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EASTERN EDITION
August 2013 $3.50
CHINESE
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Jianfeng Geng 6,000 miles from home
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“We know that 11CFT works. We base our ration around it.” — Peter Armstrong
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All purchases are subject to the terms of labeling and purchase documents. The DuPont Oval Logo is a registered trademark of DuPont. ®, ™, SM Trademarks and service marks licensed to Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited. © 2013, PHL.
Peter, Philip and Richard Armstrong; Armstrong Manor Farm, Caledon, Ontario.
The Armstrongs know that with the price of feed today, they need to make it count. That’s why they use Sila-Bac® brand 11CFT forage inoculant. This revolutionary corn silage product improves fibre digestibility, enabling higher corn silage inclusion rates and improving the overall feed efficiency of their herd. Using 11CFT is one of the management
decisions that helped Armstrong Manor achieve the Top Herd for Milk Value in the province (2012 Progress Report, CanWest DHI). For them, seeing was believing. They’ve proved that 11CFT works and they’re not going back. Talk to your local Pioneer sales rep for more information or go to pioneer.com/inoculants.
AUGUST 2013
PG. 22 CHINESE CHANCE With its Chinese owner and Chinese manager, this Manitoba farm is focused on adopting Canadian farm management to fuel expansion.
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BOOK REVIEW
PRODUCTION 37
Economist Albert Hirschman says it’s true. Fear really is your best friend.
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ON A SMALLER SCALE
Fertilizer delays at Canada’s retail outlets are costing farmers time, frustration and lost yield.
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Farmers like Alberta’s Rob Baerg are proving there’s more than one way to succeed at farming.
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ALL EYES ON THE HORIZON
READING ATWOOD
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BIG DECISION
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CHAIN REACTIONS When an equipment company loses a dealer network, it takes business smarts to plot a growth strategy.
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EVERY ISSUE 6
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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 Avenue, Winnipeg, 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 1-800-665-1362.
AUGUST 2013
HANSON ACRES It seemed so simple — a few days away with friends, but sometimes the view at home is best after all.
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GUIDE HEALTH If you ignore pain because you’re a whiner, you may be doing yourself more harm than good.
GUIDE LIFE — PLAY MORE All work and no play makes you unproductive, unsuccessful, and boring to be around too.
MACHINERY GUIDE Grain cart technology is evolving fast, which makes it more important than ever to choose right.
GUIDE HR — EAT YOUR FROG FIRST Here’s help to fight the urge we all feel to procrastinate on the jobs we don’t want to do.
PESTPATROL Which cover crops are best for suppressing weeds after winter wheat?
MENTOR UP So you want to teach the kids how to grow great crops, but don’t always have the time?
BIGGER, TALLER Grain bins are bigger than ever, which puts even more strain on overall system quality.
The nutraceutical industry has overpromised and underdelivered, but Ceapro may change all that.
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WHO NEEDS PUBLIC BREEDING? With more private research, do we still need tax-funded breeding programs?
When author Margaret Atwood gets invited to tour Saskatchewan ranchland, the plot thickens.
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RAISING THE BAR ON WHEAT For these Ontario producers, wheat has never been the weak link in their rotations. Their yields prove it.
Are the good times over? Or are the happy days going to stick around? Our Gord Gilmour asks the experts.
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BEAT THE BOTTLENECK
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PETUNIA VALLEY When the flood waters hit Calgary, they proved to Petunia Valley the kind of stuff the West is made of.
CONTENTS
BUSINESS
country-guide.ca 3
desk EDITORIAL STAFF Editor: Tom Button 12827 Klondyke Line, Ridgetown, ON N0P 2C0 (519) 674-1449 Fax (519) 674-5229 Email: tom.button@fbcpublishing.com Associate Editors: Maggie Van Camp Fax (905) 986-9991 (905) 986-5342 Email: bmvancamp@fbcpublishing.com Gord Gilmour (204) 453-7624 Fax (204) 942-8463 Email: gord.gilmour@fbcpublishing.com Production Editor: Ralph Pearce (226) 448-4351 Email: ralph.pearce@fbcpublishing.com ADVERTISING SALES Lillie Ann Morris (905) 838-2826 Email: lamorris@xplornet.com Cory Bourdeaud’hui Cell (204) 227-5274 (204) 954-1414 Email: cory@fbcpublishing.com Head Office: 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1 (204) 944-5765 Fax (204) 944-5562
Tom Button is editor of Country Guide magazine
There’s no going back More farmers travelled more miles in this past year than Canada’s farmers have ever cruised, flown or hiked before. And now, no matter what happens to commodity prices, there will be no going back. Even if there aren’t any hard statistics to prove it, it’s hardly climbing out on a limb to say that more farmers spent part of last winter in sun destinations than ever before. Or that more farmers trekked around Europe or toured the world’s great cities, whether here or abroad or cruised Southeast Asia, or flew on aid missions to Africa and beyond. Nor is it climbing out on a limb to suggest the upshot is this: More farmers in this past year have broadened their horizons, and they have rather liked it. A couple of years ago, we wouldn’t have quite believed it, not because farmers didn’t have the money to travel, but because the consensus was that the majority of farm men didn’t want to stretch their wings. Their wives might want to, but the men were happy enough to stay put with the same coffee gang and the same routine. In fact, we wrote stories quoting experts predicting that such tensions between husbands and wives would drive some couples toward divorce, and the grapevine assures us that they weren’t just stories. The fears were real. Some farm men are still reluctant to travel. That’s fine. Not everyone wants the same things. 4 country-guide.ca
Overall, however, I think we all have the suspicion that if there is a way to differentiate who has a promising future in agriculture from who is facing a prospect of stagnation and decline, it has less to do with the size of their current operation or the amount of education they have, or almost any other variable you can put a name to than it has to do with whether they can also enjoy interests beyond the farm, whether that is travelling or some other non-farm connection. In part, that’s because of the changing nature of our farm communities. There just aren’t as many farm families anymore, and they’re farther between, so if you’re going to restrict yourself to talking to the folks you see on your home stretch of gravel, the talk is going to get pretty old pretty fast. It also has to do with technology, because if you aren’t extending yourself beyond home, it probably means you aren’t using the new technologies that make those kinds of connections so easy and so invigorating. And it has to do with science. As you’ll read later in this issue, if you don’t extend yourself and if you don’t play hard, you simply aren’t as productive as you can be. So book a vacation. Farming is meant to be a vocation which rewards you with vibrant health. Thanks to the past couple years, more farmers are rediscovering this. Let me know what you think. I’m at tom. button@fbcpublshing.com.
Advertising Services Co-ordinator: Sharon Komoski (204) 944-5758 Fax (204) 944-5562 Email: ads@fbcpublishing.com Designer: Jenelle Jensen Publisher: Lynda Tityk Email: lynda.tityk@fbcpublishing.com Associate Publisher/Editorial Director: John Morriss Email: john.morriss@fbcpublishing.com Production Director: Shawna Gibson Email: shawna@fbcpublishing.com Circulation Manager: Heather Anderson Email: heather@fbcpublishing.com President: Bob Willcox Glacier Media Agricultural Information Group Email: bwillcox@glaciermedia.ca Contents of this publication are copyrighted and may be reproduced only with the permission of the editor. Country Guide, incorporating the Nor’West Farmer and Farm & Home, is published by Farm Business Communications. Head office: Winnipeg, Manitoba. Printed by Transcontinental LGMC. Country Guide is published 12 times per year by Farm Business Communications. Subscription rates in Canada — Farmer $36.75 for one year, $55 for 2 years, $79 for 3 years. Non-farmer $79 for one year. (Prices include GST) U.S. subscription rate — $35 (U.S. funds). Subscription rate outside Canada and U.S. — $50 per year. Single copies: $3.50.. Publications Mail Agreement Number 40069240. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Canadian Postmaster: Return undeliverable Canadian addresses (covers only) to: Circulation Dept., PO Box 9800, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3K7. U.S. Postmaster: Send address changes and undeliverable addresses (covers only) to: Circulation Dept., PO Box 9800, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3K7. Subscription inquiries:
Call toll-free 1-800-665-1362 or email: subscription@fbcpublishing.com U.S. subscribers call 1-204-944-5766 Country Guide is printed with linseed oil-based inks PRINTED IN CANADA Vol. 132 No. 9 Internet address: www.agcanada.com
ISSN 1915-8491 The editors and journalists who write, contribute and provide opinions to Country Guide and Farm Business Communications attempt to provide accurate and useful opinions, information and analysis. However, the editors, journalists, Country Guide and Farm Business Communications, cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the editors as well as Country Guide and Farm Business Communications assume no responsibility for any actions or decisions taken by any reader for this publication based on any and all information provided.
august 2013
www.ifao.com
Cover Crop Questions and Answers
by Adam Hayes, Soil Management Specialist, OMAFRA Cover crops are a hot topic these days. There are the usual seedings of red clover in winter wheat in the spring and other cover crops after wheat harvest. Cover crops are increasingly being planted in many other situations. Interest is growing in interseeding cover crops into seed corn, silage corn and grain corn. Cover crops are also being seeded after silage corn, edible beans and early harvested soybeans. There are many reasons to plant cover crops, including scavenging nitrogen from the soil or tying up nitrogen after a manure application. Cover crops can help suppress weeds, reduce nematode populations, improve soil structure and open up compacted soil. Most importantly, cover crops help protect the soil from wind and water erosion. Some answers to common cover crop questions: What is the difference between the named oilseed radish brands (such as Tillage Radish, Tilth Pro NitroRadish, GroundHog Radish) and common oilseed radish? A “named variety” is a variety or selection that has been refined for certain characteristics. Most selections currently available are a diakon radish. The chief characteristics of these are a large root and delayed flowering. Common seed oilseed radish is often a mixture of seed varying characteristics. Seed will vary from year to year giving a range of root size, from small to large. How late can I seed a cover crop? Seeding dates for cover crops vary by crop type and region of the province. Winter cereals can be seeded later than those killed by frost. Cover crop success will be high for crops planted up until the end of August. In many areas, the risk of frost killing the cover crop before it has enough growth increases up until the middle of September. After the middle of September in southern Ontario, it is usually not worth planting cover crops like oilseed radish. Why did my cover crop have poor growth? Cover crops that scavenge nitrogen, such as oilseed radish, oats, mustards and spring wheat, when planted after winter wheat may not do well. These cover crops require nitrogen for growth and there may not be a lot of nitrogen left after a wheat crop. They often end up competing with volunteer wheat for what little nitrogen there is. What about termination of the cover crop? Many of the common cover crops are killed by frost so there is no need to terminate them. There are a few cover crops that could provide surprises. The first is annual ryegrass. The name is a bit misleading as many of these will survive the winter. Usually it is sprayed in the fall. If left until the spring, be aware that it can grow to 60 – 90 cm (2-3 feet) in height during a warm wet spell in the spring. The others are oilseed radish, buckwheat and the mustards. If they are allowed to go to seed, they could become a weed problem for years to come. Of course the winter cereals will have to be killed in the fall or spring depending on the situation. Go to the Midwest Cover Crop website www.mccc.msu.edu to find an Ontario Cover Crop Selector tool to help you choose which cover crop to grow and to find information on planting, seeding dates as well as answers to many other questions. Think about cover crops as part of your cropping system, use the resources available to you and your chance of success will be much greater.
Machinery
By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor
With today’s big farms and even bigger yields, the way you get your crop out of the field is almost as critical as choosing what to grow in the first place. Efficiency is paramount. Manufacturers are rethinking and redefining what a grain cart does. It’s more than just getting a volume of grain from the combine to the truck, and it takes attention to detail, such as smooth surfaces, faster emptying, and reduced soil compaction. As we’re always discovering, it’s the small stuff that lets you keep your eye on the big picture. Here are just four reasons why it’s true with grain carts too.
brent 96-series avalanche When it comes to grain carts, it’s one thing to be big, it’s another to be fast, and still another to be durable. The goal of the Brent 96-Series Avalanche is to put them all together. Already possessing one of the largest-capacity grain carts with its 2,000-bushel capacity 2096, Brent is adding three new models to its lineup. The 1596 has a 1,500-bushel capacity, the 1396 has room for 1,300 bushels, and the 1196 offers a 1,100-bushel capacity. Also new to the Avalanche series is the multi-directional downspout, offering greater placement control of the grain as it comes out of the cart. Brent carts offer a series of wheel and track options. The 2096 and 1596 are equipped with steerable tandem axles which turn in unison with the tractor. That translates into enhanced manoeuvrability, and the oscillating design means all four wheels remain on the ground, spreading the weight evenly and increasing flotation.
www.brentequip.com
demco 1400 These days, it’s all about maximizing performance. When your crops deliver top yields, you want to get the harvest out of the field in short order. Demco says its 1400 grain cart can help, with a wide variety of features, options and accessories. Start the wheels rolling with a choice of singles, oscillating duals or tracks, then add in a 22-inch diameter, computer-balanced discharge auger with a Posi-Drive connection. The auger is forward positioned to give the operator superior in-cab visibility, and the adjustable spout provides a more even flow when unloading. Durability is also enhanced with the UltraFlyte auger flighting. Made with high carbon steel and a thicker outer edge, Demco pledges 50 per cent longer wear life, and UltraFlyte’s literature cites a faster unloading rate.
www.demco-products.com
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A u g ust 2 0 1 3
kinze 1500, 1300 and 1100
parker 48 series
With their low-profile and low-centre-of-gravity design, the Kinze 1500, 1300 and 1100 grain carts are engineered for high-performance in a range of capacities suited to your operation. Each also offers a fulllength horizontal auger. Unloading speeds are up to 750 bushels per minute to help keep the combine rolling. On the 1500, 36-inch-wide rubber tracks help reduce soil compaction while improving flotation, and the 1300 and 1100 models let you can choose flotation tires, row crop tires or tracks. For all of the added features, you still get “Classic” Kinze, with a rugged and reinforced frame, and an interior design that includes smooth, angled corners and a powder coat finish that translates into longer life and greater durability.
Dependable and fast with lots of capacity, Parker’s 48 Series grain carts are built to let you keep things moving at the harvest. Model 1048 has an 18-inch auger and a capacity of 1,000 bushels, and can unload at more than eight bushels per second. The 1348 carries a 22-inch auger and a capacity of 1,325 bushels, with the capability of unloading at a rate of more than 12 bushels per second. According to the company, their uniquely designed 180-degree unloading auger folds down to provide extra reach. A featured hydraulic spout makes it easier to unload directly into the centre of a truck, all from the comfort of the tractor cab. Both models in the 48 Series come with the option of single or dual wheels or with tracks for fields where compaction may be a concern.
www.kinze.com
www.parkerequip.com
August 2013
country-guide.ca 7
doing More. using less.
A series on being ready for the farming challenges ahead
Beyond the picket fence Early Riser planters deliver photocopy stands By Bill Hoeg Case IH Planter Sales and Marketing Manager in North America
t
he planter is the most important piece of equipment on your farm. It will set the course for the whole season. If your seed isn’t placed accurately to maximize yield potential, you will see a direct impact on profitability. Purdue University research says that uneven emergence can reduce corn yields by 9 to 22 percent1. Significant plant spacing variability also is important and can reduce corn grain yields from 2 to 4 percent2. We recommend that farmers consider six agronomic drivers of seed placement accuracy when planting: • • • • • •
Proper seed depth Uniform seed depth across the planter and throughout the field Good soil-to-seed contact Uniform soil pressure all around the seed Accurate seed population Accurate in-row seed spacing
You often hear planter manufacturers talk about picket fence stands. They focus exclusively on in-row seed spacing and accurate populations, because those two features are easiest to control and demonstrate picket fence stands. However, the first four agronomic principles impact what many agronomists call “photocopy plants,” or uniformity of the plants. While both picket fence stands and photocopy plants are important, the biggest impact on yield is photocopy plants. At Case IH, we design equipment with agronomic principles in mind. Every individual plant counts, and that’s why we design our equipment specifically to help maximize yield potential. Case IH Early Riser® planters are designed to be agronomically correct and have multiple, patented features. The Early Riser row unit has 12 unique features that all contribute to earlier, more uniform emergence.
Measuring photocopy plants In side-by-side trials comparing the Early Riser row unit to competitors, Case IH has collected more than 162,000 measurements. Net Effective Stand Percentage (NESP) – a
measure of photocopy plants – was calculated. To measure the productivity of a corn stand, evaluate the plants: • 100% Productive – Plants at the same growth stage, where they should be. • 50% Productive – Plants one to two leaves behind are actually half “weed.” They do not add to productivity, and they take nutrients from 100% plants. • 0% Productive or Weeds – Any plants that are three or more leaves behind. The data demonstrated the Early Riser row unit produces 6 to 10 percent improvement over conventional row units, specifically: • 6 percent better NESP at 4 and 5 MPH • 7 percent better NESP at 6 and 7 MPH • 10 percent better NESP at 8 MPH Thanks to Case IH agronomic design, Early Riser planters consistently produce earlier, more uniform emergence and higher yield potential. To learn more about agronomic considerations at planting, photocopy plants, net effective stand and the agronomic design of Case IH Early Riser planters, check out our first Agronomic Design Insights video at www.CaseIH.com/AgronomicDesign.
1. Yield impact statistics based upon Purdue University Department of Agronomy Publication AGRY-91-01 "Stand Establishment Variability in Corn" 2. Yield impact statistics based upon Purdue University Department of Agronomy Publication AGRY-91-01 "Stand Establishment Variability in Corn." Based on a 200-bushel yield potential and 26,000 to 30,000 seeds per acre with spacing variability with standard deviation of about 2 inches.
caseih.com
While other companies are still searching for the right technology to provide both efficiency and power, we’re putting more proven, reliable engines in the field than ever before. Over 30,000 Case IH SCR engines with 15 million+ operating hours, to be exact. Case IH SCR technology, with its after-treatment exhaust system, maximizes horsepower, giving you more power to the ground while still meeting tough Tier 4A regulations. The world of farming is changing. Be ready with the proven leader in efficient power. To learn more, visit your local Case IH dealer or www.caseih.com/efficientpowerctg813.
be ready.
Š2013 CNH America LLC. All rights reserved. Case IH is a registered trademark of CNH America LLC. www.caseih.com
BOOK REVIEW
IT CAN’T BE THAT EASY With more farmers starting to think a dose of tough times wouldn’t be such a bad thing, Albert Hirschman seems prophetic. Maybe fear really is your best friend Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman By Jeremy Adelman Princeton University Press, 2013 $33.49 at www.amazon.ca
Reviewed By Tom Button, CG Editor o one seemed shocked. At a recent roundtable with what you would have to call some pretty aggressive farmers, the first person to say it acknowledged he wouldn’t normally talk about it out loud. Even so, he felt he was only saying what a lot of other farmers were thinking. “What I could use is for commodity prices to take a serious hit,” he said. “I could use some of the farmers in the area to start feeling uncomfortable, maybe start thinking now is the time to get out.” On the surface, it’s a quote reflecting the growing belief that there aren’t enough resources on this planet for everyone to farm as many acres as they’d like. There’s more to it than that, though. It also says that we have quite a good idea about how the future is going to turn out. If we have the land, and if we farm as productively as we do today, all will be well. Princeton economist Albert Hirschman would like us to think twice, however, not because he has any elaborate theories about commodity cycles, but because we’re human. Hirschman’s thinking about humans as business leaders can be summed up in a few quick words. We always get it wrong. In fact, according to Hirschman, we’re hard wired to be wrong about the most important decisions we ever make. And it’s a darned good thing we are. This example from Hirschman will ring true to farmers, just as it rang true to Malcolm Gladwell when he eulogized the economic guru in the June 24 issue of the NEW YORKER, following Hirschman’s death last December. It starts with Boston and New York City in the mid-1800s. The two cities
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were on opposite sides of Hoosac Mountain, a five-mile lump of granite that kept them from pooling their resources and dominating the U.S. economy. Not surprisingly, the idea emerged to carve a railway tunnel through the mountain. It would be a mammoth task, but the best engineers and the smartest geologists figured the work would net out at a substantial but reasonable $2 million. They got that wrong, partly because the rock proved harder than expected, but also because there were hiccups and inefficiencies, just as with anything on the farm. By the time the first train ran through the Hoosac tunnel, in fact, the project was 10 times over budget — a sum so high, no one in their right mind would ever have approved it had they known. But because they didn’t know, the work went ahead, and the Boston-New York became a juggernaut. Hirschman toured the globe working on big projects and small, and he found it was always the same story. Project benefits were always overestimated, and project costs were always underestimated, especially when it came to farms and agriculture. Irrigation projects are among the worst for getting it wrong, he found, but they aren’t alone. Any significant change will put unexpected pressures on a farm, and the farm will need to respond with unexpected creativity and dedication in order to survive. For Hirschman, however, that isn’t a bad thing. In fact, the key realization is that there are times when getting it wrong is good. That doesn’t mean farmers should be foolhardy with their estimates. But they should also recognize that they’re smarter than their plans.
If short-sighted forecasts didn’t lead to crises, Hirschman says, our greatest decisions would never get made. “Creativity always comes as a surprise to us,” Hirschman wrote. “We can never count on it and we dare not believe in it until it has happened.” In other words, no one would force themselves into a business plan where the only way to succeed is to have a sudden, blazing insight about how to go forward. But in the long run, those insights are what decides who survives. You may plan to slowly evolve by continuously putting one foot in front of the other, but Hirschman says the future is probably going to take a leap. It’s the farms that have a string of brilliant moments — or even only a couple — that will leapfrog the others. The good news, says Hirschman, is that the future isn’t nearly as predestined as we might often think. It’s open to as many possibilities as we can imagine. Maybe farmers at large should wonder if we’ve been playing a bit too safe, thinking it’s OK to gradually evolve without seeing that the process of winnowing out all but the most insightful is still underway. No one could have predicted commodity prices over the past generation, or the pace of consolidation. Hirschman would tell us that no one will be able to predict them over the next generation either. If that makes you nervous, he would say, that’s an indication you might be one of the survivors. CG
AUGUST 2013
business
On a smaller scale Farmers like Alberta’s Rob Baerg are proving “get big or go home” isn’t the only way to succeed
Photography: oostlander photography
By Maggie Van Camp, CG Associate Editor
s words go, this one is a mouthful. In fact, “consolidation” seems about as long and spread-out a word as you’re likely to say in an average day, which makes abundant sense when you consider the trend that it describes, probably the biggest and most powerful trend in today’s agriculture. Consolidation is everywhere. Grain companies have merged into global giants. Input companies have been on a mergers-and-acquisitions tear too, and mutual funds are buying wide swathes of land. Farmers have jumped in too. In every corner of the country, there are farms today that are growing more acres or raising more livestock than our parents ever thought possible. And while the coffee shop banter is all about whether these big new farms will thrive or stumble, there isn’t an equipment manufacturer on the continent that can build its super-size tractors, airseeders and combines fast enough to meet demand. August 2013
Probably no area in this country, however, has seen more action than southern Alberta. Just consider that the world’s largest meat packer has recently moved into Brooks, or that in the southwest, one dryland farmer manages over 100,000 acres, and that not far from Lethbridge, “feedlot alley” stretches for miles and Hutterite colonies proliferate. But hold onto your hat. Not everything under that big sky is a big farm. Successful smaller farms abound across Canada, even in southern Alberta, and although these farms may be lower in gross revenues or acres, they’re a huge part of the farm population and of rural communities. According to the 2011 Census, farms producing less than $250,000 gross receipts are still the majority — 56 per cent of all farms in Canada. One of these smaller farms is Rob Baerg’s, who has grain farmed for 25 years on two quarters near Rosemary, Alta. Baerg’s approach to farming is calm and precise. Every move is thought out. Together with his wife Joyce, they’ve lived well but not extravagantly,
and raised and educated four children with almost zero off-farm income. Furthermore, he didn’t win a lottery. Nor did he sell land for development, or inherit the farm. With the help of friends and family, the Baergs moved to this area north of Brooks to start farming, and their goal has always been to farm better, not bigger. How Baerg has been able to carve a living out of 270 seeded acres of irrigated land defies the opportunity cost model. He squeezes more gross margin out of his acres by growing forage seed, higher-yielding No. 1 canola, high-protein quality wheat and leafcutter bees. Farming on a smaller scale means he is able to farm precisely, and he is able to extract more profit per acre by applying his time, effort and intellect. “If I can boost yields by 10 per cent with very little or no additional costs, that’s pure profit,” Baerg says. “Sometimes that can double the net income per acre.” Continued on page 12 country-guide.ca 11
business unrealistically low income farms from the statistics, since a large number may use farming for tax deductions or as a hobby. Here’s what Esqueda found with the remaining group. Unlike large and very large farms, which are export oriented, most successful small and medium farms are oriented to serving local or niche markets. Using the Census of Agriculture statistics, Esqueda found in 2010 that 62 per cent of farms in the small and medium category reported positive net farm income, while 38 per cent of farms did not. Furthermore, when Esqueda eliminated the farms making negative net income from this small/ medium-size category, she found that the remaining farms, even though they’re small, had above-average gross margins.
