AgriPost October 30 2015

October 30, 2015 1The Agri Post

By Les Kletke

When both sides are insisting on the extreme, the truth issomewhere in the middle and so it is with the Trans PacificPartnership (TPP) Trade Agreement. A classic example ofthree sides to every story, yours, mine and what really hap-pened. According to The Truth about Trade and Technology groupa US based advocate for increased trade the agreement is astep forward on the international stage and commendsCanada for its position. Bill Horan farms in Central Iowa and is Charmin of the group.He said, “The big winner in Canada’s national elections thisweek wasn’t the Liberal Party or the Conservative Party. In-stead, it was the Trans Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation free-trade agreement concluded earlier this month.” In a recent CBC poll, only 40% of respondents said thatTPP would benefit Canadians. In the election, however, par-ties that backed TPP won more than 70% of the vote. “Both Justin Trudeau of the victorious Liberals and in-cumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper of the defeated Con-servatives embraced a trade deal that promises to link coun-tries around the Pacific Rim. Others in Canada have opposedit fiercely, including the New Democratic Party, which at onepoint even led the polls but wound up with fewer than 20percent of the votes,” said Horan. “By rejecting protection-ism so close to elections, Trudeau and Harper took risks toput the interests of Canada in front of potential partisanadvantage,” he said. International trade is an important contributor to Canada’seconomic growth, business vitality, employment creation andthe standard of living of its citizens according to ConstantinePassaris. “Canada’s domestic population is far too small toalone sustain the standard of living that we have becomeaccustomed to. International trade is the trump card thathelps us create a larger market, through our exports and out-reach,” said Passaris a Professor of Economics at the Uni-

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versity of New Brunswick, Chair of the New Brunswick Ad-visory Board on Population and a Member of the AcademicScientific Board for the International Institute of AdvancedEconomic and Social Studies. He acknowledged it is not going to be a sliver bullet toboost the Canadian economy but rather an opportunity. “Aswith all the free trade deals that Canada has signed, there aredomestic winners and losers. There is no denying that Canadais vulnerable through its dairy industry and is exposed tomore intense competition from abroad in its auto parts in-dustry,” he said. “It is worth emphasizing that the TPP is simply an eco-nomic opportunity. It is not a guarantee of economic suc-cess. It opens the door for enhanced trade with one of theworld’s most coveted export regions. What will transformthis opportunity into a success will be the vision and smartsof our entrepreneurs, plus the competitiveness of our prod-ucts and services in terms of price and quality,” said Passaris. Canadian agriculture is adopting a wait and see attitude aswell, waiting for a new minister and they approach he/shewill take to the agreement but at the same time preparing tomove ahead.

Bill Horan of Truthabout Trade andTechnology, anIowa basedgroup.

Hog Industry Says CanadaHog Industry Says CanadaHog Industry Says CanadaHog Industry Says CanadaHog Industry Says CanadaBetter Off in the TPPBetter Off in the TPPBetter Off in the TPPBetter Off in the TPPBetter Off in the TPP

By Harry Siemens

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal is atthe top of the agenda for many producers and agricul-tural exporters. Claude Vielfaure, the Vice-President of Hylife saidCanada’s participation in the TPP would help maintainhis company’s competitiveness in Japan, while creatingnew export opportunities in other nations. Twelve nations reached an agreement earlier this monthduring the TPP negotiations and must now pass thescrutiny of the Federal Government before ratificationand implementation. All 12 participating countries willundergo national scrutiny. Vielfaure said Canada exports over 80% of its pork andbecause this trade agreement is the biggest in the world,accounting for 40% of the global economy, he sees it asvitally important that Canada becomes a signatory.

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October 30, 20152 The Agri Post


Hylife already exportsmuch of its pork to Japan.“That is one of our biggestmarkets on fresh chilledpork so it is a very, veryimportant market thatneeds to stay open for us,”he said. “Because of theTPP, it is important to bepart of the deal but also to

have a level playing field.” “We don’t have all the details of the deal but I think thathas been accomplished and so, for us, that is exciting andhopefully be able to continue to sell to Japan and thatopens other markets like Vietnam and Malaysia,” Vielfauresaid. “Vietnam has high tariffs and that will go away overtime so it opens up some different countries for us to beable to sell more pork. For us, it was extremely important tobe able to get trade deals done with different countries.” He said once, the parties sign the TPP agreement thenother countries will see the partnership as an opportunityto be part of as well. “There will probably be other coun-tries that will want to be part of it in the future and it opensup a base agreement that you can use for other negotia-tions with different countries so I think that’s all verypositive,” said Vielfaure. Florian Possberg, the Chair of Sask Pork said Canada’sparticipation as a founding member of the Trans-PacificPartnership puts Canada in a strong position to benefitfuture members, such as China, come on board. Possberg said members of this partnership represent40% of the world’s trade making the trade agreement forCanada and particularly for Canada’s pork industry sinceit is a significant exporter. “We’ve shown that Canada canbe a leading negotiator of free trade agreements world-wide including this one, the one with Europe, and theNorth American Free Trade Agreement are all positive forour industry,” he said. “It shows that we are serious aboutbeing a global player in terms of trade.” Making matters even more favourable right now is thehigh demand for pork fuelled by high prices on competingmeats, which is helping to keep the price of live hogsstrong.

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By Harry Siemens

In October, in Atlanta, Georgia, trade ministers from 12 pacific countries announced the conclusion of a landmark Trans-PacificPartnership (TPP) agreement that will allow farm exports to grow substantially. By eliminating tariffs and bringing newdisciplines to non-tariff barriers like those related to biotechnology, the agreement will improve the competitiveness of theCanadian farm industry. The new trade deal is getting great responses from the agricultural sectors, which depend heavily on exports. “Gainingimproved market access is crucially important for Canada’s export-oriented agriculture industry,” said Levi Wood, President ofthe Western Canadian Wheat Growers. “Allowing competitors to gain preferential access to key export markets would have beendevastating for the grain, cattle and hog sectors.” The TPP deal will ensure market access for Canadian wheat, canola, barley and other crops is equal to access for Canada’s maincompetitors in the United States and Australia. The whole food supply chain benefits from increased exports. A thriving livestock industry, dairy cattle, beef, hogs, andpoultry also benefits those who grow the feed for those commodities, not just in direct feed exports. The Wheat Growers say substantial gains are also expected for export shipments of Canadian beef and pork. The agreementshould also lead to significant improvements in market access for Canadian canola oil, malt and other processed grain products.Expansion of the livestock sector and grain processing in western Canada is seen as vitally important in broadening marketoptions for prairie grain farmers and reducing our dependence on shipping raw grain by rail. “This deal will significantly strengthen the agricultural economy in western Canada,” said Wood. “We congratulate negotiatorson reaching an agreement that will allow agriculture to make an even greater contribution to Canada’s prosperity.” Patti Miller, President Canola Council of Canada said eliminating tariffs on canola oil in Japan is a huge benefit to the canolaindustry. “Once the agreement is fully implemented, the TPP will put us on a level playing field in one of our most valuableexport markets,” said Miller. Japan is a long-standing and consistent market for canola seed, but tariffs of approximately 15% have prevented oil exports.Through the TPP, the canola industry estimates that when tariffs are fully eliminated in Japan and Vietnam over five years,exports of canola oil and meal could increase by up to $780 million per year. In 2014, more than $1.2 billion in canola seed was exported to Japan. As governments eliminate tariffs, the canola industryestimates that exports will shift increasingly to value added oil and meal, while maintaining the overall volume of canola exported.“Canada has a globally competitive canola processing sector,” said Miller. “By eliminating tariffs on value added products, theTPP will increase the value of our exports and bring benefits to the whole canola value chain. This increased value will flowthrough communities across the country.” The inclusion of commitments to prevent biotechnology related measures from being trade barriers in the TPP could also bebeneficial to the canola industry. Commitments around approval processes of new biotech products and measures to minimizethe impact of low-level presence incidences could benefit the industry. “Leadership shown by the government of Canada to make sure that Canada benefits from this landmark agreement will help thecanola industry to continue growing and supporting communities,” said Miller. Implementing the agreement quickly is important for the canola sector as Australia currently has preferential access to shipcanola oil to Japan through their bilateral free trade agreement implemented earlier this year. Once the TPP is fully implemented,Canadian canola will be on a level playing field with other oils destined to markets in Japan and elsewhere.

Canola and Grain Sectors Love TPP


by RolfPenner

PennersPoints

[email protected]

Today’s column deals with a touchy, painful issue and acautionary note. Touchy because the political correctness crowd is al-ready exploiting a horrific tragedy, painful because manyof you reading this column have experienced similar trag-edies and this could bring back painful memories. Cautionary note because as I was preparing for this col-umn I get an email from my good friend Les Routledge fromKillarney about an incident he experienced Sunday on theroad with people operating farm machinery rather care-lessly. We can’t be safe enough, but we also must be careful notto point the fingers when tragedies strike, especially as itdid last week in northern Alberta. Late last week, a third girldied after a tragic accident that saw three children smoth-ered in a truck filled with canola seed on a farm near Withrow,AB. One so-called safety expert calls for laws against havingkids on the farm. Alberta’s Farm Workers Union is step-ping up its efforts to protect children in the wake of lastweek’s tragedy. Alberta is the only province with no safetystandards for farm workers — and no child labour stan-dards. Farmworkers Union of Alberta President EricMusekamp says Alberta is still very much the Wild West. He was to have a meeting with Alberta’s provincial agri-culture and labour officials to pressure Alberta to regulatethe safety of children. It is easy to point fingers at the parents as to how couldthis happen, but deep down it is an awful tragedy.We have to be so, so careful that when tragedy strikes likethis we have to be there for those people and help themwhere we can. But we don’t immediately turn around and say we’re go-ing to ban this, create this regulation before the dead bod-ies are even cold. It’s like calling for more gun control andtrying to get the parents/relatives of those just killed to getin the media and support whatever side gets there first. These people need to grieve, they need to look at whatthe situation is – I’m sure they are more sorry and dis-traught than anyone around them. I can’t imagine losingone child, let alone three. They are blaming themselvesbeyond my imagination and we don’t need political expe-

Imagine what life wouldbe like if we had to do ev-erything ourselves. We of-ten take for granted, andsometimes demonize,things like the division oflabour, or specialization,trade, and profit. But eachof these is important to ouroverall standard of living,and really to civilization it-self. A fellow named AndyGeorge has a YouTubeshow called “How to MakeEverything,” where he triesto do everything fromscratch. In one series ofshows, he made a chickensandwich; it took him 6months and $1,500 to ac-complish the task. In twelveshort videos, runningabout 20 minutes in total,Andy takes us through thesteps he had to go throughto make his sandwich. First, crops are planted ina community garden:wheat, tomatoes, peppers,onions, lettuce, dill, garlic,

A $1,500Sandwich

cucumbers, sugar beetsand sunflowers. The sugarbeets didn’t grow, so heswitched to honey for asugar substitute. With thehelp of local beekeepers, hewas able to collect honeyfrom beehives and extractit into a usable form. Weeding and wateringthe garden was more time-consuming than Andy hadestimated. The wheat wastroublesome because hecouldn’t tell the differencebetween a weed and whatwas planted grain. The next challenge wassalt. This meant a plane rideto the ocean. Two gallonsof sea water, boiled for sixhours, produced two cupsof salt. Probably the funni-

est part of the seriesshowed Andy trying to gethis baggie of “white pow-der” through airport secu-rity. Rennet was necessaryfor making cheese. Thiswas procured by making atea from itch weed. Then offhe went to a farm to milk acow and collect eggs in ex-change for doing somechores. Afterwards, Andytries to ride a cow; like ev-erything else, it winds upbeing harder than it looksat first. Probably the most im-pressive part was watchingthe host actually kill achicken, pluck the feathersand gut it. The vast major-ity of farmers don’t even do

that themselves anymore,let alone the public. Whenhe’d finished, though,Andy was a bit surprisedat how unshocking the actreally was, compared withwhat he thought it might be. Then it was time for pick-les. Andy put some dill,garlic, jalapenos and slicedcucumbers into a jar filledwith boiling hot saltwaterbrine. Mayonnaise wasalso on Andy’s ingredientlist. He needed oil for thisso he grew some sunflow-ers, let them dry and thencollected the seeds. But healso needed a press to getthe oil out of the seeds, sohe built one out of a carjack, some pieces of steelplating, some bolts, a pieceof pipe that had a lot ofholes drilled into it and aplunger inside to squeezethe oil out of the seeds.Once he had the oil, Andycarefully added it to somescrambled egg yolk with abit of water and he had hismayonnaise.

