AgriPost December 31 2021

The AgriPost

December 31, 2021

Third Compensation Payment of DDPP

Solidarity Marks Year of Extreme Climate Events

This year, Canada’s farmers have been hit hard by extreme weather, including the drought across western Canada and in northern Ontario, and the flooding and landslides that struck British Columbia. Despite these challenges, many stepped up in solidarity to help their fellow farmers and ranchers from across the country.

During a recent event that included President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) Mary Robinson, the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, MarieClaude Bibeau, announced an investment of up to $4 million towards the CFA’s Hay West 2021 initiative.

Through Hay West 2021, the CFA is connecting eastern farmers with western and northern Ontario farmers in need of feed. The Government of Canada and corporate sponsors are helping to offset the freight costs to transport hay between those farmers.

In September, the government approved $1 million, which has helped transport approximately 150 shipments (5.6 million pounds) of hay to feed 16,750 cattle. Over the coming months, up to $3 million in additional funding will continue

Roger Parkinson, a western New Brunswick farmer was one of many eastern Canada farmers that answered the call to have hay delivered to western Canada due to the drought.

to support the movement of hay across the country.

Hay West is a beacon of solidarity during a year that has been marked by extreme weather events affecting the lives of Canadian farmers, who are on the front lines of climate change.

In response to this year’s historic drought, the worst in more than 60 years the Government of Canada and the governments of B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario came together to make available up to $825 million in cost-shared Agri-

Recovery disaster relief funding. This funding has already helped thousands of livestock producers, particularly cattle producers, cover the extraordinary costs they faced this year, including to obtain livestock feed, transportation and water. The federal and provincial governments also made changes to adjust the farmer income supports under the AgriStability program and, in the Prairies, to adjust the AgriInsurance program so that drought-damaged crops

could be used for feed.

The solidarity of Canadian agriculture can also be seen in B.C., where thousands of farms have been devastated by the effects of flooding and landslides, which have submerged crops and affected the welfare of livestock. Farmers and their communities, with the help of emergency forces, have succeeded in saving thousands of animals and helping many farmers with their urgent needs.

The third payment under the Dairy Direct Payment Program (DDPP) is now available to producers. The owner of a farm with 80 dairy cows will be awarded compensation in the form of a direct payment of approximately $38,000 each year.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has mailed letters to all eligible dairy producers with directions on how to access the payment. Based on their milk quota, dairy farmers will receive compensation payments totaling up to $469 million for this fiscal year. To receive their payment, producers must register through the Canadian Dairy Commission prior to March 31, 2022.

Another $468 million will be available in 2022-2023.

The Government of Canada continues to deliver on its commitment to provide $1.75 billion to dairy producers for market access concessions made under the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Payments are being made on an accelerated schedule of four years instead of eight, with all payments set to be made by 2023.

Earlier this year, the Government also launched compensation programs designed to help drive innovation and market development for Canada’s 4,800 chicken, egg, broiler hatching egg and turkey producers, totaling $691 million over ten years. The Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program will provide nearly $647 million to support poultry and egg farmers through on-farm investments. The Market Development Program for Turkey and Chicken will provide over $44 million to help increase domestic demand and consumption of Canadian turkey and chicken products through industry-led promotional activities.

These programs respond directly to requests from producer associations and provide full and fair compensation for market impacts from the CPTPP. To help processors of all supply-managed agricultural products adapt to CETA and CPTPP, Budget 2021 proposed a further $292.5 million for a Processor Investment Fund to support private investment in processing plants. Further program details are expected to be available in the coming months.

Within the next year, the Government of Canada is also committed to working with supply-managed sectors to determine full and fair compensation for the impacts of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

December 31, 2021

The AgriPost

Let Them Truckers Roll! Helping Beef Industry

By Les Kletke The mood was reminiscent of the C.W. McCall hit song when Mary Robinson President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and Federal Agricultural Minister Marie Claude Bibeau hit the air waves on December 15. It was about getting them truckers rolling.

The pair joined forces for a press conference announcing further support of $3 million from the Federal government for the Hay West 2021 program that is being administered by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA).

The program is intended to move hay from eastern Canada to the Prairies where producers are suffering a feed shortage because of the terrible drought.

Robinson, the president of the organization, said that the program had already moved 5.6 million lbs from the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario to producers in western Canada. At the time of the press conference 40% of the hay had gone to producers in each Manitoba and Saskatchewan with the remaining 20% finding its way to Alberta.

Robinson said using a transportation cost of 15-20 cents per pound the additional $3 million will mean an extra 15-16 million lbs can find its way to hungry animals west of Ontario.

“We cannot meet the demand we have for hay or the amount we have pledged but this is a great step,” said Robinson. “We do not

have a waiting list for the program because we want to keep it as simple and quick as possible but we know there are more farmers that need feed.” She said the program had supplied feed to 75 farmers in the initial round.

Producers who receive hay are charged 10 cents a pound for the feed which helps cover the cost of administration of the program by the CFA. Robinson said farmers with water available and breeding stock are being prioritized for receiving feed. She estimates the need for feed at this time exceeds 100 million lbs.

The program is accepting donations from producers in eastern Canada but stresses moldy hay is not acceptable, it uses the valuable limited resources of the program and does not provide the farmers of western Canada with any usable feed stuff.

While both Robinson and Bibeau said the program was valuable in helping western Canada producers they agreed it did have some feel good value for the producers who donated hay to it as well.

One area where she faced questioning at the end of the press conference and did not have as an optimistic answer was regarding the export of PEI potatoes to the US. “We are in negations and the lines of communication are open,” said Bibeau.

“But I am not hopeful we will be able to reach a conclusion before year end.”

Meet Consumers’ Demands for a Sustainable Product

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau; Bob Lowe, President, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association; and Carley Henniger, President, Young Cattlemen’s Association.

Recently during the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) directors meeting in Ottawa, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced nearly $200,000 in support of their Verified Beef Production Plus (VBP+) program and remote auditing.

The VBP+ program is a voluntary certification program administered by the CCA to certify beef cattle operations meet high standards for food safety, animal care and environmental stewardship.

“VBP+ is one of the tools beef producers can use to ensure consumer trust and help our industry meet ambitious national strategy goals, which will help us meet beef demand well into the future, explained Bob Lowe, President, Canadian Cattlemen’s

Association.

“Increasing efficiency in certification infrastructure and delivery enables VBP+ to keep producer costs reasonable while on market opportunities.”

The funding will go towards a web portal and an app for remote audits, which will make it easier for cattle producers to access the VBP+ program. The funding announced yesterday brings the total Government of Canada investment into VBP+ and its environmental component, the Certified Sustainable Beef Framework, to $1.9 million.

With over 1.6 million cattle already under the management of certified VBP+ operations in Canada, this announcement will help more cattle producers meet market demands for sustain-

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau.

ably raised beef. Canada’s livestock producers and processors have built a strong reputation for delivering high-quality, safe and delicious beef. As shoppers in Canada and around the world increasingly look in grocery store aisles for sustainable and humane food options that ensure animal well-being, it is more important than ever to raise awareness of the beef industry’s commitment to animal care, biosecurity and environmental stewardship practices.

Beef production contributes approximately $21.8 billion to Canada’s GDP (20182020 Statistics Canada/Canfax averages).

In 2020, Canada exported 425 million kg of beef to international markets, valued at $3.26 billion.

Submitted photos

The AgriPost

December 31, 2021

Case of Variant Influenza Virus Identified in Manitoba Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development advises a new case of a variant H1N2 (influenza A) flu virus has been identified. The case has been reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada in accordance with international health regulations.

This flu virus is related to influenza viruses that circulate in pigs. Influenza viruses from pigs do not normally infect humans. However, sporadic human infections with influenza viruses that normally circulate in pigs have occurred. When this happens, these viruses are called ‘variant viruses’.

This human influenza A(H1N2)v appears to be an isolated case. The current assessment is that there is no increased risk to Manitobans, Canadians or the food supply chain at this time.

The virus was detected in October after the individual independently sought testing after developing an influenza-like illness. The individual experienced mild symptoms, was tested and then recovered. The test came back negative for COVID19, but was later identified as a case of human influenza A(H1N2)v through regular influenza surveillance processes.

The individual had direct exposure to pigs. Based on available evidence, the current assessment is that there is no increased risk to people, with no evidence of human-to-human transmission at this time.

The virus is not a food-related illness. It is not transmissible to people through pork meat or other products that come from pigs and there is no risk associated with eating pork.

Health officials, in conjunction with Manitoba Ag-

riculture and Resource Development, have performed a public health investigation to determine the source of the virus and have not identified any further spread.

The province will also continue working closely with the Public Health Agency of Canada and other partners across Canada to share information about this case.

Anyone who works with pigs or poultry, has influenza-like symptoms and is seeking testing or treatment is reminded to identify themselves as an agricultural worker to medical officials including at COVID-19 testing sites. This will help to identify any potential additional influenza cases.

Sporadic human cases of variant influenza have been reported over the past decade in North America. Human influenza A(H1N2)v is rarely seen in humans. One case was reported in Alberta in October 2020 and one in Manitoba in April 2021.

In most cases, variant flu viruses have not shown the ability to spread easily and sustainably from person to person.

Health officials advise the detection of these cases could be occurring for a number of reasons including that increased respiratory surveillance for COVID-19 and influenza has been occurring during the pandemic.

It is also possible that there is a true increase in the number of these cases, possibly occurring from exposure to infected pigs or through subsequent, limited human-tohuman transmission.

The increased respiratory surveillance currently done for COVID-19 and influenza allows Manitoba to continue to monitor for any new cases.

While rare, influenza can spread from pigs to people and from people to pigs. It is important for people who have contact with pigs to take measures to reduce the spread of influenza viruses between pigs and people.

Additional tips to help reduce the risk of spreading influenza viruses include: - Do not take food, drink or other items into pig areas and do not put anything in your mouth in pig areas; - Avoid close contact with pigs that look or act ill or are known or suspected to be sick. This includes minimizing contact with pigs and wearing personal protective equipment like protective clothing, gloves and masks that cover your mouth and nose when contact is required. Call a veterinarian if you suspect illness in pigs; - Wash your hands often with soap and running water before and after exposure to pigs. If soap and water are not available, use an alcoholbased hand rub; - Avoid contact with pigs if you have flu symptoms; and - Anyone who is at high risk of complications from influenza should avoid pigs and pig barns. If you develop flu symptoms, call a health-care provider and tell them about your exposure to pigs.

The same influenza antiviral drugs used to treat seasonal flu can be used to treat variant virus infection.

In April, Manitoba reported two separate cases of variant influenza viruses found in two unrelated individuals in different communities in southern Manitoba. One was a case of human influenza A(H1N2)v and one was a case of human influenza A(H1N1)v. In June, Manitoba reported an unrelated case of H3N2 variant influenza.

Pembina Valley RCMP Respond to Fatal Farm Incident On November 25 at approximately 4:45 pm, Pembina Valley RCMP received a report of an incident involving a young child and

a tractor. When officers arrived on scene, the two-yearold boy had been pronounced deceased.

Initial investigation has de-

termined the child was riding on an open tractor with no cab with an adult male. He fell from the tractor sustaining fatal injuries.

More Herd Drought Assistance Available

By Les Kletke The Manitoba Government has announced a third program to help the province’s livestock producers deal with the impact of last summer’s drought.

The Federal and Provincial government’s Herd Management Drought Assistance Program developed as part of AgriRecovery under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership agreement, with funding shared on a 60-40 federal-provincial basis, is in addition to the Livestock Feed and Transportation program and the Livestock Transportation Drought Programs announced earlier.

The program will assist produces in offsetting the replacing of breeding animals when culling numbers are above the normal due to shortages of winter feed.

The program will provide assistance to purchase replacement breeding females and retain replacement females from their existing herd or flock.

To qualify a producer must be over 18 years of age and either an individual or in a partnership, corporation, or cooperative.

They must be liable to pay income tax in Manitoba under the Income Tax Act. To qualify breeding females of beef cattle, bison, sheep, goats or elk must be owned by the applicant. They must be mature females that have been exposed to breeding.

To be eligible the females must be sold between March 16, 2021 and March 15,

2022 and contribute to a decline in the applicants inventory of breeding females on March 16, 2022.

Replacements that qualify must be mature cows, ewes, does, or bred heifers or lambs, or purchase of females that will be bred by January 31, 2023. Animals retained from the applicant’s herd or flock must be bred for the first time by January 31, 2023.

The dates that will be used for the program to establish the number of animals will be March 16, 2022 and January 31 2023.

Payments for beef cattle, elk or bison will be $250 per head and $50 her head for sheep or goats. The payments are capped at levels when animal numbers are restored at pre-drought levels.

Application packages will be available on January 10, 2022 on line at Manitoba Agriculture or in person at AR DI offices.

The application is a two step process and the first step of the application must be submitted by March 16, 2021. The deadline for applying under the programs will be February 17, 2023.

The program may be used in conjunction with other programs and is intended to return the provinces breeding herd numbers to pre-drought levels. Animals culled under the Herd Management Drought Assistance will not be eligible under the other two programs. It is part of AgriRecovery which is a disaster relief framework under the Canadian Agriculture Partnership.

The AgriPost

December 31, 2021

The Case for CRISPR

Read the AgriPost Online www.agripost.ca

Is it time to loosen up some of the regulations and restrictions around the editing of plant genes? Cameron English, a prolific science journalist, thinks so, and he makes a case for that in a December article for the “Genetic Literacy Project.”

English starts out with a simple but provocative statement: “Very little about modern life is natural and it’s time we all got over it.” Maybe not a controversial claim in the agricultural world, but it challenges the beliefs of much of today’s society, where the mantra “natural is better,” particularly regarding food, holds sway.

An example of the latest genetically altered marvels are high blood pressure-fighting tomatoes that Japanese consumers have been able to buy for a while. Americans, meanwhile, have been eating heart healthy oil from modified soybeans for a couple of years. And we’re all well

aware of similar features found in canola oil for quite some time.

