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Contents

july/august 2015

BUSINESS 8

used equipment perks up As sales of new equipment cool, good used machines are holding their value, and in some cases gaining ground.

10 smart farm strategies for giving

New tax laws and innovative financial strategies give you new ways to make donations with real impact.

12 talking up the job

What’s wrong with letting consumers know just how professional you have to be to grow their food in Canada today?

16 megatrends versus canada’s farms

Two top economists predict the seven big issues that are going to change your farm in the next five years.

20 an angel of an idea

As Kim Keller is proving, the test today is whether we can get innovative about how we handle our innovations.

24 His new playbook

What can farmers adapt from Wade Barnes’ trail-blazing success at Farmers Edge?

27 Genuinely in Business

As Canadian lead of Dow AgroSciences, it’s Brad Orr’s job to create growth by making Dow truly a people company.

PG. 20 Thought-leaders pack this Country Guide with outside-the-box perspectives to shape how you farm and do business, from valuable insights on how to adapt the strategies of successful ag businesses to advice on how to structure your farm for success.

30 three key alIgnments for top farm management

Align your vision, finances and management for more success.

32 the roads of zambia

We’ve always known the country’s agriculture potential is massive.

Now there are signs it is being opened up.

52

g uide life — write your legacy

Memoirs aren’t only for celebrities. Preserve farm history too.

58 Guide HR — ‘is he suffering from the god complex?’

Up to 10 per cent of entrepreneurial farmers are diagnosable.

CROPS GUIDE 38 THE SKY’S THE LIMIT

Caught between rigid government regulations and undependable farm demand, these aerial applicators wonder about their future.

EVERY ISSUE 6 MACHINERY GUIDE

Check out these innovations in grain carts and wagons.

55 GUIDE HEALTH

You won’t regret these common-sense steps for sun protection.

56 HANSON ACRES There are times when a granola bar just isn’t going to cut it.

41 NEW IN WINTER CEREALS

A few tough years for winter wheat have led to some great new opportunities.

44 NEW HYBRID RYE FOR ONTARIO

Brasetto marks a big new opportunity for a sector that’s hungry for good news.

46 PEST PATROL

Using the ‘Pest Manager’ app for faster, more complete weed control answers.

Our commitment to your privacy At Farm Business Communications we have a firm commitment to protecting your privacy and security as our customer. Farm Business Communications will only collect personal information if it is required for the proper functioning of our business. As part of our commitment to enhance customer service, we may share this personal information with other strategic business partners. For more information regarding our Customer Information Privacy Policy, write to: Information Protection Officer, Farm Business Communications, 1666 Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1.

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country-guide.ca 3

desk EDITORIAL STAFF Editor: Tom Button 12827 Klondyke Line, Ridgetown, ON N0P 2C0 (519) 674-1449 Fax (519) 674-5229 Email: tom.button@fbcpublishing.com Associate Editors: Maggie Van Camp Fax (905) 986-9991 (905) 986-5342 Email: mvancamp@fbcpublishing.com Gord Gilmour (204) 453-7624 Cell: (204) 294-9195 Fax (204) 942-8463 Email: gord.gilmour@fbcpublishing.com Production Editor: Ralph Pearce (226) 448-4351 Email: ralph.pearce@fbcpublishing.com ADVERTISING SALES Sales Director: Cory Bourdeaud’hui (204) 954-1414 Fax: (204) 944-5562 Email: cory@fbcpublishing.com Lillie Ann Morris (905) 838-2826 Email: lamorris@xplornet.com

Tom Button is editor of Country Guide magazine

Are they right this time?

You’ll find no shortage of things to disagree with in this Country Guide. If you don’t, it means we haven’t worked hard enough.

My sense is that the future of farming is going to turn out to be just the other side of incredible. Probably, it’s your sense of the future too. If it’s too easy to believe, it isn’t going far enough.

The next time you climb into a new tractor or combine cab, think how much of it your father or grandfather would have dismissed as science fiction.

I keep reminding myself that when I once asked an older uncle of mine what was the single biggest advance he’d seen in his career, his answer came in a flash: hydraulics.

Now imagine what agriculture will look like by the time all those new tractors at the farm show are ready to retire.

There’s a widespread sense that the evolution of agriculture has slowed down.

The thinking goes that Darwinism is called the survival of the fittest because life is tough and only the very best will still be with us tomorrow. When life is good, evolution stops.

After a run of reasonable years, farm balance sheets are generally healthy, and the likelihood that farms will be pushed to the brink seems remote.

Does that mean evolution has stopped?

Maybe it only means that evolution has changed, and that instead of being driven by threats, today it is being powered by 4 country-guide.ca

opportunities and by the farmers who are seizing them.

If today’s family corporations were inconceivable a generation ago, how much more sophisticated will tomorrow’s farms have to get to be equally incredible to us?

Perhaps the logic is flawed. Perhaps we can’t take today’s trends and extend them into the future, but, as just one example from this issue, consider the case that economist Brian Oleson makes for his belief in ‘Megatrends versus Canada’s Farms’ that what we’re living through isn’t the birth of mega-farms, it’s the birth of “dynasty farms.”

I already know that some readers will be tut-tutting, saying, “We’ve been here before. Big farms have never lasted.”

To which I say, “Maybe.” Honestly, I know there have been a lot of smart farmers in the past, but I have trouble believing there has ever been a more sophisticated generation of farmers, or a generation with better advisers, or better technology.

For those with the drive to put that sophistication to full use, drawing on great advice and the best technology, the future will be beyond our power to conceive it.

It only makes me ask, What if consumers knew this is the kind of conversation we’re having? Talk about incredible!

Do let me know what you agree with, and what you don’t. I’m anxious to know.

Reach me at tom.button@fbcpublishing.com.

Kevin Yaworsky (250) 869-5326 Email: kyaworsky@farmmedia.com Head Office: 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1 Fax (204) 944-5562 (204) 944-5765 Advertising Services Co-ordinator: Sharon Komoski (204) 944-5758 Fax (204) 944-5562 Email: ads@fbcpublishing.com Designer: Jenelle Jensen Publisher: Lynda Tityk Email: lynda.tityk@fbcpublishing.com Associate Publisher/Editorial Director: John Morriss Email: john.morriss@fbcpublishing.com Production Director: Shawna Gibson Email: shawna@fbcpublishing.com Circulation Manager: Heather Anderson Email: heather@fbcpublishing.com President: Bob Willcox Glacier FarmMedia Email: bwillcox@farmmedia.com Contents of this publication are copyrighted and may be reproduced only with the permission of the editor. Country Guide, incorporating the Nor’West Farmer and Farm & Home, is published by Farm Business Communications. Head office: Winnipeg, Manitoba. Printed by Transcontinental LGMC. Country Guide is published 13 times per year by Farm Business Communications. Subscription rates in Canada — Farmer $41 for one year, $61 for 2 years, $87 for 3 years. (Prices include GST) U.S. subscription rate — $35 (U.S. funds). Subscription rate outside Canada and U.S. — $50 per year. Single copies: $3.50.

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We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Canadian Postmaster: Return undeliverable Canadian addresses (covers only) to: Circulation Dept., PO Box 9800, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3K7.

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Subscription inquiries:

Call toll-free 1-800-665-1362 or email: subscription@fbcpublishing.com U.S. subscribers call 1-204-944-5766 Country Guide is printed with linseed oil-based inks PRINTED IN CANADA Vol. 134 No. 9 Internet address: www.agcanada.com

ISSN 1915-8491 The editors and journalists who write, contribute and provide opinions to Country Guide and Farm Business Communications attempt to provide accurate and useful opinions, information and analysis. However, the editors, journalists, Country Guide and Farm Business Communications, cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the editors as well as Country Guide and Farm Business Communications assume no responsibility for any actions or decisions taken by any reader for this publication based on any and all information provided.

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Spotlight on Crop AdvAnCeS Crop Advances is an annual report that summarizes applied research projects involving the OMAFRA Field Crop team, in partnership with commodity groups, industry and the OSCIA. Go to the Resources page at www.ontariosoilcrop.org

Could quinoa be a viable crop for Eastern Ontario?

By Lilian Schaer

Quinoa, a super food with many health properties, is in high demand by consumers.

A staple crop in South America, quinoa is used like a cereal and is considered to be a complete plant protein, in addition to being chock-full of healthy nutrients and antioxidants.

It grows well in cooler climates and marginal soils, and work is currently ongoing on developing varieties suited to Ontario’s growing conditions, including a project being led by the OttawaCarleton Soil and Crop Improvement Association looking at quinoa’s viability as crop in Eastern Ontario.

“We’re trying to assess the yield and grain quality of different quinoa varieties on different soil types found in Eastern Ontario,” explains Scott Banks, Emerging Crop Specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) in Kemptville.

“Varieties appear to perform differently under different growing environments and soil types, and our goal is to find varieties suitable for Eastern Ontario.”

How was the research conducted?

Plots were planted in May 2014 on two Eastern Ontario farms, one with sandyloam and the other with clay-loam soil.

Ten varieties were planted on one farm, and eight on the other, all in 30-inch row widths to allow for hand weed control, and urea was broadcast to achieve 120 kg of nitrogen per hectare. Quinoa seeds are very small so are best planted with a small-seed precision planter.

What has the project found?

Emergence was more successful in the sandy-loam than the clay-loam soil. A larvae infestation affected variety plots during the last phase of grain-fill, so no yield data was gathered, but Banks says the trial was still a valuable learning experience.

“The plants were severely damaged by larvae so we have no information on yield response of the different varieties, but we did gain some good experience in planting quinoa,” says Banks, adding that the larvae was one that hadn’t been seen in quinoa before, and although the plots were all hand harvested, most of the seed had been either eaten or was badly shriveled.

This underlines the need for registered crop protection products for quinoa, and Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA’s Weed Management Field Crops Program Lead, is currently leading work in this area.

More plot trials are underway this year, and Banks says some varieties from the research station in Simcoe will be tested.

He’s also hoping to look at response to different levels of nitrogen, conduct some herbicide trials, and determine whether differences in row widths will impact quinoa the way they can in soybeans.

Where can I get more information?

More information on this project can be found in the Crop Advances section of the OSCIA website under Resources.

How was the research funded?

The project is funded by the OttawaCarleton Soil and Crop Improvement Association and the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association.

ONTARIO SOIL AND CROP IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION

Photos: Courtesy of Scott Banks, OMAFRA

Quick Quinoa facts • Quinoa is full of nutrients and antioxidants, as well as being ideal for gluten-free diets.

• Originating from the Andes, the crop grows well in cool climates and marginal soils.

• Ontario demand far outstrips supply – the majority of quinoa is imported from South America.

• Pronounced KEEN-wah, quinoa is not a grain crop, but can be cooked like rice, or ground into flour and used as a food ingredient.

Mission: Facilitate responsible economic management of soil, water, air and crops through development and communication of innovative farming practices

www.ontariosoilcrop.org

Machinery

By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor

Harvest is where it all finally comes together. With this instalment of Machinery Guide, we bring you some of the latest upgrades and innovations in grain carts and wagons. Large or small, how you get your harvest from the combine to the semi is emerging as one of the key drivers of harvest efficiency, which is why these three manufacturers have put so much thought into their respective designs. As always, be sure to do your homework. It’s a very competitive sector.

 Bach-Run A relative newcomer to the grain wagon and cart-carrying scene, Bach-Run was on site last year at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show. The brand has four different models of gravity bin grain wagons which are billed as new, complementing the company’s six heavy-duty, high-volume grain wagons. The company says its claim to fame is “Brute Strength” and its designs are based on working with farmers to meet their needs. With extensions, the gravity bin grain wagons have four different capacities, from 380 to 480 bushels. The interiors have a powder coating on a sandblasted surface for a durable, long-lasting finish. Each model also features three tie-in bars on the inside of the box, plus solid inner seams along with flat valleys that reduce dead corners. There’s also an easy-climb ladder on the outside, as well as large sight windows.

www.bachrunfarms.com

MK Martin  Another new arrival to Machinery Guide, MK Martin is showcasing a number of its gravity boxes and grain carts. A Canadian manufacturer, MK Martin offers four models of its Gravity Box, ranging from 270- to 745-bushel capacities. Whether it’s combined with a Horst wagon or as box-only model to run on your own wagon, you get flexibility and durability for any conditions. With the 5000 and 6500 models, there’s an optional divider that splits the Gravity Box

6 country-guide.ca

and allows for two separate commodities to be carried at the same time. Each side also comes with its own door for unloading and metering. With Grain Carts, there are two models available — the MK 650 and MK 850 with 650- and 850-bushel capacities respectively and a front folding auger that increases operator visibility while providing greater reach. The chute on the auger is also equipped with a hydraulic hood for more precise placement of the grain.

www.mkmartin.ca

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Brandt 

track technologies have enabled Brandt to add these options to its product line, with operations possible under a broad range of field Soil health is integral to crop performance in the field, and conditions. Improved and highly flexible low sidewall designs allow more equipment manufacturers are engineering their tractors, for significantly reduced tire pressures, and the new track options combines and even grain carts to minimize soil compaction. That’s can reduce ground pressures from 66 psi down to 13 psi, an 80 B:8.625” led Brandt to unveil its new flotation tire and track systems for per cent reduction. its 1020XR and 1322XR Grain Carts. Enhanced tire and rubberT:8.125” www.brandt.ca S:7”

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Follow us on Twitter @Bayer4CropsCA for updates on this year’s Proline t-shirt.

BayerCropScience.ca or 1 888-283-6847 or contact your Bayer CropScience representative.

Always read and follow label directions. Proline® is a registered trademark of the Bayer Group. Bayer CropScience is a member of CropLife Canada.

business

Used equipment perks up

By Scott Garvey, CG Machinery Editor

o put it mildly, sales of new farm equipment were terrible — even worrisome — in January and February, based on numbers tallied by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM). Purchases of four-wheel-drive tractors were down an astonishing 55 per cent compared to 2014. Worse yet, new combine sales had virtually collapsed, slipping 60.6 per cent.

Those invested in the equipment industry couldn’t help but notice.

But the grim picture painted by those early-year sales reports may not have told the whole story, according to Jim Wood, vice-president, agriculture, at Rocky Mountain Equipment, Canada’s largest CNH equipment retailer. According to Wood, the winter of 2014 was “a blip. It was an anomaly.

All of a sudden people look at the industry and go, ‘Holy smokes it’s down so much over last year.’

Well that’s because last year was too high compared to the year before.”

“ Guess who’s happy?” says Rocky Mountain’s Jim Wood. “Our used sales are way up, our new was consistent, and our inventories are coming down.”

The reason why they were abnormal, however, may not be what farmers would think. Or at least, not completely the reason that farmers might suggest, i.e. strong farm incomes.

Instead, the early 2014 numbers got pushed up due to changes in delivery dates for new equipment based on customer orders, primarily from one major manufacturer.

“I think the big thing was last year (2014 sales numbers) gave such a false sense of what was going on,” Wood says. “In December of 2013 and Janu-

8 country-guide.ca

As sales of new equipment cool, good used machines are holding their value, and in some cases gaining ground

ary, February of 2014, that’s when Deere delivered a lot of product, which it traditionally doesn’t do.

And that really spiked the industry (numbers).”

So a sober look at the data reveals that this year’s volumes may not be quite as dreadful as first thought, and Wood confirms that while the overall market for new farm equipment in Western Canada so far this year has dropped off significantly, it hasn’t fallen as badly as those early market reports suggested.

As if to emphasize the point, April sales numbers actually showed a gain over last year, which has helped correct the market data. The number of four-wheel-drive tractors sold that month was up, pegging the overall year-to-date market reduction at just 22 per cent compared to the same time in 2014. So while that’s still a little painful for dealers and manufacturers, the market hasn’t really fallen off a cliff the way the early numbers suggested.

Not all the news is bad. Some new equipment categories are showing surprising strength. Sales of rigid-frame tractors above 100 horsepower are strong, and April sales of these machines beat out the numbers for April 2014 too, bringing the overall year-to-date sales in this category close to par with last year. They now only lag by 1.6 per cent, with much of the demand in the category due to livestock producers.

“We’ve seen our cattle stuff, loader tractors and balers, really increase,” notes Wood. “But they are smaller dollar amounts than what cash crop (equipment) is.”

That means from a dollar amount perspective, overall industry sales totals remain much below last year. And despite an active April, the low U.S. dollar exchange rate and competition from an ample supply of late-model used machines, most in the industry are willing to bet new equipment sales will likely finish out the year well below 2014 numbers.

“I think it’s the new normal,” Wood says. “If you look at it from our side, we’re trying to sell a little less new, because our used is just that much more attractive. I can’t see it changing unless someone

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business

brings on some new technology. It’s hard to justify a lot of the price increases from manufacturers, because, let’s face it, a combine from five years ago will still go out and do what a new combine will today. It’s considerably cheaper for (a farmer) to buy a one-year-old machine than a new one.”

And that factor has been driving demand at auction sales.

“The interesting thing on (auction) prices is, we started the year a little conservative in our own business model,” says Simon Wallan, Ritchie Bros. vicepresident of agriculture for Western Canada. “Commodity prices dropped a bit through the last two quarters of 2014.

We thought that would have a negative effect on the price of (used) equipment.”

But any effect has been limited, and by mid-April, auction sales across the West were attracting crowds as large as last season. And they weren’t made up of just onlookers. Many took their bidding hands out of their pockets.

“There have been good turnouts, as good as previous years,” says Kim Kramer of Saskatchewan-based Kramer Auction Ltd. That interest has actually pushed up prices for some types of equipment.

“When it comes to truck tractors, anything in good condition with a pre-emissions engine is very, very sought after,” Wallan adds. “It doesn’t matter what sale you’re at, a farm sale or an industrial one.”

Kramer has noticed the same trend at his company’s sales, with pre-emissions engines in any type of machine garnering a lot of interest.

“In trucks, anything pre-emissions, I bet they’re up a good, solid 20 per cent,” Kramer says. “A pre-emissions Kenworth or Peterbilt, those brands, they’re a really strong sale. For a tractor, maybe a Tier 2, without the emissions controls, they’ll bid way stronger on it. Guys are saying they can buy an older tractor, as long as it has the horsepower and the hydraulic power, it will do the same job as a new one.”

But the kind of frenzy that had driven demand for used machines at auctions in past years has evaporated. Buyers now seem to be taking a more measured, careful approach. And they know there is currently a very large selection to choose from, so there is no need to panic and overpay.

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The number of registered bidders at auctions this spring held steady with previous seasons, with demand for many types of used machines staying strong.

Photo: Ritchie Bros.

“Guys this year are more selective,” observes Kramer. “They’re not pushing the panic button like in previous years where they’d get in a bidding war because they were worried they wouldn’t find another one. One guy told me at an auction sale yesterday, ‘I’ve bought so much machinery there’s no sense of urgency anymore that I need to buy it today or I won’t find another one. There are lots available.’”

“I think they’re looking for specific pieces and they don’t mind travelling longer distances to find them,” adds Wallan.

