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Stewardship and getting the whole news story

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    Stewardship and getting the whole news story

    Got an e-mail from "agriville update" this morning with the Farms.com story "Possible solution found for GM Flax Problem (Feb 08,2010)
    The jist is ......."A new protocol or what the trade is calling a triffid stewardship program has been put in place," says Quinton Stewart, Viterra's merchandiser of flax and soybeans, during an industry conference call earlier this week.

    "All seeds going into ground must be tested and all seed destined for the European market specifically will be required to be seeded with certified seed," Stewart says".......

    Sure looks like we get the positive spin only. You have to dig for the the full news.......
    You don't get the full text there and you don't get the full story at Farms.com; but only in the link to ....


    http://www.fcc-fac.ca/newsletters/en/express/articles/20100205_e.asp#story_3
    There you also learn.......

    "This is a necessary step that needs to be done to restore confidence in the market and is an economically feasible way of ensuring the reliability of the testing and sampling being done," Stewart says.


    Some producers have expressed concern that they will be forced to purchase certified seed.


    "We hope that seed growers understand that taking advantage of this protocol, vis-à-vis higher prices, (for certified flax seed) would not be a good public relations gesture," says David Sefton, a Broadview, Sask., grower and director with SaskFlax.


    During the conference call, it was also stressed that all efforts will be made to find markets for growers with flax found to have minute traces of GM material.


    "The Flax Council of Canada has put in place some people who will contact those that have positive results directly, to help them market their flax at a fair and reasonable price," Sefton says.


    About 2,500 flax samples have been tested for the presence of this GM variety and industry officials say "about nine per cent of those samples have tested positive for triffid." However, the contamination is at very low levels with the highest concentrations at 0.1 per cent. There is also no hot spot for the problem as triffid has been found in samples from across the Prairies.".......

    Soooooo.... Don't you just love that word stewardship. It gives you a warm fuzzy feeling like few other words. You don't have to even define iy or tell anyone what you really intend to do; because we automatically know everthing within a stewardship plan is something your own mother would enthusiastically endorse.
    The flax industry (and leading spokesperson Viterra) apparently are the ones that have decided this is good for farmers.
    The headline says it all "Possible Solution Found for GM Flax Problem (Feb 08,2010). I guess they are not quite 100% sure it will work, but maybe in this case 0.01% or 1% or 10% would pass muster.
    It is worrisome when the industry has to warn their peers not to take advantage of the situation. As we all should agree; the writers of those statements aren't likely to live their own corporate lives under that credo; so those words are less than empty. Meant only for the really naive.
    There is the fact you have to look for the details (posted above) which don't add to the positive spin the industry wants on this story. That bothers me the most. A positive stewardship plan should stand on its own and not be founded on hidden and minimized problems. If there is a plan or stewardship plan; and farmers had input into its development; then that would be more acceptable. When those with obvious and perceived agendas develop them unilaterally (with a good dose of sneakiness always built in; then they need to be seen for what they are.

    The industries agenda must be exposed for what it is and resisted because of that agenda.

    #2
    Sun Tzu art of war is required reading material of all japanese business men.

    And the people at vittera by the looks of it.

    Another battle lost for us.

    Comment


      #3
      Another classic case of "cause the problem and then offer a solution".

      Comment


        #4
        [URL="http://parsleysnotebook.blogspot.com/2010/02/cargill-limited-parrish-heimbecker.html"]Questions only a priest would ask a corporation[/URL]

        Comment


          #5
          Cause the problem?

          Let's review.

          Organics built a good food flax business in EU before a lot of world flax growers got out of bed in the morning, and then when money started to flow, somebody's brainwave Triffid wrecked an entire market. Good solid financial thinking?

          Let me guess, you either raise chickens, or, wait, let me guess, you sell seed. Pars

          Comment


            #6
            And the other way to look at it is that the industry doesn't want to involve ordinary farmers in "their" business. That makes it a lot easier to say that Triffid and its problems are not the ordinary farmers' liability (other than the financial hit we are obviously taking on initial deliveries). Hopefully no farmer gets sucked into taking on those larger financial blows that contracts might bring upon them. Where is the farmers risk assessment lawyer?. I know even Sask Power has one.

            Comment


              #7
              The Flax Council of Canada is set up:

              QUOTE
              For Immediate Release


              Da Vinci Room, Radisson Hotel

              Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

              October 11, 2005

              Flax, Western Canada’s new Cinderella crop

              Flax Canada 2015: A national initiative formed to position flax as one of the main drivers of the Canadian bio-economy by the year 2015

              Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, October 11, 2005 – The Flax Canada 2015 initiative was officially launched today at a news conference held during the Biofiber Industry Advancement Workshop. With funding for the initiative from the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Science and Innovation Program, the Provincial governments of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, as well as the Flax Council of Canada and the Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission, this national initiative will address how flax will become one of the main drivers of the Canadian bio-economy.

