McDONALD’S STEPS UP
Anti-social media
Beef and forage research funded » PG 9
Pork council receives death threats » PG 38
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 74, No. 6 | $1.75
February 11, 2016
Canadian pasta makers accuse Turkey of dumping
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Farming for profit
To add insult to injury, much of the offending product is made with Canadian durum BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff
T
urkey is buying Canadian durum, using subsidies to make it into pasta and dumping it back into Canada, the Canadian Pasta Manufacturers say. Pasta imports from Turkey more than doubled in 2015 compared to 2014, while its value tripled, Don Jarvis, president of the Canadian Pasta Manufacturers Association (CPMA), said in an interview from his Ottawa office Feb. 2. “They (Turkey) are buying Canadian durum, shipping it all the way over there, making it into pasta and shipping it back, according to some of my members, cheaper than what they paid for the semolina (milled durum) here in Canada,” Jarvis said. “You’re shipping this wonderful durum across the ocean and it comes back as the finished product cheaper than you can make it in Canada. That’s the problem.” The CPMA will seek countervailing duties on Turkish pasta if Canadian firms don’t voluntarily stop importing it, Jarvis said. See TURKEY on page 6 »
Organic potatoes are a tough row to hoe (see page 33) but the managers of Poplar Grove Farm say the crop is worth it. photo: Cam Dueck
More farmers looking at organic potential 2015 saw more producers start transition process BY LORRAINE STEVENSON Co-operator staff
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H
igh prices and the prospect of fewer input costs are attracting more farmers to organic farming in Manitoba. At least 30 farmers began a transition in 2015, convinced they can become more profitable using a farming system that also costs less to operate, says provincial organic specialist Laura Telford. T h e y a re c o n v e n t i o n a l farmers who’ve crunched the numbers and are seeing a
business case to convert, she said. Judging by the crowd at an Ag Days seminar devoted to organic production, it appears there’s more thinking about it. “A lot of people are looking at our cost of production with interest and the fact you can be quite profitable in organic agriculture,” said Telford. It’s a marked contrast to years gone by when a couple dozen farmers already organically farming attended. About 140 were at last month’s meeting listening to presentations about the transition process, other farmers’
management practices, and how farming this way can be good for the bottom line. Manitoba Agriculture crop production budget expert Roy Arnott told the seminar that based on expected costs and returns for crops this year, organic producers could see net profit levels range from $100 to $300 per acre. That compares with conventionally produced crops, whose net profits range between $10 to $50 per acre, he said. Those numbers may not be coming as a surprise, said Telford. “People have
been hearing about this for a while,” she said. “Sometimes it takes extra low prices on the conventional side to make them notice those high organic prices,” she said. Making the move to an organic system is neither simple nor quick, however, as panellists attested. “It’s kind of no man’s land when you’re comfor table with a conventional system and you’re trying to anticipate how you’ll go through a few years of a learning curve See ORGANIC on page 7 »
Cage free: Canadian egg farmers enter new era » PAGE 40