AgriPost November 25 2016

The AgriPost

November 25, 2016

Improvements in Rail Freight System Welcomed

Pas Farmer’s Plea to Save His Cattle

Tim Berscheid balancing the equipment he needs in order to feed his cattle.

By Les Kletke Tim Berscheid said the unseasonable warm November was a mixed blessing. While he liked the warm temperatures like everyone else, he needs frost to firm up his yard so he can tend to his cows and calves.

Berscheid has a 200-cow herd and about 200 calves at the Pas and this year the family farm went through more than just wet conditions. His yard and much of his land was flooded and that leaves him in an unknown position.

“Normally we have the cows vaccinated and the calves weaned by Remembrance Day but that didn’t happen and the yard is just getting to the point we can bring the

If not having to walk through actual water, cattle on the Berscheid pastures are unintentionally destroying pasture just moving around to locate feed.

cows in,” he said. His cows have been away from the yard and isolated for much of the summer.

In a desperate plea for assistance, he posted to social media an aerial view of the stranded cattle and wrote, “The clock is ticking on the lives of 400 cows and calves.

I am seeking immediate action to be taken before innocent animals are made to suffer and die. Please offer your support and share this post. I am praying that by posted this message on social media, innocent animals are made to suffer and die.”

Not only has he not been

able to get to the cow-calf pairs that were stranded on approximately 20-acres, he does not know how the stress affected the cows during breeding season. “I expect to have more open cows than usual this year, and I will have some abort because of continued on page 2

By Les Kletke It has been a long time coming but the Federal Government has announced plans to move to a more balanced and efficient rail freight system. The measures are part of the Transportation 2030 strategy outlined by Transport Minister Marc Garneau.

Agricultural Minister Lawrence MacAulay took time from his Trade Mission in China to hold a press conference and outline the commitments to the gain sector and a long-term plan for transportation Canada. The government will introduce legislation early in the new year intended to bring about a more transparent, balanced and efficient rail system as a part of the plan. “A more efficient rail freight system to reliably move our goods to global markets will help farmers, shippers and railways to generate growth for the Canadian economy, strengthening the middle class,” said MP MacAulay. “We will also better define ‘adequate and suitable’ service in the Canada Transportation Act, and improve access to and timelines for Canadian Transportation Agency decisions. The Government will also address the future of extended interswitching limits and the Maximum Revenue Entitlement in early 2017.

The western grain industry is a $20 billion industry and over the last decade, half of the gain produced in western Canada has found its way to export. The exports have averaged over 41 million tonnes annually.

The grain industry welcomed the announcement, which includes several key elements, tools that will allow shippers to hold railways financially accountable for their service performance, improved processes through the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) and clarification of railway responsibility in the Canada Transportation Act by better defining adequate and suitable service.

“Cereals Canada applauds today’s grain transportation announcement,” stated Cam Dahl President of Cereals Canada. “The grain, oilseed and special crops industries have been united in our call for measures that will help ensure railway accountability for performance. The policy announced today will provide that accountability when enacted in legislation.”

“The grain industry is captive to monopoly carriers,” continued Dahl. “It is good economic policy for legislation to balance this market power through measures that mimic what would occur if there were open competition. The policies announced today would accomplish this goal.”

While Manitoba had been overlooked in some recent consultative processes Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) President Don Mazier was pleased the governcontinued on page 3

November 25, 2016

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the conditions,” he said. “We have also lost some weight on the calves and the condition of the cows.”

That will hurt his bottom line this year and puts him in a tough spot to start 2017 but he has no way of knowing what will happen next spring. “We asked the province, they say it is wet and there is nothing they can do about it,” said Berscheid. He agrees there was more than average precipitation this year but said that much of the problem on his land was caused by man. “There are 4 pumps available for the area and two were running to pump water off of grain land into this area, and only one was taking it away at the other end,” he said. “It is like putting water in a bathtub. You know the effect that is going to have.”

Berscheid said things have gotten somewhat better in recent weeks when a Go Fund Me campaign and Facebook social media made more people aware of his problem. “There was more pressure on the powers that be to get the pumps working and the one pump that was down has been repaired. It has quit raining but now we need to drain some of this water through the winter or we will be starting in the same situation next spring.”

Conditions got to the point he was required to build a barge to move feed to his cattle.

“We were also using a tractor on the tame hay fields and I don’t expect there to be much out there next spring. We will have to deal with the ruts and try to get some good feed for the cows next spring. This year they were eating two year old hay that we had and I know that hurt the condition of the cows.”

CETA Deal Welcomed by Most Agricultural Sectors

By Les Kletke The signing of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in Brussels is being welcomed by most sectors of the agricultural industry, and even those who might feel some negative impact are adopting a wait and see attitude.

The deal, which is 7 years in the making, was delayed by a small group of wheat farmers around Wallonia in Belguim who felt they might be negatively impacted by the import of Canadian wheat. While their approval was required, it did delay the signing, but an 11th hour solution was worked out and the agreement was signed on October 30.

CETA could have beneficial effects for the Canadian grain industry, particularly canola.

“We are pleased that the agreement has been officially signed,” said Canola Council of Canada President Patti Miller. “A key element of CETA is the elimination of tariffs on canola oil entering the EU immediately upon implementation, which could increase our exports by up to $90 million per year.”

Canadian canola is used for biodiesel production in the EU as part of their strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Canola-based biodiesel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% compared to conventional diesel. This is the most significant trade agreement since NAFTA”, noted Cam Dahl, President of Cereals Canada. “CETA is the most comprehensive agreement that Canada has ever signed. This is good news for agriculture, which has been left off of the negotiating table in the past”.

“Ninety per cent of Canadian farmers depend upon world markets when pricing and selling their products. This includes cereal crop producers from coast to coast. Reduction in trade barriers to one of the world’s largest market is good news,” said Dahl.

The livestock sector was equally supportive. “Canada is a globally competitive producer and exporter of pork and pork products. We have worked hard to develop a global reputation as a reliable supplier of safe, wholesome, high-quality pork. The key to sustaining our success, however, is the ability to access a wide variety of markets,” stated Canadian Pork Council Chair Rick Bergmann. “This agreement will secure tariff free access for processed pork products and will acquire a quota volume equivalent to 80 thousand tonnes of pork cuts after a phased in period of five years.”

For some they are unsure of what CETA may mean for the future as their farms and businesses depend on the supply-managed sector. The government has not offered a direct payment program but has put in place a support program to assure Canadian competitiveness.

The two new programs are $250 million over five years for a Dairy Farm Investment Program that will provide targeted contributions to help Canadian dairy farmers update farm technologies and systems and improve productivity through upgrades to their equipment. This could include the adoption of robotic milkers, automated feeding systems, and herd management tools. In addition, $100 million has been set aside, over four years for a Dairy Processing Investment Fund that will help dairy processors modernize their operations and, in turn, improve efficiency and productivity, as well as diversify their products to pursue new market opportunities.

The AgriPost

November 25, 2016

Canadian Trade Deals at the Forefront Post US Election

By Harry Siemens When administration changes in the largest trade producing country in the world, and when that change is unprecedented under President-Elect Donald J. Trump everything on the books from the previous government become suspect in some cases and expendable in others.

Trade deals are particularly suspect under the new President-Elect Trump’s plan once he takes office on January 20, 2017. However, until then it really becomes it is guessing game on what the outcome will be; only time will tell.

One trade agreement, North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA), may or may not be ripped up, or renegotiated and the other one is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, (TPP). Ron Davidson, the Director for International Trade, Government and Media Relations with the Canadian Meat Council said if the TPP moves forward, it is critical that Canada be part of it.

In October representatives of the Canadian Meat Council appeared before the House of Commons Committee on International Trade for a Presentation on the TPP as the committee continues its hearings to obtain perspectives on what the various groups think about the potential of ratifying the TPP. Davidson said that if countries conclude this agreement, it would be a major multilateral agreement that sets new rules for the world-trading environment. In the US,

Trump reiterated many times how unfair the present agreement is to US business and that jobs would move elsewhere.

“As I believe you know, we already have free trade agreements with some of the TPP countries including the United States and Mexico but we do not have a free trade agreement with countries such as Japan and Malaysia and Vietnam,” said Davidson. “Particularly in the case of Japan, this agreement contains substantive improvements in access for pork products and for beef products. If we could obtain those improved market access conditions, we should be able to increase our exports of pork and beef to Japan particularly, but to Vietnam and Malaysia. Combining all the meats together we might be able to increase our exports by $500 million.”

He said it is important not just to look at what Canada can gain but also what Canada loses if not part of this type of agreement. “Japan is our most valuable overseas market for pork and for beef combined and we have a billion dollars of exports on the line, about a fifth of our total exports,” said Davidson. “If we should lose our competitiveness in the Japanese market in particular it would have a devastating impact on feed grain farmers, on livestock producers and our Canadian meat processors.” Davidson sees it as critical that, if there is TPP, that Canada be part of it.

In addition, Florian Pos-

sberg, the Chair of the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board thinks that in the event the TPP fails to make it to the finish line, the Government of Canada needs to refocus its efforts on the creation of new bilateral trade agreements.

Possberg said two thirds of the pork produced in Canada and 20 percent of the pork produced in the US go outside the country and Canada needs to trade globally to maintain levels of production to keep current economic benefits. The TPP would allow pork to move to where people need it at a reasonable price making the prospect of a TPP deal rejection concerning. “It really is problematic for the US pork producers because they’ve got a 20 percent stake in moving product outside their borders. I would assume that the buyers still need our pork,” he said. “Whether that comes from Canada, the EU, Brazil, it’s going to come from somewhere.”

“There was a lot of rhetoric during the election. At the end of the day, though, I think there might be adjustments to trade deals but I’m pretty sure that the US is going to realize that they have to maintain significant levels of trade to maintain their economy.”

Possberg noted that Canada needs to maintain its ability to export pork, particularly to Japan. If there is no TPP then Canada needs to have an acceptable bilateral agreement with Japan so Canadian products continue to flow.

Most Western Crops Off with Losses in Quality

By Elmer Heinrichs Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in its November Crop Outlook, presented the latest information on Canadian field crop production, harvest progress, along with an outlook on market prices.

After noting that the harvest in western Canada was significantly delayed due to adverse conditions, it notes that unusually favourable weather in November has allowed farmers in Saskatchewan and Alberta to increase the pace of harvest, which is now 85 to 90 per cent complete.

But it also states that some regions received snow or are still too wet to be worked, and harvest will likely be delayed until spring. The report points out that for some commodities, the quality of the crop in western Canada is well below normal, especially for durum and lentils.

The quality of the canola crop has not been as seriously affected by the excess moisture conditions since its seeds are insulated in pods, but cereals, such as wheat, will face price penalties for high moisture content.

In eastern Canada, the corn and soybean harvest is nearing completion. For all field crops in Canada, production for 2016 is estimated at 90.9 million tonnes (Mt), of which 90 per cent is grains and oilseeds and 10 per cent is pulses and special crops. Total crop production is about 6 per cent higher than last year but 7 per cent lower than the record production of 2013.

The Suncrest Colony is the first to open a new hog in years in Manitoba, also opening the first new sow barn with sow group housing under new stringent Pig Code regulations.

Grain Transportation continued... continued from page 1

ment had included the province in this process when Minister MacAulay hosted grain sector roundtables in Winnipeg over the summer. “Manitoba grain farmers are grateful for recent opportunities to contribute to consultations on transportation systems, and we strongly urge the government to engage farmers as they add more detail to plans announced today,” said Mazier.

The AgriPost

November 25, 2016

Stop! Thief!

Imagine a dimly lit back alley somewhere in downtown Winnipeg. A shadowy figure steps out of a dark alley and whispers, “Hey, buddy, ya wanna buy some cucumbers?

How’s about some cheese? Maple syrup? What do you need? I can hook you up, man.” Sounds crazy right? But there are black markets in everything, including food.

This past August, hundreds of kilos of cucumbers were stolen from Manitoba farmers. Erin Crampton, the proprietor of Crampton’s Market in Fort Garry said, “Farmers fields are being raided. . . People are getting cleaned out.” One of her suppliers installed motion detector cameras and large fences around his fields to keep thieves out.