Continued from page 11 Baerg intently manages his wheat to get high protein (14 to 16 per cent on average) by adding ESN, so nitrogen is available during head fill. A month and a half before harvest, he cuts back on irrigation and finds the wheat pulls up the moisture including the nitrogen and dries down better. Although yields are slightly less than if he kept irrigating, he’s further ahead in most years with the protein premium. Management like this takes extra time and effort. Baerg can be precise in seeding and harvest timeliness because he’s not trying to squeeze more acres into a limited window, and that enables him to maximize output and quality for every acre and for every drop of spray, grain of fertilizer and seed. “Our goal is to get all crop in the bin at No. 1,” he says. Also, Baerg manages his crops to maximize returns for leafcutter bees, now worth about $100 per gallon. The Baergs custom pollinate for other seed growers and are able to get significant, steady income from the bees. “Our farm has changed so now we farm around the leafcutter bees,” Baerg says. “Now we grow the crop to sell the pollinators.”
Many ways of being small When Arden Esqueda, economist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada focused in on farms earning greater than $10,000 and less than $250,000, she found a group of niche marketers who were economically viable, innovative and market oriented. But that’s not all she found. One of the problems with analysing statistics from this group is they are so diverse in income, type of production, income sources, business models and goals. One helpful strategy was to not include 12 country-guide.ca
Smaller acres give Baerg a chance to focus on purity and quality premiums that can double his net per-acre returns Simply put, these farmers tended to generate more income per dollar of revenue relative to larger farms, exactly as Baerg would have told us.
Volatility impact Five years ago, Baerg wrote Country Guide to tell the editor that ag publications were missing a key point — small farmers can be and are successful and economically sustainable. By then, Baerg had survived and thrived through some pretty tight times. Like other farmers, however, he was unaware of the roller-coaster that was about to embark. That same year, the average price of all wheat in Alberta increased 55 per cent to $7.81 per bushel. From 2005 to 2010, Canada’s total farm revenues from sales rose 41 per cent and net income 126 per cent. These higher commodity prices combined with low interest rates spurred land prices and magnified the wave of farm consolidation. Subsequently, during the same time period the number of farms in the $10,000 to $100,000 category decreased by nine per cent, and the number plunged 11 per cent for those selling $100,000 to $250,000. These farmers either moved up into the next income bracket, or they retired or got out of farming. From Baerg’s front porch, the canola still blooms yellow, the bees still buzz and the wheat heads still wave in the wind. Over the last five years, the family has paid off their remaining mortgage, finally renovated their kitchen and educated all their four children who have subsequently moved out to begin lives of their own. Continued on page 14 August 2013
business
August 2013
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business
Gross margins of farms with positive net operating income (NOI), 2010 Revenue Class
# Farms
Revenues
Expenses
NOI
Gross Margin
$10,000 to $24,999
29,740
$499,712,593
$300,974,061
$198,738,532
40%
$25,000 to $49,999
30,945
$1,115,275,707
$719,915,585
$395,360,122
35%
$50,000 to $99,999
32,985
$2,389,096,037
$1,660,229,484
$728,866,552
31%
$100,000 to $249,999
43,330
$6,966,521,547
$5,126,964,684
$1,839,556,863
26%
$250,000 to $499,999
19,285
$6,609,082,532
$5,098,355,419
$1,510,727,113
23%
$500,000 to $999,999 $1,000,000 and over 3,845 Total
7,540 11,040 167,670
$5,119,462,207
$4,102,598,623
$1,016,863,584
20%
$656,359
$9,525,863,231
$1,514,793,128
14%
$33,739,806,982
$26,534,901,087
$7,204,905,894
21%
Continued from page 12
Why not invest?
Baerg has grown his prosperous leafcutter bee operation and still has some minor gas well revenues. He continues to grow forage seed, and also to push canola and wheat yields above the area average. “There’s a premium for purity and that’s something a big farmer doesn’t have the ability to do,” Baerg says. Early in their farming career, the Baergs made a concerted effort to expand their line of equipment with minimal debt or with no debt at all. In the earlier years, their commitment to debt servicing approached $40,000 per year. “I have not concerned myself with the tax implications in purchases, but I do concern myself with interest costs,” Baerg says. Dave Sparling and Nicoleta Uzea of the Richard Ivey School of Business in London, Ont., recently examined the main trends and patterns in capital investment on Canadian farms from 2001 to 2009. They found large farms invested more in farm machinery and equipment, farm real estate, and stocks, bonds and other financial assets, while small and medium farms invested proportionately more in house construction and environmental protection. “As a result, large farms will likely enjoy increased productivity and competitiveness, which will mean more incentives and resources to invest in the farm,” says Sparling. “In contrast, the productivity and competitiveness of small farms will likely continue to erode.” Also, small farms exhibited a pronounced decline in investing over the 2001 to 2009 period, while average investments by large farms increased almost continuously over the past decade and especially after 2005. “Scale matters in farming on almost every dimension — income, investment and government payments,” Sparling says. “Larger farms will continue as the largest farms in almost every sector invest 10 times more than the smallest farms.”
What doesn’t come through in statistics is why small farmers don’t invest. It’s assumed that they can’t get financing or can’t compete, which does happen. However, some small farms simply don’t want to expand: Maybe they’d prefer to extract more from the consumers with better marketing, or maybe they are already stretched for time with offfarm work, specialized production and marketing, or they are entering retirement age. Others are just scared off by escalating prices. At up to $4,000 per irrigated acre, land in the Rosemary area has increased five times since Baerg bought in 1988. Due to it being an excellent area for leafcutter bees and an irrigation district, this part of Alberta has many farms that are under a section. It also has a strong Mennonite community with many young people interested in farming, so very little land is up for sale or rent. Farms with revenues from $10,000 to $250,000 accounted for 38 per cent, or $105.1 billion, in land and buildings in Canada in 2010. For farmers like the Baergs, those assets came from a lifetime of a conservative approach to debt and some personal sacrifice. For years they didn’t buy new cars or go on expensive trips, and Rob swallowed his pride and drove older equipment, all for the goal of being debt free. “Now the yearly outlay of cash that used to service debt is available for purchasing newer equipment,” says Baerg. Baerg hasn’t stopped investing in machinery, but it continues to be smaller for the Prairies and well used. Now Baerg buys with the conscious intent to improve his efficiency, and also to boost the quality and the productivity of the crops and the leafcutter bees. In the last five years, the Baergs bought a bigger drill, higher horsepower tractor, and hopper bottom bins. Plus, they built a heated shop and paid off the remaining mortgage on the farm. The new-to-him 30-foot disc drill, plants alfalfa in 35-inch rows, allowing him to reduce seeding
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August 2013
business
rates and cultivate between the rows. This cultivation helps keep the harvested seed uncontaminated and allows him to grow certified forage seed for an extra year in the rotation. “Besides the bees like bare ground,” Baerg says. However, to pull the wider drill and a cultivator, Baerg needed a more powerful tractor. The drive toward precision and cultivating between the rows to ensure purity in hybrid alfalfa also included GPS and auto tracking technology. The other main investment has been to expand on-farm storage capacity to hold at least one-year’s production. Primarily this was a marketing strategy for commodities. Baerg doesn’t like to pre-sell more than 25 per cent of his canola and now feels better positioned to market wheat. For the bins, he devised a low-cost solar drying system using old irrigation pipes. A five-hp electric motor draws air through the scrap pipes that he collected from his own place and local dealers. The air is pumped up through the central rocket airflow system in the bins drying down at much lower operating cost. Baerg also shares equipment with his brother, Rick, who farms three miles from him. They farm at different paces so it works well. A few years ago they bought a high-clearance sprayer after waiting eight days for the plane to spray a 15-acre field of forage seed. Rob figures the delay cost him $12,000. “The high-clearance sprayer changed the way we farm,” he says. Two of the Baergs’ sons are interested in farming but currently have other careers. Most small family farms draw income from a variety of sources in addition to farm income, including other employment and pension income. The total family income for farms generating less than $100,000 in gross revenues was on average about $85,000 in the years 2006 to 2010, says Patrick Girard, senior media relations officer for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada This year Stephen started farming with a relatively big bite — renting a quarter, fitting it with an irrigation pivot, and borrowing his parents’ equipment and bees to grow hybrid canola seed. The Baergs’ other son Jason is already in a farming venture with them, with an ornamental tree farm. Parents provide the equipment, trees and land, and son harvests and markets the trees. They split the profits and enjoy the trees. Although it’s not a big money-maker, every little bit of profit helps especially when you’re starting a business. Years ago Baerg incorporated his farm to take advantage of the corporate tax rate, with a strategic mix of salaries and dividends and the ability to use shareholder loans. Although they’re a smaller farm, they incorporated the land outside of the corporation to be able to take full advantage of the capital gains exemption. Incorporating was not a succession stratAugust 2013
egy. He wants his sons to make their own decisions and start their own enterprises, even if they are smaller. Small and medium farms are an important entry point for beginning farms — a time of peak energy, innovation, technological know-how and quiet head-down asset accumulation. From 2006 to 2011, there were 33,490 new entrants to farming in Canada and 81 per cent were operating farms generating less than $100,000 in revenues. Interestingly, more folks are retiring early from other off-farm careers and pursuing their dreams of farming, and mostly these are smaller farms. More than a third of new small farm operators were over 55 years old, according to the 2011 Census. However, this size of farm is a rapidly dwindling group. Their portion of production is shrinking, contributing 16 per cent of total gross farm receipts in 2011, and the percentage of farmers in this group is declining at a faster rate than among large farmers. Farmers who participate in alternative market activities such as direct marketing, agri-tourism, roadside stands can garner greater income on their existing land base. Small farms that produce nichemarket products and value-added products have the ability to set their own price, within the context of the prices of their target market, says Girard. “Small farms that market directly to consumers, restaurants and retailers can develop a brand advantage and a loyal customer base.” That rings true, says Baerg. “I’m focusing on doing more with the land that we have.” CG country-guide.ca 15
BUSINESS
All eyes on the horizon There’s some good news, but not as good as we hoped. There’s some bad news, but not as bad as we feared. And in between, there may be the glimmer of a plan By Gord Gilmour, CG Associate Editor On those old wooden ships of yore, it was that lone sailor in the crow’s nest who kept the ship and crew safe. If you did it well, nobody really noticed. Get it wrong however, and the scavengers would grin from ear to ear. This summer, farmers know exactly how it feels. Looking out is your job, and it has probably never been more difficult. Connect to the Internet and a dozen experts will tell you in a flash that farming is heading into a major correction, the bull run is almost over, and a long, tough stretch lies ahead. But wait a minute. Last time you looked, wasn’t everyone still talking about burgeoning world populations, gangbuster ethanol sales, and the pot at the end of the rainbow? Getting it right is essential. Should you be investing in more land, or should you be selling? Should you hold that combine another year, or keep scaling up? In farming today, the stakes are huge. Every decision packs enormous consequences, so to get more insight, C OUNTRY GUIDE has tried to do what smart businesses always do. Break the problem into its component parts, and then get the best insight we could find. Consider these pages our start.
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business
Crop prices What goes up…
W
hen this hot market in grain prices began a few years ago, no one thought it would last forever. It turns out they were right. Most smart analysts always said the peaks of the last three years were only temporary. But they also said we seem to be in a new trading range, and that we probably won’t drop back to the toxic lows of the 1980s and ’90s. “We’ve basically seen a trifecta of forces influencing high grain prices,” says Mike Jubinville of ProFarmer Canada, speaking to us from his Winnipeg office. “There’s been biofuels, a big surge in spec money into commodity markets, and a series of back-to-back, almost unprecedented weather-related production problems in major export regions of the world.” Together, they’ve led farmers to invest in more production and more profit, which were rational decisions. But now, farmers need to start engineering their own soft landings. Each of those three big bulls is running low on steam. Take the issue of speculative money. Years ago there were tight limits on how much fund money could play in grain markets. But during the George W. Bush presidency, that was deregulated. The new regs let everyone in, from hedge funds to mom and pop investors. That’s all well and good, Jubinville says, as long as you remember that ProFarmer’s Mike Jubinville: “Sooner spec money runs hot and cold or later, this pattern will break.” — and so far during this new era, agriculture has been hot. The ride may not be over, but with less energy getting injected by the funds, commodity prices will flatten. Weather has a role too. “Really, the word I keep wanting to use is ‘unprecedented,’” Jubinville says. “There’s never been another period where we’ve seen back-to-back-to-back production problems… sooner or later, this pattern will break.” Besides, it turns out the third leg of the trifecta has limits too. Biofuel mandates are likely to stick around for the foreseeable future, especially with Obama support, but don’t expect more growth out of what’s now a mature sector. When the 2013 crop rolls in, Jubinville isn’t predicting doom and gloom — but it’s time to manage risks with shrewd marketing. Also, keep those business projections handy, and check the price assumptions that you’re betting the farm’s future on.
August 2013
country-guide.ca 17
business
Ethanol
Divorced from oil
M
any farmers will tell you that ethanol mandates have forged a new economic reality, and that the price of oil and the price of corn are now inextricably linked. Calgary-based energy analyst Peter Tertzakian isn’t so sure. The author of A Thousand Barrels a Second, Tertzakian agrees that ethanol mandates raised grain prices — but he sees little evidence of a durable link between grain and oil prices. “What was happening in energy markets was essentially substitution of ethanol for oil,” Tertzakian says. “That substitution has now happened, and for any new growth in demand for ethanol, it has to be economically competitive — and it’s not.” In fact, Tertzakian sees ethanol becoming less competitive in the medium term because of the explosion in innovation in the energy patch. Low natural gas prices are a warning sign. Fracking and horizontal drilling technology — where shale gas is liberated by breaking the rock layers that it’s bound into, and wells are drilled long distances sideways — have produced historically poor natural gas prices that have lingered for years. Now, this same technology is finding its way into the oil sector in places like Texas and the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota and Saskatchewan. Will this trend drive oil prices into the basement for years to come? Tertzakian says there’s little doubt it will have an effect, although it’s a bit more complex than just saying what happened in gas is about to happen in oil. In part that’s because natural gas is a sort of Can ethanol compete with oil? Not side-effect of going for oil, so likely, says Peter Tertzakian. you might produce natural gas even if the price didn’t justify it. You wouldn’t produce oil, however, unless the oil market would cover your costs. That means economics is going to enter into the oil equation a lot more clearly than it does in the natural gas market, essentially placing a floor price under oil that relates to what it costs to produce it. Still, that means oil prices will have little to do with the agriculture industry’s economics, other than both are commodities and both benefit from and are hurt by the larger commodity cycle. For farmers with rigs on their properties, in fact, the news could be worse. New technologies will help companies tap wider reserves from fewer wells. “I don’t think many have fully considered what this might mean for landowners in these areas,” Tertzakian says. “For many farmers, this has been a significant source of income over the years.” 18 country-guide.ca
Stock markets Jitters, jitters, jitters
R
emember the economic turmoil in the global financial system in 2008, when it really did look like, in the words of President George W. Bush, “This sucker could go down.” Things were so bad that major investment banks refused to lend to each other, two of the giants of Wall Street dropped dead in their tracks, and the stock market lost triple digits week after week. From the relative calm of five years later, the whole thing can seem like a bad dream. After all, we escaped Depression, and even in the hard-hit U.S., unemployment numbers barely cracked double digits. Somewhere, someone is probably going to put up a statue of a balding, bearded man with puppy dog eyes — and that man is going to be the world’s central banker, U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. Bernanke, a lifelong student of the Great Depression and the financial crisis that caused it, finally had a chance to test his long-cherished belief that the answer to a collapsing economy lay in expanding the money supply to quickly offset the catastrophic drop in economic activity. If that didn’t happen, a deadly cycle of inflation would surely set in, as it did during the Great Depression. During his most famous speech, Bernanke said that if necessary he’d drop money from helicopters, thus earning him the nickname “Helicopter Ben” and the ire of inflationists everywhere, who were sure he was about to doom the greenback to hyperinflation. But when the rubber hit the road, Bernanke’s response was large, decisive and a heck of a lot more nuanced than bales of cash from above. For 2013 and ’14, the challenge is to begin weaning the stock market off that influx of cash. One of Canada’s top agriculturefocused economists, Farm Credit Canada chief economist J.P. Gervais, says Bernanke’s approach, dubbed “quantitative easing,” kept the economic wheels turning but didn’t overheat the economy causing runaway inflation. It bought financial assets from financial institutions, thus providing them with liquidity and ensuring continued economic activity through an expanded money supply. Think of it as an IV drip in the veins of the economy following a major health scare. As things have slowly returned to normal, most of us have forgotten that it’s there. Financial players, on the other hand, have been acutely aware of its presence, and now whenever the subject of its withdrawal is raised, they react swiftly by selling off assets like stocks and bonds, fearing that prices will fall. “You can see this in the recent activity we’ve seen in financial markets,” Gervais said. “Whenever the Federal Reserve talks about winding down quantitative easing, we see the markets react — or overreact really.” The good news is that the impact on the farmer in the field probably isn’t going to be all that big. Indeed the biggest impact might be the nervousness caused by the attention-grabbing headlines, Gervais says. So if financial markets fall, it’s probably not the end of the world. Just the world going back to normal. August 2013
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business
Interest rates
China
H
T
Cheap loans are gone
istoric low interest rates are proving to be just that… historic. Brought about by emergency measures taken by the world’s central bankers during the darkest days of the Global Financial Crisis, they brought rates to near zero. Now, that cheap money is beginning to dry up. Mortgage rates are already up dramatically. You could lock in a five year mortgage at 2.89 per cent or so at any of the major chartered banks, and a 10-year mortgage could be inked at 3.5 per cent. By midJuly one of the major chartered banks was listing the same mortgages at 5.14 per cent and 6.75 per cent, respectively. That’s not quite double, but it’s not far off it. What happened? Are central banks unwinding this low interest rate policy? It isn’t the central banks, says the FCC’s J.P. Gervais. It’s the market. Investors, money managers and hedge funds are all beginning to sense which Higher rates look inevitable, says way the wind is blowing and FCC sr. economist J.P Gervais. they’re getting out of this market now before they get stuck in a higher interest rate environment. To understand what’s happening requires a brief explanation of bond markets. One of the most common bonds is something known as a zero coupon bond, which doesn’t make regular interest payments to its holders. Instead there is a face value and a market value — say there’s a face value at maturity of $1,000, but it trades for $950, which equals a rate of return of approximately 5.26 per cent. The market value of bonds generally reflects a similar return to interest rates. Now say you’re an investor who thinks interest rates are going to rise and the value of the bond you’re going to hold will fall — thus eroding your return. The natural reaction is to get out before anyone else notices what’s happening. “Investors are expecting, before the end of the year, we’ll see higher interest rates,” Gervais says, “and it becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, in that their activity creates these higher interest rates.” So what does this likely mean to farmers? Nobody is predicting a catastrophic spike in interest rates for a number of reasons — there isn’t the underlying inflation to justify it, for example — but normalcy appears to be returning to financial markets, and that means more normal interest rates that reflect actual risk. 20 country-guide.ca
Up, down or sideways he big question floating over the top of the whole global economy boils down to one word: China. Will it continue to drive global economic activity? Will its burgeoning middle class demand more pork and beef, propelling agriculture to new heights? There are few things the world’s economic forecasters pay more attention to these days than China’s economic numbers. When you’re talking numbers that large, even a tenth of a percentage point difference in growth can be a big deal. Gordon Houlden is an old Asia hand, first serving with the Canadian foreign service, and now as the head of the University of Alberta’s China Institute. Houlden told Country Guide a certain amount of hyperbole sneaks into just about any conversation about China. “With China, people seem to either think ‘China, we’re all going to get rich,’ or ‘China, we’re all going to die,’” Houlden says. “It really does seem to be all or nothing.” Even so, Houlden says a key component often gets missed when Gordon Houlden: “At some China’s economic growth is boiled point, I’m sure they’re even down to a simple growth rate. going to have a recession.” “Back in the 1980s when the Chinese economy started to rapidly grow, it was 10 per cent of a much smaller pie,” Houlden says. “So yes, the Chinese economy might only be growing at six or seven per cent now — but that’s six or seven per cent of a much larger pie.” The FCC’s J.P. Gervais says in many ways this slower growth rate is because China’s economy has been almost entirely investment, not consumption driven. Building a domestic consumer base will make the Chinese economy more resilient in the long run — but it will likely slow growth while it happens. China’s labour market is also going to see its own challenges with the labour force growing older as the one child policy comes home to roost. That’s likely to translate into slower growth going forward as well. As it matures, therefore, the Chinese economy is going to look a lot more like other economies the world over, rather than like some sort of economic miracle. “They’re going to have periods of faster and slower growth, just like other economies,” Houlden says. “At some point, I’m sure they’re even going to have a recession. And when that happens, people are really going to think that’s the end of the world. “That’s when I’m going to be saying, ‘Buy China.’” August 2013
BUSINESS
INVESTMENT
The $10-billion question
C
hina plans to invest nearly $10 billion a year in agriculture over the next decade to increase domestic production. It will do that by building infrastructure, consolidating farms, and educating thousands of agronomists and ag scientists. “What you have to understand is that China has historically — and fairly recently historically — known famine,” says the UA China Institute’s Houlden. “Embedded in the Chinese psyche is a
SMITHFIELD
Reverse engineering
O
ne Chinese investment getting close scrutiny is Smithfield Foods. Earlier this spring the government-founded but now privately owned Shuanghui company announced it was purchasing the U.S.-based pork processor, the largest in the world. It’s a blockbuster deal that has attracted attention the world over — and just how this proceeds could set the template for further Chinese agriculture investments, the FCC’s Gervais says. There are two likely models that might be pursued — they’ll use the company to source, slaughter and process animals in North America and other global locations, and use the infrastructure to service existing markets and supply the Chinese market from an established operation. “If they do that, I think it’s good news
AUGUST 2013
desire to be as much as possible selfsufficient in food production.” Of course desire and reality frequently diverge and Houlden points out that if this is the goal, the Chinese government has a huge challenge on its hands. Only about seven per cent of the country is suited to arable agriculture and urbanization continues to put pressure on that land base. At the same time there are 1.34 billion Chinese to feed, and huge environmental challenges including serious limits to freshwater resources. “Clearly I think China cannot become 100 per cent self-sufficient in food production,” Houlden says. “So I think you will see it concentrate its efforts on basic
for Canadian and American farmers,” Gervais said. Or they could take it apart, learn how it’s done, and reverse engineer a madein-China food sector that’s every bit as modern as the western one. If China Inc. takes Smithfield apart and uses that knowledge to grow its own agri-food sector, the results might not please many. The China Institute’s Houlden says there’s certainly room for this sort of improvement. Chinese farm production has only gotten more efficient as farm labour numbers have dropped and investments have been made. “It’s in the area of processing and distribution where there remain a lot of inefficiencies,” Houlden says. “I think if they were to learn some of these lessons by purchasing a large and sophisticated processor like Smithfield, there would be a lot of room to apply those lessons domestically in China.”
food products like rice, corn and wheat. Other products it will likely continue to happily import.” Will this mean loss of markets for Canadian grain and other basic products? Not likely — if anything it might mean good things for the broader Canadian economy as China’s government investment arm looks for opportunities to create products offshore for domestic consumption, like a noodle plant in Alberta, using Canadian grain and employing Canadian workers, for example. “We’ve seen China use this model elsewhere,” Houlden said. “People are much more open to this sort of investment, especially if they think it might create economic activity and employment here.”
YOUR BUSINESS
I
t would be impossible to list all the issues that may affect every farm in Canada over the next several years. The multitude of farm operations, individuals running them and potential issues is simply too long. And that’s before you even consider the so-called black swan events that are utterly unpredictable. One thing that is clear, however, is that like never before agriculture is a global business, plugged into and affected by other global businesses. Decisions in Shanghai boardrooms, discussions about interest rates in Manhattan squash clubs, roughnecks punching holes into the North Dakota Prairie — all can and likely will have some influence on your business in the coming years. “Farmers need to think locally and act globally,” the FCC’s Gervais says. “It’s more true now than it’s ever been.” CG
country-guide.ca 21
business
Chinese CHANCE Owned and managed by Chinese, this Manitoba farm is rapidly expanding by excelling at Canadian farm techniques By Angela Lovell is name is Jianfeng Geng but he generously asks us to call him Robert. He was born in central China in the Yellow River Valley. There his family’s ancestors established themselves as farmers thousands of years ago, and there he began life much as those ancestors might have done. Along with his brother and two sisters, he helped his parents farm their 1-1/2 acres of ground, tilling, seeding, tending and harvesting a wide variety of crops — all by hand — including vegetables and soybeans, and newer crops including wheat, canola, corn and cotton. With no land available to pasture either the family’s cow, pig and sheep or their chicken, ducks and geese, Robert and his siblings would cut grass to feed the animals every day. Today, however, Robert is 6,000 miles away from that home, and at times it must feel even farther than that. We meet him with phone in hand, doing what he has come to this corner of Manitoba to do, managing Great Harvest Farms’ 12,000 acres of land and 1,000 head of cattle at McAuley, near the Saskatchewan border some 10 minutes north of the Trans-Canada.
