"Big Turkey" - Is Nova Scotia's Turkey Cartel Playing Foul With Small Producers?

The recent sudden shutdown of a small turkey processing facility in Pictou County has many people gobbling about how rules, regulations and Nova Scotia's Turkey Board are affecting rural communities. 

Here's a list of links describing the story:

The News.  Sept 4, 2014.  Butcher Ordered To Stop Doing Turkeys Without Certification

The Pictou Advocate. Sept 10, 2014. Outcry Over Decision To Close Turkey Processing

The Chronicle Herald. Sept 16, 2014. Rules Forcing Small Butcher To Stop Slaughtering Turkeys

The Chronicle Herald. Sept 17, 2014. Turkey board: Farmer not being targeted 

CBC News.  Sept 17, 2014.  Pictou County Butcher Ordered to Stop Slaughtering Turkeys

CBC News.  Sept 24, 2014.  Pictou County Butcher Gordon Fraser's Plight Draws 200 Supporters.

Farm Focus.  Sept 25, 2014.  Public Vents Frustration Over Shutdown of Local Turkey Processor

The Chronicle Herald.  Sept 27, 2014.  Turkey Processing Rules Threaten 4-H Program Leader Says

 And it isn't an isolated incident:
Eg.  The Chronicle Herald, Sept 24, 2014.  Another Butcher Told to Stop Killing Turkeys.

It struck me that perhaps this isn't just a story about a small town processor breaking some rules and getting shut down right before Thanksgiving. 

There seems to be something deeper going on so I did a bit of online-research.

The news articles left me asking who is running the Nova Scotia Turkey Board exactly?  

Interestingly their website doesn't name any names at all.  

Fortunately this information is available on a national site, because my hunch is that there could be a conflict of interest here.  

If the Turkey Board is all pro-turkey, "rah rah rah, come on Nova Scotia, lets all love us some turkey", then why shut down someone who has been processing turkeys for 36 years a few weeks before Canadian Thanksgiving?

Well... on the National website where board members are listed, we find us some information.  


Voila:

Turkey Farmers of Nova Scotia:

Mark Davies, Director

David Young, Alternate Director

Steven Eadie, 2nd Alternate Director 

 .  

I followed this up with a little Googling.  The result was interesting.

Turkey Farmers of Nova Scotia define themselves on their facebook page as: "a Regulatory Board, that provides regulation of the turkey production in the province of Nova Scotia".

Hmmm.   As an aside, I decided to look up the definition of the word "cartel".   

According to Wikipedia: In economics, a cartel is an agreement between competing firms to control prices or exclude entry of a new competitor in a market. It is a formal organization of sellers or buyers that agree to fix selling prices, purchase prices, or reduce production using a variety of tactics. 

Okey Dokey.  So Turkey Board of Nova Scotia's function is to regulate turkey production.  Isn't it interesting then that their Board consists of folks owning big turkey factory farms?

First up, Director Mark Davies with a turkey flock weighing in at 365,000 kilos/year.

Next, Alternate Director David Young with his "small" production of 120,000 - 130,000 kilos/year.

Steven Eadie I couldn't find anything on but I have a feeling that his family has a big turkey farm too.

In any case, isn't this the definition of a conflict of interest?  That industry owners are regulating themselves?

To me this would be tantamount to a bunch of big oil and gas company owners saying, "Hey! Let's form a Regulatory Board.  We'll call it the Energy Board."   And then going on to shut down small solar farms for non-compliance with their rules.

I would like to think that a non-partial board would really be devoted to healthier turkeys for all, consumers and producers alike.  

Instead the current board appears to be slanted in favour of big factory farms where I'm guessing turkeys are packed into a big building, given various drugs and fed feed containing GMO corn and soy (this is just a guess, I really have no idea, and I would like to know the truth).

I grab this pic off the internet and it's of a farm in Australia, but I'm guessing the inside of these barns look similar to this:

When I started my undergrad in Animal Behaviour at McGill in 1990 I joined PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for awhile.  Long enough for me to become a vegetarian for 5 years partly because I was turned off by factory farming after watching some graphic videos.  

