Farming for Tomorrow

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VISION IN AGRICULTURE

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The Stamp family has a history of growing pedigreed seed. Now, as a generational transfer begins, so does the next generation of a prominent southern Alberta seed farm and ideas to make the farm thrive for years to come.

- by Trevor Bacque

JEANETTE GAULTIER

KEVIN HURSH

PAUL KUNTZ

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SCOTT SHIELS

TOM WOLF

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

6 10 18 26 30 4

A Farmer’s Viewpoint

Cooperation Between Grain & Cattle - by Kevin Hursh

Grain Market Analysis

Maximizing Returns in Unpredictable Markets - by Scott Shiels Vertical Tillage

up & down

- by Geoff Geddes Harvest Equipment

innovation continues...

- by Melanie Epp 4-H

The leaders of tomorrow - by Natalie Noble

34 40 38 42 45

Spraying 101

Biobeds for Pesticide Waste Disposal - by Tom Wolf Field Study

Disposal Options for Fusarium-Damaged Grain - by Joy Agnew Farming Your Money

Farmers Are Naturally Sustainable - by Paul Kuntz

Those Wily Weeds

Prairie Weed Survey Series - by Jeanette Gaultier

News & Innovations

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A FARMER’S VIEWPOINT | COOPERATION BETWEEN GRAIN & CATTLE

More Cooperation Possible Between Grain and Cattle Producers It all started in the fall of 2016. With the seemingly endless rain that year, most of our chickpea crop never matured before the first frost. We had a lot of acres with hardly any chickpeas, and a lot of biomass that needed attention.

Kevin Hursh, P.Ag. Kevin Hursh is an agricultural consultant, journalist and farmer. He has been an agricultural commentator for more than 30 years, serving as editor for Farm Credit Canada’s national bi‑monthly magazine AgriSuccess, and writing regular columns for Canada’s top agricultural publications.

Kevin is a well-known speaker at agricultural conferences and conventions. Kevin and his wife Marlene own and operate a grain farm near Cabri in southwestern Saskatchewan, growing a wide array of crops.

Twitter: @KevinHursh1

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On a whim, I called a cattle-producing neighbour. “Would you be interested in cutting and baling these chickpeas? I don’t want anything for them. I just need to get the land ready for seeding in the spring.”

The cattleman neighbour took a sample and sent it to a feed-testing lab. When the results came back, it turned out the chickpea residue would actually be pretty good feed.

But it was a big job and it was very late in the fall. The cattleman neighbour teamed up with another local cattle producer to get a bunch of it cut and baled. And then they hauled away the thousands of bales.

Good deal for them. Good deal for us. It was going to cost us a lot of time and effort to deal with that residue. Sure, it had nutrients, but if it was going to plug up the seeder the next spring, that was going to be a big problem.

Fast forward to the spring of 2018. The cattleman neighbour is in a bit of a time crunch for getting his corrals cleaned. He knows we’d like some manure on various parcels of land, so we strike a deal.

He’ll load and spread manure on his own land while also loading a custom manure applicator to spread some manure on our land. The manure for us is free, but we need to pay for the custom applicator.

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A FARMER’S VIEWPOINT | COOPERATION BETWEEN GRAIN & CATTLE Ordinarily, the cattleman neighbour likes to save all his manure for his own land, but in the interest of time and efficiency, we are able to utilize some to our benefit.

As is often the case, jobs converge. At the same time the manure needs to be hauled, a rented breaking disc becomes available for some land the cattleman wants to break and eventually seed back to grass.

One of our sons is out from the city for an extended long weekend and he can help run the breaking disc while the manure gets hauled. Good utilization of labour resources.

Grain producers are always thinking about what we can grow to generate the best return. For cattle producers, the main concern is feeding the herd without having to spend a bunch of money on imported feed.

Later on in the spring, I spray the breaking to control the grass that’s coming back. Our little high-clearance sprayer is better suited to rolling over this rough ground than the cattleman’s pull-type sprayer.

“You know, if it finally rains this spring,” I tell the cattleman, “you might want to seed that breaking. I have some flax that might work well.”

“Do cattle eat flax?” asks the cattleman. His concern is the feed supply and he would more likely want to seed something like barley.

This illustrates the divide between grain producers and cattle producers. Grain producers are always thinking about what we can grow to generate the best return. For cattle producers, the main concern is feeding the herd without having to spend a bunch of money on imported feed.

Grain producers and cattle producers should sit down and “shoot the breeze” more often to explore areas of cooperation. Too often we operate in our own solitudes.

Why isn’t more grain land fenced so that cattle can forage the fields after harvest? Why aren’t forage crops included as part of a routine crop rotation?

Beyond the economic advantages, it’s a lot of fun to work back and forth with neighbours who have different needs and concerns. Despite our different perspectives, we have a lot in common and we can learn a great deal from each other.

8

Publishers

Pat Ottmann & Tim Ottmann

Editor Trevor Bacque

Design

Andrea Espinoza - Espi Designs

Regular Contributors Tom Wolf Jeanette Gaultier Kevin Hursh

Paul Kuntz Scott Shiels

Copy Editor Lisa Johnston

Sales

Pat Ottmann pat@farmingfortomorrow.ca Phone: 587-774-7619 Mike Covey mike@farmingfortomorrow.ca Phone: 306-221-7120 Dennis Dowd dennis@farmingfortomorrow.ca Phone: 306-230-0654

administration & accounting Nancy Bielecki Phone: 587-774-7618 1025 -101 6ave SW Calgary, Alberta T2P 3P4

/FFTMagazine /farming4tomorrow /farming-for-tomorrow /farmingfortomorrow WWW.FARMINGFORTOMORROW.CA Farming For Tomorrow is delivered to 100,000 farm and agribusiness addresses every second month.

The areas of distribution include Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Peace region of B.C. The publisher does not assume any responsibility for the content of any advertisement, and all representations of warranties made in such advertisements are those of the advertiser and not of the publisher. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, in all or in part, without the written permission of the publisher. Canadian Publications mail sales product agreement no. 41126516.

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GRAIN MARKET ANALYSIS | MAXIMIZING RETURNS IN UNPREDICTABLE MARKETS

Maximizing Returns in Unpredictable Markets As we roll into summer, everyone should be looking to market the last of the old crop, in order to make space for the (hopefully) large crop that will be coming off shortly! This can be a very trying time of year, as we often struggle to find homes for everything. Because buyers also know that producers will be looking to make space, prices can be quite depressed in the summer months.

Demand is also usually quite a bit slower throughout the summer, as the grain companies have also tried to have their coverage on ahead of time, so bids can be hard to come by.

Scott Shiels Scott grew up in Killarney, Man., and has been in the grain industry for over 25 years. He has been with Grain Millers Canada for five years, doing both conventional and organic grain procurement as well as marketing for their mills. Scott lives in Abernethy, Saskatchewan with his wife Jenn.

Long story short … more often than not, it is in the producer’s best interest to have most, if not all, of their grain marketed ahead of time. Of course, there is an exception to this rule that occurs when crop conditions in the field are less than favorable. If we are excessively wet or dry in the summer, and the crop is suffering, we have experienced situations where the market gets bullish (strengthens) for the new crop coming, which can increase old crop prices as well. Being diligent and staying in touch with a variety of buyers, in a number of different regions, will keep you on top of where these markets might be heading, allowing you to take advantage of the situation, in turn maximizing your returns.

Oat markets were quite flat going into the summer, with millers still basking in the glow of one of the best-quality oat crops ever produced on the Prairies. While the yields may not have been bumpers, the quality made up for much of that, keeping everyone quite full and the markets quiet.

Seeded acreage this spring was basically even with last year, according to industry estimates, so with an average to above-average crop this fall, we won’t see any upward movement in prices.

Last estimates on canola had acreage down from last year, surprising most traders and a lot of farmers. Canola has consistently been one of the best return-per-acre crops on most Prairie farms, so in light of uncertainty surrounding our pulse and wheat markets, it would stand to reason that we would have been looking at more, not less, canola.

Wheat futures rallied back some in the spring, putting some support into that market, and leading producers to seed more wheat than was anticipated throughout the winter. Last year, we saw wheat prices heavily discounted due to low-protein levels in much of the hard red spring harvested in Western Canada. Hopefully, we will see better protein levels in the wheat this fall, as marketing opportunities are much better when we have a higher-protein wheat crop.

Pulse markets are still reeling from the tariffs put on by India, but acreage did not drop as much as most experts were estimating. Most of the industry was expecting a significant cut in acreage, but producers did, in my mind, the right thing, and didn’t cut the crops right out of their rotation. We have been seeing new market opportunities popping up for the past few months, and should the Indian tariffs become reduced or eliminated, there will be some great marketing options for producers that stayed the course and kept peas and lentils in their operation.

Until next time…

10

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COVER STORY | STAMP OF APPROVAL

Hope on the Horizon Manitoban farming couple with big entrepreneurial spirit embrace diverse opportunities

of Approval Alberta seed farm thrives with clear goals, collaboration

By Trevor Bacque Above: Richard and Marian Stamp were named Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmers in 1998. Later that year, they went on to co-win the national prize, as well.

(Photos courtesy of Tijana Martin)

Richard Stamp is always up for a challenge. The affable Enchant, Alta. seed farmer has taken cracks at many projects over the years. With four decades of peaks and valleys, he and wife Marian have successfully navigated Alberta’s complex farm economy and have now transitioned the farm to the next generation via a razor-sharp business model.

The first big challenge he accepted was in 1979 when he decided to get into farming by purchasing two quarter sections of land from the Alberta government for $100,000 thanks to a beginning farmer loan program. Shortly after, he reconnected with high school classmate Marian Huvenaars at a social event and the duo later married in 1980.

