The AgriPost
June 29, 2018
Manitoba Bee Keepers Seek to Raise Their Profile
Ian Steppler demonstrated how close he really gets to his honey bees by growing a bee beard during the recent honey producer field day.
By Harry Siemens The long and warm summer days in Manitoba provide favourable conditions while managing honey bees for pollination and honey production. Each year Manitoba beekeepers produce in excess of 6,000 metric tonnes of high quality honey. Most of this honey is sold to other regions of Canada, the US and numerous overseas markets. In fact of the honey produced in Manitoba, 80 per cent is exported. Manitoba has about 650 beekeepers, 30 % are commercial with 50 or more colonies or hives. One colony of 40,000 to 60,000 bees produces, on average, 77
kg (170 lb) of honey in a six-week period between the end of June and the middle of August. Recently Ian Steppler of Miami hosted the Manitoba Beekeepers’ Association (MBA) field day on June 16 attracting 117 beekeepers along with 37 children. “It was a day that I wanted to show to the beekeeping community what we are all about,” said Ian. “All types of beekeepers from all corners of the province coming together and sharing their beekeeping experiences. Pushing ourselves to take that extra step to support our industry to raise healthy bees to provide for our livelihoods.”
Steppler said the most important issue now is moving forward with registering the honey houses owned by producers. “We want some kind of a set standard to be able to prove that what we’re doing here is suitable for the marketplace,” he said. “We are registering all of our honey houses through CFIA going through the process as a hygienic thing. Keeping our product clean, because we take our product, pretty much from the farm and straight to the retail shelf as is.” Steppler, who has between 1,200 and 1,500 bee hives, said the honey is a pure product and he likes to ensure that it is Continued on page 2...
Ag Action Manitoba Program Activity Funding Now Open As the next step in implementing the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler announced that applications are now open to Manitoba farmers for many activities included under the Ag Action Manitoba program. “Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector is a key driver of Manitoba’s economy and a creator of wellpaying jobs for our middle class,” said MacAulay. “Investing in Canada’s agricultural sector will help ensure it remains strong, innovative and sustainable.” “Manitoba’s farmers are at the heart of our vibrant and growing agricultural industry,” said Eichler. “Funding available from Ag Action Manitoba will build on our province’s priorities for the sector, while ensuring farmers have opportunities to develop, grow and strengthen their businesses. I encourage all producers to learn more about the funded activities and the opportunities they may offer.” The Ag Action Manitoba program for farmers supports the growth and sustainability of primary agriculture in Manitoba, with funding available for developing new skills, technologies and products, increasing production and adding value to their products, finding new markets, improving plant and animal health, supporting environmental sustainability and supporting basic and applied research and development. Cost-sharing and funding caps for activities vary based on the activity. Farmers will also continue to have access to business risk-management programs. Farmers, agri-processors, industry organizations, researchers and industry service providers will be able to apply for funding for specific activities and strategic investments under the streamlined Ag Action Manitoba program. Information for farmers, including how to apply for program activities, is available at manitoba. ca.agriculture under Canadian Agricultural Partnership. They can also call toll free 1-844-769-6224 or email agaction@gov.mb.ca. Farmers and other stakeholders are encouraged to sign up for the digital newsletter at gov.mb.ca/agriculture/online-resources for current information on funded activities and application deadlines. Details will also be shared on Manitoba Agriculture’s Twitter channel at twitter.com/MBGovAg. The five-year, $3-billion Canadian Agricultural Partnership includes $2 billion for cost-shared strategic initiatives delivered by the provinces and territories and $1 billion for Federal programs and services.
June 29, 2018
The AgriPost Manitoba Bee Keepers...
Continued from page 1...
Ian Steppler explained the workings of his honey house at the recent field day.
worthy for customers because marketing is a lot of work. Many beekeepers go to farmers’ markets and sell on their own. “That’s too much work for me because I have 1,500 hives, and the cattle farm that keeps me busy. I’m a member of Bee Maid Honey and ship all my honey to them. They process it, and then they sell it for me and it operates as a co-operative.” He recounts that their family farm has struggled. “We have 3,500 acres of land, 500 cows, so we’re very busy. At the time when I got out of grade school I went to
university. About that time, crop prices were $4 a bushel for canola. We weren’t making any money with the grain farm which struggled, but the cattle business did well until BSE hit,” said Steppler. “The farm was struggling and I’m looking at how am I going to support a family on a farm that’s struggling to be solvent?” His interest in bee keeping began after taking a course while attending the University of Manitoba. “I took this beekeeping course, and I thought that was pretty cool and ended up buying four hives. After that, someone
bought some honey off me. I said, Oh, there’s something. I can make some money at this,” he said. “Then I built up a little bit more and I was selling more honey. Before I knew it, I had 150 hives. I signed a contract with Bee Maid Honey. Then all the rest is history, I guess. There’s an old saying, ‘If you look after the bees, they’ll look after you’. That’s certainly what’s happened here.” Steppler said the price of honey is better than it was two years ago when it really dropped off because of imported honey. Fake honey was also coming in which
was depressing the price of honey. But consumers caught on and retailers realized that they need to provide a true product. “What’s happening through Bee Maid, a 100 per cent Canadian honey product, we use the Canadian brand to market as one of our strengths,” he said. “Our consumers are identifying our honey as Canadian produced and trusting our product.” Steppler said even though they are looking at $1.50, $1.65 up to maybe $1.75 which is well below the $2.10 per kg price, he can still make some money.
Manitoba Crops May Be Advancing Too Quickly By Harry Siemens Some farmers received just the right amount of rain; others received rain and hail, while some did not receive any precipitation leaving them even more disappointed following the recent thunder, rain, and hail storms. Jason Voogt of Carman, who operates Field2Field Agronomy an independent crop consulting service working with farmers, responded with a Twitter request for rain amounts from eight to ten different farmers across the region. “In general the crops look pretty good, but the crop varies as you go from Fannystelle area to west of St Claude and south to Winkler,” said Voogt. “Some pockets received a little bit more rain about three, four weeks ago, so we’re sitting pretty good. The sandier fields to the west of Elm Creek and west of Carmen are great. Those areas were much wetter going into the spring, so they had a pretty good seedbed to seed into. So they were doing okay for moisture, but overall things were starting to get quite dry, especially in the heavier clay soils.”
Farmers welcomed the recent rain and the timing was right for some yet may be a little late for some of the crops to achieve the top end yield. “We have some crop that was seeded into a little bit drier ground causing uneven germination and uneven crops in a lot of spring wheat and some canola fields,” said Voogt also who works with two additional agronomists. “It presents different problems for the timing of fungicide and things like that, but overall the health is good.” The crop is undoubtedly shorter in stature this year, and it concerns him that the spring wheat is progressing quickly. “It is exciting to see in one way, but in the other way it is growing almost too fast, so we have a lot of areas right now where we have spring wheat that’s heading out and also canola that’s bolting and even starting to flower a little bit,” he said. “Anything farmers seeded at the end of April is advancing quickly.” Hail caused some significant damage on a few fields, not across their whole farms by any means but some that were quite significant where
wheat and even canola was flattened to the ground in the Miami, Manitou and Crystal City areas but some crops may come back. Voogt cited two reasons why those crops may still come back. One reason is the time of year, in the middle of June with a lot of growing time left. Also the staging of crops such as canola, soybeans, and even wheat or corn, that was not affected and physically damaged then there is still an opportunity for that crop to put out new leaves. Farmer to farmers responding to each other on Twitter said to, “Leave it, give it a few days and see
what it does,” he reported. “I’m trying to be optimistic, but there is a point where some crops are not recoverable, so then they have to decide on reseeding,” Voogt said. “In most cases, the crop insurance agents aren’t too ecstatic at getting out and assessing right away because I think they do realize too there are times where a crop can respond and start regrowing so they don’t want to be too proactive that way. But at the same time, farmers want to get the decision made and get the next steps in place to get another crop growing, or what he needs to do to help manage this one.”
June’s hail storm caused some significant damage in Manitoba on a few fields, some that were quite significant where wheat and even canola was flattened right to the ground in the Miami, Manitou, and Crystal City areas although some crops may come back.
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Can You Afford That US Machinery? By Les Kletke The argument is not new, farmers face a price squeeze as input costs increase and the price of their product decreases, but Nick Teleglow thinks that farmers have been pushed to the edge. Teleglow is a hay producer in the Steinbach area who harvested 400 acres of hay last year but will have reduced acres this year because of winterkill. He was one of the producers attending the Hay Day at Friedensfeld this June and when the afternoon program shifted to field demonstrations he asked, “Can you afford this equipment?” While he was not formally on the program Teleglow asked producers in the field if they could afford the equipment on display. He made the point that he bought his first haybine in 1998 for $18,000, now to replace that machine would cost him $50,000. “Yes, the machine has improved but most of the changes are
electronic and that makes it disposable,” he said. “When electronics go wrong you are forced to a new machine. We have come to be a disposable society and that applies to farm equipment as well.” Teleglow said this may be on the brink of disaster with the US tariffs on steel. “We export our steel to the US and buy it back as finished equipment,” he said. “We cannot afford that, and we don’t know what is going to happen in the next year or two.” He uses the example of the packing industry where Canada exported its jobs and is now at the mercy of the US. “I was in the cattle business, but the government killed that,” he said. “We should have a slaughter plant in every province.” He points to the growth of the sheep and goat production in this country as a positive step. “The cost of entry to the industry is less; there is much less capital required. The animals are easier to handle and people can be in
Teleglow asked producers in the field if they could afford the equipment on display.
business while having a 9 to 5 job,” he said. He sees that in a decade sheep and goats could be 40% of the livestock production in this country. He said that farmers are at the point where it is time to curb purchases of US manufactured farm equipment. “It is good for your farm to cut costs and it is what is required to send the message to the US. We need to quit buying machinery made in the US, we can’t afford it.”
Manitoba Rural Women’s Day Set for October
By Joan Airey
An “Exploring Rural Health Care” event organized by the Manitoba Women’s Institute (MWI) will be held in Virden on Saturday October 13 at Tundra Oil and Gas Place and in Morris on Saturday October 27, in the Crocus room at the Multiplex. “Manitoba Women’s Institute offers this day to all women as a way to share information and give an opportunity for networking with women that have a similar interest. This year is packed with speakers and display tables on varying topics. Our goal is to educate and inform everyone what is available in rural Manitoba not to focus on what isn’t available. The topic of “exploring rural health care” was chosen based on priorities that were identified in the survey we had at last year’s event,” said Deb Melosky board member. The day will include speakers on various topics and these people will be available during the day for individual discussions. In addition people will be available from STARS who are dedicated to providing a safe, rapid highly specialized emergency medical transport system for criti-
cally ill or injured people. In Virden, Prairie Mountain Health will be taking part in the conference and in Morris Southern Health. One of the speakers is Kaycelyn Rosales-Knight an early childhood educator and yoga teacher who has been teaching kids yoga since 2010 and now lives in Hamiota. “I guarantee if you spend some time with Kaycelyn you will be laughing,” said Melosky. “She will introduce you to laughing yoga which is a unique concept where anyone can laugh without reason.” It is called laughter yoga because it combines laughter exercises with yoga breathing (pranayama breathing). Research reports that it can bring measurable physiological changes like oxygen levels in the blood circulation and releases serotonin the feel-good hormones in the body. Two Naturopathic doctors will also speak, Dr. Janice Fyfe, ND IBCLC who lives in Morris and has a practice in Winnipeg at the Nature Doctors Clinic and Dr. Mindy Campbell who practices in Brandon. In Virden a local pharmacist Mark Mercure, a Board Certified Pharmacist and Extended
Practice Pharmacist with Super Thrifty Drugs will speak. Mercure has also been a guest lecturer at Brandon University for students in the Nursing Program. At Morris local pharmacist, Nathan Friesen will be a guest speaker. In addition from Winnipeg is a guest speaker from “A Port in the Storm” a safe haven for rural and northern adults living in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, board secretary Heather Emerson Proven. She received the past Lieutenant Governor’s Elementary Classroom Teacher of the year award. Registration forms and information will be available on the MWI website, mbwi.ca in August and cost to attend is $25 which includes lunch.
Well known yoga instructor Kaycelyn Rosales-Knight will be guest Speaker at the Manitoba Rural Women’s Day.
June 29, 2018
The AgriPost
June 29, 2018
This One Will Take a While Let’s get one thing straight from the outset; I am not a soccer fan. This column is not about soccer, and it is doubtful that I will ever write a soccer column. The announcement that the FIFA World Cup will be held in Canada, the USA and Mexico was made this past week on about the same day the President of the US was making some announcement about how he was going to get ‘the wall built’ and that despite what people said Canada is the enemy and our steel presents a security risk. It happened to be the exact same day it was revealed the US has a trade surplus with steel in trade with Canada. The soccer or football people as they prefer to be called were making their announcement saying they hoped that the expansion of the number of teams involved and playing the championship in North America would lead to the expansion of the game on this continent. I think the game has already grown to the point where it undermines baseball for kids and that is what I consider a threat. My daughter has already informed (apologized) that my grandson might play soccer instead of minor baseball, and it hurt me, but I digress. World sport organizations are looking to expand their base and choose to hold their championship in North America, curling went to Las Vegas. Nothing is sacred, anymore. The world changes. Governments will change and yes in 6 years Donald Trump will no longer be the President of the United States unless he borrows a page from the book of his friend Mr. Putin and changes the rules as to how long a President can serve his country. If Mr. Putin can, it might well become a game of “Anything you can do, I can do better than you can…,” for Mr. Trump. Assuming the rules stay the same and Mr. Trump is gone after 8 years things will go back. There will be no normal left but things will go back to a better relationship with our country and our southerly neighbour. The hurt caused by this one will not go away. I think of the adage of – Take a plate, throw it on the floor. Say you’re sorry. Is the plate back together? No it is not. Long term relationships are being destroyed by this US administration and they are not going to heal easily, we will feel the effect of Mr. Trump and his choices long after he is gone. We will have a FIFA Cup championship held on our continent in 8 years and I might be converted to a soccer fan (the world changes) but Mr. Trump is torching a lot of bridges.
