AgriPost Sept 26 2014

The Agri Post

Signatures Affixed to Canada-Korea FTA

Simplest Tools to Use for Crop Evaluation

By Les Kletke Terry Buss said that harvest is the ideal time to evaluate what went wrong and what went right in this year’s soybean crop. Buss, a Farm Production Advisor with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Agri-Food (MAFRD) told farmers attending the Marc Hutlet Seeds field day that this was the time to evaluate the conditions of the crop and how that has translated into their combine hopper.

He suggested a few simple tools that could help producers make quick evaluations of their crop and make plans to do better next year. The first tool he suggested was a piece of 2 x 4. He referred to a former WWF Wrestler in his opening remarks but had a much more practical application than the former workhorse wrestler had.

“I am not trying to be like Jim Dugan the old wrestler,” he said. “But take a piece of 2 x 4 with you to the field and use it as an indicator of how low you should be cutting; the thickness of the 2 x 4 is the height of the lowest pods. If you’re higher than that you are losing beans in the cutting operation.” He suggested that most farmers’ work boots were a good estimate of a foot, and if they placed them at right angles, they could have a sq. ft. measure.

“If you put your feet together you can see a square foot and if you have 4 seeds in that area you are loosing a bushel and acre,” said Buss. “1-3% loss is all that you can afford; after that you have to adjust your harvesting.”

Buss said that in most cases, the speed of the pickup reel is too much for the ground speed of the machine and it causes shattering. Rather than increasing the ground speed of the reel it should be decreased and he recommends a ground speed of 3 mph for harvesting beans.

Buss was also equipped with a hula-hoop and suggested farmers use something that simple to get an accurate rating of their plant populations.

“I use a 28 inch hula-hoop and have done the calculation to convert it to square feet per acre and can do the plant

September 26, 2014

Terry Buss of MAFRD says harvest is not only the time to set the combine but to check plant stands and evaluate seeding practices.

Photo by Les Kletke

population calculations,” he said. “It is not about how many plants you seeded it is about how many live plants you have at harvest time.” He explained that number could easily be 10% less than at planting time.

Buss further added that current research indicates that reducing the number of plants might be more beneficial to increasing yield. Studies being conducted by MAFRD indicate that recommended seeding rates are lower than the 160,000 per acre than was recommend when the crop was first introduced.

He noted the recommended seeding rates for plant populations would be adjusted this winter when results of this year’s tests are calculated.

The recent signing the final text of the Canada-Korea free trade agreement (CKFTA) in a special ceremony on Parliament Hill is a major step in right direction according to many Canadian farm associations.

Signed during an official mission by Korean President Park Geun-hye to Ottawa, the agreement between Canada and the Republic of Korea comes just three months after the text of the CKFTA was tabled in the Canadian Parliament.

Under the terms of the agreement, the 40 per cent Korean tariff on fresh and frozen beef will be fully eliminated in 15 equal annual steps and the 18 per cent tariff on offals will be fully eliminated in 11 equal annual steps.

The tariff has been the main impediment to accessing the Korean market since Korea lifted its BSE prohibition on Canada in early 2012, said Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) President Dave Solverson.

The impact of the tariff disadvantage is clear. In 2002, Korea was a $40 million market for Canadian beef and its fourth largest export destination. In 2013, with a growing tariff disadvantage relative to U.S. beef, Canada exported $7.8 million. The CKFTA signals to Korean buyers that they can resume their relationship with Canadian beef and maintain a long-term competitive position.

“This is excellent news for Canadian beef producers,” said CCA Director of Government and International Relations, John Masswohl, who attended the formal signing ceremony in Ottawa.

“This will put canola on equal footing with other oilseeds, improving export opportunities for both seed and oil,” says Patti Miller, President of the Canola Council of Canada (CCC).

Under the terms of the agreement, the current 5% tariff that Korea applies to canola seed will be eliminated immediately when the agreement takes effect, with refined canola oil and crude oil tariffs eliminated over three and seven years respectively. The CCC estimates that the agreement could double South Korea’s imports of Canadian canola seed and oil, which are currently valued at $60-90 million annually.

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September 26, 2014

The Agri Post

American Firm Wants Manitoba Canola

By Les Kletke A Minnesota canola crusher is building a receiving facility in Winkler to access more Manitoba canola.

“Manitoba has always been the source of about half of the canola we crush,” said Jay Bjerke of North Star Agri Industries in Hallock, Minnesota. The facility in Winkler will be a 1,500 metric ton high throughput capacity to make it easier for Manitoba producers to deliver canola.

“Weight restrictions make it easier for Canadian farmers to deliver b-trains with great payload,” said Bjerke. “They can deliver to Winkler and we will move the canola to our plant with trucks that carry a smaller load but will have a dedicated run from Winkler to Hallock.”

While the idea of sourcing is not new for the Minnesota crusher, it does have some innovative payment programs that might be attractive to Manitoba farmers. The company offers farmers the opportunity to gain a 6% premium over market price.

The first option is growing varieties that the company has des-

ignated as high oil content. If a farmer grows the selected varieties, they earn an additional 5%.

Varieties are yield competitive and some are top yield varieties like Invigor, which has become an industry benchmark. They also have an option to earn an additional 1% using the company’s VRT program.

“VRT is variable rate technology and any farmer who uses it will see the premium,” said Bjerke. “Nutrient run-off has been cited as a major source of pollution in waterways and we will reward any farmer who makes an effort to use inputs more efficiently.” The technology applies variable rates of fertilizer to zones on the field where it will be used most efficiently.

“The program breaks the field into areas of high, medium and low and applies fertilizer that will be used to the optimum yield with least run off,” said Bjerke.

He believes North Star is the first company to engage in this type of program.

“We are the first ones to put our money where our mouth is,” he explained with a chuckle. “Everyone talks about environmental concerns but we believe this is a step towards addressing them.” The company will see no benefit in the seed derived from these fields rather the company sees this as a good corporate citizen move.

“The higher oil content helps make our plant more efficient so we are happy to do that and provide a return for farmers who help with that,” he said.

