Country guide east

This capital plan builds resilience  18 | New lawsuits threaten Roundup  45

eastern EDITION / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / march 1, 2017

Brother & sister act

Sarah and Jack Leguee at the forefront of Canada’s newest farm demographic  10

Succession Shocker The share of farms with a succession plan is slipping  22

CROPS GUIDE Tackle fleabane before it’s too late  29 Our first rebate roundup  34 Publications Mail Agreement Number 40069240

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6 MACHINERY

Spreading it around New product launches give farmers even wider choice of innovative fertilizer application equipment.

Inside country guide / Vol. 136 Issue no. 4 / MARCH 1, 2017

Business

29 CROPS GUIDE

8

our next employee y The solution to your labour shortage may be just waiting for you to give her a chance.

18

capital plan a The Semeniuks 10-year land and equipment plan helps them make better decisions.

22

s uccession shocker The percentage of farms with a succession plan is going down. That’s right… DOWN!

26

t he effective leader Maybe in the old days being a leader meant throwing your weight around. But not now.

40

t rumping it out Can the new U.S. president force our machinery makers to move south?

42

uilding a new APF b Ottawa is re-tooling Growing Forward. Here’s what farm groups think you need.

45

oodbyE glyphosate? g Cancer lawsuits in U.S. threaten to topple the world’s top herbicide.

29 Tough news on fleabane

34 Rebate Roundup

for Eastern Canada

37 Weather 38 Pest patrol

Guide Life 50 52 53 54

istracted driving D Health Hanson Acres Reflections

47

farm in tuscany a Could you make a success of a farm in Italy?

Even with massive EU grants, it isn’t easy.

10 Brothers & Sisters

Like a small but growing number of farmers across Canada, Tom and Suzanne Pettit are a brother-and-sister team learning how to farm together in a new spirit of equality and trust. Like the other two brother-sister farms we profile this issue, the Pettits take care to keep the channels of communication open, and they ensure that each has areas of responsibility of their own. Thanks to that recipe, they are finding that their sibling partnership is scoring big points as they pursue their quality and financial goals.

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3

EDITOR’S NOTE

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

The other side of the success story At Country Guide, we do get criticized for seeming to print only stories about successes, not failures, but we don’t get as much flak as you might think… and we all know the reason why

EDITORIAL STAFF Editor: Tom Button 12827 Klondyke Line, Ridgetown, ON N0P 2C0 tom.button@fbcpublishing.com (519) 674-1449 Fax (519) 674-5229 Senior Editor: Maggie Van Camp mvancamp@fbcpublishing.com (905) 986-5342 Fax (905) 986-9991 Production Editor: Ralph Pearce ralph.pearce@fbcpublishing.com (226) 448-4351 Field Editor: Lisa Guenther lisa.guenther@fbcpublishing.com Field Editor: Shannon VanRaes shannon.vanraes@fbcpublishing.com Online Editor: Greg Berg country-guide.ca Design & Layout: Jenelle Jensen

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You can see it again in the lineup of stories we bring you this issue.

For the next generation of Canada’s farmers, “average” won’t cut it.

Our future farmers must run farms that score an A if not an A+ in every category… or they will face tall odds against success in their careers.

This doesn’t mean they need to be perfect. But it does mean they can’t fight with even one hand tied behind their back.

So when we bring you a story about successful farm management, there’s always an implied subtext that says every skill and attitude that builds success has an opposite that leads somewhere else.

This isn’t lost on our readers, who read as closely and carefully as readers in any industry.

For example, not everyone needs to be as adept at working a financial spreadsheet as Robert and Angela Semeniuk (A capital plan, page 19), but everyone needs to see how skills in this area will help them succeed, and everyone has to feel motivated to give them just that bit more attention for having read the Semeniuks’ experience.

The same goes for the brotherand-sister teams that field editor John Grieg describes in his features this issue. On one level, these are stories about a demographic change in Canadian agriculture, with more brother-and-sister teams farming together as equals.

Just as much, however, it is a story about the behaviours and attitudes that are driving their successes.

Despite the geographic distances between their farms, and despite the differences in their family and

4

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

commodity back stories, it’s what these farms share that is most impressive, including systems that ensure good communication, and giving each partner defined areas where they have the responsibility and authority to make decisions.

Again, the subtext is that when we went looking for success, this is what we found. So if you don’t see these traits when you look in the mirror, maybe you might ask why.

Yet it’s in the story “Succession shocker” (page 22) that we come closest to defining failure. As you’ll read there, when Canadian farmers are asked what factors are most important to their success, succession planning is in the top three of their responses. But too many farms are failing to transform those words into an actionable plan.

I hope you’ll take time to absorb as much as you can from Elaine Froese’s observations and recommendations. There’s wisdom for all generations here… and a subtext about the cost of not being successful.

2017 can seem just another year, with moderately volatile weather, moderately volatile prices, and moderately volatile politics.

At Country Guide, we think 2017 is shaping up as a year when on a lot of farms, deferred decisions will finally be made, or they will finally be left to be always unmade.

For many of our readers, it will be one of the most pivotal years in their lives, and in the lives of their farms.

Are we getting it right? Let me know at tom.button@fbcpublishing.com.

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The editors and journalists who write, contribute and provide opinions to Country Guide and Glacier FarmMedia LP attempt to provide accurate and useful opinions, information and analysis. However, the editors, journalists, Country Guide and Glacier FarmMedia LP cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this publication. Use or non-use of any information is at the reader’s sole risk, and we assume no responsibility for any actions or decisions taken by any reader of this publication based on any and all information provided.

CHRISTIAN FARMERS FEDERATION OF ONTARIO 642 Woolwich St. • Guelph, ON • N1H 3Y2 Voice: (519) 837-1620 • Toll Free: 1-855-800-0306 Email: cffomail@christianfarmers.org Web site: www.christianfarmers.org

Vital Rural Communities – CFFO Policy Tour

By Suzanne Armstrong

T

he CFFO is concerned about the vitality of our rural communities. As farms grow bigger, the impact on rural society is becoming more evident.

How can land use policy help with keeping a strong rural tax base, good rural infrastructure and services, while also keeping strong family farm businesses, opportunities for new farmers, and successful transition of farms to the next generation of farmers?

We are posing these questions and others to CFFO members in our 21 districts across the province. Each winter CFFO staff go on the road for our Policy Tour, where we invite local members to come and discuss an important policy issue. Our focus this year is on the impact changes on farms are having to the overall life and vitality of rural communities.

Farms today are different than they were in the past. That means that rural communities need to change too.

At CFFO we want to make sure farmers at all stages in their careers, and farmers running all different types of farming businesses, are able to find the land base they need to get started, prosper, expand, and find suitable ways to transition their farming assets into the hands of the next generation of farmers.

Family farms also need a variety of avenues open to them to keep

the overall farm income viable to sustain a family living. Things like on farm value added such as cheese making, or processing grains for feed can add jobs to the community, and create more income from the farm business.

Secondary enterprises, though not as closely related to the farm, can also add employment and further sources of income for farming families.

Land regulations on severing a surplus house, or adding a secondary dwelling on a farming property can impact farmers’ ability to sustain two family units working on the same farm, which can help with transitioning the business from one generation smoothly to the next.

However, too many severances or secondary dwellings can cause problems for farming in the long run. Regulations on land use still need to be strong enough to protect farmland and ordinary farm practices from the implications of minimum distance (MDS) regulations on building or expanding livestock barns, and to keep as much contiguous farmland in farm production as possible.

Different regions and municipalities face different challenges and opportunities. We are seeking input on the realities of keeping rural communities vital in 2017. To join the conversation, visit our website to find dates and locations nearest to you.

A professional organization of entrepreneurial farming families

machinery

Spreading it around New fertilizer applicators rush onto the market

By Scott Garvey / CG Machinery Editor

I

n 2016, farmers were introduced to several new machines capable of meeting their fertilizer spreading needs. Among them was the new self-propelled F4365 spinner-spreader from John Deere, a highcapacity machine designed primarily for large operators and custom applicators.

The F4365 sports a 330-cubic foot New Leader dry spreader box, and can apply up to 1,100 pounds (499 kilograms) of fertilizer or 6,600 pounds (2,993 kilograms) of lime per acre. It also has the ability to variable-rate apply up to four different products in a single pass, with spread widths of 60 to 90 feet.

Under the hood, the F4365 gets one of Deere’s PowerTech PSS 9-litre diesels mated to an IVT transmission. That gives it a 46-m.p.h.

(74 km/h) road speed and maximum application speed of 30 m.p.h. (50 km/h).

“Service providers and large-scale producers can cover more acres faster, and in greater comfort, with the ability to variablerate apply up to four different fertilizers in a single pass,” says Dave Mulder, product manager with John Deere Crop Care.

Inside the CommandView III cab operators get some updated features, such as an improved seat swivel and cameras that show the field, dry box and rear spread pattern.

But for those looking for

something that can apply product across a 40- to 60-foot width without the need to maintain another self-propelled machine, Loftness, based in Hector, Minnesota, thinks it has the answer with its pull-type RC800 high-clearance row crop model. It’s an eightton, single-axle spreader with 44-inch underframe clearance to accommodate in-season applications. The RC800 includes a variable tread width from 80 to 120 inches, which should handle virtually any row-crop spacing.

At the rear are dual stainless steel spinners, which the brand claims can deliver product evenly by using a 100 per cent overlapping triangular spread pattern. The RC800 has a positive mechanical conveyor drive, rather than a friction drive wheel, and can be equipped with a hydraulic conveyor drive for variable-rate applications.

To give the RC800 some resistance to product buildup and corrosion, flat surfaces are minimized throughout, and the hopper interior has no gussets, plates or other obstructions for fertilizer to catch on.

Loftness recently introduced the RC800 which can provide a 40- to 60-foot spread pattern.

Photo: Loftness

Saskatchewan-based SeedMaster introduced its Nova Flex granular applicator attachment earlier this year, which allows the brand’s Nova SmartCarts, built for use on air drills, to do double duty as part of a fertilizer applicator. The newly designed applicator bar hooks up to any Nova air cart just as a regular air drill does, and the combination can then fall apply or top-dress granular fertilizers.

“The Nova Flex fertilizer and nutrient applicator really came out of the idea that people were sinking $300,000-plus into floaters, when they already have a highly accurate, highly technologically advanced metering system and holding tank in their yard,” says Trent Meyer, director of sales and marketing at SeedMaster.

“What it allows you to do is to time your fertilizer application, if you choose not to apply 100 per cent at seeding. With new products coming out from the fertilizer companies, this really is a cost-effective way of utilizing the assets we have on the farm.”

New from John Deere is the high-capacity F4365 dry box applicator.

Photo: Scott Garvey

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MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

The Nova Flex fertilizer applicator mates to any Nova SmartCart and allows growers to apply granular fertilizer other than during seeding.

Salford introduced a prototype 20-ton air boom spreader during Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina in June.

Photo: Scott Garvey

When connected to a Nova SmartCart, the Nova Flex applicator is capable of delivering 350 pounds (159 kilograms) of product at working speeds up to 10 m.p.h., and the Zone Control feature of the Nova carts allows for up to 10 independent control zones across the Flex bar to reduce application overlap. Inside the tractor cab, operators use the same monitor, so they don’t have to learn to use yet another system.

“Not everyone’s going to apply multiple products at the same time,” Meyer says. “But at the end of the day there is the opportunity to do that (with the Nova Flex).”

Salford was another brand to introduce something new in applicators in 2016 with its completely new 20-ton fertilizer spreader that uses a 66-foot air boom. According to Dave King, the company’s director of sales and marketing, it’s meant mainly to appeal to western Canadian growers. Salford expects this machine should create new interest in the market for dry product spreaders across the Prairies, especially among those who want to apply some fertilizer in the fall to minimize the spring workload.

Development of the new spreader — a prototype of which was first displayed at Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina in June — was the result of Salford recently taking over both the BBI and Valmar brands. That allowed the company to integrate technology from both firms and create the new, high-capacity air boom spreader.

“The units that were here in the past had less technology and features,” King notes. “And the sizes weren’t big enough.

Today, we’re offering a lot higher technology in spreaders. As a general rule, when you get to about 25 m.p.h. with wind, an air boom will perform better than a spinner.”

King adds that the brand is considering offering models with even larger boom widths in the future as it continues to refine the spreader’s design. CG

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Your next employee The solution to your labour shortage may be just waiting for you to give her a chance

By Helen Lammers-Helps

T

here’s a labour shortage on Canadian grain farms. And if industry predictions are correct, it’s only going to get worse… a lot worse.

Following a three-year study, the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) reported in 2016 that several factors will combine to create a growing shortage of domestic labour for farms.

With an anticipated growth in global demand for food, an aging workforce and fewer rural youth, it’s anticipated that 114,000 primary agriculture jobs are at risk of going unfilled by 2025.

In other words, Canada’s farmers may not be able to find employees to take one out of every four jobs that are available.

In fact, it may be even worse for the grain and oilseeds sector, which may see one of the largest labour gaps of any commodity group. While technological improvements have resulted in huge productivity gains on grain farms in recent years, and while these gains do help to offset the labour shortage, it will be a challenge to maintain this rate of productivity gain into the future, says Debra Hauer, manager of labour market information at CAHRC. Farm businesses have many unique challenges when it comes to recruiting and retaining staff. These include seasonality, variability in hours, competition with other sectors for work, remote locations, and a lack of workers with the right skills and experience.

Again, the numbers are worrying.

At 18 per cent in 2014, according to the CAHRC report, agriculture has the second highest turnover rate of any Canadian sector.

Michelle Painchaud, a Winnipeg-based human resources business consultant who specializes in agriculture, has seen this problem first-hand. “Almost every farmer across the country laments about finding labour,” she says. “This is a truly challenging issue and one that we need to address quickly.”

The agriculture industry needs to be proactive in looking for solutions to the labour shortage. A survey of farmers as part of the CAHRC study indicates the labour gap is already costing farmers lost revenue and has resulted in farmers cancelling or postponing expansion plans.

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MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

More women employees Is it possible that women could help ease the labour shortage on grain farms?

The 2016 labour force survey indicates that of the 117,000 hired farm workers, only 42,100 or 36 per cent were female. Is part of the labour pool being underutilized?

Here’s a look at some of the factors at work in this dynamic. Over the past few decades in Canada, women have increasingly pursued agriculture programs at the university level. Today they make up 60 per cent of university ag graduates.

When it comes to employment, one-half of those who work as on-farm professionals or in occupations requiring college education are women, according to the 2011 National Household Survey. (Note that women only accounted for 27 per cent of farm employees who worked in management jobs.)

But we don’t see the same trends at the diploma level. At the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus, for example, only 40 per cent of this year’s class is female, and that number drops to 30 per cent for the University of Manitoba’s ag diploma program.

Plus, when we look at the number of students in Ridgetown’s ag diploma program who are taking elective courses in field crop production and machinery maintenance (which would indicate an interest in work where those skills are required), those numbers drop to 23 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively.

But before we jump to the conclusion that women are less interested in field crop production and machinery maintenance than their male counterparts, the experts tell us we should ask whether there could be other explanations, such as not having had prior exposure to these subject areas, a lack of female mentors, or feeling uncomfortable being outnumbered by their male counterparts.

Painchaud says there are many reasons why women are under-represented on farms. Some of these barriers include the working conditions, industry reputation, sexism on the farm, and farmers not wanting to allow flexible working hours to accommodate women who still carry the brunt of responsibility for childcare.

Jeanne Bernick, a business consultant in eastern Iowa sees a similar situation in the U.S. She says there is a groundswell of women coming back to agriculture after graduating from ag programs in university.

Many of them are going into ag business, but they are under-represented on farms.

Both also say the age of the farmer can play a role, with farmers under 40 generally having more flexible attitudes about women working on the farm.

Bernick and Painchaud have authored a book called Ceres Rising to provide women with the tools they need to succeed in agriculture.

Bernick is blunt about the situation. “Although

P R E- E M E R GENT

physical strength is no longer required due to technological changes, some farmers haven’t changed their mindset; they haven’t made the leap yet,” she says.

Marg Rempel has farmed near Steinbach, Man., for more than 40 years and has always been involved at the ground level, and she has no qualms about hiring a woman. And she doesn’t think other farmers do either.

“They are used to working with female agronomists and have spouses who haul grain and run the combine,” she says.

Rempel has had trouble filling a seasonal position to do field work at her farm and knows the unpredictable hours due to the weather are a barrier for women, especially single moms, who are also responsible for childcare. A lack of childcare in rural areas exacerbates the problem, she says.

Sharon Hart, an owner of Blythe Brae Farms, a large cash crop operation near Woodstock, Ont., has known a number of women who have worked part-time combining, drying corn, planting and looking after equipment.

“It can be a great job for someone who wants to work part-time and perhaps pick up another job or travel in the winter and summer,” she says, adding, “In many cases the hours could be arranged so they could share with another operator.”

Hart says the need for training is greater than ever before. “You can’t just put anybody on a tractor or combine and expect them to do good work. We find that having another qualified employee show a new person the techniques has paid off.” As planting and harvest are very busy times, they also try to make reasonable hours for people so that they are at their optimum when working.

While hiring more women could help fill the need for more workers on grain farms, a more diverse workforce has other benefits as well. Anne Burnham, who manages the farm market and bakery at their farm near Cobourg, Ont., finds a diverse staff is advantageous. “A diversity of ages and genders is best,” she says, and she finds they bring a range of energy levels, experience and ideas to the job.

According to the CAHRC report, solving the farm labour shortage will require a co-ordinated effort by government, employers, and educational institutions. Policies, incentive, courses or other programs will be most effective, the report says, if they are accessible to all.

(Note: This article is the first in a series of articles that will explore the roles of women on the farm and strategies for recruiting and retaining female employees while building a cohesive co-ed farm team. ) CG

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brother & sister

advantage

There can be a kind of magic in a brother-sister relationship that helps them run a better farm business

By John Greig / CG Field Editor

A

small but growing number of brother-and-sister farms across Canada are rewriting the rules on how families farm together in a new spirit of gender equality.

Even more than that, though, they’re showing the rest of the industry how to step up their productivity with new management strategies that let every member of the team not only contribute at their best, but also get a charge out of their work.

Country Guide talked to three brother-sister combinations to find the source of that magic. In every case, they may be farming together partly because of what might be called the accidents of genetics and family, but there’s no accident about how they use open communications and defined roles to drive their productivity.

Nor is it any accident that they’re building their partnerships on the fact that, as brother and sister, they understand each other better than anyone else in the world.

Misty Glen Holsteins: Tom and Suzanne Pettit For the Pettits, open communication is a must, but so is having their own areas of responsibility and expertise

A

t some level, every brother-sister story is unique, and that’s certainly true of Misty Glen Farms near Belmont, Ont., where Suzanne and Tom Pettit milk about 50 cows with a robot in an efficient freestall barn built in 2012.

They’ve been making most of the cow-related decisions on the farm since they returned home to farm from Ridgetown College in 1999. Their father had been milking cows at the farm since 1957 and was more than ready to sell the cows.

“When we came home in ’99, it was a battle to get Dad to keep the cows,” says Tom during an interview in the barn office. “He had some health issues and he was getting older, and he didn’t really want to milk anymore. I remember sitting at the table with him, trying to decide if I was going to go to college or not, and I said I wouldn’t go if he was going to sell the cows. But he said I had to go, because he never went to college.

“We made a deal. I would come home on weekends and do the chores and they would do them during the week.

“When we got home in ’99, the last day of our exams is the last day they milked cows. That morning was the last one, they were done. They’ve hardly touched a cow since then.”

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MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

The Pettits are an interesting case as their father was older when he married, and their mother was a widow with two children from her first marriage.

That meant that unlike most young farmers, where the parents are still heavily involved in the farm when the children come home from school, the elder Pettits — Murray, now 78 and Betty, now 79, were ready to move towards retirement.

“My wife’s dad is 61, and still heavily involved in their operation,” says Tom. “If you have someone that age involved, they are going to take some of the responsibility away from the kids, but you also have that mentor you can work with. For us, we dove right into operating the dairy side of things.”

“He was never really the cow guy,” Suzanne says of their father. That’s unlike his children who both liked dairy farming from a young age. Suzanne was making mating decisions for the cows when she was 10 years old.

They both liked cows, but that didn’t mean they got along as children.

You see, if their story is unique in some ways, it’s also absolutely ordinary in others.

“We didn’t like each other that much when we were kids,” says Tom. “We fought a lot,” says Suzanne.

Photo: David Charlesworth

Brother and sister Tom and Suzanne Pettit didn’t grow up thinking they’d farm together, but once they hit their 20s, they started seeing how well it might work. Today, they are consistently hitting their quality and financial targets, and they have learned how to help each other perform at the top of their game

“We fought a lot until late teens, until we went away to college. Then that changed,” says Tom. The brother and sister had the unique experience of attending college at the same time, despite being almost two years apart in age.

Suzanne took a year off school after high school. She had been destined for Western University in London, “for something I didn’t want to do.” After a year at home, she was certain that she wanted to farm.

“They (her parents) were kind of against that, so it was decided that I was going to Ridgetown too,” says Suzanne.

“Even that year you were home, things were a lot better between you and me,” says Tom. “A lot of it is just maturity and growing up. You see that a lot with brothers and sisters and brothers and brothers. They don’t get along growing up and once they hit 18 or 20 they realize that ‘hey, wait a minute, this is stupid.’”

“We were both headed in the same direc­ tion,” says Suzanne.

Now, 19 years later, Tom, 36 and Suz­ anne, 38, have together built one of the high­ est-producing herds in Elgin County, and they have already met some of their cow

classification goals. They worked hard in the old high-labour tie-stall barn to pay off the farm they bought after returning home, and then built the modern, cow-friendly, labour-efficient barn that has dramatically improved their lifestyle. They have increased their per cow production by more than 25 per cent since they moved into the new barn.

Their father is still consulted on financial decisions, such as the new tractor purchased last spring, but day-to-day decision-making has all fallen to Suzanne and Tom. They’ve established their individual roles, and they have a rapport that you can hear in the way they almost finish each other’s sentences.

“We generally keep things calm,” says Suzanne. “… Or comical,” says Tom. Suzanne: “We go with more laughing than yelling.”

Tom: “It’s better that way.”

Suzanne: “It works out better.”

Tom: “No more punching.”

Suzanne: “We got rid of that when we were growing up.”

Continued on page 12

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

11

BUSINESS

Separate roles Tom and Suzanne gradually developed separate roles on the farm, even though they say they never sat down to divide up the work.

Now, it’s one of their chief pieces of advice to other brothers and sisters.

“Find what you’re good at in the operation,” says Suzanne. “It’s good to have your own bit, an area that’s yours. You can still have discussions, but have your own bit that you are in charge of.”

On the Pettit farm, Suzanne manages the cows, does all the feeding, and maintains records. And while they discuss breeding decisions on cows, Suzanne will have the research done and the bull semen in stock in their storage tank ready to go.

