Country guide east

Is local food good for farmers?  8 | Hire a Millennial and reap the rewards  46

eastern EDITION / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / March 29, 2016

Brother & Sister

James Kuhl and Kristen Gray build a Manitoba farm  10

CROPS GUIDE Blight hits Ontario corn  34 Get tougher on fusarium  36

PLUS: These dairy

farms intend to thrive post-TPP 22 Publications Mail Agreement Number 40069240

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

One Man’s Trash is Another’s Treasure

By Suzanne Armstrong

T

he Ontario government’s proposed strategy to build a circular economy in the province recognizes the economic value of many of the things that we “throw away” into landfills.

There is greater economic value in turning trash into treasure whenever this is possible.

On Friday two of our CFFO staff and two members of the Executive Board were given a tour of the Walker Industries campus which straddles the boundary between Niagara Falls and Thorold Ontario. The campus included office buildings, an aggregate quarry, a working landfill, a recycling and garbage drop-off, a composting facility, and a fertilizer processing facility.

The campus also illustrated the long-term thinking that has emerged as the company has expanded into more and more areas from the original quarry operations. Spent quarries have been converted into landfills. The company is also doing research on methods to restore the filled landfill sites back to workable productive farmland on the surface. The landfill sites are equipped with a methane capture system, which they have been marketing as voluntary greenhouse gas reduction offsets.

Walker Environmental is the division responsible for the wasterelated aspects of the company.

Their approach to managing organic wastes fits well with the goal of the Ontario government’s Waste Free strategy. They are focused on processing organic waste materials into products that are valuable and sought after in the market place. This is part of what keeps their business viable and thriving.

Walker Environmental produces two types of fertilizer on the campus. The first is a higher quality compost sold mostly for use in landscaping. This is produced from a well-composted combination of yard waste, kitchen waste, and wood chips. The other fertilizer they produce is more appealing for farmers, since it is less expensive, but also well suited for use on our acidic Ontario soils.

It was the tour of the final fertilizer facilities that were most fascinating to me. Walker Environmental ships in municipal biosolids that have already been processed and treated at the municipal treatment plants from Niagara and Toronto. Although these biosolids look like a suitable soil amendment when they arrive,

they are processed even further at the facility. Through a patented process, biosolids are pasteurized and combined with lime. The final product is an excellent agricultural fertilizer (although some of the ammonia smell remains).

According to the Ontario government’s “Draft Strategy for a Waste Free Ontario: Building the Circular Economy” consultation document, “organic wastes make up approximately one third of Ontario’s waste steam.” Organic wastes like kitchen scraps and municipal biosolids are still ending up in landfills in large quantities.

When put into landfills, they produce methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas. Although wellmanaged landfills can capture much of the methane, organic wastes are far more beneficial when they can be cycled back into the economy and the earth as fertilizers to rebuild soil organic matter. The move to a truly circular economy may be challenging, but organic wastes are an excellent place to start moving in this direction.

A professional organization of entrepreneurial farming families

MACHINERY Setting a new Tempo

6

Vaderstad launches new high-speed planting technology.

Business

Guide Life

8

45 HR

i s local food good for farmers?

Inside country guide / Vol. 135 Issue no. 6 / March 29, 2016

Believe us! Here’s how to be seen as more credible.

They’re out to prove our food system is broken.

15 how big?

Small can be the right farm size, but it takes skill.

40 international influence

Farm machinery builds a more peaceful world.

42 inspired to make a difference

Growing the kids who will feed the world.

46 The millennial myth Actually, the young people that everyone complains about can be great on the farm.

48 Health 49 Hanson Acres 50 Reflections

CROPS GUIDE 31 No till goes

dairy farming

34 The disease to watch

36 If it’s wheat,

spray for fusarium

38 Pest Patrol

36

10

Finding your farm self For this brother and sister team, success has meant plotting a very different direction for their conventional farm, and building a management system where each must contribute at the top of their game.

Features

20 Their quota of doubt Maybe it didn’t open the floodgates, but TPP will let in enough milk to change supply management.

22 Up for business How would you manage a dairy farm in the era of TPP and CETA? Three top farmers tell us their plans.

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

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COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

3

EDITOR’S NOTE

1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1 (204) 944-5765 Fax (204) 944-5562

EDITORIAL STAFF

A new think for supply management If you haven’t re-thought your own attitudes about supply management, you’ll find it worth reading “Up for business” starting on pg. 22 I never agree with everything that’s said in our pages. I don’t expect you to always agree either.

The trickier issue is when we decide we don’t agree with a story before we read it. So we never get beyond the first paragraph.

Will more dairy farmers insist on a chance to produce for the market, instead of for quota?”

In this case I ask you to consider reading associate editor Maggie Van Camp’s “Up for business” from beginning to end, even if you have very clear or even very rigid views about supply management.

We began with a question. With TPP and CETA eating away at supply management’s border controls, how would you manage a dairy farm today?

True to form, Maggie’s interviews will bolster your respect for the dairy farmers she interviewed. On its own, I believe, that’s a good enough outcome to justify the space we’re giving the story.

But there’s more. In my own case, my core attitudes about supply management had changed little in the past decade. I’ve figured supply management will survive as long as an overwhelming majority of its farmers support it.

management over the past decade and the transformation that we’re seeing now in supply managed farmers means we all need a more nuanced view.

Associate Editor: Gord Gilmour (204) 453-7624 Cell (204) 294-9195 Fax (204) 942-8463 gord.gilmour@fbcpublishing.com Production Editor: Ralph Pearce ralph.pearce@fbcpublishing.com (226) 448-4351 Design & Layout: Jenelle Jensen

ADVERTISING SALES Sales Director: Cory Bourdeaud’hui cory@fbcpublishing.com (204) 954-1414 Fax (204) 944-5562 Lillie Ann Morris lamorris@xplornet.com (905) 838-2826 Kevin Yaworsky kyaworsky@farmmedia.com (250) 869-5326

I admit I’d be unlikely to vote for supply management if it came up as a new idea today. But I also admit that I find it surprisingly difficult to articulate an argument why Ottawa should dismantle the boards now.

Glacier Farm Media President: Bob Willcox bwillcox@farmmedia.com

In the past decade, the boards have actually made big strides in bringing new products to market, and equally big strides in ensuring the industry emerged from a series of processor rationalizations with its overall efficiency intact.

Production Director: Shawna Gibson shawna@fbcpublishing.com

I used to think the boards would falter due to the cost of milk or eggs in the grocery store. Now, when we see big price differences, I think we need to ask tough questions of retailers, the same as in other food sectors.

Yet it’s inevitable, I thought, that there will come a day when supply management’s most progressive farmers want out, which will mark the beginning of some very difficult days.

Much more troubling, I believe, is the boards’ failure to deal in any responsible way with the complaint that their farmers use governmentbacked incomes and assets to outcompete grain and livestock farmers for land and resouces. Their deafness on this issue is shocking.

Maybe it should even be fatal.

Actually, I still think this, even though dissolving supply management would be much more difficult than dissolving the Canadian Wheat Board because of quota values and related isues.

There is much more to say, of course, but as the sector begins its decade of change, let’s make our own start by getting to know the farmers. So please read on.

I still think this could be true, by the way, but the evolution of supply

Tom Button Country Guide, Editor

tom.button@fbcpublishing.com MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

Associate Editor: Maggie Van Camp mvancamp@fbcpublishing.com (905) 986-5342 Fax (905) 986-9991

These are not head-in-the-sand farms.

More dairy farmers are doing serious scenario planning about surviving without the boards, even though they want supply management to stay.

Am I getting it right? Let me know at

4

Editor: Tom Button 12827 Klondyke Line, Ridgetown, ON N0P 2C0 (519) 674-1449 Fax (519) 674-5229 tom.button@fbcpublishing.com

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Circulation Manager: Heather Anderson heather@fbcpublishing.com Contents of this publication are copyrighted and may be reproduced only with the permission of the editor.

Country Guide, incorporating the Nor’West Farmer and Farm & Home, is published by Farm Business Communications. Head office: Winnipeg, Manitoba.

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PRINTED IN CANADA Vol. 135 No. 6

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ISSN 1915-8491

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

soil matters………..www.ifao.com

Cover Crops Benefits in Corn Cover crops are a hot topic for those interested in soil conservation and improvement. Huron County farmer Stefan Zehetner is a strong believer in the benefits of cover crops and has been working hard to help Ontario farmers find more benefits from keeping the soil covered.

Wheat underseeded to red clover is what often comes to mind for many, and the main consideration was whether to use single cut or double cut. But Zehetner has travelled extensively and experimented on his own farm to discover that Ontario farmers are behind when it comes to experiencing the benefits of using cover crops.

Zehetner and his dad, Edi, farm about 1000 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, and rye. They are based between Hensall and Exeter, but farm land with various soil types throughout southern Huron County. Stefan also owns his own business, Huron Cover Crops, which has been in operation for several years.

Zehetner has been trying to find better methods for using cover crops with the main crops grown in southern Ontario. “I am hoping to be able to use cover crops in corn to help build the soil, release root exudates to feed soil biology, and unlock phosphorous and other minerals in the soil,” says Zehetner. He is also hoping that by using clovers and other legumes, he can reduce the use of commercially produced fertilizer. Zehetner has planted cover crops in corn between the four to eight leaf stage, using both single species and multi species.

Enhancing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal growth can help improve soil health. This fungi forms a

symbiotic relationship with plants and helps them to capture nutrients such as phosphorous, sulfur, nitrogen, and micronutrients from the soil.

“Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are amazing things.

Making sure we build and feed these fungi by limiting tillage and growing cover crops will ensure enhanced nutrient availability to the crop. This is a long-term approach, but benefits can be seen to a certain extent in a very short period of time as well,” says Zehetner.

Zehetner believes cover crops do not compete with corn for water and nutrients. “Infiltration rates will increase with this growing cover under your corn, especially in comparison to a field that received full width conventional tillage. Therefore, there should be more water making its way into the soil profile.

The soil structure will also improve to deeper depths, which allows it to hold onto more water.

Long term, the organic matter content in the soil will increase, which then has been shown to hold more water and supply crops with ‘free nutrients’ year after year,” says Zehetner.

What is the biggest challenge for farmers wanting to try new cover crops with their corn and soybeans?

“Finding someone to talk to about what is best on your farm. There are so many options, and so much poor information for Ontario, that it is sometimes hard to make the right decisions and then in turn hard to achieve the results you were expecting,” he says. Zehetner sells a variety of species, and helps farmers make decisions about which species are best suited for them. He also provides advice about which mixture is most affordable and most likely to achieve the goals they have for their operation.

MACHINERY

Setting a new

Tempo Vaderstad introduces new models of its Tempo high-speed planters

By Scott Garvey / CG Machinery Editor

S

weden’s Vaderstad is adding to its Tempo line of highspeed planters with two new versions that are destined for dealer lots in Canada.

Mounted via a three-point-hitch, the new Tempo V planter is available in seven different models with working widths from 4.2 to 6.6 metres. The largest version is available as a 12-row, or as an eight-row with 30-inch row spacings. But with the Tempo V there is no need to be a stickler for standard row spacings, it can handle just about anything a buyer wants, which gives it flexibility for a broader range of crop types.

“The machine’s frame is designed so that row units and fertilizer coulters can be moved to any position,” reads the company’s press release. “Odd row numbers (such as nine rows with 600-millimetre spacing) can also be handled on the same frame.”

The Tempo V will be available with an optional fertilizer hopper that mounts on the front of the tractor. “It’s designed to meter out 250 kilos per hectare at 15 kilometres per hour,” said Gustav Samuel­ son, Vaderstad’s sales support representative at the company’s Agritechnica display in Hanover, Germany in November.

The hopper’s wide lid allows filling with a front-end loader bucket.

“It’s 2,200 litres (62 bushels), and we have an option to have an

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MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

Above: Although the 12- or 16-row Tempo L Series offers working widths of 12.2 metres, they fold down to a very narrow three metres for road transport.

Below: A 62-bushel, front-mounted fertilizer hopper is available as an option for the Tempo V Series planters.

extension. Then it will be 2,700 litres (76 bushels),” said Samuelson.

Beginning with 2016 models, Tempo planters will use an aluminum-bodied meter that replaces the previous composite material construction. Plus, it gets a new hatch designed for easier cleanouts, and the new meter design is capable of handling an even broader range of seed sizes.

The company also used Agritechnica to debut its other new planter, the larger Tempo L model. Stretching the brand’s maximum working width to 12.2 metres, it’s aimed, in part, at attracting the attention of broad-acre farmers here in North America. But in typical European fashion, it offers a narrow road transport width, able to squeeze down to just three metres.

The Tempo L will be offered in 12- or 16-row versions with row spacings from 700 to 800 millimetres (27.5 to 31.5 inches). It can also be equipped with a 5,000-litre (141 bushel) fertilizer hopper mounted on the front of the frame. To make filling easier, it is just a relatively low two-metre reach to the top filler opening.

All Tempo models will use the brand’s maintenance-free “Powershoot” row units with adjustable coulter pressure.

Like the iCon system used on Vaderstad’s Seed Hawk brand air drills, these Tempo planters use an iPad for implement control. But the Tempo system is called E-Control, and it allows for electronic control of all the drill functions, including individual row unit shutdown.

Although the Tempo L made its public debut last November, don’t look to have one parked in your yard until the spring of 2017 when they will be available for general delivery to customers. CG

Top: All Tempo drills are controlled by the iPad-based E-Control system, which allows individual control of all row units.

Above: Starting in the spring of 2017, the Tempo L Series planters will be available for delivery.

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Business

Is local food good for farmers?

Canada’s social sciences council is investing $2.4 million in local food research. Here’s what they hope to learn

By Lois Harris

8

March 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

Why is SSHRC funding ag research?

“Our food system is broken,” Alison BlayPalmer says.

“It doesn’t work.”

So why is SSHRC funding an agriculture project, when most federal ag funding comes either directly from the federal agriculture department, the National Science and Engineering Research Council, or via various incentive programs targeted at industry?

Blay-Palmer, after all, has already received ag funding through channels that might seem more regular, including $200,000 through an Ontario agriculture ministry pro­ject called New Directions for research into food hubs.

Partly, says Blay-Palmer, it’s because as a university professor who has access to grad students and other research assistants, she tends to steer clear of research funds that are needed by other organizations and groups.

As well, SSHRC seemed a natural fit

PHOTOS: ANNE DE HAAS

A

lison Blay-Palmer has been studying and promoting local food systems for nearly 20 years, and her enthusiasm for the topic is greater than ever.

Blay-Palmer is director of the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., where she explores the big questions around sustainability.

Those big questions include social justice, a factor rarely considered in mainstream ag research. For her, looking into economics means not only farm incomes, but also migrant labour, access to affordable food, and what she calls food “re-localization,” or “closing the loop” — to retain as much money as possible in the community.

And yes, this is federally funded research, although not exactly ag research.

Last fall, Blay-Palmer was named International Government Innovation Chair in Sustainable Food Systems at the Waterloo-based Balsillie School of International Affairs.

Even more recently, she obtained $2.4 million over five years from the national Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to look at community food projects that are happening across the country and around the world.

SSHRC is the federal council that normally funds historians and sociologists, as well as English professors and creative writing centres.

because her academic background is in geography and environmental studies.

But it also has to do with the nature of the project. Called the Food: Locally Embedded, Globally Engaged (FLEdGE) project, her SSHRC-funded research will assess how they can better meet the burgeoning demand for local food, and she will then feed the results back to industry and government for action.

The study is being conducted in partnership with researchers in seven “nodes” across the country: the Northwest Territories; Alberta/B.C.; north, southwest and eastern Ontario; Quebec; and Atlantic Canada.

To explain why the study is needed, BlayPalmer points in part to statistics showing farmers need off-farm income.

“Farmers are facing economic instability,” she says. “For many farmers, if it weren’t for off-farm income, they wouldn’t have a farm.”

