Memo to agriculture minister

I may be a Liberal to my very core, but I am not celebrating [one year in office]. I am trying very hard to understand Keith Colwell's recent performance as agriculture minister. The only conclusion I can draw is that Colwell knows absolutely nothing about agriculture in Nova Scotia. You see, I grew up on a sustenance farm in Antigonish County. We had a dairy cow that was bred beef every year and we also raised our own meat birds and laying hens. It was how my parents managed to feed four kids while working and living around the poverty line, like so many rural residents. We weren't alone, most of our neighbours did the same. It is a way to make rural life work. Not everyone wants to live and raise their kids in a city.

So when I see the agricultural minister on Sun News, of all places, stating his absolute support for the turkey board's decision to shut down small processors right before Thanksgiving, I have to wonder about his suitability as minister. These turkeys were bought and raised to be ready for the holidays/winter food stocks. Since you have to sign an affidavit to buy those chicks, the turkey board could have made their stance known then and let people decide whether they wanted to continue knowing they would be forced to use a provincial processor.

Instead, the board lets these people buy and raise the birds for months and then shuts down the local processors. Unless there was some documented evidence of how these local butchers were failing public heath, this could have waited until next year's crop of chicks. In Gordon Fraser's case, I suspect after 36 years of processing birds without incident, he probably could have made it through year 37. It was either a stupid, short-sighted decision or an intentionally-malicious decision on the part of the board. Having reviewed the social media efforts of the turkey marketing board, I'm leaning towards the former.

Even then, it still would have been the wrong decision. Most farmers have other jobs, and sustenance farmers definitely have other jobs. For the ones that don't possess the knowledge and facilities to butcher their own birds, they have to find time outside of work to get their birds to the butcher and picked them back up. Gas is also expensive. If it means a day or two off work, possibly without pay, and a long drive to get them to a provincial facility, they may not do it next year. And that is the exact opposite of what an agriculture minister should want.

I am aware that this province is in a deep dark fiscal hole and farming is, decidedly, not glamorous. Nor is it lucrative. Farmers just grow our food and food for their own families. As agriculture minister, the job is to support those that are already farming, especially the ones doing it to feed their families, and to bring in newcomers. Our rural communities are struggling with declining and aging populations. Either we want people to live there or we don't. If we want people to live there, we need to find reasons for them to live there. Food, by way of farming, can be a reason. There's the eat local movement, there's the sustainable food movement, the slow food movement, the organic movement, and the farmer's market/meet your farmer movement, and of course, basic food security. Then there's foodies, there's tons of those. Did you know artisanal butchery is a thing? Heritage turkeys and pigs? Agriculture won't solve our deficit, but there's an awful lot of people willing to pay top dollar for the right agricultural products. We just need to grow them and we've got the land and the communities to do it.

I've met lots of folks who love rural life and working off the land, I have yet to meet a call center worker who shares the same enthusiasm for their job. If the current rules make it harder for people to grow food, then the rules need to be modernized. It's a majority government, you have the power to pass legislation. Proper food safety is adaptable to the environment in which it occurs. You can start with new rules for local processors, because we can either make it easier for people to live in rural communities or we can relocate them all to urban centers and frack the countryside into oblivion.

I know which future I want for Nova Scotia.

As an aside, I noticed today Colwell's latest step as agricultural minister is to craft a law making it illegal to abandon animals, with a special focus on cats. As an animal lover, I applaud the sentiment, but aside from shameless vote buying what is this going to accomplish? Many cats and dogs are abandoned at or because of sexual maturity when there is no money to have them fixed/deal with offspring. What penalty will be imposed on someone with no money? Beyond farming it out to an agency, what plan is in place to enforce these new laws? How do you prove abandonment without proof of ownership? Cats aren't licensed. Will it be cheaper than subsidizing a spay and neuter program, one that would not penalize people for being poor?

The time to pander for votes and go for easy wins is somewhere in year three, not now.  Now is the time to fix things.

Agriculture minister does not understand agriculture

In a recent interview, Keith Colwell, Minister of Agriculture, stated that not only would small local meat processors be prohibited from butchering turkeys, but he may have no choice but to prohibit Nova Scotians from butchering their own meat birds. All birds would have to be processed at a provincial or federal facility.

Colwell's justification was dire: "Would you feed your family with something that is not inspected, no controls over bacteria and feel safe that you're feeding your family that and have someone get sick from it?"

His justification was also wrong. Farmers have been doing exactly that for a few centuries in this province. I encourage the minster to compare the instances of meat-born illnesses and deaths in the families of Canadian farmers who slaughter their own livestock or have it processed by local butchers with those of the big facilities. The current numbers to beat are 22 dead and 57 confirmed cases of Listeriosis for Maple Leaf in 2008. After that, look to the 2012 XL Foods E. coli contamination, which, while death free, resulted in the largest beef recall in Canadian history.

Provincial and federal abattoirs are high volume slaughterhouses. For the family that takes the time to raise their own meat birds, possibly free-range, organic fed, hormone free, it takes their hard work and slides it down the same production line as antibiotic- and hormone-laden factory farm birds. The family also has to truck live birds halfway across the province. The longer the drive, the more stress the birds experience, and while it is true they will be killed, as Temple Grandin said, We've got to give those animals a decent life and we've got to give them a painless death. We owe the animal respect.”

These families raising their own livestock have a vested interest in their food. It is not the same as popping into Superstore and picking up a stuffed Butterball. They fed, watered, and cared for these animals. They deserve the right to give their animals the best possible end and receive the best product in return. As a farmers' daughter who spent years in commercial kitchens, that end and that product isn't found in a high-volume slaughterhouse. That end and, most definitely, that product is found in the hands of an experienced and knowledgeable butcher, like Gordon Fraser.