Document 2025683

Volume 42, Number 2 | JANUARY 19, 2016
$4.25
PRACTICAL PRODUCTION TIPS FOR THE PRAIRIE FARMER
www.grainews.ca
MANAGING GROUP 2-RESISTANT WEEDS
IN PULSES ACROSS WESTERN CANADA
Cleavers, mustard, kochia and sow thistle are among the weeds getting harder
to control, but there are methods, starting with good agronomy
By Lisa Guenther
“
G
roup 2 resistance is something that is really
a big problem across Western Canada,”
says Dr. Chris Willenborg, a researcher
at the University of Saskatchewan’s plant
sciences department.
Willenborg has worked on several research projects
that inform weed resistance in pulses. The bad news
is that resistance is spreading. And the more farmers
rely solely on Group 2s as in-crop herbicides, the
more Group 2 resistance will challenge us in the
future, Willenborg says.
But farmers still have tools left to manage resistant weeds in pulses. Read on to find out how to
best use them.
Spot resistant weeds
There’s no shortage of problem weeds in pulses.
Cleavers are “top of mind” for growers in the
black soil zone, Willenborg says. And Group
2-resistant wild mustards and kochia are also
problems, he says.
“Both of those tend to be problematic in the
brown and dark brown soil zones. And a lot of that
issue has not been helped with Clearfield varieties,
in particular where we’re not necessarily managing
the technology,” says Willenborg. Over 90 per cent
of the kochia population sampled is resistant in
Western Canada, says Willenborg, so farmers should
treat all kochia as resistant.
But with other weeds, resistance is more localized.
Willenborg says farmers shouldn’t give up on Group
2s with sow thistle, as resistance is patchy. Resistant
cleavers are also spotty, but the problem is growing.
Resistant wild mustard is a problem in southwestern Saskatchewan. Farmers will know if
they’ve got resistant wild mustard in lentils if it
“sort of looks like an intercrop with mustard. A lot
of those fields, we can assume, have Group 2-resistant wild mustard.”
If a herbicide fails, farmers should look first at the
application, says Willenborg. For example, cleavers
have a narrow application window, so the weeds may
have been out of stage at spray time.
Willenborg recommends scouting a couple of
weeks after spraying to examine the weeds. If they
haven’t been controlled or are coming back, the
photo: lisa guenther
» continued on page 4
Farmers check out pea plots during the Western Applied
Research Corporation’s annual field day at Scott, Sask. Weed
control is a perennial problem for pea producers.
Publications Mail Agreement Number 40069240
In This Issue
Wheat & Chaff .................. 2
Features . ........................... 5
Crop Advisor’s Casebook . 8
Columns ............................ 20
Machinery & Shop............. 30
Cattleman’s Corner .......... 36
Driving the big rigs
Susanna Heinrich page 17
Agritechnica
scott garvey page 30
FarmLife ............................ 41
2
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Wheat & Chaff
STAMPEDE
BY JERRY PALEN
Leeann
Minogue
“Oh, get over it! Everybody gets stepped on by his horse now and then!”
contact us
Write, Email or Fax
SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES:
Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (CST) 1-800-665-0502
U.S. subscribers call 1-204-944-5568
or email: [email protected]
If you have story ideas, call us. You can write the article and we’d pay you, or we can write it.
Phone Leeann Minogue at 306-861-2678
Fax to 204-944-5416
Email [email protected]
Write to Grainews, 1666 Dublin Ave.,
Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1
hearts
Ask for hearts
When you renew your subscription to
Grainews, be sure to ask for six Please
Be Careful, We Love You hearts. Then
stick them onto equipment that you,
your loved ones and your employees
operate. That important message could
save an arm, a leg or a life.
Like us on Facebook!
Grainews has
a Facebook page.
Find, read and comment on blog
posts easily and with a thumbs up!
Find us on Twitter:
Leeann Minogue is @grainmuse
Lisa Guenther is @LtoG
Lee Hart is @hartattacks
Scott Garvey is @machineryeditor
1. French is partout
As far as I know, partout is French for “everywhere.”
But I know so little French, I had to rely on Google
for that translation.
Here in Saskatchewan, my inability to speak
French doesn’t impact my life. I can go weeks
without hearing anyone utter a French word. On a
Tuesday in Weyburn, I’m way more likely to hear
Tagalog or Spanish than French. My son is in third
grade, and his class has never been offered any sort
of French instruction. We only hear French in my
house when someone tries to read out loud from a
cereal box.
Visiting Ottawa is like travelling to another country. Signs are bilingual. People in restaurants flip
between English and French faster than farmers
switch between miles and kilometres. Retail clerks
greet me in French, as if everyone is born speaking it.
I was in Ottawa for a meeting with people from
across the country — French and English parts of
Canada. Two interpreters spent the day speaking into
microphones in a glassed-in room, translating everything so unilingual dopes like me could follow along.
I had to wear a large hair-smushing headset while all
of the metropolitan Ottawa residents easily switched
from “yes” to “oui,” with un-mussed hair.
If I lived in Ottawa, immersed in French, I would
have a better chance at picking up the language.
Heck, by the end of the meeting, I almost thought I
could understand what the French speakers were saying. But for anyone living in a unilingual community,
learning French, or understanding the need to learn
French is not easy.
Being surrounded by two official languages all day
every day would give you a different sense of Canada
as a country, especially if your job was to create government programs for all Canadians.
2. All of the choices
You and I know that there are lots of things to do
in rural Saskatchewan, but, as one of my friends once
said about her small Prairie town, “it’s a nice place to
live, but I wouldn’t want to visit.”
Ottawa, on the other hand, is a place anyone would
want to visit. It’s a grand showcase for our entire
country.
Over the years, as we’ve been mailing our tax dollars east, they’ve been gathering up the cash and
turning it into museums and galleries. There’s the
National Arts Centre, the Museum of Nature, the
Canadian War Museum, the Canadian Science and
Technology Museum and the Canada Agriculture
and Food Museum. I’d list more, but I only have one
page for this.
Canada is such a vast country that many Canadians
will never even see Ottawa. It’s my opinion that we
should have a national government program that
would pay to send every Canadian to our national
Even the fortune cookies are different
in Ottawa. My friend got this message
in his cookie at a Thai restaurant in
Ottawa’s Byward Market.
photo: leeann minogue
N
o matter how you feel about our newly
elected federal government, I think all
Grainews readers can agree on one thing:
federal government employees in Ottawa
can never really understand Prairie farms.
Before I married a farmer and moved to southeast
Saskatchewan, I had a provincial government job in
Regina. I can tell you — life as a Regina bureaucrat is
nothing like life on the farm.
I’d grown up on a grain farm, I’d worked for the
provincial ag department, and I thought I knew
everything I needed to know about agriculture and
farm living. This won’t shock you: I was wrong.
Prairie farm life is unique.
And I’m talking about the contrast between Regina
and southeast Saskatchewan. How impossible would
it be for someone living and working in downtown
Ottawa to understand everyday life on a Prairie farm?
I won’t pretend to know what it’s like to live in our
federal capital. But since spending a few days there in
December, I’ve been thinking about things that are
wildly different between here and there. It’s not that
surprising that, no matter who’s in charge, the ideas
coming from Ottawa don’t always fit our needs. Here
are four of the most obvious differences.
capital once in a lifetime, so everyone could get a
look at all of these things we’re paying for.
If you spent your Saturday morning deciding
whether to take your children to the national science
museum or to an international ballet, you’re having
a very different day than someone who took their
kid skating with the neighbours at the local natural
ice rink.
Living in Ottawa would give you a very different
sense of cultural opportunities, and a different idea
of what everyday Canadians think of as “normal.”
3. The history
Most of our Prairie history survives only in stories.
There may have once been a tipi ring, a pioneer’s sod
shack and a wagon train rut in the space that I call
my front lawn, but that’s long gone.
Meanwhile, there are 25 National Historic sites
right in Ottawa. The oldest of these is a home built in
1829. (The oldest standing building in Saskatchewan
was built in 1860, the Holy Trinity Anglican Church
in Stanley Mission.)
Even if you never darkened the door of an actual
historic site, you couldn’t work in downtown Ottawa
without looking up at our Parliament Buildings (the
oldest part, the West Block, was completed in 1865).
Being surrounded constantly by the stone walls of
so many historical buildings would give you a very
different sense of what Canada is all about, and how
our history connects to our future.
4. A lot of civil servants
The 2011 census found 135,865 federal civil servants in the Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area. This
was out of a total population of just under 1.3 million. So, if you were in a Tim Hortons with 10 people
in Ottawa, odds are at least one would be taking a
coffee break from a federal government job. This
statistic doesn’t include civil servants working for the
province of Ontario, or people mixed up with health
care or education.
In all of Saskatchewan in 2011, there were 10,260
federal civil servants.
With this many federal employees in one place,
Ottawa also has a relatively high median family
income ($73,500). If you lived in Ottawa, it would be
easy to forget that not everyone has a full-time wellpaid steady job with high-end benefits and a generous retirement package. It’s not like that in southeast
Saskatchewan, especially during an oil bust.
And so…
For me, Ottawa is a foreign country. It doesn’t
matter if our federal politicians come from Calgary,
Quebec or Iqaluit. The lives of people living in
Ottawa are so different from ours in the rural West
that our federal government may never understand
our needs. The best we can hope is that they take the
time to understand our differences. †
Leeann
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
3
Wheat & Chaff
Farm safety
Business risk management makes good sense
B
usiness Risk Management isn’t limited to
income safety net programs like crop insurance. Managing business risk also includes
managing the safety risks that threaten the
financial health of farm productions. There are four
areas of health and safety business risks that farmers
own: include prosecution, economic loss, commodity loss and human resource loss.
A very real business risk for a farm owner/operator
is potential prosecution should a work-related injury
or illness occur on the farm operation. There are
three levels of legal action that a farmer could face:
regulatory, civil and criminal.
Regulatory: In most provinces, occupational
health and safety laws assume that the farm owner/
operator is responsible for an incident, unless the
farmer can prove preventive measures and actions
were taken.
Civil: If someone is injured on your farm and they
believe you to be negligent in providing a safe work
environment or have failed in your responsibilities
in taking reasonable care to protect the workers on
your farm.
Criminal: An amendment made in 2004 to the
Criminal Code of Canada set new legal duties for
workplace health and safety and imposed penalties
for violations that result in injuries or death.
The real possibility of economic loss is also a
major risk to the viability of the farming operation.
The Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting (CAIR)
conducted an analysis of the average costs of a farm
incident to the farm’s bottom line. If a farm experiences a workplace fatality, on average, it costs a farm
approximately $275,000. An injury resulting in a
permanent disability? $143,000.
Commodity loss is a bit more difficult to measure. However, if a farmer or a farm worker were to
become injured or killed on the farm, the impact to
the commodities could be severe. Crops that need
planting, fields that need to be combined, grain that
has to be moved all need someone to do the work.
Livestock needs tending, cattle need to be fed, hogs
need to be shipped, and so on. If a depended person
is suddenly unable to fulfill the farm’s needs these
commodities suffer. Depending on the kindness of
neighbours and family members only goes so far.
The loss of human resources is a major factor in
business risk. A sudden loss of a worker, as a result of a
workplace injury or illness, has a significant impact on
the worker, the farming operation and the social wellbeing of the people working or living on the farm.
We haven’t presented this information to scare
or upset farmer. But it is important information to
have in your back pocket. Understanding exactly
Photo contest
what business risks you face could save your farm.
Of course, just knowing about these risks isn’t
enough. You also have to take action to protect
yourself, your workers and your farm.
Most farmers already work very hard at making sure their farm is a safe place to work. Hazard
and risk assessments are done, conversations about
safety issues are had, and an overall commitment to
safety is understood. Or… is it?
You may know the hazards, risks and dangers. You
may have felt like you’ve communicated with your
workers or family members about specific hazards,
you may feel like your farm is as safe as it can get. But
sometimes, if we are not purposeful about making sure
that we’ve communicated and made a specific point
to making sure that hazards, risks and dangers are
discussed, talked about and planned for, others may
not understand.
By implementing a written safety plan, taking the
time to do tail-gate safety meetings and making sure
that you’ve done your due diligence, you can protect yourself and your farm from the business risks
associated with farm injuries. If you are interested in
knowing more about developing a farm safety plan,
please visit casa-acsa.ca or call 877-452-2272. †
Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, www.casa-acsa.ca
Agronomy tips… from the field
GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT
2015 weather affects
2016 agronomy
N
ow that 2015 is pretty much under our belts, I think we can
say, in general, that weather conditions got off to a fairly
good start and then turned unusually dry for the balance of
the season.
And when the rains eventually did come, they came at the wrong time
— creating challenging conditions at harvest.
With that in mind, here are a few ways that 2015’s weather may have
an effect on your agronomy — namely soil and weed management —
going into 2016.
We don’t yet know what to expect this winter, or how heavy the
snowfall will be. A good snow covering could help replenish your soil’s
moisture stock, leading to fairly good seeding conditions come the spring.
Due to the wet fall we’ve had in many parts, winter annual weeds may
have already had anywhere from a one-month to three-month head
start on growth. That’s why it’ll important to get out there and scout
your fields before your spring glyphosate burn.
We also had a pretty healthy canola acreage this past year, which
could translate to a lot of volunteer canola in the spring burn and 2016
crop. If last year’s canola yields were surprisingly good, you can bet there
will be a healthy volunteer canola crop coming up as weeds. †
This agronomy tip was brought to you by Rob Klewchuk,
western technical lead, with Syngenta Canada.
You might be from the Prairies if...
By Carson Demmans and Jason
This picture was sent in by Clint and Anne Schwalbe. They farm just north of Drayton
Valley, Alta. They took this photo just as sun was going down on October 24th. They call
the picture “Fire in the Sky.” “It was beautiful,” they wrote. “One minute it was there and
the next it was gone.”
We’re sending Clint and Anne a cheque for $25. Thanks for sharing this.
Send your best shot to [email protected]. Please send only one or two
photos at a time and include your name and address, the names of anyone in the photo,
where the photo was taken and a bit about what was going on that day. A little write-up
about your farm is welcome, too. Please ensure that images are of high resolution (1 MB is
preferred), and if the image includes a person, we need to be able to see their face clearly.
Leeann
You went to a school where gun safety
was one of the classes that was offered.
4
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Cover Stories
Pulse production
» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
MANAGING GROUP 2-RESISTANT
WEEDS IN PULSES ACROSS
WESTERN CANADA
herbicide may have failed. In that case, the
best thing to do is send a sample to the crop
lab, Willenborg says. If farmers can find an
effective product that’s still on label, they can
spray again.
“And that’s where we can get into a bit of
trouble. Sometimes by the time we come back
in, a lot of the products are out of scope or the
crop’s too large to have it applied.”
Start with good
agronomy at seeding
Willenborg quips that there are 29 modes
of action, not 28. “And the 29th is good
agronomy. Good agronomy goes a long way to
managing resistance.”
Higher seeding rates are part of that good
agronomy package. To manage resistance, pea
growers should bump seeding rates higher
than the general recommendation. “We really
think that you need to be in that 90 to 100
plants per metre squared if you’re targeting a
competitive stand.”
When it comes to row spacing, Western
Canada is sliding backward, says Willenborg.
But he acknowledges that there are practical
reasons for wider rows.
“The fewer openers, the fewer shanks we have
on our drills, the less horsepower required, the
bigger we can make them, the more land (we
can cover).”
Many row spacing studies are done in the
absence of weeds, Willenborg says, and that
concerns him. “We can grow things on 30-inch
rows. We can grow things on 50-inch rows.
But when you factor weeds — and in particular
resistant weeds — into that equation… you’re
going to lose weed control by going to wideopen rows. And we know that narrowing the
row spacing always results in better weed management.”
The bottom line is that wider rows put
more selection pressure on herbicides. That
means farmers need excellent weed control.
“Otherwise, you’re giving the opportunity to
the weeds to have a large space of light.”
Rotating versus mixing herbicides
Rotating modes of action is critical, says
Willenborg. Producers using a two-pass system
should rotate groups within the same crop year,
he adds. “That second product, that in-crop,
really needs to be another mode of action, or at
the very least, a herbicide mixture.”
Using herbicide mixtures that contain different modes of action is also key. Such mixtures
are actually more effective than chemical rotation alone at reducing resistance. That’s because
it’s very unlikely that a weed will evolve resistance to two chemical groups simultaneously,
Willenborg explains.
But it’s important to use mixtures before
resistance develops, Willenborg says. “If you’ve
already got Group 2 resistance, and your solution is to mix in two products, but one of those
is a Group 2, you’re not really using a mixture.”
“The other place we can run into trouble
is where we advocate mixtures for a certain
weed, but only one of those mixtures has good
efficacy,” he adds. If one component is a “laggard for control,” it’s not an effective mixture,
Willenborg says.
Plan your rotation
Layer your herbicides
Group 2 resistance in peas is a central issue
to most farms, Willenborg says. He advocates
setting up rotations to control resistant weeds
prior to the pulse crop coming into rotation.
One strategy is to grow herbicide-resistant
canola to control Group 2-resistant weeds.
Willenborg suggests slipping a cereal crop
between the canola and pulse to alleviate
disease issues. Both oats and barley are good
options because they’re very competitive.
Farmers should pick barley over oats if they
have Group 2-resistant wild oats, he adds.
Cereals also allow farmers to use herbicides
from other groups — such as Group 4s, 6s and
27s — to control some of the Group 2-resistant
weeds. “So you’ve got a lot of options if you build
a cereal into that rotation prior (to the pulse).”
Perennials and cover crops are going to have
to play a major role in dealing with herbicide resistance, Willenborg says. The argument
against cover crops has always been their moisture use, says Willenborg, but some farmers
have seen excess moisture in the last few years.
Options include tillage radish, annual ryegrass
and blends.
“Adding perennial crops to the rotation are,
I think, critical because they suppress seed production,” says Willenborg. That’s good news
for farmers dealing with resistant weeds, with
the exception of wild mustard. Willenborg says
researchers have documented wild mustard
seeds surviving for 15 to 20 years.
Willenborg suggests alfalfa because it’s easier
to fit into an annual cropping system — and
terminate — than grass stands. There are several
hay markets in the U.S. that pay a premium,
he says. But alfalfa growers need to know their
customers’ preferences. For example, U.S. dairy
producers typically favour large squares, he says.
One commonly cited reason for avoiding perennials is the opportunity cost lost
when farmers don’t have that annual, says
Willenborg. Farmers tie the economic benefit
directly to the hay they’re exporting, and don’t
want to take a hit on it, he adds.
But farmers should ask themselves why
they’d include a perennial in the rotation.
Reduced weed seeds, nitrogen credits and
improved soil organic matter are all benefits
bestowed by perennials.
“If you take the value of those things and
put them back on the perennial crop, it’ll pay
for itself.”
Giving up on herbicides is a knee-jerk response
to resistance. Instead, farmers should try to start
with clean fields, says Willenborg. And layering
herbicides is one way to do that.
“It’s estimated that only 20 per cent of fields
see a pre-emergence or pre-plant herbicide. Yet
these are key to managing resistance because
they help to keep the weed population low for
the in-crop application.”
Willenborg says they’ve found applying a
residual herbicide in the spring keeps the field
clean until they can apply an in-crop herbicide.
Willenborg says one reason farmers don’t apply
a residual is because they don’t see many weeds
that early. But residuals are more effective on
weeds before emergence, and they can play a
major role in limiting weeds, he adds.
Residuals are also a useful tool for farmers dealing with cleavers in the Black soil zone. Typically,
farmers will hit Group 2-resistant weeds with a
Group 14. But once organic matter tops six per
cent, Group 14 products tend to use their efficacy. In such conditions, the Group 14s might
come close to suppression, but never control,
says Willenborg.
But growers in the black soil zone can start by
applying a pre-emergent such as Edge, Authority
or Heat, Willenborg says. By coming back in with
something like Viper, they could get 90 to 95 per
cent control, he adds.
“We don’t obviously strongly advocate fighting resistance with more herbicides. But if you’re
able to come in with a residual herbicide that’s a
different mode of action than your in-crop, and
both of those have some effect on your resistant
weeds, I think you’re going to end up with really
good weed control.”
Pick competitive varieties
Willenborg and his colleagues are pushing
for seed guides to list weed competitiveness so
growers can pick competitive pea varieties.
But Willenborg and his colleagues have
researched weed competitiveness in peas.
While most varieties clump in the middle,
they did find a few more competitive varieties.
“Varieties like CDC Patrick, CDC Dakota,
and Centennial all tend to have a greater competitive ability than some of the varieties like
Reward, Camry or Stratus,” says Willenborg.
Pea growers wed to weakly competitive varieties can mix in a highly competitive variety to
boost performance, Willenborg says. But varieties in the middle won’t see much benefit unless
farmers go with a 70/30 mixture, he says.
One caveat with varietal mixtures is to think
about the end use when selecting varieties,
Willenborg says. For example, don’t mix yellow and green peas.
Willenborg’s pea variety research is due to be
published in Weed Science in the new year.
1666 Dublin Avenue,
Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1
www.grainews.ca
PUBLISHER
Lynda Tityk
Editorial director Laura Rance
Editor
Leeann Minogue
field Editor
Lisa Guenther
Cattleman’s Corner Editor
Lee Hart
Farmlife Editor
Sue Armstrong
Machinery EDITOR
Scott Garvey
Production Director
Shawna Gibson
Designer
Steven Cote
MARKETING/CIRCULATION Director Lynda Tityk
Circulation manager Heather Anderson
president Glacier farmmedia
Bob Willcox
Head Office
1666 Dublin Avenue,
Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1
Phone: (204) 944-5568
Fax: (204) 944-5562
Sales Director
Cory Bourdeaud’hui
Phone: (204) 954-1414
Fax: (204) 944-5562
Email: [email protected]
National Advertising Sales
Kevin Yaworsky
250-869-5326
[email protected]
Stop seed production
as a last resort
Advertising Services Co-ordinator
Arlene Bomback
Phone: (204) 944-5765
Fax: (204) 944-5562
Email: [email protected]
If all else fails, farmers can focus on stopping
seed production.
Growers have typically resorted to mowing that patch, although that’s easier to do in
cereals than peas, Willenborg says. Grazing is
another option, but not the best choice for
pulses, he adds.
Canadian farmers can look to Australian growers for methods. For example, if the weeds pop
above the crop canopy, farmers can hit them
with a cutter bar, in a process called topping.
Willenborg says the University of Saskatchewan
recently bought a comb cutter for this purpose.
It works like a sickle bar, cutting the heads of
anything taller than the crop canopy. It doesn’t
damage the crop and prevents seed production,
Willenborg adds.
Weed wicking is also a possibility. Farmers will
need a tank mounted to the tractor and a long
wick that’s saturated with a systemic herbicide,
such as glyphosate. The wick touches the weeds
above the canopy, brushing herbicide on the
plants. The systemic herbicide moves through
the plant. Willenborg cautions that weed wicking
wouldn’t work with a contact product.
Despite the problem weeds pulse producers
face, Willenborg is still relatively optimistic.
“I’m not prepared to give up on Group 2 technology. But you have to be aware of whether you
have those weeds in your field.”
Information on sending samples to Sask’s Crop
Protection lab is online at agriculture.gov.sk.ca/Crop_
Protection_Lab. AgQuest also tests for herbicide resistance–see agquest.com/services.php. †
Printed in Canada by
Transcontinental LGM-Coronet
Winnipeg, Man.
Grainews is published by Farm Business
Communications, 1666 Dublin Avenue,
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3H 0H1.
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240.
We acknowledge the financial support of the
Government of Canada through the Canada
Periodical Fund of the Department
of Canadian Heritage.
Subscription prices:
For Canadian farmers, $58 per year
or $91 for 2 years (includes GST) or
$114 for 3 years (includes GST). Man.
residents add 8% PST to above prices.
U.S: $43 per year (U.S. Funds).
Outside Canada & U.S.: $79 per year.
ISSN 0229-8090.
Call 1-800-665-0502 for subscriptions.
Fax (204) 954-1422
Canadian Postmaster: Send address
changes and undeliverable copies
(covers only) to PO Box 9800,
Winnipeg, Man. R3C 3K7
U.S. Postmaster: Send address changes and
undeliverable copies (covers only) to 1666
Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1
Grainews is printed on recyclable paper with
linseed oil-based inks.
Published 18 times a year.
Subscription inquiries:
Call toll free 1-800-665-0502
U.S. subscribers call
1-204-944-5568 or
email: [email protected]
Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based at
Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.Guenther@fbcpublishing.
com or on Twitter @LtoG.
Your next issue!
http://www.tundracomics.com/
You can expect your next issue in your
mailbox about February 2, 2016
At Farm Business Communications we have a firm commitment to protecting your privacy and security as our customer. Farm Business Communications will only collect personal information if it is required for the
proper functioning of our business. As part of our commitment to enhance customer service, we may share this personal information with other strategic business partners. For more information regarding our Customer
Information Privacy Policy, write to: Information Protection Officer, Farm Business Communications, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1
Occasionally we make our list of subscribers available to other reputable firms whose products and services might be of interest to you. If you would prefer not to receive such offers, please contact us at the address
in the preceding paragraph, or call 1-800-665-0502.
The editors and journalists who write,
contribute and provide opinions to Grainews
and Farm Business Communications attempt
to provide accurate and useful opinions,
information and analysis. However, the editors,
journalists and Grainews and Farm Business
Communications, cannot and do not guarantee
the accuracy of the information contained in this
publication and the editors as well as Grainews
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.
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
Features
5
Pulse production
Researching root rot control in peas
Evaluating the benefits of seed treatments, soil amendments and soil tests
By Lisa Guenther
T
here’s still a lot to learn
when it comes to managing root rot, especially
aphanomyces. When are
seed treatments most effective?
Do soil amendments help? And
can soil testing help farmers pick
the best pea fields?
Fortunately, research is underway
to answer those very questions.
Dr. Syama Chatterton, an
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
(AAFC) researcher based in
Lethbridge, is collaborating on two
projects that promise to shine light
on management practices around
aphanomyces and fusarium.
Researchers on the first project
are studying how seed treatments
and soil amendments affect disease and yield in fields infested
with aphanomyces and fusarium
root rot. They’re also screening
pea varieties to see how they fare
when exposed to aphanomyces.
Chatterton’s collaborators
include Dr. Mike Harding and
Dr. Robyne Bowness with Alberta
Agriculture and Forestry, plus
Dr. Bruce Gossen, with AAFC in
Saskatoon. Together, they’re running trials at seven Alberta sites
and one near Saskatoon. All the
sites, except the one at Lethbridge,
are in farmers’ fields. The sites
have high aphanomyces levels,
distributed uniformly over the
field. Only the Lethbridge research
centre site has fusarium root rot.
Confidentiality agreements
prevent Chatterton from specifying all the seed treatments being
studied. But Intego Solo, registered for aphanomyces, is one of
them.
“Basically we’re look at seed
treatments that had active ingredients against the whole root
rot complex. So that’s fusarium,
pythium, rhizoctonia and aphanomyces,” said Chatterton.
Researchers are also looking
at soil amendments reported
to work against aphanomyces.
That includes lime, along with
Phostrol (a phosphorus acid used
as a fungicide) and the herbicide
Edge (a Group 3 herbicide with
active ingredient ethalfluralin).
Pea varieties being screened
include about 20 commonly
grown cultivars that are already
registered. Chatterton said because
aphanomyces is new to Alberta
and Saskatchewan, these cultivars
hadn’t been screened before.
To measure the early effects of
treatments, particularly seed treatments, Chatterton and her colleagues rate disease severity a few
weeks after seeding. A second rating at flowering or early podding
evaluates the treatments when
the disease is most severe. They
also take NDVI measurements
throughout the growing season to
measure the treatments’ effects on
Visit grainews.ca
to sign up for enews.
shoot health. Finally, they assess
yield in thousand seed weight.
Early season results
encouraging
Chatterton said the early season results from the seed treatments and soil amendments were
encouraging. Visually, the roots
from some treatments looked
much healthier than others.
But by the growing season’s
end, root rot severity was the same
across all treatments, she said.
Some treatments saw improved
yields, but those improvements
weren’t statistically significant,
Chatterton said.
Chatterton cautioned that it’s
only the first year of a three-year
study, and so it’s too early to
make recommendations.
“Because 2015 was such
an unusual year as well, these
unusual environmental conditions can sometimes affect what
the results are,” she added. For
example, they had a site near
Drumheller that was so dry, they
weren’t able to take the trial to
yield. She hopes to share results
after the second year of the trial.
Chatterton said she’d like to continue the study beyond three years
to see whether different management practices work better as the
inoculum levels drop. The current
trials are funded by the Alberta
Crop Industry Development Fund,
the Alberta Pulse Growers, and
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Soil testing
for aphanomyces
Chatterton and Dr. Sabine
Banniza from the University of
Saskatchewan are also developing
a soil test for producers struggling
with aphanomyces.
Chatterton said the soil testing project is piggybacking on
the other management trials. The
study looks at not only how much
inoculum is in the fields, but also
“at what level of inoculum will
each of these management strategies be effective,” she said.
The project will address practical questions, such as how many
samples farmers would have to
collect to gauge aphanomyces risk
in a given field. Chatterton said
they’ve started collecting from
areas known to be infested with
aphanomyces, plus low-lying
areas prone to water saturation.
They then move out sequentially
from those areas to see how far
out producers would have to go.
2015 marked the first year of
the three-year project, funded by
the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.
Chatterton hopes to share results
by the end of the third year.
“And again, we’re looking at three
different soil zones because early
results are suggesting there might be
differences in inoculum potential in
different soil zones.” †
Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews
based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.
[email protected] or on Twitter
@LtoG.
Pulse Raising.
Raise your Pulse with N and P.
With improved phosphate availability and increased nitrogen fixation, TagTeam® inoculant improves
yield potential.* Give your pulse crops the boost they need. TagTeam® dual action performance –
it’s pulse raising.
See your local retailer today, or visit useTagTeam.ca.
Nature. It’s powerful technology.
TagTeam
®
ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW LABEL DIRECTIONS
*115 independent large-plot trials in Canada between 1997 and 2012 showed an average yield increase of 8% over nitrogen only single-action inoculants. Individual results may vary, and performance
may vary from location to location and from year to year. This result may not be an indicator of results you may obtain as local growing, soil and weather conditions may vary. Growers should evaluate
data from multiple locations and years whenever possible. TagTeam ® and Monsanto BioAg and Design™ are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada Inc, licensee.
