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HAS CHICAGO LOST ITS COMMAND OF GRAIN MARKETS?

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CONTENTSBUSINESS

10 FUTURE FARM (3)Futurist Calvin Mulligan continues our exploration of how farming will evolve, including “sustainable intensifi cation.”

14 CHICAGO TRADES UPWith electronic algorithms, investors trade on fi ve-minute trends. It’s fast, it’s effi cient, but is it also out of touch with the farm?

21 GUIDE LEGAL— CROWN LIABILITYWhen can you sue the government? Lawyer Naomi Loewith launches her GuideLegal series with this look at XL Foods.

22 WORLD CROPSThe foods that we used to lump together under the “ethnic” label are breaking out on their own. The dollars are getting serious.

32 THE MARKET FARMERIs it a real farm? With $140,000 in annual sales, Jean-Martin Fortin doesn’t actually care what you call it.

36 BETTER EMPLOYEESAnnual reviews are a key tool for driving your farm’s performance to the next level. Follow these rules to start your own.

38 THE RIGHT PARTNERWith the farm population falling, it's getting harder and harder to fi nd the right partner. But it’s never been more important.

40 BREAK AN EGGThis farmer-owned Lethbridge processing facility cracks open surprising new markets for two million eggshells a week.

44 C0-OP SUCCESSION?Poor succession planning is a key reason why so many farm co-operatives are being sold to non-farmers.

46 THE POWER TO HELP AFRICAOttawa used to deliver overseas aid with huge Canadian-style tractors. Now, industry-led programs fi nd success in going small.

64 GUIDE HR — BETTER WAYS TO REACH YOUR GOALSManagement psychologist Pierrette Desrosiers helps turn your wish lists into accomplishments.

66 GUIDE LIFE — GOSSIP — NOT AS INNOCENT AS YOU THINKPssst! Did you hear ..? Yes, it’s only human to gossip, but the harm for farmers is greatest.

Our commitment to your privacyAt Farm Business Communications we have a fi rm commitment to protecting your privacy and security as our customer. Farm Business Communications will only collect personal information if it is required for the proper functioning of our

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APRIL 2014

A P R I L 2 0 1 4 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a 3

EVERY ISSUE

PG. 26 UNTRADITIONAL There’s more to diversifi cation than fi gures on a simple balance sheet. For Manitoba’s Chris and Crystal Page, their extra greenhouse enterprise also sharpens their overall management ability, with benefi ts for the entire farm operation, including grain production.

50 INTO THE CORNERSAre our new crop varieties all overbred wimps?

52 UNSUNG CHAMPIONMove over Red Spring. Red Winter can be the better choice.

56 OPEN-DOOR POLICYWhy is barn access easier for animal rightists than the media?

58 CROSSING THE THRESHOLD With tight margins, be sure to check spray economics fi rst.

60 HIRING TODAY’S YOUTHThe job of grooming next year’s farm employees starts this year, while they’re still in school.

6 MACHINERY GUIDEGrain carts are becoming the vital link in harvest management.

68 GUIDE HEALTHInsect repellents do work, if you use them correctly.

70 HANSON ACRES Oh no! Grandpa Ed is back from the south with more than a tan.

PRODUCTION

EDITORIAL STAFFEditor: Tom Button 12827 Klondyke Line, Ridgetown, ON N0P 2C0 (519) 674-1449 Fax (519) 674-5229 Email: [email protected]

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Contents of this publication are copyrighted and may be reproduced only with the permission of the editor. Country Guide, incorporating the Nor’West Farmer and Farm & Home, is published by Farm Business Communications. Head office: Winnipeg, Manitoba. Printed by Transcontinental LGMC.

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PRINTED IN CANADA Vol. 133 No. 7Internet address: www.agcanada.com

The editors and journalists who write, contribute and provide opinions to Country Guide and Farm Business Communications attempt to provide accurate and useful opinions, information and analysis. However, the editors, journalists, Country Guide and Farm Business Communications, cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the editors as well as Country Guide and Farm Business Communications assume no responsibility for any actions or decisions taken by any reader for this publication based on any and all information provided.

4 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a a p r i l 2 0 1 4

d e s k

Where the wind blowsWe know so little about agriculture.

Sure, we know how many tonnes our farms produce of which commodities, and what our farmers earn in total from them. As a country, we’re actually quite good at generating those kinds of numbers.

But we can only guess at the biggest trends shaping the industry.

Last summer Country Guide looked into the phenomenon we called the mid-size miracle. Like you, we had always been told that agriculture was losing its middle. In order to survive, a farm either had to be huge and focused on low-mar-gin commodities, or small and focused on high-value niche markets. After the bull market began roaring in 2008, however, mid-size farms had a renaissance.

When we talked to Jason Reed in Alberta, he was quite comfortable with continuing to farm 4,500 acres, a mid-size grain operation in that part of the coun-try. Still, Reed knows he can’t be compla-cent. First, he needs to excel at production efficiency. Second, he needs to address a serious risk: Reed leases 40 per cent of his acreage. To reduce that risk, he needs to be ready to buy land whenever he gets a reasonable chance. “Being aggressive is the only way,” he told us.

We have great confidence in Reed. He’s smart, savvy, strategic… all those good things. But if you take all the farms in his category all across Canada, can they all size up? Can they all survive such financial strains in a very unforgiving industry?

In November, we talked to Mike Kalisvaart, a couple hours north of Reed. Kalisvaart is convinced that agriculture is transforming, and that the only way he can be in charge of his destiny is to keep sizing up. He sees a Wal-Mart effect coming to grain production, similar to the impact Smithfields had on hogs in 1998. That same year, a 10,000-acre grain farm in his area seemed huge. Now it’s 20,000 acres. And Kalisvaart believes the climb will continue. “We have growth tar-gets that we want to hit,” Kalisvaart told Country Guide. Indeed, the family has re-structured its management and its entire way of doing business to hit those targets.

Meanwhile, closer to Calgary, we talked to Rob Baerg, who has devoted 25 successful years to farming just two quar-ters. Baerg admits the operation is small, but it isn’t exactly niche either. He focuses on seed production, quality premiums, and other revenue enhancers. Combined with low debt and shrewd financial man-agement, it has proved a good approach.

But as technology continues to put more management tools into the hands of large-acreage farmers, will small farms be able to hold on?

I’m skeptical of predictions. Rarely do we see tidal waves in agriculture. Still, in 10 years time, you have to think we’ll look back on 2014 and say, Why didn’t they see it coming?

Are we getting it right? Let me know at [email protected].

Tom Button is editor of Country Guide magazine

ISSN 0847-9178

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Machinery By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor

Here it is, late April, with harvest still a distant dream, yet we’re talking grain carts and wagons? Yes, because with agriculture evolving so rapidly, there’s no such thing as an off-season in farming. Farmers are always learning, always looking for options. That’s why this issue of MachineryGuide is taking a seasonally proactive approach. How you get your crop from the field is becoming every bit as important as growing it.

Balzer — Field Floater 5 with steeraBle track

It’s one thing to provide a sizable advantage in terms of volume, and still another to be able to unload in about 90 seconds. But to do all of that and take better care of your soils? That’s the total advantage promised by Balzer with its Field Floater 5 with steerable track system. The

rear axle can turn as tight as 10 degrees, while the front axle remains fixed, providing the pivot point that the rear axle follows. Plus, with four tracks instead of two, there’s superior flotation, reduced compaction and improved production. With its hydraulic suspension system, the Field Floater 5 also provides smooth towing and manoeuvrability, no matter the terrain. Avail-able in 1325, 1550 and 2000 models. www.balzerinc.com

demco harvest link

Working to ease the bottlenecks between the combine, the grain cart and trucks waiting at harvest, Demco is working on its Harvest Link system. It was so new in July 2013, there were only two units. But its capabilities and data co-ordination potential are consid-erable. The key is keeping everything mov-ing and reducing the wait times, thanks to 3,000-bushel capacity, and an unloading

rate of 333 bushels per minute. The Harvest Link is also equipped with a radio-frequency-programmed electronic scale system, which allows the grain cart to unload at the same time a truck is filled without the loss of field data due to simultaneous loading or unload-ing. And with the unloading auger boast-ing a fore/aft adjustment feature, it means a truck can be loaded without leaving the road, reducing compaction concerns on your fields.www.demco-products.com

6 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a A P r I L 2 0 1 4

GerBer model 650New to “Machinery Manager” but not to

its customers, Gerber gravity bins, including the company’s Model 650, are fully gusseted and reinforced for long life and reliability. Designed with a significantly steeper slope than most of its competitors, the grain flow out of this near-650-bushel bin is faster and easier, according to company literature. That eliminates the need for an operator to shovel out the inside, even if the grain is sticky. The Model 650 also comes with 10-inch exten-sions, boosting the height to 97 inches and the capacity to nearly 750 bushels. Light kits and roll tarp covers are also available.www.gerbergravityboxes.com

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ElmEr’s HaulmastErElmer’s Manufacturing marks its arrival in

the “MachineryGuide” with its HaulMaster, and a pledge to maximize returns through innovation and design. Available in six sizes, the HaulMaster can carry between 670 and 2,000 bushels of valued crop. The 1600 and 2000 come with tracked units, and tracks are also options on the 1150 and 1300, plus high-flotation tires on the 850 and 1000. All HaulMaster carts have a lower profile along with lower centre of gravity and excellent balance. Another standard feature is the full-length cleanout. From the back of the cart, the single-point access opens the entire length of the floor, for fast, easy and total action.www.elmersmfg.mb.ca

8 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a A p r i l 2 0 1 4

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In the conclusion to the series, FCC futurist Calvin Mulligan tells Madeleine Baerg it’s a good time to be farming, but the threat of major disruption is as big as ever

By Madeleine Baerg

B U S I N E S S

1 0 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a A P R I L 2 0 1 4

FUTURE FARM (3)

“Times of major transition like this are inherently disruptive and uncertain,” Farm Credit Canada’s resident futurist Calvin Mul-

ligan tells us this month. For some farms, the future will be brighter than ever. For others, there will be difficulties ahead. But

which farm is which?

Below, Mulligan identifies some of the key trends for 2014 and beyond. While you’re reading, would you like a side order of

schmeat bacon with your egg-free eggs?

CG: What lies ahead in 2014? Are we likely to still be debating GMOs a year from now?

Mulligan: Yes, that’s one of the certainties of 2014. Apart from the ongoing debates about the safety and efficacy of GM crops, the battle over GMO food labels in the U.S. will keep things bubbling. In Canada, there’s the controversy regarding the plan for the coexistence of GM and non-GM alfalfa.

And, there are a number of other issues that are woven into the GMO debate. They range from concerns about the impact of their widespread use on biodiversity to the matter of how much influence big agribusiness has on the food system. So there are a lot of reasons why GMOs will remain topical.

CG: What other key subjects are on your radar?Mulligan: We’ve already talked about big-picture topics like the growing importance of farm data, the automation of agricultural production, and specific technologies like drones.

We can certainly expect to be talking more about how to mit-igate the risks associated with climate change, weather extremes and natural disasters. That’s going to push the issue of climate geo-engineering out into the open and prompt significant debate.

Consumers will keep conversations regarding agriculture-food-health linkages front and centre.

I’m also expecting increased public concern regarding chemi-cal contaminants in water and our foods.

CG: And on the energy front? Mulligan: I’m going to be watching for changes on multiple fronts — progress toward development of a smart energy grid and distributed power generation, breakthroughs in green energy storage, and advances in the development of second- and third-generation biofuels.

CG: We have saved an important question. Is this a good time to be farming?

Mulligan: Certainly, the dynamic nature of the industry today makes it a very exciting time to be involved in farming or agriculture at any level. Times of major transition like this are inherently disruptive and uncertain. They bring surprises which challenge existing risk management capabilities. The good news is that they also shake up the status quo, creating new openings and opportunities for entrepreneurs.

CG: What is the likely impact of climate change on global food production?

Mulligan: A report from the UN’s International Climate Change Panel is due to be released very soon. A leaked draft report suggests that it will be a mixed picture. That is, there will be beneficial climate change effects for some crops in some places. However, climate change could also reduce overall crop produc-tion by as much as two per cent each decade for the rest of the century. It’s hard to know with any precision how the costs and benefits will net out. There will be climate change winners and losers. At the same time, it’s likely going to be disruptive for all jurisdictions irrespective of geography.

CG: What kinds of disruptions?Mulligan: Apart from extreme weather events, climate change is already leading to changes in the geographic ranges of plants and animals, including insects, so it’s more than just a matter of changes in the length of the growing season, for example, or the frequency of droughts and floods. It’s also a question of what new pests and diseases will migrate into farming areas where they weren’t found before.

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ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Tank mixtures: The applicable labeling for each product must be in the possession of the user at the time of application. Follow applicable use instructions, including application rates, precautions and restrictions of each product used in the tank mixture. Monsanto has not tested all tank mix product formulations for compatibility or performance other than specifically listed by brand name. Always predetermine the compatibility of tank mixtures by mixing small proportional quantities in advance. Monsanto and Vine Design® and Roundup Ready® are registered trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada, Inc. licensee. © 2014 Monsanto Canada Inc.

Lead by

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ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Tank mixtures: The applicable labeling for each product must be in the possession of the user at the time of application. Follow applicable use instructions, including application rates, precautions and restrictions of each product used in the tank mixture. Monsanto has not tested all tank mix product formulations for compatibility or performance other than specifically listed by brand name. Always predetermine the compatibility of tank mixtures by mixing small proportional quantities in advance. Monsanto and Vine Design® and Roundup Ready® are registered trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada, Inc. licensee. © 2014 Monsanto Canada Inc.

Lead by

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Use Multiple Modes of Action

CG: Meanwhile, we’re seeing more food being produced in and on the edges of cities. What is behind the urban agriculture trend?

Mulligan: The most obvious driver is growing consumer demand for fresh, locally grown food. There’s also an environmental motivation to reduce food miles. The calculations regarding carbon emissions and food miles however, don’t always favour locally grown.

That aside, I see three other less apparent benefits which can come from urban agriculture.

One is that we’re going to learn a lot more about the science and technology of producing food in “closed-loop” systems. These are systems which link production processes in such a way that the waste or the byproducts from one process become an input for another, thus optimizing the resource use and energy flows. The goal is to mimic nature’s model which achieves zero waste. Sustainable, cost-effective urban agriculture enterprises will be closed-loop systems aimed at zero waste.

A second is that urban agriculture can give us more live-able, greener cities. And a third is that urban agriculture could grow to become an important source of contingent food pro-duction capacity. This will be important if, or rather when, international agri-food value chains are disrupted by natural disasters or other factors.

CG: Do you consider such disruptions a significant threat?

Mulligan: When you realize just how disruptive something like Finland’s 2010 volcano or Japan’s Fukushima disaster were for international value chains, the need for contingent food supply capacity becomes clearer.

CG: On a different subject, last year we witnessed the taste test of a lab-grown, fabricated hamburger. Is there a future for faux meats?

Mulligan: The verdict of that taste test was essentially “not bad, but lacking juiciness and flavour.” So, it’s gone back to the lab for further work. I wouldn’t dismiss it at this point, however, since there are several factors which could shape future markets for fabricated meats and other foods.

One is environmental — a concern for reducing the environ-mental impacts associated with livestock production. Another is ethical in that some folks believe eating the meat of animals is wrong. Others don’t eat meat for health reasons. Some con-sumers in each of these groups could comprise a market for “schmeat” as it’s been called. On a side note, Hampton Creek Foods Inc. of San Francisco now offers cholesterol-free mayo and “egg-free eggs.” CG

Canadian Forage & grassland assoCiation www.canadianfga.ca Ph: 780-430-3020

A Business Strategy for Forages and Grasslands As part of an export-focused agri-food sector, Canadian producers understand that viability and growth depend on supplying competitively priced products into international markets. Investments help improve competitiveness when they allow producers to adapt to emerging and evolving opportunities, respond to the development of new markets and enhance business and entrepreneurial capacity. The challenge for the forage and grasslands sector will be in deciding where to invest its resources, how much to invest and why any one specific investment has merit over another. While this undertaking may seem daunting, experienced agricultural entrepreneurs simplify complex assignments by breaking them down into a series of simpler tasks. The Canadian Forage & Grassland Association (CFGA) will lead this process through the development of a Canada-wide business strategy.

Business strategies take many forms. CFGA has chosen a basic four-step process: • Identify an overarching goal• Conduct an environmental scan to

examine market trends• Prepare a SWOT audit to examine

options for strategic objectives• Develop, list and rank potential

strategies

overarching goalCFGA’s overarching goal is its vision: to become a global leader in all aspects of forage production and utilization, promoting the environmental benefits

and incorporating research results into a successful, sustainable forage and grassland industry.

environmental scanForage and grassland markets will evolve over time. The nature of these future markets will affect the types of investments that should be made today. An environmental scan helps define future markets by examining current trends in five areas: Social, Technological, Environmental, Economic and Political. Trends show how markets are evolving and point towards opportunities that may be worth exploiting in the future. For example, in developing nations with high-income growth rates, per capita calorie consumption is increasing – and there has been a shift to the consumption of high-value proteins from livestock products. This may seem to be an economic issue, but there are other considerations. Will technological enhancements in developing countries have any bearing on their ability to supply animal protein? To what extent could Canada meet these needs by producing animal protein in a cost-effective, sustainable and environmentally sound manner? Will these markets be open to Canadian exporters? Addressing these issues helps identify opportunities to be exploited and threats to which forage and grassland stakeholders must respond.

sWot analysisA SWOT analysis, addresses Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and

Threats confronting stakeholders. One opportunity is increasing demand for animal protein in developing countries with high income growth. A potential threat is that some markets may not be open to Canadian exports. Canada’s forage resources, which account for 33.8 million acres or 39 per cent of the land devoted to crop production, are a strength. A weakness is the significant decline in investment and expertise dedicated to research and extension education/technology transfer in forage production and grazing management.

strategy developmentStrategies develop from the SWOT analysis if strengths and opportunities outweigh weaknesses and threats. A forage and grassland strategy will be effective if it can take advantage of strengths, mitigate the effects of weaknesses, exploit opportunities and defend against threats.

CFGA’s business strategy development is in its infancy. The onus, however, is on all Canadian forage and grassland stakeholders to develop and rank an array of strategies that are designed to maintain and increase competitive capacity in global markets. At this point, we are seeking input from our provincial members, our supporters and our partners to help develop and refine a business strategy that will guide our investments in forages and grasslands over the next five to 10 years.

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1 4 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a A p r i l 2 0 1 4

t’s 8:28 a.m. on a Monday in early March, two days after Russian president Vladimir Putin has gained parliamentary approval to invade Crimea. Russian troops have rooted themselves in Crimea, and Ukraine has called

up its reserves.Scott Shellady and a cluster of traders in the corn

options pit at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT)

are quiet, waiting for the markets to open. Shellady and his colleagues have been here since 5:30 a.m. because Putin’s manoeuvres are sure to ricochet through the markets.

Shellady, the son of a trader and dairy farmer, has been at this for 26 years, and he wears his heritage on his back, in the form of a Holstein-print jacket, just like his father used to wear on the floor.

Ronald Shellady wore the cow-print jacket as a reminder that floor traders serve a function, his son explains. “So it’s not dollar bills in Vegas. There’s a guy that’s got cattle and there’s a guy that’s got grain, and we’ve got to put the two together somehow and sell his milk and sell his corn. So that’s why he wore it.”

“So it’s kind of like a game-used jersey. I wear it now.”

Rows of computers for support staff and elec-tronic traders circle the pits. A Sons of Agriculture sticker, spoofing the Sons of Anarchy series on HBO, marks one terminal. Huge screens of numbers, flash-ing green, orange and red, border the room. CNBC plays out on enormous flat screens.