Here's an article about what turkeys go through in factory farms.

If the Turkey Board is comprised of  "Big Turkey" farmers regulating themselves, then who is looking out for the turkeys?

I now eat meat but try to eat as much cruelty-free meats as I can; preferring game, wild seafood and animals that have been 'lovingly' raised by small producers and sold out of their farms or at farm markets.   

I'd rather have a Thanksgiving turkey that grew up like this:

source: heritage turkeys

From what I've read, with small local processors, small scale production is more likely to be economically viable, for both producers and consumers.  Maybe this could even be a good boost for Nova Scotia's rural economies, by expanding this industry to more producers and filling a niche for consumers looking for alternatives to factory farmed meat.  It is also easier on the animals and on the earth.

One thing that stuck with me from those PETA videos was the fear that animals end their lives with, when trucked to a large institutional abattoir for the slaughtering process.   It's this last pulse of stress and fear that courses through the animals' bodies, and, well, we are what we eat.  

So I always thought that when my husband and I finally get some meat birds on our small rural acreage, that there would be some friendly local small processor, like the butcher in these articles, that would be able to skillfully end our birds' lives for us and return them to us ready for the kitchen.  

Unfortunately I guess the Turkey Board has been doing away with these small processors.  

I also find it interesting that while the Turkey Board say these small processors pose a 'food safety' hazard, apparently they are fine with people slaughtering their own birds in their yards.  

Personally I'd rather take my animals to someone who has been doing it for 36 years than try to figure it out for myself in my yard.  I bet the turkeys would likewise appreciate the experienced butcher.

Reading between the lines, this seems to me to be more about stifling competition than promoting more Nova Scotia turkeys-to-table.  

I understand cross-contamination is a valid concern and a serious risk, but I would like to know if the 'anonymous complaint' was due to someone who got sick (from the articles it sounds like it wasn't), or if it came from a large turkey farmer, or from a retailer who could potentially fear competition from small scale producers.  

I would like to know if anyone ever got sick from eating meat from these small processors.  Because my husband and I figure that a person whose livelihood depends on doing their job right would have more accountability than a larger scale processing plant that employs workers at lower wages.  The above articles imply that there haven't been any customer complaints and the shops are well-kept.

With the movement towards locally produced food, and the desperate need to breathe life back into rural economies, shouldn't small local processors be encouraged, rather than run out of business?   Maybe we need more of these types of businesses, not fewer, to reduce expenses for producers and consumers by reducing the number of miles our food needs to travel.  Maybe it could create more small businesses and small business owners.

Perhaps an 'arms length' board made up of people who don't pose an obvious conflict of interest could help level the playing field for all who would like to put turkeys on the table.  

This could give consumers a choice: factory farm turkey versus smaller scale turkey.

This could ensure there was someone looking out for ALL of the farmers, processors, and consumers, as well as the turkeys.  The priority could shift to preserving personal, animal and community health over preserving a monopoly for a few large scale producers.

In my googling about the Turkey Board I found this transcription of meeting minutes at the NS Legislature from 2003.

It's great that in Nova Scotia anyone can produce 25 turkeys for personal use, but not everybody wants to raise their own turkeys or has the time.  Until we finally do get our own birds, I'd rather buy a turkey that came from a farm that perhaps has fewer animals than a large operation, and preferably where the turkeys are allowed to go outside and forage for natural food.  I suspect lots of consumers of local food would feel the same way.

A couple more bits and pieces that may be of interest:

The Turkey Farmers of Nova Scotia have a Facebook Page which I've looked at a few times.  I find it interesting that various comments from exasperated small producers complaining about being squeezed out of business have been deleted.  Next time I see one I'm gonna take a screen capture.

They also have a Twitter account for anyone who likes to chirp. 

Here's a Coast article from 2007 by Lezlie Lowe that details why more of our supermarket meat isn't local, due to processing and distribution rules,  despite the fact that the demand is here.  