Tom, meanwhile, is responsible for the equipment and the crops, and he does the day-to-day financial accounting as well.

Tom is also first in the barn in the morning and Suzanne does the late evening barn checks and last calf feeding so that Tom can spend time with his family. Tom lives off the farm with his wife Kris and daughters Maddie, 11 and Kadie, 9. Hours were longer and inflexible before the robot milked the cows.

“There’s no point in trying to do everything. I think that’s where most siblings get into trouble,” says Tom. “They both want to do the exact same thing and they don’t agree on it. And they fight. We don’t run into that issue.”

His family helps out on the farm when they can. Kris is a registered nurse and came from a farm, so she understands the work and the demands that it makes. Tom and Suzanne agree that it is important that Kris and Suzanne get along well.

Decision time So how are decisions made on the farm? It’s all about communication and discussion.

“We’ve never really had a disagreement about anything like that,” says Tom. “We just sit down and… when it comes to the cow thing, we’ve always been on the same page as far as the cows go. Do we need to get rid of this cow, or do we need to do something to this cow? If there’s something wrong, we’ll sit down and make a decision.”

On a smaller farm with large overhead in a new barn, the decisions need to be well researched. The new tractor that arrived in the spring had been discussed for four years.

“If we didn’t get along well, it would make everything more difficult. You need to make the right decision and work together on it. If you’re always butting heads, the right decision doesn’t usually get made,” says Tom, who warns that it wouldn’t work if one sibling was overly domineering, since resentment would build.

It’s also essential to work hard at succession planning, says Suzanne. Most brother-sister situations will involve parents and succession, she says.

“Succession planning and figuring out how to handle that is an important aspect to keeping the entirety of the family in balance or else it can get kind of messy,” she says.

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Jockbrae Farms: Melinda Foster-Marshall and Mark Foster Just because they’re siblings doesn’t mean Melinda and Mark instantly agree on everything. But they have a system for finding common ground, and once they’ve found it, they commit

M

ark Foster and his sister Melinda Foster-Marshall never thought they’d be farming together. They had different personalities and routes through high school, but they have created roles and responsibilities and processes that are allowing their individual strengths to create a successful farming business.

Melinda has a degree in geological sciences from Queen’s University and was a self-described “book nerd” in high school. She manages the dairy operation. Mark came home to farm soon after high school after spending some time working in construction, and he thrives by connecting with customers as the manager of their cropping and DeKalb seed dealership businesses.

The Fosters and their parents Jim and Lynda are each one-third shareholders in Jockbrae Farms where the family milks about 120 cows and cultivates about 1,600 acres near Carleton Place, Ont. Country Guide interviewed the Fosters in our April 2013 issue, and we returned this winter to catch up with Melinda and Mark on how it was going working together as brother and sister. Mostly, the extra years have only reinforced their initial insights, especially about the importance of giving each individual an area to be in charge of, and the over-arching need to create a structure that ensures good communication.

For the Fosters, that structure provides a foundation for the farm and the way it is farmed. “Communication is most definitely a challenge,” says Mark. “Melinda and I have daily phone conversations about that day’s events and what’s to come the next. Keeping in constant communication is key to success.”

Importantly, regular communication helps build transparency among the farm owners.

The shareholders also have regular meetings, complete with motions and minutes, so that everyone knows who is responsible for what and there is accountability for those actions.

“Bigger decisions are made with the four business partners discussing everything together. Every opinion is important and heard.

All four of us stand behind a decision once it’s taken,” says Mark.

“Usually our disagreeing happens in our meetings. If we don’t agree, we ask questions,” says Melinda. “We always leave our meetings from a common ground.”

Day-to-day decisions are entrusted to the person in charge of each operation.

“It’s incredibly important for any partners, brothers and sisters or whatever, that they have their own defined roles, so day-to-day decision making can happen without having to discuss every single thing,” she says.

It’s also important so they can maintain their passion for the farm.

“I discovered a love for the business at an early age, watching my mom and dad farm,” Mark says. “I knew I wanted to be a part of it all.”

Melinda, on the other hand, was not destined for a farming career.

Photography: Robin Andrew • Unposed photography

Working together as brother and sister might be even easier than making a partnership between two brothers work, Mark and Melinda think. But it still requires a balance of trusting each other to be there for the farm, but giving them enough space to be their own people

She says she had an affinity for agriculture having grown up on the farm, but she was headed for a career in the oil sector, likely in Western Canada. Then, during the summer before her last year of university, the family bought a second dairy farm, a nearby ongoing dairy operation.

Their business plan was built upon transferring 20 kgs of quota from the home farm to the purchased farm and selling off the remaining home farm quota to help support the purchase. Their plans quickly changed in the midst of closing the deal when Dairy Farmers of Ontario made a policy change disallowing quota mergers. For the Fosters this would necessitate milking in both facilities, managing two herds and doubling their land base. There was a lot to do during this transition period, so Melinda came home for the summer and starting making more management decisions.

She found she was challenged and excited by the level of decision-making that was needed on the farm.

“I told Dad in high school that if farming was an intellectual career, I think I would have enjoyed it,” she says. “Since then, I’ve apologized and said, ‘Sorry, Dad. I use all my faculties every day in managing this.’”

After they built up enough quota at the other farm they consolidated the cows, moving the purebred herd from home into the newer facilities of the second dairy they had purchased. It was a challenging time for the business, but the adversity and complexity of managing two dairies, doubling land base and starting a DeKalb dealership has served them well.Melinda, 28, now lives at that farm with her daughter and husband Allen Marshall, while her parents and Mark have homes at the family’s original farm. Mark, 30, is married to Kaitlyn and they have three children.

Mark handles the rapidly growing DeKalb dealership, which now requires at least one full-time person. He’s helped out by his wife who also does the books for the farm, along with their mother. Their mother, Lynda, is the “controller,” who helps keeps the younger generation grounded. Their father Jim, is now raising the heifers and is a “gopher” who helps out where it is needed, whether running for parts, driving a grain buggy or helping deliver a calf. Mark and Continued on page 14

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

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BUSINESS

Melinda have two older siblings who are about 40 and who both work off the farm.

This year they installed Lely robots to milk the cows, something Melinda says they would “do again in a heartbeat and should have done years ago.”

It was a big business decision, and when one of the partners has a significant proposal they have to bring a business plan to a meeting of the partners for discussion and approval. As the business has tripled in size in the past six years, they have had to create stronger accounting systems, with better expense itemization. That’s meant they have the ability to quickly sort out precise expenses on which to build business cases, which leads to better informed decision making.

Managing the resources needed to handle the growing DeKalb dealership has also been challenging. Their full-time employee and operations manager Scott Sergeant also helps with the dealership, as well as taking on more crops responsibilities.

Mark has driven growth of the DeKalb dealership. “He’s the type of individual everybody likes and looks up to. He’s a good salesperson and supports his product,” says Melinda. “But, we would not be where we are today without the support of our community, neighbours and employees.”

Melinda believes there are advantages to being a brother and sister farming together.

“I think it is easier for us to maintain our brother and sister first relationship than it would be for two brothers, because two brothers, from a stereotypical standpoint, might be harder-headed and might not be able to come to the same playing field. It requires one of two partners to back down and empathize with the other in order to get things moving.”

It took a while for them to recognize each other’s decision-making styles, but they have come to have confidence and trust that they each have the best interests of the business at the core of their decisions.

“It’s amazing where life takes you,” says Melinda. “But I’m very happy that I am able to farm with my brother, and it’s an honour to be able to work and learn from our parents on a daily basis.”

“I am really glad it has worked out,” says Mark. “We have to respect that we are each individuals, with goals and aspirations, and realize we need to work for the good of the farm.”

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Leguee Farms: Jack and Sarah Leguee Off-farm work and a five-year plan helped this brother and sister team prepare for the non-stop challenges of farming

L

eguee Farms has also found a balance that allows it to grow and succeed in Saskatchewan in grains and oilseeds. Communication and defined roles enable the family to run a large business together, and also to live nearby and have harmony during family get togethers.

Unlike Misty Glen, Jake and Sarah Leguee’s father Russ is still heavily involved in the everyday operation of the farm. That means they have the advantage of his years of experience and operations knowledge, while allowing Russ, who is still in his 50s, to grow his hobbies, including tractor pulling.

Jake and Sarah never really went through a decision process to determine if they would farm — they both say they always knew they would be back home farming, as long as the farm business was large enough to sustain them and their families.

The farm has continued to grow, topping out at the current 12,000 acres.

“I knew when I was in high school that I wanted to farm,” says Sarah. “Mom and Dad and I talked about it quite a bit, and we came up with a five-year plan.”

Sarah, the eldest, was the first to exercise the family plan of working off the farm. She got her education at Old’s College in Alberta, studying egg production and egg business. Livestock was her first farming choice, but she got hired on at a John Deere dealership and a truck shop, working in service and parts.

“I learned how to deal with customers, how systems work,” she says, and she also learned to see the value of bringing those skills back to the farm.

Sarah, 31, encourages other young women, including those she’s coached in basketball, to expand their horizons before they come back to the farm.

Jake, 28, also worked off the farm for a while after completing his agronomy degree at the University of Saskatchewan, becoming an agronomist for a local

crop retail company. He also continued to work at the farm and “I decided I couldn’t do two full-time jobs,” he says.

By that point the farm was growing enough for him to return home and continue his focus on agronomy. Jake has recently added a DuPont Pioneer dealership to his work.

There was never much question that Sarah would take an active role in the farm. She always been encouraged by her parents, and her mother and grandmother had played active roles in the farm before her. She also always had the same roles available and responsibilities given to her as her brother. “When we were growing up, Dad didn’t treat me any different.

Mom drove the combine and drove the truck. Dad never made me do something because I’m a girl,” she says.

Their younger sister Amber Nikolejsin is a nurse, but she will help on the farm and run a grain cart when needed.

As with the Pettits, the fact that Sarah and Jake have different skill sets has helped them find roles on the farm where they can have some control.

Sarah, with her Class 1A truck licence, spends more time managing the shop and keeping the hired help busy. She helps with maintenance including creating record-keeping systems for the farm that now includes multiple units of similar equipment such as combines.

Their father was trained as a heavy equipment mechanic, and Sarah says she continues to learn from him.

“If there’s a way to do something that seems impossible, he’ll probably find it,” she says.

Sarah was heavily involved with cattle when the farm was more diversified. The cattle were sold around the time she graduated. She says she’s learned to appreciate the grain farm, but still manages to get her cattle fix by helping friends.

Continued on page 16

soil matters

Three Cover Crop Tips from No-Tiller Cameron Mills

by Laura Barrera. Originally published in the No-Till Farmer — Cover Crops

After nearly a decade of using cover crops, Cameron Mills has the experience to say what works and what doesn’t for his 3,500-acre no-till farm.

Here three tips Mills shares for growers looking to add covers to their system.

1. Don’t worry about the color of your corn when aerial seeding cover crops Some may say the corn should be defoliated or brown to the ear, but Mills doesn’t worry about this when he aerial seeds his covers crops. He aerially seeds most of his covers because he has limited time after harvest — and waiting until the corn is a certain color may prevent covers from getting seeded, he says.

For example, one year his grain corn was still green and at 30% moisture on November 1, and he didn’t finish harvest until Mid-December.

“Had we not aerially applied that year in standing corn, we wouldn’t have had any cover crops whatsoever,” he says. “They were shorter and not as lush, but we had covers seeded, they overwintered and we had a pretty good stand overall.”

In his area, aerial seeding usually takes place the last week of August and first week of September. If it gets past September 10 he won’t fly any more on because he knows he won’t see the value in it.

2. Consider rapeseed over radishes.

Mills says radishes can be a very effective cover crop if seeded and used properly, but a problem he often sees is growers trying to seed them too late. He recommends using them behind corn silage, wheat and after early harvest.

An alternative brassica he prefers is rapeseed, which he likes to mix with annual ryegrass. Unlike radishes, the rapeseed will overwinter in his area, and he likes how its course root system complements the fine root system of annual ryegrass.

Rapeseed is also more economical than radishes, he says. One pound of radish seed is $2.50 and contains 28,000 seeds, while rapeseed is about a third of the cost and provides 160,000 seeds per pound.

3. Kill annual ryegrass when it’s actively growing.

Mills knows there’s a lot of horror stories about terminating annual ryegrass. Having worked with it for several years, he says the No. 1 mistake growers make is spraying it before it’s actively growing.

“Think about your yard,” he says. “It turns green in the spring and yet it doesn’t need to be mowed. That’s kind of like annual ryegrass. It’ll turn green and it doesn’t need to be sprayed.”

Instead, growers need to wait until a nice, sunny day after the cover has a couple inches of top growth on it.

“It’s hard to wait because you’re thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s getting out of control,’” he says. “But you will have much better success letting that stuff actively grow, then going in and spraying it.”

He recommends spraying between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. so the chemicals can translocate before it gets dark.

Mills provides more information on terminating annual ryegrass in a free webinar, “Properly Controlling An Annual Ryegrass Cover Crop … And More Helpful Tips,” available on the No Till Farmer website at: https://www.no-tillfarmer.com/articles/4348-webinarproperly-controlling-an-annual-ryegrass-cover-cropand-more-helpful-tips.

We are grassroots, farmer led and focused on soil health…...www.ifao.com……519-986-3560

Photography: William DeKay • THE WESTERN PRODUCER

BUSINESS

Of course, everyone wants to say it’s all sunshine and rainbows,” says Sarah. But she and Jake agree it’s important they not let anything simmer

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“I spend more time in the office than Sarah does,” says Jake, who looks after marketing and finances, examining cost of production and financial ratios. As the family agronomist, he’s also in charge of creating cropping and nutrient plans.

Their dad is the day-to-day manager, with years of experience in the logistics of seeding, harvesting and getting the grain to market. He’s the glue that brings Sarah and Jake together and he continues to help make strategic decisions on the farm.

“He’s very involved,” says Jake.

Communication and input are important on the farm, with regular meetings planned for discussion, although Jake admits it is hard to get those in during seeding and harvest. The family gets together every Friday evening at their parents’ house for pizza. That includes Jake’s family, wife Stephanie and year-old son Asher, as well as their sister Amber, her husband Erik and son Dax who come in from town.

“We can sit around and have a drink and have some pizza,” says Sarah. “We don’t have to hang out because we have to, we hang out because we want to.”

The family also all enjoys curling, including playing together on the same teams.

Sarah lives on the same quarter section as her mom and dad and Jake lives on the next quarter over, so they live close together, along with working close together.

Decision-making When decisions need to be made, it is important to get everyone’s input.

“We’re in contact with each other a lot to decide what the right plan is,” says Jake.

“We let each other know that we’re not happy about something. If someone is left out of decisions, we bring it up. If you let it simmer it creates resentment, then it comes out in a not-so-nice a way.”

“Of course everyone wants to say it’s all sunshine and rainbows,” says Sarah. “We do argue here and there… When we work up to 14 to 15 hours, tempers can get a little higher, but I think we get along fairly well.”

Jake and Sarah say they don’t know if working with a sibling of the same sex would be different. “I’ve never had a brother,” says Jake. “It is what it is. I’ve never really had anything different.” 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

benefits of Collaboration

By Liz RoBeRtson, M.A. CAFA exeCutive diReCtoR

Collaboration: the action of working with someone to produce or create something.

T

he Canadian Association of Farm Advisors (CAFA) believes collaboration is a win-win with benefits such as: • the opportunity to create something; • the opportunity to share resources; • the opportunity to learn CAFA’s objective is to increase the skills and knowledge of farm advisors to better assist their farm clients. To achieve this, we recognize and acknowledge that no single farm advisor has the knowledge and resources to truly serve the needs of Canada’s complex agribusinesses.

We encourage and promote multidisciplinary collaborative advisory teams for better solutions for our farm families and businesses. It is far more productive — and cost-efficient — when a farm’s accountant, lawyer, banker, financial planner or others work together as a team.

We have multidisciplinary advisory teams working together with one or more shared clients, with members on the other side of the province or across the country. Each says

how much better teamwork is for everyone involved. At our Farm Update Series, CAFA members share their expertise with others in a collaborative learning environment, so everyone benefits.

CAFA also works collaboratively with other associations and looking to work with more: the provincial institutes of agrology, with whom we share some members, the Agri-Food Council in Alberta, the Agrifood Management Institute in Ontario, the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association and the Junior Farmers Association of Ontario. Nationally, CAFA works with others including the Canadian Association of Agri-Retailers, the Canadian Agriculture Human Resource Council,

Farm Management Canada, the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association, Canada’s Young Farmers Forum, Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers, Ag in the Classroom, Farm and Food Care, 4-H and provincial farm lobby groups.

By working collaboratively with such organizations, everything we do is enhanced by their specialized (and complementary) services and resources: better solutions, access to more resources and always, discovering ways to improve.

Canadian farmers have a wealth of resources and services available to assist with everything from farm management and family communication issues through contracts, human resources and farm transition planning. When these advisors work as a team, they create better solutions.

When the industry works together as a team, they create something unstoppable — great Canadian farmers!

As Ken Blanchard, author and management expert once said, “None of us is as smart as all of us.”

CAFA is Canada’s only national network of Certified Agricultural Farm Advisors. To learn more about CAFA or to hire the professional services of a CAFA member, please visit www. cafanet.ca or contact us directly at info@ cafanet.com or 1-877-474-2871

CAFA MeMbers Are the Most vAluAble And trusted FArM Advisors in CAnAdA March 23, 2017 Farm Succession Update, Ottawa. Finally, an information day in Eastern Ontario focusing on farm succession! Plenty of great insights and a unique networking opportunity. http://www.cafanet.ca June 8: Woodstock, ON: CAFA’s ever popular Farm Update. Details announced soon.

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

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BUSINESS

A capital plan The 10-year capital acquisition plan they’ve created for their farm gives the Semeniuks a decision-making boost, plus more resilience

By Maggie Van Camp / CG Senior Editor

I

Gabrielle (11), came for breakfast, the Semeniuks knew fairly accurately where their 4,000-acre grain farm would be financially on August 31, 2017.

By the time the snowplow had cleared their road, they had looked at their annual budget and also revisited their overall strategic plan, including their 10-year capital acquisition plan. It gave them a guideline, a sort of roadmap to follow. “We knew what we needed to do and how to change to get through it,” says Robert.

A few days after the untimely snowfall, and after they’d done another round of number crunching, Angela called to set up a meeting with their bank’s loans manager. Once the manager saw the numbers, he was completely onside.

Photography Hayley Prusko

n early October, Robert and Angela Semeniuk woke to deep snow blanketing their picturesque farm at Smoky Lake, north of Edmonton. Their hearts sank. Silence had descended on a scene that was supposed to be humming with harvest, leaving more than half of their canola in the field.

But on that cold, grey fall morning, the Semeniuks didn’t crawl back into bed with a groan and pull the sheets over their heads. Instead, they turned on their computers, called up their spreadsheets, and started crunching new numbers.

They poured over Angela’s monthly updates of 18-month cash-flow statements as they drank their coffee. By the time their two children, Tristan (9) and

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Robert grew up listening to his dad during the 1980s. “He always said not to hide anything from creditors.”

The couple says knowing the numbers builds confidence so it’s easier to talk to their lending institutions, and to develop a good working relationship. And it’s easier to sleep at night. “We’re in a high-capital business and a high-debt business,” says Robert. “Making sure our creditors know our business is our job, our responsibility.”

In return, the couple expects their bank to understand their business and how RAS Family Farms strives to be better than the provincial average in production, financial management and marketing.

“They need to be a partner in our business,” says Robert.

Beyond their cash-flow statement, developed with their crop planning budgets, they also have a marketing plan and overall annual budgets, including a breakdown of the payments of loans and leases. Soon they hope to connect and directly link all these spreadsheets under one platform.

The vision and mission statements they wrote a decade ago have been an overarching guide, even when they made major changes. “Funny, every decision we’ve made, if you go back, it follows that vision. Even though we don’t always look it up or refer to it, it’s what drives us,” says Robert.

Planning has been the top contributor to their success. More specifically, this is a farm where planning, goal-setting and the numbers decide instead of emotions, says Angela, a chartered professional accountant.

“If you take the time to plan, it focuses your future and will help you see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

“It’s given us something concrete to focus on,” Angela adds. “It doesn’t have to be 100 per cent correct right off the start, it’s evolving… But you have to write it down.”

The CAP The original idea of a farm capital acquisition plan (CAP) came during the first few years they farmed, when Angela worked with the local municipality. Part of her job was to create a five-year capital acquisition plan, (for buildings, replacing graders, etc.) and the councillors then reviewed this document and incorporated it into their yearly budgets.

Continued on page 20

Alberta farmers Robert and Angela Semeniuk use a 10-year capital acquisition plan to keep on target with key production and financial objectives for their farm. The plan forces them to closely look at the impact of land and machinery expenditures on their cash flow… and their creditors love it COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

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Start planning Having and updating a formal written business plan helps farmers invest in what works to achieve their specific goals, and positions their farms to seize new opportunities.

According to Agri-Food Management Institute and Farm Management Council’s commissioned research Dollars and Sense: Measuring the Tangible Impacts of Beneficial Business Practices on Canadian Farms, top farmers from across Canada and all sectors write down their business plan, follow it and review it annually. In fact, they’re 50 per cent more likely to have and follow a formal business plan, monitor and use their costs of production, assess and manage their risks, and have a sound financial plan that includes budget goals.

However, according to a recent AMI Ispos Reid survey of Ontario farms, only about a fifth of farmers (i.e. 19 per cent) have a written formal business plan.

AMI executive director Ashley Honsberger says developing a business plan can be a way to start some important conversations and may help unite people around a common vision. “Starting with a blank slate is tough,” says Honsberger.

AMI is trying to make it easier for farmers to do a basic business plan, which is often the first step to other planning such as succession or human resource plans.

There are many business plan templates available online with varying degrees of complexity.

Honsberger suggests that farmers without a business plan can start the process by doing some self-analysis on the AMI business scorecard found at www.takeanewapproach. Or you can also go to AMI’s new website, www.pledgetoplan.ca, to order a resource kit that breaks down the tasks by season.

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After Rob and Angela took the CTEAM program seven years ago, Angela decided to create a 10-year capital acquisition spreadsheet for RAS Family Farms to connect to their annual budget and their overall strategic planning. “Anyone can do it,” says Angela, “You don’t need to be an accountant.”

The 10-year CAP is a spreadsheet strategy of how they will buy or lease equipment and land. It’s based on the farm’s needs and approximate costs, equipment turnover rates and their budget, all guided by their overall strategic plan Of course, grain farmers can’t depend on the kind of predictable income that a municipality gets to work with. Farm income varies, and the timing of expenses has to be variable too. For instance, the Semeniuks use a lot of used equipment so they have to be able to replace when good quality deals become available, not necessarily when a machine is due to be replaced. It all means they have to be flexible. “It (their CAP) is very much a living document,” says Robert.

For example, although they have a goal of replacing combines every five years, lately they’ve been doing it every three to four years because of trade-in values, the Canadian dollar value, interest rates, availability, and new technology.