He further added, contracts for 2015 production are already available and the delivery facility is expected to be operational this fall.

The Agri Post

Pork Industry States its Case Hog to Chamber of Commerce Regulations

By Harry Siemens Farmers believe that the Manitoba government continues to thwart hog expansion in the province with its stringent and none-bending environmental regulations.

In attempting to change the minds of local MLAs to put pressure on the government, Manitoba Pork is asking the business community to get involved in the hog moratorium debate.

Gerald Waldner, hog boss of the North Star Producers, Blooming Prairie Colony at Homewood and District Advisor for Manitoba Pork said Manitoba needs hog production expansion because Maple Leaf Foods is running short on hogs for their Brandon plant.

“The government wants zero pollution on the hog manure which is impossible,” said Waldner. He said no matter what, despite doing the best in looking after their business in accordance with the regulations the government refuses to budge. “We want the public, the business communities and the media to help convince their MLAs that the producers are doing the best we can and it isn’t nearly as bad as government makes us out to be,”

said Waldner from the colony’s hog barn near Homewood.

He does not think producers should be able to expand in all areas, especially where hog production is at maximum capacity and should instead look for areas where farmers can use the manure for their fields and producers can expand. “We’re following all the manure codes when we inject that stuff,” he said.

The Blooming Prairie colony runs an 850-sow farrow to finish system, farms 4,000 acres and can inject manure on at least three quarters of the land base within three miles of the barn.

“Right now we are not looking at expanding but their mother colony, Rose Valley, ten miles west of Carman is short of finisher space,” said Waldner. “And has the land base to expand, but can’t.”

According to Waldner with hog prices good and feed prices low, the hog industry looks good for the next year. “With the abundant crops coming off in the U.S., the feed prices will drop even more making it still more profitable to raise pigs.”

Karl Kynoch, Chair of Manitoba Pork agrees with Waldner calling on the province’s business community to apply pressure on their local MLAs to

rethink provincial government policies dramatically reducing the volumes of hogs produced for processing.

Kynoch told members of the Brandon Chamber of Commerce recently that hog production has contributed greatly to Manitoba’s GDP; however, the hog moratorium is jeopardizing the economic benefits.

“Business brings people and again that turns into more business, more housing, spin-off,” said Kynoch. “All those people working at the Maple Leaf plant, they’re all shopping for groceries, going to Tim Hortons, going to other coffee shops, they spend money in Brandon and when you spend money it just generates the economy and keeps the cycle going.”

Kynoch challenged the Brandon businesses to help educate some of the MLAs to present all the positive things producers do in handling the manure.

“I think if our chamber members and members of the public can pressure their MLAs to do that it would be probably one of the biggest things they could do,” he added. “Even if the government approved new barn construction today, it would still take two years before those barns would be producing hogs.”

Precursor to More Grain Legislation

By Harry Siemens Weldon Newton, a past president of two major farm organizations in Manitoba, a former hog producer and grain farmer said grain producers could face the same regulation peril the hog industry is faced with in Manitoba.

Newton who was President of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) from 2002 to 2004 and served, as head of the Manitoba Hog Marketing Board in the 90s is not happy about the increased regulations.

“I’m not very happy right now with the hog issues, but the bigger issue facing pretty well all of agriculture may well be a precursor to what the grains industry is facing already with an abundance of regulations and most likely more to come that don’t make any agronomic and environmental sense,” said Newton.

He shut down his hog barns because the government made it illegal to winter-spread their manure and they were not big enough to change to a lagoon

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and for three to five years everyone in the hog business lost money.

The government in Manitoba has reduced those thresholds as they relate to the spreading of manure to the point it does not make any sense. Now they are getting into odour and that is really the perception of the beholder, he said, not the

“There are some attempts at banning fall application of fertilizer...” government.

His biggest concern lies with the regulation of fertilizer application on how, when and where farmers can apply it.

“There are some attempts at banning fall application of fertilizer and very few farmers, or should I say none of us, have the equipment to apply all our fertilizer in the spring,” said Newton. “To put it down with the seed, which maybe be theoretically possible but in most cases you have to have a different drill with higher capacity, only adds to the cost.”

He is not opposed to having reasonable protection of the environment and Lake Winnipeg, however according to Newton the government is going overboard and this means that no one will be able to build a new hog barn in Manitoba.

“I can accept the opposition to winter spreading to some extent but it isn’t nearly as big

Weldon Newton of Neepawa says it concerns him to think the grains industry could find themselves in the same predicament as the hog industry if the government keeps adding bad regulations.

a risk in some areas as they make it out to be,” said Newton. “There is a reason why people have not built hog barns for the last five years and the government keeps making the regs worse. I don’t know how many hundreds of millions of dollars of hog barns sit vacant out there right now that could produce much needed pigs.”

He stated Maple Leaf in Brandon needs the production and is concerned on how long HyLife in Neepawa will keep going if no one can increase production. He does not think they can keep buying other barns to keep their supply up.

For Newton, when he retired from the hog business they cleaned out the pits and barns turning it all into dry storage.

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The Agri Post

September 26, 2014

What’s Right for the Market?

There are times when I am overwhelmed by the choices that consumers have even for relatively mundane products. Who would have thought even two decades ago that flour could become a differentiated product, there is white, white enriched, whole grain, white for bread machines, white for some other kind of process. The aisle seems endless at least to me when I am looking for the one that my wife has put on the list.

I won’t even get into the soft drink issue, or the now non-visible tobacco products, I can’t see them (so I suppose they don’t exist) but can you imagine how many brands of cigarettes there are? We haven’t even thought about the fruit flavoured ones intended for kids that don’t like smoking and just want to be cool. A few years ago, that was relegated to the role of menthol, which was a crude hybrid of tobacco and mint.

Product differentiation is everywhere it seems and farmers were being told about the advantages that would be coming to them with the increase of ‘Identity Preserved’ crops only a few years ago. We don’t think that it happened, at least not to the degree promised which was to result in bulging wallets but a look at the canola industry has me wondering.