The pair began putting down roots in Enchant with their two quarters, a small hog operation and a handful of livestock. “We thought ‘that’s perfect.’ That’s all we need for our careers,” says Richard.

“That changed pretty quick in ag.”

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STAMP OF APPROVAL | COVER STORY

Above Right: Stamp Seeds’ cover crop blends, an increasingly popular product offering from farmers often looking to increase organic matter in the soil.

Below Right: From left to right: Matthew, Greg and Nathan Stamp. The brothers formally have succeeded their parents in Stamp Seeds and now run and manage the farm’s operations.

In 1979, interest loans were nine per cent, with a three per cent kickback if you had an adviser to assist you. Oil was below $6 and wheat was above it.

less than five years after the farm’s genesis. “The only saving grace was that we were on our own. We were pretty small, and we didn’t want to give up,” says Richard. “I don’t know if we were lucky, or had a vision, but I didn’t want to quit. I’m not going to quit anything.” Refusing to make a quick exodus from agriculture, the Stamps kept plugging away, despite selfimposed austerity measures for years to come.

“We were buying fuel at cents per gallon. [With those] dynamics of agriculture, you could make a little bit of money on a couple of quarters of land. Fuel was cheaper, fertilizer was $100 a tonne,” he says. “[Then] in 1982-83, our interest rates went to 23 per cent. That was dramatic. We were basically broke in those years.”

However, the small land base and Marian’s off-farm job as a teacher was what protected the Stamps from going belly up

A crop enthusiast at heart, Richard decided to part ways with his animals and after conversations with mentors Leonard Haney of Iron Springs and Tony Crooymans of Bow Island, decided to move into pedigreed seed growing by 1985 starting 13

COVER STORY | STAMP OF APPROVAL

Photo: Greg Stamp of Stamp Seeds operating the family’s tumbling drum of the seed treater. The machine is housed inside a heated facility that allows the family to treat seed year-round for customers.

Photo: Brothers Matthew, left and Greg talking at the kitchen table.

Along with their other brother, Nathan, the three now own Stamp Seeds.

with 50 acres of Galt barley. The winds of change began to blow, and the farm started to inch toward prosperity.

It really honed that for us,” says Richard, who would later serve as president of Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers Program for two years.

“At that time, it was important because we wanted to market more of our grain in a different way. As a very little farm, I wasn’t trying to market our grain to the CWB, I was trying to make a bit more of a profit and putting more effort into our few acres,” says Richard. Pedigreed seed farmers received an exemption under the Wheat Board, which was a bonus – it diversified the farm operation and avoided the board.

The farm slowly expanded from two quarters to 1,100 acres by the late ’90s. The family’s entrepreneurial spirit and perseverance was on display as they weathered the wild ride of the ’80s that put many western Canadian farmers out of business. Their perseverance and commitment to bettering the farm was recognized beyond the farm gate, too. In 1997, two individuals who weren’t familiar with one another nominated the Stamps for Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmer, an annual prize awarded to the province’s top farm, based on many criterion, such as innovation, community building, future planning, the farm business model and sustainability.

By 1998, things had begun to clip along at a profit annually. The pedigreed seed business was a year-round operation that always had challenges that Richard embraced. The shift back into retail sales had helped the farm generate more predictable income throughout the year.

The same year the Stamps were acknowledged as Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmer, Richard had an opportunity to grow GMO potatoes from Monsanto and he once again rose to the task. However, the equipment, time and capacity required to take care of the spuds was very demanding. Around that same time, a wave of anti-GMO fervour began to spread and it made marketing the spuds near-impossible. In many ways, he was back where he started in the ’80s, living day by day and with a scaled-back approach to farming.

Richard thought they picked the wrong people and Marian was likewise shocked at the nomination news.

“Talk about not knowing my business model,” he says of the valuable lessons he learned growing the potatoes. “I’m not sure if it was a mistake or bad timing … it was a lot of work in marketing and way more than I was capable of doing with the infrastructure and people I had. That hurt our farm immensely and almost put us out of business. That was devastating.”

“I couldn’t believe it because we virtually started with nothing in ’79,” she says. “We had to more or less make it on our own. It was trial by error.”

However, it once again allowed the family to re-examine its business commitments and shift gears back to strictly sales and seed production of crops – and ditch tubers once and for all.

There was no error when it was announced the Stamps had claimed the Alberta prize. Later that year at the national level, they were co-winners of the countrywide award. Winning the awards once again helped shape their lives and farm.

“What surprised me [was] we went through a lot of hardships, but it’s how you deal with those challenges, or anything in life.

It’s how you look after those challenges and responsibilities.

Hopefully that’s been a guide for our family,” says Richard.

“What it did was challenge us again to think about ‘what’s your business model; what are you doing; and why are you doing it?’

Marian concurs, knowing that short and long-term goals were required to get the farm back on track. “We went back and

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COVER STORY | STAMP OF APPROVAL really ramped up the seed business from that point on and felt that was our niche,” she says. “That’s where we really thought we should focus.”

It wasn’t long after the farm reorganization that the Stamps were finding new opportunity, this time from one of their four children. In 2005, 22-year-old Greg was wrapping up his agriculture degree from the University of Lethbridge and had a chat with his father. Greg had always helped on the farm during busy times. However, now, he was beginning to feel like the farm may hold something more for his young family.

“I think we thought Greg was crazy,” says Richard. “If you were to ask me if any of our kids were going to farm with us, I would have said, ‘no, I don’t know why they would.’ We challenged them all to go do something else – go to college, university, whatever.”

Despite the catch-22 conversation, Richard and Marian embraced Greg’s family into the operation and the oldest son began to work feverishly in those early days to help expand the farm, refocus on retail sales and do just about anything to make the farm life work.

“We travelled together quite a bit to grower meetings, and we talked about it for a couple years. ‘How do we help each other build our businesses and focus on this?’” says Richard.

From 300 acres 39 years ago to now more than 6,700 acres, expansion has been vital to the farm’s generational transfer.

“We were starting to slowly rent more land and ramping up our seed sales business when I came back,” says Greg. “We were doing everything: landscaping, trucking, spraying, custom work, trying to rebuild the seed brand, sell more seed, and slowly expand and up our acres.”

If it sounds as though it were a lot of work, that’s because it was.

“When I came back, it wasn’t that great. I didn’t come back for any 100 per cent slam dunk that’s for sure,” says Greg. “It didn’t look as good as it does now. It was more of a challenge and a lot riskier. There was no promise of success and it looked a little challenging for the first five years. There were many times I thought, ‘I don’t know if I want to be doing this.’”

Greg stuck with it, though, and things began to turn around with a focus on seed sales and production that helped sprout renewed optimism.

16

As the father and son began to gel and learn each other’s work rhythms, Richard was dreaming up ideas with fellow seed farmers south of the Trans-Canada Highway. They were all after the same thing: help one another out, but also leverage their buying power, marketing abilities and form partnerships with larger groups.

In 2010, SeedNet was born: a 14 family conglomerate ready to grow and market any seed crop that would have a guaranteed end market. Since beginning, they have collectively grown more than 750 combined crop types and varieties – from conventional CWRS wheat to chicory to quinoa, SeedNet has tried almost anything you could think to plant. Today, as 13 families, they boast a cumulative 50,000 acres in production and grain storage exceeding two million bushels sustained through 13 retail outlets in southern Alberta, as well as other locations in Saskatchewan and the U.S.

The buying and marketing opportunities they sought had been achieved, as well. The Stamps always maintained a variety of pulses and one crop they own the rights to is AAC Lacombe, a yellow pea variety with excellent resistance to powdery mildew and a sure stand. As well, FB 9-4 faba beans have also been a strong variety for them in recent years. Through SeedNet, they’ve proven that bigger can be better. Two years ago, the group was awarded the rights from German seed company KWS for its fall rye variety Guttino. They also work with AGT Foods and the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan to grow, market and retail varieties they have rights to.

“We can spread our risk a bit with different crop types and grow other things,” says Greg, who handles the seed sales and marketing. “Our customers have access to things they normally wouldn’t have access to. It allows us to become experts; it partially benefits us and our customers. If my customers are

STAMP OF APPROVAL | COVER STORY

Photo: Richard and Marian Stamp have four children, all of whom are involved in farming, including their three sons that took over the seed farm.

making money, that’s success for me. It’s not a five-year game, it’s a 30-year thing; it’s a long-term commitment.”

From 300 acres 39 years ago to now more than 6,700 acres,

As Stamp Seeds continued rolling along and expanding with more farmland, there was yet another expansion on the home front. Greg’s younger brothers, Matthew and Nathan and their families, returned to the farm operation in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Matthew, whose schooling included a business management and a bachelor’s in accounting, focuses on all construction projects, seed treating and logistics in the yard all while working closely on the books. Nathan, who also earned an agriculture degree, oversees the crop production, equipment, maintenance and the farm’s HR department. Daughter Aimee farms with her husband Blake Klatt near Foremost.

refined business model and ability to bring on a three-way

With three brothers in the mix, it was also the right time to start talking a formalized succession plan that included all three.

In late 2017, after more than two years of work, the family inked the final agreement: each son is now a one-third owner with an agreement to take care of Richard and Marian into retirement and beyond.

grain per hour. All the value-added offerings are giving a stamp

expansion has been vital to the farm’s generational transfer, ownership agreement. Today, the company has 10 full-time employees and runs year-round. Recently, they hired a full-time CFO which allowed Marian to step back after dutifully managing the entire farm accounting for more than 30 years. Today, the seed farm also boasts an on-site, pulse-specific treatment facility capable of treating in the winter. They’ve also installed an Alberta-first: a seed-cleaning machine, also pulse-specific, that features conveyor belts and bean ladders to ensure minimal drops and maintain quality handling of 13 tonnes of of approval for 2018 and beyond.

