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Volume 41, Number 3 | FEBRUARY 3, 2015

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PRACTICAL PRODUCTION TIPS FOR THE PRAIRIE FARMER

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A smut by any other name Smut is one of the few diseases that’s not a hot button issue this winter. But true loose smut can cause headaches for barley growers. Here’s how to keep it out of your fields By Patty Milligan

TLS presents some challenges to growers because in the first year, there are no visible signs of infection. Then, in the second year, by the time there are visible signs of smut in the field, nothing can be done to prevent that year’s losses. TLS is a seed-borne disease so it does not survive in the soil or in other plant material. During flowering, spores from smutty heads fall onto the florets of healthy plants and infect the developing seeds. The fungus remains dormant inside the seed embryo for the winter. Visually, a grower cannot tell infected seeds apart from healthy seeds. In the spring, when infected seeds are planted, the fungus also starts to grow undetected inside the seemingly healthy plant. It ultimately attacks the head and replaces the healthy grains with clumps of dusty, black spores, which spread via wind and rain to healthy plants, starting the disease cycle all over again. The grower has no visual clues of the level of disease in the field until the smutty heads actually appear. While low levels of TLS can be found across most of the Prairies, infections tend to be higher in areas — or during years — with higher moisture and cooler temperatures in July. Cool (16 to 22 C) wet weather lengthens the flowering

period and provides ideal conditions for the spores to spread thus increasing the possibility of infection. Six-row barley is more susceptible than two-row barley because it has a longer flower season.

TLS on the Prairies Smut has been around for decades. European settlers likely introduced it to the Prairies along with the first seed they brought. Losses due to smut have been severe at times in the past but the occurrence of true loose smut on the Prairies peaked in the 1980s and 90s. Since then, levels have consistently dropped due to the introduction of effective seed treatments and resistant cultivars. Hot, dry weather in July has also played a part in bringing the levels down. Currently, TLS in barley is not a hotbutton issue. Yield losses due to diseases like common root rot or seedling blight are higher. But, like any pot that’s on the backburner, TLS levels still need to be watched. Yield losses are rarely above one per cent, but if a heavy outbreak occurs, they can be as high as 40 per cent. Of the barley fields tested in 2014 by Dr. James Menzies, Research Scientist and Plant Pathologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and his colleagues, about 50 per cent had TLS at extremely low levels — less than 0.1 per cent. There

were more unusual incidents of fields with levels as high as 25 to 30 per cent TLS. The percentage of TLS in the field directly translates to the percentage of yield loss, so a grower could take quite a hit with a TLS infection of 25 to 30 per cent — which would mean 25 to 30 per cent less yield as well as a reduced grade. Luckily, though the nutritional value of the grain may be compromised, TLS is not toxic, so it can still be used as feed. Menzies observes that smut often emerges in barley grown for feed as well as in areas where there aren’t high returns on the crop. In these cases perhaps smut is monitored less vigilantly because the economic value of feed barley tends to be underestimated by growers. Also, seed is often used again and again when growing feed barley. If TLS levels are not monitored, over the years it slowly builds up and can result in more significant losses.

Counting in the field Growers can take clear, simple steps to keep their smut levels in check. The first and most effective, Menzies suggests, is to monitor. By walking through their fields during flowering, growers will have an immediate sense of the level of smut. Menzies emphasizes the importance of

» continued on page 4

photo: thinkstock

overed, loose, false, true, stinking, stem, common. Apparently, a smut exists for every occasion. Smut is a broad term that refers to a variety of fungal diseases that affect cereal grains on the Canadian prairies. Each smut is caused by a specific fungi which attacks a particular grain and produces slightly different effects. One thing all smuts have in common: they are as ugly as their name. The smut that receives the most attention on the Prairies is the true loose smut (sometimes referred to only as loose smut) of barley, which is a seed-borne infection cased by the fungus Ustilago nuda. Barley is the only cereal grain in Canada that can be downgraded because of the presence of smut and the tolerances are low as the numbers from the primary grades determinants table show. Surface-borne smuts are not commonly found. Other cereals have a much lower rate of infection than barley, for example, smut in oats is very rare and CWRS wheats are fairly resistant to smut — only 20 per cent of the samples surveyed in 2014 showed any signs of infection. Durum wheat, though, is more susceptible with 50 per cent of the samples showing levels of infection.

How TLS works

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In This Issue

Wheat & Chaff .................. 2 Features . ........................... 5 Crop Advisor’s Casebook . 10 Columns ............................ 16 Machinery & Shop............. 24 Cattleman’s Corner .......... 28

Control pasmo in flax

michael flood page 5

CASE IH 2015 launch

leeann minogue page 25

FarmLife ............................ 32

/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Wheat & Chaff STAMPEDE BY JERRY PALEN

Leeann Minogue

“I told you we’d never seen it this cold before!”

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n the past couple of issues, I’ve used this space to write about farm research organizations and how they’re spending your checkoff dollars. This time, I’m taking a break from all that research to focus on farm policy organizations. For now, I’m only including “general” farm organizations — those groups that work for the good of all farmers, without claiming to have a strong bent to the left or right of the political spectrum. Of course, it’s never really possible to work for all farmers. The industry is too diverse. Cattle owners and grain farmers have different ideas about the ideal price of feed wheat. And farmers have different ideas about what is good in the first place. Ask three farmers about grain marketing and they’ll have at least five opinions. And these opinions will change, depending on the day. Back in December, I had an opportunity to moderate a panel discussion on farm leadership at the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) annual general meeting. The panel featured APAS president Norm Hall, the president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture, Lynn Jacobson, and the vice-president of Manitoba’s Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP), Dan Mazier. I walked into the roomful of farmers fully prepared to fill up awkward silences during the panel discussion, and to work really hard to make sure all three panel members had a chance to talk. As it turned out, my eight-year old probably could have moderated the discussion — the delegates had question after question. Not only was there no awkward silence for me to fill, it was hard for me to get a word in edgewise. Aside from the typical topics, there were questions about promoting farm diversity, using the Workers Compensation Board and making sure farmers have a strong voice in oil and gas transactions. Nothing came of my worries that the Alberta or Manitoba reps would be left sidelined while the APAS members discussed Saskatchewan issues. There really are no ag issues that only affect Saskatchewan. Lots of our water flows to Manitoba. Lots of our grain rides right through Alberta before it gets on a boat. All three of these farm leaders had lots to say on every topic. They were especially eager to talk about mentorship — all three are focused on bringing new farm leaders into their organizations. The leaders and staff of all three of these groups spend a lot of time and energy working with provincial govern-

ments (the bureaucracy and elected officials). The goals are to understand the current issues and what farmers need, then to get as much input as possible into provincial and federal agrelated decisions. These three organizations are also members of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture which, as it says on its website, was “founded in 1935 to provide Canada’s farmers with a single voice in Ottawa.”

Alberta Federation of Agriculture You might also know Alberta’s Federation of Agriculture by one or more of its former names: Wild Rose Agricultural Producers, Unifarm, or the Farmers’ Union of Alberta. The AFA’s website says: “Our portfolio includes everything from tire recycling to the World Trade Organization.” They’re not kidding. The theme of their January AGM was water, but they also ran sessions on grain transportation, farm lending and animal care. As I’ve written in the last couple of columns, a lot of farm research organizations are funded through checkoffs. If you don’t want to join the organization, you have to ask for your money back. Joining the AFA is not automatic like that. You’ll have to go online and fill out a form, or take the time to make a phone call to become an AFA member. Anyone can join. Of course it’s a farm organization, but they also have membership categories for “patrons,” (who I picture as farmer groupies.) The cost to you is $125 per year, or $325 for three years. Besides the farm advocacy, you’ll get a few other benefits. These include a 15 per cent discount at Mark’s Work Wearhouse, access to a member insurance plan that includes group health insurance and discount travel coverage and a $150 discount on a Farmers of North America membership.

Keystone Agricultural Producers Any Manitoba farmer or farm groupie can join KAP for an annual fee of $210. You can have your payment deducted from your cheque when you sell certain commodities in Manitoba, or, you can just mail your $210 directly to the KAP office. Once you’re a member, KAP will send you a weekly, newsy email, and members have access to benefits and discounts including: a discount cell phone package from Rogers, access to group health insurance, a currency risk management program to use when you sell commodities outside of Canada and free on-farm estate planning consultation.

APAS and SARM As usual, things are more complicated here in Saskatchewan.

S a s k a t c h e w a n ’s g e n e r a l farm group is known as APAS — the Agriculture Producers Association of Saskatchewan. APAS is a relatively new organization — it was formed in 2000. When APAS was formed, its founders were concerned about the cost of recruiting individual members, and the amount of cash and energy it can take to keep members’ payments current. As a result, APAS has a membership structure that might only make sense to people who live in Saskatchewan. Individual farmers are not APAS members. You become an APAS member when (or if) your local rural municipality joins APAS. (If you’re not from here, you might be surprised to find out that Saskatchewan has 296 rural municipalities. These RMs only have jurisdiction over rural areas — the towns and cities within the rural municipalities have their own separate governance structures.) If your RM council decides to join APAS, their membership fees are the lower of $0.06 per acre or half a mill based on the 2000 census. (Or, new RM members that join in 2015 can pay an introductory transitional rate of $2,015.) Saskatchewan farmers who live in member RMs can take advantage of programs that include a 10 per cent discount at Mark’s Work Wearhouse, a $0.02 per litre discount at PetroCanada and access to a group health insurance plan. While not all residents in APAS member municipalities are farmers, some of these benefits are only available to farmer residents. APAS has been operating for almost 15 years, but the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, SARM, which has been around since 1905, also keeps a hand in agricultural issues. SARM is primarily focused on municipal issues (such as municipal roads and regulations.) However, many rural councilors and reeves are farmers, so ag issues are a natural topic of discussion at RM meetings and SARM conventions. (I should probably mention that I worked for SARM as an ag policy analyst in the late 1990s.) At SARM’s 2014 convention topics like UPOV ’91 (plant developers’ rights) PFRA pastures, and grain transportation were prominent on the list of resolutions that SARM members wanted to discuss. If you’re not a member of your province’s general farm organization, join (or, if you live in Saskatchewan, talk to your RM council.) If you are a member, but haven’t been participating, pay attention. These people are speaking on your behalf. Make sure they’re saying what you want them to say. Don’t feel you know enough about the issues? Start going to the meetings and reading the newsletters. Soon you’ll find an issue that interests you, and one thing will lead to another. † Leeann

FEBRUARY 3, 2015 grainews.ca /

Wheat & Chaff Farm safety

Assessing safety risks on your farm

ssessing risk on the farm doesn’t just stop at machinery, livestock, buildings or agricultural chemicals. It also means assessing the capabilities of all those working on the farm. Injuries can and do occur when a person isn’t physical or mentally able to competently perform a farming task. Training, maturity, physical limitations and mental alertness are all factors that can mean the difference between effective and efficient use of time or an injury. Children and the elderly on farms are particularly at risk. Children aren’t miniature adults. Tasks that may seem simple to an adult can often prove to be complicated and dangerous for a child. It’s important to assess a child’s capabilities in an unbiased way. Many parents over-estimate their child’s maturity and their child’s understanding of risk. Children are often eager to help and may try to complete tasks that they don’t clearly understand. Every child grows, learns to think and develops emotionally differently. It is also natural for farmers to want to include their children in farm activities. Introducing children at a young age to farm activities can help build many

varied skills. However, there is sometimes a failure to appreciate that children are more at risk to farm hazards than mature adults. Young people may feel under pressure to complete tasks for which they are not qualified or do not understand, or may not be physically able to do, sometimes with fatal consequences. An excellent resource to determine appropriate tasks for children on farm is the North American Guidelines for Children’s Agricultural Tasks (NAGCAT). The NAGCAT is a collection of guidelines designed to assist parents and others in assigning age-appropriate tasks for children. The guidelines are based on an understanding of childhood growth and development, agricultural practices, principles of childhood injury and agricultural and occupational safety. To find our more, please visit nagcat.org. Older farmers are also at risk on Canadian farms. Farming-related fatal injury statistics show this. According to Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting (CAIR) data, the age group with the highest fatality rate between 1990 to 2008 were those 80 years and older. The overall fatality rate was 12.9 deaths per 100,000; but in farmers over age 80, the rate was 79.7 deaths per 100,000. This is significantly

higher than the average. The realities of aging mean that eyesight, reaction time, hearing, and strength deteriorate, making some farming tasks more dangerous. Getting older doesn’t mean giving up farming all together, rather it means taking realistic assessments of the capabilities of older farmers. The reality is that everyone ages and adjusting for this reality can keep older farmers safe. It is possible to somewhat compensate for the loss of abilities that comes with aging. Regular check-ups, exercising extra caution, maintaining good hydration levels, staying rested, and asking for help are all a part of aging gracefully and safely. It’s also important to understand how chronic conditions such as arthritis and medications to treat diseases may affect reaction times and mental alertness. Adjusting tasks, changing roles and asking for help can all prevent injuries in older farmers. If you are working with an older farmer, speak up if you notice dangerous farming practices. Older farmers might not want to admit that they need help with farming duties. Talking about limitations may save a life. Older farmers do have an edge on their younger counterparts: wisdom. Using that wisdom to understand their

Canadian Agricultural Safety Association — www. casa-acsa.ca.

Weather Lore

Agronomy tips… from the field

Look beyond yield

limitations will create a safer environment and let them enjoy their golden years without threat of a farm injury. Children and older farmers aren’t the only ones at risk on the farm. Farmers between the ages of 18 to 79 are also at risk. A good self-assessment of your physical wellbeing, mental health and knowledge are all a part of injury prevention. It’s okay not to understand how to operate a piece of equipment, ask for training from the dealer. It’s okay not to feel well, seek medical advice from your doctor. It’s okay to be tired, get rest and eat a well-balanced diet. Assess your own capabilities fairly. Human error accounts for the majority of near misses, injuries and fatalities. Understanding and accepting limitations are the first step — only then can solutions be sought to fix the problem. Remember: no one should be permitted to carry out any work activity unless their capabilities have been assessed to do the job. Canadian Agricultural Safety Week is March 15-21, 2015. For more information about how you can “Be the Difference,” please visit agsafetyweek.ca. †

You might be from the Prairies if... By Carson Demmans and Jason Sylvestre

hen it comes to cereal seed selection, it’s easy to default to the variety with the highest provincial average yield. But what’s good province-wide might not be best for your farm. Instead, decide are what the most important attributes to you. Besides yield, is it protein, fusarium head blight (FHB) tolerance, rust tolerance, lodging, maturity or something else entirely? (So, for instance, if you’re in a high-risk FHB area, looking for MR- or R-rated varieties is wise.) Also, remember to consider where you plan to sell your wheat; make sure you have potential buyers. Use provincial seed guide summaries for their unbiased, high-level view of variety attributes. Once you find some varieties with the general characteristics you desire, then you can start to look at the yield potential. Hone in on local trial data from the seed guide, seed companies and seeds salespeople for data specific to your area. And don’t rely on just one year’s worth of data. Varieties respond differently to the weather. You want varieties that perform consistently over multiple years. As a long-term strategy, commit to growing small acres of a new variety each year, to test its performance for yourself. †

Thunder lore Thunder at morn, Wind is born. Thunder at noon, Rain comes soon. Thunder at eve, A tempest will weave. Thunder in spring, Cold will bring.

catchy little rhyme, say the experts, with absolutely no value in the prediction of weather patterns. All balderdash. But it is true that thunder from a western quadrant is spawned by a storm that is most likely to reach you because weather travels from west to east in Canada. †

This agronomy tip is brought to you by Richard Marsh, B.Ag, CCA, technical cevelopment lead, Western Canada for Syngenta Canada Inc.

Your graduating class arrived at the ceremony in one car.

Photo contest

GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT Desiree Penner sent this photo. Desiree says, “There is nothing that compares to a foggy morning walk in the countryside, especially down the back roads of Elm Creek, Manitoba. This is the sort of view that I can only wish to see for the rest of my life. Taken by a farmer’s daughter.” Great photo! Thanks for sharing. Send your best shot to leeann.minogue@fbcpublishing.com. Please send only one or two photos at a time and include your name and address, the names of anyone in the photo, where the photo was taken and a bit about what was going on that day. A little write-up about your farm is welcome, too. Please ensure that images are of high resolution (1 MB is preferred), and if the image includes a person, we need to be able to see their face clearly. Leeann

Shirley Byers’ book “Never Sell Your Hen on a Rainy Day” explores over 100 weather rhymes and sayings. It is available from McNally Robinson at: www.mcnallyrobinson.com.

/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Cover Stories Crop disease » CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

A smut by any other name actually counting heads and calculating a percentage rather than just estimating. Because smutty heads are so conspicuous and alarming, at first glance, farmers often assume their levels of infection are much higher than they really are. If they walk down a row and actually count, say 1,000 heads, they will discover that the percentage of smutty heads is often much lower than they first thought. For the purposes of their research, Menzies and his colleagues will count 1,000 heads in three or four different parts of the field. If the grower calculates less than one per cent smutty heads, then the seed can be planted the following year without treatment, but, Menzies maintains, at one per cent or higher, the seed could be planted again only if it has been treated with a systemic fungicide. Then at higher levels — some recommend five per cent — the seed is not worth planting again even with treatment and the grower should invest in certified, disease-free seed. There are no hard and fast guidelines, so farmers need to monitor and weigh their decisions carefully.

Testing in the lab: another way to monitor Post-harvest, farmers may want to send a representative

BARLEY VARIETIES RESISTANT TO TRUE LOOSE SMUT AC Metcalfe General purpose barleys ranking as “very good”

CDC Mindon

CDC Coalition

Canmore

Ponoka

CDC Austenson

CDC Helgason General purpose barleys with moderate or fair resistance: Resistant malting barleys

Conlon

CDC Anderson

AC Metcalfe

Major

CDC Meredith

Celebration

Cerveza Moderately resistant varieties sample of seed to an accredited lab and have it tested for True Loose Smut. For a cost of about $60, the lab will determine its presence as a percentage of infected seeds. As a side note: Labs can’t test for surface-borne smuts; a grower will receive results only for True Loose Smut. The rate of TLS in the field the following season is often slightly lower than the level identified in seeds in the lab because some plants can outgrow the pathogen especially if growing conditions are ideal. Results from the lab test can be used in the same way that counting smutty heads in the field can be. Depending on the levels, a grower can decide to: 1) plant the seed again; 2) plant the seed with treatment; or, 3) buy new disease-free seed. Producers can refer to the seed guide to choose barley varieties with good resistance to

Stellar-ND

CDC Anderson

TLS. AC Oxbow, AC Metcalfe, AC Meredith, CDC Stratus, CDC Select, and AC Bountiful are some of the resistant varieties available. Growing a resistant barley also means that farmers won’t have to treat seeds for TLS.