While it’s true that a lot, even most of what happens in the lab mimics what happens in nature; critics really don’t give a hoot. They say that “calling the latest gene technologies natural is a semantic distraction - they must still be regulated.” But they have other concerns as well, including “scale of use,” the thought that, the more widely a particular technology is used, the greater the risks to humanity and the environment. In short, the more we use it, the more they want to tighten the noose so that we can’t.

English points out a problem with this line of thinking. It’s not based on our real-world experience: “The most significant issue with a scale-based regulatory approach is that it’s a reaction to risks that have never materialized,” he says.

And he’s not the only one saying this. A biologist, Dr. Henry Miller, and a legal scholar, John Cohrssen, write in Nature: “After 35 years of real-world experience with genetically engineered plants and microorganisms, and countless risk-assessment experiments, it is past time to re-evaluate the rationale for, and the costs and benefits of, the case-by-case reviews of genetically engineered products now required by the US Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Agriculture and US Food and Drug Administration.”

Pushing the argument from the sublime to the ridiculous, English shows that there are serious people who compare modern day plant-breeding to the atomic bomb. “Imagine if other technologies with the capacity to harm were governed by resemblance to nature,” he argues. “Should we deregulate nuclear bombs because the natural decay

chain of uranium-238 also produces heat, gamma radiation and alpha and beta particles? We inherently recognize the fallacy By Rolf of this logic. The tech- Penner nology risk equation is more complicated than a supercilious ’it’s just like nature’ argument.”

It’s a good example of why employing gene editing to sometimes analogies do more improve our food supply and to muddy the water than they treat disease far outweigh the do to clarify. Are we are to potential risks, which we can believe that a tomato de- mitigate.” he says. signed to make a bit more of This is a perfectly sensible a particular amino acid is the way to look at these sorts of equivalent of the bombs that things. It’s the type of comblew up Hiroshima and Na- mon-sense approach we just gasaki? Its theatre of the ab- don’t seem to adopt these surd designed to push emo- days. He’s also right about tional buttons, not something how much of modern life reto be taken seriously. ally isn’t “natural” and thank In his concluding remarks, goodness for that. Without Mr. English points to others all this wonderful technolwho would like us to think in ogy we’d be naked, cold and terms of risk-benefit analy- afraid right now instead of sis, and he agrees with this safe, warm and getting fatter approach. “The benefits of by the minute.

Penner’s Points

Let Go of the Past and Focus on the Future When I look back at 2021 and look forward to 2022, I realize that the agricultural industry that I serve with humility and pleasure is probably about as well off as any sector of the economy worldwide. But, yes, 2021 had significant challenges from the cattle industry in Manitoba and across western Canada facing significant drought and breeding herd sell-off maybe 35 to 40 per cent.

Not good for those producers who sold off because of feed shortages. Yes, some government programs can help down the road, but in the meantime, I know of producers selling off their entire herd and at an age

that will make it difficult to come back into the business.

Hopefully, they can find gainful employment off the farm; in most cases both the husband and wife need to work often to pay back the debt incurred over the last three to five years.

There are areas of western Canada that saw next to no crops and regions with excellent crops. Yet, down almost 40 per cent of normal. High grain prices will help mitigate the crop short to some extent.

Pig prices are high but so are feed costs and other inputs, not to mention the current PEDv outbreak in Manitoba and the looming threat of African Swine Fever, Heaven forbid. At this writing, 27 hog farms have contracted the PEDv and that number is still climbing.

One of the biggest challenges that we face in rural Manitoba, especially in

southern Manitoba is the lack of runoff and empty irrigation storages and dugouts for livestock and other things. The potato crop suffered because of next to no runoff last spring, leaving the above-ground water storages empty.

In a Twitter farmer survey, farmers told me that aside from high fertilizer prices, a short crop in 2021, the lack of subsoil moisture is a concern for many. Yes, they tell me you never lose a crop in December, January through May, but prairie moisture is still at a premium. Fall rains and snow have helped, but the fields will need April showers for next year’s crops.

I’m happy to have mostly recovered from my fall over a year ago and the struggle with vertigo. What prolonged it was about the COVID-19 virus that zapped my energy like a suction pump. When

my family doctor spoke with me the day I tested positive, he said, “Harry, when your body tells you to sleep, sleep.” And sleep I did.

Fortunately, I work from home and have no farm meetings in person, so I covered them via Zoom online sessions. Once I overcame the fact I can’t see those people in person and yes some of those online presentations get pretty tedious, but driving hours on end to attend in person made working from home a breeze.

Let me finish with a few New Year’s quotes to let you get off to a fresh and good start in early 2022.

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

“The magic in new beginnings is truly the most powerful of them all.” - Josiah Martin.

“The first step towards

getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” -J.P. Morgan.

“New year -a new chapter, new verse, or just the same old story? Ultimately we write it. The choice is ours.”- Alex Morritt.

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” -Thomas Jefferson.

My favourite is the motto I developed for myself back in 1986 when at a crossroads in my life. “A positive mental attitude to encourage, serve and inspire others will motivate me to do my best.”

I must say it did its job by motivating me to do my best in serving my fellow human being and walking in step with my creator. He gives me the reason to do what I do with enjoyment and humility day in and day out.

So, may you let go of the past and focus on the future.

The AgriPost

Bibeau Announces AgriCommunication Initiative The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, MarieClaude Bibeau, has launched the AgriCommunication Initiative, which will contribute to better connecting Canadians with Canada’s farmers, and the vital role they play in our food system.

The AgriComunication Initiative supports progress towards achieving the vision established in the Food Policy for Canada, that all people in Canada are able to access a sufficient amount of safe, nutritious, and culturally diverse food. Canada’s food system is resilient and innovative, sustains our environment and supports our economy. The Food Policy supports work on food fraud, food labelling, and food loss and waste, among other initiatives.

The AgriCommunication Initiative will have two streams.

The first aims to help Ca-

nadians better understand how their food is produced.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) will provide up to $8 million over three years to support projects that promote consumer awareness of the strengths of Canada’s agriculture sector. Projects will also help enhance Canadians’ trust in sustainability, animal care, and efforts to reduce food waste.

Also part of the first stream, AAFC will also launch communications and awareness activities in spring 2022 to highlight the sector’s efforts to adopt sustainable and environmentally friendly practices and technologies.

Meanwhile, work is underway to refresh the Canada Brand platform to ensure that food businesses and partners have access to new graphics and tools optimized for today’s digital platforms, enabling them to reach more

consumers and enhance virtual connections with international buyers.

This initiative was informed by public opinion research, focus groups, and consultations, including engagement with the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council, as well as industry and provincial organizations “Agricultural awareness, sustainability, and the fight against climate change have been top of mind for the youth council since its inception. We, as farmers and members of the agri-food sector, need to be able to make meaningful connections with Canadians; never before has the divide between society and agriculture been so large,” said Jerry Bos, CoChair Canadian Agricultural Youth Council. “Our future, and the future of agriculture, depend on a strong and vibrant relationship between people and their food. I look

forward to the AgriCommunication Initiative enhancing trust between farmers and consumers.”

The second stream of the AgriCommunication Initiative will focus on increasing the sector’s understanding of consumer preferences and expectations. More details on these efforts will be available in the coming months.

Eligible recipients include not-for-profit associations and Indigenous groups. The program will also support agricultural fairs and exhibitions which have broad agriculture awareness mandates.

Applications for the program will be accepted until September 30, 2023 or until otherwise announced or until funding has been fully committed. The program ends March 31, 2024. Funding for projects will be through a cost-share ratio, with AAFC typically covering 70% and the recipients covering 30%.

Sometimes You Just Know

Have you ever happened into one of those situations where you just know. It may be that you know you are there to take part or it may be that you know it is time to step back, the other people in the room “just have this” and you are better off to not get in the way. It is not rude or demeaning in any way, you just know.

Last month, I attended the AGM of Nuffield Canada, it has been a few years since I have attended one since the move across the country, and I have not been particularly active in the organization for the past couple of years.

Ryan Boyd has become a popular presenter on the meeting circuit.

Three scholars who have completed their study presented their final reports at the 2021 Nuffield Canada annual meeting

It has been 26 years since I completed my scholarship and 25 since I delivered my report at the annual meeting.

Like most new scholars I was ready to get involved and give something back to the organization, so I attended the annual meetings, served a term or two on the Board of Directors and tried to help raise funds for current and future scholars. Like any other group it faced a chronic shortage of funds and that held back a lot of activities that should have proceed.

The scholars from the late ‘90s came with a basket of new ideas and heard the gray beards say, “We tried that a few years ago, and it did not work!” They were probably right but nothing will dampen someone’s enthusiasm faster than hearing that a few times.

So we tired and the torch was passed to another group of young scholars and I heard myself thinking exactly that same line, and said it was time to step back from the organization. I was nothing but a dark cloud on the horizon and I recognized it.

Well the meeting was in Winnipeg last month and the new Executive Director phoned and asked me to attend, how could I say no to that. I went to the meeting determined to sit quietly and not judge. Those of you

that know me, know that is not an easy task for me to commit to. I have been blessed with an ability to judge quickly and to share my opinion easily.

I kept my word, and sat at the back table, with a few other balding overweight gentlemen and the meeting went well. The AGM showed a steady if not strong financial picture, a crop of 6 new scholars (twice the usual) was unveiled and as I picked up my papers at the end of the meeting I looked over to the gentleman on my right.

“Isn’t that something,” he said right out loud. “Not once did I hear, oh we tried that, and it did not work. I see twice as many scholars and they are full of p… and vinegar and ready to go.

This was a great meeting, this outfit is in good shape.”

I looked at him and nodded, we sat down to confirm what we had seen and felt about the future.

On the drive home and over the next couple of days, I thought about what we had seen in that room. It is not just Nuffield Canada, it is many Ag organizations, and it is not just non-profits. It is our industry that is in the hands of some pretty good people who are ready to take over.

We may wonder what the next year will bring and there

will be some hardships I am sure, but there are people in place that will handle it.

Sometimes you just know, that things are going to be alright. This is one of those times, and I feel pretty good about the future, even without me trying to play a role, or maybe that is why.

John Cote followed his wife as a Nuffield Scholar and operates a distillery in Saskatchewan. Cote said that the couple spent long hours trying to think of how they could differentiate the product from their distillery in the market place.

Mark Brock delivering his final report. Speaking of the practical application of farmer to farmer collaboration, Brock found it could help Canadian farmers improve their management skills but that could only come about if they were willing to share “their numbers and open their books to scrutiny by the group.”

December 31, 2021

Government of Canada Welcomes Auditor General’s Report on Protecting Food System Dear Editor: We welcome the Auditor General’s report on Protecting Canada’s Food System. We recognize the importance of the findings and accept the recommendations.

Since the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada has worked tirelessly to safeguard the health and well-being of Canadians.

At a time when we faced disruptions to food processing and production, and unemployment and wage losses led to increased risks of food insecurity, we took quick and decisive actions to protect Canada’s food supply.

The Auditor General’s report highlights the collaboration that is required to protect and strengthen Canada’s food supply. As the report notes, we drew on a strong foundation of existing programs and mechanisms to create new emergency food programs quickly, and we engaged broadly with stakeholders across the food sector.

To make sure Canadians had stable access to food, we rolled out programs to address issues across the food supply chain, from processing to waste management. We put measures in place to keep workers safe, provided funding to get food on the tables of people facing food insecurity, prevented good food from going to waste, and increased funding to make food and other essential items more accessible and affordable for residents of isolated northern communities. The government further supported locally-led, innovative projects to ensure individuals and families had access to healthy and affordable food in their communities.

Food systems are essential for the health and wellbeing of Canadians and the strength of our economy.

We are committed to working across all levels of government and with stakeholders to better plan and prepare for future crises affecting the food system.

The Government of Canada is committed to fairness, accountability, and performance measurement in program design and implementation. We also recognize the importance of collecting and reporting on data on Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) and sustainable development objectives in government initiatives, to ensure that we respond to the needs of diverse groups of Canadians, and take into account the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

As we move ahead in our efforts to strengthen the food supply chain, we will grow from the valuable lessons that we have learned during the pandemic. We will continue to work collaboratively so that all people in Canada are able to access a sufficient amount of safe, nutritious, and culturally diverse food, and so that Canada’s food system is resilient and innovative, sustains our environment, and supports our economy.

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau The Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Joyce Murray The Minister of Northern Affairs, Daniel Vandal (joint statement in response to the Auditor General’s report on Protecting Canada’s Food System)

December 31, 2021

The AgriPost

Labour Shortages Limit Agriculture’s Growth Potential Support Focuses on Pork Producers’ Growth and Protecting Against ASF Funding of more than $4.6 million has been announced for three projects to grow the pork industry within Canada and in international markets, and to help farms continue to ensure high levels of safety in the face of the threat of African swine fever. These investments build on Canada’s internationally-renowned reputation as a supplier of high-quality and sustainably-produced pork products.

African swine fever (ASF) is a contagious and deadly viral disease affecting both domestic and feral swine.

ASF is not a threat to human health and cannot be transmitted from pigs to humans, nor is it a food safety issue. Since 2018, ASF has spread through parts of Asia and Europe, and was most recently detected in the Caribbean. It has never been found in Canada or the US. Through the federal government support of more than $3.2 million, Canada Pork International will undertake export market development initiatives to maintain and improve access to international markets, and develop promotional activities and tools to increase market share in priority markets.

Funding of more than $550,000 will support the Canadian Pork Council’s national marketing activities to increase consumption and value domestically.

This funding will also support the Council’s work to enhance international relationships and coordination with members across the value chain. These projects are supported under the federal AgriMarketing Program.

“We are pleased with the investment to increase domestic pork consumption and to better prevent and prepare for the eventuality that an African Swine Fever outbreak could occur in Canada,” said Rick Bergmann, Canadian Pork Council Chair. “Canada’s pork producers look forward to continuing to work with Minister Bibeau to increase our sector’s resiliency and advance our contributions to Canada’s environmental, economic and social sustainability.”

“AgriMarketing funding has been fundamental in the development and promotion of a Branding Canada approach to earn consumer trust and build brand equity in Canadian pork products at home and around the globe,” added Trevor Sears, President & CEO of Canada Pork International. “This funding will also help us tell the remarkable story of how the Canadian pork industry has grown in a sustainable manner, while contributing directly and indirectly to almost 100,000 jobs in Canada.”