Butter was made by add-ing milk to a mason jar andthen shaking it. After acouple of hours of thisthere was enough butter-milk separated that, the sol-ids could then be strainedinto a separate container. The rennet collected ear-lier was then added to somewarm milk, which began thecurding process to makecheese. The mixture wasput through a strainer tocollect the mushy curdsfrom the whey. Repeatingthe process to expel moreand more of the whey even-tually led to a type ofcheese. Bread started with sepa-rating wheat seeds from theheads by hand. The seedswere ground up in a blenderto make flour, which wasthen mixed with water,honey, butter and salt. Thiswas kneaded and thenbaked. Finally, it was time tomake the sandwich. Andyexplains that, because he

didn’t use any preserva-tives, it was a real challengeto get all of the ingredientstogether at the right timebefore anything started tospoil. The wheat tooklonger to mature than hethought which pushed ev-erything off schedule.Frost was an issue withsome of the vegetables,while others that had beenpicked earlier were on theverge of going bad. We getto see a breakdown of whateverything actually costand how much time wentinto the whole project ver-sus what it would have costjust by going to the store. How did it taste? Whenall was said and done theverdict according to AndyGeorge was a resounding,“It’s not bad.” Thanks topeople who specialize inmaking all the ingredientsseparately and selling themfor a profit, a deliciouschicken sandwich is quick,easy and cheap to make.We would do well to re-member this.

Safety and Consideration GoHand in Hand

dient people or the political correctness crowd if you will,to come down on them during the time of this indescrib-able tragedy. Farming continues and we continue to feed the world,and our children are part of that and as those parents sayin a statement that they are not sorry that their childrenwere able to grow up on a farm. As one observer told me, this is about the family andbeing there for them in such a difficult time. Farming is afamily business, a lifestyle, and even driving to work acci-dents happen with parents rushing children off to a daycarecentre or such. Did you think football is the most dangerous sport? Thinkagain. One report showed that fishing is the most danger-ous sport, swimming pools and trampolines are dangerouswhen neglected and not used properly.I’m all for safety, and more safety, but let’s look at it prop-erly, keep it in perspective and when the time is right, re-view what could have prevented that tragedy. Let’s stopthe next one from happening by using common sense, andnot through exploiting this one. Then on the other hand, being busy, getting there beforedark, or simply not using caution when moving farm equip-ment from point A to point B has its downsides too. “Today travelling down Hwy 23, I passed a custom com-bining operation transporting their units to a new job,”says Les Routledge of Killarney. “They were travelling in aplatoon formation that was so close it was not possible topass only one unit.” Routledge says perhaps even worse, one of the truckdrivers must have had a learner’s permit. During the 10minutes Les was behind the group, he forced five oncom-ing vehicles to go into the ditch to avoid a collision withhis wide load. The name of the operation is Gagnon. “I hope that one of you may have a chat with the opera-tor and suggest a bit of highway transport training is inorder for his crew,” he says. “I am generally a very tolerantperson, but in this case, I had to share a bit of my mind withthe leader of the convoy and tell his people to spread out.They were presenting a huge danger to highway driversand giving farmers a bad name. A less tolerant person wouldhave taken a tire iron to a couple of the drivers.”

On Sunday July 31,2016, the CanadianFoodgrains Bank andthe Manitoba Agricul-tural Museum will hostHarvesting Hope: aWorld Record to Helpthe Hungry. To helpend global hunger,over 500 volunteersfrom 100 communitiesacross Canada willoperate 125 early 20thcentury threshingmachines to harvest a100-acre crop of wheat. When in operation,the equipment willrequire over fourfootball fields ofspace. For moreinformation onattending or how toparticipate please visitharvestinghope.ca orfollow us on twitter@harvesthope2016.

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Another end to the agricultural world as we know it! Ho hum, what else isnew? A new government that will surely be the end of the world, as we know it?Oh, done that before, what else have you got? Price of commodities falling.Seems that I have lived through that before and they have always come backup. Does it sound like I am becoming somewhat cynical? I must admit I don’thave as much patience as I used for all the stories about what is going to bring

irreplaceable damage to the world of agriculture, as we know it. Yes, I used to get excited about being a part of changeand covering stories about things we all called World Changing but now I am much more able to take them in strideand still sleep at night and to be honest am more concerned about the quality of my pillow. Some would say I have been in this business too long, others would say that experience teaches us that the worldkeeps on turning. This past month has had at least two or three of those events and looking at it realistically none aregoing to spell the end of the world, as we know it. Just as those events of the past didn’t keep us from eating everyday and carrying on with life. Remember when both sides campaigning for the end of the CWB said if the other side won the world would end?Well, the CWB changed somehow to find a middle ground and farmers continue to farm and sell their crops. Go back even further to the Crow Rate Debate, that was going to bring an end to grain production in westernCanada yet my drives this summer showed me that was not the case. I have been hearing about the demise of the Supply Management System since I started in this business in 1985,still there, still functioning. I even remember my uncles dairy farming at the time the system was introduced in theearly 1970s saying it would be the end of the industry when it was put in place. Conservatives told us that any government lead by a guy named Trudeau would be the demise of agriculture inwestern Canada. “Look what his Dad did,” they scream. I hope my son is not judged by my actions or choices andI bet those same Conservatives would agree with that statement. Let’s look at Trade Agreements. Remember when The Free Trade Agreement was an election issue, of course, youdo, but can you tell me who won? Probably not, and the world did not end.I could go on and on with issues that have been billed as Earth Shattering but my editor only allows me that muchspace and most times, he wants me to get to some kind of a conclusion. Here it is; the world is not ending. We have a Liberal government and in our country, we will have a smoothtransition of power (that is crucial) since our country is involved with negotiations in a trade agreement and aconclusion will be reached. Agriculture in western Canada will continue because the people involved want to be involved, they will adjust tothe new rules and continue on. I am willing to bet that there will be wheat grown in western Canada in 2016 and evenin 2026. There will be milk produced in 2016 and 2026. Count on it. The sky is indeed not falling.

Dear Editor:Re: “Replenishing the Bank Account” September 25, Edi-tion. I appreciate the AgriPost reporting on the topics pre-sented at Marc Hutlet Seeds’ field day on September 10,2015. I felt the need to write to the editor because some ofthe information in the article, “Replenishing the Bank Ac-count,” has been reported incorrectly and does not en-tirely follow what was all discussed during this portion ofthe tour that day. I felt the need to correct some of theinformation reported so the readers of this article have theright information when making decisions on their opera-tions. The bank account analogy is to exemplify the importanceof soil testing and understanding where the nutrient levelsare in the soil. Like a bank account, it is good practice toknow what is in your account before blindly withdrawingfunds. If more funds are being withdrawn than funds beingdeposited, the overall account funds will be on the decline. It is the same idea with soils. If more nutrients are beingremoved from the soil than what is being replaced, back-ground nutrient levels will begin to decline over time. Thebest way to monitor the nutrient levels in the soil is througha soil test. It was reported in the article that, “Corn is a big phos-phate user and does better at scavenging the phosphate inthe soil than using applied product.” In this portion of thepresentation, I was referring to soybean fertility. It is cor-rect that phosphate is a critical macronutrient in corn pro-duction, but it is soybeans that are scavengers for back-ground phosphate in the soil. Soybeans use around 0.8lbsof phosphorous per bushel produced. Since soybeans aregood scavengers for background phosphorous, they are agood crop to have in a rotation that has high background Plevels from previous manure applications. Soybeans alsorequire around 1.5 lbs of potassium per bushel produced. I did stress the importance of doing a soybean plant standcount in both spring and fall. Spring counts to determineearly season losses, and counts after harvest to determinelosses during the growing season. These counts will give agrower a better idea of how to adjust their seeding rates toaccomplish a plant stand between 150,000 - 160,000 plants/acre. We also spoke on the importance on doing corn plantstand counts in spring and fall. Determining the number ofharvestable ears/acre in the fall gives a grower an idea ofwhat populations they are getting with their planter setupand the seeding rate being used. It also gives a grower anidea of losses throughout the growing season. If a growerwants to push for a higher yield potential, they can do soby increasing number of harvestable ears per acre, and atthe same time making sure they are adjusting their fertilityprogram as well to meet the demands of the yield potential. Again, I appreciate the AgriPost reporting on the topicspresented at the tour.Michael WeirArea Agronomist DuPont PioneerMiami, MB

Canadian dairy industry can compete globally, but it cer-tainly won’t be easy, especially in light of the recent mega-transpacific partnership trade deal that has left many won-dering whether our dairies can actually pull it off over thelong term. More market access for foreign-based milk products meansCanadian consumers will increasingly have choices. Butmost importantly, the dairy industry will need to acquire anacute knack for recognizing opportunities abroad to capi-talize on them, something it has never done before. Milk, of all commodities, is a tricky one. The average cowproduces up to 30 litres per day; as a result, the logistics,branding and distribution efforts need to be seamlesslysynchronized. There are very few cases in Canada where industries haveclearly embraced the global marketing challenge over theyears. The wine industry in Canada, however, has donequite well despite our domestic differences and strict regu-latory framework, and even though competition in winesglobally is unmerciful. Despite the fact that American wineshave not been subject to import tariffs for several years asa result of the implementation of the Canada-US free tradeagreement, our wine industry is still thriving. Amongst major

The Sky is Falling Again

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Dairy Farmers Can Compete... Just Need to Embrace Opportunity

By Sylvain Charlebois

players in wine like the United States, France, Italy, Chileand Australia, the Canadian wine industry has become aninternationally recognized producer in wines, fosteringexcellence while garnering an impressive list of majorawards on all continents. With rising systemic threats, the wine industry soughtout better technologies while maintaining good practicesand centering on quality. The industry committed to whatit does best, low-to-medium-priced table wines, mid-to-premium-priced branded wines and, of course, ice wines.Vertical and horizontal integration and higher productioncapacity now play a significant role in the industry’s per-sistence, doing it all almost without any subsidies. Even though it is always risky to make commodity-basedcomparisons, some valuable lessons in wine can be con-ceptually juxtaposed to what our dairy sector is about toface over the next few decades with more market access. In dairy, not-so-great case studies are easy to find whenmaking a paradigmatic shift from supply-focused to out-ward-looking management. Parts of Europe, such as Franceand the UK, are reeling right now with the reality of end-ing its dairy quota system after a 13-year transition pe-riod. Opportunities to reconfigure dairy were clearlymissed. When looking at competitiveness, difficult decisions arewarranted. Some farmers just cannot and will not com-pete, full stop. With the diverse nature of our domesticmarket, hobby farms with fewer cows will always have aplace in our economy, but a broader, more aggressive modelcannot afford to financially support many of them, espe-cially in Canada. Provisions ought to be made to encour-age some to exit. In processing, farmer-owned cooperatives Agropur anddairy giant Saputo, two companies that appeared to havehedged against the future supply management of late byinvesting internationally, now are poised to better sup-port farmers in an open market. More innovation like theone we have seen with the Dairy Farmers of America, whichhave just released a milk-based energy drink, with no caf-feine, is likely to be leveraged by lower input costs. Dairy processing will likely gain from more market ac-cess, which will eventually help Canadian farmers. Sinceconsumers are increasingly concerned about where theirfood is coming from and that Canadian milk has currencyin our country, processors will think twice before switch-ing suppliers.

