The AgriPost
January 26, 2018
Expanding Employment Opportunities for Young Canadians in Agriculture
MB: Year of the Sheep?
Anna Hunter and her partner Luke Polk and their two boys relocated to Ste. Genevieve to build a 24 predominately Merino flock as the basis for their wool operation and they hope to be able to work with other producers to build the business. Photos Courtesy of Christel Lanthier
By Les Kletke The Chinese calendar may have designated another animal, but 2018 is shaping up to be the Year of the Sheep in Manitoba. One producer is applying for and calling for applications in what could well turn into plans for the largest sheep operation in Manitoba’s history and could become a player on the Canadian scene. It has ties to a
New Zealand firm and based in southeastern Manitoba. Another producer is taking things on a much smaller scale and hopes to open a processing plant this spring, but not a processing plant for meat - rather one for wool. Anna Hunter and her partner Luke Polk and their two boys relocated to Ste. Genevieve two and half years ago from Vancouver. “We
chose to farm, and thought it would be a good environment for our boys,” said Hunter who operated a yarn store in Vancouver before moving to Manitoba. While she lacks practical farm experience, she said it is in her blood as both her parents grew up on a farm. She does acknowledge that there has been some challenges in the first couple of years, but the family is doing well and
their flock is growing. Polk, who is a carpenter by trade, has erected a building to house the cleaning and spinning operation that hopefully with grow into a retail outlet. She knows that she will not have enough wool from her 24 predominately Merino flock and two llamas but is hopeful it will provide the basis for her operation and he will be able to work with
Farmers know the importance of keeping the land, water and air healthy to sustain their farms from one generation to the next. The Government of Canada is making strategic investments to help farmers and young Canadians adopt innovative practices and develop skills for a cleaner more prosperous Canada. The Federal government recently announced that the Agricultural Youth Green Jobs Initiative is now taking applications for 2018. Under the initiative, support is available to fund youth internships, both on the farm and with organizations engaged in the agriculture and agri-food sector for activities that are environmentally beneficial to the agriculture sector. “The overwhelming support and the great success of the program has benefited a number of agricultural businesses and led to more farm employers and young people benefiting from the Agricultural Youth Green Jobs Initiative. The expanded Initiative has provided youth with meaningful work experiences in the agriculture and agri-food sector, while providing benefits to the environment. A winwin for all,” said Lawrence MacAulay Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. Since the initial launch of the Agricultural Green Jobs Initiative in April 2016 there have been 392 new jobs created nationally. This initiative follows through on the Government of Canada’s commitment made in 2015 to help create good, well-paying jobs and to support young Canadians as they transition into the workforce.
other producers to build the business. “There is a real increase in interest in the fibre industry and knitting is growing as a hobby with more interest from young people,” said Hunter who has used several fibre events in the province to monitor the potential for her new enterprise. “There is no [wool] processor in Manitoba and we have found a mill that will
work in our size of operation,” she said. “There is also interest in fibre from goats so we are hopeful we will get things up and running this year and be able to process future wool crops in our province instead of sending them else where. In the meantime, she is keeping her sons busy with the expanding flock and hopefully a successful spring lambing season.
January 26, 2018
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Risk Management Should Always Include Updating Your Will By Joan Airey Laura J. McDougald-Williams addressed the risk of not having a Will at the Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference in Brandon recently. McDougald-Williams is a farmwoman and a partner in the law firm Meighen Haddad since 2015. She has a full time solicitor’s practice in the Souris branch office and expertise includes real estate, wills and estates, agribusiness, corporate and commercial work. “Death is a fact, please get a will. It is estimated over seventy percent of Canadians do not have an updated will. It is estimated assets transferring to next generation in the next twenty years is $1.5 trillion; ninety-nine percent of 14.8 million Canadians aged 45 plus intend to appoint family as their executor. While executors surveyed reported administrative complications are at forty-seven percent, emotional issues thirty-one percent and legal issues twenty-six percent,” said McDougal-Williams. She spoke on risk management of the four D’s, “Death, Disability, Divorce and Disagreement” saying an unlikely hero for helping you in any of these situations can be your lawyer. “It is important to have a will so you choose your executor, your beneficiaries, and the division of assets. Not having a
will can create unexpected consequences. Planning can help preserve your wealth by reducing your tax and estate administrations costs,” said McDougald-Williams in reference to the Intestate Succession Act. It is important to have a power of attorney appointed that will look out for your best interests. They would have signing authority on your behalf to pay bills and file income taxes if you become disabled and cannot do it yourself she went on to say. “Having someone you trust appointed to make medical decisions if you can’t and it allows them access to medical treatment information. This is important no matter how young you are,” she said. “In case of divorce, spousal contracts can help keep the farm whole, and the family farm allowing you to contract out of family law requirements protecting your assets pre-acquired, jointly owned or gifted to you. Written agreements help people communicate better to solve disagreements,” said McDougald-Williams. Useful contracts she listed were employment agreements, land rental agreements, partnership agreements and operating and unanimous shareholder agreements. “Death and taxes are two
certainties in life. Lawyers can help with estate planning, can help you reduce the estate administration costs, such as probate tax and land transfer tax, leaving more for your family. While accountant’s help you calculate what your taxes through farm succession are, while living or after death to save you dollars,” said McDougald-Williams. Speakers at the conference stressed the importance of a ‘Because I love you list”. This should contain the following information to make things easier for your grieving family to arm them with the tools they need to carry on. Top on the list are names, contact information for their team, employees, mentors, advisors, accountant and lawyer. It should also include farm operation passwords, keys, standard operating procedures, suppliers, vet, and elevator managers. Even your fix it folks-mechanic, dealerships, electrician, plumber should be listed. Finally, funeral arrangement or instructions. business agreement, leases, assets and debts should be dealt with. Personally I hope everyone reading this will make sure their will is up to date and you have a ‘Because I love you list’. Especially the mention of passwords made me think and I made sure my family knows the passwords that I keep in my head.
Laura J. Dougald-Williams B.A.(Hons), LLB, BCL addresses the Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference. Photo by Joan Airey
Two Million Acres of Soybeans Likely By Elmer Heinrichs Manitoba pulse crop specialist Dennis Lange said he expects Manitoba growers will plant about two million acres to soybeans in 2018. Lange spoke to producers at St. Jean Farm Days about last year’s challenges and the outlook for the current year. While soybean acres grew to a record 2.3 million acres last year, it was a dryer year and yields fell from a record 42 bushels an acre in 2016 to roughly 34 bushels an acre, still a near average crop. As interest in soybeans continues across western Canada, new soybean varieties are keeping pace, and Lange had some advice for growers on choosing a variety, and what to watch for in the crop.
He said Manitoba growers have many new varieties and herbicide systems to deal with this year. From Roundup Ready to Extend soybeans, conventional soybeans, Liberty tolerant soybeans and in the near future Enlist soybeans, all of which have potential to be grown within the province. He also stressed the importance of soil tests, proper rotations and choosing varieties that fit the length of the growing season. Lange sees soybean acres continuing to gain ground outside of the Red River valley with more of the crop being planted in western Manitoba, as well as further north. Soybeans have proved a reliable crop for Manitoban growers consistently yielding 30 to 40 bushels an acre.
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January 26, 2018
New Technologies Will Challenge Soybean Growers in Manitoba By Harry Siemens Dennis Lange, Provincial Pulse Specialist, Manitoba Agriculture told farmers at the St. Jean Farm Days in January the honeymoon for growing soybeans in Manitoba as it pertains to disease is still ongoing. Lange’s topic, how many soybeans can Manitoba grow, Challenges and Successes in 2017/2018 indicated that acres could drop in 2018 from 2.3 million to around two million because of slightly lower yields last year and the competition from other crops. “You know, I think the honeymoon is still moving along. We are starting to see a few little hiccups every once in a while with things like root rot, for example,” he said. “Some fields we’ve seen a little bit more root rot this year, has it affected yield, probably not quite yet.” Lange said moving forward, Manitoba soybean farmers may be looking at other pests, such as soybean cyst nematode, which is in North Dakota, and because the nematode can move through soil particles and through floodwaters, at some point, it may get here. The good news is that Manitoba has a good scouting and survey program in place every couple of years. So far, the nematode has not been found. “For the most part, we haven’t had any killing frost the last seven, eight years. That’s helped with
the growth in western Manitoba,” said Lange. “We’re seeing a lot more soybeans in this past year compared to in 2011 where five percent of our acreage was in western Manitoba. In 2016, we had 45 percent of our acres in western Manitoba. So it’s been good for the producers. Yields have been good.” He said the more significant challenges with yields are dry conditions at the wrong time. In Manitoba, soybeans are competing for other acres, but other crops are also competing for the soybean acres. “When you grow 9.6 million acres of crop in Manitoba, there’s only so many acres to go around,” Lange said. “With canola acres, number one, wheat number two, and then soybean is number three, at some point you’re going to see some of those big acre crops, shift down. I’m expecting soybeans to be around the two million acre mark, down from about 2.3 million from last year. So going into next year, I think things are pretty positive for the most part. Most growers I’ve talked to are quite happy with their yields. In some instances maybe a little disappointed because they came off a year like 2016 where the average in Manitoba was 42 bushels and some growers were even higher than that. So it just kind of brings things back into perspective.” Lange touched on several
other challenges namely problems with dry seed and extended soybeans. “Number one, growers could be looking at some drier seed issues this year. Not every lot will have dry seed, but it’s a good idea to talk to your seed supplier, find out what your seed moisture is like, so you can make adjustments to your equipment to make sure you get a good stand coming up,” he said. “You don’t want to find out you planted dry seed after the beans and potentially dropping from 160 thousand plants per acre down to 80 thousand plants.” He said soybean farmers would also face some challenges as companies develop new technology in soybean systems and varieties. “Monsanto released Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® soybeans in 2017 in Manitoba, dicamba tolerant, so they’re tolerant to dicamba and glyphosate. It gives growers more weed control options,” said Lange. “But with this new technology, you have to understand there are different use patterns. You want to make sure that when you’re growing these new technologies that you pay attention to things like potential drift issues, wind speed, nozzle size, all those things have to pay attention.” He said growers must be even more aware of remembering what other farmers are growing next to them.
At St. Jean Farm Days, Dennis Lange, Provincial Pulse Specialist, Manitoba Agriculture spoke about weed control options such as Monsanto’s Roundup Ready 2 Xtend®, which is tolerant to dicamba and glyphosate.