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August 2013
Photography: Sandy Black
business It wasn’t quite the farm that Robert had envisioned as he grew up watching American western movies and dreaming of owning his own small farm in North America some day. “I felt a longtime affinity with Canada and farming,” says Robert. “I thought one day I might buy a quarter section or a couple of acres and grow organic vegetables.” But he’s not complaining. He’s pursuing a lifelong dream and he’s also putting a highly successful academic career to good use. Robert obtained his bachelor of science and his master’s degrees in plant science at China’s Henan Agricultural University, majoring in plant genetics and breeding. Then in 2007 he completed his PhD at Nanjing Agricultural University, where his award-winning research included building the first genetic map of Brassica rapa (Chinese cabbage), complete with 186 molecular markers and the identification of the genes responsible for a number of agronomic traits. The resulting research papers were published worldwide. After leaving university, Robert spent several years as a public plant breeder, working on wheat, corn, canola and brassica vegetables, and he was in charge of a breeding program which released over 30 Chinese cabbage hybrids. Next, Robert accepted a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Manitoba and moved with his wife and daughter to Winnipeg, where he did genetic sequencing work with Professor Genyi Li and other researchers on canola and wheat. The story takes a turn in December 2011, however, when Robert was approached by Chinese businessman Qing Wang, who lives in Vancouver and had just bought a large farm in western Manitoba, with eight Canadian employees, none of whom could speak any Chinese. Soon Robert was packing his bags again, this time to make the four-hour drive to the farm. Wang’s background was in the construction and pawnbroking businesses, but he wanted to diversify his interests and the chance to buy agricultural land — which just wasn’t an option in China — led him to Manitoba and his first farm holding. But there was still the problem of owning a farm that he didn’t know how to run, and those eight employees, none of whom spoke Chinese. Wang needed a manager who had some knowledge of agriculture and who could speak both English and Chinese to run the farm on his behalf. First he contacted the University of Brandon. “He had hoped to find a local person,” says Robert, “but for most Chinese people who move here, the first concern is their children’s education, so most do not move to the country.” His own daughter, who has just finished Grade 11 will complete high school in Winnipeg. His wife, however, whom he met at university in China and who also has an agronomy degree, has a huge interest in farming, so she is keen to move to the farm once their daughter has completed high school and moved on to university. Wang’s contact at Brandon knew Dr. Li at the University of Manitoba and also knew that he had August 2013
a number of Chinese scientists working with him, so he contacted him to see if he could help. “I had worked with Dr. Li for a year and a half and he knew my dream was to have my own farm and so here was an opportunity and that’s how I ended up in McAuley,” says Robert. Robert admits that at first it was culture shock. McAuley with its 330 population could hardly be more different from Robert’s home, a rural Chinese agricultural community of 1,500. The biggest barrier by far was communication. Although Robert can read and write English flawlessly and has published many research papers in English, he has never had much opportunity to speak or listen to the language. Even during his four years at the University of Manitoba, many of his colleagues were also Chinese, so he came to McAuley with very rusty English, and a huge determination to learn.
“ I already understood the Canadian people, and that if you are friendly and fair, there will not be any problems.” — Robert Geng “When I first came here to the farm, it was just myself, there were no other Chinese people, no Internet and all the staff were Canadian guys who cannot talk Chinese,” recalls Robert. “But a positive attitude is very important and I knew communication was key. I had already been in Manitoba for four years and I understood the Canadian people and that if you are friendly and fair, there will not be any problems.” But it wasn’t just English that Robert needed to learn. With no experience in North American, industrialized agriculture, he had to learn everything from how to operate the huge farm equipment to visiting the local bank manager, and from how and where to order fertilizers and farm chemicals to how to sell the 7,200 acres of crops and hundreds of calves that the farm produces each year. Fortunately, he had a good teacher in the farm’s previous owner, Colin Hudon, who took over the family farm in 2002 when his father Frank died. At that point the farm was only a few quarters, but by 2011 when Wang was looking to buy, Hudon had expanded the farm to 54 quarters, about 8,600 acres. Wang managed to persuade Hudon to sign a contract to stay on for a year and teach Robert everything he needed to know about operating the farm. “At first I just watched,” Robert recalls. “The equipment was probably the biggest challenge for me as I had never seen such large farm machinery before.” Robert quickly learned that agriculture in Canada is very different from agriculture in China, which has the world’s sixth-largest economy and is its most populous country, home to 1.4 billion people or 21 per cent of the Earth’s total population. Continued on page 24 country-guide.ca 23
business
His training is in science, but Robert is rapidly upgrading his business and marketing skills.
Continued from page 23 In fact, the entire agricultural environment was different. Canada’s West is a food-exporting powerhouse, while China faces a major challenge in providing its people with food. The country has a mere 10 per cent of the world’s arable land and only one-quarter of the average world water resources per person. Still, agricultural reform in China had been underway since 1978, when the old communes were replaced with a system where individual families lease land from community collectives. The new system is meant to ensure access to land for most rural households. Robert’s family had a typical farm, consisting of about 0.65 hectares (about 1.6 acres), which was one of around 200 million similar family farms in China, where agricultural production is small scale, labour intensive and largely non-mechanized. China’s output per acre however, is higher than almost any other agricultural system worldwide and has helped to raise farmers’ incomes and eliminate much of the rural poverty that was widespread in the communist era. But it has come at a cost to the environment, and as the amount of cultivated land ebbed,
24 country-guide.ca
the focus shifted to fertilizers and chemical inputs to increase productivity, and now Chinese farmers are among the heaviest fertilizer users in the world. Other problems are serious too. Urban and industrial growth, which have increased in a booming economy, have put pressure on agricultural land and water resources with impacts on water and soil quality. It’s a recipe for widespread water pollution, land degradation and soil erosion. Even so, the focus in China is on a more industrialized, western model with a focus on increasing productivity and replacing imports. People are being encouraged to move from rural areas into cities and towns, while farm sizes are growing, enabling more mechanization and conventional management techniques to reduce labour and boost efficiency. In fact, Robert agrees China must follow a more western path in agriculture, and he thinks China’s farm will one day be indistinguishable from the Great Harvest Farms operation that he is managing today. “China has lots of environmental problems, productivity and social problems and the new leadership realizes it needs to make changes,” Robert says. “We have to improve the efficiency in agriculture. Continued on page 26 August 2013
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business Continued from page 24 In my community there were 1,500 people and they worked all year on 200 acres to feed everyone. Here we can seed that amount of land in one day and spray it in one hour. When people move to the urban cities and towns they still need food, but we no longer need as many people to produce it.” In Canada, Robert runs Great West Farms with the same advanced management and technology as any other Canadian farmer. Like other Canadian farmers, he also focuses on integrating the best agricultural resources and advice, and he is constantly experimenting and developing ways to improve operations. Unlike other Canadian farmers, though, he can also turn to his PhD in plant breeding.
To succeed in Canada, Robert focuses on learning how to farm like successful Canadian farmers.
Robert has set objectives to improve soil health using technology, crop rotations and careful scouting to ensure inputs are used efficiently. In fact, the farm is almost like a huge research project, where nothing is taken for granted and everything needs to prove its value. For example, Robert is interested in adding soybeans, a crop that is expanding in Manitoba partly because of the availability of shorter-season varieties. Now, Robert is conducting his own selection trials on the farm, seeding 15 different soybean varieties. As the program develops, he expects to learn more about the interactions of soybeans with fertilizers and fungicides as well, so he can select varieties not only for yield, but for top economic performance. Indeed, he has been asked to host a tour of his plots in September and some 100 local farmers are expected to come and see the results, and Robert is considering adding more trials on canola and wheat in future. Robert also recognizes the importance of good management in running a commercial, western-style farm. His management team now also includes two other Chinese people. Fengtong He (Fred) joined the farm in July of last year after completing his degree in animal science
26 country-guide.ca
and nutrition at the University of Manitoba, and manages the livestock component of the farm. Shaobin Yang (Ben) first came to Toronto from China and completed his master’s degree in economics at the University of Manitoba. Now he handles the accounting and administrative side of things, and together they attend as many workshops as they can to learn about everything from rotational grazing techniques to business management. Robert attended The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers (TEPAP) at the Texas A & M University in January, which has been running for over 30 years and teaches advanced agribusiness skills, such as managing personnel, evaluating new market opportunities and other management and leadership skills. Like other farmers, Robert found the value of the program was as much in the interaction with other producers as in the curriculum. “This was a very intensive program, we worked very hard from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and then after supper from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. But at break, lunch and suppertimes you could talk with the other farmers so there were things I could learn from the teachers and other things I could learn from the farmers who came from all over the world — from Canada, the U.S., Australia, even Uruguay.” Robert’s quest for knowledge is unquenchable and he has even more incentive to hone his farming and management skills, having recently bought his own first quarter of land, encouraged by his boss, Mr. Wang, who wants him to stick around for a while. Meanwhile, Great Harvest Farms also continues to grow and has added another 20 quarter sections (3,200 acres) since the purchase of the Hudon property, with the intent being to continue to expand. That means Robert needs to constantly find ways to make small improvements and ensure a good return on investment for the owners, who are highly supportive of what he is doing. It’s a job he knows he can’t do alone and he values the farm’s eight Canadian employees who have grown and learned alongside their new Chinese managers. “From the start I tried to have staff meetings and involve everyone and we were lucky because Colin already had good people and we just made some minor changes to the programs and small improvements,” says Robert. “Mr. Wang has also given us financial support so we could update equipment and buy everything that was necessary. So I am confident because of all these things. I now better understand the language and cultural differences, and Canada is a diverse country and diversity is a good thing. We have learned from each other and enjoy things from each other’s cultures.” Overall, says Robert, running a farm, like life, is about finding a balance. “You must always think about the return on investment, but by trying new ideas and experimenting with things like the soybean variety trials, that is how we can find out whether we are going to get a good return or not.” “I know this,” Robert says, “because I am now finally a farmer, not just a manager.” CG August 2013
business
Reading Atwood
When author Margaret Atwood gets invited to tour western ranchland, some farmers see her as a lifesaver, others as a crackpot. From there, the plot thickens
Photography: red hat studios
By Anne Lazurko, CG Contributing Editor anchers have been given a Cinderella plot,” Margaret Atwood tell us. “The wicked stepmother says, ‘sure you can go to the party, but first you must complete these impossible tasks.’” I watched the Cinderella analogy bloom on Margaret Atwood’s face as she listened to a group of Saskatchewan ranchers talk about the community pastures where they have grazed their cattle for generations. They want the Toronto-based author to know about the difficult situation they’ve been put in by the federal government’s decision to drop its PFRA program. In turn, Atwood wants to help save Prairie bird habitat, and to support farmers who will help achieve that goal. But which farmers are those? Besides the obvious ability of her name to draw a crowd, it’s clear that Atwood brings a shrewd eye for the kind of details that will garner the attention of other Canadians. In this case, she’s primed to ask questions about the environment, and to expose the unfairness she sees in how ranchers are being treated by government. “(Ranchers) have been given a scenario that makes
August 2013
it impossible for them,” Atwood says. “The government is setting this up to achieve a failed result.” Ottawa, Atwood says is “either inept or malicious… This is a test case in how people should be treated by a government that is employed by them.” Along with scientists from BirdLife International and Nature Canada, Atwood was part of a recent tour of Grasslands National Park and surrounding community pastures near Val Marie, Sask., population 350. The tour was organized by Public Pastures-Public Interest (PPPI), an independent group of ranchers, First Nations people, scientists, hunters, and naturalists. Ottawa has managed these pastures for decades, leasing them out to ranchers at rates that other cattlemen sometimes see as subsidies. In return, professional managers run the cattle in ways that protect what can be a fragile environment. Now, Ottawa is turning the pastures back to the province, and the province is proposing to sell the pastures to the highest bidders. The PPPI group believes they should stay publicly Continued on page 28 country-guide.ca 27
BUSINESS Continued from page 27 managed because it says that’s the best way to ensure the survival of both the ranchers and the 32 at-risk wild species that call these pastures home. To anyone from Saskatchewan, the group seems an odd sort of mix, considering the history of mistrust amongst them, but if you understand their goals, there’s also an odd kind of synergy here too. They’re also smart. Tour organizers knew Atwood’s profile was certain to draw attention to the issue. And it did. After all, she has 400,000 Twitter followers, and the fundraising banquet in Regina for PPPI at the end of the tour was sold out at $100 a plate. But her welcome wasn’t universally warm. In fact, in the words of the president of the provincial cattlemen’s association Mark Elford, representing the province’s core of commercial beef producers, Atwood and fellow author Graeme Gibson seemed “crackpots coming out of the woodwork” and “environmental extremists.”
Conservation concerns To be fair, the people I met on the tour were neither crackpots, nor extreme. Atwood and Gibson have been longtime conservationists and are honorary joint presidents of BirdLife International’s rare bird club. Atwood grew up in the woods of northern Quebec and understands the effects of landscape and weather patterns as well as any farmer. “Because this land was grazed, because it’s native and pristine, invasive species (of plants) can’t get in,” Atwood says. “The ecological niches are taken up.” Adds Atwood: “It’s like a skin… once it’s wounded the invasive species are like a bacteria and become a threat to the rest of the ecosystem.” Still, the federal government has spent enormous amounts of time and money on research into native grass ecology on the
pastures, and the pasture managers have that information at their fingertips. Now, there is talk that all those binders of research will just be put on a shelf somewhere if the pasturage program is opened up. On top of that, the managers on pastures slated for sale have been given their pink slips with retraining as their only option. “Why are we throwing away the medical records of the land and taking away the land doctors?” Atwood asks. And later, “These extremely well-managed pastures are under threat of going to a management system that is less knowledgeable and aware of these issues and also one that would cause the loss of a great deal of traditional hands-on knowledge.” Such pronouncements make ranchers who are not part of the PFRA system go wild. They imply the only people really taking care of the native grasses are the pasture managers on public land. But every rancher thinks he is doing the exact same thing on his private pastures. Trevor Herriot is co-chair of PPPI and a well-known Saskatchewan bird expert and naturalist. He is author of GRASS, SKY, SONG, an award-winning book on the sometimes precarious relationship between modern agriculture and bird species. He clarifies the group’s position. “Conservation benefits on private land happen because the rancher needs to steward the land for the future of his operation,” Herriot says. “The conservation is a side benefit. We want to keep these (community pastures) in public hands because conservation on them is a first priority.” The fact is, conservationists and naturalists have legitimate concerns about the grass and the birds, plus a load of scientific research about the benefits of cattle grazing to back them up. So for many, it’s a no-brainer: preserve the ecological integrity of the pastures under government management and all will be well with ranchers and birds. But when you give the ranchers out-
Fragile pastures are home to some 32 at-risk species. side the PFRA system a chance to speak, you find the issue is anything but simple. Thus the unfortunate name-calling, and the more subtle, yet equally dismissive, “I’m sure their intentions are good, but…”
The great divide The importance of the grasslands in terms of ecological goods and services — species preservation, hundreds of First Nations archeological and historical sites, recreational opportunities — is not lost on the 1,100 rancher patrons of the PFRA pastures who support their retention as publicly owned land. The Community Pasture Patrons Association of Saskatchewan, chaired by rancher Ian McCreary, joined forces with PPPI to bring attention to the issue. It’s a smart strategy. If Canadians care about saving burrowing owls, swainson’s hawks and prairie dog colonies, and they understand that managed grazing ensures habitat for these species, it might go a long way in convincing the federal government to slow down the process and listen to patron concerns over the business end of things. McCreary is convinced a solution can be found if government is willing to back off on its timeline. Patron groups are to have business plans for ownership in place by this fall in order to keep the pastures out of the hands of third parties. But McCreary says the government has failed to provide those groups with the information they require to go forward. As you’d expect, there are more questions than answers, but some of the questions are hardly about details. There is no Continued on page 30
“You have to see these pastures,” Lazurko writes. “On horseback. Without getting lost, or losing your cows.” 28 country-guide.ca
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business Continued from page 28 indication of what will happen to nonreversionary lands (those acres owned by the federal government and not part of the PFRA agreement), whether the non-fixed assets such as bulls, machinery and equipment are included, and it’s unclear who will be responsible for adherence to species-atrisk legislation, which includes monitoring of oil and gas leases. If it’s the ranchers, that’s a huge cost and a big responsibility. Thus Atwood’s Cinderella analogy: Is it fair to ask people who have never done business together to come up with a business plan without all the details required to do so?
“ There will be no one left out here,” says rancher Clint Christianson. McCreary doesn’t think it is, and his group has formally asked for a delay of one year to clear up all the cloudy areas. McCreary believes neither governments nor ranchers understood the complexity of what happens on the pastures. “We thought this would be simple,” McCreary says. “We thought we would go to a co-operative pasture system. But then we received the 500-page binder of information used by the pasture managers and realized the scale and nature of the management required.” A co-op system would end up dividing up the fields because paying for that kind of management would take the margin out of the business, McCreary says. And cattlemen should not be stuck paying for the ecological benefits enjoyed by the public. Clint Christianson understands both sides of the debate. He worked for PFRA as a pasture manager in all three Prairie provinces and now ranches near Val Marie. He runs 5,000 head on 27 quarters, seven deeded and 20 leased. 30 country-guide.ca
We met Christianson on a grid road near the Val Marie community pasture where he spoke to the group about his lifelong relationship with native prairie and ranching. He’s middle-aged, wears a black cowboy hat, Wranglers and boots. He’s worried, asking the group to understand just how important this is to a family that has run cows on this land for three generations. Christianson chokes up a little when he talks about what might be lost without central management of the pastures, their maintenance a source of pride, the fear of ever-growing ranches spelling doom for his small community, the post office, the school where kids already ride the bus an hour and a half each way. “There will be no one left out here,” Christianson says with a catch in his throat. When you look out over the unbroken stretch of hills and valleys, it hardly seems there’s anyone out there now. “The loss of the PFRA will push the monopolization of the cattle industry,” Christianson says. It’s clear he feels overwhelmed by events outside his control and welcomes the attention brought to the issue by the PPPI tour. “The big guys (cattle producers) can hire two guys to do their chores and then go to the meetings. I can’t do that.” Many smaller cattle producers use the PFRA system. But CPPAS’s McCreary says, “to say this is an intentionally malicious decision to get rid of the producers with herds under 100 cow-calf pair is not fair. But would it be fair to say that it might be one of the implications of the decision? Yes.”
An ideological divide? The patrons aren’t getting a lot of help from the province. Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart runs a small cattle operation himself and he seems wearied by the whole debate. PPPI members, he says, “are people with good intentions, but they are slightly misguided.” And the patrons have had plenty of time to get ready, Stewart says. “These are people who don’t deal well with change. This (PFRA) was a subsidized program in the past, and it won’t be into the future. It’s not fair to others.” Stewart blames the PFRA system as a whole for lease rates to patrons that lagged far behind the private sector. But Trevor Herriot doesn’t buy the argument that the pastures are simply agricultural land. “There are more endangered species here than anywhere in Canada and
7,000-year-old native grass. This is not merely agricultural land any more than a northern forest is simply a woodlot.” The province has no specific species-at-risk legislation and is, in fact, considered a laggard in this respect amongst the provinces, Herriot says, adding, “Federal legislation can only be enforced on federal lands, and now the feds have washed their hands of the responsibility.” Harold Martens says his problem with the community pastures isn’t ideological. But, well, yes it is. In his early 70s, Martens has ranched northeast of Swift Current his whole life, running about 1,000 cows. He’s a former Conservative MLA and is now chair of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association which has come out in favour of the government’s proposed sale of the pastures. He quickly launches into a defence of private ownership and the history of those who came here looking for freedom from government regulations. Ranchers can steward the land as well as the PFRA managers, Martens says. “We are all environmentalists to a great degree. Maybe not David Suzuki or Al Gore, but living here all the time, we understand we can only establish good ranching practices by being good environmentalists.” “The City of Regina took 1,000 acres of marshland and turned it into a Wal-Mart and pavement and houses. And now they want me to let the government tell me how to deal with my back 40… I do get annoyed by that and I start to push back,” Martens says. Martens believes the current pasture patrons will find a consensus on how to manage the pastures. “You get a variety of opinion and then a consensus is built on what’s best for the pasture. Both ends will come to the middle.” Martens is probably right. People usually find a middle ground, but sometimes it takes time to find it, time the patrons don’t feel they’re being given. OK so there’s the technical stuff. But really, you have to see these pastures. On horseback. Without getting lost, or losing your cows. They are quite incredibly vast tracts that stretch to fit the cliché, as far as the eye can see. Community and privately owned pastures in the Val Marie area alone constitute 200,000 acres of native prairie in one block. Who should manage them? CG August 2013
business
Big decision
New crop extracts perform miracles in the lab. Now, can they cut it in the world of business? By Gerald Pilger or more than a decade, farmers have been promised a brave new world. We were told scientists are discovering all sorts of amazing new industrial and pharmaceutical uses for the trace chemicals in our crops, and that these would open up amazing new markets, and amazing new profits. Yet on the farm, the promise has been getting a bit thin. The years have ticked away, and the big breakthroughs just don’t seem to have materialized. Maybe, though, what we need is a bit more patience. This summer, in fact, many eyes are on Ceapro, an Edmonton company with a list of new oat products and what appears to be a real chance of converting the theory into a viable business. In other words, 2013 may turn out to be the sector’s turning point. That doesn’t mean it will be easy, or that success is guaranteed. As recently as April, the company’s auditing firm Grant Thornton said that Ceapro’s 2012 financials “indicate the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” Since then, however, Ceapro has inked what may prove a vital new partnership, and it has begun posting numbers that may convert potential investors into believers. Ceapro (CVO-Z) is a relatively small, publicly traded biotechnology firm headquartered in Edmonton. According to David Fielder, Ceapro’s chief scientific officer, the focus of the company is to identify, discover, develop and produce innovative active botanical ingredients for human and animal healthcare products, as well as to develop the technology and the processes needed to concentrate these products in commercial quantities. “Ceapro seeks to develop active ingredients that can be sold in alternative markets and that will add value to farmers,” Fielder says. In fact, Ceapro is doing it already. Ceapro extracts active ingredients from oats and markets them to the cosmeceutical, nutraceutical, and therapeutical industries. “It is well known that oats are quite good for you,” Fielder says. “There are also specific molecules in oats that have anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties and that improve skin august 2013
health. Natural actives can be extracted from oats that can heal and protect the skin.” In fact, even the Romans knew that oatmeal can soothe the skin, and in 2003 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration formally recognized colloidal oatmeal as a skin protectant and for relief of minor skin irritation and itching. Now, however, Ceapro research has identified a particular group of polyphenols called avenathramides that can produce this soothing effect on irritated skin. As well, the company also learned how to refine avenathramides out of oats, and how to build markets for them. The problem is that these natural compounds are found in very minute levels in the oat kernel. As well, the levels of avenanthramides tend to vary considerably between oat varieties and across environmental conditions. Plus, Ceapro not only had to find a way to extract the compounds but to standardize and concentrate them in a form which could be used by skin product manufacturers.