During the recent video address, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau also announced an additional $850,000 for the Council to help industry prevent and prepare for African Swine Fever. This builds on previously announced funding of more than $3.8 million for the Canadian Pork Excellence platform, which integrates three principal onfarm programs, PigSAFE, a food safety and biosecurity program; PigCARE, an animal care program; and PigTRACE, a traceability program. These projects are funded through the federal AgriAssurance Program.

L-R Rick Prejet, current chair of Manitoba Pork, and Cam Dahl, GM. Cam Dahl stressed that we do need to showcase agriculture and what an interesting career it can be. Manitoba Pork posted an article on the labour crunch faced by Canadian agriculture, highlighting shortages.

Last year, a Canadian Agricultural Resources Council survey showed that 40 percent of agricultural businesses did not meet their staffing requirements leading to over 135 thousand open positions by the end of the decade.

By Harry Siemens Cam Dahl, the general manager of Manitoba Pork, warns that the labour shortage facing agriculture limits the sector’s growth potential and causes some operations to question whether they can continue to operate.

Manitoba Pork posted an article on the labour crunch faced by Canadian agriculture, highlighting shortages. Last year, a Canadian Agricultural Resources Council survey showed that 40 percent of agricultural businesses did not meet their staffing requirements leading to over 135 thousand open positions by the end of the decade.

Also according to the report rural populations continue to drop, leaving fewer people that grew up on the farm available to continue with that work. As well, it is harder to convince urban Canadians to come out and work on the farm because it is not seen as skilled work or as a career and that is something that needs to change.

The COVID situation brought the labour shortage to a head with shortages on farms in the barn and feed mills, a lack of livestock veterinarians and short of people to work in processing plants.

No doubt it will inhibit the growth of agriculture production and processing said Dahl. “If agriculture producers or value-added processors can’t get the people they need to run their plants and their farms, they’re not going to take advantage of some of those growth opportunities,” he said. “So that’s a real problem for Manitoba and the Canadian economy as a whole.”

“In some cases operations question whether to go forward if they can’t have or find the labour and the skilled workers to carry on with their operations; some are even going to close down. It’s critical,” stressed Dahl. “We do need to showcase agriculture and what an interesting career it can be, whether it’s on the cutting edge of genetics or animal care or nutrition or

marketing, agriculture is a fascinating place to be and people don’t understand.”

It is starting to get attention though. The recent Federal-Provincial and Territorial Ministers meeting in Guelph included labour and labour-related issues as priorities.

“We see groups in Manitoba come together, and the commodity groups formed a labour task force under the Keystone Agriculture Producers umbrella to tackle this issue,” said Dahl.

“So there is recognition of how serious the problem is by the industry coming together to look for solutions.

It is on our political leaders’ radar screens; we just don’t have those solutions to put in the window quite yet.”

While specific to the agricultural industry it also affects the public because agriculture is such a driver of the economy in Manitoba. Dahl referenced the investments coming because of Manitoba’s growth and swine production, “The $35 million plant outside of Plumas that the swine

genetics company Topigs is investing in, the 300 plus jobs at Maple Leaf in Winnipeg because of the expansion of the valueadded processing,” he said.

“These are real jobs, a real boost to the economy that is coming about because we have that critical mass of production here in Manitoba and that avenue for investment.”

If that investment does not happen and it creates a bottleneck of labour shortage it will affect investment in rural communities and in cities, and that is what drives economic growth and more jobs. “So it should concern all Manitobans,” said Dahl.

He said people could contact Manitoba Pork or any commodity organization like Keystone Agriculture Producers because the industry will tackle it on many fronts whether it’s through building the profile of agriculture as a career or agriculture in the classroom.

“So, anybody that’s able to help out, we’d gladly take on the volunteers.”

Cam Dahl, the general manager of Manitoba Pork, said that in some cases operations question whether to go forward if they cannot find the labour and the skilled workers to carry on with their operations.

Submitted photos

The AgriPost

How Gene Editing Helps Farmers and Consumers

By Sylvain Charlebois With gene editing on the verge of being accepted in Canada, the way we communicate risks through food labelling needs to change.

Health Canada is reportedly likely to treat gene-edited crops differently than genetically-modified crops, or GMOs. That would be the right move.

That means the oversight provided by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency would look very much like what we see for conventionally-bred crops.

This issue is obviously far removed from consumers, but it will certainly affect them.

Genetic modification is different from gene editing. Genetic modification typically involves artificially inserting genes into the genome of a plant or animal. Gene editing can instantly, in a very targeted way, edit parts of a genome by eliminating, correcting or adding sections to a plant’s DNA. Gene editing typically doesn’t involve introducing genes from other species, but these techniques allow quite complex control of an organism’s genome. With gene editing, many years of research can be saved by doing similar adjustments through conventional breeding.

Biological and anti-GMO enthusiasts will claim both are the same. They simply aren’t.

Many countries, including some in Europe, are rewriting regulations for genetically-modified seeds to reflect what gene editing can do.

This biological compromise is different from unnaturally crossing breeds to create a new plant.

This is welcome news for everyone, including consumers who barely understand the ramifications of such a decision.

Gene editing will impact agriculture and make our farms more efficient.

Consumers will benefit from gene editing without realizing it. By making crop production more efficient, yields can increase while using less land, less water and fewer natural resources.

Gene editing can make agriculture even more sustainable.

By tweaking the DNA of plants, crops can adapt faster to climate change, a huge boost for a sector highly vulnerable to Mother Nature’s wrath. Plants can be designed to resist drought, diseases and pathogens, helping farmers in Canada and other parts of the world where farmers are often impoverished by climate change. Banana production is a good example.

In addition, gene editing can change the nutritional composition of a plant for the better. For plant-based aficionados, protein content in crops can be increased to make processing products

more efficient and cheaper.

Fat content in crops can also be lowered, which would mean less processing for the food we buy.

The food we waste is the one bill we never get but always pay as consumers, and gene editing can help on that front, too. Lettuce, mushrooms and tomatoes would have a longer shelf-life as they could ripen later. Supply-chain woes are shortening the shelf-life of many foods we buy at retail. Gene editing can help.

If you have allergies or intolerances, gene editing can also play a role. For example, non-gluten wheat can make bread and pasta edible for those who suffer from celiac disease. More than three million Canadians say they have at least one food allergy and a million others have food intolerances. Science can make some food less frightening for millions of Canadians. The possibilities are endless.

But gene editing is no panacea for all our ills in food.

Fear-mongering groups have already started to express concerns about gene editing.

And to a certain extent, these groups are right that more research is needed and that we should move forward with extreme caution. Nothing is absolute or perfect in science, and we need to appreciate the risks involved with gene editing over time.

The other challenge is

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

transparency. Every day, we’re exposed to food products that include genetically modified ingredients without knowing where they are.

Over 75 per cent of food products sold in Canadian grocery stores can contain some genetically-modified ingredients but labels make no mention of it. There’s a good chance, for example, that you’ve eaten genetically-modified salmon without knowing it. That’s perfectly legal.

To get consumers to befriend technologies that make agriculture more efficient and more beneficial for us all, the least we can do is let consumers appreciate how farmgate practices upstream benefit them.

It’s a concern that the majority of consumers don’t care about or they don’t understand these technologies.

For more awareness, identifying genetically-engineered or edited ingredients at retail is the least we can do.

Drought Cuts Into 2021 Prairie Crop

By Elmer Heinrichs Canadian farmers produced more corn for grain but less wheat, canola, barley, soybeans and oats in 2021 compared with 2020.

Lower yields were driven largely by drought conditions in Western Canada, which resulted in lower production.

Despite favourable spring seeding conditions across most of Canada, extremely hot and dry weather impacted crop development during the growing season in western Canada.

Warm and dry conditions throughout the fall provided farm operators the opportunity to complete harvest well ahead of the normal time frame across much of the country.

Because of challenging growing conditions, several major field crops grown predominantly in western Canada experienced their largest year-over-year yield decrease on record, falling to levels not seen in more than a decade.

The latest crop report from Statistics Canada does not come as a surprise to prairie farmers. Production fell more than 35 per cent this year to its lowest total since 2007.

It was hardly a banner year for canola, which fell to the lowest levels since 2007 with a 35.4 per cent drop in production. The national canola crop is estimated at 12.6 million tonnes, with an average yield of just 25 bushels an acre. Heat and

dry conditions had the greatest effect in Saskatchewan, with an average canola yield of 22 bushels an acre.

Despite Manitoba’s harvested canola area increasing by 0.3 per cent to 3.4 million acres, yields fell by 28.3 per cent resulting in 29.7 bushels an acre.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, however, as StatsCan said corn production increased by 3.1 per cent to 14 million tonnes, despite a 1.3 per cent drop in harvested area across the country.

Manitoba’s soybean production fell by just over 17 per cent even though farmers harvested more land; yields are down 27.3 per cent to 27.1 bushels.

The oat crop is small and a little bit lower quality over-

all as the heat stressed the crops. Harvested oat acres were down 15.4 per cent to 2.7 million, while yields dropped 32.6 per cent to 61.5 bushels per acre.

Total field crop production in Canada is estimated to have declined by 30 per cent, with western Canadian production declining by 40 per cent due to severe drought and eastern Canadian production rising marginally due to favourable growing conditions.

The economic outlook, for the world and Canadian grain markets, is expected to be affected by the domestic and international uncertainty caused by COVID-19, rising energy prices as well as increased fertilizer and transportation costs.

December 31, 2021

CGC Proposes Regulatory Changes for Fair Grain Transactions The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) is proposing to update and improve producers’ access to grain grading dispute resolution, commonly known as “Subject to Inspector’s Grade and Dockage.”

The CGC is proposing to extend the time frame in which producers can exercise their right to dispute a primary elevator’s grade and dockage assessment.

Producers would be able to dispute their grain’s grade and dockage even if they are not present at the time of delivery, as many producers hire truck drivers or commercial hauling services to deliver their grain. The changes would add some flexibility for producers and elevators to agree to location and timing on sample retention, while also specifying that samples must be retained for at least 7 days (unless otherwise agreed to) to give producers time to consider grading results and trigger dispute resolution.

If a producer disagrees with a Canadian Grain Commission-licensed primary elevator’s assessment of their grain, they have the right under the Canada Grain Act to request that a sample be sent to the Canadian Grain Commission for a decision on grade and dockage.

The proposed amendments to the Canada Grain Regulations would clarify that producers can dispute an elevator operator’s grade and dockage assessment even if they are not present at the time of delivery. Additionally, the proposed changes would specify that samples must be retained for a minimum of seven days or until an agreement on grade and dockage has been reached between the elevator and the producer. Samples would no longer need to be taken in the presence of the producer, unless the producer requires it.

“The proposed improvements would be an important first win for grain farmers, in response to the feedback we received during the Canada Grain Act review consultations,” explained Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. “Our government will continue working with the Canadian Grain Commission to modernize the Act to benefit Canadian grain farmers.”

The proposed changes are in response to feedback from producers, producer associations and elevator operators about grain grading dispute resolution received during the recent Canada Grain Act review consultations. While work continues on the broader response to the Canada Grain Act consultation, the Canadian Grain Commission is moving to address specific feedback on “Subject to” within its existing regulations.

“The Canadian Grain Commission is moving quickly to respond to grain sector feedback and make improvements for producers within our current legislation,” said Doug Chorney, Chief Commissioner, Canadian Grain Commission. “We look forward to engaging with our stakeholders across the grain sector to make sure ‘Subject to Inspector’s Grade and Dockage’ keeps pace with the changing realities of grain handling and delivery in Canada.”

The consultation is open until midnight on February 28, 2022.

Read The AgriPost Online at

www.agripost.ca

December 31, 2021

The AgriPost

Despite High Feed Costs, 2022 Price Outlook is Encouraging

By Harry Siemens The Director of Risk Management with Hams Marketing Services, Tyler Fulton recommends prudence to forward-pricing hogs for the first half of 2022.

Although cash hog prices continue to face the price pressure typically in the fourth quarter, things still look very good from a futures standpoint. With the US Thanksgiving holiday, which typically marks one of the lowest levels of cash pricing over the year, Fulton said that hopefully, some improvements would be seen.

“With so many moving parts out there, it seems unlikely that one can call the market and key in on the one factor that’s going to make the difference,” said Fulton.

“There’s just so much that’s so dynamic and so much we don’t know until it happens.”

With producers able to cover at today’s dollar value at around 20 percent to start; then build into that in increments if the price continues to make some improvements.

Fulton said there are scenarios where pigs are trading at close to $200 per head on average across the first six months of the year, which is good for the producer despite the higher feed costs.

The cash market has mixed influences with many factors with a split in the cash market with prices for contracted hogs holding up better than those delivered to the packing plants without any contracts in place.

With US hog numbers running three to four percent lower than one year ago, the industry manages the hog slaughter but is seeing significant seasonal price pressure.

“We see a split in terms of the difference in price for committed versus non-committed hogs,” he said. “Any references to pork cut-outs are holding up much better than those delivered into a US plant without any contract in place.”

It is that segment of uncommitted hogs and generally a tiny portion of the whole supply that’s draw-

ing things down. “As we move up to these high production levels, it shows that the packers don’t want to pay that extra dollar for hogs that they need quite as much,” said Fulton.

While the futures still look good, feed costs and cost of production are extremely high given the high prices of soybean meal and corn, trading at close to $200 a pig on average across the first six months of the year. He said that is a good scenario to have even in the context of high feed prices, because there is still some opportunity there.

Florian Possberg, a partner with Polar Pork Farms in Saskatchewan, said although feed costs have more than doubled from a year ago, the outlook for North American pork producers for 2022 looks encouraging with the global supply of pork expected to be down.

He said that in October, China lost 1.2 million sows, equivalent to almost the entire Canadian inventory;

from last December to June, the European Union lost 250 thousand sows and hog numbers are down in the United States.