“They want good pieces, and they’re not going to overpay for something that’s tired, below average or worn out.”

Along with the old, tired and worn out, a couple of other types of equipment saw lagging demand this spring as well.

Swathers are among them. Their selling prices are starting to fall, which doesn’t surprise Wood.

“Now you have canola varieties that can be straight cut, so you’re going to see the windrower market drop off,” Wood explains.

“Seeding equipment is really volatile,” says Kramer. Guys are getting really selective on that. There is such a variety out there right now, I think it has caused the prices to be volatile.”

“It’s a buyer’s market out there for seeding tools,” confirms Wallan. “Every farmer out there seems to want something different in a seeding tool, so we are having trouble finding consistency when it comes to size and specifications.”

The result of all this is that many industry players now seem ready to take a deep breath and acknowledge that the market for used equipment is staying relatively stable, despite the previous concern over the large supply. But the evolving, more competitive sales environment for new machines means there may be some realignment happening in that sector.

Exactly which dealers farmers are willing to look to for their new equipment may be fluctuating. Wood thinks the products and services each manufacturer offers may now play a more critical role in swaying farmers’ purchasing decisions than it ever has.

“If you look at our new sales numbers, they were pretty well flat with last year, but the industry is down 40 per cent from last year,” Wood says. “So, guess who picked up market share? In our first quarter this year, we’re really, really, happy. Our used sales are way up, our new was consistent, and our inventories are coming down.” CG

country-guide.ca 9

business

Smart farm

strategies for giving

By Maggie Van Camp, CG Associate Editor

New tax laws and innovative financial strategies give you new ways to make donations with real impact ith fewer farmers facing an insatiable number of organizations needing time and money, the decision of how much to give to whom is getting tougher.

What do you want your money to do? How much should you give and when? What are the tax benefits?

For many farmers, there’s also the question of how best to give to charities through your estate and succession planning. Additionally, in the last few years some new ways to save taxes while giving have been added to the playbook.

Society’s thinking about giving has also changed. As fewer families attend church, the younger generations aren’t being taught to put something on the plate Sunday after Sunday. Instead, they are moving toward more spontaneous, secular giving. For example, there’s the phenomenon of crowdfunding where someone asks for money online and it goes viral. In the last few years this has reaped millions of dollars that would have historically been directed to registered charities.

It’s not for lack of tax receipts.

Donations to registered Canadian charities are eligible for a charitable donation tax credit for indi-

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vidual donors or for deduction if the donor is a corporation.

Over 85,000 charities are registered in Canada, so individuals can give to these charities directly for specific causes and get a receipt to claim against income taxes. To qualify to provide tax receipts, these charities must follow certain rules, like having a board of directors and separate annual CRA filing.

Within this CRA list are charitable foundations, like the Mennonite Foundation of Canada.

Although anyone can set up a foundation, they must follow the CRA rules, including separate annual filings and a board of directors.

Foundations pool the donations, take care of all the paperwork and administrative responsibilities, and invest the funds on the donor’s behalf for a small fee. For example, the Mennonite Foundation of Canada charges about one per cent, says Sherri Grosz, MFC’s stewardship consultant in Kitchener, Ont. Another way is to set up your own family trust and hire a foundation like Gifts Canada to administer it for you. You control the investment and how it’s donated.

It’s called donor-advised, and you can change it over the years.

Many foundations have sunset clauses, and you can set where

your money is to go in stone at the very beginning.

With pooled foundations, you can get the receipt right away. Currently, you can donate shares of a company, equities, ecologically sensitive lands and cultural property and, if they have increased in value, any capital gains would be tax exempt. However, if you sell those assets and want to give cash, you have to pay the tax on the increases in value.

So not only do you get the tax deduction, you don’t have to pay the income tax on any increase in values.

New budget rule Proposed during this spring’s federal budget is an exemption for capital gains tax for charitable gifts of cash proceeds from disposition of private company shares and real estate. Previously this exemption was only available for when you sold and donated publicly listed securities, ecologically sensitive land, and certified cultural property.

Beginning in 2017, this exemption would include the capital gains when you sell private assets, like shares and real estate.

In theory you could donate some of the amount you might owe for capital gains when you sell a company. Instead of paying more to the government, you are

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business

able to give more to your favourite charity.

Accountant and partner at Collins Barrow in Elora, Ont., Tom Blonde uses the following example to explain: You sell your family farm corporation for $3 million to someone outside of the family. You’ve already used up your available capital gain exemption and the marginal tax rate is 50 per cent. (If there’s no donation, you’ll only get $2.25 million net, after the capital gains tax.)

However, if you donate $1 million of the proceeds within 30 days of selling your farm, you’ll get a charitable credit of $500,000. You’ll also be taxed on only $2 million of capital gain, and $500,000 tax on gain is eliminated by charitable credit. The final result is that you donate $1 million and receive $2 million net of capital gains tax.

Make sure you talk to your accountant about how this might work for you, and please note that final legislation and assessing practice has not yet been determined.

Before you do anything, MFC’s Grosz says it’s really important to take some time to think about what you want your money to do instead of randomly giving to whatever group comes asking.

“What are your hopes and goals for your donations?” asks Grosz.

Although donors into the Mennonite Foundation of Canada are of all ages and socio-economic classes, the majority are older than 50. This group tends to have more disposable income, understands the fragility of life as part of the sandwich generation, and is doing estate and retirement planning, says Grosz. Plus they’ve been raised within the church and are comfortable giving through their church.

MFC gets Great West Life to invest the pooled funds for them in one of two ways — one is higher risk, with 50 per cent equities, and the other is a more conservative investment based on bonds and mortgages. In keeping

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with their faith’s principles, the MFC screens out of GWL’s portfolio companies that sell alcohol, tobacco or gambling. “If you are preaching against it on Sunday, you shouldn’t invest in it on Monday,” says Grosz.

Estate planning and giving Although there’s no inheritance tax in Canada, when someone dies, their estate has to pay their income tax and everything is deemed disposed on the date of their death. This means everything, even tax-sheltered investments like RRSPs, are sold in the year of death and the estate has to pay income taxes.

Living poor and dying rich does have its tax implications.

Using predetermined charitable giving to counter this tax bite is one strategy some farmers are employing to decrease their taxes on their relatively large estates.

Grosz suggests getting the help of an accountant to figure out if it would be better to have the tax receipt during life or after to decrease the tax bill on the estate.

Sometimes it means keeping the donation until after passing away so the tax credits can be used against estate taxes. Other times it’s better to give while earning more. Maybe a combination, or phased-in strategy is best for you.

In the past, MFC has been willed land but it tends to be more complicated, and usually property is liquidated with the estate, says Grosz.

Grosz says some people make their favourite foundations or registered charities the beneficiaries of life insurance policies.

They pay the premiums and get a tax receipt for those premiums paid in their lifetime and when they die, the charity gets the insurance proceeds.

Sometimes a donor will even transfer the ownership of a life insurance policy to the charity

while alive and pay the premiums, and, if they get a receipt can use these premiums as a tax deduction.

Keep in mind that if you transfer a policy while you’re alive but no longer insurable, it may have significant fair market value so the donation credit might be larger. However, you’ll get a much larger deduction if you buy life insurance through your farm corporation at lower tax rates.

On death, the life insurance proceeds are paid out tax free to the estate through the capital dividend account, and then the estate makes the donation and gets the larger credit.

Sound accounting advice may help you make major donations with an affordable net cost to the farm First-time donors For smaller donations, a few years ago the government added the First-time Donor’s Super Credit (FDSC) to entice people to give to charitable organizations. It supplements the value of the charitable donations tax credit (CDTC) by 25 per cent on donations made after March 20, 2013, by a firsttime donor.

If neither you nor your spouse (or common-law partner) have claimed and been allowed a charitable donations tax credit for any year after 2007, you are considered a first-time donor.

This super credit applies to a gift of money made after March 20, 2013, up to a maximum of $1,000, in one taxation year from 2013 to 2017. The claim for the FDSC can be shared with a spouse or common-law partner, but the total combined donations claimed must be under that $1,000 cap. CG

country-guide.ca 11

business

Talking up the job

By Gord Gilmour, CG Associate Editor very farmer has one. For Manitoba’s Rolf Penner, his aha moment came a few years back, when he suddenly realized just how hard it is for a farmer to talk to non-farmers about his business.

Penner and a farming friend were on a weekend getaway with their spouses. Neither wife had a farming background. As the weekend wore on, a little shop talk was inevitable, and the discussion turned to the recent wheat harvest and protein levels. Both took off decent yields, but Penner says his friend got better protein levels.

“I started to ask him if he’d done anything different, like top dressing some nitrogen,” Penner said.

“Our wives overheard this and they thought it was the funniest thing they’d ever heard, and started teasing us about it. To us it was a straightforward question; to them it was something strange and funny.”

While a funny bit of jargon that turns into a running gag over the course of the weekend is a pretty mild example, Penner says it highlights a challenge farmers

Consumers want to hear from farmers, says FCC’s Carlson.

“They want to hear us say, ‘We’ve got this.

You’re in good hands.’”

What’s wrong with letting consumers know just how professional you have to be to grow their food in Canada today? are always going to face. How can farmers talk like the experts they are when they engage with lay people about what they do and why they do it?

Making the problem even tougher to tackle, says Penner, is that gets such a rough start because of the way farmers view themselves.

Joe Farmer, PhD “A lot of times we think of ourselves as dumb farmers,” says Penner. “That’s just not so. Think about the knowledge we have to have to farm, the technology we use every day. If you really think about it, we’re likely operating — and speaking — on the PhD level.”

To Penner, who grows grain and special crops and raises hogs near Morris, Man., this suggests farmers need to hone their messages for a non-agriculture audience so they can be ready to stand up and speak.

There’s plenty of consumer interest in farming and food production these days, he believes, but unless growers take the time to define themselves, they’ll be defined by others.

“We have to be ready to talk,” Penner says.

Lyndon Carlson couldn’t agree more. He’s Farm Credit Canada’s senior vice-president of marketing, and among other responsibilities, he’s been working very hard the past few years on the “Agriculture More Than Ever” campaign that aims to arm farmers and others in the business as “agvocates” who can speak up for agriculture.

Carlson shares Penner’s worry that farmers downplay their own capabilities and contributions.

“It’s a cultural thing,” Carlson says. “There are a lot of farmers out there who are, by and large, very modest people. They don’t like to draw attention to themselves, they just quietly go about their business.”

In many ways, they’re the opposite of today’s narcissistic selfie culture, but that can be a good thing, Carlson says, because when agriculture can at times seem threatening or ominous (i.e. “big ag”), farmers are well liked and trusted, something that shows up year in and year out in public opinion surveys.

Continued on page 14

12 country-guide.ca

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

Dr. Christine Jones – “How to Regenerate Soil”

Come and learn about how cover crops improve soil health, structure, water filtration and erosion control.

Four soil stations with practical hands on demonstrations.

Hewitt Creek Farms, Innisfil Register at ifao.com – Registration Deadline Aug 5th

Soil Health Day — August 12, 2015 ‘Regenerative Agriculture’ is a new term that is starting to develop on some farms where producers are looking to improve the soil health on their operation. One component of soil health that has perhaps been neglected in the past is our understanding of how plants and soil microbes contribute to healthy soil.

The first principle is the maintenance of year-round living cover, via perennial pastures on grazed land and/ or multi-species cover crop on farmed land. Almost every living thing in and on the soil depends on green plants (or what was once a green plant) for its existence. The more green plants, the more life.

Australian soil scientist Dr. Christine Jones challenges the conventional model of agriculture which has told us that ‘plants take from the soil’. According to her, nothing could be further from the truth. She states: “Observe what happens in bare soil. It dies, then it blows or washes away. If you could see what happens around the roots of actively growing plants you would want to have as many green plants in your soil for as much of the year as possible. It is not ‘natural’ for the soil to be bare over summer.”

It is well accepted that groundcover buffers soil temperatures and reduces erosion, but it’s perhaps less recognized that actively growing green groundcover also fuels the liquid carbon pathway which in turn supports, among other things, mycorrhizal fungi, associative nitrogen-fixing bacteria and phosphorus solubilising bacteria – all of which are essential to both crop nutrition and the formation of stable humified carbon.

Science has shown us that on a given piece of property, over 95 per cent of terrestrial diversity is within the soil itself (less than five per cent is above the ground).

Jones says that in order for this soil life to flourish, the soil ecosystem requires fuel in the form of carbon (from green plants) and ‘habitat’ in the form of high root biomass. She further suggests that the soil surface requires year-round protection from erosion and temperature extremes (both highs and lows). According to Jones, it is ‘life’ that gives soil its structure, enabling the infiltration and retention of moisture, restoring water balance across the landscape and reversing the processes of desertification, and it is ‘life’ that provides natural fertility, sequestering carbon, nitrogen and sulfur from the atmosphere and increasing the availability of phosphorus and trace elements in the root zone.

According to Christine Jones, the fundamental question in regenerative agriculture is: “how do we get life back into the soil?”

There is increasing recognition of the fundamental importance of soil microbial communities to plant productivity. According to Jones, many biological functions are compromised by commonly used agricultural practices. She outlines four basic principles of regenerative agriculture, proven to restore soil health and increase soil carbon and nitrogen.

The second principle is to provide support for the microbial bridge, to enhance the flow of carbon from plants to soil. This requires reducing inputs of high analysis nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers that inhibit the complex biochemical signalling between plant roots and microbes.

The third principle is to promote plant and microbial diversity, the greater the diversity of plants the more checks and balances for pests and diseases and the broader the range of microhabitats for the soil organisms involved in nutrient acquisition, nutrient cycling and soil building.

The fourth principle is that land responds positively to the presence of animals provided management is appropriate. Rotational grazing of livestock on perennial pastures is the fastest and most economical way to improve soils. As well as the benefits arising from the addition of manure and urine to soils, high intensity short duration grazing increases root exudation and stimulates the number and activity of associative nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the root zone, which fire up in response to defoliation and provide the extra nitrogen required by the plant for the production of new growth.

This article was written by Trevor Lennox, Regional Forage Specialist, Saskatchewan Agriculture.

business Continued from page 12 Farmers consistently score near the top, although this goodwill can’t be taken for granted, Carlson insists.

“We’ve got to protect our social licence,” Carlson says. “People really want to hear from farmers, they want to hear us say, ‘We’ve got this, you’re in good hands.’”

That doesn’t mean patronizingly telling consumers not to worry, but neither does it mean taking a hard line or talking down to them. It means finding a way to present a message that finds common ground.

One stumbling block, Carlson concedes, is the highly technical nature of the business — but he insists these challenges aren’t something that only agriculture faces.

“Any business is like that,” Carlson says. “I don’t care if it’s manufacturing, or finance or information technology, we all develop our own language, filled with jargon and acronyms.”

Getting past this will be a milestone for agriculture, Carlson says, but it will only happen one conversation at a time, starting with farmers who are prepared to work at it.

Dumbing it down “We say in the business world that you should write to an eighth-grade level,” Carlson said. “That’s not to say we want to dumb down or dilute the message — rather that we want it to be clear.”

Having that message at the ready is more important than ever in this age of social media where issues can go viral overnight. Some think farmers aren’t well adapted to this new paradigm, but based on his experience, Carlson insists otherwise.

Look to build trust, not to win the debate at all costs, Penner advises

14 country-guide.ca

“I know I’ve been at meetings where I look around and it’s predominantly late-middle-age farmers, maybe with a few younger ones, and the tweets about the meeting will start flying,” Carlson says. “I do think farmers are well equipped to do this.”

Still, he thinks the industry can do a better job of supporting each other in social media settings. One individual can’t be out there alone, fighting the good fight and making their own case for the continued trust of the general public, he says.

One thing the industry has to understand is that there’s definitely greater interest in agriculture in recent years, and that’s unlikely to go away. Everyone wants to know just a bit more about where their food is coming from, and it’s just a fact of life that you’re going to end up having conversations about your job, and that people are actually interested in hearing about it.

“When you go to the airport and get on a plane, be it for business or pleasure, and you start talking to your seatmate, when they ask, ‘What do you do for a living?’ and you respond, ‘I’m a farmer,’ you’re starting a conversation, there’s no doubt about that,” Carlson says. “There’s an intense interest in what you do as a farmer.”

It’s a double-edged sword, however. On one hand it doesn’t do anyone in agriculture any good if people think their food comes from the grocery store. But it can also mean you’re going to have to defend your practices at times, and counter a tremendous amount of misinformation.

“In those cases I think you do have to disagree, but do it respectfully,” Carlson said. “You’re not going to get anywhere by being dismissive.”

Create common ground Instead Carlson suggests taking a tactful approach that seeks that common ground. In effect, farmers and the broad public frequently share the same goals, but differ on their diagnosis of how to get there. That’s when to bring up the great examples of farms evolving and adopting new methods very quickly. “We really do have a lot of good-news stories to share,” Carlson says.

Carlson stresses it’s important not to talk down to anyone, and Rolf Penner echoes that message, saying it’s equally important to recognize one’s own limitations. That includes remembering that it’s perfectly acceptable to say you don’t know something, and to refuse to speak on a subject you’re not yourself familiar with.

Tact is also going to be an important part of any discussion, Penner says, even when some of the statements you encounter are eye-roll inducing.

“I’ve seen people use their superior knowledge base to bully others in conversations, and I don’t think that works very well,” Penner says. “If you make someone feel stupid or embarrassed because they honestly don’t know something, they’re probably not going to come around to your side, whatever the issue is.” CG J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

CHRISTIAN FARMERS FEDERATION OF ONTARIO 642 Woolwich St. • Guelph, ON • N1H 3Y2 Voice: (519) 837-1620 Fax: (519) 824-1835 Email: cffomail@christianfarmers.org Web site: www.christianfarmers.org

Agricultural Research - Who Should Pay?

R

By Lorne Small

ecently “science based” policy decisions have been a common request from many sectors of society. Whether the request is for “science based” or “evidence based” decisions, it is in fact asking for someone to do research. The vital question that then needs to be asked is, who should pay. Research is not free, so someone has to pay. All too often the people asking for the research to be done are not the people who are willing to pay for the research. Society keeps asking governments to reduce taxes yet provide more services. Frequently the government’s response is to reduce funding for research.

Companies that introduce new products into the marketplace have a reasonable expectation they will be fairly compensated for their product and earn a profit. We live in a capitalist society. It follows that it is also fair for that company to pay for the cost of evaluating its

A general farm organization that is rooted in faith and guided by values

effectiveness, safety, impact on the environment, etcetera. All too often some potentially valuable products are not introduced because the cost of the research and regulatory burden exceeds the potential revenue the company may realise.

For many years society, better known as the taxpayers, have paid for extensive agricultural research by funding University research, establishing and funding research stations and extension services.

That tradition has been changing rapidly over the past twenty five years. Government dollars have become scarce and frequently need to be focused on issues of the day. As governments have reduced their commitment to the research effort, researchers have needed to obtain funding from the private sector. Private sector industries have stepped up and funded research, however, with the caveat that the results are “proprietary” - the results are owned by the company thus not

shared with their competitors.

