agripost december 27 2013

December 27, 2013 1The Agri Post

December 27, 20132 The Agri Post


By Les Kletke

Charles Darwin said that it is not the strongest that survivebut those most able to change. Darwin was speaking aboutspecies that adapted to changing climatic conditions andthe predators around them but his words can be applied tosunflowers as well. The crop that was first domesticated in Russia and broughtto the Canadian prairies by immigrants continues to evolveand is on the verge of another change that could see it cometo greater prominence in the food oil industry. Fred Parnow the Territory Manager for Canada at NuseedAmerica and based out of Breckenridge, Minnesota and VegaTexas, is no stranger to evolution as one seed company be-comes another and changes names. Parnow told a meetingof potential growers in Lettelier that a new oil profile in sun-flowers would make it more attractive in a health consciencesmarket. “The oil profile is changing to high oleic oil that has ahigher health value and is used in products like Kettle Chips,”said Parnow, who was a part of Seeds 2000 when they intro-duced the nusun seeds that changed the oil profile and be-came the industry standard. Parnow is well aware that the sunflower crop will have tofight for acres as corn, soybean acres continue to expand inboth Manitoba, and North Dakota but he said the currentprice for contracts is attractive to growers and has beensteady for the last three years. “We have seen some real variations in the price of cornand beans,” he said. “Sunflowers have remained steady andgiven growers a good return. Several of our growers say it isthe highest returning crop on their farm.” Ben Friesen of Walker Legumex told growers that the pref-erence of buyers in the confectionary market continues tochange but overall a large seed is preferred. “Some may wanta longer seed or striped but the preference is for a largerseed.” He said that prices for some oilseed sunflowers hit extremehighs this year as the demand for birdseed continued, but hewas not leaving any false hopes that the price would trans-late to an entire crop. “We saw some very good prices for a few loads this sum-mer as bird food processors needed seed to include in their

By Les Kletke

Sunflower growers have more tools to combat weeds and other challenges to the crop than they did even a fewyears ago. “It’s not that the crop can be used to clean up a field but you no longer have to choose a clean field forsunflowers and have it become a weed problem,” said Alan Calder of Blinkbonnie Farms at Letellier. The companysponsored a farmers meeting in Letellier and invited growers to hear an update on the potential for the crop in earlyDecember. Calder said that recent advancements in weed control now mean that with proper management, havingthe crop in the rotation will not contribute to weed problems as it once did. Calder credits the advances in weed control with giving growers a larger upside on yields. “You’re not guaranteed a 2,000 lb (an acre) yield but it is more likely than it was a few years ago when that wouldhave been considered an exceptional yield. Now fellows are getting yields up 3,000 lbs,” he said. Fred Parnow of Nuseed America said that growers reported yields over the 3,000 lb. mark last year, but agreeswith Calder that it is not a given. The crop is one of the few special crops that has not been genetically modified and therefore does not have aglyphosate tolerant variety. The Clearfied system is available for sunflower growers but that is not a GMO system,it was developed for naturally occurring plants. Calder said that fungicides have also helped control the disease problems that contributed to the decrease insunflower acres in the last decade. One problem that cannot be controlled by fungicides is Downy Mildew. “That is something that has to be bred into the variety,” said Parnow. “So it is important to choose a variety thathas Downy Mildew Resistance when making your seed selection.” He said there as many as seven or eight seedtreatments available and each do a good job controlling specific problems and a grower should consider theproblems that present major challenges in his field. “We have also seen the crop planted earlier and earlier and that has changed the stage of the crop when thedisease pressure hits,” he said. “But we still like to see the crop go in around the 24th of May when the ground haswarmed up and the crop can emerge quickly and get off to a good start.” Calder said that he has seen an increase in acres with growers who have stayed with the crop and are familiarwith the challenges. “We haven’t seen a lot of new growers, but the fellows familiar with the crop have had goodreturns the last couple of years.”

By Les Kletke

Sunflowers have shownthe best return on the farmfor the past couple of yearsbut Nathan Friesen plans tokeep the acreage at about 10percent of his farm acreage. When asked why he limitsthe best returning crop to 10percent Friesen replied withchuckle, “How much do youwant to combine in Novem-ber?” He went on to explainhis other considerations.The crop does take a lot ofmoisture from the land andresulting crops are normallya bit less the following year.He cites the example ofsunflowers in 2011 and withdry conditions, the next yearcorn yields were about 50bushels an acre lower on thesunflower field. “We don’t often take intoaccount the effect a deeprooted crop will have on thefollowing crop but someyears you have to,” he said. “They also don’t allow thesame degree of weed controlthat other crops do,” hesaid. “It has improved in thelast few years, but you can’tuse them to clean up afield.” He has completed hisbudget for 2014 productionand said the return looksgood again but he expectsthe crop to cost about $230of out of pocket costs toproduce. Friesen, who farms withhis father at Halbstadt, hasalso penciled in dryingcosts for the 2014 crop. “We are building a drierthis year and we thought we

Sunflower Evolution

Mike Marion, of Legumex Walker, and Fred Parnow of NuseedAmerica examine variety samples of confectionary sunflowers.The crop has shown the best return of any on several farms inthe past two years.

Photo by Les Kletke

mix, and since it is only a portion of the final product theywere willing to pay some extreme prices to fulfill their com-mitments,” said Friesen. “That will not always be the case aswe have a larger supply.” He echoed Parnow’s comments that the return to growershas stayed stable over the past three years, and experiencedgrowers were seeing a good return.

The Best Returnsmight as well make it a fit forsunflowers as well,” he said.“That might help on thedesiccation costs but evenif we still desiccate, the lastfew points of moisture areawfully slow.” The drierwould allow him to harvestthe sunflower at around 15percent moisture and drydown to 10 percent. “The first 10 percentcomes down quickly afterdesiccation, but when youare waiting to start harvest-ing it seems that last 5percent is the most diffi-cult,” he said, acknowledg-ing the days are cooler withless light and the nervesmight be a bit edgy. The Friesens growconfectionary seeds and tryto maintain a limited plantpopulation that will givethem the biggest heads andindividual seeds. “That is where thepremium is and with today’splanting equipment we canget within 5 percent of ourdesired plant population,”he said. They cultivate thecrop for weed control and toreduce any competition fromuncontrolled weeds. This year the cultivationalso helped dry out the soilwhen the plants were in wetconditions, which are notfavoured by sunflowers. In 2013, he contracted theconfectionary seeds for 32cents a pound and was ableto get the same price for hisoverage while oilseedscontracted at 27 cents, paidonly 20 cents for theoverage.

Better TBetter TBetter TBetter TBetter Tools for Sunflowersools for Sunflowersools for Sunflowersools for Sunflowersools for Sunflowers


by RolfPenner

PennersPoints

[email protected]

The world has a new form of currency called“Bitcoin.” It’s a stateless, digital alternative to thetraditional fiat currencies issued by countries thatwe use in our day-to-day transactions. We stilldon’t know whether or not it will catch on. However,the more governments around the world fiddle withtheir moneysupply, by meansof quantitativeeasing, the greaterthe demand will befor Bitcoin, orsomething like it. Unlike tradi-tional govern-ment-backedmoney that can be continuously printed until it hasno value left, Bitcoins have an upper limit built intothem. Only 21 million can ever be “mined,” thussolving the problem of deliberate currency debase-ment. As one writer observed about what Europeanand American financial systems are doing to theirown currencies, “You know we’re in trouble whenBitcoin starts to make sense.” Like fiat money, Bitcoin has no value except whatwe agree on through social consensus. The value issomewhat arbitrary. However, it does differ from fiatmoney in two very important ways: it is voluntaryand, more importantly, the quantity is limited, whichmakes the Bitcoin more like a gold-based currency. The fact that Bitcoins are limited is what givesthem the value needed to make them tradable.Remember, outside of jewellery, gold really doesn’thave a lot of practical value either. The reason it’sbeen so popular as a store of value has more to dowith its scarcity than what we can actually do withit. As blogger Aaron Clarey points out, “The keyeconomic lesson to take from this is what drives thevalue of a currency, is not so much its intrinsic valueas much as it is the amount of value society puts onit as a tool for exchange.” Bitcoins are “mined” through a complicatedmathematical process. If one has the computingpower to generate the mathematical codes that keepthe systems ledger going, they are rewarded withnew Bitcoins in their name. Like gold, then, no onecan bring more into the system without putting theirown time, money and effort into it. So, the value ofBitcoins is linked, in part, to the expense of thecomputer power that’s needed to create them. Theyare also infinitely divisible, so even though therewill only ever be 21 million of them, as their overallvalue rises people will be able to use smaller andsmaller units to make transactions. One can think of Bitcoins as being a kind ofmixture of fiat money combined with the actuallimitations of real gold. It’s trying to be the best ofboth worlds. Historically, as currencies run into trouble and losetheir value, people tend to convert money into goldin the hope of securing their savings. Bitcoin offersan alternative that pretty much does the same thing.What has a lot of people nervous is that the risingpopularity of Bitcoin is really a measure of thecollapse of money. That’s actually a good thing. The endless expan-sion of our current money supply has had all sortsof negative repercussions throughout the economy,including our own personal savings. If governmentsall of a sudden see real competition in currency, theymay at some point issue their own forms of cybercurrency that for once cannot be debased. TheChicago Federal Reserve Bank recently published apaper that talks about the possibility of doingexactly that. Writer Robert Tracinski sums it up nicely: “IfBitcoin helps us realize the value of a non-debaseable currency, perhaps it can eventually help us togo all the way to monetary sobriety and return to acurrency based on something other than arbitrarysocial consensus.” It will be interesting to see wherethis ends up. Stay tuned.

