AgriPost January 25 2019

The AgriPost

January 25, 2019

Hay Disaster Benefit Lamb Demand Up as Triggered Producers Diversify for 2018

Sheri Bieganski the acting Chairperson and southwest director for the Manitoba Sheep Association is a cattle and sheep producer operating Shereff Photo by Harry Siemens Stock Farms near Carberry, MB with her husband, Jeff.

By Harry Siemens The Manitoba Sheep Association (MSA) represents over 500 sheep and lamb commercial and purebred producers. The MSA’s mission is to initiate, support and conduct programs and activities designed

to stimulate and improve the well being of all segments of the sheep industry in Manitoba.

Last December during the Prairie Livestock Expo in Winnipeg, Sheri Bieganski the acting Chairperson and southwest

director was on hand promoting sheep farming within the province. Sheri Bieganski and her husband Jeff produce cattle and sheep on their farm Shereff Stock Farms near Carberry.

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Manitoba Agriculture advises that Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) is notifying producers the Hay Disaster Benefit has been triggered and associated payments will begin shortly.

The estimated payout for 2018 is $3.2 million on approximately 1,000 claims.

The Hay Disaster Benefit (HDB) is a complimentary feature of the AgriInsurance program that compensates insured forage producers for the increased cost of hay and transportation when there is a severe provincial forage shortfall. The HDB was first introduced in 2014 as part of a revamped forage insurance offering and 2018 marks the first year that it has been triggered.

Producers enrolled in Select Hay Insurance and Basic Hay Insurance are automatically enrolled in HDB. All insured hay types (alfalfa, alfalfa grass mixtures, grasses, sweet clover and coarse hay) are eligible.

To trigger a HDB payment, at least 20 per cent of producers with Select Hay or Basic Hay Insurance must harvest less than 50 per cent of their long-term average hay yield. For 2018, producers will receive an additional $40 for each tonne below their Select Hay or Basic Hay Insurance coverage.

There is no cost to producers for this benefit. Premiums are cost shared 60 per cent by the Government of Canada and 40 per cent by the Province of Manitoba.

For more information on forage insurance in Manitoba, please contact a MASC office or visit masc. mb.ca/masc.nsf/program_forages. The deadline to sign-up for 2019 forage insurance is April 1.

January 25, 2019

The AgriPost

St. Jean Farm Days Sets Record Attendance as it Gears Up for 35 Years

By Harry Siemens St. Jean Farm Days 2019 was held last week to record-setting exhibits, 61 and 175 farmers on Wednesday and 120 on Thursday is all ready preparing to celebrate 35 years in 2020.

St. Jean area farmer and Farm Days committee member Gilbert Sabourin and conference soundman said his involvement stems from dabbling in it back in 1985, 34 years ago. “I was fairly young at the time, going to university, so I didn’t quite help out the first couple years, but fairly active since then. I deal a lot with the floor plan and the exhibitors, sound system, organizing the speakers, and working with our cochairmen,” said Sabourin.

“The show has evolved over the years, the speaker used to be in the main hall with the exhibitors. There were chemical companies, and now we don’t have any chemical companies. Many changes including men and a women’s program, but in this day and age, it’s a program for all.”

Being the first ‘Farm Show’ of the season in Manitoba, Gilbert said the character of the event is the fact the hall and facility is not large.

What defines the event is the intimate social aspect of it all. “People come in, for their six bucks, they get breakfast, lunch, and see the displays, always an awesome lineup of speakers.

And we’ve been able to jig the floor plan, and with the little foyer addition we’re at 61 exhibitors this year, a record, and we also have nine on the waiting list.”

Sabourin’s crops missed most of the rains in 2018 making it the smallest crop on his farm in quite some time. “On our farm, we grow barley, wheat, oats, canola, soybeans, sunflowers and corn and that doesn’t change that much,” he said in an interview during the first day of the show. “We have swing acres, depending on pricing, availability, and delivery opportunities, too. We grow a diverse amount of crops, that way I guess I’ll never hit the home run on the one crop, but I’ll never be wrong on what could happen with pricing and crop production.”

Over the years Sabourin has hit a number triples to

St. Jean Farm Days 2019 set records with 61 exhibitors and attendance with 175 farmers on Wednesday and 120 on Thursday is now gearing up to celebrate 35 years in 2020.

Photo by Harry Siemens

follow up with the baseball terms, but not in 2018.

“This was my worst crop in 10 years. We missed all the rains. People were calling me Moses because every time a cloud would come over, it would part and go to the north and the south of my farm. Yes, we lacked rainfall last year and had no soil moisture reserves,” he said. “We do all our soil testing on our farm, and the top six inches there’s moisture, then below that, it’s bone dry yet. So we’re going to need moisture to get a crop this coming season.”

While lacking moisture and suffering a poor crop, other areas that received several inches more, maybe four to five inches in total, marvelled at wheat yields of 50 bushels to the acre, a real testament to what is happening with improved farm practices, seed genetics, and crop protection products. “Yeah, minimum tillage, better genetics, fertility, and fungicides all help to improve the crop. And like you say, four or five inches of rain made a big difference. My wheat did do 52 bushels an acre, but if you went four miles north, they had five inches more rain, and they were getting high 70s to low 80s in their wheat,” said Sabourin. “Location, location, location. I told my banker I’m nailing it this coming year.”

Paul Sabourin, a sitting Councillor in the RM of Montcalm as wells as farmer said there is a lot history

here. They call this the best little farm show in Manitoba. The vendors and the exhibitors are mostly the same from year to year and there is a waiting list of exhibitors. The longevity speaks for the annual success along with the record attendance in 2019.

Sabourin spoke about his cropping plans for 2019 and what he expects to grow.

“Everything. Because right now, we’re on a bit of a dry cycle, as it appears, so we’re trying to crop accordingly. We’re diversifying in about nine different crops, to tell you the truth,” he said. “Whichever in the end ends up being the most better yielding, and so forth.

We grow early seeded crops all the way to late seeded. I think most guys do the same now. We start combining in early August, all the way to freeze-up. Used to be we only combined in August, but now we combine for three months, because of the crops we select. When I say nine crops, I mean different varieties. We seed the same crop also. So, having said all that, I think most people have the same mindset around here. We’re very aggressive and not afraid to experiment.”

Sabourin said there’s a youthful mindset coming into the farming business right now, and as you can tell, there’s a lot of innovation, as you can see by all the exhibitors here. And I think it’s a fun time and exciting time to be in Ag.”

The AgriPost Lamb Demand Up as Producers Diversify

January 25, 2019

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Two guardian dogs come and go from pen to pen during the day and patrol a perimeter around the main yard at night. The ewes in the front are fed corn silage and hay ration and will lamb the end of March. The pen in the background is a group of replacement ewe lambs due to lamb in April.

Photos by Harry Siemens

Sheri is the fifth generation farmer on the property. While primarily cattle, they incorporated sheep into their farm six years ago starting small.

“We wanted to diversify a little bit, and it’s snowballed.

Today we’re at about 250 breeding ewes. The ewes are purebred Poll Dorset and a handful of purebred Suffolk, so it’s grown very quickly,” said Bieganski. When Sheri and Jeff started to diversify with sheep they began grazing some select areas including marshland and higher ground that was impossible to spray.

Sheri said the lamb market is growing in Canada and the choice was a good fit for their operation. “So it’s my husband and myself, and we have two young children, and it’s afforded me to stay home while I’m raising them and getting them into school,” she said. “With the sheep, I can take the children out with me and do some chores, where I can’t do that with the cattle. You know, small animal, big animal, and the sheep are a nice gateway animal for them because they’re just smaller and they don’t kick as a cow or run you over.

It’s just a good starting animal to get our children into livestock hopefully, down the road, and hopefully, one of ours will stay on the farm and take it over and be the sixth generation. That would be fantastic.”

Sheri the acting Chair of the

MSA with over 500 members shows her excitement at where the industry is heading. She has seen tremendous growth this last year with 127 new members through September. “And we’ve never seen that before; making us ecstatic. So many people that are seeing the potential in our industry and the growth, and we’re trying to help them out wherever and whenever we can, but it’s something that we’re working on and we’re always trying to progress and do new things.”

She said there are reasons for the renewed interest. The primary reason is that for many young people coming back to the farm they may not have the finances to purchase a large farm at first. Sheep are easier to get into than cattle involving less capital.

There is a growing demand for lamb as the population changes. “They want to eat a lot of lamb meat and some mutton, also the fibre part of it, we all know wool comes from sheep, and there’s a lot of that younger generation going back to handicrafts.

They want to know where their clothes come from, make their clothing and to know where their food comes from. They want to buy local. So it just all fits together, it’s just one big circle,” Bieganski said. “There are a lot of cuts and choices, so many different things you can do with lamb. There’s been this

Ewes due to lamb end of January enjoying the mild snowy weather.

mindset around lamb, and it’s partially come from the war years because they were fed mutton. They were fed the cheapest, definitely not the prime cuts.”

Jeff and Sheri’s flock is strictly a purebred registered flock, so they sell a lot of rams, ewes, ewe lambs for breeding stock. The animals that do not make the cut for breeding stock are sold as meat. “We have a few different buyers that we sell to depending on the time of year because we also lamb at different times throughout the year to try to hit those markets. We try to capitalize on the Christmas and Easter markets when the prices are higher,” she said “There are other ethnic holidays throughout the year where the prices fluctuate, so we try to take advantage of that by lambing different times throughout the year. There are lots of different ways you can come at raising sheep.

It’s not quite as, I don’t want to say stringent as beef, but

Jeff Bieganski operating Shereff Stock Farms near Carberry vaccinates their flock.

there’s a lot of options for people to look at.”

With increasing demand and growth potential for the sheep industry in Canada, Canadian producers are still only supplying 35 to 40 per cent of Canada’s domestic lamb market. “So many people come to us and say I want some local lamb. Where can I find it? I go to the store; I don’t want to buy frozen New Zealand lamb. I want domestic. Where can I find it?” she said.

Sheri Bieganski explains these are lambs getting their 50-day weight check for the GenOvis program which is the Record of Production program used for performance testing. The next weigh day is the 100-day weight which determines which sheep are kept for pedigreed breeding stock and which will go to market.

A group of 63 ewes that Sheri and Jeff Bieganski selected for artificial insemination due to lamb the end of March. They used four new rams, two of each from Australia and New Zealand. The New Zealand semen is from the Windermere Stud and is exclusive to their farm. The Australian semen is from the Gooramma Stud and used by a few breeders across Canada. The bright colours on the sheep are how ewes are marked and sorted into four breeding groups for the AI program. Before insemination sheep are synchronized with Controlled Intravaginal Drug Release and fed a high energy ration before and after insemination and all stayed in the same pen.

The AgriPost

January 25, 2019

Excitement Building for Canada’s Agriculture Day With less than a month to go before Canada’s Agriculture Day, Canadians are once again invited to celebrate the food they love.

Canada’s Agriculture Day will be held on February 12, marking the third annual celebration of the agriculture industry and all others who play a role in bringing food to our tables. “It’s our biggest celebration of the year.

Canada’s Agriculture Day showcases all the amazing things happening in agriculture and the entire food industry. The day is also about helping consumers see the connection between the food they eat and the people who produce it,” said Debbie Bailey, manager of Agriculture More Than Ever, one of the driving forces behind Canada’s Agriculture Day. “Consumers want to learn more about their food, and this day is a great way to get people talking in a fun and engaging way.”

Those conversations happen at the hundreds of events across the country inspired

by Canada’s Agriculture Day, as well as through social media.

“The agriculture and agrifood industry employs one in eight Canadians. From farmers and their suppliers to food processors and retailers, it is an incredible industry filled with smart, passionate and innovative people,” said Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. “With an economic impact of over $110 billion, Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector is a key part of our economy.

Charting its future success is something we all have a stake in. Canada’s Agriculture Day gives everyone the opportunity to celebrate the agriculture industry and encourages consumers to better understand where their food comes from.”

“Watch for events and activities happening in communities across Canada, including those sponsored by industry associations, businesses and individuals,” Bailey said.

