AgriPost November 24 2017

The AgriPost

Agriculture Key Driver to Canada’s Economy

Changing market conditions and consumer demand have led to more variety in farm types, technological advancements, crop mix and livestock Photo by Les Kletke herd size.

By Elmer Heinrichs The Canadian agricultural sector continues to show economic growth, contributing to Canada’s strong economic performance, according to a fall economic statement released by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

In its annual report AAFC pointed out that, the agriculture and agri-food sector provides one in eight jobs and accounts for more than six percent of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP).

For 2016, the AAFC provided a summary of the economic performance of the sector, including key changes in the Canadian

agricultural landscape. Trends in Canadian agriculture show agriculture evolving in response to challenges, opportunities and market developments however the contribution of agriculture to the Canadian economy has grown and is likely to continue increasing. Agricultural sales and farm incomes are currently at record highs and Canada continues to be one of the world’s largest exporters of agricultural commodities. Changing market conditions and consumer demand have led to more variety in farm types, technological advancements, crop mix and livestock herd size. Adoption of innovation by the sector has con-

tributed to increases in output and productivity.

In primary agriculture farm market receipts remained at a record high of $57.6 billion in 2016 growing by 5.8% per year, on average, between 1971 and 2016, driven by grain and oilseed receipts, which increased by 6.5% annually on average over the same period. In addition, for 2016, net farm operating expenses dropped to $44.2 billion, a decrease of 0.9% from the previous year. This was the first decline in six years driven by lower fertilizer, machinery fuel and cattle prices. In 2015, the average net worth per farm was $2.8 million, an all-time high.

The report concluded that in 2016 the sector maintained its position as a key driver of the Canadian economy, generating $111.9 billion of GDP, employing 2.3 million people and achieving values of $62.6 billion for agriculture, agri-food and seafood exports.

Canada has the best farmers and food processors in the world, said Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay. “We are a global leader in agricultural production, and the sector is of great importance to our economy, our trade and our jobs.”

“This is why the government of Canada has targeted agri-food as key to Canada’s path to prosperity, and to helping strengthen the middle class,” added MacAulay.

November 24, 2017

New Crop Missions Set to Meet with International Wheat Buyers Each fall, after the Canadian grain harvest, international buyers are eager to receive information about the quality and end-use characteristics of Canadian grains available for export. This year, the wheat crop quality is outstanding and New Crop Missions is preparing to share this information with Canada and the world through a series of meetings and seminars.

The 2017 New Crop Missions delegation is comprised of representatives of the entire value chain from farmer to exporter, including scientists and representatives from Cereals Canada, the Canadian International Grains Institute and the Canadian Grain Commission.

Over the course of the next two months, delegation members will be meeting with customers from around the world to answer their questions about the 2017 Canadian wheat crop, such as baking and milling characteristics.

Feedback will also be gathered from customers to ensure that the Canadian grain industry will continue to meet and exceed customers’ expectations for years to come.

“Listening, as well as providing information and support to Canadian customers around the world, is the main focus of the New Crop Missions,” explained Cam Dahl President, Cereals Canada. “During a year that is marked by high quality, it is still important to be there for our customers. The seminars provide a window of opportunity for customers to talk directly with the entire Canadian value chain, which then in turn has an impact on areas like research and innovation.”

By engaging directly with international buyers, New Crop Missions contribute to ensuring the continued marketability of Canadian grains and maintaining Canada’s international reputation for being a safe and consistent source of grain.

“The new crop seminars provide a unique opportunity for face-to-face engagement with customers from many countries worldwide within a short period of time. Conveying technical information on crop quality and end-use functionality in an open forum not only helps build trust with customers but ultimately facilitates ongoing two-way communication and a close working relationship with them on behalf of the Canadian industry,” said JoAnne Buth CEO, Canadian International Grains Institute.

November 24, 2017

The AgriPost

Previously Infected Pigs Spread PED Longer than Previously Thought

Jenelle Hamblin, the Manager of Swine Health Programs with Manitoba Pork Council said the risk to pigs of contracting PED from previously infected pigs remains high much longer than they previously thought.

By Harry Siemens Jenelle Hamblin, the Manager of Swine Health Programs with Manitoba Pork Council (MPC) told producers at the fall producer meetings the biggest lesson learned from the latest PED virus outbreak is the length of time animals continue to shed the virus after they appear to be disease-free.

Hamblin said the risk to pigs of contracting PEDv from previously infected pigs remains high much longer than they previously thought.

The PEDv has infected 80 swine sites in Manitoba since April 2017. The outbreak peaked in June, with 35 new infections before trailing off with 17 cases on July 14 in August, two in September and two in October.

“We’re currently working with the 80 infected premises towards elimination and eradication, and we currently have 40 premises in upgraded status to either, PEDv transitional or to presumptive negative,” she said.

“I think the biggest thing is the enhanced biosecurity and the awareness of the disease spread. Veterinarians, MPC, Manitoba Agriculture, have all been collaborating to teach about the importance of biosecurity, putting those practices into place, and considering the risk factors that are available for the spread of the disease. Direct contact and indirect movement are responsible for 50 of our current premises. So to protect against those types of infections, we have to ramp up our biosecurity.”

Hamblin reiterated the most significant thing learned at this point in this outbreak is the timeline of shedding of the animals. “What we

thought was a safe zone for moving the animals, postinfection we were looking at around 49 days post-infection, we would move them, and then those premises would break with PEDv from shedding animals. So, what we’re learning here is that these animals do shed the virus long after initial infection, upwards of 70 days. So, controlling those movements and monitoring our animals is probably our best bet at that point.”

She said steps to take to reduce infection when moving hogs goes beyond the disease management side, but to look at operation flows as a whole.

“But, keeping tabs on animals and testing for shedding will give you a good idea.

However, we had premises that remained negative from testing, premises that have animals move that have gone positive. So, I think that’s more of an overall industry question than just for me.”

One program, the Manitoba Coordinated Disease Response is a communication portal developed in response to the PEDv outbreak, and the success in southeast Manitoba is outstanding, very encouraging said Hamblin.

“Producers were signing information-sharing agreements, confidential information sharing agreements, with Manitoba Pork Council.

To share information on their disease status, specifically at this point with PEDv and their location, their manure management operations, and manure spreading, to allow us to better communicate what’s happening on the ground,” she said. “We’re currently at about 70 per cent uptake in southeast Manitoba, and we’re hoping to expand into the rest of the province in the coming months.”

When asked about what has developed throughout 2017, if there is potential for eradication of this infection from

Manitoba she said, “That’s also an excellent question.

If we maintain on the trajectory that we’re currently on, I feel very strongly that we can continue to work towards the eradication of this disease,” said Hamblin. “The key thing will be maintaining that strong biosecurity throughout the winter and into the spring of 2018. Spring is typically when we’ve seen new cases pop up. But if we keep in mind that this virus is here in Manitoba, we need to protect ourselves from it; we have a good chance at keeping it at bay.”

She said biosecurity is not just for PEDv. It applies to multiple diseases across the industry. So when the industry is protecting itself from PEDv, that protection extends to other diseases that are on the ground, whether it be PRRS or rotavirus or influenza. Practicing strong biosecurity has benefits across the board.

Manitoba Coordinated Disease Response is a communication portal developed in response to the PED outbreak, and the success in southeast Manitoba is outstanding, very encouraging said Hamblin.

Foodgrains Supporters Celebrate a Good Crop

By Elmer Heinrichs The harvest is done! With the harvest of the last two fields on growing projects to raise funds for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, the 2017 crops were off the field.

Harold Penner, Regional representative for the Foodgrains Bank, said these two consisted of the BMW field of soybeans near Fairfax and a 50-acre field of wheat near Thunder Bay. Penner said he is waiting for projects to report on their crops before he knows exactly how good the year

has been. Manitoba had more than 35 growing projects across the province, and altogether over 5,500 acres were grown with proceeds from the crops donated to the Bank for food aid.

Overall, Penner said, “The crop in our region has been very good this year. Some reported record crops, especially the wheat and canola crops. Many of the soybean fields suffered because rains did not come as needed.”

“Support from projects in Manitoba helps out around the world. We do work in about 40 countries and right

now on everybody’s mind are some of the serious refugee issues we have,” added Penner, in a reference to the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

November was busy for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank with two fall celebration meetings and dinners, one at Milltown Colony near Elie and another in Brandon. “It’s a good time to tell our supporters a little about what’s happening around the world, to know what their effort supports, and to thank them for their work,” concluded Penner.

The AgriPost

November 24, 2017

Bothwell Cheese Wins Grand Champion Manitoba’s Bothwell Cheese took top spots with their 2Year-Old White Cheddar and Non-GMO Project Verified Medium White Cheddar cheese recently at the 90th Annual British Empire Cheese Show held in Toronto, Ontario. The company also took second place with its Mild Cheddar and third place with its Marble Cheddar.

Started in New Bothwell in 1936 by a group of local dairy farmers, Bothwell Cheese has grown steadily over the last 81 years from a small dairy cooperative to one of Canada’s largest independently owned cheese manufacturers.

Bothwell Cheese prides itself on providing Canadians with premium cheese made with all-natural ingredients, and 100 per cent pure Canadian milk.

“To compete with the best cheese producers in Canada and be recognized is testa-

Pictured (Left-Right) Christina Henley, Clara Gerbrand, Bonita Fehr, Mary Wall, Martha Neufeld, Theo Driedger, Angela Mollard, Reinhold Sawatzky, Nick Friesen, Levi Falk, Nathan Dueck, Daniel Laluan, Jonathan Swatzky, Kristina Vranovic and Paul Meyer.

ment to our team’s dedication to quality and something as a family we can all be proud of,” said Kevin Thomson, President, Bothwell Cheese.

“We work hard and are passionate about producing quali-

ty cheese and to be recognized for it is such an achievement,” said Nathan Dueck, Production Manager, Bothwell Cheese. “To accomplish this, it truly takes a team effort.”

In December 2017, Bothwell

Cheese will launch its now award-winning Non-GMO Project Verified Medium White Cheddar that was made with milk from dairy cows that are fed non-GMO crops.

Price Risk Insurance for Cattle and Hog Producers

By Harry Siemens The Western Livestock Price Insurance Program (WLPIP) is a risk management tool available in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The program provides producers with protection against an unexpected drop in prices on cattle and hogs over a defined period.