This is reasonable.

Some agricultural organizations are responding to the challenge and are helping to fund research.

With limited resources, the CFFO and several other groups are committed to supporting valuable research that will help us better understand and be better able to manage soil organic matter, carbon incorporation, soil health and sustainable farm practices. Dairy Farmers of Ontario are funding a new dairy research centre. There is much more to be done to keep our farmers on the leading edge, but funding is increasingly harder and harder to come by.

There is a federal election on the horizon. Perhaps this is the time to remind our Members of Parliament that agricultural research is vital to the future health and competitiveness of our farm sector. Just maybe, more investment in agricultural research is more important than more tax cuts.

• 21 District Associations Across Ontario • Supporting our members since 1954 • A Professional Organization of Entrepreneurial Farming Families

www.christianfarmers.org

A professional organization of entrepreneurial farming families

business

Megatrends Canada’s farms

By Maggie Van Camp, CG Associate Editor

G

lobal forces are transforming agriculture in this country. It barely takes a second for any farmer to rattle off a list, starting with world population that the UN says will jump by another billion over the next decade and reach 9.6 billion by 2050. Or smartphones that link us to the world from our tractor cabs. Or GM crops that are now so mainstream, we wonder whether we could ever farm without them.

But those are only the start. Sweeping changes will continue to impact Canadian agriculture.

Why should we care? Because eyeing these macrotrends as opportunities and threats for your own business plan is where the big benefits lie.

If you understand how to apply these trends on a micro-scale specific to your sector or business, they can be game changers.

Country Guide challenged two of the country’s top agricultural economics professors to identify megatrends affecting Canadian farmers. Sylvain Charlebois, associate professor in the college of business and economics at the University of Guelph has a more modern, future-based view of patterns and shifts, focused on food and trade.

As the former executive director for planning and communications for the CWB and professor at the University of Manitoba, Brian Oleson has ridden the roller-coaster through many major changes over the years. He knows megatrends have long cycles, and he has seen how the Canadian grain industry can be fundamentally impacted by global political events.

So buckle up. Here are seven megatrends from Charlebois and Oleson that will shape the future of Canadian agriculture and your farm.

16 country-guide.ca

/

Can your farm thrive over the next decade?

Black swan events

“We have entered a world of complete geopolitical instability,” says Oleson. He points to the collapse of the Middle East peace, the increasing number of failed states, and the radical fundamental religious groups wreaking havoc across the globe.

As the world becomes more connected and more linked economically, this means more unpredictability in commodity markets. “Farmers should expect more black swan events,” Oleson says, referring to the theory developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book, The Black Swan: The Impact Of The Highly Improbable.

“We cannot even conceive of these black swans,” Oleson says.

In the last 20 years, we’ve had our share of earth-shaking, unexpected events, such as the September 11 attacks or, more recently, the Russian invasion of Ukraine. North American agriculture has had its own black swans, including the 1998 collapse of the Asian economy, when prices crashed, or the BSE crisis in 2003 or the current onslaught of avian influenza.

These mostly unexpected events resulted in a lot of structural changes to the Canadian livestock industry. They took some farmers completely out of the game. Many shut down the livestock portion of their farms and switched to crops only, and the change in the sector has been real and permanent.

In short, the hog industry has become an investor-based industrialized commodity.

Cow-calf producers have been better able to manage this risk, says Oleson. If needed, they can keep cattle longer on feed or build up their herds, so they aren’t exposed as much to random events or market swings. The ones who survived and waited for better times are now being rewarded with high feeder and fat cattle prices.

J u l y / augus t 2 0 1 5

business

mega / Mega, DYNASTY farms The capital-driven farm family has emerged as the most significant player in Canadian agriculture.

“The family farm will not disappear, says Oleson. “They become a dynasty.”

Oleson likens this group to the large boulders in a barrel. Although there’s more space between the boulders for the smaller operators, most of the barrel is filled with big boulders and they’re getting bigger.

The increase in the investment required to farm today, such as the large efficient

precision farming equipment and the skyrocketing price of land, mean larger family farms are able to outbid the smaller, less established farmers.

Smaller farmers are forced to compete with these large operators for limited productive assets, including land. Those large operations simply have more collateral base to buy more land or equipment, and low interest rates have allowed them to leverage their assets and outbid any potential newcomers.

Also, this large capital base means these farms should be able to survive through tough times.

Furthermore they can leverage the heritage and success of the people before them.

Of course, there’s always an exception but it’s becoming more difficult to go from a pebble to a boulder. “This will continue,” says Oleson. “The utilization of technology will intensify the consolidation.”

A decade ago, driverless vehicles and drones seemed science fiction. Now, robotic field equipment is on the drawing boards, says Oleson. Will that further enhance the power of these large family farms to expand?

Continued on page 18

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country-guide.ca 17

business Continued from page 17

/ Supply management 2.0

Political momentum has favoured trade agreements in the last few years, Charlebois says. Will it still lean in that direction after October?

The opportunities and threats around those trade agreements can and will affect your farm business going forward. “When you are talking politics, you’ve got to talk about food in that,” says Charlebois.

“The EU-Canada trade agreement created a breach in supply management,” says Charlebois.

“The TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) is the biggest trade deal in history. What’s going to happen with it?”

With Europe recently getting rid of its supply management system, Canada is the only developed economy with a quota and tariff system in dairy.

That leaves us in a precarious position, says Charlebois. “I absolutely think there’s a momentum toward a reform.”

What can we learn from Europe? “We can be inspired by Europe but it’s a totally different system,” says Charlebois. “The pricing formula was different. The tariffs were different. Farmers couldn’t use the quota as collateral. There was less fiscal baggage with its system.”

However, the biggest difference was that European farmers had a financial incentive to get rid of the system, while Canadian dairy and poultry farmers want supply management. For example, in Germany, farmers were paying nearly $20 billion a year in fees to keep their system going.

In contrast, Charlebois says he was basically shut down during a recent meeting in his home province of Quebec for even discussing what to do to transition out of supply management.

Instead of burying out heads or reacting with fury, we should create a map to protect our supply management farmers and make changes to enable more trade, before we don’t have a choice, says Charlebois.

There are a lot of ways to do this, he says, but to make the road out of supply management smoother, farmers need to engage in the discussion of how, and they need to plan for the transition.

Without preparation, the removal of tariffs could be catastrophic to some farmers and the rural economy, especially in Quebec and Ontario.

“The EU quota system was newer, with much less fiscal baggage,” says Charlebois. “Given that in Canada, billions (of dollars) in quotas are used as collateral to support farmers who pay very small levies compared to those in the EU, a Canadiantailored quota-lifting reform would take more than 15 years to implement, at the very least.”

18 country-guide.ca

/ Grain cycles “Over the years, I’ve learned that there are three phases to cycles: the up, the maturity and the down phases,” says Oleson. “These cycles occur once or twice in your lifetime.”

In Oleson’s lifetime, he experienced the Great Russian Grain Robbery of 1972 to 1982 and what he coins the Great Ethanol Robbery from 2006 to 2012-13.

Politics was a willing and erratic partner in both these big grain cycles. The recent price boom was driven by corn-based ethanol. “In 2008, Obama was a major supporter of ethanol and won the ethanol debate in Iowa. In 2012, as energy realities changed, he was the last person in the world to talk about the end of corn-based ethanol,” says Oleson. “The end of his presidency coincides with the end of the cycle.”

Although other factors have played into this grain price cycle, energy vulnerability and homeland security created the dynamics by diverting five billion bushels a year out of traditional markets.

Combined with the rapidly increasing demand from China, the price of grain shot up with energy. That price cycle is completely spent now, says Oleson. As long as there are no additional capital investments, the established corn ethanol plants will continue to attract four billion to five billion bushels a year. “Corn-based ethanol as a new demand factor is over,” says Oleson. “It’s actually a damper on future price increases as supplies can easily be diverted from fuel to feed and food, if corn prices increase.”

land / Sticky prices Another shift in mentality that Oleson has witnessed in the last few years is that associated with farmland. The wealth created in many areas during this last cycle shifted the thinking around land prices from productive value to land being some place to park your money.

“It’s similar to the logic used on gold,” says Oleson.

“Basically, existing farmers, retiring farmers and farmland investors have all turned farmland into gold with a return.”

Now that we’ve gone from massive profits to break-even prices, we need to be aware that the current crop profitability cycle is on the downward slope. This should be reflected in realistic productive asset values.

“Land prices are historically so sticky,” says Oleson. “They’re now more sticky than ever.”

Land prices are probably not going to swing down quickly with commodity prices, Oleson predicts. The large farms will weather the black swan events. They’ll consolidate and become the mega-farm survivors.

“They’ll survive and thrive by the big price cycles,” says Oleson. “They will ensure that land prices do not drop significantly, even with commodity price declines like we’ve witnessed in the past two years.”

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

business

on / Focus ingredients Over the last decade, a major shift has occurred in how food is perceived by the public. Charlebois says this will increase, and sales will become more attuned to individual buyers instead of the mass market.

“Demand is increasing for more fragmented food,” Charlebois says. “Food is becoming more market driven, more fragmented.”

With that, retailers are calling the shots and more are connecting with farmers to create partnerships to supply specific quality products.

“The food supply chain will narrow,” says Charlebois.

It’s also time for farmer groups and large farmers to become part of the public debate on how food is being grown and handled. Livestock processors and producers need to move toward public transparency.

Processors and producers need to move toward this type of engagement. For example, Cargill’s Better Beef slaughterhouse in Guelph has installed cameras along the line, and Andrew Campbell on Twitter is doing a fantastic job representing the industry, says Charlebois.

Squeezed between retail and farmers is a processing industry dependent on a weak loonie. Having the 80-cent (Canadian) dollar helps, but building an industry on currency is risky, says Charlebois. Instead we need processors to modernize their factories.

Processors need to be innovative and create new food choices.

Since 2007, we’ve lost over 150 food-manufacturing plants in Canada. That affects farmers. “If there’s a red light in food, it’s absolutely in manufacturing,” Charlebois says. “Farmers will be directly affected.”

/ Market volatility

Although we have been through a decade of incredible market volatility, Sylvain Charlebois at the University of Guelph says we’ve only seen the beginning.

We’re in for commodity markets bungee jumping with many more factors tugging on the rope. “Farmers need to become better hedgers,” says Charlebois.

On top of hedging market prices, farmers should also mitigate the risks of swinging currency values and climate change, Charlebois believes.

One way to hedge against weather is to buy weather derivatives, which are now a tradable commodity. Weather derivatives cover low-risk, high-probability events, whereas weather insurance covers high-risk, low-probability events. “If you have a bad crop year you can actually use derivatives to offset your losses,” says Charlebois. “It’s not insurance. You buy them in Chicago.”

His perspective and experiences have recently been shifted to encompass Europe. Charlebois is currently a visiting professor at the University of Innsbruck in Austria for one year, with the shockwaves that rippled out of the banking crisis in Greece as just one example of how the world is increasingly interconnected.

We should also be aware of the currency wars being played out in many nations. This past winter foreign exchange markets jumped into turmoil after the Federal Reserve Bank stopped its quantitative easing program. Many governments, Charlebois says, are trying to stimulate their economies and create jobs by devaluing their currency values. CG

Oleson no longer talks “big farms.”

Instead, he talks “dynasties” as consolidation ramps up

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country-guide.ca 19

insight

An angel of an idea dmittedly, it’s hard to say exactly what makes any innovation a success, or why farms are such fertile ground for new ideas. Maybe it’s the opportunity to test new ideas under real-world conditions.

Or because farmers are so practical, or so resourceful, or because they know how to persevere.

Or, today, maybe it’s more likely to be the willingness to take a risk, or the determination to find the right people to help push the idea forward, or the talent for adapting to new ways of doing business.

In fact, Kim Keller will tell you it’s all those traits together that help explain why her hot new farm app called Farm At Hand actually got its start in Saskatchewan farm country, a long, long way from the technology mecca of Silicon Valley.

It’s also why, in her role as Farm At Hand co-founder, Keller is seen as breaking a mould, while she sees herself drawing on a rich history of farm innovation, but doing it in a way that makes sense for the 21st century.

Making it fly I visit Kim Keller’s family’s farm in late spring.

The farm borders Gronlid, a small hamlet in northeast Saskatchewan where the Kellers have a park-like yard, maintained by Kim’s mother, Deb, who plants a truckload of flowers every year and eradicates any weeds that dare germinate in the bin yard. That’s no easy task, given there are about 50 bins in the yard.

Kim also introduces me to her dad, Rick. He shakes my hand and chats briefly before heading back to the field. He’s buoyant and relaxed despite being in the middle of seeding. The weather up to this point has favoured spring field operations.

Kim takes me on a tour of the 12,000-acre farm, and I shoot video of her dad and the Keller family’s two employees doing field work. Kim has flown here from her home base in Vancouver to run seed and otherwise support field operations this spring. She also helps out at harvest by driving the grain cart, and is at the farm frequently throughout the year.

After filming, we sit down at the Keller family’s kitchen table. The TV is tuned into CNN, Deb’s favourite news source, so Kim switches it off before we begin.

20 country-guide.ca

As Kim Keller is proving, the test today is whether we can get innovative about how we handle our innovations In the last couple of years, Kim has driven the 3,500-km round trip from Vancouver to Gronlid about 10 times. She’s also a frequent flyer, jetting to technology conferences and hitting agricultural trade shows around North America.

It’s a hectic life, but so is farming, she says. Hers is just a different type of hectic, and she’s willing to take it on to make Farm At Hand fly.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we have,” Kim says. “There’s nothing I won’t do to make sure that we make the most of it.”

The path that led her to becoming an ag tech entrepreneur was unexpected. It started in 2011 when Kim realized she wanted something different than her career with a Crown corporation. It was like she woke up one day and wanted to be a farmer, she explains.

This change was a bit of a surprise for her. She had done the usual farm chores while in school, but otherwise wasn’t too involved. “Growing up, I never wanted to be a farmer,” she says. Instead, she earned a university degree and got a job, like many other farm kids who create lives for themselves in the cities.

Then her parents suggested she come back to the farm on a trial basis, and it was while running the grain cart during harvest that first fall that she had her spark of inspiration.

“I did everything else on my phone, but I couldn’t do anything meaningful for the farm on my phone,” she says. There were farming games and reference materials, but nothing to do with the business of farming.

Shortly after that harvest, Kim met Himanshu Singh through friends. Himanshu had just started a small software development company in Saskatoon.

He was intrigued by Kim’s thinking about the lack of farm management apps, and asked her how her family tracked what was happening with their bins.

Kim explained they used a big sheet of paper on the kitchen island. Every time something changed in the bin yard, her brother Jeff would erase the old entry and pencil in the change.

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

Photography: Photos By Kathryn

By Lisa Guenther, Field Editor

insight

Through links she builds to angel investors, Farm At Hand gets resources for product development, plus invaluable business insight Himanshu’s response was quick.

“There’s got to be an app for this,” he said, so he and Kim went to work. “We did all of the research, and there wasn’t,” Kim says.

“That’s how it all started,” and in February, 2012, they decided to build an app.

They didn’t intend to start a business, however. They simply wanted to create something for the Keller family farm.

But then, Kim’s family members quickly threw in their two cents about what they wanted in a farm management app, and what started as a tool to track bin yards and grain bags quickly evolved into a program to track field records (planting, spraying, harvesting, and scouting), contracts, contract delivJ u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

eries and equipment maintenance and parts’ lists. “So it is farm management, basically seed to sale,” says Kim.

Light-bulb moment On April 26, 2012, Farm At Hand made its debut.

“We ended up putting it on the app store because a couple of friends of mine and a couple of neighbours wanted to try it out,” says Kim. Farm At Hand was, and remains, free for farmers, and within two months, they had about 500 downloads.

About three months after releasing the app, a market consultant gave Kim a call.

All of his farmers were using the app, he said, and it was saving him a ton of time.

It was a “light-bulb moment,” Kim says.

She and Himanshu saw a business opportunity, and they decided to run with it.

In 2013, Kim and Himanshu had a chance to attend a technology accelerator to grow their business. But there was a catch. The accelerator was in Vancouver and they’d have to move there, at least temporarily.

Kim says leaving the farm was difficult. Vancouver wasn’t a place where she’d dreamed of living. In fact, neither Kim nor Himanshu had even visited there. But it was an opportunity for Farm At Hand, she

says, “and there was no way that we were going to say no to opportunity.”

Over the August long weekend of 2013, Kim and Himanshu packed her truck and drove through the Prairies and mountains until they reached Vancouver. They’d rented an apartment, sight unseen, off Craig’s List, the online classifieds service.

“We slept on air mattresses for three months,” says Kim. After they’d completed the accelerator program, they decided to stay in Vancouver to build their company. Recruiting staff to Vancouver was an easier sell, especially since Vancouver and Toronto are Canada’s tech hubs.

And Vancouver has its charms. Being downtown allows Kim to catch hockey and football games. “I can go watch the Riders play without having to drive four hours... I can just walk on over,” she says.

Today Kim and Himanshu have seven staff and the number of farmers using their app has topped 20,000.

They’ve also captured interest from industry. In April 2014, they raised over $1.4 million in funding from angel investors. With that funding, they can stay true to their pledge to keep offering the app to farmers for free while they’re also creating a paid version for agribusiness, which Kim says they plan to roll out by late 2015 or early 2016.

At this point, 90 per cent of Farm At Hand’s customers are in the U.S. and Canada — mostly in Western Canada and through the U.S. Grain Belt, Kim says, but the company is also gaining customers in South America, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Australia.

No matter where they are, all farmers need the same basic things from the program, Kim says. But each farmer does things a little differently, creating a unique need, she adds. To deal with those needs, the Farm At Hand app allows farmers to create custom activities to cover tasks that aren’t on the app’s pre-built lists.

Kim and Himanshu have also figured out their roles within the company. Himanshu is the CEO, handling business and investor relations. Kim is the chief operating officer. She works closely with the development team to build the product, and works with their head of community, Anastasia Hambali. Kim essentially heads up everything on the farmer side of things, she explains.

Continued on page 22 country-guide.ca 21

insight Continued from page 21

Finding investors One benefit of the tech accelerator was that it gave them a network to bounce ideas off, says Kim. Those advisers also shared information on making deals with angel investors — often a make-or-break step in today’s tech business world.

There’s also a crucial distinction that they had to learn. Angel investors invest their own money in early-stage startups with potential. By contrast, venture capitalists invest money from a pool they’ve raised from limited partners.

So how does a farmer find angel investors?

The first answer is, “everywhere.” Through their tech accelerator, Kim and Himanshu entered Farm At Hand in various pitch competitions, and they pitched it to investor groups.

But a lot of it came down to networking, which they started doing before they even joined the tech accelerator. Their first priority had always been to do what’s best for the company and farmers, Kim says, and they talked about their vision for the business early on. “Our focus has always been to find investors that are going to help us build that vision.”

