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SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 74, No. 4 | $1.75

january 28, 2016

Province addresses predation

manitobacooperator.ca

Ag Days craze over for 2016

Manitoba livestock producers will see an increase to wildlife damage compensation beginning in April

BY JENNIFER PAIGE Co-operator staff/Brandon

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anitoba livestock producers will soon see higher compensation rates for animals injured or killed by wildlife.

Beginning April 1, the maximum value for domestic animals killed or injured by natural predators will increase from $2,000 to $3,000.

“Creating an environment for producers to succeed in Manitoba is vital to building strong rural communities in our province. Financial stability, especially during production shortfalls, provides an important level of support to the people who contribute greatly to Manitoba’s economy,” said Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Ron Kostyshyn during a presentation at Manitoba Ag Days Jan. 19.

The Wildlife Damage Compensation Program is cost shared between the federal and provincial governments and is administered by the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation.

See PREDATION on page 6 »

More than 40,000 people swarmed the Keystone Centre in Brandon for the annual Manitoba Ag Days, which put on an impressive display of production expertise, technology and equipment. PHOTO: JENNIFER PAIGE

More crop insurance coverage for less in 2016 Grade guarantees will be introduced for feed wheats, including Faller, Prosper and Elgin ND

BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff/Brandon

Publication Mail Agreement 40069240

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anitoba farmers will get higher crop insurance coverage in 2016 and pay less for it, Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn told Ag Days attendees Jan. 19.

“Premium rates will decrease by an average of about 11 per cent compared to last year’s premium rates and this is due to the removal of the high 1989 (crop insurance) losses from 25 years ago…,” Kostyshyn said.

“When combined with the average increase in coverage this results in a four per cent average decline in premium per acre.”

Prices for insured crops are up five per cent on average. When combined with an average two per cent increase in probable yields, it results in a seven per cent increase in insurance coverage.

Other changes include a new grade guarantee for feed wheat, the option to insure highergeneration pedigreed seed and test plots, the addition of some vegetable crops, expansion of the Pasture Days Insurance Pilot Program and higher payouts for livestock destroyed by wildlife.

“We all know business risk management programs are an essential tool when we talk about agriculture,” Kostyshyn said. “We continue to improve

upon it in a co-operative way with the federal government, provincial government and producers.”

Crop insurance premiums are based on a 25-year rolling average of loss experience, Craig Thomson, Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation’s vice-president of insurance explained in an interview later.

“If we have a good year, like this year, it’s a positive loss experience,” he said.

“This year we dropped off a bad year (1989 when crops suffered because of drought) and picked up a good one and that makes for a positive impact on our premium rates.”

Over all, the dollar value of insured crops is up. Red spring wheat is flat, oats are down 12 per cent, barley is up 23 per cent, canola is up 14 per cent, soybeans are down three per cent and corn is up 27 per cent.

There will be a grade guarantee for some of the new h i g h e r- y i e l d i n g A m e r i c a n Dark Northern Springs wheats, as well as feed wheats in the C a n a d a We s t e r n G e n e r a l Purpose (CWGP) class.

Grade guarantees As of April 1 varieties designated as Canada Western Interim Wheat (CWIW ) will have See CROP INSURANCE on page 6 »

CGC: Farmers pay but have no say » PAGE 3

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The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

INSIDE

Did you know?

LIVESTOCK

A gritty new tool in the war against weeds

A new cattle code Dehorning and castrating older animals now require pain control

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staff

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CROPS Soybeans tell the salinity tale The crop has limited tolerance for saline soils

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FEATURE Precision agriculture From robotic tractors to big data, it’s making a difference on your farm

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CROSSROADS Celebrating suffrage One hundred years ago, women gained voting rights

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Editorials Comments What’s Up Livestock Markets

Weed and feed your crop with blasted soybean meal

esearchers with the University of Illinois have come up with a new tactic in the war against weeds: blasting.

“Abrasive weeding,” a strategy that may prove most useful for small-scale organic growers, is proving to be “surprisingly effective,” university researchers say in a release.

In conjunction with plastic mulch, abrasive weeding reduced final weed biomass by 69 to 97 per cent compared to non-weeded control plots, said agroecologist Samuel Wortman.

Abrasive weeding uses an air compressor to blast weed seedlings with organic grit. In the University of Illinois study, grit was applied through a handheld siphon-fed sand-blasting unit connected to a gas-powered air compressor, the release said. It was hauled down crop rows with a walk-behind tractor.

A number of grit sources were tried including walnut shells, granulated maize cob, greensand, and soybean meal.

Wortman said he found no significant differences between the grit types in terms of efficacy. “When it leaves the nozzle, it’s at least Mach 1 (767 m.p.h.),” Wortman noted. “The stuff comes out so fast, it doesn’t

Hand-held weed-blasting unit used to control weeds in organic plots.

photo: SAMUEL WORTMAN

really matter what the shape of the particle is.”

Researchers said it is important to use this type of treatment on transplanted crops that are substantially larger than the weed seedlings. But despite some shredding damage to the crops, yields were 33 to 44 per cent greater yields than in non-weeded control plots.

An additional benefit of weed blasting is the potential for growers to use organic fertilizers, such as soybean meal, as blasting material. “We expect that abrasive weeding could contribute between 35 and 105 kg nitrogen per hectare to soil fertility.” The idea that a grower could both fertilize and kill

weeds in a single pass is appealing, but the researchers cautioned that it is still unknown whether the fertilizer would be available for plant uptake within critical windows.

Testing is continuing on different horticultural crops, including broccoli and kale, with and without additional weed control methods. “Early results suggest that the presence of polyethylene mulch or biodegradable plastic mulch strongly enhances the success of weed blasting, as compared with straw mulch and bare soil,” the release said.

Because ricocheting particles can pose a risk to the applicator, Wortman advises using protective eyewear.

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Grain Markets Weather Vane Classifieds Sudoku

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READER’S PHOTO

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3

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Farmers pay but have no say One industry official says farmers cover most of the Canadian Grain Commission’s budget but the commission isn’t accountable to farmers

BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff/Brandon

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armers pay for Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) operations so they should have a bigger say in how it operates, says Rick White, chief executive officer of the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA).

“It’s (CGC) a Government of Canada agency and farmers are paying full freight on it now (because of cost recovery),” said White during a formal address at Ag Days Jan. 19.

“It’s one thing to go to full cost recovery, but full cost recovery with absolutely no (farmer) control and no representation around that government agency is not right. And so we are pushing the government hard when it starts to revisit this again.

“We have to do something about that because farmers should not be expected to pay the full shot of a federal government agency. It’s just not right.”

The CGC, which regulates Canada’s grain industry and ensures grain quality, has been recovering 91 per cent of its annual operating costs of $60 million to $70 million through user fees since Aug. 1, 2013. While most of the CGC’s revenue is collected from grain companies, including a $1.80-a-tonne outward inspection fee on grain exports, it’s widely accepted that companies pass the charges back to farmers.

The government contributes around $5.2 million a year to fund the CGC’s Grain Research laboratory, which does work seen as benefiting Canada.

In an interview, White suggested the CGC become a Special Operating Agency.

“There’s tremendous expense running a government agency by the nature of government,” he said.

CGC governance should also change, White said. Instead of the government appointing a chief commissioner, an assistant commissioner and a commissioner, it should appoint a full-time chief executive officer and create a board of directors made up mainly of farmers, he said.

“They (CGC) do a lot of good work,” White said. “It’s not a criticism, it’s just the model is wrong. It’s not accountable to farmers and it’s the farmers who pay the bill.”

The other option is for the government to cover most of the CGC’s operating costs as it once did, he said.

“It’s (CGC) a Government of Canada agency and farmers are paying full freight on it now (because of cost recovery). It’s one thing to go to full cost recovery, but full cost recovery with absolutely no (farmer) control and no representation around that government agency is not right.”

Rick White, CEO of the Canadian Canola Growers Association, says since farmers pay most of the Canadian Grain Commission’s budget, the commission should be more directly accountable to farmers. PHOTO: ALLAN DAWSON

Rick White

Unsuccessful lobby Farmers and grain companies argued unsuccessfully that since many CGC services are compulsory and benefit Canada’s economy, the government should pay for them.

Interestingly, the CGC became a Special Operating Agency (SOA) in 1991 under the Mulroney Progressive Conservative government. It said the change would give the CGC more flexibility, including the ability to borrow funds.

Last week a CGC official said he didn’t know when the agency, which reports to the agriculture minister, ceased being an SOA. In the late 1990s, the Chrétien government proposed scrapping the commissioner model in favour of a president-CEO and board of directors. But it never happened.

The Harper government brought forward a similar plan, along with other proposed changes to the Canada Grain Act and CGC in several bills that were never passed. However, in its last bill on the matter, C-48 introduced more than a year ago, the government dropped the proposal.

“I’m a firm believer in if it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” then agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said in an interview Jan. 9, 2015.

“We’ve got a good working relation-

ship across the spectrum with the three commissioners. Each one brings different expertise to the fore. To limit that to a president and some other people under him doesn’t have the same effect.”

The CGC’s most recent chief commissioner, Elwin Hermanson left the position Jan. 20 after serving eight years and declining another term. He said governance is up to the new government. However, he added, “make sure the (CGC) leadership is close to the industry and particularly close to the producer.

“That has been a strength of the CGC. Most commissioners have been farmers or industry-oriented people as opposed to career public servants. I have nothing against career public servants — we work very well with them — but for the CGC it has set us apart and given us access and impact in the industry that has benefited producers and every other sector of the industry. I’d like to see that maintained.”

Hands on Farmer directors wouldn’t be as hands on as the current full-time commissioners, two of whom historically have been farmers, including Hermanson.

There have been whispers that commissioner governance sometimes makes for internal power struggles and isn’t as efficient as the more hierar-

chical CEO-board structure. But after Ritz’s long fight with the Canadian Wheat Board’s directors, the majority of whom was elected farmers, over its sales monopoly, it’s not surprising he changed his mind.

The CCGA will push the new Liberal government to pick up where the last government left off with changes to the CGC, White said.

C-48 also proposed to extend a farmer’s right to get the CGC to grade and determine dockage when the farmer and buyer disagree. Farmers have that option now when they deliver to primary elevators, but not with processors, including crushers. Half of Western Canada’s canola is crushed domestically, White said.

The bill also proposed setting up a new program to protect farmers when grain buyers fail to pay for grain. A fund, paid for by grain companies, would cover farmer liabilities. White said the new system would be cheaper than the existing one, which requires grain companies to post security to cover their liabilities. In the past, despite CGC monitoring, some grain companies failed to post enough security to cover all what farmers were owed.

The former government also planned to require feed mills, which currently are not part of the program, to participate. allan@fbcpublishing.com

Organic producers could see net profit levels range from $100 to $300 per acre Know your cost per bushel, not just per acre, says farm management specialist

BY LAURA RANCE AND LORRAINE STEVENSON Co-operator staff/Brandon

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MAFRD farm management specialist Roy Arnott spoke to a seminar on organic cost of production at Ag Days. PHOTO: LORRAINE STEVENSON

rganic production is one way for small farmers to improve their viability, an analyst told a seminar at Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon.

Roy Arnott, who does annual cost-of-production budgets for MAFRD, said the gross revenue over operating costs in conventional agriculture leaves a margin of 20 to 40 per cent. That margin is what farmers have left over to pay their land, equipment and living costs.

In organic production that margin is typically 50 to 60 per cent.

“That increased profitability

level equals increased viability for smaller farms,” he said.

“They are able to pull out a higher level of profit.”

Based on estimated costs and returns for various crops in 2016, Arnott said organic producers could see net profit levels range from $100 to $300 per acre. For conventionally produced crops, those net profits range between $10 to $50 per acre.

What’s important is that farmers crunch their own numbers and know their operating and fixed costs.

“I firmly believe that cost-ofproduction planning is a key point of any farm operation. I think it’s something you have to do, whether you’re conventional or organic,” he said.

“Cost per acre is great, but

you don’t sell acres. You have to know cost per bushel.”

Arnott presented the organic COP for 2016, encouraging farmers to use provincial budgets as a reference to calculate their own farm’s cost of production per bushel.

He also flagged a new spreadsheet, the MYFARM crop management calculator, now available through MAFRD. “It’s based on the COP so it’s simple and easy to use and easy to preload,” he said, adding it will help to figure out that all-important cost-per-bushel basis plus a per-acre and total-cost basis.

“It looks at a bunch of different things, the break-evens, margins. It can help you track your grain sales and help you calculate your break-even on

your remaining unsold bushels,” he said. “Even for someone good with numbers in their head, that’s a tough one to do on the fly,” he added.

The new spreadsheet also includes a ‘what if’ analyzer for knowing the implications of decreased yields or prices as the season advances, or how equipment purchases, or land purchases or rents will affect the bottom line.

Various farm software and worksheets are available on the MAFRD website found at http://www.gov.mb.ca/agricul ture/business-and-economics/ financial-management/farm -software-and-worksheets.html. lorraine@fbcpublishing.com laura@fbcpublishing.com

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The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

OPINION/EDITORIAL

Social change is never easy

J

anuar y 28, 2016 marks a significant milestone in the history of this province.

A century ago Manitoba became the first government in Canada to allow women to vote.

Many of us with roots in Prairie settlement have our own family stories to tell.

In my own case, it was learning through distant relatives recently that my greatLaura Rance grandmother, Mrs. W.H. Guest (Elizabeth) Editor was one of the signatories to a petition to government in 1894.

Simply signing on to such a thing in those times was an act of courage. Historical accounts suggest this could well have been the first petition of many that would follow in a crusade that would be fought for more than two decades before achieving success.

The wording of the federal Election Act of the time offers a telling glimpse into the social mores of the time: “no woman, idiot, lunatic, or criminal shall vote,” the act stated, according to a Manitoba Historical Society essay written by Harry and Mildred Gutkin in 1996.

The campaign for suffrage had many tentacles in the social justice movements that grew out of wild western outposts such as Winnipeg in the 1800s. It is widely believed to have emerged from the temperance movement, as it shared many of the same leaders. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) first began campaigning for women’s suffrage in the 1880s.

But it was also part and parcel of the agrarian movement.

Many of the same farm organizations that were winning concessions from government on grain-handling and transportation issues also supported suffrage.

The Gutkin essay observes that the pioneer West gave rise to an assertive breed of women who “worked side by side with their men in the back-breaking task of establishing a homestead.”

Their pivotal role in building the wheat-based economy prepared them to challenge the patriarchal norms.

“The urban centres tended to attract some strong-willed young women, already declaring their independence from their families, and as determined as their brothers to improve their own prospects.”

Much has been written about the satirical 1914 mock parliament staged by Nellie McClung and friends to protest Manitoba Premier Sir Rodmond Roblin’s dismissive treatment of their cause. The publicity around that event no doubt paved the way for the T.C. Norris government to push the agenda forward in the 1916 legislative changes.

However, Gutkin points out that suffrage leaders had “earnestly” staged a similar event 23 years earlier at the Bijou Theatre in Winnipeg. The 1893 event featured the young stenographer E. Cora Hind, who would later become a prominent agricultural journalist, and about 20 other women from the temperance league playing the different government members.

“Amelia Yeomans, in the role of the provincial premier, argued earnestly that women were the protectors of society’s moral values, that if they were able to vote, respect for them would increase, their influence would be enhanced, and the Empire itself would benefit. A woman’s responsibilities were those of a mature adult, she protested, yet her social and political powers were those of a child.”

Within days of the ensuing publicity, a suffrage petition circulated by the WCTU had collected 5,000 signatures. It resulted in an attempt to introduce a suffrage bill in the legislature, which was defeated.

The petition was presented to Manitoba legislature again in February 1894. By then, it contained another 2,000 names — including my great-grandmother’s.

That petition resulted in the first women’s suffrage bill, introduced by MLA Robert Ironside, presented to politicians.

However, after receiving first reading, it quietly — and suddenly — disappeared.

It would be another 22 years before society was ready to change. The campaign required dogged persistence from women leaders of the time, women who distinguished themselves as “suffragists” — a more refined and diplomatic crusader than the radical “suffragettes” fighting the same cause in Britain.

It also took support from men in positions of power who saw the logic of their efforts — and a whole lot of ordinary citizens who added their voices to the cause.

It’s worth remembering that organizing events, going to meetings and circulating petitions in those days was done without the ease or speed of today. There was no Internet, few telephones and attending a meeting first involved hitching up a horse and buggy or taking a long walk.

These individuals fought for this basic right for most of their adult lives. Each time the door was slammed in their faces, they knocked again — until it opened.

I never knew my great-grandmother. I do know she left a lasting legacy. On election day last fall, one of her granddaughters, Muriel, was 92, in palliative care and the time before her passage could be counted in days. She voted. laura@fbcpublishing.com

Let science speak without bias Objective, rigorous science stands on its own merits

By Brian Ransom

I

think the Manitoba Co-operator is an advocate for the theory that observed warming over the past century is dangerous climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions partially resulting from agricultural use of fossil fuels and cattle ranching.

I’m skeptical about the theory of anthropogenic global warming (AGW ) but I nevertheless faithfully read what the Co-operator prints on the subject in hope of seeing evidence of causal linkage between damaging weather events and greenhouse gas emissions. Three articles in the Jan. 21 edition caught my attention because together they point to reasons for skepticism.

Cam Dahl’s “What does ‘science based’ mean?” poses an excellent question whether one is considering pest management regulations or greenhouse emissions control standards. Readers will have heard it claimed that the science is conclusively settled regarding global warming.

It’s not settled and for good reasons.

Daniel Bezte’s piece titled “Record warmth top weather story of 2015” provides one.

Bezte, writing about the University of Alabama’s satellite measurements that usually show lower temperatures than surface measurements, comments that “What is

OUR HISTORY:

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interesting, or rather important about the University of Alabama in Huntsville, is that none of the funding for its work comes from oil, coal or industrial companies or from any private or special interest groups.”

So the source of funding determines the scientific results? Does this standard apply to funding from governments and organizations committed to killing our fossil fuelbased economy?

Research funding is overwhelmingly directed at supporting the theory of dangerous AGW while studies funded from other sources are routinely rejected and their author’s credibility attacked. This approach cannot in any meaningful sense lead to a “science-based” outcome.

The scientific method is about disproving conventional wisdom, not confirming it.

Objectively, rigorous science stands on its own merits. But a world caught up in the theory of AGW is not objective.

Nevertheless, inconvenient facts emerge as in Lorraine Stevenson’s article “Agroclimate data is a ‘mismatch’” with overall trends. Soil scientists at the University of Manitoba found facts that conflict with climate change forecasts. The headline calls them a mismatch. Perhaps it is the forecasts flowing from the “settled science” of climate change that are a mismatch with reality insofar as being meaningful to farmers.

Brian Ransom is a former MLA and Manitoba finance minister. He also served as chairman of the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board. He lives near Woodlands.

January 1991

his ad from our January 17, 1991 issue reminds of when the Prairie Pools operated XCAN, their own domestic and export marketing company.

The front-page story that week reported that Grains Minister Charlie Mayer had announced that legislation would be passed to implement two new support programs, GRIP and NISA, for 1991-92. They were necessary — another story said that Agriculture Canada economists forecast that farm net income in 1991 would fall 23 per cent without GRIP. The income problem was largely due to the EU-U.S. grain trade war, and speaking to the annual meeting of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers, Mayer called for farmers to boycott European goods in retaliation for EU export subsidies.

The support programs required provincial participation, and Manitoba Agriculture Minister Glenn Findlay was reportedly miffed that the federal announcement had been made without consulting the provinces. GRIP participation would tighten provincial finances, so to make room in the ag budget, Manitoba axed a $9-pertonne livestock feed subsidy.

Herbicide resistance had been discussed by a panel at an agronomic forum in Winnipeg, with reports that resistance had been found in Manitoba to trifluralin, Hoegrass, Fusilade, Excel, Poast and Triumph Plus.

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The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

COMMENT/FEEDBACK

Because I love you Two widows discuss how forward planning helped their families carry on following the farm accidents that claimed their husbands Jay Fox and Brian Van Camp both died in farm accidents involving loaders right before Christmas, leaving their families in shock and still trying to run their farms. Jay and Angie were Outstanding Young Farmers in Manitoba and leaders in the cattle industry. Brian and Maggie were also leaders in their community and agriculture. This is an excerpt from a longer article in which these women talk openly about how they’ve kept their farms operating and emerged happy… yes, happy. The complete article can be found on the Manitoba Co-operator website: www.manitobacooperator.ca.

Maggie: When my husband died, I was 46 years old, had three teenage children and owned a 100-acre farm with a big old farmhouse. We had 23,000 chickens in the barn and shares in my husband’s family’s farm. I also worked part time as an associate editor with Country Guide and had been happily married for 21 years.

Suddenly, I was a widow and all these blessings became overwhelming.

Do not underestimate grief and do not overestimate you or your family’s ability to function when someone dies or has an accident on your farm.

All I knew was one thing: I was not going to let that moment define me.

But, I needed a way out of it.

Preplanning gave me that road map.

What I found was that if I knew exactly what I had to do on any given day, then I could do it and it gave me strength.

In the morning I’d write down a to-do list for the farm and for my family, and included a two or three what I called DAs (death administration).

The funeral home also gave me a list of personal changes, I was executor to my husband’s will and I had to switch over the farm businesses.

There was a mountain of paperwork — like cancelling passports, reading insurance policies, switching the name on the business accounts — but I found I could only do a couple of things a day. It took me almost a year to get through most of that stuff.

My sister also helped me write a list of treats that I got to do once I had accomplished the hard stuff on the to-do list — things like reading a book, going for a walk, having lunch with a friend, a nice cup of tea. It was a daily reminder to take care of myself in all of the muck.

Third list I had a private third list. At night I’d write down three things that gave me hope.

Simple things like my daughter playing her guitar, or the sunrise I saw on the way to the barn. Things that made me feel alive and grateful.

Sometimes it was hard to come up with hope, but that’s when I needed it the most.

Good planning gives you time and choices. That’s a gift you want to leave your family, especially with a farm business.

Angie Fox and I call it, “Getting your crap in order,” because both of us had experienced all the crappy paperwork and fallout from the death of our husbands. However, as we started talking and sharing stories, we became more and more grateful to our husbands for being prepared.

Attached is our “Because I love you” list that I hope you begin filling out right away. Every person and farm is different, but it’s a starting point.

“Absolutely everyone needs to have a plan.

It’s not only responsible, but a gift to those you leave behind.”

ANGIE FOX

Angie: When you lose someone you love, you get lots of advice. Everyone can relate to death; it happens and we can’t avoid it, but sometimes it hits a lot closer to home.

There’s a big difference between being the executor of Great-Aunt Edna’s estate and planning life after losing your husband.

Farm family businesses are complicated matters because everyone is grieving. For me, it took all the strength I had to get through each day. I had four kids who needed me and they were grieving too.

But I also had a ranch: I had cows to feed, waterers to thaw, the feedlot pens were full of calves, the culls needed to be shipped and I needed to take care of the business.

Life has a way of continuing, even if you don’t want it to. So how do you carry on? What do you do to prepare?

Absolutely everyone needs to have a plan. It’s not only responsible, but a gift to those you leave behind.

I became a widow at 33 years old, but when it came to the matters of a funeral I knew what Jay wanted… … I knew what songs he loved and who he’d want as pallbearers. I knew there would be no hearse for our family.

Instead Justamere Unit 412, a 1989 beat-up farm truck, would carry him to his final resting spot.

I also knew Devon, our 14-year-old son, would make that drive with his dad, me and the other kids as his passengers. I knew our family and friends would ride the horses behind us, and our dads, brothers and uncles would drive our farm fleet of trucks.

What I didn’t know was I would look behind us on that final drive as a family and tell the kids to remember this forever, because it was so special. I didn’t know I’d feel relieved to give him one last gift. It was so healing to give him a service he’d love, that honoured him.

Maggie: People In my experience, basically two things need to be organized for your farm business — people and paper. And of course, people come first.

The Van Camps (l-r) Nate, Kate, Maggie, Matthew and Pepper the dog. Photo: Deb DeVille

The Fox family: (l-r) Charlee, Major, Angie, Porter, Devon (hat). Photo: Loree Photography

Like Angie, I’ve never felt so loved as I did after my husband died. The community, my family, our church and especially my friends carried us. Although we were overwhelmed with offers to help on the farm, not ever yone can easily step in to those roles. It would have taken longer to train them than for us to do the work.

And I really couldn’t afford for something to go wrong because someone simply didn’t know.

You see, our farms are specialized and we were missing not only a labourer but, a manager and a key decision maker. Death can put a farm on hold.

So close your eyes. If you died right now who could step in immediately and keep things running?

Angie: Maggie and I want to encourage you to be brave. Talk about your wishes, complete your “Because I love you list.” Get your business in order. And most importantly, never give up on happiness.

Suggested headings for your own family’s “Because I love you” list: • The help: Short-term help, longer-term help; • Standard operating procedures; • Passwords, location of keys; • Lists and location of important documents: RRSPs, TSFAs, and other investments, insurance policies, bank accounts, business agreements, lease agreements, mortgages, vehicle ownership; • Names of personal trusted adviser and mentor; • Professional contacts: accountant, lawyer, banker, doctor, dentist, childcare provider, financial adviser, processors, elevator manager, commodity broker, input suppliers, veterinarian, equipment dealers and repair, vendors; • The Fix-It folks: mechanic, electrician, plumber, furnace, septic, welder, security systems; • Legal: power of attorney, executor, guardian, organ donation, cremation, funeral arrangements.

6

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

FROM PAGE ONE CROP INSURANCE Continued from page 1

a grade guarantee of No. 2 CWIW. Currently, Faller, Prosper and Elgin ND are in this class. The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) has announced Aug. 1 the CWIW class will end and be replaced with the Canada Northern Hard Red wheat class, which will be the home for Faller, Prosper and Elgin ND. “We’ve heard changes are coming,” Thomson said. “We’ve taken the approach we will react after the change has happened. It’s dangerous to try and insure something based on speculation.”

All other varieties insured as “feed wheat” will have a grade guarantee of No. 1 CWGP. ( The CGC has announced it’s ending the CWGP class and replacing it with the Canada Western Special Purpose class.)

If harvested production grades below the guarantees a grade factor is applied reducing the production counted for claim purposes.

The insured dollar value for feed wheat is based on a weighted average of the forecasted market returns for the respective grade guarantees.

Spring wheat varieties are insured based on the CGC’s variety designation lists in effect April 1. Spring wheats not designated as red spring wheat, prairie spring, extra strong, durum or hard white spring are insurable as feed wheat.

“If the variety of spring wheat is not declared on the Seeded Acreage Report, the associated acreage will be insured as feed wheat,” MASC says in a summary of changes for 2016.

Winter wheat Several years ago the CGC moved some winter wheats, including CDC Falcon, from the Canada Western Red Winter class to the CWGP class.

All winter wheats, including CDC Falcon will be insured as winter wheat, MASC says.

Last year, Manitoba farmers grew almost 30,000 acres of CDC Falcon, making it the second most popular winter wheat behind Emerson at 79,800 acres.

Starting this year farmers can choose not to insure high-generation seed plots (breeder, select or foundation seed) and plots sown for research purposes. If a producer decides not to insure such plots the associated production must be kept separate from insured production.

The list of crops eligible for Vegetable Acreage Loss Insurance has been expanded to include win-

PREDATION Continued from page 1

According to Kostyshyn, the hike in compensation has been made in response to producer feedback and is aimed to better reflect market conditions.

The province will also adjust compensation for young animals, increasing the amount to reflect the estimated value at the animal’s earliest practical weaning weight, rather than at the time of loss.

