Saddened, yet inspired

Dear editor:
I am deeply saddened by the situation surrounding the shutdown of Sunrise Meat in Barwick but inspired by the residents of Rainy River District.
My chosen career path is agriculture, for which I attended the University of Manitoba to obtain a degree. I came to Rainy River District to study agriculture and, more specifically, sustainability of our food systems and agriculturally-based community development.
I worked as an intern for the Rainy River Soil and Crop Improvement Association, as well as the Rainy River Federation of Agriculture, and have completed projects facilitated by the Rainy River Future Development Corp. for the last year-and-a-half.
What I have uncovered through much research, and many consultations, is that our government’s policies on food systems are sometimes flawed. The event in question illustrates one such flaw.
That flaw is that at some point in time, the government decided an industrial-based, corporate-run food system is equivalent to, or better than, a locally-based, farmer-run food system. They did this by placing unjustified, unfair, and unreasonable regulations on farmers and food processors.
Four steers that were ordered to be destroyed by OMAFRA and the Northwestern Health Unit belong to a close friend of mine. The actions she took by growing and processing those steers protected environmental health, local economic health, and family and community health while personally ensuring animal welfare.
In fact, most localized food systems have all these benefits. She retained money in our local economy by not spending it on beef produced elsewhere. Our air is cleaner because the animal was shipped 30 km instead of 300 km or more.
The animals are taken care of extra well because they are for personal and family consumption. She also builds goodwill among family and friends by sharing food.
But she’s not the only one handling this food. The butcher knows her and her family, so he takes extra care to handle her meat safely. He knows that if he doesn’t, he risks hurting family and friends, as well as sinking his own business.
He doesn’t need a regulation to tell him that safe food is important.
Because of these factors, her meat is safe, environmentally friendly, economically friendly, animal friendly, and community friendly.
When OMAFRA made it impossible for people like these to follow regulations, they encouraged shipping meat thousands of miles, money being removed from local economies, and communities losing their identity as food producers. As well, they encouraged us to let strangers handle our food, much more often than is needed, compromising food safety and our health on all levels.
At some point, somebody at OMAFRA forgot that local food systems are the absolute best way to handle food by nature, and don’t require heavy regulations to run smoothly.
It’s time for them to wake up and realize this short-sighted decision will hurt people and hurt communities. I think whoever thought out these regulations should be roped off and condemned because they are the real danger to our health.
To OMAFRA: Please work with Rainy River District residents to help preserve their agricultural heritage by either lifting unfair regulations, or encouraging the construction of a local abattoir.
To the residents: Thank you for teaching me so much about food production and communities, and please remember you are not alone in this fight—you are living proof that Canadian farmers need change!
Local Food for Local People!
(Signed),
Eric Busch, B.Sc.
Editor’s note: Eric currently is the Regional Liaison for the Manitoba Food Charter. He also is a member of the Rainy River Valley Food Council.