Canola Pulse and Specail Crops Guide

OCTOBER 2011

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CANOLA, PULSE & SPECIAL CROPS GUIDE

OCTOBER 2011

CONTENTS

IN EVERY ISSUE

EDITOR’S NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Why it’s wrong to hate the new consumer.

CROP CLIPPINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Industry updates from around the region.

MARKETS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 What’s going to happen to canola prices?

FEATURES 8

Change of course New canola field trials up and running.

10 Making progress

Triffid testing starts to show results.

13 Biodiesel boost

Two new developments are good news for biodiesel.

16 Clubroot hits hard

Perfect conditions for disease showed scope of problem.

18 Bean thinking Welcome to all new subscribers.

We hope you enjoy each issue and tell your friends and neighbours if you do. Comments or suggestions?

Call us at 1-800-665-1362

What’s it going to take to expand soybean production?

21 How generics changed the market There’s little doubt generic crop protection products have had an impact.

24 Residual problems Our commitment to your privacy 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., Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1.

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Glyphosate and lentils don’t mix — for now.

26 BMO bullish on canola prices

One of Canada’s biggest banks says canola looks like a winner.

T h e e d i to r

Editor’s note

In Soviet Russia, the food eats you

O

ver the past few years, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the unique relationship between farmers and the rest of us.

There’s absolutely no doubt that it is unique. Sure, I buy and consume a lot of products from a lot of different sectors. We all do.

But when it comes right down to it, food is different in a very key way. With the possible exception of medications, there is absolutely nothing else that I buy and put inside my body. And I do it every day, with nary a second thought. Second helpings, perhaps, but not a lot of analysis.

That happens because I trust you.

I might not know you personally, but I know that you produce safe and wholesome food products that won’t kill me. That trust has been built up over many, many years and is something most of us are raised to have subconsciously. We forget that this hasn’t always been the case.

Quite some time ago now, I worked for a company that processed potatoes into french fries. It was a joint venture of the Canadian operations of two huge food processors, but at one point it had been owned by Carnation Foods. One of the holdovers from that era was a company history of the now-absorbed Carnation and its founders that I wound up thumbing through on a coffee break.

Something that really struck me was the early days of the company when it began with one evaporated milk plant in rural Washington state. As a child of the supermarket generation — I’ll count the Co-op in Carrot River, Sask. as one — I had literally never pondered why the modern food system was the way it was. But this company history showed that back in 1899 if you wanted milk, things weren’t as simple as a stroll over to the dairy case.

First, you might not be able to get fresh milk if there didn’t happen to be a dairy in your area. Secondly, when you did, you were basically taking your life into your hands drinking the stuff. This, I suddenly understood, was the reason for all the food safety rules and government inspections. To build the trust of consumers so that eventually they’d all be like me —

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CANOLA, PULSE & SPECIAL CROPS GUIDE

buying and consuming these products without worrying.

In recent years, however, that trust has begun to break down. Now consumers are worried about everything from E. coli to mad cow disease. And I’m sorry to say that the reaction of the agriculture industry hasn’t exactly been a textbook study in how to address that loss of trust.

Rather than proactively seeking out these issues and defusing them, what’s happened has been more like circling the wagons and insisting critics don’t understand, aren’t a legitimate industry stakeholder and so don’t deserve to be heard. The problem, many farmers insist, is that consumers are too out of touch with farms and farming.

Even worse is the frequent insistence that if they do have an opinion, it should be nothing but an unending chorus of gratitude towards farmers for their efforts. I’ve certainly seen plenty of evidence of this. T-shirts and bumper stickers with phrases like “Farmers feed cities” and “You eat because I farm” are probably the best example.

The problem with this attitude, of course, is that it suggests you’re running a charity operation. That somehow the normal rules of a free marketplace where willing buyers and sellers meet and do business, don’t apply here. After awhile you begin to wonder if you’ve taken a wrong turn and are back in Soviet Russia, where consumers’ choices were basically whatever the apparatchiks allowed.

That’s not so, of course, and there are people who’ve begun to vote with their wallets, making different decisions about how and why they purchase their food.

Are they right? I have my own opinion of that, which is utterly unimportant.

It’s not my money or my dinner table. In a free society nobody can force us to consume something we don’t want and what other people are eating is their decision alone.

Consumers who make different food choices for whatever reason aren’t an irritant or threat. They aren’t uninformed. They are simply another type of customer.

Gord Gilmour

gord.gilmour@fbcpublishing.com

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REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS David Drozd Gord Leathers

Ron Friesen Richard Kamchen

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

oc t o b er 2 0 1 1

Advice well-grounded.

In a rapidly-changing world, you need top quality inputs to produce a profitable crop. And that applies to the expert advice you get on seed as well.

Your Pioneer Hi-Bred sales representative lives in your area and knows the unique challenges you face. Plus, our rep team is backed by a global research and development network and the strongest agronomic team in the business. All of this expertise is readily available to support our seed genetics, throughout the growing season and beyond.

Ask your local Pioneer Hi-Bred sales rep for recommendations on our full lineup of Pioneer® brand products and services. You’ll be sure to get advice well-grounded.

www.pioneer.com All purchases are subject to the terms of labelling and purchase documents. ®, TM, SM Trademarks and service marks licensed to Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited. © 2011 PHL. PR1996 WBrand Advice_CPSP_A_E

Clippings CROP

TOUGH STEMS REMAIN KEY FLAX CONCERN

INDUSTRIAL CROPS MAY MAKE JET FUEL A new study, backed by the federal government, aims to explore the economics of using camelina and carinata oils to make biofuel for jet engines in Saskatchewan.

Ag-West Bio, a federally and provincially funded bioscience investment fund, will lead a study reviewing the possibilities for feedstock production, processing requirements and “potential commercial partners,” and “seamless” logistics and infrastructure for such a venture.

“With the aviation industry committed to developing sustainable biofuels, there appears to be huge potential in this area, both for producers, and for the province as a whole in downstream processing,” Mike Cey, Ag-West Bio’s vice-president for corporate and business development, said in a media release from the government.

The Saskatoon-based organization said it will use “external service providers” to interview industry experts and prospective customers, and review research information to complete the three components of the feasibility report.

“This study will allow us to make informed decisions in order to map out the best path forward in further developing this exciting opportunity in Saskatchewan,” Cey said.

The federal government said it will put up over $150,000 in Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP) funding for the study.

Camelina sativa (camelina) and Brassica carinata (carinata) are considered the two industrial non-food crops “showing the most promise” for use in “drop-in” bio-based jet fuel, Ag-West Bio said in a separate release.

“Drop-in” means the fuel’s specifications must be the same as petroleumbased jet fuel and need no special storage or handling. This is a “key requirement of the airline industry” for such a fuel, Ag-West Bio said.

Jet fuels are generally kerosene based or a kerosene-gasoline combination made specifically for use in jet turbine units.

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CANOLA, PULSE & SPECIAL CROPS GUIDE

According to surveys conducted by the Flax Council of Canada, flax growers face big problems managing fibre and stems. The stem produces a very strong fibre (bast) that is of limited use in processing.

Unlike their counterparts in Europe, growers here can’t make linen from flax stems because the growing season here is too short and the fall is too cold. That leaves growers with fields of almost indestructible material.

Traditionally flax is grown for oil or linen but currently Canadian crops are only used for oil. Applying genetic research to those troublesome bast fibres could actually generate economic and environmental benefits, such as developing a natural alternative to materials such as fibreglass. Or if the fibre can’t be used, varieties could be developed that have stems that can be more easily worked back into the soil.

The organization said recent genome work will help growers and processors better utilize all of the plant and for Canadian flax growers, it introduces a new viability for their crop.

LEGUMEX WALKER CONFIRMS U.S. CANOLA PLANT

Legumex Walker Inc. has confirmed that it will proceed with construction of a canola-crushing plant in Warden, Washington, the organization’s first plant in the U.S. It is expected to be completed by late 2012 and operational in 2013.

The plant is being built and operated by Pacific Coast Canola, a Washington state company owned 85 per cent by Legumex Walker and 15 per cent by Glencore Grain Investment LLC. The plant is designed to process 1,100 tonnes of canola per day and has a design output capacity of 142,500 tonnes of canola oil and 227,000 tonnes of canola meal per year.