The Return of Bias
Penner’s Points
For a few months, this column has explored an interesting psychological phenomenon – bias, or the human tendency to show By Rolf partiality for something over another. In many ways, our own bi- Penner ases lead us to make bad decisions for ourselves and our farms. Here are a few more to consider. One bias that seems fairly obvious is the “Ostrich effect.” Sometimes we ignore what’s going on because we don’t particularly like it, such as when the bottom falls out of a market. Just like the proverbial ostrich who buries his head in the sand to avoid danger, we may react to risky situations by pretending they don’t exist. However, the bias can actually be helpful in the other direction. A discussion of bias on the blogpost, harvestprofit.com, tells us of a farmer so obsessed with a soybean market one autumn that he kept watching “his cell phone like some kind of drug addict.” That behaviour can distract us from things that need to get done, ones where we actually have some control. Not to say market movements should be ignored, far from it but there’s only so much you can do. The ostrich effect can be problematic. If, for instance, you ignore your overall profit/loss situation year after year, waiting for something to change while you burn through your equity. The time comes when one needs either to quit what he’s doing or make a major change in direction. The more time that goes by, the bigger a potential problem becomes. “Recency bias” is one in which we tend overly to favour newer information. Grain buyers see this one in action all of the time. If you ask them how much grain they’re buying during a rally, they’ll tell you that it tends to depend on the timing of the price increase. If there’s a sudden change in direction, say from a long downtrend to a quick spike upwards, they can potentially buy a lot of grain. However, as a rally continues those sales can dry up, as everyone expects it to continue. The basic notion at work here is that something’s going to happen again because it already just happened in the “recent” past. Harvestprofit.com has a number of tips on how to manage this bias on its blog. A first step is realizing that picking prices and tops of markets is pretty much impossible. Looking at seasonal tendencies is another good idea. So is knowing your break-even point and cost of production. Another good piece of advice is not underestimating the benefit of reducing one’s risk exposure. It’s nice to try and maximize profits but sometimes you’re better off taking what’s on the table and making a small return rather than rolling the dice for a chance to win the lottery. Remember you’re in this for the long haul. In last month’s column, one of the subjects was “Anchoring Bias”. This is where one relies too heavily on the first piece of information one hears. I actually caught myself falling into this way of thinking a couple of weeks ago while spraying crops. Having read the weather forecast first thing in the morning, I was expecting the wind to pick up to the point where it was too strong and I’d have to stop. After a while, every time I stopped to fuel up, the wind felt like it had picked up quite a bit. But a quick check with a hand-held wind speed indicator showed me that wasn’t the case and I could keep going. The forecast was wrong, but it was stuck in my head. If it wasn’t for my portable metre, I probably would have stopped working and lost a productive afternoon to this particular bias. Of all the ways you can get a return on your investment in time, studying up on cognitive biases is a solid one. If you can avoid some sloppy thinking from time to time, you will have a better farm and a better life!
Revving Up the Volunteers, Pocket Books and Combines The crop is growing, the people are working, sponsors are stepping up to the plate, and the potential campers are waiting. Now, all we need are the plus 300 committed farmers who will bring their combines of all colours, shapes, and sizes to the field south of Winkler, on August 4. Recently Harvest for Kids (HFK) took their combine, materials, and children-saving message to the steps of the Manitoba Legislature and into the hallowed halls to hear Finance Minister Cameron Friesen plead their case. HFK volunteer coordinator George Klassen was asked how we are going to get 300 combines because it’s during a time when farmers are going to be combining, and they have to bring those combines for that particular date to Winkler. “Well, what will happen is, this is the first harvest of the
season because the season is late, it’s August 4, we have winter wheat, so it’s going to be an earlier harvest than most guys have on their farm. So that’s why they’ll have time to come with their combines,” said Klassen on the steps of the Manitoba Legislature last Thursday. “The purpose is to send kids in developing countries to camp, to develop them as leaders and give them the freedom to climb out of their shells that they’re in sometimes, and appreciate who they are. And that is what we’re trying to do; is to send them to camp, to give them that feeling that they are worth something, and that somebody else in the world cares for them, and we care for the rest of the world.” George also said farmers need to bring those combines because we have sponsors that are willing to pay for those memory books that we’re
going make. And if we can’t have those combines there, we’re not going to make the memory books, and we will not have the income that we need to send those less fortunate children to camp. Finance Minister Friesen, also the member representing the people of the Morden-Winkler riding said, it’s always a great day when you have constituents who come to the legislature. “It’s not every day they show up with a gigantic green combine. I said today to colleagues in the legislature, any time you have a combine on the front steps of the legislature, and it’s not a protest, it’s a good day,” said Friesen. “Today we’re of course welcoming Children’s Camps International and Harvest for Kids to be here, to draw attention to what’s going to become a Guinness World Record attempt for the number of combines simultaneously harvesting one
field, that’s a great goal as a local MLA. We celebrate our community; we celebrate that spirit of volunteerism that is so alive and well in the southern Manitoba and just a great day to be around here. So much natural curiosity as well, as Winnipeggers make their way back and forth on Broadway, and I think there’s been every MLA in this legislature today who got some pictures of this combine.
A great day indeed. In 2006, 2010, and 2012, Harvest for Kids and Children’s Camps International hosted three harvest events, each resulting in the Guinness World Record for “the most combines in continuous use on a field.” The current record, held by us during our Saskatchewan event, had 244 combines together. Now, we are moving forward to break this record yet again.
Recently Harvest for Kids took their combine, materials, and children-saving message to the steps of the Manitoba Legislature. [L to R - Agricultural Minister Ralph Eichler, Harvest for Kids Director Dave Thiessen, Children’s Camp International President Ray Wieler, George Klassen, Harvest for Kids and Finance Minister Cameron Friesen].
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Open Letter Urges Ratification of CPTPP Now, Not Later Dear François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade/Global Affairs Canada, The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) is the voice of Canadian agriculture and agri-food exporters representing the 90 per cent of Canadian farmers and ranchers, as well as the processors and agri-food exporters who want to grow the economy through better access to international markets. As one of the most steadfast and vocal supporters of the CPTPP trade agreement, CAFTA applauded the news in January that Canada concluded negotiations. We were in Chile when it was signed in early March, and we were very supportive when the treaty was recently tabled in Parliament. Access to international markets is the cornerstone of Canada’s agri-food sector. Research commissioned by CAFTA shows that agrifood exports contribute $96 billion to the Canadian economy every year and support one million jobs in urban and rural areas. The food and beverage industry is the largest manufacturing employer in Canada, responsible for nearly 250,000 jobs, more than the automotive and aerospace industries combined. Once implemented, the CPTPP will bring more stability and prosperity for Canada. CAFTA members expect the Canadian government to ratify this trade agreement without delay. If we don’t act to implement the CPTPP as soon as possible, Canada will lose the “first mover advantage” and see our competitors benefit from tariff cuts while we are taxed at a higher rate. The race is on as other CPTPP members are moving quickly to ratify the agreement. Mexico was the first country to ratify the deal late last April. Japan’s Lower House recently passed the bill paving the way for ratification before the end of June. Australia tabled the treaty in its Parliament and vows to expedite ratification. Malaysia and Chile are both expected to ratify quickly. New Zealand, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam and Brunei are all working to ratify the CPTPP by the fall. We urge Canada to be among the first six countries to ratify this trade agreement and benefit from the initial round of tariff reductions. It should be understood that a failure by Canada to be among the first 6 to ratify the CPTPP would not result in status quo. Rather, it would constitute a needless reduction of Canadian competitiveness in the vital Asia-Pacific region: - Australia’s current free trade agreement (FTA) with Japan has already cost our barley growers 250,000 tonnes in sales each year for the last two years. Missing out on this CPTPP opportunity will compound these losses. - Nearly all of the $425 million worth of soybeans and soy products are shipped to CPTPP countries where we do not have FTAs. If Australia is in the first wave to ratify the CPTPP and Canada is not, this would impact the competitiveness of Canadian soy producers. - Canadian food and consumer products from baked goods, frozen foods, prepared potatoes, processed grains, pulse products, sugar and chocolate confectionery would continue to face high tariffs in CPTPP countries such as Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam when their competitors would see tariffs reduced or eliminated. - Our canola oil exports to Japan face higher tariffs than Australian’s due to their pre-existing FTA. Currently, we have a seven per cent disadvantage, which grows to nine per cent by April 1, 2019. By then, industry expects that Japanese tariffs applied to Australian canola oil will be low enough to encourage increased shipments; this spells a tariff battle Canada will lose – eroding our current $1.4 billion canola seed exports to Japan and squandering an opportunity for more value-added exports. - Every quarter the Japanese government reviews the volume of beef imports and determines whether to impose a tariff safeguard. Countries that have an FTA with Japan are exempt from the tariff increase. As Japan moves forward with the CPTPP and New Zealand and Mexico join Australia with new preferential beef access to Japan, Japanese beef imports could surge and trigger the most favored nation (MFN) safeguard as it did last year caused by imports from the Australia-Japan FTA. If Canada delays implementation of the CPTPP, not only do we prolong our tariff disadvantage, but we also extend our exposure to the increased risk of Japan’s MFN safeguard. With the uncertainty created by the renegotiation of NAFTA, the potential massive competitive trade disruptions arising from the USChina talks and the lack of real access to the European Union provided under the CETA, it’s more important than ever to speed up the implementation of the CPTPP and secure key access to markets such as Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam. Failing to ratify the CPTPP in a timely matter would diminish Canada’s leverage for negotiating how new countries join the partnership. Canada will be in a much stronger position as one of the original six that ushered the CPTPP into force. We look forward to meeting with you. Sincerely, Brian Innes CAFTA President
Keeping Canada’s Grain Industry on Track for Growth
Lawrence MacAulay visiting a farmer’s grain field.
By Lawrence MacAulay Canada’s world-class grain industry spurs economic growth, job creation and prosperity across the country. Our government under Prime Minister Trudeau identified agriculture as one of the top sectors for growth and job-creation in Canada – we have set the objective of increasing our agri-food exports to $75 billion by 2025. Grain farmers will play a big part in meeting this ambitious goal, and we’re making sure they are well positioned to do so. We know our farmers need access to hungry markets
across the world. By signing CETA and the CPTPP, we have opened significant new markets for our top-quality grain. Industry estimates that CETA will result in $100 million in new sales of grain, while the CPTPP will result in $780 million in new sales for canola alone. Thanks to an agreement reached by Prime Minister Trudeau with China, our canola trade worth $2 billion a year is secure, and our government continues to ensure that lucrative market stays open for our canola farmers. This May, I visited China for the fourth time since becoming Minister, and continue to promote Canadian-grown products to Chinese buyers. Over the past year, we have reduced, or in some cases eliminated, the Canadian Grain Commission’s user fees, which will save grain farmers over $15 million every year. On May 23, our Govern-
ment’s historic Bill C-49 received Royal Assent, giving our grain farmers a strong, reliable and efficient transportation system. It will deliver new tools to help the industry keep grain moving, such as reciprocal penalties and a better definition of “adequate and suitable” service. It also expands the powers of the Canadian Transportation Agency, adds soybeans as an eligible crop to the Maximum Revenue Entitlement, and improves access to Long-Haul Interswitching. On top of all this, we are making numerous investments in science, innovation and export market development that will help drive the sector forward – including the Canadian Agricultural Partnership¸ which will invest a further $3 billion to help farmers grow, innovate and prosper. Furthermore, we are investing $950 million into Innovation Superclusters, including
the Protein Industries Supercluster, a collaboration of over 120 businesses, universities and other groups in the Prairies, which together will add value to our grain sector through more advanced plant science, processing technology and digital infrastructure. The Protein Industries Supercluster could help create more than 4,500 new jobs, and add more than $4.5 billion to the Canadian economy over 10 years. To the grain farmers of the West, I want to sincerely thank you for the hard work you bring to your job every day and recognize the communities you are helping to support. Having been a farmer before entering politics, I am truly honoured to serve as your Minister. I am fully confident that working together, we can ensure a bright future for generations to come. Lawrence MacAulay is the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.
June 29, 2018
Pass CPTPP Before Summer Recess CAFTA is urging that the the valuable first-mover advantage be a priority and is at stake for Canadian agri-food in new Asian Markets. The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) welcomed the recent announcement by Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that legislation to implement the Comprehensive Progressive agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will be tabled before the summer recess, and is calling on all Parliamentarians to remain in Ottawa to pass the bill before the summer break. “We’ve got unprecedented instability in North America and a chance to have a first mover advantage in Asia, now is the perfect time to lock down our access to growing Asia-Pacific markets,” said CAFTA President Brian Innes. “We urge Parliamentarians in both Houses to pass CPTPP legislation before the summer break.” Mexico has already ratified the deal, Japan is expected to do so within days and others including Australia, Chile, New Zealand and Vietnam are likely to soon follow suit. Major trade barriers will be eliminated across the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region once the first six countries ratify. Canada is the second largest economy at the table after Japan and has the opportunity to play a leadership role. “The first-mover advantage is real in trade deals and Canada cannot afford to be left behind our competitors,” said Innes. “Thousands of jobs and billions in agri-food exports are at stake. It’s imperative that our Parliamentarians come together and act swiftly to get this done.” According to research commissioned by CAFTA, this trade pact could increase Canadian agri-food exports by nearly $2 billion annually for a variety of agriculture products including beef, pork, canola, wheat, barley and oats, pulses, soybeans, sugar and processed foods. “With continued uncertainty due to Trump protectionism, better access to high-value, growing markets is more important than ever,” said Innes. CAFTA members, including farmer and food processors contribute $96 billion to Canada’s economy annually and support one million jobs in urban and rural areas in every region of the country.
