Nine grizzlies in one day scare Beaver Mines family

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N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 2
Nine grizzlies in one day
scare Beaver Mines family
TOO MANY BEARS  A rancher in the southwest corner of the province
is applying to carry a handgun for his own protection
Complaints
about
delivering
CWB grain
GROWING PAINS 
CWB vice-president
says the system can
be made to work
BY ALLAN DAWSON
STAFF
S
A grizzly bear pops its head out of a granary, seemingly unconcerned by the trap.
BY SHERI MONK
AF STAFF / PINCHER CREEK
R
yan McClelland likes bears, but
he doesn’t want to end up in the
belly of one.
“I don’t leave the house anymore
without packing a gun with me,” he
said. He lives near Beaver Mines, a small
hamlet southwest of Pincher Creek,
with his wife Jessica and their three children. McClelland is the fourth generation on the ranch, and while the family
PHOTO: COURTESY MCCLELLAND FAMILY
has a long history in the hills of Beaver
Mines, the grizzly bear chapter is a relatively new one.
“Until maybe five or eight years ago, a
grizzly bear was a strange thing to see,”
McClelland said. He rarely sees black
bears any longer, whereas they used to
be seen regularly.
In the early-morning hours of Oct.
21, McClelland was awoken by his dog
barking and what he found astounded
him.
“There was a grizzly at the garage,
right outside the house,” he said, adding
that the first bear was a large male. But
that wasn’t all — he found another eight
of the beasts exploring his property, one
of which had already broken into the
family’s business, McClelland’s Meat
Processors, a small meat-packing shop.
The big boar breached the door to the
meat shop to snack on a quarter of beef.
Meanwhile, a sow with three cubs had
broken into a granary, and a second sow
with two cubs had destroyed her way
into a second granary. “Everybody is
SEE GRIZZLIES  page 6
ome grain handlers are
refusing to accept CWB
grain deliveries and promising better grades to farmers who
bypass the new voluntary board,
farmers said during a recent conference call with CWB officials
Oct. 17.
During the conference-call
meeting with more than 3,200
farmers, an Alberta producer
(who identified himself only as
John) said elevator employees
in Medicine Hat, Stettler and
Oyen told him they would not
be accepting CWB grain.
“I’d like to deliver my grain
through the Canadian Wheat
Board but if I can’t deliver it,
I don’t have any choice,” said
John.
“They’re all saying the same
thing: ‘We’ve got lots of sales for
our own grain so why would we
take wheat board grain in when
we don’t have rail cars for it right
now?’”
Dual-market skeptics predicted
these kinds of issues would surface when the new company relies
on competitors to handle its grain.
A Saskatchewan farmer named
Carl said be went to a Viterra and
Pioneer elevator and was told
they couldn’t accept CWB grain
because the CWB hadn’t set a
basis. Gord Flaten, the CWB’s
vice-president of grain procurement, responded that grain companies, not the CWB, set elevation and freight charges.
In a later interview, Flaten said
he had previously heard similar
complaints, and acknowledged
that, in some cases, companies
are favouring their own grain.
“We recognize there’s an issue
out there at a number of elevators, but I also don’t want to blow
it out of proportion either,” he
SEE CWB GRAIN  page 6
HEMP:
EVALUATING THE VARIETIES AND THE MARKETS  PAGE 26-28
.
SPELLCHECK STUDIO
2
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livestock crops ABP meeting
wants inquiry
Heat-damaged
canola crop
columNists
Roy Lewis
Common errors in
handling vaccines
26
brenda schoepp
U.K. bakers looking
for high protein
13
Beef industry couldn’t
tell its story on XL
14
Yields are down, and
so is the oil content
Daniel Bezte
25
Don’t like the forecast?
Make your own
22
U.S. Thanksgiving turkey
dinner to be easy on the wallet
Hedged } Many retailers locked in turkey costs
before drought drove up feed prices
By P.J. Huffstutter
THANKSGIVING DINNER COST
chicago / reuters
A
mericans will be able to
enjoy relatively cheap
Thanksgiving turkeys this
year, thanks to many retailers
locking in their costs before a
drought this year drove up U.S.
feed prices.
And retailers are determined
to keep prices for the traditional
Thanksgiving main course as low
as possible, even though sky-high
corn prices have nearly doubled
the cost of producing a pound of
turkey meat this year.
Offering attractive prices for
turkey can help retailers such as
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Supervalu Inc. lure customers into their
stores for other Thanksgiving
staples such as turkey stuffing,
cranberries and sweet potatoes,
industry sources said.
“Like the rest of the industry,
we’re seeing an increase in the
prices on turkeys,” said Mike Siemienas, spokesman for Supervalu
Inc, the third-largest U.S. grocery
store operator. “We continue to
work with suppliers to ensure
we’re getting the best price possible for our customers.”
Retail prices for frozen turkeys
have barely moved in recent
weeks. Whole frozen turkeys were
selling for $1.62 a lb. in September, up from $1.57 a lb. at the same
time two years ago, according to
the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.
One reason for that is many
9/29/12
2:35 PM
Page 1
Every year the American Farm Bureau Federation releases an
informal price survey of classic items found on the American
Thanksgiving dinner table. It says the cost of this year’s meal for
10 is $49.48, a 28-cent price increase from last year’s average
of $49.20. The shopping list includes turkey, bread stuffing,
sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish
tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and
beverages of coffee and milk. AFBF
producers’ contractual prices
with retailers were set this spring
when feed was far cheaper as
U.S. farmers began planting what
looked like would be a record corn
crop.
The expectations for a bumper
autumn harvest evaporated as
the worst drought in half a century devastated crops and sent
corn and soybean prices to record
highs this summer.
The impact of higher feed costs
are beginning to show up at some
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He measures just 76.2 cm
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Guinness says that
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farmer Ryan Lavery bought
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and says that if it wasn’t for
his small size, the bull’s fate
would have been very different. “When we bought
Archie, he was destined for
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grown and because we had
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decided to keep him. His size
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Ryan says Archie may be
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“Archie doesn’t realize
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In Peru, farming is hard
and precarious
British bread
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Irish bull takes
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but not for
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16
Call your Salford dealer today, or visit
supermarkets that did not lock in
pre-drought prices.
A manager at Paulina Market
in Chicago said the meat market
recently increased the price of
their fresh turkeys by about 50
cents a lb. to $3.75 a lb.
At Casey’s Market in a Chicago
suburb, owner David Casey said
his wholesale suppliers are quoting prices that are “up a couple
ticks, about five per cent.”
The surge in grain prices was
also making it more difficult for
some producers to secure bank
loans.
John Burkel, a turkey grower
and processor in Minnesota, said
the rising grain prices can make it
difficult to obtain bank financing.
“I used to feed a turkey for 22
cents a lb., now it costs 45-50
cents,” Burkel said. “When you go
to the bank and say, ‘I need a line
of credit that’s twice what I typically have,’ they look at you and
say, ‘Are you out of your mind?
How are you getting that back?’”
In 2011, the United States produced 5.79 billion lbs. of turkey
— a 7.4 per cent drop from the
6.25 billion lbs. produced in 2008,
according to USDA data.
The nation consumed about
5.02 billion lbs. of turkey in 2011
— 6.6 per cent less than the 5.37
billion lbs. in 2008.
Industrywide, farmers and processors say they have scaled back
their flocks, and further production cuts are expected as grain
prices remain high. September’s
egg set placements fell six per cent
from a year earlier, according to
USDA data.
Jim Hertel, managing partner
of Illinois-based food retail consultancy Willard Bishop, cautioned that even if turkey wholesale prices continue to rise savvy
retailers will eat as much of the
difference as possible.
“Smart retailers will be looking
to absorb the costs they can, and
spread any of the price increases
across other categories that
haven’t been as hard hit,” Hertel
said.
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3
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
Grain commission fees
poised to jump 44 per cent
User pay } Despite shaving $20 million in costs, the CGC proposes
big increase in fees so Ottawa no longer has to pay the bill
Fee Name
A load of grain being shipped out before
snowfall. If the Canadian Grain Commission
gets its way, cost of moving grain through
the system will rise by $1.38 per tonne
next fall. Photo: Jeannette Greaves
Unit (per)
Current Fee
Proposed Fee for
2013-14
with proposed
amendments to the
Canada Grain Act
Inspection
$20.10 - $27.10
Not Applicable
$0.51
$1.60
$29.00
$143.99
$7.50 -$25.00
$70.48
Railcar or truck
or container
$5.90
Not Applicable
(Monitoring) Outward Official
Weighing – ships
Tonne
$0.27
$0.15
(Monitoring) Outward Official
Weighing – railcars/
trucks/containers
Railcar or truck
or container
$18.00
$13.87
Not Applicable
$140.97
Inward Inspection
Inward Official Inspection railcars/ trucks/containers
Outward Inspection
Outward Official Inspection –
ships
Tonne
Outward Official Inspection –
railcars/ trucks/containers
Inspection
Reinspection
Reinspection of grain
Re-inspection
Inward weighing
Inward Official Weighing railcars/ trucks/containers
Outward Weighing
Inspection and weighing authorization
Authorized service provider
application
Application
Supplementary fees for official inspection or official weighing
Travel and Accommodation
Trip
Actual
Actual
Time and One-half Overtime
Hour/
employee
$14.20
$64.50
Double Time Overtime
Hour/
employee
$21.00
$86.00
Time and One-half Overtime –
cancellation
Employee
reporting
$107.20
$193.50
Double Time Overtime –
cancellation
Employee
reporting
$107.20
$258.00
Standby
Employee
$23.20
$43.00
Registration and Cancellation of Receipts
By Allan Dawson
staff
I
n its government-ordered drive
to cost recovery, the Canadian
Grain Commission (CGC) wants
the grain industry to pay an extra
$16.7 million a year in user fees effective Aug. 2013.
That’s a 44 per cent increase
amounting to an extra $1.38 a tonne
on total CGC-inspected Canadian
grain exports.
Some fees will skyrocket. For example, the CGC would charge $149.99 for
outward inspection per rail car, truck
or container — a whopping fivefold
jump from the current charge of $29.
The CGC’s outward inspection fee
for ships will rise 58 per cent to $1.60
a tonne from the current 51 cents.
The CGC will charge $46.99 to grade
a grain sample versus the $15.10 to
$24.47 it charges now.
Producer car application fees will
increase 33 per cent to $26.50 compared to the $20 farmers pay now.
Citizens have until Nov. 30 to submit
written responses to the CGC about
the new fees, which are outlined in the
CGC’s 54-page User Fees Consultation
and Pre-proposal Notification.
More cost reductions needed
The CGC should make more services
optional to reduce operating costs,
said Wade Sobkowich, executive
director of the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA). The association also says the federal government
should cover the cost of CGC services,
which benefit the nation.
Currently Ottawa contributes $5.45
million to CGC services identified as
for the public good. The plan is to keep
it the same.
If the CGC’s proposed user fees are
implemented, the grain sector will
cover 91 per cent of the CGC’s bud-
get and the federal government the
remaining nine per cent. Right now
it’s split 50-50 between the government and the industry.
The fee increase could have been
worse, according to the CGC. Amendments to the Canada Grain Act contained in the government’s omnibus
Bill C-45, will cut CGC operating costs
by $20 million. Initially the grain sector
faced a doubling of CGC fees. Making
CGC inward grain inspection at terminals and transfer elevators optional,
and other changes, will reduce costs.
The CGC says its new fees will
amount to about $1.82 a tonne or just
1.9 and 2.2 per cent of the total cost of
handling and transporting grain from
the middle of the Prairies to Vancouver or St. Lawrence ports, respectively.
Without changes CGC services would
have cost around $3.07 a tonne.
“We found that our proposed fees
appear to be low relative to maximum
elevator tariffs,” the CGC states in its
consultation document. “Because our
fees are low relative to these elevator
tariffs, the impact of our fees should
have a lower impact than the fees for
elevator services.”
Grain quality leader
The CGC says the services it will
continue to charge for are critical to
maintaining “Canada’s reputation as
a leader in grain quality.”
The WGEA says the following CGC
services are for the public good and
the government should cover the
costs: Grain Research Laboratory, the
grain quality assurance system, maintaining grain quality standards, food
safety activities, policy development,
traceability and monitoring, producer
security and other overhead costs.
The WGEA says industry users
should only pay for producer car
administration, subject to grade and
dockage adjudication, elevator licensing and accreditation and certification
“We found that our
proposed fees appear to be
low relative to maximum
elevator tariffs.
Elevator Receipt Registration /
Warehousing of inspection and
weighing data (Inward)
Tonne
$0.08
Not Applicable
Elevator Receipt Cancellation /
Warehousing of inspection and
weighing data (Outward)
Tonne
$0.08
Not Applicable
$5 or $100
$276
Not Applicable
$353
$20.00
$26.50
Sample
$15.10 - $24.47
$46.99
Sample
$31.00
$70.48
$5.00 - $395.00
$35.24 - $1,609.87
$2.50 - $24.00
$77.50
$37.6M
$54.3M
Licensing
Full-term Licence
Licence/ month
Short-term Licence
Licence
Producer cars
Producer car application
Car
Grading of submitted samples
Canadian Grain
Commission
Grading of submitted sample
Samples
Provision on samples
Analytical testing
of third parties to provide inspection
services.
“For the remainder of CGC functions competitive alternatives must be
allowed,” the WGEA says in a position
paper.
The WGEA also questions whether
the CGC has the legal authority to
charge fees for many of its services,
Sobkowich said. The User Fee Act
only allows fees to be charged where
the service “results in a direct benefit
or advantage to the person paying the
fee.”
The CGC document says its proposed user fees are consistent with
those charged for similar services in
the United States and Australia. However, the paper also says in 2011 the
U.S. government covered 37 per cent
of inspection fees with user fees covering the rest. If the CGC’s new fees
are implemented the Canadian grain
industry will cover 91 per cent of the
bill. That puts Canada’s grain industry
at a competitive disadvantage, Sobkowich said.
The WGEA is also disappointed the
House of Commons agriculture committee has rejected the association’s
request to appear to state its position.
“I would think the largest user of
CGC services should have a voice at
the table, even if it’s only for a few
minutes,” he said.
Analytical tests
Analysis
Documentation
Documentation issued
Document
issued
Total Revenue Estimates from User Fees
How to make views
known on proposed
new CGC user fee
Citizens have until Nov. 30 to submit, in writing, their
views on the Canadian Grain Commission’s proposed
new user fees.
The CGC’s User Fees Consultation and Pre-proposal Notification document is available on the website
at www.grainscanada.gc.ca (See page 39, Annex 2,
Table 6, for a list of the CGC’s current fees and proposed new fees, shown above).
Email submissions to: consultations@grainscanada.
gc.ca.
Mail submissions to: User Fees Comments, Canadian Grain Commission, 600-303 Main Street, Winnipeg, Man. R3C 3G8. Include a return address.
Those dissatisfied with the CGC’s response to submissions can take their case before an independent
advisory panel. The CGC and the complainant each
select a panellist. Those two panellists then select a
third independent panellist.
The deadline for requesting a panel is Dec. 30, 2012.
4
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
EDITOR
Will Verboven
Phone: 403-697-4703
Email: [email protected]
Reporters
Alexis Kienlen, Edmonton
(780) 668-3121
[email protected]
Feds change much
abused legislation
Sheri Monk, Pincher Creek
(403) 627-9108
[email protected]
PRODUCTION director
Shawna Gibson
Email: [email protected]
Director of Sales & Circulation
Regulations } Bureaucratic mischief caused
considerable costs to municipalities
Lynda Tityk
Email: [email protected]
CIRCULATION manager
Heather Anderson
Email: [email protected]
By will verboven
Alberta Farmer | Editor
national ADVERTISING SALES
James Shaw
Phone: 416-231-1812 Fax: 416-233-4858
Email: [email protected]
classified ADVERTISING SALES
Maureen Heon
Phone: 1-888-413-3325 Fax: 403-341-0615
Email: [email protected]
ADVERTISING Co-ordinator
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Phone: 204-944-5765 Fax: 204-944-5562
Email: [email protected]
PUBLISHER
Bob Willcox
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director
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S
ometimes a government decision
comes completely out of the blue, and
much to the surprise of many, actually
turns out to be a wise decision. I refer to
the recent federal government decision to
change the Navigable Waters Act to the Navigation Act. In the process the new act will
only cover waters that actually have genuine navigation by vessels of a minimum size.
The old act was so misinterpreted over time
that it covered virtually every watercourse
in the country including some ditches and
sloughs. That interpretation was a surefire
playground for federal government busybodies.
To most folks the announcement was
probably the first time they had even heard
of such legislation. But if opposition party
naysayers were to be believed, even the
thought of changing the act was sure to bring
down upon Canada an environmental armageddon. Which might cause the innocent
citizen to ponder what has navigable water
to do with saving the environment?
Municipalities, provincial government
agencies and anyone owning property that
bordered on water would sooner or later
have been made aware of the much abused
piece of federal legislation. Those who had
to deal with the federal bureaucratic watchdogs of the regulations attached to the act
would surely have some pointed perspectives on their experiences with government
busybody enforcement madness.
But first a bit of history. The original legislation dates to the 1880s, and its intent was
to protect navigation on lakes and rivers
in Canada. It was designed to have federal
government oversight on provincial government schemes to dam rivers that might
impede navigation or affect river flows
downstream in other provinces. It was never
designed to deal with the environment, since
back then no one even knew what the word
meant. Luckily for Alberta the original act (by
accident or design) did not interfere with the
development of the irrigation industry that
began around the same time.
However over the ensuing years, particularly the past 40 years, all of that changed.
That’s when the Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, now known as Fisheries and Oceans
Canada (FOC) began its quiet expansion into
landlocked and seemingly non-navigable
Alberta and Saskatchewan. Over time it
quietly built up local offices and filled them
with bureaucrats looking for something to
do. One of the pieces of legislation the FOC
used to expand its empire was the iconic
1880s Navigable Waters Act. To justify their
activities clever senior officials attached new
environment-related regulations to the act.
One could surmise that it didn’t take much
prodding to get the Liberal governments of
the day to inflict some political mischief on
some of those defiant Alberta voters who had
the audacity of always voting against them.
It’s been stated that if the now
defunct regulations had been
enforced 100 years ago by FOC,
there would be no irrigation
industry in southern Alberta.
The additional regulations reinterpreted
the act to define navigable waters as anything that could float a canoe. Somehow
no affected party at the time figured out
what impact that new interpretation would
ultimately have in the countryside. The
new rules required the FOC to approve any
action that might affect navigation including adverse environmental impacts. That
became a free ride to get the FOC involved
in anything that affected water including
road culverts, drainage of almost any significance, diversions for irrigation, and even
cottage boat docks amongst other activities.
Previous to the FOC bureaucratic invasion,
municipalities and provincial government
regulators had quietly and competently
handled those matters themselves. Legendary farm writer, the late John Schmidt, used
to regale readers of his columns with tales of
outrageous FOC bureaucratic bungling and
stonewalling of even the simplest of county
repair work.
It’s been stated that if the now-defunct
regulations had been enforced 100 years
ago by FOC, there would be no irrigation
industry in southern Alberta. Most folks
don’t realize that the main reason the
infamous “road of death” to Fort McMurray has not already been twinned is the
mindless interference by FOC demanding
endless environmental assessments every
inch of the way. To date literally millions
of dollars have been spent to satisfy those
never-ending demands. Those federal
assessments were in addition to the ones
that were already required to be carried out
by the provincial government. It was all a
gold mine for an ever-increasing army of
environmental consultants.
Well it seems the glory days of the FOC
may well be over if the original enabling legislation is changed. The biggest losers will
be the buses full of private environmental
consulting companies that were hired to
create the endless environmental assessments. One might ponder whether environmental impacts will be ignored. Not
likely; provinces have been mixed up with
assessments of their own for years. All this
does is eliminate a layer of duplication, but
it will save millions. But don’t count the FOC
outposts on the Prairies out yet — federal
bureaucrats are remarkably adaptable and
ingenious at circumventing actions they
don’t like. They may lie low for a while, but
I expect they will institute a medium-term
survival plan to wait out the time until a
more friendly federal government is elected.
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New ag education support group is most welcome
by will verboven
I
f there is one universal annoyance that
virtually everyone in the agriculture
industry shares, it’s the blissful ignorance
of the urban public about where food really
comes from and agriculture in general. Many
city folks either believe food appears magically at grocery stores, or they just don’t care
as long as it’s cheap and always available.
The conventional wisdom is that if consumers were made more aware, then agriculture would be much more appreciated.
I expect better awareness applies to a lot of
issues, but it’s hard to educate people about
food production when there is an overabundance available everywhere.
In lieu of starvation to focus consumers’
attention, governments and producer groups
have tried education as an avenue to better
inform the urban public. It’s a process that
has gone on under various efforts for at least
40 years in Alberta. The problem these programs have is that they are chronically underfunded and in many cases rely on volunteers
or just goodwill to carry out the message. The
provincial government gets involved sporadically, but it’s usually never enough.
The underlying issue in trying to educate
the consumer about agriculture is that there
is no real payoff for the investment of time
and money by the ag industry or the government. The entire effort seems to be more of
a feel-good exercise for producers, because
in the end even a consumer who is well
informed about agriculture isn’t likely to buy
any more food than before.
Having said all that, another industry promotion organization has sprung up and taken
up the torch to educate the public about agriculture. The new organization called Agriculture for Life strives to support agriculture
education and farm safety programs. To date
it has put its money where its month is and
invested $1.2 million into such well-known
programs as Classroom Agriculture Program,
Little Green Thumbs and a number of other
initiatives across the province. The idea is to
expose many more Alberta youth to agriculture and its role in our society. To say the least
the support and leadership of this new group
is very much appreciated.