Jason Dobbin is the Manitoba provincial coordinator for Western Livestock Price Insurance, a program that launched in Manitoba in 2014 for livestock producers and the province.

Dobbin, a cattle producer said there has not been any risk mitigation, especially for cattle.

“We haven’t had the protection required for some of us, incidents such as a flood, drought event or a border closure, and even just a significant drop in the market,” he said. “So this program is now full price, against the cash market, in the future, and it protects you from those market declines that as a producer you can’t guard yourself against.”

Dobbin said this program, was first initiated by the Alberta beef producers who hired

Gibson Capital, a private firm to develop it and implement it in 2009. In 2014 the rest of the western provinces, BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba joined.

“In Manitoba, we as cattle associations and Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) administered a program in Manitoba, SCIC in Saskatchewan, and AFSC in Alberta. So cattle incorporations are administering programs that were initially designed by the beef producers,” he said. “It’s insurance. You’re buying an insurance policy to have a floor price in the future.

That floor price is your bottom.

There is no commitment to sell your cattle or your hogs. You can keep them or sell them previously to what you’re trying to protect yourself for.”

It’s providing a period of protection at a floor price and if the cash market drops below that, the cattle producer gets the difference. “But it’s not paid on what you get for your animals, so that’s why there’s no commitment to sell. If a good producer gets above the average market price, he puts that in

his pocket, and if the cash market drops from when we insure that, he or she gets the difference,” said Dobbin.

The insurance program does not affect when or how the producer markets, he said. “Now there’s a bit of a contradiction here in that you’re trying to buy an insurance policy to when you normally would sell your animals so that when price declines this would be a top-up to what you would probably get in the marketplace,” said Dobbin. “Saying that, it’s not what you exactly get. So like, we’re not collecting sales receipts for what you get because we have modern hardware in every auction mart, 22 auction marts in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and so electronic sales data all go into our calculation of the settlement price.”

While initiated and started by cattle producers and their organizations, hogs are also a component of Western Livestock Price Insurance. It’s a little different methodology and as far as the calculations go he encourages a hog producer who is interested, to contact him.

Dobbin said the uptake is

slow but steady. “We got out of the gates pretty good there in 2014, and then we’ve seen some of a dip a little last year, but this year we’re double what we had for sales last year, as far as policy sales go,” he said.

“Funding of the program, the premiums paid for the policies, it’s 100 per cent producer-paid premium. However, the Federal and Provincial governments pay the administration costs.”

Dobbin farms south of MacGregor and said the program works for him. “Absolutely.

And you know what? It gives you peace of mind. You have to determine somewhat what is that peace of mind, what is it worth? So when we talk to some of these issues that people raise about our friends to the south and the new administration and what they may or may not do, that stress of how it’s going to affect the market if it drops, when you have a policy like this,” he said. “Because unlike some other contracts, if the border closed tomorrow, this contract is always honoured.

There is no catch, like if the border closes, it’s cancelled or anything like that.”

Santa’s Ride

Investing in New Markets for Canadian Livestock Genetics A $3 million Federal funding strategy for the Canadian Livestock Genetics Association (CLGA) will help exporters develop and expand new markets for Canadian livestock genetics. The program-funding

program hopes to see more Canadian livestock raised outside of Canada using prized Canadian genetics.

With Budget 2017, agriculture has been identified as a key growth industry, and as a result funding will

target investments that will help the sector build on its competitive strengths and chart Canada’s path to prosperity.

The focus of the project will be on exports of dairy, sheep and goat genetics,

which in 2016 generated exports of over $150 million dollars. The CLGA is looking to increase those exports to over $200 million through trade missions, training and promotion.

Rick Hildebrandt, owner of the 1949 Farmall Cub tractor gets into Photo by Elmer Heinrichs the seasonal spirit in Altona.

November 24, 2017

Happy, Happy... or as Good as it Gets

I have never been accused of wearing rose coloured glasses. In reality, I have worn bifocals for the past twenty years and prefer the ones without the line that makes a huge jump from near too far. I think that is good for vision and good for looking at the future as well. I readily acknowledge that I am not one to paint the future with a bright brush and in fact on more than one occasion I have been termed a pessimist but that is about to change.

As this calendar draws to a close and a new year begins, I am filled with optimism and no that is not to be confused with dipping to deep in the eggnog bowl. The industry of agriculture in the province of Manitoba is in a good place. The industry is on solid ground.

Hark, I hear the cattlemen saying the prices are not what they were 3 years ago, and I agree but you of all people knew that was not for real. You can claim that you need a few more years to catch up from the down times but that is not the way your or any other sector of this industry works. You live in the present time and these prices are reasonable, you can make a profit and the year was such that you got to put up a good supply of feed.

Cereal producers might face a down side by setting the bar to high after this year’s yields and thinking they can do that every year. I don’t think so, but enjoy the year you had and appreciate that you don’t have to build more bins as you would have if you there were two crops like that in a row.

The industry is in a good place and it looks like it will continue on this path, yes, I am saying that despite the fellow who is running our neighbour to the south. Sure, many contribute to some uncertainty in the world but while he is busy, making American great through protectionism the rest of the world is ready to do business with us and that is a good thing.

We have young people who are interested in coming into our business and they are bringing the technology of their phones with them. Sure I admit I don’t like the idea of you or anyone being glued to their phone and I am disappointed that there is a generation emerging who no longer knows how to speak to each other or to write with a pen and paper but they know how to use technology to change and advance our business.

From where I sit, this is about as good as our business has looked in a long time, and I am excited to get on with 2018.

To you and yours the best of the Holiday Season and may 2018 turn out to be as good as it looks.

The AgriPost

Freaky Gluten Last month a popular radio show, Freakonomics, aired an episode called “The Demonization of Gluten.” It contained a lot of instructive detail about our current obsession with the substance, and a history of this recent fashion trend.

For some people, gluten is a real medical problem. Others may have a problem with sensitivity to it and don’t know. Still others are misdiagnosed and go gluten-free when there’s no reason for it. For many others, however, it’s more like a fad.

Genuine intolerance, known as celiac disease, is a condition that affects only about one percent of the population, who need to avoid gluten. Doctors first suspected the ailment back in the 1930s but didn’t isolate the problem till the 1940s, somewhat by accident. During World War II, the Nazis at one point cut off the food supply for Dutch civilians. One doctor noticed that some of his patients actually improved during this time and then got worse after the Allies started dropping bread over Holland. He then did a controlled experiment, and found gluten to be the culprit.

Fast forward to the 1980s. An Italian doctor, Alessio Fasano, was quite familiar with celiac disease because of the prevalence of it in his native country. He decided to move to the United States so that he could get away from it and tackle other problems. It worked, but eventually he started to wonder why there were so few cases in his new home. So he investigated by collecting blood samples from the Red Cross and testing them. To Fasano’s surprise, the level of disease in the US was almost identical as Italy’s. As a result, testing and treatment for the condition greatly increased and improved through the years.

Another medical condition, “non-celiac gluten sensitivity”, presents more of a mystery. There’s no test for it, but people who suffer the same kind of symptoms don’t have

Penner’s Points

the same marker in their blood that celiac

By Rolf patients do.

Penner Then we have people who go on a gluten-free diet just because they heard that it was healthier or a good way to lose weight. These are mistaken assumptions. Worse still, surveys show that, while only one percent of Americans have a real problem, up to 30 percent of the population is now trying either to reduce or to eliminate gluten in their diets.

So in a short period of time, we went from one extreme to the other, from people not knowing they had a problem to people not actually having a problem but thinking they do. This can make life way more difficult than it has to be. In a lot of ways, gluten-free foods are less nutritious, because they contain more calories, more fat and a lot less fibre.

They are also a lot more expensive, sometimes up to four times higher than their equivalents that contain gluten.

Ironically, even with all of this gluten awareness, or maybe even because of it, experts report that a large number of people with celiac disease are still going undiagnosed.

Thanks to fad diets and celebrity endorsements, all sorts of wild claims are made that you can cure pretty much everything by going gluten-free. So the wrong people have been getting the message, while people

who could truly benefit from a change in diet don’t hear it because it gets lost in the fog.

All of this has had a profound impact on what farmers grow.

The radio show points out that, “On one hand, we have recordlow plantings of wheat and on the other hand, pulse-crops plantings reached a new record high this last year. Again, it’s hard to say specifically that consumer tastes and preference trends are driving the expanded availability of pulse crops. But what the data is showing is that there has been some pretty steady growth in chickpea and lentil per-capita availability in particular. Pulse crops tend to be grown in the same area as wheat is grown too.

The northern plains of the US have seen expanded production of chickpeas, dried peas, lentils, and declining plantings of wheat.”

Who knows what the future holds? But the lesson from today’s gluten-free faddism is clear. Science, which should be the standard for deciding our food intake, can take off down some pretty weird rabbit holes when it is churned about by pop culture. Caveat emptor (Buyer Beware).

Do Carbon and Manure Go Hand in Hand?

Two events happened recently; Manitoba’s carbon tax proposal and the hearings at the Manitoba Legislature on cleaning up regulations.

When I look at both of those events, the outcomes, they almost appear to be an oxymoron. More on that later.

A tax is a tax is a tax = Carbon Tax is how I sized up the Made-in-Manitoba plan to address climate change – will protect the environment, grow the economy said, Premier Brian Pallister. Pallister and his advisors I guess believe that if you add five cents to a litre of gasoline, [a damaging fossil fuel], no one will notice. At the same time they believe, I think, this extra tax will get people to cut back their driving, save the environment and grow the

economy.

I have no problem with his vision of pure Motherhood, to make Manitoba the cleanest, greenest and most climate-resilient province in Canada.

I get the point that the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau is forcing the provinces to incorporate a carbon tax, to their making and implementation. I don’t get the point that it will save the environment while growing the economy - Nope because it is an outright tax grab plain and simple.

The fallacy of taking money from one consumer and putting it into the next consumer’s pocket will somehow save the environment pales in the imagination.

I remember when my father tilled the fields four and five times in fall, a few times in spring, to get the kind of crop he desired and to keeps the weeds from consuming that desired crop. I also remember the pesticides and herbicides, seed, seed treatments, and produc-

tion practices we used in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and even early 80s until he passed away. They weren’t what we have today in those categories, but they were the best that we had.