Sometimes even the Police get in on the action. Last year, a Niagara Police officer was sentenced to four months in custody because of three convictions in a cheese-smuggling ring. Constable Scott Heron had gotten into the habit of buying cases of cheese in bulk while in the US and bringing it into Fort Erie without declaring it or paying duty.

From there this cheese was organized and distributed to all sorts of restaurants in the surrounding area. Estimates are the ring snuck in $200,000 worth of cheese, with profits in the range of $165,000. That’s a lot of poutine.

But that’s just small potatoes (pun intended) to the Granddaddy of all Canadian food crimes in recent history By Rolf the Québec maple Penner syrup heist of 2011 and 2012.

We’re talking about 16,000 barrels of mapleysweet goodness, with a street value of 18 million dollars!

The scene of the crime was a warehouse in Saint-Louis-de Blandford, Québec , holding a large back-up supply called the Global Strategic Reserve, owned by the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers.

With one barrel of the golden condiment worth 13 times the price of crude oil, there was lots of incentive to steal it.

It was a perfect setup, with minimal security, and no pesky cameras or alarms to deal with because, hey, who would steal maple syrup? Well, the 26 people arrested who had organized the caper. Hoping no one would notice, they refilled the barrels with water. They had a convoy of trucks, rented

Penner’s Points

Pass the Turkey “Don’t talk about farm business at the Christmas dinner table.”

“What else would you talk about?” The words fell out of my mouth before I had thought about it. That happens sometimes when you leave the door open. It was too late to get them back. Oh maybe I didn’t say it aloud, or maybe no one else heard? No such luck. The people around my table were laughing and nodding their heads.

It was the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors Succession Update, and I got carried away listening and feeling that the speaker was speaking to me. I must admit that after 30 years or so of attending farm meetings, this has not happened often. I was at the meeting to record the events and they are reported elsewhere in this paper but the speaker seemed to be describing our family to the finest detail. I just forgot about the other people in the room and that the presentation was intended for a gathering of 100 plus farm advisors.

Frank Wiebe had explained the three circle method of a farm business and how there were areas where family, ownership and business intersect. He made the point that it was necessary to talk about farm business and that those times should be dealt with at a business meeting, not over the holiday meal.

It was not simply this point that had me in the grasp of his eloquent verbiage, he had set the stage by listing examples of families that he had worked with, families who had failed to have a plan for succession or where they had not bothered to share the plan with the younger generation.

Frank Wiebe did not pull me into his grasp with simply one or two sentences, he had spent time explaining about families and how they behaved, that is when he placed the hook and had be believing that I was the only person in the audience and he was talking directly to me.

He was making the point about keeping the circles separate when they needed to be; that is when he dropped the bomb, “Don’t talk about farm business at the Christmas dinner table.”

I was in the trance of his words and before I knew it, I had considered life at the Kletke farm and wondered what else there was to talk about?

My parents were products of the great depression and to them outside interests meant the garden and other things outside, but still relating to the farm or making a living. What else was there? I could not imagine talking about something else at the dinner table. I thought that was why you had dinner and the food was a bonus. This was just a convenient time to gain some nourishment while you heard about what was going to happen next.

Judging from the looks on the faces of those around me, there were other people that grew up in a similar environment.

I got the point Frank, a farm business meeting is one place you don’t need a turkey. Stuffed or otherwise.

Certificate of Merit Call for Nominations The Certificate of Merit is presented by the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and the School of Agriculture in recognition of leadership with agricultural organizations and outstanding service to the community at large.

Each year two Certificates of Merit are presented, normally, one to a graduate of the Agriculture Diploma program, and one to a graduate of the Agriculture Degree program.

Nominations are considered by the Faculty of Agricultural

and Food Sciences Executive Committee and must be received no later than January 15, 2017.

Each nomination should include a letter from the nominator describing the nominee’s leadership contributions and

warehouses and enough connections to be able to move six million pounds of the sticky contraband all around North America. After all was said and done, only 25 percent of the syrup was ever recovered, and the money was never found.

Perhaps inspired by this, another 20,000 litres of maple syrup was stolen from a storage facility near Montréal this past summer. It was 20 pallets worth of Kirkland-brand onelitre bottles valued at $150,000.

They probably won’t be making Hollywood movies about any of these heists, but it’s easy to chuckle at the ridiculousness of it all. Except for the farmers and their suppliers who suffer these losses; for them, it’s serious business. A loss is a loss no matter how it happens.

Where the heck do you go to look for stolen cucumbers?

And how do you explain that one to crop insurance?

Canadian Farmers Lose Millions Due to Health Canada’s Disregard Health Canada continues to ignore the hemp industry at the cost of millions of dollars to the Canadian Farmer reports the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance (CHTA).

In the spring of 2016, Health Canada refused to consider a request by the CHTA to expedite issuing of production permits in order to capitalize on new market opportunities in South Korea.

“The loss in farm-gate revenue was about $9 million and flies in the face of the good work done by Export Canada this year in developing formal trade relations with that country,” according to CHTA President Russ Crawford.

The CHTA has been pushing for changes to outdated and unnecessary regulations that are seriously curtailing the growth of this industry. According to the CHTA, Health Canada has been “Unresponsive to their requests for modernization and a dialogue on meaningful change.” In a statement, they believe ignoring Canadian farmers, and an unprecedented opportunity to diversify agriculture and capture exceptional revenue opportunities, is irresponsible on the part of the government.

“The situation is untenable. Our farmers are suffering financially and value added revenue opportunities are not being developed; growth of the sector can’t happen and we can’t be globally competitive under the current antiquated regime. Still Health Canada has not implemented any changes after seven years of requests. This is not the behavior one expects in a democracy,” said Kim Shukla, Executive Director, CHTA. Frustrated producers point out that the Government moved to change the laws on marijuana because the majority of the population felt that the current laws are unreasonable and have become unenforceable. It is easier to buy marijuana seed than hemp. The hemp industry is outspoken in its request that hemp not be bundled up with marijuana in a “cannabis file” as the Task Force on Marijuana makes its recommendations. Hemp is different from marijuana and does not require the degree of regulatory oversight of marijuana.

Health Minister Jane Philpott declined an offer to address a CHTA conference held in mid-November, and did not delegate anyone in her place. She did however indicate Health Canada’s priority in relations to industrial hemp. “While the early focus was on identifying possible efficiencies, the regulatory requirements are now being more broadly assessed to ensure that they are commensurate with any potential health and safety risks that may be associated with industrial hemp.” She did not indicate what any of those possible risks could be or when meaningful change might be made.

CHTA is a not for profit organization representing members across the full spectrum of the hemp industry. service to the community. Letters of support may also be included.

More information including a list of previous recipients can be found at the University of Manitoba web site umanitoba. ca/faculties/afs/school/merit.

Enquiries and nomination

submissions can be directed to Michele Rogalsky the Director, School of Agriculture at Michele.Rogalsky@umanitoba.ca or 271 Agriculture Building University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2.

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Hydro Chair Says Rebuilding Trust is Huge

The Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board is hosting four public information sessions to discuss with Manitobans the results of their recently completed review of Manitoba Hydro.

Today I want to reflect on the one Manitoba Hydro held in Winkler on October 25. According to a Manitoba Hydro release, the sessions are to provide details on the Board’s decision to complete the Bipole III Transmission Project as planned, the financial challenges facing the Crown Corporation and what steps they will take to address those challenges. Attending the meetings are members of the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board and Manitoba Hydro President and CEO, Kelvin Shepherd.

“These public information sessions will allow us the opportunity to provide details on the current challenges facing Manitoba Hydro,” says Board Chair Sandy Riley.

“More importantly, it’s our chance to hear directly from Manitobans regarding their questions or concerns.”

Well hear they did. The meeting was a good one in that both Riley and Shepherd gave good reports as to where the crown corporation stands, and how they plan to get it back on track.

The footing is not very good.

In fact, the debt load projected to be a minimum of 25 billion dollars in the next three to four years is horrendous.

It came out loud and clear the previous government had used Manitoba Hydro as a cash cow, a culture and specific legislation at keeping the rates as low as possible, and mismanagement are key areas of concern.

Chairman Riley, who gets $50,000 a year to chair this ‘mess’ as he put it, will have his hands full.

The concern I expressed, was of making sure the management team, and those who deal with the public change their attitude from one of arrogance and “they know best all the time”, will go a long way to working with those, especially the landowners of Bipole III who were treated so dastardly by the previous board and of course most of the employees in what is a huge bureaucracy.

The public information sessions follow the release of an independent report by the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board that examined the financial situation of the Crown utility.

In a previous meeting in Winnipeg the week before, Manitoba Bipole III Landowners Committee (MBLC) spokesman Jurgen Kohler asked Riley if the new PC

government and the Hydro board recently appointed

by Premier Brian Pallister would recognize the right of his members to use the services of CAEPLA – ‘our experts’ – to negotiate complex easement agreements and ‘treat us fairly’.

“We’ve had several meetand-greet sessions [with the previous board]”, says Kohler, yet landowners are still denied the right to collective bargaining through their appointed agent. “I have the right to choose my legal representative. It’s time to recognize that…Let’s find a win-win to move forward.”

While Riley ignored MBLC demands that Hydro executives sit down and negotiate with CAEPLA, the landowners’ chosen and legal bargaining agent, he instead suggested he would meet with MBLC and CAEPLA representatives himself later this month.

In an interview with Chair Riley at the end of the meet-

ing, he talked about the two purposes for coming to Winkler. “One was to tell people in Winkler, including others in southern Manitoba what the challenges are that Manitoba Hydro faces because it colours a lot of what we have to do over the next several years.” He also wanted to hear the concerns of the people in this region who have really been affected by Manitoba Hydro activities and in par-

ticular building power lines across their properties. “I certainly get my fair share of comments. It is clear there’s a real breakdown in relationships and Hydro obviously has a major job ahead of reconstructing trust,” he says.

Wow, he nails it right on the money. “It is never easy when you are dealing with these kinds of projects where we have the interests of a broad base of people across

November 25, 2016 the province and they clash with the interests of individuals who are directly affected,” says Riley. “I believe there are opportunities for us to make and improve the situation that we are facing. I sure would like to have a conversation with the affected farmers and their representative, and/or representatives. The starting point to any improvement in the situation is a conversation where I as the new Chairman and Kelvin as the new President have a chance to hear the

people’s concerns, process them, express the challenges we face.”

However, Sandy Riley is clear that both sides can state their points, but to make this work there will have to be compromise based on talking and listening.

Here is hoping the electrical rates don’t rise too quickly and too much, they can build the trust factor, and the debt doesn’t rise too high based on the projects they need to complete.

November 25, 2016

The AgriPost

4-H Leader Goes Back to Royal Winter Fair

Renate Jochum is a second year student in the School of Agriculture. She was in Toronto at the Royal Winter Fair to compete in the Young Speakers for Agriculture Program.

By Les Kletke This year marked Renate Jochum’s second trip to the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto and both have come courtesy of her involvement in 4-H. Her first visit was a couple of years ago when a conference in Toronto coincided with the Fair and she was able to visit. This time she was there as one of the Young Speakers in the Agriculture program during the national event held in Toronto in conjunction with the Fair.

Jochum was Manitoba’s senior representative and while she did not advance to the final round of competition, she said the experience was overwhelming.

Her task was not an easy one. “My speech was about explaining GMO’s to a non-farm audience,” she said. “So I started out by explaining how genetic engineering happens and that has been going on since the beginning of agriculture as producers choose the crops and animals that are best suited to their conditions.”

“The point I made is that genetic engineering has just changed the way we make the selections and has sped up the process so that farmers have access to better seeds sooner,” said Jochum. “It is not about creating something new it is about the selection.”

Jochum grew up on a grain farm at St. Francis Xavier and is in her second year of the Diploma program at the School of Agriculture at the University of Manitoba. She is a member of the Leaders 4-H Club at the University and has been a 4-H member for 11 years.

The visit to the Fair was much more that the competition. “It was great to hear the other competitors and their view on agriculture and the future,” she said of the competition. “But we also had time to visit the Fair and see how they tell the story of agriculture to a city audience.”