“All three boys have strengths in different areas. That’s been a real benefit to our farm,” says Marian. “It all comes down to passion, perseverance, hard work and faith. Faith is number 1.”

17

VERTICAL TILLAGE | UP & DOWN

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How vertical tillage has evolved over the years

By Geoff Geddes Above: The Salford 5212 demo unit providing complete solution.

Some farming practices appear easily definable, until you try to define them. Such is the case with vertical tillage, a concept that, like beauty or success, means different things to different people. But for those who stand to benefit from such a practice, getting to the root of it may be well worth the effort.

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“Vertical tillage is a term that has lost some of its meaning over the years,” says Kris Wright, product manager with Salford Group. “True vertical tillage is any implement that runs vertically through the ground with no horizontal access. There is vertical movement in both directions of water, air and nutrients down into the soil and also up toward the roots. True vertical tillage helps create micro-fractures without destroying the soil structure, keeping the soil in a state that prevents erosion, promotes water and nutrient uptake and does minimal harm to organic matter in the soil.”

Unma HOUR

Part of the confusion around vertical tillage may stem from its newcomer status in many areas.

“In Western Canada, we have been a ‘no-till’ region since the late 1990s,” says Glenn Herperger, territory manager for western Saskatchewan and southern Alberta for Salford Group. “Tillage of any form has only appeared in the last five years and has been a real game changer, altering the way farmers view seed bed preparation and soil and residue management.”

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Even agronomists have a hard time nailing down the concept, though there are some basic elements they can agree on.

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Bracing for impact

Hydrau

“There is definitely some inconsistency in that various companies list their equipment as ‘vertical tillage machines,’” says Thom Weir, senior precision agronomist with Farmers Edge.

“Essentially, though, vertical tillage can be described as a low impact form of tillage that breaks through residue faster and is also used for seed bed preparation. It usually consists of a tool of some sort that penetrates the soil about four inches deep, followed by basket incorporators 18

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VERTICAL TILLAGE | UP & DOWN

Above: The Pro-Till combines small diameter shallow discs and cutting-edge consolidating rollers to cut, weed, throw and mix soils at high speeds, usually with one pass.

Right: The Salford I-2100 vertical tillage tool is not designed to flip soil and subsequently leaves high amounts of residue.

that pulverize and turn the soil. It’s generally marketed as providing good trash management without excessive tillage.”

While “low impact” is an oft-cited selling point for vertical tillage, it’s also a relative term.

“I just spent a couple of days in Iowa, and relative to what they are doing there, vertical tillage is low impact,” says Weir. “But compared to what we’re used to in Western Canada, it’s actually a pretty aggressive tillage system. It rapidly chops up the residue and flips it, leaving the field with very low surface residue of less than 30 per cent.”

Assessing the merits As with much technology, the case could be made that vertical tillage is not inherently good or bad; rather, its merit depends on how and why it’s being used.

“You have to look at what these machines are doing positively and negatively to the soil,” says Weir. “Talking to growers in eastern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba, excessive moisture has been a real issue in these areas since 2011, so the concept of using vertical tillage to dry out the soil has worked really well.”

At the same time, “too much of a good thing” can present problems if farmers forget that they still need moisture to get the crop off.

20

“Sure, vertical tillage creates a great looking seedbed to plant your canola, but if you lose too much moisture, you won’t be able to get that canola started,” says Weir. “Still, there are potential benefits. I was involved in a study a few years ago where we seeded directly into long-term no-till fields, and when we then tilled the soil, we liberated about 50 pounds of extra nitrogen. While that’s exciting for producers, we have to do more research to determine how much damage was done by tilling a previously untilled field. How many years will it take to build that organic reserve back up?”

Strategic thinking Many companies today are marketing vertical tillage as “strategic tillage,” and though it’s a sound strategy for some, it’s important to consider the big picture.

“With the conditions this spring in much of Western Canada, vertical tillage certainly has its place,” says Weir. “In other areas, however, I get a shiver up my back when I see people out with this equipment. I grew up in western Saskatchewan where lack of moisture is always your number 1 enemy, and I lived through the droughts of 1988/89 and 2001/02. Today, we have a whole generation of new farmers who may not have been exposed to extreme drought conditions, so the experience of those who went before them should be seriously considered when choosing a strategy going forward.”

UP & DOWN | VERTICAL TILLAGE help inform farmers’ decisions. One such study is the vertical tillage research conducted at the University of Saskatchewan from 2016-18 by Drs. Bing Si, Jeff Schoenau and Tom King, and MSc student Raul Avila. Using field scale equipment at a site in south-central Saskatchewan, researchers worked with flax stubble, which is a stubble type where residue management can be a pressing issue. They compared vertical tillage, conventional tandem disc, raking and burning and a “no-till” approach as replicated treatments applied on a flax stubble field in the fall of 2015.

“In the first year after treatments were imposed, vertical tillage of the flax stubble appeared to reduce air permeability, while tandem discing increased it,” says Schoenau, professor of soil science and at the University of Saskatchewan.

“Tillage in general also resulted in reduced aggregate stability compared to no-till in 2016,” says Schoenau. “However, these effects had largely disappeared by the second year. Tillage reduced density and strength at the soil surface, particularly the tandem disc treatment due to the greater working depth.

The effect of tillage on reducing soil strength was still apparent in 2017. There were no differences in water infiltration (hydraulic conductivity) observed among stubble tillage and burning treatments in either year.”

Depending on your tool of choice for vertical tillage, however, moisture may not be an issue.

“Salford vertical tillage tools are designed to manage soil density and residue coverage, and the tools come in two main forms: rolling tines and rolling wavy coulters,” says Wright. “By fracturing the soil and sizing residue with tines or spring loaded coulters, the soil’s air and moisture storage capacity is increased, and more oxygen helps warm the soil and promote microbial life. The residue management function of Salford vertical tillage tools leaves 50 to 75 per cent residue coverage after one pass.”

As an added benefit, Wright explains that the slightly darker soil surface helps evaporate excess soil moisture on the surface. The fractured soil also has increased capillary action, allowing excess soil moisture to percolate down into the soil where the roots can reach it.

“Many producers using Salford rolling coulter vertical tillage tools report reclaiming ground from sloughs in their fields and increasing the acreage they farm due to the improved soil moisture storage capacity,” says Wright.

From no-till to Pro-Till

In addition to providing cautionary tales around vertical tillage, Saskatchewan is also a source of research that may

Reflecting relatively limited impact of the treatments on soil properties, yields were similar at the site in both 2016 and 2017, with no significant difference among treatments.

Because of costs incurred from tillage and raking/burning operations without associated yield benefit, these operations were calculated to produce negative economic return.

One alternative to vertical tillage that may offer better returns in certain instances is a high-speed disc product that is touted as a more advanced residue management tool.

“We consider the Pro-Till® product line that we began marketing in 2013 to be the fastest and most versatile piece of tillage equipment you will ever own,” says Sheldon Mohr, sales/ marketing manager for Degelman Industries in Regina, Sask.

“It’s designed to shred heavy fall residue, open up spring fields, level ruts, destroy clods and produce a near perfect seed bed.”

According to Mohr, the Pro-Till® shreds residue at speeds of over 16 km/h while ensuring uniform distribution of residue, which is critical for no-till rotations.

“Problems such as poor residue distribution, uneven emergence, delayed emergence, erosion and seeder/planter plugging are reduced with the Pro-Till®. Our combination of independent disc arms, small diameter shallow discs, motion dampening rubber suspension, sturdy frame and cutting edge consolidating rollers allow this tillage tool to slice through residue in a way that has never been seen before. The Pro-Till® will cut, weed, throw and mix soils at incredible speeds, and usually with one pass. This is a true residue-killing machine,” he says.

21

VERTICAL TILLAGE | UP & DOWN

Photo: The Degelman Pro-Till 33/40 shreds residue at speeds of over 16 km/h while leveling ruts and destroying clods.

Progress report

Advances in technology are also being made with classic vertical tillage, but it’s a slow process.

“Producers don’t mind devoting input costs to things they can directly link to increased yield like irrigation and fertilizer,” says Wright. “Tillage is more of an indirect benefit and a long-term gain rather than an instant reward. For that reason, developments in vertical tillage technology are kind of the last frontier. Even so, a number of manufacturers who may not

22

Photo: The Pro-Till product line was launched in 2013 with Degelman and has seen steady interest from western Canadian farmers.

have had anything to do with tillage in the past are now adding to their core product lines and dabbling in things like automated depth control and remote control of particular implements. It may just be a while before significant advances in vertical tillage join the mainstream.”

In the meantime, though, Wright says that farmers who have been using vertical tillage for two to three years are already seeing better nutrient uptake and residue management. By anyone’s definition, that’s progress worth pursuing.

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HARVEST EQUIPMENT | INNOVATION CONTINUES...

Harvest Equipment innovation continues...

By Melanie Epp Above: AGCO’s Ideal combine was developed from scratch after asking grain farmers from around the world key questions on the different aspects of harvest.

Since the first harvester was invented (a reaper machine designed in Scotland in the early 1800s), harvest technology has seen much change. The basic principle, however, remains the same: chaff is separated from grain. What, then, makes new harvest technology so unique? Farming for Tomorrow takes a closer look at two harvesters – the LEXION 700 series by CLAAS and AGCO’s Ideal combine – highlighting features that the manufacturers believe make these machines stand out.

The Ideal combine by AGCO Since its initial launch at Agritechnica 2017 in Hanover, Germany, the Ideal combine has attracted a lot of attention. Caleb Schleder, tactical marketing manager of harvesting at AGCO Corporation, says that’s because they did something that not a lot of companies have had the opportunity to do: design a combine from scratch.

