AgriPost November 25 2022

Uncertainty Adds Higher Risk Even As Crop Prices Remain Historically High

Government of Canada Launches ASF Prevention and Preparedness Program

Eligible organizations can now apply for funding under the Government of Canada’s African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program (ASFIPP). The $23.4 million program under Agriculture and AgriFood Canada (AAFC) is designed to help Canada’s pork industry prepare for the possibility of African Swine Fever (ASF) entering the country.

Funding for the new program was set aside in Au gust 2022 to support projects such as biosecurity as sessments and improvements, wild pig management, the retrofit of existing abattoirs, sector analysis and ASF-related research projects.

Applications from academic institutions, associa tions, businesses, Indigenous groups, and provincial/ territorial/municipal governments will be accepted until November 30, 2023, and the funding will be distributed over two years. Program information and details on how to apply can be found on AAFC’s website under Agricultural programs and services.

By Harry Siemens

Field Commodity Research in Hanover, MB said going into the winter months, farm ers will see a bit more uncer tainty than we have in many other years.

The events in Ukraine, its shipping corridor can change causing prices to swing. In addition, uncertainty over Chinese demand and their COVID lockdowns will add to this price uncertainty.

“We are setting up a range-

bound trade amid historically high values,” said Driedger.

“Most crops still have a fair ly tight balance sheet, even if we had a considerably better harvest in western Canada than in 2021. So a lot of that tightness in the markets is al ready priced.”

While each crop has its own story, trading will be in a sideways range at values that are historically high.

A natural comment that he hears is, “Oh, so farmers must be doing well.” Driedger

said there’s no question the prices are high and if yields are there, farmers are doing well. But also within that context costs are historically high. Even when yields and prices are good, that’s good for margins, but the cost of doing business increases risks for grain farmers.

Driedger said while high fertilizer prices increase costs it starts to reflect on in dividual farm cropping deci sions, as do crop prices, rota tion, and a host of things that

impact that decision.

He said the RussianUkraine grain movement deal is impressive so far. More has moved out than people thought might be the case he noted.

Yet it’s good to remember how fragile that agreement could be he cautioned. It could stop and continue to provide uncertainty in these markets.

“Certainly for our clients, we’re always a little cau

Continued on Page 2...

The funding is a non-repayable contribution to projects that focus on biosecurity assessment and im provements including wild pig management, sector analysis, communication and engagement and Afri can Swine Fever-related research projects.

Eligible provincial/territorial/municipal government applicants may apply for funding up to 60% of total eligible costs and all other eligible applicants may ap ply for funding up to 85% of total eligible costs.

ASF is a fatal swine disease that spreads through both direct and indirect contact with infected pigs, pork, and pork by-products. No case has ever been found in Canada. Since 2018, however, ASF has spread across parts of Asia, Europe, and the Caribbe an. The ASF virus cannot be transmitted to humans, and is not a food safety risk. But a single case of ASF in Canada would immediately result in the closure of Canada’s borders to pork exports, which accounts for 70 per cent of Canadian pork production.

Most crops still have a fairly tight balance sheet, even if we had a considerably better harvest in western Canada compared to 2021 according to Jonathan Driedger, LeftField Commodity Research. Submitted photo

New Manitoba Water Strategy Focuses on Conservation, Growth

By Elmer Heinrichs

A new water strategy from the Manitoba govern ment will seek to manage water systems in order to support ecosystems, com munities and economies for generations to come.

According to the provin cial government this new water strategy emphasizes conservation and vows to “make every drop count” by valuing the province’s water resources.

The province said it will develop an action plan this winter to determine its fu ture decisions. “The focus needs to shift from supplyside management solutions to approaches that reduce how much water we use,” the strategy reads.

Premier Heather Stefan son said now that the strat egy is complete, the prov ince will collaborate with industry and environmen tal representatives to start putting together its action plan.

“I look forward to estab lishing new and improved ways of managing Mani toba’s water resources that will meet our environmental, social and economic needs now and well into future,” said Stefanson.

Stefanson said the strategy is needed because growing communities, the agriculture sector, and expanding indus try all depend on continued access to water while cli mate change is having a sig nificant effect on availability and supply.

Environment, climate and parks minister Jeff Whar ton said those kinds of ex treme weather events in re cent years, like floods and droughts, have highlighted the need for a new water strategy.

“Water, like climate change, touches all areas of our government and soci ety,” Wharton said at a news conference, adding the plan is to complete and release the action plan sometime in

the spring. He said the strat egy will serve as a guide as Manitoba works to protect its water resources especially in the south, where communi ties and businesses are grow ing.

“Although Manitoba as a whole has an abundance of high-quality surface water and groundwater supplies, several water sources in southern Manitoba are fully or near fully allocated,” said Wharton.

In those areas, the potential for economic development and community growth have become limited, especially in the potato irrigation and ag ricultural-processing sectors, both major contributors to Manitoba’s economy.

The announcement also noted that Manitoba’s popu lation is expected to grow by about 26 per cent, or rough ly 360,000 residents, from 2020 to the early 2040s. But the province’s water supplies are limited, which means without a concerted effort,

“There is an increasing risk that available water supplies will not meet this growing demand.”

Brenna Mahoney, general manager for Keystone Ag ricultural Producers (KAP), said the strategy addresses most of the agriculture sec tor’s water needs. She said that farmers that KAP has spoken with are looking for ward to working with the province as it develops its water action plan.

“Many farm families in Manitoba have been working for generations on their land and can provide the knowl edge and expertise that is needed to ensure the action plan accurately reflects our terrain and the environmental conditions,” said Mahoney.

The strategy also floats the idea of new water pric ing structures to help control demand and offers rainwater capture to help conservation.

Uncertainty Adds Higher Risk Even As Crop Prices

Remain Historically High

tious about getting too complacent about grain, just moving in fluidly and indefinitely. That’s a risk that looms,” said Driedger. “We’re always a little cau tious about being too com placent or chasing the last headline.”

The days of farmers trad ing on a whim are long over he said, making it even

more important to do a thor ough job in market analysis and research to formulate opinions.

“Yet we don’t paint any illusions about having that perfect crystal ball,” he said. “And I don’t think anyone does. But it is certainly one where, if you don’t know what’s going to happen, why bother?”

He said that it’s important to formulate a good plan ac cording to what is happening in the markets and under standing the different risks including why prices might go higher or lower.

“But at least if you have a pulse on it and you’re watch ing the different moving parts, it puts you in a much better position to respond

when events change,” said Driedger.

“Farmers need to pay at tention and have a plan and be intentional about ways to manage risk and all those things because volatility and uncertainty are not going away anytime soon,” he said.

Driedger conducts a twoday seminar to help farmers look specifically at using fu tures and options to manage price risk. Some farmers are somewhat aware of the basic concepts but how many have a futures or hedging account with a broker he noted.

“We spend a couple of days walking farmers through that in detail emphasizing whether it may or may not make sense for any given farm to have a direct hedg ing account with a futures broker.”

Farmers must gain an under standing of how some of the grain contracts work at dif ferent grain companies. And in the current environment, those are valuable tools.

“Prices are high and may not stay that way indefinite ly, or maybe they will,” said Driedger. “So anytime you can add more tools to the toolbox to help manage risk, especially when your busi ness risk keeps rising, that’s worthwhile.”

Bibeau Co-Chairs OECD Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting

The OECD Meeting of Agriculture

opportunities and discuss solutions to shared challenges in the agriculture and food

Agriculture at the Heart of Food Security

Over two days of meet ings at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, agriculture ministers and representatives from about 50 countries agreed to redouble their efforts and implement better practices to feed the growing world pop ulation, fight climate change, and ensure that farmers and workers can make a success ful living from agricultural production.

The OECD is an inter national organization that works with governments, policy makers and citizens to establish evidence-based international standards and find solutions to a range of social, economic and envi ronmental challenges.

The OECD Meeting of Ag riculture Ministers, held ev ery five to six years, brought together more than 50 Min isters of Agriculture from around the world to explore opportunities and discuss so lutions to shared challenges in the agriculture and food sector.

The meeting was cochaired by Minister of Ag riculture and Agri-Food Ma rie-Claude Bibeau and her New Zealand counterpart, Damien O’Connor.

Although the challenges faced by the sector are simi

lar around the world, each country adopts different approaches to meet their needs. The meeting allowed the Ministers to discuss best practices, and to reaffirm the importance of collaboration to encourage growth in the sector.

With this in mind, the par ticipating countries asked the OECD, an organization whose mission it is to collect and analyze evidence-based data, to explore actions that would allow a better com parison of how each country is evolving their policies and sustainable development. In a shared declaration the fo cus is ensuring food security and nutrition that covers re ducing food loss and waste; sustainable food systems; contributing to the World Trade Organization (WTO) agricultural trade reforms; implementing policies to fa cilitate adaptation to climate change alongside investing in research and innovation.

“Our farmers are com mitted to feeding the planet while taking care of their land and their animals. These meetings allow us to show case Canadian leadership, as external factors continue to have a growing impact on production,” said Bibeau. “Canadians and our economy benefit from a strong, sus tainable agriculture sector.”

At the meeting, Bibeau had

several bilateral meetings to deepen relationships with key partners including Marc Fesneau, France’s Minis ter of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty; Luis Planas, Spain’s Minister of Agricul ture, Fisheries and Food and Environmental Affairs; At sushi Nonaka, Japan’s State Minister of Agriculture, For estry and Fisheries; Mark Spencer, the United King dom’s Minister of State for Environment, Food and Ru ral Affairs; and Charlie Mc Conalogue, Ireland’s Minis ter for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Bibeau reminded her counterparts about Canada’s

reputation as a trustworthy trading partner and discussed opportunities for enhanced cooperation in the agricul tural sector.

Prior to the OECD meet ing, Bibeau met with various agricultural stakeholders in Paris, notably a round table with French importers of Ca nadian agricultural products; two bilateral meetings with French agri-food companies that are making important investments in Canada. She also met with the World Or ganisation for Animal Health DG, Dr. Monique Eloit to discuss global animal health standards in international trade.

Ministers, held every five to six years, brought together more than 50 Ministers of Agriculture from around the world to explore

sector.

Submitted photos

The OECD meeting was co-chaired by Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau (centre).

Keep Focused on Helping Others

No exercise is better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up!

I recently came across this profound short but impactful saying, and it keeps rotating in my mind. So I sat down to write this column on Sat urday, November 19, 2022, giving what is going on in the world lots of thought. Also what is happening in the farming world that I continue to write about and serve faithfully.

And let me preference this, I’m not planning to go anywhere except to Maple Ridge, BC to visit

my daughter Lynn and her family around Christmas. Yet, looking at the changes in farming techniques and practices, technology, con solidation, and making food in the laboratory makes me think back to when my father helped out a neighbour’s boy looking for a job. His name is Ernie; he shared this story with me recently.

Ernie was driving down the dike road when he saw my father stop to fill up the drill with seed grain, most likely peas. The long and short of it was that dad took the time to listen to a young boy look ing for help and recognition. Before long Ernie was work ing for my father helping on the farm.

My father, Henry C. Sie mens was always in good shape physically and finan cially and willing to lift an other person in time of need

or to encourage. He did that to Ernie; he did that to me and many others.

There are so many issues that keep rotating around farming, fertilizer use, hog, cattle, poultry and sheep production that I have to be careful I don’t take off and rant on any two three or five every day.

My late wife Judith used to monitor my Twitter respons es since 2008 when I posted my first tweet. I waged many battles, which at the end of the day and sometimes soon er asked me why and where I was going this time. I refrain from those battles because you are never sure who is behind that Twitter handle. My goal is to ask questions, remain factual and most im portantly encourage, encour age, and encourage.