Canola is a crop that is less that one farmer lifetime old, I still remember something called rapeseed and how Double Zero Rapeseed came along and it was so different they had to come up with a new name and canola was born. Next was the proliferation of seed companies and increased yields and then herbicide tolerance brought on by genetic modification.

Seems the options for farmers who are considering the crop continues to expand and now there is the traditional herbicide tolerant that has the lion’s share of the market, but there is a premium being offered for the production of non-GMO and there is also the IP contracts for specific oil traits. Just this past month there was an announcement of an American crusher building a receiving station in our country and the list goes on. The options for this crop seem endless.

After a very short time, it was dubbed the Cinderella crop as it seemed to come out of nowhere and offered producers a positive bottom line when little else did. It seems that Cinderella is doing her best to stay the belle of the ball and turning into what her suitors are looking for.

What is the right kind of canola? The right kind is the kind that the market wants and now it seems the market is also dividing into several segments (segments are bigger than niches) extending to producers even more choices. The market wants canola and you can decide which segment you will service.

Seems that the market place is working and farmers are going to answer the market call as long as the market is willing to put its money where its mouth is. There is always that issue.

Tile Drainage An Effective Water Management Option

Private Roads and the Libertarian Way

seed the land because of wet weather and a greater likelihood of getting a good crop. Studies in Ontario showed yields on tiledrained land were as much as 40 to 50 percent higher,

about a decade ago, when I began asking why Manitoba was considered a much higher risk area for crop losses than Ontario.

One of the reasons I discovered was the fact that in Ontario about 50 percent of agricultural land is tile drained, while in Manitoba it was less than 1 per cent.

With tile drainage, the free water is taken more quickly out of the top two to three feet of the cropland resulting in fewer problems with excess moisture, less likelihood of not being able to

by Rolf Penner

People who call themselves Libertarians – champions rolfpenner@agripost.ca of free markets and smaller government —at some point or another are confronted with what’s intended to be a killer question that ends the discussion. “So, I guess you’d like to build your own roads too!”

One might reply weakly, “Yes that might be a problem and let’s talk about it after we agree on everything else,” or, better still, one could say, “You mean like the Swedes?”

That’s right. In Sweden, a country famous for socialism, two-thirds of its roads are owned and managed by Private Road Associations (PRAs). They do such a good job of it that some cities actually hire them to look after the municipal roads that connect to private ones.

A study published by Britain’s Transportation Research Board details how it all works.

Overall, costs are lower and results are better than those of government-owned road agencies are, the study says. This conclusion is all the more significant when you consider that some 283,000 kilometres of Swedish roads fall into the privately owned and managed category.

History and tradition partly explain what’s going on. The first Swedish private road arrangements go back to the fifth century, when Christianity was introduced. The church needed roads to all villages so they could collect tithes; farmers were required to pay a tenth of their harvest income in kind. In the fourteenth century, King Magnus Eriksson enacted the first legislation that applied to all Swedish roads. It stated that, “Everybody shall be responsible for roads and bridges as far as his property ranges.”

Not until 1944 did, the governments start to involve itself with this network of private roads. After the Second World War, when heavier trucks and more cars started to appear, demand increased for more and better roads. More traffic also meant increased pressure from private road owners for compensation from government for the additional upkeep.

In the early 1950’s, Parliament created a system that would allow for such compensation.

The PRAs come in all shapes and sizes. A good number of them are made up of just a few households that manage only a small distance of roads. Others can include as many as 3,500 properties and be responsible for 70 kilometres of roads.

Finland has a similar arrangement. Surprisingly, the province of Ontario also gets a mention in the British study as it too has some cost-sharing arrangements with people who have organized themselves into local road boards. South Africa has had some success with this kind of arrangement as well and some East European countries are taking a hard look at duplicating Sweden’s system.

Because state subsidies help the PRAs, one could argue that the arrangement is not purely a private enterprise. Yet the study points out that, “The Swedish model for managing low volume roads is simple and efficient and can easily be adapted to a variety of circumstances in both rich and poor countries.” It works very well.

Our own history and traditions sometimes cloud our thinking on these subjects. Just because we’ve always had government, directly looking after our roads doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s not another way. The Swedish model certainly shows us there is.

How many more goods and services that people think only government can provide might be handled better in the private sector? If you talk to Libertarians, the answer is, “A lot.”

By Jon Gerrard This year, as indeed like many years over the last two decades, has been a year when many of Manitoba’s farm fields were flooded. With the increasing evidence of a changing climate and increased wet weather events, we need to look beyond traditional solutions for new ways of effectively addressing water management in our province.

On July 30, I attended a summit on Tile Drainage in Winkler. I first became interested in tile drainage

Penners Points

Field without tile drainage.

Field with tile drainage.

on average, than on nontile drained land. The answer seemed simple, increase tile drainage and we could reduce risks to farmers and increase yields in

Manitoba.

Introducing tile drainage in Manitoba has moved slowly, though it is now apparent that it is gaining considerable momentum.

As it is being used more in our province, objections or concerns over its use are being answered and each year many more acres in Manitoba are being tile drained. As was detailed at the summit, tile drainage accomplishes several helpful functions for farmers.

Because much of the water is taken out of the top layer of the ground, the ground can act as a sponge when there is new heavy rain.

Since, the tile takes water off the land more slowly than when water runs rapidly off the surface this helps those downstream.

Because the water passes through the land instead of running off the top, more phosphorous is bound in the soil as a nutrient for the crop and less contaminates

the water. Another advantage is that it pushes crops to put down deeper roots earlier in the growing season; crops are protected from hot dry July days.

One of the reasons tile drainage has moved slowly in Manitoba is the cost. In Ontario, the government realized the many benefits of tile drainage, including the net benefit in terms of farm income and the fact that the costs to the public treasury would be recouped in greater tax revenue from improved crop yields. Appreciating these benefits, the government in Ontario provided a subsidy to farmers to help install tile drainage.

Is this an approach that we should look at in Manitoba? Are we ready to promote tile drainage to a larger extent, or are there still more questions that need to be asked?

I welcome comments at jon.gerrard@leg.gov.mb.ca.

