The AgriPost
Bridging Community Needs with Vintage Tractors
June 30, 2017
It’s All for the Fun By Les Kletke
A light drizzle at the start of this year’s Tractor Trek did not deter the entrants from making the best of the day. Skies cleared shortly after the start of the event.
By Les Kletke Earl Reimer of Eden Mental Health said the partnership with the Eastman Track Trek has been a good one for both organizations. Reimer was on hand as 46 tractors left the Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) in Steinbach under a light drizzle and headed off to Richer for lunch. This is the second year the trek has made the trip to Richer. “Neither of us could do as well independently,” said Reimer. “It raises funds but also gets people talking about the mental health issues that exist in our community.” In the 7 years that Eden Mental Health and the MHV have collaborated, they have raised over $320,000. Reimer said it has allowed
for the establishment of two housing complexes as well as other services in the community. “These facilities help people make the transition into the community,” he said. “They have an opportunity to get some guidance with the daily activities of life, handling some cash, build a personal relationship and many of the things that other people take for granted.” “This is not our only fund raising venture but it is a very important one and it attracts people that might not otherwise get involved with our cause,” said Reimer. Another Trek will be held July 8 starting in Winkler, visiting several villages south of the city. Some drivers will take part in both.
Anne Toews is with the Mennonite Heritage Village and rates the Trek as one of the highlights on the calendar. “The fellows are always excited about the event and they are here early and ready to go,” she said. The Museum also hosts a tractor and implements show the day following the tractor trek. Both
events give tractor enthusiasts the opportunity to share a few stories and romance about the days when these tractors were the main source of power on the farm. The western Trek will also feature a skills completion with events like trailer backing and a barrel roll.
Tractor enthusiasts of all ages turned out to see the Tractor Trek stop in Richer.
Ask a Tractor ‘Treker’ why they do it and the answers are as varied as the participants but the one thing everyone agreed on is, “For the fun.” So it was as 46 tractors left the Mennonite Heritage Village with no concern about the light drizzle. “We are mot made of sugar, so I doubt we will melt,” said one driver as he put on his rain gear. “It is an outdoor event and you have to be prepared.” Skies had cleared by the time the group arrived in Richer for lunch, and a good number of people had gathered to welcome the group and look at the “Steel of Yester Year.” One enthusiast on hand said the event was better than a car show. “Here you can go over and touch the tractors, fellows are happy when you come to see their tractor. I have been to car shows where the owners are warning you not to touch the cars before you get close.” While some of the tractors, participating had undergone complete restorations and looked as good as the day they came from the show room some came to town in their working clothes. Eugene Bremaud was in the event with his 430 Case, that he said might be restored some day but for now, it is a working tractor. “I use it around the yard and it still earns its keep,” said Bremaud. William Reimer of Blumenfeld had a High Boy International in the Trek. “I bought it about 20 years ago,” he said. “It was the time before highboy sprayers and I used it to spray my corn and sunflowers. It was in good shape when I bought it and it is still a working tractor.” Others like Bob Schmor have a Cockshutt with styled fenders and shutters beside the engine. “Those were usually gone the first year that the farmer had the tractor,” he said with a smile. “The engine would run hot and the sides would end up in the shed or worse. I like the styled fenders but I think a lot of them got dented backing into things.” For him the fact that Cochshutt was a Canadian company held the most attraction and he decided to collect and restore a few models from the company’s smaller tractors.
June 30, 2017
The AgriPost
June’s Crop Outlook Has Corn and Canola Acreage Breaking Records By Elmer Heinrichs Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in its June 2017 crop outlook, suggests the areas seeded to oilseeds, coarse grains and wheat excluding Durum are up and the increase will more than offset the lower areas seeded to durum, peas and lentils. In its June crop outlook, AAFC said seeding is generally complete across western Canada but excess moisture has delayed seeding progress in eastern Canada. Total crop production and supply are forecast to be slightly lower than 2016 - 17, while total exports are expected to increase. The area in wheat is expected to increase by six per cent and an eight per cent increase in spring wheat area more than offsets a 12 per cent decrease in the area seeded to winter wheat. The acreage seeded to corn is expected to increase by 13 per cent from 2016 - 17 to a new all-time record. Eastern seeding was delayed, but In Manitoba corn was seeded in a timely fashion. Canadian oat area is up and production is forecast to increase by 17 per cent, with prices expected to increase slightly due to higher oat futures and a low Canadian dollar. In oilseeds, canola area for 2017 - 18 is up by 21 per cent to a record 9.1 million hectares (Mha). Most of the seeded area is in western Canada with Saskatchewan and Alberta, up 11 and 15 per cent respectively. Saskatchewan is Canada’s largest canola-growing province with a seeded area of 4.91Mha. For 2017 - 18, soybean planted area is forecasted up to 28 per cent, a record 2.8 Mha on attractive returns versus alternate crops. About 42 per cent of the area seeded to soybeans is in western Canada. The provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have all added to soybean acres this year. In pulses and special crops, dry pea acreage is down slightly, and so is dry bean area because of lower expected returns against other crops. Manitoba grows about 34 per cent of total beans planted. The AAFC also said it expects higher exports of grains and oilseeds, and that overall world grain prices are being pressured by an abundant world supply, but sees the impact on grain prices in Canada partly mitigated by the low value of the Canadian dollar.
The AgriPost
June 30, 2017
New Record Set at Angus Rookie of the “Building the Legacy” Year Partners Fundraiser Auction with Local Cattleman in Grunthal By Joan Airey
As much-needed rain hit the Brandon area attendees at the Canadian Angus Association did not let it dampen their spirit for promoting their breed at the start of their annual convention. At the convention, the Canadian Angus Foundation announced this year’s winners for the Robert C. McHaffle Junior Ambassador award won by Macy Liebriech of Radville, Saskatchewan, Meghan McGillivray of Kamloops, BC received the Dick Turner Memorial Award and Austen Anderson of Swan River, Manitoba was selected as the Outstanding Young Angus Breeder. Austen Anderson is the son of Bruce and Ione Anderson. He is a fifth generation cattle producer and started his own herd of purebred Angus in 2003 while being an active member of Ander Cattle Company. Anderson has a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the University of Regina and teaches at a local high school. The Outstanding Young Angus Breeder Award is given to an Angus breeder between ages 22 - 30 and who has demonstrated involvement in the Angus
Light drizzle did not dampen people’s interest in checking out purebred stock at HBH Livestock Ltd.
breed. The award has a cash prize of $3,500. At the sixth Annual Building the Legacy Fund Raiser Auction $184,600 was raised which will be used to preserve and expand the Angus breed for future generations through education, youth development, scientific and market research and historical restoration. The highest selling lot with a winning bid of $15,000 was from Tanya Beisham of Poplar Meadows Angus of Houston, BC with their pick
of the 2017 heifer calves donated by the Liebreich family of Merit Cattle Co. of Radville, Saskatchewan. The highest selling semen that was donated by Balirswest Land and Cattle of Drake, Saskatchewan went for $6,100 to Roger Reynolds of SCI Angus of Emerald Park, Saskatchewan. The highest selling semen donation was made by Bar E-L Angus the Longshore family of Stettler, Alberta and sold to TSN Livestock, Canadian Angus Association Direc-
tor Shawn Birmingham and family of Brandon for $4,000. HBH Farms Inc. in Oak River and Rainbow Trailers, of Brandon, Manitoba donated a choice between a gooseneck or aluminum cargo trailer that was purchased by TSN Livestock for $9,500. The 2017 sale featured buyers from across Canada and online through DLMS. Donors contributed more than sixty lots of Angus semen and embryos, five live heifer choices and numerous artwork and other gifts including experience packages. Convention goers also toured Anderson’s feedlot near Souris. Over two hundred attended a beef barbecue at HBH Farms, Inc. on Friday evening. Local breeders such as HBH Livestock Ltd., Mar Mac Farms, and N7 Stock Farms had displays of their purebred livestock for everyone to tour at the BBQ. On Saturday the annual Canadian Angus Association meeting was held in Brandon along with the Fundraiser Auction.
A cow-calf pair on display from Mar Mac farms near Brandon at HBH Livestock by Oak River.
Angus Breeders enjoyed fresh off the grill steaks at HBH Livestock.
Local Angus breeder Derek Froese visits with fellow cattleman at barbecue.
By Harry Siemens Brad Kehler is the Manager and auctioneer of the Grunthal Livestock Auction Mart since partnering with cattleman Robert Krentz last August. “We managed to buy out Henry Penner who was the auctioneer and partner there, and now we’re going forward,” said Kehler. “We’re going to sell equipment, livestock, estate sales, antiques and anything else that comes for sale. We’re going to be a full-service auction mart serving the southeast corner here for everything they need.” The auction mart will hold regular cattle sales every Tuesday and two times a month a dispersal of Holstein cows. “We sell beef cattle. Because the auction is in the heart of the dairy world, so we end up getting lots of Holstein cattle in as well,” said Kehler. “We deal pretty closely with the dairy producers and beef cattle, beef farmers in our local area here.” With a farm sale coming up in the middle of July, and a few consignment sales they’re ready to go. “The prices of cattle have been relatively stable lately,” he said. “I would say numbers aren’t quite as high as we’d like to see them, but I think there’s significant opportunity in agriculture, and the local beef industry I think is going to be healthy, and it’ll be around for quite a while.” Kehler is also the reigning Rookie of the Year auctioneer for Manitoba and Saskatchewan. “There was a livestock auctioneer’s competition here earlier this spring where I was asked to come in to compete. You had to be selling cattle for less than five years to qualify for the rookie award. I’ve been auctioneering cattle since last August. So, at that time, about 8 months, I had been selling cattle and I was lucky enough to come away with the Rookie of the Year there and placed fifth overall out of 12 auctioneers,” he said. “I’ll be looking forward to entering some LMAC, the Livestock Marketers Association of Canada. They have an auctioneer’s championship coming up next May again, so I’ll be looking forward to getting into that one in Whitewood, Saskatchewan.” Kehler said it was kind of funny how he became an auctioneer. “I was working for a rancher. I pulled in the yard one day, and I figured, well, if I ever manage to get run over or hurt that I couldn’t use my legs or arms anymore, I could probably still run my mouth,” he said. “When we got married in October 5 years ago, I used some of the proceeds out of that wedding money to pay for my auctioneer school. I figured I’d come out of there and just play around with some estate sales, small sales, and do some charity work and stuff. It’s turned out to be a bit of a career here.” In his short time as an auctioneer, Kehler has auctioned off most anything ranging from rabbits, chickens, cattle, farm equipment, all kinds of items. Brad Kehler is the Manager and auctioneer of the Grunthal Livestock Auction Mart since partnering with cattleman Robert Krentz last August.
The AgriPost
June 30, 2017
Chemical Craziness This time of year, grain farmers focus on weed control. It’s still relatively easy for them to get the products they need to do that job, but their city cousins aren’t quite so lucky anymore. Chemophobia has taken over, and made life difficult for homeowners and gardeners who want an easy and cost- effective way of ridding their yards of weeds. Some crop protection retailers in Manitoba now refuse to sell their products to anyone who isn’t a farmer. In other parts of Canada you may still be able to buy some things, but not without a major hassle. A friend of mine, recently semi-retired to British Columbia, shared this experience with me. “I went to buy some Roundup. It was kept in a locked cage so I asked a clerk to unlock it for me. The clerk apologized and told me she
isn’t licensed to sell it and called for a staff member who could. A minute later an animated, almost comedic guy came up to help me. Our conversation went something like this: Me: “I’d like some Roundup concentrate, please.” Licensed Staff Member (LSM): “Ok, sir, first I have to tell you I have taken the required course and am licensed to sell you this product. I have taken the required course and obtained the license so I can better serve my customers.” Me: “Good for you,” laughing at the way he was halfmocking the process.
