Agriculture
Canada’s food supply chain is strong but will world-wide pressures effect It?

Within days of government’s shelter in place orders, there were ridiculous scenes of people fighting over toilet paper along with empty shelves in some other areas of grocery stores, including the fresh meat section. It was an eye-opener of what could come. With the food supply chains facing unprecedented pressures caused by Covid-19, governments have been assuring citizens that there are no food shortages and there is no need to hoard or panic buy.
After the weeks of the ongoing Covid-19 disaster there are cracks showing in the world’s ability to keep all of its citizens fed. Overseas there have already been scenes of hungry people looting food trucks. On April 28th, there were street riots in Lebanon over food price increases.

A food truck gets looted by desperate people near Cape Town, South Africa
A healthy food supply chain relies on predictability
In 2015 the Group of 20 (G20), held a conference to address “…food waste and loss – a major global problem…”. It was a much simpler time. The world-wide food supply chain did not have to deal with a very contagious and complicated coronavirus.
When working properly, a country’s food distribution is a marvel of efficiently and logistics. Delivering massive amounts of fresh food to consumers to every corner of the country, every day. But a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
“It’s something we don’t like doing, no dairy farmer likes doing it. There are just some real limitations in our supply chain right now.” Karlee Conway with Alberta Milk
There are some scenarios happening in North America that have to be an eye-opener for everyone. Food rotting in the fields, whole crops getting ploughed under, fresh milk getting poured down the drain. The milk dumping is also happening in Canada. Karlee Conway with Alberta Milk said that many farmers are forced to make a difficult decision.
“It’s something we don’t like doing, no dairy farmer likes doing it. There are just some real limitations in our supply chain right now.”
And even more shocking, meat and egg producers in North America have already started culling their animals. A lack of buyers and the closing of processing plants due to sickness and even death of employees.
He and she nailed it
Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen said this on March 27:
“Alberta does not have a food supply shortage, but the entire national supply chain should be declared an essential service. There are a lot of moving parts to get food to market and onto kitchen tables. Alberta’s supply chain is responding well, but it is not business as usual.”
Many things have changed since then. Elaine Power, a food security expert at Queen’s University, is more blunt, saying the coronavirus pandemic is exposing “critical weaknesses” in various vital networks, including health care systems and food supply chains. “The people who are already food insecure, that’s only going to get worse. The type of resources that people would normally draw on probably aren’t going to be there.”

Beef ready for sale at a grocery store. Will prices go up? Will there be shortages?
Daily press briefing on April 21st
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in regard to the Cargill beef processing plant closing and another major Alberta plant’s production reduction after staff contracting Covid-19:
“We are not at this point anticipating shortages of beef, but prices might go up. We will of course be monitoring that very, very carefully.”
“We stress the importance of avoiding food losses”
On the same day the Prime Minister talked about the Alberta meat processing plants, the G20’s Agriculture and food ministers held an emergency meeting. The G20 makes up more than 80% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). At this virtual meeting, the countries agreed to the following:
“Any emergency measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic must not create unnecessary barriers to trade or disruption to global food supply chains.” And that, “Under the current challenging circumstances, we stress the importance of avoiding food losses and waste caused by disruptions throughout food supply chains, which could exacerbate food insecurity and nutrition risks and economic loss.”
Easy to say, much harder to do
Just in North America, if the past 5 weeks alone was a test on the G20’s agreed to statement, an “F” has been earned so far.
Our food system is distributed into two main streams; the large bulk volume packaging going to the food service areas and the smaller personal size portions going to consumer stores.
When the full stop happened, restaurants, hotels, schools and the majority of bulk orders stopped. Regular expedited weekly sales were sent to the grocery stores, leaving massive amount of unsold produce in the fields.