The Agri Post

Great for Local Economy as Ag Companies Continue to Expand Good things keep happening to farming, especially, grain farming if you don’t look at the grain prices right now and instead at how the big companies keep building infrastructure in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Viterra, owned by Glencore Xstrata one of Canada’s grain industry leaders, intends to build a new high throughput grain terminal at Ste. Agathe located near the company’s canola crush plant. The new terminal will have a storage capacity of approximately 30,000 metric tonnes, including the ability to load up to 124 railcars with access to both Canadian National and Burlington Northern and Santa Fe rail service, allowing greater access to move east, west and south.

Kyle Jeworski, Viterra’s President and North American CEO, said this significant investment is another excellent example of their commitment to continuously evaluate and optimize their asset network for the benefit of customers.

Jeworski said Viterra has a long history of operating in this area and partnering with local farmers and this The Bunge canola processing plant almost ready new facility will support their continued for processing in Altona. success and ensure strategic positionPhoto by Ben Dueck ing to provide superior service.

The company plans to start preliminary work this fall, with full construction scheduled to get under way next spring. Jeworski hopes to see the facility completed within the next 18 months.

The Ste. Agathe cold-press canola plant, beside where this new terminal is going, sat in water through the 1997 flood, after a German businessman had built it, who many feared and later proven right, did it to scam off some money. A contractor from Ontario rescued the facility to recoup some of his losses and later Viterra bought it.

I remember all too clearly, when Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was worth pennies on the dollar, while CEO Mayo Schmidt tried to keep it afloat. Then with a swiftly took over Agricore United, a conglomerate of Alberta Wheat Pool, Manitoba Pool Elevators and the United Grain Growers with money from Wall Street financiers, much to the chagrin of farmers in western Canada. Mayo Schmidt told me had they waited six months on the takeover.

Eventually Sask Wheat Pool became Viterra and the rest they say is almost history because the buyouts continued with Glencore’s $6.1-billion purchase of Viterra on January 31, 2013. Soon after in a deal with Glencore, Richardson International Limited acquired 19 country elevators, 13 crop input centres co-located with those elevators and three oatprocessing plants in western Canada that were formerly owned and operated by Viterra for $800 million. The company owns the former Viterra elevator west of Winkler and the CanOat Milling plant at Portage la Prairie.

In a recent news release the company states Viterra is Canada’s grain industry leader, supported by the expertise of its people, a superior network of assets and unrivalled connections to world markets.

Every time I travel to Altona, I see more and more construction at the new Bunge canola plant. After starting in-ground construction work in the summer of 2011, the plant was initially scheduled to operate sometime by mid-2013 and no one knows for sure at what cost, higher than the 100 million dollars speculated at the first announcement.

Be that as it may, the good thing is with the plant replacement that first began just after WWII, this new one will more than double Bunge’s capacity in Altona, from 1,100 to 2,500 metric tonnes per day.

Bunge will shut down the current canola crush facility once the new plant comes online.

Rumour has it that Bunge might be looking at building a new elevator to handle grain there, but no one knows for sure. While speaking with a company representative recently, I’m thinking this plant may get to crush canola sometime in the new year.

Great news for the local farmers and of course the economies in the area. Here is the kicker in all this. Because of several buyouts and hard, persistent work by people in the Altona canola plant even before Bunge finally bought it, the plant was kept alive and now they are setting up a larger canola crush facility right in our back yard.

While farm production increases so, do those who handle the grain processing, making it easier for those farmers to sell inexpensively without increasing farm size.

Glyphosate Debate Dear Editor: I just wanted to congratulate you on the article you published in the August 29 edition of AgriPost about the GMO debate. I am sure you will feel a backlash from some in mainstream agriculture but this science has to come out and the widespread use of glyphosate needs to be questioned.

I brought this same information to the attention of the Federal Agricultural Minister and the Federal Health Minister this spring and was assured that chemicals are all thoroughly reviewed. With GMO alfalfa, coming on stream it is going to multiply the problem again.

Thanks for your time.

Ian Grossart Brandon, MB

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The Agri Post

Not Quite a HazMat Suit

By Les Kletke Terry Buss has changed his approach to visiting farmer’s fields by now dressing for protection. He is not worried about protecting himself from the “Franken plants” that some opponents of GMO speak about instead he is concerned about preventing the spread of disease from one field to another.

The Beausejour based Farm Production Advisor with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (MAFRD) said that one of the factors that has driven the change is the larger area he services.

“I am visiting fields through a large part of eastern Manitoba,” he said at a field day near Steinbach. “If I were to carry a disease from one field to another I could do it in a large area very quickly.”

Another factor that has driven Manitoba Agriculture to increase protection methods is the appearance of disease like club root in canola and soybean nematode.

“We want to be proactive,” he said. “We know these things are out there and it is a matter of when they hit, not if so, if we can slow down the possibility we need to take every precaution possible.” Buss said that he now wears plastic bag boots on every visit to a field as well as gloves and hand sanitizer to clean his hands after examining any plants. The program was a trial last year and for the 2014 crop has become standard procedure.

“The year of trial was good,” he said. “It allowed me to develop a system and a kit that I keep in my office and can grab when I go out on a field call.” It has taught him to find suppliers of the often-needed items like plastic shoe covers. A local vet has become an emergency supplier.

Buss said the procedure no longer feels that it is slowing him down.

“We have gotten so used to it that it is a part of the visit,” he said. “We think of the ramifications of what could happen with the spread of something like club root and it is pretty easy to take the precautionary steps.”

He has no illusions that he can prevent the spread of all disease with these sanitization procedures but encourages everyone to take all reasonable steps in preventing problems.

“We see what can happen with the transportation of machinery and encourage farmers to be diligent in cleaning machinery when moving it and especially bringing it in from another area. If they purchase a combine head from the US where disease problems already exist, it is critical to clean the equipment,” he emphasized.

The Agri Post

Good Silage is All About Your Litres Per Acre

By Les Kletke Marcus Dueck knows that dairymen get paid for milk and that is what he emphasises in every aspect of their production.

