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HIGH CATTLE PRICES TO LAST UNTIL 2015?

WEALTH OF GOOD TIPS FROM AGRONOMY UPDATE

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When a freeze hit the foothills and Prairies, these cattle south of Longview, Alta., still found forage on relatively snow-free pastures, the snows swept away by the westerly winds. PHOTO: WENDY DUDLEY

Canada Beef charting its own course Rob Meijer says straw man report offers an ‘interesting perspective’ but Canada Beef has its own plan for boosting the fortunes of the beef industry BY JENNIFER BLAIR AF STAFF

he newly formed Council of Beef Leaders may be missing a key player when it meets later this winter. “The beef industry has enough structures and organizations and committees,” said Rob Meijer, president of Canada Beef Inc. “We’re not of the view that we need yet another one. “We are nowhere near accepting of an advisory council.” The council is one of the key

recommendations of the Straw Man Beef Industry Initiative, an effort aimed at finding a fix for some of the critical issues bedevilling Canada’s beef industry. But Meijer said the report is just “a set of recommendations” that industry players could adopt at their own discretion. “We take this and any other report with interest,” he said. “Where we are not at is taking the recommendations and building them into our strategy.” The recommendations from the report echo much of the work that

is already underway at Canada Beef, said Meijer. “I see a lot of us already in the report,” he said, calling it an “indirect pat on the back. “We’re on the right track, and I feel really good to see that in the report.” And while the report offers an “interesting perspective” for the Canada Beef board to consider, the organization will continue to move forward with its own strategy, he said. “At the end of the day, the provinces fund our organization, and we take our direction from

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and make Canadian beef the “preferred” choice at home and abroad. The report’s recommendations have been well received and have “pretty good support” from cattle feeders, said Bryan Walton, chief executive officer of the Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association. “We believed in this from the beginning,” said Walton. Unlike Meijer, Walton said he welcomes the creation of the leaders’ council as a forum where “high-level, strategic perspectives” can be discussed.

the provinces,” said Meijer. “We respect the work of the straw men, but that is not who we take our direction from.”

Others supportive

The “straw men” — agri-food marketing specialist Kim McConnell and cattlemen David Andrews and John Kolk — developed the recommendations in response to a stinging critique by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, which slammed the beef industry for being complacent and lacking a strategy to succeed. Their report laid out a path for creating a “results-based” strategy to grow the national herd

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news » inside this week

inside » The opportunities for barley An interview with ABC chair Matt Sawyer

FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

livestock

crops

columNists

Beef Grading Agency report

Assessing Prairie research capacity

Turkeys inspire early-warning system for toxins staff

Beef industry can’t rely on the U.S. model

Bernie Peet Including staff in decisions increases efficiency

Send us your ‘Felfies’ And we’ll donate $100 to a chosen charity

brenda schoepp

Roy Lewis

Increase in non-fed slaughter doesn’t bode well

WGRF commissions review of agronomy programs

A breech birth can be a dangerous situation

Hurricane-force winds leave trail of damage across province

ioengineers at the University of California, Berkeley, say they saw inspiration in turkeys for a new type of biosensor that changes colour when exposed to chemical vapours. This feature makes the sensors valuable detectors of toxins or airborne pathogens. A university release says that turkey skin can shift from red to blue to white, thanks to bundles of collagen that are interspersed with a dense array of blood vessels. It is this colour-shifting characteristic that gives turkeys the name “seven-faced birds” in Korean and Japanese. The researchers say that spacing between the collagen fibres changes when the blood vessels swell or contract, depending upon whether the bird is excited or angry. The amount of swelling changes the way light waves are scattered and, in turn, alters the colours we see on the bird’s head. Seung-Wuk Lee, UC Berkeley associate professor of bioengineering, led a research team in mimicking this colour-changing ability to Winds gusting to 130 kilometres an hour tore grain bins out of the ground on one Bonnyville-area create biosensors that can detect farm. PHOTos: Taylor Snyder volatile chemicals. The researchers created a mobile app to show that a smartphone photo of the sensor’s colour bands could be used to help identify toxins of interest. The turkey-inspired biosensors were exposed to a range of organic compounds at concentrations of 300 parts per billion. The researchers found that the viruses swelled rapidly, resulting in specific colour patterns that served as “fingerprints” to distinguish the different chemicals. “We also showed that this technology can be adapted so that smartphones can help analyze the colour fingerprint of the target chemical,” said Lee. In the future, One recently emptied bin travelled 150 feet before being stopped by a grain bag. we could potentially use this same Salford_SFM14-01_08-10.25x3-AFE.qxd 12/28/13 8:01 AM Page 1 technology to create a breath test to detect cancer and other diseases.”

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By Jennifer Blair af staff

hey were later described as “hurricane force,” and Bonnyville farmer Taylor Snyder experienced their full fury. “The bins were tied with cables to anchors in the ground,” said Snyder, who was helping a neighbour unload canola on Jan. 15. “The bins started rocking back and forth till they finally broke the cables and fell over.” The winds, gusting to 130 kilometres an hour, pushed one bin over 150 feet until it was finally stopped by a grain bag. “Even the full bins were rocking back and forth,” said Snyder. “We had to put tractors on them to keep them standing.” Winds are classed according to the 200-year-old Beaufort Wind Scale, developed by Sir Francis Beaufort of the British Royal Navy. A wind above 40 knots (74 km/h) is rated as a strong gale, while hurricane-force winds are 64 to 71 knots (118 to 133 km/h). The winds on Jan. 15 set records across the province, knocked down power lines, and even blew semi-trucks off the highway. One motorist died after wind blew his vehicle off Highway 44 north of Westlock. He was walking out of the ditch when he was hit by a second vehicle that was also blown off the road.

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Analysts say low canola prices may last for a while Market analysts Brenda Tjaden Lepp and Larry Weber deliver a similar bearish outlook By Allan Dawson staff / brandon

on’t expect higher canola prices any time soon, unless bad weather affects production later this year, according to two market analysts who spoke at Manitoba’s annual Ag Days event Jan. 21. “Is the party over for canola? I’m sorry, it is for awhile,” said Larry Weber of Weber Commodities in Saskatoon. “We’re going to need a drought in the United States or South America. “The difference between now and the last four years — now when you see profit you’re going to have to take it.”

“It’s not just about prices, it’s about delivery slots.” Larry Weber

A record 18-million-tonne canola crop in Western Canada, combined with a backlog in all grain shipments to export terminals, has reduced futures prices and widened the basis, bringing cash prices for canola to under $8 a bushel in some places, Weber said. Canola futures prices alone have plunged almost 30 per cent with March futures closing Jan. 24 at $431 a tonne ($9.77 a bushel). “If you want to look for some basis strength just don’t set your sights too high because it’s probably impossible that we get

better than $20 or $30 (a tonne) under (the futures price),” said Brenda Tjaden Lepp, chief analyst at FarmLink Marketing Solutions. “I think we’re going to be just simply in a very weak basis environment for quite a while until the supply situation sorts itself out. “I kind of think it will be in 2015-16 that the canola market, and oilseeds in general, will be able to work their way back up.” Tjaden Lepp estimates a 3.6-million-tonne canola carry-over when the 2013-14 crop year ends July 31, versus just 700,000 tonnes in 2013. She says the supply/demand forecast is similar to 2009-10 when canola futures averaged $340 a tonne ($8.61 a bushel). “That’s kind of where I think it’s going,” Tjaden Lepp said. “And it’s going to stay there until something changes to help alleviate the supply situation — the very unique, madein-Western Canada, oversupply situation.” Weber said that in more than 30 years, he has never seen wider basis levels for canola. In some cases it’s just grain buyer greed, he said. Both Tjaden Lepp and Weber, who spoke separately, marvelled at this year’s record production and how quickly canola prices fell. “It’s really mind blowing,” Tjaden Lepp said.

Doing nothing didn’t work

Still, farmers could have locked in profitable prices between September and the beginning of November, Weber noted. “The last four years doing nothing (about locking in prices) was the right option,” he said. “That’s not going to be the same going forward.” Tjaden Lepp had a simi-

Market analyst Brenda Tjaden Lepp doesn’t see much hope for improved canola prices any time soon, unless bad weather affects oilseed production. PHOTo: Allan Dawson lar message. Farmers need to plan grain marketing well in advance. It starts by gathering information and then forming an opinion about what the market might do. Vancouver terminals are already booked for deliveries until June or July, she said. Meanwhile, Japanese customers are buying canola for OctoberNovember delivery. That could prevent farmers from being able to sell canola off the combine this fall. Locking in a poor basis now for fall delivery might be better than not being able to deliver at all in the fall, Tjaden Lepp said. “It (the canola basis) has just ballooned and it’s really all the market can do in order to discourage demand on the West

Coast and discourage new selling in the country,” she said. Futures prices might rally, but grain companies will likely widen their basis to limit any gains in cash prices. Tjaden Lepp said one elevator in northeast Alberta had essentially stopped buying grain because it was fully booked. But when it received more cars than expected, it offered a special — $9 a bushel canola. “It lasted an hour and a half,” she said. “This was a month ago. When that happens there is no need for the basis to go up.” Everything changed Aug. 1, 2012 when the Canadian Wheat Board’s sales monopoly ended, Weber said. “It’s not just about prices, it’s about delivery slots,” he said.

It won’t help anyway — stop lying to Statistics Canada StatsCan’s eyes in the sky will soon be able to accurately predict crop production By Allan Dawson staff / brandon

top lying to Statistics Canada. That was one of the messages Brenda Tjaden Lepp of FarmLink Marketing Solutions gave farmers at Ag Days Jan. 21. “We all do better with credible information about supplies,” she said. “We’re going to figure it out anyway. You cannot possibly improve your negotiating position in the marketplace by lying to Stats Canada and hiding information about the inventory in your bins. It’s going to come out

eventually. In the meantime, there are costs to not having good information.” Even if farmers continue to fib, StatsCan is working to get around that using drones and high-resolution satellite pictures to figure out farmers’ yields, Larry Weber of Weber Commodities in Saskatoon said in a separate Ag Days address. “We’re not going to be able screw with government anymore because the technology that they have is unbelievable,” he said. Weber said he saw some of StatsCan’s new technology in Ottawa last August, including high-resolution photographs of crops in a 32-square-mile area. “From that picture I could zero in on a canola plant and count the pods,” Weber said. “I could zero in on a wheat head and tell you how many seeds were in that wheat head. I could

zero in on your deck and tell you what brand of barbecue that you have from 210 miles in space.”

More transparency

Both market analysts want more transparency in Canada’s grain markets. Weber said all large grain sales should be made public after they occur, as has been the case in the United States since 1973 following the so-called “Great Grain Robbery,” when the Soviet Union quietly negotiated huge grain purchases with individual American companies and by so doing prevented prices from spiking until news of the sales broke. Weber wants the number of grain vessels waiting to be loaded at the West Coast made public, and the weekly size of the railway’s car fleet. “How can we make a decision if they’re (railways) being effi-

cient this week if I don’t know how many cars they have? You can’t.” Weber bemoaned the effect large hedge funds are having on futures markets. “The funds are in such deep control... there’s such a disassociation between cash and futures (prices) that they are no longer discovering the price (with futures markets),” he said. “Realize it’s not just supply and demand anymore (determining prices). It’s the control the funds have in the market and it’s not really helping prices. “We’ve moved away from every exchange being a price discovery mechanism to being a money-generating mechanism for shareholders. And that’s not right.” allan@fbcpublishing.com

“And if you think this transportation mess isn’t going to affect canola, you’re wrong.” According to Tjaden Lepp grain companies are focusing on moving wheat now because the margins are better than for canola Farmers should shop around before selling their grain. “The fact remains there is a $1 to $2 a bushel between buyers in any given community on any given day,” she said. “Right now the canola basis varies from $35 (a tonne) under (the canola futures) to $85 under from one company to the next across Western Canada. “And you have to negotiate as well, (but) farmers aren’t in a negotiating position right now.” allan@fbcpublishing.com

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Critics continue to bedevil industry on antibiotic issue

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By will verboven

Alberta Farmer | Editor

he use of antibiotics in food production seems to be an endless topic of media fascination, particularly if there is a negative spin to any implications. The latest contributor to the issue is University of Calgary economics professor, Aidan Hollis. In a recently published article he advocates imposing fees to control the use of antibiotics (also called antimicrobials) in food production. He cites the usual rationalizations — overuse develops bacterial resistance, impact on human resistance, loss of effective human antibiotics, and others. When livestock and poultry producers read such reports and news releases you can sense their exasperation. It’s not because some of the critical observations don’t reflect a legitimate concern, it’s just that details are left out that could put a more realistic perspective on the issue. But inconvenient details don’t get media headlines. The problem for the livestock and poultry industry is any response to media reports on antibiotic use is a no-win situation. Media and public perception is now so entrenched that whenever the word antibiotic is used in connection with livestock and meat, the instant assumption is it must be bad. The word is also routinely tied to the term “growth promotant,” which along with the word steroid, has negative connotations in the public eye. The recent A&W burger promotion shows the dark side of how those words can be used to gain a marketing advantage. Hollis suggests a fee be charged to increase the costs of antibiotics, thereby discouraging its use as growth promotant, which he claims is a low-value use. That could work if it was universally applied in North America. But the situation becomes murky when you look at how much is used for what purpose, and what antibiotic products are being used. It’s claimed that up to 80 per cent of antimicrobials are used in food animals with only about six per cent used for human applications. That looks shocking at first —

until you examine some qualifiers. Another study done by Ron Read of the U of C and a white paper done by the National Institute of Animal Agriculture state many antibiotics used in animal production are not used by humans. Also ionospheres (used as a feed additive) are not used in human medicine at all, but tend to be lumped into the overall antibiotic use category inflating the figure. A more valid statistic might be to compile a list of antibiotics that overlap between humans and animals and calculate those amounts. The other concern relates to separating antimicrobials used to treat diseases and those used to prevent diseases. Where does the growth promotant allegation fall in those cases? Common sense shows healthy animals gain weight and sick ones do not. If usage of antibiotics for treating actual disease incidents is taken out of the equation, will that change the 80 per cent figure? The unknown seems to be how much antimicrobials actually make healthy animals grow faster. Clearly they have some positive impact otherwise they wouldn’t be used. There is a fine line here, but I expect that’s lost with negative public perceptions about antibiotics. To put more trust into the issue, antibiotic use oversight needs to be significantly increased. Dr. Darrell Dalton of the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association told the Calgary Herald that vets are best suited to make decisions about the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. That’s fair enough as they have the professional expertise. But he then brings up the issue of cheaper antimicrobials being imported from U.S. by producers, over which vets have no control. There is more to that story as veterinarians have a financial interest in stopping those cheaper imports which also includes nonantimicrobials such as vaccines and parasite-control products. In the end, the debate may become a moot point as the American government may be taking steps to limit the use of antimicrobials in livestock production. That will surely open up the issue of when to use an antibiotic to maintain animal health, as well as the use of products not used in human medicine.

Animal welfare is also part of the dialogue: Will restricting the use of antimicrobials result in more animals getting sick and suffering? Add in the impact of intensive animal agriculture and its role in spreading disease and the debate becomes even larger. Anecdotal reports from Denmark, where antibiotic use has been severely restricted for disease prevention, shows a trend to higher death losses in confined feeding operations. Perhaps a first step is to get info on actual amounts of antimicrobials used in treating genuine disease outbreaks, infection and injury. Another step may be to identify where the antibiotic overlap is between humans and animals. Can those overlap drugs be eliminated from being used in animal agriculture? That could take some of the scientific allegations out of the issue. What about much stricter control over antimicrobials by veterinary officials and regulatory agencies? Such measures may not satisfy those who want to demonize antibiotic use for their own purposes. Many are familiar with a grocery chain’s marketing campaign that states prominently on its packaging that its pork and chicken products are hormone free, but in the fine print declares that all pork and chicken is hormone free. It’s easy to claim meat in a food product is from an animal raised without the use of antibiotics but without a robust testing program, a lot of meat products could make the same claim. It’s reminiscent of some dubious claims and certification procedures in the organic food business. For livestock organizations the decision to defend their sector against allegations of antimicrobial misuse is fraught with ramifications. Further research may uncover uncomfortable practices, and reacting to misleading media reports may keep the issue alive in front of an already suspicious public. But then doing nothing may be interpreted as approving of something that some allege could affect human health. There is no easy answer.

or email: subscription@fbcpublishing.com At Farm Business Communications we have a firm commitment to protecting your privacy and security as our customer. Farm Business Communications will only collect personal information if it is required for the proper functioning of our business. As part of our commitment to enhance customer service, we may share this personal information with other strategic business partners. For more information regarding our Customer Information Privacy Policy, write to: Information Protection Officer, Farm Business Communications, 1666 Dublin Ave., Wpg., MB R3H 0H1 Occasionally we make our list of subscribers available to other reputable firms whose products and services might be of interest to you. If you would prefer not to receive such offers, please contact us at the address in the preceding paragraph, or call 1-800-665-0502. The editors and journalists who write, contribute and provide opinions to Alberta Farmer Express and Farm Business Communications attempt to provide accurate and useful opinions, information and analysis. However, the editors, journalists and Alberta Farmer Express and Farm Business Communications, cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the editors as well as Alberta Farmer Express and Farm Business Communications assume no responsibility for any actions or decisions taken by any reader for this publication based on any and all information provided.

EGS needed to help birds on the brink

n emergency order issued by the federal environment minister to protect an at-risk species should be used to spur the implementation of the environmental goods and services concept. The order, which goes into effect Feb. 18, covers 1,700 square miles of sage grouse habitat in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. It’s believed fewer than 100 sage grouse live in Alberta’s southeast corner, although there are more across the border in Montana. The birds are also in drastic decline in that state. Amazingly in 1966, about 65,000 sage grouse were killed by hunters in Montana alone. The order requires oil and gas exploration and expansion activities to stop on all public lands in the grouse habitat area, and will

also impact agriculture. For example, fencing and other structures can’t be erected and it may well restrict grazing. No doubt, the two affected energy companies in the area will want compensation and if it’s not offered, they may turn to the courts. The sticky point may be how the order affects grazing activities on Crown land in the area, as cattle have been implicated in grouse habitat loss. The order applies only to public and not private land, however, the impact on existing grazing leases may have to be clarified. Will all this save the last sage grouse in Alberta? Many experts say it is too late. Protecting grouse habitat by government order is a good step, but taking proactive actions is what will bring the grouse back.

And that’s where environmental goods and services (EGS) can play a role. If adjacent private landowners are offered financial incentives to protect habitat, reduce predation, and nurture grouse restoration, numbers will soon increase. Ducks Unlimited has proven that approach works. The Alberta Fish and Wildlife department also has experience working with landowners in preserving pheasant habitat. The Upland Birds Alberta group is conducting a pheasant economic benefit study That could be used as a basis to evaluate the value of other bird species. Once those figures are established, landowners could be paid to increase grouse habitat. Incentives tend to work a lot better than just banning an activity, particularly if specific goals are part of the deal.

If the government really wants to take a big step towards habitat restoration, it could declare the 40,000-acre OneFour Ranch as a sage grouse sanctuary. That former federal research facility is located in the general area and is now for sale or lease. What a perfect site for restoring endangered species. That would be nothing new for the ranch — parts near the border are already set aside to protect endangered cactus and plant varieties, and provide a sanctuary for the prairie rattlesnake. It may take setting up a hatchery or importing sage grouse from Montana to get the ball rolling, but with careful management and incentives it can work to restore this species to its former habitat. All it takes is a little dose of EGS!

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Beef producers sought for wildlife survey

Study will assess the economic costs of ranchers coexisting with wildlife Alberta Beef Producers

lberta Beef Producers Wildlife Working Group and the Miistakis Institute at Mount Royal University in Calgary have been working towards a producer survey for the past 18 months. The first part was getting the financing in place to bankroll the project, next was getting a sufficient number of producer contacts to make it meaningful and finally getting a survey tool for cattle producers to document their costs. ABP’s board of directors committed $15,000, along with many of Alberta’s municipalities and counties who committed $13,000 and the Miistakis themselves had funds of just under $6,000 for the project. Getting the potential contacts has been something else. The study is being designed to report statistical significant information in each ABP zone for the province. For a group of 20,000 beef producers in Alberta this requires about 2,100 completed surveys to give the data a 95 per cent confidence level. Miistakis, ABP and the municipalities are interested in the level of success and the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) will also be interested. They are helping with the survey design and will be interested in the results. To date there are only 222 producer contacts with addresses

It begins to feel like fall when the elk begin to gather in the hayfields. This herd was feeding in pastures near Priddis, Alta. PHOTo: Wendy Dudley on the register. This will have to improve to meet the objective of the study. Many municipalities have committed financing and are committing the efforts from their Agriculture Service Board fieldmen to the task of obtaining names and completed surveys. The project will be one of a kind in the province but it needs producer input to make it a success. Alberta is the largest beefproducing province in Canada with over 5.5 million cattle sharing the landscape with native wildlife species. Wildlife is an

important component of our natural landscapes, providing recreation and hunting opportunities for Albertans. Coexisting with wildlife often results in economic impacts: animal or feed loss, property damage or loss, and the costs of damage prevention and producer management activities dealing with wildlife. How do we support an important agricultural industry in Alberta while maintaining healthy wildlife populations? The purpose of this survey is to

help producers and the industry better understand the economic impacts of wildlife to beef producers in Alberta. This study will help fill knowledge gaps about costs producers incur to support these impacts. As well, it will help create an environment between producers and others that recognize that producers are stewards of the land, bear a significant share of the costs of supporting wildlife and foster a co-operative approach to wildlife management. The survey will probably take

15 minutes to complete. Miistakis will be doing the fieldwork and tabulating the results. Your contact information or questions about the project can be obtained from them. Otherwise producers can contact their MD Ag Service Board fieldman. Once completed the survey will be on the Miistakis website at www. rockies.ca where you can also find more about the institute and the work they have done. Miistakis Institute telephone in Calgary is (403) 440-8444 or email kim@rockies.ca.

The Agricultural Growth Act — growth for whom? Plant breeders have ‘rights,’ but farmers only have the ‘privilege’ to save seed By Jan Slomp

president, national farmers union

n December 9, 2013, Omnibus Bill C-18, the Agricultural Growth Act went to Parliament for first reading. Passing Bill C-18 would make Canada compliant with UPOV ’91, a much more restrictive form of Plant Breeders’ Rights than we currently have. The second part of the act will prepare Canada’s regulatory regime for fast-track approval of feed or food additives, drugs or other inventions that are already approved in jurisdictions we trade with. Bill C-18 also opens the door for farmers to tap into

multi-year advance payments secured by crops in storage or grown in the future. After a groundswell of farmerled opposition to adopting UPOV ’91 in 2005, the Liberal government of the day let it quietly die, as it became clear that farmers would be drastically restricted in their ability to save, reuse, exchange and sell seed. The Canadian public clearly demanded that genetic resources remain a public good. Before reintroducing UPOV ’91 through Bill C-18, Agriculture Minister Ritz has been actively spreading the myth and managing to convince many farm organizations and commodity groups that saving

seed is enshrined in this bill. It is obvious that UPOV ’91 gives plant breeders significantly more “rights” and tools for royalty collection, while farmers’ seedsaving right is reduced merely to “privilege.” A privilege was typically given to peasants by feudal lords, and could be arbitrarily and unpredictably retracted. A closer look at the text of Bill C-18 reveals that indeed, it talks about a farmer’s ability to save seed. When storing that saved seed however, the farmer needs the permission of the holder of the Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) — which may or may not be given. Of course the breeder has the right to charge royalties as well.

Bill C-18 in fact also empowers government to remove, restrict or limit the farmer’s seed-saving privilege by passing regulations, a process that can happen quickly and without public debate. UPOV ’91 has many provisions for royalty collection after a crop has been harvested, when seed is cleaned in seedcleaning plants or when a crop is moved off the farm for sale at elevators and other points of transaction, in the year the crop was harvested or any year after that. Canada should reject UPOV ’91 and defeat Bill C-18. Instead, we should reinforce our public plant-breeding programs.