Guess what? All that changed throughout the 80s, 90s, and now through the end of 2017, going into 2018. And most if not all, changed for the better.

That is why I take exception to the fact we will do even a better job of cleaning up the environment, the soils, the waterways by merely adding a carbon tax. Which, I think will multiply through the system, not as economic growth, but as added costs to doing business, primarily as we compete with our neighbours to the south.

The province developed the climate and green plan through the direct input of Manitobans, drawing from more than a year of consultations with environmental, business, and expert stakeholders.

According to the Pallister announcement, and he owns it plain and simple, the plan sets

out a made-in-Manitoba approach to carbon pricing with a low and level price of $25 per tonne beginning during 2018.

It is half the amount mandated [forced] by the Federal government and it will give Manitoba the second-lowest carbon price in Canada by 2022.

Switching to the second comment, Andrew Dickson, the General Manager of Manitoba Pork, said even with changes proposed under the provincial government’s ‘Red Tape Reduction and Government Efficiency Act’, Manitoba’s pork industry will continue to be subject to some of the strictest environmental regulations anywhere.

Dickson said at the public hearings recently on Bill 24, opponents of the hog industry have suggested changes proposed under the bill will spell disaster for the environment and Lake Winnipeg but the exact opposite is the truth.

I digress. The carbon tax is to clean up the environment and cause the economy to

grow. Here the government is to loosen the regulations, or at least how they interpret the ones put in place by the previous government to restrict the hog industry and protect the environment.

Dickson said the environmental regulations are all still in place, strengthened and modernized. The hog industry does not pollute Lake Winnipeg. The laws deal with the issue of manure. “Operators incorporate manure into the soil as a nutrient for plant growth, applied as a suitable nutrient for plant growth, and runoff is completely illegal,” he said.

“Is there a problem with Lake Winnipeg? Yes. Do we all need to do something about reducing the amount of phosphorus we use in our businesses? Yes. And the industry is doing lots in that regard.”

Dickson said all Manitoba pork operations are subject to audit; they must file annual manure management plans and base their manure application on yearly crop growth.

The AgriPost

Without CWB, Farmer’s Losses are Growing Dear Editor, After 5 years of the loss of the Canadian Wheat Board, farmers have turned back the clock 100 years.

Commodity prices posted publicly are usually the lowest available. Farmers shipping their grain wind up begging for a good price. Today #1 wheat with 11% protein is selling for $4.23/bushel. Wheat export price in Vancouver is $9.44/bushel and in Thunder Bay $11.80/bushel. Six years ago I sold my #1 wheat to the CWB at $8.50/bushel.

So much for the open market but not so open information! The blame is on every farmer who was sleeping at the switch.

In the last election, Ritz announced you could sell all the grain you produced-but at what price?

For example, the average farmer today produces 70,000 bushels of wheat. 5 years ago, #1 wheat 13.5% was $8.50/ bushel, so if you sold 70,000 bushels you would get $595,000. Today you are likely to get $5.10/bushel, so 70,000 bushels would bring $350,000. Instead of getting $595,000 for his crop, the farmer gets $350,000, a loss of $245,000.

This amount of loss over the 5 years without the CWB comes to $1,225,000 – one and a quarter million dollars!

Under the CWB, farmers would get paid 88% of export prices. Today under the open market we get 40%. Farming without the Crow rate and the CWB is hard to do. Other farm leaders were destroying what our forefathers fought for.

How can anyone’s farm survive on wheat at $5/bushel and canola at$12/bushel? A four wheel drive tractor imported from the USA costs $700,000. With $5 wheat you need 140,000 bushels to buy the tractor. At thirty bushels an acre, you need 4,700 acres to grow the crop to pay for this tractor.

The big farmers have been sleeping since the loss of the CWB. Farm Credit tells us a 3 year loss is the end of farming. Big volumes of grain do not pay the outstanding bills. Because the big farmers did not support the CWB, their only option is to sell out or to down size.

Edward Sagan National Farmers Union National Board, Saskatchewan Region

Thou Shalt Do Thy Budgets It’s the most wonderful time of the year… yes Christmas is coming, but it’s also the time of year that we are sitting down with clients to discuss the plan on selling the remainder of old crop grain still in the bin. More importantly, it’s the time of year that we are putting together the preliminary 2018 seeding plans, doing cost of production for those intended crops, and figuring out what the marketing plan will look like for the upcoming crop year.

After doing budget meetings like this for the last seven years, it can get tedious looking at all these costs to grow a crop and what the projected profit (or loss) is in doing so.

At the same time, it’s also somewhat fascinating to see the variation in costs from one farm to another. Some years have very clear winners and

losers for what crops pencil out the best and worst, while some years it’s much more muddled and not straightforward as to what is the best option.

For 2018 however, one thing is already becoming somewhat clear, and it’s that in the current price environment, breakeven yields are fairly high. Granted, we like to use (hopefully) conservative prices when developing these breakeven analyses, but even running what if scenarios shows that yield is going to be more important in determining profitability in 2018 than it has been in some other years.

We strongly encourage clients (and farmers in general) to be using actual, five year or long average yields when calculating cost of production estimates. We can’t use an arbitrary yield estimate, be it high or low, to get a realis-

tic picture of what is to be expected. From there, we can run the “what if” scenarios on both yields and price to establish a range of which combinations will lead to profitable selling opportunities.

Although perhaps a little daunting, here is a look at some early projections on crops, costs, and breakeven analysis using some generic numbers for southern Manitoba. It should also be noted that in total expenses, we are including management labor of $50/ac, equipment depreciation, and opportunity costs on owned land (that you could rent your land out). The yellow lines below highlight at the projected yield, what price is needed to break even and make a 20% ROI, or at the projected price, what yield is needed to break

even and make a 20% ROI. We budget a profit right into our cost of production, as we want clients to be thinking about that and at what point, they can sell grain for a profit.

We are not in the business of hunting for the highs, our goal and job is to manage price risk for a farm, while optimizing the profitability in the constraints of bin space, cash flow needs, and storage risks.

Brian Voth is the President of IntelliFARM Inc., working with farms to create customized grain marketing plans and carrying them out. For more information visit intellifarm.ca or call 204-324-3669.

November 24, 2017

Student’s Food Drive Helps Local Food Bank

By Elmer Heinrichs Ecole Parkside School’s student and teacher volunteers in Altona, partnering with Rhineland Car Co., raised two truckloads of food in the “We Scare Hunger” campaign donating it to the Rhineland area food bank.

A school leadership group of 21 students with teacher Joelle Harbinson packed up the non-perishable food collected from each classroom donated over a two-week period. The winning classroom received a pizza party courtesy of the Ford dealership.

Foodbank Coordinator Angelika Stoesz noted that 2017 was the food bank’s 20th anniversary, and thanked students for their effort and the dealership for its $250 cash donation.

November 24, 2017

The AgriPost

FCC Reports Growth for Canada’s Agriculture Exports Canada is about to strengthen its position as one of the world’s top agriculture and agri-food trading nations, according to a pair of reports issued by Farm Credit Canada.

“Our optimism comes from a unique set of circumstances where demand for both Canada’s agriculture commodities and manufactured food products continues to grow,” said J.P. Gervais, Chief Agri-

cultural Economist for FCC. “The stars are aligned for an industry that is already strong and has the potential to grow in a highly competitive world market.”

Canada was the world’s fifth largest exporter of agriculture and the 11th largest exporter of manufactured food products in 2016, according to the FCC’s trade ranking reports.

“Our reports confirm that agriculture is and will continue to be a major contributor to Canada’s growth and prosperity,” said Gervais, echoing the findings the Advisory Council on Economic Growth’s report, “Unleashing the Growth Potential of Key Sectors”.

The landmark report, noted that Canadian agriculture already employs 2.1 million workers and accounts for 6.7 per cent of the country’s gross national product (GDP). “I share FCC’s optimism in the future of Canadian agriculture and I am confident that our farmers and food processors are up to the challenge of reaching our target of $75 billion in agriculture and

agri-food exports by 2025,” said Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. “We will continue to help farmers, producers and processors build their businesses globally with the help of FCC, a strong and stable partner to Canadian agriculture.”

For agriculture commodity exports, in 2016, Canada had the world’s fifth highest total export values, behind the United States, China, the Netherlands and Brazil. Canadian operations exported $24.6 billion worth of agricultural commodities, accounting for 6.3 per cent of the world’s total food exports, valued at $461.8 billion (all trade figures are reflected in U.S. dollars).

The top three exporters (United States, China and the Netherlands) together accounted for 35.2 per cent of world agriculture commodity exports in 2016. Canada fell from third in 2012 due to the growing presence of China and Brazil in world markets.

Canada ranked among the

world’s top three leaders in no fewer than 11 agricultural export commodities, canola seed, wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, flax, plants used for perfumery, crustaceans, pulses, fresh fish and bovine animals including cattle and bison.

Canada exports several commodities that were both highly valued global exports in 2016 and among the world’s fastest-growing exports between 2007 and 2016. These were pulses, soybeans, and fresh fish exports.

In manufactured food exports, Canadian businesses exported $19.1 billion worth of manufactured food products, accounting for 3.2 per cent of the world’s total food exports. Although Canada ranks 11th in total food export values, several of its food exports experienced some of the world’s fastest growth over the past decade.

Total global exports of food products reached $602.5 billion in 2016. The Netherlands, the US and Germany were the top exporters, a ranking they

have maintained since 2010.

The three countries together accounted for 24.9 per cent of world food exports in 2016.

Several of Canada’s topdollar food exports, beef, chocolate, bread, fruit and nuts and pork were among the fastest-growing food exports in the world. Canada may be particularly well poised to exploit opportunities to grow exports of canola oil, beef, pork, chocolate and bread.

Aside from ranking Canadian agricultural commodity and manufactured food exports, the FCC trade reports examine Canada’s comparative advantage in agriculture and food exports. This reveals sectors for which Canada has an edge over other exporters.

“When Canada’s reputation as a consistent producer of high-quality, safe agriculture commodities and food products is combined with growing world demand and our comparative advantage on so many key exports, the future looks pretty bright for Canadian agriculture,” Gervais said.

Real Science Corrects Mistakes I likely can’t count the number of times I have spoken or written the words “sciencebased”. It is a mantra of sorts.