Himanshu and Kim exchanged equity for financial support from investors (the exact terms are confidential). While there was back-and-forth negotiation with investors, Kim says it wasn’t anything like you’d see on TV shows such as “Dragon’s Den.” There wasn’t anything in the initial

Farm records when and where you need them, even offline!

Wondering what cloud computing is?

Or whether you should sign up for a specific information management service? Check out the video interview with Kim Keller at country-guide.ca by searching “farm data.”

Or go to www.country-guide.ca/2015/06/12/ moving-your-farm-data-from-field-to-cloud/.

22 country-guide.ca

offering that was out of the question, she explains.

“We have a great group of investors.”

Critically, those angel investors also provide more than cash.

“We gained a ton of insight and advice from our investors. Many of them are from the agriculture industry and all of them are successful business people,” says Kim. In fact, investors from the agriculture industry are also part of the potential market for the paid version of Farm At Hand, she adds.

And because all of Farm At Hand’s investors have built successful companies, they’ve all dealt with the inevitable bumps in the road, Kim says. “They made it out the other side, and so can we.”

Farm At Hand deals with those bumps by providing the best service that they possibly can to their customers and farmers, Kim says. They make decisions based on whether it will benefit farmers, she says. And farmers send them suggestions on improving the app daily, she adds. Most of their farmers have a phone number for Kim, Himanshu or Anastasia, she adds, and their emails are on the company website.

“We say: ‘We work your hours. So whatever you need from us, just call, text, email, whatever works best for you,’” Kim says.

The Farm At Hand team has also found itself educating urbanites about modern agriculture. Some investors didn’t know that farmers used even basic technology such as smartphones, Kim explains. To counter those misconceptions, Farm At Hand launched a technology campaign, dubbed #iamfarmer as a play on the caveman-like public perception of farming. Farmers posted pictures on Twitter of everything from hailstorms looming behind combines to adorable kids. Farm At Hand also gave out T-shirts showing farming’s evolution from its very humble beginnings to now using drones.

The last few years have been quite a journey for Kim. Asked if she was ever worried about the risk, she says starting any business is risky. Being a farmer is risky, she states. “But you just do it and you go into it 100 per cent.”

Kim and Himanshu are not only bringing a new technology to farmers, but they’re also pioneering a new business model by giving farmers a free program.

“That’s risky but it’s also incredibly exciting to think that when we succeed, we’re going to be part of how agriculture is changing right now.”

So it’s then that I ask her, does she have any advice for would-be ag entrepreneurs? Her answer comes quickly. Kim says they should take every opportunity that they’re given. There are a million ways you can say no to an opportunity, she says. But that opportunity won’t wait forever.

“Even if it doesn’t open the door you thought it would, it’s going to lead to four or five others you never even dreamed of,” Kim says.

Entrepreneurship isn’t an easy road to follow. There will be times you think you can’t get up and continue the next day, Kim says. But you can, she says. “And you will. And you’ll keep on doing it. You’ll get knocked down and you’ll just keep standing back up.” CG J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

Coast-to-coast oportunities for the Canadian forage industry

By Cedric J. MacLeod Executive director, Canadian Forage and Grassland Association, cedric@canadianfga.ca

The Canadian forage industry is much like forage itself — rich in diversity, ripe with potential, and challenged by countless decisions on where to focus our inputs.

As the growing season kicks in to high gear, I'm reminded of how many returnon-investment decisions we make throughout the year as forage producers.

Do we keep back heifers or sell a few cows? Should I reseed winterkilled acres or overseed pastures? Plant annual forages, bale and sell or graze it off?

There isn't always a clear correct option — each call comes down to the financial opportunity or risk-management choice of each decision. Each day involves a series of important decisions that, ultimately, help us achieve our long-term strategies and goals.

I initiated a rotational grazing system at my home farm in the summer of 1996, the first summer I returned home from a four-year tenure at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College.

In that year, the productivity of our pastures for five cow-calf pairs was doubled, and I was convinced that this was the change our farm needed. This change in management, while small in the grand scheme of the Canadian beef industry, was substantial in my own small sphere of influence. Similarly, small changes to an industry that encompasses 34 million acres of tame forage and 36 million acres of native pasture, can add up quite quickly.

CANADIAN FORAGE & GRASSLAND ASSOCIATION www.canadianfga.ca Ph: 506-260-0872

I have been fortunate to travel across Canada, speaking and interacting with ranchers and dairy operators from the interior of B.C., to the Alberta foothills, to the grey wooded zones of Saskatchewan, Manitoba's Interlake, grass and crop producers throughout Ontario and Quebec, and of course in my home base of the Atlantic provinces. I've provided technical agronomy support to some of the highest producing beef and dairy operators in these regions, and have learned first-hand just how incredibly diverse the Canadian forage production industry can be.

opportunity to highlight the important role of forages in the Canadian agri-ecosystem.

Change can be scary. It's embracing the unknown and, possibly, opening ourselves up to new challenges. It's a difficult concept that causes many to become nervous even when just discussing options for change.

From my years working with young farmer organizations across Canada discussing advanced farm management systems and farm business continuance planning, I tend now to focus on the concept of evolution instead of change, as it implies a more logical movement forward, a more-comforting slow and steady pace, whereas change invokes a feeling of option A stops now, and option B begins.

Coast to coast, the challenges and opportunities facing the forage industry vary considerably. It is our job to focus and prioritize which challenges get tackled first, and which opportunities are first on the list to leverage.

Evolution in the goals we generate for our grass stands, and how we go about achieving these goals has accelerated over the past five years. Recognition of the value of high-quality forages in our livestock rations has created an exciting new

I am excited to have the opportunity to take on the challenge that is the Canadian Forage and Grasslands Association, and for the opportunity to work towards leveraging the Canadian grass advantage opportunity.

When you tally it up: highly productive and fertile soils, a refreshed and invigorated industry boasting new entrants in every province, a robust beef and dairy complex and a growing export opportunity in North America and abroad — how could I not be excited?

I look forward to working closely with our national and provincial partners to assess where we are, where we need to be, and how we get there. Developing a structured approach to evolution of the Canadian Forage and Grasslands Association is my goal, and I look forward to working with you towards it.

Save the Date for the 2015 CFGA Annual General Meeting on November 18-19th in Saskatoon, SK. Canadian Forage in the International Year of Soils – Capture the Intensity .

More information available at: http://www.canadianfga.ca/

insight

His new playbook What can farmers adapt from Wade Barnes’ trail-blazing success at Farmers Edge?

I

n an agriculture that is struggling to figure out what its future will look like, Wade Barnes may at least know how to get there. And, as his example seems to promise, knowing ‘how’ may put you on the path to knowing ‘who,’ which in farming is the question that will eventually answer all the others.

In Barnes’ world view, the farmer today has the opportunity to achieve more than ever before. If you bring the right juice to the game, and if you run with the right playbook, the possibilities can be incredible, whether on the farm or in partner businesses.

“I’ve seen things other people haven’t seen yet,” says Barnes, CEO of Farmers Edge, the Winnipeg-based variable-rate technology (VRT) startup that now has 190 employees in five countries.

Launched in a Manitoba basement by 24 country-guide.ca

Barnes and co-founder Curtis MacKinnon in 2005, Farmers Edge today has its eye on global leadership in precision-farming technology and management.

But the technology is only half the reason for his excitement. Barnes has also seen the application of Silicon Valley’s corporate strategies to the world of farming, and it has changed his outlook permanently.

Can his playbook work on your farm?

Would you even want it to?

Barnes is convinced that variable-rate technology and “big data” are revolutionary, not just evolutionary. “This will change everything,” Barnes says. “This is the next Green Revolution, this is the next GMO moment.”

His belief is making all the difference for his company, Barnes says, and it can make that much difference for farmers too.

Nothing is more important for young and mid-career farmers to understand, and to engage with, he says. “Nothing.”

Barnes wants to be understood exactly. He doesn’t want any of us to hear it wrong, only partly because it could be so easy to dismiss what he says as the kind of pie-in-the-sky thinking that agriculture can seem particularly prone to.

“I was born and bred in the field,” Barnes begins, talking of his early days on the farm near Pilot Mound, Man., after which he did a university degree in agriculture and became one of the hundreds of company agronomists across the West. It was a job he loved. He was even named a Certified Crop Adviser of the Year, and he bought fully into it the prevailing ethos. “If your nose isn’t in the dirt,” he remembers thinking, “you’re not going to make good recommendations.”

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

Photography: victoria anne photography

By Tom Button, CG Editor

insight But that was then, not now.

Today, Barnes says with even greater conviction, “Agriculture is all math.”

When he and MacKinnon got their first taste of variablerate technology a decade ago, they immediately saw it as a game changer. Until then, farmers aimed to make the best average decisions, an approach Barnes calls the soil-sample philosophy. You take cores across the field, but instead of analyzing those cores separately and using them for localized application rates, you dump them all into a pail and blend them before sending one sample to the lab to represent the entire field.

The goal was to fertilize at the best average rate, the same way you’d spray a fungicide, for example, picking the best average day for the entire crop.

Barnes admits that he and MacKinnon weren’t the only ones a bit star struck by VRT’s potential, yet few others quit their jobs, as he and MacKinnon did, when their boss refused to charge forward with the new technology as quickly as the duo wanted. And few others set up business, as MacKinnon and Barnes did in his basement, with no money, little credit except their personal lines, and almost no income.

Today, Barnes admits too that he and MacKinnon probably did jump a bit too early, in a way. Results in those first

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Now, take your empty fertilizer containers along for the ride!

Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers 4/2/14

10901A-CFM-5Reasons-QRTPage-CountryGuide.indd 1

11:59 AM

Monsanto Company is a member of Excellence Through Stewardship® (ETS). Monsanto products are commercialized in accordance with ETS Product Launch Stewardship Guidance, and in compliance with Monsanto’s Policy for Commercialization of Biotechnology-Derived Plant Products in Commodity Crops.

Commercialized products have been approved for import into key export markets with functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material produced from this product can only be exported to, or used, processed or sold in countries where all necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It is a violation of national and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted. Growers should talk to their grain handler or product purchaser to confirm their buying position for this product. Excellence Through Stewardship® is a registered trademark of Excellence Through Stewardship.

years were mixed. Technology and science still had to catch up. But the early start meant the two got in at the ground floor, and it gave them a chance to immerse themselves in the concept and to figure out its implications for the farm.

By 2012, when crop data was being successfully paired with localized weather instrumentation, Barnes was seeing, time and again, that analysts with remote data access could know more about what was going on in the field than local scouts, even though the analysts never left their offices.

However, what set the growth of Farmers Edge into overdrive was their leadership in understanding of what precision agriculture will mean for farms as businesses, not just as production units.

To this day, if you want to see Barnes bristle, tell him that VRT is a niche sector. “No one in agriculture will think that,” he snaps back.

Barnes sees the technology rewiring how farm business is done. “The farmer is the only person who makes a huge amount of decisions — million-dollar decisions — based on gut instinct,”

ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Ready® crops contain genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides. Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate. Acceleron® seed treatment technology for canola contains the active ingredients difenoconazole, metalaxyl (M and S isomers), fludioxonil and thiamethoxam. Acceleron® seed treatment technology for canola plus Vibrance® is a combination of two separate individually-registered products, which together contain the active ingredients difenoconazole, metalaxyl (M and S isomers), fludioxonil, thiamethoxam, and sedaxane. Acceleron® seed treatment technology for corn (fungicides and insecticide) is a combination of four separate individually-registered products, which together contain the active ingredients metalaxyl, trifloxystrobin, ipconazole, and clothianidin. Acceleron® seed treatment technology for corn (fungicides only) is a combination of three separate individually-registered products, which together contain the active ingredients metalaxyl, trifloxystrobin and ipconazole. Acceleron® seed treatment technology for corn with Poncho®/VoTivo™ (fungicides, insecticide and nematicide) is a combination of five separate individually-registered products, which together contain the active ingredients metalaxyl, trifloxystrobin, ipconazole, clothianidin and Bacillus firmus strain I-1582. Acceleron® seed treatment technology for soybeans (fungicides and insecticide) is a combination of four separate individually registered products, which together contain the active ingredients fluxapyroxad, pyraclostrobin, metalaxyl and imidacloprid.

Acceleron® seed treatment technology for soybeans (fungicides only) is a combination of three separate individually registered products, which together contain the active ingredients fluxapyroxad, pyraclostrobin and metalaxyl. Acceleron and Design®, Acceleron®, DEKALB and Design®, DEKALB®, Genuity and Design®, Genuity®, JumpStart®, RIB Complete and Design®, RIB Complete®, Roundup Ready 2 Technology and Design®, Roundup Ready 2 Yield®, Roundup Ready®, Roundup Transorb®, Roundup WeatherMAX®, Roundup®, SmartStax and Design®, SmartStax®, Transorb®, VT Double PRO®, and VT Triple PRO® are registered trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Used under license. Vibrance® and Fortenza® are registered trademarks of a Syngenta group company. LibertyLink® and the Water Droplet Design are trademarks of Bayer. Used under license. Herculex® is a registered trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC. Used under license. Poncho® and Votivo™ are trademarks of Bayer. Used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Continued on page 26 J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

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insight Continued from page 25 Barnes says. “He’s got a great gut to do it, but in five years, that will change. He’ll rely on data generated on his farm to make decisions.

That’s where I want to see us.”

Farmers will test a new combine on the farm, generating data about fuel efficiency, harvest speed, field losses and more to prove to the dealer what the combine is actually worth. They’ll know exactly what fertilizer to apply, what seed to plant, and how to schedule, manage and monitor complex field operations.

More than that, they will use this capability to build new partnerships, bypassing elevators and dealing directly with endusers, providing a General Mills for instance, a superior combination of genetics, climate and soil to grow its oats, together with data transparency so it can know exactly how many tonnes of what quality it will get, and when it will get it.

Nor is that a dream, Barnes says. In fact, the biggest gap isn’t technological. The big gap is in the farms that are ready to make those deals come together.

Barnes is convinced it’s a temporary gap that is already being bridged by innovative farmers around the world, and their success with data-based input decisions and data-based marketing initiatives is going to help fuel the growth of Farmers Edge over the next five years, making it a key player in five core markets — Canada, the U.S., Australia, Eastern Europe, and Brazil, which Barnes refers to as the Saudi Arabia of agriculture.

Along the way, many of those farmers may in turn be watching Barnes and Farmers Edge to learn how to turn their opportunities into modern business realities.

What they’ll mainly see is the critical role that they themselves will have to play.

The higher you go in business, Barnes will tell them, the more you will be judged on whether you bring the right stuff to the table.

Despite all the accountants and all the technical advisers, at the end of the day if you want to partner with even the biggest organizations, you can expect someone in a boardroom to demand a chance to look you in the eye and ask, is this someone I want to do business with?

If anything, Barnes is finding that his personality and his personal attributes grow more important as the company grows and the scale of its partnerships increases.

Barnes points to two Monsanto announcements that helped convince Farmers Edge to get extra serious about growth.

“When Monsanto bought Precision Planters (in 2012), I went, ‘The world is going to change,’” Barnes says. “Either we sell right now or we raise capital and we change the business.”

The decision was to raise capital, and Farmers Edge bolstered its board of directors, bringing in key resources including Brian Heywood with his solid background in that arena.

Then in 2013 Monsanto paid $1 billion for Climate Corp., a startup founded by Google employees David Friedberg and Siraj Khaliq that had an income stream of roughly $30 million.

Again, the message was to get big or get out.

More than that, the message was also to get big by forming the right partnerships with investors who would open up new market opportunities.

“This is the side of it that a lot of people don’t realize,” Barnes says. “Raising capital is really hard. It’s much more difficult than anybody can ever imagine… not just raising capital, but raising the right capital.”

Soon, Farmers Edge was being studied for acquisition, but 26 country-guide.ca

“ This will change everything,” Barnes says. “This is the next Green Revolution, this is the next GMO moment.”

Barnes was also making his way to key boardrooms across Canada and in Silicon Valley, netting a deal with Kleiner Perkins after about a year of discussions, and with Mitsui after nearly two years.

In both, the process was similar, starting with a couple of phone calls and the exchange of some initial documents, then followed by extensive due-diligence analysis, followed up with a series of personal visits.

“It’s all about that,” Barnes says. “They’re making a bet on you as the CEO. That’s what it’s all about.” Such investors would rather see the company thrive with its own leadership rather than bring in a new team, which as a strategy has a more mixed track record.

So what did they look for? Barnes has a pretty clear idea.

Both Kleiner Perkins and Mitsui wanted a player with entrepreneurial fire and with vision, and a leader able to attract and retain great talent. Critically, however, they also wanted a CEO who was prepared to be tough as well, and a leader who can make change, including in himself.

Barnes thinks the timing is great for farmers to expand into this new era. Not only is the field open, he says, but Canada has a good supply of smart ag graduates who can make great employees for employers who can create the exciting, challenging jobs that they want.

But also make sure you monitor your own performance, he advises. Every business goes through periods of stress, and it is in those times that employees and investors want a sense of structure, and a sense that the company knows how to get the job done.

“The entrepreneurial excitement is infectious, but if you don’t adapt, your people will get frustrated,” Barnes says, adding, “I’m a farm kid, I have no MBA or business training, but I know that if you believe in something, you have to change, grow and adapt. You have to keep the entrepreneurial, renegade spirit, but bring in structure and focus.

“If they see I’m changing, that’s infectious too.” CG J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

insight

Genuinely in business OK, so it’s a cliché that business means people working with people.

It’s also how you create success.

Just ask Dow’s Brad Orr

By Tom Button, CG Editor

O

f all the global ag input suppliers, Dow AgroSciences has arguably changed the most, transitioning from a company whose Canadian presence was dominated by Treflan, a herbicide that nobody sprays today, into a diversified operation with a strong national presence and significant market share in crop protection, plant genetics, traits and more.

There’s just as good a case for arguing, however, that Dow has also changed the least. It’s still differentiated from its major competitors in the same way, based on its culture.

Growers know it intuitively. To them, Dow feels different, and a trip to its head office in Indianapolis confirms it. Compared to Monsanto, it isn’t as preppy, or as upwardly mobile as Syn-

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

genta, or as European as BASF or intellectual as Bayer.

Actually, it could be hard to know exactly what word to use to describe Dow, except, of course, for the fact that Dow has already come up with it.

“Genuine,” says Brad Orr, just finishing his first year as head of Dow’s Canadian business.

In fact, Dow has a small handful of such words — also including collaborative, resourceful and responsible — that it routinely tests itself on, including via feedback from growers.

“Building the culture of an organization, and its performance on individual projects, are related,” Orr explains.

But there’s even more to it than that.

Crucially, Orr says, culture influences your relationship with your customers, and how you anticipate and satisfy their needs.

For farmers looking at whether they might import high-level, Dow-based thinking to drive their own businesses over the next five years, this may even be where to start.

Of course, the rule of thumb is the same for agribusiness as it is for farming, with 80 per cent of your effort needing to go into getting the best, most efficiently produced crop to market. With global sales of roughly C$9 billlion and with 9,000 employees worldwide, Dow AgroSciences understandably puts most of its hours into ensuring that its pipeline is full.