© 2015 Monsanto Canada Inc. 1472-1 08.15
6
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Features
Farm safety
Bin safety starts with grain quality
Train yourself and your farm employees to avoid tragic grain bin accidents
By Melanie Epp
E
very year we hear tragic stories of
deaths associated with grain bin
entrapments. Despite continued
efforts, the accidents keep happening. While it’s always good practice
to remind farm staff of grain bin safety
protocols, injuries and deaths could be
dramatically reduced simply by eliminating their number one cause: storing outof-condition grain.
“Virtually all entrapment events occur
due to out-of-condition grain,” says Gary
Woodruff, conditioning applications
manager at GSI in Assumption, Illinois.
“You don’t need to go into a bin if the
grain is in good condition.”
What exactly is meant by good condition? According to Woodruff, it’s
important to store your grain at the
right moisture level, but that level will
depend on what your plans are for it.
For instance, grain that will be shipped
in the spring should be stored at 15 per
cent moisture, which grain that will be
shipped next fall should be stored at 14
per cent. Grain that will be stored for
longer than one year should be stored at
14 per cent moisture. “Reduce each by
one per cent if grain is not excellent,”
says Woodruff.
Woodruff also recommends taking out
multiple cores of grain, enough to create
a nine-foot diameter cone at the top of
every 10 to 15 feet of depth as the bin
is filled. Run aeration fans for five to 10
days after the bin is full, he says. This will
help equalize kernel-to-kernel moisture.
Aeration isn’t just used to equalize
moisture, though. Aeration can be used
to lower grain temperature, and taking
it down to 10 C will help combat insect
activity and mould.
“Use the right amount of aeration air,”
warns Woodruff. “Too much is as bad
as or worse than too little. Aeration in
a large bin will not hold high-moisture
corn or reverse or stop a grain condition
problem that is already in place. Only
moving grain will help at this point, so
follow the rules to prevent issues.”
Most grain bin entrapment accidents occur due to out-of-condition stored grain.
Finally, Woodruff says it’s important to
follow local university recommendations
for aeration during storage, as conditions
will vary depending on local weather and
climate conditions.
Westeel general manager Bruce Allen
agrees that out-of-condition grain is the
No. 1 leading cause of grain bin deaths
and accidents. And corn, he says, is particularly prone to problems. “The best
way to prevent accidents is to detect and
deal with the problem early, before it
escalates into something major,” he says.
“This is why early-detection practices,
such as temperature monitoring, are utilized. Once detected, the problem can be
appropriately dealt with using aeration,
drying, etc.”
A zero-entry goal
Allen says that in 2010, the
Occupational Safety and Health
Administration in the U.S. issued a let-
ter to all commercial grain installations
advising that there had been too many
associated deaths in the industry. They
were warned that appropriate measures must to be taken to minimize the
deaths and accidents associated with
grain bin storage. The letter, says Allen,
sparked a lot of activity.
“Today, you go to any industry conference or trade show and everyone is talking about and offering safety solutions,
such as training and equipment,” he says.
While training and equipment will
make entering the bin safer, the goal
should be zero entry, he says. When
entry is required, training is a must.
Use proper procedures and appropriate
safety equipment, and always have a
person outside monitoring. Good practices, he says, involve working with
personnel who:
• Are aware of the dangers and the
steps that can be taken to mitigate the
hazards.
• Understand and practice lockout
procedures, tie-off procedures, external
monitoring procedures and communication procedures.
• Use harness and fall protection and
arrest equipment that is properly secured.
When asked if personnel should
attempt a rescue should an accident
occur both men were clear: No.
“First responders are trained in a variety of hazards and methods to deal with
dangerous environments,” says Allen.
“If a problem is minor, there may be a
safe way for a producer to remove the
threat or deal with a problem. However,
again, lack of training could turn a minor
problem into a major problem if proper
procedures are not followed.”
Woodruff agrees. “Call 911 and let
emergency personnel handle the rescue
to prevent making the situation worse
or getting someone else entrapped,” he
says. †
Melanie Epp is a freelance farm writer.
What’s your Next Move?
Chances are, you have something exciting on the drawing board
right now. Maybe it’s more land, new equipment, higher-value
crops or other ways to grow.
Our agriculture banking specialists have expertise and financial
products to help you carry out your plans today and build the
farm business you want tomorrow.
Go on, make your move. At RBC® we’re ready to help.
Talk to an agriculture banking specialist today at rbc.com/agriadvice
® /™
™
Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. RBC and Royal Bank are registered trademarks of Royal Bank of Canada.
RBC-4699_JanInsertion_Ads_DEC24_Final.indd 2
2015-12-24 10:02 AM
RBCA-006-16N01E
HEADING/VERSION RBC 2016 Campaign - Jan Insertions/Grainews (Grower)
SIZE 10.25”x5.14”
BLEED n/a
SAFETY n/a
COLOR
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
Features
7
Farm management
Zero tillage can increase P loss
Phosphorus can drain off the soil during snowmelt. Periodic tillage may reduce the losses
By Julienne Isaacs
T
he latest soil-management recommendation
will come as a surprise:
In some cases, producers
should consider periodic tillage
to reduce the risk of phosphorus
(P) loss from conservation tillage
systems.
According to Don Flaten, a
professor in the University of
Manitoba’s Department of Soil
Science, zero tillage actually
increases P loading from soils to
surface water — P that drains
off the land each spring during
snowmelt.
Flaten says much of the research
contributing to best management
practice (BMP) recommendations
for conservation tillage has historically been done under nonPrairie conditions, examining
rainfall runoff rather than spring
snowmelt runoff. In the Prairies,
80 per cent of our runoff occurs
during snowmelt.
“Because the process of snowmelt runoff is so different from
rainfall runoff, the fundamental controls on those two runoff
systems are completely different, especially when it comes to
nutrient loss,” he says. “When
summer rainfall is occurring, it’s
more evenly distributed and soil
is thawed, so there’s infiltration,
and the vegetation is growing
and alive.”
Flaten says soils are actually
very efficient at retaining vegetative P during the growing season.
When P washes out of vegetation
during summer rainfall events,
very little of that P will make its
way into surface water, he says.
By contrast, snowmelt runoff occurs overtop frozen soils
that do not allow infiltration.
Vegetation is dead or dormant,
and does not intercept water or
nutrients. Instead, they “bleed”
into runoff water.
One runoff simulation experiment done under laboratory conditions in Pennsylvania examined
runoff P in a soil tray containing
manured soil and a cover crop,
says Flaten. Under room temperature conditions, the covercropped soil “did a great job” of
intercepting P and reducing erosion. But when the soil and cover
crop were frozen, P losses were
10 times greater than when there
was no cover crop.
The experiment “completely
flipped a BMP into a bad management practice from a P loss
perspective,” says Flaten, despite
the many other benefits of cover
cropping.
of benefits and reduces sediment
and nitrogen loading, increases P
loading,” he says. “Periodic tillage, or intermittent tillage in the
fall, can reduce the amount of P
loss from those conservation tillage systems.”
The researchers have made
other surprising findings: perennial alfalfa forage fields lose, on
average, approximately 2.5 times
more P than cultivated annual
fields. They are also examining
the effects of bale grazing on
nutrient loss.
“A variety of practices have
been evaluated, and we frequently
come up with findings that don’t
match conventional thinking.
But all of these differences have
to be considered in light of the
very different process we have in
the Prairies,” says Flaten.
This isn’t to say producers
should throw out the BMPs with
the runoff water. Flaten says there
are many other benefits to BMPs
that should be retained.
“We certainly want to minimize the buildup of soil test P in
our soils, and we want to practice
conservation tillage in a way that
protects us from erosion,” he says.
“But one of the most important
things to remember is that a lot of
our BMPs have a whole range of
benefits. There may be detrimental factors associated with those
BMPs, but we don’t want to throw
away the benefits because we’re
focused on P loss.”
The answer is not eliminat-
be recycled and reused on agricultural land. “As we start seeing
more long-season crops like soybeans that do better with a good
supply of late season moisture,
maybe there’s an opportunity to
put that stored drainage water
back on top of nearby land and
increase yields,” he says.
“But to put all of our faith in
one water-management practice,
let’s say re-establishing wetlands
with no economic return—it’s
unlikely farmers will move very
far in that direction. We’re trying to come up with marketdriven solutions for water management.” †
ing conservation tillage, but finetuning BMPs to minimize tradeoffs. Examples of other BMPs that
are important include managing
inputs and timing with respect to
P fertilizer management, applying
P after snowmelt and injecting
nutrients whenever possible.
Producers can also minimize
green vegetative material that’s
susceptible to large losses during
the snowmelt event. “For example, in our alfalfa trial, if we had
harvested some of that alfalfa in
October it wouldn’t be hanging
around waiting to get into trouble
during spring snowmelt losses,”
Flaten says.
Other potential solutions
include storing water upstream
in wetlands or reservoirs that can
Julienne Isaacs is a Winnipeg-based freelance
writer and editor. Contact her at julienne.
[email protected].
The AnATomy of The
neweST pulSe Seed TreATmenT.
{ And how its benefits go well beyond the seed. }
The first truly systemic
pulse seed treatment with Xemium®,
for broad-spectrum disease control
Increased seedling vigour
both above and below ground
Enhanced ability to manage
environmental stresses
More consistent and
increased emergence, including
under cold conditions
Surprising findings
Flaten and colleagues at
the University of Manitoba,
Agriculture
and
Agri-Food
Canada, Environment Canada
and the Province of Manitoba, as
well as local farmers, have been
conducting research at the South
Tobacco Creek Model Watershed
for many years. He says they’ve
learned much that has come as
a surprise to the research and
extension community.
“When we look at biophysical
measurements, we’ve found that
zero tillage, although it has lots
To find out what Insure® Pulse fungicide seed treatment
and the benefits1 of AgCelence® can do for your lentils,
field peas, chickpeas, dry beans, faba beans and flax,
visit agsolutions.ca/insurepulse or contact AgSolutions®
Customer Care at 1-877-371-BASF (2273).
1
AgCelence benefits refer to products that contain the active ingredient pyraclostrobin.
Always read and follow label directions.
AgSolutions, is a registered trade-mark of BASF Corporation; AgCelence, XEMIUM and INSURE are registered trade-marks of BASF SE; all used with permission by BASF Canada Inc.
INSURE PULSE fungicide seed treatment should be used in a preventative disease control program. © 2015 BASF Canada Inc.
240 ink - newsprint
Client: BASF
Publication: Grainews
.
.
.
Jeannette
8
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Features
Crop Advisor’s casebook
The case of the struggling canola
By Jaclyn Phillips
B
ack in July, I got a call from Ed, who
grows mostly wheat and canola on his
5,000-acre spread at Melita, Man. He’d
recently driven by one of his fields
planted with an InVigor hybrid canola and was
alarmed to see the crop wasn’t doing well. Half
of the plants had slightly browned and crisped
up, and Ed asked if I could come out to have a
look for myself.
When I arrived at Ed’s farm, I could see that
plants on one-half of the 320-acre field had
turned yellow-brown and were stunted and
struggling to bolt. The canola in the unaffected
half of the field was doing just fine, and there
appeared to be a clear delineation between it
and affected crop. I also noted there were strips
within the affected half of the field where
the plant symptoms were showing up more
intensely as well.
I wondered if Mother Nature could be to
blame. It had been a fairly wet summer up
to that point, with some farmers having to
deal with flooded fields in the area. I also
considered whether the problem could be
due to some kind of nitrogen deficiency, and
I had Ed fill me in on his fertility program. I
also inquired into the planting history of the
canola field.
Ed asked me if I thought the problem might
have something to do with his herbicide application, as the ailing plants first showed symptoms about a week to 10 days after the half
section had been sprayed. He had been worried
about falling behind on his herbicide applications on the farm and was in a hurry to get the
canola done. This particular field was the first
of the canola to be sprayed.
That prompted me to take a look at the area
of Ed’s yard where the spraying equipment
and products were stored. I noticed there were
both Liberty and glyphosate barrels there,
and I wondered if he might have rushed the
sprayer cleanout process. But Ed informed me
that he hadn’t even been able to do a pre-seed
burn-off that year because of the poor planting conditions.
By this time, I had a good hunch what
was going on. If you think you know what’s
behind Ed’s ailing canola, send in your diagnosis to Grainews Box 9800, Winnipeg, Man.
R3C 3K7; email [email protected] or fax 204-944-5416 c/o Crop
Advisor’s Casebook. The best suggestions will
be pooled and one winner will be drawn for a
chance to win a Grainews cap and a one-year
subscription to the magazine. The answer,
along with the reasoning that solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor’s
Solution File. †
CASEBOOK
WINNER
The
winning
entry
for this issue of Casebook
came from Todd BergenHenengouwen. Todd is
a project assistant with
Alberta Agriculture and
Rural Development. He
wrote, “I am just a grain marketer giving agronomy a try!”
Thanks for entering, Todd.
We’re sending you a free onyear subscription to Grainews
and a Grainews hat.
Leeann Minogue
Jaclyn Phillips is an area marketing representative with
Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Antler, Sask.
Plants on one-half of the field had turned yellow-brown and were
stunted and struggling to bolt. The canola in the unaffected half of the
field was doing just fine. Within the affected half of the field, there were
strips where the plant symptoms were showing up more intensely.
Crop advisor’s solution
Combination of factors trouble canola
By Julie Mitchell
I
’d been assisting Dan, a farmer who
grows 2,000 acres of canola, wheat
and barley in Wimborne, Alta.,
with crop scouting one spring day
when I came across a canola field where
the crop was clearly struggling.
The canola plants were having difficulty emerging and appeared unevenly in patches throughout the field.
Volunteer alfalfa left over from the
previous year’s perennial forage crop
was returning and outperforming the
canola in some areas. The field was also
rife with gophers.
Dan had asked me if I thought poor
seed could be responsible for the poor
germination and plant emergence in the
canola field. However, an examination
of the seed bag and lot numbers showed
the same seed had been used to plant
other canola fields where the crop was
doing fine, ruling this out as a possible
explanation.
After re-scouting the field and assessing the role of weather, I came up with a
diagnosis that pointed to two contributing factors.
Clearly, drought stress had played an
important role. It had been a hot, dry
spring, which accounted for the dusty
soil. In addition, that field was left drier
than others on the farm because of the
previous alfalfa crop, which we know
to be a high user of water. The seed to
soil contact had been insufficient for the
small canola seed and the lack of a spring
rainfall reduced the chances of the small
seed germinating and surviving.
The other factor was the gophers I’d
been virtually tripping over when I first
scouted the field. Many of the canola
seeds that somehow did manage to germinate despite the drought conditions
hadn’t lasted very long. The gophers
had made dinner of the seedlings, as
evidenced by all the chewed off plants
in the field.
Fortunately for Dan, there was a
happy ending to this story. The problems with the crop were caught in
the nick of time and the grower, after
working the soil to break down lumps
and smooth out gopher holes, was able
to successfully reseed the field with a
glyphosate-tolerant canola variety.
Dan’s field preparation included the
use of additional nutrients that were precisely placed with seed. An in crop application of glyphosate was also utilized to
control the perennial forage volunteers,
boosting the canola crop’s ability to
compete. These measures were followed
by some timely rainfall, and a bit of time
spent in the field with a .22 helped Dan
manage the rodent issue.
After an optimal summer in terms of
growing conditions, Dan was eager to see
if his efforts at renewing the canola field
paid off. It turned out to be a successful
harvest; even though canola was uneven
in terms of staging, the field still yielded
close to 30 bushels per acre. †
Julie Mitchell is a grain merchant with Richardson
Pioneer Ltd. at Olds, Alta.
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
Features
9
Pulse production
Manage root rot before seeding
Saskatchewan plant disease specialist recommends good agronomy to reduce root rot
By Lisa Guenther
L
entil and pea growers struggling with root
rot need to manage the
disease before the seed
is in the ground, according to
Saskatchewan Agriculture’s plant
disease specialist.
Fusarium, pythium, and rhizoctonia are root rot pathogens long
familiar to farmers. But aphanomyces is a relatively new problem, only
detected in Saskatchewan in 2012.
“It probably was widespread
and present before,” Faye DokkenBouchard told farmers at Canadian
Western Agribition’s Grain Expo.
But without the excess moisture,
the pathogen didn’t cause disease symptoms in the field until
Saskatchewan had years of excess
moisture, she added.
And the disease isn’t going
anywhere. Aphanomyces spores
can survive for a long time in
the soil. Excess moisture in the
future will put infested fields
at risk again, Dokken-Bouchard
told farmers.
Identifying the rot
Stunting, yellowing plants
are above-ground symptoms of
root rot. Poor root growth, poor
nodulation, and rotting roots
are also signs of pathogens.
“But it’s also important to
note that excess moisture can
often cause these types of symptoms on its own. And then if
you add a combination of wet
feet along with diseases, then
you’re going to have an even
bigger issue,” said DokkenBouchard.
Test seed
for disease
and germination
Farmers wondering whether
they’re facing aphanomyces or
fusarium should take a close look
at the roots. Caramel-coloured
roots indicate aphanomyces,
said Dokken-Bouchard. Pink or
red-tinged roots mean farmers
are likely seeing fusarium.
The Alberta Pulse Growers
suggests gathering field information to diagnose root rot in
peas and lentils. That information includes rotation history, herbicide history, moisture
situation in recent years, soil
information and seeding information. Farmers should also
look for patterns such as misses,
overlaps and compacted areas.
The group also suggests creating a map marking good and
bad areas, topography, patterns around disease symptoms,
heavier soils, water runs and
side hill seeps. Aerial photos
can also help.
Finally, the pulse growers recommend collecting soil and
plant samples from good and bad
areas, and sending them to a
lab for analysis. Options include
BDS Laboratories, Discovery Seed
Labs, and 20/20 Seed Labs.
Management options
Asked whether tillage could
help manage disease, DokkenBouchard said it depends on the
crop and the pathogen. Some
research has shown tillage helps
because it breaks down residue
faster, or buries the spores.
“But then on the other hand,
it might bring some inoculum
back up to the surface and make
it more accessible,” said DokkenBouchard. And losing the benefits
of reduced tillage might not justify
any potential reduction in inoculum, she added.
“It’s not really yes or no. It’s
kind of maybe.”
Dokken-Bouchard recommended
farmers test seed for disease and
germination. Depending on the disease level and type, farmers may
not want to use the seed at all. Seed
treatments are available for root rot
pathogens such as aphanomyces,
rhizoctonia, fusarium and pythium.
“But you have to keep in mind
that with all of these diseases, they
might be in the crop residue or
in the soil as well. So even if you
have low levels of disease on your
seed, you could still have disease
issues,” said Dokken-Bouchard.
Crop rotation is “critically
important” to managing disease,
said Dokken-Bouchard. Fields with
aphanomyces should see a six-year
break from peas, lentils, and other
hosts. Other susceptible crops
include alfalfa, dry beans, and some
red clover varieties. Chickpeas and
FACT #1: Proven® Seed is the total,
all-around package for success in
cereal and canola crops. It’s NEW
genetics and varieties. It’s also 25
years of groundbreaking research
— plus leading agronomics and
field trials.
FACT #74: Proven Seed
has over 25 years of
continuous research in
Western Canada. The
CPS R&D team includes
more than 50 dedicated
staff in Canada and
Australia with three
research farms and 35
research sites across
the Prairies.
fababeans are generally less susceptible to aphanomyces.
Field selection is also an important way to manage aphanomyces. Dokken-Bouchard advised
farmers to consider previous issues,
moisture levels, differences in soil,
and compaction. Waterlogged soil
and compaction favour the disease. Heavily textured soil is more
likely to suffer from waterlogging
and compaction.
Asked whether farmers can
soil test for root rot pathogens,
Dokken-Bouchard said labs such
as Discovery Seed Labs do those
tests. But interpreting those levels
is tricky right now, she said.
Good agronomy, including
weed control and fertility, also
help bolster the crop against root
FACT #27: Certified seed
guarantees growers the
best genetic strength
and varietal purity
plus improved disease
tolerance and higher
yield potential.
Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews
based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.
[email protected] or on Twitter
@LtoG.
every seed lot extensively for
disease, purity and germination
— for confidence in your seed
investment.
FACT #331: Proven Seed offers
the highest-yielding choices
for durum growers,
including the popular
variety AC Brigade. New
for 2016, CDC Fortitude
is the first solid stem,
sawfly resistant CWAD
variety.
IT’S A
PROVEN
FACT
FACT #13: We have two
new CWRS varieties
from Proven Seed:
CDC Titanium offers
midge tolerance and
improved yields; and
5605HR CL is the next
step in Clearfield® wheat with
high yields, FHB resistance and
easy weed management.
rot. Alberta Pulse Growers suggests
considering starter N in soils that
have less than 15 pounds per acre
in the top 12 inches.
Phosphorus is a good idea if seeding into cool soils early in the season. Assuming adequate moisture
and narrow openers, maximum safe
rates of seed-applied P for lentils are
25 lbs./ac., and 20 lbs./ac. for peas,
states the Alberta Pulse Growers’
factsheet.
Such practices help the crop get
off to a good start “so that it’s not
going to be stressed out and more
susceptible to all kinds of disease
issues,” Dokken-Bouchard said. †
FACT #119: Champion
is the highest-yielding
feed barley available
in Western Canada.
FACT #47: Proven Seed
products are only
available at CPS retail
locations across Western
Canada. Your CPS
advisor will guide you
through seed, fertility
and crop protection requirements
to find a solution tailored for your
farm. Find a retailer near you at
provenseed.ca/find-a-retailer.
(that our cereal varieties yield
confidence and performance)
FACT #92: Our Proven Performance
Trials is the largest comparison
program in Western Canada.
In 2015, we tested Proven Seed
across 200 performance trials
on large-scale, producer-managed
fields — to ensure it performs best
where it counts. See for yourself at
provenseed.ca/performance-trials.
FACT #29: Seed production is
our priority, so we work with
CSGA growers to produce clean,
and test our seed to ensure
PROVEN WHERE IT COUNTS
— ON A FARM NEAR YOU.
See for yourself at provenseed.ca
the highest level of quality
control. Through an accredited
seed laboratory, we screen
NEW FOR 2016:
CLEARFIELD® is a registered trademark of BASF. Proven® Seed is a registered trademark of Crop Production Services
(Canada) Inc. CPS CROP PRODUCTION SERVICES and Design is a registered trademark of Crop Production Services, Inc.
10
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Features
Grain transportation
Rail revenue control a compromise
U of S prof points out that the option was allowing other carriers on CP and CN lines
By Lisa Guenther
W
hen it comes to
understanding
the present state
of Canada’s grain
transportation, it’s worth knowing
a little history.
Back in the late 1990s, Justice
Willard Estey chaired a grain handling and transportation system
review, and recommended more
rail competition, including open
running rights. Canadian Pacific
proposed the Maximum Revenue
Entitlement (MRE), otherwise
known as the revenue cap, instead.
“That fact tends to get lost in
all this debate,” Dr. James Nolan
says. Nolan is a professor with the
University of Saskatchewan who
researches transportation policy.
He tapped out an email in response
to an earlier Grainews article on
myths and facts of the MRE.
The MRE is not perfect, but has
worked reasonably well for both
sides, says Nolan.
There are two primary ways to
improve things in a concentrated
industry, or a natural monopoly,
like rail, he says. One is to encourage competition through new institutions such as open access. Open
access would allow other carriers to
run on CN and CP’s lines.
The other way to improve the
transportation system is to regulate rates, Nolan writes. Under this
system, CN and CP’s rates would
have to be close to the rates of a
similar, competitive company. But
these rates would be below full
cost recovery, and so the government would need to subsidize the
revenue difference for the railways.
“In fact, this is essentially the
old regulated system we used
before the MRE — and while shippers were happy with it, railways
were not,” Nolan writes.
MRE sits between these options.
“Neither shipper nor carrier are
fully satisfied by definition as it
is a middle ground policy,” says
Nolan. Under MRE, rates are
below monopoly levels, but above
competitive levels, he adds. It’s
designed so that railways recover
all their yearly operating costs, and
more, he writes.
Overhead and capital costs might
or might not be fully covered under
MRE each year. But Nolan thinks
the railways are doing well under
the cap, given their recent expansions and CP’s attempt to buy U.S.
railway Norfolk Southern.
“I guess in their minds they
could do better.”
Nolan think railways mess with
levels of service to try to game the
system. Under MRE, the less they
move, the more they charge for
what they do move, he explains.
“But CTA enforcement has kept
this sort of strategizing mostly in
check, so far,” he adds.
Regulatory policies such as the
MRE are rarely used elsewhere,
Nolan says. He sees the MRE as
an economic experiment that has
worked “reasonably well” for both
shippers and the railways.
GROUP
14
JOIN THE
UNDERGROUND
REVOLUTION
Take a stand against resistance.
Arm yourself with the revolutionary residual broadleaf
control of Authority – the only Group 14 pre-emergent
herbicide. It’s your secret weapon for cleaner fields and
higher yields.
PEAS
|
SOYBEANS
FMCcrop.ca
Always read and follow label directions. FMC and Authority are trademarks of FMC Corporation.
© 2015 FMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
15FMC072_Authority West Print
Grain News
8.125” x 10”
Insertion Date: January 5, 19 & February 2, 2016
|
CHICKPEAS
|
FLAX
|
SUNFLOWERS
How to make it better
All that being said, Nolan
isn’t necessarily the MRE’s biggest fan. Although the policy is
working better than he thought
it would when it was first implemented, he sees it as “a secondbest solution to a fully deregulated market.”
Nolan cautions that “deregulated market” doesn’t mean railways should be free from all regulations like other industries. That’s
because the cost structure of rail
“lends itself to a monopoly by
nature,” Nolan says.
The larger the railway, the lower
the cost per unit, he explains.
These economics are what transformed rail from an industry with
Open access
in the United
Kingdom
Not every rail industry
operates the way Canada’s
railways do. In the United
Kingdom, rail freight has
been open access for several
years. There are several registered freight carriers that
compete with each other for
business.
A white paper authored
by Tony Lodge of the Centre
for Policy Studies notes that
over a 10-year period, rail
freight companies have cut
unit costs by 35 per cent.
The U.K.’s passenger operators, most of which are not
open access, increased costs
by 10 per cent.
The U.K..0’s rail freight
was privatized in the 1990s.
Since then, the industry has
catered to growing container
traffic as its traditional markets, such as locally mined
coal, have shrunk. Lodge
writes that if freight companies had been granted
exclusive “franchises,” they
wouldn’t have had the flexibility or incentive to adapt
to the market changes.
Freight traffic has grown
by 50 per cent, in tonnes
kilometres,
since
rail
freight was privatized. And
they’ve done it with half
the locomotives and twothirds the wagons used
before privatization.
But not everything is running perfectly. Lodge notes
that the industry is struggling to move bigger containers. The problem is the
network wasn’t designed for
high or wide loads, he writes.
The Centre for Policy
Studies is a free-market
think tank based in the U.K.
They look at everything
from housing to energy to
transportation. For more
information, visit www.cps.
org.uk/. †
Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews
based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at
[email protected] or on
Twitter @LtoG.
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
Features
11
photo: lisa guenther
Justice Willard Estey’s
transportation review in the
1990s sugggested open access
on grain lines.
many railways competing to a
monopoly-like structure, he says.
Nolan would like to see two
things to improve the system. The
first is a full costing review. The
last costing review was in 1992
and much has changed since then,
he notes.
“I believe what that will reveal
is that even under MRE, the railways are making a lot of overhead versus their actual costs
of moving grain,” Nolan says.
“This would take the wind out
of the sails of those who side
with removing the MRE.”
He also believes the gap might
be so large that farmers would
want changes to the MRE in their
favour, “which is exactly what the
railways don’t want,” he adds.
Next on Nolan’s wish list is to
try full reciprocal switching or
open-access systems, but perhaps
only with grain.
This is basically what CP offered
“as a quid quo pro to get their
takeover bid to work with U.S.
regulators,” Nolan says. In its
proposed merger with Norfolk
Southern, CP said it would allow
other carriers to use its tracks if
its own service was inadequate or
rates not competitive.
Nolan says such a policy would
create “marginal competition” in
the rail industry, especially for captive shippers. And rates would still
have a market cap, he adds.
“What (CP CEO) Hunter
Harrison is telling us by even
suggesting this is that he thinks
even with possible fringe competition, there would not be
ubiquitous access by other
competing railways, which is
something I have always also
believed,” he says.
“It is my understanding that
back in the late 1990s when this
issue cropped up, CP had at least
one VP who believed they could
make money under access by
charging competitors to use CP
track in those instances when a
shipper called for it,” says Nolan.
Bragging rights.
NOW for
less than
$5 per acre.
But the industry quickly shot
down that idea. Nolan thinks it was
a gut reaction to what the industry
perceived as more regulation.
“I wonder if Hunter) Harrison
has had his guys revisit open access
and found that it could work under
reasonable assumptions. My own
research agrees with this conclusion.” †
Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews
based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.
[email protected] or on Twitter
@LtoG.
JumpStart
®
is available on the
following canola varieties
InVigor L120
InVigor L130
InVigor L150
InVigor L159
InVigor 5440
InVigor L135C
InVigor L241C
InVigor L252
45H29 RR
45H31 RR
45S54 RR
46H75 CL
45H76 CL
45S56 RR
45H33 RR
46M34
D3153 RR
D3154S RR
D3155C RR
V12-1
V12-3
V22-1
74-44 BL
75-45 RR
75-65 RR
74-54 RR
1012 RR
1020 RR
2012 CL
1022 RR
2020 CL
2022 CL
6060 RR
6056 CR
6080 RR
6044 RR
6076 CR
5535 CL
5525 CL
6074 RR
CS2000
CS2100
CS2200 CL
CANTERRA 1990
PV 530 G
PV 531 G
PV 533 G
VT 500 G
PV 200 CL
VR 9560 CL
SY4135
SY4114
SY4157
SY4105
InVigor L261
InVigor L156H
InVigor L157H
InVigor L140P
(on pre-treated
seed only)*
JumpStart® delivers enhanced phosphate availability for increased
root growth and a larger leaf area.
For a canola crop you can be proud of, order your seed pre-treated with JumpStart inoculant.
In 163 farmer-conducted trials, canola treated with JumpStart showed an average 6%
increased yield over untreated canola**.