In the middle of the floors lie the pits, sloping towards the centre, calling to mind amphitheatres. We all wait for the show to start.

The New York Stock Exchange has an elaborate ritual each morning, Chris Grams, the CBOT direc-tor of corporate communications tells me. In New York, companies pay for the honour and bring in celebrities to ring the opening bell at 9:30 a.m., as they’ve done for decades. But Chicago’s trading com-munity hasn’t any desire for such ceremony, it seems.

Chicago is all business. Exactly at 8:30 a.m., a low buzzer sounds, and at that moment, the corn options pit erupts into shouting and flailing hand sig-nals. Adrenalin and testosterone permeate the air like humidity. For a first-time visitor, it’s a striking scene.

Yet the grain floor isn’t nearly as hectic as it used to be. Before the advent of electronic trading, each pit would have been a jostling sea of traders, aggressively wheeling and dealing. Today the futures pits feel like ghost towns to older traders.

ChiCago trades upVolumes soar with electronic trading. But has the board lost touch with fundamentals?

By Lisa Guenther, CG Field Editor

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As he waves a bid across the Chicago floor, trader Scott Shellady aims to win against algorithms

Algorithm-based trading is affecting not only the number of traders, but the very culture of the people working in and around the exchange, raising ques-tions about whether Chicago can still perform its price-discovery function.

CBOT’s BeginningsIt’s worth delving into the Chicago Board of

Trade’s past to better understand the changes it’s caught up in today.

Farmers and merchants began gathering in Chicago in the 19th century to trade. “There were merchants on every corner at harvest time, so the farmers would come in and talk to a merchant or two, but they were scattered all over the city,” says Fred Seamon, senior director of ag commodity research and commodity development with Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group.

Seamon spends his days levelling the playing field so the game is fair for both buyers and sellers. “I’m one of the few people who can say that my job is to make all of our customers a little unhappy because that means they don’t have an edge in the market.”

In 1848, a group of businessmen decided to cen-tralize the merchants to bring in price transparency and so everyone could participate in price discovery,

Seamon says. “And immediately things got better because everyone knew what was going on.”

Storage facilities were built so grain could be sold when it was worth more, giving the industry some price risk management. “You could lock in a price today, and no matter what prices did, you were protected. And that sort of evolved to futures,” Seamon explains.

The Chicago Butter and Egg Board, the CME’s forebear, formed in 1898 to offer contracts in those commodities. In 1919, the board’s man-date expanded to futures trading and it morphed into CME. In 2007, the CME and Board of Trade merged into CME Group. Today CME Group offers trading in metal, energy, currency and agricultural commodities, and also includes markets in New York and Kansas City.

The historic section of the Board of Trade build-ing, an art deco skyscraper, was finished in 1930 and stands in the heart of downtown, at 141 W. Jackson Boulevard. The Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres, adopted as a sort of patron saint by corn traders, still perches at the scraper’s peak, clutching a grain sample bag in one hand and a wheat sheaf in the

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A p r i l 2 0 1 4 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a 1 5

With electronic bidding taking more business, Chicago’s vaunted ag pit is getting tamer.

Continued on page 16


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other. She surveys her domain with, one imagines, a mixture of benevolence and wrath.

But even with that pride in the Board of Trade’s history, change is inevitable, and no one knows it better than the analysts and traders working in and around CBOT.

Loss of knowLedgeBack in 2006, CBOT launched elec-

tronic trading. Today more than 80 per cent of all CME Group trades are electronic, which has led to fewer boots on the floor. In 2008, CME Group merged the remaining open-outcry traders to a single floor in the historic Board of Trade building.

Jack Scoville started as a runner on the CBOT floor in the early ’80s. Today he’s a futures market analyst and vice-presi-dent of PRICE Futures Group. He doesn’t work on the floor these days, but sits at a computer, one in a row of five. He chats with clients through Skype, with a land-

Never a dull day“it’s almost impossible for it to get

boring,” Fred Seamon says, when asked what’s so great about working in the heart of Chicago’s great grain-trading network. “There’s always some issue that needs to be addressed.”

Seamon isn’t the only one who counts the variety as a plus. Each day is differ-ent, adds Scott Shellady. “it’s kind of like recess but you’re trying to make money.”

The people working in and around the Chicago Board of Trade have a front-row seat to how world events, such as russia invading Crimea, reverberate through the markets. And as you can imagine, they have their share of war stories.

Analyst Jerry Gidel cites the market’s reaction to the Japanese tsunami and subsequent nuclear blow-out as particu-larly memorable. Grain markets sold off hugely for two days, he said, which wasn’t logical when you consider that Japan would have needed more food, not less.

But the grain markets reacted to the stock market’s plummet.

Jack Scoville was a phone clerk on the floor when Argentina and Britain were fighting over the Falkland islands. He got a call to sell soybeans, which were limit up. Scoville wrote the ticket and gave it to a runner to zip to the pits.

“And all of a sudden one of the Gener-als came in and said, ‘Well, we’re going to make peace. We’re ready to talk peace,’” Scoville says. “limit down.”

The client called Scoville back, and they decided to buy back. Scoville wrote the ticket.

“And then (the General) comes back and says, ‘But only on our terms.’ right back up.”

Scoville’s client should have made 50 cents. But when Scoville finally got both fills back, he realized the market had moved so fast they’d missed their chance. “if he made or lost a nickel, that was it.”

Both he and the client laughed at the timing of the trades.

Continued from page 15


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line and cell phone also at hand. Orchids rest between his and his neighbour’s work stations.

Scoville specializes in grains, softs, rice, oilseeds and tropical commodities such as coffee and sugar. His day typically starts at 7 a.m., when he checks the previous day’s runs and publishes his market com-mentary for clients, in English and Spanish. But his day doesn’t wrap at 5 p.m. — night sessions open at 7 p.m. and he works Sunday nights, too.

Scoville seems relatively relaxed, but throughout our conversation he keeps an eye on his computer screen, watching the markets.

“These were both down, coffee and sugar, when I walked in, but they’re up big time now,” Scoville says.

The floor was a little wilder when Scoville started out. “You’d see fights every once in a while.” He recites some of the arguments that preceded fisticuffs in the pits.

But as future trades have moved online, CBOT has lost more than the thrill of the occasional brawl. The futures traders have left the pits, and are trading for themselves at home or have taken on other jobs, Scoville says.

“That central meeting place for knowledge is not really there. It’s a real shame,” says Scoville.

A block north of CBOT, on South LaSalle Street, Jerry Gidel works as the chief feed grain analyst at Rice Dairy. He has a strong grasp on the fundamen-tals, and chats about everything from the weather and drought patterns to Canada’s grain transporta-tion system and dried distillers grain.

Russia’s move into Crimea has Gidel scrambling today, too, as he revises his weekly market updates, which go out on Tuesday.

Like Scoville, Gidel started working on CBOT’s grain floor in the ’80s, and he says there used to be people around the Board of Trade whose work with elevators and producers gave them a better under-standing of grain markets. However, the expansion of electronic trading to speed order flow has wiped out this floor pit community, he says.

“The speculative community is now totally tech-nical in orientation. It doesn’t really have a sense of some of the fundamentals,” Gidel says.

Gidel adds that the short-term traders, previously called locals, who used to populate the futures pits had a better sense of market fundamentals that made them less reactive to chart patterns and more attuned to fundamental news of the day.

When the floors were more active, locals tendered a bid and offer. They’d buy quickly and then immedi-ately sell “one tic higher,” says Seamon. “And if they were right 51 per cent of the time, they could make a middle-class life doing that.”

Firms now do the same thing electronically, and are often referred to as high-frequency traders, Seamon says. “But they basically take the strategy that the local used to do on the floor and perform that strategy on the screen.”

Today’s high-frequency traders tend to focus more on the technical than fundamental side of agricultural markets, Gidel agrees. They lack a good sense of the seasonal nature of agricultural markets.

They also rely on algorithms set to follow five-minute charts, so “if the five-minute chart says to sell it, well then everybody sells it,” says Gidel.

“Sometimes I call them all lemmings because they don’t really follow the news. They follow the other fol-lowers,” Gidel adds. “So they’ll walk right off the edge of the cliff because that’s what all the lemmings are supposed to do. Because that’s what we’re all doing.”

High-frequency traders look less at statistics such as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and more at moving averages, Gidel says.

“To me, that’s caused more volatility as we move dramatically from one moving average to the next,” says Gidel.

But despite a few warts, electronic commodity trading is now here to stay, says Gidel. For one thing, it allows people to move in and out of the market more easily, he adds.

Before electronic trading, anyone trying to buy at



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the low of the day had a tough time getting it filled, he explains. “In the electronic world, you’ve got a fighting chance if you happen to be buying at the bottom of the day.”

Shellady misses the open outcry, noting “you’re get-ting increasingly used to listening to the air condition-ing upstairs in the office rather than being down here screaming and wearing a funny-coloured jacket.”

But customers want trade certainty, Shellady says. “You can give it to them instantaneously with an electronic screen. You lose some transparency, but at the same time you can also do more volume. There are some pluses and minuses to everything.”

Gidel adds the market needs the liquidity the high-frequency traders provide, too. “Otherwise you’re going to have the commercials overriding the mar-kets. And so then you have a one-sided market, too.”

CME’s research indicates the market’s liquidity has improved over time, Seamon says. “You’ve got all of these traders that are competing to fill orders.”

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission col-lects data on who owns open interest. “The make up of the grain markets has remained remarkably constant through time,” Seamon says.

Electronic trading has significantly boosted the number of traders, Seamon says, but it hasn’t altered the market’s overall balance. “We’ve attracted new speculators, but we’ve also attracted new commercial participants for hedging. And that’s where a lot of our growth has been, in inter-national participants being able to use these mar-kets to hedge risk.”

Seamon also looks at hedging effectiveness or cor-relations with international prices, and he says those numbers have improved as well, probably because more global participants mean world events in remote agricultural areas are instantly reflected in prices.

Electronic trading has also changed CBOT’s cul-ture to some degree. Relationships were important with open-outcry trading because, although anyone could place an order, only exchange members could trade on the floor, Seamon says.

“So those guys all relied on one another to make their living. So if someone tried to do something a little ethically challenged, they would get called on it because it requires co-operation among all of them,” Seamon explains.

More market regulations have replaced the stan-dard of collegial accountability that brokers used to hold each other to, Seamon says. And electronic trading leaves an audit trail with each trade, he adds, making it fairly transparent.

Scoville says relationships are still important in his job. In fact, with the way the markets move these days, knowing your customers is more important than ever, he adds. “You’ve got to make sure your guy can handle it.”

What the next 10 years hold for electronic trad-ing is anyone’s guess. Gidel thinks high-frequency traders may get tired of being burned by the market and educate themselves. Whether one looks at the stock market, bonds or commodities, “if you’re not going to be a part of the market, and you’re just going to sample that market, then, yeah, you’re going to get yourself kicked around,” he says.

Open Outcry still king fOr OptiOnsBack on the floor, paper litters the floor outside the

pits like snow. Chris Grams explains the traders in the pit don’t want to risk missing a deal, so they toss the paper and CME Group cleans it up at the end of the day. It’s visible evidence that although electronic trad-ing has emptied the futures pits, so far open-outcry trading is still king for options, at least in Chicago.

“I think that they’ve had trouble getting the algo-rithms right in the computer programs to handle some of the more complicated option spreads,” says Scoville. “Futures is basically buy and sell it or buy May, sell July.”

The New York Mercantile Exchange, which also falls under CME Group, ended open-outcry trading for options. Scoville says he hasn’t tried an options spread in New York for a while because they’re hard to make work, particularly for coffee.

“I really like having the guys on the floor,” says Scoville. “We’ve got a couple that we work with rather specifically here in our office that we’ve known for years and trusted on the floor. And they’ll take our paper and give us a good shot.”

Options in Europe and Asia are also traded elec-tronically these days, Shellady says. “But the U.S. customer still seems to like an open-outcry pit so far. It’s dwindling, though.”

The persistence of open-outcry trading in Chicago is partly because the exchange is run by members, Shellady says. “A lot of the other exchanges around the world are run by five banks so they can just make the decision on a Friday. So they made the decision for the customers.”

Whether or not customers will keep supporting open outcry trading for options in Chicago remains to be seen. “Maybe there’s a niche, maybe there’s not,” says Shellady. “But if it does ever go that way, it’ll be sad because it’s been a lot of fun and I’ve been doing it for 26 years. And it was neat.”

Shellady is gracious about answering questions, but it’s clear he’s busy this morning. As the interview wraps, he leaps back into the fray with a roar.

“I’m still at a quarter!” cg

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gribusinesses are occasionally accused of failing to take due care in their production of food products, and have to defend lawsuits as a result. In some cases, producers can try to shift

some liability onto the government, if they can show that inadequate inspections or other bureaucratic failures are at least partly to blame for any harm suffered by customers.

Alberta meat packer XL Foods is trying to do just that. XL is defending a proposed class action started after the discovery of E. coli in its beef products. It has asked the court to make the Canadian Food Inspection Agency a defendant, so that CFIA might pay some or all of the damages that could arise out of the incident.

XL denies that it has any liability, but says that if the court finds otherwise, CFIA should share or assume some or all of the burden because it failed to establish adequate operating standards, properly inspect or test its products, or withhold or recall the beef products.

XL is essentially trying to start a lawsuit within a lawsuit. It is asking the court to expose the federal government to the possibility of shared liability, if the court decides that sale of tainted beef resulted in harms to customers. What factors do courts consider when deciding whether the government can be held at least partially responsible for harm?

The easiest way to bring a government into a lawsuit is to show that courts have held governments responsible in similar circumstances. For example, building inspectors can be liable for conducting a negligent inspection, as inspectors have specialized expertise to prevent harm, and building owners rely on that expertise. Interestingly, an inspector can be responsible for negligent inspection even if the owner himself authorized a breach of the building bylaws.

Another area where courts have allowed lawsuits against the government is negligent misstatement. As with the building inspector, government agents have particular expertise, and individuals rely on their statements. Thus, for example, the government was liable where it provided wrong information to an employee about his pension entitlement.

Reliance on government statements does not, how-ever, extend to policy announcements made to the pub-lic. You cannot sue for a breach of campaign promises.

Even without a precedent, courts will let a claim

against the government proceed where the relation-ship between the government and the person harmed is sufficiently “close and direct” that it would be “just and fair” to make the government responsible.

When, for example, a striking miner bombed a Yellowknife mine in 1992, killing nine replacement workers, the workers’ families were able to sue the government for failing to prevent the deaths. Gov-ernment inspectors had identified the risk to workers and knew management’s steps were insufficient to protect them. As a result, the government could be named as a defendant.

Courts will not, however, let defendants sue the government on the basis of a policy decision. Bad policies should be addressed at the ballot box, not in the courtroom. As a result, the government could not be sued when health authorities failed to adopt adequate policies to prevent the spread of West Nile virus. That decision was based on the allocation of scarce health resources, and government priorities.

Similarly, a municipality could not be sued because its budget only allowed it to inspect its parks during the summer. But once that inspection system was in place, the government could be liable for fail-ing to carry it out properly.

Naming the government as a defendant is just a first, but important, step. Where the court allows an action to proceed against the government, the plain-tiff will next have to demonstrate that the govern-ment failed to meet the duty it owed to the injured party, and that such failure caused harm.

Producers should keep these principles in mind. If a government representative gives assurance that safety or other procedures are appropriate, busi-nesses should get these assurances in writing. Produc-ers should also keep records of when government employees visit their facilities, and what statements are made during those visits.

So far, XL has been successful in its efforts to expose the federal government to liability. The court has allowed XL to name the government as a defen-dant, and its potential liability will now be deter-mined on the principles discussed above. CG

Naomi Loewith is a lawyer at Lenczner Slaght in Toronto. As a business litigator, Naomi advocates and manages risks for clients in a variety of sectors, and has experience in actions involving all levels of government.


L e g a L

Crown liabilityWhen can a government be liable if its action or inaction causes harm?

By Naomi Loewith, lawyer at Lenczner Slaght

he face of Canada is changing, and it may mean new market opportunities for farmers. According to the 2011 Canadian National Household Sur-vey, one in five Canadians was born in

another country.While in the past, newcomers had to adapt to

traditional Canadian foods, increasing global trade means “new Canadians” are now able to source familiar foods, especially vegetables, from their home countries.

It’s such a hot phenomenon, there’s even a new label for it. Although older terms such as “ethnic” or “ethno-cultural” linger on, these crops that are not traditionally grown in Canada are increasingly referred to as “world crops.”

It isn’t a uniform trend across the country. Although cities in every part of the country have witnessed increased cultural diversity, it’s still true that most immigrants to Canada settle in Canada’s major urban centres, mainly Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. In 2011, almost half of all the residents in Toronto were foreign born.

Within these cities, as well, immigrants tend to cluster in certain sections. For example, in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), 72.3 per cent of Markham’s population is a visible minority com-pared to 54 per cent for Mississauga.

This immigration pattern is expected to continue. Statistics Canada estimates that by 2031, 63 per cent of Toronto’s population will be a visible minority.

But as mentioned, the 2011 National Household Survey also shows a trend towards more immigrants settling in regional centres like Halifax, Winnipeg and Saskatoon.

In 2009, University of Guelph researchers Glen Filson and Bamidele Adekunle along

with Sridharan Sethuratnam, program man-ager of the non-profit organization Farm-Start, attempted to put a dollar value on the potential market for ethno-cultural

vegetables. They surveyed a random selec-

World cropsWe used to call them ethnic crops, but the new name shows just how big the hottest trend in food is growing

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By Helen Lammers-Helps


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tion of people from the three largest ethnic groups represented in Toronto: South Asian, Chinese and Afro-Caribbean.

The researchers pegged the potential market for vegetables consumed by these three groups in the GTA at $732 million per year. The crops included okra, bitter melon, amaranth, yard long beans, cas-sava and various varieties of eggplant.

At present, such ethno-cultural vegetables are mostly supplied by imports from California, Mexico and South America. Displacing just 10 per cent of this imported vegetable product with Canadian-grown produce would create a new market worth $73 million per year.

There is also potential for export to nearby pop-ulation centres in the United States which have simi-larly diverse populations and demand for vegetables.

Not only do immigration patterns contribute to a demand for world crops, but Canadians of European heritage are increasingly consuming non-traditional vegetables. Canadians in general are becoming more adventurous in their eating, says Michael Brownridge, director of horticul-tural production systems at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, who has been researching ethno-cultural crops for the past five years.

As Canadians travel more and eat more at ethnic restaurants, Brownridge says, they become exposed to these vegetables and will buy them to cook at home.

Brownridge has focused his research on okra since it was ranked No. 1 by two of the three ethnic groups surveyed in the University of Guelph study. In his trials, Brownridge tested 15 varieties with the most potential out of the hundreds available.

Brownridge also ran trials with both long and round eggplant, which are also in demand. “There is a market for other vegetables but we had to focus where the greatest opportunities are,” he says.

Almost all the okra consumed in Ontario is cur-rently trucked in from Florida or flown in from Nica-ragua, says Brownridge, who adds that Canadian farmers supplying the local market will have reduced transportation costs and superior freshness, so pro-duce should last longer and taste better.

Having successfully grown okra and round and long eggplant, Brownridge is continuing his research to get more reliable yield and cost-of-production fig-ures. Data from 2013 showed a return above vari-able cost per acre for okra of $1,404/acre (based on one-year data only).

Such ideas aren’t entirely new, says Filson. He points out that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada did extensive work 30 years ago, and as a result many Asian greens such as bok choy and pak choy are grown successfully in Ontario, especially in the Holland Marsh. The Chinese have a long history in Canada, he says.

However, Filson and Evan Elford, new-crop devel-opment specialist at the Ontario Ministry of Agricul-ture and Food, believe the conversation surrounding import replacement with domestic production has become more sophisticated, taking better account of the nature of that particular business sector.