“Everyone can be a part of Canada’s Ag Day by making a meal with their family using all Canadian ingredients or by snapping a farm or food photo and sharing it on social media.”

Canadians are encouraged to use #CdnAgDay and #foodie to join the celebration or give back to their community by volunteering at the local food bank or soup kitchen.

For more ideas on how to celebrate Canada’s Agriculture Day or for a list of community events, visit AgDay.ca.

What Surprises Are Next for the Ag Industry?

The business of agriculture comes with its share of challenges!

There are few people who want to make their living based on the weather and its unpredictability. Some say that is multi-nationals which have remained at arm’s length from production agriculture, preferring instead to leave that part of the business to individual farmers has helped individual producers.

Those of us that have been through a cycle or two of this industry will attest to the cycles but it seems that the beef industry gets more than its share of, “Where did that come from?” incidents.

I remember sharing a bench with an experienced cattleman a few years ago and he told me about BSE. I was aware that it took a serious toll on the industry. “Then there was the exchange rate,” he continued.

“When our dollar went up to par it was like I lost 35% of

the price suddenly. I was not getting that premium on cattle going south. It was gone and nobody saw it coming or could do anything about it.” He explained that it was a serious hit that just came along after BSE. I also remember an executive for Cadbury’s telling me how their chocolates quit selling with the advent of cell phones. “How could you see that coming?” he asked. “We were doing the right things and kids started to buy phone cards instead of candy bars.

We were blindsided.”

Then last week I sat through the beef outlook at Manitoba Beef and Forage Days travelling road show. Sandy Russell explained how she could not explain beef prices staying strong and the consumer demand continuing through 2018. Her hope was that it would continue.

The first question she faced after her presentation was about the new food guide and the last study out of the UK that suggested one hamburger a week was about all the earth could support and yes, we could eat steak but a 4 ounc-

er once a month to celebrate something would be about it.

Russell said that she did not cook with the Food Guide by her side and does not expect many others do either. She expected that it would not have an immediate impact. She went on to say that she hopes saner heads would prevail on the consumption recommendations. She did point out that Dr. Aitkens and his diet had been beneficial to the beef industry only a couple years ago, but now this was a bit of back sliding.

She was not as concerned about the dietary recommendations as the uncertainty of the actions of the resident of a certain White House in Washington DC. “I or anyone else does not know what he is going to tweet next, and that is the uncertainty,” she said. “What that could do to trade and the beef prices in our country is a complete unknown.”

I for one hope the beef industry can survive the uncertainty of his term of office, and no doubt he will be an interesting story someday, like BSE, or the exchange rate or phone cards.

Biosecurity, Biosecurity a Must to Keep Our Pigs Healthy With an outbreak of the PEDv on an Alberta hog farm on January 7, a report in an Australian farm website, BeefCentral.com, a free online news and market intelligence service dedicated to the Australian beef industry about the African Swine Fever paled the Alberta story.

The Banff Pork Seminar spent most of its sessions on how do we keep this dreaded disease from devastating the Canadian pig industry, and devastate it will, should officials detect this disease anywhere on Canadian soil.

Am I over reacting? Me, think not because there is no cure for it other than total eradication but mind you; it is not a threat to human health in no way shape or form.

I can’t imagine what producers who enter their pig

barns every morning do or feel if they spot a sick pig and for a minute don’t know what is causing the illness.

Sick animals and diseases are nothing new they’ve been around since the beginning of time. But since January 2014, the first PEDv outbreak in Canada producers in Manitoba and east hate to see any piglet sniffling knowing the hardship to clean up the dreaded mess. Then along comes ASF in China with a huge outbreak the scenario changes. PEDv the industry can eradicate, AFS not so easy.

Back to Australia, Beef Central reported how AFS sent a sharp wake-up call for all livestock industries because officials detected it in samples of pig meat smuggled into Australia through the post or by incoming travellers in their luggage, the

Department of Agriculture has confirmed. The samples detected at international airports and mail processing centres were destroyed and did not escape into the domestic Australian pig population, the department has also confirmed.

Even before this report, Dr. Egan Brockhoff, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with Prairie Swine Health Services encouraged Canadian Border Services to get more detector dogs and to provide more information to travellers about the risks of bringing meat into the country.

Early last year I reported how international livestock consultant and veterinarian Dr. John Carr who also lectures in Australia where he lives said Poland had ASF for 5 to 10 years or more - they kind of have it under control as its mainly in the wild

boars. “But unfortunately it had slowly spread westward and then ultimately into Germany - about 5-10 more years I think,” said Carr.

When the Japanese detected the ASF virus in luggage at Hokkaido airport, he said that’s great news for Japan but a wake-up call for the rest of us. “The Japanese had a heightened alert after their classical swine fever outbreak some time ago,” said Dr. Carr. “But we do need the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the CFIA to step up to the challenge and think about visitors from China more - even more dogs at the airport would help.”

Yep, Dr. Carr told me that a year ago. As I wrote this column in an office in Abbotsford, BC; I also wrote a piece on the relatively new dead stock composter from Novid Inc. in Rosenort, MB.

“The Novi-Comp is a key component in bio-security.

It’s a safe, eco-friendly method of dead stock disposal and it all happens on the farm, so there is no risk of cross-contamination from truck traffic,” said Shawn Compton Director of Business Development, Livestock Composting Division Novid Inc. “The Novi-Comp process kills most pathogens associated with livestock mortalities.”

And the good thing is the finished product can be reused or spread on the land, and it comes in various sizes, expandable to suit your needs. So don’t take your pork to the farms you work in, don’t smuggle pork from someplace where this disease is, and by all means, step up your biosecurity by any means that meet the strict guidelines set out by the powers that be.

The AgriPost

Around the Ag World Fallacies

One month into the new year, the 2019 headlines are already coming fast and furious. A few stories caught my eye.

After an extensive review of the scientific literature, Health Canada announced - once again - that glyphosate is safe. That means the popular herbicide’s registration will remain in place, for the time being at least. This is good news. Given the anti-Round Up activists’ determination, and victories in other arenas such as lawn care, however, don’t expect the pressure to go away anytime soon.

Have you ever wondered why groups like PETA and other antiGMO or anti-pesticide lobbies get so much traction? I recommend this book to explain it, Scott Adams’ Win Bigly, subtitled “Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter.” A great introduction into the art or science of persuasion, it explains a lot of the craziness we see on a day-to-day basis.

Adams spends a lot of time talking about Donald Trump, which is annoying, until you realize that he’s a great on-going example of what Adams is trying to explain.

If you don’t want to read the book, check out Adams’ twitter account and periscope.tv broadcast, where he talks about “persuasion” almost every day.

A new, peer-reviewed paper written by an agrobiologist, Dr. Albrecht Glatzle, is titled “Domestic Livestock and its Alleged Role in Climate Change.” He goes through some serious numbers and comes to this conclusion, “Methane emissions from livestock have no detectable effect on the climate. In layman’s terms, cow farts won’t be leading to the end of the world.”

The paper contains interesting facts. Researchers have not been able to find any significant differences in emissions coming from cow patties in a pasture versus an uninhabited pasture. “Between 1990 and 2005, the world cattle population rose by more than 100 million head,” Glatzle says. “Dur-

ing this time, atmospheric methane concentration stabilized completely. . . . When looking to the global distribution of average methane concentrations . . . and the geographical distribution of domestic animal density, respectively, no discernible relationship between both criteria was found.”

That’s all good news, till you remember that we live in a world where facts don’t particularly matter, see above.

On the economic front, Professor Steven Horwitz wrote an excellent article on what he sees as “Three Widely Believed Economic Fallacies.” A top three list of widely believed myths, if you will. First up is the “Fallacy of the Zero-Sum Game.” That’s the erroneous notion that market activities are a fixed pie, like a poker game with a specific pot, or a sports game, or any one of a number of analogies in which one person’s gain is seen as another’s loss. This notion may play itself out, for instance, in the belief that the rich get rich by making other people poor. Or that rich countries get that way at the expense of poor countries.

That does sometimes occur. But by and large, for wealth to be created these exchanges are mutually beneficial to both parties. If they aren’t, they just don’t happen for very long. “Markets for the most part are ‘positive-sum games’ in which it’s possible for everyone to walk away with more than they started,” Horwitz points out.

Next is “The Fallacy That Order Requires Design.” The error here is the idea that an economy needs either a strong-man or group to design and control it. A corollary of this argument is the issue of “complexity,” that while a simple economy could be left on its own, complicated advanced economies across the world need to be heavily monitored and regulated to work. This is completely backwards from the truth.

It is precisely because of the complexity and the fast-moving nature of economic activity that a

Penner’s Points

By Rolf Penner

hands-off approach works better. It leads to something called “spontaneous order.” No one person, group, or bureaucracy can ever have enough knowledge to make the right decisions for everyone, all or even most of the time. Free markets are way more proficient at passing on proper knowledge and incentives to those who need it.

Last is “The Fallacy that Consumption is Key to Growth.”

This misperception believes the source of economic growth is consumers just buying things.

It’s not. When you look at booms and busts during business cycles, expenditures on personal consumption vary the least out of all the factors involved. What varies the most is private sector investment. If anything, that’s what we need more of in an economic downturn.

But the main part of the fallacy is that consumption consumes things. When we consume food, we destroy its value by using it up. The same is true for that tractor we use every day; that’s why it’s worth less when we go to trade it in. Consuming destroys value. Production is what creates it. What we need to get out of a slump is more economically sustainable production.

Glyphosate, cow farts, persuasion, economic fallacies and that’s just scratching the surface! Let’s see what next month brings!

A Busy Winter for the Elm Creek 4-H Beef Club

By Harleigh Carlson It has been a busy winter so far for the Elm Creek 4-H Beef Club.

From November 22 to 24, the Club went to Agribition in Regina, Saskatchewan. In all seventeen members and 5 parent chaperones were able to travel together on a bus that the Club had rented.

While at Agribition, members had the opportunity to take in various shows and sales, toured the trade show and went to the Friday night rodeo.

Elm Creek 4-H also had Mr. Ken Essex conduct a public speaking workshop on November 28. Members learned how to deliver a speech, how to properly introduce yourself and other skills that can be used at school or on a job.

December 1 was the weigh day for about 24 steers registered with the local 4-H Club members. In addition Elm Creek held an annual Buyers Banquet on December 3 at the Elm Creek Community Hall. The Club is grateful for all the buyers and trophy sponsors that continue to support the event and the 4-H activities.

Winter celebrations continued on January 2, when the organization held its annual Christmas party with skating and games at the Elm Creek Hockey Rink.

January 25, 2019

Seed Synergy: The Back Story

By Cam Goff Over the last two months farmers have become aware of an ominous drive, coordinated by elements of Canada’s seed industry and financially aided by our Federal government, that is attempting to eliminate our right to freely save and reuse our own seed.

This story actually begins in 1990 when the Canadian government adopted the UPOV ‘78 model law for Plant Breeders Rights despite warnings that it could lead to private industry’s control over the foundation of all agriculture: seed and all other propagating material. (UPOV stands for the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants).

In 2015 Canada adopted UPOV ‘91. This updated convention prescribes far greater powers for allowing corporations to control and profit from the seeds that form the basis of our food system. It also transformed the right of farmers to save and reuse seeds into a privilege - one that could be removed or altered by regulation at the whim of government.

This led to an immediate and ongoing campaign by elements of Canada’s seed industry to push for regulations to allow them to seize control of our seed network and eliminate farmers’ historic cooperation and sovereignty over their use of seed. This campaign by corporate seed industry lobby groups has been titled “Seed Synergy” and is being supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) to the tune of nearly $500,000 in Growing Forward 2 money.

In the first stage of their campaign, the Seed Synergy group claimed they were simply trying to streamline the process by which varieties of grain were registered in Canada, eliminating duplication and making the process faster, easier, and less costly for them. Oh, and by the way, possibly replacing the basic public plant breeding system that Canada has successfully operated under for the past century.

Well, time moves on, and plans change. Now, two years later, their message is no longer about streamlining the varietal registration process - they now insist that our public plant breeding system is “broken” (their words) and must be replaced. It is no surprise that they recommend replacing it with a system that would allow the ownership, control, and domination of our seed supply by any company at any price they are able to charge. Any remaining public component paid for by taxpayers and farmers of course would be relegated to the heavy lifting and background science, which would then be turned over to the companies to charge farmers for the finished product.