Quicker start, stronger finish. Don’t wait, order your seed pre-treated with JumpStart today.
Nature. It’s powerful technology.
JumpStart
VR 9562 CL
Xceed X121 CL
®
ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW LABEL DIRECTIONS.
SY4166
*For pre-treated seed only. Based on the 2016 published SRP of $49.50 for JumpStart inoculant in a pre-treated bag of canola. 1 bag canola = 10 acres.
**163 independent large-plot trials in Canada between 1994 and 2013. Individual results may vary, and performance may vary from location to location and from year to year. This result may
not be an indicator of results you may obtain as local growing, soil and weather conditions may vary. Growers should evaluate data from multiple locations and years whenever possible.
JumpStart ® and Monsanto BioAg and Design™ are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC. Monsanto Canada Inc, licensee. © 2015 Monsanto Canada Inc. All other trademarks are
property of their respective owners. 1403-1 10.15
For more information, visit
useJumpStart.ca
12
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Features
Plant breeding
Herbicide tolerant, but not GMO
An SU-tolerant canola is just the first of what Cibus hopes will be a long list of trait improvements
BY LEE HART
J
im Radtke may not be a
gene whisperer, but his
California-based plant
genetics company, Cibus,
has developed technology that
allows it to communicate with
and influence plant genes to
produce desired traits.
Whether it be something like
herbicide resistance, or drought
tolerance in field crops, or producing a different-colored petal
in a flower, as examples, the
process known as gene editing
doesn’t introduce anything foreign into a plant gene, says
Radtke, a Cibus vice-president.
“It is not GMO”, he says.
Rather the patented technol-
ogy relies on the plant’s own
natural process to accomplish a
“change” which hopefully is the
desired new trait. Working with
very essence of DNA, Radtke
says one base change, changing one nucleotide, is often sufficient to produce the desired
new trait. “In the very simplest
of terms it is like placing a template in the gene which tells the
plant what to do,” says Radtke.
“This process could take place
naturally in nature over time,
so our gene editing technology
becomes an alternative to GMO
plant breeding programs.”
Cibus has already used the
technology to develop a herbicide-resistant canola they hope
to introduce to Canada in 2016,
Effective nitrogen? That’s a given.
Responsive nitrogen? That’s amazing.
Crops really go for ESN® SMART NITROGEN®, and so does your bottom line. That’s because
its unique technology responds to the same factors that spur plant growth. How does it do
it? ESN is a urea granule encapsulated in a polymer coating that protects the nitrogen from
loss through leaching, volatilization and denitrification. ESN technology controls its release to
match plant demand based on soil temperature. Your crops get the nitrogen they need, when
they need it. That’s what we mean by responsive.
and Cibus is looking to work
with any seed or chemical company interested in developing
crop varieties with specific traits.
NATURAL “REPAIR” JOB
Without getting too heavy on
the science side, Cibus scientists
use molecules — gene repair
molecules — to create a “structure” in a plant gene. To the cell,
this structure might be viewed
as a typographical error in the
way in which the gene is spelled.
To correct the spelling, these
“errors” also known as “mismatches” are repaired by natural
enzymes using the plant’s own
DNA. A single change in the
genetic code is enough to repair
genes and in some cases create
new valuable plant characteristics, or trait.
“It is a natural process and
we want to take advantage of
that,” says Radtke. “We actually
add a piece of DNA to the cell,
which creates the mismatch or
that mispelling. When that happens the enzymes say we have
to repair something here, and
they move to repair it. And at
least 50 per cent of the time they
repair it the way we had hoped.
The DNA we enter into the cell
only acts a template, it shows
the plant DNA how we want to
change it, but it doesn’t enter
into the change itself.”
In further explaining the difference between gene editing
and genetically modified breeding programs, Radtke pointed to
BT corn as an example. He was
involved in the original BT breeding programs back in the day.
With BT corn, the Bacillus
thuringiensis gene is a soilborne bacterium that was
inserted into the corn plant to
control pests. While it is effective technology, it would not
occur naturally, so it is a genetically modified process.
On the other hand, Radtke
points to weeds that come under
pressure from herbicides and
they naturally change to develop
resistance to that herbicide. “A
weed comes under that selection pressure from a herbicide,
so then they mutate and change
so they develop a resistance to
that herbicide,” says Radtke. “In
a very general sense that is what
gene editing does. We introduce
material into the gene, which
By jonny hawkins
Country Chuckles
Minimize N loss. Maximize Yield.
Optimize your nitrogen investment with ESN. Find out more at SmartNitrogen.com.
©2016 Agrium Inc. ESN; ESN SMART NITROGEN; AGRIUM WHOLESALE, GROWING TOGETHER logos and designs are all trademarks owned by Agrium Inc. 02/16-47229 GN
“I haven’t seen that kind of mudslinging
since the last election”
47229 ESN Roots_8_125x10_GN_a1.indd 1
12/22/15 2:03 PM
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
Features
causes the plant to respond
and change, and hopefully the
change produces a desired trait.”
SU CANOLA VARIETY
Cibus has already used the gene
editing technology to develop SU
canola, the first non-GMO canola
resistant to sulfonylurea chemistry.
The SU canola partnered with a
product called Draft herbicide has
been registered in the U.S. Cibus
hopes to introduce the product to
Canadian growers in 2016.
It becomes another option for
growers on several fronts, says
Radtke. SU canola is a non-GMO
herbicide-tolerant variety, which
in itself might create some marketing opportunities. It is tolerant to
different chemistry, which makes
it option for farmers looking to
extend herbicide rotations and
reduce risk of weeds developing
herbicide resistance.
Cibus is looking to work in the
Canadian and global market in
various ways. Radtke says the company will be looking to develop
specific plant traits it can market itself, but it is also interested
in working with seed and crop
protection companies as a partner. “We can work with another
company and say you show us
the gene you want changed to
produce a specific trait and then
“It is
a natural
process and
we want
to take
advantage
of that.”
Jim Radtke
T:10.25”
we can apply our technology to
develop this trait and then we can
share in the royalties.”
Radtke says gene editing can be
used for a wide range of genetic
changes in plants. It is not just
a process for developing herbicide resistance. It can be used to
enhance or suppress any specific
characteristic in a plant.
He sees an opportunity for
SU-tolerant canola and soybean
varieties in Western Canada.
Cibus is also working on flax,
potatoes and corn to develop weed
and crop pest control changes
in plant genetics. He says there
may be opportunity to develop
canola varieties with sclerotinia
13
resistance. Some changes, such as
improved drought tolerance in a
particular crop, is more involved,
involves several genes, that means
it is more complicated, but not
impossible, says Radtke.
“Our message to Canadian canola growers and farmers in general
is that there is alternative and
new technology available in plant
breeding,” says Radtke. “It is precise and trustworthy, comes with
no baggage, and provides opportunities in geographical areas and
markets where non-GMO crops
are in demand.” †
Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in
Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by
email at [email protected].
T:11.375”
BayerCropScience.ca/InVigor or 1 888-283-6847 or contact your Bayer CropScience representative.
Always read and follow label directions. InVigor® is a registered trademark of the Bayer Group. Bayer CropScience is a member of CropLife Canada.
0-66-09/15-10406655-E
14
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Features
Crop production
Farmers ahead of carbon curve
Farmers practise soil management, and play an active part in carbon sequestration
By Julienne Isaacs
C
“
arbon sequestration”
is a term with plenty
of traction these days.
Technically speaking,
it refers to long-term storage of
carbon dioxide or other forms
of carbon to help mitigate the
fallout from climate change — a
subject that increasingly figures
on Canada’s agendas.
In agriculture, carbon sequestration finds a home in discussions about soil management
and soil health.
According to John Bennett,
former director and past president of the Saskatchewan Soil
Conservation Association
(SSCA), Canadian farmers have
had a major, positive impact
on reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in
recent years through soil management practices like zerotillage. “Farmers’ actions have
likely made the largest positive
contribution to Canada’s GHG
inventory, but to date have not
had much recognition of that
contribution,” he says.
Bennett says farmers are ahead
of the curve in adopting practices like zero till, and through
a relentless push for input efficiencies and fuel use reductions,
they have reduced emissions
from production systems.
This year, the SSCA published
a position paper discussing the
results of the Prairie Soil Carbon
Balance (PSCB) project, which
measured changes in soil organic
carbon in 137 Saskatchewan
field sites under direct seeding
management over a period of
14 years.
“The PSCB project proved
conclusively that significant
amounts of CO2 — averaging
0.38 ton CO2 per acre per year
— is sequestered under directseeded cropping systems,” the
authors write.
The paper argues that past carbon tax or trading schemes have
failed to deliver appropriate value
back to the farm gate for offsets
from carbon stored in agricultural soils. “If emitters of GHGs
are penalized through the imposition of a carbon tax or emission
reduction limits, it is reasonable
that those who are removing
GHG emissions, through carbon
sequestration or capture, should
be compensated in equal measure,” argues the paper.
In Alberta, farmers have the
option of selling carbon offsets
from no till and continuous cropping of previously summerfallowed land, according to Lorraine
Lynch, a spokesperson for Alberta
Agriculture and Forestry. “At current carbon prices of $15 per
tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent, the value to farmers is $0.54
to $0.80 per acre in the brown
and dark brown soil zones and $1
to $1.60 per acre in the black and
gray soil zones,” she says.
“Other opportunities for car-
REACHING
NEW
HEIGHTS
with AKRAS R2
Designing
the ultimate soybean
AKRAS R2 was bred by Elite® and
selected from their Western Canadian
breeding program because of its
excellent yield and industry standardsetting pod height. Higher pods mean
easier harvest, fewer pods on the ground
and more beans in your bin.
bon credits to improve management of nitrogen fertilizers and
livestock are also available.”
Soil memory
Henry Janzen, a research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada’s Lethbridge Research
Station, has been studying longterm changes in soil carbon for
close to 30 years.
“Here at Lethbridge we have
experiments dating back to
1911, from which we’ve been
able to follow changes in soil
carbon over time,” he says.
“A lot of our work over the
last number of years has been
focused on the question of how
management affects carbon
storage in soils.”
Much of Janzen’s work is focused
on studying “carbon flows” — the
flow of carbon atoms from the
atmosphere into plants.
“In farming, we harvest some
of that material typically in
grain and export it from the
system often to feed ourselves,
and consume it, burning it back
to C02 and extracting the solar
energy from it,” he explains.
“Farming is about trapping C02,
investing it with solar energy
and using that to fuel ourselves
and animals.”
But much of this biomass carbon trapped by photosynthesis
goes back into the soil, in straw,
residues and manure, for example, replenishing soil organic
matter. Microbes then help that
organic matter decay back to
C02. “The amount of carbon
stored in the soil is a function
of two things: how much is
going in and how much is being
lost as C02 from the decay,”
says Janzen.
Higher pods
AKRAS R2 also has excellent disease
resistance and has an early-to midmaturity, making it well adapted to all
soybean growing areas.
for easier harvestability
More yield
for improved return on
investment
TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE
WITH ELITE® SOYBEANS
FROM BrettYoung:
@BY_Seeds | #BYSoybean15
Visit brettyoung.ca
1-800-665-5015
BrettYoungTM is a trademark of Brett-Young Seeds Limited. Genuity® and Roundup Ready 2 Yield® are registered trademarks and used under license from Monsanto Company. 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. 5032 10/15
The soil
remembers us
He likens soil carbon to a bank
balance: you either have to reduce
the rate at which carbon is lost, or
increase the amount going into
the soil to stay in the black.
By this measure, zero till is
one excellent means of maintaining soil carbon. Planting
grasses and other forages on
land that has been intensively
cultivated may also lead to carbon gains, says Janzen.
But Janzen emphasizes that
there is no set of one-size-fitsall best management practices
for enhancing carbon sequestration. He says every farmer
should look at the land and ask,
“What works best here?”
That question should be
anchored in the assumption that
our decisions will impact future
generations, that we leave a legacy. “We come and go but the
soil stays and the soil remembers us. The practices that we
impose on the land have lingering effects for better or for
worse,” he says. †
Julienne Isaacs is a Winnipeg-based
freelance writer and editor. Contact her at
[email protected].
5032-Soybean Ad-Grain News-JR PAGE-FINAL-SHORT.indd 1
Client: BrettYoung
Project: Soybean Ad
Date: Oct 2015
2015-10-14 5:20 PM
Publication: Grainews
Size: 8.125” x 10” (Junior Page)
Bleed: N/A
Agency: ON Communication Inc
Agency Contact: Jen Grozelle
Telephone: 519-434-1365 xt 220
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
Features
15
Farm management
Health care benefits for your farm
Health plans can protect your family and help you attract farm employees
By Dilia Narduzzi
M
ost farmer operators assume
that health care benefits are
only for people with offfarm jobs. Farmers usually
pay for their own massage therapy and
trips for the dentist. Farm employees
aren’t always offered the same benefits
they could get from non-farm employers.
But, there are heath care plan options for
farmers. Buying an extended health care
plan is actually relatively easy. Farmers
can be part of a group health plan with
as few as three people.
Jolene Moen, her husband Brant and
her mother-in-law Sheryl are grain farmers from Stewart Valley, Sask. On 5,000
acres, the Moens farm pulses, durum,
and oilseeds. As of right now, says
Jolene Moen, they have one employee
and a few casual employees during the
busy times. The Moens thought about
health insurance when they incorporated their farm. “Knowing that we have
security both for our employees and for
ourselves, that’s what is important to
us,” says Moen.
The Moens chose a health plan that
has a long list of benefits. “Dental,
health, drugs, massage, naturopath, basic
life insurance — and a key thing for us
was disability and critical. A lot of peo-
ple forget about those and on a farm
you never know what can happen. So to
know you’re covered in all aspects is very
important,” Moen says. Knowing that
they can offer insurance if they do hire
more farm employees also offers peace of
mind. Farm employees are helping you
with your livelihood, says Moen, and
often they don’t get any additional benefits. Health insurance is one way to help.
Moen says they chose a plan that was
affordable, but still covered quite a bit.
“As soon as you hear the word ‘insurance,’ it scares a lot of people. What image
does that bring to you? Dollar signs,” says
Moen. “And, yes, group insurance can
be expensive, so if you’re interested in it
I suggest meeting with an advisor.” One
thing to remember, says Moen, is that
group insurance differs from individual
insurance and it’s often cheaper than
what’d you pay individually.
Moen also emphasizes how easy the
process is. The most time-consuming
part was getting starting and figuring
out which plan they wanted. Now that
they are set up, they can submit claims
and review their plan details from an
app on their smartphones. As owners,
the Moens are also administrators of the
plan. Moen says this part is very easy
too. Everything is online and changes are
easy to make. “It’s awesome,” says Moen.
Get your own health plan
If you think group health insurance
might fit your farm, Moen suggests
visiting your local chamber of commerce. Most people don’t realize they
can provide quotes from a variety of
insurers. “That’s what we did,” says
Moen. “And then you can find a policy
that’s right for your operation.”
Another option is to visit a specialist.
Insurance broker Elan Kidd is an exclusive representative of the Chambers
of Commerce Group Insurance Plan,
working through Qtrade Insurance
Solutions. Kidd says the Chambers
of Commerce Plan (just one of the
plans you can learn about by visiting
your chamber of commerce) is a good
fit for small farm businesses because,
unlike some plans, the Chambers’
model doesn’t limit the number of
family members allowed on the plan.
Another plus, says Elan, is that purchasers can “design the plan according
to what’s important to them.” Budget,
choice of benefits, and consideration
of disability and critical illness all factor in. “It’s not one plan, take it or
leave it. Plans can really be tailored to
the farm’s needs.”
Kidd says farmers are increasingly
interested in these plans “partly to
compete with other industries that
are offering benefits. They can either
attract or retain good employees.”
Further, Kidd emphasizes, small groups
are quite often the norm. She does a
lot of work with groups of 10 or fewer
employees. If there are three or more
people, no medical questions are asked.
If you considered group health insurance in the past but didn’t take the
plunge, Kidd notes that some features
are relatively new. For instance, critical illness benefits weren’t typically
offered even 10 years ago. “Critical
illness provides a lump sum benefit
in the event you’re diagnosed with
one of the covered critical conditions
— heart, stroke, cancer, MS, blindness, deafness and others.” Kidd has
seen many critical illness claims in
the last few years. Many newer plans
have additional features, like “owner
access to legal, human resources, and
accounting services,” if a second opinion is needed on a legal issue, or if
you need a human resources expert’s
opinion on a “challenging issue with
an employee.”
For more information about the
Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance
Plan, see its website dedicated to farmers
at www.farmersbenefits.ca. †
Dilia Narduzzi is a freelance writer in Dundas, Ont.
NOTHING
HITS HARDER.
OR LASTS LONGER.
PrePass XC delivers SoilActive control for 21 days, guaranteed.
TM
TM
• Superior pre-seed control and resistance management
• High-performance control of winter annual and broadleaf weeds
• Serious time savings – get it done earlier in spring or fall
• Better than glyphosate alone
Go to the new dowagro.ca or call 1.800.667.3852 today.
Early book by March 15, 2016 and SAVE $0.50 per acre with Diamond Rewards .
TM
Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) or an affiliated company of Dow.
0116-46885-01
® TM
46885-01 AB Farmer Express Early Bird 10.25X7.75_GN.indd 1
12/22/15 1:55 PM
16
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Features
Canola management
‘Canola and snow’ is not profitable
New research says mixing cultivars does not mitigate the effects of continuous canola
By Dilia Narduzzi
R
econsider those plans
to seed back-to-back to
canola this spring, recommend Agriculture
and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
scientists. And they have new
data to back that up.
Dr. Neil Harker and other
study researchers recently published the results of their fiveyear of the effects of continuous
canola crops in The Canadian
Journal of Plant Science. The
main findings are in the title:
“Canola cultivar mixtures and
rotations do not mitigate the
negative impacts of continuous
canola.”
Researchers know that farm-
ers face financial pressure to
tighten their canola rotations.
Harker and his colleagues
wanted to see if, by changing
some variables, they could get
better agronomic results with
continuous canola.
“Because canola rotations are
getting tighter on the Prairies
— a lot of specialists would recommend growing canola one
out of every three years or one
in every four — we looked at
the extreme case of growing
continuous canola to see if we
could mitigate some of the risk
in doing so by mixing different
cultivar types within years and
across years,” says Harker.
The researchers mixed canola
varieties within or across years
hoping to get enough variation
and ability to resist disease “to
help mitigate the problem of
using the same thing over and
over.” Part of the problem with
this approach, though, says
Harker, is that canola seed companies in Canada don’t share
as much of their seed information with the public as they
do in some other countries.
Specific information about seed
genetics is seen as “proprietary
information,” so mixing varieties for the study was “a bit of
a guessing game.” In Australia,
for example, where this information is available, there’s at
least the option to try different sources of seeds — ones
with different kinds of disease
resistances — to see if particular
combinations or choices work
better than others.
The study results were pretty
clear: “If we don’t know any
of these disease-resistance backgrounds — and even if you did
know them — crop rotation is
still better than growing continuous canola. All of the data
showed that really well.” Out
of all of the different rotations
researchers looked at, including
all sorts of continuous canola
rotations (with different variety mixes), as well as a peawheat-canola rotation and a
wheat-wheat-canola rotation,
the best results for canola were
the pea-wheat-canola and the
wheat-wheat-canola. “Even one
year of wheat and two years of
canola didn’t give you anything
different than continuous canola.” Canola yield was highest
when crops were rotated every
three years.
Rotations are important
Why are canola crop rotations
so important? Plant pathologist
Dr. Kelly Turkington, one of the
co-authors of the study, says
that rotation, “in its simplest
form, lets enough time elapse
so you have decomposition of
any infested crop residues in
the fields. Or, if the pathogen
survives on its own, that interval between host crops allows
for those structures to lose their
viability.”
So, if you have blackleg, for
example, rotation allows the
canola residue harbouring the
blackleg pathogen to decompose in the field, hopefully
reducing the blackleg survival enough before canola is
planted again three years down
the road. This way, the fungus
doesn’t build up in crop residues, and the pathogen has less
potential to adapt to the resistance sources used in the varieties being grown.
Rotation
is still better
RANCONA PINNACLE TAKES SEED TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY TO NEW LEVELS.
®
RANCONA® PINNACLE combines two powerful fungicides that provide both contact and systemic activity, with
RANCONA micro-dispersion technology for superior adhesion and coverage. And when more active ingredient
ends up on your seed and not your equipment, you’ll see improved seed emergence, healthier seedlings, and
higher yields. To learn more, talk to your Arysta LifeScience representative or visit rancona.com.
Always read and follow label directions. Rancona is a registered trademark of MacDermid Agricultural Solutions, Inc.
Arysta LifeScience and the Arysta LifeScience logo are registered trademarks of the Arysta LifeScience Corporation. RANU-002
“If you don’t allow sufficient
time, those infested pathogen
residues remain in the field,
and the tighter the rotation the
greater the potential for them
to survive, plus the greater the
at pathogen buildup,” says
Turkington. In the disease triangle that plant pathologists like to
refer to, “disease is the result of
the interaction between a susceptible host, a favourable environment, and a virulent pathogen,”
says Turkington. Taking out that
host plant in that triangle, the
canola, is the best bet so far in
getting the blackleg pathogen to
die off before the next time the
crop is planted.
Both Harker and Turkington
say that while there is some
potential for tighter canola rotations if farmers had more information about varieties (so they
could plant varieties from different seed backgrounds with different disease-resistant properties), longer crop rotations are
still the best bet. “Continuous
canola is just not sustainable,”
in the long-term, because there
are many other issues beyond
disease resistance to take account
of, things like weeds and insects,
says Harker.
Sometimes farmers see canola’s profit potential and are
willing to lose little yield to
gain more income. But, rotation is still better for long term
sustainability on the farm, says
Harker, if you’re willing to take
that bit of a financial hit in the
short term. †
Dilia Narduzzi is a freelance writer in
Dundas, Ont.
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
Features
17
Grain transportation
Driving the big rigs yourself
By Susanna Heinrich
Getting schooled
or me, getting a 1A
license (known as a 1Q in
Manitoba or Alberta) was
a necessity. I was on the
farm, raising kids, helping where
I could. The farm was expanding, the workforce was fluid and
slowly meandering to “greener
pastures” — our employees were
retiring or coming on board without a 1A license. Point blank — at
harvest time the farm needed
to move more grain in the same
time with fewer people. This
meant a move to larger trucks and
training those remaining to drive
them. That’s how I got so lucky.
If you’re a farmer thinking
about getting licensed to drive a
semi, and something is holding
you back, think again. Remember,
it is not rocket science — it is, in
fact, not science at all. So, how
difficult is it?
If you choose to enrol in a
professional driving school,
look for one accredited by the
driving authority (i.e. SGI in
Saskatchewan). The content of
all the training schools is quite
similar, and there were usually
at least three options, ranging
from one-, two- or three-week
programs. You may also choose
to pay by the hour for “refresher”
courses, but generally a minimum one-week course is recommended. In the classroom you
will be given a chance to discuss
all the requirements for the practical test as well as things such
as how to complete logbooks,
coupling and uncoupling, dollying down/up the trailers, chaining the tires as well as plenty of
in-truck driving experience and
critiquing.
The fees vary from province to
province and school to school.
I checked several in each of the
Prairie provinces and found the
cost to range from approximately
$2,000 to $2,700 for a one-week
course (20 hours of hands-on
driving, plus classroom time and
observation while in the truck),
and up to $5,000 to $6,000 for
a three-week (40 hours driving)
program.
The procedure is consistent
across the Prairies, although there
may be some minor differences
and some differing name classifications.
In Saskatchewan, the endorsement is an “A” for air brakes. In
Manitoba, its “S” (slack adjuster
endorsement) or an “A” endorsement. In Alberta the air brake
endorsement is called a class “Q.”
But not to worry whether it’s an
A, S or a Q, it means the same and
is valid across Canada.
So to start at the beginning:
first the decision is made, for
whatever reason, to obtain your
1A. That’s simple enough. If you
are over 18, hold a valid license
in any of the 5, 4, 3, or 2 classifications, and are not a “novice”
driver you can begin the process.
Before you can take your driver’s test, you must apply for your
1A leaner’s permit. This involves
a few steps. You will need a medical exam. Your doctor will check
all basic functions as well as ask
you about any seizure, fainting or
substance-abuse disorders.
Once the medical has been
accepted by the licensing agency,
you can set up an appointment
to write the test for your 1A
learner’s permit. This is a series of
seven “mini” exams — all multiple choice. Questions are specific
to each class of vehicle, air brakes
and road signs. The cost is minimal ($10) and you may repeat it
on subsequent days, if needed.
That completed and passed, you
would now have a class 1A learners permit which means you can
drive the big rigs — as long as a
driver with a valid 1A and at least
three years experience is sitting
beside you. Once that hurdle has
been cleared, you can choose to
enrol in a drivers training program or practice on your own.
If you practice on your own, be
sure to use the knowledge of your
teacher, but also the “professional
drivers handbook” for information specific about circle checks
(pre-trip inspections), air brake
adjustments, coupling and uncoupling. This way, you learn to do it
“by the book” as this is what the
examiner will specifically look for
during the practical test.
Me, in the cab
Ad Number: SEC_KIND15_T
Publication: Grainews
Size: 3 x 133 6."” x 9.5” Non Bleed
The road to the road
I chose the two-week option.
Although I was quite comfortable driving large farm equipment and tandem axle trucks, I
had little to no experience with
the long trailers on the semis.
(As I had to travel and stay at
a far-away city, it was also a
chance for my husband to bond
with our children and appreciate
me even more).
When you do go for your
actual road test — and this can
be done either by an instructor at
your school (if accredited and if
initiated by the school) or at the
government licensing body.
If you have chosen to not
attend a training course, you are
responsible to arrange for your
own (legal) truck and trailer for
the road test. If you are enrolled
with an instructional school,
they will usually allow you to
use their equipment for this purpose — it’s part of your tuition.
The cost for this portion (which,
again, if you have gone through
a school is likely included in
your fee) is $55. You will be
asked to show your knowledge
of air brake adjustment, a pretrip (circle check) inspection, and
actually handling the vehicle on
the road.
My road test was done late
November in a snowstorm. Not
ideal driving conditions, but an
excellent opportunity to demonstrate my newfound capabilities.
As I said, it isn’t rocket science — if you can drive a manual transmission, you can drive
a semi. Like anything, it takes
practice, patience and time to
refine the skills to be comfortable in most situations. It’s like
so many things in life — easy to
learn, a challenge to master. †
Produced by: SeCan
Product/Campaign Name: SeCan CDC Kindersley
Date Produced: JDecember 2015
F
Susanna Heinrich is a farmer, trucker and
mother on a farm near Davidson, Sask.
photo: courtesy susanna heinrich
Not every farmer is licensed to drive a semi, but they could be. Here’s how it works
SEC_KIND15_T_GN_SEC_KIND15_T_GN.qxd 2015-12-30 12:04 PM Page 1
Susanna Heinrich took the course. Now she’s licensed to drive the semi behind her.
Barley on tap.
CDC Kindersley
✔ 6% higher yield than AC Metcalfe
✔ earlier maturity than AC Metcalfe
✔ strong straw
Genes that fit your farm.
800-665-7333
www.secan.com
®
*Compared to AC Metcalfe in Coop Registration Trials
Developed by Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan
Genes that fit your farm® is a registered trademark of SeCan.
Ad Number: SEC_KIND15_T
18
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Features
Crop management
Liquid manure is liquid gold
It’s expensive to transport, but farmers near hog operations like the benefits
By Julienne Isaacs
L
iquid manure — particularly liquid hog manure,
which is more readily
available than solid or
semi-solid manures — has always
been viewed as a valuable nutrient source for field crop production. But it’s expensive to transport, so access is localized near
hog operations.
“I talk to a lot of growers
growing oilseeds and cereals,
and they would take liquid hog
manure any day if they had
access to it,” says Mario Tenuta,
Canada research chair in applied
soil ecology and professor at
the University of Manitoba. “To
move it costs a lot of money, so
unless you have a hog producer
next to you, or you have pigs
yourself, it’s too expensive to
move or transport.”
Tenuta has just wrapped up a
five-year research project looking at options for separating solids and liquids in hog manure,
composting separated solids to
concentrate phosphorus (P) at
smaller volumes, while also stabilizing nitrogen (N) losses.
“We’ve found that it composts
very well. We need to add bulking
agents to it, like straw. It can compost very readily and produces
a decent compost final product,
and when we add that to soil, it’s
a very good source of P and can
also provide some N,” he says.
Once the liquid is separated
into N and P “streams” using a
commercial centrifuge, explains
Tenuta, the researchers take the
P from the liquid manure and
concentrate it. “This increases
its value and gives it potential
to be shipped farther,” he says.
“One of our approaches was to
compost the material, produce a
fertilizer that’s beneficial for soil
and has other benefits.”
The University of Manitoba,
along with the Manitoba
Livestock Manure Management
Initiative (MLMMI) and
Manitoba pork industry representatives, has investigated several technologies for mechanical
manure separation.
“I think it’s important to recognize that most soils in the
province are deficient in nitrogen and phosphorus — we need
nutrients,” says John Carney,
executive director of MLMMI.
“Manitoba is in a P deficit but
there are a few areas that have
a surplus because of livestock
density. We have a P distribution
problem. MLMMI is looking at
various alternatives for relocating
that phosphorus from a surplus
region to a deficit region.”
Carney says Manitoba producers are showing more and more
interest in optimizing manures.
“They are motivated to try to get
the most value from the nutrients in liquid manure. They want
to get the nutrients into their
crops and are motivated to do
that both environmentally and
economically.” he says.
Application options
Most producers hire professional applicators to get the job
done, due to the high cost of customized application equipment
and the difficulty of transporting
manure.
According to Don Flaten,
a soil science professor at the
University of Manitoba, custom
applicators must meet a rigorous
set of standards. They must be
licensed, and they must justify
the cost of highly specialized and
sophisticated equipment.
A large-scale intensive focus
on manure management has
improved the accuracy and efficacy of liquid manure application, says Flaten. “For larger
livestock operations, it’s more
effective to rent the services of
manure management planners
and custom applicators.”
Industry has sprung up
around manure management;
custom applicators sometimes
work with nutrient management consulting companies.
Scott Dick is part-owner of one
such company, the Landmarkbased Agra-Gold Consulting.