The New Measureof Money

By Elmer Heinrichs

Statistics Canada hasmade it official. It is easilythe biggest crop in Cana-dian history. Now the question be-comes how to move thatgrain to market. Farmers smashed recordsin wheat, canola, corn andsoybeans, StatisticsCanada reported recently inits annual December cropsurvey. For example, farmersbroke the 22-year record inwheat by a staggering fivemillion tonnes – 37.5 milliontonnes versus the previousrecord of 32.1 million set in1991. It is almost like knock-ing a second off the worldrecord in the 100-metresprint. With canola, producersharvested 18 milliontonnes. The previousrecord was 14.6 milliontonnes. Manitoba followed thetrend. Producers harvested

Canadian Crop Biggest in Historyrecord soybean and corncrops, two crops nearly in-visible in Manitoba a de-cade ago according to Sta-tistics Canada’s annualsurvey. They also posted recordyields in two of the Prairie’soldest crops, spring wheatand barley. Canola also en-joyed record averageyields. While everyone knew agargantuan crop was com-ing, the figures are signifi-cantly higher than Statis-tics Canada’s previous es-timates. Its report releasedWednesday was 4.5 milliontonnes higher for wheatand two million tonnesmore for canola. Its previ-ous estimate was from asurvey last August beforefarmers completed harvest-ing. The breadth of those re-visions caught even graintraders by surprise. “Every-one in the trade was expect-ing big numbers. Thesenumbers are even biggerthan the trade was expect-ing,” said Mike Jubinville,President of Pro FarmerCanada, a grain-marketanalysis firm in Winnipeg. That is fantastic news.Now the problem becomeswhat to do with that entirecrop. Grain companies arealready telling farmers theyare making canola and hardred spring wheat their pri-orities and will not be buy-ing lesser-grown varietiessuch as soft white wheat

because they cannot moveit. “You’re hearing the frus-tration starting to really boilin farm country about ourinability to move this crop,and it’s only going to getworse,” said Jubinville.“We have to take a stepback and realize how bigthis crop is. We don’t havethe ability to move 75 to 80million tonnes of grain inone year.” Country elevators are al-ready plugged, and farmersand elevators have to storegrain outdoors. “It’s just athin garden hose that car-ries grain out to the westcoast. This crop exceedsthat,” said Jubinville.“With 100 per cent effi-ciency, we can’t move it.We’re going to be carryinggrain into next year (the nextcrop year starts Aug. 1,2014) because we just can’tphysically move it.” The big crop and conges-tion problems are also caus-ing prices to drop. How-ever, many farmers wereable to forward-price atmore profitable levels inAugust for at least a por-tion of their crop. Keystone AgriculturalProducers (KAP),Manitoba’s general farmorganization, has alreadyasked the federal govern-ment to provide more over-sight to get grain movingas fast as possible. KAPblames the country’s twonational railways for not

allocating enough rail cars. Jubinville said there areother capacity problems, aswell, when a crop is this big.Port terminals are one ex-ample. “[Grain terminals]are booked solid untilMarch. In other words, anygrain sold today won’t beable to move until springof next year,” saidJubinville. New plant breeding vari-eties, plus optimum grow-ing conditions, explain thesurge in soybeans and cornin Manitoba. In Manitoba, farmers pro-duced 1.1 million tonnes ofsoybeans, up from 770,200in 2012, which was the pre-vious record. Yields wereup 6.2 per cent to 37.6 bush-els per acre. Farmers harvested 1.2 mil-lion tonnes of corn, thanksto seeding 375,000 acres, upalmost 30 per cent from2012. “I talked to a corn pro-ducer in the Dugald areaand he said he got fantas-tic grain corn crops nowtwo years in a row,” saidDoug Chorney, KAP presi-dent. “This is going tomake it more popular togrow. A lot of producers arevery excited.” Spring wheat reached 4.4million tonnes thanks to arecord average yield of 56.2bushels to the acre. Barley production rosefor the second straightyear to 705,400 tonnes,thanks to record yields of77.1 bushels per acre (ver-sus 56.2 bushels per acrein 2012). “I’ve heard of springwheat yields of 80 bushelsan acre. I had hail damageand still got 71 bushels anacre,” said Chorney. “Ev-ery growing season youhope everything clicks andit results in a fantastic yield.This is one of those years.”


Dr. David M. Kohl,professor emeritus of

agricultural and appliedeconomics at Virginia Techin Blacksburg, Virginia,said the United States isnot too big to fail consid-ering the extreme left andthe extreme right inWashington D.C. havecreated a dysfunctionalgovernment. I had asked Dr. Kohl,who is one of the top farmindustry speakers in theworld and lives only fourhours from WashingtonD.C., exactly that questionat the end of his presenta-tion. This after taking intoconsideration his com-ments, observations andquestion marks aboutrising inflation, interestrates and land prices. Hold that thoughtbecause when I go to heara speaker of this highbilling (and I’ve heard himbefore) who is not afraidto speak out and say whathe thinks, I often try tolegitimize in my own mindhis comments by postinga good question at theend. First, let me introducehim to you and say thanksto the RBC Royal Bankwho brought Kohl toManitoba’s communitiesas part of the RBCAgricultural SpeakingSeries, an interactivepresentation for farmersand agribusiness owners. Kohl certainly energizespeople in his audiences

Sometimes it is good to step back and see what is really important, and theend of the year is a great time to do that. Everyone is planning what they willdo in 2014 and how the world will change, and sometimes we really need toconsider how important we are. It is the old story about the employee who goes in to ask his boss for a raiseand the boss recommends that the young fellow stick his hand in a pail ofwater and pull it out quickly. “See the hole you left?” asked the boss. “That is how much impact you willhave when you leave.” The lesson is a harsh one but the story does make agreat point. For all the things, that we think really matter can come or go andthe world goes on.

Did the world really change without a monopoly Canadian Wheat Board? Not too much. The railways are still notmoving enough grain to suit farmers and things continue in very much the same way. It was not as dire a choice as eitherside said it would be. I don’t for a minute want to leave the impression that people should not continue to fight for the things they believein or continue with their efforts to improve our industry but sometimes we get caught up in the importance of our cause.It is a matter of starting to believe our own press releases. The end of a calendar year is a great time to sit down and evaluate what worked and what didn’t, to make choices thatwill help our business and hopefully our community in the New Year, but more important is to realize the role we play andwhere we fit in the bigger scheme of things. The new year will come and in an amazingly short time it will be time to pen another year end column, but it is up to usto make sure that we have accomplished something that made a difference in the lives around us. We might not makea decision that impacts international policy or changes an industry but we do make choices that change lives, the livesaround us, and that deserves careful consideration at this time of year, and all year. The best of the seasons to everyone, and may 2014 be a bin buster of a year.

Dear Editor: The NDP made a commitment to Manitoba farmers in2011 to eliminate the education tax from their farm-lands, and then it broke that promise. Farm familiescontinue to pay more into the education system thanother Manitoba families, since they need to own orlease land to do business. That’s not a fair way to fundeducation. Instead of living up to its commitment toeliminate the tax, the NDP capped the education taxrebate on farmland at $5,000. Non-Manitobans whoown land here now receive no education tax rebate atall. This puts all farm families at a disadvantage. This results in higher costs to do business for allfarm families in Manitoba. Either families will pay morein taxes than they were promised or the rent on landthey lease will rise to make up for higher educationtaxes. While municipal officials often bear the brunt ofany discussion on property tax bills, we hope you willremember where the real problem lies. The NDP gov-ernment lied to you, and put the burden of collectingtaxes it promised to eliminate on the backs of yourmunicipal government. By breaking its promise, the NDP will reduce theamount rebated back to farmers by $6.2 million. That’sa tax increase of $6.2 million on farm families acrossManitoba. Combine this with PST increases on manyessentials, such as home insurance, and other govern-ment fees such as auto insurance, and the impacts ofbroken NDP government promises only increase inmagnitude. This means farm families will have millionsless to spend in the local economy. Farm families makesignificant contributions to rural communities, but thatcontribution will be drastically reduced by this NDPgovernment.Ian WishartMLA for Portage la Prairie