A welcomed increase Predation and compensation rates were highly discussed issues at the Manitoba Beef Pro d u c e r s’ ( M B P ) d i s t r i c t meetings, which were held throughout the province this past fall.

“Predation has been a huge issue for us in Manitoba and not just in Manitoba, it is some-

Excess Moisture Insurance not in jeopardy despite multimillion deficit

BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff/Brandon

Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn announced changes to the 2016 crop insurance program at Ag Days Jan. 19, the last day before the election blackout, which limits government announcement. PHOTO: ALLAN DAWSON

ter squash, pumpkins, peppers and leeks.

The new direct-seeding deadline for carrots is June 15.

The maximum coverage for strawberries, which is now considered an optional crop for the Continuous Hail Insurance Option (CHIO), has been increased to $3,000 per acre from $2,000.

Hail Insurance is now available on winter squash, pumpkins, peppers and leeks, which are also optional CHIO crops.

Basic hail insurance premiums are slightly higher in certain risk areas due to the relatively high losses in 2015.

Insurance credit Starting April 1, cattle producers can get a one-time interest rate credit of 0.25 per cent when financing livestock through MASC’s Stocker Loan program if they purchase a Western Livestock Price Insurance Program (WLPIP) policy, Kostyshyn announced Jan. 18 in Brandon.

“This (interest rate cut) is an effort on our part to get people to think about the Western Livestock Price Insurance Program,” Thomson said.

“It’s a good combination.”

Introduced in 2014, the WLPIP for cattle and hogs provides Manitoba

thing that is having a global impact,” said Melinda German, general manager of the MBP. “One of the biggest arguments we have always had is that when producers are losing calves to wildlife, they are not being paid for what that animal is actually worth.”

The MBP has been lobbying for better compensation for predator losses for years.

“We have a working group made up of government folks and industry, which has been looking at solutions to this. We have been going forward with different ideas and proposals about what needs to happen because we do have a significant challenge here,” she said.

Losses caused by wildlife are costly and can have major impacts on an operation especially when profit margins are thin.

“Seeing this response from

“We know we’re going to have to review it (EMI) and possibly make some tweaks in the way it works, but there’s no panic at our end.”

Craig Thomson

farmers with protection against price risk. The program has been working, Thomson said.

“We think we’ve paid out around $600,000 in 2015, which is pretty substantial,” he said.

MASC, which started offering licensed pedigreed seed inspection services last year, will again in 2016, Thomson said.

Most crop insurance premiums are shared 40 per cent by farmers, 36 per cent by the federal government and 24 per cent by the province.

Farmers’ premium rates for each crop are determined by the crop’s designated Risk Area and claim history, which establishes eligibility for any premium discount or surcharge.

Manitoba’s Excess Moisture Insurance (EMI) program has a $236-million deficit after 15 years of operation, but it’s not under threat of being scrapped.

“We know we’re going to have to review it and possibly make some tweaks in the way it works, but there’s no panic at our end,” Craig Thomson, Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation’s (MASC) vice-president of insurance, said in an interview last week. “We’re not going to say, ‘we’ve got to drop the program.’ That’s not the case at all. We look at it the other way — it is working. People have collected from it because there have been some wet springs.”

Earlier this month a report released by the Agriculture Risk Management Review Task Force flagged the EMI deficit, stressing EMI is important to Manitoba farmers and that the federal and provincial governments that help fund it must look at ways of ensuring it’s sustainable.

The task force was appointed by Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn a year ago to look at ways to mitigate the impact of climate change on farm support programs and on farmers.

Actuarial soundness EMI is an insurance-based program — part of AgriInsurance in Manitoba — and must be actuarily sound.

When deficits grow, normally premiums rise and coverage falls. But the task force noted higher premiums might discourage farmers less prone to excess moisture from using the program, which according to the task force “is not viable without universal participation.”

“Are there methods of dealing with that? That’s what we’re challenged to come up with so it doesn’t put a huge burden on producers and government to bring the deficit into a more acceptable number,” Thomson said.

Most of the 10 last years have been wet in many parts of the province. A couple of dry springs would shrink the deficit, Thomson said.

Last year $6 million was the payout under EMI on 6,700 acres (after the deductibles were applied). That’s down significantly from 2014 when $63 million was paid on 755,000 acres too wet to seed.

The record was 2011 when $162 million was paid on 2.7 million acres, Thomson said.

The final figures haven’t been calculated, but Thomson said lower crop insurance payouts in total in 2015 will add to the program’s surplus.

Although there were $63 million in reseeding payouts on a million acres — mostly on canola frozen May 30 — post-harvest claims were well below the 10-year average “so we will have a surplus to add to the fund balance,” Thomson said.

In 2014, MASC paid out $170.2 million in claims resulting in $32.1 million being added to the program’s reserve fund, he said.

When the reserve fund is above the target range of one to 1.5 times pure premium MASC reduces the premium rate, which lowers the producer premiums, which is the case in 2016, Thomson said.

allan@fbcpublishing.com

government is very significant and very much appreciated,” said German.

While the increase will be welcomed by the industry, German says that there is still more that could be done.

“One of the things that we have always discussed going forward is maybe looking at ways to tie losses to what is actually happening in the market and having a bit of a fluctuating response,” said German. “We have tools in place now, like the Western Livestock Price Insurance that tracks prices of animals, so it is an option.”

For further information about the Wildlife Damage Compensation Program visit, www.masc.mb.ca/masc.nsf/ program_wildlife_damage_ compensation.html. jennifer.paige@fbcpublishing.com FILE PHOTO

7

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Province lifts limitation on pasture insurance The pasture insurance pilot program that was limited to 90 producers last year is now open to the entire province

BY JENNIFER PAIGE Co-operator staff/Brandon

P

roducers who graze their cattle have a new option for protecting themselves from underperforming pastures.

Ron Kostyshyn, minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, announced Januar y 19 that the province has lifted limitations on the pasture days insurance program.

The program is designed to compensate producers who have had to remove livestock from pasture and start supplemental feeding earlier than expected.

“We really encourage producers to take advantage of things like the pasture, price or forage insurance. These are important tools for producers to be able to utilize and mitigate some of that risk, so we were really pleased to see that program open up,” said Me l i n d a G e r m a n , g e n e ra l manager of Manitoba Beef Producers.

whether it is a tool it should continue to offer.

“We have seen insurance be a real hit and miss and I think that usage really depends on the demographic of the producer in the industry. For so long this industry has been selfinsuring and taking care of their own business needs, so it is a big change for some producers,” said German. “But, when these tools become available to producers and the industry has the chance to provide feedback into government to improve the

programs, it is a win-win in my mind.”

MASC is offering a one-time 0.25 per cent interest rate cut on its stocker loan program for producers who also purchase Western Livestock Price Insurance.

“This (interest rate cut) is an effort on our part to get people to think about the Western Livestock Pr ice Insurance Program. It’s a good combination,” said Thomson. jennifer.paige@fbcpublishing.com photo: laura rance

“We think we’ve paid out around $600,000 in 2015, which is pretty substantial.

The program is working.”

Craig Thomson vice-president of insurance operations with Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation

Administered through the Manitoba Agricultural Service Corporation (MASC), the program was initiated last year as a pilot project with a limit of 90 producers. It will run for the next three years with no limitation on participation.

“This is the first year we can promote it province-wide,” said Craig Thomson, vice-president of insurance operations with MASC. “We should find out if it will catch on or not.”

MASC has 18 crop insurance offices throughout the province but only promoted the pilot out of two of its offices in 2015.

“We think we’ve paid out around $600,000 in 2015, which is pretty substantial.

The program is working,” said Thomson.

MASC assesses the acres entering the program and calculates how many cattle the pasture should handle for ‘X’ number of days. Over time, coverage is based on the cattle producer’s history.

Re m ov i n g p a r t i c i p a t i o n restrictions will give the province an idea of how widely used the program will be and

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8

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Tories challenge MacAulay on chief of staff The Conservatives’ agriculture critic alleges a ‘serious conflict of interest’ STAFF

T

he federal Conservatives want the House of Commons’ agriculture committee to probe the hiring of a Canadian egg-processing heiress as chief of staff to the agriculture minister.

Tory Agriculture Critic Chris Warkentin on Jan. 20 called on both Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and his new chief of staff, Mary Jean McFall, to testify before the standing agriculture committee “at the earliest opportunity.”

Warkentin, a northwestern Alberta MP, said he wants MacAulay and McFall “to explain to Canadians how the Liberal government has justified this glaring conflict of interest.”

Warkentin specifically cited McFall’s “past, present or future ties to her family’s large corporation, Burnbrae Farms, which for a period of time was also her employer.”

He also noted her 12-year stint as a director on the board of Egg Farmers of Ontario, which he described as “a lobby group representing specific industry interests relating to her family’s corporation.”

McFall, Warkentin said, has given “no adequate explanation for how she will be able to conduct herself fairly when she advises on policy or potential trade deals that may impact her family’s corporation.”

Burnbrae Farms, a producer and processor operated by the Hudson family in eastern Ontario for over 120 years,

today sells eggs nationwide. McFall is a great-granddaughter of the company’s founder, Joseph Hudson.

Given McFall’s family’s “sizable stake in one of Canada’s key agricultural industries, this places her and by extension your ability to exercise fair judgment into question,” Warkentin wrote in a Jan. 20 letter to MacAulay.

McFall, a lawyer by profession, served as Burnbrae’s general counsel for about three years before joining Belleville, Ont.-based law firm Templeman Menninga in 2007, working out of its offices in Brockville and Kingston, handling mainly corporate and commercial law.

McFall also ran unsuccessfully for the federal Liberals in last October’s general election in eastern Ontario’s LeedsGrenville riding, losing to Tory incumbent Gord Brown by a spread of 3,850 votes.

MacAulay, Warkentin said, “has not adequately assured Canadians that his chief of staff will not use her new position to advance her family’s private financial interest. How can hardworking farm families trust that their minister is receiving unbiased advice?”

Mary Jean McFall photo: leedsgrenville.liberal.ca

Senior adviser In federal cabinet ministers’ offices, the chief of staff is considered the minister’s most senior political adviser, and manages the minister’s office, including budgets and staffing. The chief is also the minister’s liaison with senior department officials, the prime minister’s office and other ministers’ chiefs of staff.

McFall’s “ability to make an unbiased decision when a specific policy may affect Canada’s egg industry

immediately comes into question,” Warkentin wrote to MacAulay.

The public, Warkentin added, “should know whether McFall has committed to recuse herself from any discussion on trade deals, supply management or the supplymanaged egg industry.”

According to political news website iPolitics, McFall started as MacAulay’s chief of staff in late December.

WHAT’S UP Please forward your agricultural events to daveb@fbcpublishing. com or call 204-944-5762.

Feb. 3: Brokenhead River Agricultural Conference, 8:30 a.m., Brokenhead River Community Hall, 320 Veterans Lane, Beausejour. For more info call MAFRD at 204-268-6094.

Feb. 3-4: Manitoba Swine Seminar, Victoria Inn, 1808 Wellington Ave., Winnipeg. For more info call 204-475-8585 or visit www.manitobaswinesemi nar.ca.

Feb. 4-5: Manitoba Beef Producers annual general meeting, Victoria Inn, 3550 Victoria Ave., Brandon. For more info or to register visit www.mbbeef.ca/ annual-meeting/.

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Feb. 9: Farm Credit Canada Ag Outlook 2016, 1:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Victoria Inn, 3550 Victoria Ave., Brandon. For more info or to register visit www.fcc-fac.ca/en/ events/ag-outlook.html.

Feb. 10: Manitoba Sustainable Energy Association (ManSEA) conference and annual meeting, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Manitoba Agriculture GO Centre, 1129 Queens Ave., Brandon. For more info visit www.mansea.org or contact wdigby@mymts.net or 204-727-1394 Feb. 10-11: CropConnect Conference, Victoria Inn, 1808 Wellington Ave., Winnipeg. For more info visit cropconnectconfer ence.ca.

Feb. 14-16: Western Canadian Holistic Management Conference, Russell Inn and George P. Buleziuk Conference Centre, Russell. For more info call 204-648-3965 or to register and get details visit www. canadianfga.com.

Feb. 18-19: Prairie Organics: Think Whole Farm, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Agriculture Building, 66 Dafoe Rd., University of Manitoba, Winnipeg.

Visit www.prairieorganics.ca for details.

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March 1: Manitoba Turkey Producers annual meeting, Victoria Inn, 1808 Wellington Ave., Winnipeg. For more info call 204489-4635.

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9

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

CP books more Prairie grain revenue at year-end Record revenue is reported for 2015, major job cuts are planned for 2016 “… we continue to focus on what we can control.”

STAFF

H

i g h e r g ra i n re ve n u e on Canada’s Prairies helped lead to record full-year revenues and offset a lower fourth-quarter gross for Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) — as the company warned of substantial job cuts ahead.

T h e r a i l w a y o n Ja n . 2 1 reported overall net income of $1.352 billion on record revenue of $6.712 billion for 2015, down from $1.476 billion on $6.62 billion in fiscal 2014. For its fourth quarter (Q4) ending Dec. 31, CP booked $319 million in profit on $1.687 billion in revenue, down from $451 million on $1.76 billion in the year-earlier period.

CEO Hunter Harrison noted the company also posted a “record-low” full-year operating ratio of 60 per cent, for which he credited the comp a n y ’s “c o m m i t t e d , h a rd working employees across the network.”

Hunter Harrison CEO, Canadian Pacific Railway

Against “challenging” economic conditions and lower commodity prices, he said, “we continue to focus on what we can control — lowering costs, creating efficiencies and improving service.”

CP on Jan. 21 reported moving about 285,000 carloads of Canadian grain in fiscal 2015, down from 291,000 in 2014. Of that grain handle, about 80,000 carloads were moved in 2015’s Q4, up from 75,000 in the yearearlier period.

Despite the lower handle, CP booked Canadian grain revenue of $1.068 billion for the year (up from $988 million in 2014) for revenue per car-

Canadian Pacific Railway moved about 285,000 carloads of Canadian grain in 2015, down from 291,000 in 2014. file photo

load of $3,750, up 11 per cent.

For its 2015 Q4, CP reported Canadian grain revenue of $296 million (up from $267 million in the 2014 Q4) for rev-

enue per carload of $3,707, up four per cent.

Among its other sectors, CP reported revenue per carload of $3,326 on U.S. grain for

2015, up 14 per cent from 2014, though U.S. grain carloads for the year were down nine per cent at 157,000.

In the fertilizers and sulphur sector, CP moved 62,000 carloads in 2015, up five per cent, for revenue per carload of $4,410, up 16 per cent. In its potash sector, CP moved 124,000 carloads in 2015, up five per cent, while revenue per carload was down two per cent at $2,887.

‘Regrettable’

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Reuters on Jan. 21 reported CP’s separate announcement that it will press forward with plans to streamline operations and cut back its workforce in 2016 by nearly 1,000 people, or about seven per cent.

“This is a story of recognizing up front the things that you cannot control, which is the economy, and then doing something about those that you can, like your operating performance,” Reuters quoted CP chief operating officer Keith Creel as saying on a conference call.

Unifor, the union representing maintenance and mechanical staff at CP, described the cuts as “regrettable” given the company’s profits and revenue.

“Last year they eliminated 1,800 staff; now they’re putting another 1,000 out of work despite the fact that they brought in $1.35 billion in net income in 2015,” Brian Stevens, Unifor’s national rail director, said Jan. 21 in a separate release.

Unifor quoted Transport Canada as issuing an order to CP last week citing working conditions for train crews that “create excessive fatigue” and seeking changes to practices that pose “an immediate threat to safe railway operations.”

CP managers, Stevens said, “were told that some of their crews were being worked to the point of exhaustion and now they plan further staff reductions?”

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10

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

LIVESTOCK MARKETS (Friday to Thursday) Winnipeg Slaughter Cattle Steers — Heifers — D1, 2 Cows 97.00 - 103.00 D3 Cows 90.00 - 96.00 Bulls 127.00 - 136.00 Feeder Cattle (Price ranges for feeders refer to top-quality animals only) Steers (901+ lbs.)

180.00 - 212.00 (801-900 lbs.)

200.00 - 216.00 (701-800 lbs.)

210.00 - 236.00 (601-700 lbs.)

220.00 - 255.00 (501-600 lbs.)

235.00 - 290.00 (401-500 lbs.)

255.00 - 300.00 Heifers (901+ lbs.)

170.00 - 195.00 (801-900 lbs.)

180.00 - 205.00 (701-800 lbs.)

190.00 - 214.00 (601-700 lbs.)

200.00 - 237.00 (501-600 lbs.)

220.00 - 237.00 (401-500 lbs.)

240.00 - 275.00

Heifers

Alberta South 177.50 - 178.00 176.00 - 176.00 105.00 - 116.00 87.00 - 105.00 — $ 208.00 - 218.00 214.00 - 225.00 223.00 - 236.00 238.00 - 255.00 260.00 - 282.00 289.00 - 315.00 $ 192.00 - 200.00 198.00 - 210.00 203.00 - 217.00 215.00 - 230.00 230.00 - 248.00 244.00 - 271.00

($/cwt) (1,000+ lbs.)

(850+ lbs.)

(901+ lbs.)

(801-900 lbs.)

(701-800 lbs.)

(601-700 lbs.)

(501-600 lbs.)

(401-500 lbs.)

(901+ lbs.)

(801-900 lbs.)

(701-800 lbs.)

(601-700 lbs.)

(501-600 lbs.)

(401-500 lbs.)

Feeder Cattle January 2016 March 2016 April 2016 May 2016 August 2016 September 2016

Cattle Slaughter

January 22, 2016

Previous Year­ 44,531 11,120 33,411 N/A 550,000

CNSC

$

Close 158.80 154.77 155.35 155.20 157.18 155.10

Change -5.02 -6.18 -5.47 -5.00 -4.38 -4.33

Week Ending January 16, 2016 1,253 23,892 11,333 572 542 8,771 97

Prime AAA AA A B D E

Previous Year 827 19,635 14,047 505 579 8,292 33

Hog Prices (Friday to Thursday) ($/100 kg)

Source: Manitoba Agriculture

E - Estimation MB. ($/hog) MB (All wts.) (Fri-Thurs.)

MB (Index 100) (Fri-Thurs.)

ON (Index 100) (Mon.-Thurs.)

PQ (Index 100) (Mon.-Fri.)

Current Week 165 E 153 E 148.14 149.99

Futures (January 22, 2016) in U.S. Hogs February 2016 April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 July 2016

Last Week 156.38 148.46 141.87 141.73

Close 63.75 69.03 75.58 79.30 79.00

Last Year (Index 100) 176.22 163.76 164.23 166.80

Change 1.40 1.25 0.88 0.47 0.75

Other Market Prices Winnipeg Wooled Fats

Choice (110+ lb.)

(95 - 109 lb.)

(80 - 94 lb.)

(Under 80 lb.)

(New crop)

— 145.00 - 165.00 160.00 - 188.00 160.00 - 188.00 190.00 - 212.00 —

Chickens Minimum broiler prices as of April 13, 2010 Under 1.2 kg..................................................$1.5130 1.2 - 1.65 kg....................................................$1.3230 1.65 - 2.1 kg....................................................$1.3830 2.1 - 2.6 kg.....................................................$1.3230

Turkeys Minimum prices as of January 15, 2016 Broiler Turkeys (6.2 kg or under, live weight truck load average) Grade A ................................................$1.930 Undergrade ........................................$1.840 Hen Turkeys (between 6.2 and 8.5 kg liveweight truck load average) Grade A .................................................$1.915 Undergrade .........................................$1.815 Light Tom/Heavy Hen Turkeys (between 8.5 and 10.8 kg liveweight truck load average) Grade A .................................................$1.915 Undergrade .........................................$1.815 Tom Turkeys (10.8 and 13.3 kg, live weight truck load average) Grade A..................................................$1.885 Undergrade......................................... $1.800 Prices are quoted f.o.b. producers premise.

V

olatile futures markets are causing many Manitoba cattle producers to hold back from the market, according to one auctioneer, but other producers aren’t able to take a wait-and-see approach.

“Volumes were low, so I wasn’t really able to establish a decent market this week,” said Dave Nickel, auctioneer at Gladstone Auction Mart, which reported a 184-head sale on Jan. 19.

Cattle futures have been erratic after strengthening at the start of the year, and producers are waiting to see where those prices will move next, he said.

“The futures are pounding back and forth and everybody is kind of unsure what they’re doing.”

Robin Hill of Heartland Livestock Services at Virden said volumes increased at his 2,809head auction on Jan. 20, but added that volatility in the futures market is causing some uncertainty at the local level.

“One day it’s up two, three or four points, and then the next day it’s down the same, so we had some highs and lows,” he said.

Prices at local auctions are stronger than in December, and buyers were aggressive this week, especially at the 650-lb. level, he added.

“As far as I’m concerned, there are lots of homes for the cattle; it’s just the uncertainty about the volatility in the markets.”

Futures markets were turbulent at the start of the year, but demand concerns from China and general instability in outside markets — such as crude oil, equities and currencies — heightened concerns, said Brian Perillat, manager and senior analyst at CanFax, the market analysis arm of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association in Calgary.

“If you see the Dow Jones and the TSX down a whole bunch, you know cattle futures, and a lot of other markets, are all sinking with them.”

At current levels, futures values are higher

brian perillat CanFax

than they were at the end of 2015 due to a rally at the end of December and into the new year, and are attributed to current shakiness.

“Futures and the markets are adjusting to these higher price levels,” he said.

Going forward, futures markets could stabilize, he said, as storms in the U.S. have hurt cattle’s performance there.

Beef supplies will likely be tighter than analysts had thought they would be in the first quarter of 2016, which in turn is supportive to futures and local prices.

“Hopefully we’ll see some stability and some rangebound prices,” Perillat said, adding that he doesn’t think prices will be able to move much higher.

Demand for Canadian beef is also ramping up, which could hold prices steady.

South Korea has reopened its borders to Canadian beef, which is supportive. South Korea had temporarily stopped importing Canadian beef last February due to concerns about BSE, but lifted those restrictions in early January. “So that should get rolling here,” Perillat said.

The repeal of U.S. country-of-origin labelling (COOL) also remains a demand driver supportive to Canadian prices. “With that going away, we’re seeing some decent demand out of packing plants for Canadian cattle,” Perillat said.

“It kind of helps when they have a little bit of flexibility on things like Canadian cattle, and you don’t have to worry about segregation as much.”

Jade Markus writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

briefs

Sheep and Lambs $/cwt Ewes Lambs

“It kind of helps when (U.S. packers) have a little bit of flexibility on things like Canadian cattle.”

Jade MarkuS

Cattle Grades (Canada)

Week Ending January 16, 2016 47,080 11,804 35,276 N/A 568,000

Some cattle producers balk at volatility in futures Shakiness in energy and equities leaves markets erratic

Ontario 161.77 - 182.03 159.07 - 183.68 83.15 - 112.59 83.15 - 112.59 116.76 - 145.39 $ 197.77 - 231.74 195.93 - 230.75 192.59 - 251.40 199.35 - 270.03 215.26 - 284.42 225.05 - 294.96 $ 171.65 - 202.98 184.01 - 205.89 175.52 - 219.72 195.39 - 243.06 204.66 - 245.28 216.05 - 268.28

$

Futures (January 22, 2016) in U.S. Fed Cattle Close Change February 2016 130.55 -2.97 April 2016 131.50 -2.80 June 2016 122.73 -2.05 August 2016 118.85 -2.43 October 2016 119.90 -2.43 December 2016 120.00 -2.28

Canada East West Manitoba U.S.

$1 Cdn: $0.7066 U.S. $1 U.S: $1.4151 Cdn.

column

Cattle Prices

Slaughter Cattle Grade A Steers Grade A Heifers D1, 2 Cows D3 Cows Bulls Steers

EXCHANGES: January 21, 2016

Toronto 135.18 - 165.43 157.56 - 178.92 173.44 - 202.65 202.35 - 233.01 231.67 - 302.75 —

SunGold Specialty Meats —

Eggs Minimum prices to producers for ungraded eggs, f.o.b. egg grading station, set by the Manitoba Egg Producers Marketing Board effective November 10, 2013.

New Previous A Extra Large $2.00 $2.05 A Large 2.00 2.05 A Medium 1.82 1.87 A Small 1.40 1.45 A Pee Wee 0.3775 0.3775 Nest Run 24 + 1.8910 1.9390 B 0.45 0.45 C 0.15 0.15

Goats Kids Billys Mature

Winnipeg (Hd Fats) — — —

<1,000 lbs.

1,000 lbs.+

Buenos Aires/Reuters / Argentina will allow beef imports if the recent opening of the export market results in a domestic shortage of steaks and burgers, Farm Minister Ricardo Buryaile told local radio Jan. 21.

The country lifted restrictions on beef exports after President Mauricio Macri, elected in November on an open-markets platform, was inaugurated on Dec. 10. Permitting exports has raised worries that beef may become scarce domestically.

In the first 15 days of this year 59,924 head of cattle were sold in Argentina’s domestic market, down from 72,546 in the same 2015 period.

“We will not allow a shortage to take place,” Buryaile told local radio station Radio 10. “If someone requests authorization to import, we will grant permission.”

Previous president Cristina Fernandez adopted protectionist trade policies and market controls. She did not grant permission to import beef, in part because she tightly controlled exports, ensur-

ing ample domestic supply during her administration.

Buryaile, a cattle rancher by trade, aims to dramatically increase Argentina’s beef production, as well as output of poultry and pork.

Beef exports at the end of 2015 were around 200,000 tonnes per year.

The government’s goal is to increase that by 60 per cent by the end of 2016.

Twelve years ago Argentina was the secondbiggest beef exporter in the world. Now it comes in at 15th or 16th, according to Macri’s farm policy team.

Toronto ($/cwt) 150.06 - 384.44 — 117.72 - 324.96

Horses Winnipeg ($/cwt) — —

Argentina to allow beef imports

Toronto ($/cwt) 95.00 - 95.00 55.00 -79.00

Looking for results? Check out the market reports from livestock auctions around the province. » PaGe 14

11

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

GRAIN MARKETS column

Manitoba Elevator Prices

Canola futures up and down as energy markets churn

Average quotes as of January 22, 2016 ($/tonne) Future

Basis

E. Manitoba wheat

182.62

53.83

236.45

W. Manitoba wheat

182.62

45.21

229.58

E. Manitoba canola

481.70

-27.91

453.79

W. Manitoba canola

481.70

-31.40

450.30

The loonie’s sudden jump last week dragged on canola DAVE SIMS CNSC

I

CE Futures Canada canola contracts were taken on a wild ride for the week ended Jan. 22, ultimately posting modest gains in a market that was pushed up and down by volatile energy markets and subsequent currency action.

The Canadian dollar dropped to 68 U.S. cents at one point during the week before rallying above 70 cents. Global markets, including the TSX and Dow Jones, were also roiled by the plunging price of oil. The faltering state of the Chinese economy exacerbated the situation. Both stock markets lost hundreds of points early in the week before stabilizing and climbing higher by week’s end.

The vegetable oil market was generally lower, with palm oil exports out of Malaysia dropping significantly, according to cargo surveyor data.

While the loonie’s downward action makes canola a bargain in many buyers’ eyes, it still depends on what country they’re in and how their own currency is being affected.

For instance, Russia’s ruble has been pressured more severely than the loonie, giving that country’s wheat exporters a definite advantage.

Volumes were on the light side due to the shorter week as U.S. markets were closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Speculators took the time to briefly enter the market and advance their positions.

Cash

Source: pdqinfo.ca

The Bank of Canada took centre stage Jan. 20 with its decision not to lower interest rates. Bank governor Stephen Poloz told reporters the decision was based partly on the federal government’s promise to boost infrastructure spending, along with the state of the weakened dollar.