Gene McAvoy photo of a farmer plowing under rip tomato plant fields has upset viewers on Facebook.
Gene McAvoy, associate director of stakeholder relations at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and president of the NACAA saw the orders stop.
“On March 24th, everything changed, from brokers the orders stopped, everything got quiet. The 25th, (was) super-quiet. Producers were blindsided. Since then tomato (sale) volumes are down 85%, green beans 50%, cabbage is (down about) 50%.”
And it is not just those crop. It’s onions, squash, lettuce and more.
Images of wasted produce and food lines
Without the regular food service industry orders, Florida farmer Paul Allen, in the just first week of April, plowed under more than six million pounds of green beans and cabbages back into his fields. He was far from the only farmer to do this. Allen explains,
“Four million people in the winter season eat lavishly three times a day on cruises from Miami alone. And 120 million tourists per year go to theme parks.”
His sales died up overnight.

Scene of milk dumping in the upstate. made New York Governor to say STOP!
This has lead to hundreds of millions of kilograms and billions of dollars’ worth of life sustaining, nutritious, fresh produce and milk has ended up as rotting waste and dumped down the drain. While, at the same time there were images of thousands of people line up for a food donation.
Countless food banks would gladly take and distribute this lost food. But the food supply system we know is one that is protected, regulated, and inspected. The last few weeks shows that in a world-wide emergency, the system has a few weak links.
On April 27th, after seeing images of milk waste, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tweeted that he was stepping in to stop the milk dumping, asking that “…dairy producers use the excess milk to make yogurt and cheese that will be distributed to food banks & those in need.”

Helicopter footage from KENS 5 in San Antonio Texas, 10,000 family show up for food.
United Nations warns of famines of ‘biblical proportions’
It’s not just in North America. Problems are showing up around the world. In India, cows are being fed strawberries to get some use out of crops.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has reported the ‘Hammer Blow’ from the corona virus could by the end of 2020, double the amount of people facing actuate food insecurity to 265 million, up from 130 million in 2019. These numbers lead the UN to warn of the possibility of famines of ‘biblical proportions’ across as many as ‘three dozen countries’.
This kind of pending suffering will be hard to stop when the richest and most generous countries in the world are having their own food supply issues, while taking such a massive hit to their economies.
Spring is the start of Alberta’s growing season
In Alberta, the government has already made a plea for workers to fill as many of the 70,000 jobs in the food supply system. Jobs that are usually filled by temporary foreign workers, another program affected by the pandemic. With the planting season upon us, farmers are deciding how much and what to plant in 2020.
Meat production is a major part of Alberta’s economy
Meat production and processing in Alberta is vital to Canada’s supply of food. The three main beef plants in the province, Cargill in High River, JBS Canada in Brooks and Harmony Beef Company in Balzac, have all had Covid-19 problems. While a lot of the final meat processing can and is completed in production facilities and butcher shops across the country, these three main plants are responsible for 75-80% of the federally-inspected slaughter of the cattle for all of Canada.

