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PLANNING THE NEXT CROP — AND BEYOND

FOCUS ON

CROP PROTECTION WEED RESISTANCE IS A LOOMING PROBLEM BUT NOT AN OUTRIGHT DISASTER

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE CANOLA ROTATIONS TOO TIGHT? SPRAY YOUR CANOLA FOR ROI

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CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

CONTENTS

EVERY ISSUE

Editor’s note

Gleanings

God made agribusiness. Notes from around the industry.

FEATURES

Too tight

Tighter and tighter canola rotations are starting to cause agronomic challenges.

Crop protection

Over the threshold

Machinery

Cigi participation on PGRC

More than 1,000 words

Markets

How’s the chemical business faring? Anhydrous pressure systems versus cold flow. A look behind the scenes at state-of-the-art plant breeding. Is the bull run going to keep going?

Spraying should provide a return on investment.

Bringing market needs to the registration table.

Water woes

Too wet, too dry, just another season on the Prairies.

FOCUS ON

CROP PROTECTION

NO NIGHTMARE YET YES, THERE’S INCREASING WEED RESISTANCE, BUT IT’S A CHALLENGE, NOT A DISASTER.

12 CHEMISTRY VERSUS GENETICS

EXACTLY HOW DOES WEED RESISTANCE DEVELOP?

22 DISASTER

DOWN UNDER

THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE ISN’T PRETTY, BUT THEY’RE MANAGING.

COVER PHOTO: DAVE REEDE

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CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

EDITOR’S NOTE

PL A N NIN G T HE NE X T CRO P — A ND BE YO ND

www.agcanada.com

And God made agribusiness

’m probably the only person in North America who’s willing to say this, but I didn’t like the “God Made a Farmer” Super Bowl ad. In fact I thought it downright dangerous. If you haven’t seen the ad, it features the instantly recognizable voice of the late U.S. radio personality Paul Harvey, and is typical of his work. It wrings out the maximum emotion and drama. It took mere moments for my Facebook feed to light up like a Christmas tree with glowing reactions from my aggie friends. Hardly surprising, who doesn’t like to be praised? I like movies featuring heroic reporters as much as the next journalist. But I’m also cynical enough to admit that for every Woodward and Bernstein cracking Watergate and defending democracy, there’s a small army of dutiful stenographers and burned-out-relics populating newsrooms the world over. I’m not sure if many in agriculture are prepared to be as honest with themselves. Certainly their reaction to this advertisement seems to indicate they’re ready to embrace the image when it suits them. But are they also ready to concede that it bears little resemblance to the reality on the ground? Let’s start with where that speech came from. It was recorded in 1978 — 35 years ago — at a convention of the Future Farmers of America. Some of those future farmers are now retired. Now let’s consider the picture it paints and assess it honestly and critically — does it really bear any resemblance to modern, highly efficient agriculture operations? I would say very little. Modern farms aren’t about lifestyle or emotion. They are well-run busi-

nesses with a lot to admire about them. They’re efficient producers of safe and affordable food, for example. They are, however, emphatically not the red barn, mom and pop operations of a generation or two ago. I think another crucial point to consider is what the purpose of the ad was. It was an effort to bask in the reflected glory of farmers. This might be flattering but it’s dangerous. Every time the average urbanite sees these images their pre-existing but totally wrong notion of what a farm looks like is being reinforced. They think that these lifestyle farms are real farms and anything else is somehow a perversion of this ideal state. The result? A misalignment of perception and reality. And in a modern consumer economy, these sort of misconceptions are dangerous because they can lead to backlashes. Just ask the good folks at Tim Hortons, when they came under fire in an Internetbased campaign that highlighted perceived animal cruelty in their supply chain. When consumers have a vision in their head of happy pigs gambolling about a farm, then are presented with a YouTube video of a sow in a farrowing crate. It’s imperative that farmers get better at telling their stories — and that means their real stories, not the parts of the story they’re comfortable with. It also means listening to consumers, and being prepared to respond and make changes where necessary. And most importantly it means that they’re going to have to stop wrapping themselves in a warm and fuzzy story from two generations ago and actually explain to people what they are today, not at some past, nearmythical time. ■

G O R D G I L M O U R gord.gilmour@fbcpublishing.com

CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

EDITORIAL STAFF Editor: Gord Gilmour (204) 453-7624 Cell (204) 294-9195 Email: gord.gilmour@fbcpublishing.com

Fax (204) 942-8463

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS Brad Brinkworth Richard Kamchen Clare Stanfield

David Drozd Gord Leathers Jay Whetter

Ron Friesen Warren Libby

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CROPS GUIDE is printed with linseed oil-based inks. PRINTED IN CANADA Vol. 02 No. 03 website: www.agcanada.com The editors and journalists who write, contribute and provide opinions to CROPS GUIDE and Farm Business Communications attempt to provide accurate and useful opinions, information and analysis. However, the editors, journalists, CROPS GUIDE and Farm Business Communications, cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the editors as well as CROPS GUIDE and Farm Business Communications assume no responsibility for any actions or decisions taken by any reader for this publication based on any and all information provided.

Gleanings

g r a i n

i n d u s t r y

n e w s

Passages Trudeau-era ag minister Eugene Whelan, 88 The man beneath the green Stetson hat who took the helm of Canadian agricultural policy throughout the Trudeau administration has died of complications from a stroke he suffered in 2012. Eugene Whelan, Canada’s agriculture minister from 1972 to 1979 and 1980 to 1984, died February 18, at his home in nearby Amherstburg, Ont., the Windsor Star newpaper reported. “As Canada’s agriculture minister and in his trademark green Stetson, Eugene was planted firmly on the side of farmers,” federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said in a statement, describing Whelan as “a strong voice for Canadian farmers for decades.” Interim federal Liberal leader Bob Rae hailed Whelan on Wednesday as “an icon of Canadian politics, a real fighter who devoted his entire life to the service of community and country,” whose “incredible contributions to agriculture and rural Canadians will long outlive this shining example of a man.” The party “shall always remember his wry sense of humour, his ability to get to the heart of issues, his deep interest in the success and prosperity of people everywhere,” Rae said. Among other tributes Wednesday, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture — for

which Whelan had served as a director — took to Twitter to call him a “true champion of Canadian farming.” Among federal Liberal leadership candidates, Martin Cauchon hailed Whelan as a “larger-than-life Liberal”; Justin Trudeau eulogized Whelan with the Twitter hashtag #goodbyegreenhat and retweeted a picture of himself as a child, speaking to Whelan dressed as Santa Claus. Named an officer in the Order of Canada in 1987, Whelan was cited as “The Great Canadian Farmer” who “turned Canada into a country known the world over for the efficient production of top-quality food” and “devoted himself to the cause of worldwide hunger through long-term agricultural improvement in developing countries.” Whelan’s political career in southwestern Ontario began on a local school board in 1945 and on the council of Anderdon Township in 1949. As a farmer, he served as president of the Harrow Farmers’ Co-operative, as a director with the United Co-operative Board and Co-operators Insurance Association, and as a founding member of the Ontario Winter Wheat Producer Marketing Board. He first came to the House of Commons in 1962 as the Liberal MP for Essex South, during John Diefenbaker’s Progressive Conservative administration. Whelan held the constituency for the Liberals in elections in 1963, 1965, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1979 and 1980, becoming a member of the Commons standing committee on agriculture and colonization in 1962.

During Lester Pearson’s Liberal administration, Whelan chaired the standing committee on agriculture, forestry and rural development from 1966 to 1968. He later served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of fisheries (1968-70). However, he would be entrenched in Canadian political imagery after Trudeau named him minister of agriculture in November 1972, a point when Canadian farmers were watching net farm incomes drop and interest rates climb. With the aim of protecting net farm income, his department oversaw amendments to the federal Agriculture Stabilization Act in 1975 to provide for coverage of farmers’ current costs of production, followed by the Western Grain Stabilization Act in 1976, setting up the ag income stabilization framework that lasted into the early 1990s. According to the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame, into which he was inducted in 2001, Whelan “fought hard to maintain a level playing field in world markets at a time of heavy subsidization in other countries.” Whelan’s stint as ag minister also saw the expansion of supply-managed commodities in Canada beyond the dairy and egg systems set up in 1970 and 1972, to include turkey in 1974 and chicken in 1978. Controls over the movement of Prairie feed grains were also lifted to allow privatesector feed grain trading and interprovincial movement of feed, which by 1975 left the Canadian Wheat Board, which until then had exclusively controlled such movements, in charge of feed sales only for export.

October 2013 to $3.3 billion from $3.2 billion, catching up with Wall Street’s expectations. The company said industry sales of agricultural equipment in the U.S. and Canada would grow by no more than five per cent this year. “Deere’s strong quarter and guidance raise were expected, but the focus now shifts toward yields and corn prices,” William Blair and Co. analyst Lawrence De Maria said. After the worst drought in the U.S. Midwest in 56 years last year, farmers in the U.S. are gearing up to plant the biggest corn crop in the country’s history. “Having a big crop is nice, but it means that the price will be a little lower,” Jefferies and Co. analyst Stephen Volkmann said. Deere on Wednesday cut its forecast for corn prices in 2013 to $5.25 per bushel from its earlier projection of $6. Lower prices would mean a drop in total

farm cash receipts — a product of farm commodity prices, acreage planted, crop yields and the amount and timing of government payments. Cash receipts are the primary driver of U.S. farm equipment purchases.

Industry Notes Deere sees modest rise in farm equipment sales Agriculture might be in overdrive these days, but the world’s largest farm equipment maker is forecasting only a modest increase in sales this year. Deere and Co., fell short of analysts’ expectations despite the anticipation of the biggest corn crop in U.S. history, sending shares down three per cent the Reuters news service reported. Shares of the company, which also makes excavators, dump trucks and log harvesters, fell to $91.25 on the New York Stock Exchange as the lower-than-expected increase in its outlook for 2013 overshadowed strong first-quarter results (all figures US$). Moline, Illinois-based Deere raised its forecast for net income in the year ending

Give us your input If you have a milestone you feel should be noted in our regular Gleanings column, please send the information, along with an electronic photo of any individual noted in the item, to Crops Guide editor Gord Gilmour at:

gord.gilmour@fbcpublishing.com.

CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

focus on

crop protection

No nightmare yet Weed resistance serious but manageable BY ron friesen

hen glyphosate burst on the agricultural scene in the form of Roundup during the mid-1970s, it seemed like a dream come true. Used primarily for weed burndown, the new non-selective herbicide offered many advantages. Because it replaced tillage as a form of weed control, it saved fuel and labour. It was environmentally friendly because it had no soil activity. It also appeared to be low-risk to human health. And it worked wonderfully on those pesky weeds. Farmers loved the new product. That love affair increased in 1996 with the introduction of genetically modified Roundup Ready crops. Now you could use Roundup for in-crop weed control as well as burn-down. You could kill weeds without killing crops. It was a huge breakthrough which opened up a whole new era for glyphosate use. As soon as the patent came off Roundup (1992 in Canada, 2000 in the United States), generic glyphosate formulations proliferated and the price decreased dramatically. Previously, glyphosate was often tank mixed with other herbicides to reduce the cost. Now that the product was much cheaper, mixing was no longer necessary. Producers began relying exclusively on glyphosate for weed control because it was so economical and convenient. Soon glyphosate had become the most widely used weed control product in the world. But it was a good news, bad news scenario and a recipe for trouble. What many didn’t realize was that tank mixing

It’s a wake-up call. We’ve started to enter the era of glyphosateresistant weeds in Western Canada.