“We write nutrient management plans for submission to
Manitoba Conservation, we
work with producers in coming up with agronomic solutions using manure as a nutrient
source, and we coordinate and
schedule application for producers,” explains Dick.
Any livestock facility in
the province with more than
300 animal units must file a
manure management plan with
Manitoba Conservation each
year by July 10.
Agra-Gold’s consultants file
plans indicating the amount of
Grow informed.
With the new web series: AGGronomyTV
AgCanada.com is proud to present this new informative web video series.
AGGronomyTV is a series of videos that covers today’s top issues related
to soil management and crop production. Video topics include:

New Seeding Technology

Crop Suitability for

Tire Performance
NW Saskatchewan

Plus more…

4R Stewardship

Growing Soybeans
Scan the code or visit the website for more information
www.agcanada.com/aggronomytv
Sponsored by
manure to be spread in the coming year, then does a series of soil
tests and collects yield goals on
a field-by-field basis. The company submits this information to
Manitoba Conservation.
“Once the application is done
we create an application map
using GPS data, and the manure
applicator takes samples that
we send to the lab to get an
accurate number on the amount
of nutrients in that manure,”
Dick explains. “Post-addition, we
take the data and create a map,
take the samples and soil tests
and put together an agronomic
report and economic summary
of what happened on each field.
We’ll then visit the producers
and give them reports.”
With precision and specialized
equipment farmers are getting
much more out of liquid manure.
“If you viewed it as a nutrient
source rather than a waste product, by applying the science and
following through with analysis
and implementation, every step
increases the value of that product,” he says. †
Julienne Isaacs is a Winnipeg-based
freelance writer and editor. Contact her at
[email protected].
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
Features
19
New crop
Canola gets competition from soy
Canadian soybean acreage is likely to continue increasing
By Lilian Schaer
C
anola faces fierce competition from other oilseeds
like soy or sunflowers,
according to research
completed by agri benchmark.
The global non-profit network
of agricultural experts completed
three in-depth case studies of the
on-farm competitiveness of rapeseed/canola versus other oilseed
crops in Canada, Hungary and
Ukraine.
Results were presented during the International Rapeseed
Conference in Saskatoon in July
2015; key among them were:
• Soybeans tend to be preferred
when liquidity or production risk
is an issue.
• Canola is more responsive to
intensive management and higher
input levels, making it more successful on high-performing farms.
• Crop mix influences oilseed
choice. Wheat and canola go well
together, while corn pairs well
with soybeans or sunflowers.
The study showed that soybeans
have clearly established themselves as the number two oilseed
behind canola in Manitoba’s Red
River Valley, with an average
return of more than $200 per
hectare — 45 per cent higher than
canola.
The recent downward trend in
commodity prices also favours
soybeans, say study authors, as
they have 30 per cent lower liquidity requirements than canola.
Shorter-season soy varieties and
the changing climate are reducing
production risks to growers, who
can also get better use of labour
and machinery from that crop
because of how the soybeans’ later
seeding and harvest times extend
the cropping season.
Canadian soybean acreage has
increased from 3.58 million acres
in 2009 to 5.4 million in 2015.
In Western Canada, Manitoba
acreage has increased from
415,000 acres in 2009 to 1.33
million in 2015. Saskatchewan
recorded 300,000 acres in 2015.
In the Maritimes, acreage has
risen from 35,000 to 82,000 and in
Quebec from 598,000 to 778,000
acres during the same period,
while Ontario’s seeded area has
remained relatively stable.
And there promises to be more
growth in the future for soybeans
as new varieties, such as high
oleic, come on the market that
will open up new uses in both
food and industrial applications.
A new vegetable oil-based multipurpose lubricant called Smart
Earth Ecolube is now being made
from Ontario-grown high oleic
soybean oil, and manufacturer
Smart Earth Corporation has
additional products soy-based
products soon to hit the market,
including a grease and a bar and
chain oil.
A study on Canadian vegetable
oil consumption commissioned
by Soy 20/20 shows that in 2013,
a total of just over one million
(1,080,885) metric tonnes of vegetable oils were consumed in food
in Canada.
Of that total, approximately 20
per cent was soybean oil. The
remaining 50 per cent was comprised of canola (42 per cent) and
Lilian Shaer is a professional farm and food
writers based in Guelph, Ontario. Follow her
blog at foodandfarmingcanada.com.
The recent downward trend in commodity prices also favours soybeans,
say agri benchmark, a global network of agricultural experts.
45H33 116.8 bushels per acre!
Pioneer® hybrid 45H33 with Pioneer Protector® Clubroot resistance is setting new yield standards
for Western Canada. The winner of our 2015 Proving Ground™ Yield Challenge just weighed in with a
whopping 116.8 bu/ac*. And the runner-up delivered 84.3 bu/ac*, both growing Pioneer® hybrid 45H33.
What we do, is in our name.
High oleic soybeans
At the Canadian Conference on
Fats and Oilseeds held in Quebec
City this past October, Susan
Knowlton, senior research manager with DuPont Pioneer, said
high oleic soybeans were developed to meet the trans-fat solution
for the food industry, but that
additional applications have also
emerged.
“When you compare high oleic
soy to other high oleic oils, it has
quite a bit more stability than
other oils,” Knowlton said. “No
matter what test we do, high oleic
soy is a really, really stable oil and
comes out on top in manufacturing and food service.”
high oleic low linoleic canola
(HOLL — at eight per cent), and
imported oils and blends from 11
other plants such as palm, olive,
coconut and corn.
“Soybean is the Canadian darling,” report author Josipa Paska,
managing director of Fats and
Oils Competitive Intelligence,
stated in a presentation at the
same conference.
“It’s the second-largest oilseed
crop in Canada, and although
Ontario is the largest producer,
acreage is expanding in Manitoba
and Saskatchewan, and oil
processing capacity is expanding
in Quebec.” †
Pioneer® brand canola hybrids with Pioneer Protector® traits give you the peace of mind you need when growing canola.
By delivering elite genetics with built-in resistance traits and solid agronomics, Pioneer® brand canola hybrids help you
maximize the potential of your canola crops to achieve industry-leading yields.
To find out more about achieving high canola yields, talk to your local Pioneer Hi-Bred sales representative or visit pioneer.com
*Canola yield data collected from large-scale, grower managed Proving Ground™ trials across Western Canada as of October 30, 2015 as
part of the 2015 DuPont Pioneer Yield Challenge. Product responses are variable and subject to any number of environmental, disease
and pest pressures. Individual results may vary. Multi-year and multi-location data is a better predictor of future performance. Refer to
www.pioneer.com/yield or contact a Pioneer Hi-Bred sales representative for the latest and complete listing of traits and scores for each
Pioneer® brand product. Genuity® and Roundup Ready® are registered trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC. Pioneer® brand products
are provided subject to the terms and conditions of purchase which are part of the labeling and purchase documents.
®, SM, TM
@PioneerWCanada
Trademarks and service marks of DuPont, Pioneer or their respective owners. © 2016, PHII.
1447 Pioneer 45H33 Yield ad_GrainNews.indd 1
12/15/15 11:26 AM
20
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Columns
Reporter’s notebook
You asked for it, you’ve got it
Lisa Guenther is starting out the new year by giving Grainews readers what they want
Lisa
Guenther
I
’ve decided to start out the New
Year by writing at least one
Grainews column that is focused
on what readers want, rather
than whatever is rattling around
inside my head. Based on subscriber
feedback and our own marketing
material, it seems our readers want
advice on everything from dealing
with gossip to making easy money.
And recipes.
So here is everything you ever
wanted in a Grainews column
Year of the pulses a
nd recipes to match
This year, pulses have stepped into the
spotlight, as the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization declared
2016 the International Year of Pulses.
Pulse Canada is holding over 20 events
across the country this year to educate
people about the benefits of eating
pulses. For more on the International
Year of Pulses, visit www.pulses.org/
iyp-2016.
Personally, I’m a huge fan of chickpeas. I throw them into a tomatobased stew that I make in the slowcooker. I turn them into hummus.
But I really like to roast them. After
rinsing them, I coat them with canola
oil. Then I add some curry and minced
garlic, to taste. You can use other
spices if you don’t like curry. I bake
them at 400 F for 10 minutes, stir
them, then bake them for another 10
minutes. If you want them crispier,
you can keep baking them. There are
many, many more recipes at www.
pulses.org/recipes.
So thank you farmers for growing
all those pulses. I hope you find something in this issue to help you bump
your yield or deal with the production
problems you see on your farm.
Now on to other things that we are
supposed to cover in Grainews.
The secrets of
“lazy” millionaires
I thought about calling up a certain
tow-headed American politician for
this one, but I figured he’d tell me to
start by inheriting a bunch of money
from my father. That didn’t seem
helpful.
I’m guessing this probably has
something to do with smart investing, rather than avoiding work. But if
I ever find a money tree, I’ll let you
know my secret for only 10 weekly
payments of $19.99…
How to deal with gossip
at the coffee shop
Fire back on Facebook.
Just kidding.
Usually it’s best to ignore it. But if,
for example, your neighbour is rude
enough to say something malicious to
your spouse about you, I think you’re
perfectly justified in giving him the
hairy eyeball the next time you see
him at the Co-op. If you can arch one
eyebrow, that will work even better.
You probably saw a copy of this Grainews marketing brochure in your mailbox.
How to create your dream shop
Talk to Scott Garvey.
machinery editor.)
(Grainews
What to do when it doesn’t
rain or won’t quit raining
That would be a good time to learn all
about Charles Hatfleld, rainmaker. Or
“rain enhancer.”
In 1915, San Diego commissioned
him to break a dry spell and fill
the city’s reservoir. Hatfield got to
work, building a tower and mixing
chemicals. Soon, it began to rain. The
reservoir brimmed with water. One
dam failed, and the flood devastated
people living downstream. San Diego
itself flooded.
People threatened to lynch Hatfield,
and the only way the city would pay
him would be if he agreed to accept
responsibility for the flood damage.
Lawsuits were already in the works, so
Hatfield decided to pass on payment.
I learned about Hatfield through a
podcast called Snap Judgement. It was
near the end of Episode #525, if you’re
interested. There’s also tonnes of information about him online.
I don’t know of any modern-day
rainmakers, or rain stoppers, for that
matter. So I have very little practical
advice.
But if your father has noticed that all
the neighbours have had more favourable weather, don’t joke about his place
being cursed.
How to get a new tractor
without getting divorced
Talk to your spouse before you buy.
Crazy mods to your trucks,
snowmobile, tractor and more
Where to even start with this one? The
first thing that popped into my head
was “Apocalypse Skidoo,” these funny
cartoons drawn by a young local. I wonder if he would be insulted that I found
“Apocalypse Skidoo” funny. Maybe it’s
supposed to be rad. Or crazy-rad.
The second thing about this category
is that it’s missing ice-fishing shacks. We
should be featuring crazy mods to old
campers and whatever else you use for ice
fishing. Some people are really into ice fishing, and upgrading their shacks. And many
of them are of the farmer persuasion.
I think there’s a lot more to be done
in this whole area. †
Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based
at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.Guenther@
fbcpublishing.com or on Twitter @LtoG.
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
21
Columns
Understanding market bulls and bears
Your winter marketing plan
Watch the futures spread and the cost of carry to decide when to sell your grain
Brian
wittal
T
his winter, you should
have time to take stock
of your grain inventory,
update your cost of production numbers and do some
math to determine your true
break-even costs.
Do you have a marketing plan?
Are you using it or reviewing it
and making changes accordingly?
Do you know your quantity and
quality of your grains in store?
I’m going to assume you
answered yes to the last three
questions! Now, it’s a matter of
figuring out how and where to
market your grain. Is the market
offering prices that will make you
a profit? If so, should you be selling now or holding on? You have
to try to figure out what the world
and domestic markets are telling
you by the price signals they are
showing you.
World grain markets are
always in flux because every
month of the year there is a crop
being seeded or harvested somewhere in the world. This keeps
supply and demand numbers
fluid and constantly changing,
which then is reflected in the
price that buyers are willing to
pay to secure supply.
What pricing signs should you
be looking for?
Futures spreads, grade and protein spreads and basis levels are the
primary ones to watch and follow.
Needless to say trying to figure
out what the full cost of carry
should be is not easy. I take the
futures price and multiply it by
.175 for a ballpark value. This
is what the full cost of carry
should be in a normal market.
You can do some fast math to
see if the market is paying you
full cost of carry to hold your
grain or not. For example:
March futures are $485. May
futures are $493. July futures
are $498.
Multiply $485 x .175 = $8.50.
Add that to the March value and
get $485 + $8.50 = $493.50. May
futures are at full carry over the
March futures. July is only at
about 55 per cent of full carry
over the May futures.
What does this tell you? In ply of the next crop to be harthis example it could suggest vested and they’re trying to get
that buyers are comfortable you to carry your grain forward.
with the current supply avail- This would help them in July,
ability in the market and are should the new harvest be less
paying full carry to incent you than anticipated and they need
to not sell your grain now but your grain.
to carry it forward.
Sometimes nearby futures
With the July only at 55 per trade at a premium to the future
cent of full cost of carry to May, months. This indicates that there
it could suggest that there will is an immediate need from the
be new supply coming onto the buyers for the grain, and they are
market from somewhere in the willing to pay a premium to get
world between May and July their hands on it now.
and buyers expect that they
This immediate need can be
will be able to buy it at a lower for a number of reasons. The
price then.
buyer may have just made a big
If the July were at full carry sale for nearby delivery. There
to May or above full carry, that could be concerns that demand
could possibly indicate that buy- is greater than the current supT:8.125”
ers are concerned about the sup- ply. A big harvest could be
expected to come off in the next
month or two — in the short
term, buyers are willing to pay
a little extra for old crop stocks
to keep them running until the
next big harvest comes off —
there can always be weather
delays and they don’t want to
be caught without supplies to
keep operations running. The
forward months don’t have any
cost of carry included — buyers
know the full crop can’t all come
to market at the same time and
are willing to wait and buy as
they need it. †
Brian Wittal has 30 years of grain industry
experience, and currently offers market
planning and marketing advice to farmers
through his company Pro Com Marketing Ltd.
(www.procommarketingltd.com).
Futures spreads
are the market’s
indication
T:10”
Watch the signs
Futures spreads: what are
they and how do they work?
Futures spreads are the market’s indication of perceived
world supply and demand for
grains, and how and where buyers can buy grain, for what price.
Buyers (millers, brewers, crushers and feeders) need year-round
supplies to keep their operations
running smoothly. Most of them
cannot store a years worth of
grain or buy a year’s worth of
grain 12 months in advance.
In
normally
functioning
futures markets there is a spread,
or price difference, between the
various futures months. The further out months are usually at
a higher value than the nearby
month. This is because buyers
would prefer you to store the
grain so they can buy it as they
need it. They realize you won’t
do that unless there you have a
price incentive. This is called the
“cost of carry.”
In the cost of carry there is also
a cost of interest that the buyers
are willing to pay. This is based
on what the buyer would have to
pay to borrow money now to buy
the grain for future use.
THERE’S A NEW
SHERIFF IN TOWN.
Delaro® fungicide doesn’t take kindly to
diseases like anthracnose, ascochyta and
white mould threatening the yield potential
of innocent pulse and soybean crops.
Powerful, long-lasting disease control with
exceptional yield protection, Delaro is setting
a new standard in pulse and soybean crops.
TELL ‘EM DELARO’S COMING
cropscience.bayer.ca
1 888-283-6847
@Bayer4CropsCA
Always read and follow label directions. Delaro® is a registered trademark of Bayer Global.
Bayer CropScience Inc. is a member of CropLife Canada.
C-72-12/15-10486160-E
22
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Columns
Agronomy management
Diagnosing and managing acid soils
Acidic soils can restrict plant growth. Learn how to recognize and manage these soils on your farm
Ross
McKenzie
S
oils with a pH ranging
between 6.0 and 8.0 are
suitable for most crops on
the Prairies. Soils with a pH
range between 6.5 to 7.5 are considered to be near neutral. Soil pH
between 6.0 to 5.6, 5.5 to 5.1 and
< 5.0 are considered to be moderately acidic, strongly acidic and
very strongly acidic, respectively.
When soil pH declines below
6.0, the physical, chemical, and
biological properties of soils are
gradually affected and yield of
crops will decline. Crops can vary
considerably in their tolerance to
the various components of soil
acidity. The damage caused by soil
acidity to crops is often complex.
that tend to be slightly to strongly
acidic. Acidic soils can also occur in
localized areas in fields throughout
the Prairies, and tend to occur in
lower relief areas of fields where
water tends to accumulate and
the soils tend to be more leached,
reducing the soil pH.
Farming practices are contributing to the decline of soil pH.
Nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) fertilizers acidify the soil and over many
years of application cause the slow
decline. For example, anhydrous
ammonia (NH3), urea [CO(NH2)2]
and other ammonium (NH4+) fertilizers react in the soil in a process
called nitrification to form nitrate
(NO3−), and in the process release
H+ ions. So, as we continue to
use significant amounts of N and
S fertilizers, the pH of our agricultural soils will gradually decline
and become more acidic.
Diagnosing soil acidity
Poor yields of more sensitive
crops may indicate acidic soil problems. Soil sampling and analysis are
the first steps to correctly diagnose
and confirm a soil acidity problem.
Visual crop symptoms alone are not
enough to diagnose a problem.
Fields of concern must be carefully soil sampled. Uniquely different areas of a field should be
sampled separately. Fields should
be divided into areas based on soil
type, topography and differences
in crop growth. Each area must
be sampled separately. Often, soil
pH will vary with topography, so
on land with more rolling topography, the lower, mid and upper
slope areas should be sampled
separately. Often different areas
of a field may be more acidic and
require higher rates of lime than
other areas, and some areas may
not require any lime at all.
Soil samples that are moderately
or strongly acidic should then have
a “lime requirement test” to determine the amount of lime required
to raise the soil pH to 6.0 or 6.5.
Lime rates depend on the amount
of pH change that is needed and
must take into account the soil
buffering capacity. Buffering capacity is the amount of lime required
to change pH a given amount.
Sandy soils have low buffering
capacity and require less lime to
modify soil pH versus soils with
higher clay content, which have a
high buffering capacity. Once the
rates of lime are determined, then
the cost to purchase, transport and
apply the lime can be estimated to
assess the economics of liming.
How does lime
change soil pH?
The most common product used
to modify acid soils is lime, which
is calcium carbonate (CaCO3).
Other calcium based products such
as calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)2]
and calcium oxide (CaO) can also
be used as liming materials.
When calcium carbonate is
added to an acidic soil it produces
Effects of Soil Acidity
Soil acidity can have negative
direct and indirect effects on crop
growth and yield. Acid soils usually
contain soluble forms of aluminum (Al) and manganese (Mn). As
soils become more acidic, the soil
pH decreases, and this increases
the concentration of hydrogen
(H+) ions in soil. As soils become
more acidic, this causes aluminum
and manganese to become more
soluble in soil; they will gradually
increase to levels toxic to plants.
Aluminum toxicity will restrict
root growth and tie up phosphorus (P), reducing crop uptake of
P. The indirect effect of restricted
root growth is a reduced uptake of
water and nutrients which further
restricts plant growth.
Manganese toxicity will result in
visual symptoms, including black
necrotic spots or streaks on leaves
of cereal crops. Manganese toxicity can cause chlorosis on leaf
margins and cupping of leaves of
canola and legume crops. Toxicity
of aluminum and manganese can
reduce yields of most crops when
grown on strongly acid soils (pH
< 5.5). Recent research has shown
that higher concentrations of H+
ions can be directly toxic to plants.
The other major negative effect
of soil acidity is on the survival
and growth soil microorganisms.
Of particular concern is the survival of rhizobium bacteria, which
live in association with legume
roots to fix nitrogen. The rhizobium bacteria that live in association with alfalfa, sweet clover and
pulse crops such as pea are especially sensitive to acidity.
In acidic soils, microbial activity
is reduced. This affects nutrient
cycling, such as the mineralization of soil organic matter. This
can reduce the mineralization and
release of nitrogen, phosphorus,
sulphur and other nutrients from
organic matter.
Location of acidic soils
The majority of acid soils occur
in the gray and dark gray soil
zones of Alberta, Saskatchewan
and Manitoba. These soils formed
under boreal forest vegetation.
The effect of climate and vegetation caused the formation of soils
FCC Ag Outlook 2016
Understand the trends, see the opportunities
Economy
Commodities
Weather
Technology
Attend this half-day learning event that looks at the agriculture trends and issues facing
your operation in the year ahead. Hear from leading industry experts and make informed
decisions.
Tuesday, February 9
Victoria Inn
Brandon
Tuesday, February 23
Prairieland Park
Saskatoon
Wednesday, February 24
Heritage Inn
Moose Jaw
Tuesday, March 1
Pomeroy Hotel
Grande Prairie
Thursday, March 3
Northlands
Edmonton
Presented in partnership with
Seating is limited – register for free today.
fcc.ca/AgOutlook | 1-888-332-3301
FCC Ag Knowledge Exchange offers 125+ events to anyone with an interest in Canadian agriculture – for free.
January 19, 2016
grainews.ca /
23
Columns
a gas (carbon dioxide) and leaves
Ca+2 in the soil. The Ca+2 will
exchange with exchangeable acidity on the soil exchange complex.
The reaction continues with calcium carbonate until all the acidity is neutralized or all the calcium
carbonate is used up. The reaction
process occurs over many months
to several years.
Other calcium-based products
such as calcium chloride or calcium sulfate (gypsum) are neutral
salts and cannot be used as liming
materials and are ineffective in
modifying acid soils.
Lime application
From the “lime requirement
test,” the lab provides the rates
required as “pure lime.” But sources
of agricultural lime are not pure.
They may only be 70 or 80 per cent
calcium carbonate, which must be
taken into consideration when
determining the rate of product
to apply. This is called the calcium
carbonate equivalent (CCE).
The lime must also be very finely
ground. The finer the liming material, the greater its surface area,
resulting in faster reactivity with
the soil. Fineness of the liming
material must also be considered in
calculating the actual application
rate of the liming product.
Ideally, apply lime immediately
after harvest to allow time for the
lime to react for greatest benefit
on soil pH before the next growing season. Lime should be spread
very evenly over the soil surface
and thoroughly incorporated into
the soil. Water is required for the
reaction process between the lime
and soil. Lime will react more
rapidly in a very moist soil versus
a drier soil. It often takes a year
or more before a response can be
measured even under very good
soil moisture conditions.
The reaction time will depend
on the type of lime used, the
fineness or coarseness of the lime
material, and moisture conditions.
Remember that liming materials
differ widely in their neutralizing
power due to variations in the
percentage of calcium and magnesium content. Liming materials
with a higher CCE will to neutralize soil acidity faster than those
with a lower CCE.
Long term
benefits of liming
The major benefit of liming is
increased crop production. This
also results in more root and plant
fibre returned to the soil, which
in turn will benefit soil organic
matter levels in the long term.
The toxicity issues of aluminum
and manganese are minimized or
eliminated. Production of legume
crops such as alfalfa, sweet clover
and pea can be greatly improved
due to more favourable soil conditions for the nitrogen fixing rhizobium bacteria. Forage quality can
also significantly improved.
The application of lime to acid
soils will improve the biological,
chemical, and physical properties
of the soils. Liming will increase
soil pH causing a more favourable
environment for soil microbiological activity. This improves soil nutrient cycling and turnover of plant
available nutrients from soil organic
matter. Ultimately, lime can contribute to improved soil health.
Reduced soil acidity will increase
the availability of plant nutrients, particularly phosphorus. In
strongly acidic soils, phosphorus is
retained in less available forms than
on slightly acid and neutral soils.
Therefore, a major benefit of liming
acid soils is the increased utilization
of residual phosphorus by crops.
The application of lime can also
improve the physical properties of
some soils. Notably, soil structure
may be improved and soil crusting is less of an issue. This leads
to improved emergence of small
seeded crops such as canola.
The first steps?
If you think you have reduced
crop yields due to acid soils, the
place to start is to have problem
SOIL PH CLASSIFICATION
Soil pH
Description
6.0 to 8.0
Suitable for most crops
6.5 to 7.5
Near neutral
6.0 to 5.6
Moderately acidic
5.5 to 5.1
Strongly acidic
< 5.0
Very strongly acidic
fields soil sampled to determine soil
pH. If a problem is identified, you
may want to undertake more intensive field soil sampling, and have
lime requirement soil tests completed. Then, undertake the process
to find lime sources, to determine
the cost of lime, the transportation costs and application costs, to
decide if application is economically feasible. If the economics look
questionable, consider lime application in some test strips first to assess
potential benefits. †
Ross H. McKenzie, PhD, P. Ag., is a former
agronomy research scientist. He conducted
soil, crop and irrigation research with Alberta
Agriculture for 38 years. He has also been an
adjunct professor at the University of Lethbridge
since 1993.
Tip of the issue
Mike Jubinville
Do the math on
stacked canola
President, Pro Farmer Canada
By Ellis Clayton
Mike is lead analyst and president of Pro Farmer Canada, an independent market analysis
and advisory service he started in 1997. Benefit from his experience as he explains current
and future trends in agriculture, the current state of commodity markets and what we can
expect next.
eed companies promote
stacked trait seed options
as the next big thing, but
some growers are still hesitant about whether those new
hybrids are the right choice. If
you’re still on the fence, here are
some points to consider.
Andy Nadler
Agricultural Meteorologist, Peak Hydromet Solutions
Andy undertakes a variety of weather, climate and agriculture-related projects across
western Canada. Find out how understanding the weather can help you make better
marketing, agronomic and management decisions for your operation in 2016.
Peter Gredig
Partner, AgNition Inc.
Peter grows corn, soybean and wheat near London, Ont., and builds apps and mobile
resources for Canadian farmers, agribusinesses and organizations. He’ll help you discover
how emerging technologies could benefit agriculture – and your operation.
J.P. Gervais
FCC Chief Agricultural Economist
J.P. has over 15 years of experience in domestic and international analysis of agricultural
policies and markets. He’ll provide insight into major economic trends shaping the Canadian
agriculture industry and how they could impact your farm in the coming year.
S
1. Know your challenges
It can be overwhelming to keep
up with the latest seed options. For
example, if your fields are prone to
diseases such as clubroot, sclerotinia
or blackleg, consider utilizing several
hybids to manage disease risk. Or,
if you farm across several regions,
choosing two to three hybrids with
different traits and maturities can
assist in managing risk.
2. Do you need flexibilitiy?
Hybrids that offer pod shatter
resistance provide the flexibility of
later swathing, and/or an option
to straight cut. In future we may
swathers scrapped altogether.
3. Think of shatter losses
Some hybrids come with a
promise to reduce shatter. Since
plants mature from the bottom
first, growers have traditionally
had to worry about harvesting at
the right time. With less shatter,
expect blacker, bigger seed — and
fewer canola volunteers.
4. The costs of spraying
It’s tough to predict the need
for spraying year to year. Each
grower will need to understand
the different agronomic needs for
each field and choose their best
trait package for those needs. For
best results, talk to your seed
rep about what’s new, and what
might benefit your farm next
spring. †
Ellis Clayton is technical product manager,
DuPont Pioneer Canada
24
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Columns
Farm financial planner
Time to distribute the farm assets
At age 80, Mary wants to pass her wealth on to her family and a favourite charity
By Andrew Allentuck
A
s her 80th birthday
approaches, a farm
widow we’ll call Mary
finds herself in a
dilemma. Her husband Bob passed
away 10 years ago, leaving substantial life insurance benefits which
she used to cover living expenses
and farm losses. Mary’s 1,280-acre
grain farm is rented to tenants.
The farm has broken even with
recent high grain prices and there’s
a gravel pit on one section.
Mary’s problem is to ensure that
her four children, two of whom are
farmers, are treated equally. There
are also seven grandchildren who
will have post-secondary educational expenses. She would like to
donate some land to a conservation foundation and some money
to her church.
The farm has a turbulent history. Low grain prices for much of
the 1960s, rising operating costs
in the 1970s, then high interest
rates in the 1980s made the farm a
subsistence operation for decades.
For the last half-dozen years, the
farm has broken even, but Mary
now realizes she has to sell it. She
has already sold the machinery
and inventory. What’s left is eight
quarters, one with the gravel pit
that’s sold off 75 per cent of its
estimated rock.
Mary wants to move to an assisted
living apartment in a nearby town.
To do that, she will need about
$45,000 a year in after-tax income.
Farm Financial Planner asked
Rod Tyler, head of the Tyler
Group in Regina, to work with
Mary to devise a plan for transitioning the farm to cash for her
children and for her own future.
She already has financial assets
worth $838,000 from Bob’s life
insurance and decades of modest
living and saving.
At present, five quarters of land
are rented to two sons who farm
it. The rent supports Mary’s cost
of living. Two other quarters are
rented to a third party. Total rental
income averages $50 per acre per
year, though she rents at a 20 per
cent discount to her farming sons.
The plan
Mary would like to sell the five
quarters to her farming sons at a
discounted price, enabling them
to finance at today’s low interest
rates. She expects to sell the other
two quarters for their assessed
value on the open market, obtaining enough to provide equal sums
of about $325,000 to each child,
pay any capital gains tax due after
application of the $800,000 capital
gains exemption for qualified farm
property and then donate the single quarter with the gravel pit to a
charity for use as a wildlife refuge.
The charity would provide a tax
receipt for the value. Mary might
wind up paying the Alternative
Minimum Tax for one year. The
AMT paid would be a carryforward
for future taxes due, so its net
cost could be zero. In the year of
the sale, she would probably have
income far in excess of the Old Age
Security clawback point at which
all OAS is lost. But it would be for
only one year.
Assuming that Mary sells her
farmland, donates the quarter to a
charity, gives the proceeds to her
four children, sells her home for
$200,000 but retains her financial
assets, she will have total assets
for investment of $1,038,000. A
three per cent return would produce annual pre-tax income of
$31,140. On top of that base
income, she would have Old
Age Security benefits of $6,840
in 2015 dollars, and CPP benefits of $4,500 a year. Her total
income would be $42,480. After
15 per cent average income tax,
she would have income of $3,000
a month.
Mary can raise her investment
income by using an annuity payout method. It is a calculation of
return of capital, some of which
is not taxed. It is not the result of
buying an annuity from an insurance company. Using an annuity
that would exhaust all capital in
20 years to her age 100, she could
have $67,740. OAS and CPP would
push annual income to $79,080.