LSM: “First, I am required to ask you what you intend to use this for.” Me: “Weeds.” LSM: “Good.” Me: “Is there a wrong answer? And if so what happens if I give it?” LSM: “I don’t think there is a wrong answer. I just have to ask the question.” Me: (blank look). LSM: “Next, I am required to ask if you have considered alternate products, such as organic solutions or salt for driveways and rocky areas.” Me: “No. They’re crap.” LSM: in a stage whisper while looking the other way, “I agree.”
The LSM then gave me the required babble about not putting my used container in the garbage, but taking it to an approved recycling centre and ensuring I inform the attendant about what the container was used for. He then took the Roundup out of the cage and put a sticker on it so as I carried it around the store other staff members would know I talked with an LSM. “I really wish I hadn’t left my ten-gallon container of concentrate with the buyer of my old house in Manitoba.” Roundup, of course, is one of the safest, easiest-to-use products in existence. Peo-
Penner’s Points
ple are exposed to more toxic stuff in By Rolf their morning cof- Penner fee than they are to the regular use of Roundup. But that doesn’t stop the chemophobes from wanting everyone to be extra careful, just in case. My friend’s wife also got a tongue-lashing from a busybody neighbour who did not “approve” of what they were doing. So they decided to take a sharpie and label their 3-gallon, hand-pump sprayer “unicorn pee” before carrying on with their yard care. The regulatory noose gets tighter on us out in the coun-
try too. We have lost access to some very useful products in the past, and all sorts of people want to take even more tools out of our hands. Keeping an eye on what happens in the cities will give us a pretty good idea of what we’re going to face sometime in the future. The trend is not promising, except if you want a good laugh.
Hog Farmers Turn to Ottawa for PED Virus Solutions
The House of Commons Agriculture and Agri-Food Committee held an emergency meeting on June 15 to discuss the outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus in southeast Manitoba. Since May, there have been at least 22 on-farm confirmed cases. Brandon-Souris Conservative MP Larry Maguire, who is pushing to see changes made to the livestock transport trailer washing regulations called the meeting to inform the lawmakers. Representatives for the industry included Manitoba Pork, Steve’s Livestock Transport, Maple Leaf Foods, Hylife, and P. Quintaine and Son Ltd. with a briefing by representatives from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), including Chief Veterinary Officer Harpreet Kochar. In his opening remarks, Manitoba Pork General Manager Andrew Dickson said PED Virus causes severe dehydration and diarrhea in pigs. The virus
is fatal in very young animals with over 80 per cent mortality rates, though older animals can recover. Symptoms may include loose feces and off feed in sows, in piglets the signs are watery diarrhea, dehydration and death, and for weanlings and Feeders, almost all animals are sick with vomiting and watery diarrhea. PED is a reportable disease in Manitoba, so producers must contact their veterinarian immediately if animals show any signs of illness. It is not a Federally reportable disease. PED is not transmitted to humans or other animals and is not a food safety risk. The reason I keep raising this in my articles is the fact that while people may think 22 infected premises may not be a lot, it’s devastating and is causing some hog farmers to lose hope. Some are even wondering, “What is the use of keeping everything clean and running biosecurity protocols at the highest levels ever.” The disease not only affects the producers’ livelihood, it affects the entire food chain including the packers who need to get enough
pigs to meet the demand. Provencher MP Ted Falk, once a hog producer himself fully understands the pain, the industry is going through. “To have the government on side with some of the things that need to be addressed to make sure that this industry survives and that we can mitigate the damage that this disease is doing,” said Falk. “It is evident from the Chief Veterinarian Officer this is not a food safety or a public health issue but affects only the health of the animal insofar is that it’s a virus like the flu, which creates diarrhea. Piglets under the age of about seven days that contract the disease aren’t able to eat, and so they starve to death. And so there are whole barns of pigs affected now, and what you’re seeing is tremendous losses in piglet production.” Falk said, it is a significant challenge, for not only our producers, but also our processors. Maple Leaf and Hylife Foods, who in six months from now are expecting that there will be fewer hogs to process, there will be a bit of a hiccup in their supply chain. “And so it’s going to be a challenge for them as well, and for all the many, many people
that they employ,” continued Falk. “And I know that I have full confidence that they’re going to make sure that the impact is mitigated, and that they’re going to make sure that they meet this challenge head on as they’ve always done,” he said. “We appreciate that this is not a ‘Federal disease’ but producers would appreciate some assistance to deal with the financial and emotional challenges caused by this terrible disease,” said Dickson at the emergency meeting in Ottawa. He continued with an outline of areas the Federal government can help. - Staffing assistance for the CVO to provide more analysis and technical advice especially on the operation of the Disease Management Area project. - Assist with offsetting laboratory costs, additional veterinary services and drug costs, euthanization equipment. - Assist Manitoba Pork financially to acquire equipment and labour to develop an emergency unit to deal with washing diseased barns and infected manure storage and field application; existing commercial applicators are reluctant to serve diseased sites be-
cause of concerns from their existing customers. - Assist producers financially with offsetting the extra costs of cleaning and disinfecting their sites. - Support the proposed Trusted Trucker Program to eliminate the costly and unnecessary washing of trailers - Allow individual to make special application for financial support from AgriStability and AgriRecovery programs to ensure financial viability. - Develop an insurance program for animal disease outbreaks to restore producers to their previous financial status. - Potential relocation costs of assembly yards to minimize potential for disease transfer. - Have CFIA expedite as quickly as possible the licensing of the new VIDO vaccine so that it can move forward for commercial production. - Provide more flexibility on the communicable disease waiting period for issuance of isowean export health certificates.
The AgriPost
Happy Birthday Canada It’s time for a party! Canada is turning 150 years old and it is a pretty good place to live. One of the things that make it a good place to live is the availability of real good food. No, I am not going to get into the tirade about how farmers feed the world, and how you need a farmer three times a day, those things might be true but that is not the point of this ramble. My suggestion is to take a day whether it be July 1, 2, or 3 and have some friends over and sample the quality of food that we have available to us. It just so happens that
we have some pretty good breweries in this province that make some outstanding brews that do a great job of accompanying those foods. At our house, the menu is going to be sausage, several kinds done on the barbecue. Some people including the lady that I live with would say my enthusiasm for a good sausage is overdone and too many of them are not healthy. Too many of anything is not healthy, but have some fun this weekend. We spend enough time complaining about the leaders of our country and how they don’t do this right or
how they do that wrong. I say put it aside for a day, you can still get back to that on Tuesday and all the problems will still be there. Heck, you can still get back to complaining about the big guy in our province on Tuesday, but take the weekend and enjoy it. I may be naive or perhaps view the past through rose coloured glasses but it seems to me the past generation worked hard and still took time to have some fun. Oh, and at least the ones that congregated at our house did their share of complaining, they had time for it all but
we seem to have forgotten at least one component, that this is the time to park the negative at the door and enjoy the day in the company of a few friends. If you want to try something really wacky, invite a few people over and say that, it is a Happy Birthday Canada party. You’re going to throw some of the best meat in the world (because that is what we have in Manitoba) on the barbecue, open up a few bottles of local brew and just enjoy the day. What do you have to lose?
potential hazards (we would all be in bunkers if they did not) and protect Canadians through comprehensive science-based risk assessments of food ingredients, food processing and the inputs farmers use to grow our crops, fruits, and vegetables. The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA, part of Health Canada) employs over 350 scientists whose sole purpose is to conduct evaluations of new and existing insecticides, fungicides and herbicides. A product must go through over 200 different health and environmental studies before approval is given for use. The risk and not just the hazards are fully assessed. Glyphosate provides a good example of the way we can sort through the difference between information and misinformation. Glyphosate is the world’s most commonly used pesticide, which might explain why it is a common target for those who want to jettison modern agricultural practices. How do consumers decide whom to believe, the farmer who says it is safe or the activist who wants it banned? Recently the PMRA released its re-evaluation of the safety of glyphosate. The work was carried out over seven years and was extensive, including review and incorporated more than 450 peer-reviewed, published
scientific studies. The PMRA has issued unequivocal findings stating that products containing glyphosate are unlikely to affect your health (when used according to label directions). The Agency went further, explaining that a hazard classification, such as the one issued by IRAC, is not a health risk assessment. The level of human exposure, which determines the actual risk, must also be taken into account. What’s more, on April 12 the Canadian Food inspection Agency (CFIA) released a report on the testing of Canadian food for glyphosate residues. Testing foods for residues is a tool used by the CFIA to detect food safety risks and ensure that the food supply is safe. The CFIA’s report, appropriately titled “Safeguarding with Science”, reported, “No human health concerns were identified.” Canadian pesticide registration and food safety regulations are designed to scientifically assess risks to Canadians’ heath. Pesticides are registered for use in Canada only if the level of exposure to Canadians does not cause any harmful effects, including cancer. The work done by Health Canada helps us sort through the conflicting “facts” coming at us from all sides.
Are You At Risk? Should GM be labelled? Is organic healthier? Does glyphosate cause cancer? Do you put your kids at risk if you feed them meat or is the cave-man diet the way to go? Your good friend and neighbour thinks Gwyneth Paltrow is right about all this stuff, is she correct? All of these questions, and a few conspiracy theories, flood Twitter, Facebook and every other social media tool. Celebrities are using “food fear” to promote themselves, their latest book and their latest lifestyle products. It is a deluge of information and misinformation. What should consumers really believe? What should we think about when we are filling our grocery basket? I would like to boil this down to two words “hazard” and “risk”. It is possible that a meteorite will fall on your head (mine too) in the next ten minutes. This is a hazard. But should this hazard dictate what we do every day? Do we need to retreat to a concrete bunker because of the meteorite threat? Some might say that this is an absurd example, but it is just as real, and more likely, as most of the “food fears” that social media is pumping out every day. We practically deal with hazards every day. How we deal with them are determined by (a) the likelihood that something will occur
and (b) what can be done to mitigate trouble. The probability of that meteorite hitting either of us on the head is infinitesimally small (but it is not zero). There is almost no risk so we don’t have to change our life. Crossing the street is a hazardous operation, but we can mitigate this by looking both ways for traffic. The same principles apply to our food. Everything can be a hazard. Drink a lot of water too fast and your electrolyte balance will be upset and you will die. This is a hazard, but not much of a risk because the problem can be easily avoided. Feed a rat nothing but raw potatoes for its entire life and it might develop tumours. This shows a hazard, but it is not a complete assessment of risk and does not mean that we need to stop eating potatoes. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has assigned the hazard classification “probably carcinogenic to humans” seventy-nine times, including on shift work, hot beverages, and glyphosate. But we need to remember that “hazard” is only one part of the equation. When we assess risk in our daily lives we must also consider probability (or exposure) and the ability to take mitigating action. It is the job of Heath Canada regulators to look beyond
June 30, 2017
Central and Eastern Crops Look Promising By Elmer Heinrichs With spring seeding mostly done before June, crops have been emerging and growing throughout 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. In its weekly crop report, June 19, Manitoba Agriculture noted that all regions reported precipitation with amounts ranging from 15 to 55 mm. In most regions, crops and pastures benefitted from these rains, but cooler temperatures have slowed growth of corn and soybeans. Central region reports a majority of cereals are growing well, with the most advanced fields in the flag leaf stage, and fungicide applications progressing, largely in winter and spring wheat for management of fusarium head blight and leaf diseases. Some western areas are quite wet with some standing water and crops turning colour, a sign of excess moisture stress. Some reseeding took place in the Crystal City area, after an earlier hailstorm and low wind conditions early in the week allowed a number of producers to catch up on herbicide applications. Most cereals and canola fields have now received an application. Altona farm Production Advisor Dennis Lange said, “Soybeans, corn and dry beans are coming along nicely with warmer temperatures, and much of the crop should be flowering soon.” Canola has been advancing well, benefitting from the recent precipitation, and cooler temperatures. Many fields, like some of the early seeded canola, are stagey, due to uneven emergence. Corn growth slowed too with the cooler temperatures, looking spindly, with narrow leaves and poor colour, but will benefit from showers and warmer temperatures. Most soybeans range from the first to third trifoliate and herbicide applications are mostly complete. Yellowing due to iron deficiency chlorosis is evident in many, but some recovery is also noted. Sunflowers, flax and peas are growing well. Plant pathologist Dr. Vikram Bisht said, “The moisture is good now and the potato crop is growing well. Rains in the week have brought precipitation closer to normal in the potato growing area.” Varying amounts of rain were received across eastern regions, with some significant rain events from June 14 - 15. Soil moisture conditions are rated as 95 per cent adequate. The week’s precipitation was beneficial for crop growth and development and a significant flush of weeds is now expected. Early seeded wheat is in the flag leaf stage, the earliest canola is bolting with a few flowers, and soybeans are in the early to third infoliate. Overall crop condition is good to excellent, and crop development is steady and relatively rapid. Dairy producers continue with first-cut haying operations. Most of what was cut has gone into silage and average yields are generally reported. Livestock are on pasture with some pastures showing lush growth after the recent rains. Across the regions, most hay lands are rated in fair to good condition. It also looks like harvest time for winter wheat and rye is just about here!