And what will that cost us? It turns out that no one has done any real cost analysis, so in terms of dollars, no one knows. But Seed Synergy and AAFC both call this whole idea “Value Creation”, so somebody must be going to make some money off of this.

On examination of the self-serving justifications being offered by the sponsoring parties, it appears that no value will be created for either farmers or taxpayers, but that value certainly will be captured by the seed companies.

As for who that value is extracted from - it will inevitably come from farmers.

Fortunately, this story is far from over, and its ending has not yet been written. Farmers must now take all available opportunities, whether at farm shows, commodity group meetings or the AAFC consultation process, to ensure farmers’ right to save and use their own seed is upheld.

Cam Goff is National Farmers Union 1st Vice President (Policy). He farms with his brothers, growing malt barley, canola, durum, spring and winter wheat, oats, flax and peas on their 4,000 acre operation.

The AgriPost

January 25, 2019

Watch These Five Top Economic Trends in 2019 In keeping with Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC) commitment to providing timely and relevant economic insights to Canada’s agriculture industry, FCC Chief Agricultural Economist J.P. Gervais shared five key economic trends in agriculture to watch in 2019.

“Agriculture is an exciting and dynamic industry driven by passion and possibilities,” Gervais said. “While the following five trends are on FCC’s radar, there are many other trends helping to shape this year’s outlooks for various sectors within Canada’s agriculture and agri-food industry. We encourage those in the industry to follow the trends that are most helpful in protecting and improving their business’s bottom line.”

Net Cash Income Plateauing Price volatility, higher input costs and weather-related challenges in many parts of the country over the past year

took a toll on Canadian net cash income in 2018. Final calculations will likely show it decreased, and its forecast to plateau in 2019.

Overall, the long-term outlook for Canadian agriculture remains positive, since consumer demand for food at home and abroad is still robust and Canadian agriculture and agri-food sectors have shown resilience in the face of adversity, according to Gervais. “We are likely to see some fast-changing circumstances, including those that are both beneficial or potentially negative to Canadian agriculture,” Gervais said.

“However, I am confident that Canadian producers, manufacturers and agri-food operators can quickly adjust to this dynamic operating environment.”

Ripples in the Flow of Trade Canada already has some well-established trade agreements in key markets, including the Canada-European

Trade Agreement, The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the yet-tobe-ratified Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement, also referred to as the new North American Free Trade Agreement.

However, geopolitical tensions resulting in tariffs and other trade barriers will likely continue to disrupt traditional trade relationships and could possibly open new markets at the same time, according to Gervais. “While the markets generally don’t react well to trade uncertainty, it also opens the door to opportunities for new trade relationships,” he said. “Disruptions can pave the way for new trade flows, which could be positive. But global trade tensions also have the potential to slow growth in the world economy. They can upset the status quo, and potentially impact the demand for Canadian Ag com-

modities and food, and that’s never comfortable.”

Despite the volatility of the international trade environment, Canadian agriculture is well-positioned for export growth in 2019 and beyond, Gervais said.

Global Supply and Demand Fundamentals Shifting Different trends in agriculture are building world supplies of agricultural commodities, but large productivity gains bear special mention. Global production growth in recent years has helped replenish stocks and better equip the markets to absorb potential weather-related supply shocks.

With world demand for food still robust, higher production has been needed to meet the pace of increase.

This is having lasting repercussions on prices and revenues for Canadian farmers in a range of sectors, and this trend is expected to continue in 2019. “Producers who

want to see what’s coming should actively monitor global weather patterns, and production updates as the South American crop year wraps up,” Gervais said. “And keep an eye on China and the US. China’s large influence on global agricultural markets and the US supply of commodities will have important impacts on 2019 prices.”

Tighter Profit Margins Mean Taking Calculated Risks It is difficult to anticipate with much precision the domestic supply of various commodities in 2019.

With little chance of real growth in commodity prices this year and possibly higher farm input costs, Canadian farmers will need to properly evaluate the outlook for profitability along with the associated risks. Risk management will become an even more significant component of success. “Canadian producers need to find ways of reducing costs while increas-

ing productivity from their existing operations, whether that means increasing the yield per acre or getting more butterfat from a litre of milk,” Gervais said.

“Adding value to our agricultural products is another avenue to grow farm revenues, as consumers continue to look for healthy and convenient food products,” he said. “Investments in innovation and technology will go a long way in ensuring Canadian agriculture remains competitive.”

Welcome to the Golden Age of Protein “Canadian producers of both animal and plant-based protein stand to gain buyers both at home and abroad as markets around the world are embracing a wide variety of protein products,” Gervais said. “This trend will continue in 2019 and beyond, as plant and animal proteins serve different segments of the global market.”

2018 was tough on those involved in protein production, even as consumption continues to grow. “A lot happened last year to impact producers’ bottom lines,” Gervais said. “If there’s a silver lining to the cloud of uncertainty that hung over the sector last year, it’s that this coming year may be the start of something bigger and better.”

“Free Lunch then Learn” Tackles Farm Worker Recruitment and Orientation Seminar The Manitoba Farm Safety Program is asking farmers to join them on Monday, February 4 from noon to 4 pm at the Delta Hotel in Winnipeg to attend their free “Lunch then Learn” seminar focused on farm worker recruitment and orientation.

Keystone Agricultural Producers’ (KAP) HR consultant, Janice Goldsborough, and Farm Safety Consultant, Morag Marjerison will lead the afternoon providing farmers with the basic information including legal requirements and resources needed to find and retain workers on your farm.

Those who wish to attend must register at manitobafarmsafety.ca/trainingevents as there are a limited number of spaces.

The AgriPost

Women’s Networks in Manitoba Making Positive Changes for All

By Joan Airey Recently those attending the Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference heard a panel discussion on Women’s Networks on how a person can use technology to connect to these networks in a deeper and more meaningful way.

Three panelists, Pam Bailey, Laura Lazo and Arenda Vanderdeen explored how they are blending technology with traditional networks in order to build and foster meaningful relationships.

Pam Bailey spoke on behalf of Ag Women Manitoba.

She explained that growing up on a small mixed farm in northeastern Nova Scotia gave a strong connection to agriculture. “Since moving to Manitoba I have become more immersed in agriculture through hands-on work on my husband’s small grain farm in Dacotah, in my work at the University of Manitoba, School of Agriculture and the Farm and Food Discovery Centre and becoming more active in my community,” said Bailey. “Last year I became the first female to be on the board of directors for the Manitoba Canola Growers Association.”

Bailey is a professional algologist and co-founder of the Ag Women Manitoba organization which she chairs.

For more information go on line to agwomenmanitoba. com.

Laura Lazo spoke on behalf of Manitoba Women in Ag & Food. Her area of expertise is in human resources specializing in the agricultural in-

dustry. She runs her own company, Careers in Agriculture and Food and is the Chair of Manitoba Women in Agriculture & Food.

Arenda Vanderdeen represented the Manitoba Women’s Institute. Vanderdeen was born and raised on a dairy farm in the Nether- Pam Bailey speaks to an audience at Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference alongside Laura Lazo and Arenda Vanderdeen as discussion panel members with moderators lands. In her Karen Hilderbrand and Teresa Vallotton as part of the Women Networking in Manitoba home country event.

Photo by Joan Airey she received her teaching degree and taught munity,” said Vanderdeen. for flashing lights on school in Holland for five years. In “When we moved to Rapid busses along with hundreds 1989 Eddy and Arenda im- City area we were invited of small and bigger improvemigrated with their two tod- to numerous events from ments in our daily lives.

WI Canada is the federal dlers to Denmark to start church to curling, Ag Society their own dairy farm. They meetings and a Women’s In- umbrella organization and sold that farm in 2004 and stitute Pot Luck. I ended up they belong to the global bought a smaller grain farm. becoming involved with Riv- organization, the AssociArenda also worked fulltime ers Women’s Institute. The ated Country Women of the with children in a before and local branch in Rivers has World. In addition Manitoba after school program and had many women from different WI supports women’s proja foster child. “When our countries that were born in ects in the developing counfoster child left home, Eddy Europe and the British Isles tries.

“The first meeting I atbecame restless and found a and some born in Manitoba. new opportunity in Manitoba. It was nice not to be the only tended, the program was how to survive without power in In 2008 the Vanderdeens im- immigrant.”

The Manitoba Women’s winter which was very educamigrated to Rapid City, MB, with their youngest daughter. Institute was established a tional for me. As a WI memLater in 2015 they reunited hundred and eight years ago. ber I can use my experience with their youngest daughter The local branches bring and education in a different and her family when they resolutions to their annual way. I enjoy the networking meeting and if they are car- though and working with the joined them in Canada.

“When I was chair of a Ru- ried the resolutions will go to group to educate and make improvements in our comral Development Committee the government.

Vanderdeen explained that it munity,” said Vanderdeen. in Denmark they told us the For more information on first six months after moving is the Women’s Institute (WI) to a new place, it is important that made train cars more the Women’s Institute go to to get out and meet people and visible with the addition of mbwi.ca or on Facebook. learn about your new com- reflector stripes and pushing

Provincial and Federal Funds Available for Pasture Management

By Les Kletke A new agreement between the Federal and Provincial Departments of Agriculture will allow producers who want to upgrade their livestock watering systems to do so at a reduced cost. The Canadian Agricultural Partnership which was put in place last year commits $176 million over the next five years.

Tim Clark with Manitoba Agriculture outlined some of the programs that are eligible for funding to those attending Beef and Forage Day in Vita. “There is a component of the program that provides 50/50 cost sharing for someone who wants to relocate their livestock area to anoth-

er location,” said Clark.

He used the example of someone who started a livestock operation in their yard and now it has grown to the point they would prefer it at a greater distance. “Or someone who would like to move their livestock to another area where they could incorporate more cross fencing,” he said.

“We see the benefit of cross fencing and having more paddocks allowing for better utilization of the pasture.

These are the kind of things that are available under the new program.”

The program is not entirely new and is the result of Growing Forward and it’s follow up Growing Ahead 2.

This new program is called the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

Clark said there are several parts of the program that are well suited to improving pastures and increasing the management of livestock operations. “There is a component called Beneficial Management Practices that provides 50% funding for growing more grass.”

Farmers who suffered under the drought of 2018 have an opportunity to improve their water supply systems under the new program. “Producers whose wells went dry last year might see this as an opportunity to improve their water supply system and also

build a system that will keep cattle out of ponds and water ways,” said Clark. “There is funding available for fencing.”

One of the requirements of the program is that producers must have a valid environmental farm plan in place. “The plans last for 5 years so it might be time to renew your plan,” said Clark.

“There are a number of workshops across the province to help with that and if you have a plan from 5 years ago you might be able to just update the plan to current specifications,” he noted with a chuckle since it is a process he will be going through on his own farm soon.

January 25, 2019

Drought Proofing Your Feed Supply

Dr. Bruce Anderson of the University of Nebraska advocates using legume forages as part of a beef grazing program that reduces drought impact for increased productivity.

Photo by Les Kletke

By Les Kletke Dr. Bruce Anderson cannot make it rain although he does have a few practical strategies for beef producers to lessen the impact of drought on their feed supply.

Anderson is from the University of Nebraska and was a keynote speaker at a series of beef producer meetings held around the province in late January.

His suggestion is to include a legume in the pasture mix to reduce drought impact. “Our research shows that calves that come off a pasture with a legume are 50 lbs heavier, even at 50 cents a lb that gives you an extra 25 dollars an acre,” said Anderson.

Building on his legume analysis he pointed out the cost saving on fertilizer. “When you add the savings on Nitrogen fertilizer that you did not buy at 60 cents a lb you have an additional $30 an acre and that gives you a benefit of $55 an acre by using legumes in your pasture mix.”

He said the addition of legumes to a pasture is not without challenges but with proper management these challenges can be addressed. “The first is weed control, because legumes are susceptible to most products you will use to control broadleaf weeds. That means that you have to choose a field that has low weed pressure to incorporate your legumes into,” he said. He noted that there may be some additional costs for phosphorus fertilizer with legumes. “You may need to do some top dressing to establish the legumes.”