With the continued allocation of farmer checkoff dollars, there will be ample funding for essential variety development. There is absolutely no need to grant transnational plant breeders more tools to extract excessive funds from farmers. Adopting UPOV ’91 may result in some genetic improvements of crops, but at significantly higher costs than a public breeding system — which benefits the whole Canadian economy. UPOV ’91 would result in significantly higher costs for farmers and growth in profits for Bayer, Monsanto, Dow and Syngenta and other seed and chemical companies headquartered outside of our country.

february 3, 2014 • Albertafarmexpress.ca

Leading the charge to biomass power generation A Manitoba company is planning to use its biomass burners to help power small communities By Shannon VanRaes staff

pinning it into gold may be out of the question, but one Manitoba company is hoping to turn straw and other agricultural waste products into electricity. The St. Adolphe-based Triple Green Energy — formerly known as Biomass Best — is preparing to test a new system that it hopes will generate 70 kilowatts of power, using a three-million-BTU biomass burner. Although large-scale generating stations use biomass — such as straw, oat hulls, cattails and flax — in Scandinavian countries, Triple Green president Raymond Dueck isn’t aware of any other projects like his in North America, and certainly not in Manitoba. “So it’s still a maybe, but it’s a pretty good maybe,” he said, adding his company began developing the biomass burners in 1999. But since the beginning, people have always asked him the same question. “Every time you turn around, people are saying, ‘boy that’s something — can you generate electricity with it?’” Dueck said. He hopes to answer that question later this month, by hooking up an Ontario-made generator that uses a process known as the organic Rankine cycle to turn a turbine and generate electricity to one of his biomass-burning systems. The test unit will be powered by a three-millionBTU biomass burner that normally has the capacity to heat 50 homes. But exactly how much power that same unit will generate is still unknown. “Typically when you convert that to electrical energy, it’s considered pretty good if you get 25 per cent of it converted to electrical energy,” Dueck said. In theory, a system of that size could generate 200 kilowatts of power, with heat left over for homes and

businesses, but Dueck said the plan is to work their way up, beginning with a 70-kilowatt prototype. Eventually, he would like to be able to generate power using the six-million-BTU biomass burners Triple Green also manufactures. Dueck sees a market for the power generators in both rural communities and urban housing developments. “I think ideally, it could be, should be, used as a heating system for new developments — this system could sit in the corner of the development, and run from there and hot water would be pumped to every home and they would be heated off of that,” he said, adding such systems also add redundancy to the power system in the event of severe weather or downed power lines. Many small communities could also work in tandem to contribute to the rural power grid using distributed power systems, allowing the existing power grid to stabilize the flow of electricity, Dueck explained. “And of course as you off-load more power generation to the communities, you can sell more power out of province, so it makes a lot of sense,” he said. Localized power generation can also negate the need to build expensive new lines to communities that only need a small boost in power. However, the inventor doesn’t see most of his sales occurring in Manitoba. “Unfortunately... Manitoba Hydro doesn’t pay very much for people to generate electricity and inject it in the grid,” Dueck said. “But in Ontario they’re paying 13 cents a kilowatt for biomass energy injected into the grid, so we expect we will be selling quite a few systems into Ontario in the near future.” shannon.vanraes@fbcpublishing.com

CANADA BEEF } from page 1

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“When we can come together in a meeting place and be more efficient about how we operate our various organizations, I think that’s all positive for the industry,” he said. “Overall, I think it’s created some opportunity for some dialogue around some important industry issues.” Alberta Beef Producers’ chair Greg Bowie calls the process “worthwhile.” “They’ve got the industry thinking about what needs to be done to keep moving forward,” he said. However, Alberta Beef Producers will follow the lead of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (one of the other organizations invited to join the leaders’ council), said Bowie. “The national beef industry plan is where we’d like to focus our attention,” he said.

Funding needed

One area where all players seem in agreement is on the need for increased funding. “It is, in a global context, time that we go out there and flex our muscles. And it’s going to take a little bit more money,” said Meijer. Funding is also a major concern for Alberta Beef Producers, which has lost revenue since the province changed the checkoff rules to allow producers and feeders to apply for a refund. “Our funding has certainly shrunk over the last number of years,” said Bowie. “Some type of a structure change needs to be looked at.”

But the straw men’s call for a national checkoff of up to $5 per head won’t win support until producers see more value for their dollars, said Meijer. His organization does that, he said, and directing a national levy to Canada Beef would be better than provincial “clawbacks,” he said. “We would rather that stay with us,” Meijer said. “We have all the resources and expertise, and we can provide them the regional or local support.” Without additional funding, Canada’s beef industry will continue to struggle on the global stage. “What we’re up against in the global marketplace is literally a David and Goliath,” said Meijer. “We are David, and there are many nations, with their brand and marketing budgets, that are truly Goliath.” A date for the first meeting of the leaders’ council had not been confirmed at press time. But it was announced two wellknown figures in the industry had agreed to assist in a survey of senior industry leaders. The “oneon-one interviews” will be used to “evaluate alignment among the sectors” within the industry. Consultant Jerry Bouma will conduct the interviews but will be assisted by Steve Morgan Jones, formerly director general of science partnerships with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and Allan Preston, a former provincial assistant deputy minister from Manitoba. jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com

Albertafarmexpress.ca • February 3, 2014

The marketplace has changed and the beef industry needs to recognize that straight from the hip } Canada cannot continue to rely on the U.S.

and that means looking beyond its grain-fed model By brenda schoepp

y now everyone has had the opportunity to read the final report from the straw man team (www.strawmanbeef.ca), which is a reflection of what some in the industry had to say on the issues facing the cattle and beef sectors. Like all houses we build, it is when we are done that we often wished we would have added an extra shelf, a defining wall, or just one more light fixture. I’ve found with the beef industry’s take on moving forward there are foundational pieces missing that are of grave importance to growth. The basis of the existence of the beef industry is on grass, soil and water and there needs to be a greater emphasis in this area. Without a reverence to the foundation of the industry and a strategy to grow and protect it, an implosion is certain. In addition, the core values and beliefs of many youth entering the agriculture and beef industries are deeply tied to these ecological goods. A focus on grain-finished beef reflects the feeding sector’s desire to protect adding value to grain through cattle and that should be respected. However, it should not be to the exclusion of the many other avenues of beef production. To exclude the “growing phases” is to dismiss any other type of beef production system as temporary or niche, and that may prove to be very short sighted. While the industry has talked

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about “differentiation” for years, there is no real buy-in here. To be the grain-fed protein of choice is going to take a tremendous amount of differentiation. The risk is we will continue to produce beef without differentiation and that would put beef at the same risk as wheat. Canadian processors cannot use many new varieties of Canadian wheat for further processing. Is beef travelling the same road? It is an important question because when processors can’t use or technically buy what we produce, our international buyers won’t either.

Don’t benchmark with U.S.

For beef, this means asking the question is more important than providing a solution. While the report is reflective of possible solutions, it does not focus on a dialogue with partners who want our beef in a different form. This Americanized way of thinking is terminal. We no longer should benchmark our competitiveness with the United States — we are part of a global market. Benchmarking is a broad term and the report suggests some simple data points, such as calf weight or carcass results, will somehow transform the industry. While this has some production value, it misses the relevance of data collection as it is applicable to the point of wealth — the end user/consumer. Patting the consumer on the hand and hoping they get well again, will not advance any food produc4:04 PM

PHOTo: thinkstock tion or processing in this country. In Toronto, for example, 55 per cent of the population is foreign born and they cook and eat differently. They also vote and we must consider their impact on food policy. Great plans involve a strengthening of the foundation. The cow-calf herd is not growing and despite the main fundamental driver of profit, producers are loath to expand now. It may be called apathy by some, but the name is not as important as is having a team to play the game. Without the assurance land, water and grass will be supported, genetic improvement will be encouraged and research and development is going to embrace all the parts of the chain, including non-conventional production, many will fail to see how increasing the checkoff to $% per head is going to help. The big beam in this construction project is really accountability. The process

was transparent after small group consultations at the straw man industry meetings. The outcome appeared determined before the rollout and the players were in the box. As I have deep respect for those who give their time and talent I want to be clear that I support these individuals, but I am not assured that process fosters accountability. In the big picture, we should be looking at processing. Our $6-billion processed food deficit has a glaring hole in value adding to meat. At this point, without taking into account the value of food processing and the exportation of that product, the report contributes to the status quo. That makes for an industry on life support and for a house on a weak foundation. Do we have the social licence to keep doing what it is we do? The absence of discussion as a priority may certainly catch this industry in a stoic state.

People know more about food than they ever did and they have an abundance of affordable choices. People care about themselves and their families and however they perceive beef to be is their new reality. The dialogue must be constant and respectful. It is people not a plan that will turn the industry around. Without the respect of those people — youth, single-parent families, new Canadians — we may be enticed to go back to our default setting — reliance on the U.S. It did not work postBSE and will not work again. Brenda Schoepp is a Nuffield Scholar who travels extensively exploring agriculture and meeting the people who feed, clothe and educate our world. A motivating speaker and mentor she works with young entrepreneurs across Canada and is the founder of Women in Search of Excellence. www. brendaschoepp.com

Page 1

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

India set to allow more wheat exports Farmers set to harvest seventh straight bumper crop, and the export price has been lowered BY MAYANK BHARDWAJ NEW DELHI / REUTERS

ndia is likely to soon permit more wheat exports as the world’s second-biggest producer of the grain looks set to harvest a record crop this year, government sources said, swelling stockpiles in an oversupplied world market. The South Asian nation is extremely cautious about allowing exports of wheat, a staple for its 1.2-billion population, and lifted a four-year-old ban on shipments in 2011 by allowing only private traders to sell on the world market. But a succession of bumper crops and poor storage conditions that have led to substantial wastage have prompted a rethink on exports. Since last fiscal year India has exported nearly 4.5 million tonnes of wheat from state warehouses, and state-backed traders are now selling another two million tonnes via tenders.

Any extra supplies from India, though, could dampen Chicago prices which have fallen around nine per cent in the past month due to rising global supplies. Leading producer Ukraine has already raised its 2013 grains output forecast to a record. “In all likelihood, the crop is going to be an all-time high so more exports are almost certain now,” said an Indian government source directly involved in the decision-making process. “But we are yet to take a call on the quantity to be shipped out.” Of the two million tonnes of wheat currently allowed for exports from government warehouses, state-run traders have already sold almost a million tonnes. Three government-backed traders — State Trading Corp., MMTC Ltd. and PEC — are getting good response in their tenders after the government in October cut the floor price for exports to $260 a tonne to boost shipments.

Any decision on additional exports could come in March when there is a clear indication on crop size, a government source said.

Bumper harvests

Indian farmers grow only one wheat crop in a year, with planting in October-September and harvests from March. This spring farmers would harvest more than 100 million tonnes, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said, the seventh consecutive wheat crop to exceed demand. In 2013, India produced 94.88 million tonnes. A jump in the area planted with wheat and favourable weather conditions are the main reasons behind expectations of a record crop in the country which needs 76 million to 77 million tonnes of wheat a year to feed its population. Farmers have planted wheat on a record 31.14 million hectares, up from 29.65 million hectares in the

A woman winnows wheat crop at a wholesale grain market on the outskirts of the western Indian city of Ahmedabad last May. India needs 76 million to 77 million tonnes for domestic use but produced at least 100 million tonnes this year. PHOTO: REUTERS/AMIT DAVE previous year, said Indu Sharma, chief of the state-run Directorate of Wheat Research in Haryana, a major wheat-growing state.

“Crop condition is excellent. Colour is good. There are signs that the crop will be more than 100 million tonnes,” Sharma said.

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anadian Young Speakers for Agriculture has announced public speaking competition topics for 2014 at its first meeting of the new year: • I am a Canadian farmer and this is my success story • Why succession planning is crucial to the future of Canadian agriculture • As stewards of the land can Canadian farmers do more? • Why social media is an opportunity farmers cannot ignore • Why I am choosing a career in agriculture The CYSA public speaking competition is held each year at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto. This year’s event will be held on Nov. 8. The competition is open to youth ages 11 to 24 with a passion for agriculture whether raised on a farm, in the country or in the city. This year also marks the competition’s 30th anniversary. “Since the inception of CYSA in 1985, the competition has grown into the premier agricultural youth speaking forum in Canada,” said CYSA board president Richard Kuntz. “With this year’s lineup of exciting topics the competition promises to once again present a high-calibre event featuring the ag leaders of tomorrow. We invite youth from across Canada to participate and share their passion for agriculture.” For more information about CYSA visit www.cysa-joca.ca.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Prairie canola basis levels still ‘extremely wide’ historically Canola carry-out is expected to total three million tonnes for 2013-14 By Terryn Shiells

Commodity News Service Canada

asis levels for canola in some western Canadian regions have seen slight improvements lately. But, they’re still “extremely wide” historically, according to a grain marketing specialist. “In this area I would say basis levels have widened from early September, probably… $60 to $70 per tonne, depending on delivery period,” said Reid Fenton of BLB Grain Group in Three Hills, Alberta. Based on pricing available from a cross-section of delivery points, basis levels for spot canola were at an average discount of $57 per tonne compared to the futures across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta on January 28. Average spot cash prices for canola came in at $370 per tonne, or $10.06 per bushel, which compares with the ICE Futures Canada March contract settlement of $426.40 per tonne (11.60 per bushel) on Jan. 28. The main reason basis levels are so low, is because grain companies say they don’t have any room to take more canola, with some not buying more supplies until June or July, Fenton said. Companies are running out of room to store canola, as well as other crops, because Canada’s grain-handling system is having trouble moving the large supplies. A record-large canola crop of 18.0 million tonnes was grown in 2013-14, with very big production from many other crops as well. Because the railways are having trouble moving the supplies, canola carry-out stocks are expected to total three million tonnes for 2013-14, above the 608,000 tonnes in 2012-13, according to a report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. AAFC also pegged the 2014-15 canola crop at 16.0 million tonnes. If the upcoming crop is that large, the railway backlog will likely last well into 2015, and basis levels won’t see much relief until the logistics issues are resolved. “I think the quickest fix, unfortunately, is time,” Fenton added. But, the historically wide basis levels aren’t stopping the selling into the cash market, as some farmers are selling at current levels, while others aren’t. “Some farmers are even utilizing November and December markets for old crop,” said Fenton. “If they have 10,000 bushels of old crop

left, they’re selling that for December 2014 delivery and if an opportunity comes along between now and then, then they’ll move the old crop earlier, and fill the December contract with new crop.” There may also be some increased farmer selling coming into the market over the next month, as producers that are light on sales are going to have to start making decisions. “I think there will be a cash flow crunch coming shortly, say within the next 30 days,” Fenton added.

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BriefS Canada, S. Korea in ‘tremendous’ free trade talks By Rod Nickel / Reuters Canada and South Korea are having “tremendous discussions” toward a free trade agreement, said Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, a deal that could increase trade in meat and autos. Talks began in 2005, but were later hung up over disputes such as a delay in South Korea scrapping its ban on Canadian beef. South Korea lifted its nineyear-old ban in 2012. “It (would be) a great agreement to have free trade into Korea,” Ritz said on a broad-ranging conference call Jan. 20. “It’s a very primary agriculture market for us, a premium product market and we continue to press ahead in those negotiations.” A free trade deal would be welcome news for Canadian beef and pork shippers. Without such an agreement, Canadian producers fear that shipments to South Korea would shrink once Seoul’s free trade deal with the United States takes full effect in 2016.

DuPont profit doubled on insecticide sales, Reuters DuPont’s fourth-quarter profit doubled, driven by strong insecticide sales in Latin America and earlier seed shipments in North America, and the company announced a new $5-billion share buyback program. The net income attributable to DuPont rose to $185 million, or 20 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from $92 million, or nine cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue at the largest U.S. chemical maker by market value rose 3.5 per cent to $7.84 billion.

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P+H makes offer for Weyburn Inland Terminal The deal, which requires shareholder approval, would close before the end of March staff

arrish and Heimbecker plans to buy its way further into southeastern Saskatchewan’s grain market with a $94.6-million all-cash deal for farmer-owned Weyburn Inland Terminal. Winnipeg-based P+H on Jan. 24 announced an “arrangement agreement” with WIT in which the grain firm would buy up all WIT’s issued and

outstanding shares for $17.25 each, about 33.7 per cent above the shares’ closing price on the previous day and 28.3 per cent over WIT’s record share value in the over-the-counter (OTC) market. The proposed deal — which still needs at least two-thirds approval from WIT shareholders at a meeting to be held sometime late next month or in early March, as well as court and regulatory approval — “offers all WIT sharehold-

ers immediate liquidity at a compelling value,” WIT said in a release. The two companies expect to close their deal before the end of March. Under their arranagement, one company will get a $4-million termination fee if the other backs out of the deal — for example, if a “superior proposal” for WIT were to appear from some other buyer, or if WIT’s board were to withdraw its support for the deal.

WIT’s board said it has unanimously agreed the deal with P+H is “in the best interests” of WIT and it recommends shareholders vote to accept the offer. The agreement may not get a warm welcome from all WIT shareholders. After WIT’s board announced its plans last month to pursue options such as a sale, two directors quit the board and a shareholder group sprung up online, urging the board to call a shareholders’ meeting

and consider other options besides a sale to improve share liquidity. P+H, with its grain-handling, flour-milling and food-processing interests, is “the perfect partner for the next chapter of WIT’s story and a great addition to the Weyburn community,” WIT CEO Rob Davies said in the company’s release. P+H, founded by the graintrading Parrish and Heimbecker families in 1909, remains family owned and privately held.

NEWS » Markets

FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Mixed cash wheat action

Cold slows U.S. grain movement

Western Canadian wheat cash bids were mixed during the week ending Jan. 27. Average spot bids for CWRS, 13.5 per cent protein were around $158 per tonne, or $4.31 per bushel, based on pricing available from a cross-section of delivery points, down from $160 per tonne ($4.36/bu.) the week prior. Basis levels saw a slight improvement, at an average discount of $64 relative to the futures, compared to $66 the previous week. Average CPSR values were unchanged at $143 per tonne ($3.88/ bu.). Average basis levels were also unchanged at a discount of $8. Durum prices were up slightly to $183 per tonne ($4.97/bu.), an increase of about $3 per tonne from the week prior. — CNS Canada

Frigid temperatures in the U.S. Farm Belt last week were discouraging farmers to elevators and processors. The conditions were also slowing the movement of barges on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, two major arteries for supplying grain to exporters at the U.S. Gulf. Some grain elevators in the eastern Midwest were closed for deliveries as farmers stayed off the roads because of heavy winds, bitter cold and drifting snow. Large processing plants in the region were relying instead on deliveries by commercial grain handlers, dealers said. — Reuters

Declining loonie cuts canola’s downward momentum Soybean buyers shift their gaze to South America

Photo: thinkstock

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

CE Futures Canada canola contracts moved lower during the week ended Jan. 24, but managed to hold above nearby contract lows as an even weaker tone in the Canadian dollar helped temper the downward slide. The now-common refrain of large supplies and ongoing logistical issues remained the pre-eminent bearish influence on the canola market, with no immediate change to that situation on the horizon. The government did announce $1.5 million in funding for a group to look into improvements to the grain-handling chain, but anything that comes out of that effort will be longer term. The Canadian dollar, meanwhile, lost over a cent relative to its U.S. counterpart during the week and has lost about four cents in the first few weeks of 2014. The March canola contract has lost about C$20 per tonne over the past month, but when factoring that into U.S. dollars, that same tonne of canola is actually US$30 per tonne cheaper (rather than $20) for

any international customer paying with U.S. dollars. The slide in the currency has played a part in expanding domestic crush margins to record-wide levels. Crush margins provide an indication of the profitability of the product values relative to the seed cost when processing canola, with exchange rates also factoring in to the equation. As of Jan. 24, the canola board crush margin calculated by ICE Futures Canada was about $175 above the most active March contract. While the crush margins may be strong, the logistics issues in Western Canada

slowing grain movement are also limiting the actual crush pace. The total crush in the 2013-14 crop year to date, as of Jan. 22, was reported at about 3.2 million tonnes by the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association, which was over 240,000 tonnes behind the level seen at the same point the previous year. In the U.S., corn posted small gains during the week, while soybeans were down and the three wheat markets were narrowly mixed. For soybeans, the attention was largely focused on South America, where relatively favourable crop conditions and the

The slide in the currency has played a part in expanding domestic crush margins to record-wide levels.

early stages of harvest in Brazil will soon be causing more global export demand to shift away from the U.S. Big South American crops also have the potential to be bearish for corn going forward, but good export demand in the meantime was helping prop up values.

Wheat mixed

U.S. wheat continues to miss out on export opportunities, but cold temperatures across some winter wheat-growing regions were enough to provide a bit of a boost to the Kansas City hard red winter wheat contracts. Chicago soft wheat held narrowly mixed during the week, while Minneapolis futures were mostly lower. With snow cover thought to be adequate in most winter wheat-growing areas, the attention in the U.S. market remains primarily on export potential and whether the U.S. will be able to increase sales, now that prices are thought to be more competitive internationally. Phil Franz-Warkentin writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Livestock price insurance pilot to cover West

Program expands on the Alberta model and will be administered by AFSC staff

ivestock producers in the four western provinces can expect details in March on a four-year pilot program to insure against unexpected price declines. Speaking Jan. 24 at the Canadian Bull Congress at Camrose, Alta., federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and three of the four provincial governments announced a rollout this spring for a pilot of the Western Livestock Price Insurance Program (WLPIP). The pilot program will be “actuarially sound and self-sustaining, with premiums fully funded by producers” and deficit financing by the federal government. The federal and provincial governments will cover program admin-

istration and delivery through the “administrative capacity building” arm of Growing Forward 2 (GF2) AgriRisk initiatives. The WLPIP, a regional expansion of a program the Alberta government has introduced for various classes of cattle and hog production since 2009, “gives more producers access to a solid tool to manage price and basis risk, one of the more unpredictable aspects of managing an operation,” Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president Martin Unrau said in the governments’ release. Market-based risk management, he said, “is key to better managing volatility.” Unlike crop producers, who have access to production insurance under the AgriInsurance

program, livestock producers have fewer risk management options available to them, the governments noted. Under the WLPIP, producers would buy insurance on an insured price they select from available policy options and coverage levels. Participation in the program will be voluntary. Indemnity payments would be paid to insured producers in cases where a settlement price is less than the insured price, while producers would still be able to take advantage of favourable market conditions if livestock prices should rise. Cattle price insurance is expected to reflect price in the producer’s local market, and coverage options are designed to reflect differences in localized

Taiwan to allow UTM bone-in beef Opening beef trade seen as benefit to larger bilateral deal staff

aiwan’s Economic Affairs Ministry has announced plans to allow imports of bone-in beef products from Canadian cattle under 30 months old (UTMs), starting as early as next month, Taiwanese media report. Canadian exporters have only been able to ship boneless UTM beef to Taiwan since 2007. Taiwan and many other jurisdictions worldwide had previously blocked Canadian beef outright, after Canada’s first homegrown case of BSE in 2003. The Taipei Times website on Jan. 17 quoted Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration as saying Canada, like the U.S., is considered a “controlled risk” country for BSE, and the chance of contracting the human form of the disease from eating Canadian beef products is 1.22 out of 100 billion, or “close to zero.” FDA deputy director general Chiang Yu-mei was quoted as saying Canadian beef products in 2012 held just a 0.3 per cent market share in the country, while Taiwanese suppliers’ home market share was only six per cent. Australia held the largest share at 46 per cent, with the U.S. at 24.76 per cent and New Zealand 23 per cent. The website quoted the Economic Affairs Ministry as saying opening Taiwan’s ports to Canadian bone-in beef could help the country move closer to signing a bilateral investment agreement with Canada.

prices and risk for different commodities, the governments said. Cattle producers will be able to opt to insure their calves, feeders or fed cattle under one of three separate programs, or to select only basis protection for fed cattle. A settlement index will be created to represent western regional markets for feeders and calves, the governments said. Hog price insurance, meanwhile, will offer coverage based on current western Canadian market conditions for both farrow-to-wean and finishing operations, the governments said. Producers would decide on a level of coverage, policy length and amount of weight to insure. WLPIP would act as a floor against the market being lower than the insured price at the end

of the period for which the insurance was bought. Settlement is to be based on the monthly average price of hogs sold in “several” western Canadian markets. Alberta’s Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC) will be the central administrative body for WLPIP, to “maximize administrative efficiencies.” Alberta producers can continue to buy coverage under the Alberta-only CPIP and HPIP until the new program takes effect this spring. The announcement didn’t mention Manitoba, due to a blackout on provincial government announcements in the period leading up to two provincial byelections on Jan. 28. However, the announcement was expected afterward.