A big concern in the past has been the lack
of significant support and participation by
agribusiness and related organizations in
the ag education process. Many of the early
efforts relied on support from producer
groups with limited funding or the fickle
interest of government. Agribusiness was
conspicuous by its absence in many of those
early efforts. However the new group seems
to have been initiated and financed by some
of the big dogs in the agriculture business
amongst them Agrium, ATB, UFA, RME. Even
the energy industry has joined in the effort
with the likes of PennWest, TransCanada and
ATCO. The owner of this publication, Glacier
Media, is also a significant supporter. When
big players like this get involved it tends to
create a rolling snowball effect as others want
to get involved. This all bodes very well for
agriculture education and farm safety programming everywhere.
One ponders when and why all this agribusiness enthusiasm suddenly started considering the long history of ag programs
operating from hand to mouth. But it is most
welcome indeed. Next time a few comments
on what other areas some of this new-found
support could be directed to.
5
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
After beef’s biggest recall: Is the
cattle industry “headed south?”
Turmoil } The reopening of the XL beef plant at Brooks is not the end of troubles for the Canadian beef industry
By Fred Hays
policy analyst, alberta beef
producers / calgary
T
he past two months have
seen considerable turmoil
in Alberta’s beef sector
because of the XL beef recall.
Although there has been some
relief with the JBS takeover there
could still be a long way to go.
Canada’s beef sector has been
influenced by a number of factors:
•Grass. Western Canada’s cowcalf sector grew because of an
abundance of prairie grass and
water. The feedlot and packing
sectors developed close to the
cattle.
•Overabundance of feed grains.
The Crow rate subsidized
movement of grains to Eastern
Canada until it was eliminated
in 1995. The feeding industry in
southern Alberta flourished with
this policy change.
•The dollar. There is a strong correlation between the exchange
rate and cattle prices. In January, 2002 the loonie dropped to
62 cents U.S. compared to parity
today. Historically, for every one
per cent change in the exchange
rate, cattle prices move by a little
over one per cent in the opposite
direction.
•BSE was devastating to the sector, with losses calculated at $7
billion. The industry still feels
the effects.
•Rethinking of Canadian government agriculture policy and
support. The Canadian govern-
ment has in the past been prepared to assist food production
as a way to sustain the country’s
food supply. It is less concerned
these days about food security,
evident with the changes to
Growing Forward 2.
•Reduced Canadian and Alberta
beef cow numbers. The beef
cow herd has decreased in 2012
by 24 per cent since the high of
two million head in 2005. This
number equals the cow inventory in 1993.
•U.S. drought. Corn production is
projected to be about 13 per cent
less than it was for 2011 with the
lowest production since 2006.
Pasture acres have been affected
dramatically.
• Barley acreage and prices. In
2012 barley acres in Alberta
decreased by over 20 per cent
compared with five years ago.
Feed barley prices in Lethbridge
have gone from $165 to $270 per
tonne, an increase of over 60 per
cent. This reduces the price for
feeder cattle.
•Resurgence of risk. The most
relevant risk is margin risk, not
price risk. At the same time,
conventional tools to manage
operation risk are becoming less
effective.
• Growth, consolidation and
structural change. During the
past 20 years Lakeside Farm
Industries has been through
several ownership changes.
Mitsubishi, Iowa Beef Producers, Tyson and Nilsson brothers
were all involved before JBS.
Two beef packers now own 80
The pivotal part of
Canada’s beef sector is
now controlled by head
offices in Minnesota
and Brazil.
per cent of Canada’s processing;
two plants process 70 per cent of
Canada’s beef. Recently because
of low cattle numbers these plants
have been running at 70 per cent
capacity. There are problems with
plant staffing, with packers relying on foreign workers. This is not
exactly optimistic.
Foreign control
Purdue University economist
Michael Boehlje has assessed
how North American agriculture trends are affecting Western Canada. He cautioned that
“unanticipated surprises” could
dramatically alter the industry.
Some of this would be the effects
of consolidation and concentration along the entire value chain.
The pivotal part of Canada’s
beef sector is now controlled
by head offices in Minnesota
and Brazil. They are controlling
the future of the Canadian beef
business: Canada has become a
branch office. They run multinational businesses that compete
with Canadian product and distribution.
Kansas feedlots such as this one could soon contain
more Canadian feeders. ©ISTOCK
To some, involvement of JBS
is a godsend ensuring fed cattle
can be sold on a local market and
feeder prices will be partway reasonable. However, the long-term
positioning of Canadian producers needs to be discussed now, not
six months from now.
What will happen next year
when the four big packers, including JBS, 30 per cent of which is
owned by Brazil’s government,
and Cargill in the U.S. begin downsizing, as projected, because of the
drought? How will this affect the
Canadian packing, feeding and
cow-calf sectors?
As in the past, significant vertical supply chain functions will
return to more open-market
arrangements with tight strategic
alliances between buyers and sellers. More Canadian feeder cattle
could be shipped south to American feedlots and more fed cattle
could be shipped south to American packers to buoy their lines.
And there could be fewer Canadian feedlots and packers able to
compete in this market arena.
Hog processors need to help
Canadian producers stay in business
Broken } There’s no obvious solution of how to repair the value chain in the pork business
George Matheson, a pork producer who sells directly to consumers from his farm in Stonewall, Man., gave his view of
the state of the hog sector at a
Keystone Agricultural Producers meeting last month.
T
he futures say that it’s
going to be deep into
2013 that we’re going to
remain in the red. Short term
there is very little relief for us.
Very few producers are interested in any type of advance
payment. They’ve got enough
debt. They’re probably going to
leave rather than take on something like that. The government
has told us that there will be
absolutely no ad hoc payments
whatsoever. So for the next 12
months things don’t look very
good at all.
Long term I’m disappointed
to say... there’s no plan whatsoever for the industry long term.
I’m going to give you my view
on what I think needs to be done
long term.
And (to another producer)
I appreciate your comments
earlier today about this industry
and how broken it is. It is absolutely broken, and to me the biggest problem is the value chain
is not working. It hasn’t worked
for quite a while.
We are at a definite disadvantage to the U.S. producer. I
would say we’re at a $10-a-hog
deficit to the U.S. producer. That
doesn’t sound like very much.
But if you take even a modest
farm today producing 10,000
hogs times 10 is $100,000 you’re
behind your U.S. counterpart in
one year. The exchange rate has
been behind quite awhile. So if
this sort of thing goes on for five
years as a producer you’re down
a half-million (dollars) and really
you are out of the game. You’re
not going to compete with your
American competitor at all.
As far as the exchange rates
there doesn’t look to be any
relief in the near future. The
buck is going to stay about even.
If it was in the ’90s that would
probably make up the difference because we are paid in
American bucks.
What I feel needs to happen
is the processor, if he wants an
independent producer in this
country, he’s got to sit down
with reps from the producers
and they’ve got to come up with
a way this $10 can be paid to the
producer so they can continue
to exist. I don’t know if that can
be done at all or not.
There’s 25 per cent of Canadian consumption coming in
from the U.S. If we could put
a levy against that pork, slow it
down perhaps, that would give
the processors an opportunity
to pay the producer more.
I’ll tell you to be quite honest
I think the processor can dig a
little deeper into his pockets and
pay the producer and hopefully
between different things we can
make up that $10 difference.
Otherwise, to be quite frank, I
think the independent producer
in this country is dying a slow
death. They are halfway finished. If we cannot be competitive with the U.S. we’re finished,
other than vertical integrators
— the HyLifes, the Maple Leafs,
because nobody (independent)
is going to see pigs produced in
this country. Olymel is interested in Big Sky. They’re going
to ensure their production.
People want to know how I’m
staying in. In a way I’m a vertical
integrator — a flea on the back
of a dog really, the dog being
HyLife or Maple Leaf. That’s
how I am continuing to be a
pork producer in this country.
As an independent producer,
things do not look very good
until there are changes to that
value chain.
6
OFF THE FRONT
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
GRIZZLIES  from page 1
getting in, but nine bears in one
night just raised so many flags,”
he said, adding that folks in
the area have to be well armed
these days just to go and fix
fence. “We’ve got wooden granaries that are 60 years old that
in the last five years have been
attacked, and they never were
before that.”
The family’s story has
received press coverage across
the province, but many reader
comments indicate blame is
being placed on McClelland for
attracting the bears by having
grain on the property, and the
meat shop. However, he says
his meat-processing business is
clean, and that he reduces any
odours or attractants as much
as possible.
“I get rid of my scraps either
that day, or the first thing the
next morning so that they never
hang around and create any
odour,” he said, adding that the
second boar was clearly attracted
by his house as well.
Costly repairs
McClelland said the family has
been upgrading the property
and infrastructure in an effort
to make it more bear-proof
since the grizzlies have become
a problem, but each project costs
money and it’s not financially
feasible to be able to complete it
all at once. The ongoing grizzly
problem creates other bills that
must be paid. He’s replaced the
door to the meat shop with a new
steel one, replaced a customer’s
lost quarter of beef, and other
repairs have been undertaken
as needed. “They’ve eaten grain,
and they waste more than they
eat. I’ve lost hundreds of bushels of barley and oats they’ve
spread on the ground. They’ve
torn doors open on metal bins,
they’ve torn wooden granaries
apart, and they wreck corrals.
It’s cost thousands and thousands of dollars as the years go
by,” he said, adding there is no
The McClelland ranch seems to be a popular hangout for area grizzly bears.
compensation available for the
escalating damages.
“In the last five years, it’s been
horrible. We’re allowed to protect
ourselves, but we’re not allowed
to protect our possessions or our
livestock or our farm.”
McClelland’s experience isn’t
an isolated one. Throughout
this area, producers and rural
residents are seeing an increased
grizzly population and what
appears to be displacement of the
black bear population as a result.
The Crowsnest Pass to the west
is a key wildlife corridor, and the
south end of the area is bordered
by Waterton National Park and
Glacier National Park on the U.S.
side of the border. These factors
create a funnel effect that serves
to increase potential human and
wildlife conflicts.
The southwest corner of the
province comprises just three
per cent of Alberta’s land area,
but accounts for 37 per cent of
livestock predation claims, most
of which result from wolf predation.
McClelland and others in the
area are concerned that these
encounters will eventually end
up in tragedy as the frequent
encounters appear to be habituating some animals to human
activity. “The bears aren’t scared
anymore. I can drive down below
through our granaries and they’re
walking away from me, or just
standing up and looking at me,”
he said. Area conservation officers were called immediately and
McClelland says they have done
everything they can to help with
the situation. One of the boars,
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PHOTO: COURTESY MCCLELLAND FAMILY
the one believed to have broken
into the meat shop, was elderly
and in poor condition and was
subsequently euthanized. The
other boar was relocated.
McClelland is so concerned
for his family’s safety, he’s
applying for authorization to
openly carry a handgun for
protection. The application is
permitted under Canadian law,
but permission is usually only
granted to people living in very
remote areas with large predators, few people, and where it
isn’t practical to constantly
carry a long gun for protection. Nonetheless, McClelland
is optimistic his request will be
granted and says the Pincher
Creek RCMP have offered their
recommendation for approval
based on his circumstances.
CWB GRAIN  from page 1
“The bears aren’t scared
anymore. I can drive
down below through our
granaries and they’re
walking away from me,
or just standing up and
looking at me.”
RYAN
MCCLELLAND
said. “There are lots of farmers
getting their contracts signed
and they’re making their deliveries, and things are going to
work well.”
tonnes,” he said. “It can still work
well.”
Nevertheless, the CWB is thinking about buying some of its own
handling facilities. “But it’s not
likely something we’ll do this
winter,” Flaten said.
Better offers
Pulse crops
In another example, a farmer
from Wawanesa, Man., said an
elevator manager told him he’d
get a better grade and price if
he sold to him instead of the
CWB. Flaten noted farmers can
still get an official grade from
the Canadian Grain Commission. He also stressed that farmers can shop their CWB pooled
grain around to different companies to get the best deal on
grades, freight and elevation.
The basis between different
elevators handling CWB grain
has varied by as much as $8 a
tonne, but farmers can get help
with this issue by contacting the
new CWB, said Flaten.
“In fact we really want farmers
to phone us so we can share that
information,” he said. “That’s
one of the helpful roles we can
play — being a good source of
information on things like that,
that’s going to help farmers get
a better deal.”
Sometimes grain companies
won’t want to handle CWB
grain, but another company will
because it makes them money,
Flaten said.
“It worked well for decades
(under the monopoly) for handling companies to handle CWB
Later this crop year the CWB will
explore marketing pulse crops,
president and CEO Ian White
said.
The CWB already has a canola
pool, and 45 elevators across the
West have agreed to take delivery
of canola for the company. But
more would be welcome, Flaten
added.
“I think Year 1 is a bit of a test
to see what level of interest is out
there,” he said. “The other thing
with canola, the yields are lower
than what farmers expected. So
they may have pre-sold a greater
portion of their crop than they
realized.”
The CWB has no immediate
plans to sell itself to another grain
company, White said.
“Our plan is to find ways of having farmers as shareholders and
maybe some other companies as
shareholders as well and looking
for sources of capital,” he said.
“We aren’t out there necessarily just to make profits from marketing grain, we’re out there to
make sure farmers have the best
contracting options they possibly
can and provide some additional
competition in this marketplace,
which has been changed now and
will be forever.”
7
Albertafarmexpress.ca • November 19, 2012
CN CEO says legislation to
improve service could backfire
Complaints } Legislation stems from a rail service review conducted for the government by an independent panel
By Nicole Mordant/Reuters
Vancouver
L
ooming legislation aimed
at improving rail service for
shippers in Canada could
backfire and end up making the
country’s sprawling rail networks
less efficient, the chief executive of
Canada’s biggest railroad warned
Nov. 7.
Canada’s Conservative government plans to introduce legislation this fall giving all shippers
more clout in ensuring consistent
rail service, and improve ways to
resolve disputes.
The rail companies are concerned that the legislation could
end up dictating or imposing levels of service that don’t take into
consideration existing commercial
arrangements with customers.
Claude Mongeau, the CEO of
Canadian National Railway Co.,
said the imposition of service obligations on rail companies might
give relief to one unhappy shipper
but that may come at the cost of
upsetting service for others down
the line as railroads are large, interconnected networks.
“It doesn’t take many to create
a ripple effect... I say beware of
what you ask for as you may just
derail the efficiency that we have
been able to gain,” Mongeau told
Reuters in an interview after speaking to a business audience in Vancouver.
The planned legislation stems
from a rail service review conducted for the government by an
independent panel following years
of complaints from shippers, such
as farmers and forestry companies,
about poor rail service, including
damaged rail cars and unpredictable pickups.
Railroads have defended their
service track record saying it is fairly
good overall and that additional
legislation is not the answer, especially in a free-market economy.
Mutual trust
Mongeau said legislation could
poison relationships built up
between customers and railroads
over many years, and stop them
from sharing information and data
for fear it could be used against
them in a dispute. “It is difficult
to have mutual trust with a gun to
your head,” he said.
Representatives of shippers and
railroads spent four months in a
government-sponsored committee this year trying, but ultimately
failing, to develop both a template
for service agreements and a dis-
pute resolution process that could
be used commercially.
Mongeau said that if the government is bent on introducing legislation it should be “balanced” and
“targeted.” That could be achieved
by requiring mediation as a first
step to resolve disputes, rather
than imposed arbitration, he said.
If cases did end up in arbitration,
it should take place under the aegis
of the Canadian Transport Agency,
a government regulator that has
a duty to ensure transportation
efficiency in Canada, instead of
a roster of arbitrators who don’t
have rail industry experience,
Mongeau said. Arbitration should
also only be available to rail customers whose access is limited to
a single railroad, not to those who
can switch service providers if they
are unhappy with their service, he
said.
Claude Mongeau wants mediation
rather than imposed arbitration as
a first step to resolve disputes.
Baytril use
expanded to
hogs and
dairy heifers
Label addition }
The antimicrobial
already used against
BRD in beef feedlots
staff
A
LOCK OUT BLACKLEG
Introducing 74-44 BL with enhanced
blackleg resistance and high yield potential.
74-44 BL YIELD*
GREEN SEED COUNTS**
73-45 RRRR
73-45
104 %
100%
104 %
GREEN SEED RELATIVE TO 73-45 RR %
100%
N = 40
74-44 BL
L150
N = 58
1.0%
45H29
L150
74-44 BL
DEKALB® 74-44 BL canola provides multi-genic
resistance to protect against a range of blackleg races
common in Western Canada (Pathogenic Groups 2, 3, 4,
and T). In addition to blackleg resistance, 74-44 BL has a
very low green seed count compared to industry leading
checks. Visit www.DEKALB.ca for more information.
45H29
n antimicrobial weapon
against respiratory illness
in feedlot cattle can now
also be used against pneumonias
in hogs and non-lactating dairy
cattle.
Bayer HealthCare’s Canadian
animal health division announced
Oct. 24 it has approvals to sell its
injectable enrofloxacin solution,
Baytril 100, to treat swine respiratory disease (SRD) in hogs, and
to treat bovine respiratory disease
(BRD) in non-lactating dairy cattle under 20 months of age.
“Left untreated, respiratory disease in pigs causes lung damage
and increases mortality, impacting the bottom line,” Dr. Bruce
Kilmer, director of technical services and regulatory affairs for
Bayer HealthCare’s animal health
arm, said in a release.
The product has been available to veterinarians since 2004
to treat recurring respiratory disease in “high-risk” feedlot cattle,
the company said.
In hogs, Bayer said, Baytril’s
bactericidal effects work against
Actinobacillus pleuropneu moniae, Pasteurella multocida
and Haemophilus parasuis, the
“major culprits” in swine SRD.
In young cattle, Bayer added,
Baytril 100 kills Pasteurella multocida and Mannheimia haemolytica, the chief causes of BRD.
The product is “concentration
dependent, not time dependent,” and can deliver therapeutic drug concentrations to
lung tissues within two hours of
a subcutaneous (sub-Q) dose in
young cattle as well as hogs, the
company said.
1.2%
0.7%
74-44 BL 0.4%
*Source: 2011-2012 Monsanto Field Scale Trials as of October 3, 2012. **Source: 2010-2011 Monsanto Field Scale Trails. 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. 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. DEKALB® and Design and DEKALB® are registered trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC.
Monsanto Canada Inc. licensee. ©2012 Monsanto Company.
8
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
The long, brutal haul from farm to port in Brazil
Infrastructure deficit } If you think you have a long haul to the elevator, how about seven days?
By peter murphy
reuters | brazil
W
and doubles as an instructor for
aspiring drivers.
“May God protect us,” he said,
above a hiss of the air brakes. Our
1,600-km (995-mile) stretch of his
2,100-km (1,300-mile) journey
took us over broken asphalt, past
points of deadly smashes, and on
a nightly search for a rest stop with
space for a last truck.
The trip, from the western farm
state of Mato Grosso, across Brazil’s
central savannah and southeast to
the Atlantic port of Santos, highlighted rigours of the road familiar
to truckers anywhere — long hours,
loneliness and bad meals.
hen Marcondes Mendonça hauls corn from Brazil’s Farm Belt to port in
the distant south, the young trucker
prays for protection from gaping
potholes and dangerous drivers,
and dreads the squalid toilets on
the seven-day journey ahead.
He also braces for other hassles:
traffic bottlenecks, backlogs at
port and stifling bureaucracy.
Overwhelmed infrastructure is
one of the biggest challenges facing Brazil. Transporters estimate
road haulage rates will rise about Inefficiency
30 per cent once the grains crop But it also made clear how Brazil’s
is harvested, with a shortage of ambition of supplying more of the
drivers and new legislation that world’s food is being hampered by
will keep trucks off the road for inefficiency.
“Logistics are jammed up,” says
longer by requiring minimum rest
Glauber Silveira, head of Mato
periods for drivers.
T o s e e t h e p r o b l e m s u p Grosso’s association of soy growclose, a Reuters reporter and ers, who lose a quarter of their
photographer hitched a ride with revenue to transport. “The buyer
Mendonça on a recent journey. A is losing out and the producer is
27-year-old father of two and fan of losing out.”
jauntPM
fromPage
farm1 to port in
The 4:18
Brazilian
country music, he hauls
SEC-MERE12-T-REV_AFE.qxd
11/7/12
freight for a truckers’ collective Brazil already costs more than
twice the sea freight fees to China,
and that ratio is about to climb
sharply as wages rise and the
laws on rest periods for drivers
take effect.
The rising costs are forcing
commodities traders to bid
higher for Brazilian soy just to
make sure growers keep planting.
If prices approach costs, “it will
seriously disincentivize Brazilian
production,” said Kona Haque,
an analyst at Macquarie Bank.
Off the rails
The cabin of Mendonça’s Scania
truck affords ample views of the
chasm between Brazil’s first-world
ambitions and the much humbler
reality on the ground.
Reuters joined his journey on a
Monday afternoon in Rondonopolis, a dusty logistics hub in southern Mato Grosso. By then, he had
already driven three days north
and back to load his two tarpcovered trailers now brimming
with corn.
From there, we headed south.
Three hours in, we reached Alto
Araguaia, a town where Mendonça’s journey could easily end.
RecIP Con
om tra
me ct
nde
d
That’s where America Latina
Logistica SA, a rail operator, runs
the one link from the Farm Belt
directly to Santos, the country’s
biggest port.