Progress Being Made for CPTPP Ratification Canadian pork producers coast to coast were pleased to learn that the Comprehensive and Progressive TransPacific Partnership (CPTPP) legislation has been introduced in the House of Commons. The implementation bill introduced by Minister Champagne follows his tabling of the full text of the agreement on May 23, 2018. “Minister Champagne has shown great leadership in advocating for the CPTPP. Ensuring our industry has access to diverse and growing markets is more important than ever. We are asking all members of the House of Commons to quickly ratify this agreement,” said Rick Bergmann, Chair of the Canadian Pork Council. The Canadian pork industry stands to gain huge benefits with the implementation of the CPTPP, especially in Japan where fresh chilled pork is considered a premium product and is in high demand. According to the analysis by Global Affairs Canada, Canadian pork exports to Japan are projected to increase by $639 million, or 36.2 %. In addition to increased exports, projected savings of $51 million are expected because of tariff reductions on pork. It is imperative that Canada be among the first six countries to ratify the CPTPP. It is these “first-movers” who will get the earliest opportunities to position themselves in key markets. Mexico has already ratified the agreement, and Japan and Australia have a head start. The remaining countries that are part of this agreement have all indicated that they aim to conclude their legislation process before the fall.
June 29, 2018
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The AgriPost
June 29, 2018
Assiniboine Presents Its Honorary Diploma at Graduation Ceremony Assiniboine Community College presented Brandon agricultural entrepreneur Ron Helwer with an honorary diploma in Agribusiness at the college’s graduation ceremony in Brandon on June 14. Helwer and his family have owned and operated Shur-Gro Farm Services since 1968. They purchased Munro Farm Supplies in 1990 and a majority stake in South East Seeds in 2017. Helwer is President of all three companies. “Ron Helwer has been in business for more than 50 years, providing an important service to the farming community and hundreds of high-skilled jobs, many of them filled by Assiniboine grads. We are delighted that Mr. Helwer has agreed to accept this honour,” said Assiniboine President Mark Frison. “I’m very honoured and pleased to be nominated. Assiniboine Community College has been very important to us for sourcing excellent employees. We have many employees who have been through their agribusiness courses,” said Mr. Helwer. Shur-Gro offers financial help to employees who wish to further their education and provides scholarships at Assiniboine. At 85 years of age, Helwer shows no signs of slowing
down. He cannot wait to get to the office every morning, “Friends say, ‘You should be retired.’ I say, ‘Well, what’s retirement?’ They say, ‘Doing what you want to do.’ I say, ‘That’s what I’m doing.’ I enjoy what I’m doing and the people I work with,” said Helwer. His wife Vera and their three adult children, Sherry, Reg and Gail, all share in the ownership of the businesses, but are not actively involved. Ron Helwer started ShurGro in 1968 when farmers were decreasing their use of fertilizer because of low farm prices, causing some fertilizer dealers to look for an opportunity to sell out. “Why would I want in when things were going downhill? Well, my philosophy has always been to look forward with optimism. And it turned out well, because I could pick up those businesses for a reasonable cost,” Helwer recalled. A large Russian grain order in 1973 drove up grain prices and fertilizer usage increased. Other dealers entered the market. But a credit crunch in the early 1980s left some of them strapped for cash and open to acquisition. “We picked up some dealerships at that time. There was an opportunity to grow again. You could call it good luck or good management or good timing.
The timing had to be right for some of those things to happen,” he said. “There are always survivors. We were one of them.” Helwer’s advice to Assiniboine grads is never to rest on one’s laurels. “It would be nice if you could get to a level in business where you say, ‘I’m going to stay at that level.’ But that doesn’t happen in business. My theory is if we’re not going ahead, we’re going back. So we need to progress. We need to be forward-thinking and looking for opportunities,” he said. In 1978, Helwer played a key role in establishing the Western Fertilizer and Chemical Dealers Association and served as its President from 1979 to 1980. He also served with the National Fertilizer Solution Association in the US from 1977 to 1991. Helwer has been a long-time supporter and advocate of the Canadian Association of Agri-Retailers (CAAR). He received the Chairman’s Award in 1981 and Retailer Hall of Fame Award in 2007, and ShurGro was recognized with the Chairman’s Award in 2012. Helwer was inducted into the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2014. Assiniboine awards honorary diplomas to those who demonstrate excellence in their personal and professional accomplishments.
Manitoba Youth Beef Round-Up Volunteers Create a Great Experience for Youth By Joan Airey Neepawa will once again host the Manitoba Youth Beef Round-Up to be held from August 3 to 5. New this year 4-H Champion Yearling Females from each 2018 Club Achievement are invited to attend. “The Round-Up group will pay the entry fee for those with winning 4-H Champion Yearling Females from each 4-H Club. We feel it is a weekend youth can learn, have loads of fun and make many new friends. All breeds of cattle are
The latest selfie winner in the Manitoba Beef Youth Roundup Facebook contest, Maverick Peters with his calf. Maverick is the son of Amy and Trevor Peters from Rivers Manitoba.
welcome purebred and commercial. ” said Lois McRae with 4-H. Another way to win the entry fee paid to Manitoba Beef Youth Round-Up is to check out their Facebook page and enter a selfie of you and your show steer or heifer that you are working with at home to get ready for the upcoming summer show season. Contest closes July 1. “The weekend is organized by representatives from various beef breeds that have been involved with the National and Provincial shows in the past. Their goal is to prepare young entrepreneurs in the livestock industry, thru this exciting showcase of youth, cattle and friendly competition,” said McRae. “This event will educate, encourage, stimulate and unite participants in the business of agriculture and the beef industry. Some of the events are Team Grooming, Individual and Team Judging, Showmanship, Marketing, Sales Talk, Impromptu Speeches, Art, Photography, scrap booking and cattle classes.” Also new this year will be the Sullivan Show Supply Workshop and Young handler’s competition and Digger Award. Along with Ag Challenge competitions, there will be a cook-off, cattle shows, scholarships, stockman’s quiz, public speaking and the selection of Canadian Western Agribition Team. Entry forms and details can be found at mbyothbeefroundup.weebly.com or phone Lois McRae 204-728-3058.
Previous honorary diploma recipients:
Ron Helwer, recipient of an honorary diploma in AgriBusiness.
2017 Phil Fontaine 2016 Beverly Bunn 2016 Ian Grant 2016 Jason Yates 2016 Rick Borotsik 2015 Mildred Murray 2014 Jim Treliving 2014 Harvey Armstrong 2013 Dave Baxter 2012 Carmel Olson 2012 Allen Dowhan 2011 Dennis Hunt 2010 Bob Mazer 2009 Gord Peters
The AgriPost
June 29, 2018
Manitoba Has Its First PED Virus Case in 2018 By Harry Siemens Just after The CanadaWest Swine Health Intelligence Network (CWSHIN) reported on Erysipelas, Rotavirus, Greasy Pig, and Influenza as the main diseases identified by swine veterinarians during the first quarter of 2018, Manitoba confirmed a new case of PEDv on May 15, 2018, in a finisher barn in southeastern Manitoba. Bio-containment on this site is in place. The CWSHIN keeps on top of emerging swine health issues by collecting swine health information from swine veterinarians in
western Canada and reports that information back to veterinarians and producers. CWSHIN Manager Dr. Jette Christensen said they completed the first quarter report for 2018. In the last issue, the AgriPost reported the lessons learned from the 2017 PEDv outbreak with the first confirmed case at the end of April 2017 and moving forward. In announcing the latest outbreak on May 15 Manitoba Pork and the Chief Veterinary Office strongly recommended everyone in the industry take enhanced biosecurity steps on all
premises. This boundary includes the area bounded on the west by PTH 75, north by PR 210, east by PTH 12, and south by PTH 52 (and mile road 36N that continues west from the 52 to the 200 and the Red River). “This recommendation is meant to encompass areas impacted by PED in May and June of the last three years and provide easily recognizable boundaries for all involved,” said Manitoba Pork. “Consult your veterinarian on enhanced biosecurity protocols that you implement on your premises.” Manitoba Pork Council
confirmed one new case in a nursery operation in southeast Manitoba on June 14 raising the 2018 count, to nine cases, 4 sows, 2 nursery and 3 finisher, all in southeast Manitoba. In 2017’s outbreak, there are currently 68 premises that have reached Presumptive Negative status, 11 Transitional premises and one Positive site remaining. “We encourage all Manitoba producers to sign on to the password protected Manitoba Coordinated Disease Response (MCDR) online, to access detailed information regarding statuses and locations of af-
fected premises. To arrange to sign on, a producer needs a confidentiality/information sharing agreement to access MCDR, or for other assistance, contact Jenelle Hamblin, Manager of Swine Health, at jhamblin@manitobapork.com or 204-2354442. “In the first quarter it’s noticeable that Erysipelas is always out there in the background but, when farms quit vaccinating, it seems that the clinical signs start to flare up again so we are noticing that,” said Dr. Jette Christensen. “Being the first quarter of the year, many cold weeks and that might have triggered or affected the occurrence of Rotavirus and Greasy Pig; both diseases saw a slight increase in the reporting of them.” Dr. Christensen said practitioners saw an increase in the occurrence of Influenza and, at the same time, the laboratories said there is a slight shift in the strains they diagnosed. “Now the pandemic H1N1 seems to be popping up a little bit more again, but the source of this pandemic H1N1 is uncertain,” she said. “We cannot say for sure where it comes from.” Dr. Christensen said certain strains of Influenza spread more easily than others and some strains spread more easily from people to pigs and from pigs to people. “I encourage the vaccination of swine barn workers at the start of flu season, and any swine barn workers with any flu-like symptoms should refrain from going into swine barns.” In light of disease out-
breaks, there are Federal livestock traceability requirements on the horizon to assist those who work to control and help eradicate the diseases and for assurance to customers. Livestock traceability has three foundational pillars, identification of locations, animal identification and reporting movements of animals from one place to another. Pigs are the only species group that currently fulfills all three pillars at a national level through the PigTRACE Canada program, mandatory under Federal regulations since July 1, 2014. Those same regulations (Part XV of the Federal Health of Animals Regulations) are edging closer to requiring all three traceability pillars for bison, cattle, farmed deer, goats and sheep. Some of those species have had long-standing requirements for animal identification. Movement reporting requirements will be new additions to those sectors. Manitoba Pork said consultations between livestock groups and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in 2013 and again in 2015 have attempted to outline the design of the requirements. “CFIA has summarized the feedback and worked internally within the Canadian government to draft proposed regulatory changes for a public comment period of 75 days. The proposed regulatory changes will be available in Canada Gazette 1, perhaps as early as June 2018,” said Jeff Clark, Director, PigTRACE Canada.
The AgriPost
June 29, 2018
It’s a Bug-Eat-Bug World Bugs that eat bugs fascinate Dr. Poonam Singh. The instructor and researcher at Assiniboine Community College is studying the effectiveness of using “good bugs” to control pests that injure and sometimes kill plants. Dr. Singh is the first instructor at Assiniboine to receive a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) of $25,000 from the Engage program. Using “biological control agents” can reduce and even eliminate the need for spraying chemical pesticides on the plants, said Dr. Singh. “Resistance is developed so fast in this pest world. Then you have to go to an even stronger pesticide. This is a pesticide treadmill. Once you are on it, you can never get off it. You are just paving the way for having stronger, more resistant pests,” she said. “These biologicals, they are safe and economical. They provide a long-term solution. They’re very good for the customers, who don’t want pesticides on their plants. They’re good for the environment and they work really well.” The bugs that are used to control the pests are either predators or parasitoids. Predators eat the pests. Parasitoids lay their eggs in the pests, killing them in the process. “Eventually, when there are no more pests, the good bugs just die as part of
their natural cycle.” The practice of using biological control agents is already widespread in greenhouses used to grow vegetables. But many flower and shrub nurseries still use chemicals to kill pests as the cheapest way to protect plants from damage. One of the requirements of the NSERC Engage grant is recruiting an industry partner who will benefit from the research. Dr. Singh contacted Shelmerdine Garden Centre in Headingley, just west of Winnipeg, after hearing from a source in the industry that it was starting to use biological control agents in its greenhouses. “They were very keen on getting this started, but they hadn’t been as successful as they had hoped,” Dr. Singh said. “We are developing a customized integrated pest management program for them, using biological control agents. They told me they get almost 20 per cent economic loss because of the pests in their nursery. If we can somehow reduce plant damage using bio-control agents, it’s going to reduce their economic loss and increase their sales.” Even though it was not required to, Shelmerdine committed $1,000 to the project. More importantly, it made in-kind contributions of plants and staff time. Dr. Singh has visited the garden centre many times training greenhouse staff to run the program, while helping the
marketing staff sell it to pesticide-wary consumers. Shelmerdine Vice-President Chad Labbe said his team has, “Really enjoyed working with Poonam and her students for this project. We have learned a tremendous amount during this process and look forward to learning more as the season continues.” If the program at Shelmerdine is successful, Dr. Singh will make presentations to the Manitoba Landscape and Nursery Association, hoping to spread the practice throughout the industry. The project is a great opportunity for students to “learn by doing,” Assiniboine’s motto. One student, Tiffany Nykolyshyn, works on the project as a research intern, funded by the NSERC grant. Two other students work on the project as part of their course practicum. Dr. Singh has also taken the whole class from both her Sustainable Food Systems program and her Horticultural Production program twice to Shelmerdine to help identify and monitor the pests. “The students will help us make decisions about implementing this program. They will be able to see the live implementation of this program. And they will learn from this real-world situation.” Dr. Singh first piloted her program by pitting good bugs against bad ones inside the sustainable greenhouse at the college’s North Hill campus in Brandon, with
students helping to initiate the program. Thrips, a common pest, lay their eggs inside leaves, hatch as larvae and eat the leaves, pupate in the growing media and emerge as adults to lay more eggs. A mite known as Amblyseius cucumeris “Is a very effective predator. She will eat both adults and larvae, although her preferred stage is larvae.” When the thrips pupate inside the growing media, they can be attacked with small worms, known as entomopathic nematodes or Steinernema feltiae. “They get inside and reproduce and eat everything inside the pupae. The pupae will be dissolved and these nematodes will be released and increase in number,” Dr. Singh said.