Hugh Beckie, AAFC

glyphosate with other products increased herbicide diversity. That meant there was less risk of weeds becoming resistant to any particular product. Now that straight glyphosate was being used on fields repeatedly, weed resistance became inevitable, despite industry assurances that resistance would not occur if the product were applied at the correct rate and the right time. In 1996, early reports of glyphosate resistance to annual ryegrass emerged from Australia. Four years later, a resistant species of horseweed in a glyphosatetolerant crop was discovered in Delaware — the first such case in the U.S. Soon, glyphosate resistance was being reported from as far afield as Malaysia, China and Europe. Now, Canada joins the list. 6 CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

Earlier this year, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada weed scientists confirmed findings of glyphosate-resistant kochia in southwestern and west-central Saskatchewan. A year earlier, AAFC announced findings of resistant kochia in southern Alberta. It was the first case of a glyphosate-resistant weed on the Prairies. “It’s a wake-up call. We’ve started to enter the era of glyphosate-resistant weeds in Western Canada,” says Hugh Beckie, an AAFC weed scientist in Saskatoon. Three glyphosate-resistant weed species — giant ragweed, common ragweed and Canada fleabane — had previously been confirmed in southwestern Ontario. How serious is the appearance of glyphosate-resistant kochia? Beckie says the potential for spreading resistant seeds could be significant because kochia is a tumbleweed which can travel a kilometre a day on the wind unless it hits a fenceline. More worrisome, though, is the rate at which resistant weeds can explode in a field. Jeff Stachler, a North Dakota State University extension agronomist in Fargo, N.D., cites the case of waterhemp, an annual broadleaf weed which is developing glyphosate resistance in his state and threatening to move north into Manitoba. One resistant plant on one acre contains at least 100,000 seeds. Stachler calculates that if 25 per cent of those seeds germinate the following year and if 10 per cent of emerged plants are resistant, it will result in 2,500 resistant plants on that acre. Do the same math for the next year and the number of resistant plants suddenly jumps to 6.25 million. All from just one resistant weed two years earlier. “It starts with ignoring one plant,” says Stachler. “Weed resistance would not be an issue today if we just annihilated the plants and not let them produce any seed.” Of course, herbicide resistance is by no means limited to glyphosate. According to the North American Herbicide Resistance Action Committee, 396 biotypes of 210 weed species have shown resistance to 21 herbicides worldwide. In Western Canada, surveys several years ago found up to 60 per cent of the fields in Manitoba and 40 per cent in Alberta contained wild oats and green foxtail resistant to Group 1 herbicides. But because glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide — and the most economically important — it is seen as the most serious problem. Just ask the cotton farmers of Arkansas, where Roundup Ready cotton is a staple crop. Stachler says infestations of glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth (a member of the pigweed family) are so severe that cotton growers are often reduced to pulling the weeds out by hand because herbicides don’t work anymore. That kind of scenario is unlikely in Western Canada, if only because producers grow thousands of acres of crops and hand pulling weeds on such vast stretches of land would hardly be cost effective.

Continued on page 8

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focus on

crop protection

Continued from page 6

Share the blame There’s plenty of blame to go around in the finger-pointing exercise over the cause of glyphosate resistance, says Bill Toews, a longtime farmer and industry leader. True, farmers overused glyphosate after it became generic, cheap and convenient to use, says Toews, who farms near Kane in south-central Manitoba. But companies must also accept their share of the blame for continuing to insist well into the 1990s that glyphosate resistance could never happen, he adds. The question is, what happens now that it’s here? “We’re not doomed but I think we must pay very close attention to the weeds we have and whether there is a possibility of resistance in any particular field,” says Toews, a former Canadian Wheat Board director. “But more important, try to prevent it by using a wider selection of herbicides from year to year.” Toews himself tries to spray glyphosate as little as possible. He applies it on his Roundup Ready soybeans and uses it occasionally for fall weed control. But he refuses to put it on his canola, especially since volunteer glyphosate-resistant canola is now a major weed pest in the province. Toews believes the rise of glyphosate resistance may influence the introduction of another glyphosate-resistant crop: Roundup Ready wheat. In 2004, Monsanto deferred its application to register Roundup Ready wheat, citing market resistance and agronomic issues. Toews, an early opponent of Roundup Ready wheat, says now that farmers have first-hand experience with weed resistance in glyphosate-tolerant crops, they may renew their resistance to the new variety. “I think if they had a choice in terms of collective action, they would still reject the introduction of Roundup Ready wheat.”

8 CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

“You just couldn’t find the people to do it,” Beckie says. Some see the appearance of glyphosate-resistant kochia in Western Canada as the canary in the coalmine and a sign of more resistant weeds to come. Bob Blackshaw, an AAFC research scientist in Lethbridge, Alta., doesn’t disagree but feels glyphosate resistance can be controlled with proper agronomic practices. “I think it’s a manageable situation right now and I think it can remain a manageable situation,” says Blackshaw. A key factor in the fight against herbicide resistance is the use of crop rotations to limit repeated use of the same herbicide. Blackshaw recommends a four-year rotation to include a different oilseed than Roundup Ready canola, a pulse crop to fix soil nitrogen and even perennial forages. Blackshaw says forages may lengthen the rotation but they can do wonders to suppress weed populations and improve soil quality. Other recommended practices include increasing seeding rates to produce a dense plant canopy which suppresses late-season weeds. Banding fertilizer, instead of broadcasting it, places nutrients close to the seed. This gives emerging plants a head start over weeds germinating on the surface without fertilizer to give them a boost. Sean Dilk, weed management technical lead for Monsanto Canada in Winnipeg, also urges producers to use effective tank mixes. In the case of kochia, Dilk says the weed is already showing signs of Group 2 resistance, so it’s counterproductive to use Group 2 products in a tank mix with Roundup if the kochia is glyphosate resistant. Better to use Group 4 products including 2,4-D, which has fewer resistance problems. Other management practices to counter weed resistance involve using the right fertilizer blends, growing competitive crops and using tillage judiciously, says Dilk. “Farmers are smart people. They know how to use the weed management tools they have to control weeds. Even resistant weeds are certainly manageable.” Monsanto has a website to help producers gauge the risk of developing glyphosate-resistant weeds in their fields. Available at www.weedtool.com, the site asks growers to answer 10 short questions. Each question and answer has a relative value which, when added up, provides a score measuring the weed resistance risk in a field. Another website at www.rrwms.ca provides Roundup Ready weed management information and solutions. Meanwhile, researchers are trying to develop crop varieties which deal directly with weed resistance. Beckie says breeders are using a method known as “gene stacking” to develop genetically modified varieties that tolerate several herbicides at once — e.g., Roundup Ready soybeans that tolerate both glyphosate and 2,4-D or dicamba. But that may only buy time before another generation of weeds develops resistance to the new technology. In the meantime, there’s no new chemistry in the pipeline and growers need to use the tools they have to ward off the mounting threat of herbicide-resistant weeds. Fortunately, Beckie feels they’re up to the challenge. “Growers will have to adapt but I think they can stay ahead of the curve,” he says. “They’ll do what they have to do to make their farms profitable.” n

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agronomy

Too tight Canola production poised to fall on unsustainable rotations By Richard Kamchen

armers have been getting away with pushing their rotations by planting greater amounts of canola every spring, but a time of reckoning may be at hand. In recent years, farmers had recorded record yields in spite of tight canola rotations. But last year, despite farmers reporting record harvested area, production actually fell from a year earlier. Most of those yield losses were largely a product of extended periods of hot, dry weather — particularly during canola’s flowering stages — and diseases like sclerotinia and aster yellows. Experts, however, say tight rotations played a part, albeit very small, and that their yield loss role may grow in the years to come. “We have had an increase in blackleg disease in canola this year, and we do know shorter rotations tend to cause a higher yield loss with blackleg when the variety resistance isn’t holding up,” says Murray Hartman, an agronomist with Alberta Agriculture. “As we push the rotations, we put harder and harder selection pressure on some of the diseases, and pests become resistant to the genetics we put in the varieties or the products we use to spray the crop.” Besides a buildup of insects like root maggots and flea beetles, diseases, and weeds, tight rotation risks also include a depletion of nutrients and water, says Manitoba Agriculture oilseed specialist Anastasia Kubinec. That’s the case of a tight wheat/canola rotation, as both crops root to a similar depth and pull both nutrients and water from a very similar depth. “On the flipside, there could be excess moisture accumulating and salt seeping in below that depth because they aren’t using water from different depths throughout the different years,” she says. In Manitoba, crop insurance information reveals evidence that farmers there have been pushing their rotations, although it doesn’t pinpoint if it’s disease or other yield robbers that have impacted yields.

As we push the rotations, we put harder and harder selection pressure on some of the diseases, and pests become resistant to the genetics. Murray Hartman,

Alberta Agriculture

“We always pick on disease just because in Manitoba, we are a very humid and warm climate, and that’s great for crop growth, but it’s also great for disease development, especially blackleg,” says Kubinec. Economics over agronomics Over the last 20 years, Hartman has noticed a shift in farmers’ priorities to the point where the best short-term economic payback has become an almost overriding priority. Part of that has been due to the growing chasm in net returns between canola and other crops, he says. 10 CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

“I think farmers in the ’90s definitely experienced some pretty economically challenging times on the farm — even the early 2000s — and now that they see the crop prices are good for particular crops, they are trying to maximize their economics at time of planting,” adds Kubinec. Hartman points out short-term gain can lead to longterm pain with diseases, insects and weeds. But farmers seem to be juggling those concerns with first taking care of economic considerations and placing their trust that science will come up with answers should major trouble arise. “It’s a kind of complacency for some of it. And we’ve got a fairly aged population now, and guys are saying, I’m going to retire in five years so I’m going to make as much money as I can before I sell out,” Hartman says. But the decision to make agronomy a secondary consideration could be a costly one. Kubinec points out that some of the problems the industry thought had been solved with genetics and crop protection have made a comeback. “It’s in the past five to seven years that we’ve see an increase on some of those issues again, like blackleg, which we thought we had licked in the late ‘90s with genetics,” she says. With blackleg thought eliminated, farmers were able to have tighter rotations. When they didn’t see blackleg or reduced yields, they kept at it while significantly cutting back on scouting. “You never know how quickly things change until you push them.” Given the yield reductions farmers experienced with canola last year, combined with the strong market performance of spring wheat, wheat could end up stealing some canola acres this spring. But that won’t necessarily solve very much. “It certainly will help with canola diseases, but it’s going to promote more wheat diseases,” says Hartman, who suggests a minimum diversity of three crops. “It’d be nice to have four or five crops that had very similar net returns, and then guys would get diverse rotation and really have the best chance at keeping pests a bit off balance.” Longer rotations reduce the chance of resistance in a variety breaking down. As it is, some growers are spraying in crop for blackleg as their short rotation and canola stubble is producing infectious spores, and they feel they’re no longer getting the full resistance of the variety. “If you were in a longer rotation, one of four, it would mean you could probably go in with a different variety, there’d be no stubble, and you wouldn’t have that incentive to want to spray in crop,” Hartman says. Clint Jurke, an agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, reveals that expanding one’s rotation isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Ideally, a farmer would want to be on a fouryear rotation for canola to control blackleg, but if that means three years of cereals, fusarium head blight and other cereal diseases then becomes a risk. Also, while a long rotation is ideal for any crop, a lot of growers just don’t have the option to choose from a wide selection of other crops. That’s especially the case in northwestern Saskatchewan and eastern Alberta. “Basically, wheat and canola are the only two that they can grow, which makes it very difficult to add more diver-

sity,” says Jurke. “Barley’s not profitable; oats the same thing. For the last few years, diseases in peas have been extremely high and therefore they’re losing money in growing peas. And it’s also hard on equipment.” Although lentils are very common in the west-central area of Saskatchewan, they haven’t worked as well in the black soil zones of northwest Saskatchewan and north-central Alberta. A few farmers have tried other alternatives, like corn or beans and fava beans, but it’s been more talk than reality. Forages like hay crops have been more common, and have actually helped move fields to a much longer rotation. “But when it comes to crops that actually generate revenue for them, it’s basically wheat and canola. Growing anything else is just costing them more money than what it’s adding. It’s pretty tough to add diversity when you’re under those environment and economic conditions,” Jurke says.