“In our back door here, our four-dollar barely a year ago is now over nine dollars and five and a half or six-dollar wheat is 11 dollars plus,” said Possberg. “So that’s our number one cost and globally feed costs have doubled or maybe even more.”

While circumstances stressed prices in some areas, the cost of producing hogs rose substantially, mainly because of feed costs. “Our hog price right now is probably somewhere close to what it was a year ago, but we did enjoy good prices during the summer,” said Possberg.

Our situation was different compared to China and the European Union, where producers will need to see significant profits before they rebound he explained.

“However, Canadian prices didn’t drop the production and we should be okay in 2022, maybe even into 2023

Tyler Fulton the Director of Risk Management with Hams Marketing Services says that hog producers should stay prudent when forwardpricing hogs the first half of 2022.

Photo by Harry Siemens

for a period.”

Other than China, which may expand its pig production rapidly if they get sig-

nificant profits, Possberg does not foresee a great deal of sow herd expansion in any other part of the world.

The AgriPost

Bean Crops Part of Solution to Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By Harry Siemens

Bean crops are paving the way for the future. For agriculture, the way forward is shifting to more climate-resilient crops. For example, beans, and other pulses, use less water than other crops and replenish the next crop’s soil.

Denis Tremorin, director of Sustainability for Pulse Canada described how people measure carbon emissions and greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, the primary greenhouse gas from crop production is related to fertilizer.

Manufacturing, especially nitrogen fertilizer, is a fairly intense process that requires

Denis Tremorin director of Sustainability, Pulse Canada said that the crop effectively fixes nitrogen from the air, using inoculants and soil bacteria eliminating nitrous oxide from the cropping system for a year.

Submitted photos

a lot of natural gas. In addition, the second element when applying these fertilizers to soils emits nitrous oxide.

“When growing pulses that effectively fix nitrogen from the air, using inoculants and soil bacteria, it eliminates nitrous oxide from the cropping system for a year,” said Tremorin.

According to Tremorin it’s essential to make the public and policymakers realize that farmers have an effective strategy to reduce emissions from the cropping sector.

However, farmers have done this for many years through growing pulses, and the concern is that policymakers do not seem to recognize this vast contribution.

Tremorin said the measuring system recognizes that pulses do not produce these gases and people within the government do the measuring. “So I think it’s more about acknowledging that this is a tool from a policy perspective. There are opportunities to invest at all government levels and from a corporate level to help grow this industry in Canada,” he said. “We have the secondlargest pulse industry in the world after India so we have

lots of leverage to grow.”

Pulses are a solution provider and investments are needed to grow pulses across a broader range of land in western and eastern Canada.

It aligns with the other strategies around reducing emissions.

There is growing recognition that this strategy is beneficial among policymakers provincially and federally.

“The question is what kind of investments do we need to make to help grow and diversify our sector in market development,” said Tremorin.

“We rely heavily on traditional markets that we export to and some aren’t very high value so we see a shift in our industry.”

There are questions to answer not just around developing the crop he said. There are investments needed in manufacturing as well by aligning the needs of companies such as the Roquette plant producing pea protein. Lately there is a growing interest in the Fava bean across Canada, but it needs some investments in breeding and agronomy that spurred the growth of peas, lentils, and dry beans.

While soybeans do the same thing, Pulse Canada as a national association does

not represent soy. But soy is a legume crop that fixes nitrogen in the same way.

Tremorin said the pulse industry has handled the latest disruptions well when India placed major blockages on imports for peas and lentils.

“Our industry has reacted well and we’re trying to align more with the interest of consumers and the public. Our industry is shifting to new markets either domestically or for export.”

The industry may not yet be fully aligned with government policy, but many companies that buy pulses have internal goals around greenhouse gas emissions while selling processed products he noted.

“We’re producing data sets nationally that show those companies’ pulses have a low environmental footprint,” he said. “And they can help you reach your goals whether it’s what you want to put on the label for a product or whether it’s the corporate goal you have as a company to reduce emissions. So this isn’t only about government policy; this is about a business. So how do we align to meet that need for information and help companies deliver on those commitments?”

Beans and other pulses use less water than other crops and replenish the next crop’s soil.

Canada Renews Support for Foodgrains Bank

By Elmer Heinrichs The Hon. Harjit S. Sajjan, minister of International Development and minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, recently announced that Canada is providing $75 million over 3 years to Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB).

Jan McIntyre, a long-time Foodgrains Bank supporter and farmer from near Clearwater, Manitoba, spoke at the announcement event.

She noted that “Not only does this [funding from the Canadian government] bring practical value; it also respects and offers dignity to the people of the countries and communities we help.”

She said the world is facing an unprecedented global hunger and malnutrition emergency. Assistance is required to help affected countries avert famine and to ensure that other countries do not reach those levels of food insecurity.

With this support, CFGB will provide much-needed food and nutrition assistance to help ease the suffering of people in emergency and acute hunger situations worldwide.

The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to exacerbate food insecurity, with at least 283 million people currently acutely food-insecure or at high risk of becoming so and in need of urgent assistance.

In response to the grow-

ing food-insecurity crisis in 2021, Canada announced $155 million in new funding in August 2021 to help avert famine in affected countries by supporting the provision of emergency cash or in-kind food and nutrition assistance, lifesaving integrated nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene interventions and critical nutrition interventions, such as vitamin A supplementation and school meals.

December 31, 2021

Expanded Financing to Unleash Young Farmers and Agribusiness Entrepreneurs The Federal Government has announced enhanced and expanded financing opportunities through Farm Credit Canada (FCC) for young farmers and young food business owners in an effort to unleash the ideas, passion and energy of Canadian youth in our worldleading agriculture and food industry.

The expansion of three FCC loans will help young farmers and those who are getting started or growing their business in the agriculture and food industry. FCC has increased the lifetime maximum amount it will approve for the Young Farmer and Young Entrepreneur loans from $1 million to $1.5 million.

The Young Farmer Loan Program offers qualified producers, who are under 40, loans of up to $1.5 million to purchase or improve farmland and buildings. The loan includes features to support their long-term success, including lower lending rates.

The Young Entrepreneur Loan offers financing of up to $1.5 million per qualified applicant, under age 40. It can be used to start or expand a business and to purchase shares in an agriculture-related business, including those in the agri-food sector. This access to capital will allow these businesses to take advantage of new opportunities, grow the economy and create more middle-class jobs. Features include no processing fees, preferential interest rates and up to 18 months to make a purchase.

Additionally, the eligibility and the lifetime maximum approval of the Starter Loan have been expanded and increased. The Starter Loan is designed to support new entrants into the industry, helping them build a solid credit rating and improve their financial literacy.

These enhanced loan products build upon other Government of Canada programs such as the Youth Employment and Skills Program, which has helped fund about 2,000 jobs for youth in the agriculture sector in 2021.

“One of the biggest challenges young farmers and entrepreneurs tell me they face is access to capital. These specialized loans mean the next generation will be better able to become established and contribute to Canada achieving its full potential as a leading food supplier worldwide and help maintain Canada’s position as a world leader in sustainable agriculture,” said MarieClaude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

“We have a strong and diverse industry and getting a good start will allow more bright and ambitious people to pursue their dreams.”

“By expanding and enhancing the Young Farmer, Young Entrepreneur and Starter loans, FCC is reducing the barriers for young people to enter or become more established in Canada’s agriculture and food industry,” said Michael Hoffort, FCC president and CEO. “Beyond offering greater access to capital, FCC provides knowledge and learning opportunities that support the growth of the next generation.”

Since April 2019, FCC has approved over 6,700 loans specifically tailored for young producers and entrepreneurs worth almost $2.1 billion.

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December 31, 2021

The AgriPost

Most Farmers in Western Canada Still Looking for Moisture

By Harry Siemens Agriculture Canada released a map showing the percent of normal soil moisture across Canada referred to as the drought model.

A survey of farmers on Twitter showed the map wasn’t what many had expected for their area but gave food for thought.

Jason Voogt of Carman, MB who operates Field 2 Field Agronomy tweeted that fall rains and snow have helped topsoil give a better start for seeding in 2022.

“Sub-soil overall still very depleted and will need more re-charge. Definitely a wide range in what we are seeing in moisture movement downward in the soil profile.”

David @privatecitizenn living in Winnipeg said, “That looks better than I expected. This snow then might be helpful. Let us hope for more snow lots of it.”

Ryan Hofford at Bowsman, MB said the subsoil moisture is in decent shape west of Bowsman, definitely better than what the Ag Canada map shows. “We had excellent snow cover until today’s [December 1] heat and rain.

Lots of moisture in the snow we have so far; I hope it keeps coming.”

Eldon Klippenstein who farms east of Altona, MB said moisture is ideal for spring seeding but will need more rain next year than in 2021 to pull off a good crop.

Jason Voogt of Carman who operates Field 2 Field Agronomy said that sub-soil overall is still very depleted and will need more re-charge.

Brian Kennedy with Alberta Cereals said, “We will need some April showers.”

Ken Foster at Arborg, MB tweeted, “I would say our subsoil is very dry which is unusual for the Interlake.

However, I feel good spring rains will come and make 2022 a different year than 2021. Got to stay positive to be in the business.”

Brendan Uruski @farmwithuruski said, “We are sitting good right now with a fair amount of snow cover. However, we will see how this winter and spring turn out because things can change quickly.”

Fraser Redpath at Mather in south-central Manitoba said the subsoil moisture is adequate. However, pasture ground needs some moisture to keep things going.

From the US, Cornbelt Marketing, Inc., Samuel B Hudson a marketing consultant at Brimfield, Illinois said @NASA #GRACE map offered a relatively normal look across most of the #Cornbelt. But dryness

Some Twitter users said that Agriculture Canada’s moisture map does not reflect what farmers are saying.

persists in parts of the west, including the Pacific Northwest.

Hudson said most producers were generally pleased with the soil and weather conditions for post-harvest fieldwork, except for those

spots that mudded harvest out. Ammonia and tillage work all but complete around Central Illinois.

Brett Adams north of Drumheller, AB said there is zero subsoil moisture. “The driest fall I have ever seen.”

Grayson Meaden, Ranchin’ the Snakebite Coulee Beechy, SK said the map indicates the yellow zone is in southwest Saskatchewan, but he put a septic tank in and didn’t find any moisture.

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December 31, 2021

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December 31, 2021

15

Turkeys and Grain Farming Go Hand-in Hand for Young Farmer

By Harry Siemens Brendan Uruski, who is 28-years old farms with his father Barkley at Zbaraz, MB within the RM of Fisher in the Interlake Region of central Manitoba about 126 km north-west of Winnipeg.

The Uruskis farm 2,300 acres and 160,000 kg of turkey quota where they grow and feed with the new batch coming in March 2022.

Usually, the farm has one hired man, but due to a bad experience early this year with him he was let go, so the father and son did everything this year.

They are looking for someone for next year.

While trying some new crops occasionally, for the most part, the crop rotation includes wheat, oats, canola, peas, and soybeans. “This year was like a year never seen before with; you’re watching the crops, they’re looking good. And it’s like, okay, we got some hope and the rains never came,” said Uruski.

The wheat yielded 30, and canola mostly zeroes with one field near 20, the same thing for oats 40, 50 bushels an acre when last year it was at 150 he said.

“It was not the year we were all hoping for, looking for, and especially with the high grain prices,” said Uruski.

“You look at last year and it’s like, we would’ve made, what was it 1,200 bucks an acre on our oats.”

Uruski thankfully did not forward contract any crops this year. He said that in some years, he watches how the market is looking before pre-booking too much.

For many years most, if not all their grain goes straight to Paterson Grain.

With 160,000 of turkey quota and 2,300 acres of crop the Uruski farm combines the income without incorporation and instead runs a partnership.

In 2008 and 2009, the turkeys kept the farm in business during wet years. During good times on the farmland they get into expansion mode.

Since Brendan returned to the farm in 2011 or ‘12, he noticed the combines were getting old, and they bought a new John Deere combine. “And since then, it’s just gone; we were I thinking around 1,400 acres, now 2,300. So we’re slowly trying to find acres, buying equipment, buying bins and putting up sheds,” said Uruski. “I’m hoping to get thousand-plus acres to get up to around 3,500 acres which appear to be about the acre numbers for equipment, and that’s where you really should be.”

He said it is much more challenging to expand the turkey operation of the farm

At the Uruski farm in the Interlake Region in 2008 and 2009, the turkeys kept the farm in business over the wet years.

Submitted photos

because it is harder to get more quotas.

He said they need a little more to build a pole barn to make it easier with the turkeys.

“Sometimes we let the birds outside of the barn. We have it fenced out and we’d like to stop that and keep them all inside in one contained area and have it easier,” he said.

But it is not easy to get extra land because a Hutterite colony is beside them he said. “So there’s the land I would’ve liked to buy or rent and sometimes I don’t even hear about it, and then I heard the Hutterites got it. It’s like, oh, okay,” said Uruski.

Brendan Uruski who farms with his father Barkley at Zbaraz, MB in the RM of Fisher around the Interlake Region of central Manitoba said he has not seen a year like this before when the crop was growing in the spring but the rains never came.

Feds Invest in Canola Exports, Growth and Diversification Canada’s canola industry relies on international markets, with about 90% of the canola grown in Canada being exported.

The federal government has targeted an investment of more than $1.8 million to Canola Council of Canada (CCC) under the AgriMarketing Program to boost exports and ensure the sector can take full advantage of market access opportunities around the world.

The CCC will use this funding to continue strengthening its promotion of the benefits of canola products in Asia and North America. It is expected that the project will allow for more educational reach on the benefits of canola products and the ability to reach potential new markets in Asia.

The investment is geared to help the canola industry towards the CCC’s goal of reaching 26 million tonnes of production of canola by 2025.

It builds on two previous AgriMarketing canola announcements, totaling almost $13 million, with a continued focus on promoting the health benefits of canola and the positive impacts of using canola oil, meal and seed. The CCC also aims to capitalize on the growing appetite for healthier oils and protein in new and existing markets.

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December 31, 2021

The AgriPost

Sundown Cattle Producer Turns to Assistance from the HMDA Program

By Harry Siemens The Canada and Manitoba governments recently announced a Herd Management Drought Assistance (HDMA) program under the AgriRecovery framework for cattle producers in Manitoba.