Design plans began back in 2011 when AGCO interviewed customers around the world, including in Western Canada, and asked them key questions on the different aspects of harvest. They wanted to know things such as what capacity level was needed and what would make that farmer’s life easier when it came to setting the machine.

“It was a great exercise,” says Schleder. “We got a lot of insight from some really professional producers in order to understand how we start from the ground up building a combine that our customers need.”

One might think that conditions vary too widely around the world to design a machine that meets the needs of a wider market, but Schleder says that isn’t true. “Overall, there’s a lot of variability in the conditions,” he notes, pointing to shatterproof canola versus traditional canola and strip cut versus swath. “But when it comes down to the needs, it needs to gather, feed, thresh and separate, clean and handle the grain, and then provide good residue management. How it does that is

26

HARVEST EQUIPMENT important and how it manages the different conditions is extremely important.”

One of the most important features of the Ideal combine is Ideal Harvest, says Schleder. Ideal Harvest is a feature on the combine that’s designed to give more information to the operator than ever before. Schleder refers to it as “visualization of the machine.”

Previously, to assess grain loss and provide better grain samples, farmers did what was called a kill stall to identify how to optimally set the machine in order to reduce losses and provide better grain samples.

The kill stall process involves stalling the combine in operation while it is fully loaded. “And then you get out and you look at the loss on the ground, you look at the shoe distribution to make sure you’re not overloading the right side or the left side, and really understanding how that rotor is being presented with crop and how it’s threshing and separating it.”

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Ideal Harvest, however, allows the operator to visualize the internal processes of the combine, showing them how it’s threshing, where in the rotor the grain is coming out and how it’s dropping down to the shoe. On top of that, it also shows losses at a higher quality than what was done in the past.

“We have a full suite of sensors running through that machine, telling us exactly what the combine is doing at all times,” says Schleder. “That’s something that’s important to any operator whether they’re a novice operator or an expert operator because now that you get that inside picture, you truly get to see what is going on in your machine, and we didn’t have that opportunity prior.”

Another question AGCO asked farmers was what they could do to make the grain-handling process more efficient. “It doesn’t matter how quickly you can get the crop into the combine,” he says. “What matters is how quickly you can keep it away from the machine and keep that combine running at all times.”

The streamer system on the Ideal combine, with its 485-bushel grain tank and hydraulic adjustment of the discharge rate (with an unload rate of up to six bushels per second), accomplishes just that by allowing producers to stay in the field longer.

Unloading on the go has become more important, especially with higher yields, says Schleder, pointing out that the Ideal combine is able to unload 32 per cent faster than its nearest competitor.

Western Canadian farmers who look to harvest at a larger capacity will also be attracted to the Ideal combine’s dual helix rotors, says Schleder. In order to handle the harvest with as much care as possible, and to ensure a constant load on the rotor, the intake augers, threshing bars and rotor fingers are arranged in a spiral around the rotor. As a result, all grain is cleanly separated without impacting straw quality. This is due in

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HARVEST EQUIPMENT | INNOVATION CONTINUES...

part to the length of the rotor. At 4.84 metres and 600 millimetres in diameter, it is the longest rotor on the market today.

Those that are more compaction conscious will be attracted to Ideal combine’s track system. “Typically you would see more compaction worries in the early spring,” he says. “But as we start to see that window narrow, there’s opportunity for us to get out into the fields when conditions aren’t perfect.

“For us, to have that track with that large footprint – it’s got 11 feet of footprint that we’re placing down on that soil – we’re able to expand our gross flat plate,” he continues.

The result is fewer pounds per square inch on the soil, which effectively reduces compaction.

There are many draws to a combine like Ideal, but perhaps the most important is that the entire concept was designed from scratch with the farmer in mind. “By giving us a clean sheet of design, we were able to take all those needs at once and essentially build a machine that addressed a lot of them,” Schleder concludes.

The LEXION 700 series combine by CLAAS In Western Canada, certain crops – canola, for instance – often require low threshing, but higher speed separation. On most combines, adjusting for the two speeds is simply not possible.

On a LEXION, however, independent adjustment is possible, making it one of the more unique combines on the market.

The LEXION 400 was first introduced to the North American market 20 years ago. Since then, it has seen a total of six revisions. The 700 series was first introduced in 2010, but recently went under a major revision.

“The LEXION has an independent or separate threshing system from the separation system, so we have two systems that have to be adjusted versus the single system that threshes and separates on all the other combines in the industry,” explains 28

Jeff Gray, product coordinator of LEXION CLAAS Omaha Inc. “Being able to adjust your separation speed and your threshing speed independently provides the operator with greater flexibility to adapt to changing conditions more efficiently.”

For example, says Gray, you’re not leading threshing speed with separation speed because threshing speed, most times, needs to be slower than separation speed. Being able to adjust both independently allows the operator to optimize threshing speed and then optimize separation speed according to conditions. By comparison, other combines try to adjust rotor speed to maintain quality, but it is oftentimes too slow for separation, which leads to increased grain loss. To compensate, most operators will increase rotor speed, says Gray, which leads to cracked grain.

“Whereas on a LEXION, the operator can adjust those two systems independently, so there’s no compromise,” explains Gray.

“While it is an extra adjustment that you have to make, it’s one that highly benefits the productivity and efficiency of the combine.”

On other machines, in order to get the separation speed to handle large volumes of dry matter, it also creates more overburden because the threshing speed has to be operated much faster in order to achieve better separation.

“What happens then to get more separation, they’re overthreshing the heck out of the dry stems,” notes Gray. “They may not be damaging the crop so much, but they’re creating an awful lot more chaff in the combine that causes a lot of overburden on the cleaning shoe.”

“And that’s one of the advantages of the LEXION,” he continues. “We don’t have to over-thresh in order to get the crop residue through the machine.”

Gray says the LEXION 700 will also be an attractive option to those operating in the emerging soybean market. Soybeans

INNOVATION CONTINUES... | HARVEST EQUIPMENT

Left: A new feature on AGCO’s Ideal combine, Ideal Harvest, allows operators to visualize the internal processes of the combine.

Middle: On most combines, adjusting threshing and separation speeds is not possible.

Independent adjustment is possible on the Lexion 700 series combine by Claas.

Right: Lexion operators can maintain gentle threshing action, optimize speed, and adjust rotor and separation speed individually to preserve the quality of the sample in the tank and minimize grain loss.

produced for seed are oftentimes harvested at a slightly higher moisture content to protect the quality of the bean. On the LEXION, says Gray, operators can maintain gentle threshing action, optimize speed, and adjust rotor speed and separation speed independently to preserve the quality of the sample in the tank and minimize grain loss. On other combines, each adjustment impacts the entire operation, leading to further issues, such as cracked grain samples or greater grain loss.

adjustment system for the combine. That enables the machine

In essence, CLAAS is the only company that has an independent hybrid processor with cylinder threshing and rotary separation, according to Gray. He says the design not only gives greater flexibility to fine-tune the two systems independently, but it also provides a much larger area for threshing and separation, which leads to increased capacity.

quite proud about,” says Gray. “That’s the emerging technology

“It makes the combine bigger, and we might have a little bit longer turning radius,” he says. “But the advantage is we’re keeping a whole lot more grain in that combine than what our competitors are.”

Ultimately, operators will know best which features are most

CLAAS was first to launch CEMOS or the CLAAS Electronic Machine Optimisation System, which is the automatic

certainly paying more attention to the individual needs of

to make adjustments automatically, on the fly, as needed when the combine is harvesting. “That makes drivers into operators,” says Gray. “And makes them more efficient and productive.”

That system has been in place for the last five years. Since then, other companies are following suit, coming out with their own versions of automatic adjustment. “That’s something we’re in the industry right now.

“We’ve had auto steering for several years now,” he continues.

“Now it’s time to let the combine start making all of the adjustments on its own with threshing, separation and cleaning.”

attractive whether it be less compaction and more capacity or the ability to independently adjust threshing and separation speeds. One thing’s for certain: machinery companies are farmers and operators.

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4 -H | THE LEADERS OF TOMORROW

The leaders of tomorrow

4-H Canada no longer a program just for farm kids, inclusivity goals see membership growing in rural, suburban and urban areas

By Natalie Noble Above: Nearly 600 participants from over 27 countries come together for the 2017 Global 4-H Network Summit in Ottawa. This includes 4-H youth, leaders and professionals, volunteers, partners and exhibitors.

(Photos courtesy of 4-H Canada)

Ask the average Canadian about 4-H and it is very likely visions of cows and cooking will come to mind. But the 105-year-old organization has come a long way to ensure they engage and inspire passion in today’s youth and tomorrow’s leaders.

“We’re plunging into our second century as one of the longest running youth organizations in Canada, certainly in terms of rural communities and the demographics that we work with,” says Shannon Benner, CEO of 4-H Canada. “But, even though we’re over 100 years old, we’re very young in terms of the generation of young people we’re working with today. What’s relevant to them is really different from what was relevant 10 years ago.”

With that in mind, the organization will launch its new three-year strategic plan, along with its new vision and mission statements at their July 11 AGM in Ottawa, Ont. To keep up with Canada’s rapidly evolving agricultural industry, as well as youth priorities, the strategic planning cycle is relatively narrow, typically three to five years in range. This upcoming plan will continue to see science and technology as major program pillars.

“Young people can really identify with this, and it’s a good way for us to bridge 4-H to today’s youth,” says Benner.

David Hovell, chair at 4-H Canada, added that there are four key focus areas: impact on youth, identity, leadership excellence and resources. Each of these focus areas is geared towards improving 4-H programming, expanding the brand across the country and reaching out to new Canadians, as well as youth in urban and suburban centres.