Dennis Lange, Provincial Pulse Specialist, Manitoba Agriculture told farmers at the St. Jean Farm Days in January the honeymoon for growing soybeans in Manitoba as it pertains to disease is still ongoing. Photos by Harry Siemens
January 26, 2018
Open Market Wheat is Great Since 2012 when the CWB couldn’t control my income, it has been a real eye opener of what I lost in the previous 40 years of farming with the CWB. Every year now, I get over $7 for my wheat including $8.42 the fist year 2012 when I had control of my property. This previous year you could lock in wheat at approximately $9 a bushel and after harvest sell the rest at $7. Bins could be empty by January and no quotas or deadlines to deal with. It’s too bad the people responsible for the demise of the CWB wouldn’t accept the blame. The Directors and people at the CWB didn’t keep up with the times and thought they had a life long welfare job. I noticed that at the elevators, they didn’t hire any extra people to give us our cheques, so what did those 500 people do? Thanks Ritz and Harper for increasing my income but you should’ve went a little further and had an investigation into running the CWB. Gordon Falk Killarney, MB
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How to Get Young Farmers? Get Old! This year our province’s premier Ag show designated a theme of the Young Farmers. A worthy cause indeed, the issue of how to get young people involved in our industry has been around for as long as we have been an industry, I am sure. I remember back a couple of decades ago when I was travelling in Europe and was impressed that France had several programs to encourage young farmers to return to their roots. At the time, the average age of farmers in Canada was pegged at 65, and with the success of their programs France had dropped the average age of their farmers to the mere age of 53. A true witness to the fact that government programs do work. Back in December when I saw the theme for this year’s Ag Days being announced I could not help but be impressed what a great idea to reach out to young famers. I spent some time in the past month thinking about the concept and came up with the answer to the age-old question of “How to get young famers involved in the business?” it is simple, get old. You see in 1995, I thought farmers were old in our country, and now only 25 yeas later, I cannot help but be amazed at the kids that are farming. That’s right when I go to a farm meeting today I can not help but wonder about how these guys got the day off school to be at the meeting, they can’t be done high school, but when I talk to them they are indeed a few years past that and most often some time after University. There was a simple solution to the problem, just change my vantage point, instead of being under 40 move to being over 60 and the whole world gets younger. It is simply amazing. I wonder if this solution of changing vantage points would world for solving other problems as well, it just seems so easy. Take a look at things from a different point of view and they look so much different. Farms are not being run by old guys who are fighting change, farms are being managed by young guys who are not only advocating change they are actively going out an pursuing it. They are looking for things to change; they are looking for new apps for their phone that will help them do things differently. Who knew it was that simple, just wait 25 years and things look different, lets celebrate the year of the young farmer.
Don’t Give Up the Right to Farm and Live to Tell It Communicating, speaking, even breathing and eating the story of farming is something I do every day of my life, and as the adage says, “Twice on Sunday”. As I noted to a friend on Twitter recently, I started farming when I was seven or eight years old, well at least driving a small Ford tractor pulling an eight-section harrow. Officially, in 1965 renting my first piece of land from my father who desperately wanted me to farm. He forgave me for choosing the storytelling of farming on how others produce the food we eat, the best, healthiest, safest and the least costly compared to anywhere in the world. Sometimes I get into some great discussions on Twitter about the subject I love telling, the story of farming. Bob Bartley of Roland said 97% of Canada’s farms are family owned. “Many farms are handed down through generations, and it’s not uncommon to see family members working together to produce healthy, safe food.
Tools like pesticides help farmers protect crops and ensure their land is healthy in the future.” I said we need to stand up strong, for family farms and be careful about the food police, food policy people, climate change extremists, carbon tax proponents do from taking us off our game. Simon Ellis of Wawanesa, a robust young farmer, said constant communication and relationship development with our government representatives is critical. Family agriculture is the foundation of this great country. “If the communication and relationship development with our government representatives results in government taxing our farms and directing a farm organization to do their bidding then something has gone badly wrong. Manitoba farmers don’t deserve another carbon tax.” Mark Chambers, Chair of the Banff Pork Seminar said the 2018 edition of the annual event was a tremendous success attracting a sold-out audience. The theme of 2018,
“Looking ahead to the next generation” attracted 770 registrants, a sold-out audience, of people from all over Canada, the US and around the world. They represented a lot of production people and industry representatives from genetic, nutrition and equipment companies, consultants and veterinarians. “This year’s theme was the next generation and communicating, and we had some outstanding speakers, especially the opening plenary that talked about communication and how we need to talk to the public, especially when reporters are interviewing us,” said Chambers. “Because our industry is under the spotlight and we need to know how to address that and how to move forward in the future,” he said. Farm broadcaster Orion Samuelson asked what rights do farmers have when animal rights groups decide they have the right to walk uninvited on to a farm or ranch or walk into a dairy barn or livestock building and begin shooting video
because they suspect the farmer is abusing the animals on the property? What about trespassing laws and the right of property owners to protect their property against unwanted guests? The number of such happenings increased to the point a decade ago that rural States began passing laws to make it illegal to go onto a farm and shoot video under a pretence. Animal right’s groups and other critics of the law described it as an ‘ag-law’ and said if farmers had nothing to hide, why would they object. Back in 2014, the Governor of Idaho, Butch Otter, signed the ‘ag-gag’ law, despite loud protests from the American Humane Society. Last month a federal appeals court declared the Idaho law unconstitutional on free speech grounds. Circuit Judge Margaret McKeown of the ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle made some other interesting comments in her written statement. She said the ban on shooting video
was a “classic example of a content-based restriction that cannot survive strict scrutiny.” But here’s the one that got me…‘the ban on making misrepresentations to enter facilities was void because it could criminalize innocent behaviour.” I interpret that as the court saying it is legal to lie. Orion said here we go again taking away from farmers the right to decide who comes onto their private property, to determine who is trespassing or not trespassing, and who lies to go onto that property with malicious intent. Eleven states with similar laws will be overseeing the aftermath of this decision. I still say it is a violation of your property rights. It is important when I call to tell your story, don’t ignore the call and say talk to someone else, but with anticipation take the call and answer the questions the best you know how. You are the best at what you do. If you don’t tell your story, no one else will.
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Bits & Pieces News seems to come at us faster and in greater volume than ever before. Here’s just a small sample of recent events that caught this writer’s eye. In early January, the Wall Street Journal reported on a meeting between Donald Trump and a group of American farmers. Trump told them that he’s looking for a better trade deal than NAFTA, although he did not repeat his earlier warnings of pulling out of it completely. Given Trump’s record of keeping certain promises over the past year, let’s hope our negotiators take the threat seriously and actually look out for Canada’s interests in the ongoing talks. A newly published peer-reviewed study with the everso-catchy title, “Refined assessment and perspectives on the cumulative risk resulting from the dietary exposure to pesticide residues in the Danish population,” also appeared in January. I’ll spare you all the boring details, but the conclusion was “That adverse health effects of chronic pesticide residue exposure in the Danish population are very unlikely. The [Hazard Index] for pesticides for a Danish adult was on level with that of alcohol for a person consuming the equivalent of 1 glass of wine every seventh year.” One
glass of wine every seven years! Can you get any closer to zero than that? If you’re looking for a definitive read on the comparative dangers of Round-up and coffee, a lengthy blog post published last April does a bangup job. Written by a Ph.D. named Alison Bernstein, “Glyphosate Vs Caffeine: Acute and Chronic Toxicity Assessments Explained” goes through the different kinds of toxicity and how they’re measured. It starts out with a great chart showing how RoundUp compares to a number of common household products. She finishes off telling us that, “Caffeine is 40 times more toxic than glyphosate.” And points out, “This is only a useful number if we know our typical exposures.” The exposure numbers above show that we don’t give a second thought to consuming caffeine at levels hundreds of times higher than the oral RfD, but are simultaneously worried about exposures to glyphosate that are 100 times lower than the RfD. It’s all about context and having all of the proper information to make an informed decision. Which you don’t normally get from the activists trying to ban things by scaring the pants off people. Switching gears, FEE (the Foundation for Economic
Penner’s Points
Education) pub- By Rolf lished a great piece Penner in December called, “Clean Your Room, Change the World”. Based on the popular social media work of Dr. Despite the long brutal Jordan Peterson, a clinical cold snap we’ve had, global psychologist and professor, warming and climate change it points out the phenomenon have made headlines again. of “politically engaged young Some pointed out all of the people who are preoccupied failed predictions about how with reorganizing society and the polar ice caps were supthe economic system when posed to have melted years they can’t even organize their ago, and we weren’t going to own bedrooms.” ever see snow again. This could easily apply to Meanwhile, in early January many adults as well. Quoting we saw pictures of snow in Peterson, “Don’t be fixing up the Sahara desert, of all placthe economy, 18-year-olds. es. In the Wall Street Journal, You don’t know anything Bjorn Lomborg had a piece about the economy. It’s a titled, “Climate-Change Polimassive complex machine cies Can Be Punishing for the beyond anyone’s understand- Poor.” It points out how much ing and you mess with at your poor people in rich countries peril. So can you even clean are suffering because of exup your own room? No. Well pensive policies that don’t you think about that. You actually accomplish anything should think about that, be- worthwhile. cause if you can’t even clean On Facebook, John Colup your own room, who the lison went further, saying, hell are you to give advice to “Nothing more evil than a the world?” #CarbonTax in a new Ice Which is great advice. If Age.” Anyone out in -40 deyou can’t fix the small things gree Celsius weather with the going wrong in your own life wind blowing up their backor your own area of compe- side trying to deliver calves, tence, then how on earth do unfreeze a sewer line, get you think you can centrally water lines working, start up plan a whole industry like a standby generator or trying agriculture let alone the entire to get a diesel engine to start economy of a country or the would probably agree. world? Then there’s twitter…
Canada Needs to Sign the Once in a Lifetime Pacific Trade Deal Trade partners surrounding the Pacific Ocean are eager to move forward with the Comprehensive and Progressive TransPacific Partnership (CPTPP). The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) is urging Canada to work with the other 10 countries to sign the agreement as soon as possible. The CPTPP must not be overlooked or neglected, as it will enable Canada to reach the $75 billion export goal laid out in Budget 2017. Exports are the driver of the exceptional growth of pork production in Canada and have been particularly important to operations based in Ontario and Québec. Different bilateral and regional trade agreements have been implemented over the past 20 years and the result has been phenomenal. Pork and pork products exported from Canada increased from $1.1 billion to close to $4 billion in 2017. Canada is the world’s third-largest pork exporter in part because of a strong effort to diversify export markets. The number of countries to which Canada exports has climbed from 50 in 1990, to 140 in 2017. Also, contrary to many other Canadian economic sectors, the pork industry has become less dependent upon the US for export sales. For example, in 1990, the US accounted for 75% of Canadian pork exports, while in 2017; only 29% of pork products went to the US. Japan is a very strong market for Canadian pork. Pork is a premium product in Japan and sells for over double the Canadian price. In 2017, Canadian pork exports to Japan reached almost $1 billion. If Canada is not part of the CPTPP that valuable Japanese market would rapidly be acquired by other countries including members of the European Union, which recently concluded its negotiations with Japan. According to CPC Chair Rick Bergmann, every time a trade deal is signed without the participation of Canada, there is a negative impact on the pork sector. “The failure to sign the CPTPP would result in huge losses to the hog sector leading to pork producers leaving their farms, and closures of processors and exporters.” Canada was in a similar position several years ago when the US, European Union and other major competitors secured free trade deals with South Korea ahead of Canada. The Canadian pork sector lost its traditional market share in Korea almost immediately and saw pork exports to that country fall by two thirds (67%) within just two years. The Canadian pork market in Japan is much larger than South Korea. The CPTPP is vital to the pork industry. Canada has been involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations since 2012. It is time to reap the benefits of this hard work. The CPC believes that a signed agreement that includes Canada will secure a strong relationship in key markets offering great potential. The Canadian Pork Council is the national voice for hog producers in Canada. A federation of nine provincial pork industry associations representing 7,000 farms, the organization plays a leadership role in achieving and maintaining a dynamic and prosperous Canadian pork sector.