And for good reason. Technology is the most important competitive advantage for Canadian agriculture. This is how we are going to compete with emerging exporters like the Black Sea countries. Modern farming tools and methods are also the reason why Canadian farmers have a fantastic sustainability story to tell. In order to keep these tools and the ability to use new and emerging techniques, we must have science-based regulations, both within Canada as with our trading partners.

The alternative to sciencebased is regulations that are born out of the whims of the latest internet expert. To say that most of these so-called experts are in the category of the snake oil salesmen would be a bit of an insult to the purveyors of snake oil.

Moving away from science-based regulations also opens Canadian farmers up to protectionist measures that are loosely cloaked as environmental regulations or solutions to health concerns.

We see living examples of this in the campaign against high-quality Canadian durum wheat in Italy and the Italian Government’s regulations on country of origin labelling.

Glyphosate is one of the products that the internet likes

to hate. The theories abound; glyphosate is responsible for autism, glyphosate causes celiac disease, glyphosate is causing cancer, and so on.

Glyphosate is registered for use in more than 160 countries. There is no major regulatory agency in the world that considers glyphosate a health risk. The product has been recently reviewed by the European Food Safety Authority, the Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicines Authority. All have concluded that glyphosate is safe for both people and the environment. The European review stated, “Glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans.”

Yet doubt was cast on this scientific consensus by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). In 2015 IARC classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” IARC’s statement has set off a storm of controversy, spawning lawsuits in the US, raising doubts about the products approval in the European Union and opening up potential trade barriers to Canadian exports.

The US lawsuits have brought information to light that call into questions the scientific processes that IARC followed to reach their con-

clusions. Did IARC fall into the trap of coming to a conclusion and then looking for evidence?

Evidence coming out of court processes show that IARC dismissed results from a draft of its review that was at odds with its final public conclusion. Reports indicate that the conclusions of multiple scientists’, showing no link between glyphosate and cancer in laboratory animals, were edited or deleted. Comparisons of the draft report and the final publication show ten changes that reversed or deleted scientific conclusions that differed from the final publication.

This evidence calls into question both the conclusion reached by IARC as well as the basic scientific process that is followed by the Agency. Its credibility is at stake. But it is more than that. In the mind of the public, the credibility of science-based regulatory review is also at stake.

The processes for all of the regulatory agencies listed above – European, Australian, Canadian and American – are all public. Citizens and scientists are able to see the processes each of these agencies used to reach their conclusions. The scientific process is open and transparent. This is how it should be. This is the scientific method.

IARC does not share the

same level of transparency.

Since the revelations in the US legal proceedings, the only statement IARC has made is that the draft versions of its Monographs are confidential. This is not acceptable.

IARC must open up its processes and conclusions to peer review. And the Agency must be willing to adjust its conclusions if that is the direction that science leads.

Science is a process of examining the facts to determine the best answer we have today. It does not mean that our understanding cannot evolve over time or that our understanding can’t change. An open and transparent process that is willing to review research that might not support current beliefs are key hallmarks of a science-based agency.

The credibility of science and public confidence in science-based regulations depend on agencies, both within Canada and abroad, meeting these basic standards of transparency. Revelations of recent weeks show that IARC’s processes do not reach this bar.

This must change.

Cam Dahl is President of Cereals Canada.

The AgriPost

November 24, 2017

November 24, 2017

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The AgriPost

Full House for the Annual NAERIC Barrels of Cash Prospect Sale

By Joan Airey A very successful 10th Annual NAERIC Barrels of Cash Prospect Sale was held in conjunction with Manitoba Ag-Ex on October 27.

The celebration of 10 years looked took a look back to 2008 when a group of ranchers envisioned a barrel racing prospect sale with the intention of seeing the foals come back as five-year-olds to compete for a nine thousand dollar purse.

Their first futurity run was in the fall of 2013 and was a huge success. After their initial success they decided why not have a stake race for all horses that went through their sale as six-year-olds and why not add a thousand dollars to the purse to make it more inviting. The first stake run was in 2014. When 2016 rolled around an idea was brought up, to hold an open jackpot and cap it at one hundred entries. There was enormous interest in 2016 that it

was decided to do it again in 2017.

As added incentive for these foals they group decided that any foals that were sold through the 2017 NAERIC Barrels of Cash Sale were eligible to be paid into a side pot ‘roping for $$$ which will be held in conjunction with the Manitoba Team Roping Futurity. The buyer or seller can pay an additional hundred dollars on top of the sale price of the foal to make that foal eligible for the roping for jackpot. To qualify the foal must be nominated and paid for on sale day, at time of purchase.

The top selling colt sold for $3,250 and was owned by DAC Farms (Duncan Campbell and Cathy Gerrand) of Virden, sold to Jackie Wilton, Wawanesa. The second was a high selling filly ‘Money’s Smooth Six’ owned by Bridgeman Land & Livestock (Gail and Kirk Bridgeman) of Rapid City selling for $2,800

to Florent Rivard, St. Eustache. In all, thirty-seven foals sold for an average of $1,225.

Winner of the 5th Annual Futurity Run was Rachael Boyes, winner of the Open Jackpot was McKenzie Rowe, Waskada and Rachael Boyes won the stake race.

Kirk Bridgeman (Bridgeman Land and Livestock Ltd) makes a little girl’s day by letting her pet a filly entered in the 10th Annual NAERIC Barrels of Cash Prospect Sale.

November 24, 2017

Conference Highlights NAFTA Implications for Agricultural Trade and Transportation This year’s timely topic for the 22nd Annual Fields on Wheels Conference will feature the North America Free Trade Agreement, “NAFTA 2018: Implications for Agricultural Trade and Transportation” on Friday, December 15 at the Four Points South Hotel, Winnipeg.

Conference speakers will cover many topics including “Outlook for NAFTA” talks, its issues and opportunities, “CETA and Corridor Strengthening”, “Non-tariff barriers” in regulatory, institutional and intentional and the “Canadian Transportation Act” review.

Featured speakers lined up for the annual conference, include Hon. Ron Schuler, Minister of Infrastructure, Province of Manitoba, Dr. Geoffrey Hale, Professor, University of Lethbridge, Carlo Dade, Director of the Trade & Investment Centre, Canada West Foundation, Mike Gifford, Former Chief Agricultural Trade Negotiator for Canada, Brad Bodner, Director, Corporate Development CN, Reg Dyck, Member, KAP Transport Committee, James Clements, VP Strate-

gic Planning &Transportation Services, CP Rail, and Greg Northey, Director, Industry Relations, Pulse Canada.

NAFTA has led to substantial economic growth with freer north-south trade movement of farm and food products that has encouraged specialization and efficiency.

With the opening of negotiations to modernize NAFTA this also creates possibilities for further improvement, but also uncertainty.

Recently agricultural concerns seem to be over-shadowed by manufacturing jobs, trade balances and the threat of NAFTA’s termination.

Rather than being in the thick of trade talks, North American agriculture is standing on the sidelines and could be sideswiped.

After 23 years, a comprehensive review of NAFTA may be desirable. The original agreement was neither perfect, nor inclusive. In the case of transport, “free trade” is non-existent. Vehicles can cross the border to deliver or pickup freight, but cargo movements within neighbouring countries are restricted to domestic carriers. Although

customs duties have been eliminated, many non-tariff barriers such as regulations, grading and continue to block trade in general.

As market access within NAFTA threatens to become more difficult, Canada has signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union. CETA offers the opportunity to regain markets in the east that have been difficult for decades.

Similarly, the successor treaty to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could enhance western grain demand in Asia. To serve these demands, more infrastructure investment is needed to reduce bottlenecks at the ports.

Shifting grain exports from southern markets to the eastwest routes is unlikely to offset what could be lost, but having a Plan B is better than depending on hope as a strategy.

For more information on the conference or to register with the Canadian Transportation Research Forum go to ctrf.ca.

A special conference rate at the Four Points Hotel is available starwoodmeeting.com.

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November 24, 2017

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Weigh Your Options by Benchmarking the Cost of New Machinery

By Les Kletke

Joerg Zimmermann does not have specifics on the cost of machinery however, he does have one serious recommendation in that regard.

“A farmer should know what his costs are,” said Zimmermann. “If he wants to he

can justify just about anything in his mind, and that is fine if he can cash flow it.”

Zimmerman is originally from Germany working with large farms in Eastern Europe and now has his own farm management consulting business GlobalAgAdvi-

Joerg Zimmerman says farmers can justify just about any piece of machinery they want, but they need to be honest with themselves.

Photo by Les Kletke

CPC Urges Federal Government to Take a Leadership Role in TPP The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) welcomed the opportunity to participate in the Government of Canada’s consultation on trade with Asia-Pacific nations.

Pork producers have been serving international markets for more than 25 years and reach consumers in more than 100 countries. Valued at $3.8 billion, exports represented nearly 70% of Canadian pork production in 2016.

“We urge the Government of Canada to take a leadership role in the [Trans-Pacific Partnership] TPP-11 negotiations with the intention of completing a deal in the very near term,” said Rick Bergmann, Chair of the Canadian Pork Council. “Canada’s pork producers request that the Government of Canada work to ensure a TPP-11 agreement is implemented without jeopardizing the negotiated outcomes on market access that were agreed to in the original TPP agreement,” he added.

Enhanced market access is of critical importance to Canadian producers and government’s efforts to expand eco-

nomic ties in key Asia-Pacific markets are very much appreciated. The Pacific region is experiencing significant economic growth and is a region with an evolving need for agricultural products.

The Federal Government has identified Asia-Pacific as “a priority market” and notes it is working with the current TPP participants to assess alternatives. The value these markets bring to the trade of Canadian pork is key to the expansion of the industry.

While Japan is the most lucrative market, there is room to quickly improve Canadian market shares in Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Canada has the capacity and ability to complete this deal so that Canadians can take full advantage of this opportunity while other countries continue to negotiate. However, the status quo is not an option. If a free trade agreement with Asia-Pacific nations is not implemented, Canada will face ongoing erosion of its ability to compete in Japan and other rapidly growing Asian markets.

sors Ltd. While his data shows that farm, machinery costs vary greatly and there is little correlation between the sizes of a farm or the age of a farmer there is some narrowing of those gaps when compared between large-scale farms in North America.