Legumex Walker is a recently formed combination of the Roy Legumex Group of Companies and Walker Seeds Ltd. It is one of the largest processors of pulses and other special crops in Canada, with nine facilities in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

OCTOBER 2011

Canadians join pre-emptive GMO lawsuit as RR alfalfa approved in U.S. A few more Canadian farm groups and farmers are now on board as plaintiffs in a U.S. suit against Monsanto, billed as a pre-emptive strike against any chance that the seed and ag chem firm could sue them for patent infringement.

Ramping up their case the collective plaintiffs said they’re not reassured by Monsanto’s policy statement that it doesn’t and won’t sue farmers whose crops turn up trace amounts of Monsanto’s patentprotected genetics through “inadvertent means.”

Canadian plaintiffs joining the suit in an amended complaint filed recently in New York City include: • Union Paysanne, a Quebec advocacy group for small-scale and

medium-size independent family farmers, based at St-Hyacinthe; • M a n i t o b a O r g a n i c A l l i a n c e , an organic group based at Plumas, Man., billing itself as “represent(ing) and promot(ing) the interests of the entire provincial organic value chain”; • The Peace River Organic Producers Association, with 45 members in the Peace region of northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta and based at Silver Valley, Alta.; and • Murray Bast, an ag consultant at Wellesley, Ont. and an organic cattle producer who, the complaint noted, “grows alfalfa that he does, or could, sell into the United States.”

The Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT), a New York City-based organization representing the plaintiffs, has posted online an April 18 letter from its executive director Daniel Ravicher to Monsanto lawyers.

Sask. biodiesel maker to ramp up capacity

Bunge expanding Fort Saskatchewan plant

One of the longest-established biodiesel plants on the Prairies is primed for expansion.

Milligan Bio-Tech, who have been operating at Foam Lake, about 90 km northwest of Yorkton, for the past 10 years, has completed a $4-million private placement of unsecured convertible debentures and lined up a $4-million credit facility to finance an $8-million “debottlenecking” of its biodiesel plant.

Debottlenecking, generally, is a re-engineering of a production line, aimed at removing previously imposed unit limits or restrictions on its rate of output.

The plant’s annual biodiesel production capacity, which now sits at about four million litres, would be expanded to over 20 million litres once the project is complete, the company said.

The increased capacity would equal about half of the forecasted requirements for biodiesel in Saskatchewan when that province’s biodiesel mandate comes into force next July, the company said.

Milligan, which uses non-foodgrade canola seed as its feedstock, would then essentially become the biggest producer of biodiesel in Western Canada, the company said.

Agrifood giant Bunge is planning for expansions at its canola-crushing plant at Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., to “more than double” its capacity.

The project, which would boost the plant’s current crush capacity of 850 tonnes per day, is part of the U.S. firm’s “multi-year expansion program” in Canada, on top of a similar expansion announced last year for its crush plant at Altona, Man. The expansions at the Fort Saskatchewan plant, about 20 km northeast of Edmonton, are expected to come online in 2014, the company said.

Soren Schroeder, CEO for Bunge North America, described the expansion as “a natural way to grow Bunge’s North American business as domestic and export demand for both canola oil and meal continues to increase.”

“Farmers around Fort Saskatchewan are responding to increased demand for canola by planting more acres,” Bunge’s Canada country manager, Rick Watson, said in a release.

“Yields are also improving thanks to technology, making this region a logical place to expand.”

The added product from the expansion at Fort Saskatchewan is expected to go to both North American and “offshore” markets, Watson said.

Ravicher wrote that PUBPAT’s clients fear transgenic seed contamination in their crops and do not “intend to possess, use or sell any transgenic seed, including any transgenic seed potentially covered by Monsanto’s patents.”

The move comes roughly at the same time that officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said U.S. farmers could proceed with planting genetically altered alfalfa, without the restrictions opponents say are needed to protect conventional and organic farm fields from contamination.

USDA said the decision was made after analysis of various economic and environmental factors, and allows farmers to get their crop in the ground this spring.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the decision applies only to Roundup Ready alfalfa, engineered by Monsanto to withstand treatments of the company’s Roundup glyphosate herbicide.

By comparison, most of the oil and meal produced at the expanded Altona plant, about 100 km south of Winnipeg, is expected to be shipped just within North America, he said.

The Fort Saskatchewan and Altona plants were among several Bunge acquired when it took over CanAmera Foods in 2002.

The company also operates oilseed crushers at Nipawin in northeastern Saskatchewan, Harrowby in western Manitoba, and at Hamilton.

Cargill to rebuild, expand N.D. oilseed plant

A U.S. destination for Prairie canola, sunflower and flax since 1980 is scheduled for a reboot from the ground up.

Agrifood firm Cargill on Tuesday announced plans to rebuild and expand its oilseed-processing plant at West Fargo, N.D., with construction expected to start later this fall.

Completion of the engineering plans is to determine the project’s exact costs, expected to total over US$50 million, the company said. The rebuilt plant is expected to be open in time for the 2013 harvest.

“The existing facility has served us well since we built it 30 years ago, and we are now looking at rebuilding it to meet the needs of our customers for the next 30 years,” facility manager Jaysen Schock said in the company’s release.

O c t o b e r 2 0 1 1 C A N O L A , p u l s e & s p e c i al c r o p s G UI D E

7

FIELD TRIALS

By Richard Kamchen

CHANGE OF

COURSE

W

estern Canadian farmers are getting their canola trials back, but not without important changes and concessions, as well as footing the bill In 2010, the Prairie Canola Variety Trials were cancelled because of a lack of canola varieties entered by seed companies. Among the chief irritants of the holdouts were the small size of plots, and the fact all varieties were sprayed with conventional herbicides rather than the systems for which each was designed.

Most seed companies returned to the fold thanks to several concessions that addressed their concerns. The data should be available to farmers in early November.

Renamed Canola Performance Trials (CPT), 2011’s findings will not only be derived from 26 small plots across Western Canada, but also audited trials of 111 field-scale sites conducted by seed companies. The large plots have only a limited number of varieties per site (two to four) versus 27 varieties on the small plot sites. Adding the field-scale component is intended to 8

CANOLA, PULSE & SPECIAL CROPS GUIDE

provide depth in assessing consistency in variety performance.

“When we sat down and talked to the seed companies, we found that in the end, both (small and field size) have their advantages, but when it comes down to the data, it’s very similar from one to the other. So we thought we’d add the data from the companies, make sure that it is done in a scientific manner and put our stamp of approval to the trials that meet these criteria, and that way they can be reported as well,” says CPT 2011 governance committee chairman Franck Groeneweg, a Saskatchewan farmer and a board member of the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission.

Another big change to this year’s trials is spraying with applicable herbicides.

“What we aim to do is to be as close to farmer practices as possible. Each herbicide system has its advantages and we wanted to run the varieties in their herbicide system to see how they compare,” says Groeneweg. “If we want to have representative data, we need to run it as close as possible to the farm practices.”

The new trials are also more flexible on harvest timing. In previous

years, crops were taken off at the same time, but that method didn’t take into account the fact not all varieties mature at the same time. A difference of three or four days could affect yields and canola weight.

“We insist on the fact that the varieties need to be harvested as close to maturity as possible. We want every seed from every plot at the right maturity. Again, we want the best data possible and it might take two or three trips to the plots for harvest management,” says Groeneweg.

In an effort to bring back companies like Dow AgroSciences — which had been absent from the trials for several years — CPT will now also provide an economic model to level the playing field. The calculation is essentially margin-based, and designed to demonstrate that while specialty oil varieties might not yield as well as other varieties, they do provide a price premium.

Co-ordinating the trials is Dr. Rale Gjuric of HAPLOTECH Inc., a private Winnipeg-based plant-breeding technical service provider. He visited each plot site about twice during the growing season. The sites were also observed by the provincial oilseed specialists who make up part of the governance comOCTOBER 2011

“ If we want to have representative data, we need to run it as close as possible to the farm practices.”

— Franck Groeneweg, Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission mittee and Canola Council of Canada agronomists, in order to ensure the data was accurate and representative.

The governance committee, which oversees program aspects like variety approval, protocol design, financial management and data collection, analysis and reporting, is made up of representatives of the four western provincial canola grower groups, provincial oilseed specialists from the three Prairie provincial governments, three commercial Canadian Seed Trade Association representatives, and the Canola Council, which is delivering the program.