Cargill’s High River plant
Meat processing employees work in close quarters, side-by-side on fast moving assembly lines. With this very contagious virus, it has spread through the workforce. At least 759 workers have tested positive for Covid-19 at the Cargill meat processing plant in High River, which has a workforce of 2,000. There are another 408+ people in the community that have tested positive for Covid-19, making this the largest outbreak linked to a single site in Canada. The Cargill plant is now temporarily closed.
At least 276 workers have also tested positive for Covid-19 at the JBS Food Canada beef processing plant in Brooks, with the community itself having over 760 cases. The plant is now down to one shift.
While Alberta and the Canadian governments work together to increase the number of meat inspectors available, Fabian Murphy, president of the Agriculture Union that represents the federal meat inspectors wants safety guarantees. Seven inspectors have already tested positive for the virus at the Cargill plant. Murphy has also stated that it’s only a matter of time before JBS plant in Brooks is also forced to temporarily halt production, stating that a, “14-day shutdown would allow all employees to self-isolate. After (that) production at the facility could resume.”
Pork producers are also under great pressures
The Canadian pork industry across western Canada is under extreme pressure, being called “the worst scenario seen in decades.” Faced with dropping prices for their finished hogs, no buyers for their piglets for finishing and growing backlogs in processing, the concern now is how many family pork farms will go under before this is over?
Production lines in Western Canada plants have been slowed down for better safety for workers. Add to that, US pork processing plants closing because of widespread Covid-19 outbreaks with their workers. Currently there has been a 25% reduction in pork slaughter capacity south of the border. Both the Canadian and the US pork industry producer have warned of large amounts of animals will have to be culled. And it has already started in small scales with larger culls within the next weeks.
Chicken producers are facing the same issues
Chicken producers are also facing the same issues. Sofina Foods Inc., that runs a Lilydale chicken processing plant in Calgary confirmed that one employee tested positive for COVID-19 and is in self-isolation. As well, doctors are investigating two possible cases of COVID-19 found in workers at Mountain View Poultry, near the Town of Okotoks.
British Columbia has at least two chicken processing plants with confirmed growing Covid-19 cases. One plant has temporary closed.
The talk of major animal culls, is not just talk
John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods, the world’s second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork had very strong comments in a full-page ad published in The New York Times, Washington Post and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. In part Tyson’s top person said bluntly:
“The food supply chain is breaking. Meat processing plants across the US are closing due to the pandemic. US farmers don’t have anywhere to sell their livestock. Millions of pigs, chickens and cattle will be euthanized because of slaughterhouse closures, limiting supplies at grocers.”
With published reports, the animal culling has already began. One Prince Edward Island farm euthanized market ready hogs and then dumped them in a landfill. Iowa farmer, Al Van Beek said, “What are we going to do?” after ordering 7,500 piglets to be aborted. Daybreak Foods Inc., based in Lake Mills, Wisconsin has used carts and tanks of carbon dioxide to euthanize tens of thousands of healthy egg-laying hens. Eggs are no longer being bought by their customers in the restaurants and food-service business.
USDA sets up “Coordination Centre” to “assist on depopulation”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has posted online:
“The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is establishing a National Incident Coordination Center to provide direct support to producers whose animals cannot move to market as a result of processing plant closures due to COVID-19. Going forward, APHIS Coordination Center, State Veterinarians, and other state officials will be assisting to help identify potential alternative markets if a producer is unable to move animals, and if necessary, advise and assist on depopulation and disposal methods.”
“We stress the importance of avoiding food losses and waste caused by disruptions throughout food supply chains, which could exacerbate food insecurity and nutrition risks and economic loss.” April 21st G20 agreement.
If the G20 matters, North America, gets an “F” so far
The stress on the food supply chain continues to grow the longer Covid-19 lasts. On April 28th Meat producer JBS said it was reopening a Minnesota pork plant, that was shuttered by the pandemic to euthanize up to 13,000 pigs a day for farmers, not to produce meat for consumers.
Governments must get a handle on the cull of livestock and the billions of dollars of rotting produce meant to go to our populations. There are thousands of people that are hungry. The use of Food Banks in North America has hit new records, with more people needing help every day. But at the same time billions of dollars of food is being destroyed.
What’s wrong with the picture? It is just wrong; the USDA has set-up a Coordination Center to help farmer either sell their products or help kill and dispose of the carcasses in mass. All this, while people go hungry in the same country during a pandemic.
Governments need to step in and redirect this food from a landfill to population that needs it. Until this happens, the links in our food supply chain will continue to be stressed. Food for thought.