Jan. 21 saw the loonie record its largest single-day jump in recent memory, which weighed down canola. Large funds stayed mostly on the sidelines and farmer selling held steady while crush margins levelled off.

By the end of the week the volatility had cooled off and canola was back into a nearer-normal trading range.

In the U.S., CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) soybeans recorded minor losses during the holiday-shortened week as demand worries entered the market. Lower oil prices and slumping stock markets pressured CBOT soy. However, dryness in key regions of Brazil tempered the losses.

Corn futures posted solid gains for the week as expor t sales were better than expected. Speculative funds also engaged in short-covering, which helped corn futures hold their ground. On the other side of the coin, prices also felt the weight of the crude oil meltdown as demand for ethanol wanes.

W h e a t f u t u re s w e re a m i x e d b a g a s Chicago contracts recorded modest gains while both Minneapolis and Kansas City futures were slightly below unchanged.

Weather issues were supportive as cold weather in the Black Sea region and U.S. Plains threatened winter wheat supplies.

Dave Sims writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

For three-times-daily market reports and more from Commodity News Service Canada, visit the Markets section at www.manitobacooperator.ca.

Port Prices As of Friday, January 22, 2016 ($/tonne) Last Week

Weekly Change

194.10

-1.18

U.S. hard red winter 12% Houston U.S. spring wheat 14% Portland

224.87

-0.08

Canola Thunder Bay

489.00

-2.50

Canola Vancouver

509.00

-2.50

Closing Futures Prices

As of Monday, January 25, 2016 ($/tonne) Last Week

Weekly Change

ICE canola

483.00

-2.50

ICE milling wheat

246.00

6.00

ICE barley

190.00

8.00

Mpls. HRS wheat

183.81

2.85

Chicago SRW wheat

174.53

2.30

Kansas City HRW wheat

173.25

1.10

Corn

144.48

3.54

Oats

132.12

2.27

Soybeans

322.80

-1.38

Soymeal

299.96

-2.20

Soyoil

660.18

4.19

Cash Prices Winnipeg As of Monday, January 25, 2016 ($/tonne) Last Week

Weekly Change

Feed wheat

203.91

n/a

Feed barley

179.59

-6.89

n/a

n/a

467.69

10.24

Rye Flaxseed Feed peas

n/a

n/a

Oats

188.04

1.30

Soybeans

399.41

-2.20

Sunflower (NuSun) Fargo, ND ($U.S./CWT)

16.55

0.15

Ask

Ask

Sunflower (Confection) Fargo, ND ($U.S./CWT)

Prairie spring wheat bids dip as loonie rises Durum bids held relatively steady over the past week

BY PHIL FRANZ-WARKENTIN CNS Canada

C

ash spring wheat bids across Western Canada moved lower during the week ended Jan. 22, as volatile activity in the Canadian dollar caused basis levels to soften.

Ave ra g e Canada Wester n Red Spring (CWRS) wheat prices were down by $3-$6 per tonne over the week, according to price quotes from a cross-section of delivery points across the Prairie provinces compiled by PDQ (Price and Data Quotes).

Average CWRS prices ranged from about $227 per tonne in southeastern Saskatchewan and west-

ern Manitoba, to as high as $243 in southern Alberta.

Quoted basis levels varied from location to location, but were generally sitting at $46-$62 per tonne above the futures when using the grain company methodology of quoting the basis as the difference between U.S. dollar-denominated futures and Canadian dollar cash bids.

When accounting for the currency exchange rates by adjusting the Canadian prices to U.S. dollars, CWRS bids ranged from US$160 to $172 per tonne. That would put the currency adjusted basis levels at about US$9-$21 below the futures.

Looking at it the other way around, if the Minneapolis futures

are converted to Canadian dollars, CWRS basis levels across Western Canada range from $12 to $29 below the futures.

Average Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) bids were down by $2-$6 per tonne. Average CPSR prices came in at about $188 per tonne in Manitoba, $188-$202 per tonne in Saskatchewan, and $205-$208 per tonne in Alberta.

Average durum prices were narrowly mixed during the week, holding relatively steady overall. Bids in southern Saskatchewan, where the bulk of the crop is grown, were up a dollar to down a dollar, to sit in the $316- to $318-per-tonne area.

The March spring wheat contract in Minneapolis, off of which

most CWRS contracts in Canada are based, was quoted at US$4.97 per bushel on Jan. 22, down 0.25 U.S. cents from the previous week.

Kansas City hard red winter wheat futures, traded in Chicago, are more closely linked to CPSR in Canada.

The March K.C. wheat contract was quoted at US$4.7075 per bushel on Jan. 22, down 3.25 U.S. cents compared to the previous week.

The March CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) soft wheat contract settled Jan. 22 at US$4.755, 1.75 U.S. cents higher compared to one week earlier.

The Canadian dollar closed Jan. 22 at 70.67 U.S. cents, up nearly two cents relative to its U.S. counterpart compared to January 15.

12

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

LIVESTOCK h u s b a n d r y — t h e s c i e n c e , S K I L L O R ART O F F AR M IN G

New requirements in place to mitigate pain during specific procedures Provincial extension veterinarian says the new Code of Practice requirements make calves easier to handle and typically allow faster recovery due to reduced stress levels

BY JENNIFER PAIGE Co-operator staff/Brandon

C

hanges to the National Beef Code of Practice, which took effect earlier this month, place new requirements on producers to provide pain control for dehorning and castration in cattle that are older than nine months.

“A lot of producers do these procedures earlier on so it won’t have a huge impact on them, but for others it will mean a conversation with their veterinarian to look at the best options,” said Melinda German, Manitoba Beef Producers general manager.

According to Wayne Tomlinson, extension veterinarian with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, producers have a few options in carrying out the new requirements.

“Producers can learn to administer these pain control products themselves, contract their veterinarian, use polled genetics to get rid of the horns or look at performing these tasks earlier,” said Tomlinson.

Performing castration earlier on in the animal’s life doesn’t require pain mitigation as the tissue area is much smaller and the blood supply is less developed.

The same can be said for dehorning, as the cow’s horns do not actually attach to its skull until it reaches three to four months old.

“At the stage where the horn bud is not attached to the bone, we do not have to use pain medication, you are welcome to, but it is not required according to the Animal Care Act,” said Tomlinson.

Benefits Tomlinson said there are a number of benefits to making these management changes. Calves are more comfortable and easier to handle, they travel better, suckle more and typically recover faster because of reduced stress levels.

“There are certainly some economic benefits and reasons why we should be doing this,” said Tomlinson. “Stress caused by pain affects the animal’s cortisol levels and that causes a decrease in immune function, lowering the ability to fight off infection, it also decreases weight gain and has an impact on reproductive hormones.”

Additionally, having these standards in place aids in addressing consumer concerns over animal welfare and provides sector groups with more material when talking with the public about production methods.

PHOTO: thinkstock

“The code is a really important document, not only because it helps producers see the goalposts but it is also a document that other groups look at. It helps us tell the story of what we are doing in our management practices to those outside of the sector.”

Wayne Tomlinson, extension veterinarian with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development spoke to producers about the new Code of Practice requirements at a Beef and Forage seminar held in Holland on January 13. photo: jennifer paige

“By and large, producers are the best stewards of the land and the best people to care for those animals, but a lot people don’t see that or don’t understand what we do. So, they ask questions around these painful procedures and around the management of pain,” said German. “The code is a really important document, not only because it helps producers see the goalposts but it is also a document that other groups look at. It helps us tell the story of what we are doing in our management practices to those outside of the sector.”

Staggered implementation The age requirement to provide pain control for dehorning and castration will be adjusted again, from nine months to six months, on January 1, 2018.

Melinda German Manitoba Beef Producers general manager

“As you can appreciate there was a side of the table that really pushed for these changes and pushed for them to happen now. The other side of the table, those who are involved in the industry, know the limitations,” said German. “The conversation around that table was that we understand and we hear what you are saying, but we don’t have the tools in place to be able to do that. And even if we did, the cost would be too great.”

The age requirement has been staggered specifically to give the industr y time to develop bett e r p r o d u c t s, a d j u s t p r o d u c tion methods and ease financial repercussions.

“The Beef Cattle Research Council has acknowledged that there is a lack of information

Melinda German, Manitoba Beef Producers general manager says the new requirements have been staggered in implementation to help ease financial repercussions. photo: jennifer paige

around this and has initiated a research project which will evaluate the age, technique and pain medication required when we are performing these procedures,” said Tomlinson.

“This will give us some sciencebased data that will tell us how much pain medication we really need in these calves. We certainly need more research on this and there is also a need to develop more user-friendly medication options.”

The Beef Cattle Research Association has also released a video explaining the new requirements, which also includes information on various pain control products: www.beefresearch.ca/ pain. jennifer.paige@fbcpublishing.com

13

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Iowa hog barn-building binge may spur even lower prices U.S. hog inventory is already at its highest level since tracking began in 1988

BY THEOPOLIS WATERS Chicago/Reuters

F

armers have ramped up construction of swine barns in Iowa, home to about a third of U.S. hogs, as they take advantage of cheap feed and demand for pork from countries including China and Mexico.

Some are also looking to add space for the heavier pigs now favoured by customers and to cater for extra piglets as sows become more fertile, experts said.

But with hog prices near sixyear lows and profits slashed from 2014 when porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) ravaged supplies, adding numbers to the U.S. herd could cut incomes further this year from 2015, experts say.

Last year, Iowa farmers built 280 barns capable of holding more than 1,250 head, over 60 per cent more than 2014 but shy of the 347 constructed in 2012, according to data recently released by the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

“There is a demand from our customer for heavier market weights, five to 10 pounds heavier than two years ago,” said Allen Whiley, who oversees raising hogs at Iowa Select Farms.

“At the same time our sow productivity has increased, meaning there are more pigs weaned and marketed per sow,” he added. U.S. sows on average gave birth to a record 10.53 piglets in a litter in the SeptemberNovember quarter.

Josh Flint, a spokesman with pig farmer and pork producer The Maschhoffs, said the company had contracted with some Iowa family farmers for new finishing barns.

The company, which says it produces enough pork to feed 16 million Americans a year, did not expand in 2015 and has no plans to do so this year.

The U.S. hog inventory hit 68.3 million head as of Dec. 1, the highest since 1988 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture started collecting data.

“Generally, I think the farmer who partners with us to build a finishing barn is looking to diversify their source of farm income,” said Flint.

Farmers view building a hog barn as an effective way to increase income without having to expand corn and soybean operations.

But pork profits are already weak and could head lower this year, Iowa State University economist Lee Schulz said.

ISU estimates that Iowa producers who take hogs from birth to slaughter made a profit

“I think the farmer who partners with us to build a finishing barn is looking to diversify their source of farm income.”

Josh Flint The Maschhoffs

of $7.93 per head in 2015 — little better than a 10th of the $61.85 per head in 2014 when PEDv-constricted supplies sent hog prices climbing (all figures US$).

This year, farmers could struggle to make any profit in the first half, the university predicts, with annual earnings sliding to $5.41 per head.

Already home to about a third of U.S. hogs — such as these weeks-old pigs at Paustian Enterprises at Walcott, just west of Davenport, in November 2014 — Iowa is in the midst of a hog barn-building spree. photo: reuters/daniel acker

Sharing Ideas and Information for Efficient Pork Production

Manitoba Swine Seminar 2016 February 3 & 4

Victoria Inn Hotel & Convention Centre WINNIPEG, MANITOBA

You are invited to join local, national & international speakers as they discuss: • • • • • • • • •

Sow feeding strategies in gestation and lactation Humane transport: What you need to know about transporting sows Feeding piglets for gut health to optimize growth Lessons learned using needle-less injectors State of the industry Understanding feeders and drinkers for grow/finish pigs How to extract more value from manure Challenges associated with water medicators Panel discussion: How to implement the codes of practice on farm

...and much more

Registration: $ 200 (Includes GST)

• • • •

Day rate also available Special rate for students (with ID) Costs include lunch and one copy of the proceedings FREE parking

Online registration available NOW!

For more information:

www.ManitobaSwineSeminar.ca A great way to Buy and Sell without the ef for t.

Dallas Ballance, conference manager Tel: (204) 475-8585 Fax: (204) 475-8200 Dallas@goodwinballance.ca

Classifieds MSS_ad16_after_MC_R2_pr.indd 1

2016-01-14 3:33 PM

14

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

LIVESTOCK AUCTION RESULTS Weight Category

Feeder Steers

Ashern

Gladstone

Grunthal

Heartland

Heartland

Brandon

Virden

Killarney

Ste. Rose

Winnipeg

20-Jan

19-Jan

19-Jan

21-Jan

20-Jan

18-Jan

21-Jan

22-Jan

420

184*

146

468

2,809*

563*

2,105*

590

No. on offer Over 1,000 lbs.

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

180.00-195.00

900-1,000

n/a

n/a

n/a

200.00-219.00

197.00-213.00

n/a

200.00-208.00

190.00-209.00

800-900

n/a

179.00-212.00

180.00-207.00

210.00-229.00

202.00-220.00

n/a

210.00-223.00

200.00-218.50

700-800

210.00-231.00

187.00-222.50

185.00-212.00

220.00-240.00

214.00-230.00

215.00-236.00

225.00-233.00

212.00-235.00

600-700

220.00-250.00

204.00-249.00

215.00-247.00

240.00-258.00

229.00-257.00

225.00-251.00

230.00-262.00

225.00-271.00

500-600

249.00-275.00

220.00-272.00

225.00-251.00

260.00-285.00

250.00-281.00

245.00-270.00

250.00-288.00

240.00-288.00

400-500

244.00-272.00

225.00-264.50

250.00-275.00

270.00-305.00

270.00-312.00

270.00-299.00

250.00-295.00

270.00-302.00

300-400

n/a

n/a

275.00-330.00

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

275.00-310.00

n/a

n/a

n/a

180.00-197.00

183.00-194.00

n/a

n/a

175.00-193.00

Feeder heifers 900-1,000 lbs.

800-900

n/a

n/a

170.00-190.00

190.00-205.00

188.00-201.00

n/a

193.00-205.00

180.00-205.00

700-800

180.00-205.00

172.00-190.00

190.00-205.00

195.00-215.00

192.00-205.00

190.00-203.00

195.00-210.00

190.00-212.00

600-700

190.00-215.00

159.00-218.00

205.00-225.00

205.00-225.00

201.00-224.00

200.00-211.00

210.00-227.00

205.00-240.00

500-600

200.00-228.00

190.00-237.50

215.00-235.00

220.00-245.00

219.00-241.00

210.00-240.00

215.00-245.00

220.00-255.00

400-500

224.00-244.00

210.00-242.00

230.00-262.00

235.00-270.00

230.00-260.00

240.00-265.00

215.00-262.00

235.00-266.00

300-400

n/a

n/a

240.00-280.00

n/a

n/a

n/a

205.00-260.00

240.00-282.00

81

n/a

58

256

n/a

n/a

n/a

120

D1-D2 Cows

91.00-99.00

n/a

n/a

93.00-107.50

97.00-106.00

97.00-107.00

98.00-109.00

97.00-105.00

D3-D5 Cows

84.00-90.00

n/a

n/a

80.00-93.00

92.00-97.00

n/a

85.00-95.00

85.00-93.00

Age Verified

100.00-110.00

85.00-109.00

n/a

n/a

99.00-109.00

125.00-142.5

n/a

n/a

Good Bulls

126.00-146.00

n/a

n/a

135.00-151.00

133.00-145.00

n/a

n/a

125.00-135.00

Butcher Steers

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

159.00-166.00

n/a

n/a

n/a

Butcher Heifers

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

157.00-164.00

n/a

n.a

n/a

Feeder Cows

n/a

n/a

105.00-120.00

n/a

102.00-115.00

105.00-115.00

n/a

100.00-110.00

Slaughter Market No. on offer

Fleshy Export Cows

n/a

n/a

90.00-102.00

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Lean Export Cows

n/a

n/a

80.00-90.00

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

110.00-180.00

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

125.00-170.00

115.00-135.00

Heiferettes * includes slaughter market

(Note all prices in CDN$ per cwt. These prices also generally represent the top one-third of sales reported by the auction yard.)

SHEEP & GOAT COLUMN

Yearly pattern followed, with fewer animals delivered

Producers supplied 175 sheep and goats for the January 20, 2016 sale at Winnipeg Livestock Auction.

Following the lower quantity of sheep and goats, this continues until near the Easter market period

By Mark Elliot Co-operator contributor

E

wes were represented by two Dorper-cross ewes.

The bidding was strong f o r t h e s e 9 8 - p o u n d e w e s.

However, these ewes did not reach the top prices compared to the last sale. Then ewes brought $156.80 ($1.60 per pound).

There was extremely strong bidding for rams. A 185-pound Dorper-cross ram brought $275.65 ($1.49 per pound).

Two-173 pound Dorper-cross rams brought $73.34 ($1.58 per pound). Two 133-pound Suffolk-cross rams brought $222.11 ($1.67 per pound).

There were no heavyweight lambs for this sale.

Ma rk e t l a m b s we re we l l represented but prices did not reach last saleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prices.

T h e l i g h t e r- w e i g h t l a m b s produced a higher bidding price. The 95-pound lambs

received a price range from $1.60 to $1.63 per pound.

The 95-pound lambs brought $1.50 per pound. Twenty-five 104-pound Cheviot-cross lambs brought $146.64 ($1.41 per pound). Once again, the bidding did not reach the top of last saleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prices.

The majority of the lambs was in the price range from $1.84 to $2 per pound. Nine 91-pound Cheviot-cross lambs brought $1.68 per pound.

There was a strong demand and interest for the light weight lambs. A majority of the lambs was in the price range from $2 to $2.09 per pound. Two 70-pound lambs brought $1.76 per pound.

Ni n e 6 8 - p o u n d Su f f o l k cross lambs brought $141.44 ($2.08 per pound). A 60-pound Suffolk-cross lamb brought $113.40 ($1.89 per pound).

The selection of goats was very limited. There were no goat does. A 240-pound Boer-

Ewes

/ lb.

animal weight

$1.60

$156.80

Lambs (lbs.)

110+

n/a

95 - 110

$1.50 - $1.63

$147 - $154.85

$1.41

$146.64

$1.84 - $2

$160.08 - $162.12

$1.68

$152.88

$2 - $2.09

$150 - $158.84

$1.76

$123.20

$2.08

$141.44

$1.89

$113.40

80 - 94

Under 80 70 - 76

60 - 68

cross goat buck brought $350 ($1.46 per pound). Twelve 83-pound Boer-cross wethers brought $177 ($2.13 per pound).

The Ontario Stockyard

Report clearly indicated that the prices of the heavy lambs had decreased, with even less demand for the lightweight lambs. The new-crop lambs have dropped from before

Christmas and the first sale of the new year. The past many months, the goat prices have remained constant or steady.

This past sale showed lower bidding which is unusual.

15

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

COLUMN

Biosecurity practices for horses Infectious organisms are effective ‘hitchhikers’ so avoid sharing water buckets and equipment at shows Carol Shwetz

DVM

Horse Health

B

iosecurity measures do not need to be complicated or expensive undertakings to be effective.

In fact the simplest of practices can make the most difference. Infectious and contagious diseases are not random events, rather the disease requires a chain of events to manifest — like the perfect storm. The viral, bacterial, parasitic or fungal pathogens merely capitalize whenever opportunity exists.

The most significant defence a horse has against infectious diseases will be its own immune system. The immune system is an invisible quality of health, which provides resistance against infectious disease. It successfully uses combinations of antibodies, messenger proteins, and specialized cell bodies to maintain a state of well-being.

Providing horses with appropriate nutrition, movement, optimal air quality, adequate rest and easing stress, where p o s s i b l e, s t re n g t h e n s t h e immune system, which in turn protects the horse.

Vaccinations can play a role in a horse’s immunity, yet vaccines alone do not equal immunity against disease.

Veterinarians customize vaccination programs based on the individual needs of each horse, acknowledging currently relevant diseases, the level of risk to the affected individuals and recommending which, when and how to best vaccinate.

Greatest risk The greatest risk to biosecurity is the infected and thus contagious horse. Therefore it is of value to know healthy

horse behaviour and vitals.

Healthy horses have clear eyes, no nasal discharge, and a normal attitude and stance.

Be mindful of the “off” and perhaps ill horse. Most infectious diseases are accompanied by a fever. The normal rectal temperature for a horse is 36.5 to 38.5 C (97.5 to 101.5 F). Remember the 4s are a fever. i.e. 40 C/104 F. At equine events, develop the ability to recognize the ‘ill-ish’ horses and keep you and your horse at a distance.

Also, be courteous if the ‘illish’ horse is yours and politely remove it from the venue.

Si m p l e p r a c t i c e s s u c h a s avoiding nose-to-nose contact and minimizing interactions between unfamiliar horses, staying away from confined spaces with poor air quality, and not sharing community waters dramatically reduce the rate of exposure between horses, and so decrease the chances of animals getting sick.

The next level of r isk is “anything” that touches a contagious horse as the secretions of an infected horse have the potential to transfer their pathogenic cargo to other horses. Infectious organisms are in effect “hitchhikers” and need a vehicle for transmission. Know their vehicles.

Communal “anything” carries a risk to transfer pathogens i.e. water sources, tack, feeding supplies, grooming equipment, trailers, housing — even, and especially, communal “people” with their hands, clothing and boots.

While travelling with horses p ra c t i s e “s a f e” s h a r i n g o r maybe no sharing if possible.

New arrivals Disease introduction at the home site is most likely to occur either when new animals are introduced, or when animals are taken off

Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers 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.

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.

Nose-to-nose contact is a primary means for transmission of respiratory diseases between horses. photo: supplied

site, commingle with other horses, and then return home.

Isolation for 30 days is ideal since most infectious diseases will express themselves in that time.

During these 30 days, observe the new animal(s) for illness, and integrate them

into your health-care program. If horses are continually moving to and from the farm to shows, races, training, and competitions, it is advisable to group them separate from the ones that remain on the farm. This measure can be particularly relevant with

brood mares and young foals.

Although it may be impossible to control all movement of horses and/or “horsey” people through a farm, one can monitor and direct the traffic of highest risk.

Since most infectious organisms can use organic material as a shield, removing manure, dirt, and debris from transmissible objects with soap and water, is the first and perhaps the most essential step in hygiene. This step is necessary prior to the use of any disinfectant.

The pathogenic burden can be reduced by up to 90 per cent by simple cleaning. Once organic material is removed and the objects are rinsed of soapy residues, disinfectants can then effectively penetrate and disarm the offending organism. It is necessary to adhere to contact times when applying disinfectants in order to achieve sufficient elimination of the pathogen.

Commercial disinfectants like Virkon can be used for disinfecting grooming equipment, tack, trailers, stalls, car tires, and works well in footbaths. Although one part household bleach to 10 parts water is a good general-purpose disinfectant as well, it can be rather harsh on chemically sensitive items. It is further advisable to separate clothing and footwear used during travel from those commonly used when at home.

Carol Shwetz is a veterinarian focusing on equine practice in Millarville, Alta.

16

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

WEATHER VANE “Everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.” Mark Twain, 1897

A couple of chances for light snow Issued: Monday, January 25, 2016 · Covering: January 27 – February 3, 2016 Daniel Bezte Weather Vane

S

ometimes it just takes a few small changes to totally alter a forecast and this is what happened last week. The Alberta clipper came through a little earlier and quicker than expected, with only a weak push of arctic high pressure sliding in behind it. The best part is that this allowed our temperatures to remain milder than anticipated.

T h i s f o re c a s t p e r i o d w i l l b e g i n with another Alberta clipper system, but this one will race down from northern Alberta. This system will track rapidly through Manitoba on Wednesday or on Wednesday night, bringing with it a quick couple of centimetres of snow, mostly to cent ra l re g i o n s. L a t e o n Fr i d a y a n d into Saturday another clipper will slide across souther n sections of Manitoba, which will bring a chance for another couple of centimetres of snow. Temperatures will remain mild as warm air is pulled northward ahead of these systems.

For the first half of next week the confidence in the forecast is pretty low.

The weather models have been consistent with developing a large storm system over Colorado on Monday and then tracking it east or northeast on Tuesday and Wednesday. At first the models were keeping this storm system well to the south of us, but the latest runs have started to edge it northward. Chances are this system will stay to our south but we should keep an eye on it.

Looking further ahead, the weather models are keeping us between cold arctic air circulating around an arctic

vortex centred near Baffin Island and a ridge of mild high pressure over the western U.S. This means we’ll likely continue to see our temperatures swing between mild and cool as these two systems struggle for dominance.

Usual temperature range for this period: Highs, -22 to -5 C; lows, -33 to -14 C. Daniel Bezte is a teacher by profession with a BA (Hon.) in geography, specializing in climatology, from the U of W. He operates a computerized weather station near Birds Hill Park. Contact him with your questions and comments at daniel@ bezte.ca.

Global and regional temperature anomalies Globally, 2015 was the warmest year, at 0.9 C above the 20th-century average Annual temperature anomalies for Winnipeg, 1940 to 2015.

BY DANIEL BEZTE Co-operator contributor

L

ast issue I finished by saying I would hopefully be able to continue our look back at 2015 by exploring some of the top weather stories from our part of the world. Between then and now, both NOAA and NASA released their 2015 global temperature data and I figured we should spend some time checking out their numbers, along with some of the great graphics that they’ve created, to show just what is going on. After looking at the graphics I started thinking about our long-term temperature anomalies and decided to plot what’s been happening in southern Manitoba since 1940. So this article will be a little shorter than usual, but with a lot more graphics. I’ll give a little bit of an explanation on some of the graphics, but will leave most of the interpretation to you, as you know what they say: a picture is worth a thousand words!

Looking at graphs produced

by NOAA and NASA that show global temperature anomalies for 2015 and going back to

“What surprised me a little bit was that on an annual basis, while the trend in our data kind of mimics the global trend, we are not seeing the same magnitude of increase. ”

1880, two things jumped out at me. The first was that 10 of the 12 months of 2015 saw record global monthly temperatures.

Second was the fact that only the North Atlantic and a small area near the southern tip of South America had belowaverage temperatures. Looking at the time series graph, you can really see how global temperatures have shown a steady increase since the 1980s.

It was this plot that got me thinking about how our part of the world’s temperatures are comparing to the global trend.

I’ve gone through my numbers a couple of times and I am pretty sure I haven’t made any glaring or stupid mistakes with the data. I used Winnipeg’s data simply because it was the easiest data set for me to work with, and when we look at monthly and yearly temperatures and

Annual departures from the 20th-century average, 1880 to 2015. graphics: noaa/nasa

temperature trends, there is very little difference between Winnipeg, Brandon and Dauphin. The graphs show the temperature anomalies, which is a fancy way of saying the difference between the actual temperature and the long-term average. The coloured line is the actual data, and the black line is a five-year running mean, which helps to show longer term trends in the data.

What surprised me a little bit was that on an annual basis, while the trend in our data kind of mimics the global trend, we are not seeing the same magnitude of increase. This then made me want to see if there were significant differences between the seasons. Winter values were interesting, in that there have been very large swings in temperature from well-above-average winters to well below average, but since the 1980s there have been a lot more very warm winters. Fall temperatures have shown the greatest increase in average temperatures, with values now typically running from 1.0 to 1.5 C above average. Summer, on the other hand, has shown very little change, with no obvious trend in the data. Finally, spring showed a rapid increase in temperatures during the 1970s and 1980s but since then, the trend has cooled a bit and flattened.

Enjoy analyzing the graphics. Next issue we’ll look back at January and look ahead to see what the rest of winter and early spring might have in store for us.

Spring temperature anomalies for Winnipeg, 1940 to 2015.