The AgriPost
June 30, 2017
Souris Angus Breeder Honoured for 50 Years of Service During the Canadian Angus Association Annual National Convention banquet in Souris, Manitoba’s Lyall Edgerton of Botany Angus was one of two breeders honoured for 50 consecutive years of membership in the Association. Edgerton began his Angus herd, which would later be known as Botany Angus, in the fall of 1967. At the age of 21, he started the Botany herd by purchasing four females from the Manitoba Angus Association Sale from three consignors. These three breeders were Angus Valley Farm, Elmdale Farms and Prairielane Farms. Edgerton was also very involved with both 4-H and the Manitoba Angus Association. He acted as the leader of the local 4-H Club for 13 years. As well, he was also an active member and a director for the Manitoba Angus Association for 6 years, with his time as a director being dedicated to sitting as chair of the advertising and promotions committee, and two years spent as president. Edgerton also took a keen interest in the Angus Association and the relationship with the Douglas Bull Test Station Association. Acting on this interest, he served nine years as a director at the Douglas Test Station, and served as president for another two. The Canadian Angus Association instituted a long-term recognition award program in 1998 to honour individuals and families that have demonstrated a long-term commitment to the Angus breed in Canada by maintaining a continuous membership in the Association for at least 50 years. In 2011, the award program expanded to recognize families with 75 and 100 continuous years of membership.
Celebrating Confederation by Eradicating Child Hunger By Les Kletke Geoff Gyles remembers Canada’s Centennial and as a youngster watching many of the celebrations across the country on television. That spawned a desire to travel and see the rest of the country. Now after a successful career in agriculture he is doing that but also contributing to the less fortunate in this country. Gyles is visiting every province and territory in the country and making a donation of $10,000 to a Foodbank in the capital of each region. “In a country with as many resources as Canada, we have the means to eradicate child hunger, I want to do something tangible, something real to address this problem, and encourage
others to do the same. That is why I am going on this journey.” Gyles grew up in Winnipeg and graduated from the University of Manitoba with a degree in Agriculture. He spent his career helping farmers grow more food. “Those of us in the agriculture industry, and especially farmers, love the role we play in helping to feed the world. That is why it’s so frustrating that we have a child hunger problem in Canada. It is not really a matter of producing enough, upwards of 30% of food is wasted before it reaches the consumer. We throw out a massive amount of food before it reaches the kitchen table.” Gyles who now lives in Canmore said that having
grandchildren makes him more aware of the problem. He has four grandchildren under the age of four. While it is unlikely they will be hungry, it is other kids just like them that are. He acknowledged there are a lot of problems associated with hunger, such as low minimum wage, problems in food distribution, food waste, and socio-economic factors, the list is almost endless. But he does not want to get caught up in these debates. “This is about a simple problem. People don’t have enough to eat. Let’s focus on the positive things we can do, each of us to fix the problem,” he said. “It will make a big difference in a lot of people’s lives.” The Journey to End Hunger
Geoff Gyles drops of a check for $10,000 at Winnipeg Harvest in June as part of his journey across the country.
continues through July 10 and you can follow Gyles’ progress on the website journey2endhunger.com. He asks that those who would like to get involved make a donation to the national organization, Breakfast for Learning.
Banking on Saving Those Beetles! By Les Kletke Greg Sekulic wants to save the bugs in your canola field. No he is not some off the wall environmentalist who is on a tangent to reduce pesticide use, he is with the Canola Council of Canada and said there are a lot of bugs in your canola field that do an incredible amount of good. “We advocate that farmers pay attention to the economic thresholds of when spraying is justified, we are not saying don’t spray at all,” said Sekulic who is based in Alberta. He was in Manitoba for Canolapalooza and was part of a display with John Gavloski from Manitoba Agriculture. Sekulic uses the example of ground beetles. “There are over 400 species and none of them are pests,” he said. “It is important to know what kind of insects are living in your field and which ones are beneficial and which ones do damage.” He said that some of the ground beetles may eat as many as 8-10 cutworms a day, and they often find populations as high as 25 per sq. meter. That is nearly 200 cutworms a day required to support the population of ground beetles.
“There are over 50 species of predacious flies as they are officially known,” said Sekulic. “They can be having a dramatic impact in the field. One of our concerns is that with spraying the population may be wiped out and it takes a long time to rebuild the population.” He is not advocating to never spraying for pests. “We discourage spraying when it is not required,” he said. “We encourage proper scouting of your field to know what kind of pests you have and what the population is. There has been good work done on establishing the economic threshold of when the bad bugs are having an impact on the yield. We recommend monitoring your field and sticking to those guidelines before spraying.” This is not a case of an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure. Spraying too early may not be as effective in controlling the pests and still have a detrimental effect on the good bugs. John Gavloski with Manitoba Agriculture said there are things that a producer can do to increase the population of favourable insects in the field. “Things like trash cover and no till go a long way to
increasing insect populations, but the insects are an added benefit of reduced tillage. We do not advocate it solely for that purpose.”
Gavloski said that in Britain many farmers have taken to leaving rows of trash in the field as a home for the insects, called Beetle Banks.
Greg Sekulic says that some ground beetles may eat 8-10 cutworms a day.
St. Pierre-Jolys RCMP Respond to Hog Barn Fire Read the Agripost online at www.agripost.ca
On June 8 just after 9:30 pm, St. Pierre-Jolys RCMP received a call of a hog barn on fire on Provincial Road
31N, approximately 1 km east of Highway 59 in the RM of Hanover. It is estimated that there
were around 4,000 hogs in the barn that perished in the fire. No humans were injured in the fire.
The Office of the Fire Commissioner is assisting with this ongoing investigation.
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The Froeses Named Farm Family of the Year By Harry Siemens
Jack and Dianne Froese of Winkler, owners of Froese Enterprises are the 2017 Farm Family of the Year named by the Red River Exhibition Association (RREA). Pictured here with their grandchildren.
The Red River Exhibition Association (RREA) recently named Jack and Dianne Froese of Winkler, owners of Froese Enterprises the 2017 Farm Family of the Year. The family joins a distinguished list of 51 other families honoured with the award since its inception in 1966. “The Froese family are innovators and leaders in Manitoba’s agricultural industry and they personify the qualities recognized by this title,” said Garth Rogerson, CEO of the RREA. Jack Froese has served the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers for 20 years and as the Chair of Pulse Canada. He has also presented to the House of Commons and Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and participated in Team Canada trade missions to Algeria, Egypt, Iran and India. “I consider it an honour when you get recognized by your peers,” said Froese. “You don’t always feel worthy of the honour but I’m very grateful for the honour.” Currently he is a director with the Manitoba Canola Growers Association and serves as President of the Canadian Canola Growers As-
sociation. “The Froese family is deserving of this award as their family embodies what it means to live in rural Manitoba,” said Francois Labelle, Executive Director of the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers (MPSG). “They engage with their community, are exemplary stewards of the environment and have built a farm business that is progressive, diverse and a welcome place to work and visit.” “There’s a lot of honour that goes with these kind of awards, and sometimes you wonder whether you’re worthy of the recognition,” said Froese in a separate interview. “I’ve been very fortunate in my lifetime, I guess, to have worked on a lot of these organizations like the Manitoba Pulse Growers and now the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers and the Canola Growers in Manitoba and then on to the national board of the Canadian Canola Growers Association where we work on a lot of different issues, especially policy issues. I’ve really enjoyed it, and it’s given me a wealth of knowledge in going to these various places and gleaning from the so-called Ag elites of the world.” Sitting in the Froeses’ new
farm office situated on the yard where Froese grew up, he reflects on how he started farming. “Well, I have to give a lot of credit to my father,” he said referring to the late Jacob JM Froese a member of the Manitoba Legislature for 14 years. “I graduated from high school and jumped right into farming. He was involved in political life and a lot of public life, and so he gave me the reins to the farm. I made all the decisions at 19 years old. When I think back, that’s really amazing that my dad would place that kind of confidence in me to make the decisions.” With a lack of attention because of his father’s public workload, Froese decided to make some changes going from about a 900-acre operation to 5,700 acres today. “It’s been a lot of hard work, dedication to the tasks, but
with my wife by my side and a son and brothers through the initial stages, we’ve made a lot of improvements to the operation,” he said. “My brothers John and Alan and myself own the farm. I’m the CEO of the farm, so to speak. My son Randy runs the dayto-day operations and makes the day-to-day decisions on the farm. We have four employees, great guys working together as a team to fulfill the functions that we need to do.” The number of acres do matter, he explained. “There’s always economies of scale. I know, initially, we went from about 1,000 to 2,000 or 2,500 acres and then moved to 3,500, 4,500, now 5,700,” he said. “With 5,700 acres it allows us to kind of use two sets of equipment. The manpower kind of suits our operation.”
Jack Froese, CEO of Froese Enterprises and his son Randy Froese who is oversees the daily operations.