Even when markets exist, there are still many hurdles for farmers, warns Elford. He says farm-ers should be cautious and do their background research on markets and marketability. They need to find out who their customers are, what they want, what variety they are looking for, what growth stage the vegetable should be harvested at and how it needs to be packaged.

Elford recommends farmers determine the demo-graphics of their local market and visit stores to get a better understanding of the local marketplace. “A grower in one area could easily have a market for a non-traditional crop, while another 30 minutes away may be unable to sell their crop,” Elford says. “I’ve seen it first hand.”

Brownridge agrees. It’s essential that farmers have a good understanding of what the market wants. “Understanding the consumer mind has been an important part of the research at Vineland,” he says. Representatives of the retail sector have been closely involved with the research since they under-stand what the consumer is looking for in terms of appearance, taste, and quality. “You have to grow what the consumer wants,” emphasizes Brownridge.

There may also be challenges in growing these crops. For example, many of these crops require a long growing season. It may be necessary to use greenhouses, hoop houses or other means of extend-ing the growing season, says Elford.

early research puts net profits for ethnic vegetables at up to $1,400 or more per acre



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Weather variability is also an issue. 2012, which was hot, was a good year but 2013 which was cooler, was not, says Brownridge.

Farmers with European ancestry often lack experience growing these ethno-cul-tural vegetables, while new Canadians with an agriculture background are keen to grow them but may lack access to land.

Debby Claude, manager of operations at the Saskatoon Farmers Market says she has seen new immigrants try to grow these vegetables, but they are often surprised by the harsh conditions and they have a high failure rate.

These crops are very labour intensive during the harvest season because they require hand harvesting every day or every other day for several weeks during peak production.

Without solid yield and cost-of-pro-duction data for Ontario, it’s also difficult to know how profits for these non-tra-ditional crops compare with more tradi-tional crops, cautions Elford. Vineland Research Centre will be starting to gather cost-of-production data in 2014.

The lack of solid economic data for growing these crops in Canada may make lenders reluctant to back the ven-ture, and the lack of crop insurance may also be a stumbling block.

Growers also need to consider how well the crop fits in their operation. “Just because they can grow it doesn’t mean they should,” advises Elford.

For those wanting to explore some of these ethno-cultural vegetables, Elford has the following advice. Try growing a small acreage, says Elford. And start with cross-over produce. For example, a grower could get some experience with European eggplant first, and then could try growing world varieties of eggplant, he says.

Some farmers who sell direct to con-sumers through farmers markets or CSA shares are successfully growing some of these world crops. Brownridge is aware


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of a number of growers around Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal who are grow-ing non-traditional crops such as okra on a small scale now. He expects these farmers will scale up production as they gain more experience and more eco-nomic data becomes available.

Government funding may be avail-able to help growers grow new crops and access new markets, adds Elford. For example, in Ontario the Growing Forward2 Program (www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/about/growingforward/gf2-index.htm) and the Local Food Fund /www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/about/local_food_guidebook.pdf) may provide support to growers. CG

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ResourcesSpecialty Cropportunities (interactive database with over 100 spe-

cialty crop profiles containing production, pest management and mar-keting information): www.omafra.gov.on.ca/CropOp/en/index.html.

ONSpecialtyCrops Blog (timely updates through the season for specialty crop growers): http://onspecialtycrops.wordpress.com/.

A preliminary analysis of the economics and market potential for okra is available here: www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/hort/news/hortmatt/2013/08hrt13a3.htm.

information on growing, harvest, storage and marketing world crops is on the Vineland research and innovation Centre website at: www.vinelandresearch.com.

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here can be as many reasons for running a diversified farm business as there are farms. Diversification can add income stability and reduce overall operational risk. It can exploit market opportunities,

enabling the farm family to take advantage of a lower cost of entry than competitors who might not have the same access to land or machinery. Sometimes, too, diversification can give the farm a way to invest prof-its at higher rates of return than can be had through banks or other investments.

But equally, diversification can be a risk, and even a gamble, taking energy and investment away from the farm’s core business.

It can even be untraditional, like incorporating a greenhouse as part of a grain operation.

So, what’s the best way forward? How do you make different businesses complement each other?

In their upper 30s, Chris and Crystal Page from Souris in southwest Manitoba are already involved in three established and successful businesses: a grain farm, seasonal greenhouse and custom spraying operation.

Crystal and Chris began dating in high school and then married in 2000. Crystal began her career as a dental assistant, but the summer when oldest daughter McKenna was born, she changed her career path, opting to work in the greenhouse which her parents, Geraldine (“Gerry”) and Larry Sadler had opened under the name Sadler’s Creekside Green-house some 20 years earlier on their farm at Elgin.

Chris’s parents, meanwhile, had begun farming in the early 1970s, starting with roughly 1,000 acres, which they have since grown to 2,600 acres, and in 1998, Chris came back to the farm after taking the agri-cultural diploma program at the University of Manitoba (U of M), majoring in farm business management.

Chris says the diversification wasn’t really planned — it just sort of happened. “Crystal had a passion for the greenhouse,” he explains.

Balancing the different parts of the two opera-tions, however, is something Chris sees as a “positive challenge.”

“Everything is fresh. When you go to the green-house, it’s a consistent thing year after year, but there’s always something new. It’s the same with the farm; every year is different,” says Chris. “A posi-tive challenge to me means your brain doesn’t stop. You always have a challenge and something to think about. When you’re always moving and thinking, to me that’s a healthy thing.”

The greenhouseThe greenhouse became a part of the Pages’ life

when their first child (McKenna, 11) was born and Crystal’s parents thought a relocation of their busi-ness from the farm into the town of Souris would be beneficial. Besides the main greenhouse in Souris, the Sadlers have a greenhouse in Boissevain and stock another greenhouse in Carnduff, Sask.

When the Pages looked at the numbers they decided they would be better off with Crystal working in the greenhouse and being closer to home to raise their grow-ing family (which has since grown with the addition of Kelsey, 9, and Raylee, 6). “Adding the greenhouse has increased our income flow more than when Crystal was working as a dental assistant,” says Chris. “The biggest advantage is that we’re both self-employed, but work together as needed. We have a lot of flexibility.”

The family has actually moved to town and have a house right beside Crystal’s parents, because it makes life a lot easier during the greenhouse season. “The greenhouse is like having cattle, where you need to be close to it,” says Chris. “Because the farm is strictly grain and Mom and Dad’s place is only four miles from town it’s easier for me to commute.”

Crystal’s parents still own the greenhouse and Crystal works for them handling all the retail and employee management while Gerry looks after the growing side of the operation and Larry looks after soil preparation, water maintenance and deliveries.

UnTRADITIonALGreenhouses may not belong in the traditional farm stereo-type, but Chris and Crystal Page reflect a new era of young farmers diversifying for business, and for the challenge too

By Rebeca Kuropatwa

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“ A positive challenge to me means your brain doesn’t stop,” Chris says. “You’re always moving and thinking.”

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Sales have been increasing annually since the move, and the greenhouse has a loyal following with customers coming from miles away because Gerry, who grows most of the bedding plants from seed, has a reputation for quality and selection. “I’ve got some relatives that live in Saskatoon, which is a seven-hour drive, and they wait until they come down to visit my Grandma to pick up some plants that aren’t offered anywhere in any greenhouse between here and Saska-toon that they’ve found yet,” says Chris.

The greenhouse now runs from late-February until mid-July and then reopens for the Christmas season from November 1 to December 23 for sales of poinsettias, Christmas trees and giftware.

The greenhouse is the one area where they have to rely on seasonal employees and they have up to 14 people employed in the spring for transplanting and sales. Crystal is in charge of scheduling the employ-ees, which, she says, “includes a great group of ladies who return every year, as well as students.”

The greenhouse has a very low employee turn-over rate and part of the reason for adding the Christmas sales season was to try and keep some of the younger seasonal employees around. “It was something to help a couple of our staff that are younger that are seasonal to stick around so that we don’t lose them because they’re very good to us and they’re good at their job and we don’t want to lose them somewhere else.”

The grain businessChris and his parents (John and Arlene Page)

farm 2,600 acres on a piece of land just north of Souris, Man. John and Arlene are in charge of roughly 1,100 acres, while Chris and Crystal work roughly 1,500 acres on the books.

This gives them the ability to make decisions independently, but they also consult with one

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That pleasant, easy, summertime journey of the past four years is at an end. Today’s commodity markets require all the vigilance, planning and caution of a winter’s drive. Take risk out of the journey — and off the table — by inviting a grain marketing advisor along for the ride.

These are turbulent times. For some of you, prices have fallen so far you feel you’re close to break-even levels, and paying for grain marketing advice now could take you below those levels. This is an understandable reaction. However, this is the time you’re at greatest risk and in need of help — the likelihood of making a mistake, and its consequences, are far greater during market downturns than when markets are good.

Let me explain by drawing an analogy: when you set out on a summertime drive, you worry about some pretty minor things as you embark. Along the way, if you change your plan, the consequences of that detour are pretty insignificant. Generally the journey is simple, it’s usually desirable, and it’s one you choose to make. This easy and carefree summertime drive is the journey commodity markets have taken us on for the past four years.

With the canola and wheat markets the way they are now, it’s more like embarking on a wintertime journey. As you know, winter driving requires planning ahead, and the likelihood of making an error is greater, and the consequences more serious. Now is the time to be extra vigilant.

Why should you pay a grain marketing advisor when there seems to be so many other places your money is needed? First of all, a good advisor will force you to have a grain marketing plan. You and your advisor will craft this plan during a time when emotional biases will not influence your decisions.

A good advisor is also looking out for you all week long, watching the markets on your behalf. This person alerts you to events you should be paying attention to, whether it’s an opportunity to sell because something favourable has happened in the market or something you should deal with proactively.

Your advisor should be there riding shotgun with you to give you some peace of mind so you don’t have to fret about the markets. To read the complete story, visit asktheexpertnetwork.ca.

Keith Brownell, Regional Grain Marketing Services Manager

“ Why should you pay a grain marketing advisor when there seems to be so many other places your money is needed?”

Let Us Ride Shotgun with You


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another before any final decisions are made — operating together, dependent on each other.

John does the seeding and Chris does the spraying and fertilizing. When har-vest comes, Chris runs the combine and John trucks the grain. With 2,600 acres and no hired help, operations need to be well planned.

The Pages have been growing a wide variety of grain over the years, from Red Spring wheat to winter wheat, barley, canola, Nexera canola, flax, mustard and soybeans. They have tightened their rota-tion over the last five years to two kinds of wheat and two kinds of canola, with small test acres of soybeans.

The farm takes up most of Chris’s time, with a pre-seed or pre-emergence burnoff on almost every acre. This, combined with fertilizing each field just ahead of the drill, has Chris covering two to three times the number of acres John does. But, Chris notes, “the machines I operate are wider and run faster, so time spent in the field may only be one and half times.”

The Pages also operate a small spray-ing business where they do all of one neighbour’s spraying as well as their own — combined, about 15,000-20,000 acres per year.

The two families try, wherever possible, to handle the workload on their own and the Pages admit they are very lucky to have two sets of in-laws who get on well and are always ready to help one another out.

“My dad has had some health issues in the last couple of years, so Crystal and her mom and dad have come out and helped. Larry has run the combine for us and I’ve not had to worry about hiring somebody or having do it on my own,” says Chris. “My mom is very impor-tant to the operation too, from driving truck and moving equipment to making meals, and my dad will just stop into the greenhouse and he’ll carry on a conversa-tion as I’m sitting there working, and of course he ends up helping out too.”

In addition, the flexibility that Chris and Crystal have to cross over into the two separate enterprises is a great strength and one that leaves them plenty of options for the future. “Crystal helps out when she can at harvest time but doesn’t often have as much time in the spring when I am getting crop in,” says Chris. “But by late September and early October, she’s already decorating in the greenhouse for Christ-

mas so she can be on top of it before all the figure skating and hockey things start up with the kids. If we were to close the Christmas side of things at the greenhouse then we might be able to do more on the grain side of things because then I would have a consistent combine driver.”

ManagementThere is only one machine — a loader

tractor — that is shared by both the farm and the greenhouse, since both receive and ship many deliveries throughout the growing season.

Still, the diversified approach means that accommodations must be made. On the farm side, Chris and Crystal will prob-

ably have to adopt a one-pass seeding operation. They already have a plan in place to address this in the near future. They may also need to downsize their cur-rent spraying operation.

On the greenhouse side, there may be more options, but it all boils down to the need to find and hire good personnel and build a financial plan that works with the extra associated costs.

“We know we can’t do it all,” said Chris. “As Crystal’s mom does all the seeding and growing at the greenhouse and her dad does all the soil prep, water-ing, maintenance and deliveries, we may need to hire someone to manage the retail side and have Crystal move into the growing side of the operation.”

For several years after he started farming Chris did some bookkeeping and tax preparation for a local accoun-tant, but now he only has time to handle the books for his part of the farm and the greenhouse using a spreadsheet pro-gram he developed himself.

“I do both sets of books,” says Chris. “It saves us a little money, but I also know exactly where we sit financially in both businesses and comparing the num-bers year after year helps me see where we might gain some efficiencies. It’s easier


For Crystal and Chris the learning is: It takes passion and support to make diversification work

to talk to lending reps when you know where you sit, without having to put a lot of thought into it with your numbers already rolling through your head.”

The futureApart from their growing businesses and

family, it is very important to both Chris and Crystal that they contribute in other ways to the town of Souris. Chris serves as a school board trustee and on the minor hockey board, as well as being an active hockey coach. Crystal serves on the figure skating board.

Both dream of increasing the grain as well as the greenhouse operations, but acknowledge there are always risks and they are unique to each enterprise.

The farm’s equipment is large enough so they could easily add an additional 1,000-1,500 acres, says Chris. “If it was any more, we’d have to start changing some of our bigger pieces of equipment and add some different crops into our rotation.”

In the greenhouse, space does not seem to be a limiting factor, though they may need to upgrade some of the structures (which Chris anticipates will make for more floor space on the same footprint).

With about half an acre of growing and retail space, there is definitely room to grow more, assuming the Pages can find a market for the extra product, and the labour to get it produced.

“Balance hasn’t been too much of a struggle as of yet, but as both sets of parents get closer to retirement, it may come to the forefront,” says Chris. He and Crystal know that the next thing on the agenda for the two families is succession planning, which they haven’t really immersed themselves in yet.

“We don’t have a succession plan in place with Crystal’s mom and dad nor do we have with my mom and dad on the grain side of things,” says Chris. “Both sets of parents are still active in what we’re doing and haven’t really shed a light on when their retirement may or may not be.”

“There is risk with both enterprises. I’ve lost crops and didn’t plant a crop at least three times since I began farming 16 years ago,” says Chris. “Going into this season we’re thinking, with it being one of the coldest winters on record we may be swamped early on in the spring because people are so sick of -50. But next year it could be different again.

“There’s always risk on both sides,” Chris says. “But I don’t really view it as a risk. I think it’s a good and different diver-sification.” CG

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t was early January when I clicked through a farm website and saw the page where Jean-Martin Fortier listed his upcoming workshops. His late-March workshop in nearby Montreal, with space for 50 people, was already sold out.

“Neat,” I thought. “People in the city are paying to listen to a farmer.”

But is he a farmer?Or, as I came to wonder, does that question really

miss the point?After watching him on video, it’s no surprise that

Fortier fills the workshop. He has a stage presence that you might not guess from his photographs.

It’s a combination that connects with people. He’s young, articulate and charismatic with a touch of self-deprecating humour. (In Paris recently, he jok-ingly told his audience they might need a translator to understand his Quebec French.)

His book about his farm, Le Jardinier-Mara-icher, has sold 16,000 copies since its fall 2012 release, including an incredible 6,000 outside of

Quebec. With 5,000 copies making a book a best-seller in Canada, this is astounding.

When I ask Fortier about the 10,000 copies sold in Quebec, I wonder out loud how many farms there are in the province. He stops me and explains that it’s not just farmers and aspiring farmers buying his book. “It’s your average Joe,” he says. Consumers, too, want to hear Fortier’s farming story.

Small farm business thinkingFortier’s book is a personal narrative that tells

readers about his journey into farming and then shares his model for success. What’s unexpected is that Fortier has found success where many farm commentators say he shouldn’t — on a very small family farm.

“We challenge the belief that the small family farm cannot stay afloat in today’s economy,” Fortier says in the book. And at a time when many people worry about job security, Fortier says that unlike employees of large companies, “I have job security.”

For Fortier, staying very small has been a big part of the recipe for success. And being small, he says, need not mean small income. Nor must growth in income necessarily come from a bigger operation.

On their 10-acre property, called Les Jardins de la Grelinette, he and his wife Maude-Helene Desroches farm 1-1/2 acres. “To grow better instead of bigger became the basis of our model,” explains Fortier. He contrasts this to the conventional model to “exten-sify” production over a larger area. While mechani-zation is often seen as the way to get higher profit, he says it doesn’t have to be that way. “Instead,” he says, “we opted to stay small scale.”

To illustrate why he believes in intensifying produc-tion as opposed to expanding the land base, he tells readers how, when first raising crops on one-quarter acre of rented land, he sold $20,000 worth of veg-etables; and then the next year, with the same space, $55,000 worth of vegetables, i.e. more than double.

The following year, with his own farm and 1-1/2 cultivated acres, he sold $80,000 worth of vegetables — a figure that climbed to $100,000 the subsequent year. As we later chat on the phone, I find out that this figure is now roughly $140,000.

While Fortier is not opposed to mechanization, he says expensive machinery doesn’t necessarily make farming more profitable. If two options give equally

The markeT farmerCan small farms survive? With $140,000 in sales from a few acres, Jean-Martin Fortier insists his can

By Steven Biggs, CG Contributing Editor

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“ We challenge the belief that the small family farm cannot stay afloat,” Fortier says.

good results, cost is his deciding factor. That has meant eschewing a conventional tractor and opt-ing for a small, two-wheeled “walking” tractor. Aside from costing less than a conventional tractor, it allows the intensive spacing that he favours. Less emphasis on machinery, he says, means most of his operating costs are inputs, not machinery.

“We’ll have 10 rows of carrots instead of three,” he says, explaining the benefit of not having to tie in crop spacing to conventional, tractor-drawn equip-ment. That means more yield from the same space, reduced costs for material such as row covers, and less labour for tasks such as mulching and weeding. In addition, he grows a succession of crops to keep the land producing.

Fortier emphasizes that revenue is only part of the equation, saying, “Revenue minus expenses equals profit.” He keeps a careful eye on expenses and does not buy into the notion that good profitability requires high costs. “Our market garden demon-strates that high profits can be made without high costs,” he says, adding, “Our low-tech strategy kept our startup costs to a minimum and our overhead expenses low.”

Sell smart, grow lessTo bolster the revenue side of the equation, For-

tier sells some of his produce directly to consumers, keeping profit that would normally go to retailers and distributors. The way he sees it, when he doesn’t need to give retailers and distributors approximately two-thirds the value of his produce, he can grow one-third as much and make the same profit.

Fortier is a big believer in having an identifiable logo. In the local supermarket, which sells his prod-uct, his logo appears next to his produce. “At the local grocery store, customers swear by our products, which they recognize easily,” he says.

Maximizing revenue also means adding value. It can be as simple, he says, as leaving the tops on car-rots. Bunched carrots with leaves usually fetch more per pound than bagged ones. He also considers the revenue a crop can bring in and how much time and space it requires. By doing this, he has determined that greenhouse cucumbers are four times more prof-itable than turnip, and that a bed of lettuce brings in as much as leeks, but in half the time.

Practical idealismNeither Fortier nor Desroches are from a farm

background. After graduating from the McGill School of Environment, they went on a two-year journey to the U.S. and Mexico, working on small farms. “I had found practical idealism,” he says in the book. Returning home, they rented land and started their first market garden.