Wednesday, Wednesday,February February 19, 19,2014 2014 10:00 10:00 - 4:00pm - 4:00pm Pre-Conference Pre-Conference Sessions Sessions | Hosted | Hosted by ACFA by ACFA - -Employee Employee Retention Retention & Recruiting & Recruiting Strategies Strategies - -Genomics Genomics @@ thethe Feedlot: Feedlot: Money Money MakerMaker or TimeorWaster? Time Waster? 6:30pm 6:30pm Tradeshow TradeshowWelcome Welcome Reception Reception & Fun&Night Fun Night - -AANight Night at at thethe Races! Races! Sponsored Sponsored by by Thursday,February February 20, 2014 2014 WelcomeWelcome to the 2014 to theAlberta 2014 Alberta Beef Beef Industry Industry Thursday, 9:00 9:00 10:00am 10:00am Opening Opening Ceremonies Ceremonies & Keynote & Keynote Address Address Conference! Conference! AASocial SocialLicence Licence To To Operate. Operate. WhatWhat Does Does That Really That Mean? Really Mean? 10:00 - 10:30am - 10:30am Tradeshow TradeshowCoffee Coffee Break Break This year’s Thisconference year’s conference themetheme is Creating is Creating 10:00 10:30 10:30 - 11:00am - 11:00am Risk Risk&&Reward: Reward: Currency Currency Market Market Outlook Outlook & Best&Practices Best Practices Shared Value, SharedOur Value, Social Our Social Licence Licence to to for forHedging Hedging Operate and Operate it isand a reflection it is a reflection on theonbeef the beef industry’sindustry’s commitment commitment to animal to animal care,care, 11:00 11:00 - Noon - Noon Animal AnimalCare: Care: Today Today & Tomorrow & Tomorrow animal health animaland health theand environment. the environment. The The - -Beef BeefCode Code of Practice of Practice session topics sessionwill topics reflect will reflect how each how each facetfacet of of - -Canadian Canadian Feedlot Feedlot Animal Animal CareCare Assessment Assessment ProgramProgram the beef industry the beef industry provides provides leadership leadership in the in the Noon Noon Tradeshow TradeshowLuncheon Luncheon areas of safety, areas ofhealth safety, and healthenvironmental and environmental 1:00 1:00 - 2:00pm - 2:00pm The TheReal RealStory Story onon Antimicrobial Antimicrobial Resistance Resistance stewardship. stewardship. 2:00 2:00 - 2:30pm - 2:30pm Driving DrivingFarm Farm Safety Safety Forward: Forward: Our Commitment Our Commitment 2:30 2:30 - 3:00pm - 3:00pm Tradeshow TradeshowCoffee Coffee Break Break Session descriptions Session descriptions and speaker and speaker 3:00 3:00 - 4:30pm - 4:30pm Sustainability Sustainability Roundtable Roundtable biographies biographies are available are available on theonconference the conference5:30 5:30 - 6:30pm - 6:30pm Tradeshow TradeshowCocktail Cocktail Reception Reception website. website. Please visit: Please visit: 6:30 6:30 - 9:00pm - 9:00pm Taste TasteofofAlberta Alberta - Tuscany - Tuscany Ballroom Ballroom

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Friday, Friday, February February21, 21, 2014 2014 8:00 8:00 - 8:30am - 8:30am Natural NaturalResources Resources Conservation Conservation BoardBoard & You & You 8:30 - 9:30am - 9:30am Agricultural AgriculturalWater Water UseUse in Alberta in Alberta If you have If you anyhave questions, any questions, pleaseplease contact contact 8:30 9:30 - 10:30am - 10:30am An AnElElNino NinoMay May BeBe Brewing Brewing But Will ButItWill Effectively It Effectively ChangeChange the Alberta theCattle AlbertaFeeders’ Cattle Feeders’ Association Association at at 9:30 North NorthAmerica America Drought Drought Patterns? Patterns? 403-250-2509 403-250-2509 or me directly or me directly at 403-990at 403-99010:30 - 11:00am - 11:00am Tradeshow TradeshowCoffee Coffee Break Break 2792. Thank 2792.you Thank andyou weand look weforward look forward to to 10:30 seeing you seeing there! you there! 11:00 11:00 - Noon - Noon Global GlobalCattle Cattle Market Market Outlook Outlook Noon Noon Conference ConferenceEnds Ends Stacy Byer Stacy Byer Conference Conference Coordinator Coordinator PLEASE PLEASE NOTE: NOTE: THE THESCHEDULE SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. TO CHANGE.

Attention Attention Exhibitors! Exhibitors! The Alberta The Alberta Beef Industry Beef Industry Conference Conference is the is the largest largestconference conference ofofitsitskind kind in in Canada, Canada, andand it remains it remains a fantastic a fantastic opportunity opportunity to connect to connect with with an influential an influential purchasing purchasinggroup, group, consuming consumingmillions millions of dollars of dollars in goods in goods and services and services each each year. The year. 2014 TheABIC 2014 ABIC will put willyour put your firmfirm in front in frontofofpotential potential clients clients and andset setthethe stage stage for strong for strong dialogue dialogue between between you you and theand attendees. the attendees. For more For more information information visit visitususonline onlineat at www.abiconference.ca www.abiconference.ca

news » livestock

Flatulent cows start fire at German dairy farm Methane gas from 90 flatulent cows exploded in a German farm shed on Jan. 27, damaging the roof and injuring one of the animals, police said. High levels of the gas had built up in the structure in the central German town of Rasdorf, then “a static electric charge caused the gas to explode with flashes of flames,” the force said in a statement. One cow was treated for burns, a police spokesman added. — Reuters

FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Alberta Forage Industry Network 2014 AGM The Alberta Forage Industry Network (AFIN) will hold its 2014 annual meeting at the Aberdeen Community Centre, which is just east of Innisfail, on Feb. 13, 2014. The AGM will be an opportunity to find out what’s happening in the forage industry provincially and nationally. Non-member farmers, farm corporations, agricultural-related businesses, government departments and agencies and non-government agencies who are interested in the forage industry are also welcome to attend. To register, call AFIN at 403-556-4248. Online registration is available on AFIN’s website.

Slaughter volumes down as Canadian herd numbers dwindle Modernizing of regulations governing grade standards will take at least two years

A study is underway to determine if X-ray technology can predict carcass yield without the costly process of dissection to lean, fat and bone. PHOTo iStock By Cindy Delaloyle

general manager Canadian Beef Grading Agency

s predicted, fed slaughter graded volume decreased in 2013. But what is interesting is the non-fed graded volume increased (non-fed being mostly cows) to compensate for the fed slaughter decrease. This increase of non-fed slaughter does not bode well for the future as it means there are going to be fewer breeding cows in the national herd. No amount of heifer retention in the near future can make up for the reduction in the size of the cow herd that has recently occurred. It will take time to rebuild the number of breeding animals. The Canadian Beef Grading Agency (CBGA) will have to manage its budget closely to avoid operating at a deficit as a result of further reduced grading volumes in 2014. There were no changes to the delivery of grading in 2013, either regulatory or technological. JBS Foods Canada in

Brooks continues to be the only plant in Canada using technology to facilitate official grade assessment. The Canadian regulated yield grades remain at three without any indication that there will be an official regulatory adjustment to the five U.S. yield classes. However, hope for more flexible, responsive grade standards remains intact. Thanks to funding from the Agriculture Council of Saskatchewan and the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program, the CBGA has been able to continue efforts to modernize the Canadian Carcass Grading Regulations. Ongoing consultation with industry and the CFIA has produced positive industry and government buy-in into the concept of an industry-managed grade standard. Unfortunately progress is coming at a snail’s pace. The CFIA was scheduled to have a paper on the Incorporation by Reference of documents in the new Food Safety Act by November 2013, but this document has not been officially circulated at the time of writing.

The proposal from industry via the CBGA is that a new Livestock Standards Authority be established by industry to review and maintain the Canadian Carcass Grade Standards as a document “incorporated by reference.” This would provide enforcement, credibility, and responsiveness to industry developments in science, technology, and markets — as opposed to a government standards document that would require regulatory reform, which is a very time-consuming process. The new timelines for modernization of the regulations by CFIA include a spring 2014 deadline for the first publication of modernized regulations, followed by a comment period throughout the summer and fall of 2014, and then a final publication in the spring of 2015. Behind the scenes, thanks to funding and support from Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency Strategic Initiatives and Beef Cattle Research Council, the project for “Measuring the Canadian Beef Advantage” continues. Carcasses are

moving through the testing protocol to determine whether or not dual X-ray technology can predict carcass yield without the costly process of dissection to lean, fat and bone. Initial results look promising, but science requires thorough and conclusive evidence of the value of this process before releasing results. The project will conclude in 2015. No update on beef carcass grading would be complete without some mention of the U.S. country-of-origin labelling (COOL) law. Despite the loss of competitive bids from U.S. packers, the CBGA looks upon COOL as an opportunity to slaughter and grade more beef in Canada. With three Canadian packing plants of medium size scheduled to reopen in 2014, the retention of these slaughter cattle could have an influence on their viability. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and don’t necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Canadian Beef Grading Agency.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

A full breech birth is a dangerous situation BEEF 911  Cows with a history of twins more likely to have a full breech birth BY ROY LEWIS, DVM

n the true breech, the calf presented tail first with both back legs pointing forward under the body of the calf. A lot of producers refer to a straight backwards calf as a breech, but that is a misnomer. The true full breech has both back legs forwards so the first thing you feel when exploring the cow’s vagina is the tail. In smaller calves, the tail may even be visible outside the vulval lips. With today’s easy calving herds, we seldom experience problems, but a breech will almost always require assisted intervention. On very rare occasions I have seen some large cows be able to have a full breech calf but the labour is long and invariably the calf is dead. One should be very mindful of cows, which normally calve easily taking too long. If there is nothing presented in 1.5 to two hours, it’s a good indication something is wrong and if nothing is presented a breech calving or torsed uterus would be tops on my list. Be mindful of cows that have had twins in previous years as they have a propensity to twin again. The most common position for twins is one backwards and one forwards, so a breech birth is a greater possibility with twins. I don’t have any hard and fast statistics, but in our practice I would say at least half of the breech births we see are on twins and we are called in for the vast majority of breech births.

emergencies is because there is lots of opportunities for things to go wrong. First, time is of the essence, as most times the cow has not gone into full labour to be noticed until it is almost too late. Many of the breeches are dead before we start and if that is the case rather than risk damaging the cow we may perform a fetotomy and cut both back legs off and deliver the calf that way. There is none to little chance of lacerating the cow from the back legs being brought around. Most veterinarians are very careful when bringing the back legs around. We need to protect the underside of the hoof as it is brought around to avoid holes being created in the uterus. In

the rare event that this does happen, the uterine tear can be sutured up, but that can be difficult as the placenta is in the way. In severe cases, we may even prolapse the uterus to get a visual look at the tear. It makes suturing easier as well. In some cases, we have been called out where there has been excessive intervention and the uterus already has a major tear in it from the breech calf being pushed forwards in attempting correction. In severe cases, the calf may be pushed right out through the tear and into the abdomen. With these cases, once the calf is delivered often the uterus is amputated as these tears often extend upwards towards the cervix.

Veterinarians use a combination of technique, equipment and knowing when to be aggressive and when to be gentle in order to flex the back legs and bring them around. Sometimes with smaller calves or when one twin is breech an experienced producer will correct them. Only attempt this if you are very experienced. Murphy’s law says if it is twins most commonly the first one is backwards or breech. Other complications are the umbilical cord may be wrapped around the leg you are repositioning. It is also very hard to tell sometimes if the calf is still alive and if the legs start violently thrashing that may be a sign the calf is dying. I have seen instances

where the rectum is prolapsed on the calf from the cow straining so much and yet we delivered a live calf. Other times a long-dead first breech twin is followed by a very alive second calf. You never know until you examine them thoroughly and if you need help don’t hesitate to call. As mentioned previously, this is the most common malpresentation veterinarians are called for as most producers can correct many of the other malpresentations depending on their experience level. Roy Lewis is a large-animal veterinarian practising at the Westlock Veterinary Centre. His main interests are bovine reproduction and herd health.

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Often the water bag has not been broken as the cow can’t get enough of the calf out through the back end to break the water bag. That means the water bag has to be broken before the position of the calf can be exactly determined. Producers may want to check if the back legs are straight forward a full breech or if they are half bent back. In other words, the hocks are partially back in the pelvis and there is essentially already partial correction before delivery. These presentations I refer to as a partial or half breech. These half breeches are not as jammed into the pelvis as the cow can’t push the entire blocky mass of butt and legs to the back. For that reason, they may be easier to correct and the bottom of the foot protected as it is brought around to create a straight backwards calving. The reason I say most breech presentations are veterinary

1/22/14 7:03 AM

FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Including staff in decision-making improves labour efficiency peet on pigs } A U.S. hog company manager says it’s increasingly important to increase the engagement of workers By bernie peet

s hog production operations grow larger, the skill set needed to run the business evolves from technical skills to people- and management-based skills. A reliance on others to help execute the company’s plans and objectives requires a fundamental change in management approach, says Nick Holden of Holden Farms Inc., which is the largest familyowned hog production company in the U.S., with 48,000 sows. While part of that process involves using new technology and improved management practices, increasingly it is more important to increase the engagement of workers, teach them new skills and have them develop other people, he said in a presentation prepared for the Banff Pork Seminar, Jan. 21-23.

Making life easier

Improved technology and practices can make life easier for staff, allowing them to focus more on management and other people. “At all levels, we strive to remove barriers that hamper our people’s productivity. At our sow farms, we are continually investing in the best equipment and facilities with an eye to making the job easier,” Holden said. “For example, compared to 10 years

ago we now have automated lactation feeding compared to hand feeding, and fully automatic ventilation systems as opposed to a partially manual operation. We also use remote-controlled boar bots where before we moved boars manually during breeding.” Holden said these improvements turn a 30-minute job into a five-minute job, as well as reducing the need for physical labour. “We also seek to continually challenge our production practices and eliminate work we once believed necessary,” Holden said. “We have taken an active approach in finding opportunities to help our people focus on caring for the pigs versus carrying out repetitive work. For example, we have implemented post-cervical artificial insemination which allows faster breeding by reducing the need to stimulate the sow during insemination.” PCAI also allows the breeder to gently squeeze the semen bag instead of waiting for it to flow into the sow, he adds. “This time saving allows the crew to reallocate its time and focus on better heat checking and management of the sows.”

Increasing engagement

Holden said Holden Farms Inc. (HFI) is always looking for ways to increase its employees’ engagement with both the farm they are on and the

company. For sow farm staff, biannual evaluations involve not only reviewing areas of production opportunities in hindsight, but also, and more importantly, to talk about developing the skills and abilities of each employee. “We encourage setting goals such as taking English classes, spending time with other employees in different areas of the company and visiting other sow farms as more indirect ways of developing themselves,” Holden said. “By supporting these types of goals, we are conveying the message that we support them taking the time and resources to work on the softer skills they need to continue to grow.” For sow farm managers, the biannual evaluation has evolved from being heavily production based to focusing more on developing their people skills. “We are pushing them to spend time thinking about improving themselves as people managers and not just as super-technicians that can accomplish any farm task better than everyone else,” Holden said. “We want managers that are going to think about how to motivate and engage their crew, with the belief that this will drive better production.” Farm managers meet as a group every month and take turns acting as facilitator

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and being responsible for the agenda. “This has been a great step in building the engagement of this group of people. They are able to develop new relationships and contacts that they previously would not have. By rotating facilitators and letting them develop the topics discussed, they feel ownership and buy-in with how we proceed with protocols and procedures,” Holden said. By appealing to this level of involvement, managers feel part of the decision-making process, rather than simply being told what to do. “We want our managers to be critical thinkers and to be able to understand the reasons decisions are made. By pulling them into this process, they feel like part of the team and like they are actively involved with the success of our production,” Holden said.

Development plans

For people who are motivated to take on more responsibility and possibly be promoted into a management position, personal development plans are used. These are customized to each individual’s skill set and future goals. Parts of the plan include developing production-specific skills and achieving certain performance metrics at their farm. Other parts include developing company-wide understanding by spending time

with different divisions to understand how everything fits together and the opportunities and challenges other employees encounter. In future a high percentage of the workforce will never have been to or worked on a farm, Holden said. He said that this is a fundamental reason why HFI believes that investing more resources in staff development will be crucial to success. “We believe an approach of taking ‘people’ people and developing their production skills is going to be a route with better success compared to the traditional approach of trying to take strong production people and making them into people managers. “Can we attract managers from other industries such as fast food or big-box retail with experience managing 10, 30 or 100 people?” Holden asked. “Can we attract factory managers who are accustomed to producing a product via their staff? Many times, these types of managers were not brought up within their specific industry. People are not raised knowing how to build computer chips, so why do we get hung up on the fact that less and less people grow up on farms?” Bernie Peet is president of Pork Chain Consulting of Lacombe, Alberta, and editor of Western Hog Journal.

Record beef prices boost beef packer margins By Theopolis Waters Reuters

ome U.S. beef packers are reaping their best profits in 2-1/2 years after the price for beef that they sell to grocers and restaurants hit historic highs, analysts and economists said Jan. 21. Margins for beef processors such as Tyson Foods and Cargill Inc. will continue to widen as long as they are able to pass on their costs for record-high cattle prices to wholesale buyers, they said. “This is the time of year when packer margins are always narrowest because of seasonally tight supplies. So, this has been a bit of a pleasant surprise for packers after two weeks of ratcheting up wholesale beef prices,” said Jim Robb, director of the Denver-based Livestock Information Center. On Jan. 21, U.S. beef packers, on average, earned an estimated $102.85 per head of cattle processed, according to the Colorado-based analytics firm HedgersEdge. It was the first time processors saw triple-digit returns since June 2011 at $104.10, said the firm’s analyst Bob Wilson. Beef prices climbed after years of drought in the United States shrunk the herd to its lowest level in more

than 60 years. Recently, cattle and beef became increasingly scarce after packing plants shut down during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. And, retailers were caught short of product while they replenished coolers as colder weather settled in across the U.S. Plains, which slowed down animal weight gains. In response, packers last week paid up to $144 per hundredweight (cwt) for cattle, an all-time high, feedlot sources said. The Jan. 21 wholesale choice beef price was $239.72 per (cwt), leaping $3.16 from the previous day to its ninth consecutive record, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Select cuts captured their 13th straight record after surging $2.70 in price to $237.15. It is unprecedented that cash (or slaughter-ready), cattle, beef prices and margins are at current levels, said Don Roose, president of Des Moines-Iowa brokerage U.S. Commodities. Packers are doing everything in their power to push up beef prices, and it is working in the short term, he said. “The question becomes whether processors will win the battle, but lose the war. Overall, there is concern about the loss of demand at these price levels, which will be key,” Roose said.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

High cattle and beef prices look set to last till 2015: Maguire Analysis: Good times should last another year, but heifer retention may suddenly have its effect on futures By Gavin Maguire Reuters

attle and beef prices started 2014 at all-time highs, and a combination of strong money flow from the trading community, alongside a cutback in heifer slaughter rates by the ranchers, look set to help keep prices firm for several more months at least. But the fact that ranchers are already rebuilding herds by holding heifers back from slaughter means a strong jump in the supply of both cattle and beef will emerge eventually. Due to the slow rate of production expansion that is limited by the rate of calf and cow development, the good times for the meat sector look set to last for most of 2014 at least. Indeed, in the case of the beef market a fresh acceleration to the upside can’t be ruled out over the near to medium term as ranchers hold back heifers from slaughter in order to rebuild their herds. However, because ranchers are already busy trying to ramp up cattle production, a big swell in cattle and beef supplies could emerge as early as the first quarter of 2015, so it is clear that this market’s good times can’t last forever.

Improved efficiency

U.S. cattle inventories are at their lowest levels since the 1950s, a chief factor underpinning both sentiment and price in the cattle market. Less well known is the high level of production efficiency within the

cattle industry that has allowed beef production to remain at relatively high levels through 2012 despite the steady drop in animal numbers. Improved genetics and advanced processing technologies have ensured that the amount of meat produced per slaughtered cow/bull has steadily risen over the past decade, and scaled a new high in 2012 just shy of 800 pounds per slaughtered animal. That high level of beef output is expected to decline over the near to medium term as fewer animals are slaughtered while ranchers rebuild their herds. Indeed, the amount of beef produced during the January-November period in 2013 was the lowest since 2005, and looks set to contract further in 2014 as heifer slaughter rates drop to their lowest level in 20 years. Such a drop in beef output should fuel additional strength in beef prices, which are already at all-time highs in excess of $200 per hundredweight of choice beef on the wholesale market.

Demand erosion?

Beef prices also remain high at the retail level, but stiff competition from other meat types has kept grocery store values in check lately. Relatively high stocks of beef in cold storage facilities as of late 2013 also suggests that retailers have some supply cushion built into their marketing channels that may allow them to absorb some additional price inflation over the immediate term. However, meat processors and packers will have little choice but to pass on additional price gains to the customer if wholesale values

U.S. consumers eat less, but higherquality meat Smaller portions and resealable packages suggested

cow gestation lasting close to nine months before a calf is born. After that, it takes roughly 14 months for a calf to reach slaughter weight, so it may take until well into 2015 before a notable swell in beef production materializes. Still, due to the nature of futures markets, price corrections from the recent strength may occur months before the actual increases in cattle and beef supply take place. This means that ranchers and packers may see the current spell of price strength start to unravel ahead of 2015. But for the time being, those engaged in the beef production industry look primed to see continued upbeat price signals for the next several months at least.

This outlook in turn has provided commodity traders with a compelling fundamental reason to invest in this market, and has resulted in the speculator community racking up their net position in live cattle futures to its highest level on record for this time of year. Should the contraction in beef output in the coming months steer beef prices higher still, additional investor dollars can be expected to flow into this market until a rebound in beef output finally reverses that trend. Gavin Maguire is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

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.S. consumer analyst Mintel says that 39 per cent of beef and other red meat consumers ate less in 2013 than in 2012. One-quarter of pork consumers claimed to have eaten less pork in 2013 than they did in 2012, Mintel said in a release Jan. 22. In contrast, only 10 per cent of beef and other red meat eaters are eating more, and only 13 per cent of pork consumers are eating more. “Health trends motivating consumers to cut fat and cholesterol intake are by far the most dominant factors affecting the red meat market,” Patty Johnson, global food analyst at Mintel said in the release. “While some consumers are turning away from red meat in favour of healthier alternatives, there are still a staggering amount of Americans who partake on a regular basis. For many of those who are cutting back they are very well trading up to a higher-quality meat product.”

continue to rise over the remainder of the year. This will likely ensure that beef cuts remain the priciest in grocery store aisles this year, and could well spark a slowdown in demand growth if other meat options remain more attractively priced. Still, from a rancher’s perspective the wholesale price will remain the key metric to track, and that should remain robust until supplies finally start to pick up in response to the ongoing rebuilding of cattle herds. With heifer slaughter rates only showing a notable reduction in late 2013, it will take at least several more months before signs of growth in the overall U.S. cattle herd will be evident, due to the

• AFAC Annual General Meeting • Welcome Reception • Cultivating Connections - Social Media and Agriculture. Speakers: Jackie Northey, Sarah Wray

Thursday, March 27, 2014 PHOTo: thinkstock Sixteen per cent of those who say they are consuming less red meat are eating less but higherquality red meat. Johnson said this creates an opportunity to market higher-quality meats to consumers. Packaging may be an area for innovation, particularly to appeal to women, Mintel said. More than one-third (35 per cent) of women would like to see more resealable packaging, 26 per cent say they want individual-size portions and 23 per cent would like to see recipe options on the package.

