NL-Outsidethebox [confederation]

Dear elected officials.

After reading this article it is abundantly clear that the provincial and federal political representatives are doing very little if anything at all to take care of the basic needs of it's people by way of political pressure.

If there is anything I learned from the military and taking care of your troops is to take care of their Food and shelter needs first. An army can't march on an empty stomach or lacking is quality safe and secure sleep.

One day the non renewable oil resource will either be all gone or Obsolete and what will we be left with?

These issues are screaming for some attention politically! Especially the milk issue it is a time bomb waiting to go off and not in our favor either.

PS: It would seem to me that from looking at where the cod are near extinction is in the areas of the highest seal populations? Maybe people don't see this because we always refer to these areas as numbers and not geographically specific locations? IE: East coast of Labrador East 2G, 2H, 2J, off Northern peninsula 3K, West of Northern peninsula 4S, 4R?

PSS: Value added for both Potatoes and cod could be to make a fish Perogees, or Fish pogo sticks.

Sincerely


http://www.thepacket.ca/index.cfm?iid=714&sid=4322
Agriculture could be cash cow for provincial economy

Secondary processing the key says Wiseman

KIRK SQUIRES
The Packet

A major boost to this province’s economy may be right in our back yard.

When most people hear the word agriculture they think of vegetable farms. While horticultural agriculture plays a big role, the industry also includes egg production, chicken, beef and fur farms as well as a wide range of other operations.

According to Mervin Wiseman, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture, the many forms of farming could be worth untold millions to the provincial economy.

The questions is where is the limit.

"I ask myself that question all the time. I certainly have a vision of where it could go. The part we have been missing, more than anything, is the part of the value chain where we start to get into the secondary processing."

Mr. Wiseman says while the province has, so far missed the boat on secondary processing in agriculture, things are turning around. He points to the dairy industry as an example.

"We produce milk and, yes, we have some domestic consumption . . . but this aspect of making things like yogurts, cheeses and other kinds of dairy type spreads is something that has eluded us.

"For some reason we were never given the leverage and latitude by the industrial milk quota agency — the marketing boards outside Newfoundland — to have an industrial milk production."

He says that changed about four years ago and the province is now well positioned to get into the higher value component of the industry with a 33 million litre industrial milk quota.

"We have 15 years to make good on that quota. If we do not utilize it in that time, it reverts back to the national quota. We are a little bit behind on utilizing it. I don’t believe we have utilized as much as 20 per cent up to this point. That means we have 80 percent of utilization left on 33 million litres of industrial milk quota," stresses Mr. Wiseman. "What are we going to do? We simply can’t let that go back to the national milk quota under any circumstances, not when there is opportunity.

"You can imagine the room for growth."

He says that’s one reason why the focus of the agriculture industry has to include secondary processing and value added products.

"Secondary processing; that’s an area where we usually create more jobs. It’s an area where the jobs are a little more lucrative."



Direct marketing

Some producers in the province have gone to the next level in the value chain, adding value to their own product.

"There is a perfect example of that in the Discovery Trail region with George Greening who has put a significant amount of money into his own direct marketing. The public will now be able to walk right into the front end of his store and he will be able to produce meats and cuts tailored to meet the needs of people at an economical price."

It’s things like that, says Mr. Wiseman, which will allow producers to be a little more economically viable within their own operation and spread that money around at the local level.

"That’s extremely important," he says.

"What is more exciting for me is not only the issue of producing our own product here in the province, and we can use the fur farming sector as an example, but we are seeing great potential in areas where we can bring in extra product for processing in Newfoundland."

He notes a pilot project now underway that will see 10,000 mink pelts brought into the province for secondary processing.



Product links

The majority of value added items from the dairy industry — cheeses, yogurts, spreads — consumed in this province are imported from other areas of the country.

According to the Agriculture Federation president those products could be produced here. What is more, he says, there are proven benefits when various local products link together in secondary processing.

"One of the big attractions of the Good Natured Yogurt (manufactured on the west coast of the province), for example, is the fact they are using local berries. It has been an absolute success beyond any level of expectation."

Their success has not only increased awareness of the potential of the dairy industry, but the potential for wild berry farming.

There is a potential for manufacturing such products in the Discovery Trail region, he says.

"We have a dairy product coming out of this region. Why not utilize it? We not only have the dairy product, we have the wherewithal, the allocation of the industrial milk quota, to get into the secondary processing. I am sure we have the brains to do it. We have the competitive labour, perhaps better than anywhere.

"We certainly have a competitive advantage . . . so why wouldn’t we set up a plant in this area."

The potential for growth in the vegetable industry is also huge, he says.

"This province produces a mere 10 to 12 per cent of the vegetables that are consumed here."

He says domestic vegetable consumption could amount to $75 million.

"We know there is tremendous potential just to satisfy the domestic market in potatoes."

He adds all vegetable production, particularly potato production, is down.

"We have issues to overcome and we are well on our way to getting them resolved," he says. "We need to implement the idea of minimum pricing to compete on a level playing field."

Local producers are having difficulty competing with the cheaper potatoes flooding the market from Prince Edward Island.

That province produces 100,000 acres of potatoes every year, he explains.

"They primarily ship by contract to McCain’s . . . and also into the United States and other parts of Canada.

"When they are finished with their first grades going out like that and they have second and third grades that are not much good for anything else, they dump it into Newfoundland at very low prices, creating a very unlevel playing field for us here in the province.

"In my mind, it is illegal to be (dumping) and I believe there are measures we can take to stop that. We are not against free enterprise and private industry but we have leveled the playing field in other commodities, like dairy for example which is a supply managed commodity.

"It could work just as well in the vegetable industry and we would fix this idea of dumping. Then if anyone is going to bring product into the province, they bring it in at the same level and the same price."



Food safety

Another major hurdle for the province’s agriculture industry is food safety.

"The Lethbridge area has gone a long way. They are ahead of the game on that. They have the storage facility (Lethbridge Agricultural Co-op) that will eventually allow them to do proper grading, quality assurance, proper packaging and marketing and satisfy the food safety issue," explains Mr. Wiseman.

But there is currently a major food safety issue out there in the marketplace.

"We are not getting into some of the supermarkets because they are saying ‘You haven’t addressed a fully constituted food safety system under the new rules we have here in Canada.’

"So the Lethbridge area co-op will have a full . . . food safety system implemented where the supermarkets will no longer be able to use that as an excuse to letting their product in."

Livestock producers face similar food safety issues.

Mr. Wiseman says this province is missing out on a huge piece of the meat industry.

"We have less than two per cent of the market share from domestic consumption . . .
that is well in excess of $100 million. We don’t even have $2 million of that.

"That is a shame. We have the potential and the knowledge to do it. I am sure we can produce the forages to be able to do it . . . but again we have this critical infrastructure issue where the retail chains and supermarkets are saying ‘If you are not federally inspected . . . we can’t take your product.’

"We haven’t got a leg to stand on, we can’t argue with it," says Mr. Wiseman.

He says as a minimum the province should have mandatory meat inspection.

"That would allow us to get into the supermarkets in the province. It won’t allow us to export but we can cross that bridge when we come to it.

"In order for meat to be exported out of Newfoundland into other countries or other parts of Canada it must receive federal inspection. It’s going to be a while," admits Mr. Wiseman.

"It is not right that Newfoundland is the only province . . . that has a voluntary meat inspection system.

"We have to change that . . . because we can enter a revenue stream in excess of $100 million. That will allow our farmers to be able to produce and market right here in the province, particularly here in Lethbridge where we are equipped with a good agricultural land base to do it."