When asked if she thinks the Fair is doing a good job of portraying the industry she is a part of she said, “I think so. The Fair is in the city and they are so many city people visiting but there are so many rural people on hand to explain what they do and they do a really great job of explaining what we do.”

Jochum has not yet made a decision about her future or which aspect of the industry she will work in, and for the immediate future is concerned about her studies this year followed by graduation in the spring.

It’s Official— New World Record Set by Harvesting Hope Event raises $134,000 for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Manitoba Agricultural Museum It’s official—Guinness World Records has certified that Manitoba now holds the world record for the largest number of antique threshing machines operating simultaneously.

The record was set July 31st during the 62nd Manitoba Threshermen’s Reunion & Stampede at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum near Austin, Man. In total, 148 threshing machines and over 750 volunteers attempted the record, with 139 threshing machines successful in threshing grain together for 15 minutes. The event produced 1,500 bushels of grain from 30,000 sheaves of winter wheat.

The previous record was 111 machines held by a group from St. Albert, Ontario.

Harvesting Hope: A World Record to Help the Hungry drew about 8,000 people to the Museum to see volunteers from across Canada and the U.S. set the new world record.

“On behalf of the organizing committee, we would like to thank all the volunteers and sponsors that made this event possible. Without their

Eichler Offers Consultative Approach in Shaping Provincial Ag Policy

By Les Kletke MLA Ralph Eichler may well be the top man in the province’s department of agriculture, but he does not claim to have all the answers.

Eichler spoke to the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors (CAFA) annual gathering in Niverville and offered more of a consultative approach than a directive as to how the future was going to look.

Anticipating that he would face questions on the matter of school taxes placing an unfair load on the provinces farm landowners he handled the issue head on before questions.

“We know the situation is not perfect,” he said. “We are looking at what we can to deal with what has become an unfair burden to land owners but he doesn’t have the answer yet.” The increase in assessment on land values have meant that in some areas such as Springfield land taxes have doubled, many have faced 50% increases in Rhineland and most have had at least some increase in the taxes paid by farmer.

The increase in taxes has come about because of the change in assessment, which is done biannually.

The increase in farmland values over the past several years hit the tax roles in 2016 in most Municipalities.

Eichler outlined how the current government had been involved with the expansion of the pork processing industry but said the work was far from over. “We are at a decided disadvantage in Manitoba compared to our neighbours in Saskatchewan.

passion and commitment our organizations could not have created such a successful event. Thank you!” says Elliot Sims, one of the event’s co-chairs.

In addition to setting the record, the event raised $134,000, which is being split between the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a partnership of 15 churches and church agencies working together to end global hunger, and the Museum, which is dedicated to preserving and promoting Manitoba’s agricultural heritage.

A cheque for $67,000 was presented to the Foodgrains Bank on November 21 for use in its programs in Africa to

Ag Minister Ralph Eichler told the CAFA meeting he is open to suggestions on revision of the School Tax system on farmland.

We need to fix that,” he said. His numbers show that Manitoba hog producers are at a $100 disadvantage per livestock unit over Saskatchewan producers.

Again, he offered no quick fix but a commitment to addressing the problem. “We have to build confidence in Manitoba as a producer of healthy food,” said Eichler.

“We need to build the public trust in our concern for the environment and that they know food from Manitoba is healthy food.”

He again visited what had become a campaign promise during the election. “We have to continue to eliminate the red tape that holds up business,” he said. “In agriculture that might be in labour and getting the labour that is needed to staff an expansion in the hog industry in this province.

He also spoke to the trade issues that are on everyone’s mind following the recent US election.

“Trade is a huge part of our industry,” he said. “In any negotiations there are concessions. We know that and we saw that with the canola industry and the situation in China.”

help small-scale farm families grow more and better food.

These funds are matched 3:1 by the federal government, making the event’s impact grow even further.

“Events like this show the strength and community spirit of rural Canadians, and how they can come together to celebrate their heritage and help others” added Sims.

“We were proud to be a part of this record-breaking event, and grateful to receive a donation to help farmers in the developing world,” says John Longhurst, Director of Resources and Public Engagement with the Foodgrains Bank.

The AgriPost

November 25, 2016

November 25, 2016

The AgriPost

Prepare Your Gestating Beef Cows for a Cold Winter

By Peter Vitti Warm temperatures and lots of rain right into autumn have regenerated many pastures with plenty of nutritious grasses for cattle to eat. As a result, many gestating cows are going into the winter, healthy and in descent shape.

By feeding them well-balanced overwintering diets, we can continue this momentum, so that these beef cows can get through our typical cold winter as well as prepare for a successful calving season.

I saw it first hand as a University student, what happens to a group of beef cows that are left to their own devices by relying upon good body condition without being properly fed. Our class visited a 200 Charolais beef cowherd located in the Interlake region of Manitoba.

It was early November and I remember most of the cows had a good body cover of fat, but fed a lot of barley straw in bale feeders.

For reasons that I don’t

remember, I returned in late-January with a smaller group of students and our Animal Science professor.

To our amazement, some of the same cows were literally skeletons. The owner complained to my professor that he had a number of sick cows and was afraid that he would have to “pull” a lot of newborn calves.

It’s likely that my professor gave this person good overwinter feeding advice on our first visit that was not followed. That’s because my professor’s research demonstrated over the years that beef cows that receive the necessary supplemental feed during winter maintain good body condition up to calving. They are also rewarded with good calving ease, high quality and volume of colostrum. Later-on cows are quick to return to fertile estrus. Such benefits dovetail into long-term advantages such as post-partum cows tend to have more milk for their calves and achieve bet-

ter conception rates.

To take advantage of these opportunities, cow-calf producers should take a visual assessment of each cow after weaning calves in autumn and assign a body condition score or BCS, which ranges from 1 = emaciated to 5 = obese. This score represents her level of body fat covering, which is a snapshot of her energy status in which she can draw upon during periods of dietary energy deficiencies to maintain vital and productive functions. Mature cows should maintain or achieve a BCS of 2.75 – 3.0 from the beginning of winter until the day of calving. Replacement heifers should calve out at a little better BCS of 3.0.

Regardless of body condition, producers should never allow any cow to lose body condition, once winter outside temperatures fall and elevate total energy requirements. Of consequence, more University and extension environmental studies on beef cattle has come up with a

linear cold weather rule of thumb as follows: for every 1 °C drop in temperature below 0 °C, the beef cows’ TDN energy maintenance requirements are increased by about 2%.

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

With such thermometer drops, metabolic triggers inside the cow will stimulate her feed intake. However, cows will only increase dry matter intake at the very most by 30%, which is limited by rumen capacity and reduced feed digestibility. This means that pre-calving beef cows can eat only so much forage during very cold weather to meet their energy requirement. To solve this problem,

we must increase the energy density of their whole diet by using higher energy feeds.

Before increasing this plane of nutrition due to weather, I work out the gestating beef diet by taking note of the existing body condition of the beef cows, their beginning calving date and the current feeding program. For example: an adequate quality grass hay or mixed grass-alfalfa mixtures with an energy TDN of 55 – 60% TDN and protein level of 11 – 12% makes excellent mid- to precalving beef cow feed.

If this forage TDN is shy of basic energy requirements of gestating beef cows, then 0.5 – 1.0 kg of grain such as barley can be supplemented.

As mentioned, cold weather in January and February will further increase energy demands for cows trying to keep warm. Therefore, an additional 0.5 – 1.0 kg of grain might be provided. It is also important to purchase a commercial beef mineral with complimentary levels

of calcium and phosphorus, fortified with essential trace minerals and vitamins A, D, and E. I also might suggest that cow-calf operators implement one or two good winter techniques, while feeding these higher energy diets to mid- to late-gestation beef cows. One suggestion warrants that thin cows and 1st calf heifers be segregated from the rest of the main herd and fed as a separate group. Another one is to feed these high diets later in the day to increase heat production by forage fermentation and rumination, which helps keep cattle warm during the most bitterly cold nights.

By supplementing energyenriched overwintering diets to gestating cows that start off the winter in good shape this should achieve all dynamic energy demands until calving, both dietary and winter driven. The payoff is a freshened cow that looks as good as her healthy newborn calf.

Tighter Border Controls for Supply-Managed Goods Looks at Duty Relief Programs The Government of Canada is taking steps to address the concerns of import predictability and effective border controls for supply-managed commodities, while ensuring that Canadian processors who use dairy and poultry inputs can remain competitive in export markets.

The Duties Relief Program enables qualified companies to import goods without paying duties, as long as they later export the goods. Earlier this year, Canada Border Services Agency verifications found that five participants in the Duties Relief Program were improperly selling supply-managed commodities in the Canadian market without reporting these sales and without paying the required duties. As a result, applicable duties, interest and penalties were assessed, and the importers’ Duties Relief Program licences were suspended.

Program consultations will be launched with industry stakeholders regarding potential changes to the Duties Relief Program and the Import for Re-Export Program. In the interim, the Government of Canada is also exploring measures with dairy and poultry users of the Duties Relief Program regarding inventory reporting in an effort to improve the predictability of these imports.

“The Government strongly supports supply management. We will continue to work with dairy and poultry stakeholders across the value chain to ensure effective border controls for supply-managed goods, while allowing processors to remain competitive,” stated Lawrence MacAulay, MP, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

In its efforts to ensure appropriate tariff classification of spent fowl, the Government will also look at specific options regarding certification requirement for imports of spent fowl product, while ensuring that any such requirement would be fully consistent with Canada’s international trade obligations.

At the same time, Government officials are assessing the feasibility of using a DNA test to screen imports of spent fowl at the border. Because spent fowl meat can be imported duty-free, some importers are suspected to have been declaring broiler chicken meat as spent fowl meat, the government said. “Our farmers and processors have been afflicted by leakages in the market that have been occurring for many years now, meaning they face uncertainty in their own production, and consumers face uncertainty in the safety of their food,” said Dave Janzen, Chair of Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC). “Addressing these issues won’t affect the significant amount of legal imports of chicken,” said CFC explaining that Canada is the 13th-largest importer of chicken in the world.

Under the Duties Relief Program, a trade incentive for goods imported for re-export, goods must be exported within four years from the time they arrive in Canada.

The AgriPost

Loving the Sound

By Les Kletke Larry Goosen remembers visiting his uncle’s logging camp as a youngster and falling in love with the sound of a two cylinder John Deer R. It took a while and he did not find a model R but he came very close.

Goosen, who farms at Landmark, found an 830 John Deere at an auction sale in Wawanesa and got it for what he calls a reasonable price and brought it home.

With a little work it was ready to go. He drove it in the annual Tractor Trek this past summer.

“The model R was the first two cylinder that John Deere built and it had a pup engine to start the diesel engine,” he says. “The R became the 80 and then the 820 and the 830.” It was that pup engine that allowed Goosen to get the tractor for less than market value. The 830 was also available with an electric start.

“They (electric start) tended to stay further south because farmers did not believe they had the cranking power,” he says, “so the ones in the north had the gasoline engine for cold weather starting.”

“Farmers would forget to put oil in that small engine and it would blow the connecting rod, then it would sound something awful and that is what happened with this tractor,” he says.

He bought the tractor and brought it home and rebuilt the starting engine and the tractor was ready to go.

The transition of the models form the 80 to 830 came with a significant increase in

Larry Goosen of Landmark on his 830 John Deere.

horsepower.

“They went from 40 horsepower to 70 with the same engine,” he says. “They did a few things with the bore and stroke and that was a big change in horsepower for the same engine.” The official rating puts the 830 at 69.66 hp on the drawbar. There were 6,715 of the tractors build at the Iowa plant.

Goosen also has a Model MT, which denotes the nar-

row front end and tricycle configuration of the M that came in the standard model as well as a tracked version.

He has a Model D which was what his uncle originally had on the saw mill but since it does not have a road gear he cannot drive it in the Tractor Trek. This year his grandson Eric drove the M while Goosen handled the wheel of the 830.

Eric and Larry Goosen drove in the Tractor Trek Steinbach to Richer this year, and were one of several grandfather-grandson teams.