Also complicating matters is what to grow in the rotation even if numerous options are open. The canola council says yield reductions can occur when canola is grown on other crops susceptible to the same insects and diseases, like flaxseed, mustard, soybeans, field beans, lentils and sunflowers. If farmers can’t go to a longer rotation, then they need to consider alternatives. Using fungicides as a preventative measure to reduce the impact of disease is an important step, as is taking the time to scout for disease and insect outbreaks before they become bigger problems. Adding diversity by rotating varieties may also provide a solution. B:10.5” “By rotating varieties, you’re potentially choosing difT:10” ferent resistance genes, which keeps the growers one S:8” of the fungus that causes the disease… and it step ahead doesn’t become a bigger problem for them,” Jurke says. n

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Chemistry versus genetics These two forces are what are at battle when weed resistance crops up

ack in the 1940s, there was a 10-year window when two profoundly important scientific discoveries quietly rocked agriculture. One was the discovery of 2,4-D by Juda Hirsch Quastel at Rothamsted Experimental Station in Hertfordshire, England. The era of herbicides was born. Then in 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson described the structure of DNA and genetics came into being. The two concepts have been at odds ever since. We develop a chemical herbicide that kills a variety of plants and, within a few decades, it becomes ineffective. First one plant stands up after a dose of it, then 10 and, after a while a once powerful product is stymied. Brute force chemistry is trumped by subtle biology and we find ourselves scrambling for something else. Why does this keep happening? Herbicides come in a variety of 17 different chemical groups, each according to its mode of action. For example, 2,4-D (Group 4) pretends to be a plant hormone and it overloads a particular growth function. The plant wilts and dies. Glyphosate (Group 9) keeps the plant cells from making certain amino acids, crucial building blocks for proteins. Instead of moving on to the next growth phase, all functions reach a premature end point and shut down. The plant dies. The ureas (Group 7) prevent photosynthesis and the plant dies. All the different groups act in different ways to keep the tightly regulated functions of the plant’s cells from doing their job and the plant dies. Now the biology kicks in. Crops and weeds are angio-

12 CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

By Gord Leathers sperms, flowering plants with coated seeds, and these are considered to be the most recently evolved plants on earth. Angiosperms come in two flavours, the monocotyledons and the dicotyledons defined by the number of seed leaves the plant embryo has. The monocots have one while the dicots have two. Farmers generally recognize the distinction between the two as broadleaf plants (dicots) and grassy plants (monocots). Take heed, however, all grasses are monocots but it doesn’t work the other way around. Orchids, lilies and onions are monocots too, as is the magnificent Quindio wax palm of Colombia, the tallest monocot on the planet. What’s important here is that about half of the herbicide groups we have don’t work on monocots, as any lawn-care specialist who applies 2,4-D to kill dandelions but leave the grass will attest. Of the 17 herbicide groups only seven are effective on grassy weeds. To make matters worse, grassy weeds have been very good, not only at developing resistance to many of those seven groups, but stacking resistance so one plant can withstand the onslaught of more than one different herbicide group. Glyphosate was the last holdout and we know what a panic it caused in Australia when monocot rigid ryegrass started to thrive in spite of glyphosate burn-downs. So that’s how to manage weeds using chemistry. We try to find ways to disrupt the various metabolic path-

Continued on page 14

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Continued from page 12 ways to shut them down and it worked very well at the start. In 1970 the first inkling of trouble was detected in a tree nursery in Washington. They used simazine, a Group 5 triazine compound and found a thriving patch of common groundsel that should have been killed. What we already knew from our experience with insects was happening again with weeds. For the first time we saw that plant populations could adapt to herbicides in the same way. To do this plants have a number of genetic tricks up their sleeves. When geneticists look at populations they see them as a collection of genes. They call this the gene pool. In this

abstract pool, genes gather together in different combinations called organisms and play a giant game of chance. If an organism thrives in its environment and lives to reproduce, those genes live for another generation and win the game, at least this round. In the act of reproduction, the genes are shuffled and different combinations try again. Winners outreproduce losers and the losing combinations vanish. It’s survival and it’s a high-stakes game. And plants can play a lot of cards in this game. Genes gather in strings called chromosomes and, at conception, an animal embryo gets one set of chromosomes from each parent. A plant embryo may get one from each, or two from each, or three from each. Angiosperm plants can put stacks of

chromosomes together from wherever they can get them and some of these massive combinations survive and survive well. Having this many genes makes cell division tricky because the number of potential mistakes and mutations is higher but, having this many cards in the genetic hand also makes you more adaptable if environmental conditions change. An animal can get up and move if it doesn’t like its surroundings. A plant must stay and endure. So we started spraying herbicides and most of the weeds died but the key word here is “most.” Some odd combinations could actually cope so they survived the spraying and lived long enough to produce seeds. Next year, what comes out of the

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ground are the resistant offspring so another dose of the same herbicide has the same effect. Since weed populations don’t have the dramatic booms and crashes that you see in insect pests, they build slowly until you find yourself looking at a field of herbicideresistant weeds. There are two types of resistance. Highlevel resistance is where the plant is able to cope with large doses of a particular herbicide and simply ignore it. The plant may be drenched but the herbicide simply has no effect. Low-level resistance is different. In this case the plant will be injured but won’t die. It takes a while but the sickly plant rebounds and produces seeds. It may not be a big, robust weed but it’s managed to produce seed

and its weakly resistant genetic combination comes back for another round. In this case a stronger dose of the same herbicide may have killed it but any combination of factors may have lessened the amount of herbicide. Over time this population gets stronger. What this means is that we need to take stock of how we deal with weeds. Chemistry worked well for a few decades but it’s starting to break down. We keep coming to the table and playing a limited hand while the weeds are sitting on the other side and pulling cards out of their sleeves from every direction. They cheat and we’re being outplayed because of it. In future we’ll have to play by their rules and this means we have to understand the

ecological game they’re playing. We’ll have to understand rotation, not only of crops but of herbicides as well. Different tank mixes may help to keep the weeds off balance so instead of hitting them with one big hammer, we’ll hit them from several different directions with a lot of small ones. We may be able to pit them against their own natural enemies and this may help keep their numbers in check. We may have to practise limited tillage, higher seeding rates and develop more competitive crops. What it all comes down to is a fundamental concept that we’re learning about farming. The factory is biological and the rules of production are ecological. We have to learn the rules and play them to our advantage. ■

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MARCH 2013 15 1/9/13 7:40 AM

NEWS

CWB’s 2011-12 final payments ready to roll It’s the end of an era. Prairie wheat, durum and barley growers who delivered to the Canadian Wheat Board’s last-ever round of single-desk pools in the 201112 crop year started to see final payments at the end of February. The payments — which cover the balance owed to farmers after their grain was marketed through the board’s pools, and after operating costs are deducted — range from $13.51 to $14.11 per tonne for wheat, from $14.12 to $15.18 per tonne for durum and are $16.34 or $16.79 per tonne for malting barley. In a final bit of political wrangling over the perennially controversial agency, the length of the wait for this final round of final payments was a question-period

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topic in the House of Commons recently, as Liberal MP Ralph Goodale chided the federal government for “forcing farmers to wait more than two months now to get their own money.” The federal government, as the guarantor of CWB payments for now, must approve the proposed final payments before they’re released. CWB said last month it had submitted its proposed final-payment rates to Ottawa on Dec. 18, 2012, but the Commons had adjourned Dec. 14 and didn’t resume sitting until Jan. 28. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz retorted to Goodale, a former federal minister responsible for the CWB, that “some of those cheques used to take 10 to 12 weeks getting through the maze of the Liberal government at that time.” The pools, Ritz said, are in their “final windup” and “there is a little more diligence, a little more work

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required, since it is the final time the farmers will have to wait for their money.” Direct deposits were made to eligible farmers’ bank accounts on Feb. 26, CWB said, while farmers who prefer cheques should have seen them in the mail starting March 7.

Wheat acres set to climb in Canada By: Dwayne Klassen Commodity News Service Canada Attractive prices and weather issues are expected to help farmers in Canada look seriously at seeding more acres to wheat this summer than in previous years, according to industry sources. “Last year a lot of farmers took a chance

with canola given the high financial returns, but the drier-than-anticipated conditions across parts of the Canadian Prairies resulted in yields for that crop coming in well below normal,” said Jerry Klassen, manager for GAP Grains and Produits in Winnipeg. Farmers in Western Canada are already considering the possibility that conditions could again be on the drier side and in turn are considering putting in a crop that has more tolerance to drier soils, he noted. “Farmers who planted canola in the marginal producing areas of Saskatchewan and Alberta are likely the ones considering the switch to wheat from canola,” he said. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

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(AAFC) in its January supply/demand outlook pegged 2013-14 all-wheat area at 25.326 million acres, which would compare with all-wheat-seeded area in 2012-13 of 23.826 million acres. Klassen forecast all-wheat area in Canada would be up three per cent in the spring of 2013 from the year-ago pace. Neil Townsend, a wheat analyst with CWB, also felt attractive prices and crop rotation requirements would translate into more area in Western Canada being seeded to wheat, as well as durum. “A lot of the canola area that was planted in marginal areas included the southern

Continued on page 18

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CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 17 2/5/132013 12:13 PM

NEWS

Continued from page 17 regions of both Alberta and Saskatchewan,” said Mike Jubinville, an analyst with ProFarmer Canada. Those areas have traditionally been seeded to wheat and durum and the expectation is that this area will again see wheat and durum plantings. Durum area in Canada was expected to be at least seven per cent higher in 2013 than the 4.579 million acres seeded in the spring of 2012, Klassen said. AAFC estimated 2013 durum plantings in Canada at 4.819 million acres. Jubinville also projected durum area will be up significantly at the expense of both canola and barley. “The key to wheat areas climbing this spring is the fact that farmers have planted canola too many years in a row and need to change the rotation in order to

prevent disease and other crop issues with that land,” Jubinville said. “Wheat and durum just happen to be an attractive financial alternative at this time.”