The program will help livestock producers offset the costs of replacing breeding animals culled due to winter feed shortages.

Eligible animals under the HDMA program include

breeding females of beef cattle, bison, sheep, goats and elk. Producers must be supporting a minimum of 10 animals to qualify for assistance.

This program will assist producers who must replace breeding females culled due to drought, helping to return the inventory of breeding females to pre-drought levels. Producers can buy the replacement animals or retain them from their existing herds or flocks.

The government will determine payments by increasing the inventory of breeding females, with payments capped once inventories are back to pre-drought levels.

“Unfortunately the drought forced many producers to reduce their breeding inventory due to feed and water challenges. So the herd management program under AgriRecovery will be an important component toward helping to rebuild Manitoba’s beef

breeding herd,” said Manitoba Beef Producers president Tyler Fulton. “MBP thanks the provincial and federal governments for making this assistance available, as extraordinary costs such as purchasing replacement breeding stock are not directly addressed in existing business risk management programs and this program recognizes the challenge created for producers because of it.”

Sundown, MB cattle pro-

Sundown cattle producer, Randy Tkachyk said he could use the a Herd Management Drought Assistance (HDMA) program but is wondering if he can use it to replace his heifers Submitted photo

ducer Randy Tkachyk said that the program is okay while lacking details at the interview. “I’m thinking, well, okay. Can I use this program for my replacement heifers?

And I guess $250; I guess it’s better than nothing,” asked Tkachyk. “And also, when would this payment be? Is it proof of invoices needed of cattle sold due to the drought?

Or I guess that’s probably, where they need to have that proof, I suppose. Or would it be pending on purchases as well?”

He said that they will apply for the HDMA because he sold almost 50 per cent of the breeding herd due to the lack of feed. “We’ll be filling everything out crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s but I know we’re going to miss something,” he said. “And that’s the only way we’ll know if we get it correct, is from our mistakes.”

Tkachyk said that they have already sold some breed-

ing stock because he is not prepared to pay for feed. It ranges from anywhere from eight to 13 cents a pound he said. Because of that he does not think there is any feed available.

“I’m using some wisdom from an elderly man in the cattle business. I don’t know who he was, but he said if you’re ever in a drought sell your cattle and go on vacation,” said Tkachyk. “We’re not going on vacation. We sold whatever our hay inventory could allow us to feed for our winter here. And just a little bit of extra.”

Other producers sold breeding herds and stock inventory vacation because times are tougher than tough he said.

“That’s where we’re sitting at because I thought, we still have our health not forced to sell the herd for health reasons or financial reasons.

So it’’ a hay inventory and management decision,” said Tkachyk.

BASF Donations Support Local Farming Communities

By Elmer Heinrichs Two Manitoba organizations are beneficiaries of donations

by BASF Canada Agricultural Solutions (BASF) which is giving a total of $65,000 to farming communities across western Canada.

Daycares, Emerson Kinder College Inc. and North Norfolk Childcare Centre of Austin were community initiatives chosen to receive $5,000 donations.

BASF’s community challenge called on canola growers to nominate a local organization or initiative for the chance to receive one of eight $5,000 donations, with an additional $25,000 grand prize award in celebration of InVigor hybrid canola’s 25th anniversary season.

The $25,000 grand prize will be donated to the Peace Country Gleaners, a nonprofit organization based in La Crete, Alberta, focused on feeding hungry people around the world.

The community challenge,

which ran from August 30 to October 15, 2021, generated nearly 100 entries from growers across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Eight winning recipients were selected by random draw, and each received a $5,000 donation in their name to their selected community initiative or organization.

“I was excited to learn Emerson Kinder College was selected as a winning recipient of BASF’s community challenge,” said Tannis Neufeld, local grower and community challenge nominator. “The daycare and their exceptional staff are committed to delivering a safe and educational environment for children, and this $5,000 donation will allow them to continue to do so.

“My two children attend full-time, and without it, I would not be able to work as an agronomist and do what I love to support my family,” added Neufeld.

The AgriPost

Herd Management Drought AgriRecovery Framework Announced The Canada and Manitoba governments continue to support producers impacted by drought by announcing a Herd Management Drought Assistance program under the AgriRecovery framework. The program will help livestock producers offset the costs associated with replacing breeding animals culled due to shortages of winter feed.

“My heart goes out to Manitoba ranchers, some of whom I visited this past summer, who were forced to send their breeding herds to market, selling genetics developed over generations at a fraction of their worth,” said federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau.

“Farmers needed their governments to act fast and we did. Through this program and other initiatives, we are helping farmers bounce back from the drought and build the resiliency needed to be sustainable in the face of climate change.”

“These extraordinary times have brought extraordinary challenges to our province’s livestock producers and having programs to help producers address feed issues and manage their herd size is paramount,” said Manitoba

Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Ralph Eichler. “We all know this has been a tough year, so we remain determined to take the strides necessary to support our producers in any way possible.”

Eligible animals under the Herd Management Drought Assistance program include breeding females of beef cattle, bison, sheep, goats and elk. Producers must be supporting a minimum of 10 animals to qualify for assistance.

“Unfortunately the drought forced many producers to reduce their breeding inventory due to feed and water challenges, so the herd management program under AgriRecovery will be an important component toward helping to rebuild Manitoba’s beef breeding herd,” said Tyler Fulton, president, Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP).

“MBP thanks the provincial and federal governments for making this assistance available, as extraordinary costs such as purchasing replacement breeding stock are not directly addressed in existing business risk management programs and this program recognizes the challenge created for producers because of it.”

“Keystone Agricultural

Producers (KAP) thanks the provincial and federal governments for today’s announcement of a Herd Management Drought Assistance program,” said Bill Campbell, president, KAP. “The program will help livestock producers rebuild their herds as they continue to face extraordinary challenges this winter.”

This program will assist producers who must replace breeding females culled due to drought, helping to return the inventory of breeding females to pre-drought levels.

The replacement animals can be purchased or retained from the producer’s existing herds or flocks. Payments are determined by the increase in the inventory of breeding females, with payments capped once inventories are restored to pre-drought levels.

Application is a two-step process which starts with producers submitting their pre-drought and drought-affected inventories of breeding females.

Forms for submitting these breeding animal numbers will be available in January 2022. Starting on December 1, 2022, producers will be able to submit information on their breeding animal inventories post-drought. Pay-

ments will be issued after the post-drought inventory is submitted.

The funding is part of the Canada-Manitoba AgriRecovery Drought Assistance, announced in August 2021 to support livestock producers affected by this year’s drought conditions. Under this program, the Government of Canada is investing up to $93 million and the Manitoba government is investing $62 million to cover eligible extraordinary costs, for a total program of up to $155 million.

Herd Management Drought Assistance is the third program developed as part of this investment. AgriRecovery is part of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership agreement, with funding shared on a 6040 federal-provincial basis.

For more detailed program information, producers can contact their Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development Service Centre, call the department toll-free at 1-84-GROW-MB-AG (1844-769-6224) or online at manitoba.ca/agriculture/ livestock/agrirecovery-herdmanagement-assistance.

Specific tools and resources for managing in dry conditions are available at .manitoba.ca/agriculture/dry.

Prairie Innovation Centre Donation from Prominent Ag Presence Assiniboine Community College’s campaign to build a leading-edge agricultural training centre, the Prairie Innovation Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, has received a $500,000 contribution from Ron Helwer and Shur-Gro Farm Services, a long-time presence in Westman agriculture.

“Ron is an agricultural institution in his own right, so it’s a thrill to welcome his support for what we know will be the future of agricultural education in our province,” said Derrick Turner, Director, Advancement & External Relations at Assiniboine. “He’s a business leader and an influential voice within the agriculture community, and we know that his partnership, outside of any dollar figure, is invaluable.”

His legacy in Westman began in 1968 when he and his late wife, Vera, moved to Brandon following several successful business ventures in Eastern Manitoba, and started Shur-Gro Farm Services. As the current president of Shur-Gro Farm Services, Helwer is still actively involved in the industry.

Ron and Vera raised three kids in the Westman area, while he built his business and she kept things running on the home-front. Now, his generous contribution to the Prairie Innovation Centre, on behalf of himself and Vera, is giving back to agriculture in the area.

“I think it’s a great expansion, and it makes sense for the Westman area. Increasing local graduates in agriculture programs, that’s

great for everyone, not just our business,” said Helwer, who is an honorary co-chair of the Prairie Innovation Centre campaign cabinet.

“To us, Assiniboine is really important and we are really pleased and proud to be involved. When I look at where our people get educated, Assiniboine plays a huge role. We are very supportive of the college.

People is what makes the business.”

Being a leader in the agriculture industry for more than 50 years, Helwer recognizes the need to adapt with sector.

“Things change so fast and now we have changes in technology, so that’s going to be a big thing going forward,” he said. “If we want to stay successful, we have to adapt to change.”

And the Prairie Innovation Centre aims to help facilitate these changes and adaptations.

“The Centre aims to expand training capacity to better meet labour market demands, and it will also be a hub for agricultural education, innovation and applied research,” said Tim Hore, Dean, School of Agriculture & Environment. “This will give us the ability to collaborate and work with industry to transfer that knowledge to the Ag sector.”

Helwer is a long-time supporter of the college. He has participated on program advisory boards and was an honorary diploma recipient in 2018. Shur-Gro has long been supportive of Assiniboine’s Ag programming, and hires many Assiniboine alumni.

December 31, 2021

Research Projects to Enhance Precision Feeding and Welfare Standards The governments of Canada and Manitoba are investing $2.2 million in three agricultural research projects, to be conducted by Topigs Norsvin Canada (TN) that will enhance the competitiveness of Manitoba pork producers by improving the precision feeding of sows and promoting higher animal welfare standards.

“These innovative projects will give the pork industry more tools in their sustainability toolbox,” said Federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. “They will help to improve feeding and housing for the pigs, which leads to better resource efficiency and a reduced environmental footprint for producers.

Topigs Norsvin plays a big role in making Canada a global leader in swine genetics, and we are proud to support their work.”

“Our government is pleased to support the work of our producers through these innovative projects that will accelerate agricultural innovation, promote knowledge transfer to producers, advance value-added opportunities, strengthen competitiveness and support sustainable agricultural development in our provincial pork industry,” said Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Ralph Eichler. “The results of these projects will be valuable in our continuing efforts to strengthen the sustainability of our provincial pork industry.”

The three research projects, which will help the pork industry be more environmentally and economically sustainable, will focus on improving competitiveness and sustainability of pork production through increased feed efficiency, improved carcass quality and higher animal welfare standards by innovative application of microbiome profiling, computer tomography and genomics; advancing sow reproductive knowledge and management practices for optimal lifetime productivity and embryo transfer success; and innovative application of artificial intelligence, machine learning, behavioural science and genomics to enhance resource efficiency for environmental sustainability of sow farms in Manitoba using welfare friendly production.

Funding is provided by the Ag Action Manitoba Program-Research and Innovation, through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The funded research will be beneficial to the province’s first-of-its-kind sustainable protein strategy, ensuring Manitoba producers are wellpositioned to remain leaders in plant and animal protein development in the face of increased global demand for high-quality protein, the minister added.

A key element of the strategy includes using innovation to grow livestock herds for animal protein and new acres for plant protein, while ensuring Manitoba remains a strong environment for investment and is responsive to the needs of producers.

TN is establishing an over $30-million new research and development facility in Plumas, Manitoba. It is to be completed by the end of 2022 and is aimed at sow management, where the funded projects will be conducted and results shared with industry stakeholders.

The first of its kind in the world, these projects will utilize leading-edge artificial intelligence, computer vision, behavioural research, and precision feeding to generate a database comprised of important animal health and welfare data.

“Topigs Norsvin continuously monitors international developments in the pork industry and prides itself as a leader in the sector,” said Hans Olislagers, Chief Technical Officer, Topigs Norsvin. “Implementation of loose housing of sows during farrowing is already legislated in several countries and we recognize our responsibility to breed and select pigs while maintaining the integrity of animal welfare. This assures our customers that our genetics will fit the housing systems and market demands of the future.”

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December 31, 2021

The AgriPost

Drought Affected High-Quality Manitoba’s Potato Crop Wheat Crop Despite Challenging Growing Conditions

By Harry Siemens

The question that Canadian wheat customers are asking, “How did the drought affect this year’s wheat quality?” Despite the hot and dry conditions, farmers grew almost 22 million tonnes of wheat. Until the crop was analyzed, there was concern that quality might be negatively affected but the Canadian system showed its strength this year resulting in a crop that has maintained its quality.

Each year, information sharing sessions are organized to update customers on what they can expect from this year’s wheat crop. Due to COVID-19, New Crop sessions are virtual. New Crop Webinars are focused for global buying regions with four webinars taking place in November and December.

“International buyers have already been receiving shipment of Canadian wheat and the webinars provide key information to our customers,” said Dean Dias, Chief Executive Officer of Cereals Canada. “Customers in Asia are quality focused and Canadian wheat is an integral part of their wheat milling blends.”

Asia is a key region for high-quality Canadian milling wheat as well as some of Canada’s largest export markets including China, Japan, Indonesia and Bangladesh. In 2020, these countries imported 8.3 million tonnes of Canadian wheat and durum. This trade is valued at over $2.6 billion annually and represents almost a third of Canada’s wheat and durum exports to the world.

The New Crop Webinars share up-to-date information about the wheat crop and how it will impact customers’ milling and baking operations. Farmers, exporters, the Canadian Grain Commission and technical experts at Cereals Canada present data including the analytical and technical information.

Webinar attendees will learn that this year’s crop was above average in quality and consistent with the 10-year average. While it was a challenging growing season for Canadian farmers, they selected, planted and grew good wheat varieties and applied sustainable growing practices to produce a quality crop.

“The dry growing season resulted in high protein content that was higher than average and despite the challenges this past year, milling yields are comparable to last year,” said Elaine Sopiwnyk, Vice-President of Technical Services. “A high proportion of all major wheat classes from the 2021 crop year had high protein content and graded in the top 2 grades.”