January 26, 2018
Growing the Economy in Rural Manitoba There are plenty of lessons I learned from my dad, Frank Lamont. He had a fierce attitude of fairness that the law had to apply to everyone, and for government to work, it needs to work for everyone. He was born in the middle of the Depression, and grew up in Headingley on a plot of land with the By Dougald Lamont Assiniboine River on one side and the Headingley Gaol on the other. He was the youngest of five, and he and his brothers John and Charlie farmed with my grandfather Bud. They farmed at Gladstone, too, and our family still owns a quarter section near Rossburn, not far from Riding Mountain National Park. He and my uncles gave me deep appreciation for rural Manitoba, including the unique risks and hard work associated with farming. As a Winnipegger who knows there is more to Manitoba than what’s inside the Perimeter highway, one of the things that has always struck me about rural communities is the incredible difference a single person can make; a huge difference in their community. Take the General Store at Olha, population 3. Marion Koltusky keeps it open 364 and a half days a year, and is a year-round gathering place for locals. Stay for ten minutes and someone is bound to drop in. Down the road in Rossburn, Kelly Hunter runs Gone Scrappin’ In Bloom, one of the nicest little stores in all of Manitoba. When I see, the hard work and dedication of people like Marion and Kelly I know that there are communities all across Manitoba that are sustained by that kind of extraordinary commitment. That kind of commitment needs to be recognized, encouraged and supported, because I see potential in rural Manitoba. Around the world, one of the greatest cultural divides is between urban and rural areas. We have to recognize this, and recognize and understand each other’s differences, so we can come up with policies that work for everyone. That means recognizing the real challenges facing rural communities - like the unfair impact of higher Hydro rates. Private investment and government investment go hand in hand in building strong communities. I’ve been asked what my vision for Manitoba is. It’s simple - that Manitoba be known as a place you can get a good job. By “good job”, I mean a full time job with benefits. That’s what motivates people - good jobs and opportunity. If we can create strong Manitoba businesses and create jobs, it will encourage people to stay, and we can attract people to move here. But Manitoba has faced a shortage of investment for new businesses as well as investment in public infrastructure especially compared to a province like Saskatchewan. That has to change - and it can change. We are committed to providing essential infrastructure in energy, transportation and communications to grow the economy and create good jobs in rural Manitoba, and an economy that works for everyone. Dougald Lamont is the Leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party.
January 26, 2018
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Let the Natural Enemies Do the Work for You When Growing Soybeans
John Gavloski, Manitoba Agriculture Entomologist, told farmers in St. Jean Farm Days to scout their crops and it is best to see if natural enemies of pests will do the work for you.
By Harry Siemens John Gavloski, Entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture talked about soybean aphids, thistle caterpillars, diamondback moth, scouting thresholds and the role of natural enemies in soybeans at the recent St. Jean Farm Days. Gavloski did say to keep in mind that the soybean crop in Manitoba is relatively new and that even with the insects that affected the crop in 2017 the honeymoon period is not
quite over yet. However, the big three seen in the last growing season were the soybean aphid at much higher levels than the previous several years, which was a surprise he noted. In addition, the migratory butterfly called Painted Lady has seen a population increase. The caterpillar stage primarily feeds on the Canadian Thistle, but may as a secondary host, feed on soybeans and sunflowers. “The Diamondback moth, came in some higher levels, late in the season and the pheromone traps we had up for them earlier didn’t pick them up, but when the crop started to form pods some fields had some higher levels than anticipated,” said Gavloski. This observation was notable as the Diamondback moth larvae mainly feed on plants in the mustard family (canola, mustard) and cole crops (broccoli, cabbage). In western Canada, canola and mustard are its primary targets. He said the best way to scout for aphids is to look for aphids on the leaves, then estimate the numbers because it
is impossible to count what’s on a plant when levels get high, but he recommends that farmers should practice at getting the estimates right. There are some excellent resources on the internet that can help farmers improve aphis estimates. “Keep an eye on things and as the numbers rise to 250 per plant, and the population still increases, this is the magic number we use for the economic threshold,” said Gavloski. “Now, the level where they do economic damage, where the yield loss equals your control costs, that’s around 670 per plant. We don’t want you waiting that long to decide to control them. So 250 per plant and the population still increasing is what we consider to be the economic threshold.” He said that is a very healthy threshold developed through studies at 19 different sites and 3 states over a three-year period. Gavloski said there is a group of about six or seven generalist predators or natural enemies that can eat a lot of soybean aphids. There is also
a parasitic wasp that can do a good job too. “So when we do start seeing high numbers, there are ways we can factor that into our decision making. There’s now an app available called Aphid Advisor where the farmer needs to do additional counts of lady beetles, green lacewings, pirate bugs, aphid mummies or parasitized aphids. There’s a group of insects, beneficial insects that you need to be able to identify, and then you can add that data to your app and that will basically do the math for you, and it readjusts the economic threshold,” he said. “We used it as a test situation last year, where we had roughly 300 aphids per plant, on average, but we were finding at least one or two lady beetle larva per plant. We entered that into the Aphid Advisor, it recommended not to spray, even though aphid numbers were above what would traditionally be the economic threshold. One of the helpful groups of predators is the 66 species of the Lady beetles in the Province. One Manitoba study found that these beetles
Even though the soybean crop is fairly new to the province there were some insect surprises in 2017. Photos by Harry Siemens
feed on different species of aphids found on cereal crops. The research showed that the number of aphids consumed depended on the species of lady beetle and the species of aphid consumed. Adults of the thirteen-spotted lady beetle, a common species in Manitoba, each consumed between 110 and 160 aphids on average in 24 hours, depending on the species of aphid they were feeding on. The Manitoba Agriculture entomologist told farmers to scout their crops because
surprises occur from year to year. “It’s hard to predict what could come in a given year; we got caught by a few things last year. So scout your crops, know what’s going on, don’t panic too early when you do see something, scout thoroughly, know what the thresholds are, and control them if needed. If it’s not at the threshold, sometimes you’re better off letting the natural enemies do the work for you. It’s the most economical way to do it.”
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Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance Looks at the Year in Review Trade has never been more talked about than in 2017. Much of the talk was prompted by the protectionist rhetoric coming from south of the border. The most notable effects of this on Canada have been the US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the start of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations. However, the protectionist speech has been met with strong resistance from the defenders of free trade. Most important for Canada, was the rise of a ‘diversification imperative’ to look to other markets for expansion. In the face of uncertainty, now is the time to diversify our markets to obtain better market access. 2017 was a year of both hope and concern for the prospects of agriculture and agri-food trade. The Government of Canada acknowledged the importance of our agriculture and agrifood exports in its 2017 Budget goal to grow them to $75 billion by 2025. In particular, agriculture and agri-food was highlighted as a key sector for future growth and job creation, built upon growth of an astonishing 103 per cent in the sector over the last 10 years. Central to achieving this goal of $75 billion will be to expand markets for agriculture and food products and eliminating tariffs and non-tariff barriers through free trade agreements (FTA) such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacif-
ic Partnership (CPTPP) and a Canada-China FTA. The year began with US President Donald Trump signing an executive order to withdraw from the original TPP. This left the remaining 11 countries (Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile, and Peru) to ascertain if the agreement could be saved. In no small part due to Japan’s insistence to continue with the TPP, it was salvaged and appears to have a future. On the margins of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Summit, leaders of the 11 remaining countries agreed to the core elements of the TPP, now called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). CAFTA welcomed the progress made and urged Canada to maintain the momentum by taking a leadership role to secure a deal with the remaining 11 countries. CAFTA remains concerned regarding reports in December that Japan may push to move forward with the CPTPP without Canada. The passage and subsequent provisional application of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was a landmark moment for Canada’s agri-food sector. CAFTA participated in the launch event with Canada’s Trade Minister marking the provisional application of
the agreement. While CETA brings positive benefits, the results will not be immediate for all agri-food sectors. CAFTA urged the government to resolve the outstanding issues of the agreement including those in meat processing protocols, crop production products, and the timely approval of biotechnology traits. Recent protectionist measures from some EU Member States under the guise of country of origin labelling are especially concerning, because they go against the spirit of CETA. NAFTA renegotiations began this year amid threats by the US to withdraw from the agreement entirely. The US has long been Canada’s single largest trading partner, with 53 per cent of Canadian agriculture and food exports going south of the border in 2016. The liberalized trade conditions brought by NAFTA have been an incredible success for Canadian and North American agriculture, which has allowed all three countries to develop highlight coordinated and productive supply chains. There is an enormous potential to improve on the existing regulatory conditions and to make trade in North America easier for agri-food exporters. However, as talks became increasingly acrimonious, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland said, “We have seen proposals that would turn back the clock on 23 years of predictability, openness and collab-
oration under NAFTA.” Consultations and exploratory discussions regarding multiple possible Free Trade Agreements were conducted throughout the year. Most notable was with China. CAFTA urged the Federal government to pursue a deal with China, which accounted for $6 billion in Canadian agriculture and agri-food exports in 2016. CAFTA also released a comprehensive report entitled “Chasing China - Expanding Canada’s AgriFood Exports to China,” which outlines the barriers and opportunities for supplying the growing Chinese appetite for healthy, safe Canadian food. Improving trade relations between Canada and China was a major component of Prime Minister Trudeau’s visit in December. Canada has also begun exploratory talks with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Looking forward to 2018, Canada’s trade agenda is at a critical juncture. We cannot afford another situation like South Korea, in which competitors beat Canada in achieving preferential market access and cost us half a billion dollars. Amid the uncertainty, Canada must make some progress in the Asia-Pacific region to meet the federal government’s $75 billion goal in agri-food exports. Canada’s first trade move in the New Year must be to finalize the CPTPP and implement it without delay.