We are less than a month away from celebrating

Christmas, the Birth of God’s only begotten son. Therefore, it is most im portant that in this wild and wily field of post-Covid and maybe not, a war market that none of us have experienced, I remain focused on remain ing positive and willing to lift myself and that other needy person.

Former president of Toast masters International Erick Stuhlmueller and a personal friend used a story like this to wrap up his presentations. Eric became the president of Toastmasters International in 1980 and helped charter The Sunflower Toastmasters club in Altona, MB in 1973. He was instrumental in en couraging me to get out and speak.

Build A Better You!

Long ago, a wise man said: “God said to build a better world.”

I said, ‘How? The world is such a dark and lonely place, and I’m so small and useless; there is nothing I can do.’ But God, in all His wisdom, said, “Just build a better you.”

The theme of his presiden tial speech in Minneapolis in 1980 was “Belong, Partici pate and Succeed”. He often said, “Shoot for the moon – If you miss – You’ll still land in the stars.”

The shepherds and the wise men followed the Star of Bethlehem and took them to where the Baby Jesus lay; they worshiped Him, turned around and took another path home, telling what they had just witnessed.

No exercise is better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up! So I thank those people, men, women and children who took the time to lift me. Thank you very much.

Eight Billion People Now Inhabit the Earth

By Sylvain Charlebois

On November 15 of this year, the world population will reach a symbolic num ber: eight billion people. The planet took about 11 short years to add one billion more humans to its popula tion. By 2058, it’s estimated that the planetary population will reach 10 billion.

That’s a lot of people.

Whenever humanity is re minded that our population is increasing, we always wonder if we have the ca pacity to feed ourselves ad equately, and for how long.

Amazingly, 90 per cent of the world’s population lives in the Northern Hemisphere, and almost 40 per cent of the surface area of the Northern Hemisphere is land, com pared with only about 20 per cent of the surface area of the Southern Hemisphere.

More than half of the world’s population lives in Asia. A single visit to this part of the world will help you realize that the space in Canada is an overlooked as set. Our abundance of space defines our quality of life,

our policies, and the way we eat. Most don’t realize this, but it’s true.

But are we producing enough to feed eight, nine or even 10 billion people on earth? The answer is yes.

The food sectors are adapt ing and developing new technologies at an astonish ing pace. Many underesti mate the ability of agri-food stakeholders, from farm to consumer, to adjust. While our planet produces enough food to feed the more than eight billion people who in habit it, systemic inequali ties and economic dispari ties have led to unbalanced distribution and irregular ac cess to agri-food commodi ties. Corruption, pandemics, poverty, lack of infrastruc ture, and, of course, geopo litical conflicts, as we have seen this year with Ukraine and Russia, often undermine our global food security.

We produce enough to feed the planet, but climate change remains the greatest threat to our agrarian sys tems. For centuries, humans have adapted to risk. We are

compelled to find solutions to problems that suddenly emerge: floods, drought, fires, hurricanes, and the list goes on. But with climate change, the risks never go away. Risks will essentially move and threaten other parts of the food supply chain.

“Band-aid” solutions are just no longer feasible. Greater resilience in the industry requires extreme adaptability, which is what our recent federal task force on supply chains was advo cating.

And Canada is making a difference. In fact, the Bar ton Report (developed by the Advisory Council on Economic Growth for the Government of Canada and agriculture stakeholders), presented five years ago, of fered us a road map in this regard. The Barton Report talked about unlocking the potential of key sectors and identified agribusiness as one of them. And fortunate ly, Canada has delivered the goods, yet we rarely talk about it.

The report mentioned ex panding populations around the world, growing demand for protein in Asia, and a need for reliable markets, such as Canada. As the fifth largest agricultural exporter in the world, Canada can become a trusted global leader in healthy, nutritious, and sustainable food in the 21st century. The report in dicates that Canada has the potential to become the sec ond-largest exporter in the world. Second, no less.

The strengths of our agrifood sector include a reliable food supply, the availability of resources, the position of arable land, and strong research poles. In addition, global opportunities relate to exploding demand from emerging markets as well as growing global supply con straints on land, water, en ergy, and carbon emissions.

Our agri-food exports have continued to grow despite challenges in the sector, reaching over $82 billion in 2021 and surpassing the previous goal of increasing agri-food exports to at least

$75 billion by 2025. With better resilient logistics net works and supply chains, we can do even better.

The catch is that when people discuss food security and leading countries inter nationally, Canada rarely gets mentioned. The Neth erlands, Denmark, and the United States are often men tioned, but our reputation is simply not there. Our image as a global agrarian provider lacks a bit of pizzazz.

We have to brag about it and celebrate the incredible contributions of our agrifood sector internationally as often as possible.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is senior director of the agri-food analytics lab and a professor in food dis tribution and policy at Dalhousie University.

Manitoba Crop Above Average

By Elmer Heinrichs

Wet spring conditions delayed seeding operations across much of Manitoba to start the 2022 growing season, but warm summer conditions allowed for good development with yields for most crops showing a marked improvement over the drought-stricken 2021 harvest, according to the final crop report of the sea son from Manitoba Agricul ture.

A warm and moderate summer come July allowed crops to nearly catch up to ‘normal’ development for that time. A later start to harvest with a few rain delays led to an extended harvest.

With seeding delayed well into May, early seeded crops struggled with cool, saturated conditions more than later crops, which quickly caught up.

The spring was a chal lenging time for farm oper ators and equipment. Very long working hours led to exhaustion in an effort to seed crops while soil and weather conditions per mitted.

Come fall there was much left to do and farmers

took the last golden days of October to harvest the late season crops such as corn and soybeans as well as a few tardy fields of canola and oats, while applying fertilizer, and hauling hay as farmers whittled down their “to-do” list.

Producers now finally caught up to the five-year average of having 90 per cent of their harvest com pleted, which was no small feat given that spring seed ing ran about three weeks late due to the cool wet conditions.

Average yields of 65 bu/ acre were common for win ter wheat negatively affect ed by excessive moisture, but spring wheat yields exceeded expectations, re sulting in a generally highquality average to aboveaverage crop between 60 to 70 bu/acre.

Corn acreage declined as producers switched acre age into shorter season crops, but committed grow ers planted corn crops first, and most corn reached full maturity with yields rang ing from 100 to 190 bu/ acre across the province with good quality and test weights.

Average canola yields were slightly disappointing to many producers. While crop biomass appeared much better than average, yields varied, with a 2060 bu/acre spread across most of the province with a provincial average yield expected to be 42 bu/acre.

A delayed spring benefit ted many flax growers, and plants emerged very quick ly after being planted into warm moist soils. Crops ap peared thick and uniform in most fields, and producers were pleased with higher average yields than they’ve seen in recent years, aver aging 30-35 bu/acre.

Sunflowers appeared to be in good condition throughout the growing season, with seeds filling and fewer “blanks” than last year. They have been slow to dry down but yields are reported to be near 2,300 lbs/acre across the province.

For the pulse crops, excess moisture caused drowned-out spots in peas more frequently than in other crops, but average yields remained high, gen erally between 50 to 60 bu/acre on lighter land,

and 70 to 80 bu/acre on heavier ground.

Dry beans performed well in 2022, despite reduced acres due to crop choice shifts, and have had very good yields reported, with many bean classes yielding between 2,000 to 3,000 lbs/acre.

Excessive moisture in peas caused drowned-out spots more frequently than in other crops, reducing their yields, but average yields remained high, gen erally 50 to 60 bu/acre on lighter land and 70-80 bu/ acre on heavier ground.

Farmers reduced their soybean acreage as they sought to lower long-season crops in favour of wheat, oats and canola. But ad equate heat and timely rains in August helped pro duce some excellent yields across the province.

Pastures and hay fields rebounded remarkably well from the severe water short age last year, and produced average to above average forage volumes, keeping up with grazing pressure. Silage and greenfeed yields have met expectations, with corn silage yields between 14 to 18 tonnes/acre.

CAFTA Welcomes

Indo-Pacific Investment

Dear Editor,

CAFTA has long called for deeper trade and investment ties throughout the Indo-Pacific region, and we welcome all efforts to grow Canada’s presence and relations in markets that are vital to our long-term prosperity.

This Indo-Pacific is home to some of the worlds largest and fast growing markets and represents a significant oppor tunity for Canada to diversify its agri-food exports and strengthen our economic activities.

As a leading agricultural exporter, Canada needs to be a champion for the Indo-Pacific’s development and a supporter for rules-based trade or risk getting locked out of the region’s economic benefits.

We applaud the creation of a Canadian Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office (IPAAO) as well as enhanced resources, including in advocacy capacity, needed to help address the rise of non-tariff barriers, which have prevented Canada from achieving its full potential in the region.

We look forward to reviewing details of the investments announced today and engaging with officials and other policy- and decision-makers as they are implemented. We will continue to work alongside the federal government on several priority trade negotiations in the Indo-Pacific including bilateral talks with India, Indonesia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the continued expansion of the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

As a country that supports free- and rules-based trade, it is vital that Canadian voices are at the tables that are making the rules for global trade in some of the largest and most dynamic regions and markets in the world.

We strongly encourage government to work closely with Canadian agri-food exporters, to benefit from their opera tional knowledge and supply chain connections in the Indo-Pacific and who can collaborate with government to achieve shared strategic objectives in the region.

Dan Darling

President of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance

CAFTA is the voice of Canadian agriculture and agri-food exporters, representing the 90% of farmers who depend on trade and the ranchers, producers, processors and agri-food exporters who want to grow the economy through better access to international markets.

Farm Groups Pleased with Feds’ Commitment to Compensate Supply-Managed Sectors

By Dan Guetre

On a dairy farm in the Eastern Townships of Que bec, Agriculture and AgriFood Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau re-affirmed the Government’s commitment to provide compensation for supply-managed sectors for the impacts of the CanadaUnited States-Mexico Agree ment (CUSMA). Dairy, poultry and egg producers and processors are expected to share more than $1.7 bil lion in direct payments and investment programs.

According to the Federal Government, the compensa tion will help dairy, poultry and egg producers and pro cessors make key invest ments and improve their operations to be even more competitive and sustainable.

While dairy producers al ready know how much they will receive next year under the fourth compensation pay ment for the Canada-Euro pean Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agree ment (CETA) and the Com prehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) the Government intends to offer them extra funding of up to $1.2 billion over six years under the Dairy Direct Pay ment Program to account for the impacts of CUSMA.

From 2024 to 2029, the owner of a farm with 80 milking cows may receive compensation through a direct payment of about $106,000 in six yearly in stalments on a declining scale. These funds will give producers the flexibility to invest according to their in dividual needs.

Starting in 2023, the Gov ernment intends to invest up to $300 million in a new pro gram to support innovation and investment into largescale projects to add value to solids-non-fat, a by-prod uct of milk processing. The Government assures farmers it will consult closely with industry stakeholders in the development of program pa rameters.

Leaders of national farm groups representing the vari ous sectors impacted by the changes in supply manage ment seemed pleased with the way the government is moving forward.

“The government made a promise to compensate pro ducers for the losses caused by the CUSMA agreement,” said Pierre Lampron, Chair, Dairy Farmers of Canada. “Today, they can say they

fulfilled their promise. We can now look towards the future.”