Best practices: a quick recap On the whole, TLS is being kept to fairly low levels across the Prairies. To maintain these low levels farmers can continue to: 1. Pre-harvest: Monitor fields and calculate percentage of TLS present. Or, 2. Post-harvest, send seed for testing to an accredited lab to determine TLS levels. 3. At levels of less than 0.1 per cent, plant the seed again without treatment. 4. At levels between one and five per cent, treat the seed with

TRUE LOOSE SMUT TOLERANCE LEVELS IN BARLEY Seed Grade

Maximum % TLS

Canada Foundation No. 1

Canada Foundation No. 2

Canada Registered No. 1

Canada Registered No. 2

Canada Certified No. 1

Canada Certified No. 2

Common No. 1

Common No. 2

1 6 6 6 D u b l i n Av e n u e , W i n n i p e g , MB R 3 H 0 H 1 w w w. g r a i n e w s . c a PUBLI SH ER

Lynda Tityk Associate Publisher/ Editorial director

John Morriss

Edi tor

Leeann Minogue fiel d Ed ito r

Lisa Guenther Cattleman’s Corner Editor

Lee Hart Farm life Edito r

a systemic fungicide before planting. Choose the appropriate treatment in consultation with an agronomist, taking into account other disease issues you might be facing. Saskatchewan Agriculture provides a list of treatments for TLS (find it online at: http:// www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/seedborne-diseases-cereals.) 5. At levels over five per cent, buy new disease-free seed, preferably of a resistant variety. Smut is not difficult to conquer. According to Dr. Jim Menzies, “As long as farmers make a point of checking for smut, they aren’t likely to have issues with it.” † Patty Milligan is a freelance writer based at Bon Accord, Alta.

Crop disease

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Beating back black chaff

doesn’t favour overwintering, you’re unlikely to see losses that high, but Canadian farmers have reported losing five to 10 per cent of their estimated yield to black chaff.

Black chaff can lower yields in your wheat field. Make sure your seed is disease free this spring

Managing black chaff

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How does a farmer deal with black chaff? “The pillar of management for black chaff is clean, disease-free seed,” Harding insists. “That’s the best place to break the disease cycle. If you’re not rotating your crops away from susceptible host plants like wheat then that can fan the flames of an epidemic. It doesn’t survive that well over the winter so if there isn’t a lot of crop residue around it’s only going to be able to come in on seed.” One growing season without wheat or other cereal grains, then starting with fresh, certified disease free seed is usually enough to remove the problem, as black chaff only affects grasses and cereals. If you have a persistent problem despite using clean seeds and rotating away from cereal grains then Harding recommends looking into black chaff resistant cultivars. The issue here is that the resistance is only partial — black chaff being less of a threat to vast swathes of agriculture than funguses, there has not been as much pressure to breed resistant strains. Check your seed guide and contact wheat specialists at your agriculture ministry to find out what varieties may be right for your needs. Though not as devastating as some crop diseases black chaff is not something you can ignore or to which you an afford to turn a blind eye. It’s ability to reduce yields and downgrade quality can put a serious squeeze on your bottom line. Thankfully it’s rarely persistent in Alberta fields and can be eliminated with some basic measures. †

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By Michael Flood

ou’re out in your wheat field, inspecting your crop. It’s been a good season, a bit wet earlier in the year, but the plants are growing strong and it looks like you’ll have a good yield come autumn. Then you spot something odd — a bunch of the plants have leaves covered in dark stripes that are leaking a translucent ooze, and the glumes have black bands running through them. They’re clearly unwell, but what’s making them sick? You’ve likely got black chaff, a blight caused by the Xanthomonas translucens bacterium. To give you some help in identifying, controlling, and eliminating it in your fields we contacted Mike Harding, a plant pathology expert at Alberta’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. “On the Canadian Prairies the bacterium is most likely introduced on seed,” he said. “It doesn’t survive well in soil and has a hard time surviving our winters.” While it can overwinter on crop residue and perennial grasses that is more of a problem in the U.S. with its milder winters than up here in the Great White North. Most years the sub-zero temperatures are sufficient to wipe out any bacteria that remain in the field. Introduced on the seed, the leaf striping and black chaff don’t manifest right away. “When the conditions are humid and between 15 and 30 C the bacteria will mul-

tiply rapidly,” Harding said. On the leaves, where the infection usually starts, it causes brown stripes of bacterial leaf stripe. “Then when it rains or is irrigated it will splash up onto the head and causes the typical black chaff symptom, purple and black stripes on the glume.” The classic sign distinguishing black chaff from other blights and diseases is the yellowto cream-coloured ooze the leaf lesions exude during humid weather. It’s this ooze that makes the blight spread so widely. Though not as capable of being spread by the wind as fungal spores, the bacterial ooze can easily be transferred to other plants by irrigation water, driving rain, insects, people, and machinery, where it sets up new infections. Though the disease is not considered as great a threat to wheat growing regions as rusts or other infections it can still seriously affect a farmer’s bottom line. “There’s two things that happen that take money out of a grower’s pocket,” Harding said. “The first is that the stripes reduce the photosynthetic capacity of the upper leaves, reducing yield. Number two is that when it gets up onto the glumes it’s not a serious yield problem but it can move through the glume into the seeds, discolouring them and downgrading them. If that harvested grain is then used for seed the next year it can lead to a really serious epidemic.” In the United States farmers have reported losses of up to 40 per cent of yield to black chaff damage. Due to our climate, which

Michael Flood (www.michael-flood.com) is a business writer and columnist. You can reach him at michael@ michael-flood.com.

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FEBRUARY 3, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features Crop production

Control the pasmo in your flax Left untreated, the pasmo fungus can take five to seven bushels per acre from your flax yields. Luckily, farmers have effective fungicide options By Michael Flood

lax is an increasingly popular crop. With growing demand from Europe, the U.S. and China, flax is likely to stay in high demand (with attendant high prices) for the foreseeable future. It also produces a high profit per acre compared with grains and works well in crop rotations to break disease and pest cycles. While flax grows well in Canada’s cool and wet climate those same conditions are also a great growth environment for funguses. One of the greatest fungal threats to flax in terms of yield loss is pasmo. Known scientifically as Septoria linicola, pasmo attacks the aboveground parts of flax causing circular brown lesions on the leaves and alternating green (healthy) and black (diseased) bands on the stem. The infected tissue is covered in tiny black fruiting bodies, which bear the spores of the fungus and spread it to other plants when conditions are right. Pasmo spores are dispersed by wind and rain and can overwinter in crop debris at the end of the season. High levels of rain and warm temperatures favour the disease and can cause it to spread rapidly through a ripening crop. This is particularly a problem in the harvest season in Canada. There are ways to fight pasmo in your fields and to prevent it from being introduced if it’s in your area. You can seed early to avoid the high moisture conditions of the Canadian fall. You can also use clean, fungicide-treated seeds and wait at least three years between flax crops, especially if you’ve had an outbreak of pasmo. However, three years between flax crops may be longer than you’re willing to wait. Farmers looking to grow flax more often need to consider broad spectrum fungicides.

cides on flax in a range of growing conditions, with areas of each crop left untreated for contrast. IHARF shared the results of their latest round of field studies with us. In years with heavy fungal infections Headline-treated flax showed very strong yields compared to untreated flax, in some cases as much as great a difference as five to seven bushels per acre. This was consistent with the results of previous years. The yield boost was strongest in the years of heaviest fungal infection, and less pronounced in years with lighter infections. Based on prices we’ve looked at Headline costs around $15/acre

per application, with two applications per year recommended for flax, coming to $30/acre per season. With a likely boost of five bushels per acre, and a bushel of flax selling between $11 and $15 in the past year, the average yield boost will more than cover the cost per acre. Flax is a high-yield crop with consistently good prices over the last several years. To get maximum value it’s worth taking care to prevent fungus infections, from timing your planting to utilizing a fungicide like Headline. † Michael Flood (www.michael-flood.com) is a business writer and columnist. You can reach him at michael@michael-flood.com.

photo: leeann minogue

This flax field was treated with Headline. The triangle in the centre is the spot the sprayer missed.

The headlines on headline One fungicide that is proving highly effective against pasmo is Headline. Developed and marketed by BASF’s AgSolutions division, Headline is a systemic fungicide that can move through leaf and stem tissue, making it effective no matter which part of a flax plant it is applied to. It works by stopping spore germination, preventing an infected plant from infecting others, and keeping spores from taking root on a healthy plant. It also stops cell respiration in living fungal colonies, killing the fungus on infected plants. According to BASF, this produces increased yield because plants that are not fighting infections are able to devote more energy to growth. That all sounds pretty good but just how effective is Headline? After all, no chemical producer will come out and say that a product of theirs is below par. We’ve had the benefit on the Prairies of several years of fungicide testing by the Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation (IHARF). These trials tested various fungi-

Increase your yields by using Authority and removing weeds early Kochia and cleavers were put to rest by a group 14 mode of action with extended residual weed control. Lamb’s quarters, redroot pigweed, wild buckwheat and others met the same fate. Authority is registered in peas, flax, soybeans, chickpeas and sunflowers. www.fmccrop.ca

14FMC028_Authority AB Farmer Express, Grainews, MB Co-operator Junior Page (8.125” x 10”)

/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Features Crop production

Seed decay in Prairie soybeans Phomopsis seed decay is the number one soybean problem in Ontario. Now it’s this disease-causing fungi may be coming to a field near you Melanie Epp

homopsis seed decay is the No. 1 problem in soybeans in Ontario, says Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food plant pathologist Albert Tenuta. “The Prairie provinces are also starting to see some phomopsis issues as well,” he says. “Anywhere in the northern climate where you’ve got some delay of harvest, particularly under cooler weather conditions or wetter conditions, you’ll end up seeing increased potential risk for phomopsis. Whether it’s Ontario, Quebec or the Prairie provinces, the disease knows no boundaries.”

Phomopsis seed decay is caused by fungi in the genus Diaporthe. The same fungus also causes pod and stem rot. Where the fungus exists there is potential for both diseases, says Tenuta. Phomopsis decay can seriously impact seed quality, yield, viability and vigour, so knowing how to identify it and what to do once you do is critical. Phomopsis is easy to distinguish from other soybean diseases, says Tenuta. The fungal disease produces a white or gray mould that is crusty in appearance. Unlike similar soybean diseases, Phomopsis will not appear “fluffy” and cannot be rubbed off easily with the fingers. The

plaque-like mould will create fine wrinkles and cracks in the seeds, making them appear shrivelled and more lightweight. “Seeds may also have black specks (pysnidia) of the fungus present,” says Tenuta. “Seedlings resulting from infected seed may have small, reddish-brown lesions or streaks on the cotyledons or lower stems.” The fungi that cause phomopsis seed decay (and pod and stem blight) overwinter in soybean residue, but seeds may also be infested, serving as the source of primary inoculum. For this reason, it’s important to choose your seed carefully.

Soybeans, says Tenuta, are infected early in the season, although visible symptoms will not appear until the later reproductive stages. Pod infection occurs between growth stages R5 and R6. Growth stage R5 is the beginning seed stage, where seed is about three mm long in the pod at one of the top four nodes on the main stem. By growth stage R6, green seed fills that same pod. Seed infection occurs near the R7 growth stage, when one pod on the main stem has reached its mature colour. The infection causes pod colonization to decline dramatically because seed moisture drops. Seed infection, says

Tenuta, will not take place once moisture is below 19 per cent. “The key is harvesting in a timely fashion,” says Tenuta. Early maturing varieties will often see higher incidence of phomopsis seed decay simply because they tend to mature during periods when weather is favourable for the fungus. Losses really depend on the season. “Some years we could see five to 10 per cent of soybeans in a certain region affected,” says Tenuta. “There are some areas in Ontario — for instance, in the Niagara region — where in some years you could see 20 per cent of the fields or higher with incidence of Phomopsis.” “Most fields have some degree of phomopsis in them,” he continues. “It’s just whether or not you go from lower to higher incidences, which is often driven by the weather. In some cases, growers may not even notice it under more mild conditions because the kernels may be blown out of the combine. They’re lighter weight, shrivelled.”

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Field crop pathologist Holly Derksen with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives says that since soybeans are relatively new to Manitoba, Manitoban soybean growers are still be in the “honeymoon” phase when it comes to disease issues. “I, personally, do not have any experience with phomopsis seed decay as it has not been an issue in the recent past,” says Derksen. “I’ve been told that we have seen it in Manitoba in years where there is a late harvest with wet conditions and it can provide problems with germination. However, there are seed treatments available that are quite effective.” She’s right. Usually, seed treatments will increase germination and emergence of soybean seed. Tenuta says, however, that distorted seed with visible fungal growth will still often fail to germinate — even when treated. “Remember, no seed treatment will turn a lousy seed sample into an excellent sample,” he warns. “The impact on seed quality can be significant. Therefore, the use of good quality, clean seed will reduce early season stand problems.” Where phomopsis is present, seed disease management strategies are critical. In areas with a history of the disease, plant pathogen-free seed or resistant varieties. Tillage and crop rotation can also reduce the amount of inoculum available to infect the crop. Finally, always scout soybeans and harvest soybeans destined for export or seed. “Growers should be doing a pre-harvest scout of their fields. Just as plants are getting into the later stages of reproduction, late stages of development, before all the leaves are gone, they should — while they’re still green — take a look at them and look for any of these diseases,” concludes Tenuta. † Melanie Epp is a freelance farm writer.

FEBRUARY 3, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features Crop protection

PCR tests for clubroot in canola Early clubroot infection is difficult to detect with the naked eye. But a PCR test will do the job By Melanie Epp

lubroot is an interesting disease. It is neither virus nor bacteria; it is not a plant or an animal. It is, in fact, a protist. What are protists? Protists are a large, diverse group of organisms; they are all eukaryotic (meaning their cells contain a nucleus and other organelles enclosed within membranes), and many are unicellular. Protists include plant-like protists (algae), fungi-like protists, and animal-like protists (protozoans). As most canola growers know well, the difficulty with clubroot is that early infection causes symptoms that are difficult to assess with the naked eye. “Early infection of the canola plant, however, shows wilting, stunting and plant yellowing, all of which can be easily mistaken for other diseases, including blackleg, fusarium wilt or sclerotinia to name a few,” says Nicole Calliou, molecular biology technician at BioVision Seed Labs in Alberta. “Or it can be incorrectly attributed to moisture stress. It is in these instances where we get farmersubmitted samples to rule out clubroot as the cause.”

The cost of the test is about $100 Why test? All sorts of individuals use PCR tests for all sorts of reasons. “Sometimes we receive soil samples from oil and gas companies who will be assessing land for construction,” says Calliou. “Sometimes it is for governmental or university associated teams who are tracking the spread of clubroot by surveying where it was last reported and how far it has spread since the last survey.” “Sometimes we receive samples from farmers who are seeing symptoms in their field and want to know if it is clubroot or something else,” she continues.

extracted, BioVision’s lab technicians will use the QIAgility robot to prepare the RT-PCR plate. “This eliminates the change of operator error,” says Calliou. The plate is then loaded into a Bio-Rad CFX thermal cycler RT-PCR system. “This is a bit different and more advanced than a traditional PCR,” says Calliou, who explains that a traditional test will amplify the target DNA and then load it onto an agarose gel. In RT-PCR tests, agarose gels are not used. Instead, to amplify the target DNA a fluorescent dye is added to the mix. The dye is called SYBR green and it binds dsDNA (double stranded DNA). “The BioRad System reads the plate for this reporter dye every cycle and shows the results onscreen in real

time,” says Calliou. “At the end of the PCR run there is an additional step added where the Bio-Rad system heats the DNA up slowly to really hot temperatures and records the results. “DNA that is bonded tightly takes longer to fall apart,” she explains. “Depending on the size of the product, it will fall apart at very specific temperatures. In the end, we look at the RT-PCR run and see which samples have amplified using our clubroot primers and are above computerset threshold level.” The melt curve is then evaluated and compared to the lab’s known standard. The DNA melt curve needs to peak at the same temperature as the known standard, explains Calliou. “Then, if

requested by the customer, we can use known clubroot spore load samples for qualitative RT-PCR,” she says. “qRT-PCR is where we can tell the customer how much clubroot is present in their soil sample.” This service is provided upon customer request. Contact BioVision staff for a quote. The cost of the RT-PCR test is about $100 and it takes approximately seven to 10 days to obtain results. Quicker results of three to five days are possible, if needed, says Calliou, but be prepared to pay a rush surcharge of $40. BioVision provides free shipping and free containers to their customers. † Melanie Epp is a freelance farm writer based in Guelph, Ont.

Unconditional

NSC Vito RR2Y

The soybean that can excel in tough conditions.

NSC Vito RR2Y is a tall-standing variety that pods early and high. This means you are going to harvest every pod even if you have rolling land, uneven surfaces, or rocks. You name it, this variety will handle it. At NorthStar Genetics, we know beans! www.weknowbeans.com

What are PCR tests? Used to detect clubroot in canola, PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests analyze short sequences of RNA or DNA. Growers who think they may have clubroot present in the field should send a soil sample to one of three Canadian commercial laboratories: 20/20 Seed Labs or BioVision Seed Labs, both in Alberta, or Discovery Seed Labs in Saskatchewan. Before sending a sample, fields should be scouted to identify other potential problems first. If clubroot is suspected, growers need to send in a soil sample. “This subsample should be either from a suspected area or from the field approach — the most likely area to be infected,” says Calliou. “Once it arrives here in the lab, we use the MoBio PowerSoil DNA Isolation Kit to extract the clubroot DNA.” Once the DNA has been

© NorthStar Genetics 2014 ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Ready® crops contain genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides. Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate. Genuity and Design®, Genuity Icons, Genuity®, Roundup Ready 2 Yield®, Roundup Ready®, Roundup WeatherMAX®, and Roundup® are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada, Inc. licensee. Respect the Refuge and Design is a registered trademark of the Canadian Seed Trade Association. Used under license. ©2012 Monsanto Canada, Inc.

photo: leeann minogue

Unlike with this plant, early clubroot is difficult to detect.