Shared Agricultural Priorities Results in Five Year Multi-Lateral Agreement The Manitoba government has officially signed a multilateral agreement with the Government of Canada to implement a new five-year agricultural policy called the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. “The Canadian Agricultural Partnership will help the agriculture and agri-food sector to continue to innovate, grow and prosper,” said Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay. “The Government of Canada is proud to support this partnership with the Provincial and Territorial governments, which will help create opportunities
for our farmers, ranchers and processors, while providing good paying jobs for Canadians.” The multilateral agreement is the first step needed to establish the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) in Manitoba, ensuring farmers, agri-processors, researchers and other stakeholders can access related programs and funding. Governments are also currently negotiating a bilateral agreement to ensure Manitoba’s priorities, opportunities and issues are reflected in the partnership’s programs. “I am pleased with our shared
progress on implementing the Canadian Agricultural Partnership in Manitoba and signing the multilateral agreement is an important milestone,” said Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler. “This framework will provide even greater opportunities for Manitoba’s Ag sector. Our government’s goal is to ensure a seamless transition to the partnership’s programs when it comes into effect this spring.” The agreement includes government commitments to continue business risk-management programs such as AgriInsurance, AgriStabil-
ity and AgriInvest. In Manitoba, CAP will invest a total of $176 million in strategic programming focused on the sustainability and competitiveness of the agriculture and food sector. The Canadian Agricultural Partnership is a five-year, Federal-Provincial-Territorial investment that will come into effect on April 1, 2018. It focuses on six priority areas including science, research and innovation, markets and trade, environmental sustainability and climate change, value-added agriculture and agri-food processing, public trust and risk management.
January 26, 2018
Traditions Keep Pace with the Future
Eduardo Sanchez says Argentine gauchos have moved to modern methods to manage their herds.
Photo by Les Kletke
By Les Kletke Eduardo Sanchez sees the key to staying ahead of the world in beef production is change. Sanchez runs a beef operation just an hour outside of Buenos Aries, Argentina and hosts visitors to his farm for an afternoon of trail rides and display of gaucho skills: it is a tourist attraction. That is only one aspect of his farm. The other is a large beef herd that grazes about 80 miles to the north. “People like to see the Gauchos and the skills of horsemanship,” he said. “But in reality, things have changed and the Gaucho today relies on his cell phone as much as anyone else.” He has a staff that provides a traditional Argentine meal of barbecue beef, pork and roast chicken. He takes time to explain how to make the traditional herbal tea, Mate that is often credited with allowing the cowboys of his country to work long hours. Part of his presentation deals with the proper way to share the hot drink that is consumed from one straw and goes back to the host before being presented to the next guest. “Some of the respect for Mate and the way to offer it is being lost in the cities among our young people,” he explained. “But it is a special drink and meant to be handled a certain way.” In private conversation away from the group, he explains that today’s manager uses a cell phone to monitor his cowboys and cattle. “We have long been known for out beef,” said Sanchez. “The skills of managing a herd on a pasture have always been a part of the business here. We did not have the confined rearing that is popular in North America and now when people come to study our methods it is the old ways with the use of modern technology.” His commercial herd has a strong Angus influence. “We like the Angus cattle but we have to choose for animals that will do well in our conditions and that has always been the case,” he said. “This area of the country is dry and grass is precious so we have always pastured cattle in that way and respected our pasture so that it will be there for the next group of animals.” While his tourist farm serves pork and chicken along with traditional dances, he does not raise any of it, buying instead at the local market. “We know what we can do and what we do well, so we raise beef and buy the other meats,” he said with a smile before it is time to hurry off. “Excuse me I have more visitors that want to know about the mate.”
January 26, 2018
The AgriPost
The Impact of Vitamin A in Dairy Diets Prices of Vitamin A (along with vitamins D and E) have increased to ten times of their former costs from just a few months ago. This skyrocket of commercial cost is due to a recent fire that broke out a new manufacturing facility in Germany as well as several vitamin A, D, and E plants that are down for maintenance in China. Together, these events have caused a worldwide shortage of these essential vitamins for both human and livestock nutrition, including the well-balanced diets put down in front of dairy cows and calves every day. As a dairy nutritionist, I strongly believe that Vitamin A is a primary nutrient for dairy cattle. With the possibility of further price increases and limited availability, I recommend that
dairy producers review their dairy diets of baby calf, replacement heifer, dry and lactation cows. Make sure that each group is fed their basic dietary requirement for Vitamin A without anymore fed than needed. University and commercial suggestions for providing Vitamin A in the dairy diets are significantly higher than guidelines set forth by the National Research Council (NRC) for dairy cattle. Many non-NRC references state that non-lactating dairy cattle require between 50,000 – 75,000 iu/head/d of Vitamin A, while their lactating counterparts need between 100,000 – 150,000 iu/head/ d. All of which depends upon the animals’ stress and health status. As a footnote, schedule IV of the Canadian Feeds Act allows a vitamin A
maximum of up to 200,000 iu/head/d be fed to lactating dairy cows. Regardless of what set of recommendations are followed, I know of no substitute for Vitamin A to be fed to dairy cattle. However, most people don’t realize that Vitamin A is a generic term (like no-name products) that science uses to cover a number of compounds with similar chemical structures and specific biological activities to a compound called retinol. Retinol and its biologically active derivatives are not found in common forages and grains, but in nature, these plants contain the yellow pigment; betacarotene which is converted by enzymes on the animals’ small intestine wall to retinol-metabolites which are
absorbed and metabolized. Commercial feeds use highly bioavailable retinyl acetate or palmitate forms as their source of Vitamin A. Almost all Vitamin A that is not used in the body is efficiently stored in the liver with modest amounts deposited in animal body fat. There are three major functions for Vitamin A in dairy cattle. First, Vitamin A plays an active role in the maintenance and health of epithelial tissue, which in turn plays an indirect role in the first line defense against invading organisms. This tissue includes all outer skin surfaces and the cellular linings of the respiratory, digestive, and reproductive and urinary tracts. Other similar functions include healthy bone formation, a regular estrus cycle in female cattle and
sperm production in bulls. A second major function of Vitamin A is that it is needed in a compound called rhodopsin found in the retina of the eye. This chemical allows the animals’ sight to adjust from light to dark conditions (i.e.: prevents “night-blindness”). Although it is rare, a severely Vitamin A deficient cow may give birth to a blind calf. Closer to home, vitamin A’s last major function involves dairy immune response, where it is required for the production of white blood cells to fight disease. We might see it as a mar-
ginal deficiency in post-partum dairy cows with a higher incidence of health problems such mastitis. That’s because it is theorized that pre-fresh cows transfer a large portion of Vitamin A from their own bodies into colostrum for their newborn calf and thus literarily drain themselves of vitamin A, which lasts for few weeks into early lactation. University of Guelph (2004) quantitated this risk of clinical mastitis as it relates to the post-partum cows’ blood level of vitamin A. The researchers collected blood samples in dairy cows; just prior to calving and posted them against clinical cases in the first thirty days of lactation. As a result, a majority of the mastitis cases occurred after calving and mastitispositive cows had on comparison a much lower level of vitamin A in their blood (difference > 100 ng/ml) than mastitis-negative cows. The study concluded that cows with high blood levels of vitamin A have a much lower chance of developing mastitis in early lactation. This study demonstrates to me that essential levels of vitamin A should be fed to dairy cattle including lactating dairy cows at all times. Other related studies also impress upon me to use only reliable commercial stores of vitamin A when I formulate these dairy diets. Under one such process, the manufacturer uses vitamin A precursors and react them with gelatin and different sugars to form insoluble (water) vitamin A beads, which gives them greater stability and shelf-life, yet retains high bio-availability in dairy cattle. In this way, it assures that high quality vitamin A is fed and thus all cows’ vitamin A requirements are met. Despite the recent stickershock of the price of commercial vitamin A, it should never deter anyone from meeting these vitamin A requirements in dairy cattle. Besides, vitamin A is still available at these high prices and its price increase still amounts to pennies per dairy animal. I believe that it’s a still a small price to pay to keep dairy cattle healthy and strong performers.
The AgriPost
Stylishly Ahead of Its Time
Bob Schmor and his 70 Cockshutt and his model 60 in the background. Both were built on contract by the Oliver company in the US.
By Les Kletke Bob Schmor said the very features that make his Cockshutt 70 attractive now are one of the reasons it is so rare. Schmor, who spent a career in the financial industry, is retired in Steinbach and has restored several vehicles and tractors. The two that get out most now are his Cockshutt 60 and 70. “The tractor was ahead of its time with the styled fenders and the side panels on the engine compartment,” he said. “The look was much different than farmers expected from a tractor and the side panels caused the engine to overheat.” On early models the exhaust was lead in under the closed cowl as well, that has be changed on his tractors.” “The farmer that owned my 60 took great care to put them away for the day he would be selling the tractor,” said Schmor. “As you can imagine they were often removed when the farmer was not in a great frame of mind and much more concerned about the temperature of the engine than saving the sheet metal that was adding to his overheating problem.” A model 80 that had a much more stylized look later joined the model 60 and 70. The 60 and 70 were built on contract for Cockshutt by Oliver in the US and shipped to Canada with a coat of red paint. “When I was restoring the tractors it was obviThe Cockshutt 70 was ahead of its time with the styled fenders and the side panels on the engine compartment.
ous they had been green at one time and the Cockshutt red was not on everything,” he said. He chose the Cockshutts for restoration because it was a Canadian company. At the time, the company was manufacturing farm machinery and felt they needed a tractor to complete the line-up. They contracted Oliver for the build. “Cockshutt was not entirely happy with the deal and felt they were getting some seconds in the manufacturing process,” he said. “The cast frame on my 70 shows some defects and
by the time the contract was over Cockshutt was happy to move on. The company later produced a line of tractors numbered from 20 to 70. The engine parts of the 70 were produced by Continental and shipped to the Cockshutt facility were they were assembled so the company could claim they had built the engine. Schmor said saving the bit of Canadian history is important to him, and not many of the tractors remain so he has done his best to maintain at least a couple of them.
January 26, 2018
Foodgrains Projects Celebrate Success Across the Country By Elmer Heinrichs The Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a partnership of 15 Canadian churches and church-based agencies working to feed the hungry, has reported that 2017 was a very successful year. At Canadian Foodgrains Bank, they like to talk about the Foodgrains Bank “farm”, the thousands of acres across Canada, from PEI to BC that are planted by community growing projects to raise funds for the work of ending global hunger. In 2017, this “farm” was almost 16,000 acres of land that grew crops such as wheat, barley, corn, pulses, soybeans, canola and other grains. The proceeds from the sale of the crops planted on this “farm” will make a difference in the lives of people in great need, and help people learn to grow more food over the longer term. Here is a snapshot of the “farm” this past growing season. It was a tough year for many Alberta projects, and some were not able to plant at all, but the St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church Community Growing Project in Ribeye managed to bring in two crops, last year’s canola that spent winter on the field as well as a barley crop. In Ontario, home to over 100 community-growing projects that Regional Representative Dave Epp knows all about said he was looking for positive reports and heard a project leader say he was not looking forward to harvest time because it was too wet, but then that same leader was amazed at the crop that was brought in. In Atlantic Canada, two more seeded crop projects were added bringing the total to 16 across PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Back west in Saskatchewan all 26 projects were harvested without difficulties, and many supporters came out to cheer on the projects and to lend their support. Manitoba also had a good year, according to Regional Representative Harold Penner. “There were some super harvests, and some average to maybe some below average harvests. All in all, I’d consider that a good year.” “A highlight for me was seeing 26 combines come out on harvest day in Killarney. And it was awesome seeing the community support as well. There was a huge crowd, over 200 people came out.” For Tony Peters, Treasurer for the FOCUS project in Elie, Manitoba, seeing different groups of Manitobans come together in support of people enduring hunger is what growing projects are all about. “When you’re hungry, you don’t ask what church someone goes to or where they’re from. You’re hungry and that’s all you think about,” he said. “So that’s what we think about, helping hungry people.” Another project highlight saw six Grow Hope projects in Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba receive enough support from urban growing projects to sponsor 650 acres of crops.
