an actor-network theory examination of cheese and whey production in ontario

190 Pages·2013·1.16 MB·English

by  Scott Lougheed

AN ACTOR-NETWORK THEORY EXAMINATION OF CHEESE
AND WHEY PRODUCTION IN ONTARIO

by

Scott Cameron Lougheed

A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology
in conformity with the requirements for
the degree of Master of Arts

Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
(September, 2013)

Copyright © Scott Cameron Lougheed, 2013
Abstract
In this thesis, I explore the phenomena of cheese production in Ontario, Canada. I
initiated this project after learning that some cheese producers in Ontario that were
struggling to stay in business, in part because of whey management issues, especially as
they relate to the Ontario Nutrient Management Act O. Reg 267/03 (OMAFRA 2002). In
this thesis, I utilize the Actor-Network Theory (Latour 2005) approach to examine how
certain elements of cheese production in Ontario are organized, with an emphasis on
whey management and utilization. Of interest are tensions that threaten to destabilize
these relations, such as controversies over how whey should be handled, how identities
such as “artisan” or “industrial” cheese producers are constructed and maintained, and
how smaller producers sustain themselves in a market in which they compete with large-
scale industrial cheese production were examined. Interviews took place with seven
participants involved in government, agriculture, and cheese production.
Participant/observation data were collected in six field sites (cheese factories, farms). I
found that humans and nonhumans perform significant work in holding cheese
production and whey management together, even in situations commonly understood as
under human mastery or control. In particular, I found that the manner by which relations
between entities both human and nonhuman are governed, through law or through
informal expectations (e.g., "protocol"; Galloway and Thacker 2007), is responsive to,
and emergent from, these relations.

ii
Acknowledgements
Many thanks are owed to the human and nonhuman participants who allowed me
to interview them, observe them, and work by their side. In addition to making this thesis
possible, these experiences were personally enriching.
Thanks to my supervisor Dr. Myra Hird for her immense patience and
encouragement over the last two years. Her mentorship has been invaluable in helping me
achieve this milestone and in preparing me for the next.
I am grateful for the valuable expertise and guidance from my thesis committee,
Drs. Betsy Donald and Mick Smith. Their contribution greatly improved the quality of
my thesis.
Thanks also to the Department of Sociology for the essential resources and
support over the last two years.
My thanks to my mother Susanne von Heyking, her partner Mark Hergott, and my
brother Ian Lougheed for their persistent interest in the subject matter and for convincing
me, even in times of severe self-doubt, that I have something interesting to say.
I owe immense gratitude to my partner Jess Lougheed, without whom I would
have likely fallen apart at the seams, along with this thesis, long ago. It was her constant
reassurance, her patience during my busiest times, and the little gestures that made hours
of continuous work tolerable. It was her love, support, and the kicks in the pants that
allowed me to accomplish this.
iii
Table of Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ ii!
Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... iii!
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................... vi!
List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................... vii!
Chapter 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1!
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1!
1.2 Ontario Cheese Production .................................................................................................... 9!
1.2.1 Cheese Producers ............................................................................................................ 9!
1.2.2 Governing Cheese Production ....................................................................................... 12!
1.2.3 Whey Processors ........................................................................................................... 14!
Chapter 2 Theoretical Considerations ............................................................................................ 18!
2.1 Separating the human and nonhuman .................................................................................. 18!
2.2 Bridging the Gap .................................................................................................................. 22!
2.3 Actor-Network Theory ......................................................................................................... 38!
2.4 Power in ANT ...................................................................................................................... 45!
2.5 Punctualization: Simplifying Networks ............................................................................... 51!
2.6 Micro and Macro .................................................................................................................. 52!
2.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 54!
Chapter 3 Methods ......................................................................................................................... 55!
3.1 ANT, Method, and Practice ................................................................................................. 57!
3.2 Sampling .............................................................................................................................. 62!
3.3 Recruitment, or how I attempted to gain access .................................................................. 63!
3.4 Data Collection ..................................................................................................................... 65!
3.4.1 Interviews and Observation ........................................................................................... 66!
3.5 Analyzing Data ..................................................................................................................... 73!
3.5.1 Accessing Nonhumans .................................................................................................. 74!
3.5.2 Using Texts in an ANT Analysis .................................................................................. 75!
Chapter 4 Entering the Network .................................................................................................... 80!
4.1 From Subsistence to Big Industry ........................................................................................ 81!
4.2 Regulations ........................................................................................................................... 84!
4.3 The Nutrient Management Act ............................................................................................. 88!
Chapter 5 Tracing the Relations of Cheese/Whey Production ....................................................... 95!
iv
5.1 Uncovering Nonhuman Agency ........................................................................................... 95!
5.2 Relationality, Agency, and Legislation .............................................................................. 101!
5.2.1 Legislation and protocol .............................................................................................. 102!
5.3 Protocol and Expectation ................................................................................................... 109!
5.3.1 The Whey Protocol ..................................................................................................... 112!
Chapter 6 Enacting Cheese/Whey Producers ............................................................................... 119!
6.1 “Rounding out the business” .............................................................................................. 121!
6.2 Interessement: Aligning the Actants .................................................................................. 126!
6.2.1 Relationality and emergence ....................................................................................... 136!
6.2.2 Enacting the Artisanal and the Industrial .................................................................... 138!
Chapter 7 Heterogeneity and Durability ...................................................................................... 141!
7.1 Differentiation and Flexibility ............................................................................................ 142!
7.2 Anaerobic Digestion, Biodiversity, and “Courtship” ......................................................... 145!
Chapter 8 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 150!
8.1 Limitations ......................................................................................................................... 152!
8.2 The limitations of ANT ...................................................................................................... 154!
8.3 Future Directions and Concluding Remarks ...................................................................... 161!
References .................................................................................................................................... 167!