/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Features Crop protection

Herbicide resistance basics Rotating herbicide groups will help decrease the likelihood of developing herbicideresistant weeds on your farm. Find out why, and what the future may hold By Lindsay Griffith

erbicide rotation is a key component in the ongoing fight against weed resistance. New herbicides or expanded uses for existing herbicides come to market every year, but worldwide, a herbicide with a new mode of action (MOA) has not been developed since 1982. According to Dr. Pierre Petelle, vice-president of chemistry with CropLife Canada, MOA describes how a herbicide affects a plant or weed. “A specific herbicide will have a specific way of killing that weed, and that’s how the mode of action interferes with that plant’s ability to grow and how the herbicide kills the plant.” For example, some herbicides disrupt the process of photosynthesis, interfering with the plant’s ability to turn sunlight into energy. Herbicides are grouped according to their MOA. Dr. Hugh Beckie, weed scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), says that, “In Canada, we have 27 groups, but not all groups are represented by a herbicide used in Canada. Our highest group number is 27.” There are about six to eight herbicide groups commonly used in Canada, with a few other groups that are used less often, depending on geographical location. Petelle says that there are 16 or so groups typically used here, but within that there are a few subgroups, most of which have at least one or more products registered in Canada. Groups 1 to 11, 14, 15, 19, 20, 22 and 27 are the most prevalent in Western Canada. Worldwide, the most commonly used herbicide belongs to Group 9: glyphosate, which offers both grass and broadleaf control. The active ingredient within a herbicide is the compound which affects the plant. Other compounds within the herbicide, like various types of surfactants, are there to ensure that the active ingredient is effectively delivered to the targeted area of the plant. Some herbicides belong to more than one herbicide group. These herbicides have either two active ingredients or an active By jonny hawkins

Country Chuckles

ingredient with more than one MOA. The idea behind having multiple MOA in a single herbicide is similar to why some herbicides are sold in tandem or recommended as part of a tank mix: to reduce the likelihood of a weed becoming resistant to a particular MOA. If the MOA is very simple, then weed resistance to that MOA will occur more quickly because it may only take a single mutation within a plant to counter its effects. The more complicated the MOA and the more numerous the sites affected, the less likely it is that the plant has the ability to become resistant.

New chemistry The development of herbicides with new MOAs is rare, Beckie says, because “the easy targets have already been discovered.” On top of increasingly more difficult discovery efforts, it is expensive to get a herbicide to market, and there is a lot of risk for the companies involved. There is always the risk that weeds which have never been exposed to the new herbicide will be resistant. Even without involving a new MOA, seeing a new herbicide from the research phase to the market takes time. “From a brand

new compound to a finished product on the shelves for farmers, that can be about a 10 year process,” Petelle says. The research phase at the front end of the process involves determining which compounds show promise in controlling weeds while screening out compounds with negative effects such as high toxicity or side effects. This screening process — computers examining hundreds of thousands of different compounds — can take four to five years. Once a promising compound is found, more intensive research begins, often first involving greenhouse scale

trials to analyze its effects and potential side effects. Persistence in the soil and other qualities are tested as required by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). Depending on the intended use of the chemical, over 200 different tests might need to be conducted to address everything from value to environmental to health concerns. This process may take three to four years. Following these studies, it may still take a couple more years for a herbicide to undergo a final, independent evaluation in order to get approval to be put on the market.

Ag Outlook 2015 Understand the trends, see the opportunities

Economy

Commodities

Weather

Boost your management knowledge at this half-day event with industry experts. Hear the latest on economic trends, weather patterns, commodity markets and farm management issues, and make more informed decisions for your business.

Tuesday, February 10

Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede

Medicine Hat

Thursday, March 12

Vic Juba Community Theatre

Lloydminster

Ag Knowledge Exchange has over 100 events that anyone with an interest in Canadian agriculture can attend, free.

Presented in partnership with Country Guide.

Seating is limited – register for free today.

fcc.ca/AgOutlook | 1-888-332-3301

“When a chance meeting crops up.”

FEBRUARY 3, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features The herbicide labelling system itself is voluntary in Canada and not explicitly required by the PMRA; however, companies here have overwhelmingly taken it up. The issue of weed resistance is taken very seriously. It is mutually beneficial for chemical companies and farmers to ensure proper herbicide group rotation. Farmers don’t want herbicide resistance on their farms any more than chemical companies want resistance to develop to a herbicide that has only been on the market for a few years. Over time, some herbicides become redundant and slowly lose their market share to newer products. Other times, a particular herbicide’s negative effects — like persistence in the soil to the point of imposing strict re-cropping restrictions — may cause it to lose market share. In Canada, new chemicals are accepted into the herbicide market on the federal level. Every herbicide must be registered

with the PMRA and undergo assessments for value, health, and environmental impact, the last two of which are the most comprehensive, costly, and data intensive to generate. Health and safety testing addresses issues such as the expected residue in the food, how the herbicide behaves in the plant, the potential effects to bystanders such as pregnant women and children and the potential effects to workers handling the chemicals. Environmental studies include assessing if the herbicide will have negative effects on wildlife such as birds and earthworms, how long it will persist in the soil under both unrealistic greenhouse conditions and under field conditions, and if the herbicide will dissolve or ultimately end up in the water supply. Value testing requires demonstrating what the proper use rate should be, which weeds are controlled, on which crops it is

safe for use, and in some cases demonstrating the need for the herbicide in the first place. “If farmers have very few tools to control weed X on crop Y,” Petelle says by way of example,

The easy targets have already been discovered “then [the proposed herbicide] will help fill that hole or it will be an important tool for helping farmers manage resistance on the farm.” Provincial regulations surrounding herbicides vary, but they determine parameters involving the purchase and use of the product. So while safety and risk assessments are done

at the federal level, regulations involving transport, storage and whether or not licenses or permits are needed to buy and use a particular herbicide are determined provincially. Farmers seeking information about a specific herbicide can consult the label or speak with an agronomist or a company representative; company reps are excellent sources for inquiries regarding weed resistance or MOA rotation. Broader queries regarding crop rotation restrictions after applying a particular herbicide or about various herbicide MOA may be addressed by consulting provincial crop protection guides or the provincial agriculture websites. More technical information can be found on the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) and the Herbicide Resistance Action Committee (HRAC) websites. † Lindsay Griffith is a U. of Sask. M.Sc. crop science student and freelance writer. She can be reached at miss.lindsay.griffith@ gmail.com.

J.P. Gervais FCC Chief Agricultural Economist

J.P. Gervais has over 15 years of experience in domestic and international analysis of agricultural policies and markets. He’ll provide insight into major economic trends that shape the Canadian agriculture industry today. Learn how they could impact your farm in the coming year. Appearing at: Medicine Hat, Lloydminster

Drew Lerner President, World Weather Inc.

A favourite among the agriculture industry, Drew’s daily assessments of crop and weather expectations support commodity market trade and help many companies make better agricultural business decisions. Hear how weather trends and global climate change could affect your operation in 2015. Appearing at: Medicine Hat

Mark Robinson Meteorologist, The Weather Network

Mark has been storm chasing since 2000, sending on-the-ground reports to The Weather Network. He has intercepted 15 hurricanes and over 30 tornadoes across North America, including the most destructive hurricane in U.S. history, Katrina. He will discuss the weather trends we could expect to see in 2015. Appearing at: Lloydminster

Mike Jubinville President, Pro Farmer Canada

Mike is lead analyst and president of Pro Farmer Canada, an independent market analysis and advisory service he started in 1997. Benefit from his experience as he explains current and future trends in agriculture, the current state of commodity markets and what we can expect next. Appearing at: Medicine Hat, Lloydminster

Lyndon Carlson

Avoiding resistance

otating herbicide groups from season to season is an essential part of herbicide resistance management. As Dr. Hugh Beckie, weed scientist with Agriculture and AgriFood Canada (AAFC), puts it, “If you use the same herbicide from the same group year after year in a field, you’re going to select for those weeds that are resistant to that particular herbicide or herbicide group, and then with repeated use, the resistant population will eventually dominate and consequently the herbicide or even the entire herbicide group may not be effective anymore.” There is no set recommendation for frequency of use of the various herbicide groups. Some herbicides, such as those in Groups 1 and 2, are highly susceptible to herbicide resistance development and should, if possible, be used less frequently. As such, farmers need to bear in mind the risk of resistance development when considering herbicide group rotation as well as re-cropping restrictions for particular herbicides. The risk of carryover is given in the provincial crop production guides. Across Canada, there are approximately 60 types of weeds showing herbicide resistance. Field scouting after herbicide application to check efficacy is encouraged; while there are various potential causes for poor performance, a poor kill of a particular weed in a particular area of the field may be due to the development of resistance. Weeds resistant to multiple herbicide groups are becoming more and more common. According to Beckie, surveys (the most recent conducted in 2009) indicate that “multiple [group] resistance is most prevalent in wild oats” and that these resistant weeds were present in up to 15 per cent of the fields assessed. Herbicide group rotation and herbicide mixtures have been found to be effective in delaying herbicide resistance in weeds. Good agronomic practices are also essential to give crops a good competitive advantage. † Lindsay Griffith

FCC Senior Vice-President, Marketing By jonny hawkins

Lyndon has 30 years of experience in several areas of agribusiness and marketing. He’s been named the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association’s Agri-Marketer of the Year and presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contributions to 4-H Canada. He’ll help you see where Canadian agriculture is headed and provide insights to improve your farm management skills.

Country Chuckles

Appearing at: Medicine Hat, Lloydminster

“Who ordered the chicken club?”

/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Features Crop Advisor’s casebook

Sickly wheat prompts distress call By Jeneen Burnett

ohn, a producer who grows wheat, canola, peas and lentils on his 5,000-acre grain farm just west of Swift Current, Sask., was out spraying peas in midJune when he spotted a problem with another one of his crops just across the road. The wheat in that field looked like it was dying off. Not long after that I got a distress call from John, who couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “We just scouted this field last week, and now my crop is brown and dying!” I had been to this wheat field just a week before, and while we saw some plants that appeared wind whipped from a recent windstorm, there were no signs of the kind of damage John was describing on the phone. I assured him I’d be right out to have a look. When I arrived at John’s wheat field, I could see the crop looked far from healthy. The wheat plants were stunted and yellow-green in colour, with older leaves that were brown and starting to die off. Newer growth was starting to show the same symptoms. A closer examination of a damaged plant revealed small, dark lesions with tan-coloured halos that appeared to be growing in size. Right away, I thought disease might be the culprit, but I was at a loss to explain what could be causing this kind of damage at such an aggressive pace. I didn’t think this was the work of insects, as there were no signs of feeding, and John hadn’t applied any chemicals in the field within the last week. When I asked his crop rotation, John told me he alternated canola and pulse crops with the wheat in this field. He had a good fertility program, applying fertilizer with the seed and subsequently through mid-row banding applications. I also inquired about the weather, and John said it had been unusually wet and warm for the past week. While walking through the field, I spotted something unusual — a 20-acre patch where the plants were dark green and much healthier looking. John informed me that

Jeneen Burnett is a regional sales agronomist with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Reed Lake, Sask.

Casebook winner

he Casebook winner for this issue is John Hofer, the field boss at the Keho Colony in Alberta. Lyle Jensen, a location assistant at the Richardson Pioneer facility at Nobleford, Alta., helped out by emailing John’s entry. Thanks Lyle! John, we’re renewing your Grainews subscription for a year and sending you a Grainews cap. †

The wheat plants were stunted and yellow-green in colour, with older leaves that were brown and starting to die off. Newer growth was starting to show the same symptoms.

Leeann Minogue

was where a fire the previous fall had burned 20 acres of stubble just after harvest. It was this discovery that enabled me to zero in on the source of the problem. Do you think you know what’s going on with John’s ailing wheat crop? If you think you do, send your diagnosis to Grainews, Box 9800, Winnipeg, Man. R3C 3K7; email leann.minogue@fbcpublishing.com or fax 204-944-5416 c/o Crop Advisor’s Casebook. The best suggestions will be pooled and one winner will be drawn for a chance to win a Grainews cap and a oneyear subscription to the magazine. The answer, along with the reasoning that solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor’s Solution File. † Jeneen Burnett is a regional sales agronomist with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Reed Lake, Sask.

A close examination of a damaged plant revealed small, dark lesions with tan-coloured halos that appeared to be growing in size.

Crop advisor’s solution

Potassium deficiency yellows soybeans By Ryan Turnbull

t was just after Labour Day when I got a call from Brent, a mixed grains producer with a 4,200-acre farm east of Dauphin, Man. While he had plenty of experience growing canola, wheat and barley, he was trying his hand at growing soybeans for the first time. Brent wasn’t sure but he thought the soybeans in some parts of his field might be ripening faster than others, and he asked me to come out and have a look for myself. When I arrived at Brent’s soybean field, it was evident that plants in some areas were turning yellow and brown, and in some extreme cases, looked crispy and even burnt. This yellowing was greatest at the highest points of the field, in approach

and headland areas and along the tops of a few small ridges and hills. I’d seen this type of yellowing pattern in soybean crops before, and I had a pretty strong suspicion what was causing it. Test results from plant tissue and soil samples taken from affected and unaffected areas within Brent’s field confirmed my diagnosis: a potassium deficiency was the culprit. Brent said he hadn’t applied fertilizer to the field because previous soil tests had indicated nutrient levels were adequate. However, I explained that at this point in early September the growing season might be over for cereal or canola crops but the soybean plants were continuing to develop. They still required a fair amount of potassium during their critical seed fill stage. Potassium moves very little in the soil, especially when it is dry or compacted as

was the case at this late stage of the growing season. Compounding the problem was that sandy loam soils like that in Brent’s soybean field tend to be low in potassium. The result of all this was that in the earth underlying the high points in the field — the headlands, ridgelines and hilltops — there was simply not enough potassium available to match crop demand. Plant tissue and soil samples from unaffected areas of the field indicated potassium levels were low but still sufficient for growth. This wasn’t the case in the poorer areas of the field, where potassium levels were in the deficient range. If the problem had turned up earlier in the year, it’s likely that a foliar potassium application may have helped. However, with only a short time before harvest, there wasn’t much that could be done for Brent’s struggling soybeans, which were

smaller, had fewer pods and finished earlier than the rest of the crop. Yields were lower as a result, but fortunately for Brent, the affected areas comprised only a small portion of the field. Going forward, Brent will benefit from a revised fertility program tailored for his new crop rotation that now includes soybeans. With just 130 parts per million of potassium in the top six inches, Brent’s field is sufficient in potassium but only just — the plan is to build up the potassium level in the soil so that this essential nutrient is there when the plant really needs it. For lighter soils, like that in Brent’s field, it is particularly important to address the long-term nutrient needs of the whole crop rotation, especially for potassium but for phosphorus as well. † Ryan Turnbull is an Area Marketing Representative with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Dauphin, Man.

FEBRUARY 3, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features Crop protection

Insecticide rotation for canola growers The need to rotate herbicides gets lots of attention. It’s also necessary to rotate insecticides By Julienne Isaacs

nsecticide rotation is common practice for horticultural growers, particularly potato growers, as a management tool in combatting insecticide resistance. But according to John Gavloski, an entomologist for Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, based at Carman, Man., insecticide rotation is important for canola and other field crops as well. “Insecticide rotations are recommended for field crops, particularly in situations where more than one insecticide application, whether it is as a seed treatment or foliar application, is made in a season,” says Gavloski. Insecticides are arranged in “groups” according to their chemical modes of action. Insecticide Groups used in canola and most other field crops include: Group 1A (carbamates); Group 1B (organophosphates); Group 3A (pyrethroids); Group 4A (neonicotinoids, which in field crops are used mainly as seed treatments); and Group 28 (diamides). “In some field crops there are other groups registered that may get some use, but these are the five main groups that are used, and the only ones registered in canola,” Gavloski explains. The only exception is a new bacterial based insecticide called XenTari in Group 11 that has recently been registered in Canada.

be that these resistant insects become the dominant portion of the population — a major problem when alternative insecticides are unavailable. Insecticide application is not as frequent in field crops as in horticultural crops, so overuse of specific chemistries and the development of resistance is less common for field crops such as canola than it is for potatoes. However, it remains a risk whenever growers repeatedly use chemicals with the same mode of action. “When resistance development does happen it is usually someone repeatedly using the same product and expecting that they will continue to get the same results from the product,” he says.

Gavloski offers the example of Lumiderm, which contains a Group 28 insecticide, and is used as a seed treatment in canola. “The label for Lumiderm states, ‘Do not apply any subsequent application of a Group 28 insecticide (for example, in-furrow, soil or foliar application) following DuPont Lumiderm insecticide seed treatment,’” Gavloski says. “So a canola grower should not be using Coragen if we have problems with diamondback moth or bertha armyworm later in the season, if they had included Lumiderm as a seed treatment earlier in the season.” However, growers should take note that just because a product does not work against a particular pest, this does not necessarily

mean that resistance has developed in the targeted insect population. Gavloski cautions that if a chemistry does not work as well as is hoped, the reasons have to be investigated before “resistance” is given as a reason. “By definition, a genetic change has to have occurred in the population of insects because of continuous exposure to an insecticide group for it to be considered resistance,” Gavloski says. He names the example of seed treatments in canola that do not work as well against striped flea beetles as they do against crucifer flea beetles. “No genetic change has been shown to occur in the striped flea beetles. The populations of the two species naturally differ enough that there are some

differences in the way neonicotinoids affect each species. But this is not due to a genetic change being selected for.” The Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC), an international group of more than 150 members of the crop protection industry, offers “a coordinated industry response to prevent or delay the development of resistance in insect and mite pests.” The IRAC offers resources on insecticide resistance management, including mode of action classification schemes that can help growers plan insecticide rotations. Resources can be found at www.irac-online.org. † Julienne Isaacs is a Winnipeg-based freelance writer and editor. Contact her at julienne. isaacs@gmail.com.