Thrips are “bad bugs” that eat the leaves of plants. Photo by Katja Schulz.
When the mites had so many larvae available that they did not want to eat the adult thrips, Dr. Singh introduced the Minute Pirate bug, Orius insidiosus. “This bug specifically goes after thrip adults. When the thrips are not there, she feeds on pollen and survives on that.” Dr. Singh began rearing her own beneficial insects inside the college’s sustainable greenhouse, which provides the perfect environment for her research, she said.
Minute Pirate bugs are “good bugs” that eat thrips.
Her future research projects may include study of “biofertilizer” using the waste products from organic materials to enhance plant health.
Assiniboine agriculture instructor Dr. Poonam Singh, right, discusses how good bugs can fight bad bugs with, from left, Assiniboine student Gopin Patel, Shelmerdine employee Stephanie Walker and Assiniboine research intern Tiffany Nykolyshyn.
The Benefits of Dual Valuation Before becoming an insurance broker, I spent three wonderful years working for a farm in southern Manitoba. I grew up loving the farm life but had no experience until I was given the opportunity to work on a farm. Day two on the job, I was handed the keys to the tractor and told to seed barley. Needless to say, the learning curve was steep. Among all of the lessons that I learned, one that I remember to this day – it is important to insure your farm machinery! Insuring your farm machinery provides important protection for all sorts of things that could go wrong. For example, if your employee fails to navigate a corner properly in the field, and runs into a culvert, power pole or even the implement
behind the tractor and causes damage, your farm insurance coverage should respond. Or if you decide to haul your new cultivator back to the dealership for service work using your half ton truck and you fail to navigate the first corner you take and end up “wheels up” in the ditch, your farm insurance coverage should respond. If your tractor fails to start in the cold of winter, and while using some additional heat to warm up the block, your tractor is now engulfed in flames, your farm insurance coverage should respond. One important additional coverage option for farm machinery is referred to as “dual valuation”. Most farm machinery is valued on an actual cash value basis – comparable to market value. For example, in the event that your well-loved
yard tractor suffers a tragic “additional heat accident” and fire damages the motor, the insurance policy would respond to pay to replace the damaged motor. However, the policy would pay for the actual cash value of the motor, which will include a percentage not covered due to depreciation. So, if the motor replacement would cost $30,000, but your previous motor was deemed to have 35% depreciation, the total payment received from the insurance company would be the $30,000 less 35% for depreciation, less your policy deductible. If your policy is endorsed with “dual valuation”, the depreciation factor is removed from partial losses to your machinery. In the previous example, having dual valuation would make a difference of $10,500. With the rising costs of farm ma-
chinery, we see partial losses also increasing. This makes the dual valuation endorsement even more valuable while protecting your farm machinery. It’s been a dozen years since I last farmed, but I believe to this day I am still being blamed for every machinery fail on the farm. Some people need a lifetime to achieve legendary status, others need only three years!
Be sure to seek advice and purchase insurance from those who understand your business! David Schmidt is an Account Executive and Rempel Insurance Brokers in Morris, MB, specializing in insuring farms and businesses across Manitoba and
Saskatchewan. David is a member of the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors, Winnipeg Chapter. For further information contact office 204-746-2320, Text 204712-6618, email davids@ rempelinsurance.com or visit rempelinsurance.com.
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June 29, 2018
The AgriPost
The AgriPost
Tariffs Affect Hog Producers on Both Sides of the Border By Harry Siemens When pork producers and industry representatives from around the world met in Des Moines for World Pork Expo 2018 trade was among the top issues discussed. Dr. Dermot Hayes, a Professor and Pioneer Chair in Agribusiness with Iowa State University predicted that the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on US pork would shift the profitability of US pork producers from break even to losing money. Hayes said the reaction to US tariffs imposed on imported aluminum and steel was swift and for the pork industry it is costly. “China placed a 25 percent duty on US pork April 1 and in the week before and afterward US live hog prices stretching out a full year were down significantly. That’s in part because some of the products we export to China don’t have another alternative market,” he said. “Mexico imposed a 10 percent duty on US hams and shoulders, and that will go to 20 percent in early July. The average producer in Iowa was expecting a break-even year where they just covered their total costs with no extra profit.” He said it looks like producers will average about nine dollars loss per head over the course of a year. The drop in current future contracts was more significant than that but the reduction in the prospects further out were less. That was because of the China tariff im-
pact. “There has not really been a Mexico impact in part because Mexican ham buyers, realizing that the duty is going to go from 10 to 20, are buying hams right now rather than pay a 20 percent duty and also because there are all sorts of leaks out of the administration that none of this is permanent,” he said. Dr. Hayes said other nations are also upset with the United States over the aluminum and steels issue and there is concern that Japan might impose retaliatory duties on pork as well. He pointed out that the US ships a lot of pork to Canada, but Canada ships even more to the US and he suspects, if Canada imposes duties on the US, it will not touch pork because Canada has a positive trade balance in pork. George Matheson, the Chair of Manitoba Pork said factors that have lowered the value of hogs produced in the United States are also hurting Canadian pork producers. Representatives of Manitoba Pork were in Des Moines, IA last week participating in World Pork Expo meeting informally with American pork producers and US political leaders. High on the agenda were retaliatory tariffs imposed on US pork by China and Mexico in response to US tariffs on aluminum and steel. Matheson said a lot of the pork consumed in Canada originates in the US and a lot of the weanlings pro-
duced in Manitoba go into the US masking the two sectors highly integrated. Producers in Canada and the US deal with the same issues and both favour a free and open border making the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement a top concern. “We don’t like trade impediments so we’d like to see NAFTA stay as it is. We’re also concerned about swine health, hoping that we’re on top of diseases on both sides of the border and continuing to push biosecurity and fight against disease transfer and also social responsibility and public affair concerns are always something high on our agenda,” he said. “In Canada, we’re very concerned about issues between US and Mexican pork trade. Producers in Canada, because of our lack of packers, take the US national price as their pork price so if the American producers are doing well, in response Canadian producers will be doing well, so we don’t want to see anything jeopardize US pork trade and put them into a price depression. Ultimately, Matheson would like to see US pork moving freely to both Mexico and China.
Tariffs Put U.S. Farmers in Jeopardy North Dakota farmer Kevin Skunes, President of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), made the following statement after the White House announced plans to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico, triggering potential retaliatory actions against American agriculture. “Farmers are busy with planting season but are moving forward without knowing who will buy their crop when it’s harvested later this year.
With a 52 percent drop in net farm income over the last five years and depressed commodity prices, this is not the time to face such a burden. This uncertainty impacts every step of the agriculture economy, from securing financing to marketing,” said Skunes. “Imposing tariffs has the potential to undermine positive relationships with our closest allies and erode long-standing market access. NCGA urges policymakers to strengthen cooperation with our trading partners and stay at the nego-
tiating table.” Founded in 1957, the National Corn Growers Association represents nearly 40,000 dues-paying corn farmers nationwide in the United States and the interests of more than 300,000 growers who contribute through corn checkoff programs in their states. NCGA and its 49 affiliated state organizations work together to create and increase opportunities for corn growers.
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US and Canadian Farm Groups Support Strong Trading Partnership The leaders of the US National Farmers Union (NFU) and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) released a joint statement urging Canadian and US officials to preserve the strong, longstanding trade relationship between the two countries. CFA President Ron Bonnett and NFU President Roger Johnson issued the joint statement, “American and Canadian farmers and ranchers have long enjoyed a positive and rewarding trading relationship based on mutual respect and economic cooperation.
Our nations trade more than $40 billion (USD) in agricultural products each year, and that number continues to climb as new opportunities arise between our markets. Given the global food and on-farm challenges we are facing and will face in the future, American and Canadian farmers need the certainty that the Canada-U.S. trading relationship has provided for our farm products. To disrupt this relationship would be detrimental for farmers on both sides of the
border, as our agricultural sectors are heavily integrated and, to a large extent, rely upon one another for each other’s success. No heated rhetoric nor inflammatory remark could possibly represent the positive sentiment that American and Canadian farmers share for each other’s nation. We urge our respective officials to engage in positive discourse that protects the strong trade ties that benefit American and Canadian farmers alike.”
MacAulay Concludes Visit to Texas Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay travelled to Texas recently where he highlighted longstanding historical trade links between the US and Canada and emphasized the two countries’ integrated transportation networks. He noted that Texas sells some $27 billion in goods and services to Canada annually and that approximately 460,000 jobs in the state rely on trade and investment with Canada. Texas ranks 9th of all 50 US states in terms of agricultural imports from Canada. In Dallas, MacAulay spoke to delegates at the World Meat Congress on the opportunities and challenges of feeding a growing world population. The Minister highlighted the vital importance of innova-
tion and science, collaboration and trade partnerships in helping feed the world in a sustainable way. His speech was followed by addresses from his United States and Argentina counterparts, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Minister of Agroindustry Luis Miguel Etchevehere, respectively. MacAulay also met with Etchevehere to discuss Canada’s deepening trade relationship with the South American nation. The trip to Texas gave MacAulay the opportunity to meet with US government officials at all levels, including the Mayor of Dallas, Mike Rawlings, and Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas, to emphasize Canada’s
commitment to NAFTA and ongoing negotiations. MacAulay joined Canada Pork International, the Canadian Pork Council, Canada Beef and the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, as well as their Texan and American industry counterparts, for a roundtable discussion on the importance of the Canada-US trade relationship. And in Fort Worth, he visited with officials from Mother Parker’s Tea & Coffee, a firm founded and headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, but which relies on efficient North American transportation networks to move its goods, helping it be the fourth-largest roaster on the continent.
Fulton Puts Pork Trade and Tariffs into Perspective
By Harry Siemens Tyler Fulton, the Director of Risk Management with h@ms Marketing Services said higher US. pork production combined with uncertain demand due to Chinese and Mexican tariffs on US pork would put significant downward pressure on North American hog markets through the fourth quarter. A 25 percent duty imposed by China on US pork and a 10 percent duty imposed by Mexico on US hams and pork shoulders that will rise to 20 percent in July has created a great deal of uncertainty as we head toward the fourth quarter where producers could produce about five percent more pork produced in the US than last year. Fulton said Mexico and China represent two of the top four destinations for US pork with Mexico being number one in volume and probably number two in value and China is number four or number five depending on the year. “With the recent rally that we’ve seen over the last week or so in the hog markets I think that there are some good opportunities to be hedged at near breakeven levels,” he said. Fulton qualified his statement
by pointing out that the current forward prices are better than the cash prices when compared to last year between September and December as well as over the last three year average. “Although we’re looking at more production and more uncertainty on the export front, one can hedge at higher levels than what the cash markets have averaged either last year or when you compare to something more of an average, like the three-year average,” said Fulton. Canada uses US pricing points as the critical dynamic feature of their hog pricing formula, so when US hog prices decline, that lowers the cost that Canadian producers get. “I believe a fairly healthy hedge would be something as heavy as 50 percent of production from that September to December time frame but going even heavier than that on further rallies given that the uncertainty on the export side doesn’t seem to be diminishing,” he said. The current focus is on assessing the tariff impact of 20
percent to pork, in particular hams and pork shoulders that go to Mexico. “I think you need to put it in context. The supply increases that we see far exceed the weight of any one export country,” he said. “Mexico does represent probably in the neighbourhood of seven percent of total US pork, and so, if you apply a 20 percent tariff on that, there’s no doubt it’s significant, but it wouldn’t result in likely double-digit percent losses in price.” Fulton said domestically a lot depends on the US economy and how pork compares in price with some of the competing meats like beef and chicken. “Pork is still well positioned with domestic demand in good shape, but we’re probably calling on North Americans to consume possibly one and a half pounds more pork this year than last year, and that will likely command discounts to clear the heavy supply,” said Fulton.
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June 29, 2018
The AgriPost
The AgriPost
June 29, 2018
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Growing Crops for STARS
Growing for STARS Billboard
A STARS helicopter comes in for a landing in a soybean field south of Portage La Prairie. Verwey Farms has announced they will be donating the profits from the 40 acre crop of soybeans to STARS.
STARS pilot Ian Bonnell poses for a photo with members of the Verwey family, which operates Verwey Farms in the Portage La Prairie area. The family has announced they will be donating the profits from 40 acres of soybeans to STARS and is challenging their fellow Manitoba farm families to do the same.
By Les Kletke Jill Verway has never had anyone in her family use the service and she hopes she never has to but she realizes the value of an air ambulance in rural areas and wants to insure its future. Verway is the mother of an active family and farm partner. “We have kids that snowmobile and are out on quads,” she said. “We know that sometimes they are in remote areas and the work that STARS does is so necessary in rural areas.” She and husband Ray have been active supporters of their local hospital through fundraisers but this spring a radiothon got them wanting to do more. “Ray and his brother Jerry wanted to do something more so they came up with the idea of growing 40 acres of soybeans and donating the profits to STARS,” said Verway. The idea grew and they asked their local suppliers to help out with the input costs. “We asked the people who we deal with and the response has been overwhelming,” she said. “The companies got involved immediately, they liked the idea of doing something for the community.” Verway would like other farmers and other communities to get involved in the same way and extends a challenge for farmers to take on a similar project. “It is a service we hope we never have to use but it is so important,” said Verway. “So we would like to see more people get involved with a project that raises some funds for STARS.” The family runs a mixed operation with 110 head dairy, 250 cow beef operation and cropping 6, 500 acres including beans. “They look really good,” she said about their bean crop. “We have been lucky in our area with some showers going through and the crops look good, pastures have been slow because of the weather but they are coming around.” Daughter Lindsay who graduated from the School of Agriculture this spring is the Chair of the Canadian Charolais Youth Association National Show that will be held in Brandon in July. “There are over 80 youth already registered for the event and 60 parents, so we are looking forward to that, but things do get a little busy around here,” she said with a chuckle. Verway is also a member of the KAP executive as well as serving on the local hospital board in Portage la Prairie. “We would like to see more people get involved in their community and extend a challenge to them to help with STARS.”