Another Year and the World Keeps Turning Unfair Levy ofUnfair Levy ofUnfair Levy ofUnfair Levy ofUnfair Levy ofEducation TEducation TEducation TEducation TEducation Taxaxaxaxax

Is the U.S. too Big to Fail?with his keen insight intothe agricultural industryacquired throughextensive travel, research,and exposure during hiscareer. With over eightmillion miles traveled inhis professional career inconducting over 6,000workshops and seminarsfor a variety of agricul-tural audiences, he hasearned the right to saywhat he thinks, and hedid. Kohl’s personalinvolvement withagriculture and interac-tion with key industryplayers provide a uniqueperspective into thefuture trends of theagricultural industry andeconomy. His first point is that 80percent of economics isabout emotion andbehaviour. He outlinedfive points in thiscategory placing greed,greed and greed asnumber one. He used theexample of one farmerbuying land for $21,000an acre in Iowa, and hadthere been another 1,000acres, he’d have boughtthat too. His thinking,“They don’t makeanymore land.” The second emotioncited by Kohl was anxietyand that is a good one. “This is a good emotionbecause it brings themost objectivity to yourdecisions,” he said.“People ask me, when will

interest rates start rising,land prices start droppingand will the commodityprices keep dropping?” Kohl cautioned farmersthat while farmers havemade a lot of money,much of it is on paperbecause land values havegone up. When landprices drop, that is whenpeople will find out whoreally has net worth intheir operations. That’s why he stressesfarmers need to knowwhat their net worthreally is, not just fly bythe seat of their pantsand hope the net worth isthere or the land pricebubble never bursts. The third emotion iscomplacency. Land priceshave farmers and the agindustry on a brand newplateau. With theseemotions, it createsextremes, and while somecan cash in on thoseextremes, many otherscan certainly lose bigtime, too. Our grandmas andgrandpas could maketheir decisions basedmore on long-termscenarios because theydidn’t have to deal withthe extremes that thoseemotions create. Complacency in the eraof extremes can be deadlyfor those who neverrealize what is actuallyhappening until a certainbubble breaks and thenthey wonder what hit

them. The fourth emotion hasto do with optimism, andhere Kohl refers to a brandnew crop of youngerfarmers coming into theindustry with more womeninvolved in managementdecisions with a new burstof energy. “Hold the phone,” saidKohl. Taking these firstfour emotions andthrowing the evolvingtechnology into the mixcreates the fifth emotion, avery fragile condition, orstate. Dr. Kohl had far morethings to say about theimpact of the emergingnations in the world, thepublic debt and agingpopulation, entitlementsand only 1 to 2 percentannual growth of thedeveloped rich nations. Here is my question forDr. Kohl. $17 trilliondollars in debt, questionmarks on inflation andinterest rates, and a dearthof leadership in the UnitedStates on both sides ofthe political aisle, currentpresident included, is theUnited States too big tofail?

“No,” said Kohl.“Absolutely not!” Hesaid it won’t take longand the U.S., instead ofbeing a leader for so longand thinking the worldrevolves around it, willfind itself as just anotherplayer on the stage of theworld economy. Rightnow, there is a wholemindset of Americans thatis very destructive to theUnited States of America. He said the recurringdebt and deficits andputting that on creditcards as the U.S. is doingright now can’t sustainitself. The fix under the currentleadership? Tax the rich,eliminate farm paymentsand tax offshore profits.Wherever there is a littleextra to spare, tax it, oreliminate it so the 50percent on the govern-ment dole today canremain there. Dr. Kohl, in my opinion,had a very good speech.When he answered mystraightforward questionwithout evading it, hisstock climbed big-time onmy balance sheet.


I want to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year toeveryone involved in Manitoba’s beef sector. It truly is a privi-lege for me to work with some of the most dedicated women andmen that I have ever met. I hope that you take time to share theseason with family and friends. This is always the time of year for reflection, looking back atthe year that was-and pondering the potential for the year ahead. The beef industry has come through ten difficult years sincethe BSE crisis hit in 2003. BSE was followed by floods; ongoingimpacts of bovine tuberculosis, U.S. mandatory country-of-ori-gin labelling (COOL), droughts, and severe feed shortages wereamong other hurdles that beef producers have had a hard timecrossing. Sadly, the difficulties of the past ten years have meant thatmany producers have left this industry for good. Their departureis not just a loss for our industry but a loss for rural Manitobacommunities and the Manitoba economy as a whole. Fortunately, the year ahead does not look like the hard timeswe have passed through. Looking ahead, I see real reasons foroptimism. In fact, if a young producer asked me today what theyshould do with their cow herd, my response would be, “Doubleit.” Why the optimism? I can give you three good reasons, and no,“senseless” is not one of them.The most obvious reason is price. The North American cattleherd has the lowest number of head since the 1950s. Less quan-tity supplies mean higher prices for the suppliers-beef produc-ers. Prices, especially for cow-calf producers, should remain strongfor a few years to come as the herd across North America isrebuilt. The second reason for optimism is market access. Since theonslaught of BSE, beef associations and governments have workedtogether to open markets that were closed to us. These effortshave paid off and a significant slice of the world is once againopen to Canadian beef. For example, this past year Japan easedits post BSE restrictions, a move that could double the value ofour exports to that market. We have already seen Canadian ex-ports to Japan increase. There is more to come on the market access front. In October,Canada signed an agreement in principle with the European Unionthat will give us beef access worth an estimated $600 million.Filling this potential will require 500,000 head of cattle per year,equivalent to the number of calves Manitoba produces everyyear. Topping off the good news on the market access front,Canada has also recently been invited to join the Trans-PacificPartnership (TPP) trade negotiations that involve 12 nations inthe Pacific region. Together, TPP member countries represent 51per cent of Canada’s agri-food exports. The third reason I have optimism is government programming.I have to admit, I am cynical enough to be surprised at sayingthis, but it is true. In the fall, the provincial and federal governments unveiled anew suite of forage insurance programs. MBP has been advocat-ing and working towards reforms to forage insurance for a num-ber of years. The new programs include increased flexibility inthe level of coverage, individual coverage rather than a regionalapproach, differentiated coverage for different forages and mixes,and a disaster component. Right behind the new forage insurance programming is priceinsurance. I am anticipating an early 2014 announcement of live-stock price insurance that will give beef producers an opportu-nity to offset their price risk in a meaningful and effective way.Again, this is a program that MBP has been fighting to get for along time. Beef producers require strong, bankable risk mitigation toolsand the forage and price insurance programming will be exactlythat, allowing producers to offset both input and output risks. Idon’t think I am exaggerating when I say that the combination ofthese two packages will be game changers for our industry. Agriculture will never be smooth sailing all of the time. Produc-ers are going to have to adjust to new traceability measures.Consumer pressure and government regulations on environmen-tal and animal care issues are going to affect your operation. Inthe coming year, mandatory COOL will likely continue to be amajor barrier to our industry’s growth and profitability. But, today I think the silver lining is bigger than the black cloud.I look towards 2014 with a smile on my face. I hope every beefproducer does as well. And I really hope that a year from now wecan look back and say that we were right.

By Les Kletke

Gary Martens’ presentation to the Canadian Associationof Farm Advisors was not what they expected from a uni-versity Professor. The concepts would not be expectedfrom anyone representing an institution of higher learningor looking to the future. Martens recommended looking at the past to gain thetools for the future. Martens, who owns a small farm insoutheastern Manitoba, said that he has been working onconverting it to an operation that requires less work andfewer inputs. He used the example of a farm in the U.S. that was devel-oped around a synergy between cropping systems, ani-mals and its trees. “The goal is to work less and only harvest,” said Mar-tens. “The system should maintain itself and we look afterthe harvest.” Martens used several examples of systems that havetaken strides to move in that direction including Jim Lintott,a well-known forage producer who raises grass fed beef.Lintott uses forages as a part of his crop rotation but alsoutilizes the forages for his beef production. Martens didnot say that all agricultural production in western Canadacould shift to the model but that it was viable for someoperations that choose to go the holistic route. He challenged the audience with another experiment heis conducting on his farm. Martens maintains that seedcosts have been one of the fastest rising inputs on farms inwestern Canada, and he is not sure that the yield increasesof recent years can be entirely attributed to improved ge-netics. He said that yields of crops like wheat have increased

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Production Increase

roughly 120 percent in the last 100 years and only about 1/3 of that can be attributed to genetics, the remaining 2/3 isdue to increased agronomy. So the increase in seed pricesis not justified in additional harvest. Martens has undertaken a trial on his farm where he isplanting 55 varieties of wheat and plans to grow the result-ant crop out for 10 years. He does not predict what theyield increase might be but is relying on nature to sort outthe varieties that do not fit his geographical location andthrough a survival of the fittest approach, develop thewheat that is best for his area. He certainly raised a few eyebrows with his approachwhile outlining the experiment but for anyone who took aGary Martens crop science course they would not be sur-prised at his questioning the status quo.