With all the changes, Groeneweg cautioned the new trial data isn’t comparable to that of the former program, and that it’ll take a few years to accumulate comparable information.

In addition to a printed booklet, CPT will release its findings through an online interactive tool on the Canola Council’s website — a first for these trials, but not for the seed companies, which already had been providing the outcomes of their own trials online.

CPT facts and figures will be detailed and take into account site specific reporting on weather, soil type, previous crop, fertility, seeding date and rate, and harvest date. Also included is a blackleg disease rating from the Western Canada Canola Rapeseed Recommending Committee.

“A producer will be able to narrow it down to one site or take different sites that might be representative of their growing conditions,” Groeneweg says of the online tool, adding there will be more detailed information on the website than the booklet. “There’s only so much that can be printed. If we were going to publish a book with each trial, it would be cumbersome.”

PICKING UP THE TAB

Growers will be funding the trials, unlike in past years when the seed companies picked up the tab. Participating companies, however, paid an entry of $250 per variety entry per site.

According to the Council, growers ranked variety performance highest in agronomic information they considered essential to operating their farms effectively. And the survey of 1,359

growers conducted in January 2010 found that only weather and commodity prices polled ahead of variety data among farmers, according to the Canola Council.

“We looked at it in terms of if growers want it, then we need to step up to the plate and make sure that it is done properly and that this data is useful for everybody, along with seed companies as well,” Groeneweg says.

The cost of the seed trials isn’t being released, but last year, then-SaskCanola chairman Wayne Bacon estimated the cost of the project at $1 million, although Groeneweg says it’s well below that figure. But even if it were $1 million, that would only amount to about $20 per farmer, taking into account 52,000 registered canola producers in Western Canada, he says.

Bacon says he once thought the trials were very important but now isn’t sure if it’s worth the money.

“I don’t know whether that’s really money well spent on behalf of producers. We’ll know later on after a couple years if they continue on and we see what they come up with.”

He also believes small plots were accurate enough and perhaps more accurate than field-scale trials, and adds that nowadays, farmers conduct their own independent trials through seeding different fields to different varieties and comparing notes with other growers.

“Just from what farmers are saying, you get a general tone of what’s happening out there and I think it’s pretty accurate,” Bacon says.

Groeneweg, however, believes CPT answers the needs of the whole industry.

He points out the name change reflects the fact the updated trials offer something altogether broader in scope than before: “We’re not looking at yield only: we’re looking at margin, agronomic advantages, and by gauging the performance of each variety, it made sense to call it Canola Performance Trials.”

Seed companies participating in the small plot trials include Viterra, Bayer CropScience, Monsanto, Dow, Cargill, Canterra Seeds, BrettYoung Seeds, FP Genetics and SeCan, while the field scale program will include Monsanto, Bayer, Canterra and Dow.

But Pioneer Hi-Bred, the first of the companies to opt out in 2010, remains out of the fold.

“We’re working right along with them to have them come into the trials for next year, and I’m very hopeful for that to happen,” says Groeneweg, adding the company could have been a part of this year’s trials had the changes been implemented sooner.

“We want to make sure that they come on board, and I think they will.”

But Dave Harwood, Pioneer’s technical services manager in Chatham, Ont., seems much more doubtful about the company’s imminent return.

For now, Pioneer is expanding its ongoing approach of dealing with farmers directly. He called Pioneer’s canola trials in Western Canada an extension of what the company has been doing for years with corn and soybeans throughout North America.

“And that is to plant either side-byside trials or strip trials with customers,” Harwood says.

Pioneer’s sales reps, who are generally farmers selling within their regions, work with customers to plant trials in their own fields under their normal management practices, using their fertility rates, weed control systems, planting equipment, etc.

“One should never say never, but we have a long history of doing this in corn and soybeans, so I foresee this kind of trial work definitely going on in perpetuity. The question as to whether in addition we would enter into a centrally co-ordinated trial system certainly is not in our near-term plans. But things can change.”

He adds that coming up with wide scale trials that produce definitive performance statistics is extremely challenging.

“Western Canada is a very large area that’s comprised of a very diverse set of environments, and to have a single source of performance information that is expected to be predictive of the way products will perform in the hands of customers in any one locale is really a difficult thing to attain,“ Harwood says. “We think customers are best off working locally, evaluating products on their own farms to best understand their product choices.” c

O c t o b e r 2 0 1 1 C A N O L A , p u l s e & s p e c i al c r o p s G u i d e

9

FLAX

By Gord Gilmour

Triffid testing protocol appears to be lowering overall number and intensity of positive samples

MAKING PROGRESS

T

he past couple of years have been a real horror show for the Canadian flax industry.

In September of 2009, a European Union protocol knows as the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) got a positive reading for the presence of a variety of GM flaxseed in German cereal and bakery products. The source was a Canadian shipment of flax and, just to add a bit of ironic emphasis, the unapproved variety that was later identified proved to be named Triffid, after the John Wyndham novel and B-movie camp classic “Day of the Triffids.”

Triffid was a GM flaxseed variety which had been modified to give it tolerance to soil-based herbicides with the active ingredient sulfonylurea, primarily to protect the sensitive crop from the residues left during treatments the preceding season. The variety had been approved and released in the 1990s in Canada, but had later been pulled from the market and deregistered in 2001.

That move was made because the industry was concerned that the European Union (EU) had not approved the variety and that the potential for exactly such an issue to arise, says Flax Council of Canada president William Hill.

“The EU has a very low tolerance for unapproved events — .01 per cent,” Hill said during a recent interview with CPSC GUIDE. “The protocol samples each shipment and tests four 60-gram samples. Each sample contains about 10,000 seeds, so a positive sample can mean just a single seed out of 40,000 seeds. It’s basically a zero-tolerance policy.”

When the alarms went off a couple of years ago, that meant that the industry experienced a predictably, but disastrous, response on the other side of the Atlantic. Suddenly exports to the EU — which represents approximately 70 per cent of Canada’s export flax markets — was closed to the industry.

Continued on page 12

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CANOLA, PULSE & SPECIAL CROPS GUIDE

OCTOBER 2011

FARM STEWARDSHIP PROCEDURES FOR FARM SAVED PLANTING SEED IN 2011

The best option for producers to minimize risk of growing flax contaminated with Triffid remains the planting of certified seed that has been tested for Triffid and shown to be negative. However, because some certified seed has shown positive with a low level presence of Triffid, a second option is now available.

This option allows producers to use their own nonpedigreed seed for planting provided it first undergoes the same intense sampling and testing procedures used for certified seed being tested for Triffid.

To minimize grower’s potential risks and costs associated with using farm-saved seed, growers are encouraged to obtain and test a representative sample of the seed they intend to use for planting the 2011 flax crop.

If growers have not already done so, it is strongly recommended that growers submit a two-kg hand-screened sample to an FCC-recognized laboratory for a 1x60-g seed test. Completing this test prior to cleaning may save the grower the cost of unnecessarily cleaning contaminated seed.

This test is at the grower’s option. It is not a replacement for the 4x60-g test outlined below in the procedures.

ANY seed testing positive for Triffid must not be cleaned or planted. Growers with a positive result will be required to purchase certified flax seed.

To limit cross contamination, commercial cleaners may require an initial test prior to cleaning a flax seed lot.

PROCEDURES FOR TESTING FARM-SAVED SEED:

To ensure the highest confidence in the testing procedures, a sample of seed must be drawn across the entire lot of seed. This may be done a number of ways; however the best and most preferred method is to sample directly from a clean seed stream. This includes but is not limited to sampling as the clean seed is: • coming off the cleaners, • being loaded into a truck, • being transferred from the truck into a seed bin on farm.

A minimum four subsamples per one tonne (one sample per 10 bu.) must be drawn and mixed thoroughly. For example, a five mt lot will require 20 subsamples.

A lot may not be any larger than 20 tonnes.

A representative two-kg sample is to be submitted to a lab on the FCC‘s list of approved testing labs for Triffid testing (4x60 g).

ONLY SEED TESTING NEGATIVE WILL BE ACCEPTABLE FOR PLANTING. At harvest or delivery of the 2011 crop, the grower will be asked to provide a certificate of laboratory analysis that verifies the planting seed tested negative.