The company’s 80-rail-car trains
haul as much corn as 230 twotrailer rigs like Mendonça’s, but
burn the diesel of just 40 of them.
High demand after the harvest,
though, means the trains run full
and at prices producers say don’t
save much money.
Besides, the train takes just as
long, with extended loading times
at several terminals along the track
and a steep decline near Santos
port that has to be taken at crawling speed.
Brazil’s rail network, spanning
29,000 km, is now smaller than it
was 90 years ago. The government
is spending 22.4 billion reais ($11
billion) to build two major new rail
lines that should help the Farm
Belt. One stretches north-south,
the other runs east-west.
Commodities firms say the
investments can’t come soon
enough, but most new rail projects
are still five years away, or more.
So Mendonça drove on. Before
midnight, we pulled into a rest
stop. Mendonça slept on a mattress at the rear of the cabin.
The reporter and photographer
made do with a bench and a
hammock.
On Tuesday, we headed for
Mato Grosso’s southern border,
a swooping toucan and cluster
of ostrich-like rheas breaking the
monotony of the flat terrain of
brown, harvested fields.
Life on the road
The work is steady but trucking
companies are struggling to find
drivers. With unemployment near
record lows, workers in Brazil have
plenty of other, less demanding
opportunities.
“There are no decent toilets or
rest areas and so much dust everywhere,” complained Aguinaldo
da Silva Tenorio, a 28-year-old
trucker along the route. In the cab
Produced by: SeCan
Product/Campaign Name: SeCan CDC Meredith
Date Produced: November 2012
Ad Number: SEC-MERE-12-T-REV
Publication: Alberta Farmer Express
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beside him were his wife, threeyear-old daughter, and a monthold son. Taking them along, Tenorio said, is “the only option” for
family time.
Truckers also complain of the
dangers — occasional muggings
and bad, congested roads. Driving across Mato Grosso do Sul,
the next state down, Mendonça
pointed to a spot where a drunk
driver slammed into his cabin,
killing the car driver’s girlfriend. “I
can’t blame myself for something
that wasn’t my fault,” he says.
Often, it’s fellow truckers that
he worries about. In a rush to
get to port — many are paid by
the load — drivers make reckless
efforts to pass. Many also take
cocaine and an amphetamine
derivative known as “rebite” to
stay awake.
“When you’re sleepy, it sorts
you out, but you can end up causing a huge mess,” says Ademir
Pereira, a 36-year-old driver
who admits to once popping the
rebite pill.
Mendonça says he never takes
drugs to stay awake.
Time at the wheel
More than 1,200 truckers died
on Brazil’s federal highways last
year, according to police data.
To dissuade drug use and reduce
the death toll, the government
recently mandated rest periods
for truckers for the first time.
Employed truckers who drive
most of the truck miles covered in
Brazil are now restricted to eight
hours at the wheel per day, but
self-employed truck owners can
press on for 13.
On Tuesday night, we slept at
another rest stop.
At midday on Wednesday, Mendonça pulled into a restaurant in
the north of Sao Paulo, the last
state on the journey.
There, a worker said she sees
benefits from the new law.
“Before, you would see truck
drivers coming in with their eyes
almost closed,” says Nilda Pereira
Alves Pinto, who works the restaurant’s CB radio, touting its rice and
beans over the airwaves. “They
aren’t in such a rush anymore.”
On Wednesday evening, we
bypassed Sao Paulo, South America’s biggest city, and the traffic
thickened as trucks from across
Brazil funnel onto the two highways to Santos, 80 km away.
The lack of rest areas was painfully clear. Mendonça paid a 150reais toll for one highway but
had to circle back and repay after
leaving the road, only to find all
rest stops were full. He’d gone
beyond his legal driving time but
had nowhere to stop.
At 2 a.m., as we descended
through Atlantic rainforest, a
wreck halted traffic. An hour later,
we reached a rest stop.
“It’s looking ugly,” a gate attendant said, waving Mendonça in to
try his luck for a parking spot to
end a 20-hour day.
On Thursday morning, Mendonça waited for clearance to proceed to the Santos terminals. The
port is infamous for red tape and is
strained by rising cargo volumes.
Not until 4 p.m. was the terminal
ready for Mendonça.
It wasn’t until Friday morning,
nearly seven days after he first left
Rondonopolis, that Mendonça
was finally able to pull up to a
platform and off-load, just yards
from the docked bulk carrier ships
filling with grain bound for other
continents.
The corn’s value: $10,200. The
cost of the haul: $3,800.
9
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12-11-06 4:28 PM
NEWS » MARKETS
ANXIETY
10
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
REPORT DELAY UNNERVES TRADERS
TRADERS FEAR EMBARGO
A U.S. Department of Agriculture official forgot to flip the “on” switch to release the Nov.
9 monthly crop report, creating 28 seconds of anxiety for traders. News agencies prepare
the report for publication in a secure room under the watch of armed guards and have no
communication before the release time. Alarm rose in the lockup room, and at the Chicago
Board of Trade, when USDA’s new data failed to appear at 8:30 a.m. EST on the nose. “You have
to wait for the numbers, (so) the algos (algorithmic traders) are not going to jump out ahead.
The 30-second delay just means we’ll react 30 seconds later,” said Jeff Thompson, broker at
ABM Amro in Chicago. — Reuters
Grain traders expect the Ukrainian government to introduce curbs on wheat
exports early in December but fear that instead of an official ban it might opt
for informal restrictions, the grain lobby said Nov. 9. Agriculture Minister Mykola
Prysyazhnyuk said last month the government would halt wheat exports from
Nov. 15 due to a fall in the harvest. Subsequently the ministry softened its talk
of an outright ban but said it would apply “necessary measures” to limit sales if
a critical shortage of food grain appeared. — Reuters
Canola futures see downward price action
WILD CARD  There’s lots of potential for markets to move either up or
down based on what happens with weather, currency and seeded acres
BY DWAYNE KLASSEN
COMMODITY NEWS SERVICE CANADA
C
anola futures on the ICE Canada
platform experienced some weakness during the week ended Nov. 9
with the bearishly construed USDA supply-demand balance tables for soybeans
encouraging some of the downward price
action. A larger-than-anticipated U.S.
soyoil ending stocks estimate from the
USDA added to the bearish sentiment in
canola.
The unloading of positions by a variety of
market participants during the reporting
period also helped to undermine canola
futures. Some of that selling was based off
of the charts turning negative as well as
ahead of the three-day weekend closure of
the ICE Futures Canada platform (November 12). The weakness in canola also was
facilitated by reports of improved weather
for the planting and development of the
soybean crops in Brazil and Argentina.
Underlying support in canola continued
to come from the need of commercials
to cover export commitments and from
domestic processors to secure enough
canola in order to meet sales on the books.
The reluctance of farmers to deliver canola
also restricted the losses.
Deferred canola futures meanwhile
found some support from sentiment that
values will need to climb significantly
from current levels in order to buy acreage
next spring. There was speculation in the
market that acres to canola will drop significantly as Prairie farmers look to finally
move canola out of crop rotation and into
more financially attractive choices.
There was some arbitrage pricing evident in the ICE Canada milling wheat
future during the week, but nothing in the
way of actual volume. Durum and barley
activity was also non-existent. ICE Canada
officials, however, remain optimistic that
trade in these contracts will pick up as
grain companies learn to work with the
new non-monopoly wheat markets in
Western Canada.
Market participants, however, doubt
the sincerity of the commercials to use the
risk management tools of the ICE Canada
platform given that these firms are more
than comfortable using the exchanges in
the U.S. to hedge wheat, durum and barley
positions.
Soy under pressure
Soybean futures at the CBOT suffered
some steep losses during the reporting
period with a drop-off in export demand
and the expectation of larger-than-anticipated U.S. soybean production being
For three-times-daily market reports from Resource News
International, visit “ICE Futures Canada updates”
at www.albertafarmexpress.ca.
reported in the Nov. 9 supply-demand
balance tables from the USDA, behind
the price decline.
Soybean values easily dropped to new
four-month lows on the USDA report,
which pegged U.S. 2012-13 soybean output at 2.971 billion bushels. The projection
easily came in at the high end of pre-report
expectations that ranged from 2.720 billion to 2.959 billion bushels. U.S. soybean
production in October had been forecast
by the USDA at 2.860 billion bushels while
output a year ago totalled 3.094 billion.
U.S. soybean ending stocks were raised
by 10 million bu. to 140 million, and while
that may not be all that shocking, it does
ease the fear of the U.S. running out of
soybeans this year.
From a global perspective, world soybean carry-out was raised to 60 million
tonnes from the 57.6 million projected
in October. This estimate based on comments from market participants, suggests
that there is plenty of supply worldwide.
Add to that the record area that is currently
being planted to soybeans in South America, and the big picture does not seem to
be as rosy as it once did.
Corn firmer
Corn futures on the CBOT managed to hold
fractional advances during the reporting
period. Some support came from reports
that delays in shipping corn out of Brazil
have forced Japanese buyers to turn to the
U.S. to cover some nearby commitments.
The talk in the trade is that Japan had purchased roughly 900,000 tonnes of corn
from Brazil for shipment from July through
September. However, heavy port congestion has prevented that corn from moving.
As a result, export sources were indicating
that at least 500,000 tonnes of U.S. corn
has been bought by Japan for movement
during the January to March period. Japan
reportedly also purchased U.S. barley for
the first time in over two years. The USDA
report, meanwhile, pegged U.S. corn ending stocks at 647 million bushels, which
was up from the October projection of 619
million. The estimate was also at the high
end of pre-report guesses. The numbers
were considered by the trade to be nothing
special and were unlikely to significantly
break corn out of its consolidation phase
of price movement.
Wheat concerns
The price trend in wheat futures on the
CBOT, MGEX and KCBT was up with
the extremely dry conditions in the U.S.
Winter Wheat Belt providing the price
advances. Lingering worries about poor
growing conditions for wheat in other
major producing regions of the world also
added to the support in the market.
The release of the USDA report, however, changed the bullish tone that had
existed in U.S. wheat. While there had
been hopes the USDA would raise its U.S.
wheat export prospects, the government
agency actually lowered the forecast.
Sluggish wheat exports and expectations
that world competition will remain strong
encouraged the USDA to increase its U.S.
wheat inventory forecast to 704 million bu.
This represent a 7.6 per cent jump in supply from the October projection.
World wheat carry-over in 2012-13
was pegged by the USDA at 174.2 million
tonnes, which was up from the 173.0 million projected in October.
Dwayne Klassen writes for Commodity
News Service Canada, a grain and livestock
reporting service in Winnipeg.
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11
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
Alberta
ag industry
promoter
inducted
into hall
of fame
A
lberta’s Kim McConnell was one of
three Canadians
inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of
Fame at an awards banquet in Toronto Nov. 4.
Other inductees
included Bertrand Boisclair, a prominent Holstein breeder from SaintSamuel-de-Horton, Quebec, and Barry Wilson, a
long-time national correspondent in Ottawa for
the Western Producer.
McConnell is the cofounder and former
chief executive officer of
AdFarm, one of the largest and most respected
agricultural marketing
firms in North America
with its head office in
Calgary.
McConnell was one of
the first to recognize that
agricultural marketing
and communications is
a specialized business
that must evolve to meet
industry and consumer
challenges and opportunities. He says a key
passion is to be a catalyst for agriculture and
to enhance the perception of agriculture with
stakeholders, media and
the general public, in particular, urban consumers.
McConnell launched
the Growing Alberta Program and provided the
initial support for the
Alberta Farm Animal Care
program. He has served
as a board member or
chair for a wide range of
organizations including:
Alberta Livestock and
Meat Agency, Canada
4-H Foundation, Centre
for Health and Safety for
Agriculture, YMCA and
Crime Stoppers.
Kim McConnell with his
portrait to be displayed at
the Canadian Agricultural
Hall of Fame. Supplied photo
Canola variety selection tool now live
Comparison } The tool includes an economic calculator, interactive maps,
and the ability to refine searches by five traits
Canola Council release
T
he online Canola Variety
Selection tool is now live with
data from the 2012 Canola
Performance Trials (CPT), giving
canola growers another tool to compare variety performance.
The CPT provides science-based,
unbiased performance data that
reflects actual production practices.
The selection tool provides comparative data on leading varieties and
newly introduced varieties. The
tool includes an economic calculator, interactive maps, and the ability
to refine searches by season zone,
herbicide tolerance (HT) type, yield,
days to maturity, lodging and height.
This year producers will benefit
from being able to compare data
from the 2011 trials as well.
“With all the weather challenges
in 2012 we did lose some sites, but
overall the year went well and we
collected a lot of data to help growers make their seed decisions,” says
Franck Groeneweg, chair of the
CPT governance committee and
grower director with SaskCanola.
“The committee worked very well
together, with good co-operation
among representatives from the
seed industry and the provincial
grower groups.”
The three Prairie canola grower
groups —the Alberta Canola Producers Commission, the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission (SaskCanola) and the
Manitoba Canola Growers Association — fund the CPT program. Seed
trade companies that participated
paid entry fees. The B.C. Grain Producers Association conducted trials in the Peace as their means of
participation.
The CPT 2012 booklet has results
from 23 small plots and 81 fieldscale plots. Line companies, independent retailers and seed companies, including Viterra, Bayer
CropScience, Monsanto, Cargill,
Canterra Seeds, BrettYoung Seeds,
FP Genetics and SeCan, participated
in small-plot trials. Monsanto, Bayer
CropScience and Canterra Seeds
The production trials have results from 23 small plots and 81 field-scale
plots across the Prairies.
participated in audited field-scale
trials.
Results are organized by short-,
medium- and long-season zones.
In addition, a booklet containing
the results is being mailed with
the November 1 edition of Canola
Digest to Canada’s about 43,000
canola growers. A pdf of the booklet
can be downloaded at canolaperformancetrials.ca.
Haplotech (led by Dr. Rale Gjuric)
co-ordinated the trials under the
guidance of a governance committee that oversaw approval of varieties, protocol design, data collection,
analysis and reporting, and financial
management.
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5003-H SYNGENTA Cereal Seed_Tokyo.indd 1
12-10-01 4:30 PM
12
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
AARD releases fruit and vegetable study
FULL REPORT  Available on Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development’s website
AGRI-NEWS
I
nterest regarding the commercial production of fruits
and vegetables in the province
of Alberta is on the rise. Although
traditional cereal crops, canola and
pulses generally come to mind when
speaking about Alberta crop production, there are many producers
that are growing a diverse number
of vegetable and fruit crops across
the province.
“As consumers continue to look
to fill their grocery carts with locally
grown produce, there has been an
upswing in interest of Alberta producers to fill this demand. This has
led to greater opportunities for our
commercial fruit and vegetable
producers,” notes Rob Spencer,
commercial horticulture specialist
with Alberta Agriculture and Rural
Development.
A study assessing the profitability of Alberta’s commercial fresh
vegetable, table potato and fruit
industries was recently completed.
The focus of the study was directed
towards commercial growers to
assess the profitability and competitiveness of the crops that are
currently produced in the province.
Each of these segments was found to
have unique challenges and opportunities.
A total of eight competitive issues
are impacting the profitability
within the sector and the industry’s
ability to compete. These include:
import competition, food trends,
climate, labour, storage capacity,
innovation support, industry organizational structure and branding.
“Many of the issues facing commercial vegetable and fruit producers are similar to those of Alberta’s
agriculture commodity sectors,”
says Spencer. “If anything, some of
the issues are even greater due to the
intensive nature of the commercial
vegetable and fruit industry.”
The report provides an industry
profile for three of the industry subsectors. Cost of production budgets
(including detailed breakdowns of
fixed and variable costs) were established for sweet corn, cucumber,
fresh table potato, dryland carrot
and irrigated carrot. Alberta’s relative competitiveness in other fruit
and vegetable crops are also examined in the report.
The complete report can be downloaded from Alberta Agriculture and
Rural Development’s website.
Interest in local food could boost demand for Alberta-grown vegetables.
CORRECTION
Two errors occurred
in a story about a
meeting on GM alfalfa
in the Nov. 5 issue.
Stephen Denys is
the president of the
Canadian Seed Trade
Association, not the
seed association
as reported. And
Monsanto oversaw
the destruction of an
unlicensed field of
Roundup Ready alfalfa
in Saskatchewan in
2011, not the Canadian
Food Inspection
Agency. As Roundup
Ready alfalfa is
approved for use in
Canada, Monsanto
was not required to
inform CFIA about the
field, but did so as a
courtesy.
T:17
PHOTO: THINKSTOCK.COM
FARMING
IS ENOUGH OF
A GAMBLE...
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it’s a Sure Thing!
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1-888-413-3325
O-66-11/12-BCS12258-E
7.4”
13
Albertafarmexpress.ca • november 19, 2012
Poor quality and yields send
British wheat imports soaring
Shortage } Britain is on the hunt for high-quality bread wheat after domestic production and quality come up short
By Nigel Hunt
london / reuters
B
Bread is displayed for sale at a bakery in central London. High-quality
bread wheat is expected to be in short supply this year. photo: REUTERS/Toby Melville
ritain will be a net importer
of wheat for the first time
in a decade this year, turning customer to its traditional
export rivals after a disease-ravaged harvest, much of which fails
to meet the quality required for
bread.
Traders and analysts said diseases fuelled by the wettest June
since records began more than a
century ago have left Britain, the
European Union’s third-biggest
producer, with a lot of wheat
which fails to meet minimum
quality standards required by
industries such as flour milling.
“The expectation is we will
import quite a lot more wheat in
the current year, probably about
double the normal level, and that
is because the quality of what is
available in the UK is much lower
than normal,” said Alex Waugh,
director general of the National
Association of British and Irish
Millers.
Britain normally imports about
one million tonnes of high-quality wheat for the milling sector
while exporting up to 2.5 million
tonnes of lower-grade supplies,
much of which is used in animal
feed rations.
This season, imports look set
to soar while there appears to be
little interest from overseas buyers in Britain’s often substandard
supplies.
Trader estimates for U.K. wheat
imports this season range from
about 1.8 million to 2.5 million
tonnes.
“We’ve got an incredibly bizarre
quality that has been produced in
the U.K. which is causing a lot of
problems for a lot of people,” one
trader said.
Britain’s Farm Ministry earlier this month estimated that
U.K. wheat yields have fallen to
a 23-year low, citing high levels
of disease and a lack of sunshine
in the key grainfill period.
The U.K. crop was estimated
at 13.31 million tonnes, down 13
per cent from the prior season
and well below the record 17.23
million harvested in 2008.
The low level of yields has been
compounded by poor quality with
specific weights, a measure of the
density of wheat, particularly low.
“There is simply not the same
amount of flour in the U.K. wheat
as there would be in a normal
year. So that is part of the reason for having to look overseas,”
Waugh said.
Strategie Grains estimates that
only about 10 per cent of this
year’s British wheat crop is of
milling standard against 27 per
cent in 2011.
Looking far afield
T:10”
Germany, France, the United
States and Canada are the U.K.’s
traditional suppliers but this
year the net has been cast wider
to include Lithuania, Denmark,
Sweden and Poland, traders said.
“Initially there has been a bit
of a hunt around to find what
works best but the main sources
are going to be Germany, France,
Canada and the U.S.,” Waugh
said, noting they had all supplied
the U.K. market for years, though
not in the quantities that will be
needed this season.
Traders in Germany said British
buyers have been in their market seeking both standard and
higher-protein grades.
“We have seen some purchases
in the last month or so of several
shiploads of between 1,500 to
3,000 tonnes from German Baltic Sea ports,” one German trader
said.
“These are relatively small
volumes but are probably being
used as test blendings to see how
the flour turns out. Talk is they
were successful and I think we
will see more substantial business in coming months,” the
trader added.
The final level of imports will
depend on the extent to which
domestic consumers make use
of the poor-quality U.K. wheat.
Some British traders noted
biofuels producer Ensus has
been willing to buy wheat, and
bioethanol producers outside
Britain may also take a look if the
price was right.
Bushels of smiles.
To see how InVigor® hybrids are performing in
your area visit: InVigorResults.ca
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14
news » livestock
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
50,000 Brands in Alberta
JBS to buy Brazil poultry producer
Livestock Identification Services Ltd. (LIS) is offering a free brand and a free copy of the
2013 Brand Book to the individual, partnership or company who registers the 50,000th
brand in the province of Alberta. This is a special celebration of the province’s brand history along with the history of LIS and Alberta Agriculture. All applications will be processed
by date in the order that they are received with money and all supporting documents in
place. The winner will be announced on Jan. 4, 2013.
Brazil’s JBS, the world’s largest beef producer, has signed a deal to buy local poultry processor Agroveneto for 128 million reais ($63 million) just months after its first move into the Brazilian poultry
sector. Agroveneto can process 140,000 birds a day, whose meat is sold in Brazil and export markets.
It would merge with JBS poultry unit JBS Aves and add about 10 per cent to the unit’s daily processing
capacity of 1.34 million birds. Brazil is one of the world’s top producers and exporters of chicken meat.
“This requires the
prime minister’s office…”
Alberta Beef Producers meeting
calls for inquiry into CFIA
handling of XL Foods recall
MEDIA INATTENTION } While the media couldn’t get enough of the safety aspect
of the recall story, ABP’s chairman says the cattle industry wasn’t given a
proper chance to tell its side of the story
by sheri monk
af staff / fort macLeod
T
here should be an independent inquest into the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s handling of the
E. coli contamination and meat
recall at XL Foods, say members of Alberta Beef Producers
Zone 2.