“These priorities will guide us for the next three years, and also serve as a foundation for the future of the club,” he says.

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4 -H | THE LEADERS OF TOMORROW 4-H programming is developed around community-building, leadership skills and hands-on tactical project work. While its history is entrenched in agriculture, Hovell notes that the face of agriculture, and Canada’s young people, are vastly different than a generation ago.

“Agriculture is the key element of the program, but our organization has evolved to the point where you don’t need to live on a farm to be involved in a project. We have young people who show rabbits, or even enrol in a dog obedience program,” he says.

Above: 4-H issues are discussed by young members at the 2017 Global 4-H Network Summit in Ottawa.

Working with their international peers, youth create solutions and action plans in facilitated sessions.

Further to this, Benner describes projects around food security, such as urban gardening. “What 4-H teaches is relevant to any young person, whether it’s teaching them career skills, science and technology or even patio container gardening. They’re also building skills in leadership and public speaking.”

Other projects around the country include those in computer programming and robotics. There’s even 4-H club near Guelph, Ont., with a drone project. Regardless of the plan, each one brings hands-on technology that is highly applicable to today’s business environment and marketplace.

BRIDGING THE GAP

4-H membership has grown over the past three years and currently sees approximately 60 per cent hailing from rural communities with the remaining 40 per cent from rural and suburban markets combined. It is also becoming more common to see urban centres with a 4-H presence, such as in the cities of Calgary, Alta., Brandon, Man. and Vancouver, B.C., with urban membership currently comprising 17 per cent of the 4-H DNA. Membership is stable with growth in certain regions, which speaks directly to the quality of the program. Part of this growth can be credited to 4-H Canada’s focus on reaching out to new Canadians.

“4-H provides wonderful opportunities for young immigrants to learn while becoming very much a part of the fabric of their new communities,” says Hovell.

One of the organization’s “Canada 150” initiatives was the development of their new club kit, a package anyone can receive from their provincial organization in order to start a club where they live. The kits are currently being translated into different languages to increase their attraction and become 32

more accessible for new Canadians. The club kits include the 4-H member handbook, 4-H leader guidebook and the year’s program catalogue, in both French and English so far. 4-H Canada also includes various promotional items and then the kits are offered to provinces for free to be customized with provincial publications and other promotional items.

The organization has also taken opportunities to deliver the benefits of its programming to other parts of Canada’s makeup, particularly in Indigenous communities. “We all hear stories of young people having a tough time,” says Hovell. “4-H can be part of a brighter future for them. We’re looking forward to working in those communities and seeing what we can do to give young Canadians of all socio-economic backgrounds some wonderful opportunities.”

RECOGNIZING LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE

4-H has increasingly strengthened its emphasis on what they refer to as “STEM,” or science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

In May, five outstanding 4-H members competed at the Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) in Ottawa, Ont., all of them earning prestigious awards. Traditionally accessed through school programs, 4-H members are privileged as part of the only not-for-profit organization with direct access to seats for five youth to exhibit at CWSF. Mac Dykeman of B.C. earned gold and platinum awards in the Junior category with her project, “Safer Chick-ments: An innovative solution to reducing stress in chick shipments.” Her project was voted in the top three of 406 total entries, among other awards. Next May, she will move on to the 2019 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, AZ, with the Canadian team.

“Having our 4-H members competing and winning at the

THE LEADERS OF TOMORROW | 4 -H highest level in the country is a testament to our youth and the importance our programming places on STEM learning,” says Benner. “I am already looking forward to next year.”

Hovell adds that the work seen at the CWSF is absolutely remarkable. “They’re doing things like extracting protein from crickets and extracting elements from lobster shells to be used as polymers in manufacturing,” he says. “Scientists from sponsor organizations such as Bayer CropScience Canada and retired university faculty members are there to view and judge the exhibits. PhD scientists are judging these young people and saying, ‘this is PhD-calibre research.’ They were just amazed.”

“Our science clubs are growing,” adds Benner. “Even though 100 years ago you might never have thought of 4-H having a drone club, here we are today. It’s young people learning critical skills they can bridge to agriculture or a number of different industries where there’s still a labour gap in Canada.”

Another celebration of leadership excellence, Benner says her biggest highlight of the year is the 4-H L.E.A.D. (Leadership Excellence Awards of Distinction) awards night. These awards of distinction for members across Canada are considered the pinnacle award for club members who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement while also making a great difference in their communities as leaders.

A GLOBAL MOVEMENT

As past-year chair of the Global 4-H network board of directors, Benner also has a unique insight into 4-H as a worldwide community and is still very engaged in the board.

A major highlight for her was 2017’s 4-H Network Global Summit, hosted in Ottawa, Ont. “It was a really great opportunity to expose our young Canadians to what 4-H looks like around the world,” she says. “They were amazed at what they all had in common in terms of the 4-H program, regardless of where you go. It’s about helping young people succeed and building leaders who are passionate about what they do.”

She adds that in global terms, 4-H as a program is not unlike that in Canada, where 4-H in Newfoundland and Labrador can look vastly different from a club in B.C. or on the Prairies. “Our members were able to see things from around the world, like growing coffee beans in Jamaica, or community service projects from Finland or a drone club in Korea. The 4-H recipe is very different around the world, but it never strays from building confident young leaders who want to make a difference.”

And making a difference is just what they are doing. “We’re developing farmers of the future, partners in developing the bio-scientists and the ag innovators that will feed our hungry planet,” says Hovell. “We’re so proud of these members stepping up to do extraordinary work.”

“To be able to see what they do, have the opportunity to engage them, meet with them and have them travel here to receive their awards and hear their speeches is my favourite night of the year,” she says.

When the four L.E.A.D. scholars receive their financial awards, they are also surprised with their dream mentors, taken from their own wish-lists. These mentors have included CEOs, industry leaders, and even an olympian. “It’s a pretty cool experience to be able to offer that to a young person.”

The next L.E.A.D. awards evening will take place January 31, 2019, in Saskatoon, Sask. 4-H Canada will recognize its volunteer of the year, outstanding youth and alumni of distinction.

The organization also recently launched its Hands to Larger Service Program. Run in co-operation with the Government of Canada through its Canada Service Corps, the initiative will encourage young Canadians to get involved in service to their communities.

What are Albertan farms growing faster than anything else? Data. As the Internet of Things becomes the Internet of Cows, Tractors, Drones, Feed, and so forth, connectivity, or the lack of it, is critical.

Land is the most fixed asset on the planet, so how fast and efficiently this data can be captured, analyzed, stored and accessed, flexibly and wirelessly, is the difference between surviving and thriving. It’s how progressive farmers mitigate risk and keep their business, land, crops and livestock healthier, and more productive.

Only Axia FibreNet can provide the speed of light network and expertise to quickly accommodate these growing agri-business data bandwidth demands.

AxiaFibreNet.com/Agriculture

“Starting this summer, selected youth ambassadors from coast to coast will have the opportunity to plan, implement and lead service projects in various communities,” says Benner. “Urban, rural, you name it, right across the spectrum—they will learn the value of service while developing skills that prepare them for careers in areas where we need them. It’s all about the value of giving back to our own communities and positively impacting the world.”

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SPRAYING 101 | BIOBEDS FOR PESTICIDE WASTE DISPOSAL

Biobeds for Pesticide Waste Disposal One of the most challenging aspects of a spray operation is the disposal of leftovers or rinsate containing pesticides. Let’s be honest, too much of it is drained onto the ground in a corner of the yard or the field. Nobody’s happy about that, nobody’s proud of it, but what are the alternatives?

Tom Wolf, PhD, P.Ag.

Waste disposal is a skeleton in the closet of the pesticide industry. One of the problems is the time-consuming nature of sprayer cleaning, and the lack of clear guidelines on product labels that pass the buck. Too often, the applicator is asked to “act in accordance with provincial or state guidelines,” which is essentially a dead end.

At Sprayers101.com, we’ve tried to tackle the problem by finding ways to generate less waste, by disposing of the rinsate by spraying it out, or by installing an efficient continuous rinsing system. We’d now like to talk about another component: biobeds.

Tom Wolf grew up on a grain farm in southern Manitoba.

He obtained his BSC and M.Sc. (Plant Sciences) at the University of Manitoba and his PhD. (Agronomy) at Ohio State University. Tom was a research scientist with Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada for 17 years before forming AgriMetrix, an agricultural research company that he now operates in Saskatoon. He specializes in spray drift, pesticide efficacy, and sprayer tank cleanout, and conducts research and training on these topics throughout Canada. Tom sits on the Board of the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association, is an active member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and is a member and past president of the Canadian Weed Science Society.

Twitter: @nozzle_guy

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What is a biobed?

Sprayer fill station.

Simply put, a biobed is a place where it’s safe and acceptable to dump dilute pesticide waste. First implemented in Sweden about 20 years ago, a biobed

typically consists of a one-metre deep pit measuring about three metres by six metres or so. The pit is filled with a biomix, a mixture of cereal straw, compost and soil. The biomix, when properly prepared, acts to absorb a large amount of moisture, adsorb the pesticide molecules and provide an environment in which microbes break down the residues.

The effluent from a properly-constructed biobed system contains 90 to 99 per cent less pesticide than what was introduced, depending on the pesticide.

BIOBEDS FOR PESTICIDE WASTE DISPOSAL | SPRAYING 101 • Identify a well-drained site easily accessible by spray equipment. Avoid low spots as water management becomes problematic.

• Dig a pit sized to suit your requirements. As a rule of thumb, 1 m3 can process about 1,000 litres of liquid in a season.

Rainfall is part of this value.

Canada’s first commercial biobed installation at Indian Head, Sask, 2009 (Source: Murray Belyk, Bayer CropScience (retired)).