Dueck is a livestock specialist with Marc Hutlet Seeds and he told farmers attending a recent field day that the measure of successful silage is the litres per acre it produces. Dueck who recently received his Certified Livestock Consultant designation is part of a family dairy operation himself.

“Tonnes per acre is important,” said Dueck. “But you also have to consider the milk you get per tonne and relate that to litres per acre.” He stress that the quality of silage has a tremendous impact on the amount of milk it translates into profit.

“We [Marc Hutlet Seeds] have just purchased and infra red camera that allows us to evaluate the silage pile and we can see the temperature of the pile and what is happening in the pile,” said Dueck. “Thermo imagery is an important management tool.”

He said that feed fibre technology has advanced rapidly and new varieties of corn intended for silage have many differences.

The tour site that featured silage corn belongs to Sunny Glade Holsteins and has used corn continuously for several years.

“It is not what we recommend but if you’re going to do it take some precautions with your variety selection to avoid a problem with Goss’s Wilt,” cautioned Dueck. “The new Pioneer varieties have a

Marcus Dueck of Marc Hutlet Seeds offers dairy producers a range of tools to help in putting up quality silage. He says the end evaluation is litre (of milk) per acre of silage.

Photo by Les Kletke

higher resistance and while it is not a guarantee it does reduce the potential problem of Goss’s Wilt.”

Dueck also recommends that producers do a good job with inoculating their silage this year particularly if they do have a frost on the crop.

“When the corn is late, like this year, we have high sugar content and that means silage that can spoil quickly,” he said. “This year it is important to use an innoculant and use it well.”

Dueck said that the late crop is not due to a lack of heat and in fact, the measurement of heat units showed an average to an above average year. Rather it is the moisture stress earlier in the growing season that held the crop back.

He offered producers a sample of alfalfa that had been fourth cut from a field, which was particularly surprising since the first cut did not come off until the crop was in full flower.

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The Agri Post

The Agri Post

Lessons Learned Not Just for Kids

By Les Kletke

Craig Linde tells students about the usage of industrial hemp.

Photo by Les Kletke

Pork Industry Leaders Meet to Discuss Trade The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) recently hosted a meeting of North American pork industry leaders, finding several areas of common interest and concern.

The meeting took place in Montreal, Quebec, where representatives of the CPC met with their counterparts from the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and the Mexican pork producer organization, the Confederación de Porcicultores Mexicanos (CPM).

“We agreed that herd health is a critical component to the success of the industry and I’m pleased that we have a common interest in preventing a resurgence of PEDv as well as a need to keep this virus in control,” said Jean-Guy Vincent, Chair of the Canadian Pork Council.

The Mexican, U.S. and Canadian producer representatives also discussed several others areas of common interest including the potential for Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations to open up additional export opportunities for the North American pork industry, a desire for the United States to come into compliance with WTO rulings on Country-of-Origin Labelling (COOL) and to thus avoid retaliatory actions by Canada and Mexico, and the need for science-based food safety and animal health regulations that avoid unnecessary disruptions to trade.

Craig Linde’s presentation at the Amazing Agriculture Adventure was aimed at the Grade 4 and 5 students attending the event yet the information and the style of delivery would have held many adults spell bound if they would have had the opportunity to sit in on it.

Linde is with Manitoba Agriculture working in the Crop Diversification Centre and spoke about industrial hemp’s potential in Manitoba. He was not bogged down on the economics of the crop or its competition with weeds. Rather he related it to products the students were already familiar with.

“How many of you have had some of these?” he asked holding up a bag of hemp hearts and hand shot up.

“They are called nuts, do they taste like nuts?” The answers provided mixed reviews as many affirmative as negative.

The lactose intolerant students in the crowd recognized the product he held up as a possible replacement for milk and several said they had the product in smoothies.

To a crowd who remembers reaching a metre in height only recently as he told them that plants could grow as much as 3.5 centimetres a day in the height of growing season, he was releasing impressive facts.

Linde went on to explain the strength of the fibres and then had the audience twist pieces of stalk revealing fibres and then try to tear them.

“The straw was used to bed horses at one time and is

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used to strengthen building materials like cement and fibreglass for cars,” he said to looks of surprise.

He went on to explain that the fibres were used in rope and that is was brought to America on the first sailing ships.

In what seem like ancient history to the crowd, he explained that the crop was banned in 1945 and only reintroduced in 1998 and how THC had been removed from the plant. The mention of THC and that the plant was related to marijuana did not shock students but was accepted matter of factly.

Craig Linde does a good job of explaining the potential of new crops like hemp to audiences in Manitoba and he especially held the attention of the young audience at the Amazing Agriculture Adventure. It is also a message that would not be lost on many adults throughout the province if only they could go on an amazing agriculture adventure.

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September 26, 2014

The Agri Post

Adventure Excites the Teacher

By Les Kletke Certainly one teacher was ready to admit that she enjoyed the Amazing Agriculture as much as the students in her class. Leah Ross teaches a grade 3 and 4 class at Governor Semple School in the Seven Oaks School Division and she said the day was as good for her as the kids.

Amazing Agriculture is a 3day event at Richardson’s Kelburn Farm and the Glenlea Research Station of the University of Manitoba that gives elementary students an opportunity to experience agriculture with hands on point of view.

Classes visit various stations at both facilities to see first hand livestock production, animal care and how grain becomes food.

Ross said that her grandfather had a seed farm at Boissevain and she enjoyed visiting when she was growing up but other wise was not familiar with modern agriculture practices.

She made the switch to teach last year after working as a lawyer and in the political system in a provincial leader’s office.

“I dealt with farm cases from the legal aspect,” she said. “But the hand on

Leah Ross, a teacher attending the Amazing Agriculture Adventure captures a few moments on video for viewing later in the classroom. She says that lessons learned on the field day will reappear in the class room through the year.

Photo by Les Kletke

approach was so much more interesting.” Her favourite was the bee and honey demonstration.

“It was great for the students to be able to get up that close and see the bees and identify the queen. The station had so many applications like the patterns in the honeycomb and the scientific research being done with animals. There a so many lessons from the day that we will be revisiting throughout the year in our classroom,” said Ross.

