A few weeks ago an old friend on the West Coast sent me an email about worms. He is generally concerned with more exalted matters and is not, like your friends, one who routinely sends out YouTube links about very cute pets. Apparently he had remembered a long-ago lecture at what was then Waterloo Lutheran University. It was for a geography class and the subject was about what is now referred to as “Worm Grunting” (Wikipedia prefers “Worm Charming”. Such lectures are easier to recall (or attend) than those about Kant.
He probably also recalls the Kant lectures, but knowing that I am better able to deal with more earthly subjects, he was kind enough to send it along with the suggestion that it might be a subject this blog can handle. I am not above accepting such challenges and will attempt to interest you in worms, which is far easier than attempting to learn about Kant.
The first reason you should carry on is that you will enjoy the video, especially if you are interested in what the citizens of Sopchoppy, Florida do when they are out there in the Apalachicola National Forest. If you are academically inclined and need more convincing, I will just say that the video is provided and the process explained in this article in The Smithsonian Magazine: “How To Charm Worms Out of the Ground: The Art of Worm Grunting,” Colin Schultz, Smithsonianmag.com, Aug, 15, 21014 (additional sources and links are provided below.)
The other two reasons are Canadian related and will help me keep up my CanCon quota. You will be astonished to know that currently dew worms or nightcrawlers are a significant cash crop and that recently Toronto was referred to as ‘the worm capital of the world.’ Ontario worms also have historical significance, in that they attracted American attention and were the subjects of a widely syndicated article. As far as I can tell, the worm incident of almost thirty years ago was one of only two occasions in the last one hundred years when Canada was the subject of a news story in the United States.
The Current Worm Situation
Luckily for me, the worm industry in Ontario is the subject of a recent study which will provide you with all the data you need. The harvesting of worms is a significant agricultural endeavour worth around $230 million. Here are some of the major conclusions from the study done by Mr. Joshua Steckley and more information about it is provided below:
Highlights
*The global supply of 700 million dew worms for bait comes from Southwestern Ontario.
*Low tillage hay fields and manure application ensure perpetually high dew worm populations.
*Dairy farmers rent their land to worm pickers for between $800 and $1200/acre.
*Some dairy farmers view worms as a cash crop and work them into their multiyear rotations.
*Current worm pickers tend to be Southeast Asian immigrants, primarily Vietnamese.
The Historical Worm Wars
I vaguely recall stories about 'worm hunters' and flickering lights in fields along Highway 401. In 1993 there were accidents along that highway involving worm pickers and that was the Canadian subject that caught the attention of Americans. The syndicated story was widely circulated in both countries under headlines like these: "We've Got One Really Slimy Problem Here"; "Worms on the Highway"; "Worms On the Road: Recipe For Disaster" and "CANADIAN IMPORT OPENS A WHOLE CAN OF WORMS." The article is by Dave Barry, the Pulitzer Prize winning humorist and it is easily found back in July, 1993. A portion of it is provided here and it is funny, particularly the last paragraph where he makes fun of Canadians and Rush Limbaugh.
In May, the Canadian Press Service sent out a report that began: "GEORGETOWN, Ontario - More than 50 worm pickers beat each other with steel pipes and pieces of wood in a battle over territory." The story states that two rival worm-picking groups "arrived at the same spot at the same time" and started fighting over who would pick worms there. A number of people were hospitalized . . . and a van was set on fire.
You may have the same questions I did:
1. These people were fighting over WORMS?
2. Is there some kind of new drug going around Canada?
In an effort to answer these questions, I spoke with detective Sgt. Michael Kingston of the Halton Regional Police. He told me that worm-picking is a big deal in Ontario, which produces a long, fat style of worm that is prized by fisherpersons as well as the fish.
"There's a huge market," Kingston said. "On a good evening, an industrious worker can make about $185 picking these worms." He said there's intense competition for prime picking locations such as golf courses, where the worms come to the surface at night to breed and and soak up dew.
Kingston said the pickers, many of whom are Vietnamese immigrants, wear miners' hats with headlamps and drop the worms into cans strapped to their ankles. Doesn't that sound romantic, in a Wild West kind of way? I like to think that, at the end of the night, the pickers stride into the Worm Pickers Saloon, where they pay for whiskey by slapping nightcrawlers on the bar.
But this is not what happens. What happens is that the pickers load vast quantities of worms into their vehicles and proceed to drive on Canadian highways. This has led to a scary new development: worm spills. I am not making this up. Here's a quotation from a May 25 story written by Timothy Appleby for the Toronto Globe and Mail:
"TORONTO - A van carrying a group of worm pickers overturned west of Toronto yesterday morning, leaving eight people injured . . . The accident occurred a few hundred meters from where another van full of worm pickers crashed and rolled 10 days ago, sending 18 people to the hospital."
The story quotes a constable as saying "I've never seen so many worms in my life."
As any safety professional will tell you if he has been drinking, worms on the highway are a recipe for disaster. Suppose a tour bus is tooling along a Canadian highway at a speed of 130 hectares per centigram, the unsuspecting passengers chatting away happily in Canadian ("Eh?" "Eh?" "Eh?") when suddenly their laughter turns to screams as the bus encounters a worm slick and spins, out of control, off the road, and the passengers are hurled out of doors and windows, landing in the Canadian woods, injured and moaning, unable to protect themselves from wild mooses pooping on them or sadistic beavers repeatedly tail-slapping their faces.
Your natural reaction, as a humanitarian, is: "So?" But perhaps you will not be so blase when I inform you that, according to a Canadian bait expert (I am still not making this up), most of the Canadian worm crop is shipped to the United States. Yes. This means you could find yourself in a car behind a truck containing 137.4 bazillion Canadian earthworms. And if, God forbid, something went wrong and the truck's cargo suddenly got dumped onto the road, you could find yourself plowing into a writhing slime-intensive worm mass nearly TWICE the size of Rush Limbaugh.