A farm tractor is silhouetted against a setting sun near Mossbank, Saskatchewan, Saturday May 11, 2002. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Adrian Wyld)
PANDAMNIT! Alberta cancels festivals & gatherings over 15 people till September
Agriculture
Sask. premier accuses Trudeau of risking trade with India, hiding status of talks

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe listens during a news conference, in Whistler, B.C., on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Moe’s government is accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of damaging relations with India and keeping the provinces in the dark about trade talks.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
By Dylan Robertson
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s government is accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of damaging relations with India and keeping the provinces in the dark about trade talks.
In a letter Moe released Monday, Saskatchewan Trade Minister Jeremy Harrison argued Trudeau is picking a fight with India for domestic political gain and risking access to one of his province’s most important export markets.
“It is very difficult to come to any other conclusion that your government has once again put its own domestic political interests ahead of the national economic interest — particularly as it relates to exports and trade of western Canadian-produced commodities,” Harrison wrote.
Last month, Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma told The Canadian Press in an interview that Ottawa sought a pause “within the last month” to ongoing talks for an Early Progress Trade Agreement.
The news stunned business leaders, and Harrison wrote that his peers have had a “complete lack of updates” on the negotiations since at least late July.
“It is unacceptable to our government that we first heard of a pause in the EPTA negotiations through the media one week ago, and have received no explanation from (the) Government of Canada subsequent to that,” reads Harrison’s letter, dated Sept. 8.
“Clearly, what your government has done has put the already strained Canada-India relationship in even further peril after some improvement following the prime minister’s disastrous trip to India in 2018,” he wrote, a reference to Trudeau being mocked for wearing traditional outfits and for inviting a convicted terrorist to a reception he hosted in India.
Harrison added that provinces and territories ought to be present in the negotiations, saying this has been done in talks for past trade deals. Harrison also claimed that Trade Minister Mary Ng had not replied to a late July letter seeking an update on the negotiations.
The Liberals have given no clear reason why they ordered a pause in the trade talks, and Ng’s office said she would be providing a statement in the late afternoon in response to Harrison’s letter.
“We know the negotiations around free trade are long and complex, and I won’t say any more,” Trudeau told reporters last Friday in Singapore.
Saskatchewan makes up roughly a third of Canada’s exports to India, amounting to more than $1 billion per year. The trade includes commodities such as lentils, which India has occasionally blocked or delayed as it tinkers with pest-control policies.
Trudeau briefly met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi this weekend, and India’s external affairs ministry said Modi expressed strong concerns to Trudeau about “anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada,” particularly Sikh separatists who want to carve out a state they call Khalistan from India.
The Indian readout made no mention of themes Ottawa included in its summary of the meeting, such as economic growth, support for lower-income countries and reforming global financial institutions.
Trudeau told reporters that he had concerns about foreign interference from any state, including India, and that Canadians of any origin have a right to free speech.
India has long accused Canada of harbouring extremists, while Ottawa has continually maintained that freedom of speech means groups can voice political opinions if they don’t use violence.
Tensions escalated this spring over a series of incidents, including with posters referring to India’s diplomats in Canada as “killers” and seeking their home addresses.
Ng is set to lead a trade mission to India next month with Canadian businesses.
Human Rights Watch says the Modi government has overseen a “serious regression in human rights and constitutional protections,” with attacks on Muslims and other minorities met with impunity and restrictions on journalists.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2023.
Agriculture
Canadian innovation beats EU precaution in agriculture sustainability