The class had to leave early because of the long bus ride back to Winnipeg and the ride proved too much of some of the students on the way back.

“A few of them nodded off in the bus on the way home,

but they were ready to go when we got back to school,” said Ross who put them right to work. “We had them record what was there favourite part of the day and make some notes on the day.”

Ross had only praise for the Ag in the Classroom sponsored event.

“It was recommended to me by the teacher that is mentoring me and she was absolutely right,” said Ross.

“It was a great event and I hope that my class can take part again next year.”

“The organization was excellent and the volunteers were great. There was always someone to help us to the next station and keep us on time, it really was an amazing adventure,” said Ross.

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Non-GMO Offers Premium Profit Margin

By Les Kletke Viterra wants farmers to grow non-GMO canola, at least some farmers and they are willing to pay a premium.

Russel Erb of Viterra told farmers attending the Marc Hutlet field day at Steinbach that the company is now offering production contracts for delivery to the company’s Ste. Agathe facility for the production of non-GMO canola in the 2015 crop.

Erb said the company has found a significant market in the US that wants non-GMO canola and his company is willing to pay a 50-80 cent a bushel premium to farmers.

“It is a positive basis of $36 to $60 a tonne on the market price,” said Erb. “And there is an ‘Act of God’ clause in the contract.” He said there is no yield drag with the hybrid variety the company offers. It is a Pioneer variety and yield is similar to current industry standards.

The Act of God clause is for producers who sign a contract before seeding and they are eligible for the first 15 bu/ ac on their first contract tonnage. The bonus clause applies only to the contract basis portion that is based off of the actual reconciled seeded acres reported by June 30, 2015. The company’s non-GMO premiums range from $515 in Alberta, $15-25 in Saskatchewan and $25-35 in Manitoba. They are also offering free on-farm pickup although quantities less than 20 metric tonnes may be considered primary delivery.

“The Clearfield chemistry works well with the variety,” said Erb who grows the variety on his own farm. “Yields vary tremendously so I am hesitant to give numbers but we were very pleased with the way it yielded this year.”

The company’s Ste. Agathe facility crushes 900 metric tonnes of canola a day and requires 250,000 acres of production for its 2015 run. The plant operates on a strictly mechanical process, which further adds to the attractiveness of the oil into the American market. The process is not as efficient as traditional hexane extraction and leaves a higher content of oil in the meal.

“We have some response to the higher energy meal and it sells into the feed market against other canola meal,” said Erb. No word on whether the company will find a premium market for non-GMO meal but it could be an option in the future.

Russ Erb says that Viterra will be crushing non-GMO canola at its Ste. Agathe facility and is willing to pay a premium for the seed. The Clearfield varieties do not have a yield drag.

Photo by Les Kletke

Erb does not believe canola production will change entirely however he said there is good interest in a portion of the crop going non-GMO. “We have found a market for the non-GMO oil and are treating it as a niche market,” he said. “We are looking to service that from our Ste. Agathe plant and it will provide a good pricing option for farmers.” Production is identity preserved and each load delivered is tested to see that it is in fact non-GMO. “We do the testing on each load to make sure,” he explained. “There is always the possibility with farmers growing both types and things could get mixed up and we do not want to contaminate a large volume of seed.”

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Ready YYour our Grain-Dryers A soggy harvest season means farmers will be rushing to buy and install grain dryers and then lining up to have the installation approved for use by the Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC).

Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) is advising that the process should begin as soon as possible to avoid delays later.

Moreover, KAP urges the OFC, which does the on-farm checks of all new grain dryer units prior to start-up to make an exception this year and allow dryers installed by licensed installers to be used prior to inspection.

“There is a two-week service level commitment by the OFC, but we have already heard it cannot meet this because of the demand and we’re not even at the peak of dryer use yet,” said KAP president Doug Chorney.

“I recognize the OFC is making dryer inspection a priority and has hired additional inspectors, but the extremely wet conditions call for the extra measure of allowing grain-dryer use prior to inspection. A bin of grain will spoil if a farmer has to wait weeks to use a dryer because it hasn’t been inspected.

For example, a 25,000-bushel bin of wheat that spoils because of high moisture would result in a loss of $150,000,” said Chorney.

“Farmers have been hit hard this season with flooding, drought and now a very wet harvest. The last thing we need is for our lower-than-average yields to spoil,” added Chorney.

Producers can book their inspections by calling 204-9453373.

Police Continue to Investigate Brazen Tractor Thefts On August 22, Treherne RCMP received a report of a theft that occurred during the previous evening.

Initial investigation revealed that between 8 pm on August 21 and 8 am on August 22 an unknown number of individuals entered the property of Drummond’s Farm Services Ltd. in the RM of Victoria and stole 2 tractors.

One is a Kubota tractor with a Kubota backhoe and loader. The other is also a Kubota tractor with a Kubota loader and belly mower and a Wallenstein log splitter.

Anyone with information regarding this or any other criminal activity is asked to contact their local police detachment or Manitoba Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or manitobacrimestoppers.com, or text ‘TIPMAN’ plus your message to Crimes (274637).

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Farm Machinery Coverage Sustainability – It is Not a Four Letter W ord Word A national pollster once told me, “Canadians really like farmers, but they don’t always like what farmers do.” He followed that up by noting that the second half of the statement was the more important part, and that it is the agriculture industry’s responsibility to address the misinformation circulating about modern day farming and misinformation, unfortunately, is large contributor to Canadian opinion.

The majority of consumers have become disconnected from the reality of modern day agriculture. The picture they have in mind as the ‘right’ way to do it seems to come out of the 1930s. Farming practices from that era are seen by many as idyllic, pure and healthy. Conversely, farms that don’t conform to this image are viewed as somehow unhealthy or unsustainable.

This view is inaccurate, but an opinion does not have to be right to have influence. Food companies and marketers know this; the warped view of what agriculture is and what some think it should be is a big driver behind many of the food fads we see today.

