3. I would like you to keep in mind that I am a veterinarian with 25 years
experience and as such when I see a problem I feel compelled to do
what I was trained to do regarding all circumstances with a goal of
optimal health and balance from the soil to the community.
From the grass roots up.
4. Grass Roots Up Co-Operative Limited
Our mandate is to allow the sun to enrich our lives
from the grass roots up by stable long term
investment in grazing livestock.
5. www.grassrootsupcoop.ca
Our Community.
Those who recognize the historical significance; the
health, social and economic benefits of eating
naturally raised home grown grass finished beef in
Nova Scotia.
6. Members will work together to invest capital
in cattle to convert the grass from fields to
food,
Co-operatively and sustainably, grow our
community from the grass roots up.
8. Family farm on the brink
May 20, 2012 - 4:10am BY AARON BESWICK TRURO BUREAU
9. Money comes from virtue, not virtue from money
socrates
The real economy is based on life, not money. There is no usury in the real
economy.
Aristotle warned of the dangers of placing our live s in the hands of money.
10. Assets Qualified & Problem List
• Linden Leas
• Area farms
• Community
• Nova scotia
11. Linden Leas
Assets
Lea base, land base
Expertise
Will
Stamina
People power
Cattle suited to their home
Market & Marketing ability
Guaranteed share of retail
35 years of knowing the
land and it’s capabilities
Needed
o Stable supportive financing
o Flexible financing
o More cattle for optimized
land use
12. Show us Your Canada' winning Toyota/Canada competition entry representing Nova Scotia,
displayed in Canada Pavilion, 2005 World Expo, Japan. It is part of our cow herd taken by Al
Gallant of Halifax, in August who was looking for our bull field (bull banner) but they had been
turned in with the cows. We discovered it after the fact on his return from Japan and include it
13. CONTRIBUTION TO ECONOMY
Historically
• LINDEN LEAS: SINCE INCORPORATION IN
1979
• >$40,000,000
• 25 full time job equivalents
• Food for 2000 people every day
Today: half that………
• Food for 2000 people every week
• Potential $2,000,000/ year.
Bull battery. Each bull contributes to the GDP 488 time his inventory value.
14.
15. Area farms
Assets
Land, climate
Knowledge of their farms
Family experience
Will
Responsibility for life
Cattle base
Co-operative spirit
Needed
o Guaranteed share of
retail
o Flexible financing
o Stable financing
o Better annual
returns
16.
17. The beef industry has an
economic multiplied of
6.15, that means for every
dollar of farm sales 6.15
dollars of economic
activity upstream and
down stream is generated.
Given above, compared to 1988, when I graduated from vet
school, the disappearance of cattle from area farms equates
to approximately $200 million dollars of economic activity
missing from the local economy
18. Bounty of the County, May 29th 2005. Over 400 in
attendance.
Organized by local farmers to protest closure of Nappan
Experimental Farm that was started in 1887.
One of the original four research farms in Canada.
There were about 60,000 head of cattle on surrounding farms in 1887.
19. Community
Grass growing capacity
Climate to support
labour force
Old school players
Historic roots
Capital
o Health
o Jobs
o Improved family
economies
o Will
o Uniform Sense of pride
o Optimism
o happiness
20. Farms at Heart of Communities
It appears—from the 2003 GPI farm interviews (Scott et al. 2003)
and other evidence—that, as
farms in a community are lost, living conditions become increasingly
difficult both for the remaining farmers and for farm-related and
non-farm enterprises and organizations.
Even though each farm is operated independently, the interviews
pointed to an understanding among farm people that they need and
depend on each other for practical and moral support, advice, help
at critical times, borrowing equipment, custom work, a political
‘voice’, and more. As well, farms require a supporting infrastructure,
which becomes less viable as there are fewer farms…
As you lose the farmer, other community activities are lost too”
(Scott et al. 2003).
Grass is the heart of the farm and of
man kind….
21. Nova Scotia Government
Mode of revenue
capture
Recognition of right to
self direct tax use
Staff
Scientific personnel
o Balanced budget
o Reduction of debt
o Reduction of health
care costs
o Reduced social
assistance spending
o Reliable work force
o Voter confidence
o Future vision
22. A Vision for the Future Of
Agriculture In Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia’s agricultural industry has struggled, virtually alone, for the
past decade against a backdrop of economic uncertainty.
In many ways the lack of any central vision and planning on the part of
government has been as much of an impediment to real progress as
weather events, disease and market failures.