“Dairy processors across Canada welcome the com pensation measures an nounced today as it reaffirms the Government’s commit ment to supporting the dairy sector in addressing the im pacts of international trade agreements,” added Michael Barrett, Chair, Dairy Proces sors Association of Canada. “The funding announced for dairy processors, including a new innovation program and additional funding for the existing ‘Supply Manage ment Processing Fund’ will increase productivity and ef ficiency through investments in new automated equipment and technology to meet con sumer demand in an everchanging marketplace.”

For the Canadian poultry and egg producers, the Gov ernment intends to provide up to an additional $112 mil lion under the Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program.

Producers will receive payments based on their quota holdings, to support improvements to their farm businesses. This funding will bring the total compen sation for this sector to $803 million.

“Canada’s 2,800 chicken farmers are proud stewards of our land, providing highquality, sustainable, nutri tious food for Canadians,” said Tim Klompmaker, Chair, Chicken Farmers of Canada. “Today’s further investment in our sector will help farmers enhance the long-term efficiency and sustainability of their farms and continue to feed Cana dians.”

“The measures outlined in today’s announcement provides a tool to navigate the impact of CUSMA on our sector, and benefits all Canadians as egg farmers continue to embrace green tech, make enhancements to their farm operations, and grow their sector. Canada’s more than 1,200 egg farmers are committed to upholding our strong, domestic food system - today and into the future,” added Roger Pelis sero, Chair, Egg Farmers of Canada.

“Hatching egg produc ers across the country have experienced losses due to recent trade agreements but we are pleased to see that the Fall Economic Statement has addressed an ongoing com mitment to Canadian poultry

and egg farmers on program ming to offset the impact of the CUSMA agreement,” said Brian Bilkes, Chair, Canadian Hatching Egg Pro ducers. “This funding will help our producers reinvest to make our sector stronger and more resilient which benefits all Canadians.”

“Combined, these invest ments will allow turkey farmers to strengthen onfarm sustainability, improve and modernize their opera tions, and help them con tinue to provide turkey to Canadians that is safe, and produced in an efficient and responsible way,” explained Darren Ference, Chair, Tur key Farmers of Canada.

“With this injection of new funds in the Supply Manage ment Processing Investment Fund, poultry and egg pro cessors will have access to additional funding to lever age private investments in new equipment and technol ogy,” forecasted Ian McFall, Chair, Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council.

“This will help poultry and egg processors improve their productivity and efficiency as a response to the addi tional market access granted in recent trade agreements.”

Finally, the federal Gov ernment intends to invest up to $105 million in the Sup ply Management Processing Investment Fund to support investments in dairy, poultry and egg processing plants, to grow their productivity or efficiency through new equipment and automation technologies. This brings the total investment for proces sors up to $497.5 million.

According to the govern ment, these programs will help drive innovation and growth in the supply-man aged sectors and believe they have delivered on its commitment to fully and fairly compensate producers and processors who have lost market share under CETA, CPTPP and CUSMA. The total compensation will reach up to $4.8 billion.

“Promise made, promise kept,” exclaimed Bibeau. “We made a commitment to fully and fairly compensate the market losses suffered by dairy, poultry and egg pro ducers and processors, and that is what we have done.”

“I would like to reiterate our government’s commit ment not to concede any further market shares under supply management during future trade negotiations,” she added.

ACC Launches Swine Production Foundation Program

By Harry Siemens

Assiniboine Community College (ACC) is introducing a swine production founda tions program, with the first students to start in December.

The online and self-direct ed program provides learn ers with an understanding of swine operations, including regulations, health and safety, record keeping, and barn sys tems and maintenance. It will also cover content on produc tion practices related to stock manship, pig health care, breeding, farrowing, nursery, and grow and finish.

Angela Pearen, the coordi nator of agriculture extension of the newly-named Russ

Edwards School of Agricul ture and Environment at the Assiniboine Community Col lege said this first foundation program is for swine techni cians. It gives them founda tional training in three areas, swine operations, production practices, and professional ism.

“These are folks starting, working in hog barns as swine technicians giving them those skills to learn how the barns work, the regulations, health and safety, biosecurity, those types of things,” said Pearen.

Pearen said next is getting into production practices like farrowing, breeding, and ges tation. Then, in the profes

sionalism section, the student learns skills as a team member that include communication, conflict resolution, working as part of a team and working in a diverse workplace. These are called soft skills, but are the hardest skills and can make or break a workplace, she said.

ACC took a program of fered to Manitoba Pork Council (MPC) a long time ago that was an apprentice ship program which MPC requested. The question was how to implement a similar program for another indus try and “Hey, can we change this up and look at how we can make it more relevant to today’s workplace?” said Pearen.

The first participants will start on December 1. ACC will provide full online deliv ery and extremely interactive books covering many activi ties where the students will self-assess their learning. At each module’s end they com plete a quiz or an assignment which ties back to their work in their workplace.

The new program is indi rectly in response to Dr. John Carr an international pig vet erinarian, “We need to have professionals on the farm

looking after these pigs, not just a labourer who has no in terest other than having a job and paycheque.”

The new program hopes to build professionalism as a number one goal, number two, know what they’re doing, and number three, have the pigs’ best interest at heart.

Pearen said that is why Manitoba Pork Council said, “Hey, we need a program.”

Students have five years to complete the three courses to receive a document of achievement from the ACC in swine production foundations at a graduation ceremony. She said the achievement elevates that position and encourages the students to say, “Hey, I’ve got a college document of achievement in this.”

The second and third cours es are still in development with the launch date set for the spring of 2023. The fol lowing program is advanced swine production which is focused on those who have already been swine techni cians for some time. Those with good supervision skills take the next course in some supervisory capacity and go into more detailed advanced production practices.

The final course deals with

These are folks starting work in hog barns as swine technicians giving them those skills to learn how the barns work, the regulations, health and safety and biosecurity.

leadership in swine produc tion for workers making man agement decisions.

“This is about breeding stock and higher-level HR issues; some hiring and fir ing. The program builds upon these foundations,” said Pear en. “If some folks are ready to move on to the next level, they do the advanced course going into management.”

For most students in the pro gram, the next step is getting a job, or helps advance those workers already employed.

For independent producers without a formal training pro gram it helps to hire someone interested or develop existing staff. In addition having staff enrol in the online course

makes it more flexible for someone already working.

That means the employer can say, “Hey, you complete, we’ll reimburse you,” she said. Employers can add in centive by paying for the pro gram right up front while the employee takes the course in the evenings.

Or the employer may say, “You get two days, two hours, or X number of hours a week to work on your course,” said Pearen on another flexible option.

The course starts the first of every month, and then de pending on the credit hours; students have anywhere from four to eight months to com plete.

Angela Pearen, Ag Extension Coordinator said that every student who completes the three courses at the Assiniboine Community College has five years to complete and receive a document of achievement in swine production foundations.

Submitted photos

Harvest an Incredible Feat by Ukrainian Farmers in War Zone

By Harry Siemens

Mike Lee of southeast Eng land and the owner of Green Square Agro Consulting and Black Sea Crop Fore casts, gives regular analysis and agribusiness news from Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Romania, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

In 2017, this journalist and his late wife visited Mike and Dasha Lee and their two children in their home in England giving the reports added credibility.

“We put a lot of effort into what we’re doing. It’s very easy to regurgitate and tell the people’s news, but we try to put our interpretation of what it means. Reporting that there’s a barrier to trade or whatever it may be is one thing, but trying to dig into it a little bit deeper is what we do.”

Lee’s assessment of farm ing in Ukraine gives an over all impression that Ukrainian farmers are doing an incred ible job of farming as before. The war and the conflict im pact what they can and can’t do. But the first thing to real ize is that a whole chunk of land is no longer accessible to Ukrainian farmers. It’s under Russian occupation. But looking at the ground under the control of Ukraine farmers and authorities, they planted winter wheat this fall, just finishing the last of the winter in mid-November.

“It’s broadly comparable with what you would expect previously. It’s down about 10 per cent, which is not all that much, considering,” said Lee. “So broadly, the farm ing on the land they can ac cess is the same as before.”

In his words, that’s incred ible considering the dangers of farming in a war zone with the logistics of putting in fertilizer seed, diesel fuel, and spare parts and then the product sold out the other way, at the other end.

“Farming’s difficult at best at times. It must be quite ex tremely difficult for the guys out there. But I think they’re doing great,” said Lee.

The other question people keep asking Lee is on the negative side, saying the world will starve because of the situation. That may still happen but it won’t be be cause they haven’t tried to grow the crop and Ukraine has managed to grow it even this year to a reasonable standard.

This last farming year, agronomically and weatherwise, was a good season for growing crops said Lee.

“And if there weren’t a war on, we would be sitting here having a very different con versation about how good the Ukrainian crop yields this year,” said Lee.

The wheat yield on the land harvested by farmers came in at about the same as the five-year average even with lower fertilizer rates and ap plication timing, said Lee. But, of course, they couldn’t operate at night being under curfews. Lee said its quite re markable how well the crops yielded and is an indication that farmers worldwide tend to apply too much fertilizer.

Lee said Russia’s southern Krasnodar region is the first to report completion of sow ing 1.8 million hectares of winter crops. Wheat reached 1.6 million hectares, the

same as last year, with the balance of barley, winter rye and triticale.

Continuing wet weather through October hindered wheat plantings in Russia’s central oblasts of Kursk, Bel gorod and Voronezh.

“Determining the number of hectares planted compared to last year is proving dif ficult as the Russia ministry of Ag seems only to report good news at the moment,” Lee stated in his most recent Black Sea update. “Howev er, as of October 25, Kursk had planted 287KHA of win ter wheat, and field opera tions had stopped. They had planned to plant 428KHA.”

If this situation is similar across the other Central dis trict oblasts, it could put a small dent in Russia’s wheat harvest prospects next year he noted.

“Worth keeping a close watch on this; once the mar ket turns its attention away from the grain deal and spots a possible drop in hectares, it might respond,” said Lee.

With the grain transport route deal, Lee said, “I think we don’t know what goes on, to be honest with you. It’s all speculative and so on.”

However, his take on the grain deal, Russia suspended it again following an attack on Sevastopol’s naval fleet. Almost immediately the Min istry of Defense, announced the suspension of the grain deal. Lee’s thoughts are it’s not the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense to make that decision. However, once the rest of the Russian gov

ernment realized what had happened, it didn’t take long for the grain deal to be back on.

Many in the Western press talked about a U-turn by Pu tin.

“But my sort of take on it is that I think the Ministry of Defense acted unilaterally in response to the attack on the fleet; a bit of a knee-jerk re

action by the Ministry of De fense,” said Lee. “And then the Kremlin decided that there is a bigger issue, and needed to get the deal back on.”

Because if they’re a part of the deal, they’re in a position to negotiate and if they’re not they can’t negotiate to withdraw the agreement ex plained Lee.

Ukraine’s sunflower harvest reached 4.4MHA (93per cent), producing 9.5MMT at a yield of 2.16MT/HA, and is likely to finish around 10.1MMT. Back in April, the forecast was 9.9MMT.

Ukraine farmers have planted 3.6 million hectares of winter wheat or 91 per cent of the forecast.

Mike Lee of Green Square Agro Consulting and Black Sea Crop Forecasts said they put a lot of effort into what they are doing.

Photos by Mike Lee and Harry Siemens

Public Trust is Vital

In November, Manitoba Pork Council (MPC) gen eral manager Cam Dahl led a boar pit discussion at the MPC district producer meet ings. The five person panel all staff members included Jenelle Hamblin, Mark Fynn, Susan Riese, Grant Melny chuk, and Jeff Clark, cov ered topics in public trust, pig trace, and safe pig care animal health and research. Dahl said to update the app for traceability in the Pig TRACE program is to make it as easy as possible for peo ple to use and input the data. The easiest way is to have an app that works across all smartphone platforms and updates with a new phone keeping it straightforward and easy to use.