Summer temperature anomalies for Winnipeg, 1940 to 2015.

Autumn temperature anomalies for Winnipeg, 1940 to 2015.

Winter temperature anomalies for Winnipeg, 1940 to 2015.

17

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

CROPS h u s b a n d r y — t h e s c i e n c e , S K I L L O R ART O F F AR M IN G

Salt of the earth

Salinity exists in Manitoba, but producers might not be aware of it until it’s too late

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Riekman. “Soil salinity isn’t something we can fix. I wish I could come out to every one of your farms and fix all of your salinity. I

can’t do that. But I can work with you to manage it.” shannon.vanraes@fbcpublishing.com

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Marla Riekman Photo: Shannon VanRaes

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S

witching from forages to soybeans is one way to see if you’ve got saline soil, but it’s not the method Marla Riekman recommends.

The provincial land management specialist told producers attending Manitoba Ag Days that testing is the only surefire way to learn what kind of salinity you have on your farm, although there are provincial maps and surveys that can help point you in the right direction.

“When I hear people in the valley say, I’ve never seen salinity before… I think it’s really that they’ve never grown so many soybeans before,” said Riekman.

While most forage crops are salt tolerant, pulses and soybeans are not.

“Soybeans are tolerant for a very, very short period of time then that tolerance plummets; corn isn’t far behind,” she said, adding that if farmers are thinking about expanding corn or soybean acres, they should test to see if their land is well suited to those crops before making any big changes.

In cases where crusty white salt appears on soil surface, salinity is obvious, said the specialist. But in most cases the signs of salinity are much more subtle.

“It might be little patches of foxtail barley along the edges and around potholes,” she said, adding that kochia is another indicator of salinity.

However, there is an upside to seeing those weeds in a salty patch of soil because they do suck up water and help control the water table, something Riekman said is key to managing salinity.

“When you think about salinity, I want you to be thinking about water,” she said. “Think about where your water table is, because that’s what’s driving salinity. That salt is coming up to the surface from below… that’s the reason we’re seeing a lot of salinity right now, because we’ve seen that water table come to the surface.”

As water evaporates, more salty water is brought to the surface, wicking more salt to the top layer of soil. Planting salt-tolerant

Member of CropLife Canada.

Co-operator staff/Brandon

crops such as alfalfa or sunflowers helps to control water levels and also works to prevent salt from accumulating.

“Typically, salinity isn’t seen in wet years, it’s driven by the wet years, but it’s not seen when it’s wet,” she said. “The reason is that when the water is flowing around it is diluted.”

It’s when that water sticks around and evaporates that the real problems begin. Tile drainage can help manage some salinity, but it isn’t a silver bullet, said Riekman. Tile drainage is only effective in the right type of soil and where there is a proper drainage system in which to channel excess water.

In c re a s i n g t h e a m o u n t o f organic matter in your soil can also reduce salinity, as can cutting back on tillage. What won’t help are applications of any anti-salt solutions or scraping fields.

“What happens if you scrape the salt off? It will come right back, it’s coming up from below,” said

As with all crop protection products, read and follow label instructions carefully.

BY SHANNON VANRAES

1/7/16 12:34 PM

18

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Soybean white mould control options limited In contrast to canola, there are only four products registered

The economic threshold for spraying is much higher if there is a good population of natural enemies

BY ANGELA LOVELL Co-operator contributor

W

hile many Manitoba growers are familiar with the extensive number of fungicides available for dealing with white mould (sclerotinia) in canola, they may not realize that there are a lot fewer options to treat this disease in soybeans.

Only four foliar fungicides are registered for control or suppression of white mould on soybeans: Acapela (DuPont), Priaxor (BASF), Allegro 500F (Syngenta) and Delaro (Bayer CropScience).

If you choose to spray, good coverage is important, said Michael Wunsch of Nor th Dakota State University at the recent Manitoba Agronomists Conference in Winnipeg. For good coverage, timing is critical.

Wunsch said available data suggests there is most white mould suppression and increased yield in soybeans when growers apply these fungicides at the R1 growth stage.

“That is when growers are getting the coverage they need for the product to provide activity against the target disease,” he said.

Research in the U.S. and Canada has shown that there is an average reduction in white mould of 44 to 45 per cent with a fungicide application at the R1 stage, and yield loss can vary anywhere from 1.3 to 5.5 bu./acre for every 10 per cent increase in white mould severity. Assuming disease control of 45 per cent and yield impacts of 1.6 to 4.6

BY ANGELA LOVELL Co-operator contributor

D

Data suggests there is most white mould suppression and increased yield when fungicides are applied at the R1 growth stage. Photo: Craig Grau/University of Wisconsin

bu./acre on average, soybeans valued at $8 bu. would have an economic threshold of 16 per cent to 46 per cent white mould levels before a fungicide application would pay for itself. If soybeans are $10/bu., the threshold is 13 per cent to 38 per cent and at $12/bu., the threshold range is 11 per cent to 31 per cent.

Wunsch said shorter-maturing soybeans are less susceptible to white mould than longermaturing varieties.

“We have seen that white mould impact drops with maturity, so growers are likely to lose the most yield for every percentage increase in disease when they have a longer-maturity soybean,” said Wunsch.

CORN BROOM CLASSIC WAWANESA CURLING CLUB

Last February, curling history was made with our inaugural ‘Corn Broom Classic’ bonspiel. Three days of action, some of it intense, much of it hilarious, showed that old-time curling, and old-fashioned hospitality, was back. This bonspiel is open to absolutely everyone, just come prepared to have a good time. Dig out that old curling sweater and those plaid pants.

Take your best shot, yours might be the next team to have their names added to the Silver Broom!

on’t only count the bad bugs before deciding to spray — count the good ones as well, says Jordan Bannerman of the department of entomology at the University of Manitoba.

Bannerman is developing a new decision-making tool that will provide growers a way to predict whether there are enough natural insect enemies present in the crop to reduce aphid numbers to the point where spraying becomes unnecessary.

“The current economic threshold for soybean aphid tends to overrecommend treatment in some cases because it is slightly conservative based on current scouting methods,” Bannerman told the recent Manitoba Agronomists Conference in Winnipeg. “There is good evidence that natural enemies are important and can potentially improve decision-making and ultimately save growers money.”

A severe aphid infestation in soybeans (when levels reach around 657 aphids per plant)

can cause significant yield loss and once the economic threshold of 250 aphids/plant is reached, growers usually have about a seven-day window in which to decide whether or not spraying makes economic sense for them.

If growers count natural enemies (NE) such as ladybird beetles, predatory bugs and flies, lacewings and parasitoid wasps at the same time they scout their fields and record aphid numbers, they can use these counts to calculate a dynamic action threshold (DAT).

“Using the DAT, growers can adjust the economic threshold for aphids based on how many NE units they have in the field. For example, if no NE are present the economic threshold will be 250 aphids/plant, but if there is one NE unit per plant the economic threshold will be almost 500 aphids/ plant because you are factoring in all the control those NE will offer,” Bannerman said.

When four soybean growers in Ontario used the DAT system in a small-scale trial, none decided to spray and none of the fields reached the injury level threshold of 567 aphids per plant.

A study in Manitoba found one adult female of the thirteen-spotted lady beetle ate about 110 English grain aphids in 24 hours. Photo: MAFRD

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Canola exports on pace for new record Ocean freight rates and a weak loonie favour Canada’s product

BY PHIL FRANZ-WARKENTIN CNS Canada

Canadian canola exports are on pace to set a new record in 2015-16, according to the latest Canadian Grain Commission data.

Favourable ocean freight rates and the weaker Canadian dollar are keeping offshore movement running very strong.

Canada has exported 4.543 million tonnes of canola as of Jan. 17, up from the 3.766 million exported during the same period the previous year, according to CGC weekly data.

If that pace is maintained, total exports would top 9.8 million tonnes for the crop year, well

above the previous record of 9.15 million set in 2014-15.

The Canadian dollar fell to its weakest levels in 13 years relative to its U.S. counterpart over the past week.

While the currency has since shown some improvement, it is still relatively weak overall, which makes exports more attractive to international buyers pricing in U.S. dollars.

Canadian exporters are also seeing some benefit from the downturn in ocean freight rates.

The Baltic Dry Index has fallen to its lowest levels ever, which helps improve the competitiveness of Canadian commodities into many markets as freight becomes a smaller factor in the price.

19

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Heading off Group 2-resistant weeds

It’s complicated, but picking the right rotation of crops and chemicals is key to avoiding multiple resistance

BY ANGELA LOVELL Co-operator contributor

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any common crop rotations in Manitoba are selecting for Group 2 herbicide resistance, as well as pushing resistance to other herbicide groups, says a U.S. weed specialist.

Jeff Stachler of Ohio State University’s Auglaize County Extension Office told the recent Manitoba Agronomists Conference that a good rotation, not just of crops, but also of herbicides with different modes of action, is the first defence against herbicide resistance.

The list of weeds resistant to Group 2 herbicides is growing across Western Canada and there are now at least 12 weed species in Manitoba resistant to Group 2 herbicides. (See sidebar for list.) Of those Group 2-resistant weeds in Manitoba, kochia, wild oats and green foxtail have multiple resistance to at least two other herbicide groups.

“Once you have resistance to more than one site of action, life becomes a whole lot more difficult,” Stachler said.

“In wild oats, for example, there is one biotype that is resistant to three different sites of action — Groups 1, 2 and 8.”

Across the Prairies, kochia is resistant to Group 2 and Group 9 (glyphosate) herbicides, and in North Dakota and Montana it’s also resistant to Groups 4 and 5.

Mixing modes of action Stachler said that as an example, a rotation of wheat using a product like Simplicity, followed by a dry bean using something like Solo, and then Express Sunflower using Express Pro is a good crop rotation, but an ineffective her-

bicide rotation for controlling Group 2 resistance.

“All of these (Group 2) herbicides are using ALS chemistry, and certainly wild oats and green foxtail are not being controlled,” said Stachler.

A more common rotation is canola and wheat, but if growers use a Clearfield canola with Odyssey Ultra (Group 2) and wheat using something like Harmony SG (combining a Group 1 and 2 product) they are still pushing hard for resistance.

“A better solution would be to rotate different canola varieties in addition to the Clearfield with Liberty (Group 10) and Roundup (Group 9) which will be more positive for the rotation,” Stachler said. “The Harmony SG isn’t going to get all your broadleaf weeds either, so throwing in some Group 4 herbicide will give more broad-spectrum control.”

A better rotation from a Group 2-resistance standpoint is wheat using a Group 4 product such as Prestige, then Liberty Link canola (Group 10), followed by wheat with another Group 4 such as Pixxaro, and finally something such as Solo (Group 2) on Clearfield Sunflowers.

“But you are then pushing for Group 4 resistance in some of the broadleaf weeds,” said Stachler. “Although throwing Liberty into that system is reducing that problem and then you are only using ALS chemistry with the sunflower.”

Resistant kochia in soybeans Soybeans are now the third-largest crop in Manitoba, but herbicide options are limited, with most containing glyphosate.

“Continuous soybeans or a soybean and corn rotation using only glyphosate herbicides, and no soil-applied products

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Group 2-resistant weeds in Manitoba Kochia (also resistant to Group 9) Green foxtail (also resistant to Groups 1 and 3) Wild oats (also resistant to Groups 1 and 8) Cleavers Common chickweed Hemp-nettle Powell amaranth Wild mustard Redroot pigweed Pale smartweed

Across the Prairies, kochia is resistant to Group 2 and Group 9 (glyphosate) herbicides, and in North Dakota and Montana it’s also resistant to Groups 4 and 5. file photo

is going to give a problem with resistant kochia,” Stachler said.

“Corn and soybeans followed with wheat using something like Harmony K (which contains Group 1, 2 and 4 products) will give different modes of action.

But what we’re seeing in North Dakota is that some of the pre-harvest glyphosate applications are helping to select for kochia that also survives Group 4 herbicides used in wheat, so it’s pushing multiple resistance.”

Premix concerns Premixes that contain multiple chemistries are an option that farmers like because of their convenience, but Stachler warned that each different product needs to provide proper control for all targeted weeds.

“A premix that is going to be most effective needs to have each herbicide

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Spiny animal sow-thistle Stinkweed Source: Manitoba 2015 Crop Protection Guide and International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds

or site of action in that mix to have equal control on the different weed species you have in your field,” Stachler said.

“But many of our premixes do not have overlapping weed control. They create a specific ratio of ingredients and sometimes those ratios might be switched so one product is a little less than what you might need based on some of the weed species that are in the population.”

Get rid of survivors Stachler said growers must be vigilant and control any weeds that survive a herbicide that’s supposed to kill them.

“We still see situations where producers who have just a few weeds in the field don’t do anything to control them,” he said. “It’s the survivors that are going to cause the problem and so producers need to react quickly to a changing weed population.”

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PROVEN WHERE IT COUNTS — ON A FARM NEAR YOU.

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20

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Manitoba may put in more peas, lentils Higher prices are expected to attract more acres, especially farther west

BY PHIL FRANZ-WARKENTIN CNS Canada

M

anitoba farmers will be doing their part to live up to the United Nations’ Year of the Pulse, with more peas and even lentils possibly going in the ground in the province.

Pulse acres in Manitoba have consisted primarily of soybeans and edible beans in recent years, with soybean acreage expanding into neighbouring Saskatchewan where peas and lentils typically dominate the pulse discussion.

While soybeans and edible beans will still account for most of the pulse

acres in Manitoba, high prices for peas and lentils are causing farmers in the province to look into trying something different.

“We won’t see the acres we had in the ’70s and ’80s, but we’ll definitely see more peas this year,” said Francois Labelle, executive director of Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers.

While the western part of the province may be the most likely area for expanded pea acres, Labelle said the prime edible bean areas of the Red River Valley should also see more peas this year.

Manitoba farmers planted 70,000 acres of peas in 2015-16, along with nearly 1.4 million acres of soybeans and 90,000 acres of edible beans.

Climbing prices and good yields for those few Manitoba producers who grew peas in 2015 were behind the extra interest — though Labelle noted the challenge is finding seed.

“Seed dealers are getting three to five calls a day, but they have nothing to sell,” he said.

Manitoba farmers growing peas will concentrate on yellow varieties, as green peas have had trouble with bleaching in the past.

Lentils are even less common than peas in Manitoba, with only about 1,000 acres seeded in 2015. Labelle said that number could rise as well, depending on whether or not it’s a dry year.

While pea and lentil plantings may

“Seed dealers are getting three to five calls a day, but they have nothing to sell.”

Francois Labelle Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers

be on the rise, Labelle didn’t expect those increases to cut into soybeans or edible bean plantings.

“In a lot of areas, it’s not that these crops compete — it’s that they complement each other,” said Labelle.

Early expectations are that edible bean acres in Manitoba will be close to last year, according to Labelle.

There are also still opportunities to increase soybean acres in the province’s west, which is not a prime edible bean-growing area, he said.

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21

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Hurdles still ahead for food-approved canary seed Both Health Canada and the U.S. FDA now allow canary seed for human food use

BY JADE MARKUS CNS Canada

C

anar y seed has been ruled fit for human cons u m p t i o n by He a l t h Canada — a victory for an industry working toward that goal for years — but it’s just one step of many to get canary seed onto plates.

Canary seed, until now used almost exclusively as bird-

seed, has received novel food approval from Health Canada and GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan said Jan. 11.

However, producers shouldn’t yet look at the food approval as a short-term market signal.

“It’s going to take some time to get canary seed in the human food market in a significant

way,” CDCS executive director Kevin Hursh said. “We’re hoping that it’ll gradually ramp up and become significant.”

Small quantities of canary seed have been dehulled for testing purposes, he said, but the industry doesn’t yet have the capacity to dehull on a commercial scale.

“We’re not sure whether the dehulling used for things like dehulling barley will work or not yet.”

“Certainly with the announcement of the approval we’ve had requests from different companies.”

Kevin Hursh Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan

There also need to be more cleaning plants able to segregate “itchy” seeds from the hairless (glabrous) type.

Another step is to gar ner interest from food manufacturers and ingredient suppliers. How quickly canary seed becomes readily available in stores depends on food processors — and how quickly the product is adopted will depend on end-use consumers.

Canary seed flour can be used to make bread, cookies, cereals and pastas, the commission said. Whole seeds can be used in nutrition bars, or in place of sesame seeds on hamburger buns.

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The seed, while in the same subfamily as wheat, rye, barley and oats, can also be marketed as gluten free, which could be a boon for consumers with celiac disease.

But it’s still uncertain whether canary seed poses an allergenic risk for wheat-allergic individuals. A protein found in canary seed is similar to another type of protein found in wheat — though it’s not similar to wheat gluten.

Thus, until the seed is proven safe for people with wheat allergies, Health Canada’s approval will require canary seed, and foods containing it as an ingredient, to have a label statement such as “May not be suitable for people with wheat allergy.”

“We hope that further work will lead to the removal of this labelling requirement at some

news

PotashCorp mine closure may halt Canpotex’s B.C. port plan

BY ROD NICKEL Reuters

C-52-01/16-10493542-E

None

future date,” Dr. Carol Ann Patterson, the food scientist who piloted the compositional, nutritional and toxicological work needed for canary seed food approval, said in the CDCS release.

Canary seed’s approval still makes it the first novel cereal crop to be approved in Canada, she noted.

With respect to consumer and processor response, “we’re in uncharted territory here,” Hursh said. “We’re hoping that there becomes commercial interest, and we’re talking with a number of players. Certainly with the announcement of the approval we’ve had requests from different companies.”

However, the CDCS doesn’t get involved in commercial ventures, Hursh said; its position is to lay the groundwork for others to become involved in those roles.

Another area of ongoing CDCS activity involves the approval of crop protection products, the commission said in a release, as the herbicides and other crop protection products registered for use on canary seed for birdseed don’t immediately have their registrations extended to canary seed for food use.

“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink, so how long all of this takes depends on some of those players.”

Delivered canary seed is currently trading at 24 to 28 cents per pound, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire on Jan. 18.

PotashCorp’s decision to suspend production at its last New Brunswick mine may lead it to shelve plans to build a new West Coast shipping terminal with partners Mosaic Co. and Agrium, CEO Jochen Tilk said on Jan. 21.

Canpotex Ltd., owned by the three companies, has been considering construction of the terminal at Prince Rupert, B.C. Saskatoon-based PotashCorp said Jan. 20 it will shut its newest mine, Picadilly, near Sussex, N.B., due to weak market conditions.

The company also said its port storage and loading facilities at Saint John, N.B., with capacity of handling 2.5 million tonnes annually, could now be used by Canpotex.

Canpotex exports potash that PotashCorp, Mosaic and Agrium produce in Saskatchewan.

The decision allows Canpotex to “indefinitely defer” a decision on the $900-million Prince Rupert terminal, PotashCorp’s Tilk said at a CIBC investor conference in Whistler, B.C. “We certainly don’t anticipate making that decision in the next 10 years, so we’re very good with our port facilities on the West Coast and on the East Coast,” he said.

PotashCorp spokeswoman Denita Stann said after Tilk’s comments that he was speaking about options available to Canpotex and that it had not concluded any decision.

22

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Egypt moves to clarify ergot rules on wheat imports

Cold weather refugees

Traders say confusion reigns as two ministries collide

BY MAHA EL DAHAN AND ERIC KNECHT Reuters

E Deer become more visible in farmyards where there might be food and shelter from the wind when the cold weather hits. photo: Gracie Crayston

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gypt’s Supply Ministry moved to clarify rules on wheat imports on Jan. 14, saying it would allow shipments with traces of the grain fungus ergot to enter the country.

Wheat traders have been concerned that uncertainty over payment and inspection terms in Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, would dampen export demand.

The problem surfaced when a cargo of French wheat was rejected last month due to traces of the infection.

The Supply Ministry said Jan. 14 it would allow shipments of imported wheat with up to 0.05 per cent level of ergot, although this was not enough to quell concern amongst suppliers previously told any level of infection was not acceptable.

“It has been decided to keep the percentage as is, without change, after discussions with the Agriculture Ministry,” the Supply Ministry’s spokesman said.

The agriculture quarantine authority had previously told Reuters that wheat shipments containing any level of ergot would be barred from entry.

There have since been a series of meetings between officials from both ministries to try to resolve the matter.

Wheat traders said they were waiting to hear the Agriculture Ministry’s response to be sure the problem had been resolved.

T h e q u a ra n t i n e a u t h o rity declined to comment on the Supply Ministry’s statement on Jan. 14 and Agriculture Ministry officials could not immediately be reached.

“Obviously there is a clash between the two ministries so let’s wait and see,” one Cairo-based trader said.

The General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), which falls under the authority of the Supply Ministry, allowed for a 0.05 per cent ergot level under its specifications, but the agricultural quarantine authority had said according to its rules all incoming shipments above zero would be barred.

“We want to wait and hear from the Agriculture Ministry as that was what was causing the change in the first place,” another trader told Reuters.

European and Egyptian traders have told Reuters they would not participate in GASC tenders if new restrictive requirements were applied to GASC tenders.

“If they let the vessel that was rejected pass, this will be like the official announcement of accepting the 0.05 level,” a third trader said.

Traders said the rejected shipment was currently being retested for ergot at an Egyptian port.

23

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Health Canada to scrap ‘conditional’ pesticide approvals The process, which delays public consultations, is now only rarely used anyway STAFF

F

ederal crop chemical regulators this summer will stop granting “conditional” registrations for new pesticides — a practice already largely on the way out, they note.

Health Canada, which oversees the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), said Jan. 19 it plans to stop granting new conditional registrations effective June 1, describing the move as an “important step in improving the openness and transparency of Canada’s pesticide regulatory system.”

Conditional registrations have previously been granted “on occasion,” Health Canada said, when a scientific review of a new product finds its risks are acceptable but also that “additional confirmatory information” is needed.

“Moving away from conditional registrations will provide reassurance that all pesticide registration decisions are made with the same high level of scientific and public scrutiny.”

Health Canada

Conditional registrations, unlike full registrations, don’t undergo public consultations until either amended, renewed or converted to a full registration, after that “additional information” goes through PMRA review.

Additional information, for example, could include environmental monitoring data to confirm whether assumptions made at the time of registration were correct.

“Moving away from conditional registrations will provide

reassurance that all pesticide registration decisions are made with the same high level of scientific and public scrutiny,” Health Canada said Jan. 19.

Pierre Petelle, vice-president of chemistry for CropLife Canada, the trade association for Canada’s pesticide and plant biotech sectors, said Jan. 20 the group hopes Health Canada’s move “will help increase the public’s confidence in Canada’s world-class regulatory system.”

“It’s important to note that conditional registrations are not a matter of health and safety,” he said, as conditionally registered products pass “thorough” health and safety assessments.

Conditional registrations, he said, have “long been misunderstood” and the group hopes Health Canada “will continue to deliver on its commitment to a predictable, science-based regulatory system.”

There will be “no impact on the process by which applicants apply for and obtain a full registration,” Health Canada said.

The decision follows a statutory review, tabled last April, of the federal Pest Control Products Act, which recommended PMRA “review the use of conditions of registration to ensure that they are being used in a manner that protects the health of Canadians and their environment.”

In the government’s response to the review later that year, thenhealth minister Rona Ambrose said PMRA was already reviewing the use of conditional registrations to either “reduce or eliminate” them and to clarify requirements for approvals.

Since 2006, she wrote, the number of conditional registrations dropped “significantly,” from 13 per cent of decisions in 2006-07, down to two per cent in 2013-14.

‘No impact’ A notice of intent on conditional registrations has been posted on Health Canada’s website for public comment until March 19.

The change in approach is expected to have “minimal” effect, the agency said.

Conditional registrations have “decreased substantially” to the point where they represent about one per cent of all registered products.

briefs

U.S. forecaster sees El Niño weakening REUTERS / The El Niño phenomenon currently affecting weather is expected to weaken during the Northern Hemisphere spring and transition to normal conditions by late spring or early summer, a U.S. government weather forecaster said Jan. 14.

The Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the National Weather Service, was in line in its monthly forecast with a growing consensus that the much-watched phenomenon, which can roil commodities markets, will dissipate in the coming months.

Most models indicate the El Niño will weaken and shift to neutral, though it is difficult to predict the exact timing, the CPC said. Its forecast was broadly in line with similar ones in recent days that have said El Niño has reached its height and looks to be weakening.

El Niño is a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific that occurs every few years, triggering heavy rains and floods in South America and scorching weather in Asia and as far away as east Africa.

In Western and Central Canada, an El Niño event is most often associated with above-normal temperatures and drier conditions during winter.

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24

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

CP’s Norfolk bid riles U.S. railroads The U.S. carriers’ response sheds light on chances for further consolidation

BY NICK CAREY Chicago/Reuters

A

legal protest by Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) over a meeting among big U.S. railroads about mergers in their industry has highlighted manoeuvring in the sector to cope with a rapid downturn and possible consolidation.

Calgary-based CP on Jan. 19 asked the U.S. Justice Department to look into statements by U.S. railroads, in the wake of the meeting, about “working closely with each other to block” its bid for U.S. railway Norfolk Southern.

The U.S. railroads met late last year in the presence of lawyers, saying they merely discussed a merger’s impact on the industry. Interviews with U.S. railroad executives show some oppose mergers; others tout possible benefits.

The latest flap, in which CP accused U.S. railroads of adopting an “anticompetitive” strat-

“If Canadian Pacific’s bid for Norfolk Southern goes ahead, then CSX will be the next domino to fall.”

Scott Rostan market analyst

egy, shed light on chances for further consolidation, with eyes on No. 3 U.S. railroad CSX Corp. as a future target.

“If Canadian Pacific’s bid for Norfolk Southern goes ahead, then CSX will be the next domino to fall,” said Scott Rostan, who worked on the Merrill Lynch team advising Norfolk Southern during its battle with CSX in the 1990s for control of Conrail, which was ultimately carved up between them.

CP in mid-November disclosed its US$28-billion offer to buy Norfolk Southern.

The bid coincides with a “freight recession” as falling commodity prices hurt North America’s railroads. On Jan.

19 Moody’s Investors Service warned of “increasing risks of an industrial recession” for North American manufacturers.

CP, like the broader Canadian economy, is fairly reliant on commodity exports.

Some analysts see its Norfolk offer as an opportunistic bid for a growth story while rail stocks are down.

The No. 4 U.S. railroad has rejected CP’s advances, setting the stage for a potential proxy battle.

Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz recently told Reuters consolidation would harm the industry and the No. 1 U.S. railroad has been lobbying lawmakers and regulators against mergers.

Asked whether Union Pacific would participate in consolidation of North America’s seven remaining major railroads, he said, “we will act in the best interests of our shareholders.”

Matt Rose, chairman of No. 2 U.S. railroad BNSF, owned

by Berkshire Hathaway, said now is not the time for mergers because “our customers do not want” them. But he added mergers would not necessarily be a bad thing.

“There’s nothing evil at all in having a transcontinental railroad,” Rose said on Jan. 21.

“You’ve got lots of national networks in lots of industries.”

Rose said if a CP/Norfolk deal looks likely, BNSF will participate in further consolidation.

Rose stressed if Norfolk goes under the hammer CSX would be at a competitive disadvantage if the US$1.8 billion in annual cost savings CP promises from a deal were borne out. This would lead to a “final redrawing” of the continent’s rail map.

“CSX would be at an enormous disadvantage and so there would be another step towards consolidation,” he said.

BNSF, Union Pacific and Canadian National Railway (CN) would be seen as potential suitors for CSX. A question is how the U.S. rail regulator would approach any proposed merger, as it must take into account other potential deals.

