Issuu

NOT YOUR AVERAGE RANCH

YES, IT WAS ABOUT SALES

CL Ranch has lots of cows, and movie crews, too » PG 3

And that’s why A&W deems its ‘Better Beef’ campaign a success » PG 14

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American farmland titan eyes Canada Farmers National manages two million acres in the U.S. By JENNIFER BLAIR AF staff

ne of America’s largest farm management and real estate brokerages has expanded into the Canadian Prairies — starting with Alberta. Through a joint partnership with Edmonton-based consulting firm Serecon, Farmers National Company is now “open for business” in Canada. “It seemed like the right fit for the right timing going into the Canadian market,” said Dave Englund, board chair of the new entity, FNC Serecon. “We’re both excited about the business opportunities in Canada.” Although virtually unknown north of the border, Farmers National is a huge player on the U.S. farm scene — managing 5,000 farms and more than two million acres in 30 states. FNC Serecon will offer farm management and real estate brokerage services in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and intends to eventually expand to Ontario and B.C. “Our main business is managing property for absentee landowners,” said Englund, an Omaha native who has worked for Farmers National for the past 28 years, most recently as senior vice-president of farm and ranch management.

see FNC } page 6

Mission accomplished: McDonald’s sustainable beef on track for 2016 The fast-food giant expects to have 300 beef operations verified by spring — and then it will hand off the initiative to the beef sector

Two memorable moments in McDonald’s ‘journey’ to selling verified sustainable beef: (bottom) The company’s website after announcing its sustainable beef goal in January 2014 and (above) Steve Easterbrook (centre), the head of the global fast-food giant, visiting Graeme Finn’s ranch near Crossfield in June. PHOTOS: MCDONALD’S By Alexis Kienlen AF STAFF

cDonald’s Canada will reach its goal of selling “verified sustainable” beef next year, says the company’s senior manager of sustainability. “We’re right on track as far as we know — it’s hard to know how many producers we’ll be able to get interested and get through, but we’ve got some pretty good numbers now,” said Jeffrey FitzpatrickStilwell. As of last month, 147 operations had signed up for the verification process, and 35 will complete it by the end of this month. The lion’s share — 105 — are from Alberta, and while most are cow-calf

see MCDONALD’s } page 6

don’t fret:

YOU CAN’T MAKE EVERYBODY HAPPY } PAGE 2

news » inside this week

inside » THE RUSH OF BEING HUNTED People run from the Ranch Tracker and pay for the privilege

OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

livestock

crops

columNists

THE INDICATIONS ARE GOOD

DROUGHT THEN DRENCHED

Laura Rance Canada’s farmers need to be world beaters

Sylvain Charlebois Trade deal signals big changes are coming

MAKE SURE YOU CAN VOTE Election Act changes make it tougher to cast a ballot

Milk River rancher says being verified was a ‘positive experience’

A one-in-50-year soaking follows a one-in-50-year dry spell

Brenda Schoepp ONLINE GROCERY BUYING HAS A BIG FUTURE

Alberta Farmer reporters win prestigious journalism award FBC writers score big in annual awards competition STAFF

or the first time since its founding in 2007, Alberta Farmer has won top honours in the country’s premier agricultural journalism awards program. Jennifer Blair and Alexis Kienlen won gold in the Weekly Press Reporting category for a July 2014 story entitled Drenched Again, which examined flooding in the south of the province after torrential rains. It was the first year Blair had entered the competition put on by the Canadian Farm Writers Federation, but a second straight win for Kienlen, who won silver in the same category last year for her investigative report on McDonald’s choosing Canada for its “sustainable beef” pilot project. “Being recognized by your peers is always very gratifying, but it all comes down to being passionate about what you do,” said Alberta Farmer editor

Jennifer Blair

Alexis Kienlen

Glenn Cheater. “Alexis and Jennifer really care about agriculture in this province and I think their commitment shows in all of their work.” A number of their colleagues working for Farm Business Communications publications also won awards at

the Canadian Farm Writers Federation conference held in Calgary last month. Manitoba Co-operator reporter Shannon VanRaes received silver in the Weekly Press Reporting category for her story on how federal scientists have been muzzled by politics; Allan

Dawson received bronze in the Feature Photo category, and editor Laura Rance received gold in the Press Feature category and bronze in Press Columns. Dave Bedard collected silver in the World Wide Web category. In Monthly Press Reporting, Country Guide’s Angela Lovell won gold, Ralph Pierce won silver, and Gord Gilmour won bronze. Gilmour also received a gold for Technical Feature and Maggie Van Camp received silver in the Press Feature category. As well, John Morriss, associate publisher of Farm Business Communications, was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Morriss was recognized for his commitment to agricultural journalism over the past four decades, as publisher and editor of the Manitoba Co-operator, and Farmers’ Independent Weekly, and as editorial director of Farm Business Communications. He has also been active in provincial and national farm writers’ organizations.

Bridging the producer-consumer divide Here are pros, cons, and frustrations when trying to deal with consumers who want it all when it comes to food By JENNIFER BLAIR

“They want the romantic side of agriculture and they want the low cost. And those two things don’t necessarily fit together.”

AF staff / calgary

onsumers are watching you like never before. But relax — you can only do so much. That was one key message from a recent panel discussion on how farmers can connect with consumers. The sudden fascination with how food is produced is a “profoundly good thing,” said Mike von Massow, an associate professor at the University of Guelph. “As consumers are becoming more engaged in food and thinking about food, there’s more value in that food,” said von Massow, an expert on supply chains and topics such as local food. “It provides a great opportunity for us not only to grab new markets but, in many ways, to stabilize prices. If you get away from commoditization, you develop longer-term, more stable supply chains, and you

Ray Price

Mike Olson Photos: Jennifer Paige

Ray Price

Mike von Massow

get away from some of those swings.” But that means having a conversation with consumers — “and a conversation doesn’t mean two monologues,” he said at the recent Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation conference. “It means we have to have an exchange of information, and we

have to be willing to have people say, ‘We don’t like that,’ even if we’re doing something that we believe is correct,” he said. But reaching out to consumers is “an endless journey,” added fellow panellist Mike Olson, vice-president of fresh merchandising for Overwaitea. The company officials were

patting themselves on the back after a concerted effort to inform shoppers about where they sourced food — which included bringing ranchers into stores. “We thought we were doing a really good job, but when we walk our customers through the store, it’s like their mind goes

into ‘task mode’ — they stop seeing and just finish their task,” said Olson. “You think that they’re getting it and that you’re connecting with them, but it’s not sinking in.” Hence the endless journey. “How do we bring the producers in front of the consumer in a compelling way that sticks and

see consumer divide } page 3

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

There’s no business like show business for Calgary-area rancher CL Ranch has played host to dozens of movies and TV shows — and it’s made its farm business more sustainable By JENNIFER BLAIR

“As you get into these new businesses, it just creates more opportunities. And by creating these new opportunities, that’s one of the ways that we’re able to stay here.”

AF staff / calgary

ancher Cherie Copithorne-Barnes wasn’t dreaming about being in show business when she got a strange phone call in the early 1990s. “They asked if they could come out and bring us to a spot on our land,” said CopithorneBarnes, CEO of CL Ranch just west of Calgary. “We stood up on the hill, and they told us, ‘Never before have we seen 360 degrees of being able to film for a western and not have any power lines or roads in our way, and yet we’re 20 minutes from Calgary. It’s an ideal location for a major film.’ “That was the Lonesome Dove production crew.” Since playing host to the TV series (a spinoff of the iconic miniseries starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones), the family-owned ranch has played host to over 40 major film and television productions on her land and backlot movie set, including “Shanghai Noon,” “Heartland,” and “Hell on Wheels.” And that movie set has helped the family stay in business. “We struggle to remain in agriculture,” she said. “That’s our main focus, but we’ve got lots of neighbours who don’t appreciate the traffic that can generate.

consumer divide } from page 2 is relevant and real?” Olson said. “You just have to keep at it.” But don’t get tied up in knots, was the advice of Ray Price, president of the Sunterra Group of Companies — the hog production, meat-processing, and retailer business created by the enterprising farm family from Acme. “I don’t think farmers can do much more than they’re already doing,” he said. “We’ve commoditized agriculture in a very positive way because we provide a high-quality product that’s very safe and that people can buy every day.” Sunterra Markets operates eight trendy food stores in Calgary and Edmonton, and many of its customers are very curious about where their food comes from and how it’s produced. But they’re a minority, said Price. “The bulk of people still wants good value, good pricing, convenience — that kind of thing,” he said. “There’s a growing perception that more people care, and that’s true, but it’s still not very many. When you look at it in terms of the volume of food pur-

Cherie CopithorneBarnes

It could be Dawson City or Cheyenne or any Old West town. In fact, the movie set located on the sprawling CL Ranch west of Calgary has been all of those places over the past two decades. PHOTO: CL RANCH It’s tough to keep all your neighbours happy when you have that kind of impact on them. “So one of our biggest diversifications is, in fact, our movie set.” The set — which includes period buildings from the 1850s to 1930s — is a major draw for film crews, but it’s the land they really love. In the case of “Hell on Wheels,” an American TV series about the building of the transcontinental railway in the

chased, the bulk of consumers doesn’t care.” And even when people say they want to know where their food comes from, they don’t really, he said. “We try to do it at the retail level because if we do it at the farm level, we’re afraid we’ll lose them. We harvest pigs and it’s not a place you want to tour — 95 per cent of people would prefer not to tour the pig kill.” Rather than trying to reach out to consumers directly, producers need to partner with retailers to share their story, he said. Von Massow had similar advice, noting Canadians spend almost 40 per cent of their food dollars outside the home and saying the agriculture industry would do better to target the food-service sector first. And finally, the experts said, accept the fact that consumers want it all. “You’re often trying to tell people things they don’t want to believe,” said Price. “They want the romantic side of agriculture and they want the low cost. And those two things don’t necessarily fit together.”

U.S. that’s just wrapping up its fifth and final year, it was the variety of locations on the historic 15,000-acre ranch. “They needed a number of locations that could represent the various states that they were building in, whether it was mountains or the plains,” said Copithorne-Barnes. “This area here offers all of that because of the tame fields and the natural view of the vistas of the mountains.”

The Sept. 28 edition of Alberta Farmer wrongly attributed the column titled It’s time to stop debating food versus fuel to Carl R. Woese. The attribution should have been to the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology.

jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com

When the United Nations proclaimed 2015 the International Year of Soils ARECA jumped at the opportunity to highlight soil in Alberta. ARECA hosted 3 provincial Soil Health Tours this summer as part of the Alberta Soil Health Initiative to share our excitement about soil!

Join us to Celebrate & Learn About Soil Health at the Western Canada Conference on Soil Health Dec 8-10, 2015! Peter Donovan

6 Events 118 Participants

Christine Jones

5 Events 218 Participants

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Correction

The land is “very unique” that close to a major city, she said. “All that’s west of us is Kananaskis Country, so they’re guaranteed that there’s not going to be lights and roads and things like that being developed.” Copithorne-Barnes also lets the film crews have free reign over the land while they’re filming there. “For every movie company that comes in, we give them the freedom to develop what they need,” she said. “The only thing they’re not allowed to do is blow things up, and if they do, it has to be something that was pre-built temporarily for that purpose. “There’s also a core street

within this town that they can’t touch because it’s the foundation to the townsite.” And right now, business is booming on the show business side of CL Ranch. “With the weak Canadian dollar, it’s hotter than all get-out,” said Copithorne-Barnes. “But as much as the dollar dictates, it’s also about the tax conditions. For a while there, our government took away a lot of the tax credits and that absolutely annihilated the movie business in southern Alberta, and in Western Canada as a whole.” For around three years in the late 2000s, the only filming at the site was for a German production. “Then all of a sudden, the Alberta government brought back the tax credits, and instantly, we had movies in here. We’re booked for the winter again, and we know next summer is already booked as well.” Most producers — farmers, not filmmakers, that is — wouldn’t consider turning their land into a filming location, but for CL Ranch, it’s been a fun, and lucrative, way to diversify. “As you get into these new businesses, it just creates more opportunities. And by creating these new opportunities, that’s one of the ways that we’re able to stay here.”

Soil Pits

9 Events 293 Participants

OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

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Trade deals are one thing — capitalizing on them is another

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It makes more sense for Canadian agriculture to compete on quality rather than price, but that will require a new approach

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BY LAURA RANCE

Manitoba Co-operator Editor

t was no small feat achieving the kind of Trans-Pacific Partnership deal that offers export agricultural commodity groups the kind of market access they were seeking with modest, but significant, concessions on supply management. If the early reports are to be believed, our country’s trade negotiators deserve kudos for maintaining Canada’s balanced approach in the face of relentless and somewhat lopsided pressure from countries seeking greater access to Canada’s domestic dairy, poultry and egg markets. However, this isn’t the end of the discussion around the future of supply management on the domestic front. Although the increased market access may seem small, the federal government has already acknowledged through a $4.3-billion compensation package that it will have an effect on producer incomes. And as noted in a recent discussion paper put forward by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI), that sector must address a growing trade deficit as imports of products such as milk proteins flowing into the country continue

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“Trust will dictate the standard for food quality in the future — and we need to declare our place on this measurement.” CAPI says that while Canada’s record isn’t spotless, it has comparative advantages that speak to changing consumer expectations, such as fewer chemical residues, good soil, ample water and sound governance. The challenge will be harnessing those advantages, and benchmarking in a manner customers being asked to pay a premium know precisely what they are paying to get. It means that as a sector, Canadian agriculture must set aside some of the petty defensiveness that bubbles to the surface as soon as questions of trust and social licence are raised. “We need to reflect on the comparative advantages of the future, and how we will act on them, so we can respond to these realities,” he said. “Taking action will require being highly collaborative and better aligned.” “Capitalizing on our advantages will also take new ideas, skilled people, investment, data, science, technology, infrastructure and the right regulations,” it says. CAPI and 2020 are hosting a forum on this issue Nov. 3 and 4 in Ottawa. If you can’t attend, you can still participate in the discussion online. laura@fbcpublishing.com

Supply management reform is inevitable and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal offers an opportunity to do just that

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food policy institute, has teamed up with the think-tank Canada 2020 to suggest that this country is at a crossroads. The TPP only underscores that reality. While commodity agriculture was the source of its prosperity in the past, “business as usual may provide incremental growth or it may be insufficient to meet our growth expectations,” according to the paper, which can be found online at: http://capi-icpa.ca. This country’s primary processing sector is a global player in only a handful of segments, such as canola oil. The secondary processing sector, which is Canada’s largest manufacturing segment, is facing rising trade deficits — just like dairy. CAPI says global agriculture is facing a transition. In the future, success will depend heavily on environmental sustainability. “Many other countries will have no choice but to cap or curtail some unsustainable agricultural practices. Canada has the capacity to produce more while still removing carbon from the atmosphere, improving water quality and enhancing the well-being of its people. We have to decide how to use this opportunity,” it says. As such, a Canada brand based on being the most trusted must be more than a slogan saying “trust me.”

Change is coming — and we need to get ready for it

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to rise, while dairy farmers remain restricted as to how much they can export. This industry must continue to evolve. As for the rest of the agri-food sector — the grains, oilseeds, beef and pork sectors — it is worth noting that gaining market access isn’t the same as securing market share. What has been gained is an opportunity to compete on an equal tariff footing. Whether Canada can lock in those sales will depend on price and quality. Given the transportation logistics, competing on price for Asian markets seems like a long shot. That leaves quality as our best option. On that front, CAPI is asking a provocative question of Canada’s agri-food sector: Can this country become home to the world’s most trusted food system? It’s provocative because those few words capture the essence of a host of questions that has been swirling around the farming and food sector lately. There is much at stake in how they are answered. It also implies a shift in thinking, policy and structure if indeed the industry chooses to throw itself behind a vision that recognizes the role of trust in differentiating Canadian-grown and processed in markets at home and abroad. CAPI, which is a national, nongovernment, independent agri-

By Sylvain Charlebois

e shouldn’t kid ourselves: The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal was never really about Canada. It was about Washington’s desire to undermine China, increasing its commercial footprint in the region and connecting with Japan. Since the U.S. Congress gave President Barack Obama its blessing to pursue this deal this past summer, giving history’s largest trade deal a momentous second wind, many Canadian economic sectors, mostly supply-managed agricultural sectors, have been deeply concerned. On a purely net basis, to be left out of a signed deal would have been tragic for Canada’s agricultural economy. Some sectors, such as processing, beef and pork will obviously gain, while others, such as the dairy industry, will face serious headwinds. Nevertheless, now that we have a deal and Canada is part of it, it is time to redefine what competitiveness really means to our new Canadian agricultural landscape. The industry reached the end of its economic relevancy years ago, and many farmers affected by the coming changes recognize this, albeit quietly. Dairy, poultry and egg producers alike should ponder their futures and work on building a new

model that allows them to become more competitive. A part of that process should be an acceptance that not all will survive — we will eventually see more farms disappear. Yet, we should not lose sight of the fact that we have also lost thousands of farms in our country while working under the supply management paradigm. A positive reconstruction can happen only with the proper support of Ottawa and the provinces. When Europe ended the quota system this year, several programs allowed a number of farmers to fully prepare for the open market. Some countries, such as France and Britain, were clearly ill prepared, and Canada cannot afford to make similar mistakes. We must be prepared to give industry the time and resources to foster better streamlining during the transition. We also need to keep in mind that our codes of practice for produce commodities are very different than those of other countries, in particular the U.S. Giving access to foreign-produced commodities will require standard harmonization among trading partners, ensuring that Canadian consumer expectations of high quality are not compromised. The crucial issue of growth hormone usage in U.S. dairy, an illegal practice in Canada, is one of many examples of the need for international co-ordination.

These changes were inevitable, and a reform of the supply management scheme was inevitable. It is yet another example of our farmers’ dependence on marketing boards. For many of them, these boards have proved to be powerful mechanisms to countervail systemic menaces, protecting them for decades. But marketing boards are also psychological traps, as they can suppress innovative and competitive spirits. It is deeply unfair for Canadians to expect supply-managed farmers to be willing to compete when no incentives exist. In dairy, for example, even though many farms are technically well equipped, the cost of producing milk in Canada is one of the highest in the industrialized world. This, among other things, will need to change. As with supply management, the policies and actions of the Canadian Wheat Board divided farmers in the West for decades. The end of the single-desk model in 2012 sparked a tsunami of positive growth. As a result, entrepreneurial farmers in the Prairies have blossomed and embraced trade, nurturing formidable partnerships with grain handlers, brokers and traders. The Prairies are also producing and processing more commodities, such as pulses and quinoa, something that never would have happened under the singledesk policy. A similar paradigmatic

shift could lift currently supplymanaged sectors to new competitive heights. This initial TPP deal is just the beginning. Many believe Canada will likely give greater market access in the future, so the industry needs to be prepared for this shift. The TPP deal is nothing short of a major coup for Canada. We would have been entirely isolated if we hadn’t joined. And since agriculture is about feeding consumers, greater access to exponentially more consumers is clearly desirable. Appropriately, this is all happening during an election. For the first time since 1988, trade and agriculture are finally getting the attention they deserve during an election cycle. With what is likely to be a reformed supply management regime, this is certainly a great opportunity for Canadians to ask our leaders to shape what we have been missing for years in our country: A real vision for Canadian agri-food. It’s about time. Farmers have been vocal in defending the current supply-oriented framework, but now, since market access to foreign dairy will be enhanced, any suggestion that supply management should remain untouched is strategically futile. Sylvain Charlebois is a professor in the College of Business and Economics at the University of Guelph.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

The world is going online — and that includes the grocery store Only a small percentage of people currently buy groceries online, but the sector is poised for explosive growth By BRENDA SCHOEPP AF columnist

here do you buy your groceries? The answer to that question is getting more attention these days because more consumers now say they buy online. The growth of e-commerce has stretched beyond books, movies, parts and retro finds and is now filling the food basket. As folks shift to online buys it means an increase in shelf life, delivery systems, and intensive locational tracking. The big guns in grocery, such as Costco and Walmart, are spreading their reach through e-commerce and developing intensive systems. Small food stores offer local delivery of online sales and Amazon sells food every day. The reality is that the world’s food is at your fingertips, you only have to take delivery. Startup rural delivery has had a tough time. The logistics and distances make it unprofitable for both the local food basket and overnight supermarket delivery. To counter this, central-point delivery, through

much trial and error, is starting to take hold and is popular both in and outside major urban centres. How big is the online industry in grocery? Well, today it is only one per cent but that’s $6 billion — sales are expected to jump to $60 billion in the next few years. Although food has been the last box in the order when it comes to e-commerce, grocery still represents 32 per cent of all e-commerce sales. The e-commerce companies say it is the ticket to the future. The response to buying food online varies from country to country. In Europe it ranges from 0.8 per cent to 4.4 per cent of sales (in the U.K.). In Canada, sales are less than one per cent but it is Amazon that dominates and this will force other grocery companies to hurry and catch up. So let’s go shopping. If you go to www.amazon.ca, you will see a wide variety of foods available from beverage to baby food. Let’s say that on Monday, I learned my in-laws are coming for the following weekend. I am out of town working and my partner cannot yet navigate the grocery

store except for the pop and chips department (there is some truth to this), so I decide to go online. I order blueberry juice to mix with ginger-ale and serve with pistachios. This will be followed by a lovely squash soup, Thai salmon salad, cheese plate, and bow pasta and herb sauce. For dessert there are champagne chocolates sent direct from Japan and a soothing white and raspberry tea. This will be in my post office parcel mailbox or at the closest courier drop when my flight gets in. And so I pull off the evening with a mix of flavours and have not set foot in the grocery store. As an added bonus — it was fun! Farmers’ markets have gone online as well. In Montreal, there are many central points for picking up food, especially fresh food. A company called Lufa Farms (www.montreal.lufa.com) was the first to develop rooftop farms and deliver baskets of fresh veggies to central points. But the growth of e-commerce has changed the face of that order and it now partners with several businesses, chefs, and farmers to deliver everything from beverage to a full meal. For this

online farmers’ market, partnerships were integral to the expansion of the e-commerce business. Online buying also happens locally. Let’s travel to a local Alberta store offering direct-tothe-door delivery on online orders: Go to www.homegrownfoods.ca and check out the boxes of organic food delivered directly to your door. This type of service specializes in fresh local food delivered within a short distance of the store, so it has a community focus. Mixing and matching or adding extra product for those days when folks drop by is not an issue. I think of seniors, especially in winter, as wanting this type of service. Fresh, local food to the door without fail helps to ensure proper nutrition without the worry of cold or the fact that the bag is too heavy to carry. Families benefit from the basket and parents get a break. The delivery cost is free on orders of $60 or more. It does take an element of trust to order online but once you know the store or the company, it becomes pretty handy. And truthfully, there is predictability behind food that we have never seen

before. The demand of the food industry and from chefs in itself for uniformity is the consumer’s best friend and many brands are known and trusted. The future may present a challenge as online orders increase. The term ‘convenient’ will rule the online order and commodity food will be under increasing pressure to value add. In addition to shelf life, real-time tracking and improved infrastructure for delivery is needed. The data that sellers will have will be extraordinary in understanding consumer trends — by address alone. Currently, 18- to 35-year-olds are the main buyers of online groceries, but that will change. The growth of online buying will continue and there are some days — even in this rural, self-sufficient household — that this will be an appreciated option. Brenda Schoepp is a farmer from Alberta who works as an international mentor and motivational speaker. She can be contacted through her website www. brendaschoepp.com. All rights reserved. Brenda Schoepp 2015

Selective use of science won’t sell GMOs Many of the 1,000 studies supporting the safety of GMOs have not been publicly released — and that’s no way to build trust By Harwood D. Schaffer and Daryll E. Ray

hen it comes to issues like GMOs, antibiotic residues on meat, global warming, water pollution, and pesticide use and its residuals, participants on one or both sides of the issue make an appeal to science to bolster their position. Witness the recent article in the New York Times titled, “Food Industry Enlisted Academics in GMO Lobbying War, Emails Show.” As the article makes clear, both sides are busy enlisting scientists to bring “the gloss of impartiality and weight of authority that come with a professor’s pedigree” to their side of the argument. The larger problem in making public policy decisions about GMOs, antibiotic residues, and a host of other agriculturally related issues becomes clear when one listens to the arguments that each side is making as they make their case. One can be on one side of an argument with regard to science on one topic and seemingly the other side when it comes to a different issue. So it can appear that anti-GMO activists can use the preponderance of evidence that scientific studies provide to make their case

for human-induced global climate change while at the same time ignoring the preponderance of evidence about the safety of GMOs. Surveys also show a large number of farmers accept the arguments about the safety of GMOs and at the same time deny the evidence of humaninduced climate change, believing instead that it is a hoax. Such apparent inconsistencies tell us little about the nature of the underlying science surrounding the two issues. Instead it tells us that the debate involves more than science. One has to understand beliefs, self-interest, the question of how one establishes what is safe and potentially unsafe, consumer preference, economics, and a host of other factors to make sense of the debates over what seem like relatively simple issues. But having said that, let’s set aside those other issues in this column and focus on the issue of science. A recent study by researchers who “reproduce(d) 100 studies published in three leading psychology journals… found that more than half of the findings did not hold up when retested.” Of the 100 studies, 35 held up in the replication while 62 did not. In most cases the new results did not contradict the original conclusions; the results were simply weaker.