One Earth Farms expands through Ont. organic meat deal The company that bills itself as the biggest corporate farming operation in Canada has extended its reach outside the Prairies by buying a Toronto-area organic meat producer and processor. Saskatoon-based One Earth Farms announced recently it has bought Beretta Farms of Etobicoke, Ont., for an undisclosed amount of cash and One Earth shares. Other terms of the deal were not released, except that co-founder Mike Beretta will join One Earth Farms’ executive committee with the title of chief operating officer.

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Beretta’s main farm at King City, north of Toronto, is an 800-acre operation producing organic grains, hay, vegetables and greenhouse greens. The company also runs beef cattle, pigs, horses, sheep, turkeys, chickens, and laying hens and is certified by Organic Crop Producers and Processors (OCPP), the Ontario arm of Pro-Cert Organic. The operation, founded in 1993 by Mike and Cynthia Beretta at Wingham, Ont. and relocated to King City in 1999, has built up a brand of fresh beef, poultry, deli products and meals, sold mainly in the Toronto and Vancouver markets through national grocery chains and organic retailers, with buyers including Whole Foods, Longo’s and Loblaws.

Beretta also markets through direct home delivery and a specialty catering operation providing meals to professional athletes and corporate clients, and sells high-protein snacks under the Last Rep and Protein Puck brand names. Beretta’s meat suppliers have expanded off site include a “family of farms” that raise animals by “the same methods and standards to which Mike and Cynthia are committed.” “The Beretta Farms supply chain and consumer brands perfectly complement the One Earth Farms source of beef,” an organically raised herd of over 17,000 animals, One Earth CEO Larry Ruud said in Tuesday’s release. “With Mike and Cynthia remaining actively involved in the day-to-day operation

of the business, this combination gives One Earth Farms an integrated business model and broadens our reach from the farm to the end consumer, where there is increasing interest in naturally raised meats, food traceability and best practices in animal care.” One Earth Farms, founded in 2009 and now about 60 per cent owned by Sprott Resource Corp., runs farming and ranch operations in Saskatchewan and Alberta, largely on land leased from First Nations in the two provinces. One Earth’s goal for 2011 was to expand to grow grains and oilseeds on 150,000 acres of cultivated farmland and to lease about 100,000 acres of pasture to boost its cattle herd to about 22,000 head. n

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CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013 19 2/6/13 9:57 AM

CROP PROTECTION

How’s the crop protection industry doing?

Warren libby President of Savvy Farmer

ifty-one new labels in December. That’s the number of new or changed agricultural pesticide labels approved by the PMRA in December. While that may seem like a lot, in comparison to other months, it was a bit on the low side. In fact during 2012, the PMRA approved well over 1,000 new agricultural labels or updated labels, indicating a healthy and vibrant pest control industry, despite predictions from some pundits that the industry is in decline. I thought it might be useful to dispel a few of the more prominent myths about the state of the pest control industry. Myth #1: Generics will kill new product research. FALSE. The pesticide industry is thriving and contrary to some predictions, the researchbased companies like Bayer, BASF, DuPont, Dow, Monsanto, Syngenta and others continue to pour huge sums into product research. As suggested in previous articles, increased (generic) competition is both natural and good, as it pushes companies that might otherwise milk existing products to seek out new and better technologies to stay ahead of generic competitors. Not a single month goes by without the announcement of at least one totally new pest control product, and novel mixtures of older tried-andtrue technologies are almost a weekly event. There is absolutely no evidence that innovation is suffering as a result of generic competition. Myth #2: GM crops will replace the need for pesticides. FALSE. Others have suggested that the introduction of genetically engineered crops will spell the demise of the pesticide industry as we stuff increasingly more traits, including pest control traits, into the DNA of the seeds we plant. Certainly in the early days of Roundup Ready crops, it did seem that the market would suffer. And it did, but only for a short time. It has now rebounded as farmers find that while glypho-

sate alone is an amazing tool, in many situations it now needs help to expand the weed spectrum, provide some residual control, and of course, to delay the development of weed resistance. By combining GM seeds, prudent crop rotations, low cost and effective glyphosate, and more traditional pest control products, growers are able to produce virtually weedfree crops through to harvest. Again, there is no evidence that GMOs will eliminate the need for pesticide in the foreseeable future. Myth #3: Weed resistance will make current herbicides ineffective. FALSE. Weed resistance has been a fact of life for decades and will continue to challenge our technology. But contrary to the scare mongering of some industry detractors, weed resistance has not doomed popular herbicides to obscurity. It has simply changed the way we use technology. Back in the 1970s we already experienced multiple weed resistance to atrazine in corn, but atrazine is still widely used as part of many corn weed control programs. A similar pattern is emerging with glyphosate. To manage the resistant biotypes we are not eliminating glyphosate, but rather enhancing it with other products, in a more holistic overall weed control strategy. Weeds may be putting up a good fight, but the industry continues to win the war. Myth #4: Generics will reduce the cost of pest control. FALSE, well, sort of. Over the past five years there has been a proliferation of generic copies of just about every major pesticide we have come to trust during the past 30 years. With few exceptions, these generic alternatives are lower cost than their brand-name counterparts. In many cases this has reduced the cost of pest control from a few percentage points to up to 35 per cent in some extreme cases. One might expect your pest control bill to go down in the coming years. Certainly that could be the case if you don’t change your pest control strategy.

However, global pesticide sales have been increasing every year since 2007 and are poised to jump quite dramatically during the next five years. Since, for the most part there are no more acres of arable land, this means that farmers will be spending more per acre on pest control in coming years than they have in the past. How can this be possible? There are a few things at play here. Of course, weed resistance management strategies will demand that many farmers move away from low-cost glyphosate alone treatments to programs that include one or more additional chemicals in their spray tanks. Secondly, with continued robust commodity prices, growers are expected to do everything possible to maximize yields, perhaps considering a fungicide or insecticide treatment in addition to a sound weed control program. Finally, it would be reasonable to expect pesticide manufacturers to take advantage of solid commodity prices to also increase prices on their products. The bottom line here is that most farmers should pencil in an increase in the cost of pest control for their 2013 budget. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. A healthy crop protection industry is a vital part of a healthy agricultural sector and is a good bellwether for how well the overall industry will do in the future. Various industry sources predict that the global pest control industry will grow from just over $51 billion in 2012 to over $71 billion in five years. That may be unpopular news for those of us who will contribute to that increase through increased pest control costs, but it does provide a nice level of optimism for agriculture in the coming years. n Warren Libby is president of Savvy Farmer, a web-based service for farmers and crop protection dealers. He previously held leadership positions in several crop protection companies and is the former chairman of CropLife Canada.

Do you have a crop protection issue you’d like Warren to write about? Send any suggestions to gord.gilmour@fbcpublishing.com.

20 CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

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Disaster

Down Under Australian growers have been forced to take drastic measures in the face of glyphosate resistance

he world changed for Australians when rigid ryegrass started popping up in wheat fields after glyphosate burn-downs. They weren’t supposed to be there but there they were, swaying in the breeze alongside the wheat and generally causing trouble. Glyphosate wasn’t controlling them anymore so the Australians had to come up with a cost-effective plan B. They tried chaff wagons to collect the seeds that came out the back of the combine, then ammonifying the chaff and using it as cattle feed. A more drastic approach was the Harrington seed destructor, a portable hammer mill that took the chaff directly from the combine and beat the captured ryegrass seeds into a pulp. Both of these approaches were effective but expensive. “What a lot of people do is simply go down to the local tinsmith and get a piece of steel bent to direct the chaff to one narrow row behind the combine,” explains Steve Shirtliffe of the University of Saskatchewan. “Then they burn that narrow layer of chaff left on the field to kill seeds. So if they concentrate them all in one pile they’ll burn and hopefully not burn the field black.” This is a relatively low-tech approach to a new problem and it takes advantage of the ryegrass’s exploitable weakness. It holds on to its seeds long enough to go through the combine. The solution, have

22 CROPS GUIDE

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By Gord Leathers a cart or machine on the back of the combine that helps contain and destroy the seeds. A dead seed is one that won’t become a plant and a plant, after all, is a seed’s way of making more seed. Take out the seed and the problem is solved. What the Australians have done is outsmarted the ryegrass and this kind of ingenuity is what farmers here are going to have to practise. Even with glyphosate still largely effective, keeping it that way makes weed management a more knowledge-based tactical game. Before we fall victim to the plight of wheat farmers Down Under we’d better start developing the tactics we’ll need to keep glyphosate viable for as long as we can. That way we can hang on to what has proved to be an effective management tool and it will ease the transition to the possible post-glyphosate farm. Where do we start? “Here’s No. 1,” says North Dakota State University weed scientist Jeff Stachler. “Scout the fields! We have to get back to scouting fields five to 14 days after each application and what you’re interested in observing is the response of each and every individual plant. That is what’s critical to understand.” Plants left standing after a round of glyphosate are

Continued on page 24

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Continued from page 22 dangerous because these are the resistant parents of resistant offspring. You can’t let these ones get away and dealing with them quickly and decisively is cost effective in both the short and long term. And that means dealing with them by whatever means possible, according to Neil Harker of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. “If you’re talking zero tolerance you should do what works and that can include anything from a second application with a different herbicide all the way up to hand weeding or roguing,” he says. “Prior to introduction the resistant weeds are at very low levels and so it’s feasible to watch very carefully and see if anything wasn’t controlled by a first application, and then very carefully monitor your fields.”

Before we fall victim to the plight of wheat farmers Down Under we’d better start developing the tactics we’ll need Stachler also says that one of the places where it’s critical to look is along the edge of the field. The selection pressure actually changes along the perimeter because of a quirk of the way sprayers work. The herbicide dosage there is actually reduced and may not be consistently lethal. “The nozzles are set up to have a third overlap on a flat fan nozzle so you’re always using a reduced rate of the herbicide on the outside of the field every single time,” he says. “This is a great place for resistance to start with anything and that’s why you need to practise zero tolerance or 100 per cent weed control in perimeter management. Because if you don’t here’s what’s going to happen.” Another way to keep herbicides viable in the long term is to use them less. This may seem counterintuitive but it makes perfect sense when you consider the game weeds are playing. Higher seeding rates will set up a denser, more competitive crop that can actually beat back

the weeds by itself. The idea is to use herbicides as a last line of defence rather than the first. Crop rotation can also be a very effective tool for dealing with some of our worst weed problems. Wild oat loves spring annual crops because it’s a spring annual weed and it thrives under the same conditions as wheat, oats, barley or canola. But it’s flummoxed by winter wheat and even more bamboozled by alfalfa. “Putting perennials back in your system as (University of Manitoba professor) Martin Entz suggests goes a long way and I remember when I was a PhD student I was fooling around with some simulation models,” Shirtliffe says. “He had good evidence of what happens when you have an alfalfa rotation. You can almost eliminate the need to spray wild oats and thistles become less of an issue.” What this new weed control paradigm really says is that the old tactics that were wholly reliant on brute force chemistry aren’t going to work anymore. What we have to do is enhance the use of farm chemistry with the subtle nuances of biology. Entz, a professor of plant science at the University of Manitoba and an expert on cropping biology points out a huge source of underutilized knowledge that conventional farmers may find very convenient. They should start talking to the local organic producers. “The experienced organic farmers practise good rotations and weeds are not their biggest limiting factor,” he explains. “It came as a shock to many of us, including me when I started working in this area.” He named two, Ian Cushon of Moose Creek Farms in Oxbow, Sask. who’s been farming organically for 25 years. He has a rotation that works in the region where he farms and he has a very successful operation. The other is Kroeker Farms of Winkler, Man., the largest producer of organic potatoes in the province and they have an open house every year. Perhaps that long, cold silence between the two camps is finally thawing. “We’ve looked for organic farmers who are willing to talk to conventional farmers and also conventional farmers who are actually willing to listen,” Entz says. “At our field day in Carman, we had 160 participants. Of that, we’re probably looking at 100 farmers and of those farmers, half were organic but half were conventional, so it’s starting.” n

Fusarium rolls across the land. Ugly and unstoppable.