Some analysts see CSX ’s announcement Jan. 18, that it is consolidating some operating divisions and closing administrative offices, as a proactive step toward remaini n g c o m p e t i t i v e. C S X d i d not respond to a request for comment.

Independent rail analyst Anthony Hatch said CSX faces a dilemma if CP gets its way.

CSX might be able to stand alone, but would lose value if it struggled.

“I don’t think it could afford to take that bet-the-company risk,” Hatch said.

briefs

Feed barley market holding steady

BY PHIL FRANZ-WARKENTIN CNS Canada

The feed barley market is holding relatively steady in Alberta early in the new year, but advances are expected looking ahead to the spring.

“There has been a fair bit of selling (over the past few weeks) but that hasn’t really pressured prices down any further,” said Jared Seitz of grain brokerage Agfinity at Stony Plain, Alta.

The steady tone in the face of increased sales was a supportive price signal, which was being borne out in the improving prices for spring delivery, he said, adding he expects to see prices start to increase for March/April/ May delivery.

Freight rates are more competitive this year, which is making for better pricing across a larger region of Alberta, he added.

Many larger feedlots in southern Alberta had been using 100 per cent feed wheat rations, but many are now switching to barley or making plans to do so.

“That will help with barley demand over the next few months,” Seitz said.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that feed wheat prices are going down. Seitz said there was still consistent demand for feed wheat from domestic feeders, while a good export program for Canada Prairie Spring (CPS) wheat was also underpinning the feed side as well. The weak Canadian dollar is keeping U.S. corn and DDGS from moving into the country, which is supportive for barley and feed wheat demand.

However, even if the currency was on par, Seitz didn’t think there would be much corn coming up, due to ample domestic supplies.

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25

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

India’s Modi woos farm vote with new insurance scheme Recent droughts have damaged the governing party at the polls New Delhi/Reuters

I

Farmers attend a rally organized by India’s opposition Congress party in New Delhi on Sept. 20. photo: reuters/adnan abidi

ndia’s cabinet has cleared the launch of the country’s first major crop damage insurance scheme from the next fiscal year, a move that would further strain government finances but help Prime Minister Narendra Modi to woo rural voters ahead of key elections.

Stung by criticism of ignoring the concerns of rural India where over two-thirds of the country’s 1.25 billion people live, the government on Jan. 13 fielded as many as three cabinet ministers to underline the importance of the scheme whose budget will more than double in three years.

Modi is trying to placate

“It is a historic day, I believe the prime minister’s crop insurance scheme, inspired by the wellbeing of farmers, will bring about a huge change in the lives of farmers.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

rural voters after the impact of unseasonal rains and two straight years of drought on agriculture dented his popularity and contributed to a humiliating loss for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in elections late last year in the largely rural state of Bihar.

Further elections are due in the states of West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam this year.

“It is a historic day,” Modi tweeted after the scheme was announced by the ministers of agriculture, home and parliamentary affairs. “I believe the prime minister’s crop insurance scheme, inspired by the well-being of farmers, will bring about a huge change in the lives of farmers.”

Several debt-laden farmers committed suicide last year, and Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has said that delays in clearing payouts for crop losses were the “biggest reason for destroying farm families.”

The government would now ensure faster settlements by increasing the use of technology, including smartphones to capture crop data. It would also reduce premiums to be paid by farmers to two per cent for summer-sown crops and 1.5 per cent for winter crops.

The current premium share for farmers can go as high as 40 per cent, which is one of the main reasons that only about a 10th of India’s estimated 263 million cultivators opt for crop insurance.

New Delhi will more than double the budget for the crop insurance scheme to 77.50 billion rupees (C$1.66 billion) in the fiscal year beginning April 2018.

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The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Once wedded to EU, some British farmers think of cutting ties Critics of the EU subsidy system complain of ‘Kafkaesque’ red tape

BY NIGEL HUNT London/Reuters

A

fter decades of generous subsidies from Brussels, some British farmers are starting to think the unthinkable — that they might be better off outside the European Union.

Farmers were strong supporters of EU membership when Britons last voted on it in 1975, and for years they flourished as funds flowed into the sector to encourage ever-rising production.

The three billion pounds (C$6.2 billion) a year that they receive in support payments from the EU makes up about 55 per cent of total income from farming, according to government figures.

But now, with Prime Minister David Cameron preparing to call an “in or out” referendum on Britain’s EU membership possibly as early as June, some farmers feel the benefits of belonging to the Brussels club are far less compelling than a generation ago.

They wonder if a “Brexit” vote might free them to innovate in areas like genetically modified crops, and rid them of oppressive regulation.

“We are being hammered as a source of employment for inspectors,” said Charlie Flindt, a farmer from Hampshire in the south of England. Even simple jobs, like putting up a fence to protect walkers who had complained of being mobbed by his cattle, involved painful bureaucracy, he added.

“You can’t simply put in a

fence anymore, and the hoops we have to jump through to get our European Union subsidies just pile up year after year. And most of us went into this job to get away from paperwork.”

Flindt, who has an arable farm in Hampshire along with a few sheep and cattle, said he couldn’t believe a British-based system, outside the EU, would be “as Kafkaesque as it is at the moment.”

Influential lobby While full-time farmers are relatively few in number — only 140,000 in 2014, according to government figures — they wield considerable influence in rural communities which, come election time, vote overwhelmingly for Cameron’s governing Conservatives.

Not all are swayed by the argument that leaving the EU would make life easier. Some worry that subsidies could be cut and they might lose access to important European markets if Britain breaks with Br ussels and its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

France was the largest beneficiary of EU farm payments in 2014 with 8.5 billion euros (C$13.3 billion), with Britain in sixth place after Spain, Germany, Italy and Poland.

“In the past, all the main political parties have said they want to phase out subsidies by 2020. I think it is more likely if a system of subsidy is going to be maintained, it will be less than we get now with the CAP,” said U.K. National Farmers Union economist Lucia Zitti.

She told Reuters the union’s members are “quite split. They

Dairy farm worker Callum Casey brings cows for milking at Beacon Farm near Birmingham, on Aug. 11. photo: reuters/darren staples

want to understand more about the implications of a possible Brexit and also hear how the EU can work better for farmers.”

Matt Naylor, who grows flowers such as daffodils to sell to supermarkets in Britain and mainland Europe, said he would vote in favour of staying in the EU because he relies heavily on foreign labour.

Naylor said workers from countries such as Poland, Lithuania or Latvia had often grown up on farms and had a different work ethic and set of expectations from their British counterparts, who were often three or four generations removed from the land.

PRESS RELEASE

St-Cesaire, January 7th 2016

For immediate diffusion

Prograin Establishes Its Brand in Western Canada with Quarry Seed Québec, Canada – Semences Prograin is proud to announce that it has just signed an agreement with Quarry Seed for the exclusive distribution of Prograin varieties in Western Canada. Seed varieties developed to meet the specific needs of the Western Canadian market will be introduced through this new partnership.

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“There are a lot of people who are prepared to sit on a tractor. But when it comes to shearing a sheep, attaching things to dairy cows, things like that, it is harder to get (local) people,” he said from his farm in Lincolnshire, eastern England.

‘Museum of world farming’ The in-or-out debate featured prominently at the recent Oxford Farming Conference, where a for mer gover nment minister argued that the EU was shackling British innovation.

“British agriculture, brimming with potential, is held back by prejudice against advanced technology and science,” said former farming and environment minister Owen Paterson.

“The obstinate refusal to adopt advanced technology means Europe has become the museum of world farming.”

T h e E U ’s re l u c t a n c e t o embrace genetically modified crops has added to the frustration of some farmers. Britain’s government has been more supportive of GMO crops than many other EU nations in recent years.

Critics argue that the EU stifles innovation through what they see as an overly cautious and lengthy approval process for new crop protection chemicals.

And while the EU’s farm budget is declining after reforms to the CAP, pressure from environmental groups has led to increased regulation on issues such as pesticides and waste disposal.

Fa r me r s ha ve al s o b e e n asked to grow a wider variety of crops in order to continue to receive yearly support payments.

“The money has become far more difficult to access and regulation has drastically increased,” said Stuart Agnew, a farmer from Norfolk in eastern England and the agriculture spokesman for the anti-EU U.K. Independence Party.

Many arable farmers in his region who traditionally rotate between wheat and rapeseed now have to add crops such as peas or beans, or leave land

fallow under rules designed t o p rov i d e e n v i ro n m e n t a l benefits.

“Peas and beans have always been the Cinderella crops of British arable farming. Nobody really likes them. Beans are not really profitable and peas really mess the combine up,” Agnew said.

Market access The outlook for U.K. farming outside the EU could hinge on what access is granted to key export markets and the extent to which Britain is prepared to maintain support payments.

Britain’s exports of wheat, for example, are dominated by EU destinations, with Spain and the Netherlands the most important customers in recent years. “ Tra d e i s t h e k e y i s s u e and no one can say what the arrangements would be following a Brexit,” said Sean Rickard, a former chief economist with the U.K. NFU. “The ‘Outs’ claim the U.K. will be able to negotiate a preferential trade agreement. But they provide no details, and any negotiated agreement cannot give the U.K. the same benefits as being a member of the EU. To do so would undermine the EU.” Rickard, now an independent economist, said it was likely that substantial tariff barriers would spring up, prompting food companies to consider shifting their operations to Ireland or other parts of the EU. Ec o n o m i s t s s a i d Br i t a i n would still have to comply with EU standards if it wanted to export to the bloc, but would no longer have a voice in shaping the rules.

“If you are going to leave because you want to make your own rules on pesticides, or have nutrition traffic lights on your food labels and so on, that is going to increase costs for those of your industries that are export orientated because they are going to have to continue to meet EU standards,” said Alan Matthews, professor emeritus for European Agricultural Policy at Trinity College, Dublin.

27

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

New seed varieties bypass Africa’s small farmers

PAW PATROL

Large seed dealers generally focus on moving large volumes to institutional clients

BY CHRIS ARSENAULT Toronto/Thomson Reuters Foundation

A

frica’s small farmers, more than half of whom buy their seeds from local informal markets, need access to improved seeds that can yield more food and cope with climate change, according to research published Jan. 20.

Innovations in food science, including seeds that produce vitamin-rich food and crops that can withstand hotter, drier conditions, are not reaching many of Africa’s small farmers as they are not available in local markets, researchers said.

The study, published in the journal Food Security, examined 10,000 seed transactions across five African countries and Haiti, and researchers said it shed light on how food production can be expanded.

“Science is making improvements to crops, but they are not getting to farmers,” Louise Sperling, senior technical adviser to Catholic Relief Services who worked on the study, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Products farmers might want to choose, (including) varieties that are better resistant to climate change, aren’t accessible.”

Previously, many researchers assumed that small farmers relied on saving seeds from previous harvests, rather than purchasing them.

But the study showed that about 55 per cent of small farmers in Kenya, Malawi, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti bought their seeds from local markets, family or friends.

“The good news here is that (small) farmers are active customers,” Sperling said.

Open to change This means many growers would be open to buying better, climate-smart seeds, if they were readily available in small, rural markets and appropriately marketed, she said.

Large seed dealers generally focus on selling large volumes to institutional clients, such as big aid agencies or the United Nations, rather than small farmers, she said.

Companies should offer smaller seed packages to farmers, and should inform them of new kinds of seeds which might benefit them, she said.

Social enterprises could play a role in improving rural distribution networks if traditional dealers are unwilling to serve poor customers in remote areas, Sperling said.

Small farmers, working on less than two hectares of land, produce up to 80 per cent of subSaharan Africa’s food, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Nearly 800 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat, and sub-Saharan Africa is particularly hard hit, the FAO has said.

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8796_1F_CruiserVibranceQuattro_ManitobaCoOp.indd 1

JOB ID:

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28

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

FARMER'S

MARKETPLACE selling?

Call to place your classified ad in the next issue: 1-800-782-0794 FAX your classified ads to: 204-954-1422 · Or eMAiL your classified ads to: mbclassifieds@fbcpublishing.com

Classification

Index Tributes/Memoriams Announcements Airplanes Alarms & Security Systems AntiqUes – Antiques For Sale – Antique Equipment – Antique Vehicles – Antiques Wanted

Your guide to the Classification Categories and sub-listings within this section.

BUiLding & renovAtions – Building Supplies – Concrete Repair – Doors & Windows – Electrical & Plumbing – Insulation – Lumber – Roofing Buildings Business Machines Business Opportunities

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– Ponies – Quarter Horse – Shetland – Sport Horses – Standardbred – Tennessee Walker – Thoroughbred – Warmblood – Welsh – Horses For Sale – Horses Wanted poultry – Poultry For Sale – Poultry Wanted Sheep – Sheep Auction – Arcott – Columbia – Dorper – Dorset – Katahdin – Lincoln – Suffolk – Texel Sheep – Sheep For Sale – Sheep Wanted Swine – Swine Auction – Swine For Sale – Swine Wanted Speciality – Alpacas – Bison (Buffalo) – Deer – Elk – Goats – Llama – Rabbits – Emu/Ostrich/Rhea – Yaks – Various Livestock Equipment Livestock Services & Vet Supplies Misc. Articles For Sale Misc. Articles Wanted Musical Notices On-Line Services orgAniC – Organic Certified – Organic Food – Organic Grains

Outfitters Personal Pest Control Pets & Supplies Photography Propane Pumps Radio, TV & Satellite reAL estAte – Commercial Buildings – Condos – Cottages & Lots – Houses & Lots – Land For Rent – Land For Sale – Mobile Homes – Motels & Hotels – Resorts – Vacation Property – farms & Ranches – Acreages/Hobby Farms – Manitoba – Saskatchewan – Alberta – British Columbia – Pastureland – Farms/Ranches Wanted reCreAtionAL vehiCLes – All Terrain Vehicles – Boats & Water – Campers & Trailers – Golf Carts – Motor Homes – Motorcycles – Snowmobiles Recycling Refrigeration Restaurant Supplies Sausage Equipment Sawmills Scales CertiFied seed – Cereal Seeds – Forage Seeds – Oilseeds – Pulse Crops – Specialty Crops CoMMon seed – Cereal Seeds – Forage Seeds – Grass Seeds – Oilseeds – Pulse Crops – Common Seed Various

seed/Feed/grAin – Feed Grain – Hay & Straw – Feed Wanted – Grain Wanted – Hay & Feed Wanted – Seed Wanted Sewing Machines Sharpening Services Silos Sporting Goods Stamps & Coins Swap Tanks Tarpaulins Tenders Tickets Tires Tools trAiLers – Grain Trailers – Livestock Trailers – Trailers Miscellaneous Travel Water Pumps Water Treatment Welding Well Drilling Well & Cistern Winches CAreers – Career Training – Child Care – Construction – Domestic Services – Farm/Ranch – Forestry/Log – Health Care – Help Wanted – Management – Mining – Oil Field – Professional – Resume Services – Sales/Marketing – Trades/Tech – Truck Drivers – Employment Wanted

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29

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

AUCTION DISTRICTS Parkland – North of Hwy 1; west of PR 242, following the west shore of Lake Manitoba and east shore of Lake Winnipegosis.

Westman – South of Hwy 1; west of PR 242.

Interlake – North of Hwy 1; east of PR 242, following the west shore of Lake Manitoba and east shore of Lake Winnipegosis.

Red River – South ofHwy 1; east of PR 242.

The Pas

Birch River

Swan River Minitonas Durban

Dauphin

Grandview

Ashern

Gilbert Plains

Parkland

Birtle

Gladstone

Neepawa

Brandon

Carberry

Treherne

Killarney

Crystal City

Elm Creek

Sanford

Ste. Anne

Carman

Mariapolis

Pilot Mound

Lac du Bonnet

St. Pierre

242

Morris Winkler Morden

Altona

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT

TracTors

2007 D-6-N LGP CRAWLER w/6-way dozer, A/C, cab, canopy, diff-steering, ripper, extra clean, $96,000; 2004 D-6-N LGP crawler, 6-way dozer, A/C, cab, diff-steering, Allied W6D winch, $86,000; 2001 D-6-R LGP crawler tractor w/angle dozer & tilt, cab a/c & bush canopy, diff-steering, hyd cargo winch, 7,600-hrs, undercarriage approx 85%, $80,000 USD; 2003 D-7-R, cab, a/c plus bush canopy, 4-barrel multi-ripper w/a dozer & hyd tilt, new engine plus repairs, total work order $137,000 3,000-hrs ago, $105,000 USD; 2008 Hitachi ZX-270-C-3 hyd excavator w/hyd thumb, w/quick attach bucket, 7,190-hrs, $70,000 USD; 2006 Hitachi ZX 270-LC Hyd excavator w/quick attach bucket, 11-ft stick, axillary hyd, 6,382-hrs, $65,000 USD. (2) 2005 Komatsu 320 payloaders w/quick attach buckets, $50,000/each; 2010 CAT 324 excavator w/electronic thumb. Phone:(204)871-0925.

TRACTORS Case/IH

Beausejour

Winnipeg

Austin

Souris

Boissevain

Stonewall Selkirk

Portage

Westman

Waskada

Interlake

Langruth

Minnedosa

Melita

FOR SALE: 1985 IHC 720 hoe press drill ,always shedded, very clean. For more info phone evenings (204)859-2724

Arborg

Lundar

Rapid City

Reston

TILLAGE & SEEDING Tillage Various

Riverton Eriksdale

McCreary

Erickson

Hamiota

1

CERTIFIED CONVENTIONAL CM440 GRAZING CORN. Early maturing, leafier for increased grazing yield. No planter required. Swath or stand graze cattle, sheep, bison & for wildlife food plots. CanaMaize Seed Inc., 1-877-262-4046, www.canamaize.com

We also specialize in: agricultural complaints of any nature; Crop ins. appeals; Spray drift; Chemical failure; Residual herbicide; Custom operator issues; Equip. malfunctions.

Licensed Agrologist on Staff.

For assistance and compensation call

Gimli

Shoal Lake

Virden

TILLAGE & SEEDING Seeding Various

FARM CHEMICAL / SEED COMPLAINTS

1-866-882-4779. www.backtrackcanada.com

Fisher Branch

Ste. Rose du Lac Russell

Tillage & Seeding

Back-Track InvesTIgaTIons

Winnipegosis

Roblin

BUSINESS SERVICES Crop Consulting

Steinbach

1

Red River

AUCTION SALES AUCTION SALES Saskatchewan Auctions

6 QUICK ATTACH EXCAVATOR buckets, some trenching & clean-up buckets, plus 6 excavator rippers, some Cat’s & WBM’s. (204)871-0925, MacGregor MB.

FARM MACHINERY MACK AUCTION CO presents a land auction for the Estate of Ron Carriere Thurs., Mar 31st, 2016 7:00pm at the Days Inn Estevan, SK. Up for unreserved auction are 8 quarters sections of farmland in the RM of Benson #35. Some of the will sell w/surface lease oil revenue. Visit www.mackauctioncompany.com for sale bill & photos.

(306)421-2928 or (306)487-7815 Mack Auction Co. PL 311962.

BUILDING & RENOVATIONS BUILDING & RENOVATIONS Roofing

PRICE TO CLEAR!!

FARM MACHINERY Fertilizer Equipment USED DRY FERTILIZER SPREADERS, 4-8 tons, large selection, 18-ft Drillfill, has extra brush auger, $2,900. www.zettlerfarmeuipment.com Phone: (204)857-8403.

FARM MACHINERY Grain Dryers WESTERN GRAIN DRYER, manufacturers of grain dryers w/fully automatic moisture & control systems. Updates for all screenless dryers include, roof, tiers & burner etc. Used dryers are available.

Toll-free 1-888-288-6857, westerngraindryer.com

75 truckloads 29 gauge full hard 100,000PSI high tensile roofing & siding. 16 colours to choose from.

FARM MACHINERY Grain Vacuums

B-Gr. coloured......................70¢/ft.2

CURT’S GRAIN VAC SERVICES, parts & repair for all makes & models. Craik SK, (306)734-2228.

Multi-coloured millends.........49¢/ft.

2

Ask about our blowout colours...65¢/ft.

2

Also in stock low rib white 29 ga. ideal for archrib buildings BEAT THE PRICE INCREASES CALL NOW

FOUILLARD STEEL SUPPLIES LTD. ST. LAZARE, MB. 1-800-510-3303

Why wait for your ag news?

Sign up for daily enews at manitobacooperator.ca BUILDINGS AFAB INDUSTRIES IS YOUR SUPERIOR post frame building company. For estimates and information call 1-888-816-AFAB(2322).

Website: www.postframebuilding.com CONCRETE FLATWORK: Specializing in place & finish of concrete floors. Can accommodate any floor design. References available. Alexander, MB. 204-752-2069.

BUSINESS SERVICES BUSINESS SERVICES Crop Consulting

FARM MACHINERY Parts & Accessories

FYFE PARTS

1-800-667-9871 •• Regina 1-800-667-9871 Regina 1-800-667-3095 •• Saskatoon 1-800-667-3095 Saskatoon 1-800-387-2768 • Winnipeg 1-800-667-3095 Manitoba 1-800-222-6594 •• Edmonton “For All Your Farm Parts”

www.fyfeparts.com GOODS USED TRACTOR PARTS: (204)564-2528 or 1-877-564-8734, Roblin, MB. MURPHY SALVAGE New & used parts for tractors, combines, swathers, square & round balers, tillage, press drills & other misc machinery. MURPHY SALVAGE (204)858-2727 or toll free 1-877-858-2728.

The Real Used FaRm PaRTs sUPeRsToRe Over 2700 Units for Salvage • TRACTORS • COMBINES • SWATHERS • DISCERS Call Joe, leN oR daRWIN (306) 946-2222 monday-Friday - 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

WATROUS SALVAGE WaTRoUs, sK. Fax: 306-946-2444

BUILDING & RENOVATIONS Doors & Windows

1988 CASE IH 7130 MFD 7,058-hrs, rebuilt engine no hrs, 20.8x38 tires 50%, 3 hyd, 1,000 PTO, $33,500. Phone (306)542-3037.

TRACTORS John Deere

FARM MACHINERY Machinery Miscellaneous 1999 Agri Fab Great used mixer! This is one of the heaviest mixers we’ve ever seen. Four augers offering a great mix front to back top to bottom. 3/4-in flighting and heavy side walls. New 48-in conveyor.

All parts are common and available at any bearing store. $12,999.99 (306) 971-9006 8820 JD COMBINE; 4555 JD tractor, FWA w/front end & grapple; 1086 Int tractor w/front end & grapple; 32-ft Ezee-on air seeder w/1400-gal fertilizer caddy; 40-ft harrow packer; Melroe 5 bottom plow; 4490 Case tractor; 54-ft Friggstad deep tiller; 20-ft Case Int 50000 sp swather w/cab, heat & AE w/U2 PU reel; 140-bu grain dryer; Rock-matic stone picker & 12-ft stone rake; 62-ft spray air 12-in swing out auger; 10,000-gal., 2)5000-gal, 2)3000-gal & 1)1700-gal liquid fertilizer tanks; various size grain bins; 120-ft Flexi-coil sprayer; 2-ton Ford grain truck w/roll tarp; 4-wheel 2 axle swather carrier; 20-ft deep tiller; 20-ft cultivator. Call (204)744-2491 or (204)825-8616.

ARTSWAY MIXMILL, $1,500; HENKE 30-in. PTO rollermill, $3,500; Peerless 20 rollermill, $2,000; Bearcat grinder, $800; NH LX865 skidsteer, $13,900; New skidsteer 48-in. forks walk through $950; Valmar 1620, $2,500; 3255, $3,500; 2420 trailer type, $5,000; JD 7000 8RN planter, $7,000; REM 2500 HD grain vac, $9,500; Brandt 4000, $8,000; Brandt 4500, $8,500; REM 1026, $4,500; New 10-ft. box scraper, $2,450. (204)857-8403 GRAVITY WAGONS- NEW 400-BU., $7,400; 600bu., $12,500. Large selection of used gravity wagons 200-750 bu, $2,000 up. Large selection of used grain carts 495-1050 bu. Brent 610, $10,000; UFT 750 hyd dr, $17,500; MW 620-bu. $13,500; Used dry fertilize spreaders 4-8 Ton; Gehl 500-bu. 4 auger feed cart, $10,000; Roorda feeder cart, $2,000; JD 780 spreader hydra push, $10,000; Gehl 1315 slinger, $5,000. (204)857-8403.

MCKEE 7-FT SNOW BLOWER, $1,250; Leon 12-ft blade, $3,500, 10-ft blade, $2,000; Box scraper new 10-ft, $2,450; New Holland LX865 skidsteer, $13,900; Melroe Bobcat 943 skidsteer, $14,900; Grapple bucket for skidsteer new, $1,750; Grain screeners dual screen Hutchinson, $1,500; Up DMC 44, $2,500; Kwik Kleen 5 tube, $5,000, 7 tube, $6,500; Kelly Ryan Feedcart, $2,000; Snowco feeder cart, $1,000. www.zettlerfarmequipment.com Phone:(204)857-8403.

Memory assistance.

Network

SEARCH

• Quality Commercial/Agricultural/Residential Overhead Doors & Operators.

• Aluminum Polycarbonate Doors Available.

• Non-Insulated and Insulated Sectional Doors Available.

• Liftmaster Heavy Duty Operators.

• Mullion Slide Away Centre Posts.

• Commercial/Agricultural Steel Man Doors and Frames.

• Your washbay door specialists. • Quality Installation & Service.

• 24 Hour Service. • Replacement Springs & Cables.

Phone: 204-326-4556 Fax: 204-326-5013 Toll Free: 1-855-326-4556 www.reimeroverheaddoors.com email: kurtis@reimeroverheaddoors.com

TRACTORS Versatile 875 VERS. W/ATOM JET & good tires. Nice shape.

Ph:(204)325-2416.

TRACTORS 2-Wheel Drive STEVE’S TRACTOR REBUILDER specializing in JD tractors in need of repair or burnt, or will buy for parts. JD parts available. Phone: 204-466-2927 or cell: 204-871-5170, Austin.

TRACTORS 4-Wheel Drive FOR SALE: JD 8970 Cummins 400-HP, 24-spd, 5 remote, 710-38 tires, 7100-hrs, clean, shedded. $68,000. Phone: (204)324-9300

HEAT & AIR CONDITIONING

The Icynene Insulation System® • Sprayed foam insulation • Ideal for shops, barns or homes • Healthier, Quieter, More Energy Efficient®

www.penta.ca

1-800-587-4711

IRON & STEEL FREE STANDING CORRAL PANELS, Feeders & Alley ways, 30ft or order to size. Oil Field Pipe: 1.3, 1.6, 1.9, 1 7/8, 2-in, 2 3/8, 2 7/8, 3 1/2. Sucker Rod: 3/4, 7/8, 1. Casing Pipes: 4-9inch. Sold by the piece or semi load lots. For special pricing call Art (204)685-2628 or cell (204)856-3440.

LIVESTOCK

HAYING & HARVESTING

LIVESTOCK Cattle Auctions

HAYING & HARVESTING Various FOR SALE: LARGE ROUND brome & alfalfa mix hay bales, $65, can deliver. Phone (204)324-9300.

Combines COMBINES Accessories

CASE/IH FLEX PLATFORMS: MODELS 1020 25ft. & 30-ft. w/wo sir reel; 2020 30-ft. & 35-ft., 2020 30-ft. w/air reel; 2011 3020 35-ft. Can install new AWS air bar for additional $11,500. Deliver in SK, MB, AB. Gary (204)326-7000, Reimer Farm Equip, Hwy #12 N, www.reimerfarmequipment.com Steinbach, MB. JD FLEX PLATFORMS: 922, 925, 930, sever- al newer ones w/full finger augers & air reels; 630-635 w/wo air bars. Deliver in SK, MB, AB. Gary (204)326-7000, Reimer Farm Equipment, Hwy #12 N, Steinbach, MB. www.reimerfarmequipment.com NH FLEX PLATFORMS: In stock Models 973 both 25-30’; 74C 30-ft. w/air reel; 88C 36-ft. flex draper; 94C 25-ft. rigid draper w/trailer. Deliver in SK, MB, AB. Gary (204)326-7000, Reimer Farm Equip, Hwy #12 N, www.reimerfarmequipment.com Steinbach, MB.