The couple wanted their own farm, but knew that buying land meant the business would have to bring in enough money to cover payments on land, build-

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Fortier doesn’t own a tractor, and doesn’t plan to buy one. Instead, he builds his management system around generating healthy net returns per acre.

With wife Maude-Helene Desroches, Fortier says their low-tech strategy is actually an efficient business model, generating reliable family income and security.


ings, and house, and also raise their family. They eventually found their current farm in St-Armand, Quebec, south of Montreal, in 2004.

Fortier’s favourite tool — the antithesis of mecha-nization — is the broadfork (called a grelinette in French). This tool, he explains, allows deep aera-tion without inverting soil layers. “We named our business after the tool because we found the greli-nette emblematic of manual, ecological and effective organic gardening,” he says.

Fortier pays a lot of attention to soil biology, which he says helps replace some mechanical labour. “Our objective has always been to create a cropping system that strikes a balance between yield, long-term fertility, and efficiency,” he says. To do this, he practises minimum tillage, growing in permanent raised beds.

He points out that many people get into organic farming for philosophical reasons, but he says it’s still a business, and it’s important to treat it as one. “I would not be too hasty in brushing aside proven solutions from experienced growers, even if they do not seem ‘ideal,’” he says. For example, while he likes the concept of no till, a lot of crop debris in the market garden is impractical. So he’s found a middle ground, using shallow cultivation. For him, no till is an approach, not a doctrine.

Garden or farm?

Fortier says he calls himself a market gardener to emphasize that he works with hand tools. But some people have trouble seeing him as a farmer, not a gardener. One bank loan officer declared this was not a real business — a real farm — and him not a farmer.

In the conclusion of his book, Fortier, who is 35, says he feels privileged to find such a satisfying calling so early in life. I later ask Fortier whether he would do anything differently if he were to start again. “Yes, for sure,” he says, but adds that he’s very happy with the way things are now, and that getting here was a learning process.

His story about food and farming is reaching a lot of people. After chatting, I head back to the web-site and then to his Facebook pages: 2,100 “likes” for the farm, 2,400 for the book. Then I spot a November 2013 blog post saying that the French edition was No. 1 on Amazon France’s bestselling list of gardening books.

The English language edition, THE MARKET GARDENER (www.themarketgardener.com) was released in early 2014. Stay tuned. CG

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3 6 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a a p r i l 2 0 1 4

t’s been said that farming is big business in every way except how we manage it. Maybe such a statement used to be more true than it is today, but many farm businesses are still skipping performance appraisals, which

means they are also missing out on the benefits of this process.

It begins by busting two major myths.Performance reviews aren’t just for big com-

panies, says Larry Martin, principal of Agri-Food Management Excellence, an executive management training program in Guelph, Ont. Companies with as few as two employees will benefit from conduct-ing performance reviews, he says.

And employees who are family should get reviewed too, says Michelle Painchaud, president and CEO of Painchaud Performance Group in Win-nipeg. “Everyone who works in the farm business — family or non-family, full time or part time — should participate in the employee performance review,” Painchaud says.

In fact, Painchaud finds going through the perfor-mance review process often clears “the fog” around decisions that have been made in family farm busi-nesses. “Performance appraisals create an opportu-

nity for dialogue,” Painchaud says. “It’s not often an employee gets one-on-one time with his or her boss to talk about their own situation,” says Painchaud, who has heard many employees say, “Oh, now I under-stand why Dad made that decision.”

There are three main reasons for poor employee performance, says Painchaud. 1. Lack of clear expectations. The employee doesn’t

understand what the manager really wants.2. Lack of skills or resources. The employee doesn’t

know how to do the job, or they don’t have the necessary tools or resources to do the job.

3. Lack of consequences — negative or positive. If an employee is performing poorly but no one tells him or her, then the employee cannot improve. And when someone is a high performer but they don’t get positive feedback, they will lose motivation.The performance appraisal process, when done

well, will help ensure your employees are doing the job you need them to do, and it will also reduce the expense and stress of high employee turnover.

By not only ensuring that there are clear expecta-tions for the employee, but also that the employee has the training, tools and resources needed to per-form their job, and that the employee received feed-back on their work, the stage can be set to improve employee performance and retain good employees.

When done properly, the performance review process results in employees who are more engaged and more motivated, and who will work harder and safer because they can see their contribution to the business, says Lori Weir, a senior management consultant and president of Above the Line, Inc., in Saint John, N.B.

If not done correctly, however, performance reviews can leave employees feeling frustrated.

Doing it right doesn’t have to be that difficult, though, as long as you stick to some concepts.

To begin with, Martin emphasizes that the employee should feel positive about the perfor-mance appraisal. “It should be a celebration of what they’ve done, not just criticism.”

The important thing, agrees Weir, is not to focus on the negative but instead to focus on ways to improve. “Everyone can improve,” she says. Then figure out what supports, training or mentoring will help the employee improve.

Better employeesPerformance reviews can boost farm productivity, if you know what you’re doing


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most common mistakes1. Employee doesn’t know the performance

standards they’re expected to meet.2. The review process is too long and complicated,

and the questions aren’t applicable to the farm. 3. Only the manager speaks, and there is little

opportunity for employee input.4. Manager not being honest with feedback in

order to keep the discussion easy.5. Manager is unprepared and distracted by texts,

and interrupted by phone calls during the discussion so the employee doesn’t feel valued.

6. No followup. if you say you will arrange additional training for the employee, be sure to set target dates. Then deliver on time.

Before attempting to evaluate an employee’s perfor-mance, it’s essential that they know what’s expected of them. Employees should understand the focus of the company and should have a job description. If you haven’t made progress on these, this is where to start.

The farm should also be working toward ongo-ing positive, supportive relationships with its employees, so there shouldn’t be any surprises for the employee, says Martin. “A good manager pro-vides feedback all along so the formal performance appraisal is just a summary.”

Templates for performance appraisals can be found on the Internet but Painchaud warns that these should only be used for inspiration. She rec-ommends keeping it simple, no more than a page in length, and making sure that the questions are relevant to your business.

Performance appraisals need not be time con-suming. Most experts agree conducting the perfor-mance review annually or semi-annually is often enough. Martin says a company might do it quar-terly during a period of change.

However, there is no “one-size fits all” approach when it comes to performance appraisals. Weir believes that while larger companies (those with more than 75 employees) will need to rely on a formalized employee performance appraisal system, smaller companies may benefit from a more infor-mal coaching process.

As with the formalized process, it’s imperative that the employee know what good performance looks like, says Weir. “The manager and employee need to sit down and agree on what specific tasks, what quantity and quality, are expected.”

Then figure out what supports will help the employee improve, says Weir. “Keep the focus on ways to improve.”

John Anderson, a farm financial adviser with Collins Barrow WCM LLP in eastern Ontario rec-ommends a system where the employee assesses his or her work first, followed by a discussion with the manager. He says the appraisal form should include questions like: How did I do? How would I rank myself? Where do I need help? How can I overcome my weaknesses? What roles would I like to have?

After completing the performance appraisal, the employee should sit down with their manager in a private space, free from distractions, and discuss the results of the self-appraisal. Together the employee and manager can create a development plan. “It’s a team effort,” says Anderson.

Some companies are reframing the review pro-cess in terms of the performance of the business and the employee’s contribution to that performance, says Painchaud. There is also an opportunity for the employee to give feedback on the manager.

Whichever system you use, performance apprais-als are about communication, insists Anderson. “It’s an opportunity.” CG

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Tips for effeCTive performanCe reviews1. Book the meeting with the employee at least a

week in advance. ask the employee to prepare by reviewing his or her own performance.

2. Choose a private, neutral location where you won’t be distracted, and schedule enough time so the employee won’t feel rushed. an hour is usually appropriate but leave extra time in case it’s needed.

3. review the employee’s performance in advance of the meeting so you will be prepared. it helps to get in the routine of keeping an ongoing file of notes on an employee’s work during the year.

4. identify specific areas where the employee performs well.

5. identify specific areas where improvement is needed.

6. prepare specific goals for the next year. Focus on one or two areas of improvement.

A p r i l 2 0 1 4 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a X X

The right partner

By Amy Petherick

artnerships and agriculture are so closely entwined that even the smallest children know from singing about the farmer in the dell that the farmer’s

first job is “to take a wife.”If only farm partnerships were so easy.With the farm community shrinking

so fast, and now accounting for a mere 1.5 per cent of all Canadians according to the 2011 Census of Agriculture, the odds are stacking up against your bump-ing into your ideal future business partner anywhere in your neighbourhood or even in the ordinary run of life.

Actually, it’s even harder than that because for the first time ever in this country, there are more farmers aged 55 and over than any other age group. Since older farmers may be less interested in building new partnerships, the available pool is even smaller than our already meagre numbers suggest.

Not to be too sexist, but this may

mean the equivalent of a wave of “city girls” is about to enter into the industry, providing the extra operational vigour that is being chased by the farmers who are looking for new partnerships.

Or, it might inspire more creative solutions.

One question Grant Robinson, a business transition specialist with BDO Canada in Guelph, Ont., has been known to ask first is: “Do you even really need a partner?”

“Don’t just bring someone on because you want their money,” Robinson warns, although he suspects this strategy is still popular enough.

Instead, with a bit of a play on words, he encourages partnership seekers to weigh their decisions according to three different types of capital. “The capital you’re trying to deal with in a partner-ship is social, intellectual and physical capital, and you have to try to bring all those things together,” Robinson says.

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In today’s farming,partnerships make

more sense than ever… as long as

you know how to find the right partner

Robinson says physical capital can be thought of as asset which you manage in a transactional way. For these, he says, you’ll have a partnership agreement that outlines how things of monetary value will be handled jointly.

Intellectual capital, however, is about the knowledge of the business and how you plan to run the place, including who makes decisions about what. This is an especially important consideration in inter-generational partnerships.

Finally, Robinson says, social capital is where the personal interactions and even a kind of corporate culture come in.

Robinson sums it up succinctly: “If you don’t like an individual on a social level, if you don’t like to socialize together, if you’re not connected in the community together, that’s pretty good evidence that you shouldn’t be business partners.”

Jolene Brown, a family business con-sultant who covers North America from her base in West Branch, Iowa, talks

about social capital as a critical element in forming a good business partnership. But she’s more apt to call it goodwill.

“If you have goodwill, you will have a heart-felt desire to work together toward the common goals of the business, help each other succeed, and work though challenges to get along,” Brown says.

Part of your commitment to the part-nership, Brown advises, is to get things clarified and in writing, such as a com-munications contract, a code of conduct, a buy-sell agreement and even a conflict management plan. “When goodwill is gone, it is really tough,” Brown says. “That, more than anything in my opin-ion, breaks up partnerships.”

Whether farmers choose to partner with a spouse, family, or some external friend, she says goodwill must be evident not just when everyone is happy or when prices are high, but also when people are tired and conflict emerges in the partnership.

Brown says goodwill is one of the first things she goes looking for when she takes on new clients, and she measures it based on three characteristics. The first, she says, is a willingness to work towards that defined common goal of the busi-

ness, whatever it is. The second thing is if partners want to see each other succeed as much as they want to succeed themselves, and that they work to help one another in this way. The third and final component she looks for is a willingness to work through conflict and problems.

“Don’t invest in joint assets until you really know you can be good part-ners,” Brown warns. “Make sure you have the right mix of experience, edu-cation, personality and character.” She strongly believes in a year’s probation-ary agreement before locking into a for-mal structure with family or non-family members.

“When you’re talking partnerships, in all the many structures,” Brown says, “it’s important you discuss termination early, so that if you feel ‘we’re not a good fit,’ pending certain notice, there’s no hard feelings, ‘we can still be family or friends,’ but not working together.”

Brown believes there are a number of

other elements that make a good part-nership work. First and foremost, she says, common business goals need to be defined. She even likes to see them outlined in a one-page overview that includes clear job descriptions and expressed standards for responsibilities.

Brown also feels every farm partner-ship needs a leader who understands the “people business” aspect of farming, not just production.

Other important elements are a defined communication process that cen-tres around purposeful meetings, conflict management protocols, and compensa-tion that befits worthy partners doing worthy work.

Brown also cautions that every part-nership agreement needs a defined exit strategy for one or both partners.

Brown tells me that if you’re think-ing about business partners being mar-ried partners, it’s important to remember that, “If you want to honour the mar-riage, and the family, you’d better do the business right. If not,” she warns, “at the end of the day you may have neither family nor business.”

It’s advice that Dan Ohler, an inde-

pendent relationship and communica-tion specialist from Sangudo, Alta., is quick to echo. Having been there him-self, farming with his wife Carol and his parents once upon a time, he personally understands how miserable life can get when partnerships go bad.

“When we left the farm, we were so close to going our separate ways,” Ohler says. “People need to know they can’t afford not to work on their relationship.”

But far more commonly, he says cou-ples wait until things have gone sour. Ohler says most people struggling with their farm marriage confess to him that they’re thinking about their problems anywhere from 50 to 90 per cent of the time. Not only does this mean a seri-ous loss of productivity, but it can be downright dangerous, considering all the hazards of farm work.

If you’re tempted to consider divorce, be forewarned, Ohler says. “There can be a huge financial cost, expecially if it means selling off farm assets. And it can get really ugly.”

Start by recognizing what your happi-ness is actually worth, Ohler says.

“People are busy, absolutely, but there’s always time to do the important things,” Ohler says. “If people can real-ize the importance of the relationship with their spouse, especially in a farm operation, then the farm can be incred-ibly productive and effective.”

Ohler says a simple strategy is think-ing about your partner as much as or more than you think about yourself. Looking for ways to improve is usually not rocket science but something almost everyone can stand to do more often.

Ideas can include reading a book together about relationships, taking some kind of course, or starting on some coaching, Ohler says. Even a weekend away from the farm, just to be together to work on their relationship, away from regular routines, can work wonders.

“The tough thing is having the cour-age to really sit down and have a struc-tured meeting, with an agenda, and break into pieces the business piece and the family piece,” Ohler says.

Strong farm partnerships ensure ful-fillment and prosperity, Robinson and Brown agree. So whether you’re “taking a wife” or a partner of any other kind, make sure it’s the right one, for the busi-ness’s sake as well as your own. CG

b u s i n e s s


“�A�friendship�founded�on�business�is�better�than�a��business�founded�on�friendship.”� —�John�D.�Rockefeller


f you’re looking to break some eggs, set your GPS to the city of Lethbridge. Egg breaking is becoming southwest Alberta’s newest way to make money.

There, in a refurbished dairy plant, you will find a new business called EPIC, which stands for Egg Processing Innovations Cooperative.

It’s owned by the United Egg Farmers of Alberta, and got a big send-off into the business world last June with the help of grants and support from the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA).

Inside Alberta, ALMA needs little introduction. For readers outside the province, it’s good to know that ALMA’s mandate is to encourage new farm initiatives with grants, information and investment “to help Alberta’s livestock and meat industry become more profitable, sustainable and interna-tionally respected.”

In Lethbridge, the goal for the new EPIC plant has been differentiated from the outset for the

province’s former but more modest egg-breaking endeavour at Airdrie, just north of Calgary. It’s also differentiated from the huge egg-breaking plants in the U.S. that cast a shadow over North America’s egg markets.

Between the two extremes, EPIC believes it has found a value niche.

The project in Airdrie was a 50/50 ownership between the egg farmers’ co-operative and Van-derpol’s Eggs. (The Vanderpol’s main branch is in Abbotsford, B.C.)

During its evolution, Vanderpol’s Eggs at Aird-rie struck an agreement with biotech company IRI Separation Technologies. IRI’s goal was to focus on the extraction of antibodies from eggs for use in things such as natural food products and pharmaceu-ticals, since the antibodies that can be extracted from eggs are similar to the beneficial human kind.

At Airdrie, then, Vanderpol’s would handle the sale and distribution of liquid egg products, leaving IRI to focus on the separation technologies.

IRI struggled, however. By 2009 it was looking to restructure and merge with other companies, but its last public mention was in 2011, about the same time the Airdrie plant ceased operations.

In Lethbridge, meanwhile, Bruce Forbes was given the CEO’s job to get the EPIC plant off the ground. “I was hired to write the business plan and oversee things,” says Forbes, “We are very happy with how smoothly we were able to get things into place.”

BREAK AN EGG

Alberta’s new EPIC plant finds extraordinary value in what used to be a very ordinary farm commodity

By Yvonne Dick

B U S I N E S S

“ We are taking all the eggs we can get our hands on,” says Forbes.That’s 2.1 million a week

can cost you 3 bushels per acre or more in yield.

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With equipment from the former egg-breaking plant in Airdrie, it took about a year to finalize the deal and begin operations.

Raw, shelled eggs are used for many different products. To put it simply, the egg shell is used for calcium, while what’s inside the egg is used for con-venience products such as liquid eggs, as well as a pet food additive for Champion Pets. However, the full lineup of end uses via EPIC’s processing meth-ods is far longer.

Making eggsAt the Lethbridge plant, a machine breaks some

18,750 dozen eggs a day and then separates yolks from whites, eggs from shells, and shells from mem-branes. Liquid egg is pasteurized and can be used in food products such as ice cream, mayonnaise and noodles, as well as in healthier “egg white only” liq-uid egg products. There are myriad other food mar-kets as well, including markets for pasteurized liquid whole egg, pasteurized albumin (including pharma-cology use among others), and pasteurized yolks.

A range of cooking and related products are blended for food-service companies as well, and users of egg shell membranes and egg shell calcium are other possible markets.

On the non-food side, nutraceutical companies, researchers and other clientele are increasingly look-ing at new uses for the egg byproducts, yolks and whites. Egg membrane is important, as is the cal-cium inside the shell. Some future product partners could be companies making cinder-blocks, nutraceu-ticals (calcium based and joint health supplements) and more.

At peak capacity, EPIC can process 2.1 million eggs per week, producing 90 tonnes of liquid egg products. Egg supply, however, is lagging behind the plant’s needs.

This slowed down the first half year of opera-tions more than EPIC would like. “Things are start-ing to pick up now, but there is an overall egg shortage in the province so we are actively look-

B U S I N E S S


can cost you 3 bushels per acre or more in yield.

Spraying herbicide on Genuity® Roundup Ready® canola, above recommended rates or outside the application window,can cost you 3 bushels per acre or more in yield.

Spraying herbicide on Genuityabove recommended rates or outside the application window,Spraying herbicide on Genuity® Roundup Ready® canola, above recommended rates or outside the application window,

SPRAYING OFF LABELCOSTSYIELD

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ing for bigger operations to get more eggs,” says Forbes.

The reason for needing larger-producing farms is that eggs must be from cage-free chickens, and it isn’t always the most fuel- or product-efficient to be sourcing from numerous smaller farms. Eggs must also be graded before delivery to EPIC.

“Our facilities are great. Demand for our products currently exceeds sup-plies, however,” Forbes says. “We are taking all the eggs we can get our hands on. Going farm to farm, we are talking to farmers about switching to cage-free poultry farming and building our supply chain.”

Previously, non-table egg breaking and pro-cessing was shipped out to British Columbia and Saskatchewan plants. Starting in 2008, Brit-ish Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario launched cage-free poultry campaigns. A 2012 ban in the EU of caged birds has motivated many producers to make the switch. EU poultry may reside only in enriched cages with perches, nest boxes and free-range setups.

According to an Egg Farmers of Alberta’s press release, 85 per cent of Alberta eggs came from hens in conventional cages in 2012. This number was down from 98 per cent in 2006.

Gordon Cove, CEO at ALMA, predicts expand-ing value for the egg sector. He calls egg breaking “a whole new area” and in media reports has said the Lethbridge plant “has the potential to be a catalyst for the entire egg industry.”