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June 30, 2017
A Decade of High Water on Lake Manitoba Very Damaging By Harry Siemens Tom Teichroeb, a cattle rancher at Langruth, tweeted a picture depicting the damage done to the shoreline by ten consecutive years of high water levels in Lake Manitoba showing how the old fence is fast disappearing. “That picture is a project that we did with Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation. To fence off the lakefront we had gone right along the shore the full distance of a mile,” said Teichroeb. “So with that shift one fence pole is buried where it would have been about three feet less sand and beach in a particular spot and then, of course, other spots are exactly the opposite where we now have openings that leak back into the land and where there is no proper shoreline anymore.” The picture shows the impact of the lake level that is so high for so long and in some places; it builds up over time, which is not necessarily always a bad thing. It repairs the shore. “It buries the fence line but the other extreme which I can’t show without a reference point from before, it takes away that shoreline,” he said. “The damage and the inability for the shorelines to function or the marshes around them has been a paramount situation for the last ten years.” Teichroeb said this spring it was not an issue because they needed the rain to grow the crops and green the
pastures. “It creates problems because the lake is high and so when you have downpours where the water which would drain through your low spots and down the ditch is now hung up and bleeds back into your grain and hay fields further and further,” he said. “It’s the fact that the lake is so high and we just can’t handle what we used to be able to.” There is progress in getting it fixed with negotiating points between the landowners and the Manitoba government. The proposal has even reached the point of raising the issue of land expropriations for a channel. “Obviously there’s been some negotiating with the First Nations that are impacted by this channel too and beyond. My understanding is that there is progress in that regard and that they’re looking to start work on some of the winter roads and some of the infrastructure needed to do some work this coming winter,” said Teichroeb. “I don’t think the completion date has changed too much, still around anywhere from 2019 to 2021 that they’re looking at. Again that’s based on the language sent out and passed on before.” Under the new administration, things have changed to where there is more water flowing from Lake Manitoba compared to the past. “Where before under the previous government they had restricted the movement through the winter and
this winter it appeared to be a priority for this government to make sure that the Fairford Dam was wide open to create as much of a buffer for the spring as they possibly could. From what I can understand there is no adverse effects of having that water flow out there like that and thank goodness it did.” He questions why the Portage Diversion flowed for as long and as hard as it did again this year. “From different reports and different people, it appeared as though there was more room along the Assiniboine River for water to flow that direction and it just seemed like we saw way too much water coming way too long into Lake Manitoba again. That was about the only question mark for me this year regarding the ability to manage Lake Manitoba,” he said. “It certainly would be welcome if the government provided more information as to why they make some of these decisions along with some real hard facts.” “The Premier, Brian Pallister campaigned on making sure that they would inform people around the lake, landowners, and stakeholders by involving them more intimately as to why the government is making those decisions. Anywhere from building the channel to information on why is the Portage Diversion flowing for as hard, and as long as it possibly can. I would certainly welcome some more information in that regard,” added Teichroeb.
Tom Teichroeb’s picture depicting the damage done to the shoreline by ten consecutive years of high water levels in Lake Manitoba showing how the old fence is fast disappearing.
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Greenfield Walks the Talk
Greenfield Meats had two 70 acres bill boards near Landmark last year, and is using the images in television advertising this year.
By Les Kletke A Landmark company that promotes its products as health conscious and environmentally sound has taken the message to its advertising as well. Greenfield Meats created what it calls sustainable advertising last year by working its message into a 70acre field. It then captured the images from a helicopter and is using them this year in its television and digital advertising. Domenic Borrelli, Vice President and General Manager of Greenfield Natural Meat said the idea was to show that the company is serious about its approach to sustainable food produc-
tion. “We have the largest bill board in Canada and perhaps the world with our message carved into the field,” he said. The company was judged the best new brand of 2016, establishing a strong presence in the Canadian market and has some presence in the US. “We believe the concern from consumers about healthy food is something that will continue to grow and we can meet that demand,” said Borrelli. The Canadian government has announced its intention to reduce the amount of antibiotics used in this country. Currently 80% of antibiotics used are in the production of livestock. There is concern
the over use is hurting he efficacy of the antibiotics and new and resistant strains of bugs are developing faster that new products. Borrelli said that while his company has a strict regime for production of hogs that does not include antibiotics, when an animal is sick it is treated but then removed from the Greenfield system. The production contract for the company includes a diet entirely of vegetables for the animals. He was evasive when asked if producers were paid a premium for producing animals under contract for the company but did acknowledge that the products were segregated and commanded a premium
in the grocery store. The company is concentrating on pork at this time with a smaller amount of turkey in its product line. He said the company did not have plans to expand to other meat products yet. “We are looking for more natural products across the pork line and we are monitoring the market place,” he said. He did not offer any information on what the company had planned for this year in terms of a new message in a farmer’s field. “For now we are using the image on television and in our digital marketing and getting a good response,” he said.
Super Food Lingonberries Could be a Boon for All of Manitoba Researchers with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) are setting the stage for what may be a new entry into the Canadian-grown “super” food market. Lingonberries are already popular in Scandinavian cuisine where they are used in sauces for chicken and pork, as well as in muffins and breads. Small, tart and slightly sweet, they are native to British Columbia, Manitoba, and Atlantic Canada and have the potential to become a valuable crop for Canadian growers. The Lingonberry is closely related to the blueberry and cranberry, which are high in anti-oxidants. The benefits of Lingonberries and their juice may go even further as suggested by preliminary studies in Sweden that show potential in helping to prevent both weight gain, and in high sugar and cholesterol levels. New research from Dr. Chris Siow, Research Scientist with AAFC and principal investigator with the Canadian Centre for Agri-
Food Research in Health and Medicine (CCARM), located at St. Boniface Hospital, is showing that these berries may also contribute to healthy kidneys. The study showed that during kidney surgery, including transplants, kidneys experience low oxygen, and when oxygen is returned to the organ, there can be inflammation and damage. In tests using lab rats Dr. Siow’s research team fed one millilitre (the human-equivalent of one cup) of Manitoba Lingonberry juice daily for three weeks to one group and none to another prior to kidney surgery. The rats that had consumed Lingonberry juice had improved kidney function, reduced kidney stress and reduced inflammation following the operation in comparison to those that had none. These results also showed that as the concentration of Lingonberry increased, the protective effect also increased. “Overall, the research data obtained from these studies
is very promising and we are encouraged that we may have a commodity that has positive impacts on human health,” said Dr. Siow. “We plan to continue with our studies to validate the early results and look for additional benefits the berry may provide.” Meanwhile across the country, research on the Lingonberry plant itself is taking place. Work with Lingonberry production and germplasm enhancement is being done at AAFC’s St. John’s Research and Development Centre (NL) under the leadership of Dr. Samir Debnath. He has been working in collaboration with Dr. Siow. “Lingonberry will be a potential health-promoting berry crop for Canada,” said Dr. Debnath who developed a number of promising hybrids between European and Canadian Lingonberries. Dr. Debnath is also working in collaboration with the Newfoundland and Labrador provincial government and the province’s growers in grow-
ing Lingonberry hybrids under field conditions. Drs. Debnath and Siow not only believe that this berry will be beneficial to consumers especially when studies like his continue to produce positive results but that Lingonberries will also be of interest to growers as they may provide new business opportunities. Key research discoveries show Lingonberries contain more anthocyanins, the pigments that give them their red colour, per gram than most commonly consumed berries such blueberries and cranberries. These compounds may provide health benefits. In addition, Lingonberries are rich in vitamins and minerals and are found growing wild in the northern regions of Canada. Northern Producers may be able to reap even more benefits as research shows that the Lingonberries grown in northern Manitoba contain the highest levels of antioxidants.
Lingonberries
Photo by Jonas Bergsten, courtesy Wikipedia
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Virden Family Receives National Conservation Award
MHHC presented the Hagan family with the National Blue-winged Teal Award
The Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation (MHHC) was pleased to recognize a long supporting family from Virden, for their ongoing contribution to wildlife and habitat conservation. In recognition of their efforts, MHHC presented the Hagan family with the National Blue-winged Teal Award, presented on an annual basis by the North American Waterfowl Management Plan through, Environment and Climate Change Canada and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. MHHC is delighted that this three-generation family was chosen as the recipient for this year’s award. “The
Hagan family has been working with us since 2003 and in total they have almost 4,900 acres of natural land that is permanently protected. This is by far the largest number of easements within a single farm operation that has been achieved in Manitoba,” said Tim Sopuck, MHHC Chief Executive Officer. The National Blue-winged Teal Award is presented to individuals, partnerships or programs whose activities result in substantial benefits to waterfowl, other wetland associated migratory bird populations or wetlands habitats as a onetime, periodic or ongoing effort. The Hagan property in-
cludes 2,000 acres of wetlands with at least 14 species of waterfowl. The ecological value of their conservation efforts increases as their land provides important habitat for at least five at-risk grassland bird species and a host of other wildlife. Shawne and Jocelyn Hagan initiated the first agreement with MHHC fourteen years ago and as their sons, Alistair and Thomas joined the family farm they continued to partner with MHHC. In total, the families have 15 conservation easements. Their farming operation focuses on cattle production and horse breeding. As the Hagans are part of the regenerative ag-
ricultural movement, they found that programs through MHHC match well with what they are trying to accomplish on the land. “With regenerative Ag, the whole point is looking at the ecosystem as a whole. If you’re benefiting your cows, you are also benefiting the bird population, the bug population and the pollinators. There’s a paradigm shift that turns you from kind of being a commodity farmer to looking at things as a whole. When you do that, you realize that you have to take care of everybody living on your land for you to be profitable and as a result you have to start building a beneficial environment for all of them,” said Thomas Hagan, Oak Lake Cattle Producer.
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Farm & Food Care Launches Photo Contest
Farm & Food Care is launching a nation-wide farm photo contest with $4,000 in cash prizes available for winners in six categories. Winning photos will be used in the updated 2017 edition of The Real Dirt on Farming, a publication that answers common questions about food and farming practices in Canada. The Photo Contest has six categories to choose from, Canadian Farm Scenes capturing the beauty of Canada’s rural landscape, Farm Faces with unique farm family photos, farm friends or a photo of farmers at work, in All About Animals, photos should capture farm animals in the barn or field, Farm Innovation is all about technology at work on Canadian farms, Crazy about Crops is for crops being grown in fields, orchards or greenhouses across Canada and Farm Fun is about your creativity showing people having fun while farming. In each category, the prizes include $350 first prize, $200 second prize and $100 third prize. In addition, non-winning entries used in The Real Dirt on Farming booklet will receive $50 per photo. To be eligible entrants must submit photographs taken only in Canada, own the rights to the photos they submit and be a resident of Canada. The winners’ names and photographs will be published on FarmFoodCare.org and may be used in the 2017 edition of The Real Dirt on Farming or in other Farm & Food Care initiatives. By participating in this contest, each entrant agrees to provide Farm & Food Care with the nonexclusive rights to use their images. All entries need to be digital photographs submitted electronically as jpeg files to contests@farmfoodcare.org and emails must be no more than 10 MB in size. Cropping of photos is permitted, tonal or colour corrections are acceptable. Winners will be required to submit a high-resolution file suitable for print reproduction at least 300 dpi at 6 x 9 inches. Photographs that have won any other contests or have been published in a magazine or newspaper, except online are not eligible. Individuals can only win once per category, but may win in multiple categories. There is a limit of two entries per category per entrant. To submit photos, provide your full name, phone number, email address, province where the photo was taken and contest category of the photo. The deadline to enter by email is by the end of day July 14, 2017. For more information, terms, and conditions contest participants should visit the website RealDirtonFarming.org.
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Erosion Takes Toll on MB’s Unique Soil Type
Mitch Timmerman with Manitoba Agriculture says Manitoba has some unique soil situations.
By Les Kletke Manitoba has unique soil and water erosion situations said Mitch Timmerman, an Agri-Ecosystems Specialist with Manitoba Agriculture based in Carman. He was in Portage la Prairie as part of Canolapalooza with a display that featured the different soil types found in the province as well as the different water erosion sources. A portion of his display, simulated run off from melting snow in a field. “Many people think that because it is so flat Manitoba does not have a problem with soil erosion,” said Timmerman. “That is not the case and we do have unique situations that other areas might not be familiar with.” Timmerman said that one of the key components of his display is to answer the environmental concerns that people have about water run off and pollution of waterways. The 4 Rs of fertilizer have been recognized by the industry
worldwide and in most cases, farmers consider these practices as common sense. The 4 Rs of fertilizer, comprised of the Right Source which considers what is available to the plant and in what form it can take it up, the Right Rate is the rate of use by the plant, the Right Time is when does the plant need the nutrients during the growth cycle and the Right Place is where do we place the fertilizer to make it available to the plant. By looking at each soil type and how and why it erodes, the 4Rs become even more practical benefiting the farmer and while protecting our water from pollutants. “Farmers do a pretty good job of these things because it makes economic sense,” he said. “Farmers want to get the most efficient use from their fertilizer.” One part of his display was a rain simulator over a set of trays with various soil types. This allows him to show how the soil absorbs moisture and
by raising the tray, he can create elevation difference. “We think of Manitoba as flat but we have areas in the northwest around Riding Mountain that do in fact have traditional water erosion issues because of run-off,” said Timmerman. Another display model that gets the most reaction is the variation on texture in soil types. He demonstrated that hard packed clay has water running over the top of it while a sandy soil holds the water even as the incline is increased dramatically. He offered a bit of the clay soil to touch pointing out that, “People are surprised by how fine it is, and how hard it will pack,” he explained. “We have a real variation in soil types in the province and farmers do a good job of managing the soil type on their farm,” he said. “We have to be aware of the uniqueness of the situation and that not all things work across the board.”