But, to compete, dairies will need to think globally as well.New Zealand has an interesting model with its private mar-keting board, a dairy co-operative called Fonterra. Such anapproach has made the country the largest dairy tradingnation in the world, and has be-come the envy of many. Withabrupt milk price fluctuations, ofcourse Fonterra has had its highsand lows, but mostly highs. But New Zealand is not Canadaby any stretch. Our climate andgeographical disposition againstthe US puts our dairy sector in amuch weaker position. Addition-ally, unlike New Zealand, Canadais not even close to emerging mar-kets like China, Indonesia andMalaysia. The fact that NewZealand now has its first tradedeal with Canada under TPP is certainly not a problem forCanadian dairies. Many possibilities are now logisticallywithin our grasp for butterfat, milk powder and specializedproducts. Partnerships are desirable for the future, including inter-national alliances. World-class processors in dairy and othersectors would be attracted to Canada for its ability to makeunique, world-class milk. A solid campaign abroad is neededthough. Since its inception more than 40 years ago, supply man-agement has offered an interesting legacy. On the one hand,we have a crop of professional and resourceful producerswho run efficient operations throughout the country. How-ever, Canadian dairy farms are not as productive as theircounterparts are abroad, far from it. In fact, according to arecent German-based study, after Switzerland Canada’s av-erage cost for milk production is the highest in the industri-alized world. Costs in Canada to make 100kg of milk are $72USD versus $35 USD in the United States. This is likely Canadian dairy’s biggest challenge. Thegap needs to be narrowed and the only way to achievehigher levels of productivity is through economies of scale.Since we are just north of a Farm Bill-happy dairy sector,building competitiveness will be key to moving forward. Like the wine industry decades ago, Canada’s dairy in-dustry has its share of cynical parties. Dairy farmers cancompete; they just need to embrace the opportunity. Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor at the Food Insti-tute at the University of Guelph. He is currently on leaveat the University of Innsbruck in Austria.


By Harry Siemens

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) stronglysupports the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. The CCA sees the TPP agreement for Canadian beef pro-ducers as the way to improve access to Japan and othergrowing markets in Asia. Under the deal, Canada coulddouble or triple its annual beef exports to Japan to nearly$300 million. CCA President Dave Solverson called the agreement agame-changer for Canada’s beef industry and Canadianagriculture as a whole. “This is really fantastic news forCanada’s beef producers,” he said. “Canada’s beef pro-ducers have long needed to have equal access to theseimportant markets to compete with Australian and US beef.Now, through this agreement, Canada will receive the samepreferential access to these markets as its competitors, lev-eling the playing field for Canadian beef producers onceand for all.”

TPP is Game-Changer for Canadian Agriculture Dan Darling Vice President of CCA said it was a majorpriority for Canadian beef producers to ensure that theTPP would result in a level playing field for all beef com-petitors in the TPP region. “I am pleased to say we haveachieved that. The TPP agreement ensures Canadian beefproducers will enjoy significantly improved access to Ja-pan and other growing markets in Asia,” he said. Canada already has duty free access for beef with manyof the countries participating in the TPP, including the USand Mexico. Darling said the TPP will gradually reduce a38.5% tariff on Canadian beef in Japan down to 9% cent in15 years, including an immediate cut to 27.5% on day oneof the agreement coming into force which will help to re-store Canada’s competitive position with Australian beef. Other wins for Canadian beef producers in the TPP in-clude achieving elimination of beef tariffs in Vietnam andMalaysia, two countries that have not traditionally beensignificant beef consumers, but have been identified aspotentially important markets in the future as their level of

economic development increases. The TPP also addressesthe exclusion of some beef access from previous agree-ments with Peru and Chile. Ray Price, the President of Sunterra Farms said participa-tion offers a tremendous opportunity to expand Canadasagri-food exports. Price said if Canada had ended up out-side the agreement, the pork industry would lose marketshare and it would devastate the markets his company hasdeveloped over the past 23 years. Japan has a very complicated import structure. “They doimport billions of dollars worth of pork every year but it’sunder a regime that is difficult to navigate and also is ex-pensive to navigate,” he explained. “Some of the othercountries, I think Australia and New Zealand in particular,have been importing Canadian pork but there are somechallenges there that we’d like to see improved market ac-cess to.” He thinks the experience as an industry in Korea is onethat, when Canada pork fell behind other trading partnerslike the US and Chile, certainly Canadas market sharedropped dramatically. “So this TPP is an outstanding op-portunity for us to increase our production and marketshare into a very important market like Japan,” saìd Price.“And continue to have good access into the United Statesand Mexican markets and we want to be in an agreementfor those reasons as well.”

By Elmer Heinrichs

While some fields were only cleared off in the last fewdays, the harvest of Manitoba Foodgrains crops is ba-sically wrapped up. Regional Coordinator Harold Penner said crops forthe most part were quite good. Some were poor, morewere average, and some were really good. “On our 5,800acre fields spread all over Manitoba we can assumewe’ll be close to the provincial average.” This non-profit farming operation consists of morethan a dozen projects involving local communities anda Hutterite colony working up to 40 fields varying insize from a few acres and up to 300 or more. This year in Manitoba, they grew hard wheat, barley,sunflowers, canola, oats, soybeans, pinto beans, cornand alfalfa hay, which was sold, and the proceeds weredonated for world food aid in many countries. With Foodgrains Bank harvest celebrations spreadout across the province, Penner said the most excitingpart of harvest is getting to see all the volunteers whocome out. “I think that’s the key, that so many peopleremember that there’s hunger in the world and realizethat we can all participate in easing global hunger,”said Penner. Penner added that the largest group of combinesturned up for a harvest event at Killarney with 18 com-bines on a 140-acre field.

Hog barns like this would stay full should the new Liberalgovernment pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)Agreement said livestock industry representatives.

He hates to think what it would have been like to be onthe outside looking in, instead of being on the inside withthe largest trading block in the world. “Certainly within thepig side of it or the pork side, it could take a billion dollarsoff the sales that we would have or conversely add a bil-lion, so its a huge factor in terms of viability of Canadianoperations,” saìd Price. The TPP offers a tremendous opportunity and he is con-fident Canadian agriculture can out compete the other coun-tries.

Foodgrains Bank WFoodgrains Bank WFoodgrains Bank WFoodgrains Bank WFoodgrains Bank Wraps Up Harvestraps Up Harvestraps Up Harvestraps Up Harvestraps Up Harvest


By Les Kletke

The President of the National Farmers Union said that Canada would not be a winner in the TPP. Jan Slomp said themain reason is that agreements like this are not about trade and instead are only used to mask the real intent. “The greatest purpose is to allow the economic transactions between multinational corporations to take place inother countries. It is about these corporations gaining control, not a benefit to the grass roots of the country.” Slomp is not opposed to trade he said the word has positive connotations and is often used to mask the underlyingintent. “We think of trade as one fellow having a gravel pit and the other a wood lot, they agree to trade gravel forfence posts, and that is good and we are in favour of trade, but our organization is not in favour of losing control ofan industry in our country.” He uses the example of increased access to the Canadian dairy market, and said that while the 3.25 % of the Canadianmarket given up does not seem like much, it is only the tip of the iceberg and that the agreement quickly escalates theamount of dairy components that will be allowed into this country. The Dairy Farmers of Canada report that while itis true that TPP countries get access to 3.25% of the dairy market for the first five years, the total amount to be openedis in fact 18.25%. Slomp said that while the deal will not be good over all for Canada it is not a matter of Canada being a loser at thenegotiating table while other countries win. “There are sectors in each country that will benefit; there are sectors inAustralia and New Zealand that will benefit.” He added. “The United States seldom enters an agreement if it is not abeneficiary.” He also questions the secrecy of the negotiations. “We are hearing less and less about the negotiations of thesekinds of deals, and we are allowed less input from the sectors involved.” He questions why the Diary Farmers ofCanada has come out relatively positive to the agreement. “Our organization has worked with the Dairy Farmers ofCanada and it is a good organization, but in an agreement like this the devil is in the details and they don’t know allthe details yet. They might find it much worse than they expect,” said Slomp. “We are already seeing push back from the UAP in Quebec which is a strong voice for farmers and when they startto exert their political pressure we will hear much more about this,” he said.

By Les Kletke

Dave Wiens said that it is too soon to judge if the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) will have a detrimental effect onCanadian dairy farmers especially considering that we havea new political regime in place. “We are a domestic industry and by opening up trade weknow we will lose some of our market, we expect that to be3.25% of the current market, but there was talk by the Con-servative government of a compensation package. We haveto wait and see,” said Wiens, Chairman of the Dairy Farm-ers of Manitoba. The first outcome will be determined by the Liberal ad-ministration and if they will honour the agreement, theyhave said they will study it and provide more information.“We will see if they will honour the compensation packageoffered by the previous government,” said Wiens. “Thosethings are all in a wait and see situation.” Meanwhile the Dairy Farmers of Canada cannot sit backand wait for the final evaluation. They are studying theagreement to see what impact it will have on their industryand if indeed, the compensation package will make up forthe hardship of losing market share.

I’ve noticed that there are three stages to the corn harvest inManitoba. The first part starts in September when the corn cropmatures and whole plant moisture dries down to about 35% drymatter; it’s one of the best times to take off corn silage. Thesecond stage occurs weeks later when the grain corn dries downto about 75% dry matter; time to harvest hi-moisture corn. Fi-nally, when the same corn kernels drop below 15% moisture itshould be combined. As a dairy nutritionist, it has been my experience that evenmodest changes to the moisture content of corn silage comparedto hi-moisture or dry corn has a significant impact upon theamount of nutritious TMR eaten by lactating dairy cows andturned into milk. Therefore, I strongly recommend that dairyproducers test the moisture content of their corn silage after anew bag, bunk or silo is opened. Such importance of knowing the new corn silage’s moisture isillustrated as such: an early lactating dairy herd eats 90 lbs of adairy diet with a total moisture content of 50%. This translatesinto a base consumption of 45 lbs of dry matter intake (DMI).Now, let’s assume that the moisture content of new bunk of cornsilage making up 40% of this lactation diet is really 67% moisturerather than an untested estimated of 60% moisture. Then, theactual diet is wetter than estimated by about 3% (52.8 % mois-ture). The real DMI of the herd could drop by 2.5 lbs and apotential loss of about 5 lbs of milk per cow. The result is 1 lbDMI = 2.0 – 2.5 lb milk produced. [Source University of Illinois] Whether dealing with ideal, wet or dry corn silage, the dairyproducer should choose the best method that works in determin-ing the moisture content of post-ensiled corn silage samples.While there are many ways to test moisture content in feeds, Ilike the two easy-to-do approaches; namely, using a Koster testeror by Microwave oven (MV). The moisture-content procedures for both methods are virtu-ally identical: (1) Weigh out 100 – 500 gram corn silage samplesthat are representative of harvested fields on a gram-weighingscale. (2) Corn silage samples can be dried down by either theKoster tester or Microwave oven. (3) Re-weigh dried out cornsilage samples and (4) Calculate moisture results as % moisturecontent = ((Initial sample wt. - Dried sample wt.)/Initial samplewt.) x 100. Therefore, if a 500-gram corn silage is dried down to 184 grams,its % moisture content would be 36.8%. Interestingly, the Koster tester is an electrical dryer that isspecifically designed for drying forages and wet feeds, and deter-mining their moisture content. This apparatus has a heating ele-ment and fan built in its base that blows in hot air through thefeed sample placed on a built-in screen for moisture determina-tion. Its drying procedure takes about 20 – 25 minutes. Sample loss tends to be a small problem in using the Kostertester. Likewise, the common microwave oven provides a quickmeans of also drying samples. Its greatest challenge is to avoidburning samples, when they get crispy (re: recommended to placea small amount of water in oven). Microwave drying time isabout 5 – 10 minutes for most wet feeds. Regardless of which method is preferred in determining themoisture content of one’s corn silage and other feeds, it some-times takes a bit of practice to refine their similar procedures inorder to achieve the most accurate moisture results. On occasion, some dairy producers might find that the testedmoisture of their current corn silage is higher than expected. That’sbecause most whole corn plants despite looking brown and wiltedat the time of chopping often contain considerable moisture,because their numerous ears contain more water than most of usexpect. Some dairy producers are proactive and take pre-harvest cornsilage samples. They did this by a sweep of a harvester or yard-cutter, which allowed them to possibly delay harvest and al-lowed standing corn plants to wilt down further. Such a correc-tive opportunity tends to avoid corn silage that is put into thebunk in an excessively wet manner (re: greater than 75 – 80%moisture); which contributes to a greater loss of nutrients duringthe ensiling, storage and feed-out processes. Regardless, we should always take more samples of corn silagewhen the bunk or bags are finally opened up and test for moisturecontent. This is the corn silage that will be fed to the lactatingdairy cows and most dairy diets with a substantial corn silagecontent will be impacted by its moisture content (as demon-strated above). For that reason, we know the actual moisture content of incor-porated corn silage in order to formulate a well-balanced dairydiet. Periodically, we should test the moisture content of the finalTMR diet, so we can make further adjustments, so milk produc-tion by lactating cows is optimized.