• Animal Health & Welfare - The Next Evolution, Speaker: Tim Blackwell • Activists are Taking a Multi-Faceted Approach - You Should Too, Speaker: Kay Johnson-Smith • Consumers and Animal Welfare: What They Think, What They Know and Why It Matters, Speaker: Michael von Massow • Lunch and Awards Presentation • Lunch address. Speaker: Ben Wooley (Sunterra) • A New Way of Learning for a New Generation of Farmers. Speaker: Jackie Northey • Industry Innovation Showcase. Presenters: CL Ranch, Sangudo Meats, Egg Farmers of Alberta, ESF Sow Barns

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

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ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

2014 Precision AG 2.0 Conference The Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta (ARECA) is hosting the Precision AG 2.0 Conference and Tradeshow in Calgary on Feb. 11 and 12. Topics include remote sensing, site-specific management, nutrient stewardship, conservation and monitoring. The conference will feature two full education days with four international speakers, interactive breakout sessions, and current information on research, practices and technologies being adopted by progressive farmers in Western Canada and abroad. For more information visit www.precision-ag.ca.

Wgrf to study agronomic research capacity in Western Canada Will assess work funded by governments, universities, private contractors and producer-operated facilities By Allan Dawson staff

T:15.58”

he concern has been expressed many times — agronomy research is on the decline in Western Canada. The Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) is commissioning a study to find if that’s the case. “General comments have been made by a number of farm commissions that we work with expressing concern about agronomy research capacity on the public side — that it’s not keeping up with the growth in ag research and it could even decline in the future with retirements,” WGRF executive director Garth Patterson said in an interview. The study will focus on agronomic research in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Peace River region of British Columbia and will include work funded by the federal government, provincial governments, universities, private contractors and producer-operated facilities, the WGRF said in a news release. It’s asking for proposals from those interested in conducting the study. The deadline is Feb. 3. Details are posted on the WGRF’s website. The WGRF is a farmer-funded and -directed, not-for-profit organization that invests in research that benefits farmers, including

agronomy and the development of improved crop varieties. It will allocate $100,000 for the study due to be completed by May 30. While the WGRF is funding the project it is inviting any farm organization that wants input to take part. “We’re not looking for their money,” Patterson said. “If they are interested in this they should contact us.” The following organizations are already involved: Alberta Barley Commission, Alberta Canola Producers, Alberta Pulse Growers, Alberta Wheat Commission, Manitoba Canola Growers, Manitoba Pulse Growers, SaskCanola, SaskFlax, and the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.

Addressing gaps

If gaps are found in agronomic research there are different ways to address them, including funding scholarships, research chairs at universities and investing in research infrastructure, he said. It also raises policy questions, including how much money farmers should invest in an area that traditionally has been mostly publicly funded. “That’s where there needs to be some good discussion among a number of farm organizations to look at the solutions,” Patterson said. “It might include getting involved with more private research, trying to leverage more public investment, it might include

more grower checkoff funding or a combination of the above. But instead of reacting to specifics we want to step back and take a look at the big picture of what’s needed in Western Canada.” Some argue it makes sense for agronomic research to be funded publicly and/or by farmers because the opportunities to make it a profitable business are limited, even though the results are valuable to farmers collectively. The WGRF already invests in agronomic research. “We’ll put more money in agronomic research if there is the capacity to take this on,” Patterson said. allan@fbcpublishing.com

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Healthy soil makes for healthy profits, says no-tiller North Dakota farmer cites reduced fertility and chemical costs from better tilth By Daniel Winters

staff / minot, north dakota

Mark Jennings, a no-till farmer from North Dakota, explains how zero tillage and improved soil health have translated into increased profitability on his 4,500-acre operation. Photo: Daniel Winters

he need to conserve precious soil moisture convinced him to give no-till a try, but now he’s learned that there’s far more to be gained than that. After attending a zero-tillage conference in 1998, then-newbie farmer Mark Jennings talked his father into applying basic no till principles on 320 acres. Since then, his operation has grown to cover 4,500 acres, and now he’s also harvesting the economic benefits from the reduced production costs that come from better soil health. “Don’t work the soil, let the soil work for you. That’s kind of what I live by,” said Jennings, in a presentation at the recent Manitoba-

North Dakota Zero-Tillage Association’s annual workshop. In 2012, when he put 1,100 acres of long-term fallowed land taken out of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) back into production, he dodged the estimated $150/acre cost of breaking it up. Instead, he sprayed out the existing grasses with two passes of Roundup, and planted corn right into the sod with an “old piece of junk” White planter with no residue manager attachment. For fertilizer, he put down 110 pounds per acre of nitrogen plus 157 pounds of a dry blend of ammonium sulphate, potash and micronutrients just off the seed row. Not disturbing the “armour” that covered the CRP land’s sloped, coarse, sandy soil meant that it retained its water-holding capacity and created a “soil biology buffet.”

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“By mid-July, you wouldn’t even know that I had put it into 2.5-foottall grass,” said Jennings. “The economics of it for me are: I got a crop off it this year, great soil cover, and all that organic matter that will start mineralizing. By the third, fourth and fifth year, I expect to reduce fertility costs on it by 50-60 per cent.” Jennings’s strategy was based in part on a talk by soil ecologist Jill Clapperton, who advised farmers seeding into sod to plant a grass species with a large root structure. “She said that when you take away the host plant, whether grass or legumes, the bacteria and fungi will start fighting against each other and give off exudates that will start poisoning the plants,” he said. “So when you put in corn, which has a large root structure, you provide a similar host environment to what was there before.” After harvesting an 80-bushel corn crop, the following year he planted confectionery sunflowers in the same former CRP field. With ample cover, there was so much moisture that the sunflowers “popped” out through the heavy weed-suppressing duff layer from a 2.5-inch seeding depth. Everyone, even his father said he was “nuts” to try it, but in the end it yielded almost 1,900 pounds per acre with a 24.5-pound test weight.

Improving tilth

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Soil stability, structure and root mass equal tilth — an archaic word not heard much these days. But for Jennings, it meant that he is generally able to get back on the land and start seeding in the afternoon after days of rain. “You’re paying back the soil by leaving residue, but it’s coming back to you in lower costs,” he said, noting that the 50-poundper-year free nitrogen credit from long-term no till is now an accepted scientific fact. Healthy soil means reduced chemical bills. In recent years, he hasn’t needed a post-emergent shot of herbicide for his peas or sunflowers. “I may not outyield some of my neighbours, but with reduced fertility and chemical needs, my net returns are better,” said Jennings. Instead of growing corn and soybeans year after year, he seeds highly diverse crop rotations of up to 10 species made up of warmand cool-season broadleaf crops and grasses, as well as cover crops with the goal of having something growing in the soil and keeping the ground covered as much as possible. Jennings doesn’t get in a sweat if his cover crops are still small when it’s time to seed the money-makers, and he doesn’t spend much time worrying about what cover crop species fit best in the short spring or fall window. “Even if I get minimal growth, I’m fine with that,” he said. “Turnips, radishes, brassicas, oats and barley, or millet. It’s whatever I have laying around. I’m not specific. I just throw it in.” Having “something” growing, whether it’s a foot tall or barely emerging, pays off over time because it gives the soil biology something to utilize instead of leaving the soil “stagnant,” he said. daniel.winters@fbcpublishing.com

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

It’s no pipe dream — but replacing Alberta’s irrigation ditches is a big job Three thousand kilometres of pipe have been laid, but there’s thousands of kilometres of open ditches that need replacing By Alexis Kienlen

“It’s important for us to increase the efficiency of the system so that we’re using less water to grow more crops.”

af staff

eil Young may not approve of pipelines, but the people working in irrigation have nothing but positive things to say about them. There are about 3,000 kilometres of pipeline in southern Alberta, but the entire system would stretch to 8,000 kilometres if laid out in a single line. The goal is to replace open ditches with more pipes, said Ron McMullin, executive director of the Lethbridge-based Alberta Irrigation Projects Association. “When we do this, then we increase the efficiency of the water use,” he said. Along with evaporation, water seeps out of the bottom of canals, creating saline areas and soft ground. Pipelines also allow for better control of water since they can be turned on and off, and channelling the water flow underground means

Ron McMullin

Photo: thinkstock the land is not broken up, and people can farm or drive on top of the pipes. “Replacing canals with pipelines, instead of rehabilitating them as new, open canals has been going on since the late 1970s or 1980s,” said Roger Holm, head of the irrigation secretariat. “Since the 1990s, pipeline construction has been the majority of construction to replace canals.

Farm ministers call for higher, diverse food production

A lot of the smaller canals have already been replaced with pipelines and the focus is shifting to larger ones. The major manufacturer of pipe, IPEX, will soon be expanding its plant to build 40- to 60-inch-diameter pipes. “In the past, any canal that had a volume of two cubic metres per second or less could be put in a1/21/14 pipe,” SEC-MERE14-T_AFE.qxd said Holm. “But with these bigger

pipes coming out, now we’re going to be able to change canals that are 3-1/2 or almost four cubic metres per second and put them into pipe.” While pipe is more expensive than rehabilitating the ditch system, lower maintenance costs will eventually allow those higher costs to be recouped. The work is being paid by the 12:45 PM Irrigation Page 1 Rehabilitation program, which gets 75 per cent of

its funding from the province and one-quarter from irrigation districts. However, funding has been reduced because of provincial budget constraints. “This year, the government put in $22 million, and the irrigation districts put in $5.5 million,” said McMullin. That will be enough for 20 to 25 projects, with work being done from mid-October to early May. “It’s important for us to increase the efficiency of the system so that we’re using less water to grow more crops,” said McMullin. Some of the 5,000 kilometres of open ditch will never be replaced. “If you have a main canal, they just don’t make pipe big enough to put it into pipeline and it would cost a fortune to do that,” he said. “But we are working towards putting all those that are technically and financially feasible into pipelines.” akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

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meeting of agriculture ministers from 69 countries on Jan. 18 called for higher farm productivity coupled with cultivation of diverse crop types to help beat world hunger. Global farming needs to maintain a balance between diversity and high output while avoiding monoculture of single crops, said a statement from Germany’s Agriculture Ministry after the meeting in Berlin of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture. The Berlin meeting called for genetic data banks to be set up to prevent the loss of traditional types of food crops as newly developed seeds replace old varieties. German Agriculture Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said

improving food output volumes is not enough to conquer world hunger. “Preserving agricultural diversity is not a luxury; it is a matter of survival,” Friedrich said in a statement. “Plant varieties, once lost, cannot be recovered. We must therefore conserve our genetic resources worldwide on a permanent basis and make better use of them.” Malnutrition caused by an unbalanced diet is also a serious global problem, he said. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that there are still 840 million people suffering from hunger worldwide, Friedrich said. But a further two billion people are seriously compromised in their development by malnutrition, he said.

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Netherlands has the most plentiful, healthy food Canada ranks well down in index based on availability, quality and affordability of food and dietary health By Patricia Reaney Reuters

he Netherlands nudged past France and Switzerland as the country with the most nutritious, plentiful and healthy food, while the United States and Japan failed to make it into the top 20, a new ranking released by Oxfam showed. Canada, ranking 25, lagged behind the U.S. at 21. Chad came in last on the list of 125 nations, behind Ethiopia and Angola, in the food index from the international relief and development organization. “The Netherlands has created a good market that enables people to get enough to eat. Prices are relatively low and stable and the type of food people are eating is balanced,” Deborah Hardoon, a

senior researcher at Oxfam who compiled the results, said in an interview. “They’ve got the fundamentals right and in a way that is better than most other countries all over the world.” Oxfam ranked the nations on the availability, quality and affordability of food and dietary health. It also looked at the percentage of underweight children, food diversity and access to clean water, as well as negative health outcomes such as obesity and diabetes. European countries dominated the top of the ranking but Australia squeezed into the top 12, tying with Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Luxembourg at No. 8. The United Kingdom failed to make the top 10, tying for the 13th spot, because of the volatility of its food prices compared to other goods, which Oxfam said

is on a level with Peru (51), Malta (33) and Kyrgyzstan (65). African nations, along with Laos (112), Bangladesh (102), Pakistan (97) and India (97), were predominant in the bottom 30 countries. Although the United States has the most affordable and goodquality food, high levels of obesity and diabetes pushed the nation into 21st place in the ranking,

tying with Japan, which scored poorly on the relative price of food compared to other goods. The Netherlands got top marks for its low food prices and diabetes levels, while Chad had the worst score for the cost of food in the country and the number of underweight children. Oxfam said the latest figures show 840 million people go hungry every day, despite there being enough food for the hungry. “This index quite clearly indicates that despite the fact of there being enough food in the world we are still not able to feed everybody in all the countries around the world,” said Hardoon. “If we had a more equal distribution of wealth and resources, and particularly food, this wouldn’t be a problem,” she added.

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Australian scientists microchip bees to map movement By Thuy Ong

sydney / reuters

ustralian scientists are gluing tiny sensors onto thousands of honeybees to track their movements in a trial aimed at halting the spread of diseases that have wiped out populations in the Northern Hemisphere. Scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, said the microchips could help tackle so-called colony collapse disorder, a situation where bees mysteriously disappear from hives, and the encroachment of the parasitic varroa mite. Scientists will use tweezers to glue on the sensors, weighing about five milligrams and measuring 2.5 millimetres square, after soothing the bees to sleep by refrigeration. Some young bees, which tend to be hairier than older bees, need to be shaved before the sensor can be glued on. Scientists will examine the effectiveness of pesticides in protecting the bees from colony collapse disorder and varroa mite. The study will also enable farmers and fruit growers to understand and manage their crops, given the honeybee’s crucial role in the pollination of crops globally, the CSIRO said in a statement. “Honeybees play a vital role in the landscape through a free pollination service for agriculture, which various crops rely on to increase yields,” the CSIRO’s Paulo de Souza, who is leading the project, said in the statement. “Using this technology, we aim to understand the bee’s relationship with its environment.” Scientists plan to fit sensors on 5,000 bees in the southern island state of Tasmania over the Australian summer. The radio frequency identification sensors work like an electronic tag for cars on a toll road, recording when insects pass a checkpoint. That will allow scientists to build a three-dimensional image of the insects’ movements, a process described as “swarm sensing.” The scientists are working on shrinking the sensor to one mm square so they can be attached to smaller insects, including mosquitoes.

Thousands of captured honeybees in Australia will be fitted with tiny sensors and released back into the wild as part of an extensive environmental monitoring experiment that researchers hope will help answer questions about colony collapse disorder. PHOTo: CSIRO

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Traders engage in turf war for Russian grain terminals Investments planned to take export capacity from 30 million to 50 million tonnes BY POLINA DEVITT AND SARAH MCFARLANE MOSCOW / LONDON / REUTERS

nternational trade houses are buying into Russian grain port facilities to try to counter high handling costs from one of the world’s top producers of cereals, making smaller players fear they will lose out. Even with erratic harvests in recent years, Russia normally ranks among the top five global wheat exporters. But a lack of investment in export infrastructure and little competition among terminals owners has vastly inflated grain-handling costs. To tackle this, major traders including Glencore and, more recently, Cargill, have bought stakes in Russian grain terminals at Black Sea deepwater ports, which have the largest capacity and service major importers including North Africa and the Middle East. The deals indicate Russia’s willingness to welcome foreign investment into infrastructure supporting ports, while ports themselves remain owned by the government. Glencore has a stake in grain terminal in Taman since 2012, while Cargill invested in a grain terminals in Novorossiysk in December, 2013. Three grain terminals in Novorossiysk covered 27 per cent of Russia’s July-Nov. grain exports, ProZerno consultancy said. “If you’ve got a business model whereby you have investments in origination but you don’t have a foothold in the port then you can

be beholden to other competing entities. It’s a bigger problem in Russia because there aren’t all that many export terminals in the Black Sea,” a European trader said. A lack of infrastructure for grain exports means margins at Russian ports can be attractive compared with other commodities including metals and oil, allowing investments into grain terminals to pay off within a few years. “Grain-handling costs are lower this season than two years ago, but remain one of the world’s highest,” said the head of Russia’s Grain Union Arkady Zlochevsky. The costs are at US$24-26 per tonne in 2013-14 so far, compared to $37 in 2011-12, he added. In nearby wheat exporters Ukraine and Romania, where a lack of terminal capacity is less critical, f.o.b. (grain-handling) rates are around $10 cheaper than in Russia, one trader said. Zlochevsky estimates that planned investment, mainly by Russian companies, would take the capacity of Russian grain terminals to about 50 million tonnes by 2020, up from 30 million tonnes now. However, many of these projects will only be executed if grain prices are attractive, he said. Russia harvested 90 million tonnes of grain, including 50 million tonnes of wheat, in 2013 and is officially expected to export 20 million tonnes of grain. Russian President Vladimir Putin aims to increase annual grain output to 120 million to 125 million tonnes by 2020, boosting

potential exports to around 35 million to 40 million tonnes.

Top tier buys in

Cargill, one of four so-called “ABCD” companies that dominate the flow of agricultural goods around the world, bought 25 per cent plus one share of the grain terminal Kombinat Stroykomplekt (KSK) based in Novorossiysk in December. The investment opens an important channel for connecting Cargill’s Russian grain origination to customers in North Africa, the Middle East and beyond, the company said in its latest earnings statement last week. “If you have port elevation then you have the key to the exports,” said James Dunsterville, analyst at Geneva-based AgFlow. Some small and mid-size traders said the move by Cargill could reduce the export volumes of competitors who do not have their own terminal capacity. “We’ve been working actively through that terminal so whether we will get the access that we have in the past, because 25 per cent will be now Cargill, presumably to use for themselves... that means less volumes for everyone else,” said a trader. Cargill was seventh in the league table of Russian grain exporters in the 2012-13 marketing season, said Vladimir Petrichenko, the head of the ProZerno consultancy. Cargill declined to comment on its market share. The other ABCD companies are Archer Daniels Midland Co., Bunge Ltd. and Louis Dreyfus. Bunge owns a grain terminal at Russia’s shallow-water port in Rostov.

Port facilities at Odessa, Ukraine. The ‘ABCD’ companies that dominate world grain trade want to increase their presence in the Black Sea region. PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Quick hits and useful advice from Agronomy Update 2014 There was a wealth of insights and ‘news you can use’ at the annual conference, and here is a sampling By Jennifer Blair af staff / red deer

Scouting advice

A quick YouTube search will tell you everything you need to know about scouting for blackleg in your canola crop, said Canola Council of Canada agronomist Dan Orchard. “All these experts and pathologists and technical specialists have all these incredible videos on how to scout for blackleg,” he said. Videos by experts such as Michael Harding, Ralph Lange, Russ Trischuk, Clint Jurke, and Greg Sekulic offer a “different take” on the disease, said Orchard. From 2012 to 2013, familiarity with blackleg control measures has increased “quite a bit,” he said. Tweeting and sharing pictures may have contributed to that, but it can also create “undue panic.” “I’m hoping we can tweet and text some good information rather than stuff that’s misleading,” he said.

Newcomer welcomed

With the rapid spread of herbicide-resistant weeds in Canada, a new Group 15 herbicide could be good news for growers. “Pyroxasulfone is different than pretty much anything we have in Western Canada,” said Breanne Tidemann, a master’s student at the University of Alberta who is studying the product. Registered in Australia for wheat and triticale and in North America for corn and soybean, pyroxasulfone shows promise for controlling Japanese and downy brome in winter wheat, as well as cleavers and wild oats in field pea. Though not yet registered for wheat, winter wheat, or peas in Canada, pyroxasulfone will soon become an option to lower the risk of resistance to other herbicide groups. “If you have a problem with diversity in your herbicide rota-

tion, this is a very unique group in Western Canada to really diversify that rotation,” said Tidemann. Registration is expected for wheat and winter wheat by the end of 2014, and for peas in 2015.

Cleavers strategy

Cleavers can cause a lot of problems in canola, and as one of the top candidates for glyphosate resistance, those problems are only going to get worse, said Chris Neesor, weed scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. “Within one or two years, you can have a very rapid spread of resistance within a field,” he said of Alberta’s third-most-abundant weed. Weed biology, lack of control measures, and poor management practices have contributed to the spread of cleavers in Western Canada. As of 2007, 17 per cent of fields with cleavers were Group 2 resistant. Rotating herbicides and crops can help, but mixing different active ingredients may be more effective in the fight against cleavers. “(Mixing actives) helps a great deal with reducing the possibility of resistant biotypes to survive,” he said. “If you just rotate, there’s greater possibility of mistakes.”

Pea root rot

As pea production has increased across Alberta, so too has the spread of root rots in pea fields, said Syama Chatterton, plant pathology research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. In 2013, Chatterton surveyed 150 fields in southern and central Alberta. Most fields in central Alberta had a lot of root rot symptoms, while in southern Alberta, the disease was less severe. “We saw a real range from completely healthy fields to completely diseased roots.” In severe situations, producers can expect reduced or no nitro-

gen fixation, reduced biomass, increased lodging, and yield losses. There are no treatment options available, so farmers need to choose well-drained, clean fields prior to seeding and manage their residue post-harvest to reduce the spread of root rots in their fields. “There’s not a lot you can do once root rot is established in your field,” she said.

Pea nightmare

Early in the 2013 growing season, pea producers looked like they were “heading into a good year,” but high moisture levels and dense canopies caused major disease problems later in the season. “In every single field we went to, we saw ascochyta,” said Robyne Bowness, pulse crop research and extension agronomist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. Ascochyta levels remained low because of cool temperatures early in the season. Heat later in July increased levels somewhat, but a hot August “changed everything.” “It really moved in, and it moved in very quick.” And though producers were “diligent” in spraying for the disease, some saw severe lodging, which spread the disease even further. Because of that, pea harvest was “very difficult” in some parts of the province. “Harvest was a nightmare,” she said. “Some producers even said, ‘That’s it, no more peas.’”

Constant vigilance

When it comes to scouting for sclerotinia in canola, “a good rule of thumb is ABC — always be checking,” said Autumn Barnes, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada. Early in the disease cycle, producers should be on the lookout for spores resembling “little mouse turds” on top of the soil. As the disease progresses, plants will develop a white “watermark” that will grow and dry out the stem.

Scouting for these symptoms early and often will ensure producers are able to spray prior to infection, when the fungicides will be most effective, she said. “The best time to scout is before, if you want to do something about the problem.” Producers can evaluate their risk by looking at their crop rotation, crop density, moisture levels, weather forecasts, and regional risk. A wet June, mixed with the potential for high yield, is a good indication to spray.

Say cheese

Digital pictures are changing the way producers diagnose issues in the field, said Kelly Turkington, plant research pathologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. “It’s something we’re seeing more and more the use of,” said Turkington, who received between 40 and 60 requests to provide a digital diagnosis last summer. The convenience and timeliness of digital images, combined with the speed of social media, has made digital diagnosis appealing for producers, but in some cases, misdiagnosis due to poor image quality can do more harm than good. “Most of the time, (issues) are related to poor photography techniques.” In order to get an accurate digital diagnosis, producers should take more than one picture of the problem and send only clear, high-resolution photos with some context about the issue. “It’s extremely difficult if the symptoms are not distinct to make an accurate diagnosis,” said Turkington.”We need a bit of background information to help with that diagnosis.”

Rule No. 1

If you’re wondering if you should be growing a clubroot-resistant variety, Canola Council of Canada agronomist Greg Sekulic has only one thing to say: “The answer is, of course, yes. Any questions?”

Twenty-six counties and 1,500 fields, primarily in central Alberta, have confirmed clubroot, and the rapid spread can be attributed to high levels of soil movement through wind or water erosion and equipment transportation. “Anything we can do to reduce (soil movement) is going to drastically reduce the spread of clubroot,” he said. Resistant varieties are the “only real management strategy you have left” once clubroot has been identified in a field, he said. Crop rotation “does nothing” for disease management once clubroot is present, but growing a resistant variety can help recover “the entire yield.” “If we can keep our spore levels down to below economically damaging levels, we won’t see economic damage,” he said.