From the MacDonald Laurier Institute
By Stuart Smyth
Canada should learn from, not follow, the EU’s agriculture policy errors
The world needs a lot of food to feed eight billion hungry mouths. Even though global production for the most important crops – rice, wheat and maize – reached all-time highs last year, inflation, geopolitical interruptions and misguided policy have disrupted our ability to make food abundant and affordable for everyone.
Crop breeding, more efficient fertilizer and chemical use, and investments in farming equipment and technology offer tried and true strategies for increasing production while enhancing sustainability and reducing GHG emissions.
The European Union is rejecting these proven strategies through policies that dramatically reduce fertilizer and chemical use and ban modern crop breeding technologies. Regrettably, Canada’s federal government is looking at the European approach as a model for its emissions reduction plans. Canadians must reject the ideologically driven, counterproductive policies pursued in the European Union and must insist on science and outcome-driven policies to promote a strong, sustainable agricultural sector that can help satisfy the world’s growing needs.
Innovation is fundamental to modern societies and economies. Governments constantly encourage innovation and enact policies to incentivize investment into the research and development required to bring new products and processes to market. In recent years, environmental sustainability has been a primary concern and Canadian agriculture has been at the forefront of sustainable innovation. Fundamentally, sustainability in agriculture means maximizing efficiency: producing more pounds of crop per acre of land for each pound of input (seed, fertilizer, pesticides, labour) applied.
Prior to the widespread adoption of modern crop technologies, all crop and food production was done through what are now known as organic production practices. With organic production the only way to produce more food is to use more land. However, beginning in 1960, food production became decoupled from increased land use, increasing by 390% while using only 10% more land. Innovations in crop breeding technologies such as GM crops (genetically modified), fertilizer and chemical use, and farm industrialization have all contributed to this increasingly sustainable food production.
This increase in productivity has allowed the world’s population to flourish from just 3 billion people in 1960 to 8 billion today. Although the global agricultural sector is a significant source of greenhouse gases, total emissions have remained flat since 2000 even as production increased, and the sector’s share of global emissions has declined.
Despite this incredible success story, modern agriculture is often viewed with suspicion, particularly in the European Union. They have incorporated precaution-based regulations which dramatically reduce fertilizer and chemical use and ban modern crop breeding technologies. Presently they are proposing to triple organic production, from 8% of current land to 25%, by 2030, as part of what’s known as their “Farm to Fork” strategy to reduce agricultural GHG emissions.
Inevitably, the strategy will not necessarily reduce emissions but will certainly reduce production. Declines are expected: -26% in cereals, -27% in oilseeds, -10% for fruits and vegetables, -14% of beef and -9% of dairy. All of these production decreases will contribute to even higher food prices in the EU, which has been experiencing double digit inflation increases for most of the past year.
By contrast, Canada allows all plant breeding technologies to be used in the development of new varieties, and fertilizer and chemical use is based upon risk appropriate, science-based regulations. The benefits of this approach are unambiguous.
In Saskatchewan, only 3% of crop land requires tillage – mechanical turning of the soil to control for weeds and pests and prepare for seeding. In the European Union, 74% of crop land requires it. Removing tillage from land management practices not only reduces soil erosion and increases moisture conservation; it also reduces the amount of carbon released and increases the sequestration of carbon through continuous crop production. 90% of Saskatchewan farmers indicate that efficient weed control provided by the use of glyphosate increased sustainability in their practices, and 73% said production of herbicide tolerant canola, which is predominantly GM, did.
An assessment of EU agricultural GHG emissions concluded that had genetically modified crops been adopted there in a timely fashion, total EU agricultural GHG emissions would have been reduced by 7.5%. This amounts to 33 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. At any rate, their reduced yields have left them heavily dependent on imports of GM livestock feed from Brazil and Argentina.
Comparing sustainable agricultural production between the EU and Canada reveals two very different situations. The EU has rejected GM crops due to politics and precaution and as a result still heavily relies on tillage. Canadian farmers have enthusiastically adopted GM crops, virtually eliminating tillage. The EU is proposing additional precaution-based regulations that will further reduce crop and food production. Canadian farmers have demonstrated the ability to produce more food with fewer inputs, while the EU is poised to produce less, with more land requirements.
Opposing paths have been selected in the EU and Canada. The evidence to date confirms that it is Canadian agricultural production that is increasingly sustainable. The government must learn the right lessons from Europe’s mistakes when adopting strategies for reducing emissions from our agricultural sector. Canada should continue to improve sustainability through innovation. Canada should not follow Europe’s failed attempts to reduce emissions by producing less food.
Stuart J. Smyth is Professor & Agri-Food Innovation & Sustainability Enhancement Chair at the University of Saskatchewan.
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