By Harry Siemens

Late last month the CWB announced it was buying all ofthe issued and outstanding shares of Mission Terminal,Les Élévateurs des Trois-Rivières and Services MaritimesLaviolette from Upper Lakes Group Inc. Mission Terminal owns an elevator at Alexander and hasstakes in several shortline railways, including BoundaryTrail Rail Company and Lake Line Railway in Manitoba. According to the CWB, this deal gives it the advantagesof an eastern port and positions CWB as the largest eastcoast shipper of producer cars from western Canada. Theseacquisitions provide the starting point for a network ofstrategic grain-handling assets for CWB-marketed grainand they are another critical step in CWB’s strategy totransition towards an operating model independent of thegovernment. “The agri-business landscape is evolving quickly, andthe purchase of these companies is a first step in buildingand securing CWB a strong position in the grain marketingsupply chain,” said CWB President and CEO, Ian White.“The flexible, efficient handling and transportation opera-tions of Mission Terminal will let CWB source grain di-rectly from farmers and move it right on to the ships dockedat the East Coast.” There is some concern with where the money to buythese facilities is coming from. Dayna Spiring, Chief Strategy Officer and General Coun-sel for the CWB, said the funds to purchase the physicalassets are coming from retained earnings, as well as somecommercial borrowing, however it is not clear if those areretained earnings from before or after CWB was strippedof its single desk authority in August 2012. The relationship between Mission Terminal and the oldCanadian Wheat Board started years ago. Mission Termi-nal Inc.’s head office is in Winnipeg, just a stone’s throwfrom the CWB offices. The company markets wheat, durum, barley, canola, rye,flax, peas and oats, and industrial products for customersaround the globe. It operates handling facilities both inwestern Canada and at Thunder Bay. Mission TerminalThunder Bay, at the mouth of the Mission River, has alicensed storage capacity of 136,500 MT and handles ap-

Gary Martens a Professor at the University of Manitoba isconducting trials on his farm with the help of nature to sort outthe wheat varieties.

Photo by Les Kletke

The newly incorporated producer led Barley Council ofCanada has received $314,800 in federal funding to promotethe health benefits of barley. Most barley grown in and exported from Canada is formalting. As a result of the recent movement to a free marketstructure for barley, and the formal recognition of related healthbenefits such as the lowering of blood cholesterol, there isgreat potential for the industry to expand into the food sector. The monies will be used to promote the health benefits andfunctional advantages of barley in the areas of bakery, snackfood, and cereal sectors to existing domestic and internationalfood companies.

CWB Expands its Terminal and Rail Servicesproximately 1.5 MMT annually. Les Élévateurs des Trois-Rivières (ETR) is located inTrois-Rivières, Quebec and is a receiving, storage and load-ing facility with a storage capacity of 110,000 tonnes ofgrain, 78,000 tonnes of alumina and 20,000 tonnes of coke.It can receive grain by ocean ship, laker, rail or truck and isone of the few facilities able to unload vessels of up toPanamax size. Services Maritimes Laviolette (SML) is also located inTrois-Rivières, Quebec and offers stevedoring and relatedservices. “CWB has strong long-term relationships and has workedclosely with each of the companies we are acquiring. Wehave always respected their solid reputation among prairiefarmers and we will continue to value all of the companiesdoing business with them in the country and at port,” saidWhite. “We share very similar corporate cultures, bothplacing a high value on the contribution that farmers bringto our respective companies. We welcome all the employ-ees to the CWB team and look forward to their participa-tion in building a great Canadian-focused grain company.” To make these purchases the CWB board further explainedthat it had retained some of the money from farmers’ grainsales in a contingency fund. The CWB said that fund wasone of multiple sources of CWB’s ‘retained earnings.’

Barley Industry to PromoteBarley Industry to PromoteBarley Industry to PromoteBarley Industry to PromoteBarley Industry to PromoteHealth BenefitsHealth BenefitsHealth BenefitsHealth BenefitsHealth Benefits


Very often, we receive phone calls from people after theyhave started making changes to their property or after theyhave owned something new for a number of months. For example: renovation project is well under way, pur-chase of a new yard tractor, addition of attached garage, builta storage building, purchase of a new laptop computer or willcall to buy insurance on their new home under constructionafter the walls are already up. People do not call to add the new item right away for nu-merous reasons: nothing will happen, busy, wanted to waituntil they are done making changes so they only have to callus once, wanted to wait in order to save money (never admit-ted to), no point in insuring until there is something of greatervalue to lose (“pain threshold” is different for each individual)or their bank did not ask about it until now. Examples of things going wrong: wind blows down the wallsof the new building, computer stolen, new tractor catches fire,property stolen or not yet installed. Common questions at point of claim: Do I have a graceperiod to add this? Is it covered somehow? My previoustractor is covered on the policy; can this new one automati-cally be covered? What can we learn from this? Make the phone call beforethe purchase or right at the point of change. We can discussthe options and once you have all the facts. You can thenmake the best decision for your situation. Be sure to seek advice and purchase insurance from thosewho understand your business! Andy Anderson is an Associate Insurance Broker specializ-ing in General, Life and Group Benefits for Farm, Commer-cial/Agri-business. He can be reached at 204-746-5589 [email protected].

Manitoba farm families were promised a significant tax break in the last election. The NDP prom-ised to remove education taxes from their farmland. This did not happen. “Failure to live up to this promise penalizes farm families who were counting on tax relief,” saidRalph Eichler, Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Critic. “The promise was to eliminate this tax.Failing to keep that promise is unacceptable.” This broken promise has far-reaching effects on the agriculture sector said Eichler. Landowners whoare not from Manitoba are no longer eligible for any education tax relief. This will increase their costof doing business and will result in higher rents charged to producers who lease land for production. By capping the education rebate rather than eliminating the tax, farm families will have fewer dollarsin their pockets. This combined with record tax increases such as the PST hike will directly affectlocal economies.

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The World Trade Organization’s Ninth Ministerial Con-ference recently concluded in Bali, Indonesia with membercountries agreeing on a new trade facilitation agreement(TFA) that will benefit Canadian farmers and agriculturalexporters. This TFA represents the WTO’s first multilateraltrade agreement to be concluded since the establishmentof the WTO in 1995. Canadian Agriculture Minister, Gerry Ritz who partici-pated in the WTO conference with Minister of Interna-tional Trade, Ed Fast, is welcoming the benefits and oppor-tunities that the TFA delivers for Canada. “This agreement builds on our government’s continuedadvocacy for a fair and more efficient system of interna-tional trade based on predictable rules and sound science,”said Ritz. “This agreement will help Canadian farmers andagricultural exporters maximize opportunities in interna-tional markets where we have achieved unprecedentedaccess this year.” In addition to the TFA, agreement was reached on spe-cific agriculture issues. Ministers re-affirmed the call forthe elimination of export subsidies and reduction in maxi-mum repayment periods for export credits. Continued re-forms in this area will help level the playing field on worldmarkets for Canada’s agricultural exporters benefiting allCanadian agricultural exports, including beef and pork. Theagreement also carries new and stronger disciplines for theadministration of tariff quotas that will create new oppor-tunities for Canadian agricultural exporters. Outcomes in agriculture also address the need for im-provements for food security, a matter for which Canadasupports an approach that is sustainable and which mini-mizes trade distortions. Canada also believes that unfet-tered trade in agricultural products is one of a number oftools available to increase food security. More broadly, the momentum generated from this posi-tive outcome in Bali is expected to re-invigorate negotia-tions on meaningful agriculture reform across all three pil-lars of the Agreement on Agriculture in domestic support,market access and export competition.

On Wednesday, January 22, a workshop sponsored by the Prairie Mountain Health,Manitoba Women’s Institute, and Manitoba Farm & Rural Support Services will be held forhealth care providers, clergy, agricultural professionals, farm financial advisors, and any-one interested in the physical, mental and emotional well-being of farmers and rural people. The Guest Speaker is Dr. Michael Rosmann, who is a clinical psychologist, farmer, profes-sor, internationally renowned speaker and author. Start time is 1 pm and runs to 4:30 pm at the Riverbank Discovery Centre in Brandonlocated at 545 Conservation Drive, south of the Corral Centre. The cost of the workshop is $50 and payable by cash or cheque at the door. Pre-registra-tion is required. For more information contact 204-571-4182, [email protected] orvisit the website ruralsupport.ca.