Hwy #205, Grunthal • (204) 434-6519

GRUNTHAL, MB.

AGENT FOR T.E.A.M. MARKETING

REGULAR CATTLE SALES

every TUESDAY at 9 am February 2nd, 9th, 16th & 23rd

Saturday, February 20th at 10 am Bred Cow Sale

Monday, February 29th at 12 pm

Sheep and Goat with Small Animals & Holstein Calves

For on farm appraisal of livestock or for marketing information please call

Harold Unrau (Manager) Cell 871 0250 Auction Mart (204) 434-6519 MB. Livestock Dealer #1111

WWW.GRUNTHALLIVESTOCK.COM

LIVESTOCK Cattle – Angus 55 RED AND BLACK Angus Two-Year Old Bulls Suitable for Heifers and Cows. Private Treaty @ the Ranch Info sheets available. Triple V Ranch Dan (204)665-2448 or (204)522-0092, Matthew (204)264-0706 Website vvvranch.com HORNER CATTLE COMPANY HAS for sale approx 50 top quality home-raised angus cross cimmental bred heifers. Exposed to easy calving, red and black angus bulls, from June 15-Sept 15. Heifers are from established herd with proven performance in the progeny and long-standing comprehensive health program. Call Alan (204)867-7117 or (204)867-2087 or horner.ranch@gmail.com.

HEADER TRAILERS & ACCESSORIES. Arc-Fab Industries. 204-355-9595 charles@arcfab.ca www.arcfab.ca

21ST ANNUAL CATTLEMANS’ CONNECTION Bull Sale, March 4th, 2016, 1:00pm. Heartland Livestock Brandon. Selling 100 Yearling Black Angus Bulls. For Catalogue or more information call Jack Hart, Brookmore Angus (204)476-2607 or email brookmoreangus@gmail.com Barb Airey manager HBH Farms (204)566-2134 email rbairey@hotmail.com Sale management Doug Henderson (403)782-3888 or (403)350-8541.

BLACK ANGUS BULLS YEARLINGS & Long Yearlings, some Heifer Bulls, semen tested & performance records avail. Call Don Guilford, Hereford Ranch (204)873-2430, Clearwater.

FOR SALE: 15 ANGUS Hereford X Heifer Calves, will make excellent cows. Call Don Guilford, Hereford Ranch (204)873-2430, Clearwater.

OSSAWA ANGUS AT MARQUETTE, MB has for sale: Yearling & 2-yr old bulls. For more info call (204)375-6658, cell (204)383-0703.

STEWART CATTLE CO. & GUESTS BULL SALE Feb 25, 2016 at 1:30PM Neepawa Ag-plex, Neepawa, MB. 50 Black Angus bulls & Simm/Angus bulls. Contact Brent Stewart (204)773-2356 home, (204)773-6392 cell. View catalogue at www.stewartcattle.com. Email: stewartcows@wificountry.ca

LIVESTOCK Cattle – Charolais PUREBRED CHAROLAIS YEARLINGS & three 2-yr old bulls for sale by private treaty, White & Red factor. Phone Brad (204)523-0062 www.clinecattlecompany.ca WE HAVE AN EXCELLENT selection of PB Charolais bulls, both Red & white yearling & 2-yr olds.

Pictures & info on the net www.defoortstockfarm.com. Call Gord or Sue:(204)743-2109.

LIVESTOCK Cattle – Hereford FOR SALE: 15 ANGUS Hereford X Heifer Calves, will make excellent cows. Call Don Guilford, Hereford Ranch (204)873-2430, Clearwater.

FOR SALE: POLLED HEREFORD Bulls Yearlings & Long Yearlings, semen tested & performance records avail. Call Don Guilford, Hereford Ranch (204)873-2430, Clearwater.

LIVESTOCK Cattle – Limousin POLLED RED & BLACK BULLS quiet, guaranteed, semen tested, delivery available. Performance & pedigree information www.cherwaylimousin.ca Yearlings & 2 Year olds. (204)736-2878 info@cherwaylimousin.ca

LIVESTOCK Cattle Various 500 BRED HEIFERS. Reds, Blacks, Silvers & Tans. Start calving March 25th, 2016. Had all shots, preg checked, Ivomec, pelvic measured, weigh approx 1250-lbs. Phone:(204)325-2416.

COMPLETE HERD DISPERSAL. CHAROLAIS cross cows; Bred to Charolais or Red Angus. Start calving March 2016. Call:(204)742-3498.

HORNER CATTLE COMPANY HAS for sale group of 25 angus cross cimmental bred cows. Age 3-8yrs. Preg checked to angus and cimmental bulls.

Calving in May/June. Call (204)867-2087 or (204)867-7117. horner.ranch@gmail.com.

LIVESTOCK Cattle Wanted

Search news. Read stories. Find insight.

AGCO MF CAT flex platforms: In stock Models 500 Gleaner 25-ft. & 30-ft.; Model 8000 30-ft. & 8200 35-ft. MF; Cat FD30 flex; FD40 flex. Reconditioned, ready to go. Delivery in SK, MB, AB. Gary: (204)326-7000, Reimer Farm Equip, Hwy #12 N, Steinbach, MB. www.reimerfarmequipment.com

Serving Manitoba, Saskatchewan, NW Ontario & Alberta....Since 1937

JD 2550 2-WD, 3-PT, hi/low shift, 4500-hrs, w/o loader; JD 2750 MFWD, CAH, 3-pt, 2-hyd’s, w/245 loader; JD 2950 2-wd, CAH, 3-pt, 2-hyd’s; JD 2950 MFWD, 3-pt, 2-hyd’s, w/loader; JD 4050 (2)MFWD, 3-pt, PS, w/o loaders; JD 4640 Quad, 3-hyd’s; JD 6420 2-MFWD, 3-pt, 3-hyd’s, PQ w/LHR, w/640 loader; JD 7610 MFWD, 3-pt, PQ w/LHR, w/740 FEL; JD 7700 MFWD, 3-pt, PQ, fact duals, w/740 FEL, grapple. Mitch’s Tractor Sales Ltd. St. Claude,MB. Phone: (204)750-2459 (cell) Mitchstractorsales.com

LIVESTOCK Cattle – Black Angus

RED ANGUS PUREBRED LONG yearling & two year old bulls for sale. Contact DBM Angus Farms at Holland, MB: Brian:(204)723-0474 or David: (204)723-0288.

TIRED OF THE HIGH COST OF MARKETING YOUR CALVES??

300-700 LBS. Steers & Heifers Rob: 528-3254, 724-3400 Ben: 721-3400 800-1000 LBS. Steers & Heifers Don: 528-3477, 729-7240

Contact: D.J. (Don) MacDonald Livestock Ltd. License #1110 LIVESTOCK Swine Wanted

WANTED: BUTCHER HOGS SOWS AND BOARS FOR EXPORT

P. QUINTAINE & SON LTD. 728-7549 Licence No. 1123 LIVESTOCK EQUIPMENT ALTERNATIVE POWER BY SUNDOG SOLAR, portable/remote solar water pumping for winter/summer. Call for pricing on solar systems, wind generators, aeration. Service & repair on all makes/models. Carl Driedger, (204)556-2346 or (204)851-0145, Virden.

AN ASSORTMENT OF CREEP feeders & self feeders on wheels & skids. All Cypress Industries.

Phone:(204)325-2416.

KELLN SOLAR SUMMER/WINTER WATERING System, provides water in remote areas, improves water quality, increases pasture productivity, extends dugout life. St. Claude/Portage, 204-379-2763.

ORGANIC ORGANIC Organic – Grains GROW ORGANIC QUINOA! Total production contracts available.

Visit: www.quinoa.com or Phone:(306)933-9525.

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The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Crosswor ossword Cr osswor d

Let's Not Get Into Poaching!

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DOWN 1 Toga, essentially 2 Hydroxyl group compound 3 Hurt badly 4 Not feel well 5 Place before 6 Missing links 7 Tweety's home 8 Wee bit of energy 9 Michigan's neighbour 10 Sound of approval?

11 Fly a plane 12 Horse-drawn four-wheeler 13 Prearranges 18 Krispy Kreme offering 22 Porgy and bass 23 Slanted 24 Group of two 26 List-finishing abbr.

27 "Can you ___ little faster?"

28 Con (var.)

29 Dental floss material 30 Evades 34 Skip over 36 Noggin exam, for short 37 Captain's record 38 Useful connections

40 Noncombatant in the ring 41 Sharif who played Yuri in "Doctor Zhivago" 42 Handy 43 Put in a new kitchen, e.g.

44 Tooth build-up 45 African scavenger 46 Restrain 47 Like grizzlies 52 Medicinal quantity 53 What assayers assay 54 Pepper and Snorkel, for short 55 Matures, like wine 56 Petro-Canada rival 58 Professional's charge 59 When the flight's expected, briefly

R A L S O V A E A I N T R A D S T A U D E U P O D E L I G E O N E G G S S S A E E G G S T T E S A S S O

Twilight time, to Tennyson Rock and cigar extensions Royal saree buyer, maybe WNW opposite Rodeo rope

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❑ 1 Year: $150.00 (US Funds)

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ATTACH YOUR MAILING LABEL HERE

❑ 1 Year: $64.00* ❑ 2 Year: $107.00* ❑ 3 Years $134.00*

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ACROSS 1 Update an atlas 6 Versatile blackjack card 9 Ph.D, exams, at times 14 Studio warning 15 Goal for a hole 16 Dying stars, perhaps 17 One of 44A 19 Opposite of "'tis" 20 Something to make barrels from 21 Bosc or McIntosh 22 Measurements of capacitance 23 Top ranking, often 24 Egoyan or Cronenberg, e.g.

25 Plato's "T" 26 Ova that are never over?

31 Lavatory fixture 32 Big Internet portal 33 Don's underling 34 Like the grey mare 35 Sobey's dept.

39 "Coming attractions" ad 42 Encourage 44 Breakfast, for many 48 Yes, to the skipper 49 Plump 50 Spectacle frames 51 Viking, at times 53 Home to thousands of Norwegians 54 Party invitation encl.

57 Saxophone type 58 26A, basically 60 Ouzo flavouring

Your expiry date is located on your publication's mailing label.

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M S E R : 12345 2015/ 12 P UB John Smith Company Name 123 E x a m p l e S t .

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Sudoku 6

Make cheque or money order payable to Manitoba Co-operator and mail to: Box 9800, Stn. Main, Winnipeg, MB R3C 3K7 Help us make the Manitoba Co-operator an even better read!

Please fill in the spaces below that apply to you. Thank you!

7 3 8 6

If you're not the owner/operator of a farm are you: q In agri-business (bank, elevator, ag supplies etc.) q Other total farm size (including rented land)_______________ Year of birth________ q I’m farming or ranching q I own a farm or ranch but i'm not involved in it's operations or management

My Main crops are: No. of acres 10. Lentils ___________ 11. Dry Beans ___________ 12. Hay ___________ 13. Pasture ___________ 14. Summerfallow ___________ 15. Alfalfa ___________ 16. Forage Seed ___________ 17. Mustard ___________ 18. Other (specify) ___________ Livestock Enterpise No. of head 5. Hog farrow-to-finish (# sows) ______ 6. Finished Pigs (sold yearly) _________ 7. Dairy Cows ___________ 8. Other Livestock (specify) __________

Occasionally Farm Business Communications makes its list of subscribers available to other reputable firms whose products and services may be of interest to you. If you PReFeR NOt tO ReCeIve such farm-related offers please check the box below. q I PReFeR MY NAM AND ADDReSS NOt Be MADe AvAILABLe tO OtHeRS

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6 2 3 4 5 7 9 8 1

8 7 4 1 6 9 3 2 5

1 5 9 3 2 8 4 6 7

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2 1 5 9 8 6 7 3 4

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9 8 6 5 7 1 2 4 3

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Puzzle by websudoku.com

Puzzle by websudoku.com

Here’s How It Works:

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My Main crops are: No. of acres 1. Wheat ____________ 2. Barley ____________ 3. Oats ____________ 4. Canola ____________ 5. Flax ____________ 6. Durum ____________ 7. Rye ____________ 8. Peas ____________ 9. Chick Peas ____________ Livestock Enterpise No. of head 1. Registered Beef ____________ 2. Commercial Cow ____________ 3. Fed Cattle (sold yearly) ____________ 4. Hog Weaners (sold yearly) __________

8 4 2 4 3 5 2 9 1 2 9 3 6 2 1 6 4 3 9 1

Last week's answer

Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes.

The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

REAL ESTATE REAL ESTATE Houses & Lots READY TO MOVE 3-BDRM home. Just completed.

Stunning white shaker kitchen. See photos on website. MARVIN HOMES, Marvin Vogt, Mitchell, MB. (204)326-1493 or (204)355-8484. www.marvinhomes.ca

REAL ESTATE Land For Rent LOOKING TO RENT IN Stonewall, Teulon, Warren & Rosser area. Phone (204)513-0332.

REAL ESTATE Land For Sale 149.54-AC OF PRIME FARMLAND (SE 04-17-17-3E) located North & East of Teulon in RM of Rockwood. For further details Ph:(204)793-5496.

HALF SECTION OF GRAIN LAND in RM of Gilbert Plains, 319-acres in total with 170+ cultivated, balance in bush which could be cleared. For more details, call Maurice at Century 21 Westman.com, (204)725-0555.

JOHN DIDYCHUK OF TOUTES Aides & the estate of Laurence Didychuk of Rorketon, MB intend to sell private lands: NE7-29-14W, W1/2 7-29-14W, E1/2 32-28-15W, NE31-28-15W, NW9-29-14W, SW17-29-14W, SE9-29-14W to Clayton Breault, Jesse Breault & Dwain Breault who will be considered by Manitoba Agriculture, Food & Rural Development for possible transfer of the Crown land forage lease associated with this ranch unit. This forage lease currently consists of the following: NW27-28-14W, S1/2 27-28-14W, E1/2 28-28-14W, NW06-29-14W, SE07-29-14W, W1/2 28-28-14W, E1/2 32-28-14W, W1/2 33-28-14W, W1/2 04-29-14W, NE09-29-14W, SW09-29-14, W1/2 18-29-14W, SE18-29-14W, SE34-28-15W, SW35-28-15W, NE27-28-14W, SE33-28-14W, SW34-28-14W, NE04-29-14W, E1/2 05-29-14W, SE 08-29-14W, E1/2 19-29-14W, W1/2 20-29-14W, W1/2 29-29-14W by unit transfer. If you wish to comment on or object to the potential transfer of this forage lease to this purchaser, please write to: Director, MAFRD, Agricultural Crown Lands, PO Box 1286, Minnedosa MB, R0J 1E0; or Fax:(204)867-6578.

FARM LAND FOR SALE BY TENDER Sealed, written tenders for property in the Municipalities of Pembina and Stanley described below will be received by:

McCULLOCH MOONEY JOHNSTON SELBY

351 Main Street, PO Box 279 Manitou, MB. R0G 1G0 PROPERTY:

PARCEL 1: N ½ of S ½ 19-2-6 WPM, in Manitoba, excepting all Mines and Minerals (being approx. 160 cult. acres); PARCEL 2: Part SE ¼ 24-2-7 WPM, in Manitoba, excepting all Mines and Minerals (being approx. 148 cult. acres).

TENDERS CLOSE: 2:00 pm on February 5, 2016

For further information contact Larry J. Selby at: Phone: 204-242-2801 Fax: 204-242-2723 Email: larry@mmjslaw.com

REAL ESTATE Farms & Ranches – Manitoba EXCELLENT LIVESTOCK FARMS: 1) 1000 head feedlot, Hartney. 2) 1732 deeded acs w/4,425-acs of Crown land, fenced, small bungalow, very good buildings & metal corral system, can carry 450 cow/calf pairs. 3) 1,270 deeded ac cattle farm by Lac du Bonnet, 640-acs Crown land, turnkey operation. 4) Cattle ranch, Pine River, 3,300 deeded & 1,200-acs Crown land. 5) Excellent horse ranch in Erickson MB, Riding Arena & Bldgs in Fantastic condition. Jim McLachlan (204)724-7753, HomeLife Home Professional Realty Inc, Brandon, MB, www.homelifepro.com

Grain Farm For Sale 3290 acre grain farm for sale south of Killarney, MB only 1/4 mile from paved HWY. 233,000 bushels grain storage, 68’ * 60’ fully loaded workshop, 100’ truck scale. Contact Stacey Hiebert at 1-204-371-5930

www.canadianfarmrealty.com Royal LePage Riverbend Realty REAL ESTATE Farms & Ranches – Wanted FARMS WANTED. If you are considering selling your farm, contact me. I have eight years experience selling farms and farmed all my life. All discussions are confidential. Rick Taylor, Homelife Home Professional Realty. (204)867-7551, rtaylor@homelife.com www.homelifepro.com

RECYCLING

BuyUsed Used Oil Oil ••Buy NOTRE •• Buy Buy Batteries Batteries DAME ••Collect CollectUsed Used Filters Filters • Collect Oil Containers • Collect Oil Containers USED • Antifreeze OIL & Southern,Southern Eastern, and Manitoba Western Western FILTER Manitoba DEPOT Tel: 204-248-2110

CERTIFIED SEED Cereal Seeds

• Very high-yielding milling wheat from NDSU

JAMES FARMS LTD Brandon, Cardale & Faller wheat, Summit, Souris & Haymaker forage oats, Mcleod RR2 soybeans, Tradition barley, forage seeds, various canola & sunflower seed varieties.

Custom processing, seed treating, inoculating, as well as delivery are available. Early payment discount. For info call (204)222-8785, or toll-free 1-866-283-8785, Winnipeg. djames@jamesfarms.com

• Highest protein in CWIW class • Good harvestability

Buy ELGIN ND treated with Raxil® Pro before January 31st, 2016, for only $15.00 per bushel (a 14% saving)

CourtSeeds

fpgenetics.ca Available at

Presents:

SASKATCHEWAN

Cardale CWRS Good vigour, consistent yields

Frederick Seed Service Watson, SK 306-287-3977

Excellent disease resistance Higher protein - higher returns

Advertise your unwanted equipment in the Classifieds.

Call our toll-free number and place your ad with our friendly staff, and don’t forget to ask about our prepayment bonus. Prepay for 3 weeks and get 2 weeks free!

1-800-782-0794.

SEED/ FEED/GRAIN Hay & Straw ROUND BALES OF ALFALFA Grass Hay 1,250lbs to 1,300-lbs, small squares, Alfalfa Grass mixtures, also small square Wheat Straw bales, store in shed. Also 2 yearling Black Angus bulls. Phone (204)886-2083.

SEED/ FEED/GRAIN Grain Wanted

Greenleaf Seeds Ltd. Tisdale, SK 306-873-4261 McCarthy Seed Farm Ltd. Corning, SK 306-224-4848 Redvers Ag Redvers, SK 306-452-3443 Sundwall Seeds Govan, SK 306-484-2010

MANITOBA Phone: 204-526-2145 | www.zeghersseed.com Email: shawnz@zeghersseed.com

QUALITY PEDIGREE SEED: • AAC Brandon Wheat • Faller CWIW Class Wheat • Cardale Wheat • Souris Oats • Conlon Barley • Lightning Flax • Meadow Peas

WE BUY OATS Call us today for pricing Box 424, Emerson, MB R0A 0L0 204-373-2328

Vanderveen Commodity Services Ltd.

North Star Seed - Forages Red Proso Millet

Licensed and Bonded Grain Brokers

Zeghers Seed Inc. is also an Exporter! Flax, Mustard, Damaged Canola, Canary, Rye, Triticale, and other crops. We would be glad to help market your special crops.

37 4th Ave. NE Carman, MB R0G 0J0 Ph. (204) 745-6444 Email: vscltd@mts.net

ASK ABOUT Early Pay, and Volume DISCOUNTS! On Select Seed Purchases.

A Season to Grow… Only Days to Pay!

BUYING:

OAT OR SOYBEAN LAND wanted! Grow quinoa in 2016! Total production contracts available. Competitive returns and guaranteed delivery. Ph: 306-933-9525 or www.quinoa.com

COMMON SEED COMMON SEED Various

CORN SEED $28 PER acre- Catt Corn, open pollinated, lower cost alternative for grazing & silage, high nutritional value & palatability, 7-9 ft tall leafy plants, 8-10 in. cobs, early maturing, 2250 CHU’s seed produced in MB, selling into SK, AB & MB for over 10 years, delivery avail. (204)723-2831 PASTURE BLEND FALL RYE. (204)526-2527, (204)526-7374, Holland MB.

Phone

SEED / FEED / GRAIN SEED/ FEED/GRAIN Hay & Straw 220 4X4 SQUARE ANNUAL rye grass straw bales, 82RFV, $0.025/lb. 175 4x4 square bales annual rye grass re-growth, 96RFV, $0.03/lb. 400 bales of wheat straw 4x4 bales, $25/bale. Notre Dame, MB. Matt:(204)723-5002.

3RD CUT ALFALFA HAY for sale, net wrapped round bales, tested. 4 cents/pound, will load. Phone (204)799-8130 or (204)837-9750.

5X5 ROUND SOFT CORE bales. 120 first cut alfalfa, 100 second cut alfalfa, 350 wild. Phone: (204)762-5782. Lundar, MB. ALFALFA 3X3 SQUARE BALES. Dairy quality 1st, 2nd & 3rd cut available. Have feed tests; Also have beef quality mixed alfalfa/grass hay. Also Have horse hay quality timothy/orchard grass in big & small squares. Wheat straw in bigs as well. Delivery available. Phone Daryl:(204)856-3561 for pricing. for

HEATED CANOLA & FLAX • Competitive Prices • Prompt Movement • Spring Thrashed

“ON FARM PICK UP”

FOR SALE: ANDANTE YELLOW Mustard Seed.

Spencers Seed Farm (701)331-9385. Call Me

ALFALFA HAY MIX BALES (204)744-2491 or (204)825-8616.

Andy Vanderveen · Brett Vanderveen Jesse Vanderveen

Farming is enough of a gamble, advertise in the Manitoba Co-operator classified section. It’s a sure thing.

1-800-782-0794.

CERTIFIED SEED Specialty Crops

sale.

Call

FIRST CUT ALFALFA, ALFALFA grass hay for sale, medium squares, can deliver. Phone (204)642-3259 or (204)642-3043.

N LIM EW VA ITED RIE T SU P Y PLY

ELGIN ND

LESS FUSARIUM MORE BOTTOM LINE. GP Wheat WFT603 seed available. Suitable for ethanol production, livestock feed. Western Feed Grain Development Co-op Ltd. 1-877-250-1552 www.wfgd.ca

Plumas, MB courtseeds@gmail.com 204 386-2354 courtseeds.ca

CERTIFIED SEED Cereal Seeds

1-877-250-5252

Boissevain Select Seeds Ltd. Boissevain, MB 204-534-6846

®

Chatham Seeds Ltd. Killarney, MB 204-523-8112

Red River Seeds Ltd. Morris, MB 204-746-3059

Friesen Seeds Ltd. Rosenort, MB 204-746-8325

Redsper Enterprises Ltd. Rivers, MB 204-328-5346

Keating Seed Farm Inc. Russell, MB 204-773-3854

Rutherford Farms Ltd. Grosse Isle, MB 204-467-5613

Manness Seed Domain, MB 204-736-2622

Sanders Seed Farm Manitou, MB 204-242-2576

Miller Agritec Inc. Oakville, MB 204-267-2363

Sierens Seed Service Somerset, MB 204-744-2883

Nadeau Farms Inc. Fannystelle, MB 204-436-2469 New Gen Seed Service Ltd. Portage la Prairie, MB 204-274-2417 Pitura Seed Service Ltd. Domain, MB 204-736-2849

Swan Valley Seeds Ltd. Swan River, MB 204-734-2526 Tonn Seeds Plumas, MB 204-386-2206

Raxil is a registered trademark of Bayer

MALT BARLEY SEED/FEED/GRAIN Grain Wanted *6-Row* MALT BARLEY

Celebration & Tradition *2-Row* ACbuy Metcalfe, CDC Copeland & AAC Synergy We feed barley, feed wheat, MALT BARLEY BARLEY MALT oats, soybeans, corn & canola We buy feed*2-Row* barley, feed wheat, *6-Row* & AAC Synergy ACoats, Metcalfe, CDC Copeland soybeans, corn & canola & Tradition COMECelebration SEE US AT AG DAYS IN We buy feed barley, feed wheat, THE CONVENTION HALL SEE barley, US AT AG DAYS IN WeCOME buy feed feed wheat, oats, soybeans, corn & canola CONVENTION HALL BOOTH 1309& oats,THE soybeans, corn canola BOOTH 1309 COME SEE US AT AG DAYS IN COME SEE US AT AG HALL DAYS IN THE CONVENTION THE CONVENTION BOOTH 1309 HALL

BOOTH 1309

2013 Malt Contracts Available 2016 AOG Malt Contracts Available Box 238 Letellier, MB. R0G 1C0 BoxPhone 238 Letellier, MB. R0G 1C0 204-737-2000 Phone 204-737-2000 2014Toll-Free AOG Malt Contracts Available 1-800-258-7434 Toll-Free 1-800-258-7434 BoxMalt 238 MB. R0G 1C0 Agent: M &Letellier, J Weber-Arcola, SK. 2013 Contracts Available Agent: M & J Weber-Arcola, SK. Phone 204-737-2000 Phone 306-455-2509 Box 238 Letellier, MB. R0G 1C0 Phone 306-455-2509 Toll-Free 1-800-258-7434 Phone 204-737-2000 Agent: M & 1-800-258-7434 J Weber-Arcola, The Manitoba Co-operator.

Manitoba’s SK. best-read Toll-Free farm publication. know that farming is enough Agent: Phone M &We J 306-455-2509 Weber-Arcola, SK. of a gamble so if you want to sell it fast place your Phone 306-455-2509 ad in the Manitoba Co-operator classifieds. It’s a

MALT BARLEY

TIME TO APPRECIATE RELATIONSHIPS... Life is Meant to be Shared. We are Here to Help You. CANDLELIGHT MATCHMAKERS. Confidential, Rural, Photos and Profiles to selected matches, Affordable, Local. Serving MB, SK, NW-Ontario.

Call/Write for info: Box 212, Roland, MB, R0G 1T0, www.candlelightmatchmakers.ca (204)343-2475.

CERTIFIED SEED Cereal Seeds

*6-Row* Celebration & Tradition We buy feed barley, feed wheat, oats, soybeans, corn & canola

n Manitoba 110

MANITOBA MAN LOOKING FOR lady 60-71 years for friendship & companionship, to go for dances & coffee, Photo Please. Reply to Ad# 1027, c/o Manitoba Co-operator, Box 9800, Station Main, Winnipeg, MB R3C 3K7

CERTIFIED SEED

COME SEE US AT AG DAYS IN THE CONVENTION HALL BOOTH 1309

atteries t Oil Containers

PERSONAL

2013 Malt Contracts Available Box 238 Letellier, MB. R0G 1C0 Phone 204-737-2000 Toll-Free 1-800-258-7434 Agent: M & J Weber-Arcola, SK. Phone 306-455-2509

SED OIL EPOT

31

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

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The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

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The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

precision farming focus

Tractor turned robot maximizes farm labour, says inventor First prize at Ag Days 2016 Inventors’ Showcase goes to a Killarney-area farmer for his robotics invention that eliminates need for a grain cart driver

“We’ve actually never had a harvest and a fall season go this smooth.”