Technology and global markets are aligned for next-gen oat skin creams, says Ceapro science officer David Fielder By 1999 Ceapro was commercially producing and marketing a “green, all natural” botanical ingredient from oats for human and animal health-care products. This oat extract can now be found in many haircare products including shampoos and conditioners, baby-care products, sun-care products, creams and lotions, antiperspirants, and liquid foundations. If you find avenanthramides listed as an ingredient on a health-care product, chances are they were extracted by Ceapro at its production facility at Leduc, a half-hour south of Edmonton. Further study of oats revealed other beneficial products. Beta glucan is a fibre which is found in the cell wall of the oat kernel, and according to Ceapro, it is a natural film-forming agent, meaning it can be used to relieve and alleviate dry and itchy skin by replenishing and protecting the skin’s moisture barContinued on page 32 country-guide.ca 31
business Continued from page 31 rier. It also protects against the drying effects of the sun, and it smooths wrinkles, reducing the visible signs of aging. Since oat beta glucan will penetrate the skin, Ceapro says it has real potential for personal-care products, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceutical applications. Nor is that all. Ceapro is also marketing oat oil primarily to the cosmetics industry for use in skin creams, lotion, and oils to increase the softening, smoothing and hydrating of skin and hair. Nor are oats the only field crop Ceapro is working with. Ceapro is currently extracting peptides from sweet blue lupins. Fielder says this extract strengthens hair and reduces colour fading of dyed hair. Several well-known brands of hair-care products are now incorporating the sweet blue lupin extract to repair and condition hair. Ceapro has also partnered with the University of Guelph in looking at extracting useful compounds and essential oils from spearmint. But there are challenges too. Among the biggest is sourcing grains for extraction. In the case of sweet blue lupins, Fielder says they found a European variety of this plant that is well adapted to Western Canada and the company has contracted production with a number of Canadian seed growers. Sourcing oats is even more of a challenge because of the variability of critical components within the oat kernel. Presently Ceapro screens more than 1,000 samples of oats from growers around the world each year to find oats which have not only high amounts of beta glucan and avenanthramides, but also the physical characteristics that enable efficient extraction of the compounds from each kernel. This situation may change in the next few years. Ceapro has partnered with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to develop a new oat variety which not only has higher levels of desired compounds, but is also hulless with a unique shape for better refining. Couple these unique physical characteristics with a new false malting process that Ceapro has developed, and it may make both the job of selecting the right oats to process as well as the processing itself more efficient, thereby reducing costs. The potential impact on farms is clear. A new oat variety with a new market could reverse growers’ declining interest in this crop. 32 country-guide.ca
Fielder says this is a big issue because although the interest in growing oats in Canada is dropping, global medical interest in oats is increasing. “Oats interest in Asia is skyrocketing,” Fielder says. “Research into oats is exploding there.” Meanwhile, Ceapro also faces the challenge of growth. Demand for its products has outpaced the capabilities of its current manufacturing facility. Until now Ceapro has been a tenant at the provincial Agrivalue Processing Business Incubator facility in Leduc. Ceapro rents 4,000 square feet of manufacturing space where two shifts of employees working five days a week can produce up to 4,000 kg of finished product each week. Ceapro also rents an additional 2,000 square feet for inventory storage and quality control laboratories. This has enabled the company to sell about $6 million of product per year. Ceapro is currently constructing a new, larger facility in Edmonton which will not only enable increased production but also put both Ceapro manufacturing and research under one roof. Even with the expansion of manufacturing capabilities, development of new processes, and new products, success is not assured for this company. Ceapro has largely relied on investor funding and provincial and federal government grants for its research and development of products and processes. It remains to be seen if this company can successfully transition from primarily a research and development focus to one of a commercial manufacturer. Many biotech firms find this transition to be the most difficult task they face. Transitioning into a fully commercial business also hinges on making key sales with new buyers and new products, which adds its own complications. For instance, the company says that in its 2012 results, it posted a half-milliondollar net loss due at least in part to deferred sales and to soft demand caused by tough economic conditions. However, on May 9 of this year Ceapro signed an agreement with Symrise, a leading German supplier of active ingredients to the cosmetics industry, which not only opens new markets for Ceapro products but also ensures financial support through a letter of credit from Symrise for the next three years. As well, first-quarter results showed promising signs of strength. Sales in
With new partners and a growing list of products, Ceapro is expanding crop-based production. the quarter topped $2 million, and net income was $400,000, compared to a net loss of $4,000 in Q1 in 2012. “We expect better results in 2013 as we continue to focus on growth and cost management,” said Ceapro president Gilles Gagnon when announcing the results. “Breaking $2 million in quarterly income is a milestone achievement.” Fielder sees lots of opportunities for Ceapro and for farmers. “We are looking for new markets for the agricultural industry,” Fielder says, and he sees the nutraceutical, therapeutical, and pharmaceutical sectors as the next new market for agriculture to target. Fielder also believes there is enormous potential ahead. “We try to find additional value in crops, even in agricultural waste,” Fielder says, and then asks, “Can something be made from the tops of sugar beets?” CG August 2013
CELEBRATING
OF INNOVATION
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
EDITORIAL
AFTER 20 YEARS, A LEADER STEPS FORWARD By Tom Button, CG Editor
U
ncertainty is back. There’s no hint of pessimism, but after three years of record-breaking commodity markets, there are days when once again it can take a momentary gut check to glance at the fall and spring futures. The outlook is hardly apocalyptic, but the prospect of softer grain and oilseed prices combined with continuing high land prices and the threat of higher interest rates is a reminder that the most important factor in any farm’s long-term performance is its leadership. On the farm, of course, leadership means myriad things. It means vision, it means working with suppliers, including financial suppliers, and it means working with family. And of course it means excellence in the field and in the barn. Uniting all those elements, however, is quality decision-making. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The biggest thing that non-farmers don’t understand about farmers is their unsurpassed ability to make decisions. Farmers routinely make equipment, land and marketing decisions that dwarf most of the decisions that non-farmers ever make, including on their houses. Increasingly, however, the scale of those decisions is so large, it has tremendous potential to impact the farm operation too, either for good or ill. In that vein, it’s worth saying two unexpected things about Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show as it celebrates its 20th anniversary on September 10, 11 and 12 at Woodstock, Ont. site. The first is to note how much of the credit for the farm show’s success goes to the farmers who attend it. Associate editor Maggie Van Camp makes this point in her article in this special supplement. So does production editor Ralph Pearce in his piece.
Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show has evolved dramatically from its inaugural run in Burford, Ont. in 1994. But make no mistake. That’s because the farm show has been running to catch up with farmers, not the other way around. In fact, farm show founder Ginty Jocius knew from the first that this would be true. Jocius made it clear in 1994 that he had a vision. After working in the offices of three Ontario agriculture ministers, he was certain that the longterm trend was for government to pull back on ag research and extension. That meant farmers and industry would need to be more self-reliant, and to do that, Jocius reasoned, farmers would insist on a central place to walk the plots, see the newest technologies, and meet the top experts. Winter meetings are great, but they have their limits. Even Jocius, though, must have been pleased at how effectively farmers learned to take advantage of COFS opportunities. The second surprise is that the farm show continues to thrive despite (indeed, because of) the Internet and smartphones — technologies that were scarcely imagined in 1994. Many would have thought that e-communication would condemn such a show. But as we are reminded with each show we attend, real farming is about real stuff — real machines, real crops, real barns, real soil — and a virtual understanding can never be enough. For farmers, however, it’s also worth thinking a moment about the farm show as a case study in business management. The show has articulated its vision from the beginning, and it has maintained that vision even after Ginty’s passing, when the show has gone through its own form
CANADA’S OUTDOOR FARM SHOW // 20 YEARS OF INNOVATION
Even in 1994, Ginty Jocius knew the show concept had such long legs.
of farm succession and now is part of GlacierFarmMedia. While it has stayed true to vision, however, the show has always operated on the basis that next year’s show will be the best show ever. It has never felt like “it’s just another show.” Partly, that’s because Ginty also concentrated on building the best team he could, which is another of the business practices that defines success. These days, whenever I bump into current show president Doug Wagner, who helped Ginty found the show those 20 years ago, I pull his leg for being in that same business. I know it isn’t easy. With 300 exhibitors, you’ve just got to know that they aren’t all going to be ecstatically happy all the time, and you’ve just got to know that an electric fuse is going to blow here, or a sign is going to blow over there. “Focus,” Wagner always answers me. “You get through it because you believe in it, and because the team knows how to focus.” Besides, he adds, “You just know in your bones that this is going to be the best year yet.”
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THE NEW FARMER The biggest change in 20 years may be in the crowd, not the technology. Today, husbands and wives, young farmers and their parents get more value from the Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show by tackling it as a team By Maggie Van Camp, CG Associate Editor
T
hroughout the Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show’s two decades, agriculture has been a swirling cauldron of consolidation, market volatility, global trade disputes and technological change. The amount of evolution in those 20 years is staggering. In 2011, Canada’s ag census counted some 75,000 fewer farms than in 1991, and on average, farms in 2011 were about 200 acres bigger. Farmers were also seven years older, and they were much more productive. In 1994, Ontario farmers harvested 1.6 million acres of corn with an average yield of 120.7 bushels per acre, earning $3 per bushel. Last year, Ontario farmers harvested 2.2 million acres of corn with an average yield of 153.2 bu./acre and a price average of $6.33. Also in 1994, a young Guelph student named Gary Lannin was planting and tending plots for First Line Seeds at the Outdoor Farm Show site, then at Burford. Recalls Lannin: “I saw some pretty cool technology for the first time.” Now a Dekalb account manager, Lannin says today’s Woodstock show has become the centrepiece of marketing and training for Monsanto’s staff in Canada. Both internal and external relationships are forged. New products are launched, information is presented and the whole 4
staff is used as a resource. Everyone in the company takes their turn at the booth, meaning summer students work beside the general manager for Canada. Today, the conversations with farmers are more like sales calls, stretching anywhere from five to 25 minutes, and the questions are more direct. For example, farmers will bring their tentative cropping plans, looking for variety information. Farmers expect specific answers, says Lannin. “It’s not just a day out anymore. They’re looking at it as a business opportunity.”
“In the first year new technology will have 75 per cent more penetration in Ontario than the U.S.” — Gary Lannin It’s because farmers know that at a minimum they need to stay current, Lannin believes, and because more and more of them are challenging themselves to stay ahead of the curve. They’re coming to the show and asking, “What’s new?” Now that everyone has access to information globally, Lannin gets asked when it’ll be available in Canada. However, the tech-
nology drag between Canada and the U.S. doesn’t exist as it did 20 years ago. Most of the large companies now launch new products throughout North America, including Canada. “We’re in sync now,” says Lannin. In fact, he says Canadian farmers adopt new technology more quickly than their American counterparts. He estimates that in the first year, a typical new technology will score 75 per cent greater penetration in Ontario than the U.S. In fact, since southwestern Ontario has similar growing conditions to the Midwest and yet is relatively isolated, some companies will do pilot projects to test market uptake here, says Lannin. This increases awareness even more, and drives uptake even faster. One big difference from 20 years ago is that technology changes much, much more quickly. Indeed, it’s a head-spinning speed today. When a new seed product was launched, it used to take four years to climb the adoption ladder, and then it would likely be broadly planted for an additional four years. Today, no one has that kind of patience. “The average lifespan of a hybrid used to be five to seven years and now is only two to three years,” agrees Robert Continued on page 6
CANADA’S OUTDOOR FARM SHOW // 20 YEARS OF INNOVATION
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McFadden, technical agronomy assistant at Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited. McFadden has noticed that the number of international visitors to the Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show seems to be on the rise. But that isn’t the only change he’s been seeing. There are more couples farming equally together too, McFadden says. Agronomic questions today come from both spouses, and so does decision-making. As well, the types of questions they are asking have changed over the years. “They (farmers) are asking ‘why’ now,” says McFadden. “Generally, farmers are more educated, more experienced, and many are coming from industry careers first.” In the 1990s, the Internet was just starting, and there wasn’t much on it. Today, by contrast, knowledge is so accessible to most farmers, it’s becoming difficult to stay ahead on every specific topic. That in turn means that staff on site must be on their toes. “People are well informed on the basics today,” says Bob Meier, territory sales manager for Case IH. “They come to seek deeper understanding on things that they’ve read about online or in blogs and chat rooms.” Farms today are bigger, more complex, and specialized, and the questions tend to reflect this, adds Meier. One farm can have livestock people and machinery people — with very different interests, skills, knowledge and questions. Although farmers have always been curious, today the focus on the latest technology is intense. For example, at one time the questions were all about power shift transmissions. Now, they’re about continuously variable transmissions. 6
“The big get bigger because they are big,” says Meier. “They have more efficiencies more money to spend and they already have a system in place to expand.” Meier sees that evolution still underway. For instance, he finds that farmers — especially younger farmers — tend to have more computer and plant science knowledge, and many have postsecondary education in agriculture. No matter what age, top producers today want to analyse and manage with more detailed information. At the same time, monitors are getting bigger and easier to use and increasingly they are capable of text messaging. That means fleet management technology is coming to farm equipment, Meier says, adding, “Telematics will give farmers information in real-time.” Meier also adds that the trend today is toward more companies offering more on-farm training and demonstrations or area field days. As well, they are providing more small-group classroom training. But make no mistake, it isn’t all about the hard, cold numbers. Demonstrations at the farm show are also about the enter tainment factor, says Meier. “Vendors go to them (farmers) now,” he says. “We want to be the brand closest to the customer.” Unlike European shows, in North America farmers come to gather information, and see what is new that they might not see on their local dealer’s lot, but not to buy. It’s an essential part of their decision process, but it isn’t the only part.
“It’s a more serious business,” Meier says of the investments that farmers make in equipment and inputs. “Big money is at stake for inputs like machinery, seed, chemicals and land.” Farmers want to talk to individuals who are company experts in certain areas and will travel farther to see a specific piece of equipment. Two years ago, a customer from Nova Scotia flew up to Woodstock to see a new combine and talk to Case IH’s combine product specialist. He went home, thought about it and then purchased a new combine. “The big get bigger because they are big,” says Meier. “They have more efficiencies, more money to spend, and they already have a system in place to expand.” Recently, these three exhibitors have seen a shift toward more younger farmers, especially in the last three to five years. The show has become a place to mentor successors — meet contacts and discuss what’s new together. It’s common for the younger generation to push to adopt technology and this becomes their part of the farm business. The salesmen will talk directly with them. “The son will ask the technical questions and Dad will ask the financial questions,” says Meier. This next generation, Lannin says, is at the show to learn, not necessarily to partake in the beer tent. He says in general, they cross-reference information and are more willing to ask questions than the young farmer 20 years ago. “They approach it with more maturity and professionalism than we did.” Also, farming has shifted toward more planning, says Lannin. For the seed business, most of their sales now occur two or three weeks after the September show, or
CANADA’S OUTDOOR FARM SHOW // 20 YEARS OF INNOVATION
when soybean and wheat harvest is wrapped up. It used to happen all winter. Instead of just roaming up and down the aisles, farm show visitors today will have a number of different people or businesses to ask specific, thought-out questions to during their visit. They’ll gather information and then make the purchase decision later. Having agronomists as part of the sales team at the show really helps
relay information, says Lannin. In this way, the Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show has helped link the research-farm communications gap, something that used to be done by government extension. With better commodity prices in the last few years, more farmers are investing in more research, better products and equipment. Since 2007 the tractor industry alone has doubled.
There’s more enthusiasm and more optimism. But behind it all, there’s also a growing sense that the quality of a farm’s leadership has never been more important. Entrepreneurs are always seeking innovative ways to grow and to improve, says Lannin. “The young guys are never satisfied. They’re always looking for efficiencies and for ways to work smarter, not always work harder.”
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7
FARM MACHINERY CHANGES
MORE THAN HORSEPOWER AND SIZE Changes in the machinery on display at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show often outpace plant science and agronomics
Y
In 1994, the future seemed all about brute strength.
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By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor
our first guess will probably be size. And it’s true. Today’s biggest machinery is much, much larger than the biggest machines that wowed the farmers who attended the first Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show in Burford in 1994. Size is just part of the story, however. It may even be the most superficial part, because the more you look at it, the more you realize that the changes in farm machinery over the past 20 years run deep, and they’re at least as staggering as the advances in plant breeding. Arguably, the evolution of machinery over these 20 years has powered the biggest and most profound changes in farming that global agriculture has ever seen in such a short time frame. Equally amazing is the list of everyone and everything that has benefited from these new machines. It isn’t just the farmer, although farmers are at the top of the pile. It’s also the environment, the soil and, of course, the consumer.
The number and speed of significant changes to the farm machinery/equipment industry is surprisingly big. Still, there are some of these changes that stand out and that deserve the title “game changer.” COUNTRY GUIDE has asked industry reps for their respective takes on some of the more prominent developments. Taking all of the input and suggestions into consideration, here are their top three machinery innovations of the past 20 years: • GPS technology — and all of its enhancements and subsequent applications [auto steer, RTK (real-time kinematics)]; • Tier 4A emissions controls — it was a huge effort for company engineers to implement the changes, but it’s been worth it; • Operator comfort — even with the growth in equipment size and horsepower, it turns out that true efficiency comes from putting that power into the hands of an alert, confident operator.
CANADA’S OUTDOOR FARM SHOW // 20 YEARS OF INNOVATION
GPS Technology It may not be too much of a stretch to say that the advent of GPS is doing for farming what the earliest tractors did for the industry back in the late 1800s. Initially developed by the U.S. military, GPS was generally adapted to farming first as a means of mapping fields in the mid-1990s, with deviation/accuracy measured in terms of feet. The fastest uptake of the technology came with yield mapping, which saw farmers churning out endless binders of yield data. Field maps showing fertility, topography, variety selection and other factors could then be overlaid with yield results to give farmers a quick but very rudimentary glimpse at how certain areas of a field yielded better than others. It was new technology and farmers saw the value. More than anything, though, they saw the potential. Yet few could have seen the stilluntapped potential for what GPS — and now RTK — systems have done to revolu-
Auto steer was a dream in 1994. Today, it’s a jumpingoff point for technologies including telematics
tionize the industry. Farmers might have been impressed with the potential for reducing overlaps, but according to Barry Nelson, manager of media relations for John Deere (Agriculture and Turf), what really caused a spike in GPS applications was the arrival of auto steer. “That’s when it really happened — and then once you put a customer in the tractor and demonstrated that to them, they didn’t go back,” says Nelson, who started with the company shortly after the recession in the early 1980s. “It was a pretty inexpensive investment when you look at all the fuel you’re saving, the time, the passes through the field and then the comfort of the operator. It was kind of a no-brainer that you needed to have this on your tractor, on your combine or on your self-propelled sprayers and other self-propelled farm vehicles.” GPS technology has now evolved to RTK, and that has narrowed the signal deviContinued on page 10
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CANADA’S OUTDOOR FARM SHOW: UPPER MACHINERY MALL & FIRST LANE
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ation from 11 or 12 inches on the original systems in the mid-1990s, to sub-inch accuracy that’s more of the industry standard. That’s also opened the doors to newer technologies, including variable-rate applications, variable-rate planting/seeding — even the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for advanced field mapping and remote sensing using various filters on a camera. “Another part of it is when you look at sprayers, our largest sprayer now has a 120foot boom on it,” notes Nelson. “With GPS and AutoTrac, it’s a lot easier to manoeuvre in the field, plus when you’re spraying product out there on the fields, you need to be efficient and environmentally aware. You don’t want to overspray and have too much overlap. So GPS really helps on that, too, and contributes to making farmers better stewards of the land.” Beyond yield maps, UAVs and eliminating sprayer overlaps, GPS has also given rise to applications that have yet to reach mainstream status, including variable fertilizer and fungicide applications (low adaptability to date), as well as economical analysis and weed control (rated as “impractical” as of early 2013). For now, those developments are “in the works,” and slowly gaining more practicality as more is learned about their applications and their value. It’s also been reported that zone till, once heavily promoted and researched by Greg Stewart of OMAF, is on the rise in the U.S. and is being studied again here in Canada. The difference between Stewart’s work from the late 1990s and through the 2000s is the addition of GPS and RTK technology, providing the accuracy that didn’t exist 10 or 15 years ago. Previously, farmers had to line up their planters by sight or visual reckoning, but that’s been simplified with GPS and RTK. “The things that we’re seeing that we probably never thought we’d see 20 years ago are those pilotless drones,” says Jim Boak from Salford Farm Machinery. “We can sit in our pickup truck or sit in the shop, and fly these drones overhead with cameras, and they transmit images back to the shop and record them for future inspections. And that’s going to help us identify soil density problems, drainage problems, fertility problems. Some of the things they can do for us — the informa10
tion that a farmer can glean from that — is just incredible.” After that, says Nelson, farmers are going to see new data technology tools that go beyond the use of flash or thumb drives or a computer card to collect data, only to have to then download them to a computer in order to organize and study the data. The buzzword right now is “The Cloud,” and it’s garnering a lot of attention where its potential for agriculture is concerned. “We’re not quite there yet,” Nelson says, “but you’re going to start seeing an increase in new data management technology.” Tier 4A emissions standards In the late 1990s, another series of innovations took shape when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, along with its EU counterpart, decided that farm machinery engines should conform to a new standard for emissions. In 1996, the Tier 1 emission standards were introduced as a means of reducing noxious emissions such as the nitrogen oxides and particulates. By 2011, the interim Tier 4 (also known as Tier 4A) emission standards were introduced, with a decrease of particulate matter as much as 90 per cent and nitrogen oxide emissions reduced as much as 50 per cent. Much of the gains in fuel efficiency and emissions reductions came from the development of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and cooled exhaust gas recirculation (CEGR) technologies. To say that the farm machinery sector had a challenge on its hands is an understatement. The net outcome, however, has been to turn a potential threat into a benefit for farmers, with cleaner-burning engines that also operate a lot more efficiently. It wasn’t by any means a sure bet at the beginning. “All other tier levels resulted in increased fuel consumption for the customer, no matter who built the engine,” says Sean Dorosz, director of global highhorsepower tractor product marketing for New Holland. “You have to keep in mind the massive engineering feat that was needed to get to Tier 4,” Dorosz says. “In 1996, a single Tier 1 emission-level tractor operating for one day would produce a set amount of oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter into the atmosphere. Now it takes 100 Tier 4 tractors to produce the same
amount of material in one day of operation. That’s a 100-times cleanup in exhaust output in only 15 years.” Steve Hosking, field product specialist with AGCO, also compliments engineers and manufacturers on the redesigning of engines to meet the Tier 4A standards. “That’s a tip of the hat to the engineers that they’ve actually been able to do all they’ve done,” says Hosking. “When we first were handed those compliances, everyone wondered how we could do that. Now with SCR, we’re dealing with the emissions after combustion rather than recirculating the emissions back into the engines.” Operator comfort If you go through the manufacturers’ specs on any tractor, combine or sprayer, the one common theme, regardless of design or colour of metal, is a new focus on operator comfort. Larger farms and larger machines have led to longer hours in the cab, including the addition of halogen lights mounted on machines, which allow farmers to run 24 hours a day, not to mention glass cabs that give 360-degree sightlines, assisted by cameras where needed. There have also been numerous adjustments and enhancements to reduce operator fatigue. Seat design comes quickly to mind. There’s simply no comparison between the seats 20 years ago and the engineering that goes into seat quality and seat adjustability today. Then add in superior air conditioning and air-quality control, plus better sound systems and more. Literally, too, today’s tractors and combines let you take your office to the field. Computerized controllers that are basically extensions of the armrest now give operators not only the ability to monitor almost every aspect of machinery performance, but also to make changes on the fly. The thing that would surprise visitors to the 1993 Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show in Burford, however, is that farmers are actually utilizing the new controller technology. In fact, in many cases, it is the farmers who are impatient for the engineers to release newer versions. In other words, the biggest change in farm machinery may be in the skill level of the person who climbs into the cab.
Canada’s outdoor farm show // 20 years of Innovation
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Telling the story —
to each other At Country Guide, we’re proud to be part of telling the story of Canadian farmers — to each other. As Canada’s largest and oldest national farm publication, we write about how farmers and farm families are making their operations successful, whether they’re grape growers in B.C., grain farmers on the Prairies, dairy farmers in Ontario or blueberry growers in Nova Scotia. Those are just a few examples of how Canadian agriculture is so diverse, and why it’s such a great story. But while Canadian farmers may be producing different products in different areas, many of the challenges they face are the same — weather, markets, financial management, human resources and farm succession. Country Guide’s theme is “Strategic Business Thinking.” We write about how farmers are applying those principles and making agriculture one of the most dynamic and successful sectors in the Canadian economy today. We’re passionate about Canadian agriculture, and we thank all of you who contribute every day to the success of this industry we love. Now it’s your turn to speak out about agriculture’s progress and potential. Be an agvocate – find out how at AgMoreThanEver.ca. Because never has agriculture mattered more to Canada and the world.
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ThE rEAl sTory of Ag
It’s time to tell the
real story Never has Canadian agriculture mattered more to Canada and the world. Ours is a modern and vibrant industry, a leading employer in our country and a major driver of our economy. The Canadian agri-food industry provides safe, high-quality food to millions – at home and around the world. Yet despite all this, we’re often misunderstood. Research shows that while Canadians see agriculture as an essential industry, many don’t see it as progressive or vibrant. To reach our full potential, we need to clear up the misunderstandings – to enhance consumer trust, attract more capital,
accelerate innovation and grow our talent pool. Canadians need to hear more positive talk about agriculture. Industry players deserve to blow their own horns a little, to say out loud that they’re proud of what they do. To celebrate their successes. That’s the story of agriculture that needs to be told – today, more than ever. It has to start with each of us. Be an agvocate and join the conversation at AgMoreThanEver.ca. It’s time to tell the real story.
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ThE rEAl sTory of Ag
Agriculture
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ThE rEAl sTory of Ag
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ThE rEAl sTory of Ag
Be an AGvocate
Speak up, speak positively Those of us involved in agriculture love what we do and we want the best for our industry. We know why agriculture is important to Canada and the world, and that it provides a lifestyle that can’t be beat. But we tend to be a humble group, so others may not hear this message. We need to remember: image matters. What we say about agriculture influences how people view our industry. Share your passion and optimism for agriculture and let it shine through everything you say and do – being an agvocate is that easy. Agvocates look for opportunities to talk about what’s going well in agriculture. They fill in information gaps, help dispel myths and learn more about the industry. Image is critical to our future, and fortunately we have a very positive story that we can tell. So let’s tell it.
• Get young people excited. There are jobs – great jobs. There’s farming of course, but many more options from science and sales to processing and manufacturing. • Speak positively. Investment tends to flow to progressive industries that have a promising future. • Inform consumers we’re capable business managers and stewards of the land, driven to produce safe, high-quality food using sustainable methods. Our image matters – in fact, it has never mattered more. Tell the world why you love agriculture and what the industry means to you. We’re counting on you to tell the real, positive story of Canadian agriculture.
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Speak up. Speak positively. Speak first.
Our industry needs more agvocates To reach its full potential, agriculture needs everyone in the industry to speak up and speak positively. Agriculture More Than Ever is an industry-driven cause to improve perceptions and create positive dialogue about Canadian ag. Together we can share the facts and stories about this vibrant and modern industry, and tell the world why we love what we do. It’s up to all of us to be agvocates and it’s easier than you think – visit AgMoreThanEver.ca and find out how you can get involved.
Cofs is a proud champion of this cause
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Celebrating ag every year Canada’s outdoor farm show offers one-stop shopping for farmers and highlights the most innovative and technologically advanced agricultural products and services available. But don’t take our word for it. here’s what farmers are saying:
“We enjoy going to the Show to see the latest products and new technology available. It also gives us the chance to meet and socialize with other farmers.” The Van Bommel family – M&s Van Bommel farms Inc., Thamesford, ont.
“When first visiting the show it was quickly realized that there was a lot to see! The show was so big that the following year we went earlier in the day to make sure we had time to experience it all.” The Anderson family – Anderson farms, oil springs, ont.