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Hope, andHope, andHope, andHope, andHope, andResiliency in theResiliency in theResiliency in theResiliency in theResiliency in theAg CommunityAg CommunityAg CommunityAg CommunityAg Community

Canadian Ag to Benefitfrom WTO Agreement


By Les Kletke

For Mike Unger the company name says it all, “We Make Pipe.” Unger is with Ideal Pipeand at the firm’s open house in December was on hand to answer questions about the pipethat is going into Manitoba fields in large amounts. The Carman plant is a division of IdealPipe based in southern Ontario and has seen a dramatic increase in demand for its drain tilein recent years. “We have two lines in the Carman plant,” said Unger. “We are not as busy in the winteras we are the rest of the year.” The firm concentrates on the manufacture of larger pipeused for culverts during the wintertime. “We can’t store the product outside because it would break down with the sunlight,” hesaid. “And the volume of space it would take to store. So, we manufacture more of thedrain tile through the spring and summer.” The Carman plant manufactures pipe from threeto 12 inches and relies on the Ontario operation for smaller or larger diameters. The raw product arrives in Carman as high-density polyethylene (HDP), goes throughone of two lines, a blow mould or a vacuum line, and is formed into pipe. The pellets aremelted at 400 °F and extruded into pipe. The company also regrinds and reuses pipe thathas been reclaimed, it also regrinds any of the product that is less than perfect from thestart of the machines, “Nothing is wasted, it is all reground and reused.” The pipe used fordrain tile is covered in a fibre sock to prevent the pipe from filing with fine soil particles. “The sock used in southern Ontario is different; the one we use is finer because the soilparticles of the clay soils in Manitoba are much smaller,” said Unger. “Most of the timewhen a pipe fills up it is because of damage to the pipe.” He said for agricultural use thepipes are normally buried at a depth of three feet. As the name says, the company is in the business of making pipe and leaves the instal-lation to other companies.

By Les Kletke

Jim Pallister views tile drainage as an alternative to purchasing more land. Heinstalled the first tile drains on his Portage area farm eight years ago and this past fallput in another 1,500 acres of tile drainage. The drains are not in the typical pattern ofrunning the length of a field at a specific distance but rather deal with problem areasin the field. “We look at it as improving the field,” he said, “It makes the field more uniform andavoids the problems of low spots that don’t allow you to seed or require comingback to seed later. This makes the entire field a uniform area that can be treated thesame way.” He said, typically the area drained is about 100 acres on a half section. The tile drainage allows him to grow crops like edible beans on land that would nototherwise be suitable for the crop, “Beans don’t like water and this way we canincrease our land that is suitable for dry bean production. He said that the tile drainage served its purpose before but really proved itself in2011 when his farm received heavy rains and the 800 acres that was tile drained didnot suffer significant damage. “We look at it as improving the land and making our medium (quality) land better,”he said. “It would be the equivalent of changing class c and d soils to a and b.” Headded that the jump in land prices the past two years have made the installation oftile drainage a better economic decision. “The price of installation has not changed much in eight years, yet the price of landhas increased dramatically,” he said. “With interest rates at historic lows we wantedto take advantage of that and, while we could not increase our land base much more,we chose to improve the land we have.” He said that with the higher income of the past two years, farmers are also lookingto reduce their tax bill and instead of buying machinery that depreciates, he chose toupgrade his land with an investment that is entirely tax deductible in the year that itis done. “So it made sense for a number of reasons,” he said. “We were able to do 1,500acres this year and will probably do more next year.” The larger area of drained landon his farm will also allow him to do a better evaluation of the impact. “We know that it will help with salinity problems,” he said. “We have had someareas where we were growing alfalfa to decrease the water table and the salinity. Thisshould address those problems. The challenge he has faced is the installation of lift stations, which add to the costof a tile drainage system. “We don’t have the deep drains that areas like Ontario do,” he said. “So we have toinclude a well and a lift station instead of just draining the tile into a canal or creekand that adds to the cost, but it looks like a good return on improving the land.”

By Les Kletke

Tile drainage has made asignificant increase in itspresence in the past yearin Manitoba, and whilesome farmers are taking a‘wait and see’ approachand others are saying, ‘let’stry some’, Ron McFarlanesaid it is not a new conceptand it has proven itself inmany parts of the world. McFarlane, the SalesManager with Ideal Pipe,was on hand for an openhouse at the company’sCarman facility in Decem-ber. He is based in the firm’shead office in southernOntario. The company hasmanufactured tile drainpipeat its London plant since1980 and now producesdrain tile and culverts at itsfacility in Carman. “We have made drains assmall as three inches andas large as 15 inches whichis used as the mains,” saidMcFarlane. “Typically thedrain that is used for agri-cultural land is four inchesand leads into a 15 inch.”He said southern Manitobahas lagged behind Ontarioin the installation of draintile because land priceshave been lower. “As land prices increaseand it becomes more diffi-cult to purchase land, farm-ers look to improve theirland and that is what thetile drainage does,” he said.He stops short of putting ahard economic value onwhat tile drainage can doto the productive capacityof the land but said that it

When Land Price Goes upTiling Makes Sense

works in several ways. “It makes the field moreconsistent so the farmer cantreat it all the same insteadof working around troublespots, and that will be amajor factor in Manitoba,”he said. “It also allows themto get on the land earlierand we all know that farm-ers want to get on the landin spring. So there are sev-eral factors that it impacts.” He said that tiling took offin Ontario in the 1980’s withincreased grain prices andin 1983, there were 176,000acres tiled. “That droppedoff to a low of 80,000 wheninterest rates rose andgrain prices dropped but it

has come back up and nowmuch of the land is alreadydone so the demand is notas great.” He said that while theproof of drainage has beenthere for a long time theaddition of a fibre sockaround the pipe has madeit more viable in clay soils. “The pipes used to silt fullin the very fine soils,” hesaid. “Now with the fibresock that doesn’t happenand the pipes continue towork for a longer period oftime. The science isn’t newbut there have been im-provements that will makeit more viable for the prai-ries.”

Drain tile produced at Ideal Pipe in Carman is wrapped with afibre sock to prevent the tile from filling with fine soil particles.

Photo by Les Kletke

Tile Drainage MakesYour Land Better

Carman Plant Makes Pipe

Ron Janke (second from left) and Gord Unger, of Ideal Pipe, speak with one of the farmers thatvisited the Carman plant during an open house in December.

“We have three contractors we work with that also retail our pipe,” said Unger. “We dohave some contact with farmers but in most cases they need a survey done, which isusually handled by the installation company. We do sell small amounts of pipe directly toend users but in most cases they need other services as well.”

Photo by Les Kletke


By Joan Airey

Seventeen years ago,Karen Emilson was work-ing at the Interlake Specta-tor when two brothers,Dennis and David Pischke,approached her to write afeature article about them.The first time Emilson in-terviewed the twins itstarted at six in the eveningand was not over until twoin the morning. “The Pischke brotherswere adult survivors ofchild abuse, men who’dkept the heart breaking de-tails of their young lives asecret for nearly 40 years.After the story hit the me-dia and Peter Warren wasinterviewing the Pischkebrothers and me, the bookidea was conceived. Afterthe book ‘Where ChildrenRun’ was launched Novem-ber 29, 1996, the callsstarted coming from otherpeople abused as chil-dren,” said Emilson. “Fivedays later we were guestsonce again on CJOB actionline. The book took off andwithin weeks, it was a Ca-nadian Best seller. It hasbeen reprinted eight times.” “We were invited tospeak at the Foster Fami-lies Network at Dauphin’sAdult Survivors of Abuse.A few years after that,David and I were sitting ona plane on our way toLloydminster. We’d beeninvited to be the guestspeakers at a conference forchild abuse survivors. I re-member very little about theconference itself. We at-

Manitoba Pork Council(MPC) has released a newseries of videos, Smart PigHandling that is expectedto become a vital part ofemployee training in thehog industry. The informa-tion in this series will helpto lessen stress on bothworkers and livestock, pre-vent workplace injuries, im-prove workplace satisfac-tion, reduce in-transitlosses, improve meat qual-ity, and ensure animal well-being. “The Canadian Agricul-

tural Safety Association is pleased that Manitoba Pork hastaken the lead in providing resources for hog farmers andtheir workers through the FCC Ag Safety Fund,” saysMarcel Hacault, the Executive Director of CASA and aformer hog producer. “Understanding animal behaviourand identifying proven handling methods reduces stresson both workers and hogs, promoting safe practices inagriculture, which is a great use of FCC Ag Safety Funddollars.” The six-chapter series emphasizes low-stress handlingtechniques; up until now, there has been nothing like thesevideos that was so readily accessible to producers inCanada. MPC hopes to have Smart Pig Handling in all barnsfor the benefit of consistent, standardized training acrossCanada. The videos are available on MPC’s YouTube chan-nel (MBPorkfan) and on its website; contact MPC or thepork organization in your province to request an extendedversion of the training videos, which are customizable toany farm type. “This training video will help equip stock people, bothnew and practicing, with tools to handle pigs in a mannerthat minimizes stress for pigs and people,” says Dr. LaurieConnor, Department Head of Animal Sciences at the Uni-versity of Manitoba. “Smart Pig Handling focuses on un-derstanding basic pig behaviour relevant to handling andusing that knowledge effectively to create handling sce-narios that are calm, safe and get the job done easily. Thistranslates into good welfare and good business.” The development of these videos was supported byAlberta Pork, Sask Pork, Ontario Pork and FPPQ. It wasalso supported by Growing Forward 2, a federal-provin-cial-territorial initiative, and the Government of Alberta.The project’s main support came from the FCC Ag SafetyFund, administered by the Canadian Agricultural SafetyAssociation with funding from Farm Credit Canada.