…
The NDP vision is one that promotes agriculture, as a positive
economic, social and environmental force working in an open,
competitive, dynamic environment in which farm families can make
the most of the opportunities that environment has to offer.
Excerpt from May 2009 reply to Dr. Colman of GPI Atlantic’s Request for input on Agricultural policy
by the til 2013 NDP Government.
24. Nova Scotia
Co-operatives
Grass growing ability
Land suitable for
pasturing and forage
production
Capital
People
o Cattle
o Food security
o Healthy people
25. Annual potential of the area if
improvable land is grazed at
sustainable levels
>$300,000,000 of meat
sales
>$750,000,000 of GDP
26. Grass Roots Up
Co-operative spirit
Prescription for change
o Voice
o Cattle
o Capital Investment
27. Capital = Cattle“All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field” Isaiah 40,6
Cattle = Natural Capital
People = Human Capital
Money = Financial Capital
28. The GPI farm interviews confirmed that ‘investing’ in the social networks and
relationships that comprise social capital requires time and effort. However, the many
examples of farmer cooperatives, commodity associations, sharing equipment, and
trading land examined in this chapter clearly demonstrate that an investment of time
spent building social capital is highly likely to save money and produce very tangible
economic benefits.
Grass Roots Up = Social Capital
Networks of social relationships—sometimes referred to as social capital—are shown
…to ‘grease the inner workings’ of agriculture in the Maritimes, and even, in
some instances, to explain the survival of farming in the face of declining economic
viability.
……..social capital is an infinitely renewable resource
that tends to increase in value and availability the more
it is used.
31. Why Beef?
July 12, 2012
CATTLE IN CANADA AND AROUND THE WORLD
Statistics Canada's agricultural statistics program reports many
detailed facts about the country's farms. For example, Nova Scotia
had a total of 0.09 head of cattle per capita as of January 1, 2012 -
about one quarter of the national average. Most provinces east of
the Prairies have lower than average cattle per capita. Canada's
cattle production is heavily concentrated on the prairies, particularly
among beef cows, steers (>1 year), heifers and calves. Prince
Edward Island is the only other Province with above average cattle
population.
Thomas Storring
Director of Economics/Statistics Department of Finance
Tel: 902-424-2410
Email: storrith@gov.ns.ca
32.
33. The United Nations Food and Agriculture program reports similar
statistics about cattle populations by country (up to 2010).
Among countries with at least 1,000 hectares of land and
1,000,000 population, Uruguay has the highest concentration of
cattle per capita, followed by New Zealand, Paraguay, Ireland and
Botswana. There were almost 10 times as many cattle per capita
in Uruguay as there were in Canada.
Statistics Canada CANSIM tables 051-0001, 003-0032
UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Ireland :
1.5
34. Why grass fed beef?
Animals that are raised and fed in natural conditions are healthy
with strong, balanced constitutions. They eat a natural diet
meant for their systems, absorb light and energy from the sun,
and breath clean air. These natural conditions translate to
vibrant health.
Just like humans who eat healthy foods, these animals are getting the
maximum amount of vitamins and minerals from their diet, and storing those
vitamins in their bodies. Those same vitamins and minerals are available to
us when we consume the food made from these animals.
In fact, grass fed beef, chicken and pork products are higher in beta carotene (Vitamin
A), conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and Omega-3 fatty acids, and they are low in
lectins, the harmful toxins found in meat from animals fed grains and beans for
extended periods of time. In addition, the risk of infection by E. coli in products made
from healthy animals is virtually eliminated.
www.healthy-eating-politics.com/healthy-foods.html
35. Why omega 3s ?
The balance of anti inflammatory omega 3s to
inflammatory omega 6s determines our whole health
36. Beef is Best:- natural carbon
recycling plus grassland farmed
source of essential nutrients in
human life: e.g. CoQ10, Vitamins,
(including B12) Zinc, Iron, CLA and
essential fatty acids - Omega 6:3
ratios ideal at almost 1:1. All are
now known to be essential in the
prevention and treatment of heart
disease, cancers and brain
disorders. Ancient wisdoms and
now evidence of this food for
thought is irrefutable with the
latest human clinical trials
indicating the health benefits of
eating beef daily
37. Dr. Robert G. Ackman
Canadian Institute of Fisheries Technology
Professor Emeritus Dalhousie University
In the fall of 1995
Analysed Linden Leas
beef for fatty acid
composition. He was
excited to think that this
could be the answer to
getting more omega 3s
into our diets, especially
considering the aversion
to fish at the time.