Allowing for a return of capital
adjustment in her tax preparation,
she could squeak by the clawback,
which starts at $72,809 in 2016,
and retain all of her income.
That would be in excess of her
needs in a range of $40,000 to
$50,000 a year, the higher sum
reflecting perhaps costs of travel
to see her grandchildren, gifts to
them, a winter holiday and other
pleasures. The excess income could
be banked or just given to her family or to good causes, the latter with
tax receipts.
There are other simple moves
TOTAL VALUE OF MARY’S ASSETS
5 quarter sections of land at $1,500 per acre
$1,200,000
2 quarter sections of land at $1,600 per acre
$512,000
1 quarter section with a gravel pit
$90,000
Registered Retirement Income Fund assets
$200,000
Guaranteed Income Certificates
$310,000
Cash in the bank
$280,000
Home on farm
$200,000
Common stock
$48,000
Mary can make to generate
income and reduce tax. First,
and most obvious, is to open a
Tax-Free Savings Account. Under
2015 rules that do not reflect new
moves by the federal government
to reduce TFSA contribution space,
Mary could shelter $41,000 and
reduce her taxable income, using
the three per cent rate of return,
by $1,230 a year. She could also
top up the Registered Education
Savings Plans of her grandchildren. Each move would reduce
present taxable income.
Mary’s substantial financial
assets should be moved to professional management, Tyler suggests.
Fee-only planners will handle the
chore for about one to 1.5 per cent
of assets under management. That
would save her as much as 1.5 per
cent of average fees charged by
equity mutual funds. If she wishes
to use mutual funds, corporate
class units that can be swapped
within the class umbrella without
tax would reduce tax bills. There
are guaranteed income funds with
tax advantages, but the high internal fees of these structures makes
them unsuitable for Mary.
Above all, Mary should move
the $590,000 she holds in cash
and GICs to more profitable
uses. A portfolio of stocks with
a history of raising dividends
would be appropriate. A modest
allocation, about 10 per cent,
to investment grade corporate
bonds and government bonds,
would provide a cushion if the
world economy and Canada’s
economy should go into serious
recession and deflation. Those
bonds, with fixed and assured
payments, would rise in price
and continue to provide income
even if stock dividends were cut.
For every one per cent gain in
return, which even bonds would
provide in comparison to the
large cash position Mary holds,
her financial assets would provide an additional $10,000 of
pre-tax income.
“Mary’s decades of hard work
and her dedication to her family
can be preserved through this land
allocation and investment plan,”
Tyler says. †
Andrew Allentuck is author of “When Can I
Retire? Planning Your Financial Life After Work,”
published by Penguin Canada in January, 2011.
Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers
healthy roots, healthy plants,
healthy
retUrns.
Great crop returns start with ALPINE G22®
and the ALPINE Phazed Nutrition Program™
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. Commercialized products have been approved for import into key
export markets with functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material produced from this product can only be exported to,
or used, processed or sold in countries where all necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It is a violation of national
and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted.
Growers should talk to their grain handler or product purchaser to confirm their buying position for this product. Excellence
Through Stewardship® is a registered trademark of Excellence Through Stewardship.
ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Ready® crops contain genes that confer tolerance
to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides. Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides will
kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate. Acceleron® seed treatment technology for canola contains the active ingredients
difenoconazole, metalaxyl (M and S isomers), fludioxonil and thiamethoxam. Acceleron® seed treatment technology for
canola plus Vibrance® is a combination of two separate individually-registered products, which together contain the active
ingredients difenoconazole, metalaxyl (M and S isomers), fludioxonil, thiamethoxam, and sedaxane. Acceleron® seed treatment
technology for corn (fungicides and insecticide) is a combination of four separate individually-registered products, which
together contain the active ingredients metalaxyl, trifloxystrobin, ipconazole, and clothianidin. Acceleron® seed treatment
technology for corn (fungicides only) is a combination of three separate individually-registered products, which together contain
the active ingredients metalaxyl, trifloxystrobin and ipconazole. Acceleron® seed treatment technology for corn with Poncho®/
VoTivo™ (fungicides, insecticide and nematicide) is a combination of five separate individually-registered products, which
together contain the active ingredients metalaxyl, trifloxystrobin, ipconazole, clothianidin and Bacillus firmus strain I-1582.
Acceleron® seed treatment technology for soybeans (fungicides and insecticide) is a combination of four separate individually
registered products, which together contain the active ingredients fluxapyroxad, pyraclostrobin, metalaxyl and imidacloprid.
Acceleron® seed treatment technology for soybeans (fungicides only) is a combination of three separate individually registered
products, which together contain the active ingredients fluxapyroxad, pyraclostrobin and metalaxyl. Acceleron and Design®,
Acceleron®, DEKALB and Design®, DEKALB®, Genuity and Design®, Genuity®, JumpStart®, RIB Complete and Design®, RIB
Complete®, Roundup Ready 2 Technology and Design®, Roundup Ready 2 Yield®, Roundup Ready®, Roundup Transorb®,
Roundup WeatherMAX®, Roundup®, SmartStax and Design®, SmartStax®, Transorb®, VT Double PRO®, and VT Triple PRO® are
registered trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Used under license. Vibrance® and Fortenza® are registered trademarks of
a Syngenta group company. LibertyLink® and the Water Droplet Design are trademarks of Bayer. Used under license. Herculex®
is a registered trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC. Used under license. Poncho® and Votivo™ are trademarks of Bayer. Used
under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Every seed gets Phos early with ALPINE G22®
Call 1-844-655-PHOS (7467)
Get the ALPINE® team and the
Phazed Nutrition Program™ working for you.
www.alpinepfl.com
© 2015. NACHURS ALPINE SOLUTIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. “ALPINE” IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK of NACHURS ALPINE SOLUTIONS.
Visit grainews.ca to sign up for enews.
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
25
Columns
Kelly’s AgExpert Tips and Hints
Backing up your data with AgExpert
Learn how to back up and restore you data files and use other file-saving features
Kelly
Airey
C
reating proper backups of your data file
is an important part
of bookkeeping procedures when using an accounting (or any) software. I learned
the hard way when my computer hard drive crashed one night
and I couldn’t recover my data.
I knew I should have backed
up my work to a second location such as an external hard
drive or flash drive, but I didn’t
take the time to do it, and I
lost months of bookkeeping. I
like to think of that as a lesson
I only needed to learn once!
Now I back up my data file in at
least two locations at the end of
every work session and recommend all users do the same!
It’s a good idea to create a
backup before recording a GST
return, or bank reconciliation,
since those particular processes aren’t reversible, except by
reverting to a previous backup.
A user may also want to create a
backup on a USB flash drive or
disc so your data file can be taken
to your accountant for review.
How to create a backup
1. Choose File > Backup
2. Last Backup: gives you
information on when the last
back up was created, and its
location.
3. Current Backup: Choose
where you want to store the
backup copy. Click on the folder
icon to choose location.
• Backup to Hard drive: Select
the appropriate location. The file
directory usually looks similar
to this C:\Documents\Analyst\
Backup.
• Backup to removable hardware such as a USB flash drive:
insert USB flash drive into computer, then click on the folder
icon to choose the appropriate
drive.
4. Click “Back Up.” If you get
a message stating that the backup
file already exists and will be
overwritten, click “Yes.” The current backup will then over write
the old one.
5. Once the backup is completed successfully a window
should appear. Click “OK.”
6. If you would like to back up
to a CD/DVD, use the AgExpert
software to burn the backup
file onto a disc by clicking on
this button and following the
instructions accordingly.
How to restore
a backup file
1. Choose File > Restore
2. Choose the location where
you keep your backup files. Click
on the folder icon to browse for
the location on your hard drive,
USB Flash Drive, disc or other.
3. Choose the data file you
would like to restore. Click on
the file name to highlight it. At
the bottom of the screen you’ll
see information about your file:
the date the file was created, file
size, and the version of AgExpert
Analyst it was created with.
4. Choose the location where
you want to place the restored
data file: Usually the file should
be restored to the C:\Documents\
Analyst\Data directory.
“Restore.”
You
5. Click
should see a green checkmark.
Click “OK” then close the
restore window.
6. To get back to work, File
> Open > in the Documents/
Analyst/Data folder you should
see the name of the data file
you restored. Highlight it and
click open.
Hint: As part of my bookkeeping routine, I also print
out month-end reports such as
the bank reconciliation reports,
accounts payable and receivable reports and the trial balance
report. I place these in my bookkeeping file, to give me a hard
copy of the data throughout the
year.
Save a shapshot
Just before attempting to enter
a difficult or uncommon transaction, you can use the Snapshot
feature. Choosing File > Save
Snapshot instantly creates a picture of the current data file you’re
working in. If you have problems
entering a transaction, you can
return the data file to the way it
was when you started, by choosing File > Revert to Snapshot.
Warning: If you revert to
snapshot, any changes made
since the snapshot was created
will be lost. Make sure that’s
what you really want to do!
Using “Save As”
to create a practice file
File > Save As will save a working copy of your open data
file under a new file name. I
often use this feature to create a
“Practice File” from the AgExpert
sample data file that comes with
the software.
1. Choose File > Open Sample
Data File.
2. Choose File > Save As.
3. Set File Name: Type “my
practice data file”
4. Save. This creates a copy of
the AgExpert Sample data file so
you can practice entering transactions. Note that you should now
be working in “my practice data
file”. The file name will be displayed at the top of your screen.
Did you know? A list of transaction examples can be found
in the online community.
If you’re connected to the
Internet, choose Help > Online
Community > Knowledge Base >
AgExpert Analyst > Transactions
> Transaction Examples. Practice
makes perfect! †
Kelly Airey is a producer and ag consultant
in Western Manitoba. She offers software
setups and training, and discounts on
software purchases. Contact Kelly at kelly.
[email protected] or (204) 365-0136.
NEW
UNMATCHED
RESIDUAL
BURNDOWN.
For soybeans and pulses.
NEW Valtera , a premium pre-seed burndown with
residual activity, cleans up early season broadleaf weeds and
keeps on going for cleaner fields throughout the season.
Weed control that burns down but doesn’t burn out.
™
Ask your local retailer for more information.
1.800.868.5444
Nufarm.ca
Always read and follow label information.
Valtera™ is a trademark of Valent U.S.A. Corporation.
45831-02 01/16
45831-02_NFC_2016_ValteraWest_8_125x10_GN_a8.indd 1
12/23/15 3:03 PM
26
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Columns
Soils and crops
Diary of a tough year for canola
The sordid story of a Saskatchewan canola crop, from seedbed preparation to the final sale
by les henry
A
s I was preparing to
write this, the Dec.
1 issue of Grainews
arrived with Lee Hart’s
front page article: “Holy Canola!
A 74 bushel average yield.” No
74 bushels here. My story is: the
land is rolling dark brown, loam
texture, glacial till with some
stones and many sloughs. It has
been continuous cropped wheat/
peas/wheat/canola for 17 years.
September 16, 2014
Harvested a 48 bu./ac. wheat
crop, CWRS No. 2 with 14.8
per cent protein and a bit of
fusarium.
October 18, 2014
Applied 94 pounds N/acre as
anhydrous ammonia injected
three to four inches deep with
narrow knives into perfect moisture conditions.
October 20, 2014
Hot day, 24 C so harrowed,
regular tine, to level and distribute straw. A nice seedbed
resulted.
November 17, 2014
Floated on 100 lbs./acre 21-0-0-24
April 23, 2015
Snow all gone, weather warming up and looking like we might
have an early spring for a change.
April 25, 2015
A foot or more of wet heavy
snow, leaving 2.5" water in rain
gauges when it melted and many
sloughs with water.
May 2 to 4, 2015
Weather had warmed up nicely,
leaves were on the poplar trees,
must be time to seed. Seeded 4.2
lbs./acre 45H29 RR canola with
museum piece CIH 7200 drill
with atom jet openers. Phosphate
with seed was 20 lbs./acre P2O5 as
11-52-0. Apart from wet sloughs,
seeding conditions were excellent — moisture was right at surface and soil fully recharged with
water. Started out seeding about 1
inch deep but with moisture right
there decided to pull it up and just
tickle it in.
Big mistake! The moisture was
right there but the weather turned
cold right after seeding. The cold
delayed germination and soil dried
up so shallow seeding was a disaster.
Never again.
Saskatoon weather station recorded frost on 11 nights in May, the
coldest being -5.7 C on May 18.
Where was global warming when
we needed it!
With the cold weather, growth
was slow to none and germination
poor.
May, 2015
Rain: almost 0. It was not the lack
of rain but the cold that gave the
crop such a struggle. It made me
sick to look at the poor stand and
poorer growth.
We considered reseeding but
many gave me advice not to —
good advice. The crop was struggling. Some cotyledons were frozen
off and the green growing point
between cotyledons was limp. Did
not spray Roundup at usual time
top to avoid further stress on hugely
stressed plants.
June 4, 2015
Finally sprayed 0.5 litres/acre of
glyphosate and control was very
good. With first spraying being so
late a second was not done, so there
were some weeds in what is usually
a very clean crop. Only one spray
was not that I was too cheap, it just
did not work out with turtle-like
early growth.
By the end of July the crop was
well podded and could hold up
the spade.
June 8, 2015
August 17, 2015
The best of it didn’t look great. I
have no pictures of the worst. That
was just a lot of bare ground. Who
wants a picture of bare ground?
June rain: total 1.5 inches. The
biggest rain event was 0.3 of an inch.
Swathed. Many plants had
branched to provide several “main”
type stems. I picked one plant
and counted over 1,000 pods. The
blanks filled in much better than I
anticipated.
July 13, 2015
August 30, 2015
By mid-July, the plants had big
cabbage leaves and no disease.
When the weather finally warmed
up the canola took off like a rabbit.
It’s hard to imagine the resilience of
that crop.
Parts of the field never really
turned green. It seemed to go
straight from brown to yellow!
The combine rolls at 2.5 m.p.h.
to put most of it in hopper.
The final elevator yield was
40 bu./acre gross, 37 net. There
was dockage — the one shot of
glyphosate left some late weeds.
July 28, 2015
The first real rain of the season:
a 3.6" nice slow rain. It all soaked
in and the water table rose. But,
it was too late for the 2015 crop.
It survived on the ample soil
moisture and, in places, the high
water table.
July 30, 2015
The outcome
2015 was a real lesson in reality and a reminder of the rules in
farming:
Rule 1 Mother Nature is in charge.
Rule 2 If in doubt, see Rule 1. †
J.L.(Les) Henry is a former professor and
extension specialist at the University of
Saskatchewan. He farms at Dundurn, Sask.
He recently finished a third printing of “Henry’s
Handbook of Soil and Water.”
HOW CUSTOMERS USE CANADIAN FIELD CROPS
More peas please
China is becoming a major importer of Canadian peas,
thanks in large part to vermicelli noodles. Starch from
mung beans was originally used to make these noodles
but as that supply decreased, the search was on for a
replacement. Starch from Canadian yellow peas is now
commonly used as an ingredient in these noodles which are
very popular in the Asian market.
cigi.ca
Canadian International Grains Institute
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
27
Columns
1
2
3
photos: les henry
4
5
1. On June 8, 2015, the best of the canola
crop didn’t look great. I have no pictures of
the worst. That was just a lot of bare ground.
Who wants a picture of bare ground? 2. By
mid-July, the plants had big cabbage leaves
and no disease. It’s hard to imagine the
resilience of that crop. 3. By July 30 the crop
was well podded and could hold up a spade.
4. Many of the plants branched to provide
several “main” type stems. 5. The combine
rolled through this crop on August 30.
Seeding wet
areas late
In my rolling land there
are sloughs that do not dry
up in time to seed as usual.
There is also an area where
a slough spills over and
keeps ground wet. With
no rain I was able to get
on it by May 25 but did
not want to drag the press
wheels of drill through
the struggling crop. So I
“Johny appleseeded” and
worked fairly deep with
16” sweeps and a mounted
tine harrow. The idea was
not to grow more crop —
too much difference in
seeding dates. The objective was to keep the weeds
out. It worked in spades
and I would do it again in
a heartbeat.
I took this picture on
August 18, at swathing
time. The broadcast seeding
came up quickly and very
thick and it did pod well by
swath time, but there was
not much seed. If it were a
larger area that was worth
leaving it would have been
a fair yield. We had no killing fall frost until well into
October. †
IT STANDS
ON GUARD
FOR SEED.
The built-for-Canada-pre-mixed-formulaso-your-cereals-can-thrive-treatment.
We know how much pride you feel when your cereal
crops fulfill their true potential. And that’s why you need
the broadest range of disease protection available.
New Vibrance® Quattro seed treatment from Syngenta
is a unique combination of four systemic fungicides and
the additional benefit of Rooting Power™ for consistent
emergence and vigorous stand. And the fact that it’s a
convenient liquid pre-mix makes for one easy application.
Give your crops some true patriot love this season –
with performance and protection from Vibrance Quattro.
photo: les henry
Les Henry
Visit SyngentaFarm.ca or contact our Customer Interaction Centre at 1-87-SYNGENTA (1-877-964-3682).
Always read and follow label directions. Rooting Power™, Vibrance®, the Alliance Frame, the Purpose Icon and the Syngenta logo are
trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. © 2015 Syngenta.
8796_1CC_VibranceQuattro_Grainews.indd 1
2015-11-12 10:08 AM
28
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Columns
Off-farm income
Review of 2015 and look forward
In this issue Andy Sirski reviews the ups and downs of his portfolio last year
ANDY
SIRSKI
E
very year I try to review
the previous year. 2015
was a tricky year with
many ups and downs.
It was a stock picker’s year; any
investor who relied on the major
indexes as an investment guide
likely did not make much money.
I actually do not follow the
value of my overall portfolio as
closely as I used to. That’s partly
because I don’t worry or think
about it all that much. Also I
made a lot of changes to my
portfolio — to my thinking that
usually slows down a portfolio.
Finally, the market turned from
an overall bullish tone to a stock
picker’s market and until tax
season ended in June, I was too
busy to accurately find those
winning stocks.
During 2015 I moved a significant amount of money from
Canadian to U.S. dollars. The
U.S. dollar investments didn’t
make much money, but the drop
in our Canadian dollar helped
to offset some of that. Sadly, I
learned a lot on Alcoa (AA) in the
earlier part of the year. It was up
and down like a yoyo and I lost
money on it.
I also had a lot of our portfolio
in Canadian cash during the first
few months of the year, which
did not make me much money. I
was not happy with the fees my
bank was charging, so I kept a
lot of my portfolio in cash until
I could move my three accounts
to another bank. As you would
expect, being in cash did not
make me much money.
Learned a lot
As you likely know I put a lot
of value on learning and this was
a good year for learning for me.
First, I learned the hard way to
sell when the daily price dropped
through its 10-day moving average. I did not sell Alcoa with that
rule and it cost me money. The
price of shares dropped through
the 10 dma at around $17 early
in 2015. I tried to fight that drop
by selling calls and that helped
offset some of that drop but it
was a hard way to hold onto
equity. I finally caved in and sold
out but it hurt.
So, I had my portfolio in cash
for a good part of the year, lost
some money because I did not
follow selling rules and made
some money converting from
Canadian to U.S. dollars. 2015
was not a very profitable year,
at least not in the first eight
months of the year.
In late August I went to about
95 per cent cash and stayed
there until about late September.
I did dabble a bit with a stock
or two but I was testing my
updated stock picking strategy
and had to get in step with the
volatile market.
What I learned in 2015
First of all, the market drove
home to me that it’s important
to follow selling rules. I’m not
so proud as to say that my stock
picking ability is foolproof, so
now when I buy a stock and it
starts to lose money, I sell out.
Second, I learned that to win
with stocks I need a list of good
quality stocks. As the months go
by, it looks to me that for the next
few years we will have a stock
picker’s market, not one where a
rising market raises all stocks.
All stocks might go up but I
think the big money will use
that word rotation. After a
stock goes up some reasonable
amount, those buyers will turn
into sellers, and short sellers
will step in to drive the price of
shares back down to some price
where the stock will be a good
buy again.
If you look at a bunch of
charts you will see over and over
again how the “hump” in the
price of a stock has been taken
out. I think the world is in a
stage of slow or low growth and
it’s going to take years to work
through this new era.
People
have a lot
of debt
There is also much debt in the
world. Governments have a lot
of debt. People have a lot of debt.
After the recession, it will take us
a while to turn “too much” debt
into “manageable” debt.
In the meantime the “one
baby” policy in China and the
aging baby boomers in North
America have capped or stymied
the growth most of us baby
boomers have known throughout our life.
I don’t know if this will lead
to massive inflation like we had
in the 1970s. I’m more inclined
to think that the easy money
has been used by the banking
system to prop up the reserves
in our banks and to drive down
the cost of borrowing to accommodate bigger debt.
For a few years, going for
capital gains might be a tough
battle with stocks. It may also
be harder to find growth than
it has been in the past. What
might be easier is to use a three
part system to make money
with stocks. One part is to find
good stocks that pay a rising
dividend. The next part is to
buy those stocks as they bottom
and sell them as they top out.
And third is to sell covered calls
on some stocks to pick up extra
cash from our stocks. †
Andy is mostly retired. He travels a bit with
his wife, plays with granddaughters, gardens
and manages his family’s investments. Andy
also publishes an electronic newsletter
called StocksTalk where he tells all, win or
lose. If you want to read StocksTalk free for
a month send an email to [email protected].
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
29
Columns
Hart Attacks
What’s with “consumer demand?”
Both retailers and farm groups are using farm practices as a marketing pitch
I
have to admit I am more
than a little sceptical of the
term “consumer demand.” If
I believed every TV commercial, news report, magazine article
and corporate pitch talking about
consumer demand I doubt I’d be
able to leave the house without
running into an angry mob rallied
in front of some office or business
screaming out demands. The fact
is I haven’t seen that.
And yet you can barely go to a
meeting, hear a news report, or read
a headline where someone isn’t
confirming that “consumers are
demanding” this, that or the other.
Consumers probably have a lot
of wants but I really wonder how
many are demanding, and if they
are, then precisely where are they
doing this demanding?
Yet you listen to conference
speakers, retailers, restaurant
chains — even many industry associations — and we are
reminded time and again consumers are demanding a certain
product or practice.
Yes, consumer trends and preferences change, but I think a lot
of the talk about “demand” is
self-serving commercial hype. A
company like Costco, or Walmart
or the board of directors at A & W
might be “demanding” something
but it may only be partly based on
consumer preferences.
wasn’t good, but we have the solution? And they are not the only restaurant or food retailer to do this.
Another questionable practice
are industry associations who
spend a fair chunk of checkoff
dollars producing warm and fuzzy
videos showing farmers and ranchers who are the most kind and
considerate and environmentally
and animal welfare-conscious people on the face of the earth. And
they very well may be and likely
are just that. They are nice to look
at, but how many consumers actually ever see them? The association
feels good about doing this consumer education, but does it ever
win over a single borderline consumer? Does it change an attitude?
If this message is so vital perhaps
crop protection companies, animal
health companies, processors and
retailers should foot the bill for
these productions.
BUSY RETAILERS
I don’t believe consumers are at
Costco or Walmart because they
are searching out hormone- and
antibiotic-free products produced
by happy farmers using environmentally sound and humane production practices. The consumers
might think those are all features
that are nice to know, but they are
there for price and value.
I think what the consumer
wants, and perhaps mostly
demands, is a good-quality product, safe and healthy, hopefully
tasty, and available at the lowest price possible. I think they
like to see a farmer’s face, like to
know products are produced with
good environmental stewardship,
want to believe animals are treated
properly and raised with humane
production practices, but those are
all secondary or bonus features.
Put conventionally raised hamburger on sale for $1/pound and
watch out for the stampede.
There is no doubt a small percentage that will ignore price to
search out retailers offering these
“better” food products, but they
are a minority.
This list of “consumer demands”
and the changes it brings to the
agriculture industry isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Crops and livestock
should be produced with the minimum of crop protection products,
or antibiotics or added hormones,
in the most environmentally sustainable manner and with safe and
humane livestock production practices. There is an old line, “if you
are doing something you wouldn’t
tell your wife, then you shouldn’t
be doing it.” Similarly with agriculture if you are doing something
you don’t want people to see, then
you shouldn’t be doing it.
It is important to keep “consumer demand” in perspective.
Use the best production practices, and the consumers will
come. †
Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in
Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by
email at [email protected].
MARKETING STRATEGY
I wonder if the real strategy isn’t
more about let’s create a problem,
or at least allude to a potential
consumer concern and present
ourselves as the solution. “Isn’t it
awful that horses go to packing
plants, well we are one retailer
that will never sell horse meat.”
To be honest I have yet to hear
that claim, but it wouldn’t one day
surprise me to see if featured on a
menu “antibiotic-free, hormonefree, horsemeat-free zone.” The socalled consumer demand is more
often than not based on a marketing strategy — find a problem and
offer ourselves as a solution.
I like A & W burgers. I have from
the get go. One of the first places
I hit when I finally got a driver’s
licence, borrowed my parents’ car,
and was warned by my mother to
stay on the country roads close
to the farm, was straight to the
city to an A & W drive-in restaurant. Even the potential wrath of
mother could not come between
me and a Papa burger.
A & W is a good restaurant,
has good products, reasonably
good value, and certainly is a good
marketer. One improvement I suggested to a company vice-president
at a conference this past fall was
that could come up with zerocalorie poutine, they’d really be
on to something. But, A & W has
reinvented itself on the back of
the livestock industry, all around a
myth that somehow conventionally produced beef and chicken
is not as good as an antibioticand hormone-free-product that
has never been fed animal protein.
They don’t use the actual words
“conventional is bad” but the message is clear. So was that based
on something the consumer was
demanding, or did A & W just indirectly tell consumers something
G E N E R AT I O N S O F B E I N G
in the
First
Corn Field
Selecting the right corn seed for your soil conditions is
pivotal for a high yield, high profit potential crop. We’ll help custom select the
seed you need for maximum growing success.
QUARRY SEED 888-274-9243
w w w. t hun d e r s e e d . c a
30
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Machinery & Shop
Agritechnica
Heading toward autonomy
photo: scott garvey
On display at Agritechnica: a driverless Dutch-built tractor hits the market
By Scott Garvey
G
eneral purpose, completely autonomous (driverless) tractors may be
the holy grail of farm equipment
design. And over the past few years
a wide variety of companies have offered farmers enticing glimpses of what the future may
hold in that area. There have been a number of
limited-use robotic machines introduced to do
specific tasks on the farm. But so far, however,
North American fields aren’t exactly crawling
with mechanical drones toiling away while
owners put their feet up in the farm office.
It may be fair to say, though, it’s only a matter of time until that happens.
In November at Agritechnica 2015, one
more market-ready, autonomous tractor was
introduced to farmers. And this one is ready —
it’s developers say — to work fields or do other
jobs on its own. The Dutch-built Greenbot can
do about 80 per cent of all typical field jobs,
according to Peter Mouthaan, CEO of Dutch
Power Company, creator of the Greenbot.
“It’s an autonomous tractor with 100
horsepower, complete with safety devices,”
he says. “We’ve developed it in two years.
One year of development and building, and
testing for one year. Now this is the production version.”
The Greenbot is designed specifically to be
as versatile as possible, and to be capable in
the field. A Perkins diesel engine provides the
power, which is distributed to all four wheels
via a hydrostatic drive system. It has both
front and rear three-point hitches, hydraulic
remotes at both ends and a PTO. It weighs
3,000 kilograms, which makes it a little light
when it comes to the typical horsepower-toweight ratio of a western Canadian field tractor. Top speed is 25 km/h.
Mouthaan’s company has been producing
robotic system components for some time
and has been a supplier to other companies
that have incorporated a variety of autonomous systems, but this is the first full-fledged
driverless tractor the company has offered.
And it is built entirely of Dutch Power’s own
systems, including the computer program
software.
The Greenbot can be controlled in several
ways. It can be steered remotely, respond to
GPS map input, given a specific travel route or
taken to a field, given boundaries and allowed
to determine its own most efficient travel pattern to complete a job.
“We have three ways to implement the system,” he explains. “You can do it with radio
controls — a joystick. You can also put a (GPS)
map in that you make on your computer. You
can also go out to the field, let the machine
go around one time and then say, OK, optimize itself.”
Some farmers who were involved with the
initial field trials were a bit sceptical at first,
says Mouthaan. But that’s been a familiar pattern with autonomous system introductions.
“At first they’re a little bit scared,” he says.
“Then they see it working. It’s kind of the same
process like when milking robots started.”
“This one is already sold,” he says, as he
stands beside one model at the company
display in Hanover Germany. “This one is
the full-option version. Complete, this one
is 150,000 Euros (about CDN$213,000). It
does 80 percent of your standardized work
in a field.”
Mouthaan says interest from farmers stopping by his booth during Agritechnica has
been high. “People have asked at the fair, here,
for a 200 hp version,” he adds. “We’ll start
with this one, then we’ll go further.” †
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at
[email protected].
1. An Autonomous
Greenbot tractor
with attached rototiller on display at
Agritechnica.
2. The tractor has
both front and rear
three-point hitches
and PTO.
3. Field jobs can
be programmed
into the Greenbot’s
onboard system.
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
Machinery & Shop
31
Agritechnica
This is a real silage baler
Agronic Multibaler turns chopped silage into round bales
By Scott Garvey
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.
Contact him at [email protected].
Visit grainews.ca
to sign up for enews.
photo: scott garvey
W
Agronic Multibalers compress chopped silage into round bales and wrap them, so silage can be stored as bales rather than in a silage pit.
WHEN IS A TRIPLE PLAY
ALSO A HOME RUN?
NEW 1522DXR
1322XR
FOR A LIMITED TIME GET
5000
REBATE
$
UP TO
hen you’re walking the aisles at the
giant Agritechnica
machinery show
in Hanover, Germany, you sometimes have to stop and do a double take to figure just what some
machines displayed there actually
do. That was the case for me when
I spotted the Agronic Multibaler.
Built by a company in the
Netherlands, the two models of
Multibalers take chopped silage,
compact it and turn it into round
bales wrapped in plastic. “Why
would you want to do that,” I
asked a marketing rep at the company’s display.
Faster ensiling operations requiring fewer workers, convenience
when feeding and easier, lowercost transport was the answer.