Photos by Les letke

November 25, 2016

Land Price Spiral in the Business Circle

By Les Kletke Gord Daman has been in the land appraisal business since 1998 and is well aware of the increasing value that farmland has gone through, it his is business to be aware of it.

He makes it perfectly clear from the outset that he is not an assessor.

Daman spoke to the CAFA gathering a Farm Succession Update in Niverville and followed Ag Minister Ralph Eichler to the podium. While Eichler addressed the issue of farmlands being assessed a much higher value in some municipalities he did not have any answers for what the current government might to do alleviate the burden school taxes place on farm lands.

Daman does not have any recommendations for a quick fix and said that his role is to monitor transactions and provide information on what land values are in the market place. “In some areas there are few sales and one or two sales at high prices can have an impact on what farmers think their land might be worth,” said Daman only half jokingly as he likened farm land to cocaine. “In some cases it is like crack cocaine and when a farmer starts buying he just can’t get enough.”

He noted one trend that was showing up in several areas was that farmers with large holdings who previously engaged in bidding wars moved into a position of negotiation where they might be trading land that was more convenient to the individual and no longer pursuing every piece that came up for sale as aggressively.

Daman who was part of the Farm Succession update provided a look at the second circle in the 3-circle business model. He noted that farm business not only included buying farmland it might also include the

Gord Daman told the CAFA meeting that several factors effect land values and when the number of sales is small, a single trade can skew values.

Photo by Les letke

sale of some farmland for successful succession or estate planning.

He outlined the various factors that appraisers like himself might use in establishing a value for land whether it was a value to be used within the family or setting a price for sale. Damon stressed the importance of a plan that looked at the long term of land acquisition and how it was an important part of the farm business plan, but also noted that while it was a critical part of the business, many farms failed to do it. “We see large farms moving to assemblage of more land and some getting involved in the trading of parcels, but there is still a real lack of long term planning,” he said.

COOL’s Resurrection Under President Elect Trump Nixed

By Harry Siemens Much consternation about US President Elect Trump’s talk on trade deals and even country of origin labeling (COOL) were reportedly up in the air causing some consternation in the Canadian pig and cattle industries.

A headline in Politico, stated, “Trump COOL plan is ‘dead as a doornail’ caught some attention in an article by Jenny Hopkinson on November 18. The writer’s article went on to state ,“Donald Trump’s plan to consider new country of origin labeling rules for meat looks to be short lived.”

Hopkinson further wrote that some US cattle ranchers were getting their collective hopes up while other sectors of the agriculture industry had a moment of dread when reports showed leaked parts of the President Elect’s plan for his first 100 days in office included the return of COOL as a possible amendment in the renegotiation of NAFTA. Concerns over rehashing COOL in Canada amongst livestock producers were numerous since the problem had already been put to bed by the World Trade Organization’s ruling and US congress’ rescinding sections dealing with hogs and cattle.

The Politico article said it appears the Trump administration’s agriculture advisory committee seems to have succeeded in convincing his team to drop that part of the plan.

In an interview with Gary Baise, an attorney with Olsson Frank Weeda who advises some members of the committee he told Politico that it, “Appears to be a mystery how it even got in there,” and said it’s not going anywhere. In Baise’s words it is, “Dead as a door nail.”

It seems that meat producers on both sides of the border no longer have to face the upheaval over COOL once again.

After reports first surfaced about the possible return of COOL, members of Trump’s agriculture advisory committee led by its Chairman, Nebraska rancher Charles Herbster, contacted the Trump transition team and have received assurances that the provision has been removed from the plan.

Baise reportedly said, “While people became agitated, no need to worry about that one, it is gone.”

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November 25, 2016

Leading with Love is Critical

Lou-Anne Stefankiw says that a change in attitude changed her life and lead her to a fire with in she did not even know existed.

By Les Kletke Lou-Anne Stefankiw has a simple message for farmwomen, “You can do it, it may not be easy but when you awaken the fire within anything is possible.”

Stefankiw lives the lesson she speaks having grown up on a farm in rural Saskatchewan with the nearest town ten miles away and no nearby neighbours. She said it was a matter of circumstance that she became close with her brother and sister.

That is what she lives today, “There is nothing more important than family,” she said. She openly speaks of a failed marriage. “Where I tried to do everything I thought I should do but things went wrong and the marriage split up.”

She began to refocus after the end of her marriage thought she could have anything she wanted but found something that ignited her inner fire that at the time she did not know existed. “There are things in life that have us asking the bigger questions and digging deeper to discover the answers. We can make our lives much more fulfilling,” she said. Stefankiw was one of the Keynote Speaker at this year’s Farm Women’s Conference in Portage la Prairie.

Stefankiw has taken to personal training in a big way and not only competes but is an instructor in Cross-fit a method of training that utilizes less glamorous apparatus than found most gyms. She relates it to “Battling with heavy tires,” as it was a skill she saw on the farm in Saskatchewan, she said with a chuckle.

She has also delved in the field of personal development and that was her message in Portage la Prairie. She offers no magic bullet to solve all of life’s problems but says everything begins with small steps. “Take baby steps, start slowly,” she said. “Make an effort to understand yourself and your triggers you can deal with what you can understand.”

She then added that a proper attitude is necessary. “Leading with love is critical,” she said. “You have to lead with love and be a caring individual.”

Today she offers courses and coaching in Emotional Intelligence and CrossFit training. “I am not sure exactly what the future will bring,” she said. “But I know that I am happy pursuing this path.”

The AgriPost

The Ownership Circle Easier Done When You’re Alive “The rules are not hard and fast but anything that you have trouble documenting will put you in an awkward situation and we recommend avoiding that and paying the tax as it is due.”

By Les Kletke Andrew Winkless has very simple advice for farmers who are considering passing their farmland on to the next generation. “Do the transfer realistically and do it sooner than later. It is easier to do when you are still alive that when you are dead.”

Winkless is with Brown Law Office in Carman, has authored publications for Manitoba Agriculture on Corporations, Farm Tax and Family Trusts and addressed the issues of the Ownership Circle at the Farm Succession Update sponsored by CAFA earlier this month in Niverville.

Winkless addressed the issue of including farmland in a corporation and while it may have some advantages he stressed that the land is no longer yours instead it belongs to a separate legal entity.

Generally, Winkless said that those trying to bend the rules of taxation through a corporation are treading on this ice. “If you are using the corporation to pay personal expenses, you may get a nasty surprise from the CRA [Canadian Revenue Agency],” he said. He goes on to cite specific examples where a farm corporation purchased a winter home in the southern US and when investigation ensued CRA provided a large tax bill for the farmer involved. “The same is true of having a home on farm land and offering it to children at a reduced price under the guise of payment for farm labour,” he said. “The rules are not hard and fast but anything that you have trouble documenting will put you in an awkward situation and we recommend avoiding that and paying the tax as it is due.”

He said that blurring the lines of employee or shareholder can also make for some unpleasant surprises from the tax department. He stressed that planning is best done early in the process and a plan is a living document that should be updated regularly as new people become part of the equation. “What about when grandchildren want to farm?” he asked participants. “We have cases where the grandchil-

Andrew Winkless advises farmers to include land in their corporations only after careful consideration of all ramifications.

Photo by Les Kletke

dren are a part of the operation but the father has not even begun to talk about the transfer of the farm to that father.

That puts the next generation in a difficult situation.”

Winkless said the situation of farming and non-farming children is always one that requires attention as well.

“Children working on the farm may feel they deserve more equity for the effort they put in while non-farming children want to benefit from the market value of the farm.”

The AgriPost

November 25, 2016

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November 25, 2016

The AgriPost

The AgriPost

November 25, 2016

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Succession Planning Needs Family Clarity

KAP Members Grapple with Carbon Pricing and Who Pays

By Harry Siemens Farmers, businesses, and the public are facing higher taxes and at a recent meeting of the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) in Portage la Prairie members adopted a policy on carbon pricing at their fall advisory council meeting, in response to the recent Federal announcement that a carbon price must be in place in all provinces by the end of 2018.

Producers at the meeting argued they would ultimately pay the cost of a carbon price because it will be added to the production of fertilizer and other inputs. For that reason, they have asked KAP to lobby the province to exempt their direct emissions, such as use of fuel and fertilizer that is necessary for the production of food when developing its carbon-pricing system.

However, members agreed they want to do their part in the fight against climate change, and are asking the province to invest some of the revenue from its “made-in-Manitoba” system into programs that will help them sequester carbon and reduce emissions. As well, they called for investment into research that will help them move to zero or negative emissions.

“Right now, at this point in time, we need fertilizer and fuel to produce food, it’s that simple,” said KAP President Dan Mazier. “However, we want to be part of the solution and move to new production methods and technologies that will reduce or eliminate our carbon footprint, but we can’t do it alone.”

Delegates to the meeting also asked that carbon-pricing revenue be put into programs that will help them adapt to climate change. “The wet and warm weather we’re experiencing this fall has hampered the harvest to a point where we simply cannot get onto the fields, and this is just one example of what climate change will do,” Mazier said. “I’ve heard of places in the southwest that got three feet of rain and don’t expect to get the rest of the crop off, or to plant a crop next year.”

Mazier said more specifically, KAP is calling on the province to exempt farmers’ direct emissions used in food production as it develops a carbon-pricing system. “It can be a very complex subject so, what we’re trying to do is work with the reality that our national government has said there’s going to be a price on carbon and our provincial government is trying to figure out a carbon pricing system that does not put us in an uncompetitive advantage,” said Mazier. “I think the answer is still not there and we’re in discussion mode right now. This policy that was passed is simply saying how about this, the direct cost? We’ve just got sort of an idea out there right now.”

The KAP President said members can vet it, change it again in January at the organization’s annual meeting, but they are seriously looking for input from the farming community on where to take this discussion. “When we do meet with government, we have a very informed opinion of what we’re telling the government of what would be best for agriculture,” he

“...we want to be part of the solution and move to new production methods and technologies that will reduce or eliminate our carbon footprint, but we can’t do it alone.”

By Les Kletke Elaine Froese is an advocate of clarity, even though the answers you get may not be the answers you want but having the answers makes moving ahead a lot easier.

Froese was one of the speakers at the CAFA event in Niverville that was billed as a Farm Succession update and after opening speaker Frank Wiebe outlined the three circles, family, business and ownership for successful farm management, Froese was the next to the podium and spoke to the issues of Family.

Froese noted that the day was in fact, her 38 anniversary of moving to Boissevain as a Home Economist with the province of Manitoba. The move eventually led to her becoming a farm wife, daughter in law and now partner in an operation that is being passed on to the next generation.

She also does work helping farm families develop succession plans and how to deal with the day-to-day issues of farming together.

She explained that often it is issues from the past that makes it difficult for families to move on with a plan from the future. “You have to deal with the things from the past first, and then you can move on,” she said. “You have to create a safe place to create actionable plans.”

In her role as a farm family coach she asks questions, “That can help families learn to communicate their fears and expectations.”

Froese called on her own experience in relating a situation where a long time employee is almost a family member. “Many times on a farm we have employees who have been with us for years, and because of the nature of the work they are more than an employee,” she said. “That happens when it is not an 8 to 5 job and employees experience the stress and good times of your business.”

She recommends that these issues be considered and dealt with openly, to avoid the conflict that may arise among family members who think an employee is getting more than he or she is entitled to.

Always pragmatic Froese does not for a minute leave the idea that she has a magic wand to make family problems disappear and a succession plan agreeable to everyone appear. “There is no template that works for everyone,” she said. “But the sooner you get started by discussing a plan the clearer it becomes and the more likely it is to be accepted by those involved. Clarity is of the utmost importance.”

Students Aid Food Drive Carbon Pricing and provinces open door discussions with farmers is an opportunity said KAP President Dan Mazier at the District 3 meeting in Winkler, Manitoba pictured here alongside Elm Creek producer Cal Penner.

said. “I can’t get over the opportunity we’ve been given from our provincial government. For myself, it’s a very exciting time. We’ve got the door open and they want to talk about it. I figure, as long as that door is open, we’ll jam it open as long as we can.”