Benedict Carey, in a followup article, “Psychologists Welcome Analysis Casting Doubt on Their Work,” quotes Alan Kraut, the executive director of the Association for Psychological Science. “‘It’s like we’ve come clean,’ said Alan Kraut, the executive director of the Association for Psychological Science, which publishes one of the journals analyzed in the new report. ‘This kind of correction is something that has to happen across science, and I’m proud that psychology is leading the charge on this.’” According to Carey, “This attitude reflects an enormous culture change that has begun to take hold in psychology. As recently as five years ago, researchers acted largely as their own editors, shaping the story their data told. But well before the publication of the new report, a handful of researchers around the world had begun setting up systems to increase transparency and data sharing. The report’s findings came as no surprise to them.” Carey goes on to write, “Many journals have also started to insist on what is known as preregistration. When a researcher preregisters a study, he or she spells out the hypothesis and how it is going to be tested. Doing this up front is a powerful check against moving the goalposts on a study — that

is, analyzing the data and working backward, reverse engineering the “hypothesis” to fit those findings… “One piece of evidence that preregistration can act as a strong corrective comes from clinicaltrials.gov, a registry of publicly and privately funded clinical studies involving human subjects. Before 2000, when the site was established, 57 per cent of large clinical trials funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute showed a significant benefit of drugs or other intervention, according to a recent analysis published in the journal PLOS One. After the registry was put in place, only two per cent of such trials found a clear benefit.” What lessons can we draw from this as we consider the role of science in providing a set of data points that can be used to discuss issues such as the safety of GMOs, antibiotic residues on meat, global warming, water pollution, and pesticide use and residuals? Those who support the idea of GMOs can point to over 1,000 studies that support the safety of GMOs in the food system over the last decade and a half. The initial studies that supported decisions by government agencies to allow GMOs were conducted by companies that have a strong interest in getting these seeds to market.

Many of these studies have not been released to the public. If we have learned anything given the recent happenings in psychology and at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, as well as the memory of the behaviour of tobacco companies that hid the devastating impact of smoking on humans for decades, it is the need for transparency. If companies are going to ask for broad acceptance of their products, then they are going to have to release all of the studies they have done on their genetically modified seeds; they cannot pick and choose which ones they allow the public to see. Full transparency and release of the studies — including all of the data sets that were created during these studies — that have been conducted by and on behalf of the companies that have produced and are marketing these products is a good start. Until then, the current cacophony will undoubtedly continue and many of the appeals to “science” will fall on deaf ears. Harwood D. Schaffer is a research assistant professor in the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, Institute of Agriculture, University of Tennessee. Daryll E. Ray is emeritus professor, Institute of Agriculture, University of Tennessee. http:// www.agpolicy.org.

Off the front

MCDONALD’S } from page 1 producers, there are also feeders, the two big slaughter plants (Cargill’s operation at High River and the JBS plant at Brooks), and McDonald’s burger patty facility at Spruce Grove. The goal is to have 300 operations verified by April when the McDonald’s pilot ends and the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef takes over the verification process. “This is the Canadian roundtable’s to own,” said Fitzpatrick-Stilwell. “McDonald’s is not creating a McDonald’s standard. McDonald’s commitment is to source verified sustainable beef as defined by the Canadian roundtable.” How that handover will work is still being decided, said Cherie Copithorne-Barnes, who has chaired the roundtable since it was established in early 2014 by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and other industry stakeholders. And while the roundtable will build on the McDonald’s pilot, it is a separate initiative and will chart its own course, she said. “From our perspective, the fundamental question is that we have to see if this is a viable concept and how it will fit in,” said CopithorneBarnes, who operates CL Ranches just west of Calgary. “We have to ensure that we set it up in a way that our entire industry can handle. It’s not going to happen with McDonald’s paying for every step of it. “So we’ve got to build this slowly and carefully and ensure that we’re not limiting any areas at the same time. It’s a delicate dance right now, so we will see how we can move forward without too many hiccups.” Who will pay for the verification process once the McDonald’s pilot is finished is also up in the air, but the goal is to have “something in place that will be there on an ongoing basis,” said FitzpatrickStilwell. McDonald’s is sharing everything it has learned and will do all

PLATINUM

OCTOBER 12, 2015 • Albertafarmexpress.ca

it can to “ensure that we’re setting up the roundtable for success,” he said. “We’re not going anywhere,” he said. While McDonald’s has been the driving force behind the initiative, other retailers — such as Loblaw and Walmart — also want a process that verifies Canadian producers are good stewards of their land, care for their animals, and produce safe, wholesome food. Loblaw and McDonald’s both have representatives on the roundtable’s 14-member council, which is composed of beef industry players, retailers, packers, and the World Wildlife Fund.

“The fundamental question is that we have to see if this is a viable concept and how it will fit in.” Cherie CopithorneBarnes

The McDonald’s pilot has given the group a clear idea of what a verification process involves and costs, but “there are a whole bunch of different questions that we really have to look at now,” said Copithorne-Barnes. “We’re trying to make sure everything that is being demanded of the beef industry by the retail and food-service side are things that we can handle en masse, that will produce a positive impact and positive changes at the speed and at a rate that the industry can handle. That’s the real trick.” One of the most challenging areas has been settling on the precise criteria — which are called indicators — used to assess an operation. McDonald’s only made its indicators public at the end of last

month (see accompanying story on page 12) because the process took a long time and the criteria were constantly evolving. “The consultants counted out that there were 150 different versions of the indicator sets,” said Fitzpatrick-Stilwell. “There was a lot of work that went on, all positive, because it was based on the feedback we were getting from the stakeholders and everybody along the value chain, and from doing the actual verifications and getting feedback from those producers who went through them.” McDonald’s won’t be making any additional changes, but the roundtable has developed its own set of indicators. They were given to roundtable members at the organization’s annual general meeting in Saskatoon on Sept. 30. They have two weeks to comment on them and then the indicators will be made public for a further 60 days of comment. Also up for consideration is who will conduct the verifications. McDonald’s hired an American organization, Where Food Comes From, and has upped the number of verifiers to three (from one) in order to complete all of the verifications by April. The roundtable is also considering a sustainability assessment on the Canadian beef sector conducted by Deloitte and how it fits in with the indicators. But the biggest question is how the organization can take over the process from McDonald’s. “We’re putting this question to the membership and really allowing the membership to be part of this discussion,” said CopithorneBarnes. “Now that we know what it takes to perform these functions and do a verification project, we have to figure out how and to what degree we’re going to move forward with it. “We’re still getting our heads wrapped around what this verification can and should look like and how producers are responding to the McDonald’s pilot project.” akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

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FNC } from page 1 “About 60 per cent of the land in the United States is owned by absentee or non-operating landowners... Most of what we have is people who have ties to land that has been passed down from generation to generation. Our average clients are the people who have inherited the ground from their parents or their grandparents.” But most “don’t have the ties and the knowledge of the people and the wherewithal to have that ground farmed,” he added. That’s where Farmers National comes in. “They come to us, and we work with them to fulfil their goals and objectives on that farm,” said Englund, adding Farmers National “basically does everything except running the tractors. “We make sure the farms are taken care of — that the crops are planted, taken care of, and harvested. We also work with them on the marketing of that crop, collect the income, disperse it through their trust accounts, and pay any bills that they might have.”

Five lease types

The company uses area farm managers to co-ordinate the day-to-day on-farm work with local farmers, based on “five basic lease types — a cash-rent lease, crop-share lease, a 50/50 lease, a custom farming lease, and a net share lease.” The new company has hired one farm manager, based in Edmonton, and plans to expand as business grows. (The plan is to blend Serecon’s Canada-wide consulting services with Farmers National farm management service. The six-person management team is comprised of three officials from each company.) “We go out and work with local farmers in that area and negotiate leases with them to farm that property,” said Englund. “We work strictly with the local farmers based on what our clients want for their lease types and their goals and objectives for their farms.” Once the lease type has been decided, the farm manager acts as a liaison between the farm owner and the lessee to develop a plan to work the land. “We create cropping plans for the farm with the operator and then draw up a budget for seed varieties, herbicides, and pesticides and plan the seeding rate, timing of planting, things like that. We then present that plan to the owner.”

Marketing is approached the same way. “We determine with the farm owner what sales levels we want to do,” said Englund, adding they do “a lot of cash sales and forward contracting.” “We’ll set out target levels where, once the price of grain gets to a certain level, we might want to sell 10 or 15 per cent of that projected harvest.” The goal is to have most of the grain priced before harvest, said Englund. “We’ll have 20 or 30 per cent left to sell after harvest, and then we work with our clients based on their income needs — whether they need to sell all their grain in the current year for tax reasons, or if they can carry over grain and market some this year and some next year,” he said. “Once we get done with harvest, we’ll try to price grain on the rallies as we go into the spring months.”

Owner in charge

Ultimately though, the farm owner has the final say over any sales or management practices. “The client is the owner of the farm, and we work for them,” he said. “We set up whatever we do so that it meets what the clients want done on their farms.” The company also plans to be a major player in the Canadian agricultural real estate market. It handled $2.7 billion in U.S. farmland sales in the last five years, and there’s a lot more land about to change hands on both sides of the border, said Englund. “We’re at the point where a lot of the landowners are at that 60to 85-year (age) range, and that’s where most of the wealth is held normally. We’re going to see a huge wealth distribution going on from that generation to the next generation. There’s probably going to be about 50 to 60 per cent of the land market — both in the U.S. and Canada — changing hands between now and 2030.” Real estate sales have slowed and prices have softened this year, but good-quality land is still selling well, he said. For the time being, though, Englund said he will be focusing on getting to know Canada better. “I’m going to be spending quite a bit of time up there, going pretty much all across Canada trying to grow our business. I’m looking forward to it.” jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com

Call for Nominations: Directors for Regions 3,6,9,12 Leaders wanted to represent Alberta canola growers The Alberta Canola Producers Commission (ACPC) is seeking four canola growers to serve on the board of directors for a 3 year term. This year, directors are needed in regions 3, 6, 9, and 12. Visit www.albertacanola.com/regions for a map and information on the regions.

Can I become an ACPC Director? Do you grow canola in Alberta? Do you pay your levy? Then yes! Any producer who has paid ACPC a service charge on canola sold since August 1, 2013 is an eligible producer and can stand for election as a Director. Eligible producers must produce canola within the defined region in order to be nominated, but do not have to reside within the region. Nominations for the position of Director must be filed in writing at the ACPC office, emailed to ward@albertacanola.com, or by fax 780-451-6933 on or before 4 pm October 30th, 2015. Nomination forms must be obtained by contacting the ACPC office at contact info above.

Albertafarmexpress.ca • OCTOBER 12, 2015

A taste of things to come

The arrival of October brought a dusting of snow to Turner Valley on the first weekend of the month. It soon melted, but the countdown to winter weather is on. Photo: Wendy Dudley

Ag-Info Centre marks major milestone The centre opened in Stettler 13 years ago and is staffed by agrologists Alberta Agriculture and Forestry release

lberta Agriculture and Forestry’s Ag-Info Centre has hit a major milestone — 500,000 calls. Located in Stettler, the centre opened in April 2002 and is staffed by crop, beef, forage, and business development specialists, as well as agriculture resource agents. The specialists are all agrologists, many with graduate degrees and all with extensive practical experience. In addition to taking phone calls from across Alberta, the Ag-Info Centre also handles email questions (through duke@gov.ab.ca) and some walk-in clientele (as an AF field office). Staff at the Ag-Info Centre are the first point of contact for accessing the many resources within the department. Resource agents are knowledgeable about Growing Forward, Traceability and Premise ID, and provide the agriculture industry with a diverse assortment of services, including the registration line, general store postings (such as hay and livestock listings) and other resources and documents available on the ministry’s web page. “These professionals know their stuff and are able to share their knowledge with producers,” said Robert Spencer, a commercial horticulture specialist at the centre. “All sectors of the agriculture industry are incredibly complex, but when producers need advice, it’s there for them.” The centre operates from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday and can be reached by calling 310-FARM (3276).

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OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Trade deal to impact Alberta Livestock, canola and grain producers say it’s a big win, but supply management will see its market share shrink STAFF

t’s just what they hoped for — or not as bad as they feared. News of a deal on the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) was cheered by export-focused farm groups while getting a ‘it could have been worse’ reaction from many in the supply management sector. “This is really fantastic news for Canada’s beef producers,” said Dave Solverson, president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. His association estimated annual beef exports to Japan could double or triple to nearly $300 million. The trade pact will gradually reduce a 38.5 per cent tariff on Canadian beef in Japan down to nine per cent over 15 years and put Canada on competitive footing with Australia right from the day it comes into force, he said. “Canada’s beef producers have long needed to have equal access to these important markets in order to compete with Australian and U.S. beef,” said Solverson, who ranches near Camrose. “Now, through this agreement, Canada will receive the same preferential access to these markets as its competitors, levelling the playing field for Canadian beef producers once and for all.”

Pork, grain, canola, and other export-oriented groups were also quick to praise the proposed deal, which still faces a lengthy ratification process. But supply management groups had a different view from the other side of the trade fence. “We were advocating for no concessions in the dairy industry. Period,” said Alberta Milk chairman Tom Kootstra. “But dairy farmers are adaptable and resilient. I’m confident that the three pillars of supply management are still intact, despite this news. I look forward to more details.” To get the deal, Ottawa agreed to open up 3.25 per cent of Canada’s 2016 milk production. That’s the equivalent of about 250 million litres of milk on a national basis, with Alberta’s share of that working out to about 22 million litres of milk yearly. Ottawa was quick to promise $4.3 billion in compensation to soften the blow — a sum National Farmers Union president Jan Slomp found puzzling. “The federal government’s promise of a $1.5-billion compensation package for loss of quota value over 10 years and $2.4 billion for loss of income over 15 years seems unnecessarily high if we are only talking about a 3.25 per cent dairy quota cut,” said Slomp. “This

“This is really fantastic news for Canada’s beef producers.”

Dave Solverson

large dollar amount suggests that the intent is to completely dismantle dairy supply management over the next 10 years.” The Globe and Mail — a fierce critic of supply management — had similar thoughts. It quoted a Montreal-based agriculture consultant who called the deal “a transition fund in disguise.” “I think the intention is to make a strong incentive for small inefficient dairy farms to exit,” Bertrand Montel told the newspaper. “They will know they can exit with a guarantee on the quota value. I don’t think the income support will be enough to maintain a small farm, so at one point they will just do the math and say it is better to exit now.” Alberta Canola Producers also predicted a ripple effect — but a positive one. The agreement will eliminate

tariffs on canola oil and meal in markets such as Japan and Vietnam and that will result in Alberta shipping more of those two value-added products instead of raw seed, said general manager Ward Toma. “The more value our canola is generating overseas, the more value growers will get back right here in Alberta,” said Toma. “Local rural and urban economies in Alberta and the entire canola value chain will see benefits.” This agreement also includes commitments to prevent biotechnology-related measures from being trade barriers; improves co-operation and transparency around the approval of new biotech traits; and prevents low-level presence of approved biotech traits from being used as a trade barrier, he added. In addition to Japan, Viet-

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Trade deal } from page 9 wasn’t the only supply-managed sector impacted by concessions. Egg farmers will lose 2.3 per cent of their market, and chicken producers will see a 2.1 per cent reduction. Turkey farmers and those producing eggs for broiler hatching will see a two per cent and 1.5 per cent reduction respectively. Market loss is also expected to reduce the value of existing quota. A series of programs will compensate farmers for market loss, including an Income Guarantee Program, which the government said, “will keep producers whole by providing 100 per cent income protection to producers for 10 years.” Over the course of those years, a typical dairy farm could be eligible to receive about $165,600 in compensation or just over $2,000 per cow. The average chicken farm could receive as much as $84,100 over the same period and an egg farm could be eligible for $71,500 in compensation. The Income Guarantee Program could provide as much as $191,700 to a typical hatching egg operation over the same period. But compensation isn’t automatically triggered. Producers must be able to prove “demonstrable loss” before being compensated, said a senior official with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Canadian dairy farmers protested against the Trans-Pacific Partnership in late September. Federal negotiators agreed to increase foreign access to Canadian dairy markets to 3.25 per cent, but Ottawa will set up a $4.3-billion fund to compensate farmers and processors who are negatively affected. photo: reuters/chris wattie

“I’m confident that the three pillars of supply management are still intact, despite this news.” Tom Kootstra

A Quota Value Guarantee Program will also be established to protect producers selling their quota in the 10 years following the TPP’s implementation, with $1.5 billion in funding being set aside. Two additional programs — a Processor Modernization Program and a Market Development Initiative — will also be established to support supplymanaged commodities as they adjust to the trade deal.

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NEWS » Markets

OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Welsh cow found to have BSE

Soy and corn stocks remain high

A dead cow on a farm in Wales has been confirmed as having bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as mad cow disease, but the government said it had not entered the food chain and there was no risk to human health. There had been a number of sporadic BSE cases across Britain in recent years with the last case in Wales in 2013. Since BSE was first identified in Britain in 1986, strict controls have tempered the spread of the disease. While the disease was not directly transmitted from animal to animal, the dead cow’s cohorts, including offspring, have been traced and will be destroyed in line with EU rules. — Reuters

U.S. stockpiles of corn and soybeans were slightly smaller than forecast but supplies were still ample heading into what is expected to be a bumper harvest. The USDA says corn stocks as of Sept. 1 were 1.731 billion bushels, the biggest in nine years, while soybean stocks stood at 191 million bushels, a four-year high. Plentiful supplies, coupled with burgeoning harvest expectations, have weighed on corn and soybean prices for months. Soybean futures dropped to 6-1/2-year lows in recent weeks on big yield reports from early-harvested fields, while corn has fallen 12.5 per cent from its summer peak. — Reuters

Canola can’t stay afloat above key resistance point StatsCan’s latest report didn’t really faze markets By Dave Sims

CE Futures Canada canola contracts finished $4 to $5 lower for the week ended Oct. 2. The most frequently traded November contract began the week at $476.30 per tonne, but quickly found itself pushed lower by U.S. soy, better-than-expected canola yields, and ideas that canola was pricing itself out of the vegetable oil market. Commercial buying remained a feature in the marketplace and producers began to unload supplies too. The weekly crush margins showed Sept. 26-30 was the most active week in the last few months. Canola was buffeted by technical resistance for much of the week. On four separate occasions it broke through the key resistance level of $480 per tonne, but on each occasion was unable to hold it and fell lower. The Canadian dollar also was a source of pressure for canola. Early in the week, it actually supported values when it briefly dipped to 74.38 U.S. cents. The drop in value made canola more attractive to foreign buyers but the relief was short lived as the loonie began to climb after that, finishing the week just below the 76 U.S. cents level. U.S. soyoil hung firm through the week which lent support to canola. Those expecting the market to jump on Friday, with the release of Statistics Canada’s latest crop estimates, were likely disappointed. The market seemed barely fazed by the report, which pegged this year’s canola production at 14.3 million tonnes. This was at the low end of analysts’ trade guesses heading into the report, with some participants predicting it would come closer to 15 tonnes. The nearby November contract gained $1 on Friday, but most of it was attributed to large gains in U.S. soyoil and not as a result of the report. Mild, dry weather enabled harvest to speed along most of the Prairies, with many farmers reporting better-thanexpected yields. One trader suggested good seed genetics were partially responsible for the yields, while many pointed to late-summer rains. In the U.S., soybeans finished lower on the week as large world supplies and expectations for a massive U.S. harvest weighed on values. Pressure is coming from South America as producers in Brazil and Argentina are already planting a new crop, and exporting supplies to eager customers such as India. Soybeans did enjoy some support from a strong export sales report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Wheat was feeling support from reports that dry, cold weather in the Black Sea

Photo: Thinkstock region was threatening the wheat crop there. USDA lowered both its production and stocks estimates for U.S. wheat, which was supportive. Poor export demand for U.S. supplies, as a result of the strong U.S. dollar, continued to keep prices in check. Corn received some support after USDA’s crop estimate came in at the low end of expectations. Harvest pressure continued to put a damper on prices. South America continues to export heavy supplies to Asia, which was a source of pressure for U.S. supplies. Dave Sims writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

For three-times-daily markets reports and more from Commodity News Service Canada, visit the Markets section at www.albertafarmexpress.ca.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

Grants available to reduce worker turnover Workforce Development Initiative offers funding up to $25,000

lberta Agriculture and Forestry’s 201516 Workforce Development Initiative is still accepting grant applications from employers interested in reducing their worker turnover or improving the productivity of their food processing or primary agriculture operation. “The retention grant provides a grant to cover 50 per cent of the costs of having a consultant develop a plan to reduce worker turnover, to a maximum of $25,000,” said Gerard Bos, a provincial workforce retention specialist. “The productivity improvement grant provides a grant to cover 80 per cent of the costs of having a consul-

tant come in to do an assessment of your facility, to a maximum of $25,000.” Kent Shafer of Botaneco — which processes oilseeds for personal care, food and feed products — said his company benefited greatly from the grant. “We were able to do an assessment that showed automation was a key area in which to integrate our production line. We now have a defined road map to ensure the next step of the project’s success.” For more info, go to www.agriculture.alberta. ca and search for ‘Workforce Development Initiative.’ — AAF release