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Insecticide rotation is important for canola and other field crops “Currently, all the seed treatments that contain insecticide in canola contain a Group 4A (neonicotinoid) insecticide. The main use for insecticide treated seed in canola is to control flea beetles, which are a chronic pest of canola.” Gavloski says seed treatments that contain an insecticide group outside of Group 4 are needed, so that rotation options are available. Insecticide rotation is an important management tool in combatting resistance in insect populations. According to Gavloski, within a population of insects of the same species, there are occasionally a few very rare individuals with a genetic makeup that keeps them from being killed by an application of a specific insecticide that would kill the rest of the population. “After application of this insecticide, it would be a very small number of these resistant individuals that survive and reproduce,” he says. Following up with insecticide applications with a different mode of action would kill these resistant individuals. However, repeatedly using the same insecticide, or insecticides within the same grouping, will not kill the resistant individuals. The result could potentially

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Features Farmer Panel

Western farmers watching PGR Several plant growth regulators are now on offer. Farmer Panel members interviewed for this issue aren’t jumping in with both feet, but they are watching research results By Lee Hart

ot all western Canadian farmers are lining up to be among the first testing the effectiveness of plant growth regulators (PGRs) on their farms this year. Producers contacted for the February Farmer Panel says they are interested in the potential of the treatment that can help reduce lodging in cereals and perhaps increase yields, but they want to see a bit more evidence before they try the new production technology. Some say they have done or hope to do some PGR trials, others say they so far have relied on improved, shorter-straw crop

varieties to reduce the risk of lodging. Plant growth regulators shorten and strengthen the stem of cereal crops and have been known to increase crop yield (the plant puts more energy into seed production than stem growth). They’ve been used widely in some parts of the world for decades. In Canada a few companies have some existing products that have been used on a limited basis. Bayer Crop Science has Ethrel and BASF has Cycocel Extra, while Syngenta has a U.S. registered PGR called Pallisade. One limitation with Ethrel and Cycocel Extra is a very narrow window and critical timing for application.

In 2015 however, Engage Agro of Guelph, Ont. is coming to the marketplace with a new product, Manipulator, for use on cereals, that has a much wider window of application and can effectively be tank mixed with herbicides. While some crop consultants have described PGRs as a “no brainer” tool to improve standability and yield potential in cereals, Farmer Panel members are taking more of a wait-and-see attitude. Here is what farmers had to say about PGRs.

STUART MANNESS DOMAIN, Man. Stuart Manness has been follow-

ing some of the information on PGRs, but so far he isn’t convinced they have a fit on his farm south east of Winnipeg. He has read about them, and talked to some of his suppliers about them but he hasn’t heard any science that says treating a crop provides consistent results. “Lodging isn’t a big concern, although we do have some in those areas were we spread hog manure,” says Manness. “But we’ve had pretty good results using some of the shorter straw wheat varies. Right now we are producing 80 to 100 bushel wheat without too much trouble. Perhaps if we were targeting a 100 bushel crop and had to use a taller

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variety to achieve that I might be more anxious to try a plant growth regulator. “I’m going to keep an eye on it, and if someone tells me they’ve had great results with a PGR then I will try 40 acres.”

CAMERON HILDEBRAND H & M FARMS ALTONA, Man. Cameron Hildebrand, agronomist at H & M Farms near Altona in south central Manitoba says he doesn’t see the economic benefit of using a Plant Growth Regulator on their farm. “Right now, I don’t believe the economics are there — not with our wheat,” says Hildebrand. “If there is a product that more consistently works with oats I would be more interested in that. But with our wheat we have been using shorter straw varieties and lodging isn’t that much of an issue.” On the other side of the coin, he does use a growth accelerator to help crops after they have been under stress. He uses micronutrient/hormonal products from ATP Nutrition which can be applied incrop to help stimulate root growth when crops suffer a stress such as heat stress. His greater concern under adverse growing conditions is to get the crop growing again, rather than trying to slow it down.

I’m going to keep an eye on it DALLAS LEDUC GLENTWORTH, SASK. Dallas Leduc says in his usually drier area of southern Saskatchewan he hasn’t heard much about plant growth regulators. Usually lodging isn’t a problem, however in the past three or four wetter years he has seen some lodging. “But with improved design of combine headers and reels we are able to harvest any areas that do lodge without too much problem,” he says. The cereal crop varieties he grows today have improved standability over some of the older varieties. “Back in the day, Kyle durum use to be bad for lodging, but we have switched to varieties that are either dwarf or semi-dwarf so lodging for the most part isn’t a problem.”

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Near La Crete in the north Peace River Region of Alberta, Russell Friesen says cereal crop lodging isn’t a major concern. He has been reading about PGRs but isn’t planning to do any trials on his grain, oilseed and pulse crop operation. “Generally we are a bit drier in this area so most years lodging isn’t a concern,” says Friesen. “It can be a problem in oats if I

FEBRUARY 3, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features use high fertility rates, or if I am seeding oats on new land. And sometimes we can have a bit of lodging in our CPS wheats or if we are growing taller Hard Red Spring varies.” With oats he pays particular attention to maintaining proper potash and manganese levels, and on wheat fields he applies copper and potash as part of crop fertility to improve straw strength in those crops. He also watches seeding rates to improve crop standability. “I have found if we seed heavier the crops tend to be a bit taller and spindly,” says Friesen. “We seed fairly heavy, but not as high as some recommendations. If we go too high we run into standability issues. So it is about finding a balance.” Friesen says with overall crop fertility he applies a base amount of fertilizer at time of seeding and then prefers to top dress crops with foliar treatment during the growing season. Because growing conditions can be so variable, he

waits to see if the moisture is there before adding more nitrogen. “If we get the moisture then I can spoon feed the crop during the growing season,” he says.

JOSH FANKHAUSER CLARESHOLM, ALTA. Conducting a plant growth regular trial on his farm, is on Josh Fankhauser’s “to do” list. The southern Alberta farmer has some on-farm research projects on the go every year, and testing PGRs is one he wants to look at, “but at the moment we have bigger fish to fry,” says Fankhauser. “Right now I am focusing more on fine tuning fertility rates and I believe getting some answers there is going to pay bigger dividends than a trial on PGRs, but it is something I want to have a look at.” With both dryland and irrigated crops, Fankhauser says using PGRs to shorten and strengthen cereal crop stems is probably more important on crops produced

under irrigation. He does pay close attention to crop fertility to insure he isn’t over fertilizing, and therefore producing tall, heavy stands. “We want to optimize yield so we provide proper fertility, but we don’t want to waste it either,” he says. “We focus more on varieties that have shorter stem length. At harvest, our combines are equipped with stripper headers, which leaves most of the stubble standing, but we like the shorter varieties which makes it easier to seed through the following year. “From what I have seen, I don’t believe that PGRs are a silver bullet, but they are something I want to try,” he says.

CRAIG SHAW LACOMBE, ALTA. With crop lodging an all-toocommon problem Craig Shaw has conducted some trials with plant growth regulators on his central Alberta farm “with mixed results,” he says.

He has done on-farm trials with products such as Bayer’s Ethrel, which has a very narrow window of application, and also with the new Manipulator PGR from Engage Agro. “Manipulator has a wider window of application, but it can also be variety specific,” says Shaw. “It can work better with some varieties than others. Last year we tried it with Stettler Hard Red Spring wheat. Although the company says it won’t, we found that it did set the crop back a bit, but the treated wheat was also about four or five inches shorter than the untreated wheat. Shaw says with plenty of moisture, which produces higher rates of nitrogen mineralization, some crops have more nitrogen than they need. “And we found in areas with higher nitrogen the PGR really didn’t have any affect on crop growth,” he says. “If we had too much fertility the crop still went down.” Shaw says PGRs can be a use-

ful tool, but he has to figure out where they work best. He says they may have the best fit in a variable rate application — applying the PGR on areas of the field where higher fertility is likely to be a concern, such as headlands. He says Ethrel costs about $6 to $7 per acre, while the new Manipulator is running in the $10 to $12 per acre range. At that price spot or zone treatments are more economical than treating a whole field. “In areas where we have high moisture and higher fertility rates can increase crop yield, there are still questions to be answered,” he says. “First we have to be using it on the right variety. And we also have to look at crop genetics by selecting crops that have shorter, stronger straw strength to begin with and then we can look at a PGR to help manage the growth of that crop.” Shaw plans to conduct another PGR trial in 2015. † Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com.

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Canary seed is more responsive to potassium chloride than wheat. It’s been shown to increase yields on all soil types By Andrea Hilderman

illiam (Bill) May, crop management agronomist at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Semi-arid Prairie Agriculture Research Centre at Indian Head, and his team have found a 20 to 30 per cent increase in yields of canaryseed with the application of potassium chloride on every soil type. The only disclaimer is that the yield bump is only 10 per cent on heavy clay soils. These studies have shown it is the chloride, not the potassium, causing the yield bump. “What is really interesting about this finding is the visual impact of the chloride effect is not apparent until seed filling,” says May. “Then you will notice the heads will be much fuller when chloride has been applied.” Canaryseed is more responsive to chloride than wheat, but after five years of research, May and his team are no closer to understanding why

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or how chloride is having the impact it does. “Because of these findings, we are now examining if canaryseed is as sensitive to other micronutrients,” says May. “Sulphur, copper and zinc are all being tested now in our research.” The current recommendation for canaryseed is for 25 to 30 pounds per acre of potash on all soil types. Canaryseed response to nitrogen appears to be less than that of other crops and the general recommendation is for 30 to 40 pounds per acre of actual nitrogen. Seed safety is an issue with canaryseed and only a small amount of nitrogen can be placed with the seed. This research to increase the agronomic development of canaryseed is supported by the Canaryseed Development Commission, the Saskatchewan government through ADF, the International Plant Nutrient Institute, Agrium and Agri-Food and Agriculture Canada. †

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Canaryseed response to potassium chloride

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Crop production

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Craig Shaw has had mixed results with plant growth regulators on his central Alberta farm.

/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Features Crop production

Beetle insecticide resistance on the rise Colorado potato beetle resistance to Group 4 insecticides, neonicotinoids, is spreading west By Julienne Isaacs

t should come as no surprise to Prairie potato growers that Colorado Potato Beetle (CPB) insecticide resistance is increasing. The trend of resistance to neonicotinoids (the Group 4 class of insecticides which includes Admire, Actara, Poncho and Calypso) has long been noted in Eastern Canada, and is now spreading west. Ian Scott, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada based in London, Ont., recently participated in a study monitoring CPB populations for resistance and cross-resistance with other insecticides. His team, he says, recently published a survey of neonicotinoid resistance in Canadian CPB populations in which they concluded that resistance to imidacloprid (Admire), the first neonic to be registered for CPB control, was present “in a significant number of populations.” The study also notes decreasing susceptibility to one of the recently-registered products, thiamethoxam (Actara). “Resistance to the more recently registered neonicotinoids, thiamethoxam and clothianidin (Titan), is likely if the products are continuously used without proper insecticide resistance management (IRM) practices being applied,” Scott explains. Perhaps most troublingly, the survey also demonstrated that cross-resistance is on the rise. Using comparisons of CPB mortality generated from lab bioassays with Admire, Actara and Titan, a positive, and significant, correlation indicated that there is potential for cross-resistance between these three neonics. “This correlation was weaker between Admire and Coragen (chlorantraniliprole), an anthranilic diamide class (Group 28) insecticide, indicating the cross-resistance between these classes is less likely to develop, but not impossible, as has been the case in other insect populations,” Scott explains. In Manitoba, says Vikram Bisht, the provincial plant pathologist for Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, resistance has been noted against neonics. Some CPB populations collected from treated fields in 2012 and 2013 and tested by Scott were found to be imidacloprid resistant (with less than 30 per cent mortality in lab bioassays) or showed reduced sensitivity to clothianidin or thiamethoxam (with 30 to 70 per cent mortality in lab bioassays).

Management strategies Bisht is careful to note that the survival of beetles after insecticide application could potentially be due to a variety of factors, including improper coverage, failure to apply the full rate of insecticide, or precipitation soon after application.

But genuine insecticide resistance develops because the beetle, he says, has a very high sexual multiplication rate, which lends itself to high mutation rates and thus can lead to increased resistance in a given population. It’s clear that constant use of one class of insecticides will be harmful long-term. “Use of any chemical to kill insects leads to a selection pressure on the insect population, which could give rise to resistance types,” Bisht says. Additionally, repeated use of similar mode-of-action insecticides, he says, “may often lead to development of cross-resistance against newer insecticides (even though they are less used). It is for this reason that resistance against clothianidin and thiamethoxam may be appearing.” For this reason, rotation of chemical classes is increasingly crucial. “It is extremely important to rotate chemistries against CPB,” says Bisht. “This could reduce selection pressure and slow development of resistance in CPB populations.” Judicious use of neonics will prolong their use, but Scott says that once resistance has developed, as in some U.S. potato growing regions, CPB populations have shown neonic-resistance years after the products were no longer applied. “IRM practices, if followed, will definitely ensure a longer life-time for each product. The history of CPB-insecticide use contains many examples of products that will eventually fail given a long enough use in the field,” he says. Thus, a combination of chemical and non-chemical management techniques is a grower’s best bet to ensuring CPB protection long-term. The combination, Scott explains, will slow resistance development and help maintain currently effective insecticides for as long as possible. On the list of non-chemical management strategies is crop rotation, as well as, Scott says, “increasing the amount and variety of landscape features between potato fields to reduce CPB abundance and migration, where possible.” “The closer fields are to each other the greater chance of CPB movement between fields, and thus the movement of insecticide-resistant populations,” he says. “Increasing field borders, such as grass areas, has been shown to reduce CPB movement, in part by creating a physical barrier, and possibly providing more habitat for egg predators of CPB, that act as natural biological control agents.” Other techniques, such as constant monitoring and scouting and the use of crop refuges, are important tools in the grower’s toolbox. Manitoba growers, for the time being, are doing all they can to prolong use of neonics. Marlon Kuhl, vice president of Fresh and Chipping Potatoes for Southern Potato Co., says the company has

so far observed no resistance on their operation. This is partly due to careful management — when treating seed, Kuhl says, they always use proper rates of application. If neonics are used as a seed treatment, they are not used as foliar insecticides. Scouting begins at emergence and continues until harvest. “If products are not managed properly, resistance will be inevitable,” says Kuhl. “It’s just a matter of time. As farmers we need to ensure that we do not cut rates when applying either on seed or foliar. If foliar application is needed following seed treatment, the use of a different group of chemistry will help delay resistance.” † Julienne Isaacs is a Winnipeg-based freelance writer and editor. Contact her at julienne. isaacs@gmail.com.

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Features Grain transportation

Short lines still in the picture Short lines are still a vibrant part of rail transport, and contrary to popular belief, producer cars are more popular now than they ever were By Lisa Guenther

any rural communities have watched their infrastructure disappear. Rail lines have been ripped out and country elevators demolished. But some have stemmed the loss by buying short-lines from the national railways and investing in producer car facilities. Contrary to popular belief, producer cars are more popular than ever, says Ron Shymanski, chairman of Torch River Rail. The short line has been running in north-east Saskatchewan since they bought the line from Canadian Pacific (CP) in 2008. Before buying the track, their record for producer cars shipped totalled 135. In 2014, they handled about 600 cars, Shymanski says. And, with a new one million dollar producer-car load-

ing facility in Choiceland, Shymanski thinks they’ve got the customer base to double that number. In central Alberta, Battle River Railway has been running a short line since 2010. Ken Eshpeter, the chair and CEO of the short line, says they averaged about 550 producer cars a year when Canadian National (CN) owned the line, and their best years saw about 800 producer cars. “Last year we moved 2,100 cars. And this year we could move 3,000 cars,” says Eshpeter. Battle River Railway is working on its third producer loading facility. Eshpeter thinks they could move 5,000 to 6,000 cars of grain within a couple years if they knew they could get the cars. One reason Battle River Railway shareholders formed a co-op and bought the 50-mile short line was to staunch the infrastruc-

ture loss, Eshpeter says. Eshpeter notes 25 elevators used to line 60 miles of that track. Today one elevator stands alone on the line, which runs south-east from Camrose to Alliance.