Mazier repeated the importance that farmers want to be part of the solution and move to new production methods and technologies to reduce or eliminate their carbon footprint but they cannot do it alone.

By Elmer Heinrichs Even as farmers in Manitoba continued to harvest an average crop, youth in Altona, Morden and Winkler hit the streets for this fall’s annual Farm Credit Canada (FCC) Drive Away Hunger food drive.

When it comes to basics, food is at the top of the list. Church groups, other youth and 4-H clubs all participated in this year’s FCC door-to-door campaign. In total, 17,126 pounds of food was raised through the three main community events, down from 20,974 pounds in 2015.

Margie Toews, FCC representative, said this year’s campaign was excellent. “The kids turned out in good numbers and did a great job,” Toews said.

The campaign, she said, is timed consistently for the week prior to Thanksgiving, and people are expecting it when canvassers come around.

FCC’s Drive Away Hunger is one way communities come together to help feed others.

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November 25, 2016

The AgriPost

Beneficial Equipment Breakdown Coverage Farm and Commercial policies cover the electrical, mechanical and other equipment used in most operations for losses caused by fire, theft, collision and other events. But most property policies specifically exclude losses arising from a very common problem, equipment breakdown, which includes electrical injury (surge), mechanical breakdown, pressure explosion, rupture and cracking.

So, any business operation that use pressure, mechanical, electrical and electronic equipment (and all businesses use these) is at risk of serious financial loss, unless you make equipment breakdown coverage part of your insurance program.

Kinds of equipment you might need to insure against breakdown include electronic equipment, boilers (heating and processing), telephone systems, cash registers, electrical panels, wiring of the buildings, electric motors, hot-water storage tanks, transformers, air-conditioning units and refrigeration units.

Equipment breakdown insurance protects your business against sudden and accidental breakdown of machinery and equipment due to causes such as electrical arcing, short circuits, operator error, overload or burnout. Mechanical, electrical, electronic and/or equipment under pressure can all be insured to protect your business from losses caused by breakdown.

This form of coverage complements your property coverage’s, providing that extra protection you need in case of breakdowns but not duplicating coverage for losses caused by other events.

Coverage can be extended to provide the protection you need for income loss and extra expenses incurred due to a breakdown. You can choose the business interruption and extra expense coverage, including service interruption you need. Losses due to change in temperature causing spoilage can also be covered.

Equipment breakdown insurance can be added to all insurance programs.

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

Andy Anderson is an Associate Insurance Broker specializing in General, Life and Group Benefits for Farm, Commercial/Agri-business P 204-746-5589, F 866-765-3351, andya@rempelinsurance.com / rempelinsurance.com / valleyfinancial.ca.

Manitoba Farmers Enjoy Harvest Time in November

By Elmer Heinrichs Farmers in the Red River Valley and across Manitoba took advantage of the balmy fall weather through early November to make further progress with the harvest, and for most, the crop is now off.

Dennis Lange, Farm Production Advisor with Manitoba Agriculture in Altona, said producers have been out on the fields threshing the remainder of this year’s corn and soybean crops.

“This has been a challenging fall for this area with the wet weather that we’ve seen and the ground’s not drying out. Farmers have been struggling on some fields that have been very wet. And some have invested in tracks, not only for the combine, but even on grain carts and tractors.”

The harvest of soybeans has been moving along nicely and most of that crop is finished in the Altona area, according to Lange. Further east across the Red River, fields are still pretty wet in the St. Pierre-Jolys-Arnaud area and a few farmers still struggle to complete their harvest.

Lange noted that even though we had some 10 to 15 degree temperatures, it was short lived.

“It’s not like spring time when it warms up and you get those nice strong south winds and the ground dries rather quickly. This time of year the days are quite short and drying time is more limited.”

Farmers have welcomed this second chance at harvest, and Lange suggests the corn harvest is moving along steadily, over 90 per cent complete in the Altona area, with just a few fields of soybeans and peas still out there.

With the wettest harvest in about five years, Manitoba farmers have been grappling to harvest their last crops, while also seeing costs rise as they dry crops to avoid spoilage.

Lange, who is also Manitoba Agriculture’s pulse crop specialist, said this year’s 1.6 million acre crop might set a new yield record of about 40 bushels an acre. Manitoba’s record provincial soybean yield of 38.3 bushels an acre, based on crop insurance data, was set in 2013.

Soybeans, famous for how they tolerate wet conditions can only take so much, said Lange.

“There were yields of 10 to 15 bushels an acre, but by the same token I have also heard of yields of 45 to 55 bushels an acre.” Soybeans generally did so well in Manitoba that Lange sees a possibility of up to two million acres of the crop going in next year. For a number of years soybeans have been Manitoba’s third-largest crop, behind canola and red spring wheat, respectively.

Beyond harvesting, farmers have been engaged in fieldwork, trying to get wet and rutty soils back into condition and applying fertilizer as they look toward a crop in 2017.

The Risks of Feeding Mouldy Hay

By John McGregor In my opinion, 2016 will likely go down as a wet summer for Manitoba, because of the untimely rains during the haying season from June to September. Looking at the weather summaries across the Province some areas received 125-145% more rain than normal while other areas are closer to 100% of normal. Looking at the positives, the pastures grew wildly, and the hay fields were lush with new grass to cut. The big negative was that our cut hay often got rained on or we had to bale it before it was sufficiently dry because more rain was on the way. The likely result of this weather can be mouldy hay.

Feeding mouldy hay to livestock is a tough decision. Although all hay contains some mould, when mould becomes noticeable the decisions become important. Usually, mould makes hay less palatable, heat generated by mouldy growth can result in significant loss of dry matter and energy within the forages.

Carbohydrates are consumed by the mould and heating denatures protein rendering it unavailable for use by the animal.

The overall result is poor nutritional quality, which can result, in lower intake or in animals refusing to eat the hay.

Not all moulds produce dangerous mycotoxins and even the ones that do produce are in variable amounts. When mould is obviously present, you need to take action to minimize negative effects caused by dust, mycotoxins and reduced nutritional quality.

The physical dust created by the mould spores can be an issue. Horses are most susceptible and can develop respiratory issues - Recurrent Airway Obstruction (RAO or heaves).

A horse with RAO has a normal temperature and appetite but exhibits laboured breathing during exercise with coughing and nasal discharge. People can also be affected by mould spores, causing a condition called farmer’s lung, where the fungus actually grows in lung tissue. So try to avoid breathing these spores.

Ruminants are protected to some extent due to rumen fermentation, but they are still susceptible when the mycotoxins load is excessive, especially pregnant animals and those under stress. The potential negative effects of mycotoxins include abortions, reduced feed intake, lowered fertility, suppression of the immune system, lethargy and increased morbidity.

Below is a list of strategies that you can follow to deal with mouldy hay: - First, identify your most “at risk” animals and avoid feeding them mouldy hay if possible. Animals deemed to be the most at risk will be non-ruminants, especially horses, and pregnant and/or stressed livestock.

- Next, identify the least susceptible animals (mature male ruminants, open mature female ruminants) and feed the worst hay to them. Use some common sense here when determining what is “worst”.

- Allow livestock to sort through hay and reject mouldy portions. Remove rejected hay and discard.

- Another strategy is to dilute the mouldy hay with “clean” feed. This can be good quality hay or high fibber feedstuffs such as dried distillers’ grains or baled corn stover. Be careful that you don’t make your animals sick by tricking them into eating bad hay that they normally would refuse.

- Feed hay outside to minimize respiratory issues due to dust.

- If late enough in the season, you can use temporary fencing to take advantage of new spring growth in non-pasture areas to reduce reliance on hay.

- In all cases, provide high quality minerals or vitamins and make sure that protein and energy are not lacking in the diet. The most common consequence of spoiled feed to Manitoba’s cattle is reduced quality of the feed and inadequate supplementation to the herd to make up for the decreased food value.

There are wide varieties of self-fed supplement products that can help you meet these needs. Livestock on a high nutritional plane will be much more capable of withstanding a temporary encounter with mycotoxins than animals that are lacking.

Mould is a difficult problem to deal with. Common sense and good observation often are your best decision aids.

John McGregor is the MFGA Extension Support Specialist.

The AgriPost

November 25, 2016

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“What’s The Big Idea” Awarded to Country Hotel Restaurant

By Joan Airey Kelly Spurway won a cash award over seven other entrepreneurs in the ‘What’s the Big Idea?’ entrepreneurship showdown in Neepawa hosted by the Minnedosa Small Business Development Corporation (CDC).

Lianne Christie did the presentation on behalf of the Minnedosa CDC for the award winner, Spurway.

Spurway operates the restaurant at the Queen’s Hotel in Rapid City, Manitoba. The thousanddollar award she received is being used to make improvements in the restaurant kitchen.

“Small town hotels cannot stay alive without a good restaurant. I have an addiction for cooking inspired by my Grandma Alma Morton from the age of five. I started learning how to cook and can produce from her at an early age. I’m passing that knowledge on to my family as it’s important for them to know how to feed themselves,” said Spurway.

Spurway has worked in many commercial kitchens and served as a bar manager in Manitoba. She operated The Uptown Moose in Toronto for several years until it was sold to a national chain. “When my kids saw ads for an open casting call for the Food Network’s Master

“Small town hotels cannot stay alive without a good restaurant.”

Grown and Produced in Manitoba dishes such, as their delicious hamburgers and fries are very popular at Queen’s Hotel Restaurant in Rapid City.

Photo by Joan Airey

Chef Canada show they convinced me to submit an application. I was surprised to get an interview and invited to tryout in Winnipeg along with other aspiring chefs from across Manitoba.

My dish placed in the top five but just not quite high enough to go on. It gave me the confidence to channel my creative energy,” said Spurway.

Spurway has always tried to buy local organic produce and meats to feed her family. Now she buys her beef, pork and lamb from local farmers, Colin and Ann Hunter. Most of her vegetables are purchased from Peter’s Market Garden at Virden. “Peter just delivered 200 lbs. potatoes, 20 lbs. of carrots, 20 lbs. of onions and five large pumpkin pies. Hamiota Bakery, I

call when I want a Kaiser bun that is a little crustier with a little swirl on top for my hamburgers. The swirl looks like a crown. I call my order in and it’s ready for me the next day. A feature on our menu is a ten ounce stuffed burger with a cheese mixture. It’s covered with a homemade barbecue sauce which contains saskatoons you can’t get any more Manitoba than that,” said Spurway.

Monday is the day Spurway generally closes but when three groups of hunters asked her to open today for late breakfasts she couldn’t say no. “When we were cleaning up from the hunters who had asked us to open, another group of hunters came in to eat and booked some more meals for this hunting season,”

said Spurway.

“The Wild Life and Fisheries Chase the Ace draw is up to eight thousand dollars so weekends are very busy. I have started an event menu so we can have customers’ quality meals in front of them in twenty minutes to half an hour. Only four things on the menu aren’t made from scratch, onion rings, chicken fingers, fish and jalapeno peppers because I like everything to be consistent even when I’m not the one cooking. My daughter Madisen enjoys cooking at the restaurant, too,” said Spurway.

Spurway has a blog at abusymomscookbook. blogspot.com and her menu can be found on her website thequeenseatery. com.

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November 25, 2016

While the three-wheeled tractors were present in numbers at the 1916 demonstrations, there were a number of conventional light tractors demonstrated as well.

Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company (MS&MC) brought their Twin City 15-30 tractor to the demonstrations. MS&MC started operations by providing structural steel for building bridges, water towers, and flourmills in Minneapolis-St. Paul, also known as the Twin Cities.

Between 1909 and the mid-teens MS&MC supplied tractor engines to Reeves & Company, manufacturing the 30-60 Case and the Bull tractors. In 1910 MS&MC worked with McVicker Engineering to develop, the first of a line of heavyweight gas tractors called the Twin City line. A 15-30, 25-45, 40-65 and a 60-90 made up this line. In 1914, the Twin City Twentieth Century tractor was produced for the Canadian market and sold as the Grain Growers Special.

WWI put an end to outside contracts and the company concentrated on military munitions while continuing a small tractor program.

The Twin City 15-30 used a 4-cylinder engine with a transmission offering two forward speeds and one reverse and automotive type steering. The cooling system featured a tank type radiator.