Anderson said the issue of bloat is more of a concern than a reality and suggested some practices that would increase the impact on animals. “The fear of it is greater than the actual impact; but take some steps to make sure, don’t put the animals out on it when there is moisture on the leaves, and not when they are extremely hungry and devour a great amount. Those things will help,” he said.

He went on to say that he uses pastures that are 30% alfalfa and over the last 25 years has lost one animal to what could have been bloat and even if it was the return has far outweighed the loss of a single animal.

He suggested that if you are trying to establish a legume you should pay attention to three main areas. “You need to fertilize for a legume, you need to seed into soil and you need to control the weed competition,” he said. “That will help you get the legume established in your pasture and be a benefit to your feeding program.”

January 25, 2019

Making Herd Decisions for 2021

Linda Fox of Manitoba Agriculture said breeding choices made today will impact your herd in 2021.

Photo by Les Kletke

By Les Kletke Linda Fox is with Manitoba Agriculture and in one of her final appearances as a beef specialist told producers that they need to be making choices that will impact their herd and bottom line in 2021.

Fox is not leaving Manitoba Agriculture, she is scheduled to become the provinces Sheep Specialist soon and her final hurrah in the Beef Department was as one of the key note speakers at Beef and Forage Days which were held at 5 locations throughout the province in the third week of January.

She told producers that choices they are making in their breeding program now will impact their herd in 2021.

“If you are keeping replacement heifers from your herd, the breeding program now is going to decide what those heifers are like,” she said. “I am asking you to consider if you are making the right choices. Too often we have one breeding program that considers the birth weight of calves that may not be the right choice for your heifer program.”

Fox went on to outline the new tools that producers have and how producers can use them to make choices on what their herd will look like. “Your grandfather or father did not have the tools that are available to you,” she said. “Are you using them to make the right decisions?”

She outlined changes that are coming to the EPDA that will allow producers to compare animals from different breeds. “The EPDA has been around for 40 years but never had the information to compare animals from different breeds. That is changing now,” she said. “And you can use that information to design a breeding program that will build the herd you want.”

Fox, herself a Hereford breeder, said that producers should be considering the traits they want to increase in their herd by considering which are quantitative and which are qualitative.

She went on to show an example using a bull that produced calves on average 50 lbs more than another bull.

“You can look at those calves and not see a difference but when you sell them and get paid for the weights a hundred calves that are 50 lbs heavier is a lot of money,” said Fox. She said that cows which do not become pregnant in the first breeding cycle should be sold. “The cow that gives you a late calf, is going to give you a late calf next year as well and over the course of her life that adds up to a lot of pounds of beef,” she said. “You can say the calf will catch up and it might gain some weight later on but it is always going to be lighter and the cow will give you a late calf again. She has no place in our herd.”

The AgriPost

Largest Finisher Barn in Canada Opens with Three Separate Kitchens

By Harry Siemens

Plainview Hutterite Colony near Elkhorn, Manitoba held their grand opening of its new finisher barn last month, the largest hog finisher barn in Canada. With over 120,000 square feet, the barn is made almost entirely of concrete, stainless steel and plastic. It has 18 large finisher rooms, plus numerous isolation, sorting, storage rooms and other spaces dedicated to specific use.

It can hold up to 15,000 pigs at one time, uses the latest in technology, including auto feeders capable of handling multiple feed types, a primary heated water system, overhead sprinkler, washers/misters, LED lighting, and auto scrapers in all the under-barn pits.

The Hog Boss for the Plainview Colony is Peter David Waldner. According to Waldner the colony has around 24 families, 110 people including men, women, and children. “In farming, we’ve had an 8,000 chicken layer quota, farm 10,000 acres, with most of our land in Saskatchewan, which is one mile from us to the west, and we have an older existing barn which is in excellent shape, it’’ a 500 sow-farrow to finish, built I think in the early ‘80s, late ‘70s, and it’s still in production,” said Waldner. “In 2007, we built a 1,300 sow barn with a nursery, finishing the pigs off-site and selling some pigs into the US for two years. In 2010 we started renting barns, and as of today we have 10,000 pigs away from home that we own in eight different rented barns in Manitoba.”

In early 2017, the colony decided to build a finisher barn, received the permit in May 2017 and construction started June/July by first having outside contractors

The gilt room where Pineview Colony raises their in-house gilts.

Plainview Hutterite Colony near Elkhorn, Manitoba in the RM of Wallace-Woodnorth held their grand opening of its new finisher barn last month, the largest hog finisher barn in Canada. The grand opening was held over two days said Hog Boss Peter David Waldner. The first day was to show their appreciation to the neighbours and community and the second for industry representatives. Here Waldner poses with Andrew Dickson, General Manager of the Manitoba Pork Council, George Matheson, Chair of Manitoba Pork, and a hog producer from Beausejour.

build the shell and the rest of the workers from the colony moved in March and April of 2018 to complete construction.

The new barn has 18 auto sort rooms which will hold 700 pigs per room. There is another room that holds 600 pigs with pens to treat the pigs when needed and a 500 head loadout that has two rooms holding 180 gilts.

“Well once this barn is in full production we’ll have 1,800 sows-farrow to finish,” said Waldner. “And I think if everything goes well and the blessings come our way we have the opportunity to market 48,000 to 50,000 pigs a year.”

Technology is vital to the Plainview Colony hog operation as Waldner points out the feeding system is second to none with four loops per side of the barn and each 50pound pig that enters the facility has access to four different feeding rations until the pig is ready for market.

“The scale does not only sort the pigs, but the pigs have to go through the three-way

scale, and at any given time we’ll have the opportunity to feed three different feed rations in every room,” said Waldner. “For example take one room; we can feed the lightest 20 per cent of the pigs a higher protein energy diet. Where the biggest 20 per cent was growing so fast, they don’t need that rich feed. And then the mediums they take the regular feed.”

He said with those four rations and three feed kitchens in every room as the pigs go through the scale it directs them into the kitchen according to its weight. “At shipping time, you close off those blue gates in the autosort pens, and that’s where those pigs remain. As their weight increases, they move them down into the fencedin area in the loadout area,” he said.

Waldner said their current sow barns, still in good condition use stalls to house their sows and the colony has no immediate plans to change them over to group housing.

“I mean we’re going to wait it out. We think we’re still

The new loadout room that holds 500 head.

doing the very best for these pigs. Like I have no problem taking people through our barn because I have my sows in gestation stalls which are fairly big,” he said. “They’re a bit over seven feet long and 24 inches wide. It’s not that they’re cramped in there.

It’s an eight-year-old barn making it difficult to rip everything out and replace it because our production is second to none.”

Waldner said the colony obtained a partial permit for the barn and lagoon use back in ‘08 and built lagoon storage in ’09 and were ready to finish the project however, several factors put the rest of the project on hold. One factor was a downturn in the hog industry.

Getting the permit was quite simply a couple of meetings with the rural municipality, no pushback from the neighbours making it quite easy.

“If somebody comes up to us and tells them something negative on our farm, we listen, and we try to adjust, and I think that went a long way,” he said.

Photos by Harry Siemens

The AgriPost

January 25, 2019

The Prairie Livestock Expo a Huge Success

Prairie Livestock Expo exhibits and equipment.

Prairie Livestock Expo exhibits and equipment.

By Harry Siemens The Prairie Livestock Expo (PLE) in its third year is Canada’s newest agricultural show becoming a one-stop shopping event, showcasing the latest technology and information for all livestock production needs. Here farmers can learn about the most recent developments in animal handling, feed additives, housing systems, feeding equipment, odour control, composting and manure application.

Andrew Dickson, the General Manager of the Manitoba Pork Council and chair of the organizing committee of the PLE explained how the

current venue evolved from the first one. “We used to be Hog Days, then Hog and Poultry Days down at the Convention Center in downtown Winnipeg, and then we moved up to here. And some years ago we realized that the same companies that are talking to the hog and poultry people are also talking to the beef guys, the sheep guys, the dairy guys and so on,” said Dickson. “We decided to expand the format and call it Prairie Livestock Expo, so that the same companies it saved them some staff time and reached a wider audience concerning essentially the same products and services

Photos by Harry SIemens

they offer to other people. So, the intent here was to sort of widen it out. Building up this show will take time. There are other big shows more specialized and time will tell how this evolves.”

The Winnipeg venue alternates with the Keystone Centre in Brandon. Each location hosts the event every second year. With over 160 exhibits and 700,800 people, it may not be huge in attendance compared to similar shows but the people walking in are making significant investment decisions. “There’s a lot of significant investment capital walking around the room, maybe the salespeople and the

Questions are answered and ideas are exchanged at the Prairie Livestock Expo held in Winnipeg annually.

companies have met many of these people before, but it’s a bit of a social occasion too and people get together, and they can see everything in one place,” he said.

Dickson thought for a moment about how it has changed from the first show in 1996 when producers had to go home to do chores and look after the livestock.

“With automated equipment these days, it’s amazing how that chore thing has changed.

Much of those chores are quite sophisticated,” he said.

“People use their cell phones to look at records, checking on their barns, and automatic feeding systems look after

Questions are answered and ideas are exchanged at the Prairie Livestock Expo held in Winnipeg annually.

the nutritional breaks for the animals, but there’s still all the animal care that has to go in.”

It frees up the producers’ time to look at their methods and plans to take care of their animals, to pick out the ones that are not doing so well, treat them and turn them into productive animals.

A livestock expo such as the PLE is an indicator how each Ag industry is doing and with the capital ‘walking around’ the exhibition some positive outcomes are apparent. “We see in hogs, as in some of the other species, a rebuilding going on, so people’s facilities are getting older and need replacing.

Say a producer owns a 500 to 600 sow, farrow-to-finish operation. Now they’re looking either at becoming larger and specializing, or they’re going to maybe even double in size,” said Dickson. “We see an expansion in dairy, poultry and sheep in this province. I think Manitoba is in a unique position, with half our farm income, from livestock, and

there are huge opportunities in the world market for meat products. Contrary to some of the stuff you might’ve heard, that we’re all moving to become vegetarian, our sales are up, so obviously someone’s eating it.”

“Pork export markets continue to increase. For example, China 10 years ago, we might have sold them $7 or $8 million worth, last year $123 million worth of stuff from Manitoba,” noted Dickson. “Japan is steady and profitable with previous year sales over $460 million or something, and that’s just from Manitoba with 90 per cent of pork production exported.”

The US is still a significant market, exporting about $260 million worth of pork products and the US is the major exporter in the world.

“So, when you think about that, here we are selling highvalue product into a very sophisticated market that has huge production, and we still sell them 2 1/2 million weanlings,” he said.

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4-H Honours First Recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award

4-H Canada recently honoured Elaine Froese as its first 4-H Canada Distinguished Alumni Award recipient at the 2019 Leadership Awards

Submitted Photo

4-H Canada recently honoured Elaine Froese as its first 4-H Canada Distinguished Alumni Award recipient at the 2019 Leadership Awards in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

The award recognizes outstanding accomplishments and leadership of 4-H alumni across Canada in the areas of Community Engagement & Communications, Science & Technology, Environment & Healthy Living or Sustainable Agriculture & Food Security. As the 2019 award recipient, Froese was recognized for her accomplishments in Community Engagement & Communications.

This prestigious new award is given to a former 4-H member that has taken the values instilled in them through the 4-H program and carried them through their everyday lives as a responsible, caring and contributing leader in their com-

munities. Froese exemplifies the 4-H Pledge, committing her head to clearer thinking, heart to greater loyalty, hands to larger service, and health to better living.

Froese began her 4-H journey at the age of nine, when she was a member of the Dugald 4-H Club in Manitoba. She credits the lessons and skills she attained in 4-H for her career success.

She is best known for her work as a farm business coach, where she has supported thousands of farm families through transition. In 2018 Froese received the Wilson Loree Award for the Development of Excellence in Farm Business Management and she is also a certified professional speaker and the author of four books.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for 4-H,” said Froese. “4-H taught me public speaking and how to think on

my feet among many other skills critical to running my business. I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to be in 4-H and humbled to receive this award. I think it’s more important than ever today that youth have opportunities to lead in our communities.