Approved seed testing laboratories are listed on the Flax Council website, along with any specific requirements established by flax buyers.

SOURCE: FLAX COUNCIL OF CANADA

OCTOBER 2011

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11

Continued from page 10

As the flax industry scrambled to address this concern, flax prices predictably fell and shipments essentially dropped to zero. A few months later that rigorous testing protocol slowly cracked the door open and shipments have largely resumed, but now with the hassle and expense of the testing protocol.

“There are three basic programs in what we call our Farm Stewardship Program,” Hill said. “We test the planting seed — what’s basically farmsaved seed, we test the pedigree seed and then at the producer level prior to shipment,” Hill said.

Outbound shipments to the EU are also tested at port position by the Canadian Grain Commission, adding another level of assurance that the shipments are GM-free.

“To satisfy the EU this protocol was developed that then allowed us to resume shipping,” Hill said.

Hill concedes it’s an expensive hassle, though he says recent funding from the federal government does help defray about half the cost to farmers. He insists, however, that the program is showing excellent results after just a couple of seasons.

“In 2009-10 the planting seed was showing this variety present in about 14 per cent of samples,” Hill said. “In 2010-11 GM material was showing up in just four per cent of samples.

This year — though it’s important to note that it’s based on just a few early sample — it appears that the number continues to drop.”

A similar trend can be seen at other points where sampling occurs.

For example in 2009-10, testing prior to delivery showed Triffid present in roughly 10 per cent of samples. By the following year that had dropped to seven per cent. So far this year it’s closer to four per cent, though again on a small number of samples.

“The trend is defi nitely headed in the right direction,” Hill said.

“Personally I think this is a very good news story.”

“We’re finding that the number of positive tests is declining and that the level that’s found in these samples also appears to be quickly declining.”

But the open question, of course, remains whether a longer-term solution can be found for farmers. Hill says there are two possible solutions that growers would benefit from. First the industry can continue to do its work with the testing protocol and 12

CANOLA, PULSE & SPECIAL CROPS GUIDE

“THE TREND IS DEFINITELY HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. PERSONALLY I THINK THIS IS A VERY GOOD NEWS STORY.” — WILLIAM HILL, FLAX COUNCIL OF CANADA continue to root out the source of the problem, with the hope that they can then convince EU regulators that testing is no longer necessary.

That however, might prove a tall order precisely because this event was unapproved, placing it squarely in a gigantic gray area. Regulators on this side of the Atlantic say it’s safe for human consumption. In fact it’s been approved at 100 per cent consumption rate. Back in Europe however, it’s a completely different story and any evidence of the presence of Triffid will have swift consequences. Hill concedes that he — and a lot of others in the flax industry — struggle a bit understanding how the standards can be so radically different.

“That’s what I really can’t understand — how it can be approved at 100 per cent in one jurisdiction — and we’re not talking about places that aren’t scientifically advanced — and less than .01 per cent in another,” Hill said. “There are different standards, and they’re not based on science. They’re based on other factors,

like politics. That’s a very dangerous position to be in in an era of a globalized economy and globalized trade.

The two are almost incompatible.”

So while the flax industry and Flax Council will continue to work diligently to test for Triffid, playing an industrywide game of search and destroy, a real long-term solution likely will come when reasonable standards are set. Something that allows farmers some assurance their hard work won’t be derailed by a lab test thousands of miles away.

If history is any guide, the move will only likely come from within the EU, regardless the Canadian flax industry’s efforts. When the EU’s domestic industries — in this case flax millers and bakers — can convince regulators that the product is needed, that’s likely when a more permanent solution will appear, Hill said.

“That’s basically what we’ve seen happen in progression with corn, soybeans and now canola into Europe,” Hill said. “It’s not about safety, it’s about access, and there’s a significant political component to all this.” c OCTOBER 2011

Biodiesel boost Two important but unrelated announcements have the canola industry looking for a bright future in biofuels

I

n recent weeks the Canadian canola industry has been celebrating what it says are two important milestones in developing an economically sustainable biofuels industry in Canada.

The first is the two per cent renewable content requirement in diesel fuel sold in Canada coming into force July 1, 2011.

“Farmers, the economy and the environment are all winners in this initiative,” said Canola Council of Canada (CCC) president JoAnne Buth.

Environment Minister Peter Kent and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced earlier that summer that the two per cent renewable content requirement in diesel fuel and heating oil was moving ahead, ending speculation the standard might be derailed.

At the time Buth noted the move would help grow canola production and create a “consistent domestic market for canola seed of about one million tonnes annually.”

Canola is both an excellent feedstock for biodiesel in Canada’s cold weather conditions, and is environmentally superior to fossil diesel. A Lifecycle Analysis Canola Biodiesel report shows that Canadian canola as a feedstock in biodiesel reduces life cycle greenhouse gas by 90 per cent compared to fossil diesel.

Another study by the Alberta Renewable Diesel Demonstration proved that canola biodiesel performed well in practical, on-road tests in cold weather.

Major diesel users were less pleased by the announcement, however, led by the Ontario Trucking Association. That group had long claimed the standard might be good for farmers, but would open up a can of worms for their industry.

Their public statement said issues including “operability, durability and warranties of heavy truck engines, the absence of fuel quality standards and the risk of price disparity between bio-

diesel and regular diesel” remain key concerns and noted that any attempt to address them was “disappointingly absent” from the government’s announcement, but conceded the OTA’s members now had little choice but to become compliant.

“Like it or not, the industry is going to have to live with the consequences,” the OTA stated in a posting to its website.

As it stands, most of the canola-based biodiesel that is used to meet inclusion standards in British Columbia, Alberta and now Canada is produced from Canadian canola processed into biodiesel in the U.S. and then transported back to Canada.

The canola council, in its media release, urged the federal government to take the next step of investing in biodiesel plant capacity in Western Canada. “This will enable Canada to produce its own biodiesel and keep the jobs in Canada,” said Buth.

The second major piece of news was a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision that reopened the U.S. as an important market for Canada’s canola industry.

The EPA approved a petition by the Government of Canada to use an aggregate approach for approval of Canadian

feedstocks, including canola, for biodiesel production in the U.S. The decision means biodiesel produced in Canadian plants using canola can be sold in the U.S. It also means biodiesel produced in the U.S. from Canadian canola can be marketed in the U.S. “We are thrilled that we have this opportunity to increase our exports of canola into the U.S. for use in biodiesel production,” said Buth.

This issue arose in February 2010 when the EPA introduced guidelines to meet its Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS2). In December 2010 the EPA published a regulation providing for an aggregate land use methodology for foreign feedstock compliance.

During the subsequent comment period, the Government of Canada filed a petition with the EPA in order to secure access for Canadian canola as a feedstock for biodiesel in the U.S. The CCC worked closely with Canadian government officials to develop the petition. The petition went out for public comment and no negative comments were submitted to the EPA. Now approved, the petition will provide secure access for Canadian canola as a sustainable feedstock for U.S. biodiesel markets under the RFS2 regulations. c

O c t o b e r 2 0 1 1 C A N O L A , p u l s e & s p e c i al c r o p s G u i d e

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Clint Jurke, Canola Council

of

Canada

canola

by Gord Gilmour

Clubroot hits hard

A

rch-capitalist Warren Buffett once observed that, nasty and brutish though they might be, recessions did serve one very important service.

When the economic tide goes out, he explained “you get to see who’s been swimming naked.”

It’s not a perfect analogy, but Alberta canola growers experienced something similar this season — a wet spring gave them a good look at exactly just how bad the clubroot problem has gotten. And the answer, unfortunately, wasn’t a particularly encouraging one.

The Canola Council of Canada says wet conditions early in the season hastened the spread of clubroot throughout fields and to new areas.

Higher incidences and severity than expected were recorded in Alberta counties that only had a few documented cases in the past. And at least one new county, Vermilion River, was added to the list of counties with known cases, says council agronomist Dan Orchard, who’s based in the hot spot of central Alberta.

“We had such a wet spring,” Orchard told CPSC Guide during a

16

C A N O L A , P U L S E & S P E C I A L C R O P S G ui d e

recent telephone call. “In terms of development of the symptoms, that’s very important. Free water in the soil lets the spores move around and encourages their spread.”