Figures from Statistics Canada can support this. In 2013, the average annual total income for farmers was $117,388, with just more than $90,000 of that coming from off the farm.

But the study is about more than economics. She believes something else is wrong with the way food production is perceived and pursued.

“Food is about so much more,” she says.

“Food could be a linchpin for addressing all kinds of issues,” Blay-Palmer says.

“Sustainable” approaches to food production could help in many areas, including efforts to control poor health and obesity, unemployment and environmental degradation.

Meanwhile, Mary Beckie is working on the same project in the West from her position as associate professor at the University of Alberta.

Beckie says that while Ontario is a hotspot for this kind of research, Canada, as a whole, is far behind the U.S. and Europe.

“I can count on one hand the number of people out here looking at this topic,” Beckie says.

“There’s a growing demand for local that’s not going away, and we should be capturing more of that market because of the economic and environmental benefits to be had,” she says, adding that studies in the U.S. show demand for local is outstripping even demand for organics.

FLEdGE has three main goals.

First is better integration of the food system across boundaries and supply chains. An outcome of this work would be to get farmers, governments and civil society organizations to develop a national food policy.

There’s a growing demand for local food that’s not going away,” the University of Alberta’s Mary Beckie says. “We should be capturing more of that market.”

Second is scaling up and out by increasing the number of local food initiatives and building processing and marketing capacity.

Beckie refers to this as “growing the middle” between primary agriculture and retail.

Third is innovative governance, or finding mechanisms that allow government and other institutions to act more cohesively.

Blay-Palmer uses the Canadian Energy Strategy, agreed to by the provinces and territories last summer, as a potential model for food.

The study is ambitious in its scope, examining any initiatives that, in Blay-Palmer’s words, “shorten the distance between the farmer and the eater” — including community supported agriculture, alternative retail models, food hubs, online farmers markets and others.

There is a lot of local food activity that can be studied in almost all regions of the country.

In Ontario’s Grey County, for example, its Local Food Project has been going on since 2007 and in April 2013, Philly Markowitz was hired as a full-time local food economic development officer there. Her vision is to attract, retain and support food-related businesses, including farms.

Markowitz’s duties include helping small and medium-sized businesses attract customers, learn about new technology, obtain grant funding and more. She understands and takes into account the social justice, food security, environmental stewardship and other aspects of her work, but focuses on its economics.

Of the people she works with, she says, “If there’s anything I can do to help their bottom lines and make their businesses sustainable, that’s a plus. My mission is to keep the

small and medium-size businesses supported so we can have a true rural community — that’s how I get up in the morning and go to work.”

There are a number of activities going on in her region. The Grey Bruce Culinary and Agriculture Association publishes a food map and runs Foodlink Grey Bruce, a website that lists 450 businesses that sell their products and services online to customers.

Recently Markowitz worked with Georgian College to offer courses to producers and processors about understanding food safety regulations.

Many local and provincial governments have recognized the potential contributions local food systems can make. Ontario has had a Local Food Act since 2013, and Alberta has a similar bill that’s expected to pass in early 2016.

Alberta’s legislation is aimed at ensuring “a resilient, sustainable and strong local food economy and agricultural land base.”

It is comprehensive and aimed at procuring more local food for more public institutions, promoting sustainable farming practices, attracting new entrants to farming, and recognizing indigenous food sources and systems.

The legislation would even set out “to improve and maximize economic return and food security” by better protecting agricultural land and supporting infrastructure for food processing and distribution.

While the results of the FLEdGE study are still five years away, Blay-Palmer is confident that working on and investing in local food production systems will produce greater stability for farmers and their communities. “Our food system is broken,” BlayPalmer says. “It doesn’t work.” CG COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / March 29, 2016

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feature

Finding your

farm self How one farm is using innovative business strategies to fuel its passion

By Anne Lazurko / CG Contributing Editor

W

e hear much talk today about business models and strategies, and we read about new and innovative ideas to change and manage farm business. But what do the words actually mean?

A “good idea” can be a proactive idea or even a reactionary one; it can be traditional or alternative. But it would seem that in order to change, and in order to create something new, farmers must first look in a mirror and see where they are at. And then look to the distance and see where they want to be.

Large or small, organic or conventional, family or corporate, there’s a process to changing the direction of your farm. It may not be obvious. And it almost certainly won’t be easy. But if done right, a farm might just find its true calling.

For Manitoba siblings James Kuhl and Kristen Gray, it started with asparagus. Well, technically, it started with potatoes. But a decision made by their father 15 years ago to put a few potato acres into an alternative crop set the farm on a course that would see them not only grow the asparagus business, but examine new business models for their operation and design new strategies to reach their goals.

Today near Bagot in the Assiniboine River valley just over an hour west of Winnipeg, their newly incorporated River Valley Specialty Farms grows and sells edible beans, quinoa, and hemp along with the asparagus. By 2019, the brother and sister plan to more than double their certified organic acres to 2,500, acquiring glutenfree certification of some products as early as this fall.

Two years ago the farm was still primarily a potato operation. But last year, the farm grew 900 acres of potatoes, 1,200 acres of edible beans, 1,000 acres of grains, 120 acres of asparagus, 35 acres of quinoa and 400 acres of transitional hemp. So what changed?

According to James, it was a storm in the potato world. With the Canadian dollar until recently at par with the American, there was no advantage to process-

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MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

ing potatoes in Canada, he says. “We saw that contracts were being cut and it made us really nervous because potatoes are so capital intensive. With the potential to lose the contracts, we could see it was not good for us from a business perspective… so the past three or four years we’ve been talking about how to survive.”

In the midst of this discussion, the siblings (James is 36 and Kristen 38) were also trying to figure out how to transition the farm in a way that would allow for growth of their business while seeing to the needs of their parents. “With the asparagus we could see potential market growth and solid prices,” James says. “And we were learning about it and having fun.”

“We love the marketing aspect of it,” chimes in Kristen. Early on, Federated Co-op helped them with marketing and management, growing with them as they figured out what it is that buyers want and how to provide it.

“We’ve grown and our product is now in Safeway, Sobeys and Loblaws, with the possibility of Costco this year,” Kristen says. “The foot in the door with asparagus was huge. We just have to ask what they need and they trust us to supply it. We know where the markets are and what’s coming up, and we will adjust our cropping accordingly.”

Able to gain marketing savvy through the asparagus business, they can also use its existing coolers, grading lines, and packaging and storage capacity for other crops. As well, the farm has on-site housing for up to 60 employees.

River Valley Specialty Farms employed 66 people to cut and pack product last year, all accessed through the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, a program both say is vital to their success. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without SAWP,” says James. “Without that program it would change this conversation entirely.”

It’s clear that the foray into asparagus laid the groundwork for what comes next. And what comes next is pretty huge.

For this brother and sister, a structure with each contributing at the top of their game is a key to success.

James heads up operations, Kristen is chief administrative officer.

Business Models: Making the Tough Decisions “We haven’t made this business go yet,” says James, “but it’s so exciting to try.”

And it’s exciting just to listen to these two. James and Kristen have such clear goals and timelines around transitioning the farm to organic production of a variety of crops, it’s hard to believe most of their plan has yet to be realized.

With a diploma in agriculture, James is chief operating officer, lives in Portage la Prairie, and is responsible for all operational and production areas of the farm business. Kristen has a degree in psychology and criminology and is chief administrative officer. She directs the financial and marketing side of things, traveling from

her home in Winnipeg to work most weekdays at the farm office. They each bring their own particular skills and perspective to the table.

Their process of change began with a hard look at their business model. Most of their farm is comprised of small parcels of irrigated river flatland without easy access to each other. This makes it clearly unsuitable for say, canola, but perfect for specialty crop rotations. So while most farm business models tend toward increased acres to offset decreased margins, James and Kristen chose the opposite. They are downsizing. They’ve kept all the highly productive river flatland that’s perfect for vegetables and beans, sold some other parcels, and are Continued ON page 12

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

11

feature Human resources management becomes crucial in an operation with 66 employees in peak season.

counting on the larger margins that organic and specialty crops can provide.

“Every farm has to find out who they are and what they want to be,” says James.

“We discovered who we are by first looking at crops and management and realizing we were not profitable in the structure we had… we started to understand what potential we have with the assets we have left.”

They worked very closely with an accountant to do their financial analysis, breaking out each part of the farm and taking a close look at the numbers to project their financials into the future.

“It’s a three-part plan,” says Kristen.

“Right now we have the asparagus, conventional, and organic crops. Eventually we would like to be all organic except for the asparagus.”

Strategies: What’s It Going To Take?

The scrutiny doesn’t end once the planning is over. The business does a monthly financial health check, analyzing the numbers and revisiting and revising the plan as necessary, says Kristen. “We are in constant communication with buyers and we plan according to market opportunities.”

“We don’t have a five-year crop plan and we won’t make one because it allows us the kind of flexibility we need,” says James. It doesn’t hurt that smaller parcels of land are more easily transitioned to new crops, allowing for rotations that meet the market as well as soil fertility needs.

It’s another aspect of organic production that appeals to James. He’s implementing green manure crops to satisfy a portion of the land’s fertility needs. “We struggled under conventional because sometimes due to economics we had to push the rotation and I didn’t feel good about that in terms of the soil. Hopefully we’ll have a bit more freedom now to change options and build the soils back and be sustainable on the production side.”

Another critical area in terms of operations is equipment.

“We won’t need big, expensive equipment,” he says. “I can use older, smaller equipment. Instead of a half-million dollar rotary combine, I can use a $75,000 conven12

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

tional. I’m very excited about not tying up so much capital in equipment.”

Currently James manages 60 people, the vagaries of growing specialty crops, irrigation, and weed control.

James admits he might get a bit of a breather in terms of intensive management as the farm transitions, but he knows that once it is fully organic he will need all his management skills to make the plan work.

If transitioning land to organic is an exercise in agronomic patience, it is also a world of paperwork, and as head administrator Kristen is in charge. Food safety, traceability, organic and gluten-free certifications are all on her plate.

“We are making sure we have the top certifications with top marks in each,” she says.

“And we want to make sure we have it before we’re even asked for it. It’s a must in today’s marketing world. We can’t be naïve about it.

I used to think all the paperwork was just a pain, but I realize how important it is. In fact, for some buyers a pass isn’t good enough.

They are looking for a particular percentage mark so we have to be on top of it.”

But the transition to organic is about more than markets for Kristen. It’s personal. “I want to feed my own family as many locally grown and organic products as possible, so these aspects are very important to me.”

The next three years will see continuous change at River Valley Specialty Farms as parcels of land are transitioned to organic. continued on page 14

What does success look like?

Essentials that are on farm adviser Terry Betker’s checklist: • Specifics on structure, with clear organization and accountability for important roles.

• Structure around farm meetings, actual sit-down-with-an-agenda-type meetings. Robert’s Rules aren’t necessary, Betker says, but regular meetings allow farmers to drill down into how the farm is doing, where it needs to go, and how to get there.

• Testing progress, establishing the metrics around what needs to be accomplished in four or five key areas, including finance, operation, marketing and human resources.

THE ONTARIO AGROLOGIST A conversation with Terry Kingsmill, P.Ag., Registrar, of the Ontario Institute of Agrologists. Under provincial Statute, the OIA serves to build public confidence in Ontario’s agriculture, agri-food, agrienvironmental and agri-business sectors.

Can you tell us why qualification to practice in a profession is important?

work hard to address the overwhelming

Registered professionals such as

there are not enough qualified and ethical

accountants, engineers and veterinarians

practitioners due to Ontario’s voluntary

must be accredited by an independent

approach. This means that OIA members

third party in order to work. It is not enough

are in demand today.

to get a degree or diploma at some point

How is OIA certification different from the other Agrology certifications and licenses in Ontario?

in the past or have a job title as a basis of expert status. Designated professionals

public demand for credibility. However,

have proven that they possess the

Professional licensure (P.Ag. or T.Ag.)

required education and years of practice

serves to legitimize formal agriculture or

experience. They must also commit to

environmental education and experience

ongoing learning and an ethical code

just as the P.Eng. title recognizes those that

of conduct. Public accountability is

have achieved the rigour of certification

important and equals trust. In most of

by the Professional Engineers of Ontario.

Canada Agrology is a fully regulated

The role of a provincial Agrology Institute,

profession. But here in Ontario, professional

like any independent regulatory body,

accreditation in Agrology is voluntary. I

is to apply public interest third party

find the public shocked to learn that. I

assessment of capacity to practice under

also find the farmer frustrated with the

provincial Statute. Although we are not

lack of credibility in the Ontario Ag sector.

mandatory, OIA members must meet

The reality today is that the public and farmers are demanding trust, credibility and accountability in Agrology practice.

Professional Agrology practice is at the forefront of many critical issues such as food production and food safety, as well as agricultural sustainability, public health and environmental quality.

the same standards as those licensed practitioners in a mandatory qualification assurance province. We are compliant with federal labour-mobility legislation.

The same cannot be said of some other sector certifications. OIA members are committed to life-long learning and professional development to ensure the public interest is protected. We abide by

How is ethical practice connected to the growing demand for trust and transparency by the public?

Ethics is not a coat that you can choose to put on or take off. Ethical practice and public accountability are requirements when accredited through a provincial Act. It is important that the public form their own opinions about trust and credibility in Agrology practice. In the “News” section of the OIA’s website, the public can view a copy of the Ontario Government Hansard transcript where the positions of those parties that challenged the OIA’s ability to protect our titles from fraudulent use (deception of the public) and require OIA members to maintain their competency records were documented. I am happy to say that due to our 2013 Act we were able to take steps to stop non-members from misrepresenting themselves to the public as OIA accredited. In this province we must recognize the marketplace in which we operate and respond to consumer demand here and abroad.

What is becoming very clear is that the status quo will not serve the Ontario Agrology sector going forward. Each

Let me pose this question to your

a set of professional standards and a code

readers. As an example, if a farmer

of ethics. We as accredited practitioners

outside of Ontario can rely on the advice

of Agrology bring science to sustainability

and recommendations of a publically

of our food systems and protection and

accountable professional who serves

stewardship of our natural resources. A

the public interest, why does mandatory

number of us also bring credibility to Ag

competency and accountability not

business and finance. There is a significant

For more information, a current listing of

make sense here in Ontario? Who

difference in the marketplace when a

OIA Members, to contact Terry or to follow

opposes trust and credibility? Despite

person possesses national qualification

the OIA on Twitter and Facebook, please

this current situation, members of the OIA

assurance standards.

visit www.oia.on.ca.

day, OIA’s professional Agrologists will continue to dedicate their services to protect the public interest and serve the Agrology sector with the utmost integrity, competency and professionalism.

www.oia.on.ca

feature One might logically wonder how the farm will survive the financial burden. To that end, James is looking at opportunities for value-added on the farm to provide income and a little security against risks.

“We formalized a really good business plan without the value-added,” James says.

“But it’s a little extra security.”

And the asparagus. Always the asparagus. Both Kristen and James agree the farm will rely on the asparagus business to see them through.

“It’s a proven, profitable business,” Kristen says.

While they agree the planning has been hard and there’s a huge learning curve they will continue to navigate into the future, James and Kristen are also confident that

their experience and growing expertise in producing and marketing specialty crops will see their plan to fruition.

“There’s been many lessons learned over the past 10 years that have given us confidence dealing with direct marketing,” says James.

“A big part of this was going to Toronto a few years ago and meeting with a Loblaws buyer,” James adds. “A lightbulb went on for me. I realized these companies want to deal with me. I was just a young guy and it was intimidating, but they really wanted to deal with me.”

Hearing the enthusiasm in their voices and the confidence these two have in their plan and for the future of their farm, it’s little wonder. CG

B arriers to change Farm adviser Terry Betker sees a big hurdle in the way of making changes to farm businesses.

Basic resistance to change seems selfexplanatory, but it’s not easily overcome.