High protein content is a direct result of the growing conditions. “We have seen this in the past when hot and dry environmental conditions produced higher protein content in the wheat,” said Dias. “While the drought caused concern, the industry came together in partnership during these pandemic times to produce a strong quality crop for our domestic and international customers.”

To learn more about the New Crop Webinars, register for the upcoming webinars and to download the 2021 Crop Summary, please go to CanadianCereals.ca.

The 2021 potato crop in Manitoba is about 10 to 15 per cent short of contract requirements.

While Prince Edward Island potato growers struggle with a record crop and no access to the US market potato prices in Manitoba reflect the 2021 crop in this province.

Dan Sawatzky manager of the Keystone Potato Producers Association (KPPA) said, “The 2021 crop would be about 10 to 15 per cent short of contract, better than last year’s numbers that ended up being about 17 per cent short of contract. As a result, processors are looking elsewhere to see if there is supply to bring into the province and the only place that seems to have extra would be the eastern parts of Canada and the US.” Manitoba’s crop suffered because of the heat with thirty-six days of over 30 °C temperatures. It shortens the season he explained. “Potatoes don’t perform well if the temperature is above 28 or 30 °C,” said Sawatzky.

“Some farmers delayed harvest to increase the season length in hopes of getting a little extra yield.”

KPPA members supply processing potatoes to Simplot Canada II, McCain Foods Canada, and Cavendish Farms in Jamestown, North Dakota. The processing market makes up over 85 per cent of the potato production in Manitoba.

KPPA negotiates the con-

The 2021 potato crop in Manitoba is about 10 to 15 per cent short of contract requirements.

tracts for members with McCain Foods Canada for the Portage la Prairie and Carberry plants and with Simplot Canada regarding the Portage plant. Keystone negotiates the prices, terms and conditions of the potato contracts but individual volumes are up to the company and growers.

To increase production and meet the processing demands, planted acreages increased by 6,300 acres to 78,000 including fresh, seed, and processing potato.

In the western part of the province, where growers have access to water out of the Assiniboine or water out of the Assiniboine Delta aquifer, the heat certainly took the top off the yields.

Still, they fared well because they could irrigate adequately.

Moving east to the PortageMacGregor and CarmanWinkler areas, it continues to worsen with Winkler struggling to fill their reservoirs.

They rely on spring runoff

stream reservoirs but there was no runoff water for irrigation. With the Winkler area home of the fresh potato industry it suffered much more than the processing industry in the province.

“The processing industry is likely 10 per cent short or a little more,” said Sawatzky.

“So we are importing potatoes from outside of the province once again. Potatoes are coming in from New Brunswick and some from Alberta, and there’ll be several loads coming in from North Dakota.”

He said that drought shortens the crop and produces smaller potatoes and some called sugar ends from stress, making it a little more difficult to process into a good product.

Simplot at Portage la Prairie is still trying to ramp up to secure all the acres required for running that plant‘s capacity. In addition, the company contracted some potatoes outside the province in Alberta due to lack of irriga-

tion and water capacity in the province and the land base that supports that to meet their demand right now fully.

In that light, the association is working on securing more water.

“We have a study underway with the University of Manitoba to look at the recharged levels above the Assiniboine Delta aquifer,” he said. “Preliminary findings show there is more recharge going into the aquifer than was first thought back in 1980 in the original study.”

There is hope that the province will issue more licensing out of that aquifer. He noted that potato growers have built additional reservoirs the last year to capture more spring runoff, but there must be enough water to flow and that did not happen in some areas in 2021. As a result, KPPA included 8 to 10 new producers over the last two years operating in new areas or where growers had potatoes before but abandoned those acres.

First-in-Canada Technology Expands Market for Southern Manitoba Oat Growers The federal government has earmarked up to $5.1 million for a plant expansion in Altona.

Buffalo Creek Mills is now set to purchase and install a first-in-Canada technology, a customized continuous oat kiln with first-in-Canada functionality and associated processing and packaging equipment.

This new addition will allow Buffalo Creek Mills to further process oats for use as conventional food ingredients and for the creation of emerging oat products. By-products are repurposed for use in animal feed and biofuels as part of an initiative to participate in a zero waste circular economy.

“Buffalo Creek Mills is a young company in Altona that

started base level processing of oats in 2015 with the aspiration of producing table ready oat products,” explained Ryan Penner, Chief Executive Officer of Buffalo Creek Mills.

“The award of this AgriInnovate funding has enabled our company to start a capital expansion project that includes the installation of state-of-theart equipment that will produce both conventional and emerging new oat products for human consumption. Upon completion of this project, Buffalo Creek Mills will have grown from three employees at its inception to a projected 45 employees and will have the capability of processing 54,000 MT/yr of healthy oats for global consumption.”

The global oatmeal market is strong with Canada being well positioned to capture the growth towards nutritious, convenient oat-based products driving increased demand for western Canadian oat production and acreage.

Innovation and technology

Buffalo Creek Mills.

are essential to ensuring Canadian farmers remain competitive and well-positioned for future growth. Investments to support the development and installation of modern equipment are helping to enhance efficiency and boost productivity for farmers across Canada.

The AgriPost

4-H Canada and FCC Fueling Fun 4-H Canada is proud to share the success of its annual Farm Credit Canada (FCC) 4-H Club Fund, which will see $100,000 in funding distributed to more than 200 4-H clubs, districts, and regions across Canada.

In Manitoba, 19 4-H clubs, districts, and regions received a combined total of $9,300.

The FCC 4-H Club Fund provides up to $500 in funding per club, district, or region to support initiatives and activities such as developing existing programs, the purchase of resource materials, volunteer supports, or covering costs associated with local events.

“Thanks to FCC, our strong partner of more than 25 years, this fund will once again serve as an important resource for 4-H at the grassroots level, supporting the exciting activities of our 4-H clubs across Canada,” said 4-H Canada CEO, Shannon Benner. “Through

FCC 4-H Club Fund recipients list.

support from the FCC 4-H Club Fund, 4-H youth leaders have the opportunity to further their engagement in activities and programming in the areas that they are passionate about, empowering them as engaged and responsible youth who effect positive change not just within their communities, but around the world.”

The FCC 4-H Club Fund is

part of a generous $250,000 commitment by FCC to 4-H in Canada for 2021-2022, providing support not only at the local club level, but also towards the programming and initiatives of 4-H Canada and provincial 4-H organizations.

“Many of our customers and employees have benefited from 4-H programs.

Others have seen first-hand

the excitement and enthusiasm in the faces of young people participating in these activities,” said Todd Klink, FCC’s chief marketing officer. “Whether or not those who participate in a 4-H club decide to pursue a career in agriculture, these programs provide a toolbox of leadership skills they can carry with them the rest of their lives.”

MFGA Announces Board Executive The Board of Directors of the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA) has recently approved the 2022 MFGA Board Executive. MFGA also recently welcomed two new board members, Chelsi Malach of Hartney and Peter Tokar of the Swan River area at their 2021 MFGA AGM. The MFGA executive will serve two-year terms at the helm of the organization’s board of directors.

Lawrence Knockaert was elected as Chair of MFGA. Knockaert dairy farms with wife Kim and son Shawn and Jasmin in the Bruxellesarea.

He is also a director on the

Dairy Farmers of Manitoba as well as the MFGA board representative on the Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiatives and is looking forward to working as chair of the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association. Lawrence was vice-chair for MFGA previous to the chair assignment.

Michael Duguid elected as Vice-Chair, farms in partnership with wife Cheryl and son Scott and family in the Arnes area, north of Gimli in the Interlake. The Duguid farm is a mixed operation, having pedigreed grass and alfalfa seed, a cow calf operation, and grain. They have a great interest in the regenera-

tive approach and are on their seventh year of regen farming and are constantly learning, finding no two years are the same, which, says Mike, always makes their farm life interesting.

Andrea Hamilton elected as Finance Chair is part of the next generation taking over the Hamilton family’s cowcalf operation north of Glenboro along with brother Liam who farms with their parents Cam and Shelley. Hamilton works off farm in potato research at MHPEC. She joined MFGA in 2016 as an apprentice while she was finishing University, has taken the Soil Health Academy course and is

currently taking Dr. Elaine’s Soil Food Web course.

Larry Wegner, past Chair, a one year term, farms in the Virden area with wife Rosemary and sons Max and Herbert. After joining the MFGA Board from the board of the Manitoba Beef Producers, he served a full term that culminated with a two year term as MFGA Chair that concluded in November 2021. Wegner recently attended Nicole Masters Integrity Soils leadership mentoring where he is now certified as a coach in the Integrity Soils network. He will serve one year as the MFGA past chair, assisting the new executive with transition.

The Adoption of Best Organic Farming Practices Receives Boost The Prairie Organic Development Fund (PODF) has received almost $300,000 of federal government support to help enable farmers to adopt best practices in organic farming production. This funding will provide farmers with tools and support to incorporate organic farming practices that help meet the growing demand for organic foods in Canada.

The Prairie Organic Development Fund is a not-for-profit organization that is engaged in a national project to enhance the development and growth of organic agriculture across Canada.

This investment will help

PODF deliver its Canada Organic Ingredient Strategy, which transfers specialized skills, knowledge and best practices to existing organic farmers and those interested in adopting more organic production methods. PODF will also raise awareness and understanding about the benefits of organic farming to help strengthen public trust in Canada’s agriculture and agri-food system.

Through this project, PODF will offer business extension tools and skills development to farmers across Canada through producer conferences and webinars, podcasts, online agronom-

ic tools and training to support the adoption of organic best practices.

“This investment will accelerate the adoption of organic best practices among farmers and increase the supply and quality of organic grains, fruits and vegetables, and livestock, fostering the expansion of the Canadian organic food processing sector,” said Marla Carlson, Program Manager, Prairie Organic Development Fund. “The development of the organic sector creates opportunities for Canadian farmers and processors to meet the increasing demand for organic food domestically

and internationally.”

This initiative will help Canadian farmers to benefit from increased knowledge and skills in organic farming methods, which can improve soil health and boost farm resilience in the face of changing markets and climate change.

Canada’s organic farming sector is valued at $8 billion and is the sixth largest in the world.

Demand for organics in Canada is increasing at a rate of 8.7% annually, and despite increases in Canadian organic production, the growth in global and Canadian markets continues to outpace supply.

December 31, 2021

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Empty Grain Bags and Used Baler Twine Can Still be Recycled in Manitoba If Manitoba farmers have empty grain bags or used baler twine around the farm, there is still time to tidy up and recycle them before the full onset of winter, Cleanfarms says.

“It doesn’t matter if the grain bags were purchased this year, or if they were left over from previous years,” said Cleanfarms Executive Director Barry Friesen. “As long as farmers take steps to make sure they are free of grain and debris and rolled, we’ll take them at our collection sites for recycling.”

Directions for preparing grain bags and twine for recycling are included on cleanfarms.ca. Cleanfarms, a non-profit industry stewardship organization that has developed similar recycling programs for used Ag plastics across Canada, has operated a multi-location pilot recycling collection program for used empty grain bags in Manitoba since 2013. It also developed and operates the successful small and large pesticide and fertilizer container recycling programs.

In 2020, Manitoba Conservation and Climate asked Cleanfarms to transition the grain bag and twine pilot to a provincewide permanent recycling program that will give Manitoba farmers broader access to recycling for these used Ag plastics year-over-year. Under the regulation, responsibility for the permanent program now rests with the companies that supply grain bags and baler twine into the province.

Beginning on December 1, the regulated program includes a non-refundable environmental handling fee (EHF) that helps cover the cost of recycling. It is applied to grain bag and baler twine sales at the time of purchase, which usually begins in early summer. For grain bags the EHF will be 25 cents per kg; for baler twine of all sizes it will be 33 cents per kg.

A similar program that includes an EHF has been in place for the past three years on the sale of grain bags under the provincially-regulated program in Saskatchewan. During this time, Saskatchewan farmers there have consistently surpassed year-over-year recycling rates. The Manitoba-regulated program will help to harmonize the recycling programs across the two Prairie Provinces.

Recycled grain bags are used to make new products such as plastic construction sheet products and industrial garbage bags. Recycled baler twine is made into car parts, composite decking, flowerpots, dimensional lumber and similar items.

Cleanfarms has set up 35 recycling collection sites across Manitoba. Details about the location and hours of operation of each recycling collection site, along with instructions on how to prepare the materials for recycling can be found at cleanfarms.ca/what to recycle and where.

Recycling collection centers are located in the following municipalities: - RM of Armstrong - Chatfield Transfer Station - RM of Armstrong - Inwood Transfer Station - RM of Armstrong - Meleb Waste Disposal Grounds - RM of Brenda-Waskada - RM of Cartwright-Roblin Waste Transfer Station - RM of Coldwell Eriksdale - Waste Disposal Grounds - RM of Dauphin, Sammy’s Farm Supply - RM of Dauphin, Sifton Landfill - RM of Ethelbert - Mink Creek Waste Transfer Station - Grandview Municipality Waste Transfer Station - RM of Grey - R-Way AG Ltd. - RM of Grey Landfill - RM of Lakeshore, Makinak Landfill - RM of Lakeshore, Ochre River Landfill - RM of Lakeshore, Rorketon Landfill - Neepawa Area, Evergreen Technologies Regional Landfill - RM of Norfolk-Treherne, Rathwell Transfer Station - RM of Norfolk-Treherne, Treherne Transfer Station - RM of Pipestone - Reston Landfill & Recycling Depot - RM of Portage la Prairie, The Portage la Prairie Landfill - RM of Riding Mountain West - Inglis Waste Disposal - RM of Rosedale - Kelwood Landfill - RM of Russell/Binscarth - RM of Stanley SWAMP Landfill - City of Steinbach, City of Steinbach Landfill Facility - RM of Stuartburn - RM of Thompson -RM of Two Borders, Pierson Landfill - RM of Victoria - Holland Waste Disposal Grounds - RM of West Interlake - Ashern - RM of West Interlake - Oakview Waste Transfer Station - RM of Westlake-Gladstone - Gladstone Location - RM of Westlake-Gladstone - Langruth Location - RM of Westlake-Gladstone - Plumas Location - RM of Westlake-Gladstone - Westbourne Location

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December 31, 2021

The AgriPost

Prevent Fatty Liver in Promising Dairy Cows All dairy cows go through a state of negative energy balance (NEB), right after calving. It is caused by a natural lag between the heavy energy demands of milk production and a lack of dietary energy intake. To close this gap, the average cow must metabolize her own body fat as a good source of available energy.

