: The Globe and Mail)

by Chris Atchison

Some businesses are born of sheer entrepreneurial grit, determination and competitive drive. Others are driven by innovation, sometimes of the accidental kind.

In the case of the Young Urban Farmers, sowing the seeds of success has involved all of those elements – not to mention a healthy collection of actual vegetable seeds as founder Christopher Wong and his two partners seek to change the way urbanites eat, one backyard garden at a time.

The Toronto-based start-up was founded last year with a mission to not only turn a healthy profit, but to also encourage sustainable practices in households across the city.

“The three of us all had an entrepreneurial passion, we knew we wanted to run our own business and we were brainstorming different ideas,” Mr. Wong, 24, recalls.

“We saw there was a real trend towards growing food locally and reducing the local environmental footprint. We thought there was an underserved market in terms of people looking to set up vegetable gardens but not knowing where to start.”

Mr. Wong and his fellow Queen’s University commerce graduates, Nancy Huynh and Jing Loh, invested about $5,000 of their own money and launched Young Urban Farmers in early 2009.

Young Urban Farmers co-founders Chris Wong and Nancy Huynh with pre-fabricated 1.2-metre square wooden garden boxes.

After engaging in door-to-door direct marketing and leveraging social networking tools such as Facebook to garner attention, the company began installing its pre-fabricated 1.2-metre square wooden garden boxes in clients’ backyards across downtown Toronto. Using their own blend of soil, the company plants and manages the growth of whatever combination of fruits and vegetables a client desires – everything from tomatoes and strawberries, to carrots and lettuce.

Full-service packages start at about $695 per growing season; $295 for customers who prefer to manage and harvest their backyard garden themselves after the initial installation. Young Urban Farmers’ cost to set up each garden box runs between $100 and $150 in materials.

The firm’s greatest obstacle is to success comes with situating the raised garden boxes in key backyard locations that enjoy enough sunlight for consistent growth. It’s the reason why the company also offers a free consultation to ensure every backyard microclimate is suitable for one of its gardens.

So how, exactly, do three commerce grads acquire the knowledge necessary to master outdoor gardening and ensure solid backyard harvests?

“Jing, Nancy and myself had all tended to our parents’ gardens as children and we were able to draw on those skills,” Mr. Wong explains. “We also went to local public libraries and garden centres to speak to experts and consult books on vegetable gardening and learn about the technical side of things like microclimates in Toronto, as well as plant-specific care.”

Perhaps the most important resource, both as mentor and supplier, was Mr. Wong’s aunt who operates a greenhouse in Newmarket, Ont., a source of many of Young Urban Farmers’ seeds and transplants.

Mr. Wong says that in its first year, the company managed to break even and the founders are hoping to turn a profit this season – they managed to double their client list to more than 50 households for this year’s growing season, stretching from May to October.

They’ve also expanded their product offering, selling ‘Earth boxes’ to clients hoping to grow fruits and vegetables on rooftops or balconies, a worm composter, as well as a shitake mushroom log that promises to yield several fungus harvests per summer.

Mr. Wong currently has granted one franchise in the Greater Toronto Area – he chose to forego a franchise fee for a 17-per-cent annual royalty to offer greater accessibility to other sustainability-minded entrepreneurs – and is actively seeking to add to that roster.

Franchisee Valentin Li says that it was Young Urban Farmers’ sustainability model that was the biggest factor in his choice to sign on with the firm.

“For me, this represents a movement I want to be a part of,” Mr. Li explains. “In terms of the business model, you have to think about it long-term. If someone wanted to join us in YUF to earn their fortune, I’d say it isn’t really for them.”

As part of that urban gardening movement, Mr. Wong also founded the non-profit organization Young Urban Farmers CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture). Volunteers offer some of their property so the group can plant one of its gardens, keep some of the ensuing harvest for themselves and donate the rest to neighbours – who pay a nominal fee for a weekly basket of fresh produce – with the rest of the backyard bounty donated to a local food bank.

Noelle Munaretto, a recent Ryerson University journalism graduate, heard about Young Urban Farmers’ non-profit wing through Facebook and volunteered to manage their newsletter and workshops.

“Last summer I grew my own vegetable garden for the first time and I found it so rewarding,” Ms. Munaretto says. “Being able to nourish myself and do something sustainable is such an easy thing to do.”

Fruits of their labour. The firm situates the raised garden boxes in key backyard locations that enjoy enough sunlight for consistent growth.

 

She says the non-profit group’s main focus is to reach out to younger generations through channels such as social media websites and educate them about the possibilities of urban agriculture, in the hope they might convince their parents that a backyard garden is not only good for the family grocery bill, but also the planet.

While Mr. Wong has no grand plan to put a garden in every backyard, on every roof or on every balcony in the country, he is considering expansion throughout Ontario and possibly to other Canadian cities through his franchise model.

But as he points out, his drive to improve on Young Urban Farmers’ early success is driven as much by his passion for sustainability as it is profit.

“Many people realize it’s not realistic to grow their own produce to support themselves, but there are opportunities to grow produce to supplement their diet and cut back on their weekly grocery store trips during the summer when their garden is reaching maturity,” he says.