110200960_CarambaAd_CG_v4.indd 1

canola agronomy

over the threshold Canola can handle quite a bit of insect pressure — especially at vegetative and flowering stages — before yield loss occurs. Insect thresholds help you identify the point at which economic loss is likely B Y j ay w h e t t e r

ould you pay $1,000 for an engine add-on to improve fuel efficiency if it promised $1,000 in savings over the life of the vehicle? Definitely not. You’d want a better return than a 1:1 ratio. Insect thresholds work the same way. The threshold is the point at which an insecticide application will pay for itself. “Spray at the threshold, and you break even. Spray below the threshold, and you’re throwing money away — and likely harming an army of valuable beneficial insects at the same time,” says Greg Sekulic, Canola Council of Canada agronomy specialist. Two canola pests — lygus and bertha armyworm — have thresholds based on peer-reviewed research. This research measured how much yield loss could be attributed to each single insect, and with that information, extension entomologists created specific thresholds based on control cost and canola prices. Thresholds for all other insects in canola are “nominal,” which means they’re based on experience rather than research.

The thresholds Bertha armyworm: Research found that each bertha armyworm larvae per square metre can cause a 0.058 bu./ac. loss. Thresholds combine this information with insecticide cost and

canola price to determine how many bertha armyworms can be present per square metre before a spray becomes economical. For example, if canola is $12 per bushel and insecticide (product plus application) is $8 per acre, the threshold is 11 larvae per square metre. Lygus: Research found that each lygus per 10 sweeps can cause a 0.1235 bu./ac. loss at the late flowering to early-pod stages and a 0.0882 bu./ac. loss when seeds in the lower pods are green (“late-pod stage” in the table). Once seeds in the lower pods have advanced beyond the point where they are green, then control of lygus bugs would not be economical. If canola is $12 per bushel and spray is $8 per acre, the threshold at the late-pod stage is seven lygus per 10 sweeps. Flea beetles: Be ready to spray if 25 per cent or more of the seedling leaf area has been eaten, on average. If flea beetles are still actively feeding and seem to be getting worse, then spray. Cutworms: Thresholds for cutworm damage in canola have not been researched, but nominal thresholds based on stand reduction have been suggested. Overall stand reduction of 25 per cent to 30 per cent may warrant a spray. If bare patches are developing as a result of cutworm feeding, apply a localized spray around the outside of the patch.

This bertha armyworm has been killed by a bacteria or fungus, part of a beneficial complex of organisms that can work quickly through a bertha armyworm population. If berthas are above economic spray thresholds, double-check just before you spray to see that they’re still alive and eating. Diamondback moth larvae: Thresholds are 100-150 larvae per square metre in immature to flowering plants or 200 to 300 larvae per square metre in plants with flowers and pods. However, these are based on dense stands of 150-200 plants per square metre. Reduce thresholds for thinner stands. Cabbage seedpod weevil: At current prices, the threshold is 20 weevils per 10 sweeps.

Threshold weaknesses

Sweep net skills. Lygus and cabbage seedpod weevil thresholds are based on sweep net counts. “However, sweep net sampling can be quite variable depending on who’s doing it,” says John Gavloski, provincial entomologist for Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives. “There should be some training on how to use a sweep net properly.” (This article in Canola Watch includes a video by Scott Meers, entomologist with Alberta Agriculture

Continued on page 26

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13-01-08 11:41 AM

canola agronomy

Continued from page 25 and Rural Development: http://www.canolawatch. org/2011/08/10/how-to-sweep-net-properly/). Canola genetic advances. Current canola varieties grow differently than Westar and Q2, which were the basis of lygus threshold research. “We’re investigating hybrid varieties in comparison to Westar to determine if these plants tolerate higher numbers of Lygus lineolaris,” says Jennifer Otani, pest management biologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Beaverlodge, Alberta. “If the hybrids fail to demonstrate yield or quality losses in the same way Westar did, we’ll need to update the threshold to reflect greater plant tolerance.” What size of larvae to include in counts? The basic tip when counting bertha armyworm larvae, for example, is to include all worms larger than half an inch long. Smaller larvae may succumb to natural predators or diseases. However, if significant numbers of smaller larvae are observed, revisit the field regularly. How many counts to do, and where? The more counts the better, but do at least five, preferably 10, from various spots within the field.

Follow a “W” pattern and sample at each point in the “W” and again between each point. Growing conditions. Canola is really good at compensating for lost leaf area, buds and flowers. “Under good growing conditions, thresholds may overestimate loss,” Gavloski says. Thresholds are only one factor in the spray decision. Even if numbers are above the thresholds, the decision to spray also depends on what those insects are doing. “If bertha armyworm are at economic thresholds but are only feeding on leaves, then it may not be the ideal time to spray. As soon as you see pod feeding, go and spray,” Gavloski says. However, if they are slowing down and no longer feeding, they may be infected by disease or parasitic insect larvae, or may be close to pupation and won’t need to be sprayed. With flea beetles and early diamondback moth larvae feeding, if crops are above leaf damage thresholds but insects are at low levels, the opportunity to benefit economically from a spray may have come and gone.

The beneficial effect Diamondback moth larvae started feeding on canola early in the season in 2011 and 2012, but they were virtually gone by

Table 1.

Economic thresholds for lygus bugs in canola at late-flowering and early-pod stages (Wise and Lamb 1998). Late flower to early pod (Canola crop stages 4.4-5.11) Economic Injury Level2

Control costs $

/ac.

$ /ha

$ 8.00

$ 19.77

$ 10.00

$ 24.71

$ 12.00

$ 29.65

$ 14.00

$ 34.59

$ 16.00

$ 39.54

$ 18.00

$ 44.48

$ 20.00

$ 49.42

Canola Value

$ /bu.

$8.00

$10.00

$12.00

$14.00

$16.00

$18.00

$20.00

$352.42

$440.53

$528.63

$616.74

$704.85

$792.95

$881.06

$ /tonne

1 Canola crop stage estimated using Harper and Berkenkamp 1975. 2 Economic thresholds are based on an assumed loss of 0.1235 bu./ac. per lygus bug in 10 sweeps.

Bertha armyworm thresholds in canola, courtesy of MAFRI

Economic thresholds for lygus bugs in canola at pod stages (Wise and Lamb 1998). $

/ac

Late pod (Canola crop stages 5.21) Economic Injury Level3

$ /ha

$ 8.00

$ 19.77

$ 10.00

$ 24.71

$ 12.00

$ 29.65

$ 14.00

$ 34.59

$ 16.00

Jay Whetter is communications manager with the Canola Council of Canada. He’s also editor of the CCC’s free Canola Watch agronomy newsletter. Go to www.canolawatch.org and find the sign up box down the right column.

Table 3.

Table 2. Control costs

the pod stage — the stage when they cause the greatest economic loss. Beneficial insects such as cotesia and Diadegma insulare wasps are natural predators of diamondback moth and can also be very effective at reducing populations of the pest. Bertha armyworm faces a whole complex of natural predators, including the wasp Banchus flavescens, where the level of parasitized bertha armyworm larvae in some studies has exceeded 40 per cent, a tachinid fly that may kill over 20 per cent of larvae, as well as bacteria and fungal diseases. “Growers don’t want to let bertha wipe out a crop, but at the same time, by spraying before thresholds are reached, growers may prevent these natural enemies from doing their job,” Gavloski says. As Sekulic says, “We’ve never sprayed away a bertha armyworm outbreak. When they reach a certain density, the beneficial complex has ended the cycle for us.” However, with the ability to tank mix insecticide at any time of the season, growers can give canola a protective spray many times a year at relatively low cost. But this can have unexpected consequences. “Spraying in the absence of pest pressure and without attention to thresholds wipes the slate clean — it kills all insects, including beneficials,” Otani says. “In the absence of a pest problem, spraying represents an out-of-pocket cost that won’t produce an economic return. Not only that, a few insect pests actually help retain and multiply beneficials.” It all comes back to the thresholds. “Thresholds are a way to apply methodology to insect management, providing growers with an economic reason to apply insecticide,” Otani says. “The bonus to the grower is that if insects are below economic thresholds, the grower can save money on a spray and give beneficials a chance to do their job.” n

Expected Seed Value - $bushel Spraying Cost 6 $/acre

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

20 17 15 13 12 11 10

23 20 19 17 16 14 13 12 11 10 10

$ 39.54

26 22 19 17 16 14 13 12 11 10 10

$ 18.00

$ 44.48

29 25 22 19 17 16 14 13 12 11 11

$ 20.00

$ 49.42

32 27 24 21 19 17 16 15 14 13 12

Canola Value

$ /bu.

$8.00

$10.00

$12.00

$14.00

$16.00

$18.00

$20.00

34 30 26 23 21 19 17 16 15 14 13

$352.42

$440.53

$528.63

$616.74

$704.85

$792.95

$881.06

37 32 28 25 22 20 19 17 16 15 14

40 35 31 27 24 22 20 19 17 16 15

43 37 32 29 26 23 22 20 19 17 16

$ /tonne

3 Economic thresholds are based on an assumed loss of 0.882 bu./ac. per lygus bug caught in 10 sweeps.

26 CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

Number of Larve/metre 9

Shuts out disease. Locks in yield. Practically impenetrable yield protection. With two modes of action, Astound

stops Sclerotinia spores from germinating and fungal threads from growing. That frees your canola to do what it should: yield more.

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Machinery

Taking a fresh look at anhydrous delivery To pump or not to pump? There’s more to this question than meets the eye By Brad Brinkworth, Meristem Media

he appeal of anhydrous ammonia (NH3) application with direct seeding remains strong today for western Canadian farmers. The product, which contains 82 per cent nitrogen, is the most concentrated and often the most economical nitrogen fertilizer option. Many producers have years of experience with (NH3) application, with a proven track record of positive results. A large number of growers have their own application and equipment, while many get access through a custom applicator relationship. Quietly though, a new generation of anhydrous ammonia application is taking shape, with new technology, questions and opportunities, particularly around the emerging debate on conventional cold flow (CF) systems versus new high-pressure (HP) systems. The Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development AgTech Centre in Lethbridge, Alta., has tested a number of different systems over the years and follows these developments closely. Here’s a look at some of the key things to consider on anhydrous ammonia approaches, with insight from AgTech Centre’s Lawrence Papworth, project engineer and Blaine Metzger, project technologist.