“We go to Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show because it’s where you see the latest technology all in one area and if you’re a farmer this is the one show you can’t afford to miss!” The Benjamins family – Moorefield, ont.
“A great opportunity to view the latest technologies and services for the rural community.” Charlie Peterson – BunnyBrae farm, stratford, ont.
Celebrating ag every day Canada’s outdoor farm show is a proud partner of Ag More Than Ever Visit the Ag More Than Ever booth in Industry Hall and look for team members throughout the grounds. Get your ag swag, have you picture taken and find out how you can help tell the real story of Canadian agriculture.
SHOW STOPPERS Every year, Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show has launched new farm technologies that have literally stopped farmers in their tracks
By Helen Lammers Helps
Sometimes, it was easy to see why farmers were stopping. New technologies like Roundup Ready soybeans had a huge potential and farmers could hardly wait to get their hands on them. Other times, as with satellite-based location systems, it seemed a bit more pie in the sky. If farmers were stopping, it was because they were wondering what in heck you would ever do with an Internet connection on a farm, or why you would ever want a robotic tractor. In just 20 years, the number of technological breakthroughs unveiled at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show is nothing short of stunning, including the following examples. No wonder they could stop a crowd. “FARMING FROM SPACE” It was ripped straight from science fiction. When precision farming made its debut at the 1995 farm show, satellite technology had a huge credibility problem. Sure, you might be able to imagine linking somehow to some satellite orbiting above the Earth, but how could that ever help you farm here on the ground? The big assignment for that 1995 technology launch at the show was to break through the skepticism, showing how the global positioning system (GPS) could give farmers a better idea of what was going on in their fields than they could get if they walked those fields themselves. Today, every farmer gets it. Precision farming uses the global positioning system (GPS), consisting of a series of satellites that transmit signals to pinpoint a user’s location. This is turn allows for robotically precise field work, plus adjusting for within-field variability in characteristics like soil fertility and weed populations. For the first time farmers could manage BROUGHT TO YOU BY COUNTRY GUIDE
areas within a field rather than using the same management on the entire field. In 1995, however, precision farming was in its infancy. There were only five exhibitors in the Farming From Space tent including Agri-Food Laboratories, Rite Tyme Marketing, Terra, Growmark and OMAF. The following year, 15 companies were at the show displaying soil-testing equipment, variable-rate planters and sprayers, yield monitors and computer software, and the industry has continued to grow by leaps and bounds as more and better technologies have become available and more players have entered the market. Now 18 years after that first Farming from Space display, precision farming is no longer a futuristic concept. The electronic revolution has bred a whole array of technologies that change how farmers manage their crops. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) together with a wide range of sensors, monitors and controllers, are creating opportunities for growers to more effectively manage their land. Indeed, the technology is everyday.
THE ROBOTS TAKE CENTRE STAGE In 2000, Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show made history with the first North American demonstration of a robotic milker. Lely Canada exhibited their Astronaut robotic milking technology with a herd of 60 cows housed at the show, giving producers the opportunity to see the equipment in action. The Lely robot milking system had been conceived in the Netherlands in 1992. Robotic milking is a voluntary milking system, which allows the cow to set her own milking schedule. Each cow is fitted with an electronic tag which allows the robot to identify her. When a cow enters the robot, her ID tag is read and she receives a feed reward customized to her level of production. The robot then cleans her teats, attaches the milk cups, and begins the milking process. When milking is complete, the cups disconnect as each quarter finishes milking and she exits the robot. Continued on page 12
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Milking occurs throughout the day and night. Robotic milkers have many advantages. They give dairy farmers more flexibility, decrease labour and staff requirements and allow for more frequent milkings. In 2006 the Cover-All building structure that housed the robotic milker was extended, and in another North American first, two milking robots, one Lely and one DeLaval, worked side by side with two herds of 35 cows each. The facility also showcased the newest technology from several other companies. Each year the Dairy Innovation Centre has been expanded. Now, all of the equipment of a fully functional modern dairy barn is on display with 20 companies showcasing their latest technology. RR changes it all Most Ontario farmers got their first look at Roundup Ready technology at the Outdoor Farm Show. And for most of those farmers, the reaction was the same: “They don’t look any different than ordinary soybeans.” Of course, it was what was inside the soybeans that was different, and Monsanto and First Line Seeds began growing RR soybeans in Woodstock as early as 1995 in anticipation of them hitting the market in 1997. Soybeans were the first Roundup Ready seeds that allowed farmers to use glyphosate to kill the weeds without harming the crop. It has proved one of the fastest technological shifts in world history. About 80 per cent of the soybeans planted in Canada today are Roundup Ready, as are about 80 per cent of the soybeans planted worldwide. Roundup Ready soybeans make up an even bigger proportion of soybean production in Brazil, the United States and Argentina where they account for 85 per cent, 94 per cent and 100 per cent of the soybean crop respectively. Time doesn’t stand still for anyone, however, and in August 2011, the patent for the first-generation RR soybeans expired. Now a second, higher-yielding generation, called Genuity Roundup Ready Yield 2 soybeans with its own patent was coming on stream, and again, many growers got their first look at the Woodstock show. 12
Canada’s outdoor farm show // 20 years of Innovation
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Let the sun shine in Today, solar panels may be a common sight on Ontario farms, but back in 2007 when Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show launched the Sustainable Energy Expo (SEE), solar energy was just creeping on to farmers’ radar. By 2009 interest was on the upswing as details of the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Contract from the Ontario Power Authority were released. Farmers saw that harvesting the sun’s energy could be another cash crop. SEE offered exhibitors and visitors a one-stop shopping location in which to share, develop and communicate the commercial opportunities offered by the rapidly growing fields of sustainable and alternative energy. Each year since that first event, SEE has expanded to include more exhibitors covering all components of energy including solar, biogas, biofuels, wind, geothermal and geosolar. In 2007, a fully functional mini-digester from PlanET Biogas Solutions was on display to demonstrate how an anaerobic digester can be managed as part of a working farm.
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Look, no hands As far back as 2002, show-goers got their first look at a tractor that could steer itself. The tractor-mounted Trimble AgGPS AutoPilot used a satellite guidance system to steer the tractor, promising straight rows even if visibility was poor, plus more efficient field operations. Two years later, farmers were invited to pit their tractor-driving skills against the Trimble Navigation AutoPilot-equipped tractor at the show. Registrants were challenged to drive a tractor through a straight course marked with pylons topped with balls. The farmer had to drive through the course without knocking the balls off. Each day, the driver who knocked off the fewest balls and had the quickest time through the course was invited to participate in the championship round on the last day of the show. The winner of the championship round won the prize of a Trimble EZ-guide Plus Guidance system, valued at $4,000. Continued on page 14
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From cornfield to coffee cup New markets for corn and soybeans are continually being created. Demand for greener products and rising oil prices led to the development of biodegradable plastic made from corn. In 2000 Cargill and Dow collaborated to develop cornbased polylactic acid (PLA), and 2001, visitors to the Outdoor Farm Show got their first look a whole new generation of products made from corn, including coffee cups, disposable tableware, mulch, and clothing. Visitors to the 2001 Farm Show were able to learn about this value-added market for corn along with other crops. Farming by camera Farmers are quick to find uses for any new technology that will help them farm more efficiently. In 2005 visitors to the show got their first look at the Dakota MicroAgCam, developed specifically for agricultural applications. Even in its first years, the multiple applications for the portable camera included viewing the height of the grain in the combine hopper, monitoring livestock in the barn, and seeing what you’re pulling behind large, obstructive equipment without doing the “quick swerve” to see if it’s still there. The cornstalk challenge At the 2011 Outdoor Farm Show, 18 tillage manufacturers faced off over a field of corn stover. Today’s higher-yielding corn varieties leave more cornstalks behind, and it’s a real challenge for growers. Plus, with more farmers moving to longer-season hybrids, there’s less time for decomposition. That creates a need for a tillage tool, or a combination of tillage tools, that will help them manage this residue so the next crop can get off to a good start. Pat Lynch moderated the demonstration, reviewing the benefits of each piece of equipment before it was demonstrated. Each company had 600 m to “strut their stuff.” In fact, all through the years show visitors have been able to see the latest advances in farm equipment in action. This was a definite plus for farmers who previously could only view equipment indoors in static displays at winter farm machinery shows. In 1995 several no-till 14
Canada’s outdoor farm show // 20 years of Innovation
No shows Not every innovation makes it to the show. There were two failed attempts to bring a microwave hay dryer to Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show. In 1995 the Hay Dry, 50 feet long and weighing 18,000 pounds, was en route from Florida when it got stopped at the border due to biosecurity issues. It never arrived. Then in 1996, plans were in place to bring a microwave hay dryer owned by Milverton cash cropper and entrepreneur John Roe to the show site. Sadly it was destroyed by fire before the show and never made it. High-oil corn In 1998 Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited introduced high-oil corn, a value-added trait for grain or silage uses, beginning the trend toward value-added crops. High-oil genetics promised a higher energy density, improved swine and poultry performance, and reduces the need for costly supplements. On the web The Outdoor Farm Show got its first website in 1998. Now farmers from just down the road or from across Canada and the world could find out about demonstration times, plots, and exhibitor lists in advance of the show so they could better plan their visit. As this was at the cusp of website development, the Outdoor Farm Show teamed up with website development company, Duo, that year to offer exhibitors the opportunity to create a website. With the exception of the multinationals, most companies had no online presence in 1998. But with foresight, some 20 companies took advantage of the offer. Fill it up with ethanol The year was 2003 and visitors to the Outdoor Farm Show could learn about a new farmer-led corn ethanol project. The Integrated Grain Processors Co-operative (IGPC) was at the show to raise awareness about corn ethanol and the advantages for producers, the environment and the economy. This farmer-owned co-operative shared its plans to build a state-of-the-art plant to convert Ontario corn into ethanol. Ethanol is a renewable, clean-burning, high-octane fuel traditionally used as a blending ingredient in gasoline, and in this case is obtained from the fermentation of corn starch. The co-operative was founded in 2002 by a group of farmers and agribusiness people looking to add value to Ontario’s agricultural production.
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The original plan was to build a plant in the Brantford area but when that met with local resistance the plant was eventually built in Alymer in 2008 instead. Today IGPC Ethanol estimates its plant, which employs 50 people, generates $175-million worth of economic activity in a 75-km radius. Vistive still waiting Not every good idea is an immediate winner, especially it seems in farming. In 2008, Monsanto chose the Outdoor Farm Show to unveil new technologies as well as those still in development. One of the products in the promising category was the Vistive low-linolenic soybean. Vistive was the first in a pipeline of products intended to bring improved oils to the market, explains Trish Jordan, public and industry affairs director with Monsanto, saying, “The oil from these beans can reduce or virtually eliminate trans fats in processed soybean oil.” Since the Vistive soybeans have lower levels of linolenic acid, their oil doesn’t require hydrogenation, a process that is used to increase shelf life and flavour stability in fried foods, baked goods, snack products and other processed foods. The problem with hydrogenation is that it creates trans fats, which in turn have been linked to heart disease. Even so, Vistive soybeans have not taken off in Canada, despite Monsanto’s efforts to arrange processing Canadiangrown Vistive beans in the U.S. “Food companies like the product but aren’t willing to pay extra for it,” says Jordan. In the U.S., Monsanto took the route of paying the grower premium. Vistive low-linolenic soybean, and the secondgeneration Vistive Gold soybeans which have potential to be used in the automotive and industrial lubricant sector, are currently available in the U.S. The future of the Vistive soybean is in a state of flux, says Jordan. Put that in your pipe In 1998 when the government of Canada legalized the growing of industrial hemp for the first time in 60 years, farm show visitors were able to get a firsthand look at this exciting “new” crop. 16
Canada’s outdoor farm show // 20 years of Innovation
Although hemp had been widely grown during the 18th and 19th centuries in Canada to make rope and clothing, it was banned in 1938. In March of 1998 it became legal to grow it once again in Canada under a federally regulated licensing system. A plot and information tent at the Outdoor Farm Show that September was sponsored by the Bank of Montreal, Fraser and Hollingsworth Hemp Merchants, and the Commercial Hemp Journal. Farmers were able to ask questions from the experts on hand and try hemp-based products. There is a growing global market for hemp. This versatile crop can be used to make clothing, paper, building materials, cosmetics, car parts, flour and pasta. Hemp seed is in demand by health-conscious consumers for its high levels of omega-3 and 6 essential fatty acids (EFAs) which are good for the brain and heart. And clothing made from hemp, which is non-GMO and mostly organically grown, is in demand by environmentally conscious consumers. Brought to you by Country Guide
Botanically hemp is classified as Cannabis sativa L., one of 500 varieties of the cannabis family. Although hemp is a distant cousin of marijuana, it contains virtually no THC, the active ingredient of marijuana. Products made from industrial hemp have no psychoactive effects when consumed. All Canadian commercial hemp strains are closely monitored by the government to ensure genetic identity and to control levels of THC. Although hemp has been grown successfully from coast to coast in Canada, it is predominantly grown in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta. The Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, an umbrella group of growers, processors, researchers and manufacturers, predicts the hemp acreage will double in the next two years and be worth $100 million. Yet farmers got to see their first glimpse of this versatile crop at the Outdoor Farm Show!
Everybody’s gone surfin’ It seems hard to believe that it was just 17 years ago that the Outdoor Farm Show hosted an Internet Café so farmers could try out the Internet to see what it was all about. Today if our Internet goes down we’re in a panic as so much of our communications and business activity is reliant on Internet connectivity. In just 17 years the Internet has gone from a novelty to ubiquitous. Of course in 1996 the Internet looked very different. There was no Google, no YouTube, no Facebook, and no eBay. Companies were just starting to develop simple websites. In 1995 only 36 million people, or 0.4 per cent of the world’s population, was using the Internet. Today that number has increased to almost three billion and 40 per cent of the world’s population. Facebook alone boasts one billion users. The Internet began as a project of the Continued on page 18
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U.S. military in 1969. The U.S. Department of Defense developed the precursor to the Internet as a means of networking their computers so they could exchange information and share resources. Later government, universities, and industry came on board. Then in 1994 it was expanded to serve a multitude of users. Today the Internet connects people in 65 countries instantaneously through computers, fibre optics, satellites, and phone lines. You can conduct business or play games with people on the other side of the world, watch music videos, or get news updates and stock market prices in real-time. It also marshals support for human rights in suppressed nations. In 1996, who knew? Or could even guess? Some say the Internet and smartphone technology has changed agriculture more than tractors. Before the Internet, farmers relied on Green Valley Heating - Ad - Heatmor-Logstor - Canadas Outdoor Farm - July 2013 the information that came over the radio, in Thursday, July 11, 2013 8:58:39 AM the mail or from their local extension agent. Now commodity and stock markets can be tracked in real-time on a global basis. Weather forecasts are updated continuously on a sitespecific basis. News is continually updated. Spec sheets for farm equipment is available Unique multi-blade, acute-angle design effectively cuts into road 24/7 so you can do your homework before you Simple • Affordable • Efficient surfaces, mixing, sifting and leveling the soil as it operates. head to the dealership. Growers can easily One pass Levels Potholes, Ruts & Washboards The blades create a soil “boiling” motion, sifting and depositing finer “chat” with other growers, anywhere in the materials in lower layers with coarser material on the surface. Any Tractor • Any Application • Any Size world. The Internet has also made it easier for The blades are pulled through the road material rather than pushed producers to connect with their customers. as with a motorized grader. Thus the Spreader Grader performs faster, And all of this information can easily be more efficiently and more economically than a motorized grader. CALL FOR A FREE DEMONSTRATION accessed by farmers using cellphones no mylesclayton@sasktel.net www.roadboss.org • SIZES RANGING FROM 4FT. TO 16 FT. matter where in the world they are, includMobile: 306-831-9043 • WORKS WITH 3-POINT OR SKID STEER ing, of course, at the show!
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CANADA’S OUTDOOR FARM SHOW // 20 YEARS OF INNOVATION
CHRISTIAN FARMERS FEDERATION OF ONTARIO 7660 Mill Rd. RR4, Guelph ON N1H 6J1 Voice: (519) 837-1620 Fax: (519) 824-1835 Email: cffomail@christianfarmers.org Web site: www.christianfarmers.org
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nce again the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO) is excited to be a participant in Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show (COFS) in Woodstock this September. For 20 years the CFFO has been part of this world class event geared specifically for farmers and their growing businesses. Each year innovative new ideas are brought out at this venue for people to view. The COFS is a place where exhibitors have the opportunity to connect with people interested in new technology and farm equipment. Here people come to meet both old acquaintances and new friends to share the past year and look forward to another year. The CFFO congratulates the COFS on reaching the 20 year milestone of this show. We wish the board, staff and volunteers all the best in this year’s special show and are pleased to be a part of it. Our staff and executive board will again host a booth in the Ag-Biz Pavilion on 6th lane. This annual event is a highlight for many people. Ag business reps and farmers all look forward to walking the grounds each September to assist them in their plans. This outdoor experience is a great place to learn how technology is improving agriculture and what new opportunities are waiting to be implemented on your farms. As one of the two accredited farm organizations in Ontario representing our members, these three days are exciting for us. We look forward to meeting many of our members and their families and meet others who we can show what we do as a farm organization.
CFFO BOOTH IN THE AG-BIZ PAVILION CFFO Field Services Manager Paul Bootsma along with executive board and local district board members will be at the booth all three days to meet visitors at the 20th edition of Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show.
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chain reactions Losing a dealership chain creates distance between manufacturer and customer. As farmers get more sophisticated, the companies are exploring new strategies to bridge that divide By Scott Garvey, CG Machinery Editor laas to open corporate dealership chain,” the headline above the brief news item said in a European farm magazine this spring. But beneath that simple announcement lay a difficult marketing decision with broad implications for Claas and the farmers who run its machinery. Reportedly, an independent 19-store dealer network in northern Germany had suddenly discontinued its relationship with the farm equipment manufacturer. In response Claas revealed it would establish its own chain of 14 corporate stores to service the region. For Claas, it was a case of déjà vu. In North America, it had recently experienced a similar situation. A Caterpillar dealer chain that had retailed the company’s
Are today’s farms large enough to deal directly with the manufacturer, only using the dealer for their shop?
Lexion combines dropped out of the ag equipment business leaving Claas unrepresented in Nebraska, a major market area for its combines and the heartland of its North American presence (its corporate headquarters and combine assembly plant are in Omaha). In response, the German company again took over retailing in that area with its own multi-store outlet. “We didn’t want to leave anyone without good service,” explains John Schofield, Claas North America’s marketing co-ordinator. “We decided to buy out the dealerships Cat was getting out of. It wasn’t necessarily part of a large focus to start buying out dealerships as much as it was to support good customers. As it turns out, we’ve done really well with it.” Claas has done so well, in fact, its number of Nebraska locations is set to grow. “We have three outlets and we have plans for a fourth,” confirms Schofield. Yet the Claas experience also raises a question. In today’s multi-outlet dealership environment, what options does a manufacturer have if it suddenly ends a relationship with a retail chain? It’s a problem that could leave a very large geographic area without any product support for farmers who already own that brand’s machines, not to mention a lot of lost sales. If an independent dealer can’t be found quickly to take on a brand, could the best alternative be for the manufacturer to set up its own dealership chain to cover a regional marketing gap in the short term, particularly if it requires building up an entirely new group of stores? “I’m reluctant to say it’s the best answer,” says Robert Currie, president of Massachusetts-based Currie Management Consultants Inc., whose firm regularly helps manufacturers and independent dealers grapple with all types of distribution dilemas. “It is an answer. One of the others is that they buy another private distribution organization (dealer network) that’s representing Brand X. They kick out Brand X and put their own brand in. That gives them instant coverage,” Currie says. The trouble with creating Continued on page 34
August 2013
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Continued from page 33 their own distribution organization is it takes a little bit of time. It’s a classic make or buy decision.” But if a company can’t purchase an existing dealer network to convert, building one from the ground up becomes just about the only alternative to abandoning a territory — at least temporarily. “I can tell you,” says Currie, “from our experience there is nothing more difficult than going into a green field organization, starting from scratch, getting a phone number, getting a building, hiring people. It takes a lot of strong management. It takes capital. It takes time. In the end, though, you may end up with an organization that better meets your distribution needs.” Today, there is also a new factor emerging that could add additional value to manufacturer-owned dealerships. As farm consolidation continues, a few industry observers suggest there are a growing number of commercial farming operations in Canada and the U.S. whose equipment needs might be best served by dealing directly with manufacturers. But so far few of the majors seem willing to seriously tackle the retail end of their businesses. “It’s not axiomatic that manufacturers can’t run their own distribution (over the long term),” says Currie. Still, he believes ag equipment manufacturers need first to clearly understand who their customers are before deciding how they can provide buyers with the kind of service they need and what retail model does that best.
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“The centrepiece of business strategy, to a great degree, is profiling your business’s customer,” Currie explains. “What does our target customer look like and how do we get those target customers?” “There are roughly 2.2 million farmers,” Currie adds, “57,000 of the 2.2 million account for 60 per cent of (overall) farm income. So one of the first questions that gets raised with the manufacturer is, do you see your future in the 57,000 large (A level) farmers, or do you see your future as partly there in the large producer but also in the 2.2 million B, C and D level farmers?” Manufacturers need to establish that before deciding if there is an advantage to one long-term retail model over another. But even settling that question won’t provide a clear-cut answer as to whether or not a manufacturer-owned outlet can outperform an independent. In the end, meeting the customers’ needs is still the key. “I don’t know that there’s an inherent advantage in the entrepreneur or in the company-owned operation,” Currie says. “The (real) advantage is in high-quality management and operational excellence.” That excellence could come from either model. “Now we get into a scale issue,” Currie says. “A large company might be able to run a $100-million dealer or multi-location dealership where they were unsuccessful running a $6- or $8-million location. But by the same token, the $6- or $8-million entrepreneur may die in a $100-million operation. So I don’t think there’s a clear answer that all company-owned operations don’t prosper, because I know a bunch of them in a lot of different industries that do. And I know a whole group of them that don’t.” The difference between success and failure for a manufacturerowned outlet lies in what goals it’s trying to achieve and how it goes about it. “In a couple of cases I know of, distribution (dealerships) reports to the financial vice-president, not to the sales department,” Currie says. “That sends a clear message to companyowned distribution: your job is to make profit, create cash flow, act as a dealer and primarily to perform. When they report to a sales department, their function may be to increase sales — or create the appearance of increasing sales by taking on more inventory. So there are a number of factors that yield a high-performing manufacturer-owned distribution organization. And those factors aren’t any different than a good privately owned dealership.” But as a short-term solution to filling a temporary dealership gap, the reasons a manufacturer may want to consider establishing its own stores remain unique. Not moving in to cover the sudden loss of distribution through a local dealership chain would stifle new equipment sales there in the short term. However, manufacturers need to assess whether that temporary loss of revenue is enough to offset the investment needed to establish a corporate dealership. The right answer for each firm will often be different, depending on a wide variety of factors. In some cases, simply allowing the gap to remain until an independent retailer steps forward to pick up the slack may actually be the best and least costly option. “The fact is, life goes on,” says Currie. “We may end up with less (sales) volume in the short term. But we’re able to figure out who the customers are. We’re able to go out and make contact with those customers. In the end, we just have to be disciplined about running the business correctly. We can’t just try stuff.” CG AUGUST 2013
business
Mentor up By Amy Petherick
hen a farm teen looks at a field of corn today, they don’t see the same thing their parents saw. The ground wasn’t worked the same way, for starters. Nor was the seed planted at the same population, or with the same inputs. And you sure won’t be happy if the crop only grows at the same speed and to the same size as the crops that were planted a generation ago, or if it only notches the same final yield. It’s true with crops and farms all across the country. And it’s also true that parents on today’s farms don’t always have time to walk their fields with their kids. Plus, with so many streams of agronomic information coming so quickly and from so many directions these days, the talk is always about the details. It’s hard to imagine how a kid could ever get an overview of how to grow a great crop. Some farmers, in fact, are openly worried how to transfer those crop skills into the future. So, while it would be great if the kids could learn everything they need straight from their parents, is that realistic? While travelling from farm to farm in Ontario’s Huron and Perth counties, DuPont Pioneer sales manager David Brand started noting this concern, especially August 2013
This Pioneer DuPont program may set off a new era of programs helping to teach farm kids to grow better crops
among large operators. “Basically, guys were asking for a mentorship program for the next generation,” Brand recalls. 4-H and other programs still get the backing of these farmers, of course. But the farmers saw a need for something more intensive with a tighter focus on crop management. And while they also support college and university programs for their kids, book learning can never be quite as good as getting into the field and managing the crop yourself. After driving a few more miles, Brand decided there was only one solution… and that is how Pioneer DuPont’s Corn Share program was born. “Corn Share is an opportunity for hands-on learning for young people to understand how to grow a good corn crop,” Brand says. “Many large growers don’t feel they have the expertise or the time to give kids that extra edge.” In many ways, the timing seems right. Across North America, input companies are looking for ways to build relationships with customers. What better start could there be than when the kids are still in their teens? The Corn Share pilot program began in the early spring of 2012 with a modest-size class in the Listowel area of eight 15- to 18-year-olds. Then it got real.