Test Corn SilageMoisture for Better

Milk Production

Dairy Farmers Analyze TPP Details

NFU Says It Is Not About Trade

By Les Kletke

Jan Slomp welcomes areturn to what he calls amore democratic processwith the Liberal govern-ment led by JustinTrudeau. Slomp, a dairy farmerand President of the NFU,said that under the tenureof Gerry Ritz the organiza-tion was seldom, if ever,called on to represent theviews of farmers. “Hisview was if you’re notwith us, you’re not thereat all,” he recounted.“What can be lessdemocratic than that?” Slomp acknowledgesthat it will still be an uphillbattle to get the voice ofthe new agricultureMinister despite having aformer NFU President inWayne Easter in the

NFU Welcomes theDemocratic Change

caucus. “There are a lotmore seats than WayneEaster,” he said. “There isalso Ralph Goodale fromSaskatchewan whounderstands the transpor-tation issue and thatshould bode well forfamers but there is lots ofwork to do.” He said his group hashad the ear of Goodale inSaskatchewan even if notin public. “A politician’sfirst job is to get re-elected and the image isimportant they do notwant to be seen as payingtoo much attention to anyone group, especially onethe media brands as onthe edge,” said Slomp. Slomp said the talks onthe transportation issueare going to be critical forwestern Canadian farmersand that raising freight

Jan Slomp, President of theNational Farmers Union ishoping for improvedcommunications with theLiberal Federal Ag Ministerand department.

rates is not the onlyanswer. “The statutoryregulations signed whenthe CPR was given largetracts of land are still onthe books. Why does thegovernment not usethem?” he questions. “Inthe time of the WheatBoard when the railwayswere not moving grain theCWB would make enoughnoise to get thingsmoving and the govern-ment would threaten tolegislate movement basedon those regulations, theyare still there but theprevious administrationchose not to use them.” He is hopeful the Liberaladministration will call onmore voices for input tosolutions that involvedtheir industry. “We havelost a lot in terms of theCWB and seed saving butI am optimistic that wecan move ahead from thispoint and put things inplace that will keep ourrural communities,” he

said. Slomp terms himself anoptimist in the humansituation but fears thattough times may becoming. “We have seen alot of change in ourindustry but the fluctua-tion in oil prices is anindication of the type ofmanipulation that isinvolved in our economyand that could lead tosome drastic times.”

Wiens said it is not a matter of one party supportive ofsupply management while another is not. “We have towork with any administration and had a good working rela-tionship with Gerry Ritz,” said Wiens who noted he wasone of the longest serving members in the position of Fed-eral Agriculture Minister. “He came to understand the supply management sys-tems and we had a good relationship with him,” said Wiens.“We will need to do that with the new minister and lookforward to working with whoever it is.” Wiens acknowledges that the Canadian team was undera great deal of pressure in the international bargaining arena.“There was pressure for them to give up much more andwe as dairy farmers have to realize that there is some giveand take in bargaining and be satisfied that the bargainingteam did a good job for us considering the pressure theywere under to open Canadian borders.” Wiens expects that as the details of the agreement arestudied it will become clearer if the agreement will have asignificant impact on the Canadian dairy industry and howproducers should best react. “We need more analysis ofthe agreement and to be aware of what the new administra-tion will do with it,” he said.


By Les Kletke

Stefanie Richardsacknowledges that notmany schools have thecapability to makebreakfast sandwiches forall their students espe-cially when that number isover 700 but that isexactly what she was ableto do at Winkler’sNorthland ParkwayCollegiate. “When I first spoke toChef Joe Lindhorst heagreed that they did havea culinary program and itwould be good to dosomething special for thebreakfast. So we came upwith the idea of breakfastsandwiches and he wasquiet willing to put in theextra time and have hisstudents prepare some ofthe food the day before.” Typically, the Breakfastprogram delivers apancake breakfast madewith Manitoba productsand prepared by volun-teers for the students whothen get a short presenta-tion on the industry in ourprovince. “We prepared some ofthe ingredients the daybefore,” said Richards.“We had over 900 biscuitswith cheese and egg onthem and it went incred-ibly smoothly. Theculinary students weregreat and the group ofvolunteers we had wasexceptional.” The meal was followedby a presentation on thechallenges that agricul-ture faces. “Then we lookat some solutions tothose problems and it is inthose solutions that wehave careers in agriculturewhich students are reallyinterested in because theyare making the choicesabout what they will bedoing in the work force orif they are going to post-secondary education.” Richards said she doesnot field very manyquestions from the largegroups. “I don’t get a lotof questions from anassembly but I do getstudents coming over totalk to me individually orif we meet in smallgroups,” she said.“Usually they want toknow about jobs or wherethey can get moreinformation.” Richards takes theprogram to rural andurban schools and saidthe response fromstudents varies little. “Wecannot assume that ruralstudents know aboutagriculture. There arefewer farms so not all rural

Winkler’s Breakfast Program Offers a Side of Ag Learning

Stephanie Richards presenting to the school.

Stephanie Richards with volunteers and Chef Joe.

Chef Joe and a culinary student.

students are from a farmand if they are they mightbe familiar with their farmbut not another type ofagriculture.”

She said working withAg in the Classroom hasbeen a learning experiencefor her, “I came from abeef and grain farm but

did not know much aboutother operations like dairyor beekeeping. This hasbeen a learning experiencefor me and I enjoy it.”


By Harry Siemens

John Duvenaud, the pub-lisher of Wild Oats and or-ganizer of Grainworld saidthings and conferencescome and go. For many years the formerCanadian Wheat Board(CWB) ran the GrainworldOutlook conference untilthe Conservative govern-ment did away with theCWB. Duvenaud stepped in andran it admirably for fouryears but has decided toshut it down permanentlysince there were no offersfrom other companies totake it over. “I bought a seaton the Winnipeg Commod-ity Exchange shortly after Iopened an office in theGrain Exchange Buildingand launched Wild Oats,”said Duvenaud. “The WCEtrading floor was a five-minute walk, indoors and Icould spend as much, or aslittle, time as suited myfancy. Once on the floor Iwas a player in a commer-cial exchange. That can beinteresting.” It initially horrified himwhen the WCE closed thetrading floor to go elec-tronic but now it is appar-ent that it was old technol-ogy. “I took overGrainworld thinking that Icould, at least, keep theCanadian Ag Outlook alive,and I did,” he said. “AgOutlooks too, have hadtheir time. People startedthem as a way to signal tofarmers what crops to plant150 years ago when newstook weeks to travel acrossthe country.” Duvenaud said todayfarmers have access to allthe outlook material theycan read, for free and canuse any number of commer-cial information services.“I’m not going to runGrainworld any more. Theyall worked; they all mademoney; they’re lots of funto plan and run but they’reold technology. Thanks forhaving participated,” headded. Duvenaud said the con-cept reverts back to the USAgricultural Department150 years ago. Then asnow, farmers could know orat least have some ideaabout what to expect fortheir crops in the yearahead. Jack Dawes a Grainworldparticipant as a farm broad-caster said for many yearsthe Canadian Wheat Boardevent was heavy in wheatboard politics, but whenWild Oats ran it, it was morefree market oriented. Other observers view thisas a sad day reflecting onhow good people reviewed

One of the oldest clichés in agriculture might be that“research and innovation are the keys to our future”. But justbecause it is a cliché does not mean it is not true. The federal election is over and Canada has a new govern-ment. Three hundred thirty eight Members of Parliament willsoon be headed to Ottawa to represent their constituents.Agriculture lobby groups from every region will be asking themto support research. But what kind of research should we be asking them tosupport? Should it be all public? How do producers’ check-offinvestments build upon renewed private interest in varietydevelopment? How we answer these questions will determineif Canada is going to be a leader in innovation or if we are goingto be left behind. Let’s deal with the first question. Canada has a strong historyof public investment in research and development. Marquiswheat and the first canola are just two examples of revolution-ary innovations that came from public research. The economicreturns to the public and the country have been enormous. But so have the returns to farmers, grain handlers, processorsand everyone else involved in the value chain and we cannotexpect the Canadian taxpayer to foot the whole bill for the nextround of agriculture-specific innovation. Furthermore, trying togo down this path would mean that private investment goes toour competitors, putting Canadian agriculture at a disadvan-tage. We need a combination of private, public and producerinvestment in order to remain competitive. Continued public research is important, but this cannot becarried out in isolation. We need to do a better job of coordinat-ing this work with private and producer investments to ensuefunding from each source is complimentary. We will be worseoff if tax dollars invested in research drives out private interestand investments are made in the US or Australia instead ofCanada. Funding sources should not be competing with eachother. There are some recent good examples of public – private –producer partnerships. The agreement between CANTERRASEEDS, the Alberta Wheat Commission and Agriculture andAgri-Food Canada is an example of how funders can worktogether to bring new innovation to farmers. How can the country maximize the impact of public researchdollars while encouraging private companies to invest inCanada? A key step on the path to success must be clearstrategic objectives for cereals research. What is Canada’scompetitive advantage in the increasingly global cereals market?We need researchers and funders – both public and private – tocome together to answer this question. The strategic vision for cereals research must consider thefact that there are two customers for innovation. Farmers mustbenefit from new varieties developed for Canadian growingconditions. If farmers don’t benefit, innovation will never makeit to the field and investment will be lost. But farmers are notthe only customer for innovation. Research and varietydevelopment must also take into account the needs of end usecustomers. What do customers want to buy from Canada?What are those unique quality characteristics from Canada thatgain a premium from international millers? These are critical questions that need to be answered by allparts of the value chain. If public research is isolated fromprivate and producer investment, Canada will not become theworld’s centre for cereals research. Neither public nor privateresearch will successfully increase the value of Canadian cerealsproduction if the needs of both farmers and end use customersare not considered. Success will come when the public andprivate research fits seamlessly with Canada’s marketdevelopment efforts. So what does this all mean for our newly elected federalpoliticians and agriculture’s requests for research funding? It isnot good enough to just tell elected officials, “You need to fundresearch.” Instead, we need to present a clear strategic researchplan that demonstrates public investment complimentingprivate and producer dollars and how this will drive Canada tothe forefront of innovation and development. Instead of just saying, “We need more money,” we need tosay, “We have a plan, this is where governments fit and weneed you to do your part.” Cam Dahl is President of Cereals Canada.

Research and Innovation– Key to the Future

Wild Oats Grainworld to Shut Down

John Duvenaud the organizer and host of Wild Oats Grainworld said he is pulling the plug on theannual Outlook conference because of technology changes.

the overall world crop sup-ply and demand, outlooksfor the crops Canadianfarmers grow on the prai-ries, plus much more. “Eachyear traders in the variouscrops that we grow in west-ern Canada provide an out-look for the crop theytrade,” said Duvenaud.