Anhydrous advantages A good starting point to the debate on CF versus HP is to revisit the question of “Why anhydrous?” say Papworth and Metzger. There have always been several standout characteristics that make NH3 a practical choice for many farmers. Combined with cost and concentration advantages, arguably the most important of these is the clear effectiveness of NH3 as a nitrogen fertilizer source. “Most research shows that nitrogen supplied as NH3 is used by crops as effectively as nitrogen from any other source,” says Metzger. “So when you look at the other benefits it’s easy to see why it’s a popular option.” The cost advantage can come in several forms. Often there is a basic price advantage due to choosing NH3 over options that require greater product development. Also, because it is highly concentrated, the requirements for trucking and handling NH3 are often more cost efficient and mean farmers have less work and less to worry about. Wide availability can result in further price advantages in some locations in some years. Another big benefit is field capacity. “When farmers

Most research shows that nitrogen supplied as NH3 is used by crops as effectively as nitrogen from any other source consider the field capacity of a direct planting system in terms of acres per hour, a large part of that depends on how often the planter must stop to refill with seed and fertilizer,” says Papworth. “It’s well established that the combination of an air drill for seed and granular fertilizer other than nitrogen — and an NH3 tank for nitrogen allows the greatest number of acres between fills.” In fact, simple calculation shows the high nitrogen concentration of NH3 allows approximately 1.78 times more acres to be planted per tonne of fertilizer, compared to urea which is 46 per cent nitrogen. The equipment factor Despite these inherent advantages, there can be significant variation in the results that different producers get, say Metzger and Papworth. Understanding why requires understanding the basic mechanics involved in anhydrous delivery systems. While NH3 is a gas at normal temperatures and pressures, for agricultural use it is stored in a pressure tank, at which point it is in a liquid form. The pressure in the tank causes the liquid NH3 to flow through an open valve to a metering and distribution system. It then goes 28 CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

through this system to the outlet in the ground opener and into the soil. As the NH3 is released from the tank into the distribution system, the sudden drop in pressure causes rapid boiling of the NH3 as it changes from a liquid to a vapour, becoming a mixture of gas bubbles and liquid droplets that flow rapidly through the system. In conventional anhydrous ammonia application systems, NH3 goes through a CF converter before it goes through the meter and the distribution system down to the openers. The CF converter works by creating a swirling mass of the vaporizing NH3, which cools it to liquid temperature before it is injected into the soil. Once in the soil, the NH3 adds hydrogen and becomes ammonium (NH4), which the crop can take up directly through its roots. Some NH4 is consumed by micro-organisms and released as nitrate (NO3), which is also used directly by the crop. Uniformity: More questions than answers A potential issue raised by some manufacturers and studies in recent years is that accurate control of anhydrous ammonia containing both gas and liquid phases can be difficult. While standard cold flow systems do a good job of applying consistent amounts of anhydrous ammonia over a field, that doesn’t always mean they provide equal flow to each injector knife, which can impact the uniformity and accuracy of placement on a row-by-row basis. Just how much of an issue this is and what exactly is behind it is an open question, say Metzger and Papworth. But as growers hear more statements and claims

challenging the conventional CF approach, it’s important to take these with caution. New HP equipment options being touted can require substantial investment, and more research is needed to understand conclusively what the returns are. “There’s a sense that we’re in a bit of a transition period in the industry,” says Papworth. “There are some new HP approaches coming out that look promising. But at the same time, we need to properly test and evaluate these. The reality is we’re just in the early stages of doing that.” “There are some very interesting concepts out there,” adds Metzger. “The bottom line is we just need to learn more about the exact benefits they are delivering. That will come with time. For producers considering this, it’s maybe a case of you shouldn’t feel lots of pressure to jump in. Your current system may be working just fine. However, if your equipment is getting old or the timing makes sense for a new investment, you may want to give these new options a closer look.” Digging deeper The new HP systems are based on a new generation of NH3 pumps that, by enabling higher pressure, are designed to keep more of the NH3 in liquid form. Purported benefits include improved accuracy in cold weather and overall greater uniformity and precision in delivery, which supports an improved economic crop response. In some examples, these advantages are linked to a “direct pressure injection system” paired with the pump-

Continued on page 30

SPRAYING OFF LABEL

COSTS YIELD

Spraying herbicide on Genuity® Roundup Ready® canola, above recommended rates or outside the application window,

can cost you 3 bushels per acre or more in yield.

ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW GRAIN MARKETING AND ALL OTHER STEWARDSHIP PRACTICES AND PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Genuity®, Roundup Ready®, Monsanto® and Vine Design® are registered trademarks of Monsanto Canada Inc. Licensee. ©2013 Monsanto Canada Inc.

CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013 29

Machinery

Continued from page 29 based higher pressure that is said to reduce “gassing off” or the loss of ammonia to the atmosphere during placement. For Metzger and Papworth, one of the key questions to look at is what in fact is the actual loss of nitrogen, on average, when farmers can see vapour behind the shanks. “Vapour is often a natural part of the process and it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re losing anything,” he says. “When the anhydrous ammonia is discharged it causes an intense cooling of the air around it and this produces the visible vapour trail. Growers can see this and think it’s anhydrous but really it’s just condensed water vapour. If the system is working properly, whether CF or HP, the actual nitrogen loss should be negligible.” To pump or not to pump Another question surrounding the new HP pumps is why, if they are so good, did the industry quit using ‘go-flo’ pumps and the like years ago and switch to CF kits in the first place? It’s a fair question, says Metzger. “The short answer is it does appear the new pump options represent a step up in sophistication. They appear to have overcome some flow and mechanical issues associated with earlier versions. Some also come with additional system features designed to further enhance uniformity and accuracy of placement.” The concept of keeping more anhydrous in liquid state makes sense, says Papworth. “We know if the anhydrous is straight liquid it’s a lot easier to divide evenly. But the jury is still out on how much better HP systems are at doing that than CF systems. Keep in mind too, a pump is another component that requires maintenance. There’s a fair bit to consider.” Often, the effectiveness of different systems depends on details such as the openers farmers use, says Papworth. “The basic rules still apply with the HP systems. You always need a suitable ground opener that ensures the separation of the anhydrous from the seed row and also seals the soil surface to prevent escape. That doesn’t change no matter what approach you take.” Weighing performance with equipment cost While it has yet to do extensive testing, AgTech Centre has done a basic trial comparing the fundamentals of a conventional CF system and one of the new HP systems, with mixed results on which way farmers should lean. “The amount of visible vapour gassing into the atmosphere appeared the same with both systems,” says Metzger. “We did see the application rate was more consistent with the high-pressure system, likely because the actual

In 2013 Savvy Farmer will bring users even more valuable information. To learn more, please visit

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product flow being metered was in a more liquid form as well as higher pressure at the distribution manifold.” Another advantage observed with the higher-pressure system was due to the higher pressure that the NH3 was injected with into the soil at the opener. “This allowed for more precise placement away from the seed row as opposed to the cold flow system which more dribbled the NH3 upon placement and this sometimes allowed the product to dribble into or very close to the seed row.” However, the final yield differences did not show a significant advantage between one system and the other. “This test was only done with just one opener system and I think there would be more advantages using the highpressure system with other opener-type systems. This was a very basic first look at this and more testing would be needed to draw any firm conclusions.” With HP systems the opener is definitely under more pressure at the release point into the soil, says Metzger. “Because of this, it’s safe to say that there would be less chance of plugging with the openers under the high-pressure system. With a conventional flow system, you definitely have to be more careful which opener you’re using and make sure you have a good fit. Talk to your advisers and make sure you have a good combination for the system you are using.” The theory of more pressure meaning greater precision also make sense, he says. “The chances are simply better that pressure is not going to be an issue. You can have greater peace of mind that there is the right separation from the seed row. But farmers need to consider the cost factor of the new equipment and balance that with the fact they can likely get just as good results with conventional if they have the right setup.” A complicating factor is that nitrogen moves in the soil, says Papworth. “You may say greater precision, but as long as you have the right depth of placement and aren’t damaging the seed, uniformity in delivery among sideby-side openers maybe isn’t as big of an issue as it’s sometimes made out to be. Nitrogen is so mobile in the soil that I would be surprised if there was a big difference in the end result, in terms of the overall effectiveness of your anhydrous application in supporting the crop.” The AgTech Centre is among the institutions looking to investigate these questions further in the months ahead, says Papworth. “There’s a lot of interest in some of the new options we’re seeing today. We need to provide farmers with more information to help make decisions.” n Meristem is a Calgary-based communications firm that specializes in writing about western agriculture, food and land use. More articles at www.meristem.com.

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30 CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

MARKET DEVELOPMENT

Cigi participation on PGDC helps support promotion of Canadian grain BY ELLEN GOODMAN, CIGI

anadian grain producers and the industry as a whole can benefit from the Canadian International Grains Institute’s expertise and customer involvement as a member of the Prairie Grains Development Committee, according to Cigi’s CEO Earl Geddes. Cigi currently has six staff members sitting on three of the four PGDC committees: the Prairie Recommending Committee for Wheat, Rye and Triticale (3); Oat and Barley (1); and for Pulses and Special Crops (2). The committees are responsible for testing and evaluation of candidate cultivars and for making recommendations to the Variety Registration Office of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for their registration in Western Canada. “Cigi is involved on the quality side of these committees,” Geddes says. “There are also agronomy and disease committees but our expertise is in how the customer is going to use this product to make food or feed. Our job is to vote on whether this is something a customer wants, yes or no.” Although Cigi has been a PGDC member for years, he says it now has a greater opportunity to bring the customer view of Canadian wheat, barley, and durum to variety registration meetings. “In the past the Canadian Wheat Board played an important part in this process, doing the market development work, but that has changed. Cigi has always been there to provide technical support to comments about customer concerns and requirements and now that role is even more important because of our extensive customer contact, responsibilities and activities.” Geddes says that Cigi will now be working closely with exporters and seed developers who will own the new varieties. “That’s also important for farmers and for seed companies selling the seeds — we’re playing an important role in that whole seed system, in the growth of varieties and the promotion of new classes.” Despite changes to Canada’s wheat-marketing environment last year, the variety registration system remains intact and this process generates the high-quality varieties that provide the foundation for Canada’s brand as the best wheat in the world, he says. “The better the varieties, the easier it is to maintain the brand image. This process also helps plant breeders know what the industry wants to ensure Canada stays competitive in the future.” The Canadian Grain Commission provides quality data on wheat varieties from public breeding programs including all of

those from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Cigi helps handle the volume of work by doing the testing and compiling the data and evaluation material for registration on behalf of a number of private breeders. “To assist the PGDC in its advisory role to the CFIA, Cigi looks at quality issues ranging from milling yield to colour or ash content — basically all of the functional characteristics of the wheat varieties that the breeders bring for registration,” Geddes says. The committee then votes on which lines best fit the market when its members meet in February. “Cigi knowing what is coming to the registration table is of huge value to farmers and industry. We know the quality so we’re able to position and promote those products in the marketplace to various customers whether it be for the processing of noodles, pasta or baked goods.” ■ CIGI STAFF MEMBERS HAVE UNIQUE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT CUSTOMER PREFERENCES AND END-USE PATTERNS THAT THEY BRING TO THE RECOMMENDING COMMITTEE MEETINGS.