It’s easier to work on symptoms than to tackle root causes. By nature farmers are doers. They like to see concrete results. But long-term success requires identifying the root issues that need to be addressed. This too is work.

Farms also don’t always know how to develop measurements of success (i.e. not just financial). These, Betker says, are crucial too.

B etter decision-making

Farm business models aren’t keeping up, and our farms are losing out as a result

Financial and farm advisers throw around terms like “model” and “strategy” coupled with other words like “innovative” and “new,” as though we should all be excited about them.

Siblings James Kuhl and Kristen Gray at River Valley Specialty Farms embrace the ideas these words create, maybe because they’ve managed to use new and innovative models and strategies to point their farm business in a direction that fits their passion (see main story).

But for many farmers who struggle to get more production out of their farm, or to make more money, or to meet goals to enrich their personal lives, these terms are just euphemisms, words that mean change.

And as we all know, change is hard.

So what is the key to making those changes that will help farm managers to reach their business goals? While there is no one model or strategy to fit the needs of every farm, it helps to break the process down to its simplest form.

“Examine where you’re at and where you’d like to be in the future, and the strategy is how you get there,” says Terry Betker at Backswath Management in Winnipeg. “It is no more complicated than that.”

The process may not be complicated, but

14

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

making a decision can be. Betker encourages farm families to look at the future, set goals, test the financial feasibility of an idea and then plan. And the more people involved, he suggests, the more important it is to clearly set out a vision, to define what the farm is working toward, and to have everyone on board.

Betker also suggests using the services of a facilitator to lead this discussion because often on the farm “we have a lot of talk, but not a lot of focused discussion.”

If knowing your goal is key, so too is understanding why you’re doing what you’re doing.

“Will a good idea put you any further ahead than doing nothing?” Betker challenges.

“That discussion is largely about the numbers because it separates business from emotion. It creates a context. The numbers don’t make the decision; the numbers create the context for the decision.”

For example, in the last number of years there’s been more profit made in agriculture and so more cash on the farm. This context allowed producers to be more proactive and develop new strategies as opportunities presented themselves. But as margins tighten up, it is financial profitability that drives decisions, and so strategies to save money become more reactive.

Betker believes that farm business models have not kept pace with change on the farm.

He sees a lack of ideas that are both innovative and cost effective, though he points to a small number of farms finding ways to do both.

Some use models designed to manage capital investment, like sharing drying systems or sprayers. Or they manage operational costs, such as sharing the services of an agronomist. Some large farms want to get more productivity out of their human resources, so they pool together to hire a consultant who spends one day a week at each farm.

Models can be traditional or alternative, Betker says. “They can be revenue-based, niche, or value-added. Even downsizing is a model, depending on where you’re at. But all models have to first start with a close look at what you’ve got.”

Then, when the plan is in place, there must be follow-through.

Change is hard. Building a new business model for your farm and deciding on strategies to achieve your goals can be overwhelming. But starting with where the farm is at, determining where it needs to be and charting a course to get there, seems a pretty straightforward remedy for the fear that might accompany such an endeavour.

business business

How big?

Once they reached the farm size they wanted, Ian and Vicki Mayberry have found ensuring it is sustainable takes skill, and self-awareness

By Helen Lammers-Helps

F

or many farmers, there’s a belief that you have to “Go big or go home.” Yet Ian and Vicki Mayberry take a different approach on their farm near Inger­soll, Ont. They like the size they’re at with 170 milking goats plus offspring, so instead of expanding they are looking to maximize production with their current setup.

It seems to be paying off. Since they began milking goats in 2005 at their Mayberry Hill Farm, they’ve seen their annual milk production climb from 800 to the farm’s current 1,200 kg per goat, a 50 per cent increase in just over a decade.

Yet Ian knows it needs to be a deliberate choice. “I can’t really expand without building a new barn,” he explains. “After spending so many years with an Oxford County-sized mortgage, we can finally see that there will in fact be an Continued ON page 16

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

15

business end to it. I have no interest in going into debt to that level again. There are too many other interesting things to do in life.”

Those other things in life include life away from the farm. For instance, Vicki and Ian do lots of training and racing for duathlons and triathlons, which opens up many new travelling options.

“If I did expand I would be able to afford a full-time employee, but that means I would have twice as much work on the weekends to do,” Ian says. “Once in a while when I have a great employee, such as now, I seriously consider expanding, but generally procrastination keeps me from doing anything too drastic.”

It’s a statement that hints at a kind of restlessness that comes over most farmers.

Shouldn’t I keep growing?

Ian tackles the question head on. “I find myself in an odd position. I am extremely happy with the way the things are going right now. Over the last few years the farm has performed like I always imagined it should.”

It has taken more than a decade of hard work to get to that point, yet he wonders

16

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

whether he shouldn’t keep that burst of energy going, even though land in his part of Ontario is prohibitively expensive.

Instead, he and Vicki have focused on technology and marketing in order to achieve their dreams within their current limits.

It has been a multi-pronged effort.

There are multiple reasons for their sustained increases in production. For instance, they have adopted artificial insemination (AI) for their replacement nannies with a focus on increased production and longevity. Also, they have switched to a TMR ration and they are striving for a CAE negative herd. (CAE, short for caprine arthritis encephalitis, is a type of arthritis common in Ontario goat herds that affects lung and udder health and can severely impact milk production.)

These advances have been achieved with the help of a good team of advisers. “Having a good relationship with your support team is essential,” says Ian. “You have to go into the relationship with a level of trust.

You have to understand that the nutrition-

Health and AI technologies, plus close links to feed advisers and their veterinarian have helped the Mayberrys achieve consistent, efficient production numbers.

ist is not going to be able to get you the cheapest feed every time you call for a load, but they should have an understanding of how and why you do things on your farm and help you work towards your goals.”

In addition to the feed company, Ian credits his agronomist and veterinarian for playing key roles in the farm’s success.

The path to success has not always been straight or easy. As a young man, Ian didn’t think he wanted to farm. Then he headed to Australia where he worked on a 12,000-acre wheat farm. While travelling in Australia, he met Vicki and once they settled down and had their first child, the desire to give their children the same kind of upbringing that Ian had growing up on the farm took root.

Ian and Vicki and their newborn son returned to his family’s farm in 2003 but by then the dairy cows and quota had already been gone for seven years. Ian’s father was ready to retire from farming, so the Mayberrys grew cash crops on the farm’s 170 workable acres while they figured out their next steps.

They considered several different livestock enterprises, and while both dairy and chickens had appeal, the high cost of quota was a big deterrent. They almost went into pigs but in the end it was the availability of a goat herd that tipped the scales towards dairy goats.

They started with just 70 goats, mostly Saanen and Alpine breeds, and Vicki recalls how tough it was those first few months.

The goats took a long time to freshen up and for several weeks there wasn’t enough milk to warrant a truck coming to pick it up, she says. Although it was hard, Ian says it was good not to start with too many goats at once. Caring for the kids, usually twins and triplets, is a lot of work. They also had a big learning curve since neither had experience with goats.

Eventually they bought another 100 milking goats, bringing their total to 170, which is a good number for them to manage with just the two of them plus help

After spending so many years with an Oxford County-sized mortgage, we can finally see that in fact there will be an end of it.”

Ian Mayberry

Continued on page 18

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

17

business

Now we are in the position that we had been working towards for the last 12 or 13 years.”

Ian Mayberry

18

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

from one part-time employee and their two children, now 11 and 12.

Even with the additions they’ve put on the original barn, it will only comfortably accommodate about 200 milking goats, adds Ian. Ian was never happy with the original parlour they had installed, a double 18 with a low milk line. “If you only have one person milking this type of setup is terribly inefficient. You have half the milkers sitting idle while you chase animals in or out of the other side of the parlour,” he says. Ian likens the equipment to an English sports car. “It was great when it worked.”

Last summer he had a new highline parlour with a swing over system installed.

“Now all of the milkers are working almost all of the time,” says Ian. In 2010, Ian and Vicki participated in GoGen, a project of Ontario Goat, a producer organization. With funding from the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP), the focus of the three-year pilot program was herd health protocols and breed evaluation through registration, milk recording, young sire testing, genetic evaluation, type classification and assessment of artificial insemination use.

Ontario Goat is an important source of information, says Ian. “They have excellent producer education days where they bring in world-class speakers from Canada, the U.S., as well as Europe and New Zealand.

They come and they share information about their industries, both turmoil and triumphs.”

GoGen was a cost-share program so Ian says he jumped at the opportunity. To eradicate CAE, they rented a barn from a neighbour down the road. The new babies were taken away from their mothers right away (CAE is passed from the mother to her young through milk and bodily fluids) and took them to the rented barn where they were fed pasteurized colostrum and milk replacer. After doing that for two years, they sold their original herd, cleaned out the barn, and moved all the CAE negative animals back home.

The GoGen project was a success not only for Ian and Vicki but across the board. Among the dozen participating producers, farms were able to increase their milk production by five per cent with the increased level of management.

While initially focusing on production for genetic improvements through artificial insemination, after the GoGen project, Ian began looking more closely

at all traits when selecting sires. In particular, he wanted to focus on the overall stature of the nannies. “This is extremely important as goats get older they tend to give birth to twins and triplets. With that many babies in there, there isn’t much room for anything else and it can be difficult to get a goat to consume enough to keep herself and her babies healthy in the last couple of weeks of pregnancy.”

Paying attention to genetics can pay off quickly with goats. By the time they are nine or 10 months old, they are full grown and sexually mature. “Gestation is only five months so in barely over a year, you can have a brand new line of genetics in your herd,” he says.

Ian has done some work with embryo transfers but without success so far. He would like to try more embryo transfers in the future.

Goats are seasonal breeders so it’s a challenge to have them breed at different times of the year in order to maintain milk production year-round. While there are medications that can help, the Mayberrys had their best success using artificial light to encourage breeding. By exposing the nannies to 16 to 18 hours of light each day for a period of 60 days, the goats will come into heat.

In addition to the CAE, the other health challenge with goats is to prevent them from getting listeriosis, a deadly infection caused by listeria bacteria. They are highly susceptible to the bacteria which may be present in silage so they remain very vigilant.

The Mayberrys also keep a dozen Belgian Blue beef cattle to eat any feed which is not suitable for the goats. The Belgian Blue cattle are a good complement to the goats, says Ian. Not only are they able to eat feed of a lesser quality such as hay that’s been rained on, their temperament is the opposite of the goats. While the goats are very active, the Belgian Blue cattle have a very calm temperament, he explains.

The outlook for the goat milk industry remains rosy. Milk demand is strong, as is demand for young goats. For now, says Ian, it means the Mayberrys can stay the course with their management strategy.

But, he admits, he’ll keep his eyes open. “I worry about becoming complacent,” he says. “But now we are in the position that we had been working towards for the last 12 or 13 years.” CG

The Canadian Association of Farm Advisors (CAFA) Inc. is a national, non-profit professional umbrella organization dedicated to assisting farm families and businesses by increasing the skills of farm advisors and consultants.

www.cafanet.com

Where do you find qualified farm advice?

BY LIZ ROBERTSON, M.A.

A

new study called “Dollars and Sense,” commissioned by the Agri-food Management Institute and Farm Management Canada, looked at some of the key factors in what makes a farm financially successful.

The top seven practices that drive farm financial success include: • Never stop learning • Make business decisions using accurate financial data • Seek the help of business advisors/ consultants • Have a written business plan, follow it, and review it annually • Know and monitor your cost of production and what it means for your profits • Assess risks and have a plan to manage and mitigate risk • Use a budget and financial plan to monitor financial position and options A few CAFA members attending the presentation in Guelph on Feb. 29 reported that some of the conversation around point number three — seek the help of business advisors/consultants — was that farmers are not quite sure about where to find qualified farm advisors. The mystery is solved through CAFA.

The Canadian Association of Farm Advisors Inc. is a national, not-for-profit association and we are dedicated to assisting farm families and businesses by increasing the skills and knowledge of farm advisors. CAFA is the go-to resource for professionals who: • Have the technical expertise in their chosen field, • Have made an extra commitment to staying current with farm planning and, • Have connections with other professionals offering complementary farm-focused services.

CAFA is a national umbrella organization with accountants, lawyers, bankers, financial planners, risk managers, agrologists, insurance agents, family coaches and interested farmers, among others. Members are professionals who work with farm families and businesses on everything from succession planning, to tax minimization, business expansion, lending and all seven points listed above. What sets CAFA advisors apart from other professionals is the ongoing professional development they receive that is focused on understanding the needs of the farm sector and the application of their professional knowledge to farm matters.

Point number one in the “Dollars and Sense” study was “Never stop learning.”

CAFA members adhere to that practice.

Our professional development opportunities include a Farm Tax Update, Farm Succession

Update, Farm Management Update and a Women Who Farm Update — all presented by highly skilled farm advisors because we believe that continuous learning makes for better farm advice and guidance.

Certified Agricultural Farm Advisors have their own professional competencies and an understanding of how to apply their skills and knowledge to farm situations.

Finding a qualified farm advisor is simple: farmers can contact CAFA directly or they can search our database of advisors from our website www.cafanet.com. Now go and improve your farm’s financial success!

Wednesday, May 18, 2016 The Delta Hotel & Conference Centre, Guelph, Ontario 3 Circle Model Described Panel: Bett y H an sen , Cr o ssro a d s Pla nn in g Gro up In c.

Ro bin- Le e Norr is, M iller T ho m son L L P Jim Sn yder , BD O Ca na d a LL P

Family Circle For Your Fa m ily’s Sa ke : L e n Da vie s, D a vie s L eg a cy Pla nn ing Gro u p I n c.

Ble nd e d F a milie s: Sar a h Ja co b, SM M L aw Pr of e ssio na l Cor por at io n Ho w t o Wor k with M u lt i- Ge n erat ion a l F ar m F a m ilie s: D arr ell Wad e, F arm L if e Fin a n cial

Management Circle Co na tio n: T h e Mo st I m por ta nt Wor d You Ha ve Ne ver He ar d: M ich ae l Bo ssy, Bossy N ag y Gro u p Ch art ere d Pr ofe ssion al Acco unt a nt s Str at eg ic Pla n ning : Ro b Ha nn a m, Synt h e sis N etw or k Emb e dd in g Su st ain ab ilit y int o Your Fa m ily F ar m Str ate g y: N ick Be tt s, OM AF R A

Ownership Circle Gr ea t Exp e ct at io n s: Te d Oldf ie ld, Oldf ie ld, Gr e a ve s, D ’Ag o st in o Co ntr ol: D e nis Sicott e, Sicott e Gu ilb au lt L LP Tru st & Em ot io n al I nte llige n ce in L eg a l Draf tin g: Joh n M ill, Bu sin e ss Succe ssio n Pro fe ssio n als

Special Lunch Keynote Speaker: Maggie Van Ca mp, Country Guide Assistant Editor: The chan ging roles of women on the fa rm ************************************************************************* June 2, 2016 Woodstock: Farm Management Update November 3, 2016 Saskatoon: Fa rm Succession Update

SAVE THE DATES! May 18, 2016: Farm Succession Update – 3-Circle Model In-Depth, The Delta, Guelph (from Ajax), Ont. & via webinar June 2, 2016: Farm Management Update, Woodstock, Ont. & via webinar November 3, 2016: Farm Succession Update, Saskatoon, SK. Fall 2016: Farm Tax Update

More information available at www.cafanet.com/Conferences

Toll free: 1-877-474-2871 Email: info@cafanet.com PO Box 270 • Seven Sisters Falls, MB • R0E 1Y0

Follow us on Twitter @CAFANET

feature

Their quota of doubt TPP may not have opened the floodgates, but it will let in enough imports to alter the outlook for Canada’s dairy farmers

By Amy Petherick / CG Contributing Editor

I

t would have taken a lot more than a butter knife to cut the tension on dairy farms across Canada this past year while the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiators were talking behind closed doors.

So now that the deal is out in the open, and now that it appears — at least on the surface — that farmers might be able to work with it, you might think they’d be happily setting about to forget all those sleepless nights.