“Farmers can justify just about any expense they want, and if they factor in the cost of a breakdown that is going to happen in the future they can justify a new piece of equipment,” he said with a smile. “That breakdown may

never happen but they will have the cost of the machine.

That is certain.”

Zimmermann urges farmers to consider their options like renting or leasing equipment rather than purchasing.

He is an advocate of an informed decision rather than solely looking at no other option other than purchasing equipment.

He told the annual Canadian Association of Farm Advisors in Niverville that one of the greatest reasons farmers purchase equipment is tax avoidance. The com-

ment brought knowing nods from many in the audience.

“That is not the best reason to make a decision that can lock you into payments for years down the road,” he said. “Things change rapidly in this business and a farmer with a high income one year may not have that situation a year down the road, but he will still have the payments on the machinery he buys.”

His company offers a program to help farmers calculate their cost of machinery and benchmark it against others in the group. “Our

intent is to get them thinking about their situation and what works,” he explained.

“They need to think about their expansion plans and how machinery needs of the future will fit into the plan.”

He pointed out that not all expansion plans fit with expanding machinery. “You cannot buy 1.5 combines,” said Zimmermann. “You need to make that calculation on the acreage you have and adding another combine may mean that you have over capacity for the time being.”

A Bountiful Crop for Manitoba’s Farmers

By Elmer Heinrichs It has been a good year for Manitoba farmers and it could be good for Manitoba, said Dan Mazier head of the province’s largest farm organization, Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP).

With the exception of a few fields of later-maturing crops such as corn and sunflowers, farm-

ers have put a wrap on this year’s harvest.

Consensus is that it really was a good one. The final provincial crop report of the 2017 growing season showed that despite the drier than normal conditions, Manitoba farmers generally harvested above-average yields of most crops.

Many farmers actually reported record yields, in part

thanks to fewer pests and diseases than would have prevailed in damper years, some timely rains and the fact they are working with constantly improving crop varieties.

One disappointment this year was in soybeans, which produced smaller seeds and yields because conditions were too dry while the pods were filling. Contrary to what

some expected, there will be enough forage to go around this winter too.

However, pastures are badly in need of moisture for next year’s crop.

This also applies to field crop areas. In the absence of rains before the ground freezes, farmers may be putting a snowy winter on their wish list.

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The AgriPost

The AgriPost

November 24, 2017

Manitoba Ag Ex A Success

Jade Frey from Freyburn Angus in Saskatchewan was proud to show her heifer in the Pee Wee Class at Ag-Ex All Breeds Junior Show.

Photo by Joan Airey

The Manitoba Ag Ex was held Oct. 25-28 in Brandon at the Keystone Centre. It’s Manitoba’s largest all breeds cattle show and home of the Manitoba Finals Rodeo! Other partner groups included Manitoba 50/50 Superhorse, NAERIC Barrels of Cash Sale and Futurity, Hagan Performance and Ranch Horse Sale. The event was well attended and crowds were entertained by the rodeo events in the main arena each evening as well as other competitions throughout the days.

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Province Organizes European Trade Missions

The Manitoba government embarked in late November on a European trade mission to Germany highlighted by participation in Agritechnica, the world’s largest trade show of agricultural machinery and technology.

“Our government is proud to work proactively on fostering trade relationships and exploring opportunities to grow business between Manitoba and the European market,” said Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler. “Trade is vitally important to the economic success of our province and this is especially true for our agriculture industry, who have benefited greatly by participating in this internationally renowned agricultural trade show.”

Eichler joined a delegation of nearly 100 industry professionals from the province at Agritechnica including representation of 16 Manitoba-based companies. Manitoba Trade and Investment with the Federal Government’s Western Economic Diversification program, arranged booths at the trade show for each of these companies by renting approximately 3,000square metres of floor space and by organizing two pavilions under a common Canada brand.

After attending the trade show and meeting with industry and government officials while in Hannover, Germany, Eichler travelled to France to meet with trade representatives and to tour the operations of Roquette, the protein processing company that announced a record $400-million investment in Manitoba back in January 2017.

“Manitoba is open for business,” said Growth, Enterprise and Trade Minister Blaine Pedersen. “There are tremendous trade opportunities under the newly formed CETA agreement, which recently came into effect in September.”

In the past, participation in Agritechnica has proven beneficial for equipment manufacturers and grainbased technology firms in Manitoba. Survey respondents from Manitoba who participated in the trade show in 2015 projected sales for the following 18 to 24 months to be in the range of $75 to $100 million.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from the staff of The AgriPost

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November 24, 2017

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The AgriPost

Every Farm Business Needs an Entrepreneurial Operating System

Dan Aberhart insists every business needs an operating system.

Photo by Les Kletke

By Les Kletke Dan Aberhart is part of a family business Aberhart AG that has undergone phenomenal growth and while he admits it has not been without some bumps, he said it would

not have been possible if the business had not had system in place to allow for decisionmaking.

Aberhart whose family business started in 2015 with a “jar of sulphur” has grown to a 9

million dollar fertilizer business and an 11,000 acre grain farm, said that entrepreneurs can suffer from a form of PTSD because of the Human Resource Management situations they face.

While businesses need a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the day-to-day production issues, management needs an Entrepreneurial Operating System to help them with the management decision they will face. He is an advocate of the KOLBE system of personality traits and said the business uses it to help assign tasks. “In our business we have people doing what they do well,” he said. “There are people that have different strengths and they should be working to those strengths and leaving other task to the people that do them well.”

Aberhart told the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors at the annual meeting in Niverville that his family uses the character evaluations to assign tasks and to evaluate new people that they might be hiring. “Of course you cannot base all of your decisions on

the character traits and there are times that we have to pitch in and help with other areas of the business to make sure that things get done, but we do have an organizational chart of the business and use it for the occasional check up on the business.”

Aberhart noted that a timely check on how the business is doing is very important on detecting problems before they get out of hand. “You need to build a long term business relationship with your suppliers and your customers,” he said.

“Because there will be times that things don’t go according to your plan and at those times you need to rely on that relationship to get through the rough spots.”

He points to the strength agriculture has with intergenerational operations. “Mentorship and succession planning are an integral part of any business and in agriculture we have generations working together on the farm,” he said. “We need to formalize that relationship and put a system in place that will carry on from one generation to the next.”

Dairy Farmer Wins Award for Her Children’s Book

By Joan Airey Donna Simard and her husband operate a dairy farm and have raised their twelve children near St. Lazare.

Their twelfth child, Isaiah, when he was born had Down Syndrome and to this day they firmly believed it was a blessing not a disability.

Simard is also an award winning children’s author who recently published her second chapter book called Isaiah’s Way that tells the story about the great achievements Isaiah has made in his life at the young age of eleven.

“As a family we did everything we could to stimulate Isaiah to learn. There was a little play group at our school so I joined other women there with their young chil-

dren. It was to incorporate the French language to the children before they reached school age. I didn’t know if Isaiah might learn this second language like his siblings but it was stimulation with other children and introducing very early the school setting. Isaiah thrived but I still wondered if he would ever be able to fully communicate with others. We even started to teach him a small amount of sign language at that young age,” said Simard.

Jean-Marie, Isaiah’s dad has French language roots while Donna’s is English but they both decided that a second language was an opportunity for all of their children and decided that Isaiah’s learning abilities should not be limited.

Donna Simard with the many books she has written, while helping with the family’s dairy farm and raising 12 children.

Photo by Jean-Marie Simard

“One day I was walking four-year- old Isaiah towards the school and I reminded him it was a French school.

As we walked up the steps, he counted them in French.

From that day on, I knew that I should not underestimate Isaiah. He had proved that he was quite capable of knowing and differentiating the two languages. That day my heart swelled with love and excitement as to what Isaiah might accomplish in his life. I realized then that our boy was just a little boy that desire to learn just like any other little boy,” said Simard.

The Simard’s have encouraged Isaiah to learn everything from playing ball, the piano and attending school at which he learns in a second language. “Isaiah has learned to answer the phone which is great for his speech and communication skills. Isaiah is an active member of our family. He needs to be needed just like everybody else. He sets the table says grace before we eat and puts away his own laundry. Children can learn by the simplest tasks.

I have always incorporated math skills, observation skills and showing him that he is needed by simple things for example counting the plates and helps his math skills. Use your imagination and let the fun begin teaching your children,” said Simard.

“Isaiah is in grade six. He attends a DSFM school situated in St. Lazare! He has some courses, which are modified to meet his needs. Isaiah loves school and has embraced being bilingual! All children need to be encouraged and not limited!” said Simard.

Simard has written five Children’s books Scrub a Dub-Dub, Rebecca in the Tub, The Hiccups Moving Day, A Sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa’s Farm, Michael and Dad at the Zoo and Shhh It’s a Surprise! Off to Nunavut.

If you would like to learn more about author Donna Simard, she has a Facebook page.

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The AgriPost

Hog Prices See Highs and Lows

By Harry Siemens Hog prices are continuing their roller coaster ride and even when the live hog prices slipped over the past couple of weeks, the industry is now looking at an attractive dynamic.

Tyler Fulton, the Director of Risk Management with H@ ms Marketing Services said the US regionally negotiated prices in the cash markets starting to trail off a little bit.

“What I think is happening is there’s just an overwhelming supply available despite two additional new packing plants coming on stream,” said Fulton. “Things are never perfectly smooth regarding ramp-ups, and we don’t have good information on how these plants are performing.

I think it’s fair to say that they’ve had a very positive impact to the cash market trend over the course of the last two months since they’ve been running, but it’s not linear. It’s not a perfect relationship, and we see a little bit of weakness recently, possibly because of this ample supply.”

He said typically at this time of year, over the next month the industry ramps up hog slaughter, and as a function of that, pork production in the US rises to their highest levels of the year. “And this year is no different regarding that normal trend, but our starting point was roughly three to four percent higher. And so what we expect is to see some record high pork production and hog slaughter that comes in over the next month or two, and that’s likely to put pressure on prices,” said Fulton. “The USDA pegged the US hog slaughter at about a 3.9 per cent increase over last year’s numbers based on their

survey of hog producers done in September, and that has pretty much come out to be pretty consistent with what the recent hog slaughter compared to a year ago.”

What the industry is seeing regarding available slaughter capacity remains to be seen.

It is still early days as to how this is going to influence the market, but no doubt, it is positive.