Author Keeps Promiseto Farm Boy

tended many speaking en-gagements in those follow-ing years but I do remem-ber something David saidto me, “Whatever you do,don’t let the book die.” “Looking back, it was al-most like a prophecy, thatmaybe David knew hewouldn’t be around muchlonger. I told him not toworry… I’d keep the bookalive. At the time, it seemedlike an easy promise tomake. After his death in2004 though, it became dif-ficult to keep. David diedunexpectedly in his sleep,the result of a massiveheart attack. Half the rea-son ‘Where Children Run’became such a success wasgone. The other half, histwin Dennis, was devas-tated. We floundered for afew years after that. Salesby then dwindled but westill got a few requests. Itdidn’t make good financialsense to go back to theprinter so the book uncer-emoniously went out ofprint,” said Emilson. David, Dennis, and Karenmade themselves acces-sible to the public reachingout to abused survivorsand abused children whocontacted them. On oneoccasion, David talked ateenager girl, who wasabused, out of committingsuicide. “I didn’t tell anyone aboutthe promise I’d made toDavid but it was there,nagging at me. Technologyhas changed so much sincethat plane ride that finallyI’ve been able to keep that

Karen Emilson, former ruraljournalist, kept her promiseand published a book for twobrothers on surviving abuse.

promise. Now anyone, any-where in the world can readDennis and David’s storyby simply buying theKindle version and down-loading it onto theireReader smart phone orcomputer. The epiloguehas been updated, the pho-tographs [are there] and it’sin bigger print for easy read-ing,” said Emilson. “It’s the book many babyboomers read with tearsrunning down their cheeks.I’m hoping it will help more

abused children.” KarenEmilson was editor of CattleCountry for several yearsand is now working on afiction novel. Her blogwebsite is atkarenemilson.blogspot.ca.

Smart PSmart PSmart PSmart PSmart PigigigigigHandlingHandlingHandlingHandlingHandling

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By Les Kletke

The Assistant Chief Commissioner of the Canadian GrainCommission had a clear message for the Canadian Asso-ciation of Farm Advisors when he spoke to the annualgathering in Niverville, about reductions. Jim Smolik said the Commission has been mandated tocut costs from $80 to $60 million and one of the cuts wouldbe in staff, from 670 to 400.

“Agriculturehas becomemuch more so-phisticated,”said Smolik.“And the roleof the GrainCommiss ionhas changed.”He said thatcost recoverywill become aneven greateremphasis inthe future andcost recoverywill increasefrom 50 to 90percent of thecost of opera-tion. Smolik saidthe grain in-dustry is will-ing to pay forthe servicesthe commis-sion provides

if they are practical and useful to the industry. “We have done away with something like the require-ment of double weighing and that only makes sense,” hesaid. The structure of the Grain Commission will change aswell, from the current three commissioners to a President/CEO office, “To reflect the current structure of most orga-nizations and a move to modernize.” “There is a mandate to include producers and the indus-try,” he said. “It is not a loss of protection for producers.”There will also be an option for non-binding arbitration asan alternative to settling disputes. Smolik said that changes in the grain produced and theproducts in demand in the market place are also drivingchanges in the regulatory system. “The lower protein white wheats used in noodle produc-tion are relatively new for Canadian producers but they arein demand in the market and we have to have the regula-tions in place for those kinds of wheat.”

By Les Kletke

Lisa Dyck’s approach tomaking ice cream is prettysimple. Make it with natu-ral products, keep it to theflavours people love andsell it for a reasonable price.The challenge is keepingup with the demand for theproducts at Cornell Dairy. The farm, between Anolaand Beasejour, milks about130 purebred Holsteins andDyck transforms some ofthe milk into Cornell Creme,which is marketed at sev-eral Winnipeg stores. Dyck was one of thespeakers at the CanadianAssociation of Farm Advi-sors conference inNiverville and told the au-dience about the chal-lenges she faced in gettinginto the ice-cream business,as well as the success shehas found for the productthat has some ratheruntraditional flavours aswell as the standard choco-late, vanilla and strawberry.She did not have to con-vince the audience of thevalue of using quality in-puts to produce a top qual-ity product; she had donethat by having the ice creamserved for dessert afterlunch. Currently Dyck hauls themilk into the University ofManitoba Dairy on the FortGarry Campus where the icecream is made. She laughssaying that she has re-verted back to much thesame system that her fa-ther-in-law used when hebegan in the dairy businessin 1929 after emigratingfrom Russia. She takes inabout 400 litres a week tothe dairy, which translatesto roughly twice as muchice cream.

Canadian GrainCommission Cuts Costs

Assistant Chief Commissioner Jim Smolik,of the Canadian Grain Commission, saidfuture changes and cost cutting measureswould not affect services to grainindustry.

Photo by Les Kletke

Naturally Good Ice Cream

Lisa Dyck, of Cornell Creme, said it is not easy to find the rightflavour to add to an ice cream but she has found someunusual ones that make her product very popular.

Photo by Les Kletke

Dyck outlined the pro-cess she went through indetermining the flavours forher premium ice cream afterthe traditional big three hadbeen met. “You need the vanilla,chocolate and strawberrybut then we consideredsome others like blueberrylavender and tried a few ofthose,” she said. It is not amatter of just addingflavouring to a vat of icecream and coming up witha winner. She said it tookconsiderable time to fine

the right malted product forher beer-flavoured icecream. “You have to find the rightflavour that will work withthe sweetness of the ice-cream,” she said. “We fi-nally found one thatworked for our Malty PaleAle.” She is still on the huntfor a flavour that will workfor a red wine ice cream. While the product hasmet with success, she saidthe consideration is to staywith what they can handlecurrently or take the next

step to adding an employeeand increasing production. “At this point we arehappy with the reactionand are staying hands onso that we can control thequality of the final prod-uct.”

The results of the 2013Manitoba Canola Grow-ers Association (MCGA)Election of Directors wereannounced recently byIan Craven, ReturningOfficer with MNP LLP(MNP). Five candidates wererunning for four posi-tions. The successfulcandidates are as follows:

Larry Bohdanovich -Grandview

Brian Chorney -East Selkirk

Charles Fossay -Starbuck

Ed Rempel -Starbuck

There were 8921 ballotsmailed out and 998 validenvelopes returned. The vote was con-ducted using a mail-inpreferential voting sys-tem that allowed produc-ers to rank the candidatesin order of preference.Candidates were requiredto win more than 50% ofthe active votes in anyparticular count to winone of the four availablepositions. Every twoyears members are askedto elect four Directorsfrom across the provinceto represent canola grow-ers on the board for afour-year term.

ManitobaManitobaManitobaManitobaManitobaCanolaCanolaCanolaCanolaCanola

GrowersGrowersGrowersGrowersGrowersAssociationAssociationAssociationAssociationAssociationElect NewElect NewElect NewElect NewElect NewDirectorsDirectorsDirectorsDirectorsDirectors


Many of the current advertisements in farm papers contain the names of actualfarmers on the prairies who use the product being advertised along with a line or twoabout why they are satisfied with the product. This is an age-old method of advertis-ing products on the prairies as it provides reassurance to prospective buyers. In a 1909 advertisement the Canadian Stover Gasoline Engine Company’s 30Horsepower tractor advertised a Stover tractor hard at work pulling a Big Dutchmanplow on the farm of Ivan Decock of Deleau. The outfit was given a real work out.Prairie grass sod was tough plowing never mind being re-enforced with willow andpoplar scrub roots. The Stover Company started off in the 1870s manufacturing windmills and pro-gressed on to other sorts of other products including barbwire, bicycles, stoves andother items. By 1895, Stover experimented with gasoline engines and produced somestationary models. Stover engines were offered in a number of sizes from ½ horse-power to 40 horsepower. Towards the end of Stover production, the model line evenincluded stationary diesel engines. Stover engines seem to have been reasonablywell built with forged crankshafts introduced early in production. Early Stoverengines featured a one-piece cast iron crankcase and cylinder. Stover engines over14 horsepower featured air start. Very little is known about the Stover foray into gas tractor manufacture. There issome suggestion that Stover mounted their large stationary engine designs onMorton power trucks to produce a tractor. Morton power trucks were a chassisequipped with a simple transmission, drive train and steering gear to which someonecould add an engine of their choosing to make a tractor. Morton power trucks appearto have been used by a number of very early tractor manufacturers including IHC. The Stover Manufacturing and Engine Company was based in Freeport, Illinois andthe Canadian Stover Gasoline Engine Company was a subsidiary set up to dobusiness for Stover in Canada and was headquartered in Brandon. While Brandonseems to have been a strange choice by today’s standards, at the time Brandon hadgood rail connections with the CPR, the Canadian Northern Pacific and the Brandon,Saskatchewan and Hudson Bay Railway all having rail lines into the city. TheBrandon, Saskatchewan and Hudson Bay was a subsidiary of the Great NorthernRailway and offered a connection to this major US railway. With these rail connec-tions, Brandon couldservice a large chunk ofthe eastern Prairieseasily.