              "------------"

              “Canada is currently the world’s top producer of flax, producing approximately 700,000 tonnes per year,” says Mr. John Oliver, Co-Chair of the Steering Committee for Flax Canada 2015 and President of Maple Leaf Bio-Concepts. “This initiative is linking researchers with industry, the health care community and the government to create new value-added opportunities for flax utilization. Due to the generous support of our project sponsors, flax could well become the big new crop of the early 21st century.”

              "-----------"

              “The Flax Council, on behalf of its members, is very appreciative of the increased recognition that the Canadian flax industry is receiving due to the Flax Canada 2015 initiative,” says the Co-Chair of the Steering Committee for Flax Canada 2015 and President of the Flax Council of Canada, Mr. Barry Hall. “This activity will ensure that Canada continues to be the world leader in flax production and value added flax based products.”


              "-------"


              For more information, please contact:

              John Oliver, Co-Chair, Steering Committee, Flax Canada 2015

              (905) 728-4885
              joliver@bellnet.ca

              Kelley C. Fitzpatrick, Flax Canada 2015 Project Coordinator
              (204) 487-2318
              kelleyf@shaw.ca

              Dr. Ashley O’Sullivan, President, Ag-West Bio Inc.

              (306) 975-1939
              ashley.osullivan@agwest.sk.ca
              ___________________________________

              unquote

              "bioeconmy.....generous support and granted, yes, well, farmers certainly got, yes, 'increased recognition' "

              Addendum 2010: Hello,France. Hello Germany. Hello Neatherlands Hello Japan Nice to meetcha. My name is Triffid.

              Comment


                #8
                Let's see what Viterra says about flax demand Feb 08, 2010.

                A quieter week was seen from the demand side, although from the European perspective this may be due to decreased offers from Canada. Exporters have been limited in what they have been able to offer, based on the fact that they have to wait until the results are back on the holds on their vessels (re GMO) before they in fact have a firm idea of exactly how many tonnes they have to sell. Much like the "black leg" issue seen for canola exports to China. In addition, the uncertainties in terms of the timelines around the adjustments to the EU protocol are keeping European crushers from actively covering in April forward shipping positions.

                Producers delivered only 9,200mt in wk 28 (week ending January 31st), down sharply from the previous week's figure of 24,800mt. This drop is directly related to the heavy snowfall which hit the Western Canadian prairies throughout the week. Visible stocks dropped to 126,100mt (down 43,000mt from the previous week) as a result of the weather and over 52,000mt of of exports (Vancouver and Eastern Canada combined). Farmer deliveries sit at 365,000mt as of the 31st, up almost 100,000mt from the same period only one year earlier. Much of this can be attributed to the increase in Chinese and US imports.

                Stats Canada released their latest report on Friday. They came out with a figure of approximately 843,000mt for flax for 2009, up from last year's figure of 600,000mt. Needless to say, there is plenty of flax left on farm based on our demand assumptions and with the likelihood of Statistics Canada's production figure in fact being on the low side, this year's carryout will be more than ample.

                Canadian producers continue to look to sell their flax at the $9/bu price level.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Thoughts bantering behind the seed industrys' closed doors... "I wonder which other crops we can force the purchase of certified seed for? This seems to have worked out very well for us."

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Wheat for sure. And they know RR wheat has the same problem coming.

                    If they wanted to find the problem they could. I think this flax experiment worked out well for them.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      "all efforts will be made to find markets for growers with flax "

                      A nice little start-up marketing arm is the next step? You gotta appreciate initaitive.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        wd9,

                        "Minister Andy Mitchell. “The Government of Canada welcomes this opportunity to build on our collective strengths ....... AAFC is contributing up to $810,000 to this project"

                        Governments also appointed their people in place.

                        Never trust a government. They are not there to do FOR you. They are there to DO you. Offense intended. Pars

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Hey Pars, good point in your closing comment! Tom
                          4 should read that into his defence of the efforts of
                          the Alberta Grain Commission, god, lord over us
                          forever! Please, please, don't try to turn this into a
                          CWB thread, it really doesn't matter anymore! I
                          listened to a nation wide talk show a couple of days
                          ago, and the question posed was 'should we buy
                          and support Canadian food supply?' One after the
                          other responded - I want good and I want cheap, I
                          don't give a rat's --- where it comes from! Very
                          disappointing but very revealing. Now let's all go
                          get our Cheetos and watch 'Survivor', then get up at
                          five and go to our meaningless jobs and accomplish
                          in 12 hrs what should have taken 2, and then blame
                          the Government, who by the way is us.
                          So, I guess we are our most worst enemy. I'm
                          making fun here, but I would suggest that to break
                          out of this Orwellian bubble, we have to turn things
                          around from top down to bottom up. I just don't
                          know how to start! Sorry,
                          Rockpile

                          Comment


                            #14
                            AND this to shall pass.

                            Either work to make the system better serve us... or we will serve it without any right to complain.

                            It is much easier to get folks to agree... and work together:

                            Over a cup of coffee and pleasant frank discussions;

                            Than with a rail road tie and nail gun!

                            Comment

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