Dahl said the Japanese regulator periodically comes to Manitoba to look at the traceability, food safety and animal welfare programs. The tour is quite in-depth including Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) laboratories and processing plants.

“It’s to certify that our sys tem delivers what they ex pect,” said Dahl.

The scheduled visit for the end of November will also review the processes around zoning he said. For example, if African Swine Fever en

cess can divide the country into regions.

“If ASF was to hit New Brunswick, for example, and we zoned western Canada, Manitoba could still export pork to Japan,” said Dahl. “This audit is to verify that our systems do what they say we do with the rigour to de liver high-quality, safe food to Japan.”

Dahl said for this reason it is essential for MPC to audit pig farms. “To make sure that our food safety pro grams with standards set and developed by our industry based on the code of practice for the care and handling of pigs,” he said.

MPC conducts these au dits to ensure that farmers in the program carry out the requirement to deliver pigs to federally inspected plants and carry out their respon sibilities as outlined in the program.

“Our customers like the Japanese, look and depend on them,” said Dahl.

Janelle Jamblin, the man ager of swine health at MPC spoke about animal health and the future of the PED working group.

Dahl said with the recent outbreak of PEDv among Manitoba pig facilities in 2021 was a year with active for PEDv cases. He said it seems that the cycle is every two years with a significant outbreak which is not sus tainable for the industry.

He said the question that arises is, “Well, what do we have to do differently so that we start to break the cycle and get the disease under control?”

MPC assembled represen tatives from across the indus try including the veterinary community, the chief of staff from the chief veterinarian’s office, HyLife Foods, Maple Leaf, and independent farm ers all around the table. This

needs to happen to control this disease and the objec tives.

“Everybody needs to be around the table because that’s one of the keys in con trolling the disease, is to get buy-in from everyone,” said Dahl. “And that is a critical component. So bringing the entire industry together to develop that long-term plan for controlling and eventu ally eradicating the disease.”

Public trust is a crucial component of food produc ers worldwide he noted.

“How are you going to get there is a good point because this is a journey. I don’t think we’ll ever arrive at it, especially around questions like the environment, our environmental footprint, and animal welfare,” said Dahl.

“The public is interested. And it returns to that ques tion, where does my food come from?”

Dahl said any mispercep tions in the public translate into misperceptions that move to policymakers and MPs and MLAs, who may come up with regulations not based on reality or science.

“It’s incumbent on us to have those conversations with the public and with elected officials, policymak ers, to get out what we’re do ing in terms of environment and animal care.”

Also, be bold in focusing on the third leg of this stool which is financial stability and long-term sustainability for the industry he said. Fi nally, the pig industry must talk about the economic im pact on the Manitoba econo my and the jobs.

“If we can have those con versations, we stand a much better chance that when policymakers and elected officials look at regulation and legislation, they will consider farmers’ needs and concerns,” said Dahl.

Manitoba Pork Council (MPC) general manager Cam Dahl said industry system-wide audits are to certify that our system delivers what customers expect.

Photos by Harry Siemens

AgriLedger Tool Aims to Help Sheep Farmers and Ranchers

By Harry Siemens

Developed by producers with input from veterinarians, industry stakeholders and the government the voluntary program Canadian Verified Sheep Program helps farm ers and ranchers demonstrate and validate exemplary food safety, animal welfare and biosecurity management practices.

With the help of a train ing session and the Cana dian Verified Sheep Program sheep, farmers will have the tools to reduce risks.

Corlena Patterson the ex ecutive director of the Cana dian Sheep Federation (CSF) demonstrated a new trace ability tool the AgriLedger in the sheep barn at the Mani toba Ag Ex in Brandon, MB in October.

Patterson said with new technologies developed by the CSF, this traceability pro gram will help manage live stock traceability for many purposes. Including manag ing disease outbreaks but also

providing value back to the users in the trace system by sharing animal information up and down the value chain.

“Eventually to reach the consumer with the story about where a product came from and the qualities of pro duction and the assurance programs” said Patterson.

Patterson said a common question is, “How do you manage using visual recog nition on animals when an animal ages? But that’s not the tricky part of using facial recognition.”

The CSF has developed technology that uses com puter vision and artificial in telligence to use biometrics to identify animals uniquely. She said it’’ much like the technology that opens the phone by face recognition measuring that face with a lot of precision.

“We’ve tried to go a step farther than most. It works well in a computer lab when you put a video in front of the technology or a still photo,”

said Patterson. “But that’s not where traceability happens.”

Instead, traceability hap pens in the barn with people and animals on the move. The CSF took recognition further by live streaming and identi fying animals from a mobile device. She said that’s the tricky part and one challenge to overcome. The other chal lenge, while not aging, is the biometric assessment that is a calculation of landmarks on the face and their proximity to one another. Recognition is always proportional, even if an animal ages Patterson explained. Even as the face gets bigger, the proportional ity of those landmarks from one to another remains con sistent through aging.

“The trick for us is, because of live streaming and not a stored video or a stored im age, there is more than 3D pronation of the face,” said Patterson.

Patterson said if the tech nology looks at the face once and identifies sheep number 33, here’s its space. The next time it sees it, if the angle of the face is different, then does the technology recognize that it’s still animal 33? Or does it run the algorithms and say no this is different than the first time? This is a new animal and it gets a new ID.

“We had to manage that piece very carefully because we need it to work well in those real settings,” she said. “Animals run by you to get on the trailer or run by you to get off that trailer. That’s what traceability is, reporting those movements.”

The CSF is attempting to take the administrative bur den out of reporting and the need for people to sit down at the end of the day or week, pull out their paper records or notepads and start typing this animal moved here on this date, started here, went there, and moved in that truck. Those are all data fields for the new traceability regula tions the producer will have to report.

“Our goal is to make it work to protect our national flock in a disease outbreak but also make it less work,” said Pat terson. “And so this is our move to autonomous report ing and the need to do facial recognition in real-life settings as animals are flying by at a hundred miles an hour.”

She said it’s in develop ment and needs refining, but it works by demonstrating the technology in Brandon and on farms for several weeks to continue refining that process.

“So is it functional? It works. Is it accessible to ev erybody to use right now? We would feel comfortable once we’re sure of its accu racy level because accuracy is important,” she said. “We don’t want it repeating misin formation.”

The more times the technol ogy sees a sheep, the better it

gets. It trains itself over time and improvements will con tinue.

“We’ll start using it as a sheep industry as part of our larger traceability system,” said Patterson. “That’s how sheep farmers can use it in the short term to help them manage traceability report ing.”

Once AgriLedger, the sheep industry’s trace system comes on-line and producers start using it, that technol ogy will be available as one of the ways of identifying animals to complete their reports. AgriLedger is going through the CFIA’s final ap proval process for managing the data.

The Canadian Verified Sheep Program’s AgriLedger will help to man age disease outbreaks and provide value back to the users in the trace system by sharing animal information up and down the value chain.

(right) Morgan Moore of Brandon, MB sheep producer and chair of the Manitoba Sheep Producers Association. (left) Corlena Patterson, the executive director of the Canadian Sheep Federation, demonstrated the AgriLedger traceability program in the sheep barn at the Manitoba Ag Ex in Brandon in October.

Photos by Harry Siemens

Manitoba Agricultural Museum is New Home for Historic Tree Planting Car

By Elmer Heinrichs

A nearly 100-year-old train car with deep roots on the Prairies has made a historic journey.

It’s known as the “tree planting car” and it served as a travelling classroom for around 50 years to encourage people to plant trees.

“As it travelled across the Prairies, the primary purpose was to educate young people about the importance of trees and to reach the adults, the farming communities,” said Dianne Beaven, whose father Alan Beaven worked on the tree planting car for 20 years and was its longest-serving lecturer.

It’s been stationed at Sandi lands Forest Discovery Cen tre in southeast Manitoba for nearly 50 years but recently it was moved to the Mani toba Agricultural Museum to carry on its mission.

“We jumped at the chance, built a 100-foot rail line to set it on and the process was set in motion,” said Grant Cassils, vice president of the board of the Manitoba Agricultural Museum. “The whole unit weighs 166,000 pounds, its 84 feet long, 16 1/2 feet high so it’s a mas sive very heavy structure.”

Built back in the 1920s in Winnipeg, the steel tree planting car left its mark on the Prairie Provinces.

Equipped with a theatre and living quarters it was pulled along the railway to towns across Alberta, Saskatch ewan and Manitoba to pro mote the importance of trees and forests.

Over 50 years of journeys it’s estimated the car trav elled more than 420,000 km, hosted 1.5 million visitors and promoted the planting of half a billion trees on about 100,000 farms.

The car had been in the care of the Manitoba For estry Association (MFA) but that organization, a casu alty of funding cuts, is in the midst of shutting down.

“We’re so happy that the Manitoba Agricultural Mu seum was willing to take it on,” said Trevor Stanley, vice president of the MFA. “We’re donating it to their association. There’s a lot more public that comes through that facility out in Austin so it’s going to get a new life which I think is wonderful.”

Before the car could be moved it had to be lifted us ing two cranes and loaded onto a special flatbed semitruck trailer.

It was a complicated and expensive process which could come in up to around $250,000, a cost the MFA is covering to help save the tree planting car.

Built back in the 1920s in Winnipeg, the steel tree planting car left its mark on the Prairie Provinces. Equipped with a theatre and living quar ters it was pulled along the railway to towns across Alberta, Saskatch ewan and Manitoba to promote the importance of trees and forests.

“We just didn’t want to lose that history,” Stanley said. “We thought that was a good use for the money be fore we shut down.”

Gordon Goldsborough, head researcher for the Man itoba Historical Society, said the agricultural museum is a natural fit.

“The reality was that if you were building a house, for example, or a farm you’d have to protect yourself against the notorious Prairie winds, what better way to do it than with a shelter belt of trees,” Goldsborough said.

“The whole story of planting trees on the Prairies is part and parcel with the story of the agricultural development

Photo Source: Gordon Goldsborough

of the Prairies.”

With tree planting back in the spotlight Beaven, who retired as executive director of the MFA which her father was instrumental in estab lishing, hopes the train car’s legacy will continue to live on in its new location.

“To know that it’s on the highway on its way to Aus tin, it’s a win-win,” said Beaven. “I’m absolutely thrilled.”

The museum in Austin plans to redevelop it into an exhibit to highlight the his tory of tree planting on the Prairies. Cassils said it will require some restoration but will be on display starting this coming summer.

Supply and Demand Economics: Reality Check on Hog Expansion

By Harry Siemens

Hog Administrative Mar keting Services or h@ms held three producer meet ings, one each in Manitoba Saskatchewan and Alberta recently. General manager Bill Alford said overall, in dependent producers are in good shape noting the most significant factor in western Canada is a decent average crop.

Most hog producers’ h@ ms represents get their feed inputs from their grain farms.

“Prices are higher than a year ago, which need to be with inputs up even if you raise it yourself.”

H@ms markets on behalf of independent producers in the three prairie provinces and packers play a vital role in a cyclical market. Some times, the packer and pro ducer make money or both lose money, but typically one makes money. From

2016 to 2020, the packers had a good run with excel lent packer margins due to an abundance of hogs. For 25 years packers enjoyed a similar advantage but with hog production shrinking on the farm margins and shack le space tightened.

Alford said various fac tors led to that high cost and slowing production on the prairies and worldwide. The pandemic sometimes threw prices to all-time lows and created much uncertainty.