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June 29, 2018
The AgriPost
The AgriPost
2018 Tractor Trek a Success
The 2018 Tractor Trek was held on June 9th, starting from the Mennonite Heritage Village and winding its way through the countryside with stops at Neufeld Garage in Randolph, Unger Farms south of Mitchell, and afternoon “Faspa” at a farm by Giroux then back to Steinbach. Lunch was hosted by Unger Meats with a BBQ and display of antique tractors belonging to Unger Farms. There was a good selection of different makes and models of antique tractors on the ride. Photos by Myriam Dyck
Newest Nuffield Scholar Looks to the Future
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Don’t Let Fusarium Upset Your Season Cereals Canada would like to remind growers that presence of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) in wheat, barley and oats may upset their opportunities to market their crop. Also commonly known as vomitoxin, DON is harmful to humans and animals at high levels. “Domestic processors and export customers are increasingly testing shipments for mycotoxins,” said Brenna Mahoney, Director of Communications and stakeholder relations with Cereals Canada. “Shipments that exceed acceptable levels of DON could be rejected, which is a tremendous cost to the industry and may impact Canada’s reputation as a producer of high-quality cereal grains.” DON can be produced when fusarium head blight (FHB) infects cereal crops. FHB is a fungal disease, recognized by premature bleaching and salmon-coloured fungal growth on the heads of crops it has infected. FHB increases production costs, reduces yields and decreases grain quality. The production of DON by some fusarium species further limits the grain’s end uses and marketing potential, as most importing countries have strict limits on DON levels.
“Using best management practices to identify fusarium early and putting together a plan to manage the disease is very important,” said Mahoney. To keep Canada’s markets open for all and preserve your crop marketing opportunities, Cereals Canada recommends growers take steps in fusarium management by growing fusarium-resistant varieties, applying a fungicide when there is an elevated risk of FHB, plan crop rotations to manage fusarium, plant clean seed and consider a seed treatment in high-risk areas to improve the crop stand and use a combination of best management practices to control fusarium. The agricultural departments in each province have relevant material on their websites, including risk maps, and producers are encouraged to make use of the provincial specific materials available. “When we all work together to protect Canada’s reputation as a trusted supplier, it helps our entire industry thrive,” says Mahoney. “By keeping fusarium damaged grain and mycotoxins to a minimum, growers are protecting their investment and protecting market access for all.”
Ryan Boyd of Forrest is Manitoba’s newest Nuffield Scholar. He will travel to Iowa in March of 2019 and on to the scholar program following that.
By Les Klekte Ryan Boyd is Manitoba’s newest Nuffield Scholar and while he has defined his area of study, he makes it clear that he is not closing the door to other concepts that might work into his home farm situation now or in the future. The home farm is South Glanton Farm at Forrest and he chuckles about the name. “There was community here called Glanton, it is gone now, but when Dad was naming the farm he was south of where the community was so that is how the name came about,” he said. The farm consists of 2,000 acres of small grain cropping and 300 commercial
cows that are calved in June. His father is still involved in the busy times but Boyd has taken over the management and decision making. Ryan and wife Sarah have two children Piper 4, and Bingham 1 who have not yet decided on their future in the operation and for now love the open space it provides. Boyd will be studying grazing of annual forages and how they can fit into a suitable livestock operation. “We have always been concerned about soil health,” he said. “So I want to look at somethings that we can incorporate into our farm to ensure profitability and sustainability.” He
credits visits from Nuffield Scholars to their farm as making him aware of the program and encouraging him to apply. “This seemed like the year to do it, so I applied and want to thank the Western Grains Foundations for their sponsorship in making this possible,” said Boyd. He is hoping to get in some international travel early in 2019 before the International Scholars meeting in Des Moines, Iowa in March and then hopes to travel with the International Focus Group. He is counting on the network of farmers to add to his resources. “I have a topic
of study but I want to remain open to new ideas from the people I meet,” he said. “The learning is just different when you meet face to face and visit someone’s farm.” He has followed other Nuffield Scholars on social media but said that getting to see where things happen on the ground provides a different type of learning. His topic is Grazing Ruminants as a resilient solution for long-term agriculture profitability productivity and climate change, and he is ready for the experience Nuffield will provide.
Wheat florets with fusarium head blight and showing orangish sporulation. Photo by Kelly Turkington
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The AgriPost
Heat and Drought Hurts Early Vegetable Crops
Tripp Wylde staffs the Little Red Barn on Trans Canada Highway. The stand offered local tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers by mid June.
By Les Kletke Ask Pam Frank about the possibility of which one of her vegetable crops could provide a bumper and she answers quickly, “None of them, if it doesn’t rain soon.” The Portage area vegetable grower spends some of her time in the classroom as an early year’s teacher and the rest of her time tending to 30 acres of vegetables. It has become somewhat of a family tradition and the third generation is now involved. “My mother started the stand 30 years ago from the back of the truck and then she got a shack on the south side of the highway, and then the current structure,” said Frank of the Little Red Barn which is a familiar site on the north side of the Trans-Canada highway just east of Portage la Prairie.
She grew up helping her mother with the operation and her family has been involved with it and her son who is an agronomist looks after ordering the seed which for 30 acres of vegetables is a considerable task. Last year the family added greenhouse production to the operation. Frank said that has been a learning curve. By mid-June the stand offered greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. “Production is up from last year but still not where they would like it to be,” she said. “We are learning. Last year we did not open the sides of the greenhouse and it got too hot, this year we rolled up the sides and it is better, but we still have a lot to learn.” She said that some of their 30 acres is along the La Salle
River and they did irrigate when they transplanted but have not begun irrigation on the fields. “It is a lot of work and we only have two small pumps so we are waiting for rain.” The family does most of the work themselves and relies on a few nieces and a nephew for help during the busy times or friends of her sons. Tripp Wylde is a friend of Taylor one of her sons and views the Little Red Barn as a place of summer employment. He is working through the summer to earn money for University where he plans to study computer science. ”It is a good job, it is outside and I like working with people,” he said as he staffs the stand and answers questions on the origins of most vegetables for would be customers.
More Wheat and Grains, Less Canola, Soybeans in 2018’s Crop By Elmer Heinrichs Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), in its June 2018 outlook, projects that the areas seeded to wheat and coarse grains are expected to increase and more than offset the decrease in the area seeded to oilseeds, peas and lentils. The total area seeded to field crops in Canada is expected to be marginally higher than 2017-18. Since progress of the growing season average or trend yields are assumed with a high degree of variability in conditions leading up to the harvest. However, AAFC is currently forecasting a slight decrease in total production and supply in Canada. While world grain prices
continue to be pressured by an abundant supply of grain, the impact on grain prices in Canada will be partly mitigated by the low value of the Canadian dollar. Looking at oats, the report notes that due to its logistical advantage, Manitoba has had contracts offered in the $3/bu plus range. The price outlook for oats in Canada for 2018-19 is good due to expectations of a smaller oat supply in the US, and other factors. For 2018-19, canola seeded area in Canada is forecast to decrease to 8.7 million hectares (Mha) from 9.3 Mha last year. Steady rains will be required to achieve normal yields with subsoil moisture reserves remaining
depleted. Production is forecast to fall to 19.2 Mt versus last year’s record 21.3 Mt on the expected decline in harvested area. For 2018-19, soybean planted area is forecast to fall by 11 per cent to 2.6 Mha, the sharpest decline in soybean area in Canadian history and a reversal of the long-run trend of steadily increasing acreage in Canada. The decline is due to attractive wheat prices, dry weather across western Canada where most of the declined occurred and burdensome world soybean supplies. Soybean production is forecast to fall by 7 per cent to 7.2 Mt, but prices are predicted to increase slightly to $430 - $470 tonne.
The AgriPost
Pay Attention to the End Market for Feed By Les Kletke John McGregor has been with the Green Gold Alfalfa Monitoring Program since its inception in 1995 when he was with Manitoba Agriculture. He is now administering the program for the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association. While the program collects data from across the province it provides some guidelines for general recommendations of cutting. It declares Hay Day when the rfv (relative feed value) of forage is 170 across the province. “This year that was June 8 which is right on average,” he said. “We have seen that date vary from May 28 to June 18 but this year was average despite the cool start, a bit of rain and some warmer temperatures brought things along quickly.” The 170 value is a bench mark and hay quality will decrease from that point but McGregor said it is up to producers to decide when to cut and balance between higher quality feed and more volume as the crop continues to grow. “The key is knowing your market, your animals,” he said. “If you are feeding a high producing dairy herd you want to have a feed value of 130-150. If you are feeding bred cows in the third trimester of pregnancy you want an rfv of 115-125 and if you are feeding dry cows you can get by with a feed value of 100115.” He said that the decline in
feed value is relatively constant at 4-7 points a day and producers can gauge their cutting from the Hay Day province wide or if they are looking for more exact management tools they can find a number for their area. “The program has cooperators province wide,” said McGregor. “And you can get numbers more representative of your area but this is a guideline.” He said he receives questions about why the program ends after Hay Day and first cut. “Conditions vary drasti-
cally after that,” he said. “Depending on the time of cutting and the weather for regrowth, so the numbers don’t have as much value after that. To borrow an adage form baseball, ‘everyone is equal on opening day and after that things change’.” McGregor expressed that producers should pay attention to the end market for their feed and make decisions on cutting accordingly. “If you need a high quality feed it is important to watch the rfv and weather to get that window of quality hay,” he said.
John McGregor has been with the Green Gold Program since its beginning in 1995. He said this year Hay Day occurred June 8, right on the average.
New Projects Welcomed to Manitoba Foodgrains Family By Elmer Heinrichs Gordon Janzen, Regional Coordinator of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank is excited for the start of the crop season and the caliber of grow projects in Manitoba. “I expect that we have about the same number of growing projects as last year, around 35, with close to 5,000 acres involved in these Manitoba growing projects,” said Janzen Janzen also highlighted two projects that are starting this year. One is a community project of 130 acres in the Stonewall area, and another is the Anglican Grow Hope project of just 15 acres south of Manitou, which is bringing together urban and rural supporters in this farming project. At Stonewall the Rock Solid Growing Project, orig-
inates from the New Life Church. This group already contributed to the Food Bank last year, and now this year they will have a community field project as well with 130 acres of canola. On Sunday, June 3, almost 200 people gathered at St. Luke’s Pembina Crossing Church for a rogation service celebrating the first ever Rupert’s Land Anglican Grow Hope project. The service was held in a tent outside the church building, with displays from Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund. Chris, Leianne, and Jonathan Lea are the generous farming family that is growing the crop for the Anglican Grow Hope project. Recently the Manitoba Grow Hope project announced that
new farmers have offered land to the project this season. These farmers are Bernie and Audrey Brandt, of Blumenort, H&M Farms, of Altona, Silverwinds Colony, near Sperling and Robert and Ellen Stevenson, in the Rivers/Kenton area. Returning farmers include Grant and Colleen Dyck of Artel Farms in Niverville and Crystal Spring Colony near Ste. Agathe. On crop conditions Janzen said, “It’s good that there was some rain last week. However it seems rains have been spotty and there was a strip of land in the southwest, near Boissevain and up to Ninette, which was affected by hail damage. The extent of the damage is still being assessed.” Still overall, he said, crops are growing well, and beginning to head out.
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The AgriPost
June 29, 2018
Gardening Is a Forever Learning Experience
One of Terri Kohut arrangements in an antique container. Photograph by Terri Kohut
By Joan Airey Listening to the news on TV the other day I learned there are several Facebook pages geared to the home gardener. The Manitoba Gardener and Winnipeg Gardener are the two I checked out. I joined the Manitoba Gardener and now I get to see beautiful photographs of fellow gardeners’ gardens and learn about new plants and how other gardeners deal with plant problems. Through Manitoba Gar-
dener I met Terri Kohut from East St. Paul. Kohut is an avid gardener who creates living plant arrangements for indoors and outdoors. She promotes her business Garden of Eden Gifts on Facebook displaying many arrangements. “I’m always looking for unique one of kind planters to put my outdoor or indoor arrangements in. My winter arrangements are often cactus and succulents that I grow indoors under lights,” said Kohut.
“I take my arrangements to Craft Sales like the Mother’s Day one at Club Regent. I enjoy starting all my plants in my greenhouse and entering my yard in garden competitions.” This past week I visited Walkers Greenhouse east of Rivers. I had good intentions when I planned my visit to buy only one large planter with a giant Patio tomato plant. The plan was to continue having tomatoes after my cobra tomatoes finished producing in the greenhouse and until my garden tomatoes are ripe. As it turned out my friend Deb and I left with a truck full. We had more than one tomato plant and several hanging baskets of strawberries that the grandchildren next door would love. Also carted away was one advanced watermelon plant to try to get a watermelon sooner than the ones I’d transplanted in the garden earlier. Travis Walker the owner tells me he plans to have a display of plants for sale at
Rivers Agricultural Fair on July 4. Last year he had a beautiful display of hanging baskets and before the day was over he was sold out. I did move one of my patio tomato plants to an even bigger pot after I got it home because the rains are missing us this year and our yard gets very hot with trees on all sides. I try to water my plants regularly but some days when you leave home its cool and then the thermometer gets to the high twenties by mid-afternoon. Karla on the Lawn and Garden show from St. Mary’s nursery said you can now buy liquid copper to spray your tomatoes instead of using the copper powder. If I was going to Winnipeg I would call at St. Mary’s garden centre and buy some. I googled it and wasn’t able to find where else to buy it but I’m going to search for it this week since I find the powder hard to mix. I hope everyone’s garden is thriving. I know that mine needs a drink!