During a trade mission toVietnam, Agriculture Min-ister Gerry Ritz and hiscounterpart, VietnameseAgriculture and Rural De-velopment Minister CaoDuc Phat, announced thatthe Government of Canadais investing more than $7.6million toward a new devel-opment project through theInternational Finance Cor-poration. The project’s aimis to help improve the live-lihoods of Vietnamese farm-ers with increased financ-ing and knowledge of newagricultural practices. “This project will deepenCanada’s already strongdiplomatic and trade rela-tionship with Vietnam, anddemonstrates the closepartnership that has been

Stover’s Forayinto Tractors

The Decock Family turnedout to get into thephotograph of the Stovertractor at work. Photo-graphs in 1909 were stillrelatively uncommon and aphotographer’s presencewould create enthusiasmto get into the image.

Canada to Partner and HelpFarmers in Vietnam

In Hanoi, Vietnam, Minster Ritz with (from left to right) Canadian Ambassador to Vietnam DavidDevine, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh, and Vietnamese Minister of Agricultureand Rural Development Cao Duc Phat.

cultivated between bothcountries over the past 40years,” said Ritz. “Our Gov-ernment is proud to assistVietnam’s continued eco-nomic growth in order tostrengthen two-way tradebetween our two coun-tries.” “I thank the Governmentof Canada for continuedand valuable support toVietnam in general and theagricultural sector in par-ticular,” said Phat. “I be-lieve that the new incom-ing project will certainly bebeneficial to the farmers aswell as contributing to theimplementation of the agri-culture re-structuring pro-gram of Vietnam.” This project aims to helpimprove the profitability ofthousands of farmersacross Vietnam by provid-ing technical assistanceand training related tobanks and agribusiness.This assistance will in-crease access to financingas well as improve agricul-tural practices. It will alsohelp maintain the value ofharvested crops duringhandling and storage. Theprogram will span five yearsand target farmers of ex-port-oriented commodities,such as cashews and cof-fee, both of which were topCanadian imports from Viet-nam in 2012. “Through this invest-ment, our Government ishelping Vietnamese farmersimprove their livelihoods,”said Christian Paradis,Canada’s Minister of Inter-national Development andMinister for LaFrancophonie. “Canada issupporting initiatives thatcontribute to sustainableeconomic growth in Viet-nam, assisting farmersthroughout the productioncycle from their access tocredit, through technical

training and best practices,to access to markets, andcommercialization of theirproducts.” The announcementcomes as Canada and Viet-nam celebrate 40 years ofdiplomatic relations.Canada’s relations withVietnam are expanding, par-ticularly through rapidly in-creasing trade and invest-ment and a prominent de-velopment cooperationprogram. Canada’s exportsof agri-food and seafood toVietnam reached $146 mil-lion in 2012, with Canada’smain exports being sea-food, soybeans, non-du-rum wheat, and canolameal. Top agri-food exportsto Canada from Vietnam in2012 included cashews,coffee, nuts, and seeds.

Canada’s agricultural indus-try will benefit from an en-hanced food safety audit sys-tem that will increase consis-tency throughout the sector. Up to $173,000 will go tothe Canadian Supply ChainFood Safety Coalition(CSCFSC) to develop stan-dard auditor competencies andqualifications that are consis-tent with private and interna-tional standards. The fundswill help the Coalition bringall stakeholders to the table toshape a consistent made-in-Canada approach to foodsafety audit and certificationacross all sectors, and to de-velop an action plan to getthere. The goal is to develop oneset of standards for our do-mestic and international mar-kets. Members of theCSCFSC represent every ma-jor segment of the agricultureand agri-food value chain.

StrengtheningStrengtheningStrengtheningStrengtheningStrengtheningFood SafetyFood SafetyFood SafetyFood SafetyFood SafetyStandardsStandardsStandardsStandardsStandards


By Elmer Heinrichs

With 17 donated cattle and $16,380 raised,the first-ever cattle auction in Manitoba forthe Canadian Foodgrains Bank was a greatsuccess. “It was a great experience,” said HaroldPenner, Manitoba Coordinator for theFoodgrains Bank, of the December 10 auctionat the Grunthal Auction Mart. “We are grateful to the donors, the buyersand to the owners and staff of the AuctionMart for volunteering their time and servicesto make this possible.” Penner also expressed gratitude to the cattleauction organizer, Charles Wiens, and the restof the auction committee. “Without volunteers, things like thiswouldn’t be possible,” he said. “It just seemsthat whenever someone has an idea for a wayto raise funds for the Foodgrains Bank, peopleturn out to help make it happen.”

Most experienced producers have agood idea on how many forage acresshould be planted in the spring in orderto feed their dairy cattle for the upcom-ing year. However, 2013 might go down inManitoba dairy history as one of thoseodd years that many dairy producerscouldn’t put up enough dry hay duringthe summer and yet some people havemore corn silage than they know whatto do with. Despite these shortages orbounties, a good dairy forage plan for2014 (year in which dairy forages aregrown and harvested) should beimplemented on each dairy farm in orderto assure that dairy cows receive thebest quantity of high quality forages atall times. One of the best dairy forage plansoutlines the annual tonnage of eachmajor type of common forages fed tothe dairy herd, encompassing themilking herd, dry cows, replacementheifers and young stock. Annualinventories of commonly fed foragesinclude corn and barley silage, alfalfaand grass haylage, forage baleage, and1st and 2nd cut alfalfa hay. Such adeveloped forage plan might alsosegregate harvested and purchasedforages. Consequently, the foundation of mostsuccessful forage plans is often basedupon historical and current informationthat can be collected from about a half-dozen sources of a respective dairyfarm. Such sources are: (1) total annualtonnes of each type of forage con-sumed by the dairy herd, (2) averagedaily herd feed consumption, (3) anysignificant forage supply adjustments,when forage demand was usually highor low, (4) actions taken when aparticular forage was unavailable (i.e.:no 2nd cut hay), (5) purchased forageamounts and (5) year-to-year foragecarryover. From these past boundaries,we calculate and predict with reason-able accuracy the quantity of each typeof forage (mentioned above) needed forthe upcoming year. This means, we count the currentnumber of dairy cows on the milk line,in the dry cow pens and all of thereplacement/young stock animals. Next,we multiply these animal numbers bytheir daily forage consumption. Use thegeneral assumption that milk cows andmature dry cows consume the sameamount of forage fed on a daily basis,while replacement/young stockconsume about 30 percent of a maturecow’s silage/haylage allotment (basedupon their specified diets) and 50percent of a mature cow’s hay intake(based on their specified diet or limitedrumen fill). Last, we multiply this “herdcalculated daily forage consumption”by the “number of days” that they arefed any particular forage to yield thedesired annual forage consumption. For example, let’s calculate on anannual basis how much total corn silageis needed for a typical 200-cow milkingcow dairy, which includes 40 dry cowsand 100 replacement heifers and youngstock. We adjust this number toaccount for 20 percent harvest andstorage losses and another 15 percentadjustment for allowance of feedwastage and handling. An illustrationof a series of calculations is as follows:- (200 cows x 25 kg silage) + (40 dry

Time to Plan for Next Year’sDairy Cow Forage

cows x 25 kg) + (100 replacements x 25 kg x30%) x 365 days = 6.750 tonnes of cornsilage consumed on a daily basis.- 6.750 tonnes x 365 days = 2,463.50tonnes corn silage consumed an annualbasis.- [(2,463.50/80%)] / 85% = 3,623 tonnes areneeded to be grown, harvested andensiled on an annual basis. This final tally of 3,623 tonnes of cornsilage is the extent for many dairy produc-ers’ good forage plan. In many situations,this simple known forage quantity mightbe adequate to assure that enough forage(in this case, corn silage) is put up for thedairy herd. However, as an option a recordbook or software program could predict,then record actual forage tonnages as wellas keep a precise running inventory forany given forage during the year in whichforages are fed out. Specific records that might also betracked are:1. Quality forage inventory - this datapromotes the allocation of the betterquality forages to the lactating dairy cowsin order to support high milk production.In the 2013 case of limited alfalfa hayquantities the dairy producer mightallocate 2nd cut alfalfa hay to be added tothe diet of only early lactation dairy cowsin order to help maximize peak milkproduction.2. Daily dry matter intake of the dairy herd- A large number of fresh cows cominginto any one period of the year willsignificantly affect feed forage inventories,particularly high quality forage inventories(#1). Furthermore, many producers alsomake up a total allotment of TMR for theirherd, which often matches the changingmilk persistency of their herd throughoutthe year and thus affects forage invento-ries.3. Routine moisture tests on all ensiledfeeds and the total mixed ration - Avariation as little as 3 percent moisture inensiled forages can significantly affecttheir feeding rate. Such informationdovetails into diet formulation, whereaddition and subtraction of added water ismanaged.4. Leftover feed - Dairy producers shouldemploy good bunk management tech-niques and never allow bunks to go empty,so 3 - 4 percent feed refusal is normal.Refused feed is often fed to the replace-ment heifers and young stock. Its impacton total forage inventories is oftennominal.5. Wasted feed - Cows may waste 10 - 15percent of their ration. It is important toknow how much feed is wasted and takeappropriate steps to minimize it. Feed thatis discarded due to mould and otherproblems might be dually recorded. Having this written or electronicinformation at our fingertips is an exten-sion on how many tonnes of each type offorage that we predict to feed to the entiredairy herd during any given year. Evenfrom a few simple calculations, we canpredict with a comfortable degree ofaccuracy how much of any forage that wewill need for the dairy herd in an upcomingyear, even before the new crop is seeded.