Biobeds have been extensively studied and are now found throughout Europe and many parts of Central and South America. Canada currently has six research biobed sites in the West, and a additional 17 in Quebec. The systems have been researched by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in recent years, with promising results.

Constructing a biobed There are many possible variations of biobeds, some relatively simple and others engineered to address certain specific needs.

A great deal of creativity can be used to customize a biobed for any operation.

A simple biobed The following is a variation of the simplest biobeds, and these are the types first tested by AAFC in Saskatoon and Indian Head, Saskatchewan about 10 years ago. This simple design is based on the biobeds established in Sweden and the U.K., and is a good way to learn about the system.



A suitable biobed pit that has been dug.

• Line the pit with a geomembrane liner. Forty millimetres is plenty thick; any thicker and it gets hard to handle. Include a raised berm at the edge.

• Install weeping tile at bottom of pit, and extend it to ground level. This will be useful to determine water status and remove water if necessary.

• Cover weeping tile with pea gravel and a silt trap. This serves to make leached water freely available for removal.

Note that this biobed has an impermeable liner, so it’s a closed system. Excessive water must be removed and cycled back to the top of the biobed.

• Create the biomix by blending two parts, by volume, chopped cereal straw or wood chips (not cedar), one part mature plant-sourced compost or peat and one part relatively coarse-textured soil (for optimal drainage). Add water as necessary as if making compost. Allow to sit for four to six weeks.

• During this waiting time, the biomix will warm and form a white-mould complex. This is the microbial basis for its ability to break down pesticide residues. White mould will be visible on the cellulose portions of the biomix.

Weeping tile to collect excess water.

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SPRAYING 101 | BIOBEDS FOR PESTICIDE WASTE DISPOSAL • Fill pit with biomix, anticipating significant settling. Top up as necessary over next few weeks. Use extra biomix to create a slope away from berm.

pumped onto a second biobed. This biobed then degrades any remaining product. This system is more efficient at degrading persistent products, and allows for better water management.

• Establish a bromegrass cover by transplanting or sodding. This is an important way to remove excess water via evapotranspiration.

The principle has proven effective, helping degrade more difficult pesticides to acceptable levels.

• Introduce pesticide waste to biobed, managing moisture content to avoid waterlogging.

One of the problems with below-ground biobeds in wet climates is the difficulty managing water. Above-ground biobeds

Above-ground biobeds

An example of a biobed once it has been filled.

Introduction of pesticide waste to the biobed

can address this issue by eliminating the possibility of surface

Moving pesticide waste from the sprayer to the biobed should be easy and trouble-free. A simple pad built beside biobeds, either sealed with concrete or asphalt, or with a hardy geomembrane liner, works well. The sprayer is cleaned on this pad and rinsate flows into a drain. A sump pump lifts the rinsate to a storage tank from which it is introduced via gravity or pumped drip irrigation.

run-off being added to the biomix. Adding a rain cover would

When not in use, the sump drains freely to dispose of rainwater.

types. Cold temperature reduces the effectiveness of biobeds

also be easier and more effective.

Above-ground biobeds can be edged with plywood, or placed entirely into plastic tanks with the tops removed.

One potential problem with above-ground biobeds is the later spring warming of this installation compared to below-ground

Others choose to pump or dump rinsate directly into a holding tank, from where it can be pumped onto the biobed.

due to the reliance on microbial activity. Heat tape has been

Some European systems include driving supports on the biobed so the sprayer can be parked directly over top.

biomix and stimulating initial microbial activity. Passive solar

A two-stage biobed

Phytobac and Biofilters

The same basic building principles apply as in the original simple biobed. However, instead of reintroducing the effluent to the top of the biomix as it collects on the bottom, it is instead

designs, including the commercial “Phytobac” systems from

36

tested by AAFC and shown to be very effective at warming the systems have also been studied but are more difficult to install.

European designs have utilized plastic containers to form various France and developed with the support of Bayer CropScience.

BIOBEDS FOR PESTICIDE WASTE DISPOSAL | SPRAYING 101 Some fungicides were shown to depress microbial populations but only temporarily. Microbial breakdown still occurred.

Biobed manual AAFC has authored a comprehensive manual on biobed operation and installation based on research experience in Canada and elsewhere. It will be available in late June 2018.

The future of biobeds Research into biobeds remains active around the world.

Different substrates for the biomix are being studied to suit local availabilities. Various systems, ranging from simple to highly-engineered, are being studied. Degradation effectiveness

Biobed system in Simpson, Sask. Rinsate from sprayer is collected in a sump, which is pumped to the black storage tank in background.

Rinsate is introduced into biobed (blue tub) as needed (Brian Caldwell in foreground, left, Larry Braul, right).

Sequential biofilters have also been implemented. The leachate simply migrates through the biomix into the next container below. Eventually, adjacent biofilters containing plants act to remove the moisture.

Biomix longevity Swedish and U.K. research has suggested that biobeds require minimal maintenance aside from water management in closed systems. Biomix will settle over time and may need to be topped up. After five to eight years of use, it has been recommended to remove biomix and distribute it over a field with a manure spreader.

Canadian research results Extensive analysis of pesticide degradation in five biobeds across Western Canada was conducted as part of a three-year study led by AAFC. Between eight and 51 products were analyzed per site, including herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. Their results showed that single biobeds could remove about 90 per cent of the introduced pesticide, and two in sequence usually removed more than 98 per cent.

Pesticides that tended not to degrade rapidly were removed to a greater degree in the second biobed.

In the AAFC studies, three herbicides were more difficult to remove in the tested biobeds: clopyralid (e.g., Lontrel, Stinger), bentazon (Basagran, Storm) and imazethapyr (Pursuit, Arsenal).

For these three, roughly 60 per cent was removed in a twobiobed system.

Concentrated pesticides should not be introduced to a biobed as this will kill the microbial populations.

Two-stage biobed system at Outlook, Sask.

for various influents remains a topic of significant interest.

Producer adoption and implementation are being reported.

Thanks to funded research projects, biobeds are up and working at Canadian institutional sites such as government research centres, and there are opportunities for county and municipal government sites. For biobeds to be a viable option on North American farms, their design needs to remain simple and their integration into established practices needs to be seamless.

Producer experience and feedback are essential.

Note: Brian Caldwell and I first learned about biobeds from Eskil Nilsson of Visavi Consulting during a visit to Sweden in 2001, and obtained support for initial studies in Saskatoon and Indian Head from the Pest Management Centre as well as Bayer CropScience. Brian took a lead in our creative and technical efforts over many years. Dean Ngombe, under the cosupervision of Diane Knight at the U of S and myself, produced the first M.Sc. thesis, and with significant input from Allan Cessna, the first scientific publications in Canada on biobeds.

Thanks to Larry Braul and many collaborators for leading the most recent AAFC study and generously sharing resources, and Erl Svendsen, Bruce Gossen and Claudia Sheedy for editorial input.

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FARMING YOUR MONEY | FARMERS ARE NATURALLY SUSTAINABLE

Farmers Are Naturally Sustainable

As we are seeding this year’s crop, a conversation has begun that troubles me. It has to do with the StatsCan Acreage Report for seeding intentions in Western Canada.

There are many experts who are critical of the accuracy of this report. Based on grain market conditions, experts believe this seeding intention report is wrong and that farmers will not be seeding what they said. This is not the first time analysts have questioned this report. The issue I have is not with the accuracy of the report but more so with the motivation as to why it is wrong.

Paul Kuntz Paul Kuntz is the owner of Wheatland Financial and offers financial consulting and debt broker services. He can be reached through wheatlandfinancial.ca

All of the analysts and experts are saying there is no way farmers are planting less canola, more wheat and just a bit less lentils and peas. All of this comes from market conditions. Wheat is not doing great and there appears to be an abundance of it in the world. Peas and lentils are falling out of favour because of export tariffs in other countries. So purely based on what the price of the commodity is per bushel, these analysts think farmers will abandon wheat and peas and seed wall-to-wall canola.

I will look past uneducated statements from uneducated people but I take issue with experts making these statements. They are accusing farmers of being near sighted and naive when it comes to their cropping practices. The price of the commodity does play a role in deciding what to seed but the biggest consideration goes to production. I can tell you from past experience it is not the price of the crop that determines success, it is production.

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FARMERS ARE NATURALLY SUSTAINABLE | FARMING YOUR MONEY In order to be successful this year and for years to come, farmers must have high production year over year. That is the only way they can survive. The only way they can produce big crops is with healthy conditions. Crop rotation does still play a large part in determining good growing conditions. We know that rotations are tighter, but they still do exist.

“The only way (farmers) can produce big crops is with healthy conditions.

Crop rotation does still play a large part in determining good growing conditions.”

Farmers do want to grow a lot of canola because it is one of the most profitable crops. They want to grow a lot in 2018. But they also want to grow it in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

The only way that is possible is with healthy conditions.

Farmers are well aware of the world trade issues with pulse crops, but they also understand the benefit of sowing pulses. They understand there is more to the whole picture than just price per bushel today.

Farmers know wheat production is high in the world.

They understand the challenges. But they also understand the benefit wheat brings to their rotation.

Because farmers need to produce every year, they are sustainable by the very nature of their business. The definition of sustainability has taken many different roads.

Regardless of where you sit on the definition, I will argue that no one is more concerned about sustainability than farmers. I am confident in the passion that many urbanites bring to the table questioning the sustainability of farming practices. I am confident that today’s consumers want sustainability in their food-production practices. But I am most confident that farmers are the primary advocate of sustainability.

store to find out bananas are not available anymore would be inconvenient to the consumer. Think about the farmer in that situation. What would the permanent loss of income mean to the producer? It would be devastating.

There will be examples of non-sustainable practices out there.