It meant growers in the region were suddenly fighting a war with several fronts. Heavy rains could cause soil erosion and carry infested soil to new areas. It also means mud cakes on machines and more readily transports the infection throughout fields and from field to field. More soil moisture also generally encourages spore germination, which meant more infected plants, more severe infections and greater yield loss, Orchard says.

“The conditions were conducive to earlier infections,” Orchard said.

“With earlier infections you see greater losses.”

The situation was bad enough that the council went public in a media release stressing that this was a “good” opportunity for growers in areas not in the heart of the infestation area around Edmonton to see if it had arrived this season. Orchard stresses that growers should be regularly checking their fields, and even went so far as to suggest growers

Perfect conditions in the spring made for a bad clubroot season this year in central Alberta in areas with no known infections should take a look.

“If you find it early enough, it is much easier to manage than waiting until you’ve got a full-blown problem,” Orchard said.

That’s because the infections are a numbers game. You can have clubroot spores in the soil, but not at a level high enough to cause a major yield hit. But if they are there they can suddenly rear their ugly head when they build up to a high enough level through anything from tight canola rotations to perfect conditions for spore germination like this spring in Alberta.

There’s even a relatively clear pattern to how the infections enter fields, which means farmers also have a few obvious spots to check for infections. The most obvious is at field entrances, because it’s a soil-borne disease. If it’s coming in on equipment, as soon as you sink your implement into the field, you’re knocking off the infected soil into a new field.

“Most farmers seem to turn right from the field entrance, so that’s where I’d start looking — just to the right of it,” Orchard said.

Another good strategy is to check O c t o b er 2 0 1 1

the fields during swathing. That’s because that field operation nicely coincides with the point in the life cycle of clubroot when it’s easiest to see. If clubroot is present, you should be able to find the galls — large growths on the roots — by pulling a few plants. By late fall they’ve begun to disintegrate into a material that’s the consistency of peat moss. That doesn’t mean you can’t test your field however — it just means you’ll have to have a lab test done on soil or plant tissue.

“Right around swathing time really does seem to be the best time to look,” Orchard said. “It’s also the time when suspicious patches can be seen clearly in the field.

Canola doesn’t compete well when it’s infected, so the weeds tend to take over. If you have an unexplained weedy patch, you should investigate a bit more.”

And if you do find the infection in your field, that might actually be a very good thing — though you might not think so at the time. If you find it, you can take some steps that are a bit of a hassle now, to prevent much larger problems later. Take the example of a small infection at the field entrance. There are a couple of common techniques growers have had good luck with, Orchard said. They can move their field entrance — and exit — to ensure that they’re not picking up a load of spores right before they leave a field.

“Some growers have also planted grass on the infected area right around the field entrance,” Orchard said.

“That also serves to prevent the spread of infections.”

Orchard also stresses following protocols to prevent spreading the infections, like cleaning soil off of equipment, and even sterilizing equipment when pulling out of a badly infested field. He also suggests taking an approach that realistically addresses the issue of large farms and a limited window to perform seeding operations.

“Farmers won’t always have the time to sterilize their equipment, that’s true — but they can leave the worst fields for last so they won’t be spreading the infection,” said Orchard.

His bottom line take-home message is one he said he wishes he could communicate personally to every farmer on the Prairies. Get out there and check fields, because if there is a problem every season and they don’t know about, it means the problem is just getting worse.

“There are management practices you can employ, and the earlier you find the problem, the easier and more effective they will be,” he said.

Despite the wet conditions causing a major problem in the region this past season, Orchard remains positive for the long term. Varieties with decent resistance are becoming widely adopted both in the worst-hit areas and in fringe areas and farmers have found either no yield penalty or an insignificant drag.

“That’s really been good news — there were areas where canola production was becoming uneconomic without resistant varieties,” he said.

But even more important is the way the industry has come to address the problem head on, he stressed. Today farmers, local counties, the province and industry reps are all working towards the common goal of preventing clubroot spread while also investing in the search for new tools to cope.

“I think people are really taking it seriously, and it’s like the entire industry has begun to pull together in the last few years to find solutions,” said Orchard. c October 2011

news brief Clubroot found in Saskatchewan

Clubroot has been confirmed in two Saskatchewan canola fields in the north-central part of the province.

SaskCanola was advised by industry and government personnel on September 30, 2011 that plants from two fields in the north-central part of the province showed the clubroot disease, said SaskCanola chair Brett Halstead.

“As the grower organization we want to ensure that all canola growers are made aware of the situation immediately. Collectively farmers will need to be more vigilant as to their farming practices this fall and coming spring in order to prevent further spreading of this disease,” Halstead said in a media release.

Halstead went on to say that confirmation of clubroot in Saskatchewan is “extremely unfortunate” but also “predictable” given the nature of the disease and its steady eastward march.

SaskCanola has understood this possibility for some time and invested close to $1 million of its levy funding on research programs that have focused on clubroot prevention and management including the purchase of new detection equipment for the provincial lab, Halstead said.

In 2009 the Ministry of Agriculture along with SaskCanola, industry and agriculture organizations, established the Saskatchewan Clubroot Initiative (SCI).

Through this initiative, a provincial clubroot management plan was developed by SCI to promote awareness and identify priorities for clubroot prevention and management.

Clubroot management and prevention includes proper crop rotation, scouting susceptible crops regularly, and good sanitation practices for farm equipment.

C A N O L A , p u l s e & s p e c i al c r o p s G u i d e

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soybeans

by Gord Leathers

Bean thinking Genetic challenges key hurdle to expanding Prairie soybean acres

T

he world needs protein and soybeans are clearly one of the prime sources supplying this growing demand.

An increasing market for livestock feed and animal products from the burgeoning Chinese middle class means the North American soybean grower will have an exciting opportunity to export the product back to its ancestral home in the Far East.

“China imports soybeans so I think that’s promising for the value of the crop into the future,” explains Agriculture Canada soybean breeder Elroy Cober. “As the middle class grows, you have more call for meat and milk and you need protein for that.”

So what does that mean to Prairie growers? It’s a good thing if you’re in one of the few areas that seem suited to them, says one government extension officer.

“I think in the whole scheme of things the soybean industry is definitely growing and it’s an exciting time to be in soybeans,” says Dennis Lange, the pulse crop specialist with Manitoba Agriculture.

“It gives farmers another good option beyond growing cereals and canola. It allows them to be a bit more selective about which fields they put things on because every field has its good and bad points and, on the fertilizer side you’re not putting any nitrogen down.”

Naturally more Canadian growers are poised to get in on the action but the soybean poses a problem for the majority of northern farmers — it is a mid-latitude plant that we’re attempting to grow in a region not entirely suited to it.

It goes gangbusters in the American Midwest but Canadian soybean production has been limited to southern parts of central Canada and a small area within Manitoba’s Red River Valley. That’s hardly surprising because what really undoes the soybean in large parts of the Prairies is its need for heat, light and moisture.

Those three factors all add up to

What really undoes the soybean in large parts of the Prairies is its need for heat, light and moisture 18

C A N O L A , P U L S E & S P E C I A L C R O P S G ui d e

the central problem that Canadian growers have with the ubiquitous soybean — maturity, or more accurately the lack of it. We sit on the northern edge of the soybean range so getting the harvest in before the first frost can be a bit of a nail-biter.

“If you look at a relative maturity map of North America you see these strips of latitude with maturity groups VII or VI in the southern U.S. moving up to Canada with 0 or 00,” Cober said.

“Our goal is to get things that mature within short-season areas of Canada including Manitoba, northern Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.”

To do that the newly formed Canadian Field Crop Research Alliance has set up the Advanced Canadian Field Crops Through Breeding, a three-year project that focuses on developing better varieties for farmers. One of the key crops they’re looking at is the northern soybean. Developing suitable varieties for Canadian growers means looking at the two major requirements.

The first is heat. Soybeans are heavily dependent on the number of heat units, a fact that Canadian agronomists have always lamented. Everyone gets that soybeans need more heat than our typical cool-season crops like canola and cereals, and breeding for less heat units is relatively straightforward, if time consuming and uncertain. Less clearly understood however, is the nature of the relationship between soybean plants and sunlight.

Continued on page 20 O c t o b er 2 0 1 1

everything “ Forget you’ve heard about Clearfield canola.