If a farm uses multiple silage
clamps and one is running out
near the end of the feeding season,
having a store of round bales to
use would make it unnecessary to
open up another sealed pit for just
a few weeks’ feed. If you want to
sell feed or move it any distance,
packaging silage in the form of
round bales can make those processes easier as well.
But perhaps most significant of
all is it can speed up ensiling
operations and make it a oneman job. By allowing one operator with a front-mounted forage
harvester on a tractor to feed silage
directly into the Multibaler, he can
continue working in the field all
day. The baler would leave a trail
of wrapped silage bales behind
it. There is no need to race back
and forth to the yard with a truck
load of loose silage that has to be
packed into a pit. So one man gets
the job done instead of three. The
wrapped bales can be picked up
later after chopping is finished
and hauled back as time permits.
When you break open one of
the bales, you still have the same
type and quality of feed you’d get
from a packed silage pit.
The 820 and 1210 models produce two sizes of bales ranging
from 250 to 450 kilograms with
the 820 and 600 to 1,000 kilograms with the 1210. A standard
540 PTO provides power to the
Multibalers, which require only
a 70-horsepower tractor for the
smaller model and 90 for the
larger 1210. The Multibalers can
also be ordered with their own
onboard diesel power supply.
Aside from taking silage directly
from a forage harvester in the field,
they can work in a stationary environment, allowing silage to be
dumped into the onboard hopper
with a grapple loader and processed
into bales right in the farmyard.
Depending on the model and
features, a multibaler will set
you back something north of
$140,000. The company’s website
is www.gebknoll.nl. †
ON SELECT
MODELS
NEW 1122DXR
1020XR
NEW 820XR
With three new models of GrainCarts, Brandt now has a cart to suit any size
of farm. Delivering the superior grain handling performance you’ve come to expect from
Brandt, these new GrainCarts feature industry-leading easy cleanout, unmatched visibility,
and data management. Learn more about our exciting new lineup online at brandt.ca
or by visiting a dealer near you. That’s Powerful Value. Delivered.
brandt.ca 1-866-427-2638
32
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Machinery & Shop
Agritechnica
New X8 tractors from McCormick
photos: scott garvey
Italian manufacturer Argo adds larger tractors to its McCormick brand
By Scott Garvey
I
talian manufacturer Argo has
been in the process of updating
the models in its McCormick
tractor brand for a few years
now. Last year it brought the most
recent addition to its line, the X7
Series, to North America, and executives promised there was more to
come. At the Agritechnica machinery expo in Hanover Germany in
November, they made good on that
promise by debuting the all-new and
larger X8 Series.
Topping out at 310 engine horsepower, these tractors will be the most
powerful models the brand offers
when they start production in early
2017. And they won’t be shy on highend features.
“The X8 is a new beast that we
will launch in production at the end
of next year, in the first quarter of
2017,” said Mirco Candiani, product manager for McCormick tractors at the company’s display at
Agritechnica. “There will be three
models starting at 264 horsepower
and ending at 310.”
Under the hood the X8s will use
Tier 4 Final-compliant, six-cylinder,
6.7-litre Fiat Powertrain (FPT) diesels with variable geometry turbochargers. All models will use a programmable four-range CVT transmission built by German transmission manufacturer ZF. McCormick
calls it the “VT Drive”. Those trans-
missions will also be available with
a 50 km/hr. option.
A front-mounted three-point hitch
integrated into the chassis will be
standard equipment, offering a fivetonne lift capacity. Rear hitch lift
capacity hits 12 tonnes. A closedcentre hydraulic pump will provide
a standard flow rate of 157 l/min. If
that’s not enough, it can be upgraded
to 212. The tractors can accommodate up to 10 SCV valves at the front,
rear and mid-mount positions.
X8s offer three PTO speeds — 540
eco, 1,000 and 1,000 eco. To help
avoid driveline damage when using
mounted equipment, the tractors
will automatically stop the PTO at
pre-set three-point hitch lift heights.
A front PTO is available, too.
The chassis will be able to accommodate some pretty large rear tire
sizes, including a 900/60R42.
Also standard is a cab suspension,
with an active dampening system,
along with an electronically controlled hydraulic front axle suspension.
Inside the cab operators will find a
typical multi-function armrest and a
12-inch monitor. A forward instrument cluster will tilt along with the
steering column.
The X8s carry on the new
McCormick body styling. Up to 18
LED work lights can be incorporated into the hood, fenders and
cab roof. †
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.
Contact him at [email protected].
1. A pair of models added
some bling to McCormick’s X8
display during Agritechnica in
Hanover, Germany.
2. Inside the cab, the X8
tractors offer an armrest with
integrated controls and a
12-inch ISOBUS-compliant
monitor.
3. X8 tractors can
accommodate some of the
largest tire sizes currently
available, including 900/60R42.
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
Machinery & Shop
Shop class
10180_HouseCalls_8.125x10_VF.pdf
1
2015-12-21
1:55 PM
Welding equipment manufacturer Victor Technologies has a large training section on its website that anyone can use without logging in or registering.
Free online
welding
resource
WE MAKE
HOUSE CALLS
By Scott Garvey
O
ne of the downsides
to living in a rural
area is not having
access to the kind
of amenities city residents do.
That includes the opportunity to
take part-time training courses
in many trades that are useful on
the farm, like welding. But these
days Internet resources can help
bridge that training gap. Welding
equipment manufacturer Victor
Technologies is one company
that has a website offering educational opportunities.
“We
want
the
Victor
Technologies’ training site to
become the go-to resource of the
cutting and welding industry,”
says Robert Shigley, senior training manager. “End users and distributor partners need easy access
to a full range of information,
wherever they are, and they can
easily get it by accessing this site.”
The website http://training.
victortechnologies.com is free
for anyone to access. It no
longer requires students to log
in or register. The site contains
a variety of videos and training
tutorials that cover most aspects
of welding and oxy-acetylene
cutting. The site’s search feature
allows visitors to quickly find
all relevant content for a specific topic.
“The new site provides immediate value to visitors by giving
them the resources they need
up front, without having to
log in,” says Shigley. “However,
additional learning opportunities are available by registering,
which is free.” If visitors wish,
they can track their learning
history by creating a log in and
building a profile.
The site can also be accessed
through the company’s home
page, www.victortechnologies.
com and clicking on the “training and resources” tab. The site’s
content has been optimized for
viewing on mobile devices. †
since 1954
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.
Contact him at [email protected].
WE MAKE
HOUSE CALLS
“Heirloom quality” is how one farmer described his Walinga
Vac. His is a third generation to rely on the family “vac to
beat all vacs”. When you purchase a Walinga Pneumatic
Conveying System you’re buying into a family of tough,
hard working farmers, engineers, fabricators and machines.
A working collaborative spanning generations, people who’s
field tested ideas and proven innovations make Walinga
Pneumatic Conveying Systems the benchmark standard
they are today.
When you build something this tough, you stand behind it.
Walinga provides one of the best warranty programs in the
industry. A network of accredited Walinga service facilities
blankets the country ensuring your Pneumatic Conveying
Systems always run smoothly. We even make house calls.
Canada 519.787.VACS
“Beyond The Product”
33
34
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Machinery & Shop
New machinery
Fendt 500 Varios arrive in Canada
photo: fendt
AGCO brings the compact-chassis 500 Vario Series tractors to North America
AGCO’s Fendt brand debuted the 500 Vario Series tractors at an event in Germany in 2012. As of this year, they are available in Canada.
By Scott Garvey
A
GCO used this summer’s U.S.
Farm Progress Show in Illinois
as the venue to finally debut the
107- to 137-PTO horsepower
Fendt 500 Vario Series tractors in North
America. The models were first introduced
in September of 2012 in Germany for
the European market, but at that time
brand executives explained it would take
a while to develop versions of the tractors
that met North American engineering
standards. European machines still differ
slightly from ours in a variety of ways.
The 500s offer a compact chassis design
with a little more horsepower than you’d
expect for a machine of that size. They
fit into that relatively new compact, midrange tractor category that packs bigger
horsepower into smaller packages. The
idea is to create a more versatile machine
that is as capable with a front-end loader
as it is in the field. Although topping out
at 137 PTO horsepower, field jobs for 500s
on the prairie will be limited.
Inside the cab, these tractors, like their
larger brothers, come with 7.0- or 10.4inch screens that use the brand’s own
Varioterminal for control of all tractor and
implement functions in a single monitor.
And Varioterminals are fully ISOBUS compatible, so in most cases there shouldn’t
be any need for a second dedicated implement monitor.
In the press release announcing the
arrival of the 500 Varios, the company
describes the tractors’ digital capability this
way: “The Fendt 500 is among AGCO’s topof-the-line, high-end technology machines,
powered by AGCO’s Fuse precision agriculture products and services.”
Looking out of the cab through the
65 square feet of glass, operators get a
320-degree panoramic view to make it
easier when working at close-quarter jobs,
such as in livestock pens. The curved
windshield also extends up into the cab
roof to improve visibility when doing
front-end loader work.
The 500s come with standard pneumatic self-levelling cab suspension to
improve ride comfort. The cab gets supported on four points with integrated
self-levelling bearings at the front and air
springs at the rear. The self-levelling front
axle suspension can improve the tractors’
overall ride quality even further.
The 500s are fast, too, claiming a top
road speed of 31 m.p.h.
These tractors can be ordered with the
brand’s CargoProfi front-end loader that
offers its own high-end features, like pre-
set positions, bucket tilt sensors and load
weighing capability. All of these are controlled through the Varioterminal.
All in all, the Fendt brand offers the
highest-end features AGCO builds into a
tractor. Of course, those options boost the
price tags for these pale green machines.
But company executives say they believe
that along with the higher cost comes
increased benefits, so the extra investment
makes sense.
“Ultimately, all this technology will give
the operator the ability to use the machine
for optimum performance and the ability
to turn his or her attention to other management decisions, away from the setting
and adjustments of the machines,” says
Josh Keeney, AGCO Fendt tactical marketing manager. †
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact
him at [email protected].
NE
W
SOUCY EXPERTISE AND TECHNOLOGY ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR YOUR PLANTER.
Our NEW TRACKS for John Deere planters improve flotation, preserve soil condition and increase
autonomy to greatly reduce time lost in the field.
TM
www.soucy-track.com
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
Machinery & Shop
35
New machinery
photo: vermeer
A larger mower
conditioner from Vermeer
The MC4500 brings the maximum cutting width in
Vermeer’s line of of mower-conditioners to 15 feet.
The MC4500
pushes the
brand’s widest
cutting width
to 15 feet
By Scott Garvey
V
ermeer announced in
September that it was
stretching the maximum cutting width
on its line of mower conditioner models to 15 feet. To
do that it introduced the new
MC4500, which becomes the
fourth and widest model in the
brand’s mo-co line.
“The MC4500 mower conditioner brings more size, speed,
versatility and reliability to
the operator in the field,” said
Vermeer product manager,
Josh Vrieze, in the company
announcement.
The 15-foot MC4500 uses a
drawbar swivel hitch, which
makes hooking up the implement a little easier. Also
designed to make things easier
on the operator across the full
line of the brand’s mo-cos is
the Quick-Clip Blade Retention
System, which makes replacing and reversing cutter blades
quicker and simpler.
The company claims its Q3
Cutter Bar technology helps
the tractor powering it to be
more fuel-efficient, because
its drive system requires less
horsepower to turn than other
gear-bed style cutter bars. It
also uses Vermeer’s QuickChange shear ring to protect
the bar from damage, making
down time a little shorter when
something does go wrong.
The entire mower conditioner line uses an adjustable suspension system that
includes
nitrogen-charged
accumulators to soften shocks
to the header. All of which,
apparently does a better job
in preventing damage to the
header and frame than standard metal springs.
All models in the line come
with the option of either a steel
roller or v-tine conditioner. †
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.
Contact him at [email protected]
SUPERSEED.
GUARANTEED.
Earn more money with SeedMaster—guaranteed*. SeedMaster’s UltraProTM seeding system provides near
singulated canola seed delivered directly to our innovative active-hydraulic, ground-following, individual
row opener for precise seed and fertilizer placement. Cut seeding rates without sacrificing yield. Save on
inputs with Overlap Control. Higher yields and greater profits. That’s SuperSeed. Guaranteed.
seedmaster.ca
We’re farmers, too.
*For full details on the guarantee, please contact a SeedMaster ACE representative or go to SeedMaster.ca/superseed.
36
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Cattleman’s Corner
feed efficiency
Genetics point to ‘easy keepers’
Producers may be able to trim 10 to 15 per cent off feeding costs by selecting cattle for feed efficiency
BY LISA GUENTHER
Measuring feed efficiency
Actually figuring out an animal’s feed efficiency isn’t easily done. Residual feed intake
(RFI) is one measurement of feed efficiency.
It basically measures how much feed went to
an animal’s growth and maintenance, and
how much extra was consumed. A negative,
or low, RFI, means the animal has eaten less
than expected, and is feed efficient.
RFI is a heritable trait and doesn’t influence other traits. That means producers
could select for it without affecting other
desirable traits. According to the Canadian
Hereford Association’s website, selecting for
RFI could cut maintenance costs by nine to
10 per cent. Feed intake could drop 10 to 12
per cent. Methane emissions and manure
could also drop substantially.
photo: lisa guenther
S
outhern Alberta rancher Daniel
Doerksen likes a certain type of cow
— a functional, easy-keeper that can
raise a good calf.
“Our bull selection is based on raising
productive females,” Daniel said during an
interview at recent western Canadian beef
show. Part of that strategy has been to select
smaller-framed cows that should be feed efficient, he adds.
“Feed is our most expensive cost throughout the year, so cattle that can convert their
feed into pounds most efficiently are going
to be the most profitable.”
The Doerksen family has been raising
registered Herefords for more than 40
years. Today they run purebred Hereford
and Angus herds under Gemstone Cattle,
named for the nearby town of Gem in
southern Alberta. Daniel’s family also runs a
commercial herd and a small feedlot.
Daniel says they put tough selection pressure on their cattle. It turns out that selection
pressure has paid off. Early results from residual feed intake trials indicate their Hereford
bulls are quite feed efficient.
Saskatchewan rancher, Ross Macdonald (l) and southern Alberta rancher, Daniel Doerksen,
who met through the Canadian Hereford Association, exchange thoughts on raising beef
cattle at last fall’s Canadian Western Agribition, in Regina. The producers realize they have
similar interests.
To test whether their cattle were, in fact,
feed efficient, the Doerksens have been
enrolling their Hereford bulls in RFI trials
run by the Canadian Hereford Association
for the last two years.
Dan says they were “really happy”
with the early results from the Canadian
Hereford Association’s trials. That research
“found our cattle appear to be above breed
average for RFI,” he says. Gemstone Cattle
entered 26 bulls in the trials, and 23 ranked
in the top 18 per cent for low RFI.
The trials revealed a 1.73 lbs. per day gap
in feed consumption between the most and
least efficient bulls. The Canadian Hereford
Association notes that if feed costs $0.065
per lb., the least efficient bull would cost
$40 more to feed each year.
The Hereford Association’s project
included three years of RFI trials at Cattle­
land Feedyards. Researchers assessed RFI in
over 1,000 Hereford bulls provided by 63
beef producers during the trials. Each trial
included 77 days of testing, plus a 21-day
warmup period for the bulls. GrowSafe
bunks measured feed intake of individual
animals through their I.D. tags.
Researchers collected data including
weight, hip height, and ultrasound results
for marbling score, rib-eye area and backfat
thickness.
The Canadian Hereford Association trial
was funded by the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Council. Other partners in
the RFI project included the University of
Alberta, Livestock Gentec, Alberta Agricul­
ture and Forestry, Cattleland Feed Yards,
and Olds College.
Next steps
The research trial has wrapped, but the
Canadian Hereford Association is facilitating another year of RFI testing for interested
Hereford breeders. Daniel plans to enrol
Hereford bulls in the RFI trials. He says the
family would also like to test their Angus
herd, for their own knowledge.
But there is a cost to RFI testing. During
the research program, producers didn’t have
to pick up as much of the cost, Daniel said,
although they still had to pay to enrol bulls.
Now that that trial is done, producers will
have to pay about $450 per head to test
bulls. That includes 104 days of feeding,
bedding and the testing itself. The Alberta
Livestock and Meat Agency is covering the
HD Genotype Analysis, which would come
to $110 per head.
Right now EPDs are available on performance-tested animals and some of their
relatives, Dr. John Crowley writes via email.
Crowley and Dr. John Basarab are now creating genomically enhanced EPDs based on
results of the three-year trial. The genomically-enhanced EPDs, which are more accurate than regular EPDs, should be completed
early in the new year, Crowley says.
Researchers are also working on costeffective RFI testing. They’re validating trial
protocols so they can shorten the test
period. That way, researchers can test more
animals every year, and cut the test cost per
animal, Crowley explains.
Researchers are also genotyping all animals that go through the trials. This will
keep the prediction equations valid and up
to date, says Crowley. Phenotypic testing,
such as weight gain or marbling, will still
be needed, but only on a relatively small
proportion of animals.
The science is basically here for producers to submit hair samples for genomic
predictions. Crowley says they’re validating
the prediction process, to make sure those
genomic predictions are accurate.
“Of course, RFI is not everything. It needs
to be selected on in tandem with a suite of
other traits,” says Crowley. †
Grainews field editor Lisa Guenther caught up with Daniel
Doerksen at Canadian Western Agribition last November
for a video interview. To see the interview, and get a look
at Doerksen’s bulls, visit www.grainews.ca/2015/12/22/
talking-cattle-feed-at-agribition.
Winterizing
BY MICHAEL THOMAS
I
t is that time of the year
when we find ourselves
fighting the cold weather to
provide water for our stock.
Many ranchers and farmers use
heated water tanks to increase
water consumption for stock/
horses while reducing or eliminating the battle with ice and
wasted water. Unfortunately heaters are expensive to operate and
are not infallible in sub-zero temperatures. With a bit of innovation, and a few recycled materials
many of us have laying around
the barnyard, it is possible to
increase the efficiency and reduce
sub-zero freeze up of these tanks.
These heaters are thermostatically controlled to maintain the
temperature of the water to a
pre-set range above freezing. As
air temperature drops the heating
element is activated for longer
periods and more often. The
first place the owner notices the
impact of colder weather is the
increase in the electric bill. As
temperatures continue to drop
tanks begin to freeze as a point
is reached where the heaters can
no longer offset the cold air temperatures.
ADDING INSULATION
Many of us have bought tanks
with drain plug heaters or added
the heaters to tanks ourselves.
Most of these tanks are made of
single layer material, either galvanized metal or plastic. These
non-insulated tanks are where
efficiency and freeze up become
an issue. If you have ever noticed
the snow melted away from the
tank, you are losing a considerable amount of energy from the
tank and are at risk of sub-zero
freeze up. Simply by creating a
dead-air space of an inch or two
(2.5-5.0 cm) between the tank
and outside temperature the
amount of energy required to
keep the water warm is dramatically reduced.
MATERIALS NEEDED
Used cattle supplement tubs
(blue tubs in photos) work great
to provide an outer jacket for
these small tubs. You will need a
couple cans of expanding insulating spray foam, some waterproof filler material (Styrofoam
packing peanuts work great), and
a can of all-weather spray paint.
ASSEMBLY STEPS
Clean the inside of the livestock supplement (blue) tub.
1. Drill a hole on the side of
the supplement tub, near the
bottom, just large enough to
allow for the heater’s power cord.
2. Drill a series of small holes,
about a foot apart, in the side
of the supplement tub near the
bottom to allow any moisture
that accumulates within the
jacket to escape.
3. Next apply expanding
photos: michael thomas
Adding insulation
to heated water tanks
The following process can be
applied to both small individual
tubs and larger tanks. Small tubs
(16 gallon/60.56 litre) use smaller
heating elements (approximately
200 watt) and are most susceptible to freezing at temperatures
below 0 F/-18 C.
Left: This is a view of the assembled water tub inside the now-insulated
blue supplement tub. The power cord feeds in through the bottom
of the blue supplement tub. Right: Once the tubs and insulation are
assembled, trim away some of the excessive spray foam insulation and
apply paint to the top edge, which helps to protect the foam.
spray foam to the inside bottom
of the supplement tub in a spiral
pattern from the outside edge to
the centre.
4. Allow the spray foam a few
minutes to expand to its limit
and then carefully insert the
water tub into the supplement
tub, drawing the power cord for
the heater unit through the hole
in the bottom supplement tub as
you go. Centre the water tub in
the supplement tub as it settles
into the foam. It works best to
allow the water tub to nest in
the foam, allowing a small space
between the bottom of the water
tub and the supplement tub.
5. Next, insert the filler material (Styrofoam peanuts) loosely
into the void between the water
tub and the supplement tub.
6. When you have filled the
void to within about six inches
(15.24 cm) of the top of the supplement tub, apply more spray
foam, a layer at a time, until you
reach the top of the supplement
tub. Allow the spray foam time
to cure.
7. Using a sharp knife or thinbladed saw, trim away any excess
foam material that has expanded
above the supplement tub.
8. Apply two to three coats of
all-weather spray paint to protect the foam and allow it to
cure. The newly insulated heated
water tub is now ready to begin
giving you electrical savings and
less headaches on cold days. †
Michael Thomas operates Thomas Ranch
along with family near Salmon, Idaho. Contact
him at: [email protected].
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
The Dairy Corner
37
Don’t feed mouldy corn to dairy cattle
Milk production and reproductive performance are at risk
BY PETER VITTI
L
ast year’s weather was not
particularly kind to growing corn on the eastern
Prairies. A late spring
plant­ing, cold weather in July, and
topped off by a cloudy fall created
millions of bushels of corn that was
not initially dry enough for storage.
Some of this wet corn was dried
down and augered into a bin,
much of it was also put up as
high-moisture corn, and even a
small portion was left out in the
field until harvested earlier this
year. Regardless of how this corn
was eventually handled; mould
(and mycotoxins) seem to hit this
previous corn crop particularly
hard. Without taking the necessary actions and precautions when
it does occur, feeding mouldy to
dairy cattle can be very dangerous.
Mould growth in corn can
develop in a grain bin when grain
moisture levels are above 14 per
cent, the storage temperature is
above freezing and the corn is
exposed to air (oxygen). High
moisture grain corn also can be at
risk for mould growth, if the moisture content of storage is incorrect
(recommended at 25 to 28 per
cent moisture for oxygen-limiting
tower and 30 to 35 per cent moisture for ag-bags and bunks) or pH
of the corn mass is not quickly stabilized to an acidic 4.5 by proper
respiration (oxygen removal) and
fermentation processes.
THREE MAJOR MOuLDS
Of the many moulds that can
grow and proliferate in harvested
corn due to improper storage conditions; three major moulds pose
the greatest dairy cow threat with
associated deadly mycotoxins are:
Aspergillus fluavus that produce aflatoxins, Fusarium moulds that produce vomitoxin and zearalenone,
and Penicillium fungi that produce
related penicillium mycotoxins.
Most Canadian climates do not
to favour the growth of Aspergillus
fluavus and therefore Aflatoxins
are of little threat to our dairy
cattle. Fusarium-derived mycotoxins are more of a danger to our
livestock than aflatoxins, because
they grow in cooler conditions
found in Western Canada.
Initially, it was thought Fusariumderived vomitoxin was toxic to
dairy cattle, yet various field trials
fed up to 66 ppm (parts per million)
vomitoxin in dairy diets and most
dairy cattle failed to exhibit any visible signs of reproductive or health
problems. Most of these trials did
show that once vomitoxin reached
over three to five ppm in different tested grains; there was a detrimental effect upon respective grain
bushel weight and resulted in lower
energy feed for lactating dairy cows.
In contrast, zearalenone, another
fusarium mycotoxin has estrogenlike properties, which will cause
infertility in dairy cattle. As little
as 300 ppb (parts per billion) in
the total dairy diet (dmi, basis)
from z-contaminated corn has
been implicated in disrupting heat
cycles, reducing conception rates,
causing visible symptoms such as
swollen vulvas, and prolapsed vaginas, and spontaneous abortions.
Furthermore, zearalenone can
cause liver damage and has been
shown to suppress the immune
system in dairy cattle.
An honourable mention should
be given to other fusarium mycotoxins such as T2 and Fumonium
that can cause reproductive and
health problems in cattle but are
seldom found in Canadian feedstuffs. Similarly, Penicillium mycotoxins have also been linked to
reproductive and health problems
in dairy cattle.
NO SMOKING GUN
Unfortunately, without “the smoking gun” of large known amounts
of mouldy corn consumed by ailing dairy cattle and causing direct
negative effects, it is very difficult
to many dairy producers to know
that they might have a mouldy corn
problem in the first place; namely,
for two major reasons.
First, mouldy corn kernels are
often not uniformly distributed
in a bin of corn, but are located
in isolated pockets or along the
bin walls. Even if a significant
shot of mouldy corn goes into the
total mixed ration (TMR) for dairy
cows, most people may simply
not notice as it gets hammered or
rolled and then mixed along with
the “good corn” in the TMR and
become invisible anyways!
Secondly, symptoms of mould
and mycotoxins poisoning in cattle is likely non-specific and often
the result of a negative progression
of health, reproductive and per-
formance problems caused by the
contamination. Even a post-mortem examination of a dead cow
may yield inconclusive results,
which could mistakenly be attributed to another cause such as malnutrition or disease.
If one suspects a mouldy corn
problem on the farm such as:
mouldy corn is seen coming out of
bin or cows are off their feed/lack
of cud-chewing/loose manure/
substantial breeding problems
after feeding suspect corn, it is a
good idea to send a representative
corn sample from the bin for laboratory mould testing.
Mould count tests are inexpensive, but their usefulness as sound
information is limited, since most
moulds are not poisonous and it
says little about the presence of
any mycotoxins in grain corn. A
more reliable test called a mouldscreen test is very useful in identifying and eliminating what mould
species and their mycotoxins that
might be present.
Mixing mouldy corn (re: zearalenone) with “clean” feed is not
a good idea, because this does not
eliminate the problem and reduces
the quality and safety of the available good feed. In situations of
vomitoxin, commercial mould
binders might offer a suitable solution, when there are no other viable dairy feeds are available. †
Peter Vitti is an independent livestock
nutritionist and consultant based in Winnipeg.
To reach him call 204-254-7497 or by email at
[email protected].
38
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Cattleman’s Corner
calf management
Get the newborn breathing and eating
Events immediately following birth are important to future health of the calf
heather
smith
thomas
BREATHING
In the past, veterinarians often
recommended holding a calf up
by its hind legs to allow fluid to
drain from the airways. However,
they now realize most of the fluid
that drains out is from the stomach, and these fluids are important to the health of the calf.
Holding the calf up by the hind
legs is counterproductive, putting
pressure on the diaphragm (from
the abdominal organs), which
may interfere with normal respiratory movements. It’s better
to use a suction bulb (or even a
turkey baster) to clear the airways.
Another way to help stimulate
a calf to breathe is to rub him
briskly with a towel.
COLOSTRUM
Make sure the calf nurses soon
after birth. If it doesn’t accomplish this on its own, guide the
calf to the udder. If it can’t
nurse its mother, feed it by bottle, stomach tube or esophageal
feeder. The cow’s first milk is
crucial to health and survival
of the calf. It contains a creamy
fat that gives him energy (and
generates body warmth in cold
weather), and acts as a laxative
to help him pass his first bowel
movements.
Colostrum also provides antibodies against disease. Some
antibodies are absorbed directly
into his blood and lymph systems (passing through the intestinal wall) if he nurses soon
enough. These help fight systemic infections, attacking pathogens like pasteurella, streptococcus or salmonella that might
cause septicemia. Other antibodies stay in the gut to attack
scour-causing pathogens the calf
might ingest.
If the cow was on a good vaccination program before calving,
she’ll have strong immunity and
the antibodies in her colostrum
will give her calf immediate protection as soon as he nurses.
It does no good to vaccinate
the cow against scour-causing
photos: heather smith thomas
T
wo of the most important steps after a calf has
been born are to make
sure it breathes properly,
especially if the calf had to be
pulled. And then shortly after,
make sure they find the udder.
In most normal births, the calf
will begin breathing within 30 to 60
seconds after delivery. If it doesn’t,
clear the membranes and fluid away
from the nose (and if necessary
draw fluid out of the nostrils with
a suction bulb if you have one in
your pocket) and tickle the inside of
one nostril with a clean piece of hay
or straw. This usually makes him
cough and start breathing. If that
doesn’t work, you may have to give
the calf artificial respiration.
Left: This newborn calf appears to be bright and alert and soon ready to try nursing. Right: If a calf isn’t breathing, make sure the nostrils are clear
and tickle the nose with a straw to stimulate a cough.
If a calf was stressed during
a hard birth and does not start
breathing immediately, this may
be a sign it’s suffering from acidosis — a pH imbalance due to
shortage of oxygen — which can
have an adverse effect on heart
and lung function. It may take
several hours or days for the calf’s
system to correct this. Watch to
see how soon the calf lifts its
head and positions itself upright,
rather than lying flat, after delivery. This is one way to tell if the
calf is normal or compromised.
After a normal birth the calf
should be looking around and
trying to get up, within two
to five minutes. If he just lies
there, stimulate him by rubbing him to get his circulation
going better, and position him
upright. Lung function and ribcage movement are impeded
when he’s lying flat.
E. coli, rotavirus or coronavirus,
however, if the calf doesn’t nurse
within a few hours of birth. If he
is unable to nurse, give him substitute colostrum from another
cow, or a commercial product.
Don’t use dairy colostrum; it
won’t have as many antibodies
because of the immense volume
produced, and may be risky. The
calf may get salmonella or some
other unwanted pathogen from
a dairy cow. A cow on your
own place has better colostrum
because she creates the antibodies needed to protect a calf in
your environment.
A partial feeding of frozen
or commercial substitute can
be used to “jump start” a calf if
you think it will stimulate it to
nurse the dam right away. But a
part feeding can be counterproductive if it doesn’t ingest a full
meal soon. The little bit you fed
the calf stimulates the “open”
gut to close more quickly and
it won’t be able to absorb any
more antibodies. If the calf
won’t be nursing its mother
soon, give it a full feeding.