Analysis cost per sample
and farm economics and
lack of funding left us
with a knowledge our
beef was good for you
but unable to prove it
until 2010.
39. Enjoy Eating Saturated Fats:
They’re Good for You.
Donald W. Miller, Jr., M.D.
Dr. Donald Miller, cardiac surgeon and low-carb advocate shares his thoughts on the
medical community’s poor acceptance of the validity of low-carb science and
how he has the opportunity to teach young doctors and interns what he has
come to realize about this healthy way of eating. Inspired by Sally Fallon of the
Weston A. Price Foundation, Dr. Miller shares his experience of going from a
solid Ornish Diet supporter to a dyed-in-the-wool advocate for the kind of
medicine called for by the modern carbohydrate-restriction movement.
“I was wrong”
40. GUT AND PSYCHOLOGY SYNDROME
Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAP Syndrome or GAPS)™ is a condition which
establishes a connection between the functions of the digestive system and the
brain. This term was created by Dr Natasha Campbell–McBride, MD, MMedSci
(neurology), MMedSci (human nutrition) in 2004 after working with hundreds
of children and adults with neurological and psychiatric conditions, such as
autistic spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD⁄ADD), schizophrenia, dyslexia, dyspraxia, depression, obsessive –
compulsive disorder, bi-polar disorder and other neuro-psychological and
psychiatric problems.
41. In 2003 Terry Wahls, M.D., was diagnosed with
secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and soon
became dependent upon a tilt-recline wheelchair.
After developing and using the Wahls Protocol™,
she is now able to walk through the hospital and
commute to work by bicycle. She now uses intensive
directed nutrition in her primary care and traumatic
brain injury clinics. Dr. Wahls is the lead scientist in a
clinical trial testing her protocol in others with
progressive MS.
Why Grass Fattened Beef :Chronic Disease and Diet
In 2009 Dr. Wahls made public her findings on diet
and Multiple Sclerosis and recommends grass
fattened beef and organ meats. As a result there
now is a demand for our beef for health reasons.
Health conscious customers of today purchase
grass finished beef as their medicine.
http://www.terrywahls.com/current-information
44. GRASS ROOTS UP IS A PRESCRIPTION FOR
CHANGE…. FROM THE GRASS ROOTS UP
Join us and get to participate in implementing
our mandate…
and with healthy cattle and …
co-operative effort
be part of the prescription for healthy farms,
healthy people and a healthy community.
45. Grass Roots Up Co-Operative Limited
Our mandate is to allow the sun to enrich our
lives from the grass roots up by stable long
term investment in grazing livestock.
46. No request or contribution is too small or too big:
a hour to a lifetime;
$1 to $400,000,000;
one meal to “feeding five thousand” a day.
Call or email – 902 297 3573 –
info@grassrootsupcoop.ca
Editor's Notes
Cattle at Linden Leas, 2012
I would like you to keep in mind that I am a veterinarian with 25 +years experience and as such when I see a problem I feel compelled to do what I was trained to do.
When professionally alerted to a problem, I take regard of all of the circumstances, including the observations of others, quantify and qualify, take an accurate history, call on the valid observations of others, examine and then develop a potential problem list, re-evaluate and re-examine and then weighing the life and monetary costs and benefits to all possible actions or inactions formulate an action plan with a goal of optimal health or balance. I then present my prescription to the client and assist in implementation, monitoring and re-evaluation and revision as the need arises. The client and their cares are the beneficiaries.
I practice as a professional, one who gives of ones self, knowledge and experience for the benefit of community.
Members will work together to invest capital in cattle to convert the grass from our fields to food and
Co-operatively and sustainably grow our community from the grass roots up
LINDEN — Linden Leas Ltd., one of the province’s largest cattle farms, is on the brink of foreclosure.
“We’re on our knees now,” Edna Foster said as she scrubbed and re-scrubbed the same spotless dishes.
“We’ve got no cards left and they have them all.”
The “they” she is referring to is the Nova Scotia Farm Loan Board, which called in $2.5 million in loans earlier this spring.
The Bank of Montreal, meanwhile, is calling in a further $350,000.
At the kitchen table behind her, her husband, Frank, and her children were plotting with a consultant, developing, they hoped, a last ditch offer to stave off bankruptcy.