Hanging baskets in Walkers Greenhouse.
Patio tomatoes in Walkers Greenhouse, makes us look forward to ripe tomatoes again soon. Photos by Joan Airey
The AgriPost
Know Your Cost of Production
By Les Kletke Ben Hamm, a presenter at the recent Manitoba Hay Day, stressed to producers that they should, “Know your cost of production. That is the only one that matters in your operation.” Hamm is based in the Vita office of Manitoba Agriculture and works with producers in the area, to find the best options for feeding in their system. He has been involved in developing the Manitoba Agriculture budget sheets for hay production but advises producers to use the sheets on line. “They are excel spread sheets,” he said. “They allow you to put in your numbers and calculate the cost of feed on your farm. That is the first step to ensuring a profit; know what your true costs are.” Hamm said the budget sheets provided by Manitoba Ag are a good guideline but should be viewed as exactly that, a guideline. “The day we produced them they were out of date, when we were working on them fuel costs were 85 cents a litre, we
know what has happened to fuel costs since winter, you have to view it as a moving target and work with the numbers on your farm.” He went on to provide a cost comparison of corn silage versus alfalfa grass mixes and said that while corn did provide a good return the cost was considerably more. “You have to be comfortable with the cost and the risk involved in your situation,” he said. “You may not want to insure the costs of corn silage on your farm.” He recognized the weather had been a problem this spring and the lack of moisture contributed to what would be a small first cut of feed. He suggested contacting the local MASC office to get details on some of the programs available and to consider insurance for years like this. “There is some good coverage available and our numbers show that on alfalfa silage insurance coverage provides coverage for 132% of the cost of production while corn is right at 100%,” said Hamm. “You
Ben Hamm of Manitoba Agriculture advises producers to use provincial budgets as guidelines but use their own numbers to finalize plans.
should be making sure that you have the coverage needed to cover the costs on your farm.” Hamm stressed that there is no one answer for a feed program that is right for everyone. “You have to consider your operation and what your costs are, and develop a program that works on your farm. When you know your costs, you can move on making the decisions that will make you money.”
Soil Contamination in Silage is the Biggest Concern By Les Kletke The presentation was called, ‘All you Ever Wanted to Know about Making Silage’ but Dr. Tim McAllister broke it down to a few key points. McAllister a researcher with Agriculture Canada in Lethbridge, Alberta was the featured speaker at a Hay Day sponsored by Manitoba Agriculture that was held in Friedensfeld this June. McAllister said that only a few percentage points make the difference in good feed and what is just acceptable. “Producers by and large do a good job and it is about the fine tuning, to do the little things right that make an even better feed,” he said. “And the biggest factor is the weather.” McAllister left no doubt about covering a silage pile. “All research shows that it is a good investment,” he said. “The cost of the plastic is always a good return by the quality of feed.” He does encourage producers to put up silage with their usage rate in mind. “Face management is an important factor in controlling waste of the feed,” said McAllister.
“You want to put up your feed in a manner that you use 10-15 centimetres a day of feed that reduces the waste from spoilage at the face.” McAllister spent some time discussing barley silage which is much more common in Alberta than in Manitoba. “We see a lot of it in Alberta and it is not as common here, but if you are putting up barley silage we suggest the mid dough stage. When you squeeze the kernel there should be no milk coming out,” he said. Fielding questions about varietal differences for barley silage he said, “There is a difference in varieties but not enough that we can make a recommendation on one variety over another and location and weather conditions vary so much that a variety that is best at Lethbridge may not be best in southern Manitoba.” He recommended the use of inoculants in silage but suggests they be viewed as insurance rather than a silver bullet. “They do fill a need but look at them as insurance, that will help the process along,” he said. “There
are good and bad microbes and you want to avoid the bad microbes.” He said a common source of bad microbes in silage is soil contamination. McAllister suggested that more attention be paid to soil contamination and eliminating it rather than focusing too much on other factors. His research showed that maturity of the plants being ensilaged accounts for 60% of the quality of the feed, with storage contributing 15%, and weather at time of cutting 10%.
Researcher Dr. Tim McAllister of Lethbridge, a featured speaker at a Manitoba Agriculture sponsored Hay Day said that soil contamination in silage is a serious concern.
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Implement a Good Pinkeye Control Program in Cattle By Peter Vitti I’m hearing about more cases of pinkeye in cows and in their calves than in the last few years. A few milder winters might have had something to do with it, when not enough overwintering faceflies were killed off. Even if my opinion was pure speculation, each new case of this insidious disease should always alert cattle people, so they may implement a good pinkeye control program on their farms. Each cow or calf infected with untreated painful pinkeye (caused by the Moraxella bovis bacteria) has a good chance of going blind in the diseased eye. It practically makes any semi-blind animal worth hundreds of dollars less than good seeing herd-mates; whether it’s a cow that cannot find a mineral feeder and becomes so mineral/ vitamin deficient that she fails to rebreed or it’s a hungry calf that doesn’t come up to the creep feeder. As a result, it has a lower saleable weaning-weight in the fall-time. When we treat and save a cow/calf with pinkeye, nobody should disagree that it is indispensable to its continued profitability. However, I propose that such effective therapeutic action should parallel a good pinkeye control program outlined in a three-way protocol: 1. Know symptoms of pinkeye in cattle and the life-cycle of its transmitter - the face-fly. 2. Put the cattle on a well-balanced mineral (and vitamin) feeding program. 3. Make strategic use of insecticides upon cattle grazing pasture. My first protocol encourages a walk through the cowherd on a regular basis. Watch out for signs of pinkeye. It stands to reason that a runny eye in cattle creates a pool from the tear-ducts in which the Moraxella bovis bacteria love to thrive. The initial source of eye irritation may come from abrasive pasture grass, or dusty ground in pasture areas, but by far the main reason for cattle eyes to water excessively is the common face-fly. Instinctively, the face-fly is attracted to the cattle’s eyes and has abrasive sponging mouthparts that stimulate the cattle eye to tear, so they can feed off the liquid secretions. In this way, face flies play a major role in the transmission of pinkeye amongst individual cattle in the herd because they move from one animal to another transferring M. bovis from the eyes of affected animals to healthy ones. These flies also cause small scratches on the conjunctiva and corneas of the eyes when they feed, which makes it much easier for the M. bovis organisms to enter and infect eye tissues. Like many other cattle fly pests, face flies go through a four-stage metamorphosis that encompasses about 21 – 25 days. Adult females lay their eggs in fresh manure. Then the fertilized eggs quickly hatch and the subsequent larva lives and feeds under encrusted manure. Once it matures, the larva crawls out and into the adjacent soil in order to pupate. About a week later, a fully formed fly emerges from pupa in the soil. Unlike the smaller common horn-
fly, the mature face fly spends only about 10% of its life on the body (head) of cattle. Otherwise, it lives on pasture grasses, trees, fences and rocks. Once the weather gets cold, face flies move off pasture and overwinter in farm buildings. Understanding pinkeye and the facefly in the first protocol has little to do directly with the second protocol of pinkeye control, but there is a definite link. I believe that a good trace mineral program should be provided in order to promote healthy eye tissue and surrounding areas as well as strengthen immunity against this disease. Therefore, I recommend that producers, whom live in problematic pinkeye areas, that they feed a commercial beef “breeder” mineral at the rate of 3 – 4 oz per head per day, all-year round. Such fortified cattle mineral should contain at least four specific micro-nutrients that help combat pinkeye: - Vitamin A – Plays an active role in the health of all skin linings in the body, including the cow’s eye, surrounding tissue and tear ducts. - Zinc. – Plays a role in the ocular nerve transmission, and regulation of light. Along with copper, manganese and selenium, zinc plays an essential role in immunity. - Selenium and Vitamin E – Both nutrients are classified as antioxidants, which stimulates a strong and quick response to pathogenic challenges such as pinkeye. Assuring mineral and vitamin status is optimized within the animal is a good idea to help control/recovery of pinkeye in cattle and should underscore the above third and final protocol - strategic use of pesticides. For instance, some producers apply one organophosphate- or pyrethroidimpregnated ear tag per head to one ear. They do this before letting cattle out on pasture. In contrast, I understand that some producers forgo putting ear tags into their cattle, because they feel that the efficacy of a four-month ear tag control may not coincide with a major buildup of flies toward the end of the summer. I have a friend that runs a 150-cow/ calf operation on the eastern prairies that doesn’t use ear tags in his cattle for this sole reason. As an alternative for face-fly control, he applies a pour-on pyrethroid insecticide (1% cyfluthrin) to every animal just prior to his cowherd being released onto pasture. About six-weeks later, he and his brother walk the herd with backpack sprayers filled with Malathion and they lightly spray the body of each animal. I asked him – “How do you treat about 300 animals (calves included) on open pasture”? He laughed that it is amazing how fast all animals come around when you shake a bucket halffilled with corn! He realized a long time ago that you don’t fool around with pinkeye in cattle; employ a natural (he feeds a breeder mineral on pasture) and an insecticidal means to avoid the serious economic losses when even one animal lose sight from one eye.
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June 29, 2018
Beware of TTT! Make Hay While the Sun Shines It’s coming for you, your neighbours, and everyone else. TTT is a force to be reckoned with and puts The Undertaker to shame. No, TTT is not some unknown wrestling star you’ve never heard of, it’s the trifecta of Trump, Tariffs, and Trade wars. In last month’s column, I wrote about accounting for variable change within your grain marketing plan and taking advantage of opportunities when they are there. I was talking about soybeans, and what prices have done in the last six months. Prices rallied up to levels that fundamentally didn’t make any sense but did give farmers the opportunity to price both old and new crop beans at some profitable levels. This is particularly true on new crop beans, where we finally started to see some $11.50 $12/bu prices show up. And not surprisingly, there are a lot of farmers who didn’t price, because seemingly now everything about beans was bullish again. And from stage left, enters TTT! About four weeks ago, all the tariff talks by Trump really started to get real and the market started to get nervous. With the first round of tariffs against imported Chinese products already on the table and negotiated, China had dropped their retaliatory tariff on imported US Ag products (first and foremost, soybeans). Then Trump decided to go all or nothing and announced another wave of tariffs on an even bigger amount of Chinese imports. This made all the previous discussions redundant, and China announced their tariff on US Ag products was back on again Soybean futures dropped almost every day for the last four weeks, losing $1.96/bu in that timeframe to Tuesday’s low. Cash soybean prices in southern Manitoba went from $12/bu down to barely over $10/bu, once again putting beans in a losing situation for us here. Nobody can really deny that China and the US are in a full-blown trade war at this point (though they claim they are not), and the rest of the world is jittery about it. Late this week several other countries unified to implement tariffs against the US as well, in a tit for tat move that is likely to keep tensions high for the foreseeable future. Once again though, we’ve seen just how quickly farmers must adapt to changing conditions to keep themselves in a profitable situation. Unfortunately, it seems too many are under the influence of confirmation bias, or only hearing the stories that make them think prices should be higher. Managing risk on a farm starts by knowing your numbers and the ROI you want to make. And watch out for TTT, because it’ll get you and anyone else in the way. Brian Voth is the President of IntelliFARM Inc, working with farms to create customized grain marketing plans and carrying them out. For more information visit intellifarm.ca or call 204-324-3669.
By Les Kletke ‘Make hay while the sun shines’ was not only the title of his presentation, he lives by the practice and allowed producers to do the same. Dr. Dan Undersander of the University of Wisconsin appeared via the magic of telecommunications at a Manitoba Agriculture sponsored Hay Day in Friedensfeld, June 20. He acknowledged that it is a busy time of year and if the weather permitted, producers would want to be out in the field in the afternoon. Undersander is well known in Manitoba having visited
several times and being familiar with the practices of hay and dairy producers in the province. Although he used US numbers for his presentation he made the conversion to metric for the benefit of his Canadian audience. “We are not milking the same cows as we did 50 years ago and we cannot be feeding them the same way,” he said. “A cow that set a US record for production thirty years ago, is now not even a herd average at many dairies.” He said that alfalfa varieties have changed as well. “We have less fall dormancy,” he noted.
What he did stress was the timing of getting hay off the field. “We lose about 6% for every day that hay is in the field after cutting, so it cannot stay out there for five days, by the fourth day we have lost 18-24% of the value of that hay.” He went on to stress the important of having hay spread out to dry. “Solar radiation is the largest factor in drying and you have an advantage in Manitoba,” said Undersander, “The number 2 factor is swath density. You want to spread out the hay so you can control the drying and have the value of a wide swath.”
His work shows that placing cut hay in a narrow swath can cause as much as a 0-40% loss in value of the hay. Undersander’s research on tracks in the field and the damage they do to future production was not new to most producers but the details of how many tracks and the width in the field surprised most. He has data that shows with a single cut of haying equipment, a producer might cover 145% of the area of the field with tracks. “Tracks cost money,” he said. “Even using a double wide cutting machine can reduce the tracks to 116% of the field area.”