However, year-end income tax position doesn’t come into play with their machinery purchasing decisions. They’ve set up

proper lines of credit and calculate how much they’d save in income tax versus paying interest. “Why spend money on capital (that you can only depreciate for half the first year anyway) when you can pre-buy (other direct inputs)?” asks Angela.

It is important to them to stay on top of their equipment needs. The Semeniuks carefully track the repair and maintenance costs of all their equipment so they can see the trends and then red-flag anomalies, particularly if one starts to cost them.

Their machinery turnover spreadsheet contains the basic details about the piece, things like its age and the year it was purchased, the purchase price, where it was financed, whether it was a loan or a lease, and the terms including payments per year, interest rates, and any additional notes about the deal.

Their CAP acts as a guideline and forces a level of accountability, all backed up by these numbers.

They update it at least once a year, so that when things come up, it can help them determine if a purchase makes sense, knowing that it’s easy to get enticed by a good deal, some new paint or new technology. Having this plan forces them to take a step back and look at the impact of the potential purchase on their financial plans and consider if there’s a better way to do it.

It’s a black and white voice of reason in a business full of green and red opportunities. “I’m always talking about doing something,” admits Robert. “This adds a level of patience… and yes, accountability.”

Plugging the numbers into a spreadsheet not only forces them to avoid knee-jerk purchases but also to look at different options. For example, if it’s time to replace a tractor, Angela can quickly compare the purchase price to leasing options and they can see the impact each choice will have on their cash flow.

“Numbers don’t lie,” says Robert. “It has to make sense.

And sometimes you have to say no, even if it is on the (CAP) plan.”

When Angela lists their machinery inventory, about half is leased, including two combines, a large front-wheel assist tractor, their sprayer and the tank part of their air drill. It took months to make a decision about replacing their seeding equipment because they looked at multiple options. It was a huge capital investment, and Angela compared five different combinations of leasing and purchasing and how each had an impact on the payments and their overall cash flow.

They also work closely with their local equipment salesman, who knows their general plans but not full disclosure. He knows enough of their plans to keep an eye out for good used equipment they’re planning to replace. Plus he knows the couple will need more details and options before they decide to go ahead.

“You still have to shop around,” says Robert.

However, having a CAP doesn’t mean they’re hand-

cuffed by numbers. If a good deal comes along before they are planning to replace, it can still happen. They just have a process in place that forces them to stop and see the impact this detour from their CAP will have on their farm’s financial position.

“It’s sometimes annoying when I want to buy something,” laughs Robert. “Even when I come up with crazy scenarios to convince us that we should buy it, you can’t make the numbers up. They don’t lie. ” Although Robert is a self-professed gadget guy, he says with new technology it’s often difficult to see the value in the numbers. For example, sectional controls on a sprayer provide directly measurable savings, but syncing the grain cart to the combine, even though it increases overall harvest efficiency, is difficult to define in dollars.

Plus, it’s next to impossible to forecast 10 years from now and budget based on what new technology will be available and how much it will cost.

Strategic plan A decade after first writing a strategic plan, the Semeniuks are starting to work on a major revision. Meantime, however, farmland prices have soared in Alberta, and farmland availability has declined. So instead of expanding, they switched the plan to diversify into more direct contracts and specialized crops.

Today, the Semeniuks grow wheat and malt barley (on direct contract), and sometimes oats, peas and canola — both commercial and specialty oil varieties.

“We need to grow specialized crops to stay competitive,” says Robert.

“Not having the Wheat Board control everything has opened up more direct marketing opportunities for us,” adds Angela.

Until the beginning of last year, they also had a fiveyear-old sideline business: custom applying fertilizer.

However, the numbers spoke again, and they decided to shut down that enterprise.

Although this enterprise helped with summer cash flow, it wasn’t contributing to their farm’s bottom line.

It was time to replace the floaters, but with the current competition putting downward pressure on the number of acres available to spread and the margins per acre, the floaters wouldn’t pay for themselves.

The Semeniuks hope to start planning another additional enterprise with the 10-year strategic plan they are working on this winter, along with a clear eye on expansion. They also hope to eventually buy some land from retiring landlords, increasing their owned:leased ratio and locking in more of their production base.

The next strategy will also involve succession to potentially accommodate another generation. That generation would be the fifth generation of the family on their farm. “The land is our retirement, or our legacy,” says Robert. CG COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

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BUSINESS

Succession shocker The percentage of farm families with a succession plan is going down. That’s right — DOWN! — even though those same families still see succession planning as crucial to success

By Maggie Van Camp / CG Senior Editor

T

he day I caught up with famed farm family coach, Elaine Froese, she had already had two conversations with families who cannot bring sibling partners to the table. Phrases like “avoidance of conflict,” “bullying” and “silence is a form of violence” tumble out of her.

“Procrastination and conflict avoidance are the root of the issue for farm families being stuck,” says Froese.

And more farm families are getting stuck.

Compared to five years ago, the percentage of farms with a farm succession plan has dropped from 20 to 16 per cent. The 2016 Agri-Food Management Institute survey of Ontario farmers found 84 per cent of the farms lack succession plans.

Yet on those farms, succession planning was in their overall top three goals, right after profitability and debt reduction.

One stumbling block is that succession planning involves talking about death and finances, topics that families often avoid. Even thinking about losing a loved one can be painful and terrifying, and discussions about estate plans can be loaded with a whole other basket of emotions.

As well, the younger generation knows the farm is loaded with value — financial, traditional and emo-

The big mistake is to try to keep emotions out of your discussions about the future of the farm, Froese says. Hopes and dreams have to be part of the conversation. But also use proven methods to keep the talk civil and positive 22

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

tional — and they know it’s something the parents have worked so hard on, so they’re intimidated by the thought of actually asking for it. And some parents, who maybe are finally feeling financially stable, are frightened that talking about transition will rock the boat again or take it in a riskier direction.

Young farmers are always asking Froese for tools to get the succession conversation started. “Some young farmers are scared to talk to their parents out of a sense of respect and not wanting to seem pushy,” she says.

However, these young farmers have so much at stake.

They need things to be discussed openly, and they cannot keep their plans on hold forever.

Often, says Froese, they simply want to explore the timelines for the plan.

To help farm families struggling with succession, Froese and Megan McKenzie, both from Boissevain, Man., have joined forces to develop a new online course, called Getting Farm Transition Unstuck. It’s available at elainefroese.com/unstuck/ and costs about $750.

Although many farm production or tax specialists say the best course of action is to deal with the business and keep the emotion out of it, over the years of helping families Froese has found the exact opposite to be true.

“Deal with the emotional factors affecting planning first, and then you’ll have a great foundation for being clear on expectations, creating timelines for agreements, and a commitment to action,” she says.

Before plans can be effectively created there must be transparent, honest, clear conversation that attacks specific issues, not the people, Froese says. A foundation of trust and understanding is required for each generation to negotiate what they want to see happen with the future of the farm.

Negotiating succession can’t be approached like bickering for the best deal on a used tractor, Froese continues. Instead it requires giving and taking with respect, and it requires expressing emotion, plus seeing the needs of the others. To be able to do this well takes an understanding of constructive conflict behaviours, such as seeing things from another’s perspective, express-

ing emotions, adapting, creating solutions, reaching out, reflective thinking, and delaying responses, which Froese says is different than stomping away mad to the shop.

Froese tells families to resist the urge to jump to the decision-making stage. Take some time for easier information-gathering

conversations. “Farmers love to wheel and deal, but they are not fond of disclosing their fears, wants, needs and emotions,” she says. “That’s where good facilitators hold the sacred space of deep sharing of core values.”

Talk openly about what the business means to each family member. Also, talk

about the fun memories on the farm or ranch, about the legacy created by hard work and sacrifice.

Help everyone share the hopes and dreams for the future.

Continued on page 24

8 do’s and don’ts of succession conversations In her long career helping farm families, succession specialist Elaine Froese has found certain words and actions can help launch the succession process, while others can quickly distract or even permanently stop the process.

Don’ts 1. Don’t wait for a crisis before you start the conversation. It might be too late to make adequate plans, and family members may not feel emotionally able to talk.

Pick a positive, comfortable environment during a period of relative calm.

2. Do not gossip. Instead of talking through other people, speak directly to the person involved. Better still, have formalized discussions to unpack tough issues.

3. Do not try to read people’s minds.

Assumptions create confusion and mistrust. Look each other in the eye and ask deeper “What if?” questions.

4. Do not expect the other person to start The do’s 1. D o know the retiring farm couple’s income stream needs. Where do they want to live? What’s the size of their personal wealth?

2. D o know the financial viability of the farm and share it with the next generation. How many families, and at what lifestyle income level, can this farm business support? The older generation should share farm financial information with the next generation.

Froese says knowing about debt servicing, cash flow and input costs is a great education in reality for teens.

3. D o come with a workable vision. The older generation couple should start by agreeing together before they even talk to successors. Froese says farmers often reject thinking about the future because of fear of getting older and change.

the conversation. Either generation may get things going. Keep in mind that it’s just a conversation. It does not need to reach a conclusion. Initially, think of it more as an information-finding mission.

5. Do not expect your advisers to come up with all the solutions. “They can give guidance, but ultimately the choices are yours as the owners to make the decisions that work best for you,” says Froese.

6. Do not use abrasive comments or language. The next generation needs to show up with respectful behaviour and gratitude for the opportunity being given, says Froese. Strong words can shut the conversation down. “Do not use ‘you always’ or ‘you never’,” she says.

4. D o clearly state why you’re initiating these talks. This might include why you want to get involved in helping make transition plans, for example, out of concern that proper plans are in place and understood. Stress the importance and benefits of this conversation to everyone.

5. D o use someone else’s story to get started. Real stories can be big motivators. Froese finds it helps to normalize the fears and the apprehensions families feel when they ask for help. She lets her clients know she has seen this many times before and they’re not alone.

6. D o listen actively, and carefully respond to concerns. It’s important to keep moving forward. Start it up softly with “I’ve been thinking… ” statements.

7. Do not assume or enforce an age restriction. Age is not an indicator of passion. It depends on what each person brings to the discussion.

8. Do not keep family secrets or surprises.

It’s a sign of family trust and respect to let the non-farming children hear the passion and vision for the farm business plan.

They’re very astute as to the players, personalities and issues, and can be a great resource for creating solutions.

Let them decide the level of involvement they want. “They probably have other skills that can translate to great support for the farm, for example, internet research, strategic thinking, systems and process management,” says Froese.

7. D o ask more powerful questions.

“What do you want...?” or “What if?” questions. Froese suggests keeping notes on your phone or on paper as new solutions strike you and actively look and compile transition ideas from advisers, magazines and examples of other successful farm transitions.

8. Do understand debt. How much debt can the next generation have and still sleep at night, as they are going to be shouldering the debt of buying out some assets. Some assets will be gifted, but don’t expect it all to come your way. The non-farm heirs can have assets like land that they lease to the farm kids with long-term rental.

Recommended Reading: Crucial Conversations by Kelly Patterson

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

23

BUSINESS

As you go forward…

Do choose successors based on their skill sets and their passion to manage farm risk, not gender or birth order.

“This is 2017; daughters can run farms,” says Froese.

Also encourage potential successors to work for a non-family member for a few years.

Do start by setting down a timeline. “Deadlines make people think,” says Froese. For instance, consider saying, “We need to know by the time you are age 27 whether you are going to be a committed member of this farm team. Would you like to start owning some equity, or would you like to do an enterprise project to get started farming, such as cropping, custom spraying or owning livestock?”

The goal, says Froese, is to start with a business plan that the young farmer can tweak and manage to get some “skin in the game.”

Do have a family meeting with the non-farming heirs shortly after the process starts. They’re curious and engaged, and might be willing and able to help. If they are concerned about who is getting the best deal, ask if they’re willing to take on the risks that the farming siblings are taking on. How much is enough? What do they realistically expect the farm to give them?

But do know that money does not equal love. Some folks are never happy no matter how much they are given, and each person needs to be clear about what money means to them. They may also need to learn to accept that a farm kid who has toiled alongside their parents for years deserves a chance to take over.

Equally, the child who is going to carry on with the farm is not responsible for the wealth of the siblings, but could be raised in a culture of making sure everyone is doing well. In one family, for instance, they have prom-

IT PAYS to Study Ag

Resist the urge to jump into decision-making mode, says Froese. Instead, view your first discussions as opportunities for gathering information about your family’s hopes and dreams ised to be a financial safety net for an urban sibling who has been divorced.

“There are many ways to distribute wealth,” says Froese, “but one of the best ways is with a warm hand as parents, so you can explain your intent for the gift, and the recipient can say thank you and grow the gift.”

Some individuals will never be happy no matter what is decided. If there are some in your family, at some point you will have to let that angst go.

Do consider hiring a facilitator, though. As the family detective, facilitators like Froese use private conversations to find out everyone’s expectations. But remember, conversations about inheritance expectations are easier when life insurance and good financial personal wealth plans are in place, and when the founders don’t need a huge income stream ongoing from the farm.

And do also have patience. You will need many conversations and explorations about how each passionate person perceives their role within the bigger-picture legacy for the farm “This is a long process of unfolding ideas and putting a new business plan puzzle together,” says Froese. “It’s not a Roundup quick-fix solution.” CG

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24

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

SOIL CONSERVATION COUNCIL OF CANADA CONSEIL CANADIEN DE CONSERVATION DES SOLS SOIL CONSERVATION COUNCIL OF CANADA CONSEIL CANADIEN DE CONSERVATION DES SOLS

The face and voice of soil conservation in Canada Le visage et la voix de la conservation des sols au Canada

SCCC Winners!

L. B.Thomson Conservation Award Recipient

I

n early January this year, the Soil Conservation Council of Canada (SCCC) announced the winner of its annual L. B. Thomson Conservation Award: Mr. Adam Hayes, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).

“Adam is particularly deserving of this award as he has committed more than 30 years of his career to understanding and promoting soil health and conservation practices in Ontario,” says Alan Kruszel, SCCC’s newly elected chair.

Hayes studied crop science at the University of Guelph and there he became interested in soil conservation. He was hired as one of 26 Soil Conservation Advisors with OMAF in the 1980s. “At the beginning, we were learning more from the farmers than they were from us,” says Hayes.

Adam Hayes, L.B. Thomson Recipient (L) and Alan Kruszel, SCCC Chair

Hayes continued his work with soil and farmers at OMAFRA and also

spent many years serving on the SCCC board. “It is still frustrating to see soil degradation in the province, but I think the majority of Ontario farmers are trying to do a good job,” he says. Hayes is also pleased to see the recent renewed government interest in soil conservation.

As for the L. B. Thomson Conservation Award, Hayes says it was a surprise. “It is certainly a great honour to receive the award,” he says.

Photo Contest Winners Once again, the SCCC ran a Healthy Agricultural Landscapes photo contest to showcase sustainable farming practices in Canada. Receiving more photo entries than the previous year, two winners were selected in four categories. Those winners are Donna Rogers and Carrie Woolley; both from Ontario. The winning photographers receive a one-year free membership to the SCCC and a $100 gift card. Stay tuned as the 2017 contest will be announced later this year.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR SCCC’S 2017 SUMMIT! SUMMIT ON CANADIAN SOIL HEALTH August 22-23, 2017 – Delta Hotel, Guelph, Ontario Join leaders from agriculture, academia, government and others as we search for innovative solutions to the many challenges facing Canada’s soil resources, and work towards demonstrating how they will benefit agriculture, the economy and the environment.

VISIT SOILCC.CA FOR MORE INFORMATION

info@soilcc.ca

204-792-2424

www.soilcc.ca

@soilcouncil

BUSINESS

The effective leader Being effective as a leader doesn’t come from throwing your weight around. Instead, with John Knapp as proof, it starts by discovering what your team members bring to the table

By Lisa Guenther / CG Field Editor

I

Photography: Lionel Trudel.

t’s not every government department that has a deputy minister who makes a point of having coffee with staff in the morning. But then, not every deputy minister is John Knapp.

Knapp retired from Alberta Agriculture in 2013, but he’s still active in the leadership field. He wrote a book, titled The Leader’s Practice Guide, which was published the year after he retired. These days he coaches executives and speaks about leadership as a consultant with Tantus Solutions Group, which is headquartered in Edmonton.

He had taken the wheel at Alberta Agriculture in 2008, and he knew he needed to be available to staff, on

their terms, so they could talk to him about whatever was on their minds.

Readers should know that I got a first-hand look at Knapp’s leadership style when I worked in various roles including as a web editor for the ministry. It seemed to me at the time that I was also getting a first-hand understanding of what it means to have an employer who thinks seriously about what it means to be a leader, which may colour what I write below. But my primary links are to farming, and I do find his leadership strategy spurs a lot of thinking, not just in me.

Knapp himself began his 36-year career in public service as a district agriculturalist. “As a D.A., you basically were there to serve everyone who came in. And the three areas you worked on most were crops, livestock, and farm management,” he recalls now.

I first met Knapp when I was hired to process grasshopper control and drought applications with Alberta Agriculture in 2003. BSE had just slammed the beef industry, and Knapp was director of the rural development division, which handled the drought and BSE programs. I was still finishing university, and Alberta Agriculture had given me my first professional job. Even then Knapp made an impression on me with his practice of meeting and talking to us informally.

26

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

The message for farmers is that availability fosters trust, and trust is a cornerstone in the foundation of good leadership, in Knapp’s opinion.

“It’s almost impossible to lead well without trust,” says Knapp. “If people don’t trust you, they will begin to sign off. They’ll begin to work to rule. They won’t be as creative as they might otherwise be.”

Knapp tells me that part of a leader’s job is to think carefully about the environment they’re working in and try to think about ways to make themselves available. “There are different ways to be available, and they need to suit the context,” he says.

Coffee first thing in the morning suited the building we worked in because the atrium was a central place, adjacent to the cafeteria on the main floor. Many people had to pass by or through it to get to their offices.

In a field setting, being available might be showing up in the pickup with coffee and having a chat with people, Knapp says.

It can also mean occasionally taking a break

and doing informal stuff with the team, but it must work for the employees, instead of being solely on the leader’s own terms.

Leaders who make themselves available take calls as often as possible and return calls quickly, Knapp says. What might not seem important to the leader could be urgent to the employee, he adds. “In fact, without some kind of go-forward from you, their work may come to a standstill. So it’s very frustrating for them.”

That concern for others struck Knapp early in his career when he noticed how profoundly leadership qualities — good or bad — affected him and his colleagues.

Knapp thinks he started to subconsciously relate to good leaders right back in his 20s. He noticed the leaders who seemed to care about people and were focused on the well-being of the team.

Their actions were intended to support the team and to help team members grow.

These people understood the concept of being a servant leader, he says, which

means they acknowledged a duty of care to the people they led.

Conversely, he also saw a few poor leaders. He noted which behaviours demoralized and demotivated people, as well as actions that created angst, stress, and suffering.

“Those were signals of how not to behave,” says Knapp.

Leadership that doesn’t rely on the leader having all the answers A big part of a leader’s job is to listen carefully, Knapp says. Even employees in entrylevel positions will know more than you in some areas. A leader needs to integrate information from those people, and turn it into a decision that “walks forward.”

“The worst thing you can do is procrastinate forever and try and do an opinion poll on every single issue in front of you,” he says.

Continued on page 28

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BUSINESS

But, he cautions, your team will only react well to assertive leadership if it’s paired with an effort to listen, think, and balance different points of view, Knapp says.

Balancing thoughtfulness with action can be tricky. Knapp suggests thinking through the potential pros and cons of different directions early on. Doing this allows a leader to enter discussions with a piece of their own analysis, he explains. “And then the input of others tends to influence that

Upping your leadership game Want to grow your leadership skills? John Knapp suggests you start by watching the leaders you know who are effective, and those who aren’t so effective as well.

Taking courses and reading about leadership are both useful, Knapp says, but getting into the habit of observing leaders in action is worth cultivating.

Also learn to pay attention to your instincts instead of your fears. Knapp urges people to trust themselves when it comes to leadership behaviour.

“You’re probably right if your instincts are telling you to listen more than you talk, to be humble, to try and weigh everyone’s input before you come to a decision, and to explain the rationale for why you made your decision.”

Fear leads to secrecy, but your instincts will lead you to communicate to steer a course that will generate respect, Knapp says With those two assets in hand — i.e. your observations of good leaders, and a trust in your own instincts — it can then be time to study the details of good organizational leadership.

Learn how organizations work. Read widely, and take leadership courses.

Good leaders with good intentions can fail if they don’t know and follow good governance principles, Knapp says.

“If you’re going to be a leader, that’s a core understanding you need to have.”

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MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

analysis to a degree. But you don’t arrive at the table with a blank sheet of paper, having no idea where this might head.”

Leaders also need to sense what would be acceptable to others, since trying to force an utterly unacceptable decision on others won’t wash.

“People just won’t do it,” says Knapp, before he adds a warning: “If they don’t like what you decide, they can simply walk away.”

Also be aware that employees don’t always voice their dissent. They may not be inclined to speak out, especially if they’re unsure how their leader would react. That means leaders must be sensitive to the body language, facial expressions, and tone of others in the discussion.

If the leader isn’t watching how others are reacting, they could be blind to the fact that people are verbally agreeing with a decision while their body language says the opposite.

If that happens, Knapp says the leader might want to acknowledge that the proposed direction isn’t going over very well.

The leader could then suggest a five-minute break before the group gets back into it and tries to get on the same page.

A big decision shouldn’t feel like a fatal march over a cliff, says Knapp. It’s better to stop at the cliff ’s edge and take a look before marching onwards.

Humility, brevity, directness How does a person pull off this type of leadership, which requires admitting they don’t have all the answers? Knapp says attitude is the key.

If a leader believes they have a duty of care to others, they will approach leadership with a degree of humility, Knapp explains. “Not humility which means you’re subservient. Not humility which means you can’t make a decision. But humility that appreciates that you’re only one part of the process.”

Some of the biggest leadership failings Knapp has seen were due to the leaders’ lack of humility, which made people unable to relate to them.

But he’s also seen leaders with plenty of humility, who were focused on the issues and the people behind those issues. They try to move forward in a way that works for everyone involved, he says. And Knapp thinks that attitude might provide the

base-level confidence to go forward in an atmosphere of uncertainty.

It’s different on the farm While core leadership principles apply across industries, there are aspects unique to, or emphasized more, in agriculture.

Humility is one of them, Knapp says.

“It’s part of what I call rural egalitarianism — this idea that we all work hard and we support each other. We work together and we’re equals,” Knapp says, and he goes to expand the idea, saying the concept of people taking turns to lead is stronger in agriculture than society in general.

Given the reduced farm population and number of ag service boards, commodity groups, breed associations, and other ag organizations, “the odds are very high that you’ll serve once, or many times, as a leader in your community or your organization,” says Knapp. “So almost everyone who wants a turn gets a turn to be a leader.”

That reality underscores the need for people to carry humility with them when they become leaders. People will respect their leadership because they retain humility, and they’re less likely to damage relationships.