The tractor weighed 7,600 pounds.

It is thought that in 1916 MS&MC began design work on what became the Twin City 12-20 tractor, which was put into production in 1918. This tractor featured a twin cam, 16-valve, 4-cylinder engine, a fully enclosed transmission and final drive running in oil. These were very advanced features in 1918, particularly in a tractor.

The Waterloo Company brought their Model R Waterloo Boy to the 1916 event.

Waterloo resulted from John Froelich’s early experiments with a gas tractor in 1892.

While the tractor was not successful, Froelich, with several other people, set up a company to manufacture tractors in 1893. But as they only sold 2 out of 4 tractors built, it was decided to concentrate on stationary engines. Froelich, dropped out of the company at this point and the company was renamed Waterloo Gas Engine Company. Their engines became known as Waterloo Boys.

By 1911, the company saw that tractors had potential and began work on tractor designs. After several designs, the company came

up with the Waterloo Boy Model R with a twin cylinder horizontal engine. This engine used a 180-degree opposed crankshaft throw that resulted in the familiar pop-pop-pause exhaust rhythm that the John Deere 2-cylinder tractors are famous for. The tractor had one speed ahead and one speed in reverse. The design was successful and the Model R sold in good numbers.

The design then evolved into the Model N that featured two forward speeds as well as one in reverse along with other changes.

As well as the Little Devil tractor, the Hart Parr Company brought their 12-27 Hopmaker tractors to the trials. This tractor was the second attempt by Hart Parr to build a small tractor, the first being the Hart Parr 15-30 which was equipped with oil cooled 2-cylinder vertical engine. The 15-30 was equipped with a shorter frame and single front wheel, design feature meant to decrease the tractors turning circles, an important consideration when working in a fenced field. The design was later re-rated to 20-40.

Hart, the design expert in the partnership of Hart Parr, designed the Hopmaker in 1913. It was smaller, lighter than the 15-30 / 20-40 design, and cheaper. It made use of a large number of cast steel parts plus it was designed to reduce the total number of parts. Hart believed the fewer the number of parts, the less the cost.

The tractor was equipped with a 1-cylinder vertical engine, was oil cooled, used a jump spark ignition but had no magneto. The tractor had two speeds ahead and one in reverse. Oddly, a wheel was used to shift gears instead of a lever. The rear wheels were a one piece casting of rim, lugs, spokes and centre.

There were only 200 12-27s built and only one remains today. The appearance of the 12-27 at the 1916 demonstrations is a bit of mystery as the 12-27 was replaced in production in 1915 by the 18-35, which was an upgrade of the 12-27 design. Why the 12-27 was brought to Brandon by Hart Parr and not an 18-35 is a puzzle. One would have thought that Hart Parr would have wanted to show off its newest models. Where the name “Hopmaker “came from is also not known.

The International Harvester Corporation (IHC)

The AgriPost

Light Tractors Make Appearance in 1916 Plowing Demo brought to the demonstration both an 8-16 Mogul and a Titan 10-20 tractor. IHC built these designs in two separate tractor plants. The Mogul line of tractors was built in IHC’s Chicago plant and the Titan line was built in IHC’s Milwaukee plant.

The Mogul line was sold by the McCormick Dealers while the Titan was sold by the Deering dealers. IHC had been formed by the amalgamation of the Deering Company and the McCormick Company along with several smaller concerns. It was thought that the customers of both companies were so loyal they may not buy IHC budged equipment so for a number of years after IHC formed, the company kept the Deering and McCormick dealership network in place feeding both tractors lines and equipment.

The Mogul 8-16 was IHC’s solution for the demand of a small tractor. It weighed 5,000 pounds and the 1-cylinder engine was powerful enough to handle a 2-bottom plow in most soils. The tractor was a simple affair with a hopper-cooled engine and one speed forward and one speed in reverse. The arched frame over the front wheels, which were closely spaced together, resulted in the tractor being able to turn sharply, an important consideration when working around fences and resulted in the headlands being reduced.

The Titan 10-20 tractor was similar in concept, a lightweight, manoeuvrable tractor capable of pulling a 2-bottom plow. However while looking similar, it was different in detail. The Titan used a twin cylinder kerosene-burning engine equipped with a K-W hightension magneto, a six feed mechanical oiler and thermosyphon cooling. The tractor featured a transmission offering two speeds ahead and a one reverse speed. The transmission drove the rear wheels through a chain drive and the rear wheels turned on a dead axle.

Good Shapley & Muir (GS&M) brought an Ideal Junior 15-25 tractor to the demonstrations. GS&M is largely unknown today however, the company is important as it was a very early Canadian manufacturer of tractors. GS&M was formed in 1892 from Goold and Company, a manufacturer of beekeeper supplies and refrigerators. The new company diversified and began to manufacture windmills, gasoline engines and other machinery. Manufacturing gas engines resulted

in GS&M getting into the tractor business.

In 1907, the company introduced the “Ideal” tractor line that consisted of two models the 18-35 and 25-50.

GS&M went on to produce the “Ideal Junior” a 15-25 tractor. The Ideal Junior used hopper cooled 2-cylinder opposed engine design.

It appears that the exhaust pipes for each cylinder were plumbed together into a pipe running over top of the engine. Just what the purpose of this arrangement was, is not known. GS&M tractors are rare today however they apparently were a decent tractor.

Looking through the Manitoba Agricultural Museum’s collection of tractors, one can draw some conclusions about the success of the tractors mentioned in this release.

The collection holds two Waterloo Boys, a number of IHC Titan 10-20s and Mogul 8-16s but no Twin City 1530, Hart Parr Hopmaker or a GS&M Ideal Junior. This lack indicates that not many units were sold in Manitoba, which is odd as these tractors were reputed to be decent tractors at the time.

Manitoba was good market for early gas tractors as, from a farm standpoint, Manitoba possessed a number of farms that had been in existence for some time and so had moved beyond the homestead stage.

By 1916, these farms had experienced the wheat boom of the pre WW1 era and were enjoying relatively decent prices during WW1. That meant these farms had, generally, better finances than the areas to the west, which had been homesteaded in times that are more recent.

A lack of sales may be an indication that Twin City and GS&M had a weak distribution system in western Canada at the time. It is interesting to note that the Museum does hold a number of Twin City tractors built after 1920 so maybe they had a better distribution system in place by that time. As for the Hart Parr Hopmaker, perhaps it was odd enough that buyers stayed away from it as certainly Hart Parr had achieved great success with the earlier Hart Parr 30-60 and went onto achieve success with the Hart Parr 12-25 designed in 1918 which then formed the basis for the next generation of Hart Parr tractors.

The Manitoba Agricultural Museum is open year round.

For more information visitor can go to the website ag-museum.mb.ca.

The AgriPost

November 25, 2016

Swine Health Must be a Priority in Next Ag Policy Framework

By Harry Siemens The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) is calling on the Federal government to ensure swine health and disease prevention remain a priority under Canada’s next Agricultural Policy Framework in their presentation to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and AgriFood.

Hans Kristensen, a representative on the CPC’s Board of Directors, told the committee disease prevention remains a focus for the pork industry and initiatives like traceability, biosecurity and disease surveillance need to be a pri-

ority in the next agricultural policy framework. “Work conducted by the Canadian Swine Health Board since 2009 has provided the industry with significant benefits in the area of biosecurity and raised the awareness of the importance of swine health industry wide, including at a producer level,” said Kristensen. “However, as with anything, more work could be done. The pork industry and government need to work on preparedness to be primed for the next health challenge.”

He said that in the event of the next emerging disease the pork industry must gave the

Seaweed that Eradicates Methane Produced by Cattle About ten years ago, a PEI farmer Joe Dorgan started feeding his cattle seaweed collected from the island’s beaches as a way to cut costs on his farm located at Seacow Pond. After seeing the improvements in his herd, he decided to turn the seaweed into a product.

“There’s a mixture of Irish moss, rockweed and kelp, and just going to waste,” he said.

“And I knew it was good because years ago, our ancestors, that’s what they done their business with.”

Then Rob Kinley an agricultural scientist with Dalhousie University at the time helped test Dorgan’s seaweed mix, and discovered it reduced the methane by 20 percent in cows.

Now Kinley, working in Queensland, Australia has taken his research even further by analyzing 30 to 40 other seaweed types.

Before testing seaweed on live cows, he built a fake cow stomach and tested methane output from various seaweeds in his lab. The artificial stomach he originally built and used in Nova Scotia was made of double walled glass.

After testing many seaweed types, eventually, he hit upon a red seaweed called Asparagopsis taxiformis that reduced methane in cow’s burps and farts to almost nothing. “I was testing one day a series of samples when all of a sudden it looked like my instruments were having problems, and I wasn’t able to see emissions from one particular sample,” he said. “So I did it over and over again and lo and behold the methane emissions were eliminated.”

“Ruminant animals are responsible for roughly 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally, so it’s not a small number,” said Kinley, now working at a research facility in Australia. “We’re talking numbers equivalent to hundreds of millions of

cars.”

Already they have done some testing on ruminants he explained. “The seaweed is put it in pellet form or mixed with molasses. We haven’t actually fed it to cows at any level yet, we’ve fed it to sheep. Sheep are smaller and require a lot less feed and are easier to manage. We are going to feed cattle very soon.”

Kinley thinks it may take five years to get a product to market but the bigger challenge would be how to grow enough seaweed to meet demand. “Agriculture stands to be one of the first to make major changes in the greenhouse gas inventory and so it’s really a game changer if we can get this out into the market.”

resources and a plan to ensure the industry is prepared and has the tools to improve swine health management, non-regulatory disease responses in collaboration with government. “Failure to manage the animal health risk compromises the welfare of our animals and of our operations. It also jeopardizes our ability to address the food security needs of our domestic and export markets,” said Kristensen. “Health of our animals, our ability to respond to challenges is a big trademark that we have world wide. The better handle we have on that, the better food security and animal health we have, the better able we are going to be to sell these products world wide.”

He said the Canadian pork industry remains focused on disease prevention in the areas of biosecurity coordination, communication, preparedness and surveillance and requires government investment in partnership with producers to create a national sustainable model for animal health risk management.

To make this a reality the CPC is calling for a restoration of the AgriStability program’s positive margin coverage to 85 percent under Canada’s next Agricultural Policy Framework.

Kristensen told the committee the reduction in the AgriStability program’s positive margin coverage from 85 percent to 70 percent significantly reduced the program’s capacity to assist the hog industry. “In business, as in life, risk is a reality but this is especially true in the volatile

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Hans Kristensen a Board Director and representative of Canadian Pork Council told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food that a failure to manage the animal health risk compromises the welfare of animals and jeopardizes food security needs in domestic and internationally markets.

pork industry.”

“While risk can never be eliminated it can be managed to minimize the detrimental effect it has on us as producers and to enhance our long term viability,” he said. “However doing so requires utilizing current risk management tools and hopefully developing new ones. All business risk management programs are important but AgriStability has been the most useful program to our particular sector. But its effectiveness in managing a significant price drop substantially, with the reduction in the positive mar-

gin coverage from 85 to 70 percent, has hurt us.”

Kristensen said that at this lower level the program provides producers a backstop to severe loss and little else. “As an income stabilization measure, we really feel it needs to be returned to the 85 percent level in the new framework,” he said. “At the same time, we have to make sure that this program, its accessibility and responsiveness in timelines to us gets streamlined and is able to react faster.”

Kristensen also spoke on Canadian pork producer’s need for a core business risk

management (BRM) suite of programs that help manage market risk. The CPC stressed the need for increased industry investment, especially in hog barns.

“I would like to thank Hans for outlining some of the industries priorities with the committee and support his comment that risk management is a fundamental cornerstone in any business venture with volatility in revenue and costs,” said CPC Chair Rick Bergmann.

“Governments need to recommit to developing an effective BRM suite for implementation by 2018.”

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The AgriPost

November 25, 2016

Growing Salad Greens Year Round Made Easier

By Joan Airey Most people will have finished gardening and cleaned everything up for the season.