Faba boom

One of Alberta’s fastest growing crops could double again in 2014. “We estimated 25,000 acres (of faba beans) were grown last year, and we estimate 50,000 acres will be grown this year,” said Sean Border of WA Grain and Pulse Solutions. In the past, faba beans were sold primarily as feed because of their high protein levels, but as quality levels have improved, so too have exports — and prices. “An average of 6,000 tonnes of edible faba beans were exported from Canada in each of the past five years,” he said. “If quality meets export standards, demand could be up to 20,000 tonnes this coming year.” While tannin varieties are preferred in export countries, low tannin is the way to go for growers who may want access to the feed market if their beans don’t make food grade. “Faba beans trade equal to feed pea value,” he said. “The feed market is always looking for proteins at reasonable prices.” jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com

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ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Chase ‘glorious’ prices this year and you’ll suffer, says farm marketing adviser Lee Melvill urges producers to target prices based on cost of production and cash flow needs, and to sell in stages BY JENNIFER BLAIR AF STAFF / RED DEER

roducers need to give up on “wishful thinking” if they hope to successfully market their crops this year, according to a farm marketing adviser. “We have a humongous crop, and we have congestion problems,” Lee Melvill of Meyers Norris Penny said at the recent Agronomy Update conference. “That’s really brought marketing skills to the forefront.” It will be late fall before the bulk of last year’s record harvest is shipped and that will make it tough to move this year’s crop, he said. “Even with an average crop, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if we

Ukraine MPs propose foreign trader restrictions

have shipping delays… into the spring of 2015,” he said. Producers must decide if they’re sellers or marketers, said Melvill. Selling is “getting rid of what you have” while marketing means seizing delivery opportunities whenever the price on offer is above your cost of production, he said. “This year, it’s going to be way more important than it was in the last two years… to market at profitable prices,” he said. Knowing your cost of production and cash flow needs will be critical, said Melvill, who urged producers in the audience to set three target prices for their crops — a profitable one, an acceptable price that covers both fixed and production costs, and a survival price that will keep the farm afloat.

That approach will give farmers a “big edge up” over those who try to time the market, he said. “None of us can predict the market peak and hope to market it all there,” said Melvill. If you’re banking on a market rebound, you may end up selling on fear and that is what’s happening right now, he said. “We’re in the panic sell period,” said Melvill. “I’m getting panicky phone calls from producers who have zero or 10 or 15 per cent of last year’s wheat crop priced, and they may be stuck with it until well after this harvest.”

Average up

With target prices in place, producers can begin pricing their crop once it hits the acceptable

price, and as the market moves up, they can continue pricing, “averaging up.” “Only at Esso University Coffee Shop does it count what you got for the highest price,” said Melvill. “In the real world, what counts is my average price per year.” He recommends forward pricing 20 per cent of a crop once the market goes above the acceptable price. “I’m comfortable with that in terms of my yield risk and my agronomic risk.” Assuming the markets stay above the acceptable price, producers can market another 40 per cent once harvest is done and they’re confident about what they have to sell. “We’ve got 80 per cent priced, and all those have been profit-

able,” he said. “Businesses never go broke making a profit every year.” As the market fluctuates following harvest, the remaining 20 per cent of the crop can be stored as “gambling stock” and then sold once the market goes above the acceptable price again. The important thing, he said, is meeting the goal to “market everything above that acceptable price.” By adopting that strategy, producers can stay profitable even in years of weak prices and slow grain movement. “This year, marketing will be all about profitability, not the glorious price,” said Melvill. “(Producers) can’t sit back and wait for the market high.” jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com

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Ukraine to be world’s second-largest exporter in 2014 REUTERS

awmakers from three factions of Ukraine’s parliament have proposed only allowing grain exports to companies that produce the commodity, according to a draft law published on the parliament website Jan. 16. Ukraine is likely to be the world’s second-largest grain exporter in the 2013-14 season with the shipment of more than 30 million tonnes, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Grain exports may only be made by agricultural producers and companies which produce grain,” the document said. The lawmakers say the move will protect local grain producers from the artificially low prices offered by traders. The draft law would require backing by at least half of the parliament and be signed by the president to go into force. The current rules set no limit on exports by traders or producers. Foreign traders or Ukrainian branches of foreign trade houses currently control around 70 per cent of Ukrainian grain exports. Ukraine, which produced a record harvest of 63 million tonnes of grain in 2013, plans to export 33 million tonnes in 201314 versus 23 million tonnes in 2012-13.

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Wild oat herbicide resistance is on the rise Moving to longer crop rotations and reducing herbicide use will help manage the rapid rise in herbicide resistance in wild oats BY JENNIFER BLAIR AF STAFF / RED DEER

t’s already bad, but the problem of herbicide-resistant wild oats in Alberta will get a lot worse in a hurry if farmers don’t change their ways, says an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientist. Today, 37 per cent of Western Canada’s cropland has herbicideresistant weeds, with resistant wild oats in 28 per cent of fields, Neil Harker said at the recent Agronomy Update. “We’re putting on $500 million a year in Western Canada worth of wild oat herbicides, so we can expect we’re going to get lots of resistance,” said Harker. “If you want to know what’s going to be most resistant, a simple formula is to look at where we’re putting all the selection pressure. It’s because we put on so many wild oat herbicides.” More than 50 per cent of Alberta’s wild oats population now has resistance to Group 1 herbicides,

up from 39 per cent from an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada random sampling conducted in 2007. (The department also tested more than 1,000 weed seed samples sent in by Prairie growers from 2007 to 2011.) But it could be much worse. In the southern U.S., glyphosateresistant Palmer amaranth has reduced cotton acreage by 80 per cent (200,000 acres versus one million acres five years ago) and that’s resulted in some cotton producers losing their farms. “We are not in that dire of a situation,” Harker said. “But if we don’t change anything, we’re going in that direction.”

Selection pressure

Farmers have to “do something a little different,” said Harker, and that means reducing herbicide use and lengthening rotations. Harker pointed to a 2005 study on wild oat management practices evaluating the effectiveness of variables such as rotation; cultivar height; and seeding and herbicide rates.

“When we went from short barley at a low seeding rate to tall barley at a high seeding rate, we could get a very substantial reduction in wild oat biomass with the same herbicide rate,” said Harker. And stretching the crop rotation resulted in a “nineteenfold reduction from the worst practice to the best practice.” A similar 2013 study looked at how diverse rotations without the use of herbicides stacked up against a standard wheat-canola rotation with 100 per cent herbicide application. “In Lacombe, five of the six treatments that had zero herbicides three years in a row gave us a similar wild oat biomass to canola-wheat over and over again,” said Harker, adding results in Lethbridge and St. Albert were similar. Giving up the most profitable rotation is tough, but there’s no question what will happen if farmers don’t, Harker said. “If we keep doing the same thing we’re doing with herbicides, some of those herbicides will be lost.” jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com

This map shows incidents of Group 1-resistant wild oats created data collected in a 2007 sampling. PHOTO: AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD CANADA

British scientists look to breed GM camelina Researchers request permission to grow the crop in open-air field trials BY KATE KELLAND LONDON / REUTERS

ritish scientists have applied for permission to run an open-air field trial of a genetically modified (GM) crop they hope may one day become a sustainable and environmentally friendly source of healthy omega3 fats. The proposed trial — likely to generate controversy in a nation where GM foods have little public support — could start as early as May and will use camelina plants engineered to produce seeds high in omega-3 long chain fatty acids. No GM crops are currently grown commercially in Britain and only two — a pest-resistant type of maize and a potato with enhanced starch content — are licensed for cultivation in the European Union (EU). But scientists at Britain’s agricultural lab Rothamsted Research have developed camelina plants to produce omega-3 fats that are known to be beneficial to health but normally found only in oils in increasingly limited fish stocks. The idea, they told journalists at a briefing on their plans, is initially to supply the fish-farming industry, which currently consumes around 80 per cent of fish oils taken from the sea, with a non-fish source of these omega-3s. Beyond that, possibly within a decade, the GM-produced omega-3 oils could be used in food products such as margarine, the researchers said. “We now have a vegetable oil enhanced with these two critical fish oils,” said Johnathan Napier, a professor of plant science and head of a 15-year research pro-

ject which has so far shown that the fish oil-producing plants can be grown successfully in greenhouses. “We know it works in the glasshouse, now (we need to see) does it work in the real world?” he said. The researchers said that although the trial would be in the open air, there was no risk of crosspollination between the camelina plant and other field crops grown in Britain. The application for permission to conduct the trial is subject to a public consultation and an inquiry by a scientific committee that monitors such GM plans. A decision could be made within 90 days. “If you have a crop that has got potential health benefits and sustainability and environmental benefits, and we can articulate that clearly, then I think people will see this is an OK thing to do,” Napier said. Omega-3 oils found in fish are known to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases including heart attacks and strokes.

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Flax growers’ subsidy for Triffid tests ends soon Testing to continue through 2014, farmers urged to segregate 2013 crop STAFF

The percentage of samples testing positive for Triffid dropped from 14 per cent in 2009 to under four per cent in 2013. PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

lax growers are urged to take advantage of a program subsidizing the cost of testing their harvested crops and seed for Triffid genetics before it’s gone at the end of next month. Funding for the Flax Farm Stewardship testing program, which since 2011 has covered 50 per cent of the fees for farmers to get their pedigreed and farm-saved seed tested at approved labs, up to a maximum $100 per sample, is now set to end Feb. 28, the Flax Council of Canada said in a release Jan. 25. The program had been funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through its Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP). With that funding, the council reimbursed labs for the balance of their fees. The council had said in September it was “exploring ways to extend funding for the program through to the end of 2014.”

Flax growers thus “are encouraged to complete testing of harvested flaxseed and planting seed for the presence of Triffid prior to Feb. 28,” the council said. Some flax buyers will only accept test results from certain labs, the council noted. Lists of approved labs and of companies’ preferred labs are available online.

Segregate 2013 crop

Bred at the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre for tolerance to soil residues of sulfonylurea herbicides, genetically modified CDC Triffid got regulatory approval for release in 1998. Faced with concern over the loss of export markets if a GMO flax was introduced, Triffid was deregistered in 2001 without ever being commercialized. Triffid genetics then unexpectedly turned up in flax exports to the GMO-shy European Union in 2009, sending Canada’s flax exports spiralling to an all-time low by 2011.

With a regime of testing both seed and harvested crops introduced in 2009, the percentage of samples of crop production testing positive for Triffid fell from 14 per cent to below four per cent by 2013. However, the flax council said in September, “despite these efforts, the amount of Triffid in farm-saved seed stocks and production tested has plateaued in the last two years.” To further reduce Triffid levels, the council urges growers to segregate their 2013 harvest from production grown in previous years, then to market the flax grown in previous years first, to help make sure any stocks containing Triffid are “flushed” from the system. It’s expected testing of farm stocks will be “discontinued” at the end of 2014 — and the testing of planting seed will continue “indefinitely,” the council said in September.

Richardson joins revamped winter wheat initiative Ducks Unlimited Canada and Bayer CropScience are also supporting the new initiative STAFF

ichardson International has signed on as a partner in a new organization to promote winter wheat acres in the West. Richardson is joining the Western Winter Wheat Initiative, a new body formed out of the Winter Cereals Sustainability in Action program, set up in 2009. “We are excited to have Richardson International now on board in support of this new winter wheat initiative as they bring extensive knowledge of the ag sector with their agronomy, sales and grain merchandising units,” Paul Thiel, vicepresident of innovation and public affairs with Bayer CropScience, said in a release. The new organization will focus on performance tracking trials across the three Prairie provinces in 2014, said Peter

Entz, assistant vice-president of seed and traits for Richardson. One of the new initiatives’ first support tactics is a new interactive and comprehensive website, including statistics on the benefits of growing winter wheat, guidelines to winter wheat management, and tools to support winter wheat production, the partners said. The site is an update of the previous program’s online space at GrowWinterWheat.ca. Ducks Unlimited has long been an advocate for winter wheat production, Paul Thoroughgood, regional agrologist for Ducks Unlimited Canada, noted in the same release. DUC’s support stems from winter wheat’s status as a significantly productive habitat for many Prairie wildlife species including waterfowl and upland game birds. Some waterfowl species are 24 times more productive nesting in winter wheat than in springseeded varieties, DUC said.

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Some waterfowl species are 24 times more productive nesting in winter wheat than in spring-seeded varieties. PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

NEWS Drones a hazard for Yemen farmers REUTERS A Yemeni farmer was killed in a U.S. drone strike Jan. 15 in what witnesses said was an attack apparently intended for suspected Islamist militants in southeastern Yemen. Witnesses said the farmer was killed by shrapnel from two rockets fired by the drone early in the morning as he walked home in the village of al-Houta, near the city of Shibam. A local government official confirmed the report but declined to give further details. The United States has stepped up drone strikes as part of a campaign against alQaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), regarded by Washington as the most active wing of the network. Yemen, AQAP’s main stronghold, is among a handful of countries where the United States acknowledges using

drones, although it does not comment on the practice. Last month, at least 15 people were killed and five others injured when a drone mistook a wedding party travelling in the central Yemeni province of al-Bayda for an al-Qaida convoy.

Russia reports foot-and-mouth MOSCOW / REUTERS Russian authorities on Jan. 28 reported a suspected outbreak of footand-mouth disease in eastern Siberian region of Zabaikalsk, which borders China and Mongolia. They said clinical signs of the disease were identified in samples of cattle at a private farm, adding measures to contain it were being taken. Foot-and-mouth disease is not a direct threat to humans, but can disrupt trade and measures to cope with it can be expensive.

TOPLINE PERFORMANCE

There’s a place for barley now and in the future, says barley commission chair Along with being a good rotation crop, Matt Sawyer says there are untapped export opportunities and a focus on developing improved varieties BY WILL VERBOVEN AF EDITOR

att Sawyer has been the Alberta Barley Commission chairman since 2010 and Region 2 director since 2009. Born in Spirit River, he now lives northwest of Acme, where he has been farming with his family for more than 23 years. Matt and wife Tara have three young children and farm on an operation established in 1903 by Matt’s great-grandfather. In 2011, the couple was named Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmer award winners. Alberta Farmer recently talked with Sawyer about the barley sector and the commission. Alberta Farmer: You have been an ABC director for five years and recently re-elected as ABC chairman. What drives you to stay so active with the organization? Sawyer: It’s a good group to work with and we have seen a lot of changes since I started. It’s been exciting over the last few years. AF: Barley has its profitability challenges versus canola and other crops. How can that be changed to make it more profitable? Sawyer: It’s still valuable in crop rotations with canola considering the disease problems, and barley is the right crop for that practice. It’s a good crop to grow economically and it’s a good fit for rotation purposes.

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AF: Funding has been going into better barley varieties for silage, forage, grain, and malting. Is it balanced or does funding favour one direction over the other? Sawyer: I don’t think the research funding favours any direction. I think it’s a balanced approach with different research for different uses. I don’t personally focus on specific research projects. It’s balanced as we try to respond to the needs of the various barley users. For instance, through the feed grains coalition we want to make sure we are going in the right direction with research to supply the varieties they want for livestock production. We try to respond to the needs of the various barley users and there is lots of work being done in all directions. We have increased funding to the crop development group in Lacombe, and they are doing a great job. AF: Seed companies are spending millions on corn, canola and soybean seed development. Is there any way to get them interested in investing in barley development?

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Sawyer: I think there is interest in developing varieties. There are some different projects going on with some companies. But I think what will help are the proposed

Alberta Barley Commission chairman Matt Sawyer farms near Acme. PHOTO: ALBERTA BARLEY COMMISSION

changes to the varietal registration system. Those changes will help bring more investment into grain varieties in Western Canada. AF: What’s your view on using genetic engineering to speed up barley variety development? Sawyer: It’s on the back burner, in my opinion. It may be a research option with some companies in the future, but it all depends on the customer. We want to be respectful of what the end-use customer wants. It will depend on the market. AF: Are there any markets, domestic or foreign, that barley is missing out on? Sawyer: It’s not that we are missing out — it’s competing for some markets in Japan for instance with the Australians. We have been going on trade missions over there to increase the demand for our barley, but there is competition in the international market for some opportunities. We have a marketing project for Shochu — it’s a distilled Japanese alcoholic beverage and is made out of a lot of barley. It comes in 1.8-litre cartons and each needs one kilo of barley. One place produced 20 million cartons. The Australians are the competition and have a barley variety for that product. We have a variety that works, but it will take time to get a foothold. It’s an exciting project and it’s an ABC initiative.

“I think what will help are the proposed changes to the varietal registration system.” MATT SAWYER

A F : There have been some national grain groups formed. Where does the Alberta Barley Commission fit in with those organization? Sawyer: We are members of the Barley Council of Canada, and share space and staff with them. They act on national issues. We are not members of Cereals Canada, but the council collaborates with them on issues. The ABC is a member of the Grain Growers of Canada. I believe we need these groups to have a national voice for the industry AF: What issue is the industry working on right now? Sawyer: There are always plenty of issues, but right now shipping is the main concern. We have been talking about it, of course, but we need a national discussion to look down the road to see what system will be effective. It’s too early to tell as to what to do, but we are working on it right now.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

A bit of this; a bit of that — what’s in the ‘bull soup?’ There are ways to evalulate birth weight, how well the calf grades, how large the rib-eye is or even how much milk the cow will produce BY KRIS RINGWALL

BEEF SPECIALIST, NDSU EXTENSION SERVICE

uying bulls is like making soup. You put in a bit of this and a bit of that and in the end, you have good soup. Likewise, a piece of this and a piece of that and you assemble a good bull. Unlike the soup you make from scratch, the bull already is made, but you have to find him. Ultimately, the bull will supply half the pieces for your next calf crop. So what are the pieces? Just like soup, every spoonful should be complete and savoured. When the spices are added, they literally dissolve into every spoonful. Likewise, when the bull’s DNA is added to the herd, the DNA literally dissolves into the calves and all future generations. With today’s technology, those pieces of DNA can be detected and isolated generations later. Even more so than the bull, the herd is this massive pool of genes that produce a working, manageable herd. So how does one know what genes one has in the herd? There are a few traits such as certain colours or horns that are the result of a single gene and can be detected and screened for fairly easily. Another example is the many genetic defects in cattle where a single gene has caused a “kink” in the production line so calf deformities are the result. These single genes can float around and occasionally express themselves.

Production genes

However, production genes are our main interest today. Production genes are best managed through the utilization of expected progeny differences (EPDs). They are not seen individually and are expressed best if allowed to work as a team. Unlike adding salt or spice to a soup, production genes are more like the meat and potatoes. Production genes determine how an animal exists, such as fast or slow daily gains, how heavy the calf is at birth, how well the calf grades, how large the rib-eye is or even how much milk the cow will produce. The list is long and the traits are numerous. These production genes are named by the effect they are expected to have on a particular trait. For the sake of understanding, let’s visit five of these traits. The five are birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), yearling weight (YW), marbling (MARB) and rib-eye area (REA). The process is linked to the various breed associations that register cattle and provide EPDs. For discussion purposes, let’s use the Red Angus Association’s website (http://redangus. org/). EPDs are defined by each breed association, but the basic EPDs have the same definition. Each breed also has unique traits identi-

fied as important and different selection indexes that breeders have identified as significant for their breed. There also are two concepts to keep in mind. First of all, purchasing a bull means producers must evaluate their current operation and then producers must select a bull to change or maintain their current operation. In the broad sense, that may be as simple as accepting a particular breed or breeding system and, in a more detailed sense, maintaining individual cow/sire/calf performance records. Looking up and understanding the average performance of a breed is a broad approach to developing selection benchmarks. Once that appreciation is found, then one can set his or her own EPD benchmarks and strive to achieve those individual goals. In terms of commercial production, individual bull EPDs are a tremendous tool to guide the DNA pool within a herd. Returning to our example, if we open up the Red Angus website and click on “Genetics” and then on the “EPD Averages,” we see a fall 2013 table pop up with average EPD values for older bulls, dams and younger bulls. With relative ease, we can determine average values for our selected traits in younger bulls. The BW is minus 1.2, WW is 54, YW is 84, MARB is .39 and REA is .12. These are a great benchmark if a producer prefers average Red Angus cattle. With these EPDs, the potential bull buyer has a guide to start the selection process. However, if one appreciates and desires to maintain the current herd production, why not go back and look up the EPDs on the older bulls that have been purchased and utilized in the herd? Evaluating previously purchased bulls helps a producer understand individual herd expectations compared with the breed average. It’s a good place to start.

Make sure your farm implement dealer is licensed Farmers’ Advocate office can verify if company has a current licence AGRI-NEWS

lberta’s Farmers’ Advocate Office advises farmers to protect themselves by ensuring that their farm implement dealer of choice is licensed. The Alberta Farm Implement Act/Farm Implement Dealerships Act and Regulations are administered by the Farm Implement Act Administration of the Farmers’ Advocate Office of Alberta. Under this act, anyone carrying on a business as a farm implement dealer or distributor within Alberta must hold a dealer’s and/or distributor’s licence. The licences are issued annually, and dealers/distributors must pay a licence fee to the Alberta Minister of Finance and an annual levy to the Farm

Implement Compensation Fund. Licence fees are set under the Farm Implement Act Regulations. The levy is set annually by the Farm Implement Board. The board determines the levy amount based on the number of claims paid out of the compensation fund during the previous year. This legislation provides protection to farmers when purchasing new equipment. Farmers may verify if a company is licensed to carry on a business as a farm implement dealer and/ or distributor by contacting the Farmers’ Advocate Office at 310FARM (3276), or by asking to see the dealer’s current licence. All dealers and distributors are asked to have their current licence visible in their place of business. January 1, 2014 was the deadline to have their new licence for the 2014 year.

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Canola crush margins keep getting wider New-crop crush margins are over $100 per tonne above the November futures BY PHIL FRANZ-WARKENTIN COMMODITY NEWS SERVICE CANADA

anola crush margins continue to widen to unprecedented levels, highlighting the cheapness of canola seed compared to its worth when processed. Crush margins provide an indication of the profitability of the product values relative to the seed cost when processing canola, with exchange rates also factoring in to the equation. As of Jan. 23, the canola board crush margin calculated by ICE Futures Canada was about $175

above the most active March contract. The current margins represent an improvement of about $20 per tonne over the past month and come in at nearly triple the levels seen at this time last year. New-crop crush margins are also over $100 per tonne above the November futures, which is historically strong as well. Canada’s record-large crop and logistics issues hampering movement across the Prairies continue to weigh on canola prices, both in the futures and in the cash market where basis levels remain wide. At the same time, the Cana-

dian dollar has weakened sharply over the past month, losing four cents relative to its U.S. counterpart. Those two factors are playing the biggest role in the wide crush margins, according to market participants. While crush margins may be strong, logistics issues in Western Canada slowing grain movement are also limiting the actual crush pace. The total crush in the 2013-14 crop year to date, as of Jan. 15, was reported at just under 3.1 million tonnes by the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association, over 200,000 tonnes behind the level seen at the same point the previous year.

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Viterra funds CDC wheat breeding

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iterra has announced $5 million in funding for wheat and durum breeding at the Crop Development Centre (CDC) at the University of Saskatchewan. The funding will support the wheat-breeding programs led by Pierre Hucl and Curtis Pozniak. The researchers will set the breeding priorities, and Viterra will provide industry knowledge to ensure the CDC breeding is responsive to an evolving global marketplace, the two organizations said in a release. Viterra said the five-year agreement builds on a long-standing partnership with Viterra and the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, focusing on the development of wheat and durum varieties with enhanced yield, improved resistance to disease and insect pests and improved quality characteristics. “We continue to forge strong partnerships that build on our commitment to research and development for the benefit of our customers and western Canadian agriculture,” said Kyle Jeworski, Viterra’s president and CEO for North America. CDC said the funding will help researchers to significantly increase the number of varieties developed and commercialized. Using the latest breeding tools, development time will be reduced for a greater number of varieties. The estimated cost of developing a single new wheat variety is between $500,000 and $1 million.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Hungry deer in cattle country gobbling up bales, swaths and even ornamental trees Alberta Beef Producers seeking meeting with province to find ways to help affected ranchers

Survey on wildlife damage underway

By Alexis Kienlen af staff

Produced by: SeCan Product/Campaign Name: Fusion Canola Date Produced: January 2013

Ad Number: SEC-FUS13-T Publication: Alberta Farmer / Express Ad Size: 5Col x 70 (10.125” x 5”)

eef producers are feeding the province’s deer and elk this winter, and they aren’t happy about it. “It’s costing producers a lot of money to keep these animals alive,” said Bob Lowe, vice-chair of Alberta Beef Producers. “Nobody wants to see them all vanish, but the cost is coming directly out of producers’ pockets. It’s a subsidy for the general public. And that’s what we have to get away from, somehow.” Hay bales and swaths are always tempting targets for deer and elk, but the early start to winter this year and heavy snowfall has exacerbated the problem, said Dave Moore, a provincial wildlife biologist in Vermilion. Moore said he’s getting a lot more complaints this winter. As well as hay, deer and elk are going after grain stored outside bins and even ornamental trees in yards. “Once they’ve found a really good food source like a farmer’s bale stack, what you’ll find is a fairly defined trail from where their thermal cover is to a known food source,” he said. “This cuts down on the energy they have to spend in searching for food.” But it could be worse, he added. “This is more or less the third severe winter out of four, so the number of complaints are probably less than they would have been because of winter mortality of the deer over the last three winters.” There’s no estimate of how much damage has been caused. Agriculture Financial Services Corporation has a compensation program that covers baled hay, but not swaths or grain left in the field for feed. Moreover, many SEC-FUS13-T_AFEx.qxd 1/30/13 don’t report small losses, although they add up over time.