Isolated Finding of Small Number of Genetically Modified Wheat Plants Cereals Canada assures customers of Canadian wheat that there is no commercial production of genetically modified wheat in Canada after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) publicly indicated they have found a handful of wheat plants that contain an unapproved genetically modified event. The plants were found next to an isolated access road in southern Alberta. The CFIA has not found any evidence that plants containing the unapproved genetically modified trait have been grown in commercial wheat fields in Canada. This follows a CFIA inspection that actively examined a farmer’s adjacent fields, as well as on-farm stored grain. It is important to note that the Canadian Grain Commission’s active monitoring program of Canadian export cargos has found no evidence of this event in Canadian wheat shipments. There is also no evidence that this event has entered either food or feed chains. In a statement, Cereals Can-
ada noted, “That there are no genetically modified wheat varieties registered for commercial production in Canada or any other country.” The announcement from the CFIA of an isolated finding of a small number of wheat plants containing a genetically modified event demonstrates Canada’s commitment to full transparency with the Canadian public and domestic and international customers. Canada’s commitment to transparency, combined with strong regulatory systems, provides confidence to customers. This confidence is supported by the assessment that this unauthorized event has not been part of commercial production and that there is no evidence of any incidence in commercial shipments. Cereals Canada retains confidence in Canada’s science and risk-based regulatory system. Customers can be assured that the rigorous assessment and monitoring process will continue to deliver the consistent highquality safe wheat that they
have come to expect from Canada. According to the National Farmers Union (NFU), the wheat plants have a glyphosate resistant herbicide tolerance trait that was developed and tested by Monsanto in open-air field plots fifteen to twenty years ago. The nearest test plot site is over 300 km from where the contamination incident was discovered. The exact identity of the wheat is unknown. When field trials were approved the CFIA did not require full genetic characterization of the experimental lines containing the genetic modification. “We are relieved that this GMO wheat incident was discovered and action was taken quickly to prevent contamination of Canada’s commercial wheat stocks and seed supplies,” said Terry Boehm, Chair of the National Farmers Union Seed Committee. “This is a close call, which we hope will not result in lost markets or lower prices for wheat.” The NFU said this incident is a reminder of the serious
risk to market access and potential devastation of farmers’ incomes that have been put in motion by the CFIA when it allowed field-testing of genetically engineered crops. Back in 2004, the National Farmers Union called for an end to secret, open-air field tests of genetically engineered crops in Canada. Since 2000, the NFU has maintained that companies that are promoting genetically engineered crops such as Monsanto (now Bayer) must be held responsible for losses incurred by farmers as a result of contamination incidents. Boehm said, “We may have dodged a bullet this time, thanks to observant and responsible workers who spotted the wheat that survived spraying with glyphosate and the civil servants who looked after testing and monitoring to ensure this is an isolated incident. But now would be a good time to stop open-air testing of genetically modified wheat to prevent potentially more serious incidents in the future.”
Consider Our Market Access Before Spraying With the 2018 planting season underway, it is important Canadian growers are aware of the 2018 products of concern for canola, wheat, malt barley, oats and pulses and always follow the label. These are key steps to avoid unacceptable residues and protect Canada’s reputation as a quality supplier. “It is important to always talk to your grain buyer before spraying to ensure the products you are using are acceptable to their customers,” said Brenna Mahoney, Director of Communications
and Stakeholder Relations with Cereals Canada. “Canadian growers must also know and follow the label for rate, timing and pre-harvest interval to reduce market risk.” “The overall health of the Canadian agriculture industry improves when we have stable, open trade with the markets that value our products the most,” said Brian Innes, Vice President of Public Affairs with the Canola Council of Canada. “Producers can help keep markets open by considering our customers when they make application
decisions.” Growers are advised to be aware of the following crop/ product combinations: 2018 Products of Concern for Cereals Special Considerations: All Cereals: Glyphosate (e.g. Roundup) – under increased scrutiny. Rigorous adherence to guidelines, including following the label, will keep this important product in our toolbox for years to come. Wheat: Glyphosate – only use pre-harvest if greenest part of the crop is <30% moisture.
Oats: Glyphosate – may not be accepted by grain buyers if treated pre-harvest. Malt Barley: Glyphosate, Saflufenacil (e.g. Kixor) – will not be accepted by grain buyers if treated pre-harvest. 2018 Products of Concern for Canola Be informed – treated crop could create marketing concerns: Quinclorac (e.g. Accord, Clever, Facet and Masterline Quinclorac) – consult grain buyer before using. Metconazole (e.g. Quash) – consult grain buyer before using.
2018 Products of Concern for Pulses Up-to-date information is now available at keepingitclean.ca. The Keep It Clean! program has published the 2018 products of concern online at keepingitclean.ca to help growers make the best decisions surrounding product application. Along with the products of concern, the site offers MRL and regulatory updates as developments are made at the national and international levels. These developments are the basis for
the best practices that Keep it Clean! advises growers to follow throughout the season to keep markets open for all. “There is a direct connection between the use of best product application practices and the ability to market Canadian grains and oilseeds,” said Mac Ross, Manager of Market Access and Trade Policy with Pulse Canada. “We’re all in this together. Using best practices protects Canada’s reputation, Canadian agriculture and growers’ bottom lines.”
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Province Appoints Members to New Ag Research and Innovation Committee The Manitoba government has appointed nine members to the newly formed Manitoba Agriculture Research and Innovation Committee (MARIC), which will provide analysis and recommendations on strategic investments in agricultural research. “The new appointees to the committee all reflect the diversity of the research community and the agricultural sector as a whole,” said Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler. “Their expertise, experience and commitment to agricultural research will ensure our government receives the best advice on making investments and how to sustainably grow our industry for the future.” The MARIC will be responsible for assessing and making funding recommendations related to research proposals submitted under the five-year,
Federal-Provincial-Territorial Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Current priority areas include grain innovation, livestock production, agri-resource management, processing and value-added, and market development. Committee members will also be responsible for developing and maintaining a provincial strategic plan for agricultural research and supporting research extension and communication with provincial, national and international stakeholders. The individuals who have been appointed to MARIC on a two-year term are Joanne Buth (Winnipeg), Chairperson, Betty Green (Fisher Branch), Vice-Chairperson, Francois Labelle (Carman), Dr. Allan Preston (Hamiota), Trust Beta (Winnipeg), Kim Ominski (Winnipeg), Gary Plohman (Beausejour), William (Bill)
Ashton (Brandon) and Bruce Hardy (Winnipeg). The Minister noted the creation of this committee meets the government’s broader commitment to streamline and reduce the number of appointments, boards and committees. MARIC replaces advisory committees related to the previous Federal-Provincial-Territorial framework, Growing Forward 2, as well as those connected to the province’s Grain Innovation Hub, Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative Inc., and the Manitoba Consumer Monitor Food Panel. This consolidation is expected to create savings of approximately $500,000 per year, while also reducing administrative burdens for researchers.
sible without the strong commitment from our Sustainable Agriculture & Food Security Pillar partner Syngenta Canada. They have been instrumental in helping young 4-H’ers take a hands-on approach in learning about their role in a sustainable agriculture and food security and the overall health of the environment.” 4-H Canada’s partnership with Syngenta Canada is helping to ensure that 4-H members across the country are not only learning about the importance of pollinators, but also actively helping to create and promote healthy pollinator populations across the country. The Proud to Bee a 4-H’er initiative has proven to be an incredible way to engage all Canadians in conversations about sustainable food, the environment, and the agricultural sector. “This partnership with 4-H
Canada continues to promote the importance of pollinators and is actively helping to create healthy pollinator habitats,” said Dr. Paul Hoekstra, Stewardship and Policy Manager with Syngenta Canada. “We continue to be amazed by the high level of interest and engagement that 4-H clubs across the country bring to this initiative.” Support for Proud to Bee a 4-H’er by Syngenta Canada is through its Operation Pollinator program, focused on research and partnerships to promote the health and well-being of bees and other pollinators given their essential role in agriculture and nature. For additional information and resources regarding Proud to Bee a 4-H’er, visit 4-h-canada.ca/proudtobee.
4-H Youth Continues Its Successful Partnership with FCC In a recent announcement 4-H Canada has extended its national partnership with Farm Credit Canada (FCC) for an additional year. The successful continuation of the partnership will see a funding commitment of $250,000 to support national, provincial, and club-level programs and initiatives across Canada through to March 2021. The enduring partnership between FCC and 4-H Canada is built on a common goal shared by both organizations to foster thriving and vibrant communities across Canada where meaningful opportuni-
ties are created for 4-H youth. “4-H in Canada is stronger with partnerships like the one with FCC,” said Shannon Benner, 4-H Canada CEO. “For more than 25 years, our shared values have helped to shape communities across Canada and support the development of responsible, caring and contributing young people who are leaders in those communities.” 4-H Canada’s goal of helping young Canadians “Learn To Do By Doing” in a safe, inclusive and fun environment has been a strong thread in the story of Canadian agriculture,
and has been supported greatly by FCC throughout the lifecycle of the FCC 4-H Club Fund and other funding initiatives. “FCC is proud to partner with 4-H Canada in contributing to the learning and development of young people throughout rural Canada,” said Todd Klink, Chief Marketing Officer for FCC. “Whether they aspire to be a consumer, producer, retailer or manufacturer, there’s a seat at the table for everyone in Canadian agriculture.”
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My Approach to Assessing Body Condition Scores in Dairy Cows The stockpile of energy-enriched fat in dairy cows is often called upon during critical times of lactation in order to provide supplemental energy to drive milk and reproduction performance, when not enough dietary energy can be supplied. Therefore, it is a good idea that we refresh ourselves with the standard Body Condition Score (BCS) system and implement its recommendations. The BCS system for dairy cows is based upon a 5-point scale with 0.25 - point increments; 1 = an emaciation to 5 = a visibly obese cow. A score of 3.0 represents a cow in optimum body condition – not too skinny or not too fat. The following chart illustrates what is considered by many experienced dairy producers and nutritionists alike; the ideal target BCSs for different stages of lactation/dry periods for typical dairy cows (and 1st calf heifers).
Proud to Bee a 4-H’er Initiative Reaches New Heights and New Clubs 4-H Canada and Syngenta Canada are pleased to announce another successful year of the Proud to Bee a 4-H’er initiative, which saw 135 4-H clubs from across the country participating and some 15,000 seed packets distributed. In the five years it has run, Proud to Bee a 4H’er has distributed more than 140,000 pollinator-friendly seed packets to 4-H clubs and communities across Canada. In addition, 4-H Canada and Syngenta were thrilled to have 44 percent of those clubs as first-time participants in the initiative. The participating 4-H clubs help create bee-friendly habitats and learn all about the fascinating work of bees. “It is wonderful each year to see the level of excitement and engagement our members have with this initiative,” said Shannon Benner, 4-H Canada CEO. “All of this would not be pos-
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Consequently, I body score dairy cows by getting in back of the cow and take a visual assessment of her hind-end. A cow with some fat deposits in her tail-head, a bit of fat covering her pin-bones, hook-bones and short-ribs as well as some indentation of her udder below the tail-head is measured as 3.0 – 3.5. I confirm my findings by looking at the overall body condition of the cow. I tend to focus upon the BCS of dairy cows at calving and during the next 100-days of lactation. Post-partum cows on either side of a BCS of 3.0 – 3.5 always concern me, since energy required for lactation at this time is significantly higher than energy consumed by early lactating dairy cows. These milkers are drawn into a state of “negative energy balance” (NEB). To bridge this energy gap of NEB, the early lactating cow will naturally mobilize and break down her own body fat, which can supply a substantial amount of energy to support high milk production, until dry matter energy consumption is able to catch up, some 5 – 6 weeks, later. Sound research from the University of California (Davis) state’s that a natural benchmark for bodyweight loss during early lactation is about 1.0 – 1.25 BCS (roughly 50 – 80 kg). By using this yardstick of BCS, whenever I go into a dairy barn and see a bunch of fresh dairy cows that are scoring less than 3.0 (2.0 to 2.5), it has been my experience that many of these skinny dairy cows will not complete an entire 305-d lactation. Their dire stories end all about the same way; they seem to quickly strip-off what little body fat at calving-early lactation, never achieve sufficient dry matter intake in order to recover from a deep state of NEB and as a result suffer from poor milk production. I often call these culls, “stall-outs”. Unfortunately, stall-out dairy cows often have poor reproductive performance too. Many studies have shown that good energy status/BCS in post-partum dairy cows drives uterine repair and involution, active heat-cycles and good conception rates. On the other hand, many university and extension studies have equally demonstrated that low BCS at first breeding leads to poor reproductive performance. It has also been shown that energy-enriched diets fed during early lactation are not able to overcome
poor BCS and thus poor reproductive performance at breeding time. To avoid skinny cows coming into the lactating barn, nobody is advocating bringing in over-conditioned post-partum cows, either. That’s because overweight fresh dairy cows scoring a BCS of 4.0 or greater runs a greater risk of calving and early lactation problems, such as: difficult calving, retained placenta, displaced abomasum, uterine infection, fatty liver syndrome and milk fever. In addition, overweight fresh cows have been shown to have lower dry matter intake, which leads to inconsistent milk yields as well as runs a 2 – 3X greater risk for the most dreaded metabolic disease – ketosis. In order to reduce thin or fat cow problems (yes – ketosis, too!) by calving time and into early lactation, I like to recommend that a dairy cow be scheduled to be taken off the milk-line at a target of 305 DIM. This cow should then be brought into the faraway dry-off period of 40 days with an optimum body condition score of about 3.5. Concurrently, she should be fed a well-balanced diet based upon her modest plane of nutrition. While it seems tempting to build back body condition on thinner dairy cows, this exercise should be handled back in later lactation. Likewise, over-conditioned faraway dry cows should be fed like their optimum BCS pen-mates, which avoids putting them a “diet” that can lead to ketosis during early lactation. In a similar manner, I like to design a palatable diet for close-up dry cows – 21 days before calving that should meet their specific pre-calving nutrient requirements, but also promote optimum feed intake. Its nutrition should fall somewhere in-between the relatively low nutrition values (energy, protein, minerals and vitamins) recommended for faraway dry cows and the highly fortified diets for early lactating cows. In this latter way, I should be able to maintain an optimum 3.5, which is ideal for calving and beyond into early lactation. Such well-balanced diets for the intention of good health, optimum milk production and exceptional reproductive performance underlies optimum BCS as outlined in the chart above in both dry and lactating dairy cows. When I get in back of a cow to assess her body condition, I use it as a practical management tool to update these dairy diets for their continued success of performance.