“There are fewer pigs than a year ago and the year be fore,” he said. “That typical ly puts a strain on the packer margins.”

Alford said that the eco nomic challenges in Japan with their lower yen and the looming recession could af fect hog prices, in turn hog producers, packers and ulti mately the consumer.

“The biggest part about the uncertainty moving forward

is the recession, affecting pork and other meats across the board,” said Alford. “We eat less meat when having tough times with our wal lets.”

While pork is generally well positioned, it keeps supplies in check when the demand side is uncertain. There’s no expansion currently because of the high cost to build es pecially new hog barns or expanding barns.

“Producers with any thoughts of expansion have

kicked that can down the road,” he said. “But inflation and a pending recession are looming in the economy.”

It hurts when the Japanese yen drops since it is a signif icant Manitoba pork market. But, at the same time, the US dollar keeps rallying against most world currencies.

“When we export so much and Japan being a key mar ket, that’s what the packers would tell you; it’s tough this year moving meat into Japan,” he said.

New Recognition Strengthens Egg Farmers’ National Animal Care Program

Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC) said its redeveloped Animal Care Program has been independently re viewed and recognized by the National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC). The process confirmed that the assessment program meets all requirements out lined in the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pullets and Laying Hens.

This important milestone was achieved after a multiyear process that followed NFACC’s robust Frame work for Developing Animal Care Assessment Pro grams and the outcome further bolsters EFC’s ongoing commitment to rigorous animal welfare standards.

“Canada’s more than 1,200 egg farmers located in all provinces and in the Northwest Territories uphold world-leading practices in animal care,” said Roger Pelissero, Chair of EFC. “That’s because they follow thorough standards, are regularly audited and there are mechanisms in place to hold all accountable. Today’s recognition confirms that our sector has fully embraced the requirements of our industry’s Code of Practice, adding further confidence to our approach.”

“Congratulations to Egg Farmers of Canada on achiev ing NFACC recognition for their on-farm animal care assessment program,” said Jackie Wepruk, Division Director of the National Farm Animal Care Council.

“The importance of this high-level of assurance cannot be overstated. It provides Canada’s livestock industries with a mechanism to maintain and strengthen their so cial licence with the public. It also offers the broader food industry a powerful means to provide customers and consumers with assurance that their products meet expectations for animal welfare.”

NFACC’’ Framework for Developing Animal Care Assessment Programs is consensus based and draws in stakeholders from across the food value chain, in cluding representatives from the retail and restaurant sectors, scientists and veterinarians, animal welfare ex perts, farmers, and government representatives. Handin-hand with the national Codes of Practice developed under NFACC’s guidance, animal care assessment pro grams—such as EFC’s Animal Care Program—play a critical role in ensuring that farm animals are cared for using sound management and welfare practices that promote animal health and well-being.

EFC’s national Animal Care Program includes regular inspections and third-party audits, which hold farmers accountable and ensure standards, are applied consistently across the country. A redeveloped Animal Care Program was launched earlier this month, with farmers actively adapting to the new measures. This national Animal Care Program is also the foundation of EFC’s Egg Quality Assurance certification program, an industry-wide initiative that certifies Canadian eggs are produced according to strict food safety and animal welfare standards.

national Animal Care Program is also the foundation of EFC’s Egg Quality Assurance certification program, an indus try-wide initiative that certifies Canadian eggs are produced according to strict food safety and animal welfare standards.

Hog Administrative Marketing Services general manager Bill Alford said overall, independent producers are in good shape noting the most significant factor in western Canada is a decent average crop.

Photo by Harry Siemens

This

Submitted photo

Working Together for World Food Relief

By Elmer Heinrichs

Gordon Janzen, regional representative for the Ca nadian Foodgrains Bank said yields from the fields they’ve harvested this year have generally been good.

The last of the 33 growing projects to harvest was the Minnedosa growing project which combined 120 acres of canola on October 21 yielding about 30 bushels an acre.

Proceeds from the sale of the crop go to Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a Win nipeg-based international relief and development or ganization working to end global hunger.

About 25 group members from the Boissevain-Mor ton-Whitewater (B-M-W)

Grow Project gets together annually to plant, tend and harvest 300 acres. The B-MW Growing project harvest took place October 5 on a field west of Fairfax. Eight combines, a few trucks and grain carts worked to take off 300 acres of canola. Jill Tripp of Boissevain said this year’s crop looked real ly good. “This year we com bined 300 acres of canola. It was standing good in most places and it looks likes its heavy and we hope it ends up yielding well.”

And it did. The crop yielded 49 bushels/acre and Tripp was pleased to see how it turned out.

Gordon Janzen, who as area representative for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank

attended the noon meal and the harvest, noted that, “We have 33 growing projects in Manitoba.”

Tripp said, “We have so many sponsors who come and help us with the meal and other fund raisers throughout the year. We’re very thankful for the support from agri-retailers and other supporters in the area.” she added.

Del and Heather Fraser have worked with the B-MW project for a number of years by providing the land for the crop.

“Del and Heather are very generous for allowing us to use this land for the growing project. We try to spread out the rotation so it’s not just wheat-canola

and wheat-canola but it’s the easiest to do if we’re looking to get volunteers to help with combining,” said Jill Tripp.

“I feel immensely grateful to live a comfortable and se cure life,” Tripp added. “So many areas of our world are experiencing food insecuri ty. As farmers, we produce food for our livelihood and then we have an opportuni ty to share our bounty with others in need.”

Janzen said the Foodgrains Bank is currently working in over thirty countries, in cluding most of the world’s hunger hot spots affected by conflict and extreme climate conditions.

There are over 200 grow ing projects across Canada.

Canola harvesting near Fairfax for the Boissevain-Morton-Whitewater grow project.

Submitted photo.

MFGA Welcomes New Ag Livestock and Forage Extension Specialists Deadline

Manitoba Agriculture’s recently hired three Live stock and Forage Extension Specialists to be located in Killarney, Arborg and Beausejour are very knowl edgeable and keen to work with producers. The new specialists provide more capacity for Manitoba Ag riculture to work with orga nizations like the Manitoba Forage and Grassland As sociation (MFGA) and pro ducers across the province.

Andrea Bertholet is the new Livestock and Forage Exten sion Specialist in southwest ern Manitoba, working out of the Killarney office. Bert holet has a degree in Animal Science from the University of Saskatchewan where she wrote an undergraduate the sis on the impact of implants on performance and carcass quality of beef cattle.

Bertholet completed the Canadian Cattlemen’s Men torship Program in 2014.

She was active in her local Beef 4H club growing up and continues to support the 4H program. Bertholet has worked since 2012 as the department’s farm exten sion specialist focusing on delivery of the Environmen tal Farm Plan and sustain able agriculture programs. She has also covered a work term as an MFGA livestock specialist in Virden. For two years, she was an extension coordinator answering pro ducer calls and coordinating extension events.

Bertholet grew up on a beef farm, and operates a 300-cow beef herd with her husband and family at Cart wright. Bertholet said, she is excited to get back to work ing directly with producers in the southwest and focus on livestock and forage pro duction again.

Contact Information: An drea.Bertholet@gov.mb.ca, 204-851-6087.

Cindy Jack is joining the department as the Live stock and Forage Extension Specialist in the Interlake, working out of the Arborg office.

Jack recently graduated with distinction with an Ani mal Science degree from the University of Saskatchewan. She wrote an undergraduate thesis on the impact of nu trition on fetal growth and development in the final tri mester in beef cattle.

Jack grew up on a beef farm near Portage la Prairie, has a Class 3 driver licence, and has continued to be actively involved in the farm opera tion. She brings experience with research plots, crop scouting, and client relations from her previous work with Cargill, Syngenta Canada, and Nutrien Ag Solutions. She also had a nine-month work term on a dairy farm in New Zealand, milking cows and caring for calves.

Jack was an active member of her local 4H club for over 10 years and held a number of executive positions.

Contact Information: Cin dy.Jack@gov.mb.ca, 204768-0534.

Kristen Bouchard-Teas dale is returning to the de partment as Livestock and Forage Extension Specialist in eastern Manitoba, work ing out of the Beausejour office bringing extensive experience working with livestock producers.

She was the department’s livestock and forage special ist in St. Pierre-Jolys for five years and also held roles as a livestock nutritionist and Environmental Farm Plan program officer.

Bouchard-Teasdale has an Animal Science degree and Masters of Agriculture from the University of Manito ba. Working with Dr. Kim Ominski at the university, she researched the impact of

tannins in the diet on the performance and meth ane production of steers. Prior to completing her degree, Bouchard-Teas dale also worked on beef cattle pasture field trials at the university. She has taught courses in the Diploma of Agriculture program and prepared course materials for soil health workshops at the university.

She grew up on a cowcalf farm near Fisher Branch and continues to help her parents with their farm operation. In her free time she enjoys travelling with her fam ily, improving her Span ish speaking skills and growing a ridiculous amount of pumpkins and gourds.

Contact Information: Kristen.BouchardTeas dale@gov.mb.ca, 431337-1688.

Approaching for MBP’s Environmental Stewardship Award

Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) is accepting applica tions until Friday, December 9 for consideration for the lo cal awarding of The Environ mental Stewardship Award (TESA).

Since 1996, TESA has rec ognized producers who go above and beyond standard industry conservation practic es and set positive examples for other cattle producers and the public. As stewards of a vast portion of the Canadian landscape, Canada’s beef cattle producers play a sig nificant role in protecting and enhancing the environment. They continuously strive to improve existing stewardship conservation practices to cre ate a sustainable future – al ways farming for tomorrow.

At the local level, a pro ducer receives provincial rec ognition for their outstanding environmental contributions. In the case of Manitoba, this occurs in conjunction with MBP’s annual general meet ing in February. All provin cial award recipients then move forward to compete for national recognition from the Canadian Cattlemen’s Asso ciation (CCA). The national TESA recipient is announced during the CCA’s semi-an nual meeting at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference.

Each nominee exemplifies significant innovation and attention to a wide range of environmental stewardship aspects in their farm opera tion. Such innovations ex tend beneficially to areas far beyond their land, including water, wildlife and air.

All beef cattle operations in Canada are eligible to ap ply for TESA. Beef producers interested in TESA can apply by filling out the application form found at mbbeef.ca.

Producers can either nomi nate themselves, or be nomi nated by another individual or an organization. All methods are equally encouraged. The completed application form, along with all supporting documentation (such as let ters of support, photos and/or videos), is to be submitted to Manitoba Beef Producers by email to info@mbbeef.ca no later than 4:30 pm on Fri day, December 9. If you have questions, please contact the MBP office at 204-772-4542.

Optimize Moisture Content of Your Lactation Dairy Diets

The concept of feeding TMR diets formulated with ensiled forage was intro duced to dairies across Can ada in the early 1990s. Until then most dairy producers fed their cows dry hay, followed by a scoop or pull (parlor) of grain ration. At the time, I re member on a visit to eastern Canada; newly made TMRs for lactating dairy cows, contained corn silage, some alfalfa or grass hay and grain ration. A handful sample was fluffy and seemed to be dried-out. As a result, the milk cows had a field-day and sorted them, extensively, which made cases of severe acidosis, LDAs and low but terfat quite common during these early TMR days.

Shortly afterwards, adding water directly to the mixer wagon became a common practice in order to increase the density of dry diets, which stopped most of these diges tive upsets and milkfat prob lems. Subsequently, a num

ber of field trials attempted to prove the optimum moisture content for lactation dairy TMR diets. These research ers discovered that this actual value fell upon a wide range around 50% moisture, which was dependent upon: forage types, ensiled feeds, types and the kilos of grain/concen trates fed, plus particle-size of feeds, mixing protocol and feed-bunk management.