Brief Alberta Lamb Producers seeking directors Alberta Lamb Producers is looking for four producers to serve on its board of directors to represent Zones 1, 2, 3, and 6. Interested producers should visit www.ablamb.ca or contact the office (403-948-8533) for a nomination form. Forms need to be completed and sent back to the office seven days prior to the elections at each regional meeting, which will be held between Oct. 24 and Nov. 7. To be eligible for election, producers must have paid a checkoff in the last two years. No board experience is necessary, but individuals should have enthusiasm, ideas, and a vision for building a strong industry. The minimum commitment is three to four in-person board meetings and up to six conference calls per year. Per diems and expenses are covered. — ALP release

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OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Packed agenda at sheep symposium

Lynch-Staunton joins ABP

The Value of Health is the theme of the Alberta Sheep Symposium on Oct. 15-17 in Red Deer. Among the topics at the biannual conference are managing healthy flocks, improving long-term profitability; benefits from grazing; how sheep behaviour impacts lambing; what impact internal parasites have on health and productivity; how drug resistance will change your management; and genetics as a tool to improve your flock health and productivity, said provincial sheep industry specialist Susan Hosford. “In short, there is something for every lamb producer,” she said. The agenda and registration info can be found at ww.albertasheepbreeders.ca — AAF release

Tom Lynch-Staunton is the new manager of government relations for Alberta Beef Producers and issues manager for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. He took up the shared position on Oct. 5. A previous owner and manager of his family’s cattle ranch in southern Alberta, he was director of industry relations for Livestock Gentec. Lynch-Staunton will continue to work out of the Livestock Gentec office at the University of Alberta and collaborate with the U of A and its partners. He has a business administration degree and is working part time on an MBA in sustainability and public policy. — ABP release

Alberta producer gives ‘verified beef’ process a thumbs up Elise Walker says the process of being scored on a host of ‘indicators’ looked intimidating but turned out to be easy and informative By Alexis Kienlen AF STAFF

f you’ve completed an environmental farm plan, you’ll feel fairly comfortable being verified as part of McDonald’s sustainable beef pilot project. That’s the take of Elise Walker, a Milk River-area producer who was verified in June — although the process looked overwhelming at first. “There are a lot of questions,” said Walker who, along with husband Kelly, runs an Angus cowcalf herd and does backgrounding and feeding at their farm near Milk River. “But if you’ve done your environmental farm plan, you’ve already completed a huge selfassessment of your operation. I feel like this ties in with that. It’s not as bad as it looks.” After months of review and tweaking, McDonald’s Canada recently released details of its criteria — called indicators — for ‘verified sustainable beef’ on the www.vsbpilot.ca website. There are roughly 30 indicators (one set for cow-calf producers and one for feeders) and each indicator comes with a ranking scale, ranging from 1 (Entry) to 5 (Excellence). The indicators were developed with participants and the beef sector with the understanding that the process was more about documenting what producers are already doing rather than imposing new or onerous practices. But the rating system does encourage producers to ensure they’re employing good practices. For example, to meet the Level 3 criteria (Achievement), producers have to have an environmental farm plan and have implemented the water and soil health components. That level also requires doing rangeland health assessments and implementing workplace safety measures. It also forbids the use of electric cattle prods (unless the handler or animal is in danger) and, effective Jan. 1, 2016, requires pain control for dehorning and castration. But Walker said the biggest challenges for her and her husband, who are both first-genera-

Elise and Kelly Walker have a cow-calf herd, a backgrounding business, and this small feedlot near Milk River. PHOTOS: ANNEMARIE PEDERSEN tion producers, was getting their heads around all of the indicators — and finding time to host the independent third-party verifier during the busy spring season. They solved the latter problem by picking a day a couple of months in advance, knowing they wouldn’t back out no matter how busy they were. Then they each printed out a copy of the indicators and over the next month, recorded their own thoughts and observations on them. A few days before the verifier arrived, the couple, who makes all farm decisions together, went through the indicators and compared notes. “It was interesting to go through it because he understood some of the questions differently than I had,” she said. “He also thought of answers that I hadn’t thought of.” It turned out the couple’s preparations were just what they needed to do. “You get worried that you need to do a lot of work and prepare for it, but if you go through the indicators and read through them, that’s exactly how you go through your day with your verifier,” said Walker. The verifier was friendly and easy to get along with, she said. The Walkers just showed him around their operation and

“They never compare you to another operation. They’re solely interested in how you operate.” Elise Walker

answered questions during the half-day he was there. (The process typically takes four to six hours.) “You basically cover every corner of your operation — you show him what you do (over the course of) a year,” she said. “They never compare you to another operation. They’re solely interested in how you operate.” The process wasn’t intimidating at all, and it was just like showing an interested visitor around the ranch, said Walker. The process will be a little smoother for anyone who has enrolled since the indicators have finalized because redundant or strangely worded indicators have been removed, she added.

Elise Walker said the verification process wasn’t onerous and proved to be a good learning experience. The Walkers still haven’t received their scores, but now that the indicators have been finalized, producers who have gone through the process will be getting their numbers soon. McDonald’s is looking for more producers for the pilot project, and Walker said she and her husband learned a lot

from both the self-assessment and the day spent with the verifier. “It was a positive experience,” she said. For more information on the indicators and how to sign up, go to www.vsbpilot.ca. akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

Understanding and controlling the risk of swamp fever Horses that test positive must be euthanized or quarantined for life BY CAROL SHWETZ DVM

he recent increase in confirmed cases of equine infectious anemia (EIA), also known as swamp fever, in Alberta is a reminder to horse owners that this disease maintains a constant presence in equine populations. Often evidence for infection is noted only after routine surveillance testing for EIA. EIA is a blood-borne and potentially fatal viral disease affecting the immune system of horses, donkeys, and mules worldwide. EIA can present in an acute or chronic disease state or as an inapparent carrier. With initial exposure, the virus reproduces and traffics throughout the animal’s body within white blood cells. Viral particles are then released into the blood and become attached to red blood cells. The horse’s immune system mounts a vigorous attack against the virus by producing antibodies. This attack inadvertently also causes destruction of the horse’s own red blood cell components, resulting in anemia and organdamaging inflammation. During this time the horse will be acutely ill, with heavy concentrations of virus in its bloodstream.

Clinical signs vary

The clinical signs, morbidity, and mortality of EIA vary with the strain of the virus and the immune system of each individual horse. Symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, depression, anemia, dependent swelling, jaundice, inco-ordination and/ or muscle weakness and loss of condition. Horses may die from the direct effects of the virus or from secondary infections as the body is weakened by the virus. Horses that survive the acute phase go on to experience chronic cyclic flare-ups of clinical signs as the horse alternates between remission and the disease state. The onset of symptoms is often associated with stressors. Within a one-year period many horses begin to control the infection and show no clinical signs. These inapparent carriers may serve as a source of infection for other horses. On occasion an apparently healthy horse will show serological evidence of viral infection yet never exhibit any symptoms of the disease. Evidence for infection is noted when a horse develops a clinical bout of illness or after routine surveillance testing for EIA. Much about the pathogenesis of EIA is not completely understood, including the mechanism which allows the virus to survive the immunological response of the horse. In a natural setting, the EIA virus is most commonly transmitted from an infected horse to a non-infected horse by the mechanical transfer of blood from blood-feeding insects such as horseflies and deer flies.

Transmission

The virus is passed from one horse to another on the insect’s mouthparts as it feeds. The painful bite of the flies causes the

pHOTO: sUPPLIED horse to react and interrupt the insect’s feeding. The fly seeks to immediately resume feeding on either the same animal or on another nearby horse. If an uninfected horse is in close proximity to the infected horse, the completion of this blood meal is likely to effectively transfer virus between horses. Because of their strong instinct to immediately complete a blood meal, horseflies do not travel long distances before biting again. Through the insect vector pathway, the disease can enter a herd and slowly and silently infect an increasing number of horses. Since these insects are mainly active in the summer months and prefer wet, marshy and wooded areas, outbreaks of EIA are often associated with horses pasturing in swampy areas, hence the name swamp fever. Another means of blood transmission of EIA amongst horses is through the practice of sharing needles, and other bloodcontaminated equipment such as dental floats, surgical instruments and tattooing tools.

There is currently no cure for EIA, nor is there an effective vaccine available to protect horses from getting EIA. As a result many countries including Canada and the U.S. have established control and containment programs based on voluntary serological testing.

Testing

The Coggins test is used to consistently and reliably detect the presence of EIA-specific antibodies. Confusion often arises because reference to the Coggins name does not appear anywhere on the EIA Serum test report and certificate. The original test was developed by Dr. Leroy Coggins in 1970 and thus was aptly named the Coggins test. Currently a c-ELISA test is also employed, as it offers the advantage of rapid results. Blood sample can only be taken from horses by veterinary practitioners accredited by the CFIA. A negative Coggins test is a snapshot of a horse’s health status at a particular point in time. A negative Coggins test means there were no detectable anti-

bodies at the time of testing. A positive test indicates the horse does have detectable EIA-specific antibodies. Venues involving the movement, co-habitation, and commingling of horses recognize different time frames regarding the eligible status of a negative Coggins test. Its eligibility can range from 30 days to a year. Proof of a negative EIA test is an entry requirement for many competitions, horse-related events, boarding facilities, and is necessary for border crossings. For export purposes a negative Coggins is sufficient for 180 days. For the most part, the requirement for EIA testing is based on and determined by members within the horse industry itself. EIA is a reportable disease under the Health of Animals Act. Horses confirmed to have EIA have limited options. The CFIA requires that positive horses be either euthanized or quarantined for life. Strict quarantine measures considerably limit the quality of life for the affected animal.

Owners of euthanized horses are compensated by the CFIA at a specified rate for the loss. In the case of a positive horse being identified, CFIA conducts focal testing where other positives may be identified. The many stakeholders in the equine industry all share equal responsibility and vigilance for educating themselves regarding the management of EIA. In truth, there are many unknowns when assessing the risk EIA poses to any one individual horse. Certain management and geographic factors do put particular horses at a greater risk for contracting EIA. Environments with a steady influx of new horses, horses pastured in damp, swampy areas, and animals in frequent contact with outside horses that live and travel in regions known for EIA outbreaks or which may have contact with feral horses chance a higher level of exposure to the EIA virus. Carol Shwetz is a veterinarian focusing on equine practice in Millarville.

OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

No regrets: ‘Better Beef’ campaign turns out just fine for A&W Sales are up sharply, and it was the beef industry’s choice not to get involved in developing the antibiotic- and steroid-free program, says company official By JENNIFER BLAIR AF staff / calgary

wo years after introducing its controversial ‘Better Beef’ program, A&W seems to have few regrets about how the shift to antibiotic- and steroid-free beef played out. “We were the first national chain in North America to do it, and the response has been tremendous,” said Trish Sahlstrom, vice-president of purchasing and distribution for A&W Canada. “We’re selling more beef. We’re having more people tell us they’ve come back to eating burgers again.”

Same-store sales have shot up about seven per cent since the launch, although it costs the company more to source beef meeting its specifications. There was also a positive reaction from producers who raise cattle without added antibiotics or steroids, she said. But most beef producers were furious, especially by the implied message in the Better Beef campaign that conventional beef is inferior. However, A&W was focused solely on consumers, Sahlstrom said at the recent Canadian Farm Writers Federation conference. “We see it as a responsibility for us to do what the consumer wants — not try to get the con-

sumer to do what we want, as frustrating and as difficult as that can be,” she said. “For us, we know we have to listen, pay attention, seek to understand what consumers’ desires and expectations are, and then do our very best to interpret that and translate it into actions and offerings in our restaurants. “If we’re not relevant, we’re going out of business. We’ve been there.”

Regaining trust

A&W was in “pretty serious trouble” when it began looking for a way to keep pace with major competitors like McDonald’s and Wendy’s.

“We were seen as not being very connected with consumers and being out of date, out of style, out of touch, outmoded, not very relevant,” said Sahlstrom. That prompted a strategic planning process centred on “dramatic changes in consumers’ attitudes and behaviours.” “We saw, for instance, an increasing desire among consumers to know who and where their food was raised,” she said. “There’s really only one thing that consumers truly want and that is transparency.” And when they talked to consumers, they found their trust level “extraordinarily low.” “Consumers were saying,

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‘Where’s the evidence? I no longer trust just that it tastes good. I want to know where it came from. I want to know who has raised the animals that are feeding us. I want to know your values, A&W.’” The company then asked what factors came into play when consumers wanted a hamburger. “As we started to put together all of these pieces of evidence — all of the answers to these questions — what came out incredibly strong and clear to us was leave out the hormones and steroids and don’t use the antibiotics.” And from there, A&W’s Better Beef slogan was born. “Consumers just said, ‘This would be better. That would be better. If you did that, it would be better,’” she said. “So when we launched it, we called it Better Beef. That was their language.”

Change of heart

However, Sahlstrom suggested, that wasn’t the best choice. The company quickly changed its messaging to ‘Raised Without’ — both because of consumer feedback and producer “angst.” “Within weeks of that launch, what consumers were feeding back to us was ‘no antibiotics, no steroids, no hormones,’” said Sahlstrom. “We figured if it didn’t matter to consumers, and it seemed to be poking a finger in the eye of the producer community, we don’t need to say (Better Beef). So it faded out fairly quickly. “In our minds, it wasn’t about comparison. It was about choice.”

“We see it as a responsibility for us to do what the consumer wants — not try to get the consumer to do what we want.”

Trish Sahlstrom

Canada’s beef industry didn’t see it that way. Producers and industry leaders alike called for boycotts and decried A&W’s ‘fearmongering.’ The entire industry was blindsided by the news. But according to Sahlstrom, the beef industry was offered a seat at the table early in the process — and declined. “When we realized what appeared to be the right decision for us from a consumer perspective, I went immediately to the beef industry here in Canada,” said Sahlstrom. “What we found were lots of

see Better Beef } page 15

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

Better Beef } from page 14 producers who were ready, willing, and able — and an industry that was frankly pretty unhappy about it and scared about it that said, ‘We’re not going there. This goes completely against what we believe. We think you’re wrong. We don’t think consumers really care about this.’ “We were told pretty flatly ‘no’ on any kind of scale.” For A&W, there were only “two really big players in Canada” that could meet the product specifications they were after. “We decided if it was the right thing to do for us, we better figure out how we’re going to do it, and we found supply out of the U.S. and Australia that met all the specifications,” she said. “We were not able to launch with 100 per cent Canadian beef with that specification, but we did find many enthusiastic producers pretty darned excited that someone was stepping up to make that an offering. “And we will be 100 per cent Canadian. That’s not an issue. We’ll get there.”

Get on board

But the supply chain needs to get on board in a bigger way, said Sahlstrom. “Our biggest issue has been with the industry itself, in terms of finding ways to get the beef from the producers who are making those choices to our supply chain so we can serve them,” she said. “This is not an unusual way for Canadian beef producers to raise their beef. It is unusual for that beef to make it to the supermarket or the store.” Those producers are “so thrilled to have a chance to get their product to market.” “We must work with our supply chain partners to respond — to create the products, the story, the transparency, the visibility that consumers are expecting,” she said. “Throughout these changes and certainly as we innovate in the future, the support and commitment of the supply chain is absolutely critical.” But how A&W will gain that support is anyone’s guess. Since the launch two years ago, A&W has found “many producers who are so delighted to join us on the journey,” but by and large, the beef industry has balked at the notion of ‘better beef.’ “There are certain areas of the industry that really are frightened and threatened by it. But we’re just saying it seems like we need to have the option,” said Sahlstrom. “The only thing that consumers are truly saying today is ‘give me choice.’ For those who it’s important to, they want a choice.” jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com

A&W didn’t mean to anger conventional beef producers, and still wants to work with the industry to source beef from cattle raised without added antibiotics or steroids, says company official Trish Sahlstrom. File photo

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Storms don’t respect borders

Erratic weather brings hunger

A tropical storm is suspected of carrying the corn disease tar spot into the heart of the U.S. Farm Belt from Latin America. The USDA has confirmed cases of tar spot in four locations in Indiana and three in Illinois. The fungal disease has been a problem for years in Mexico and in Central and South America. Tropical Storm Bill, which brought rain to the central United States in June after spinning through the Gulf of Mexico, may have transported the disease. It is relatively rare for crop diseases to enter the United States from overseas, but it’s thought hurricanes carried Asian soybean rust from South America in 2004. — Reuters

At least 10 million poor people face hunger this year and next because of droughts and erratic rains linked to record global temperatures and an expected “super” version of the El Niño weather pattern, aid charity Oxfam has warned. A scorching drought has ravaged crops in southern Africa already, with South Africa’s maize crop falling by a third. Harvests in Central America have fallen by as much as 60 per cent for maize and 80 per cent for beans this year due to prolonged dry spells linked to El Niño, according to a UN agency. Southeast Asia is also affected, Oxfam said. — Thomson Reuters Foundation

What kind of weather can we expect for the rest of the fall? It was a warmer-than-average summer for most of Alberta, but will that continue as autumn winds down?

BY DANIEL BEZTE

ith summer officially ended and fall well underway, I figured we’d take time to look back at the summer of 2015 and then look ahead to see what October and the rest of fall might have in store for Alberta and Western Canada. Summer started off on the warm side across pretty much all of Alberta, with mean monthly June temperatures at the three main sites (Calgary, Edmonton, and Peace River) running from 1 to almost 2° above the longterm average. Along with the warm temperatures came dry weather with all three locations reporting rainfall amounts that were well below average. The trend continued into July with all three locations once again reporting monthly average temperatures that were about 1.0 C above average. Rainfall was pretty much right around average at all three locations during July, making it a pretty darned nice summer month. Things cooled off a little bit in August, at least over the northern half of the province. The Peace River region reported a mean monthly temperature that was about 0.5 C above average, while the Edmonton region was right around average. Farther south, the Calgary region continued on the warm side, with a mean monthly temperature that was a good 1° above average. Rainfall in the Peace River and Edmonton regions was a little below average during August, but was over double the long-term average in the Calgary region. September saw temperatures turn cooler, with all three locations reporting mean monthly temperatures that were about 0.5 C below the long-term average. Along with the cooler weather came wetter conditions, with both Calgary and Edmonton recording nearly 70 millimetres of rain during the month, which is about 25 millimetres above average. Peace River reported 40 millimetres of rain or right around average for that region.

2 Month ( 60 Days) Percent of Average Precipitation (Prairie Region) July 31, 2015 to September 28, 2015

< 40% 40 - 60% 60 - 85% 85 - 115% 115 - 150% 150 - 200% > 200% Extent of Agricultural Land Lakes and Rivers

Produced using near real-time data that has undergone initial quality control. The map may not be accurate for all regions due to data availability and data errors. Copyright © 2015 Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada Prepared by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s National Agroclimate Information Data provided through partnership with of August and September Created: as 09/29/15 This map shows total amount of precipitation acrossService the(NAIS). Prairies during the months a percentage Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada, and many Provincial agencies. www.agr.gc.ca/drought of the long-term average. You can see a large part of the Prairies saw above-average amounts during this time (dark green and blues). Manitoba was a little drier, with some below-average amounts, while southern Alberta was the wettest, with the region to the east of Calgary recording amounts that were more than 200 per cent of average.

When you add up the three summer months it turns out that the Edmonton and Peace River regions had a summer that was a little warmer than average (0.5 C) and a little drier than average. Calgary had a much warmer-than-average summer (1.5 C), and ended up seeing near-average rainfall, with the very dry June being offset by the wet August. For the rest of October, the Old Farmer’s Almanac is calling for slightly above-average temperatures with near-average amounts of precipitation. Temperatures are then expected to cool to below average in November with precipitation expected to continue slightly above average. The Canadian Farmers’ Almanac is much more pes-

simistic. It mentions chilly or cold weather six times over October and November along with stormy, rain, snow, wet, or just plain unsettled weather eight times during the same time period. I don’t know about you, but to me that adds up to a colder- and wetter-than-average October and November. Environment Canada is calling for above-average temperatures in both October and November. Precipitation will be near average over the northern half of Alberta, according to Environment Canada and above average over the southern half of the province. Last but not least, is my longrange weather forecast — or what I like to call my weather hope-cast.

The latest medium-range fairly reliable weather models are showing mild temperatures across much of Western Canada lasting until at least the third week of October. We have to keep in mind that the temperatures are getting colder. In fact, the average monthly temperature for September is around 10 C across most of agricultural Alberta. In October, the monthly mean temperature drops down to about 4.0 C. So while it looks like October will be warmer than average, that doesn’t mean we’ll keep seeing days with temperatures in the midto upper teens. I am going to agree with Environment Canada, at least for now, that October and November will continue with warmer-

than-average conditions. Precipitation will continue on the dry side in October as the main storm tracks stay to our north and south. As we work our way towards the end of October and into November, we’ll see these storm tracks migrate southwards, and I think there will be a good chance at seeing a significant storm sometime in November. No science on this one, just a gut feeling. However the weather ends up, I hope it works out just right for you. Daniel Bezte is a teacher by profession with a BA (Hon.) in geography, specializing in climatology, from the U of W. He operates a computerized weather station near Birds Hill Park. Contact him with your questions and comments at daniel@bezte.ca.

Trim: 10.25”

Alberta Wheat funds research The Alberta Wheat Commission is investing $970,000 over five years in 13 wheat-related research projects. Projects include the effectiveness and appropriate timing of plant growth regulators; fusarium head blight resistance in spring wheat; development of soft white spring and general purpose spring wheat with higher yield potential; influence of genotype, weather, growing environment, and crop management on gluten strength and the sustainability of CWRS as a premium wheat class; fighting rust fungal crop threats through integrated genomics research; and a province-wide survey to assess the extent of fusarium graminearum infestation. — Alberta Wheat release

Crop 2015: Parched to soaked From super dry to super wet — it’s been quite a year By Alexis Kienlen

“We were ready to start on Sept. 7, but then we got two inches of rain.”