A 3.0 Body Score Condition cow.
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Parliament Must Pass the CPTPP By Daniel Ramage Implementing legislation for the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is now in Parliament. Canada has a chance to demonstrate much-needed leadership and cooperation on trade with like-minded global partners. It is imperative for Parliament to pass this legislation before its summer recess. This agreement will unlock valuable trade opportunities all while enhancing prospects for the growth and diversification of Canadian agriculture. The Government of Canada recognizes the important growth potential for agri-food exports and increased contributions to our economy. The latest budget set an ambitious target to increase agri-food exports to $75 billion annually by 2025, up from $64 billion today. The CPTPP offers a path towards this goal. The case for trade diversification is stronger in today’s political climate. The uncertainty and risk surrounding the ongoing renegotiation of NAFTA are troubling enough. The acrimony after the G7 meeting in Charlevoix drives home the need to expand export horizons. Implementing the CPTPP is a concrete opportunity for Canada to improve access and competitiveness in new markets. Livelihoods across the country are tied to agricultural trade. From our ports in Vancouver and Montreal, mills and manufacturing plants in Winnipeg and Toronto, to family farms and agribusinesses, international trade sustains jobs in every region, city and rural area of Canada. Looking more closely at the CPTPP, we see that its benefits for Canadian agriculture revolve around three key areas. First, lower tariffs achieved through this agreement have a direct impact on Canadian competitiveness. This is particularly important for value-added agrifood products, many of which have traditionally faced high tariffs in export markets. But it is also critical for commodities like wheat and canola, where Canada will have preferential access to key markets such as Japan and Vietnam, thereby matching the gains achieved by Australia. Somewhat ironically, the CPTPP will also give Canada a leg up against the U.S. in high value Asian markets. Many agriculture groups in the US are openly disappointed by their country’s withdrawal from the CPTPP for this reason. But to lock-in these benefits, Canada must be among the first countries to ratify the agreement. Second, through the CPTPP Canada and its partners are upgrading the rules of trade. Predictable, risk- and science-based trade rules play a key role in facilitating access to markets. As a modern, ambitious and comprehensive trade agreement, the CPTPP sets higher standards
for participating countries while creating a more predictable and transparent trade environment. Stronger science-based and riskbased rules for agricultural trade will help limit the potential for protectionist barriers and encourage greater investment in innovation. Adoption of new technologies leads to productivity enhancements and new commercial opportunities. The improvements to the trading rules through the CPTPP are critical for Canadian farmers and exporters who are increasingly facing unjustified market barriers around the world. A strong and ambitious agreement between Canada and CPTPP partners sets common standards that reduce the likelihood of trade friction, while offering stronger dispute resolution mechanisms when issues arise. It should be noted, however, that Canada also has an onus to enforce these rules when issues emerge as is the case with Canada’s ongoing challenges for durum exports to Italy, under the Canada-European Union Free Trade Agreement (CETA). The third benefit, and perhaps the most important, is that the CPTPP is viewed as an opportunity to provide leadership in promoting multilateral trade policy cooperation. In the wake of withdrawal and rising protectionism by traditional trading partners, the importance of achieving these outcomes is clearer than ever. What’s more, as the global economic and political center of gravity shifts towards Asia, Canada will be well positioned to deepen its trading relationships and shape global business standards. Once the agreement is in place, it is highly likely that new countries, perhaps even the US, will seek to join, further strengthening the agreement’s scale and benefits. Canada must be at the table with the terms for new entrants are set. The CPTPP is a tremendous opportunity to build and diversify markets. The agreement will build jobs in both rural and urban Canada and it will help grow the Canadian economy. With the implementing legislation for the CPTPP now in Parliament, Canada has a chance to play a leading role by joining the first six countries to ratify the agreement. This will demonstrate Canada’s commitment to international trade while promoting continued cooperation, against the backdrop of rising protectionism and uncertainty. The spotlight is now on Parliament to ratify the CPTPP. Farmers can do their part by taking the time to write, call or meet with their Members of Parliament to encourage ratification before the expected June 22 recess of Parliament. Farmers’ voices matter so take the time – it will be good for your business. Daniel Ramage is the Director of Market Development with Cereals Canada
Biggest Crop Ever for Nuffield Canada By Les Kletke Nuffield Canada will send 5 Scholars on international studies in 2019, the greatest number ever. In the past the number of scholars has typically been two with occasional years of three but a number of factors contributed to this year’s expanded number. “In the past we have had good applicants but it might not be a good with the sponsors,” said Brent Wright of Portage la Prairie. “While the sponsors do not dictate the area of study the organization tries to match study areas with someone who is going to study a related topic. Applicants are required to put forward a topic they wish to study in the international area
with their application. Nuffield Canada then contributes $15,000 to the scholars travel expenses and requires the scholar to present at its annual meeting upon returning. This year’s scholars are Ryan Boyd, B.Sc. (Ag), from Forrest Manitoba, sponsored by Western Grains Research Foundation, is the managing partner of South Glanton Farms, a family farming operation of annual crops and beef cattle. Boyd will study grazing ruminants as a resilient solution for longterm agriculture profitability, productivity and climate change. Mark Brock, B.Sc. (Ag) from Staffa, Ontario, sponsored by Grain Farmers of Ontario, is the owner/operator of Shepherd Creek Farms Ltd. a 1,600-acre row-crop operation that includes 500 ewes producing lamb for the Ontario market. Brock’s study will examine funding and investment models with the goal of creating options for Canadian farmers to confidently make investments that improve efficiencies and return on investment, espe-
cially for operations that may find it hard to take advantage of economies of scale. John Cote BSc. (Ag) from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, sponsored by Nuffield Canada alumni, is co-owner of Blackfox Farm and Distillery. Using the distilling, brewing and wine industries as models, investigation will be done to determine contributing factors of success in transition from start-up agri-businesses to growth and expansion phase businesses. Scott Holtman from Taber, Alberta, sponsored by Alberta Wheat Commission, is a grain producer and seed grower interested in the interaction between striving to build healthy soils with overall water use, health, quality and yield of crops grown under irrigation. His study will examine the many ways this can be done, including microbiology and increased organic matter through methods that include composting and cover crops. Dr. Christoph Weder, PhD, from Hudson’s Hope, British Columbia, sponsored by
Nuffield Canada Alumni, is the owner/operator of Venator, Sunset & Spirit View Ranches where he and his wife Erika manage 1,800 purebred and commercial Angus cows and 500 Plains Bison on 35,000 acres of range and tame pastures in the Alberta and British Columbia Peace Region. Weder’s study will focus on ecological goods and services (EGS) and the development of agri-environmental policy to help conserve biodiversity on farms and ranches. Wally Derksen of Steinbach, elder statesman of the group of Manitoba scholars that met in Portage la Prairie recently said that funding has come in from past scholars that have allowed the program to expand. “We have had several sizeable donations and have pooled the money to establish what is being called Alumni Scholarships,” he said. Applications for 2020 Scholarships are due in April but anyone interested in the program can get more information from the Nuffield Canada website.
New Pasture Land Management Tools Unveiled The future of Manitoba’s range and pasture health took a solid step forward this week as a top team of range and pasture experts, academia and conservation interests working on behalf of Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA), delivered a set of exciting new land management tools. The Manitoba Range and Pasture Health Assessment Workbook was officially launched on the MFGA website, along with supporting rangeland ecosite maps and a guide to Manitoba’s Rangeland Plant Communities of the Aspen Parkland and Assiniboine Delta Rangeland Ecoregions. Mae Elsinger, rangeland biologist for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) - Brandon, co-led the project along with AAFC colleague Kerry
LaForge, range and forage specialist in Swift Current. Much of the analysis and product development were completed by Jeff Thorpe, Rachel Whidden, and Lysandra Pyle, with contributions from a wide number of range and pasture stakeholders in Manitoba. “Many government and non-government organizations from agriculture and conservation sectors have expressed interest in gaining better access to ecological site and plant community information, and a method for assessing the health of range and pasture under various land uses,” said Elsinger. “Now we can have better answers for commonly asked questions related to Manitoba pastures and rangelands, like ‘How many cows can I put on this land?,’ ‘Are current land management practices sustaining wildlife habitat, productivity, and other ecological services on this land?’ and ‘How do we acquire evidence to support land management decisions and policies?’” Elsinger said the development of a range and pasture health assessment method for Manitoba has been a work in progress since 2010. The first concrete steps occurred
in 2013/2014 when the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) and Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council enabled MFGA and the Steering Committee to produce the Rangeland Classification for Agri-Manitoba Report (2014). This report identifies 9 rangeland ecoregions and 21 ecosites for the agricultural extent of Manitoba. The most recent phase of funding from 2016-2018 by Growing Forward 2 a Federal-Provincial-Territorial Initiative and NCC included two stakeholder workshops on Range and Pasture Health Assessment methods used elsewhere in North America, adaptation of Alberta’s health assessment method for Manitoba, completion of rangeland ecosite maps, and the development of a reference guide describing almost 100 possible rangeland plant community types in southwestern Manitoba. According to LaForge, Manitoba’s Range and Pasture Health Assessment method is a science-based procedure, modelled on the Alberta method, with some modifications for Manitoba conditions. An assessment is based on five sets of indicators that produce a health score. “A
health score gives an idea of how much improvement in range and pasture health and function may be possible with modifications to land management practices,” said LaForge. “It has significant implications for a site’s ability to provide ecological services, such as forage production, biodiversity, habitat, nutrient cycling, water holding capacity, and resiliency to climate change.” “There is a particular need of science-based tools to inform and evaluate land management activities to support biodiversity conservation,” says Rebekah Neufeld, Conservation Operations Program Coordinator with NCC. “The tools and guides developed through this project address key knowledge gaps related to range management in Manitoba, and will support the delivery and adaptation of effective landscape and property-scale conservation efforts across the province.” Further work on this project is expected to include the development of Rangeland Plant Communities guides for the other ecoregions within Manitoba, and adapting the Range and Pasture Health Assessment Workbook for seeded pasture and forested rangelands.
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Fresh Fruit Ready for Picking
By Elmer Heinrichs The Prairie Fruit Growers Association (PFGA) is optimistic about the coming season, and Angie Cormier, who operates Cormier’s Berry Patch at LaSalle with husband Darren, said the strawberry, raspberry and Saskatoon berry crops look promising, with the first berries ready in the last days of June. While some farms suffered some winterkill, Cormier said, “The strawberry crop is coming along and the berries look good. And it may be a great year for the Saskatoons after last year’s crop froze. Raspberries too are looking good.” Right now it looks like strawberry farms will start opening for the last week end of June, with saskatoons available soon thereafter, followed by the sour cherries and raspberries, added Cormier. The Cormiers are into their 12th season of strawberries and are the current Executive Directors of Prairie Fruit Growers, a non-profit organization representing Manitoba fruit growers. Cormier added that this year the PFGA launched a new website with a map for customers to locate the farm closest to them. Consumers wishing to locate berries can also access the Berry Hot Line, to find addresses of various growers, talk to growers directly to check on berry availability, readiness for picking and hours of business. Prairie Fruit Grower recipe cards are also available from Manitoba Agriculture offices across rural Manitoba, at Canadian Tire stores, Winnipeg Library and at Manitoba tourism offices. Fruit is often available on a U-Pick “pick your own” basis, but some growers will also pick fruit for buyers at slightly higher cost. Produce is also available at many farmers’ markets now opening throughout the province.
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Central and Eastern Crops Look Promising By Elmer Heinrichs With spring seeding mostly done even before June began, crops have been emerging and growing through the month. For a time, field activity was limited as farmers waited for crops to emerge, and for moisture to aid in germination on others. Parts of the southwest and central regions saw storms about mid-month, with heavy rainfall, strong winds, and hail. Assessments of crop damage are ongoing. Central’s report said precipitation varied with 50 mm in the Portage area, with some of the highest amounts falling on the southwest escarpment with 48 mm near Somerset, and large hailstones affecting a west-toeast strip of Hwy. 23 causing severe crop damage along the way. Hail damage was reported from the Killarney to Morden area with the most
severe damage in the Ninette to Balder to Manitou and Darlingford areas. Fields are being assessed for damage. The Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) is still assessing hail claims from an intense thunderstorm that swept across much of southwest and south-central Manitoba on June 14. By Monday morning MASC had received 250 spot loss hail claims and 120 re-seeding claims. Recently warm temperatures and rainfall over the past week have resulted in crops that are advancing quickly. Dry conditions are still a concern in some areas, and crops would benefit from more moisture. Herbicide applications continue as fields allow and fungicide applications for management of fusarium head blight in winter cereals are ongoing. Seeding in
central areas was considered complete but with the recent hail damage, numerous fields above the escarpment are expected to be reseeded. Winter wheat and fall rye are flowering, reseeded canola is emerging well, the earliest planted canola fields in the Red River Valley are bolting and many fields are beginning to flower. Potato fields are growing well and being irrigated as moisture conditions dictate. Altona farm production advisor Dennis Lange said. “We could use a little more rain, but crops overall are coming along nicely. Small sporadic showers have kept the crops growing nicely.” Lange added that, “Peas like the dryer conditions and are doing fine, dry beans are a little later, and weed control is underway in the soybeans, but crops overall are doing just fine,” concluded
Lange. In the eastern region reports, crops show a noticeable jump in growth with the rain and heat through the week. First pass spraying was largely completed, some canola acres have received second pass herbicide applications and more second pass spraying is planned for corn and soybeans. In general crops in eastern regions are looking very good, the rain and heat have helped considerably. There is some standing water in low spots but it is dissipating quickly. “It’s been a disappointing first cut of hay for many producers in the southeast,” said John McGregor, who manages the Green Gold program for the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association. But, said McGregor, recent rains and warm weather should lead to a better second cut of hay.
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