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AgSolutions is a registered trade-mark of BASF Corporation; ARES is a trade-mark, and Clearfield and the unique Clearfield symbol are registered trade-marks of BASF Agrochemical Products B.V.; all used with permission by BASF Canada Inc. Nexera is a trade-mark of Dow AgroSciences LLC. © 2011 BASF Canada Inc.

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11-09-30 12:13 PM

Continued from page 18

Soy story

The ancestral soybean is a viney plant with small black beans that grows in favourable regions of central China. Five thousand years ago Chinese farmers took Glycine soja into the domestic fold and its characteristics proved so valuable that the legendary Emperor Of Five Grains, Shennong, declared it sacred for its nutritional, nutraceutical and rotational properties.

The United States met the soybean in 1765 when a sailor named Samuel Bowen started growing the plant in Savanna, Georgia. The soybean is also credited with saving Midwest soil devastated by the dust bowl of the dirty thirties by delivering much needed nitrogen to the depleted land. Since then it’s moved north and provided protein, oil and chemical components to a vital and expanding industry.

In Canada the history of soybeans starts around 1881 when the Ontario Agriculture College planted “soja beans” for the first time. Over the years other experiments and tinkering saw the crop planted here and there. The first recorded soybean planting in Saskatchewan, for example, was in 1898, the same year it was first planted in Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Manitoba, according to the book History of Soybeans and Soyfoods in Canada.

But it wasn’t until the 1920s that the first commercial soybean crops appeared in Ontario. One chronicler of the time noted “Jeffrey Bros., and the Broadfield Stock Farm, near Whitby, Ont., Canada cultivated nearly 100 acres of soybeans this year. People are growing soybeans in a commercial way in Canada.”

In 1923 OAC 211 was registered, the first soybean variety ever developed in Canada. By 1939 that number had climbed to six.

Commercial production of soybeans didn’t make it out west until the Second World War caused critical shortages of oil and protein. In 1942 the first records of commercial soybean production appears in Manitoba, with 53,710 bushels produced on 2,510 acres.

It wasn’t until the 1970s that production really jumped in the region, at about the same time canola production really took off. In 2010 the province’s soybean growers planted a record 520,000 acres, harvested 510,000 and binned 16 million bushels — or roughly a 10th of Canada’s soybean production.

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“It’s not just heat that drives soybean development to maturity but day length as well,” Cober said. “The long days of the mid-summer actually delay flowering and maturity. When the days shorten, that’s when the plants take their cue and go quickly into flowering and maturity.”

The actual length of the day, or the photoperiod as it’s called by plant physiologists, is one of the seasonal cues that all plants read to some extent. In the waning days of summer, the shorter photoperiod tells the plant that the season is advancing, cooler weather is coming and it’s time to prepare for the winter.

Perennials, such as the chokecherry tree along the fenceline, drop their leaves, concentrate sugars for the next spring and hunker down for the winter. Annuals, such as soybeans, know that survival depends on next year’s seed so they put the hurry-up on maturity. But they only move when they get that signal, and around these parts it can come dangerously close to the first killing frost.

“With soybean as you move north you have the double whammy of mid-season lengthening days which slows things down and cooler temperatures which also slows things down,” Cober said. “So that’s what we’re up against as we try to move soybeans farther north in Canada.

We’re already on the fringe of soybean production.”

The trick then, is to find the right genetics and reprogram the soybean for a northerly climate. To find these genes, Cober went to a germplasm bank in Sweden where they’ve been experimenting with soybeans since 1909, when they started importing soybean oil in order to replace the dwindling stocks of whale oil.

In the mid-1930s Dr. Sven Holberg began to breed soybeans for extreme northern climates by using germplasm he had collected in Hokkaido, the most northern of the Japanese islands. This is where Cober found some of the genes he was looking for.

“We’ve found genes for early maturity and photoperiod sensitivity that let us have very early-maturing varieties,” Cober said. “Once you can actually grow that bean in those short seasons, the next challenge is to find if it’s competitive with other crops. It has to yield and compete with canola or barley in those short-season areas so that’s where the effort has to continue.” c O c t o b er 2 0 1 1

How generics changed the market

W TABLE 1

hen you check your final pesticide bill for 2011, you might think to yourself, “Hey, this seems lower than usual.” And you’d be right. The price of pest control has been steadily coming down and you need to look no further for an explanation than the advent of generic competition.

The pesticide industry in Canada is mature. Many of the most popular brands have been around for decades and are now off patent. Over the past two years, literally hundreds of generic and private label brands of popular pesticides (we’ll call them all generics here) have hit the Canadian market (Table 1). While this change presents challenges for the big players in the crop protection industry, it also offers opportunities for smaller startup companies. Above all, it is an extremely positive development for producers facing ever-shrinking margins. Regardless of whether you choose to give generics a try or stick with the traditional namebrand products, their arrival on the crop protection scene can only mean good news for the farming community.

Active Ingredient

Brand Name

# Registered “Generic” Brands

Glyphosate

Roundup

128

Clodinafop-propargyl

Horizon

16

Fenoxaprop-p-ethyl

Puma

12

Tralkoxydim

Achieve

8

Imazethapyr

Pursuit

8

Generics save farmers money. We have all witnessed the sharp decline in the cost of glyphosate, a product used by a vast number of farmers from coast to coast. Today, growers can clean up a weedy field for less than $3 per acre or about 10 per cent of what it cost when it was originally introduced in the ’70s. Dramatic price reductions have also slashed the cost of leading grass herbicides like Horizon and Puma. What may not be as apparent is the domino effect that this has had throughout the industry. When the price of a market-leading product like Horizon is reduced (as a result of generic competition), all 10 of the Horizon generic and private label brands OCTOBER 2011

must also follow suit. Once this occurs, other products competing with Horizon for grass control in cereals must also reduce their prices to stay competitive. In the end, competition from generics drives down the cost of grass control for all farmers.

Generics inspire innovation. Some have suggested that the increasing use of generics means the big companies will no longer be motivated to do research and launch new products here in Canada. Nothing could be further from the truth. When companies believe their products are at risk of being replaced by generic versions or by something with a few more bells and whistles, it motivates them to direct more of their resources towards new product innovation. The example of glyphosate is a case in point. The patent on the original Roundup brand expired long ago and there are now over 125 registered generic versions. Glyphosate producers continue to be motivated to improve the product in the hope that their improvements will stave off lower-cost generics. As a result, farmers now have a selection of concentrations ranging from 356 grams/litre all the way up to 540 grams/litre.

Some products now contain special surfactants that help them work faster; some are rainfast in minutes, while others contain ingredients that eliminate foaming. Almost every major company has registered a wide array of tank mixes with glyphosate and several companies are working on pre-mixes of glyphosate that incorporate other active ingredients. In the future, farmers can look forward to more glyphosate-tolerant crops as well as crops tolerant to glyphosate plus residual herbicides to further expand their weed-control choices.

Continued on page 22

RECENT NEW PRODUCT REGISTRATIONS The following are some of the new products to receive approval by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) during the past month. At this time, no announcements have been made regarding which will be available for sale in the upcoming season.

1. Mad Dog Plus — a new glyphosate option from UAP. 2. NAI 10110 Herbicide — a tralkoxydim herbicide from Nufarm for grass control in cereals.

3. Reclaim XRT — an improved version of Dow’s Reclaim for long-term brush control in rangeland.

4. Dichlorprop-DX Herbicide — a broad-spectrum broadleaf weed herbicide from IPCO for use in cereals.

5. Frontline 2,4-D XC Co-Pack — a concentrated version of Dow’s popular broadleaf herbicide for wheat.

CANOLA, PULSE & SPECIAL CROPS GUIDE

21

CHEMICALS

By Warren Libby, Savvy Farmer

Continued from page 21

That’s a lot of innovation for a product where generic competition has been greater than for any other pesticide in the industry.

Generics improve after-market service. Another common myth is that customer service suffers once generics hit the market. Again, this is not what happens in the real world. Since generics are chemically equivalent to their brand-name cousins and tend to be lower cost as well, one of the key strategies employed by big companies to defend their brands has been to offer enhanced customer service.

Building on the natural advantage that their organizational structure provides, the major companies have put in place large and well-trained customer service departments eager to answer any question growers may have regarding their brand-name products. Large-acreage farmers can now expect personal contact from most of the big companies.