“I appreciate that the Beef
Value Chain Round Table is
going to review this, but that’s
not good enough,” said Bill
Newton, the Porcupine Hills
rancher who made the motion
for the inquest, which passed
unanimously.
“This requires the prime
minister’s office. The CFIA has
been basically out of control for
quite some time.”
Newton, who is also a veterinarian and former president
of the Western Stock Growers Association, said there has
been too much grandstanding
on the issue, with opposition
politicians making partisan
attacks and the food inspectors’ union lobbying for more
funding and higher staffing
levels.
Most of the meeting was
spent discussing the recall,
the ramifications of recalling
primal cuts, and whether the
cattle industry was effectively
represented in the media during the crisis. Alberta Beef Producers chairman Doug Sawyer
said his organization and others tried to paint the industry
in a positive light, but were
unsuccessful in getting media
attention.
“You’re right, you didn’t hear
from us, (but) it wasn’t because
we weren’t trying,” said Sawyer.
“I know Rich Smith (the association’s executive director) said
he did more interviews in the
last month than he did in the
previous seven years. We just
couldn’t get out in front of it.”
Sawyer agreed there should
Bill Newton, addresses the crowd at an ABP zone meeting asking for a resolution to investigate the CFIA’s handling of the XL Foods beef recall.
Looking on is John Kolk, prominent ag industry activist and producer from Picture Butte. Photo: Sheri Monk
be a review of whether the
Canadian Food Inspection
Agency used appropriate and
science-based measures.
“Certainly the answers we’re
looking for are between the
CFIA and the XL company,”
said Sawyer.
“This is the first time we’ve
ever had a muscle meat recall
in Canada and quite frankly, I
think it caught everybody, certainly me, with my pants down.
I had never even thought about
that. And I don’t know that
CFIA had, but I can’t speak
for them. We’ll find that out
when we start doing the proper
review process.”
However, Sawyer cautioned
that once JBS started managing
the plant, industry had to support its efforts to get the plant
reopened fully before beginning any inquiry.
“The answers we’re all looking for will have to come out
over time,” he said. “Right now
what we’re working on desperately is to see if we can make
a way to get that plant open
again, and that’s no small task.”
Although the Zone 2 meeting was the only one to produce a resolution calling for
an inquiry, Smith said the
organization is keen to find out
exactly what happened.
“This is the first time
we’ve ever had a muscle
meat recall in Canada
and quite frankly, I think
it caught everybody,
certainly me, with my
pants down.”
Doug Sawyer
ABP chair
15
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
Diet could be the culprit
in increased incidence
of bone fractures
PEET ON PIGS  This relatively new problem has been increasing at some
plants, and doesn’t appear to occur until physical trauma takes place
BY BERNIE PEET
T
Broken ribs that have healed suggest that bone mineralization has been compromised since pigs were young,
says Dr. Eduardo Beltranena.
Suboptimal mineral nutrition
on the farm is the most likely
predisposing factor for this condition, says Beltranena.
“We see broken ribs that have
healed perfectly by the time of
slaughter,” he observes. “Broken
ribs that have healed suggest that
bone mineralization has been
compromised since pigs were
young.”
While the cause is speculative
at this time, a common denominator to farms where hogs are
affected is the inclusion of phytase enzyme in hog diets.
“It is unlikely that the cause is
the feed enzyme that increases
phosphorus availability from
cereal grains and protein meals,”
comments Dr. Beltranena. “Possibly the cause is the parallel
reduction of phosphorus and
calcium inclusion from mineral
sources in feed, on the assumption that the phytase enzyme
makes more phosphorus available from feedstuffs.”
Mono-dicalcium phosphate
and limestone are the most com-
mon sources of rock-derived
phosphorus and calcium, he
adds.
“It might be that in affected
farms the reduction of rockderived phosphorus and/or calcium in feeds including a phytase
enzyme might have gone past the
threshold level, resulting in a
mild but prolonged phosphorus
deficiency,” says Beltranena. “It
does not mean that the phytase
enzyme is at fault or ineffective,
just that in farms with increasing incidence of spine fractures,
mineral phosphorus and calcium
inclusion in feed needs further
consideration and adjustment.”
The incidence of spine fractures at slaughter may also be
compounded by pen crowding
on the farm.
“Nutritionists formulate calcium and phosphorus feed
content to expected hog feed
intakes,” says Beltranena. “Pen
crowding may limit feeder access
and reduce feed intake resulting
in compromised bone phosphorus uptake from feed.”
He notes gilts and sows likely
won’t be affected due to greater
phosphorus and calcium inclusion margins in breeder diets.
Producers should monitor
their condemnations and trim
levels carefully for any indication
of a problem with spine fractures,
advises Beltranena. If the level is
increasing, they should be more
gentle when moving pigs and
avoid the use of electric prods.
“Any pen crowding should
be alleviated and feeder access
improved if it is limiting feed
intake,” he suggests. “Also ask
your nutritionist to review
dietary phosphate and limestone
inclusions.”
Finally, he recommends discussing any problem with the
farm’s veterinarian because
there may be other causes compounding the occurrence of
spine fractures.
Bernie Peet is president of
Pork Chain Consulting
of Lacombe, Alberta, and editor
of Western Hog Journal.
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he incidence of hog carcass
contamination and trimming related to spine fractures is increasing at Olymel’s
Red Deer processing plant and
possibly at other plants, according to Eduardo Beltranena,
monogastrics research scientist
with Alberta Agriculture and
Rural Development.
While the incidence is not widespread, for some farms this problem is up to six times more common than for the plant average.
The culprit could be a reduction
in calcium and phosphorus in
hog diets associated with the use
of the enzyme phytase, leading to
bone weakness, says Beltranena.
Along with Matt Schoonderwoerd, Olymel’s director of veterinary affairs, he has been investigating spine fractures and other
associated bone fractures.
“The fractures we are seeing
involve one or more adjacent
vertebrae or the spine breaking
above the pelvis,” says Beltranena.
“Yellowish or bloody bone fluid
leaks out of the fracture(s) running down the carcass and causing contamination.”
He notes this seems to happen
close to the time of slaughter or
carcass dressing as there are no
signs of prior swelling, hemorrhage, necrosis or nervous tissue
damage.
As this appears to be a relatively new problem, processor
reports on carcass contamination and trimming do not provide enough information for producers to identify that something
is wrong. Therefore, unless they
are contacted by the processor,
they are largely unaware of this
type of mild mineral deficiency,
although the packer may report
an increase in the number of
“downer” hogs.
“Spine fractures may also
occur when moving pigs for shipping at the farm, during trucking,
or at lairage at the plant,” notes
Beltranena. “Affected hogs may
still be able to walk, appear normal, and may not be identified
by CFIA inspectors during antemortem inspection. Most likely,
abrupt leg extension and muscle
tensing as a result of stunning,
followed by scalding and dehairing are the main triggers, he says.
The spine fractures don’t seem
to occur until physical trauma
takes place, says Beltranena.
Thus producers may never see
hogs walking abnormally if
trauma happens after hogs left
the farm or after stunning.
“If spine trauma occurs when
moving pigs, during weighing,
or when loading onto the truck,
the stockman might see the odd
hog walking abnormally from
the hind limbs, even showing leg
tremors, distinct from lameness
or lower leg injury symptoms,”
he says.
“Seriously affected hogs ‘dogsit,’ squeal when disturbed, and
should not be shipped. Such
hogs may be coded as downers if
they arrived like that at the plant
or the spine fractured fighting in
lairage.”
16
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
Common errors in handling vaccines
beff 911 } Vaccines are expensive, so make sure you store
and administer them for maximum effectiveness
By Roy Lewis
I
n order to achieve the
maximum benefit out of
vaccines or antibiotics
this fall they must be handled
properly right up to the time
they are administered. You as
producers pay good money for
these products and the pharmaceutical companies want to
ensure you get the maximum
benefit. Vaccine failures are
not desirable in anyone’s eyes.
The most common way
products are damaged is with
poor temperature control.
In the heat of the moment
(this could be considered a
pun) with handling cattle you
must put someone in charge
of handling the products to be
administered. Their job is to
ensure safe, efficient administration of a quality product. We often are processing
in inclement weather, either
freezing in winter or under
very hot conditions with lots
of sunlight in summer. It is far
more harmful to freeze product than have it get a bit warm.
Keep in mind as soon as the
product is administered it is in
an environment of 39 C (body
temp). If you freeze vaccines
they are toast and should be
discarded.
I have most producers use
an insulated container. You
can put in warm water bottles
in winter or ice packs in summer to keep the product at the
right temp. If the weather is
really bad the full syringe can
even be placed in the container between uses. This also
protects the product from UV
light, which can also be detrimental to some products. Heat
lamps or in-car heaters are also
used to keep product warm.
Be ever cognizant of maintaining the ideal temperature
— 5 C to 15 C is what you want
to aim for. Getting product too
close to these heat-producing
devices can fry product and
that is a no-no as well. This
is likewise very true when
picking product up from the
veterinary clinic. I encourage
producers to bring the insulated containers with them or
we send them home with ice
packs in the summer. Don’t
make the mistake of throwing vaccine up on the dash;
the strong heaters in vehicles
or the warmth of the sun has
1
Excellent
It is not uncommon for automatic guns to get bumped and the setting accidentally changed.
cooked a lot of vaccine over
the years, I am sure.
Rehydrate as needed
Only rehydrate the amount of
vaccine you will use directly
(within the next hour). This is
especially true of the modified
live vaccines, which are in common use these days. Once rehydrated their absolute maximum
shelf life is a few hours. It is better to rehydrate and use them
right away (within one to two
hours). The modified vaccines
are also very fragile so do not
disinfect the needle with things
like alcohol between uses. This
will render the vaccine inactive
and destroy its effectiveness.
Always label the syringe as
to what product it contains. As
an example, formalin is present in the blackleg vaccine and
if you accidentally pull up a full
syringe of modified live vaccine
in the same syringe, the small
amount of formalin left will
destroy all the vaccine in the
syringe. Label the syringe to
avoid this mistake and place
the vaccines apart from each
CANTERRA 1970
2
Very Good
3
Good
other so these mistakes don’t
happen.
Double and triple check the
volume to be given. It is not
uncommon for automatic guns
to get bumped and the setting
accidentally changed. Overdosing wastes valuable product and
underdosing will not give you
the desired effect. Make sure if
using automatic guns they are
dispensing properly. The newer
models are very accurate and
don’t allow air to get into the
syringe. I always make a mental
note that vaccine is running out
when they should be. A 50-dose
bottle of vaccine should run out
after 50 head. If it doesn’t run out
or runs out too early, take a minute to check things out. Often the
setting may have been improperly set. Companies usually have
just a little bit extra product as a
buffer (one or two per cent).
When administering multiple products, make sure they
are at least 10 cm (hand width)
apart as contact may inactivate
them. Either give the product
on opposite sides of the neck or
make a conscious effort to place
them apart. Try and consistently
give products in the same place
therefore if you have any types
of local reactions at least you
know what product is giving the
problem.
Last but not least, follow label
directions as to dosage and type
of administration (subcutaneous
or intramuscular). Try and use
the neck area when administering either way. Have the cattle
properly restrained to avoid broken needles or vaccine being discharged into the air. Use the onehanded subcutaneous technique
to avoid injury to the applicator.
If you believe a product was not
given properly, repeat the vaccination. This will not harm the
animal and it is far better than
way underdosing. This occurs
in situations where vaccine is
injected intradermally (between
the skin layers), discharged into
the hair, the automatic gun is not
discharged fully or the needle is
pushed through the skin and
out again so the vaccine is discharged into the air.
Check the vaccine’s expiry
date. These are all very common
DOES YOUR
STANDABILITY
MEASURE UP?
SEE FOR YOURSELF
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.
errors right at the time of vaccinating and need to be avoided.
Avoiding or recognizing these
common errors will help you
convey maximum immunity
benefit to your herd. The products have been engineered to
work and it is up to all of us to be
diligent with their handling and
administration. If we administer
them properly and handle them
carefully our cattle should derive
maximum protection. Lastly
select the proper needle size and
length (subcutaneous vaccines
can be given with a three-quarter-inch needle), change needles
frequently and don’t vaccinate
through manure or dirt.
If you follow all the above recommendations you and your
livestock will derive the maximum benefit from the vaccines
you used good money to purchase. There are many causes
as you can see for “supposed”
vaccine failure.
Roy Lewis is a large-animal
veterinarian practising at the
Westlock, Alberta Veterinary Centre.
His main interests are bovine
reproduction and herd health.
17
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
NEWS
Novozymes and
Syngenta team up on
product registration
The average cost of a collision with an elk is estimated at $17,845, says a new study.
Biological manufacturer
Novozymes and chemical/
seed giant Syngenta, have
announced a global marketing
and distribution agreement
for Novozymes’s microbialbased biofungicide Taegro,
a microbial-based fungicide
based on the naturally occurring Bacillus subtilis bacterium.
Novozymes says Taegro
targets fungal diseases such as
rhizoctonia and fusarium on
fruit and vegetables, and its
©THINKSTOCK
Collision reductions a winwin for motorists and wildlife
do YoUR VARIETIES
mEASURE Up?
GOOD INVESTMENT  Underpasses and other measures to avoid
wildlife collisions pay off, says a U of C study
AF CONTRIBUTOR / LETHBRIDGE
I
f you drive a lot of country
roads or big highways, sooner
or later you’ll hear the thud of
your vehicle hitting a bird or an
animal and feel the guilt of killing
or injuring an innocent creature. If
you hit a big animal, like an elk or
a moose, you or your passengers
could be killed or injured.
Aside from that, there’s vehicle
repair and other costs associated
with wildlife accidents.
They’re substantial, according
to a study by the Mistakis Institute at the University of Calgary.
It estimates the immediate peraccident costs of human injuries
and fatalities, vehicle repairs, towing costs, emergency attendance
at scene, accident investigation,
carcass removal and the hunting
value of the animal at $6,617 for
deer, $17,485 for elk and $30,760
for moose (in 2007 dollars).
That makes underpasses and
other measures to keep wildlife
off the highway a good investment,
says Tony Clevenger, a lead scientist on the study. He’s a specialist
in road ecology with the Western
Transportation Institute at Montana State College of Engineering,
which focuses on rural transportation issues.
“This is the first time a study
in North America has shown the
savings realized by building wildlife crossing structures on a major
roadway,” Clevenger said.
The study looked at the number
and cost of wildlife-vehicle collisions on a 38-km stretch of the
Trans-Canada Highway between
Canmore and Highway 40 to
Kananaskis Country, but focused
on a three-kilometre stretch where
an underpass with three km of deer
fence was installed in 2004.
“This is the first time a
study in North America
has shown the savings
realized by building
wildlife crossing
structures on a major
roadway.”
TONY CLEVENGER
MONTANA STATE COLLEGE OF
ENGINEERING
The researchers figured the
average cost of wildlife collisions
before the underpass and fencing
were installed was $128,300 a year.
After installation there were 80 per
cent fewer collisions, reducing the
cost to about $17,500 a year.
The average number of deer
killed dropped from 30 to eight a
year, moose from five to zero and
elk from 22 to three. Coyote, wolf
and cougar collisions dropped
to zero from five, two and one
respectively. However two black
bears and two beaver a year were
killed where few had been killed
before.
Clevenger suggests installing
an underpass pays off for any
stretch of highway where wildlife collision costs average more
than $18,000 — 3.2 deer-vehicle
collisions — a year. But he says an
underpass alone isn’t enough and
it isn’t always the best way to keep
wildlife off the road.
Identify hot spots
The first step is to find the hot
spots where animals most often
cause wrecks. Clevenger says this
is not easy, as there’s no organized
data. He suggests Alberta Transportation should collect systematic information on both roadkills
and injury, as injured animals can
leave the highway and be out of
sight of cleanup crews.
Clevenger maps roadkill hot
spots and overlays the map with
maps of the geography and wildlife activity and habitat areas.
He prioritizes potential sites for
underpasses or overpasses by
the importance of connecting
habitat areas, which are particularly important for carnivores
that need big territories. He also
considers development and land
ownership, to avoid investing in
an area where development is
likely to drive wildlife away.
Clevenger says underpasses
and fences are not the only collision-prevention strategy. Land
management, fencing design,
and adaptation of existing highway structures can help wildlife
passage. At one hot spot in the
stretch of highway east of Banff
Park, animals can cross under the
highway beside a bridge. Adding
fill and vegetation for cover along
with fencing to funnel animals in
that direction would push them
to avoid the highway. In another
spot a drainage culvert could be
retrofitted to the size Clevenger
says is the minimum for an underpass — four metres high and
seven wide.
Other measures
The traditional static signs such as
“elk crossing” cut collisions by 26
per cent, and moving wildlife out
of an area by 50 per cent. Locating salt licks away from the highway or de-icing the highway with
non-salt products may help cut
collisions with ungulates.
Electronic animal detection
systems linked to changing signs
that warn motorists of the presence of animals on the road cut
collisions with wildlife by 85 per
cent. Clevenger is hopeful that
electromats will be more effective than cattle guards in keeping
animals off highways. The team
is also looking at strategies to cut
wildlife vehicle collisions in Foothills and Crowsnest sections of
Highway 3. They have volunteer
motorists reporting where on the
highway they see wildlife.
“AC” is an official mark used under license from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
BY HELEN MCMENAMIN
application is expected to be
expanded to a wider portfolio
of crops such as wheat, soy
and corn.
The two companies will
work together to bring Taegro
to market. Syngenta will be
responsible for sales, marketing and distribution, while
Novozymes will be responsible for production and registration.
In a release, Novozymes said
trials are planned to secure
data to continue to build on
the current U.S. registration in
other regions, following which
the two companies aim for a
global rollout.
SEE FoR YoURSELF
Cow-Calfenomics2012:Transitions, Tools and Technologies
TOPICS COVERED:
• TransitioningtheBusiness:ANextGenerationPerspective
• StrategicRiskManagementforCattleProducers
• CattlePriceInsuranceProgram–ManagingyourRisk
• EconomicValueofGenomics–CurrentandFuture
• BIXS/TRACEBACK–ToolstoImproveHerdProfitability
• ProfitableStrategiesforFullTimeRanching(ProducerPanel)
Date
Town
Location
Time
November 20, 2012
Fairview
Dunvegan Motor Inn
9:30 am - 3:30 pm
November 21, 2012
Barrhead
Barrhead Agrena Rec Centre
9:30 am - 3:30 pm
November 22, 2012
Rimbey
Best Western Rimstone Ridge
9:30 am - 3:30 pm
December 11, 2012
Lloydminster
Lloydminster Exhibition Association
9:30 am - 3:30 pm
December 12, 2012
Brooks
Heritage Inn and Conference Centre
9:30 am - 3:30 pm
December 13, 2012
Nanton
Nanton Community Centre
9:30 am - 3:30 pm
HOW TO REGISTER:
To register call the Ag Info Centre at 1-800-387-6030. Registration fee is $25.00 (includes lunch) and
paymentcanbemadebychequeorcreditcard(MasterCardorVisa).Pleasemakechequespayabletothe
GovernmentofAlberta.ChequescanbemailedtoAg-InfoCentre,Bag600,Stettler,AlbertaT0C2L0.
18
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
In Peru, a farmer’s hat means
more than sun protection
NEW PERSPECTIVE  Compared to Canada, farming in the
Andes is a hard and precarious existence
BY BRENDA SCHOEPP
Regular columnist Brenda Schoepp was awarded a Nuffield
Scholarship this year, and is visiting several countries to learn
more about the role of women
in agriculture.
E
very bus and taxi is named
in Peru and our bus, the
Patron Saint of Terror,
steamed into the outskirts of the
city of Arequipa at dawn. Muchrelieved tourists scrambled for
solid ground after 12 hours of
tossing and rocking on the narrow ledges of the Andes Mountains. The locals did not move
from their slumber nor were they
distressed at the complete lack
of facilities, food or drink. They
simply grinned from under their
varied hats at the complete lack
of hardiness in the front seats.
From the window, I could
see the pink morning starting
to come to life. The ground is
sandy brown and dotted with
tiny tin huts that gave reflection
to the heat of the day. The little
houses, just four walls and a roof
at best were 12x12 feet and kept
together entire families, often of
several generations. By 4:30 a.m.,
the people of the soil emerged. I
counted a dozen from one hut
and eight from another. And so
it went, the slow, sure dawning
of men and women to work the
fields for yet another day, their
feet in sandals made of car tires.
Like so many cultures outside
of the western world, the women
farm solo or with the men. In
Peru, the hat you wear is a reflection of your marital and financial
status as well as your tribe and
job. All married women wear
hats, but the shape, colour and
fabric of the hat reveals where
you are from and how well off
you are.
The farm workers, both men
and women, in this region wore
an oversized white cowboy
shape made of straw. The wide
brim protected them from the
sun from dawn to dark. The high
crown allowed the hat to breathe
and the white straw was a symbol
of status. [I went to Peru with a
pack on my back and a smaller
version of a cowboy-shape hat
on my head. Interestingly, that
hat created problems for me in
the fishing region of Pisco and I
All married women
farmers wear a hat
that reflects their tribe
and status.
was spit on for being a vaquera
(cowgirl) and was forced to buy
a different hat].
Market day
On market day the same hat
could be seen in town at the lively
stalls where I would walk in the
morning to buy fruit to distribute
to the poor who lined the streets
begging. Behind the vendor stalls,
little children could be found
playing and to these wee ones I
gave small books. It was a way of
connecting to families of farmers
many miles from home.