We all know of illegal drainage that has happened. We all know someone who repeatedly plants canola. We all know someone who has rented a piece of land and mined it. Generally speaking, this is not today’s farmer. This type of reckless behaviour is very much in the minority.

Reviewing seeding plans this spring with my clients, the crop mix was very similar to last year and was mostly based on rotations they have developed over the years. Producers who seed pulses may have seeded a bit less, but they did not abandon the crop.

Canola acres were maximized, but the crop rotation was not altered.

Maybe the StatsCan report is wrong and farmers will seed a lot more canola than last year. Maybe they will cut back on wheat. Whatever farmers do, long-term sustainability will be at the forefront.

Farmers want to produce crops today and tomorrow. Most are thinking one generation ahead and not just next year.

Sustainability is in their blood.

1-800-387-3232

fcc.ca

Here’s to CANADIAN AGRICULTURE

Consumers and urbanites can question sustainability but the effects are felt most by farmers. Going to the grocery 39

FIELD STUDY | DISPOSAL OPTIONS FOR FUSARIUM-DAMAGED GRAIN

Disposal Options for Fusarium-Damaged Grain

By Joy Agnew As every cereal producer knows, the effects of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) can be devastating but new research done by the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) indicates there may be value to be extracted from a crop that is often a total loss.

In the study, funded by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture with an in-kind contribution from the Canadian Grain Commission, researchers at PAMI’s Humboldt facility looked at a variety of disposal options for fusarium-infested grain and found composting to be an effective way of eliminating one of the most prevalent toxins produced by fusarium. For the researchers, the result represents an important breakthrough when it comes to dealing with a persistent problem.

“We were very excited when we saw the numbers,” says Dr. Joy Agnew, project manager with PAMI, “as were our colleagues at the Canadian Grain Commission. These findings probably won’t change the world and there is more work to do here but they do indicate that producers may have options for disposing of infested grain to the benefit of their pocketbooks and the environment.”

Infected kernels are lightweight and for the producer, the result is reductions in yield and grade, added costs, fewer end-use opportunities and lost income. Agnew’s research report includes some startling numbers that shine a light on the magnitude of the problem: the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Alberta estimates losses to fusarium head blight across Canada over the last two decades ranged from $50 million to $300 million annually, and future losses are projected to be as high as $132 per acre.

Until now, producers have had few options when it comes to dealing with the problem. Agnew says applying fungicide can be effective “but there is a very small window of opportunity so the infestation gets out of control very quickly.” Work is underway on breeding resistant cereal varieties but that is a long-term solution.

If the level of infestation is under a certain threshold, Agnew says the grain could be sorted and cleaned, then sold for livestock feed, thereby returning some value to the producer.

But for heavily-infested crops, dumping it is the only option. In that case, there is the added environmental risk of spreading the fungus to previously uncontaminated soil.

The level of fusarium infestation has grown substantially across the Prairies, Agnew explains. The fungus occurs naturally in the soil and high-moisture levels trigger infestations. “It’s become a huge issue over the past few years and really just took over everywhere,” she says.

“Our goal with this study was to assess disposal options that could bring some monetary or environmental value to Saskatchewan producers,” Agnew says. “We were also looking at methods that producers could use on their own farms without huge investments.”

Fusarium head blight, also known as scab, typically affects cereal crops such as wheat, barley and oats; in Saskatchewan, durum wheat, spring wheat and barley are the most susceptible.

Of some concern, says Agnew, is that infestations have recently been seen moving into all cereals including corn.

Three disposal methods were studied – combustion, anaerobic digestion and composting. In all three, the researchers focused on the levels of the fusarium-produced toxin deoxynivalenol (DON). The fungus produces a number of toxins but DON is most often used to determine the level of infestation in grain.

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DISPOSAL OPTIONS FOR FUSARIUM-DAMAGED GRAIN | FIELD STUDY Before the study could even begin, Agnew says colleagues at the Canadian Grain Commission’s Grain Research Laboratory in Winnipeg, Man. had to develop new protocols for measuring DON in the ash, digestate and compost that would result from the trials. Recognizing the potential significance of the research, the commission donated its time for the development of the required standards.

To determine if burning infested grain would eliminate DON in the resulting ash, Agnew enlisted Prairie Fire Grain Energy Inc. in Bruno, Saskatchewan, producers of grain-burning stoves.

Ten-kilogram samples of both high- and low-infested wheat were burned in a stove at a temperature between 150-300 degrees Celsius and the ash that was produced was sent to the commission labs for testing.

“Grain-burning stoves are actually more common than I thought,” says Agnew, “and you can get some heat energy for your home or shop” but the results showed burning did not entirely deactivate DON in wheat.

It also became clear that the fluffiness of infested grain made it difficult to burn. Agnew says increasing the density of the wheat by compressing it into pellets would likely further reduce DON in the resulting ash because it would burn better but that requires specific equipment “and there’s not a big market for pellets in Saskatchewan.”

In the anaerobic digestion trial, various combinations of low- and high-DON wheat, manure, digestate and water were mixed in vessels that were then placed in airtight, temperaturecontrolled incubators. Over the course of the 56-day trial, temperature and microbial activity were monitored. The results, however, showed inconsistent DON reduction using this method.

“The digestion method was not nearly as promising as we’d hoped,” says Agnew, “and the cost of the process is so much higher than the others that it’s probably not worth investigating further.”

The third and most successful disposal option turned out to be simple composting.

“We set up the trial in our own backyard where we have space, tractors and access to manure,” she says. Behind the PAMI facility, researchers created four compost piles, two made up of half cow manure and half low-DON wheat and two of manure and high-DON wheat. There were also two control piles of just manure for a total of six piles, each containing about 10 tonnes of material.

Agnew says each pile was tested at the start to ensure its moisture level was optimal for composting and water was

added when necessary. The trial ran for 111 days over the summer and into the fall of 2016, and a front-end loader was used to turn the piles once a week for the first month. Each pile was maintained at an optimal moisture level and temperatures were monitored weekly to assess the effectiveness of the composting process.

And then the results arrived. Agnew says there were no detectable levels of DON in any of the compost samples tested in Winnipeg, which was an important finding but one she described as preliminary. She cautions that while composting deactivated the DON, the fusarium species that produced the toxin could still be present. In fact, additional toxins not found in the original wheat or manure samples were detected when the compost was tested after the trial.

Fusarium spores are tough, able to survive ultraviolet radiation and cold temperatures. There is some research suggesting heat treatment can eliminate the fusarium species but whether the heat and moisture of a compost pile can do the same remains to be determined. That means producers must still exercise caution when using the compost to avoid environmental contamination.

“All of the findings point to the need for further investigation,” she says. It will be important to determine if composting deactivates both the fusarium species and the DON toxin it produces, or if the species survives the process.

Agnew believes it is also worth exploring whether the microbial activity in compost that deactivates the toxins can be cultured and used to treat fusarium-infested soil. That research is beyond the scope of her project but “it could be a gamechanger, a scientific way of cleansing the soil.”

In terms of the current work, “we still have the compost piles and we want to sample them at eight months, 12 months and 16 months to see if the DON is still gone and to measure the levels of other toxins. In the meantime, we’ll treat the piles like a farmer would treat his own compost – we’ll just let them sit.”

Agnew also hopes to repeat the compost study with new piles to validate the original findings, “and it may also be worthwhile investigating composting amendments other than manure.”

Composting is simple, says Agnew, and is a low-cost alternative to dumping that shows significant potential as a way to address a significant program. “A crop that is heavily infested is never going to be feed, even if it is composted to eliminate DON, but if the value of the resulting compost is relatively high and the cost to produce it relatively low, we’re hoping this might be a way for farmers to extract some benefit for their efforts.”

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THOSE WILY WEEDS | PRAIRIE WEED SURVEY SERIES

Prairie Weed Survey Series

The fifth iteration of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada-led Prairie weed survey series took place in 2014-15 in Saskatchewan, 2016 in Manitoba and 2017 in Alberta. With data from more than 23,000 fields and spanning five decades, it’s easy to take the weed surveys for granted. But it’s this very data that makes the Canadian Prairies the envy of other regions looking to set up their own benchmark weed surveys, both nationally and internationally.

Jeanette Gaultier, PhD., P.Ag., CCA Jeanette completed her B.Sc. in Agronomy at the University of Manitoba and continued her studies at the Universities of Manitoba and Saskatchewan to earn her PhD. in Soils & Pesticide Science. She has over 10 years’ experience working in the crops industry, with a focus on weed management. Jeanette lives with her husband and three children near NotreDame-de-Lourdes, Manitoba, where they operate a U-pick strawberry farm.

Weed surveys provide a snapshot of weed species presence and distribution across the Prairies. Cereal, pulse and oilseed field crops (having greater than 100,000 seeded acres in a province) are the focus, with the number of fields surveyed per crop proportional to seeded acres. Fields are surveyed in late summer with the goal of assessing weeds after management practices have been applied.

Weed species are identified and counted at 20 locations along a “W” survey pattern. Data from all fields is compiled and used to determine the following for each weed species: • Frequency: a measure of the distribution of a weed species among fields. For example, wild buckwheat occurs in over half of Prairie fields with a frequency of 56 per cent.

• Uniformity: a measure of the distribution of a weed species within a field. With a uniformity of 45 per cent, green foxtail is more evenly distributed within fields than wild oat (uniformity = 34 per cent).

• Density: a measure of weed species counts within surveyed quadrats. Green foxtail is often found in highest densities of any of the weed species with average counts of 23.7 plants per square metre.