Currently at 14 employees, EPIC originally forecast revenues of $2.5 million in the first year. Whether that will be met in the second half remains to be seen. However, the plant has room for future expansion and, at an originally pre-dicted 22-employee capacity, might inject a total gross annual output of $5 million to the Alberta economy. The Lethbridge location also boasts the advantage of being near to many food-product companies and processors.

EPIC offers an “engineered” egg solution according to customer specifications. Enriched feed eggs, fertilized eggs and a range of unique traits can be important to nutraceutical manufacturers. In some product and research categories, customers may also be seeking such things as inseminated and incubated eggs.

“Because we are producer-owned and we do work closely with our suppliers, we can ensure that

our end-customer gets the exact product they are looking for,” says Forbes.

Currently, Alberta is the largest net importer of interprovincial egg products in Canada. Through the EPIC plant, Alberta’s egg industry hopes to boost its value-added capacity in egg processing.

At the grand opening, Verlyn Olson, Alberta agriculture minister, said, “We’re very proud to have the EPIC plant in Alberta. The work done here benefits our egg producers and the local economy by creating jobs and a steady source of demand for eggs. More importantly, it benefits all Albertans by giving consumers additional value-added options for egg products.”

In practical terms at EPIC, things will be run-ning closer to original plans when egg supply meets demand.

EPIC wants egg producers with strong yields to take note, saying this is a chance to really get their sales figures cracking.

It’s also a chance to crack open new markets, Forbes says. “Nothing of the egg will be unused. We will be processing the entire product.” CG

b u s i n e s s

“�Things�are�starting�to�pick�up,”�Forbes�says.

“�We�are�actively�looking�for�bigger�operations.”


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Co-op succession?The lack of succession planning helps explain why so many co-ops are being sold, and why even more are in danger

By Gerald Pilger

b u s i n e s s

he only thing farmers seem to do bet-ter than growing vast amounts of grain seems to be selling off ownership of the industry, especially in the West. In Febru-ary of this year, Parrish and Heimbecker

purchased the 112,000-tonne farmer-owned Weyburn Inland Terminal. Just a month earlier, Viterra bought the 42,000-tonne Lethbridge Inland Terminal that had been co-operatively built in 2007 by more than 150 southern Alberta farm operations.

Of course, we also remember the sales of the farmer-built Prairie pools and United Grain Growers.

People argue why these and other farmer-owned grain-handling co-operatives were sold. Reasons include being too small to compete in the global markets, over-regulation of the industry, not enough regulation, the existence of the CWB, the loss of the CWB, mismanage-ment, the inability of co-ops to raise funds for upgrades and expansion, and ideology and politics.

However, there is one reason rarely brought for-ward which farmers need to think about, not only to account for what happened to these co-operatives, but to prevent the same sorts of buyouts from hap-pening to thousands more member-owned businesses, ranging from the few remaining independent grain facilities to farm supply co-operatives, rural gas and electrical co-ops, and credit unions.

That factor is a lack of business succession planning. Why are we not planning for the succession of our co-operative businesses to the next farming generation?

One of the main reasons co-ops disappear may simply be an increasing lack of knowledge of what co-operatives are. Many farmers no longer differenti-ate between the corporate and co-operative business models. Failure to educate and update the co-oper-ative directors, staff, prospective co-op members, and even current membership on the advantages and benefits of being a co-operative may be the leading cause of co-operatives transitioning to a corporate or private ownership structure.

Dr. Greg McKee, ag economist at North Dakota State University, argues that each co-op must have an ongoing education program. “Co-ops must communi-cate with the membership to prevent misunderstand-ings,” McKee says. “They need to educate the core membership on the role of a co-op. They need to provide leadership training to the board.”

This is not to say that co-ops can ignore supply-

and-demand forces, and McKee is quick to agree that co-ops must be competitive to remain in busi-ness. To retain their membership, he says, co-ops must compete with all other businesses in both price and quality of products and service.

LeadershipIn their working paper “Succession Planning in Non-

profit Organizations” published by the Centre for Non-profit Strategy and Management at Baruch College, New York, researchers identified an “impending leadership deficit” for co-operatives and non-profit organizations. The authors found by survey that only 18 per cent of co-operatives have developed a formal plan for CEO transition. The paper’s summary stated: “Both types of organizations see succession planning as important, yet are doing relatively little about it.”

Quality leadership is as important to success in a co-operative as it is in any other business. According to McKee, a board must “define the characteristics desired for the CEO, aligning CEO succession with business goals and ensuring that a pool of qualified candidates exists. Selection of the CEO is the most important activity of the board of directors. Planning for CEO succession is a board responsibility and the board should not wait for the CEO to raise the issue.”

McKee also says succession planning needs to go beyond simply setting a procedure for replacing the CEO, and also must identify the skills and traits needed in a CEO as well as encourage the development of these skills in management personnel within the co-op.

McKee feels the same attention must be paid to selection of directors of the co-op. The current board needs to seek out members who have the attributes desired in a director. They must actively recruit and educate potential directors.

McKee even recommends that co-ops consider hav-ing a non-member director on the board if that person brings needed skills to the board table.

The Ontario Co-operative Association suggests add-ing a youth directorship to the board of a co-operative. This provides a learning opportunity not only for a young person but for the board as well. (A check is needed of provincial legislation to determine how old a person must be to be a director — usually 18.)

It is important that boards which bring in a youth director ensure the youth director has all the rights and responsibilities of any directorship,

including voting privileges. A youth director should not to be a token position. However, the association says the term of appointment may differ, such as a one-year term for a youth director instead of the usual three- or four-year term for a director.

StrategiesWhile education and leadership are important,

co-ops must also ensure they continue to meet the needs of all members. This was likely a lot easier in the past when there was likely less differentiation in farm size and in the business needs of members. The more diverse the membership, the more likely it is that the co-op will run into problems. As well, the larger the membership, the greater the risk of the co-op failing.

McKee, however, suggests a number of strategies to address this issue of member satisfaction.

First, clearly identify the goals of the members and of the co-op. Continually communicate these goals to the membership, staff and directors.

Second, identify where the business is losing member-ship and address the problem.

Third, stop trying for 100 per cent consensus. It is impossible to be everything to everyone all the time. Focus on the core business of the co-op.

Fourth, consider offering customized or specialized services for a subset of the membership. While this may appear to go against the basic equality principle of co-ops, McKee suggests co-ops could offer a new class of membership, or a preferred membership for the subset of membership who is looking for additional service over and above the basic service available to all members.

McKee is also emphatic on another point: “A co-op cannot simply continue with business as usual. A co-op will not succeed if it will not change with the times.”

An example of change may be using social media like Facebook, Twitter, or even a blog to communi-cate with the membership and prospective members (especially young people) about the co-operative and how it differs from other businesses. (The addition of a youth director may bring valuable information about social media to the board table.)

Dr. Murray Fulton, director of the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives at the University of Saskatch-ewan, identifies some other issues that co-ops have expe-rienced which likely have contributed to the transition of some rural co-ops. He also identifies the succession strat-egies that could have been used to prevent these issues leading to loss of membership control.

According to Fulton, some co-ops fail to allocate sufficient funds to cover retained earnings which are pay-able when members leave a co-op. He says a co-op must set aside the funds needed to cover this cost. He also sug-gests a co-op may even want to consider a regular, sched-uled payout of retained earnings for all members instead of waiting until members leave.

On the other hand, Fulton points out some co-oper-atives have not allocated enough of the profits gener-ated by the co-op for the growth of the co-operative. While high patronage rebates benefit current mem-bership through lower costs and services, it can be a

short-sighted strategy. Instead of returning all profits as patronage dividends, Fulton wonders if perhaps some of these funds could remain as permanent capital of the co-op to be used for growth and expansion of services.

New-generation co-operativesFulton and McKee warn that new-generation co-

ops present an even greater challenge for long-term continuation under the co-operative business model. While new-generation co-ops seemed the perfect way for a group to fund a new venture to provide a needed service in a community, this model typically requires a very significant upfront investment by the membership.

Even after a relatively short time, a successful new-generation co-op (NGC) can have increased so much in value that potential new members simply cannot afford to buy out members seeking to leave the co-op. As a result, new-generation co-ops are even more likely to transition away from member-ship control than a traditional co-op.

If you are a member of a new-generation co-op it is even more critical you have a strategy in place to transfer ownership to new members if you want the business to remain under membership control.

This is also the opinion of USDA economist Bruce Reynolds. In his publication, Ownership successiOn crucial fOr rural america, Reynolds writes: “The challenge is that most beginning farmers, especially those with farm debt, cannot afford to buy appreci-ated shares in a new-generation co-op.

“In recent years, many value-added enterprises have been functioning as NGCs but have been formed as Limited Liability Companies (LLCs),” Reynolds continues. “In this way farmers have a larger market for selling shares, one that includes non-farmer inves-tors, but ownership and control of these businesses will become increasingly unavailable to beginning farmers, or to any farmers, for that matter.

“Thus the new-generation co-operative may not become the co-operative for the next generation of farmers.”

The co-operative business model is highly success-ful. The 2012 House of Commons Committee report “Status of Co-operatives in Canada” points out one in three private-sector businesses fails whereas only one in five co-operative enterprises fails.

However, their downfall is business succession planning. If you are a member of a co-op, and want to see the business continue to be member con-trolled, succession planning is an issue your member-ship and directors must tackle immediately. CG

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New-generation co-ops are even more vulnerable. Many get sold, although there’s no reason they should have to


n the February 4 edition of Country Guide, you read about Canada’s latest $13 million in agricultural development aid being invested in Ukraine to create a new generation of farm co-operatives under the Canadian International

Development Agency (CIDA).While the Ukraine project represents a signifi-

cant financial investment, CIDA has funded much larger agricultural development programs in the past, most notably one in Africa in which Canadian-built machinery played a key role.

In a long-term project in Tanzania that ran from 1968 to 1993, CIDA invested a total of nearly $78 million to create a state-of-the-art wheat farm. It was based on the western Canadian model of broad-acre production using large-scale machinery, and the plan was to hand over management of the farm within a few years of it becoming fully operational.

In 1987, during phase two of the project, a ship-ment of Massey-Ferguson 852 combines and Versa-tile four-wheel drive tractors arrived on the CIDA farm, which was set up and staffed by experienced Canadian prairie farmers.

“A block of land, about 3,000 acres, actually very close to Mount Kilimanjaro, was made available west of Arusha, which is the second-biggest town in Tanzania,” recalls Dave Nicolle, an engineer who worked for Massey-Ferguson’s combine assembly

plant when it was located in Brantford, Ont. He was one of a team of engineers sent to the farm by Massey-Ferguson to assemble the combines and see they were operating properly.

“Everything else came from Canada,” Nicolle says. “The pre-fab houses, even the furniture came from Ikea (through Canada). There was no hydro so they brought 110-volt generators. But the rest of the country was 220 (volt). So it was uniquely Canadian.”

“There were a lot of Versatile four-wheel drive tractors from Winnipeg. Because western Cana-dian farmers were used to pull-type combines, they asked for pull types, which we made. They were 852s. At least half a dozen were sent from the (Brantford) factory.”

“There were brutal roads getting from Arusha out to the farm,” Nicolle remembers. “Something that would take an hour in North America took four hours. The only vehicles that would stand up in that part of the world were (Toyota) Land Cruisers. I remember they had about 34 of them that the Cana-dian government had bought to provide transporta-tion on the ground.”

On the farm, CIDA had built top-quality facilities to keep machines operating, along with an ample supply of spare parts. “They had a beautiful work-shop complex,” says Nicolle. “The spare parts in it

The power To help AfricAWhere Canada once based its aid programs on high-capacity, Canadian-built machinery, new industry-led plans work better

By Scott Garvey, CG Machinery Editor

b u s i n e s s

Winnipeg-built Versatile tractors

and Brantford-built MF combines

were supplied to Tanzania as part of

the development of a large-scale

wheat farm created by CIDA.

photogrAphy: rAy BiAnchi

were unbelievable. They even had spare engines for the Versatile tractors.”

But despite the massive investment and the proven production capacity of the farm while under the management of CIDA staff, it ended in failure after it was turned over to locals.

In response to a Country Guide request for infor-mation, the federal government described the result this way: “An important lesson learned from this project was that Tanzania’s dependence on foreign machinery and expertise, coupled with the liberaliza-tion of the Tanzanian economy, meant that the cost of the wheat production and the approach of tying development assistance to the use of foreign equip-ment was not sustainable.”

But a dependence on foreign-built machinery wasn’t — and still isn’t — unique to Tanzania. Other countries face the same situation and still succeed. And the farm’s output had been significant. “(It) pro-duced import savings of $140 million over the lifes-pan of the project,” noted the government response. “Significantly, during the drought in 1992, Tanzania was the only Southern African state that did not require food aid.”

Although the government also fingers dependence on foreign expertise as a factor contributing to the farm’s demise, it acknowledges the farm contributed significantly to local skills, “…training more than 120 Tanzanians in all aspects of wheat production, and 150 mechanics gained skills and experience at the maintenance workshop.” So, clearly, enough expertise was created within the country to continue the farm.

Those familiar with conditions in Africa aren’t surprised the CIDA project failed after Canadian managers left. They suggest the failure was inevitable because of widespread poverty, cultural differences and political corruption.

Those trying to mechanize the region now have devised an approach they think takes those factors into account.

Martin Richenhagen, chairman and CEO of AGCO, has been one of the driving forces working

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In total, about 1,700 locals were employed at the CIDA farm during the time it was operated by Canadian managers.

An impressive and well-stocked maintenance facility was built in order to keep the Canadian-built equipment operating.

to expand agriculture on that continent, and he is well versed in the challenges.

“When an African farmer gets a tractor through an aid program, and they get it for free, those are very poor guys,” Richenhagen said during a 2012 interview in Jackson, Minnesota. “So they think about it. Well, what is better? Is it better to start to work hard or is there a better way to make money? So the first thing is they sell the seat. They strip the tractor down to the parts. After about a year the trac-tor is completely gone and you find the engine on a power generator or a water pump or something like that. So this brought us to the problem, how do we do better?”

Successful development under those conditions requires a different tack than the CIDA program took. The overall approach to increasing mechaniza-tion there now is very different. And global brands including AGCO are involved in the effort.

It goes without saying that aside from the moral obligation to help eliminate hunger, there is enor-mous potential for future profits if they succeed.

“We try to do two things,” says Richenhagen. “One is we invest in, we call them, demonstration farms — farms which are managed by Westerners where we can train customers and dealers in mechanized farming. It’s different than what we’re used to here. It’s like our farm-ing used to be in the ’50s or ’60s. We do that with the help of the seed and chemical guys as well.

“The second thing is we also use those demo farms

b u s i n e s s



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as machine stations. We don’t sell a tractor anymore, but we rent it to a farmer for a day. He pays for a day. He has to bring it back, clean it, check the oil. He has to do the little service. So we make sure the tractor stays together. We force them into a discipline.”

But a major cultural impediment to development revolves around the fact that women are often the ones expected to provide labour, not men. “You need to understand the African culture,” Richenha-gen explains. “In most of Africa, work is only for women.” However, they sometimes can’t reap the benefits of their own efforts.

That factor wasn’t lost on delegates at the 2013 AGCO Africa Summit, Richenhagen’s annual event held in Berlin in January that brings leaders together to strategize on how to stimulate agricultural development.

“…the rule of law is important as well, in order (for women) to be able to acquire land titles,” sug-gested Gudrun Kopp, parliamentary state secretary to the federal minister of economic co-operation and development in Germany, during her address at the summit. “…they are the ones driving devel-opment forward. It is thus important that they are able to inherit a piece of land.”

It’s something many women still can’t do.Now into its third year, the annual Africa Sum-

mit has helped blend and co-ordinate public and private sector initiatives. Despite that, the chal-lenges ahead on that continent are formidable.

“This is what we’re doing, and we have a good plan,” says Richenhagen. As CIDA’s earlier effort showed, anything less than that just isn’t enough. CG

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ELITE WILD OAT CONTROLIS JUST THE BEGINNING.


ockey legend Gordie Howe was born on the Canadian prairies in Floral, Sask., on the outskirts of Saskatoon. Tough and scrappy, he dominated along the boards and in

the corners where his legendary elbows secured his space and made him a formidable competitor.

At one point Canadian farmers fielded entire teams made up of those sorts of players — tough competitors. They were ready to get out there and mix it up with diseases, weeds and insects, as they benefited from countless years of natural selection and selective breeding.

But a funny thing happened after the Second World War. Suddenly a peacetime purpose needed to be found for chemical and explosives plants, and under the tutelage of Norman Borlaug, the Green Revolution appeared.

With its library of new science-based tools, it encouraged unintended consequences, where plant breeders selected lines with maximum yield poten-tial and paid less attention to their competitiveness, since these powerful new tools would clear the play-ing field for them. Essentially we’d begun to field teams of Wayne Gretskys, while buying the services of a bunch of Marty McSorley types to keep the goons off of them.

Most farmers never notice, precisely because those tools are so good. But one group of farmers knows all too well what happens when those tools are taken away. They’re organic farmers and frequently their variety choices are a serious throwback to the days of yore, according to Martin Entz, a plant science profes-sor and researcher with the University of Manitoba.

That’s because there is no shortage of wheat strains for the conventional farmer who may choose from many excellent varieties. Any registered wheat grown in Canada comes from a reputable breeding program where they’re grown under very tightly con-trolled conditions with selected inputs in clean plots. On the other hand, the organic farmer’s selection is much more limited, because left unattended some of these great varieties will be quickly roughed up and have the puck stolen from them.

“In Manitoba we did see that there were certain varieties of wheat that organic farmers were growing that were a little different from conventional farm-ers, things like Cadillac and AC Domain,” Entz says. “There’s a group of organic farmers on the Prairies,

as well as in B.C. and Ontario, that like heritage varieties like Red Fife.”

Red Fife is a strain of wheat that understands organic conditions. It first appeared on the farm of David Fife in Peterborough, Ont., in 1882, back when organic farming was conventional farming. It had a distinctive red colour and it soon became a favourite with millers and bakers. It also had elbows like Gordie Howe, and became a favourite of farm-ers for its agronomic toughness.

One organic farmer says she’s using these ancient varieties because the newer ones just aren’t suited to the more competitive environment of an organic farm and the reality of having to scramble for scarcer resources. A dose of anhydrous is an easy spoon-feed compared to organic nitrogen, and weed competition can make an organic field a rough neighbourhood for a domestic annual. Organic strains really need elbows.

“Nature is not kind sometimes and if you think you’re going to fight it you’re going to lose so you learn what’s possible and you learn to work within the realm of the possibility,” explains organic producer Kate Storey, of Grandview, Man. “I look for moderate height. The dwarf varieties are going to get covered by weeds but those great tall varieties are not going to be productive and we’re looking for productivity, so lots of heads, lots of tillering.”

Another trait she likes is disease resistance and this is something you can find in a lot of the con-ventional varieties. But she also needs a plant that’s thrifty and good at scavenging for residual nitrogen, something that will give her wheat a quick start and a leg up on weed competition. Because the organic community is relatively small, what they need in terms of agronomics hasn’t been a priority for the larger breeding operations run by either the govern-ment or the private sector.

“Like every crop that’s grown in a serious way it needs good varieties and there are good conventional varieties out there but we were not sure whether they were the best ones for organic,” Entz says. “The organic farmers have not been serviced well with varieties specific to their needs.”

Up to about 100 years ago, farmers actually bred their own crops, and part of last year’s yield was reserved for the next spring. Other seed stock came from neighbours or, in some cases, from far-flung distributors. In this way the farmer’s eye was the first test and seeds from last year’s most productive plants found their way back into the soil. New varieties

Into the corners

By Gord Leathers

There’s no polite way to say it — our modern crop varieties are very productive, well-bred wimps

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were tested as they came and if they were suitable they’d find their way into the rotation and into the gene pool.