AF STAFF

Justin Bell

Rosebud producer Justin Bell’s fields were bone dry in early summer but were so waterlogged by harvest that his combine got stuck. PHOTO: JUSTIN BELL ling section with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. Although rain hit much of the province last month, there was a lot of variation. Areas south of Edmonton were generally in a one-insix-year high for moisture in September, with areas south of Lethbridge at about one-in-three-year highs. The same situation is also prevalent in the central Peace around the Peace River. “We do have areas that are a little bit drier. The southern Peace region and the extreme north Peace region are a little bit drier than normal for September,” said Wright. Others hitting the onein-50-year mark for soil

moisture include some areas of Wheatland County, Special Areas 2, Pollockville, and Sunnynook. Other fairly wet areas include Sedgewick, Hardisty, Elnora, Delburne, and Trochu. Back at Will Farms, the temperature was also a factor. Rosebud usually gets a few days in September that are above 25 C. But this year, those days were few and far between. So fields Bell had desiccated in late August sat for a month before being combined. Luckily, his wheat didn’t sprout, but that wasn’t the case for some in his area. “When you get that

much rain, you can start having sprouting in the head, and then if you swath it and you get all that rain in it, it’s worse in the swath,” he said. “You can have a lot more sprouting happening in the swath versus standing.” Some areas were so dry, the rain soaked in fairly quickly, but most producers hoping for a “nice and dry and clear” September were disappointed, said Wright. “Harvest operations are being hampered by the rains that are coming. Not big rains — but little rains that make it wet so you have to wait a couple of days for it to dry. That’s been sort of the norm.” What isn’t normal is frost in the third week of August, but that’s what happened in several areas in the province. “Fifty per cent of the time, the first frost doesn’t come until the third week of September,” said Wright. “Some get it sooner or later, but the point is that we had

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some frost a lot earlier than that,” said Wright. And for those keeping track, the frost on Aug. 20 was a one-in-25-year event. The silver lining — and it’s a big one for those baked out in early summer — is that soil moisture reserves have turned around. “Almost all areas south of the Yellowhead Highway are at least near normal for soil moisture reserves as of just a few days ago,” Wright said in late September. Bell’s ground was fully saturated heading into the last week of September, but fortunately the sun stayed out and things dried up enough to get him back in his fields. And yes, he was looking on the bright side. “The rain has topped up the soil moisture, so I’m definitely not worried that there will be (a lack of) moisture for next spring,” said Bell. akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

Trim: 15.58”

t’s been anything but a normal year — and Justin Bell is just one of hundreds of Alberta farmers who can attest to that. The Rosebud producer was praying for rain in June and praying for it to stop in September. “We were ready to start on Sept. 7, but then we got two inches of rain,” said Bell. He waited a week before firing up the combine but still had to deal with soaked fields on the 10,000 acres he farms with inlaws “You’d be combining standing wheat and then you’d see water, so you’d have to pull out and go around it,” he said. “We had to leave a few spots that we just couldn’t get to because of the water.” Despite the drought in early summer, this year will go down as one of the wettest on record in his part of the province — a one-in-50-year high according to provincial statistics. It was that kind of a wacky year. “In some places, there was a one-in-50-year low for soil moisture reserves in the middle of July, and now we’re looking at onein-50-year highs,” said Ralph Wright, manager of the agro-meteorological applications and model-

} research

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Lessons Learned: Three takes on what worked — and didn’t — in 2015 Seed into the dust, the bins will bust? That one sure didn’t work this year, but there were happy surprises By Alexis Kienlen AF STAFF

his growing season was a challenge for many farmers. Alberta Farmer asked some experts about the lessons learned during the 2015 growing season. Dallas Van Den Driessche is account manager and precision agronomist with Farmer’s Edge in Vermilion. His territory runs from Bonnyville to Oyen and Lavoy to the Saskatchewan border.

What specialty crops did well this year?

For the first time, I had customers who put in lentils. This is usually a southern crop, but the guys who grew them were happy with them. Because it’s a pulse

crop, it reduced their nitrogen inputs. Based on the per-pound prices they were getting this year, some of them were getting in that $20-a-bushel range. A customer who grew them this year for the first time got an average of about 30 bushels an acre. Like anything else, the more times you grow it, the better yield you get.

What looks promising for 2016?

My feeling is that guys should pick an agronomically sound rotation and make that a priority. But peas, lentils and fababeans look good. Everybody thought the pea crop was going to be a disaster, but I’ve got guys who averaged over 50 bushels an acre. We’re starting to push the limits of peas higher all the time. Peas used to be 20 to 30 bushels

ing. Setting a goal like, “I hope to produce 40 bushels an acre of canola, and I’m going to set a goal that I’m going to have 15 per cent of that sold by Christmas, and another 15 per cent of that sold by a later date.” I believe in staging your selling. I used to be with a marketing firm and the most successful guys were selling a little bit along the way. They never spread themselves too far out.

on an average and now guys are disappointed if they get less than 40. Varieties and fungicides have improved.

What agronomic practices didn’t work this year?

There’s an old saying that if you seed into the dust, the bins will bust. That backfired this year. We never want to tell people to chase moisture because then they’re putting their seeds in deeper. But guys who seeded deeper into moisture had better germination. Seeds on hillsides and hilltops did not germinate until after we got rain on June 26. Then things started germinating and we got two different stages of crop emergence. Guys who were tilling dried things up a lot worse. Zero till has proven itself as a sound practice, which is why 90 per cent of farmers do it.

Dallas Van Den Driessche Is it time to rethink how much crop to pre-sell before harvest?

I would like to think that guys are not overselling anyway. All you want to pre-sell is a portion of what you anticipate com-

With tighter margins, is spending a lot of money on land, equipment and storage a wise move? Or do farmers need to be saving their money?

It’s time to watch where you are spending the pennies. Now is the time to look at being more efficient and more profitable on the land you’ve got. If the market stays stagnant, guys need to look at the little things they can do to become more efficient and profitable. Jeff Ekkel is based near Lacombe, does some consulting with Agri-Trend, but his main business is running a seed potato operation and grain farm with his father, brother, and sister.

What was the best niche crop you had this year?

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Peas were our best niche crop. We don’t usually grow them. They did well in a dry year. They stood well and even with a bit of hail, we were pleased with our yields.

Which agronomic practices worked out well this year and which ones didn’t?

Seeding depth was huge for us. Everything that was seeded at a consistent depth into moisture came up nice and even. There were a few fields where we didn’t use an even seeding depth. Crops came up in different stages, and we had to deal with that until harvest.

Is it time to rethink pre-selling before harvest?

In my area, I would say no, because we tend to get pretty good yields. It was supposed to be a poor year, but I’m sitting in the combine right now and the yields are still above expectations. The last time we had no crop was in the drought of 2002. Even when there are a few hail issues, I still think pre-selling some crop when the price is right is good. We’ve already moved a bunch of wheat off the combine, which saves us from storing it. I can move a lot of crop off the combine if I pre-sell it before, for better prices, usually.

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With tighter margins, should farmers be more frugal?

You have to be wiser with where you allocate our money. When margins are great, if you spend $10 or $15 an acre on something and it doesn’t give you a return, it doesn’t really affect your bottom line. Now, you need to look at everything. If it gives me a solid return, I’m going to do it. If it doesn’t, I’m going to eliminate that cost or reduce it.

Gerald Anderson Gerald Anderson is an agri-coach with Agri-Trend in Coaldale.

Gerald Anderson (on left) and Tilley producer Patrick Fabian, a pedigreed soybean seed producer, check an irrigated soybean field this year. The field’s owner was growing soybeans for the first time and produced a crop in the 60-bushel range. PHOTO: COURTESY OF Gerald Anderson

What was the best niche crop to grow this year?

I’m not sure yet because not everything’s in. On dryland, it’s hard to pick the best crop. It still depends on how much rainfall you had. Irrigation crops did quite well. On dry years, irrigation does well because we control the water. This being a dry year, irrigated crops are looking quite good.

What agronomic practices worked best this year?

Liquid fertilizer in a seed row worked well. When you’re using dry fertilizer in a seed row, there’s a fight because a seed has to have moisture. The fertilizer is so hydrophobic that it sucks up all the moisture and the seed has to sit there and wait. We had variable germination for that reason.

Do farmers need to be more frugal?

When commodity prices took a big jump and input prices stayed down, I had several clients who were ready to throw the bank at whatever. They had money coming out their ears and they weren’t focusing on what the costs were. Even in those situations, you should still be careful about how you spend your money. Even when times are really good, I still tell guys to watch their costs all the time. I’d rather those guys hang on to their money than have someone else pick it up. akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

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Double top signals an end to the weather market rally in canola Weather market rallies seldom last for long. Emotions run high, causing the rally to end just as suddenly as it began By David Drozd

hart analysts keen on the lookout for telltale signs of a market top in canola were rewarded when a reversal pattern called a double top appeared at the height of the rally in July. Double tops and bottoms are chart formations which appear in the futures markets. Once completed, they are a reliable indicator of a change in trend, especially when they develop at a new high or low of an extended move. In March, my monthly column explained a double bottom formation that occurred when the canola futures market turned up from a low of $410 per tonne. In today’s column I will explain the double top formation, which alerted canola producers to the impending downturn from $540.

Double top

A double top begins to take shape when prices advance to a new high for the move. This is illustrated as point A in the accompanying chart. A pullback then sets in, which is referenced as point B. A second rally (C) brings prices back up to approximately the highs of the first rally, followed by a price decline. The double top formation is completed when prices fall beneath the reaction low (B) that occurred between the two tops. When reversal patterns coincide with other technical indicators and formations, their reliability is

CANOLA NOVEMBER 2015 Chart as of September 22, 2015

greatly enhanced. In this instance, the futures price also dropped below the lower boundary of an uptrending channel, which is in itself an indication of additional weakness. Double tops can provide us with a forecast of the extent of a market’s weakness. Simply measure the distance from the double tops down to the reaction low in between them and subtract this distance from that low to arrive at a minimum downside objective. (Point A-C) 539.20 - (B) 512.00 = 27.20. (B) 512.00 - 27.20 = (D)

484.80. The $484.80 objective was achieved on August 12, 2015. The November futures contract has since lost another $30 per tonne.

Market psychology

The first top develops after a sustained price rise. It will coincide with a growing willingness on the part of longs with large unrealized profits to cash in their earnings. The market stalls as the supply of contracts for sale exceeds the demand and the price begins to fall. Short sellers jump in, convinced

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that the upward move has gone far enough. The market continues to decline until the price drop causes sellers to withdraw. The bull market is still intact, so when the price decline falters, buyers step in and prices once again begin to move higher. At approximately the level of the first top, longs with a short-term outlook are quick to take profit. Longer-term traders who failed to take profits when prices made the first top, and sat through the entire correction, are likely to be watching more closely now that

the market has come back up to its recent high. They won’t let the opportunity to take profit slip so easily through their fingers this second time around. Finally, there are the ever-present potential short sellers who are waiting to sell the proverbial high of the move. At the high price level, the selling eclipses whatever buying remains and the market begins to lose ground and liquidation of long contracts becomes an inevitable reality. As prices fall with increasing acceleration, new shorts will also enter the market. Trend reversal patterns identified by technical analysis are an invaluable tool for selling canola at or near the high before the market turns down. Canola producers who recognized the double top formation were able to take advantage of the opportunity to sell old- and new-crop canola before the market turned down. Send your questions or comments about this article and chart to info@ag-chieve.ca. David Drozd is president and senior market analyst for Winnipegbased Ag-Chieve Corporation. The opinions expressed are those of the writer and are solely intended to assist readers with a better understanding of technical analysis. Visit Ag-Chieve online at www.ag-chieve.ca for information about our grainmarketing advisory service and to see our latest grain market analysis. You can call us toll free at 1-888274-3138 for a free consultation.

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Don’t let this invader take hold

eafy spurge is common throughout Alberta due to its ability to adapt to a variety of soil types through its extensive creeping root system. Stems are smooth and arranged in clumps, can grow up to a metre tall, and contain a milky latex. When it comes into contact with skin, the latex can cause irritation and when consumed, can be poisonous for cattle and horses. Leaves are numerous and attached alternately to the stem. Its yellowish-green flowers are small, without petals or sepals and are supported by two green bracts, arranged in numerous small clusters. Light-grey to dark-brown seeds are about two millimetres in size and are smooth, growing in pods on the top of the bracts. These seeds can be distributed as far as five metres from the parent Contact your local fieldman at www.aaaf.ab.ca

Herbicide-resistant weeds on the march into U.S. farm heartland The USDA says overreliance on glyphosate is the primary factor for the problem By Carey Gillam

Leafy spurge is tough to control once established. PHOTO: Kelsey Fenton

Reuters

plant through seasonal flooding of riparian infestations, creating a problem with control or removal of the noxious weed. Once established, this weed can spread making it very hard to control, so contact your local Agricultural Fieldman if you think you’ve spotted it. For more information on noxious weeds: www.abinvasives.ca

Herbicide-resistant pigweed has ‘exploded’ in many U.S. soybean fields. PHOTO: USDA: Jeff Ingram

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oncerns about the world’s most popular herbicide continue to mount, as U.S. agricultural experts note spreading weed resistance to glyphosate. The chemical, used in Roundup and about 700 other products, has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years in part because scientists and environmentalists have warned that weed resistance to glyphosate has become a significant problem that impacts crop production. In the latest account of glyphosate-resistant weeds, U.S. weed scientist Dallas Peterson said this week that resistance is increasing rapidly in the key farming state of Kansas. The trend is a worrisome sign as weed resistance spreads from the southern U.S. into the Midwest and Plains farming states, he said. Peterson, who is both a weed scientist at Kansas State University and president of the Weed Science Society of America, said Kansas soybean farmers in particular are experiencing weed problems, particularly with a type known as Palmer amaranth. Wet weather along with the weed resistance contributed to the problem, he said. “It’s really kind of exploded,” he said. Farmers in other Midwestern states including Missouri, Nebraska and Illinois have reported mounting problems with weed resistance as well. Weed resistance across U.S. farmland is becoming such a significant problem that the agriculture committee of the U.S. House of Representatives has scheduled a briefing on the problem for Dec. 4. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said reliance on glyphosate by many farmers is the primary factor for the problem. Fourteen glyphosate-resistant weed species have so far been documented in U.S. crop production areas, according to USDA. Farmers’ use of glyphosate surged after Monsanto introduced glyphosate-tolerant Roundup Ready soybeans and other crops in the mid-1990s. Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences are bringing new herbicides to market, combining glyphosate with dicamba from Monsanto, and glyphosate with 2,4-D from Dow. Peterson warned, however, that tests at KSU showed that these combinations still had trouble controlling Palmer amaranth. Both companies said research shows their new herbicide combinations are highly effective, but they also advise farmers to use multiple strategies. AG DEALS TO GO!

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

Grain handler Scoular on hunt for more Prairie buys Omaha company wants to move into Canadian grain and oilseeds following $94-million purchase of Legumex By Rod Nickel Winnipeg/Reuters

.S. crop handler The Scoular Co. is looking to acquire stakes in grain and oilseeds facilities in Western Canada, says its chief operating officer. Scoular recently agreed to pay $94 million for the special crops division of Winnipeg-based Legumex Walker, including 14 plants in Canada, the U.S. and China.

The acquisition will allow Scoular to start selling lentils, peas and sunflowers to markets as far away as India and Turkey and within the U.S., COO Bob Ludington said in a phone interview from Overland Park, Kansas. The next step will be upgrading those plants, which process crops such as peas, lentils and sunflowers and whose competitors include AGT Food and Ingredients. A step into Western Canada’s grains and oilseeds sector will

follow, Ludington said. He expects Scoular to announce an acquisition or partnership within a year. “There are existing players open to partnering with the right kind of company,” he said. Scoular’s role is helping manage back-office functions, as well as supply chain and risk management issues, while letting partners deal with traditional customers. While Richardson International, Viterra and Cargill dominate grain handling, smaller

players are more open to taking on partners, Ludington said. Mining and trading company Glencore, which owns Viterra, is looking for partners for its agriculture assets, but Ludington said he did not see a good fit between the companies. He declined comment on any interest in Legumex’s remaining asset, a Washington state canola plant. Omaha-based Scoular, which has 72 U.S. grain-handling facilities, had $5.9 billion in sales last year. The company

is owned by its employees and controlled by the Faith family through voting shares. Scoular is also a frequent target to be acquired. In May, the chief executive of Richardson said he was interested in Scoular, and Glencore has also been a rumoured suitor. Potential buyers have inquired about a takeover annually for the last 15 or so years — including this year, Ludington said. “They call, and we say, ‘No.’”

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Get a handle on the quality of your grain before you sell it Autumn rains are just the latest wild card in a challenging year for crop production Alberta Agriculture and Forestry release

nowing the quality of your crops is more important this year than ever. “Due to late rains that have spotted the northern portion of the province, grain quality may be different than first expected,” said Todd Bergen-Henengouwen, a provincial market analyst for ag inputs. “The first step is knowing what quality you have in the bin. Then you can move forward and start exploring potential markets for your grain.” Obtaining a representative sample is key — take samples as the grain is placed into storage and take a consistent number of samples. Once the bin is full, collected samples should be mixed together and sealed in bags or containers to both keep out pests and preserve representative moisture content to maintain sample integrity. There are several options for determining grain quality. “You can have your grain graded by your local grain company or from a neutral grain-grading source such as the Canadian Grain Commission’s harvest sample program,” said Bergen-Henengouwen. “This is a voluntary program that

Richardson building new crops inputs facility at Three Hills

the Canadian Grain Commission provides for free.” The harvest sample program offers an unofficial grade and quality result that includes: • Protein content on cereal grains and pulses; • Oil, protein content, and iodine value for flaxseed; • Oil, protein, and chlorophyll content for canola; • Oil and protein for mustard seed and soybeans. “Samples will be accepted up until November but it is encouraged to send the samples in as soon as harvest is complete,” said Bergen-Henengouwen. For more information, go to www.grainscanada.gc.ca (and look for the Harvest Sample Program link on the left side of the page) or call 1-800-853-6705.

The Canadian Grain Commission’s harvest sample program will tell you exactly what you’ve got in the bin. fILE photo

READY FOR ANYTHING

ichardson International is building a new crop inputs facility at Three Hills. The new facility, due to open in spring, will have high-speed fertilizerblending capabilities and a 10,000-square-foot warehouse certified under Agrichemical Warehousing Standards Association protocols. Richardson recently completed a new fertilizer distribution centre in Carseland. The 32,000tonne facility, which will be fully operational next month, can receive 85-car unit trains and will supply fertilizer products to the company’s locations in southern Alberta, including the Three Hills facility. Over the last 15 years, Richardson has invested $225 million on crop inputs facilities in Western Canada. — Richardson International release

Buy and Sell anything you need through the

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ALWAYS FOLLOW GRAIN MARKETING AND ALL OTHER STEWARDSHIP PRACTICES AND PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Details of these requirements can be found in the Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers printed in this publication. ©2015 Monsanto Canada, Inc.

Albertafarmexpress.ca • October 12, 2015

Don’t just sell Cadillac wheat, says new report Demand is growing in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East — but CPS wheat may be a better fit BY ALLAN DAWSON Staff

A new report says Canada needs to expand beyond just premium wheat. pHOTO: thINKSTOCK

anada needs to do better at serving traditional markets with high-quality wheat while expanding its ability to serve developing markets, according to a study commissioned by grain industry groups. Consistent quality and high-protein wheats have allowed Canada to overcome its freight disadvantage in premium wheat markets around the world, but its exports are less competitive in key regions of the world where demand is growing. The solution isn’t to abandon high quality, but promote and differentiate Canada’s other wheat classes, including Canada Prairie Spring (CPS), says Cereals Canada president Cam Dahl. “I think we need to do both,” said Dahl. “We need to preserve those traditional markets where

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we do have a differentiated and branded product. But that’s not sufficient because those are not growth markets so we have to do more.” The growing wheat markets are West Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, while almost all the new demand for durum wheat is in North Africa, says a summary of the report. (The entire report has not been released because it contains commercially sensitive information, Dahl said.) Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat is known for its “superior protein content and quality, consistency and cleanliness” compared to competing wheats, the summary says. CWAD, the next largest class, is the world’s main source of highquality durum. But good quality is a double-edged sword. “Because CWRS and CWAD are very well suited to use in specific products in which they cannot be easily substituted, they can enter

markets in which Canada faces a freight disadvantage,” the summary says. “In order to preserve these markets, the first priority for Canadian wheat must be to maintain its quality and reputation. “However, because of the dominance of CWRS, Canadian wheat typically services a more limited range of products than its competitors. Most common wheat is used for a wide variety of different products which makes it impossible to target wheat for narrowly defined segments. This makes stimulating demand in new markets more difficult for CWRS.” In contrast, the U.S. exports a full range of protein-strength wheats and is therefore able to take advantage of that growth, the report said. Canada is building new classes of wheat. After last year’s wheat promotion trade missions, officials from the Canadian Grain Commission and the Canadian International Grains Institute said a number of customers expressed renewed interest in CPS wheats. Some Canadian wheat growers have also questioned whether too much emphasis is placed on growing and exporting high-quality wheat, which doesn’t yield as well as wheats with lower protein and gluten content. But Dahl said he doesn’t believe Canada should cut quality. “We can grow the whole thing,” he said.

“We need to preserve those traditional markets where we do have a differentiated and branded product. But that’s not sufficient because those are not growth markets so we have to do more.” Cam Dahl

The grain commission has noted CPS wheat isn’t lower quality — it’s different quality, with slightly lower protein and gluten. Its other selling features are cleanliness and consistency, which are both part of Canada’s wheat brand. “At this point, I think CPS is one of those other classes that is looking most promising for that differentiation — Canada is different and here is why,” said Dahl. Differentiating CWRS and CWAD wheat is a good marketing tool and one that can be extended to other Canadian wheat classes, he said. More can be done to promote CWRS wheats in markets where it’s less competitive by demonstrating its flexibility and value in blending, he said. The study is being put to good use. Wheat trade missions later this year include visits to Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Ghana, as well as Southeast Asia, South America and the Middle East, Dahl said. But he added that Canada’s reputation as a reliable wheat supplier “has taken a hit” because of shipping delays in 2013-14. “We can’t afford to have them happen again,” he said. allan@fbcpublishing.com

OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

VW scandal might ‘hurt’ diesel prices

Environmental Farm Plan being streamlined Changes sparked by study comparing the plan to three international sustainable sourcing standards

Emissions controversy expected to be bearish for diesel prices and also raises questions about future of diesel engines By Dave Sims CNS Canada

he scandal gripping German automaker Volkswagen and its dieselpowered passenger cars could ultimately result in a glut of diesel coming onto the market, according to a fuel analyst. “I don’t think anybody sees diesel going away forever, but from a passenger vehicle (viewpoint) we really need to get more evidence. Is this widespread or just a VW problem?” said Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group in Chicago. It’s still too early to say whether farmers, much of whose machinery runs on diesel, will be able to profit from the situation by paying lower prices at the pump, said Flynn, but he stressed the problem facing the diesel sector is a serious one. Volkswagen has been caught using an advanced algorithm to trick emissions testers into thinking its diesel-powered passenger vehicles were adhering to emissions guidelines. In fact, the vehicles were spewing as much as 35 times the allowable toxins into the atmosphere.