Maybe if we want to grow the economy in rural Nova Scotia there are a whole pile of rules that need to be changed?

Anyone else notice we're becoming a bit more like the States?  For anyone whose hackles are raised by this story, the movie Farmageddon: The Unseen War On American Family Farms is worth checking out as a cautionary tale. 

I'll end this post with this Stefan Verstappen youtube video called "How To Survive Corruption" that I stumbled across a few weeks ago.  Bits of it remind me of this story.  

Because I think that maybe this isn't just a story about turkeys, but it's potentially a bigger story about freedom, corruption, and food security.  

Last night while I picked carrots out of our garden to make soup, I wondered if one day I stand to get shut down by a 'Carrot Board' that has decided our garden is unlicensed according to new regulations, and therefore unsafe, forcing me to go buy Campbells or "Compliments" soup instead.  

Sounds ridiculous, but I'm sure the butchers shut down by the Turkey Board never thought it could happen to them.

I hope reporters keep pecking at this story, to fill in the holes and answer some of the questions it raises....  hopefully before Thanksgiving!  

I will be thankful.

Gobble Gobble.

This Week's Favourite Things! Sept 22nd - Sept 28th, 2014

1. Afterglow Bridgewater.  This is a free community art event in Bridgewater.  I went to this event last year and again this past Saturday, and am so pleased to see the growth and direction it is evolving in.  They blocked off a street and there was a giant dragon made of squash! Makes me hopeful that lanterns, giant puppets and a community street band could be in my future as these are all things I miss.

2. The Port Grocer Port Jam.   Awesome music festival /pig roast at the Port Grocer in Port Medway to fundraise for a generator.  I hope they do it again next year and have it on a different night than Afterglow!

3.  Indian Falls Park.  Sweet little waterfall park not too far from us, went there for the first time on Friday.

4. Peasant's Pantry, New Ross.  My traveling gourmand realtor friend told us about this new charcuterie in New Ross.  We didn't have lunch (though it looks tasty) but bought a pile of sausages and smoked ribs.  I think this family bought the building they're in for cheap, an interesting looking spot that was formerly the "Highwayman Restaurant".  Looks like they're off to a great start! Stories like this make me hopeful that in time rural villages will be repopulated by younger people looking for healthier lifestyles for their families.

5.  This piece of Fox News.  Yes, Fox news.   Look, Herald editorial staff and frackhappy columnists who presumably are invested in oil and gas, look look look!!! Look at the drought in California, people are getting nervous about water and food supplies, how does Nova Scotia agriculture look now?  Look! even the Rockefellers are pulling their money out of oil and gas in favour of investing in green technologies.  Good water, good soil, proximity to large populations like Montreal, Toronto and New York.  Maybe Nova Scotia ends up being richer than you all thought, without fracking!  Look, we'll end up being so far 'behind the times' as to pull ahead when the revolution of community health and wellness comes.   Basic human needs = food, shelter, water and community.  Not petrochemicals that can only be extracted by draining the watershed, filling it with chemicals and stuffing it into our shale.  Up with steamed kale, down with fracked shale.

New Papier Mache Art

Look, Look! I made 3 new pieces of papier mache art this month:

The first piece was this Rainbow Triceratops which was a commission for an old friend inspired by a very early piece I made in 1993, back when I was making big papier mache animals while doing my biology undergrad.

 

Next was a seagull and beaver that I finished up to take down to Jenny Jib today along with a bunch of figurines and other pieces from my available art page.  I don't give my creatures name tags anymore, but I nicknamed these ones "Steven Seagall and Justin Beaver".  Here are a few pics from a quick photo shoot at the Lunenburg waterfront before heading to the store.

Checking out the Bluenose II, the iconic sailboat found on the Canadian dime

Here is Steven at Jenny Jib peckishly checking out the lovely Fish Shack painting by Evgenia Makogon

 

This Week's Favourite Things! Sept 15th - Sept 21st, 2014

Got a bit behind but here are things I noticed last week!