That’s not what’s happening.

Not at the board level, and not for individual farms.

Looking back, dairy farmers learned a lot from the Canada and European Union Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations that they were able to use in the TPP talks, says Therese Beaulieu, assistant director of strategic communications for 20

the Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC).

“With CETA, we learned some lessons,” Beaulieu says.

In particular, Beaulieu says, DFC learned a lot about what it takes to keep from getting thrown off their game.

Sure, it would have been ideal to avoid having to make any market concessions, she agrees. But you have to live in the real world, she says, so the big lesson was to concentrate on the good of the industry, not just on exactly how many kilograms of which milk components get to cross the border.

“We want this industry to continue to be healthy,” Beaulieu says. “We want this industry to continue to grow. That’s what we needed to focus our energy on.”

Most dairy farmers seem to agree TPP resulted in rules they can live with, but they also

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

Learn from the wheat board Wheat growers emerged as winners when they tested the market before the pool collapsed Ross Purdy, of Ross Purdy Agriculture Business Advisors in Airdrie, Alta., believes getting on top of cash flow goes hand in hand with paying attention to working capital. On today’s farms, it’s more important than it has ever been, he says, because the business today is so much more sophisticated.

“When I first started lending money to farmers a long time ago, it was less complex and people had a better handle on what they could and couldn’t withstand,” Purdy says. “Now, a wellmanaged operation always anticipates if something unusual happens.”

Purdy doesn’t mean that farmers need to operate in a constant state of paranoia, but he does feel it’s important to avoid complacency. He believes this was really evident in Western Canada during the demise of the Canadian Wheat Board.

Farmers who had explored new ways of selling their grain before the wheat pool collapsed didn’t end up struggling as much to adapt, Purdy says.

“A lot of people that were successful had not been using the Canadian Wheat Board as much, thinking someday they may no longer be around and of course, they weathered the storm better than others who did not do that,” Purdy says. “Any good operation has to anticipate the skies falling to see where you would end up and where you could do things differently than you’ve done in the past.”

Be warned up front, this very well may result in some money being left on the proverbial table. For example, you may be able to enter into a supply agreement with people at a price that you need right now. Then, later on, the free market may exceed that price at times. But if it ensures you can pay more for a new quarter section than what the productive value of that land is and you’ve locked that cost in as far out as you can to avoid the risk of an increase in interest rates, Purdy argues it’s worth at least considering.

“Your ultimate goal is to protect equity, and part of equity erosion in agriculture of course comes when prices correct,” Purdy says. “What’s in your control is what you watch.”

agree on something else, and so does Beaulieu.

Now is the opportunity for farmers to ask themselves what they would have done if things had turned out worse.

Any business needs to wrestle with those hypotheticals from time to time, Beaulieu says. “In other sectors of agriculture, the market swings and the farmers who survive are the ones who are thinking longterm, are doing investment and keeping their eye on their business goals,” she says. “In dairy, the new reality is that almost 25 per cent of milk produced will be affected by world prices.”

Add in the fact that world dairy price fluctuations are getting bigger, and it means that even though Canada’s supply management system has been left intact, there will be significant impacts for farmers.

At the bottom, it’s also similar to debates about GMOs, humane housing, and anti-microbials, Beaulieu says. Whether you’re in or

out of supply management, trying to stonewall any and every kind of change is rarely if ever a winning strategy.

So if TPP forces a lot of dairy farmers to carefully consider what they do and where they ultimately want to be, then that may be a good thing.

Agriculture doesn’t always get that chance, she says, and she points to the disruption BSE brought to beef.

Sometimes, she says, all the planning in the world can’t mitigate every problem. The best anyone can do is take away the lessons that they can.

For milk producers, one of the lessons was that supply management is only a tool, not impenetrable armour.

“Supply management doesn’t mean that you don’t have to worry about the market,” Beaulieu says.

“Most of the farmers I know have an eye on what’s going on internationally.” CG

In dairy, the new reality is that almost 25 per cent of milk produced will be affected by world prices.”

Therese Beaulieu

What you can control

To take the bumps out of any transition, keep your focus on the issues you can take charge of Our success at changing during tumultuous times has a lot to do with our perceptions, not just our skills and capabilities, says Dr. Kathleen Kevany, associate professor at Dalhousie University.

It’s a crucial point, because focusing on what we can control changes our perceptions, and it means we can weather hardships with less frustration.

“Whether we see ourselves as powerful and capable, or whether we see ourselves as being subject to external factors more than we desire, that’s a very different orientation to the world,” Kevany says. “If we can align our expectations more in keeping with what is likely to happen, then our frustrations are much more reasonably managed.”

Kevany grew up in southwestern Ontario, so she’s observed how the regulatory nature of farming and the growing impact

of external factors can lead more farmers to question whether they’re really in control.

But the nature of the farm lifestyle also fosters an ability in individuals to overcome challenges, a trait that gets called “resiliency” in the academic world.

Typically, we may think resiliency is learned and deployed as an individual, but Kevany says her work also explores ways that resiliency can be nurtured collectively by entire communities. Within the farming community, developing a sense of belonging, a sense of trust, and confidence in reciprocal relationships are all really critical in the recipe for improved resiliency.

In fact, her top advice to farmers who want to cultivate their ability to thrive in times of change is simply to have parties.

“The more you know someone in good times, the more likely you’re going to be available to each other when times are

tough,” she explains. Engaging with other individuals who are subjected to similar external pressures and managing to succeed in spite of those challenges can be very empowering, Kevany says. But if you’re going to get maximum impact, as an individual and as a community, don’t limit the guest list to only the most successful.

“Include marginalized or less active individuals in the community because they are often the ones most vulnerable in a crisis,” she advises. In other words, when trouble comes to the community, these individuals become the first casualties.

Mentoring or accepting mentorship during a crisis, or at any time, has great potential to foster personal capacity.

“Those emotional events are not without purpose,” Kevany says. “Interpersonal relationships are core to our success in any field, but particularly in farming.”

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

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FEAture

UP FOR

Business TPP turned out much better than the dairy industry had feared, but its farmers are determined never to let themselves be so vulnerable again By maggie van camp / CG associate editor

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MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

I

t’s The sort of CASE Study that business schools dream of.

If you owned a dairy farm, where would you go from here?

At three different points in their careers, three very different dairy farmers tell us on the following pages how supply management works for their farms, how it has sometimes failed them, and how they see their milk farms prospering in the future.

They aren’t expecting it to be easy but by sticking to a rigorously businessminded approach, they do expect to survive, and to thrive.

Taking over For this young couple, the future means a multi-pronged business strategy, with cost control, diversification and a focus on efficiency

J

ust as the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement was being signed last fall, Cam and Stephanie Murphy were signing a very different sort of partnership agreement. They were becoming part owners of a 45-cow dairy farm near Hastings, two hours east of Toronto.

Together with Stephanie’s parents, Dean and Carol Warner, they took on a seven-figure debt to buy out a retiring uncle and start building a future. Taking this step during tenuous trade negotiations took an unbelievable level of trust in the system and each other, a love of their industry, and big dollop of bravery.

It also took a clear vision of a future they have already started to work toward.

Throughout Dean and Carol’s 30-year career as dairy farmers, trade deals such as NAFTA raised periodic doubts about supply management, but the couple hoped that as long as the Canadian government supported supply management, it would be safe.

They knew, though, that the TPP negotiations could mean the death of supply management and the end of their retirement and succession dreams.

“Since I’ve been dairy farming, there’s always been that fear,” says 62-year-old Dean.

Local dairy meetings buzzed with rumours. News reports claimed Canada would give up 10 per cent of its dairy market, and Carol admits there were times when she felt sick at heart.

As the bookkeeper for the farm, she knew how devastating such a high import level could be.

Then, when the agreement was announced, and the total access to Canadian markets was set at 3.25 per cent of Canada’s 2016 milk production, although it definitely meant a loss of income, it seemed relatively acceptable, and it helped that the banks quickly came forward with promises to still leverage debt on quota values.

In that context, you might imagine that the ride was even more anxious for the younger generation. It was their future being negotiated and publicly debated.

That’s not quite how it played out, however. Their youthful approach to risk helped them keep it in perspective. “It didn’t worry me,” says 32-year-old Cam. “We’d just start again. We’ll work with whatever system we’ve got.”

Continued ON page 24

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

23

FEAture Despite higher costs, Canada can be competitive through higher productivity and diversification, say Cam and Stephanie Murphy, front, with her mother Carol, sister Lacey and father Dean.

Even if supply management fell apart, Cam thinks he and Stephanie could still make it farming, as long as they weren’t carrying too much debt. “We’d just have to increase capacity, efficiency and lower our costs somehow… as long as we can cash-flow our debt.”

The irony is that Cam’s home country is New Zealand, and he had worked on dairy farms there and around the world before ending up on a sheep farm in Canada and meeting Stephanie.

Now, New Zealand was the country leading the charge against Canada’s supply management system.

In fact, Cam grew up in the era when the Kiwis chopped their own lucrative subsidy programs and many farmers there were still figuring out either how to adapt or get out.

Since then, the dairy Fonterra, owned by 13,000 New Zealand dairy farmers, has surged ahead. It takes and processes the majority of New Zealand milk, and it has become the largest dairy exporter in the world, not to mention that it is where Cam’s mother works.

Indeed, New Zealand’s milk exports today are booming, especially since UHT (ultra high temperature) milk has extended shelf life, allowing liquid milk to be shipped anywhere in the world, and the dairy co-operative now accounts for 25 per cent of all exports of any kind from New Zealand.

“At home,” Cam says of New Zealand, “the farmers are expanding all the time, quickly. Just add more cows, more land and they grow.”

However, with trade disruptions, increased exports and volatile oil prices, the world milk price has plummeted. New Zealand farm prices went from nearly $10/ kg a few years ago to under $5/kg today, Cam points out. “You can’t budget a 10-year plan with fluctuations like that,” he says, shaking his head. “Heck, with prices like that you may not be able to pay your bills.”

Production per cow in New Zealand is about half of what it is in Canada, but thanks to year-round pasture 24

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

and the use of palm kernel extract as a supplement, their cost of production is among the lowest in the world.

Conversely, according to a recent German-based study, Canada’s average cost for milk production is the highest in the industrialized world, second only to Switzerland.

Producing 100 kg of milk in Canada costs US$37 more than on farms south of border.

For Canadian farmers, part of the risk from open trade starts with our climate and geography, especially our proximity to the U.S. This puts our dairy and feather sectors in a much weaker position than countries close to places with growing milk and protein demand, like New Zealand’s proximity to Asia.

“Canada can compete in dairy globally, but it certainly won’t be easy. The gap needs to be narrowed,” said University of Guelph economist Sylvain Charlebois, in a recent newsletter article called “The Land of Milk and Wine.”

Added Charlebois: “The only way to achieve higher levels of productivity is through economies of scale.”

As he looks at daughter Stephanie and son-in-law Cam, Dean agrees, but he doesn’t think the odds are as bad as many outside the industry might think.

Dean has travelled widely as a respected cattle judge, and he says many U.S. dairy barn buildings are in poor condition, and family farms will go out of business quicker there.

Dean also doubts the US$37 number, saying it ignores the cost of complying with government programs in the U.S. “Price-wise, we can compete,” he says.

Farms in the U.S. tend to be bigger than his, Dean agrees, and they support fewer families per herd. Currently his family milks 45 cows in a tie-stall barn with 220 acres owned and 220 rented, and they own 52.09 kg of quota. The price is capped in Ontario at about $24,000/kg.

Since Dean started farming in the early 1980s, he

has seen many changes, including in the early ’90s when the Ontario board combined fluid and MSQ (industrial milk) into one quota, which meant he and Carol had to milk four more cows to get the same gross revenue.

They have survived other major changes too, including the hit they took when the closing of the borders due to BSE led to the loss of livestock sales. Those sales never came back, and now milk makes up 90 per cent of their revenues. Before BSE, it was 70 per cent.

Dean has seen changes in quota prices too. By 2000, prices had reached $30,000 per kg, but during the last decade dairy product consumption has slowly declined.

“In Ontario, the board has set a goal of two per cent growth,” says Dean. “The marketing boards have to create growth.”

To turn that boat around and keep the industry strong, Dean and Cam agree that processors, producers, transportation, government and consumers — everyone along the supply chain — must somehow work better together. “If we were all more team players — with the processors and with all the provinces — and have the whole country stand together, there would be more power to do things,” says Cam. Still, the future is ahead of them. Dean passed his livestock knowledge and passion on to his daughter and

Stephanie’s goal is to win another Master Breeder award for the herd.

Cam meanwhile is more business oriented, focused on improved profit margins and growth, including expansion into other livestock. “Eventually we want to milk more cows, have sheep and a herd of beef cows,” he says.

Cam is interested in ways to integrate these three separate enterprises to maximize land and labour efficiencies, and he says diversity of enterprises on the farm should help mitigate risks, including volatile markets and trade issues.

One month into their succession, milk production was already up, likely due to good forages and applying knowledge that Stephanie gained in her now essential off-farm job as dairy and beef specialist for Grand Valley Fortifiers. Both she and Cam are looking for ways to tweak efficiencies and improve profit margins so they can be in the position to update their facilities.

Farms are not grown from economic philosophies or trade negotiations. It takes farmers who dream and make it happen, the family believes. Today it also takes leveraging and predictable cash-flow projections. “No system is perfect,” says Dean. “But at least this ensures a fair, stable price for everyone.”

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Continued on page 26

FEAture

Focus on efficiency The good old days aren’t coming back, but the Bassas believe success is still possible for farms that focus from top to bottom on efficiency

I

n 1991, Piet and Ina Bassa sold their dairy farm in Holland, packed up their family and headed to Canada, leaving not only Europe’s high costs but also its tough environmental regulations and manure quotas that made expansion almost impossible.

Importantly, their sons, Jan and Kees, were keen to start farming, so the family bought a farm near La Broquerie, Man. plus 65 kgs of quota for $7,100 per kg.

At the time, dairy quota grossed about $0.40/litre.

Today, 25 years later, Manitoba dairy quota is worth about $28,000/kg and returns about $0.76/litre, says Jan. “On our farm, quota had a five-year payback. Now it’s more like a 10-to-15 year payback.”

Like many supply managed farms, the Bassas leveraged on increasing quota value and accumulating assets as quota went from $20,000 to $33,000. But the brothers set limits. Once quota got over $30,000/kg they stopped buying. Jan says profit margins got too small at that point.

Today, the Bassas milk 450 cows three times daily to fill 26

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

604 kgs of quota, and they crop about 2,000 acres, renting only 100 acres. The farm employs nine full-time and eight part-time staff, and in 2010 Jan and his wife Tracy were selected as Manitoba’s Outstanding Young Farmers.

Under the supply management system, the Bassas weren’t afraid of debt as long as they could cash-flow it. However, that was during a time of rapidly increasing quota values. Now, with the 15-year cap on support promised by the former conservative government, it’s time for a rethink.

Today the Bassas are taking a more conservative strategic approach to their business. With not much land available to buy and its higher prices, they aren’t aggressively pursuing farms, although if one became available close by, they’d take a serious look to see how it could fit into their operation and their carrying capacity.

They have also stopped expanding their quota holdings, and they have developed a clear business focus.

“Our goal now is to get better, more efficient and pay off debt,” says Jan. This shift isn’t only because of potential changes to supply management, but it’s also linked to career timing and succession. They don’t want to saddle the next generation with a high debt load. Jan and Tracy have four children, with the oldest being 17 years old and the youngest eight.

Jan says paying off debt now should help the generational transition, or at least put them in a better position to do it.

Increased efficiency and lower debt will also aid succession, say Jan and Tracy Bassa, here with oldest son Derrick.

This is a big change in thinking from 2009 when they doubled their herd and put in a 50-cow rotary milking parlour while also doubling their barn space and manure storage.