BY LORRAINE STEVENSON Co-operator staff/Brandon

A

t first glance, it looks like one of Matthew Reimer’s farm crew is, well, kind of

short.

Actually, there is no one driving that grain cart tractor as it navigates the field and pulls up to unload the combine on his Killarney-area farm.

Reimer has programmed it to be driverless.

Reimer was awarded first place by judges with the Inventors’ Showcase at Ag Days last week for turning his tractor into a robot, wiring its electronics to the autopilot out of a drone.

It can unload a combine on the go and navigate autonomously within the field, communicating with the combine.

It’s controlled by the touch of a screen that signals its GPS locations.

“It does a calculation to figure out where the tractor should be, tells the tractor to go to that GPS location, and just does that repeatedly on a loop,” Reimer told reporters in Brandon last week.

“In order to call the tractor over you just hit ‘start unloading. The tractor drives over on its own, you have to speed it up the first time, then when it gets close it slows down automatically. When you’re done unloading, you just hit “empty.”

Matthew Reimer president of Reimer Robotics

Matthew Reimer, president of Reimer Robotics and Killarney-area farmer, took first place at Ag Days’ 2016 Inventors’ Showcase for a product allowing farmers to turn their existing tractor into a robot. PHOTO: LORRAINE STEVENSON

A driverless tractor was just an idea rolling around in his mind a year ago.

“I’ve thought it was a good idea for a long time. I just didn’t know how to do it,” he said.

“Then I stumbled across an autopilot that’s out of a drone, and the lightbulb went on in my head. It has the algorithm for navigating a vehicle.

I thought if I can put it in my tractor, it’ll take care of that.”

Reimer, who is president of his new company Reimer Robotics, was in Brandon last week to share the idea with other farmers. The software and hardware deployed are open source.

“Anyone can pick up this technology and work on it,” he said, adding he hopes other producers will build on the concept and advance the innovation.

Reimer deployed the tractorturned-robot on his family’s farm this past fall. They’ve never

had a harvest go more smoothly, he said.

It’s meant to be labour saving, but in their case it was labour maximizing, he said.

It meant the person otherwise sitting with the grain cart all day was able to do many more jobs instead of just sitting idle.

“I had him swathing and harrowing and running for fuel and doing all these other jobs that keep our operation running smooth,” he said.

“We got all our fertilizer on.

Everything just worked really good and part of the reason was we were able to get so many more things done while we were combining.”

Reimer is adamant that robotics like this won’t replace working on the farm. The notion that farmers one day will sit in offices controlling farm equipment remotely is “still science fiction stuff,” he said.

“It’s just going to change how we work,” he said. “Up to this point, farms have been growing and what’s allowed farms to grow is that equipment has got bigger and more efficient so you can get more done with one tractor than you used to be able to, but it is reaching the limits of what we can fit on our roads.

“I think we’re going to start to see more tractors, but smaller.

So instead of having one tractor, maybe you’ll drive one but the other one will be unmanned.” lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

Remote-controlled livestock gate featured at Inventors’ Showcase The livestock gate pivots upwards and can be remotely opened and shut without leaving the tractor

BY LORRAINE STEVENSON Co-operator staff/Brandon

M

ike Annetts doesn’t spend his days opening and shutting farm gates, but farmers he knows do.

When they told the industrial arts teacher at McCreary High School that all that repetitive mounting and dismounting from a tractor or any other vehicle just to open gates was basically “a pain in the butt,” Annetts set to work.

His invention, the Lift and Go, a 16-foot livestock gate that opens remotely — and pivots upward instead of swinging — was awarded second prize by judges in the Inventors’ Showcase at Ag Days last week.

The product needs just a small level area for the base, while the receiver is mounted to the gate’s panel or post.

Several farmers around McCreary area now use the Lift and Go, and feedback received by Annetts is that it is a time saver. Over a period of months, that time spent manually opening and

closing gates really adds up, Annetts said, adding that eliminating the need to disembark can also help reduce the potential for slips and falls too.

First-place winner at Ag Days Inventors’ Showcase was Killarneyarea farmer and president of Reimer Robotics, Matthew Reimer, for an invention that essentially turns a tractor into a robot.

Ho n o u ra b l e Me n t i o n we n t t o Har vest Sweep (Cor n Header Technology) for a redesigned kit that replaces stock components of deck plates and gathering chains on a corn head to save at least 80 to 85 per cent of corn shatter loss.

Thirteen companies in all entered the 2016 exhibition, which is sponsored annually by the Manitoba Co-operator at Ag Days.

Other inventions ranged from new kinds of applicators for treating seed and software for field management and tracing, to grain-bin lid openers and new products for more safely handling newborn calves. lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

Mike Annetts’ colleague Garry Smith explains how the Lift and Go operates to visitors at Inventors’ Showcase. PHOTO: LORRAINE STEVENSON

34

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

prec i s i o n fa r m i n g fo cus

Big data — a big topic among farmers Assessing more information has and will lead farmers to better agronomic decisions

BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff

B

ig data is big business.

Two years ago Monsanto paid $1 billion for Climate Corp., a firm that specializes in digitizing and aggregating a long list of data collected from farmers’ fields. The numbers are crunched and sold to farmers so they can make better agronomic decisions and more money.

It all started with yield monitors, GPS technology and yield maps and evolved to multiple layers of information from soil type and fertility to topography, rainfall, heat units and crop variety. That information is then

connected to seeders and fertilizer and pesticide applicators to vary seeding rates and applications on the fly. Instead of treating a field all the same, inputs can be adjusted to suit conditions, in effect creating many fields within a field.

The technology behind precision agriculture and micro-agronomy, produces the information, which when aggregated across many fields, is big data.

Other large companies, including DuPont Pioneer and John Deere, are offering big data services. The focus has been on the United States, but Canada and Brazil top Climate Corp.’s expansion list.

Climate Corp.’s chief scientist

David Fischhoff told Forbes in 2014 big data will change the face of agriculture.

“We can see things we’ve never seen and know things we’ve never known so we can tap more of the potential in every seed, every acre and every dollar we invest and use a new level of decision-making in the pursuit of higher yields,” a company video says.

Farmers’ view Do farmers see it the same way?

A farmer-panel on big data at the annual Manitoba Agronomists’ Conference Dec. 16 was cautious.

“It is worth something,” Roland farmer John Bergen said. “It’s not worth something yet. Our data is worth something too. In exchange

for our data I guess we should have access to everyone else’s.”

Although farmers are skeptical about yield data, Bergen added, “I think big data can… take away some of those reasons not to believe,” if the variables are reduced.

What would interest Bergen?

Being able to access 2015 soybean yields grown on similar soil to his, planted before the spring snow to see what impact, if any, seeding into cooler soils had.

“Once we can do that then I think we’re into something really good,” he said.

Adam Gurr, who farms at Rapid City and also does independent research through his company Agritruth Research, said he will

likely buy big data services in the future, but mainly to access data management and analytical tools.

Dan Hacault of Swan River stressed that data from his own farm is what’s most important to him.

“For my farm it’s the small data I want,” he said. “It’s the stuff I collect for my own farm that’s more value to me than the amalgamation of a pile of data.”

Earlier in the conference Dan Frieberg of Premier Crop Systems in West Des Moines, Iowa also focused on the value of capturing data from individual fields and using it to assist the owner to make better agronomic decisions.

Continued on next page »

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he new all-steel wheels for skid steer loaders at Evolution Wheel’s display at Manitoba Ag Days last week in Brandon might evoke memories of old steel-wheel tractors, but they have been developed to meet a very modern purpose, says Derek Hird owner of Evolution Wheel.

With rubber-tracked machines becoming pretty popular in the skid steer world to overcome the kind of traction and flotation problems common to wheeled machines, Hird says his steel wheels are an excellent — and lower cost — alternative to solve many of those problems. They could be a big help to producers when doing a variety of jobs around the farm.

“Manure cleaning is a big one,” Hird says. “In the snow they do pretty well, also working in the mud.

“A lot of guys in the market have trended toward a track machine to solve the 20 per cent of jobs they couldn’t do with tires.

Now they have this option that’s a third less cost for an upgrade and virtually no maintenance costs versus high maintenance costs down the road for a track machine.”

A set retails for $6,000.

Anyone looking for a dealer should check the company’s website www. evolutionwheel.com.

35

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

p r ecision farming focus Continued from previous page

Big data is crude, but it’s better than it was, he said.

“We have to do better than averaging the responses from tiny plots and pretending that those results fit across huge spatial variability that exists within fields,” Frieberg said.

“Every agronomist and every farmer knows there are differences across their fields.

“The real key is let’s not pretend all this land is the same agronomically because it’s not, and we can use the equipment that growers have already invested in and help them with their data to do a better job of managing what they do in agronomy.”

Local data is important, said Dan Wright, Monsanto Canada’s trait launch lead, who is working on Climate Corp.’s Canadian expansion, but aggregated data can reveal important information

“Like it or not, big data is the new reality in farming. It’s here to stay.”

Mitch Rezansoff

too, he said. For example, based on data from 3,800 fields Climate Corp. found 10 per cent didn’t get enough nitrogen, costing the farmer an average of $54 an acre in reduced yield. It also found in 40 per cent of the fields too much nitrogen was applied costing producers an average of $13 an acre.

So besides boosting yields, collecting and analyzing data can help the environment. Nutrient run-off is attracting more government attention and regulation.

Show me Only an estimated 10 per cent of Manitoba farmers are collecting data now from their entire

farm, said Mitch Rezansoff, integrated solutions manager for John Deere dealer Enns Brothers.

“Why aren’t more farmers doing it? It goes back to ‘show me the benefit,’” he said.

And that’s just what Rezansoff has been doing. On one farm he discovered operation overlaps totalling 200 acres, resulting in $24,000 worth of extra inputs being applied. Modifying the anhydrous ammonia application with sectional control saved $6,400, paying for itself in a year, he said.

Paying for sectional control on an air seeder, either factory installed or added later, was

recoverable after three and four years.

In another case using yield maps Rezansoff found a 4,300acre farmer had zero yield on 731 or 17 per cent of his acres over several years due to excess water.

Topographical maps were used to see how to remove the water. If buying a used scraper to improve drainage could cut the lost acres to 200, it would pay for the scraper in one year, not including the time to do the work.

Better decisions Speakers agreed more data will help farmers make better decisions and make them more efficient, more productive, sustainable and profitable.

“Like it or not big data is the new reality in farming,” Rezansoff said. “It’s here to stay.

It will become more embedded into the equipment, the technology, the capabilities.”

What’s perhaps less clear is the extent farmers will focus on

briefs Save farm derivatives trade, Switzerland urges voters Zurich/Reuters / Switzerland’s government on Jan. 12 urged voters to reject a campaign to ban trading in agricultural derivatives, saying the wellmeaning attempt to alleviate world hunger would not succeed and only jeopardize Swiss jobs and tax revenue.

The “No Speculation with Food” initiative is subject of a binding referendum on Feb. 28 under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy.

Proponents argue that speculative transactions create volatility and lead to hunger and poverty.

They point to a study by the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich that speculation can account for 60 to 70 per cent of price movements, making it harder for poor countries to afford food.

The measure would amend the constitution to ban banks, trading houses, insurers and other investors and wealth managers in Switzerland from dealing for themselves or for clients in financial instruments based on agricultural commodities or food.

The government noted that no trading platforms for such products exist in Switzerland and that companies could easily circumvent a ban limited only to this country.

Banning such trades would harm the economy, it added, noting the costs it would impose on the many Swiss-based trading companies, insurers, banks and pension funds that deal in farm product derivatives.

It would also impinge on economic liberties and raise questions about Swiss policies at a time the economy was also labouring under the impact of a strong currency, it added.

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their data compared to what has been aggregated. It’s easy to imagine both. Either way farmers will have to see the value and be confident of the data itself.

Gurr said he’ll test recommendations based on pooled data on his farm before fully adopting them.

Bergen noted big data companies are focused on the U.S. Midwest, where crops and conditions are different from here.

Firms will have to invest a lot to get the data necessary to build predictive models that apply to Western Canada, he said.

And while local and big data will become more important, farmers or their agronomists won’t be replaced.

“Farmers’ intuition is paramount,” Rezansoff said. “Can data replace the farmer’s experience and intuition? The answer is no. It complements it.” allan@fbcpublishing.com

36

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

prec i s i o n fa r m i n g fo cus

Determining the best seeding rate for hard red spring wheat An NDSU researcher finds that different varieties also have different tillering capacities

BY ANGELA LOVELL Co-operator contributor

T Measuring seeding rate by the bushel can lead to wide variations in yield. photo: grant mehring

he old rule of thumb about seeding 1.5 bushels of wheat per acre just doesn’t apply anymore, says a researcher with North Dakota State University.

Variety, seeding date and even latitude make a dif ference, Grant Mehring told the Manitoba Agronomists Conference in Winnipeg last December. He described his extensive, three-year research trials on seeding rates for sev-

eral HRSW varieties planted in 23 different environments.

“Seeding rate can be far off with bushels per acre because that’s just a volume. You can have a lot of different seeds per volume or per bushel when the kernel weights are different,” Mehring said.

His research showed that using a common North Dakota seeding rate of 1.5 bu./acre of two varieties with very different kernel weights — 15 grams per 500 kernels for one and 20 grams per 500 kernels for the other — could result in a difference of up to 400,000 seeds per acre.

“People ask, ‘is it really that critical in spring wheat because it tillers nicely and will likely catch up,’” said Mehr ing. “ That’s probably true but if your intention was to plant a seeding rate without using seeds per kilogram — the kernel weight — you are far from that. It’s important to take into account kernel weight and also germination.”

In Mehring’s trials he also counted how many seeds on average across 10,000 wheat plots over three years didn’t germinate, and saw an average of 10 per cent to 15 per cent stand loss.

“It would be good to take a 10 per cent to 20 per cent expected stand loss into consideration when you are planting spring wheat,” Mehring said. “That is what agronomists recommend in North Dakota and it is what helps growers get the plant population they want.”

Tillering is important Environment is also going to take away some of the seeds a p r o d u c e r p l a n t s, a d d e d Mehring, which is why planting as early as possible in the spring is crucial to get plants established.

“As you delay planting date you need to increase seeding rates,” said Mehring, whose research showed significantly less tillering in plants that were planted a month to five weeks later than the optimum early planting date.

“Environment is a major factor in tiller production and yield, so it’s also important to choose the HRSW cultivars that are most broadly adapted to your growing region.”

Me h r i n g ’s r e s e a r c h h a s clearly shown that varieties have very different tillering capacities.

“Tillering is what impacts your spikes per acre, and your spikes per acre is what gives you yield at the end,” he said. “It’s important to get the stems-per-acre numbers up to the level you need to get the yield you want but it doesn’t do any good necessarily to increase seeding rate because in our trials, when averaged over many different environments and years, overall that didn’t increase stems per acre or yield.”

Know your varieties Increasing seeding rates can also increase the risk of lodging especially in high-lodging potential cultivars, along with other factors such as environmental conditions, taller variety height, and N fertilization.

“If you are planting a highlodging cultivar — a cultivar that yields great and has lower s t ra w s t re n g t h — yo u a re probably not going to want to Continued on next page »

37

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

p r ecision farming focus

Assessing tillering capacity of HRSW Assessing tillering capacity of HRSW Tillering is one of three components that ultimately determines yield but it’s a complex process involving many different factors. It isn’t easy to predict, which is why producers can’t simply look up tillering capacity in their provincial seed guide.

“There is no actual genetic predictor of tillering capacity that we know of,” Grant Mehring of North Dakota State University told the Manitoba Agronomists Conference in December.

“The only way I know to predict tillering capacity is to do plant counts. If you On-farm strip trials can help determine which varieties perform best on your farm.

“Environment is a major factor in tiller production and yield, so it’s also important to choose the HRSW cultivars that are most broadly adapted to your growing region.”

Grant Mehring NDSU

Continued from previous page

push the seeding rate at all, because if the environment is right it’s going to lodge and there will be a harvest and yield impact,” Mehring said.

“Some varieties will tiller so well that the seeding rate doesn’t necessarily make a difference and that’s something you need to know,” he said.

“If you have some agronomic information that says a variety has a higher tillering capacity, that may be one you consider scaling back a bit on the seeding rate.”

Mehring’s biggest message to producers and agronomists was to gather as much information as possible about different HRSW varieties to be able to make the best seeding rate choices for each situation.

“You should use all of the information that you know about a variety,” he said. “It’s not just the yield and the protein of the variety that matters. It’s the height of the variety, the lodging potential, the tillering capacity, relative maturity, whether you’re planting earlier or later — all of these intricate factors will be important to take into consideration when you choose a seeding rate.”

Me h r i n g i s w o r k i n g o n using predictive tools such as known genetics, as well as phenological characteristics including tillering, plant height and photoperiod sensitivity to predict optimum seeding rates for different HRSW cultivars.

take pictures at different growth stages you can get a sense of the tillering capacity of different varieties based on which one is filling the canopy faster.”

Mehring suggests producers may want to do some on-farm strip trials to get a sense of which varieties tiller well under their conditions. There is also a free app available from the Oklahoma State University called Canopeo — available for iPhone or Android — which measures the percentage canopy of green live vegetation based on photos taken with a smartphone.

photo: grant mehring

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The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

prec i s i o n fa r m i n g fo cus

App will identify bugs and outbreaks in real time

Farmers and agronomists sought for testing app that will allow reporting and tracking of insect outbreaks

BY ANGELA LOVELL Co-operator contributor

R

esearchers at the University of Manitoba and Agriculture and AgriFood Canada are developing a new app that will make it easier for farmers to practise integrated pest management (IPM).

The free, user-friendly app, which should be available in 2018, incorporates three separate tools for pest identification, forecasting and crop management. The pest ID tool is currently in the most advanced phase of development and contains ID keys for 69 insect pests of canola. It will eventually have additional insect pests of other crops, 160 to 200 weeds, and several diseases in its database as well.

The farmer will be able to bring up the app on an iPhone or Android device in the field, choose the type of pest — i.e. “canola bugs” — and scroll through multiple, high-definition images of different characteristics — such as wing shape, or type of crop damage — to help identify the bug. Once the farmer confirms its identity, the app has a guide to more information about how to manage the pest, or offers the option

What is that critter, and is it a good one or a bad one? An app being developed by AAFC and the U of M will be able to tell you. Photo: Canola Council

to email extension staff or an agronomist.

Information in real time The forecasting tool provides real-time data that’s generated and updated fields are

scouted by growers, agronomists and extension staff who can upload the information into the database. Risk maps reflect the current situation and the algorithm can incorporate climate and other data

to help guide management decisions.

The crop management tool allows farmers to keep a history of pests, weeds and diseases they have had in their fields, how they dealt with them, and

the outcomes, so they can make better management decisions in the future based on what worked for them.

The app will also have a notifications feature so that any new risk map, warning, research finding or relevant information is available to the farmer as it’s produced.

“We’re trying to make the app work for specialists and nonspecialists,” says Dr. Ana Dal Molin, who is working on the project together with Dr. Barb Sharanowski at the University of Manitoba, and gave a demonstration of the app at the recent Manitoba Agronomists Conference in Winnipeg. “ We are tr ying to open the lines of communication between growers, researchers, agronomists and agencies, and make them faster and more efficient, so they should be able to track down all the issues and provide all the information required to make informed management decisions.”

The developers hope to have the app fully developed by 2018, but in the meantime are looking for agronomists or farmers willing to assist with testing the ID app in the upcoming field season. Those interested should visit http:// mobile-ipm.com/ or email barb. sharanowski@gmail.com.

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The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

PotashCorp to shut New Brunswick potash mine Mining at three Saskatchewan sites was also recently suspended due to the down market

BY NICOLE MORDANT AND SWETHA GOPINATH Reuters

W

eak conditions in the potash market will not improve any time soon, PotashCorp’s CEO said Jan. 19 as the fertilizer company announced it would suspend operations “indefinitely” at its New Brunswick mine.

PotashCorp said it was putting its Picadilly mine near Sussex, about 75 km northeast of St. John, in “care and maintenance” mode, resulting in the loss of 420 to 430 jobs.

Potash prices have fallen sharply over the past year, under pressure from bloated capacity, soft grain prices and weak currencies in major consumers such as India and Brazil, two of PotashCorp’s largest customers.

“We don’t see in the short term how things will turn around quickly that would change the environment,” CEO Jochen Tilk said in an interview.

“We are repositioning the company in light of that but we are still optimistic on the long-term prospects for our business,” he said.

As demand for potash has fallen worldwide, PotashCorp, the world’s biggest fertilizer company by capacity, has in recent months closed its nearby Penobsquis potash mine at Sussex and suspended production at three mines in Saskatchewan. PotashCorp’s other New Brunswick mine, at nearby Cassidy Lake, was shut down in the late 1990s.

Saskatoon-based PotashCorp, which had more than 5,000 employees worldwide at the end of 2014, said it would retain 35 employees at Picadilly to keep the operation in “care and maintenance,” while another 100 are to stay on through a four-month “transitional period.”

The Picadilly mine, built between 2008 and 2014, would take about a year to restart if PotashCorp decides to resume its operations, the company said.

About 100 affected New Brunswick employees could be relocated to the company’s Saskatchewan sites, PotashCorp added.

PotashCorp said it expected to recognize severance and transition costs of about $35 million in the first quarter as a result of suspending operations at Picadilly.

PotashCorp said its customers “historically served” via New Brunswick will now be ser ved from Saskatchewan through Canpotex, the joint potash export arm it operates with Agrium and Mosaic Co. PotashCorp’s port terminal at St. John will also be made available to Canpotex.

The suspension would help Po t a s h C o r p t o re d u c e i t s full-year cost of goods sold by $40 million to $50 million and would eliminate capital expenditures of about $50 million in 2016 and $135 million in 2017-18, the company said.

Citing soft markets for potash and grains, Saskatoon-based PotashCorp is set to suspend production at its nearly new Picadilly potash mine in New Brunswick within the next four months. photo: reuters/david stobbe

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40

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Brazil soy traders to renegotiate Monsanto royalty deals

Frozen in time

Soy buyers are asked to police farmers’ royalty payments A butterfly frozen to a log was able to move its wings after a little heat from the fire. photo: jim lundgren

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Sao Paulo/Reuters

S

oybean trading firms in Brazil will have to renegotiate agreements to collect royalties for seed giant Monsanto on genetically modified soybeans bought from farmers, the president of industry association Abiove said on Nov. 2.

Monsanto’s demands that soy buyers police farmers’ royalty payments on its Intacta RR2 Pro technology, and trading houses’ belief they should be compensated for the service, had caused fears that traders would refuse to buy soybeans last year.

“They are going to have to go back to the table… The agreements in 2014 did not generate profits for the soy industry,” Abiove’s Carlo Lovatelli told journalists.

Soy trading houses negotiated with Monsanto for months last year. Abiove’s efforts to broker a deal for all its member firms broke down and individual companies worked out their own compensation for the service.

Abiove represents Bunge, ADM, Louis Dreyfus and Cargill as well as smaller Brazilian firms.

In Brazil, where GM seeds have only been legal for a decade, reusing seeds is more common than in the U.S. and it’s easier for farmers to avoid paying Monsanto’s fees after buying the seeds the first season.

A Monsanto representative did not confirm the renegotiation of the agreements, but said the system of compensating companies would continue. The representative said most farmers in Brazil pay Monsanto’s royalty fee when they buy the seeds, not when they sell soy to trading houses.

Monsanto didn’t say what percentage of Brazil’s 2015-16 soy crop, now in its final stages of planting, would be sowed with pest-resistant Intacta RR2 Pro this season. About a fifth of the harvest was planted with the technology last year, consultancy Celeres said.

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41

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

U.S. ranchers seek checks on volatile cattle futures The U.S. NCBA blames high-frequency traders for the wild rides in livestock futures

BY TOM POLANSEK Chicago/Reuters

U

.S. cattle producers have called on CME Group and federal legislators to rein in price volatility they say has rendered the world’s largest livestock futures market ineffective.

Two groups of cattle producers agree volatility last year was extreme and a problem, but clash on the cause. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) blames price swings on high-frequency traders, and R-CALF USA says the nation’s largest meat packers fuelled price swings.

CME executive chairman Terrence Duffy was expected to face complaints about the sharp moves at the annual meeting of the NCBA, a trade group representing more than 175,000 producers and feeders in California.

In a letter, the NCBA told Duffy CME needs to do more to police high-frequency traders, including introducing a one-second delay between trading actions and cracking down on traders who cancel orders too often.

“The effectiveness of cattle futures contracts as a viable risk management tool is being called into question due to concerns over high-frequency trading,” the letter said.

Meat producers and feeders use CME’s futures contracts to offset the risk of owning cattle.

High-frequency traders are speculators who can move trades in a fraction of a second.

CME constantly reviews its agricultural products to ensure they meet customers’ risk management needs, a spokesman said.

“We continue to work directly with our customers and industry groups to address their concerns about recent cattle market volatility,” he said.

“Unprecedented volatility in the cattle futures market rendered it useless for price discovery purposes.”

Bill Bullard R-CALF USA

Markets gyrated repeatedly in the second half of 2015. Live cattle futures dropped nine per cent to a two-year low in one week at the end of September and early October, only to gain back almost all the losses the following week.

‘Omnipresent liquidity’ Changes are already on the way.

On Feb. 1, CME will implement new rules on order messaging in cattle markets, after producers earlier raised concerns about high-speed trading.

Meat producers, merchants and processors held about 61 per cent of the open interest in live

cattle futures last week, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

Some traders said the producers were just upset that prices have declined.

High-frequency traders soothe volatile markets by providing “omnipresent liquidity,” said Bill Harts, CEO for Modern Markets Initiative, a trade group that represents high-speed and algorithmic traders.

Tyson, the biggest U.S. meat processor, fell victim to volatility, losing US$70 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 due to an “unprecedented decline” in live

cattle futures, CEO Donnie Smith told analysts in November.

Tyson did not respond to a request for further comment.

Other major packers — Cargill, JBS and National Beef Packing Co. — declined to comment or did not respond to questions.

R-CALF USA, another cattle producers’ group, said packers colluded to manipulate cattle markets in the second half of 2015. The group has asked the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate.

“Unprecedented volatility in the cattle futures market rendered it useless for price discovery purposes,” said Bill Bullard, chief executive of R-CALF, in a letter to committee leaders.

Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, who chairs the committee, and other members are looking into the allegations, their spokespeople said.

The cattlemen’s association said R-CALF’s accusations were wrong.

UN seeks help for Ethiopia Food supplies for about 10 million are under threat Rome/Reuters

E

thiopia faces its worst drought in decades, leading the United Nations’ food agency to call on Friday for an emergency cash injection of US$50 million to help the country overcome the crisis.

Crop production has fallen up to 90 per cent in some regions and failed completely in the country’s east, a consequence of an El Niño weather pattern that has caused significant declines in rain in some parts of the world and floods in others.

The Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organization said the drought had decimated Ethiopian livestock and threatened food supplies for 10.2 million people. Access to pasture and water will worsen until the rainy season begins in March, FAO said.

“The outlook for 2016 is very grim,” said FAO’s representative for Ethiopia, Amadou Allahoury.

“Food overall will become harder to access if we continue to see prices rise, food stocks deplete and livestock become weaker, less productive, and perish.”

Brought to its knees by famine in 1984, Ethiopia’s economy is now one of the fastest growing in the world, leaving it better able to deal with such crises. Agriculture also plays a smaller role in the economy, but the FAO says it still provides half of gross domestic product and 80 per cent of employment.