Now that the company has diversified into everything from Nexera canola to the new Dow Seeds, and from crop protection to the Enlist trait that makes corn Continued on page 28 country-guide.ca 27

insight Continued from page 27

28 country-guide.ca

“ Open, honest conversation about what you are and what you aren’t is the beginning,” Orr says. “It makes for great collaboration.”

Orr, raised as a Manitoba farm boy, but now with 26 years with Dow, starting as a summer student while in university and followed with postings in Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

“Mother Nature humbles us. Every time you find a solution, you have to look for a new solution.”

That’s not to say, however, that “relationship marketing” doesn’t work. In fact, it’s that kind of thinking that helped drive Dow’s recent genetics announcement in Ontario, where for the past five years it has sold corn and soybean seed through

the two predecessor brands it had acquired — Mycogen and Hyland.

Now, all its sales will be through a combined Dow Seeds, partly because combining the two seed lists will result in one, more competitive catalogue with a larger research team behind it, but also because combining the sales lists will increase the new brand’s ability to have agronomists and other sales support on its customers’ farms.

The decision leaves the U.S. as the only Dow market selling genetics under different brands, and it marks a strategy to raise Dow’s genetics sales in Canada.

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

Photography: anne de haas

and soybeans tolerant to the Enlist Duo combination of glyphosate and 2,4-D choline, plus other product lines including nitrogen stabilizers such as N-Serve, this has become an exceedingly multidisciplinary task.

From a people-management perspective, it is also a challenge. Not only does Dow need experts on hand in all those different fields, but each segment also demands a share of the finite management, marketing and sales resources that Dow can muster on any given day.

It’s much the same, Orr agrees, as for farmers who diversify and now must not only pay attention to their grains and oilseeds, but somehow find the hours to monitor a specialty crop as well.

The business argument is clear. Dow has aggressive growth targets with the goal, within five years, of becoming recognized as a top-tier Canadian input company in a market where farmers have a wide choice of competitively priced technologies, and where they will only buy the best.

One route would be to sweeten its loyalty benefits, using marketing programs that increasingly reward farmers to up their Dow purchases.

It’s called a share-of-wallet approach, tied in to the thinking that it’s cheaper to grow sales with an existing customer than to go out and get a new farmer on your list.

All companies consider it, and Orr concedes Dow does too. “We all have our lists of cutomers we want to acquire, those who are loyal, those who have slipped.”

But Orr doubts how far that thinking can go. Attractive as it might seem, it would put the company at odds with its customer base, which prizes its independence and its ability to retain choice.

Instead, says Orr, the path forward is to focus more on its portfolio. “You have to give yourself the right to ask for the sale,” Orr says.

Increasingly, that means not specializing only in crop protection, or only in traits or genetics.

In a market where customers will only buy the best technology, and where none of the sciences can be expected to always produce the best solution, the necessary choice is to aim for world-class capability in all three, despite the additional people demands it creates.

“This is a humbling business,” says

insight “Having two brands was slowing us down,” Orr says. In the corn market, where Dekalb and DuPontPioneer have a combined 80 per cent market share, and where Mycogen and Hyland have a combined eight per cent, Orr is promising that Dow will grow its sales aggressively and become “the clear alternative within five years.

There will be three large companies… we can get there.”

That strength in Eastern Canada, combined with the company’s leadership in cereal herbicides in the West, plus its market share with Nexera and the growth of its traits sales, will then support growth across segments and enable the company to focus even more on relationships with its grower customers.

It’s a plan based on hard numbers and a goal that Orr articulates for staff and, increasingly, for customers. “Five years from now, Dow AgroSciences will be viewed as a leader in introducing innovation,” Orr says. “We will be seen as a toptier company.”

Because Dow is convinced that it

will take excellence in multiple disciplines to achieve that, Orr knows that tough decisions lie ahead, forcing him to choose which resources go to which initiatives.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Orr says, adding, “You always have to evaluate what’s core to your business, and what will create success by creating the most customer success.”

It also means there’s another pipeline that Orr is carefully monitoring. It’s the flow of new employees into the organization, and the growth of those already there.

Increasingly, that’s a multi-generational workforce, with the same opportunities and challenges that farmers see in their own operations. It takes careful thought to create an environment where the different generations can work together despite differences in work styles, expectations and personal goals.

Increasingly too, it’s a workforce with more gender balance. Women make up half of Dow’s western regional sales force, and Orr says that’s only a beginning. The clear evidence, he says, is that fostering

that kind of diversity leads to better decisions.

Again, the parallels with the farm come to mind. Orr’s team continually evaluates not only the progress but the aspirations of its people. As on more farms, it also finds ways of keeping the channels of communications open, so individuals have a clear role in defining their own development plans.

“It’s an ongoing dialogue,” Orr says, and the company uses tactics ranging from internships to temporary assignments at its Indianapolis headquarters to work on specific assignments.

Hitting these HR targets is as vital as any other business numbers.

Overall, though, it’s part of a core belief that human relationships can be optimized for success, whether those are relationships with customers, partners or staff. As a leader, Orr says, he needs to recognize what he can control, and what he can’t. “If you try to control things you can’t control, that’s not very genuine.” CG (With files from Amy Petherick)

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country-guide.ca 29

A M E - ma n a g eme n t

Three key alignments for top farm management

By Terry Betker hen the planets align, life on the farm can be very rewarding, like when your weather is perfect at the same time that there are production shortfalls in other parts of the world and you can price into market highs.

There are other alignments, however, that are much more within your control when you are managing your farm business, including business direction, financial performance and management structure.

In a way, these factors have impacted farm business performance for decades, but as farms grow in size and complexity, it is increasingly important that we understand them better, and that we monitor them as the farm business moves through its life cycle.

Business direction This alignment consideration is really about strategic direction. Farms and farm families should have written vision statements that provide longer-term direction. A vision is the foundation of your future: what you want your farm business to become.

Technically, a vision statement should be a little cloudy and grand. Practically (which I find most farm families prefer) it should describe where you see your farm business five years from now. It is not set in stone. The vision will evolve over time as situations and circumstances change. It represents the direction of the business or where the business is headed. It becomes the road map — the “you can’t get there if you don’t know where you’re headed” reality.

Financial performance All businesses, including your farm, are tracking somewhere financially. They have an existing financial direction. For most farmers, this is a reactive function meaning that the financial position in the future — say five years from now — will be an outcome of what will happen over that time frame.

The preferred approach is to define what you want, or need, your financial position to be. Then determine what can and needs to be done to achieve it. Think of it as creating your financial vision. It should include financial targets and investment guidelines. How do you know if you are tracking to where you want to be financially if you haven’t defined the goal?

Logically, there should be a significant degree of alignment between a business vision and a financial vision. I find myself in discussions with farm families 30 country-guide.ca

where there sometimes is a disconnect between their ideas of where they want their farm to be in the future and their ability to get there financially. Having a dream and then realizing after a time that you can’t afford it can be discouraging. It’s like setting out on a trip and partway along the journey, finding out that you don’t have enough gas. It can cause frustration, add stress and result in hard feelings. Alternatively, financial clarity can have a positive impact on the business and family.

Management Structure Your farm’s management structure becomes more complex as your business grows, especially if there are intergenerational transitions. The basic management functions on a farm are the same, but what’s involved in attending to those functions has changed and is changing. For many farms, this is a new reality.

Simply stated, what does the management structure of your farm need to look like five years from now so the farm’s management will be appropriately aligned with your financial and business vision? Putting some structure around the management functions on a farm can yield powerful results, but it doesn’t have to be a complex exercise.

Start by drawing an organizational chart that best represents how your business is currently being managed. Determine who has responsibility for operations, marketing, financial and human resource management. Next, define what the tasks are in each of those management areas.

Then, repeat the process for what you think will be required from a management structure perspective five years from now, both in terms of the tasks and the responsibilities in order to define what your management structure should look like in the future. The process then is to begin to work towards it.

Three key alignments are required: • Creating your business and family vision.

• Putting definition around your farm’s financial future.

• Developing a management structure that reflects the current reality and future requirements.

Once completed, you’ll be able to monitor the alignment and make the adjustments that will be required to keep them aligned. CG Terry Betker is a farm management consultant based in Winnipeg, Man. He can be reached at 204-782-8200 or terry.betker@backswath.com. He is an instructor with Agri-Food Management Excellence’s CTEAM program. j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

THE ONTARIO AGROLOGIST A conversation with Lorne King, P.Ag., Technical Sales Representative and customer support coordinator with Plant Products, based in Leamington. Plant Products is a supplier of fertilizer, pest control products, seeds and other specialty equipment and services to the horticulture greenhouse, nursery and the turf industries across Canada and the US. Q: Can you summarize your

value and benefits for customers

formal education and your

through product evaluations in

current job responsibilities?

commercial greenhouses. And since

Lorne: I joined Plant Products in

2008 I’ve served on the Canadian

May of 1999 following graduation

Greenhouse Conference trade show

from the University of Guelph after

committee and have served as the

receiving my Bachelor of Science

committee chair for the last three years.

degree in Horticulture. A large part of my responsibility over the past couple of years has involved evaluating bio-controls at customers’ greenhouses while the company’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) division has expanded. I also helped design our online custom fertilizer program software, and the company

My job has also allowed me to do some

of knowledge and qualifications from

international travel. I’ve participated

employees who work directly with

in fertilizer seminars in the Netherlands

our greenhouse operator customers.

and Israel, organized by the various

So, in order to be viewed as a more

major industry manufacturers,

capable and professionally qualified

related to such things as greenhouse

individual, I went through the process

climate control and diffused lighting

of becoming a designated Agrologist.

in commercial vegetable crops

website. We conduct regular quality

Q: You had been working for a

analysis of all the company’s fertilizer

decade before going after your

ingredients, and formulate custom

certification through the OIA. Was

fertilizer recipes as required.

there any particular reason for wanting

My work also involves company liaison

to qualify for P.Ag. certification?

I do feel more comfortable in having that professional credibility a P.Ag. designation brings to the table. The agricultural, agrifood and agribusiness industry only continues to increase in its complexity. My OIA membership also

duties with the Ontario Greenhouse

Lorne: Yes, I’d finished university and

Vegetable Growers for registered

had been working for more than

pesticides and participation in the

10 years when I received my P.Ag.

OGVG Research Prioritization Workshop

designation, in 2012. For some time

concerning new pesticide registrations.

now there have been concerns related

I work with the company’s marketing

to nutrient recycling and other issues

The access to a professional agrologist

and regulatory departments to

within the greenhouse industry. My

network here in Ontario is a real

determine a new product’s safety,

company was looking for more depth

asset to me and to Plant Products.

gives me access to a range of qualified professionals across the agricultural and agribusiness industries, well beyond the horticultural greenhouse industry.

The Ontario Institute of Agrologists represents nearly 500 Professional (P.Ag.), Technical (T.Ag.), and Articling (A.Ag.) Agrologist members across Ontario’s diverse agricultural industry. The OIA is based in Guelph.

For a current listing of OIA Members, events and information go to the website shown below.

www.oia.on.ca

business

The roads of

Zambia

By Maggie Van Camp, CG Associate Editor

We’ve always known the country’s agriculture potential is massive. Now there are signs it is being opened up

Associate editor Maggie Van Camp travelled to Zambia through an International Federation of Agricultural Journalists investigation into the country’s challenges and opportunities. One farm was ultramodern and 74,000 acres, she reports. Others struggle with basic subsistence. The future may need both. riving to Nsongwe, Zambia from tourist-rich Livingstone is a tooth-rattling, 30-minute adventure through a savannah of parched grass and scrub trees.

Occasionally we see a clearing and a mud hut with its thatched roof, an open firepit, chickens, and brightly dressed women and children.

Colin Eves drives the jeep over the rough winding red dirt road. He’s a partner in The SilvaGro Partnership, one of the largest forest seedling producers in Western Canada, and he also runs a not-for-profit charity in rural Zambia.

In 2007, after the tragic death of their teenage son, he and his wife, Sandra, went to Zimbabwe to help a medical team treat displaced people after a flood. Soon after, the couple started the charity called the SAM project, for Sustainability through Agriculture and Micro-enterprises (www.thesamproject.ca).

It’s a not-for-profit, non-political and secular charity that aims to help the HIV/AIDs-ravaged population, improving its standard of living and providing education and medicine.

32 country-guide.ca

Eves and I are on our way to see the goat-breeding project his charity has helped create. In Zambia, goats are mostly left to forage through the villages and along the roadsides. Eves and the local chairman of this project, the successful emerging farmer and village head Teddy Neube, set up a goat-breeding co-operative of five members to improve genetics, piggy-backed with some husbandry training.

They imported three big Boer billy goats from South Africa and added them to a small rapidly growing herd of about 65 to cross with females, housed in little barns on stilts. The F1 offspring of bigger, hardier hybrid nannies will be bred back to another Boer male.

Over the 18 months so far, the goat-breeding cooperative has already established three of its planned five goat farms, says Eves.

Along the road to the village, we meet a donkey cart hauling jerry cans full of water to the farmyard at the top of a hill that has no well. Hardly anyone out here has their own well. Every day, the farmer hauls water a few miles from the community well that the Rotary Club drilled.

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

business

Canadian Colin Eves felt called to help a country with one million poor farmers J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

The World Bank’s report, Recent Economic Developments and the State of Basic Human Opportunities for Children, has urged more investment targeted at the region’s lagging rural areas, particularly in infrastructure services such as drinking water, sanitation and electricity. Basic opportunities for children still remain a challenge. The same report says the largest barrier is for those born in rural areas, and for those who are female.

At the bottom of yet another bumpy hill, two small children flag Eves down for a ride. He recognizes them as children of a friend from the village and he offers to drop them off at the well.

Beaming, they hop in the back. Their English so far consists of, “I am fine, and how are you?” but by the time they finish school (public education only goes to Grade 7), they’ll be as fluent in English as the majority of the population.

Beaming, the girl places her hand against mine, filling only my palm.

“I guess I came here to help them hold on to their children a little longer,” says Eves. “People are like comets, they come into our lives and we remember their light.”

Running through this heart-wrenching story is money and greed — government spending, foreign investment, NGO (nongovernment organization) and mission projects. The problem with many wellmeaning NGOs and government agencies is that individuals take advantage of systems. “Some are gamed by the bureaucrats running the NGOs,” says Eves.

“Sometimes corrupted funds are channelled to the wrong places so they don’t make it to the villages.”

As we drive by a cluster of huts, Eves points out an empty corncrib made of sticks about two feet off the ground. The maize crop this year was poor because of ill-timed rains, and Eves says folks will be relying on the government to give them their allotted two 50-pound bags of maize cobs to last them through until the next crop.

Maize is the staple here and is made into a sticky mash so it can be hand rolled in balls and dipped in stews and vegetables. After years of subsidies to grow maize, Zambia is starting to shift to more diversified crops and diet. “The composition of the food basket is maize, maize and more maize,” says Given Lubinda, minister of agriculture and livestock. “We are trying to improve, not only food security but also overall nutrition.”

Build it big Big thinking and big opportunities can create big operations in Zambia.

But don’t forget to budget for rifles From the main highway it takes at least half an hour to traverse the washboard roads and cut across the fields that are fenced with electrified barbed wire, with armed guards stationed at the gates.

Dust flies up, and our vehicles are going only slightly faster than the many bicycles along the way. At one point, baboons and monkeys noisily scatter, climbing up the overhead trees.

At the end of our journey is the impressive 74,000-acre Zambezi Ranching and Cropping Ltd. The farm’s numbers are staggering: 380,000 broilers 6.4 times a year; 8,000 beef cows and calves; a $1.5-million piggery producing gilts; and 320 acres of tobacco with a processing unit. Along with the huge expanse of dryland pastures, there’s also 2,500 acres of open-pollinated seed maize, 2,500 acres of soybeans, 500 acres of Irish potatoes (they are a new crop in Zambia) and 1,400 acres of wheat under pivot irrigation that lets them rotate two to three crops a year.

Zambezi Ranching and Cropping Ltd. is a joint venture formed by Graham Rae with Ed Fleming from the U.K. and Francis Grogen, originally from Ireland but who now also owns Zambia’s largest beef feedlot and slaughterhouse, Zambeef.

Rae arrived from Zimbabwe in 2001, bringing his equipment, formidable energy and expertise to Zambia after pro-government militants, led by veterans of the 1970s liberation war, began invading white-owned farms in the former Rhodesia.

Recently, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe signed a law giving the remaining 2,900 white farmers 45 days to wind up their operations and another 45 days, expiring at midnight on August 8, to move off their land and make way for black settlers. Compared to Zimbabwe, Zambia feels like a land of opportunity for Rae. “I’m a farmer, my grandfather was a farmer, my father was a farmer,” says Rae. “I can’t sleep in the city.”

In 2001, the partnership’s 20,000 Continued on page 34 country-guide.ca 33

business

Graham Rae manages 74,000 acres of crops in a land often without passable roads

Continued from page 33 hectares were sitting bare and undeveloped — no wells, no electricity, no fences, no houses, no buildings. After a decade of cheap, abundant labour and modern farming technology, however, now it’s swarming with capitalism.

Today only 38 per cent of the African population has access to electricity, and the penetration rate for the Internet is under 10 per cent. In Zambia electricity is prepaid. In the city, tokens are sold in kiosks at the side of the road.

In the 14 years Rae has been here, the secondary road to the farm has been graded only once, and he has never seen any government improvements to the roads. That might be about to change.

34 country-guide.ca

Yamfwa Mukanga, Zambian minister of transport, works, supply and communications says the government is hoping to create private/public partnerships to improve feeder roads. This could work well for the large commercial farms, like Rae’s, with their own fleet of equipment.

As the crow flies, Zambezi Ranching and Cropping Ltd. is only 20 km from Zambia’s capital Lusaka, and theft is a big problem. Rae even buys feed instead of milling it himself so he knows exactly what’s coming over his weigh scales at the gate. “It’s like a takeout shop,” he says.

Every night, 16 to 22 armed guards protect cattle and property. Rae spends $15,000 a month on security and says Zimbabwe was even more malicious and random. Every night, shots are fired, and a few weeks before my visit a cattle poacher was killed. Sometimes, though, his guards come under fire too. “We are about 15:1 here,” says Rae pragmatically talking about the ratio of human deaths

almost as if they’re production risks. “It’s like the Wild West here.”

The farm employs 1,800 people who are supplied with housing and free medical. Residents of the local village also use the sparse but clean medical centre on the farm for a minimum fee. Mostly they’re provided with HIV medication.

In the 1980s AIDS basically wiped out the middle class of many villages in Zambia, crippling society and the economy.

Today, 75 per cent of Africa’s population is under the age of 25, and although testing is limited, in many villages the majority of adults is HIV positive.

In Zambia, the average farm worker earns US$100 to $150 a month. Last year the government introduced legislation to raise the minimum wage to 33 kwacha a day, equivalent to US$6/day.