Smaller generic companies just cannot match their field presence. Generous performance guarantees have also been introduced on many popular brands.

And love them or hate them, the very attractive rebate programs the big boys offer would not exist if there was no generic threat.

In the end, generics may not be the answer for every farmer. For some, the price advantage is too small to warrant abandoning the trusted namebrand product growers have used for years. With other products, the lower cost may simply be too hard to resist.

But regardless of the buying decision growers make, the recent proliferation of generic and private label brands has heated up competition and has driven down the cost of pest control. And this should translate into better margins for everyone. c

Canola Growers score cash advance program Federally under written cash advances that were available to Prairie wheat and barley growers through the Canadian Wheat Board will soon be handled by the Canadian Canola Growers Association.

The CCGA will “expand its administration capacity” under the federal Advance Payments Program (APP) starting Oct. 1 this year to including issuing APP cheques for winter wheat, to be followed by spring wheat, durum and barley starting April 1, 2012.

The CCGA, which already handles APP administration for over 20 different crop commodities in all four western provinces, will handle Prairie wheat and barley starting with the 2012-13 APP production period.

Farmers will continue to have access to the APP “without disruption,” the association said.

The association said it will “immediately” start preparations for its expanded program, including hiring additional personnel, expanding its cash advance call centre, and making “physical improvements” at the CCGA’s Winnipeg office.

Eligible farmers will be able to submit APP applications to the CCGA by phone (toll free 1-866-745-2256), fax (204-788-0039) or mail, online, through a local elevator, or in person at CCGA’s office.

By combining more commodities under one administrator, the association noted, “many farmers will receive their cash advance with one application form and one administration fee, saving them time and money.”

The CCGA charges an administra-

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C A N O L A , P U L S E & S P E C I A L C R O P S g ui d e

tion fee of $150 per APP application, whereas the CWB’s administration fee at the grain elevator has been $75 for cash advances under $100,000, or $200 for larger advances. About 40 per cent of eligible producers currently receive APP payments through both organizations, the federal government said in a separate release.

The CCGA also takes a holdback of three per cent on all advances, which is either applied to the “administrator’s liability” if a farmer is declared in default, or returned once the farmer’s advance is repaid in full.

The CCGA also charges an additional $75 application processing fee in cases where a farmer who has an existing 2012-13 advance, then applies for a cash advance on additional commodities during the same APP production period.

The cash advance program for winter wheat and fall rye is a 24-month program; for spring wheat, barley, durum and other spring-seeded crops, the APP is 18 months. Therefore, any 2012-13 cash advances on spring wheat, durum, barley or winter wheat must all be paid in full by Sept. 30, 2013.

The government said it doesn’t expect this change to affect the CWB in any “significant” way.

APP delivery “is not considered part of the CWB’s core business, nor is it a significant source of revenue for the CWB,” the government said.

The CCGA, in all four western provinces, already handles APP administration on canola, flax, rye, oats, mustard, canary seed, triticale, buckwheat, oilseed hemp and export grades of timothy hay.

“ My stress level from marketing has been much lower thanks to Ag-Chieve.” - Murray, AB member “ I’m really glad I joined Ag-Chieve. Worth every dollar.

Thank you! ” - Ken, AB member “ David’s the best I have seen at nailing the tops. I would give him 85% accuracy.” - Doug, SK member “ David Drozd was the only analyst who predicted the big rally of 2008. I acted on his prediction and it made me hundreds of thousands of dollars.” – Eric, SK member “ I would say Ag-Chieve has helped me become a better marketer...”- Chuck, MB member O c t o b er 2 0 1 1

©2011 Cargill, Inc. All rights reserved.

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PULSES

By Ron Friesen

Residual problems EU residue limit affects glyphosate use on lentils

A

strict limit for glyphosate residue on lentils, unknown until recently, could affect Canada’s lucrative lentil exports to Europe.

The Canadian pulse industry is warning producers to exercise caution in using glyphosate on lentils to prevent the European Union from rejecting import shipments which exceed its tiny maximum residue limit (MRL).

That possibility worries the industry because the EU is Canada’s third largest foreign buyer of lentils, after India and Turkey. Last year, Canada sold $110 million worth of green and red lentils to Europe, with green varieties predominating.

The potential threat to lentil growers is real, according to Carl Potts, Pulse Canada’s market access and trade policy director. He said Canadian companies who export lentils to Europe could refuse to buy from local producers who have used glyphosate.

“We’re not shut out of the market,” said Potts in an interview from his Winnipeg office. “But exporters and farmers have to take extra care to ensure any product the industry wants to ship to Europe is in compliance with current EU regulations.

“If a company is really focused on marketing to the EU, it might say to lentil growers, because of the tighter regulations, we can’t buy any product on which glyphosate has been applied.”

The problem is the EU’s MRL of 0.1 parts per million (ppm) for glyphosate residue on lentils. It is far

24

CANOLA, PULSE & SPECIAL CROPS GUIDE

more stringent than Canada’s MRL of four ppm or the five ppm limit in the U.S. Potts said the EU’s low MRL for lentils has actually existed for years.

But the industry was largely unaware of it until the discovery last March of glyphosate residue on lentils imported into the EU from Turkey.

The news sent ripples through the Canadian pulse sector because growers sometimes use glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup and generic products) as a pre-harvest desiccant on lentil crops.

Potts said the EU set MRLs for glyphosate on field peas and dry beans years ago when the product was first registered. But at the time no application was made for its use on lentils, so the MRL was set at a default level of 0.1 ppm as opposed to the higher level for other crops.

Now that its existence has come to light, the Canadian industry has reason for concern. Prairie farmers used glyphosate to dry down lentils last year because wet conditions left green weeds in fields and delayed crop ripening, said Potts.

Because crop maturity was uneven, conditions were more conducive for plants to absorb the product and store residue in the seeds, he said.

The industry is urging farmers to be careful about having the same thing happen this year.

Glyphosate is not actually registered in Canada as a desiccant.

Instead, its label use is for pre-harvest weed control. But when so employed, glyphosate also has the effect of dry-

ing down crops without going offlabel.

Since glyphosate was used preharvest on lentils last year and since the EU’s MRL is so small, the risk of exceeding it is real, said Potts.

For that reason, it’s critical that exporters know if lentil growers used glyphosate or not, he said.

Pulse Canada says growers should check with buyers to make sure they’re in compliance. Some companies may require producers to sign declarations regarding pre-harvest glyphosate use for the 2011 lentil crop, Potts said.

“Declaring whether glyphosate has been used on lentils is very important for marketers to know whether or not that product can be eligible to go to the EU or whether or not it has to go to other markets.”

Exporters are also doing their own glyphosate testing to ensure shipments comply with EU standards, said Potts.

But the process can be cumbersome, he added. The turnaround time for results is not quick and a test may cost $500.

Potts said the MRL for lentils has been Pulse Canada’s top marketaccess priority since the issue emerged in March.

He emphasized no one is accusing the EU of suddenly erecting a non-tariff trade barrier. Nor is he worried about a spillover effect into other commodities such as field peas, for which MRLs are well established.

The problem with lentils is a regulatory gap in which a true MRL was OCTOBER 2011

” We’re not shut out of the market, but exporters and farmers have to take extra care.“ — Carl Potts, Pulse Canada never set because the industry did not ask for one, said Potts.

That has now changed. Monsanto, which manufactures Roundup, has asked the European Commission for a regulatory amendment to raise the residue limit to the same level it has for peas, which is 10 ppm.

Monsanto has made two applications: one to the EU itself and another to the Codex Alimentarius (Latin for “Book of Food”), a collection of internationally recognized standards relating to food production and safety.

Pulse Canada and its American counterpart, the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council, support Monsanto’s applications, Potts said.

Monsanto made the submissions in May. The typical timeline for a decision is 12 months, said Trish Jordan, a Monsanto Canada spokesperson.

“Both submissions are being reviewed and we are hopeful for

new MRLs to be established by both agencies in the first half of 2012, which would be consistent with the 12-month time line,” Jordan said.

In the meantime, the industry recommends that Reglone, a registered desiccant, be lentil growers’ chemical of choice for pre-harvest dry-down.

The EU’s MRL for Reglone on lentils is 0.2 ppm, the same as in Canada, so compliance should not be difficult, said Potts.

But he said some growers find Reglone unsatisfactory because it is more expensive and less effective for weed control.