Besides the cow shows you whether this 50% moisture rule works for them or not.

By nature, the palatability of their diet tends to improve and they tend to increase their “as fed” intake, when a couple of hundred pounds of water are added to a dry diet.

However, cows often frus trate the dairy producer to no-end, when they consume more TMR, when its mois ture comes from adding more wet ensiled feeds compared to adding water with a rubber hose.

Adjusting the moisture/wa

ter content by either manner of a dairy TMR will also prevent a lot of “sorting” by lactating dairy cows at the feed bunk. On occasion, I will see milk cows at the feed bunk toss a mouthful of dry TMR up in the air toward their backs and lick up the trashed grain and concentrate particles that fall out right in front of them. So, it is much harder for them to separate out a well-mixed lactating TMR as the research shows that is about 50% moisture.

In order to achieve this goal, dairy producers can add up to 7 kg (15 lbs.) of water per lactating head into a TMR diet to bring its moisture con tent into this optimum range.

As a dairy nutritionist, I often take several steps back and I want know the moisture of all ensiled feeds that are formulated in the final TMR in the feed-bunk. That’s be cause even modest changes to the moisture content of en siled forages such as corn si lage can significantly change the amount of nutritious feed (contained in the dry matter part of the ration) eaten by lactating dairy cows, which ultimately is turned into milk.

are consistently around 52%, which means that his current dry matter intake is about 54 lbs. per cow. Regardless, he gave me a new corn silage sample and a new final TMR mix to be sent to a certified feed laboratory to verify their moisture contents.

It’s a good practice imple mented on his farm, because a few years ago, this produc er was in a hurry and added new corn silage at the rate of 40% to the lactation diet without a proper moisture test. He wrongfully assumed that it had a moisture content of 65%, but in reality, it con tained 70% moisture. This meant that the final dairy diet was wetter by 2%, which dropped the average dmi of his herd. Within a couple of days, there was a loss of 5 lbs. of milk per lactating cow, before the producer re alized what was happening (re: 1 lb. DMI = 2.5 lb. milk produced, source: University of Illinois). Luckily, he took corrective action.

Are You Growing Lettuce Indoors?

By Joan Airey

Dave from Sage Garden Greenhouse says the best way to grow lettuce indoors is to grow baby greens rather than full heads. Baby greens are leafy crops sown densely and harvested 21 to 28 days later. You can grow greens in a window that receives sunshine or under lights.

He says the basic requirements for growing leafy baby greens are: a compost organic potting mix, a shallow container with drainage holes and a minimum 2-inch depth is required, organic lettuce seeds ideally looseleaf type but small butterhead and romaine varieties also work. Full spectrum grow-lights help lettuce develop quicker but it will grow in a bright sunny window.

I have parsley and strawberries growing under lights and plan to start lettuce later this week. Sage Garden Greenhouse has seeds on sale this week.

I noticed recently that T&T Seeds and Vesey’s have advertised that their catalogues have gone to print so if you aren’t on their mailing list and would like a cata logue check out their websites or find them on Facebook. It might be only November but I’m looking forward to receiving my catalogues to plan my garden early. I have been a customer of T & T Seeds for fifty years and have always received great service. Vesey’s have given me great service too but my main order is for the Winnipeg based company.

The latest issue of The Prairie Garden 2023 about Climate Aware Gardening was launched on Sunday in Winnipeg and would make a great Christmas gift for any gardener. An article by Tiffany Grenkow on gardening in our dry year of 2021 and another article by Marilyn Dudek on milk jug lettuce caught my eye.

I contacted Tiffany Grenkow this morning about her ar ticle and her comments were, “Yes my article was about my struggling 2021 garden (aka my worst garden ever). I wanted to let readers know that even experienced gar deners get frustrated when facing challenges related to climate change but we shouldn’t take it personally and don’t have to give up on growing.”

Even modest changes to the moisture content of ensiled forages such as corn silage can significantly change the amount of nutritious feed (contained in the dry matter part of the ration) eaten by lactating dairy cows, which ultimately is turned into milk.

No guesses allowed! This means that I rely upon a proper laboratory feed or home-determined (Koster) analysis. On a recent farm visit to a 325-cow dairy the producer gave me a re corded – 7 days of ‘as fed’ feed intake for his lactating cow herd of 229,400 lbs. or 104 lbs. per head, daily. His TMR moisture (Koster tests)

This testament demonstrates that optimizing the moisture content in lactation dairy diets is very important in achieving optimum dry matter intakes in lactating dairy cows. With the advent of robot-milking barns, it also is true; balanc ing the PMR, aside from the robot-pellets should still be moisture-balanced with the “50% moisture rule”, which also holds water.

Manitoba Crop Alliance Announces Crop Committee Delegates

The Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) recently announced the results of the nomination process for delegate positions on its four crop committees. The nomination period ran from September 1 to October 30.

In total, 17 farmer members were nominated for the 17 available delegate positions across the four crop commit tees and are thereby elected by acclamation. Among those 17 delegates, seven are new to their respective committees and 10 are incumbents.

“As a farmer-driven orga nization, MCA relies on crop committee delegates to direct our crop-specific activities in research and market develop ment – as well as our Whole Farm Research and Research on the Farm programs – and

determine how check-off dol lars are best invested,” said MCA CEO Pam de Roc quigny. “I would like to com mend everyone who put their name forward for taking on the responsibility of repre senting their peers and help ing to guide the direction of our industry.”

Delegates for Corn are Doug Martin (East Selkirk), Jono than Hodson (Lenore), Rich ard Dureault (Fannystelle) and Warren McCutcheon (Carman) who were nominat ed for the four available crop committee delegate positions. They will join Carl Bangert (Beausejour), Hubert Preun (St. Andrews) and Emile Morin (Otterburne) to form MCA’s corn committee.

Standing for Flax are Darcy Unger (Stonewall), Eric Frid

finnson (Arborg), Leigh Smith (Oak Lake) and Nick Mathe son (Stonewall), nominated for the four available crop committee delegate positions. They will join Dean Buchanan (Crystal City), Lance Bierens (Winnipeg), Jack Hodgson (Roland) and Lorne Johnson (Arborg) to form MCA’s flax committee.

Sunflower representatives are Darcy Watson (Ros sendale), Dave Van Buuren (Pipestone), Gregg Fothering ham (Reston) and Mark Mc Donald (Virden) who were nominated for the four avail able crop committee delegate positions. They will join Ed gar Scheurer (Dugald), Ko rey Peters (Randolph), Myles Kubinec (Holland) and Sally Parsonage (Baldur) to form MCA’s sunflower committee.

Wheat and Barley delegates Brad Myskiw (Warren), Rob ert Misko (Roblin), Ryan Hueging (Woodlands), Scott Mowbray (Cartwright) and Wilfred Harder (Lowe Farm) were nominated for the five available crop committee del egate positions. They will join Boris Michaleski (Ashville), Fred Greig (Reston), Josee Saquet (Laurier), Rauri Qual ly (Dacotah), and Sheila Elder (Wawanesa) to form MCA’s wheat and barley committee.

The new delegates will join their respective committees in January 2023.

MCA also gave thanks out going delegates Drew Baker (wheat and barley), Gilbert Sabourin (sunflower), Roger Vaags (sunflower) and An drew Harris (flax) for their service and dedication.

This edition is loaded with brilliant insight and help ful information from gardeners who’ve endured the extremes of prairie summers. “Climate Aware Garden ing” is very on point right now and “The Prairie Garden 2023” edition is right there by our sides for reference.”

Gift certificates from seed companies or local green houses are a great gift for gardeners. Last year my daughter-in-law purchased metal garden stakes for me for a Mother’s Day gift. A gift I really appreciated be cause we have a dog that steals garden stakes and chews them.

Two books just released that I found interesting were “A Gardener’s Guide To Botany” which is not just an other book on how to grow plants but instead it’s a lush ly illustrated botanical journey into what makes plants tick written in laymen’s terms that are easily understood and appreciated by all gardeners. The second book is “The First Time Homesteader” by Jessica Stewards. Even though I have been gardening for over fifty years I found the chapter on gardening and the recycling one extremely interesting.

The Prairie Garden 2023 issue is a great book for Man itoba Gardeners. “A Gardener’s Guide to Botany” is for those who want to know how plants grow and “The First Time Homesteader” is for those that the title says it is for. All great gifts for gardeners.

I brought a planter of strawberry plants in the house two weeks ago and already they are flowering under grow-lights. Will write in a future article whether they were a success or not. Planting lettuce indoors is on my to do list for the weekend.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy holiday season.

New gardening books.

Photo by Joan Airey

Manitoba Crop Alliance Accepting Bursary Applications

Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) is now accepting bursary applications for the 2022-23 school year.

MCA established the bursa ry to assist with the financial needs of students who are enrolled in a post-secondary agricultural program within

the province of Manitoba.

Bursaries valued at $2,000 each are available and will be awarded to six students who have completed their first or second year of post-second ary education at the college or university level (diploma or degree) and are enrolled

full-time for the 2022-23 school year in an agricultural program within the province of Manitoba.

Students must also have achieved a minimum cumu lative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0; have an inter est in wheat (spring or win

ter), corn, barley, flax or sun flower crops, or agriculture in general, as demonstrated in a brief, one-page letter; are from a farm that is a member in good-standing of MCA (inquire at hello@mbcro palliance.ca); and have not previously been awarded an

MCA Bursary.

Bursary applications are available at mbcropalliance. ca. Applicants must submit an application letter and tran script. Successful applicants will be notified by Febru ary 10, 2023 and announced at MCA’s Annual General

Meeting (AGM) on Febru ary 16.

Applications must be emailed to Katherine Stan ley at katherine@mbcropal liance.ca with the subject line “MCA Bursary Applica tion 2022-23” by January 13, 2023, at 4:30 pm CST.

Soil Sensor Yields Beneficial Information for Farmers

If you’re a gardener, you know that planting seeds in the ground doesn’t always mean you’ll have a good yield at the end of a growing sea son. On a personal level, this can be disappointing. Farm ers are in charge of growing dozens to thousands of acres of food. And, they face the same variability in the plant ing, growing, and harvesting processes as gardeners do.

Agronomists and soil sci entists research best practices for farmers to help them make informed decisions on man aging their fields and crops. Rintaro Kinoshita and a team of researchers determined that a tool, an “apparent electrical conductivity sensor (ECa),” can give important insights into farm field management.

Kinoshita is an assistant professor at Obihiro Univer sity of Agriculture and Vet erinary Medicine, Japan, but performed this research while working at Cornell Univer

sity, United States.

“In larger farms there are factors that limit yield, or cause variations in yield within a field,” said Kinoshi ta. “Understanding these fac tors is crucial for optimizing resource investments and fi nancial returns. It also helps avoid adverse environmental effects.”

Of course, the soil and its characteristics are some of the most important factors to farming. Spatial varia tion of crop yield is largely dependent on three factors: topography, soil, and pests/ diseases. The soil factor is important and one that farm ers can manage.

Farmers often rely on soil tests to understand the prop erties – but these take time and are expensive.

Kinoshita and the team used sensor-based technologies that can collect various crop and soil information, without digging up the soils. These

sensors are portable with the help of farm equipment like tractors, and provide critical information. In order to cali brate the information, they compared their sensor data with that from soil samples.

The team studied 26 corn fields in two contrasting geo graphical and topical areas.