When she breaks down too much of her fat cover in a relatively short period of time, accumulation of fat in the liver or fatty liver syndrome results and it is detrimental to her health and milk performance. Fortunately, a

good preventive feeding program implemented before these cows enter the milkline can effectively reduce fatty liver that plagues many dairy farms.

Currently, I am working with a dairy producer that milks about 200-dairy cows in which fatty liver syndrome is suspected in a number of recent cow deaths. So, on my latest visit, I conducted my own fatty liver investigation. It started by going outside and looking at the cows in both the faraway dry cow and then close-up dry cow pens.

Then, I went inside the

free-stall barn and got an overall impression of the lactation cows.

Finally, I took out a plastic bag and grabbed a handful of TMR in the feed bunk.

Here is a list of fatty acid clues that I collected during my inquiry: - Dry cows in both the faraway and particularly the close-up pens were over-conditioned, since many cows had a BCS of 4 and higher (1= emaciated to 5 = fat).

- In the lactation barn, there were many under conditioned cows (BCS < 2.5).

Many of these cows were 2nd calf heifers. Yet many

Close up of dry dairy cows.

mature cows that were ready to be dried-off had a BCS > 3.5.

- Many lactating dairy cows were producing over 100 - 120 lbs. of milk in the first 30 days of lactation. It crossed all parities – 1st calf heifers, 2nd calf heifers and mature cows.

- TMR sample had adequate moisture and lots of effective fibre. DMI of this lactation diet was 24.5 kg. I also understand that the producer removed the bypass fat in the diet, three weeks prior.

- I also learned that the veterinarian took a number of blood samples, because he suspected the presence of sub-clinical ketosis in the herd.

I also reviewed these barnwalk findings with the producer. Yet, regardless as to what we figure out as to what is going on, here; preventing future fatty liver (as well as ketosis) is a much better option than controlling this metabolic disease, once it is identified among the cows.

Therefore, I recommended to the producer – the proper faraway and close-up dry cow diets in order to promote optimum body condition scores and good dry matter intake in susceptible dairy cows.

For example, an optimum BCS of 3.0 – 3.5 in faraway dry cows as well as support

the healthy growth of their fetus can be achieved/maintained by feeding these cows a well-balanced feed of bulky grass-type forages.

This entire faraway dry cow diet should supply about 14 – 16 Mcal of dietary energy, 13 – 14% crude protein, complimented by 0.50% calcium, 0.30% phosphorus, 0.5% salt and trace-minerals (copper, zinc, selenium) and vitamins (A = 100,000, D = 3,000 and E = 1000 iu/head).

Lastly, 10 g per head per day of commercial yeast should be included.

Such a diet should dovetail into a new close-up dry cow diet, which is fed for about three weeks before calving.

This new close-up dry cow diet is formulated to carry a modest amount of dietary energy, namely, 0.60 – 0.65 Mcal/lb. (dm, basis) as well as 14 - 15% protein. A balance of calcium and phosphorus in a 1.5:1.0 – 2.5:1.0 with potassium levels controlled to promote good calcium metabolism. It should have good mineral-vitamin micro-premix to supply essential levels of copper, zinc, selenium, Vitamin A and high levels of Vitamin E (500 – 1000 iu/kg).

These fatty liver prevention diets also take into account

that there is a 30% natural decline in dry matter intake from the start of the faraway dry period to calving. So, I assure that the entire closeup diet is very palatable.

This means that most closeup diets should contain moderate-energy forages such as mixed grass hay (limiting alfalfa), which can be complimented with a specific grain-based pellet and mixed with some lactation diet containing either barley or corn silage. As a result, these prepartum cows should be consuming 12 kg of this good feed, which helps them, calve at an optimum BCS of 3.0 – 3.5.

Lastly, I am returning bypass fat to this producer’s lactation TMR to ensure that is more energy-dense for the early lactation cows. We are also re-introducing; drenching the incoming fresh cows with propylene glycol as well as considering a freshcow pellet with added choline and biotin, which helps steady body fat mobilization.

Together, it should workout in preventing fatty liver syndrome - suspected or not.

Funding Builds on Foodgrains Bank Ability to Respond to Food Emergencies Hundreds of thousands of people around the world affected by conflict, living through severe drought or even famine, and other emergencies too numerous to name, that’s who will be helped by a renewed grant agreement between Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the Government of Canada.

The grant, announced virtually by Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International De-

velopment and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada recently, is worth $75 million over three years and will be used to fund emergency response projects implemented through the 15 members’ agencies of Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

“In 2020, the world experienced the single largest increase in global hunger ever recorded; a trend that

has only continued this year.

This predictable and multiyear funding to Canadian Foodgrains Bank will help ensure that food and nutritional support is provided to those who need it most in times of crisis,” said Sajjan.

“The Foodgrains Bank has a longstanding relationship with the Government of Canada. Since its beginning in 1983, the Government of Canada has funded food as-

sistance projects in 68 countries through financial contributions to the Foodgrains Bank,” said executive director Andy Harrington. “We and our members are immensely grateful for the additional impact the grant allows us to have in the work of delivering emergency food assistance around the world.”

This means help for people like Nimco Mohamed, a 35-

The grant, announced virtually by Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada recently, is worth $75 million over three years and will be used to fund emergency response projects implemented through the 15 members’ agencies of Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

year-old mother in Somalia whose toddler son was suffering from severe malnutrition. Without the emergency help provided through Foodgrains Bank member Development and Peace and with the financial support of the Government of Canada, the toddler would have been hard-pressed to survive.

Thanks to special emergency food though, the toddler is now thriving.

Jan McIntyre, a long time Foodgrains Bank supporter and farmer from near Clearwater, Manitoba, spoke at the event.

“As a donor, I greatly respect and appreciate the Canadian Foodgrains Bank approach of working in partHundreds of thousands of people around the world affected by conflict, living through severe drought or even famine, and other emergencies are helped by food supplies.

nership with local partners and organizations already present in a country,” said McIntyre. “Not only does this approach bring practical value, it also respects and offers dignity to the people of the countries and communities we help. Thank you Minister Sajjan and the Canadian Government for your support of this vitally important work.”

Last year, the Foodgrains Bank provided $49 million of assistance for 989,000 people in 33 countries. In total, the Government of Canada has provided $699 million worth of emergency assistance through the Foodgrains Bank since 1983.

The AgriPost

December 31, 2021

Seed Trade Looks at the Real Cost of Bringing a Variety to Market

By Harry Siemens It is always interesting to see, hear and experience the comments and actions when certain prices for inputs go up in the farming industry. It was not any different when the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA) members voted 111 to 16 to increase fees to certify Canadian seed crops starting in 2022 during a special general meeting online on November 24.

Canola, corn, soybeans and hemp will see the biggest increases at 63, 50 and 23 per cent over this year’s fees, respectively.

Ellis Seeds at Wawanesa, MB is a division of Ellis Farm Supplies a seed and agri-service company that includes seed multiplication, variety evaluation, seed and grain cleaning, seed retail and wholesale and seed treating.

Simon Ellis [third generation] who operates the company has a good handle on both sides of the equation, as a seed grower and seed seller and knows what it costs to develop a new seed variety.

The CSGA is looking at how to identify all the costs

for each crop. As a result CSGA said they have identified it costs more to develop soybeans, hybrid corn and hybrid canola.

“Those production models cost quite a bit more than to certify a crop like wheat,” said Ellis. “Doing excellent accounting is the way I’m going to take a look at it.”

As a seed producer, he realizes how much it costs to certify a variety and understands what the seed trade is doing. He said that the cost for soybeans is going up, but they are not fairly applying it to wheat or anything else.

The conclusion came while talking closely to some in the industry and having experience in soybeans with several acres planted for a few years for each sequence number. A sequence number is similar to a field and when doing crop application it is assigned a sequence number.

“But today the number of acres are cut in half, dealing with the same number of sequence numbers but administration costs remain the same; but they’re dealing with half the acres and

half the revenue,” said Ellis.

“That makes a lot of sense, so once I heard that, I thought, well, that makes sense to me.

It was good, and I’m glad they weren’t raising the cost of wheat or any of the other cereal crops.”

What Ellis likes is cost-plus while looking at each crop whereas before a blanket fee across everything was applied, but now they can identify what it costs to certify a crop of soybeans or a crop of corn or a crop of wheat.

“And they can assign that value to it, and it is a much fairer method of accounting and administration,” said Ellis.

For next year Ellis Seeds’ wheat seed sales are good.

He said anybody who has not got the fertilizer they booked is undoubtedly talking about reducing some cereal acres or some acres of high fertilizer demanding crops. Instead they are moving into pulses, peas or soybeans as a fallback. He commented that there is more talk about flax because the market price for flax is phenomenal. Again it is another crop that does not have the same high fertilizer demands.

Many producers talk about their fertilizer bills being over $170 an acre causing the risk to rise accordingly. “Adds a lot of risk onto individual farms back when they have to put an extra, I think for us; it was close to $40 an acre and more for this year versus last year,” said Ellis. “Now, I think we did well last year, but that’s huge. That’s just a crazy increase. I crossed my fingers that the prices will hold and we’ll have good crop prices going into 2022, of the fall of 2022, and then hopefully the fertilizer prices come down over the summer.”

Ellis said if the Federal government goes ahead with the 30 per cent drop in fertilizer emissions then crops will need to be planned and used better. Maybe with a crop that can fix its nitrogen; get a wheat variety that can do that he said. Ellis summed it up by saying “The government needs to invest in agriculture.”

“I think that’s my main message to the government, is they need to put that money into agriculture and get that research going.”

Joint Donation Makes its Way to Prairie Innovation Centre Assiniboine’s Prairie Innovation Centre for Sustainable Agriculture is welcoming a $500,000 donation from local community and business leaders, Gord and Diane Peters and the Brandon Area Community Foundation (BACF).

The Peters’ are no strangers to Westman and are wellknown for supporting various community projects. In 2009, they set up a partnership with the Brandon Area Community Foundation to facilitate longterm giving.

Gord is a co-founder of Cando Rail & Terminals, headquartered in Brandon. “Many of the staff we hired at Cando are Assiniboine alumni so we

fully understand the value of the college to employers and the community as a whole. In fact, Diane is a proud alumnus, having taken nursing there,” said Gord.

“Gord and I have long believed in giving back to the community and this project will not only be good for Brandon, but all of Westman.

It will serve the Ag industry well but also provide a great number of training opportunities for the area’s youth,” said Diane.

The Centre is Assiniboine’s vision for the future of agriculture in Manitoba, and will address industry and economic needs in this important

Assiniboine’s Prairie Innovation Centre for Sustainable Agriculture is welcoming a $500,000 donation from local community and business leaders, Gord and Diane Peters and the Brandon Area Community Submitted photo Foundation (BACF).

sector.

“The Prairie Innovation Centre is the cornerstone of the future of agriculture-related training at the college,” said Derrick Turner, Director, Advancement and External Relations at Assiniboine. “This remarkable support from two industry and community institutions, the Peters’ and BACF, both moves us toward our fundraising goal and reinforces the project as an important and necessary addition to the community and industry landscape.”

In Manitoba, it’s projected that one in five jobs in agriculture will go unfilled by 2029.

The Prairie Innovation Centre is Assiniboine’s made-inManitoba solution and aims to expand seats in agriculture-related programming from 300 to more than 800.

“Here in Manitoba, we live in the Canadian food bank, and it is initiatives like the Prairie Innovation Centre that will ensure the sustainability of the agricultural industry and a bright future for the next generation of producers and agricultural business,”

said Dan Robertson, Chair of the BACF. “A strong agricultural industry in Manitoba means strong communities, and the Brandon Area Community Foundation is focused on helping to create strong communities. We are pleased to join with great business and agricultural leaders to make a significant financial contribution to the Prairie Innovation Centre for the benefit of future students, the agricultural industry and the communities of Manitoba.”

“We are excited to contribute alongside other area businesses and individuals to make this transformational project a reality,” added Gord.

This one-of-a-kind Canadian college project, to be located on Assiniboine’s historic North Hill campus, will bring together collaborative learning spaces, applied research labs and multipurpose spaces that will serve both industry and the college community.

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Simon Ellis told participants at a CSGA meeting said to get a new seed variety to markets means doing excellent accounting.

Simon Ellis during an online CSGA presentation said when producers talk about their fertilizer bills being over $170 an acre the risk rises accordingly.

Need More Snow to Avoid Tough Growing Conditions

By Elmer Heinrichs Low snowfall, above-average temperatures, sunshine could spell trouble for 2022 season, said Ron Schuler, Manitoba Infrastructure Minister, in a provincial fall outlook.

Manitoba’s hot summer and widespread drought through portions of the province mean the ground is more parched than usual heading into winter and the province says more trouble may be on the horizon unless Manitoba gets at least 100 centimetres of snow before spring.

Soil moisture levels ranged from near normal to below normal in most river basins ahead of the fall freeze-up, according to a hydrology report released recently.

Record heat waves and drought across western Canada in 2021 made for drier conditions and below-normal precipitation through the summer and fall months, though conditions improved somewhat in Manitoba in November.

“The fall conditions report informs us of the hydrological conditions of Manitoba basins at the time of freeze-up,” said Schuler. “Hydrologic and weather conditions in the winter and spring are the main influences that affect the risk and extent of low or high water events,” added Schuler. “If we get low snowfall, lots of above-average warmer temperatures and lots of sunshine, Manitoba could see a very difficult growing season for 2022,” warned Schuler.

“With above-average dry soil, low river flows in lakes and retention ponds below average, agriculture and Manitoba Hydro could be substantially negatively affected,” said Schuler.