It was getting hard to breathe
as we reached 4,800 metres
above sea level with the highest
destination of 6,300 metres, but
I had to stop to watch the land
being worked. Farmers (men
and women) behind their oxen
tilled the red soil, their backs
bent in labour and the everpresent hat bobbing in the thin
air. Perhaps they were planting
one of the more than 4,000 varieties of potatoes grown at levels
of up to 12,000 feet or an ancient
grain such as quinoa in the little
red square tucked into the stark,
grey landscape.
As we arrived in the Sacred
Valley to our destination of Ollytamtambo, the farms became
little holdings that housed donkeys or beef cattle behind circular fences made of boulders. The
main activity was cattle of the
thin, brown mixed breed variety
(I could never get an answer on
the breed). The women worked
especially hard and without running water, health care or child
support.
I often spoke to the women
farmers, peddlers and café
workers. Young mothers who
looked 40 were often in their
20s, fatigued and weathered by
the sun and thin air. They carefully tended little plots between
the mountain rocks and patiently
sat by the street waiting for a
buyer, children quietly playing
behind them. All were hoping
for a sale so they would eat that
night and many boarded the train
in hopes of a better market at the
next town. That blue train carried
an assortment of humanity, sacks
of fruit and vegetables, chickens,
lambs and baby calves — each
farmer on board with their animals or produce and identified
by their hat.
All married women farmers
wear a hat that reflects their
tribe and status. I think of them
now in the comfort of my home,
with markets for my product
and shoes on my feet. I treasure their soft greeting of “little
mother” (interpreted) and the
quiet understanding we shared
as women of the land. And each
time I put on my farm cap or cowboy hat I do so with pride knowing that a world away another
woman farmer does the same
before she greets the pink dawn
of the Andes.
Brenda Schoepp is a market analyst
and the owner and author of Beeflink, a
national beef cattle market newsletter.
A professional speaker and industry
market and research consultant, she
ranches near Rimbey, Alberta. Contact
[email protected] or
www.brendaschoepp.com.
An ava N
dr ila ow
oi bl
d e
ph fo
on r
es
AGReader Mobile for your iPhone, Blackberry and Android · Download yours free at agreader.ca today!
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19
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
Report says supply management
hasn’t prevented productivity gains
SHRUNK  Report says number of dairy farms has fallen by 90 per cent since the
late 1960s and the cow herd has fallen from 3.5 million to one million today
BY ALEX BINKLEY
AF CONTRIBUTOR / OTTAWA
C
anada’s dairy herd, as well
as the number of farms and
processors, has contracted
at about the same pace as its
counterparts in the U.S., Australia, and Europe, says a new report
from the George Morris Centre.
The main difference is that
Canada hasn’t increased milk
production as much as other
countries have, and due mainly
to regulated pricing, hasn’t seen
the volatile swings in consumer
prices for milk and other dairy
products, says the Guelph-based
agriculture think tank.
Raw milk prices are considerably higher here than in the U.S.,
but because Canadian dairy farmers don’t require government
subsidies, there hasn’t been the
same fiscal pressure to change
the system as was the case in New
Zealand or other countries.
The report was commissioned
by the Conference Board of Canada, a vociferous critic of supply
management. It shows supply
management “has contributed to
stagnating production, reduced
Canada’s ability to negotiate for
freer trade for all Canadian goods
and services, and created incentives for individuals to allegedly
smuggle cheese from the United
States and resell at a massive
profit in Canada,” said Danielle
Goldfarb, an associate director
of the conference board.
But the George Morris report
paints a more balanced picture
of the dairy industry.
“Industry adjustment has
occurred in Canada, but without the market growth seen
elsewhere,” it states. “Overall,
the evolution of Canadian dairy
policy is consistent with that of
its peers.”
Often overlooked by critics, the
report states, is how much more
efficient dairy farms have become
under the system.
“In the late 1960s, there were
over 135,000 dairy farms in Canada, more than half of which
were in Ontario and Quebec. In
2010, there were just under 14,000
dairy farms, with the dominant
proportion remaining in Ontario
and Quebec… In 1940, there were
just over 3.5 million dairy cows
in Canada; today there are just
under one million.”
Technology has made the sector
much more efficient, the report
states.
”Since the early 1970s, overall
milk production has been stable,
while the cow herd declined by
about one-half, implying major
productivity improvements at the
producer level.”
The number of dairy processing plants has followed a similar
trend, falling by half since the mid
1970s and by 90 per cent since the
early 1960s.
Still, supply management is
expected to come under pressure
during trade negotiations with
Europe and in Trans-Pacific Partnership. The system was introduced in the late 1960s to deal
Canada’s dairy herd has declined
at about the same rate as that in
the U.S.
with chronic surplus production
that pushed prices down for farmers and prompted government to
create costly support programs.
Winter will
be dry, says
AccuWeather
ROCKIES 
Near-normal snow
predicted from
Alberta Clippers
AccuWeather.com forecasts that following the
third-warmest winter on
record in Canada last year,
snow and cold will make a
comeback across much of
the nation this winter.
In a forecast issued Oct.
17, the U.S.-based firm
said slightly colder-thannormal weather with nearnormal snow is predicted
for most of the Prairie
region, which was the
warmest spot last winter.
“While a large area of
high pressure dominates
Alaska and at times Western Canada, drier-thannormal conditions may be
in store for much of Alberta and British Columbia
this winter,” the forecast
said.
It said near-normal
snowfall is predicted for
the Canadian Rockies,
while Alberta Clipper systems graze the area. “With
cold air, the snow that falls
will stick around through
much of the winter and
into spring,” the forecast
said.
It said southern Ontario
and Quebec should have
a return of winter with
near-normal temperatures
and snow, especially during January and February.
Atlantic Canada and the
Maritime provinces will
be one exception to colder
weather, but long-range
forecasters expect major
winter storms to have an
impact on the region.
We greW up With AlbertA Agriculture.
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300 rural communities.
From humble beginnings, we’ve seen agriculture become the foundation for a growing province. Today, agriculture
is a vibrant industry in our province – a backbone for the hundreds of communities served by ATCO. ATCO and
its people are committed to investing and volunteering in the communities we serve to help make them vibrant
places to work and live.
ATCO is a founding partner of Ag for Life, a program that delivers educational programming
to improve rural and farm safety. Ag for Life also builds a genuine understanding and
appreciation of the impact agriculture has on the lives of all Albertans.
To learn more about Ag for Life, go to agricultureforlife.ca.
Visit ATCO Group at www.atco.com.
08/12-19295_04
20
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
Somaliland hopes oil will
replace goat dependence
SOUNDS FAMILIAR  Government looks to make exploration attractive to oil companies
BY ED STODDARD
CAPE TOWN / REUTERS
W
anted: investors for small
African nation with good
oil and mineral potential
— no seat at the United Nations
but history of independence in
rough neighbourhood.
The break-away nation of
Somaliland is a tough sell but the
recent announcement that serious
hydrocarbon exploration is about
to kick off there shows that oil talks,
regardless of political status.
For Somaliland, an internationally unrecognized state of 3.5 million people that declared independence from Somalia in 1991,
it promises to be a game changer.
“We need to find a way to earn
hard currency besides selling goats,
sheep and camels to Arabs. This is
the only way we earn hard currency
now,” said Energy Minister Hussein Abdi Dualeh.
Ophir Energy Plc, Australiabased Jacka Resources and Genel
Energy, which is headed by former
BP chief executive Tony Hayward,
are all about to start exploration in
Somaliland.
Dualeh said the investments
would be worth tens of millions of
dollars, small change in the global
oil industry but a windfall to a government that only has a budget of
$120 million.
Gas discoveries off Mozambique and Tanzania and oil finds
in Uganda and Kenya have sparked
a hydrocarbon scramble into previously unexplored parts of Africa.
“Oil companies are concerned
about geology, not politics,” said
Dualeh, before adding his country
offers investors something sorely
lacking in anarchic Somalia: stability.
“We control our borders, we have
a police force and military. We have
had four governments come and
go with democratic elections.”
The territory has not exactly been
an oasis of peace, however. Fighting erupted there in January after
the leaders of the northern regions
of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn decided
to band together into a new state
called Khaatumo. Somaliland’s
troops have since clashed with
militia fighters loyal to Khaatumo,
with reports of dozens of casualties.
And what about pirates?
“The pirate problem is not off our
coast, it starts in the Indian Ocean
with Somalia. We have a nimble
coast guard that does its job with
limited resources,” Dualeh said.
If oil is discovered, Somaliland
would also welcome the steady
stream of revenue that would fol-
“We need to find a way
to earn hard currency
besides selling goats,
sheep and camels to
Arabs.”
HUSSEIN ABDI
DUALEH
ENERGY MINISTER
low. Dualeh said livestock sales
across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia
followed a seasonal pattern with
sales peaking during the annual
haj pilgrimage.
“We need to get stuff out of the
ground. Selling livestock during the
haj is not sustainable,” he said.
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Farm Credit Canada (FCC)
will award $50,000 from the
FCC Expression Fund to
encourage the use of Canada’s official languages in
communities across Canada. The fund supports projects that contribute to the
vitality of official language
minority communities
and help residents express
the cultural and linguistic
diversity of the area.
Successful projects
will receive between
$2,000 and $10,000 to fund
initiatives, including community centres, day care
centres and artistic projects, such as theatrical productions.
“As a self-sustaining
federal Crown corporation serving the agriculture
and agri-business sectors
across Canada, FCC values
the ability to offer service
in both official languages,”
says Kellie Garrett, FCC
senior vice-president,
strategy, knowledge and
reputation. “As a bilingual
employee, I’m proud that
FCC serves our customers
in the official language of
their choice. Our bilingual
heritage is so unique and
FCC is pleased to support it
by offering funding to worthy projects that promote
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Last year, the FCC
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located in English and
French linguistic minority
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21
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
Britain may be Ag for Life announces $1.2 million in project funds
a net importer EXPANSION  Currently successful projects will be taken province-wide
of wheat
STAFF
REVERSAL  The U.K.
has been a net exporter
since 2001-02
LONDON/REUTERS
B
ritain looks set to become
a net importer of wheat in
2012-13 for the first time
in more than a decade following a
poor harvest this summer, according to figures issued by the HomeGrown Cereals Authority Oct. 15.
The HGCA, issuing its first supply and demand estimates for the
current season, saw imports rising
to 1.7 million tonnes, up 87 per
cent from last season.
There is also expected to be a
surplus of just 750,000 tonnes that
could be exported or held as free
stock.
“This is an historically low surplus
and suggests very limited export
availability,” the HGCA said, noting
that last season the U.K. exported
2.55 million tonnes of wheat.
Earlier on, Britain’s farm ministry estimated this year’s U.K. wheat
crop at 13.31 million tonnes, down
12.8 per cent from the prior season,
with yields falling to a 23-year low.
“Yields have been affected by
the poor weather this year which
led to high levels of disease during spring and summer along with
low sunlight levels during the
grainfill period,” the ministry said.
Britain has been a net exporter of
wheat each season since 2001-02.
HGCA noted that the decline in
U.K. wheat production was exacerbated by “historically low opening stocks” of 1.50 million tonnes
resulting in “poor domestic supplies.”
The Netherlands and Spain have
in recent years been the two most
important customers for U.K.
wheat.
Britain was a net importer of
wheat in July, the first month of
the crop marketing year, with
exports of 33,673 tonnes and
imports of 135,917 tonnes.
Traders in recent weeks have
cited an increase in the volume of
Baltic, German and French wheat
coming into the U.K. to meet the
harvest shortfall and ensure flour
millers get the quality of wheat
they need.
A
griculture for Life is investing $1.2 million over the next three years towards
the long-term funding of four schooland community-based programs to enhance
rural and farm safety and agriculture education.
• The Classroom Agriculture Program (CAP)
has operated for more than 25 years and
currently reaches more than 15,000 Grade 4
students Alberta CAP has been operating in
Alberta for over 25 years. With the support of
Ag for Life, the goal for the next three years
is to expand program distribution to reach
30,000 Alberta students annually.
• Progressive Agriculture Foundation (PAF)
is the largest rural and farm safety education
program for children in North America. Ag for
Life will fund the establishment of additional
safety days in the province, with a goal to triple
the number delivered in Alberta from 16 to 48.
• The Sustainable Foods Edmonton — Little
Green Thumbs program helps young people
understand where food comes from and the
impact fresh food has on their health, the environment and their community through active
participation in classroom gardening. During
the next three years, the goal is to expand the
program to reach 65 Edmonton schools while
working to expand the program province-wide.
Funding will help increase the number of farm safety days from 16 to 48.
• The Multicultural Heritage Centre City
Slickers program introduces Grades 4 and 5
students to the many facets of agriculture and
to develop firsthand an understanding and
appreciation for food and how it is produced.
The program brings together farmers, producers and consumers. The goal is to expand from
Stony Plain to communities all across Alberta.
Ag for Life is made possible through the
funding of companies that employ almost
20,000 people in more than 350 Alberta
communities. Members include Agrium,
ATB, ATCO, Penn West Exploration, RME,
TransCanada Corporation, UFA, AdFarm,
Alberta Agriculture, Glacier Media Group
and Mosaic Studios.
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Yields fell to a 23-year low in the
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22
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
}Dormancy
Cold snap may harm U.S. wheat
The drought-plagued U.S. hard red winter wheat crop is facing a cold snap and more dry
weather as it enters dormancy, agricultural weather experts said Nov. 12. “Over a third
of the Plains wheat likely will enter winter poorly established, and late-emergence issues
persist for the very dry areas in South Dakota and parts of northwest Kansas, northeastern
Colorado and Nebraska,” said Commodity Weather Group meteorologist Joel Widenor. He
said cold air over the weekend with temperatures falling into the teens and single digits (F)
in the foothills of the Rockies might have caused some minor damage to wheat. — Reuters
More rain in Argentina
A cold front dumped about 50 millimetres of rain on Argentina’s already soggy
Grains Belt over the weekend of Nov. 10-11, bringing corn and soy planting to a halt.
“Big areas of prime Argentine farmland are flooded and will have to be written off
for this season,” said Anthony Deane, head of consultancy Weather Wise Argentina.
“Better weather is expected later this month, allowing farmers to seed 80 per cent
of the corn they had originally hoped to plant.” Deane said the rains may prompt a
switch to soybeans, which tolerate more moisture. — Reuters
How to find a weather forecaster
whom you can’t criticize
DIY } Don’t think forecasts are accurate enough? Create your own using this website
by daniel bezte
I
t’s been a while since I’ve discussed
weather-related websites, and I
figured it was about time to share
one of my favourites — The Weather
Underground (www.wunderground.
com).
The Weather Underground is literally
the first-ever Internet weather website,
and I think it’s the best weather website out there. I figured the best way to
introduce you to this site was to provide you with a bit of background on it,
so the following two paragraphs have
been taken directly from their “About
Us” page.
“In 1991, while working under the
direction of Perry Samson at the University of Michigan, PhD candidate
Jeff Masters wrote a menu-based telnet interface which displayed real-time
weather information around the world.
By 1992, the two servers his system
used were rattling off their desks as
‘um-weather’ became the most popular service on the Internet. In 1993,
Perry and Jeff recruited Jeff Ferguson
and Alan Steremberg to help build a
system to bring Internet weather into
K-12 classrooms. Chris Schwerzler
joined Alan in his work on the Mac
gopher client, ‘Blue Skies,’ which won
numerous awards for its interactive
imagery and text information. In the
interest of expanding ‘Blue Skies’ to
other platforms, Dave Brooks, author
of the Windows ‘WS Gopher’ client,
developed ‘Blue Skies for Windows’
in 1994. The growing Internet weather
program was given the name Weather
Underground, a reference to the 1960’s
radical group that also originated at
the University of Michigan, which had
taken its name from the lyrics to Bob
Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues,
‘You don’t need a weather man to know
which way the wind blows.’
“In late spring of 1995, Weather
Underground, Inc. evolved as a separate commercial entity from the university. By fall, the official website, www.
wunderground.com, was released with
daily forecasts and hourly conditions.
Weather Underground has developed
the world’s largest network of personal
weather stations (almost 23,000 sta-
tions in the U.S. and over 13,000 across
the rest of the world) that provides the
site’s users with the most localized
weather conditions available. In 2008,
they launched WunderMap, the web’s
most interactive weather map, that
allows users to choose from a number
of different weather layers that are plotted on top of a dynamic map interface.
Finally in July 2012, Weather Underground became part of The Weather
Channel Companies.”
WunderMap
One of my favourite parts of this website is WunderMap. In particular, I
really like to use the weather model
layers. With a little background knowledge on how to interpret these maps,
almost anyone can start to develop
their own weather forecasts.
To find WunderMaps from the main
Weather Underground web page you
need to click on the Maps and Radar
tab near the top of the page. From
the drop-down list you then select
WunderMaps. Those of you who have
used Google Maps or Google Earth will
recognize how to navigate around the
map. Along with automatically loading the map of your region it will bring
up two layers of information, current
radar imagery and weather station
data. The layers that are visible are
controlled by the menus on the righthand side of the screen. To turn on
and off a layer you simply click on the
checkmark located just to the left of
the layer’s name.
To learn how to view and understand the weather model layers, the
first thing you need to do is turn off the
radar and weather station layers. You
then need to click on the Model Data
layer to turn it on. When you do this
nothing on the map will change, but a
new menu will open up under the layer
name. Before you start to play around
you will probably want to zoom out on
the map so that you can see at least all
of Alberta. The first option you have is
to pick the weather model you want to
look at. The GFS model is the weather
model created by NOAA in the United
States and the ECMWF is the weather
model created by the United Kingdom.
These models are both considered to
be very good.
Those of you who have used Google Maps or Google Earth will
recognize how to navigate around the map.
This map shows the total precipitation across Alberta during the 30-day period ending
Nov. 4 relative to the long-term average. The green areas have received near-average
amounts while the light-blue areas are slightly above average. Areas that are dark blue
and pink have seen well-above-average amounts.
The next option to choose from is
which weather model information
you want displayed on the Map Type.
While there are lots of different maps
to choose from, here is a short list of
the more useful maps.
• M SL — This map shows the surface pressure patterns along with
where precipitation is forecasted
to fall and how much precipitation
is expected over a 12-hour period.
• 2 mAG — This map shows the
ground level forecasted air and
dew point temperatures.
• Wind — This map shows expected
wind speeds measured in knots
(quick conversion is to double it
for km). It also shows wind direction.
While there are many more maps
to choose from, these three maps will
allow you to create a fairly accurate
forecast. I’ll continue this discussion
in an upcoming issue. In the meantime, your homework is to check out
this website and see if you can start to
become a weather forecaster!
23
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
BriefS
Behlen and
Sakundiak now
Meridian
Meridian Manufacturing
and Winnipeg-based parent company WGI have
announced that effective Jan. 1, all agricultural
products manufactured by
Behlen Industries, Sakundiak Equipment and Meridian Manufacturing will be
branded Meridian.
“Our new product line will
now include a full offering
of SmoothWall hopper bins,
bulk seed tenders, augers
and conveyors, commercial and oilfield tanks, fuel
tanks, aeration, galvanized
hopper bottom bins, galvanized flat-bottom bins,
grain rings, ArchWall and
on-farm buildings,” Meridian marketing manager Sid
Lockhart said in a release.
“This merger will expand
our resources and experience, and will present
all parties involved with
greater team knowledge,”
said Glenn Friesen, senior
vice-president of Meridian
Manufacturing.
Barley genome
breakthrough may
lead to better beer
london / reuters /
An international consortium of scientists has published a high resolution
draft of the barley genome
in a move that could not
only improve yields and
disease resistance, but may
also hold the key to better
beer.
“This research will
streamline efforts to
improve barley production through breeding
for improved varieties,”
said Prof. Robbie Waugh,
of Scotland’s James Hutton Institute, who led the
research.
“This could be varieties
better able to withstand
pests and disease, deal with
adverse environmental
conditions, or even provide
grain better suited for beer
and brewing.”
Barley is the world’s
fourth most important cereal crop, trailing only maize,
rice and wheat. Its genome
is almost twice the size of
that of humans.
“It will accelerate research
in barley, and its close relative, wheat,” Waugh said.
“Armed with this information, breeders and scientists
will be much better placed
to deal with the challenge
of effectively addressing the
food security agenda under
the constraints of a rapidly
changing environment.”
DuPont opens new seed production facility
DuPont Pioneer celebrated the startup of its new $15-million parent seed production facility near Wingham, Ontario on Nov. 8. It is primarily
focused on the production of parent canola seed, but it can also handle the conditioning and treating of parent soybeans. Product from the
Wingham Parent Seed Plant is shipped to Pioneer locations across Canada and around the world. Supplied photo
FarmTech
2013
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Stuart Barden
International Farmer from Kenya
David Chilton
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Dr. John Izzo
Author, Business advisor
Ron MacLean
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FarmTech 2013 Banquet
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24
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
SEE THE BIG PICTURE.
Gain a new perspective on your farm, family and future with this informative
video series from Agvision, available at albertafarmexpress.ca
Upcoming video topics include:

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“Please fix our daughter-in-law!” According to Dr. John Fast this is a
very common complaint in farm businesses and a most convenient
person to blame when things are not going well.

Farmers Without Wills
An untimely death without a will jeopardizes the financial viability
of your farm and could leave your family in an absolute mess.