4-H provides those opportunities.”

“Elaine Froese is a shining example of the positive impact a 4-H experience has on young Canadians,” said David Hovell, Chair of the 4-H Canada Board of Directors. “Through every aspect of her life and career, Elaine has not only lived up to the 4-H values but also believes in them with all her heart. We are delighted and proud to bestow Elaine Froese with the first Distinguished Alumni Award and work with her to promote the 4-H program to a new generation.”

To learn more about the 4-H Canada Distinguished Alumni Award visit 4-hcanada.ca/distinguished-alumni.

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Federal Government Looks at Next Steps for the Landmark CPTPP Agreement On December 30, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) entered into force among the first six countries to ratify the agreement between Canada, Australia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore.

The agreement will provide Canada with preferential access to key markets in Asia and Latin America.

Jim Carr, Minister of International Trade Diversification, attended the inaugural meeting of the CPTPP Commission in Tokyo, Japan, on January 19. The commission, comprised of the 11 CPTPP signatory countries, will now identify the next steps and ways that businesses can reap the benefits of this landmark agreement.

During his visit, Carr attended an event hosted by Shinzo Abe, Japan’s Prime Minister, bringing together business and labour union leaders to mark the CPTPP’s entry into force. He also met with industry representatives on January 20 to discuss market access for Canadian products, such as beef and other key exports, to Japan.

With a GDP of $6.5 trillion in 2016, Japan is the world’s third-largest economy, Canada’s largest source of bilateral foreign direct investment in Asia and our fourth-largest trading partner.

Canada was one of the first six countries to ratify the CPTPP, allowing Canadian exporters to immediately take advantage of tariff reductions. This ambitious agreement will allow Canadian companies to better compete in Japan and other fast-growing Asian markets.

The most recent country to ratify came on January 14, when the CPTPP entered into force for Vietnam as well.

“The CPTPP is a historic free trade agreement that provides significant market access gains for Canadian exporters. By eliminating tariffs, we are helping Canadian companies gain a competitive advantage in the thriving Asia-Pacific region,” said Carr. “I look forward to working with CPTPP Commission partners to advance Canada’s interests and promote the mutual benefits of the agreement to all our citizens.”

The CPTPP is a free trade agreement between Canada and 10 other countries that includes Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Once fully implemented, the 11 countries will form a trading bloc representing 495 million consumers and 13.5% of global GDP. CPTPP will enter into force for the remaining signatories 60 days after they ratify the Agreement.

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The AgriPost

January 25, 2019

Can this Last? Instant Communication, Trump and BBQs Add Permanent Volatility to Markets

By Les Kletke Sandy Russell is not sure how long current beef prices will last, but she does hope that they continue. Russell herself is a beef producer in Saskatchewan along with operating Spring Creek Consulting. She delivered the market outlook for a series of 5 meetings that moved across the province as Manitoba Beef and Forage Days.

Looking back at 2018 she said things turned out better than expected in the beef market.

“We saw the demand hold for beef, and consumers kept pace with that steak-on-my-plate demand and it was much more that most analysts expected,” says Russell. While she did provide a look back at the previous year and a projection of the year ahead, she was clear about one thing. “I am here to provide a market outlook and I hope that you use some of this information in developing your market plan, or else this is just an hour of entertainment but you can make more money on your farm through the production decisions you make than by trying to gain a few cents a pound on your marketing.”

She says that while marketing is important, “Lives calves on the ground and the efficiency of how you use your feed in a drought is what really matters.”

“Strong demand is what will keep prices strong,” says Russell. “So far we are seeing that for 2019 but we don’t know how long it will last. We have to keep hoping that beef marketing continues to export markets. The export of US beef is good for our market.”

She is a strong advocate of beef moving across the Canada/ US border and says that things have improved since the US border was closed to Canadian beef. “We thought we would see an increase in slaughter capacity in our country and only box beef leaving Canada but that did not happen and we have all but forgotten about those times.”

She did say there was a wild card in the beef market, and said it was not restricted to beef.

“I have no idea what President Trump is going to tweet next and the impact it could have on trade,” says Russell. “That is the great uncertainty in this market.”

She says that over the years she has been in the business she has seen volatility increase and she now counts on it being a constant in the market.

“Cell phones and information have changed our business,” she says. “The market loves information and it is available to everyone, and they can over react to it. It used to be you would have to go out and feed some cows and market your cattle into a weekly market. Now that can happen immediately and it has brought volatility that is here to stay.”

She says she is hoping for good weather on the eastern seaboard for the weekend because that sets the tone for the barbecuing market for much of the summer, “and we need the consumer to keep grilling that very best cut of steak.”

These Crop Acres Have the Largest Financial Impact

By Les Kletke Forage crops account for 70 million acres in Canada and grassland is the largest land use crop in the country accounting for 1/3 of the total crop acres. Grassland covers 525 million acres in Manitoba alone.

John McGregor makes the point that not only is grasslands the biggest crop by acreage; this crop has the biggest financial impact as well.

McGregor has worked for 34 years with Manitoba Agriculture and now has extended his role into the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association.

He said that grassland and forages are not only used for grazing the make a significant contribution

to healthy soils when used in a rotation. His presentation to Beef and Forage Days included a look at a study done on the Assiniboine River Basin that models drought and flooding and the impact that grassing has done for some areas by reducing extreme weather damage. “The work was done in the western part of the province,” he said. “But the lessons are the same. We say that with grassland and proper management we can do a lot to reduce the impact of these events.”

While land management has increased on grasslands McGregor is an advocate of taking this management even further. “Not all forages are the same and not all producers need the same quality of feed,” he said. “We need to be aware of that and consider

the areas where the crop is being produced and what it is capable of.” He said that dairy and sheep producers typically have a demand for high quality feed but there are markets for lower quality feed in the beef industry.

This does not mean setting out to produce low quality feed just that when it does happen there is still a market for lower quality of feed.

He has long been an advocate of the provinces Green Gold program which provides producers with a relative feed value of standing hay. The program provides the information to local media outlets from the beginning of May through the middle of June. “It allows producers to optimize the first cut of hay,” he said.

“There is always a concern

about quality versus quantity and this program allows producers to make decisions that are right for them and the kind of hay they need in their operation.”

He encouraged producers to visit the Manitoba Forage and Grassland farm at Brookdale to see the practical work that is going on and use the information in their operations. Brookdale’s 640acre section of land north of Brandon is owned by Ducks Unlimited Canada who has provided the land to Manitoba Beef and Forage Institute (MBFI) as part of their contribution to research projects.

Approximately 240 acres are wetlands, and the remaining 400 acres are used by MBFI for applied and academic research into pasture, hay and cropland.

New Grain and Pulse Farm-to-Fork Initiative Launched in January

By Elmer Heinrichs A new collaborative farm-to fork initiative was launched this January. The initiative offers a tantalizing mix of farmgrown ingredients to your pantry and table.

Similar to a vegetable community supported agriculture (CSA) box, but without the vegetables, consumers will be able to purchase a unique winter grains and pulses share to last through the winter. It includes organic Mani-

toba-grown products, such as quinoa, oats, flax, hemp, ancient grain flour varieties of emmer and spelt, dried lentils and black beans.

The list of participating farms and products is small and varied. Across the province farmers are growing all manner of specialty grains and pulses.

Even while many consumers resolve to curb their sweet indulgences in favour of cold weather comfort food and even though specialty grains and pulses are grown

right here in Manitoba, local consumers are typically limited to purchasing imported products.

Amy Nikkel is part of a local movement of organic growers who are stepping up to the plate to bring change, as well as healthy, locally grown and produced food to the local marketplace.

Nikkel, together with her husband Donald owns Adagio Acres, an 80-acre farm in the Interlake region.

They want to take down or at least circumvent the barri-

ers imposed on small-scale agriculture. Nikkel said she feels motivated to go against the grain and has reached out to a closely knit network of growers who are committed to experimenting with an exciting range of new crops, regardless of traditional market hurdles. “Everyone we’ve talked to wants to grow some type of pulse crop, peas, beans or lentils that can add nitrogen back to the soil,” said Nikkel. “And, legumes are excellent plantbased sources of protein.”

Interest in Peas Could Set a Record for Crop Acres in Manitoba

By Elmer Heinrichs

Sandy Russell says President Trump is the wild card in the beef industry’s future and what he could do to trade agreements.

Photo by Les Kletke

Manitoba pulse crop specialist Dennis Lange while addressing Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon recently brought Manitoba growers upto-date on the potential for growing peas in Manitoba.

He said field peas have been making a comeback in Manitoba, with 80,000 acres yielding about 49 bushels an acre last year. In 1977,

65,000 acres yielded roughly 53 bushels an acre.

Lange said with the recent sod-turning for Roquette’s pea processing facility at Portage la Prairie interest in peas has been building and growers would like to have more information on rotations, disease issues and potential profitability to help make informed cropping decisions. Roquette is planning to extract protein from peas and produce products for the North

American marketplace.

Lange also spoke about the recent improvements in varieties, weed control and most recently new options for the marketing of peas.

He noted that peas are a cool-season plant for welldrained soil which can be seeded early. For the crop this means that harvesting can occur before most other crops are ready. They need some fertilizer and inoculation however peas fit well into crop rotations,

alternated with other crops every three or four years.

With interest up, Lange sees farmers growing up to 100,000 acres of peas by 2019. Recently the market price for peas has ranged around the $7.50 bushel mark. At the same time, he sees Manitoba soybean acreage dropping about 400,000 acres to perhaps 1.5 million acres, with dry bean acreage, moving up a bit, to around 130,000 acres.

The AgriPost

January 25, 2019

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The Rewards of Supplying Good Nutrition to Beef Cows after Calving

By Peter Vitti Most people have done a good job in feeding their gestating beef cows this winter in order to maintain good body condition by calving. Yet, once the last calf is born, such hard work doesn’t stop. Rather, good nutrition should continue for months afterwards, so fresh cows can produce lots of milk for their growing calves and themselves return to active reproduction.

Such is the case of a beef operation of a 350-cow/calf operation that I visited just before Christmas. I asked the beef producer and his wife, how they managed their cows, once they finished calving in mid-March. I found out that their feed and management program was a combination of common sense and economy.

They told me that once pastyear calves were weaned in November, that their entire gestating cowherd is moved onto on a section of unharvested cornfields (that were first affected by last year’s drought and then couldn’t be harvested due to a wet fall)

and overwintered. Every few days, they dump out 20% protein lick-tubs amongst them with access to loose-mineral, salt and water in an opened dry lot near their house. Furthermore, cattle have access to a few acres of brush to escape frigid weather and winter storms.

Once the cows calve, they will still remain on this cornfield pasture and then supplemented with higher protein alfalfa-grass bales along with the cattle lick-tubs as the main energy and protein source; to maintain a body condition of 5 - 6 (1 = emaciated, 9 = obese) until the breeding season. At the same time, the cows might be fed a kilo and a half of homemade grain ration (made up of 0.5 kilo of a 32% beef protein supplement and 1 - 1.5 kilos of barley); if the winter continues well into March or the nutritional support of the pasture wanes to the point, where postcalving requirements are difficult to meet.

Although, I believe this operation’s feeding program is somewhat unique to their own situation their cowherds’ post-calving dietary requirements are identical to most other farms. That’s because most calved-out beef cows require about 60 - 62% TDN (total digestible nutrients) and about 11 - 12% crude protein in their diet by the time they are milking at their highest levels.

First-calf heifers’ dietary requirements are very similar to mature cows, because they need the extra nutrients for growth. It is also important to keep in mind that all cows, regardless of age that calve out in late winter, often need 20 - 40% more dietary energy

just to keep warm and maintain good body condition, which supersedes all milk production and reproduction requirements.

Essential cattle minerals (and A, D and E vitamins) should also be provided in post-calving cow diets, such as calcium, phosphorus and other essential macro-minerals. They largely compliment whatever mineral levels that are found in forages fed after calving. In a similar fashion, trace mineral requirements of these beef cows nearly doubles, since the start of the winter season, and respective bio-available sources of copper, zinc, manganese, iodine, cobalt, and selenium must be fed.

