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The Hamilton Spectator
Wednesday January 26, 2000

Farmers seek biotechnology edge; Genetically altered crops will help, but retailers may avoid them as a way to score points with consumers

Biotechnology and other high-tech innovations are some of the tools farmers hope will give them a competitive edge in the future global economy.

Mary Lou Garr is a provincial director of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. She lives on her family farm in the Grimsby area.

Garr says the reliance on new technologies to produce faster, better, cheaper food is not a new concept for farmers.

The switch from horse to tractors is one very old example.

"We've become very efficient (over the years) by adopting new technologies.

"We're just doing it now in the midst of strong public scrutiny. We would like to see consumers make decisions based on fact," she says.

Jan Griffioen is president of the Hamilton-Wentworth OFA. He says some of the commodity prices -- especially grain crops -- are the lowest in decades and that makes it tough going.

He says the failure of the talks at the recent World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle was a disappointment for those in the agricultural industry.

"Everybody is pointing fingers at everyone else. That's not helpful.

"(Farming) isn't as easy as it used to be."

Griffioen says subsidies need to be levelled so that farmers can all compete fairly. Canadian farmers complain that subsidies are much higher in the U.S. and other countries. That coupled with the spotty and strange weather that has plagued both the West and Ontario have created an unusual set of challenges for farmers.

For those older farmers without a mortgage or large debt load, the current dip in the market might be survived. But for younger farmers with those heavy debt loads, bad weather or further drops in prices may be devastating.

"The machinery costs are going up but the market prices aren't at all," Griffioen says.

But Garr says the new genetically engineered seeds can be helpful to farmers, particularly those in cash crops, which are experiencing low prices.

The problem, however, is public skepticism over the possible harmful effects of consuming foods which have been genetically altered. Critics have become increasingly vocal in their opposition to the selling of bioengineered foods.

Gord Surgeoner is the president of Ontario Agrifood Technologies and a professor at the University of Guelph.

Surgeoner said biotechnology has been around since humans have been making bread and beer. But this new controversy has come to centre on the moving of genetic traits between species.

"What is fundamental is we can identify the genetic base for traits."

For example, take BT potatoes -- named after a common soil micro- organism. Researchers have found a way to take the bacillus thuringensis organism and put in into a potato to resist the Colorado beetle. It's better for the environment as it greatly reduces the need for pesticides, it's cheaper for farmers and it's completely safe, according to Health Canada. Despite this, McCain
Foods has issued a ban on BT potatoes.

Garr finds this frustrating.

"This stuff is not untested. Health Canada is part of this process," she says.

"If people are confident of pharmaceutical products, then they should be confident of this process," she says.

As Surgeoner points out, "(McCain) had no problem with the technology. What McCain failed to tell the consumer is that they were going to use broad spectrum pesticide."

Garr says retailers may see avoiding biotech as a way of scoring points with consumers. And that's what farmers are afraid of.

"That's where the dilemma lies for farmers. If enough retailers get on the bandwagon, then that has its effect on the rest of the industry.

"Much of our argument is that this biotechnology accrues a benefit to the farmer. Very little of it appears to be of benefit to the consumer. The problem is this is the kind of thing that could be stopped before we see those benefits."she says.

In fact, Surgeoner points out that there is actually very little food in the market now that is genetically modified. In Canada now, only genetically modified grains and are being sold, accounting for about 35 per cent of corn, 60 per cent of canola and 25 per cent of soybeans.

But that will change, predicts Garr, as researchers attempt to make food more nutritious through biotech. Or increase the quality of certain vitamins.

"Agriculture has always been in the business of human health. It was at one time, can we get enough nutrition? Now it's, can we get better nutrition?" Surgeoner says.

But Surgeoner said while biotechnology can help farmers reduce input costs, another major benefit is the possibility of discovering new markets for agrifood products such as plant oils.

"The change this technology can bring is that we can think of agriculture in a way we never have before. We need to think of agriculture as a current industrial base stock.

"We exist on a fuel-based economy that is non-renewable. The technology exists to make plant-based plastics and other materials," he says.

Aside from biotechnology, farmers are hopeful further research into the use of global positioning systems (GPS) to spray herbicides or pesticides only where it is needed will also be helpful to farmers.

There are many changes taking place in agriculture with new environmental farm plans, the licensing of pesticide sprayers, nutrient management planning and a myriad of other innovations.

Garr says, "Most of this has come about because farmers want this kind of equipment."

A relatively new phenomenon in Ontario agriculture is vertical integration, where the same company handles the product from the field to the table. Garr says this is most evident in the pork industry.

Above all, however, she says the family farm has become an increasingly efficient and environmentally friendly operation.

"We grow food and we grow it by co-operating with Mother Nature. We can't destroy water or soil.

"Being good stewards of the land is what we do best."

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