Humility isn’t the only leadership trait emphasized in farming culture. Longwinded leaders are frowned upon in agriculture, perhaps more than other sectors.

“I think there’s a notion in agriculture that brevity is elegance,” says Knapp.

We’ve all watched leaders talk around an issue or be oblique about their intents, Knapp says, which leaves everyone guessing what they really meant. “That doesn’t wash in any setting, but it especially does not wash within the culture of agriculture, where people are looking for directness.”

Beyond that, Knapp says it’s also important to be calm. People relate better to someone “who seems to wear the mantle of leadership easily,” he says.

“You can add energy to a situation. You can drain energy from a situation. And those who display these highly emotional, frenetic, driven behaviours, they tend to drain energy from others around them,” says Knapp.

On the other hand, leaders who are calm and purposeful tend to give energy to people, and also help people find the best in themselves, Knapp says. They project a “we can do it” vibe, even when everyone’s in for a long haul. CG

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Canadian Forage and Grassland Association

Welcome to the Forage & Grassland Guide, produced in partnership by the Canadian Forage & Grassland Association (CFGA) and Glacier FarmMedia LP and distributed through Country Guide, Canadian Cattlemen and Le Bulletin des agriculteurs. It focuses on issues of importance of forage and grassland to crop and livestock producers across Canada.

For more information on forage and grassland management in your area, we encourage you to contact and participate in the activities of your regional or provincial association.

Canadian Forage and Grassland Association Cedric MacLeod 466 Queen Street, Wilmot Alley Fredericton, NB E3B 1B6 cedric@canadianfga.ca www.canadianfga.ca British Columbia Forage Council Sheri Schweb 117 Roddie Road, Quesnel, BC V2J 6K2 (250) 255-9065 bcfc@bcforagecouncil.com www.farmwest.com/bc-forage-council Alberta Forage Industry Network Christine Fulkerth, Chair 4500 – 50th Street, Olds, AB T4H 1R6 (403) 507-7914 info@albertaforages.ca www.albertaforages.ca Saskatchewan Forage Council Leanna Rousell PO Box 308, Asquith, SK S0K 0J0 (306) 329-3116 office@saskforage.ca www.saskforage.ca

Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association Duncan Morrison c/o 145 Edstan Place Selkirk, MB R1A 2E8 (204) 770-3548 info@mfga.net www.mfga.net Ontario Forage Council Ray Robertson 206 Toronto St. South, Unit 3 Markdale, ON N0C 1H0 (519) 986-8663 Email: ray@ontarioforagecouncil.com www.ontarioforagecouncil.com Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association Andrew Graham 1 Stone Rd. W., Guelph, ON N1G 4Y2 (519) 826-4214 Andrew.graham@ontariosoilcrop.org www.ontariosoilcrop.org

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Forage & Grassland Guide

3

Who will breed the next generation?

Forages aren’t only suffering from a shortage of research dollars, but a shortage of researchers to By ron friesen do the work if the money were available

S

ee if you can answer these two skill-testing agricultural questions.

What is the largest crop in Canada?

Which crop has one of the poorest records for funding research and breeding programs?

If you answered “forages” to both, you’re right. You’ve also put your finger on a chronic problem in Canada’s forage industry.

Statistics show the total acreage of pastureland, tame forages and native hay far exceeds the seeded area for wheat and canola. You’d think that would put forages at the top of the list when it comes to research funding.

Sadly, no.

Historically, Agriculture and AgriFood Canada has been the major player in forage breeding. But there are only five publicly funded programs for breeding tame forages in Canada. Government funding for forage research has been largely static for the last 10 years. It’s estimated only about a third as much forage research is being done nationally today as in the 1980s.

The bottom-line reason for this state of affairs is a lack of money and, subsequently, a lack of qualified people.

“There is a critical shortage of forage researchers, in particular plant breeders, in Canada and several of the few remaining researchers are nearing retirement in the near future,” says a recent Beef Cattle Research Council report on developing improved native and tame forage varieties for Western Canada.

Thin talent pool

Given the thin talent pool, the question becomes not just what new forage varieties will be bred, but who will do the breeding.

“There is a lack of human resources for forage breeding in Canada,” says Doug Cattani, a perennial crop breeder who mans the lonely ramparts

4

Forage & Grassland Guide

of forage breeding at the University of Manitoba. “It’s getting to the point where there’s almost no one left.”

Those who are left tend to focus on major species. Research projects often focus on alfalfa, clover and grasses because there are not enough breeders to cover all species.

Part of the reason for the shortage of forage researchers is a longstanding decline in public funding with industry players not taking up the slack. Reynold Bergen, the Beef Cattle Research Council’s science director, says the beef industry always recognized the importance of forages but had extremely limited research funds. So BCRC deferred research to the forage industry.

However, the forage sector couldn’t fund research because it had no commodity checkoff and no way to implement one. As a result, Bergen says, no one in the industry was funding research, so it became a low priority in the public sector as well.

Declining government budgets and provincial cutbacks to universities only aggravated the problem.

Although some private companies are involved in forage research, especially in the U.S., there appears to be no great incentive for them to cash in either. “(Private companies are) in business to be profitable and forage breeding does not lend itself to a good return on investment,” says Cattani. “Who wants to buy a perennial crop that did well in the first year and did nothing thereafter?”

BSE casualty

Edward Bork, a rangeland ecology and management specialist at the University of Alberta, pins part of the blame for the “slow systematic erosion” in forage research on BSE. After BSE hit in 2002 and international barriers closed to Canadian beef and live

cattle, industry priorities suddenly shifted to herd health and marketing strategies. Research into forage breeding and development became less important, given the immediate market crisis.

Another reason why forages appear to get short shrift is the very nature of the crop. Forages are perennials that take a long time to breed and even longer to show a financial return on investment. Compare that to highvalue annual crops such as corn and soybeans, which see new hybrids and strong returns every year. Guess which crop gets most of the attention when it comes to breeding programs and agronomic research?

Still another problem is a basic lack of information about how to place a value on forages. Obviously, a ton of hay is worth less than a few bushels of canola or soybeans. But, as University of Manitoba agriculture dean Karin Wittenberg points out, it’s hard to measure the financial worth of grasslands because most hay and tame forages are consumed on the farms where they were grown. Since there are few price discovery or marketing mechanisms for them, it’s hard to evaluate their value.

Not just a crop

However, that’s assuming you only see hay and forages as a crop.

Researchers and producers are quick to point out the value of grasslands goes far beyond that. They say grasslands also provide environmental goods and services such as water storage, flood mitigation, wildlife habitat, biodiversity, carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas reduction.

That’s the new frontier forages should be focusing on, says Wittenberg, a ruminant nutritionist by training.

“Forages serve a sustainability value. How you develop a forage

2017

University of Manitoba forage breeder Doug Cattani says there’s not much incentive for private companies to invest in perennial crops for which they can’t sell seed every year. Photo: Lorraine Stevenson

breeding program that can serve a sustainability function as well as a competitive function — that has not been given much time and thought.”

Wittenberg says she and her colleagues have tried to put an economic value on the services grasslands and forages provide. Unfortunately, they could find virtually no data to provide hard numbers.

However, there are signs that may be changing. Bork, a forage agronomist, says policy-makers in Alberta are showing “a marked interest increase” in environmental goods and services from native grasslands and perennial forage systems.

Bork says the last six years have seen “a massive investment” in Alberta in quantifying and understanding the environmental goods and services that perennial grasslands provide. People are waking up to the fact that forages give producers a “social licence to operate” by providing public benefits in carbon sinks, biodiversity and ecological improvements, he says.

2017

“It’s getting to the point where there’s almost no one left.”

Doug Cattani, University of Manitoba

“I can tell you, we’re gaining an enormous amount of traction.”

The next step will be to use this data as ammunition in persuading regulators and policy-makers to reward landowners for these goods and services,” says Bork.

“We need to recognize it and start (implementing) ways that landowners can get paid for retaining, or even improving, these things for society’s benefit.”

More research funds

As for funding research, that may be starting to improve, too. The BCRC’s Bergen says about eight years ago Canada’s beef and forage sectors got their heads together and decided the industry had to step up to the plate instead of waiting for governments to do so. Now, 15 cents out of every dollar collected by a national checkoff on cattle sales goes toward BCRC

research projects, compared to only five cents previously. Today, Bergen says, 30 per cent of BCRC’s budget focuses on forages, up from 10 per cent before. Funding is levered three to one through Growing Forward.

“It’s a bigger slice of a bigger pie,” says Bergen.

Reversing the funding decline in the private sector is resulting in new forage research positions being created in government and universities across Canada, Bergen adds.

“They’re starting to say ‘wait a minute, industry is investing in this, this is important, we’d better be in that game, too.’”

Cattani says there should be no difficulty getting graduate students to train as forage specialists, as long as funding is in place before the students arrive.

A sign, maybe, that the tide may finally be starting to turn for forage research. n Forage & Grassland Guide

5

Grass is a crop too Just because forage is on marginal land doesn’t mean it should get marginal management, says a recent Beef Cattle Research Council study

By Ron friesen

I

f grain farmers routinely fertilize their crops to get higher yields and profits, why don’t forage producers do the same to their pastures?

That question is at the heart of a recent Beef Cattle Research Council study into improving forage yields in Canada.

The study notes that while annual crops have seen significant yield increases over the past 60 years, hay yields in Canada have hardly budged at all. This puts Canada’s cow-calf sector at a competitive disadvantage because the cost of forage per tonne is higher here than in other countries.

“Over the long term, improving forage productivity is crucial for future competitiveness of the cattle industry,” says the study.

It concludes that a major reason for this low productivity is soil nutrient deficiency in pastures and grasslands.

You’d think the solution to the problem would be easy. Fertilize hay lands and you increase forage yields.

Greater yields mean higher stocking rates, improved animal performance and a lower cost per unit of production, which translates into reduced winter-feeding costs per cow.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

The study recognizes there are reasons why producers tend not to fertilize forages the same way they do wheat and canola.

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Forage & Grassland Guide

Marginal land mindset

One reason is economics. As Reynold Bergen, Beef Cattle Research Council’s science director explains, farmers tend to invest heavily in high-value annual cash crops. That involves buying or renting more land for those crops. Doing so increases competition for land, drives up land prices and pushes forage production to marginal land that cannot produce high-value crops. As a result, forage land has lower expectations put on it, along with less investment such as fertilizer.

That’s counterproductive because lower fertility inevitably means lower yields, and low forage yields are the most common reason for terminating a stand, Bergen says.

“If you’re expecting to get yields from a crop, you don’t just need it to get rainfall or irrigation. You need to feed it. It needs nutrients. If you keep pulling off those nutrients without replacing them, you’re going to starve the plants. And that’s why yields go down. So stands get broken up after only a few years.”

Currently, application of fertilizer to forage crops in Canada is minimal.

The BCRC study estimates only 25 per cent of improved pasture and hay land is fertilized. Just 15 per cent of alfalfa hay fields receive fertilizer.

Given the combination of low nutrient

input and the high nutrient uptake by the crop, it’s hardly surprising that forage stands in high-moisture regions of Western Canada are maintained for only three to five years. In semi-arid regions, the average life of a forage stand is six to nine years.

Other reasons why farmers don’t fertilize pastures include high fertilizer prices and poor financial margins (until recently) in the cattle industry. Moisture limitation is another factor. Fertilizer applied to forage is top dressed, not incorporated (as with annual crops). This can result in nutrient loss through volatilization (evaporation of N) in dry conditions, or runoff in wet years, which in turn creates environmental concerns.

Fertilizer considerations

That said, fertilizing forages can produce results. The study cites a 10-year project in Manitoba which showed adding fertilizer increased the productivity of grass pastures when applied to soil test recommendations.

The downside was that target yields were often not reached due to moisture limitations.

The type of soil can also influence the effectiveness of fertilization.

The study points out that sandy loam soil (the kind of marginal soil where Continued on page 8

2017

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2017-02-07 1:41 PM

Continued from page 6

Maintaining the grass-legume mix

I

t’s one thing to have a grasslegume production system.

It’s another thing to maintain that stand. Studies show the percentage of alfalfa or sainfoin in a grass-legume mix tends to decline significantly over four years. The Beef Cattle Research Council recommends several management techniques to help maintain legumes in a mixed stand: • In spring, wait until alfalfa is three to four inches tall before grazing.

After spring grazing is over, let the alfalfa regrow for 25 to 40 days before cutting it for hay.

• Let plants rest during September and October. Or control grazing to maintain six to eight inches of standing alfalfa.

• Do not leave stubble lower than two to three inches in fall. This helps protect alfalfa from winter damage.

• Let plants grow without cutting or grazing for four to six weeks before the first killing frost.

BCRC also provides some tips to reduce the risk of bloat while grazing alfalfa: • Do not graze alfalfa when it’s wet.

• Don’t turn hungry animals on to an alfalfa pasture because they’ll overeat.

• Wait until alfalfa is in full bloom before grazing it. The risk of bloat is highest when alfalfa is in the vegetative to early bloom stages of growth.

• D o not graze alfalfa for two to three weeks after a killing frost.

Frost can increase the risk of bloat.

For more information about legume grazing, check out www. foragebeef.ca.

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F ora g e & Grassla n d G u id e

forages are often grown) has a low water-holding capacity, limiting the moisture available to the plant. This reduces plant growth, forage quality, stocking rate and rates of gain in animals. As a result, there may be a limited benefit to fertilize and less incentive to do so.

Even if you do fertilize forages to increase yields, you need sound economic reasons for doing it. Bergen points out higher yields do not necessarily translate into lower costs or increased profits. The profitability of fertilizing forage crops depends on the cost of fertilizer and the price of hay.

“You can double your yield and increase your carrying capacity in the number of bales. But if it costs you $500 to double that yield and that doubled yield is worth only $250, it just doesn’t make sense,” says Bergen.

For that reason, it’s important to know the per-unit cost of production for hay (e.g. $/tonne) to determine which is the more economical choice: fertilizing hay or just buying it.

Keeping fertilizer at home

The trick is to get nutrients on forage land in a cost-effective way to improve forage productivity, other than adding chemical fertilizer or composted manure. Bergen lists several options for achieving that.

One option is to use in-field winter feeding systems such as bale grazing. Bergen says bale grazing kills two birds with one stone. First, when cattle graze bales during the winter, they deposit fertilizer on the field in the form of manure. Second, the bales cattle do not eat stay on the ground and become another soil nutrient.

Together, these practices end up leaving more nutrients on the land than it had to begin with, thus improving soil fertility. An added benefit is that bale grazing reduces winter feeding costs because producers are not always hauling in feed.

Another option is to mix legumes (usually alfalfa) with grasses in a stand. The study notes that properly

“If you keep pulling off those nutrients without replacing them, you’re going to starve the plants.

And that’s why yields go down. So stands get broken up after only a few years.”

Reynold Bergen, BCRC

inoculated alfalfa fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere. As a result, additional N is not needed to increase dry matter yield and protein content. In this way, adding alfalfa to the mix increases productivity without the extra cost of fertilizer. It also reduces the risk of bloat because animals are not grazing straight alfalfa.

The practice seems to be catching on. It’s estimated the area of alfalfa and alfalfa mixes as a percentage of total tame hay production increased from 44 per cent in 1971 to 66 per cent in 2011.

Bergen acknowledges it’s hard to measure how much soil fertility practices are improving. But BCRC offers webinars on the subject and is starting to conduct followup surveys with participants to measure the take-up of its recommendations.

More information is available on the BCRC website at www.beefresearch.ca. n

2017

Less volume, but more profit?

Quebec researcher says that since dairy farmers are paid based on components, forage-fed cattle can outperform those fed on corn silage

By Ray Ford

C

orn silage use is trending on Quebec’s large dairy farms, but Valacta’s Robert Berthiaume argues farmers who run against the herd can bulk up their bottom line with perennial forages.

“If you make the best use you can of perennial forages, you can make a lot of money, at least as much or more than your friends with corn silage,” says the forage systems expert for Quebec and Atlantic Canada’s dairy herd improvement agency. “We’re trying to prove to our clients that the milk that is produced by (perennial) forages can and should be the most economical milk that is in that bulk tank.”

For Berthiaume, the key lies in component pricing. Dairy farmers get paid for fat, protein, and other solids in their milk, rather than total milk volume. So even if an alfalfa and grassfuelled herd doesn’t crank out the same volume as a herd powered by corn silage, it can hold an edge on components.

He points to a 2013 New York State study of six herds. Five were fed corn silage as the bulk of their forage, while one herd relied on a grass/legume mix. In terms of output, the legume/ grass-fed cows placed second from the bottom, at 88 pounds per cow per day.

But in gross income per cow, those same perennial forage eaters finished second from the top.

The secret? The herd outperformed its peers in components, (especially milk fat, at 4.3 per cent.)

When it comes to milk production, Berthiaume says high components are what “really writes the cheque.”

The milk from forage equation

One way to gauge the efficiency of forage use is the “milk from forage” (MF) calculation developed at Laval University in the 1970s. “In Quebec,

2017

the concept is quite well known,” Berthiaume says, adding “it hasn’t been exported very well.”

The math behind MF looks complex, but the basic concept is simple.

If you subtract the milk production boost from concentrates, you’re left with output that’s fuelled by forages.

By further subtracting the forage required to maintain the cow, you’re left with the total milk produced by the forage in the diet.

Not surprisingly, herds with high MF tend to be efficient producers.

But when the paycheque comes, the most efficient farmers using perennial forages outperform their corn silage counterparts.

Using detailed financial and production figures from 672 Quebec dairy farms, Berthiaume says the top 20 per

Closing the productivity gap

There are significant advantages for those who get it right. The top 20 per cent of Quebec producers are pumping out 3,751 more kilograms of milk and $833 more net income per cow than their counterparts in the bottom-performing 20 per cent of dairy farms. If less-productive farms can close that gap, it will mean major gains for individual farms and the entire industry.

Then there’s the herd-size gap.

Not surprisingly, corn silage herds tend to be bigger, averaging 91 cows.

On large farms, corn silage is attractive because it offers roughly twice the yield of perennial forage. Better still, it delivers the yield in one cut, versus three or four for alfalfa and grasses.

“My question is to the research community: how can we make hay crops, silages, alfalfa-grass mixes more appealing to larger farmers?”

Robert Berthiaume

cent of corn silage-fed herds produced 136 more kilograms per cow every year.

But in terms of net income, the perennial forage herds brought in an additional $184 per cow.

To produce at those high levels, producers must maximize intake of high-quality forage. That requires the sophisticated use of complementary concentrates, with the right mix of proteins, sugars and starches.

It’s a complex balancing act, because “every time you feed concentrate to an animal that is on a forage diet, the animal will reduce its forage intake,” Berthiaume warns. This substitution impact is also most significant with high-quality forages, rather than poorer hay or silage.

Low-lignin alfalfa may help reduce silage corn’s yield advantage, allowing farmers to take fewer cuts of more mature alfalfa and still get good nutritional quality. But Berthiaume stresses there’s more work to do.

“My question is to the research community: how can we make hay crops, silages, alfalfa-grass mixes more appealing to larger farmers?”

Ultimately, he says, deep-rooted perennial crops provide long-term soil-building benefits, and farmers need to factor in the boost to soil health. “I’m worried if we go only to annual crops, without putting perennials in the rotation, we end up with more (plant) diseases and depleted soils.” n Forage & Grassland Guide

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The challenge of growing quality forages There are many reasons why production and quality may be less than ideal

By ralph pearce, CG production editor

Perception that forages are too weather-dependent or that producers plant one year and leave them alone for three must be challenged.

T

he name varies from farm to farm and from one region of the country to another. Some refer to it under the blanket term “forage” while others attempt to be more specific — hay, haylage, silage, dry hay or pasture. Whatever the term, two distinct trends have unfolded in the past five years: forage production is declining, and with it — say some in the industry — the quality.

Statistically and anecdotally, the numbers reflect the drop. Statistics Canada numbers for 1981 to 2011 (Fig. 1) indicate hay and other fodder crops area rose steadily between 1986 and 2006, and then declined, losing acres to oilseeds and pulses, especially in the West.

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Forage & Grassland Guide

Some of that trend may be due to increase of canola, pulse and soybean acres — many of those acres, and some in the East — have come out of forages.

Due to factors such as larger acreages, larger livestock operations and producers needing to spend more time with their animals, forages may not be getting the management attention they deserve, but some extension agronomists are trying to reverse that.

Boosting management

Many advisers and specialists have their opinions on improving forage production and quality, yet it seems one recommendation makes the most sense: get the best start. That

can include drilling of the seed (not broadcasting it), using starter fertilizer with the drill (especially calcium, sulphur and magnesium) and paying better attention to early weed control.

Perspectives vary, but broadcasting seed is seen by some as little more than a “controlled spill.” There’s also more packing required. Using a drill has the greater potential for more even emergence and growth.

As for weed management, at least in Ontario, there is a lack of registration of more-effective herbicides such as Broadstrike, which is already registered for use in Ontario, just not for alfalfa.

Instead, producers are left with 2,4-DB or a tank mix of 2,4-DB with something like MCPA. The problem with 2,4-DB

2017

is that some producers don’t like it because of stress on alfalfa.

Time management

Another disincentive to forages is the commitment to a three- or four-year crop. Producers who rely on forage generally want to spend more time in the barn, which means less on forage management.

For Carl Loewith, time management comes down to two things: finding the right production system and hiring the right people. Loewith, a dairy producer who farms just west of Ancaster, Ont., is a first-year no tiller with his forage crop, and he hires custom workers, allowing him to spend more time paying attention to the other end of the operation.

Loewith doesn’t agree that forage production yields are in decline.

“It’s just that they’re not keeping pace with the advances that other crops are experiencing, and the technology that’s been incorporated in others. I think we may be holding our own and we should be advancing but other crops are doing a better job.”

Some of the biggest challenges are still wrapped up in the basics of good weed-free establishment in that initial year, followed by attention to fertility in subsequent years.

“I think we’re still stuck in that mindset that ‘we’re going to plant this crop, it’ll be good for three or four years, and we’ll plant it and maybe fertilize it once a year and we’ll let it do its own thing,’” says Loewith.

“I don’t think we’ve done the research that other crops have done in terms of seeding rates, plant population, the fertility and the timing of fertility. A lot of research is going into the more popular crops — and forages don’t have the glitz or bling that corn, soybeans or wheat have, so farmers believe it’s a relatively cheap crop to grow, and they treat it that way.”

tices is difficult if growers don’t have a good handle on yields.

As for no tilling alfalfa, Loewith is hesitant to talk about any long-term benefits — he’s only been at it for a year. But a lot depends on the custom operator. In the end, it translates to less stress and less time spent in the field. He’s uncertain how no tilling might work on heavier ground, although there are examples of other growers on heavier soils that are making it work. But on lighter soils like sandy loams, it’s fine. Loewith says he will do the same next year.