The apparent electrical con ductivity sensor (ECa) was the most successful in estimating soil properties compared to the soil samples taken. These sensors were able to predict soil texture – especially at dif ferent depths, and available water content. Since water is the only conducting phase, measurements of soil prop erties that affect water avail ability can be predicted us ing ECa. The measurements related to soil moisture and corn yield, which is valuable information for farmers.

The team also tested other technologies, but the findings were not as conclusive as the

apparent electrical conductiv ity sensor. An advantage to collecting sensor measure ments is that it is timely, usu ally taking 1-2 hours per fifty acres. Soil core testing, on the other hand, can take weeks to sometimes months depending on the soil properties.

“I chose to use the ECa sensor because it can mea sure soil properties in deeper layers (subsoils), where it is usually ignored for soil man agement but a very important reservoir of plant available water, “said Kinoshita. “This can be critical under vari able weather conditions, es pecially drought, to stabilize crop yield and maintain high yield.”

Kinoshita explained it is im portant to start paying more attention to deeper soils to better manage crops, and for that the ECa sensor can be very helpful in revealing soil conditions that would other wise be very difficult to see.

CSGA Launches Canada’s First Online Seed Learning Platform

The Canadian Seed Grow ers’ Association has launched CSGA Learn, Canada’s first online seed learning platform offering education resources for the seed sector.

CSGA Learn offers ten comprehensive online cours es curated to meet the Cana dian seed sector’s real learn ing needs, with each course focusing on a particular as pect of the seed system. Seed sector experts developed the learning materials based on the official Canadian Nation al Occupational Standards for seed production.

As the first link in the agrifood chain, the vital role of Canadian seed growers and seed businesses cannot be underestimated. Seed grow

ers are highly skilled individ uals running complex opera tions that produce the highest quality seed in the world.

To ensure success, seed growers and their teams must be up to date on seed production standards, regu lations and procedures, and best management practices for Canada’s seed sector. De veloped in partnership with the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, CSGA Learn closes that Ca nadian seed production learn ing gap. CSGA Learn’s digi tal approach ensures equal access to seed-specific train ing across the country, help ing seed growers stand out in the modern marketplace.

“Investing in ourselves,

our teams, and our seed busi nesses through continuous professional development is crucial,” said Caroline Lafon taine, COO at CSGA. “CSGA Learn provides training op tions that help fill a void in the Canadian seed sector. CSGA Learn is a step towards ensuring the seed sector is equipped with people with the right skill sets and knowledge required for a next-generation seed system.”

Professional development benefits through CSGA Learn include enhanced per sonal confidence, additional seed business prospects, demonstrating a commit ment to Canada’s seed qual ity, purity and innovation, and ensuring employees are

current on best production practices. Learn more and enrol in CSGA Learn materi als at csgalearn.ca. Additionally, to help growers market their seed production knowledge and experience, CSGA provides digital badges to those with CSGA accreditations, in cluding current Accredited Plot Growers, Recognized Plant Breeders and CSGARecognized Associate Plant Breeders, and now Accred ited Seed Growers. Digital badges serve as an online credential demonstrating an earned accomplishment or skill. They can be displayed, accessed, and verified online to distinguish oneself as one of the best in the seed sector.

Western Barley Growers Share History

The Western Barley Grow ers Association (WBGA) is pleased to announce the pub lication of “Western Barley’s Legacy, The History of the Western Barley Growers As sociation 1977-2022”.

For more than four decades the WBGA represented farm ers across the prairies, chal lenging the status quo on mar keting, transportation, safety net programs and research. They protested injustice and fought for marketing choice. They made a difference, and in doing so, provided a lega cy for future generations.

Told in their own words, “Legacy” chronicles the many important endeavours of what the Calgary Herald

once described as a “brash, young organization” as they represented farmers, speak ing as a single voice and having a say on matters that affected their livelihood. No topic was taboo, no challenge too great for “A bunch of dissatisfied farmers who felt they weren’t getting a fair shake from the CWB and the grain companies,” accord ing to Lloyd Groeneveld, the WBGA’s first elected Presi dent. From early beginnings in a small community hall in Carseland, to the Canadian Prime Minister’s office, and the negotiating rounds of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, the members of the WBGA rose

to the occasion.

“We wanted to document the history of our association for future generations,” said Brian Otto, Past President of the WBGA. “All of the members and directors over the years took a lot of pride in the work they were doing for farmers, so we decided to write a book and tell the story.”

“No one expected it would take 35 years to get rid of the Canadian Wheat Board mo nopoly,” said Doug Robert son, WBGA President. “But our determined membership never gave up the fight for marketing choice.”

The 81/2 x11 coffee-table style book is now available

in both hard cover and paper back versions and can be pur chased online from Amazon (eligible for Prime shipping) or ordered directly from most book stores.

A penetrometer placed in a corn field after harvest to measure soil hardness. Where the portable sensor could not estimate yield, the penetrometer was useful in identifying low-yielding areas.

Manitoba Funds Food Currency Program

The Manitoba government is providing almost $1.1 million over three years to Direct Farm Manitoba to sup port its Manitoba Community Food Currency Program, which works to improve food security for Manitobans in need while also supporting local agri-businesses.

“As exceptional inflationary measures continue driv ing up the cost of food, more Manitobans face the bur den of being unable to meet their own and their family’s nutritional needs,” said Agriculture Minister Derek Johnson. “This unique food currency initiative helps ensure Manitobans in need have reliable and equitable access to healthy food that promotes their well-being, while simultaneously supporting farmers markets and local agri-product businesses.”

Direct Farm Manitoba launched the Manitoba Com munity Food Currency Program in 2020 as a communi ty-building initiative that aimed to empower Manitobans facing food insecurity by providing food currency that can be used to purchase locally produced fruit, vegeta bles, meat and processed foods at farmers markets.

The Province’s funding will ensure 700 families in the province benefit from the program annually over the next three years, noted Johnson.

Community-based social service organizations will identify families disproportionately affected by inflation and in need of healthy food. Each family will receive $28 in food currency per week for 14 weeks ($392 in total) during the summer market season from late June to early October.

With up to 26 participating markets, the initiative will support families in Winnipeg and in rural areas, noted Johnson. In addition to supporting families, the program increases sales for vendors at farmers markets, helping to strengthen their economic viability and the viability of the markets, added the minister.

“We are thrilled to see the program expand, build ing on its previous success, with this support from the province,” said Kristie Beynon, executive director, Di rect Farm Manitoba. “With the price of food skyrocket ing, an increasing number of Manitoba households are struggling with food insecurity. This program increases access to healthy, local food for those who need it most while supporting our local farmers and farmers markets and building stronger communities. It really is a winwin-win.”

The investment in the food currency program builds on the Manitoba government’s ongoing effort to help fami lies make ends meet, noted Johnson.

The $87-million Family Affordability Package un veiled in August 2022 provides benefits to families with children, seniors living on fixed incomes and Manito bans most in need.

“This additional investment under our government’s Family Affordability Package is truly a wonderful initia tive,” said Johnson. “Families in need will have greater access to fresh, local food and farmers markets while agri-product businesses will realize increased sales.”

More information about the Manitoba Community Food Currency Program can be found at directfarm manitoba.ca/programs/farmer.

Western Barley’s Legacy, The His tory of the Western Barley Grow ers Association 1977-2022

Soil cores collected from the same farm fields. The research team compared results from soil tests to the finds from various sensing technologies to determine which were the most accurate.

Photo Credit: Rintaro Kinoshita

A Lasting Impact: Microplastics Settling into Soil

Whether we like it or not, plastic is a major part of our lives. The production and use of plastics has been found to create a problem because “microplastics” are accumu lating in our soils.

Microplastics are tiny parti cles of plastic debris that are often found in the environ ment. Less than 5,000 micro millimetres in size, they are the result from the disposal and breakdown of consumer products and industrial waste. With limited studies of the impacts on the environment, researchers in Europe wanted

to dig deep to learn how mi croplastics may impact the flow of water through soil.

Andreas Cramer, a re searcher from ETH Zurich in Switzerland, and his team believe that high amounts of microplastics in soil cause the soil to repel water. This is because plastics do not wet easily. Overall, their experi ments tested soils with vari ous amounts of microplastics to see how water hit the soil surface and flowed through the soil.

The research team found that, in large quantities, mi croplastics begin to impact how water flows through soil. Fortunately, it is not likely that an entire area, such as a crop field, will contain this high amount of microplastics.

However, their data also showed how microplastics can concentrate or pool in certain areas, rather than be ing evenly distributed. This can cause issues in the soil in particular spots that have higher concentrations of the particles.

“If we take the example of an agricultural field, the uneven distribution of mi croplastics might cause an uneven distribution of water through the depths,” Cramer said. “Consequently, this could eventually impact the root architecture of plants. Spots with higher levels of microplastics in the top layer of soils could impact water availability for shallow root ing plants and, down the line, also nutrient availability.”

He added that a worst-case scenario would be something like a dry “dead zone” where microbial activity is signifi cantly reduced as well, which can impact the decomposi tion of organic material.

The scientists’ imaging techniques showed how water infiltration can be locally im peded because water doesn’t flow into regions with high levels of microplastics. In stead, it flows around them,

which traps air. This results in an overall decreased water content and a slowing down of water filtering into the soil as well as changes in water configuration, so where water ends up.

“Average levels of micro plastics are unlikely to occur in large volumes of soils at the higher levels we studied,” Cramer explained. “However, we expect uneven distribu tion of microplastics in soils.

Consider agricultural mulch film pieces incorporated into the soil. These pieces become brittle over time and fall apart, turning into particles within the pore space creat ing hotspots of microplastic content. Or if you think about deposition of airborne micro plastics. They will be collect ed in rough areas of the soil surface.”

Cramer said to think of water repellency like when a potted plant with extremely dry soil is finally watered. The water ponds and needs time to soak into the soil. Mi croplastic could increase this surface water repellency. And while he said more research is needed, this could be im portant in the context of cli mate change where extended periods of heat are followed by heavy rainfall events. He wants to investigate possible impacts of microplastics in this process.

Cramer also wants to ex plore how long microplas tics may repel water if they break down over time, as well as if what a microplastic is made of makes a difference. He also said he is working to spread awareness of what microplastics are among fel low scientists and the general public.

“This work is contributing to the awareness of society about impacts on the environ ment,” he said. “It is helping us realize the urgency to im prove waste management sys tems and human behaviours that contribute to contaminat ing the environment.”

Andreas Cramer sets up a soil sample in front of the neutron beam. Neutrons are coming from the right side and the detector is to the left behind the sample. Neutron beams are used to image the movement of water through a soil sample containing microplastics.

A lot of infrastructure is necessary to keep systems and laboratories, such as the one used in this work, running safely. To measure the water flow of soil contaminated with microplastics, a team in Switzerland is using radio active neutrons. Scientists must be aware of their exposure to radiation, meeting safety protocols to limit to a safe level. Photos by Andreas Cramer

Overwinter Your Beef Cows with Best Nutrition

By Peter Vitti

Many beef producers con firmed a surprising number of open-cows after they brought them home, this fall. I spec ulate that not enough last year’s winter-feed, a recordbreaking cold winter and a wet spring failed to prepare many beef cowherds for good conception rates.

Fortunately, most people now have good feed invento ry, which I am confident will help overwinter their cow herd in the necessary body condition for upcoming calv ing and breeding seasons.