That should be enough about worms for now. Alert readers, however, are not wondering about worms, but rather about the other episode I alluded to - the one other Canadian incident that was reported south of the border. I can provide only anecdotal evidence for this, but I recall a remark made by a friend early in the 1970s. He was a professor, however, so his observation is credible. He said that during the entire year he spent on sabbatical in the United States, the only mention of Canada he could recall was in the story about Prime Minister Trudeau dating Barbra Streisand. After an exhaustive search I found no other mentions of Canada during the last hundred years. I was able to determine, however, that Trudeau did date Streisand, although the author of the source is now persona non grata: "Pierre Trudeau and His (Many) Women," Margaret Wente, The Globe and Mail, Oct. 28, 2009.
The Bonus:
Since most of you will not go any further, I will provide the bonus here. The fellows in the forest reminded me of Elwood P. Suggins. Fans of Jonathan Winters will remember him. Enjoy this video.
Sources:
Presented first is the source for the Steckley study and some articles about it. The older material follows:
"Cash Cropping Worms: How the Lumbricus Terrestris Bait Worm Market Operates In Ontario, Canada." Joshua Steckley, Geoderma, 2020;363: (The Global Journal of Soil Science).
Abstract:Anecic earthworms such as Lumbricus terrestris are ecosystem engineers whose impacts on soil fertility and remediation have been extensively researched. The majority of L. terrestris used for such research and practical remediation applications are procured through the largely unknown bait worm market that serves freshwater recreational fishermen across North America and Europe. Some earthworm researchers have questioned the use of these bait worms for research and soil inoculations because of their untraceable origins, unknown environmental exposures and growing conditions, as well as the sustainability of harvesting practices. However, there has been no recent study of this unique industry and how it hand-picks hundreds of millions of L. terrestris worms annually from a single region in southwestern Ontario. This paper provides a detailed description of how land and labour are currently organized to supply the world market for the valuable L. terrestris, commonly known as the “Canadian Nightcrawler” bait worm. Based on 59 semi-structured depth interviews, the findings show there are an estimated 500 to 700 million worms picked annually from farmer fields that stretch between Toronto and Windsor, Ontario. Dairy farms in particular have emerged as de facto L. terrestris production sites because of their perennial alfalfa crops, heavy manure application, and reduced tillage practices. This has made L. terrestris the most lucrative crop in the region with many farmers leasing land to worm-picking operations for over $1000 CND per year ($750 USD/ €685) — approximately four times the regional rental rates. Worm-pickers have historically been recent immigrants to Ontario with the majority of current pickers coming from Vietnam. Worm pickers make $20CND ($15 USD, €13.50) per thousand worms, and can pick over 20,000 worms per night in optimal field conditions (moisture, temperature, wind, moonlight). The piece-rate wages tend to reward speed and efficacy with some pickers capable of making over $600 in a single night. This peculiar arrangement between dairy farmers, soils, and worm pickers opens avenues for socio-economical, agronomical and ecological studies of commercial L. terrestris harvesting.
"Agriculture - Dairy Farms; Data on Dairy Farms Reported by Researchers at University of Toronto (Cash Cropping Worms: How the Lumbricus Terrestris Bait Worm Market Operates In Ontario, Canada)" Agriculture Week, April 9, 2020.
"Getting a Grip on the Wild World of Worm Picking: The Bait Worm Industry is Worth an Estimated $230 million, According to a Study From the University of Toronto,"
By: Maxine Betteridge-Moes ,Guelph Today, Aug. 24, 2020.
"Dekker Family Follows Environmental Farm Rules," The Wellington Advertiser, n.d.
An interesting article by the owner of "Country Bait". For example, you will find out that the industry has changed: When Dekker began worms were picked at golf courses; today he will not even accept worms from them. First, the chemicals used on the grass made those worms smaller, and many of them are now black. He said a desirable worm is one that is pale or translucent. Two or three black worms in a flat of 500 might be okay, but more than 30 and the entire flat could die.
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"Niagara Worm Wars Getting Rough," Tom Spears, Toronto Star, July 9, 1986.
Worm pickers who sneak on to farms without permission in the middle of the night are at the heart of the growing confrontation.
And farmers who were once content to call police to deal with trespassers are changing: One worm picker who came too close to a farmer's garage had a pair of shotgun blasts fired over his head in an impromptu arrest, and sources say one picker was "tied up and beaten severely."
The lucrative bait business has turned rough, and may get rougher.
"Second Spill Reveals Rough Trade Business in Worm Capital of the World Sparks Turf Wars," Timothy Appleby, The Globe and Mail, May 25, 1993.
A van carrying a group of Vietnamese worm pickers overturned west of Toronto yesterday morning, leaving eight people injured - one seriously - and six or seven unaccounted for after they fled.
By coincidence, the single-vehicle accident on Highway 401 near Milton occurred a few hundred metres from where another van full of Vietnamese worm pickers crashed and rolled 10 days ago, sending 18 people to hospital.
"They should be installing a worm-crossing zone or something," said Milton Ontario Provincial Police dispatcher Jane Fleet. "It's a bit of deja vu."
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The Wikipedia entry is found under: "Worm Charming."
Toronto as "Worm Capital" is found in this article: "Worm Picking a Slippery Industry in Toronto," Dan Taekema, Toronto Star, Oct.26, 2015.
Apparently they used to have a "Worm Festival" in Shelburne, ON and they still have one in Sopchoppy.
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