PART I
In Newfoundland in the early seventies, a local hennery (egg-producing chicken farms ) would advertise in a local paper “laid out” ( known in the mainland as stewing chickens ) chickens for 0.25 cents apiece or five for a dollar ( yes, five live chickens for 1 dollar ). At the end of the sale period, only a fraction of over 30,000 layers would sell. The rest are euthanized and buried on the property.
After 12 months, egg production slows down, and stock is replaced. Chicken fingers and nuggets were not invented then. ( McNuggets debuted in 1983.) Nuggets and fingers come from the meat of stewing chickens, grounded and mixed with other ingredients.
Today, none of the spent chickens go to waste; every part of the chickens is used for one product or another. Growing up, the only byproducts of any animal used for food were pig rinds, dried and fried into “ chicharron,” and the fat bottled and sold. Today, chicken intestines and day-old (male) chicks ( kwek-kwek ) that used to be discarded find their way into street food shops.
Growing up in the Philippines, nobody gave a second thought to the abattoir next to a public market. At the busiest time of day, you can hear and see pigs and cows going into slaughter, most cruelly and brutally. Similarly, the traditional Newfoundland seal hunt involved clubbing baby seals ( “whitecoats’ ‘) in the harvest of the pelt. Entire practices have become culturally untenable. Public slaughterhouses are not so public anymore; the traditional seal hunt no longer allows the clubbing of the whitecoats. Both employ a more humane method of harvest.
“DEADLIEST CATCH” AND THE SEAFOOD INDUSTRY
Overfishing, climate change and habitat deterioration are putting a lot of pressure on the thriving seafood industry. The collapse of the northern cod, a fish that had sustained not only five centuries of fishing but shaped and influenced the culture of Newfoundland and Labrador, has not recovered since the early nineties. Thirty thousand fishers and plant workers in NL lost work in the cod moratorium in 1992. More importantly, the resulting idling of boats and closure of fish plants was the death knell of the “outports.” It has caused substantial population shifts to the cities and the mainland. As a result, NL is the only Canadian province to experience negative growth.
The insatiable demand ( projected to double by 2050 ) for seafood has spawned a whole new industry. Itching to put years of theory into practice, biotechnology has generated over 1000 species of farmed raised seafood. In Canada, without a doubt, the Atlantic Salmon, Rainbow Trout and Sablefish ( Pacific Black cod ) have led the way. Halibut and tilapia are quickly catching up. Many are unaware that Tilapia, a tropical fish, is also farmed in Canada. The Nile Tilapia is grown in land-based heated ( 24 degrees) tank systems. Their fast growth allows producers to produce more than one brood per year. Canada supplies the live market common in Chinese seafood stores.
On the shellfish side, (blue )mussels lead the way, followed by oysters, clams and scallops. The wild-caught version of these shellfish is more complicated and harder to find. The degradation of coastal waters has decreased the availability of suitable shellfish habitats. They do not require artificial feed as they obtain naturally occurring plankton by filtering them from the surrounding waters. Since they feed on available food and in constantly monitored pristine waters, farmed shellfish are arguably a better choice. Wild blue mussels, for instance, have a piece of stringy “holdfast,” an anatomical necessity to attach to rocky subtidal offshore habitats. You cannot eat a wild mussel without removing this sinewy wiry hair ( a pain, if you want to know ). Farmed mussels are reared in suspended tubular “socks” and do not need a holdfast to attach themselves. In the Philippines, bamboo stakes provide attachment throughout the growth period.
In the early years of shellfish farming, larvae ( “spat” ) come from wild sources. Today, they are produced from mature shellfish reared in culture tanks. They are grown to tiny versions of the adult and then transferred to growing trays suspended by buoys. The final grow-out phase follows the natural habitat of the wild shellfish—oysters and scallops on the ocean floor, clams on the sandy beach. Blue mussels are suspended on “socks” throughout their growth period, reaching market size 18 months to 3 years. PEI supplies about 75% of farmed mussels in Canada.