In between, down pours, I managed to till my garden and my husband spread several inches of composted manure. My garden was a little wet when the compost was spread so I’m hoping Gary, who everyone in our area gets to till their gardens with his giant tiller can remove the ruts, my husband’s tractor made. Since Gary started tilling the garden in the spring the root vegetables definitely grow better, our old tiller was not working the garden deep enough.

Since I had invested several hundred dollars in grow lights over the last two years, I decided to grow lettuce, onions, radishes, and spinach indoors. Every time I go to the laundry room, I enjoy seeing how well salad veggies grow under the lights.

The T5 (40,000) lumens grow lights are better for growing radishes than the 20,000 lumens. An organic vegetable and herb soil mix works great for growing salad greens.

The potted strawberries I had growing in the greenhouse I brought in under the lights so we are still enjoying some fresh berries but they will have to go to the greenhouse when it’s time to start bedding plants.

The Chesapeake pepper plant that was growing in the greenhouse is in my dining room window sporting numerous sizes of peppers some red and some green.

We certainly enjoyed a red pepper in our salad at suppertime.

A gardening friend introduced me to the CBC’s garden show on radio at 97.6 with Dave Hanson the owner of the Garden Sage Greenhouses. The show is on at 8:30 Sunday morning. He recommends Organic Rage Plus fertilizer for plants when bringing them indoors.

Sage Greenhouses has a website and blog, which is full of info including growing things indoors.

Grow Veg is another website full of gardening information available on Facebook and can be found through a Google search.

An idea on Grow Veg that is worth trying is marking the inches or feet on your hoe or rake handle so you have a measuring stick handy when planting the garden.

If you don’t receive any garden seed catalogues there are some that are worth viewing

online such as T & T Seeds in Winnipeg, Stokes in Ontario and Vesey’s in Prince Edward Island to name a few.

Having some of these seed catalogues on hand gives you info on seeding instructions at your fingertips.

First feed of radishes harvested indoors.

Lettuce, second growth after being harvested three weeks ago.

Photos by Joan Airey

Red pepper on same plant as the green peppers are growing.

Green Peppers growing on a Chesapeake Pepper plant indoors.

Food Shaming Disgraceful

I was meeting with some friends a few days ago when one of them commented that snacks had been banned from their kid’s soccer games. My friend’s son is six years old.

The team was forced to ban snacks because some overzealous parents had taken to social media to shame other families because their snacks did not measure up to their idea of social acceptability. It is a disgrace that we are inflicting this behaviour on anyone, let alone children.

Food shaming impacts almost all consumers. What about that family that can’t afford the latest gluten free, organically produced, GMO-free, locally grown, produced on a Tuesday afternoon yogurt? Are they raising unhealthy children by giving them ordinary yogurt as a snack? Of course not. What is the right choice for a family on a tight budget – purchase the extra expensive fruit and vegetables that conform to the social standard of the soccer field or buy regular produce and feed their kids the healthy servings that are outlined in the Canada Food Guide?

Choice is good. Everyone has the right to choose what they want to eat. Everyone has the right to include social factors important to them in their food choices. What we don’t have the right to do is claim that these choices are healthier or better than the choices made by other families. We don’t have the right to impose our choices on others.

This is an important issue for all of agriculture and we need to be part of the discussion. We need to ensure that our statements around health and food safety are based on solid research. We must ensure that the moms and dads at the soccer game know where they can get the facts behind the healthy, nutritious choices provided by modern Canadian Agriculture. That way they will be equipped to respond when someone tries to shame them into alternative lifestyle choices. If modern agriculture fails to provide this factual foundation, our choices in production methods will become limited by what people without the facts believe.

“Healthy” is not an arbitrary word that can be loosely defined by what the latest celebrity is pushing on the internet. A great deal of research goes into the definition of “healthy eating”. The Canada Food Guide, published

by Health Canada is the right place to start on this definition. You will notice when reading through the guide that production practices – conventional agriculture, organic, GMO-free, etc. – are never mentioned. These are choices outside of the realm of “healthy”.

The fact-based food guide does not talk about any of the latest internet celebrity fads for a reason. For example, let’s take the long-running (and thankfully waning) fad around gluten. Unless you have been diagnosed with celiac disease, a painful and debilitating condition, there are no health-based reasons to avoid gluten in your diet.

In fact, the reverse is true. Avoiding products like whole grain and pasta will deny you nutrients that are important to good health.

Agriculture needs to lead the discussion that will help better articulate the difference between social choices and fact-based healthy choices. We need to work to ensure that the facts around “healthy” are readily available and not distorted by marketing campaigns designed to sell lifestyle choices. It is fair ball for social choices to be part of marketing campaigns from those who want you to buy their “stuff”. However, it is not acceptable to have food fads and marketing campaigns attempt to re-define the meaning of healthy.

There is room on our grocery shelves for all different kinds of food choices. There is room on our farms for all different kinds of production practices. This variety is good. But we must remember the word “choice” for both the farm and the supermarket. This means differentiating between social choices and researched facts behind healthy eating recommendations. It means respecting the choices that others make.

Cam Dahl is President of Cereals Canada.

The AgriPost

Deciding Which Circle to Run In

By Les Kletke Farm operators may feel like they are running in circles trying to keep the farm business, the family and ownership issues at balance while trying to make a living on the farm.

Frank Wiebe of BDO Canada said the ideas of circles is a good one and a view of how the circles overlap can help with the management of the farm on day-to-day issues as well as looking at the longer term concerns like passing the farm to the next generation. Wiebe who was the opening speaker at the annual CAFA meeting in Niverville bases his work on a model developed in the 1970s at Harvard Business School.

Wiebe pointed out that while most farms start out with the idea of building an operation that will be passed on to future generations only 75% make it to the second generation, and that drops to 40% for the third generation

and only 3% survive for a 4th generation.

He recommends paying attention to the separate aspects of the operation and paying attention to where they overlap. The model he uses recognizes three separate components to the operation, family, business, and ownership. “The three are relegated and overlap but they are not the same and we need to recognize that,” said Wiebe. “Too often farm families do not make the separation and lines become blurred and misunderstandings lead to conflict.”

He used circles to represent the three areas and their overlap. The model results in seven distinct areas where the circles are independent, three overlap with one other circle, and all three overlap with one1. “These 7 areas need to be recognized and treated differently,” he pointed out. “When we look at the issues separately we can decide where they fall

on the model and how they should be dealt with, and at what time. There is a time for a business meeting and there is a time for family, when business does not enter into the picture.”

He acknowledged that it may be difficult and that families working together may have trouble distinguishing when and which.

“Christmas dinner is not the time to discuss farm economics or even what we are going to do tomorrow [on the farm],” he said.

Wiebe has worked with scores of families over his career and cited some of the most common problems, ones that could be avoided with proper management of the three circles involved in the farm. “When the issues are not kept separate there is confusion and people don’t know what their role is,” he said. “Individuals also lose identity and that leads to problems.” He placed unresolved conflict and a lack of

clear vision as the remainder of the top four issues he saw most often in working with farm families and developing a succession plan.

Frank Wiebe of BDO says a family farm has three distinct areas of management which overlap.

Photo by Les Kletke

November 25, 2016

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November 25, 2016

The AgriPost

Funding Boosted for Canadian Biomass and Composites Industries Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr, on behalf of Agriculture and AgriFood Minister, Lawrence MacAulay, announced funding of up to $2.9 million to the Composites Innovation Centre Manitoba (CIC) for two initiatives.

These include the development of quality standards and measurement techniques for Canadian biomass, and research into overcoming technology barriers to the adoption of natural fibres in the composites industry.

“These projects looking into the development of biomass quality standards and real world applications for biocomposites will help strengthen and diversify Canada’s agriculture sector.

Investments such as these could lead to the development of new crops, manufacturing and production opportunities, enhanced competitiveness, improved environmental sustainability and job creation,” said Jim Carr, Minister of Natural Resources.

The Composites Innovation Centre Manitoba Inc. (CIC) in Winnipeg is a not-for-profit corporation that supports and stimulates economic growth through innovative research, development and the application of composite materials and technologies for manufacturing industries such as FibreCITY or the Green Garage project, a single car garage composed of ag-fibre biocomposites and related alternative building materials. Another CIC example is the Kestrel Car which is an electric hybrid vehicle created out of bio-based composite materials built to demonstrate that these materials can successfully be used for structural body parts in a vehicle.

Biomass is derived from organic materials that can be used as a renewable energy source.

The Growing Forward 2 (GF2), AgriMarketing Program, will provide up to $982,075 to identify quality gaps and develop quality standards and measurement techniques to facilitate the commercialization of Canadian biomass in four bioproducts sectors that include biomaterials, biochemical, biofuels and bioenergy.

The GF2, AgriInnovation Program, will provide up to $1.9 million for research into how the strength and quality of composites can be affected by farming

practices, varieties and weather. The CIC will also develop more robust natural fibre reinforced composites, combining these fibres with plastic resins, to produce parts for buses, cars and farm equipment that have reliable

performance characteristics.

“If Canada is going to build a vibrant clean technology economy based, in part, on the conversion of agricultural biomass into

reinforcements for vehicle components or parts of bioplastics, then there are several critical factors in the supply chain that need to be

dealt with,” explained Sean McKay, President and CEO, Composites Innovation Centre. “The deliverables arising from these technology developments will fill some of the gaps thereby accelerating the pace of innovation for the agricultural and composites industries and assist

The Kestral Car is a hybrid electric vehicle created out of bio-based composite materials.

Canada to grow its competitiveness in the global market place.”

The funding will help achieve the Federal government’s goal of creating good jobs by making our resource sector leaders in the use and development of clean and sustainable technologies and processes.

The AgriPost

Hiring Handbook for Hog Industry a Useful Tool for Employers and Employees

By Harry Siemens Work loads, liabilities, compensation, changing technologies, increased regulations, rising costs, international markets, and an ever-increasing scrutiny from consumer groups makes raising pigs a huge challenge and finding workers even more difficult.

Janice Goldsborough, the Human Resources and Training Coordinator with Manitoba Pork said a new Hiring Handbook, developed for pork producers, will help them meet the challenges of finding, hiring and retaining workers.

Manitoba Pork recently officially unveiled a new Hiring Handbook to help pork producers with the hiring process and a new Employee Manual for use as a reference for pork workers. People can access the new resources both electronically and in hard copy through Manitoba Pork.

Goldsborough said, in an increasingly competitive market for labour, finding, and hiring people to work in swine barns has become increasingly challenging.

She surveyed many independent producers last year and one of the findings was that a number of them were unsure about the hiring process, what is involved, and what they can do to make it better. “They were unsure about what kind of questions that they can and can not ask in an interview, so this will help them in that regard,” said Goldsborough. “Most of our independent producers want to hire locally but that’s a big challenge so it provides them with a few suggestions of where else they can look outside of their own little local area but still stay within the province or within Canada before having to look at other resources from outside.

I’m hoping that this manual will help them be more confident in their hiring decisions and guide them along the way to hire locally before they have to look globally.”

Goldsborough said the Hiring Handbook contains information on where to look for candidates and where to advertise available jobs and includes sample job ads. It also explains the recruitment process, provides tips on conducting the interview including what kinds of questions can and cannot be asked and offers advice on doing refer-

ence checks and preparing offer letters.

She said the employee manual offers new workers a resource they can use to help orient them to their new jobs. Goldsborough said, she developed the two new tools based on the information gathered through the survey of independent pork producers last year and it was officially approved by the organization’s Board of Directors and Legal Counsel.

When a new person starts, “It’s pretty overwhelming so the employee manual is something they’ll be able to refer back to. All employees should understand their basic rights and what they’re entitled to in the workplace so it covers things like their vacation. How many days of vacation are they allotted per year, statutory holidays.

What’s considered a statutory holiday because some of the holidays we think are covered actually may not be,” she said. “It’ll also cover things like, is smoking allowed, lunch breaks, hours of work, whether they’re expected to work shifts, benefits that they might be entitled to. If they feel they’re

being harassed, how do they deal with that, privacy policy, all sorts of questions that they might have along the way that they legally have a right to know about.”

Goldsborough said the employee manual is generic and each farm can customize it for their operation.