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Dr. John Fast is a leading expert on farm family
business in Canada. As the founder and director
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Family businesses face enormous complexity and this can result in
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
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Don’t miss any of these informative videos – visit www.albertafarmexpress.ca
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25
CANOLA DIRECTOR
NOMINATIONS COMPLETED
Sitting Alberta Canola Producer Commission directors Ray Blanchette (Falher, Region 3), Lee Markert (Vulcan, Region 9), and
Marlene Caskey (Oyen, Region 12) were elected to a second term on the board by acclamation Oct. 31. Renn Breitkreuz of
Onoway was elected by acclamation as the new director for Region 6 as director Jody Klassen of Mayerthorpe has reached
the ACPC two-term limit. He will begin to serve as director for Region 6 immediately following the ACPC Annual General
Meeting January 29, 2013.
Heat-damaged canola crop
creates supply shortages
DOUBLE WHAMMY  In addition to lower yields, this year’s crop contains less oil
Potentially, crushers could slow
processing if margins are weak
enough, Lussier said. So far in 201213, however, they have crushed 16
per cent more volume than during
the comparable period in recordsetting 2011-12.
Last year, crushers produced
3.1 million tonnes of oil and four
million tonnes of meal, which is
used mainly as a protein source
for animals. The United States and
China were the biggest importers
of Canadian canola oil in 2011-12,
with the U.S. also the biggest meal
importer.
BY ROD NICKEL
WINNIPEG / REUTERS
S
upply worries about Canada’s
disappointingly small canola
harvest this year are compounded by the oilseed’s reduced
oil content, crimping profits for
crushers and leaving food companies to scramble for other vegetable
oils.
Expectations were high early in
the crop year that a record-large
canola crop in Canada would compensate for some of the damage the
drought did to U.S. soybeans. However, midsummer heat in Western
Canada during canola’s vulnerable
flowering period reduced yields.
The crop came in smaller than
expected at an estimated 13.4 million tonnes and contains a lower
percentage of oil than usual, government data shows, hitting crushers’ profit margins by an estimated
$8 per tonne for every percentage
point lower than last year.
“It poses a problem for exporters
and crushers,” said Tracy Lussier,
manager of canola trading for Louis
Dreyfus Canada, which acts in both
roles. “If you lose a per cent of oil,
you lose a significant amount of
money.”
Shorter supplies of canola oil
come as projected stocks of U.S.
soyoil, a competitor in the global
vegetable oil market, for the juststarted 2012-13 crop year look to
be the smallest in nine years at 576
million tonnes.
The world’s stocks-to-use ratio
for vegetable oils, a measure of supply to demand, will reach its tightest level in 2012-13 since the mid-
Roundup Ready ® is a registered trademark used under license from Monsanto Company.
All purchases are subject to the terms of labelling and purchase documents.
The DuPont Oval Logo is a registered trademark of DuPont.
®, TM, SM
Trademarks and service marks licensed to Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited. © 2012 PHL.
 ELECTIONS
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
Looking to alternatives
Top-grade canola has a mean oil content of 43.5 per cent, down from last
year’s 45.2 per cent and slightly off the 10-year average of 43.8 per cent.
1970s, due to relentless demand
growth, especially in China, Rabobank said in a report this month.
About three-quarters of the
world’s vegetable oil production is
used for food purposes like cooking
oils, margarine and spreads, with
biodiesel also a major use.
Oil yield lower
Top-grade canola has a mean oil
content of 43.5 per cent, down from
last year’s 45.2 per cent and slightly
off the 10-year average of 43.8 per
cent, according to a sampling program by the Canadian Grain Commission, the industry’s regulator.
Lower oil content hits crush margins and also hurts exporters who
may have guaranteed a percentage of oil content in the canola
seed they ship, Lussier said. Crush
margins are already one-fifth lower
than a year ago at around C$72 per
tonne for the ICE January canola
futures contract.
Along with Dreyfus, major Canadian canola crushers and exporters include Cargill Ltd., Richardson
International Ltd., Archer Daniels
Midland Co. and Bunge Ltd.
The oil content may improve as
farmers sell later-harvested canola
to crushers, said one oilseed industry source, who spoke on condition
of anonymity. Typically, higher oil
content is found in northern and
western parts of Western Canada.
“We’re still in the early stages of
trying to figure out what the real
oil content is, and it is all over the
place,” he said.
With less canola oil available, food
companies are looking to alternatives.
Global importers are likely to
turn to relatively cheap palm oil
— the most abundantly produced
vegetable oil — as an alternative to more expensive products,
Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts
Oil World said this week. At least
in the short term, palm oil is inexpensive and available, thanks to
record-high stocks in Malaysia as
of September.
Ontario-based Saporito Foods,
which buys canola oil from crushers and bottles it to sell to restaurants and on store shelves in
Eastern Canada, has seen prices
“drastically increase” compared
to soyoil.
“We’re trying to push our customers to soya, but some need
canola for sure in their recipes,”
said Saporito’s president, Bill Tserpes.
“If our customers want canola,
they’ll have to pay extra for it.”
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PR342 CPS 45S52.indd 1
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26
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
Hemp promoters see possibility for a value chain
CHICKEN AND EGG  Can’t produce without market, can’t market without supply
BY ALEXIS KIENLEN
AF STAFF / EDMONTON
R
uss Crawford likes to compare hemp with canola 40
years ago — small acreage,
and uncertain markets. “Hemp
provides a unique opportunity
because it has been a marginalized and an unrealized crop.
There’s tremendous potential
to capture,” said Russ Crawford,
vice-president of the Canadian
Hemp Trade Alliance.
“Because it’s so small, it’s hard
to get people’s attention and it’s
hard to get people talking about
hemp,” said Crawford. “Because
you’re small, you might have a
very small voice. But nonetheless,
the opportunities are significant.”
He notes that the hemp market
in Canada has developed erratically. Farmers get signals to grow,
then they grow too much and cut
back, resulting in an erratic pattern
of production and consumption.
Crawford said the hemp indus-
try looks to canola as a role model
and hopes the industry can follow
a similar path.
“This is a case of what comes
first. Do you grow hemp and then
hope that someone will build a
plant that will process your product, whether it’s food or fibre? Or
do you look to someone to invest
and build that facility and roll
the dice that farmers are going to
grow the crop and you’ll be able
to sustain that industry and that
business?” he said. The industry
will need to work collaboratively
to grow for everyone’s benefit.
Crawford said there is opportunity to create a hemp value chain
by bringing together growers,
processors and consumers, and
attracting investment will move
the industry forward. Investors
need a consistent supply and need
to know that there will be available
crop. The government also needs
to create a favourable investment
climate, and people need to have a
positive attitude and a strong voice
in support of the industry.
“Because it’s so small,
it’s hard to get people’s
attention and it’s hard to
get people talking about
hemp.”
RUSS CRAWFORD
CANADIAN HEMP
TRADE ALLIANCE
Trevor Kloek, program lead at
the Alberta Biomaterials Development Centre, said Alberta cannot
satisfy demand alone and there’s
a large potential latent demand
for the crop.
“Some of the markets we’re
addressing right now who are
seriously interested will require
about 300 tons of straw to meet
one company’s requirement.
That’s not something one prov-
Matching production to demand is a challenge for the new industry.
ince can do, it’s something Western Canada has to do,” he said.
Kloek said there is latent capacity in growing, as well as latent,
untested demand. He said the
crop has great potential but
Reduce sclerotinia losses
in canola with Pioneer Protector hybrids
®
lacks critical mass. “I think we
need to produce what the customer wants and not what we
have. That’s a fundamental law
of how we’re going to succeed
here,” he said.
Rail bill
still coming,
minister
insists
DM SHUFFLE 
Shippers fear
change of deputy
ministers will mean
more delay
Non-resistant
55% infection
Resistant
13% infection
Sclerotinia disease infection on canola stems in a
non-resistant hybrid (left) versus Pioneer ® brand 45S52 (RR)
with the Pioneer Protector Sclerotinia Resistance trait (right).
2012; Nanton, Alberta.
Sclerotinia can be a costly
disease for canola growers.
Lost revenues exceeded
an estimated $600 million
in 2010, in a year when
conditions were favourable
for development of the disease. While the numbers are not all
tallied yet, for many areas of the Prairies incidence of sclerotinia
in 2012 was higher than we have seen in quite a few years.
Management approach
1. Crop rotation
2. Final plant population of 6–10 plants per square foot
3. Sclerotinia resistant hybrids
4. Foliar fungicide
“In 2012 sclerotinia incidence was worse than 2010 and
far worse than 2011. Southeast Saskatchewan experienced
much higher incidence than the south-central parts of the
province. Seeding date also had a huge effect on levels
of incidence.”
Dave Vanthuyne, DuPont Pioneer agronomist for central
and southern Saskatchewan
Pioneer ® brand
Non-resistant
2012 Proving Ground™ trial in Simpson, Saskatchewan shows
Pioneer ® brand 45S54 (RR) with the Pioneer Protector Sclerotinia
Resistance trait producing healthier stands of canola under
significant sclerotinia pressure.
“As far as incidence and severity, 2012 has been the worst I
have seen for sclerotinia since 2007. I saw ranges of incidence
from less than 5% to as high as 60% in fields. Some of the
fields were sprayed and still had levels in the 30% range.”
Doug Moisey, DuPont Pioneer agronomist for central
and northern Alberta
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*Field results show that Pioneer Protector ® Sclerotinia resistance can reduce the incidence of sclerotinia
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application to manage sclerotinia in their crop.
Roundup Ready ® is a registered trademark used under license from Monsanto Company.
The DuPont Oval Logo is a registered trademark of DuPont.
®, TM, SM
Trademarks and service marks licensed to Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited. © 2012, PHL PR383_TechTorial_AFE_FE
PR383_PR_TechTorial_AFE_FE_v4.indd 1
12-10-10 1:41 PM
BY ALEX BINKLEY
AF CONTRIBUTOR / OTTAWA
Transport Minister Denis
Lebel says long-promised
legislation to balance the
market power of the railways and their customers
will be introduced this fall.
Shippers have expressed
concern that a deputy
minister shuffle will delay
the legislation until next
year, when it could be
sidelined by a rail costing
review already scheduled
for 2013. They’re pushing
for legislation based on the
findings of a rail service
freight review launched in
2008 that advocated service
guarantees, a disputesettlement mechanism,
and financial penalties if
the railways failed to meet
performance standards.
The railways that would be
an unnecessary regulatory
burden.
Last month, shipper organizations representing the
major resource sectors such
as forestry, fertilizers, mining and agriculture called
again on the government “to
address inefficient and inadequate rail freight service.”
They met ministers and
MPs, but came away no
wiser about the government’s plans.
Western farm groups have
been among the most vocal
supporters of rail freight
service legislation.
Meanwhile, CN and CP
have both reported substantially higher net income
for the first nine months of
2012.
27
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
Evaluating hemp performance
is a work in progress: Specialist
Trials } Hemp was tested in several locations last year, but more site years are needed for recommendations
by alexis kienlen
af staff / edmonton
M
anitoba has been conducting hemp agronomy trials at research
stations across the province for
several years, and thanks to a
grant of $70,000 from the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, this
year trials were expanded to other
provinces.
“If you get enough site years,
then the data starts to mean
something,” said Keith Watson,
a diversification specialist with
Manitoba Agriculture.
Watson told a recent meeting
of the Canadian Hemp Trade
Alliance conference that data
needs to be used with caution
and more research is needed
before recommendations can
be made.
This year, Manitoba research
stations included Arborg, Gilbert
Plains, Carberry and Melita. Trials were also done at Vegreville,
Alberta, Kemptville, Ontario and
Melfort, Saskatchewan.
Watson said seeding rates for
hemp need to be high enough
to allow producers to get good
fibre and grain yields. Researchers had a target population of
250 seeds per square metre.
They measured the seedlings
when the plants were two to
four inches out of the ground
and found only 25 per cent had
emerged. This loss represents
a huge cost to producers, who
will need to bump their seeding
rates.
“There’s a lot of research we
need to do to figure out why we
get the plant population we do.
It is normal in all crops to have
a mortality rate, but hemp’s is
particularly high,” said Watson.
Researchers began at rates
25 seeds per square metre and
increased to 350. Results showed
about 150 seeds per square
metre gave the best yields for
dual-purpose fibre and grain
varieties. There still isn’t enough
research on the varieties to prove
which varieties are outstanding,
Watson said.
Researchers also measured
seed size, which is important to
know because it has an impact
on seeding rates. “In order to get
the right population, you have to
adjust accordingly,” said Watson.
Researchers tested seed treatments Gemini and Raxil to try to
reduce mortality rates. They did
“There’s a lot of research
we need to do to figure
out why we get the plant
population we do. It
is normal in all crops
to have a mortality
rate, but hemp’s is
particularly high.”
Keith Watson
increase plant establishment and
coverage in some of the locations,
but not others.
However plant population was
not directly related to yield.
“We can have a pretty thin stand
of hemp, but we end up with huge
heads and can end up with the
same grain yield,” Watson said.
Researchers also tested fibre
yields. Each variety and location
included in the trials has to be
THC tested, which represented
a significant cost to researchers,
said Watson.
Recommendations for fibre
agronomy and characteristics
are difficult to determine as
there is no commercial processor for hemp fibre in Canada and
these specs are defined by the
market. Any current fibre being
used is a byproduct after a grain
harvest, said Watson.
Manitoba Agriculture diversification specialist Keith Watson at hemp trials in Manitoba. Photo: Laura Rance
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28
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
Right agronomics are key to hemp growing
VARIETIES  Growing season and whether to straight combine or swath are considerations
BY ALEXIS KIENLEN
AF STAFF / EDMONTON
K
now your varieties, talk
with other growers, do your
research and use your best
land. Those are hemp agronomy
tips from Kevin Friesen, seed production manager with Hemp Oil
Canada and a partner with Hemp
Genetics International.
Friesen, who spoke at the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance conference has been in the industry since
2001 as a pedigreed seed grower,
working primarily with grain and
non-fibre varieties of industrial
hemp.
Most hemp grown in Western
Canada is grown for grain production, although there is dual-purpose production as well. Canada
grew 52,560 acres of hemp in 2012,
of which 24,700 were in Saskatchewan, 12,958 in Manitoba and
12,602 acres in Alberta. Those precise figures are possible because
anyone who wants to grow hemp
in Canada has to apply for a licence
from Health Canada. Depending
on the variety, many producers
will have to have their crop tested
to be low enough in THC, the compound which produces the “high”
from marijuana varieties.
Friesen said the hemp industry
has grown by about 35 per cent
each year for the last few years. “I
think that reflects the markets for
hemp. The retail side is maturing
because companies are contracting in a responsible manner.”
He said growers often run into
problems if they grow hemp on
spec. “Work with the company,
produce under contract and get
your licensing in place,” he said.
“Make sure you have the right
agronomic information.”
“Work with the company,
produce under contract and
get your licensing in place.”
Varieties sensitive to area
Hemp varieties react differently
in various locations. “Finola, for
example, will grow nine feet tall in
the Peace River area but will grow
only 2-1/2 feet tall in Ontario. Not
every variety is the right match for
every grower in every location,”
Friesen said.
Finola is the main variety grown
in Alberta. It’s attractive because
it has a short growing season
and a short stature. The variety
is small seeded, easy to harvest
and matures in 100 days. It is
well suited to irrigation, can be
swathed and does well in northern climates.
Friesen said the second most
popular variety is CFX-2. This
variety and its similar counterpart,
CFX-1, have moderate height,
moderate growing season and a
large seed size. “As hemp varieties
get taller, harvest tends to get
a little bit more difficult,” said
Friesen.
The third most popular variety,
CRS-1, is grown primarily in Manitoba, takes 110 days to mature and
has a large seed and high yield. “I
kind of call that the full-season
grain variety,” Friesen said.
Dual-purpose varieties include
Delores and Alyssa. These varieties
KEVIN FRIESEN
produce more biomass, are longer
season and are large seeded and
high yielding.
“You have to realize that not
every variety fits everyone and you
have to be careful to choose what
works for your area,” said Friesen.
He recommends growers get
professional advice and find
out what other growers in their
region are doing. It’s important
to grow hemp on the best land
available.
Organic option
Friesen said hemp can be grown
successfully using organic or conventional methods.
Producers who go organic
should choose high-fertility,
medium-textured soils with good
drainage. Row cropping works
well in organic dryland situations.
Conventional farmers should plan
to add as much fertility as they
do when growing canola. Adding extra fertilizer helps growers
deal with weed pressure from wild
oats.
“Fertility is really the key to
growing this crop and it’s also your
herbicide,” said Friesen.
Finding the optimal plant density and seeding date can help
producers cope with weed pressure. Friesen said the industry
has to work to get minor use herbicides registered for hemp, and
some herbicides do work well on
the crop.
Friesen said hemp does not have
many disease problems, but can
develop sclerotinia under humid
conditions. It’s not known if clubroot is a risk. Pests are not a large
issue, but bertha army worms have
been known to defoliate the plant.
Harvest
Harvesting hemp is the most challenging part of the growing process. “It’s really important to take
it off at the right time, which can
be different from year to year,” said
Friesen.
Generally, the crop is harvested
when it is green, which minimizes
fibre wrapping in the combine.
Shorter-season varieties are taken
off at lower moisture.
Most producers straight combine. Hemp needs to be cut cleanly
in order to prevent it from bunching up and creating havoc inside
the combine.
Strong wind can shatter heads
on a mature crop, so to manage
this risk, many producers in
southern Alberta grow shortseason varieties and swath.
“The advantage is that you have
dry seed. The disadvantage is that
you do put more fibre through the
combine,” Friesen said.
He recommends grain dryers or
the use of an inline heater between
the fan and the bin, as hemp has a
strong tendency to spoil if it is not
dried efficiently.
Growers who are not selling their
fibre will have to figure out how
to manage it. Some bale it, some
incorporate it and others rake it
with heavy harrows.
“At the end of the day, it’s either a
bale or a match that takes care of it
and gets it off the field,” Friesen said.
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29
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
Organic farmers ponder the future of food
BRIDGING GAP  Organic conference looks at the transition between current farming methods and those of the future
BY DANIEL WINTERS
STAFF | REGINA
T
hey weren’t shying away
from the big issues at the
recent Organic Connections conference here.
Renowned sustainable farming expert Fred Kirschenmann
declared the days of “cheap”
energy to be coming to an end.
“It’s not a question of exactly
when we run out of oil, natural
gas, or coal — it’s when it’s no
longer going to be affordable,”
said Kirschenmann, who has a
2,600-acre organic farm in North
Dakota, and is also the distinguished fellow at Leopold Center
for Sustainable Agriculture and a
professor of religion and philosophy at Iowa State University.
He framed the issue in a much
wider context spanning virtually
all of human history.
Back in the hunter-gatherer
days, humans garnered an excellent return on the energy they
“invested” in feeding themselves,
said Kirschenmann. He estimates
people expended only 1,000 calories for every 20,000 calories of
energy they gathered or hunted.
That efficiency ratio fell by half
about 10,000 years ago, when
mankind adopted animal-powered agriculture and herding, but
the real sea change was when it
began tapping into “old calories”
in the form of fossil fuels, mined
mineral amendments such as rock
phosphate, and water pooled in
underground aquifers.
Today, it takes 10,000 calories to
produce a single calorie of food,
he said.
Kirschenmann, who adopted
organic production methods on
his farm more than 35 years ago,
said he was disturbed by the realization of how dependent he is on
fossil fuels. From the transport of
organic inputs such as manure to
the shipping of his production to
market, “everything is based on
fossil fuels,” he said.
Aquifer in danger
But the bad news doesn’t end
there. Agriculture in his area also
faces a critical shortage of water,
mainly because the Ogalalla aquifer that feeds irrigation across
much of the central U.S. has been
drawn down by half since 1960.
“We are still drawing it down
by six to eight feet a year, and in
20 years from now, it won’t have
any water left for irrigation,” said
Kirschenmann. “What happens
then? Finally, it turns into a kind
of buffalo commons.”
It’s time humans confronted the
biggest question of all, he said.
“What is the next era of food production for us as a species?”
Rob Avis offered a partial answer
to that question.
The former mechanical engineer in Alberta’s oil and gas industry has become an advocate of
permaculture, and trumpets the
idea that urban farms could produce significant amounts of food
in the decades ahead.
Avis and his wife, also an engineer, formed Verge Permaculture,
a Calgary-based company that
specializes in a systems-design
approach to creating “sustainable
human habitat” via interconnected
elements such as low-energy buildings, water management, waste
reuse, and renewable energy and
food production. (Information
on their projects and seminars is
posted on their website and blog
at www.vergepermaculture.ca.)
Fred Kirschenmann is a farmer and distinguished Rob Avis of Verge Permaculture in Calgary specializes in a
fellow at Leopold Center for Sustainable
systems-design approach to creating “sustainable human
Agriculture. PHOTOS: DANIEL WINTERS
habitat.”
Citing the need for radical
change, he points to the ruined
landscape left behind by humans
in the Middle East. The cradle
of civilization, and formerly one
of the most abundant places on
Earth, it is now largely a desert.
“There’s a pattern of human
settlement that we don’t want
to follow,” Avis told conference
attendees. “If they had been told
they would end up in a desert, they
would have laughed at you.”
Like Kirschenmann, he marvelled at how cheap energy
has been, noting a single 160litre barrel of oil represents the
equivalent of 10,000 hours of
manual labour.
“When in history has one person
had 150 horses at their disposal at
the turn of a key?” he asked.
Avis said he hopes the days of
peak oil are far off.
“I have a two-year-old son — I
hope it’s 50 years,” he said. “It will
take that long for us to transition
our culture to one that can use
renewable energy.”
In the meantime, Avis is promoting the merits of sustainable
habitats. Among his projects is a
mobile tool “library” for gardeners
to share; mapping 150 apple trees
in Calgary that can be harvested
on a one-third basis for the owner,
the picker and the local food bank;
and a community edible reforestation program.