Urban consumers in our cities (or even our small towns) don’t see the economic powerhouse that agriculture has become. They don’t realize that modern agriculture is on the cutting edge of science and technology. They don’t understand the benefits of precision agriculture. They don’t know about the environmental advancements farmers have made since the dust bowls of the dirty 30s.

We need to do a much better job of telling agriculture’s story and by ‘we’ I mean every part of the value chain, including crop developers, farmers, grain companies and food companies.

Part of telling our story is having the facts to back things up. People are bombarded with ‘facts’ today – but many of these facts are not all that factual. Consumers can’t be blamed for asking us to prove our claims of environmental sustainability and food safety. Ronald Reagan made the phrase ‘trust but verify’ famous. While we are not talking about nuclear disarmament, we do need to honour the trust our customers have placed in us and be prepared to demonstrate why Canadian agriculture has a well-deserved reputation for safe food that is sustainably produced.

Farmers are integral in telling agriculture’s story. I know many producers wince when they hear words like ‘sustainability’ and ‘verification’. Nevertheless, these are not swear words invented in some downtown office and they are not designed to simply increase farmers’ paperwork and costs. It’s quite the opposite – these are tools that Canadian agriculture will need to maintain markets and continue to attract a strong premium from domestic and international customers.

The industry, including farmers, is working on this issue through the newly formed Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops. This roundtable includes all parts of the agriculture value chain. The goal of all those involved is to add value to Canadian agricultural production. Farm groups from coast-to-coast are at the table and are able to provide feedback on the work being done to any of their members who are interested. This is an important issue for individual farmers and I encourage you to become directly involved.

I am proud of the Canadian agricultural record. Modern practices like minimum and zero tillage conserve soil and water and help deliver a crop in drought conditions that would have been considered a disaster a generation or two ago. Modern precision agriculture helps ensure that fertilizer and crop protection chemicals are not wasted by running into our streams and rivers. The science behind plant breeding techniques is truly cutting edge and will help meet the demands of a growing global population. Canada’s science based regulatory system is envied around the world and is a key reason why consumers can have confidence in the food that we grow. This is the story that needs to be told. This is the story you need to help tell.

Cam Dahl is President of Cereals Canada.

Does your insurance policy pay for repairing the machinery without deducting any depreciation on the parts and what happens if you have a collision with the tractor or if your combine catches fire?

If you are the first owner

of your machine unit and it is less than 5 years old, are you covered for the full cost of replacing it with a brand new model? Check your policy to make sure you have the right coverage on your policy.

If you have the Machinery Dual Valuation Coverage endorsement on your policy, it will pay for the repairs without deducting a percentage for depreciation because of its age and if the claim is a complete

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loss and the piece of machinery is less than 5 years old, your policy may pay for the newest model available.

Some insurance companies have been slow to provide this enhanced coverage while another has stopped offering it all together. This is all part of relying on your broker to advise you of these important changes.

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.

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4-H Young Horse Development Project Presentations Highly Successful The seventeenth annual presentations of the Manitoba 4H Young Horse Development Project (YHDP) were held September 1 at the Westoba Agricultural Centre of Excellence, in Brandon.

The project provides a venue for senior 4-H members to demonstrate knowledge gained through the 4-H Equine Program and highlight the stock being bred and raised on Manitoba’s equine ranches.

Each year, senior 4-H members, apply to the YHD Project’s Advisory Committee. Upon selection, members receive a list of participating Manitoba Equine Ranching Association (MERA) and Saskatchewan Equine Ranching Association (SERA) ranchers from whom they may purchase a weanling.

Prices are pre-set and ranchers receive half of the purchase price; the balance is placed in that year’s Project Enhancement Fund from which members are paid out funds based on their participation in presenting their chosen weanling as a yearling and two-year-old at this event.

This years event had, four 4-H members exhibiting their Quarter Horse yearlings ‘in hand’. They were evaluated on the elements of their own basic showmanship skills, their horses’ physical conditioning and willingness to work on a longe line and load into a trailer. Scores ranged

from 195 points to 229.5 points, out of 260 possible points and members are paid $0.61/point, based on their individual scores.

Five 4-H members presented their two-year-old Quarter Horses ‘under saddle’. Each horse and rider

was scored based on their individual performance over a predetermined horsemanship pattern. Scores ranged from 182.5 points to 242 points out of a possible 270 points and members receive $1.14/ point based on their individual scores.

Yearling presenters at this years 4-H Young Horse Development Project Presentations (l to r) Amber Hiebert, Michelle McCuaig, Lisa Coffey and Will Mantik, with evaluator Bev McLeod.

4-H Young Horse Development Project two-year-old presenters (l to r) Destiny Sawatzky, Esther Funk, Kaelyn Dreger, Sara Meisner and Karleigh Lewis with evaluator Bev McLeod.

Photo by Wilf Davis

Manage Good Calf Starter Feedings for Successful Dairy Calves High quality calf starter is the first dry feed that most milk-fed dairy calves eat.

It not only provides calves with supplementary nutrients to milk, it promotes good health, optimum rumen development, and good body growth and facilitates weaning.

Fed between the first 2 to 12 weeks of age, dairy producers should be aware that even the most palatable and nutritious calf starter might lead to digestive upsets. To reduce such calf starter slowdowns, good management of calf starter feeding recommendations can be implemented as part of any successful pre-weaned calf raising programs.

Initially, many dairy specialists recommend that a high quality calf starter should be provided to one-week-old calves in order to get them to nibble on dry feed, although they have a very limited digestive system to process it.

That’s because at birth, a baby dairy calf starts with a small-undeveloped rumen without an established microbe population (it gets this from its surrounding environment later on).

It must rely upon a few select enzymes released by its own abomasum and small intestine to break down essential nutrients found in milk, such as casein and other milk proteins, lactose sugar and saturated animal fats.

All of this changes by 4 weeks of age, when the calf’s abomasum and small intestines becomes more developed. Varieties of new digestive enzymes are now manufactured in their bodies to breakdown different types of feed ingredients found in dry calf starters.