SUPERIOR WEED CONTROL Get the advantage of superior annual and perennial weed control from Genuity® Roundup Ready® systems and capture the full yield potential of today’s elite canola genetics. www.genuitycanola.ca

Always follow grain marketing and all other stewardship practices and pesticide label directions. Details of these requirements can be found in the Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers printed in this publication. © 2012 Monsanto Canada, Inc. CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013 31

MORE THAN 1,000 WORDS

Haploid shorTcut

ne of the key components of increasing agricultural productivity is varietal development. Recently photographer Ryan Fennessey visited Monsanto Canada’s research facility at the University of Manitoba, where the company agreed to give Crops Guide readers a peek behind the scenes. This issue we’ll look at haploid breeding technology, a technique which allows breeding to proceed much more quickly than would otherwise be possible. Canola, the crop the facility works on most intensely, is a diploid plant, meaning it reproduces sexually with genetic material from both a male and female parent — think pollination. This mechanism allows for the plant-breeding techniques which result in crop enhancements, but it comes with a bit of a productivity drag — it can take several generations to produce a genetically stable variety which reproduces truly. This adds years to the development time of the crop. Doubled haploid technology harvests genetic material that contains just a single genetic code with the desired traits, then grows it out to a genetically stable offspring, shaving years off development times.

1 A & B The process starts with

the crossing of two parent lines.

2 A & B The offspring of this crossing is then grown out in a greenhouse to maturity and seed harvest.

3 T his is the stage where the haploid technology takes over. Those seeds are grown out until they’ve budded, and those buds are harvested. From the buds microspores are harvested which contain only one copy of the genetic information — a haploid.

CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

3 4a

4 A & B These microspores are

then placed in a sterile growth medium, here by plant breeder Yingjie Wang, and exposed to a chemical (colchicine) which allows the microspores to double the number of chromosomes to the normal diploid state. By doubling exact copies of the original chromosomes each microspore is now genetically fixed and has the potential to become a new inbred line. Embryos are then placed in a growth chamber that maintains a consistent temperature and humidity, which allows them to grow into viable plants.

5, 6 & 7 These plants are then taken to harvest producing viable and stable seeds that are fixed and therefore true breeding. These lines can be tested for the various genetic markers that show if a trait is present or not.

CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013

NEWS

Canada to end biofuel subsidy in 2017, report says REUTERS

The Canadian government plans to end its subsidy for production of biofuels when its current program ends in 2017, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported recently. The newspaper quoted a letter from Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver to the biofuels industry explaining that Ottawa needed to cut spending to tame its deficit. Oliver said that the ethanol industry now produces the necessary volume of renewable fuel for Canada to meet its target of five per cent ethanol in the country’s gasoline supply, the newspaper reported. But the minister also noted that the Canadian biodiesel industry had been unable to produce enough of that fuel, forcing some refiners to import to meet a two per cent biodiesel target. The production of fuel from feed stocks such as corn, wheat, canola and animal fat has been lauded as a way for Canada to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, ethanol and biodiesel fuel producers have

Versatile expands into toyland Agcanada.com

Winnipeg tractor maker Versatile has expanded its product line into the smallest of small-scale equipment. The company is releasing a new line of scale-model toys developed by Tokyo toy manufacturer Tomy and Iowa-based Ertl, which already makes licensed die-cast scale models of John Deere, Case IH and New Holland farm equipment. Come April, the company said, scale models will be available at Versatile dealers, including an “introductory edition” 1/32-scale Versatile 550, as well as a 1/32-scale and 1/64-scale Versatile 500, a 1/64-scale Versatile towed on a scale flatbed trailer behind a scale Versatile-branded semi, and a 1/64-scale Versatile dealer Ford pickup truck. Since Winnipeg’s Buhler Industries revived the Versatile brand name for tractors in 2008, customers and dealers have been asking for toy tractors, the company’s marketing director Adam Reid said in a release. “It’s taken some time to find the right partner and we are extremely excited to launch the new line of fourwheel-drive toys,” he said. The company, he added, is “working on more products for the Versatile customers and fans that share our enthusiasm for the brand.” 34 CROPS GUIDE

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required government subsidies and some critics complain that demand for fuel production has driven up the price of grain. The government’s ecoEnergy for Biofuels program was originally to have spent $1.5 billion supporting the industry between 2008 and 2017. It has actually committed only $1 billion and stopped taking new applications for support in 2010, the newspaper said. Ottawa plans to keep its existing commitments but wind down the program in 2017, the paper said. According to the program’s website, it has committed funding to about two dozen projects, including some owned by Suncor Energy, Husky Energy, Maple Leaf Foods and Biox Corp. Plans have also been announced for new plants, notably a biodiesel plant that U.S. agri-food giant Archer Daniels Midland plans to build in Alberta. The Globe and Mail quoted Scott Thurlow, president of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, as saying that new biodiesel plants could go forward if the government continued its subsidy.

Now the only Canadian manufacturer of farm tractors, Versatile has brand presence dating back to Toronto in 1947, when it was used on augers, field sprayers and harrow drawbars. The company later moved to Winnipeg and entered the then-fledgling four-wheel-drive tractor market in 1966. Versatile was bought out by Vancouver ’s Cornat Industries in 1977, then again in 1987 by Ford’s tractor division, which merged the operation with its Sperry New Holland acquisition, into Ford New Holland. The Versatile brand all but disappeared beneath the Ford logo on the new tractor lines, then again under the New Holland logo when Fiat bought Ford New Holland in 1993. It became larger beneath the Buhler logo when Case IH and New Holland merged into CNH in 2000 and sold the Versatile tractor division to Buhler to meet federal antitrust requirements. After Russian combine maker Rostselmash bought a majority stake in Buhler in 2007, the company in 2008 relaunched its entire tractor line under the Versatile brand alone, replacing the Buhler Versatile and Genesis brands on its tractors worldwide. The company last summer also introduced Russianbuilt combines in North America under the Versatile brand name.

Energy firm hires Viterra traders for grain market debut REUTERS

Top oil trader Vitol is building a global grains desk and has taken advantage of Glencore’s takeover of Canadian grains giant Viterra to hire a team of its traders, trading sources say. Vitol, which has an annual turnover of nearly US$300 billion, will vie for market share along with rival trading firms Gunvor and Mercuria, which have also expanded in agricultural commodity markets as they seek to expand across new markets. The Swiss firm’s advance into agriculture could help it spot niche opportunities in both energy and soft commodity markets, which are seen as increasingly connected due partly to the growth in crop-based biofuels. “Markets are now linked in ways that they never were before. Ten years ago an oil trader could lead a happy existence without ever knowing what was happening to the corn price. Those days are gone,” said Robert Piller, director of Aupres Consult and commodities lecturer at the Geneva Business School. Rotterdam-based Vitol, already present in the sugar market, is hiring around 15 staff as part of the expansion, one of the sources said. The trading sources said it had hired at least five traders from Viterra’s Geneva, Hamburg and Singapore offices following Glencore’s US$6-billion takeover last year. The first grain trading staff are expected to join next month, two of the industry sources said. Vitol declined comment. Glencore officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Industry sources cited relatively high margins on agri-

cultural markets compared with other commodities as a factor behind Vitol’s expansion as well as a bullish demand outlook for grains as the global population expands. “You could expect a pure oil trader to get a gross margin of three per cent or one per cent net, whereas with agriculture and metals you could get five to six per cent and three per cent net,” Piller said. Vitol’s expansion in the agriculture market follows an upturn in the fortunes of dominant companies in the global grains markets. Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Cargill, both members of a club of top grains traders known collectively as the ABCDs, have reported stronger profits in the fourth quarter of 2012. Cargill said it had quadrupled quarterly earnings, while ADM reported a sixfold increase in profits despite lingering challenges caused by a U.S. drought. By comparison, some traders have struggled to make money in an oil market structure known as backwardation, in which spot oil prices trade at a premium to more distant contracts, wiping out opportunities to profit through storage. In the Glencore/Viterra tie-up — one of the largest deals in the global agriculture business for years — many Viterra traders discovered Glencore traders had similar roles to their own, the industry sources said. “A lot of the main grains people at Viterra are not being taken on by Glencore because of direct overlaps,” said a trader who formerly worked for Viterra. “Hamburg and Singapore are being talked about as offices because of their regional grain-trading strengths and the existence of Viterra offices in both cities.” n

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water management

water woes Too much then not enough — that’s how water works on the Prairies BY gord leathers

ou don’t usually hear that much about the Assiniboine River. It’s a relatively small one rising near Preeceville, Sask. and flowing southeast into Manitoba. Just after it passes through Brandon, it pops out of the huge valley it inhabits and snakes its way over the old Lake Agassiz plain, through Portage la Prairie and on westward where it meets the headlinemaking Red River in the heart of downtown Winnipeg. But now and then, like any Prairie river, the Assiniboine flexes its muscles and unleashes its own torrents. While they may not be as spectacular as those of its big sister they can still make a significant amount of farmland unworkable and put parts of Brandon under water. In 2011 record floods on the Assiniboine did tremendous damage that no one expected. “There was very heavy rainfall starting in the Qu’Appelle, which is not very common, and then it switched to the Souris,” according to University of Winnipeg geography professor, Bill Rannie. “It went on and on and it switched basins. It was an astonishingly wet spring.” It began in the fall of 2010 with a supercharged weather bomb that dropped a lot of rain that saturated the ground before it froze. Then there was heavy snow all winter with a late, cool spring and nearly three months of heavy rain. Snowmelt and rain simply ran over the still frozen soil straight into the Assiniboine and its major tributaries, the Souris and the Qu’Appelle. “So everything was primed for a pretty good run-off but it was that widespread and very heavy rainfall, in some cases two or three times normal for the month.” Rannie says. “This went on for 2-1/2 months so they just had to keep pouring water into Lake Manitoba.” When left to its own devices the Assiniboine empties into the Red. In cases where extra flow from the Assiniboine can take a bad Red River flood and make it worse, water is diverted north at Portage la Prairie and carried up the Portage Diversion where it drains directly into Lake Manitoba. While this is usually not a major problem for those living along the lakeshore, this time the sheer volume of water was enough to bring Lake Manitoba to record levels. Enormous areas of pasture land were inundated while Lake Manitoba drained into Lake Winnipeg through the Fairford and Dauphin rivers. All in all it was a really tough year for anyone farm-