“This year we could move 3,000 cars.” — Ken Eshpeter

Grain handling and transportation infrastructure has consolidated since Quorum Corporation began monitoring the system 15 years ago. Since then, Western Canada has lost 9.6 per cent of its rail network, which now stands at 17,600 route-miles, according to Quorum’s latest report on the

2013-14 crop year. Eshpeter says that although that number may sound small, losing those short lines and sidings had a huge impact on rural communities. In the same time period, 618 elevators vanished from the Prairie landscape, a loss of 61.6 per cent of the facilities, Quorum noted in the report. The 386 facilities that stand today hold just under 6.9 million tonnes, a storage capacity close to what the smaller, more numerous elevators held when Quorum began reporting years ago. But Choiceland’s infrastructure has grown, Shymanski says. The producer car loading facility and short line employ four fulltime staff. “I think we run a fairly efficient operation the way it’s set up because we have the same people that run the railroad, load the cars, rather than have a train crew that brings out the cars and then they sit and wait ‘til the cars get loaded,” says Shymanski. “Our guys do everything.” Farmers are allocated bins to load their grain using a key-lock system, Shymanski explains. Staff then move grain from the bins onto the cars. “It’s just like going to the gas pumps with a card lock. They can haul 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” says Shymanski. He adds they now move far more cars from non-shareholders than the short line’s shareholders. Farmers from communities as far as 150 km away haul their grain to Choiceland, he adds. The producer car facility’s popularity is no mystery. Short lines are one way for farmers to improve their bottom lines, Shymanski says. Torch River Rail’s facilities are working well and their rates are far lower than what they would be at a terminal, he says. Torch River Rail’s grain flows south, for the most part. Quaker takes oats from the short line. Bunge, CWB’s Mission Terminal and Andersons Grain Group are also customers. Last year’s transportation issues “put a kink into the whole plan because we were set for a terrific year,” says Shymanski. He says they had several cars booked and lots of interest from producers. “We really started a

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fire here. But it kind of started smoldering when… we couldn’t get the cars or weren’t getting cars to meet demand.” The order-in-council promoted east-west traffic, he adds, and hurt southbound traffic. But overall things are going well with the short line and new facility, he says. Battle River Railway is relatively close to Vancouver. The order-in-council negatively affected them, but they weren’t hurt as much as Saskatchewan short lines further from port, Eshpeter explains. Eshpeter says the short line did eventually get cars, but they came a lot later in the year. Battle River Railway’s interior B.C. market was most affected. “We got no cars for 27 consecutive weeks to deliver grain to that market,” he says. The short line’s Alliance and Forestburg facilities clean and market peas. Battle River Railway also ships wheat and canola, and runs a tourism operation on the line. They also pull some oil, the idea being to intersperse the oil cars with grain. “But in a way, it’s caused a real hassle because we never are spotted the number of cars that we actually ordered of grain cars for any particular run,” says Eshpeter. “It’s always a surprise.” But despite the challenges of running a short line, Eshpeter is glad shareholders were able to buy the track. The short line cuts time spent hauling grain, employs locals, and keeps about $2 million in the community each year, Eshpeter says. It gives people a sense of ownership, he says. And it works for farmers, he adds. “If we can figure out a way, as a group of farmers, to work together, I’ll continue to haul my grain in producer cars. I’ve done it most of my life. And we can seek out markets that work for us. And we can bring the benefits back to the farmers.” While big companies look at the dollars and cents of infrastructure, “we look at it from a lifeblood perspective,” says Eshpeter. † Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa. Guenther@fbcpublishing.com or on Twitter @LtoG.

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/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Columns Kelly’s AgExpert Tips and Hints

Getting through year end with AgExpert Steps to preparing your AgExpert Analyst data file for year end and creating a new fiscal year Kelly Airey

A Your crops will eat this stuff up.

s 2014 came to a close, so did another year of bookkeeping. Before you can create another fiscal year in your data file, you need to prepare for year end. You need to verify ending balances are correct in assets and liabilities, do bank reconciliations on bank and credit card accounts and check through final reports for possible data entry errors. After taking the steps to prepare, you will then create another fiscal year in your data file. In the latest versions of AgExpert, all the fiscal years are now incorporated into a single data file. This means you only need one file for your business. The year-end wizard that used to be part of the year-end process in older versions of the software has been replaced with a dialogue box that allows you to manage your fiscal years. A strong advantage of new year end process is that once you create a new fiscal year, you can easily create an accountant’s copy of the data file. This allows you to give your accountant a copy of the file while you continue to work forward in the new fiscal year. My next article will cover this feature in more detail. If you’re running an older version of the software, now would be a great time to upgrade your support package and take full advantage of all the upgraded features in the latest versions of the software.

12 steps to prepare for year end WATER MOVES IN THROUGH THE COATING

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1. Ensure you have all your financial paperwork in order. As part of my bookkeeping practices throughout the year, I make sure that I have a good filing system for my bills, invoices, and receipts. There are many ways people choose to keep their financial records organized. Tip: I prefer a filing system similar to the way the income/expense accounts are set up in AgExpert. For example, I keep separate folders for cattle purchases, seed purchases, fertilizer bills, gas receipts, grain sales tickets, cattle sales tickets, etc. So if I am looking for a grain sales ticket its easy to pull that particular folder and find what I need. I keep a set of these folders for each year of bookkeeping. 2. Make sure you have your bank statements, line of credit statements and credit card statements. Ensure bank reconciliations are done to year end on each of these bank and credit card accounts to ensure you

have entered all financial activity throughout the fiscal year. 3. Check that loan balances match statements. Hint: The principal amount paid throughout the year should be recorded to your loan account. Any interest paid should be reflected in your expense section as loan interest expense. 4. Go through accounts receivable and payable reports making sure year end balances are correct. Hint: Remember that when you process a GST return, if you’re getting a refund, the system automatically creates and posts the refund to a receivable. It’s important that when you receive the refund cheque and record the deposit, you apply it to the outstanding receivable. 5. Review inventory quantity and values at year end. 6. Review payroll records 7. Review general ledger report. Hint: This is a large report, but I like to scroll through the income and expense accounts, and make sure something didn’t get accidently posted to a wrong account. For example, perhaps you put an advertising expense into the accounting expense account by mistake. These things do happen! 8. Print your trial balance to review account totals. 9. Process the final GST Report. 10. Verify that your capital assets have been recorded correctly. View Capital Asset Reports under Reports> Report Console> Tax Information> Capital Assets. 11. Edit fair market value for general assets such as land, and capital assets such as tractors, equipment etc. Select Management > Fair Market Value to update. 12. Next create a backup of your data file! Tip: Backup in at least two different locations. One on your hard drive, another on a memory stick, disc or external hard drive, and keep it in a safe location.

Creating a new fiscal year 1. In AgExpert go to Setup > Fiscal Years. 2. A fiscal years dialogue box will open. On the left side you will see a list of the fiscal years that are active within this data file. 3. On the right side under “Add Fiscal Year” Click on the Add Fiscal Year Button. Review the confirmation pop up and click yes if correct. 4. The fiscal year will now be added to the list on the left side of the screen. If you wish to start entering in the new fiscal year, under “Current Fiscal Year” on right side select the appropriate year from the drop down menu. 5. Close your screen and you’re ready to enter in the new fiscal year. † Kelly Airey is a producer and Ag Consultant in Western Manitoba. She offers software setups and training, and discounts on software purchases. Contact Kelly at kelly. agconsulting@gmail.com or (204) 365-0136.

FEBRUARY 3, 2015 grainews.ca /

Columns Off-farm income

How to secure your money When there are a lot of changes happening in the world, know how to protect your assets Bank deposits

ANDY SIRSKI

In Canada all major banks carry what is called Canada Deposit Insurance. That is a federal government guarantee. The first $100,000 in your account is insured, so if things got serious the federal government could print money to honour the safety of your money and mine. A married couple could deposit $100,000 in one name, another $100,000 in the spouse’s name and $100,000 in a joint deposit so a couple can easily insure $300,000 with that bank. They could then go to another bank and do the same thing. So with at least five major banks a couple could insure $1,500,000 dollars. Credit unions have their own

t’s been years since I wrote about how you can improve the odds that your money is securely deposited. Let me say it this way: not all deposits are guaranteed equally and we should understand how our money is guaranteed or insured. I’m not suggesting the financial world is going to crash but with all the chaos going on in the world, we could see financial setbacks. I’m going to explain what I have found.

insurance. In Manitoba, each credit union pays into a fund held by Credit Union Central to protect deposits. That would work if one or two credit unions went bust but if a whole bunch did, the odds are the fund could not insure all the deposits at 100 per cent. Another choice to protect yourself is to buy short term T-bills issued by the Canadian federal government, which are guaranteed by the federal government. An investor could also buy provincial short term T-bills; if the province got in trouble the federal government would back the T-bill. Money in stocks is not guaranteed in any way shape or form. Money and GICs held in RRSPs and such are insured by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation, if

they are held in Canadian dollars, by a CDIC member bank.

Stock update I went to mostly cash before Christmas and likely will stay that way for the next few months. My life gets pretty busy in the winter time. For now I am doing two or three trades a week and so far my batting average is pretty good. I am selling covered calls on Gilead (GILD) and that stock has received a lot of attention. It has some new drugs for treating Hepatitis C and has made deals with at least two providers of health insurance policies in the U.S. A competitor, AbbVie Inc. (ABBV), had its new Hepatitis C product approved in the U.S. on December

9 and immediately signed an exclusive deal with health insurance provider Express Scripts (ESRX) to use just ABBV’s product and that kicked the price of GILD’s shares down to under $90 for a few hours or maybe a day or two.

Oil prices A lot of readers did not sell their oil stocks when prices went below the 10-day moving average. Crescent Point (CPG) shares, for example, dropped through the 10 dma at about $45 and dropped to under $21. The dividend seems secure, since I hear the company hedged enough oil at $90 a barrel for the next three years to bring in

» continued on page 22

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/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Columns Soils and Crops

Excess water and farm drainage: Part 1 of 3 In the first part of the a three-part series, Les Henry tackles the dreaded “D-word” that can get folks’ dander up. That’s right. Drainage les henry

his is Part 1 of a threepart series on drainage. Part 2 will deal with water quality and Part 3 with wet cycles and extreme weather. The past few years have been “back to the 1950s” for rain. Excess water has been the result. The 1950s spawned the Conservation and Development Branch (C&D) of Saskatchewan Agriculture to help farmers deal with excess water. Ag engineers designed C & D ditches to carry away excess water to a suitable location without negative effects on others. In past decades that activity stopped and private unauthorized drainage has become a problem. Our current Water Security Agency (run by the Saskatchewan government) is in the process of making changes to deal with the current situation. In my many years of town hall meetings drainage was a word to be avoided. Nothing gets folks’ dander up as quick as a drainage dispute. In dealing with the soil salinity question it was common during coffee break to have a person beating on each ear with exact opposite positions.

boundary crossing considerations: the prairie provinces water board Many Prairie rivers cross provincial boundaries. The “Prairie Provinces Water Board” (PPWB) was formed long ago to deal with apportionment issues. The agreement is that the upstream province can use half of the flow but must leave half proceed to the downstream neighbour. Many decades ago the PPWB established monitoring sites wherever rivers cross provincial borders. Those sites have also produced a large database of water flow and quality. The Saskatchewan/ Alberta and Saskatchewan/ Manitoba borders are good sources of information for both surface and groundwater. The International Red River Board and International Souris River Board deal with Saskatchewan/Manitoba/U.S. problems. There is also an International Joint Commission that deals with Canada/U.S. issues. There are countless watershed or basin boards, authorities and associations. A recent entrant is the Manitoba based Prairie Improvement Network which has spawned the Assiniboine River Basin Initiative. There is no lack of organization.

Some history and geography Land drainage has been an essential part of agriculture for centuries. When the Romans landed in England they found a land of mostly bush and swamp. Without drainage, agriculture could scrap big parts of England, most of the Netherlands and parts of Ontario. In parts of the Great Lakes basin of Ontario land is not considered to be farmable until tile drains are installed. But much of England is not far from the ocean. In the Great Lakes basin, a Great Lake is not far away. The Great Lakes spill to the ocean but in spite of that, water quality problems have arisen — witness the algae blooms in Lake Erie just this past summer.

Too little or too much The “too little” part is mostly confined to an Alberta/ Saskatchewan issue and with respect to the South Saskatchewan River. The large irrigation area

Dams are not as popular as they once were and oil and population growth in southern Alberta leaves it using much of the allotment. Irrigation is the big volume user. Even a big city like Calgary (1.16 million people) has annual water use equal to about only 75,000 acres of irrigation. Alberta irrigates about 1.5 million acres of land. When there’s too much, there’s a need for drainage. The major farmland area in the Canadian Prairies that relies totally on surface drainage (and tile drainage is starting) is the Red River Valley of Manitoba. About 20 townships of land southwest of Winnipeg have long established drainage ditches that help natural drainage channels move runoff to the Red River. Without that drainage, much of the land would be of little agricultural value. The Red River also extends south of the 49th parallel into North Dakota, Minnesota and a small area in South Dakota. The Red River Basin Board’s “Inventory Team Report — Drainage, September 2000” had this to say about the Red River Basin: “North Dakota and Minnesota account for… 47 and 41 per cent, respectively. Manitoba and South Dakota comprise only 11 per cent and one per cent of the entire area, respectively” A few years ago while accessing other books at the University of Saskatchewan library I stumbled

on a gem: March 23,1922. USDA Bulletin No. 1017. Report on drainage and prevention of overflow in the valley of the Red River of the North. by P.T. Simons and Forest V. King. This 1922 document is a large collection of data and facts about drains already in place and elevation and other plans to create more drains and reservoirs to further improve the land. In the “Estimates of Costs” for future works they had this to say: “These estimates were prepared during 1920 and it is probable that by the time the organization is completed the costs… will be somewhat less.” (emphasis mine). Most folks do not realize that the early 1920s were a time of serious recession, just like 2008. The mid- to late-1920s were big boom times, just like 2010 to 2014. And then came 1930 and the really big bust. Does anyone see any parallels here? The 1922 report had this to say about the soils of the Red River valley: “All are fertile and, when drained, admirably adapted to agricultural purposes.” The report included a map of the existing surface drains and maps of elevation cross sections and recommendations for further drainage works to improve more land. An interesting quote from the 1922 report says that the drainage of swamps and pods: “removes large quantities of excess water during the original period. …After drains have been in operation for a time the amount of discharge is diminished by whatever water is absorbed by the drained soil and

by whatever amount evaporation and transpiration are increased.”

Assiniboine basin With respect to interprovincial flows and flooding, the Assiniboine River system is a major irritant between Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Assiniboine heads in Saskatchewan and excess water from the Assiniboine (and

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Columns Qu’Appelle) has caused flooding in Manitoba in recent years. Brandon has been affected and the Portage diversion of recent years has been devastating to some farms around Lake Manitoba. It is all about saving downtown Winnipeg, the same way the Winnipeg floodway does just that for the Red River as it comes up from the south. In the opinion of this old fossil the Assiniboine River flooding problem caused by this wet cycle will not go away by using half measures. I am sure the operation of the Shellmouth dam and Lake of the Prairies is being examined in detail. As our Saskatchewan Water Security Agency wrestles with current drainage problems they must insure that wildcat or other drainage does not add significantly to water levels of the Assiniboine in flood stage. Despite farm drainage being blamed I have seen no compilation of data that supports that. Perhaps some reader(s) will enlighten me.

bundles. ebates. waiting.

But, for any real solution I suspect that another dam on the Assiniboine may be the best solution. To put it mildly, dams are not as popular as they once were. Many segments of society believe nature should be allowed to run wild and free and unencumbered by human hands. That is, unless it happens to affect a major population center. Some say every slough should be saved. How many sloughs do we see in cities or towns?

The future As society wrestles with water problems of excess in our current wet cycle, we must remember that the watershed is the geographic unit that should be the base of studies, analysis and action. We need more compilation and synthesis of existing data and facts. Many of the wastershed maps are simply not accurate because they ignore the non-contributing areas. Some say we need detailed LIDAR maps to make better maps. In very flat areas that may be true but there are many areas that can be separated based on existing topography and aerial photo information. Once the areas are properly delineated, issues of quantity and quality can be examined and solutions proposed on the basis of better and more complete facts. Broad brush strokes are not the answer. Measure the problem and trace it back to the source(s). None of us know how long this wet cycle will last. By the time we become more adept at handling the excess, Mother Nature may well turn off the tap and we will be fighting over who gets the water. For more information on cycles, watch for Part 3 in this series on water. Part 2 will talk about drainage and water quality. †

Wildlife on Blackstrap Farm

armers are sometimes presented as nature-hating money-makers who gladly dispatch any foreign organisms with a spray or rifle. As do most farmers, this old fossil takes great joy and pride from observing the wildlife that shares our space. Moose, deer, ducks, geese and many other birds, squirrels, coyotes, fox, badgers, skunk (if not too close) are all welcome on Blackstrap farm. The only things not welcome are raccoons that damage buildings and steal sweet corn from the garden, mice that leave a mess and pocket gophers that leave soil mounds. My delight the past two years has been the fox. In the summer of 2013 a young orphaned fox took up residence in my farmyard and became a pet. S/he even posed for a pretty picture. Over the winter my fox must have found a mate and, knowing it was a friendly farm, the new family took up residence. They denned under my old wooden granaries. Four young pups now come out to greet me each time I come to work. Wildlife is fun! †

Les Henry

J.L.(Les) Henry is a former professor and extension specialist at the University of Saskatchewan. He farms at Dundurn, Sask. He recently finished a third printing of “Henry’s Handbook of Soil and Water,” a book that mixes the basics and practical aspects of soil, fertilizer and farming. Les will cover the shipping and GST for Grainews readers. Simply send a cheque for $50 to Henry Perspectives, 143 Tucker Cres, Saskatoon, SK, S7H 3H7, and he will dispatch a signed book.

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/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Columns Understanding market bulls and bears

World events impact the farm When you’re a farmer, world economics have a direct impact on your bottom line. Here’s a review of some of the hotspots to watch for the rest of the winter when selling against other countries (the U.S. included), but the Brian higher U.S. dollar is pressuring wittal U.S. grain futures lower, helping them remain competitive. The net result is that you end up getting paid less for your grain et’s review world events because we are so closely tied to that could impact grain U.S. grain futures for our pricing. markets. The higher U.S. dollar helps Recent U.S. economic decrease the cost of imported reports show the economy grow- goods such as fertilizers and ing at a better-than-expected pace machinery for U.S. farmers. over the last few months. This is Conversely, the lower Canadian starting to push the U.S. dollar dollar isn’t helping Canadian higher as investors look to the farmers as it makes the price dollar as a safe investment haven. of these products higher here. This is driving the Canadian dol- So, we’re experiencing a double lar lower, back down to six-year whammy effect with grain prices lows in the $0.85 range. This is falling and the cost of machinery helpful from a competitive per- and inputs going up. There go SEC-RAYMORE-PBR14-T_GN.qxd 1/8/15 2:26 PM Page 1 spective in global grain markets the profit margins.

China’s level of economic growth has been decreasing for the last three years which does not bode well for world grain prices. World stocks are at record levels. Now demand from the major world economic power is slowing down, which means in order to sell the excess stocks prices are going to have to fall to incent buyers to buy more. Thus the fall in grain prices to five-year lows over the past six months.

Oil prices Oil prices continue to fall to levels below $50 a barrel. From a world economic perspective it depends on whether a country is a net producer of oil or a net

consumer of oil as to whether will see an economic benefit or economic downturn. Producing countries will no doubt experience a slowdown in oil related activity. If these low values persist, no doubt drilling activities and building new refining facilities will be put on hold which means lost jobs and an economic slowdown. From a farmer’s inputs perspective, lower oil prices should be a good thing, but until now we have not seen an equally corresponding drop in the price of diesel, which would be the most beneficial for farmers. Analysts say that further drops in the price of diesel should be coming later in January and early February. Let’s hope so.