Now they’re focused on investments to maintain and improve their farm, not expand. For example, they’re investigating manure separators.

They’re also closely watching their cost of production, with the goal to fill their quota as efficiently as possible. “The price of milk isn’t likely to increase going forward,” says Jan. “We have to be able to produce more for less.”

The trend in the milk price (called the P5 pool price) was generally up until mid-2014, and it was much easier to cover cost of production back then.

Then it dropped steadily into the summer of 2015 before starting to claw back upward in late 2015.

Outside analysts now predict some stability. “I expect the industrial price to stay in the $70 to $75 range in 2016,” says FCC chief economist, J.P. Gervais. “The outcome of current negotiations around a national dairy ingredient strategy could obviously change all of that.”

The Bassas look to improve their forage quality and to buy less feed. Currently their farm spends $800,000 to $900,000 a year on feed. Instead of buying all their protein and grain corn, they’re going to grow more of it.

They’re also using options to lock in feed costs, says Jan. “We are focusing on the details, trying to manage the tighter margins.”

For a decade after TPP comes into force, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada’s Quota Value Guarantee Program will ensure any farmer selling quota will be eligible to receive payments under the Quota Value Guarantee program; $1.5 billion has been set aside for this demanddriven program.

Jan isn’t greatly concerned about the decrease in quota values or the loss of 3.25 per cent market share negotiated away during TPP. He thinks the supply impact of these additional imports will be leveled out by

improved rules and policing at the borders for products being illegally imported now. However, he’s concerned that the trend toward eroding dairy tariffs might be like a small leak in a dike. Under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the specialty cheese market was opened in exchange for more open beef trade.

“The 15 years isn’t my concern. It’s what’s coming,” says Jan. “Once they get a foot in the door, what’s next?”

Jan thinks their farm could compete without supply management. “There will always be farmers,” he says. “It depends on how they’re financially situated when and if supply management disappears. How much debt could they carry, how many families are they supporting? How much does their infrastructure cost? How low are their milk production costs?”

The EU got rid of dairy quotas in April 2015. In parts of Europe, such as France and the U.K., the dairy farmers are reeling right now with the reality of ending their dairy quota system after a 13-year transition.

Jan keeps in touch with a former neighbour from Holland who is about the same age and who dairy farms now without quota. That farmer has had to increase production more than 20 per cent to maintain the same income. “He says things are very tight with the lower milk prices, they’re getting about half of what they did a year ago,” says Jan. “Yet the price in the stores didn’t go down.”

Meanwhile, Jan has his own eyes on the processing and marketing sector, for a different reason.

In Western Canada, processor reinvestment is a concern, Jan says. Sitting on the provincial milk board for four years has given him additional insight and a biggerpicture perspective into the milk industry.

“There’s more pressure on the processors,” he says.

“Dairy farmers have to work together with processors, so they make investments in plants, like we’ve invested in our farms.”

Continued on page 28

Australia feeling the squeeze Economists have a term for it. They call it “power asymmetry” when others in the supply chain, including processors, supermarkets and myriad people in the middle have more influence on consumer prices than farmers.

Country Guide spoke to Bruce Muirhead, associate vice-president of external research at the University of Waterloo from Queensland, Australia where he’s

interviewing farmers. Australia moved toward a free market system a couple of decades ago. Muirhead says the power asymmetry and low world milk prices are concentrating the dairy industry in Australia, squeezing it geographically. Only two main supermarkets dominate the country and most of the processors and dairy farms are in the southern state of Victoria. 1,560 dairy farmers were in Queensland in 2000 and now there are about 450.

“Two supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, control about 70 per cent of grocery sales in the country and they have driven farmers to the brink. There is not really any intermediary between the farmer and retailers here,” says Muirhead.

“Dairy farmers in Queensland are absolutely reeling. They cannot compete against the power of multinational supermarkets or in so-called free market arenas.”

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

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FEAture

Take it public Kevin MacLean wants consumers and politicians to know how valuable supply management is for Canada

F

or Kevin MacLean, the cost of quota is just part of being in a business he loves. “I’ve never seen quota as a risk. Just like you need land to crop, you need quota to dairy farm. It’s a long-term investment.”

MacLean echoes a sentiment sometimes heard in country circles. There are two things you never hear a farmer say, he says. “I wish I hadn’t bought quota, and I wish I had never tile drained that field.”

Near Napanee, Ont., which means he’s only about an hour north of the New York state border, MacLean milks 120 cows three times a day in partnership with his parents Barton and Barbara, and they own 150 kg of quota and 750 acres.

In 1997, when he started farming, their 55 kg of quota was worth about $17,000/kg and it took about 60 cows to fill it. In 2004, they built a new barn and bought more quota ranging from $25,000/kg up to $30,000/kg. Today, 28

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

they have twice the number of cows but produce enough milk to fill almost three times as much quota.

Yet for MacLean, 2015 was a balancing act, both with his budgets and in the barn. The blend price has been about 10 per cent lower in the last year, and with 25 per cent of his milk price now based on world milk values, his prices do fluctuate.

But on his farm they’ve also seen a 10 per cent increase in quota production capacity, thanks to quota allocation increases in the spring of 2015 and the incentive days added during the summer and fall.

Since their barns were at maximum cow capacity already, they went to milking three times a day, which increased production by the 15 to 20 per cent needed to take advantage of this extra quota volume.

The other option would have been to increase cow numbers, but after housing and milking a neighbour’s cows following a barn fire, MacLean saw the impact of cramming more cows into his barn space. So he knew 10 per cent more cows would have required investing in barn infrastructure.

“Now we’re able to fill incentives and make up for lost revenues,” says MacLean. “I want to get better instead of bigger.”

Instead he’s using his debt carrying capacity for other parts of the farm, like buying land. As part of an on-

“I want to get better instead of bigger,” says Kevin MacLean, farming an hour north of the New York State border.

going attempt to improve margins, they also invested in a soybean roaster and an automated feed pusher. Now they can roast and feed their own soybeans, instead of trucking them away and buying back expensive protein supplement, and paying for all of the movement and steps in between.

Next year, MacLean plans to do some custom roasting for other farmers in their area, but even without that they can cash-flow the investment.

In 2014, MacLean was in the ninth annual Faces of Farming calendar, published by Farm & Food Care Ontario. “We (farmers) need to promote ourselves, in whatever we do — on our vehicles, in the media, and in every conversation. It needs to be part of our job.”

Their family proactively reaches out by hosting open houses. A few years ago they had Christmas with the Cows, inviting the public to see a milking during the Christmas holidays. The event was so popular they opened the barn doors again during March break the following year. “Society wants to see where their food is coming from,” says MacLean. “They want communityminded smaller family-run farms producing their food.”

So when the TPP negotiations were hitting the press

Dairy in Canada by the numbers

$6.07 $17.3 BILLION BILLION TOTAL NET RECEIPTS

Dairy manufacturing shipments

78.3 MILLION HECTALITRES

Continued on page 30

11,962

DAIRY FARMS IN CANADA

444 DAIRY PLANTS milk 74.17 Fluid Per capita

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29

FEAture with the debate over supply management, the local milk committee organized an open house event on his farm inviting the public, media, and the local MP. For added punch, they lined the driveway with signs of the various local businesses servicing their farm. Although we can’t control what politicians are going to do, we can keep in touch and keep telling our story to the public, says MacLean.

The sign at the end of their farm lane reads: “Proud to produce quality milk for Canadian Families.” But MacLean adds that we have to be able to do it profitably and sustainably.

Pointing south, MacLean says their farm could compete with U.S. farmers if we had an even playing field. Equipment, facilities, hydro, employee costs, and taxes — all these add to cost of production and are much higher in Canada. In dairy, the two largest expenses are feed and labour. The MacLeans hire three part-time and one full-time staff.

MacLean says they try to make it a good

30

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

place to work, not where tight margins make for poor working conditions. “We have to pay our employees equitably so we can attract passionate employees who enjoy the job,” he says.

Like Jan Bassa (see “Focus on Efficiency”), MacLean is concerned our Can­ adian processors haven’t kept up. For example, about 15 years ago he went on an agricultural tour in the U.S. and saw a dairy processor making protein power drinks and supplements from milk protein isolates. “I thought, why aren’t the processors doing that at home? Now, they’re still saying it’s three years away,” says MacLean, referring to the promise of new infrastructure being built with the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s new ingredients strategy. “We are losing opportunities every day.”

He’s keeping a close eye on how the boards are dealing with non-fat components of milk. “Our ingredient strategy needs to be a national vision,” says MacLean. CG

Canadians want to feel good about their farmers, Kevin MacLean says. “They want community-minded smaller family-run farms producing their food.”

PG. 34 N orthern corn blight is on your farm PG. 36 Get ready to spray wheat for fusarium PG. 38 Are weeds making my diseases worse?

CROPS GUIDE

No till goes dairy farming

In many ways, it’s been an easy transition for this dairy family

By Ralph Pearce / CG Production Editor

T

What’s turning heads is that the Loewith farm, including Ben and Dave above, are known Canada-wide for their excellence in the barn.

he Loewiths don’t describe themselves as a crop innovators, but they’re certainly not hesitant to glean advice from others and, with some careful consideration, adapt a practice or an approach to the conditions on their farm. So, while the move to no till in a dairy operation might seem a little different to some, with one year in the field, the family is comfortable with the decision and looking forward to what the 2016 growing season will bring.

The current Loewiths are the latest in this family of dairy farmers who have been in operation since 1947, south of Copetown, Ont., just west of Hamilton. Carl stepped into the family business in 1970, was joined by his brother Dave in 1975 and then Carl’s son Ben as an equal partner in 1998. They’re now milking 400 head, three times daily, and have 850 head in total on the farm. In addition to Carl, Dave and Ben, there are two other full-time employees — Mark Wynands and Laura Schuurman —and 10 to 12 parttime workers.

No tilling definitely sets the Loewith operation apart from other dairy producers — there aren’t that many in the sector that no till, although those numbers are on the rise. But what also differentiates the Loew­ iths’ operation is their move to have more of their field work performed by custom operators, another trend that’s increasing, even if it’s at a slower pace.

“More and more, we’re doing less and less field work ourselves — we hire all of that CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

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crops Guide

The workload was less, the planting season was shortened, and the yields were good… all wins for no till

32

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

to be done — to the point where we’re just about 100 per cent other people doing that custom work,” says Carl. “We probably have less farm machinery on the farm today than any time in the past.”

The 2015 growing season was their first for no till, and Carl concedes that it was an easy year to start the practice. An open and relatively warm spring made it simple to switch, and the planting on the 800 acres that he and his family own and rent was complete in about nine days. If it had been a cold, wet spring, Carl is certain he’d be assessing no till with a different perspective, in spite of the cost and time savings.

“The workload for us was significantly less, the window of planting was shortenedup, which was a nice bonus, and again, it was good year for that sort of thing,” says Carl.

“And the yields were acceptable. In the early part of the growing season, maybe it wasn’t as nice looking, but when the corn gets two feet tall, there’s really no difference.”

Positive trend The move to no till, even in a dairy operation, is something that Allan Spicer believes is certainly worth considering, and the fact that the Loewiths are trying to make it work speaks very well of the practice. Spicer, who works with Can Grow Crop Solutions and also as an adviser for dairy and row-crop producers, knows of a handful of other dairy farmers who are long-term no-tillers, some for 20 years or more. The primary challenge for dairy producers is managing the manure, and no till is seen as an impediment to getting that job done.

But Spicer mentions studies from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), and another from the U.S. that indicate applying manure on a cover crop does more to hold nutrients and reduce the chances of runoff, either from bare ground or through incorporation.

“What’s unique about the Loewith family is that they’re considered one of the best dairy operations in Canada,” says Spicer, adding that they’ve been in the top three Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) award winners in the past 15 years. “For them to go no till, they’re not known as innovators in crops, so they’ll turn some heads, because they’re known for dairy in the barn, and this will see them innovating in the field.”

Again, cost and time savings are the major motivators behind the switch to no till, and the cost savings are especially important, given any future impacts of the

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Fold in any concerns about commodity prices and the impact on feed, fertilizer and fuel, and the need to manage costs has the potential to be all the more critical for the dairy sector.

“They challenged me to find someplace in their operation where they can cut some costs, because the price of milk they get at the farm gate is likely to go down for the next 10 years instead of up,” says Spicer.

It’s not that the idea of no tilling in dairy is a trend that’s being imported from Europe or the U.S., either, it’s just a matter of adding up costs and losses in revenue and finding a better of way of doing things, Spicer says. “I mentioned that no till was the way to go and that we could preserve the key nutrients that we’re putting on.”

Main considerations The decision to go with no till as a management system was actually preceded by planting an oat cover crop, to capture available nitrogen from the manure. Spicer adds that the “living cover crop” approach is ideal, and that oats was the choice of cover over rye because the oats die off easier than rye, which can become harder to deal with on a volunteer basis.

But in Spicer’s experience, the key to making no till work is having the right equipment and the right people running that equipment (in a custom operator scenario). The custom operator that the Loew­ iths trust is Randy Garland, who Spicer maintains is interested more in quality than quantity. The planter configuration Garland uses has what some might call an “aggressive” coulter setup, mostly to deal with corn stubble left behind by silage harvest in the fall. In the past, he’s grown some soybeans and a few acres of corn for grain harvest, both of which are expected to decrease in the years ahead.

It’s Garland’s understanding of how his equipment works, and the role it’s playing in this changing no-till environment that impresses both the Loewiths and Spicer.

Garland works his customers’ land as though it were his own, a point which was demonstrated at one point last year when conditions were simply too wet following a rainy day. Instead of forcing the issue, Garland simply returned to the field a few days later when conditions had improved.

“The nice thing is that because you don’t have to do the tillage, that simplifies a wet

soil management spring, too,” says Spicer, highlighting the misconception that no till won’t work in certain conditions. “It’s a challenge in a backward spring, but that kind of spring is a challenge for everybody,” he says. “No till takes a little more management and a little more patience. But there’s no reason why it won’t work, and you know that going in.”

That misconception is particularly daunting, yet interesting to Spicer. Farmers may think they can’t no till their operations because it’s too cold, yet he maintains there’s really only about a degree temperature difference between tilled soils and those that are no tilled. Although there was more frost damage to no-till fields in 2015, most of that damage was a short-term setback, and in the Loewith fields, they harvested one of their best corn crops ever, in spite of any frost damage.

Managing the manure Fertility also becomes more important in no till, and managing manure, particularly in the spring, will be the biggest challenge for dairy producers. For the Loewiths, the added wrinkle in their system comes from the fact that they use sand bedding instead of straw.

“So it either goes out as a liquid, and what can’t go out as a liquid goes out as a solid in sand and manure,” says Carl. “From a logistical point of view, as far as getting through with a planter and getting the seed to where it should be, the type of manure we’re using isn’t a big problem. It’s not like we have clumps of straw and a mat that we have to penetrate. From an environmental point of view, not working in the manure may be an issue, but it hasn’t been for us, so far.”

Asked if size is a deterrent — that the larger a farm, the harder it is to switch to no till, even for a dairy operation, Carl says he considers the exact opposite to be the case.

The larger the operation, the better it’s likely to work.

“We’re busy here, like most dairy farms, and we’ve always felt that we should be in the barn, and not necessarily out in the field,” he says. “As the equipment becomes more complicated and more technology goes into it, you need the people who are more familiar with running that equipment, and repairing it, and that’s something other people can do far better than we can.”

That’s another hurdle for some farmers, who see a simplification of their jobs as a setback to their “jack-of-all trades” reputation. It’s not that a farmer isn’t capable of fixing the transmission on their pickup truck or filing their own income tax returns, it’s that in a day of higher stakes and tightening margins, there comes a point where efficiency has to take precedence. Hiring those professionals who can take care of the truck’s transmission or the taxes allows a farmer to do what he does best — farm.

Carl is also comfortable with listening to those who are more experienced. Again, he doesn’t see himself as an innovator, yet he’s never hesitant to follow the lead of successful farmers, advisers or veterinary specialists.