Even so, glyphosate should be avoided until the EU’s MRL is changed, crop officials say.

“Bottom line is that lentil growers should not apply glyphosate as a preharvest weed control tool due to the risk of damaging lentil trade relations with the EU,” said Neil Whatley, an

Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development crop specialist in Stettler.

“If perennial weeds are a problem in lentil crops, a producer can apply Reglone as a harvest desiccant and then apply glyphosate after harvest for weed control. Using glyphosate in the spring as a pre-seed weed control burn-off tool ahead of planting lentils is not a concern.”

The issue points to the need for countries to harmonize MRLs in order to avoid disparities, said Potts.

Currently, countries are all over the map on some MRLs. For example, the EU’s tolerance for glyphosate in dry peas is 10 ppm. The U.S. MRL is eight ppm while Canada’s is five.

In markets with no established MRLs, countries may adopt Codex default limits such as the one the EU uses for lentils. This makes it important for nations to be singing from the same songbook, Potts said. c

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canola

by Ron Friesen

news brief Options expanding in canola market

BMO bullish on canola prices

O

ne of Canada’s leading banks predicts canola prices will continue strong in the coming year, despite turmoil on the world’s financial markets.

The Bank of Montreal expects the farm gate price of canola will remain high for the rest of 2011 and throughout 2012, even as other commodities slump.

“Prices will continue to remain at what can certainly be said to be elevated levels,” said David Rinneard, BMO’s national manager for agriculture in Toronto.

“It remains a crop that Canadian farmers, and particularly Prairie farmers, should consider when contemplating their crop rotations for the coming year.”

In a recent monthly commodity outlook newsletter, BMO said canola prices should average $584/tonne in 2011 and $568/tonne in 2012. (All prices are in U.S. dollars.)

As of August 2011, canola had been averaging $590/tonne for the year.

By contrast, BMO forecasts wheat will average $11 a bushel for 2011 but only $8.50 a bushel in 2012.

In its newsletter, BMO noted other commodities also softened in August due to the negative global economic outlook and “political paralysis on both sides of the Atlantic.” Indices for oil and gas, metals and minerals, forest products and agriculture were all down.

But despite the threat of a renewed global recession and a record canola harvest forecast for Western Canada

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C A N O L A , P U L S E & S P E C I A L C R O P S G ui d e

“Solid demand” on three fronts should support canola prices in the year ahead this year, BMO’s outlook for the yellow crop remains bullish.

Rinneard said “solid demand” on three fronts should support canola prices in the year ahead.

Those include: canola’s role in producing biofuel, its increasing use in livestock feed and consumer preference for canola oil as a wholesome, healthful product, he said.

These three factors helped make canola the top-grossing crop in Canada last year, surpassing wheat for the first time, said Rinneard.

According to Statistics Canada, canola in 2010 garnered $5.6 billion in total farm cash receipts. Wheat (including durum) collected $3.9 billion.

Rinneard acknowledged canola may experience a “marginal decline” from current prices.

But he noted canola prices have more than doubled in the last five years and more than tripled since 2000.

Tight canola supplies and reduced expectations for soybeans will continue to support relatively high prices going forward, according to BMO economists.

ICE Futures Canada (formerly the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange) is now offering options contracts for canola for every month of the year, a move they say is aimed at providing more flexibility for farmers pricing crops and for speculators looking for capital gain potential.

Options contracts had been available for the five months of the year with a futures contract (January, March, May, July, November).

The introduction of serial options is expected to open up additional opportunities.

While most farmers are familiar with the futures market, the options trade does not often get the same attention.

The key difference between futures and options is that futures are an obligation, while options are a right, not an obligation, for a buyer to exercise a position in the market.

That is to say a participant who thinks the market is going to move upwards can purchase a call option and have the right to sell at that price if the market does later rise, or to do nothing if the trade won’t make them money. If they think the market is going to fall below the current value for a point in time, they can buy put options that lock in higher current prices and exercise them at the later date, or do nothing if the market doesn’t move or continues to decline.

Overall, the Canadian canola industry, most of it located in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, contributes $15 billion a year to the national economy, said Rinneard.

“It’s certainly a Prairie success story.” c O c t o b er 2 0 1 1

Markets

By David Drozd, senior market analyst Ag-Chieve Corporation

canadian farmers harvest a record canola crop

S

tatistics Canada is estimating a record 13.2-milliontonne canola crop. Yields improve from east to west with an estimated average yield of 28.5 bushels an acre expected in Manitoba and 35.7 bushels per acre in Alberta.

This year average yields are turning out to be a story of two extremes.

Some farmers in southern Manitoba are experiencing their worst crop ever, while others in Saskatchewan and Alberta are harvesting a bumper crop.

Statistics Canada estimates canola stocks, as of July 31, 2011, to be 1.8 million tonnes. This is down from the near-record 2.3-million-tonne carryout at the end of the 2009-10 crop year, but well above trade expectations of 700,000 — 1.3 million tonnes.

Looking ahead to 2011-12, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is expecting demand to pick up with a 25,000-tonne increase in exports and a 290,000-tonne increase in domestic usage. However, taking into account the 1.8-million-tonne carry-in and this year’s record crop, there will be an adequate supply of canola at the end of the 2010-11 crop year with their estimation of a 1.4-million-tonne carry-out.

Canadian flaxseed production is falling to a 19-year low, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in their September 13, 2011 outlook.

Seeded area is down 25 per cent and farmers are expected to harvest a 365,000-tonne crop in 2011-12. This is down from 423,000 tonnes in 2010-11 and a burdensome 930,000 tonnes in 2009-10. Ending stocks are expected to decline 48 per cent to 100,000 tonnes in 2011-12.

Canadian sunflower seed production is expected to be only 16,000 tonnes, as farmers seeded 82 per cent fewer acres in 2011-12. Carry-out is anticipated to decline 66 per cent to 10,000 tonnes.

Despite tighter ending stocks being predicted for most Canadian grain and oilseed crops, the direction prices take may have less to do with supply and demand, and more to do with international developments.

The uncertainty surrounding the economic situation in Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain (PIIGS) and fear of a double-dip recession in the United States is weighing on stock markets around the world. This can and often does spill over to the commodity sector, at least initially, as skittish investors sell first in order to stand aside, and ask questions later.

There is already evidence of long liquidation occurring in the crude oil market, which has lost 30 per cent of its value since peaking at $115 a barrel in early May 2011.

Weakness in crude oil tends to spill over and weigh on corn and soybean prices due to their inherent relation800

Canola Monthly Nearby

740

(Chart as of September 19, 2011)

680 620 560 500 440 380 320 260

@Barchart.com 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

October 2011

200

ship with the ethanol and biodiesel industry.

Canola prices lost $23 per tonne for the week ending September 16, 2011, despite the killing frost that put an end to the growing season in certain areas of the Prairies on September 13 and 14. Farmers’ hopes of a rally were quickly dashed, as this turned out to be a typical case of “buy the rumour — sell the fact,” with realization the weather premium that had been built into the canola, corn and soybean market, was no longer required in light of the advancing harvest.

As illustrated in the accompanying chart, canola prices have been narrowing the trading range since prices peaked in early February 2011. A decisive close beyond the parameters of this range should be the beginning of a sizable move (of at least $40/tonne) in the direction of the breakout.

A market’s unwillingness to react positively to a potentially bullish situation is often a telltale sign of a bull market growing tired. Bull markets need to be constantly fed, but with a record crop of canola coming up the driveway at $12/bushel or $13/bushel for deferred delivery — this market is susceptible to additional hedge pressure.

Fortunately, the weakness in the Canadian dollar is to some extent helping to ease the impact of increased competition and lower grain prices due the weakening euro.

Markets also have to contend with a strengthening U.S. dollar, which weighs on commodity prices.

Therefore, regardless of the bullishness of the supply and demand prospects, farmers should not lose sight of the fact grain and oilseed prices are at relatively high levels and markets seldom provide opportunities to lock in profits like this. c David Drozd is president and senior market analyst for Winnipeg-based Ag-Chieve Corporation. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. For information about grainmarketing courses and other educational tools call Ag-Chieve at 1-888-274-3138 or visit online at www.ag-chieve.ca.

C A N O L A , p u ls e & s p e c i al c r o p s G UI D E

27

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