New Executive Director to Lead Manitoba Canola Growers Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA) recently announced that Delaney Ross Burtnack is joining the team on July 31. She will be taking over leadership of the organization from retiring Executive Director, Bill Ross. “Delaney is an experienced leader who understands the importance of providing value back to farmers. Her background in research, communications and extensive agriculture network will make her an asset to the organization,” shared Chuck Fossay, MCGA president. With a strong educational background in agriculture and science from the University of Manitoba combined with her 10 years of experience includ-
ing 6 years as the President and CEO of the Canadian Association of Agri-Retailers (CAAR), Delaney brings insight and understanding to the challenges and opportunities that MCGA faces. “I have long recognized the critical role that the canola associations play in protecting and advancing one of Canada’s premiere crops through leading edge research, public outreach, and agronomic information. I couldn’t be more thrilled to join the MCGA team, sharing in the great work that Bill Ross and the staff have established in Manitoba, in order to contribute to the continued advancement of canola research and productivity on behalf of Manitoba’s
Delaney Ross Burtnack
canola growers,” said Delaney Ross Burtnack. “It has been a pleasure to serve Manitoba canola farmers over the past 15 years. I am excited to watch the organization continue to thrive and I know that MCGA will be in good hands with Delaney as Executive Director,” added Bill Ross.
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No Silver Bullet for Blackleg By Les Kletke When it comes to Blackleg resistance in canola there is no silver bullet, it is not a matter of one resistant seed type working against all strains of the disease. Sakaria Liban is with DL Seeds and he said that strains of the disease are evolving and in some cases, the strain may be specific to a farm. Liban had a display at Canolapoolza in Portage la Prairie on June 22 showing how various resistance ratings worked with containing infestations in plants.
The first one was an S rating as the plant is susceptible to the disease and an infestation would spread throughout the plants. At the other end of the spectrum was the highest resistance and the plant would work to isolate the lesion with the disease minimizing the impact. In between was a plant that offered some resistance to the infestation but the disease would still spread through the plant and have an impact on plant health and resultant yields. “The resistance is only to a certain strain of the disease,” said Liban. “So
Sakaria Liban says there is no Silver Bullet to Blackleg resistance in Canola breeding.
it is important to know which strain is active on your farm and which strain a specific canola seed variety has resistance to.” His work showed at least 14 different strains of Blackleg that could be active on western Canadian farms with each rendering a supposedly resistant variety susceptible to the new strain. At least one seed company is offering the information as to which strains it has resistance to in specific seed types with its seed. “It is important that the farmer know which strain or strains are active on his farm,” stressed Liban. He said that while plant breeders are trying to come up with resistance to the disease bred into the plants it is a difficult situation as new strains of the disease continue to evolve. “We see new strains developing each year and it is a matter of trying to catch up and breed something into the plant but by the time it comes to market there is a new strain that could have dramatic impacts on the plant.” When asked if there is anything on the horizon that could be a cure all, Liban did not seem optimistic about a silver bullet making Blackleg in canola a thing of the past. His indication is that farmers would have to remain vigilant and try a number of paths to control the disease. “Knowing what strain is on your farm and what strain of Blackleg the canola variety is resistant to is the first step,” he said.
Coalition Repeats Call for Action on GM Alfalfa The Manitoba Organic Alliance (MOA) joined thirteen other concerned organizations across the country to remind Federal Minister Lawrence MacAulay of their April 16, 2016 call to cancel variety registration for all genetically modified (GM) alfalfa until completion of a full economic impact assessment and to establish a protocol for testing all imports of alfalfa seed grown in the US. “Once again, we are reminding the Minister of the dangers of GM alfalfa in Canada, and recommending concrete steps to mitigate
economic harm to Canadian agricultural industries,” said MOA President Kate Storey. Because of its high tendency towards cross-pollination, GM alfalfa presents great risk of contamination of non-GM fields. Regulated products such as certified organic or non-GM products are especially threatened by this risk. The letter asks the Minister to take three actions, by deregistering GM alfalfa varieties, make locations of GM alfalfa plantings public so that farmers can protect their fields and crops until
all GM alfalfa varieties are taken off the market, and test imports of alfalfa seed grown in the US. “There is still time, through these steps, to mitigate risk to our industry. We hope the Minister will act swiftly,” said Storey. Through local distributors, the company Forage Genetics International (FGI) is marketing alfalfa with combined GM traits for lowlignin and glyphosate tolerance. In 2016, the company sold a limited amount of seed in eastern Canada and is selling the seed on wider scale for 2017.
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Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference Slated for Brandon By Joan Airey Advancing Farm Women for the Next 150 years is the theme of the 2017 Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference. The conference takes place in Brandon at the Victoria Inn from November 19 to 21. Keynote speaker, Katie Dilse has already been booked for Monday’s start. She is the CEO of the Dilse Farm Manager Training Program based in North Dakota, a fellow farmer and Mom that teaches time management, fixing breakdowns and planning for the future. Dilse was named as one of the Top 40 under 40 business leaders in the US Midwest by The Business Watch magazine, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis relied on her reports to advise their agriculture decision makers and The Great American Wheat Harvest captured Dilse in its award-winning documentary. Conference goers can also do some early Christmas shopping at the mini market
for vendors, which has been fully booked. The market includes Myrna Ronald with her African crafts, Jessica Fox with pottery and water colours, Sharon Kroeker with barn board and tin work, Karen Pettiger with her soaps, Marie Todoichuk with her art crafts, cards and ornaments, Diane Airey with her leather goods, Tracy and Norman Pappel with engraving and
chocolates, Deb Brown with pottery, and Karen Coleman with her unique birdhouses. The conference website also has links to a $500 scholarship that will be presented to a student attending university or college. To follow the conference updates and find more details on Facebook and Twitter, check out the website manitobafarmwomensconfernce.ca.
Many familiar faces, including Tracey Chappell head of programming and advertising, Carol Dalgarno in charge of finances and Donna Lee Brown, Chairperson are busy working to make 2017 an outstanding conference.
Tractors Show Their Colours in Annual Trek By Les Kletke John Elias said he is not colour blind when it comes to tractors. “A lot of guys only see green, but I think there are good tractors of every colour,” said Elias who participated in this year’s Tractor Trek with his Allis Chalmers WD 45. He bought the tractor from a fellow in Michigan after seeing it in on the internet. “It looked like a nice clean tractor and did not need a lot of restoration.” The orange AC joins a Ford, a Case, three Masseys and a Minneapolis Moline in his stable. He had six entered in the western Tractor Trek that started in Winkler. It was a family affair with his sonin-law, his sister and her son and son-in-law joining him for the journey. Elias has been a part of the event for the last 5 years. The WD 45 was built from 1953-57, with just over 90,000 of them being produced. The company made over 83,000 gas-powered tractors and 6,500 dieselpowered units of the model. His was built mid-run in 1955. The tractor was rated 23 horsepower on the drawbar and 29 horsepower on the belt. It has been called one of the most important models
in the Allis Chalmers line up and did much to establish the company as a serious contender in the market. One of the features that was new on the model at the time and proved valuable was the hand clutch that could be used to slow down the speed of the tractor while maintaining tot speed. The feature helped to work lumps through a baler or maintain power around a corner. Elias said he spent a fair bit of time on a WD 45 in the 1960s and had been looking for one for a while before he came across this one in Michigan. It was the first tractor he bought for his farm operation
in the 1960s. “It looked like a real nice tractor and it is,” he said. “I have been happy with it and have had to do very little restoration on it.” He sold his farm south of Winkler and now stores his tractor collection at his sister’s yard. When asked what else he is looking for to add to his collection, Elias said “There is nothing else.” With a chuckle he went on to say, “In fact it is time that I start to sell a few, rather than add more to the collection.” That might happen after this year’s Tractor Trek but for now his units are committed to the annual event and he has family to drive them.
John Elias bought this WD 45 from Michigan - this was the model tractor he first bought for his farm. The WD 45 had a hand clutch that allowed the tractor to achieve slow land speed while maintaining high PTO speed.
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MBFI Expands Board Representation The Manitoba Beef and Forages Initiatives Inc. (MBFI) Annual Update Meeting saw the election of the new and expanded 2017-18 MBFI Board of Directors. Ramona Blyth of MacGregor will return to the role as Chair for the next two years while Killarney’s Dave Koslowsky will flank Blyth as the Vice-Chair over the next year.
Blyth said the MBFI board has been expanded from five to seven members and provides a vote at the board table for each of three other core partners while maintaining a majority membership of beef producers to help provide a solid governance structure for the rapid acceleration of activities on-farm and off for the three sites near Brandon. It was some-
Fresh Fruit Ready By Early July 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. “It’s been a little cool this spring, but with adequate moisture the berries are coming along nicely, and the first strawberries will be ready for picking in the last days of June, with picking becoming general in early July,” said Cormier. “Raspberries and Saskatoons also look good this year, and all three berry crops will be ready about the same time, with Saskatoons and raspberries not far behind the strawberries.” Consumers wishing to locate berries can access the Berry Hot Line to find the addresses of various growers, and speak with growers directly to check on berry availability, readiness for picking, and hours of business. Prairie Fruit Grower recipe cards, a new promotion 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 open throughout the province, said Cormier. The Cormiers are into their 11th season in strawberries and the current Executive Directors of Prairie Fruit Growers, a non-profit organization representing Manitoba fruit growers.
Outstanding Young Angus Breeder
By Joan Airey Austen Anderson of Swan River was selected as the 2017 Outstanding Young Angus Breeder by the Canadian Angus Foundation recently at its convention banquet. In 2011, Anderson was selected as the Canadian Angus Foundation Robert C. McHaffie Junior Ambassador, the last time the Canadian Angus Association met in Manitoba for the annual general meeting. A fifth-generation cattle producer, he started his own purebred Angus herd in 2003 while also being an active part of Anderson Cattle Company, the family purebred red and black Angus operation specializing in marketing two-year-old bulls. Anderson is the son of purebred Angus breeders Bruce and Ione Anderson. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the University of Regina and teaches at the local high school. The Outstanding Young Angus Breeder Award recognizes an Angus breeder between the ages of 22 and 30 who has demonstrated a desire to stay involved in the Angus business for years to come based on their involvement within the breed during their career. The award comes with a $3,500 cash prize. The Canadian Angus Foundation was incorporated in 1993 and is the charitable arm of the Canadian Angus Association.
thing, Blyth said, that the Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) board, the group from which a handful of board members had previously formed the MBFI Board from the farm’s original launch until now immediately recognized as a positive move. The new Board was confirmed in a motion by MBP’s Board of Directors the following day.