“Growing your own food isn’t a new idea, but it’s an idea that strikes a chord with a lot of people in my age group. They feel it’s one thing they can do to be more self-reliant and to learn really valuable skills they take with them wherever they go.”

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(Source: The Globe and Mail)

by Paul Waldie

Monsanto says its genetically modified seed will boost yields; organic farmers say it will spell the death of their young industry

To organic farmers like Larry Black, it represents the end of their blossoming industry.

To agricultural companies like Monsanto Co., it is a breakthrough technology that will help address dire food shortages in a rapidly growing world.

A war is escalating over genetically modified alfalfa – and depending on whom you talk to, either the fate of a sector or the future of millions hangs in the balance. The fight has emerged as a key battleground in the increasing tension between organic growers and biotech firms. With food prices rising and concerns mounting about global food demand, both sides have sharpened their attacks.

Organic farmers argue the approval of GM alfalfa represents a death sentence for their livelihood. They say it’s impossible to control and will infect their fields, and in the process destroy an industry that has grown sharply over the past decade.

“I’m extremely concerned,” said Mr. Black, who has about 70 cows on his farm outside Deloraine, Man., which is close to the U.S. border. “It’s probably the No. 1 concern I have at this point.”

But Monsanto says GM alfalfa – which boosts crop yields and lowers production costs – will play a key role in addressing global food shortages that will only get worse as the population swells to an expected nine billion people by the year 2050.

Almost every organic farmer in Canada grows alfalfa. The plant is an important source of animal feed that also helps rejuvenate soil, making it an ideal natural fertilizer. That natural element is key to the industry, which has seen global sales grow to $51-billion in 2008 from $15-billion in 1999.

But even as more consumers turn to organic produce and dairy products, farmers like Mr. Black say their businesses are under attack. They say the Monsanto-backed modified alfalfa, which recently won approval in the United States and is being mulled in Canada, will cripple their industry.

Organic producers point to the surge in popularity of their products and argue that maintaining genetic purity is paramount. Organic products now represent 3.5 per cent of all food and drink sales in North America.

Alfalfa is critical to that production, farmers argue, and it is easily threatened by GM variations. That’s because, unlike many other agricultural crops such wheat and corn, which are pollinated largely by wind, alfalfa plants are pollinated by insects, which means a GM plant can contaminate an organic crop several kilometres away. GM alfalfa “is a real disaster particularly for those of us who care about the genetic purity of our crops that we feed to our livestock and grow on our farms,” said federation president Ted Zettel, who manages Organic Meadow Inc., a Guelph, Ont.-based dairy operation. If the new variety is permitted in Canada, “we would probably be obliterated,” he said.

Organic farmers have taken their fight to Ottawa, lobbying politicians to prevent the sale of the new alfalfa in Canada. Some have also joined a lawsuit filed against Monsanto last month in New York, which attacks the company’s seed patents and seeks legal protection for farmers if their crops are contaminated by genetically modified seeds.

“GM alfalfa is becoming the largest threat to organic growing that we have ever seen,” says Laura Telford, national director of the Canadian Organic Growers, one of 60 organizations and farmers in Canada and the United States who joined the lawsuit.

St. Louis-based Monsanto vigorously defends its products and has called the lawsuit a “publicity stunt” that is loaded with false and deceptive allegations. “Monsanto takes no issue whatsoever with organics or organic production,” says Trish Jordan, a spokesperson for Monsanto Canada. “There is no one right way or wrong way to farm. Farmers make the choice of production method and products and technologies based on what works best for them on their farm.”

Monsanto said its seed products, which are largely designed to withstand its herbicide Roundup, play an important role in boosting crop yields and reducing production costs. “This attack [in the lawsuit] comes at a time when the world needs every agricultural tool available to meet the needs of a growing population, expected to reach nine billion people by 2050,” the company said in a statement.

While it is not technically producing GM alfalfa – Monsanto has licensed its technology to a company called Forage Genetics International that is making the Roundup-resistant seed – the company disputes suggestions organic crops will be contaminated. Monsanto points to studies that have shown the chances of contamination are extremely low and it notes that GM alfalfa has been grown in parts of the United States for years.

“One need only to look at the U.S., where 5,500 farmers have been growing this product on over 250,000 acres since 2005,” Ms. Jordan said. She added that testing has been under way in Canada for several years and more tests are planned.

“Different agricultural production systems have been successfully practised in proximity to one another for many years and in many parts of the world,” she said. “And although some of these high-profile legal actions would indicate otherwise, the true story is that conventional, organic and GM cropping systems have co-existed for more than a decade, demonstrating that, in the vast majority of cases, conflict-free co-existence is not only possible, it is a reality.”

The debate won’t end any time soon. The new alfalfa is expected to be registered for sale in Canada within the next couple of years and Mr. Zettel vows to keep fighting. “There is precedent for stopping things that get licensed in the U.S.,” he said. “It doesn’t happen all the time but eventually we win one. We are really working hard on this one to make sure it doesn’t get here.”

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