1. This Chronicle Herald article about L'acadie Vineyards, an organic vineyard in Nova Scotia that employs nearby sheep as lawnmowers.  Seeing a herd of fluffy sheep and reading a story about another BC expat who doesn't want to use harsh chemicals on the land, recognizing the health impact this would have on his family, was really heart-warming.  

Such a nice change from all the 'boohoo why aren't we fracking' columns... eg Marilla's Stephenson's Wednesday essay on why can't we be more like Saskatchewan.  

As an aside, I lived in Saskatchewan just as the NDP government was falling and it was 'opening for business' (2005 - 2008).  Even a boom like that has its drawbacks as I watched friends who formerly enjoyed cheap rent get their cost of living ratcheted up frighteningly quickly.  Unfortunately not everyone wants, or can get, a highly paid resource extraction job.  Plus there's the obvious point that SK is way bigger than NS and floats over giant deposits of natural gas.  The other thing people may not notice about NS versus the giant provinces of the west, is that the proportion of the land base in private hands is dramatically higher here in NS.  BC, ALTA and SK have way more crown land for government to play with, and sparsely populated vast expanses of it to go harvesting fossil fuels from.  Even if the NS liberals didn't impose a fracking moratorium, with the already hot debate and amount of people who prefer their groundwater frack-chemical-free, I'd imagine any action by an oil and gas company would meet with noisy opposition due to the fact that most projects here are bound to have concerned neighbours.  I wonder if there are columnists in SK admonishing their government for not instigating a lobster fishery...

2.  The Peace Pole Project.  What a nice idea, stumbled across this checking out the Global Meditation on Sept 21 organized by Unify.  I'd love to make a peace pole with ceramic bits for the garden.  Like this one by Nuala Creed (see bottom of page).  That's going on the 'things to do list', and I like the thought of creating peace poles as collaborations.

3.  I'm pleased to report that as of THIS week I think I know know everything I need to know about sociopathy and corruption and am slowly exiting the torpor I've been in all year and rediscovering my studio and love of sculpture (hurrah).  However on Friday/Saturday last week I discovered these super interesting videos on the Corbett Report youtube channel:

I think it'd be great if everyone in the world watched this video to understand the US Federal reserve and its global implications:



This video on apathy was also interesting:

This Week's Favourite Things! Sept 8th - Sept 14th, 2014

1. Galerie Beaucoop  stumbled across this on twitter.  They're on facebook too.  Love the name, logo and the beautiful artwork; a prime example of amazing artists making Nova Scotia their home.

2. #MakeAMovieCanadian  best hashtag on twitter, ever, with some hilarious movie titles that came from it.  Nice example of how 'community art' is perhaps being expanded by the internet and social media: I just checked on twitter and people are STILL posting Canadianized titles.  Love it.  Makes me feel like everyone on twitter had a chance to play a big fun word game together.

3.  "Fighting for the small-town mall".  Article in Saturday's Herald.  I love the thought that someone with development experience is brainstorming ways to breathe life into small rural malls.


4.  The Spritual Room.  What a great site with a lot of nice articles.  I stumbled across this after reading this great article:  "Do You Automatically Accept Authority?" by Nicole Leigh West

5.  Assorted Teal Swan (formerly Teal Scott) videos.  This one on raising one's frequency,  this one on how to ground yourself, and this past week's video, Spirituality 3.0, The Path of Choice.

6.  "What Now?"  this essay on surviving scams. I think I may be nearing the end of things to read online about sociopaths. I also found this site and its forums: Psychopath Free comforting if only to know that there are plenty of other people out there who have been manipulated by people lacking conscience.

7.  My conscience.  In the process of going through the events that led to my big research session on sociopathy, I pinpointed a couple instances where I ignored my conscience and kept mum about some f-ed up things I was witnessing, thus switching into the role of the 'apath' in this article on sociopathy/empathy/apathy that I like so much.  In doing so I learned a "Life Lesson"!  Aha, yes, I borrowed Oprah's 'favourite things' phrase and now I'm blogging my first Life Lesson.  