Three new plants are running, compared to at this time last year, and without them, the industry would be bumping up against hog slaughter capacity. “So I think the biggest effects from these new plants coming on stream are likely to show up in 2018 when we start to see a tightening of hog supply into the spring and summer months and packers are forced to compete very fiercely for those limited supplies to fill their plants,” Fulton said. “I think critically important is demand. On the domestic side, all evidence suggests that things are still going very well for US pork consumption and more broadly in demand.

The evidence suggests that consumers are paying more for pork and they’re consuming more pork at those higher prices, so that’s unequivocally a positive thing.”

He sees the export side will still struggle some to match up with last year’s numbers.

If the industry is not clearing more product into the export markets that means that, there is more for the domestic market to chew through, and that could put a little bit of pressure on prices over the most massive time frames, which is really over the next three months.

Producers should be paying close attention to and plan-

ning as they move throughout the rest of the fourth quarter and into the first quarter of next year. “I think that current forward contract values are pretty good value for the December, January, maybe even February time frames,” said Fulton. “There’s still a great deal of uncertainty with the heavy supply that we expect, and sluggish exports, and so we can’t necessarily rely on these new plants to have such a positive impact to overlook those, especially in that time frame. So I would say the current forward prices for the winter months are fair value or good value for producers that haven’t hedged in that time frame.”

Later, he thinks there is more reason for optimism. He said that in the April through August time frame of 2018 there is great potential to see some even better prices. “We’ve seen the futures climb about four to five percent over the course of the last week and a half, and I think that there’s solid rationale that we could see some better opportunities for hedging,” said Fulton. “I would set targets at $12 to $15 per 100 kg higher than current forward contract values in that spring/summer time frame.”

Clearwater Colony hogs.

Satellite Technology Helps Ranchers Manage Feed Crops The Federal government recently announced support for a study exploring the use of new and innovative technology to track hay and pasture production. The cuttingedge research, headed by Dr. Lysa Porth in the Warren Centre for Actuarial Studies and Research at the University of Manitoba’s I.H. Asper School of Business will play an important role in contributing to the stability to the cattle sector.

“Feed is the lifeblood of any livestock operation, and our government understands

the importance of helping to protect ranchers from risk such as losses to their forage crops. This project uses cutting-edge satellite technology to equip ranchers with the information they need to manage those risks and demonstrates why the University of Manitoba is renowned for its world-class research. With this targeted investment, our government is helping to ensure our ranchers remain on the cutting-edge of science, which helps to create good jobs and grow our economy,” said MP Terry Duguid,

on behalf of Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister, Lawrence MacAulay.

Working with the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association (SCA), with $988,000 in Federal funding, the project consists of collaborative research with Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) to use new satellite-based technology to reliably estimate forage growth at the farm level in each province, and to develop a forage production index, which would form the basis for the development of new insurance tools.

The AgriPost

Manitoba Pork Industry Readies Itself to Expand

Andrew Dickson, the General Manager of Manitoba Pork, said Manitoba’s pork industry has made considerable strides regarding reducing its environmental footprint and have a tremendous opportunity in front of them.

By Harry Siemens Manitoba pork producers and industry partners attended the two, fall producer meetings one in Niverville and the other in Portage la Prairie to hear Dr. Egan Brockhoff, DVM, Veterinary Counsellor for the Canadian Pork Council who was a keynote speaker on Highly-Pathogenic PRRS -the next nightmare for hog farmers.

Brockhoff called for more involvement by the industry. He asked members to be aware of national swine health programs and to guard against this new threat caused by the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (HP-PRRSV). The emerging virus has evolved variants that are causing higher morbidity and mortality rates and continues to affect Asia.

The disease presents itself, with, fever, lethargy, depression, respiratory distress, and vomiting, as well as a cyanotic, bluish colouring of the ears, abdomen and vulva. In addition, piglets are stillborn.

In younger and finishing pigs, a sign that the virus is present in the barn is respiratory disease including pneumonia, sneezing and wheezing.

“We have low path strains and very aggressive strains and, of course, our risk is that those high path strains could come across the water, affect the United States, affect Canada and really lead to a new level of devastation. Producers should make sure they’re involved with the Swine Health Intelligence Network,” said Brockhoff.

For many of the attendees another concern was hearing an update on the PED virus outbreak in southeastern Manitoba. “We’ve had 80 cases so far but we seem to be holding,” said Chair George Matheson. “The cases we’ve had since August are only through hog movements, so

we can say that they aren’t true cases. We do know what the cause was. We have quite a few barns in transition, quite a few presumptive negatives, so we’re moving in the right direction.”

Andrew Dickson, General Manager of Manitoba Pork, said Manitoba’s pork industry is making considerable strides regarding reducing its environmental footprint.

The Manitoba government is reviewing public input as it considers moving forward with its proposed “Red Tape Reduction and Government Efficiency Act”. Dickson said presentations during last month’s public hearings show Manitoba has very high environmental standards built into its regulations dealing with livestock. “They’re probably some of the stiffest most stringent regulations in North America.”

Anybody who wants to make any comparison only has to look at what goes on in Ontario or Saskatchewan or look at the jurisdictions in the United States and it will become apparent that Manitoba is a leader in this area,” he said. “For example in Manitoba, all of our operations are subject to audit. Producers file annual manure management plans and soil tests, basing manure application on annual crop growth.”

Dickson spoke about whether Bill 24, will help kick-start the building of new hog barns in Manitoba. “The key thing is the amendment to the Environment Act to remove the requirement for anaerobic digesters. Anaerobic digesters are these one-and-a-half million dollar deals that you have to add on to the cost of building a barn. This is significant,” said Dickson. “By taking this out of the way and using standard systems to store and apply manure as used all across North America, this will remove a huge

impediment to the industry.

Now, we can start to look at whether we can build barns on a competitive basis to other provinces and the US.” He explained that Manitoba has producers who need to build barns to stay in business by developing some extra capacity into their systems and, by taking away this requirement for an anaerobic digester, these operations can seriously look at rebuilding some of their structures. There is pent-up demand, arising from the last 10-15 years, and with four good years financially as an industry, they can show financial institutions positive cash flows for four years, he went on to say.

“It looks like we’re going to have reasonably positive cash flows for at least the next two years, and the processing companies are offering some incentives to get into finishing more pigs in the province, so there’s a huge opportunity here. It looks like grain prices are not going to go through the roof. In other words, they’re going to be reasonable grain prices that are competitive,” said Dickson. “We can import corn and soy meal from the United States at a reasonable price, and the big thing is the Canadian dollar is at about 80 cents, huge for our industry. It makes our industry now competitive with the US in lots of ways.”

He said Manitoba hog producers have a tremendous opportunity in front of them with processing plants being short on pigs. “They don’t have to build any extra facilities. They just need to get more pigs into the processing plant. They can hire some more people, put some additional cold storage into place, and away we go. They’re short product. The Canadian product is in demand across the world, and no one has any pork in storage,” he concluded.

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Feeding Probiotics Helps Pre-Weaned Dairy Calves I have seen many calf barns built in the last few years, which replace outside hutches and dry-lot pens. While they remove dairy calves from cold, hot and just plain bad weather as well as solve other issues, pre-weaned calves still get sick. Maybe not to the same degree, but I have often seen many cases of scours gain access to these new facilities that started off with one or two dire calves and ended up with a whole room of infected calves.

By adding commercial probiotics to their diet as either scour protection or treatment, these

bouts of ‘calf flu’ are not as severe.

That’s a pretty bold recommendation. However, extensive scientific university and extension field studies prove that dietary supplements of probiotics or direct-fed microbials (DFM) are single-cell organisms; when consumed by dairy calves have a symbiotic (helpful) relationship with natural microorganisms that colonize the calves’ digestive tract. As a result, probiotics can maintain or shift the balance of microbial power in favour of the natural microbes that promote good health and

against disease-causing pathogens.

These helpful pro-biotic/ DFM organisms are either bacteria or fungal DFMs (including yeasts) in origin.

Bacterial DFMs are commonly derived from the lactic acid producing bacteria, which include the genera: Lactobacillus, Bifid bacterium, and Streptococcus bacteria.

Another group of bacterial DFM is derived from Bacillus organisms. Many DFMs include yeast-derived fungal organisms, such as Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. These yeast

DFMs are either solely “live” yeast preparations, or a combination of yeast and their end products with no claim of liveability, or simply fermentation end products.

Together, dietary probiotics and natural bugs of the calf gut work in tandem by: (i) compete against pathogens for nutrients and for binding sites along the entire gastro-intestinal tract (including the rumen), (ii) produce nutrients for all beneficial bacteria, (iii) stimulate the metabolism of natural calf bacteria, (iv) stimulate the calf’s immune system and (v) may

lower the pH of the small intestine and create an unsuitable environment for pathogens to grow.

As much as probiotics can be advantageous for calf health as even improve feed digestibility in many cases, there are a few things that probiotics should not be relied upon. Probiotics in themselves provide no significant dietary source of energy, protein, minerals and most vitamins, although they may provide some water-soluble B-vitamin supplementation.

Therefore, they must be added to a well-balanced pre-weaned diet of whole milk or milk replacer and later-on dry calf starter in the first place.

Concurrently, they must be added on a continuous basis, because they do not reproduce and colonize the gastro-intestinal tract much like the calf’s naturally occurring bacteria.

Even though some research demonstrates, probiotics may lessen negative effects of some pathogenic e. coli and other bacterial infections, probiotics have no effect upon more serious diseases such as cryptosporidium parvum and enteric salmonella.

As a dairy nutritionist, I consider these shortcomings to be of minor consequence, so I often formulate probiotics (including yeasts) in many of my baby calf feeding programs on a routine basis.

I choose only high quality commercial DFMs that contain specific types of probiotics; often a cocktail of several types and strains of bacteria and at least one or two particular yeast products. It may also contain high concentrations of either alive or dead microorganisms in each gram of product, namely in the billions of CFU (bacterial counts). This is so that I keep its use rate to 1 – 5 grams per calf and its subsequent cost between 2 – 10 cents per head per day.