“Any great partnership features strong and meaningful dialogues among the core partners,” said Blyth. “When our core partners from Manitoba Agriculture, Manitoba Forage and Grasslands Association and Ducks Unlimited Canada expressed their hopes to have a stronger voice and voting privileges at the MBFI board level, we immediately saw the benefits
to the organization. At the end of the day, this new MBFI board will be excellent for partner relations and guarantee MBFI an even stronger profile for our work on-farm and going forward off-the-farm on critical items like fundraising and the new MBFI learning centre.” Speaking on behalf of all four partners, Manitoba Beef Producers Gen-
eral Manager Brian Lemon echoed Blyth’s words. “The fact that we have this board in place represents a lot of effort and goodwill from all the partners, and marks a further maturation of MBFI and I believes sets the corporation up to really begin to deliver even more benefits to Manitoba’s beef and forage producers,” said Lemon.
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Have a Spare on Hand Worn nozzles can cost money in the efficiency of your sprayer. (whiteboard text reads) WORN NOZZLES Proline: $20/acre Guardian Air Twin $975 set of nozzles Liberty: $11/acre Guardian Air $885 set of nozzles
By Les Kletke Checking your sprayer nozzles for wear is quite simple and it will save you money. “There is no substitute for the human eye, and touch,” said Brian Caldwell. “When you run your finger through the spray pattern you can feel if the pattern is even or it if it is lower in some areas. Those areas translate to weaker areas of coverage in the field.” Caldwell was part of Canolapallooza, a one-day extravaganza on everything canola
related staged at Potage la Prairie on June 22. Part of his display was a new John Deere sprayer, which he used to talk about the finer points of herbicide application, but one of his primary points was the delivery of the product. Herbicide comes through the spray nozzles, which are a relatively inexpensive part of the machine. His signage indicated a set of nozzles would cost between 8 and 9 hundred dollars. “Guys are spending $160,000 on the machine,” he said. “A set of
nozzles is $900 and that is what delivers your product. It does not make any sense to try and cheat with worn nozzles.” He recommended that farmers buy two sets of nozzles when they are replacing them. “Put one in the machine, and put the other in the cupboard,” he said. “Then when you are checking them with your flow metre you can replace one and see the difference. Or if you are getting bigger drops from a nozzle or the pattern
is not as good, you have a set that is ready to go.” He is not an advocate of any one nozzle and said that while some sprayers come equipped with ceramic nozzles, which may sound like a longer lasting product, they still need to be checked. Caldwell also had some interesting information on sprayer rinsing. His work has shown that some products can have an impact on canola at a dilution factor of 1/256. “That is a rise of 15 times,” he explained. “If you
spray the product and fill another tank that would be half, if you do it again the dilution would be down to 1/4. We carried that through to refilling the tank 15 times which would be a dilution rate of 1/256 and found that some products still had an impact that would affect yield.” He recommended that farmers have a set regime for rinsing their sprayers including nothing less than a triple rinse that may be sprayed on the original crop to avoid contamination.
Winter Wheat Provides Opportunity for Unseeded Acres The 2016 harvest season was one some growers would like to forget. Unfortunately, the reminder was still there when the snow melted this spring uncovering thousands of unharvested acres that producers had to combine plus get the 2017 crop in the ground. But adversity leads to opportunity and the Western Winter Wheat Initiative (WWWI) encourages producers to seed winter wheat this fall as a way of dealing with unseeded acres that was not planted this spring. “Incorporating winter wheat into your cropping rotation is a risk management tool,” said Janine Paly, WWWI agronomist. “There is no doubt that seeding during harvest in September poses some challenges; however, acres seeded in August can ease the stress and intense workload producers experience in a wet spring.” Seeding winter wheat into chemfallow requires different planning than seeding into other stubble. Palys said there are some tips to help producers’ seed winter wheat successfully. First, minimize stubble disturbance and maintain stubble. Standing stubble is a key practice to establish winter wheat as the trapped snow insulates the crop from winter elements. Yearold stubble will break apart easier than stubble from a freshly harvested crop; however, any stubble is better than summer fallow. Tip 2 is to minimize traffic over the field to maintain stubble integrity by using the same tracks in spraying operations and avoid harrowing and cultivating if possible. Next, line up seed early. Before spring crops are harvested, take advantage of the less busy time and source seed. Plan to have the seed on farm and treated with a seed treatment before planting. Research conducted by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada indicates a seed treatment minimizes seedling disease and can help with winter survival. Tip 4 is keep in mind fertility management. By selecting the right source and amount, you will help ensure your soil has a balanced supply of plant nutrients. It is important to perform a soil test to determine nutrient levels within the field. Winter wheat nitrogen management is different from spring wheat and determining the right timing of nitrogen application will vary depending on your operation. There are a few options, like fallapplied, spring-applied or split application, but the method will vary depending on weather, soil moisture, and seeding equipment. Winter wheat has the ability to yield up to 40 per cent more than CWRS with adequate rates of nitrogen. Last tip is seed early. Seeding early is a key factor in establishing a successful winter wheat crop. Plants that enter the winter with three to four leaves have a well-develop crown tissue and a better chance of winter survival. The optimal seeding window across the Prairies is between September 1 and 15. The question that may arise is, “How early can I seed?” It is better to seed earlier than later as producers can get busy with harvest operations and forget to seed within the optimal window. Extra consideration when seeding too early is the risk of disease transfer of stripe rust or Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus. If these diseases are of concern, growers can seed a resistant variety, delay seeding (depending on region), or should avoid seeding into conditions with volunteer cereals, or adjacent to a green wheat crop. Forgetting 2016 for some growers will not be easy, but they can take advantage of a bad situation and get a head start on the 2018 season by seeding winter wheat.
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Feedlot Holstein Steers Need Powerful Feeding Programs By Peter Vitti As I travel across western Canada, I see there are more and more beef producers raising Holstein steers in their feedlots. Years ago, I didn’t think of Holstein steers as potentially profitable cattle, because I had a lot of misguided prejudices. However, my attitude did a complete “180” turnaround, when I started working with a few successful Holstein producers by helping them put together special feeding programs for Holstein steers. I saw how well a Holstein steer could perform, only if they are recognized as a different class of feedlot cattle compared to traditional beef breeds. Now, I advocate that Holstein steers can draw good revenue. The biggest difference about these black and white cattle that many experienced Holstein-beef producers and myself have recognized is that Holstein steers are large animals that eat a lot of feed. That’s because they need
about 10 - 15% more dietary energy in their ration on a daily basis compared to beef breeds in order to support greater maintenance requirements due to greater frame size and larger internal organs. As a result, a Holstein steer’s dry matter intake for feed is about 10 – 15% greater as well. Using this fact as a focal point combined with some observations drawing upon my own experience as well and documented university field data I can establish a list of measurable performance expectations for Holstein steers, when they enter, are fed and finished in commercial feedlots. Let us consider the following table, which outlines their performance from 500 lbs to a marketable weight of 1,500 lbs at 15 – 16 months of feedlot Holstein steers compared to traditional beef feedlot cattle (See Table 1 below). It is clear to me, from this table that Holstein steers have
unique set of performance characteristics. First, they have slightly lower ADGs due to larger maintenance requirements. Second, they are less feed efficient due to higher maintenance requirements as they become less efficient overtime in the feedlot, since Holstein cattle naturally lay down less, lean body tissue and fat as they gain weight. Last, because of their large skeleton and vital organs, their dressing percentage is lower than your typical beef feedlot breeds. Yet by working with these constraints, we can yield a saleable carcass that is actually larger than one of a typical beef breed. Several studies have also demonstrated that most Holstein steers finish with enough back fat cover to grade desirable AAA or AA. It has been my experience that such Holstein yield and grading success is actually based upon how well these feedlot steers are fed and managed in 3-ways: (1) Put them on a
Table 1
higher-energy plane of nutrition compared to conventional beef cattle, (2) Use their larger DMI to your advantage and feed for total ADG performance, not for traditional beef-breed frame size and (3) set up strategic use of hormone implants to reduce the number of days Holstein steers spend in the feedlot. Consequently, here is an illustration of sample diets of a grower and finisher diets for Holstein steers marketed at 1500lbs; coming into the feedlot as 500 lbs calves and gaining an average of 2.5 – 3.0 lb/head/day on the grower diet and an average of 3.0 - 3.6 lbs/head/day on the finisher diet (See Table 2 below). For the last 6 years, I have implemented this energy-enriched two-phase feeding system at a few feedlots in western Canada. For example, one particular feedlot raises about 700 Holstein steers, the cattle have consistent gains and typically grade about 95% AAA/ AA with a few Prime animals in the shipments. Carcass
yield has grown over the last few years from 55 to the present 58.5%. A few years ago, we did have a slight problem with subclinical acidosis and laminitis during hot weather, especially when heavy cattle reached over 1,000 lbs. However, the feedlot manager and I solved this by adding extra limestone and a probiotic yeast to the feedlot TMR diet. In another consulting 300head feedlot case, I found out that there was a number of Holstein steers “riding” each other, while an unacceptable number of shipped steers was grading as B1 or “dark-cutters”. These two problems are related and by working with
the feedlot’s veterinarian, we altered the implant program, which solved both problems at the same time. As a result, most cattle on this operation graded AAA or AA at market. These two Holstein feedlots are success stories, because both operators feed Holstein steers, properly. It’s a matter of providing nutritious diets that are specifically geared for meeting the higher energy requirements of the growing and finishing Holstein steers. In contrast, I know one dairy producer that raises about 100 Holsteins on traditional beef breed diets, and he has Holstein steers approaching their second birthday!
Table 2
Sometimes You’re the Windshield, Sometimes You’re the Bug I was seven years old when Mary Chapin Carpenter released the song “The Bug” which essentially talked about how quickly you can go from one side of a situation to the other. I haven’t heard this song for probably 20 years or more, but this morning while thinking about what to write an article about
the lyrics to this song came back to mind. That headline fairly accurately sums up how I feel about the soybean market so far through 2017. It’s no secret that at IntelliFARM we’ve been bearish on soybeans since January over a long-term view given how the fundamental picture has been shaping up, in reali-
ty for the past year already. In light of that, we had sold all the remaining old crop beans in mid January and forward sold a decent amount of new crop at the same time. However, even I am surprised by how soybeans have done essentially nothing but drop since that time frame, aside from a three week rally off
the lows of the beginning of June (which we are now back to being lower than, as illustrated in the chart below). Soybeans have been the darling crop of southern Manitoba for years, with their ability to withstand excess moisture better than almost anything, while still pulling off impressive yields even in drier years. Combined with the p r i c e s we have typically been seeing, along with the relatively cheap input structure to grow beans; soybeans have been the solid “windshield” for many
farms the last number of years. While it’s still early in the crop year of course, the fundamental side since last summer has turned decidedly bearish, as big acres and crops in the US started to swing the balance sheet to having very comfortable ending stocks. When you add on the record soybean crops out of South America this spring, the global balance sheet for beans is in a very different situation than in 2012 after two major droughts in South America and the US. The world has essentially, become flush with soybeans and it has turned into a buyer’s market as exporting countries fight to cut margins in order to gain sales and move product. On our side of the border, we have most recently been hit with the unusual double whammy effect of lower soybean futures (in US dol-
lars) and a rallying Canadian dollar. This has equated to an extra negative effect on our cash prices, as though futures may be down 5 or 10 cents/bu on a day, the cash price may in fact drop 10 or 15 cents/bu instead. Add up all these pieces, and soybeans for the 2017 crop year certainly have the potential to be the bug, rather than the windshield we’ve been used to. How long do prices need to go before acres start responding to it? That remains to be seen. 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 204-3243669.