There has been so much progress in biotechnology that it is conceivable that most of the future seafood will come from farmed sources. Farm production will need to increase by 133% to meet the doubling demand in 30 years. Some products reaching the market come from questionable origins to meet this demand. It goes without saying that it’s up to consumers to be attentive to the seafood sources they are eating. Tilapia is a case in point. From its origins in Africa, Tilapia is a survivor fish. It can thrive in abysmal low-oxygen water and feed on many sources other fish species cannot tolerate. Fish from overcrowded pens fed with low-quality feed and raised in polluted waters will harbour the pollutants from the water and feed, not the kind of fish you want to consume. Even Tilapia can succumb to an overabundance of negative growth factors. Fish kills are an indication that all is not well.
Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture
I first read about this system in the late nineties. It’s a farming arrangement whereby several animal ( and plant ) species are raised so that one benefits from the activity of another species. In animals, the food that is not consumed or fully digested is utilized by other animals in a layered arrangement. For example, poultry droppings have a total digestible nutrient (TDN) value of 50% and protein content of up to 28%. This knowledge is adopted by a system whereby the chickens receive a complete ration at the top, the pigs in the next layer eat the chicken droppings and down below, tilapia eat the pig manure. The remaining nitrogen and other minerals in the water are circulated to fertilize plants, such as swamp cabbage ( Kangkong ) or water chestnuts.
A similarly integrated system is piloted in the Bay of Fundy (NB ). Mussels and kelps (seaweed ) are being grown next to salmon enclosure sites. The food not eaten by the salmon and organic wastes become available for the mussels and kelps. The abundance of nutrients has increased the growth rates of blue mussels, reaching a market size 8 to 10 months earlier, and kelps grow by 46 % more.
Some farms now sterilize and freeze-dry chicken droppings for use for food, either mixed with rations or directly as feed.
Animal manure has become much more than a source of biogas and fertilizer. A farm “waste” to be disposed of no more; it is the new farm currency.
VEGETATIVE PROPAGATION
A quiet revolution has been happening on our farms in a way that does not catch the general public’s attention. Plants are not, by nature, not as categorical as animals. My earliest recollection of a significant enhancement of a plant food product was the development of the “miracle rice,” developed by IRRI at UP, Los Banos. Suffice it to say that since then, it seems every rice variety sold is labelled “milagrosa,” whether coming from Thailand, Vietnam or other Asian countries. Such is the success of this rice strain. We developed it, but others have succeeded in marketing it.
Take a quick survey in your food store. Have you noticed the jumbo guavas, atis, or kiwis? Mango used to be a seasonal fruit, but they are now available year-round. Besides year-round bearing mango trees, more varieties bear fruits.
When it comes to varieties, nothing could beat the apple and tomato. We see about six kinds in a typical grocery store. Try 10,000 kinds of tomatoes and 7,500 types of apples worldwide! The UK has the world’s most variety of apples in one tree; an assortment of 250 in a single tree! Grafting and budding new stems in an existing tree makes this possible.
Then there is cross-pollination. Whether artificial or natural, many vegetables and fruits are produced this way. Nectarine is a cross between an apple and a peach, the “plumcot” from plum and apricot or a “papple” from a European and Asian pear. The grape varieties underlie the wine choices we have today.
Then there are dwarf fruit trees that are more like shrubs and can be grown productively on patios or on commercial farms. In this category, peaches, apples, plums, or cherries, can thrive in a five-gallon bucket. Besides saving labour at harvest, these trees reach maturity and begin fruiting more quickly than their non-dwarf counterparts. Grafting is the traditional way these trees are created, but the newer method involves selective breeding. ( see the picture of dwarf papaya )
The idea of killing a cow to get your steak or hamburger patties may be coming to an end. Have you ever heard of “Frankenfish” and “Cultivated Meat”? Wait until you read about where your future chicken nuggets or fish sticks might come from. We will explore these in Part II in the Nov. 1 issue of BALITA.
PAUL BARNETT’S APPLE TREE AT WEST SUSSEX, UK
THIS IS A HYBRID DWARF PAPAYA; photo courtesy
of Sonya’s Garden