“The purpose was to pro-vide farmers with an in-formed idea of the profit-ability of the cropping al-ternatives and the graintrade with an outlook ofwhere markets are headed.Every player in the chainbenefits when farmers plantthe right mix of crops.”

When asked if someoneelse would pick it up in duecourse, the Wild Oats pub-lisher said not for this year,but others may put to-gether something similar inthe future that reflectstoday’s market access, flex-ibility and market transpar-ency.


By Peter Vitti

A pre-conditioned feeder is a general term for feedlot-des-tined calves that have been vaccinated, castrated, dehorned,weaned, has some feed-bunk/waterer experience while eat-ing a nutritious post-weaning diet for at least 30-45 daysprior to being sold to a feedlot. Recently, I’ve talked to several cow-calf operators and manyof them, who sell weaned spring calves to feedlots in the fall,see no problem in “truck weaning”; where calves are abruptlyremoved from their mothers, loaded onto a cattle trailer andtransported to another yard. Many of them have been sell-ing their spring calves this way for years despite much NorthAmerican field trials that dictate truck-weaned calves sufferfrom a higher rate of shrink during trucking and by the timethey get to a feedlot and afterwards; suffer from a high inci-

The Benefits and Value of Preconditioning Weaned Calvesdence of respiratory and other chronic health problems, lowerfeedlot gains, higher feed efficiencies and higher rates of death. These people express that the economic benefit in order toput calves through a preconditioning program is inadequate.Their opinion is in contrast to an Alberta study (2012) thatshowed that pre-conditioned calf sales garnish an $8/cwt pre-mium per spring calf. Truck-wean supporters retort that thisstudy has merit, but this extra $50 per 600 lb calves ($8 x 600 lb/100) doesn’t often cover the extra costs of pre-conditioningand more so during wide price variations due to heavier weightdiscounts and market seasonality. One person that might pay more for preconditioned calvesis a person that I met at a stockman’s meeting, who purchasesshort-kept calves. She said that one year she bought 800 un-conditioned heifer calves, trucked them 1,000 miles and re-gretted the sale. Her experience was that she and her workerswasted time getting these calves up to the feed bunk andspent at least $25 per treated sick calf, mainly needled forrespiratory problems. In the following year, she purchased a similar allotment ofcertified pre-conditioned 600 lb calves, which were transportedto her yard. Although, she did not disclose the premium thatshe paid for these pre-conditioned calves, she did say thatthe premium was worth it, because few animals were needledand most calves quickly got onto her feedlot starter diet. Regardless of experience or opinion of preconditioningcalves, I believe if one chooses to precondition calves forsale, they should roughly follow a similar program brokendown into three major phases: (1) pre-weaned preparationphase, (2) viable weaning period and (3) 45-day post weaningphase. The primary goal of each phase is to reduce the amountof weaning stress in saleable calves, as well as dovetail intofuture feedlot feeding programs. Starting with the pre-weaned phase, I recommend cow-calfoperators talk to their veterinarian about a well-planned vac-cination program implemented before about three weeks be-fore calves are weaned. Calves should also be dewormed,dehorned and the male calves castrated. In addition, I like tofeed pre-weaned calves a nutritious 14 – 16% medium-energycreep feed that helps them develop their rumens, while it en-courages them to eat out of a bunk or self-feeder.Next comes the actual weaning from the cowherd and luckilythere are many practical methods that reduces weaning stress,when calves are removed from their mothers. One good weaning recommendation cited from the Univer-sity of Saskatchewan suggests that rather than separate thecalves right off the cows, and move them alone into strangepens; move the cow-calf pairs together into a new feedingarea that will be used only for the calves after weaning. Once

the calves get used to the feed-bunks and waterers, movethe cows out. The idea being that the calves are no longerin a strange place and even without their mothers, willquickly get accustomed to where their new dinner will be. In the next few days, such settled weaned calves shouldbe moved onto a 45-day post-weaning/preconditioningfeeding program. This tends to be a high forage diet thatputs on modest gains to draw premium value when mar-keted or to dovetail onto advanced back grounding rationswhen ownership is retained. As a ruminant nutritionist, I often recommend these pa-rameters of a 45-day preconditioning feed and managementprogram.- A weaned calf gains 2 lb per day or about 90 lbs more ofmarketable weight.- Spring calves (500 – 700 lbs) require about 65 – 68%TDN, 13 – 14% protein, high mineral and vitamins.- 14% Post-weaning ration consists of corn, oats, corndistillers, soybean meal, mineral-vitamin premix and medi-cated with monensin sodium @ 22mg/kg.- Forage: Mixed adequate mixed hay (Substitute with fallpastures, green chop, or stubble grazing). Given the relative simplicity of the above three-phase pre-conditioning program, even people that have truck-weanedcalves for years might consider this different option. Theymight still only see the visible bottom-line value that pre-conditioning calves “doesn’t pay”, but they may not real-ize the invisible economic benefits, which adds value tomost marketable calves. This is particularly true when re-peat buyers will not buy calves unless they are legally cer-tified as preconditioned. In this respect, all cow-calf pro-ducers benefit.


By Harry Siemens

G3 Canada Limited (G3),a newly formed Canadianagribusiness based inWinnipeg will build a newlake terminal at the Port ofHamilton for southernOntario grains and oilseedsdestined as exports to glo-bal markets. The company is seriousabout being a major playerin the grain business inCanada and according toother industry observers,as timely as can be. Theformer CWB has evolvedinto G3 Canada Grain Ltd.operating coast to coast. “G3 is excited to an-nounce this major invest-ment in the Port of Hamiltonas part of our vision to cre-ate a coast-to-coast Cana-dian grain enterprise,” saidKarl Gerrand, CEO. “Grainexports from southernOntario have been increas-ing for some time now.” The 50,000 metric tonnefacility will go up at Pier 26in the Port of Hamilton, justoff Queen Elizabeth Way.The company will loadgrains and oilseeds ontovessels for transport toG3’s facilities on the St.Lawrence River. From there,loads will head to exportmarkets around the world. “We recognize time isvaluable for our farmer part-ners, which is why this fa-

G3 Focuses on East-WestTerminal Network

cility has been designed toget trucks in and out as fastas any competing terminalin Ontario,” said Gerrand.“Combined with G3’s exist-ing facilities in Trois-Rivières and Quebec City,and our strong marketingconnections, we believe G3will present a very competi-tive new option for Ontariofarmers.” Construction on the fa-cility is already underwayand is slated for completionprior to the 2017 harvest.“We peg Ontario’s exportsaround 14 percent annuallywith a primary focus onwheat, soybeans and corn.This terminal is a reallygood opportunity for us tofinish up our eastern origi-nation strategy and link invia our own laker vesselsthat we have, link in ourQuebec Trois-Rivières ter-minals and build, what wethink a very competitivegrain pipeline off the eastcoast of Canada.” He made a point of say-ing this announcementdoes not in any way dimin-ish their presence on thewest coast. “G3 is a coastto coast grain enterpriseand we’re basing ourmodel on highly efficientinfrastructure to allow notonly the quick unload ofgrain to recognize the valu-able time farmers spendwaiting in line to dump their

grain,” said Gerrand.“We’re trying to add asmuch technology as we canto allow farmers to unloadas quickly as they possiblycan.” G3’s CEO said they wantto complete as quickly aspossible the entire enter-prise across Canada to giveoptions off the east andwest coast. The Hamiltonfacility addresses their eastcoast movement, but theyhave a lot of work to do yeton the west coast move-ment.

“We continue to workvery hard on the feasibilitywork for our Vancouver ter-minal and that is progress-ing very well moving intothe public consultationstage of the permit applica-tion process with the Portof Vancouver,” he said. “Iwould say the receptionwe’ve had from the localcommunity groups and citi-zens has been overwhelm-ingly positive.” Gerrand said the result willmean building additionalinland terminals across

western Canada to feed theVancouver Terminal with atleast another eight to 10terminals in Saskatchewanand Alberta over thecourse of the next three orfour years. This announcementclosely follows the con-struction of the Glenleahigh throughput elevator astate-of-the-art grain el-evator located a half milesouth of Glenlea that willfeature an elevator with34,000 metric tonnesscheduled to open in early2016 and Pasqua highthroughput elevator lo-cated near Pasqua,Saskatchewan approxi-

mately 10 km east of MooseJaw featuring a 42,000 met-ric tonnes of storage. It isscheduled to open in Janu-ary 2016. Under G3 Global GrainGroup, a joint venturebased in Winnipeg betweenBunge Canada and SALICa Saudi Arabia principalagricultural investment en-terprise the merger hasbeen completed combiningnot only the CWB, but alsoBunge Canada Grain, whichis the Quebec City Termi-nal and other terminals inQuebec. The combinedbusinesses will operate un-der the name G3 CanadaLimited.

Cutting the ribbon at G3’s new grain elevator at Colonsay, Saskatchewan that features a car-loading rate of up to 1,600 metrictonnes per hour with a 134-car loop track. The facility will also include a 17,300 metric tonne workhouse with cleaning facilitiesand 24,700 metric tonnes of steel storage capacity.


By Les Kletke

Potato growers willsoon have a new tool forgetting information in theway and time they want it. Jill Hollosi is theDirector of DigitalStrategies with Issues Inc.and has been involvedwith the development ofseveral new systems forpotato growers. The firstis a website ‘Spud Smart’that features a one-stopshop for all informationregarding their crop. “Wego through the produc-tion information rightthrough to the storageissues,” said Hollosi. “Itis categorized so they can

By Les Kletke

It is October 23 andDave Wiens expects toget one more cut of al-falfa. At first, one wouldthink the southeast dairyfarmer is in need of feedto be planning the fourthcut of the crop. “We have silos and wewant to top them up justto make sure that we haveenough feed to last wellinto the summer,” saidWiens. “We could havetaken it at the end of Sep-tember for the amount ofgrowth there is but wedid not want to risk warmweather and the plantstarting to grow and us-ing up its winter re-serves.” Instead, he has beenwaiting for the plants toshut down before takingthe last cut, he does notexpect it to be a large vol-ume but it will top of hissilos. Wiens said he hasa good supply of dry haythat would carry himthrough. Wiens who is the Chair-man of the Dairy Farmersof Manitoba said that isthe case for most produc-ers. “I have not heard ofanyone who is in drasticneed of feed,” he said.“There are pockets wheremaking hay was a chal-lenge but that is alwaysthe case. Over all itseems like an above av-erage year.”

Cautiously Optimistic asSilos Get Topped Up

David Wiens is President of the Dairy Farmersof Manitoba.

Wiens said that alfalfa isusually ready a bit earlierin the southeastern part ofthe province and later asyou go northwest. “Thisyear if you got your firstcut down in the first half ofJune you were alright andthat was the case in thesoutheast. In other areaswhere the crop was notready until later June wehad more of a challenge.” He said that corn silagecame off in good quantityand better than averagequality. “The crop was ma-ture and that makes for bet-ter quality,” said Wiens. “Itwas not the corner to cor-ner crop that you need forreally good yields.”

Most areas of the prov-ince had some challengesin the spring with thecorn crop and in mostcases, it was moisture heexplained. “It seems mostfields have a few spotsthat were hurt by themoisture in spring andwhile the crop was goodit was not a great crop, abit above average.” Most dairy producershave more hay than theywill need for the next yearbut are cautious aboutselling any because ofthe uncertainty of nextspring. As Wiens said,“We want to make surefeed lasts well into sum-mer.”

