[BCFSN] FW: Cultivating Innovation-Plant Science, History and Innovation
Pamela Zevit Adamah Consultants
adamah at telus.net
Fri Jun 12 15:51:53 EDT 2015
You are very right, Dawn. The techno-bureaucratic framework (though not
so much the ag-centric focus) has been a concern of the organic
practitioners in BC with reference to the national standard since Day
One. In fact at the Technical Committee meeting, at the prodding of
Linda Edwards, I wrote a Raging-Granny type song which Janine Gibson
edited and we sang at the end of the meeting:
*_The Road to Organic Integrity _*
For the Organic Tech Committee
/Tune - It’s a Long Way to Tipperary: with apologies to author John
McCormack/
It’s a long way to an Organic standard
As we all know so well.
We define words and then translations,
Sometimes nothing seems to jell.
Everyone has their own opinions,
We argue endlessly!
Can we build a strong Organic vision
Or just grow the industry?
Integrity of Organic Standards
Is our job to protect --
From those who just want an easy profit
From those who really don’t respect
Our need for food & drink that’s healthy
For pastured animals roaming free!
And for Organic Inc., to remain a pipe dream
Of the Big Food Industry!
Joking aside, your comment about the holistic Indigenous food system is
very important, and I do believe that it is what also inspires most if
not all of the organic farmers I know. Another area where reconciliation
is needed!
love,
Cathleen
On 2015-06-10 8:16 PM, Dawn Morrison wrote:
> Very well written Cathleen. I really appreciate the broad scope and
> reference to cumulative impacts to wild salmon. After our conversation
> in Ottawa, I thought more deeply about how we didn`t even discuss the
> systemic issue of organic certification and an how an ag centric focus
> and techno-bureaucratic framework has fragmented and reduced a more
> holistic Indigenous food system in the forests, fields and waterways
> to silos and sectors (i.e. fisheries, agriculture, forestry, water
> etc...) that have made Indigenous people invisible. The certification
> is a governance issue.
>
> Thank you for being such a good friend!
>
> Dawn
>
> Dawn Morrison,
>
> BC Food Systems Network
> Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty
> C/O 555 East 55th Avenue
> Vancouver, B.C, V5X 1N6
> Mobile: 778.879.5106
> Email: dmo6842 at gmail.com <mailto:dmo6842 at gmail.com>
> Website: www.indigenousfoodsystems.org
> <http://www.indigenousfoodsystems.org/>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 10, 2015 at 4:18 PM, Eisler, Corinne [VC]
> <Corinne.Eisler at vch.ca <mailto:Corinne.Eisler at vch.ca>> wrote:
>
> A powerful sensible, ethical, and wise letter Cathleen. Let us
> allow the precious salmon to follow their natural lifecycle, for
> all of the reasons you stated. Thank you for this important
> work. Sincerely, Corinne
>
> *From:*food [mailto:food-bounces at bcfsn.org
> <mailto:food-bounces at bcfsn.org>] *On Behalf Of *Cathleen
> *Sent:* 10 June, 2015 3:38 PM
> *To:* BCFSN
> *Subject:* [BCFSN] A position paper on organic aquaculture
>
> FYI, here is a letter I sent to the group who came to the Canada
> Organic Standard Technical Committee meetings last month to
> discuss how to integrate the currently voluntary organic
> aquaculture standard into the Canada Organic Standard. In the end
> the proposal to integrate was dropped as it would clearly not have
> passed with a large majority or maybe even a majority at all.
> However, I felt there was more to be said and so I wrote the
> following:
>
> Dear Tim and the Aquaculture team,
>
> I want to start by saying that I am glad that we had a
> face-to-face meeting and along with the rest of the Tech
> Committee, I could get a sense of what you are trying to do. I’m
> sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you, but this has
> required considerable thought and consultation with Food Secure
> Canada and some of its members and allies.
>
> As I mentioned at the meeting, I have a number of concerns which
> relate to the possibility of a genuine Organic aquaculture
> standard (whether or not it is integrated with the Canada Organic
> Standard). I noted that your proposals are very much focused on
> maintaining the health and integrity of the organic products and
> processes, and it seems that much less, if any, attention has been
> paid so far to the broader Organic Principles which begin the
> document:
>
> /Principle of Health/ – Organic production should sustain and
> enhance the health of soil, plant, animal, human and planet as one
> and indivisible.