“There are some significant pros: first all of all, it’s a lot less work for us — because we hire somebody to do the no tilling, so we’re not working these fields. The gentleman we have comes in with a 40-foot drill, so he can cover a lot of ground — and it’s just a phone call for us. We’re not working that field two or three times before or packing it after.”

way it needs to be done to get highquality forages off the field at that proper maturity.

“When I talk about ‘quality hay,’ I refer to three things: harvesting at the correct maturity, harvesting at the correct moisture content, and having the proper storage of the hay,” says Ferguson.

“With high-producing dairy cows, it’s really important to have that early maturity but for many other end-uses, you don’t have as high crude protein, and you can let the plants mature a little more to get more tonnage off the fields. It’s still really important that the forages are harvested at the proper moisture level for the storage system that you have, and we don’t lose any dry matter — if they’re being fermented.”

If it’s for dry hay, the producer needs to make sure it’s dry enough to prevent mould or it doesn’t become dusty in storage.

Communications also key

Measuring the value

Thomas Ferguson, a forage and grazier specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), sees definite benefits in custom work. But the communications channels must be open and clear to ensure the work is done the

Ferguson notes that since most of the crop fed on-farm to livestock, growers don’t see a financial transaction.

Many underestimate the value that forages bring to their operation, so Continued on page 12

“It’s just that forages aren’t keeping pace with the advances that other crops are experiencing.”

Carl Loewith, dairy producer

What’s the yield?

Another problem is that forage yields are difficult to measure. Cash croppers know their bushels per acre, but the average forage producer can’t quote tons per acre. Forages are generally put in silos or in big bales without being weighed. Measuring the effect of different production prac-

2017

It’s not necessarily that forage quality is in decline, but that other crops are advancing faster.

Forage & Grassland Guide

11

Continued from page 11 advisers, feed specialists and extension personnel need to do a better job of showing the financial returns.

“The environmental benefits are huge, too,” says Ferguson. “Adding forages to the rotation improves soil structure, drainage and water retention — and it increases the organic matter.

And it’ll add residual nitrogen to the following crop, so those extra benefits will increase the profitability of the rest of the rotation, and you can add up to 15 per cent in yield potential just to the corn crop that’s added the year after the forages are taken out.”

Ferguson echoes Loewith’s comments on the importance of fertility and an early start.

“We need to see more even emergence with our alfalfa in order to have better weed control, as well,” says Ferguson. “We want to make sure that the plants all get off to the same start so that we’re not going in when some plants are at two leaves and some are at four. Doing a better job of getting the plants to emerge means weed control will see benefits of that throughout the life of the field, and you’ll get increased tonnage on every cut with good stem longevity as well.”

Tests, tests and more tests

Many producers and advisers talk about the lack of research for forage relative to corn and soybeans. Jeff Sherman is trying to change that.

As a dairy specialist recently hired

by CanGrow, Sherman brings his years of experience with the American dairy sector as well as time spent in the feed industry in Ontario. He agrees production is down, but that in certain instances, quality can be improved.

Sherman is focusing on improving the soil activity and watching the impact on feed quality, uptake and performance. In particular, he’s looking at cation uptake, and methods of increasing it. He says cations help to produce sugars, the sugars help to produce the starches and the starches help to produce fats (or fatty acids), which are critical in digestibility.

Sherman says it’s not a well-known concept, and it can be a challenge for the industry to grasp. He says growers are not doing the best job of matching fertilizer applications to crop uptake and that more growers are over-applying, especially their nitrogen. The answer is a “whole systems” approach, not just with the crop in the field, but including the soil, roots, organic matter, and nutrient uptake.

Understand the soil

Many dairy producers rely on the MILK2006 feed calculator, and Sherman agrees that it’s a good foundation for measuring feed quality.

However, it doesn’t address the shortfalls seen from soil test results. Soil activity needs to be part of the equation, understanding that it’s alive and moving constantly.

“Too often, we just want to take

the easy way out, whether we’re dairy farmers or grain farmers, we want to talk about N, P and K — and it’s not just N, P and K,” says Sherman.

For example, he cites involves four years of alfalfa and an average harvest of 10 tons of dry matter per acre.

Alfalfa will generally contain two to three per cent potassium — at 10 tons (20,000 lbs.) of dry matter, that’s 400 pounds of potassium per year leaving the field.

Producers also need to be aware of relative feed value and relative feed quality, as well as testing their forages to determine the balance of amino acids, particularly methionine and lysine.

There are certainly encouraging signs of opportunity and recognition in forage production, and the potential that comes out of that process. But there’s still a lot of room for improvement. n

“Too often, we just want to take the easy way out and talk about N, P and K.” Jeff Sherman, CanGrow Crop Solutions

The same principles that apply to corn and soybeans must also apply to forages, including even emergence and good early-season weed management.

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2017

Research examines impact of grazing on carbon storage

By Trudy Kelly Forsythe

A direct economic value of $5.09 billion makes forages Canada’s third largest crop. And, research shows the impact of Ecosystem Goods and Services (EG&S) increases that value even more.

Perennial grasslands purify and store water, mitigate flooding, support pollinators, provide habitat for wildlife and sustain biodiversity. They help reduce carbon because their root systems can store up to 2.7 times more carbon than annual crops. They sequester carbon deeper in the ground and can slow the breakdown and release of carbon into the atmosphere.

Daniel Hewins, an assistant professor of ecosystem ecology at Rhode Island College, spoke about rangeland EG&S at the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association’s annual conference in Winnipeg in November, highlighting research at the University of Alberta (U of A) being done in collaboration with Alberta Environment and Parks (EAP).

Researchers, led by U of A professor Dr. Edward Bork, took samples from 114 grassland enclosures maintained

by EAP, including from areas both inside and outside long-term cattle enclosures. They then assessed plant biomass, composition, diversity and carbon storage.

CANADIAN FORAGE & GRASSLAND ASSOCIATION www.canadianfga.ca Ph: 506-260-0872

Mark Lyseng collects a forage biomass sample inside a cattle exclosure (a non-grazed area) in the Aspen Parkland region of Alberta. PHOTO: DANIEL HEWINS

GRAZING FOR CARBON STORAGE Research revealed light-to-moderate intensity grazing over a period of 30 to 60 years promotes carbon storage in the soils of many of Alberta’s grasslandsdominated, natural subregions. Hewins explains this may be in part because rangelands evolved with grazing of bison, making many of the plant communities grazing-tolerant. Grazing may directly (via defoliation) and indirectly (via changes in light and moisture) promote biological activity, such as nutrient cycling, which is related to ecosystem health.

In the dry mixed grass prairie, researchers did not observe a grazing effect on carbon storage. However, in the remaining, high-moister regions, they saw a trend toward increases in carbon stores under grazing. They concluded that, in general, moderate-level grazing leads to greater reservoirs of carbon when compared to non-grazed settings.

“Our data also highlights what has already been lost in carbon from past conversion, a staggering $11.3 and $4.2 billion in the Parkland and Prairie regions,” says Bork, adding they compared different alternative land uses, specifically annual cropland, tame pasture and native grassland, on soil carbon stocks.

ENVIRONMENTAL INCENTIVES Hewins says there are currently no incentives to maintain carbon in existing native grassland. The Alberta government is working on policies to value grassland carbon stores and work is underway to directly link comprehensive biodiversity data with cattle producer management practices.

Further research to build a solid foundation of the size and value of the benefits of grasslands is ongoing, Bork says, noting the livestock industry plays a key role in supporting these forwardthinking studies.

Quality samples are taken from every plot, assessing diseases, stand establishment and re-growth, among other observations.

At Pickseed, forages are No. 1 Acquisition by a Danish company has allowed a sharp increase in research trials across the country

F

orages may lack for attention in Canada’s overall research budget, but not at Pickseed, which has long focused most of its attention on the forage and turf sectors.

Now owned by Denmark’s DFLTrifolium, Pickseed operates seven research stations across Canada, with its main facility in Lindsay, Ont., and another near Port Hope.

There are also two at Ste. Hyacinthe, Que., one near Portage la Prairie, Man., and two at Taber and Josephburg in Alberta.

The facilities test Pickseed’s own varieties as well as those from select competitors, governments and universities. It’s part of the company’s commitment to improving overall feed quality and production in forages.

“One of the ways we’ve always tried to differentiate ourselves is to select for forage yield — there’s no question about that — but we’re also selecting for forage quality,” says Matt Anderson, lead researcher with Pickseed. The company has always had

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Forage & Grassland Guide

By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor

a strong research focus and with the acquisition by DLF-Trifolium, that interest has increased considerably.

“To some extent, there’s always been a solid background and a strong emphasis on research within our forage portfolio. That’s why it was such a good fit going from Pickseed to DLF because a lot of their beliefs are the same beliefs we had before as a private company.”

Before the acquisition, Pickseed’s Lindsay facility had up to 1,000 replicated trials per year. It’s now performing 4,000 trials, and combined with the Port Hope location, Anderson oversees more than 7,000.

He says the additional trials make for better data.

“We have four replicates within each test, so we’d have the variety entered four times and randomized within the trial. We’re measuring yield and feed quality from each of those plots, which makes our data more reliable, plus the fact that we’re entering that same replicated trial at seven stations across Canada.”

HarvXtra — beyond Roundup Ready

One of the more interesting advances in research and development is Harv­ Xtra alfalfa, a unique double-stacked trait variety that combines Roundup Ready technology with a reduced lignin feature. It’s part of a strategic alliance that Pickseed has formed with Forage Genetics International, the developers of the HarvXtra technology. It’s intended to provide a wider harvest window, plus broad-spectrum weed control for difficult-to-control species such as chickweed.

“What that allows a producer to do is that because you have the reduced lignin, it’ll allow a wider window for harvest, so you can delay for up to a week later and still maintain the same feed quality that you would have been doing on a 30-day cutting schedule,” says Anderson. “Or you can harvest on your 30-day cutting schedule and the feed quality will be extremely high.”

Pickseed has worked closely with Forage Genetics throughout the development of the technology. When

2017

their initial idea was to launch singletrait Roundup Ready alfalfa with no reduced lignin component, Pickseed started testing in 2011. At that time there was no other company in Canada putting the seed into replicated trials.

In 2014, Pickseed then planted their first HarvXtra trials, and then put in another in 2015 and again in 2017.

“Again, we’re taking three to four cuts off those trials per season, we’re taking quality samples from every plot, numerous field observations — with disease being one of them,” says Anderson. “But we’re also looking at establishment, and the winter survival rates on those varieties, what’s the regrowth — how quickly do those varieties come back after cutting?”

Good varieties need good management

Anderson says that Pickseed’s motivation has never altered, even with DFL’s acquisition. It’s always focused on newer genetics and trying to increase feed yield and quality.

“The other side of that is where newer products like the HarvXtra alfalfa will come into play, and that’s in determining how to increase production while at the same time decreasing your input costs,” says Anderson. “Those two things combined will prove to be a huge advantage going forward.”

Anderson agrees that forages have lacked not only research attention, but attention to good management.

“For the good managers who are out there, there have been improvements in seed genetics and breeding — there’s no question about that,” says Anderson. “But when you combine that and management, think of the level you can get to. That’s what you really have to be paying attention to. If you’re just going to fall back on the advances in breeding, they’re not going to make up for a lack of attention in management. Management is the key.”

He mentions items as simple as ensuring a firm seed bed. That can be missed in the rush to get the crop planted as fast as possible, but a firm seed bed will dramatically improve the stand during its three- or four-year lifespan.

2017

A new species

The list of advances in breeding doesn’t stop with HarvXtra. With the plots at Lindsay and Port Hope, Anderson is looking at red clover, white clover, birdsfoot trefoil, timothy, bromegrass, orchardgrass, tall fescue, annual ryegrass and perennial ryegrass.

All are entered into their replicated trials and follow the same guidelines as those for alfalfa: comparisons with current varieties from competitors and government or universities.

They measure yield and quality as well as other observations on establishment and winter survival.

One of the other developing stories for Pickseed is the development of festulolium, a new grass species that consists of two hybrids. DLF-Trifolium is the developer. One hybrid is a cross of tall fescue and perennial ryegrass while the other is a cross of meadow fescue with Italian ryegrass. The tall fescue with perennial ryegrass hybrid has the appearance of the former, but has the feed properties of the ryegrass.

“If you’re looking for a long-term stand that’s going to persist, you’d go with the fescue-type of festulolium,” says Anderson. “You’re going to get a little more feed quality advantage than what you’d see with a straight tall fescue, but you’ll also get a little more winter hardiness than you would have from just a perennial ryegrass alone.

So when you’re meeting in the middle, you’re getting the best of both species.”

The meadow fescue/Italian ryegrass festulolium hybrid looks more like a ryegrass, yet it’s an annual crop

“If you’re just going to fall back on the advances in breeding, they’re not going to make-up for a lack of attention in management.

Management is the key.”

Matt Anderson, Pickseed

so it’s better for short-term and emergency forage situations, or as a good cover crop option. Growers opting for this will get a little bit more persistence than just an annual ryegrass, but still get the improved feed quality over meadow fescue.

It may sound confusing but Anderson says growers who select one or the other to suit their operations will see huge advantages in stand improvements. It really depends on the duration of the crop that’s desired.

“The fescues contribute qualities such as high dry matter yield, resistance to cold and drought tolerance persistence. Then the ryegrass will add more in terms of rapid establishment, good spring growth, good digestibility and higher sugar content.”

Pickseed is also studying the potential for a hybrid bromegrass, a true cross between smooth bromegrass and a meadow bromegrass. As with the festulolium, researchers are trying to get the best of both varieties, including the yield of a meadow brome and the feed quality of the smooth brome.

There’s also a hybrid ryegrass — a cross between perennial ryegrass and an annual ryegrass, although festulolium is expected to eclipse a lot of the ryegrass hybrids. n

Festulolium is a new species consisting of two hybrids — crosses of different ryegrass species and different fescues.

F o r a g e & G r a s s la n d G u i d e

15

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DLF Pi tions a Ont.

(All photo

Fora cus 2016

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PG. 34 Check out our first annual roundup of the rebates on offer in 2017 for your crop protection supplies.

PG. 38 So many herbicides say they control lamb’s quarters. So why are there so many escapes?

Tough news on fleabane It takes a well thought out plan to keep glyphosate-resistant Canada fleabane in check

By Ralph Pearce / CG Production Editor

T

Managing for glyphosate-resistant Canada fleabane — and other weeds — is possible, but it will cost farmers more.

he world of science can often provide insight into some rather grim realities. But sometimes, fortunately, it can provide more than just insight. It can provide strategic help too.

That’s the case with Dr. Peter Sikkema, who opened 2017 by making a presentation on herbicide-resistant weeds at the two-day Southwest Agricultural Conference (SWAC) at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus.

It was another chance for Sikkema to make his pitch for integrated weed management (IWM), which he and other weed experts across the country are advocating as our best hope for putting the brakes on the development of additional herbicideresistant weeds.

He knows it isn’t a simple issue. His presentation included nearly 60 slides, some displaying the results of years of study into various products and mixes, as well as a focus on Canada fleabane and waterhemp and their respective migrations across Ontario.

Continued on page 30

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

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crops Guide I’m not aware of any other weed biotype that has spread that quickly.”

Simcoe, Durham, Hastings, Prince Edward, and Frontenac are the counties with glyphosate resistance only — the other 23 in table one are multiple resistant.

Dr. Peter Sikkema, University of Guelph In fact, it’s the sort of presentation that can make growers pessimistic. The threat posed by these weeds is already considerable and pressing in many parts of Ontario.

But, says Sikkema, if we’re smart about it, it’s a risk that’s manageable.

Fleabane spread sets records The spread of Canada fleabane in just six years has been staggering, from its initial confirmation in Essex County in 2010 to 2015’s tally of 30 counties, stretching 800 km to the Quebec border.

“I’ve been at this job for more than 20 years, and I’m not aware of any other weed biotype that has spread that quickly,” says Sikkema, a professor of field crop weed management at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus.

Already, a Grain Farmers of Ontario survey conducted in 2015 cited glyphosate-resistant Canada fleabane as the No. 1 weed management issue facing growers across the province, and it’s getting worse.

This startling spread of Canada fleabane makes it of considerable concern, along with its resistance to multiple modes of action, a more recent development within the past five years According to Sikkema’s research, glyphosate-resistant Canada fleabane was first confirmed in Essex County in 2010. Within two years, the biotype had spread to seven other counties, with four more in 2013 and 16 more in 2014 (see Table 1). It’s to the point where Sikkema now believes Quebec growers will face the same battle.

As if that’s not enough, there are now 23 counties in Ontario that have Canada fleabane biotypes that are resistant to multiple modes of action, namely glyphosate (Group 9) and FirstRate (Group 2). Bruce, Dufferin,

The good news If there’s some good news for growers, it’s that there are several solid soil-applied herbicide options for Canada fleabane control in corn. Sikkema names Banvel, Marksman, Callisto + atrazine, and Integrity as sound choices. In a post-emergent program, he says, dicamba-based products, including Banvel, Distinct, and Marksman offer greater than 90 per cent control, as does Pardner + atrazine.

There is one slide in his presentation, however, that provides a stark illustration of the visual difference between resistance to glyphosate and resistance to multiple modes of action (namely Roundup + Broadstrike RC). The photos are of two plots, one near Morpeth, Ont., and the other near Mull, 15 kilometres to the northwest. Both are treated with the same tank mix.

The Morpeth plot shows the level of control in corn that’s only glyphosate resistant, while the Mull test plot exhibits the multiple-resistant biotype.

“Just 15 kilometres away,” says Sikkema, referring to the Mull site. “You put on the exact same treatment and the difference is, you’d have thought we forgot to put the herbicide in the tank. Now how daunting is that?”

Soybean a bigger challenge But that’s just one challenge in corn, where there are options for effective control (90 per cent or more) in corn. Where it becomes far more of a challenge is in soybean fields across Ontario.

In fact, Sikkeman notes, he tested 29 tank mixes in soybeans, and none of them provided acceptable control.”

“I’m using ‘acceptable’ as 90 per cent, and none of them provided that,” adds Sikkema. “And that is every broadleaf herbicide registered for soybean in Ontario, and none of them gives 90 per cent control.”

Based on his research during the past six years, Sikkema thinks that Roundup + Eragon is the foundation for control of glyphosate-resistant fleabane in soybean.

Continued on page 32

Table 1. Counties in Ontario with glyphosate-resistant Canada fleabane 2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Essex

Kent Lambton Elgin Middlesex Niagara

Huron Haldimand

Brant Oxford Norfolk Durham

Perth York Bruce Peterborough Waterloo Northumberland Wellington Hastings

Source: Dr. Peter Sikkema, University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus

30

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

2015 Dufferin Prince Edward Hamilton Lennox & Addington Halton Ottawa Peel Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry

Simcoe Frontenac

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crops Guide That means my batting average is a little higher than 50 per cent.”

Dr. Peter Sikkema, University of Guelph Yet in a summary of 25 studies conducted in Essex and Kent counties, the consistency of control was disappointing. In 56 per cent of the studies, control was rated above 90 per cent. But in 44 per cent of the studies, control was below that 90 per cent. In 20 per cent of the experiments, it was less than 50 per cent.

“That means my batting average is a little higher than 50 per cent, which means 44 per cent of the time, you’re not going to be happy with my recommendation,” he says. “Twenty per cent of the time, the exact same herbicide that provides 90 per cent control in one field provides less than 50 per cent in another field. That’s not a fun place for me to be in when I’m doing an extension talk.”

What the research team has also found is that time of day has a significant impact, with the level of control varying from 78 to 89 per cent depending on the time of day when a field is sprayed.

There are yield implications, with Sikkema finding a spread of up to nine bushels per acre depending on time of day. With a soybean price of $12 per bushel, delaying spray applications for nine hours (from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., for instance) might increase net returns by as much as $108 per acre.

As part of his presentation, Sikkema demonstrated the benefits of three-way tank mixes for soybean fields. Research from the University of Guelph indicates greater than 90 per cent control of glyphosate-resistant Canada fleabane with the following three mixes: 1. Roundup + Eragon + 2,4-D (with 92 per cent control).

2. Roundup + Eragon + Gramoxone (with 95 per cent control).

3. Roundup + Eragon + Sencor (with 97 per cent control).

It’s the third and last combination that will be Sikkema’s recommendation for growers asking for help with their weed issues in the coming growing season.

In winter wheat, Target and Infinity provide greater than 90 per cent control of glyphosate-resistant Canada fleabane, but Sikkema emphasizes that he will never recommend Target for winter wheat. Since dicamba is in the formulation, the risk of crop damage is too great, in spite of its registration for use on winter wheat and the fact that it’s included in Sikkema’s research.

Instead, Infinity on its own is the only product that provides acceptable control for winter wheat with an adequate margin of crop safety.

Even if you don’t have glyphosate resistance on your fields, Sikkema says now is the time to adopt an integrated weed management (IWM) program.

Use glyphosate effectively as part of a long-term crop rotation, and do all you can to lengthen its life.

“I think glyphosate-resistant weeds are a manageable problem,” says Sikkema. “We have enough research to show that we can manage it, but it’s going to cost farmers a lot of money, every year going forward. Farmers need to know what weeds they’re dealing with, what resistance exists, select the right herbicide and then ‘micro-manage’ each field.” CG

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32

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

Glyphosate stewardship questions Peter Sikkema, professor of field crop weed management at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus, asks eight questions to test if you’re adapting fast enough to reduce glyphosate resistance.

Would you consider…

1. Adding a non-Roundup Ready crop to your rotation, or adding an additional non-Roundup Ready crop to your diversified crop rotation? Would you make room for conventional corn, identity preserved (IP) soybeans, cereals, dry beans or forages?

2. Applying a two-pass weed control system on every acre, every year, utilitizing multiple herbicide modes of action on every acre? In corn, the options include Converge, Engarde, Integrity, Lumax, and Primextra. In soybean, the options are Boundary, Canopy, Conquest, Fierce, Freestyle, Integrity, Optill, Pursuit, and TriActor.

3. Applying multiple herbicides modes of action on every acre, every year — that is, adding a tank-mix partner to Roundup applied post-emerge?

Banvel, Halex, Marksman, and Vios G3 are the choices in corn, while Classic, FirstRate, Flexstar, and Pursuit are the selections in soybeans.

4. Strategically incorporating some of the alternate or new technologies when they become available (with Liberty Link and Enlist in corn and Liberty Link, Roundup Ready 2Xtend, and Enlist in soybean)?

5. Including tillage at strategic points in your diversified crop rotation?

6. Seeding a cover crop after winter wheat harvest to reduce Canada fleabane emergence ?

7. Inter-seeding a cover crop in your corn to reduce Canada fleabane emergence?

8. Making near-perfect weed control your objective in your corn/soybean/ wheat rotation in order to reduce weed additions to the seedbank?

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crops Guide

Rebate Roundup for Eastern Canada A quick glimpse at programs and opportunities available to growers for 2017

By Leeann Minogue and Ralph Pearce / CG Production editor

W

ith the planting season just weeks away, we’re putting together a “Rebate Roundup” for eastern Canadian growers with our overview of the rebates offered by industry.