In the last 10 years, I have used a commercial yeast-derived probiotic (saccharomyces cerevisiae – brewers’ yeast) with added DFM-bacteria (Lactobacilli, Bifid bacterium and other Bacillus-based DFM) in textured calf starter diets. Here are some of my own

general observations of adding it to textured calf starters to baby calves from 2 weeks of age until they are weaned at 6 – 8 weeks of age: - Incidence of calf scours tends to be less - Lactobacillus produces lactic acid that may lower the pH in the small intestine, which creates an environment that pathogens tend not to grow. Some producers observe probiotics in calf starter makes the calves’ stool firm.

- Less acidosis when feeding calf starter – Calves are often in an acidotic state when consuming calf starter. Saccharomyces cerevisiae may have a buffering effect in their developing rumen, which helps reverse acidosis and raises pH to a healthy state.

- Improvement in calf starter consumption – We might equate this benefit to better digestibility of the calf starter in the developing rumen and better absorption of essential nutrients in the small intestine.

Better calf health and growth also follows.

These personal observations taken from my own farm visits, mimics some good well-documented research, which continues to find new benefits of adding probiotics to pre-weaned calf feeding programs.

In one particular study, university researchers found that by adding specific strains of enterococcus faecium to baby calf diets, there was an anti-inflammatory response within their intestinal epithelial linings.

The researchers concluded that by reducing inflammation during scours, the calf’s immune system should respond quicker and be more effective against enteric diseases. In this study, it was also shown that the treatment in calves had increased growth rates over non-probiotic calves.

I am always glad to see science reveal the positive effects of probiotics in pre-weaned dairy calves. It supports my own discussion and work experience, namely that probiotics help baby calves, which promotes their health and performance.

Livestock and Children Growing Up Together Become Friends

Chase Airey, Claire Ramsey, and Blake Airey sitting on Chase’s pet show heifer Red Licorice after showing in the Pee Wee Show at Manitoba Ag-Ex in Brandon.

Photo by Joan Airey

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Farm Fuel Exemption in Manitoba’s Climate and Green Plan

Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) is pleased with the recent announcement that fuel used on their farms will be exempt from a carbon tax in the provincial government’s Made-in-Manitoba Climate and Green Plan.

The exemption was one of the key points in MBP’s Carbon Pricing Policy, which was released in March. President Ben Fox said the association appreciates that the

announcement by the provincial government recognizes the realities of on-farm economics.

“As Premier Pallister has noted, and as we have stressed for months, agricultural producers are pure price takers,” Fox said. “We do not have the ability to pass along any price increases or carbon taxes and are vulnerable to having other industries pass those costs down to the farm.

Commodity Groups Develop Amalgamation Roadmap The five commodity groups that signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in May to explore an amalgamation have met with Manitoba Agriculture, developed a comprehensive member consultation plan and are excited to announce the release of a summary report that will be made available to farmers in December.

“The silos of agriculture are crumbling, like it or not. It’s a change we’ve all observed over the years,” said Eric Fridfinnson, Chair of the Manitoba Flax Growers Association.

“This approach, the approach we’ve been working on has the whole farm in view. We want farmers to have access to commodity-specific information as well as resources that deal with the health and sustainability of their entire farm operations, from rotation BMPs to soil health to multiple-crop growing tips.”

Representatives from Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers, Manitoba Flax Growers, the National Sunflower Association of Canada, Manitoba Corn Growers and Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers have been working with Synthesis Agri-Food Network consultant Rob Hannam on developing a commodity group amalgamation report to present to the province’s farmers.

The report will include information on the board governance structure for the new, combined organization, a potential operations structure as well as a list of farmer benefits, which includes improved agricultural research, improved innovation and increased member value for Manitoba growers producing the represented crops.

Since the MOU was signed in the spring, the working group, consisting of staff representatives from each of the five groups involved, has met on a

regular basis to develop questions for the steering committee made up of board and staff representatives, as well as develop a consultation plan that ensures this process remains driven by Manitoba’s farmers.

In September, the steering committee met with the Minister of Agriculture Ralph Eichler and members of his office to bring the province up to speed on the MOU and the nature of the upcoming report.

The committee was met with optimism and enthusiasm over the project.

Working together to reduce overlap, increase efficiencies and increase research and agronomy capacity is consistent with the province’s commitment to reducing red tape and improving agricultural research and innovation.

The committee met again in October to discuss the legal pathways involved in amalgamating organizations. These talks have helped anticipate and answer questions that the group and/or committee is likely to receive. In addition, each of these meetings will be represented in the soon-to-bereleased report.

On January 10, Mr. Hannam and a working group delegation will host a meeting for interested farmers at St. Jean Farm Days and on January 16, the amalgamation report will be presented at Ag Days in Brandon. Check the website of the event that is closest to you for presentation details.

Regional consultation meetings are also being planned for Stonewall and Dauphin. The working group will send out details related to those dates before the end of the year.

Feedback from members on this process is always welcome. Please email your questions, comments, or thoughts directly to Rob Hannam at rob@mbcrops.ca.

[The] announcement prevents a piling on of costs that would stretch our already slim margins into losses.”

Fox added that the provincial government’s decision not to target agricultural emissions for direct sector reductions via the carbon price or other elements of the plan is also important.

MBP will study the plan to see what other aspects might impact the industry,

such as the possible creation of a Centre for Sustainable Agriculture that could do research related to adaptation and resilience, as well as ways to reduce emissions from agricultural production.

MBP had called for investments in research in these areas as part of its Carbon Pricing Policy.

Fox said MBP will be active in consulting the government on the plan and lobby-

ing on behalf of members.

“The exemption for on-farm fuel is certainly a positive development. However, we recognize that the industry will still feel some impact from the plan,” Fox said.

“Our role, as the voice of the province’s beef industry, is to make sure that impact is as little as possible.

“We will also continue to identify to the provincial government the valu-

able ecological goods and services provided by beef producers in managing privately-owned and agricultural Crown lands, including helping to sequester carbon, preserving wetlands and providing valuable habitat for a wide variety of species,” added Fox. “We believe it is important that these ecosystem services are recognized.”

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Crop Rotation Still a Factor for Corn and Soybeans

By Les Kletke There was a time when crop rotations were critical to producing a crop on the prairies and while some things changed with the advent of commercial fertilizer, crop rotations are still important for crop yields.

Derek Brewin is the Head of the Department of Agribusiness and Ag Economics at the University of Manitoba and he is conducting research on new crop rotations as the Manitoba landscape changes to large soybean and corn acreage.

Brewin has an extensive background in agribusiness.

Before becoming an academic, he was a director of the Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council, a Corporate Advisor for the Canadian Wheat Board as well as a Policy Economist for Ag Canada.

He recently addressed the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors in Niverville with an update on his work on rotations including corn and soybeans.

He pointed out that a ‘cold

event’ such as the one that occurred in August this year can have a dramatic impact on crop yields like corn without causing frost damage. “We use heat units to measure the amount of heat we get in a specific area,” he said. “But we need to be aware that when we have a specific cold event, even though it does not freeze it may take a day or two for the plant to recover and begin the growing process again.

We lost the heat units of the days following the cold.”

He is doing work in Manitoba with corn-soybean rotations, which only a few years ago would have been thought to be reserved for the state of Iowa in the US. “We are looking at a 5 year average yield and are also considering the price when we consider if the rotation is profitable in Manitoba,” he said. His work shows that corn and soybeans were part of the top ten rotations for profitability within the last several years.

Brewin noted that advancements are being made quickly in new hybrids and equip-

Corn and soybeans are a part of the Manitoba landscape and Dr. Derek Brown is evaluating their place in crop rotations.

Photo by Les Kletke

ment and this makes the comparison of long-term yields and rotations less accurate. “We are seeing real changes in new hybrids,” he said. “And we are seeing new methods of fertilizer use that make for more efficient uptake by the plant.” Yields of crops and input costs even from 5 years ago have much less relevance today than they would have over the same 5-year period twenty years ago he concluded.

Good Winter Feed for Beef Cows Benefits Future Calf Performance

By Peter Vitti During the fall, I visited several different cowherds going into winter. One of the first herds that I saw this year was 300 Angus-Simmental cows grazing drought-stricken pasture.

I understood from the producer that his herd was nearly four months pregnant and the calves were going to be weaned about a month earlier than in the past. Consequently, I felt the cowherd lacked body condition, despite that most of its mature cows had big bellies (perfect for consuming lots of coarse prairie grass) and the surprising good shape of their calves; one or two, I would call plump. As I was about to leave, I talked to the producer and we agreed on many of my observations; leading to the consensus that he move his cowherd onto better quality pasture to improve their overall body condition. After a month or so, he would move them closer to home in order to maintain them on a well-balanced feeding program until the calving season.

It’s a good testimonial, since anyone can take such pro-action by maintaining their own cowherd’s body condition (fat cover)/essential energy status in order to help them survive a cold Canadian winter, have a successful calving season, nurse strong calves and show quick return to estrus and pregnancy. It also introduces the importance of properly feeding beef cows carrying early or mid-term fetuses, which until recently were largely unrecognized.

Coined as “fetal programming”, it theorizes that the lifetime performance of calves can be positively or negatively affected by the soundness of cow nutrition received during all gestation trimester stages (from conception to calving).

This concept further specifies that even though 75% of fetal growth occurs during the

last trimester, early and midterm nutrition of the gestating cow (and her fetus) are just as important, because this is where maximum growth and vascularisation of the placenta takes place, which regulates fetal growth. In addition, major fetal organs such as the liver, lungs, brain and kidneys become significantly developed compared to “fetal growth” of muscle and fat tissue, which occur in late-gestation.

Such conformation on this idea is limited, and its scientific trial results are mixed, yet makes logical sense.

For example, the University of Wyoming (2010) evaluated the growth performance and organ development of calves born to cows by which maternal nutrient intake was restricted for the first 83 days of early gestation. It was later resumed to 100% of NRC levels until calving. Data showed: birth- weaning- and finishing weights were not significantly affected, but slaughter organ weights of heart and lungs were reduced.

Months later, another U of W study (2010) showed that steers born to cows grazing low quality pastures (6% protein) for 60 days during midgestation had lower weaningweights and finished-carcass weights.

Such field trials are good reminders that beef producers should first take a visual assessment of each cow after weaning calves in autumn/ winter and assign a body condition score or BCS, which ranges from 1 = emaciated, 5 – 6 = optimum and 9 = obese. This score represents her level of body fat covering or energy status in which she can draw upon during periods of dietary energy deficiencies to maintain vital and productive functions. Mature cows should maintain or achieve a BCS of 5 - 6 from the beginning of winter until the day of calving. Replacement heifers should calve out at a little bet-

ter BCS of 6.0.