The Red River at Emerson is flowing slightly above normal for this time of year at 1,800 cubic feet per second, compared to the normal 1,522 cu/ft per second for this time of year.

Water control structures are also being operated to manage the low water conditions and water retention projects are currently in the works, the minister said.

Parts of Manitoba received much needed rainfall in August and again later in fall providing a basis for early germination but winter and spring will determine the 2022 farm start.

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The AgriPost

December 31, 2021

Preparing You (and Your Insurance) for 2022 If you have been one of the lucky people to hibernate for the past few months, let’s catch you up on

life events to get you ready for 2022.

Depending on when you went into hibernation, the Toronto Maple Leafs are on pace to lose in the first round of the playoffs, we had another federal election with another Liberal minority government, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are champions once again and there is a virus that is discussed occasionally in the news that keeps keeping on. In the world of agriculture in Canada, I need to warn you that commodity prices and fertilizer costs are higher now than when you last looked. In fact, the cost of pretty much everything from a coveted roll of toilet paper to a T-bone steak has increased.

The insurance industry continues to have volatility in some lines of business. Farm insurance continues to be one of the more stable classes, with the mix of regional mutual insurers along with growing appetite to increase the farm insurance portfolio of several national insurers, putting grain farms in a stable position for your farm insurance budget for the upcoming year.

One area of note that I would encourage all agricultural businesses to review this year is your insurance levels on your inventory. Most policies have a maximum insured value for your inventory, which can be increased at any time throughout the year. Some commercial insurance policies will include a peak season endorsement, but that is specifically included to cover short spikes in your inventory, not long-term increases due to expansion of the value of your inventory.

Rising prices on grain have led to many farmers selling their commodities while prices are strong, but if you are one of the patient farms to continue to sit on your inventory to wait for even stronger pricing, you are likely in a situation where your threshed grain, chemical, fertilizer and seed limits on your farm insurance coverage need to be reviewed.

On farm policies, these limits often include a 100% co-insurance clause, meaning you need to insure your inventory to the maximum limit that you would carry to avoid being penalized in the event of a loss.

We have also seen Crop Input retailers working hard to obtain inventory for the upcoming year, so that they can provide their customers the inputs they will need to grow a crop in 2022.

From our conversations with many retailers, specific products that are in short supply are Glyphosate, most types of fertilizer and some varieties of seed. If you are one of these retailers, make sure that the limits for your insurance coverage reflect the new values of your inventory.

While there is uncertainty in many areas of life, there is also optimism. A little more rain, a lot less virus and good stable insurance coverage are the keys for this upcoming year. And the best part is that at Rempel Insurance Brokers, we can help you with the third part of that equation!

On behalf of the team at Rempel Insurance Brokers, we wish you a great year in 2022!

Be sure to seek advice and purchase insurance from those who understand your business!

David Schmidt is an Account Executive and Rempel Insurance Brokers in Morris, MB, specializing in insuring farms and businesses across Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Contact office 204-746-2320, text 204712-6618, email davids@rempelinsurance.com or visit rempelinsurance.com.

Save Your Best Nutrition for Late-Gestation Beef Cows

By Peter Vitti Preparing for the calving season used to be simple. The best green hay was saved for the gestating cows about two months before they calved as well as most people started to feed a little bit of loose cattle mineral. The funny thing is that it worked at the time. As a beef nutritionist, it’s not something that I would exactly recommend to beef producers today, but the central idea of putting late-gestation beef cows on a higher plane of nutrition for a successful calving season is still sound.

Such calving success becomes a matter of supplying enough dietary energy and protein to late-gestation cows in order to maintain or achieve a BCS of 5 - 6 (thin = 1, and 9 = obese) by calving time, while replacement heifers should calve out at a slightly better BCS. As a result, some of the benefits of calving cows out in prime condition are: - Easier birthing process less actual calving problems/ calving assistance.

- Less post-calving metabolic problems – better cleaning, and less uterine infections.

- Produce more vigorous calves and has a positive effect on life-time growth and reproduction.

- Better immune system better chance of fighting viral and bacterial disease.

- Higher quality colostrum more immunoglobulins to be transfer to newborn calf.

- More milk at the start of the post-calving season.

- Quicker return to active estrus to get rebred.

In contrast, mature cows and heifers that calve out in a thin body condition (less than BCS of 4) are not only susceptible to the challenges of a hard calving season, but their calves are likely to be weak, which often means lower-than-expected survivability.

Drawing upon these benefits of good nutrition until calving, I asked a few wellexperienced cow-calf operators as to the diets that they fed to their late-gestation cows. Since the scope of my

Manitoba Ag Days Postponed

Preparing for the calving season used to be simple. The best green hay was saved for the gestating cows about two months before they calved as well as most people started to feed a little bit of loose cattle mineral.

The funny thing is that it worked at the time.

inquiry was very limited, I only talked to a handful of people that fed an overwintering TMR. Their diet formulations (lbs/head/d) are illustrated in the table (Chart 1 below).

Consequently, I calculated the TDN and protein of each diet and discovered that they all met or exceeded the respective NRC (2001) beef late-gestation cow requirements - namely: 55 – 58% TDN, 9 – 11% protein. Furthermore, either a 2:1 or 3:1 beef cow premix was fed that complimented the calcium and phosphorus of these formulas, which adequately supplied those nutrients as well as salt, trace minerals and vitamins.

Dry matter intakes were estimated at about 30 - 35 lbs for these cowherds (including replacement heif-

ers) and I would be expected that they would increase by 25 – 30% during the onset of colder January weather.

Lastly, I had no significant reservations about these diets, except that I felt that the smaller replacements fed diet (#3) might have difficulty consuming all 60 lbs of feed, but this producer assured me that it wasn’t a problem.

Regardless as to the type of diet fed above or elsewhere, it’s a good idea that a midwinter forage/feed inventory is taken. For example, two of the above producers that feed only alfalfa-grass hay and straw as the foundation of their late-gestation (and post-calving) diets told me that because of last summer’s drought; they had just enough bales until end of April. I just hope, they accounted that in addition to what their

cows consume and waste (about 15%), there is about a 5 - 10% storage waste for hay and straw bales stored under a hay shed, while the same stacks housed outside and exposed to the elements might have 15 – 20% storage loss.

It might be a race against time for such producers, but all late-gestation feeding programs are a prerequisite to a good calving season.

Although, we have more types of forages and other feedstuffs available to formulate good pre-calving diets for the cowherd; the basic cow nutrient requirements to maintain adequate body condition at calving hasn’t significantly changed, over the years. Therefore, saving your best nutrition for lategestation cows still works today.

cision to postpone the 2022 show set to occur January 18th - 20th at the Keystone Centre to a date yet to be determined. The management team is currently working with the host facility and service providers to come up with alternate dates. Further

information will be provided as soon as possible - please watch www.AgDays.com.

Thank you for your patience and your support as we navigate through this situation.

- The Board of Directors and Management Team of Manitoba Ag Days

Chart 1.

In light of new public health orders just issued by the Manitoba Government further restricting the capacity of indoor events to 50% capacity with a maximum of 250 people per event, Manitoba Ag Days and its Board of Directors has made the de-

The AgriPost

What’s Happening to Our Rural Makeup?

By Harry Siemens An Agri-Food Economic Systems Policy Concepts Paper suggests that it is time to protect the viability of small and medium-size farms to preserve the social structure of Canada’s rural communities.

Everybody knows that there are smaller farms over time, and a relatively fixed arable land base gives a larger average farm size. The question is are all farms getting just a little bigger, or are some of them getting bigger while others getting smaller?

The study looked at a series of census agriculture information on farms, according to economic size class. What it shoes is the smallest categories of farms, economically in size, are going down over time. Virtually all the growth is in farms exceeding one million in farm cash receipts, but that middle size category, between $100,000 and $500,000 in farm cash receipts is in steep decline.

Dr. Al Mussell, the Research Lead with Agri-Food Economic Systems and Research Coordinator with the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, said Canada treats the farms as extensions of households going back to the settlement period of the country’s history.

It is one of the reasons that agriculture is tied to immigration while treating farms

Dr. Al Mussell, the Research Lead with Agri-Food Economic Systems and Research Coordinator with the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute said that Canada treats the farms as extensions of households.

as joint federal-provincial responsibilities to this day.

“As a consequence we treat farms differently from a property tax perspective with a residential rate for property taxes and then for farms we rebate back some portion of those taxes,” said Mussell.

“No other segment of the economy gets that kind of treatment.”

In effect, governments give special consideration or exemptions to transportation, workplace safety and labour rules, types of environmental laws as it relates to the treatment of the farm as an extension of the household.

As the expansion occurs in the bigger farms and midsize farms decline it erodes that connection between the household and the farm.

Dr. Mussell said as this occurs, “We could lose the sense of community we have in agriculture.” He stressed the answer is not to limit the growth of larger farms but rather to maintain these smaller farms.

Canada’s shifting rural demographics also threaten the farms’ network with goods and services.

“We have Ag businesses spread throughout rural areas because traditionally you needed that network, whether it’s feed or farm machinery dealers or what have you,” noted Mussell. “That network served customers because they remained individually small and that’s how that business operated.”

But as the system moves away from this type of community spirit the data suggests more customers are going straight to the corporate headquarters to order their feed, vitamins, chemicals, and machinery rather than buying locally. If the connection between households and farms erode it will be

Dr Al Mussell spoke on the trend that some farms are getting bigger while others are getting smaller which has implications affecting rural communities unless new purpose built prevention and opportunities in agriculture are formed.

Submitted photos

more challenging to manage the system of property taxes in rural municipalities he said. “That connection to the local community I worry will erode and hopefully not sever but that’s the concern,” said Mussell.

Dr. Mussel said a related point is liquidity. In the way that markets operate, in some cases spot markets, the notion of liquidity is a farmer has something to sell finds, a buyer that wants to buy at that price. However there are enough other transactions in the marketplace that the act of him selling and someone else buying does not unduly influence the overall market price.

“I feel like we’re only scratching the surface here and need to prepare for more disruptive changes,” he said.

The societal implications

are also important and maybe underappreciated he said.

Rural institutions allowed for the tremendous change going back to World War II without causing a collapse in rural society.

Mussell said the more important message is an opportunity for people to work together in either renewing the institutions in agriculture in rural areas to prevent that or, in some cases, coming up with new ones that are more purpose-built for today’s situation.

“It shouldn’t be about the big bad farms gobbling up the small and middle-size ones and limiting the largest farms,” he said adding that this is a bad idea because these tend to be the most efficient and most competitive, invest in technologies and anchor the supply chain.

Seeds Canada Moves Forward with SRM Summit Seeds Canada has identified a need for additional input concerning stakeholder requirements for a future seed system and looks forward to initiating a Summit that would bring together all value chain participants impacted by the Seeds Regulations.

There is broad agreement that a review of the regulatory framework is required as the last major review of the regulatory framework was completed in 1996.

“The review, led by CFIA, is much appreciated and very much needed,” noted Ellen Sparry, Seeds Canada President. “We do, however, believe that an overall vision for the sector’s future and the producers’ needs and realities must be more clearly understood to ensure we are putting the right tools in place. What would best enable our customers and in turn, our businesses? What system would best deliver seed innovation and sup-

port advancement today and beyond? A full regulatory review is unlikely to occur again for quite some time, so we need to get this right,” added Sparry.

The intention behind the Summit would be to assess the current regulatory environment and ask stakeholders, “What do you need from a modernized seed system in Canada”.

This insight will inform a Seed Regulatory Modernization Vision and the regulatory

review process. Discussions will be framed around themes addressing key components of an innovative, competitive, and end-user friendly Canadian seed system. Seeds Canada will keep stakeholders apprised of Summit plans as they develop.

If you have any questions or would like to confirm your participation in this conversation, please contact Seeds Canada’s Executive Director, Barry Senft, at bsenft@ seeds-canada.ca.

December 31, 2021

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Plan Your Garden Now

By Joan Airey It grounds us …gets us out of our busy heads and back into our bodies.

Alone there on our knees, we can breathe. With our nurturing hands duly occupied, while gardening we allow ourselves the time and space to truly feel peace, pride, satisfaction and joy.

A fellow gardener posted the above on Facebook, words that are so true. I know last spring and early summer before we could attend ball games I spent many hours in my garden enjoying every minute when I didn’t feel comfortable going shopping in large crowds.

Garden catalogues are arriving in our mailboxes.

Vesey’s has arrived, plus a real surprise, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Baker Creek catalogue has to be purchased but I feel it’s worth the cost for all the information it contains. The catalogue is the size of what an old Sear’s catalogue used to be. Not that I plan to purchase one every year but I feel it is worth the price to see the veggies I’ve never heard of before.

I believe Stokes has free shipping if you order on December 26 or 27. Too bad that wasn’t announced before our November issue came out, this is the second year they have had that offer.

T & T seeds catalogue is late coming out because of a shortage of paper was what I learned from a phone call I received from them. You can find their catalogue on line at ttseeds.com. They generally have a discount on your order if you make it before February 15.

My Carmen greenhouse cucumbers that I planted a month ago are doing well under lights. We have had lettuce from the last batch I started. I destroyed two pepper plants because aphids appeared on them. The third plant is growing well so far. Can anyone tell me how to stop aphids? I didn’t bring any plants in from outdoors and bought new miracle grow soil.

Gardener’s Journal arrived in the mail and it is written for those gardening in Ontario but a lot of the info in the journal will work across Canada. I’m hoping to find one written for western Canada.

The Prairie Garden is available now online and in numerous garden centres. It contains articles on many topics including one written on gardening in Churchill by myself.

It’s time to plan our 2022 gardens and order seeds as more and more people are starting to garden. I’m going to invest in some new Kozy Coats for my tomatoes next spring to protect them from the wind and so I can set them out earlier.

They are available at T & T seeds. A gardening friend told me they cut the bottom out of 5-gallon pails and use them to protect their tomato plants from wind.

Carmen cucumbers planted in November growing under grow lights.

The Prairie Garden, The Whole Seed Catalogue (Baker’s), Gardener’s Journal are all interesting reading for anyone.

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December 31, 2021

The AgriPost