“I’m not ashamed to admit that my neighbour’s doing something better than I am, so I’m going to copy what he’s doing or try to replicate his practices,” Carl says.

“We’re not real innovators here, but we like to think that we’ll try to keep our fingers on the pulse of what other good farmers are doing and then try to copy some of their practices.” CG

Dairy producers are under pressure to manage costs, Carl Loewith says.

No till will become an important part of their cost containment, he believes, and also help them gain access to the best in crop technology.

They challenged me… The price of milk they get at the farm gate is likely to go down for the next 10 years instead of up.”

Allan Spicer, Can Grow Crop Solutions

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

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crops Guide

W

The disease to watch Heading into 2016, all eyes are on northern leaf blight

By Ralph Pearce / CG Production Editor

Top: According to research, northern leaf blight can result in yield losses of 20 to 30 bu./ac.

Above left: Although northern leaf blight is the more prevalent foliar disease, growers need to watch for common rust, as well. Above right: Growers can do more to control gibberella through hybrid selection, managing residues and applying fungicides.

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MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

ith spring in the air, now is the time for a quick reminder of some of the diseases that are likely to challenge corn growers in 2016. Northern leaf blight is turning into one of those diseases that growers are simply going to have to deal with on an annual basis.

You’re already doing this with soybean cyst nematodes (SCN) and with fusarium head blight in wheat. Now it is corn’s turn.

The 2015 growing season saw northern leaf blight continue its spread across Ontario.

According to Albert Tenuta, field crops pathologist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, it was possible to find the disease in almost every field across the province.

“That ranges from low levels to quite severe and significant levels,” says Tenuta.

“The largest concentration continues to be in southwest and central Ontario, so basically Toronto westward would be the highest incidence.”

To put that in perspective, there were 181 fields surveyed across the province in 2015.

Of these, 176 were found to have detectable levels of northern leaf blight. In southern, western and central Ontario, every field had some level of infection. In eastern Ontario, only five didn’t.

There are other foliar diseases that growers should also be aware of, such as common rust and grey leaf spot. Yet research trials on northern leaf blight by Dave Hooker at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus have shown yield losses of 20 to 30 bu./ac.

“Being able to identify the disease is important, because with diseases such as northern leaf blight, as well as rust and grey leaf spot, those 20- to 30-bushel losses can be common under moderate pressure and good environmental conditions,” says Tenuta.

“An infection of eyespot that might look bad would only lose four to six bushels, but that would hardly pay for the fungicide application. That’s where identification of the diseases is important in terms of best utilizing your management options in-season.”

Genetics losing strength The other reason northern leaf blight is such a concern is that its races are capable of overcoming the genetic resistance in current hybrids.

“One of the reasons why it’s increasing is that the genes that were most effective, particularly the Ht1 (Helminthosporium turcicum) gene that was always very effective, is not as effective as it used to be,” explains

disease management Tenuta. “What we’re seeing now predominantly is that more races that are developing and are able to bypass that Ht1 gene.”

In the meantime, Tenuta recommends growers arm themselves with as many tools as they can find. Since this is a residue-borne infection, growers can help themselves by reducing corn-on-corn planting and by managing their residues more effectively.

What can also help is more in-depth genetic research, and Tenuta points to one endeavour he believes will be of tremendous help in the development of new hybrids.

It’s a project initiated by the Grain Farmers of Ontario with funding from the federal Growing Forward 2 program, specifically to research northern leaf blight.

In this research, OMAFRA and Dr. Lana Reid at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in Ottawa are looking at the incidence of northern leaf blight, and also at differential races. In the past two years, they’ve collected nearly 400 isolates from across Ontario and looked at the five main genes

What we’re seeing now predominantly is that more races are developing.”

Albert Tenuta, OMAFRA

that can impart resistance to the disease.

Ultimately, notes Tenuta, there are races of the disease that can overcome not only the Ht1 gene but the other four Ht genes as well, which is one of the reasons more growers are seeing more northern leaf blight.

“Some of the other genes that are out there are fairly effective, and they’re being incorporated into new hybrids, but that does take time,” Tenuta says. “That’s where other integrated management strategies are important to help minimize the risk.”

Don’t forget other threats Also on Tenuta’s list of diseases to watch are common rust and grey leaf spot. Both can have a significant yield impact just like northern leaf blight, which means they need to be monitored every year. On another note, gibberella (ear rot and stalk rot) and ear moulds are always a concern, especially when the environmental conditions are conducive to gibberella’s development. On the plus side, gibberella can be controlled reasonably well through hybrid selection (with good stalk standability and resistance to lodging) and by managing residues and applying fungicides.

“More and more growers are doing these things to manage gibberella, and we always have some hot spots, where we have a few areas where because of the environmental conditions at pollination and silking that allows for some degree of infection,” he says.

“Luckily, during the past few growing seasons, the numbers have been pretty low for us, but every year is different.” CG

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35

crops Guide

If it’s wheat, spray for fusarium This disease has become a perennial issue — and it will be for years to come

By Ralph Pearce / CG Production Editor

W

ith today’s tight margins, there are times when it can make sense to play the odds in order to cut spray costs, at least until there’s visible damage to the crop. But with fusarium head blight in wheat, it’s just not advisable.

Peter Johnson believes it’s time to adopt the same caution with fusarium as with soybean cyst nematodes in much of Ontario, or with white mould on beans in the east. You just can’t plan on winning that bet.

This coming season will mark 20 years since the 1996 disaster that decimated fields across Ontario, with 90 per cent of the province’s winter wheat downgraded due to fusarium.

It could happen again. In 2016, fusarium remains a risk. The days when farmers could say “not-this-year” are all but gone. So if you’ve got wheat, Johnson says, spray it and be done with it.

In the past five years, there has been a significant shift in disease thinking, particularly in wheat. Low commodity prices convinced more growers to take a chance on fusarium, a move which Johnson, an independent

36

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

agronomist, believes to be unwise, pointing to 2015 as an example.

“It was a poor wheat crop, a tough winter, with late-planted wheat and 12 to 13 per cent taken out and replanted because it just wasn’t good enough to keep,” Johnson says. “And then with a really dry May, I had producers calling me up, saying, ‘Why would I waste money on a fusarium fungicide? My yield potential is low and my disease risk has to be low because we’ve had no rainfall.’”

Johnson could see their logic, yet he still advocated spraying for fusarium. He estimates as many as 80 per cent of growers in Essex County and a little less than half of producers in Kent opted to roll the dice and skip spraying for the year.

Then it started to rain.

Johnson recalls one grower who delivered his wheat, took a tremendous grade discount, paid for the crop to be dried, and was left with a net 80 cents per bushel on yields of 80 bu./ac. — just $64 per acre.

“We simply cannot predict the conditions,” Johnson says, adding that the same scenario played out in 2014, with a poor

Top: Growers need to return wheat to its million-acre scale to help with diseases like fusarium, as well as quality issues.

Above: This head is gone too far for spraying for fusarium. Instead, spraying needs to be part of the annual management plan.

Next page: Toxins that can be produced by fusarium remain a marketing challenge.

disease management wheat crop and dry conditions in May (although not as dry as May 2015). “I wasn’t getting as many calls, but still had some, and the exact same thing happened.”

The difference in that 2014 crop was the large-scale planting of Pioneer 25R40 the previous fall. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of fusarium data available for that variety, and a lot of producers liked what they saw of it, and accepted the risk. Then the right weather conditions developed, particularly in a region bounded by Grand Bend, Exeter and London — a swath that became known as “The Black Triangle.”

Indeed, Johnson says, the last two years have really driven home the damage that fusarium can do.

“We’ve seen how the use of fungicides changes the nitrogen response curve,” he says, pointing to work he has done with Shane McClure. “It’s very clear that in order to make wheat profitable, you need to use higher rates of nitrogen, and if you don’t spray the fungicide, you don’t get a response to the added nitrogen.”

Besides, even with DONcast, no technology can predict the weather perfectly.

That’s why Johnson says it makes sense to remove the uncertainty, by spraying your wheat every year.

“If every farmer in Ontario quit growing corn for five years, maybe — and it’s a big maybe — we would reduce the inoculum loads,” Johnson says.

“But we’re not going to stop growing corn, nor should we… so we are going to have enough inoculum potential regardless of what we do.”

In other words, if the weather conditions are right for the disease to develop, then everyone is going to get hit.

Aren’t things challenging enough?

Full-maturity soybean varieties are also affecting fusarium rates. In the past five years, farmers have been told to extend the maturities on their soybean crops, even if it means delaying planting winter wheat.

Johnson doesn’t favour this at all.

“We grow close to three million acres of soybeans in this province, and we struggle on a perfect fall like last year, where I was sure we’d break a million acres of wheat,” he says.

“I can grow long-season soybeans on two-thirds of my soybean acres and max-out on yield. Yet how is it that I can’t spread out my soybean harvest well enough that on the third of the acres that are going to wheat,

I plant them earlier and I go with a little shorter-season variety of soybeans so that I get my wheat in in decent time?”

Besides, long-term research shows a good wheat crop in the rotation leads to a proven five bushels more in rotational soybean yield. The boost in corn isn’t as quantifiable, but the field studies conducted at University of Guelph’s Elora Research Station and at the university’s Ridgetown Campus are undeniable: wheat in the rotation means more bushels of soybeans.

Asked if the genetics used in wheat are contributing to higher fusarium rates or if the disease is becoming more resistant to fungicides, Johnson points to two factors affecting the genetics: no GMO wheat technologies are available to growers, and there is a big disparity between the level of investment in cereal breeding compared to corn and soybeans. And that’s not just in Ontario, but globally as well.

“There’s about one-tenth the amount of dollars invested in wheat breeding,” says Johnson.

The role of genetics “As an agronomist, all I can do is support the increased yield potential that the breeder is giving me in a new variety, so they’re doing a tremendous job, but if we multiplied that effort times 10 would we make much faster progress? Would we have higher levels of success? I have to believe the answer is yes.”

Still, there has been some genetic progress in winter wheat, particularly in Ontario.

The varieties are all rated on www.gocereals. ca, and as of the latest ratings, none was listed as “highly susceptible” to fusarium.

That’s a first in the province’s history. There were highly susceptible varieties in the test, but sponsors know those are almost unmarketable, so they weren’t made available.

“We have had significant improvement over time on average in our wheat varieties’ resistance,” agrees Johnson.

“But even with that, the pressure is such that genetics alone can’t do the job — they just aren’t good enough. So even though we’ve done amazingly in terms of moving the bar forward, it’s not enough.”

It’s one thing to make the application of a fusarium fungicide an annual management practice, but it’s also important to rotate

If you don’t spray the fungicide, you don’t get a response to the added nitrogen.”

Peter Johnson, independent agronomist

chemistries, something that agronomists, chemical company representatives, weed scientists and extension personnel have been advocating for years.

Yet Johnson finds farmers tend to be creatures of habit. If they used Carumba (metconazole) three years ago on their last winter wheat crop, they’re likely to stay the course with Carumba in 2016.

The problem with that approach is that New York had its first case of a strain of fusarium that is resistant to Folicur (tebuconazole), one of the actives (with Proline or prothioconazole) in Prosaro.

Thus far, there is no resistance to prothioconazole or metconazole.

“From a resistance management strategy, farmers should go back to their records and say, ‘If that field was in wheat three years ago, and it got Prosaro, this year I’m going to use Carumba’,” says Johnson. “Most growers aren’t doing that, and from a resistance management perspective, that’s a mistake.” CG

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

37

Crops GUIDE #pesTpatrol

Pest Patrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA Do weeds support growth of disease?

I

have been asked whether it is true that some weeds can increase the prevalence of certain diseases.

Yes, it is true, which is why it can be especially important to control these species.

Henbit, purple deadnettle and stinkweed (field pennycress) are alternate hosts for soybean cyst nematode (SCN) and should be controlled. A study conducted in Indiana found that the longer henbit and purple deadnettle were allowed to grow in the fall, the higher the soybean cyst nematode population densities1.

To stay on top of these pests, make sure you download the “pestmanager” app. A new version was to be released in March that includes photos and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies for insects and diseases in field crops. Go to www.pestmanager.ca to download the app on your Apple, Android or BB10 device. CG

In the new version of pest manager you can look up photos of various prominent field crop diseases.

Henbit, an alternate host for soybean cyst nematode.

Stinkweed with the “penny-shaped” seed pods in a field of wheat.

Purple deadnettle, an alternate host for soybean cyst nematode.

H ave a question you want answered? #PestPatrol on twitter.com @cowbrough or email Mike at mike.cowbrough@ontario.ca.

1 J. E. Creech, J. Faghihi, V. R. Ferris, A. Westphal, and W.G. Johnson 2007. Influence of intraspecific henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) and purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) competition on soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines) reproduction. Weed Sci. 55:665-670.

38

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

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BUSINESS

International influence Farm machinery goes where politicians fear to tread

Above: The world’s largest farm machinery show, Agritechnica is held in Hanover, Germany, every second year. The next one is scheduled for November 2017.

Reinhard Grandke is CEO of DLG, the German Agricultural Society.

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MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

A

couple of interesting and poten­ tially surprising announce­­ ments arose in January from DLG, the German Agricultural Society, which organizes the world’s largest farm machinery show called Agritechnica.

First, DLG revealed it is creating an inde­ pendent subsidiary organization in Russia.

Second, it announced it had reached an agreement with the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture to help improve farming in that country.

The surprising part — to this writer, at least — is these two countries rank among the globe’s list of problem children. Making progress in any endeavour in these places isn’t likely to be easy.

“I believe that by using our know-how not only in the field of trade fairs and field day events but also in machinery and food testing as well as in the training of farmers, we will be able to contribute to the develop­ ment of Iran’s agriculture,” said DLG pres­ ident Carl-Albrecht Bartmer in the press release announcing the partnership.

Those announcements made me think back to a conversation I had with the CEO of DLG, Reinhard Grandke, in November

in the sunny International Visitors Lounge on the grounds of the last Agritechnica machinery show in Hanover, Germany. As we sipped our coffees, we talked about the unique structure and aims of DLG. “I think the concept of DLG, in Ger­ many, is really unique,” he said. “I don’t know of any comparable organization of this size with its core competencies.”

And neither do I. It’s unlike any other farmer-focused group I know. As it has evolved, it has grown well beyond Germany’s borders, and every year it becomes a more prominent global clearing house for agri­ culture, focusing on the dissemination of knowledge.

Grandke’s comments that day in Hanover help explain why the organization is willing to make the kind of bold moves it recently announced.

“We’re a very strong organization, but we’re not strong enough to really influence world politics,” Grandke went on. “But I think agriculture is really every country’s base for development. Where we can, we help. We bring experts from machinery, but also from plant production and fertilization, and we try to start projects that offer the best solution for the region.”

But the recent announcements of DLG’s outreach into countries that are gener­ ally difficult or impossible for others to get a foothold in may be proving Grandke wrong — in a way. By being apolitical and providing the basis for these countries to improve their economies, DLG might actu­ ally be flexing a kind of invisible political influence.

Here’s what I mean: nothing ties people and nations together like economic interde­ pendence. Although the aim of the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture is to make the coun­ try a little more self-sufficient in agricultural production, anyone in the business these days knows maximizing farming produc­ tivity means taking advantage of the many kinds of inputs and machinery that are only available through international trade. To become more independent by producing their own grain and foodstuffs, countries must give up some of their independence by

Photos: DLG and Scott Garvey

By Scott Garvey / CG Machinery Editor

More than

450,000

PEOPLE FROM AROUND THE WORLD VISITED AGRITECHNICA 2015

adopting technologies and equipment from others.

That’s how an isolated country begins to merge its economic prosperity with that of other nations. As the fortunes of those nations — and those of the influential people within them — become more economically intertwined with the rest of the world, they have a greater incentive to play nicely with others, so to speak.