The relative abundance of a weed species is then calculated by combining the three measures above, after normalizing these against all weed species. Because relative abundance is standardized and unitless, it can be used to rank and compare weeds. It is also comparable within

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PRAIRIE WEED SURVEY SERIES | THOSE WILY WEEDS

Province

Rank

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Prairies

Manitoba

1

Chickweed

Green foxtail

Green foxtail

Green foxtail

2

Wild buckwheat

Wild oat

Wild buckwheat

Wild buckwheat

3

Lamb’s-quarters

Wild buckwheat

Barnyard grass

Wild oat

4

Wild oat

Canola

Wild oat

Canola

5

Canola

Canada thistle

Canola

Lamb’s-quarters

6

Cleavers

Spiny annual sow-thistle

Yellow foxtail

Cleavers

7

Green foxtail

Cleavers

Dandelion

Canada thistle

8

Wheat

Lamb’s-quarters

Redroot pigweed

Dandelion

9

Canada thistle

Narrow-leaved hawk’sbeard

Wheat

Wheat

10

Dandelion

Dandelion

Round-leaved mallow

Narrow-leaved hawk’s-beard

Table 1. Top 10 Weeds Across the Prairies from 2014-2017 Surveys.

crops or regions. Top-ranked weeds are one of the most familiar outputs of the weed surveys (Table 1).

Although surveyed weeds have effectively escaped management, a species’ rank is not necessarily indicative of how hard it is to control. Relative abundance is also not a measure of weed competitiveness, which generally varies by crop and emergence timing.

Take green foxtail, for example. It’s been the number one ranked weed on the Prairies for over 40 years but is an unlikely candidate for the “worst weed” title, even though it’s an opportunistic and prolific producer with herbicide-resistant populations. Similarly, as a former weed specialist, I used to field a greater number of calls on how to control lower-ranked yet troublesome weeds, such as foxtail barley, kochia and nightflowering catchfly, than top-ranked weeds like green foxtail.

That said, most of you would include many of the top-ranked weeds as target species when making weed-management decisions in annual crops, and consider many of them tougher to control, like wild buckwheat, wild oat and Canada thistle.

Relative abundance or weed rank can also be used to effectively monitor species shifts over time. This data is probably the most enviable outcome of the Prairie weed survey series. Especially when these shifts can be linked to changes in farming practices.

Increasing use of highly-effective herbicides is one such change from the 1970s to now that has resulted in dramatic decreases in certain weed species (Figure 1). Wild mustard, a former driver weed, dropped 15 ranks over this period and is a notable example of improved control. While the data is not shown here, increased weed control has also decreased overall weed abundance over time, with the most recent survey having the lowest weed abundance yet.

Widespread adoption of reduced and zero till is another monumental shift in management that occurred over this time frame. In spite of more effective herbicides, an increased reliance on chemical control appears to have been selected for weeds that are more tolerant of herbicides, such as wild buckwheat (+1 rank) and cleavers (+37 ranks). But decreased tillage has also led to major weed species shifts from dominantly disturbance-loving summer annuals to winter annuals and perennials, including Canada thistle (+1 rank), foxtail barley (+26 ranks) and narrow-leaved hawk’s-beard (+15 ranks).

Also of importance are changing crop rotations. The clearest evidence of this can be seen in the ranking of crop volunteers, with high-acreage crops like canola and wheat coming in among the top 10 ranked weeds. Crop rotation has additional but more subtle influences on weed species composition due to competitiveness, life cycle and in-crop herbicide options.

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THOSE WILY WEEDS | PRAIRIE WEED SURVEY SERIES

150

Weed Rank (based on relative abundance)

100 50 0 -50 -100 S

Figure 1. Weed Species with the Greatest Change in Rank since 1970s.

In addition to assessing changing management practices, timely weed surveys to monitor species shifts are useful in identifying “new” weed issues. Large and relatively quick jumps in rank by spiny annual sow-thistle since the 1980s (+130 ranks) and by volunteer canola since the 1990s (+13 ranks) help quantify how important these weeds have become. More recently in Manitoba, yellow foxtail jumped 24 ranks since the previous survey to end up in the top 10 ranked weeds and populations were found to have previously unknown resistance to both Group 1 and Group 2 herbicides. Based on this weed’s westward-moving distribution, it’s likely that Manitoba’s current red flag will be passed to Saskatchewan in the future.

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I’ve only covered a few of the many factors that contribute to the complex flux of weeds in annual crops framed by weed surveys.

The take-home message is that, while the Prairie weed surveys do not replace on-farm scouting, they do give a general sense of the weed species that may be issues in your region and crops. Over time, these surveys may also help identify practices that influence our weed-management decisions.

So, if you receive a call asking to participate in the next round of weed surveys, consider saying “yes.” You just might end up the envy of the greater farming community.

NEWS & INNOVATIONS

SCHULTE Ground Breaking Technology In today’s complicated and ever changing world of agriculture there are many types of tillage on one farm much less all over the world. Types of tillage will differ from spring preparation work to fall field work, from a dry year to a wet year, and from vertical tillage to conservation tillage to primary tillage or residue management. All these types of tillage require different machines, until now.

The SoilStar’s disc unit is the heart of the machine. It has an adjustable disc angle from 0° to 22°. The disc angle is adjusted hydraulically on the go from the tractor cab. This adjustable angle allows for aggressive primary tillage with concave discs all the way to true vertical tillage with straight discs. It can operate in the heaviest and toughest residue conditions or it can do a light seedbed preparation pass.

The Schulte VTX SoilStar, an all-in-one tillage machine for your farm.

The SoilStar is the ideal machine for both vertical tillage and residue management. To accomplish this, 24” low concavity wavy discs are used for more aggressive tillage.

The SoilStar can do it all, from a light to an extreme tillage pass with aggressive concave discs; to a vertical tillage pass or seedbed preparation with straight discs, and everything in between. This is all accomplished with the ability to adjust the disc angle on the go from 0° to 22° degrees, along with the weight of 1,150 lbs/ft to deal with any type of crop residue or ground condition.

Schulte Industries is a world leader in the manufacturing of rotary cutters, rock removal equipment, and snow removal equipment. We have a proud history spanning more than 60 years. Schulte Industries has grown steadily over the years and we currently employ over 130 people.

RICHARDSON Richardson International is investing more than $30 million to develop an innovation centre in the heart of downtown Winnipeg. Featuring state-of-the-art technology and equipment for research and product development, this world-class facility will complement Richardson’s food and ingredients division and provide an extensive opportunity for industry collaboration.

“Our goal is that the Richardson Innovation Centre will become a centre for collaboration – as a training facility for our employees and customers and an education centre for food science students and the culinary community,” says Chuck Cohen, Richardson’s senior vice-president, technology.

The four-storey, 5,800-square-metre facility, slated for completion in the spring of 2020, will house Richardson’s food development team, product development suites, analytical laboratory and a culinary test and demonstration kitchen. To support Richardson’s quality assurance and food safety teams,

the centre will boast a cutting-edge microbiology lab and an extensive quality analysis area. The building will also include office areas with room for expansion to focus on innovation such as the increased use of robotics and automation in food packaging and processing.

“The process of product development requires a modern platform for testing solutions, troubleshooting issues and exploring new ideas as they relate to market needs and evolving customer taste profiles,” says Curt Vossen, Richardson’s president and CEO. “In order to test derivatives of existing products or create entirely new product streams, our team’s technical capabilities must be backed by the right technical facilities. We anticipate the innovation centre will provide them with the technical capacity and resources necessary to meet and exceed customer expectations.”

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NEWS & INNOVATIONS

DEGELMAN Degelman and Kinze Form Alliance Degelman Industries has forged a production and licensing agreement with Iowa-based Kinze Manufacturing.

Kinze is a leading shortline manufacturer in the North American planter and grain cart markets. Like Degelman, Kinze has earned a dominant market share through grassroots farming innovation, solid dealer relations, excellent customer service and high-value, high-quality product offerings.

Through the licensing agreement, Kinze has secured the opportunity to manufacture the Degelman tillage design under the Kinze brand and market it through their existing dealer networks in North America and Eastern Europe. This allows Kinze to add a much-needed tillage component to their product offering and benefits Degelman by building credibility for the compact disc concept among corn and bean producers.

“This strategic production and licensing agreement with Kinze Manufacturing allows Degelman Industries the ability to fulfil the unprecedented demand for the Pro-Till product line,” says Blair Flavel, general manager, Degelman Industries. “The additional production capacity was needed to support our growth strategy for the future and ensures we stay competitive in both the short and long term.”

Currently, both companies have distinct markets with minimal overlap. At the base of this agreement is a mutual commitment to work together and compete fairly. In the next few months, as this alliance develops, Degelman will work closely with North American and Eastern European dealers who are directly affected to ensure a positive and prosperous experience for everyone.

AGRI-TRADE Innovation Wanted for Ag Innovations Competition At the Agri-Trade Equipment Expo, innovation is defined as the development of new ideas that meet new requirements or market needs. Innovation differs from “invention” in that innovation refers to the use of a better, and as a result, novel idea or method rather than the creation of the idea or method itself.

Each year Agri-Trade is pleased to host its Ag Innovations Competition, highlighting the ingenuity and creativeness of manufacturers and marketers of agricultural products.

This year will mark the 11th year of the program and the panel of judges have their work cut out for them in selecting the top three. The judging process incorporates an efficient and focused matrix system that weighs a number of criteria for each product.

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The selection committee is comprised of farmers as there is no one better to judge the value of innovation than the folks who will actually put those products to use on farms and ranches.

Appreciation is extended to all the judges for taking the time to evaluate the applicants as invariably the judging process takes place during harvest.

The 2018 application process is now live until August 1, 2018. For those missing the deadline, be sure to apply for 2019. Applications are welcome from manufacturers from all over the world.

To find more information about Ag Innovations, visit AgriTrade’s website at www.agri-trade.com and be sure to fill out the online application to see if your innovative product has what it takes.

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