First Food Grains Bank CattleAuction a Huge Success

Harold Penner received a cheque for$16,380 from Harold Unrau of GrunthalAuction Mart.

Funds raised at the auction will beused for the Foodgrains Bank’s foodassistance projects in the developingworld; a second auction is being con-sidered for next year.

The Government ofCanada responded posi-tively to the Federal Court’sNovember 29th ruling whichstruck down nearly all of the

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claims made by four prairiegrain farmers and awarded courtcosts to the Crown and theCWB. The case was launched inFebruary 2012 and sought ap-proximately $17 billion fordamages that were allegedlycaused by the elimination ofthe CWB’s single desk and thealleged loss of farmer equity inthe CWB’s assets.

Last August, the Governmentand the CWB filed a motionrequesting the claim be struckand the class action dismissed.In its ruling on this case, thecourt struck down six of theplaintiffs’ seven claims, direct-ing the plaintiffs to serve andfile a revised statement of claimrelated to producer paymentsfor the 2011-12 pool periodonly.


By Harry Siemens

The Canadian Pork Coun-cil wants the federal gov-ernment to step up effortsto secure a free trade agree-ment with South Korea. So far, at least since about2008, free trade negotia-tions between Canada andthe Republic of Korea havebeen stalled. However, Canada’s majorcompetitors in the pork in-dustry, most notably the U.S. and Europe, have nego-tiated free trade agreementswhere duties on their porkare 25 percent on chilledproduct and 22.5 percent

By Peter Vitti

The last trimester is a very critical time for the average beef cow and her unborn calf. Her unborn calf gains about three-quarters of its birth weight, dramatically increasing allher primary nutrient requirements. While feeding better quality forages, together with afew more pounds of grain and protein supplement tend to cover off extra energy andprotein needs, the smallest trace mineral demand contained in the cow’s diet often getsoverlooked, yet it is just as important. Assurance of good trace mineral status in pre-calving cows has a positive effect upon the upcoming calving season, getting newborncalves off to a good start and allowing these mothers to be successfully rebred and settledback in the herd with next year’s calf crop. While both the beef cow and her fetus need a good pre-calving trace mineral feedingprogram, science seems to dictate that the fetus takes a slight priority over the dam’ssimilar trace mineral needs. Research has demonstrated that trace mineral deficient beefcows have been shown actual depletion in their own limited trace mineral reserves beforetheir calves become mineral deficient and thus adversely affected. It is estimated that thelate-gestation fetus (and placental tissues) utilize up to 30 percent of the pre-calving cow’sdaily requirements for essential trace minerals. Unfortunately, fetal calves from trace mineral deficient cows will eventually becomemarginal, severely trace mineral deficient and will be affected. For example, a classic caseof a selenium deficiency in the brood cowherd illustrates this point. Selenium is one of the essential trace minerals that easily crosses the placenta, andtherefore good dietary selenium supplementation to the pre-calving cow diet increases theselenium body reserves in cows and transfers it to their fetal calves. In contrast, failure toobtain and maintain adequate selenium status in pregnant beef cows leads to a greaterincidence of typical white muscle disease, greater susceptibility to infectious disease andpoor growth, once these calves are newborns. Even before new calves hit the ground, the poor trace mineral status of pre-calving cowsalso has a significant negative impact upon the brood cows themselves; namely, theirability to get re-bred. Although it is not fully understood, the essential trace mineral status of late-gestationcows impacts their normal reproductive hormone production as well as follicular develop-ment on the cow’s ovaries. Subsequently, it is estimated that eggs begin maturing about100 days before they are produced and are released. Therefore, some beef reproductivespecialists speculate that good cow fertility is impacted by the amount and different typesof nutrients/trace minerals needed largely during the beef cows’ respective pre-calvingperiod. It’s good evidence that trace minerals are needed just before calving. Assuring all suchessential trace mineral requirements for late-gestation cows are met really becomes asimple matter of feeding a well-balanced commercial mineral containing supplemental cop-per, manganese, zinc, iodine, cobalt, and selenium. Consequently, the following nutritionand management suggestions are also helpful in making sure that late gestation beef cowsreceive enough of these trace minerals when a commercial cattle mineral is poured intotheir feeders:- Target cowherd mineral consumption - Target a daily consumption of 50 - 100 grams. Ifthe cowherd is not eating enough or too much, add 1/3 portion salt to the mineral mixture.On occasion, calculate the average mineral intake of the herd and make the necessaryadjustment for adequate and consistent mineral consumption.- Know the dietary sources in your mineral - This is particularly important when purchas-ing cattle minerals. Knowing the copper final concentration of your cows’ diet withoutknowing the source of supplemental copper is of little value. For example, copper comes inmany forms such as copper oxide, copper sulphate, and chelated (organic) copper forms,which have relative biological availabilities of 5%, 100%, and 125 - 150%.- Feed a “Beef Breeder Mineral” all winter long - Some producers feed a more fortifiedcommercial mineral (with more biologically available organic copper, zinc, manganese andselenium) all winter long. They say that the cost-difference between a basic gestation anda pre-calving “beef breeder mineral” calculates to a $3.00 - $4.00 per head premium over thefirst half of the winter, yet it is worth the assurance of good trace mineral status for theentire late-gestating herd until the calving.- Fill your mineral feeders on a regular basis - Mineral feeders should be filled every 2 - 3days and hardened old mineral should be removed. It’s also important to remove snow anddebris that prevents good mineral consumption.- Know how to calculate your daily mineral and seasonal costs - This point should not beconfused with whether one spends too little or too much money on their feeding beef cowmineral feeding program! A beef cow breeder mineral costing $40 per 25-kg fed at 75 gramsper day costs approximately 12 cents per head per day. Feeding for a 90-day pre-calvingperiod costs about $11 per beef cow.- Avoid feeding too much trace minerals - The old adage of “one spoonful of medicine isgood, two spoonfuls of medicine is better”, simply does not work when building or main-taining adequate trace mineral status in late-gestation beef cows. For example a suspectedcopper deficiency in a cowherd. The symptoms of marginal copper deficiency in cattle isvery similar to those of a marginal copper toxicity. Consult with your beef specialist orveterinarian for trace mineral nutrition advice. Setting up a good pre-calving trace mineral feeding program is often a matter of fine-tuning the current mineral program that was started a few winter months ago. It can be assimple as switching from a standard to more fortified beef breeder mineral in order to meetthe higher trace mineral (and vitamin) requirements of the late-gestation beef cow. Itstriumph is part of a greater overall winter feeding program that leads to the success of newhealthy calves and continued reproductive performance of the profitable beef herd.

Pork Producers Need Trade Dealto Expand South Korean Markets

on frozen. The Republic ofKorea has agreed to phasethese duties out over tenyears. Canadian Pork CouncilExecutive Director, MartinRice, said that Canada wasone of the first countries toexport pork to South Koreaand in the past South Ko-rea was the Canadian porkindustry’s third or fourthmost important market. Rice said it partly de-pends on South Korea’sown domestic productionand self-sufficiency levelbut sometimes there havebeen important opportuni-ties for Canadian pork ex-

ports to that country. “We were seeing signifi-cant success in expandingour exports of higher valuepork items into that coun-try, particularly chilledpork,” he said. “Those op-portunities have dimin-ished and even disap-peared in recent years be-cause we have no deal. Wewant Canada to achieve anagreement with Korea withterms as close as possibleto those of the UnitedStates.” Rice says that the gov-ernment needs to imple-ment it at the earliest op-portunity to lessen the gapbetween the terms of ourexports into the Republic ofKorea compared to the U.S.and Europe with hopes thatCanada will have the sameaccess in less than a de-cade from now. “If Canada and South Ko-rea can work out a freetrade agreement, acceptedby both parliaments and inplace by 2015, Canadawould be three years be-hind the U.S. and Europein terms of tariff reductionson pork, so timing is alsoimportant,” he added.

Trace Mineral NutritionEssentials for Pre-calving

in Beef Cows

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2014

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

agripost december 27 2013

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