Realistically, no one believes all the extremism we see in Iran will just fade away over some improved wheat and barley production. But it could help tone down the hostility.

“Normally, when we go into developing regions, it is with some initiative of the German government,” said Grandke.

A friend of mine who works for DLG has actually been involved in creating relationships with people in Iran for a while now. She has been regularly travelling to that country to invite delegations from there to come to Agritechnica and participate in the ag knowledge-related activities that go on there. And the country’s leaders have responded to this approach, sending several representatives to the last couple of Agritechnica shows.

These associations with Russia and Iran are far from the first time DLG has helped underdeveloped countries improve their agricultural bases.

“We have a lot of experience in such projects,” said Grandke. “We did a real unique project in Turkey. Turkey was an emerging country. In 1985 we started a project there together with the German Ministry

of Agriculture. The main point of the project was to help farmers build self-help working groups.”

And since Grandke has taken on the role of CEO, the organization’s international focus has grown significantly.

“In 2002 when I started, I think we had two employees from abroad. Now we have 80 or 90 international employees. So at DLG we’ve improved our international view and possibilities.”

This year DLG will also co-organize Iran’s Agrotech-Agropars International Trade Fair of Agricultural Technology, Specialty Crops, Fertilizers and Pesticides, Seeds and Irrigation. DLG also organizes a couple of farm shows in Russia: AgroTech Russia and AgroFarm. But Agritechnica remains by far DLG’s flagship event.

“Agritechnica is very important because it’s the largest ag machinery show in the world,” said Grandke. “We organize about 30 different exhibitions now. But Agritechnica is the most important, not only for DLG but also for the industry because we have so many exhibitors from all over the world. We can demonstrate and create some impulse for business for the next year.”

Since its rise to prominence, Agritechnica has changed the ag machinery industry.

Companies now see it as a showcase they can’t afford to miss, and they often plan their most significant machinery introductions to coincide with the bi-annual event.

Despite DLG’s participation in the German government’s foreign aid programs, which have helped it earn a global reputation, arguably it is Agritechnica that has put

DLG on the map as the major global player among agricultural associations. Farm machinery innovations on display there have been the lure to bring nearly half a million farmers and industry players together, giving manufacturers what they really want: a big audience and global publicity.

While most farm groups have a national or even regional focus, which limits their scope, DLG, was originally created with a wider perspective in mind.

“That comes from our founder, Max Eyth, because he was really international,” said Grandke. “He travelled all around the world to get ideas for the challenges facing agriculture. His idea was to build a platform, a non-profit society to improve progress in agriculture and food businesses. We are organized from farmers for farmers. We include the views from scientists and industry along with administration advisers.”

But it may not be the views of scientists and industry people that will steer agriculture in the future as much as those of consumers and activists. Grandke thinks DLG’s ability to disseminate information may eventually need to be aimed toward society in general.

“I think this will be one of the most important themes over the next 10 or 20 years, to find a new way of communication with society,” he said. “We work together with NGOs, but we also work together with farmers to support communication between them and society. We think the farmer is important and key to creating a positive image to society. We try to support the farmer to do this.” CG COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

41

business

Inspired

to make a difference They’re growing the kids that are going to defeat world hunger

By Angela Lovell

L

et’s just say that for these four Canadian high school students, the act of sitting on the floor and dipping their hands into a communal bowl of rice shared with 75 other people was an uncomfortable experience. Yet this way of eating is routine for millions of the world’s poor.

“I only had to go hungry for one night, but it made me realize that so many others live like that daily,” says Kaitlyn Kitzan, one of the Manitoba and Saskatchewan students selected to attend the 2015 World Food Prize Global Youth Institute last October during the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa.

Kitzan, a Grade 12 student at Sacred Heart High School in Yorkton, Sask., attended an Oxfam Hunger Banquet along with other students from the United States, China, India, Kosovo, Mexico and Turkey. Students and their mentors were grouped either into the lower class — the majority of people in the room — who shared a bowl of rice on the floor; the middle class, who sat on chairs and lined up for rice and chickpeas; or the upper class, who were served a three-course meal at dinner tables.

“When I had read hunger statistics before I went to this event, I didn’t think about them as people starving,” says Bailey Gitzel, a Grade 12 student from Carman Collegiate in Manitoba, who drew a lower class ticket. “This put me into someone else’s shoes and made me realise that hunger is real. It’s not just words on a piece of paper.”

I met a lot of important people.

It might help to broaden my future opportunities as well.”

42

March 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

Sheldon Daniel

Hard Work to Get There The students had to work hard to get to the conference, spending many hours to prepare an extensive research paper on the topic of “Sustainably Feeding 9 Billion by 2050.” Each student presented their paper at the end of the conference to a diverse group of distinguished international experts and scientists from many different disciplines, as well as past and present World Food Prize laureates.

“Being a farm kid from Saskatchewan, I thought this was a really cool event to combine my passion for international development and agriculture together into one event,” says Kitzan, who participated in an international development trip to Equador last spring, and wrote her research paper about her experiences there.

Kitzan enjoyed the hands-on activities at the conference and hopes to bring at least one of them back to her own school for other students to get involved in.

“We packaged thousands of meals for a Third World country,” she says. “If I can inspire others to do even little actions like this towards alleviating world hunger, we’ll get closer to that goal than we are now.”

Teacher mentor Kerrie Shearer from Sacred Heart High School was excited to be able to bring curriculum guides and hands-on activities back to her school. “It’s very disheartening to go to a conference, and it’s so impactful, but then there’s nothing to bring back,” says Shearer. “The “ahha” moment for me was seeing things I could easily bring back to my school to create awareness among my students.”

People of Influence Students and their mentors rubbed shoulders with some high-powered movers and shakers in the agricultural and scientific world, as well as people who have made a big difference to world hunger, such as the 2015 World Food Prize Laureate, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh. Sir Fazle founded BRAC, the largest non-governmental organization in the world, which has improved the lives of nearly 150 million people worldwide.

“Getting my picture taken and being presented with a certificate by the World Food Prize Laureate is something I won’t forget for a long time,” says Sheldon Daniel, a Grade 12 student in Avonlea, Sask. who grew up on a family farm, and plans to pursue a degree in agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan. “I’ve always been inter-

ested in agriculture, and I thought the conference would be a good way to get to know people in the industry.”

After presenting his paper on the future of sustainable agriculture in China to Sir Fazel and the assistant dean of Agriculture at Iowa State University, Daniel was able to meet and chat with them. “I met a lot of important people, and I think they might know my name if I ever run into them again, so it might help to broaden my future opportunities as well,” he adds.

Making Important Connections Making connections, especially for rural kids, is a valuable part of the event, says Daniel’s science teacher and mentor for the event, Larry Bogdan. “Small town kids often get such a local idea of issues, and don’t get exposure to the fact that it’s a small part of a big picture,” he says. “This kind of event is important to open up a lot of possibilities, and help young people be less shy about making connections.”

A lot of universities were present at the event, says Shearer. “On the last day when the students were giving their speeches, there were delegates listening from American colleges, who were waiting to cherry-pick the best minds,” she says. “These kids all worked really hard to even get there. They are all students with strong science/ agriculture minds and their plans are to do big things.”

Gitzel is already an enterprising young farmer who raises chicken and produces honey on her family farm near Carman, Man. She says the conference was a great opportunity to listen and talk to the people who make decisions in the agricultural industry. Gitzel got to chat with Rob Fraley, executive vice-president of Monsanto, about the future of agriculture. “He talked about using different technologies so that one day we could not use as much land and resources but still grow the amount of food we need,” she says.

The Manitoba students were chosen by Agriculture in the Classroom — Manitoba and the Manitoba 4-H Council, and travel costs for the students and mentors were sponsored by Manitoba Canola Growers Association, Manitoba Corn Growers Association, Monsanto Canada and Viterra.

Saskatchewan students and mentors were selected and sponsored by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture.

It was a life-changing experience for the students and their mentors, each coming back with renewed resolve, fresh ideas, a lot of inspiration for the future of agriculture, and a burning desire to help eliminate food insecurity around the world.

As a science teacher with a farm background, Rosanne Massinon from Carman Collegiate was inspired by the World Food Prize event to tweet thanks to all her farming family and friends.

“It really put a value on what they do every day, and demonstrated that there’s a bigger purpose for agriculture than just making a living,” she says. “It struck me that hunger isn’t something we have to have in our world, and that with agriculture education, particularly in the developing world, we can live in a world where people don’t have to go hungry. And the young people at this event are inspired and want to take on that task.”

Gitzel, who also attended the Grow Canada conference in Ottawa in 2014, says the World Food Prize helped reinforce her decision to study food genetics, but also consider development work overseas in the future.

“After hearing people’s stories of how they were able to change people’s lives, I would really like to be able to do that,” she says. “But I have to go to university first and take the steps to get there.”

All the GYI participants gather in the rotunda of the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates: “a bigger purpose for agriculture.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 44

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / March 29, 2016

43

business Pick Your Passion Laura Didyk, the other Manitoba student attending the event, says meeting people from all over the world had the greatest impact on her. “Everybody had something unique that they brought and you got to see a wide variety of opinions and learned that it’s not just one thing that is going to affect food security, it’s a bunch of things,” says Didyk, who attends Grade 11 at St. Paul’s Collegiate in Elie, Man. Didyk plans to go to university and is considering the field of agricultural sciences. A big message at the conference, says Didyk’s mother, Tracy Claeys, who is also her 4-H leader and attended the conference as her mentor, was that there is a huge need in agriculture for people from various fields of expertise. “Speakers said that we need people who can communicate, build databases or crunch numbers, so it doesn’t matter what you do; pick your passion and you can use that to help food security,” she says.

“In the future, I can see myself bringing international development into my career

and working with different third world countries and their agriculture practices,” says Kitzan who is heading to the University of Saskatchewan to pursue a degree in animal science. “This event allowed so many creative minds from all across the world, who have this passion for agriculture, to get together and share our ideas and our frustrations. It gave us the opportunity to make connections and friendships and memories. Now, after I have come back home, I have all those people to look up to or connect with to help me keep up with my goal.”

Daniel agrees it’s the people he met that he’ll remember most. “All of the speeches were good, but I watched one young guy from India present, and he couldn’t have been more than 15 years old, and he was the best speaker I have ever seen,” says Daniel. “You might think you’re a pretty smart kid from rural Saskatchewan, but there were really smart kids from all over the planet. And it was then that I thought it’s these people that are going to make a difference in the world. They are here because they want to do that.” CG

After hearing people’s stories of how they were able to change people’s lives, I would really like to be able to do that.”

Bailey Gitzel

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March 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

Sponsored by

network

By Pierrette Desrosiers / work psychologist

How to become

a credible leader

C

redibility is priceless when you need to influence your partners, advisers, employees, or anyone else around you. But what makes you credible? And why are some people perceived as credible while others aren’t?

More importantly, can you grow your credibility? If so, how?

It’s a critical issue, because even if you have all the skills, knowledge and education you need in order to make your case, without credibility, you won’t be able to get support from others for your ideas and projects.

Credibility is the feeling of trust and respect you inspire in others. It means people see you as dependable, trustworthy and influential.

It isn’t something you get just because you’re the boss, yet credibility is a crucial asset for being heard and respected so you can position yourself as a leader. Without it, you will not exert any real influence.

Make yourself more credible While we are not always aware of the cues that lead us to trust and respect others, we are constantly analyzing them with our subjective “lens of credibility.”

The people you work with are making the same judgments about you, using these 12 factors.

1. Expertise. Do you know the subject you are talking about? If you do not know, say so. People will appreciate your honesty and humility. Prove what you are asserting, and check your sources before doing so. Avoid saying, “It looks like/seems that,” and don’t act like a know-it-all.

5. Fairness. Do not give preferen-

tial treatment. Do the right things for the right reasons.

6. Respect. Can you get interested in others’ stories, needs and realities?

Do you share your successes? Do you give other people credit when it’s due? Cultivate respect because it is synonymous with consideration and courtesy. Above all, respect attracts respect. Listen respectfully to others.

2. Experience. The more people

7. Consistency. Are your words consistent, or do you contradict yourself soon afterwards? Be consistent. Do what you say you will! Do not constantly change your mind.

Think carefully about the choices you make. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

perceive you as someone with experience, the greater your credibility.

Demonstrate your experience.

8. Similarity. How much are you like your audience? Rely on your similarities, not your differences.

3. Confidence. Do you seem con-

9. Positivity. Hit a positive note.

fident, or do you hesitate? Watch your non-verbal language, posture and handshake. Stand up straight and smile. Know your own assets!

However, don’t be arrogant — stay humble.

4. Knowledge. Do you stay up-

to-date in your field? Develop your skills. Pay attention to new trends.

Continue your professional development. Become someone to whom people turn for information.

GUIDE LIFE hR

follow people of action, so if you say you will do something, act. Set an example for others.

Through all 12 of these considerations, however, also learn how to manage your emotions. Stay in control. Do not give in to anger, and do not allow yourself any lapses in behaviour or language, even in the worst situations.

Credibility starts in our daily lives. It is based on strong character and on our core values. People with credibility know what is important.

They stand up for what they believe in, even when they will be unpopular or criticized.

Credibility is based on beliefs, emotions, and actions. When these are aligned and clear to the leader, they are clear to others.

Remember, credibility cannot be self-proclaimed. We cannot demand it. Like respect, it must be earned.

When we don’t know how to act or react in a situation, it can help to think about one person we find highly credible. Think about that person and ask yourself, “How would they react in this situation?”

Even as a leader, sometimes we need a model. Finally, ask yourself, “How do I want to be remembered?”

Your credibility is your foundation for leadership. The more you adopt the 12 behaviours and attitudes listed above, the more you will be perceived as a truly credible person.

To evaluate your credibility, take the test by following this www. pierrettedesrosiers.com/documents/ quest_credibility_speaker.pdf. CG

People want to hear a positive speaker, not a victim of life.

10. Affirmative. Use affirmative

language.

11. Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is

contagious. Others want to catch it, too. Set your personal problems aside. People have enough trouble of their own.

12. Energy. Action creates its own

desire to do something. We want to

Pierrette Desrosiers, MPS, CRHA is a work psychologist, professional speaker, coach and author who specializes in the agricultural industry.

She comes from a family of farmers and she and her husband have farmed for more than 25 years. Contact her at: pierrette@pierrettedesrosiers.com. www.pierrettedesrosiers.com

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

45

GUIDE LIFE

The Millennial myth It turns out the Boomers and Millennials aren’t so different, and they can form great teams

By Helen Lammers-Helps

Millennials will work hard, Deal says, but they want their work to matter. Well-managed, they’re great on the farm.

46

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

E

very day we hear comp l a i n t s a b o u t yo u n g p eople. We complain that they have a sense of entitlement. They aren’t motivated.

They don’t have any loyalty to their employers...

Not surprisingly, dozens of articles and books have also been written on how to reduce conflict between the generations.

But are we making too much of generational differences?

Dr. Jennifer Deal, an organizational psychologist with the Centre for Creative Leadership in California, has been researching generational differences for the past 15 years and has discovered that most differences can be better explained by other variables.

An individual’s life stage and their level within the business have bigger impacts on behaviour than their “generation,” she says.

This isn’t new. Deal says if you read the research literature from the 1960s, people said the same things about the Boomers.

Everyone forgets what they were like when they were younger, Deal says. In fact, examples go back thousands of years showing older generations�making these same complaints about the younger generation.

Deal, who wrote the recently published book, “What Millennials Want from Work,” isn’t denying that people are influenced by the time period in which they grow up. “Those growing up at different times do have different norms,” she says. For instance, she laughs, one of the differences between Millennials (those in their 20s and 30s) and older generations is that Millennials have more tattoos.

But don’t laugh too fast. Deal also recounts the story of a recent

court case in the United States about whether an employee should be forced to cover up his tattoos. The court sided with the employee, saying that there had been a cultural shift in the acceptability of tattoos.