In this way Red Fife ruled for many years, but didn’t meet the new standards for uniformity demanded by a more industrial approach to agriculture. In the early 1900s Red Fife was crossed with Hard Red Calcutta and the result-ing strain, called Marquis, became the new standard and remained on top into the 1930s. Selecting and developing new strains became the domain of the profes-sional breeder and with the advent of genetics, the job of breeding new strains left the farm field and moved to the labs and test plots of the doctoral class.

It’s a time-consuming and expensive undertaking that makes sense in the large-scale, one-size-fits-all arena of modern input agriculture. Still, the organic markets are increasing and some farmers are responding by making the jump to organic certification. But the organic grower suffers a dearth of germplasm for a couple of reasons. First, it’s still a relatively small market for large-scale breeders. That’s compounded by the fact that low-input farming demands a plant that can deal with a variety of conditions and those conditions are not stable.

In short, effective organic varieties are best forged in the crucible of the organic plot, with widely variable soil condi-tions, high biotic action and communi-ties of weeds. It requires that they be custom bred for a wide variety of field conditions and the best way to do that may be locally with specific strains tai-lored to specific geographies. Entz men-tioned this over coffee with Agriculture Canada wheat breeder Stephen Fox back in 2004 and the seeds were planted.

“I spent some time in Europe and saw how those organic research programs were actually developing varieties that were entirely selected under organic man-agement,” Entz recalled. “I said, hey, this is a good idea, let’s do this and so that’s what we did.”

He, Fox and Agriculture Canada oat breeder Jennifer Mitchell Fetch set out a program with some money from the Organic Science Cluster and the BAUTA Initiative and to house a diverse range of test plots, they got help from an old and truly valuable source. They sent out invi-tations to organic farmers to help with the program.

“There are several ways farmers can get involved and one of them is by pro-viding research sites for agronomic and plant breeding experiments,” Fox says. “Having access to experimental land in differing environments is particularly important for us.”

Not only were farmers asked if they would provide land for test plots, they were also invited to tend them and select the best plants for the next generation. In this way farmers would help produce strains that were ideal for the growing con-ditions on their own land. Fox and Mitch-ell Fetch did the crosses for the first three growing seasons and then the F3 (i.e. third generation) seeds were sent to the farms and grown there for three seasons.

“They wanted us to plant the seed that they sent us into plots that were one metre wide and 30 metres long,” Sto-rey says. “Then we’d go back in July to look at the plot, monitor the disease and mark down what was happening. When the plants were ripe we’d collect 500 heads, put them in a bag and send them in to the university.”

Gary Martens did what was called negative selection, “which means that I walked through my little field most Sunday afternoons, just as a leisurely thing to do, and I picked out anything I didn’t like,” says the University of Mani-toba staff agrologist and farmer par-ticipant. “What I didn’t like was really short stuff, because I knew that wouldn’t compete against weeds, and stuff that wasn’t vigorous I figured wasn’t very good at getting nutrients. Yellow stuff means it was lacking nitrogen. I didn’t

want stuff that couldn’t find its nitrogen and I didn’t want plants with only a sin-gle tiller. Later in the season I was look-ing for leaf diseases and if I noticed there was disease on the leaves I just pulled it out and discarded it. Right near harvest, if I noticed fusarium on the head, I just pulled that plant and threw it out and I kept on pulling plants through the whole season and harvested what was left.”

Martens concluded each year by thor-oughly cleaning the seed and selecting the very biggest and best of them. Then the professional breeders would look after crosses for years seven and eight. All in all, the germplasm was selected by doctoral level experts but a lot of field level experience was brought to bear by the farmers.

“Trying to predict what a plant should have in order to be a good organic variety is impossible,” Entz says. “The best thing to do is to make crosses and then select under organic conditions so that the plant figures it out itself.”

What comes out is a viable crop strain, custom bred for a specific geogra-phy with specific conditions. Ultimately this could be just what organic growers need for the best possible production in an ecologically diverse environment.

“There’s a lot of factors involved with what would work well under their particular system or their rotation,” Mitchell Fetch says. “Stephen has one that’s going to come up for support for registration this year and it actually per-forms really well under conventionally managed systems so it’s done well in both places.”

Perhaps this shows the real value of a program like this. If what comes out of it is a tough, ornery strain of wheat, born of the Prairies like Saskatoon’s favourite son, conventional farmers can also produce well with less fertilizer and fewer herbicides. Wheat with elbows like that could be cost-effective in any-one’s rotation. CG


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“We’d begun to field teams of Wayne Gretskys, while buying the services of a bunch of Marty McSorley types.”


hen Canadian wheat is the topic of conversation, it’s only a matter of time before quality milling wheat becomes a focus.

After all it’s our international brand, and our red spring wheat is said to be one of the best milling wheats in the world, perfect for bread baking.

But did you know there’s another wheat that is often overlooked, but an equally good mill-ing wheat, albeit for a slightly different market? Quality characteristics of Canada Western Red Winter (CWRW) wheat make it a perfect choice for use in processing food products that require a high-quality wheat with low-to-medium pro-tein levels. While it doesn’t have the high pro-tein of a Hard Red Spring wheat, it actually outstrips it in some milling characteristics.

“CWRW in particular has the best mill-ing performance amongst all Canadian wheat classes in terms of flour yields, low ash con-tent, and colour that is bright and stable which means the dough discolours very slowly,” says Ashok Sarkar, head of milling technology at Cigi (Canadian International Grains Institute). CWRW protein is guaranteed at a minimum of 11 per cent for the top two grades.

“Anywhere U.S. HRW with 11.5 per cent protein is being used, CWRW can adequately fulfill those processing require-ments,” he says. “It can be used for virtu-ally any kind of medium-hard wheat-based food product, and with it customers also get the Canadian quality package which brings cleanliness, uniformity, improved yields, lower ash and better colour.”

CWRW has been traditionally in demand for feed markets. However, the wheat class is well-suited for food products such as hearth breads and flatbreads and in blends with soft

Unsung championMove over red spring. Our red winter can be superior choice

By Ellen Goodman, Cigi

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Top: Cigi techician Da An (Anne) cuts steamed bread for a sensory evaluation test at Cigi’s Winnipeg facility. Bottom: CWRW wheat is proving perfect for certain Asian food products such as these steamed buns.

wheat for crackers. The low ash content results in good flour for places such as China and throughout Southeast Asia. In some Asian countries flour bleaching occurs to obtain desired product brightness, and the possibility of banning the practice opens up greater potential use of CWRW.

“It’s still the best class for steamed bread because of its whiteness,” says Esey Assefaw, head of Cigi Asian products.

“When it’s milled at the same standard milling procedure, same extraction rate and protein, side by side with other types of wheat, it gives the highest whiteness which is great for steamed bread because they want it as white as possible.”

Sarkar recalls that a number of years ago, when Cigi conducted an evaluation of wheat mixes for various food applications in Thailand, the mix for steamed bread used CWRW as the core wheat.

Domestic mills will sometimes use CWRW for blend-ing to slightly lower the protein content of flour, he says. CWRW is also blended with soft wheat flour to add protein strength for certain baked products. “Yeast-based dough or fermented doughs used for crackers require strength, so using soft wheat doesn’t always give good results. That is why CWRW is blended 50-50 sometimes. It fits nicely because it’s got lower protein, and is not as hard.”

The Canadian system of protein segregation which, for Nos. 1 and 2 CWRW guarantees no less than 11 per cent protein, has helped ensure quality and consistency for end-use processing, Sarkar says.

Over the years Cigi has carried out quality evaluation of CWRW on behalf of customers and for technical missions overseas. In September 2013, Sarkar and Assefaw demon-strated quality characteristics of CWRW varieties in mill-ing and the processing of steamed bread and white salted noodles to customers at major milling companies in Japan, as well as South Korea, who had a limited awareness of its potential. Samples of newer wheat varieties from Cana-dian grain companies were compared to those used by the Japanese and Korean companies from competitor countries which generated positive results for CWRW varieties.

“CWRW is a very high-quality wheat for the food appli-cations it’s used for,” adds Rex Newkirk, Cigi vice-president of research and innovation. “Yes, it has lower protein, but there are lower protein markets and it gives amazing flour yield. Sometimes when you hear or read about low-, medium-, and high-quality wheat, what is really being dis-cussed is protein, not actual quality.” CG

A P R I L 2 0 1 4 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a 5 3

“ CWRW in particular has the best milling performance amongst all Canadian wheat classes.”

— Ashok Sarkar, Head of Milling Technology, Cigi

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There are many There are many There are many reasons to rinse.reasons to rinse.reasons to rinse.There are many reasons to rinse.There are many There are many There are many reasons to rinse.There are many reasons to rinse.There are many reasons to rinse.There are many There are many There are many reasons to rinse.There are many Empty Pesticide Container Recycling Program>

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F I E L D N O T E S

MOSAIC CHIEF TO STAY ON THROUGH TREATMENT FOR CANCER

The Canadian-raised CEO of U.S. fertilizer firm Mosaic Co. plans to stay on the job but cut back on travel while undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

Mosaic recently disclosed Jim Prokopanko, the com-pany’s CEO since 2007, was diagnosed and is undergo-ing treatment. The company did not elaborate on what type of cancer Prokopanko has.

“While this is a serious matter, the good news is that I’m feeling well and my doctors have informed me that I was diagnosed at an early stage,” Prokopanko said in the company’s release.

“I’m planning to work a regular schedule and per-form my duties as CEO, but will be limiting travel over the coming months while I attend to this condition.”

The Minnesota-based company’s chairman, Robert Lumpkins, said Prokopanko has developed a “talented management team who will continue to advance the strategic direction, laid out by Jim and our board, during this difficult period. With Jim’s assistance and leadership, we have ensured there is a process for man-agement continuity throughout his treatment.”


Tiny bug could be big problem for canolaAgCanada.com

The farm newspaper the Manitoba Co-oper-ator is reporting the emergence of a nasty new canola pest that could have enormous ramifications for canola production on the Prairies.

The pest in question is Swede midge — a vora-cious mosquito-like bug that can wreak havoc with your canola yields.

First found in North America in 2000, it appeared in low numbers in Manitoba in 2007 and 2013, says Julie Soroka, a Saskatoon-based entomologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

“The most I’ve ever caught is five adult males, but if we ever get the numbers that Ontario has got, we’ll have to start growing alfalfa for hay, because there’s probably more profit in it,” Soroka said in a presentation on emerging canola pests at the recent CanoLAB 2014.

So tiny that it looks like it couldn’t hurt a fly, this cousin of the wheat midge is causing such havoc in Ontario that many farmers there have given up on canola due to devastating losses.

Unlike its cousin, Swede midge can go through as many as five generations in a single growing sea-son and overwinter in the soil anywhere in Canada where canola is grown.

Like its cousin, the bug emerges only in wet weather. The males only live for a day, but the females hang around for a couple more days — long enough to lay a few hundred eggs on plant leaves, buds and flowers.

The minuscule sap-sipping larvae do the most

damage, but losses depend mainly on when they start feeding. The earlier they appear, the more dam-age they cause.

“If you have heavy damage before bolting, you can actually have total destruction of your seed potential,” said Soroka, adding that the flowers turn into “bottles” that never open.

Swede midge is nearly impossible to control chemically. Adults are weak fliers, but they are often blown in from other areas. Also, because they only live for a few days, detection and spraying effec-tively is very difficult.

Once in the pupa stage in the soil, there’s no effective solution, Soroka added.

“Canola is susceptible for a long period of time. It’s not like wheat, where once wheat has passed the growth stage, the midges are gone,” said Soroka.

Early seeding helps the canola to get a head start on the bug and heavier seeding rates may offer a dilution effect.

The Swede midge in Sweden In Sweden, farmers have learned to cope with

the bug by working together. By synchronizing their cropping plans, and only planting canola once out of every four years, they find that it can be outma-noeuvred, she added.

However, Sweden’s canola acreage is much lower than here, and it often uses mouldboard plows to bury the insect pupae in the soil, a strategy that Soroka said is very effective.

The good news is that the bug can’t thrive under dry conditions, but the bad news is that it can hang around for another year. Even worse is the fact that biological control agents or natural enemies of the critter in Canada are non-existent. CG

P r o d u c t i o n f i e l d n o t e s

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The 6th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture in Winnipeg, Manitoba, will present new ideas on all these topics and more. Be there June 22-25, 2014, for innovative solutions for challenges facing today’s agriculture.Weatherproofing agriculture is one of three major themes for the conference, along with Growing More with Less and Sharing Innovation Success Stories.

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hy does it appear to be so easy for animal rights activists to get a camera into a livestock operation, and so hard for the popular press to do exactly the same thing?

The most recent example was when the industry got yet another black eye with an “inside” look at turkey farms, courtesy of CBC’s “Marketplace.” The program could certainly generate its own video, but the truth is they used gory scenes from a video stuffed with rampant examples of animal abuse from the group Mercy for Animals. That’s the same group that provided video to CTV’s “W5” that was alleg-edly taken in a chicken barn in Alberta, and the year before that, in a hog barn in Manitoba.

Mercy for Animals is an American-based animal rights group composed of kindly souls who are com-pletely averse to killing in any way, shape or form, unless it’s your market. Their operatives find work in your barns where they take covert video for several months. They post it on the web in order to discredit your industry and although this may not be honest, as far as they’re concerned the ends justify the means.

“Activist videos are not what they seem,” explains veterinarian Mike Petrik in the blog he writes under the name Mike the Chicken Vet. “I’m not saying they fake them (although that has hap-pened in some cases). What you need to realize is that the activist takes video for four to five months, then edits it into the worst 15 minutes possible. They aren’t interested in showing the truth. The mandate of animal activists is to stop the use of animals — all animals — and if false representation helps them stop a process they see as immoral, that is very acceptable to them.”

And this is why you as livestock producers need to get serious about improving access to your barns. Hiding behind bio-security protocols is, quite frankly, exactly that. If you can manage to have pro-tocols in place that work for employees and inspec-tors, surely the same could happen for occasional visits from members of the media. If the press had ready access on short notice, then they would see what a dull and routine place a barn really is and the animal rights groups would have their teeth pulled.

This is extremely important because, absent any credible and open response from industry, the activ-ist-supplied video, as the only video available, is

run unchallenged and unquestioned. Janet Riley of the American Meat Institute told me of one excep-tion where there was a later investigation. It was the undercover video shot by the Humane Farming Association (HFA) in an IBP packing plant in Wash-ington state that triggered an investigation back in 2001. According to the HFA, the line was running too fast and the workers couldn’t keep up. Conse-quently many of the cattle were alive and conscious as they were suspended and run down the line.

This hidden video found its way onto television stations whick showed the tightly edited snippets of squirming cows. People who saw it were outraged. The WashingTon PosT did a large spread on the story and, again, the livestock industry came out of it with a bloody nose. The official investigation asked for, and got, the full three and a half hours of HFA video and it showed something quite different.

The problem was actually a faulty captive bolt gun that intermittently failed to deliver the fatal shot. Some of the cows started regaining consciousness but were properly stunned within seconds in accordance with company protocol. The edited video showed what went wrong but not how it was quickly cor-rected. According to the official report issued by the USDA among others:

“The prosecuting attorney was particularly con-cerned that the unedited videotape demonstrated HFA’s intent to promote a particular agenda through the edited tape, such that all evidence developed by HFA was discredited. Other credibility issues include the possibility of witness bias based on a history of labour unrest at the plant.”

Investigators found some violations and these were documented with penalties assessed, but none of them had anything to do with the Humane Farm-ing Association’s original petition. However, by the time the report came out, the media had already had its fun and moved on, without doing any followup.

So it stands. We, the public, saw it on television, and therefore it must be true. As it turns out video may not lie but judicious editing certainly warps what’s there. I don’t know if the producers of either “W5” or “Marketplace” saw the complete video like the IBP investigators had. If they did, shame on them for misrepresenting livestock farmers like that for the sake of shock mongering. If they didn’t, then accept-ing video sight unseen from an animal rights group,

Open-door policyUnless the livestock sector is content to let animal rights activists set the agenda, it needs to become a whole lot more forthcoming and welcoming

By Gord Leathers


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people with a clear anti-livestock agenda, is sloppy work with an appalling lack of due diligence. Those of us who love the ironic have to laugh at the spec-tacle of CBC’s “Marketplace,” our national purveyor of caveat emptor, making an ass of itself by flogging such tainted goods.

On the other hand, however, when “W5” did their egg farm profile in Alberta last fall, they called the Egg Farmers of Canada who immediately battened down the hatches and sent out an advisory to all members to keep “W5” off their farms. Then they dodged any calls until they were finally confronted. It was messy.

“What sort of message does that send to the gen-eral public?” asks Guelph, Ont. poultry expert Ian Duncan. “It sends the message that this is going on everywhere. If they had been wise, they would have had a couple of model egg farms up their sleeve and told “W5,” if you want to see how egg farming is done then go there and have open doors. Having a locked door policy only creates suspicion.”

So what can the industry do? One step is, as Riley put it, to fight video with video. One example of this is the Glass Walls Project, a web-based slaughter-house tour hosted by Temple Grandin, the world’s most respected animal handler. There are no punches pulled and you actually see live animals killed and processed into the main cuts.

But what you also see is how gently these ani-mals are treated, and there’s a very good reason for this. If the animal is bruised, that part of the cut is discarded. If the animal is agitated, it produces lactic acid and this depletes muscle glycogen. What you have then is a “dark cutter,” an animal with dark, discoloured meat of much lower quality and lesser value. As Riley says, “not only is there a moral incentive, there’s an economic incentive to handle the animals humanely.”

Another example is the BBC program “Kill It, Cook It and Eat It” where you watch a group of people as they follow an animal from the pasture to the dinner table. Again, no punches pulled, the animals are killed and cut as you watch. Although it may be shocking to those who have never seen it before, the treatment is humane and a lot more typi-cal of what happens in a real slaughter plant.

We know this but the public really needs to hear it from you and not from Mercy For Animals or PETA. To paraphrase one of my colleagues here in Winnipeg, this is a game you can’t win by hiding. It’s time for the industry to kick the doors open and bring the media in. That way the popular press can get a much better look at what’s really happening on a day-to-day basis rather than through the brutal filter of the animal rightists. CG


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armers and insects have always had a complex relationship and it hasn’t become any simpler with modern chemistry. There’s no doubt that a lethal application of an insecticide can do wonders for crop

production if it’s needed and timely. But it’s a waste of good money if it isn’t. Every year farmers have to make the call to spray or not depending on whether a complex array of factors add up to what we call the economic threshold.

“It’s a process for producers to determine whether an application of an insecticide is economic,” explains Agriculture and Agrifood Canada entomologist Owen Olfert. “They want to control a certain pest if the eco-nomic injury level has been reached or exceeded.”

It’s a fact of life that no field ever farmed has pro-duced at 100 per cent efficiency. That’s due to the huge

number of curve balls Nature throws. Insect damage is going to lower yields but this shouldn’t always send farmers out with their sprayer. They have to watch for the economic injury level. They must answer the question: Does the looming economic loss make it worthwhile to take chemical action against a biologi-cal process? If the answer is “no” then there’s no point wasting time and money on spraying. If the answer is “yes” then a farmer can fill up the tank.

To make the call, farmers need to have a handle on the potential value of this year’s crop along with the cost per acre of buying the spray and running their sprayers. They should also have a good idea of what insect pests will be threatening their crops this year and what will be required to control them.

Adding up the costs is a good starting point and an experienced farmer with a handle on input prices and a well-kept set of records should have no trou-ble doing this. The biological factors, however, are another story. They’re completely unpredictable and this goes to the heart of that complex relationship. One thing about insects that we’ve come to know in the 10,000 years we’ve been farming is how well and how quickly their populations can expand to take advantage of an abundant food source.