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ark Hemmes, President of Q u o r u m Corporation, gave an update about grain transportation to conference delegates at CropSphere in Saskatoon in January. According to Hemmes, one of the factors that makes Canadian grain transportation different from U.S. grain movement is on-farm grain storage. In the U.S., 53 per cent of annual production can be stored off of the farm (that is, by grain buyers). In Canada, only 12 per cent of our annual production can be stored off farm. When something goes wrong in the transportation supply chain, Hemmes said, “We don’t have storage relief within the supply chain.” We have to keep our grain on the farm. Given the good weather conditions and smaller crop than last year, Hemmes is “cautiously optimistic” about grain movement this crop year. †

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Oil-consuming countries will be able to stretch their buying dollar further if they are paying less for fuel so hopefully that translates into increased spending for other consumable goods (like grains) and helps to create economic growth in those countries. Rail transportation issues seem to have worked themselves out over the past few months. Warmer (than last year) winter weather across the Prairies and the drop in oil prices (due to reduced export demand) have helped the railways to maintain and increase the levels of grain shipments to port the past few months. In fact it is very interesting that in just 12 months we are seeing a complete reversal from last year to this year with U.S. rail logistical issues. Last year U.S. grain shippers were paying extreme premiums to get railcar shipping; now they are releasing railcar allocations back to the railways at no cost. Why? It appears export demand is starting to soften due, no doubt, to a higher U.S. dollar, which means previous sales are likely being cancelled or delayed, forcing grain companies to readjust their sales and freight plans. If this persists, more wheat will be left sitting on farms. Futures values are going to have to adjust accordingly to get buyers back in the market for U.S. wheat.

The months to come If there is not continued economic growth in the major importing countries of the world like China to help purchase and or consume the excess volume of grains the world has produced the past two years, then the only thing that will fix this issue quickly will be a severe reduction in world grain production this coming year. If that doesn’t happen, then it is going to take some time for the world to chew through all of this grain, likely two or three years, which means prices are destined to stay at these current levels and or lower until such time as the grain glut is resolved one way or the other. We know the size of the North American crop and there are predictions of up and coming bumper crops in South America, which doesn’t bode well for helping to reduce overall world grain inventories going forward. So it looks like we best prepare for another stint of lower prices for a couple of years as we try to work through the more than adequate world grain stocks that are available. Sharpen your pencils and work your cost of production numbers, set some marketing price targets and look for pricing opportunities to lock your target values in. In years of tight margins you want to ensure your costs are covered and then build in profitability from there. † Brian Wittal has 30 years of grain industry experience, and currently offers market planning and marketing advice to farmers through his company Pro Com Marketing Ltd. (www.procommarketingltd.com).

FEBRUARY 3, 2015 grainews.ca /

Columns Hart Attacks

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y knowledge of the parrot world has been growing gradually for more than a dozen years. A long-time friend Gloria Fantin, an advertising sales person and former coworker, is founder and president of the PRC and is working her way toward membership in the Crazy Birdlady Club. She bought her first parrot many years ago when she was selling advertising for Canadian Cattleman Magazine and it has gone down hill from there. First one, then there were two parrots, and I believe a third and then she became aware of the other reality of the bird world — just how many of the beautiful birds were out there and living in neglected and abusive situations. Her focus changed to educating the public and where and when possible providing rescue services. She probably has about a dozen mostly-rescued birds of her own, and then she also provides foster care for some still needing a permanent home. Many noisy years later she is full tilt into doing what ever she can to improve the welfare and living conditions for parrots. The PRC, working with bird owners and parrot organizations across North America is one of several agencies dedicated to helping parrots. And there is no end to the heart-breaking stories of birds that are abused and neglected either because the owners just don’t know any better or are just stupid. I heard one story the other day of some idiot with a parrot that somehow had injured its feet and the owner solved that problem by amputating the bird’s legs with kitchen sheers. True story. And this was supposedly an educated person! They walk among us. A few things about parrots: they are very clever, emotional, devoted companions. And that makes them attractive. On the flip side they are noisy, messy, sometimes aggressive, needy, and not particularly well suited to domestication. And they live 50 or 60 years or more, so they are a lifetime commitment. I hope being invited to the PRC board isn’t just a clever con job to somehow ease a dozen neurotic birds into my home. As

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much as I can tell so far, other board members seem like just a kind hearted group of people truly concerned about animal (parrot) welfare. I have hopes one other board member Ted Jensen of Calgary will keep me grounded. He and his wife Enid, were Calgary business people, but also long-time beef producers. They were longinvolved with the Canadian Gelbvieh Association and then the Canadian Lowline Cattle Association. Come to think of it that’s all I need is to wake up one morning to find a squawky Mollocan Cockatoo and a miniature Angus bull tied up at the front door. (Note to self — Top Priority — give no one my address.) †

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Parrot Resource Centre (PRC). Yes, the parrot. You know — Canada’s national bird. The PRC is a Canadian nonprofit agency dedicated to educating people about proper care of parrots. They urge people not to buy a parrot, and secondly if they are determined to have one, their message is about stepping up to adopt one of the thousands of rescued birds and how to provide proper care. To a more limited extent the PRC is involved in the bird rescue service — taking birds that are sick, injured, abused or generally just unwanted — and doing their best to find a proper and safe home for them. Details on their website at: www.parrotresourcecentre.ca And as is with most agencies they can always use some financial support. It is a worthwhile cause, so check it out. On the grand scale of modern business-world agriculture protecting the welfare of a few birds like parrots may not seem like a high priority. And in the animal kingdom as a whole I am not sure where they fit on any priority list. Whales, grizzly bear, elephants, lions and tigers and a few other exotic species, like Pinzgauer cows,

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capture most of the limelight. But if you start looking there is a rescue agency/refuge for just about anything that walks, crawls, or flies. I saw on Facebook the other day there is a refuge in Scotland for wild cows — I didn’t know that. Horse rescue is a big thing, donkey rescue too, and I have commented before about groups even rescuing and providing sanctuary for laying hens. I haven’t completely lost it. I can still rationalize that a stew pot is a noble and fitting end for any unwanted chicken, but if someone wants to dedicate their backyard as the final pasture for a flock of Leghorns then go for it. I’ve always liked birds. I used to keep a few pigeons as a kid, and then the neighbour one time gave me a lone, emotionally-troubled laying hen which I had for a while. And that led me to raise a few laying hens of my own, Bantam (or Banty) chickens and Muscovy ducks. There was a lull in the bird business for a few years, and then after I was married, I surprised my wife one day by showing up with a white dove and that single bird grew into several white doves, as well as ringed neck doves, diamond doves, finches and there were a couple of canaries in there as well. Contributing to irreversible hearing loss, I even had a bunch of budgies and a couple cockatiels, but the budgies were too noisy and the cockatiels were vicious. So they went. The last bird standing was an old canary that was half blind, and after he passed on my wife welded the doors of the bird cages shut. No more birds. So if you are wondering — no I don’t have any parrots. Tempting, but no. If a parrot comes in, my wife goes out. It’s not that she doesn’t like animals, but at the moment we already have a 29-year-old living in the house still going to university and she feels one yappy, messy, sometimes aggressive creature is enough. † Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com.

Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com.

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/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Columns Open field

A look back and a step up When the next generation moves home to the farm, it’s a time for change and role re-evaluation sarah weigum

look back on all I’ve learned and experienced in the last few years.

Bubbles

am somewhat late for the season of “year in reviews,” so I thought I’d do one better and review, briefly, my last three years on the farm. In May 2015 it will be four years since I moved back to the farm, so I’ve been through four crop seasons. When I moved back to farm with my parents it was pretty much a gut-feeling type of decision. I believed I was meant to be on the farm, even though my only experience with farming as an adult had been driving combine for harvest 2008. The first two years were a trial period for both myself and my parents, to decide if transitioning farm management and eventual ownership to me was in everyone’s best interest. There was a lot of crying the first year (me, not them), a lot of repeated explanations (them, not me) and a lot of learning (all three of us), but we survived, and my enjoyment of farming continues to grow. In January 2012 my cousin came to work for us full time and with his excellent mechanical, welding and machinery operating skills, we had a very well-rounded team and farm life hummed along at an even rhythm. However, 2014 brought some changes. My cousin decided to move on to other pursuits after harvest and throughout the year it became clear to my parents and myself that my dad wanted to pull back on his management responsibilities. 2015 feels like the beginning of the next step up in my farming career and this may lead to more crying, but I have much to be thankful for when I

» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

How to secure your money enough cash to keep paying the dividend. These days when shares are at $27 or so I’m thinking of nibbling at CPG. The dividend now is around 11 per cent a year. One risk, of course, is that the buyers of that $90 oil could default, which would cause a problem. The other risk of course is that the three big oil producers don’t cut production. The U.S., OPEC and Russia each produce about 13 per cent of the world’s daily supply and OPEC openly says it will not cut production on its own. So we might have quite a standoff for the next few months. In the meantime the price of oil normally goes up a bit in February. As does the price of gold and silver. Already some big tanker ships are being used to store oil and I hear Nigeria has (or had) something like 40 ships loaded with oil and no ready market for the oil. While low oil prices are good for some businesses and the public in general they do hurt other parts of

As part of the farm transition, we are working with Merle Good, possibly the most famous name in Alberta farm-succession planning. Besides all the tax and accounting mumbo-jumbo for which there are others well-paid to understand better than I, he has given us some advice for the interpersonal side of things. One such piece of advice is for each individual of the family farm team to divide the responsibilities on the farm into four or five overarching areas of responsibility or “bubbles,” and list four to six tasks inside each bubble. Each bubble can be managed by an individual or the responsibilities in the bubble can be shared. If the responsibilities are shared, then list the person who is responsible for each task. Whoever is responsible for the bubble or task manages it and asks other team members for advice. If you’re not in charge of the bubble, you’re not supposed to be giving unrequested advice. Once all farm members have created and labelled their individual bubbles, then everyone should sit down together and create a final set of bubbles with responsibilities divided in a way that everyone can agree to. These exercises can seem painful, but once I sat down and started it, it was actually fairly easy and I think the results will be helpful. As I wear the hats of daughter, employee and now co-manager and my dad wears the hat of father, boss and eventually retiree, there can be confusion about who should be doing what task. Things get ordered twice or not done at all. Over time I will manage more bubbles and tasks. Some tasks that moved into my bubble this

the economy. Already many companies have cut their budgets for drilling and exploring. I heard one company had cleared a few acres of land, took out the top soil and was getting ready to put platforms in place for big equipment. When the price of oil dropped the company shut the project down and sent workers home. Housing, hotels, restaurants and their supply systems already see their business dropping. If you live in oil country you likely already see that. There was a big cry that a lot of lenders will be hit hard because borrowers won’t have the cash flow to make payments. Some of that seems over done. In the meantime some well heeled oil companies likely will have many choices on which companies to buy for 10 cents on the dollar as the companies with debt run out of cash. More next time. † Andy is mostly retired. He plays with granddaughters, runs his family’s investments and publishes and electronic newsletter called StocksTalk where he tells what he does in detail. Andy sells covered calls to bring in cash and uses fundamental and technical information to make decisions. You can read StocksTalk free for a month by sending an email to sirski@mts.net.

year: seed sourcing, commercial grain sales (usually a small portion of our production) and hiring a new employee. For the first time in our farm history we actually advertised for an employee. I put ads in print editions of the Manitoba Co-operator, the Western Producer and my local weekly paper. Online I advertised on Kijiji and AgEmploy.com. Prior to advertising we wracked our brains for anyone we knew locally who might be interested in farm work and came up empty, so I didn’t have high hopes for a local hire. Surprisingly, the local ad did yield two strong candidates, and while my parents were both part of the interview process, my dad gave me the responsibility for the final decision.

With a high clearance sprayer, this can be one of the most fun jobs on the farm. It can also be one of the most stressful as narrow spraying windows and variable weather can challenge farmers with even the longest booms and fastest sprayer filling station. I started spring 2014 with the mantra “make good spraying decisions” and I repeated it to myself all season long. It can be difficult to manage the pressure of timeliness with the limitations of weather and there have been times in past years when I sprayed and later wished I had waited or prioritized spraying one field over another. There are not enough nice days in the year for every crop to be sprayed under ideal conditions, but it has been worth it to stop and ask myself, “Is there a better time to do this?”

Make Good Spraying Decisions

Tillage

One task that’s been in my bubble since year one is spraying.

One job that hasn’t been in anyone’s bubble for several years on

this farm is tillage. With an abnormally wet growing season we had some areas in our fields that held water all year long. Our neighbour suggested using a heavy disc to break up those areas. In his experience, it allows the moisture to penetrate the soil in the spring so the area can be seeded. We rented a disc and I committed my very first act of tillage. We smoothed over the lumps with a cultivator that we pulled out of the tall grasses (I think every farm has one of these). Given the number of black or partially black fields I saw as I ambled around Alberta this fall, I know we weren’t the only farm going back to some “old-fashioned” ways. Hopefully the experiment proves fruitful and we can establish a strong crop on every acre this spring. I wish the same for all of you as you prepare for your 2015 growing season. † Sarah Weigum grows pedigreed seed and writes at Three Hills, Alta. Follow her on Twitter: @sweigum.

S • • • •

FEBRUARY 3, 2015 grainews.ca /

Columns Guarding wealth

Making the best of inflation Government taxes what it creates. Here are some strategies for making the best of it By Andrew Allentuck

aking capital gains is the essence of investing. Yet many gains are nothing of the sort. They are only the illusory repricing of goods and incomes. Government drives inflation, then taxes stocks and bonds, incomes, house prices and even farms that are part of the repricing. If you think that this is unjust, you’re right. There are ways to cope with inflationdriven asset price changes and resulting taxes. Read on. If inflation is, say, three per cent a year, then, in theory, a product’s retail price or a crop’s price should rise by a similar amount, a company’s products should go up that amount or something similar, and bottom line profits should rise by three per cent. If you buy a share of stock and hold it for 10 years and if inflation runs at three per cent for that decade, then the first 30

per cent rise in the stock price is just inflation. There would be nothing unfair if all assets rose at the rate of inflation. Sadly, it does not work that way. There are really two markets for goods. First, the ordinary markets where land sells for $1,000 an acre in year one and then, if inflation is running at three per cent a year, sells for $1,340 including compounding 10 years later. Second, there is the special market in which inflationdriven price gains are not taxed. The most common market for this special treatment is a principal residence, the gain of which is not subject to capital gains tax. Second is the special market for farm land though the $800,000 farm land tax credit for qualified farms. That eliminates the tax on gains, some of which are driven by inflation. Farms and principal residences and certain qualifying small Canadian-controlled private corporations have exemptions from

capital gains taxation. Yet the great majority of other investments do not. Let’s look at what inflation means for the investments that have full exposure to inflation-driven gains.

Bonds and inflation Bonds are a worst case in this context. In mid-December 2014, the highest return you could get on a 30-year Government of Canada bond was 2.32. Yet the Consumer Price Index has risen at an average of three per cent since 1960. The 2.32 per cent yield to maturity on the government bond will be taxed at the holder’s bracket rate, say 30 per cent, so that the after-tax yield will be 1.62 per cent. That is hardly a winning investment. The bondholder gets lots of risk and all the inflation erosion. The government, with no risk, gets the tax revenue. The bond may appreciate for other reasons, as, indeed, long bonds have done for several

years. Government of Canada bonds with terms of 10 to 30 years have generated average annual returns of about 7.5 per cent for the last decade. The gains have been driven by demand for long bonds by insurance companies that use them to match liabilities, pension funds that buy them for their future obligations, and investors who assume they can continue to capitalize on the trend. But this is a risky investment, for long term interest rates could rise, forcing down the appeal and value of existing long bonds. The problem comes down to the simple fact that bond price appreciation over the rate of inflation is very slight and that all of this gain will be taxed unless the bond is held in an RRSP, which merely defers tax, or a Tax-Free Savings Account, where the gains on assets are not subject to taxation.

Stocks and inflation Stocks appreciate if their companies make more money and if shareholders expect rising earnings to persist or grow further. Dividends are subject to tax as well (outside of RRSPs, which defer tax, or TFSAs which eliminate it). Dividends, when taxed, are straight income if from companies based outside of Canada or are, if Canadian, given a tax break through the dividend tax credit (a mixed blessing if it triggers the Old Age Security clawback tax).

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If dividends rise because company earnings, driven by inflation, rise by 30 per cent in period of a few year, then tax is paid progressively. Sale of shares driven upward by inflation are also taxed on sale with no reduction or adjustment for inflation. Some of the capital gain on shares or other property is inflation repricing, but there is no tax break for that process. It’s invest, gain and be taxed on the inflation adjustment. That is the bad news, but there is good news too. Investors can make inflation adjustments by collecting a premium while they own a stock. Writing covered calls, in which the investor can charge a premium for the risk that a stock will rise above a certain price, can also generate inflation-pacing gains. If the stock goes nowhere or falls, the investor keeps the stock, any dividend it pays, and the call premium. If the stock rises above the call price, he keeps the premium but loses the stock. Clearly, this is a strategy of limited use unless the investor has an active options strategy and can beat the market. The risk of failure is evident.

Inflation compensation There are other ways to buy inflation compensation. Canadian bonds with inflation protection are called Real Return Bonds and pay handsomely if inflation exceeds a given target. Right now, RRBs are priced for inflation expected for the next three decades at 1.89 per cent per year for 30 years. U.S. inflation-linked bonds called Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, TIPS, are similar. They are mostly long bonds and, as such, are vulnerable to price drops if interest rates rise a good deal. However, if you buy these inflation-linked bonds, there is nominal protection and gain from inflation over the target rate. In reality, gains on these bonds, which are repriced continuously, are charged as ordinary income and taxed in full tax every year even though you may not cash out for years or until maturity. You are in essence prepaying taxes on future value. The only way out is to hold these inflationlinked bonds in RRSPs, which defer tax, or TFSAs which eliminate tax on gains. But there is a good deal of risk, for if inflation runs at a lower rate than the bonds are priced for, you lose what amounts to an insurance premium you pay to buy these low-yielding bonds. Much of the time, conventional bonds with fixed coupons pay better.