As part of assuring that nursing cows are getting enough of these above essential nutrients, I often recommend that beef producers take a midwinter stored-feed inventory.

For example, I also know of a 200-beef cow producer, who has about 500 x 1300 lbs of fair quality alfalfa/grass bales, especially saved for feeding his cows in the latter months of the winter. Therefore, he has about 80 days feeding inventory (accounted for 15% wastage); ((500 bales x 1300 lbs) x 85%)/200 beef cows x 35 lbs (‘as fed” feed intake)).

Let’s also envision if this person relies solely on this forage inventory at some point near calving; where he feeds these precious bales

about 30 days prior to the start of the first calving cow or heifer. This should mean that he would only have enough harvested forage to feed all his cowherd for about 1 1/2 months after calving begins.

As a result, one might predict that his forage inventory could be tight until spring pastures sprout and cows are allowed to graze new grass.

Such vision of having enough good quality feed in a well-balanced post-calving beef cow feeding program is important. After a successful calving season, it helps cows raise good growing calves as well as rewards them after a successful breeding season with next year’s income.

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January 25, 2019

The AgriPost

The AgriPost

Now is the Time to Lock in Pricing for a Quarter of Your Hog Production

By Harry Siemens The global demand for pork and repercussions from African Swine Fever (ASF) will influence hog markets in 2019.

Tyler Fulton, the Director of Risk Management with h@ ms Marketing Services advised pork producers to take advantage of profitable futures prices by forward contracting a limited portion of their production.

Fulton said despite consistently record high fourth quarter slaughter numbers, the slaughter was probably not quite as high as initially expected with prices staying firm. “We saw record hog slaughter in the US in the fourth quarter of 2018. The week previous to Christmas, we saw the largest ever weekly slaughter that exceeded 2.7 million hogs. That’s a huge one-week production,” he said. “It was largely packers kind of pulling hogs ahead of schedule, adding some shifts before the holidays came in, but what it does is it provides a bit of insight into how many hogs they can process in a given week when push comes to shove.”

Fulton explained the 2018 highlights and market implications of the USDA’s Hogs and Pigs report for the fourth quarter. “The USDA tends to release that fourth quarter report a bit early to avoid that whole Christmas timeframe.

But there wasn’t a lot of surprises in it,” he said. “I think one of the things that I guess stuck with me was that we are expecting to see a larger breeding herd.

That the breeding herd was up close to 2 per cent higher than yearago levels. If we project that forward into the latter half of 2019, then we can anticipate another year of record large hog slaughter and pork pro-

Barns like this need to stay full but also profitable to stay full. The largest pig finisher barn in Canada belongs to Plainview Colony at Elkhorn, MB.

Plainview Colony at its very successful Open House Days thanked the community and hog industry representatives for their support.

duction. Assuming that we see the carcass weights come in at least comparable to what they did last year.”

Fulton said the different categories did not show any significant surprises. There was some shifting of the number of hogs in lighter weight and heavier weight categories.

“But when you smooth the whole thing out, there weren’t any big surprises on the report at all,” he said.

He does not seem to think there are any real issues in balancing hog production with pork processing capacity moving into 2019. “I think the bigger question is going to come from the trade situation throughout the next six to eight months. We need to get a resolution to the Mexican applied pork tariffs in retaliation to the steel and aluminum tariff that the US has applied to not only Mexico but to Canada as well,” said Fulton.

“But the trade issues there are probably likely to trump any concerns that I would have over slaughter capacity, I think.”

Fulton said demand is critical and if the growth in demand continues for both domestic and exports markets then the prospect looks excellent.

He went on to say that the packers saw profits in 2018.

“And when the packers are profitable and the producers, I think in general, across the year producers can say that they were likely profitable, but the downturn in August and then again later in the fourth quarter did make it a bit tougher,” he said. “But I think when you look at the year as a whole, it was marginally profitable and hopefully that those demand gains will lead into some improved prices in 2019 if we continue to see kind of the same trend in demand growth that we have over the last two or three years.”

African Swine Fever is the big wild card, and much is up in the air with China reporting close to 100 cases. The latest one affected a farm that had 70,000 animals and officials were forced to cull a good portion of those pigs. To date this has been the largest farm impacted by the disease in China or anywhere else in the world.

“I guess to what degree the domestic Chinese market is going to be short of pork, and whether or not the United States and Canada will be able to fulfill any shortfall in that

Chinese production. Largely because the US is still struggling with getting any resolution to the trade war over the last six months between China and the US,” said Fulton. “So, US pork is facing more than a 60 per cent tariff in China, and it’s probably not the best positioned to fill in some of that last domestic production that may come as a result of the ASF development.

“We think that the forward prices right now based on current feed prices represent a fair level of profitability.

We’re definitely on the plus side for at least the first ten months of the year,” he said.

“The real question mark is how does the African Swine Fever and trade issue play out. What we think is that it’s prudent to go and take some protection, especially based on recent rallies. Just secure some of that good, profitable pricing for the first 10 months of the year, but on a relatively small portion of your hogs, around 25 per cent and then you can set targets for larger portions of your production, if we see some improvements to prices as a result of some these trade issues coming to fruition.”

January 25, 2019

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MBPA Involvement Shapes Provincial Policy and Decision Making

By Les Kletke Peter Penner had a clear message for producers attending the Beef and Forage Day in Vita. His message is that the Manitoba Beef Producers Association (MBPA) is your association and we all need to participate.

Penner operates Penner Stock Farms at Winkler and is one of 14 Directors of the association. He went on to outline some of the work the MBPA has done in the last year on behalf of the beef industry in Manitoba.

While predators might not be a major issue for him running 160-cows at Winkler, for some producers it was a serious concern, particularly further north. “This is a file that keeps coming up and it is something the association is working on. We realize this is a serious concern for many producers,” he said.

Producers pay a check off of $3 per head to the provincial association and $2.50 to the national association. He said that is not just a cost to producers, this allows the producer groups to engage in activities that benefit all producers and the industry. “We have seen lots of action on improving watering systems and funding to help pay for those improvements,” said Penner. “Those are programs that help individual farmers and many have come about through the work of our association.”

“We have been working on water management issues which impacted everyone last year, and the association is also dealing with ergot issues in feed stocks,” said Penner on one of the most recent major challenges. The Association also met with the provincial government regarding the 2018 drought conditions. “We were aware of the shortage of feed and worked with the province to get the Livestock Tax Deferral program in place. We were also involved with the Hay Disaster Benefit which is having a direct impact on producers,” said Penner.

He said the MBPA has partnered with several groups to further leverage their dollars to increase the organizations impact on policy and decision making. In particular he cited educational programs like the Amazing Agriculture Adventure. “We may think that it is students from urban schools that don’t have a connection but we are finding more and more students from rural schools have no connection to the farm or understanding of what we do,” he said, “It is up to us to provide these students with an understanding and hopefully they will be the consumers of tomorrow that buy our product.”

In his closing remarks Penner noted this was the 40th anniversary of the MBPA and the annual meeting would be held in Brandon on February 7 and 8. “Along with the registration there is a mentoring program that allows producers to bring a younger member to the meeting at a reduced cost.” he said. “They are the future of our industry.”

WGRF Commits Millions to New Research Projects Through a continuing cofunding partnership with the Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) and other producer commodity groups, Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) recently announced over $2.4 Million of new funding for 13 crop-related research projects.

“Our organization is driven by the mission of producers directing investment in crop research to benefit western

Canadian grain farmers,” said WGRF Board Chair, Terry Young. “ADF provides a great forum for producer groups to collaborate and co-fund agricultural research that improves agricultural systems, varietal development and agronomic practices. WGRF is committed to investing in agricultural research, and partnerships like this one with ADF, leverages our research investments.”

The approved projects

include research into improving weed and disease management, intercropping of pulses and oilseeds, improved management of aphids for pulse crops, improved agronomic quality and disease traits for oat varieties, and improved nitrogen management for canola and soybeans.

A full listing of projects will be posted on the WGRF website once research contracts are in place. More than

420 past and present WGRF funded research projects are currently listed on westerngrains.com. “WGRF is currently funding 146 research projects in over 25 crops,” said Garth Patterson, WGRF Executive Director.

“WGRF’s funding is directed at research into variety development and agronomy, emphasizing whole-farm sustainability, resiliency and efficiency of crop production systems.”

Peter Penner is a Director of the Manitoba Beef Producers Association and encourages producers to get involved in their organization.

Photo by Les Kletke

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January 25, 2019

Make Friends with Starch in High Lactation Dairy Diets Over the years, I have seen many dairy nutritionists shy away from formulating starch into dairy diets of high milk producing dairy cows. Who could blame them? In many situations, too much starch was fed by which many cows got sick and even some were culled. Despite, the potential dietary dangers of starch, I believe that it can be harnessed in order to supply a lot of energy to dairy cows and support their ever-demanding milk production.

The best recommendation of supplying starch-energy, yet avoiding digestive upsets and maintain good milk production is to ensure that a minimum amount of neutral detergent fibre (NDF) or 27 - 28% of the diet is fed; with 75 - 80% of that coming from the forages. Furthermore, the non-structural carbohydrates portion of the diet (containing starch) should be limited to 35 - 37% of the total diet.

Consequently, starch is the major energy component of many available grains such as corn, which contains about 72% starch and barley, which contains about 58% starch. Forages also contain starch in addition to their fibrous content; such as high-grain corn silage may contain up to 35% starch, while optimal doughstage barley silage may contain between 20 - 25% starches.

We shouldn’t be fooled by such starch-laden values, because the amount and rate of digestion is not equal for all grains and forages digested in the cow’s rumen as well as in lower digestive tract.

For example, once the rumen bugs digest the single seed husk of barley grain in silage, they digest barley starch at a comparative rapid rate to other grains. In contrast, corn starch is embedded in a resistant protein matrix, much like a cardboard grid separating apples in a box, which causes bacterial digestion to be slower, because it must digest each protein wall, one at a time.

What rumen degradation is incomplete in either case, may cause a significant portion of starch to be forced into the small intestine to complete digestion. To complicate matters, research demonstrates that grain corn digestion differs from ensiled grain corn, because the ensiling process degrades the above corn-protein matrix to a certain extent, which improve the latter’s starch digestibility.

Subsequent rumen digestibility of starch from both grain and forage sources are also extremely variable and can range from less than 50% to greater than 90%. It is also a function of its rate of fermentation and retention time of feed particles that stay in the rumen.

Case-in-point: when starch (assuming grain) replaces dietary forage fibre - total tract digestion of NDF (assuming forage NDF) is often significantly reduced, which often increases the rate of feed passage moving through the cows’ entire rumenintestinal tract.

At this point, many dairy nutritionists get nervous about feeding starch, particularly from grain sources such as barley to high lactation dairy cows, because they believe digestive upsets such as SARA might be around the corner.

By definition, SARA or subclinical rumen acidosis is a condition when the pH of the rumen falls below a threshold of 6.0 - 6.5. It is often caused by feeding too much starch from grain or not feeding enough forage fibre in the dairy diet. It could also be caused by the milk-producing cows sorting out an otherwise balanced diet for its starch-enriched grain, while leaving forage fibre, behind. Such a depression of ruminal pH often leads to reduced or erratic feed consumption by milking cows, butterfat depression, lameness and ultimately compromises milk production. In the worst case - creates candidates for culled cows.

That is why as a dairy nutritionist, I advocate that good cudchewing amongst milking dairy cows is a vital part of their digestive process of balanced levels of starch and forage fibre; simply showing their digestive system is in good working order.

Subsequently, when I go into any lactation barn, I make a general observation of the number of cows lying down and ruminating. Without actually counting cud-chewing cows, if I have difficulty seeing them, there might be an underlying problem with the dairy diet, which is then investigated.

Such a practical recommendation, I learned a long time ago at a past Cornell Dairy Conference. It’s a matter of laying down a good effective forage foundation and then supplement starch to maintain healthy and productive lactating dairy cows. It’s a lesson that I never forgot.