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January 26, 2018
Using Genetics When Necessary
Juan Tonamete traces the genetics of his prize cow to Canada. “Her father came from Canada,” he says proudly.
By Les Kletke Juan Tonamete shows great pride in the genetics of his dairy herd and his beef cows as a commercial herd. Not because he places greater emphasis on his dairy enterprise, rather he feels the return on investment in his dairy herd is justified. “That cow’s father came from Canada,” he said proudly pointing at the cow that leads the herd as he enters the pasture. He uses the best genetics he can access for his herd of 18 cows, in southern Uruguay. “I use genetics from Canada, the United States
and of course Jersey Island,” said Tonamete. “We are constantly working to improve the quality of our herd. The cows stay with us a long time so we want the best we can get.” His farm is just outside of Montevideo, a major port city in this country of 3 million people. He markets his milk directly to neighbours and those from the city that are willing to make the short drive to his farmyard. We do well in conversations about genetics and herd management but seem to run into language problems when we address the issue of pasteuri-
zation and selling to dairy’s versus directly to consumers. We move to his beef herd. No purebred animals here, he has an equal number 18 cows in his beef herd but they are a cross of Red Angus and Piedmontiese. “For the beef animals this is a good mix and it gives us a hearty animal that can work in these conditions,” said Tonamete. He explained that the conditions are harsh by Canadian standards and it would appear that cows have to count on scenery to provide a part of their daily intake. The ground is dry and grass is hard and bunchy with spots
Photo by Les Kletke
of bear ground showing. The animals do have trees for shade in what appears to be oppressive heat for visitors. The combination of 18 beef and 18 dairy cows provides Tonamete with good living and he and his wife manage the animals and the farm themselves all with no cropland. The animals graze yearround, keeps some calves for replacements and feeds the rest to market weight before selling them. His input and capital costs are kept to a minimum with animals kept outside and only a rudimentary milking shed for his dairy herd.
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Coverage Expands and Premiums Drop for AgriInsurance By Elmer Heinrichs The Governments of Canada and Manitoba have announced a number of changes to the AgriInsurance program for 2018. Total AgriInsurance coverage is expected to be 2.7 billion dollars on 9.4 million acres in Manitoba, with premium rates down by an average of seven per cent from last year. Manitoba farmers will continue to benefit from expanded, comprehensive coverage through AgriInsurance in the upcoming year announced Federal Agriculture Minister, Lawrence MacAulay, and Manitoba Agriculture Minister, Ralph Eichler at Manitoba Ag Days on January 16. Program changes for the 2018 growing season include creating a permanent insurance area to protect more than 200,000 acres of soybeans grown in areas previously eligible for coverage only on a test basis, and changing the soybean premium rate calculation to put more emphasis on actual losses, which will benefit producers and governments by lowering premiums. Changes will also remove the pre-harvest claim deductible for corn and soybeans, which will provide equitable coverage for all major crops, and introduce a novel crops insurance program for new and non-traditional crops, quinoa for example. The program will also offer separate coverage for Canada Northern Hard Red Wheat, to represent higher expected values and yields than other varieties in the former feed wheat class, and continue coverage for feed wheat and other wheat varieties under a class called “other spring wheat”. More than 8,400 farms are enrolled in AgriInsurance. Manitoba has the highest level of AgriInsurance participation in Canada, covering more than 70 different crops and over 90 per cent of annual crop acres. “The government of Canada is committed to providing responsive programs that support our farmers in Manitoba. The improved coverage and protection under these programs will ensure our farmers have the tools they need to grow their businesses and stay competitive,” said MacAulay. “AgriInsurance continues to be an essential risk management tool that acts as the first line of defence for Manitoba farmers.” “The improvements planned for 2018 reflect the changes in our industry, ensuring coverage remains comprehensive and responsive to the needs of producers,” added Eichler.
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January 26, 2018
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Take a Bite Out of Wind Chill in Beef Cow Diets By Peter Vitti Beef cow diets that were developed at the beginning of winter when temperatures were mild are not adequate to meet their energy requirements when New Years’ winds blow. That’s because pregnant beef cows need extra calories in order to keep warm, rather than burning up fat reserves needed for the upcoming calving season. If it is suspected that your cows need an energy boost to their feeding program, now is the time to do it. As the photo shows, I know of one 200-cow-calf producer that provides better feed, so his cows are in good body condition for calving during the first week of February. He often jokes that his cows are too skinny, but he knows the true value of supplying enough dietary energy to his mature cows, so they maintain a BCS of 2.5 – 2.75 (thin = 1, and 5 = obese) by calving time, while his replacement heifers calve out at a little better BCS of 3.0. Despite cold weather, he also takes into account that with a growing fetus (and placenta), the cowherds’ energy requirements are also up about 25% and protein needs increased by 10 – 15% compared to the start of the winter. As a result, we both believe that nothing can strip body condition (cow’s energy fat reserves) off a gestating cow like frigid wind chill values setting over the prairies without dietary energy compensation. Cattle like human beings experience “wind chill” temperatures, which encompasses both ambient air temperature, humidity and wind speed. Its combination when passing over the animal that draws heat-energy away from the animal at a specific rate; the lower the wind chill, the higher the rate of heat-loss. For example, air temperature (40% humidity) of -12 °C with a wind speed of 40 kph yields a wind chill of 34 °C. It draws more heat away from an unprotected standing cow in an open field than compared to -25 °C under still skies or wind chill of -25 °C. In this simple case, related factors mitigate wind chill such as sunlight exposure, whether it is snowing or freezing rain, fog (humidity), wind direction as well as cow condition (re: BCS – fat insulation, health and hair coat).
Take a bite out of windchill in beef cattle by feeding accordingly.
So, when I make changes to my “wind chill” feeding programs, I use a researchproven rule of thumb as follows: for every 1 °C drop in temperature below 0 °C, the beef cows’ TDN energy maintenance requirements are increased by about 2%. This means that if our above early morning wind chill temperature is -25 °C, there is an increase of about 50% in the cows’ basic dietary energy needs. On a practical basis, this can be as simple as increasing the energy density of their diets by feeding higher quality forage and/or some extra grain during the coldest time of winter. To help determine when extra forage and grain should be fed; the following table outlines a sample feeding guide dependent upon the wind chill conditions that most cowherds are often exposed (see Table 1 below). When I put this table together, I assume that the cowherd was exposed to prolonged periods of cold weather and thus achieved a state of acclimatization, which by definition, means maintenance of metabolic rate increases in order to divert more dietary energy to maintain vital body temperature. This physiolog-
Table 1
ical change of late-gestation cows requires about 5.0 – 6.0 kg of TDN per head per day. I also assume medium quality hay of 50 – 55% TDN and heavy barley of 75% TDN is fed. Last, a well-balanced 2:1 mineral (and vitamins) is provided as loose mineral at the rate of 70 – 100 g per head per day. This exercise is a good testimonial that producers should save their better-quality forage (re: energy and protein) for mid-winters’ coldest months and forgo feeding a lot of straw or low-quality forages, which may not meet the cows’ increased energy requirements despite heavy grain supplementation. Case-in-point: I know another producer that relies on feeding barley-straw supplemented with 14% cow-calf screening pellets to his cowherd, all winter long. A couple of years ago, he told me that he noticed during a period of extreme cold weather, his cowherd filled up only on the straw in the forage-ring feeders until their guts were visibly distended and a few cows died as a result. In the end, I suspect that his cows engorged on his low-quality forage and due to a significant reduction in its rate of feed digestion and passage
led to the fatal cow impactions. I feel that this producer could have saved himself a lot of trouble and money, if only he implemented a suitable feed program that supplied enough dietary energy, particularly during the coldest weather, so precious body condition of beef cows was maintained. He could have also coupled such common sense by reducing direct impact of low wind chill in the first place upon his cows. For example, I have visited many of his neighbours that make use of tree stands and portable windbreak fences that reduce wind chill temperatures by 5 – 10°C, or make use of poll barns that cattle can go into when wind picks up. In the same way, I also advocate that fresh straw be put down in loafing pens to allow cows to lie down on an insulated and comfortable bed. Granted, there are occasions when wind chill conditions are so severe that we cannot keep cattle entirely out of the wind or feed them enough good quality feeds to meet their energy requirements. In these conditions, we should give it our best efforts and hope extreme weather doesn’t last.
January 26, 2018
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Agri-Food Exports at Risk if Canada Does Not Sign CPTPP The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) is warning the Federal government that failure to sign the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would put billions of dollars in agri-food exports at risk, limit opportunity for growth and affect the livelihoods of nearly a million Canadians. “Treading water doesn’t move us forward in the AsiaPacific,” said CAFTA President Brian Innes. “Agri-food exporters need the CPTPP. Without the CPTPP it will be South Korea all over again, watching sales evaporate because we hesitated and didn’t implement a trade agreement.” South Korea is the only country in the region with which Canada has a free trade agreement. The EU, Australia and Chile have already secured deals with Japan, which imports about $4 billion in Canadian agri-food products annually. An important example is the risk to Canada’s exports of $1.1 billion of high quality pork. The EU is a major competitor for pork exports to Japan, so when their trade agreement is implemented it will make it hard for Canadian pork to compete in Japan. “Falling behind in Asia would threaten pork production and processing in Canada,” said Chris White of the Canadian Meat Council. “The impacts are not just numbers, a trade agreement with Japan matters for the jobs of the people that live and work in our plants located across Quebec and Southern Ontario.” While production occurs across the country, the regional economic impacts associated with the red meat products supply chain are largest in central Canada, with real GDP impacts of $6.7 billion in Ontario, and $3.9 billion in Quebec. Innes added that while the automotive sector and softwood lumber are taking up a lot of attention, what is getting lost is that more than 90 per cent of Canadian farmers depend on world markets and the agri-food industry supports close to a million jobs in communities of all sizes. “Grain farmers in Canada depend on trade,” said Michael Delaney of the Atlantic Grains Council who represents Grain Growers of Canada on the CAFTA board of directors. “From Prince Edward Island to Vancouver Island, implementing the CPTPP is important for grain farmer’s livelihoods.” Food processors, over half of which are in Ontario and Quebec, are also very concerned about losing an opportunity for better access to Asian markets. Food and beverage processing is the largest employer in the manufacturing sector in Canada with close to a quarter of a million jobs, more than the automotive and aerospace sectors combined. “Food processors see growing opportunity in Asia,” said Carla Ventin, who represents Food & Consumer Products Canada on the CAFTA board of directors. “It will be a lost opportunity for value-added growth if we do not implement the CPTPP.” The 2017 Federal budget set a target of reaching $75 billion in agri-food exports by 2017. Between 2006 and 2016, Canadian agri-food exports doubled from $27.8 billion to over $56 billion. “It’s hard to imagine we’ll reach the government’s $75 billion target without the CPTPP,” said Innes. “The Canadian agri-food industry needs competitive access to world markets to grow our exports.” Negotiations and consultations on the TPP have been exhaustive. The original Trans-Pacific Partnership was negotiated over 8 years, with Canada at the negotiating table for six of those years. Since the US withdrew from the TPP in early 2017, numerous meetings between the remaining 11 countries have occurred. Since late 2015, consultation between the government of Canada and Canadians on the TPP has been extensive including a public consultation in 2017 on proceeding with the remaining 11 countries and ample time for all Canadians affected by a trade agreement to engage.