The emissions scandal that cost former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn (shown here Sept. 17 in Frankfurt) his job also has implications for farmers. photo: REUTERS/ralph orlowski

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation to VW last month and Environment Canada says it will run its own investigation. The question now, Flynn said, is whether the technology exists to get diesel-powered cars under the emissions targets the public is demanding. “If they can’t meet those tar-

gets there’s going to be more reliance on gas vehicles,” he said, adding that, in theory, less demand should drive the price of diesel lower. Flynn said he doesn’t see less diesel being produced, noting much of it is created at refineries when they are brewing gasoline. If anything, he said, “it will be bearish for prices relative to the other commodities.” Environment Canada said about 100,000 Volkswagen and Audi four-cylinder diesel cars of the model years 2009 to 2015 have been sold in Canada. Much of the transportation industry relies on diesel too, Flynn added. “You still are going to have the heavy trucks that are still going to be demanding diesel,” he said. Whatever the case, he said, vehicle companies are probably going to have a tougher time meeting EPA requirements, as the present scandal has evolved into a political problem that will likely usher in a “crackdown” on compliance. “I think for the long term this is going to hurt diesel unless they can rebound and prove the technology is as good as they say.”

ARECA release

he Alberta Environmental Farm Plan is being streamlined as part of a process to better align the program with international sustainable sourcing standards for environmental practices. These improvements emerged from a recent comparative study conducted by Alberta EFP, Alberta Wheat Commission and Alberta Barley. The study compared the plan to three international sustainable sourcing standards — the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification Plus Program, the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Farmer SelfAssessment, and Unilever’s Sustainable Agriculture Code. These three programs were also used to build the framework for the Alberta Crops Sustainability Certification Pilot project, the first phase of this study. “Overall, our EFP does a good job of covering agro-environmental concerns, regardless of which international standard we are compared to,” said Paul Watson, Alberta EFP director. “There are some criteria identified in these standards such

as habitat and species-at-risk protection that could be further developed in Alberta’s EFP.” Watson said he will seek guidance on next steps from an advisory committee, which has representation from ag associations and government, to address the gaps found in the environmental criteria. “The importance of sustainably sourced crops growing in the marketplace, and making necessary program improvements to improve the EFP are the next steps in improving that process for farmers,” said Erin Gowriluk, government relations and policy manager for the Alberta Wheat Commission. The benchmarking report can be viewed at www. albertaefp.com/index.php/ resources/reports. To learn more about sustainable sourcing, visit www.albertaaefp. com/sustainablesourcing. The Alberta Environmental Farm Plan was developed in 2003 and has been operated by the Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta since 2013. More than 8,000 producers have completed a plan, which is based on a selfassessment of the environmental aspects of their operations.

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ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

Shipowners call for more icebreakers Thick ice for the last two springs has taxed the coast guard and its vessels By Alex Binkley AF contributor

anada needs to beef up its icebreaker fleet or risk transportation disruptions that will hurt the economy, the Canadian Shipowners Association is warning. The next government “must address the urgent need to procure and/or charter icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard,” president Robert Lewis-Manning said in the organization’s election platform document. For the last two springs, the coast guard has struggled to deal with thick ice and keep the Upper Great Lakes open to navigation for grain and iron ore to move from Thunder Bay and U.S. ports on Lake Superior. A lack of adequate icebreaking also delayed the resupply of Arctic communities on Hudson Bay by ship. The coast guard’s current fleet of icebreakers is on average around 35 years old. “Icebreaking is hard on ships; it’s difficult work and the vessels have to be built for that work,” Lewis-Manning said. The government has leased two foreign vessels as interim resupply ships for the Royal Canadian Navy, but isn’t applying that kind of thinking to the coast guard. The only new icebreaker on the drawing board is the John Diefenbaker. Originally scheduled for completion in 2018, it’s not expected to be ready until 2022 at the earliest.

The Larsen is currently scheduled for a life extension and the Ann Harvey is undergoing a $30-million repair after running aground off Burgeo, Nfld. in April. Both may be unavailable for icebreaking duties next spring. The shipowners association also said the next government needs to increase investment in ports and the St. Lawrence Seaway if Canada is to take full advantage of trade deals that have been completed or are under negotiation. Canada’s Great Lakes fleet generates $34 billion of revenue annually and creates 98,000 jobs, the association said. “The fact that a single Great Lakes bulk carrier can transport the same cargo volume as 963 trucks or 301 rail cars demonstrates how marine transportation is the most fuel-efficient form of transportation,” LewisManning said.

The Samuel Risley, shown here at work this spring, is among the icebreaking vessels shipowners fear B:8.125” are near the end of their useful life.T:8.125” photo: dfo-mpo.gc.ca S:8.125”

“Icebreaking is hard on ships; it’s difficult work and the vessels have to be built for that work.”

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By the time it’s built, the Terry Fox and the Louis St. Laurent will have reached the end of their service lives, followed in the next few years by the Pierre Radisson, the Des Groseilliers, the Amundsen and the Henry Larsen, which together amount to about half the coast guard’s icebreaking capacity. The Griffon and the Samuel Risley, both dedicated to the Great Lakes, are both old ships and the industry fears they could break down at any time.

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OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Enjoying the autumn while it lasts

A trio of white-tailed deer gathers at Waterton Lake in southern Alberta for an afternoon drink. Autumn is certainly in the air, as the grasses and shrubs change colour. Photo: Wendy Dudley

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Fall yard care pays dividends next year Autumn yard care can pay big dividends next year. Topping or cutting back herbaceous perennials can help prevent the overwintering of diseases and insects. Mulching will help to prevent plants from being forced from the ground (but apply mulch after the ground is frozen). Watering lightly after applying the mulch will help hold it in place. To prevent root damage during the winter, it’s important to have a reserve of moisture in the root zone for all plants in the yard. Fill the soil profile with water in mid-October or just before the ground freezes. Broadleaf herbicides for lawns applied on a warm day will control dandelions, chickweed, and clover. Mow the lawn as long as the grass continues to grow. To prevent damage to the crown of the grass, cut the lawn five to six centimetres long. Alberta Yards & Gardens: What to Grow offers detailed information on growing ornamental trees and shrubs, small fruits and berries, flowers, vegetables, herbs and water plants. The book costs $15 and can be ordered online at www. agriculture.alberta.ca (search for “Yards & Gardens”) or by calling 780-427-0391. — Alberta Agriculture and Forestry release

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ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

Anhydrous ammonia could be losing favour Cargill, once a major anhydrous supplier, is out of the anhydrous business but Agrium says there’s been no big changes

leek white anhydrous ammonia fertilizer tanks perched on wheels ready to roll out to farmers’ fields were once a common sight along rural highways. Not so anymore. The apparent case of the missing anhydrous tanks has some wondering if it’s just an aberration, or if it signals a quiet but significant change in farmers’ soil fertility practices. Manitoba farmer Doug Chorney thinks it does. A longtime anhydrous ammonia (NH3) user, Chorney said he has seen the number of anhydrous sites decrease throughout Manitoba in recent years. He worries the trend may continue. “We’re still committed to using anhydrous ammonia,” said Chorney, a former Keystone Agricultural Producers president who farms near Selkirk. “I don’t think we’re going to see it completely disappear overnight. But there’s definitely a trend here.” Corroborating data is difficult to find. The Canadian Fertilizer Institute tracks the movement of all fertilizer, not specific types. Agrium Inc., which controls 46 per cent of the ammonia plant capacity in Canada, reports no market change for anhydrous ammonia over the last three to five years. “There hasn’t been a diminishment of uptake,” said Ray Dowbenko, Agrium’s senior agronomy specialist in Calgary. “As far as our numbers go, everything’s pretty much the same as it has always been.” Even so, there are signs that anhydrous ammonia, once the king of nitrogen fertilizers, may be starting to play second fiddle to its granular and liquid cousins.

Chicken and egg

It’s a chicken-and-egg argument as to whether agri-retailers are backing away from anhydrous ammonia or if farmers are just using it less. But Chorney feels the traditional practice of banding fertilizer in fall has declined significantly in Manitoba because the recent series of wet springs affected producers’ ability to seed. “That has made farmers very leery of putting fertilizer down so far in advance of growing a crop,” Chorney said. “So that means less demand, and therefore dealers are really evaluating the viability of having the anhydrous ammonia distribution system they used to have.” Safety is another reason why retailers may hesitate to carry anhydrous. NH3 is a hazardous material and accidental spills can cause environmental and human health hazards. A prime example occurred on January 18, 2002, when a Canadian Pacific train derailed near Minot, North Dakota and tanker cars carrying anhydrous ammonia ruptured. A cloud of poisonous gas was released, killing at least one person and injuring about 100 more. Safe handling and strict regulations are among the reasons why Cargill, once a major anhydrous supplier, decided not to provide it after the 2015 spring season. “Our reason for exiting the NH3 market was because Cargill strives to provide customers with excellent service in a timely manner while protecting our employees and customers from the risks associated with handling anhydrous ammonia,” a company spokesper-

Logistics

So, in order to stay flexible when planting crops, farmers may be using less anhydrous because of logistical challenges with the ammonia pipeline, suggests Don Flaten, a soil scientist professor at the University of Manitoba. “That’s one of the biggest issues with ammonia,” said Flaten. “There’s no agronomic reason not to use anhydrous ammonia. In fact, there’s lots of good agronomic reasons for using it. The biggest challenge is logistics.” Ironically, anhydrous ammonia is the most efficient and costeffective form of nitrogen fertilizer. It consists of 82 per cent nitrogen, whereas granular urea is 46 per cent (46-0-0) and the liquid solution form (urea ammonia nitrate or 28-0-0 UAN) is 28 per cent. Because granular urea and UAN have a lower nitrogen concentration, you need to handle more in order to apply the same amount of N as anhydrous. (Chorney compares it to having to carry four shopping bags of potatoes to the car instead of just one.) As a result, anhydrous gives you better value for your nitrogen dollar. “Fundamentally, ammonia is the lowest-cost fertilizer for nitrogen source and it’s extremely efficient and effective,” Flaten said. However, urea and UAN have one big advantage. Producers can take delivery when there’s a good price and store the products on their farms. At the same time, storage requires liquid tanks and fertilizer hopper bins, which can be expensive. Ad Number: SEC_PENH15_AB Publication: Alberta Farmer Express Size: 3col x 133 Trim: 6x 9.5” Bleed: 8.625” x 11.25”

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son said in an email. “Taking this into consideration, along with the increasing costs and the potential additional regulations, we decided other organizations are a better fit for the longer-term investment required to comply with dangerous goods legislation.” Because the storage and handling of anhydrous ammonia is regulated, producers are not allowed to keep it on their farms, as they can with other fertilizers. They must either go to an approved site to pick up portable anhydrous tanks or else have them delivered to their farms. This can make anhydrous ammonia inconvenient to use, especially if you’re seeding thousands of acres and have to run back and forth to get more as you need it.

Anhydrous ammonia is the cost-effective form of nitrogen fertilizer, but there are fears it’sSEC_PENH15_AB_AFE_SEC_PENH15_AB_AFE.qxd becoming less available. Photo: Thinkstock 2015-10-02 9:43 AM Page 1

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However, new technologies may be making urea and UAN more efficient to use. Flaten said farmers are increasingly switching to a one-pass seeding and fertilization system. The all-in-one approach makes logistical support for urea and UAN is better because, unlike anhydrous, they can be stockpiled in advance and used when needed. New air seeder carts designed to handle large volumes of granular N also make urea increasingly attractive. Chorney said he saw a 1,300-bushel cart at the last Farm Progress Show in Regina, which dwarfs the 350-bushel cart he uses on his farm. So far, reports about the demise of anhydrous ammonia are mostly anecdotal. Agrium’s Ray Dowbenko suggests the reason there appear to be fewer NH3 bullet tanks may be that companies are moving them farther away from major highways as a safety precaution. Also, some agri-retailers who recently consolidated operations may be rationalizing facilities and closing down redundant sites. Produced by: SeCan Product/Campaign Name: SeCan AAC Penhold Date Produced: October 2014

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OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

China’s farmers eye bigger fields, bigger iron The co-op sector holds the most promise, but family farms are growing BY DOMINIQUE PATTON Beijing / Reuters

SMART CHOICES. MORE SAVINGS. During this year’s Value Bonanza sales event, take advantage of more SMART ways to save, including 0% FINANCING, CASH BACK and ever-popular BONANZA BUCKS on select New Holland equipment. You’ll find the best savings of the year on that New Holland tractor, baler, mower or harvester you’ve had your eye on.

SMART CHOICES. MORE SAVINGS. But time is not on your side—Value Bonanza ends November 30, 2015 so hurry into your New Holland dealer today!

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During this year’s Value Bonanza sales event, take advantage of more SMART ways to save, including 0% FINANCING, CASH BACK and ever-popular BONANZA BUCKS on select New Holland equipment. You’ll find the best savings of the year on that New Holland tractor, baler, mower or harvester you’ve had your eye on. But time is not on your side—Value Bonanza ends November 30, 2015 so hurry into your New Holland dealer today! See all the SMART deals at nhvaluebonanza.com *For commercial use only. Offer subject to credit qualification and approval by CNH Industrial Capital Canada Ltd. See your New Holland dealer for details and eligibility requirements. CNH Industrial Capital Canada Ltd. standard terms and conditions will apply. Depending on model, a down payment may be required. Offer good through November 30, 2015, at participating New Holland dealers in Canada. Offer subject to change. Taxes, freight, set-up, delivery, additional options or attachments not included in price. © 2015 CNH Industrial Capital America LLC. All rights reserved. New Holland Agriculture is a trademark registered in the United States and many other countries, owned by or licensed to CNH Industrial N.V., its subsidiaries or affiliates. CNH Industrial Capital is a trademark in the United States and many other countries, owned by or licensed to CNH Industrial N.V., its subsidiaries or affiliates.

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1967 John Deere 4020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,995 1975 John Deere 4230 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19,500 2012 New Holland TS6.110 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $74,995 2014 New Holland Boomer 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CALL 2014 New Holland Boomer 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CALL 2015 New Holland T6.160 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CALL 2015 New Holland T6.160 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CALL 2014 New Holland T6.160 Autocommand . . . . . . . CALL

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The slowdown in agricultural sales in the U.S. and other markets is probably too big for China to counter alone, although CNH expects “significant acceleration” in the

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country overall, said Luca Mainardi, head of agriculture construction operations in China for CNH International. “The main growth is from co-operatives, which have been growing rapidly in number the last five years thanks to Chinese government support,” Mainardi said. CNH sells tractors of 140 to 230 hp in China, the high end of the market, and just started producing combines there. Mainardi reckons there could be about 5,000 co-op farms in China, with their number growing by 15 to 20 per cent each year. Subsidies — which can cover up to 40 per cent of the cost of a tractor — have also encouraged rapid gains in mechanization in a sector still dominated by the lowerhorsepower tractors and other machinery used on smaller farms. “There are a lot of subsidies, and with a bigger land area you get more efficiency and more income,” said Zhao Shuanzhen, director of the Gaocheng Zengshou Agricultural Machinery Service Co-operative in Hebei province. Zhao’s co-operative originally only leased equipment and services to farms across China, but since 2011 has also been farming on its own account, and now rents about 100 acres from more than 100 households. The co-op has more than 200 wheat harvesters — including more than 30 it bought this year — 180 tractors and 24 corn harvesters, almost all of them domestic brands. “If our land area was bigger, we might consider buying some good (foreign) equipment,” said Zhao. Foreign players now account for an estimated 80 per cent of the high-horsepower market, although they can expect to face greater competition from local counterparts in the future. Under the national “Made in China 2025” plan, Beijing wants domestic companies to take 30 per cent of the 200-plus horsepower market by 2020, and 60 per cent by 2025.

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he world’s largest makers of tractors and combines are finding a rare opportunity for growth in China despite a sharp slowdown in the world’s No. 2 economy, with big farm machines in demand as the rural labour force shrinks and plot sizes grow. For manufacturers such as U.S.-based Agco and Deere and Italy’s CNH, Chinese demand for big machines could help to offset weakness in North America and Europe, where farm incomes are declining with global commodity prices. The trend also contrasts with stalling sales in construction equipment and passenger cars, which have been hit by the slowing AG ONLY Chinese economy. US Dealers Driving this binge on bigger, more powerful equipment is a combination of labour migration to the cities, land reforms and government subsidies, spurring consolidation of the country’s vast small landholdings. “People are just getting ready,” said Alexious Lee, head of China industrial research at investment bank CLSA, pointing to the AG ONLY widespread move towards larger farms. US Dealers “Whether from the dealers or the financing side, everyone is skewing towards this angle.” The average farm in China was smaller than a football field in 2012. Nearly 900,000 “family farms” had an average size of 33 acres, according to data from China’s Agriculture Ministry. While these family plots were still less than a 10th of the average U.S. farm, further expansions in size are expected as Beijing urges more efficient agriculture and takes steps towards reforming land rights. Several thousand state and co-op farms of more than 8,500 acres each also need bigger tractors and combines to cultivate and harvest their agribusiness-size plots. Total sales of 100- to 129-horsepower tractors in China increased 38 per cent in the first half of 2015 compared with the same period last year, according to Agco, owner of the Massey Ferguson brand. And even though overall farm equipment sales for Agco and others in China were flat through the first half of the year, long-term prospects look brighter. Asia-Pacific accounted for only five per cent of Agco’s $9.7 billion in revenues last year (all figures US$), but the company — which recently opened its fifth factory in China — is targeting $1 billion in sales from the overall region before 2020 and expects its China business to quadruple by then.

CNH sells tractors of 140 to 230 hp in China, the high end of the market, and just started producing combines there. Mainardi reckons there could be about 5,000 co-op farms in China, with their number growing by 15 to 20 per cent each year.

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A farmer looks as a corn harvester reaps corn at a farm in Gaocheng in China’s Hebei province in late September. PHOTO: Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

StatsCan report at low end of expectations for canola Wheat production estimates are also up significantly BY DAVE SIMS CNS Canada

espite an upward revision of nearly a million tonnes in Statistics Canada’s latest report, most analysts expect canola production will keep climbing further. StatsCan released its updated grain and oilseed production estimates on Oct. 2, based on surveys taken between Sept. 3 and 13. Canola production numbers came in at 14.3 million tonnes, which compares to 13.3 million in the previous report. Canada grew 16.4 million tonnes of canola in 2014. “Most numbers came in line with what the trade was expecting,” said Jonathon Driedger of FarmLink Marketing Solutions. “Probably in the case of canola the number is pretty close to the recent number StatsCan has put out with its different methodology.” The agency issued a September report that took into account satellite data and environmental factors along with survey responses.

Statistics Canada’s latest crop production ESTIMATES A quick summary of Statistics Canada’s latest crop production estimates for 2015-16, in millions of tonnes. Pre-report estimates and final 2014-15 figures included for comparison.

All wheat Durum Oats Barley Flaxseed Canola Peas

October 2015-16 26.061 4.744 3.292 7.610 0.889 14.297 3.156

Pre-report ideas 24.700 - 26.500 4.500 - 5.100 3.000 - 3.400 6.900 - 7.400 0.850 - 0.950 13.500 - 15.200 2.800 - 3.200

Canola will likely keep increasing in subsequent reports, said another analyst. “The next report is going to be closer to 15 (million tonnes) than 14.5, I can guarantee you,” said Wayne Palmer of AgriTrend Marketing in Winnipeg. The StatsCan survey likely missed the period when yields started to increase as a result of the late-summer rain, said Mike Jubinville of ProFarmer Canada. “The last third or half of this

August 2015-16 2014-15 24.625 29.419 4.467 5.193 3.312 2.979 7.305 7.119 0.884 0.873 13.343 16.410 2.921 3.810

harvest is probably where some of the bigger yields are. This survey was from the 3rd (of September) to the 13th, so it didn’t capture that.” Most of the other crop estimates, he said, were in line with what he expected, except for barley. “StatsCan boosted the harvest area by 138,000 acres, which is a bit unusual,” he said, adding that if anything, he thought barley would have lost acreage. StatsCan pegged barley pro-

pHOTO: tHINKSTOCK duction in today’s report at 7.6 million tonnes, compared to 7.3 million in the previous report and 7.1 million tonnes last year. All-wheat production also rose by a significant margin — 26.1 million tonnes versus 24.6 million in the previous report. That number isn’t likely to rise much, said Keith Ferley of RBC Dominion Securities.

“The cereals didn’t respond in the dry western regions as well as the canola did, because the rains came too late for them,” he said. But Jubinville disagreed. “I won’t be surprised if the yield average gets bumped up more… we could see a 27-million (-tonne) wheat crop,” he said.

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9/15/15 4:05 PM

OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Power up your canola. Save money and unleash yield potential. Monsanto and BASF have joined forces to offer a powerful combination of products. When you purchase Genuity® Roundup Ready® canola for the 2016 growing season, add PRIAXOR®, LANCE® and/or LANCE® AG fungicides and you could earn up to $4.00/acre in rebates. With PRIAXOR’s continuous blackleg control and the sclerotinia protection of LANCE and LANCE AG, you can increase the yield potential and quality of your canola by keeping disease pressures at bay.

For complete details on this offer, see your retailer or visit powerfulcombination.ca Monsanto Company is a member of Excellence Through Stewardship® (ETS). Monsanto products are commercialized in accordance with ETS Product Launch Stewardship Guidance, and in compliance with Monsanto’s Policy for Commercialization of Biotechnology-Derived Plant Products in Commodity Crops. Commercialized products have been approved for import into key export markets with functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material produced from this product can only be exported to, or used, processed or sold in countries where all necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It is a violation of national and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted. Growers should talk to their grain handler or product purchaser to confirm their buying position for this product. Excellence Through Stewardship® is a registered trademark of Excellence Through Stewardship. 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. Tank mixtures: The applicable labeling for each product must be in the possession of the user at the time of application. Follow applicable use instructions, including application rates, precautions and restrictions of each product used in the tank mixture. Monsanto has not tested all tank mix product formulations for compatibility or performance other than specifically listed by brand name. Always predetermine the compatibility of tank mixtures by mixing small proportional quantities in advance. Genuity and Design®, Genuity®, Monsanto and Vine Design®, Roundup Ready® and Roundup® are registered trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada, Inc. licensee. AgSolutions is a registered trademark of BASF Corporation; PRIAXOR and LANCE are registered trademarks of BASF SE; all used with permission by BASF Canada Inc. © 2015 Monsanto Canada Inc. and BASF Canada Inc.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

Fall migration brings avian flu threat

Feral hogs causing massive damage

Small flock producers are being warned to be on guard against avian influenza during the fall migration of ducks and geese, which can carry the contagious viral disease. Put a wire on top of pens to prevent direct contact, treat dugout water, and watch for signs of infection, said Dr. Colleen Christianson, a provincial veterinary pathologist. “Things you want to look for are changes in egg production, increased flock mortality rates, swelling around the head and neck, respiratory changes, trembling, if the bird is unable to walk properly or hold its head in the proper position,” said Christianson. Contact your vet if there are any symptoms. — AAF release

The USDA has started analyzing the impact that wild pigs have on U.S. farms. There are more than five million wild pigs in at least 35 states, with the largest populations in California, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas. It’s estimated it costs more than $1.5 billion annually in damages and measures to control feral hogs. The federal agency surveyed more than 10,800 farmers in 11 states, asking if they had seen signs of feral swine and if any crop or livestock losses have been caused by the pigs. The data will be used to determine what actions are needed to address problems caused by feral swine. — Reuters

Monsanto’s new plan: Lead the field in big data HEARTLAND

The company says data mining makes farms more efficient and profitable — but will farmers pay for data services?

newer herbicide to compete with Monsanto. And the strong dollar and sluggish commodity prices are adding to the company’s problems. The company’s 2015 fiscal third quarter showed the strain. During the quarter, Monsanto announced a deal with Scotts MiracleGro Co. that boosted profits by $274 million. Without that one-time boost, Monsanto’s crop protection and herbicide segment — dominated by glyphosate — would have seen a 16 per cent drop in gross profits, according to regulatory filings. Overall, Monsanto’s strategy is to cut its operational costs, improve its return on existing investments and develop lucrative new product lines. Work already underway includes a focus on tools that improve planting efficiency, sensors that help Monsanto track its seeds shipped in cargo containers, and computer modelling that can speed the rollout of new seeds and traits.