The Fosters have thrown a cog in the foreclosure wheel by filing for farm debt mediation. On Wednesday, they were preparing their latest offer to the Farm Loan Board.
The Fosters have become a rallying cry for organizations representing Cumberland County farmers, with strongly worded motions of support passed by the Zone 3 Cattle Producers Association and the area board of directors for the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture.
“Now, after years of hardship, misery and barely hanging on, many beef farmers are facing the reality that the provincial government, rather than seeing the current rebound in beef prices as an opportunity to rebuild a shattered industry, is instead taking the short-term approach of liquidation to recover previous financial investment,” said Leon Smith, Zone 3 president.
So how did it happen?
How did a farm that pioneered grass-fed, locally sold beef, with $40 million in farm gate sales since 1989, end up crippled by debt?
In short, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease and BSE, happened.
The Fosters’ story started with a strange idea: Nova Scotia’s cattle farmers have an advantage over the industrial scale farms of Western Canada and the United States. That instead of feeding cattle almost entirely on expensive imported grain, farmers could use the grass from their pastures to fatten their animals.
“We have a grass advantage here,” said Frank Foster. “For centuries people had farmed this way here and it’s the way they still do it in England.”
So in 1989, the Fosters converted Linden Leas Ltd. Farm from a dairy to a beef farm.
When the cost of importing grain from Western Canada skyrocketed in 1996, they completed the transition to a pasture-feed operation, roughly matching their growing herd to the seasonal growth of their 405 hectares of fenced pasture.
“We’re not purists, but an animal is what it eats,” said Foster. “A pasture to cattle is like a dinner plate to us. The timothys, clovers and varied grasses of the pasture form a salad that is healthy for the animal and makes for healthier beef for us.”
While the conversion was expensive, debt and farming are uneasy companions that walk hand in hand.
By 2001, the Fosters had bought out two neighbouring farms, had 1,484 head of cattle, owed $1.1 million to the farm loan board and $400,000 to the Bank of Montreal.
The price for cattle was $1.60 per pound, the farm had gross receipts for its cattle of more than $1.2 million annually.
“We were in it for the long haul, for our children and grandchildren,” Foster said. “We were on a course to pay down the cost of setting up the farm.”
Then, in 2003, an Alberta farmer found a cow that couldn’t stand up.
It had BSE, a neurodegenerative disease capable of spreading to humans.
The American border closed to Canadian cattle, the market flooded and, almost immediately, the price for beef dropped by more than 50 per cent. The Linden Leas herd lost $1 million in value overnight.
The entire cattle industry was in chaos. Some went bankrupt, others held on.
Compensation programs to protect the industry and keep cattle from heading to the slaughterhouses were introduced by the federal and provincial governments. The evolving series of subsidies, funded between the federal and provincial governments, had mixed results in Nova Scotia.
The complex rules helped some and left others, like Linden Leas, out in the cold.
“We have received about one-third of the compensation for loss based upon agricultural activity and output per unit as other farms,” said Foster.
“If we had been treated equitably, we would not be in this situation.”
The Fosters responded with the Beef Mobile.
Trailer in tow, they made weekly stops in Amherst, Truro, Pictou and New Glasgow, selling their beef direct to the consumer, getting retail prices and selling out.
Their veterinarian daughter, Jillian, son, Rob, and a growing army of grandchildren, bent their backs to keep the wolf from the door. But without access to capital to buy new cattle and bills piling high, the Fosters weren’t able to make payments on their loans.
By Wednesday, interest upon interest upon interest had piled onto the original $1.1 million loan to make it about $2.5 million.
With beef prices rebounding to pre-BSE levels this spring, the Fosters made a desperate offer.
They offered to turn ownership of the farm over to the Farm Loan Board if they were allowed to get access to about $500,000 to purchase more cattle and continue farming on the land under a lease.
In return, they got a letter calling in the loans.
“We have created a market for ourselves and we have the land, the skills and the past track record,” Foster said. “All we need is capital to put hooves on the ground and we can pay the money back.
“I know I can be my own worst enemy and I’ve made my share of mistakes. If it takes me getting out of the way so the department can deal with my son, Rob, I’ll get out of the way.”
In an email, Agriculture Minister John MacDonell said he could not speak about specific cases involving the Farm Loan Board due to privacy concerns, but did say there is no legislative authority to prevent foreclosures.