A newborn calf can absorb
large
antibody
molecules
directly through the intestinal
lining, but pathogens can also
slip through. It’s a race between
pathogens and the antibodies,
NAVEL CARE
After the calf starts breathing,
disinfect the navel stump. If the
cow calved on clean grass pasture
there’s less chance for bacteria
entering the navel. But if the
nearby environment happened
to be on dirt or mud/manure
in a pen or dirty bedding material, there’s risk for infection. Dip
the navel stump in tincture of
iodine or chlorhexadine. Iodine
kills pathogens and acts as an
astringent to help the stump dry
quickly and seal off.
An easy way to apply iodine
is to dip the entire stump in a
small wide-mouth jar containing
a half inch of iodine, putting it
up to the abdomen and swishing
it around, making sure the entire
stump is saturated. If the navel
cord broke off long and might be
dragging on the ground, break it
shorter before you immerse it in
iodine. Leave a three to four inch
stump. Do this with very clean
hands, or wearing surgical gloves
and pull it between your hands.
Never create a jerk on the calf’s
belly. Breaking it is better than
cutting it; the stump is more apt
to bleed if it’s cut.
One application of iodine may
not be enough to dry the stump
quickly. You may have to repeat
it a couple times during the first
24 hours, to prevent navel infection. Bull calves take longer for
the cord to dry, since they often
urinate while lying down, keeping the navel area wet.
Occasionally you’ll encounter
a calf with an umbilical hernia.
If the opening is large, it needs
to be surgically repaired. On rare
occasion the intestines will start
to come out through the hole,
or a loop will fall down into the
umbilical membrane. If intestines
are falling out, take the calf to
your vet, keeping the intestines
clean by covering them with a
towel. The vet may be able to
replace them and stitch the hole.
If a loop of prolapsed intestine
is encased in the navel cord, put
the calf on his back and gently
squeeze the intestine back up into
the abdomen, then put an elastrator band over the umbilical membranes, next to the belly, to keep
the hole tightly closed. It will
usually grow together and seal off
and the calf will be fine.
On occasion a calf may bleed
profusely when the navel cord
breaks. Halt it with a clamp of
some kind (like a hair clip) or tie
it with string for a couple hours to
stop the bleeding. †
Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her
husband Lynn near Salmon, Idaho. Contact
her at 208-756-2841.
If the calf is a bit slow or the mother cow a bit reluctant, the calf may need to be guided toward the udder.
so make sure the antibodies get
there first. Other components in
colostrum coat the gut and provide a different type of antibody
to combat pathogens ingested
during the calf’s first hours of
life. If the “good guys” in colostrum get to the gut first, they
close the door to pathogenic
organisms, preventing penetra-
tion of the intestinal lining by
bacteria and their toxins.
Stress can shorten the window of opportunity for absorbing antibodies. Cold weather,
hot weather, difficult birth, or
any other stress makes it crucial
to get colostrum into the calf
immediately. Antibody levels
obtained by calves at first nurs-
ing are significantly lower in
calves that experienced difficult
birth, even when the cow is
milked immediately after calving and the calf is force-fed.
If the calf was short on oxygen during birth, it may suffer
from temporary acidosis, which
inhibits the gut from efficiently
absorbing antibodies.
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
39
Cattleman’s Corner
Anyone can start farming
Sheep achieve dual-purpose status
Debbie
Chikousky
O
ver the years our family has often been
told we are living a
life most people only
dream about. We hear we are
unique in that we work together
as a family, raise most of our own
food and accept the reality we are
stewards of the lives entrusted to
us even though we have no real
control of the outcome most days.
All these are lofty expectations for
our little farm, but we are working
diligently to keep our focus. This
past year we managed to see a few
of our own dreams become reality.
One of my desires when we
started raising sheep was to find a
purpose for the species other than
just producing market lambs. I
wanted market lambs that would
finish nicely, but I also wanted
awesome fleece to knit with. I
wanted coloured fleece and wool
that wasn’t horribly itchy. My
grandparents used to bring wool
sweaters home after a visit to
England and the wool in those
sweaters irritated terribly.
ECONOMICS FIRST
BARTHOLOMEW ARRIVES
Since this farming adventure
was not a hobby the economic
realities of paying for feed necessitated the meat qualities of the
lambs override the fleece qualities at least for a few years. Then
we started to observe that the
denser, tighter fleece of the finer
wool breeds such as Rambouillet
and Merino. Those types of fleeces
actually help keep the sheep
warmer in our windy winters,
which added to my interest in the
breeds. These fleeces do not split
or separate like a hair part down
backs of the live sheep, helping to
keep them warmer.
The biggest advantage is in winter the snow doesn’t melt into the
sheep’s back. This keeps them dry
and warm and comfortable when
they are outside eating their hay.
The further removed from breeding Rambouillet, the faster we were
finishing lambs, but we also started
to get looser and less dense fleeces
resulting in colder and less hardy
ewes. Our goal had been to decrease
the frame size of the Rambouillet
but not too lose our fleece quality. The better fleeces also fetched
a much better price on the wool
market than the fleeces that were
being produced by our ewes.
This summer we became the
proud owners of Bartholomew,
our very first purebred registered
Rambouillet herd sire. This was
many years of dreaming but now
that we can see that wool isn’t
just for crafting, it is important for
the warmth and comfort of the
sheep, calling up Graham Rannie
and ordering this boy was easy. His
wool has been tested for fineness
and he has a family history of multiple births. To add to that resume
he has colour in his genetics also.
In sheep, white is dominant so
even having a tiny black spot is
exciting. Imagine my excitement
when our neighbour called to tell
me she had a pure black Clun
Forest/Ram­bouillet cross ram for us
this year also.
These breeds are also hardy and
are well known for meaty carcasses.
They are known to finish well with
a mild flavour, which made the
addition of Jim very exciting to
our flock. He too has a family history of multiple births as well as
good legs and feet. The tight wool
is also a great advantage to our
bush-grazing program, because it
is much harder to pick up debris.
The looser fleeces seem to collect
all sorts of thorns and burrs, which
photos: debbie chikousky
Meat is important, but proper breeding can deliver both carcass and fleece
These two rams will help greatly in improving the genetics and performance
of Chikousky Farm sheep. The white ram, Bartholomew is a purebred
Rambouillet, while the black ram is Jim, a Clun Forest/Rambouillet.
make handling the sheep unpleasant plus devalues the clip.
It is an amazing opportunity
to be able to grow our flock into
a meat flock that is economically
sound as well as a fibre producer
that is aesthetically pleasing. The
people we originally bought our
sheep from said they had added
the black-faced rams because they
increased their finishing weights
by about 10 to 15 pounds a lamb.
At that time there really wasn’t
a solid hand-spinning market for
the pure Rambouillet fleeces so
the choice was easy. Now, times
have changed. Wool testing can
be performed for private farmers
through Yocom-McColl Testing
Laboratories Inc. by calling 303294-0582 or fax 303-295-6944. The
company address is 540 West Elk
The 2016
Place, Denver, CO 80216-1823 USA
— email: [email protected] or
visit their website at: www.ymccoll.
com.
To add to the feasibility of growing quality fleeces, we already have
the well-established Canadian
Wool­grower, where we can ship
our white wool. As well that connects us with a giant worldwide
community of hand spinners very
eager for naturally coloured fleeces.
This adds to the appeal that we
privately have a desire to use the
fleeces but did not want to give up
our market lambs. So, dreams really
can come true when you plan and
have patience it seems! †
Debbie Chikousky farms with her family at
Narcisse, Manitoba. Visitors are always
welcome. Contact Debbie at debbie@
chikouskyfarms.com.
“Where the serious
bull buyers are
looking”
WESTERN CANADA’S COMPREHENSIVE BULL SALE SOURCE
Give your bull sale the exposure it needs and its best chance of reaching the Beef Cattle
Producers in Canada, using the Western Canadian Comprehensive Bull Buyers Guide.
STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES
• Massive distribution (92,500) total penetration of the western Canadian
marketplace for cattle breeders, in the leading ag publications.
BONUS
• Full color with limited premium positions and double page spreads available.
• 8 week shelf life, possibly longer for commercial breeders to reference later on.
• Unbeatable value - about 2 cents per contact
for a full page ad.
PUBLICATION SCHEDULE
rAnge
WArs
long WAY
From lA Crete
But country stars Brad and
Curtis Rempel haven’t forgotten
their farm roots » PG 32
Report on grazing leases
ignites an old debate » PG 22
ThE
ANNuAL
ROuNDup
Young beef
producers
meet in
Neepawa
» Pg 15
MO
MObIle
A mONumENTAL
hONOuR
ALL THE AG DEALS – ON YOUR PHONE!!
scan the code or go to
agdealermobile.com
for more information
Stonewall pays tribute to
artist William Kurelek » Pg 3
Publications Mail Agreement # 40069240
LATE FEBRUARY ISSUES: Deadline: Feb. 1, 2016
February 29 - Alberta Farmer
February 22 - Saskatchewan AgDealer
February 25 - Manitoba Co-operator
AlbertA eDItION | Issue #18 | August 31, 2015 | ADVeRtIsINg INFORMAtION: 1-888-999-4178 | www.agdealer.com
serVing mAnitobA FArmers since 1925 | Vol. 73, no. 33 | $1.75
August 13, 2015
Vo lu m e 1 2 , n u m b e r 1 6
no word on
farm aid until
after harvest
Livestock producers have
a tax deferral option, but
government waiting to
see if crop insurance is
adequate
By Alexis Kienlen
AF STAFF
C
August 3, 2015
Farm leaders say
workers’ compensation
coverage is a good thing
Mandatory enrolment could be announced this fall, but leaders
say cost and paperwork won’t be onerous
cP Rail says
it’s ready to
move this
year’s crop
to market
MAFRD is looking at how well these oversize cold frames
can extend horticultural growing seasons
The company is
investing billions to
move even more grain
as western Canadian
production continues
to increase
see CP Rail on page 7 »
JOHN DEERE HEADERS
High tunnel production has potential to extend the Manitoba grower’s season, says MAFRD’s fruit crops specialist Anthony Mintenko. He and the provincial
vegetable crop specialist are evaluating fruit and vegetable crops for high tunnel production at the AAFC site at Portage la Prairie. PHOTO: LORRAINE STEVENSON
BY LORRAINE STEVENSON
A
You don’t have to go far to find hazards on a farm, and that’s why new workplace safety regulations are inevitable, say farm
leaders. PHOTOS: COURTESY Canadian agRiCUlTURal SafETY aSSOCiaTiOn
AF STAFF
tors for workers’ compensation.”
Oneil Carlier, the new NDP
agriculture minister, has
vowed to extend workplace
safety regulations to farm
workers who aren’t currently
covered by workers’ compensation or Occupational Health
and Safety regulations.
Today, only around seven
per cent of Alberta farm
employers voluntarily carry
workers’ compensation for
their operations. But offering
that protection — both for
employers and employees —
is one of the realities of farm-
Mike Millar
ing today, said Jacobson, who
farms near Enchant.
“There’s getting to be more
and more hired help on the
farm and we’re employing
more people,” he said. “It gives
protection from litigation and
other advantages, and if you
don’t have it, there can be
some serious consequences.”
And farm workers today
“aren’t just interested in a paycheque,” he said.
“They’re starting to realize,
‘If I get hurt on this job, where’s
the protection for my family?’
When it comes down to it, a
farm that has some type of
protection for those people is
going to have a lot easier time
hiring people.”
Cost and paperwork
There are “some misconceptions” about workers’ compensation that have made Alberta
farmers reluctant to offer coverage to their workers, said
Jacobson.
“Some people don’t like that
administrative role and the
paperwork that is associated
with the program at this point
in time,” he said.
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
By JenniFeR BlAiR
Advertising Sales
Cell: 403-393-7493
[email protected]
OTHER COMBINES
CIH 2388 - 2003
CIH 2388 MF 8780 NH CR9080 - 2010, 1031/790 HRS
NH TR98 - 2218 HRS
NH CX8080 MF 9790 -
Co-operator staff / Portage la Prairie
hanges to farm safety
regulations are expected soon — and that
might not be a bad thing
for Alberta farmers, says the
president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture.
“Workers’ compensation
or private insurance really
is a great risk management
tool for farms nowadays,”
said Lynn Jacobson. “That
protection against litigation
is one of the big selling fac-
T
WOU
BLO
JD S670 - 2012, Duals
JD S670 - 2012
JD S670 - 2012
JD S680 JD T670 JD 8820 - 1983
JD 8820 JD 8820 - Titan II
JD 9501 - PT
JD 9650 - Walker
JD 9660 - Walker
JD 9760 - STS
A
senior executive with
CP Rail says the company is “well positioned” to move this year’s
g ra i n c r o p d e s p i t e re c e n t
cutbacks in staff and
locomotives.
Grain is, was and will continue to be Canadian Pacific
Railway’s biggest cargo, John
Brooks, vice-president of sales
and marketing for bulk commodities, said in an interview
Aug. 6.
And the historic railway
founded in 1881 is investing to
move even more in the future,
he said. “Make no bones about
it, grain is king at CP,” he said.
“It is our life-bread. There is
nothing we want to do more
than move a lot of grain.
“I think we feel pretty good
about our handling capacity…
to move this new crop.”
C
VISIT WWW.DEERMART.COM FOR MORE USED INVENTORY
JOHN DEERE COMBINES
Co-operator staff
rop producers will have to
wait until after harvest to
find out if there is any government drought assistance, says
the president of the Grain Growers
of Canada.
The question of additional farm
aid was put to Oneil Carlier, the
new NDP agriculture minister,
when he attended an Alberta
Wheat Commission directors’
meeting in Red Deer on July 21,
said Gary Stanford, who is also a
director with that organization.
“I asked him if there will be any
form of funding for cattle and hay,
and also for some areas that are so
dry that crop insurance for grain
farmers won’t really cover everything,” said the Magrath-area producer.
“He said that he will probably
wait until after harvest is over and
he gets the crop insurance information back from the Agricultural
Financial Services Corporation to
see what the facts are. He’ll then
find out which counties are in the
worst shape.”
That same stance was taken
by Federal Agriculture Minister
Gerry Ritz at a national meeting of
agriculture ministers held in mid-
USED INVENTORY LIQUIDATION
2010 NH CR9080
WAS $269,900 NOW $199,900
BY ALLAN DAWSON
see FARM AiD } page 6
Rick Dibben
mAnitobAcooperAtor.cA
Researchers study how to
extend the growing season
see COVeRAGe } page 7
National Advertising Sales
Cell: 306-251-0011
[email protected]
production system that extends
the growing season, offers growers a competitive edge in the
marketplace and potential to make
more money sounds mighty tempting.
That’s why fruit and vegetable growers were out in large numbers at Hort
Diagnostic Days in late July to hear
more about construction of high
tunnels.
This is the first year a variety
of fruits and vegetables has been
planted in the high tunnel built in
2014 at the Agriculture Agri-Food
Canada location in Portage la Prairie.
Growers are keen to hear what
Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural
Development (MAFRD) specialists are
learning.
High tunnel production is commonplace in other parts of Canada and
in northern and central U.S. where
nearly every type of fruit and vegetable is now grown, even tree fruits.
MAFRD staff are researching how high
tunnels work in Manitoba growing
conditions.
“We have a lot of recommendations
from other places like Minnesota
and Ontario about what to grow in
a high tunnel but nothing for under
Manitoba conditions,” said fruit
crop specialist Anthony Mintenko,
who is evaluating day-neutral strawberries, early-season June-bearing
strawberries, fall-bearing raspberries
and blackberries at one end of the
100x15x7.5-foot tunnel. Provincial
vegetable specialist Tom Gonsalves is
experimenting with vegetables such
as tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers
at the other.
High tunnels are like greenhouses,
except they don’t have a double layer
of poly, and no permanent heat or
electricity. But they have a similar
function — they keep cold out and,
conversely, heat in.
JD 635D - Cross Auger
JD 635D - Cross Auger
JD 930 DRAPER - PU REEL
(3) JD 930 DRAPER - PU REEL
JD 936 DRAPER - PU REEL
WAS
$339,500
$341,500
$349,900
$389,900
$232,900
$21,900
$15,900
$27,900
$29,900
$115,900
$177,900
$144,900
WAS
$119,900
$99,900
$61,500
$269,900
$69,900
$195,900
$159,900
WAS
$65,900
$67,900
$41,900
$41,900
$44,900
NOW
$290,900
$295,900
$285,000
$319,900
$199,900
$13,900
$7,950
$12,900
$25,900
$110,900
$149,900
$119,900
NOW
$89,900
$79,900
$48,750
$199,900
$49,900
$169,900
$99,900
NOW
$57,500
$58,900
$29,900
$36,900
$29,900
LEASE JD T670, 615PU
FOR $13,500 Semi-Annual 0 Down
OTHER HEADERS
CIH 1010 - 30’ BATT REEL
CIH 1010 - 30’ BATT REEL
HONEY BEE - 21’ JD ADAPTER
MF 9700 - 30’ PU REEL
JOHN DEERE 2WD
JD 2550 - o/s MFWD, loader
JD 2950 - 2WD, Cab, recent wo
JD 4450 - 2WD, JD 725
JD 4455 - MFWD, PST, JD 265
JD 4960 - duals, MFWD, 3 PTH
JD 5075E - Cab, MFWD, H240 loader
JD 5075M - DEMO
DEERMART
Equipment Sales Ltd.
PROUD TO BE
INDEPENDENTLY
OWNED!
WAS
$7,900
$8,900
$18,900
$10,900
WAS
WINDROWERS
JD W150 - 2013, 430D
$149,900
JD W150 - c/w 430D Platform 2014 DEMO$179,900
JD W150 - c/w 430D Platform 2013
$144,900
MACDON M150 - 2009, D60, 30ft
$119,900
MACDON M150 - 2008
$114,500
MACDON M150 - D60 25ft 2008
$115,900
MACDON 960 HDR - 21ft, 1997
$15,900
PREMIER M150 - 25ft, 2008
$159,000
PREMIER M155 - 30ft, 2012
$145,900
PREMIER M155 - 30ft, 2012
$145,900
PREMIER M155 - 30ft, 2012
$153,900
PREMIER M155 - 30ft, 2012
$155,900
WESTWARD 9352 - 2002, 30ft
$75,900
CIH 8820 - 25ft Rotosheears
$29,900
WAS
$23,500
$25,900
$71,900
$58,900
NOW
$4,900
$5,250
$12,900
$5,200
NOW
$141,900
$164,900
$129,900
$104,900
$103,500
$104,900
$9,900
$99,900
$134,500
$134,500
$144,500
$144,500
$69,900
$24,900
NOW
$19,500
$23,900
SOLD
SOLD
$64,900
SOLD
$48,900
LEASE 2003 CIH 2388
FOR $5,950 Semi-Annual 0 Down
WAS
JOHN DEERE 2WD
JD 5200 - MFWD, cab, 540 loader
JD 6125M - MFWD,
JD 6430 - Premium, 673 loader
JD 7200 - MFWD, 740 loader
JD 7215R - MFWD, H480
JD 7210R - IVT, 50 k, frt 3pth & pto
JD 7210R - 50 k, IVT, frt 3pth & pto
JD 7210R - 50 k, IVT, H480 loader
JD 7210R - 50 k, IVT, H480 loader
JD 7220 - 741 loader
JD 4440 - 2WD, 740SL loader
JD 5100E - cab, MFWD, low hrs
JD 7430 - MFWD, 741 loader
JD 7830 - AUTOQUAD, 746 loader
JD 8335R - IVT, frt hitch REDUCED
JD 8345R - 2 To Choose From
$32,900
$106,900
$59,900
$224,900
$249,900
$250,500
$250,900
$249,900
$59,900
$75,900
$107,900
$139,900
$332,900
WAS
JOHN DEERE 4WD
JD 9460R JD 9430 - 3pth, PTO
JD 9430 - PS
$315,900
$227,900
$289,900
WAS
OTHER TRACTORS
FENDT 930 - FRT Hitch
CIH 7220 - MFWD, ldr
CIH 2294 - 2WD, PST
AGCO 6690 - MFWD, ldr
MCCORMICK TTX230 - 2013
$139,900
$62,900
$24,900
$25,900
$119,900
NOW
$23,900
SOLD
$95,900
$49,900
$214,900
$228,900
$229,900
$230,900
$229,900
$49,900
SOLD
$62,900
$99,900
$129,900
$299,900
Coming In
NOW
$299,900
$199,900
$232,500
NOW
$125,900
$58,900
$18,500
$23,900
$104,900
Book an ad in the 2016 Edition
of the Bull Buyers Guide and
receive up to 50% OFF on
any additional ads booked
into Canadian Cattlemen –
Grainews Cattlemen’s Corner
– Alberta Farmer Express
– Manitoba Co-operator –
Saskatchewan Ag Dealer
(Ask Your Rep for Rates! Available Upon Request)
INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND PROUD OF IT
TOLL FREE: 877-613-3373
TEL: 403-343-2238
Mike Gait
Eugene Styba
403-302-9101 (cell)
403-588-3985 (cell)
Rene Vetterli
John Bontje
403-588-9942 (cell)
403-350-5644 (cell)
6705 Golden West Avenue, Red Deer, AB
www.deermart.com
see ReseaRCheRs on page 6 »
COOL: U.S. challengeS canada’S claim» PAGE 3
Tiffiny Taylor
Sales & Special Projects
Cell: 204-228-0842
tiffi[email protected]
REMINDER Contact your Rep
to tell them about your Post
Sale Results so we can publish
them in Canadian Cattlemen
40
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Cattleman’s Corner
on the book self
Thomas’ latest project recounts Ranch Tales
Typical Range Ride
xcerpted from Ranch Tales,
E
by Heather Smith Thomas
Published by The Frontier Project Inc.
- www.ajmangum.com
Our cattle ranch lies at the foot of
the mountains where our cows spent
their summers for 50 years. During
those years I rode almost every day
to check the cattle, making sure gates
were shut, and all the water troughs
working. We live in dry country, and
when they are on summer pasture in
the mountains, cattle depend on a
few small streams for water, along
with some small seeps that we piped
into water troughs. Sometimes a
springbox gets plugged with mud
from a summer thundershower and
needs to be cleaned out or the pipe
into the water trough gets plugged,
or broken by cattle traffic if the dirt
over it washes away in a cloudburst
thunderstorm. Sometimes gates get
left open and cows wander onto the
wrong range, and then those cows
must be located and herded back to
their proper pastures.
Sometimes a cow or calf gets sick
and needs to be brought home for
medical treatment. If we ride out
there often, we know what’s going on
and can attend to any problems. On
summer range you don’t want to risk
having a trough non-functional for
long, for instance, or cattle in that
area might have no water. I always
photo: heather smith thomas
L
ong time Grainews columnist, Heather Smith Thomas
has added another title to
an impressive list of books
she’s written on a wide range of
ranch- and farm life-related topics.
Thomas has just released Ranch
Tales, the third in a series of books
(including the wildly successful
Horse Tales and Cow Tales) about
ranch and family life in Idaho,
Heather Smith Thomas’s Ranch
Tales offers a collection of humorous, heartwarming and insightful
true stories, each centred on the
unique bonds that form between
people and the animals — livestock, pets and wildlife — that populate a working ranch. “Ranch life
is unique and colourful,” Thomas
writes. “The jobs we do — raising cattle, working with animals,
tending to their needs — are never
boring. The animals themselves,
and the adventures and circumstances involved with their care,
always keep life interesting and
fun, as well as challenging. These
stories include a bit of humour, and
a broad mix of experiences that
illustrate how closely entwined our
lives are with those of the animals
within our care.” Here is a sample:
Heather Smith Thomas checking cows on a young horse in training.
enjoyed my daily rides out there to
check on things and monitor the
grass and the cattle. Each ride is a
special experience.
This chapter is a look at what a
typical day might entail, at some
point during those years. Every ride
was different, with different tasks
and priorities, but this is a sampling of those experiences. Photos
are some that were taken on various
range rides over the past forty years,
illustrating some of the places mentioned in this “typical” journey over
the range.
I head up the steep trail through
the rocks and sagebrush behind our
house. The smell of dewy sage fills
my nostrils as my horse brushes the
shrubs along the trail, and a horned
lark flits up from her nest on the
ground as we go by. A mother grouse
bursts into the air and does her broken-wing act (her strategy to lead a
predator away from her babies, who
are scattering out through the grass).
My horse breathes deeply as she
climbs the crest of the hill, then
pauses, snorting, as a group of antelope leap to their feet from the swale
where they were bedded, and bolt
across our path. My mare snorts
again as she detects their strong,
musky scent. They disappear over
the hill in a puff of dust, and we
continue along the trail.
We soon head down into the Baker
Creek canyon, approaching a brushy
draw where a small trough collects
spring water. A herd of cow elk with
calves have been drinking there, and
they mill about for a moment when
they see me, the cows and calves
talking to one another with their
high-pitched “eep-eep.” Then they
stick their heads in the air and
march up out of the draw, disgusted
at having their morning interrupted.
We descend into Baker Creek and
up the rocky trail into the timber,
dodging overhanging fir branches. A
golden eagle soars above the canyon,
and a pine squirrel scolds us from
the tree overhead, knocking fir cones
down into the trail. Colorful Indian
paintbrush (red, orange, pale cream)
and blue lupine dot the grassy clearing ahead. We reach the wire gate in
the range fence, and I get off to open
it and lead my mare through.
In the meadow beyond, some of
our cattle are bedded down chewing
their cuds. They are used to seeing
me and my horse, and don’t bother
to get up as I ride through them,
weaving my way between napping
calves. One calf is up nursing his
mother, slurping noisily at the udder.
I make sure they are all healthy,
then continue up the trail to check
another water trough.
The day is warm and my horse
takes a long, grateful drink while I
fix the overflow pipe that has been
obstructed with fir needles. This
spring comes directly out of the rocky
canyon wall and the water is icy
cold, and more pure and clean than
boggy springs where the elk like to
wallow, so I quench my thirst at the
renewed flow through the pipe into
the trough.
“In our county,
the Lemhi River
Valley and Salmon
River valley are
about the only
agricultural land
where hay is raised
for winter feed,
for the herds of
cattle that pasture
on the surrounding
mountains (public
land) that make up
the majority of
the landscape.”
It’s a steep climb into the next little
creek drainage, but we wind our way in
a roundabout fashion, stopping at each
group of cows to check on them. When
we get over the mountain and head
down the other side, there is another
trough in a grassy clearing, and here I
let my horse graze for a moment as I
eat a sandwich from my jacket pocket.
My jacket, tied to the back of my saddle, holds not only my lunch, but also a
pocketful of baling twine for emergency
fence repairs. I can always tie a broken
wire back together or tie wires back up
to a post if the elk have knocked them
off. In another pocket my jacket holds
small binoculars for checking on cattle
a long ways away.
After this quick lunch, my horse
and I travel through more timber,
startling two big mule deer bucks
who leap gracefully over the fence
and out of sight. We go around the
mountain through an outcropping
of rocks, my horse carefully picking
her way in the precarious footing. I
have to go another mile to check the
gate in the back corner fence between
our range and the Forest Service
allotment. There’s a jeep track that
comes up that side of the mountain
and into our range, and I check this
gate often; sometimes folks neglect to
shut it after driving through. While
on the backside of the mountain I
find a group of yearling heifers. They
are several miles from where I saw
them yesterday. This is the wandering age. These heifers won’t have
calves until next year, and are footloose and fancy free. Like a group of
teenagers, they are always interested
in seeing what’s just out of sight,
traveling over the next horizon, not
wanting to miss out on anything
exciting.
I am glad to find Boogie Woogie
(daughter of Shimmy, sister of Tango;
yes, all our cattle are named) because
I need to check on her eye. She was
showing early signs of pinkeye the
last time I saw her, but today the
eye looks like it is getting better, so
maybe I won’t have to bring her home
for treatment. I’d rather not have to
bring her home; bringing an unwilling critter home from the range can be
a tough challenge, even with a good
cow horse. Yearlings are sassy, as well
as inexperienced in being herded, and
about the only way to get one of them
home is to bring along a babysitter
cow, too. The older cow is more likely
to be somewhat cooperative (with
more respect for the horse, not trying
to outrun us and hide in the brush)
and the yearling would tend to stay
with the cow. Yearlings are true groupies; they
never like to be by themselves. I head
back along the fence to check the side
gate in the timber, and find a freshly
knocked-down broken-off post where
a herd of elk went through. They
usually jump the fences, but sometimes they are lazy and knock them
over. I’m glad I discovered this hole
in the fence before the heifers did, or
they’d all be in the neighbors’ range.
Sometimes it can take days or even
weeks of riding to find cattle when
they stray into the wrong range —
because it’s a large area, with lots
of timber where cattle can be hard
to see — so we like to make sure the
fences stay in good shape. I prop the
post back up and splice the broken
top wire with my handy baling twine.
This will hold the fence together until
my husband or son-in-law can bring
a new post to set. He can probably
bring it up the ridge on his fourwheeler and only have to carry it a
quarter of a mile down the steep hill
through the timber, to the fence.
On my way back over the ridge that
serves as the dividing point between
Baker Creek and Withington Creek,
I check on another water trough,
served by a spring my father helped
develop nearly sixty years ago. This
is an amazing spring, to be located
on such a high ridge. A person wonders how any underground water
channel could be this far above other
water sources. The topmost part of
Baker Creek bubbles out of an even
larger spring, just under the crest of
this ridge.
There are cattle bedded down
around the grassy area near this
trough, having climbed up here to
drink after their morning grazing on
nearby mountain slopes. They are
full and content, lying in this high
spot to take their midday siesta and
chew their cuds, enjoying a bit of
breeze on this high point.
It’s hot by the time my horse and
I start back to lower country, and her
feet stir up little clouds of dust. The
sweet smell of syringa (the blooming bushes along the creek, Idaho’s
state flower) delightfully mixes with
the smell of horse sweat as we cross
the little stream, where Baker Creek
meanders through our lower range
pasture. As a kid, I always wished
there could be a Kool-Aid flavor that
tasted as sweet and good as the smell
of syringa. After we cross the little
creek, my mare spooks as a coyote
pup sticks his head up over an old log
to look at us. The sudden movement
startles her, but once she realizes
what he is, she relaxes and heads
down the trail, quickening her pace as
she thinks about home. Both of us are
pleased with our ride. She’s happy to
be heading back to her pasture buddies, and I have enjoyed this peaceful interlude with nature’s creatures
while doing my daily tasks. †
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
41
Home Quarter Farm Life
SEEDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Gleanings and goals of
young farmers for their future
Eager ag entrepreneurs are looking for ways to improve themselves and their businesses
Elaine
Froese
I
n Regina last November, Farm
Management Canada hosted the Ag
Excellence conference which I was
only able to attend via my Twitter
feed. I love this group because there is a sea
of young eager ag entrepreneurs looking
for new ways to improve themselves and
their businesses.