v
List of Tables
Table 1. Locations of Field Work and Interviews ........................................................................ 164!
Table 2. Citation Glossary for Data ............................................................................................. 166!

vi
List of Abbreviations
ANT – Actor-Network Theory
CFIA – Canadian Food Inspection Agency
DFO – Dairy Farmers of Ontario
OC3 – Odour Category 3
OMAFRA – Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs
NASM – Non-agricultural source material
NMA – Nutrient Management Act
MOE – Ontario Ministry of the Environment
vii
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Introduction
In this thesis, I explore the phenomena of cheese production in Ontario, Canada. I
initiated this project after learning about cheese producers in Ontario that were struggling
to stay in business, in part because of issues related to managing their whey (Farmers
Forum 2007; VanDusen 2008, 2006). Many small cheese producers spread their whey on
farmland, including during the winter, but the Ontario Nutrient Management Act O. Reg
267/03 (OMAFRA 2002) introduced in 2002 made changes to how whey could be
handled in relation to farmland. One controversial aspect of the legislation is that organic
substances including whey can no longer be spread on farmland during winter months to
limit the risk of its accumulation in potentially harmful levels when the soil is unable to
absorb it (ibid). This theme is explored in greater detail in Chapter 4. Larger producers,
on the other hand, are generally unaffected as they are capable of taking advantage of
other methods of managing their whey, generally processing that whey into raw
ingredients used by food processors or nutrition supplement producers.
Whey is produced when either an acid or an enzyme such as rennet (or its
synthetic equivalent) is added to milk. The addition of these coagulants causes a gelling
of the casein protein, trapping the fat. As the fats and casein proteins gel, the majority of
the water, lactose, whey proteins, minerals, a small amount of fat, bacteria, nitrogen,
1
phosphorous and potassium, and a variety of other substances in minute quantities are
ejected from the curd as whey (Law and Tamime 2010: 2).
Cheese production cannot be separated from whey production; cheese production
is really cheese/whey production in that one is always implied in the other1.
Approximately 90% of the milk volume used in cheese production is converted to whey,
which means that cheese producers make nine times more whey than they do cheese. I
draw attention to this because cheese producers’ continued operation is contingent on
having a strategy for managing whey. If a cheese producer cannot properly manage their
whey, they cannot produce cheese. It is also important to draw attention to the growing
role whey plays in the profitability of industrial cheese producers. Industrial cheese
producers increasingly rely on the production and sale of whey-based food processing
ingredients as a significant proportion of their revenue (Saputo 2010). Cheese producers
at all levels of production have adopted a variety of practices involving numerous
stakeholders only made visible when the “whey” portion of “cheese/whey” is considered.
Cheese producers manage whey by several methods, including: processing the
liquid whey into functional food processing ingredients (powders that thicken, gel, or
perform some other function in food processing); or nutrition supplements (e.g., whey
protein powder); feeding to pigs; spreading whey on fields as fertilizer; and more recently

1 Though this relationship is growing increasingly asymmetrical. New technologies that allow for the
production of cheese with reduced whey separation means that the production of cheese no longer implies
the production of whey in all cases. Likewise, whey protein products have become so lucrative there are
food processing ingredient manufacturers who curdle milk solely to extract whey, and while this process
produces curds, they are not useable to produce conventional cheeses (they are typically turned into
“cheese flavouring” or similar) (Dr. Jenkins Interview 15/10/2012). Thus there is now cheese without
whey, and whey without cheese.
2
whey is being used in anaerobic digesters where bacteria break down the whey to
produce methane that is then combusted to recover energy. Whey contains several of
important nutrients, including protein and phosphorous important to the diets of pigs, and
can offset commercial dry feed spending for farmers who raise animals (Ryder 1980;
Smithers 2008). One kilogram of liquid whey will offset 70 grams of barley in the diet of
a pig. When spread on fields, whey is also an effective fertilizer due to high
concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorous (primary ingredients in industrially produced
fertilizers); increasing corn crop yields by 110 bushels per acre if applied in the correct
quantities (Ryder 1980: 74).
In contrast to offsetting the cost of commercial dry feed or fertilizer, there are
other more controversial methods for managing whey such as holding whey in lagoons or
pits, or disposing of whey into municipal sewers, rivers, or other waterways. These
methods are generally contrary to environmental legislation or subject to public scrutiny
as a result of odours (Chatzipaschali and Anastassios 2012; Menzies 1994; Ontario Water
Resources Commission 1970; Riedle 2011; Rutley 2005; Smithers 2008). Whey has a
very high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) —which refers to the amount of oxygen
consumed during biotic decomposition of an organic material (Penn, Pauer and Mihelcic
2006)—meaning that large amounts of oxygen are consumed during biotic decomposition
producing anaerobic conditions resulting in the death of oxygen-dependent biota such as
fish in waterways. BOD is often used as a way of describing the strength or concentration
of a particular waste, as higher BOD suggests a greater environmental impact, or a
3