Meanwhile, the Zone 3 Cattle Producers Association and the Cumberland County Federation of Agriculture are demanding a review of how BSE compensation programs were administered and an 18-month moratorium on beef farm foreclosures.
Agriculture Department spokeswoman Adele Poirier said staff who administered the BSE programs are no longer with the department and it would be difficult for her to speak on specifics.
“The cattle industry is challenging and BSE certainly added to the challenges,” said Poirier. “Lately, however, the industry has been rebounding. Nova Scotia is working at creating a niche market for grass-fed beef.”
The irony was not lost on Rob Foster as he looked over the farm’s much reduced herd of 645 animals.
“My five children were sorting our grass-fed beef to be sold locally before the new strategy came out,” he said.
“They’ll want to keep farming this land after I’m gone.”
(abeswick@herald.ca)
What we have and what is missing.
Show us Your Canada' winning Toyota/Canada competition entry representing Nova Scotia, displayed in Canada Pavilion, 2005 World Expo, Japan. It is part of our cow herd taken by Al Gallant of Halifax, in August who was looking for our bull field (bull banner) but they had been turned in with the cows. We discovered it after the fact on his return from Japan and include it as graphic evidence that non farm people have a visceral or instinctive knowledge of the goodness of cattle and pastoral farming.
American input output study of 2000, of value of beef to the US economy.
Our family decided after BSE on the 19 of May 2003 that our losses due to the closure of the US border should at least stay to the benefit of Nova Scotians, rather than to the benefit of exporters and importers.
72 hours….loss 200lbs…6wks…weight back…$ half price of what was on loading, plus monetary costs associated with trip and feed and the animal costs… total return was less than their purchase price the year before. We were compensated for the first few months but for over 700 head that fell outside the Nova Scotia’
Use 6.15 economic multiplier…
Bounty of the County, May 29th 2005. Organized by local farmers to protest closure of Nappan Experimental Farm that was started in 1887
Over 400 in attendance.
GPIAtlantic
Quotations taken from GPIAtlantic ME A S U R I N G S U S T AI N A B L E D E VE L O PME N T
A P P L I C A T I O N O F T H E G E N U I N E P R O G R E S S I N D E X T O N O V A S C O T I A
THE GPI SOILS AND AGRICULTURE ACCOUNTS
TOWARDS A HEALTHY FARM AND FOOD SYSTEM:
INDICATORS OF GENUINE PROGRESS
Prepared by:
Jennifer Scott, MES, and Ronald Colman, PhD
October 2008
If we were to eat beef as our healthy ancestors did, our home grown supply would only last for one day in the year.
July 12, 2012 CATTLE IN CANADA AND AROUND THE WORLD Statistics Canada's agricultural statistics program reports many detailed facts about the country's farms. For example, Nova Scotia had a total of 0.09 head of cattle per capita as of January 1, 2012 - about one quarter of the national average. Most provinces east of the Prairies have lower than average cattle per capita. Canada's cattle production is heavily concentrated on the prairies, particularly among beef cows, steers (>1 year), heifers and calves. Prince Edward Island is the only other Province with above average cattle population.
HUFA’s and PUFA’s vs saturated fats real debate was omega 3s vs omega 6s ratios
attention to saturated vs un resulted in
consumption of toxic transfats and an over consumption of omega 6s. And high rates of chronic inflammation and cancers.
Think of omega 3s as workers on farms supplying our food. And omega 6s as soldiers in our Army.
There needs to be a balance and enough of each for us to be in health.
The ideal Balance is around 2:1 6s to 3s.
So called beneficial low fat diets have a ration of greater than 6:1 which is now considered inflammatory
The fish of the sea and the flesh of the field.
When determining the need for omega 3s the less omega 6s we eat from plant fats the easier it is to attain balance.
A minimal consumption of omega 3s per day is considered to be 1g.
If one consumes 2000g of food a day then that minimum increases to 3.5g/d.
Protocol requires Foods traditionally grown in Nova Scotia and Cumberland County;
Fish, organ meats, grass fed beef, lots of leafy greens like kale, coloured fruits and vegetables, onions ,turnips, seaweed and fish.
GRASS ROOTS UP IS A PRESCRIPTION FOR CHANGE….CHANGE FROM THE GRASS ROOTS UP
SO…. if you want to be privy to the actual prescription…
Well ….Join us and get to participate in implementing our mandate and with healthy cattle and co-operative effort be part of the prescription for healthy farms, healthy people and a healthy community.