“A loyal, healthy community is essential,” says Rae. Continued on page 36 J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

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business

Zambian opportunity Zambia wants to open up 10 farms… 250,000 acres each The contrasts in Africa vibrate. Red dust savannahs give way to green rivers streaming with life; mud-hut poverty subsists in the midst of copious natural resources; shoppers haggle at markets packed with vegetables while just a few miles away, the hungry wait in lines at desert refugee camps.

More than half of the 10 most unequal countries in the world are in Africa, according to the Gini Coefficient Index, a standard measure of income equality, and that includes Zambia, a place where the disparity in income, production and infrastructure is as wide or wider in agriculture than it is in any other sector.

Food is paramount and precious.

One-fifth of Zambia’s GDP and 85 per cent of its jobs are generated by food, fish and forestry. Yet, most farmers are living below the poverty line, only one dry season away from starvation. The vast majority of the over one million farmers in Zambia is self-sustaining on less than a couple of acres, and many are female. The most common farm equipment is the short hoe.

In contrast, commercial-scale farms have technology that meets or surpasses North American norms. Near Zambia’s capital of Lusaka, AGCO, GSI and Bayer have collaborated on an impressive research and demonstration farm to showcase both large and small mechanization, pivot irrigation, storage technology, and crop diversity.

AGCO’s senior vice-president and general manager for Europe, Africa and Middle East, Rob Smith, projects his company’s annual sales in this continent will quadruple in about five years to $1 billion.

Everyone seems to agree that the potential is huge. Currently, only 14 per cent of Zambia’s arable land is under cultivation, and the country has access to 40 per cent of the continent’s groundwater.

Now, money is coming into the country to help turn that opportunity into reality.

Zambia is on the cusp of great change with its stable, pro-investment government. “The agriculture sector plays a critical role in the country’s 36 country-guide.ca

economy. Agriculture could stimulate job creation and enhance rural resilience and break the chain of rural poverty,” says Given Lubinda, minister of agriculture and livestock.

The government goal is to bring 2.5 million acres of land under cultivation in the next 10 years. At the official opening of AGCO’s Future Farm in May, Lubinda announced that 11 parcels, each with 250,000 acres of undeveloped land are being opened up to co-venture with investors. Germans already control one.

The state owns 20 per cent of the land but chieftains control the remaining 80 per cent, called traditional land, distributing leases as they see fit.

In 1995, the Land Act allowed for traditional land to convert to state land with private leaseholds. About 10 per cent of land held under traditional tenure has been privatized. It’s a sign of progress, but the process is slow and bureaucratic. Without title, there’s limited collateral to improve or expand, and little incentive for outside investment.

ZAMBIA, A COUNTRY OF CONTRASTS From top to bottom: Huge elevators sit idle because the roads connecting them to coastal ports have never been built; small farms have no wells and farmers spend hours a day hauling water for their families and to livestock.

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

business

Moving beyond sustenance In Zambia you not only need resources, you need swagger At points, the road to Francis Moomga’s 28-cow dairy is barely passable by vehicle. And this is the dry season.

Even so, the milk from this handmilked herd is delivered daily by ox and cart to a co-operative’s collective milk coolers. The Magoye Smallholders Dairy Farmers Co-operative has 225 active farmers supplying 2,700 litres of milk a day. Twice a day, the members deliver the milk to the collection site from up to 20 km away, mostly by bicycle.

Many small-holding farmers deliver food to markets by bicycling or walking with their wares piled on their heads or in a wheelbarrow. Some emerging farmers have dirt bikes, small cars and trucks. Most of the marketing is done by the men, while the production labour often falls to the women.

Studies have shown that poor road, rail and port facilities add 30 to 40 per cent to the costs of goods traded among African countries.

Beyond the few major highways in this country, the roads are bone-jarringly poor. Only a quarter of Africa’s road network is paved. The newly elected Zambian government is in the process of building 8,000 kms of major throughways and it is establishing private/public partnerships for secondary roads, according to Transport Minister Mukanga.

The harsh reality is that change and construction are excruciatingly slow here, yet so needed. For example, a bridge is being constructed to Botswana, a major trading partner and route to South Africa. Although construction has started, it will be at least a couple of years before this small bridge is complete. Currently the ferry takes transport trucks across the river one at a time, with a four- or five-day wait to cross.

Zambia fell into poverty after international copper prices declined in the 1970s. The socialist regime at the time

tried but failed to prop up the country’s economy. The railroad through Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe), stopped construction and it still remains 1,000 km short of the port.

Along this railway line, terminal concrete elevators that were built in the 1960s still sit underutilized. They’re big white-elephant reminders of how building infrastructure doesn’t solve anything if it’s not well thought through,

done with integrity, maintained and secure.

The other reality is that building infrastructure to stimulate economic growth only works if it’s complete and if it complements an overall economic plan for the country. In any country, business growth needs a heavy dose of entrepreneurial willpower. But in Africa, it seems, you also need swagger, passion and grit. CG

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country-guide.ca 37 0617-Expo15 Country Guide Can (Anglais).indd 1

15-06-17 9:34 AM

CropsGuide

By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor

Whether it’s a helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft, the performance in the field is essentially the same.

Photo courtesy of Zimmer Air Services

the sky’s the limit Caught between rigid government regulations and undependable farm demand, these aerial applicators wonder about their future e all look when we hear them.

The sound of an airplane or helicopter sprayer is as distinctive as it is enticing. With an airplane, there’s that telltale roar of its high-powered engine and the pitch-shifting Dopplereffect. With a helicopter, there’s the unmistakable vibration stirring the air as it races from one end of a field to another.

Whether they’re applying a fungicide to a wheat field or corn crop, or whether they’re engaged in seeding a cover crop, aerial applicators are still a novelty on most farms, even as the circumstances necessitating their use are seemingly on the rise.

“ There are advances going into our machines, but I’m never certain of how much I’m going to do since we’re the last resort.”

— Paul Zimmer, Zimmer Air Services In spite of the glamour associated with flying, aerial applicators are facing the same cost-efficiency challenges that growers are contending with. Farmers may believe they’re in tough times these days, grappling with higher costs for seed, fertilizers, inputs, pesticide and fuel, but the pilots running these planes and ’copters are just as challenged in their operations.

As different as their machines are, aerial applicators are united in one other aspect: row-crop farming doesn’t make up a large portion of their 38 country-guide.ca

annual income, despite the perception that more farmers are calling for their services. Still, it’s hard to discount the demand that does come from farming practices.

For most fliers, the bulk of their business comes from the forestry industry, with most of that taken up by seeding or reseeding operations throughout northern Ontario and even into Quebec and Western Canada. Agricultural applications may account for only 30 to 40 per cent, depending on the location of the service provider.

Paul Zimmer of Zimmer Air Services, near Blenheim, Ont., says it’s getting harder to justify some of the conditions that go with the farming portion of his business, something he doesn’t like to concede after 40 years of providing aerial application services.

“Right now, I would say that because of the fungicides that growers put on their corn and bean crops, we’re seeing a bit of resurgence in aerial applications,” says Zimmer. But that upsurge hides a difficult reality, he says. “We’re being regulated and really pushed out of business.”

The same crop-protection hoops and hurdles confounding farmers are taking their toll on Zimmer and many of his colleagues. The regulatory oversight imposed by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) is one of the biggest factors.

Most products registered for in-crop use now require an aerial application permit process, and according to the MOECC Permit Application Guide for Aerial Application of Agricultural Pesticides, it can take up to 45 business days (nine weeks) to gain approval for a request for a permit.

“If that isn’t a way of saying, ‘You’re not going to do it,’ I don’t know what is,” says Zimmer. Even at J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

crop technology two to three weeks, working as he does with an MOECC pesticide specialist who he knows, a farmer facing an outbreak of fusarium head blight can quickly run out of time. “If you have a crop dying from a fungus or it’s being drowned out by excessive rain, can you wait three weeks for a permit? And it’s no different than the neonic situation: this government is not agriculture friendly.”

It’s not even that it’s a national strategy, adds Zimmer, noting that there is no such permit approval process for Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan or Alberta.

Same technologies, different realities Zimmer uses many of the same technologies that farmers are using, such as GPS. There are also new advances in spray equipment such as flow control (if he slows his flight down a field, the flow adjusts accordingly) and automatic shutoffs for the end of a row.

But from an agricultural perspective, investing in those technologies is a tough call some years.

“There are advances going into our machines, but I’m never certain of how much I’m going to do since we’re basically the last resort,” says Zimmer, referring to both spray and seeding applications for farmers. “With seeding, that’s very hit and miss — we might not do that for two or three years. Yet having said that, over the past two to three years, there seems to be a resurgence and we seem to be getting a lot of calls about cover crops.”

Despite such an upturn in interest and the potential for more business in agriculture, Zimmer points out that most farmers who are calling about seeding cover crops often want it done sometime during the late summer, between mid-August and early September. But that’s the time of year when he has packed up his helicopters and headed north.

“So we’re struggling with whether we should keep a machine around to do that, but again, seeding isn’t a big money generator for us,” says Zimmer. “It’s a lot more work because you’re hauling heavy loads, plus you have to have guys on the ground to help the process.”

bEST hope may be cover crops In spite of the associated costs and the logistical headaches of answering the demands of growers for cover crops, Paul Hodgins believes that’s where there’s a greater potential. As president of General Airspray Ltd. of Lucan, Ont., he has also seen an increased demand for his services in air seeding cover crops.

Aerial applications for Hodgins generally took a hit with the recession in 2008. He notes that it often takes two years for the forestry industry to react to such an economic downturn, which is what happened this time too, with the crunch coming in 2010. About that same time, he started getting calls about spraying fungicides on corn as a growth regulator. His first was in 2007, and originally, the farmer didn’t like his asking price.

“Then BASF started calling, and said, ‘We still want you to put about a dozen plots in: we’ll pay you to spray Continued on page 40

What’s on the horizon in agriculture?

Watch This Country Called Agriculture and be informed.

This Country Called Agriculture is a new on-demand video series that delivers relevant news & information on the agriculture industry. Host Rob Eirich interviews ag pioneers, professionals and academics that offer insight into today’s trends and what the future holds for agriculture – on and off the farm. Video topics include:  Sustainability  Starting a new farm

 Ag innovations  Renewable energy

 Exporting  Alternative energy

 New technology  Food production

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country-guide.ca 39

CropsGuide Another example of a fixed-wing aircraft is this Piper Pawnee, seen over a field near St. Marys, Ont. Photo: Ralph Pearce

Size and distance

“ A ground sprayer’s going at five miles an hour, whereas we’re getting 110, so we have the speed of the spray being driven into the canopy.”

— Paul Hodgins, General Airspray Ltd.

Continued from page 39 it and the farmer will buy the chemical,” recalls Hodgins. “So we ended up doing 35 plots for them between Lucan and Exeter, and the next year, we did 12,000 acres.”

Then the use of fungicides in corn tailed off, at least where Hodgins was concerned, and he put it down to a drop in commodity prices. Yet in subsequent years he has seen the demand increase with higher grain prices.

“I have one big customer who says, ‘I will drive through my wheat, and I’ll drive through my beans, but I will NOT drive through my corn,’” says Hodgins.

Of late, Hodgins has been fielding more requests and doing more fact-finding about cover crops, much the same as Zimmer. For Hodgins, there’s been interest in ryegrass as a cover, as well as oilseed radish, and even some more elaborate blends which include crimson clover. Just as cropping plans and practices differ from farmer to farmer, so can the demand for a cover crop.

Like Zimmer, however, Hodgins recognizes that call for the air seeding of a winter cereal comes only as a last-minute decision by growers, often made in spite of any higher operating or seed costs. Some growers value maintaining their rotations, while others who are more concerned with growing conditions heading into winter may opt for another year of soybeans.

40 country-guide.ca

In that sense, Hodgins believes that farm size is playing a great role in calling in an aerial applicator. As the size of the operation grows, so does their skittishness. They’ve got more acres to cover, yet they often also are better at appreciating the financial penalty if they don’t get the job done.

Another factor that plays a significant part of the decision-making process — for the flying services — is tied to travel, and how far will they go to do business. Given the tighter margins and demand for keeping their costs manageable, both Zimmer and Hodgins opt to do business as close to home as they can. Although it’s true that Hodgins needs a runway from which to operate while Zimmer can put one of his Robinson R44s on a flatbed truck and haul to a job site, there is a limit to how far Zimmer will go.

“In agriculture, as long as I can make the numbers work, we’ll go,” says Zimmer, who went to New Liskeard and planted a few thousand acres of winter wheat last fall. “But when things are busy, I’m going to stick closer to Kitchener, west and maybe a little north. We don’t do too much the other side of Toronto, but if there’s a call for it and it can make economic sense, and we can put our helicopters on our trailers, then we’ll go. That’s why we truck these around: it’s hard enough to compete and these machines are so expensive on a per-hour basis, even compared to an airplane.”

From a logistics perspective, Hodgins only needs a runway close to a farmer’s field. There, the dealer or farmer can park a water truck and load it along with the fungicide, seed or the fertilizer.

So, which is better, a helicopter or a fixedwing? Zimmer and Hodgins agree that each has its strengths: helicopters don’t require a runway but airplanes can perform slightly tighter turns to get coverage on unique angles in a field.

Both also provide good coverage, including below the canopy.

“We get good penetration from our AgCat,” says Hodgins. “A ground sprayer’s going at five miles an hour, whereas we’re getting 110, so we have the speed of the spray being driven into the canopy.” CG J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

By Ralph Pearce, CG Produciton Editor

CropsGuide

New in winter cereals A few tough years for winter wheat have led to some great new opportunities lanting conditions in the falls of 2013 and 2014 were difficult, to say the least.

Only 800,000 acres of winter wheat were planted in 2013 (with roughly 675,000 acres harvested last year) and about 600,000 acres planted last fall. Early assessments done in the spring labelled many of those fields as, at best, “decent.”

Winter wheat had a rough ride in Ontario for the past two years, and that’s a fact that’s hard to escape.

Still, there is considerable optimism heading into the fall of 2015. Expectations are high that farmers will be able to plant winter wheat this year, and straw continues to command a healthy premium.

Speaking of premiums, soft white winter wheat may be making a small comeback, if certain seed dealers can convince growers to practise a little more patience and diligence (see sidebar story).

In the meantime, Country Guide’s Crops Guide

Brasetto rye is the first hybridized cereal available to Ontario growers. Photo courtesy of C&M Seeds

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

section is introducing a new feature: What’s new in varieties and hybrids. This will be our inaugural entry featuring winter cereal varieties. Admittedly, the listing is limited, yet given the market and the potential for more acres in the fall, it’s important to let you know what’s new at your seed dealership.

We’re also planning similar features for corn, soybeans, identity-preserved/food-grade soybeans and edible beans, spring cereals and forages. And it’s being done with the intent of keeping you better informed as new seeds, traits and technologies become available in the next six to eight months.

C&M Seeds C&M Seeds is marking 2015 with three new varieties in two winter cereal crops — winter wheat and winter rye.

Brasetto comes to the market as the first hybridized cereal available to Ontario growers, with yields from 20 to 50 per cent greater than other sources of rye. It also has strong milling qualities. Growers looking to produce rye for that milling market should see an instant increase in their bottom line.

Look for Brasetto if you’re an Ontario rye grower.

Cruze is a new soft red winter wheat variety (registration pending) that has excellent standability, combined with an above-average disease package, including good tolerance to fusarium head blight.

This variety responds very well to intensive management and has a high yield potential. Although it is best suited to southern Ontario conditions, it’s been found to perform well in midwestern Ontario, as well.

Gallus was released in 2014 but only in a limited quantity, yet it carries many of the characteristics that hard red winter wheat growers are looking for.

It has high yield potential, is of short height with excellent standability, and has good protein levels.

This variety is suited to all soil types but it performs best in intensive management scenarios. Gallus growers will also notice its early maturity versus other hard red varieties.

For more information, go to www.redwheat.com.

Continued on page 43

country-guide.ca 41

CropsGuide

By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor

Needed: Soft white winter wheat It’s been a long time since soft white winter wheat was a volume leader in Eastern Canada, but the speed with which red wheat grabbed market share has made soft white winter varieties very scarce, with the market for it uncertain and hard to balance.

Like food-grade soybeans, soft white winter has fallen to growers familiar with its management idiosyncrasies, meaning the crop is now the property mainly of those few growers who are patient and diligent.

In spite of all of these realities, the market for soft white winter wheat is now seeing a fairly healthy premium in the hopes of enticing more growers to return to growing the wheat, primarily for the baking and pastry trade.

Historically, soft white winter wheat has earned a premium of between $20 and $30 per tonne over that of soft red winter wheat, says Quentin

Martin of Cribit Seeds and Wintermar Farms, north of Waterloo, Ont. Where that premium will finish over the next year is still unknown, although some crop watchers are suggesting it could settle out at twice the historic levels.

But even then it could be fickle, says Martin, who notes it doesn’t take a lot of acres of soft white winter wheat to shift Ontario production into a position of oversupply.

“Yet the high premium for soft whites continues because it’s not in the fields,” Martin says. “And for the guys who have the capacity — and the patience — it’s a good situation.”

The crop requires a considerable amount of precision management, which starts with having a processor or miller lined up and ready to receive the harvest. Then it takes a farmer who’s willing to manage the crop with a closer eye on quality and timing.

“ The high premium for soft whites continues because it’s not in the fields.”

— Quentin Martin, Cribit Seeds and Wintermar Farms

Spraying for fusarium control can be a challenge, whether it’s done by the grower or by a custom operator (there are advantages to both).

The same is true with harvesting: Martin advises against waiting for the crop to dry down. Instead, get in and get combining. But be aware that a custom combiner must be ready to take wheat, instead of just taking off the corn head on the day the grower wants to combine wheat. That last-minute approach could lead to sprouting in the crop if there’s a breakdown on the combine and parts and service delays keep the grower out of his own field.

For those growers who are combining their own, be prepared for tougher harvesting conditions.

It really helps to be familiar with the quality and drying demands of this specialty crop. So start small and take extra care in monitoring the crop at every stage.

If you’re interested in soft white winter wheat varieties for this fall, contact your local seed dealers for the varieties suited to your particular area, and include the buyers, too. A good beginning can pave the way for a secure ending.

Soft white winter wheat could make a return with superior premiums but patience and diligence are required.

Photo courtesy of Cribit Seeds

42 country-guide.ca

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

cereal genetics Continued from page 41

Elite Seeds

The hope is that growers will have a better chance to get their winter wheat acres planted in 2015. Photo: Ralph Pearce

OAC Flight is another variety that was launched in 2014 but only in limited supply. A soft red winter wheat, OAC Flight is from University of Guelph’s winter wheat-breeding program. This cultivar has gone through the OCCC registration trials from 2008 to 2009 and has been tested in the performance trials since 2011. That totals 34 site-years of testing.

OAC Flight has yielded well in all Ontario zones and especially in Area I and II where it responded very well to a more intensive management program.