At the first session, each participant signed up to grow a minimum of 10 acres of corn for their learning crop. The next four meetings then moved to the field, with training sessions and scouting trips in the spring, early summer, late July and at harvest to discuss their crop’s progress. Brand says the focus wasn’t plant science, although the teens did dissect seedlings in class. Instead, the focus was on the key components of growing corn, and before they were done, each student was required to present their observations and results to a Pioneer representative. “We go through things like soil temperature, stand counts, and measuring seed depth… things we we think are basic concepts,” says Brand. “If we can give this younger group that foundation, they can get more involved in their operations and decision-making processes.” That is exactly what happened for Hannah van den Boogaard. The oldest daughter of Piet and Ann van den Boogaard, who raise pigs on a 1,000-acre farm in Gorrie, Ont., Hannah was the only girl to participate in Corn Share last year. With four older brothers helping with farm work, and with five younger siblings, Hannah says she’s never been very Continued on page 36 country-guide.ca 35
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“ If we give this younger group that foundation, they can get more involved.” –– Dave Brand Continued from page 35 involved with the crops. “There are lots of talks around our dinner table about how the crops are doing, but I didn’t really talk about farming beforehand,” Hannah says. “Considering I’m a farmer’s daughter, I knew very little.” Initially, Hannah says, she planned simply to tag along with one of her brothers at the Corn Share program. When he was unable to go, however, Hannah decided to try it out by herself. Once there, she couldn’t help but notice all the boys knew more about farming than she did. But she got her dad to help her pick a 2700 CHU refuge hybrid anyway, and he had a 27-acre field planted for her. Hannah scouted for weeds and insects, estimated yield, and kept detailed records so she could compare notes at meetings. Going above and beyond the program requirements, Hannah found her field yielded 173.8 bu./ac. at harvest, which was even better than the 165 bu./ ac. she had estimated. But more valuable than the crop was the experience she gained, even if she doesn’t pursue an agricultural career. 36 country-guide.ca
“Someday down the road I could see myself on a farm because I love the way of life,” Hannah says. “The things I’m learning now could help me then.” Regardless of where her future takes her, Hannah believes the first-hand experience has given her more common ground with her farming family and with her neighbours. Her experience has helped her understand and communicate with other farmers better because she rarely went on her field walks alone. It was easy to get into the swing of talking crops. “A couple of times I went by myself but most of the time Dad would come with me and we’d talk about how the field was doing,” Hannah says. “My little siblings came out a couple of times and we began teaching them a little bit too.” Both Hannah and Brand say a critical aspect of the Corn Share program is giving young people lots of exposure to experts who can reinforce concepts differently than their parents do. “Hearing from the experts is different,” says Hannah, “and it’s good to hear the reason behind why we do things the way we do.” For 2013, the program is being
offered across Ontario through nine different groups, with some 95 students enrolled. It might also be expanded to other provinces and Brand says he’s been contacted by Pioneer staff in Ohio looking to start a pilot program there. For Brand, it’s further confirmation that the initiative is fulfilling a true need, and it has him entertaining the idea of developing a sister program. “I’d love to see them go from this level into a more in-depth program for 20- to 25-year-olds,” Brand says, “but if it doesn’t go there, it still exposes these young people to agriculture, gives them an appreciation for it, and shows them there’s a huge opportunity for them in agriculture.” Reassured that there are talented young people interested in agriculture, Brand feels positive about how the next generation of farmers will fare when they eventually take the reins on the home farm. “They’re pretty sharp, these young people,” Brand says, “and when you give them the opportunity to ask questions, and when you ask them questions, it’s amazing the knowledge level they’re already at.” CG August 2013
production
Beat the bottleneck Fertilizer delays at Canada’s retail outlets are costing famers time, frustration and lost yield By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor t can happen any year. Winter melts away, farmers give their equipment a final calibration check, and the race is on… unless there’s no fertilizer ready to load. Increasingly, that’s a problem. In fact, bigger equipment makes it an even bigger problem. With 100-foot spray booms and planters up to 36 rows, every hour that’s lost is a big chunk of field that should have been finished. So why are growers left sitting and waiting for their fertilizer and inputs? If the equipment manufacturers can build bigger, more efficient machinery, and if seed companies can keep the planters and drills filled, why can’t the farm dealers and retailers build more capacity, hire more trucks and somehow ease the bottleneck? As with so much in agriculture, finding a solution is easier said than done, especially in a year like 2013. In the spring of 2012, warm temperatures and excellent soil conditions meant farmers had the nine open weeks to get six weeks’ worth of field work done. This year, they had about 20 days. That led to a flurry of angry hang-ups when farmers called to arrange delivery of their 28 per cent. Instead of a Monday afternoon delivery for a Monday morning call, many were told there’d be a one- to two-day wait. To add insult to injury, when those same farmers called back an hour later after finding none of the other dealers in the area could get there any faster, the delay meant delivery was scheduled even later. Farmers were frustrated and bogged down, and it wasn’t a picnic for dealers either. Nobody wants a disappointed customer, of course, but dealers also feel they’re in a squeeze because of issues ranging from economics to environmental regulations — and those are just the starters. Casper Kaastra, general manager of the Agronomy Company of Canada, based northeast of London at Belton, Ont., says much of the bottleneck can be traced to one type of fertilizer in particular — UAN. Kaastra refers to a “perfect storm” scenario, where demand has grown significantly for UAN especially in the past five years. As corn production has leaped ahead, both in terms of acreage and in yield, the demand for spring applications of UAN has soared too. Yet lurking behind the UAN demand curve, there August 2013
are two other issues that are getting more and more worrisome: trucking and the environment. The standard process for UAN across most of southern Ontario is to truck it in from Hamilton (or sometimes from Sarnia or Port Stanley). For points in eastern Ontario, it often entails unloading from ports farther east, including some in Quebec. Trucking sounds simple, but equipment regulations are tightening to the point where UAN tanks now require a steering axle. That’s led to several trailers being decommissioned or being required to carry less. “On top of that, the cost of entry in acquiring these new trailers is quite high, so you’re talking north of $100,000, just for the new steering axle to meet the new regulations,” says Kaastra. Another issue within the trucking sector is that UAN is a low-concentration product, which means trucks are also carrying around a lot of water. “And then the storage is part of the other infrastructure piece. UAN has the potential to be an environmental issue.”
Big farm equipment ends up idling until the fertilizer truck shows up There’s been a hope that farmers may build more on-farm storage, but UAN brings significant liabilities involved, both in terms of insurance and environmental regulation, and the cost of a proper storage unit, complete with diking, adequate capacity and tank inspections can be prohibitive. Kaastra points to Michigan and the state’s new directives on handling and proper site requirements as the new standard. Ontario doesn’t have those same regulations in place, but Kaastra believes it will eventually. Many in the industry think he’s right. The damage from spills and leaks can be devastating, and not just on an environmental front: the damage in reputation to the grower and the agri-food sector can be just as serious. “But I do believe that as time evolves, with the size that these farm customers are dealing with, they will have those scenarios where they’re going to make sure it’s done right,” says Kaastra. The solution on liquid fertilizer comes down to one of two directions: either put more trucks on the road, or the industry must improve the storage and demandsurge ability on the farm itself. Continued on page 38 country-guide.ca 37
Production of his larger growers took his first load of fertilizer on April 12, and his last load went out on May 10. “This year, we shipped him his first load on April 28 and his last load on May 10,” explains Kinlin. “But how do you do it differently? Do you say, ‘Let’s go back and order a whole bunch more,’ and be ready for the two-week rush, and justify doing that? Because I don’t know, from a financial investment standpoint, if you can.”
On the farm, size does matter
Continued from page 37 Maybe it will require a combination of the two. As for dry fertilizers, the situation is almost the reverse. Since many ag dealers are investing in new storage and blending operations, and since the dry fertilizer formulations are geared to meeting the specific needs of each crop, Kaastra believes that in 95 per cent of the scenarios, the dealer can provide that nextday-service type of demand. Where there is some urgency with dry fertilizers is when planting windows are tight, but Kaastra says the industry needs to be prepared for the 2013 type of scenario, and it is making progress in that direction.
Outcompeting the competition For all that gets said about dealers having to add more of their own capacity, the fact is that this is not a 365-day-a-year issue. And by and large, the dealers get the job done in what could be loosely termed a “normal” growing season. “I do believe there is room for improvement, but I also think we’re doing a pretty good job,” says Clare Kinlin, sales manager with MacEwen Agricentre in Maxville, Ont. Kinlin acknowledges that every year brings its own challenges, but he also believes that ag dealers have had a role in this year’s seasonal surge. “As retailers, we try to differentiate ourselves from our competitors by improving the services and equipment that we offer, which can set high expectations for the grower. Sometimes these expectations may be unrealistic for the season.” From Kinlin’s perspective, even a $1-million investment is no guarantee against having to wait that half-hour — or more — for product to arrive in the field. He agrees with the observation about the timing of the 2013 planting season and the rush of getting six weeks’ worth of work done in just three. In 2012, one 38 country-guide.ca
In midwestern Ontario, the other issue confounding the timing for spring planting is the variety of crops. In counties such as Wellington, Waterloo, Perth and across central Ontario, there’s a diversity that runs beyond corn, wheat and soybeans. Robert Moloney of Boyd’s Farm Supply in Fordwich talks about spring cereals and the concentration of forages that can complicate field deliveries. In 2012, one of their busier weeks was during March break, when most of the spring cereals were planted and most of the nitrogen was spread on winter wheat. “This year, we were into May before we even turned a wheel, and that included wheat and everything else,” says Moloney. Kaastra and Kinlin both concede the solution to this “hurry up and wait” scenario is more complicated than just building more capacity or putting more trucks on the road. Moloney is also quick to point out that such measures would require large investments to solve a problem that lasts only a few days a year. “We probably have a week out of the year where you’d better call to make sure there’s a spreader in the yard, if you want to come and pick one up,” Moloney says. “But aside from that time frame, at the tail end, you have smaller guys getting started and the big guys who are winding down. There’s a month where things are pretty busy, but it’s really only a few days where it’s incredibly busy, where you don’t have enough spreaders in the yard, and that’s typically through the corn season.” But as Moloney also theorizes, this isn’t just a one-off due to a limited planting window. Even during a so-called “normal” year, there will be challenges, and for a number of reasons. First, the trend within the industry is that it’s getting bigger, with larger operations and larger planters and sprayers. But the other half of the situation is a shift in demographics. Older farmers are retiring and those who are buying up the land — young or old — are being pushed to get more crop into the ground. And whether it’s a product of climate change, where the planting windows are getting earlier, or it’s the improved genetics and seed treatments that allow for growers to plant without the same early stresses, the bottlenecking is likely to continue. “This has come in the last 10 years, where the bigger, progressive growers are trying to get it in during the last week of April,” says Moloney. “But now you have all of the big guys going.” Other complications come in as well. On top of the environmental concern with a product such as urea, there’s a security risk as well, Kinlin says. Kinlin also points out that ag retailers and dealers are working to protect market share by developing stronger and moreinvolved relationships with farmers. In that context, the delivery bottleneck is both an opportunity and a challenge. Says Kinlin: “The producers have to understand that if they want us to invest in more just-in-time delivery, then you have to compare apples to apples.” CG August 2013
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PRODUCTION
Raising the bar on wheat
For these producers, wheat has never been the weak link in today’s rotations By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor
imes and perspectives have changed. Maybe wheat used to be the “also ran” that nobody really wanted to plant, and maybe it was the leg of the corn:soy:wheat rotation that left you wondering how much it cost you, not how much it made. But not anymore. Wheat has emerged in the 2000s with strength and value, and a well-earned place in today’s rotations. Wheat prices on the Chicago Board of Trade have climbed with corn and soybeans, and on a global basis, the crop’s growth and importance have continued to climb. Earlier in 2013, global headlines pointed to a definite upswing in production, with references to the failing U.S. crop (which has since improved), increasing demand in India, along with Russian and Ukrainian progress reports and prospects for higher production levels in the U.K. In Ontario, there’s been a wheat tug of war. Production in the province seems meagre compared to the huge western Canadian crop. But size isn’t everything, and Ontario’s concentration on improved performance, the development of its various pools for wheat, and its diversity with five primary types grown here have created a unique reputation for quality and excellence, and it’s within that context that growers have increased their yields. Freedom for producers to market their own wheat has also enhanced its attractiveness as a cash crop. Terry Ross has made wheat a staple of his production system for more than 30 years, and Ross says that much of any farmer’s attitude towards wheat — good and bad — often starts with their farm location. Ross is based near Palmerston, Ont. where he farms 550 acres, and he recalls that 30 years ago, although corn might have been the cash-crop king in the southwest, it sure wasn’t in his area. 40 country-guide.ca
“We had to make the crops that we had work, and wheat was one of them because we didn’t have corn to depend on to pay the bills,” says Ross, adding that available hybrids and climate were the two major influences. “So wheat had to carry its own weight and that’s why we got involved in red wheat, with seed supply and management.” Management is a key in any discussion about increasing production and value. There are those regions of Ontario — if not across the country or the continent — where field conditions are more conducive to high-yielding production. Some growers on some farms can produce big yields with little effort. The rest are the managers, and from Ross’s vantage point, being a yield manager means reducing risk. Weather is the largest risk but it’s uncontrollable, which leaves field history as the next most important, and Ross cites rotation as a key determinant in wheat’s value. Doug Young’s benchmark research at Ridgetown College of Agricultural Technology (RCAT) during the 1990s established wheat’s impact on subsequent corn and soybean crops. That work has since been revisited by David Hooker from the University of Guelph-Ridgetown Campus, as the station is known now. “The other thing I’ve found in the last few years under field preparation is that no till has advanced our wheat crop from simply having a firmer seedbed to where we have fewer years where we have widespread winter or spring kill,” says Ross. “I’m also a big believer in certified seed. That reduces my risk of having a poor crop.” The bottom line for Ross is that he subscribes to management practices that boost consistency. He maintains he can do that with three directives in mind: keep an eye on the marketing price for his wheat, make sure field work is timely, and always AUGUST 2013
production have a positive attitude. The attitude is a big part of his operation, from setting goals to overseeing his various practices. Often, Ross adds, attitude can be a self-fulfilling prophecy — if you start out positive, it’s likely to carry through to the end. “People say they don’t make money, but if that’s the attitude they start out with, that’s what’s going to happen,” Ross says. His own goal with wheat — and it’s hard red that he grows — is to yield 90 bu./ac. as a standard with the expectation of improving one to two per cent every year. “I look at my 10-year rolling average, and my five-year current average, and as long as my five-year keeps going up, then I’m happy.”
More inputs, smarter farming John Simpson echoes many of Ross’s observations about wheat, including the stance that wheat has never been regarded as a “fill-in” or a lesser member of the rotation on his farm. In the early 1990s, he averaged yields of roughly 70 bu./ac., and in a good year, 80 would be a sign that everything had gone right. “Now, we usually see an average of 96 bu./ac., and we’re disappointed with anything less than that,” says Simpson, who farms 2,800 acres with his brother Ken and son-in-law Tyler outside of Oil Springs, Ont. The interesting thing with the Simpson operation is that there was no corn in their rotations until about seven years ago. Once introduced, they found that certain hybrids performed well in some but not all fields. Prior to that, it was strictly a wheat and soybean farm. Today, they grow about 1,200 acres of wheat, 1,300 acres of soybeans and 300 acres of corn. As for managing his wheat yields, Simpson cites a reliance on the tools that can make a farmer more efficient and lead to a better crop, not just in terms of yield, but also quality. He credits the seed companies with improved genetics and in some cases, varieties with shorter stem lengths that effectively guard against lodging. There’s also been the introduction of fungicides and the trend towards higher nitrogen rates. “It used to be it was a standard 90 lbs./ac. of N on our wheat, and now it’s 120 lbs., if not 150,” says Simpson. “With the genetics, shorter straw, plus the use of fungicides and better stalk strength, the plant’s just healthier.” Add to that the tools of the trade, such as weather-tracking systems, particularly Weather INnovations’ DONcast site. And Simpson notes that the adoption of fungicides has done more than protect wheat crops from diseases. He insists there’s a bump in quality, as well. “With the introduction of fungicides, we weren’t just gaining protection from diseases like fusarium, we were also getting a plumper kernel,” Simpson says, adding that he’s been selling direct to mills for years. “And they’d comment on the test weights and good samples, and they’ve said they can identify those direct-from-thefarm loads. So that’s something different. Another difference in Simpson’s management outlook is the notion of “taking care of our own.” August 2013
Simpson says that means managing production risks, but it also means owning on-farm storage and building relationships with buyers. Simpson emphasizes that he doesn’t really do anything out of the ordinary, at least not now that intensive management has become the norm in Ontario. But, he says, “The mills knew what they were getting and that it was something consistent.”
Complete buy-in with wheat Positive attitudes propel the success of Ross and Simpson, and also for Don Van Gorkum, who farms 400 acres outside of Watford, Ont. Van Gorkum speaks in terms of commitment. “We can’t be taking a half-hearted approach,” Van Gorkum says. “We have to maximize the return, and if that means increased inputs that pay off, then we have to utilize those things.”
With more intensive management, wheat yields are really climbing Although he has never looked at wheat as a lesser crop, he does acknowledge a day when some local hog producers (Van Gorkum used to have hogs, too) viewed wheat as the crop that got planted because producers needed a place to spread manure in the summer. “That was the only reason they grew it, and it showed,” Van Gorkum says. “They didn’t spray it for weed control, they just put it in at any time of the fall. They went for maximum yield on beans, got the wheat in late and it didn’t survive the winter as well as it should have.” Another indication of the difference in management practices is that Van Gorkum plants his corn and soybeans in 20-inch rows and offsets one down the middle, so his planting is streamlined to just one planter. He also grows IP soybeans, a rarity this year and in the past two years, with more farmers opting for the simplicity of glyphosate-tolerant technology. As for his wheat, Van Gorkum applies N rates that he concedes might be a little higher than other farmers, along with fungicide applications and close monitoring for pests. He also applies 75 lbs. per acre of starter fertilizer (MAP) at planting in the fall. Contrary to what some provincial advisers recommend, Van Gorkum actually favours getting his wheat planted on time and is willing to take less yield on his soybeans. He has also worked with Lambton County Soil and Crop and has participated in various cereal trials, including the SMART wheat trials. “We’ve seen how we can push that wheat yield, and when we do the fungicide and the extra nitrogen, we’ve found that one plus one can equal three,” says Van Gorkum. “With that kind of an approach to cereals and especially wheat, I put on my own 28 per cent, I put on my own fungicide and I use the same tram lines all the time.” CG country-guide.ca 41
Production
Who needs public breeding? With more private research into wheat, is there still a role for public breeders? heat variety development in Canada has always been a different “breed” of research. Now, it’s even different from what it was just a few years ago. The question is, is it better? In the early 2000s, Ontario wheat growers benefited from the research programs at three private-sector companies, backed up with vibrant publicsector programs at both the University of Guelph and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). By 2013, that picture had changed drastically. Indeed, Ontario lost all four of its public wheat breeders in the last year. Yes, they left their positions because of retirement, but it has raised serious questions about government and university commitment. The breeding program at the University of Guelph has seen very few new varieties of late, and any work being done this year is focused mainly on diseases and is part of Lily Tamburic-Ilincic’s program at the university’s Ridgetown Campus. Cereal growers have responded, and the Grain Farmers of Ontario has teamed up with SeCan to fund a professorship in wheat breeding at Guelph, and there are hopes this may be followed with new commitments to provide facilities for such a research team. On a federal level, however, government cuts to agricultural budgets, particularly in Eastern Canada, have seen the funding for AAFC research on wheat traits and characteristics scaled back along with its cereal disease research.
Private gains Private wheat research, meanwhile, has grown its variety output and it has enhanced its reach to growers. The initial three companies — C&M Seeds, Pioneer Hi-Bred (now referred to as DuPont-Pioneer) and Hyland Seeds (a division of Dow AgroSciences) — are still involved and committed to growing the cereal sector in Eastern Canada, and wheat in particular. The bottom line is that wheat appears to be going the way of the corn sector in Canada, where there is less and less publicsector support for breeding and research. Essentially, it’s been handed over to the companies. So, how much difference will it make? In Western Canada, wheat breeding is supported by the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF), which has the support of more farmers producing larger volumes of wheat and other cereals from which to draw checkoff payments. Eastern Canada lacks such a funding vehicle, even though many in the East believe that a similar arm’s-length funding approach is even more important here because farming is a smaller part of the eastern economy. “I still believe there’s a value in the public-sector system,” says Martin Harry, eastern marketing manager for SeCan. It makes sense for government to focus on specific traits that can then be released to private breeders, Harry says. And it also makes sense 42 country-guide.ca
By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor
for universities to stay involved because universities must train future wheat breeders. “Right now, AAFC is offering two technicians, part time, but there’s no leadership,” Harry says of the ongoing negotiations. “We’re not going to have anybody doing plots for us, performance trials or registration trials.” Harry says it’s enough to make some in the wheat sector wonder whether it might be time to get rid of the registration trials system altogether. The wheat sector has also hung its hat on the fact that before a variety can be registered and made commercially available, it must be approved by millers and downstream processors. If its flour is unsuitable for blending, or if it is unpalatable in a finished product such as bread or crackers, then it dies right there. But that too maybe changing, says Harry. Word is that some of the quality-based parameters are in the process of being streamlined, and that instead of making milling quality a basic part of the variety licensing system, perhaps the industry should instead be moving to a premium-paying IP system for higherquality varieties. For the time being, however, the private-sector companies are already doing much of the work of the public sector, at least in terms of the traits and characteristics. All three appear to be successfully creating varietal lines for Ontario conditions instead of just bringing in whatever happens to work in the northern-tier states.” In fact, in 2008, C&M Seeds of Palmerston, Ont., announced it had brought a “new” class of wheat — durum — to Ontario in an effort to open a new market opportunity for growers. The seed company also partnered with a local miller to produce locally grown pasta. “If you look at it, Ontario is almost a niche market,” says Ellen Sparry, director of research and development for C&M Seeds. “That’s just because of our size, where we can’t compete with the broad acreage of the U.S. Midwest or Western Canada.” The strategy, says Sparry, is to build an industry to grow what it can market, both locally and abroad. As for the issue of public versus private, Sparry believes it’s an evolutionary process, and that the private companies have a duty to provide the best traits and characteristics to farmers. Even though AAFC work on fusarium head blight (FHB) has been scaled back dramatically since the early 2000s, the privatesector companies are prepared to step in and take up the slack. To Sparry, it only makes sense to take the baton from a shrinking public sector affected by retirements and spending cuts. “On the private side, we’re well aware of what growers are going to be looking for in a variety,” Sparry says. “There’d be no advantage to a private company that did not provide the disease resistance that growers are expecting, and I think the companies are certainly positioned, on those types of items to pick up the slack.” Time will tell. CG August 2013
Spotlight on Crop AdvAnCeS Crop Advances is an annual report that summarizes applied research projects involving the OMAFRA Field Crop team, in partnership with commodity groups, industry and the OSCIA. www.ontariosoilcrop.org/en/resources/cropadvances.htm
Soybean seedling disease management can lower production costs By Lilian Schaer High soybean yields begin with a healthy stand of vigorous plants. Seedling diseases, along with other factors like weather, can result in the need to replant and drive up the cost of production. A project underway in conjunction with researchers from the United States is determining which pathogens affect soybean seedlings and developing diagnostic tools to identify their presence in hopes of developing better management tools for farmers. “Understanding which specific pathogens make up the seedling disease complex, and the factors that enhance the damage they cause will increase our understanding of seedling diseases and help develop better management strategies,” says Albert Tenuta, Field Crops Program Lead with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF). Next to soybean cyst nematode, seedling diseases – including oomycetes like Pythium spp. and Phytophthora sojae, and fungi such as Fusarium and Rhizoctonia – are the number two yield limiting diseases in Ontario soybean production.
approach to fighting pathogens and lets experts on both sides of the border pool their knowledge and stretch limited resources. What has the project found to date? “This year has been ideal for many of the seedling diseases for soy and corn. Last year we found nine different Pythiums in soy, more than I expected,” says Tenuta. “Many thrive under different environmental conditions and we’re seeing how the species are starting to adapt. They all have their particular niche and will affect stand establishment.” For George Kotulak, who farms in the Leamington area, keeping new pathogens in check is important and he offered up his fields for testing as part of the project. “They’ve been doing some sampling and looking at different types of diseases in the area. We have plants and land available for them to test, to help things along,” he says. “They’re looking for diseases we might not have anywhere else
How is the research being conducted? In 2012, Ontario researchers began participating in two U.S research projects, one by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the other by the United Soybean Board (USB), which were launched in 2011. To date, 120 isolates of fungal pathogens have been collected in Ontario from a wide range of environments, soils and cropping histories. These are now being analyzed with additional samples being collected in 2013. This unique collaboration with American researchers allows a more regional
ONTARIO SOIL AND CROP IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION
and how to deal with those to try to keep them under control.” New technology that is now available, such as molecular tools, is allowing for faster and more accurate identification of the pathogens. Tenuta says they’ve developed some new assays for rapid identification and are working on tools that can be used in-field as well. If problems can be identified, new tools can be developed to manage them, he adds. Where can I get more information? More information on this project can be found in the Crop Advances section of the OSCIA website at http://bit.ly/11ABkww. How was the research funded? Investment in this two year project was obtained by Grain Farmers of Ontario through the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program. In Ontario this program is administered by the Agricultural Adaptation Council. OSCIA assisted with communication of research results.