The AgriPost

Community Volunteers Build Sustainable Food Forest in the City

By Joan Airey For five years Tiffany Grenkow has been a volunteer orchard steward for the Sustainable South Osborne Community Coop (SSOCC).

Volunteers with the help from the community they envision build and maintain regenerative gardens allowing more food to be grown within the city.

Their projects include an increasingly productive permaculture inspired urban food forest with over 140 fruit trees, berry bushes, edible perennial and annuals. This group of devoted gardeners have a considerable amount of space to experiment with, so the sky is the new limit and they grow everything from asparagus to zucchini.

“It’s great for people to see land being appreciated, regenerated, beautified and then harnessed to benefit the community,” said Grenkow. “One of the things I’m proud

A crew of volunteers with the Sustainable South Osborne Community Co-op plants carrots, beets, lettuce, purple orach, radish, pea shoots and red kitten spinach in cold frames ready for spring growing.

Photo by Tiffany Grenkow

about other than the impressive volume of food we are able to share with our community is how we have an extremely intriguing ‘natural classroom’. People can see food coming right from the soil, off the vine or hanging on the tree, it’s quite eye opening for some. Who am I kidding, its eye opening for all of us.”

In the city very few have the opportunity to tend every fruit tree imaginable. Typically the opportunity to learn from gardens is limited to the confines of one’s yard and the amount of time and money they are able to invest. The community driven garden is very exciting, rewarding and mostly only limited by how much volunteer input there is.

“The more people are involved the more food we can grow. We share Tiffany Grenkow dressed for gardening the food with food in January is a volunteer orchard steward insecure organizafor the Sustainable South Osborne Community Co-op and the guest editor for this tions, volunteers, year’s ‘The Prairie Garden’ the edition for and sell some at a 2019 Growing Food. local market and Photo provided by Tiffany Grenkow to local chefs,”

explained Grenkow. “Last fall over a thousand pounds of produce went into storage for use during the winter.

One of our grow spaces is a garden plot on the riverside tended for many years by the Riverview garden society.

The land once housed greenhouses that fed the Winnipeg hospital. The greenhouses are long gone and the land now boasts a hundred and twenty individually cared for garden plots. The SSOCC run two plots and four raised beds as an intergenerational community garden. We have a garden club three times a week and it’s free and open to anyone. Gardeners lacking space, wanting to learn new sustainable techniques and those who have never gardened before can pool energy to grow great gardens.”

One way the group boosts their productivity and aids in their efforts to utilize the colder seasons is their raised beds with custom built cold frames. These beds are five feet wide and twenty feet long by three feet high. This enables them to extend their growing season.

In the fall they cover the beds so that the large volume of soil does not expand when

it freezes from too much rain which would ruin the raised beds.

“We especially enjoy early crops of cold loving plants such as lettuce, spinach and baby beets which are up before most gardeners have their boots on,” said Grenkow. “In the fall, as soon as the deep freeze is imminent and germination is no longer possible, we sow suitable seeds into raised beds. Then in early winter after a good snowfall we cover the raised beds in snow. The snow will melt slowly as the soil thaws and not endanger the structural integrity of the wood raised beds. Sometimes we get funny looks while doing it, it saves the step of watering first thing in the spring and like I said they will be up before we know it.”

Grenkow is also the guest editor for this year’s ‘The Prairie Garden’ the edition for 2019 Growing Food.

“This particular theme is so near and dear to my heart.

I truly believe that growing our own food is a great strength for humanity. In my opinion there is no greater advice than that which is tried and tested by peers in our region,” said Grenkow.

CFA Pleased with Glyphosate Re-evaluation The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) is pleased to see Health Canada’s recent re-affirmation that glyphosate is neither considered a human cancer risk or a risk to the environment.

These findings come after a rigorous scientific review, and are an excellent example of the kind of evidence-based research that serves as the foundation for good policy.

The report came to the conclusion that Glyphosate is not genotoxic and is unlikely to pose a human cancer risk. As well, dietary, food and drinking

water exposure associated with the use of glyphosate is not expected to pose a risk of concern to human health.

Based on the current use pattern for agricultural scenarios reviewed post-application risks to workers performing activities, such as scouting, met the target dermal MOEs and are not of concern. A minimum restricted entry interval of 12 hours is required for agricultural sites.

In addition, the environmental assessment concluded that spray buffer zones are required to mitigate potential risks to non-target species for example, vegetation near treated areas, freshwater

algae, freshwater plants, marine/estuarine invertebrates and fish from spray drift. In high concentrations glyphosate formulations may pose a risk to aquatic life. To reduce the potential for runoff into adjacent aquatic habitats, precautionary statements for sites with characteristics that may be conducive to runoff and when heavy rain is forecasted are required. In addition, a vegetative strip between the treatment area and the edge of a water body is recommended to reduce runoff of glyphosate to aquatic area.

The Health Canada review concluded that when used according to revised label direc-

tions, glyphosate products are not expected to pose risks of concern to the environment.

“It’s excellent to see this statement from Health Canada,” said Ron Bonnett, President of CFA. “Farmers were worried about potentially having to find a replacement for glyphosate. Most of the alternatives have been found to be less effective, meaning they need to be sprayed more, or are harmful to the environment. It’s extremely important to have these re-evaluations to maintain confidence in Canada’s food system, so Canadians are comfortable knowing what they eat is both safe and nutritious.”

The AgriPost

CBSA Called on for More Detector Dogs or Face ASF Consequences

By Harry Siemens The Canadian pork sector is encouraging Canadian Border Services (CBSA) to use more detector dogs and to provide more information to travellers about the risks of bringing meat into the country.

African Swine Fever (ASF) continues to spread in Europe moving into Russia and China and closer to other southeast Asian countries. It is also now found in Belgium and Poland worrying both France and German authorities.

Dr. Egan Brockhoff, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with Prairie Swine Health Services said the virus is getting close to borders but also found at airports. With the spread of ASF the pork sector is engaging with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and with CBSA to highlight the critical importance of border biosecurity.

“We’re encouraging Canadian Border Services agencies to get more detector dogs. We want those dogs at the border.

We want more dogs at the border,” said Dr. Brockhoff.

“We want travellers to receive information when they get on their airplane before they land in Canada that, if carrying meat products, they need to dispose of these on the airplane. They shouldn’t be bringing them but if they are bringing them, don’t take them off the plane.”

Hog commentator Jim Long while not a veterinar-

Dr. Egan Brockhoff speaks during the Swine Innovation Porc Session at the Banff Pork Seminar recently is encouraging Canadian Border Services use more detector dogs and to provide more information to travellers about the risks of bringing meat into the country.

Provided photo

ian does business in many of the countries mentioned gave his observations. “Russia had African Swine Fever in the mid-2000s, dealing with it for over ten years. It is still there, there are still breaks, and it hangs over the industry,” said Long. “We have been doing business in Russia since 2006, so many of these are first-hand observations.”

He said most Russian commercial farms have implemented biosecurity at levels that surpass most of the world. These usually include double fenced facilities, controlled gate entry and fulltime 24 hours per day security guards. “Some double showers, shower then shower again before entry to barns, minimum two-night downtimes for barns. No food is brought to the farm by employees, food id prepared by the company and served. No pork on the farm,” said Long emphatically. “Almost all

feed is bulk and pelleted from their own feed mills; there are tire rinse facilities at the entry to the farm site. There is a large land base which has farms not real close to each other.”

The farms slaughter many hogs at their facilities with virtually no small pig commerce. The industry is 99 per cent farrow-to-finish with complete ownership and all commercial pigs raised in indoor confinement.

Long said despite all these protocols and efforts there are still African Swine Fever breaks in Russia. “You can minimize it but so far impossible to eliminate.”

Long said in Russia ASF caused consolidation of the swine industry. More extensive operations with multiple farms could assume a risk of a break. Banks are wary of one owner operations and their ability to withstand losing the total herd and having

the barn sit empty for a minimum of a 6-months before repopulation. “There is much talk of Russia becoming selfsufficient in pork. Sometimes we’re not sure what that means, but we observe the expansion of Russia’s industry despite profits of over $50 per head average for the last few years slowed by ASF and its risk,” said Long. “In Ukraine for example, which got ASF recently we saw 15 - 20 per cent of its herd decreased due to ASF and economic implications of the disease which includes bankers, disease itself and a surge of pigs on the market.”

He said many new rules in Russia regarding bio-security and food safety had squeezed small producers and in some areas, eliminating them favouring consolidation. “The actual dead pigs from ASF in Russia over the last ten years we estimate at 2 to 3 million.

In the same time probably 20 to 30 million pigs died from PRRS throughout Russia,” said Long. “The main threats of ASF are the implications due to its status as a reportable disease and all the crap that comes with that.”

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) is a viral disease infecting sows and pigs leading to reproductive failure causing abortions, weak and stillborn piglets, infertility. It also causes pneumonia and increased mortality in young animals.

Keeping Canada’s Crop Sector on the Cutting Edge Canadian field crop farmers are working hard to ensure the sector remains vibrant and strong. The crop sector is a key contributor to Canada’s economy, representing $25 billion in farm gate receipts, $21 billion in exports and supporting thousands of jobs across the country while expanding markets for the sector’s safe, high-quality products.

Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced Federal funding of up to $39.3

million to four science clusters including barley, wheat, diverse field crops and soybean under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

These investments include an additional $28.4 million in contributions from industry, for a total investment of $67.7 million.

These new science Clusters will drive innovation and discovery in the Canadian field crops sector over the next five years.

The Barley Cluster ($6.3 million) aims to improve

productivity in the science and technology of using barley for food and increase disease resistance. The Cluster will be led by the Barley Council of Canada.

The Diverse Field Crop Cluster ($13.7 million) will focus on variety development, crop protection, production agronomy and value added practices to support diverse crop growth. The Cluster will be led by AgWest Bio Inc. The Wheat Cluster ($13.9 million) aims to deliver

January 25, 2019

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Funding Available to Upgrade Livestock Water Systems

By Les Kletke Dorthea Gregoire wants to help cattle producers in southeastern Manitoba improve the watering systems for their cattle.

Gregoire is a Manager of the Seine-Rat River Conservation District that reaches from the Red River east to the Ontario border and from the US border north to the Winnipeg perimeter. She was one of the speakers at the Beef and Forage Day held in Vita on January 17 outlining several options for producers to improve the water systems for their cattle.

She stressed that while the organization did have funds available under certain parameters in most cases the project was evaluated on its outcome rather than strict adherence to the rules of the program, and the programs have a good deal of flexibility. “There is funding available for 75% of the fences along rivers and 50% of the costs on fences around ponds,” she said. “We also recognize the farmer’s labour as a contribution so in many cases the funding will cover 100% of the cost of materials.”

In 2018 the Conservations District had 30 new system put into place. “Some were quiet small and some went up to $4,500 in costs,” said Gregoire. “We try to work with the producer and visit the site before hand to help him design a program that fits and we do an onsite visit after the completion.” She explained that first; any farm applying for funding is required to have an Environmental Plan in place.

The past couple of years have seen a number of systems being installed. “And I don’t think we have seen two alike.

One of the benefits of having had several producers put in systems is that you can visit their site and speak with them, you can learn what works and what can be improved on.”

Gregoire said the drought of 2018 had increased interest in watering systems and some producers have drilled wells. “We have had producers introduce systems that prevent any back wash,” she said. “So there is only clean water available to the next animal. There are several options available for watering systems.”

There is also a variety of options to power the pump which is required she explained. Some producers have chosen to go off grid and have solar powered panels or wind while others have chosen the rational electrically powered pump. “We are here to help producers improve their watering system,” she said. “We don’t judge what is best; you know what is best for your operation.”

higher-yielding wheat varieties to producers, and to develop the next generation of Fusarium Head Blight resistant varieties. The Cluster will be led by the Canadian Wheat Research Coalition.

The Soybean Cluster ($5.4 million) will help Canadian soybean crops become more resilient and productive, increase the geographic range for growing crops and benefit the environment. The Cluster will be led by the Canadian Field Crop Research Alliance.

Dorthea Gregoire is the Manager of the Seine-Rat River Conservation District and urges producers to consider upgrading their livestock watering systems as soon as possible.