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Celebrating the Manitoba Farm Family of the Year By Judy Klassen I had the opportunity on June 19 to attend the Celebration of Agriculture dinner hosted by the Red River Exhibition Association. This year’s theme was a special celebration in honour of Canada’s 150th birthday, as well as our provinces rich agricultural heritage. While at this dinner, I had the pleasure of meeting and learning about Jack and Dianne Froese. A farming couple from Winkler and owners of Froese Enterprises Inc. Jack and Dianne were awarded as the 2017 Farm Family of the Year and the more I learned about them the more I understood why they were the perfect candidates for this recognition. As active participants in their community and avid farmers, the Froese’s have given back to our province and all while raising a family together. They are well deserving of this award and Jack and Dianne join the list of 51 other families who have been honoured as Farm Family of the Year since 1996. I would like to take a moment to recognize and congratulate all of the winners and thank them for their contributions to Manitoba’s agricultural industry. I was also delighted to see the Red River Exhibition Foundation present award scholarships to Manitoba students pursuing careers in the fields of agriculture and agrifood. Congratulations to these students and best wishes for a fulfilling education and a prosperous career ahead. Megwetch to all the attendees of this year’s celebration of Agriculture dinner for sharing with me your rich experiences in our province’s agricultural industry and thank you to all of the wonderful Manitobans who work so hard every day to sustain Manitoba agriculture. Judy Klassen, MLA for Kewatinook and Manitoba Liberal Agriculture Critic
Ministers Push Forward on the Next Agricultural Policy Framework Canada’s Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) Ministers of Agriculture met on May 10 to discuss the path forward to developing the next agricultural policy framework, which will help Canadian farmers and food processors grow their businesses. Ministers will reconvene in July to ensure work is on track to launch the next framework on April 1, 2018. “Together with the provinces and territories, the Government of Canada remains committed to developing innovative programs and services to help ensure agriculture continues to be a leading
growth sector of Canada’s economy. Our strong agricultural sector will help meet the world’s growing demand for high-quality, sustainable food and help us grow our middle class,” said Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Jointly, FPT Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to developing the next framework and discussed the next suite of programs and services for the sector, including Business Risk Management programs. This work builds on the key priorities outlined in the Calgary Statement which was issued by
FPT Ministers in July 2016. FPT governments have been consulting with a wide range of stakeholders, including producers, processors, indigenous communities, women, youth, and small and emerging sectors. The importance of trade and market development was also discussed by Ministers. Canada and the United States have a long-standing history of cooperation and remains each other’s number one trading partner for agricultural products. This mutually beneficial and highly integrated trading arrangement supports millions of middle
class jobs on both sides of the border, and FPT governments will continue to foster this strong relationship. Ministers also committed to preserve the integrity of the supply management system. FPT Ministers emphasized the importance of agriculture and agri-food to the Canadian economy. The 2017 Federal budget outlined the Government of Canada’s plan to support the agricultural sector and underscores the importance of the next framework, which will help define and drive the future of agriculture across the country.
Grain Growers Call for Extension to Grain Rail Provisions Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) have called for the Federal government to extend the provisions in the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act (Bill C-30) that mandates the timely transportation of grain. This is essential to ensure that they are available for the upcoming grain year and that progress does not expire with the sunset date of Aug 1, 2017. “Grain farmers have seen the positive impact of the emergency measures put in place in 2014,” said Jeff Nielsen, GGC President and grain farmer from Olds, Alberta. “We urge Transportation Minister Garneau to extend the provisions, particu-
larly those related to interswitching, until the Transportation 2030 legislation is enacted.” Presented in November 2016, the proposed Transportation 2030 plan would be a comprehensive overhaul of the current transportation legislation. Among other things, it recognized the need for permanent extended interswitching as well as reciprocal penalties for shippers. The grain industry has long been calling for a level playing field between railways and shippers and done properly, the new legislation could do just that. However, with planting now underway for the
2017-grain year, and the much-anticipated legislation yet to be tabled, it is imperative that prairie grain farmers and the entire value chain know they can rely on a consistent rail system to get their grain to port. About 90 per cent of Canadian grain is destined for the export market, the vast majority of which is shipped by rail. The recent Barton Report from the Advisory Council on Economic Growth as well as the 2017 Federal Budget called for a dramatic increase in agriculture and agri-food exports to harness agriculture’s potential as a key growth sector. This can-
not be achieved unless the government puts a focus on getting our high quality grain to market quickly and reliably. “The support for grain shipping shown by first the Conservative government and now the Liberals has been welcome,” continued Mr. Nielsen. “In the short term it is imperative that the C-30 provisions continue, while we focus on getting comprehensive, permanent rail legislation in place that will work for all parties.”
New Online Tool to Help Canadian Farmers Manage Risk Flooding, pests, disease and other extreme weather events are constant risks to the businesses and livelihoods of farmers. The Government of Canada announced a $786,921 funding for Farm Management Canada (FCM) to develop a new online agricultural risk management tool called
“AgriShield”. This online tool will help farmers have real-time assessments of the potential negative impact of risks to their businesses and provide mitigation solutions. For instance, if an overland flood situation is imminent, the tool can help farmers to assess the degree of risk they face and potential mitigation
measures that they can adopt, such as tile draining or insurance coverage. FMC is a national organization dedicated exclusively to providing leading edge resources to enable Canadian producers to make sound management decisions. The online tool covers all areas of potential risk faced
by agricultural businesses, gathering data that will enable farmers, commodity groups and the agriculture sector to establish benchmarks for improved risk management performance. Project partners include the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and the consulting firm Meyers Norris Penny.
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Census of Agriculture Minister MacAulay Begins Shows Sector Poised Trade Work with US and for Success Mexico’s Ag Leaders
The most recent 2016 Census of Agriculture shows that agriculture is a dynamic, innovative sector that is growing steadily within Canada. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) was pleased to see significant growth in a variety of sectors across the country, as well as increased representation in the industry by young farmers and women. While these statistics demonstrate opportunities within the sector, CFA stressed this is the beginning of the journey to help the Canadian agriculture sector to reach its full potential. “The census data demonstrates what the agriculture industry has known for years,” said CFA President Ron Bonnett. “Coupled with the recommendations from both the Barton report and the recent Market Access: Giving Canadian Farmers and Processors the World report, the government has an excellent foundation for allowing the agriculture sec-
tor to reach its optimal performance.” “What we would love to see is a whole-of-government approach, informed by industry leadership, to remove obstacles for growth. This will allow farmers to produce more efficiently and sustainably, cementing the future of agriculture in Canada.” CFA noted that while profitability in the sector has remained robust over the previous census period, current commodity prices are declining, continued investment, focus on technology, research and development to increase both sustainability and productivity will be critical to maintain competitiveness, as will effective Business Risk Management programs. The Census of Agriculture has several highlights worth noting. While grains and oilseed and beef farms still represent the largest sectors, there is significant growth in a number of key product
areas, such as lentils, where Canada is the world’s largest supplier, blueberries and cranberries, amongst others. The Census also highlights, that Canada exported 94.8 million kg of frozen blueberries in 2016, up 33.7% from 2011. Meanwhile, exports of fresh blueberries rose 84.4% to 37.1 million kg. Milk production rose 8.7% despite fewer dairy cows pointing to an increased production per animal that are attributable to improvements in animal nutrition, genetics and production practices. On average, for every dollar in gross farm receipts, farms incurred 83 cents in expenses in 2015 for an expense-to-receipt ratio of 0.83. Rounded to the nearest cent, the ratio was unchanged from 2010. Nationally, agricultural operations employed 280,315 people in 2015. Agricultural goods accounted for 2.2% of Canada’s total imports and 4.6% of total exports.
Explore Your Local Farmer’s Market Communities and residents from the RM of Piney to Steinbach or from Oakville to Winnipeg and everywhere else in between have begun opening their Farmer’s markets or roadside stands. Manitoba’s Farmers’ markets are great places to begin eating and exploring locally grown and homemade foods. There is an abundant variety of products offered by farmers who, grow, pick, and make food from quality local fruit, vegetables, fresh baked goods and home
preserves along with local artists and artisans showing their unique art, crafts and skills. This year, if you are craving some fresh jam, bread and other local goodies, you are in luck. Many farmers’ markets are now open and most will be throughout the summer months into September. Enjoyed by visitors from near and far the St. Norbert Farmers’ Market may be Manitoba’s largest and best-loved outdoor farmers’
market. This market, which is located near Winnipeg, is open every Saturday and Wednesday until September and October respectively. Local organizer Joe Braun said the Altona farmer’s market would open Saturday, July 1 downtown under the tent from 10 am to noon with a variety of fresh produce, baked goods, honey and noodles just in time to celebrate Canada Day. Steinbach’s Farmers market is scheduled to open June 29 and Beausejour on July 7.
Canada and the United States (US) enjoy one of the closest trade relationships in the world. This trade interdependence supports economic growth and millions of middle class jobs on both sides of the border. The Government of Canada is working closely with the US Administration to strengthen what is already a robust Canada-US bilateral partnership. In June, Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and Sonny Perdue, US Secretary of Agriculture, held their first face-to-face meeting in Toronto to discuss shared priorities and underline the importance of agricultural trade for both the Canadian and American economies and the competitiveness of the sector. During the meeting, MacAulay emphasized the balanced, highly integrated, and mutually beneficial agriculture trading relationship between the two countries. He committed to working with US Secretary Perdue to keep this agricultural trading relationship strong and growing. “I look forward to working closely with Secretary Perdue and the new US Administration to further strengthen our important agricultural relationship. Canada will continue to develop our ties with the US in areas including trade, science, regulations and the environment. I’m confident that we can re-
Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay alongside American Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue during their first face-to-face meeting in Toronto.
inforce this relationship in a balanced manner, allowing us to boost farmers’ bottom lines and create good, middle class jobs on both sides of the border,” said MacAulay. Talks continued in Savannah, Georgia in late June when MacAulay, Perdue and Mexican Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food Jose Calzada met in their first trilateral meeting. “Our three nations are connected not only geographically, but through our deeply integrated agricultural markets. Our trading relationship is vital to the economies
and the people of our respective countries. We are working together to support and create good jobs in all three countries. We share a commitment to keeping our markets open and transparent so that trade can continue to grow,” said a joint statement from all three countries. Canada and the US are each other’s largest trade partner for agriculture and food, with bilateral agriculture trade reaching CAD$62 billion (USD$47 billion) in 2016. Canada is the top agriculture export market for 29 states.
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Feeding Yeast to Dairy Cows is a Good Investment For many years, I have formulated dairy diets with yeast for both dry and lactating dairy cows. It has been my professional intent to promote good dairy nutrition or solve a particular problem that limits good dairy performance. On occasion, I have seen direct benefits within a couple of days by adding yeast, while other times there were no apparent changes to milk and milkfat yield or to animal health. Despite these latter cases, I think for the most part feeding yeast to dairy cows has value and thus a good investment. I’m not alone on my endorsement of feeding yeast to dairy cows. Several years of research has backed up my own personal experience in which yeast is fed to either dry or lactating dairy cows in field trials; improves digestion and fermentation of dairy feedstuffs, enhances immune function and marks positive metabolic changes such as lowering body tem-
peratures of dairy cows during heat-stress. Dairy producers can often see the practical benefits of yeast, particularly in the lactating dairy barn as improved feed intakes, greater feed efficiency, better-feed flexibility, healthier looking manure; all which encompass optimum milk performance. In themselves, yeasts are single cell organisms that must be fed to dairy cows on a continuous basis in order to produce its many benefits. They are also part of a larger category of fungal direct-fed microbials (DFM) that are known to survive in the rumen and work amongst the natural microbial population of bacteria, protozoa and other fungi species in a friendly relationship or better known as symbiosis. One mainstream fungal DFM is fed to all classes of dairy cattle is the yeast named saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC). It is produced in large commercial quantities by fermenting vats of nutrient-enriched medium, cereal
grains and baker’s yeast. SC is a “live yeast”, which has been shown to stimulate the growth and activity of all types of natural rumen bacteria in dairy cows, while specific strains of SC produce digestive enzymes, which aid fibre-digesting rumen bacteria in the breakdown of cellulose and hemicellulose found in dairy forages. Other strains of SC have also been discovered to contain limited rumen-buffering abilities and thus may be used to prevent large buildups of lactic acid in the rumen, which if left unchecked leads to subclinical rumen acidosis (SARA) in dairy cows fed high starch. Some dairy nutritionists suggest that such activities are not the work of actual alive yeast, but the end products or metabolites that they produce and are used as nutrients by the natural rumen microbes in the cow. For example, similar fungal yeasts to SC, such as Aspergillus Oryzae or Aspergillus Niger make no claims of live mi-
crobes or viability, but have been shown to increase fibre digestion when fed to early lactating dairy cows as well as reduce heat-stress in dairy cows during hot summer months. Consequently, there is a wide variety of commercial yeast products on the market that contain “live or non-viable” yeast probiotics or a combination of either yeast with extracts or fermentation substrates. These products are available in many different forms such as granular powders, pastes, boluses, gels and capsules. Depending on the form, yeast can be mixed into all classes of dairy cattle feeds, such as total mixed rations (TMRs), grain rations, top-dressed or given orally to the animal. Some DFM can even be mixed into the drinking water or milk replacer (for baby dairy calves). The amount of yeasts fed, depends on the product, but often ranges from a couple of grams to 50 grams per head per day.