While we are affected by the era we grow up in, our understanding of it isn’t nearly as precise as you might think. Even the names of the generations and the cut-off years for each generation are basically fabrications. If you read the literature, you’ll see different names and different years assigned to the same groups.

Deal cautions that it’s dangerous to label people according to their generation because by doing this, we stereotype people and ignore who they are as individuals. Instead, it’s more helpful to ask yourself “What does this person want?” rather than making assumptions because of their generation.

When it comes to differences that have an impact on the workplace, Deal says her research shows that the things people from different generations want really aren’t that different. People want to be paid well, be respected, and have opportunities to learn and develop.

In particular, Millennials demonstrate high levels of commitment and will work hard if a business provides the working conditions they crave, and Deal offers several strategies that farm managers can use to keep them engaged.

“Millennials want to have people they care about and people who care about them at work,” says Deal, who figures this makes sense given that people spend more waking hours at work than they do at home.

Managers can create opportunities for staff to get to know each other and to develop friendships.

For example, creating sports teams

or holding social events allows employees to get to know each other outside of the restrictions of their daily interactions.

Deal knows of one company that created a council, made up of younger and older employees, to plan opportunities for employees to socialize.

When it’s appropriate, and as long as employees are getting their work done, Deal also recommends managers not penalize employees for socializing at work.

Deal is also a proponent of encouraging mentoring relationships. These could be formal or informal and can be bi-directional.

For example, a younger staff member could mentor an older person on using technology. “Everyone has something to learn and something to contribute,” says Deal.

In addition, while people who are similar to each other tend to form mentoring relationships, Deal encourages managers to take on mentees who are different from themselves. This is increasingly important in our diverse workplaces.

In fact, mentoring relationships may work best when you “jump a generation” so there is less competition between mentor and mentee, continues Deal. For example, Boomers (born between 1946 and 1965) and Millennials may link well together.

One of the criticisms often levelled at Millennials is that they share their opinions too freely, even about those who are above them in the hierarchy. Deal recommends embracing this trait.

After all, she points out that employees are being paid to contribute. “Provide outlets for them to be heard. Show them you are listening… this builds trust.”

The key is to coach Millennials on where and when to express feedback. They may need guidance to strike a balance in knowing when to use electronic, phone or in-person communication.

It’s said that people don’t leave organizations, they leave bosses.

Deal says this is true of all genera-

tions. Millennials want to have good relationships with their managers.

They want to feel appreciated and they want to be able to trust their bosses.

Deal thus urges managers to be honest and to have important conversations face-to-face.

Millennials crave feedback. Managers should provide feedback to employees as a normal part of workflow, not just during the annual performance review.

Guidance and coaching will be more effective than a commandand-control style of leadership, says Deal. Millennials value autonomy, and they resent being micromanaged.

Being able to learn and develop in their jobs is also important to Millennials, as is making use of emerging technology. Managers would be wise to give their employees opportunities to learn new skills and make use of new technologies when possible, says Deal.

Millennials also want to feel that their work is meaningful. Managers should ensure that employees are aware of how the tasks they do make a contribution.

Opportunities for companysponsored volunteering will make employees feel they are making a difference. Working together to help a charity can also help build social bonds between team members.

Millennials have been criticized for the value they put on work-life balance. While there is a seasonality to cropping that can’t be avoided, Deal says it can help retain employees if you can smooth out the spikes in workload. Hiring more employees for the busy seasons, or pulling work forward when possible, will show you care about employee stress, says Deal.

Being flexible about time off in the less busy seasons may also appeal to employees, particularly those with young children.

To engage and retain employees of any age, farm managers would be wise to use good management practices. Happy employees will be committed to doing a good job and staying for the long-term. CG

Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one before and wiser than the one that comes after it.”

George Orwell

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

47

GUIDE LIFE health

By Marie Berry / lawyer & pharmacist

Vital first aid for your first aid kits

B

ecause most of us never really plan on needing them, it’s very easy not to think about that dusty box behind your workbench or the one stowed away in the tractor. Giving your first aid kits just a bit of attention, however, can help make sure your kit does its job if and when you need it.

The first point is important, but very easy to overlook. The contents of your first aid kit need to be kept current. Adhesive bandages can lose their stickiness and get past their expiry date. Antiseptics can be contaminated. If they are, you don’t want to have to rely on them.

Choose a day and make it your deadline every year to check all your first aid kits Try to develop a habit of regularly checking your first aid kits.

Pick a date, for example July 1, or a time, for example the family’s annual road trip, and get everyone involved. That way your whole family knows where the first aid kits are and what they contain.

Ideally, you want several first aid kits depending upon your work or leisure activities. Having one in your home and one in your car is essential, but you may also want one in the work shop, barn, your gym bag, garage, and one on each tractor. The contents of these various kits will be different. For example, the first aid

kit in your car will contain travel needs, while the one on the tractor may focus on adhesive bandages.

A good first aid kit includes an assortment of sizes and shapes of adhesive bandages plus gauze pads and rolls of adhesive tape. Keep in mind that sensitive-skin adhesive tape is easier to remove. An elastic bandage for supporting strained muscles is also a good idea.

You can include scissors for cutting gauze and tape, as well as tweezers for removing gravel or debris from wounds. These scissors and tweezers should be used only for first aid purposes, not for sewing or in the bathroom.

Hydrogen peroxide is an effective antiseptic and does not sting, which is especially important for treating children’s cuts and scrapes.

Individually wrapped antiseptic pads or alcohol swabs are alternatives which travel well.

Other items for your first aid kit may include a thermometer, first aid manual, and hot or cold compresses.

Disposable hot or cold compresses are available, but a hot water bottle or ice bag are economical alternatives. An easy warm compress is either a cloth heated by wetting it with warm water or a microwaved wet cloth. Remember to wrap the warm cloth in a towel so that the heat does not harm the skin. An easy cool compress is a bag of ice or frozen vegetables, again wrapped in a towel to prevent skin damage.

Your first aid kits should be tailored to your family’s activities. If your family does a lot of walking or hiking, you will want to include foot care products. If you are travelling

and tasting new foods an antacid, stomach acid reducer, or antidiarrheal product may be needed. If outdoor activities are planned, your family’s first aid kit may contain an antihistamine, an anti-itch product such as calamine lotion, sunscreen, or even a sunburn remedy.

You may want to include an analgesic such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Acetaminophen alleviates pain and reduces fever while ibuprofen also reduces inflammation.

Acetylsalicylic acid or ASA is not recommended for children, including teenagers, because of its link to Reye’s syndrome, a rare but fatal nervous system condition.

Pre-packed first aid kits are convenient, but if you make your own you are able to customize it for your family’s needs. Once you have collected all the items for your first aid kit, place them all in a water-proof container and make sure that everyone in your family knows where it is stored.

Being prepared will enable you to deal with minor injuries. Remember though that if you use a supply, replace it. And, of course, keep emergency contact information handy. CG

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

Next Issue None of us is getting younger and you may wonder how to keep your memory sharp. While Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are concerns, some drugs may have an impact on your memory while you may believe it just to be natural aging. Next issue we’ll talk about your memory and drugs.

48

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

GUIDE LIFE Hanson Acres

By Leeann Minogue / grainews editor

D

ale was on edge as soon as he saw the number displayed on the phone.

He considered just letting it ring, but his wife Donna was watching so he took the call.

He shuddered as he hung up.

“She’s coming,” Dale said.

Ever since she’d heard about their father’s stroke, Dale’s sister Margaret had been threatening to fly in from Ottawa.

“Oh dear,” Donna said.

It had been more than two years since Margaret’s last trip home to Saskatchewan. On that trip, Margaret and her partner Richard had packed up in the middle of the night and left the Hanson farm.

“Richard’s allergies,” Margaret had explained as they headed for Ed’s condo in town.

“This time, let’s book them a hotel room,” Donna said. “Your dad’s place isn’t that big, and Margaret hasn’t even met Helen.”

When Donna had told Margaret over the phone about Ed’s girlfriend Helen, Margaret had asked, “Why would he need a girlfriend at his age?” Then, “Is she a gold digger? Is she after the farm?”

“Margaret wants to stay here at the farm,” Dale said. “Richard’s not coming, so we don’t have to worry about his allergies.”

“Oh,” Donna said.

“Margaret’s been researching stroke recovery,” Dale sighed. “She wants to make sure our ‘small town doctors’ are doing things right.”

“Oh,” Donna repeated.

On Tuesday, Donna was dispatched to the airport to meet Margaret’s flight.

Dale claimed to be too busy to go. “I’ve got a seed customer coming this afternoon.” Donna knew their son Jeff was in the yard, and the Hansons’ new hired man, Mark, had already learned enough to deal with one customer, but she didn’t argue. Dale was already stressed.

By the time she’d greeted Margaret at the airport and driven to Wey-

Hanson Acres

Their visitor from the east The moment the plane lands, the questions get started burn, Donna was tired. She’d been fielding medical questions since Margaret rode down the escalator.

But in the porch at Ed’s condo, Margaret paused.

“Maybe now’s not a good time,” she said.

“I know this is hard,” Donna said. “But you’ve come this far. Let’s go in.”

Margaret was shocked at the post-stroke state of her father.

“I wish you’d told me how awful he looks,” she accused Donna on the drive to the farm.

“I’m sorry,” Donna said. “He’s improved so much since it first

built new, instead of fixing up the old place.”

Donna didn’t answer, not wanting to point out that the house Margaret and Dale had grown up in had been poorly built. Jeff and Elaine had priced out renovating, then finally decided to build their own house, “since we’re going to live here for the next 40 years,” Jeff had explained.

“And what’s that? Another new shed?” Margaret pointed across the yard.

“We put that up in 2012. You must not have noticed it when you were here last,” Donna said.

Maybe the oil collapse is good for something,” Elaine said. “There should be someone you can hire.” happened, we think he looks good now.”

“And why is that Helen woman letting Dad eat at that café? Patients have to be careful about nutrition.”

Donna smiled. Even in a weakened state, Ed would hate being called a “patient.” And Donna, Dale and Helen had all been thrilled when Ed was able to get back to the café for toast, coffee and gossip with his friends. It was a recovery milestone.

Margaret was quiet until they were about to turn into the Hanson farm lane.

“That’s Jeff ’s new house?” Margaret asked.

“Yes,” Donna answered. “I like these modern styles.”

“I’ll never understand why he

Jeff and Elaine brought their two kids to Dale and Donna’s house for supper and a visit with Aunt Margaret. Margaret was pleased to see her grandniece and nephew. “Connor’s gotten so big,” she said. “And this baby is just adorable.”

It wasn’t until after supper, when the kids had fled to the living room to find Donna’s toy stash, that things took a more serious turn.

“Dad’s not looking well,” Margaret said. “Should he really be living with that woman?”

“He’s not back to normal,” Dale said, “but he doesn’t need a nursing home.”

“I didn’t say anything about a Continued ON page 50

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 29, 2016

49

GUIDE LIFE home,” Margaret said. “I just wonder why he isn’t living here.”

“He’s better in town,” Dale said. “He can walk around the block. Get to the doctor. And Helen wouldn’t be happy here with us.”

“I’m not sure what this Helen woman has to do with it. I just want him to recover.”

“We all want that,” Dale started. “And you’re never here…”

Donna interrupted.

“It’s late. And with the time change, Margaret, you’re probably ready to turn in.”

The next morning Margaret picked up Ed and Helen and drove to the doctor’s office.

In the waiting room, Margaret saw a man she’d gone to high school with. “Margaret?” he said. “Is that you? Haven’t seen you in years. Bad news about your dad. At least he has Helen and your brother to help him out. Must be a relief for you, having them here.”

Once the nurse called them in, Helen helped Ed down the hallway.

The doctor greeted Ed and Helen warmly, then turned to Margaret. “Who’s this?” he asked.

Helen explained, and the doctor said, “Dale and his wife have sure spent a lot of time here. You’re lucky to have such a supportive family.”

Margaret felt stung.

“Not to mention Helen,” the doctor continued.

Helen had pulled a list of questions and a pen out of her purse and was ready to get to business.

After the appointment Helen was helping Ed into the condo when one of Ed’s neighbours saw them on the sidewalk and hurried over.

“I was wondering if you’d have time to fly home see your dad,” he said to Margaret. “You can go back East knowing Ed’s in good hands. I don’t even know how many times I’ve seen Dale and Donna parked here. And Helen’s been wonderful.”

Once inside, Helen turned to Margaret. “Ed will want to have a nap, but maybe you could come in for coffee and a little chat. These aren’t the best circumstances to meet, but I am glad you’ve come.”

Almost three hours later, Margaret drove back to the farm.

“Thought you’d forgotten the way home,” Dale joked. “Everything go alright in town?”

“Yes,” Margaret said, “but, well, I wanted to tell you… I’m sorry I came here with so many questions, so worried about Dad. You and Donna have done a great job looking after him. And Helen, too… I wasn’t sure about her, but she seems… nice.”

“Thanks,” Dale said, taken aback. “Come on in.

Did you have lunch? Donna’s made soup.”

“Good,” Margaret said. “Now we can talk about the farm. I need to know what’s going on with my quarter section. Are you seeding any genetically modified crops there?” CG Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews, a playwright and part of a family grain farm in southeastern Saskatchewan.

50

MARCH 29, 2016 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

Reflections

by Rod Andrews retired Anglican bishop

“W

hat goes around, comes around.” Is this true? Will good deeds be repaid? Will those who do wrong to others suffer bad things? Is there some universal system to ensure justice is done?

The notion of retribution certainly goes around. “She will get what she deserves,” “He will get his payback” or “The chickens will come home to roost.” We mischievously hope people who cheat others will be cheated, and those who steal will be visited by a thief.

There is naughty pleasure when the gossiper becomes the subject of gossip.

Someone told me “The Bible says ‘What goes around, comes around.’” Actually, the Bible does not say that, but there are related ideas. The words of Jesus, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you,” is an example. The Beatitudes promise reward for action: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”

Is there another truth in the saying “What goes around comes around?” Suppose doing good sets off a chain reaction inspiring others to do good. In December 2012, a Tim Hortons customer in Winnipeg paid for the car following in the drive-through. This started a chain reaction which lasted three hours. Two hundred twenty-eight customers paid for the car behind them and customers inside began ‘paying it back’. Customers in other Tim’s franchises also paid for strangers.

On her way home from work in Montgomery, Alabama, in December of 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a full bus and sat in the last seat reserved for “coloured people.” When a white passenger boarded at the next stop, the bus driver demanded that Mrs. Parks yield her seat to the white passenger. Parks refused and was arrested. The simple act of refusing to give up her seat had a profound effect on history. It launched a boycott that brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to international prominence. It was the beginning of the civil rights movement that did so much to secure basic human rights that had long been denied to African Americans.

Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat may have had influence far beyond her time and country. In the waning days of the Soviet Union, reactionaries sought to reverse the process of democratization by overthrowing the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. During the tense days of the attempted coup the world watched as Moscow’s mayor, Boris Yeltsin, climbed atop a tank to denounce the coup attempt against his rival Gorbachev. When asked what moved him to climb on the tank, Yeltsin said that he was inspired by Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement in Poland. When Walesa was asked what inspired him, he said he had long admired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil rights campaigns. When Dr. King was asked what inspired him, he said he admired Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat. Is it possible that Rosa Parks’ defiance of injustice had farreaching historical effects well beyond the United States?

An aboriginal community in a Maritime province earned their living cutting, stacking and selling firewood. I once read how they settled the score with a customer who repeatedly underpaid for his firewood. When they tried to settle his account, he would become argumentative and deny he owed for the quantity of firewood he had received. One autumn the wily vendors stuck .22 calibre shells in every other piece of firewood. When cool weather arrived and he lit his fire, he led a merry dance around his stove, terrified for his life.

“What goes around, comes around.”

Suggested Scripture: Job 4, Galatians 6:7-10

Rod Andrews is a retired Anglican bishop. He lives in Saskatoon.

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