Advice from young farmers at
AgEXCONF 2015 the “raw list.” I’ve
bolded the ones that I have tools for
coaching to help skills improve:
• Have a global perspective
• This is about money, not a lifestyle
• Understand your values, and your
value and communicate it
• Financial literacy
• Manage risk but don’t be scared of it
• Work smarter not harder
• Think outside the box
• Figure out your expertise
• Not easy to change jobs just because
you are tired of it
• Set goals, have a plan
• Be proud of what you do
• Start succession plan now
• Open communications with
other generations
• Be active in industry
• Don’t try to do everything on your
own… hire in weak areas
• Be OK with mistakes
• Evaluate your business regularly
with family and employees
• Keep family planning separate
from operational planning
• Diversify income
• Reputation is your best asset
• Satisfy your customer
• Have a network of mentors
• Be a good neighbour
• Work/life balance
• Get an off-farm perspective
• Face time is important
The top five as voted by the
young farmers:
1. PLAN! succession and business
2. Risk management. Start early
and don’t be afraid
3. Farming is a business
4. Figure out your expertise, it is
OK to make mistakes, you can’t
do everything
5. Communicate… more and better
www.fmc-gac.com
We wish parents understood…
1. Work/life balance. This comes up
in my coaching conversations all the
time. The founders concede that the
“next” generation is not going to work
as hard as the founders did. I call balance a “polarity.” I see it as something
to be managed, not something that will
ever be “done.” What is a good day on
the farm to you? Could you consider
only doing cow chores on Sunday, and
then take the rest of the day off for
renewal and family time?
2. This is 2016… I suspect this
relates to my phrase “that was then
and this is now.” Things are different.
Different is not wrong it is just different. What is it about the new ways of
doing things in 2016 that threatens
the founders? What exactly do you
mean by “this is 2016?”
3. Let’s get a plan. Many farm teams
are suffering from the “pain of not —
knowing.” Get out of the high-stress,
and high-anxiety place of not knowing
what the future holds. Email me for a
set of binder tabs (costs $10) to start
getting your plans organized. Talk at
regular business planning meetings,
meet with your advisers: accountant,
financial planner, lawyer, insurance
agent, broker, coach, and get things
written down to give everyone a better
sense of security.
4. Parents are entitled to retire.
Interesting. The parents sometimes
feel pushed and shoved off the farm
by strong-willed young farmers who
have different ideas about how things
should run. The happy parents are
those who realize that their adult successors feel that the parents should
take more time off and enjoy the fruit
of their 40 years of labour. Most dads
are afraid to give up total control until
www.agriwebinar.com
they are assured that the next generation can really manage well. Parents
don’t think of really retiring, they like
to reframe it as “reinventing roles, or
becoming the hired man again.” Talk
to your farm team about what a reasonable expectation for workload and
job descriptions looks like when mom
and dad are 65.
5. Partners get to choose, they don’t
have to be involved. Pressure here for
young women to act just like their
mothers-in-law. Some sons-in-law have
off-farm work and don’t want to have
much to do with their wife’s farm.
It can go both ways. Adopt a learner
mindset with curiosity to find out what
each partner in the successor’s home
wants their roles to look like. What
level of involvement in the farm are
they happy with? Will it change when
the grandchildren are in school?
Needs of young farmers to succeed:
1. Farm Business planning, the cycles
and nature of the business
2. Education and skills development
3. Access to capital and be prudent
with debt
4. Policy, understand agricultural
policy and get involved
5. Understand business structures
and options
Terry Betker of Backswath
Management shared his
fundamentals... this is about business:
• You will be the owners
and managers
• You need to have a vision, a
written statement that defines the
future for your farm and family
• You need to understand the
relationship between risk
and return on investment
• Work to separate business
from emotion
• You to need to continually enhance
your management skill sets
Five things we need to communicate
to the general public by Steve Denys
#AgEXConf2015:
1. We live where we work. We breathe
the air and drink the water
2. We want to leave our land in
even better shape for the next
generation
3. We take pride in growing safe, highquality food. We eat the same food
that everyone else does and we eat
what we grow
4. We want and need to have
conversation about food and
farming
5. We are proud of what we do and
how we do it
Nuffield scholar, Brenda Schoepp says,
“Mentors don’t provide solutions, they
LEIP: liberate, empower, inspire, permit.
Read Brenda Schoepp’s Nuffield Report: The
Development of Mentorship Programs for
Women in Agriculture A Global Perspective.
“Equality is standing up for the excellence of the other,” says Brenda Schoepp.
So lots to think about as you embrace
a new year on your farm and set some
new goals and targets for a successful farm
operation and happy farm family.
Visit Farm Management’s website www.
fmc-gac.com and the www.agriwebinar.
com site for great resources to grow your
skills for a great year ahead. †
Elaine Froese, CSP, CAFA, CHICoach is the author of
three books to help empower farm families, increase
profit, and secure legacy. Visit www.elainefroese.
com/store. Like many of you, she is a parent to a young
farm successor. This is a journey that requires good
communication, patience and a learner mindset. Tweet
@elainefroese. Facebook “farm family coach.”
y! .
da e d
to it
er lim
st s
gi g i
Re atin
Se
This is a great opportunity to learn from great, powerful women in Ag and other industries. Sometimes it can be easy to forget all the possible connections we can make,
so getting into a room with 570+ women really helps! - 2015 Delegate, Jamie Y., Regina, SK
LISTEN, LEARN, NETWORK & GROW ~ HYATT REGENCY CALGARY, MARCH 28 & 29, 2016
Open your mind to the endless possibilites. Prepare to be inspired. Aquire the life skills you need to reach your goals.
This conference could be life-changing. Register today! Visit advancingwomenconference.ca or phone 403-686-8407.
Advancing Women Conference WEST 2016 / Grainews / 10.25” x 3”
42
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Home Quarter Farm Life
PRAIRIE PALATE
International Year of Pulses
Amy Jo
Ehman
T
ake your pulse. Not that pulse.
I’m talking lentils, chickpeas,
beans, peas.
The United Nations has
declared 2016 the International Year
of Pulses. That’s something we can
celebrate here on the Canadian Prairies,
where we grow more pulses than most
places on earth.
But we don’t eat them, not nearly
enough. Almost all our pulse crops
are shipped to other countries where
lentils, chickpeas and split peas are
everyday fare.
Tonight in India, families will sit down
to a meal of masoor dal. In Spain, they’ll
enjoy spicy lentejas con chorizo. And in
Chile, they’ll fill up with a bowl of lentils
de la Abuela, like grandma used to make.
All with lentils from Canada.
Not only do we grow a lot of lentils (a
record harvest of 2.2 million tonnes in
2015) we grow more varieties of lentils
than anywhere else.
In India, they prefer small red lentils.
In Chile, it’s large green lentils. And in
Spain, it’s pardina lentils, also known as
Spanish brown. We grow them all here,
and more, such as little black beluga lentils, so named for their resemblance to the
black caviar of the beluga sturgeon. Chefs
love them.
The United Nations has proffered
several reasons for declaring 2016 the
International Year of Pulses. In developing
countries, pulses account for 75 per cent
of the daily diet. Yet, worldwide, pulse
consumption is declining. The UN would
like to reverse this trend.
Pulses are a good source of protein yet
less stressful on the environment than
raising livestock. Pulses provide 20 to 25
per cent protein by weight, double that of
wheat at 10 per cent and about half that of
meat at 30 to 40 per cent.
However, growing pulses uses much less
water than raising livestock. According to
the UN, a kilogram of lentils requires 50 litres
of water while a kilogram of chicken takes
more than 4,000 litres and a kilogram of beef
consumes a whopping 13,000 litres of water.
Pulses help reduce food waste, which
the UN estimates at one-third of all food
produced worldwide. Since pulses are a
simple food and stored dry, there is little
lost in processing and much less spoilage
compared to vegetables, fruits and meat.
The UN also notes that pulse crops
replace nitrogen in the soil, reducing the
use of petrochemical fertilizers. This is
a prime reason why pulse crops are so
popular in Western Canada — they make
economic and environmental sense when
included in rotation with other crops such
as wheat, flax and canola.
Pulses fit with another UN initiative:
eliminating world hunger by 2030 while,
at the same time, tackling climate change
and improving sustainable farming. If we
all start eating more pulses in 2016, that
goal will be easier to reach.
Of course, I don’t need to recommend
more hummus and lentil soup. We’ve got
that covered.
But, I will propose this recipe for yellow
pea fava, a Greek mezze (appetizer) made
with yellow split peas. If you like hummus,
you’ll like this.
The UN website includes many pulse
recipes from around the world. You’ll find
a link to the online cookbook on my food
blog homefordinner.blogspot.com. †
Amy Jo Ehman is the author of Prairie Feast: A Writer’s
Journey Home for Dinner, and, Out of Old Saskatchewan
Kitchens. She hails from Craik, Saskatchewan.
photo: amy jo ehman
United Nations has declared this for 2016 — and with good reason
YELLOW PEA FAVA
2 cups yellow split peas
2 cups finely chopped red onion
1 fat clove garlic, finely chopped
4+ cups water
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3 tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup olive oil
2 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
Put split peas, 1-1/2 cups red onion, garlic and 4 cups of water into a medium pot.
The water should cover the peas. Bring to a gentle boil. Skim the foam that rises to the
surface. Reduce heat, cover pot and gently simmer for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, until the split
peas are completely broken down. Check periodically, adding more water if needed to
just cover the peas. Once the peas are fall-apart soft, cook uncovered until the liquid has
evaporated and the peas are thick and bubbly. Stir frequently to prevent sticking to the
pot. Remove from heat. Add salt, pepper, lemon juice and 3/4 cup olive oil. Stir vigorously until well mixed. Cover pot with a tea towel and leave to cool. To serve, scoop pea
purée into a serving dish. Top with remaining 1/2 cup red onion. Sprinkle with parsley.
Drizzle with remaining 1/4 cup olive oil. Serve with bread, pita or crackers.
FROM THE FARM
A new generation of knitters
Grandma taught me to knit and now I want to pass those teachings on
G
rowing up, my grandma knitted all the time. When I needed new mittens I called her.
When winter was on the way
she would verify the colour of all the
grandchildren’s winter coats and start on
new scarves. I still have those scarves and
all my children also wore them. The last
10 years my knitting has not been a priority, but now that I am a grandma that just
has to change. So, I dug in and finished
the sweater I have been knitting for a couple of years for our youngest son, 22 now,
and got it done. Well, almost, but I still
have to sew it up. With the momentum
going I continued on to hats and slippers
for our two grandsons.
I have a whole new respect for my
grandmother. The hours of time she must
have spent knitting for all of us were never
appreciated by me before. She taught me
to knit, and when I drop a stitch or cannot decipher a new pattern, the loss of her
SLIPPER PATTERN
Abbreviations: K=knit, P=purl
Size 8 US (5 MM) single pointed
knitting needles
Cast on 29 stitches
Row 1: (RS) Knit
Row 2: K9, P1, K9, P1, K9
Repeat these two rows until slipper measure 2 inches less than the child’s foot.
Row 1: K1, P1 to end
Row 2: P1, K1 to end
Repeat these two rows to create a rib
for the next 2 inches. Cut yarn long
enough to thread the yarn end back
through the stitches on the needle and
pull tight using a tapestry needle. This
will close the toe. Seam up the centre
as needed and sew heel in a T-Shape.
Apply non-slip product to sole. Let dry
24 hours before wearing.
CHILD’S FOOT SIZE CHART
Size Length of Foot in Inches (knit two
inches less then make rib)
5-6
5.25
7-8
6
9-10
6.56
11-12
7.25
13-1
8
2-3
8.56
4-5
9
This simple pattern can be made out
of acrylic or wool. I chose acrylic for
ease of washing, but real wool cannot be
beat for warmth. Happy knitting! †
Debbie Chikousky farms at Narcisse, Manitoba.
photo: debbie chikousky
Debbie
Chikousky
in my life is even more pronounced. This
also makes me more determined to pass
on her talents to another generation.
One complaint our family had on knitted slippers is that they are slippery. Our
18-month-old grandson needed slippers
in our house as we have cold floors but we
didn’t want him falling. I was going to use
puffy fabric paint on the slipper bottoms
to make them non-slip, but discovered
that all my fabric paint was dried out, so
I tried silicone caulking instead. It works!
Whether using fabric paint or silicone,
first cut a paper innersole for the slipper.
Then apply the product of choice to the
sole of the slipper. This will keep the
product from soaking through and gluing the top to the bottom.
An application of silicone caulking to
the slipper bottoms will help to make
them non-slip.
JANUARY 19, 2016 grainews.ca /
43
Home Quarter Farm Life
Volunteering gives new
appreciation of home farm
BY CHRISTALEE FROESE
A
closer view of the world
has given Clayton and
Carrie Kotylak a better
insight into their own
farming operation.
Having volunteered in Nepal
and Jordan with Habitat for
Humanity, the Saskatchewan
mixed farmers know first hand
that what they produce actually
feeds the world.
“While in Jordan I ate with families and they were eating lentils
and peas and I was thinking, ‘this
probably came from my area of
the world,’” said Carrie, who travelled to Jordan in the summer of
2013 to build a house with Habitat
for Humanity.
“I think it’s eye opening in that
you go and see the people in
underdeveloped countries who are
looking for sources of protein and
nutrients and we are in the position to provide that.”
Clayton volunteered to go to
Nepal in 2014 during the Christmas
break. The lifelong farmer and 14
other Canadians worked for two
weeks to construct a Habitat for
Humanity house in the South Asia
developing country.
He said the most surprising
thing he witnessed was the lack
of agricultural knowledge in the
rural community where the build
was located.
“Having weed-free crops and
healthy productive animals was
just not something they’re educated in and they’re paying the
price socially,” said Clayton.
Both Clayton and Carrie said
the trips changed their view of
farm life, making them grateful
for the abundance of food, shelter
and knowledge in Canada.
“We now realize we won the
social lottery here, and while that
doesn’t mean we have to give our
products away, we do need to give
back and pay it forward,” said
Carrie, who studies international
business full time at the University
of Regina.
The couple plans to continue
their overseas benevolent work,
but in the meantime, they are
concentrating on local initiatives.
Clayton and Carrie are active
in lobbying provincial and federal
governments to make access to
international agricultural workers
simpler for farmers.
In order to effectively operate
their 2,500-acre operation, which
includes 125 head of commercial
cattle, they employed a U.K. resident for an eight-month period in
2014. Last year the Kotylaks sponsored a second U.K. immigrant
since finding local workers has
proven extremely difficult.
“We always realized that we
needed more manpower, but
our labour pool in southeast
Saskatchewan was almost nonexistent and we don’t have sons or
anybody of the right age or interests to help us out,” said Carrie.
With two daughters, one
aged 23 who lives in Regina
and a 14-year-old in school, the
Kotylaks built a spare apartment
above their detached garage several years ago with an eye on
immigrant labour. After Clayton
met a European immigration specialist at the 2013 Farm Progress
Show in Regina, the couple
applied to bring an agricultural
student to their farm for spring,
summer and fall.
A second student, Mike Hutchings
from the U.K., is now employed by
them through the Saskatchewan
Immigrant Nominee Program.
Hutchings said while he grew up on
a farm in Europe, his home operation was nothing like what he has
witnessed in Canada.
“The average size of a farm in the
U.K. is 150 to 250 acres, whereas
here it’s 2,000 to 3,000 acres and
more, and because of the bigger equipment here, the labour
requirements in Canada are about
half of what they are at home,”
said Hutchings.
The Kotylaks said they will
always be mixed farmers because
their land best suits that kind
of operation. And while current
trends are leaning toward more
acres, the couple is focused on
having a well-rounded operation
rather than a larger one.
“For me, I farm because I love
the land, regardless of what it’s
producing and I produce what
is best suited, whether it’s grain
or livestock or pulse crops,” said
Clayton. †
Christalee Froese writes from Montmartre, Sask.
photos: christalee froese
Working in underdeveloped countries an eye-opener for Saskatchewan couple
Clayton (l to r), Chloe and Carrie Kotylak along with U.K. farmhand Mike Hutchings.
register as a young farmer at cyff.ca for a chance to win prizes including an all expense paid trip to the
#farmtogether – agriculture united 2016 cYFF annual Young Farmers conference
2016 cYFF annual Young Farmers conference
FeBruarY 26-29, 2016 ~ VancouVer, Bc
Pinnacle hotel Vancouver harbourfront (1133 west hastings Street)
Powerful line up of speakers and presentations on topics of interest to all young Canadian farmers
network with young farmers of various commodities from coast to coast!
We all share the same table.
educate
Pull up a chair.
THE REAL STORY OF AG
“We take pride in knowing we would
feel safe consuming any of the crops
we sell. If we would not use it ourselves
it does not go to market.”
– Katelyn Duncan, Saskatchewan
energize
empower
“The natural environment is critical to
farmers – we depend on soil and water
for the production of food. But we also
live on our farms, so it’s essential that
we act as responsible stewards.”
Box 24, Middle lake, SaSkatchewan S0k 2x0
– Doug Chorney, Manitoba
1-888-416-2965
•
[email protected]
canadian Young Farmers Forum
@cYFF
“The welfare of my animals is one of my
highest priorities. If I don’t give my
cows a high quality of life they won’t
grow up to be great cows.”
www.cyff.ca
– Andrew Campbell, Ontario
Safe food; animal welfare; sustainability; people care deeply about these
things when they make food choices. And all of us in the agriculture industry
care deeply about them too. But sometimes the general public doesn’t see it
that way. Why? Because, for the most part, we’re not telling them our story
and, too often, someone outside the industry is.
Clayton Kotylak feeds his cows.
The journey from farm to table is a conversation we need to make sure we’re
a part of. So let’s talk about it, together.
Visit AgMoreThanEver.ca to discover how you can help improve and create realistic
perceptions of Canadian ag.
44
/ grainews.ca JANUARY 19, 2016
Home Quarter Farm Life
SINGING GARDENER
Info on ornamental kale, pink
popping corn, and kidney stones
Plus, wet socks to treat ailments? Give it a try and see what you think
W
elcome Grainews
readers to the
Singing Gardener
page wherever you
are and thanks for being part of
my audience. Got lots to talk
about from planting ornamental
kale to cobs of pink corn kernels
for popping. Also, some thoughts
on kidney stones and home treatments. Plus — a wet sock in bed
doesn’t sound too warming in
January but I, Ted, shall tell how
to offset the chill with a good
ending. Does anyone remember
the days when gentlemen tipped
their hats to ladies? That question
reminds me of these lyrics I once
sang years ago.
I tipped my hat when I came in to
the ladies front and back,
I’ll tip it again when I go out for
certain that’s a fact,
I’m a decent man I am, I am and
I don’t want to shout,
But I tipped my hat when I came
in, I’ll tip it again when I go out.
MEET A SENIOR WHO GREW
ORNAMENTAL KALE
My visit with Lena Meier at her
backyard Portage la Prairie, Man.
garden in late October 2015,
revealed a colourful display of ornamental flowering kale a.k.a. flowering cabbage. Lena commented,
“There wasn’t a whole lot more of
anything else that was showy in the
garden.” Other annuals had packed
it in “but these plants began their
best display once nighttime temperatures dropped below 12 C for
a couple of weeks.” She revealed
how her striking patch of autumn
colour came about and that she’s
planting more again in 2016.
Upon arrival, one of the first
things Lena said to me was, “I
never realized they would turn out
that way. They’re so beautiful.”
She and her husband have been
looking at them in the garden
every day. “I don’t know how long
they’re going to last. This is the first
time we’ve grown ornamental kale.
We just happened to be going up
and down the bedding plant aisles
at Canadian Tire Garden Centre
and spotted them. They were so
tiny and green.” Lena didn’t know
what to expect, but on the spur
of the moment bought a dozen
“just for the heck of it and planted
them all. They’re so pretty now.”
However, she did have challenges
facing insect pests. Much to Lena’s
surprise, during July “cabbage butterfly moths and flea beetles suddenly appeared and began attacking the plants, so something had
to be done.” Lena continued: “We
purchased some lightweight net-
SOURCES OF SEED
Gardeners wishing to start their
own ornamental flowering kale
(Brassica oleracea) this spring can
check out seed display racks at
garden centres and greenhouses.
If you can’t find such seeds or
started plants locally, ornamental
kale seeds are available through
the following: Osaka Pink kale
from West Coast Seeds, Delta,
B.C. V4K 3N2, phone 1-888-8048820; Ornamental mixed flowering
kale from Early’s Garden Centre,
Saskatoon, Sask. S7J 0S5, phone
1-800-667-1159 and Glamour Red
flowering kale from W.H. Perron,
Laval, Que. H7P 5R9, phone 1-800723-9071. Seeds can be started in
the greenhouse between the middle
of April to mid-June. Remember, as
attractive as these plants are during cool fall days you may have to
defend flowering kale earlier in the
season against insect pests, but it’s
well worth the effort.
BEWARE OF CABBAGE
MOTH AND FLEA BEETLES
photo: ted meseyton
ted
meseyton
ting material at Dollarama and
draped it over the plants. Not long
afterward, the plants rebounded
and really perked up.”
Lena Meier ponders the pink frilly-leafed vibrant beauty of her autumn flowering ornamental kale as big as
dinner plates. A single head floating in a container with water makes a stunning table centrepiece.
shortly. You might consider setting
out a few ‘pink ornamental kale’
plants between stalks of pink popping corn or other corn varieties in
the garden. This method of companion planting may help reduce
attack from cabbage butterfly moths
and flea beetles.
Let it be known that the above
pests have voracious appetites for
plants of the brassica and mustard families and relentlessly attack
ornamental kale, edible kale, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant, radishes, morning glory and
nasturtium foliage.
Personally, I, Ted, recommend a
physical cloth barrier in lieu of powders and sprays as a way to foil pests.
A lightweight row cover creates a
physical barrier between brassica
seedlings and destructive pests such
as cabbage butterfly moths and flea
beetles, as well as thrips and root
maggot flies that attack onions, carrots and rutabagas plus leaf miner
flies that suck juices from Swiss
chard and beet tops. Row cover can
be draped directly over seedlings
and maturing plants and secured at
ground level to prevent entry. An
alternative is to drape row covering
over metal or other piping material and create a half-moon-shaped
cloche that keeps the mesh from
touching plants. Various crop protection coverings and cloche piping material are available at some
garden centres. A good selection is
available from West Coast Seeds in
Delta, B.C., whose contact info is
provided earlier on this page.
“Is there any home treatment for
kidney stones? I wish I could blast
’em away.” Ted’s question to readers is: Do you believe nature has
the power to heal? Let me mention
right here at the outset that I do not
diagnose nor prescribe and I am not
a doctor. See your health-care provider when considering alternate
options.
Some folks claim to have beaten
kidney stones by drinking cornsilk
tea. So when husking corncobs at
harvest time you may want to set
aside, air-dry and keep that fine
stringy stuff called cornsilk. Past
generations claimed cornsilk beverage to be a powerhouse of medicine that can help dissolve kidney
stones and support overall urinary
tract well-being. Prepare cornsilk
tea as you would any other herbal
tea by gently simmering some in
distilled water for a few minutes,
then cool, strain and sip slowly.
I find cornsilk tea to be pleasant
tasting, but if you require some
sweetening, add a touch of honey,
some stevia powder or stevia liquid drops.
HAVE YOU EVER PLANTED PINK
POPPING CORN KERNELS?
PARSLEY TEA IS
ANOTHER OPTION
Pink Popcorn seed (as it’s called)
for planting is available via West
Coast Seeds. Phone WCS for a catalogue. Attractive plants that reach
1.5 m (4.5 feet) tall produce two
thin cobs 13 to 15 cm (five to six
inches) long on each stalk encased
within purple and dark-green
leaves. The real treat of this openpollinated variety comes at harvest time. Dried pink kernels make
excellent white fluffy popped corn
with a superb flavour. Also, you’ll
want to save the cornsilk as revealed
Late last fall I harvested and
freeze-dried a wonderful crop of
highly curled Forest Green and
flat-leaf Green Italian parsleys.
Now I’ve got enough to make my
own parsley tea all winter and
until this summer.
From Europe comes word that
Germany’s version of our national
health advisory has approved parsley as a treatment for kidney stones,
bladder infections and other urinary conditions except severe kidney inflammation. The word is that
A READER ASKS
drinking parsley tea helps force
adverse salts and other debris out
of the kidneys, liver and bladder. In
addition parsley can assist eliminating water retention in bodily tissues.
You can buy a good chunk of fresh
and dried parsley and various varieties of parsley seeds with one of
our Canadian $20 greenbacks and
maybe a chunk of change left over.
Known as the herb of longevity,
parsley is easily grown in the home
garden, but be patient as seeds can
take three weeks or longer to sprout,
so get them planted in moist spring
soil ASAP.
Here’s how I make parsley green
tea. Add two or three tablespoons
of fresh chopped parsley leaves and
stems or a couple of tablespoons of
dried parsley into 2 cups of distilled
water and bring slowly to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer gently for
a few minutes then remove from
heat, cover and let it brew for 10
minutes. Avoid simmering for too
long so as not to lose some beneficial nutrients that may be dissipated into steam. Strain through a
sieve and eat the limp parsley that’s
left over if desired. Sip a cupful of
warm parsley tea slowly over a short
period of time. Do not gulp it all
down at once.
COLD, WET COTTON SOCKS ON
WARM FEET, WOOLLEN SOCKS
ON TOP, THEN GO TO SLEEP
Does the following really work?
Decide for yourself should you
venture to try, or discuss it with
your health-care provider. I have
tried it myself. This home remedy comes from an old-timer who
lived for decades in the woods.
Over the years he used it to treat
various sorts of ailments, especially things like pain relief, upper
respiratory, chest and nasal congestion, early onset of colds, the
flu, sore throat, earache, and headache. All that’s required is a pair
of cotton socks, a pair of woollen
socks, a bucket of warm water and
a towel. (Whoops!) Good thing
I didn’t write a trowel. Save that
tool for turning soil in the garden.
Directions are fairly straightfor-
ward. First things first! Soak your
feet in plain warm water for at least
five or up to 10 minutes. That’s
important. Feet must be warm first.
An alternative is to take a total
body immersion warm water bath
instead. Once feet are dried off, soak
a pair of white or light-coloured
all-cotton socks in really cold water.
Wring them out thoroughly so they
don’t drip. Next put the cold wet
cotton socks on both feet and then
put a pair of dry, thick woollen
socks over the cold and damp cotton socks. A pair of thick homeknitted heavy all-woollen socks
really comes in handy.
Go straight to bed with adequate covers so you don’t become
chilled. You might want to place
a dry towel on the bedsheet under
your feet. Keep both pair of socks
on while you sleep.
You may also experience a sedating effect by sleeping better. Upon
awakening, your wet cotton socks
will be dry and feet warm. The
wet sock treatment might require
a couple more nights in succession
to give best results if deemed necessary depending on degree or severity of discomfort, infection and so
on. Upon arising, a combination
beverage of warm ginger and onion
tea is a bonus.
Page is full and I gotta go,
With my weather song and guitar
in tow. †
This is Ted Meseyton the Singing Gardener
and Grow-It Poet from Portage la Prairie,
Man. Do you see nature in all its greatness
regardless of the season? In the eyes of a
gardener and farmer, nature is but a name
for an effect whose cause is the Creator. The
reward for gardening and farming that’s well
done and kissed by nature is an opportunity
to do more. True grandeur of life in Canada is
within the greatness of its people inhabiting
the hills, valleys, plains, towns and cities. My
email address is [email protected].
AS FEATURED ON
2012 NEW HOLLAND P2060-P1060
2012 VERMEER 605SM
734635
34,500
$
743463
150,000
$
70’, 10”, 4.5”, steel, Stealth, TBH, D/S,
16000 acres.
5500 Bales, w/ 2 yr 20,000 bale
warranty available
MEDICINE HAT, AB
403-504-1111
2014 CASE IH 550 QUAD TRAC
Linden
LINDEN, AB
Agri-Centre Ltd. 403-546-3814
2015 VERSATILE 2375
742713
468,000
$
36”, Leather, HID, Beacon, 2 pumps,
PTO, Gull GPS, Eng Break
WETASKIWIN, AB
888-644-5463
2008 JOHN DEERE 9630
LLOYDMINSTER, AB
780-874-4158
442,050
$
520bu capacity. High flow fan upgrade.
Must see.
VULCAN, AB
888-972-9378
732847
744254
172,000
$
4WD Tractor, 375hp, 12x4 Transmission
ST. PAUL, AB
877-845-4422
713424
4WD Tractor, 3250 hrs, 530 HP, 3 PT Hitch
726615
NEW 2014 VERSATILE 500
2013 JOHN DEERE 9360R
$255,000
DEMO SEEDMASTER 6012-CT-SX
25,500
$
600 hrs Per Year - 5 year Lease Price
Semi Annual - OAC. Call for Details
CAMROSE, AB
780-673-9593
2012 CASE IH TITAN 4530
738975
299,000
$
936 hrs, 360 HP, 4WD, 5 Remotes,
710/70/38 Firestone Tires, PTO: 1000
KINDERSLY, SK
888-277-3919
716304
294,500
$
1625 hrs, 400 hp, 810 tank, 70’, co-apps,
Viper Pro, autosteer, 6 spd auto trans
RED DEER, AB
866-343-6101
Take the
weather
with you.
Download
Weatherfarm
Mobile
Weather from hundreds of stations
available on your smartphone!
Available FREE for iPhone & Android devices
The new Weatherfarm Mobile app gives you
instant access to an extensive, live-updating
network with current and forecasted weather
data for your farm or surrounding area.
App features include:
Current conditions
Hourly, 6 hour and 10 day forecast data
 Radar & satellite data
 Weather news & facts
 Weather alerts
 Market and ag news
 Intuitive interface with large,
easy-to-read text
 More to Come


The Weatherfarm Mobile app gives farmers
clear and comprehensive weather information
that is essential to their operation.
Scan the code below to download the app available for iPhone and Android devices.
For more information please contact us at:
[email protected]
Get weather on your desktop at
weatherfarm.com
Sponsored by