This Life Lesson is: if you ignore your conscience in favour of protecting money you were afraid of losing, don't be surprised if the dollars you were trying to cling to gets swept away from you, with a bunch of their friends, by a tornado of bullshit, leaving you with a colossal mess to clean up.  

Lesson learned, sorry conscience, I'll never ignore you again.   Brings me to 

Life Lesson #2: when deciding to listen to your conscience or the promises of someone, or some group, who could either be permanently, or temporarily without one, I highly recommend listening to your conscience.

Wouldn't it be awesome if everyone started calling out everyone else on their bullshit and corruption as it arises!  Then perhaps that 4% of people among us who have no conscience could be stopped from climbing up ladders of success in politics and corporations!  Human Society could turn on a dime! 

This Week's Favourite Things! September 1 - September 7th, 2014

1.  "Shipping Up To Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys.  Heard this song a few times lately on Live 105 and it got stuck in my head



2.  Stuff by Stefan Verstappen.  I've been continuing to research sociopathy and have now watched A LOT of youtube videos about both narcissism and sociopaths/psychopaths.  Super interesting stuff.  I'm starting to figure out that the root of my (past) personal problems perhaps scale up and are the root of most of the worlds problems: apathy + psychopaths + complacency = all the world's problems.  I mean, we all assume that people in positions of authority are doing their job properly and have people's best interests at heart, but what if they don't. What if a few of the people at the "top" are selfish jerks, in part because their brains are hardwired that way.  Widespread awareness of the fact that some people truly lack a conscience (either permanently or temporarily), and how to recognize this could help make the world a better place for all life forms on this planet.  I really dig these two videos:

Surviving Corruption - hands up if you're a "come from away" in Nova Scotia and this video reminds you of this province.  Although to be fair it sounds like this is becoming true of politics across Canada and elsewhere.



This video is also great and explains so much about so many things:
Defense Against the Psychopath (Full Length Version)
 


3.  All sorts of videos by Ross Rosenberg.  Ross Rosenberg is the author of "The Human Magnet Syndrome: Why We Love People Who Hurt Us" which I haven't read but it sounds good.  I found this video very interesting and helpful:

How to defend yourself from Narcissists.  Observe don't absorb technique.



4.  This video about narcissism cracks me up near the end "how dare you..."  There are lots of these great xtranormal videos on youtube






5.  This opinion piece by Ralph Surette in Saturday's Chronicle Herald.  I had been growing weary of the Herald's backlash against the Nova Scotia Liberal's planned ban on fracking and was surprised and delighted that they published this piece which makes some valid, obvious points.  Really, other Herald people, you know who you are, instead of crying over your lost billion dollars of imaginary frack money how about acknowledging the fact that, in some aspects, this province is pretty much a slave colony for a few rich families and working on the whole corruption issue?  How about dropping the sibling rivalry for what Alberta has and showing some gratitude for what this province has in abundance: great soil, a long growing season, healthy local food and delicious fresh water.  These things could be quickly ruined by fracking, is it really worth the risk to pad the wallets of a few oil and gas people?  I'm just waiting for one of the pro-frackers to come up with the idea of razing all the province's forest in order to grow palm oil monocultures.  Fortunately we're not tropical enough.  

I still think there are more sustainable solutions possible to economic growth - eg, a large, dried kale chip factory that would make kale chips as affordable as potato chips.  Kale is so easy to grow and you can harvest the leaves multiple times.  What if everyone dug up portions of their yards to plant to kale to make its way to the kale chip factory.  The exercise from the gardening might even save on provincial health care costs.  People love kale chips but the only commercially packaged products I've seen are cost prohibitive to many.  Up with kale, down with fracking.