By P.J. Huffstutter and Carey Gillam Reuters/Chicago/Kansas City

ith its shares trading at three-year lows since abandoning a $46-billion bid to buy Syngenta, Monsanto plans to offer its shareholders a new corporate vision: A future in big data. Monsanto executives are seeking to reposition the company as a business built on data science and services, as well as its traditional chemicals, seeds and genetic traits operations, said chief technology officer Robert T. Fraley. “We transformed from an industrial chemical company to a biotech company, then to a seeds company,” Fraley said. “Now, we’re transforming again.” Top executives are sketching out plans now, and briefing major shareholders ahead of a wider presentation to investors in November at the company’s St. Louis headquarters, he said. Fraley and others have met with around 200 technology startups in recent months and identified five as potential acquisition targets, pending Monsanto’s testing of products they make, company sources said. They declined to identify any possible targets. Monsanto is seeking to provide services, software and hardware tools that use data to help farmers boost their crop yields by understanding what is happening with their fields — including catching shifts in soil chemistry, being more precise with their seed choices and knowing how they should apply pesticides in various conditions. But the agricultural-data field is crowded, Monsanto’s initial moves into the sector have had spotty results and the shifting narrative is a sharp departure from the vision Monsanto described just weeks ago, as it bid for Syngenta. That vision was of a future based on agricultural chemicals and high-tech seeds. The latest pivot comes as longtime profit stalwarts — the weed killer Roundup and the company’s portfolio of genetically modified

Farmers are collecting data like never before, and Monsanto plans to reshape itself by offering software and other services to better utilize all that information. PHOTO: AGRICULTURE CANADA seeds — both are showing signs of strain. Roundup’s longevity as a farmer mainstay has become vulnerable as weed resistance to its active ingredient glyphosate has grown. The company has also been facing increasing regulatory and consumer scrutiny over the safety and environmental impact of Roundup and Monsanto’s genetically engineered crops that are sprayed with glyphosate.

Will it pay?

Company officials declined to say how big a part of the firm it expects the data science and services arm to become, or to project sales and profits. It already owns Climate Corp., a weatherforecasting firm it acquired in 2013, and Precision Planting, which it bought for $250 million in 2012. The latter makes computer hardware and software tools that seek to help farmers plant seeds in ways that will be most productive for boosting yields.

Still, farmers and agribusiness customers so far have been reluctant to pay for data services, particularly with farm income down by half since its 2013 high. Farmers, especially large producers, are looking for data services, said Sam Miller, head of agriculture banking at BMO Harris Bank. But the competitive landscape is fierce with Monsanto and rivals Syngenta, DuPont Pioneer, WinField Solutions, and others all fighting to sell data services. The companies “are all talking to these producers about their data services,” Miller said. As the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide — glyphosate — loses effectiveness, the company is ramping up production of the weed killer dicamba to be combined with glyphosate in a new herbicide that can be used with new herbicide-tolerant crops Monsanto is developing. But rival Dow AgroSciences has created alternative herbicide-tolerant crops and a

BETTER START. BETTER HARVEST. TM

This is not the first time Monsanto has touted data services. Chief executive officer Hugh Grant in 2013 cited a “big change” and stated data was one of two new platforms for growth, along with biological research in crop protection. Since then, its biologics and data efforts have taken a larger overall bite of Monsanto’s more than $1 billion in annual R&D spending, according to company officials. Securities analysts are skeptical of the shift in vision. “There’s a big difference between profits and meaningful profits that will move the needle,” said Matt Arnold, an equity analyst with Edward Jones. “We would not expect (data services) to be a needle mover in the near future.” For companies like Bayer CropScience, a digital strategy means focusing on applying data to improve agrichemicals products. “We make money the old-fashioned way: Selling those (chemical) products,” said Bayer CropScience CEO Jim Blome.

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Pioneer® brand products are provided subject to the terms and conditions which are part of the labeling and purchase documents. ® SM TM , , trademarks and service marks of DuPont, Pioneer or their respective owners. © 2015, PHII. As with all crop protection products, read and follow label instructions carefully. Member of CropLife Canada.

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9/1/15 4:44 PM

OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Think Europe’s halting GMOs? It could be heading for more Most EU states have asked to opt out of GMO crops, but overall production expected to rise of the LAPAR league of Romanian farmers, which unites about 60 per cent of the Black Sea country’s acreage. “It’s common sense that any maize farmer, be it in Spain or in Portugal or in Romania, would like to reduce production costs and eventually reap a bigger harvest,” he said, estimating that GM maize strains under approval would boost yields by at least 15 to 20 per cent. Approved in Canada since 1997, MON810 has been cultivated in Portugal and Spain for years, with 131,500 hectares in Spain last year, Farm Ministry data shows. In Romania, the second-largest maize producer after France, the area sown with GMOs has decreased in recent years but Baciu expects output to pick up. Environment campaigners have decried the EU approval system for new GM crops and called for it to be reformed. Despite public hostility to genetically modified foods, Europe is one of the world’s major buyers of biotech grain. There are nearly 60 GM crops approved for use in the EU, mainly for animal feed. “These new strains will certainly find an outlet in sectors that don’t ban GMOs, especially in animal feed,” said Stephane Radet, director of French animal feed maker group SNIA, noting that when grown legally, GMOs could travel freely within Europe.

BY SYBILLE DE LA HAMAIDE AND BARBARA LEWIS Paris / Reuters

he large number of European countries opposing GMO cultivation may have given the impression the bloc is putting a brake on GMOs. But with new crops queuing for approval and key countries leaving the door open, output is more likely to grow than wane. Nineteen out of 28 EU member states have requested opt-outs for all or part of their territory from cultivation of Monsanto’s MON810, the sole GMO crop already approved for cultivation, or for pending applications. They were using a law signed in March giving countries opposed to the technology the right to seek exclusion from any approval request for GMO crop cultivation even if strains have been approved at EU level. Although widely grown in the Americas and Asia, public opposition is strong in Europe against GMO crops. France, among the most vocal opponents to the technology and the bloc’s largest grain grower, has banned Monsanto’s MON810 maize strain since 2008, citing “serious doubts” it was safe for the environment. It was among the first countries to use the opt-out scheme to ensure its ban

Over 1,000 people protest against Monsanto in Lyon, France in May. PHOTO: reuters / emmanuel foudrot remained in place, followed by other large maize growers such as Italy, Hungary and Germany. Monsanto, which says its maize is harmless to humans and wildlife, asked that its 10-year clearance be renewed and seven new maize strains developed by DuPont Pioneer, Dow and Syngenta are in the approval process.

‘Common sense’

Although it remains unclear how long it could take for new GM seeds to be available in countries that did not block them, farmers and feed producers have little doubt output will grow. “Romanian grain farmers will gladly embrace the genetically modified maize crops,” said Laurentiu Baciu, president

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Swath Rollers available 8” steel & polly . . . . . . . . . . . $1,200

Sitrex 10 wheel V-rake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,500

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NH RB560 net/twine, specialty,2015. . . . . . . . . . . . . $52,500

NH T7.235,2260hrs,ldr,3pt,2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $131,000 NH T7.235,2575hrs,ldr3pt,2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $129,500

Deines 1800KT-60” front mower,320hrs . . . . . . . . . . . $4,900

Haybuster 2650 bale processo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11,500

Cub Cadet RZR50, zero turn mower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,950

JF Stoll 1360 for age harvestor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $39,500

CIH Puma 140,1000hrs,PS,2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $110,000

NH G4050 xero turn mower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,250 Grasshopper T616-48” front mower, powerfold . . . . . $7,900

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CIH 430 Steiger,2007,2600hrs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $185,000 CIH 9270,6300hrs,PS,20.8R42 duals . . . . . . . . . . . . . $65,000

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FlexiCoil S65XL,100’, screens, markers,

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SP655 monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $9,500

Wheatheart SA1391,hyd swing & lift . . . . . . . . . . . . $19,500

CIH PS160-100’ suspended sprayer,duals . . . . . . . . $38,500

NH H8040-30’,2 roto shears,Trimble easy pilot, 2013.410hrs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $129,500

Farm King 1370,electric swing & lift . . . . . . . . . . . . . $14,500

HAYING & LIVESTOCK

Farmking 8x51xhyd swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . offers

NH T9.450HD ,2013,1000PTO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $265,000

Westward 7000-25’ 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19,500

NH 499 mower conditioner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $9,900

Brandt 5000 grain vac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12,900

NH T9.450HD,2014,1000pto,620hrs . . . . . . . . . . . . $299,500

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ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

Alternative feeds can cause health issues Too much sulphur can lead to polio and a shortage of nitrogen can reduce feed intake Alberta Agriculture and Forestry release

Using unusual feeds such as canola, straw, and slough hay increases the need for feed testing, says a provincial forage specialist. “Knowing the quality of the forage being used this winter is going to be critical to make it through on a short feed supply,” said Barry Yaremcio. Many canola crops being cut for silage or greenfeed contain large amounts of second growth. Like any forage, they should be tested for the standard nutrients: protein; acid detergent fibre; neutral detergent fibre; calcium; phosphorus; magnesium; potassium, and, sodium. Keep a special watch for certain nutrients, said Yaremcio. “Canola is known to have the potential to contain higher nitrate levels, as it’s fertilized more than other crops,” he said. “Canola greenfeed or silage can also contain high levels of sulphur. If sulphur levels are too high there could be occurrences of polio in animals.” Testing done so far this season on greenfeeds and first-cut hay has shown a decrease in protein content from average levels. “This is partly due to the fact that plants tend to mature two to three weeks faster than normal in a dry year which increases fibre levels and reduces protein content,” he said. “If you’re short of protein, the first thing that happens is the microbes in the rumen are not able to repopulate themselves as quickly as they should. Therefore, the animals can’t digest the fibres and feed remains in the rumen longer than normal. Over time, feed intake is reduced five to 10 per cent. Even though the animal may appear full, the amount of feed consumed isn’t enough and performance will be impaired.” Many farmers are also facing restricted feed availability this year, so knowing how much of a good-quality feed to mix with pea straw, cereal straw, or slough hay is critical to achieving proper nutritional balance. There may be some situations where it will be more economical to move the animals to feed rather than feed to the animals.

McDonald’s to offer first-ever organic burger The new ‘McB’ will be available in Germany for a limited time By Lisa Baertlein Reuters

cDonald’s will offer its first-ever 100 per cent organic beef hamburger for a limited time in Germany, as a growing number of global diners demand food that is more natural and less processed. Until Nov. 18, McDonald’s will offer “McB” burgers, made with organic beef sourced from organic farms in Germany and Austria. The move from the world’s biggest restaurant chain by revenue comes as it is revamping food-sourcing practices as part of new CEO Steve Easterbrook’s effort to transform McDonald’s into a “modern, progressive burger company.” Germans, known for their love of sausages, are eating less meat and more vegetarian food as concerns grow about health, animal welfare, and the environmental cost of livestock farming. In Germany, beef certified as “organic” must come from cattle that eat organically grown feed and graze on pasture where synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not used. “We have made a great effort to secure suf-

Fast-food giant will offer “McB” burgers made with organic beef sourced from farms in Germany and Austria. Photo: Thinkstock ficient quantities of meat which satisfies the organic requirements and our own quality claims,” said Holger Beeck, chief executive of McDonald’s Germany. McDonald’s has tweaked menus and worked to improve service in Germany, one of its top European markets. The company’s quarterly sales at established restaurants in

Germany recently grew for the first time since the middle of 2012. A McDonald’s U.S. spokeswoman declined to say whether the company would roll out the burger to other markets. Sales at McDonald’s have slumped, in part due to competition from newer chains including Chipotle Mexican Grill, which for years has offered meat from animals raised without hormones and antibiotics. McDonald’s USA said in March that within two years, it would stop buying meat from chickens raised with antibiotics vital to human health. That move was cheered by public health and consumer advocates, who are concerned that overuse of antibiotics in meat production is contributing to rising numbers of life-threatening human infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria dubbed “superbugs.” Still, a shareholder group thinks the company has not gone far enough. It is renewing its call for McDonald’s to stop buying any meat from animals raised with antibiotics vital to fighting human infections. Last month, McDonald’s said its 16,000 U.S. and Canadian restaurants would switch to cage-free eggs by 2025.

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OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

PotashCorp withdraws takeover bid for German potash producer K+S Skeptical K+S had refused to negotiate, deeming the bid too low BY GREG ROUMELIOTIS AND ARNO SCHUETZE Reuters / New York / Frankfurt

otashCorp has withdrawn its $11.6-billion offer for German potash producer K+S, citing a decline in global commodity and equity markets and a lack of engagement by K+S management. K+S shares dropped 24 per cent after Potash announced its decision, wiping almost 1.5 billion euros off the company’s market value. An acquisition of K+S would have given Saskatoon-based PotashCorp an opportunity to realize savings from selling potash within North America from its own Western Canada mines and from K+S’s Legacy mine, under construction northeast of Moose Jaw. However, senior K+S executives dismissed the Saskatchewan company’s 41-euro-pershare cash bid — which represented a 59 per cent premium to K+S’s share price during the prior 12 months — as too low, and refused to negotiate.

K+S shares dropped 24 per cent after Potash announced its decision, wiping almost 1.5 billion euros off the company’s market value.

Since PotashCorp made its offer to K+S privately at the end of May, shares of K+S peers have dropped by around 40 per cent amid concerns over weakening demand from China, the world’s largest consumer of potash. “We withdrew our proposal, frankly, with some disappointment as the strategic rationale for the transaction

was compelling in our view,” PotashCorp CEO Jochen Tilk said in a letter to K+S’s supervisory board. “Nonetheless, in light of the market conditions... and a lack of engagement by K+S management, we have concluded that the pursuit of a business combination with K+S is no longer in the best interest of PotashCorp’s shareholders.” K+S chairman Norbert Steiner said PotashCorp’s decision “creates clarity” for the German firm. “We are convinced that we can successfully develop our company based on a consistent implementation of our two-pillar strategy in the long term. We are strong in potash and in salt.” K+S had previously voiced fears that PotashCorp could dismantle the company and eliminate jobs, and that its pledges to the contrary were too vague. PotashCorp argued its proposal was not based on closing mines, curtailing production, selling K+S’s salt business or cutting jobs.

Basis high, oat prices remain under pressure Farmers are keeping the bins shut for now BY DAVE SIMS CNS Canada

at prices are still having trouble breaking through key resistance figures, as harvest winds down across the Prairies. “They’re (prices) below what farmers like… having trouble breaking that $3-a-bushel level in Manitoba and $2.50 in Saskatchewan,” said Ryan McKnight of Linear Grain at Carman, Man. So far, he said, very few oats have been priced by commercial players when one looks at the deliveries from farmers. “So it seems they’re going into the bins.” The basis is higher right now, according to McKnight, but with

a large supply, he believes someone will step up sooner or later. “Eventually somebody will come to play.” Another issue that bears watching is water damage. McKnight said at least one crop in northern Saskatchewan has already seen some sprouting. “They’ll take the sprouts as dockage, because the sprouts shatter when they’re dehulled,” he said. End-users are basically covered until January, McKnight said, so there is time to sort through these issues. Still, he said he doesn’t expect producers will start moving supplies for a bit. “They’ll eat through their space before they’ll pay high basis,” he said.

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ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

Looks good in this light!

“Unfortunately, this barley looks a lot better in the picture than it does in person,” joked Dara Calon, who took this picture of her boyfriend, Rick Kudras, examining the Copeland variety in mid-August. Rain avoided her farm near Michichi during the summer and only arrived to delay harvest. PHOTO: DARA CALON

SEC_BRANDON15_#16_MC_SEC_BRANDON15_#16_MC.qxd 2015-09-30 10:16 AM Page 1

A dozen Albertans awarded $1,500 scholarships Ad Number: SEC_BRANDON15_#16_MC Publication: Manitoba Cooperator Size: 4Col x 140 (8.125” x 10”) Non Bleed

The Monsanto Fund awarded 66 first-year scholarships this year

Monsanto Canada release

Produced by: SeCan Product/Campaign Name: SeCan AAC Brandon ‘ Wheat King Date Produced: September 2015

A dozen young Albertans have received $1,500 “opportunity scholarships” from the Monsanto Fund. In their application, each of these young people wrote about experience gained on their family farms, in community involvement, and in high school. “Agriculture has evolved from feeding your own family members to feeding your international family members,” Taylor Lassiter, whose family has a Red Angus operation near Bassano, wrote in her application. “Ways of production need to continue to grow and change to support all global citizens. And since the need for agriculture will never cease, occupations in the industry will remain plentiful.” Lassiter is pursuing a bachelor of science at the University of Lethbridge and plans to become a veterinarian. Other Albertans receiving the scholarship were Marigje Bikker (Barrhead), Katherine Crawford (Didsbury), Tianna Groeneveld (Mannville), Renee Huvenaars (Hays), Mikaela Klemp (Mayerthorpe), Katelyn Krupa (Vimy), Brennan Munro (Airdrie), Lowell Nelson (Morrin), Christine Suominen (Lacombe), Megan Wanchuk (Boyne Lake), and Kyle Wheeler (Strathmore). The Monsanto fund awarded 66 scholarships (chosen from 135 applications) across the country this year. Grade 12 graduates from farm families who are enrolled in a firstyear degree or diploma program in agriculture or an agricultural-related field are eligible. Details on the 2016 scholarship program will be released in February and will be available at www. monsanto.ca.

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OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Community news and events from across the province

It’s an adrenaline rush when the Ranch Tracker is on your trail

what’s

Send agriculture-related meeting and event announcements to: glenn.cheater@fbcpublishing.com Oct. 15-17: Alberta Sheep Breeders’ Association 2015 Value of Health Symposium, Holiday Inn and Suites South, Red Deer. Contact: Linda Brandes 1-866-967-4337 Oct. 20: Biosecurity Workshop, GPRC Fairview Campus, Fairview. Contact: Stacy Pritchard 780-8356799 Oct. 20: Getting into Farming Information Session For the Aspiring Farmer, Airdrie Agriculture Centre, Airdrie (also Oct. 22 in Leduc). Contact: Ag-Info Centre 1-800-387-6030 Oct. 21: Working Well Workshop, Clearwater County (Aurora). (Also Oct. 22 in Parkland County, Oct. 27 in County of Wetaskiwin, and five locations in November.) Contact: Gary Lewis or Chelsea Kehler 403845-4444 Oct. 21-22: Natural Health Product and Functional Ingredients Industry conference, AITF Auditorium, Edmonton. Alberta Agriculture and Forestry 780-968-3513 Oct. 26-30: Return unwanted or obsolete pesticides and livestock medications campaign - Alberta Clean Farms, various locations across southern Alberta (list and dates at www.cleanfarms.ca). Contact: Clean Farms 877-622-4460

Hearts start to race when Joel Martens — a.k.a. the Ranch Tracker — and his horse Hummer are hunting for you. PHOTO: AVENUE MAGAZINE

By Alexis Kienlen AF STAFF

hen people see Joel Martens and his horse Hummer, they often start running — and for good reason. The Red Deer rancher is the Ranch Tracker — operating his version of “Mantracker,” a Canadian reality TV show in which contestants try to avoid capture while traversing the wilderness to a ‘finish line.’ “It’s quite fun,” said Martens, who grew up in Saskatchewan on a cattle and grain farm and runs Heritage Ranch. “It gets very intense. Once I find them or locate them, then the chase is on. I’ve had guys run and put on some very good foot chases.” And the adrenaline rush can be addictive. “Everybody who has gone says, ‘We’re doing this again,’” said Martens. “Even some of the ones who I don’t cross paths with at all say it’s intense. Even though they don’t see me, they were expecting me around every corner. “It’s quite an experience and the steak afterwards is awesome.” Martens, who has a background working with horses, tried out for “Mantracker” when the television show was searching for its latest tracker. He made the top 12, but only four were invited to compete on the show. Still, the endeavour inspired him to bring tracking to

Everybody who has gone says, ‘We’re doing this again.’ Even some of the ones who I don’t cross paths with at all say it’s intense.”

Joel Martens

the privately run ranch, located on 207 acres of city-owned land just off Highway 2 in Red Deer. Participants start the game at head office and must find four flags that ranch staff have hidden on the property before Martens finds them. Players are given a map, and a 15- to 20-minute head start. “They have a good chance to get themselves oriented and figure out where things are, and then I take off from the ranch and come looking for them,” said Martens, who isn’t told where the flags are. Games typically last a couple of hours, and teams have ranged from couples playing together to corporate challenges of 50 people. For the latter, teams are divided into smaller groups, competing against each other and the Ranch

Tracker at the same time. Whoever finds all the flags first sends Martens a text to let him know they’ve won. This year, he’s looked for about 100 people during about 20 games. About one-quarter of the players manage to evade him. “It’s a pretty fair competition,” he said. “I always try and play hard whether it’s a first-timer who wants to go for a walk versus people who come out in full camo. I work just as hard at it.” Once Martens gets within 10 feet of a player, they know they’re caught. “Sometimes they don’t run at all, and sometimes you surprise them on the trail,” he said. Martens has one tool in his arsenal that helps him get his man (or woman) — his 10-yearold Morgan horse, Hummer. “I pay attention to my horse,” said Martens. “He gets excited and he loves the hunt. He’s always looking. Either he or I will pick them up first.” The ranch is a public park and there are people walking and biking through it all the time, so there are lots of distractions, and following tracks doesn’t always work. “A lot of it is about a search pattern,” said Martens. A game of Ranch Tracker costs $149 per person, which includes a steak dinner at the Heritage Ranch restaurant. The website is www.heritageranch.ca.