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Get Ready to Plan Your Garden
Photographs of lettuce and onions growing under Envirogro lights a tasty salad grown indoors during -30C weather in Manitoba.
Photos by Joan Airey
By Joan Airey Those of you who order seeds through a catalogue should take the time to browse and dream of this year’s flower and vegetable garden. This year, T & T Seeds has a contest to grow the biggest onion. The prize money of $300, $200 and $100 dollars is incentive to try the Spanish Onion Exhibition Hybrid (110 days). I have purchased seeds from this company for 50 years. My neighbour introduced me to their cata-
logue as a young bride and they definitely stand behind their product. New Year’s Eve we had a green salad for supper grown under commercial Envirogro lights. I am now experimenting with tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberry plants grown from seeds under these lights. Last winter we ate radishes all winter grown under the lights but this year the first planting just produced tops so will try again. Over the past few days with -35C
and a wind chill, it has been nice to escape to the laundry room and see plants growing our fresh salad ingredients. Last spring Brayden, our grandson built me a planter from a water barrel cut in half. After fighting with the chipmunks for two months who were stealing strawberries before I could get pick the grandchildren enjoyed strawberries into late fall. I have my planter in the greenhouse and plan to have another one built. I’ll plant an early crop of salad greens
in the planter along with strawberries over the summer. If you want to build one the instructions are available on the internet. If you want a pepper that produces red and a green pepper in Manitoba, try Chesapeake. I purchased the seed two years ago from Veseys. It produced well in the greenhouse and garden. The seed is expensive but worth growing. A friend brought her plants into their sunroom and they are still enjoying fresh peppers. It is available
from Stokes now too. In January the Lawn and Garden Journal, which is a very informative, returns to Golden West Radio. I’m disappointed that the garden radio show is no longer on CJOB as it was so full of important information. It is a reminder that no matter how long you have been gardening you can learn from other gardeners. To keep organized, I colour coded the cages on my tomato plants so I could keep track how each variety
produced. Seems no matter how I mark them the markers disappear so I purchased three different coloured cages. I also find the cheaper smaller tomato cages don’t last. Four years ago, I started purchasing cages at Greenspot that cost around $10. They don’t easily bend over and last. Canadian Tire also carries a similar heavyduty cage. The smaller cages that were still usable I use for my Chesapeake pepper plants.
Hog Prices Remain Strong as Demand Continues to be the Key Factor By Harry Siemens This year, the focus will be on pigs and pork according to Tyler Fulton, the Director of Risk Management with H@ ms Marketing Services. He believes the demand for pork will be the critical factor influencing hog markets during 2018. “The latest US Department of Agriculture Hogs and Pigs Report indicated we could expect market hog supplies to range between two and three percent higher than the year ago levels over the next four months or so,” said Fulton. “That was pretty much in line with expectations, but that level of growth can pressure markets, so a lot will depend on the demand side.”
He said this year has started on a positive note with most of the futures contracts trading up near contract highs and packer margins are very firm. With greater competition as hog supplies start to tighten up into the spring and summer timeframe, packers will have a little bit of room to bid up the price of hogs. Fulton said although there are fewer hog slaughter days during the holidays, producers were reasonably current going into the holidays and packers were very aggressive in sourcing those supplies in the weeks leading up to the holidays. He said the evidence is clear the industry saw the most extensive hog slaughter leading up to
those holidays pushing close to 2.6 million hogs, the largest ever and it is an indication that things are firing on all cylinders. Packers were aggressive, and producers were very current with their marketing. “I think as far as the impact to cash prices, it’s going to be a little bit less than what we have seen in years past,” he said. With hog production increases, the demand is crucial. “For 2018, we once again ask if hog prices can be higher with a 3.5 per cent increase in supply and with sizable increases in competitive meats as well. The lean hog futures market is currently saying, yes!” said Chris Hurt with the Department of Agri-
cultural Economics, Purdue University. “Why might the futures market be correct? The foundation of the argument lies with demand. In 2018, the US economy will grow more rapidly. The unemployment rate will drop modestly and is already at the lowest level since 2000. With the economy growing and most people working, wage rates will rise more rapidly. Also, the new federal income tax law is likely to increase the size of the average pay check, but certainly not for every family.” Fulton said demand would probably be the critical feature this year. “To maintain a good profitable trajectory on the cash market, we need the
demand to continue to fire along. Early evidence suggests that the US economy is in good shape. That’s probably the single biggest factor that would impact pork demand,” he said. Hurt said avoiding supply expansion to a point where prices are not profitable is the goal. Secondly, the 2017 crops are now in a fourth consecutive year of excellent yields and low feed prices. History suggests that these forces will not continue forever. Finally, for those pork producers who believe hog prices cannot be higher again in 2018, the lean futures market is currently providing strong pricing opportunities. Fulton agrees. “Right now
we think that forward prices are good value. Generally speaking, we think that it makes some sense to cover as much as 1/3 of spring and summer production. Even touching into that, maybe even that September and October timeframe,” he said. “We’ve got a little bit of time there yet, and there is not strong evidence that we’re going to be under serious pressure as we come to the end of the summer. But for the most part, we think that if hog producers can move through the May through August timeframe with prices better than $185 per 100 weights or CKG, then we think that’s a pretty good starting point for getting some protection.”
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The AgriPost
The Black Sea Crop Tours Indicate Another Russian Record Crop By Harry Siemens Russia’s harvest currently stands at 109.9mmt of grains and pulses from 43.8mha (97.2%) with an average yield of 2.51mt/ha. The country has planted 16.8mha of winter grains or 101.6% of the projected acres. Mike Lee is a freelance consultant and agronomist on farming and agribusiness in the Black Sea region including Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. He recently released his latest crop report, and the crop in Russia is even more significant than last year’s. “Middle of last month, we did another tour through Ukraine and Russia specifically to look at the winter wheat planted, and the condition of it as it goes into the winter,” said Lee via Skype recently. “I always like to try and get a view on the wheat as it goes into the winter and disappears under the snow so we can think about it when we start seeing some weather anomalies perhaps in January or February. So when it turns cold, we’ve got an idea of the condition of the crop as to how well it will stand up to that.” Lee and his associates did the usual tour around central Russia, across the border into Ukraine, down to southern Ukraine, and then back
Mike Lee at AgronomyUkraine checked crops on December19 reporting that temperatures dropped in Russia overnight but crops should be okay.
up to central Ukraine before flying out. While not able to get down to south Russia, reports indicated wheat in south Russia was not emerging particularly well. It had been quite dry, or it was slowly emerging. “Since then, we’ve had people feed information to us, to tell us that there’s been plenty of rain and the wheat has come up as you’d expect,” he said. “Elsewhere across Russia and Ukraine, it’s looking in good condition. Slightly better than last year, but certainly in good shape going into the winter. According to Lee, the story is the wheat crop in 2017.
“The headline figure is the Russian wheat crop, which blew everybody’s expectations out of the water. The 2016 crop was 75 million tons from memory and that was a record then, and that was a substantial record. With the 2017 harvest just in, they’re looking at final figures of around 85 to 88 million metric tons. That’s bunker weight, but certainly a huge uplift on the previous year, which was a record harvest in itself. So, it’s a big crop coming out of Russia,” said Lee. “Ukraine, I think, came out slightly under last year, but, again, it’s still a big crop for Ukraine. So both
Black Sea countries, Ukraine and Russia, have produced large crops again this year for the second, third year running.” Russia’s Minister of Agriculture just released a statement that exports of wheat are likely to achieve 35 million tons this year. “I looked at some figures making some comparisons with the total production and the amount of export that is currently taking place in Russia, and there’s a large gap between 80, 85 million tons and 35 million tons,” he said. “I see that Russia has a lot of capacity to increase its exports even further.
Reliable sources told me, it’s an infrastructure problem that slows down the quantity of grain that can come out of Russia, but there are port facilities, and companies are building grain handling facilities as we speak. If you dig into the news, you will see the occasional announcements of some of the big grain companies developing grain facilities. Trains and trucks and this sort of stuff will be or are being invested in, particularly in Russia. Less so in Ukraine. It’s an infrastructure problem in terms of the quantity they can export, not the quantity of grain they can grow.”
While there is some infrastructure, problems the ministry is still very bullish on agriculture. “A lot of that is perhaps words rather than actual support, but it’s not hindering agriculture. I’m just looking at the website this afternoon. The Russian ministry website, and, again, it’s full of stuff about positive development in agriculture. Land reclamation, increasing land area, and productivity. As we said many times, it’s continuing to increase,” Lee said.