6.  Commissions.  Speaking of the Chronicle Herald today I sent some re-purposed Heralds in the form of a commissioned papier mache sculpture out of province. It is a surprise someone ordered for someone so pics will follow after it arrives.  I'm very grateful for this opportunity and have realized over the past few years something has shifted and I now enjoy making commissioned work - it used to stress me out when I first started selling sculptures.  Now that I've been working on being all about 'process', commissions seem less daunting... especially papier mache commissions because it's easier to work on just one thing as opposed to working in clay where I feel obliged to fill my kiln.  I'll be added a "sold artwork" page to my blog to give viewers an idea of stuff I've made in the past.  I'll soon be firing more pieces too; summer is over, time to get back to the studio!

This (Past Two) Week's Favourite Things! August 18th - August 31st 2014

I missed last week's post, so here are a pile of favourite things:

1.  The Empathy Trap Book - by Jane McGregor and Tim McGregor.  A great read for anyone who feels like their head has been messed with by someone lacking a conscience.  I downloaded the ebook version from Kindle.

2. "Jonestown - Paradise Lost"  Docudrama from 2007 I watched recently on Netflix that led to me researching sociopathy to learn more.  The Jim Jones story fascinates me - it is shocking and sad and terrible so I feel bad listing it as a 'favourite thing' as so many people died, the word 'fascinating' is more appropriate, such that hopefully the exploration of this story could prevent similar events from occurring in the future.  It's sort of a modern horrific real life version of the Emperor's New Clothes.  This story got me thinking about how people like that can somehow end up with a herd of faithful followers who take the leader at their word - it's a dynamic that unfortunately occurs in many workplaces and political systems, even on small scales.  The story makes me wonder if there are people who could have stopped this from happening earlier on, or was the sociopathic cult leader's spell too powerful until it was too late. 

3.  Assertiveness for Earth Angels - a great book by Doreen Virtue, via her publisher, Hay House.  Even for those who find the 'angel' thing a bit to 'out there' Doreen has a psychology background and the book has a lot of great advice for compassionate people who like to help others.

4.  This great book by Sister Corita Kent:  Learning by Heart: teachings to free the creative spirit.   In the past two weeks I ran away from home for a view days to visit my dear friend and wonderful painter Helen Opie in Granville Ferry.  Helen has so many great books and this one popped out at me to check out, even before she recommended it.  It's so nice, and is all about the interconnectedness of one's life and one's art practice, and the importance of enjoying each bit of the process.

5.  Helen's sailboat that's she's building in the workshop at Sarah Pavia's Gallery in Annapolis Royal.  When I arrive Helen had drafted 2 mormon missionaries into helping her assemble the pieces as it went from 2-D to 3-D.  I was very happy to get to help as well along with a couple of other people.  Like giant puppet building, boat building seems to be a really fun communal thing to do.   Helen is 81 and this is here first boat she's ever built - I find that so inspiring and look forward to her "grand cruise" up the Annapolis River next year as it has been a dream of hers for years.  I'll stick some photos in here at some point if I can get some from her.

6.  Sarah Pavia's Gallery which is at 221 St Anthony Street in Annapolis Royal.  Not to be confused with the Pavia Gallery in the HRM which is a totally different thing - I haven't been there yet.

7.  The Annapolis Royal Farmers and Trader's market - this is a great market and apparently one of the oldest ones in Nova Scotia. 

8.  Get Out the Way - great song by Mother Mother



9.  This photo I saw on The Other 98% Facebook Page

10.  Red Russian Kale.  I've been so slack about photographing the garden this year - I should soon.  It's a lovely tangle of vegetables and flowers.  I tried a bunch of new seeds this year and am really happy with the 'Red Russian Kale' - it makes giant leaves - more leafy than stemmy like other varieties - and has a nice mild taste

11.  "Saving Seeds As If Our Lives Depended On It" a book by Dan Jason of Salt Spring Seeds.  I picked up a copy with my seed order from Annapolis Seeds.  It's a small book but very well written and interesting.  All sorts of things are bolting around the garden so we're going to try seed saving this year.  The book mentions "volunteer plants" that reseed themselves in subsequent years so I've been enjoying a lot of cilantro because of seeds that fell and started growing again.

12.  Green cilantro seeds.  So tasty smashed up and cooked into things.