Concurrently, the calf’s rumen becomes populated with fibre and grain digesting microorganisms, which convert calf starter carbohydrates, such as starch and sugars into volatile fatty acids (VFAs), which are absorbed and metabolized across the rumen wall.

It is these absorbed VFAs, particularly butyric and propionic acids that stimulate the absorptive tissue lining of the young calf’s rumen to become very active; rumen papillae elongate and the rumen walls thicken. The whole rumen grows in size and the small calf is on its way to become a true ruminant much like a mature dairy cow.

Dairy producers should realize such rumen development of 3 – 8 week old pre-weaned calves that is driven by feeding even the highest quality calf starter is not without problems. It has been proven highly digestible starches and sugars of conventional calf starters fermented in the calves’ rumen (into butyric/propionic acids) often leads to digestive upsets such as subclinical acidosis or SARA in these dairy calves.

For example, the University of Tennessee (U of T) (1998) fed a conventional calf starter pellet formulated with corn, soybean meal, wheat middling and other common feed ingredients to a group of milk-fed calves from one week to twelve weeks of age. The diet was fed on a free-choice basis and calves were weaned at 8 weeks of age, but continued on a diet of water and the same calf starter pellet for another month.

The researchers measured (by rumen-cannulation) a consistent weekly decline in the calves’ rumen pH from 6.4 to 5.0 by 12 weeks of age. In addition, they found that SARA depicted when pH in a cow’s rumen falls below a threshold of 5.8 was reported in this group of experimental calves at 2 weeks of age.

In a second study, the U of T researchers fed another group of pre-weaned calves, similar diets without or with added grass hay. In this study, calf starter was limit-fed and pH of the calves’ cannulated-rumens was recorded; initially at 2 hours after each daily meal and afterwards at 2 hour intervals up to 12 hours, post-feeding. Their data indicated that the rumen pH of these calves dropped to a consistent SARA pH of 5.0 by the first 2-hour record and remained flat-line across 2-hour intervals until 10 hours after calf starter was consumed.

From these experiments, the main implication reveals that when SARA materializes during a seemingly routine calf starter feeding program; it could significantly slow down rumen development as caused by: (1) limited total VFA production, (2) keratinization of rumen papillae (slows VFA absorption), (3) digestive upsets and (4) reduction in microbial populations (reduces calf starter digestibility). In the calf barn, we might see visible symptoms of SARA as unthrifty calves that go through off-feed on-feed cycles on both milk and calf starter meals and in-line with diarrhea-like pasty manure that contains small bubbles.

Because feeding calf starter is a fundamental part of most good calf rearing programs, the incidence of a few SARA-affected pre-weaned calves seems unavoidable. However, there are a few good scientific and common sense recommendations that should limit SARA in pre-weaned calves and make better calf starter feedings.

Consequently, dairy producers should feed a high quality calf starter that contains about 20 – 22% protein and 1.15 – 1.25 Mcal net energy for gain/kg. Small meals (100 - 200 gm/ head) should be offered to newborn calves at about 7 - 14 days of age and increased amounts should be positively correlated with the calves’ age and bodyweight, without overfeeding it, (significant amount is leftover, daily). Calves are weaned when they consume about 1 kg of calf starter for 2 consecutive days at about 6 – 8 weeks of age.

Free-choice water should be also be provided next to the bucket with calf starter, despite calves being milk-fed, since their natural water requirement is higher than what water in whole milk or milk replacer solution can provide. Extra water also helps maintain rumen pH by dilution of built up rumen acids as well as water forces small particles of starch and sugar into the abomasum to be completely digested.

Some producers also feed digestible grass forages to calves less than ten weeks of age, but this recommendation is highly debated within the scientific and farm community.

How such calf starter feeding recommendations are actually managed into the larger picture of raising successful newborn dairy calves to weaning is going to be measured by a few final and prioritized objectives: healthy weaned calves, functioning mature rumens, and good body size.

All three of these accomplishments will also underlie the continued success of dairy replacement heifers in their post-weaning future.

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Assessing Frost Damage in Corn

By Les Kletke Bob McFadden acknowledges there is little that can be done about the threat of frost to a corn crop when the weather turns cool in mid September. McFadden is the District Sales Manager with Pioneer and knows very well the choices that producers face when choosing a variety and considering the options of early varieties and high yields of mater maturing varieties.

“There are some varieties that our company has in the pipe line that will be 70 or 72 day varieties,” he told producers attending the Marc Hutlet Seeds field day. “They will be rated a 2,000 heat unit variety.”

He said the company is concentrating on expanding the corn growing area north on the Canadian prairies and sees real potential for the earlier maturing varieties in Saskatchewan and Alberta where crop production goes much further north.

He acknowledged that there will be a yield drag with the earlier maturity and in a year like 2014, they might provide an option for Manitoba producers. He said genetics have come a long way from the time of planting corn and hoping it would mature for grain and if it did not, then chopping it for silage was the insurance plan.

With the prospect of frost being real for September 2014

Bob McFadden of Pioneer offers some tips on evaluating frost damage to corn.

Photo by Les Kletke

McFadden walked producers through the evaluation of corn plants and the affects of frost that can be seen.

“Break a cob in half and take the tip part, that is what matters,” he said. “Now look at where the milk line is on the kernel. If it is 3/4 way down the kernel you will lose about 5% of the yield, which is not too bad, but if that line is half way down the kernel the loss increases to 10-12% and if it is only a 1/3 way down the kernel you will lose about 30% of the yield.”

He faced numerous questions about what the frost would do to the bushel weight of the crop sample, and said that at the higher yield lost points weight could be re-

duced to 40lbs per bushel, “That is very variety dependant.”

He said the time to evaluate is two days after the frost and producers should be looking at the shank of the cob to see if the plant had been affected.

“If the cob drops over, it has been affected,” he pointed out.

“If it is white in the shank the plant is still alive and you will be alright.”

McFadden said the issue of mould would not be as great a problem was it was in 2009.

“That year there was a lot of corn written off and destroyed that could have had some value,” he said. “But Crop Insurance was not as familiar with the problem, that won’t likely happen again.”

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