Albert’s Advice • Scout for problems. Know what’s going on in your fields with respect to stand problems and weeds. • Take action. Management tools include proper seed treatments, selecting different varieties or using fungicides. “Understanding what pathogens you have that make up your disease complex is important – it can lead to better management of your crop.” -Albert Tenuta OMAF Field Crop Lead
Mission: Facilitate responsible economic management of soil, water, air and crops through development and communication of innovative farming practices
www.ontariosoilcrop.org/default.htm
PRODUCTION
BIGGER, TALLER Grain bins are bigger than ever, putting even more strain on system quality By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor ith every new bin that goes up, grain storage on Ontario farms seems to get that much bigger. Nor is it an optical illusion. Onfarm systems really are swelling. Bins are taller, there are more of them, and the systems are higher capacity in every way, just like planters, sprayers, combines and everything else on the farm. The throughput and storage numbers on these new on-farm systems can make your head spin. Even so, the challenge for each individual farm operation remains to define the optimal bin and system size for their unique production and marketing plan. Farmers want big, storage manufacturer Sukup said, and farmers also want systems that are easier to build. The message from Westeel is the same, says representative Brent Van Ryssel. Farmers want bigger, and they want more. As a result, the number of on-farm systems and in their size is booming, regardless of where you look across the country. “There’s been a decrease in commodity elevators and a focus on regional high-input and -output terminals,” says Van Ryssel, Westeel’s territory manager for Manitoba. “This means the days of producers hauling off the field to the elevator are diminishing due to greater hauling distances and less overall storage capacity within the commodity marketing system.” Also important is that a new generation of producer contracts can have delivery timelines that virtually demand on-farm storage, including premium pricing for winter delivery. Then stir in the reality that for larger farming operations, larger bins can also hold the advantage of a lower cost per bushel. Yet the functional benefits — and 44 country-guide.ca
the responsibilities that come with managing them — must be recognized. Today’s larger storage systems have moved beyond simple storage spaces. Now, with aeration plus more effective circulation systems and ongoing moisture and temperature monitoring and circulating systems, producers have more technology to manage. That technology can be a double-edged sword. There’s greater freedom with on-farm storage, but that freedom does have its limits, and it’s critical to know what those limits are. More options also mean more responsibility. Staying on top of grain quality in today’s larger systems often requires someone on the farm to specialize in dryer management. Once that grain is stored on farm, the responsibility for its quality — good or bad — falls to the owner of that system. “Bigger and taller bins are suited to the growing production of high-volume crops,” Van Ryssel says. “A large bin is no different than a smaller bin. It’s just that the amount of storage is significantly higher. The same product maintenance procedures need to be followed for both. Obviously, larger bins can have many dollars tied up when the bin’s full.” To help in maintaining the quality of the crop inside those bins, Van Ryssel says the system manufacturers have brought innovations to the farm. Just as wireless technology has improved planting and harvesting, it’s also helping with automation of the monitoring system. Growers can track changes in weather and the impact that weather might have on conditions in the bin. Data can be read and collected from a hand-held monitoring system. Just as data collection and sharing (e.g., via “the Cloud”) are growing, the limits on this technology and how it can be applied to storage and quality control are expanding as well. AUGUST 2013
PRODUCTION
More than steel and concrete
Build on what you know
As advanced as the systems can be, however, there are still some conditions that need to be considered before, during and after construction. Bill Phair, of Phair Systems, near Dresden, Ont., acknowledges that storage structures are getting larger, and the next item on the shopping list for many growers is grain movement or elevation equipment. “Having the storage is one concern, but the other is when we consider the speed at which the crop can be harvested,” says Phair, adding that that stage includes the conveyance of the crop from the field to processing it (drying and cleaning) and then to the storage unit. “Three thousand- to 5,000-bushelper-hour elevator legs are now being replaced with 12,000- to 20,000-bushel-per-hour systems. But this is calling for increases in available energy required, with huge upgrades in electrical service. Many large and even some smaller farms are finding that available energy is the Achilles heel in this expansion.” Another is elevation relative to the existing grade. Phair cites the example of a project he was consulting on, where a grain merchant was interested in modelling his particular storage unit on U.S. and Canadian systems. The question was asked, “What is the greatest obstacle and challenge that you deal with?” Phair’s response was, “Grade, elevation and water. “The common complaint was that everything is built too low,” says Phair. “Gravel and site preparation are inexpensive over the long run.” As an example, he cites a 12,000-bushel-perhour (high-flight) drag conveyor is 40 inches in height and a low-profile drag conveyor unloading a bin onto this conveyor is 22 inches in height. If the bottom of the conveyor is supposed to be above ground level, then the concrete base for the bin needs to be elevated at least five feet. “All of the connections need to be waterproofed when the augers and drags are dumping into other conveyors or elevator legs,” adds Phair. “Water entering any of these locations causes grain to spoil and equipment to rust and fail prematurely. When you consider that this equipment is exposed 365 days of the year, it puts a new perspective on proper plumbing and sealing of equipment.” Interestingly, Phair makes a point about the durability of farm equipment, and that certain systems simply cannot withstand the rigours of operating for all but a few days out of a year. Farmers tend to look at tractors, combines and sprayers as being durable, but those machines are running for just a few weeks per year, and for the most part, are stored inside. Imagine if your $400,000 combine had to sit outside for 20 to 40 years, Phair says. That’s what you’re asking your drying system to endure, across the full range of weather.
In the drive to build bigger, taller and easier-toconstruct storage systems, backed up with advanced wireless technology for monitoring and maintaining quality, Phair wonders if some of the basics of years past are getting forgotten. He remarks how tunnels in the concrete below the bins (in the stem wall) were a standard aspect of steel bin storage construction in the 1970s and ’80s. Then the industry moved away from that, mainly due to cost. “I don’t think we should be building any commercial bin today without tunnels,” Phair says. “They allow workers to safely access a dangerous situation if grain should stop flowing, with the equipment locked out in a safe manner. That way, you’re keeping the personnel out of the grain mass. Injury and fatalities generally occur when workers enter a storage structure when grain stops moving.” Also on Phair’s list of “things that should be done automatically is soil boring and soil analysis. With some of the systems he’s been called in to consult on, he’s encountered many people who question the inclusion of this step in his project bids. But oftentimes, the soil-bearing capacity is far lower than what it should be, given the size of the structure. “I’ve seen some projects that have 1,500 lbs. of soil-bearing capacity, and they should be 3,000 to 3,500 lbs.,” says Phair. “You want a firm, properly designed, compacted base for the structure — something that shouldn’t be settling or cracking just because of poor site preparation in an attempt to save money.”
AUGUST 2013
High-tech tools boost output and quality, but bring a learning curve One final, but very important trend that’s taking shape across all sectors of the industry pertains to the manner in which dealers, equipment manufacturers and service providers relate to their clients. In early June 2013, a webinar entitled “Farm equipment industry drivers of change,” referred to how in years past it was always a case of the dealer or manufacturer selling for the highest price versus the farmer’s intent to buy at the lowest. That created a confrontational environment for both sides. “We needed to change the way we were going about things,” Phair says, referring to ideas and notions he’s learned from dealing with customers inside and outside of North America. “It is not the wholesale marketing and installation of steel and concrete: it’s working with customers to improve their bottom line, their longevity — even their health considerations.” CG country-guide.ca 45
PRODUCTION
#PestPatrol
with Mike Cowbrough, OMAF and MRA Have a question you want answered? Hashtag #PestPatrol on twitter.com to @cowbrough or email Mike at mike.cowbrough@ontario.ca. cover crops can be planted after winter wheat QUESTION: What to effectively reduce weed populations?
THE ANSWER: One option would be to lightly work the wheat stubble with a vertical tillage tool or cultivator and let the volunteer winter wheat take off. The tillage pass stimulates volunteer wheat seed germination and can more evenly distribute the volunteer seed. However, a number of other cover crop options have recently been studied. Laura Van Eerd, associate professor with the School of Environmental Sciences at University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus found that all cover crops will reduce fall weed populations. However, oilseed radish and oilseed radish plus rye, compared to cereals, were especially effective at reducing fall weeds due to their rapid biomass production, which helped them quickly outcompete weeds for resources such as sunlight and water. Plant residue from the cover crops can suppress weeds in the following spring. However, oilseed radish can become a weed in the following growing season if it sets viable seeds in the fall.
The ideal cover crop is one with a dual purpose — i.e. to suppress weed seed germination and to provide a source of livestock feed. @JoelBagg (Joel Bagg, OMAF/MRA Forage specialist) chimes in: Seeding oats in late July or early August following winter wheat for an early-October harvest can be a useful low-cost option for extending forage supplies. Oats can make good feed when harvested at the correct stage of maturity and made into “oatlage” or baleage. Oats are more frost tolerant in the fall than sorghums, and can continue growth after some frost. The challenges can sometimes be lack of adequate moisture in August, and having dry enough weather in October for adequate wilting. Oats can also be pastured if a fence is available. For more info go to www.fcrops.com/?p=4264.
The weed-suppressing power of a cereal cover crop (l) compared to the forest of lamb’s quarters that came up in a drill miss (r).
Oats can make good feed when harvested at the correct stage and made into baleage.
46 country-guide.ca
AUGUST 2013
S:7”
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Shane Noblett of Grand Valley, ON
Watch your savings grow. It’s easy! Simply call 1-888-283-6847 to sign up for the BayerValue program today.
BayerCropScience.ca/InVigor or 1 888-283-6847 or contact your Bayer CropScience representative. Always read and follow label directions. InVigor® is a registered trademark of the Bayer Group. Bayer CropScience is a member of CropLife Canada.
O-66-11/12-TCS12051-E
S:10”
Learn more at BayerCropScience.ca/InVigor
LAND IMPROVEMENT CONTRACTORS OF ONTARIO
LICO CONTRACTORS LISTED BY REGION Armtec-7x5in_CMYK_2012-09-print.pdf
1
12-08-20
■ SOUTH-WESTERN Region ■ SOUTH-CENTRAL Region ■ CENTRAL Region ■ EASTERN AND NORTHERN Region
1:14 PM
SOUTH-WESTERN Region
SINCE 1927
FARM DRAINAGE INC.
TILE INSTALLATION
CONSULTING • EROSION CONTROL BULLDOZING • EXCAVATING • G.P.S. SURVEYS PLOW AND WHEEL
Scott Wilson & Jarrod Wilson
WIND PROJECTS
We locate existing tile, collect GPS data and design and install rerouting and post construction tile drainage systems.
CHATHAM-KENT 519-436-6134
www.gillierdrainage.ca
GPS Surveying & Mapping GPS Guided Drainage Plow Hourly Equipment Rental Competitive Pricing Professional Experienced Staff
342 Chatham St. S., Blenheim, ON, N0P 1A0
519-676-7226 E-mail: clarkedrainage@bellnet.ca
Owners/Operators
Scott Wilson Cell 519.401.3659 Office 519.683.1710
Jarrod Wilson Cell 519.331.9697 Office 519.864.1968
Ideal Pipe
is your ideal solution
Manufacturer of High Density Polyethylene Pipe 05203_Ideal_CountryGuide_ad_FINALv2.indd 1
Call us toll free at* 1 (800) 265-7098 sales@idealpipe.ca | www.idealpipe.ca *Thorndale & Winchester, ON, Carman, MB 13-04-04 12:05 PM
LAND IMPROVEMENT CONTRACTORS OF ONTARIO
LICO CONTRACTORS
LAND IMPROVEMENT CONTRACTORS OF ONTARIO
LICO CONTRACTORS LISTED BY REGION
■ SOUTH-WESTERN Region ■ SOUTH-CENTRAL Region ■ CENTRAL Region ■ EASTERN AND NORTHERN Region
TAIT BROS. CONTRACTING LTD.
CHECK WITH US FOR YOUR
FARM DRAINAGE NEEDS
Drainage Specialists
JIM TAIT
JOHN TAIT
(519) 928-5404 FAX (519) 928-5405
(888) 268-8248 (TAIT)
GRAND VALLEY, ON L0N 1G0
• Plastic installations • A GPS equipped • Family operated for contractor 35 years • Open trench & plow • Excavating & Bulldozing installations • Custom trenching & backhoe service
7226 Blindline Rd. R#4 Elmira ON N3B 2Z3 Ph: (519) 669-2256 or Res (519) 669-4253
(Established 1968)
43 years of experience in providing professionally designed drainage systems.
We provide you with the best of: Drainage knowledge & expertise Free estimate based on our expertise Competitive pricing Personal service Detailed field surveys Professionally designed drainage systems and installations GPS mapping and guidance Excavator and backhoe work
CENTRAL Region
Schmidt’s Farm Drainage
MARQUARDT
FARM DRAINAGE LTD.
LICO CONTRACTORS 1990 Ltd. Harriston
GPS Design and Mapping Quality Farm Drainage Systems
Specializing in Farm Drainage, Backhoeing & Excavating. GPS includes: mapping, grade control & surveying GPS Grade Control Tel: 519-338-3484 Cell: 519-323-6335
LISTOWEL Matt 519-291-0767 Ron 519-570-6795 1-800-565-6478
LAIDLAW FARM DRAINAGE Troy, Ontario
GPS maps of tiled fields
Call us Toll Free:
1-888-534-0393 STEVE CRONSBERRY (Owner)
Office: (519) 343-3233 Home: (519) 338-2373
Bruce Laidlaw (519) 647-2377 Donald Laidlaw (519) 647-3353
GREG WALKER
705-340-5500
LAND IMPROVEMENT CONTRACTORS OF ONTARIO
www.drainage.org
CROPLAND DRAINAGE AND THE LAW It is important that cropland drainage be installed in a way that insures its intended function, that it gives due consideration to all who may benefit or be affected and that it accommodates the natural features of the lands and water that are affected. Ontario has considerable legislation to insure that all of these issues are addressed. These include: • “The Agricultural Tile Drainage Installation Act”, administered by OMAF. This provides for the licensing of contractors engaged in the business of installing agricultural drainage systems. Each contractor’s drainage machines must be licensed. This indicates that machine can install drain pipe accurately. Each of the machine operators must be licensed. This certifies that they have undergone an intensive technical training program and passed examinations. A review of drainage law and legislation is included in the course program. Operators must also demonstrate to an examiner that they are skilled in drainage machine operation. The quality of work performed under this Act is monitored and regulated by OMAF. This Act insures that a landowner receives value by using a licensed contractor. The Act does not apply when people install drains on their own farm. • “The Drainage Act”, R.S.O. 1990, applies to works that affect more than one landowner and is administered by the local municipality and OMAF. This Act provides landowners with a process to obtain a drainage outlet
for their drainage water, often with a “municipal drain”. It can resolve drainage disputes and problems in a technically sound manner in compliance with environmental law. This Act can be used to obtain an outlet for subsurface drainage systems. Costs are shared by property owners who contribute water or benefit from the Drain. The municipality is responsible for administering future maintenance. Grants are available towards a share of the costs assessed on agricultural land. • About twenty other pieces of legislation can impact cropland drainage projects. Some apply to subsurface drainage, some to surface water management, some to outlet drains some to water quality, some to other infrastructure (i.e. roads or pipelines) others to endangered species and then “common law” and “statute law” must be considered. All of this ensures that drains will be installed and managed in a thoughtful and careful way. Cropland drainage is an important component of agriculture’s crop production infrastructure. It brings benefit to both land managers and the general public when rules and responsibilities are laid out clearly in legislation. Before starting a drainage project, check on the many laws and regulations with your Municipality, Conservation Authority or your licensed drainage contractor.
Compliance with legislation can avoid serious court action
Legislation that may impact drainage • Canada Transportation Act, 1996 • Conservation Authorities Act – Generic Regulations • Endangered Species Act, 2007 • Environmental Assessment Act, 1990 • Environmental Protection Act, 1990 • Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act • Fisheries Act • Lakes and Rivers Improvement Act • Municipal Act, 2001 • Navigable Waters Protection Act, 1970 • Nutrient Management Act, 2002 • Ontario Water Resources Act, 1990 • Pesticides Act, 1990 • Planning Act, 1990 • Public Lands Act, 1990 • Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act, 1990 • The Clean Water Act, 2006 • Railway Safety Act, 1970 • Species at Risk Act, 2002 • Wetlands Policy Statement
The Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario (LICO) is an association of professional drainage contractors and suppliers of drainage pipe and equipment. The focus of their business is soil moisture management to enhance crop production in Ontario.
LAND IMPROVEMENT CONTRACTORS OF ONTARIO
LICO CONTRACTORS SOUTH-CENTRAL Region • Farm Drainage • Septic System Installation • Backhoe, Dozer & Excavator R.R. #2, Zurich Ont., N0M 2T0
ROTH DRAINAGE LTD.
• Hydro Excavation
QUALITY, EXPERIENCE & SERVICE!
“WHERE QUALITY IS NOT OLD FASHIONED”
LAND IMPROVEMENT CONTRACTOR
• Video Pipe Inspection
2184 Line 45, Gads Hill
519-656-2618 • 1-866-494-2618 or
82562 Allboro Line, Blyth
519-895-6367 • 1-866-671-5950
TILE DRAINAGE & EARTH MOVING SPECIALISTS
519.236.7390
LICO CONTRACTORS
We do more than just tile drainage!
EASTERN AND NORTHERN Region
M. Downey • Full Laser and GPS Machine Control • Tile drainage – Farm and Municipal • GPS Drawings for Drainage Systems • Land Clearing • Building Site Preparation • Road Building • Manure Storage Pits
• Plastic Tile and Culvert Sales • Excavating, bulldozing, fine grading • Fence Bottom Removal • Erosion Control • Water Mains and Irrigation • Shoreline Protection • Tile Bed Systems – All Sizes
We tackle any equipment related project Phone: (613) 388-2345 Fax: (613) 388-1092 Mobile: (613) 561-5006 Email: herman@richmondditching.on.ca www.richmondditching.on.ca
Excavating Ltd. P.O. Box 215, Pakenham, On K0A 2X0
Tile Drainage Contractor • GPS RTK Topomapping Backhoe, Bulldozer, Excavator Rentals Steel Culverts in Stock • Plastic Tile Licenced in Ontario & Quebec
Mervyn Downey 613-624-5346 C: 613-720-2143
Stephen Downey 613-624-5030 C: 613-314-3819
613-623-8802 | Arnprior, Ontario pneillwms@gozoom.ca
Lin Scott Drainage Ltd. On Top of What’s Gone Below for Over 30 Years • Provincially licensed tile drainage contractor
• Land clearing, fence bottom removal
• Provincially certified erosion control contractor
• Excavating, bulldozing
• Tile drainage • Erosion control, grass waterways
• Open ditches, ponds and lagoons • All laser equipped • Plastic tile and culvert sales
• Building site preparation
For quality workmanship and great service
P.O. Box 297, 20233 Kenyon Con.4, Alexandria, ON K0C 1A0
613-525-1940
Specializing in:
KUEPFER
Farm Drainage
• GPS Data Collection • Professional Drainage Design
FOR TILING YOU CAN TRUST!
A&E Farm Drainage Inc. Glen Allan, Ontario
KEITH FREY
Phone: 519-698-9933 Cell: 519-575-6211 Email: aefarm@sgci.com
(519) 768-1852 GPS Control & Mapping – Septic Installations Complete Drainage Service Harold Kuepfer (519) 595-4545 R.R. 1, Newton, Ontario N0K 1R0
TILE DRAINAGE PAYS! Quality Drainage Systems New: Drain Leveling Available “Your Total GPS Contractor” WALLENSTEIN
1-877-669-1440 www.martindrainage.com
TIMMERMANS Farm Drainage
Let a good drainage system work for you to help improve: • Soil erosion • Aeration • Crop yields • Soil warm up • Crop rotation • Harvest length • Land values • Soil Conditions • Plant growth • Fertilizer efficiency
KMM FARM DRAINAGE FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED
Ron McCallum Paul McCallum Walton
519-887-6428 519-527-1633
GPS Grade Control & Mapping
MESSAGE
(519) 768-1781
FREE ESTIMATES DRAINAGE SINCE 1949
Cook H OW A R D
DRAINAGE Stratford & Area
Drainage Installation and Repair Septic & Sewage Treatment Systems
www.cookdrainage.com 519-273-4118 Mobile 519-272-7264 1-855-273-4118 YOU NAME IT – WE DRAIN IT – FREE ESTIMATES
LAND IMPROVEMENT CONTRACTORS OF ONTARIO
YOUR INDEPENDENT
DRAINAGE DESIGN SPECIALIST
HR
Eat your frog first How not to put off until tomorrow what you must do today By Pierrette Desrosiers, work psychologist, business coach, and author
magine eating a live frog first thing in the morning. It can’t help but make the rest of your day better, thinking that the worst thing you’d had to do with the day has already been accomplished. That is Brian Tracy’s idea in his book Eat That Frog First. When coaching farmers, I am always surprised to see how often procrastination is present, even when it is the cause of high negative consequences in the client’s life. This is why I have implemented with many of them the principle, “eat that frog first.” Your “frog” is a task you must accomplish that will have a significant impact on your medium‑ or long‑term personal or professional goals. Yet it is also a task you are reluctant to do, and you put it off day after day. Professionally, your “frog” may be doing your financial statements, making an appointment with your accountant, paying the bills, reviewing your insurance, tuning up the machinery for the busy sea‑ son, removing the snow from the roof after a heavy snowfall, or any of a long list of other possible jobs. On the personal side, it could be making an appointment with the lawyer to update your will, doing your daily 30 minutes of exercise, making an appointment with the doctor for your annual physi‑ cal, discussing a drug problem with your child, etc. There are several reasons we procrastinate or put important things off until tomorrow. We might not be very interested in the task in question or fear we are not up to it. We might also be in denial about the negative consequences of postponing the task. Equally, the problem may be that we are suf‑ fering from a lack of vision and clarity about our priorities and life goals. Many people believe that all that is needed to successfully reach a goal is talent, intelligence, and a commitment to work hard and effectively. Of course, all this helps, but it is most important to get into the habit of selecting the most important tasks each day, concentrating on them, and complet‑ ing them. Remember, it is not enough to do things well. It is also important that the things you do well are the right things. If you do more things more quickly, but the tasks that you do are poorly chosen, you will only get poor results faster.
54 country-guide.ca
The idea is to put each task into one of four cat‑ egories: 1. Things you don’t want to do, and actually don’t need to do. 2. Things you don’t want to do, but actually do need to do. 3. Things you want to do and actually need to do. 4. Things you want to do, but actually don’t need to do. On that basis, then, how do you decide which frog should you eat every day? 1. Decide on and write down your life goals and pri‑ orities (personal, couple, family, social, financial, and professional). 2. Set deadlines for your goals. 3. Consider the consequences. The most important tasks and priorities are those which have the most impact, both positive and negative, in your life. 4. Apply the 80/20 law, meaning 20 per cent of your activities generate 80 per cent of your results. Work on the 20 per cent. 5. Make an action plan for each overall goal in order to break it down into concrete, achievable steps. 6. Plan your year, month, week, and day as a func‑ tion of the goals and objectives you have estab‑ lished for yourself. 7. Take 10 minutes to plan out each day, and 30 to 45 minutes to plan your week. You will save both hours and thousands of dollars, avoid significant stress, and make better choices. Do not forget P.P.P.P.P.P: Proper, Prior, Planning, Prevents, Poor, Performance. 8. Each day, make up your mind that you are going to do one thing that brings you closer to your overall goals. 9. Start your day by eating your frog. You will feel liberated, satisfied, and more in control of your life. Imagine that, at the end of the year, you would have eaten 365 frogs, or in other words, taken 365 actions in the direction of your goals. How different would your life be? Bon appétit! CG Pierrette Desrosiers, MPS, CRHA is a work psychologist, professional speaker, coach and author who specializes in the agricultural industry. She comes from a family of farmers and she and her husband have farmed for more than 25 years (www.pierrettedesrosiers.com). Contact her at pierrette@pierrettedesrosiers.com.
August 2013
w e at h e r NEAR NORMAL
MILDER THAN NORMAL
ol ry Co we ds o o Sh eri p
. pt t Se ros f
Sca sho ttered wer s
AN TH ER L AL RM SUA RML A W U -NO AL AR INF NE RA
NEAR-NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND RAINFALL
sp Ho el t ls
m ar et W W lls e sp
ONTARIO
Aug. 25-31: Seasonal to warm with a few cooler nights. Brisk winds at times. Mainly sunny apart from shower or thundershower activity on two or three days. Sept. 1-7: Comfortable temperatures, often in the 20s but cooler nights. Sunshine on most days but rain falls on a couple of occasions, chance heavy in places. Frost pockets north. Sept. 8-14: Temperatures vary under occasionally blustery conditions. Fair skies prevail but expect rain on two or three days. Frost areas central and north. Sept. 15-21: Fair but rain, possibly heavy in places on two to three days. Temperatures fluctuate but average near normal. Frost risk south, more definite central and north.
Sept. 8-14: Fair, settled weather dominates apart from some rain on a couple of days. Highs mostly in the teens with frost patches in a few inland areas. Sept. 15-21: Unsettled at times as fair days alternate with heavier rain and strong winds. Variable temperatures. Frost threatens several inland areas on two or three nights.