Oct. 27: Farming Smarter Medicine Hat Workshop, Medicine Hat Lodge, Medicine Hat. Contact: Farming Smarter and Cypress County 1-403381-5118

Oct. 28-29: Crisis Communications Forum hosted by Alberta Farm Animal Care, Sheraton Cavalier Calgary Hotel, Calgary. Contact: Alberta Farm Animal Care 403-6525111 Nov. 2-3: Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue - Awareness Level Course, Executive Royal Inn, Leduc (also Nov. 4-5 in Drumheller). Contact: Alberta Farm Animal Care 1-403-652-5111 Nov. 3: Cow-Calfenomics Series, Vermilion Regional Centre, Vermilion (also Nov. 4 in Westlock, Nov. 5 in Olds, and Nov. 6 in Lethbridge). Contact: Abby 780-422-1834 Nov. 4: Hemp Growing Presentation Series, French Cultural Centre, Bonnyville. Contact: Suzanne Prevost 1-780-573-4516 Nov. 6: Succession Planning Workshop, Vulcan Lodge Hall, Vulcan. Contact: Cassandra Kirkpatrick 403652-4900 Nov. 8-10: Flourishing Rural Economies Conference, Pomeroy Inn and Suites at Olds College, Olds. Contact: Lori-Jo Graham 403-5564244 Nov. 11-14: Agri-Trade, Westerner Park, Red Deer Nov. 11-15: Farmfair International, Northlands, Edmonton. Contact: Northlands 1-888-800-7275 Nov. 17-19: Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance Convention, Deerfoot Inn and Casino, Calgary. Contact: Lori-Jo Graham 403-556-4244

That’s teamwork

The Canadian Supreme wrapped up another successful show at Red Deer’s Westerner Park last weekend, with more than 600 entries and $400,000 in prize money being handed out. The event celebrates the working cow horse, with competitions in three categories: cutting, cow horse, and reining. Pictured above is John Thomas of Spruce Grove, riding Dual Smart Deal, who won the Non Pro $50,000 Limit Amateur. For more results, visit www.canadiansupreme.com. This year’s event featured a larger cutting and cow horse event and four new classes for newcomers to the sport. Photo: Barbara Glazer

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

Got a song in your heart and a desire to help others? The Canadian Foodgrains Bank wants singers from across the country to help small-scale farmers in the Third World Staff

he Canadian Foodgrains Bank is looking for singers and musicians for an initiative called ‘Spring into Song.’ The goal is to have local groups put on fundraising concerts across the country on or near the 2016 Earth Day weekend (April 22-24). The project is a joint effort by the Foodgrains Bank and Musiklus, a provider of church music founded by well-known church music composer and arranger Ron Klusmeier. In 2012-13, Klusmeier, who lives on Vancouver Island, and Christina Bogucki, also of Musiklus, put on 126 concerts across the country to raise money for the Foodgrains Bank. This new initiative was designed to make concerts easy to mount, said the organization.

“Everything needed to organize and present a ‘Spring into Song’ concert is provided in a complimentary production kit and guide from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and Musiklus.”

g n i r p S Song into

The program features “a highly accessible work comprised of music, narration, and projected images all linked by a common thematic thread of justice and the goal of ending hunger.”

It is designed for churches, schools, and community choirs, and requires minimal rehearsal commitments, said the Foodgrains Bank. Money raised at the concerts, which will be matched by the federal government, will go to the organization’s Good Soil advocacy campaign to help small-scale farmers. Small-scale farmers make up the vast majority of producers in Africa, Asia and Latin America, but many are food insecure. The Foodgrains Bank program aims to assist them by investing in training, finance, infrastructure (such as better roads and crop storage), and value chains. For more information on the ‘Spring into Song’ initiative, visit www.foodgrainsbank.ca, email tduff@foodgrainsbank. ca or call 1-800-665-0377. The Foodgrains Bank enjoys wide support in Alberta, with 32 growing projects in the province this year.

The ‘Spring into Song’ concert package features music by Ron Klusmeier. In 2012-13, he and Christina Bogucki put on 126 concerts across the country to raise money for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. photo: CFB

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Don’t get a nasty surprise on voting day If you can’t satisfy new rules on documenting your address, you may not be able to cast a ballot BY SHANNON VANRAES Staff

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on’t wait until Oct. 19 to find out if you’re registered to vote. That’s the message from rural Manitobans raising concerns about Elections Canada’s online registration system and changes made under the Fair Elections Act passed in 2014. Jen Plas lives on a major road in a municipality just east of Winnipeg, but said the Elections Canada website didn’t recognize her address when she went online to see if she was registered. “I got kicked out and gave up for now,” she said, adding she’ll continue trying and go to an Elections Canada office if need be. “But some people who don’t care tons about voting will be deterred.” Trying to establish a hobby farm while working full time, she said time is her most valuable commodity. Now, she said, her time is getting eaten up by what should be a simple process. It’s a sentiment many people are echoing, according to Les Rutledge, who has been working to let rural voters know about the challenges and changes to voting after he had a similar experience. “I went online and when I entered in my township (and) section on the web page, it kicked me out and said, ‘Nope, we can’t validate you, you have to contact Elections Canada,’” he said. “I then proceeded to call the 1-800 number and their recommendation was to visit my local Elections Canada office with the required documentation to get registered.” Changes made to how voters identify and confirm their addresses could disqualify some voters, he warned. “One big change is that in the past, if a person had the enumeration form from Elections Canada, that was deemed sufficient evidence of where you lived,” said Rutledge. “The elections notice you get in the mail from Elections Canada is no longer considered evidence of where you live, so you have to have a least one piece of ID that includes your physical land address.” That seems simple, but anyone who doesn’t have a driver’s licence is at a disadvantage, he said. “You need to prove your identity and your address,” said Elections Canada spokeswoman Marie-France Kenny. To do that, she said, one could present a government-issued card such as a social insurance number, or a bank statement, utility bill or lease statement with a name and address. However, not all family members are listed on utility bills or land titles, Rutledge said, leaving some people in the lurch. A growing reliance on community mailboxes and P.O. boxes means many rural residents no longer get mail with their home address on it. In some cases, rural drivers’ licences also use P.O. box numbers.

Can’t check online

Elections Canada said those addresses are considered valid, but there’s a catch. “If you have a P.O. box, rural route or general delivery, you can use ID with that mailing address, as long as you’re registered with Elections Canada with that mailing address, so if you’re not sure what address you’re registered with, you can check online,” Kenny said.

PHOTO: elections canada Only you can’t check online, because the Elections Canada registration system doesn’t recognize most rural addresses. Elections Canada’s own website acknowledges the problem in the first section of its online form, which states, “the Online Voter Registration Service accommodates certain address types only: Civic address (e.g. 123 Main Street), Lot and Concession address, or Section-TownshipRange-Meridian address.” So rural voters who don’t register in person prior to election day may find their ID is invalid when they get to the polls. “For me out here at the farm, I do have two pieces of evidence. One is a Manitoba Hydro bill that’s tied to the property and secondly there is my property tax bill,” said Rutledge. “That works for me, but the question is what happens when you have another adult, a spouse, an adult child or a parent who doesn’t have a licence and doesn’t receive those bills? What are they going to be able to use?” If people are unable to provide documents which prove their addresses, Kenny said, they can have another individual vouch for them. “If you don’t have your current address, if your ID doesn’t have your current address, you can take an oath,” she said. “You show two pieces of ID with your name on it, and you have someone who knows you attest to your address. Now this person must show proof of their own identify and address, and they must be in the same polling division. “What’s different is that last time you could vouch for someone’s ID and address, now you can only do it for the address and you can only do it for one person, and it’s not a verbal voucher, you do have to sign an oath.” Those changes will present a real challenge for some would-be voters, said Rutledge, adding the voucher and vouchee must also be at the polling station at the same time. “So if you can grab a neighbour and run in to vote that’s great, but you know how many people are even going to think about doing that before they go?” said Rutledge. In some cases, voters — such as students in residence or seniors in long-term care facilities — will have to acquire letters that confirm residency in advance of voting. Another problem is that the Fair Elections Act removed Elections Canada’s mandate to inform voters about changes, so there have been virtually no public education campaigns, said Rutledge. “In the past Elections Canada would have been out there with a solid information campaign to ensure everyone out there was aware of what was going on,” he said. “Now it’s up to third parties to get the message out.” shannon.vanraes@fbcpublishing.com

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

PEDv may have entered U.S. on ‘reusable’ feed totes The USDA doesn’t have definitive proof, but the signs point to contaminated totes originating in China BY P.J. HUFFSTUTTER AND DANNY NA Chicago / Reuters

he porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) that killed millions of U.S. pigs over the past two years may have entered the country on large bags typically used to haul feed and other bulk products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture doesn’t have definitive proof of how PEDv, first discovered in spring 2013, initially arrived in the country. But it said the most likely scenario was that it came from using flexible intermediate bulk containers, also known as tote bags. The USDA’s inspection services arm looked at 17 possible scenarios, including whether the virus had been accidentally or intentionally brought into the country. “The most probable route of dissemination is in the context of recycled food or feed products through distribution companies who generally service a large network of feed mill customers across the Midwest and beyond,” said its report. The outbreak of PEDv killed roughly 10 per cent of the U.S. hog population between 2013 and 2014 and pushed U.S. pork prices to historic highs. In Canada, the virus first appeared in Ontario in early 2014, and has since been confirmed in hogs on 84 farms in Ontario, 13 in Quebec, five in southeastern Manitoba and one on Prince Edward Island. Canada’s most recent cases were confirmed at three farms in southern Ontario in July. Though the number of new PEDv cases has slowed since its peak in 2014, fears remain that the virus may return. Earlier this year, U.S. researchers identified a new strain, a sign the virus will keep mutating.

PEDv, most often fatal in very young piglets, is now suspected to have come into the U.S. on bulk feed totes or FIBCs. photo: Thinkstock Contaminated bags

Before the outbreak, there were no federal regulations over the reuse of tote bags for importing products, according to the report. Such bags were sold online and frequently used by animal feed mills without being cleaned or disinfected. The bags could have been contaminated in an “origin country’s transport trucks, by exposure to irrigation or flood waters containing organic fertilizer like pig manure,” the report said. Other possibilities include

wood shavings, grains, fertilizer, compost, animal parts or bulk rendered products. Where such contamination may have originated is not known. It is also not known what could have been inside contaminated bags. The possibilities include vitamin and mineral premixes, livestock vaccines or antibiotics approved for animal feed — the majority of which is either produced in China, or use ingredients or reagents from China, the report said.

“Some products such as antibiotics are diluted in China with rice hulls. One consultant had seen rice hulls being dried on a roadside where they are likely driven over by contaminated pig trucks,” according to the report. Veterinary researchers tracking the outbreak found in 2013 that there was some indication the PEDv strain seen in the U.S. was 99.5 per cent similar in genetic makeup to one identified in China’s Anhui province.

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ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

Researchers using genetics to identify healthier pigs Breeding pigs with better overall immunity means using fewer antibiotics and other medications By Shannon VanRaes STAFF

ew research being led by the University of Guelph could reduce the amount of medical intervention required in swine production. As part of a $9.8-million national research project aimed at enhancing Canada’s pork industry, a team of researchers is developing genomics tools that select pigs able to resist multiple diseases. A patented immune response profiling tool — called High Immune Response Technology — has already been developed, and is currently licensed

Yukon to help cover livestock vets’ travel costs Staff

The Yukon government has launched a pilot program to help cover veterinarians’ travel and service expenses for farm calls. The territory government says it will accept up to 30 farmers for the pilot of the Veterinary Services Program, running from now to the end of March 2016. The program will reimburse participating veterinarians for up to $1,000 per farm. Eligible costs include a veterinarian’s travel costs to and from a farm; professional service and farm call fees; and fees for up to three phone consultations. Farms that raise beef cattle, dairy cattle, goats, sheep, poultry, swine, alpacas, llamas, yaks, elk, bison, muskox and/ or farmed fish for human consumption are eligible to enrol in the pilot. Horses, which are “not raised for food in Yukon,” are not covered. People with “six or fewer poultry” will be eligible for $250 per premises per year. Livestock owners would still be responsible for paying fees for testing samples and for any drugs, vaccines or treatments their animals require. Beyond the end of March, the government said, the program “may be renewed if an evaluation shows it is successful and financial support continues to be available.” The pilot is backed by the Growing Forward 2 federal/provincial/territorial ag policy funding framework. Because many farmers live far from veterinary clinics, “travel costs can be a barrier to obtaining veterinary services,” the government said. Yukon livestock producers previously had such a program in place to cover vets’ travel costs and “there has been an interest from several parties to re-establish this.”

to Semex Alliance, but is only used in cattle. The goal is to expand its use, said Bonnie Mallard, a pathobiology professor at the Ontario Veterinary College. “We are hoping for the same outcome in pigs, and that is the focus of our section of the Genome Canada application,” Mallard said. The technology is being tested for a range of infectious diseases in 3,600 commercial pigs. “The high immune response technology is a way to identify animals that just have a better immune system,” said Julie Schmied, a University of Guelph post-doctoral researcher.

“There are likely two sides of the immune system… and we have a way of measuring both. We have a way of measuring the capacity for an antibody response and the capacity for a cell mediated response.” While pigs could be bred for resistance to one particular disease, such as porcine epidemic diarrhea, it wouldn’t be an efficient way to create a stronger animal, she said. “You can breed for a single disease or pathogen, which is what people have tried to do in the past, and that would be what would happen in a disease outbreak situation — you would be able to identify animals which were more resistant to a

particular virus or bacteria that happened to infect your herd,” Schmied said. The problem is viruses change and evolve quickly, she said. “Say you developed a line of pigs that were resistant to a single virus, that virus is really quickly going to mutate and become a new virus and all that work you’ve done doesn’t matter anymore.” Instead she is seeking animals with the best overall immune response, no matter what the disease challenge might be. “So we’re looking for an animal that’s very versatile in its immune response,” she said. The stronger an animal’s immune system, the less medi-

cal intervention it will need. The result could be less antibiotics used and more effective vaccinations. However, the project is still in the early stages and “there are a lot of components that of course would need to be discussed and hashed out,” said Schmied. While Mallard is a principal investigator on the project, the team also includes experts from across Canada, including in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Funding for the project comes from Genome Canada’s Genomics and Feeding the Future initiative. shannon.vanraes@fbcpublishing.com

ELECTION 2015:

DID YOU MISS THE NATIONAL AGRICULTURE DEBATE? THIS MATTERS TO FARMERS

Watch the federal candidates discuss ag industry issues online now

PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE:

Gerry Ritz

Malcolm Allen

Mark Eyking

Andrew West

Yves Lessard

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

NDP Agriculture Critic

Liberal Agriculture Critic

Green Party

Bloq Quebecois

If you are interested in learning more about how the federal parties in the 2015 election will address agricultural issues, start with these videos, which outline what took place at the debate on Sept. 30.

Watch the full debate or specifc segments at www.agcanada.com/electionag2015

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Falher

19 Lethbridge Exhibition Park - Saddle Room AWC & ABC Region 1

Lethbridge

AgriTrade Alberta Crops Breakfast

Rycroft Agricultural Society ABC Region 6, APG Zone 4

Rycroft

Thu

AgriTrade

pulse.ab.ca

Fri

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We invite you to connect with your neighbours, receive a commission update, and learn about timely industry issues from our informative lineup of speakers. Visit the commission websites for complete details and to pre-register for these events. All provincial crop commission regional meetings will take place from 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

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November 1

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Join the provincial crop commissions at your regional/zone meeting this fall

44 OCTOBER 12, 2015 â€˘ ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

New ‘ag-gag’ law challenged

Better water management needed

Environmentalists, photographers, and animal rights activists are asking a federal judge to strike down two Wyoming laws they say violate free speech by banning activities such as taking images of lands or abuses at livestock operations without permission. The two recent Wyoming laws prohibit collecting data, including photos, that could document anything from landscape alterations to animal abuse on public and private lands and which might be submitted to government regulators. The measures are similar to the so-called ag-gag bill approved by Republican leaders in Idaho in 2014, which was recently struck down. — Reuters

Governments in water ‘hot spots’ need to scale up co-operation over shared water resources to avoid drastic consequences such as international conflicts, says the United Nations University. More than half the world’s population depends for drinking water on rivers that flow from the Himalayan glaciers, which are melting at an accelerating pace, the university said in a report on water co-operation. Although more than 200 water treaties have been negotiated between countries over the past 50 years, there are no agreements on how to manage 60 per cent of the world’s 276 transboundary rivers, the report said. — Thomson Reuters Foundation

Drought exposes cracks in Australia’s water market scheme The massive Murray-Darling basin accounts for 40 per cent of Aussie farm output, but has repeatedly been wracked by drought By Colin Packham Sydney/Reuters

pioneering Australian scheme to improve water management in the world’s driest inhabited continent is facing its first real test as an intensifying El Niño threatens crops and pits farmers against environmentalists. The three-year-old management plan for the Murray-Darling basin, an area twice the size of Spain and home to 40 per cent of Australia’s agricultural output, has been lauded internationally and suggested as a guide for drought-hit California. Forged in the wake of a ruinous 14-year drought, the scheme set up a market-based water-trading system, improved co-operation across state borders and focused on efficient water usage. “All of these lessons are appropriate to the United States,” said water policy expert Professor David Feldman of the University of California, Irvine, where the state is suffering from a fouryear dry spell that has threatened agriculture and helped fan severe wildfires this summer. The Murray-Darling basin encompasses two major river systems in Australia’s southeast, but years of siphoning off water to irrigate crops has devastated waterways, creating dried-out wetlands and acidic soils; toxic algal blooms that threaten animal and human health; and high levels of salinity. A 2012 water management plan instituted a raft of water-saving measures, and set up a marketbased system where farmers who have been allocated water rights under decades-old systems can trade their entitlements. Under the scheme, the government buys water to keep the river healthy, farmers can buy water to irrigate crops in lean years or during the hot summer season, and investors are also welcome.

Drought pressure

But changes to the Australian plan amid a resurgent El Niño weather pattern have worried environmentalists who say its reputation and credibility are now at risk.

Roads can be seen intersecting drought-affected farming areas located in southeastern Australia March 21, 2015. A report titled ‘Thirsty Country: Climate change and drought in Australia,’ by the Australian research body the Climate Council, has argued in its latest paper that the probability of drought will increase, and it will become more severe, because of climate change. PHOTO: REUTERS/David Gray The plan initially met little resistance in rural areas, but dry weather this year has depleted some dams that store river water, forcing farmers to accept big cuts in their water entitlements. The loss is particularly hard for summer crops that rely heavily on irrigation such as cotton, rice and sorghum. Australia is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of cotton. Cotton accounts for about A$2 billion (C$1.9 billion) in export earnings, or about seven per cent of total crop earnings, and production is forecast to fall nearly 10 per cent in the year to the end of June 2016 from last year’s fiveyear low. While the dry weather is hastening a shift from water-intensive crops like cotton and rice, it has also sparked calls for changes to the management plan as farmers say too much water is being used for the environment. While farmers can buy water on market, prices have jumped

“In the end, the irrigators have a stake in the environment too.” Willem Vervoort

sharply to more than A$200 (C$190) a megalitre in some regions — well in excess of viable limits for many, who argue that having to compete with the government has driven up prices.

Caps and oversight

Australian lawmakers recently nearly halved the amount of water the government can buy from local farmers, instead giving farmers subsidies to save water that would then be available for sale.

Environmentalists and some academics question the changes, which the Australian Conservation Foundation says will cost up to five times the market rate of buying water, while there is also a physical limit on how much can be saved. The government recently transferred management of Australia’s water resources from the Department of the Environment to the Department of Agriculture, a move long sought by rural bodies. “It introduces a remarkable conflict of interest between a minister whose job it is to promote the agricultural industry and now under this arrangement, a minister who will be responsible for securing the health of water resources that are used by that industry,” said Jonathan La Nauze, a campaigner with the conservation foundation. Academics say the scheme has

had some success in improving the health of the river system, and will survive in its basic form given the importance of the basin to all water users. “Any tinkering will be at the edges and not the core,” said Willem Vervoort, associate professor in hydrology and catchment management, the University of Sydney. “If the water quality keeps deteriorating, then the irrigators are out of business. In the end, the irrigators have a stake in the environment too.” The University of California’s Feldman said legal and political differences would make it difficult to implement parts of the Australian system in the U.S., where water rights remain linked to property rights. However, the lessons for California included overcoming the fragmented authority for water management and getting public buy-in on how to best save and use water, he said.

OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Reinsurers call for action on climate change ‘Political courage’ is needed to deal with the worsening problem By Jonathan Gould

“What we can bring to the table is a credible price tag for the decisions that are taken or not taken.”

Reuters/Monaco

oliticians must act to cap global warming when they meet at a United Nations summit at the end of the year as the financial and humanitarian consequences of natural catastrophes become ever clearer, reinsurers meeting at an industry conference said. The US$600-billion reinsurance industry helps insurance companies pay damage claims from hurricanes, floods or earthquakes and can help people and companies get back on their feet after a disaster. T h e UN ’ s c l i m a t e b o s s warned this week that national promises to cut emissions so far would cap warming at an unacceptably high level, heightening concerns in the insurance industry about politicians’ lack of resolve. “Definitely we expect political courage to move in a direction that shows responsibility towards future generations and a certain interest in defending the sustainability of this planet,” Swiss Re’s CEO, Michel Lies, told a news conference. Swiss Re data shows natural disasters caused an average US$180 billion in economic damage per year over the last

swiss re ceo michel lies

Floods, like this one in Brisbane, Australia in 2011, and other natural catastrophes linked to climate change cause $180 billion in damages every year, said the reinsurance industry. Photo: Thinkstock decade, of which 70 per cent was uninsured. Working with Canadian grain firm UGG (now part of Viterra) in the late 1990s, Swiss Re helped pioneer the concept of insuring agribusinesses against lost revenue due to weather impacts on crop volumes. Credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s said big natural catastrophes can also lead to cuts in sovereign credit ratings — making it more expensive for

governments to borrow money — with Latin America and the Caribbean most at risk. These conclusions should help concentrate minds at the climate talks starting in Paris on Nov. 30, reinsurers said. “What we can bring to the table is a credible price tag for the decisions that are taken or not taken, making sure everybody understands that in the short term you may not take a decision but you will definitely

pay a price in the long term,” Lies said. Weather researchers say global warming will result in more frequent and intense heat waves, precipitation and storms. Warming needs to be limited to 2 C above pre-industrial levels to avoid the most devastating consequences in the form of droughts and rising sea levels, scientists say. “Even if this goal is not fully reached, every step in this direc-

tion is better than no result at all,” said Peter Hoeppe, head of Geo Risks Research at reinsurer Munich Re. In the meantime, there must be increasing focus on preventive measures such as flood defences that can help dampen the rise in insurance premiums in the medium to long term, Hoeppe said. Insurers and G-7 industrialized countries are working to expand the availability of insurance to an additional 400 million people in developing countries considered at high risk. “Climate change is happening, no question,” said XL Group’s CEO Mike McGavick. “Insurers and reinsurers have to be at the forefront of transferring that risk.”

