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
- .
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment