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Doubling Up
Morley Walker of Plumas had an amazing of seven sets of twins in his Simmental herd this fall with 11 surviving calves. The cows are Red Simmental bred to Black Simmental bulls. Currently they are feeding 4 of the calves as the mothers can not produce enough milk for both.
Manitoba’s Rural Women’s Day Holding Two Events
Manitoba Rural Women’s Day is scheduled for October 15 in Rivers and on October 29 in Dugald. To register and learn more go to mbwi.ca and join us for Manitoba rural women day. In this, the Year of the PULSE, Winnipeg will be host to the 10th Canadian Pulse Research Workshop. The workshop includes sessions on Genetics and Plant Breeding, Agronomy and Pathology, Environment and Nutrition and Food. The workshop will be held at the Delta Hotel in Winnipeg October 25-28. There will be an additional workshop, pulse protein quality on the afternoon of October 28. To get more information and register go to pulseresearch.ca.
September 30, 2016
The Forks is All About the Big Manitoba Honey Show The Annual Manitoba Honey Show will be held from September 30 to October 2 at The Forks Market in the Annex off of the Centre Court. The theme for this year’s honey show will be “Local Honey is Better Honey”, showcasing the versatility and the many varieties of Manitoba Honey available to the local consumer. Many other events are also scheduled over the weekend. There will be a static display of beekeeping equipment, a display of honey in its many forms. A live honeybee observation hive for the public to get a safe and up close look of our favorite pollinator. There will also be sampling of a variety of fine Manitoba honey in its many forms, including jams, jellies and spreads. Beekeepers from the prairie provinces will be entering their best honey in nine different competition classes and posters and photography related to beekeeping will be on display. The annual photo contest will be in full swing, displaying all of our members’ entries for the public to view. There will be an opportunity to taste some of the honey produced by local beekeepers, and to purchase fresh natural honey, honey comb, creamed honey as well as honey jams like strawberry, lemon, cherry or blueberry. Honey offered for sale this year will range in taste and flavor from the light Clover to the dark Buckwheat. Other honeys for sale will be Basswood, Canola, Dandelion, Sunflower and Wildflower. Part of a working hive, enclosed in glass will be on display with beekeepers nearby to answer questions. The Annual Honey Show is sponsored by the Manitoba Beekeepers’ Association and is organized by the local Winnipeg Red River Apiarists’ Association. Come and see the many ways that honey is used as nature’s natural sweetener in food and industry. Enjoy Manitoba honey everyday.
September 30, 2016
The AgriPost
September 30, 2016
The AgriPost
The Most Sought After Tractor By Les Kletke Rolly Wiebe has some criteria for the tractors he adds to his collection. “They have to be something unique.” He has 10 tractors and all but one is International, the lone exception is a D-15 Allis Chalmers. Wiebe said his dedication to International began on his uncle’s farm at Carberry. “I spent a summer with him and drove a WD 9 which was a big tractor for the time,” said Wiebe who operates Rollybuilt Trucks are Blumenort. The business houses a shop that provides him the opportunity to work on his tractors needing a bit
of restoration work. He had two units in this year’s Tractor Trek that made the journey from Steinbach to Richer, Farmall MTA and an International 1206. The MTA is a Farmall Model M, with a torque amplifier. The two-speed shifter gave the tractor 10 forward speeds and two reverse. “It was the first year they had a torque amplifier and it is 6 inches longer that the standard Model M,” he said. The tractor was built at the Rock Island, Illinois plant and was produced for a decade. “It was the beginning of the torque amplifier
and the shift on the go,” said Wiebe. “Soon they were available on all models and it became a standard feature.” The model 1206 Wheatland may be the most sought after tractor. It was the first model offered by International that topped 100 horsepower. “It has the checker board grill that is painted white, the rims are white and it has a straight pipe exhaust, all features that make it a bit special and sought after by collectors.” There were 1,289 of these tractors built from 1965-67 and his was built in the last year of production. It sold
for just under $10,000 USD. Wiebe is not content to have a row of tractors standing around, he as an International swather and pull type combine that he uses for threshing demonstrations. This year he took the
unit out in a field of wheat on August 30. “The combine has a Farmall A type engine on it,” he said. “So it is working pretty hard in this crop. We used to grow 20 bushels an acre wheat crop at the time and the crop we
took off this year was 65 bushels an acre.” He chuckled, “The engine was working pretty had all day, there is no carbon in it.” He also plans to take part in a plowing day later this fall at Langside Dairy.
The AgriPost
High Levels of Mycotoxin Should be a Big Concern By Harry Siemens Dr. Denise Beaulieu, an Assistant Professor in Monogastric Nutrition with the University of Saskatchewan said, while harvested grain contaminated by low levels of DON can be mixed down with clean grain to acceptable levels, heavily contaminated grain should not be fed to pigs. As a result of abnormally high amounts of rainfall during the growing season, spring cereal crops throughout Manitoba and Saskatchewan have levels Fusarium Head Blight, a mould which produces Deoxynivalenol, or DON, a mycotoxin that can cause depressed feed intake, decreased growth and in extreme cases death. Dr. Beaulieu said extremely small levels of DON would have an impact. “CFIA recommends for all classes of swine that we don’t go above one part per million, that’s one milligram per kilogram, in swine diets,” she said. “We have done research where, in
different diets and this has been for weanling pigs, we have gone a little bit above that and not seen too strong an effect, or effects were not too negative on feed intake of the weanling pig.” However, Dr. Beaulieu said one of the issues with these mycotoxins is, because they’re working with such small levels, one milligram per kilogram, is one part per million, it is hard to know exactly how much is in the sample because it is relatively difficult to get a good analysis of it. “One milligram per kilogram provides us with a good safety factor. If they do suspect or do find mycotoxins and they’re at a relatively low level, the best would be to mix that contaminated grain with some grain that does not contain mycotoxins,” said Beaulieu. “So you dilute out the mycotoxins down to an acceptable level. If the concentrations are so high that they don’t feel confident in using that method, then it would be
best not to feed it at all.” Dr. Beaulieu said, while the presence of mould is evidence there could be mycotoxins present, that is not definite proof but the presence of moulds should be viewed as a warning sign. “Try not to feed grain that looks mouldy. The presence of the mould is evidence that the mycotoxin could be there. It’s not definite but certainly, if you see mould, that means that there could be mycotoxins,” she said. “If they suspect mycotoxins, one of the things they could do is analyze their grains and look for the presence of the mycotoxins but, there again; because sampling is difficult and the analysis is relatively expensive that’s not always a practical solution. For feeding, we’re really looking at whether the mycotoxin is there or not and whether it’s high or low. We don’t need a really, really accurate analysis, but important to get a really good sample.” Beaulieu said if the farmer
September 30, 2016
This Year Safeguard Feed Base from Mycotoxins and Other Quality Risks With early harvest feed grain samples confirming a high-risk year for potential feed quality issues, livestock operations and feed mills are advised to take cautionary steps to safeguard feed quality and livestock performance. “The risk of feed grain quality issues that can affect livestock performance is quite high this year,” said Rob Patterson, Technical Director for Canadian Bio-Systems Inc. (CBS Inc.) “That’s no surprise with the type of growing season it has been across the prairies. In many areas it has been very wet with high disease pressure and high risk of mycotoxins, mold and other issues. We are now seeing the risk confirmed in reports from across the region, based on analysis of early harvest grain samples.” “It’s a year when livestock operations and feed mills will want to be even more diligent than normal in taking the right steps to safeguard the quality of feed and the performance of livestock consuming the feed.” A good starting point is to send in feed grain samples for analysis, said Patterson. “This can identify the presence and level of mycotoxins and other contaminants. Once you know what you’re dealing with you can take the steps needed avoid any issues.” The convenience, sophistication and accuracy of fast test capability has improved dramatically in recent years, said Mark Peters, Director of Sales and Marketing for CBS Inc. “We have seen a lot more interest in the testing. Industry has become more knowledgeable and cautious about the risk out there and how it can impact production. The testing is a good insurance policy and it’s good for peace of mind. Especially in a year like this one.” More information on grain sample analysis options, potential quality issues and options for safeguarding feed and livestock is available by contacting CBS Inc. directly. CBS Inc. offers additional FeedCheck analysis tools. The company also conducts an annual Wheat Survey in cooperation with industry and the University of Manitoba.
is blowing the grain into a bin or augured into a bin that would be the time to sample the grain periodically as it goes in. If it is being made into diets, when the diet is coming out of the mill or when it’s being pelleted taking periodic samples throughout is the best. But, because it is the result of a mould, these moulds can be in pockets throughout a grain bin and that makes it really challenging to get a good sample.
September 30, 2016
The AgriPost
Lagging Behind is a Good Thing Over the years, I have become well aware of our tendency to lag behind our southerly neighbours. Some would say we are a year behind on most trends some would say we are more but it depends on the geographic area you are comparing. Truthfully, I have not done the research on the West Coast lifestyle and I am told that it is a similar approach to life that dominates the west coast of our continent despite a line drawn at the 49th parallel. I do know that in the centre of the continent where agriculture is still a major contributor to the economy we at the northern end tend to be a year or so behind in most on the “leading edge” trends in the industry. That has made me a regular visitor to trade shows south of the border, my intent is to see what we will be doing a year or two from now. There are countless examples that could be cited, they had drones before we did, they had GPS apps before we did and their markets tend to lead ours. Some would say that is even stronger since the disappearance of the CWB. I have been attending Big Iron in Fargo, North Dakota for about 30 years or so, with only the occasion miss. Trend lines in gadgetry? The clear winner was golf carts; in fact, this year one of the exhibitor’s right at the main gate had golf carts available to rent to visitors to tour the show. Yes, I am serious, now we have a large crowd of farmers carrying yardsticks and plastic bags full of material they will never read riding golf carts that can attain speeds of 20 mph. It is a good fun until someone loses an eye. My research indicated that of the dealers’ sales less than 20% of the carts he sold ever saw a golf course, they are, “For farm yards and lake homes,” he said. A trend to watch in the next couple of months is if your neighbour is using a golf cart around the yard. This does not replace the ATV but is rather in addition to. The other trend that shocked me was the concern of American farmers over the down turn in prices, not only commodity prices but land prices. One land broker told me that prices of good quality farmland in the Fargo area were off by 40%, and when the real estate guy tells you that, you know it’s true. What really hit home was the number of farmers asking about counselling services for when the reality of the price drop hits, and who would be there to help those caught by the price squeeze when high land costs and commodity prices are no longer at the levels of 2012. The feeling of the crowd at two panels I sat through was that this was going to be a replay of the 1980s, just missing the high interest rates. They were already talking about how to put pressure on Washington to provide support programs. This time it might be good to lag behind the trend line and maybe use a look at where the trend goes to avoid it.
North vs South By Judy Klassen On my daily drive into the city, I am able to witness the crop cycle, and it never ceases to amaze me the amount of hard work that goes into every season. As a person who grew up with a very short growing season (I am from a remote northern community) I am in awe of the length of the growing season just a few hours south. I’m equally amazed at the quality and quality of the foods produced here in Manitoba. The people of Island Lake originate from an area now called the Old Post. Missionaries had started a farm there and I remember hearing stories of the horses that pulled giant equipment, the thrashing of hay and of milking cows. Having never seen one as a child, I just could not picture the size of a cow, and to this day, even though cat-
tle are quite docile creatures, I still take steps backwards if one approaches me- they are enormous! The Sisters (the Grey Nuns) along with the priest had a small garden with a tiny greenhouse that still stands in my community today. There they also grew about four acres of potatoes for the people. My dad was always so happy to go and get some potatoes from an underground cellar they had built into the side of a hill. Not being able to continue their treasured and quite necessary nomadic lifestyle, put the people in great jeopardy. Where once there were great feasts, our people were now unable to travel freely, and thus, soon depleted the wild game and food in the proximity. And so, the concept of famine entered their lives. Food security is abundant
Canola, Soybeans and the Chinese
Canola, more canola, and lots of canola - I remember when we grew rapeseed in Manitoba, and of course other parts of Canada. I also remember when farmers in the United States didn’t know how to grow canola. The story of the Cinderella crop, when researchers and health officials felt that the old rapeseed was much better suited for oiling engines, and developed a new kind of oil, canola, which stands for Canadian Oil. Well, there are certain parts of the world where they still do that and other parts where they mostly grow canola now for human consumption. I sometimes think that the pulse crops, especially soybeans could well do the same thing for farmers that canola did, helped them pay for many bills when other crops weren’t paying so well. As Dr. Anfu Hou, a Morden bean breeder and scientist told me in an interview recently, the soybean is a beautiful crop to work with, to breed and to grow. With 1.6 million acres in Manitoba this year, and over 70 new varieties to choose from, who knows where the crop could go. The United States has over 80 million acres, and could produce four billion bushels this year. That makes the quantity in Manitoba a drop in the big bucket, and whether we grow 2 million or ten million, it won’t much affect the overall price that is set on the Chicago Board of Trade. What encourages me is the effort the growers, their associations, and researchers put into getting newer and better varieties. As Dr. Hou says, the breeding targets earlier had to do with marketability and how the beans look. I remember when the Froese Brothers of Reinfeld started with growing edible beans; it had mostly to do with how the sample looked, especially when sitting in a plastic bag for everyone to see. Now, Dr. Hou and his colleagues are looking for other measurable and testable traits making sure the bean does the best thing possible to help the farmer make a buck or two. I started writing about canola, but the comparison with the development of the soybeans and canola in Manitoba are somewhat similar. What the soybeans need now is a crushing plant so farmers can keep the product at home and not have to ship it out. Much better to move the beans via bottles and packages than bulk. I started to comment on the spat that the Chinese are having with canola issues involving Canada. There seem to be many sides to this story, but whenever the Chinese change something in the form of dockage, variety, and or even disease requirements, it smacks of a noneconomic tariff. Later, China agreed to delay introducing stricter rules on shipments of canola from Canada while both countries work to end the trade spat - in the words of web site Ag Canada.com “offering an 11th-hour temporary reprieve for Canada’s farmers.” It has to do with the percentage of dockage - dropping from 2.7 percent to one percent. While 2.7 seems to be high, but the industry could live with it, the one percent is a little low. Rob Stone of Davidson, Saskatchewan told me a while back, that most canola really does go that high in dockage, but in his opinion some companies would add screening of whatever to make sure it was at 2.7 percent. That is one opinion. Stone says while one percent is too low and we don’t have cleaning capacity on the Prairies to bring it down to that, capping it off somewhere in between would most likely work for everyone. It also appears that China is needing to buy more canola oil, so let’s ship them oil processed in Canada. Far better, as I said to ship soybeans processed than in its raw form. Provides jobs, money for infrastructure and makes it better off for all concerned. Former Ag Minister Gerry Ritz tells me that asking to keep the dockage down means they’re trying to clean out some of their old canola in China. We’ll wait and see. My good friend Roger Currie says most Canadians don’t know much about Canola, except some of us who are older and wiser remember that it used to be called rapeseed. Yep he has this right too - Canola oil is regarded as the world’s healthiest vegetable oil, and those yellow fields that we drive by on the prairies contain one of Canada’s most valuable exports. “With a population of one and a half billion, China is a major market. Decades ago it was wheat that was king, but now it’s canola,” says Currie, whose Winnipeg perspective never ceases to amaze me. “When Justin Trudeau’s dad Pierre normalized relations with China 45 years ago, who could have imagined that canola would one day be a major issue in that trading relationship.” “Now we have two years to clean up our act, but I couldn’t help thinking, is it not a classic case of the proverbial pot calling the kettle black?” asks Currie. in the south, most people can’t fathom paying $20 for five pounds of potatoes. The cost of food greatly impacts the daily lives of northern residents. A recent report, released early September, by Food Secure Canada has said northern remote communities need to spend over 50% of their monthly income to achieve basic dietary needs. Food insecurity is rampant in
the North, and is my primary reason for taking the role as the Liberal Caucus Agriculture critic. I need to ensure our farmers have a voice, because without them I’m sure we’d see much higher prices if it weren’t for their dedication and their hard work. In Manitoba, approximately 32,000 jobs in agriculture and agrifood industries contribute
approximately $3.6 billion the to provincial economy And in celebration of Farming and Food awareness week that took place September 19 – 25, I would like to thank the volunteers and supporters of the various events that took place throughout the week. Judy Klassen is MLA for Kewatinook.
The AgriPost
A Prius Can’t Pull an Air Seeder
By Todd MacKay and Robin Speer The climate matters to farmers. A timely rain or an early frost can be the difference between staying afloat or handing the farm over to the bank after a foreclosure. But farmers are worried that carbon taxes will threaten their way of life without protecting the environment. Farmers are worried about the cost. A John Deere S690 combine has a fuel tank that holds 1,155 litres. British Columbia is charging a carbon tax of 7.7 cents per litre of diesel. That means farmers would pay $89 in carbon taxes per fill during harvest, and it requires many tanks of fuel to take off millions of tonnes of grain every year. Urban Canadians can buy hybrids to minimize the direct costs of a carbon tax, but a farmer can’t pull an air seeder with a Prius. Even worse, Canadian farmers have to compete in a global market. It’s not likely farmers in the United States will face a carbon tax and farmers in Australia certainly won’t. A carbon tax was already tried Down Under and it’s been discarded. Farmers from Fargo and Wagga Wagga would be happy to take market share from farmers in Battleford and Wetaskiwin who would become less competitive due to a carbon tax, but how would that help the environment? “Ah, but there’s an easy fix,” say carbon-tax advocates. “We’ll just exempt farmers.” British Columbia exempted agriculture from its carbon-tax regime, so there’s a precedent, but even with exemptions, farmers’ livelihoods would remain at risk. If farmers are exempted, someone else will have to bear a disproportionate burden to meet emission reduction targets. The Manitoba government estimates that agriculture accounts for 30 percent of that province’s greenhouse gas emissions. Exempting agriculture would force others to reduce more emissions and that affects farmers. Consider nitrogen fertilizer. Modern agriculture depends on fertilizer, but it’s energy-intensive to produce. Canadian fertilizer producers work hard to minimize emissions, but a carbon tax would force them to raise prices. That would force Canadian farmers to make a difficult decision. Pay a higher price for Canadian fertilizers or buy it from other countries. Again, how would it help the environment to put Canadian fertilizer plants out of business while plants in other countries expand? The questions farmers are asking about carbon taxes go beyond the bills. They have a more practical concern. Will a carbon tax actually work? B.C. implemented its carbon tax in 2008. “Since 2010, B.C.’s GHG emissions have increased every year,” said Marc Lee, an economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. “As of 2013, they are up 4.3 per cent above 2010 levels.” Mr. Lee has a solution. “Let’s cut the crap about B.C.’s carbon tax,” said Mr. Lee. “To be truly effective, carbon taxes will need to be much higher than B.C.’s current rates.” So paying 7.7 cents in tax per litre of diesel isn’t enough to reduce emissions. Canada accounts for 1.6 percent of global emissions. How high would Canada’s carbon tax have to be to have a practical impact, especially if other countries aren’t imposing carbon taxes on their people? Canadian farmers are the best in the world at adapting to a tough climate and they’re already producing more food while using less land, water and fuel per bushel. Canadian farmers have come a long way from sod huts and threshing machines, and they’ll meet new challenges with new crop varieties, new fertilizers and new production practices. But Canadian farmers are worried a carbon tax will undercut their ability to compete with farmers around the world without actually protecting the environment. Todd MacKay is the Prairie Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and Robin Speer is Executive Director for the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association.
Penner’s Points
September 30, 2016
Neighbours
Last month I told you about the sudden, tragic death of my father, Udo Penner. A lot has happened since then, the most amazing of By Rolf which is the response of family, friends and Penner neighbours. They have come together to help me through the most difficult harvest season of my life. At the end of July, while on their way to church, my parents’ car was struck by another vehicle that failed to stop, and more than likely even to slow down, at a stop sign. My father was killed instantly and my mother sent to the emergency room. Mom is home now and recovering. We’re still trying to get used to not having Dad around anymore. Neighbours came to the crash site almost immediately and helped out wherever they could. Some directed traffic, and others helped the fire and paramedic crews. Still others held my parents’ hands and tried to give them comfort and reassurance. This is something that affected the whole community, many of whom had known my Dad their entire life. While I was still in shock and disbelief, they were already talking and planning how to help. Harvest was right around the corner and everyone knew that Dad was my right-hand man. Crops would need to be sprayed, cut, harvested and maybe even dried, and a lot of the machinery wasn’t even ready yet. A barn full of pigs was also ready to be shipped. They knew I couldn’t do it alone. It was going to be a challenging enough harvest even with Dad around. Before I had a chance to even think about any of this, the wheels had already started turning. Crops were getting swathed with multiple units in the same field and tractors on standby to pull them out when they got stuck. Where it was too wet to swath, plans were made to straight-cut those fields, and even that plan had a contingency plan, combines on tracks. And the hog shipping was looked after by some guys who had already been helping us in the past. It is impossible to adequately describe the feelings that come over you when you see something like this happening. Levels of gratitude, thanks and relief are mixed with sorrow and grief, and even a certain amount of pride at the thought of how much my Dad meant to the community and how much they really loved him. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so much love and support coming from so many places all at once. It’s overwhelming in so many different ways to see people who have so many of their own problems and challenges drop everything to come and help someone else. Rural areas have a culture of caring and community. I always kind of knew it was there but at the same time I didn’t really think it was real. Well, now I know just how real it is. In a lot of ways we live in a very cold, uncaring and cynical world. But in times of tragedy farming communities come together in a way that shows us the best that humanity has to offer. Somewhere my Dad is looking down on all of this with a smile on his face and a tear in his eye. These are his neighbours, they are my neighbours, and they are our neighbours. We have a special relationship and a special bond. I know now that I can get through this because they are there for me. There is a debt here that I owe them that I can never repay. Thank you!
Churchill Worth Saving By Dean Harder Most of us take for granted that the majority of our roads and highways are publicly funded and built at cost in order to serve the overall public good. There is no clamour asking why those roads are not being given away to private companies to let road barons’ profit from them. For good reason! If anything, recent events in northern Manitoba should prove to us that like highways, the fate of crucial rail lines should not be in the hands of private companies. The Port of Churchill and the Hudson Bay Railway that serves it have real potential to benefit the communities they connect to if they are publicly owned and managed to serve Canada’s greater public interest. Both are vital infrastructure with important and irreplaceable roles in both our economy and social fabric. Churchill is the Canadian prairies’ only ocean port. It provides an additional route for grain transportation. Utilizing this corridor reduces pressure on the west Coast and Thunder Bay to help prevent logistics bottlenecks when there is a bumper crop. From a farmers’ standpoint, the port can also counteract the inefficiencies caused by vertically integrated grain companies shipping exclusively to their own grain terminals at Canada’s other ports. Shipping grain over the rail line that serves Churchill reduces maintenance costs for prairie highways in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It also supports the line’s economic viability, providing northern residents and tourists a gateway to the North that is less expensive and more environmentally friendly than air travel. In spite of all these benefits, the future of both the port and
the railway are uncertain. Omnitrax abruptly closed the Port of Churchill on July 25, 2016 and the fate of the rail line that connects to the rest of Canada is now up in the air. Today’s situation is the result of a dangerous domino effect set in motion by Omnitrax’s negligence combined with a series of missteps by different governments. It can be traced back to the privatization of Canadian National Railway in 1995, the give-away of the Hudson Bay rail line to American-owned Omnitrax in 1997 and the removal of the farmer-run single desk Canadian Wheat Board in 2011. To secure the port’s benefits for future generations of Canadians, the Federal government should take back ownership of both the Port of Churchill and the Hudson’s Bay Railway. In addition, it needs to take measures to ensure the port remains viable for the communities connected to the rail line and farming communities that are within its catch basin. Northern communities, local workers, businesses and farmers who rely on the line must be part of the decisionmaking for the publicly-owned entity that replaces Omnitrax as owner and manager of these facilities. As they do with roads and highways, the Federal and Provincial governments must commit to investing in the rail line and port infrastructure in perpetuity. There should never be risk of potential selling off line assets. An adequate grain catch basin fed by both CN and CPR railways must be secured to bring grain to the rail line serving Churchill. Storage facilities must be secured, and if necessary, built, to ensure grain is available to feed the port during its operating season. The railway must be set up to
actively facilitate rapid grain movement in years with large crops. Allocating railcars to serve Churchill must be a priority during its active season. The mere existence of the needed facilities is not enough, however. Grain movement is essential for port viability. Therefore, a grain logistics oversight system must be in place to make all the parts work together effectively. A farmer-first orderly marketing agency is needed to secure a strong export market for grain handled through Churchill, along with good prices for farmers. Logistics oversight, together with the marketing agency, would ensure the Port’s viability by meeting or exceeding a 500,000 tonne annual throughput. In short, we need to replicate the function of the single-desk Canadian Wheat Board to ensure both the railway and the port is viable by providing a consistent and reliable flow of grain through the port. Assurances from the private grain merchants are paper thin and do not benefit farmers’ bottom line. With the right plan, the Port of Churchill can be a thriving entity that supports thousands of people and hundreds of businesses while bringing vibrancy to our North. Governments must ensure that the rail line and Port of Churchill belong to the people and must not be sold off or given away ever again. Churchill is our Canadian Prairie and Northern port. We are all Churchill. Dean Harder is a National Farmers Union board member. He farms with his family on their grain farm near Lowe Farm, Manitoba.
September 30, 2016
The AgriPost
Stick with Your Marketing Plan
Bret Oelke and Frayne Olson say that farmers should be equipped with a year long marketing plan and stay with it.
Photo by Les Kletke
By Les Kletke “Why would you spend the time and the money with a market advisor and then throw the plan out the first time you can, to your elevator?” was the question Bret Oelke President of Innovus Agra asked those attending the Panel on Managing Margins, Positioning for Success at Fargo’s Big Iron. Oelke said it is a condition he sees all too often. “We work with a customer to have a plan in place that meets his cash flow needs and takes advantage of the market but when he phones to sell his grain he asks the elevator manager what he thinks and the plan goes out the wind because that guy said the market is moving up.” While the comments brought some chuckles from the audience is was a nervous laughter, the kind that indicates that they were often guilty of the same practice. Oelke stressed that a marketing plan is not just about trying to hit the high spots in the market. “There are a lot of things to consider,” he said. “You need to take into account your cash flow needs and what your commitments are. It is tough to restructure when you have changed you mind about marketing your crop and can’t meet your commitments. That makes for nervous bankers and that is good for no one.” Another factor he recommends farmers consider when developing a yearlong plan is there tax commitments. “You cannot avoid paying tax,” he said. “You may be able to delay it but it still has to be paid and often we make poor decision to avoid tax,” he said. His comment that the high point in the market may not always be the best for an individual raised some eye-
brows. “You have to consider if you are being paid to store the grain on your farm. Sometimes the market is willing to pay you to store grain on your farm and that might be a very good investment by paying for your storage and handling system,” said Oelke. Frayne Olson a Crops Economist/Marketing Specialist in the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University was also a part of the panel and said that lenders today are basing their decisions on cash flow. “If you can cash flow the payments you are much more likely to get a loan, either long or short term and cash flowing those payments means a yearlong plan for marketing your grain,” said Olson. “That is a plan that you should stay with, or alter only with consultation with the lender.
The AgriPost
September 30, 2016
Major Change in Crop Mix Still Points to a Good Harvest By Elmer Heinrichs Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in its September crop outlook, says new data from Statistics Canada’s August 23 report points to a major change in the mix of crops seeded compared to last year. Canada lowered its forecast for domestic wheat production, and farmers will harvest more canola than previously estimated, the government’s statistics agency said. AAFC says a significant increase in the area seeded to pulses and special crops has more than offset the decrease in the area seeded to grains and oilseeds. The production of all field crops is estimated at 87.1 million tonnes (Mt) in 2016, an increase of about four per cent from 2015 and six per cent higher than the average of the five-year period to 2015. However, it is about 11 per cent lower than the record production of 2013. The production of wheat, barley, peas and lentils are estimated to increase in 2016, while the production of canola, soybeans, corn for grain and oats are anticipated to decline. Extremely dry weather conditions in some parts of the country, and very wet conditions in others, especially the west, have played a significant role in the production estimates. The total production of grains and oilseeds is expected to in-
crease slightly as higher yields more than offset the decrease in area seeded. The total production of pulses and special crops is forecast to increase significantly due to higher area seeded and higher yields. While the average Canadian corn yield is expected to be below average, due to the late spring start and dry growing conditions in Ontario and Quebec, Manitoba’s production is expected to be 19 per cent higher than in 2015-16, largely due to a sharp area increase. However, wet summer conditions, due to strong storm activity, were a limiting factor. This year’s canola harvested area is estimated at 8.0 million hectares, and production is estimated at 17.0 Mt, up from the July forecast of 15.9 Mt. This marks a record high pre-harvest estimate for canola production. The 2016-17 planted area in soybeans is estimated at 2.2 million hectares, up slightly from last year due to an expansion of acreage in western Canada. Soybean production is estimated at 5.8 Mt on slightly better than expected growing conditions across Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Canadian dry bean production was forecast to increase marginally, as a rise in seeded area was expected to be offset by lower yields, particularly in Manitoba.
September 30, 2016
The AgriPost
Commodity Markets Should Increase in 2017 By Les Kletke David Drozd believes that commodity markets are nearing their low and will begin to rebound in early 2017. Drozd is a Senior Marketing Analyst with AgChieve and told a farm audience in Fargo, North Dakota that he was optimistic about the markets for 2017. He does not down play current conditions and acknowledges that current prices are a challenge for many farmers to meet their financial commitments. “We are telling our clients to sell enough crop to meet their cash flow commitments to the end of the year but I am optimistic about the markets in 2017.” Another member of the panel Ray Grabanski of Progressive Ag Marketing said that while current wheat prices are at 10-year lows he has hedged about 80% of his wheat crop and managed to get $11.50 for it. “The bottom is near, you need to be patient,” he said. He also pointed to the possibility of a weakening US dollar as being good for commodity prices. He said that the increase in corn yields is also putting downward pressure on
David Drozd and Ray Grabanski were part of a Market Outlook Panel in Fargo and both feel we may be close to a turn around in commodity markets.
Photo by Les Kletke
prices. “In the last ten years we went from a 3 billion bushel corn crop to a 4 billion bushel crop and our exports went from 1.2 billion to 2 billion,” said Grabanski. “We need to find a market for the crop we’re producing and they have to be able to pay for it.” The third member of the panel was Mike Zuzolo and he said that the wheat market typically bottoms about 20-30 days before the corn market. “But now wheat is so low that it is going into the feed lots. At these prices it makes sense for feeders to buy wheat and that is not a good thing for the wheat producers.” Zuzolo is with Global
Commodity Analytics and Consulting, he challenged the farmers present to pay more attention to their marketing, and look to make better profits from selling better. “When I go to a genetics meeting or a precision planter demonstration there are lots of farmers looking for new methods to give them an edge,” he said. “But when it comes to marketing and making more money from the crop you already grew the number of farmers is a lot less.” He expects that corn yields might not reach the expectation of the market this year and some crop was hurt by moisture.
The Dose Makes the Poison A reporter from Toronto was recently interviewing me when she made a startling statement about crop inputs, “Even one molecule of these chemicals can be dangerous.” That statement is, of course, completely wrong. But this is a common point of view that threatens the social license of modern agriculture. All of us involved in agriculture must work together to counter this misperception. Warfarin is an example that clearly demonstrates the importance of “how much”. Warfarin is taken by millions of people every day to help manage heart conditions. When the product is used as a drug it saves many lives. But a little higher dose? Then Warfarin becomes what it was originally designed to be used for – rat poison. The dose or “how much” is clearly important. The science behind product approvals in Canada is not well understood. This is problematic. This lack of understanding is why we have seen the rise of pesticide bans in some provinces. This is why some countries can get away with using pseudo-safety concerns to restrict trade. It is why products like glyphosate viewed with skepticism by some consumers, despite the fact that glyphosate is one of the most studied crop inputs in use today. Glyphosate provides and interesting example. In fact glyphosate is much safer than many things found in your kitchen cupboards. LD50 is the common measure of the toxicity of a substance. The lower the number the more toxic the product. The LD50 of common baking soda is 4,200 mg/kg. The LD50 of vinegar is 3,320 mg/kg. The LD50 of glyphosate is 5,600 mg/kg. In other words, measured scientifically, both baking soda and vinegar are significantly more toxic than glyphosate. Unfortunately, science will not win the hearts and minds of urban consumers. It will be hard to convince people that the vinegar they just put on their fries is actually quite a bit more toxic than many common pesticides. However we can, and must, work together to help build Canadian’s confidence in our strong science based regulatory system. Canada’s science-based regulatory system is one of the strongest and most rigorous in the world. Canadians should not only feel some national pride in the competence of our scientists, they should also take great comfort in the effort and rigour that delivers one of the safest food supplies in the world. The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (part of Health Canada) employs over 350 scientists whose sole purpose is to conduct evaluations of new pesticides and re-evaluations of products that have been on the market for some time. A potential new pesticide must go through over 200 different health and environmental studies before approval is given for use. Our regulatory system is pre-cautionary. Canadian legislation requires a 10-fold margin of safety before products are registered. This means potential exposure must be ten times below the levels that have been scientifically shown to be safe. Canadian legislation and regulation specifically ensures that new products are safe for everyone including the most vulnerable in society, like pregnant women, children and the elderly. Agriculture needs to do a better job of getting the word out on the rigour of our science-based system. Governments too must do a better job of communicating, in plain language, the measures taken to ensure that Canadians are safe. But this is not just a communications exercise. We must do more. “Science-based” applies to more than just government policy. This is also the basic foundation of best management practices on the farm. Pesticide labels provide a good example of the importance of this foundation. The labels on pesticides come out of the rigours science based process at the PMRA. These labels are based on extensive scientific analysis and we rely on this research to ensure that farm inputs do not have a negative impact on human health or the environment. Best practices require a good understanding of the labels on every product used on the farm. Rigorous adherence to science-based labels protect farmers and modern agriculture in general. By sticking to the label guidelines farmers help preserve and promote public trust in the science-based regulatory system. “Public trust” is the most important tool we have to ensure that we preserve a strong objective and science based regulatory system and avoiding a decent into opinion based regulations. Regulations based on latest trend on the internet will result in more and more unpredictable restrictions that stifle innovation and ultimately strangle modern agriculture. Cam Dahl is President of Cereals Canada.
Another Record for Foodgrains Bank By Elmer Heinrichs On the heels of the recent Guinness record-setting Manitoba harvest by 139 threshing machines, Harold Penner, regional representative for Foodgrains Bank, has announced a second record, this one for the smallest harvest. The record for the smallest growing project is being claimed by Ernie Hildebrand, who grew a large corn patch and sold corn to his family, friends and church members in Mather and Crystal City, as well as at a farmers market and garage sale. This raised an amount of $300 for the Foodbank. Penner added that no one has challenged Hildebrand’s claim, “So this is indeed a record”. Regardless of the acreage, it is an individual’s achievement for the sole purpose of helping others who need help. “It’s a different kind of record as it’s not measured in acres, but it’s all for the same purpose, to raise money to alleviate hunger,” said Penner.
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September 30, 2016
The AgriPost
Bayer-Monsanto Deal Latest in Agribusiness Trend
Bayer’s recent announcement that it will buy Monsanto for $66 billion comes just days after fertilizer companies PotashCorp and Agrium confirmed their $30 billion dollar merger deal. Meanwhile, the Chinese agro-chemical giant, ChemChina is in the process of buying Sygenta for $43 billion. Dupont and Dow expect to complete their $68 billion merger by the end of this year. In a joint statement, the different canola associations representing Canadian growers are wary of the merger. “The recent announcement of a merger agreement between Bayer and Monsanto is a cause of serious concern to Canada’s canola farmers. The merger would combine two leading players in Canada’s agriculture industry, significantly reducing competition and consolidating market share in the canola seed, trait and crop protection business. The Competition Act and its enforcement agency, the Competition Bureau, have established review procedures for determining the impact that proposed corporate mergers will have on competition in a sector of the economy. The regulator has the power to impose actions, conditions or require divestitures in a merger agreement to ensure competition is not substantially lessened. Associations representing canola farmers at provincial and national levels, call for a timely and rigorous review by the regulator of the merger’s impact on competition in the canola sector in general, and more specifically at the farm gate. The associations will work with the regulator to ensure canola farmers’ concerns are voiced and that the impact of the merger on canola farmers is fully understood.”
Register Now for “Grass and Green in 2016” CFGA Conference The Canadian Forage and Grassland Association is hosting its 7th annual conference in Winnipeg at the Fairmont, from November 15 - 17. This year’s conference theme is “Grass and Green in 2016” and begins with an optional preconference tour on November 15 to SG&R Farms and the Manitoba Beef & Forage Initiatives research farm. SG&R Farms is a 2,000-acre grain and 300-head cow-calf operation where Ryan Boyd has been rotational grazing for more than 10 years. The MBFI is a centre of agricultural innovation, engaging in science-based research to benefit valuable ecosystems, improve producer profitability, build social awareness around the beef, and forage industries. The main conference will include an exhibition of businesses and organizations that provide products or services to forage producers and grassland managers, or represent a conservation or land stewardship-based organization concerned with the continued loss of Canada’s grasslands, a full line-up of speakers on such topics as environmental protection, research at work, sustainable agriculture systems and forage export development and several virtual farm tours to highlight producers across the country. To register for the Annual CFGA Conference go to the website conference page at canadianfga.com.
Building a Good Overwintering Cow Mineral from the Ground Up
By Peter Vitti It won’t be long before most cow-calf operators bring their cowherd home from pasture for overwintering. They should also be shopping for a good beef cow mineral. I think of a “good” overwintering cow mineral as one that helps meet the mineral and vitamin requirements of the earlyto mid-gestating beef cow by complimenting those nutrients found in forages and feedstuffs fed until the approach of the calving season. It should be tasty to cows and reasonably priced, which in today’s market is between 11 - 15 cents per head, daily. In contrast, a “bad” overwintering cow mineral fails in what a “good” mineral does well. A poor mineral often contains excessive levels of inexpensive ingredients such as limestone and salt as well as low levels of more expensive essential nutrients such as phosphorus and vitamins. Its’ nutrition usually reflects a bottombarrel price of less than 10 cents per head per day. To avoid buyers’ regret later on, this is how I build a good cattle mineral from the ground up. First, I balance a cow mineral for calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P). An average gestating beef cow needs 25 grams of Ca and 18 grams of P per day. In order to complement typical prairie mixed forages; a cattle mineral fed at 70 – 80 grams per head might contain nominal calcium, but should contain at least 7 – 8% phosphorus. As cows approach calving, a new breeder-type mineral might be formulated with higher 8 – 12% P, because pre- and post-calving cows’ requirement increases by 25 – 50%. I often have a built-in buffer over basic gestation cow mineral requirements to account for environment, which can take this mineral up to 10% Ca and 10% P. In such a case, there might be more calcium than needed (without compromising health and nutrition), but it is necessary in order to take advantage of more economical phosphorus sources such as dicalcium phosphate. Aside from meeting these Ca and P levels, our good overwintering cow mineral will probably not need added potassium (K), since prairie forages often contain high to excessive levels beyond the cows’ requirement. In addition, magnesium (Mg) levels in overwintering
forages are modest, so I add only low levels to a gestation cow mineral; however, I have no problem adding more magnesium during periods of grass tetany in early spring. Likewise, I like to see about 10% salt added to assure adequate mineral intake, even though most producers put out loose or block salt to meet this requirement. While such Ca, P, K and Mg are formulated in percentages in our good cow mineral, adequate levels of trace minerals are added in part per million (ppm) and should follow NRC recommended levels for gestating beef cows. On a complete feed basis, we should supply copper – 10 ppm, zinc – 30 ppm, manganese – 40 ppm, cobalt – 0.1 ppm, iodine – 0.5 ppm and selenium – 0.3 ppm. The success of such trace mineral supplementation is not only based on their concentration in the overall diet, but their biological availability. Once they reach every cow’s digestive tract, the source of essential trace minerals should have good absorption and once inside the cows’ tissues should be well retained and metabolized. Their bioavailability should also not be reduced by antagonistic elements inadvertently consumed by beef cows. Most trace minerals added to standard gestation cow mineral are usually from rock sources. These sources have limited bioavailability, but are acceptable for meeting the essential trace mineral requirements of pregnant cows within a few of months from calving. Afterwards, some producers change to a breeder-type cow mineral formulated with organic/chelated trace minerals to assure pre-calving cows will achieve higher respective requirements. Such two-tier mineral feeding programs are the result of years of sound university research, which showed performance and health benefits during the gestation and subsequent calving season. Aside from meeting macro- and trace-minerals levels from acceptable rock or even organic sources, we should not overlook supplementation of the essential fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and E in a good gestation mineral. About 100,000 IU of vitamin A, 5,000 – 10,000 IU of vitamin D and 50 – 200 IU of vitamin E should be fed to each beef cow, daily.
From these macro-, tracemineral and vitamin parameters, our good overwintering cow mineral needs one more thing – “good” and consistent feed intake. Either fed loose, mixed with grain or a total mixed diet; most cattle mineral should be eaten at the rate of 2 – 4 oz. (56 – 112 g) to prevent most related deficiencies. If salt is added by the producer and makes up at least 25% of the purchased cattle mineral, then cattle mineral should be provided, accordingly. Today, I find that many beef producers are not shopping for the lowest formulated/cost cattle mineral, but a good cow mineral that helps their overwintering gestation cows meet their respective mineral and vitamin requirements for optimum performance.
Beef Producers Bursary Recipients With the start of another school year just around the corner, Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) is pleased to announce the six recipients the MBP bursaries for 2016. Each year MBP offers six $500 bursaries to members, or the children of members, who are attending university, college or other post-secondary institutions. Students pursuing trades training are also eligible. Preference is given to students who are pursuing a field of study related to agriculture or those acquiring a skilled trade that would benefit the rural economy. “Ensuring that our rural communities have the services and trades they need to thrive is of utmost importance to MBP,” said President Heinz Reimer. “A number of our past bursary recipients have gone on to careers in rural Manitoba and are making significant contributions to their respective communities. We are pleased to play a small role in helping these students reach their goals.” The six recipients of the MBP bursaries for 2016 are Marianne Sytnyk (Oakburn, District 7), Dawson Proctor (Woodlands, District 9), Emily Barteaux (Birtle, District 7), Rebecca Zimmer- (Inglis, District 13), Josey Millward (Garland, District 13) and Sheena Meggison (Goodlands, District 1). “These deserving recipients were chosen from a field of over 30 strong candidates,” Reimer said. “On behalf of MBP I wish the students all the best in their academic endeavours in the upcoming school year.”
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plants showing that amount definitely will keep an average family in cantaloupe. For some reason our watermelon weren’t a success but don’t know if it was the variety or the conditions. Honeydew is just ripening and delicious. A visitor tasted the cantaloupe and commented, “That’s what cantaloupe tastes like.” I tried growing sun berries. They grew well but I pulled the plants up shortly after they started producing because they weren’t something we were going to use and had plenty of fruits we
Strawberries growing in planter in greenhouse.
Photos by Joan Airey
preferred. If your tomatoes had any disease in them make sure you remove the plants from your garden and make a note of where they were grown this year, find a different spot for them next year. Spraying them with copper weekly helps keep them disease free and regular watering helps if it’s a dry year. When growing cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower using BTK an organic pesticide works and Brenda Eisler tells me it can be found at garden centres. I tried keeping cabbage butterflies out of mine with grow covers, which wasn’t successful. Chesapeake peppers really produced. They are a greenhouse variety that can be grown inside or out. In pots in the greenhouse they grew 3 feet high and produced beautiful peppers red and green. In the garden the plants didn’t get quite as big. The seeds are available through Vesey’s seeds. Generally, seed catalogues are available in December and can be ordered anytime in the fall online. If you
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A Summer Job Turns into a Voice for Agriculture
Time to Make Plans for 2017 Garden By Joan Airey This week most people started cleaning up their gardens and storing the root vegetables for use over the winter. We are really lucky in Manitoba to be able to grow everything from apples to zucchini. Fruit was in abundance in our area this year. I started a package of cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon seeds in the greenhouse and shared them with three friends. One person phoned to say they counted 30 cantaloupes on their three or four
September 30, 2016
Chesapeake Pepper grown in a large pot in greenhouse.
keep your garden catalogues from one year to the next, mark what worked and what didn’t. Not all seeds are created equal and different seeds work in different locations. Seed catalogues are always a wealth of information. A small greenhouse can extend your garden season and the grandkids are enjoying strawberries from the greenhouse today. This year strawberries, radishes, green onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and parsley were grown in pots and planters in the greenhouse plus in the garden. Chase put a large frog he found in the greenhouse and every time when you water the strawberries, it jumps out of one of the planters. For a few years a large garter snake lived in the greenhouse, keeping bugs and rodents out, some friends are happy it has disappeared.
By Les Kletke Tenesha Lawson readily acknowledges that she does not have a background in agriculture. What she does have is an understanding of the communication business and how to get a message out to the desired audience. She is the Communications Co-ordinator for Ag in the Classroom Manitoba. Lawson, a recent graduate of the Creative Communications program a joint program with Red River Community College and the University of Winnipeg. During her studies, she had a summer job with the Manitoba Canola Growers. “That turned into a year round job,” she said. Lawson said that her exposure to the industry and the people involved helped with the choice to work in the industry. Lawson’s hiring is somewhat of departure from the norm in an industry that feels you had to grow up in it to tell its story. “I got to know the people in the industry and decided it would be a good place to work,” she said. “There are lots of people in the industry that know agriculture and can help me out with that.” Lawson was on hand at the Amazing Agriculture Adventure a 3-day event that hosts grade 4 and 5 students at the University of Manitoba’s Glenlea Research Facility and Richardson’s Kelburn Farm. Over the three days, youngsters have a chance to crush some canola, grind some wheat, learn about the business of farming and all the while earning cash that is used to purchase their desert at lunch. “The cookie auction at lunch is one of the student’s favourite parts,” said Kerry-Ann Muzyk of Emerson Elementary School. “This year we got here a bit late and so didn’t get as much cash and that hurt us in the auction but the kids still had fun.” Muzyk began her relationship with Ag in the Classroom through the organizations Little Green Thumb program, which teaches students to grow food in their classroom. It is just one of the programs that Lawson spreads the word about. “We concentrate on the ABC’s with our programs,” she said. “We want the message to be Accurate, Balanced and Current. We emphasize that through all of our messages,” she said. In the hand of a professional, the message of agriculture has a good chance of reaching the consumers of tomorrow.
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In Seven Minutes Farming Business Explained
By Les Kletke As business, farming has its challenges, the weather, markets and unexpected forces come along making business all the more difficult. Virginia Stevenson explains all those challenges in seven minutes at the Amazing Agriculture Adventure. Stevenson looks after the Business Station at the 3-day event staged at the Glenlea Research Farm and Richardson’s Kelburn Farm. Her role was to train the trainers that would be presenting the material to touring grade 4-5 students. “You start by explaining to the students that they have to get the money to put in a crop,” she said. “They get the money from a lender that can be a government agency, a bank or a credit union.” She also includes a short lesson about interest and that they will have to pay back more money than they borrow. The station then moves the students through a typical season on seeding, scouting and harvesting. A random selection gives students one of three levels of crops from failure, which requires crop insurance money to pay the debt, a second that gives them enough to pay the debt and a third rated as bumper allows them to pay the bills and have some extra cash. The bills include fertilizer and other inputs as well as fuel and of course crop insurance. Stevenson acknowledged that it might be information overload for the students when delivered in the time allotted at the station. She
Virginia Stevenson was one of the volunteers at the Amazing Agriculture Adventure and help prepare students for the business of farming.
Photo by Les Kletke
knows that the information will be grounds for discussion in the classroom in upcoming days, having spent a career as a teacher. “It is a lot of material for them to comprehend but it is material that the teachers can go back to in the classroom and start a discussion,” she said. “We could probably spend a whole day just on this station but we have 7 minutes and they move to another one.” Stevenson, from St. Eustache, was first introduced to Ag in the Classroom at an event in Riding Mountain
several years ago. “It was intended to give teachers a background in agriculture, so they would be familiar with the industry and able to present the information to their classes,” she said. She also has a family background in agriculture she explained. “My mom came from a family of 12 and was the only one not on the farm,” she said. “So I have lots of relatives on the farm and we spent a lot of time on the farm. I did not grow up on the farm but certainly understood the challenges.”
I Want to be a Farmer By Les Kletke “I had students that said they want to be farmers,” is Kerry-Ann Muzyk’s response when asked about her class’s reaction to attending the Amazing Agriculture Adventure. Muzyk teaches a Grade 3 class at Emerson Elementary School in Winnipeg. She was returning to the Amazing Adventure after a year’s absence. “I had a split class last year and some of the students in my Grade 3 class had been here already so we took a year off, but we were back this year and the kids loved it,” she said. For Muzyk‘s class it is not just a one day activity. They discussed the trip the following day and will have a writing assignment to produce a newspaper on what they saw at the Glenlea Research Farm and
Kelburn Farms. She makes an effort to include lessons on food production throughout the year for her students. “We started with the Little Green Thumb program and that allows the students to grow things through the year and see that you can eat them,” she said. “The day at the Amazing Agriculture Adventure is pretty exciting for them and we used math class the following day to work out some of the problems that a farmer might have to deal with in his business.” Muzyk said that seeing farm animals up close and personal was a new experience for many of the students. “For most of them the only time they have seen farm animals is at a petting zoo where they have been able to touch young animals,” she said. “To
see the size of a cow or a full grown pig was a new experience for them, and they could see that these animals are not pets and are indeed a lot bigger than they thought.” When asked, what is the underlying message that she hopes to deliver from the program she said, “I hope that the students get an idea of where there food comes from and that there are people who are in the business of producing our food. The students learn where their food comes from but also that people are involved in growing that food.” She chuckled adding, “They also liked the cookie auction and being able to bid on the cookies for their lunch. Even though our class had the least amount of money they still had a lot of fun and the auction is exciting for them.”
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Spacing and Seedling Emergence Impacts Yield By Les Kletke Seeding is a busy time on the farm, but it may be time to slow down and see the increase in yield. Marc Hutlet told producers attending a field day that even emergence is critical to the highest possible yield. “Even a difference of 24 hours can have an impact but 72 hours can be critical to the crop,” said Hutlet. “And when we have a skip in the row, that plant is missing.” At one time, it was felt that plants on either side of a missing plant would be more robust with little yield reduction. That is no longer the case; a plant missing has a dramatic impact on yield. Hutlet had several rows marked and plant populations marked to show just how much impact the later emergence impacted yield. Producers acknowledged that in the rush of spring seeding and especially when rain was in the forecast, the tendency was to increase the ground speed of the seeding unit. “That does not give us the best results and it is impossible for the crop to catch up when it has gotten off to a poor start,” he said. Hutlet said a spring like 2016 comes with additional challenges. “When you are going deeper to get the seed in moisture there is always a concern that you might be going to deep,” he explained. The comment held true particularly for soybeans where growers were planting deeper than normal to reach moisture and have the seed germinate relatively quickly rather than lie in dry ground. It is important that the seed be placed in moisture and that the seedbed is firmly packed to provide the best germination with the most even emergence of the crop. The demonstration of corncobs with the variation of size resulting from only a day or two difference in emergency surprised most farmers. Mike Weir an area agronomist with DuPont Pioneer noted that in some areas of the province the concern about planting into moisture was not as much of a concern, and one weekend in May changes that entirely. He noted that the soybean crop in eastern Manitoba was the most advanced in the province and harvest would be starting in eastern areas well before the central region of the province. “And that is unusual,” said Weir.
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Breeding the Right Bean Keeps Scientific Researcher Going By Harry Siemens During the recent Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers field day at the Ag Canada Morden Research Station, Dr. Anfu Hou, a bean breeder who works on both the edible bean and soybean development outlined his work over the past nine years. Dr. Hou’s current list of projects include developing new field bean cultivars for production in Manitoba, genetic resources and genetic enhancement of pulse crops in Canada, improvement of bean food quality and marketability and molecular marker-assisted pyramiding of multiple disease resistance in field beans. “We are committed to breeding and to develop bean varieties,” he said. “When I talk about beans there are many different classes of edible beans and soybeans. We started soybean research here just a few years ago with the Grow Forward 2 funding. My focus is still on edible beans, developing varieties with early maturity and high yield. He said they pay a lot of attention to quality in seeds used for cooking, nutrition and resistance to diseases. In the past, they paid more attention to marketability, the vigour, the size, shape and colour. “Now we add more chemical analysis to it and not only look at how the beans look, but we also look at the properties, the nutrition by using a lot of tests,” said Dr. Hou. “We analyse the minerals, the proteins, the fibres, the starch and do collaborative research with scientists in Manitoba, across Canada so we work together to try to improve the bean quality and disease resistance as I mentioned earlier.” He said maturity is very important, as it has to be suitable for this area when breeding for new varieties and traits. “Now I guess with all the efforts from the public, the private industry, all the efforts have produced so many new varieties that we can choose from the very early maturing varieties, the later ones, but we still have to be careful because of our certain weather conditions,” he said. “We are lucky to have very nice harvest seasons since I came here. Every year has been pretty nice so now we have varieties on the later side and we look forward to the additional yield potential.” Dr. Hou said that as breeders they have to look at many
things like iron deficiency, chlorosis, and disease resistance and root disease. “As breeders, we need to combine all these considerations together, not just yield but have to think about the future that can make our growers more competitive when we release a variety make sure it has certain traits to make it the best that we have,” he said. “We study additional testing so we can get 20 percent extra yield and now we are trying to introduce new bean types that are not growing here but it doesn’t mean we can’t grow it here.” He said there are types that grow very well in his research fields and in Ontario and that means there is a certain demand for those types. “The reason we don’t have production here in Manitoba is because we don’t have varieties available so I look forward to further working with the growers, and to improve the selections and hopefully we will release something that we can use in the near future,” he said. “And provide additional options for our farmers in this area.” While breeders can breed in certain traits and qualities, Dr. Hou said the agronomists also play a major role in helping farmers grow their production. “We have to be prepared for various diseases not yet prevalent in Manitoba and breeding for resistance, but work with agronomists who emphasize proper rotation,” he said. “You have to be careful from the beginning to try adopting the best management strategies so you can keep this crop growing longer and return profitable economic returns for growers.” He said growers and the industry need to be careful that the same things do not happen to the edible beans and soybeans that happened to peas in this area a short while back. “We increased peas to higher acreages and suddenly they disappeared from the farmers list of crops because of diseases; mostly root diseases,” he noted. “We need to work together in multiple teams on different disciplines to keep improving a wonderful crop. Look at soybeans, a really beautiful crop to grow and there is a huge market and we’re just a drop in the bucket when it comes to overall production.” Whether Manitoba farmers grow 2 million or three million acres, compared to over 80 million in the US, it does not really matter in terms of price to Manitoba growers, he added.
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Growing Dairy Calves Need Good Tasting Calf Starter In recent years, I have seen a lot of pressure on dairy producers to feed more whole milk or milk replacer to their preweaned calves. University trials demonstrate that baby calves fed high levels of milk turn it into superior bodyweight, girth and height at weaning, which make better future lactating cows. Not to be overshadowed, there is equal pressure to feed accelerated calves lots of calf starter as soon as they nibble dry feed. Not only should these high quality calf starters be nutritious, but one of unquestionable palatability and preference. Good palatability of calf starter should be seen as its acceptance by calves for its good taste, attractive smell and favourable physical properties such as texture and bit size. It is similar, but not identical with feed preference, which is a calf’s given choice between two or more feeds. For example, when given a choice of only low quality feeds, hungry calves will choose amongst unpalatable feeds. I have witnessed poor baby calves prefer dusty homemade chop over moldy rolled oats housed in deplorable conditions. Likewise, a highly palatable feed is not necessarily nutritious. I remember a group of baby dairy calves eating only raw sweet beet pulp mixed with whole high-moisture corn with vigour, which was protein and mineral deficient. Consequently, I believe the most palatable, preferred and nutritious calf starter is complete textured feed. As “texturized” implies, this calf starter should contain a high level of steam-rolled grains, free from fines and chaff. I like to see this grain portion made up of 3/4 oats and 1/4 corn with no added barley. As bonus, oats used should be 40 lb bushel oats and double-clipped like the kind of oats formulated in high quality horse feed. That’s because I remember reading a timeless Norwegian university “shovel and bucket” exercise in which a pail of oats, a pail of corn and a pail of barley were put on a garage floor and about 10 calves were let loose. They only sniffed and rejected the barley, ate some corn and then went and ate all the oats until nothing was left. The results of this simplest demonstration have impressed me for years. Such calf starters should not solely contain my own preference for highly digestible grains like oats, but have wellformed pellets which carries supplemental protein, calcium, phosphorus, a trace mineral/vitamin pack and medicated with a coccidiostat. Opinions differ as to the amount of “protein pellets” that should go into texturized calf starters, but everybody agrees that pellets should be made hard as possible to create no fines by themselves. As a nutritionist, I am often forced to put in at least 50% pellets in order to meet the high protein level in 22- 25% calf starters. While such high pellet contents in calf starters don’t usually have a negative effect upon palatability and preference, their ingredient composition proves otherwise. I realize that soybean meal and canola meal are good sources of protein for baby calves, but I prefer to formulate soybean and distillers’ grains without canola meal in texturized calf starter pellets. It has been my experience that pre-weaned calves do not like the taste of canola meal.
True to my findings, University of Guelph (2014) demonstrated that milk-fed dairy bull calves fed experimental diets preferred supplemental protein pellets containing soybean meal versus canola meal pellets. Once both steam-rolled grain and protein pellets are added to the mixer at the feed mill, it then becomes a matter of adding molasses to promote dry calf starter intake by baby calves. There is always some question as to how much molasses should be added or sprayed onto a palatable calf starter. Penn State University (2004) tested either 5% or 12% molasses in textured calf starter rations on 2-day Holstein calves. These animals were weaned at 28 days, but continued on one of the calf starters until 42 days of age. At the end of the trial calves assigned to the 12% molasses diet ate 22% less calf starter and led to reduced daily gains compared to the calves reared on the 5% molasses diet. Consequently, the researchers recommended that such large amounts of molasses should not be added to dried calf starters. Like molasses, various flavouring agents have also been added to dried calf starter in order to increase its acceptance by young dairy calves. Research across the board has shown that calf fed natural and artificial flavours in calf starter consume it at an earlier age and in greater quantities. As a result, calves grow faster. Although, my own observation is that calves prefer caramel flavour, I have added vanilla, strawberry, maple/butterscotch, tangerine and even baked-bread flavour to calf starters. Essential oils and extracts from plants and spices are also finding their way into good tasting calf starters. Most of the time, milk-fed calves don’t have much of a choice of the type and quality of calf starter put in front of them. They do have a choice whether they reject it, pick at it or eat the calf starter with vigour. It’s our job to provide the best tasting and nutritious calf starter to assure the latter response, so they are off to a healthy and good growing start.
AG EX Cattle Registration Starts Out Strong With less than a month to go until Manitoba AG EX, cattle registration is going strong. “We had close to 100 exhibitors and over 500 head of cattle last year,” said Ron Kristjansson, General Manager at the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba. “With the Canadian National Limousin and Western National Hereford shows this year, the addition of the Manitoba Finals Rodeo and a variety of equine shows and sales, we will have the Keystone Centre filled with animals and people for 4 days from sun up to sun down.” Registration for the cattle show is on now until October 1 on the Manitoba AG EX website. “We have downloadable forms and online registration this year,” said Megan Mossop, Agriculture Coordinator at the Provincial EX. “We know how busy everyone is this time of year; the online program is convenient and saves you a trip in with your paperwork. Some of our feature classes do have a late fee to register after the October 1 deadline so be sure to register early.” The last time the Canadian National Limousin Show was held in Brandon was in 2012 and this is the first time the Western Canadian National Hereford Show has been held outside of Edmonton, Alberta. For more information on daily schedules and events, visit the Manitoba AG EX website at manitobaaex.com.
September 30, 2016
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September 30, 2016
The AgriPost
Developing the Next Agricultural Programs with Trade Uncertainty By Harry Siemens The more programs governments develop, the more farmers depend on them and once in place become inherently more important for all stakeholders to get it right. Dr. Al Mussell, the Research Lead with Agri-Food Economic Systems said the influence of non-traditional stakeholders would complicate discussions aimed at developing Canada’s next Agricultural Policy Framework. An Agri-Food Economic Systems Agri-Food Policy Note released earlier this month, challenges governments and the agri-food sector to broaden discussions on the successor to Growing Forward-2, which expires in 2018. Dr. Mussell said the influence of non-traditional stakeholders, those who may not be part of the agri-food value chain but who have an interest in how others produce their food, will make this round of discussions more challenging. “Just in the last couple of years we’ve developed this term that has come into our language which is called social acceptance or social license of what we do in agriculture,” he said. “Some of what we do in food marketing targets some of these concerns and issues directly but we’re going to have to find a way to engage and that’s a little bit of a different flavour than the past 3 of these types of 5 year agreements we have had to deal with.” Mussell said in a way it is already on the agenda because the federal minister has a mandate to develop a national food policy and, by nature, that is going to bring in a range of considerations, some from the traditional agricultural community but also opinions and ideas from others. “This is coming to have such a strong impact in Ag and food marketing, understanding of agricultural technologies, acceptance of different types of agricultural technologies,” said Dr. Mussell. “There is a role for policy to work collectively to figure out how it is we can do this and get a social understanding of how food is produced and now is the time to be working on that.” Dr. Mussell said farmers see getting the kind of dialogue that is credible between all stakeholders will be a challenge but it needs discussion. The next discussion will also need to include trade said Dr. Mussell in light of Canada signing the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the EU and the 12 nation Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. While the former Conservative government signed those deals, it really has received ratification by the Liberal government. “Thinking about western Canada somewhat specifically and the pork and grain industries, we’re looking at these trade agreements to provide growth for our industries,” said MP Gerry Ritz, Trade critic. “On one hand, if these roll out as planned, as hoped, one of our challenges will be building capacity to appropriately respond and make full use of the kind of market access that we obtained. We haven’t seen indication that, in the five year agreement that’s being negotiated to come in 2018, that it’s really been given a whole lot of attention.” Mussell said conversely, if these trade agreements end up not coming to fruition because of the rough ride the TPP is getting in the US presidential election and similarly, with the Brexit vote in the UK, there is uncertainty created around whether or not the CETA agreement with the EU will ever come into place. If that happens then Canada needs to be thinking about what sort of policies to put in place to facilitate growth in Canada’s agriculture and food industries. Dr. Mussell noted we have a year and a half to address these challenges and, while time is limited, a lot can be accomplished over that period.
Across the Border Land Values Retreating By Les Kletke It would appear the old adage about the price of land not being able to go down because they “Aren’t making any more of it,” may be wrong. Land prices in the US have stabilized and in many cases decreased. “We have seen land prices back off by as much as 40% in the Red River Valley,” said Brent Qualey, with the Farmers National Co. “Land that was selling for $5,000 an acre is now $3,000. That is some of the best land in the Fargo area.” He acknowledged that the limited amount of land for sale has helped buoy the prices. “We are seeing limited amounts of land on the market and that has helped hold the price up but even with that restricted amount coming to market we have seen a drop in price,” said Qualey who was part of a Land Values panel at Big Iron in Fargo in mid-September. Jason Menke, another member of the panel agreed that land prices have fallen Brent Qualey far left says land prices are down by as much a 40% in the Fargo, North Dakota area.
Photo by Les Kletke
but said that 40% is not a number that can be used as a rule of thumb. “We see a huge difference in the changes in the price of land,” said Menke. “Some of the top prices are off substantially but in other areas prices are not down by as much and the limited amount that is coming to market makes it difficult to establish a general rule.” They agree that with some amounts of land being offered for sale and because of nearby farmers willing to pay a premium, in many cases it is difficult to establish a price trend. “There are always cases where a farmer will pay a premium for a piece of land that is across the road from him,” said Qualey. “Something that may only come up
for sale once in a life time and it always brings a bit more.” The panel faced questions about how the drop in prices was handled in communities and how the financial difficulties coming with it affected communities. “There is no doubt the drop in commodity prices is having an impact, not only in land prices but for all aspects of the business and farmers are having trouble meeting their financial commitments,” said Menke. “In some communities it is handled openly and people can deal with the issues of business away from their personal lives. In others it is a problem with people not being able to face their creditors in church or the grocery store.”
The AgriPost
September 30, 2016
Devloo Canola Crusher and Green Seed Counter Wins Gold Award By Harry Siemens Gerry Devloo, who is part of the family farm with his sons at Somerset, said his new invention that received the Gold Award at the Farm Progress Show in Regina, Saskatchewan earlier this year is a canola tester that makes it easier to sample for green seed. Conventional method involves several steps and manual processes, but this one works by dump-
ing seed into a small hopper and turning a tape roll. Four turns produces a 250 seed count. It is helpful to grain buyers or anyone taking multiple grain samples. “I designed the Devloo Canola Crusher as a result of testing a number of canola samples on our farm at harvest time a few years ago,” said Gerry. “Finding the age old method of testing canola for green seeds is time con-
suming and tedious. I knew there had to be a better way. I began developing prototype machines. After several versions and many hours later a marketable model developed.” Devloo said his goal is to offer a simple user friendly, time saving product that people would want to use. “To work the Canola Crusher you place a canola sample in the hopper, turn the crank four
Central and Eastern Regions Report Good Harvest Progress By Elmer Heinrichs Warmer, drier weather conditions through week three in September allowed fields to dry and farmers to continue harvesting cereal grains, canola and other crops. Some farmers also got a head start on fieldwork. Near seasonal temperatures through the week in Central regions helped with maturing crops. However, shorter days and heavy dews limited combining hours, with a few longer-day exceptions. Manitoba Agriculture’s Pam de Rocquigny said some producers have finished their cereal crops while others are still at it, and some have to wait for canola because it is dryer. She noted the harvest is also underway in some longseason crops. “We’re seeing producers get into soybeans, which is great,” said de Rocquigny. “Some fields of the early-seeded early-maturing varieties are being taken off. Other long season crops, such as sunflowers and grain corn are also moving towards maturity as they begin to dry down.” Harvest progress in Central regions to mid-September was estimated at 65 to 75 per cent complete, dependent on the mix of crops in the area and weather conditions. A majority of the cereals are harvested even with drying and aeration, which is often required. Hard red spring wheat is yielding 30 - 75 bu/acre while CNHR varieties are going up to 90 bu/acre. Protein is variable, with early reports of 12.5 - 15 per cent. Barley has been running in the 70 to 100 bu/ac range, some has made it to malt, but reports of higher fusarium head blight in many fields are a concern. Oat har-
vesting continues with yields also impacted by excess rains. Yields range from 80 - 175 bu/ac, bushel weights are average to light. Harvest of canola continues while edible beans are yielding below average, 1,200 - 1,800 lbs. /ac. In Eastern regions, weather conditions through mid-September allowed for limited drying and harvesting. Remaining spring cereals are mature and ready to combine. Cereals still in the field will have reduced quality. Producers are anticipating some progress on canola acres with good drying weather. Areas that experienced persistent excess moisture throughout the growing season continue to struggle with field access. Crop yields in these hard hit areas have thus far been significantly lower than Eastern averages.
Spring wheat yields range from 45 - 75 bu/ac, with an average of 55 bu/ac. The canola harvest is estimated at 85 per cent complete with yields ranging from 20 - 50 bu/ac and an average yield of 30 bu/ac. The soybean crop is mostly fully mature and drying down. Good drying weather would allow a start on harvesting by about September 23-24. Sunflowers have matured and desiccation applications have been ongoing. Most corn is also fully-grown and mature. Winter wheat seeded earlier this fall is at the tillering stage of development. Across Eastern acreages a majority of pastureland is rated as good, winter-feed supplies are rated at 20 per cent surplus and 80 per cent adequate for hay, at 100 per cent for straw, greenfeed and feed grain.
turns resulting in a crushed sample on tape ready for examination,” he said. “It’s just that simple! This is a new approach to streamlining the old traditional method of testing for green seed in Canola.” Winning gold for a new invention at the Regina Farm Progress show has its advantages. “As a result of that I received a lot of advertising with different articles and interviews by the media giving me good needed publicity,” he said. “It has been good that way winning the award and it is going quite well, as good as can be expected.” He said the old system for checking for greens in canola involves a little ruler with holes in it and the tester fill the holes with seed and apply tape to it. Then he pulls the tape off and the seeds stick to it and then crushing it by hand with a hand roller.” “With my new machine, you put a little sample of canola in the hopper, turn the crank four times and about that quickly there is a sample of 250 seeds applied to the tape in the same manner as doing it all by hand without the machine,” Devloo said. “It comes out already crushed in place and ready for inspection.” He said the main feature is saving time and this led him to a surprising market; there are many grain research farms that are latching on to this idea because those people do thousands of samples every year. “If they can save a little bit of time on each sample that amounts to a lot of time in the year,” he said. “Other purchasers are grain elevators, but not too much
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Gerry Devloo’s Canola Crusher is a faster, easier way to create seed counts and sample for green seeds.
yet, but mainly farmers and a lot of colonies are buying them, too.” He explained that the machine makes sampling much easier. “The canola industry grades the canola by the number of green kernels because the sample is supposed to be all yellow seeds,” he said. “If there are more than 2 percent greens, you’ve usually lost a grade. The way to inspect them is to crush the seeds and the internal colour of the seed is supposed to be yellow.” The idea started when Devloo was crushing and examining seeds the old-fashioned way. Thinking it was kind of tedious and time consuming, and thought there must be a better way. After about 18,000 hours of time put into
prototypes and sketching ideas he came up with a presentable product that did the job nicely. “I made a number of machines ahead of time just on speculation and as it turned out it was a seller and people are really latching on to it now,” he said. “I’m building them at home but getting some of the more specific parts farmed out, especially some of the cutting and the manufacturing of the precision rollers with the holes in it. The rest I make myself and I assemble them here, too.” The footprint of the machine is about 6 inches by 10 inches, about 12 inches high and weighs about 12 pounds. It sells for about $800 and sold by his son Mark.
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September 30, 2016
The AgriPost
Heightened Biosecurity and Research Dollars Tackle PED By Harry Siemens Because the PED virus strikes twice within one week in Manitoba, other provinces stand up and take notice tightening their own biosecurity protocols making sure it does enter their backyards. The disease outbreak while only in ten barns so far in Manitoba causes stress and devastation to those hit, and stress for those within the barn radius. Dr. Betty Althouse, Saskatchewan’s Chief Veterinary Officer said pork producers in Saskatchewan must step up their vigilance in response to the latest reports of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea in Manitoba. Three new farm cases of PED virus in Manitoba in May and then two more confirmed between September 14 - 21 by the Office of Manitoba’s Chief Veterinary Officer including a sow operation and a finisher site in southeastern Manitoba, both within 5 km of each other. Dr. Althouse said trucks and trailers that do contact slaughter plants or assembly yards in Manitoba may become contaminated with PED and everyone concerned should take extra efforts to make sure they are well cleaned and disinfected before they contact a Saskatchewan facility. “We’re much more comfortable when the whole of the west is PED free,” she said. “It’s a very integrated industry across the west, especially on the Prairies. There’s a lot of movement of pigs and people and transports between Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Pigs go to slaughter in Manitoba at your federal plants there, all the cull sows pretty much from Saskatchewan move through Manitoba on their way to the US so we do have a lot of animals move that way. Certainly some weanlings move into Saskatchewan as well so the movement is occurring and, with the pig movement and the trailer movement, basically any movement of manure, there is a risk of picking up and spreading PED.” Dr. Althouse said any time there is PED in the neighbouring province, it does pose an increased risk so that is why the heightened alert from her office. “We sent a notice through both the Ministry and Sask Pork to producers just highlighting that the cases were there and to heighten that level of alert and be sure that cleaning and disinfection of trailers continues to be a high priority,” she said. “The increased
Dr. Volker Gerdts, the Associate Director Research with VIDO-InterVac said their role is to determine at what temperatures the most common swine pathogens will be inactivated and how long it will take.
“Heat in general is very effective in inactivating pathogens.” surveillance and heightened biosecurity in Saskatchewan have been successful and there have still been no clinical cases of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea detected in Saskatchewan.” As is so often the case, when crisis hits, others also stand up and take notice doing everything to find a better way to diminish the chance of this crisis happening again. In the same vein, research conducted by VIDO-InterVac shows the use of heat has potential to dramatically improve the cleaning and disinfection of swine transport vehicles. In partnership with Swine Innovation, pork scientists with the University of Saskatchewan, the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute, VIDO-InterVac and the Prairie Swine Centre are in the process of developing an automated system for washing and disinfecting swine transport vehicles to reduce the transmission of infections. Dr. Volker Gerdts, the Associate Director Research with VIDO-InterVac said their role is to determine at what temperatures the most common swine pathogens will be inactivated and how long it will take. Dr. Gerdts said researchers are focusing on the 12 most important pathogens
of concern to the industry. “The first thing we’re doing right now in the lab is to essentially just determine after how many minutes, at what temperature these pathogens are inactivated,” he said. “For each of these pathogens we’re running a matrix which has various time points, like from one minute to two hours and then the various degrees and we’re showing at what temperature each of these pathogens is being inactivated in the lab. Heat in general is very effective in inactivating pathogens.” Gerdts thinks what their research is telling them is the temperatures they have to reach and for how long. “That’s really then the challenge for the engineers involved in this project, to develop the engineering part, the mechanical part. Is it possible to heat up a truck or parts of a truck to a certain temperature or what methods can be used to reach that temperature under practical conditions?” Dr. Gerdts said phase two would be to test these pathogens in the lab in an environment like you would see on a trailer and the third phase will be to repeat the tests in the environment. He hopes to have the lab work completed by the end of the year.
