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

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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

Degrowth: How to Make the World Poorer, Polluted and Miserable

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From StosselTV

Activists have a new goal: “DEgrowth.”

They say “growth is killing us.” They couldn’t be MORE wrong.

“Growth is not killing us. It’s saving us!” says author Johan Norberg. He explains why growth is essential to human progress, especially for poor people. “In poor countries, if you manage to grow by 4% annually over 20 years,” he points out, “that reduces poverty in that country on average by 80%.

But DEgrowth activists insist that growth means “climate chaos.” They say a smaller economy would be “sweeter.” They say “We must urgently dismantle capitalism!” It’s destructive nonsense. This video explains why.

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To get our new weekly video from Stossel TV, sign up here: https://www.johnstossel.com/#subscribe

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After 40+ years of reporting, I now understand the importance of limited government and personal freedom.

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Libertarian journalist John Stossel created Stossel TV to explain liberty and free markets to young people.

Prior to Stossel TV he hosted a show on Fox Business and co-anchored ABC’s primetime newsmagazine show, 20/20. Stossel’s economic programs have been adapted into teaching kits by a non-profit organization, “Stossel in the Classroom.” High school teachers in American public schools now use the videos to help educate their students on economics and economic freedom. They are seen by more than 12 million students every year.

Stossel has received 19 Emmy Awards and has been honored five times for excellence in consumer reporting by the National Press Club.

Other honors include the George Polk Award for Outstanding Local Reporting and the George Foster Peabody Award.

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Agriculture

How oil and gas support food security in Canada and around the world

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General view of the ‘TD Canadian 4-H Dairy Classic Showmanship’ within the 101st edition of Royal Agricultural Winter Fair at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, on November 6, 2023. The Royal is the largest combined indoor agriculture fair and international equestrian competition in the world. Getty Images photo

From the Canadian Energy Centre

By Mario Toneguzzi

‘Agriculture requires fuel, and it requires lubricants. It requires heat and electricity. Modern agriculture can’t be done without energy’

Agriculture and oil and gas are two of Canada’s biggest businesses – and they are closely linked, industry leaders say.  

From nitrogen-based fertilizer to heating and equipment fuels, oil and gas are the backbone of Canada’s farms, providing food security for Canadians and exports to nearly 200 countries around the world.  

“Canada is a country that is rich in natural resources, and we are among the best, I would even characterize as the best, in terms of the production of sustainable energy and food, not only for Canadians but for the rest of the world,” said Don Smith, chief operating officer of the United Farmers of Alberta Co-operative.  

“The two are very closely linked together… Agriculture requires fuel, and it requires lubricants. It requires heat and electricity. Modern agriculture can’t be done without energy, and it is a significant portion of operating expenses on a farm.” 

The need for stable food sources is critical to a global economy whose population is set to reach 9.7 billion people by 2050. 

The main pillars of food security are availability and affordability, said Keith Currie, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA). 

“In Canada, availability is not so much an issue. We are a very productive country when it comes to agriculture products and food products. But food affordability has become an issue for a number of people,” said Currie, who is also on the advisory council for the advocacy group Energy for a Secure Future. 

The average price of food bought in stores increased by nearly 25 per cent over the last five years, according to Statistics Canada. 

Restricting access to oil and gas, or policies like carbon taxes that increase the cost for farmers to use these fuels, risk increasing food costs even more for Canadians and making Canadian food exports less attractive to global customers, CFA says. 

“Canada is an exporting nation when it comes to food. In order for us to be competitive we not only have to have the right trade deals in place, but we have to be competitive price wise too,” Currie said. 

Under an incredible Saskatchewan sky, a farmer walks toward his air seeder to begin the process of planting this year’s crop. Getty Images photo

Canada is the fifth-largest exporter of agri-food and seafood in the world, exporting approximately $93 billion of products in 2022, according to Agriculture Canada.  

Meanwhile, Canadians spent nearly $190 billion on food, beverage, tobacco and cannabis products in 2022, representing the third-largest household expenditure category after transportation and shelter. 

Currie said there are opportunities for renewable energy to help supplement oil and gas in agriculture, particularly in biofuels.  

“But we’re not at a point from a production standpoint or an overall infrastructure standpoint where it’s a go-to right away,” he said.  

“We need the infrastructure and we need probably a lot of incentives before we can even think about moving away from the oil and gas sector as a supplier of energy right now.” 

Worldwide demand for oil and gas in the agriculture sector continues to grow, according to CEC Research.  

Driven by Africa and Latin America, global oil use in agriculture increased to 118 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2022, up from 110 million tonnes in 1990.  

Demand for natural gas also increased — from 7.5 Mtoe in 1990 to 11 Mtoe in 2022.   

Sylvain Charlebois, senior director, in the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, said food security depends on three pillars – access, safety, and affordability.   

“Countries are food secure on different levels. Canada’s situation I think is envious to be honest. I think we’re doing very well compared to other countries, especially when it comes to safety and access,” said Charlebois. 

“If you have a food insecure population, civil unrest is more likely, tensions, and political instability in different regions become more of a possibility.” 

As a country, access to affordable energy is key as well, he said.  

“The food industry highly depends on energy sources and of course food is energy. More and more we’re seeing a convergence of the two worlds – food and energy… It forces the food sector to play a much larger role in the energy agenda of a country like Canada.” 

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