Potato Info When andWhere You Want It

find the information thatis pertinent to them at thetime without goingthrough a lot of otherinformation.” Hollosi said it is amixture of technology andinformation when puttingtogether a website likeSpud Smart. “Of primeimportance today is thatthe system adapts towhatever kind of tool theproducer is using whetherit be desk top, lap top oriphone. The informationhas to scale down so thatit functions for theproducer on the type ofcomputer he is using.” The site is financedthrough advertising andindustry partners. It grewfrom an industry magazinethat delivered much of thesame information butelectronic delivery makesit less costly and immedi-ate. In the next month, hercompany will be unveilingwebinars and pod casts.“We see that as the nextgeneration in thisevolution,” she said. “Thefarmer will be able to view

the webinar from his homebut if the time is notconvenient it will berecorded and available 48hours later for him towatch at his own conve-nience.” The podcast willprovide shorter bits ofinformation in a lessformal setting with theidea of delivering thelatest in information toproducers at the time thatthey need it. The concept is notintended to do away withpersonal contact thathappens at trade showsrather it supplements theindustry with timelyinformation. While thenumber of producers inthe province has beenshrinking, the cropremains one of thehighest value crops inManitoba and delivery ofinformation in a costeffective way is extremelyimportant. Hollosi expects thewebinars to be ready bythe end of the month butdid not release a scheduleof the topics.


By Joan Airey

For the past year Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference(MFWC) Co-Chairs Cindy Klassen and Angela Lovell andtheir committee of volunteers have spent hours planningthe conference that be held from November 15-17. Part ofthe planning incorporated a new destination for attendeesinto the heart of one of Manitoba’s agricultural communi-ties, Winkler. After much brain storming by the committee a group oftop-notch speakers were acquired to make the conferencea fun learning experience for everyone involved in the ag-ricultural industry. This year’s conference theme is Fromthe Ground-Up, as 2015 is the International Year of soils itseemed an appropriate theme for organizers. “The conference is a place where farm and rural womanfrom across Manitoba meet annually to learn, laugh andmake new friends. This year we are really encouraging at-tendees to bring along someone who has never been to aMFWC before, friend, colleague, or family member. Anyfirst time attendees name will be entered in a draw to win aspecial prize,” said Cindy Klassen, Conference Co-Chair. Well-known Canadian Olympic curler Jill Officer will beguest speaker at Monday’s luncheon. Officer was a mem-ber of the Jennifer Jones team who won the 2014 Olympics. Laura Rance well known agricultural journalist will speakat the Conference on Monday morning November 16. Key-note Speaker is Carola Ann Fried who is passionate andcommitted to bringing playfulness and laughter into theworkplace. She plans to deliver some Friedom Trainingand Coaching, on how to balance work and life, and willwrap up the conference by helping everyone discover theirJoy Spot for a happier work environment. You will hear a wide range of speakers including BaileyGizel a grade twelve student from Carman who has a pas-sion for agriculture and plans to pursue this in her future.Bailey started a farm based business selling eggs, honeyand baking at the early age of fifteen. The conference has been approved for seven credits forManagement Training through the Bridging GenerationsInitiative. Further information on the conference can befound at manitobafarmwomensconference.ca or phone 204-829-7706.

Manitoba Farm Women’sConference Around the Corner

New Destination for 2015...New Destination for 2015...New Destination for 2015...New Destination for 2015...New Destination for 2015...WinklerWinklerWinklerWinklerWinkler, Manitoba, Manitoba, Manitoba, Manitoba, Manitoba

By Elmer Heinrichs

New data and information from Statistics Canada, based on aSeptember farm survey, has raised yield and production esti-mates for crops in western Canada. The estimates came in higher because of favourable weatherconditions in August, especially in the Prairie Provinces. Timely rains in Alberta and Saskatchewan partly offset earlierextremely dry conditions, which had prevailed. Consequently,average yields were higher than had been anticipated. Overall production of wheat, canola and soybeans is lower in2015 compared with 2014. On the other hand, the production ofcorn, barley and oats is expected to be higher than in 2014 andsoybean production is expected to decline for the first time since2007. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in its October 2015 Out-look, reports that Manitoba experienced good growing condi-tions this year and as a result barley production rose to 485,500tonne from 354,900 in 2014. To south of the border, North Da-kota nearly doubled its production as the US crop expanded. Canadian farmers are harvesting a good corn crop, and so areManitoba farmers with yields in the 100-140 bushels an acrerange and an occasional field going as high as 175 bushels. Production of canola decreased by 13% cent from last year, to14.3 metric tonnes (MT) on lower yields and lower harvestedarea. While overall production was down slightly, production ofsoybeans in western Canada reached a record 1.47 Mt. In general, grain prices in Canada are expected to be pressuredby abundant world supplies.

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By Harry Siemens

I recently spent three weeks in the Chaco, Paraguay asa guest and a presenter to farmers of the Menno Colonyon Canadian agriculture, farm and government policy. Gustav Sawatzky is the current President of theCooperativa Chortitzer (CC) of the Menno Colony in theChaco Paraguay with over 6,000 members doing $750million in business in 2014. The colony serves over tenthousand people in the Chaco, with over 50 percentmade up of Canadian citizens. Most of the membershave relatives in Manitoba, in and around Steinbach,Niverville, Winkler and Winnipeg. “The Menno Colony is a group of people that stoodtogether, right from the beginning when things werevery difficult,” said Sawatzky. “Our forefathers, who lefteverything in 1926 and ‘27 in Manitoba to come to anew land, to seek freedom of religion and education.” In 1928, the people formed the first cooperative, wherethe initial storeowner Bill Krahn served the people. In1932 a soldier with the Paraguayan military that camethrough from time to time, stole some goods from thestore and he reported this theft to the military the nexttime they came through. Reporting that theft was no small thing. He had to gowith the military and witness the execution of that samesoldier that had stolen from him. To Mr. Krahn it wassuch a serious matter that he sold the store to thecooperative. While a sorrowful and sad story, it was thetoehold that the cooperative used as a beginning togrow. Conditions were tough in the beginning; they had toimport all of their flour, sugar, fabric to sew their clothesand many other basic necessities. They would thendistribute enough staples to each person includingsugar for three weeks and flour for a month. Eventually,the CC decided to process the flour for its members. The Menno Colony rose from those small beginningsdealing with the basic essentials of life growing into avery successful entity today. With no natural resourcesor other industries to develop, the CC is responsible fortaking what the land could produce to sustain themembers and their growing families. The CC is also responsible for buying the land whileretaining the title even when the land is exchanged,resold in a way, amongst the membership. The most important crops the CC processes locallywith their own meat processing facility, milk, cotton,sesame, and feed plants. Then the CC markets and sellstheir finished products. Much of it is sold domesticallywithin Paraguay, but the colony also ships to approxi-

A Snapshot of the CooperativaChortitzer... a Menno Colony

Gustav Sawatzky is the current President of the CooperativaChortitzer of the Menno Colony in the Chaco, Paraguay withover 6,000 members doing $750 million in business in 2014and serving over ten thousand people in the Chaco (over 50percent of those Canadian citizens).

The Menno Colony milk plant that processes over 450,000 litres of milk a day in Loma Plata, Paraguay.

mately 25 countries. The Cooperativa Chortitzer is not there to makemoney, because the real owners are the 6,000 plusmembers. Rather the coop exists to help members thrive.

However, Sawatzky said the key is to make enough moneyto cover all the costs and, invest in the processing plantsand essential businesses, to buy the land and to run thecivil services, and then what remains, goes to thosemembers as dividends. “That is how it functions, thesecret is to keep enough money to run and further investin the CC, the rest goes back as dividends,” he explained,“The CC deals with those things the members producewhere today annually it does $750 million of business andthat is a huge undertaking.”

“...the secret is to keep enoughmoney to run and further invest in

the Cooperativa Chortitzer, therest goes back as dividends.”


In the fall of 2014, BruceBlack let the Museumcopy negatives ofphotographs takenaround 1920 on the farmsoperated by the BlackFamily in the Brandonarea. The Museum was ableto digitize the imagestaken from the negatives.Photos in this period arenot common as camerasand film was expensive.They were saved forspecial occasions that

Sheaf Loader LessenedHarvest Time’s Intense Labour

resulted in the photosfrom this time periodbeing largely of peopleand family events. Photosof day-to-day agriculturalactivities are somewhatrare. One of these imagesshows the ladies visitinga Steward Sheaf Loaderworking on one of thefarms sometime aroundWWI. The handling ofsheaves was a sufficientlylarge enough problem thata number of pieces of

equipment were devel-oped to ease theworkload. The StewardSheaf Loader was onesuch machine and offeredthe ability to load sheaveson a wagon faster andwith less physical labour.It was a simple machine,ground driven andoperated with a four-horse team. The machinehad a slatted chain pickupthat gathered the sheavesoff the ground and carriedthem up to a crosselevator that was alsofitted with a slatted chain.This cross elevatorcarried the sheaf higher

and dropped them into asheaf wagon. The frameof Steward Sheaf Loaderswas sturdy made ofsquare steel tubing andflat iron. Galvanized steelsheet formed the floors ofthe elevators withwooden boards formingthe sides. The Steward SheafLoader Company Ltd.owned an office and plantat 470 Martin Avenue inWinnipeg and appears tohave operated between1910 and sometime in themid-1920s. Most of thecompany’s output wassold in western Canada as

Sheaf loaders were notused largely in the US.There is some indicationthat the Steward machinessold for $500 a piece in1913. More than likely mostfarmers using a sheafloader used a sheafwagon design thatfeatured a wooden baskettype body. The right sideof the basket was higherthan the left side in aneffort to maximize capacityand reduce the chances ofsheaves being thrownover the wagon. Thewagon was parked so thelow side was beside the

threshing machine. It has been suggestedto the Museum staff thatmany veteran sheafpitchers who loaded sheafwagons by hand did so ina pattern so that thepitcher knew where tostand when pitchingsheaves into the thresherand not be attempting topitch a sheaf that he wasstanding on. Obviously,with a wagon loaded by aSteward, the sheaveswere loaded helter skelteronto the wagon so thepitcher could have morework unloading thewagon. The Museum has threeSteward Sheaf Loaders inits collection includingone early machine, whichfeatures a wooden deckon the pickup elevator.Since it was built with aframe of square steeltubing and flat iron, itcame in handy as a sourceof useful steel for repairswhen the machine was nolonger needed. So forthree machines to havesurvived intact anddonated to the Museumindicates Steward SheafLoaders were sold inrespectable numbers. The Manitoba Agricul-tural Museum is openyear round and operates awebsite at ag-museum.mb.ca, which canprovide visitors withinformation and hours ofoperation.

The Black Family in the field with their Steward Sheaf Loader surrounded by a number of ladies looking over the machine in action.

Agriculture producersknow more than most thevalue of planting some-thing that has a chance tonot only grow, but alsoprovide value at the endof the day. All that workfor a field with no yield, isnot a good investment. The question now, asharvest wraps up, is whatkind of government willrural Manitobans sow toreap the best results? TheNDP has been a letdown,and that is putting itmildly. The Conservativeshave promised much, buthave been unable todeliver anything meaning-ful. They have workedhard to discredit the NDPgovernment, but have notbeen keen to share their

Time to SowSomething New

By Rana Bokhari

vision of what Manitobawould look like if theywere handed the reins ofpower. That lack of visionhas ensured they willcontinue to hold the postof opposition. Growing up on a farmhas made it abundantlyclear to me the challengesof living in ruralManitoba. I knowservices continue todwindle and governmenthas been slow to allowmunicipalities to charttheir own path. A lack offlexibility regardingservices has meant moredriving and less downtimefor rural families. Manitobans need agovernment that will workwith communities and be

flexible to their needs.This one-size fits allapproach has created aWinnipeg versus every-one else approach and it’snot productive. The Manitoba LiberalParty has been clear onour position regarding theone percent PST increase.We would ensure eachmunicipality receives itsshare of that revenue touse on priorities importantto those individualcommunities. Right now,

the additional PST is usedby government forwhatever will buy themost votes and the NDPdoesn’t depend on ruralconstituencies to wingovernment. Conversely the Conser-vatives won’t be focusedon you either, becausethey believe they haveyour vote and they neednew voters in Winnipeg.Brian Pallister intends touse your share of the PSTincrease for at least fouryears if elected to shoreup support and seats inWinnipeg. If you feeltaken for granted foreverything except yourdonation dollar these arethe reasons why. The Manitoba LiberalParty is the only partypromising to return yourshare of the PST to youfor infrastructure projectsimportant to yourcommunity. This will mean

you will be able todiscuss communitypriorities with yourmunicipal leaders andknow they will have afunding stream to addressthem. Right now all theycan say is “if the provincekicks in we can considerit,” and that’s not how itshould work. We are also pledging tomake sporting activitiesmore affordable for yourchildren by removing thePST from sporting goodssimilar to how children’sclothing is exempt fromthe provincial sales tax.As budgets continue tobe stretched we will workto find meaningful waysto help families afford thethings that are importantto them. As someone who grewup in rural Manitoba Ialso realized how roadsafety has been aban-doned on country

highways and gravelroads. From reducedsnow clearing to poorsignage, things have onlygotten worse. We arecommitted to working toimprove safety conditionsbecause your childrenand loved ones are just asimportant as those wholive in cities and largertowns. We are alsocommitted to ensureSTARS air ambulancecontinues to fly. We willnot turn it into a politicalfootball to be kickedaround for convenienceto score political points. Don’t let parties whohave no plan or self-serving plans be giventhe honour of governing.Remember you ultimatelyreap what you sow andinputs matter. Rana Bokhari is theManitoba Liberal Leader.