The Hiring Handbook and the Employee Manual are available either electronically or in hard copy through Manitoba Pork. For more information call Manitoba Pork at 204- 471-6350 or email jgoldsborough@manitobapork.com.

Janice Goldsborough, the Human Resources and Training Coordinator with Manitoba Pork said a new Hiring Handbook, developed for pork producers, will help them meet the challenges of finding, hiring and retaining workers.

November 25, 2016

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November 25, 2016

The AgriPost

KAP’s District 3 Meets in Winkler

By Harry Siemens District 3 of the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) met in Winkler recently dealing with a whole host of topics, including transportation, carbon credits, and poor mobile telephone and internet service in rural parts of Manitoba to name a few.

While numbers were down because many producers were continuing their efforts in re- harvesting corn, sunflowers, and even some soybeans or applying fertilizer because weather and wet fields had not allowed it earlier, the meeting generated great debate and discussion.

President Dan Mazier, who farms up at Brandon, attended a district meeting in Pilot Mound the night before and brought some good news regarding grain transportation.

Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau showed he had listened to KAP and other producer groups when he made an announcement the week before regarding the future of the Canadian transportation system. The Minister indicated he will be pursuing legislation that will allow reciprocal penalties in service level agreements between railway companies

District three KAP meeting participants.

and their customers, one of producers’ key requests. However, Garneau was less clear on the government’s intentions for the maximum revenue entitlement and the future of interswitching, saying only his government would address these two issues.

“Manitoba grain farmers are grateful for recent opportunities to contribute to consultations on transportation systems, and we strongly urge the government to engage farmers as they add more detail to plans announced today,” said Mazier.

Grass root meetings like the one in Winkler last week, combined with four general council meetings throughout the year and the general annual meeting in January keeps farmers in-

KAP President Dan Mazier speaking to District three farmers in Winkler.

formed and in the forefront.

Local farmers continue to make KAP important to not only themselves but to the entire province in the policy-setting arena, and to farmers across Canada. It is vital industry with about 1.5 percent of the total population but produces for the 100 percent.

“This is what gives us the advantage as producers and it is a big province,” said Mazier. “As I drive and do these district meetings it is part of our bylaws that we have annual district meetings and expectations. As you heard today people can’t get over they have access to people like me, the executive, and obviously through that same executive get their voice known to the politicians and bureaucrats that matter. It teaches me a wealth of knowledge; you can’t beat talking over the kitchen table or like today having a conversation about policy in Manitoba and where we are taking the industry.”

Transportation is such a key component in getting the crop the farmers produce to the market place and that doesn’t only mean the superB’s that haul that grain to the elevator. It means getting that grain through the mountains off the Prairies, and into boats destined for those

waiting markets.

With the farmer paying the ultimate transportation bill moving that product to market, it is imperative that farmers have representation at the table where these discussions take place. “It is a different approach; so far we’re getting along with the rest of the industry. We’ve asked for similar things like inter-switching to increase competition the Maximum Revenue Entitlement [MRE] to be maintained so they can’t gouge us in a monopoly type of situation,” said Mazier. “Also reciprocal penalties, and when you get into these reciprocal penalties and inter-switching we don’t know what it is costing us and we’re thinking we should know somewhere, somehow, and I guess how much….”

There is another component on how to access data and what data do farmers need to collect in 2016 for the transportation industry.

“I’m asking producers what do you want to see if you are looking at this data with four different programs about grain handling,” he asked.

“That is confusing so let’s get that streamlined and what are we going to do with that one, and more importantly we’re paying the bill and we should know what we are paying for.”

Research Targets Phytophthora Root Rot in Manitoba Soybeans The most prevalent races of Phytophthora sojae (P. sojae) found in Manitoba soybean fields are Races 4, 25, 28 and 3, with Race 4 being most predominant, according to a groundbreaking study funded by the Government of Canada, the Province of Manitoba and Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers through the Pulse Science Cluster.

With this new information, farmers and agronomists can be strategic, not only in choosing a variety with resistance, but they can choose what type of resistance genes may be most effective.

“This information is critical for our industry. We wanted to get this knowledge out so that pathologists, breeders and seed companies can work together to strategically develop varieties that provide genetic resistance to the Phytophthora races specifically found in Manitoba,” says Kristen Podolsky, Production Specialist with Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers.

Phytophthora is one of four pathogens that cause

seedling blight and root rot in Manitoba soybeans. It was especially prevalent in the 2016 growing season with wet soil conditions and increased frequency of soybean in rotations.

From 2014 to 2016, approximately 184 soybean fields were surveyed for plants that were symptomatic for phytophthora root rot caused by P. sojae. This in-depth study of the race structure of Phytophthora is the first of its kind in Manitoba and has been led by Dr. Debra McLaren, Plant Pathologist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Brandon.

“The most effective method to reduce economic losses caused by phytophthora root rot is to use resistant cultivars, and therefore it is critical to know the races of P. sojae that are present in soybean-producing regions,” says Dr. McLaren. “Based on the research that we have completed to date, four races have been identified and this is very exciting because it provides farmers with an additional tool for variety

selection. Knowledge of the race diversity in Manitoba is essential for breeding Phytophthora-resistant cultivars and for screening soybean cultivars and germplasm accessions against this pathogen.”

Variety selection is the top management practice to prevent and reduce Phytophthora, in addition to good crop rotation practices and fungicide seed treatment. Over half the soybean varieties tested in Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers Variety Evaluation trials contain genetic resistance to Phytophthora.

“We don’t have the technology yet to measure which races are present in individual fields, but I would suggest that choosing a variety with resistance to the most prevalent races is an excellent start at this point. For example, soybean varieties that contain resistance genes 1k or 6 will be resistant to Race 4, the most predominant race found in Manitoba thus far,” says Podolsky.

The AgriPost

Balance Lactating Dairy Diets with the Right Amount of Palm Fat There has been an explosive use of palm fat into many dairy diets. This growth has been fuelled by the numerous incentive days issued by the milk marketing board to increase milk fat production in lactating dairy cows. For the best part, I have seen profitable milk fat rise on many farms because some bypass palm fat was fed. I have also witnessed the dark side of feeding bypass fat. Therefore, I recommend that producers check their current lactating dairy diets and assure all essential nutrients are well balanced, so that the right amount of palm fat can be supplemented.

Dairy producers that buy commercial bypass palm fat should agree. They tend to follow the suggested feeding rate of adding “up to 500 g/head/day” of rumen bypass palm fat to their lactating dairy TMRs. As a result, many of these people have increased herd milk fat by 0.2 – 0.4%. This advice also seemed to fit into their feed budget by adding about a $1 per head per day to feed costs.

Their success of adding palm fat to lactating dairy diets

makes a lot of sense. That’s because milk fat is made up of all different types of fatty acids, although some are more important than others are. About 50% of milk fat composition comes from 4- to 16-carbon fatty acids chains manufactured in the udder that is supplied by volatile and other types of fatty acids produced by microbial fermentation of feed digested in the rumen. The other 50% milk fat portion is drawn from fatty acids absorbed directly from the bloodstream.

Blood-drawn fatty acids in milk fat are primarily made up of longer 16- to 18-carbon fatty acids. This fact is backed up by research, which infused C16:0 free fatty acids into the udder and elicited a milk fat response, because the C16:0 free fatty acids are transferred into milk fat with greater efficiency compared to other fatty acids of different chain lengths. It is here, where rumen bypass palm fat is a natural choice to raise milk fat production, because of its naturally high C16:0 content.

If only we could shake a palm tree and feed the fallen palm kernels as a source of C16:0 free fatty acids to high producing dairy cows. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Rather, raw palm oil must be rendered, fractioned and filtered; the solid saturated fats are separated and turned into commercial beads, prilled or flaked free-fatty acids.

New Hog Barns for Manitoba in the Works for Next Summer

By Harry Siemens Manitoba Pork recently held its fall meetings, one in Niverville and the other one in Portage la Prairie providing an update on new pig barn construction in the province.

“Our industry’s four essential goals right now are biosecurity, public relations, access to human resources, and the opportunity to once again build or expand barns,” said MPC Chair George Matheson. “In spite of five new cases of PED in the province recently, we are holding the virus at bay with our rigorous biosecurity protocol. Our public relations efforts continue to reach consumers and capture opportunities to enhance the industry’s relationship with the public. And there’s good news on the labour front; it appears that the Federal government is making changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program that will be favourable to the industry.”

On the topic of barn building, Matheson said, one of Manitoba Pork’s major initiatives over the last few months has been to urge the provincial government to streamline the approval process for new building and expansion. Currently the steps are highly complex and protracted, taking at least nine months before a producer can even put a shovel in the ground. He added that Manitoba Pork is working diligently with provincial government ministers and senior officials to improve these processes, to ensure that barns can be built in a reasonable time and at a reasonable cost and while remaining competitive with other jurisdictions. “We believe the government hears us and we expect positive changes will result from these efforts,” he said.

Manitoba Pork said it has received four applications to build new pig barns under a special pilot program initiated in 2015.

Two of the applications are for an expansion, while two are for brand new barns. Manager of Sustainable Development Mike Teillet said he expects to see the barns constructed next summer with the applications currently in the approval process, which can take up to a year to complete.

The special pilot program contains 11 additional guidelines that go above all the regulatory and legislative requirements.

Because of the cumbersome guidelines, Manitoba Pork has been meeting with the government in hopes of streamlining the process. “This special pilot project protocol, we would like to see that radically reduced in terms of the number of steps,” said Teillet. “We think we’re certainly by far the most bureaucratic and the longest approval process system in the country.”

In April, 2015, to facilitate the construction of new swine production capacity to address a shortfall of pigs for processing, the Manitoba government introduced the Pig Production Special Pilot Project Evaluation Protocol. “These processes are so complicated that your average farmer really can’t do it by himself anymore,” said Teillet. “He or she really has to hire a professional consultant to walk them through the pro-

“We believe the government hears us and we expect positive changes will result from these efforts.”

Manitoba Pork Council Manager of Sustainable Development Mike Teillet said he expects to see the barns constructed next summer with the applications currently in the approval process, which can take up to a year to complete.

cesses because they’re so complex. We look at that and we think that, if we can reduce the amount of red tape involved, that it might not only reduce the amount of time but also the amount of cost involved for a producer in order to actually go through all of the approval process.”

Teillet said the approval process deals with at least three different government departments and spans a number of different pieces of legislation. “We’re looking at a number of approaches to streamline the process while still protecting the environment.”

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Now as usable palm fat, it can be added directly into the lactating dairy diet. Due to its high melting point of 57°C, processed-palm fat easily bypasses the rumen and is digested in the small intestine of the dairy cow. Their C16:0 fatty acid chains are absorbed into the bloodstream, transported to and then drawn off by the udder and finally made into milk fat.

A typical analysis from a bag of commercial rumen bypass palm fat is as follows:

In order to feed palm fat to lactating dairy cows, the general rule is to take in account all the natural and added sources of vegetable oil and tallow already present. Then add in palm fat while making sure not to exceed 5 - 6% total fat of the entire dairy diet.

One can follow this rule by breaking the dairy diet down into 3 sections:

* 23 kg of dry matter feed: forages mixed with defatted proteins (soybean or canola meal) and grains, contains 3% natural fat - 690 g. * Supplement vegetable oil or tallow (100%) - 300 g. * Supplement palm rumen-protected fat (99%) - 400 g.

Total = 1.39 kg or 5.9 % total fat (23.7 kg total diet).

Regardless as to what brand of palm fat supplement is added to the lactating dairy diet, it is important to avoid overfeeding all dietary fat in one capacity or another. It is also important that these dairy diets still be balanced with available nonstructural carbohydrates such as sugar, starch and effective forage fibre (re: 20 - 22% eNDF) in the diet as well as protein, minerals and vitamins in order to support health and normal activities of the resident microbes in the rumen.

By following these simple guidelines, the right amount of palm fat can be added, almost every time. I also believe that adding any type of rumen bypass fat including palm fat should complement the rest of the dairy diet, rather than just focusing upon raising milk fat yield. Such nutrition sense contributes to the overall profitability of the dairy barn.

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November 25, 2016

The AgriPost