Five Trends to Watch in Canadian Agriculture While many farmers are planning their seeding for 2018, Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC) agriculture economists have five trends they want to plant in the minds of Canadian producers, food processors and retailers. “Agriculture is a dynamic sector that is interconnected with so many local and global economic trends,” said J.P. Gervais, Chief Agricultural Economist for FCC. “Making sense of those top trends allows the agriculture and agri-food sectors to identify possible challenges and opportunities in 2018.” First is adding value to Canadian farm products. The investment climate for Canadian agriculture infrastructure is heating up as more food handling and processing facilities are expected to be built across the country to meet increasingly complex consumer preferences at home and abroad. “The economic environment for investment in Canadian food processing remains favourable, given low interest
rates and strong demand for food, both domestically and globally,” Gervais said. He said significant investments in food processing that were announced in 2017 are expected to come online within the next two years. These investments support the approach outlined by the Advisory Council on Economic Growth, which called for targeted investments in Canada’s agriculture and food industry to support its global growth potential. “The ability to add value to farm products will continue to strengthen Canadian agriculture, as well as benefit the entire economy,” Gervais said. A strong balance sheet is the best farm asset. The theory that a strong balance sheet is a farmer’s best defence against changing economic and market conditions could be put to the test in 2018, according to Gervais. He said most Canadian producers have built strong balance sheets in recent years, thanks to a sig-
nificant appreciation in farm incomes and asset values, particularly land, which represents almost 70 per cent of the value of total farm assets. Farmland values will continue to increase in 2018, but lose a bit of steam due to moderate projections for income growth. The Canadian dollar is expected to hover just below the 80-cent mark this year, which will help support farm income, however, global production trends suggest it is unlikely commodity prices will generally increase in 2018. “Most farm operations are in a good financial position to weather most significant economic changes,” Gervais said, adding that strong working capital along with a sound risk management plan can help producers through short-term economic and market disruptions. The global economy shines bright on Canada. Trade negotiations and protectionism abroad can be cause for anxiety among Canadian
producers, food processors and exporters, but the global economy is a source for optimism, according to Gervais. “The global economic environment will sustain strong demand for Canadian food products and commodities as the world economy strengthens in 2018,” said Gervais, adding it is important to look beyond the daily headlines. “Wages in both developing economies and North America should continue to climb, giving consumers more income to spend on food.” While there is always potential for disruptions, Gervais believes Canada is in a unique position to expand its markets in 2018. “We have important trade advantages that will enable us to grow our exports of some of the world’s fastest-growing food products,” he said. “Potential new opportunities will be created through the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Europe and growth in emerging
markets.” Keeping up with consumer buying habits will accelerate in 2018. Technology, combined with growing consumer desire for convenience and choice, are causing significant ripples throughout Canada’s food processing and retail sectors, according to Gervais. “It’s creating a domino effect,” Gervais said. “Traditional retailers are now looking to food processors to supply them with unique products that can separate them from the competition. These trends are also changing the supplier-buyer relationship, as more consumers are buying locally grown food directly from producers.” Specialty foods are also growing in popularity, thanks in part to the convenience of online shopping, and there is a growing number of consumers who choose brands that reflect their values. Fuelling opportunities on the farm will benefit everyone. Ever since plow horses
overtook combustion engines, Canadian farmers have mainly relied on fossil fuels to power their equipment and heat their barns. That is not going to change much in 2018, even with the promotion of renewable energy. What might change, said Gervais, is that a growing demand for biofuels could open more opportunities for agricultural commodities to be used in their production. “While the US ethanol and biodiesel markets are expected to provide stability to the overall demand for corn and vegetable oil, new ethanol targets at home and abroad could create more opportunities for agricultural commodities,” he said. Meanwhile, abundant supplies of fossil fuels are expected to keep energy prices down on the farm, as well as limit inflationary pressures on farm fertilizers, which are produced using fossil fuels, such as natural gas, coal and oil.
The AgriPost
January 26, 2018
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The Peter and Duncan Henderson Outfit
While the image is not of the best quality, it is worthy of a press release as the image was taken sometime around 1890 and shows a Cornell portable steam engine powering a “Wide Awake” separator. The outfit belonged to Duncan and Peter Henderson who were early settlers in the Boissevain area. Peter Henderson was born near Carleton Place, Ontario in 1860 into a large family. His brother, Duncan, was born in 1863. Mr. Henderson Senior died in 1874. Peter went to work in a woolen mill near the Henderson Farm and Duncan went to work, first on a farm, then road building followed by 7 years in the woolen mill. An older brother also worked in the woolen mill but died in an industrial accident. Peter decided that the woolen mill was not for him and went west in 1881 with two other men, W. H. Latimer and James Rae. From Emerson, they travelled out to the Boissevain area by foot, spending one night at the farm of William Story in the Darlingford area. That night Mrs. Story gave birth to a baby girl who, 21 years later, would become Peter Henderson’s second wife. Next morning the three men continued west on foot to the Boissevain area. Peter Henderson homesteaded the E 1/2 of 34-3-20 and James Rae took the W 1/2, registering their claims on October 29, 1881 at Old Deloraine, which involved yet another journey by foot. Peter then walked to Brandon and took a job as a carpenter with the CPR for the winter. In March 1882, Duncan Henderson took the train from Ontario to Brandon and joined his brother. Duncan Henderson then walked to Old Deloraine and registered a homestead claim. Peter, Duncan, James Rae and W.H. Latimer then traveled south to the Turtle Mountains where they cut trees and skidded them to Rae’s homestead where they constructed a shanty to live in while they broke their homesteads. By the spring of 1882, Peter and Duncan were down to a total of $5 between the
Cornell portable steam engine powering a “Wide Awake” separator
two of them and they decided they must go back to work. So they walked back to Brandon. At one point, they waded through a large body of water that would have taken them several days to walk around. Holding their clothes above their heads, the slush and water reached to their necks. After two days on the trail, they reached Brandon in the evening, bought bread and cheese for supper and turned in for the night in an empty CPR boxcar. A CPR conductor found them and, while deliberating whether to eject the two brothers from the car, realized both brothers stood over six feet tall. The conductor then decided he had pressing business elsewhere and forgot to return. Duncan later said while he started his farming career one jump ahead of the CPR, the CPR had long since caught up to him. They travelled onto Flat Creek, now Oak Lake, which was the end of steel in the spring of 1882 and signed on as labourers. In 1882, the CPR laid 418 miles of steel with the completed track almost reaching Maple Creek. This was a stiff pace and there was only time for work, work and more work. In the fall of 1882, Peter returned to the homestead to get some work done and Duncan followed a month later. Duncan recounted later that on the way back to his homestead he got off the train in Brandon and before setting out to walk to his homestead, he purchased a pound of sugar, sat down on the ground and ate it all. The CPR labour gangs were
not supplied with deserts or sweets of any kind and he had developed a powerful craving for sweets over the summer. After 1882, Peter and Duncan stayed on their homesteads to “prove up” on their homestead claims. However, they also worked digging cellars and wells for homesteaders who came into the area with money. After the railway arrived in Boissevain, they also worked loading railcars out of flat warehouses in Boissevain. Flat warehouses were just warehouses in which grain was stored in sacks. Railcars were dropped off at a loading dock attached to the warehouse and grain dumped into the cars by hand. Peter and Duncan would sometimes work all day on their homesteads, walk to Boissevain and load cars all night at a rate of $3 a car or $1.50 for each of the two men. It appears that in the early days, Duncan, Peter, Wm Latimer and James Rae may have lived together on one of the homesteads as Duncan said it was a common practice to boil a pot of unpeeled potatoes. When the potatoes were done, the pot was dumped on the table and the man who peeled the most potatoes, got the most to eat. He said this method produced expert potato peelers in short order. He also said that their chief meat was “rusty” bacon and when the bacon ran short, the butt end was nailed to the wall of the shack as a reserve in case visitors appeared. Peter and Duncan’s first
few crops were not large in acres. Their homesteads were broken by yokes of oxen which, while hardy beasts, were rather slow. The seed had to be broadcast by hand out of a container carried by a strap around the neck and shoulders and then harrowed in or plowed in. When this crop was harvested, the nearest market was Brandon and it was delivered by oxen. Traveling to Brandon meant a round trip of from 100 to 140 miles, depending on which trail the Henderson Brothers took. All perhaps for 20 Cents a bushel. Duncan left a brief record of the crops on his homestead which tells of the struggles the Henderson Brothers faced homesteading in the 1880s, “ l883-Nine acres frozen, 1884-Frozen, drew to Brandon, 20c per bushel, l885Frozen, sold entire crop l8c per bushel, l886-Dried out, l887-Very fair, but low in price, around 20c, l888-Frozen August 8. Never cut a sheaf, l889-Dry. Very scant crop, l890-Hailed 100 per cent. No insurance, 1891Fair to good. Some frosted. 1892-Fair to good.” Duncan did relate that in those days, one always had the comforting thought that as a last resort one could at least eat the oxen. He also related that his first real crop was in 1895. His wheat averaged forty bushels per acre and sold for from 35c to 40c per bushel. This crop finally placed Duncan on a solid basis for the future. Duncan and Peter owned one of the first steam threshing outfits, a Cornell portable steam engine and a
Wide Awake Separator, in the Boissevain area. They custom threshed as far as 25 miles away from their homesteads in a threshing run that lasted 3 months. Apparently, the brothers had the reputation of being the fastest “feeders” in the area. Prof. JE Sweet of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York developed the Cornell portable steam engine design. He licensed the manufacture of the design to Haggert Brothers of Brampton, Ontario. Haggard manufactured the design until 1891 when the company ceased operations. The company was then acquired by the Ross family and manufacture resumed. JM Ross and Company manufactured the Cornell in both portable and traction versions and in a variety of sizes, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 horsepower. The Company later moved operations to St. Catherines, Ontario and while there obtained the rights to manufacture a Garr-Scott threshing machine design. However, the company-ceased operations some time after that and disappeared. There is suggestion that a Cornell portable steam engine design was licensed to the Brandon Machine Works and manufactured there for some time around 1900 to 1910. Haggard Brothers also manufactured the Wise Awake Separator. Little is known of this separator, as none have appeared to have survived. Haggard may have licensed the Wide Awake threshing machine design from the Quick and
Thomas Company of Auburn, New York. As can be seen the separator did not have a mechanical feeder but instead was fed by hand. Men forked sheaves up onto a table and men standing on a platform over the machine’s tongue cut the band on each sheaf, spread out the sheaf on the table shoving the stalks of grain into the cylinder far enough so the cylinder would grab and pull the stalks in for threshing. It may have been that the separator did not have a straw carrier at the rear to stack straw. In the absence of a straw carrier, someone would have been detailed to fork away the straw ejected from the machine. Given the size of acreage that the machine would have been threshing and frontier nature of the area in the 1880s and early 1890s, this small, simple machine would have been well suited to the Henderson Brothers needs. The Manitoba Agricultural Museum is open year round. For more information, visit the website at ag-museum.mb.ca.
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The AgriPost
January 26, 2018
Winkler Company’s Invention Wins First Prize at Ag Days
Partner’s Tim Penner and Henry Elias of Soaring Eagle Grain Equipment in Winkler took home first place in Manitoba Ag Days Inventor’s Showcase held in Brandon.