In the last decade, I have been formulating a commercial yeast-derived product with added DFM-bacteria and feed enzymes into both dry and lactating dairy diets. I often recommend it to be used at 20 grams per head per day. For example, about seven years ago, I start adding it to a dairy diet of a 100cow operation in Manitoba, in which the dairy cows had suffered from serious heatstress during past countless summers. Since the yeast was added, rather than dropping a precipitous 0.6% in milkfat, when hot weather strikes, these yeast-fed cows maintain a constant milk and milkfat yield. This dairy producer was so pleased with his cows’ heatstress results, that he requested that it be added it to his lactation diet all-year-around. More than once, he told me that one of the biggest nonsummer benefits for feeding yeast to his lactating dairy
cows is when he switches from one corn silage bag to another. He finds there is no dry matter intake problems like before he used the yeast. As well, the manure from his cows is now, more of the desired “porridge-like consistency, regardless of time of year. Initially, he thought the 25 cents per head per day was costly, but given these visible benefits, he now sees adding yeast as a good dairy investment. Given this favourable case study, using yeast in dairy nutrition is really an extension to what Mother Nature has already given dairy cows. Such additions of yeast in dairy diets assist rumen bugs in feed digestion as well as maintain normal rumen environment that leads to good health and performance.
The Bergen Cut-Off While crossing over the Kildonan Settlers Bridge in Winnipeg, if you look south, you catch a glimpse of a disused railway swing bridge perched on its pier in the middle of the Red River. At this point, many readers will be thinking “My sainted aunt! Writing an article about an abandoned bridge in Winnipeg! How does this relate to agriculture? They must have lost their minds at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum! What is next?” However, the readers will be astonished to learn the disused bridge has an agricultural connection. It is a remnant of CPR’s Bergen Cut-Off which was a rail line meant to re-route grain traffic around the CPR’s yards and main line in Winnipeg as these facilities were quite congested in the pre-WWI era. The rapid expansion of cultivation on the Prairies from 1895 to 1910 posed huge problems for the CPR, Canadian Northern Pacific (CNoP) and Grand Trunk Pacific (GTP) railways, which struggled with the grain traffic they were expected to handle from the Prairies to the Lake Head in the fall. This congestion continued as the railways, after the freeze up at the Lake Head in the late fall, were then faced with winter movement of grain to the ice free ports on the St Lawrence and onto the eastern Seaboard. The
three railways added more boxcars and locomotives in order to handle the exploding grain traffic. As well as western grain traffic, the Canadian railways also enjoyed a substantial “bridge” traffic resulting from the need to move goods from Pacific to Atlantic ports and vice versa. The Canadian railways were the only railways in North America to run from the Atlantic to the Pacific and so were ideal to handle the substantial volume of goods moving between Asia and Europe. While some cargoes moved by vessel between Europe and Asia, for various reasons European-Asian shippers felt it was advisable to move a significant volume of goods by vessel to a Canadian port and then move it by rail to the other coast for reloading on to a vessel and its final destination. This route was probably faster than an all water route at the time. But whatever the reasons this traffic was considerable in volume and was very profitable to CPR, CNoP and GTP. The CPR faced enormous pressure in 1911 because of the above factors. Winnipeg posed problems for the CPR as its main line, because rail yards and facilities in the city were congested with traffic but were also surrounded by a rapidly growing city, which constrained the CPR’s ability to improve its facilities. The CPR came up with an ambitious plan that would see the CPR bypass
Winnipeg to the north with a rail line plus the plan would also result in a thoroughly modern rail yard by 1910 standards, set up to handle large numbers of box cars every day. This plan would ease greatly CPR’s congestion problems in Winnipeg. Work began on the plan in 1911. The Bergen Cut-Off ran between a point called Norcan on the CPR’s Keewatin subdivision, east of Winnipeg, and Woodman Tower on the CPR’s Carberry Subdivision, which is west of Winnipeg. The line was well north of Winnipeg at the time and ran through what was largely farmland in 1911. The new rail line required a bridge over the Red River, which, being a navigable river at the time meant the bridge had to include a swing section to allow vessels to pass. The line was double tracked including the bridge. Just east of Norcan, the CPR constructed the North Transcona yard. The yard was a complicated affair that can best be described as double sided. One side consisted of an eastbound receiving yard with 20 tracks and an eastbound classificationdeparture yard with 20 tracks. Each track could hold 72 cars. A 35-foot high hump track separated the receiving yard and the classification-departure yard. Cars in the receiving yard were pushed over the hump, rolled down into the classification-departure yard, and directed to various tracks in this yard to make up trains going to a single destination.
A “car rider” rode the car down the hump to operate the car’s brakes and prevent the car from rolling too fast into the cars already in the track. The other side of the yard was identical except this side handled the westbound traffic. In between the east and west bound yards were repair, icing, transfer, caboose storage and coal storage tracks. This area also held a “ready for service” locomotive yard, a 44 stall roundhouse, a coal dock to fuel locomotives, water tower and other locomotive servicing facilities. The facility could be expanded in a 2nd phase to a total of 30 tracks in both receiving yards and 40 tracks in both classification-departure yards. The capacity of the yard in the first phase was 7,500 of the standard 36-foot boxcars with an ultimate capacity of 13,136 boxcars after the addition of the 2nd phase. An early one-day record for the North Transcend yard was the handling of 2,000 boxcars during a fall grain “rush”. However, the 2nd phase of the year was never built for several reasons. The opening of the Panama Canal resulted in the CPR losing the “bridge” traffic moving between the Atlantic Coast and Pacific Coast as the canal substantially eased vessel movement between Asia and Europe and made vessel movement more economical than the previous vessel-rail-vessel route. CPR experienced a resulting downturn in traffic.
Some 100 years after it was constructed and 80 years after it was abandoned, the Bergen Cut-Off rail bridge remains spanning the Red River. The photo shows clearly the swing portion of the bridge, which has been left in the open position to allow vessels on the river movement even though there, are no longer any vessels big enough to warrant the bridge being open. Given that it has been probably decades since the bridge saw any maintenance, it appears to be in good condition and is a tribute to the contractors who built the structure. As well, WWI resulted in a substantial decrease in grain moving through the Lake Head to Europe. After the War, Vancouver opened up as a grain export port resulting in a longterm declining demand for grain movement to the Lake Head. A further problem surfaced with the soil conditions in the area of the North Transcona yard proving unable to support large structures. CPR improved its facilities in Winnipeg which, when combined with the reduced traffic through the City, resulted in the Bergen Cut-Off seeing much less traffic than expected. The economic depression of the 1930s resulted in a severe down turn in traffic and as a result the Cut-Off became surplus to CPR’s needs. CPR removed the line sometime after 1933 but left in place the bridge over the Red River. The yard was not completely removed at the time with the remnants serving as a storage facility however, little remained of the yard.
For some reason, the rail bridge was left spanning the river other than having its heavy creosoted timber deck removed. The Museum acknowledges the material for this release was obtained from the book, “The Railways of Winnipeg, Volume Two” with the permission of the author, Mr. Fred Headon. In celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday this year, the Manitoba Agricultural Museum has identified the top 150 artifacts in the collection. You can find this list in the Museum website, visit the Museum to examine these artifacts and others in the collection and then give us your opinion as the top 150 artifacts! The staff and volunteers would love to see you in 2017! The Manitoba Agricultural Museum is open year round and operates a website at agmuseum.mb.ca providing visitors with information on the Museum and the Reunion including location and hours of operation.
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Cereals Canada Welcomes Its Newest Members Cereals Canada was pleased to welcome its newest members, G3 Canada Limited (G3), Winter Cereals Manitoba Inc. and Saskatchewan Winter Cereals Development Commission. Cam Dahl, President of Cereals Canada said, “Cereals Canada welcomes the contribution the three new members will bring to the work of the value chain. Everyone in the industry benefits from working together. Collaboration is a key to successfully advancing the growth of Canadian agriculture.” “Collaboration is a core value held by G3, and we certainly appreciate the important role that Cereals Canada plays in bringing together participants from across our value chain to focus on issues that impact us all,” said Ward Weisensel, G3 Senior Vice-President, Trading, Procurement, and Risk. “Winter Cereals is looking forward to working alongside other cereal producer groups and members of the cereals value chain to help promote growth in the value of winter cereals,” noted Jake Davidson, who serves as the Executive Director for both winter cereal’s organizations. “Full value chain collaboration is unique to Canada. Each segment is stronger because we are able to work together,” concluded Dahl.
Soybeans Dominant Crop in Foodgrains Bank Projects By Elmer Heinrichs Crops that are now growing on about 5,000 acres of Manitoba farmland are earmarked to be donated to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, said Harold Penner, Regional Coordinator of the church-based relief agency. Penner expressed thanks to all the people who volunteered their time and acres to put in a crop that will eventually go to meet the food needs of people in many countries. He feels there are about 40 growing projects in the province this year, with many sharing a common crop. “It’s amazing how many acres of soybeans we have. Soybeans are making up at least a third of the total acreage this year, and then there’s wheat and canola, with a variety of other smaller acreage crops.” “I hope this also reminds you that it’s never too late to commit some acres of crop to the work of providing food for people. Or perhaps to hold a different kind of fundraiser to remind friends and neighbors that everyone can join in working together to help,” added Penner. Penner also noted one new project this year will be the Heritage Harvest project at Austin, a follow-up on the success of the Harvesting Hope record setting threshing event held last year. The need for food aid continues pointed out Penner and that until June 30 the Federal government will match individual donations through its Famine Relief Fund.
June 30, 2017
Canada Connects Youth to Future Jobs in Agriculture The Government of Canada is working with industry to help raise awareness, understanding and appreciation of agriculture among young Canadians. The agriculture and food sector has been identified as one of Canada’s key growth industries and the opportunities for youth are endless. With this in mind, Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister, Lawrence MacAulay, recently announced funding for one-year of up to $567,786 for Agriculture in the Classroom Canada (AITC-C) to develop and deliver educational resources about the agriculture and agri-food sector to primary and secondary students across the country, and to promote career opportunities in the sector. “Educating students about the importance of agriculture will contribute to a stronger, sustainable, Canadian agricultural industry. This initiative will provide students with information about the importance of agriculture in Canada and will help create opportunities to empower young future leaders in the sector,” said MacAulay. Agriculture in the Classroom Canada is a national, not-for-profit organization that has been operating across the country since February 1, 2015, delivering accurate, balanced and current, curriculum linking resources on the agriculture and food industry.
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