Ecologists call this strategy r-selection and it hinges on small body size, early maturity and light-ning fast reproduction. These species are highly adaptable and thrive in unstable and unpredictable environments. Because of their fast reproduction, their populations boom when conditions line up, and they crash just as dramatically afterward. Their numbers, when graphed, show a rapid climb towards a peak with an equally rapid fall when predators and disease catch up.

Some plants act this way too and we easily recog-nize this same behaviour in all of our annual crop spe-cies. Their wild ancestors survived by using the same r-selective strategy, grabbing the opportunity when land was disturbed and bare soil became available. They’d germinate, grow quickly and produce huge numbers of seeds only to die off just as quickly, leav-ing those seeds on the ground to wait for their chance to germinate and flourish. This certainly explains why our pests are so at home among our crops. They’ve been doing this dance together for millions of years.

The first insecticides worked very well and DDT in particular brought about a revolution in pest con-

Crossing the thresholdNobody likes to see hungry insects in their field — but spraying in the absence of an economic rationale is bad economics and agronomics

By Gord Leathers

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“ You need a number that’s going to keep them from going above that economic injury level by the time you get your spray on.”

— John Gavloski, MAFRI

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trol. Insect pests were completely deci-mated for a number of generations, until the selective pressures favoured the prog-eny of resistant parents.

The tables turned back in the 1960s when DDT became virtually useless in the field, leading one old cotton farmer to observe that he was killing more wee-vils by running over them with the trac-tor than by spraying them with DDT.

A decade later, with new understand-ing of population genetics and new chem-istries, we started to play a more complex game called Integrated Pest Manage-ment or IPM. Farmers would scout their fields and, if the pest numbers were high enough, then they’d go in and spray. Oth-erwise they’d just leave the fields alone and let the natural enemies do the job. It was during this period we began to estab-lish economic thresholds.

“Essentially it started for environmen-tal reasons, but from a farmer’s perspective the economic threshold was promoted as an economically desirable thing to do, just to make sure that if you’re putting a pes-ticide out there’s an economic reason for doing that,” Olfert says. “So there was the biological component with economic ben-efits such as preserving natural enemies.”

That’s where we’re at today. A judi-cious farmer will look at the projected costs of control balanced against the pro-jected population levels of insects within the fields. To do that we look at the dif-ferent factors influencing insect behaviour. The first is the weather.

“The weather can be a big factor and the complex of insects present this year can change,” explains John Gavloski, provincial entomologist in Manitoba. “In some regions this year we had a very cold winter with minimal snowfall until January. In areas where they didn’t have a lot of snow their risk of cutworms and Bertha armyworms is a bit lower, because they overwinter right in the field. Other insects, like grasshoppers or flea beetles, overwinter in areas that tend to get a lot of snow accumulation so they’re going to be affected less. Again, your whole insect complex can change because of differ-ences in overwintering strategies.”

Once they get past the winter, the spring weather can be just as important. Grasshoppers love it when it’s hot and dry. If that’s what greets them when they hatch, then prolonged dry spells in the spring may lead to serious grasshopper problems. On the other hand, if it’s cool and moist, the grasshoppers may die off

and not be a problem at all, but these are the conditions in which wheat midge thrive. Watch for winds as well.

“A lot of insects don’t overwinter here,” Gavloski says. “They blow in with the prevailing winds or migrate in. Your risk of having them two years in a row really depends on when they blow in, what numbers blow in and the fact that they are mobile.”

Needless to say scouting is important. Good population estimates are integral to insect management. Scouts may look for damage because rough estimates may be done that way but proper counts are more accurate and will give you a better idea of how many are out there.

Accurate identification is also crucial. Because different pests have different habits, economic thresholds will vary with species. For example, in the case of Bertha armyworm the economic thresh-old is the same as the economic injury level. There’s one generation every year, so once they’ve hatched the population doesn’t tend to grow beyond that.

Aphids, on the other hand, reproduce very fast so there are several generations per year. In that case the economic injury level is set around 670 aphids per plant. The economic threshold, however, is set much lower.

“It’s around 250 per plant on aver-age and the reason they made separate

economic injury levels and economic thresholds is because you’ve got an insect that reproduces quickly,” Gavloski says. “So you need a number that’s going to keep them from going above that eco-nomic injury level by the time you get your spray on.”

A great deal of research into the biol-ogy and ecology of our insect pests goes into setting these thresholds and there’s still a lot of work to do. Not only is there a wide range of species that we know but there’s always new invasive species com-ing into the fields.

In some of the latest research we’re starting to factor in things like the popula-tion levels of natural enemies. In many cases

it’s the work of parasitoid wasps, many too small to be easily seen, and with some pests these wasps are crucial in keeping pest num-bers below economic injury levels.

“One of the advances occurring right now is using apps as decision-making tools and there are one or two of them out right now,” Gavloski says. “There is a soybean aphid app where you count your aphids but you also estimate num-bers of key natural enemies. It’s what they call a dynamic action threshold where it’s also incorporating information on natural enemies. With computers and apps the computing can be done simply enough but if you had to do it by hand, it would get complicated.” CG

“�It’s�a�process�for�producers�to��determine�whether�an�application�of��an�insecticide�is�economic.”�

—�Owen�Olfert,�AAFC

Monsanto Company is a member of Excellence Through Stewardship® (ETS). Monsanto products are commercialized in accordance with ETS Product Launch Stewardship Guidance, and in compliance with Monsanto’s Policy for Commercialization of Biotechnology-Derived Plant Products in Commodity Crops. This product has been approved for import into key export markets with functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material produced from this product can only be exported to, or used, processed or sold in countries where all necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It is a violation of national and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted. Growers should talk to their grain handler or product purchaser to confirm their buying position for this product. Excellence Through Stewardship® is a registered trademark of Excellence Through Stewardship.

ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Ready® crops contain genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides. Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate. Genuity and Design®, Genuity®, Monsanto and Vine Design®, Roundup Ready® and Roundup® are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada, Inc. licensee.

Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers


o the news is in. Agriculture is facing yet another crisis. This time, it isn’t a trade issue, commodity prices or politics. Instead, it’s the pressing shortfall in human resources for the agri-food, fuel and biotech industry.

The number of farmers is falling — just check any recent census. But the demand for all kinds of jobs pertaining to agriculture is growing, and not just for those who drive a tractor, scout fields or breed the latest varieties.

To keep viable, Canadian agriculture will need engineers, biochemists, video producers, lawyers, business planners — the list is seemingly endless.

The question is, where will we find them?One group that’s looking is Ontario Agri-Food

Education (OAFE), a not-for-profit established in 1991 through the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food to help the province’s teachers do a better job of making their students aware of agriculture.

“Ag in the classroom” has been a key OAFE program, but in 2012, the group also launched the Teacher Ambassador Program, a very different type of resource aimed primarily at engaging high school students in learning all that agriculture has to offer.

“It’s impacting students at the intersection where they’re actually having those thoughts (about a career),” says Colleen Smith, executive director of OAFE. “It’s great for younger students to know about agriculture, but our purpose with the Teacher Ambassador Program is to have a very targeted delivery system aimed at a wider audience than OAFE has ever targeted before.”

In the past, OAFE developed its programs and pro-moted them to traditional classroom teachers. Now, they’re aiming at the next generation of educators who are currently underemployed, by hiring them to con-duct classroom sessions as teacher ambassadors.

“This is not a guest-speaker program; they are teachers that are trained to deliver classroom lessons about the agri-food sector, lessons they take with them for life,” says Smith. “They have new skills in their tool kit that differentiate them in the market-place. And that’s the win-win of this program.”

“It’s definitely growing,” says Rachel Hendriksen,

outreach co-ordinator for the program. Already this school year, teacher ambassadors have conducted 162 lessons, compared to 131 for all of last year.

Measure the differenceAccording to a detailed study conducted late last

year by Synthesis Agri-Food Network in Guelph, the impact of the ambassador program is actually measurable. Prior to the 2013 Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, students participating in the program were asked three questions: 1. What is agriculture? 2. Name a career in agriculture, and 3. What’s one question you have about agriculture?

Then students toured the show near Woodstock, including stops at a seed company display, an equip-ment manufacturer and a robotic milking exhibit, among others. The impact was immediate. Students were asked the same three questions, and the second question yielded a substantial increase in career opportunities.

“We’re finding exactly the same thing in our classrooms,” says Hendriksen, who finds that unless students are from a rural background, they have very little first-hand experience with the sector. “Afterwards I find they’re starting to see jobs that are part of a bigger system, but also include farming. The examples we have are arborists, engineers, jour-nalists — they’re starting to see that there are other career opportunities.”

It’s a way of going beyond the online and video resources developed by other companies and orga-nizations which are often geared to those who are already engaged in agriculture at some level.

Teacher ambassadors can showcase agriculture across a variety of career options, appealing not only to those familiar with agriculture, but urbanites too.

“One day, there were two students I was talking to, and to one I said, ‘Have you ever considered a career in agriculture?’” says Hendriksen. “He said, ‘No.’ And I said, ‘Well, what do you think you’d want to do?’ And he said, ‘I want to work in the environment.’ I had to say, ‘Well, chances are, you’ll definitely be working in agriculture.’”

Hiring today’s youthThe job of grooming tomorrow’s ag employees starts while they’re still in school. These Ontario programs show it can work

By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor

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More wins waitingSmith believes the ambassador program still has a

long road ahead of it, in spite of its many successes. She points to the fractured nature of agriculture itself, with its many voices, mandates and priorities.

The ambassador program provides training and resources to guide new teachers through many agri-food hot topics, but on its own, this isn’t enough. The culture within agriculture needs to change as well, and Smith acknowledges that won’t happen overnight.

“We have to let go of our outdated notions in agricul-ture,” Smith says. “We need to be positive and proud.”

“Is it important for Canada to continue to pro-duce its own food? That’s a pretty basic question,

but I don’t think anyone is thinking about that now because we already have so much of it,” Smith adds.

She warns too, though, that it’s possible to get lost in the buzz about the industry, such as “three jobs for every graduate” or the job opportunities arising from new technology. “More important to me is how the Canadian public supports a national food strategy that will keep the food jobs in Can-ada. Why are we importing so much food when Canada is prolific in food production, and what is the impact on our own jobs? When you look at that reality, you wonder what the heck’s going on here.”

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No apologies

Among the ambassador program’s big support-ers is Lorie Jocius, in charge of special projects with Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show and the current chair of OAFE’s board of directors.

“Unless we want to be 80 and still doing these jobs, we need to engage the younger generations,” Jocius says. “This program is how we’re doing it more effectively.”

Jocius watched the impact of the farm show tour last September, from revealing that car parts are now made out of soybeans, to the mechanics involved in milking robotics or new seeding technology. She also recalls the impact of a John Deere executive saying there is more computer source coding in the newest combine than in a Boeing aircraft.

That changing face of technology means new opportunities. But Jocius also maintains that the issue has to be addressed now, not in five or 10 years.

“I think they’re starting to get it,” says Jocius, “but somebody still needs to step up and say, ‘If you guys still want to have a vibrant agricultural indus-try in this country in the next 20 to 30 years, you’d better start doing something about the educational concerns within the school system, and with regards to careers.’”

The 2013 Synthesis Agri-Food Network study compared Ontario’s previous approaches, accounted for OMAF’s expectations and even compared OAFE’s program to similar efforts in Michigan and Illinois. Based on that research, Synthesis president Rob Hannam believes the ambassador program is unique, and he isn’t sure other organizations would be capable of copying it.

A key feature is that the program is delivered by certified teachers, Hannam says. On top of that, though, is the link to the Outdoor Farm Show, and the wide scope of the show itself, with all of the things students can see as they’re walking around.

And it does make a difference, says Hannam, who points to the students’ ability to name careers in agriculture. “We moved up by 30 per cent just by exposing people to the careers in farming at the Outdoor Farm Show through the Teacher Ambas-sador Program,” he says. “That showed me that the program was a big success.”

That success can’t come soon enough, says Jocius. “Employment trends tend to work in waves that are usually reactionary rather than from reflec-tive analysis,” Jocius says. “If you’re reactionary when it comes to an employment trend, you’re already behind the eight ball. We already know there’s going to be a shortage coming and, person-ally, I think there’s a shortage now. And unless we’re prepared to let our kids or grandkids get their food in cans from other countries, we need to start edu-cating them now.” CG

ReachiNg aheadWhile OaFE focuses on high schools with its Teacher ambassador pro-

gram, the University of Guelph’s Ontario agricultural College is working on its own “reach ahead” initiative, along with a strategic plan with the alli-ance of Ontario Food processors.

“application numbers and the enrolment in programs have grown sub-stantially over the past couple of years,” says Dr. rob Gordon, dean of OaC,

First-year enrolment in Guelph’s B.Sc. in agriculture is up 35 per cent from last year. “and i just saw some statistics last week,” Gordon says. “in the province as a whole, applications in universities are down 10 per cent, mostly by demographics within secondary schools.”

reach ahead attracts Grades 11 and 12 students who are on track to develop specialized skills in business, agriculture, horticulture, food pro-cessing and the environment.

The other OaC initiative is work with the food processors to develop a talent management strategy. it’s a template for providing leadership and a means both of redefining the needs of the value chain and of keeping it moving in the right direction.

Gordon thinks such efforts must be ongoing. Every year there will be a new graduating class of high school students looking for a better sense of the career opportunities that exist in the sector.

“We need to make sure that we have clearly identified career opportuni-ties for them,” says Gordon. “The most frequently-asked question we have today through our liaison events, is ‘Tell me which job this will allow me to do.’ That’s an important question that you have to have an answer to.”


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t happens to all of us. We set goals but, in the end, are not able to reach them. Then how do we increase our chances of reaching our goals?

For decades, pop psychology gurus have encouraged people to visualize success, and

then, by magic, it will happen! “Don’t ask yourself any questions. You just have to believe, and the cos-mic universe will bring it to you.”

That’s the “secret.” However, it seems a long way from reality, at least on the farm.

Here by contrast are some real questions that can help you assess the quality of your goals, and your probability of achieving them.

Ask yourself about the importance of your goal. How important is it to you, on a scale of one to 10. If you rate it at six or below, you may give up when you encounter the first obstacle.

Also ask yourself about your sense of personal effectiveness. In other words, on a scale of one to 10, what degree of confidence do you have that you will succeed in reaching your goal, assuming you put in all the effort needed and have all the resources required?

Then ask if your goal is a “SMART” goal? Specific

Goals are often too vague. For example: “I am going to work less.” On the other hand, specific goals emphasize details such as, “I am going to take time for myself. I will play sports four times a week.” MeaSurable

Sometimes goals are imprecise. For example: “I want to cut my spending.” Measurable goals pro-vide concrete information, such as, “I will decrease my food costs by three per cent.” By establishing a number, it is easier to verify whether or not the goal has been reached. achievable

Frequently, success depends in part on establish-ing practical, achievable goals. For example, an unachievable goal might be, “I will grow my net income by 50 per cent next year.” Unachievable goals discourage us and undermine our self-esteem. realiStic

To be realistic, a goal must take into account both your strengths and your weaknesses, as well as your work environment. Be aware too that if you set the bar too high, you will be discouraged. If too low, it won’t trigger the adrenaline that it is required. tiMely

Deadlines encourage action. In addition, setting a specific schedule makes it possible to monitor progress on the work. For example: “I want to ren-ovate the old shed.” The question to ask here is, “By the end of this December or in about two years?”

Such SMART strategies are useful, but over the years, I have realized they aren’t enough on their own. Here are the pieces that are missing.

Make CLEAR goals. control

Do you control the results of your goal? When a client tells me, “My goal is to pass on the farm to my child,” I ask them, “What part of this do you control?” In this case, you can create conditions to facilitate the succession. After that, however, you have to let it go. legal

Some people reach their goal but don’t consider its legal ramifications. This can end in disaster. environMental and ethical

Goals are achieved within a system. When we pursue a goal, it affects our life and those around us. What are the consequences of your goals:• On your physical and psychological health? • On your spouse, children, employees, and associates?• On your environment and society in its widest sense?• On your ethics? appropriate alignMent

Are your goals aligned with your values, mission, and vision? regiStration

How do you register or track progress toward your goal?

Finally, to succeed, you must plan your resources.What resources will you need (money, time,

energy, skill development, contacts, equipment, etc.)? Accomplishing goals requires various resources. Make as realistic and specific a list as possible.

What are the obstacles you might face? How can you confront them and what steps can you take to overcome them? What are the self-limiting beliefs that you hold that could prevent you from reach-ing your goal? For example, “I am unable to learn information,” “I am too shy to meet people,” “They will not accept me.” Be prepared to challenge these beliefs in order to reach your goal.

The more you are able to respond precisely and positively to these questions, the more likely you are to succeed.

And remember: Where goals are concerned, there are two possible sources of misfortune: failing to reach them, and sometimes… succeeding. CG

Pierrette Desrosiers, M.Ps., CRHA is a work psy-chologist, professional speaker, coach, and author who specializes in the agricultural industry. She comes from a family of farmers and she and her husband have farmed for more than 25 years (www.pierrettedesrosiers.com). Contact her at [email protected].

Better ways to reach your goals

H R

By Pierrette Desrosiers, M.Ps., work psychologist, speaker, and business coach

BRITISH COLUMBIAMay 4-10: Highs in the teens, some 20s inland but frost and snow at higher levels. A few heavier showers. Blustery at times this week. May 11-17: Sunny aside from shower activity, blustery on two or three days. Near-normal temperatures with flurries and frost pockets higher elevations. May 18-24: Mostly sunny but with heavier showers on two or three days. Seasonal to warmer but with frost patches and flurries at higher levels. May 25-31: Pleasant with a few showers in the west and thundershowers in the east and the north. Highs in the teens on the coast and in the north, 20s inland. June 1-7: Warm and sunny on many days. Scattered shower activity with a chance of heavy thundershowers in the east and the north. June 8-14: Sunny with highs often in the 20s, possibly 30 interior. Scattered heavier showers, isolated thundershowers on a couple of days.

ALBERTAMay 4-10: Highs often in the teens with frosty nights. Sunshine alternates with heavier showers or rain/snow. Windy at times.May 11-17: Seasonal to cool. Patchy frost. Sunshine interchanges with heavier show-ers or thundershowers. Chance of snow central and north.May 18-24: Sunny but shower or heavy thundershower activity occurs on two to three occasions. Risk of frost and snow in some localities.May 25-31: Warmer and mostly sunny apart from showers or heavy thunder-storms on a couple of days this week. Blustery.June 1-7: Pleasant with highs often in the

20s. Passing showers or thunderstorms on two or three occasions, chance heavy in places.June 8-14: Warm and sunny most days but look for heavy showers or thunder-storms on a couple of days with a risk of hail, strong winds.

SASKATCHEWANMay 4-10: Seasonal to cool with occa-sional frost. Sunny and often windy with scattered showers, chance of snow. May 11-17: Variable temperatures with frost pockets. Windy. Sunshine alter-nates with rain and showers. Risk of snow mainly in the east and the north. May 18-24: Sunshine dominates but showers or heavier thunderstorms on a couple of days. Slight chance of frost and flurries in some areas.May 25-31: Blustery and sunny most days but passing showers or heavy thunder-storms on two or three occasions. Sea-sonal to occasionally cool. June 1-7: Seasonal temperatures and mostly sunny but a couple of warmer, humid days set off thunderstorms, some possibly heavy. June 8-14: Sunny and warm but with showers or thundershowers on two or three days this week. Risk of heavy thunder-storms in many localities.