Some of the companies contacted for our new annual “Rebate Roundup” feature say they don’t offer rebates — they prefer to stick to simple prices. Other farm input suppliers have plans so elaborate you’ll need a calculator to figure out how much cash you’re getting back.

Whether you prefer simple upfront pricing or that rebate cheque, you can read about your options here.

Adama Adama Canada doesn’t offer rebates. Adama told us that rather than farmers having to wait for a cash-back reward program, its promise is to work with farmers to create the best return on investment, with buyers knowing their costs upfront.

Arysta LifeScience

Bayer CropScience

Arysta LifeScience is offering its cash-back Grower Rewards Program again this season. It applies to herbicide, fungicide, or seed treatment products.

You’re eligible when you buy Everest 2.0 herbicide, Everest GBX herbicide, Inferno Duo herbicide, Evito fungicide, and/or Rancona Pinnacle seed treatment from February 1, 2017 to August 15, 2017.

You’ll earn a base reward of $1 per acre for purchases of Everest 2.0 and Everest GBX, and $0.50 per acre for Inferno Duo, Evito, and Rancona Pinncle.

Additionally, if you buy two products for matching acres you’ll earn $1 more per acre; three products earn you $2 per acre. Matching acres reach a maximum of the largest product purchase; the minimum volume purchase to qualify for each product is 160 acres.

To enroll or use the online reward calculator visit www.arystalifesciencerewards.ca.

The BayerValue program includes an extensive lineup of innovative crop protection solutions from Bayer and is based on total Bayer products purchased between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. It has been updated for 2017 to more intuitively reflect grower needs.

Growers can qualify by purchasing a minimum of $2,000 on BayerValue products. They can then increase their savings through volume level and the three bundles included in the BayerValue East Program. To take advantage of the various bundles, growers must purchase a minimum of 40 acres of each participating product.

The Cereal Bundle offers an additional two per cent savings on top of the base rebate for the purchase of at least one cereal herbicide and one cereal fungicide. Herbicides available for the bundle include Buctril M, Infinity, and Puma Advance, while fungicides include Folicur, Folicur EW, Prosaro, Stratego, and Stratego PRO. New for 2017 is the Fungicide Bundle, which offers an additional two per cent savings on the base rebate for growers who purchase a minimum of any two fungicides including Folicur, Folicur EW, Prosaro, Stratego, Stratego PRO, Propulse, and Proline.

The Crop Bundle includes the minimum purchase of one cereal product and one corn herbicide to receive an additional four per cent in savings on the base rebate.

Qualifying cereal products are Buctril M, Infinity, Puma Advance, Folicur, Folicur EW, Prosaro, Stratego, and Stratego PRO. Corn herbicides included are Converge XT, Option Liquid, and Vios G3.

BASF BASF’s AgSolutions 2017 program is very similar to past years. To qualify, you must purchase at least two qualifying products to treat 160 acres each and, in total, enough product to treat at least 600 acres.

Once you qualify, your rebate will range from one to six per cent of qualifying products — the rebate increases when you purchase more qualifying products or more product acres. To reach the maximum rebate, you would need to buy enough of five or more different qualifying products to treat 14,000 acres.

34

BASF also has a canola solutions offer — up to $4 per acres of savings if you purchase matching acres of Heat LQ (Heat) and select canola fungicides.

The product purchase period is October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017. Find the online calculator at www. agsolutions.ca.

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

crop technology At this point in the ordering season, there is one remaining early-pay discount program available on DeKalb corn and soybean seed products: growers can receive a two per cent discount if payment for ordered products is made by March 8, 2017. To qualify for the full two per cent discount, orders for product need to be placed by March 15, 2017.

Take advantage of this opportunity to book your DeKalb corn and soybeans now and manage cash flow throughout the growing season. Growers can also use their John Deere Financial or AgriCard services to purchase DeKalb products and enjoy interest-free financing until October 31, 2017.

DeKalb is offering a 100 per cent replant guarantee on its corn hybrids treated with Acceleron Seed Applied Solutions for Corn (fungicides and insecticide, and fungicides only) planted after April 15, 2017, and its soybean seed planted after May 1, 2017. If environmental conditions require replanting, DeKalb will cover the cost of the replacement seed, up to the value of the original planted acres. DeKalb will also help you match an earlier-maturing DeKalb corn hybrid or soybean variety to your field and growing season. You can choose which

Growers can maximize their savings through the Proline Bonus, which rewards growers who purchased a minimum for 40 acres each of any qualifying BayerValue product plus Proline. Depending on volume level, the bonus results in up to eight per cent in savings. This can increase to up to 23 per cent when combining the Proline Bonus with one of the three bundles.

If you were registered in 2016, you will automatically be re-enrolled for 2017. If you were not registered last year, there are several easy ways to sign up. Visit the BayerValue website, contact the Bayer Rebate Fulfilment Centre at 1-888-283-6847, talk to your local retail or contact your Bayer representative. Bayer will also be launching an online calculator in Spring 2017 to help growers maximize their savings.

DeKalb The Early Order Program from DeKalb offers growers savings on DeKalb corn and soybean seed products, if they act early. Within the program, growers who booked before November 30, 2016, will receive a five per cent discount on their purchase. Growers who book after November 30, 2016, are eligible to receive a two per cent discount on their purchase until March 8, 2017. Seed treatments/inoculants also qualify for this program.

Continued on page 36

SAVE THE DATE

The Maverick Mentality

“

”

APRIL

6

WM. A STEWART LECTURE

Thursday, April 6, 2017 | 7:00 p.m.

Lamplighter Inn & Conference Centre London, Ontario | Tickets $75 (on sale soon) Join Kevin Stewart, from AGVISION Media, and a panel of Mavericks in a discussion about how they’re changing the face of agriculture.

The Wm. A. Stewart Lecture & Reception is partially funded by the Wm. A. Stewart Endowment. Proceeds from this event support the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP).

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

35

crops Guide DeKalb crop you would like to replant, regardless of the original planted crop. An application for a replant claim must be submitted to a DeKalb territory account manager before June 30, 2017.

DuPont DuPont Head Start Program Growers purchasing soybean and corn herbicides and fungicides will receive instant discounts when they order eligible DuPont products by March 31, 2017.

Growers can earn instant discounts of $3.50/acre for DuPont Classic brand herbicides and $1.50/acre for DuPont Engarde or Destra corn herbicides. Growers will be eligible for an additional $1/acre discount when they match their early order with DuPont Acapela fungicide.

DuPont FarmCare Row Crop Program Growers purchasing a minimum of 40 acres of eligible DuPont corn, soybean, and cereal herbicides or PrecisionPac herbicides will be automatically enrolled to receive: • Acapela Managed Acre Incentive — $2/acre rebate on matching acres with eligible corn, soybean and cereal herbicides • Coragen Insect Management Incentive — $1/acre rebate for matching acres with Acapela or eligible DuPont herbicides The FarmCare Row Crop program begins September 1, 2016 and ends August 31, 2017. Rebates will be calculated at the end of the 2017 season based on grower net purchases. For more details, visit your retailer, call the DuPont FarmCare Support Centre at 1-800-6673925, or visit cropprotection.dupont.ca.

Engage Agro Engage Agro is offering two programs for producers in Eastern Canada in 2017.

The Granuflo T program offers rebates to tree fruit producers of between $10 and $125 per bag when bundled with other trusted tree fruit products.

For wheat and soybean producers, Engage Agro guarantees the performance of RE-Leaf foliar nutrient to boost yield. Producers who apply RE-Leaf on wheat or soybeans qualify for a refund equal to the value of the applied product if they don’t realize a yield increase.

Some conditions apply.

36

Monsanto New Grower program for 2017 from Monsanto Canada The Roundup Ready Xtend Crop System is one of the most advanced soybean cropping systems on the market today. Now, growers can earn cash rewards when they choose the herbicides designed to deliver maximum weed control in Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans.

It’s easy for growers to earn rewards. They can purchase participating crop protection products from any retailer and sign up for the program from anywhere — not just through their Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybean seed retailer.

To qualify for this program, a grower must: 1. Complete at least one of the following between September 1, 2016 and July 1, 2017: a. Purchase a minimum of one case of Roundup Xtend herbicide with VaporGrip Technology.

(One case (20 l) of Roundup Xtend treats 10 acres.) b. Purchase a minimum of one case of Roundup WeatherMAX and one case of XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology. (One case (20 l) of Roundup WeatherMAX treats 30 acres and one case (20 l) of XtendiMax treats 28 acres.)

The more qualifying acres of product purchased, the greater the total reward.

2. Register for the rewards program no later than August 31, 2017. There are two ways to sign up: a. Visit MonsantoRewards.ca to fill out the online registration form. b. Complete a paper registration form provided by Monsanto.

3. Rewards are cumulative, and growers can expect to receive payment starting October 2017.

Monsanto will not issue a cheque for rewards less than $100.

Qualifying Products To earn the Multiple Mode of Action Portfolio Incentive, growers need to purchase a minimum of one case of qualifying products. Once the qualifying purchase(s) has been made and the customer is registered as indicated above, it opens the door to the following rewards.

FMC

Reward

Currently FMC does not have any grower programs in Eastern Canada. Rather than farmers having to wait for a cash-back reward program FMC’s promise is to work with farmers to create the best return on investment, with buyers knowing their costs upfront.

Gowan

Roundup Xtend: $0.75/acre Matching acres of Roundup WeatherMAX and XtendiMax*: $0.50/acre *Determine the number of acres treated per case by using the conversion rate above. This offer applies to matching acres only, and the rebate will be determined by whichever product treats fewer acres.

Gowan Canada says it does not offer grower programs, and prefers to keep things simple so crop input retailers can assist growers to make decisions for their farm with Eptam, Gavel, Imidan, Nexter, Permit, Sandea, Treflan, and Yuma across Eastern Canada.

UAP told us it keeps things simple with upfront net pricing — no hassles, no forms or having to wait to receive your own money back as a rebate. CG

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

UAP (United Agri Products)

weather NEAR NORMAL

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NEAR-NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND PRECIPITATION

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March 19 to April 29,

• Mar. 19-25: Temperatures fluctuate and at times reach double digits in the south. Mainly fair but cooler, blustery days bring periodic rain south and snow north.

• Mar. 26-Apr. 1: In the south, pleasant and mild weather interchanges with cooler, wet days. Highs at times reach the teens. Seasonable north with occasional snow or rain.

• Apr. 2-8: Changeable in the south as wet, windy days alternate with sunny, mild days and a few highs in the teens. Cooler north with occasional rain or snow and frost.

• Apr 9-15: Blustery with fluctuating temperatures. Risk of frost south. Sunny breaks but with occasional rain, chance heavy in places. Mixed snow and rain north.

• Apr. 16-22: Variable weather and temperatures will dominate the week as disturbances move by. Frost pockets south. Intermittent heavier rain south turning to snow north.

• Apr. 23-29: Pleasant on many days and milder but expect the cooler outbreaks to bring some heavier rain south. Windy. Periodic snow north with seasonable temperatures.

Quebec

e abl e g n ow Cha vy sn mes hean at ti r ai

• Mar. 19-25: Milder, blustery days interchange with colder periods of snow or rain. Chance of heavy localized precipitation. Heavier snow and seasonable temperatures north.

• Mar. 26-Apr. 1: Look for temperatures to fluctuate with mix of thawing and freezing. Sunny overall apart from snow or rain south on a couple of days.

Frequent heavy snow north.

• Apr. 2-8: Often sunny and mild in the south other than a couple of colder, blustery outbreaks bringing rain or snow. Frost pockets. Intermittent heavy snow north.

M sn ild ra ow in

ch

National 2017 highlights

• Apr. 9-15: Sunshine alternates with rain or snow in the south, possibly heavy in places. Frost patches.

In the north, expect occasional heavier snow and frosty nights.

• Apr. 16-22: Fair and mild on a few days this week with a frost risk at night. Rain falls on a couple of days turning to heavier snow in the north. Windy across entire region at times.

• A pr. 23-29: Frost and heavier snow is common in northern areas while sunny skies mix with periodic rain in the south. A disturbance threatens with heavier rain south.

Atlantic provinces • Mar. 19-25: Unsettled conditions this week with occasional snow or rain, possibly heavy at times.

Fluctuating temperatures averaging near normal.

Often windy.

• M ar. 26-Apr. 1: Changeable temperatures and weather. Brisk winds. Above zero by day but often frosty nights. Sunshine exchanges with rain or snow, heavy in places.

• Apr. 2-8: Highs climb to double digits in the west, otherwise seasonable. Inland frost. Fair elsewhere and blustery with mixed snow and rain, heavier east and north.

• Apr. 9-15: Temperatures vary but lean to the mild side.

Windy. Sunny breaks alternate with rain or snow on several days this week. A few frosty nights inland.

• Apr. 16-22: Milder on most days but with inland frost. Variable weather with gusty winds as well as periodic snow or rain, possibly heavy in places.

Snowy north.

• Apr. 23-29: Milder and foggy on many days. Fair but snow or rain on two to three occasions this week, chance heavy in a few areas. Blustery winds. Inland frost pockets.

March 19 to April 29, 2017 A cool weather pattern is expected to delay the arrival of spring in many parts of Western and Central Canada.

As a result, March will see several cool spells along with several episodes of heavier snow or rain from British Columbia eastward across the Prairies and into Ontario and Quebec. A milder and somewhat drier circulation is likely to return to these provinces in April due, in part, to a weakening La Niña. These changeable conditions will lead to highly variable temperatures and weather situations through the forecast period.

Meantime, in Atlantic Canada, a southerly circulation at high levels should translate into relatively mild but often unsettled, wet conditions across eastern portions of the country.

Prepared by meteorologist Larry Romaniuk of Weatherite Services. Forecasts should be 80 per cent accurate for your area; expect variations by a day or two due to changeable speed of weather systems.

Editor’s note

Where’s my weather page?

Look in every second issue for your month-long Country Guide weather forecast during the winter months when we’re publishing every two weeks.

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

37

Crops GUIDE #pesTpatrol

#PEST PATROL with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA How do I get better control of lamb’s quarters?

L

amb’s quarters has consistently been identified as the most abundant and most problematic weed affecting field crop production in Ontario. Yet the Pest Management Regulatory Agency database contains hundreds of herbicides that list lamb’s quarters as either suppressed or controlled.

It’s safe to say there is an arsenal of products available to farmers, but our focus should be on putting them in a position to work well. Since control of lamb’s quarters can be variable, there are obviously several factors that affect herbicide performance.

Here is my checklist. It certainly applies to other weeds too, but for now let’s focus on maximizing control of common lamb’s quarters: CHECKLIST TO MAXIMIZE LAMB’S QUARTERS CONTROL 1. Implement farming practices that improve soil health (e.g. soil organic matter) and encourage beneficial micro-organisms (e.g. 30 per cent residue cover, conservation tillage, cover crops, crop rotation, judicious use of insecticides and fungicides).

2. Use soil-applied pre-emergence herbicides. The germination window of lamb’s quarters is several weeks and typically requires two herbicide applications for best control. A soil-applied herbicide will protect grain yield while the post-emergence application will minimize weed seed production (see Figure 1).

3. Apply glyphosate before lamb’s quarters gets taller than five cm (two inches) or before the six- to eight-

leaf stage for most other post-emergence herbicides (see Figure 2).

4. Apply post-emergence herbicides when ambient air temperatures are above 20 C. 5. Apply post-emergence herbicides during the day, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

6. Avoid tank mixing micronutrients with herbicides.

7. C ondition carrier water when its pH is beyond extreme ranges (<5 and >8).

The above is an excerpt taken from the new book A Guide to Problem Weed Control in Ontario, available from late February 2017 at www.gfo.ca/Production and at the 2017 “March Classic” on March 21 in London, Ont. CG

Figure 1. Season long visual control (%) of lamb’s quarters with glyphosate in soybean when pre-emergence herbicides were used compared to when they were excluded in “Roundup Ready” soybean crop (adapted from Westhoven et al. 2008).

Figure 2. A four-leaf seedling plant with cotyledon leaves beside an eight- to 10-leaf plant that is beyond the susceptible stage for control with most herbicides.

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

38

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

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BUSINESS

Trumping it out Will a protectionist administration in the White House force our ag equipment industry to move south?

By Scott Garvey / CG Machinery Editor

I

t was a stunning move. Ford’s CEO and president Mark Fields appeared on CNN in January to announce that his company was scrubbing its long-planned construction of a US$1.6 billion assembly plant in Mexico.

Instead, Ford will invest U.S.$700 million in a Michigan facility and boost its workforce in that state by 700.

It looked very much like Ford had succumbed to pressure from incoming U.S. president Donald Trump, who has been threatening U.S. companies that move production outside that country. Any goods that they tried to import back into the U.S. from those plants, Trump said, would get slapped with a 35 per cent tariff.

Trump had also issued a stream of tweets criticizing Ford (sometimes falsely) over its international supply chain and production.

What made the Ford announcement so surprising was that there wasn’t any real substance to the threats.

There was no firm government policy in place to prevent Ford from building the Mexican plant to take advantage of lower manufacturing costs. And there were no clear policies to entice them to stay.

“It’s literally a vote of confidence in the pro-growth policies he (Trump) has been outlining,” Fields said during the televised interview, although he couldn’t point to any specific one when pressed.

On the same day as the Ford announcement, General Motors took the unusual step of sending out a threesentence press release to explain its Mexican production. That was in direct response to being mentioned in another loosely accurate Trump tweet that vilified it for building one model of Chevy Cruze in that country.

“General Motors manufactures the Chevrolet Cruze sedan in Lordstown, Ohio,” reads the release. “All Chevrolet Cruze sedans sold in the U.S. are built in GM’s assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio. GM builds the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback for global markets in Mexico, with a small number sold in the U.S.” So far, most of what we know about Trump’s policy

40

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

Dealers look over new combines during a product launch in the U.S. Will Trump’s trade policies force them to charge farmers even more for new equipment? Photo: Scott Garvey

intentions comes in the form of short statements via similar Twitter storms. He has refused to pay much attention to the mainstream media, avoiding them in a manner reminiscent of Stephen Harper’s last administration here. Clearly, though, CEOs of U.S. auto manufacturers are already feeling the pressure.

The auto industry isn’t all that different from ag equipment. All the major ag machinery brands build equipment outside of the U.S., and at least some of the equipment ends up for sale in North America. For example, AGCO’s new Global Series utility tractors are built in China. Their Fendt brand tractors are assembled in Marktoberdorf, Germany. John Deere builds some utility tractors and components in Mexico. And the list goes on.

And much of the production from Canadian shortline manufacturers heads south. How might a protectionist stance in the U.S. affect Canadian brands? So far, no one can really be sure. There seems little that the Canadian firms can do but watch and wait.

“I’m actually quite surprised Ford made that stance already without the administration in place,” says Peter Clarke, president and CEO of Saskatchewan-based Seed Hawk, a seeding equipment manufacturer and division of Swedish-owned Väderstad. “There’s a lot of rhetoric going around, so it’s really early to tell what the administration is going to do. I think we wait to see the administration in place.”

In a statement in its official “Industry Advisor” newsletter published in early January, the U.S.-based Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) echoed that sentiment. “The first few months of the new administration should yield significantly more insight as to what a Trump presidency will mean for manufacturing, agriculture and the entire economy,” it reads.

Early on, Trump’s campaign team downplayed fears his anti-NAFTA stance could hurt Canada by implying any threats were really just aimed at Mexico. Now, however, there’s no sign of any special treatment in store for Canadian manufacturers.

The Globe and Mail reported that in a conference call with reporters, Trump’s White House press secretary, Sean Spicer said: “(Donald Trump’s) commitment is to the American worker, and to American jobs, and to American industry, and American manufacturing.”

According to the Globe, Spicer went on to say: “He’s been very clear throughout the campaign that his goal is to put America first, to restore America’s manufacturing base, and so it’s not a question of a particular country vis-a-vis the United States.

It’s a question of where America’s place is going to be and where American workers are going to be in his agenda. And that’s first and foremost.”

That makes it clear that if Ford had been planning a facility in Canada instead of Mexico, the end result would probably have been the same.

If the Trump administration does go forward to implement a 35 per cent duty on U.S.-based brands that import production for sale in the U.S., what immediately comes to mind is CNH Industrial’s air drill manufacturing facility in Saskatoon, Sask. It builds all the Case IH and New Holland brand air seeders for the North American market.

Will CNH be taxed into relocating that facility?

So far it’s unclear under exactly what conditions such a duty might apply, and there is the long-standing bilateral free trade agreement in ag equipment that ensures Canadian-built equipment can flow south without any impediment, although Ford for one doesn’t appear to believe that NAFTA, which allows automakers to build some components and vehicles in all three North American countries, will be sufficient to protect it under a new U.S. administration.

Can Canadian machinery brand executives, then, depend on the trade agreement that protects their firms? And what happens to their equipment exports if the U.S. imposes a broad range of new tariff barriers?

“From an ag perspective, much more equipment moves northbound than southbound,” notes Clarke. “So I wouldn’t expect

Peter Clarke is president and CEO of Seed Hawk.

Photo: Seed Hawk

too much impact on Canadian manufacturers, particularly shortliners anyway.”

“The markets we sell into — Seed Hawk and probably the others across Western Canada — are niche providers of products, so in spite of any tariff decisions, which I think are unlikely, the product would continue to sell.”

And the value of the U.S. dollar has been on an upward march ever since Trump’s election in November. Some economists have pointed out that this could complicate his efforts to reinvigorate American manufacturing, since a high greenback makes U.S.-made goods more expensive in export markets.

That is a problem that U.S.-built ag and construction machinery already faces in spades. Conversely, the exchange rate gives Canadian brands a cushion to soften the impact of any potential new duties.

“We’re sheltered a bit in terms of our action — or reaction — because of the strong exchange rate,” Clarke says. “It’s very favourable to southbound trade. If we were sitting at a level dollar, we might be thinking differently. But the gap is considerable. It’s influential in terms of our sales into the U.S. and I don’t expect that to change too swiftly in the future.”

The reality is that U.S. ag machinery brands might need to be more worried about Canadian retaliatory tariffs.

“Big manufacturers like Case IH and John Deere have been hit hard already with foreign exchange rates,” Clarke notes. “I’d be more concerned about any reactionary response from the Canadian government for trade going northbound that would impact them.”

Despite all this uncertainty, markets have responded very positively with significant

gains on stock exchanges, including Ford shares which rocketed up over 3.5 per cent the same day it announced the Mexican investment reversal.

“That (market uncertainty) was accounted for in the runup to the election,” believes Clarke. “There was some instability then.

From a U.S. (investor’s) perspective we have a president whose behaviour we may not like, but he’s going to take the country in a direction we like. There’s some stability in that.

I’m not surprised markets have been fairly stable through the last couple of weeks.”

While rhetoric still dominates discussion around trade and commerce with the U.S. in the near term, it seems more than likely there will be at least some changes to the status quo.

