Leonard Eichel’s Post

Where the concerns over the number of temporary foreign workers meets innovation in agriculture. The Government of Quebec has been expressing its desire to reduce the number of temporary foreign workers in the province. Employer associations have complained, citing that without labour, companies will be able to grow. At the same time, productivity levels in Canada lag behind those of our G7 peers. It seems that, maybe, Canada relies too much on temporary foreign workers, rather than investing in technology that improves productivity. Here, then, are some enterprising engineering students that have solved one labour-intensive issue: how to plant strawberry plants without relying on physical labour. It makes sense that Quebec invents this, given the size of the industry, and the coming trend in clamping down on the number of temporary foreign workers. #aginnovation #innovation #productivity

Supply Chain disruption means less food at your grocery store. It seemed inevitable but there was always hope that the unions and CN and CP could come to an agreement and prevent the trains from stopping. Didn’t happen in the end. Both railways are now stopped for who knows how long. This means for Canada - which still relies heavily on imports from the United States for fruits and vegetables at the supermarket - that consumers will see less choice in the coming days. For farmers, it means they now have to stockpile late summer harvests on their farms, as they cannot get their grain, soy and wheat to market. In addition, the Port of Vancouver, and, to a lesser degree, the ports of Halifax and Montreal, will start having to pile up containers as they cannot get them loaded onto to rail cars for transshipment to other destinations across the country. In the era of ‘just in time’, any stoppage like this exposes the weakness of our supply chains and our food system in general. Government could have avoided this. In fact, they promised to make our supply chains more robust after the pandemic. That, too, is a broken promise. They reap what they sow. Let’s all hope this is a quick stoppage and doesn’t drag on for weeks. #railstrike #resilience #supplychain

Nations have gone to war over fish. But our Federal Government seems to want to pick a fight all on its own. We get over 90% of our salmon from ocean-based farms. The aquaculture industry in Canada is fairly robust, producing over 155 thousand tons of product a year. But in a quirk of jurisdictional control, the Federal Government has control over the industry in only one province - BC. And due to a directive issued by the Prime Minister, the Minister of Fisheries & Oceans has as her mandate to transition the BC salmon industry away from its current method of open net-pens, to another system that is supposed to be more sustainable from an environmental point of view. So far, so good. But the BC Salmon Farmers Association has already identified many things it can do to improve the sustainability and environmental footprint of its operations. And its First Nations partners are in agreement. So far, the policy to move away from open net-pen systems has been released, but the transition plan to accomplish this has not materialized in the time delay set out by the Ministry. Time will tell if the transition plan will be adequate or not. In the meantime, the Government seems to have created a contentious situation where there wasn't one before; a completely unnecessary salmon war. #salmon #salmonfarming #fisheries #foodpolicy

The food you eat determines your state of health. The National Institutes of Health in the United States are finally doing a full on research project to answer some key questions around ultra-processed food: Are ultraprocessed foods harmful to health? Are they a major driver of weight gain and obesity? And why is it so easy to eat so many of them? Each of the participants in the research are rigorously managed in terms of the food they eat, and many biomarkers are measured for comparison purposes. The study won't be completed until early 2025, but the results could help each of us better manage what processed foods we eat, as well as - potentially - providing much needed data for processed food companies to tweak their recipes for foods that won't lead to excessive weight gain or other ill effects. Here's hoping. #ultraprocessedfood #foodresearch #ourfood

For those that think ‘Greedflation’ is the source of high food prices, read this. There are significant changes occurring in our global food systems that need some serious thought and innovation. There are some hopeful signs, but more needs to be done. Much more than simplistic slogans around taxation and complete inaction by the current Government. ‘Worldwide, wholesale food prices, adjusted for inflation, have grown about 50 percent since 1999, and those prices have also grown considerably more volatile, making not just markets but the whole agricultural Rube Goldberg network less reliable. Overall, American grocery prices have grown by almost 21 percent since President Biden took office, a phenomenon central to the widespread perception that the cost of living has exploded on his watch. Between 2020 and 2023, the wholesale price of olive oil tripled; the price of cocoa delivered to American ports jumped by even more in less than two years.’ Before, growing conditions were reasonably predictable, allowing farmers to plan their seasons. For the past decade, however, conditions are almost completely unpredictable, leading to shorter or longer seasons, fluctuating temperatures and either too little, or too much, rainfall. For farmers, every growing season is a crap shoot.

Animal protein grown in a tank. I still think it's a bad idea. Singapore has a unique problem: is has almost no arable land to farm, and as a result, has to import more than 90% of the food it consumes. In such food production-constrained circumstances, it has no choice but to innovate. And that means experimenting with animal protein - derived from animal cells - grown in bioreactors for human consumption. The surface appeal is certainly there for some: no animal slaughter, no animal cruelty and and reduction in GHG emissions. But these benefits gloss over the impacts of scaling up bioreactor production of animal protein to sustainable levels: what happens to the growth and feed mediums that are pumped into the bioreactor to stimulate cellular growth once its used up? How much electrical power (and where is that power sourced) would it take to run a significantly sized bioreactor production line? Is the process safe - for the workers and the consumers who consume the final product? No one is having a conversation about this and it is sorely lacking. While answers are provided, maybe we can focus on raising animals more humanely and more sustainably. Seems a lower cost solution that is not only better for the animals, but also, the physical environment. #sustainableprotein #labgrownmeat #labgrownchicken