Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine at Canadian Universities

our disposal far more land (tilled as well as pastures) per person than most others. There are two dramatic consequences of this happening. This was the first time hunger disappeared from the Western scene. During this 1850-1950 period, transcontinental railroads and transoceanic shipping permitted long distance hauling of food and feed. All this laid the foundation for the world trade pattern, which ever since has been the dominant pattern. This will now be challenged. Three hundred years of global colonialism directed towards the warm latitudes resulted in insignificant migration, but gave rise to a landdemanding plantation economy, the main objective of which was to provide the needs of the homelands. In this way the feeding basis of the inhabited countries shrunk, often to the serious detriment of the indigenous peoples. In this great global operation Western man almost doubled his tilled land. The Western feeding base was vastly extended. In the postwar period there has been a spectacular repeat of this in the harvesting of the oceans, under the leadership of the U.S.S.R., Japan and Europe. The U.S. has emerged as the biggest buyer of fish and fish products on the world market, to the tune of 1.5 billion dollars per year. The result is that this "last continent" has not been tapped to feed the hungry world, but the reverse. Of the catches, 4/5ths end up among the well-fed. Signs of overfishing abound. World trade in food and feed has been geared to secure the nutritional affluence in Europe, Japan and, since 1972, also the U.S.S.R. Aid deliveries have shrunk and procurements by major developing countries like China, India, Indonesia and others have fallen far below procurements by countries like, Japan, the United Kingdom, West Germany, and Italy. North America is the major provider, yet, several paradoxes prevail. For instance, the U.S. has become the world's largest buyer of beef as well as casein. The ranks of net-importing countries are rapidly swelling as population pressures grow, for example, most of the Caribbean, South Korea, Nigeria, Egypt, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, etc. Europe and Japan have had to create vast global survival bases. For Europe this amounts to an added tilled acreage of more than 60 million hectares. Several European countries seemingly with as little tilled land per person as some Asian nations have doubled their land availability through this device. Japan depends on a "ghost acreage" in trade exceeding three times the tilled land of the homeland. The North American prairie, the Argentinian pampas and Australia are the main partners of this shadow kingdom, and Europe and Japan are the chief beneficiaries in the world's flow of food and feed. Each year, Europe buys more plant protein than the whole Indian subcontinent eats, while Japan has started to buy approximately one-third of that amount in recent years. Europe is receiving 40% of all cereal grain deliveries to the world market, as well as 90% of its oilseed cake and meal. Japan is the recipient of 37% of the cereal flow to Asia (with only 5% of Asia's people). Europe is also buying almost as much peanut protein from India (chiefly through meal) as from Africa, and together this peanut protein would suffice to supplement adequately the cereal diet of almost 150 million people. U.S. soybeans have frequently been touted as a major contributor for alleviating world hunger. This is highly deceptive since only a fraction is ever channeled into human food. U.S. export of soybean protein as beans and meal, with Europe and Japan as chief recipients, carries the potentiality of su pplementing the diet of no less than 1.5 billion cereal eaters. Less than 5 percent now serves this purposes. (Reported and abstracted by M. E. Stiles, with special thanks to Dr. G. Borgstrom for making a copy of this text available to the CIFST Journal)

AGRICULTURE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE AT CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES There are II faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine at Universities across Canada. The deans of these faculties recently published a "national statement" on their functions in support of the farming and food industries, in the Canadian economy, and in Canadian society as a whole; and the limitations that they are experiencing in trying to meet the demands and expectations of society. The following is abstracted from the preamble to the report: "The Faculties find themselves chronically underfinanced despite widespread government and public lipservice to the essential importance of food production and the need to apply education and research to its increase. They lack funds for current activities other than teaching students; they do not have enough staff to achieve appropriately small classsizes; and they have neither the time nor the money to undertake research that is needed and of which they are otherwise capable. "As a result, the II Faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine are intellectual resources that are being exploited to only a fraction of

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their potential. Areas of underdeveloped potential, besides research ill 1

~Iude continuin& education services for Canadian farmers and the

fOodi

mdustry profeSSIOnals and community servIce on a local, regional na 1 tional and international scale. ' -; "The absence of long-range national policies for agriculture limits j the ability of the Faculties to plan efficiently for the future. Without trUly' comprehensive national strategies, neither education nor research can be conducted on other than an uncoordinated ad hoc basis. "The Deans wish to impress on all Canadians, and most particularl on the federal and provincial governments, the urgent need for ration~ reforms in the professional support system for agriculture in Canada. The Faculties are an essential part of this support system, and therefore must be involved in the planning and carrying out of such reforms." In the meantime, the II Deans of Agriculture and Veterinary Medi. cine have resolved to continue the consultation that brought them to this point, and to proceed with joint planning. But national planning at the university level cannot be effectively implemented without financial and political support at the federal and the provincial levels of government. The II Faculties include: - The Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Truro, Nova Scotia, - The Faculty of Agriculture, Macdonald College, St.-Anne de Bellevue, Quebec. - Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Laval University, Quebec, Quebec. - Ontario Agricultural College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario. - Faculty of Agriculture, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba. - College of Agriculture, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Sas. katchewan. - Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta. - Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of British Columbia, Van· couver, B.C. - School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montreal, St-Hyacinthe, Quebec. - Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario - Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Copies of this "National Statement" are available from the deans of the faculties across Canada.

CONFERENCE ON THE USE OF SCIENTIFIC METHODS FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ. From May 3 to 9, 1975 this Conference was held in Baghdad under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, the Supreme Agricultural Council of the Republic of Iraq and the University of Baghdad. A few foreign participants were invited, including agricultural scientists from each of the following countries: East Germany. Canada, France, Mexico, Philippines, U.S.A., India. Lebanon and Egypt. Dr. Michael Stiles from the School of Household Economics at the University of Alberta was invited to attend, and presented a paper entitled: "The Need for Food Science and Technology in Agricultural Development". The following is Dr. Stiles' Report on the Conference: The "National Statement" of the Faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine at Canadian Universities is of particular interest relative to the Agricultural Conference held in Iraq from May 3-9. Unlike the concern being expressed by Canadian Faculties, the government of Iraq is placing high priority on the development of their agriculture. It is sIgnificant that their Ministry is the "Ministry of Agriculture and Agranan Reform". In Babylonian times, it is estimated that the area covered by Iraq, supported a population of 30.000.000 people. Today, Iraq has a population of close to 10,000,000, and is currently far from self-sufficient in food production. . Increased agricultural production in Iraq will require not only agncultural development, but also agrarian reform. Indeed, the Conference addressed itself to these needs, and discussed the following topics: I. Soil improvement and water resources in agricultural development. 2. Ways and means of increasing agricultural production. 3. The agricultural labour force. 4. Utilization and maintenance of farm mechanization. 5. Animal production improvement. 6. Agricultural practices in relation to agricultural development. 7. Research priorities. 8. Optimum use of materials for agricultural development. J. Inst. Can. Sci. Technol. Aliment. Vol. 8. No.3. 1975