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PEDv outbreak shows the ‘inconvenient’ truth about biosecurity Officials say affected farms in Manitoba had good biosecurity protocols — but following them every day is another matter BY JENNIFER BLAIR
Scrapping deferred cash tickets could ‘screw up’ grain-marketing system It’s not just farmers who will be hurt if Ottawa axes tax break — the entire grain sector will be dramatically affected, says MNP
AF staff
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xperts say the PEDv outbreak in Manitoba is a warning to livestock producers across the Prairies that biosecurity has to be a 24-7 priority every day of the year. Since late April, the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus has been found on 10 farms in three areas in southeastern Manitoba — and two of those areas suffered outbreaks just last year. “We’ve heard of a lot of scary practices happening on our negative farms that are in diseased areas,” said Mark Fynn, manager of quality assurance and animal care programs for Manitoba Pork. So far, officials have found “some linkages” between the three areas where the disease has emerged, but are still working on tracing the spread of the disease, including looking at staff movement, transport, and contamination on load-out areas on each of the operations.
see PEDv } page 7
BY JENNIFER BLAIR AF staff
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emoving the deferred cash ticket system won’t just hit farmers at tax time — it could also affect the entire supply chain, interrupting the flow of grain to international markets. “If they take this deferred cash ticket system away, you’re going to have farmers refusing to move grain when we need it to move,” said Stuart Person, director of primary producer agriculture at accounting and business advisory firm MNP. “You’re going to have railroads sitting idle. You’re going to have grain terminals sitting empty. All because selling at certain times might not work for farmers because of tax implications.” Right now, deferred cash tickets are used to help producers “smooth their income out,” said Person. “With any farm business — it doesn’t matter if it’s livestock or grain — the income fluctuations can be significant from year to year due to a number of factors,” he said. If, for instance, a farmer has a bumper crop one year and sells it that same year, he or she will have a significant spike in income — and “generally, the higher your income, the higher the rate of tax you pay.” But the deferred cash ticket system allows farmers to take a portion of the money and defer the rest until next year. But Ottawa is considering scrapping the cash ticket deferral system — a move that would seriously impact Prairie producers, say Alberta’s wheat, barley, pulse, and canola commissions as well as other farm groups. The commissions asked MNP to review the situation and its analysis supports their claim. The majority of farmers aren’t trying to avoid paying taxes, but just want to “smooth their income out and make sure they’re paying tax at a reasonable rate like everybody else,” said Person.
see cash tickets } page 6
A nice change
Forget supply and demand or logistics — tax considerations may soon determine when Prairie farmers sell their grain if deferred grain cash tickets are scrapped. file photo
farmers benefit from efficient grain handling } PAGE 19