Photo by Les Kletke

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January 25, 2019

The Benefits of Loss Prevention With the costs of insurance claims rising, we are starting to see insurers working to reduce their claims costs.

There are a variety of ways that this is done; working to maximize efficiency with clean up and rebuilding costs in claims.

One common sense way to reduce the expense of insurance claims is prevention. Several insurance companies are very proactive with providing loss prevention resources. The best in the industry employ trained loss prevention experts who perform on-site surveys of your location(s) as well as provide businesses and farms with suggestions and resources to reduce liability risks.

In this process, there should be mutual benefit for both the insurance company and the insured, as the premise behind loss prevention is to stop claims before they happen.

When this is done well, it is a consultative approach between the loss prevention consultant and the client.

From a broker’s perspective, we have been on many loss prevention visits with our clients and insurers, and have seen both very positive and some challenging situations.

Here are a few things we recommend to ensure your loss prevention visit goes as well as possible: 1. Dedicate time to the loss prevention process. This is your chance to learn from someone very experienced in loss prevention. This is also your opportunity to make a great impression on your insurance company, which ultimately gets passed on to the underwriter who will be rating and determining the coverage available for your operation.

Dedicating time to the process is a small investment in protecting your business, stabilizing your insurance rates, and hopefully learning something new as well.

2. Prepare in advance. Spend a few minutes sweeping the floor, clean off your desk and put your best foot forward with showing off your operation. If your business involves advanced liability risks such as manufacturing or selling goods worldwide, have a sample of your standard contracts, standard manufacturing processes, and safety plans available for the consultant. As we mentioned, this is your chance to make a good impression on your insurance company, so spend the time to make this process the most beneficial for your business.

3. Invite your broker to participate in the process. Your insurance broker should be doing more than simply getting paid to pass mail between your insurer and your post office. Having your broker as part of the loss prevention process keeps the guess work out of the process if there are recommendations you will be implementing after the survey. Your broker is also negotiating coverage and rating on your behalf each year, so having them in the loop allows them to answer questions that an underwriter may have when reviewing the survey summary.

4. Ask for next steps, before the consultant leaves ask questions. Is there anything else that you would recommend to make our operation safer? Is there anything you have seen from our colleagues that would improve our processes?

How are the recommendations that you have going to be communicated to us? What is the timeline for these recommendations to be completed? How soon can we start implementing what we have learned from you today?

Still worried? Consider making Rempel Insurance Brokers your insurance broker of choice and we will represent you, review your risk, and provide you with loss prevention resources. We work hard to make sure you are prepared for the loss prevention survey, and walk alongside our clients to ensure they have the resources required to prevent losses before they happen.

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

David Schmidt is an Account Executive at Rempel Insurance Brokers in Morris, MB, specializing in insuring farms and businesses across Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Office 204-746-2320, Text 204-712-6618, davids@rempelinsurance.com, rempelinsurance.com.

The AgriPost

Clean Water Year Round is Attainable and More Cost Effective

By Les Kletke Ray Bittner is clear that when it comes to housing water pumps for livestock, appearance is not important for a functional watering system.

Ray Bittner said watering systems are not one size fits all but clean water is attainable in most situations.

Photo by Les Kletke

Bittner is with Manitoba Agriculture and was one of the keynote speakers at Beef and Forage Days in Vita. His presentation included a series of photos of small, simply built structures that housed pumping systems to function in Manitoba’s winter temperatures.

Bittner made the case for not having animals drinking from water ways. “We had a producer who lost 7 animals when they fell through the ice into the dugout, we had another producer have three animals go through the ice,” he said.

“Clean water is attainable and it provides a good return on the investment. Research shows that calves with clean water gained 9% more than those drinking from dugouts or other water ways. It did not have an impact on the cows but a 9%

increase in gain is significant.”

He also noted that yearling heifers had gained 23% more in the research studies. “That shows up in the paycheck when you sell your calves,” said Bittner. While his presentation focused on a number of relatively unelaborated systems he pointed out those producers who had felt the impact of the drought last summer should be taking a water system into account.

“If your dugouts were short of water last year, make plans to fill those dugouts this spring,” he said. “Fill it with snow melt, when it begins to melt don’t wait to spread muck into your dug out. The animals don’t like it and people watching our industry don’t like it, so use the resources you have.”

Bittner advocates watering

animals from a trough and having the dug outs or water ways fenced. However if complete fencing is not an option even partial fencing helps keep the water way clean. “Fencing 2/3 of the dugout and providing crushed rock on a walk way can go a long way to help keeping things clean and the animals appreciate the clean water. They can get in, drink and get out faster and that does a lot to keeping the water source clean.”

Bittner encouraged producers to call his office and have individual discussions about what they can do on their operation.

“We know that each operation is different and we can work with you on an individual basis to develop a system that works. This is not a one size fits all scenario,” he said.

Determining What Insurance Level and Coverage is Right for You

By Les Kletke Luc Roy knows that some of the questions which producers ask are, “Does insurance cost too much?” and “Does it provide a good return on the cost of the premium?”

Instead, Roy suggested looking at it from the other side when it comes to insurance. “Insurance is about risk mitigation,” he said. “It is not a cost; it is about reducing the risk you have on your operation. Risk that you might not be able to afford if things go wrong.”

Roy is the Insurance Agent with Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) in St. Pierre-Jolys.

As one of the speakers at Beef and Forage Day in Vita he stressed that insurance is of vital importance. “We have

seen it over the years that most producers have insurance on their grain crops, and many have moved to coverage on their forage crops but we have other products that are a good fit for livestock producers.”

He outlined the Hay Disaster program that came into effect this year. “When 20% of the producers in the province have less than 50% of an average crop it is triggered,” said Roy. “Those may seem like long odds but it happens one year in ten.”

Roy stopped short of the specifics of programs stressing that programs could be tailored to the individual and his office was available for one-on-one discussions and designing a program that fits the individual producer’s needs.

He provided an overview of the Western Livestock Price Insurance Program (WLPIP) which has operated for the last 5 years in Manitoba.

The WLPIP is a risk management tool providing producers with protection against an unexpected drop in prices on cattle and hogs over a defined period of time.

Roy explained that this program has allowed producers to set a floor price for their calves. “You can choose a higher price that guarantees you a profit or you can lock in a lower price that will allow you to cover your costs,” he said. “The lower price will cost you less money in the premium but it is dependent on your comfort with the risk or where you are financially.”

He stressed that insurance is an individual decision. “It is not an all or nothing scenario, you can choose the level that is right for you and your operation. If you are not a gambler and want to make sure of the situation we can help you design a program that provides that level of coverage.”

One of the programs that has gained popularity is the Pasture Days Insurance for eligible grazing livestock such as cattle, sheep, goats, bison, horses, donkeys, mules, elk, deer, llamas and alpacas. “If you are hit by a drought like last year and cannot have your animals on pasture as long as you normally would this provides the coverage to help with the feed costs you will incur,” said Roy.

Getting ID for Times of Emergency

By Les Kletke Getting carded may be an insult to a young adult and it may be a compliment to someone who is long past the age of majority to legally buy alcohol or marijuana. But getting and ID number for a livestock production facility could help the producer in times of an emergency.

Tim Clark is with Manitoba Agriculture and outlined the process of completing the one page application for those attending Manitoba Beef and Forage Day in Vita. The Vita event was day 4 of the week long meetings which had rotated to various locations that

have significant beef production in the province.

Clark said that while the ID number is not required at this time it could be in the future if the Federal government carries through and makes livestock manifests a requirement when moving cattle.

“At this time it is not required but if you do put cattle on the road for any reason you can be required to prove proof of ownership,” said Clark. “That could be difficult at times and this would make it easier.”

Speaking to an audience of mainly beef producers Clark said it was a matter of playing catch up and virtually 100%

of dairy cattle are covered by a registry and only 73% of beef cattle are registered.

Clark said the program has been in place for several years and has been used 99 times by the province, usually in times of a disaster. “It has been used in times of flooding in the northwest and we have used it in the southeast last year when there was a concern about wild fires,” said Clark. He explained that the registry is intended for any primary livestock production within the province.

He was questioned about whether the program is also for animals on pasture. His

response was, “Only the primary location of production.”

Clark said that when a livestock producer completes the one page application they will receive an identification card as owners of livestock.

This registration number is a major tool for the Department of Agriculture when they are tasked with notifying producers of dangers like last fall’s fire or a possible flood.

He urged producers to fill out the application and become registered now rather than waiting for a time when it might be required and turnaround times could be longer.

The AgriPost

January 25, 2019

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2019 Manitoba Limousin Association Ambassador Award Announced

Travis Hunter, Manitoba Limousin Association congratulates Lauren and Bill Campbell on receiving the Limousin Ambassador Award.

Photo by Amanda Hamilton-Seward

By Joan Airey During a visit to the Brandon Research Station Bill Campbell and his father Glen were first introduced to the Limousin Breed. They were impressed by the six ‘D’ bulls which possessed more muscling than was available with the British breeds available at the time.

The Campbells had been following the trend of AI for various new continental breeds to improve their small Angus commercial herd.

Ttheir program was to feed all their calves to slaughter weight selling them in Brandon at the local auction mart.

They found that the Limousin cross steers and heifers fit their program the best, topping the market on many occasions. The Limousin cross calves proved to make the most money of all the breeds they had experimented with.

Eventually the decision was made to focus solely on Limousin genetics.

The Campbell Limousin farm owned by Bill and Lauren Campbell is a 2,560-acre spread which includes 1,700 acres of cropland (wheat, barley, canola, corn, oats and soybeans) and 70-head of purebred Limousin stock.

“We were honored to be presented with the 2019 Ambassador Award from the Manitoba Limousin Association. It has been a wonderful road to walk down with all the cattle people we have met along the way,” said Lauren and Bill.

Bill’s farming career has been dedicated to the improvement of the Limousin cattle breed. He has marketed Limousin genetics to eight Canadian provinces, as well as to the US and Mexico. He has also devoted much time to the Manitoba Limousin Association (MLA), serving on its board for 42 years. He

has been the MLA president, Limousin breed representative for the Manitoba Ag-Ex show and chairman of the Canadian National Limousin Show in Manitoba.

At the national level, Bill has been board member, vicepresident, president (2012 and 2013), and past president of the Canadian Limousin Association (CLA). He has been chair of the Breed Improvement Committee for the CLA and still sits on the committee today. Bill was a Canadian delegate at International Limousin Congresses in Denmark and Ireland.

His contributions to the agricultural community stretch even further, as he has been a member of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) since its inception and has served on the KAP advisory council for 14 years and board of directors for 4 years.

He currently chairs KAP’s livestock committee and is in his first year as President for KAP. He has been a 4H Leader for the Beef Club, a judge for numerous 4-H and breed shows in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta and was honored to be a judge for 2017 RBC Supreme at Agribition. He has also been a strong supporter of local area organizations serving as chair of the Minto Restaurant Committee and on the board of directors for the Boissevain and Area Vet Board.

Bill’s accomplishments have been recognized with a number of awards, including the Canadian Limousin Association Award of Distinction in 2016. He has also been inducted into the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame 2006 (Minto Mustangs) and the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame 1999 (Riverside Canucks). In 2018 he received the University Of Manitoba Award Of Merit.

Lauren’s interests include photography and graphic design. Combining this with a background in accounting, she manages the advertising and financial records for Campbell Limousin. Lauren is also active in the community volunteering with a variety of local organizations and doing bookkeeping for multiple non-profit groups.

She enjoys doing calligraphy, painting plus making and teaching workshops on handmade artist books and journals.

Bill and Lauren along with daughters Courtney and Kaitlin spent many summers showing cattle at local fairs, field days and Junior shows.

The girls were active in 4-H as well as the provincial and national Junior Limousin programs. Bill and Lauren continued to support the Junior Limousin events after the girls graduated as they truly believe these programs are instrumental in developing the youth for their future careers.

After completing her Master’s Degree (MLIS) Courtney lives and works in Manitoba. Kaitlin married Cameron Nykoliation and along with their two daughters Madison and Rylee they have their own livestock operation know as NYK Cattle Company.

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January 25, 2019

The AgriPost