By Harry Siemens When Tim Penner spoke about his new invention last August, he had no idea how far and how quickly his hard work and that of his partner Henry Elias and other staff members would pay off. Partner’s Penner and Elias of Soaring Eagle Grain Equipment based in Winkler took home first place in Manitoba Ag Days Inventor’s Showcase in Brandon recently. The company has developed the Ultimate Swinging Drive Over and have manufactured it in their facility in Winkler for the past 12 months. This swing unit can be used for either an auger or conveyor and allows trucks to drive over it, replacing the usual method of swinging a hopper underneath the grain box. Penner said it is a belting system that transitions into flighting with a shallow profile. It is only 2.5 inches has self-cleaning rollers and the belt even moves canola. The system cleans the belt, so the belt does not gum up with oil products. It also includes a safety shut-off feature in case of an emergency. Penner hopes to see farmers using it this upcoming harvest. It features a high capacity 20” belt for 13 and 14inch augers, an ultimate low profile of 2.5 inches by 128 inches and a drive over section with a 30-inch by 128-inch adjustable hopper. It moves with a single action one lever control drive over position. It is a natural single action hopper lift and belt engagement with an anti-accident safety shut-off feature. Ag Days in Brandon has an annual Investor’s Showcase that features new in-
ventions and products that will assist in farm operations. This year’s showcase featured 14 new inventions and 17 new products. “It has been extremely challenging to declare a winner,” said Dave Laudin a Judge and Board Co-chair. At the beginning of the show, the other Co-chair of Manitoba Ag Days, Brad Crammond said in a release, “We encourage everyone to take time to have a look at these great new inventions and new products and understand how they can positively impact their farming operation.” First place went to Soaring Eagle Grain Equipment. “It was a great honour to take home first place in the inventors showcase! Nice to see all the hard work and dedication paying off,” tweeted Penner. “The ultimate swinging drive over is not just a swing auger or a drive over, but an ultimate swinging drive over using a truck, tractor, and trailer unit, swing from hopper to hopper, very low profile with 2.5 inches and also transports the same as a swing auger.” Penner said this idea has gone further than what he and his partner ever imagined it would. “We worked hard to make a product like this, so the industry has something to use that is very user-friendly,” he said. “We’re very optimistic this product could take off now with interest shown at our booth in Brandon.” The owners of Soaring Eagle Grain Equipment make sure the product does what they say it should do, continue to improve it where possible and prove that it is what it is. “When my partner
first had this idea and growing up on the farm, I’ve seen the need that farmers have and wanted to make an outstanding feature they can use with augers and conveyors. I think that guys have always struggled with something like this to put underneath the truck and get the grain from the truck to the auger or conveyor,” said Penner. The swing unit is a standalone unit that attaches to the conveyor or an auger. When visiting with Penner at his booth in Brandon, others were telling him that it was so good of an invention and worked so well suggesting it would make the first prize for the best design. “After the first day, I saw that we have an excellent chance in something like that,” he said. “I didn’t expect it, going to the show, until after the first day I couldn’t believe the interest that we had on the unit itself and even the guys in the booth beside us, they couldn’t believe it themselves. So we knew that we had a pretty good product.”
Seeding Plans Remain the Same as Last Year By Les Klekte Peter Fehr sees little reason to change his cropping plan from last year into 2018. When asked about his planting intentions for the upcoming spring Fehr said that he would keep his crop split very much the same. “We try to have about a third of our crop land in oil seeds and the rest in cereal crops,” he said. “We do change a bit depending on the fields that are available but that is pretty much what we expect to do in 2018.” He did acknowledge that there have been some changes in the crops that he grows on his 3,000 acres at Arnaud. Corn was introduced 4 years ago taking over some of the cereal acreage. “We like the crop and we like handling it, though there are some costs initially,” he said. “We have accepted that and now count on it being a part of our acreage. We do grow shorter season varieties and hope to produce grain corn, though we do know that
might not be the case every year. Then we would have to look at the feed market and chop it.” He does not have any livestock as part of a back up plan if his corn does not mature. “Last year we shifted all of our oil seed acres to soybeans,” said Fehr. “It was the first year in a long time that we did not have any canola on the farm, and this will be the second.” He said nitrogen costs were part of the factor in causing the switch but he also believes that soybeans can handle the challenges that he gets on his land. “We have had some wet springs and that can take its toll on canola. We feel the beans can handle that stress better and still come through to produce a crop,” he noted. Fehr will also be keeping a significant portion of his acre-
age in oats. “We did well with oats last year so we will ride that wave again,” he said. “We were able to deliver much of it early last year and that helped with the storage space so we will hope to do that again. There are some interesting new ways to move the crop so if the price holds we will be back in the oats business.” He does not think that his seeding plans will require much reworking, as his land went into winter in good shape. “We got more field work done last fall so the land is in better shape going into winter and that should be a benefit in spring, but you never know each spring is different and we have to be flexible when the time comes. Overall we hope to keep our breakdown much the same but we may have to change a field or two on the go.”
How Much Rent Can I Pay? By Les Kletke Record yields in many areas of the province are not a reason to drive rent prices to record levels. That is the feeling of Peter Geld who works as a financial consultant helping his farm clients develop business and succession plans. “We did see some very good yields this past year and in 2016,” he said. “Though ’16 provided some challenges in getting the crop. These might not be the bench marks for this year.” He recommends a long-term approach to acquiring a land base and rent prices. “Some times after a big crop we see a bit of a frenzy in rent and land prices,” he said. “But that is not justified and we know that this does not make a longterm average.” His method while working with his clients is to use a long-time rule of determining rent prices based on land prices and interest rates. “I suggest to
my clients that they should not be paying more that the interest rate they would be paying on the land if they purchased it,” said Geld. “Though with the escalation of land prices in recent years that has moved up dramatically. We are fortunate that interest rates remained relatively low.” He is adamant that producers should not be caught up with the fever of one or two good crops driving the market. “Today’s machinery costs are high and adding more land to the farm could mean buying more machinery and that has a cumulative effect. With the higher input costs that could mean a real cash flow problem.” He suggests that a farm may be able to carry the cost
of a small amount of higher priced land if they have the capacity to do it with existing machinery but if they have to add machinery to match to the expanded land base that might set a lower limit on what makes financial sense. “The idea of rent being around the cost of interest on purchasing land is one that made a lot of sense and has stood the test of time,” he said. “We are past the time when an off-farm job can pay for a farm, it has to make business sense today and you have to consider the entire operation, land, machinery and input costs. The farm has to be able to cover all of these and not only in the case of bumper yields, you should be working with long term averages.”
Sunflowers a Dependable Crop for Deloraine Famer By Les Kletke Ben van Allen may be bucking a trend but he knows what works on his farm since his sunflowers make money. Sunflowers has made only a minor resurgence in recent years and has lost acres to corn as the crop that is harvested later. “We have been set up to grow sunflowers for years,” said van Allen. “And it works in our rotation. Not every year is a windfall but that is true of most crops.” He said that sunflowers have seen an increase on his farm since the removal of malt barley. “You have to be really careful with contamination of sunflowers in malt barley but since we quit the malt lottery we don’t have a problem with other crops,” he said. “Weed control is much better than it used to be and it gives us a break from some of the crops that we are growing that are roundup tolerant.”
He pays careful attention to his rotation and wants to have glyphosate in his arsenal. “We don’t want to lose it so we don’t overuse it,” he said. “We try to rotate a cereal crop and a year of sunflowers in after a year or two of a roundup ready crop.” He said that the last couple of years have been wetter than usual, reducing revenues from his sunflower crop. “We have been growing sunflowers here in the southwest because it is a crop that works on dry years, that was what helped us with the malt barley but it seems weather patterns have changed and things are getting wetter,” said van Allen. “We have changed our cereal production but have stayed with the sun-
flowers. Most of our land that used to be in barley has gone to wheat.” He said that while soybeans have made a large insurgence in the Deloraine area he is not willing to make a complete conversion to the crop. “We do grow some and are still getting used to the crop and gaining more experience, we were not the first ones in with soybeans so we are a bit behind on the learning curve,” said Allen. He said that while the basis of his cropping plan is in place he does have a significant number of swing acres that could go to other crops depending on what the market offers. “We like to have our crop priced but we leave some of that for February to see what the market says.”
The AgriPost
January 26, 2018
Time Flies!
This past week we celebrated another milestone. Colin Harbinson is the fourth person in recent years to be celebrated for 20 years of working with Rempel Insurance Brokers from 1998-2018. When I thought about Colin completing 20 years I could not believe all that he has seen in the workplace and started looking at the changes. Back in 1998, he would have rented VHS movies from “Shell”. The Hockey news declared Wayne Gretzky the greatest NHL player ever and happened to be an Edmonton Oiler, Colins’s team. His kids were asking for Nintendo 64 and saw Toy Story in the movie theatre along with Titanic another popular movie. Back then, we didn’t have TV in our office or email but we had a typewriter, paper files, and a Barbershop. In 1998 e-commerce and the internet started to take off and we thought about getting our own web site. He will remember the slow dialup of “the Web” or inter-
net. We couldn’t use the fax machine and the debit machine at the same time. He may have had to take home floppy disks with backups of our server. The search engine Google was founded and Microsoft released Windows 98. Then in 2000, he was concerned about the Y2K bug. All computers had to be prepared so that they would not shut down and there were fears about traffic lights, banks and power grids shutting down. We were warned to have cash and groceries on hand. We had an in house email type messaging system on our computer and we only used the post office or fax machine. Computer monitors were bulky, digital cameras replaced Polaroid cameras. We would crumple photos of our kids into leather carriers we called “wallets.” In 2005, Facebook debuted; MySpace was the first social networking platform. Forward to 2008, smart phones
were introduced by Blackberry, Nokia and Apple iPhone. He has worked through four Prime Ministers, Jean Chretien, Paul Martin, Stephen Harper and now Justin Trudeau. He will remember where he was when the planes hit the World Trade Center and possibly, when Osama Bin Ladin was eliminated. He worked through four Presidents of the United States Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and now Donald Trump. He has worked under two Presidents at Rempel Insurance, having started under Dale for 15 years and now Lynn for five. We have watched our families grow up, jumping on trampolines and playing hockey together, graduate, some have married and blessed us with grandchildren. Not sure, which is harder to believe that they grew up or that we became grandparents? Through all the changes, many things have stayed the same. Colin can be relied upon to take care of Rempel’s customers to the best of his ability in the same way he would want to be treated. He has adapted to many
changes in the world and the industry, not always jumping up and down for change, but willing to listen and wanting to serve because he knows we have the customers’ best interests in mind. He has faithfully served his community through the fire department and coaching kid’s sports, and his church. Numerous people have been blessed by his singing and his drum playing and his sense of humour.
Success is not just a good paycheque, a busy career, the house you live in or the cars in the driveway. When you do well, you can volunteer and give back as he has done for many years. If you also care for others and build a strong personal life with friends and family, it will add up to a successful life. Colin, I commend you on a successful 20 years, your work ethic and loyalty to Rempel Insurance. It is a
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milestone you can be very proud of. Congratulations! Be sure to seek advice and purchase insurance from those who understand your business. Andy Anderson is an Associate Insurance Broker specializing in General, Life and Group Benefits for Farm, Commercial/Agri-business P 204-746-5589, F 866-7653351 andya@rempelinsurance.com, rempelinsurance. com or valleyfinancial.ca.
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January 26, 2018
The AgriPost