August 11 to September 21, 2013
Aug. 11-17: Sunny apart from a couple of unsettled days with showers or heavier thunderstorms. Seasonal temperatures with a few hotter days with high humidity. Aug. 18-24: Mainly sunny skies but with scattered showers and thunderstorms here and there, some possibly heavy. Normal to occasionally warm temperatures. Aug. 25-31: Comfortable temperatures in the 20s most days. Sunny aside from scattered showers or heavier thunderstorms on a couple of days. Sept. 1-7: Cool nights, otherwise seasonable temperatures. Sunshine dominates but periodic rain on a couple of days, chance heavy in places. Blustery at times. Frost patches north. Sept. 8-14: Look for variable weather and fluctuating temperatures under brisk winds. Showers or rain occur on two to three days. Frost threatens central and north. Sept. 15-21: Fair on most days but disturbances bring windy, wet conditions on a couple days, chance heavy in places. Frost central and north on one or two nights.
QUEBEC Aug. 11-17: Mostly sunny weather dominates the week although a few heavier thunderstorms occur here and there. Warm temperatures with a few hotter, humid days. Aug. 18-24: Pleasant temperatures in the 20s most days under sunshine. Showers or thunderstorms on a couple of occasions, chance heavy in a few localities. August 2013
ATLANTIC PROVINCES Aug. 11-17: Sunny skies and warm temperatures on most days but disturbances bring some rain on a couple days, chance heavy rain with gusty winds in a few locations. Aug. 18-24: Pleasant on most days with seasonal to warm temperatures. Scattered shower activity, chance thunderstorms west on a couple days. Aug. 25-31: Mostly sunny and warm but with cooler nights. Scattered rain but heavy rain, strong winds threaten from a weather system on two to three days. Sept. 1-7: Conditions vary as warm, settled weather changes to rain, cooler temperatures and gusty winds. Watch for a threat of heavy rain and strong winds, mainly eastern regions.
August 11 to September 21, 2013 NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS Pleasant summer weather will prevail over much of the country through mid-August. As we move into mid-September, however, weather conditions are likely to become more unsettled. The warmest temperatures are expected to be concentrated in eastern Quebec and the Atlantic provinces with above-normal readings in those regions. Near-normal rainfall should accompany the warmer temperatures, although weather systems on the Atlantic seaboard may bring a few heavy rainfall events and strong winds at times. Otherwise western and central areas of Canada should experience typical late-summer weather with near-normal temperatures and average rainfall amounts.
Prepared by meteorologist Larry Romaniuk of Weatherite Services. Forecasts should be 80 per cent accurate for your area; expect variations by a day or two due to changeable speed of weather systems. country-guide.ca 55
ACRES
By Leeann Minogue
Their chance to get away “You’re your own boss,” Elaine said.“You can take time off whenever you want.” eff hadn’t been half finished spraying his wheat field that Thursday evening when the wind started to come up. It wasn’t much more than a breeze, but with a neighbour’s organic field right beside them, the Hansons made a point of shutting down the sprayer whenever it wasn’t dead calm. “Damn,” Jeff muttered. He’d hoped to get the job done before he left in the morning. Now he’d have to leave it for his dad. But the weather forecast looked good, so Jeff figured there would still be a pretty good window for his father to finish spraying this field and the next three before it was too late. On his way back to the yard to park the sprayer, Jeff looked ahead at the Hanson yard in the distance. Things looked good. Jeff and Elaine’s new house would fit in better once the trees they’d planted had a chance to grow, and they were a long way from having finished landscaping. But his wife Elaine was doing a good job keeping the yard looking good — even with a three-year-old to look after and a new baby on the way. He wasn’t sure how she did it. Jeff admired the long line of steel bins glinting 56 country-guide.ca
in the sun and nodded. This was exactly where he wanted to be. Most of the guys he’d gone to university with hoped to go home and farm one day. High crop prices over the last few years meant that quite a few had made it back. But soaring land prices and siblings who wanted to farm kept many of his friends working for ag businesses. They had good salaries, interesting jobs, nice houses in the city and a great time with friends when they got together at meetings and conferences. But Jeff looked around at his yard thinking, “They don’t have this.” Since he’d moved home to Hanson Acres, Jeff hadn’t seen as much of his old friends as he would have liked. Some of them turned up at farm shows, but there were hardly any chances for the whole gang to get together. This weekend would be the first time in almost four years. Tomorrow, Jeff and his wife Elaine and their son would drive to Winnipeg for a wedding. “All the guys are going to be there!” he’d told Elaine weeks ago. “Except Jake. He has to work that weekend. He has a real jerk for a boss.” AUGUST 2013
acres
“That’s too bad. Everybody likes Jake. Good thing you’re your own boss,” Elaine had said. “You can take time off whenever you want.” Jeff and Elaine had booked a room at a Winnipeg hotel and made plans for Jeff’s younger sister, who lived in Winnipeg, to babysit for the evening while they went to the wedding and dance. Jeff had taken his suit to be dry cleaned. Elaine had bought a new maternity dress. Jeff put the sprayer away in the shed for the night and was walking to his house, thinking about what he should pack, when his dad beelined over from across the yard. “You’ll never guess who called,” Dale said. Jeff had no idea, but his dad had a grin on his face from one ear to the other, so it had to be someone pretty special. “Come on, guess,” Dale urged. “OK. Aunt Irene.” “Not even close! Frank Davis!” Jeff shrugged. Frank lived about five miles away. He called Dale all the time. To ask how the crops were growing. To see how much rain the Hansons had at the farm after a downpour. “And?” Jeff asked, wondering why his dad was so worked up. “Guess what he wanted?” Dale said. “To find out if we have any wheat midge?” Jeff said. “Come on. You’re not even trying. Frank called to invite me on his annual fishing trip!” “Oh, that’s great Dad!” Jeff said. For years, a dozen local guys had headed to northern Saskatchewan for a five-day fly-in fishing trip every July. Between seats on the plane and beds in the cabin, there was only room for 12 people. Dale had been hoping for a chance to go for years, but he’d never been asked. “Did one of the regulars get sick?” Jeff asked. “Rick Wilson’s wife is making him go to Banff for a family reunion!” Dale laughed. “That’s his fault for marrying an Albertan! Now I just need to dig my tackle box out of the shed.” “Sounds great Dad,” Jeff said. “When’s the trip?” “We leave tomorrow morning. Rick didn’t back out until the last second. He kept hoping he could get his wife to change her mind.”
When they waved goodbye in the laneway next morning, it wasn’t quite how Jeff and Elaine had imagined. Still, it was OK “Oh, sh..,” Jeff started saying. “Rick’s loss is my gain,” Dale said. “No, not that. Elaine and I are going to Winnipeg this weekend.” “What? Winnipeg?” Dale said, as if he’d never heard of the place. “I told you,” Jeff said. “Ed Turner’s wedding. Elaine and I have been planning this trip for weeks. All the guys’ll be there!” “Oh, sh..,” Dale started saying, sounding almost exactly like his son. “How many more days do you figure we need to get this wheat sprayed?” “A couple,” Jeff said. “But then we’re likely gonna need to spray the canola too. Weather looks good for the next few days, but anything could happen after that.” “Huh,” Dale said. The two men stood in the yard, looking at each other for a few seconds. “We could flip a coin,” Dale said. “See which one of us can get away.” “Or rock, paper, scissors,” Jeff suggested. Then Dale’s cellphone rang and he took the call. “Hang on Frank,” he said into the phone. “I can’t talk about fishing gear right now. I’ve got to work out some things on the farm. Looks like I’m not the only one with plans. I’ll call you back in a few minutes.” While his father was on the phone, Jeff got a text message. His friend Jake had sent it out to the whole gang. “Wknd off after all! C u at wedding!” Damn, Jeff thought. Even Jake would be there. Jake’s boss wasn’t such a jerk after all. Then Jeff remembered how proud he’d been that he didn’t have a boss to deal with. He was his own boss. He looked back at the line of bins. At his new house. “Call Frank back, Dad,” Jeff said. “You have to go or they’ll ask somebody else.” “You’re young,” Dale said. “You should spend time with your friends.”
“It’s your turn,” Jeff said. “You ran things all the time while I was off meeting those guys in the first place. I came home to be part of the farm. I guess this is what it’s like. Besides,” he said, checking his watch. “If we call quick, the hotel won’t charge us to cancel the room.” Dale thought about it for a few seconds. Then he nodded. “Fair enough,” Dale said. “Guess I’ll go find that tackle box.” Jeff smiled, then went on his way through the yard, looking west at his wheat field. The wind was getting stronger, and the stems were bending in the breeze in front of the pink sunset. CG
Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers Monsanto Company is a member of Excellence Through Stewardship® (ETS). Monsanto products are commercialized in accordance with ETS Product Launch Stewardship Guidance, and in compliance with Monsanto’s Policy for Commercialization of Biotechnology-Derived Plant Products in Commodity Crops. This product has been approved for import into key export markets with functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material produced from this product can only be exported to, or used, processed or sold in countries where all necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It is a violation of national and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted. Growers should talk to their grain handler or product purchaser to confirm their buying position for this product. Excellence Through Stewardship® is a registered trademark of Excellence Through Stewardship. ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Ready® crops contain genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides. Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate. Acceleron® seed treatment technology for corn is a combination of four separate individually-registered products, which together contain the active ingredients metalaxyl, trifloxystrobin, ipconazole, and clothianidin. Acceleron® seed treatment technology for canola is a combination of two separate individually-registered products, which together contain the active ingredients difenoconazole, metalaxyl (M and S isomers), fludioxonil, thiamethoxam, and bacillus subtilis. Acceleron and Design®, Acceleron®, DEKALB and Design®, DEKALB®, Genuity and Design®, Genuity Icons, Genuity®, RIB Complete and Design®, RIB Complete®, Roundup Ready 2 Technology and Design®, Roundup Ready 2 Yield®, Roundup Ready®, Roundup Transorb®, Roundup WeatherMAX®, Roundup®, SmartStax and Design®, SmartStax®, Transorb®, TruFlex™, VT Double PRO®, YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2®, YieldGard Corn Borer and Design and YieldGard VT Triple® are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC. Used under license. LibertyLink® and the Water Droplet Design are trademarks of Bayer. Used under license. Herculex® is a registered trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC. Used under license. Respect the Refuge and Design is a registered trademark of the Canadian Seed Trade Association. Used under license. ©2013 Monsanto Canada Inc.
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LIFE
PLAY MORE All work and no play makes Jack… less productive! By Helen Lammers-Helps f you think play is only for kids, or for retired people, or for people with trust funds, then it’s time to think again. Research shows that play is essential to our well-being throughout our lives, even as adults. Play helps us to be more innovative and optimistic, and it also helps us to be better leaders, says Dr. Stuart Brown, a psychiatrist and professor at Stanford University where he founded the National Play Institute. “Play sparks creativity and promotes brain development,” Brown says. Play is also the glue in our relationships, Brown adds. Couples who make a point of doing something new together have a much higher satisfaction measure than couples who stick to the same old things. The bottom line is that play not only makes us happier, but also more productive. It’s a basic psychological drive as important as sleeping and eating. But what exactly is play? Is it as simple as fitting in a round of golf each week? To qualify as play, the activity must be voluntary. It must also be something you do for its own sake and that you enjoy. You must also have a diminished sense of self and time while doing the activity, i.e. you must be “in the zone” or “in the flow.” Not all activities that look like play actually qualify as play. A golfer who is too competitive, perfectionist or self-critical isn’t actually “playing.” Instead of losing yourself in the activity, which is one of the chief requirements of play, the golfing, in effect becomes all about you.
Are you playing enough? How do you know if you’re playing enough? Usually people don’t know that their lives are lacking in play, says Brown, but there are telltale signs. If you lack optimism, are vulnerable to excessive drinking or addictions, are too rigid or are feeling mildly depressed, it may mean you don’t have enough play in your life. While incorporating play into our personal lives is important, it can also help us meet the challenges of work. Times are changing and business models are shifting to meet the needs of our new emerging world, says Vince Gowmon, a coach and keynote speaker in Vancouver.
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Gowmon travels all over Canada conducting “playshops” for businesses, non-profit organizations and government agencies. These playshops build selfawareness and help participants become better communicators and leaders through experiential learning such as storytelling, arts, music and theatre sports. Organizations are recognizing that it is not enough just to get the job done, says Gowmon. They need to be adaptable and innovative, and they need to consider new technologies and policies that support a healthier and more productive workplace. “To continue doing something just because it has been done for 30 years is no longer practical,” Gowmon says. “Managers must be willing to get off the straight and narrow path to consider the new and unknown.” That’s where play fits in. It can help us think about things in ways that we haven’t considered before. One company that takes play seriously is Google. Their offices feature foosball and video games, plus billiard and ping-pong tables, all to give employees opportunities to play when they feel the need for a break. Employees are also encouraged to spend 20 per cent of their time at work on personal projects of their own choosing. Many of the company’s innovations have come as a result of these pet projects. By creating a positive play ethic, Google is striving to stay ahead of the pack in the fast-changing technology sector. So it’s clear play is a good thing. But how do we incorporate more play into our busy lives? Gowmon is quick to point out that it’s less about finding time to play, and more about allowing yourself to be spontaneous and imaginative. “Play is an attitude of the heart,” he says. If you’re looking for inspiration, watch a child. They don’t limit themselves to reality, they colour monkeys purple when we know they’re only brown, says Gowmon. “They dance carefree to a busker’s music while the rest of us stand and watch.” Taking a vacation that allows you to indulge in activities that you truly love can have a transformative effect, says Brown. “When people come back from a true play vacation they come back eager and energized with fresh ideas.”
AUGUST 2013
LIFE
Gowmon offers several practical suggestions for integrating play into every day. Choose your activities with intention. Play upbeat music when doing a routine task like cleaning. Stop watching the evening news. Do something that makes you laugh. Try new foods, take a new class, organize a book club or games night, watch a video of cats playing, do a puzzle, or get down on the floor and play with your pet or child. Go for a walk, but instead of walking in your normal way, try changing it up. Swing your arms, skip or strut your stuff. Change your perspective. Instead of looking straight ahead, look up or down. You may notice something you haven’t seen before. The next time you have a team meeting, start by
having everyone share the last time they had a really good laugh. Play Twister before a brainstorming session to set the stage for more creative thinking. If you’re really stuck, think about what you liked to do when you were a child. What gave you pleasure? There are clues there to what you really enjoy. Some people see work and play as separate. Or maybe they even see play as the opposite of work. But research has shown that play creates a climate of innovation and collaboration. The next time you’re having trouble solving a problem, or your team is having trouble working together, maybe the answer isn’t to work harder. Maybe the solution is as easy as taking time out to play. Can you really afford not to? CG
“If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.” — John Cleese
RESOURCES Vincent Gowmon’s website is full of useful ideas for ways to incorporate more play into your work and personal lives: www.vincegowmon.com/6-ways-to-live-a-playful-life/. The website for the National Institute for Play has links to Brown’s book PLAY: HOW IT SHAPES THE BRAIN, OPENS THE IMAGINATION, AND INVIGORATES THE SOUL as well as links to research. www.nifplay.org
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h e a lt h
Pain — It can affect anyone By Marie Berry
e all experience pain. For most of us, that means being affected from time to time. For about a third of Canadians, however, the pain is chronic, meaning the pain always seems to be present, whether it’s minor and annoying or severe and debilitating. In general terms, pain is an unpleasant sensation or feeling of discomfort. It is very subjective, and everyone’s perception of pain is different. Men are usually expected to tolerate pain better, that is “grin and bear it,” but in reality both men and women seem to have similar pain thresholds. Some factors can increase your sensitivity to pain. For instance, your previous experience with pain will impact your future sensitivity. If you experienced pain the last time your dentist filled a tooth, for example, you certainly will feel pain with the next filling.
Yes, pain relievers require caution, but your pain should still be treated Red-headed people seem to be more sensitive to pain because they usually require larger doses of analgesics. As well, women and older people seem to have more chronic pain, perhaps because they are more susceptible to diseases that are associated with pain. Your social, psychological, and even cultural background can also affect how you feel pain. The purpose of pain is to protect your body. When an injury occurs, a nerve cell or receptor detects the injury, then sends a message to your brain. Your brain senses pain and activates your muscles to move away from whatever is causing the injury. Pain receptors are categorized as either nociceptive or neuropathic. The former are found throughout your body in your skin, muscles, and internal Everywhere you look there seems to be more weight loss advertisements, products and programs than ever before, as well as more media reports about the obesity “crisis” in North America. Next month we’ll look at who is gaining weight, and what can be done to lose it.
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structures and organs, and they all respond to injury or damage. Neuropathic pain involves your nervous system itself and is more difficult to treat because the cause is not clear. It’s thought that nervous system pathways are damaged or “rewired” so that pain is sensed even though there being no injury, for example with fibromyalgia or diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Analgesics are pain relievers and include both prescription and non-prescription medications such as acetaminophen, acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), ibuprofen, naproxen, codeine and morphine. While effective, no analgesic is without potential problems. Acetaminophen can cause liver damage, especially when combined with alcohol. Non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs such as ASA, ibuprofen and naproxen can result in stomach irritation, ulcers, and kidney problems. Narcotics, for example codeine and morphine, are associated with constipation, misuse, and dependency. Ideally you do want to treat pain because untreated, pain can reduce overall quality of life. It can interfere with sleep, diminish mobility, and impact mental health, and it can also cause you to miss work. Unfortunately, pain is often undertreated because you may not consider it severe enough to treat, or you may use a non-prescription product when a stronger analgesic is needed from your doctor. Sometimes, pain is attributed to other conditions, or it can be dismissed as a natural part of aging. Also, remember that non-drug approaches are options either on their own or along with analgesics. Examples include ice, heat, massage, stretching exercises, using good lifting techniques, using customized insoles or using aids such as canes or walkers. The adage that pain makes you stronger is not true in the context of pain relief. You want to have your pain checked out in order to find the cause and then to treat it so that you can enjoy an improved quality of life. The key to using analgesics is to use the correct dose — not too much and not too little — and to use the medication on a routine basis to reduce pain rather than always be chasing the pain. When it comes to pain relief, an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure. Marie Berry is a lawyer/pharmacist interested in health and education. August 2013
“We are planning a non-religious service. We would like you to be the speaker.” Formal religious practice has declined but I am surprised by an invitation to participate. I think I know what the caller means. A cartoon flashes through my mind. The setting is a cocktail party. A woman wearing an alluring evening dress is making conversation with a clergyman dressed in a black suit and clerical collar. She asks, “Do you think of yourself as a religious person?” The caller is organizing a community worship service during an anniversary celebration for his town. Not wanting to embarrass him I ask, “Do you mean ‘non-religious’ or ‘non-denominational?’” Our laughter breaks the ice. He explains, “We want the service to include people who attend different churches and those who don’t go to church at all.” I said, “Finding something for everyone is a tall order, but I will do my best.” Ball games, stagecoach rides, a tractor-pulling competition, an antique car display, games for children and a museum tour will be reasons not to attend the service. Whether the crowd is small or large I need to say something meaningful and relevant for those who come. How do I begin? Preparation would be easier if I could spend a few days in the community chatting with people. I could ask, “What is important to you? What are the deep questions you ask yourself every day? What do you want to hear when you go to church on Sunday?” If I sat with people at lunch after church services, at the coffee shop mid-morning, or at the seniors’ afternoon gathering, I could
learn what is central in their lives. They could tell me how to shape my sermon. Perhaps they would tell me about a young man killed in a car accident by a drunk driver, or a farmer in hospital because his tractor rolled over. A young mother dies of breast cancer, leaving her husband and three small children. Where is God in all that? Does religion provide any answers? For religious people, the starting point is an affirmation that they are all part of the same creation. All religions are not the same. But there is a great deal we have in common. Prayer and meditation are important in all religions. Every religion deals with the chaos of life and tries to make sense of it. Every religion speaks of the primacy of love as a force stronger than evil and every religion seeks healing where brokenness may be mended. All religions have a belief in life beyond this life and all struggle with questions around suffering, grief and loss. Not all religion is good. Religion that manipulates, controls or presents a picture of an angry, judgmental God does not appeal to me. A man knocked on my door offering a get-rich-quick scheme. His sales pitch was, “It has nothing to do with politics or religion.” “In that case I am not interested,” was my reply. I was thinking of politics as how people live together, and religion as how people find God. The man persisted, “It has nothing to do with politics or religion.” I looked him in the eye and I repeated, “If it has nothing to do with politics or religion I am not interested.” He was dumbfounded. “Nobody ever said that to me before.” He picked up his briefcase and walked away. Suggested Scripture: 1 Timothy 3:14-16, James 1:26-27 Rod Andrews is a retired Anglican bishop. He lives in Saskatoon.
THE STRAIGHT STORY ON CATTLE SINCE wAY bACk. The voice of the Canadian Cattlemen since 1938. No other publication brings you the in-depth coverage and insight into the livestock industry that we do. Every issue features new information from a wide range of topics, including: nutrition, research, vet advice, holistic ranching, markets, sales and events as well as feature interviews with regional producers. Canadian Cattlemen has been informing Canadian ranchers for seventy-five years… rely on our expertise, trust our experience.
Canadian Cattlemen invites you to subscribe to our free enews service. Stay up to date on the latest news from the livestock industry, from your region and across the nation. Visit our website for details.
www.canadiancattlemen.ca August 2013
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Va l l e y
A place to stand
n the middle of the Alberta floods earlier this summer, we got a plaintive call from our daughter Kissable who shares a downtown Calgary condo with her horrible cat. The waters were at that moment only a block away from her and she’d just received a warning that her building was next on the evacuation list. Kissable is the latest member of the family to move west in search of work and she was very proud of the job she landed at a high-end restaurant on an island in the river. But her restaurant went under in the first few hours of the flood. How far under nobody knew, but a rumour was going around that the water was up to the roofline. “I’m unemployed and now I’m going to be homeless!” she wailed. “Why did I come out here just in time for a 100-year storm?” In the background we could hear a similar noise, this one coming from her Siamese cat. Ordinarily, it’s hard to take her cat seriously about anything. We looked after Peony for two weeks while Kissable organized the move west and I can personally vouch for the fact that she sounds exactly the same whether she is lying in her basket surrounded by her favourite toys or being drugged and stuffed into an airline-approved cat crate. She gives off buckets of negative energy. But that night, in the ominous quiet of a city under siege, her complaints seemed well founded. We have a large extended family in and around Calgary and no less than six people had offered to take Kissable and the cat. The latest invitation came from a cousin who works as a dispatcher with emergency services. This is a woman who can call in a chopper if necessary and we knew Kissable was not in any immediate 62 country-guide.ca
ILLUSTRATION: RICK KURKOWSKI
Dan Needles is the author of “Wingfield Farm” stage plays. His column is a regular feature in Country Guide
danger. Then the cell towers fell silent and there were no further messages from her or the cat. Her mother turned over in the middle of the night and whispered, “Maybe we should just put her on a plane and bring her home.” As parents we are often torn between the urge to rescue and the obligation to stand back and watch the little ones take charge of their own world. I have watched my daughter collapse in a heap about all the usual setbacks in life and love. But before I have a chance to step in and make it all better, she invariably picks herself up and drop kicks the inattentive boyfriend/rude chef/officious bureaucrat through the goalposts of life. The next afternoon we finally got a text from Kissable. The river levels had dropped and she was tramping around the restaurant in rubber boots with her boss, surveying the damage, which was pretty awful. The waters had filled the basement but the upper floor was untouched. She was busy right now and would call later. No word about the cat. As the river slowed, so did the traffic in emails from the cousins. They were all busy, too, with properties to rebuild, culverts and roads to replace, stranded livestock to feed, neighbours to help, food to
take to shelters… One of them did pause long enough to send us a TV news clip of Kissable on the doorstep of her restaurant, confidently predicting that it would reopen in time for the Music Festival. There have been a few suggestions on the airwaves saying we shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that somehow Albertans are exceptional in the face of disaster. We’ve watched Canadians respond pretty gamely to floods in Manitoba, too. Ontario and Quebec certainly showed their true colours in the ice storm of 1998. Still, there was something to stir the blood when we heard the president of the stampede announce that the show would go on “come hell or high water.” It’s not the sort of thing you would hear from an easterner these days. We’re more likely to show up with a clipboard and tell you, in an irritating voice like Kissable’s cat, “you’re going to need a rezoning before you go ahead with this rebuild.” So now all of the young western cousins are showing us how it’s done. When calamity strikes, you find a dry spot to sleep and enough heat to boil a can of soup. And then you look over the neighbour’s fence and see what they need. I worry about them, but I think they’ll be fine. August 2013
WHERE FARMERS MEET ™
The Peck Family from Peck Farms Grafton, ON
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THOUGHT A T B LE E H T
4-H Canada and Bayer CropScience believe the agricultural leaders of tomorrow can help find sustainable solutions for the world’s growing need for safe, nutritious food. That’s why we’re gathering 120 bright minds, ages 18-25, from around the world to share their perspectives at the 4-H Youth Ag-Summit in Calgary. From August 19th-25th, 2013, these delegates will be tasked with identifying actionable agriculturally sustainable solutions to feed a growing world.
Let’s talk change. To find out what topics are on the table and join the growing conversation, please visit facebook.com/youthagsummit.
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