Its soil adaptation is broad and its yield stability is established on a strong genetic makeup. It differentiates itself through good resistance to fusarium plus better overall plant health compared to other commercial standards, including Emmit. The combination of its slight above-average height, its very good tillering capacity and its lodging resistance results in abundant quality straw yield.

Seed in Ontario through the Agromart network (www.agromartgroup.com). CG

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CropsGuide

By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor

new hybrid rye for ontario Brasetto marks a big new opportunity for a sector that’s hungry for good news ereal production in Ontario has taken a definite hit in the past couple of years. Winter wheat acres have dropped off, mostly because of poor planting conditions in the fall of 2013 and 2014, and other cereals, including oats and barley, have lost momentum and are now grown mainly by farmers who like them either as feed or as a smallscale contract market.

For rye, too, the opportunities have been sparse, although you might say they have even been tighter than that. Contracts for distilling- and milling-quality rye are limited in Ontario. Only in times of short world supply does the call go out for more acres, and typically another supplier such as Russia comes up with a boatload or two to kill off any rally before it can really get started.

“ There’s been anywhere from a 30 per cent yield increase to double the yield of growers’ traditional rye sources.”

— Rob McLaughlin, C&M Seeds

Farmers on sandier soils who grow potatoes or tomatoes, or the remaining growers with tobacco, often prefer rye as a rotation crop, but they often turn to bin-run seed, a common affliction with cereal crops in general. Other growers sometimes also use rye as a cover crop, either harvesting it for feed or plowing it down as a green manure.

That’s why the launch of Brasetto rye is such a huge step, not just for rye production, but for cereals in Eastern Canada.

C&M Seeds, based in Palmerston, Ont., is the supplier of this particular hybrid, and the company is looking to advance rye production on a qualitybased, high-end level. The project began in 2013 with a small-plot project, just to determine its viability under Ontario conditions.

“From the comments of the growers who’ve been growing it, it’s been a resounding success as far as

44 country-guide.ca

the yield results go,” says Rob McLaughlin, sales and marketing manager with C&M Seeds. “There’s been anywhere from a 30 per cent yield increase to double the yield of growers’ traditional rye sources.

So we know there’s going to be a definite yield improvement — it just depends more on where you are as to how much of an increase over traditional rye sources you might see.”

Quality versus ‘monopoly’ Of course, there will be those growers who are content with using bin-run seed who will see the development of a hybrid rye as another sign of corporate control. Ellen Sparry, C&M Seeds’ genetics manager, makes no secret of the fact that if you harvest a field planted with the hybrid and then use it for bin-run the next year, you’ll find it loses its vigour.

In other words, switching to hybrid production means an end to bin-run seed in a quality-based rye production regimen. But the benefits appear to far outweigh any perceived drawbacks.

“There’s really no incentive for a grower to even think about not coming back for new seed,” Sparry says, adding that anyone who’s growing Brasetto as a commodity will value the yield improvements, disease enhancements and quality. “Your returns are obviously going to be higher,” Sparry says. “The more serious that growers get about producing rye, the more market opportunities are going to open themselves up as well.”

The use of bin-run or reconditioned seed has become a point of debate in the past 10 to 15 years.

In corn and soybeans, certified seed has become routine, but it also delivers GMO technologies and other genetics that drive farm incomes.

Meanwhile, cereal production is perhaps closest to being a direct source of human food. Wheat, rye and even spelt are milled directly into flour, which means quality is crucial.

If we don’t respect that food link, we may lose the markets. At least, that’s the warning from the seed trade, that fears that millers and other cereal processors might opt out of Ontario product in favour of other jurisdictions that are stepping up to the plate with certified seed.

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

new in cereals

Yields and returns from Brasetto are expected to be higher, with the potential for driving more market opportunities for growers.

Milling is one anticipated end-use market for Brasetto rye, with distilling expected to be the other destination.

Photos courtesy of C&M Seeds

Hybrid rye is the latest answer to that issue — for this particular grain. The next step for Brasetto, says McLaughlin, is to work to expand market demand.

“We’re still not 100 per cent finalized on the market part of it. However, rye is rye, and it seems to fit into any place where other rye fits as far as market use is concerned,” McLaughlin says. It will be grown on a contract-only basis, with C&M Seeds working to develop new alliances with partners in the milling and distilling streams. “The quality is very strong — this particular hybrid has a strong falling number for milling, and the samples so far have been very clean.”

Ergot tends to be the biggest disease challenge for rye growers, and thus far, Brasetto isn’t showing signs of any issues in its early stages.

“The thought on our side is that with the agronomic package that this hybrid has, it would potentially replace whatever rye acres are out there that go into milling and distilling,” says Sparry. “It’s not that we’re necessarily developing more of a market, but this will certainly be a preferred option for growers who are filling that distilling and milling market.”

There is also no stated plan for this to replace winter wheat acres, yet from a regional production perspective, Sparry and McLaughlin believe this will be a solid candidate for sandier soils in Norfolk, Elgin, the southern part of Oxford and into Brant counties. It’s expected that Brasetto would also do well around the potato-growing region bounded by Alliston, Shelburne and north towards Collingwood.

As for the science behind its development, hybridization is a complex genetic puzzle, one that cereal breeders have been attempting to solve for years. Sparry notes there are some wheat hybrids developed but most are limited to European efforts, and it’s the cost efficiency that hampers widespread availability — for the time being. She adds that there’s also a recently announced coalition of organizations focusing specifically on wheat hybridization.

Of course, the complexity involved in such genetic sequencing and development translates into so-called “sticker shock” when it comes to its pricing. But as has been the case with corn,

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

the same yield increases and overall performance are likely to unfold with hybrid rye.

“For anyone growing rye right now, you should be trying Brasetto,” says McLaughlin. “Any time you hybridize a product, it’s going to be expensive. However, the seed return per acre more than outweighs the cost of the seed.” CG

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SIGA is looking for motivated representatives based in Ontario to promote, sell and support our software locally.

This could be a great opportunity for agents already working for another company who want to expand their product line and offer quality Canadian softwares to their clients.

Please contact Steve Letendre 1-800-567-0915 Extension 233 steve.letendre@siga.net

country-guide.ca 45

CropsGuide # PestPatrol

with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

ave a question you want answered?

H Hashtag #PestPatrol on twitter.com to @cowbrough or email Mike at mike.cowbrough@ontario.ca.

Using the ‘Pest Manager’ app e have good pest management information and research. The challenge can be to get that information to the farmers who need it.

Earlier this summer, a smartphone app was launched called Pest Manager.

Currently, only information on weeds and weed management is included, so I tell farmers it’s what you would get if a weed identification book and the Guide to Weed Control, had a child who grew up to be really into gadgets and technology.

Disease and insect information will be added this fall.

Figure 1: The app contains over 70 weed species and over 300 photos to help you identify weeds.

Pests can be searched by name or through the use of a key. Any pest can be added to a user’s list of frequently encountered pests. With the maps feature, pests can also be added to a geographic location.

Management options can be searched for in corn, soybeans and cereals. These options are currently only pesticide related. Integrated pest management options will be added in future versions.

Pesticide options are ranked by their average control of all pests selected. When a pesticide treatment is selected, a number of fields will be displayed with information for the appropriate use of the pesticide. If a user wants to look up information on a specific pesticide, they can do so in the pesticide information section.

Probably the easiest way to download this app is to do a Google search for “pest manager app.”

Currently this app is only available for Apple (iOS) devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod touch) but an Android version is in the works and will be released this year.

If you have any constructive feedback, please let me know.

This app is only applicable for Ontario and does not replace a pesticide label. It is the user’s responsibility when using a pesticide to ensure that all directions on the label are followed.

This app is a co-operative effort between OMAFRA and the Grain Farmers of Ontario. Funding was provided through the Growing Forward 2 program, a partnership between Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. CG

Figure 3: Tap on a treatment you’re interested in and it will provide all the critical application information that you need.

Figure 2: By selecting the species that you want to control and in what crop, the app looks through its database to identify products that best match the target pests.

46 country-guide.ca

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MY DRAINAGE PROJECT

Is it environmentally sound?

Food production is not optional, thus the use of our most productive land for agriculture is not optional. We have a responsibility to manage land for efficient, reliable production so we can minimize the amount of land required for agriculture. Reliable production is usually associated with land that has a seasonally high water table. Drainage, usually sub-surface drainage, lowers the water table to create a healthy root zone where crops can be produced efficiently. Because soil moisture on these soils usually remains within reach of crop roots, food can be produced reliably and efficiently.

As we consider new drainage projects or drain alterations, we also have a responsibility to consider whether or not our project will be environmentally sound. There are many aspects to this decision and sometimes net effects will determine our decision. For example: IS THERE AN EXISTING ADEQUATE OUTLET CHANNEL? This should be confirmed by your Conservation Authority (CA), your drainage superintendent and a licensed drainage contractor. If not, can a channel be constructed in a way that minimizes impact on downstream aquatic life? If an existing water course needs to be altered to provide outlet can the work be organized to minimize instream aquatic damage?

COULD THE PROJECT AFFECT A WETLAND? It is always better to increase the productivity of existing cropland than

to venture into wetlands or natural lands. If there is no way to avoid these environmentally sensitive areas than consult your CA and look for ways to provide off-setting environmental benefits.

Will the project use surface water inlets connected to sub-surface drains?

These inlets (catch basins, riser inlets and blind inlets) direct sediment, nutrient, bacteria and pest control products into drain pipes and those drains are then blamed for degraded water quality. Too o en inlet installation is the outcome of tillage degraded soil and compaction.

This interferes with normal percolation and filtration of water that would otherwise move down through the soil to the drainage system. Clean water begins with good soil management.

WILL THE PROJECT REDUCE GROUNDWATER RECHARGE? Soil that contributes to significant recharge is referred to as having “natural” drainage. If the topsoil has been degraded by intensive tillage then occasionally water infiltration will be slow resulting in increased surface water runoff and reduced recharge. Improved soil management rather than drainage can improve infiltration so recharge is not affected.

WILL SUB SURFACE DRAINS INCREASE WATER POLLUTION? Drains are installed clean and will remain so if they are managed with care. Remember that the soil filters out a significant amount of agri contaminant before water reaches a drain pipe.

Without drains a much larger amount of contaminant would leave a field in surface water runoff or infiltrate to ground water.

WILL SUB SURFACE DRAINS INCREASE DOWNSTREAM PEAK FLOW? Because it takes time for water to infiltrate to drain pipe, sub-surface drainage reduces peak flow and extends flow time in waterways. The use of water and sediment control basins when combined with no-till can have the same effect without reducing water quality. If potholes are drained the water would add to flow. If the system is connected to straight outlet channels that would accelerate flow and increase peaks.

Research in Ontario shows that generally cropland drainage does not cause a net change in watershed hydrology.

DOES DRAINAGE HAVE OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS? The drainage of “wet” cropland can reduce nitrous oxide emissions. Drainage is o en necessary to allow the use of no-till, which reduces organic matter oxidation and thus carbon dioxide loss. Both gasses contribute to global warming.

We must take seriously the many environmental impacts associated with cropland drainage. By thoughtfully addressing each we can identify best options for food production in harmony with the environment. In identifying these options it is wise to work with our Conservation Authority, our municipal drainage superintendent and a licensed drainage contractor.

The Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario (LICO) is an association of professional drainage contractors and suppliers of drainage pipe and equipment. The focus of their business is soil moisture management to enhance crop production in Ontario.

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life

Write your legacy Writing a memoir isn’t only for celebrities. It’s a perfect way to preserve farm history too

By Helen Lammers-Helps

t’s called learning by experience. Most of us get to a point where we regret that we didn’t ask our parents and grandparents more questions about their families and about what life was like when they were young. So now, we are determined to write our own stories as a legacy to our children and grandchildren, so they won’t be left wishing they had likewise asked us more.

The question is, how do you actually get those stories down in print.

It’s a question that Elizabeth Johnston, a professor at Concordia University in Montreal is used to hearing, because she also teaches life-story writing at a seniors’ community centre in Montreal.

Perhaps the best start, she says, isn’t to pick up a pen.

Instead, agrees Sid Tafler, author of the memoir, Us and Them, and an instructor for a memoir writing class at the Metchosin Summer Arts Institute on Vancouver Island, begin by thinking more clearly about exactly why you want to write.

Writing can do a lot more for you than simply recording your memories, he points out. Many people write for the sense of accomplishment, for example, or for self-expression.

And while it may not be the initial motivation, some people find writing their life story to be very therapeutic, says Claudia Cornwall, author of the memoir, L etter F rom V ienna , who teaches an online course in memoir writing at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. “I’ve seen people come to grips with a difficult past by writing about it,” Cornwall says. “It helps you to sort things out, to get it clearer in your own mind.”

Even if your past isn’t as difficult as that, however, you will find yourself asking questions that you may not have asked before, and you will likely end up with a new set of deeper, more relevant perspectives on the past and present.

Of course, other writers have their eyes on glory. They want their memoir to be the next bestseller like Frank McCourt’s, Angela’s Ashes.

Whether you are writing for yourself, your family or the public, Tafler encourages his students to ask themselves: “What is my story?” He says you need to focus on the narrative that you are going to 52 country-guide.ca

shape your story around and leave out the other 99 per cent of the things you did.

But what should that focus be? Ironically, you will probably have to start writing in order to figure that out. Themes commonly emerge after you start, Tafler says. “Sometimes the story isn’t the one you thought it was.”

Like a fairy tale, a memoir generally follows a classic pattern, continues Tafler. It has a beginning which is the problem, the middle which is the struggle, and the ending which is the resolution.

Feeling overwhelmed is one of the biggest roadblocks for those who want to document their story, but there are many ways to make the project more manageable, such as breaking it into chunks.

Remember, Johnston recommends, that you are writing a memoir, not an autobiography. An autobiography is the story of your entire life up to this point. A memoir is a slice of it.

Sometimes a lack of confidence keeps people from writing their life story. Johnston recommends writing the story without worrying about spelling or grammar. “Turn your internal editor off while you write your first draft,” she says. “You can always get help with grammar and spelling later if you need to.”

If your audience is your family, you don’t have to be a great writer, adds Cornwall. “They will appreciate having it no matter what.”

However, Tafler adds that if you want people to read it, you owe it to yourself and to them to do the best job you can. He assures his students they will get better with practice, so the best way to get better is to “just do it.”

Perhaps you should be prepared to do multiple revisions, adds Cornwall. Even really good writers revise their work several times, she says. Read it out loud, or get someone else to read it. He or she can point out where things are unclear, she says.

And while it’s important to be as honest and truthful as you can be, it’s important to remember a memoir is somewhere between fiction and nonfiction, says Tafler. “You are recreating a story and recreating dialogue. It’s also your story, told from your own perspective.” Someone else might remember things differently or assign a different meaning to the events. But be cautious when writing about other people’s flaws, says Cornwall.

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

life If what you are writing about others could be perceived as negative, it can cause hard feelings, she says.

Tafler adds that it’s important to include your own flaws, the things you’re ashamed of. “That’s part of the story,” he says.

Cornwall likes to start by gathering documents or other objects that will serve as inspiration. A diary, a letter, a photograph, a passport, a ticket stub or a piece of music can serve as springboards for telling your story.

Creating a timeline can be another way to jump-start your memory and help you organize your story. Where do you want to start your story? When you finished school? When you got married?

Bought your first farm?

Also explore the senses to add detail.

What colour was that dress? How did it feel? How did things smell?

Then approach your motivations.

How did you feel? What prompted the decisions you made?

Making a list is another way to generate ideas and get unstuck. Some of the lists you could make include: people who have influenced you, turning points in your life, moments when you were afraid, happiest moments, world events that impacted you, places you have travelled, childhood events that stand out in your memory, character traits you have inherited from family members, regrets, funniest things that happened to you, what are you most proud of, or lessons learned.

If you’re still having trouble making progress on your memoir, both Johnston and Cornwall suggest joining a class. Having weekly deadlines will help keep you on track, says Cornwall.

Participating in a class helps you keep up the momentum, and you will find you get inspired by what others in the class say and do, adds Johnston. Check your local community college, university, community arts group, library or community centres for courses.

If you’d like to document more of your family history, you’re not limited to writing. You could use a voice recorder or video recorder to record you telling the story. Or you can use software such as Dragon Dictation to convert your voice to text.

Annotated recipes can tell a story too. For instance, you can share Aunt Mary’s famous recipe for apple pie along with a description of Aunt Mary.

An annotated photo album is also a good way to document family and farm history. Add captions to explain old photos: who is in the photo, where and when was the photo taken and what are they doing. Too often people inherit photographs but they don’t know who or what they are of, says Cornwall.

There are many resources available to help you record your story and farm history. There’s no time like the present to create a legacy that your family will treasure. Remember, our experts say, you are the only one who can tell your story. CG

resources Books that help These books will help you get organized and structure your memoir.

Inventing the Truth: The art and craft of memoir by William Zinsser How to Write your Life Story: The complete guide to creating a personal memoir by Karen Ulrich Your Life as Story by Tristine Rainer

Courses Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts, Victoria, B.C. The Memoir: The Story Only You Can Tell.

http://www.missa.ca/product/thememoir-the-story-only-you-can-tell/ Conestoga College, Kitchener, Ont. Write Your Life Story.

http://www.conestogac.on.ca/continuingeducation/courses/groupcourselist. jsp?CatalogCode=C12_H4750 Online Course, Simon Fraser University, How to Write a Family Memoir.

https://www.sfu.ca/continuing-studies/ courses/cpw/how-to-write-a-familymemoir.html

- Jen C., Ontario, 2014 AWC Delegate

y! . da ed to it er lim st s gi g i Re atin Se

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WESTIN HARBOUR CASTLE, TORONTO, OCT 5 & 6, 2015 J uly / au g ust 2 0 1 5

country-guide.ca 53

Advancing Women Conference East / Country Guide 7” x 3.357” / Ontario Quote

w e at h e r NEAR NORMAL

COOLER THAN NORMAL

S fro ept st .

WARMER AND DRIER THAN NORMAL

**

COOLER THAN NORMAL

Cool Rainy

Scattered showers / t/storms

**

AVERAGE RAIN SOME SNOW

NEAR-NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND RAINFALL

Warm ted Isola ers show

ONTARIO

MILDER THAN NORMAL

Sh Co sp ow ol el ery ls

le Variab nal o i occas rain

August 9 to September 12, 2015

Aug. 9-15: Sunny skies prevail most of the week with seasonable to warm temperatures. A couple of hotter and more humid days trigger thunderstorms, heavy in a few locations.

Aug. 16-22: Seasonable to hot temperatures occur on several days this week.

Muggy on a few occasions with scattered showers and some heavier thunderstorms at some localities.

Aug. 23-29: Temperatures vary with a few cooler nights. Sunny skies dominate the week but expect showers or thunderstorm activity on a couple of days. Brisk winds at times.

Aug. 30-Sept. 5: Pleasant, comfortable temperatures south. Single-digit lows and frost risk north. Fair skies but with passing showers or heavier thunderstorms on a couple of occasions.

