Open Farm Day
Glenlea turns 25
Agriculture throws the doors open » PG 3
Famous organic rotation hits a milestone » PG 8
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 74, No. 38 | $1.75
September 22, 2016
Canola farmers worried about BayerMonsanto merger
manitobacooperator.ca
Grain growers try their hand at veg production Canadian Prairie Garden Puree Products Inc., based in Portage la Prairie has significantly ramped up its organic product line
The fear is the new company’s market power will result in higher seed prices and less innovation unless regulators order some divestiture of assets BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff
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ar mers who are worried about chemical and seed giants Bayer and Monsanto merging should be, according to one prominent agriculture economist. With 94 per cent of western Canadian canola containing Bayer’s Liberty Link or Monsanto’s Roundup Ready traits, the new company will have tremendous market power resulting in higher canola seed prices for farmers, said Richard Gray of the University of Saskatchewan, in an interview Sept. 15. “I think there are implications for pricing... and the overall benefits to society and producer benefits,” Gray said. “You really do have a reduced incentive to innovate because if you have See MERGER on page 7 »
Pipestone-area producer Bryce Lobreau planted 15 acres of Linden butternut squash this summer.
BY LORRAINE STEVENSON Co-operator staff
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
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ot long ago Bryce Lobreau would have scoffed had someone told him he’d be growing a field of vegetables one day. The Pipestone-area farmer was focused on building up his cattle herd, to become what is now Manitoba’s largest organic livestock feeder, and expanding his land base, now at 5,000 acres of mostly hay land and improved pasture, plus 1,000 cropped acres. He was also going organic. He began the switch to certified production in 2009 to add value to the farm and open up new production potential. He just never would have thought
PHOTO: SANDY BLACK
that would include growing squash for a vegetable processor. This is southwestern Manitoba, where the soil is light and sandy, summer is dry and winter is long and harsh. “Nobody grows vegetables around here,” says Lobreau. But later this fall he expects to harvest 100,000 lbs. of butternut squash grown on 15 acres he’s planted under contract for Canadian Prairie Garden Puree Inc. The Portage la Prairie-based company buys fields of vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, pumpkin and squash, as well as soft fruits and pulses, to process into shelf-ready purées sold to the food ingredient industry. The company’s founder and chief operating officer Kelly Beaulieu has contracted six million pounds of organically grown vegetables from Mani-
toba growers this year. They’ll be looking for more as the organic side of their business grows, said Beaulieu. Buyers of CPGP purées began inquiring a couple of years back about its potential to produce organic lines of product. The demand is intense and it’s about to get a lot more so, Beaulieu said in an interview earlier this summer at her offices at the Food Development Centre where the processing plant is located. “Eighty per cent of our business will be organic this year. We’ve got some conventional but most of our contracts are going to be organic,” said Beaulieu. “We’ll be looking for a lot more production from the (organic) growers and more growers coming online,” she added. See VEG PRODUCTION on page 6 »
Canada’s National Organic Week — September 17 – 25