By Les Kletke

The fall run is underway at the Winnipeg Livestock Sales and it might be more accuratelydescribed as a trot than a run. Scott Anderson is one of the principles of the Auction Market and does duty as an orderbuyer and ring man. He said things have changed from the days that a fall run would startin late August and go through to November with huge numbers of cattle at the sales. “We had 1,500 cattle go through the sale [October 23] that is probably 1,000 less than 6or 7 years ago, but that is a change in the industry,” he said. “We have guys calving overa much longer window and they are marketing their calves at different times.” He does seeincreased numbers because of stronger demand in the industry. “With the competition forcalves, guys are coming back to the auction mart seeing that the commissions are easy torecover if they get an extra bid or two.” Anderson said the sale in late October had good demand from Canadian buyers despitethe strong US dollar. “The US market took a tumble a while ago and guys lost money oncattle they were feeding,” he said. “Loosing $300 a head will keep them out of the marketfor a while.” He noted that the drop in the dollar kept Canadians from the same fate. “Theysell into US markets so they get paid in US dollars that meant a big gain when our dollardropped.” He said the number of cattle going through the market was similar to a year ago andprices are strong. “We don’t have anyone complaining when 500 lb steers are brining $3 to$3.10 a pound,” he said. The only ones complaining might be the buyers who want to makemoney feeding those cattle. “Feed prices might be a little lower in Canada and feeders are thinking they can makemoney and some fellows are buying the lighter cattle to put on grass next spring so theyare optimistic,” said Anderson. He acknowledged the market dipped a month ago but buyers have returned and whilethe markets are not red hot, prices are reasonably strong. “We saw a lot of cows gothrough the markets over the past couple of years as guys got out of the business, but thatis not the case right now and there are more young guys interested in feeding cows,” heexplained. Anderson said Canadian buyers are in the market as strong as ever and thinks the idea ofa feed shortage in Alberta may have been overplayed. “They got some rains later and thereis more feed than originally expected,” he said. “They are in the market and will be feedingcattle.”

When you review your insurance program with your broker, you are essentiallylooking for value. We all measure that differently. With this in mind some ideas that may interest you are:- You may consider increasing your deductible to the next highest option or evenhigher. The higher the deductible is, the lower the annual premium.- Keep your property in good condition, from grass to roof. Insurance companiesinspect your buildings considering maintenance and housekeeping for rates andqualification to preferred programs.- Do not put in the small claims that can be paid by you, your insurance company willkeep you in a preferred no-loss status. This helps you qualify for better rates andkeeps your file clean for more flexibility and options.- Think long term and try to stay with the same insurance company. Sometimes theywill provide better terms or coverage when asked if your file is clean. While you are trying to stay with the same insurance company ask your broker togo to market for you. Have the broker show you the quotes from the competinginsurance companies. This process can determine if your current insurance com-pany needs to sharpen their pencil or maybe there is a coverage difference and youdo need to change to the different company. Your broker needs to know and understand the differences in the different com-pany programs and he should be able to explain these to you. Check over the property and equipment limits on your policy. Some go up, whileothers go down. There is no benefit to insuring too high. The savings may beconsiderable if you pay your premium in full instead of on the monthly payment plan.By buying a low-cost low-coverage policy, you run the risk of really losing money byexperiencing a loss that is underinsured or not covered at all. However, self-insuringsome things is a good idea as long as you understand the risk and can afford toabsorb the financial loss. Take your time with your broker. Help them understand that while you want to savemoney you also need solid coverage with a solid insurance company. Be sure to seek advice and purchase insurance from those who understand yourbusiness! Andy Anderson is an Associate Insurance Broker specializing in General, Lifeand Group Benefits for Farm and Business, P 204-746-5589, F 866 765 3351 [email protected] / rempelinsurance.com / valleyfinancial.ca.

Improve YourInsurance Program

Fall Auction Run Turns into a Trot


By Les Kletke

Dan Mazier acknowl-edges that the interactionbetween a FederalAgricultural Minister anda provincial organizationis limited but confided themechanism is in place tobring about the interac-tion. “In KAP we see the CFAhandling most of theissues of a nationalscope,” said Mazier in hisfirst year as President anda long time executivemember. “We haveorganization in place tobring the issues to theFederal government andthey will have moreinteraction with the newMinister.” Prime MinisterElect Justin Trudeau is toname his cabinet Novem-ber 4.

Manitoba Beef Producers’ (MBP) annual tour ofthe province is underway with meetings alreadyhosted in Eriksdale, Stonewall, Elm Creek andGrunthal. These district meetings sets in motion a busy, butimportant, four weeks for MBP as directors and staffwill meet with members and discuss theorganization’s activities on their behalf. “We strongly encourage all of our members toattend their district meetings,” said MBP PresidentHeinz Reimer. “This is a member-driven associationand their input will help shape our focus anddirection over the next year. It is important formembers to attend their district meeting and have asay in the future of their industry.”

Manitoba Beef Producers’ District Meetings Under Way Along with an update on activities and areview of MBP’s financial report, a handful ofimportant topics, including a discussion on theNational Beef Strategy and proposed NationalCheck Off increase, will also be on the agenda.Members in districts 7, 12 and 13 will receive anupdate on MBP’s work on bovine TB. “The presentation on the National BeefStrategy and potential National Check Offincrease will be of particular interest to mem-bers,” Reimer said. “Representatives fromnational industry groups will be in attendance atsome of the meetings to discuss this further.” Elections for directors will be held in even-numbered districts this year. A new director will

be selected for District 10 where current director Theresa Zukhas reached her term limit and will be retiring. There is no cost for members to attend the meetings. Eachmeeting is scheduled to begin at 6 pm and will include a freebeef on a bun supper.

KAP Sees Benefits in ChangingCanada’s International Stance

Mazier said that KAPwould make some effort tobring the agriculturalissue to the attention ofthe new Liberal MPs all ofwho are elected inWinnipeg. “We will have someeducating to do, to bringour issues to thosemembers, but we alsohave Ralph Goodale inSaskatchewan who is asenior member of theparty and has a goodunderstanding ofagriculture.” Goodaleserved as Minister of theCWB in previous Liberaladministrations. Mazier said that he ishopeful that the newLiberal government willratify the TPP agreement.“As an exporter I see it asa good thing for ourfarmers,” he said. “I haveto commend the previousadministration for gettingus into the agreement.”He acknowledged that noteveryone was happy withthe way the process wascompleted and sees theresults as worth the effort. Mazier said they wouldneed to wait and see if theLiberal government will beable to act on all of itspromises. He said a CFAwebsite provides theinformation about thepolitical parties and theirpositions on agricultural

issues. “The Liberalparty has much more tosay about the environ-ment and now it will be amatter of Canadafollowing through andbeing involved in someof those talks like inParis and working with

other countries.” He is not concerned thatenvironmental issues willmean stricter regulationson Canadian farms butsees that Canada shouldbe a part of the talks andmeeting future targetscould avoid potential tradeissues rather than thecountry being eliminatedfrom markets because of afailure to meet internationalstandards for the environ-ment.

Dan Mazier, President ofKAP looks forward todiscussions with theManitoba Liberal MPselected.

While he offers noopinion, on whom thenext Federal AgriculturalMinister might be hesaid that he did hostMark Eyking, the LiberalAgriculture Critic whenthey were in opposition.“A few days later I heardhim say in the Housethat he had been toManitoba and wasimpressed by the size ofthe equipment he saw,”said Mazier.


The Farmers of NorthAmerica Strategic AgricultureInstitute (FNA-STAG)recently announced thecompletion of it’s testing ofthe MarketPower Assurance(MPA) program that isavailable to the entiremarketplace. Key features includeprotection against slow payor no pay, insuring accountspayable on a buyer and itsinvoice specific basis,providing flexible paymentterms, up to 90 days,freedom to look for higherrisk premium markets andinsurance only untilconfidence is built in thebuyer. “MPA is available for anyproducts farmers sell and forprocessed food products aswell,” said FNA-STAG CEOBob Friesen. “This insuranceproduct will give farmers andfood processors theconfidence that they will getpaid regardless of who theysell to.” Every farmer has a storyto tell about the one timethey did not get paid. Whenfarmers sell, without cash ondelivery, they are typicallyunsecured creditors, andwhether the buyer simplyrefuses to pay, is slow topay or goes into receiver-ship, the sellers are “out ofluck”. FNA reports that withMPA this no longer has tohappen. Whether you are afarmer or a food processor,you can now sell withconfidence, secure in the factthat if there is a default ofpayment, at least 90% of thevalue of the invoice can berecovered through insurancecoverage. “Keeping farmers in mind,this program was tailoredwith a lot of flexibility,” saidVern Randall, AccountExecutive at CherryAgSecure, a division ofCherry Insurance inSaskatoon who are partici-pating brokers of thisprogram. “You can pick andchoose for which buyers youwant coverage, as well, youcan insure each deliveryspecifically and as you buildconfidence in the buyer, stopbuying the insuranceanytime,” and Randall adds,“It is very affordable.” An additional bonus isusing accounts receivables ascollateral. Banks typicallywill not lend money againstreceivables. However, MPAallows sellers to leveragetheir accounts receivables foroperating credit with theirinsurance certificate becausethey are assured of receivingat least 90% of the value oftheir invoice.

New PNew PNew PNew PNew ProgramrogramrogramrogramrogramEnsuresEnsuresEnsuresEnsuresEnsuresFFFFFarmersarmersarmersarmersarmersGet PGet PGet PGet PGet Paidaidaidaidaid


Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference – OnSunday, November 15 from 7 – 9:30 pm, Monday,November 16 at 7:30 am – 8 pm and Tuesday,November 17 at 7:30 am – 3:30 pm at the Days Innin Winkler. On Sunday, check out the freeBACKSWATH Women in Ag Peer Group work-shop at 5:30 pm prior to the evening activities.Celebrating International Year of Soils topicsinclude Growers Can Strike an Agronomic-Environmental Balance in Water Quality Protection,7 Seconds and 140 Characters to Make an Impres-sion, Work Safe - What You and Your FarmBusiness Needs to Know About Safety andHealth, Healthy Crops Begin With Healthy Soilsand Holistic Nutrition. Early bird registration isOctober 15 $150, after $160 and registration forMonday $100 or Tuesday $70 sessions. Deadline,November 5. [email protected] or call CindyKlassen, conference Chair 204-829-7706.

Getting Your Food Product into a Grocery StoreWorkshop – On Tuesday, November 10 at theGrandview Agricultural Community Centre orTuesday, November 17 at the FDC, Portage laPrairie. Event from 4:30 – 9 pm Contact: KathySawchuk, MAFRD @204-871-5015 or e-mailKathy,[email protected].