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NOVEMBER 11 - 14, 2015 For more information visit Agri-Trade.com

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • OCTOBER 12, 2015

France bolsters ban on GM crop Countries can now opt out of approval requests made through the EU Paris/Reuters

rance will use a new European opt-out scheme to ensure a ban on the cultivation of genetically modified crops in the country remains in place. The European Union’s largest grain grower and exporter has asked the European Commission for France to be excluded from some GM maize crop cultivation under the new scheme, the Farm and Environment ministries said in a joint statement. As part of the opt-out process, France also passed legislation in the National Assembly that would enable it to oppose the cultivation of GM crops, even if approved at EU level, on the basis of certain criteria including environment and farm policy, land use, economic impact or civil order, the Environment Ministry added. GM crops have divided opinion in Europe, and France had already banned cultivation of U.S. group Monsanto’s GM corn, saying it had serious doubts that it is safe for the environment. Monsanto says its GM corn is harmless to humans and wildlife. The EU opt-out, agreed in March, allows individual countries to seek exclusion from any approval request for GM cultivation in

the 28-member bloc or varieties already cleared as safe by the EU. Monsanto’s MON810 maize, approved in Canada since 1997, is so far the only GM crop grown in Europe, where it has been cultivated in Spain and Portugal for a decade. Other maize crops are in the process of being approved at EU level. One of them is an insect-resistant maize known as 1507, approved in Canada since 2002. Its developers, DuPont Pioneer and Dow Chemical, have been waiting nearly 15 years for the EU executive to authorize its cultivation in the bloc. The French request concerns nine GM maize strains. Producers also include Switzerland’s Syngenta, a spokesman for the Environment Ministry said. Germany also intends to make use of the new EU rules to stop the growing of GM crops, documents seen by Reuters showed last month. The European Commission is responsible for approvals, but under the new rules requests for opt-outs also have to be submitted to the company making the application. Monsanto has said it will abide by requests from Latvia and Greece to be excluded from its application to grow a GM crop in the EU but accused them of ignoring science.

Protesters in Toulouse, France participating in the global March Against Monsanto in May. PHOTO: Gyrostat (Wikimedia, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

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FARM F ARM EQUIPMENT L LTD. TD.

Hwy. 16 East of North Battleford Phone 445-8128 Toll Free 1-888-446-8128

www.norsaskfarmequipmentltd.com

MINT

725008

725009

725010

2005 John Deere 9660 Combine, L/A, Guidance,

2009 New Holland 94C

2187/1629 hrs, Singles, 2009 Macdon pw7 pick

36’ Header, 36ft Auger, Trans, Cr Adapter, PU reel

$149,000

$49,000

USED COMBINES *0% – 60 month (interest free)

2013 Case IH 9230, 847/615 hrs, duals, loaded ...................$379,000 2013 Case IH 9230, 822/603 hrs, duals, loaded ...................$379,000 2013 Case IH 9230, 831/595 hrs, Guidance, L/A, duals, PU header ...............................................................$339,000 2013 Case IH 9230, new cab, 660/529 hrs, loaded ...............................................................................$389,000 2013 NH CR9090, 520/350 hrs, L/A, duals, guidance ...........................................................................$350,000 2012 NH 9090, loaded, 670/500 hrs ....................................$310,000 2012 NH CR9090, 1147/827 hrs, Guidance, DSP, diff, duals .....................................................................$299,000 2012 Case IH 8230, 800/580 hrs., L/A Duals ...................... $315,000 2011 NH CR9090Z, 1026/724 hrs, L/A, duals, guidance ...........................................................................$289,000 2010 NH CR9090Z, 850/650 HRs., Guidance, L/A, PU header ..................................................................$289,000 2010 Case IH 8120, Guidance, 1424/1126 hrs, sm tube RT, fine cut chopper .............................................$249,000 2009 Case IH 8120, 1744/1189 hrs, L/A, duals, hopper top ..............................................................$210,000 2009 Case IH 8120, duals, L/A 1643/1357 hrs .....................$210,000 2009 NH CR9070, 1350/1200 hrs, Duals, L/A, .....................$215,000 2009 NH CX8080, L/A, 1750/1300 hrs .................................$189,000 2009 NH CX8080, L/A, 1770/1330 hrs ................... SOLD $189,000 2008 Case IH 7010, duals, fine cut chopper, L/A, 1661/1249 hrs ...........................................................$210,000 2007 NH CR9070, L/A, 1542/1264 hrs .................................$199,000 2007 Case IH 7010, duals, new chopper, 2360/1766 hrs, P/U header, L/A.........................................$169,000 2006 NH CR960, 1887/1343 hrs .........................................$129,000 2005 JD 9660, 2187/1629 hrs, guidance .............................$149,000 2004 Case IH 8010, 2006 2016, L/A, singles, 2663/1968 hrs .....................................................$169,000 2004 Case IH 2388, AFX rotor, chopper, AFS, 2357/2028 hrs., L/A, 2015 swathmaster PU ......................$110,000 1999 Case IH 2388, hopper top, 4100/2876 hrs, 1015 PU header, L/A............................................................$89,000 1998 Case IH 2388, hoptop, PU, L/A, 3428/2535 hrs ...................................................................$75,000 1992 Case IH 1680, 4033 hrs, L/A, 1015 PU header ..................................................................$25,000 1986 Case IH 1680, PU header, 25’, 1010 header, 4200 hrs ...$29,000 1994 JD 9500, 4208/2980 hrs, 914 PU..................................$42,000

725012

2013 Case IH 1903 Windrower, 50hrs, 36 ft, shears deluxe cab

$139,000

725013

725014

2013 Case IH 9230

2013 Case IH 9230 Combine, loaded, 822/603 hrs, duals, spreaders

Combine, hopper top, 4100/2876 hrs, 1015 PU header, L/A

$369,000

$89,000

Combine, Loaded, 847/615 hrs, duals, spreaders

1999 Case IH 2388

USED WINDROWERS

2007 NH TJ530, triples, 2650 hrs, 16ft blade, 2009 Case IH 4420, Guidance, 120ft, Aim, auto box, PS, HO hyd, PTO ................................................................$239,000 2 sets tires, 2200 hrs ........................................................$239,000 2013 Case IH WD1903, 36 ft, shears, 1998 NH 9882, 4850 hrs, 710 duals, weights .......... SOLD $89,000 deluxe cab, 110/60 hrs .....................................................$114,000 1993 Ford 876, 5800 hrs, duals .............................................$49,000 2008 Case IH 4420, 100’ Aim, 2 sets of tires, 2420 hrs ................................................................................. CALL 2012 Case IH WD2303, 36 ft, 550 hrs, shears ......................$110,000 1981 JD 8440, 9400 hrs, 18.4/38 duals, 4 hyd ......................$19,000 2007 Rogator 874SS, 3100 hrs, 320-50, 800 gal, fenders, 480/42 2011 MacDon M205, 30 ft, 950/686 hrs ..............................$125,000 tires ..................................................................................$119,000 2008 WD1203, 36ft, hyd roller, 550/403 hrs...........................$95,000 2008 Case IH WD1203, 36ft, 753 hrs .....................................$69,000 2 - 2014 Case IH 3162, 45’, auger, transpeed ........................$89,000 2007 NH SF216 PT, 100 ft, 1600 gal, screens, 2011 Case IH 2152, 40 ft auger, single knife, 2006 Praire 4940, 30ft, DS, shears, Split reel, auto rate ............................................................... SOLD $22,000 no adapter ..........................................................................$40,000 1019/754 hrs ......................................................................$69,000 2008 MacDon D60, 40 ft, adapter, auger, trans ......................$38,000 2007 JD 4720, 90ft, Guidance, 1490 hrs..............................$189,000 1998 Macdon 4920, 30ft, PU Reel, 1700 hrs ..........................$45,000 2008 NH 94C, 36 ft, adapter, trans, auger ..............................$45,000 2005 Rogator 1074, Auto Boom, 2 sets of tires, 1998 Prairie Star 4930, 2 spd, turbo, 30ft, 2005 NH 994-30, 30 ft U2 pickup reel, tx adapter ..................$27,500 3700 hrs, 100’ ..................................................................$115,000 972 header, 2800 hrs ............................................ SOLD $49,000 2005 NH 94C-30, 30 ft hyd fore/aft.,trans, gauge wheels .....................................................................$39,500 2005 NH 94C - 42 ft., transport, auger, CR adapter ................$39,000 2011 Case IH PH800, 60on10, DS, VR, 2012 Case IH Farmall, 140A, Loaded, MFD, 700 hrs ...............$89,000 3 - 2004 MacDon 973, headers, auger, TBT 2010 3430 ................................................................$200,000 transport, CR adapters ........................................................$35,000 2012 Case IH Farmall, 140A, Loaded, MFD, 800 hrs . SOLD $88,000 2004 Honeybee, GB36, 36 ft, Split Reel, transport ..................$39,000 2010 Case IH P800/3430 Tank, 70ft, 12inch, DS ..................$149,000 2011 NH T7.250, MFD, loader/grapple, CVT, 1500 hrs....................................................................$139,000 1994 Macdon 960, 30ft, tr adapter .......................................$10,000 2008 Case IH SDX40/ADX3430 tank, VR, 40ft, 2008 Challenger MT565B, MFD, Loader/Grapple, liquid kit ............................................................................$139,000 powershift ...........................................................................$79,000 2013 NH BR7090, 1000 PTO, Net/Twine, wide PU ..................$35,900 2008 Seedmaster 50ft, 10”, NH P1060 430 B, tank, DS, liquid tank on board ....................................................$169,000 2004 NH BR780, 590 pto, STD PU, Auto Wrap ........................$16,900 2007 Seedhawk 66’, 12”, Bourgault DS ...............................$110,000 2009 NH H7460 discbine, 16 ft, 1000 PTO, 1997 Bourgault 4300 Tank, DS ..............................................$35,000 rubber/rubber......................................................................$29,000 2008 Riteway 8168, 68 ft, Hyd. Pressure ...............................$35,000 2007 NH 1475, 18 ft, rubber rollers, HS18, 1000 pto .............................................................................$26,000 1999 NH 1475, 18ft ...............................................................$11,999 2010 Lemken, Rubin 12S/1200, 40ft new blades .................$139,000 *0% to 1/1/17 1999 NH 1475, 16’, rubber rolls .............................................$16,000 2014 Case IH 3230, loaded, 100 ft., no Aim, ........................$279,000 2013 Case IH 4430, 120ft, loaded, dividers, 2 sets of tires, 1005 hrs ...................................... SOLD $310,000 2012 Case IH, 1240 Pivit Planter 16/31 rows, 2006 Highline 8000, 1000 PTO ..............................................$12,900 2013 Case IH 4430, 120ft, loaded, 983 hrs ..........................$329,000 bulk fill ..............................................................................$110,000 Hesston BR25, tub style ...........................................................$3,999 2012 Case IH 4430, 120ft, 1082 hrs, AIM, Guidance, Dividers, 2 sets tires..........................................$299,000 2012 Case IH 3330, 100ft, Aim, 2 sets tires, autoboom, accuboom, 1300 hrs ........................................$269,000 2014 Unverferth 1610, U-Haruost, scale, *0%/60 months or 4.25 for 84 months 2012 Case IH 4430, 120 ft aim, viper, tarp, tracks........................................................................$149,000 2013 NH T9.615, 1020 hrs, luxury, 36” Tracks, guidance, loaded, 1184 hrs ...............................................$279,000 2013 Unverferth 9250, scale, tarp ............................ SOLD $52,000 HID, Cab Susp, guidance ...................................................$389,000 2011 Rogator 1194, 120 ft, sectional, viper, 2250 hrs, 2013 Unverferth 9250, scale, tarp ............................ SOLD $52,000 2013 Case IH 600 Quad, PTO, 1387 hrs ...............................$399,000 2 set tires..........................................................................$205,000 2013 Unverferth 9250, scale, tarp ..........................................$52,000 2009 Case IH 4420, 120 ft, Aim, 2 sets tires, 2008 Case IH 535 Quad, 3030 hrs, diff lock, guidance, PTO ...................................................................$239,000 viper, 2550 hrs ..................................................................$239,000 2013 Unverferth 1315, scale, tarp ..........................................$82,000

USED HEADERS

USED AIRDRILLS

USED 2WD TRACTORS

USED ROUND BALERS

USED HAYBINES

USED HARROWS

USED SPRAYERS

BALE PROCESSORS

USED 4WD TRACTORS

* See Dealer for Details, Restrictions May Apply.

USED DISCS PLANTERS

NEW GRAIN CARTS

OCTOBER 12, 2015 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

A South Africa-sized forest has been lost, but deforestation is slowing

U.S. workers sue Monsanto over cancers Monsanto says glyphosate is safe used as labelled BY CAREY GILLAM Reuters

UN agency says countries have a better understanding of the value of their forests

Reuters/Johannesburg

he world has lost forests the size of South Africa over the past 25 years, a decline of more than three per cent, although the rate of forest loss has significantly slowed, says a new report by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). A growing global population and increased demand for food and land are driving deforestation, though the FAO said the rate of global forest area change has slowed by more than 50 per cent since 1990. “The biggest forest area loss occurred in the tropics, particularly in South America and Africa, although the rate of loss in those areas has decreased substantially in the past five years,” FAO said. It said the rate of loss had declined due to reduced forest conversion rates in some countries and increased forest area expansion in others. “Countries have more knowledge of their forest resources than ever before and as a result we have a better picture of global forest change,” the FAO said. The world has just under four

Brazil has lost a vast amount of rainforest but the rate of loss there and elsewhere in South America has slowed substantially in recent years. PHOTO: UNITED NATIONS

billion hectares of forests in 2015, down from 4.1 billion in 1990, FAO said. Forests give protection against climate change, as trees absorb carbon dioxide. Deforestation has been blamed for worsening soil erosion, landslides and floods. An estimated 1.2 billion people rely on forests for their livelihood, including about 60 million indig-

enous people who are almost entirely dependent on them, the International Union of Forest Research Organizations said in May. “Important challenges remain. The existence of sound policies, legislation and regulation is not always coupled with effective incentives or enforcement,” the FAO said.

U.S. farm worker and a horticultural assistant have filed lawsuits claiming Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide caused their cancers and Monsanto intentionally misled the public and regulators about the dangers of the herbicide. The lawsuits come six months after the World Health Organization’s cancer research unit said it was classifying glyphosate, the active weed-killing ingredient in Roundup and other herbicides, as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” One suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles last month names as plaintiff 58-year-old Enrique Rubio, a former farm worker in California, Texas and Oregon who over several years laboured in fields of cucumbers, onions and other vegetable crops. His duties included spraying fields with Roundup and other pesticides before Rubio was diagnosed with bone cancer in 1995, the lawsuit states. A separate lawsuit making similar claims was filed the same day in Federal Court in New York by Judi Fitzgerald, 64, who claims she was exposed in the 1990s to Roundup when she worked at a horticultural products company. Fitzgerald was diagnosed with leukemia in 2012. Attorney Robin Greenwald,

one of the attorneys who brought Rubio’s case, said she expects more such lawsuits to follow because Roundup is the most widely used herbicide in the world and the WHO cancer classification gives credence to long-held concerns about the chemical. Monsanto spokeswoman Charla Lord said the claims are without merit and that glyphosate is safe for humans when used as labelled. “Decades of experience within agriculture and regulatory reviews using the most extensive worldwide human health databases ever compiled on an agricultural product contradict the claims in the suit which will be vigorously defended.” The lawsuits claim Roundup was a “defective” product and “unreasonably dangerous” to consumers, and that Monsanto knew or should have known glyphosate could cause cancer and other illnesses and injuries. The lawsuits claim the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency changed an initial classification for glyphosate from “possibly carcinogenic to humans” to “evidence of non-carcinogenicity in humans” after pressure from Monsanto. Since the WHO unit’s statement, some product liability lawyers have been seeking out plaintiffs for potential classaction lawsuits over glyphosate, postings on legal websites show.

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Fort Saskatchewan, AB

(780) 998-2058 www.dseriescanola.ca

‘02 POLARIS RANGER 500 6x6 2500-lb. Warn winch, front bumper, roof & windshield, 635-hours, stored inside, Good condition, $6,500.00. Frank Lichtner, (780)968-7059, at Stony Plain, AB fjlichtner@yahoo.ca

FARM MACHINERY FARM MACHINERY Specialty Equipment CORR GRAIN SYSTEMS INC Dealers for Westeel Grain & Fertilizer storage products. Bin Sense monitoring available. Call Allen Capnerhurst (403)396-0242, John Thomas (403)506-4742 for pricing.

FARM MACHINERY Machinery Miscellaneous

1981 GMC 7000 SERIES, factory, 17-ft B&H, 10X20 70% A1, $8,000; 1980 Chev 1/2 tonne flat-deck, winch, Go public with an ad in the Alberta Farmer Express duals, $3,500; 1978 GMC 6000 series, factory 15-ft classifieds. steel B&H, original 38,000-km, $12,000; 1988 Chev 1142 D-Series Alberta Calssifieds.indd 7 15-08-19 9:58 AM 20-ft factory flat-deck, 10X20, 75%, $3,500; 410 MF combine, PU, all good, $1,050; Vac tank 1800-gal. & BUILDINGS pump A1 $10,000; Rotex SR7 power parachute for parts, $3,000; 21-ft Hart Carter PU reel, A1, $1,100; 25ft U2 PU reel, A1, $4,000. Ph (306)238-4411. STEEL STORAGE CONTAINERS, 20-ft & 40-ft. Wind, water & rodent proof. 1-866-517-8335, (403)540-4164, (403)226-1722 magnate@telus.net

KUBOTA 60-IN BELLY MOUNT mower, fits all “B” series tractors, used only 4-hrs. Asking $1999.00. (403)318-1667.

2004 ROGATER 1264, 1200-GAL., 80-ft outback auto steer, Raven auto rate, Raven GPS w/mapping, rear duals, 2 sets of tips, $72,000; 1990 Kongskilde 700 Grain Vac, $2,500; 2007 Lexion 570W, 1420-sep hrs, Swath Master, chaff spreader, Outback autosteer, $125,000. Call: (403)665-2341, Craigmyle, AB. ACREAGE EQUIPMENT: 3-PT. CULTIVATORS, Discs, Plows, Blades, Harrows, Etc. (780)892-3092, Wabamun, AB. CASE 621 LOADER 8-FT. bucket; 1981 GMC 17ft. B&H; Ford Major loader 3-PTH, $6,500; 25-ft. UII reel; 16-ft. OMC boat & 60-HP motor trailer, $2,500; 18-ft. 1,800-gal vac tank & pump; 1981 Ford gravel truck tandem gas, $7,500; MF 860 PU & straight cut $5,500; 1999 GMC T8500 DSL tow truck 20-ft. $14,500. (306)236-8023 Stretch your advertising dollars! Place an ad in the classifieds. Our friendly staff is waiting for your call. 1-800-665-1362.

BUILDINGS

FARM MACHINERY Machinery Miscellaneous

CASE 6000 SWATHER 25-FT, shiftable table, 1200-hrs, gas, PU reels; 25 JD disc wing-type; 14-ft Cockshut deep tillage cultivator; 22-ft Case 5500 deep tillage cultivator w/mount harrows; 1976 3tonne GMC grain truck; 2002 Oldsmobile Bravada SUV, 260,000-kms, AWD; 1998 Ford 150 Ext cab Pickup truck; 70x40 Brandt grain auger w/16-hp Kohler engine & various grain augers; MF 88 gas tractor w/#80 Ezee-On loader; Ford utility tractor w/FEL; Case 2590 2WD tractor, duals, 5700-hrs. Phone (780)919-9985.

FARM CHEMICAL / SEED COMPLAINTS

Available at:

FARM MACHINERY Machinery Miscellaneous

Network

Available at:

Central Alberta Co-op

Stettler, AB

Search news. Read stories. Find insight.

(403) 742-4036

RON SAUER

www.dseriescanola.ca

MACHINERY LTD.

Alberta Farmer Express classifieds, 1-800-665-1362.

(403) 540-7691 ronsauer@shaw.ca

1142 D-Series Alberta Calssifieds.indd 3 25’ Hesston PT Swather .............................................. CALL 25’ 725 CIH (MacDon) PT Swather .........................$3,000 (3) CIH Late Model High HP Tractors, 1 with pto .......... CALL 40’ Morris 3100 Hoe Drills, mover and hitch ............$10,000 946 Versatile Ford Tractor, 5,000 hrs, 24.5 x 32 D....$50,000 265 MF Tractor & Loader, diesel, multi power, 3 pth, Eeze-On loader, looks & runs great ................... $13,000 B275 IHC Tractor & Loader .....................................$3,500 560 Hesston Round Baler, 1,000 PTO ................... $5,500 660 NH Round Baler, 540 pto, nice shape ..................$5,500 30’ 4590 EEZEON Double Disc, good condition .... $36,000 44’ 820 F.C. Deep Till Air Seeder, harrows ................. CALL 2320 F.C. TBH Air Tank, complete with 320 - 3rd tank ... CALL 40’ 340 F.C. Chisel Plow & 75 Packer Bar, P30’s... $30,000 Degelman Dozer Frame MF 4000 Series 4WD .....$1,000 41’ Flexicoil 300 B Chisel Plow, 3 bar harrows ..... $12,500 Flexicoil 6 Run Seed Treater....................................... $750 100’ 65XL Flexicoil Sprayer, complete with windguards, elec. end nozzles single tips, auto rate, excellent condition ... $12,500 29’ 225 DOW Kello- Bilt Tandem Disc, 28” smooth front & rear blades, 10.5” spacing, oil, bath bearings, as new .... $60,000 47’ 820 Flexicoil Chisel Plow, 4 bar harrows ......... $67,500 2009 GMC Topkick 20 ft. Grain Truck, automatic, silage gate, air ride suspension,approx. 7,000 kms ....$105,000 New E-Kay 7”, 8”, 9” Bin Sweeps available .......... CALL HD 12 x 1200 (39.37’) Sakundiak Grain Auger, Kohler Diesel, Hawes Mover, clutch, reverser & lights, excellent condition ................................................... $14,500 HD 8 x 1600 (53’) Sakundiak Grain Auger ..........$1,250 8” Wheat Heart Transfer Auger, hydraulic drive .......$1,500 New Outback RTK BASE stn............ Clearance Price - Call New Outback MAX & STX Guidance & mapping........In Stock New Outback E-Drive, TC’s......................................In Stock New Outback E-Drive X, c/w free E turns.................In Stock New Outback S-Lite guidance ...........**In Stock** $1250 New Outback VSI Steering Wheel Kits .................. In Stock Used Outback E-Drive Hyd. kits .................................. $500

15-08-19 9:58 AM

FARMING IS ENOUGH OF A GAMBLE...

40’ X 60’ X 16’ RIGID FRAME STEEL BUILDING

$29,418 When you go with steel you get the right deals!

Pioneer One Steel Buildings

Call toll free 1 (877) 525-2004 or see us online at www.pioneeronesteel.com

Available at:

Wild Rose Cooperative Association Ltd. Sedgewick, AB

(780) 384-3877 www.dseriescanola.ca

1142 D-Series Alberta Calssifieds.indd 18

Advertise in the Alberta Farmer Express Classifieds, it’s a Sure Thing!

**Meridian-Sakundiak Augers, Outback GPS Systems, EK Auger Movers, Belt Tighteners, Bin Sweeps & Crop Dividers, Kohler, Robin Subaru & Generac Engines, Headsight Harvesting Solutions, Greentronics Sprayer Auto Boom Height, Kello-Bilt Discs**

1-800-665-1362

15-08-19 9:58 AM

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