MANITOBAMay 4-10: Seasonal to cool. Windy at times. Sunny apart from rain on two or three occasions. Frosty nights. Chance of snow in a few areas.May 11-17: Sunny but shower activity on two to three days. Cool with lows near zero on a couple nights. Blustery. Chance of snow in the north.May 18-24: Cool overall with a risk of frost in a few areas. Otherwise mainly sunny

this week apart from scattered showers or thunderstorms.May 25-31: Blustery cool days alternate with sunny and warmer days. Sunny but showers or heavier thunderstorms on a couple of occasions.June 1-7: Temperatures fluctuate under sunny skies. A couple of warmer days trig-ger thunderstorms, some heavy in places.June 8-14: Sunny and warm on many days but with scattered showers or thun-dershowers. Risk of heavy thunderstorms in a few localities.

w e a t h e r


May 4 to June 14, 2014

COLDER THAN USUALNORMAL PRECIPITATION

NEAR-NORMAL TEMPERATURES

AND PRECIPITATION

NEAR-NORMALTEMPERATURES

ANDPRECIPITATION

MILDERAND

DRIERTHAN

NORMAL

Warm

Scattered

showers

ChangeableShowersT/storms

ColdShowery

Changeable

Showery

MildShowery

spells

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

May 4 to June 14, 2014

NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTSThe transition to a warmer season will be marked by variable, changeable weather across the country. The most noticeable warming is anticipated in British Columbia where a westerly circulation is forecast to push warm and relatively dry conditions into the West. In contrast, a cold northerly circulation in Cen-tral Canada is apt to prolong cool tempera-tures over the eastern Prairies and Ontario. In these areas, frost and even some snow is expected to persist well into May. However, a warmer, wetter trend is expected in June. Elsewhere across the western Prairies as well as Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, look for variable weather with temperatures and precip-itation both averaging close to normal values.

NEAR NORMAL MILDER THAN NORMAL

COOLER THAN NORMAL


he next time you’re standing in the farm kitchen and you’re tempted to pass on the latest, juiciest bit of gos-sip, maybe you should think twice. We all know that gossip can wreck

reputations, create hurt feelings and lead to divisive conflict.

But what we don’t always pause to consider is that gossip can be especially destructive on the farm and in farm communities.

Of course, not all gossip is bad. In fact, anthro-pologists say that gossip helps us to live in groups. It’s a way to know who is a friend and who should be avoided, says Eric Anderson, a researcher with Northeastern University in Boston.

At its best, adds Elaine Froese, a farm family coach from Boissevain, Man., gossip is a way for people to stay connected and to find out what’s happening to one another. “When something goes wrong,” Froese says, “this informal information broadcasting lets people know what has happened so that others can help.”

Plus, gossip also communicates social norms, says Nicholas DiFonzo, a researcher at the Roch-ester Institute of Technology and author of The WaTercooler effecT. He points to all the talk

surrounding the Tiger Woods sex scandal as an example.

Sometimes we may share information out of a sense of social responsibility. For example, if some-one’s child is hanging around with someone who has a bad reputation, you may warn the parents, says DiFonzo.

Unfortunately, however, 70 per cent of gossip is shame or negative gossip, says DiFonzo. Gossipers solidify their own place in the hierarchy by knock-ing someone else down, he explains. Or they may gossip to get back at someone by harming their reputation.

The problem is that when we hear negative things about people, it changes how we feel about them without our even being aware of it, says Anderson. Even when we learn it’s not true, it doesn’t undo the damage that’s been done, he con-tinues.

Mary Abbajay, president of Careerstone Group, an organizational development firm in Washington, D.C. agrees, and says it’s human nature to pay more attention to information that supports our percep-tion of someone and to disregard information that doesn’t. She points out that psychologists even have a name for this tendency: “confirmation bias.”


l i f e

Gossip not as innocent as you think


Not only is negative gossip bad for individual reputations, it also creates a toxic environment where there are “in” groups and “out” groups, says Abbajay. “This is bad for morale and it hurts productivity,” she says.

Family businesses are ripe for problems with gossip since the lines between business and family are blurred. “I’ve seen family businesses rocked by gossip to the point where both the family and the business failed,” Abbajay says.

We do have the power to stop the damaging effects of gossip. Froese advises farm families to work to reduce destructive talk by not engaging in it and by naming it as inappropriate when people cross lines. “Remember that not all — and some would argue little — of what you hear from the rumour mill is true,” she emphasizes.

Also remember that if someone is gossiping to you about someone else, then chances are they gos-sip about you to others when you aren’t around, adds DiFonzo.

People will stop gossiping if no one is listening, says Abbajay. Some people think, “I’m only listen-ing, I’m not repeating it,” but that in itself encour-ages the gossip, she explains. “Active listening actually supports and promotes gossiping.”

Don’t agree with the gossiper, she contin-ues. “Turn it around by saying something posi-tive,” says Abbajay. It isn’t nearly as much fun to spread negative news if someone counters it with a complimentary statement about the person, she explains.

Tell the gossiper you don’t have time for gossip, or avoid the gossiper, Abbajay recommends.

Gossip is as old as mankind and it’s unrealistic to think we could free the workplace of gossip, says Abbajay. Even so, managers can take steps to curb negative gossip in the workplace.

Lew Bayer, Winnipeg corporate trainer and author of The Power of CiviliTy encourages com-panies to incorporate anti-gossip protocols into the Code of Conduct. Spell out what kind of language is off limits, she says. For example, it’s not OK to discuss someone’s health, weight gain or pregnancy, she says.

“It’s the old saying; If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all,” says Bayer. “It’s simple but it makes a difference.”

Managers should make it clear to employees that negative gossip hurts morale and productivity and that it will not be tolerated, agrees Abbajay. They also need to lead by example by not gossiping themselves.

By communicating regularly with employees,

especially during times of change, you can mini-mize speculation, says DiFonzo. “If people don’t know what’s going on they’ll make stuff up,” agrees Abbajay.

While social banter and idle chit-chat isn’t harmful and can even improve cohesion, gossip with negative emotional undertones should be avoided, says Abbajay.

So before you repeat anything you hear, ask yourself: If this was about you, would you want this information passed on?

Consider the impact of what’s being said. Does it cast negative aspersions? Does it create rifts? Does it perpetuate conflict or negativity? Is it hurt-ful or damaging? Is it something I would say in front of the person?

Consider your intentions and be honest, say

Froese and Abbajay. Are you passing on informa-tion to be helpful? Or are you sticking your nose in somewhere it doesn’t belong? If your intentions aren’t good, don’t repeat the information.

If you have a problem with someone, rather than talking about it to someone else, go directly to the person you are having the issue with, advises Abbajay. When you say, “I can’t believe so and so did this,” it gets passed along and expands the conflict. It’s like a game of telephone, she says, and everyone adds something to it.

The same principles apply in communities, says Abbajay. If you want a positive, supportive com-munity, then don’t pass on negative gossip, she says. “Everyone needs to take responsibility.”

What should you do if you are the one being gossiped about? You can confront the source, make a public statement or just ignore it, says Abbajay. “Gossip usually has a short lifespan, so sometimes the best thing to do is just to let it run its (hope-fully) short course. Creating a stink sometimes causes more drama than just letting it go.”

And if you’re the person who wrongfully gos-siped about someone? Apologize. Then make a point of not doing it again, says Abbajay. “We all do it from time to time.” CG

l i f e


Even if we later learn the gossip isn’t true, the damage is real, changing how we view people without our being aware of it


h e a lt h

Bug repellents

othing spoils a picnic, barbecue, or even weeding in the garden more than bug bites. And, if you work outdoors as farm folk do, insects are sure to find you. Regardless of

your occupation, however, you will probably have experienced insect bites, some of which were no more than bothersome, but others more potentially dangerous.

Biting insects such as mosquitoes, ticks, some flies, bedbugs, and fleas bite in order to feed on blood. A substance in their “saliva” prevents blood coagulation and makes their feeding possible. It is this substance that causes the local allergic skin reaction that you see as a bug bite.

Different people react differently depending upon their immune system’s allergic response, and if you have not experienced bug bites, you may have a more serious allergic reaction, for example a young child or a visitor from an area where bug bites are not the norm.

These biting insects can also be vectors or trans-mitters of disease. The mosquito species, Culex tar-salis, carries West Nile virus from infected birds to people. The deer tick transmits lyme disease from a variety of mammals to humans.

Regardless of whether or not insect bites might be the cause of disease, however, they are never pleasant.

Insects that sting include bees, wasps, hornets and fire ants. They sting as a defence mechanism and actually inject you with a venom through their stingers. The venom is the reason for the allergic reaction, which can range from mild swelling and redness to anaphylaxis.

If you, a family member, or a friend is allergic to insect stings, it is important to have on hand at all times a pre-filled epinephrine injector or “pen.” With each repeated exposure to insect stings, the allergic reaction can become more marked, with swelling of airways and an inability to breathe.

Epinephrine is able to counteract the allergic symptoms. However, you do need to seek immedi-ate attention.

Ideally, you want to avoid bug bites and stings. Avoiding insects is a good first step. Stay indoors when insects are most active, especially at dusk.

Avoid perfume and bright colours which can attract insects. When you are outdoors, wear long pants, long sleeves, and even tuck your pants into your socks in order to put a barrier between you and insects. Keep garbage, sweet beverages, and even food covered to avoid attracting insects.

The most effective bug repellents contain 25 to 30 per cent diethyl-meta-toluamide or DEET. However, these are mainly effective against biting insects, not stinging ones.

It is thought DEET works by confusing insects so that they are no longer able to find you; picture a radar-jamming cloud of bug repellent surround-ing your body. Proper application is important. You want to reapply your bug repellent after physi-cal activity, sweating, or swimming. When the weather is windy, your bug repellent may blow away faster, and with warmer temperatures your body heat and perspiration can mean a quicker dis-sipation.

The downside of DEET is that, when absorbed into the body in large amounts, it can affect the nervous system causing dizziness and disorienta-tion. Appropriate application is necessary. It should never be applied to damaged, broken, or cut skin, and when using a DEET-containing bug repellent on children, it shouldn’t be applied to hands because children often put their hands in their mouth.

You can apply the bug repellent to clothing, but check the fabric first as DEET can damage some material. Also remember options like mosquito net-ting and protective clothing.

Some products combine both bug repellents and sunscreens, both of which are important. But your better choice is to use two separate products. You want to apply your sunscreen first, about 20 to 30 minutes before going outdoors, so that it has time to penetrate into your skin to give you the best possible protection.

Conversely, you want to apply your insect repel-lent just before going outdoors so that you have the largest “cloud” of protection around you. Smart use can mean more enjoyment outdoors for you and your family.

Marie Berry is a lawyer/pharmacist interested in health and education.

By Marie Berry

Digestion is not something anyone thinks about until they experience heartburn, gas, indigestion, diarrhea, or other symptoms of digestive problems. Non-prescription remedies and prescription medications for gastrointestinal symptoms are numerous and varied, but with so much choice you may have difficulty choosing. Next issue, we’re going to look at digestion and some of the more common products.


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NOW AVAILABLE“How often does magnetic north circle

true north?” My commercial pilot stu-dents are learning the principles of magne-tism. The Earth is a very big magnet. The compass in an airplane seeks magnetic north, making navigation possible.

Magnetic north and true north are not in the same place. The angle between

true north and magnetic north is called variation. Variation differs everywhere on the globe. Pilots need to know the angle for their area when calculating a heading to fly.

Magnetic north constantly moves. How long does it take magnetic north to circle the North Pole? Some students answer “24 hours,” others venture “a week.” They are surprised to learn that it takes approximately 960 years.

I ask if anyone remembers their grade school teacher bring-ing a box of iron filings and a magnet to class. The iron filings form a symmetric pattern from the North Pole of the magnet to the south end. The magnetic field of the Earth is similar, another demonstration of an orderly universe.

Ancient mariners pointed their sextant at the sun, moon and stars to calculate their position. Crude compasses indicated direction. The two techniques told them where they were and which way they were heading.

People in Saskatoon are waiting by the South Saskatchewan River for the first pelicans to arrive. The large white birds take up summer residence on an island in Redberry Lake, 70 kilometres northwest of the city. Each morning a few birds fly to the city. They have a favourite fishing spot below a weir in the river. When they catch their daily requirement, they fly home. They appear to take fish back to the island to feed other birds. In the autumn they fly long distances south to their wintering area. How do they know to come to the same place, generation after generation? How do they find their way? Do they have inbuilt compasses and sextants? Are they able to sense the Earth’s magnetic field?

Order and pattern in the universe help me to believe in God. Is the growth of a grain of wheat into a plant divinely ordained, or chance coincidence? Who possesses the power that holds stars in their places, or makes a rosebush grow?

What is the place of religion in a world of science? At one time scientific truth was deemed in conflict with religious faith. Those days have passed. Science and religion are paral-lel approaches to life. They do not contradict each other; they complement each other. Scientists ask how the world was cre-ated. They study the shape and substance of the world and everything in it. Religion is concerned with why the world was created, with the meaning and purpose of life.

Scientists do not set out to tell us the meaning of life. Sci-ence can tell us the facts of “how” we got here, but science does not claim to tell us “why” we are here. Our faith can help us answer religious questions such as, “What is the purpose of our existence?” and, “What is the value of life?”

I am making parish visits on a frosty afternoon. I ring the doorbell and wait for a response. When a lady opens the door, her face falls. “Oh dear,” she blurts out, “I was hoping it would be the plumber.” With an inch of water on the kitchen floor she needs science more than religion. I help her clean up, a religious act while she waits for a scientific fix.

Suggested Scripture: Genesis 1:20-23, Psalm 11:4

Rod Andrews is a retired Anglican bishop. He lives in Saskatoon.

A C R E S


ale Hanson was surprised at how relieved he was when his father, Ed, drove into the yard, towing his 32-foot trailer behind Dale’s one-ton truck.

“I was starting to think he’d never come home,” Dale said to his son Jeff. “Wasn’t sure how we were going to get the crop in without him.”

The Hansons hadn’t expected Ed to change his routine, but one day last fall he’d come home from the city with a new RV. Ed headed south after harvest, and spent all winter in a trailer park in Yuma, Arizona, so busy with social events from fish frying to jewelry making that he barely had time to phone home.

In mid-March, when their neighbour went south on a golfing holiday, the Hansons found out what was keeping Ed so busy. Bill Henderson snapped a photo of Ed eating burgers with a woman at the Lutes Casino, sitting close enough to touch. She was reaching out with her napkin to dab ketchup off Ed’s chin. Bill had texted the photo to Jeff. Jeff had been a little shocked, but not too shocked to share it with the rest of the family.

Ed was home for a few hours before anyone

brought this up. But while Ed, Dale and Jeff were cleaning the last of the mud off Ed’s trailer before they parked it in the shed for the summer, Dale got up the nerve to ask.

“Meet anyone nice this winter?” “Sure,” Ed answered.Dale kept on. “Anyone special?” “Why are you looking at me like that? Is there

something on my jacket?” Ed said. Then he turned on the power washer — a machine loud enough to put off any further discussion.

When they went in for coffee, Jeff picked up the ball. “We saw a picture, Grandpa. You might as well tell us about her.” Jeff pulled out his phone and showed Ed the incriminating evidence.

Ed turned red. “What the heck? Am I on ‘America’s Most Wanted?’ Is the CIA following me? A guy can’t get any privacy. Did you people have my trailer bugged?”

Donna made peace. “We didn’t spy on you Ed. Bill Henderson texted that picture to Jeff. He shouldn’t have. But we were all glad to see you hav-ing a nice time.”

“Fine,” Ed said. “If you all have to know, I guess I have to tell you. Her name is Helen. She’s

Sleepless in Saskatchewan

Leeann Minogue is the editor of GRAINEWS, a playwright, and part of a family grain farm in southeastern Saskatchewan

Doesn’t Dad realize his romance is putting the farm at risk?

a c r e s

widowed. Seventy-two. Lives in Medicine Hat. She’s got two sons. Both in Calgary. They’re engineers or something. And tomorrow I have to drive out there and meet them and all their kids.”

This was more than the rest of the Hansons had expected; they were stunned into silence.

“You don’t even like other people’s kids,” Jeff’s wife Elaine said. “Some days you barely tolerate ours.”

“Not much I can do about it.”“You’re going to Alberta? Now?” Dale asked. “I

thought we could finally get you to work.”“I’m just going out for a few days,” Ed answered.

“Then… Well… Helen’s coming back here with me. She wants to get a look at the farm.

Dale couldn’t believe it. “May? The middle of seeding? I thought you’d be working. Not operating a tour guide service.”

“Don’t worry. My social life won’t get in your way. She’s staying awhile. We… uh… thought we might save some money on lot rental and just take one trailer south next year. Driving those monsters all the way to Yuma is a nightmare. No point taking two.”

Dale put down his coffee cup and got up from the table. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

Dale couldn’t sleep that night. After an hour and a half of pretending to ignore his sighing and thrash-ing around, Donna got him to talk.

“What if this woman sticks around?”“That would be nice for your dad,” Donna said.“Nice? For my dad to shack up? With a woman

named Helen?”“Maybe you’ll get a half-sister. We could baby-

sit,” Donna said. This didn’t get even a smile out of Dale, so she tried a different tone. “Is this about your mother? It’s been 17 years, Dale. It’s good for your dad to move on.”

“I know,” Dale said. “It’s not that.” Donna waited awhile before he spoke again.“Three sections of the land we farm are still in

his name.”“Oh Dale,” Donna said. “We’ve seen the will.

Your sister’s agreed to take an insurance payment. The land is ours.”

“Helen has sons. Two. They’ll want something.” Donna shook her head. “That’s what this is

about? You think your father’s girlfriend might try to take part of the farm? We worried about the same thing when Jeff was engaged. And that’s worked out fine.”

“So far!” Dale said. “I’m threatened by my father and my son! I’m getting it from both sides. What if Dad gets dementia, and turns over every-thing to her?

Donna rolled her eyes. “Your dad’s happy. Jeff and Elaine are happy. Everything is just fine.”

“For now, Donna. For now. But we’re hanging by a thread here.”

Donna rolled over and went back to sleep.But Dale stayed awake. He tried to take his mind

off his father by worrying about grain transporta-tion. Wondering how much canola they should contract. Was it really a good idea to seed so many acres to soybeans? And how would they seed, if Ed was gallivanting all over, meeting grandchildren that belonged to some woman named Helen?

Dale did not see the brighter side of things in the morning. He came dangerously close to getting an arm stuck in the auger while he unloaded fertilizer into a bin. Then he turned around to see his father standing behind him.

“Geez, Dale! Be careful!” Ed called. “What are you doing here? Thought you were

off to Calgary this morning.”Ed handed over a brown paper bag. “Thought

I’d drop this off first.” Dale opened the bag to find a bottle of hickory

smoked barbecue sauce. “Got it at a restaurant near Yuma. The place

had real good food,” Ed said. “Helen bought some for her daughters-in-law. She said I should get you some.”

“You drove all the way out here to drop off a bottle of barbecue sauce? Calgary’s the other way, you know.”

Ed shrugged. “I’m not in a huge rush. Helen’s kids aren’t too excited to meet me. They’re worried I’m after her money.”

Dale raised his eyebrows. Ed kept talking.“Hope you won’t lose any sleep in that depart-

ment. I already told Helen you’re running a business — we can’t go making any changes at this stage.”

“I’ll bet that went over like a lead balloon,” Dale said.

Ed shook his head. “Helen understands. Her hus-band ran a carpet store in Medicine Hat for years. We’ve both got our estates in order.”

Ed turned toward his car. “Well, guess I’d bet-ter get going if I’m going to make Calgary tonight. Enjoy that barbecue sauce.”

Ed had his car running already when Dale walked up and knocked on the window. Ed lowered the glass so Dale could talk.

“Have a nice time, Dad. Tell Helen we’re looking forward to meeting her.” CG

a p r i l 2 0 1 4 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a 7 1

Dale didn’t see the brighter side of things in the morning. “Geez, Dale! Be careful!” Ed called

BE READY.

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