Urban farming can play a
major role in food production,
he said.
“They say we can’t feed the
world. I call that B.S.,” he said.
One of his next targets is the
urban lawn. There are 40 million acres of lawn in the U.S.
alone, something he describes
as the greatest misallocation of
resources on the planet.
“It turns out that we can feed
every person in the country a
2,000-calories-per-day diet for
two years off of one crop,” he
said, adding that two crops could
be sown in many areas.
“There’s more than enough land
to feed the world. We just have to
get out of this disempowerment
concept, and start moving forward
with our lives.”
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30
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
All Alberta potatoes aren’t grown around Taber
MEAT AND POTATOES } Alberta’s potato industry is worth $1 billion annually
By sheri monk
af staff | taber
H
elmet Leili has had a lot to
learn in a short period of
time as the new executive
director of the Potato Growers of
Alberta (PGA). “There’s been a lot
to learn, but it’s very interesting,”
he said. Headquartered in Taber,
the PGA represents 135 potato
growers in the province. In 2012,
a total of 55,700 acres of potatoes
were planted and the total value of
the industry, including crop and
value added, amounts to $1 billion annually. “It’s a big industry
in Alberta,” said Leili.
While the Lethbridge, Taber,
Vauxhall and the Bassano-Brooks
area is the most known for potato
production, Leili says there’s
another integral region. “Up near
Edmonton and Lacombe we grow
a lot of seed potatoes and a lot of
people don’t know that.” He says
potato producers had a very good
year. “During harvest, there was
only one day of rain, so that was
very
good.”
SEC_CAR11_T_MC.qxd
8/26/11
There isn’t a hurry for these
Lane Lievaart Farms Ltd. of Coaldale, Alberta was the recipient of the
McCain Environmental Award at the Annual McCain Growers’ Banquet in Nov.
This award recognizes the grower who has an outstanding environmental
performance over the course of a year. Ross May (l), agronomist, presents a
special plaque and $1,000 cheque to Lane Lievaart. PHOTo: mcain foods
Potatoes are stored by the producer for a year after they
are harvested. PHOTo: pga
potatoes anyway because after
they are harvested, they aren’t
sent for processing right away.
“The potatoes are stored for a
year
they’re
4:23before
PM Page
1 sold, and that’s
where things can get tricky,” Leili
explained. Potato producers store
their harvest in large buildings
with carefully controlled temperature and humidity.
“You know those small town
arenas with the dome-type roof
AC® Carberry
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Date Produced: August 2011
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Publication: Manitoba Cooperator
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Setting the pace.
Start strong. Finish fast.
that goes down to the ground on
either end? That’s what they look
like,” said Leili.
Within the southern Potato Belt,
there are a number of potato-processing plants. Alberta’s potatogrowing regions are among the
best in the world, and there are
197 varieties grown in the region.
In many instances, producers are
contracted by an area processing
company to grow a specific variety for a specified price. Leili said
potato producers may not achieve
fame and fortune contract growing, but it’s sustainable and it
works out well.
“They can make a good life that
way, and continue to do what they
love,” he said, adding that the
province’s growers take pride in
having a very small footprint, and
in using very few chemical interventions. “That information needs
to get out there.”
While Alberta may be known for
its beef, Leili said the PGA is going
to be reaching out to consumers
more effectively in the future
to really share the province’s
meat and potatoes story. There
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Notice to Farmers
Monsanto Company is a member of
Excellence Through Stewardship® (ETS).
Monsanto products are commercialized
in accordance with ETS Product
Launch Stewardship Guidance, and in
compliance with Monsanto’s Policy for
Commercialization of BiotechnologyDerived Plant Products in Commodity
Crops. This product has been approved
for import into key export markets with
functioning regulatory systems. Any
crop or material produced from this
product can only be exported to, or used,
processed or sold in countries where
all necessary regulatory approvals
have been granted. It is a violation of
national and international law to move
material containing biotech traits
across boundaries into nations where
import is not permitted. Growers should
talk to their grain handler or product
purchaser to confirm their buying position
for this product. Excellence Through
Stewardship® is a registered trademark
of Excellence Through Stewardship.
Genes that fit your farm.
800-665-7333
www.secan.com
®
®
Developed by Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Swift Current.
‘AC’ is an official mark used under license from Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada.
Genes that fit your farm® is a registered trademark of SeCan.
SEC_CAR11_T
ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE
LABEL DIRECTIONS.
Roundup Ready® crops contain genes
that confer tolerance to glyphosate, the
active ingredient in Roundup® brand
agricultural herbicides. Roundup® brand
agricultural herbicides will kill crops that
are not tolerant to glyphosate. Genuity
and Design®, Genuity Icons, Genuity®,
Roundup Ready®, and Roundup® are
trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC.
Used under license.
are three distinct sectors of the
Alberta potato industry. The fresh
market supplies table potatoes to
the end consumer through direct
purchase and through retailers. That segment accounts for
five per cent of production. The
processing sector accounts for
81 per cent of production in the
province. The seed potato market
accounts for the remaining 14 per
cent of production in the province
to supply other growers domestically and internationally.
“The potatoes are stored
for a year before they’re
sold, and that’s where
things can get tricky.”
Helmet Leili, PGA
The irrigation available in the
southern region, the number
of hours of sunshine and welldrained soil is key to Alberta’s
potato success, and several processing plants have set up shop in
the province to take advantage of
the reliable supply. In the southern area there is a Lamb Weston
plant at Taber and a McCain
plant at Coaldale. Both of these
plants are producing french
fries for the fast-service restaurant industry. As well, there are
potato chip plants including an
Old Dutch facility at Calgary and
a Frito Lay plant at Taber.
Ross May, an agronomist with
McCain Foods, says production has
been very good recently, although
there have been some issues with
late blight in the last couple of years.
Overall, he says, Alberta is perfectly
suited for the industry.
“The cold winters that we have
here in Alberta are ideal for a lot
of our disease prevention. Not a
lot of diseases can survive our cold
winters whereas in the Columbia
Basin or the Magic Valley of Idaho,
it’s a lot milder and diseases and
insects vectoring those diseases
have a better chance of surviving,”
said May.
McCain held its annual Growers’
Banquet recently in Lethbridge
and more than 120 guests helped
celebrate producer achievements.
Claassen Farms Ltd. of Vauxhall
was named the 2011-12 McCain
Champion Potato Grower and
Lane Lievaart Farms Ltd., of Coaldale, Alberta was the recipient of
the McCain Environmental Award.
31
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
U.S. drought boosts demand
and prices for Prairie hay
EAST TO WEST  Demand is expected to move more to Alberta when
Manitoba and Saskatchewan supplies diminish
“Even though the
majority of buyers in the
U.S. would prefer to have
the big square (bales),
they are buying the big
rounds — because they
just have to.”
LORNE KLEIN
SASKATCHEWAN
AGRICULTURE
Forage prices are generally up by 30 to 40 per cent from year-ago levels,
says a Manitoba forage specialist.
NEW
D3154S
I
ncreased demand from American livestock feeders for Canadian forages should keep
domestic prices firm, according to
provincial forage specialists.
While most of Western Canada
has relatively good forage stocks,
some areas are short on supply
and will face high prices because of
U.S. demand fuelled by this year’s
drought.
Forage prices are generally up
by 30 to 40 per cent from year-ago
levels, said Glenn Friesen, a provincial forage specialist with Manitoba
Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives.
U.S. buyers are focused on areas
near the border, but will start purchasing hay from northern areas
as well if they get desperate, said
Friesen. Volumes heading south
will be relatively small — likely a
“couple hundred thousand tonnes”
— but that will be enough to keep
prices high, he said.
In Manitoba, forage yields were
average to below average, he said.
Supplies are particularly short in
the southeast corner, while more
minor shortages were seen in the
south-central Manitoba into the
Interlake and on some of the sandier soil areas of the southwest.
Around Lake Manitoba, where
fields were flooded out a year ago,
producers had smaller reserves and
are now needing to bring some hay
in from elsewhere, said Friesen.
Some producers who are short on
feed are reducing the size of their
herd, he said. However, many are
hoping for a mild winter so they
don’t have to buy high-priced feed.
“They feed more expensively
when it gets cold,” Friesen noted.
Forage is also moving out of Saskatchewan, which is a relatively
new thing for that province, said
provincial forage specialist Lorne
Klein.
The U.S. drought has boosted
demand, but another factor is that
truckers bringing supplies to the
province’s oil patch are looking for
freight to haul back south, he said.
American buyers are primarily
looking for alfalfa in big square
bales, said Klein. He said he’s
heard that hay is fetching as much
as $140 a tonne, a sharp increase
from the $90 being offered last year.
Even with those higher prices, he
expected to see more hay move to
the U.S. in 2012 than the previous
year.
“Even though the majority of buyers in the U.S. would prefer to have
and humidity resulted in good second growth, and even third growth
in some parts of the south.
The Peace River area, the extreme
north, and the southwest were
drier, and production was hindered as a result. However, cattle
numbers are not as large in those
areas and large greenfeed crops
were making up for any shortages.
There is good carryover inventory
from the previous year in eastern
Alberta.
American forage buying in
Alberta has so far been less than
expected, but is forecast to increase
once Manitoba and Saskatchewan
supplies are drawn down. International demand for forage is also
expected to increase in the coming
years, he said.
D3153
COMMODITY NEWS SERVICE CANADA
the big squares (bales), they are
buying the big rounds — because
they just have to,” said Klein.
By spring, there will be little carryover of hay in Saskatchewan —
especially in the south, he said. But
Klein said U.S. demand could be
short-lived as high feed costs may
lead to herd reductions or force
some feeders out of business.
While Saskatchewan’s yields
were average to above average,
there are some areas where forage
is in short supply.
Alberta also had “for the most
part, some pretty good crops,” said
provincial forage specialist Grant
Lastiwka.
He said quality was better than in
the past two years, as moisture conditions were good, while the heat
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32
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
THEY ARE ALL WINNERS, AND SO IS AGRICULTURE
Dasha Metropolitansky of Oakville, Ont. was first-place winner of the junior competition in the 28th annual Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture competition held Nov. 3 at the
Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. Junior participants were (l-r) Raveena Raveendran, Tania Abraham, second runner-up Zackery Walker, Priethu Raveendran, Claire Doris, Karen Lemon,
first runner-up Maxwell Archer and first-place winner Dasha Metropolitansky. PHOTO: MARTIN SCHWALBE
Even when GMO
patents expire,
the regulatory
burden lives on
E
C
N
A
M
ERFOR
S
L
A
E
H
R
E
G
C
I
H
NOTICE  Companies
P
would advise of expiry
three years in advance
BY CAREY GILLAM
REUTERS
W
hat happens when patents for genetically modified seeds expire?
Monsanto has made billions off
Roundup Ready soybeans, corn,
canola, and other crops since
launching a glyphosate-tolerant
soybean in 1996. But the upcoming
expiry of its patent for the herbicideresistant trait in 2014 raises an array
of concerns, including who bears
the costs and responsibilities of
maintaining regulatory approvals.
That involves submitting data
to foreign countries to maintain
approval for seed sales in those
countries.
The American Seed Trade Association and the Biotechnology
Industry Organization say they
have completed the first phase of
an industry accord that addresses
these issues. The announcement
marks progress in an ongoing,
sometimes contentious, effort by
major seed industry players like
Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, and
smaller seed companies to agree on
obligations and opportunities as
biotech seed patents expire.
Monsanto has said it will maintain Roundup regulatory approvals globally through 2021. But the
industry has been seeking a broad
mechanism to protect international regulatory approvals and
address product stewardship to
keep international trade from being
disrupted.
Under the accord announced late
last month, those companies that
sign on will be required to provide
notice of patent expiration three
years before the last patent on the
biotechnology event expires, and
provide access to the genetic event
at patent expiration. The company
then must maintain the regulatory
data for at least four years or transition that with other users.
T
H
G
RI
T
S
S
O
R
C
A
GROWING
REGIONS
CDC Stanley and CDC Abound were bred at the Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan.
33
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
SPEAKING UP FOR AGRICULTURE
Lydia Harrison of Durham, Ontario was first-place winner of the senior competition in the 28th annual Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture competition held Nov. 3 at the Royal Winter
Fair in Toronto. Senior finalists were (l-r) first runner-up Elizabeth Schouten of Kanata, Ont.; first-place winner Lydia Harrison; Christopher MacFarlane of Peterborough, Ont., second
runner-up Victoria Blakely of of Riverview, N.B.; Mackenna Roth of Delaware, Ont. and Morgan McNeil of Hantsport, N.S. At right is competition president John MacDonald PHOTO: MARTIN SCHWALBE
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NEWS
BHP in no rush to
build $14-billion
Saskatchewan
potash mine
LONDON / REUTERS /
BHP Billiton says it won’t
decide soon on whether
to build the world’s biggest potash mine in Western Canada, a project
some say would exacerbate a global glut of the
fertilizer.
In late August, BHP
pushed back to at least
June 2013 a decision on
building an eight-milliontonne mine at Jansen,
Sask., but emphasized it
would still proceed with
construction and was
planning to double the
first phase of production.
The Anglo-Australian
mining giant has been
aiming to start production in 2015.
But now chief executive Marius Kloppers has
suggested there’s little
urgency to proceed.
“The guys still have
their lease agreements
to complete, they have
a substantial amount of
engineering to complete,”
he said. “We do have
quite some time ahead of
us before we need to consider additional approvals.”
BHP continues to dig
two shafts and build surface facilities at the mine
site. Analysts estimate the
mine could cost up to $14
billion to complete, and
some analysts say buying U.S. potash producer
Mosaic makes more
sense.
The world’s potash
capacity surplus looks
to climb as high as 19.3
million tonnes by 2020
from 11.3 million tonnes
in 2012 due to expansions
and potential new mines,
including Jansen.
34
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
Fear of consumer backlash keeps irradiated beef off the shelf
Still waiting } Canadian cattle producers applied 10 years ago asking for ground beef to be irradiated
By Lorraine Stevenson
staff
T
he Canadian Cattlemen’s Association once thought it would be just a
matter of time before Canadian food
companies would get the green light to start
irradiating ground beef.
That was a decade go, when the CCA submitted a petition to Health Canada seeking
regulatory approval for use of irradiation as
another tool to reduce pathogens in meat.
At year’s end in 2000 things looked promising. Health Canada had given the proposal
a favourable recommendation and public
consultations were ahead.
No one dreamed then that 10 years would
pass and with no approval at the end of it.
“I’m not entirely sure to this day why we
don’t have the ability to use this,” said Mark
Klassen, director of technical services with
the CCA.
“The best I understand is there were concerns whether the public would accept this.”
Fear of a consumer backlash — as per
comments logged during consultations
throughout 2003 — did, in fact, spook government.
Health Canada completed its scientific
review of CCA’s submission that year — as
well as those asking for permission to irradiate poultry, shrimp, prawns, and mangoes.
A regulatory proposal was published in the
Canada Gazette on Nov. 23, 2002 and a recommended Canadian code of practice for
food irradiation developed.
Then, nothing happened.
A prepared statement released by Health
Canada said it was “because of significant
public concerns related to irradiation” that
the government did not move forward with
regulations at the time. There are no plans to
do so in the foreseeable future either, it said.
But when it becomes significant public
concerns about food, Bruce Cran, president
of the Consumers Association of Canada,
says it’s time to pay attention to what people are really worried about — getting sick
from foodborne illness — and to take more
measures to stop it.
Too wary
The government is still paying too much
attention to groups wary about irradiation,
and not enough to those who don’t oppose
its use.
“Canadians believe this should be an
available option,” he said. “We would like
the government to do whatever it has to
do.”
A CAC survey released earlier this year
shows Canadians, while divided, are willing
to have irradiated meat become available
as a clearly labelled product choice.
Conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion, it found that while Canadians don’t
really understand the process of food irradiation, they are most certainly concerned
about food contaminants. Two in five (45
per cent) said they were “very concerned”
about the presence of food-borne illness
causing bacteria in both chicken, hamburger and deli meat. Eleven per cent also
said they were “very likely” and 43 per cent
“somewhat likely” to consider irradiated
meat as a choice for their household.
Had the time that has elapsed been used
to raise awareness about irradiation and
how it works, more would probably support it, said Cran.
“They’ve missed an opportunity to educate the public,” he said.
Health Canada does post on its own website information about irradiation, including that irradiation does not diminish the
nutritional value of food, leaves no radioactive energy in it nor changes the food in
any way to have adverse effects on health.
It also acknowledges that irradiation does
cause minor chemical modifications, similar to cooking, in food.
Minor modifications
International bodies, such as the World
Health Organization (WHO) and the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) have long recognized irradiation as a safe and scientifically valid means
of reducing levels of organisms that cause
foodborne illness and it is used in many
other countries including the U.S., says
University of Manitoba food scientist Rick
Holley.
It’s time Canada looked at this again,
he said.
“I am firmly convinced that we’ve got
something here that we just haven’t taken
advantage of in terms of what it can do to
protect us from the organisms that just
naturally occur in the agricultural environment,” he said.
He’s also convinced that the public is
ready for the technology.
He’s now completing a two-year research
project, funded by the Beef Cattle Research
Council, investigating the effectiveness of
low-dose gamma and electron beam irradiation on ground beef.
Holley said he thinks the government
won’t move forward with regulation on
use of irradiation until industry starts asking for it again.
“I think they’re just sitting there waiting
for industry to come forward and industry
is reluctant to do it because they’re worried
that there may be an unexpected backlash,”
he said.
“But I also think we’ve reached the point
now where, in terms of the public’s understanding of what the technology does to
food and the potential of what it can do
in terms of reducing contamination, that
we’re ready for the technology to be introduced to the country.
U.S. grocery chain Wegmans
offers irradiated beef products.
“Most folks who are aware of what irradiation does, both the positive and negative
aspects of it, realize that it is beneficial. And
for the other folks, let’s just talk to them and
tell it like it really is.”
Petition status
Despite all the time that’s elapsed, the CCA
hasn’t given up, still stands behind its original
petition, and continues to believe Canadians
should have the choice of buying irradiated
ground beef, Klassen said.
He has recently inquired about the status
of their original petition, he said, adding that
they’re wondering if the whole process must
start over to get this moving again.
“We’ve been trying to find that out,”
he said.
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UFA 2011 GTG
AFE.indd
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Fileearlug
Name:
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Project: Going to Grass Campaign
Image Area or Trim: 3.08” x 1.83”
Publication: Alberta Farmer Express
1
shi
Vo lu m e 8 , n u m b e r 9
Dominoes
falling as
beef industry
‘rightsizes’
april 25, 2011
KeepinG WatCh from above
END OF THE LINE? } XL Foods
processing now consolidated
at Brooks, after Moose Jaw and
Calgary plants shut down
By madeleine Baerg
af CONtRIButOR | cAlgAry
T
© 2012/13 Farm Business Communications
Deborah Wilson
Tiffiny Taylor
National Advertising Sales
[email protected]
Phone: (403) 325-1695
Sales & Special Projects
[email protected]
Phone: (204) 228-0842
he recently announced shutdown of XL foods’
beef kill plant and fabrication facility in Calgary is no surprise to those in the know.
“No, it’s not a shock,” said Herb Lock, owner of
farm$ense Marketing in Edmonton.
“the packing industry in North america is rightsizing itself. as soon as you have excess capacity,
everybody is losing money. It’s not just a Calgary
thing, it’s not just an alberta thing, it’s not just a
Canadian thing. this is happening on both sides of
the border.”
that view was echoed by Charlie Gracey, a cattle
industry consultant and current board member with
the alberta Livestock and Meat agency.
“We’ve known for quite a long time that the herd
was being sold down,” said Gracey. “It’s always
regrettable to see a decline in what might be seen
as competition. But there isn’t enough cattle herd
to service the plant.”
Lock estimates the packing industry is currently
about 25 to 30 per cent overbuilt across the Pacific
Northwest. Most of the processing facilities were
built several decades ago, in a time when herd numbers were significantly higher, he said.
Given that processing is a margin business,
the only way for processors to make money is to
operate at near full capacity. With today’s herd
numbers at a 50-year low and the three- to fiveyear outlook not indicating much improvement,
Lock sees the XL closure as a “nimble” preemptive move.
Competition for live cattle sales shouldn’t diminished, said Bryan Walton, CEO of the alberta Cattle
feeders association.
“I don’t think the closures are going to have a material effect,” said Walton, noting XL foods still operates the Lakeside plant in Brooks.
Essentially, the Calgary and Brooks plants were
competing for the same animals. selling the Calgary
facilities, which are fairly old and sit on valuable real
estate, makes good business sense, he said.
BSE boost
While BsE has been devastating to all parts of the
beef industry, Lock believes it may have had a positive — albeit short-term — influence on XL’s Calgary
facilities.
“the plants’ lives may have been extended by a
shutdown } page 6
AFAC ConFerenCe
JBs
oPerations, gloBal aQuisitions
at strangmuir farms south of strathmore, Kerri ross (left) and Becky tees spend their days riding through pens checking
on the health of the cattle. Kevin LinK
Testing for bSe worthwhile
FaIrLy LOw } Cost would be about $40 per head, but actual
financial benefits are uncertain
By ron friesen
staff
A
new industry study concludes
a voluntary BsE testing program for cattle could help
boost Canada’s beef exports to asia.
But it cautions that BsE-tested beef
would only be a niche market and the
demand for it might be limited.
testing alone may not fully restore Canada’s beef markets lost to BsE in Japan
and other asian countries, says the study
by the George Morris Centre in Guelph,
Ontario.