Could a move toward protectionism inside the White House fundamentally change the pattern of global trade, especially given that the U.S. remains one of the largest consumer markets in the western world?

And, by abandoning pending deals like the TPP, and if it redraws existing deals like NAFTA, would such U.S. moves put an end to the globalization trend, or at least stall it?

“Definitely, it would,” says Clarke. “That’s going backwards in time in terms of policy and thinking. I think Mexico is going to take a harder hit than Canada will in the short term. But he (Trump) might be just as handtied as any other president would be.”

In the end, how would protectionist U.S. trade policy affect thinking in the boardrooms of Canadian ag equipment manufacturers?

Says Clarke: “It would change the dynamic of decision-making going forward.” CG COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

41

BUSINESS

Building a new APF After a decade of “Growing Forward” programs, Ottawa is developing a new five-year Agricultural Policy Framework this spring. What should be in it?

By John Greig / CG Field Editor

C

anadian farmers are watching as the negotiations for the next Agriculture Policy Framework (APF) gyrate to completion, paving the way for the launch of the new, five-year plan in the first quarter of 2018.

This new document will be immensely influential, defining how federal and provincial government ag spending will be allocated for the following five years.

And it will also be immensely complex. Not only will it set the terms for the government’s business risk management programs, it will also fund market and business development and innovation projects for farmers and the food and agriculture sector.

For the past two five-year cycles, the program has been called Growing Forward. That name will change for the next five-year plan.

Farm lobbyists are heading into the discussions with a clear new objective. Ron Bonnett, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, says the goal is to get governments (federal and provincial) to see agriculture as a strategic investment, “not as a hole to throw money into.”

The lobbying strategy for farmers is clear to CFA’s Ron Bonnett, who says investing in agriculture is investing in a strong economy Yet building resilience in a volatile industry is also an essential goal of farm organizations.

“That would go a long way in protecting us with business risk management,” says Dan Mazier, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers in Manitoba (KAP).

The overall package has created inequities in funding across industry sectors and jurisdictions. In some provinces, like Ontario, it is administered by the provincial government and organizations. In Manitoba, it is delivered by the federal government. Different provinces have different program success levels, and accessibility.

Those varying outcomes have resulted in different 42

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

levels of consternation and affection across the country. But the largest request for the next APF is the same across the country.

Two Agri-Stability choices Under the first Growing Forward, when a farmer’s current year program margin fell below 85 per cent of the farm’s reference margin, AgriStability helped cover the spread.

In the Growing Forward 2, the margin for the next five years was slashed to 70 per cent, greatly reducing the chances that grain farms in particular could ever get meaningful payouts Now the question is: What will happen for the next five years?

Farm groups want more money injected into the program so the payouts would pump meaningful help to farms in need. Ottawa, meanwhile, is telling farmers: if they want more funding for AgriStability, they may have to accept cuts in other ag programs?

“People are frustrated with the AgriStability program,” says Bonnett. “It went from income stability to more of a disaster-type program.”

If your margin falls by 15 per cent, that’s a hit to your stability but it is manageable with some help. That’s how the first version of AgriStability was triggered.

More recently, the drop has had to be 30 per cent, Bonnett says. That’s a disaster, he says, and is usually created by unpredictable factors, like a drought, or an extraordinary collapse in the markets.

The current program is also more unpredictable due to its complex calculations of the reference margins. Accountants have been unable to predict when clients will qualify for the program, says Keith Degenhart, vice-president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture (AFA). “(Former Conservative Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Gerry) Ritz said he wanted it bankable and predictable, but it wasn’t,” said Mazier.

The program has been useful to some farm sectors, especially those with faster boom-and-bust cycles, and to producers who farm mainly one commodity.

Hog farmers, many of whom contract out their crop growing or rent their land, have one main source of

income and therefore it is easier to qualify for an AgriStability payment.

In Alberta where rotations have tightened so farmers can plant canola more often, it can be helpful, says Lynn Jacobson, president of AFA. But should Ottawa favour farms that are inherently less stable? Farms that have diversified have better ability to average out the ups and downs in markets or weather, but they are also less likely to trigger a payment than their less-diversified neighbours.

In Saskatchewan, Todd Lewis, president of the Agriculture Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS), says they surveyed their members in the summer, who said AgriStability and its large drop in value is their biggest concern with GF2.

“As a start, to get it back to the prior levels and trigger mechanisms would help,” Lewis says.

However, there’s not a lot of optimism that the levels will be restored to 85 per cent.

“I gather there is very little appetite for that by the government,” says Degenhart.

But maybe the program could be incrementally improved, so farmers will re-enroll.

That could include tinkering with expense criteria so that the program will actually pay out when farmers believe their income has fallen to 70 per cent of previous averages.

Mark Wales, an Ontario Federation of Agriculture board member and former president, still uses the AgriStability program as a horticulture producer. He’s also involved with national APF consultation through the Canadian Horticultural Council. He attended the November national consultation meetings and says the leading concern was about AgriStability.

“It works far less than it did, but it does work,” Wales says. “It’s not what it once was, but there are no other alternatives.

You can’t go to your insurance company and buy such coverage.”

Wales says the government is hearing about the need to increase funding for AgriStability, or whatever it will be called in the new APF, but “then they say if you want to put more into AgriStability, where are you going to take it from?”

Governments have made no financial commitments yet to the next APF and until that is known, farm organizations are just making requests within unknown parameters.

What should be new in the next Ag Policy Framework?

Canada’s farm leaders aren’t expecting any major changes of direction in the next Agriculture Policy Framework, but they are pushing to get important refinements in place by the July federal-provincial agriculture ministers’ conference.

Support for beginning farmers Several farm organizations are seeking more support for new farmers. That includes better access to current programs, which sometimes are available to young farmers who haven’t had time to build up the reference margins to qualify.

Some sort of regional average of similar producers would work. Also helpful would be a discounted rate for beginning farmers to enrol in the programs.

Keith Degenhart of Alberta Federation of Agriculture says a mentoring program would make sense too, bringing together farmers who want to retire and others who want to farm, along with a program to help fund beyond-family succession planning.

Market development Farm leaders say the APF should also put more emphasis on market development.

With the impending implementation of the Canadian-European Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), says Bonnett, this would also help farmers open new markets. Such a program could also target areas where future bilateral trade agreements could be signed, such as with Japan following the death of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Greater flexibility to move funds In the volatile, fast-changing agriculture sector, priorities can change rapidly, so farmers are saying the APF must have more flexibility to change as needed. There was some ability to move funds in the GF2, but it happened slowly and not as predictably as the agriculture sector would have liked.

Labour as a target for improvement

Farmers who hold mortgages for beginning farmers could be given preferential tax treatment for doing so, says the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s Ron Bonnett.

With 60,000 jobs open in Canadian agriculture, causing $1.2 billion in lost economic activity, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s Mark Wales says there is room for programs that attract and train more workers.

Large strategic investments

Communication and technology

The national federation is also pushing the argument that since agriculture and food is the largest manufacturing sector in Canada, it deserves the kind of strategic investments that governments make to spur growth in the auto and aerospace sectors.

Agriculture needs to do a better job communicating to consumers about the value and safety of new technologies, Bonnett says. Projects that proactively communicate about technologies while they are being researched and developed could be part of APF.

Such injections could be made within the purview of an agriculture policy framework, as long as they didn’t pull funds from other programs.

Climate change and carbon taxes

“We need these types of investments to get us in front of the pack,” says Bonnett, noting that Dominic Barton, the chair of the prime minister’s team of economic advisers, has identified agriculture as a driver of future economic growth in Canada.

The next APF should include funding to help farmers adapt to lowercarbon-producing practices and to figure out ways that farmers can be compensated for sequestering large amounts of carbon in their soils.

Federal government policy is now to impose carbon taxes of some sort across the country.

Continued on page 44

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

43

BUSINESS Agri-Invest The AgriInvest program — a partial replacement to the old Net Income Stabilization Program (NISA) — is relatively popular with farmers. The program is a savings program for managing small income declines and investing in risk-reducing activities on the farm. The government provides one per cent matching funding.

“It has worked out fairly well because it is predictable,” says Lewis, who farms grains and oilseeds near Gray, Sask. Banks recognize the funds saved in an AgriInvest fund.

Bonnett has used AgriInvest funds on his farm to increase tile drainage.

“We need to get farmers to think about that fund strategically,” he says.

Some are advocating for higher government matching funds, but some are concerned that if too many outside of agriculture knew about the program, it could be in jeopardy.

Mazier says that AgriStability and AgriInvest are programs that are relics of the old NISA-type policy. “We should throw them out and sit down as an industry and decide what is our need,” he says.

Risk and recovery There are several other programs under the business risk management section of Growing Forward2 and, for the most part, farm organizations look for those programs to continue, with some tinkering.

Funding for crop insurance programs gets the most support. These programs have worked well, and have expanded across the country.

The AgriRisk program paid for research and projects that aimed to reduce risk for farmers.

The program has helped beef farmers in Alberta create risk insurance programs, for example.

“Beef has not been part of the AgriRisk portfolio for a long time,” says Degenhart. “They are now very positive about being part of AgriRisk.”

However, Wales says the program — which is aimed at farm organizations, not directly at growers — has been difficult to understand. The Canadian Horticulture Council is looking at what risk management programs could be created for horticulture producers in the event of a recall or a need to destroy product.

The consensus generally appears to be that the AgriRisk program has support.

Agri-Recovery The AgriRecovery program was the portion of Growing Forward 2 intended to help in event of disasters.

However, it has worked for some parts of the country and not for others.

On the Prairies, where weather events are widespread and devastating, the program has paid out more quickly and more broadly than in other areas.

In Ontario, Wales said the OFA is helping growers apply for help after the regional drought this past summer.

“It is a laborious process. It can take many, many months to trigger a program that has had limited benefits,” 44

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

such as in the 2012 drought in Ontario. The only costs then awarded to livestock producers were to move breeding stock to where they could get more feed. Wales raises beef cows and calves as part of a diversified livestock and crops farming operation in southern and eastern Ontario.

A future AgriRecovery program should be more transparent, he says.

Mazier, in Manitoba, says the program does pay out well, but not if disasters occur in rapid succession. He points to floods in Manitoba in 2011. In the aftermath farmers got AgriRecovery funding. However, in 2014, some farmers were flooded in order to keep water away from urban areas during a second flood and they didn’t get support.

“It was absolutely ridiculous and I’m not happy with the hurt and what went on there,” he says.

All the rest The business risk management portions of federal/ provincial agriculture policy have taken up the vast majority of time, planning and words due to their critical nature, their complexity and the help they deliver to farms in times of crisis.

However, the innovation and market development parts of the policy are also critical and, as the industry has had fewer crises over the past five years, there has been more time to talk about those areas.

Bonnett said he was impressed that at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture board meeting in October, there was intense discussion about risk management programs, but there was more time spent on what strategic investments could be made through the program.

The amorphous non-BRM programs covered broad areas including research, innovation and climate change, and the priorities often were determined by province. More funding was switched to areas that would benefit all producers or a group of producers instead of one producer. Satisfaction with results often also varied by province.

Most provinces administer the GF2 programs, but some, like Manitoba, do not and there a producer has to go through the federal government to get funds.

Mazier says that there have been concerns about streamlining the process and actually finding someone to talk to about an application. “It has generally been very slow and cumbersome,” he says.

In Ontario, there was no communication about why a project was rejected.

“They need to make it clear and transparent about how I apply for something,” says Wales. “Nothing gets a producer as frustrated as when they are turned down and are not told why.”

Farmers will know broadly what the direction will be of the next federal-provincial policy framework for agriculture in July. More details will flow out over the rest the year. Farm organizations hope that they will know all the details by the fall, giving the industry time to gear up for the new program, so that there aren’t gaps in funding as one ends and another starts as there have been in the past. CG

Goodbye glyphosate?

A flood of cancer suits in the U.S. threatens to topple farmers’ most valuable herbicide

L

ast September I warned readers of a growing public backlash against glyphosate herbicide, and I wrote of the co-ordinated attack on glyphosate by Avaaz, an online activist community that is claiming credit for the refusal by European regulators to renew the licence for glyphosate, instead only granting an 18-month extension to the expiring licence.

But now glyphosate is facing an even greater threat, this time coming at the hands of U.S. personal injury lawyers. These law firms are seeking to represent persons who have used or been exposed to Roundup herbicide and have since developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma or other types of cancers.

The crux of these cases is stated in the U. S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation filing: “Roundup, a widely used glyphosate-based herbicide manufactured

by Monsanto Company, can cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma and that Monsanto failed to warn consumers and regulators about the alleged risks of Roundup.”

Plaintiffs are coming forward from across the U.S. claiming their cancers were caused by their exposure to Roundup. Some of the plaintiffs are field crop farmers such as Larry Domina and Robert Dickey of Cedar County, Nebraska, and Royce Janzen of York County, Nebraska. All three regularly used Roundup in their corn and soybean operations and all have developed nonHodgkin lymphoma.

A fourth Nebraskan, Dodge County agronomist Frank Pollard is also named in the May 16, 2016 lawsuit. In his work as an agronomist, he was exposed to Roundup in storage, in the mixing for application, and in fields after application.

Plaintiff Lynda K. Patterson of Illinois attributes her stage-4 cancer diagnosed in 2014 to the use of Roundup in her garden and landscaping over more than a decade.

Jack McCall’s widow has also launched a wrongful death lawsuit against Monsanto. McCall had used Roundup for 30 years on his 20-acre fruit and vegetable farm near Cambria, California. He died in December of 2015 from a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

In the McCall lawsuit, a claim is even made for the death of the family dog which had died a few years earlier from lymphoma.

By Gerald Pilger

The lawyers The McCall case is being handled by Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman, a consumer law practice out of Los Angeles. In a November 2016 interview, Robin McCall, the firm’s director of public relations and marketing stated, “So far, we represent about 140 people since we started accepting cases in February of 2016. We expect to represent at least 500 people in this litigation and continue to get new cases every week.”

When I attempted to contact McCall in early February, Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman attorney Brent Wisner provided the following information: “We presently have around 200 clients and we are reviewing many more each day.

“I know that, among the various firms litigating these cases, at least 3,000 people have retained counsel. Not all of those cases are filed, but at some point, whether in state or federal court, the cases will be filed.”

The email continued: “Over 130 Roundup cases have been filed across the nation in both state and federal courts. In October 2016 the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) decided that all of the Roundup cases filed in federal courts would be centralized under one judge for purposes of the determining liability against Monsanto.

So far at least 49 cases have been transferred or are in the process of being transferred to U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California in San Francisco. The MDL is officially named In Re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation, 16-MD-2741.

“The litigation is proceeding ahead aggressively. To date Monsanto has produced several millions of pages of documents, and depositions of Monsanto employees are being conducted at a fairly quick pace. The Court decided to bifurcate discovery on the issue of general causation. That means the first phase of discovery is focusing on whether Roundup exposure causes nonHodgkin lymphoma. So, for now, there is a massive effort underway by numerous law firms to review the documents, take depositions, and prepare our experts on the issue of general causation. Once that is comContinued on page 46

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

45

BUSINESS

pleted, we will turn to the issues of specific causation, and our clients will have a chance to tell Monsanto how this product has fundamentally changed their lives.”

In late February, the two sides also appeared in federal court in San Francisco to provide expert testimony on how to evaluate the scientific information that will be at the core of the case.

Make no mistake, these are not nuisance lawsuits by small, fly-by-night law firms. Domina Law Group represented the Nebraskan landowners against the Keystone XL pipeline,and it won a $1.26 billion verdict for cattle ranchers against Tyson Fresh Meats (later overturned in appeals court). Domina Law is representing corn growers in lawsuits against Syngenta over the five-year Chinese ban of U.S. corn due to the contamination of corn shipments with a Syngenta variety not approved for sale.

Domina Law has partnered with Weitz & Luxenberg of New York in the Roundup suits. “Weitz & Luxenberg is the leader in asbestos and mesothelioma litigation with $8.5 billion in asbestos verdicts and settlements in 36,000 cases,” according to the firm’s website.

In September and October of 2015, Weitz & Luxenberg had already begun initiating personal injury lawsuits over Roundup in California and Delaware, and the firm has since filed cases in other states and federally.

Weitz & Luxenberg’s website also states: “Monsanto, however, fails to disclose that use of and/or exposure to Roundup can cause serious health consequences.”

The website goes on to invite cancer victims who have had exposure to Roundup to contact the firm.

“If you have been exposed to glyphosate, Roundup or both, and have developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma or another type of blood cancer, you may be entitled to compensation from the product’s manufacturer.

Further, if a member of your family died because of Roundup or other glyphosate-containing products, there might also be compensation for loss of consortium and wrongful death.”

The Schmidt Firm, PLLC is another national plaintiff law firm actively recruiting clients for their action against Monsanto. Their website states: “The Schmidt Firm, PLLC is currently accepting Roundup-induced injury cases in all 50 states. If you or somebody you know was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, you should contact our lawyers immediately for a free case consultation.”

The WHO Ruling The common link among all of these cases, and all of the law firms, is the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classification in March 2015 that Roundup is probably a carcinogen (class 2A).

In fact, Domina Law Group even stresses on their website that if you have been diagnosed with cancer and believe Roundup is the cause, you should act immediately because: “Your time to recover from 46

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

your non-Hodgkin lymphoma may almost be up — you must act now! The WHO (World Health Organization) released its findings on July 29, 2015, that the herbicide glyphosate is a probable carcinogen for humans. Glyphosate/Roundup have been linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. If you have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma the time to file your case to recover for your cancer may expire on July 29, 2016. You must contact a lawyer today before time runs out.”

The 2A classification has given personal injury lawyers the ammunition they need to sue Monsanto, the company which first marketed Roundup herbicide.

If they can prove that Monsanto knew or should have known Roundup could pose a risk to human health and failed to warn consumers of the danger, the payday could be astronomical.

And the stars may be lining up in the plaintiffs’ favour. After all, the combining of all U.S. federal cases for determination if Roundup actually causes cancer has been transferred to California federal court. It is important to know California became the first state to officially label Roundup as a carcinogen based on the IARC classification. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has already added Roundup to its list of chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm.

Despite scant scientific evidence, can a fair trial even occur when public sentiment is strongly against Monsanto, GMOs, and glyphosate?

Nearly every major regulatory body in the world including European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Germany’s Institute for Environment and Human Security (BfR), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have concluded that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans.

Unfortunately, little to no attention is being paid to the value glyphosate adds to agriculture. It does not matter that glyphosate has enabled farmers to zero till.

Or that glyphosate has enabled farmers to reduce their use of other, much more dangerous pesticides.

While the IARC ruling should prompt scientific review of glyphosate and its effects on human health, it should not be the sole evidence needed to determine the safety of glyphosate. After all, in the same IARC Class 2A classification as glyphosate we also find high-temperature frying, emissions from household combustion of biomass fuel (primarily wood), consumption of red meat, and very hot beverages.

Even shift work is included in the 2A classification as a probable carcinogen. Yet we do not see warning labels on frying pans, fireplaces, or coffee makers.

The pending litigation is potentially the biggest issue facing farmers today. A verdict against Monsanto has the very real potential of paving the way for the banning of glyphosate altogether. CG

A farm in Tuscany Could you make a success of an Italian farm?

B

ehind them lies the whole grandeur of the Tuscan countryside. Before them is Casanova, the farm that is the pride of them all. They stand there, three generations of Conte men; grandfather Santo, current owner Bartolo, and grandson Raphael who is preparing for a future on the farm. There will be no shortage of challenges ahead, but the Conte family is prepared to meet them as they always have, with courage, optimism and innovation.

Some 50 years ago, grandfather Santo purchased Casanova from one of the noble families of Siena, the ancient city 40 minutes drive away that is a match for Florence when it comes to art and architecture.

After the Second World War, farm employees flocked to the cities, which meant the aristocratic landowners were left with vacant farms, forcing them to sell. Santo had come from Sicily as a 14-year-old and worked his way up, purchasing first a tractor and then finally the farm.

That stubborn Sicilian mentality was the asset that made a go of Casanova. Then, when Santo had a heart attack in 1989, Bartolo left the military to go back to the heavily indebted farm. His wife Wiebke Buchholz (called Vicky by all the locals who can’t pronounce her German name) joined him in 1999 and they’ve operated the farm together since.

Lined by typical Tuscan cypresses, a long white gravel road today leads from the rolling Crete Senesi (literally, “gray clay” named for the area’s soils) and takes you up to the beautifully landscaped, centuries-old farmhouse with its swimming pool.

By Marianne Stamm

Pure white cattle graze on the hill opposite the house; a new mother licks her calf in the comfortable barn.

It all fits together, just like the way the agriturismo (farm bed-and-breakfast) and the cattle breeding enterprises fit together as the two main pillars of Casanova.

How to farm in Italy Unlike so many agriturismos, which consist mainly of farm buildings with an olive grove, Casanova is, by Italian standards, a large working farm, based on 400 acres, and the Conte family has raised purebred Chianina cows for over 50 years.

Chianinas are a heritage breed that trace their roots back to the ancient Etruscans who lived in the region 2,000 years ago. They ask little in the way of care besides feed, says Wiebke. The 30 cows, together with the 1,100-kg steer that Santo is particularly proud of, roam the 100 acres of pastures along the Crete.

Conte also grows 40 acres of barley and 100 acres of hay for feed. He crops 175 acres of durum wheat, at an average yield of 3.5 tonnes per hectare (51.5 bushels per acre). The wheat is shipped to a local stone mill.

Some is made into Santo’s wife Nona Paola’s traditional homemade pasta, pici, and served to guests as the Primo before the Secondo of grilled Chianina beef. More pasta is dried to sell — to guests and to Wiebke’s German relatives and friends, and sold in local co-operative stores.

The climate south of Siena is ideal for durum. Italy Continued on page 48

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

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BUSINESS

Bartolo, l, with son Raphael and father Santo overlooking the hills of Tuscany.

A new machinery shed got 10,000 euros in EU grants, but the permits cost 12,000.

That all changed when the euro came in. It is difficult for an Italian farmer to compete with the French and German farmers, he adds. “German and French farmers have two legs, the Italians limp along behind.”

produces nearly as much durum wheat as Canada — an average of four million metric tonnes.

Bartolo waves his hand over the steep hillsides which are a deep green in spring, covered in wheat and barley. A hot dry summer follows — earning it the name “Accona — Italy’s desert.” Usually there’s enough rain from November to spring to fill the kernels. The largest farmers sell their wheat to Barilla, one of Italy’s premium pasta makers, whose products can be found on Canadian supermarket shelves. Increased pasta exports are making up for decreasing Italian pasta consumption.

Farmers like the Contes market their durum on the farm and in co-operative stores dedicated to local produce, which are favoured by Tuscany’s many tourists.

“To produce straight grain a farmer needs a minimum of 50 acres,” Conte says. Only a very few own all their land. Wheat is still a lucrative crop, he believes, adding that farmers are still profiting from higher EU subsidies for wheat in comparison with other crops. Without those subsidies farmers couldn’t compete against durum from Canada with its lower production costs. (Bartolo says Barilla prefers Canadian durum to the Italian, because of its higher protein content.)