Forage and Beef Blitz Update 2015 – On Tuesday,November 10, 7 – 10 pm at the Parkland Crossing -Multi-Purpose Room, 220 Whitmore Ave. W.,Dauphin. Contact MAFRD GO Office 204-622-2006to pre-register by Friday, November 6. Topics: Costof Extreme Temperatures for Your Breeding Herd,Nutrient Management of Winter Grazing Sites,Results of the Western Canadian Cow/Calf Survey,MB Beef and Forage Initiative Update.

Agri Innovation Forum 2015 – From Tuesday,November 17 – Wednesday, November 18 at theFort Garry Hotel 222 Broadway, Winnipeg. AnnualPartnering Conference for the Agri-Bioeconomy.Opportunity and Innovation at the Intersection ofthe Global Food, Energy & Water Challenges.Topics include Agricultural Waste Management,Aeroponics & Aquaculture, Bio Industrial Prod-ucts, Biofuels & Renewable Feedstock, CropScience & Precision Farming, Forestry Products &Management, Livestock & Animal Health andNutraceuticals & Functional Foods. Cost: GeneralRegistration $1,295. Contact Trish Redekop, ProjectCoordinator Agri Innovation Forum 2015,[email protected], 587-350-0078.

Harvesting Value: Business Opportunities inValue-Added Agriculture – On Thursday Novem-ber 19 from 9 am – 5 pm at the MNP ConventionHall, Keystone Centre, Brandon. Contact: LaurieCrowe, MAFRD @ 204-761-0551 or e-mailLaurie,[email protected].

Farm Tax Update for Professionals– On Thursday,November 19 in Niverville sponsored by CanadianAssociation of Farm Advisors (CAFA). AnnualCompliance & Farm Tax Filing, Tax Issues for theDivorcing Farmer, Business Structures & FamilyFarms, Corporation or Partnership from an Ac-counting Perspective, Inter-Vivos Trusts forFarmers, The Mechanics of Gifting, Splitting up theFamily Farm Corporation - Section 55 Update, FarmTransfers – Sale and Wills and Estates. Cost:Members $200 plus GST, Non-Members $275 plusGST. Contact 1-877-474-2871, [email protected].

Hog Days – On Wednesday, December 2 from 10am – 4:30 pm at the Keystone Centre, Brandon.Contact Everlito Mendoza 204-346-6080 or [email protected]. Over 150 exhibits,Pork Quality Competition, Bake off Competition.Luncheon $12/person 12 -1 pm.

More than half of the province’s community pasturesare now managed by a non-profit organization respon-sible for their future use and stewardship. The Association of Manitoba Community Pastures(AMCP) was formedin 2014 after theFederal Governmentbegan transitioningcommunity pasturemanagement to theprovince. TheAMCP is made upof patrons who payfees to use thesepastures. The pastures provide grazing and breedingspace for livestock but also protect natural prairieecosystems and protect the land from impacts due todrought, development or intensive cropping. The AMCPis operating 14 pastures to date and will manage ninemore over the next year. “Community pastures are an important resource fornew and established farmers to have a place for livestockto graze and breed,” said Barry Lowes, Chair, Associa-tion of Manitoba Community Pastures. “The communitypasture program has been an important part of many farmoperations for years and we are pleased we will be ableto manage and protect this land for the province and forthe agricultural producers who continue to rely on it.” This project was made possible through $1.05 million infunding from the Manitoba government over three years.Community pastures were established in the 1930sthroughout the three Prairie Provinces to help reclaimbadly eroded soils. There are 23 community pastures inManitoba covering 400,000 acres and 80 per cent are onprovincial Crown land.

By Elmer Heinrichs

In its final 2015 crop report, October 13, Manitoba Agri-culture says that provincially the fall harvest is over 95%complete. Edible beans and field pea harvests are done,spring cereals 99% canola 98%, flax and soybeans 85%,sunflowers and corn, both over 50% harvested. Crop yields in Manitoba are generally at or slightly above10-year average yields. However, lower than average yieldsfor some crop types were reported in some areas, largelydue to extreme weather events including May and Junefrosts, wind and lodging, plus hail and extremes in mois-ture. The quality for a majority of crop types is about average.Cereal crops harvested later in the season showed a de-crease in quality due to poor weather conditions at har-vest. The number of winter wheat acres seeded in fall 2015 isflat to lower, but germination and stand establishment ofwinter cereal crops this fall is rated as good to excellent. Fall fieldwork, including tillage, soil testing, post-harvestweed control and fertilizer applications of anhydrous am-monia, is on going. Unusually warm weather in early Octo-ber allowed for excellent harvest, fieldwork and fertilizationprogress. Fall frosts had minimal impact on quality as cropshad matured prior to the frost. The majority of spring cereals were seeded by the firstweek of May, and all areas reported early dry conditions.Spring growth was generally slow due to cool weatherconditions through much of May. The majority of the winter wheat, spring wheat, oat andbarley crops were generally good quality. Later rains causedsome downgrading, but to only to a fraction of the cropcompared to 2014.

Events...Central, Eastern Harvest

Just Above Average Central’s winter wheat yields ranged from 55 to 90 bush-els an acre, averaging 60-70 bu/acre. Hybrids and fall ryehad some excellent yields, ranging from 60 to 100 bu/acre,averaging 60-70 bu/acre. Spring wheat yields ranged from 45 to 90 bu/acre, withmost reporting an average of 55 to 70. CPSR and general-purpose wheats ranged from 50 to 100 bu/acre, averaging60 to 70 bu/acre. Lodging was a significant issuer in manyfields, but yields were remarkable considering the extent ofthe lodging. Barley yields ranged from 70 to 90 bu/acre, oats from 90to 140, averaging 110 to 125 bu/acre. Canola yields weregood to excellent, although the average yield was downfrom last year. Yields were quite variable ranging from 15 to60 bu/acre, averaging 40-45 bu/acre. Quality was quite good.The edible bean harvest is done; yields are lower, averag-ing 1,500 pounds, with good quality. Soybeans averaged35 to 40 bu/acre, and sunflower harvesting continues. Yieldaverage 1,800-2,200 lbs. In Eastern regions, harvest operations are still ongoing,winter wheat averaged 63 bu/acre, spring wheat, averaged52, a majority of the crop graded No. 2 CW and oats aver-aged 100 bu/acre. Canola had an average yield of 42 bu/acre with 100 percent of crop grading No. 1 CAN. Soybean harvesting is allbut done, averaged 39 bu/acre and the corn harvest isabout 40 per cent complete with an average yield of 145 bu/acre. Sunflowers, 60 per cent done, are averaging 1,750pounds to date. Overall, winter feed supplies in most areas are good withproducers having a surplus of hay. Most cattle are still outon pasture, while some producers have moved calves homeor to market.

The Canadian Forage and Grasslands Association(CFGA) will host its sixth annual conference in Saskatoon,November 17-19. The theme of the event capitalizes on the United NationsFood and Agricultural Association’s appointment of 2015as the International Year of Soils – Canadian Forage in theInternational Year of Soils: Capture the Intensity! The event will highlight the contributions of the Cana-dian forage sector to agricultural ecosystem health, andcelebrate innovations in the sector that drive its signifi-cant contribution to Canada’s economy. Attendees include farmers, agri-business representatives,volunteers, board members and many other supporters ofthe Canadian forage industry. Information on the schedule of events and how to regis-ter can be found at www.canadianfga.ca.

Province Passes Management ofCommunity Pastures to Non-Profit

Provincial Ag Minister Ron Kostyshyn noted theAMCP would ensure community pastures are financiallyand environmentally sustainable, providing an agricul-ture resource while protecting prairie ecology. Grazingfees at these pastures are consistent with market rates,he noted, adding the pastures will continue to beavailable for First Nations, Métis, Indigenous communi-ties and other local users to carry out traditional pur-suits.

Forage and GrasslandAssociationConference


In a sold-out AGM on September 30 in Saskatoon over 55 organizations were repre-sented at the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB), further solidifying theCanadian beef industry’s commitment to sustainability. Part of CRSB’s work focuses on developing the framework to produce and source veri-fied sustainable beef within the value chain. “The CRSB is developing the framework foractors in the beef value chain to produce or source verified sustainable beef. This frame-work consists of two key components indicators and verification. The Indicators willdetermine how sustainability will be measured; and the verification protocols will outlinethe necessary components for verifying the indicators,” stated Fawn Jackson, ExecutiveDirector. The multi-stakeholder committee reached consensus on the first set of indicators forprimary producers. These indicators were presented at the meeting, and the breakoutdiscussion session yielded extremely valuable feedback and revealed general agreementon the future direction of the indicators. The draft indicators currently focus on primaryproduction and the committee will expand this set of indicators to include processors andretailers as part of the overall systems approach to sustainability. “It is amazing to see how quickly we reached consensus on the indicators, both withinthe committee and at the AGM. We are often saying similar things just in a different way.The main thing is that we are all in this together and want to move forward and achievepositive and realistic outcomes,” stated Tim Hardman from the World Wildlife Fund, whoco-chairs the committee tasked with drafting and refining the indicators. The committeewill continue working on indicators for other players in the value chain. The verificationwork is coming up next. Release of draft 2 is set to happen in February 2016 for CRSB Council and MembershipReview followed by a 30-day public consultation. Then the standing committee will pro-vide formal responses to feedback. April 2016 is scheduled for final draft submission to theCRSB for approval and includes the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB) offi-cial endorsement. The CRSB is currently establishing its Verification Committee. The Verification Commit-tee, building upon the work of the Indicator Committee, will identify and recommendsustainable beef verification protocols for audit process and chain of custody. The com-mittee is expected to begin its work in November 2015. To learn more about the CRSB and its work visit on line at crsb.ca.

Manitoba Ag Days is a three day agricultural show bringing together all levels of theindustry and highlighting the newest products and innovations. Over 500 exhibitors andmore than 50,000 patrons gather in Brandon every January to take in Canada’s LargestIndoor Farm Show. Branded as 100% Pure Farm, the organization has taken it one-stepfurther by launching the Manitoba Ag Days Community giving program. “As a not for profit organization we want to continue to positively impact the lives of ourexhibitors and patrons,” stated Dave Laudin, Board Chair. In the past, Manitoba Ag Dayshas supported the educational component with a number of scholarships available throughthe University of Manitoba, Assiniboine Community College and the Manitoba chapterfor Agriculture in the Classroom. “The educational component is still very important to ourorganization and we will continue to support our youth in the industry. We are now takingour commitment to agriculture one step further and have added a Community Improve-ment category. We want to share some of the show’s success with the individuals thatmake it successful by allowing communities and organizations the opportunity to applyfor funds to help support valuable projects and initiatives in the heart of our agricultureindustry.” In 2013, the show started the 50/50 raffle, which has raised over $34,000 in the last twoyears. Proceeds from the raffle have directly gone to organizations such as STARS AirAmbulance, 4-H Manitoba, Manitoba Youth Beef Roundup and to the Manitoba Rural andSupport Services. The community improvement category is made up of Capital and Up-grade Projects, Agriculture and Heritage and Safety and Emergency Services. “As a board,we felt these were three areas that are necessary for rural communities to continue to growand thrive,” identified Laudin. If your community has projects such as playgrounds, renovations to recreation facility,emergency services needing new equipment or an annual fair or event that need supportsplease apply. Over the next few weeks, organizations throughout the prairies will have anopportunity to apply for the proceeds raised from the 50/50 funds. Interested candidatesfor both categories, Education and Community Improvement can visit agdays.com forfurther information on the application process. “Over the last 10 years approximately $200,000 has been given to a number of differentorganizations and individuals and we look forward to further growing that value! We willcontinue to Pay It Forward in Agriculture,” stated Laudin.

CRSB Drafts SustainableBeef Indicators

Canada’s Largest IndoorFarm Show Gives Back

AgriPost October 30 2015

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Transcript of AgriPost October 30 2015