“Ni hao ma Farmer Brown – I’m your new neighbour”

The Financial Times reports China’s Ministry of Agriculture is recommending that China purchase farmland abroad, particularly in Africa and South America. The article states that with 40 percent of the world’s farmers, China has only 9 percent of the world’s arable land and wishes to guarantee its food security by expanding overseas. The article also mentions that some countries might find this “particularly problematic”. Can this be British understatement?

Sympathy for China will not run high when one recalls the massive destruction of arable land deliberately carried out in the cultural revolution (as well as current policies curtailing the export of food to others this year).

Westerners tried this strategy in the 19th century. It was called colonialism. Currently we are seeing the last chapter ending that era – the few remaining white farmers in Zimbabwe are currently being kicked out by Mugabe. The old saying “those that ignore history are condemned to repeat it” might be considered by the Chinese.

An addendum – Pakistan is also considering the same strategy. New Zealand prohibits foreigners other than Australians from owning agricultural land and we seem to remember that Prince Edward Island had similar legislation.

An opening salvo in the debate on the effects of scale on agricultural production

Last week, we predicted that the global food crisis we are experiencing would set off a debate on whether government policies should encourage large scale industrial farming or a return to smaller scale farming. What’s new in this subject is the inflated cost of energy which causes not only higher input costs for producers, but also higher distribution costs particularly resulting from large scale commercial specialization. For example, most lettuce in the US is grown near Salinas California and is flown, trucked and otherwise shipped across North America at significant energy costs.

No sooner had we made our prediction about this coming debate than we picked up the New York Times last Sunday to find Dan Barber, New York chef and farmer wading in. His article “Change We Can Stomach” sets out the case for supporting the efforts of small farmers. He states that small farming relies on far less energy both in terms of production inputs but also in terms of distribution because small farms tend to serve populations located close to the farms. He asserts, “small farms are the most productive on earth. A four-acre farm in the United States nets on average, $1400 per acre; a 1,364 –acre farm nets $39 per acre. Big farms have long compensated for the disequilibrium with sheer quantity. But the economies of scale come from mass distribution, and with diesel fuel costing more than $4 per gallon in many locations, it’s no longer efficient to transport food 1500 miles from where it’s grown.”

Undoubtedly knowing the statistics, large scale commercial farming is not likely to be reorganized any time soon. Dan Brown makes his most powerful argument appealing to consumers. He suggests that we change the measure of how we value food. “If we stop calculating the cost per quantity and begin considering the cost per nutrient value, the demand for higher quality food would rise.”

He claims that organic fruits and vegetables contain 40 percent more nutrients than their chemical–fed counterparts. Pasture grazing animals likewise contain more nutrients than industrially raised animals. Both Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle, the US nutritionist, claim that this difference in nutrients has only arisen in the last 40 years and is therefore a new phenomenon. Barber argues that the way of the future is to encourage smaller farms which leapfrog “past the age of heavy machinery and pollution, to farms that take advantage of the sun’s free energy and use the waste of one species as food for another.” As an example of the latter, he cites the dairy farm which provides manure for a neighbouring potato farm which in turn offers potato scraps as extra feed for the herd.

As a chef, one of Barber’s main arguments is that the organic/local food, apart from the higher nutritional value, just tastes better. Does the future belong to the gourmet as he claims? Unfortunately, the only place that has adopted Barber’s model is Cuba which was forced to switch from chemical fertilizer when the Russians terminated their aid. Back to the drawing board, Dan.

Ontario produce has returned although the cold weather has slowed things down

White asparagus from Ontario has finally arrived at the Food Terminal although it was in very short supply and the stalks were a bit on the thin side. Another Toronto chef bought the whole skip but allocated two cases to Chef Loseto as a friendly gesture. Consequently, Chef Loseto supplemented the Ontario white product with white asparagus from Holland. He was assured by the vendor that more Ontario white would be available next week with possibly thicker stalks.

The Chef noted that there was no white asparagus from France this year at the Terminal and no one seems to be bringing it in. He was offered the French product by his BC mushroom supplier but the Chef declined given the logistics of flying it back from Vancouver. The Chef speculates that BC does not produce a good indigenous asparagus crop like Ontario does and therefore tends to support a larger and expensive import market. In Ontario, asparagus, being a local product is fresher, tastes better and is cheaper. The French do produce a wonderful wild asparagus crop which comes to Ontario and should arrive next week.

The green Ontario asparagus is delicious this year. The Chef is grilling it and serving it with a basil mousseline sauce which is going over well at George. Our General Manager Jimson Bienenstock has expertly paired our asparagus dishes with a glass of Gewürztraminer from Hidden Bench, Felseck Vineyard of Niagara. Hidden Bench is owned by the remarkable Harald Thiel who is accomplishing amazing things in Niagara although the volume of wine produced is so far tiny. Our goal was to match or beat the sublime experience in France at this time of year when asparagus arrives and is traditionally matched with a glass of Alsacienne Muscat. By George, we think we’ve done it food-wise and wine-wise. We’re proud of Ontario.

The Chef bought fiddleheads for a new recipe which he created this year where he showcases them with octopus and an aged cheddar cream. He also found wild leeks which had been in short supply this year. Ontario hothouse material was offered in abundance. The vendor who supplies the Chef with baby carrots, (the only ones available at the Terminal), offered raspberries which looked particularly good. He was the only grower selling raspberries and much scorned by other farmers whose opinion was that it costs too much to heat the greenhouse to support such a foolish extravagance. The raspberries sold out almost immediately and the Chef was pleased that the vendor had saved some for him as a good customer. There was very little Ontario rhubarb on offer.

Other Ontario hothouse produce which the Chef bought included cherry tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and cucumbers. The cucumbers are superior. They were supplied by a farmer who uses special seeds from Russia.

The Chef found some interesting hydroponic Ontario watercress.

On the import side of the Terminal, the Chef bought favas and peas from California as well as stinging nettles from Oregon. He bought snowpeas from Guatemala rejecting the Chinese ones. He expects snowpeas from California will start next week. He also found a very limited and very expensive supply of California cilantro which he needed.

On the fruit front, the Chef bought blueberries from California, loquats from Spain and more of the superb California strawberries which have been available at the Terminal. These berries are large, a wonderful colour and smell sweet. Where they go in Toronto is a bit of a mystery because we are not seeing them in the stores.

This week, the Chef received a shipment of morels from Oregon. He thinks this means that the BC crop which he prefers will soon be here. These are classified as fire morels coming from areas previously destroyed by fire and may be hard to beat. Perhaps it’s our imagination but there seems to be a hint of smoke to them. Certainly they have lots of flavour.

Finally the Chef bought plants for our own gardens including basil, chili peppers and ever-bearing strawberries which are expected to produce fruit all summer.

Arriving at George this week was organic Ontario pork tenderloin which is bigger than usual. It is expected to be rich and very savoury. The chef is featuring a lobster dish, now in season, with a baked riopelle cheese soufflé. The Chef likes his dish of foie and guinea hewn with grilled green asparagus and loquats.

Apart from the lobster, the fresh fish that the Chef favours this week comprises blue marlin from Hawaii, Kampachi sushi style sustainable farmed fish also from Hawaii, ocean trout from New Zealand and Ontario pickerel. Soft shell crabs have disappeared and are expected to return in mid June.

For dessert, our pastry chef, Elyshia is making blueberry ice cream with chocolate sorbet, an interesting reversal.

Le patron lepatron@georgeonqueen.com
Ecclesiastes 3 published weekly on www.georgeonqueen.com