Sept. 6-12: Cooler nights south with mainly seasonable temperatures. A couple of frosty nights central and north.

Fair, blustery with occasional rain or showers on a couple of days.

QUEBEC Aug. 9-15: Expect considerable sunshine this week with seasonable to occasionally hot temperatures. A couple of humid days set off heavy thunderstorms in a few areas.

Aug. 16-22: Sunshine prevails most days with normal temperatures. Hotter and muggy on a couple of occasions with scattered thunderstorms, risk heavy in places. Cooler north.

Aug. 23-29: Variable temperatures under brisk winds. Cooler nights. Sunny apart 54 country-guide.ca

from shower or thundershower activity on a couple of occasions. Showery with single-digit lows north.

Aug. 30-Sept. 5: Blustery winds result in fluctuating temperatures and some cooler nights. Fair skies interchange with scattered rain or showers, with frost risks central and north.

Sept. 6-12: Lows dip to near zero in the south with frost likely in central and northern regions on two or three nights.

Fair aside from rain or showers on a couple of days. Blustery at times.

ATLANTIC PROVINCES Aug. 9-15: Pleasant with comfortable temperatures on most days this week but expect showers or rain on a couple of days. Chance heavier rain and strong winds in Newfoundland.

Aug. 16-22: Highs crest in the 20s most days, cooler on the coasts and Labrador.

Sunshine dominates but look for rain or showers on one or two occasions, more frequent eastern regions.

Aug. 23-29: Seasonable to warm and fair overall. A few showers or thunderstorms west. Heavier rain and strong winds threaten eastern regions on a couple of days this week.

Aug. 30-Sept. 5: Generally fair with pleasant temperatures most of the week aside from some shower activity on a couple of days. Cooler nights with some lows approaching zero north.

Sept. 6-12: Changeable conditions and temperatures as disturbances move through. Blustery at times. Fair skies alter-

nate with occasional rain, possibly heavy at times. Frost risk inland.

August 9 to September 12, 2015 NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS Warm and relatively dry weather is expected to linger over British Columbia and the western Prairies in this late-summer period. These summer-like conditions will spread across the eastern Prairies from time to time. Otherwise look for changeable weather ranging from isolated heavy thunderstorms in August to frost and rain in September. Changeable weather is also anticipated in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces where temperatures and rainfall will both average close to longtime normal values. In spite of periods of fine, settled conditions in Atlantic Canada, there also exists a slight threat of unsettled weather in far-eastern areas due to passing tropical storms or hurricanes.

Prepared by meteorologist Larry Romaniuk of Weatherite Services. Forecasts should be 80 per cent accurate for your area; expect variations by a day or two due to changeable speed of weather systems.

J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 5

h e a lt h

Smart sun exposure

By Marie Berry eing outdoors is part of day-to-day life in the summer, but you need to be smart about your sun exposure. You may experience nothing more than a tan, but more serious skin effects can occur such as sunburn, sun-aged skin, and even skin cancer.

Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers in Canada, but it is the most easily prevented and treated. About 800,000 new cases are seen each year and with the exception of malignant melanoma, skin cancer has a cure rate of about 95 per cent!

It is repeated exposure to the ultraviolet or UV portion of the sun’s rays that causes both sunburn and skin cancer. Two components of UV light, namely UVA and UVB, cause most problems, and people with fairer skin and light complexions are most at risk.

These individuals don’t have as much melanin, a skin pigment which filters out the sun’s rays.

In addition to sunshine, tanning beds can be a source of exposure, and if you used a tanning bed before age 30 your risk of skin damage is 75 per cent higher than someone who didn’t.

Some medications can cause phototoxic reactions (that is, an increased risk for skin symptoms with sun exposure). Antibiotics including tetracycline, sulfonamides and ciprofloxacin; diuretics including hydrocholorothiazide and furosemide; non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pain relievers including ibuprofen and naproxen; oral acne medications such as isotretionoin; and even acne skin creams containing tretinoin are linked to sun sensitivity. If you take any medication on a regular basis, check with your pharmacist about needing extra care for sun exposure.

Prevention is preferred to treatment for both sunburn and skin cancer. Stay out of direct sunlight, especially when it is the strongest between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., and remember the reflected sunlight off surfaces such as white paint, water, and sand. Cover up with a hat, long sleeves and long pants. Most important, also wear a sunscreen regularly.

Sunscreens absorb, reflect, or scatter the UV light before it can damage your skin. Para-aminobenzoic acid or PABA, cinnaminic acid derivatives, and benzophenones are commonly used ingredients. The fine print on the label will list the active ingredients, but remember to choose one that protects you from both UVA and UVB light. Sunscreens are labelled with numbers indicating their sun protection. These are their SPF numbers and they are based on the tendency to burn and the ability to tan. The higher the number, the more protection the product offers. The Canadian Dermatology Association recommends choosing a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30.

Unfortunately, some people choose a sunscreen with a very high SPF and apply it only once, even though they remain outdoors in direct sunlight for long periods of time. You should always apply sunscreen about an hour before going outdoors to enable it to soak into your skin. You also need to reapply it every three to four hours, regardless of the SPF value. If you are swimming or sweating, it will wash off and you will need to reapply it even more often. And, don’t forget the tops of your feet, you ears, lips, and the back or your neck.

Regular checks of your skin will enable you to identify any lesions that may be early signs of skin cancer. The acronym ABCD will help you. Any lesion that is Asymmetrical, has irregular Borders, Colour variation, or a Diameter greater than six millimetres should be examined more closely for possible skin cancer. Checking about once a month is a good habit to get into. Use a mirror for skin areas like your back that can be difficult to see.

Staying out of the sun may be impossible if you work outdoors, and after a long, cold winter you may want to enjoy summer sunlight, but remember to be smart about your sun exposure. Cover up, and use sunscreens properly. That’s the key!

Marie Berry is a lawyer/pharmacist interested in health and education.

Next month, we will explore iron, the topic originally intended for this issue. If you have ever been told your “blood is low,” you will have been amazed at the number of available options. Choosing one can be difficult and confusing! Our next column will help you decide which is right for you.

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

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acres

Who ordered the parade?

By Leeann Minogue

“You OK?” Jeff asked his dad. “You look kind of pale.” ale parked the sprayer beside the dugout at the west end of the Hansons’ yard to fill. Before he got started, he walked to the house to refill his water bottle and hunt for a snack. With Donna away camping — for the second time already this summer, Dale grumbled to himself — he wasn’t sure the quality of the snacks in the kitchen would be worth the trip across the yard.

When he came out of the house to get back to work, Dale saw his son Jeff already getting started.

Then his father Ed, just arrived from town, drove his truck up near the dugout and parked.

“Hey Dad,” Jeff said. “Maybe you want to wait around here a few minutes before you start spraying again. I’ve got an agrologist from the seed company coming out to take a look at that canola south of the house.”

“What? Why?” Dale asked, unwrapping his store-bought granola bar. This was far from his top choice for a snack. He was wondering if he was going to have to learn to bake.

“We’ve got a real bad patch out there,” Jeff said.

“Pretty big spot where nothing came up. Right by the road. And worse yet, right by where that new seed rep, Allison, put her sign in the ground.”

Ed was annoyed. “If I’d planted that field, everybody would just figure the old guy missed a spot with the seeder,” he complained.

Jeff ignored his grandfather. Dale had seeded that field, and Jeff had never known his father to screw up like this. And if Dale had missed a spot that big, in that location, surely he would have said something.

“I looked online,” Jeff told Dale. “I found a Grainews article that says wireworm damage can sometimes look like a seeder miss. I’m going to make some bait balls.”

“Bait balls?” Ed snorted and headed for his truck.

“You want to attract more of them?”

56 country-guide.ca

“It’s a way to count them, Grandpa. If we’ve got a problem, we need to know how big it is.”

“You kids think you have the answers to everything. Right on your phones. I’m going to make myself a coffee.” Ever since Ed’s new girlfriend had brought over a one-cup coffee maker and a year’s supply of mochaccino, Ed had been drinking enough coffee to make himself a little dizzy almost every day.

“You mind finishing this, Dad?” Jeff asked Dale, who hadn’t said a word. “I’ve got some things to do before the agrologist gets here.”

“Sure,” Dale said.

“You OK? You look kind of pale.”

“Nope. I’m good.” Dale said.

“So, you’ll wait until they come?”

“They?” Dale asked.

“Allison. The agrologist. A couple of corporate bigwigs who happen to be in the area.”

“Great,” Dale said.

“So you’ll wait?” Jeff said.

“You know head office guys. They’ll be late. I can likely finish that east quarter before they get here.”

“OK,” Jeff said. “Grandpa and I’ll run your truck out to the field so you can get back here quick when you see them.”

“Yup.” “You’re sure you’re OK?” “I’m fine.” Dale finished filling, then climbed into the cab.

He had been fine before Jeff came along. In fact, everything had been going so well for the past few weeks, he’d forgotten all about what happened in that field south of the house.

Dale had been trying to get over his broken ankle.

He’d kept working, even with the pain. He didn’t need the neighbours thinking he was too old to get back to work after an injury. After he’d stopped to load more seed right near a power pole, the field had been a little wetter than he had expected. While he was trying to skirt by the pole, Ralph came by on the j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

road with the grader, waving. Dale’s phone rang. An alarm went off in the cab. And Dale banged his sore ankle on the steering column. When the smoke cleared, Dale realized he’d forgotten to turn the fan back on after he filled. He’d travelled 30 feet with no seed going into the ground.

He’d considered going back to fix the problem, but he didn’t want to rut up the field worse than it already was.

And, if he tried his luck in that spot again, he might get the tractor stuck.

Of course he’d meant to tell Jeff. And Ed. Even the seed rep. But the day it happened, Dale was still in pain. All he wanted to do was crawl into bed as soon as he got out of the cab. The next day it rained, and he hadn’t even seen Jeff or Ed. By Day 3, too much time had passed. It would have just been embarrassing to bring it up. And he should have told Allison. But he hadn’t been home the day she’d stopped in to pound her sign into the ground, and he couldn’t imagine phoning her up and explaining why she should drive back out and pull the sign out again.

But now what?

It would be a pretty lucky coincidence if Jeff’s bait balls actually lured in a wireworm in that particular spot.

Dale picked bits of quinoa seed out of his teeth while he sprayed the field and kept an eye out for trucks in the farm driveway. “What kind of granola bars is Donna buying, anyway?” he grumbled to himself. “Is the whole world against me?”

Then he saw them. Not one, but two corporate trucks pulled into the yard. Dale kept spraying while Jeff came out of the shop to greet them, then got into his truck with Ed to lead the way to the problem area.

Dale reluctantly drove his sprayer to the edge of the field where Jeff had parked his truck. As he drove near the canola field, he counted seven people dressed in matching corporate shirts, huddled around the seed sign with Jeff and Ed. Ralph had been going by on the grader, again, and stopped to see what all the fuss was about. Jim Callum had slowed his truck to a stop by the side of the grid road to see what was going on in the Hansons’ field.

Dale’s stomach churned. “Damn granola bar. Of course Donna’s away camping, just when I need a decent snack.”

What was he going to tell these guys? How could he explain why he hadn’t said anything? Lying wouldn’t work.

Three of the corporate guys were already kneeling in the dirt, digging around for ungerminated seeds.

Would Jeff ever let him seed anything again? How much fun would Ralph and Jim Callum have, telling all the neighbours how badly Dale had screwed up?

Dale slowed down to pull into the closest approach.

Ralph waved. Dale scraped another quinoa seed out of a back molar. He saw Allison kneel down to join her co-workers in their futile search for seeds.

Dale shook his head. Then he hit the gas and drove right on by, looking the other way. He fiddled with the display on the dash and made a call on his hands-free phone. “Donna, you still at the lake? Where’s your campsite, anyway?”

Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews, a playwright and part of a family grain farm in southeastern Saskatchewan. j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

“I don’t want any of those CCF power poles on my farm.” We are getting a double dose of politics in Saskatchewan. The looming federal election generates enough volatility to spark the air in some coffee shops. A provincial election will follow.

Political stories permeated an educational morning for museum guides a few weeks ago. The subject was rural electrification. In a 1952 provincial election campaign, the CCF party led by Tommy Douglas promised to hook 28,000 farms to power, a huge expansion. Art worked on an installation crew that encountered a farmer who had been a dedicated Liberal all his life. He refused to allow a power line with “those CCF poles” on his property.

Prior to a provincial grid, some farmers tried wind chargers and light plants. These proved unreliable. Some villages operated a generator to serve their residents. In other towns, enterprising individuals set up generators and charged the users.

My father arrived in Delburne, Alta. in 1937 to work in the bank. My mother worked in the post office. My father paid the generator operator to keep the power on for an extra hour on Saturday night when he was courting my mother.

The introduction of electricity constituted an enormous change for farm women. An electric range eliminated the dust, grease and dirt created by coal, gas, oil or wood-burning stoves.

No coal and wood to be carried and no ashes to be removed.

In 1939 Canadian General Electric published a booklet describing what electricity would mean for farm women. “The number of steps taken by a woman in doing the household work equals and sometimes exceeds that of the man on the farm,” it suggested. “There are no tractors in the farmhouse.”

Our group leader read an excerpt from the September 1953 edition of Country Guide. Editor H.S. Fry wrote that “… farming, more than almost any other business one can think of, is a partnership between the farmer and his wife. The lady of the farmhouse customarily does much more than ‘keep house’ for her family. The garden and poultry are often, if not generally, the responsibility of the farm wife, to say nothing of the dairy.” Fry continues: “Making the housework easier is one way of achieving an intangible kind of profit from electricity, which could become very real if it prevents sickness, saves doctor and hospital bills and makes rest and recreation easier to secure.”

Father Matthew Michel of the Catholic parish of Annaheim, Sask. recognized the benefits of electrification but there was considerable resistance. Father Matthew called on every farm family to discuss the pros and cons. When the work began, he donned coveralls to help erect power poles and string wire through dusty attics. “I was out there in my coveralls day after day. Every morning and in the evening I recited my breviary, then attended to parish matters.”

Electricity fascinates humans. The writer of the Psalms describes God thundering in the heavens and flashing forth lightning. Jesus speaks about lightning flashing and lighting up the sky from one side to the other. The writer of the Book of Revelation recounts an event where “there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.” For me, summer lightning storms demonstrate the awesomeness of nature and the mystery of God. Suggested Scripture: Ephesians 5:8-14, Luke 17:20-30 Rod Andrews is a retired Anglican bishop. He lives in Saskatoon. country-guide.ca 57

HR

‘Is he suffering from the god complex?’

By Pierrette Desrosiers, psychologist and coach

e is always right,” says Matthew, age 25. “We always have to do things his way. Not even my mother can voice any kind of opinion. I’ve had enough.”

When I met Matthew’s father, his initial comment was, “You will see right away that my son and my wife have problems.”

At that point, I was the best psychologist and coach. However, when I started to say that maybe he was part of a problematic dynamic, and when I challenged him and asked him what he could improve, he immediately classified me as incompetent.

Unquestionably, I was dealing with a real narcissist. A narcissist lives most of his life in a world of fantasy. His behaviour is grandiose. He needs to be admired and often is not well liked.

Narcissism has also been called the god complex.

As a joke, I often tell my audience that someone suffers from the god complex when he wakes up and says, “OK God, you can go back and rest, I am awake now.”

A god complex is an unshakable belief characterized by consistently inflated feelings of personal ability, privilege, or infallibility. Such a person will usually refuse to admit and may even deny the possibility of their error or failure, even in the face of complex or evident problems or impossible tasks. Most of the time, they regard their personal opinions as unquestionably correct, rejecting even the brightest advice.

To be diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), a person must meet five or more of the following criteria. A narcissist: • Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g. he expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements); • Is overwhelmed by fantasies of unlimited success, power, splendour, beauty or ideal love; • Thinks he is “special” and can only be recognized or understood by special individuals; • Has a very strong sense of entitlement, (e.g. unreasonable expectations of automatic compliance with his or her expectations); • Has an excessive need to be admired; • Thinks he is “owed”; • Exploits others in his interpersonal relationships; • Frequently envies others and thinks others envy him; • Is arrogant and haughty in his attitude and behaviour.

Narcissists come in all shapes, sizes, and degrees.

Certainly, we all have a certain level of narcissism. In fact, a degree of narcissism is healthy and useful for success. The problem occurs when the level of narcissism is too high.

Why does a high level of narcissism put the longterm success of the business at risk?

58 country-guide.ca

• Any relationship involving two or more people requires empathy, listening to the needs and expectations of the others (something that is almost nonexistent with a narcissist); • He doesn’t listen to others, take their advice or accept criticism (because he is perfect!); • He crushes, manipulates and uses others (which wears down the relationship); • His need for prestige, success and power are so strong, he will sometimes make decisions that are completely illogical (i.e. disproportionate purchases or investments); • He creates a climate of terror, despair or apathy among his colleagues; • In the long run, others will abandon him (family, partners, employees) because he is impossible to live with.

Narcissism is a mental health disorder, and narcissists can be found just about everywhere (they’re about one per cent of the population). One per cent may not sound like a big deal but for the higher-ups in hierarchies (CEOs, professional leaders, bosses), the numbers could reach up to 10 per cent for the full disorder. Even more business leaders have important traits of “the god syndrome.” It’s likely that the disorder could explain many poor results in business (bad decisions, turnover, burnout, and bankruptcy). Many authors have looked at the failure of big companies through the lens of narcissism.

Is there a cure?

This is a disorder that requires very prolonged treatment, and even then, there is very little improvement. Strong narcissists rarely seek help unless they have lost everything. Otherwise, why would they seek help? After all, they are convinced that the problem is with others and that they are God. What can you do if you live with or are associated with a narcissist?

Unfortunately, living with a narcissist is like dying a little every day. It means accepting the put-downs and being at his service your whole life. The only way to protect yourself is to respect yourself, to set limits, and to assert yourself despite the potential consequences.

If you live with, are associated with, or work for a narcissist, you have to think about survival. Professional help can help. CG Pierrette Desrosiers, MPS, CRHA is a work psychologist, professional speaker, coach and author who specializes in the agricultural industry. She comes from a family of farmers and she and her husband have farmed for more than 25 years ( www.pierrettedesrosiers.com ). Contact her at pierrette@pierrettedesrosiers.com.

J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 5

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Then you’re ready for the Brent 82 series grain carts.

• • • • •

Corner-auger positioning for 100 percent unloading visibility Industry-best unloading height and reach 60° turret-style downspout for precise grain placement Unloading speeds up to 625 bushels per minute Undercarriage options – tracks, high-flotation singles, straddle duals, walking-tandem duals • 750- to 1,200-plus bushel capacities When you know you’re ready for the best, you’re ready for Brent. Stop by your nearest Brent products dealer today for a first-hand look at all the industry-leading features of the Brent 82 series grain carts. Or, visit Brentequip.com.

Unverferth Manufacturing Co., Inc. • P.O. Box 357 • Kalida, OH 45853 • 419.532.3121 • 1-800-322-6301