Furthermore, producers should never allow any cow to lose such optimum body condition, once winter outside temperatures fall and thus elevate her total energy requirements to keep warm. Of consequence, more University and extension environmental study on beef cattle has come up with a linear cold weather rule of thumb: for every 1 C drop in temperature below 0 C, the beef cows’ TDN energy maintenance requirements are increased by about 2%.

This calculation is an estimate and is based upon effective air temperatures.

Producers can also use windchill temperatures without adjustments, when cows have little shelter. This means that if there is an early morning wind-chill temperature of 25C, there is an increase of about 50% in the cows’ basic dietary energy needs.

Given these facts about the nutrient requirements of gestating cows and the effects of cold weather upon them, I often formulate overwintering diets for gestating beef cows on a very simple plane of nutrition.

For example, I recommend that the best candidates for feeding straw as an economical forage in over-winter diets are mature early to mid-gestation beef cows. Such pregnant cows have respective nutrient requirements of about 53 – 55% TDN dietary energy, 910% protein, 0.25% calcium, 0.20% phosphorus and a good compliment of essential trace minerals and vitamins.

Therefore, I would put together a respective TMR diet that consists of: 20 lbs cereal straw, 8 lbs barley, 1.5 lbs of a 32% beef protein supplement and a commercial 2:1 cattle mineral fed at 0.25 lbs per head. Total cost of my diet is about $ 1.50 – 1.75 per cow, daily. I would feed this strawbased diet until the last three months before calving. Then I would switch to higher quality forages such as mixed hay, possibly supplemented with more protein supplement and grain. At any time when cold weather becomes a dietary factor, I would increase the energy-enriching grain portion of the diet, substantially.

I find that many successful producers feed their cowherd in much the same manner for years. They match the beef cows’ overwinter nutrient requirements throughout gestation, which maintains optimum body condition and thus are rewarded with a newborn calf with high performance possibilities.

The AgriPost

Moving TPP Forward a Top Priority

By Harry Siemens George Matheson, Chair of Manitoba Pork called on Manitoba’s political leaders to demonstrate their support for a resurrected Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement.

As Chair, Matheson sent letters to Premier Brian Pallister and Manitoba’s 14 Members of Parliament urging them to actively pursue an 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement.

He said as the US moves to strike individual bilateral agreements with other countries, it becomes essential for Canada to keep pace in these markets. “The 11 countries are primary consumers and have purchased a lot of Canadian product.”

“Japan, being the primary market, purchase probably 50 percent of our high-value pork products, and there are growing markets such as Vietnam, Korea, and Mexico,” said Matheson. “Probably our first choice and the Canadian government’s first choice would be a multilateral as opposed to dealing with one country at a time. At the very least, we want to be on the same page as the US. If they have trading opportunities with countries such as Japan we want, at the very least, the very same trading relationships.”

Matheson said Canada is number three in the world in pork exports behind the US, the European Union and we should not let that slip. “That happened to us with relations with South Korea, and it’s not a good position to be in to play catch up, to try and integrate markets established by another country,” he said.

He said 90 per cent of the pork produced in Manitoba is exported. With or without the US as part of the deal, the Pacific Rim nations offer an excellent export opportunity and an important market to us.

When asked what are the potential obstacles for Canada in an 11 nation Trans-Pacific Partnership he said it George Matheson, Manitoba Pork Chair would most likely said Canada is number three in the world in be import sector pork exports behind the US, the European Union. based levies.

“Well, as always in a trading relationship, when without the US, and we know you want free trade, there are the Canadian Federal governimport levies on both sides ment is on top of it,” he said.

In addition, the Canadian that need reducing or eliminated. That will take careful Meat Council (CMC) apconsideration. There’s a lot of plauded the progress of the giving and take,” said Mathe- Canadian negotiators to reach son. “Hopefully at the end a new 11-nation TPP free trade of the day, we come up with agreement. Representatives of agreements that will benefit 11 of the 12 original Transall countries involved in this Pacific Partnership member multi-trade agreement. No one nations are working hard to wants to be at a disadvantage. salvage an agreement since No one wants to be in an over- the US withdrew in January.

Even though negotiators were ly favourable situation. Everything has to be equal, and seen unable to reach an agreement in principle recently when as free trade.”

The main priority for the they gathered in Vietnam for Canadian government is to the Asia-Pacific Economic ensure the trade deal is signed Cooperation summit, they did sooner than later. “Well, as make significant progress.

Marcus Mattinson, the Comsoon as possible. As I mentioned, we do not want to be munications Manager with left behind, especially with the CMC, said the Pacific our major export competitor, market is very significant for the US. Hopefully, we’re able Canada’s red meat industry. to get ahead or be accessing He said it is important to rethese trade agreements at the member that for Canada this is same time as the US. Exports, a significant opportunity in the again, are vital to us. We’re Pacific market. excited about this, with or

MacAulay Leads High-Profile Trade Mission to China As part of Canada’s efforts to double bilateral trade with China and grow global agrifood exports to $75 billion by 2025, Agriculture and AgriFood Minister, Lawrence MacAulay, led a trade mission recently across some of China’s most important economic hubs.

With a population of 1.4 billion people, and a growing appetite for high-quality Canadian food products, the Chinese market offers significant opportunities for Canadian agriculture producers and processors.

“China is a priority market for the Government of Canada, and by strengthening our continued trade relationship we’re helping to create jobs at home and bring prosperity to farmers and Canadian families,”

said MacAulay. “This trade mission will open the door to many opportunities between our two countries, which in turn, will help us reach our target to grow Canada’s agrifood exports to $75 billion by 2025.”

China is Canada’s secondmost valuable agri-food export market after the US. In 2016, the value of Canada’s total agriculture, agri-food, and seafood exports to China was $6.8 billion.

While in the cities of Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing, Minister MacAulay promoted the profile of Canadian agriculture, agri-food, and seafood products. He did this alongside over 80 industry groups, helping them strengthen business

ties and expand their reach on China’s growing e-commerce platforms.

Representatives from Manitoba also participated in the trade mission.

The Minister’s first stop, Shanghai, included several promotional activities and a visit to Food and Hospitality China, the largest food trade show in China, which attracts international food and beverage suppliers for the Chinese market.

While in China, Minister MacAulay also met with key government officials to advance trade issues and areas of cooperation, including on science based regulations. Meetings with representatives from key Chinese e-commerce platforms were also scheduled.

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Be Resourceful and Tell a Truthful Story

By Les Kletke

“Tell your story to anyone who will listen,” said Trish Jordan when asked about sharing the message of agriculture and informing consumers about the safety of today’s food. The directive is simple but the technique she advises on is a bit more involved.

She knows about delivering difficult messages, she has spent more than 20 years as the Corporate Affairs Director with Monsanto Canada and in that role has navigated through some difficult waters.

Jordan was one of the keynote speakers at the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors annual meeting held in Niverville speaking on “Advocating for Agriculture: Sharing your Story with any Audience”.

She said the consumer wants to know about food safety and is not necessarily concerned about hearing the production issues facing farmers. She also pointed out that consumer levels of information about the business of agriculture vary greatly.

Her advice to farmers on

Manitoba’s Agri-Food Sectors Positioned to Benefit Over the Long Term

By Les Kletke Greg Dandewich is the Senior VP of Economic Development Winnipeg Inc. and he believes Winnipeg is well situated to take advantage of its agricultural position in the future. Dandewich has spent more than a quarter of a century in economic development and knows well the importance that agriculture plays in the economy of the province and its capital city.

He told attendees at the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors that currently there is more agricultural development in Manitoba compared to anywhere else in Canada.

When questioned about WinPort and how it could benefit the future of agricultural products, his answer surprised some in the audience. He said that WinPort was indeed a long-term initiative and he suggested that it might be 65 years before the total impact is seen. He did not down play the impact of the short term but the more than 6-decade time frame to see the full impact was longer than many in the audience expected.

Greg Dandewich says Manitoba is in a good place to take advantage of expanding trade markets.

Photo by Les Kletke

He compared the long-term benefits of WinPort to another venture that was previously announced over the summer because it was in the planning stages for a number of years before the pea protein plant in Portage la Prairie was opened. “The process started in 2011,” he said.

He suggested it was a value proposition that would mean much more in the long term than the creation of the plant and the jobs it would bring.

“There are more products that will be developed and business that will develop around the core of the Roquette plant,” said Dandewich. “A plant like this brings a lot of spin off with it.”

He is hopeful that the recent bid by Winnipeg to become home for Amazon’s second distribution centre will pay dividends. “It is unlikely that we were going to get the Amazon facility,” he said.

“For one reason because we don’t have the labour force required, but Amazon has recently purchased Whole Foods and Winnipeg might be the ideal location for a distribution centre for a business like that.”

Dandewich said that some industries like the organic hemp industry operate with very strict standards and Winnipeg is in a good position to meet those criteria. He is comfortable that trade will continue to grow with the European Market with the signing of a new trade agreement.

“The European agreement is new, things will continue to grow,” he said. “NAFTA is 25 years old and we are familiar with it, although things could change.”

sharing their story was, “Be transparent, use real names, tell the story as it has happened.”

She also recommended, “Be truthful, know where to get answers. You don’t need to know the answer to every question but know where to find the answers and admit that you may not know all the answers.”

There are two rules she explained. “Be respectful and be inquisitive, ask where they got their information and what has formed the opinions they have of the business of agriculture.”

“Be resourceful,” she said.

“You may not be able to tell the story in the same way to every audience. Learn to use different examples that people can relate to.” She also said it is important to be passionate about the story that you are telling but also compassionate about the audience you are addressing.

Jordan does not make light of the role producers have in telling their story, but said they do have an advantage in that they are some of the most concerned people about environmental issues and that is what consum-

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Trish Jordan of Monsanto suggests that farmers should be telling their story to everyone, but they need to be aware of the audience and how they tell the story.

Photo by Les Kletke

ers are interested in. “Farmer are concerned about the environment and they have a good story to tell about the changes that have taken place in production practices,” she said. “They

can tell a good story.”

She said that her company has only farmers as clients and their concern is to get the best product they can to those clients.

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