It’s no secret that a good calving/breeding season de pends upon these beef cows meeting their basic energy re quirements at all times. This increases by at least 50% from early gestation to the day of calving. It is estimated that a 1,300 lb. mature-brood cow requires about 52 – 55% TDN during her last-trimester of pregnancy. Protein, miner al and vitamin requirements also increase, but their rise is no more than 15 – 25%.

We also must provide beef cows with a supply of ex tra dietary energy to guard against the cold winter-chill temperatures. Subsequent

university research has come up with a cold weather rule of thumb as follows: for every 1 °C drop in temperature below 0 °C, the beef cows’ TDN energy maintenance require ments are increased by about 2%.

Although, this is only an estimate and is based upon effective air temperatures, producers can also utilize windchill temperatures with out adjustments, if their cow herd has little shelter. This means that if our early morn ing windchill temperature is -25 °C, there is an increase of about 50% in the cows’ en ergy needs.

The only way we are really going to know that overwin tering beef cows are getting enough energy from their feed is if they can maintain an autumn BCS of 5 – 6 until calving time and right after wards (Note – 1st calf-heif ers should calve out a BCS of 6.0). In the end, all cows with this optimum body condition will have fewer calving prob lems, then better colostrum/ milk production and later-on - fewer days to active estrus, and higher conception rates.

Fortunately, during a typi cal Canadian winter, the

It’s no secret that a good calving/breeding season depends upon beef cows meeting their basic energy requirements at all times. This increas es by at least 50% from early gestation to the day of calving.

cowherd also acclimatizes to cold weather. For example, a friend of mine that operates a 200 cow-calf operation no tices that when temperatures dip down to -25 °C his cows eat at least a third more feed, only limited by the size of their bellies. Its science’s way of telling us that heat produc tion of the cow (at the cellular level) becomes a metabolic priority to help keep them, warm.

As a beef nutritionist, it is now my job to provide the best overwintering diets, re spectively. I do primarily fo cus upon the energy aspects of these diets, but I don’t forget to feed enough dietary

protein, especially in the diets that contain low-protein straw (6% protein). That’s because, I want to also meet the protein requirements of the cow’s ru men microbes that drive for age and grain fermentation that unlock dietary energy for late-gestating cows. Further more, I put together a win ter-mineral, which is fed at about 100 grams per day with elevated levels of trace-min erals, especially copper and vitamins A and E.

Consequently, here are some of my suggested dry lot diets that demonstrate the increase in the overall winter plane of nutrition fed to 1,200 lb mature cows and 1,100 lb replacement heifers for the next few months, before calv ing (See Table 1).

This is only a sample of diets that are actually fed to overwinter beef cows in dry lot. Yet, the same philosophy holds true, whether produc ers are overwintering their cows in a standing cornfield, swath-grazing pasture or dif ferent feeding program. That is - the main purpose of any good winter-feeding strategy is to increase the cowherd’s plane of dietary energy in order to maintain vitality and optimum body condition and to help them cope with frigid weather. Its payoff is to be ready for a successful calving and breeding season.

RBC Report Says Agriculture Needs to Cut Emissions and Up Production

By Elmer Heinrichs

A new report by RBC said Canada’s agriculture sector needs to increase food pro duction while also investing in sustainability to reduce emissions.

The report in collabora tion with the BCG Centre for Canada’s Future and

the University of Guelph’s Arrell Food Institute said Canada needs to increase its food production by a quarter by 2050 just to maintain its contribution to feeding the world’s growing population.

However, it said the sector also needs to cut emissions which currently produce 93

mega tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions a year, more than 10 per cent of Canada’s output.

The report said that through technology, finance, and policy, Canada’s agriculture sector could cut up to 40 per cent of potential 2050 emis sions.

Some key solutions iden tified in the report include regenerative agriculture techniques like carbon cap ture, controlled environment agriculture such as in green houses and vertical farms, and technology deployed in everything from crop genet ics to soil testing.

Family Favourites

By Joan Airey

I’m hoping everyone has a great family holiday sea son. Around our house that means getting together with family and friends. Sorry I don’t have any photographs but the recipes are simple and have been made for years in our home so well-tested.

With the holiday season fast approaching, I’m sharing this month a recipe for Slow Cooker Dressing.

Slow Cooker Dressing

1 cup celery, chopped

1 cup onion, chopped

1 Tbsp. poultry seasoning

1 teaspoon salt 10 cups bread, cubed 1/4 cup butter

1 Tbsp. chicken bouillon

1 1/2 cups water

Sauté celery and onion in butter. Put in slow cooker and add all other ingredients. Mix well.

Cook in slow cooker on low for 5 to 6 hours.

Loaded Cauliflower has great flavour and the recipe can be halved if you aren’t feeding several people.

Loaded Cauliflower

1 large head of cauliflower cut in bite size pieces (approximately six cups)

6-8 strips of bacon cooked and crumbled 1/2cup of chopped onion

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups Colby Jack Cheese or Cheddar 8 oz. sliced mushrooms

Preheat oven to 425 °F (218.333 °C)

In a large pot boil water and cook cauliflower for 8 to 10 minutes.

Drain and let cool.

In a large bowl combine sour cream, mayonnaise, half of crumbled bacon, onion, 1 cup shredded cheese, mushrooms, cauliflower and mix well.

Place in large baking dish (9” x 13”) and cover with remaining cheese and bacon.

Bake for 30 minutes until cheese is melted.

Here’s a fudge recipe that is fast and simple I use it when I want a small batch.

French Fudge

3 cups chocolate chips Pinch of salt

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Melt chocolate chips in microwave or in top of dou ble boiler.

Stir in condensed milk, salt and vanilla. Stir until blended.

Pour into an 8 by 8-inch pan lined with parchment paper. Chill until firm.

Turn out onto cutting board, peel paper and cut into serving size pieces.

Table 1. *Nutrient value and cost per ingredient are estimated and varies among farms and regions.

A Hundred Years of Getting it Done

By Les Kletke

As the year draws to a close, we have thoughts of things that happened, some big some small, and for me this was the first time in over 40 years that I did not have a newspaper waiting for a column somewhere. This year there were none, but old habits are hard to break and I still carry a pen and note book with my camera bag in the truck.

It was the last days of Oc tober and I told Sandra that I was going out to our farm. Somehow 40 plus years of marriage brings an under standing or at least tolerance of things that might not make sense to anyone else.

“If you want to,” she said and rolled her eyes to say that she did not understand why I would drive two hours to a farm that we had rented out for the last three and half de cades, and it had been almost as long again since we had lived on the yard. It was now a row of six steel bins and 4 collapsing wooden structures that at one time was a barn, machine shed and a couple of granaries.

The same family had rented it for all those years and it was now into the third generation of operators. I had started with Grandpa, then Dad who now made the decisions, and today it was the son who was operating the combine.

I explained to my wife that Gilbert, the son, said they had corn on it. This is the first time there has been corn on that land and so I decided that I would like to be there when they harvest it. That probably only made sense to me, but she let it go.

I had always felt some tie to the piece of land and earlier this year began proceedings to have it declared a Century Farm. To qualify a family has to maintain continuous own ership of the parcel of land, and we qualified since Dad had bought it prior to 1920.

I set out on the two-hour trip and at about the halfway mark stopped to visit some friends in the Amish commu nity near Vita.

We exchanged pleasant ries and some background on German and Amish peo ple. Rudy was a new friend ever since the previous week when I stopped him on the road and asked about how bindering was going and how the Amish harvest corn.

I took a few pictures of what my Dad called stooks, and which Josh called Shocks (an Ontario term). We discussed the virtues of the Internation al Harvester binder which had earned the nickname Corn Binder for the entire company because of its ability to work in corn stalks.

I told him I was heading to my farm to see the corn har vest and he said his son would be working at the threshing machine later that afternoon. I asked if I could stop by and he offered no refusal.

He asked where my farm was. “An hour straight west,” I said, and only when I was driving away did I think of the folly of that statement, as an hour in a pickup truck is entirely different than an hour on a buggy. An answer in distance would have made much more sense.

When I got to our farm, a quarter section was already completed and the combine was working around the yard site and struggling with the rows going every which way. Jayden said I was wel come to ride with him and he was tolerant of all my ques tions and observations, even though he had a full time job working the joy stick and trying to keep the combine header poking through the rows of corn.

“I seeded this,” he said. “At the time I thought what a puzzle it would be to harvest and felt sorry for that guy.”

“Now I am the one here,” he chuckled.

We rode around the yard site and got to some longer rows. The monitor indicated that the yield was around a hundred and fifty bushels an acre and I thought about when I left the land to work in farm radio. In those years, 100 bushels an acre won the provincial yield contest. Now yield had topped 200 bushels an acre routinely.

“How big is the grain cart?” I asked.

“About 1,500 bushels,” said Jayden. He read the look on my face and said “Yep… that about fills a semi.”

That explains why there were 3 trucks waiting on the yard. I thought about when we got the steel bins that were no longer used.

“Those bins didn’t hold 1,500 bushels each when we built them,” I said. “Now, that is your grain cart.”

He smiled the smile of a young man who knows it is best to let the old guy just ramble about how things used to be.

When I was leaving the yard after a few more pic tures, Jayden’s dad, Gilbert, came by and reminded me of a time about 20 years ear lier when I had done a story about him using sunflower pans on the header to take off his first corn crop.

“It must have worked,” he said with a chuckle, “now we are growing corn here.”

He had to hurry off to his home yard site and make sure things were working with the drying system. Jayden may have been handling the maze of rows, but Gilbert was fac ing the challenge of tech nology and keeping a grain drier running at capacity that would allow him to finish the last field of corn.

I got into my truck and found my notebook and scribbled some notes and quotes. It was an hour later that I pulled onto the Amish yard with the threshing ma chine. It was an hour’s drive

but it may have been a hun dred years. There were 4 hay racks with oats bundles wait ing – one was parked paral lel to the threshing machine which was not running.

“They are fixing the belt,” offered my friend from the morning’s conversation.

“We just got started and the belt tore.” We talked about how it would be fixed, rivet ing a hinge-looking contrap tion into the belt and joining the two ends. I was familiar with the process of using a long drive belt from my early days on the farm when we still crushed feed for live stock. I believe we called it a splice.

“Sounds like someone was on the job before me,” said my new friend whose beard was devoid of even a hint of grey.

It was not long before things were operational. My friend pulled his wagon in on the other side of the threshing machine and began pitching bundles, alternating with the pitcher from my side. I got up on the wagon and gave it a try. I had noticed that they always fed the head of the crop in first, as it “threshed better that way.”

I spent an hour or so watch

ing the process and doing my best to stay out of the way.

I took a few pictures, being careful not to get the men’s faces in them (okay a few) and then I headed back to my truck to head home.

As I made my way to the truck, my friend caught up to me with a question. “What was the name of the paper you wrote for?”

“The AgriPost, but I have not written for them this year,” I said. We both smiled and I offered him a couple of the energy bars I had in the truck beside my notebook. He smiled as he took them.

I headed home and thought about the day. Part of it on

a farm that has been in our family for 100 years, and another part harvesting the way my dad would have 100 years ago.

Some things don’t change much depending on the technology, as both were father and son operations and I knew there had been a father before that. Both had faced challenges with the equipment that day as they were trying to finish harvest before the rain forecast for the weekend. They were a whole lot closer to each oth er than they knew. I counted myself lucky to have been a part of both and in the same day.

The monitor says this years’ corn is yielding over 150 bushels an acre, not a record but respectable.

The modern grain cart now holds what was a full granary 40 years ago. Photos by Les Kletke

Pitching is an art in baseball or in harvest, and these two do it well.

Nothing is lost, grain in the wagon, and straw blown into the loft.