Commodities The final and best bet for getting paid for inflation is to bet on a commodity that is driven by inflation. Retail food prices are good proxies for inflation, so buying shares in a large grocery company should work. Of course, grocers have their own corporate strategies, so this is anything but guaranteed. In the end, government, which creates inflation and then taxes it, is to blame. Inflation becomes a tax base. It is democratic in that everybody pays but it is unjust in that three per cent or so of most capital gains and even of ordinary paycheques is just inflation compensation. Without inflation, we can have deflation. Government won’t give tax refunds if your asset prices shrink. But real deflation causes companies to be unable to pay their bills, unemployment rises, bankruptcies soar. The only winners in deflation-driven markets are people who hold government bonds backed by the power to tax and even to print money if need be. If we do get a serious dose of deflation, those government bonds, which currently pay little, would be hugely profitable. That’s the irony. Government creates inflation in which you lose. If it cannot beat deflation, then investors in the same government’s bonds would be winners. If you think life’s unfair, inflation economics is your proof. † Andrew Allentuck’s latest book, “When Can I Retire? Planning Your Financial Life After Work,” was published by Penguin Canada in 2011.

/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Machinery & Shop You asked us

Dealers must provide machinery parts We look up the rules to see what rights equipment buyers have when it comes to getting repair parts By Scott Garvey

e were recently given another mission by our readers. A few farmers wanted us to investigate and report on what obligations machinery dealers have when it comes to providing repair parts. We set to work looking up the laws that apply to dealers, manufacturers and distributors when it comes to supporting the equipment they sell with follow-up repair parts. There is actually a long list of legal rules dealers and manufacturers have to abide by when doing business in the three Prairie provinces. There are rules that specify just how long parts must remain available for machines sold in each province and how quickly they must be made available to buyers. But as you might expect, there are some “howevers” and “notwithstandings” to consider that may or may not make those rules applicable to your situation.

What equipment is covered? In Saskatchewan, the Agricultural Implements Act lays down the law. It applies to any farm machine that meets this description: “...any implement, equipment or machine that is used or intended for use on a farm...” That’s a

pretty broad description, but there are some of those “howevers” to consider. The Act lists a couple of specific exclusions, such as motor vehicles (eg, trucks); but in general, it applies most machines you’d find on a farm. In Alberta, the Farm Implement Regulations apply. And just like the Saskatchewan Act and Manitoba’s Farm Machinery and Equipment Act, the definition of machinery it applies to is pretty all encompassing. It includes “...any implement, equipment, engine, motor, machine, combine, tractor or attachment used or intended for use in farming operations...” But Alberta does exclude any farm machine with a retail price of less than $4,000 along with tractors below 30 horsepower, and a few other things. The next thing to understand — and, again, this applies to all three provinces — is the duty of dealers and manufacturers to supply parts applies only to those for new machines that were sold in the province. Parts must be continuously available for 10 years after the date of sale for each machine. When that time is up, all bets are off. Not only that, if you bought a used machine, regardless of how old it is, these rules don’t guarantee you a parts supply at all, only purchasers of new equipment get protection from the Provincial Acts.

What’s the time limit? How fast dealers need to come up with those replacement parts for purchasers (or lessors) of new equipment depends on the time of year; and yet again, it’s the same for all three provinces. If you bought a new machine within the 10-year period, the dealer has 10 working days to put new parts on the counter from the day you ordered them. But if you’re broken down and can’t use your machine during the season when you need to, you can specify the parts are for an emergency repair. Dealers, then, have just 72 hours to supply them, not counting weekends and statutory holidays. If there is a delay in supplying parts that is beyond the control of a dealer or manufacturer, such as a labour strike or transportation problem, they can’t be held legally responsible for that. Of course, dealers can add fees above and beyond the regular retail price for that kind of expedited delivery, as long as they specify it on the parts invoice, at least in Saskatchewan. But if they can’t deliver emergency parts on time, dealers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are obligated to arrange to get you a replacement machine to use at half the normal rental rate until the parts show up, or at least reimburse you the equivalent amount. The Saskatchewan Act describes it this way: “(The dealer or distributor shall)

pay to the purchaser an amount equal to one-half of the normal rental rate applicable for the implement from the date of the expiry of the time limit for delivery to the date on which those parts are made available to the purchaser at the dealer’s place of business.” Manitoba’s Farm Machinery and Equipment Act reads in a similar way. In a worst-case scenario, a Saskatchewan customer could make a complaint to the provincial board that oversees the Act, who could award a cash settlement from the Agricultural Implements Compensation Fund equal to the amount of financial loss suffered by a farmer due to lack of parts availability. Any settlement made through the Act, however, is limited to $10,000. If there was a larger financial loss involved, a producer would have to initiate a law suit to force greater compensation. In Alberta anyone who makes a claim for compensation arising from a violation of its Act could be paid a settlement out of that province’s Farm Implement Compensation Fund. Editor’s note: Do you have a machineryrelated question? Maybe we can help. Email me at the address below and we’ll see if we can get to the bottom of it. We’ll print a response in the pages of a future issue. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor at Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

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FEBRUARY 3, 2015 grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop New machinery

Case IH’s Early Riser planter Five optional installs on Case’s 2015 row planter allow farmers to take home only the parts they want By Leeann Minogue

an Klein, Case IH’s marketing manager, crop production, says what farmers are looking for is “photocopied plants” — plants that are the same height, maturing at the same rate. Because every farmer needs a different system to achieve this, Case IH dealers will install several optional Precision Planting options on the 1255 Early Riser Precision Planter.

1. Clean Sweep This option lets farmers automatically adjust residue managers right from the cab. “Residue managers are either set or they’re welded,” Klein said. Customers “want the ability to adjust and set those from the cab very easily so that they can actually achieve what they want to do. Not too deep, and form trenches, and not too light that it’s not cleaning the residue and therefore hairpinning in the row and not getting that soil to seed contact. “You can adjust not only up pressure, but also down pressure as well, if you’re in a harder soil condition, to be able to clear that residue.”

2. vSet metre with vDrive electric drive This is an electric metre drive system, designed to prevent overlap and provide contour control. Klein says this option, “brings in electric drive, to take that individual planter operation — that 12, 16 and 24 inch — and turn it into a row-by-row planter, pulled by a common tool bar to provide that even and consistent population.” The vDrive is designed to plant consistently, even when you’re turning a corner.

that’s “going above and beyond the iron. It’s tying into a full database, with access to the Climate Corporation.” The Climate Corporation is Monsanto’s weather and agronomic service Farmers can choose the (currently) free Climate Basic option, or the Climate Pro option at an introductory price of US$3 per acre for corn acres. The Basic option provides weather and agronomic information. The Pro option adds advice about optimal dates for planting and harvesting, among other things. For now, the closest dealers are in North Dakota. “It’s another evolution in the sense of planning my operation,” Klein said. †

photo: case ih

Left: The delta force option provides hydraulic down pressure. Right: The clean sweep option lets farmers adjust residue managers right from the cab.

Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

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3. Delta force This option provides hydraulic down pressure. “There’s a lot of talk about higher speed planting,” said Klein. “But the only way that higher speed planting works is the ability to control that down force as you go through the field.” The technology works row-byrow, Klein says, “whether I’m partially in the boundary area, in a soft soil condition, or if I’m in a rut or a grain cart track from a prior year. “No matter what speed, from six to eight mile an hour,” Klein said, “it automatically will adjust as you go through, with the load cells on each individual row.”

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“Tying that all in is the brains behind the box inside the cab,” Klein said. “That’s the easy to use 20/20 seed sense monitor.”

5. FieldView This option allows farmers to take a look at data on an iPad or tablet app. This is the part, Klein said,

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/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Machinery & Shop New machinery

Case IH highlights data over quantity Case IH’s 2015 launch campaign highlights data systems, but offers little new hardware By Leeann Minogue

“

ast year was our largest launch in Case IH history.” Case IH vice president of North America agricultural business told journalists gathered in Nevada, Iowa for Case’s 2015 new products launch. “This year is not going to be, quantity-wise, that large.” However, he said, “it’s going to be the most impactful intro-

duction year we’ve ever had at Case IH.” Walker explained that after record machinery sales in the past few years, Case IH is expecting business to be a bit more difficult in the near future. “The industry is definitely going through a correction mode right now.” With lower cash prices, farmers may be tightening their belts, and running their machinery a little longer than they have the in past. “In some ways, the industry

will be a victim of its own recent success,” Walker said. “Think of how young the fleet is that’s being run out there.” Walker also said that with high levels of used inventories on dealer lots, farmers are seeing declining prices for used machinery, at a time when commodity prices are falling. “At the end of the day, producers don’t have to buy right now,” Walker said. “They’re only going to buy if we deliver more profit

per acre to them. And so the competition is intense. More so than it would be in an upswing market than it is right now today, in a market that’s very tight, economically.” Changing the focus from the economy, Walker told that media that, “Data is the new technology.” Walked said, “We at Case IH believe that the producer owns the equipment, the producer generates the data and therefore the

producer owns the data.” “We’re proud members of the OADA.” The OADA is the Open Alliance Data Association. Besides Case IH, members include Monsanto’s Climate Corporation, Winfield and other agricultural companies. Farmers in the U.S. are becoming wary about sharing their data with agricultural companies. Case IH is clearly playing to this market with its new slogan “My data is mine. Not mined.” † Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

New machinery

New tracks for row crop growers Case IH puts tracks on the back of its Magnum tractor, to help row crop growers get to the fields sooner with less compaction By Leeann Minogue

t’s been 18 years since Case IH launched its Quadtrac tractor. In 2012, Case IH introduced the Steiger Rowtrac. Now Case IH is giving row crop growers access to track technology with its new Magnum Rowtrac, a machine that joins a oscillating reartrack system to a wide variety of front tire options. Zach Hetterick, Case IH’s marketing manager, high horsepower tractors, says the new machine will provide “better flotation and improved maneuverability with more flexibility.”

Adding tracks “This is not a set of tracks bolted on to a Magnum,” Hetterick said, “This is a Magnum built for a set of tracks.” Case IH says the flotation offered by the tracks can help farmers get into the field sooner, and create less compaction. The system offers four points of contact, Hetterick says. Rear traction “keeps the power to the ground.” The machine was designed with weight distribution in mind, as todays’ farmers are pulling wider, heavier equipment. “Where traditional tires just wouldn’t perform, the Magnum Rowtrac outperforms two-track tractors as well,” Hettering said.

The front tires Farmers can choose either singles or duals for the front end. The tires for the Magnum Rowtrac require 40 per cent less air pressure than a standard radial. Case IH offers an optional new universal wide axle for the Magnum Rowtrac. The universal wide axle is six inches wider on either side than a standard axle. It works for all row spacings, and can be adjusted for all tread spacings. The universal wide axle and the standard axle are both available with suspended or standard configurations, giving buyers a total of four options. Farmers can choose narrow or wide undercarriage options, with four potential track widths: 16, 18, 24 or 30 inches. The tractor’s track width can be adjusted to accom-

modate several different corn row spacings: 20, 22, 30, 34, 36, 38 or 40 inches.

Under the hood The Magnum Rowtrac comes in two models: the 340 and the 380. Each has an 8.7 litre engine. Of course, both models meet Tier 4 B emissions requirements. “We’ve got our CVT transmission available for all models,” Hetterick s a y s . C o n t i n u o u s l y Va r i a b l e Transmission (CVT) comes standard on the 380 and on 340s with tread spacings over 136 inches. Farmers buying the 340 with tread spacings under 136 inches can choose a full power shift transmission or the CVT. Hetterick says the various options equip the tractor for different uses. “Whether it’s planting, tillage, harvesting, or pulling a grain cart, this tractor gives you the flexibility and versatility for nearly all of those applications.

The comfort options Minor changes may make the Magnum Rowtrac nicer to handle for those long days. One of these changes is the addition of a scroll button that allows the operator to increase speed in tenth of a mile-increments with the touch of a thumb. There’s strong feedback on buttons, so you can be sure you’ve hit the right place, and the things you need are backlit, for better viewing at night. Seats come with a new cooling feature, which will probably be of more use to row crop growers further south than the Canadian Prairies, but even Canadians will be happy to see the new adjustable bench seat coming out on newer models, which should make things a little more comfortable on farms where the main operators are very different heights. The Magnum Rowtrac comes with new lighting packages that Case IH’s press release says provide “ better positioned lightning for reduced eye strain when working into the night. And finally, for farmers who worry about this kind of thing, the new Magnum Rowtrac has a new styled cab roof , for a “sleek new look.” † Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

photos: leeann minogue

1. Case gives its high-horsepower Magnum tractors a little bit of the belted technology is uses on the Quadtrac Steiger line and creates the Magnum Rowtrac. 2. Case IH’s Zach hetteric says, “This is not a set of tracks bolted on to a Magnum. This is a Magnum built for a set of tracks.” 3. The red scroll button on the bottom of the handle allows operators to increase speed in tenth of a mile-increments. 4. The machine was designed with weight distribution in mind.

FEBRUARY 3, 2015 grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop New machinery

Case IH introduces AFS 2.0 Case IH’s 2015 line-up comes ready-to-use Advanced Farming System 2.0

hat’s the difference between Case IH’s Advanced Farming System Connect 2.0 and AFS Connect 1.0? “That’s like a Pinto and a Cadillac,” said Mike Klein, advanced farming systems North America marketing manager. Most farmers don’t choose their combines based on the monitors in the cab, but for those who might, here are some of the updates that come with Case IH’s new AFS Connect system.

New features Refresh rate The biggest improvement to the system is the length of time needed to update information provided to a laptop, tablet or smart phone. It used to take 15 minutes. Now it takes one minute. Live time “We have 30 minutes of live time per machine per day,” Klein said. This means your dealer could spend up to thirty minutes per day monitoring the complete performance of your combine without visiting your farm. Or, an experienced operator could monitor the screens of a new hire. While you won’t have the option of changing settings from your home office (“in 12 months, maybe we’ll be able to do that,” Klein said), you can see exactly what’s going on the in the cab. Why the limit? The cost of communicating between the machines and your office is included in the package price. Service Alerts You can set the AFS 2.0 to send service and maintenance alerts by text to your smart phone or laptop. Two-way communication Another addition allows two-way communication through customized messages. A farm manger can send messages to any or all workers running a machine equipped with an AFS system. The operators can reply with one of two pre-set answers. For example: “Do you need fuel? Answer yes or no.” Klein admits “this isn’t going to replace a cell phone,” but it does add one more communication option. Breadcrumbs Every minute you’re operating the machine, the software will plot a dot on a map. Later, to analyze your work, you can click on one of these dots, and see what speed the machine was going when it passed that spot. “We can make customized reports,” Klein says. Geo-fencing Farmers who manage a large fleet and like technology might have fun with this. AFS 2.0 lets managers create a shape on the map, “geofencing” a particular location. Why would you want to do this? One example Klein gave was to keep an eye on your equipment. For example, if a tractor leaves the yard while you’re away from home for a weekend, AFS Connect 2.0 can send you a text to let you know. You can also use it to keep an eye on people. Klein suggested creating a “geo-fence” around the elevator in town. If your trucker is spending too much time in the coffee shop after he’s unloaded your canola, you could have the system text you.

You can also use it to keep an eye on your crops, for example, keeping a sprayer out of a nonGMO crop you’ve “geo-fenced.”

Pricing and data You can install the AFS Connect 2.0 anywhere. Trucks. Tractors. Your service truck. “Your 16-year old daughter’s car,” Klein jokes. First, you’ll need to buy the black boxes for each machine ($US850 per box). Then you’ll have to pay connection costs for each of them — $US$650/box per year. You’ll also need access to the Internet through your computer, smart phone or table to get to the information remotely. “Data’s the hot topic right now.

And it will continue to be, and for good reason,” Klein said. “Many producers are just starting to realize that their data is currency. And when they realize that, they start to understand that some data service provides and farm equipment manufacturers have been helping themselves to that data for quite some time.” AFS 2.0 Connect comes with a Technical Use Agreement that states that the farmer is the owner of the agronomic data. Farmers can choose who will see the data — for example, dealers could have access to information about the machines, but not the crop yields. “Your information belongs to you and not the machine,” Klein said. † Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

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/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Cattleman’s Corner animal health

Tips for a healthy calf crop On-farm biosecurity to reduce disease risk just makes good business sense Roy Lewis animal health

alving season poses the greatest risk for spread of disease on our farms or between neighbouring farms and this is repeated every year. That makes it worth reviewing some common biosecurity practices, which should be stepped up to prevent a scours, respiratory or other disease outbreak. It is a time when both the cow herd, because of calving stress, and the newborns are subjected to multiple pressures on their immune systems. This coupled with weather changes and close confinement can really increase the risk of disease. If new additions to the herd are made (such as bred heifers) or commingling occur your odds of seeing sick calves increases for sure. With biosecurity one needs to consider exposure to organisms from outside the herd and the concentration and spread of infectious organisms within or between individuals in the herd. Your own individual herd becomes exposed over time to infectious organisms that are present in a low level. The cattle’s immune systems will develop protection to these organisms very similar to a vaccination. If exposure to an organism at a high level or to one that is new — there has been no exposure in the past — puts the herd at risk of being infected with the disease. The outbreak occurs once one animal is infected and starts shedding that organism at a high level in close proximity to other susceptible animals.