The agency’s plan includes distributing seeds and animal feed, vaccinating animals, delivering 100,000 sheep and goats to vulnerable households and giving farmers cash for bringing weakened and unproductive livestock to slaughter.

Communities will be offered support with savings and loans schemes, irrigation projects, and education.

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42

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

Gene editing produces virus-resistant pigs Gene-edited animals don’t produce the protein PRRSv needs to spread in herds

BY BEN HIRSCHLER London/Reuters

A

British animal genetics firm, working with U.S. scientists, has bred the world’s first pigs resistant to a common viral disease, using the hot new technology of gene editing.

Genus, which supplies pig and bull semen to farmers worldwide, said Dec. 8 it had worked with the University of Missouri to develop pigs resistant to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSv).

The condition, also known as blue-ear disease, can be fatal as it affects the animals’ immune system and costs farmers hundreds of millions of dollars a year. There is no cure.

By u s i n g p re c i s e g e n e editing, the team from the

University of Missouri was able to breed pigs that do not produce a specific protein necessary for the virus to spread in the animals. Their research was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Early-stage studies showed the new PRRSv-resistant pigs, when exposed to the virus, did not get sick and continued to gain weight normally.

The development of these resistant pigs is further proof of the power of gene editing, which is taking the biotech industry by storm. Genus chief scientific officer Jonathan Lightner said it was “a potential game changer for the pork industry.”

Editing the genes of living organisms holds out great promise for treating diseases and improving crops and animal species. But it could also be used to create “designer” human babies, prompting crit-

Early-stage studies showed the new PRRSv-resistant pigs, when exposed to the virus, did not get sick and continued to gain weight normally.

ics to call for a global ban on genetic modification of human embryos.

The technology allows scientists to edit genes by using biological “scissors” that operate a bit like a word-processing program that can find and replace selected stretches of DNA. It has been put to work in laboratories around the world, even as the ethical and safety

issues it raises are fiercely debated.

An international summit on human gene editing in Washington last week urged caution on human gene editing but said editing genes in human embryos was permissible for research purposes.

Lightner said there were several critical challenges ahead to fully develop and commercialize the technology.

Liberum analyst Sophie Jourdier said commercialization would likely take five years or more but the new resistant pig line would add to Genus’s long-term growth prospects.

PRRSv affects millions of pigs and costs the swine industry around US$700 million a year in the U.S. and 1.5 billion euros (C$2.2 billion) in Europe, according to a 2011 Iowa State University study cited by Genus.

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Cheap feed reduces ractopamine use in U.S. Hog producers are taking advantage of corn prices near five-year lows

BY THEOPOLIS WATERS Chicago/Reuters

C

heap grain has encouraged some U.S. hog farmers to switch away from a controversial drug to bulk up their animals, giving them the added benefit of being able to sell to big customers such as China, which have banned the supplement.

Ractopamine, known by the brand name Paylean, cuts the total cost of producing a hog by at least $2, or about two per cent, experts said (all figures US$).

Safety concerns, however, have prompted 23 countries, including major importers Russia and China, to refuse meat containing the additive.

Christina Gaines, a spokeswoman for Elanco, one of the producers of ractopamine, said the drug “has been safely used in livestock production for more than a decade and affirmed by 30 regulatory authorities.”

While corn prices hovering near five-year lows have prompted U.S. hog farmers to use more grain and less ractopamine, supplies remain tight.

Nebraska hog farmer Brian Zimmerman now has Smithfield Foods, owned by China’s Shuanghui International Holdings, fighting over his ractopamine-free hogs with Hormel Foods.

All of Smithfield’s own hogs are raised free from ractopamine and most go to China, the world’s largest pork consumer.

China took $353 million of pork from the U.S. from January to October this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said, down about $67 million from the same period last year which represents eight per cent of overall U.S. pork exports.

That could rise as the USDA said in October China would resume imports from 14 domestic pork plants and warehouses after halting some shipments in 2014 over the use of ractopamine.

“They need us, we need them.

Hopefully they can be the goose that lays the golden egg for us,” said Zimmerman.

Ractopamine was used by roughly 80 per cent of U.S. hog farms in 2012, when corn prices topped $8 per bushel. Corn costs have fallen to about $3.70 per bushel.

At the same time, profits for pork producers in the U.S. have deteriorated. Purdue University estimated 2014 hog farmer profits at $54.37 per head versus a projected loss of $3.20 for 2015 after hog numbers ballooned in the industry’s efforts to recover from a deadly pig virus.

Ron Plain, a University of Missouri economist, said the economics must add up.

“The fact that you lose some export markets matters. And, the value of the improved animal performance becomes a little less valuable when corn is cheap,” said Plain.

43

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

U.S. hogs fed pig remains, manure to fend off PED’s return U.S. producers fear declining immunity to PEDv as weather turns colder

BY DANNY NA AND TOM POLANSEK Reuters

A

nimal nutritionist John Goihl knows Minnesota farmers who feed the remains of dead baby pigs to hogs used for breeding in attempts to ward off infections of a deadly virus in offspring.

In Oklahoma, farm workers are mixing manure from swine sick with the disease, known as porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv), into the food of healthy animals to build their immunity.

In Kansas, farmers are spraying a mixture of hog manure containing the virus and water on the noses of pigs to create a “natural vaccine.”

Across the Farm Belt, U.S. pork producers are doing whatever they can to shore up their herds’ defences against the virus that killed up to eight million pigs, a tenth of the nation’s herd, two years ago, and that farmers fear could return this winter.

The virus, which causes severe diarrhea that kills baby pigs, thrives in cold weather, and declining immunity in the U.S. herd has raised the risk of another outbreak to the highest level since 2013, when pork prices soared to record highs, veterinarians said. A resurgence could drive up prices again and hurt profits for processors including Tyson and JBS, which have benefited from low hog prices.

Farmers are better prepared to fight the disease than they were two years ago after implementing procedures to prevent the spread of the virus. Veterinarians said attempts to deliberately expose hogs to the virus also help reduce the risk of an outbreak as big as the one that began in 2013, although it is not clear how many farmers are taking such precautions.

Michael Blackwell, chief veterinarian officer for the Humane Society of the United States, said feeding baby pigs to other hogs “seems to be pretty barbaric,” but that he understands why farmers are doing it. “It is not as inhumane as having millions of piglets killed in an outbreak,” he said.

Vaccines and ‘feedback’ Veterinarians said commercial vaccines available from Zoetis and from Merck-owned Harrisvaccines offer limited help preventing outbreaks. They do not specifically target the gut and are mainly effective on hogs that have already been exposed to the virus.

Harrisvaccines said vaccines are not a “silver bullet,” and Zoetis said there was not enough data that proves vaccines effectively protect herds that have not previously been infected.

Such limitations, along with concerns that immunity levels have waned, make farmers turn to methods such as “feedback,” where intestines of piglets killed by the virus are fed to female pigs used for breeding. Immunity has declined because a growing number of hogs have never been infected, meaning they lack natural immunity they could pass on to their babies, veterinarians say.

Also, immunity wears off over

time in hogs that were previously infected.

Feedback allows female hogs to become infected and pass on immunity to piglets, which are more likely to die from the disease than older hogs. Those fed infected food or otherwise exposed to the virus usually become sick for a few days.

Purposefully exposing hogs to the virus is “really important because that’s one way we can have local establishment and local building of immunity,” said Lisa Becton, director of swine health information and research for the U.S. National Pork Board.

Matt Ackerman, a hog veterinarian in Indiana, estimates more than a million pigs could die between June 1, 2015 and May 31, 2016, from a return of the virus, far below the 2013 levels. Such

With current vaccines seen as limited in their ability to help hog herds get past a PED outbreak, some U.S. farmers are trying the “feedback” approach. photo: thinkstock

losses would occur if 10 per cent of sow farms become infected, which Ackerman said was a “very real expectation” that would be devastating to producers.

From July 1 to Dec. 4, two per cent of herds cumulatively

reported new infections, according to an analysis from Bob Morrison, a professor at the University of Minnesota. That is down from 56 per cent between July 2013 and June 2014 and nine per cent a year later.

For farmers seeking to deliberately expose their herds to the virus, one step is to identify infected hogs, so they can serve as “vaccine” donors. At Prestage Farms in Oklahoma, which sells hogs to Seaboard Corp., workers place pieces of rope into pigpens for hogs to bite. The rope is then tested for the virus, says Ron Prestage, who runs a division of the family-owned company.

If the disease is detected, workers scoop up manure from the pens to mix with feed for female breeding hogs, so they can pass on antibodies to piglets through their milk, said Prestage, who is also president of the National Pork Producers Council.

“They get a little bit of a bellyache and have diarrhea and then get over it,” he said.

44

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

COUNTRY CROSSROADS CON N EC T I NG RU R A L FA M I L I E S

It’s been a century since women gained the right to vote Petitioning government took persistance, patience — and years

BY LORRAINE STEVENSON Co-operator staff

“

M

en and women in galleries mark the occasion by singing ‘O Canada.’”

“Cheers on the floor of the house...”

So declared the headlines of the January 28, 1916 Manitoba Free Press.

Jan. 28 marks exactly 100 years since the Manitoba’s legislative assembly gave unanimous approval to the bill that made Manitoba first in Canada to grant women the provincial vote.

It was a long time coming. By 1916, Conservative Premier Sir Rodmond Roblin, with whom prominent suffragist Nellie McClung had verbally tussled, was gone from office over a scandal related to construction of the legislature building.

Liberal Premier Tobias Norris, was newly elected on an ambit i o u s p l a t f o r m p ro m i s i n g reforms including a ban on alcohol and compulsory education.

The women’s vote was a watershed moment for a province, where a burgeoning social movement had taken root.

This was the early era of the agrarian movement, and formation of numerous voluntary associations for women such the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, Ladies Aid Societies and the Women’s Institute (WI). One of the causes WI would take up shortly after organizing in Manitoba in 1910 was to establish public “rest rooms,” which were meeting places for rural women.

WI members, who cannot find written records linking their organization directly to the suffrage movement, feel confident in asserting their rest rooms played an important role, providing a place for women to talk and raise women’s issues, says Donna Young, present-day serving president of the WI in Manitoba.

Women were talking about the state of public education in those days too.

Manitoba has declared 2016 the Year of the School Trustee to honour contributions made by women as school trustees and their service in those roles.

Women were permitted to serve as trustees in 1890 in Manitoba.

Linda McDowell, a historian and researcher who asked for help from Manitoba Co-operator readers’ to gather stories about early female trustees, is glad to see these gains by Manitoba women being celebrated this year.

“The story of these women’s lives and accomplishments provides insight into the special place held by Manitoba as the epicentre of women’s suffrage in Canada,” she said.

A photo taken December 23, 1915 of the presentation of the final petition for women’s suffrage by the Political Equality League. The four women pictured are Lillian Beynon Thomas, Winona Dixon, Dr. Mary Crawford and Amelia Burritt. PHOTOs: PROVINCIAL ARCHIVES

The story of these women’s lives and accomplishments provides insight into the special place held

by Manitoba as the epicentre of women’s suffrage in Canada.”

Linda McDowell Manitoba historian

A petition presented to the government.

Petitions for the vote for women.

Historian Harry Gurkin says the root of Manitoba’s more progressive attitudes towards women is tied to its rural culture in the early 19th century. In Give Us Our Due — How Manitoba Women Won The Vote, he writes about influential women such as agricultural journalist Cora Hind, Nellie McClung and other prominent suffragists, and of the formation of Political Equality League, which was backed by other burgeoning organizations — including The Grain Growers Association.

“... the farm groups could generally be relied on to throw their support behind the suffrage movement...,” he wrote.

“Across the fertile farmlands west of Winnipeg, in a scattering of small towns, the homesteaders of the area maintained a vigorous community life.”

“Government-funded adult education programs brought farm people together, the men to study such topics as crop management and marketing, the women to learn the latest techniques of sanitation, child care, nursing, and food preservation. Rural life demanded

A line of An Act to Amend “The Manitoba Election Act,” given assent on January 28, 1916.

a d e g re e o f c o - o p e ra t i o n among neighbours; the Grain Growers’ Association made an early appearance, and with the encouragement of the men, the women’s auxilliary developed a lively identity of its own...”

“Politics held as much fascination for rural people as for city dwellers, and current issues such as temperance and woman suffrage were hotly debated.”

But it was also a long process.

Manitoba’s suffrage movement, in an era when roads were scarcely more than trails and phones non-existant, wasn’t

characterized by militancy and protests.

It took shape from lectures in town halls, opinion formed reading circulated postcards, debate at dinner tables and conversations in WI’s rest rooms. It ultimately led to circulating and signing petitions. The final petitions were presented by members of the Political Equality League to government on December 23, 1915.

On them were names signed, not days, week, or months, but years earlier. lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

45

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

COUNTRY CROSSROADS

Prairie fare Eating a variety of foods can be a victory for your health

By Julie Garden-Robinson Food and Nutrition Specialist NDSU Extension Service

W

hen I was young, my mom used to save the water from cooked vegetables and put it in soup. She also saved water from boiled potatoes if she was making bread the next day. The potato water contained starch to feed the yeast, so the bread turned out better with potato water, she said.

We rarely threw any food away. Leftover meat became the basis of soup or stew, and stale bread became bread pudding. When I learned to bake, my mother could scrape enough dough from the bowl to make one more cookie. I couldn’t even see any dough left in the bowl.

Sometimes I wondered what prompted this thriftiness and careful avoidance of wasting food.

The other day, I was doing some sorting and cleaning when I came upon some interesting cookbooks from the 1940s, which a friend had given me. These meal-planning guides were titled “Health for Victory,” and were written during the Second World War. My mother was a young, single woman at the time, working in a defence plant.

If you, your mother or grandmother came of age in the 1940s, chances are these types of books were the go-to guides to stretch food during the war effort.

Maybe some men read these, too, but gender roles were a little different 75 years ago.

During this time period, homemakers were advised to feed themselves and their families from the “Basic 7 Food Groups.” This was the 1940s version of “MyPlate,” which is our present-day icon illustrating our five food groups.

Similar to today’s guide, the food groups were designed to be sure that people had adequate vitamins and minerals from their foods.

Can you guess what the “Basic 7 Food Groups” included? Group One included green and yellow vegetables, and Group Two included oranges, tomatoes, grapefruit and salad greens. Group Three included potatoes and all other vegetables. Group Four included milk and milk products, and Group Five included meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dry edible beans, nuts and peanut butter. Group Six included bread, flour and cereal.

We have one “food group” left in this older generation nutrition guidance. Can you guess the remaining food group? If you are thinking butter and fortified margarine, you are correct. ( Yes, butter was a food group back then. Sorry, I do not see it returning as a food group any time soon.) In the 1940s, people were encouraged to produce their own food in “victory gardens.” They also were encouraged to preserve food through canning, freezing and drying, and conserve food by avoiding waste. The 1940s guides reminded the readers to “use every crumb, every drop.”

Food was considered a “vital war material.” Food was being sent to support the troops to maintain their stamina and strength, and ration stamps for meat were to be used carefully. People were advised to stretch their meat budget by using more beans, lentils and other pulse foods.

Now let’s flash forward to today’s guidel i n e s. Eve r y f i ve ye a r s, n e w n a t i o n a l “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” are released. The 2015 Dietary Guidelines were released in January 2016 because nutrition often is a controversial topic.

Enough said.

Oatmeal Jam Squares

3/4 c. shortening

We’re using a Canadian substitute for the “Queen of Rice Pudding” recipe accompanying Julie’s column this week.

Canadians had to tighten our belts, ration ingredients and cook simple meals and desserts during this time in our history as well. Here’s one from Ration Recipes published by Robin Hood Flour Mills Ltd. The little recipe book featured several recipes to help householders reduce the amount of butter, sugar and meat in their meals.

2-1/2 c. Robin Hood Rolled Oats

They were thoroughly home tested, “good to eat and easy on both your budget and ration coupons,” the booklets said. These were “scrumptious” squares for a special occasion, said Ration Recipes.

One can’t help but think the sustained love of oatmeal squares is a preserved memory from wartime years in Canada.

Today we have vast amounts of information at our fingertips. I paged through the fragile pages of old cookbooks and perused today’s guidelines on a website on my tablet computer. I was pleasantly reminded that even though times have changed and our knowledge about nutrition has grown tremendously, overall food guidance really is quite similar.

Our ancestors were taught to eat a variety of foods to get the nutrients their body needed. We still need variety. However, we may need to remember moderation more than our food-rationing ancestors, who had a much lower incidence of overweight than today’s generation.

Despite all of our technical advancements and wide availability of all sorts of foods, we can learn some vital lessons from a previous generation. Why not try our best to waste less food, grow more of our own food or buy food grown close to home, eat a variety of foods and prepare it in our own kitchens?

The following are the key recommendations from the 2015 to 2020 Dietary Gu i d e l i n e s. A h e a l t h y e a t i n g p a t t e r n includes: • A variety of vegetables from all of the subgroups — dark green, red and orange, legumes (beans and peas), starchy and other; • Fruits, especially whole fruits; • Grains, at least half of which are whole grains; • Fat-free or low-fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese, and/or fortified soy beverages; • A variety of protein foods, including seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, legumes (beans and peas), and nuts, seeds and soy products; • Oils.

1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed 1 c. Robin Hood Flour (measured after sifting) 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt Thick jam

Cream shortening, which has been left to soften at room temperature, add sugar and blend until very smooth. Add Robin Hood Rolled Oats and mix thoroughly. Sift flour, soda and salt and blend with first mixture until crumbly. Put one-half the mixture on a well-greased 9x12-inch baking pan, and press firmly into a smooth layer. Spread with jam (plum or strawberry gives an excellent flavour). Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over the top of the jam and pat until smooth. The whole mixture should be no more than 3/4 inch thick. Bake in a “moderate oven” (350 F) for 30 minutes. While warm cut into squares.

Makes 30 squares.

PHOTO: Thinkstock

46

The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

COUNTRY CROSSROADS

Cairn dedicated for gift of land Property contributed to MHHC has been in the Crew family for half a century

By Darrell Nesbitt Freelance contributor

F

amily, friends and neighbours of Frank Crew, along with representatives of the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation (MHHC), came together last fall to recognize and thank the Birtle citizen and retired farmer for his contribution and donation of land that had been part of his family’s farm for half a century.

A permanent cairn was unveiled dedicated to the Crew family that reads: “This property is dedicated to the Crew Family – Isaac and Jessie Crew, Ken and Ella Crew, and Frank Crew – part of the SW 35-16-27 W and S 1/2 of 27-16-27 W (385 acres) were donated to the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation by Frank Crew. Three generations of the Crew Family lived and worked on this farm and appreciated the wildlife that frequented this land along the Birdtail River. It was this interest that inspired Frank to donate the land to provide a home for nature’s bounty.”

After grain farming in the Birtle area for more than 50 years, Frank retired in 2000, and decided to donate the land to the MHHC. The donation is very special to highlight in the Prairie View Municipality, as along with the land promoting nature’s beauty and wildlife, half to one kilometre of the actual Birdtail River is part of the donation, said Roy Bullion, conservation specialist with MHHC. John Whitaker, MHHC board chairman, who farms in the Erickson area talked about how agricultural and natural habitat weave into one corridor. He said it seems that bits of natural habitat are in the way in this day and age, noting the size of farming machinery.

Frank Crew speaking at the unveiling of the cairn. PHOTO: DARRELL NESBITT

“Standing high over the Birdtail Valley, the Crew family’s land was cleared leaving acreage to be farmed,” said Whitaker.

“While the MHHC buys parcels of land, in this situation Frank kindly chose to donate the land in remembrance of his forefathers and future generations.”

Councillor Roger Wilson knows full well the important work that MHHC puts forth.

“Having sat on the MHHC board at one time, these folks do great work across Manitoba,” said Wilson.

“Managing property with grace and

style, it’s nice to see things like this happen. Thanks Frank for turning these parcels of land — home to an abundance of wildlife — into perpetual motion.”

“It is nice to share the land, farmed by three generations of the Crew family,” said Frank. “The land has been a well-maintained no-hunting area, which will be kept in the same manner by the MHHC.” The land will be managed for the next three to four years the same way that it is currently managed — portions that are cultivated will continue to be

cropped. Similar to all lands donated to the MHHC, it is available to the general public for walking, hiking, birdwatching and for the enjoyment of the great outdoors.

The MHHC is a non-profit Crown corporation established in 1986. Its directive is to work in partnership with public and private organizations and individual landowners to conserve, restore, and enhance fish and wildlife habitat in Manitoba.

Darrell Nesbitt writes from Shoal Lake, Manitoba

What’s in a name?

Recognizing some commonly used Latin words will give much information about a plant

By Albert Parsons Freelance contributor

A

s we start to peruse the seed catalogues that have been arriving in the mail, it is useful to know a little bit about plant nomenclature.

I am not really well versed in Latin plant names and usually refer to plants by their common names, but I do find many Latin names useful as they give a lot of information about a plant.

Most seed companies and nurseries include both common and Latin names in their listings. For example, I know an eryngium variety called alpinum “Blue Lace” will have its origins in the mountains, so will probably be tolerant of inhospitable surroundings, while the euphorbia longifolia Amjilassa will have long leaves. Being able to recognize some of the most commonly used Latin words, such as alpinum and longifolia, instantly gives some vital information about the plants. Many of these familiar Latin words form the roots of English words; it isn’t hard to link alpinum to our English word alpine or longifolia to the English word long.

What are some of the more useful — and easy to remember — Latin names of plants? One group refers to the colour of the blooms, or sometimes the foliage.

Alba means white, argenta means the

foliage will be silver, while azura guarantees that the colour blue will be involved in some way. Rosea means the flowers will be pink, while rubra means they will be red. If you see sanguinea attached to a plant name, then its flower will be blood red. Coccinea also refers to red.

Latin names can also tell a lot about a plant’s growth habit or appearance.

Longifolia refers to long leaves (folia means foliage). Barbata means the plant is bearded or hairy. Varieties listed as compacta are dwarf and compact in size while gigantea means they are quite large. Nana also means small, while the prefixes milli and grandi mean small and large respectively.

There are other Latin names besides alpinum that tell of a plant’s geographic origin. Siberica refers to Siberia, so the plant will be hardy and tolerant of cold temperatures. The Latin word arctica would carry the same message. A plant that has arenaria in its name means that it comes from a sandy locale, so would not be planted in a heavy clay soil. The Latin word borealis means woodland, so any plant with this word in it is a woodland plant. Some Latin names simply give the country of origin. Canadensis, chinensis, japonica, and australis are examples and because there is a wide range of climate and soil types in these countries, the words do not really give a lot of helpful information.

Many of these familiar Latin words form the roots of English words.

Some Latin names tell us when or where the plant will grow or bloom. The word vernalis means of the spring and my Adonis vernalis is one of the first plants to bloom in the spring garden.

Likewise, a plant with the Latin name muralis means that it is likely a vine or climbing plant as muralis means growing on walls.

Here’s a quiz — no answers given! What colour are the flowers of a foxglove with the Latin word purpurea in its name?

What size are the flowers of a sweet pea with grandiflora in its name? What characteristic do the flowers have if the Latin word odoratus is included in the name?

Latin plant nomenclature is not that difficult if you keep in mind the Latin roots of some of our English words.

Recognizing the meanings will allow us to be able to make better plant choices for our gardens.

Albert Parsons writes from Minnedosa, Manitoba

The popular petunia “Sugar Daddy” has grandiflora in its name, which tells us that its blooms are large. PHOTO: ALBERT PARSONS

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The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

COUNTRY CROSSROADS

Welcome to Country Crossroads

Reader’s Photo

If you have any stories, ideas, photos or a comment on what you’d like to see on these pages, send it to Country Crossroads, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1, phone 1-800-782-0794, fax 204-944-5562, email susan@ fbcpublishing.com. I’d love to hear from you.

Please remember we can no longer return material, articles, poems or pictures.

— Sue

An early-morning start to haul grain. PHOTO: LILLIAN DEEDMAN

Info update on microwave food safety Many cases of food poisoning could be prevented with proper food handling and cooking Health Canada release

M

icrowave ovens heat food unevenly, which means you should take extra precautions when cooking your next meal. Harmful bacteria can only be killed by proper cooking.

There are approximately four million cases of food poisoning in Canada every year. Many of these could be prevented by following proper food handling and cooking practices. Here are a few steps to follow when cooking food in microwave ovens.

Defrosting: • Read all instructions on food packaging to see if the food is

suitable for microwave cooking. Only cook frozen food (without first defrosting it) if the label says to “cook from frozen.”

Otherwise, defrost food completely before cooking.

• Before defrosting food in the microwave, remove it from Styrofoam trays, freezer cartons or non-microwave-safe containers and wrappings and put it on a plate or in a microwavesafe container.

• Keep food in the refrigerator before and after defrosting it. Do not leave food at room temperature for more than two hours because bacteria can grow quickly at these temperatures.

• Never refreeze food that is defrosted in the microwave.

There are approximately four million cases of food poisoning in Canada every year.

Cooking: • Read the cooking information on food labels and follow instructions carefully, including how long to microwave a food and how long to let it stand (and cook further) after heating it. Never cook whole poultry, including turkey, in the microwave.

• Never cook frozen raw breaded poultry products, including chicken nuggets, strips or burgers, in the microwave because uneven cooking may not kill all harmful bacteria.

• Cook food right after defrosting. Do not cook frozen and thawed food together. Stir food occasionally to avoid cold spots.

• Cut food into small pieces and arrange it to minimize overlapping. Remove meat from bones.

• Use microwave-safe containers and wrappings.

• W hen cooking meat, use a digital food thermometer to check the temperature in several of the thickest pieces.

Wash your thermometer with

warm, soapy water between temperature readings to avoid cross-contamination.

• Foods are safe to eat when cooked to the following internal temperatures: — Cook all ground beef products to 71 C (160 F).

— Cook all food mixtures containing poultry, eggs, meat and fish to 74 C (165 F).

Reheating leftovers: • Reheat leftovers until they are steaming hot. Use a digital food thermometer to ensure the centre of the food reaches 74 C (165 F).

• Only reheat food that you will eat immediately. Avoid putting reheated leftovers back in the refrigerator.

This Old Elevator

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n the 1950s, there were over 700 grain elevators in Manitoba.

Today, there are fewer than 200. You can help to preserve the legacy of these disappearing “Prairie sentinels.”

The Manitoba Historical Society (MHS) is gathering information about all elevators that ever stood in Manitoba, regardless of their present status. Collaborating with the Manitoba Co-operator it is supplying these images of a grain elevator each week in hopes readers will be able to tell the society more about it, or any other elevator they know of.

MHS Gordon Goldsborough webmaster and Journal editor has developed a website to post your replies to a series of questions about elevators. The MHS is interested in all grain elevators that have served the farm community.

Your contributions will help gather historical information such as present status of elevators, names of companies, owners and agents, rail lines, year elevators were built — and dates when they were torn down (if applicable).

There is room on the website to post personal recollections and stories related to grain elevators. The MHS presently also has only a partial list of all elevators that have been demolished. You can help by updating that list if you know of one not included on that list.

Your contributions are greatly appreciated and will help the MHS develop a comprehensive, searchable database to preserve the farm community’s collective knowledge of what was once a vast network of grain elevators across Manitoba.

Please contribute to This Old Grain Elevator website at: http://www.mhs.mb.ca/elevators. You will receive a response, by email or phone call, confirming that your submission was received.

The former Manitoba Pool elevator and annex at Tyndall in the RM of Brokenhead closed in July 1971 and were used for over 40 years by a livestock feed dealer. They are still standing. PHOTO: Bernie Freeman

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The Manitoba Co-operator | January 28, 2016

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