Cattle producers who have suffered wildlife damage are being asked to fill out a survey detailing their losses. The survey is being conducted by Alberta Beef Producers’ Wildlife Working Group and the Miistakis Institute at Mount Royal University. It covers economic losses, including feed loss, livestock

losses from predators, property damage, and the cost of preventive measures. The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete, and the information will be used to gain a more accurate picture of producer losses and may also be used to find better ways to compensate producers. To request a copy of the survey, email kim@rockies.ca.

Vegreville producer Terry James took this picture of one of his bales devoured by mule deer in 2012.

Mule deer are regular visitors to Terry James’ Vegreville operation.

Many producers are more concerned about dwindling feed stocks than compensation, said Lowe. “We’ve had a long winter and it started early,” said the co-owner of Bear Trap Feeders and Lowe Ranch at Nanton. “In this part of the world, many people plan on grazing well into the winter. This year we had too much snow and we couldn’t do that.” Some are especially hard hit, he said. “I know of some people who are PM bad Pagesituation, 1 in4:51 a really where they have to go and chase the elk

in the foothills and the eastern slopes of the Rockies, but ranchers across the province are experiencing problems, said Rich Smith, executive director of Alberta Beef Producers. “The deer, elk and cattle all need more feed because the weather has been so cold,” he said. His organization has requested a meeting with the ministers of agriculture and sustainable resource development to discuss the issue and see if more can be done. Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development will supply fencing to protect

out of their stack about four or five times a night,” said Lowe. It’s not that bad for Terry James, who has a cow-calf operation with 35 cows near Vegreville. “We’re a smaller operation, so it doesn’t make or break us,” said James. “It’s a nuisance and an inconvenience.” But while his losses are relatively small, they’re constant with mule deer gobbling down some of his feed every winter. Two years ago, he had to buy more hay to compensate for his loss but hasn’t had to do so this year. Most of the complaints coming to his office are producers

PHOTos: Terry James

feed, but producers have to erect it, said Moore. His department (also known as Fish and Wildlife) can also set up an intercept feeding station if deer are coming in a field or yard from one direction. Mother Nature is also continuing her cull, with the mid-January thaw actually making the situation worse for deer. “When it gets cold (again), there’s a real hard crust on the top, which makes it hard for them to get through the crust and makes it easier for the predators to go after them,” Moore said. akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Water ‘footprint’ the next big environmental issue, irrigators told Walmart is just one of many large corporations that will soon be using water efficiency to choose suppliers By Helen Mcmenamin

af contributor / lethbridge

ocial licence may be a term you’re already sick of hearing, but it’s fast becoming a necessity to win market acceptance, says a senior policy adviser with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. Social licence is the terms for public acceptance of a company’s product and the way it conducts its business, and the ground rules for agriculture — particularly on the environmental front — are changing rapidly, Tom Goddard told attendees at the recent Irrigated Crops Update conference. The focus is now on life cycle analysis, a “cradle to grave” tally of a product’s water and carbon footprints, he said.

“But it’s important that we have Alberta figures. Otherwise, we might have estimates from Europe or other places that might be very different from our real footprint.”

Tom Goddard

Agriculture is the biggest water user on the planet, and when measured on a product basis, the numbers can be staggering. It’s estimated one cup of coffee takes 140 litres of water to produce, a 12-ounce steak requires nearly 5,000 litres, and even a single slice of bread takes 38 litres — and more than double that if you add a slice of cheese. Much of the water is used in processing. His department and other groups are working to develop water footprints for various farm products, he said. They’ve already developed life cycle numbers for beef and pork, including shipping meat to Edmonton, San Francisco, and Tokyo. Adding in transportation footprints provides many of our most important customers with accurate numbers for their location, so they can compare our product head to head with alternative sources. R e s e a r c h e r s a re currently working on life cycle numbers for canola, potatoes, chicken, and eggs, but only as far as the farm gate. This will allow manufacturers to incorporate Alberta-specific figures into their footprint calculations. Goddard asked farmers to push their producer groups to develop water footprints for their products. “It’s horribly complicated,” said Goddard. “But it’s important that we have Alberta figures. Otherwise, we might have estimates from Europe or other places that might be very different from our real footprint. European agriculture might have a water footprint 10 times

Agriculture is the biggest water user on the planet — even a slice of bread takes 38 litres. PHOTo: thinkstock ours. We’ll be unfairly penalized in the marketplace if we don’t have our own numbers calculated and available.”

Customers want information

Goddard pointed to Walmart, one of many large companies demanding life cycle analysis of products to help them make purchasing decisions. “Walmart suppliers still have six months to complete their life cycle analyses,” said Goddard. “If we don’t have figures of our own, Walmart will be looking at figures from other areas and using them

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to educate the public on the environmental sustainability of our products.” Scientists have developed a food pyramid that ranks food according to the water needed to produce it, including processing and transportation. Vegetables are at the top of the pyramid because they are generally eaten raw or with minimal processing. Pork is much lower because it takes a great deal of water to process and package the meat. China is already applying that idea to imports — importing more grain, which takes a lot of

water, while fostering domestic vegetable production. But there are also moves to change the definition of water footprint. By adding one more layer to the calculations to include the nutrient value of a food, sellers could have figures for water per unit of protein, vitamins, or calories, Goddard noted. There might also be a way to account for “co-benefits” — for example, irrigation infrastructure allows development of towns and supports wildlife, he said.

Organic and farm groups want GMO labels More than 20 states are considering GMO labelling laws By Carey Gillam Reuters

our U.S. lawmakers joined with more than 200 food companies, organic farming groups, health and environment organizations and other groups on Jan. 16 to urge President Barack Obama to require manufacturers to label food products that contain genetically engineered ingredients. The groups delivered a letter to the president dated Jan. 16 reminding Obama of a campaign pledge the groups said he made in 2007 as he campaigned in Iowa to work to label so-called GMO foods. The issue is hotly contested, with more than 20 states considering laws to mandate labelling of foods made with gene-altered corn, soybeans, sugar beets and other biotech crops. Currently, labelling of such foods is voluntary. Among the signatories on the letter to President Obama are the ice-cream company Ben & Jer-

ry’s, cereal maker Nature’s Path, organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farms, the Consumer Federation of America and several environmental and health groups. “We believe there should be a mandatory national labelling system. FDA has a duty to act when the absence of labelling would leave consumers confused about the foods they buy,” the groups said in their letter. Four Democratic members of Congress held a press conference on Thursday to support the call on Obama for mandatory labelling — U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio from Oregon; U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut; U.S. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster from New Hampshire; and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree from Maine. The move comes as the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents more than 300 food companies, is pushing Congress and the Food and Drug Administration to pre-empt any state labelling mandates in favour of a federal standard for voluntary labelling, and to allow some GMO foods to be labelled “natural.”

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

U.S. winterkill feared

Icy Roads disrupt Ukraine exports

The U.S. Farm Belt remained locked in a deep freeze last week with sub-zero (F) temperatures likely damaging portions of the region’s dormant winter wheat crop, agricultural meteorologists said. “There is definitely some winterkill in central Illinois, and a little bit in west-central Indiana, northern Missouri and east-central portions of Nebraska,” said Don Keeney, a meteorologist with MDA Weather Services. “It’s not huge amounts of damage. I’m saying less than 10 per cent of the belt,” Keeney said. Another firm, Commodity Weather Group, reported “limited winterkill damage” in nearly five per cent of the Plains and Midwest Wheat Belts — Reuters

Freezing weather causing ice on roads in Ukraine is delaying deliveries of maize (corn) and prompting many buyers to turn to rival exporters, including the United States and Canada, traders said last Tuesday. Exporters are offering up to $10 per tonne as a bonus to producers who deliver grain supplies in time to meet export contracts, they said. A large foreign trader who works in Ukraine said the logistical problems were not very serious because railways continued to function. “Deep frost makes grain supply by road difficult, while the railway works without problem,” he said. — Reuters

It may be cold here, but the planet is running a temperature Unlike its neighbours farther east, Alberta has had the advantage of being close to warmth on the West Coast by daniel bezte

he global weather numbers are in for December 2013, and it turns out that despite the cold weather that parts of North America have been experiencing, the planet on a whole continues to be running a temperature. According to data from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, NASA, and the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH) Remote Sensing Systems, December 2013 was one of the top five warmest on record. NOAA placed this December as the third warmest, NASA had it as the fourth warmest, while UAH had it as the second warmest. This was the ninth consecutive month with a top 10-ranked global temperature, making 2013 the fourth-warmest year on record globally since reliable records began in 1880. If you include 2013, then nine out of the 10 warmest years globally have all occurred in the 21st century, with the one other year occurring in 1998. So far this winter Alberta’s seen a little bit of this warm weather. After a rather cold December, the first three weeks of January have been well above average. But that’s the thing about temperatures. If one area is seeing temperatures warmer than average then another area will be seeing cooler than average. This is especially true in the winter. So far this winter most of the Northern Hemisphere is seeing aboveaverage temperatures, that means that all of this displaced cold air has to go somewhere, and that just happens to be central and eastern North America!

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ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

No relief for Earth’s warming trend in 2013, studies find It may have been cold here lately, but overall, the world keeps getting warmer BY IRENE KLOTZ REUTERS

he average temperature of Earth maintained its warming trend in 2013, despite seasonal and regional variations that included a shrinking ice cap in the Arctic and a massively growing one in the Southern Hemisphere, U.S. scientists said Jan. 21. NASA said the planet’s average temperature in 2013 was 58.3 F (14.6 C), tying 2006 and 2009 for the seventh-warmest year since 1880 when global climate recordkeeping began. Using the same data but different analysis processes, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said 2013’s average temperature was 58.12 F (14.51 C), which tied what NOAA considers to be the fourthhottest year on record. The agencies differ in their analysis techniques. NASA for example uses more temperatures from Antarctica, but said the overall trend remains what has been measured every year since 1976 when global temperatures first surpassed the 20th century’s global average of 57 F (13.9 C). “The patterns of temperature change are very similar across the different analyses, but rankings and the exact numerical value are a function of some of the small differences that we have in the processing,” Gavin Schmidt, deputy director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, told reporters on a conference call. Global temperatures began climbing in the late 1960s, a phenomenon that has been tied to heat-trapping greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere. NASA, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere is higher now than at other time in the last 800,000 years. Carbon dioxide levels were about 285 parts per million in 1880, the first year in the global

“But the long-term trends are very clear. They are not going to disappear. It isn’t an error in our calculations.”

temperature record. By 1960, levels reached 315 parts per million. In 2013, the amount of carbon dioxide peaked at more than 400 parts per million. The relationship between greenhouse gases and global temperatures is complicated. In 2013, for example, the continental United States experienced its 42nd-warmest temperature on record while Australia had its hottest year ever, NASA and NOAA data shows. Ice in the polar regions presents another puzzle. The amount of Arctic sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere continued its ubiquitous and well-documented decline, while sea ice in Antarctica in the Southern Hemisphere increased a record amount, scientists said. “The situation in the South-

ern Hemisphere is more complicated,” Schmidt said, noting that wind patterns are impacted by the region’s ozone hole and other factors. “There’s a lot of complicated physics going on,” he added. “It’s not a clean picture.” Ocean temperatures, including El Niño and La Niña warming and cooling patterns in the equatorial Pacific, also disconnect regional, seasonal and yearly temperatures with overall global trends, the scientists said. “The long-term trends in climate are extremely robust,” Schmidt said. “There are times, such as today, when we can have snow, even in a globally warmed world. But the long-term trends are very clear. They are not going to disappear. It isn’t an error in our calculations.”

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Ratio analyzer can analyze your farm business health Free downloadable program analyzes eight key financial entries AGRI-NEWS

“

s you review your 2013 farm financials and prepare for 2014, your year-end net worth statement or balance sheet for 2013 becomes your opening net worth statement for 2014,” says Rick Dehod, agricultural farm finance specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. “With this current information in hand, it is a good time to look at your farm’s business financial health and how it compares to your opening net worth statement for 2013. This comparison will give you great insight on how your business has performed and what parts of your business may need some attention. Using your own information will provide ratios that you can compare to previous years and also to industry benchmarks.” To help producers be aware of the ratios for their farm businesses, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development has a decision-making tool called the Agricultural Business Analyzer (ABA) Simple Farm Ratio Analyzer. ABA is a shortcut Excel program that takes just eight key financial entries and calculates 11 financial ratios for the farm/ranch and colour codes them in comparison to industry benchmarks. These 11 ratios give producers a quick idea of the financial status of their farm or ranch and a comparison of the business’s ratios to industry benchmarks. “The eight key financial numbers can

be taken from your accountant-prepared financial statements for the past year and can be entered into the various open cells in the one-page spreadsheet,” says Dehod. “It is very important to note that you should be using accrued revenue and expense information and assets at fair market value to enter into these spaces.”

Eight entries

The eight entries to make are farm gross revenue; farm gross expenses; depreciation; debt servicing payments; current assets; long-term assets; current debt and long-term debt. Long-term assets and debts include intermediate assets and debts in these entries. “With these eight quick entries from your accountant’s review engagement report, or accrued notice to reader report for the previous fiscal year, you will know how your farm is doing financially,” says Dehod. “It will also tell you where your farm is strong and where it is weak. You can then consult with your accountant or an agricultural finance specialist to come up with plans to mitigate and improve those areas where your financial ratios are weak. “Having your net worth statement for the beginning of 2014, you can do your income and expense projection, sources and uses of funds (cash flow) for the year and project your closing net worth statement for 2014,” says Dehod. “Once you have your projected 2014 closing net worth statement, you can

A sample ABA Simple Farm Ratio Analyzer Excel spreadsheet. Each ratio has a bullet that opens and provides the formula used to calculate the ratio. The ratio is colour coded and compared with industry benchmarks. generate the year-end financial ratios, and compare them to the ratios you generated from your beginning net worth statement. This will give an indication of whether or not your 2014 operating plan will progress the financial viability and health of your farming operation.” It may seem like a lot of work; however, using this decision-making tool

will help producers create an awareness that helps them make better decisions to increase the viability and success of their farm business. The ABA Simple Farm Ratio Analyzer can be downloaded from the AARD website. Farmers with questions or problems with the program can contact Ron Lyons, manager of Business Commercialization, at 780-980-4363.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Slight decrease in crop insurance premiums expected The number of insured acres has been inching up and about 75 per cent of eligible acres were insured last year By Alexis Kienlen af staff

Cereal marketer says young consumers value sustainability By Lisa Guenther staff

eneral Mills still supports genetically modified (GM) technology, despite the food company’s move to market Cheerios as free of GM ingredients, a company representative told CropSphere delegates in Saskatoon earlier this month. “From General Mills’ perspective, we want to do what consumers are anticipating and wanting,” Steve Peterson responded when asked about the company’s GMfree Cheerios. Peterson is director of sourcing and sustainability at General Mills and runs a 600acre mixed farm in Minnesota. General Mills’ announcement to market Original Cheerios as GM free “is not an indication that we’re going to move everything there,” Peterson said.

Earlier this month General “So we’re supporters of the Mills announced it had been technology and we believe it’s making its Original Cheerios safe. But we have a large tent. without genetically modified Consumers across the world ingredients for several weeks. have many interests. And we’re The Minneapolis-based com- satisfying all those needs.” pany plans to start labelling Although General Mills aims Original Cheerios as free from to please consumers, it’s not genetically modified ingredi- today’s typical North American ents. The changes don’t apply consumer driving the compato other Cheerios products. ny’s sustainability efforts. “It was an easy thing for us Peterson said General Mills’ to do because it all comes from data suggests about 17 per cent oats and oats are a non-GM of consumers value sustaincrop,” Peterson said. Changing ability. “But they will not pay Original Cheerios was as simple one more cent for sustainable as swapping beet sugar to cane products.” sugar, and sourcing GM-free But young adults place more cornstarch. importance on sustainability, The company also has organic Peterson said. brands, such as Cascadian Farm “We’re trying to skate to and Muir Glen, which include where the puck is going… We everything from vegetables to think this is going to be very cereals. But Peterson says 70 per important in the future. And to cent of General Mills’ food port- work on this, you need to start folio includes GM technology.T:8.125” it now.”

PHOto: thinkstock A rival major cereal maker, Post Foods, recently announced its Grape-Nuts Original cereal in the U.S. will be non-GMO verified and its packaging will bear a “Non-GMO Project” seal. (Grape-Nuts Original is made with wheat and barley flour and contains neither grapes nor nuts.)

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lberta farmers already know 2013 was a great year for crops, but it was also a good year in terms of lower-than-average crop insurance claims. “Production was really good if you were able to avoid the hail,” said Chris Dyck, a senior man a g e r w i t h A g r ic u l t u r e Financial Services Corporation. “There were spots in the province where there were some issues, but generally, the whole province had a good production year. “We had close to 7,000 hail claims, but they were throughout the whole province and you can’t really say that one area was affected more than another area.” The final figures aren’t complete yet, and there are about 1,800 post-harvest claims to be completed. Payouts on the hay and pasture side were also relatively low. The number of insured acres has been inching up and about 75 per cent of eligible acres were insured last year. About 80 per cent of farm operators insure all of their crops. “Most people who have insurance have crops as their primary source of income,” said Dyck. “There are a lot of people with off-farm income who might not feel that they need insurance. A lot of times, these are the smaller farmers.” Premiums for both crop insurance and pasture insurance in 2014 will likely drop a little. “We have a bunch of mechanisms to keep rates pretty stable, so we never see huge increases or decreases in any one year,” he said. Hail insurance rates are set on a township basis. There are hundreds of townships and those that have had a better experience will see a decrease in premiums. Producers who purchase crop insurance can buy the hail endorsement along with it at a reduced rate. “Out of 14.4 million acres that we insure under annual crops, 12.8 million of them take the hail endorsement,” Dyck said. In addition to this, the corporation has a stand-alone, lesspopular hail product that is not subsidized by government. AgriStability also provides a safety net, and some producers who don’t purchase crop insurance use it to cover their entire operation.

Cheerios maker not taking all products GM free

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

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ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Colorado farmers get home detention

PED virus hits second Ontario farm

Two Colorado farmers whose contaminated cantaloupes caused a 2011 listeria outbreak that killed several dozen people were each sentenced to six months of home detention Jan. 28 at a Federal Court hearing in Denver. Eric and Ryan Jensen, brothers who are former owners of Colorado-based Jensen Farms, pleaded guilty in October to six counts of adulteration of a food and aiding and abetting. Prosecutors had not recommended prison time for the two men. — Reuters

A second case of PED virus was confirmed in Ontario last week, and as of Tuesday a third was suspected. Dr. Greg Douglas, Ontario’s chief veterinary officer, said the second confirmed case affected about 15 to 20 per cent of hogs in a finisher barn and a third possible case was under investigation on a separate finishing operation in the same area. The mortality rate at first confirmed operation was approaching 100 per cent among two- to five-day-old piglets, Douglas said on a conference call last Monday.

HEARTLAND No flour? No fish? Venezuela’s

chefs get creative amid shortages

Soviet-style dearth in the country with the world’s largest oil reserves By Brian Ellsworth caracas / reuters

sushi bar in Caracas makes tempura with ground oats and cornstarch to replace increasingly scarce wheat flour. A Spanish restaurant, seeking to keep its fare affordable, revamps its paella recipe by removing exorbitantly priced prawns. Restaurateurs selling “arepas” — the grilled corn pancakes that are a staple across the country — make them a bit smaller to stretch their unsteady supplies of corn flour. Venezuelan diners continue to eat well despite soaring inflation and chronic food shortages, largely thanks to herculean efforts by chefs to obtain prized foodstuffs and juggle menus to slow the rising prices. In working-class canteens and high-end bistros, staff say finding basics such as flour, milk or chicken — all scarce, in large part, because of currency and price controls — requires making repeated trips to markets and harassing providers. “I haven’t been able to buy wheat flour or corn flour for more than a month. I’m working with what I had last year,” said Eduardo Castaneda, 45, owner of La Guayaba Verde, or The Green Guava, in Caracas, which offers a modern spin on traditional Venezuelan food. Venezuela’s price controls require staple goods be sold at fixed rates that are at times below production cost, which often leaves them scarce because of the reduced incentive for companies to make or import them. Even the most ethical of restaurateurs are finding themselves dabbling in the black market to skirt the strict regulations created by the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez and extended by President Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela’s food shortages are nowhere near as bad as the situation painted by opposition critics, who revel in the idea that government incompetence has created Soviet-style dearth in the country with the world’s largest oil reserves. Restaurants remain packed despite a rise of about 70 per cent in the cost of eating out last year and the waiters’ mantra: “Sorry, we don’t have that.” The average Venezuelan eats more and better than they did before Chavez took power in 1999.

Eduardo Castaneda, 45, chef and owner of La Guayaba Verde restaurant, prepares dishes at the restaurant’s kitchen in Caracas. Venezuelan diners continue to eat well despite soaring inflation and chronic food shortages, largely thanks to herculean efforts by chefs to obtain prized foodstuffs and juggle menus to slow the rising prices. PHOTo: REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins One of the most applauded achievements of his 14-year rule was to make food affordable through price controls and subsidized grocery stores, a triumph recognized in 2013 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Since 1990, Venezuela achieved a 50 per cent reduction in the number of citizens facing hunger, the UN said — two years ahead of a global target date for reaching that goal. But without broad economic reforms to ease state control over the economy and boost importers’ access to dollars, food shortages may worsen — and eating out may get more difficult.

‘What do you actually have?’

Venezuela’s reputation for political conflict and violent crime has upstaged that of a vibrant restaurant scene built up over decades by immigrants from Europe and the Middle East drawn to oildriven economic opportunity.

Diners who learn a menu item has gone missing often offer waiters a knowing smile or sympathetic eyeball roll as they share their own travails of chasing down groceries. Others are less charitable. “People have said, ‘This is a fish restaurant and you don’t even have fish? What the hell is wrong with you?’” commented one maitre d’. His restaurant specializes in fish-focused Basque food but has struggled to find fish such as grouper, traditionally one of their popular menu items. Like nearly all those interviewed, he spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the government or stepped-up inspections by state agencies. Sushi bars have been among the hardest hit because they rely heavily on imports including salmon, seaweed and roe that are difficult to acquire because importers cannot obtain dollars, owing to delays in the exchange

control system that requires businesses to obtain hard currency through the government. Tracking down staples such as chicken or flour requires having networks of “friends” at supermarkets or meat-packing houses who sell scarce products above regulated prices in transactions that are kept off the books or disguised through fake receipts. One well-loved lounge-style Caracas bar and restaurant stopped serving sushi because of the seaweed scarcity. The kitchen switched to making ceviche, only to find shrimp was too expensive and many of the red onions were arriving rotten. For months the bar did not serve popular cocktails such as Cosmopolitans for lack of cranberry juice. “What’s sad is that people stop complaining, or straightaway ask, ‘What do you actually have?’ rather than waiting to hear the list of what’s missing,” said the restaurant’s owner.

Black market pork

Chavez’s efforts to make food affordable have come at a price. In times of shortage, unethical entrepreneurs buy discount groceries and resell them on the black market. Authorities last month detained four people at the Budare del Este restaurant in the chic but gaudy Caracas neighbourhood of Las Mercedes on charges of illegally buying subsidized food, including nearly a tonne of pork and half a tonne of chicken. “Those products are meant to meet the needs of Venezuelan families, not to line the pockets of scoundrels,” wrote Maduro in a series of incensed tweets announcing the operation. Bakers often seek to protect themselves from wheat flour shortages by building up stocks to meet holiday demand for breads and cakes. If they get inspected, however, they risk accusations of hoarding.

FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

GMO critics protest Monsanto meeting; shareholder resolutions fail Pressure comes as more states are considering mandatory GMO labelling By Carey Gillam Reuters

ritics of genetically modified crops protested at Monsanto Co.’s annual shareholders’ meeting on Jan. 28, calling for the world’s largest seed company to provide a report on contamination in non-GMO crops and to stop fighting mandatory labels on foods containing GMO ingredients. The requests came in the form of two shareholder resolutions that were backed by environmental, food safety and consumer activists groups. They claimed that more than 2.6 million members support their efforts. The resolutions come at a time of heightened debate over the spread of genetically modified crops. Outside the meeting at Monsanto’s headquarters in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, about two dozen protesters waved signs criticizing the $15-billion agrichemical and seed company, and one man was arrested. “We are asking for shareholders to vote in favour of transparency,” said Margot McMillen, a Missouri farmer and member of the executive council of the National Family Farm Coalition who introduced one of the resolutions.

A woman in Los Angeles holds a sign during one of many worldwide ‘March Against Monsanto’ protests held last October. photo: REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson Both shareholder resolutions failed to pass after Monsanto officials recommended rejection of the proposals. Company officials said the global debate over GMO crops prompted them to rethink how they communicate about their products.

Chairman Hugh Grant acknowledged that the company has not done a good job winning public trust, and told shareholders at the meeting that the company was changing its approach. “There is a recognition that we need to do more,” he said.

One of the resolutions put to shareholders sought a report on seed contamination of non-GMO crops, including costs of seed replacement, and crop and production losses, including losses associated with market rejections. That measure gathered 6.51 per cent of the vote. Critics say many organic and nonGMO farmers are dealing with contamination, and often chemical drift, from nearby GMO farms and should be compensated. Monsanto executives said that the company already has stewardship practices that works to protect the coexistence of non-GMO crops with GMOs. A related shareholder resolution called on the company to work with government regulators to set a standard threshold for foods containing GMO ingredients that should be labelled. That garnered 4.16 per cent of the vote. Grant said the company supports voluntary labelling efforts by individual food companies but added that mandatory labelling of GMO foods could confuse and mislead consumers if there is no meaningful difference in nutrition or safety of the foods. More than 20 U.S. states are contemplating mandatory labelling of GMO foods, and Congress and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are being pushed to act on this issue.

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ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Fertilizer prices to level off before seasonal spring rally Many Canadian farmers have already booked at attractive prices last fall By Terryn Shiells

Commodity News Service Canada

orth American fertilizer prices have been on the rise over the past month, but are expected to level off until the spring, when the market should see a seasonal rally, said Rick Rempel, vice-president of marketing for Western Canada with Agrico Canada Ltd. He said tight supply had contributed to the increase. “The supply of (fertilizer) has been disrupted by less imports into the U.S. and some minor production issues at some of the plants,” said Rempel. Nitrogen and phosphate prices have both been rising, but are expected to drop off ahead of

Cargill buys into leading Ukraine company ULF is a major producer of eggs, grain, meat and sugar kiev / reuters

Many Canadian farmers have already covered their fertilizer needs for the upcoming spring because prices were attractive this past fall.

it’s only the middle of January, per cent, that still has to be we can’t use it anyway.” purchased,” Rempel said. “It Many Canadian farmers have depends on the location, and a already covered their fertilizer few other factors.” needs for the upcoming spring How much supply there is in because prices were attractive North America in the coming this past fall. months and where prices move “There might be anywhere this spring will also depend on T:8.125” from 25 per cent to maybe 40 the weather, Asbridge said.

“If it’s a season like 2012, where farmers in the U.S. were actually out putting fertilizer down in January and February, which is extremely unusual, then we could see a lot of upward pressure on prices,” he added. Logistics issues may also arise and cause some shortages of certain products. In the U.S., the upper Mississippi River could remain frozen longer than normal, Asbridge said. In Canada, the backlogged grain-handling system, due to the large crops produced in 2013-14, may also be problematic. “It could become a little bit of an issue on the supply side. How much of an effect it will have, I guess it’s too early to tell,” Rempel said.

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Ukraine’s leading agriculture group Ukrlandfarming said Jan. 13 that U.S. agriculture giant Cargill had bought five per cent stake in the Ukrainian firm. The deal took place in late 2013, Ukrlandfarming said in a statement, without disclosing the value of the stake. Ukrlandfarming (ULF), Ukraine’s major producer of eggs, grain, meat and sugar, said the two companies wanted to enhance and develop their relationship in search of significant business opportunities. “The agreement with Cargill indicates an important step for Ukrlandfarming in developing our international presence and export potential,” Ukrlandfarming CEO Oleh Bakhmatyuk said in a statement. Several other projects, including logistics, are being discussed between Cargill and Ukrlandfarming, said the Ukrainian company, which has a London-listed offshoot called AvangardCo. It said ULF was working with Cargill’s grain division to satisfy Cargill’s particular needs for grains in Ukraine, while Cargill for its part was providing financial terms to ULF which allowed Cargill to secure supply. Cargill has been active in Ukraine for over 20 years, operating two big sunflower oil plants and several silos. The company is among the largest exporters of Ukrainian grains and sunflower oil.

the spring, said David Asbridge, president and senior economist with NPK Fertilizer Advisory Service in Missouri. “Nitrogen prices, we expect them to kind of calm down a little bit to drop off a few dollars and then kind of drift along,” Asbridge said. “And then start a seasonal rise into the spring season, probably the end of February, first of March or so.” Phosphate prices are also expected to see a drop before seeing a slight rally in the spring, as supplies are expected to be more than adequate by the time farmers are ready to apply them to their fields. “There’s plenty of product out there, it just doesn’t happen to be right here right now,” Asbridge added. “And, of course

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For custom herbicides as unique as your fields, visit precisionpac.dupont.ca or call 1-800-667-3925 to find a certified PrecisionPac® herbicide retailer near you. As with all crop protection products, read and follow label instructions carefully. The DuPont Oval Logo, DuPont™, The miracles of science™ and PrecisionPac® are registered trademarks or trademarks of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. E. I. du Pont Canada Company is a licensee. All other products are trademarks of their respective companies. Member of CropLife Canada. © Copyright 2014 E. I. du Pont Canada Company. All rights reserved.

FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

POOCH POWDER

With so much snow in southern Alberta, winter-loving dogs are having a blast. Libby and sheltie Quinn forge their own paths on a farm near Priddis, Alta. PHOTO: WENDY DUDLEY

Hong Kong culls chickens after H7N9 found

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BY ALICE WOODHOUSE HONG KONG / REUTERS

ong Kong began culling 20,000 chickens and suspended imports of fresh poultry from mainland China for 21 days on Jan. 28 after the discovery of the H7N9 bird flu virus in a batch of live chicken from the southern province of Guangdong. The government order took effect two days before celebrations begin for Chinese New Year, when poultry sellers generally anticipate a boom. Authorities also ordered the closure of the wholesale poultry market, where the virus was discovered, for 21 days until Feb. 18 for cleaning and disinfection. Local farms were banned from supplying live chickens to the market. “Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department officers will inspect all the local chicken farms and collect more samples for testing to ensure that local farms are not affected by H7 avian influenza,” Secretary for Food and Health Dr Ko Wingman said in a statement. The H7N9 virus passes between birds, but cases in humans have so far not shown evidence of sustained human-to-human infection, according to the World Health Organization. Experts have urged health authorities worldwide to be alert to detect the H7N9 virus, which is highly pathogenic in humans and could develop the ability to spread easily among humans, causing an influenza pandemic and severe economic losses. Two people infected with H7N9 bird flu have died in Hong Kong and a third patient is being treated. All three were infected during visits to the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. The H7N9 bird flu virus emerged in March last year and has so far infected at least 240 people in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, according to the Hong Kong Department of Health.

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Mechanical processing arm receives award Simple device gently and safely holds the animal for processing Banff Pork Seminar release

he developer of a tool that improves handling for baby pigs at processing and improves the health and well-being of farm workers has been awarded the 2014 F.X. Aherne Prize for Innovative Pork Production by the Banff Pork Seminar. Helmut Janz, a barn manager for Maple Leaf in Zhoda, Manitoba, received the award for his invention called the “piglet processing arm.” As a hog barn manager, Helmut Janz recognized the need for a better way to process baby piglets when he saw employees suffer repetitive stress injuries as a result of performing piglet processing tasks. His piglet processing arm gently and safely holds the animal and allows it to be pivoted and rotated during the handling process. This makes the processing

Oats/corn spread narrows in as oats rise

Helmut Janz (l) Aherne Award winner and Dr. Michael Dyck, chair of the F.X.Aherne prize committee.

The mechanical arm reduces injury with piglet handling. submitted photos

of piglets safer by eliminating the potential for repetitive stress and strain injuries on the employees. The beauty of the design lies in its simplicity. It is constructed out of six simple, standardized, easyto-source, low-cost parts. A universal joint similar to what is used on power takeoff shafts on tractors serves as the basis for the device.

A holding plate for the piglets is attached to that and mounted on the processing cart. Various trial designs led to improvements in the final product. Foam inserts were added to cradle the piglet and a Velcro strap was added to easily hold the piglet in place. The processing arm is designed to attach to a processing cart. It can be adjusted for height of employee and can be used easily by both right- and left-handed people. The arm is now used by 40 people in 20 barns across the Maple Leaf system. This means the processing arm will be used on approximately 1.5 million piglets annually. The award is named after the late Dr. Frank Aherne, a professor of swine nutrition and production at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and a major force for science-based progress in the western Canadian pork industry.

Always read and follow label directions. INFERNO and the INFERNO DUO logo are trademarks of Arysta LifeScience North America, LLC. Arysta LifeScience and the Arysta LifeScience logo are registered trademarks of Arysta LifeScience Corporation. All other products mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective companies. ©2014 Arysta LifeScience North America, LLC. INF-020

The futures price may be high, but country bids are not By Phil Franz-Warkentin Commodity News Service Canada

Oats futures at the Chicago Board of Trade are currently at their strongest levels relative to corn since 2006, as Canadian logistics issues have caused nearby oats contracts to jump higher while corn values hold steady. The March oats contract gained 16 US cents per bushel on Tuesday, Jan. 28, to close at $4.1675 per bushel, only 15 cents below the March corn contract. At this time a year ago, corn was trading at closer to $2 per bushel above oats, which was more in line with historical averages. Oats futures also continue to trade at an inverse, with the nearby months above the more deferred positions. “It doesn’t mean there are higher prices in the country, as there are very few people actually buying oats,” said Ryan McKnight of Linear Grain in Carman, Manitoba on the relative strength in oats futures. His company was still buying oats “as we can get freight for them,” but he noted that actual bids were very low compared to the futures given the difficulties securing freight. Fund buying and the fact that oats stocks in futures delivery positions are tight were playing a part in taking oats futures to “unhealthy highs,” added McKnight. While North American oats supplies are large overall, the “oats are not in the futures delivery warehouses, so the threat of delivery isn’t there... If oats futures were set up the same way as canola, we’d have low oats futures and full carry.”

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

photo: laura rance

Role of shelterbelts misunderstood, says French researcher French researcher argues that cultural value of shelterbelts is overlooked By Daniel Winters staff / brandon, man.

eeping shelterbelts on the landscape requires cultural changes, is the conclusion of a recent survey. “We need to redefine shelterbelts. They are not just for windbreaks and soil protection. It’s much more than that,” said Louise Bellet, who shared the results of a survey that looked at public perceptions on the subject at the recent Manitoba Conservation Districts Association annual conference. Bellet, who is working on a master’s of science degree from Royal Roads University in Victoria, B.C., and grew up on a farm in France where shelterbelts are a valued part of the agricultural landscape, sent 300 survey forms to farmers, landowners and townsfolk in the Winkler-Morden area. Judging from the responses found in the 105 forms that were returned, she was able to

determine that the benefits to agriculture in shade, snow capture and erosion control are well understood, but their value in terms of wildlife and pollinator habitat, water purification and nutrient management, as well as overall biodiversity, appear to get short shrift. Bellet found it “surprising” that biodiversity was cited in less than 50 per cent of responses. “In Europe, we plant shelterbelts for biodiversity conservation. That’s the main thing,” said Bellet, who added that in France, they are seen as an important cultural element to the countryside for providing sites for fruit picking, bird habitat and hunting. She speculated that the reason may be that respondents were not aware of the role of their ecological value, or that they feel the agricultural landscape is for “production only” and is not to be considered a “living environment.” Bellet, who visited the Agroforestry Centre at Indian Head this fall, just as it was closing, noted

that shelterbelt planting was actively promoted and supported by the Canadian government during the early years of settlement on the Canadian Prairies. The goal was not just soil conservation, but also to make the region a more appealing place for communities to live and work. But in recent years, short-term economic concerns appear to have displaced ecological and community needs, she added. To illustrate, she showed a series of full-page advertisements from farm newspapers that reflect this trend, one of which featured a firebreathing dragon perched atop a sprayer. “How do you think a farmer can make sustainable decisions and adopt conservation practices when they are constantly getting messages to ‘kill, burn, command, and control,’” said Bellet. “There’s no countervoice. I’m not sure people realize the effect it has on the psychology of farmers.” daniel.winters@fbcpublishing.com

Royal Roads University student Louise Bellet presents findings from a recent study on shelterbelt perceptions in the Winkler-Morden area. photo: Daniel Winters

Low flax supplies seen as boost to acreage Flax might be a good option for Alberta, says council president By Brandon Logan

Commodity News Service Canada

The positive sentiment towards planting flax seems to be growing across the Prairies, according to Will Hill, president of the Flax Council of Canada, adding that there is likely to be a big acreage increase this year. “From what I heard at CropSphere in Saskatoon, it sounds like people are thinking that pricing of flax will be good relative to the other commodities, so we’re looking forward to an increase in acreage,” he said. “It’s really all over the map, but I think we’ll see it at least 20 per cent up from last year.” According to Statistics Canada, 1.035 million acres of flax were planted in 2013. If area does increase by roughly 20 per cent, acreage in 2014 would sit at 1.242 million acres. Ag Canada recently projected flax seeding at 1.236 million acres. Hill said the success seen by recent flax crops, along with lower input costs, have farmers looking at it as a strong alternative crop.

“I think growers have had really good success with flax the last couple of years, and I think people are always looking at alternatives,” he said. “It’s a lower-input crop than others, so I think the farmers are quite excited about it. Plus, the whole crop moved last year. We took carry-out down fairly low last year, so that’s a plus.” Some of the biggest growth came in Alberta, where acreage and production nearly doubled in 2013-14 from a year earlier. “Alberta doesn’t have quite the same alternatives as the Manitoba farmer does in terms of soybeans, corn and some of the other crops. They need an alternative oilseed in their rotations to canola,” Hill said, when describing why acreage was up in this year and possibly next year. “Plus, they’re close to the marketplace in China and they have a freight advantage there. I think all those things there are coming together to where the farmer in Alberta is viewing flax as a good alternative. I think we’ll see them grow more next year.” As of Jan. 27, Johnston’s Daily grain price report has new-crop flax bids valued at $10.50 to $10.75 per bushel.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

U.S. soy farmers facing tough sell or hold decision: Maguire China, the key player, could shift U.S. purchases to cheaper sources in South America By Gavin Maguire Reuters

ell now or sell later? That is the tough decision facing U.S. soybean farmers who in 2013 harvested one of the largest crops in history and are currently faced with robust domestic and export interest that are supporting futures and cash prices comfortably above $12 per bushel. Growers in Brazil are on the verge of harvesting a record crop, and are faced with cash prices that are already $3 a bushel cheaper than U.S. futures and are expected to slump even further over the next month as harvesting in the main soy areas gathers pace. Once Brazilian supplies make it to the ports, they could potentially spark a sharp tumble in U.S. values right ahead of the 2014 planting season. This would leave any U.S. growers holding unhedged supplies with a potentially burdensome liability at the worst possible time. Diminishing unsold crop values might strangle cash flows just as operating expenses climb during planting season. Such a scenario could cause panic among some U.S. crop holders, especially if cash flows are tight already and expenses for the coming season have not yet been taken care of.

especially when the new source offers such steep price discounts as are available currently in South America.

Still, for those with the ability to withstand any potential nearterm price breaks, the upcoming U.S. growing season could well provide fresh selling opportunities if weather or robust consumption spark a price rally. The key issue will be whether those upcoming rallies manage to steer prices much above current levels, or whether any intervening price dip is so severe that it confines subsequent price rebounds to prices below those prevailing right now.

South American crop

Spotlight on China

As the world’s top soy consumer, China will play a critical role in determining price. Most market bulls anticipate China will continue the brisk purchasing rate seen over the past several months and be the chief buyer of South American soybeans once supplies become available. However, a recent softening in Chinese domestic prices suggests that the rate of Chinese soy import purchases may have room to slow. Cash soybean values in Shandong Province have slumped by roughly eight per cent since September to their lowest level since mid-2012 on the back of strong inflows of soy imports from the U.S., which hit a record for 2013.

Soybeans — sell now and avoid a further price drop from a big Brazilian crop, or hope for a weather rally? PHOTo: Thinkstock In addition, roughly eight million tonnes of Chinese soy purchases from the U.S. have not yet been shipped, meaning there is potential for China to cancel and transfer that portion of its U.S. purchases to South American origins once supplies become available. Chinese importers have proved content T:10.25” to conduct such origin switches before,

Good yield potential is reported across key South American soygrowing areas, especially in Brazil’s top soy state of Mato Grosso. Some Brazilian oilseed brokers project an additional $1- to $1.50-per-bushel price erosion in the Mato Grosso region should the rest of the state report similarly abovenormal yields. And should these early yield reports in turn indicate generally strong production across the entire continent, soy importers will be encouraged to anticipate a further decline in benchmark prices through the export season as they move to exploit more than adequate supplies of soybeans across South America for the next several months. For U.S. farmers still sitting on unsold beans, the prospect of a glut of South American soybeans within the coming weeks should be cause for alarm, as a sharp decline in local prices to the $10-per-bushel region or even lower cannot be ruled out over the near to medium term. But for the time being, robust U.S. domestic demand contin-

ues to underpin values above $12 a bushel. That price may appear somewhat low compared with the more than $15 price achieved during the growing season last summer, and could potentially be seen again should the upcoming U.S. crop encounter stiff weather challenges at critical development times. Yet, $12 may equally come to be seen as a rich price for soybeans should the South American crop come in even larger than is currently projected and high-profile buyers back away from making purchases to help drive benchmark values closer to where Mato Grosso soybeans are already trading. So, U.S. soy farmers still holding large chunks of unsold beans face a tough choice: Do they fire off sales now and secure a roughly $12-a-bushel sale price that is on the low end of the recent range, and forgo the chance to sell at higher prices in the event of a 2014 U.S. growing season problem? Or, do they hold on to those beans and run the risk of benchmark prices descending to below the $10 level — and underneath the cost of production in many areas? Gavin Maguire is a Reuters market analyst. The opinions expressed are his own.

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Australian Drug critic slams FDA over antibiotic oversight in meat production grains competition Others defend, and say the study does not reflect current regulatory standards By P.J. Huffstutter and Brian Grow Reuters

he United States Food and Drug Administration allowed 18 animal drugs to stay on the market even after an agency review found the drugs posed a “high risk” of exposing humans to antibiotic-resistant bacteria through food supply, according to a study released Jan. 27 by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The study by the NRDC, a non-governmental group that criticizes the widespread use of drugs in the meat industry, is the latest salvo in the national debate over the long-standing practice of antibiotic use in meat production. Agribusinesses say animal drugs help increase pro-

duction and keep prices low for U.S. consumers, while consumer advocates and some scientists raise concerns over antibioticresistant bacteria. The FDA stirred the debate late last year when it unveiled guidelines for drug makers and agricultural companies to voluntarily phase out antibiotic use as a growth enhancer in livestock. The agency said those guidelines were an effort to stem the surge in human resistance to certain antibiotics. But the NRDC’s study found the FDA took no action to remove 30 antibiotic-based livestock feed products from the market even after federal investigators determined many of those antibiotics fell short of current regulatory standards for protecting human health. NRDC studied a review con-

ducted by the FDA from 2001 to 2010 that focused on 30 penicillin- and tetracycline-based antibiotic feed additives. The drugs had been approved by regulators to be used specifically for growth promotion of livestock and poultry. The FDA, in a statement, said it began a review of older, approved penicillin and tetracycline products in 2001, and issued letters to companies who made the products asking for additional safety data. “Based on its review of this and other information, the agency chose to employ a strategy that would more broadly address the concerns about the production use of medically important antimicrobials in food-producing animals,” the FDA said. Some academics specializing in antibiotic resistance criti-

cized the NRDC’s study, saying that the findings do not reflect current regulatory standards because some of the drugs have been withdrawn from the market. They also say that the study assessed FDA safety guidelines that have been replaced with more stringent standards. Dr. Randall Singer, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota, told Reuters that drug makers and the U.S. livestock industry are phasing out antibiotics used principally for growth promotion. “We have been telling (both of) them for years to be prepared for the elimination of growth promotion and feed efficiency labelling because you cannot make that change overnight,” said Singer, who reviewed the NRDC report for Reuters.

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY

18TH, 2014 at the ranch, Strome, AB

John & Myrna 780.376.3598 | Philip & Marie 780.376.2241

“The ranch where performance is no accident!”

heats up following ADM rejection

New rivals plan terminals to compete with established firms By Colin Packham sydney / reuters

till rattled by the veto of a A$2.8 billion (US$2.5 billion) takeover by Archer Daniel Midland, Australian grains handler GrainCorp is facing aggressive competition that could cut costs for farmers but hit earnings at the country’s biggest listed agribusiness. Lower costs could also help Australia, the world’s second-biggest wheat exporter, fend off a challenge from lower-cost producers such as the United States in its key Asian markets, including Indonesia, South Korea and Japan. GrainCorp operates eastern Australia’s biggest grain port, handling as much as 60 per cent of the region’s wheat, barley, canola, chickpea and sorghum crops, and has more than 280 inland grainhandling sites. Western Australian grain exporter CBH Group and commodity trader Glencore Xstrata are among backers of a new grains terminal in Newcastle on Australia’s east coast due to open next month near GrainCorp’s own terminal. GrainCorp’s storage and handling business is facing rivals such as Singapore-based Olam International and Emerald Grain, half-owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Corp., as mainly state-based groups and new foreign players move into each other’s territory after a period of industry consolidation. Analysts say Australia needs to improve its agriculture infrastructure to meet its goal of feeding the swelling middle class in fastgrowing Asian markets. Graydon Chong, senior grains analyst at Rabobank, said that although Australia enjoys a freight advantage into Asia, it risks losing its strong grip on the region. “We have seen (U.S. stocks) displace Australian wheat into markets throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and there’s the potential to take market share in Asia,” said Chong. The new Newcastle Agri Terminal is located just a short walk from the existing Carrington Port owned by GrainCorp, which is regrouping after the planned takeover by ADM was rejected by the Australian government. Rejecting the bid last November, treasurer Joe Hockey argued that the wheat industry had not become fully competitive since a national wheat-marketing monopoly system was dissolved, making it a bad time to sell to a foreign company. Many commentators also saw politics at play, as the takeover was opposed by the rural-based National Party, the junior partner in the new coalition government.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Vinegar valentines a Victorian version of online bullying They were personal, nasty and anonymous lectures on self-improvement BY BARB GALBRAITH AF CONTRIBUTOR

n today’s world, nasty messages sent anonymously are more likely to be associated with Internet bullying than Valentine’s Day cards. Valentine cards reflect the popular culture era in which they are produced. Wartime cards had images of soldiers. The Dirty ’30s cards referred to making do. Those printed in the ’60s were heavily influenced by popular music, movies and television shows. During the Victorian era (1837-1901), inequalities were considered the result of moral, not economic, causes. Guides to every social situation were published in the hope of bettering the middle class. This was the birth of the self-help movement. This drive for improvement was the motivation for “vinegar” valentines, popular in Canada, Great Britain and the United States from the 1840s to 1940s. These were meant to enlighten the receiver about a personal shortcoming through an unflattering caricature and a few lines of doggerel. On account of your talk of others’ affairs At most dances you sit warming the chairs. Because of the care with which you attend To all others’ business you haven’t a friend. If you ever spent a dollar Folks would think you went insane, ’Cause the way you squeeze a penny Makes Abe Lincoln scream with pain. You think yourself a picture, You are — a sketch in paint, You work for hours before the glass, To look like what you ain’t.

