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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

VOL. 92 | NO. 39 | $4.25

Biomass baler Farm equipment makers beef up their machines. | P. 74

Potato revolution SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923

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A new way to seed potatoes. | P. 14

WWW.PRODUCER.COM

CROPS FOR COMMUNITY

TRANSPORTATION | REGULATIONS

Railway fined for delays New regulations | CN faces steep fines for failing to meet mandate BY BRIAN CROSS SASKATOON NEWSROOM

SEE RAILWAY FINED, PAGE 2

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Grades 1 and 4 elementary school students from Delisle, Sask., were invited by organizers of the Crops for Community event to get a close-up look at canola Sept. 18. This is the second of four years for the community fundraising project. The town owns 193 acres of land and it took less than two hours for the nine volunteer combines, four grain carts and two trucks to harvest the field. | WILLIAM DEKAY PHOTO

STATISTICS CANADA | SATELLITE IMAGERY REPORT

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Analysts debate StatsCan yield report

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Stn. Main, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4

The satellite pictures don’t show mildew, disease and other quality issues BY SEAN PRATT SASKATOON NEWSROOM

Statistics Canada’s first satellitebased yield estimate of the year is drawing mixed reaction. Derek Squair, president of AgriTrend Marketing, thinks the sky imagery of lush crops failed to capture some of the pod-filling and disease problems on the ground. Statistics Canada is forecasting a 45 bushel per acre spring wheat crop

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based on historical yield estimates, satellite imagery and agro-climatic data. Statistics Canada’s July and November yield estimates are based on producer surveys. The satellite estimate doesn’t take into account weather events after Aug. 31. Squair is expecting a 42.5 bu. per acre average, but quality is the real story, as it is with most other crops. “We’re going to see lots of (No.) 2 and 3 reds this year and very little

No. 1 red,” said Squair. Doug Hilderman, vice-president of grain trading for NorAg Resources, estimates 70 percent of Saskatchewan’s crop and 60 percent of Manitoba’s will be in the No. 2 and No. 3 categories, with little wheat making the top grade. “There’s quite a bit of mildew and there’s basically no tolerance for that,” he said. SEE STATSCAN YIELD REPORT, PAGE 3

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The Western Producer is published in Saskatoon by Western Producer Publications, which is owned by GVIC Communications Corp. Publisher: Shaun Jessome Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240

The federal government is sticking to its guns when it comes to regulating weekly grain shipments in Western Canada. Ottawa has confirmed that it will fine Canadian National Railway for the company’s failure to meet a mandate requiring CN to move more than 5,000 rail cars of grain a week. The fine will be the first issued since Ottawa imposed new regulations, which required CN and Canadian Pacific Railway to each move 536,000 tonnes of grain and oilseed per week or face fines as high as $100,000 per day. Federal officials declined last week to say how much CN would be fined or how long the company had failed to meet its weekly grain movement obligations. CN issued a statement last week saying Ottawa’s decision to impose monetary penalties is unfounded. The company suggested that demand for rail service from the western Canadian grain industry is no longer high enough to warrant mandatory volume requirements. “A n y g o v e r n m e n t p e n a l t i e s against CN in connection with its transportation of western Canadian grain would be unfounded, given that it’s the current balance of the grain supply chain that has not allowed us to meet the government’s … minimum grain volume requirement,” it said.


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