Oats help young Zambians
Thirty-five acres donated to support schools » PG 3
Morden turns 100 Horticultural contributions remembered » PG 22
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 73, No. 34 | $1.75
August 20, 2015
manitobacooperator.ca
Manitoba Pork looks more closely at barn labour shortage Independent barn owners who conduct their own hiring will be approached BY LORRAINE STEVENSON Co-operator staff
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anitoba Pork will take a closer look this fall at labour shortages faced by independent producers looking for hog barn staff. “There are producers out there who have no problems and there might be some who are overstaffed,” said Miles Beau din, quality assurance and la bour programs manager with Manitoba Pork. “But I would say the majority of people has diffi culty recruiting.” This survey aims to find out where the problems may be. Manitoba Pork has contracted Janice Goldsborough Consult ing to contact a sample of pri vate barn owners and pose a series of questions about hir ing and retention practices as well as determine their staffing needs. It’s part of an ongoing effort by the industry to bolster the do mestic labour pool and depend less on the temporary foreign worker program which they’ve come to rely on to fill labour gaps, Beaudin said. See LABOUR on page 6 »
Ernie Jeffries holds carrots taken from the brown box. They’re too small to grade Canada No. 1 or 2 so they have to go for cattle feed along with carrots in the beige box culled because they are too big, too small, broken or misshaped. According to Jeffries the small carrots and many of the culls are fine for human consumption. PHOTO: ALLAN DAWSON
What’s up doc?
Too many carrots go to cows instead of people, one operator says Jeffries Brothers blames Peak of the Market and worries about the future of their operation and Manitoba’s carrot industry BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff / Portage la Prairie
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
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anitoba’s largest car rot growers say the g ra d i n g p ra c t i c e s of the provincially regulated vegetable-marketing board threaten to push the family farm out of business. Ernie Jeffries, who operates Jeffries Brothers Vegetable Growers with his brother Roland and father Dave, wants permission to sell car rots rejected by Peak of the Market outside of the regu lated system. Jeffries said Peak’s unrea
sonably high grading speci fications mean up to half of their crop winds up as cattle feed. “Peak’s grades (for carrots) have been tightening up,” Jeffries said during an inter view with his father Dave at their packing shed Aug. 13. “And as they tighten up we have to throw out more carrots.” Last year about 5,000 tonnes of food-quality carrots were picked up from Jeffries Brothers by local cattle farm ers, according to Dave, who served as Peak’s chairman for 20 years until he resigned in 2010. That was 50 to 60
per cent of their marketable crop from 300 acres, exclud ing culls, costing an estimated $500,000 in lost revenue, he added. “That is unsustainable,” Ernie said. “In the past the reason we survived is we could sell the other stuff that we are being made to throw out now. There’s nothing wrong with it… but it’s not premium (grade).” Jeffries Bros. wants to be able to sell themselves what Peak won’t. “What we’re pushing for, but not getting anywhere on, is to be able to sell anything that Peak refuses to or can’t sell,”
Ernie said. “We want to sell it because it’s the only way we’ll survive.” Dave Jeffries and his brother Albert are the original Jeffries Brothers, starting the farm 47 years ago. Albert has retired and Dave, who was inducted this year into the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame, is working towards it. There are two other commercial carrot producers in Manitoba.
Quota control All commercial Manitoba car rot production of one acre or more requires a production See CARROTS on page 6 »