Wheat subsidies are being lowered annually, and are now tied to production practices such as crop rotations.

It was not uncommon for Tuscan farmers to plant wheat 15 years in a row, enabled by heavy clay soils and low disease pressure. Newest EU agriculture policies only allow cereals two years in a row in the crop rotation. The new policies along with lower prices are changing the face of the Tuscan hills.

Having always followed a one-year rotation of cereals with other crops, the Conte farm finds that subsidies tied to production practices are only advantageous. Last year the EU introduced a subsidy for each cow, whereas in the past it was tied to calves, meaning that feedlots had an advantage over cattle producers.

“The Germans make agriculture policy in the EU,” Bartolo says with a pointed look at his German wife. After 30 years as an EU member, Italy still doesn’t really have an agriculture policy worth speaking about, he says. As long as their currency was the Italian lire, farmers did well.

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MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

A country of co-ops Although the steep hillsides would seem a natural fit for no-till farming in order to reduce erosion, Bartolo says that’s not feasible in the heavy clay soil and the dry, hot climate. The main harvest period is in June, after which the fields are worked. They then lie barren in the heat until seeding in November. Without working the fields, the soil would be too hard for the seed drill, he says. He has three 150-hp Massey Ferguson track tractors in his shed, and the fields are worked parallel to the ridges, with track tractors to minimize pressure. Conte stresses the importance of correct placement of water draws, adding that water erosion is rarely a problem except in extreme years.

Bartolo was vice-president of the board of directors of the local bank in Asciano, a high honour for a farmer, Buchholz says. He resigned together with the president two years ago when bank shareholders approved a merger with a larger Sienese bank instead of with the smaller bank Bartolo and the director believe would have been more beneficial for farmers and locals.

As Italian banks are forced to adopt new EU banking laws, financing has become more difficult for the Contes. New loans are dependent on secure income generation, as compared to net worth of the farm. Until Italy has its economic problems solved, things will remain difficult, Bartolo says. More and more farmers are banding together as co-operatives to apply for funding.

That accounts for the butcher shop in Siena. Bartolo was instrumental in forming the co-operative of six farmers that in 2011 opened a meat store, the Macelleria Senese, in Siena as an outlet for the Chianina meat they all produce. The cattle are raised according to strict criteria such as having access to the outdoors at all times.

Slaughtering happens in nearby Cortona, in a stress-free environment.

The co-operative hires a butcher who cuts the carcasses in the shop. Each member spends one weekday selling at the shop. “The presence of the farmers ensures the customer that this really is a direct-sales business,” Wiebke explains. The shop also delivers meat to a few restaurants and agriturismos that value the local Chianina beef. “Those that are just looking for cheap meat will go elsewhere,” says Wiebke.

The AgriTurismo The bed-and-breakfast is Wiebke’s project. It was a slow process to build it to what it is today — offering six modern rooms for up to six persons and homemade meals, a swimming pool and a fishing pond. When Buchholz first came to Casanova, a row of cedars got in the way of the stunning view that guests raved about.

They had been planted and cared for by Santo, and

when the family wanted to cut them down, each one became a major battle, as were almost all changes Buchholz implemented.

Wiebke’s German heritage clashed often with Santo’s Sicilian approach.

She could count on her mother-in-law Paola’s backing though. The rooms are furnished with antiques that the Conte relatives had stored in the old barn and forgotten. The barn itself was renovated into a cozy dining room where guests enjoy traditional Tuscan homemade breakfasts and dinners by the fireside.

Paola is the heart and hands of the kitchen.

Only recently has Wiebke mustered the courage to cook meals for guests, as Paola is getting older. Paola still makes the pasta though, although she admits she uses a machine now instead of forming it by hand. That Wiebke speaks German, English and Italian is a valuable asset for her international guests.

“There are two paths for Tuscan farmers

to take in the future,” Bartolo says. Either they expand into large industrial farms or produce for niche markets such as the Siena butcher shop. For him, he says the land made the choice. “A farmer here can only produce for quality, not quantity, because of the climate and topography.”

Besides, local policies that rule out any new buildings on a farm (protecting heritage) make expansion more difficult.

The old hayshed that Santo built years ago began collapsing. It took Bartolo four years of wheedling with authorities to get the building permit for a replacement shed. He received 10,000 euros from EU subsidies towards the building. It cost him 12,000 euros for the permits.

Their biggest problem is land taxes, Bartolo says. Italy charges land and income tax, similar to Canada. Land taxes in Italy are higher than income tax, though, and they vary widely according to municipality. “The

whole state household has to be paid,” Bartolo says dryly, adding: “Although everyone pays into state health care, we still have to pay privately when we’re sick, because state medicare is so poor.”

Corruption is also a problem. “We have a saying: The law applies to the common person. For friends it is interpretable.”

Despite the challenges the Contes see ahead, 16-year-old son Raphael is planning for a future on the farm. As a child he was never far from his father’s side. Currently he is attending an agriculture college in Siena, the same one his father attended. Whether he really will take over the farm one day remains to be seen.

Until then, Bartolo and Wiebke continue to work hard to keep Casanova a profitable and encouraging enterprise. For inspiration they go for a drive along the top of the Crete. Even for Italians, the Italian landscape is a thing of beauty. CG

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49

life

Distracted driving On the farm or on the road, turn that cellphone off!

By Helen Lammers-Helps

F

armers know safety is important.

So why do so many of us overlook one of the leading causes of injury and death? Distracted driving is a contributing factor in 80 per cent of vehicle collisions, leading to four million car crashes in North America each year.

And in case you’re skeptical, those aren’t numbers that someone just dreamed up.

They’re straight from accident reports, as compiled by the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA).

As smartphones have become commonplace, collisions due to distracted driving have increased dramatically. In Ontario, the number of deaths from distracted driving has doubled since 2000, with another person injured in a distracted driving collision every half hour, according to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.

“Distraction” in this case means anything that draws your attention away from your primary task of driving. One of the worst offenders is texting while driving.

You are 23 times more likely to get in an accident when texting while driving compared to when you are focused on the road, says Kristine D’Arbelles, manager of public affairs at CAA. It’s easy to see why texting while driving is so dangerous. If it takes you five seconds to type or read a text, at 55 miles per hour that’s like driving blindfolded for the length of a football field.

While most of us wouldn’t think of drinking and driving, texting and driving has been shown to be as much as five times more dangerous than impaired driving, emphasizes D’Arbelles.

Even though texting is illegal across Canada, and fines and penalties have increased in recent years, driving and texting is still a huge problem. In a recent survey of Ontario high school students, half of Grade 12 students admitted to texting while driving.

Nor is it just the teenagers who are texting. “It’s as much the 20- to 55-year-olds,” says Dean Anderson, strategic adviser for agriculture at Workplace Safety & Prevention Services, a not-for-profit organization 50

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

that provides health and safety expertise in Guelph, Ont. If you’re the type of person who has a hard time ignoring the flashing lights or pings on your phone, D’Arbelles recommends turning it off or putting it somewhere where you can’t reach it.

Also be aware that it isn’t just texting that’s a problem. Even when talking handsfree on a phone, your odds of being involved in a collision are about four times higher compared to when you are focusing solely on your driving, says Anderson. “That’s because when you’re talking on the phone you’re using the same part of your brain that you use for driving,” he explains.

D’Arbelles agrees. She says this is what’s known as cognitive distraction. Anderson goes so far as to say he thinks the government made a big mistake when they allowed phones in vehicles.

His own organization has a policy prohibiting employees from using smartphones, even for hands-free calling when driving.

Anderson says he is aware of other companies that have similar policies.

Smartphones aren’t the only form of distraction. Reaching for a loose object makes you nine times more likely to be in an accident and applying makeup while driving increases your risk of an accident by a factor of three.

Other forms of distraction include fiddling with the GPS settings, eating, driver fatigue, and children or pets requiring attention.

Set the destination on the GPS before you start the car, ensure the children have what they need before you put the car in gear, and don’t eat messy foods on-the-go, advises D’Arbelles.

Distracted driving can also be a problem for operators of tractors and combines, says Glen Blahey, a specialist at the Winnipegbased Canadian Agriculture Safety Association, a non-profit organization that promotes farm safety. Blahey says operators who rely on autosteer can run into trouble if the electronics fail or when there are physical obstructions such as excavations or hydro towers.

“Farmers become dependent on the technology and become inattentive,” he explains.

10 tips to reduce your risks 1. Review maps and directions prior to driving.

2. Stow and secure loose objects in their proper place before starting out.

3. If you want to let people know you are on your way home, send a text before you leave.

4. Set the destination on the GPS before setting out. Look at a map before you leave so you have an idea of where you are going.

Pull over in a safe location if you need to adjust the GPS settings.

5. If you are tempted to check your phone’s messages, put it where you can’t reach it.

6. When taking a long trip, stop every few hours to check messages or catch up on social media to prevent FOMO (fear of missing out) which doesn’t only apply to teens. Besides, taking breaks also helps with fatigue.

7. Use apps available on iTunes or Google Play to disengage your phone while driving.

8. Institute a farm policy that no one is allowed to use their phones while driving.

9. Model good behaviour for teens.

10. Take the pledge to put an end to distracted driving at www.caasco.com/focus.

Anderson agrees. Although there aren’t any statistics available yet, he is hearing anecdotal evidence, such as the case of a young man who drove the combine into a drainage ditch when he was texting his girlfriend. Another farmer told Anderson he drove a hundred feet down the road with no hands after failing to turn off the autosteer after a long day in the field.

Distraction during the hectic planting and harvesting seasons is a serious problem, says Blahey. When farmers are distracted by

the urgency of getting work done they overlook normal precautions, so the number of severe injuries and fatalities goes up, he says.

While it may sound funny, the number of pedestrians who are injured while texting is also on the rise. Despite what we think, we actually aren’t very good at multi-tasking. Next time you are in town for parts or when you’re attending a conference in the city, you’d be wise to put away your phone while walking. Anderson says as many as 20 people are hit by cars in a day in Toronto because pedestrians are paying attention to their phones and not their surroundings.

D’Arbelles predicts the day will come when texting and driving will be as socially unacceptable as impaired driving is now. The penalties have been stiffened with all provinces having fines and demerit points for distracted driving infractions. Enforcement has been ramped up with police officers dressing as homeless people on street corners or riding buses to catch people in the act of texting.

Awareness campaigns by government and safety organizations will continue to get the word out. As people become aware of friends and family who have been seriously injured or killed as a result of distracted driving, societal norms will change.

However, there’s no need to wait for society to catch up. You can create a safer environment for your family and employees by implementing policies to reduce driver distraction now. CG

Watch out for distracted drivers While farmers should give their full attention to their driving when operating farm machinery on roads, you would also be wise to make allowances for other drivers who may be distracted, says Dean Anderson of Workplace Safety & Prevention Services.

When pulling onto the road and entering a lane of traffic with farm equipment, leave more space since other drivers may not be paying attention, Anderson recommends.

With the difference in speed between cars and farm equipment, cars will close the gap very quickly, which may have deadly results if the other drivers are distracted.

Even if farmers are in the right, having farm equipment damaged when a car runs into the back of it could result in costly downtime, or worse, says Anderson.

Also, when driving at night, Anderson recommends ensuring that lights and the Slow Moving Vehicle sign are clean and visible.

Consider having a vehicle with four-way flashers follow you.

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51

GUIDE LIFE health

By Marie Berry / lawyer & pharmacist

yes, your eyes are getting old

A

s with any part of your body, your eyes change as they age. Often, in fact, eye conditions are attributed to old age. It is estimated that 500,000 Canadians are affected by macular degeneration, plus 2.5 million by cataracts and 250,000 by glaucoma.

These conditions seem to occur in older people more often. They are conditions that develop over decades, however, and eventually you notice them because your eyesight isn’t what it used to be.

occur which, at the very least, are bothersome. Most noticeable is your decreased ability to read fine print, a condition called presbyopia. With age your eye is less able to focus close up because of a loss of accommodation, like an old elastic band losing some of its spring. Magnifying reading glasses are often worn, but you may eventually need multifocal glasses.

Older people also often have an increased sensitivity to bright lights and they react to car headlights when driving at night, glare from

As you get older, you’ll be bothered more by the glare of headlights, and you’ll find it harder to read small print too. But don’t hesitate to get checked out, especially if you notice any pain Glaucoma is an increase in pressure in your eye ball, which eventually reduces your peripheral vision.

Luckily it can be successfully controlled by a variety of eye drops.

Macular degeneration results when cells die in the macula, a pea sized group of cells at the back of your eye ball that is essential to vision. Macular degeneration causes a loss of your central vision, and unfortunately once the cells have died vision cannot be restored.

Cataracts are the hardening of your lens resulting in cloudy vision, almost like frost on a window. Cataract surgery removes your old lens and inserts an artificial lens, thereby restoring your vision.

With age, other eye problems

bright sunlight, or even bright lights when leaving a dimly lit room like a movie theatre. And, the older you are the brighter the light you may need when reading. These effects are the result of the loss of strength of the muscles that control your pupil size and its reaction to light.

Anti-glare coating on eye glasses may help, as will wearing sunglasses outdoors.

Dry eyes also become more problematic with age. Wearing contact lenses, low humidity, and prolonged visual tasks such as working at a computer screen which reduces your blinking, seem to worsen dry eyes. With age, tear ducts do not produce as many tears to keep eyes moisturized. More women than

men are affected and it is thought to be because of hormone changes that occur with menopause. Artificial tears will alleviate the dryness and, thanks to the wide variety of these products, you are sure to find one that suits you.

You want to protect your eyesight regardless of your age, and it is especially important to do so when you are young to make sure you have the best possible vision when older. You know to wear protective eyeglasses whenever doing anything that could damage your eyes, including working in dusty environments.

But don’t smoke, because smoking can cause changes in your eyesight. Also avoid ultra violet light exposure. As well, some conditions can contribute to vision loss, for example, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity, so you will want to keep good control of them.

If you experience any changes in your eyesight, don’t ignore them.

Get them checked, especially if you experience eye pain, increased light sensitivity, or fluctuating vision.

After all, you only get one pair of eyes in your life! CG

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

Next Issue Next issue, we’re going to talk about a personal problem that no one ever mentions! Hemorrhoids are extremely common but some people are especially bothered. We’ll discuss some remedies, including both drug and non-drug approaches.

52

MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

GUIDE LIFE Hanson Acres

By Leeann Minogue

“L

ate winter storms are always the worst,” Jeff told Elaine over the phone.

“It’s warm enough to melt, but cold enough to freeze.

Makes the roads icy. And the snow is really pouring down.”

“We’ll be fine,” Elaine said.

“Really, it’s not that I want to stay here,” Jeff said, for the third time.

Elaine laughed. “It’s okay.”

“I have to go. Jed’s already on the ice for our nine o’clock game.”

“Have fun.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.

Jed’s got rye.”

Jeff was curling with friends in the last bonspiel of the season, two towns away. In this weather, Elaine was glad he was spending the night. He didn’t have a lot of time to spend with friends, and she had some reading to do before her Monday meeting.

Elaine had already put Connor and two-year-old Jenny to bed, so she picked up her thick document about Canadian trade policy and settled back into her favourite chair.

She’d just found her place on page 32 when the lights went out, the fridge stopped humming, and the radio stopped playing.

Elaine didn’t panic. She just waited. The power had gone out a few times since she’d moved to the farm. Jeff and his father had set up a generator in the shop. It always flipped on after a few minutes, turning the power back on automatically.

Elaine waited. And waited.

She started to worry.

There must be something wrong.

Elaine remembered Jeff complaining about the generator, the last time the power was out. If he was home, he’d know how to fix it. She considered going out to take a look, but she couldn’t leave her sleeping kids alone. What if one woke up? Besides, she didn’t have the first clue what to look for in a not-working generator.

She didn’t even know what to call it.

Was it “stalled?” “Dead?”

Hanson Acres

A thump in the night Most times, the rural countryside lives up to its peaceful old stereotypes She considered calling Jeff. But what could he do about it from 60 miles away on an icy road? And if he was already drinking rye he couldn’t drive anyway.

Jeff ’s parents lived on the farm, but they weren’t home either. Dale and Donna had gone to Yorkton to spend a couple of days with Donna’s sister, and they wouldn’t be back until Sunday.

Elaine considered calling the nearest neighbours. But they were probably in the dark too. Besides, she didn’t think they had a genera-

she was the only person for miles, not just the only person in a house on a street filled with other people.

“Mommy? I’m thirsty.” Elaine laughed at herself. It was just Connor. “Why is it so quiet? And why are all the lights off?”

“Don’t worry,” Elaine said, taking him to the kitchen for a drink.

“We’re having an adventure. The power’s off, but it will be just fine.”

“We could use the flashlight on my backpack,” he said.

Elaine grinned at him and went to find it. Connor was proud of the

There was a noise in the hall. Elaine jumped tor. Would they know more about fixing one than she did?

Then she thought of Mark Edwards. He’d been working for the Hansons for almost a year now, and Jeff said Mark could fix anything. But was it fair to ask him to drive over on a Friday night?

Elaine decided not to call anyone. It wasn’t much below freezing. The house would stay warm enough for the night. She could pull out a few extra blankets and call Jeff in the morning.

But what would she do now? It was too early to go to bed.

They had some candles, but where were they? If she could find the matches, would candles even give her enough light to read?

There was a noise in the hall.

Elaine jumped. She hadn’t grown up on a farm, and she wasn’t used to being alone — especially not when

LED light he’d been given at the last farm show. He used it on the school bus when he was on before the sun came up.

Soon Connor was back in bed and Elaine was on her own again, this time armed with the LED light. She remembered she had an electronic version of the document she was reading stored on her iPad. She could read that without WiFi or power, at least until her battery wound down.

By 11, both kids were still sound asleep and Elaine had learned more than she’d thought she’d ever want to know about trade policy. She almost hoped someone would ask her some hard questions about it during the Monday conference call.

Elaine shut off her iPad and found her way to the charger in the corner to plug it in. Then she Continued ON page 54

COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA / MARCH 1, 2017

53

GUIDE LIFE smacked her forehead with her fist. “Duh.” She couldn’t charge an iPad with the power off.

Soon she had brushed her teeth, found the extra blankets, covered the kids and put on her pyjamas. She’d crawled under the covers and moved into the middle of the bed for a change when there was a knock on the door.

Well, not a knock, she thought. More like a thump.

Who would pound on the door at 11 o’clock?

Should she answer it?

It could be someone with car trouble. If Jeff was home he’d answer, in case someone needed help. But she had two small kids with her.

When Elaine was growing up in the city, her mother had told her hundreds of times not to answer the door to strangers. But did that rule apply here? In this kind of weather? If it was someone in trouble, they’d have to walk miles to the next house.

But maybe things had changed in rural Saskatchewan since someone had been shot on a farm on the other side of the province last fall.

Maybe things weren’t as safe as they used to be.

Should she call Jeff? What could he do? The police?

She heard more pounding.

If someone who shouldn’t be here wanted in badly enough, they’d find a way in somehow.

Elaine compromised. She held her phone, ready to dial 911, and headed for the door.

The window in the door was coated with a layer of frost. Anything could be on the other side. She took a deep breath, twisted the lock, then opened the door just enough to shine Connor’s LED light out through the crack.

There was a tall, thickset man on the step.

And, dear God, his face was covered with a balaclava.

Elaine slammed the door, fumbled with the lock, and swiped at her phone. Just as she hit the “9”, her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID. Mark Edwards. He’d be as helpful as the 911 operator, and he was probably closer than the police. “Hello?”

“Elaine? Sorry I scared you.”

Elaine heard the voice coming through her phone, but also from the other side of the door. Suddenly the porch light came on, and the radio started playing.

She opened the door again to find Mark pulling off his balaclava.

“I was driving by on my way home when I noticed the power was off. I knew Jeff and Dale were both away, so I thought I’d take a quick look at that generator. CG Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews, a playwright and part of a family grain farm in southeastern Saskatchewan.

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MARCH 1, 2017 / COUNTRY-GUIDE.CA

Reflections

by Rod Andrews retired Anglican bishop

“W

hat makes us who we are?” Is it the place we were born, the community we live in, the language we speak, or our family traditions? What defines our identity? Is it the amount of money we have, who our relatives are, or how many Facebook friends we have? How do religion, race and tradition distinguish us from others?

Six Muslim men were shot and killed while at prayer in their Quebec City mosque. One of them, Azzeddine Soufiane, 57, owned a grocery and butcher shop. Originally from Morocco, he invested his money in a business to support himself, his wife and three children aged 6, 12 and 16.

Soufiane’s store was filled with exotic scents: spices, olives, dates and bread. Newcomers to Canada gravitated to the store. The sights and scents reminded them of their homeland. Soufiane offered advice and assistance. He did more than serve his customers. He helped them integrate into a new country. He was generous. “Sometimes we left without paying.” Friends described him as “greatly loved and respected.” Another friend said he “had a permanent and contagious smile.” The president of his mosque, Mohamed Yangui, said “he was a man of principle and tolerance. He loved everyone and everyone loved him.”

Ben Amor was one of his customers. He watched Azzeddine carefully weigh five grams of spices. The grocer told Ben “I would not want to answer in front of God for giving you less than you pay for.”

The ripples of goodness which flowed from this man’s life were suddenly terminated in bloodshed. Apparently this enormous act of violence was committed in the name of God. Something is incredibly wrong here…

How can religion, meant to bring peace, cause bloodshed and death?

The question “what is the place of religion in making us who we are?” was investigated by philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah in the CBC series “Ideas.” Appiah’s theory is that there are three components to religion: what we do, who we do it with, and what we believe. He argues that many people emphasize belief over practice and community. This leads to misunderstanding and conflict in the field of religion.

When the men were killed, and others injured, at prayer, Canadians expressed shock and horror that such events could happen here.

Religious leaders spoke with a common theme. The Catholic bishops of Saskatchewan said “we condemn violence, particularly violence in the name of God, whose name is peace… such inconceivable violence violates both the sacredness of human life as well as the respect due to a community at prayer and its place of worship.”

Moses asked, “Who am I?” God replied, “What is that in your hand?” Moses answered, “It is just a shepherd’s staff. It’s what I use to lead sheep through the desert.” Perhaps God asks us the same question. “What is that in your hand? What are you good at? What are you able to do?” You may respond, “I am a farmer, I am a student or I am retired.” That is part of who you are. What can you do?

Most of us have picked up more than a few skills along the way in life. Maybe it is carpentry, twisting wrenches, making potato salad or helping a neighbour program his computer. Whoever we are, whatever religion we follow, we are asked to be merciful, to work for right relations with one another and to do what makes for peace.

“What is that in your hand?” Your answer may define who you are.

Suggested Scripture: Micah 6:6-8, Matthew 5:1-16 Rod Andrews is a retired Anglican bishop. He lives in Saskatoon.

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