>
> /Principle of Ecology/ – Organic production should be based on
> living ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them
> and help sustain them.
>
> /Principle of Fairness/ – Organic production should build on
> relationships that ensure fairness with regard to the common
> environment and life opportunities.
>
> //
>
> /Principle of Care/ – Organic production should be managed in a
> precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and
> well-being of current and future generations and the environment.
>
> All of these indicate that organic production must be integrated
> with the environment in which it is practised, and be practised in
> such a way as to “sustain and enhance” that environment. Bluntly,
> if you indeed want to follow these principles, I can see no way to
> practise ocean-located net pens. They are an environment which
> cannot be isolated from its surroundings and the fish and other
> aquatic life there. There are inevitably escapes and
> inter-breeding with wild stocks, not to mention the outbreak of
> disease which can spread readily to wild populations. Even for a
> well-managed ‘organic’ enterprise with lower stocking densities,
> these are real issues. Together, the cumulative risks of disease
> from proximity to caged salmon, and the fact that the salmon’s
> amazing genetic imprint does not contain coding for this kind of
> lifestyle which makes them more susceptible to disease, puts into
> serious question the whole system of ocean-located net pens.
>
> There is an ethical as well as a practical problem here. The
> Organic Standard reflects a vision which is couched in language of
> respecting integrity and natural systems. I think that many
> practitioners of organic farming might use the term ‘reverence’ in
> this context. The life- cycle of the Pacific Salmon is one of
> these systems which many revere, and the Adams River, which hosts
> the largest and best known migration, has been nominated as a
> World Heritage Site. The Sockeye salmon migrate for hundreds if
> not thousands of kilometres from their natal stream high in the
> interior, through river systems to far out in the open ocean, and
> then back again four years later, with striking changes in their
> bodies as they battle their way upstream until they spawn and die.
> The fish are in a web of interdependence with the wildlife (bears,
> eagles) that feed on their dead bodies, the high mountains whose
> snow-melt provides the cold water in the rivers that they need,
> and the majestic trees that both cool the water and are nourished
> by the remains of their carcases and the droppings of their
> scavengers. It is not surprising that the Secwepemc (Shuswap) and
> other peoples in the region describe the salmon as sacred,
> reflecting the interweaving of relationships that is basic to
> Indigenous thinking.
>
> How can the principles of ecology and fairness be applied to the
> confinement rearing of a migratory species?
>
> In fact, the question must be raised about the suitability of what
> are in effect “factory farms” for an organic designation, even if
> they are located on land, and especially if they are not part of
> an integrated system where the leavings of one species provides
> the feed for another in an elegant closed loop. (Please note, I am
> simply suggesting that the question needs to be discussed.)
>
> One of the most important concerns of the Technical Committee was,
> of course, just this question of feed and its provenance. This
> includes concern about the balance of pelagic fish and other
> protein sources in the feed for farmed fish; some scepticism of
> the label “sustainable fishery” for the pelagic fisheries on the
> basis of a state sign-on, without third-party verification; and
> the fact that it takes 1½ pounds of [wild] fish to grow one pound
> of salmon. Again, these are concerns which require more discussion
> of the evidence available to show that the proposed aquaculture is
> indeed sustainable and adheres to the Organic Principles in that
> regard.
>
> In the interests of full disclosure, I need to note that this is
> an issue about which I have been passionate for a long time. I am
> a Newfoundlander, and you can still reduce me to tears just by
> mentioning the demise of the Northern Cod. I also lived for nearly
> ten years in Secwepemc territory, close to the Adams River and
> Lake Shuswap, and the experience of paddling my canoe in the midst
> of swarming, bright-red fish powerfully reminded me of the early
> explorers to the Grand Banks, who reported that the cod were so
> plentiful you could catch them in a basket. These are not, to my
> mind, minor matters, and they need careful and respectful
> consideration if we are to contemplate a certified Organic
> Standard for Aquaculture in Canada.
>
> Thank you for listening.
>
> Cathleen Kneen
>
> June 10, 2015
>
>
>
> --
>
> Cathleen Kneen
>
> 2746 Cassels Street
>
> Ottawa, ON, K2B 6N7
>
> 613-828-6047 <tel:613-828-6047>
>
>
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--
Cathleen Kneen
2746 Cassels Street
Ottawa, ON, K2B 6N7
613-828-6047
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