FCC Drive Away Hunger Tractors Tour Canada in October Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and its partners across the country launched the 13th annual FCC Drive Away Hunger with a goal of providing four million meals for Canada’s food banks. This year, FCC Drive Away Hunger tractor tours will take place during the week of October 10 in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. FCC is also collecting food and cash donations in its office locations Canada-wide until October 14. “Food is a basic need for every one of us, yet not everyone is fortunate to have enough to eat,” said Michael Hoffort, FCC President and CEO. ”We’re proud to bring together partners from across Canada’s agriculture and agri-food industry to provide food to people in our communities who need it most – especially children.” FCC Drive Away Hunger involves driving a tractor and trailer through communities to collect food and cash donations for food banks across the country. One hundred per cent of donations go to Canadian food banks, and anyone
can visit fccdriveawayhunger.ca to make a monetary donation. “FCC Drive Away Hunger is an excellent example of how FCC and Canadian agriculture contribute to their communities and those in need,” Agriculture and AgriFood Minister Lawrence MacAulay said. “I commend FCC for leading this national food drive and Canadian farmers for their continued generosity and support for food banks across the country.” FCC Drive Away Hunger is
FCC’s flagship community investment program. Since 2004, FCC employees, customers and community partners have raised over 27 million meals. “I’m truly touched by the amount of support we see across Canada,” said Hoffort. “We believe in this cause and we’re thankful to our customers and partners who take action to help fill empty plates,” noting that hunger touches nearly 850,000 Canadians each month, many of whom are children.
The AgriPost
September 30, 2016
Biggest Ever Prairie Tractor Event in 1916 Drew Thousands
Tractors that entered the Brandon demonstrations included one from Goold Shapley & Muir an early Canadian manufacturer of tractors. In 1907, the company introduced the “Ideal” tractor line which consisted of two models the 18-35 and 25-50 followed by the “Ideal Junior” a 15-25 which used a hopper cooled two cylinder opposed engine.
While the Winnipeg Tractor Trials had ended in 1913, E.W. Hamilton the editor of the Canadian Thresherman and Farmer magazine remained interested in promoting tractors and, more importantly, the farming public remained very interested in tractors with their promise of being able to perform more work at a lower cost than horses. Hamilton was aware of the tractor demonstration days that began early in the US held by companies offering farmers an opportunity to try them out. The advantage of a tractor demonstration day was that a farmer could test a tractor while cultivating or performing the other tasks it would be called upon to do on a farm. In turn, the farmer could speak directly to a company representative. Another advantage was no high falluting test results that a farmer needed an engineer to interpret. Demonstration days in the US grew to such an extent that the Tractor Manufacturers Association set up a tractor demonstration circuit to better coordinate demonstration dates allowing manufacturers to efficiently move equipment and representatives. US demonstrations began with plowing but soon expanded to tractors discing, harrowing and seeding. In the spring of 1914 Hamilton attempted to get the Western Agricultural and Arts Association which operated the Brandon Summer and Winter Fairs on board with the idea of a tractor demonstration. However the failure of the 1909 Brandon Tractor Trials weighed heavily on the Association’s mind and they passed on the idea. Then in the spring of 1916, Hamilton again approached the Association and they agreed to host a demonstration for light tractors. The demonstrations were to be held during the dates of the Brandon Summer of 1916, on July 18, 19 and 20, between 10 am and Noon. At the time the Association thought that if the demonstration was held by itself, not enough people would appear to make the event worthwhile. Instead, it was held in conjunction with the Summer Fair as farmers took in the live stock exhibits, particularly the heavy horses. The Brandon Summer Fair scored a first here, as the 1916
demonstration was the very first tractor demonstration to be held in western Canada. A field adjacent to the Summer Fair grounds was obtained for the tractor plowing demonstration. The field was a sandy loam soil and it appears the field was pre-worked. The field was divided into 19 plots to allow each tractor one test plot. However the plot size varied according the number of plow bottoms that each tractor was pulling. Therefore, a tractor with a 4-bottom plow had more land to work than a tractor handling a 2-bottom plow. The formula used allocated to each plow bottom 1.16 acres. The deadline to enter a tractor was July 1 and companies were responsible to provide all supplies necessary including the plow. Companies were told the plot of ground assigned had to be plowed before the tractor was allowed to leave at the end of the event and all supplies removed. In addition, the entry fee was $10 and in the event of multiple company entries, the first entry was charged $10 at the remainder at $5. Another rule was that tractor demonstrators had to use a six, 6 ft long stakes to mark out the first furrow. The event did not go off smoothly. On, July 17, tractors were still being unloaded from railway flat cars. The Brandon railway yards were already congested carrying other exhibits arriving from the Edmonton Fair. It was clear that some tractors booked for the demonstrations were caught in this congestion and would not be unloaded until the next day. To top it all off, on the evening of the 17th, a heavy rain fell. It was then decided that no demonstrations would take place on the Tuesday, July 18 but rather on the 18th, companies could stake their plots for business on the 19th. At 9:50 am on the 19th, all 19 tractors were running on the start line. At 10 am sharp, sharp mind you, the clutches were engaged and all 19 tractors began plowing. With 19 tractors in one location on the prairies, it was a spectacle, never mind 19 tractors plowing simultaneously. It is estimated that 3,700 farmers watched the first day of demonstrations and nearly 5,000 farmers the next. Given the size of Brandon at the time, the logistics of moving this many farmers in and out of the city plus feeding them would have been a tremendous task. The numbers indicate that farmers came from some distance around Brandon arriving by train, car, horse or foot. Local newspapers reported that people had driven by car as far as 80 miles one way returning home the same night. Given the state of the roads at the time and the cars available, travel by car over such distances in one day was an amazing feat. The large number of farmers would have
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overwhelmed the hotel rooms available and so either many of the farmers either left in the evening to go home or slept in whatever stable, straw stack or ditch that was handy. Given many of them had probably homesteaded; a night in a straw stack would have held no mysteries for them. They probably drew a line at a chicken coop or a hog sty however. But whatever their abodes for the night, the number of farmers attending the event indicates how strong the interest was to see the tractors in operation. The event was a success with the tractor companies well pleased. Letters were sent to the Canadian Threshermen and Farmer from various companies expressing their appreciation for the event. “We have much pleasure informing you that we have no complaint to make, nor have we at the present time any suggestions to offer in regard to the demonstration at the Brandon Exhibition. So far as we are concerned, this demonstration was a complete success and some of our head people from Brantford who were there report as being entirely satisfied. We can assure you that another year if a demonstration is put on, this company will be pleased to assist in every way possible to make the demonstration a success,” states a letter from Goold, Shapley & Muir. “It gives us great pleasure to express our opinion frankly regarding the plowing demonstration held at Brandon. We think that it is one of the best means possible for getting the farmer in actual touch with tractor conditions and as far as our company is concerned, we are greatly pleased with the result, both from an advertising point of view and from actual business closed. If you are interested in getting up any further demonstrations of the kind, you can rest assured that our company will do everything in its power to assist you,” stated The Bull Tractor Co. of Canada, Ltd. “The plowing demonstration as a whole was certainly something that all tractor manufacturers should be interested in at this time as there are so many very small tractors being made and offered to the farmers. The farmer , of course, is only seeking the one that best suits his purpose and we believe that a more extended plowing exhibition another year should be arranged , extending the time over to the afternoon so that the farmers who come in on the excursions will have the privilege of seeing it. We were well satisfied with the demonstration itself,” was expressed by the Hart Parr Company.” Given the attendance at the 1916 Demonstration and the strong interest in the event from the tractor companies, a repeat of the demonstration at the Brandon Summer Fair was assured for 1917 and 1918. The 1917 event saw 48 tractors take to the field. The 1918 event appears to be the event at which the Fordson tractor made its formal appearance in western Canada. While the Demonstrations ended with the 1918 event, the Brandon Summer Fair continued to host machinery companies displaying their farm equipment. In time, this became known as “Machinery Row”. As an indication of the size, Machinery Row grew to, in 1948 a Million Dollars of farm machinery on display. In 1948 a Million dollars was serious cash. It is hard to gauge how significant the Brandon Tractor Demonstrations were in tractor use acceptance in Manitoba and western Canada. Given the number of farmers who attended the events, the Brandon Demonstrations made an impact. The Manitoba Agricultural Museum is open year round and operates a website at ag-museum.mb.ca, which can provide visitors with information on Museum and the Reunion including location and hours of operation.
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September 30, 2016
The AgriPost
Oat Grower Overcomes Harvest Challenges to Support African Schools When Manitoba oat grower and Prairie Oat Growers Association President, Art Enns, sowed a 35-acre crop this spring with the intention of donating the revenues of the harvest to the Manyinga Project, he had no idea what an adventure that harvest would be. “It’s been a challenge. In our area, we’ve been really inundated with some heavy rain and the field that I had, was no exception,” said Enns. “I had some difficulties trying to get the crop in shape to harvest and then when harvesting came we also had a breakdown, but you know what, that’s all part of life.” Swathing had to be done between rainstorms and in the mud, but the skies had cleared up by the time Enns started to combine on September 3 and the weather cooperated just long enough for him to get most of the oats in the bin. His good luck didn’t last long. An axle on the combine broke in a mud hole, and the rain started again before he could assemble the friends and equipment needed to repair it. Five days later, with the help of those friends and a track hoe, he was finally able to get the combine off the field and onto higher ground. But the work wasn’t over yet. Enns figured he still had about four hours of harvesting to finish the field, but when he thought of the obstacles faced by the kids at the two schools in Zambia, Africa that the Manyinga Project supports, he was more than willing to go back out. “We’ve got challenges over here, but they pale in comparison to the challenges these kids face just getting their start in life,” said Enns. “We are teaching children 10,000 miles away about agriculture and I say that we can improve their lives. I think it’s really worth it.” This is the second year Enns has planted a field in support of the Manyinga Project, which funds two schools for orphaned and vulnerable children at Chinema and Samafunda, small villages in the Manyinga region of Zambia. The two schools have a combined enrolment of over 400 students annually, where they are taught the state curriculum in grades one through seven. Each school also raises field crops, garden vegetables, orchard fruits and goats to teach critical life skills in an area where subsistence farming is the primary way of life, and to help support a student nutrition program. “Art has been a great supporter of the project, and these fields of oats he has planted and harvest over the past two seasons have made a real difference in our fundraising to support these two schools in Africa,” said Robynne Anderson, one of the founders of the group that started the Manyinga Project. Enns estimates the crop’s total revenue should be between $9,000 and $10,000, with all of the expenses of raising the crop covered by himself and a few donors. Last year the field
Art Enns gives the thumbs up to the track hoe driver.
yielded about 125 bushels per acre, but he expects the yield to be closer to 90 bushels per acre this year. Enns jokes that Anderson owes him a couple of stiff drinks
A broken rear axle leaves the combine stranded in the mud.
after what he went through getting the oats off the field, but is looking forward to doing it all over again next year. “It’s all about the children, and I’ve always had a real, deep desire to help young people,” said Enns. “For me,
A track hoe lifts the rear axle of the combine out of the mud to be repaired.
to be a part of something that is teaching the next generation about farming is pretty special.”
The field of oats earlier in the season.
The AgriPost
September 30, 2016
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September 30, 2016
The AgriPost