KEEP DISEASES OUT For outside exposure we can eliminate it almost to zero by sticking to some very clear rules. Do not bring in any herd additions either close to or for sure during calving season. This would be cow-calf pairs, bred cows or calves to mother up with cows that have lost calves. To avoid having cows go unproductive when their calves are lost several things can be done. Many herds have a high incidence of twins. Where possible switch the least valuable calf as these calves do go under considerably greater stress adapting to the new mother who may not want them. The calf most often orphaned is the freemartin heifer in the case of the heifer/bull twins. At preg checking good managers often keep one or two possible cull cows if they are bred early as potential surrogate mothers who will have their calves removed at calving and then be culled. They need to be calving relatively early in the season for this to work. This avoids the need to bring in any calves from outside sources. Dairy calves especially seem very susceptible to contracting scours in a beef situation and becoming the initiating case. If you do purchase bred animals isolate them for a time and make sure they are vaccinated and fit into the farm’s vaccination program. You may need to contact the owner if past treatments are not described in the sale catalogue. If no history of vaccination then you need to assume they are not vaccinated and may have not been treated for lice or internal worms. If you have a scours vaccination program give that to the new additions.

DISCOURAGE VISITORS AND WASH YOUR COVERALLS Visitors touring through the herd should be kept to an absolute minimum to zero during calving season. Although everyone likes seeing newborn calves it is also dangerous for inexperienced people with overprotective mothers around. At the very least if outsiders do enter make sure they have street clothes or use a boot dip and keep them out of the calving areas. A boot dip can contain a disinfectant called Virkon, or water vinegar mixed 50/50 works as well. Virkon is very safe and is good for most bacteria viruses and fungi. Better yet, have a few pairs of thick plastic boots to slip over their own boots. The boot dip should be used on entry and exit from either a contaminated area or one which you want to keep protected. Both boot dips and plastic booties create a heightened awareness on how important biosecurity really is. Change the boot dip at least every few days or when soiled. It is best to also have a good brush handy to encourage cleaning the soiled areas. Disinfectant mats can also be used as long as they are replenished and cleaned. Ranchers or their herdsmen have to regularly wash their coveralls and outer clothing. This is probably “THE” most common spread of infectious organisms around the farm. I have seen many of these bib overalls extremely soiled from carrying newborn calves, calving cows or treating calves. With the direct contact with many calves it is clearly evident this is where the greatest potential spread of infection can occur. As producers, keep yourselves clean by using a calving suit, which is easily cleanable, and use obstetrical gloves when checking the cows. If you do get a scours or res-

photo: file

Keep the beef herd “closed” as much as possible to reduce the risk of introducing a disease your herd may not be prepared for. And at calving, provide as much space for animals as possible to avoid overcrowding which reduces the risk of disease spread. piratory case it is best to isolate that animal away from the calving area. Treat it daily after the calving cows have been checked. Dip your boots and either change coveralls or have one pair present to put on for the treatments. Remember any instruments such as feed buckets forks, shovels, or esophageal feeders should be used solely for sick calves and definitely cleaned and disinfected before using on the next case. Efforts spent here may eliminate or slow a scours outbreak.

DIFFERENT FEEDERS Many producers give slow or sluggish calves colostrum so I recommend using a different feeder for sick calves and newborns. Label them appropriately. Make sure and have an isolation area to contain several cow-calf pairs. Individual isolation is best as sick calves are already compromised from catch-

ing whatever other sick calves carry. It is much better putting them together than exposing the healthy herd to this threat of disease. To minimize a potential huge outbreak in the calving area itself, utilize several fields and have 50 cow-calf units in each. This generally happens in chronological order the first 50 go to a certain field the next 50 another field and so on. That way if a disease outbreak does happen it can be kept hopefully to just the one pen. Sick calves are easier to see, catch and treat in a smaller group. In the morning check the healthy groups first and proceed to the sick pens later. If treating, anything you use such as syringes needles balling guns and other tools should not be used on healthy stock unless first disinfected. † Roy Lewis is an Alberta-based veterinarian specializing in large-animal practice. He is also a part-time technical services vet for Merck Animal Health.

winter fencing tips

Thawing ‘oven’ speeds digging post holes in frozen ground BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

ometimes a person has to build fence in challenging conditions. When ground is frozen it’s almost impossible to drive posts, and very timeconsuming and difficult to dig holes. Some people have put an old tire over the spot that needs to be thawed, burning the tires at night, to have the ground thawed underneath them by morning. But burning tires is illegal in most places, and fumes from the smoke are toxic and nasty-smelling. There’s also no good way to control the fire; if unexpected wind comes along, the fire could be spread to dry grass, buildings, etc. A much better, quicker and safer way to thaw the ground for digging post holes is to use a metal “oven” to contain the fire over each post hole spot. On

our ranch, my husband and son had to rebuild some pens near our calving barn before calving season and needed a way to thaw the foot-plus-deep frost. Chipping through the frozen ground was taking several hours per post hole. So they created some “ovens” for thawing the ground, using old metal protein supplement tubs. Half barrels would also work. To make the ovens they used a cutting torch to make small vent holes (about one inch by 1/2 inch) along the bottom edge (to draw air to keep the fire going) and cut a hole (four to five inches in diameter) in the centre of top of each “oven” for the smoke to come out. The place where they were building the fence was grassy so they cleared the grass away from each post spot — a short perimetre around each oven — and

built a small fire over each prospective hole. There was plenty of firewood handy, with post and pole end scraps from their corralbuilding project. They cleared away any nearby flammable debris in case sparks might be blown by the wind. The ovens safely contained the fires, which were right next to the old fence and fairly close to our calving barn. A small mesh screen was also put over each smoke hole, weighted down with rocks, to keep sparks or embers from coming out. Our son built fires under several ovens and let them burn while working on other parts of the corral, and the frost was completely gone under the ovens within a few hours. The wood smoke was not offensive for working nearby (much nicer than the fumes from old tires would be!) and it was easy to keep track of the fires.

photo: heather smith thomas

Holes are cut along the bottom of these half steel barrels to provide ventilation for the fire and a larger hole in the top allows smoke to come out. Heat from the contained fire thaws the ground quickly. Where the frost was really deep, he scooped out the embers after the fire burned down, dug down farther through the thawed, put the ember/coals back in, and added more wood to continue thawing the ground underneath. Several days after finishing work for the day, fires were also started in the evening, and we checked on them before bedtime. The fire would eventually go out after the wood was burned up,

with just a few coals keeping the ground warm awhile longer, and the ground would be thawed for morning digging. This innovation greatly sped up the corral rebuilding project, and saved a lot of labour and sore muscles! This is the best way we’ve found for making a winter fencing project easier. † Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her husband Lynn near Salmon, Idaho. Contact her at 208-756-2841.

FEBRUARY 3, 2015 grainews.ca /

Cattleman’s Corner Better Bunks and Pastures

Proper rations key to milk production and reproduction Better rations before and after calving produce a bigger calf and set cows and heifers up for the next breeding season SIX POSTPARTUM BEEF COW DIET EXAMPLES: PETER VITTI

Feedstuff Alf/grass hay – 14 per cent protein

eef cows after calving require a higher plane of nutrition compared to previous months of gestation. Much of this heightened nutrition is geared to drive milk production, help first-time mothers grow and prepare the entire cow herd to cycle and get rebred within 80-90 days, postpartum. Therefore it is important to feed them well-balanced diets made up of the best feed after calving, so essential nutrient requirements are met. According to National Research Council (NRC) estimates, most post-calving beef cows, which maintain a desired body condition of 2.5 - 3.0 (1 = emaciated and 5 = obese) and are nursing a newborn calf need about 50 per cent more dietary energy and 10-15 per cent more protein over gestation for about 30-45 days after calving. This means postpartum beef

PASS

FAIL

PASS

FAIL

PASS

Grass hay – 10 per cent protein

Straw – 5 per cent protein

Barley Silage Barley

40 per cent beef supp

DEMANDS ARE OBVIOUS

9 9

7.5 0.20

1.5 0.20

0.20

29.90

31.25

30.05

Trace mineral salt block Total dry intake (lb.)

14 per cent cow pellets 2:1 cattle mineral

0.10

cows must consume about 60 62 per cent TDN (total digestible nutrients) and about 11 - 12 per cent crude protein in their daily diet when they are milking at their highest levels (re: 10 litres per day). First-calf cows do not eat and do not milk as well as older cows, but their dietary requirements are almost identical, due to extra nutrients needed for growth. It is also important to remember all cows calving out in early February to

lacking in postpartum forages and other supplemented feeds. In a similar fashion, trace mineral requirements nearly double since the start of the winter season, and respective bio-available sources of copper, zinc, manganese, iodine, cobalt, and selenium should be fed.

30.70

29.45

April may need 20-30 per cent more dietary energy just to keep warm. This is added to their most basic maintenance needs and supersedes nutrients required for milk production and reproduction. Essential cattle minerals (and A, D and E vitamins) should also be provided in postpartum cow diets, such as calcium, phosphorus and other essential macrominerals. They need to complement whatever mineral levels often found

It’s easy to see the “how and why” of such elevated postpartum cow nutrition. It’s another thing to actually feed economical and practical beef diets usually comprised of up to 85 — 90 per cent home-grown forages supplemented with energy-enriched grains and high protein feedstuffs. Case-in-point: straw, prairie grass, corn stalks, crop residues and other low-quality forage that fit easily into early to mid-gestation diets simply will simply not work in most postpartum beef cow diets. So it is crucial producers switch to higher quality forage and balance essential nutrients, accordingly. There are several hundred postcalving diets that could be fed to the typical beef cow herd after calving, some of these either;

pass by meeting their nutrient requirements or fail for one reason or another. Consider the following six postpartum beef cow diet examples: From the above table, we might agree that appropriate energy, protein and mineral supplementation of the homegrown forages yield a passing grade for cow diets; No. 1, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6, which should meet the overall nutrient requirements of postpartum beef cows. Straw-based diet No. 2 yield a failing grade, because its protein content was marginal (nine per cent) and its dietary TDN energy value (55 per cent) did not achieve the dietary energy required by beef cows after calving. Nearly identical to passed diet No. 4, diet No. 5 failed because a nominal trace mineral salt block (no vitamins) was provided, rather than a wellfortified commercial cattle mineral (with vitamins).

IMPORTANT FOR REBREEDING Postpartum diets with a passing grade help beef cows produce lots of milk for their calves (and addi-

» continued on page 31

The Markets

Market forces could begin to weigh on beef prices Beef production is increasing, consumer spending is down and pork is a strong competitor Jerry Klassen

Market Update

he cattle complex continued to contend with a year-over-year decline in beef supplies along with an uncertain demand equation in the first quarter of 2015. However, in the second quarter, the market is factoring in growing beef production along with softer demand due slower consumer spending and strong competition from pork. After very strong margins for both the feedlot and cow-calf sectors over the past year, there are a number of risks that could weigh on the market sentiment for 2015. Secondly, feed grain prices have been trading near six-year lows but barley prices are poised to move higher this spring. The overall feed grain complex started to factor in lower corn acres for 2015, resulting in a tighter fundamental structure later in summer. In mid January, fed cattle prices in the U.S. Southern Plains were quoted at $163 to $164, down from the early-December highs of $182. Alberta packers appear

to be using previously contracted cattle early in the year and the fed market is undefined with limited volumes trading near $180. The softer tone in the U.S. market comes on the heels of upward revisions for beef production. While first-quarter beef production was left unchanged, second-quarter production was increased to exceed year-ago levels. Third- and fourth-quarter production were also edged higher. It is important to realize that the supply equation is not tightening further after the first quarter but rather stabilizing or even loosening. Notice that pork production shows sizeable year-over-year increases in each quarter for 2015. The substitution effect will have a larger influence on the beef market moving forward. U.S. cattle-on-feed inventories were similar to year-ago levels in December and with the lower slaughter pace in the first couple of weeks of January, I’m expecting larger market-ready supplies to weigh on the market later in February and March. Fed-cattle marketings are also below yearago levels while carcass weights are 20 pounds above last year. The environment is poised to confirm the year-over-year increase in second-quarter beef production.

LITTLE CHANGE IN WHOLESALE PRICES Wholesale beef prices remain firm with choice product near $252/cwt, which is the same as the late-November highs. However, with beef production gradually increasing, wholesale beef prices are expected to come under pressure. I mentioned earlier that growing pork production will also have a negative influence on beef demand due to the substitution effect. The wild card over the next couple of months is consumer food spending. I’m currently factoring in a marginal decline in at-home food spending but away-from-home food spending could experience a sharper contraction. Restaurant traffic is poised to ease during the first quarter of 2015 compared to the fourth quarter of 2014. This could cause decline in carcass value, especially for the higherend cuts. If food spending does not show a noticeable increase in the second quarter, it will be difficult to justify a higher price structure for wholesale beef and fed cattle prices. This is my main concern for the cattle market later in spring. I believe the upside in the feeder market has been defined.

U.S. QUARTERLY BEEF PRODUCTION (MILLION POUNDS) Quarter

2 011

2012

2013

Est 2014

Est 2015

6,411

6,283

6,172

5,868

5,685

6,559

6,475

6,517

6,183

6,225

6,737

6,584

6,608

6,178

5,955

6,492

6,571

6,420

6,025

5,965

Total

26,199

25,913

25,717

24,254

23,830

Source: USDA

As of mid-January, the April live cattle futures were at $154 while the June contract was at $147. The inverse in the market has made it somewhat more difficult to lock in a healthy margin structure for feedlot operators. The current Alberta fed cattle market is near $180 and breakeven pen closeout prices for the May are at $184. Feedlot margins have potential to narrow or even move into negative territory in the second quarter, which will cause feeder cattle prices to come under pressure. In addition to softer fed cattle prices in the second quarter, barley prices have potential to percolate higher moving into the summer. Canadian barley ending stocks for the 2014-15 crop year are projected to finish near 1.1 million mt, down from 1.9 million mt in 2013-14

and sharply lower than the 10 year average of 2.1 million mt. This barley market has potential to get “hot” so that feedlots in southern Alberta start to import significant volumes of U.S. corn. Fed cattle prices are expected to hold value in the first quarter due to tighter supplies. However, growing beef production in the second quarter, larger year-overyear pork supplies along with steady or softer consumer food spending has potential to cause fed cattle prices to ease in the second quarter. The feeder cattle market will adjust to narrowing feedlot margins due to softer fed cattle prices and rising barley values. † Gerald Klassen analyzes cattle and hog markets in Winnipeg and also maintains an interest in the family feedlot in Southern Alberta. For comments or speaking engagements, he can be reached at gklassen7@hotmail.com or call 204 899 8268.

/ grainews.ca FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Cattleman’s Corner Keepers and culls

Be prepared to be more efficient Lee Hart

new project across the Canadian beef industry has set as one of its goals to help producers increase overall beef production efficiency by 15 per cent over the next five years. The recently announced National Beef Strategy is a collaborative effort among key sectors of the livestock industry. It actually has a number of goals, but for the cow-calf sector the objective is to get more pounds of beef on the ground without directly having to add more cow numbers to your herd. Herd expansion may be a consequence, but the main emphasis of the strategy is to support research and technology that will help improve livestock genetics in the Canadian beef herd, as well as help develop more productive pasture and forage crops, improve the feeding efficiency of feed grains, and improve overall animal health and welfare. Along with improving beef animal genetics and feed sources, the next big step is to get more producers using it. Research doesn’t

do much good if no one uses it, so the emphasis will be on using a number of tools to increase the number of producers adopting the new technology. Increasing production efficiency is just one of four goals targeted by the National Beef Strategy. Another goal is also to increase domestic and world market demand for Canadian beef by 15 per cent. And the Strategy hopes to work on a number of fronts to reduce cost disadvantages carried by the Canadian beef industry by seven per cent. To this end, the strategy hopes to foster a supportive regulatory environment, the project also hopes to improve access to competitively priced inputs, enhance research capacity, and develop an industry that is both economically and environmentally sustainable. The whole package has some pretty lofty goals. Organizations participating in the National Beef Strategy include representatives of all provincial beef producer organizations across the country, the Beef Cattle Research Council, the Canadian Beef Breeds Council, Canada Beef, National Cattle Feeders Association and the Canadian Cattleman’s Association (CCA). A recent news releases says “the National Beef Strategy proposes a united path forward to meeting these challenges and opportunities

Former CCA president Martin Unrau is a co-chair of the National Beef Strategy. with a goal to benefit all sectors of the beef industry. Martin Unrau and Trevor Atchison, co-chairs of the National Beef Strategic Planning Group and members of the Canadian Beef Advisors, a group of experienced beef sector professionals leading the implementation of the National Beef Strategy, believe the beef industry needs to adapt and evolve to stay relevant. The strategy is the way to move the industry forward, together.” “The need for industry to push itself is now,” says Unrau, a rancher from MacGregor,

Manitoba and past president of the CCA. “The National Beef Strategy will build on and strengthen the foundational pieces of existing work that have enabled the beef industry to grow to date but in a manner which will be more responsive to current and future needs. This will enable chronic issues, like infrastructure and capacity, to be addressed more holistically, and lead to programming to help grow beef demand and bridge to where industry wants to be in the future.” For more details on the strategy visit the project website at: www. beefstrategy.com

COMING EVENTS It is another busy year of conferences and workshops, with plenty of good information if you have the time to attend. Hopefully the roads are good. Holistic Management — Feb. 15: The Western Canadian Holistic Management Conference is coming up Feb. 15-17 at the Manitou Springs resort in Manitou, Saskatchewan. Open to both new and beginner practitioners of holistic management, keynote speakers during the three days include: David Irvine, a consulting psychologist specializing in family relations; Jodie Griffin,

with Saskatchewan Livestock Price Insurance Program; Blaine Hjertaas, a beef producer from Redvers, Sask.; Linda Edgecombe, a motivational speaker based in Kelowna, B.C.; Greg and Lisa Smith, ranchers from Canwood, Sask.; Don Campbell, a rancher from Meadow Lake, Sask. and Debra Murphy a communications specialist talking about the role of social media. As well there will be a producer panel discussion on sustainable agriculture. The conference costs $200 per person or $120 for students. And to register contact Nadia Mori at 306-946-3219 or email nadia. mori@gov.sk.ca Advancing Women Conference — April 6: After a successful single location in 2014, the second annual Advancing Women Conference for women in the agriculture industry will be offered in two Canadian locations in 2015. The western conference will be staged at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Calgary, April 6 and 7, while the eastern conference will be offered at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto Oct. 5 and 6. Speakers at the Western Conference include Alanna Koch, Agriculture Debbie Travis, a home improvement TV personality. For more information on the conference and to register visit their website at: www.advancingwomenconference.ca †

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