Manitoba cooperator

Page 1

Border blues

Trump trouble

New import rules in effect » PG 7

Trade policies could blow back » PG 38

SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 75, No. 3 | $1.75

January 19, 2017

manitobacooperator.ca

Western grain shipping relatively smooth so far Although concerns have been raised about CP Rail’s performance, a big crop and cold weather haven’t derailed grain exports BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff

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estern Canadian grain has been moving fairly well this crop year despite a 76-million-tonne crop and bitterly cold weather, which in 2013-14 was blamed for a huge and expensive grain-shipping backlog. “All things considered things are going pretty good,” Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corporation, the firm hired by the federal government to monitor Western Canada’s grain pipeline, said in an interview Jan. 11. “There is no question that CN (Canadian National Railway) is doing a heck of a lot better than CP (Canadian Pacific Railway) right now. It had some troubles and it is kind of coming out of it.” The recent cold weather, which causes problems with air brakes resulting in shorter trains, has slowed both railways a bit, but CP Rail isn’t meeting the demand for cars as well as CN, according to Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the West-

Heavy snowfall and wet fall conditions are causing flood concerns.   FILE PHOTO

Farmers watch nervously as moisture piles up Government readiness for spring flood questioned as new federal and provincial administrations lack flood-fighting experience

See SHIPPING on page 6 »

BY RON FRIESEN Co-operator contributor

Publication Mail Agreement 40069240

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he possible threat of major flooding in Manitoba this spring has Keystone Agricultural Producers worried rookie governments in Winnipeg and Ottawa may not be prepared for it. The combination of fiscal restraint and flood damage could produce a big problem if initial signs of widespread spring flooding turn out to be true, said Dan Mazier, KAP president. “My fear is that we have two new governments and they’re

talking about financial restraints and how governments are going to deal with it. I don’t know if we have the wherewithal to take another billion-dollar hit,” Mazier said last week. “If we did have a one-in-300year flood, are we ready for that?” Concerns about a flood risk have been building ever since Mazier started sounding alarm bells last October, when nearrecord rains swept across much of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The wet fall weather left soils saturated at freeze-up and unable to absorb spring runoff. Heavy snowfall so far this winter has added to a possible flood risk.

“At the end of the day, I would say people should be preparing for a flood. The question will be the type of magnitude we’re going to see,” said Bruce Burnett, weather and crop specialist for G3 Canada, the former Canadian Wheat Board. “I think we should be on alert because if we get into a situation where we have another one or two major storms go through the Manitoba region, that will certainly put us over the top in terms of the amount of snowpack available to melt.” Predictions of a flood this spring are still premature. The province will not issue its first flood forecast until later in February.

But a report on 2016 fall conditions issued in December by the province’s Hydrologic Forecast Centre is not reassuring. The report found all river basins in Manitoba received above-normal precipitation between May and November. The U.S. National Weather Service long-range forecast calls for above-normal precipitation for southern Manitoba and the Red River basin during the winter. All major rivers will have to be closely watched because of above-normal soil moisture and high flow conditions, the report cautions. “Even with normal winter See FLOOD RISK on page 6 »

COVER UP: Ontario leads in cover cropping in Canada » PAGE 19


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