Mass produced, they were usually sent anonymously and not meant as a joke. The cards offered a variety of styles for each of these failings as well as for flaws like alcoholism, laziness, lechery, loose morals and henpecking. The latter could be directed at either the offending wife or the suffering husband for not being man enough to run his own home. Some took aim at the victim’s profession or trade: Knowing as much as a pig about law, You hope to carry your point by jaw, But your chatter, though full of wind and fury, Bores instead of convincing the jury. You’re greasy as the pork you sell And tough just like your beef Your customers who know you well Hope you come to grief. You weigh your hand in with the meat And charge for bones and fat. I’d rather go without food to eat Than deal with a man like that. Physical appearance was fair game, with cards labelled, “To a Homely Lady,” “Bald Head” and, “Miss Antique.” Senders skewered what they saw as objectionable political views and underlined gender roles by criticizing feminists and housewives. Initially, the target of a vinegar valentine was expected to foot the bill for delivery as well as be insulted. Mailing costs were borne by the recipient as Canada did not issue its first postage stamp until 1851. Perhaps the criticism was well deserved, but by today’s standards, these Victorian-era cards seem to have had more in common with modern online bullying than with valentines from other eras.

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Community news and events from across the province

Send us your felfies

what’s

Alberta Farmer invites producers to submit their unique farm-centric portraits

Send agriculture-related meeting and event announcements to: will.verboven@fbcpublishing.com

erhaps I could’ve been famous by starting the felfie trend back in September 2012,” Sarah Schultz joked when she recently posted this picture on Twitter. ‘Selfies’ have been hot ever since smartphones with forward-facing cameras became widespread, but the latest social media craze is ‘felfies’ — short for ‘farmer selfies.’ Droves of producers in Alberta and around the world have been uploading cheeky pictures of themselves, often sharing the spotlight with livestock, equipment or other farm icons. They’re too good not to share and so Alberta Farmer is creating a special web page so producers from this province can share their selfportraits with those living outside the ‘Twitterverse.’ To encourage submissions, we’ll publish one felfie per edition for the next five editions. And we’ll donate $100 to a charity or not-forprofit of the winner’s choice. Schultz, a nurse who goes by the Twitter handle @NurseLovesFarmr, is our first winner for this shot taken during the 2012 harvest on the Wheatland County farm she operates with husband Jay. She will be one of three judges in our felfie contest (a small act of recognition for a Twitter trailblazer) along with Sylvan Lake producer and ardent Twitter user Allison Ammeter (@AAmmeter) and AF reporter Alexis Kienlen (@alexiskienlen).

“

February 6: Ranching Opportunities, Olds College, Olds. Contact: Sarah Schumacher 403-934-3321 February 11/12: Precision AG 2.0, Deerfoot Inn & Casino, Calgary. Contact: Ashley Steeple 780-416-6046 February 12: Getting Into Farmers’ Markets, Millarville Racetrack and Agricultural Society Hall, Millarville. Contact: Eileen Kotowich 780-853-8223 February 12: Pricing Your Product for Direct Marketing, Agri-Food Business Centre, Leduc. Contact: Ag-Info Centre, 800-387-6030 February 13: Alberta Forage Industry AGM, Aberdeen Community Centre, 5 miles directly east of Innisfail on Highway 590. Contact: Grant Lastiwka 403-556-4248 February 13: Stettler Ranch Rodeo & Family Day Sleigh Ride, Stettler Ag Grounds, Stettler. Contact: Darla Rairdan 403-742-6288

Go to www.albertafarmexpress.ca and follow the links to find the ‘felfie’ section as well as a link to a page explaining how to upload felfies and register for the contest.

photo: sarah schultz

Amazing stories wanted

he 4-H motto is “Learn to do by Doing” — and the next task at hand is promoting agriculture with YouTube videos. The organization is running FCC’s Shout out for Ag! video contest. “4-H has an amazing story to tell in Canada,” said 4-H communications manager Christine Moses. “Our members are passionate about their clubs and their community, and this contest is an excellent forum to brag about our successes.

As one of of As one

Canada’s self-employed Canada’s self-employed You enjoyallallthe theperks perks and You enjoy andadvantages advantages of being your own boss. of being your own boss. You also assume All of the Risks! You also assume All of the Risks!

There are five categories for entries, and the makers of the top-voted video in each category in each province wins $550 — with a national prize of $1,000 per category. But budding video makers will have to grab their audience in a hurry — each shout-out must be 30 to 45 seconds long. The deadline for entries is Feb. 15. For details on how to enter, go to 4-H Canada’s new contest website: enter.4-hcanada.ca.

Winds throw snowballs

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trathmore-area farmer Matt Gosling was looking out his office window one morning in mid-January when he saw something he’s never seen before — snowballs rolling across his yard all on their own “like a herd of elephants.” “It was an awesome morning, and then all of a sudden, the wind started blowing from the northwest, and that’s when everything started moving,” said Gosling. The snowballs ranged in size from a couple of inches to almost half a foot across. ‘Snow rollers’ are a rare phenomenon caused by the perfect mix of wet snow, icy ground cover and high winds. Gosling can’t say for sure how fast the wind was moving that morning, but one thing is certain. “It was gusty.”

photo: MATT GOSLING

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

1-800-665-1362 • abclassifieds@fbcpublishing.com

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display Classified

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• Advertising copy deviating in any way from the regular classified style will be considered display and charged at the display rate of $34.30 per column inch ($2.45 per agate line). • Minimum charge $34.30 per week. • Illustrations and logos are allowed with full border. • Advertising rates are flat with no discount for frequency of insertion or volume of space used. • Terms: Payment due upon receipt of invoice. • Price quoted does not include GST.

Published by Farm Business Communications, 1666 Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1 WINNIPEG OFFICE Alberta Farmer Express 1666 Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1 Toll-Free in Canada 1-800-665-1362 Phone 403-341-0442 in Winnipeg FAX 403-341-0615 Mailing Address: Box 9800, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3K7 • •

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AGREEMENT The publisher reserves the right to refuse any or all advertising for any reason stated or unstated. Advertisers requesting publication of either display or classified advertisements agree that should the advertisement be omitted from the issue ordered for whatever reason, the Alberta Farmer Express shall not be held liable. It is also agreed that in the event of an error appearing in the published advertisement, the Alberta Farmer Express accepts no liability beyond the amount paid for that portion of the advertisement in which the error appears or affects. Claims for adjustment are limited to errors appearing in the first insertion only. While every endeavor will be made to forward box number replies as soon as possible, we accept no liability in respect to loss or damage alleged to a rise through either failure or delay in forwarding such replies, however caused, whether by negligence or otherwise.

(2 weeks prior)

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TRAIlERS Grain_Trailers_ Livestock_Trailers_ Trailers_Miscellaneous_ Travel_ Water_Pumps_ Water_Treatment_ Welding_ Well_Drilling_ Well_&_Cistern__ Winches_ COMMUNITy CAlENDAR British_Columbia_ Alberta_ Saskatchewan_ Manitoba_ CAREERS Career_Training_ Child_Care_ Construction_ Domestic_Services_ Farm/Ranch_ Forestry/Log_ Health_Care_ Help_Wanted_ Management Mining_ Oil_Field_ Professional_ Resume_Services_ Sales/Marketing_ Trades/Tech_ Truck_Drivers_ Employment_Wanted_

MAiL TO: Alberta Farmer Express, Box 9800, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3K7 FAx TO: 403-341-0615 PhOnE in: Toll-Free in Canada 1-800-665-1362 OR (403) 341-0442 in Alberta

NAME_ ___________________________________________________________ ______PHONE_#_______________________________ ADDRESS_____________________________________________ ______TOWN_____________________________________________ PROVINCE____________________________ _____POSTAL_CODE__________________________

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advertising deadline Wednesday noon

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

SEED/FEED/CROP INPUTS Specialty Crops Various

SEED/FEED MISCELLANEOUS Grain Wanted

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FARM MACHINERY Machinery Miscellaneous ACREAGE EQUIPMENT: CULTIVATORS, DISCS, Plows, Blades, Post pounders, Haying Equipment, Etc. (780)892-3092, Wabamun, Ab. QUONSET NEW IN CRATE, 35x52x18, $20,000; JD dozer blade w/guard fits 8970 16-ft. 6 way, $15,000; MF 860 & 20-ft. straight cut, $7,000; Ford 5000 w/loader, $6,500; Vac sewer tank & pump, $14,000; Rotex SR7 power parachute 300-hrs, for parts, $3,000; Tree Farmer skidder $4,500; Bison head squeeze, $4,500; 2004 Rumble Bee short box, $11,500; D5H Cat 34 pads; pair of sheep shears. OBO. Downsizing! (306)236-8023.

FARM/CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT

Baling Equipment WANTED: JD 7810 c/w FEL & 3-PTH; sp or PTO bale wagon; JD or IHC end wheel drills. Small square baler. (403)394-4401

SEED/FEED MISCELLANEOUS Grain Wanted BUYING HEATED/DAMAGED PEAS, FLAX & GRAIN “On Farm Pickup” Westcan Feed & Grain 1-877-250-5252 BUYING SPRING THRASHED CANOLA & GRAIN “On Farm Pickup” Westcan Feed & Grain 1-877-250-5252

For custom herbicides as unique as your fields, visit: Andrukow Group Solutions Inc.

Viking - 780-336-3180

precisionpac.ca We know that farming is enough of a gamble so if you want to sell it fast place your ad in the Alberta Farmer Express classifieds. It’s a Sure Thing. Call our toll-free number today. We have friendly staff ready to help. 1-800-665-1362.

562 PPAC Classified 2014 AB.indd 7

herbicides

For custom herbicides as unique as your fields, visit: Crop Production Services Inc.

Torrington - 403-631-3900

precisionpac.ca

RON SAUER

MACHINERY LTD.

562 PPAC Classified 2014 AB.indd(403) 8

Degelman 10 ft. Snow Pusher Blade JD 7400 FWA, 740 Loader with 3 pth hitch JD 2950 Complete with loader JD 4050 Loader Available JD 7200 FWA, 740 Loader with 3 pth hitch JD 7700 FWA loader JD 4230 loader available JD 4020 c/w loader & new motor JD 2550, FWA ST 250 Steiger, tires new 20.8 x 38 2012 CAT 272D Skidsteer, 800 Hrs Clamp on Duals, 20.8x38-18.4x38 158, 148, 265, 725, 740, 280, JD loaders FINANCE, TRADES WELCOME 780-696-3527, BRETON, AB

Big Tractor Parts, Inc. Geared For The Future

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STEIGER TRACTOR SPECIALIST

RED OR GREEN 1. 10-25% savings on new replacement parts for your Steiger drive train. 2. We rebuild axles, transmissions and dropboxes with ONE YEAR WARRANTY. 3. 50% savings on used parts.

1-800-982-1769 www.bigtractorparts.com

540-7691 ronsauer@shaw.ca

846 Versatile 4WD Tractor - new 18.4 x 38 dualled tires, gear drive, like new ............................................ $30,000 Degelman Dozer Frame MF 4000 Series 4WD .$1,000 B 275 IHC Diesel Tractor, 3 pth, pto, runs good ......$4,250 31’ Flexicoil B Chisel Plow Extensions Included, extends to 41’, 3 bar harrows, excellent condition.............. $12,500 Flexicoil 6 Run Seed Treater .............................. $2,000 134’ Flexicoil S68XL Sprayer, 2007, suspended boom, auto rate, joystick, rinse tank, triple quick jets, auto boom height, electric end nozzle & foam marker............. $39,500 100’ 65XL Flexicoil Sprayer, complete with windguards, elec. end nozzles dual tips, markers ........................ $5,500 30’ 8230 CIH PT Swather, PU reel, nice shape, . $10,000 25’ 8225 CIH PT Swather, PU reel, nice shape .... $9,500 25’ 1200 Hesston PT Swather, bat reel, good .... $5,500 30’ 4600 Prairie Star PT Swather, bat reel, good ....$5,500 30’ 1900 Premier PT Swather, bat reel, good .... $5,500 10 Wheel MATR (Italy) Trailer Type V-Hayrake, hyd. fold, as new.................................................. $5,000 14 Wheel Enorossi V-Hayrake extra contour wheels, as new .............................................................. $11,500 FAB-TEC 10 x 40 Sakundiak Auger, 38 HP Kohler, E-Kay Mover, Power Steering, Belt Tightener, Slim Fit, Lights, Remote Throttle, FAB-TEC, spout, only done 3 loads, CNT ............................................ **In Stock** $19,950 8 x 1200 Sakundiak Auger, 25 HP Koehler engine, Hawes mover, clutch, nice condition, CNT ....................$9,950 7 x 1200 Sakundiak Auger, 18 HP Koehler engine, looks and runs good, CNT ..........................................$3,500 8 x 1400 Sakundiak Auger, 25 HP Robin engine, Hawes mover, clutch, spout, excellent condition, CNT...............$9,950 8 x 1400 Sakundiak Auger, 25 HP Koehler engine, Hawes mover, clutch, reversing gear box, lights, spout, excellent condition, CNT.............................................$9,950 8” Wheatheart Sweep, like new .............................. $900 New E-Kay 7” Bin Sweep .............**In Stock** $1,785 New E-Kay 7”, 8”, 9” Bin Sweeps .........................Call Jiffy Feed Wagon, like new, hardly used, shedded .....$9,250 8” Wheat Heart Transfer Auger, as new *Tentatively Sold - New Owner Please Call Ron......... $1,500 New Outback MAX & STX guidance & mapping ...In Stock New Outback E-Drive, TC’s .................................In Stock New Outback E-Drive X, c/w free E turns ............In Stock New Outback S-Lite guidance ............ **In Stock** $900 New Outback VSI Swather Steering Kit...........In Stock New Outback E-Drive Hyd. kit, JD 40 series ........ $1,000 Used Outback E-Drive Hyd. kits..............................$500

**NuVision (Spray Air) & Meridian-Sakundiak Augers, Outback GPS Systems, EK Auger Movers, Belt Tighteners, Bin Sweeps & Crop Dividers, Kohler, Robin Subaru, Generac Engines, Headsight Harvesting Solutions, Greentronics Sprayer Boom Auto Height, Kello-Bilt Discs**

FARM MACHINERY Machinery Wanted WANTED: NH BALE WAGONS & retrievers, any condition. Farm Equipment Finding Service, P.O. Box 1363, Polson, MT 59860. (406)883-2118

herbicides COMBINE WORLD located 20 min. E of Saskatoon, SK on Hwy. #16. 1 year warranty on all new, used, and rebuilt parts. Canada’s largest inventory of late model combines & swathers. 1-800-667-4515 www.combineworld.com

GOOD SELECTION OF JD & CASE SP SPRAYERS AND 4WD TRACTORS

“LIKE MANY BEFORE, WE’LL HAVE YOU SAYING THERE’S NO DEAL LIKE A KEN DEAL” • Phone: (403)526-9644 • Cell: (403)504-4929 • Email: kendeal@shaw.ca

BUYING:

Linden - 403-546-4050

CIH 9380 Quad w/ PTO and New motor 9280 Power Shift New Michelin Tires 9280 12 speed with 80% rubber 4720 JD Sprayer w/ boom track autosteer, 4700 90 ft very clean Fendt 920 low hrs

precisionpac.ca 562 PPAC Classified 2014 AB.indd 3

Kneehill Soil Services Ltd.

JD 9400, 9420, 9520, 8970 JD 9860, 9760, 9750, 9650, 9600 JD 9430, 9530, 9630 Case STX 375, 425, 430, 450, 480, 500, 530 CIH 8010-2388, 2188 combine CIH 435Q, 535Q, 450Q, 550Q, 600Q pto avail. JD 4710, 4720, 4730, 4830, 4920, 4930 SP sprayers JD 9770 & 9870 w/CM & duals CIH 3185, 3230, 3330, 4430, 4420 sprayers

herbicides

For custom herbicides as unique as your fields, visit:

Dynagra (a division of) Beiseker Agri Services Ltd.

Andrukow Group Solutions Inc.

Beiseker - 403-888-1030

Provost - 780-753-3150

precisionpac.ca

14-01-10 1:56 PM

Buy and Sell

anything you need through the

1-800-665-1362

14-01-10 1:56 P

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • FEBRUARY 3, 2014

ORGANIC Organic – Grains

HEAT & AIR CONDITIONING

The Icynene Insulation System® • Sprayed foam insulation • Ideal for shops, barns or homes • Healthier, Quieter, More Energy Efficient®

www.penta.ca

1-800-587-4711

FARM MACHINERY Machinery Miscellaneous

Bioriginal Food & Science Corp., based in Saskatoon, is actively buying Organic Flax from the 2013 crop year. If interested, please send an 8lb sample* to the following address: Attn: Sandy Jolicoeur Bioriginal Food & Science Corp. 102 Melville Street Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7J 0R1 *Please state the Variety & Quantity for Sale

For more information, please contact Sandy at:

306-975-9251 306-975-1166 purchasing@bioriginal.com

herbicides

For custom herbicides as unique as your fields, visit:

Hit our readers where it counts… in the classifieds. Place your ad in the Alberta Farmer Express classifed section. 1-800-665-1362.

herbicides

For custom herbicides as unique as your fields, visit:

Dunvegan Ag Solutions

Dynagra

Richardson Pioneer

precisionpac.ca

Standard - 403-644-3707

Rycroft - 780-765-2865 herbicides

FARM MACHINERY Machinery Miscellaneous

Waskatenau - 780-358-2720

precisionpac.ca

Watch your profits grow! 562 PPAC Classified 2014 AB.indd 11

Crop Production Services Inc.

Advertise with AFe Classifieds

562 PPAC Classified 14-01-10 2014 AB.indd 1:56 PM12

Place your ad today call

Stettler - 403-742-8540 FARM MACHINERY Machinery Miscellaneous

precisionpac.ca

FARM MACHINERY Machinery Miscellaneous

562 PPAC Classified 14-01-10 2014 AB.indd 1:56 PM18

1-800-665-1362

FARM MACHINERY Machinery Miscellaneous

LIVESTOCK/POULTRY/PETS Livestock Equipment

ELIAS SCALES “NO WEIGH LIKE IT”

2 PPAC Classified 2014 AB.indd 9

Why would you buy a used John Deere?

14-01-10 1:56 PM

For the same reasons you’d buy new. Platform Scales Several sizes to choose from (no electrics)

Bale scales

Crate scales stationary & portable

Hopper Feeders w/Scale, 3pt., trk. mt. or trailer, hyd. motor or electric

306-445-2111 NORTH BATTLEFORD, SK. www.eliasscales.com

herbicides

For custom herbicides as unique as your fields, visit: Crop Production Services Inc. Medicine Hat - 403-526-9499

precisionpac.ca

FARMING IS ENOUGH OF A GAMBLE...

2 PPAC Classified 2014 AB.indd 10

There are many reasons to buy a pre-owned John Deere tractor or combine, and they all come down to one thing. Value.

14-01-10

Technology. Consider–a 3-year old John Deere 8R. When it came off the line it was AutoTrac™ Ready and JDLink™ enabled*. With one phone call to your dealer, you can 1:56 PM begin using precision technology to help reduce inputs, improve yields, and get more done in less time. Uptime. You can’t make money standing still. Pre-owned John Deere equipment, like a 9770 Combine, comes fully supported by your John Deere dealer. The pay-off: reliable, consistent performance, backed by an unrivaled dealer network.

Advertise in the Alberta Farmer Express Classifieds, it’s a Sure Thing!

Resale value. John Deere tractors and combines are among the best in the industry at holding their value. So when the time comes and you’re ready to trade up to another used or new John Deere tractor or combine, your investment delivers yet again. Now is a great time to buy. Visit MachineƟnder.com to search our impressive selection of used John Deere equipment, then schedule some time with your John Deere dealer and ask about special pre-owned deals and incentives. Special Ɵnancing also available through John Deere Financial. New or new-to-you, Nothing Runs Like a Deere.™ *Activation/subscription required. Some additional accessories and/or components may be required. See dealer for details.

MachineFinder.com

1-800-665-1362 57240-3AE_8.125x10.indd 1

10/29/13 7:37 AM

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FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

SEED / FEED / GRAIN SEED/FEED MISCELLANEOUS Feed Grain

AGRICULTURAL TOURS

BUYING ALL TYPES OF feed grain. Also have market for light offgrade or heated, picked up on the farm. Eisses Grain Marketing 1-888-882-7803, Lacombe.

herbicides

For custom herbicides as unique as your fields, visit: Kneehill Soil Services Ltd.

CAREERS

TRAVEL

TIRES

For custom herbicides as unique as your fields, visit: Medicine Hat Co-op Medicine Hat - 403-528-6609

precisionpac.ca

Japan/Russia ~ May 2014 Ireland & Scotland ~ June 2014 Ukraine ~ June 2014 Yukon/NWT ~ July 2014 Iceland/Greenland ~ July 2014 Mid-West USA ~ October 2014 Australia/New Zealand ~ January 2015 Kenya/Tanzania ~ January 2015 *Portion of tours may be Tax Deductible

Select Holidays

We know that farming is enough of a gamble so if you want to sell it fast place your ad in the Alberta Farmer 2 PPAC Classified Express 2014 AB.indd 14 It’s a Sure Thing. Call our toll-free classifieds. number today. We have friendly staff ready to help. 1-800-665-1362.

New 30.5L-32 16 ply, $2,195; 20.8-38 12 ply $795; 18.4-38 12 ply; $789; 24.5-32 14 ply, $1,749; 14.9-24 12 ply, $486; 16.9-28 12 ply $558, 18.4-26 10 ply, $890. Factory direct. More 14-01-10 1:56 PM new and used. 1-800-667-4515. sizes available www.combineworld.com

Help Wanted Middle aged couple running a 200 head cowherd NE of Edmonton are looking for a young person or couple to assist w/responsibilities of operating a successful cow-calf operation. An excellent opportunity to develop your own herd & experience a way of life. To schedule a personal interview, please phone (780)656-5665

1-800-661-4326

FARMING IS ENOUGH OF

precisionpac.ca 562 PPAC Classified 2014 AB.indd 16 FEED GRAIN WANTED! ALSO buying; Light, tough, or offgrade grains. “On Farm Pickup” Westcan Feed & Grain 1-877-250-5252

A MIDDLE-AGED COUPLE RUNNING a 200 head cowherd NE of Edmonton are looking for a young person or couple to assist w/the responsibilities of operating a successful cow-calf operation. An excellent opportunity to develop your own herd & experience a way of life. To schedule a personal interview, please phone (780)656-5665.

www.selectholidays.com

A GAMBLE...

Drumheller - 403-823-4600

CAREERS Farm / Ranch

BASF KNOWLEDGE HARVEST -- Join growers from your area to watch live plant demonstrations, speak to experts about what is new with biologicals & get strategies for managing herbicide resistance from industry leaders. Hear from acclaimed visionary & financial analyst Richard Worzel about the future of agriculture. Register now at www.agsolutions.ca/knowledgeharvest Feb 25th Lethbridge - Feb 27th Portage la Prairie March 4th Regina - March 6th Saskatoon March 11th Yorkton - March 13th Edmonton

AUTO & TRANSPORT Semi Trucks & Trailers 2007 FREIGHTLINER CLASSIC FOR SALE 820,000-km, 11x24.5 rear tires, 12,000 fronts, 40,000 rears (supers), 1 owner, Only used in long haul. Certified until Nov. 2014 (780)387-1172 Wetaskiwin, AB wulfangermann@gmail.com

herbicides

For custom herbicides as unique as your fields, visit:

Advertise in the Alberta Farmer Express Classifieds, it’s a Sure Thing!

Neerlandia Co-op Association Ltd.

1-800-665-1362

precisionpac.ca

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Neerlandia - 780-674-2820

562 PPAC Classified 2014 AB.indd 17

Buy and Sell

anything you need through the

1-800-665-1362

14-01-10 1:56 PM

Is your ag equipment search more like a needle in a haystack search? OVER 30,000 Find it fast at PIECES OF AG EQUIPMENT!