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ing in the flood zone. Although from all corners this was an unusual event, it underlines how water management may become an emerging problem in Prairie farming as the climate starts to warm. In fact, the Canadian Prairies have always presented farmers with a perverse problem that builds on our short growing season. We have too much water in the spring so we drain the land to dry the soil so the terrain can support the tractor. “Then you wish you had it again,” says farmer and Keystone Agricultural Producers’ president Doug Chorney. “In Manitoba we have the motherlode of water right at our doorstep and all we do is dump it. We could probably develop some surge capacity on a local and regional basis by having controlled water storage like they’re doing with water shortage projects in the Red River Basin.” Nothing exemplifies the Prairie’s Jekyll and Hyde water problem quite like the Red River Basin. Although it’s not as drought prone as the Palliser Triangle farther west, it has to deal with surplus water on a regular basis. There are two major ideas under review for dealing with those surges and one of them is the Waffle. Simply put, the Waffle is a large integrated system by which spring flood water is stored in a series of retention ponds. These ponds are, in fact, farm fields surrounded by dikes made by building up the roads around the field perimeters so each field becomes a containment cell. From the air this would resemble a waffle. When you pour syrup onto a waffle each of the squares contains the syrup and holds it in the same way those field cells would. Each cell would have a gate, a valve that may be opened to release the water. In times of serious flooding, each of these cells could be released in order. “It keeps the water from getting into the river during a flood or it delays it,” Rannie explained. “You don’t have to keep it from getting in there forever, you just have to delay it so that it’s controlled beyond the flood peak so it’s not contributing to the peak.” So instead of all the water hitting an overloaded river system at once, the release would be slower and the impact of downstream flooding would be reduced. Of course, since these cells would be privately owned land, the owners would be compensated for water storage. The other idea is to set aside marginal land to act as an impoundment reservoir to hold excess water for later release. One example here is the North Ottawa Impoundment Project located just to the southeast of Tintah, Minnesota. The project is a reservoir within the Rabbit River watershed roughly 1.5 by two miles with the containment capacity of 18,000 acre feet of water. In times of high excess, runoff from an area of approximately 71 square miles is fed into the reservoir where it may be stored and released later. Again, the idea was to reduce flooding on the surrounding farmland and keep water out of the Red River in times of excess meltwater or high rainfall. It provides some side benefits as well in terms of sediment control, improved water quality and wildlife habitat. “They’ve demonstrated that not only can they can get peak flood control in the spring, they also have localized

protection of farmland through the growing season during extreme rain events,” Chorney says. “So it’s a whole new approach and it’s going to cost us money but when you look at how many millions of dollars have flowed into disaster and crop insurance payments, the money is flowing anyway.” The Assiniboine watershed is a little different. The Red spends most of its time on the Lake Agassiz plain where the gradient is very low and the valley may be up to 80 miles wide. In contrast the Assiniboine occupies an old glacial spillway, a very deep valley etched by the huge amounts of water that poured forth when the mile-thick ice sheets melted. The higher plains within the watershed don’t see as much rain as the Red River Valley so the flow rates are generally lower. The country is also pocked with ponds and sloughs that effectively hold on to the water for slow release or evaporation. Farmers eager to increase their land base may be causing trouble downstream by draining the wetlands and increasing spring run-off. With climate change looming and new precipitation patterns emerging we may have to think long and hard about how to deal with water, both its shortage and abundance. “It has the potential to add to the flooding problems so better water management is needed,” says Aron Hershmiller, manager

Prairie jewel It may not be the biggest, or the most notable of Canada’s many rivers but that doesn’t keep the University of Winnipeg’s Bill Rannie from waxing poetic when he talks about what it is that makes the Assiniboine River unique. “I think of it as the quintessential Canadian Prairie river,” he says. “The Assiniboine is completely dependent on Prairie water. It doesn’t get any flow from the mountains whereas the Red Deer, the Oldman, the South and the North Saskatchewan all do. All of them have their headwaters in the mountains.” But not the Assiniboine. Not a drop in it came from the spine of glaciers located along the continental divide between Alberta and British Columbia. It’s all water that fell within the 21 thousand square kilometres that make up its basin and began the downhill journey to Winnipeg. There are several smaller rivers, like the Whitesand, that drain into the Assiniboine itself or into the Qu’Appelle or Souris rivers, the two major tributaries. “To get a mental image of the Qu’Appelle, it’s just staggeringly beautiful, a big, steep-walled, flat-floored valley,” Rannie exclaims. “If you drive west and go through Grand Valley west of Brandon, that’s the Assiniboine valley and it’s stunningly beautiful. The Shell is another one and the Souris is like that too.” Another aspect of many of these Prairie rivers is the misfit image of a relatively small river meandering through an enormous valley. It simply couldn’t have carved that out by itself.

of the Assiniboine Watershed Stewardship Association in Yorkton. “We’re working with municipalities and the provincial government at the watershed scale with a wide variety of projects within our watershed.” It was a flood in the upper Assiniboine in the spring of 1995 that served as a wake-up call. As with most floods, it started with heavier than usual rains in the fall of ’94, and an unusually heavy snowpack over the winter. A midApril rainstorm melted a lot of the snow and an already full watershed burst its seams and headed downstream. Although, most large events such as these can’t be prevented, the impact of the smaller ones can be managed with the right kind of planning and the right kind of infrastructure. The Assiniboine Watershed Management Association came into being and began looking at ways to do this. “The big one we’re working on is called the Land and Infrastructure Resiliency Assessment (LIRA). We’re looking at the land base and developing flood maps,” Hershmiller explained. “We look at potential events such as 200-millimetre flood either by rain or snowmelt and then look at that area where the water would run off. We find those spots of concern with potential for economic impacts and then come up with ways to reduce the economic impact to homes and communities.” They also work closely with the Saskatch-

“These are all glacial spillways,” Rannie says. “If you were to fly over the region 10,000 years ago you’d see these unbelievably large rivers draining the glaciers so basically these were river channels of the time and they were aided and abetted by the draining of glacial lakes like Lake Regina. They probably drained very very quickly, in what you might call a catastrophic way, and carving out features like the Souris channel.” So this is what makes the Assiniboine basin what it is. We always hear about how many of our spectacular landscapes are the result of glaciation. In this case it’s not so much what the ice sheet did as it advanced, but what happened when it melted. It didn’t retreat in an orderly way. It simply stalled, it collapsed right where it was and melted there. “It stagnated so the material was let down all over the landscape. All those potholes are there because the ice margin didn’t recede in an orderly fashion which maintained a coherent ice margin as is typical in most ice recessions,” he says. “There are very few processes that create closed drainage basins. Hardly any, let alone the huge numbers we see there. It’s because this stuff was just dropped down in a totally disorderly fashion.” It’s these ponds, sloughs and potholes that make the upper Assiniboine really unusual. Upwards of two-thirds of the water that falls on the basin doesn’t actually get into the rivers. It gathers in one of these potholes and stays there until it either freezes for the winter or it evaporates during the hot, dry summers.

ewan government’s Water Security Agency to take that pan-watershed perspective. They’ve discussed a number of different ways to deal with high water events such as some wetland restoration to keep excess water from hitting the rivers too fast as well as upsizing infrastructure such as culverts and bridges to lessen the damage. “But as you talk about upsizing infrastructure, obviously that water’s going somewhere so you can’t just say ‘oh yeah, we’re just going to upsize everything,’” Hershmiller says. “Where is it going? Right to Manitoba, so on and so forth right down the line.” When you look at water management on such a large scale you can appreciate how complex a watershed really is. We’ll never be able to control the really big floods but we’ll have to learn to cope with them as they do in the Red River Valley. Ideally we may also be able to put a little away for those not so rainy days when water is short. “There’s a whole discussion too with weather cycles and global warming so the question is how do we adapt, prepare or plan for events like that?” Hershmiller says. “If there’s dry basins that have the storage capacity for spring run-off, it’s obvious that they’re going to hold water so you just have to retain it in certain areas and manage it more effectively.” n

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. Genuity and Design®, Genuity Icons, Genuity®, Roundup Ready®, and Roundup® are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC. Used under license. CROPS GUIDE

MARCH 2013 37

MARKETs

Here to stay? A look at the past — has history taught us anything about grain prices?

concerned, with headlines depicting a record South American soybean crop in the making. The first thing I do in such instances is check out the charts. Technically, the major uptrend in canola was firmly intact. Plus, with bullish fundamentals depicting extremely tight ending stocks, an inverted futures market and very positive basis levels we held firm to our convictions that the harvest low of $570/tonne would hold and to wait for a seasonal rally in January. Canola prices at the time of this writing have rallied $62/tonne, since January 11, 2013. As important as it is to remain focused on the short-term outlook (daily charts) in order to catch the turns, it is also imperative to know the long-term outlook (monthly charts) in order to keep abreast of the major trend. One of the questions I am routinely asked is, “Will the grain markets go back down and stay down at a lower level for an extended period of time?” In order to answer this question, I’ve attached a long-term, historical price chart on soybeans. Until global stocks of grain begin to rebuild, these markets will remain extremely volatile. It is important to note that the importers of grain are getting comfortable in dealing with the tight stocks scenario. This is evident in the corn market where prices are rather subdued even though U.S. and

he key to forecasting future price direction is understanding the underlying forces driving prices. Whether it is production, supply and demand, weather, long liquidation, short covering, economic factors, outside markets or currencies that influence prices, the bottom line is that it is the flow of money in and out of these markets that have the greatest impact. One should always expect the unexpected and NEVER take the market for granted. For this reason it is important to always have an eye on the road to anticipate the turns before they appear, or you’ll end up in the ditch. With every mile of road having two miles of ditch, is it any wonder some farmers find marketing a daunting task? This is why I rely on charting and technical analysis. It’s similar to a road map. Not only does it tell you where you came from and where you are, but it also tells you where you are going. Technical analysis has the innate ability to cut through the news (NOISE) in the marketplace. Over the past 30 years, I’ve come to realize the news is always the most bullish at the top and it’s the most bearish at the bottom. I am reminded of this at every major turning point in the market. Recently, our members were wondering if canola prices would plummet after the January 11, 2013 USDA report. They had every right to be

By David Drozd Senior analyst and president, Ag-Chieve Corporation

Soybean Monthly Nearby (Chart as of February 6, 2013)

Historical High 17.94¾

2010 1800 1700 1600 1488 1400 1300 1200 1100 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100

1970

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1974

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1994

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world corn ending stocks continue to erode, despite increasingly higher production. In 2008, prices realigned to a new higher trading range, something that hadn’t occurred since the early 1970s. As illustrated in the accompanying chart, soybean prices have been trending higher since they turned up from a low of $4.18/bushel in 2002. Within the decade-long run to $17.94 ¾, prices have been volatile. In 200708, prices rallied $11/bushel only to retrace $9/bushel in the five months that followed. Similar volatility was evident in the 1970s until the trade grew accustomed to the new higher trading range. Higher prices are causing larger swings or are they? It’s all relative. A 30 per cent drop when soybeans were $7.50/bushel worked out to a decline of $2.25/bushel. When soybeans are $17.50/bushel, a 30 per cent drop amounts to $5.25/bushel. So the more that appears to change, the more that actually remains the same. History repeats b e c a u s e h u m a n n a t u re n e v e r changes. This is not the time to throw a blind eye to the markets. The recent drop in price should be a wake-up call to not get lulled into thinking high prices are here to stay. Just as real estate investment clubs were all the rage when the bubble burst in the U.S. housing market in 2007 when the subprime mortgage fiasco imploded, and just as investors were loaded up on hog barns when the bottom fell out of that market, I can’t help but wonder if the fact land prices are skyrocketing due to investor buying isn’t an ominous sign that a prolonged downturn in grain prices isn’t too far off in the distant future. Can soybean prices go back down to $8, which was the low in 2008? It’s not a matter of if, but when prices go back to $8 to $10/ bushel. This makes it all the more important to follow a disciplined marketing plan that enables you to manage your risk through the good times and the bad. n

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