But it’s still worth considering, said
al Mussell, the study’s lead author.
“We think this has got potential. I think it
needs to be explored further,” Mussell said
following the study’s release March 31.
“I think it does give the impetus for
people to take a serious look at it and
say, ‘hey, this is something we could
take advantage of.’”
the study funded by PrioNet Canada, the alberta Prion Research Institute and the alberta Livestock and
Meat agency weighed the costs and
benefits of voluntarily testing cattle
for BsE.
It found the cost fairly low — just over
$40 a head, or about five cents a pound
carcass weight. that wouldn’t burden
processors with huge added expenses
and “drag down the operation of a beef
plant,” Mussell said.
He said Japanese importers have periodically asked for BsE-tested beef over
the past five years, so the demand for it
should be there.
But whether the economic benefits
“We think this has got
potential.”
aL MussELL
GeorGe Morris Centre
of testing outweigh the cost is hard to
say.
a 2005 analysis by Rancher’s Beef, an
alberta processor no longer in business,
concluded BsE testing would increase
the value of beef sold to Japan by $75.71
per head.
see Bse testing } page 26
Consumers must lead Changes in animal welfare } Page 33
35
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
Satellite monitoring shows
smaller harvest than reported
Official pressure } Farmers complain they are told to exaggerate yields
By Raushan Nurshayeva
astana / reuters
K
azakhstan’s Agriculture
Ministry said it suspected
regional grain-belt governments of exaggerating the size of
their crops to win political favour,
raising the possibility that exports
could be lower than forecast.
According to figures supplied by
local governments, the droughtravaged grain crop fell to 12.3
million tonnes by clean weight
this year from a post-Soviet high
of 27 million tonnes last year, the
ministry said.
Deputy Agriculture Minister
Muslim Umiryayev said Nov. 13,
however, that the three biggest
grain regions — Akmola, Kostanai and Northern Kazakhstan
U.S. weather
forecaster drops
El Niño watch
Warm ocean }
resembling
a weak event
Reuters
The U.S. national weather forecaster has called off its El Niño
watch five months after raising the
alert as it is now less likely that the
much-feared phenomenon that
can wreak havoc on global weather
will emerge.
Since June, the weather forecaster had predicted that El Niño
conditions, essentially a warming
of waters in the equatorial Pacific
Ocean that can cause a major
drought in Asia, would develop
gradually during the Northern
Hemisphere winter.
For the United States, El Niño
can bring higher-than-average
winter precipitation to the Southwest, less wintry weather across
the North as well as stronger
winter storms in California and
increased storminess across the
southern states.
“The previous El Niño watch has
been discontinued as the chance of
El Niño has decreased,” the Climate
Prediction Center (CPC) said Nov.
8 in its monthly report.
While the chances of El Niño
are low, the CPC said the tropical
ocean and atmosphere may still
resemble a weak El Niño at times,
with sea surface temperatures
above average.
“While the development of El
Niño, or even La Niña, cannot
be ruled out during the next few
months... neutral is now favoured
through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2012-13,” it said.
La Niña is El Niño’s less infamous
counterpart and cools the waters
in the equatorial Pacific, mainly
causing crop-killing droughts in
the Americas.
The phenomenon was blamed
for last year’s crippling drought —
the worst drought in a century — in
Texas, the biggest cotton growingstate in the United States and only
disappeared at the end of April.
El Niño leads to a heating of
Pacific waters, triggering drought
in Southeast Asia and Australia.
“These distortions
are not by 0.1 or 0.2
tonnes per hectare, but
twofold.”
Kazakh farmer
— reported a combined grain
crop of 11.2 million tonnes,
while satellite monitoring data
showed a crop of just 9.8 million
tonnes.
“What causes the Agriculture
Ministry concern is that we have a
discrepancy of 1.4 million tonnes,”
Umiryayev told a news conference.
The ministry will verify the data
within a month.
Large-scale distortions of grain
crop data in one of the world’s
10 biggest wheat-exporting countries, if confirmed, would smack
of a Soviet-era corruption scandal, when the leaders of neighbouring Uzbekistan reported
implausibly high cotton harvests,
which were later disproved by
satellite photos.
A farmer from Kostanai region
wrote to the minister, Asylzhan
Mamytbekov, on Nov. 2. He identified himself as “Citizen” and said
he had been compelled by district
authorities to report higher yields
than were true.
“These distortions are not by
0.1 or 0.2 tonnes per hectare, but
twofold,” he wrote. “Those refus-
A combine harvests wheat in a field near the town of Akkol, some 110
km (68 miles) north of the Kazakhstan capital Astana. Farmers say local
governments have pressured them to inflate yield reports. Photo: REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
ing to do so are intimidated with
non-stop inspections by various
state bodies. How long will this
lawlessness last?”
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36
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
New Mexico coyote-hunting contest prompts outcry
Squaring off } Cattle ranchers and environmentalists are on opposite sides over the controversial hunt
carnivore protection for the conservation group WildEarth Guardians, said the threat to livestock
from coyotes is overblown by the
ranching industry.
Citing U.S. Department of Agriculture figures, she said predators
such as coyotes and feral dogs
accounted for less than a quarter
per cent of all cattle losses nationwide in 2010, the most recent year
for which data was available.
The overwhelming majority of
livestock deaths due to disease,
bad weather and birthing difficulties, she said.
By Zelie Pollon
santa fe, new mexico/ reuters
A
planned statewide coyotehunting contest has caused
an uproar in New Mexico,
pitting environmentalists against
ranchers, as heated words flooded
social media networks and thousands signed a petition opposing
the hunt as cruel.
The furor prompted the Albuquerque gun store owner who originally sponsored the contest to cancel, but a second gun dealer in the
southern New Mexico town of Los
Lunas, Gunhawk Firearms, stepped
in to take over the event scheduled
for the weekend of Nov. 17-18.
“Coyotes are a direct threat to the
cattle industry,” Gunhawk owner
Mark Chavez said Nov. 2, accusing
environmentalists of trying to stir
up sentiment against the contest
to further their “hidden agenda.”
“They’re trying to get rid of the
hunting industry and the gun
industry,” he told Reuters.
Hardy species
A coyote hunts in the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park. While these predators are protected from
human hunters, their cousins to the south in New Mexico will soon be the prey. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
According to New Mexico Cattlegrowers Association, wild predators killed 5,500 sheep and 3,700
lambs in the state in 2009 alone.
Caren Cowen, executive direc-
tor of the association, said coyotes
pose a greater threat to sheep
than larger livestock, such as fullgrown cows, though calves also
are vulnerable.
“A calf today is worth $1,000,”
she said. “In today’s market, how
many times can you stand to have
$1,000 taken from your wallet?”
But Wendy Keefover, director of
By
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Although the coyote’s natural
range has expanded threefold
in recent years, Keefover called
the premise of a hunting contest
a “myth,” insisting that killing
coyotes would fail to reduce their
population in the long run.
“Coyotes make up for their
losses by changing behaviours,
such as more females breeding
and with larger litters or increasing migration,” she said.
In addition, coyotes play an
important role as natural predators
in a healthy ecosystem, helping to
maintain rabbit and other rodent
populations at balanced levels.
Neither side in the debate had
any figures on the current size of the
coyote population in New Mexico.
Many other states have held
similar annual contests, said
Mary Ray, wildlife chair for the Rio
Grande chapter of the Sierra Club.
But heightened publicity in New
Mexico, amplified by Facebook
and other social media, has generated a greater level of attention
than usual, she said.
“A calf today is worth
$1,000… in today’s
market, how many times
can you stand to have
$1,000 taken from
your wallet?”
Caren Cowen,
New Mexico
Cattlegrowers
Nearly 15,000 people responded
to an online petition opposing the
event as of Nov. 2. Hundreds more
wrote on Gunhawk’s Facebook
page in support, Chavez said.
Chavez said 25 two-person
hunting teams have signed up for
the contest so far, and he expects
about 100 teams will be registered
by the start date. The team that
bags the most coyotes will win an
automatic rifle, he said.
“We’ve hunted for many years.
It’s my heritage and my right
to hunt and to teach my kids to
hunt,” Chavez said.
Contestants must register with
the Los Lunas gun shop and attend
an orientation before the contest,
but coyote hunting in general is
unregulated in New Mexico and
requires no licence.
Keefover said a separate coyotehunting contest in Montana was
cancelled on Friday after an article
about the event was featured in the
Sacramento Bee newspaper. Colorado banned contest hunting in
1997, the only state to do so, she
said.
“Contest hunting is not ethical
hunting. The point of hunting is
not to pile up a bunch of bodies,”
Keefover said.
37
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NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
ANTIQUES
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1996 ROGATOR 854, 800/GAL, 80ft. 4x4, 2 sets
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10/12-19585_1A
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19585-1A CPSClassified_4x4_BW.indd 1
BUYING HEATED/DAMAGED PEAS, FLAX &
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10/11/12 12:18 PM
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JD 925 STRAIGHT CUT header, c/w pu reel, and
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$87,000 (403)337-2162, Carstairs
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ADVERTISING DOLLAR!
ANTIQUES
Antique Equipment
1-888-413-3325
Advertise in the Alberta Farmer Express
Classifieds, it’s a Sure Thing!
1-888-413-3325
NEW TRACTOR PARTS and engine rebuild kits,
specializing in hard to find parts for older tractors,
tractor seats, service and owners manuals, decals
and much more, our 38th year! 1 800-481-1353,
www.diamondfarmtractorparts.com
FARM MACHINERY
Combine – Accessories
**Flexi-Coil, Westward MacDon Swathers, NuVision,
Sakundiak & Farm King Augers, Outback GPS Systems,
EK Auger, Movers, Sweeps, & Crop Dividers, Degelman,
Headsight Harvesting Solutions**
Hit our readers where it counts… in the classifieds.
Place your ad in the Alberta Farmer Express classifed
section. 1-888-413-3325.
A GAMBLE...
ANTIQUES
Flexicoil 6 run seed treater ................................ $2,000
2006 51’ Flexicoil 5000 airdrill,
10”, 5.5” rubber packers ............................................. Call
2006, 39’ Flexicoil 5000 airdrill 10”, 5.5 rubber packers,
double chute, used 1 year, like new ............................... Call
134’ Flexicoil S68XL sprayer, 2007, suspended boom,
auto rate, joystick, rinse tank, triple quick jets, auto boom
height, electric end nozzle & foam marker............. $39,500
130’ Flexicoil 67XL PT sparyer, 2006,trail boom, auto
rate, rinse tank, hyd. pump, combo jets, nice shape $26,500
51 Flexicoil Bodies c/w GEN. 4”carbide
spread tip openers, single chute, like new ................ $3,500
2940 Premier MacDon,
c/w 25’ 972 header w/PU reel .......................... $65,000
4800 Prairie Star MacDon diesel swather,
c/w 25’ 960 header w/PU reel .......................... $30,000
8110 Hesston diesel swather,
c/w 25’ header & PU reel, nice shape.................. $32,500
2360 JD swather, gas, c/w 18’ table & PU reel .... $7,500
30’ 8230 CIH PT swather, PU reel, nice shape,.. $10,000
25ft Hesston 1200 PT swather,
pu reel, nice shape................................................ $7,500
16’ NH 2300 hay header & conditioner
from NH 2450 swather, nice cond. ......................... $5,000
21’ 4600 Prairie Star PT swather, UII pu reel,
nice shape .............................................................$5000
1372 MF 13’ swing arm discbine 4yrs, like new$20,000
MATR 10 wheel V-Hayrake, hyd. fold, as new .... $5,250
New Hawes fuel tank & Hyd. motor
w/ring drives for P auger mover .................................... Call
New Sakundiak 10x1200 (39.97’) 36HP Kohler eng.,
E-Kay mover, Power steering, electric belt tightener,
work lights, slimfit, 12 gal. fuel tank..................... $18,000
New Sakundiak 7x1200 (39.97’) , 22HP Robin-Subaru
eng.,w/Winter Kit, battery & fuel tank .......................$7,500
New E-Kay 7”, 8”, 9” Bin Sweeps .........................Call
8x1600(52.5’) Sakundiak auger
c/w newer 30hp Koehler engine, gear box clutch,
Hawes mover, spout, nice shape........................... $10,000
Flexicoil 10”x 50’ Grain auger ......................... $2,500
2002 7000HD Highline bale Processor,
c/w twine cutter, always shedded exc. cond ........... $7,000
18.4”x30” tractor grip tires on rims .......................... Call
New Outback Max GPS Guidance
Monitor Available................................................... Call
New Outback S3, STS, E drive, TC’s...................... In Stock
New Outback E drive X c/w free E turns ..................... Call
New Outback S-Lite................................................$900
Used Outback 360 mapping...................................$750
Used Outback S guidance .......................................$750
Used Outback S2 guidance ................................. $1,000
Used Outback E drive Hyd. Kits. (JD,Case, Cat & NH)$500
SOLD
FINANCE, TRADES WELCOME
780-696-3527, BRETON, AB
FARM MACHINERY
Tractors – Various
NEW TRACTOR PARTS and engine rebuild kits,
specializing in hard to find parts for older tractors,
tractor seats, service and owners manuals, decals
and much more, our 38th year! 1 800-481-1353,
www.diamondfarmtractorparts.com
(403) 540-7691
[email protected]
FARM MACHINERY
Parts & Accessories
TracTors
FARM MACHINERY
Combine – Accessories
Double LL Industries
780.905.8565 Nisku, Alberta
1974
John Deere 1020
Agripac 9100
Round Bale Tuber
2001 Kubota
M9580
2005 Toyota
25 Forklift
40 HP Gas, P/S,
3 point Hitch,
With Honda Eng, Very good
Condition
FWA Tractor, 95 HP Diesel,4767
Hours, 3PTH
5000 lb Lift
AUTO & TRANSPORT
AUTO & TRANSPORT
Trucks
2005 GMC Sierra 2500HD Diesel Crew Cab, Allison
Auto, 4WD. One owner, no accidents, never towed,
well maintained. Safetied. Excellent condition.
$22,995 OBO (204)248-2208 or (204)723-0057
BUSINESS SERVICES
BUSINESS SERVICES
Crop Consulting
5,500
$
Earn
JD 9400, 9420, 9520, 8970
JD 7810 & 7210, FWA
JD 9860, 9760, 9750, 9650, 9600
JD 9430, 9530, 9630
CIH 8010 w/RWD, lateral tilt, duals 900 hrs.
Case STX 375, 425, 430, 450, 480,
500, 530
CIH 8010-2388, 2188 combine
CIH 435Q, 535Q, 450Q, 550Q, 600Q
pto avail.
NH TJ 450, New Triples, Big Pump
8100 Wilmar Sprayer
FARM CHEMICAL SEED COMPLAINTS
We also specialize in: Crop Insurance appeals;
Chemical drift; Residual herbicide; Custom operator
issues; Equipment malfunction; Yield comparisons,
Plus Private Investigations of any nature. With our
assistance the majority of our clients have received
compensation previously denied. Back-Track
Investigations investigates, documents your loss and
assists in settling your claim.
Licensed Agrologist on Staff.
For more information
Please call 1-866-882-4779
Ask your CPS retailer about
the PrePay program and
earn 5% toward your crop
input purchases.
5,800
$
JD 4710, 4720, 4730, 4830, 4920,
4930 SP sprayers
JD 9770 & 9870 w/CM & duals
CIH 3185, 3230, 3330, 4430, 4420 sprayers
9580 Kubota, FWA, FEL, low hours
3545 MF w/FWA FEL
GOOD SELECTION OF JD & CASE
HEADERS: 635F, 636D AND MANY
MORE CASE & JD
“LIKE MANY BEFORE, WE’LL HAVE YOU SAYING
THERE’S NO DEAL LIKE A KEN DEAL”
•Phone: (403)526-9644 •Cell: (403)504-4929
•Greg Dorsett (403)952-6622 •Email: [email protected]
ENGINES
10/12-19585_2A
ASSORTED DEUTZ AND OTHER diesel engines.
KMK Sales, (800)565-0500, Humboldt, SK.
19585-2A CPSClassified_4x4_BW.indd 1
$
5,000
28,500
www.doublellindustries.com
$
10/11/12 12:19 PM
UH
39
ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • NOVEMBER 19, 2012
FARM MACHINERY
Machinery Wanted
CAREERS
Oil Field
CAREERS
Oil Field
CAREERS
CAREERS
CAREERS
Employment Wanted
CAREERS
Help Wanted
CAREERS
Help Wanted
EARN $75,000/yr PART TIME in the livestock or
equipment appraisal business. Agricultural background required. Classroom or home study courses
available. 1-800-488-7570
PEDIGREED SEED
TIRES
PEDIGREED SEED
Specialty – Various
WANTED: INTERNATIONAL 5000 SWATHER,
needed hydrostatic pump. (403)638-2232
WANTED: NH BALE WAGONS & retrievers, any
condition. Farm Equipment Finding Service, P.O.
Box 1363, Polson, MT 59860. (406)883-2118
WANTED: Small square balers and end Wheel
Seed Drills, Rock Pickers, Rock Rakes, Tub grinders, also JD 1610 cultivators (403)308-1238
HEALTH CARE
VISIT:
WWW.TOYOURHEALTHPRODUCTS.CA
For All your health care needs and read the testimonials that has helped other people by using the
products. Call us (403)345-7788 collect
HEAT & AIR CONDITIONING
The Icynene Insulation
System®
• Sprayed foam insulation
• Ideal for shops, barns or homes
• Healthier, Quieter, More
Energy Efficient®
Bioriginal Food & Science Corp., based
in Saskatoon, are looking to contract
Borage acres for the upcoming 2013
growing season.
�
�
�
Great profit potential based on high
yields, high prices and low input costs.
Attractive oil premiums and free
on-farm pick-up.
Flexible contracting options
available as well.
For more information,
please contact Shane at:
TRAVEL
SEED / FEED / GRAIN
Pacific Coastal Cruise ~ May 2013
Ukraine/Romania ~ May 2013
Austria/Switzerland ~ June 2013
Ireland ~ June 2013
Western Canada ~ June 2013
Alaska Land/Cruise ~ August 2013
Available Soon:
306-229-9976 (cell)
306-975-9271 (office)
[email protected]
Rural & Cultural Tours
SEED/FEED MISCELLANEOUS
Feed Grain
www.penta.ca
1-800-587-4711
IRON & STEEL
PIPE FOR SALE 3-1/2IN., 2-7/8in., 2-3/8in.,
Henderson Manufacturing Sales. (780)672-8585
FARM MACHINERY
Irrigation Equipment
27 PAIRS OF 7IN hook and latch mainline,
$150/per pair OBO; 40 doses Alltrace cattle bolus’s,
(estimated
worth
$1200.)
open
to
offers.
(403)725-0002, Hayes, AB.
Specialty
LIVESTOCK
Livestock Equipment
5’X10’ PORTABLE CORRAL PANELS, 6 bar. New
improved design. Storage Containers, 20’ & 40’
1-866-517-8335, (403)540-4164, (403)226-1722
HAYBUSTER 1000 TUB GRINDER; BP 25/bale
processor, w/bunk conveyor and recutter; Sundance tub grinder; Oswald 400 feed wagon; 150/bu
creep feeder; (780)623-1008
WANTED: HESSTON 4870 BIG square bale
shredder, or similar machine. (780)374-3574,
780-781-0046
BUYING ALL TYPES OF feed grain. Also have
market for light offgrade or heated, picked up on the
farm. Eisses Grain Marketing 1-888-882-7803,
(403)350-8777 Lacombe.
FEED GRAIN WANTED! ALSO buying; Light,
tough, or offgrade grains. “On Farm Pickup” Westcan Feed & Grain 1-877-250-5252
SEED/FEED MISCELLANEOUS
Hay & Straw
HAY FOR SALE: large round 208 first cut Alfalfa/Timothy, 400 orchard/grass mix, $.04/per/pound,
300/bales second cut (both types) at $.05/per/pound,
little or no rain, (780)696-2491, Breton, Ab.
ROUND AND SQUARE HAY bales, excellent
quality alfalfa timothy brome mix, shedded, good for
horses & Cattle (780)967-2593, Calahoo, Ab.
SMALL SQUARE BALES HORSE hay, Crossfield,
Ab. 50/lb bales $3.00/per bale, green, no rain
(587)329-1796, (403)613-4570
SEWING MACHINES
INDUSTRIAL SEWING MACHINE FOR leather and
upholstery (403)749-3871, Delburne, Ab.
REAL ESTATE
Land For Sale
FEDERATION TIRE: 1100X12, 2000X20, used aircraft. Toll free 1-888-452-3850
Round up the cash! Advertise your unwanted equipment in the Alberta Farmer Express classifieds.
Go public with an ad in the Alberta Farmer Express
classifieds. Phone 1-888-413-3325.
*Tours may be tax Deductible
Select Holidays 1-800-661-4326
www.selectholidays.com
HAY FOR SALE, 2012, excellent quality, no rain,
1600/lbs, 60% alfalfa, 40% grass, (403)854-2240,
403-854-0420, Hanna, Ab.
TIRES
Hit our readers where it counts… in the classifieds.
Place your ad in the Alberta Farmer Express classifed
section. 1-888-413-3325.
Australia/New Zealand & South America 2014
500 ROUND BALES MIXED Alfalfa hay, $120/per
ton, (403)638-2232, Cremona area
REAL ESTATE
LAND FOR SALE AT ELKTON Alberta, 20/ac,
zoned agriculture, 1 hour NW of Calgary. $285,000
OBO (403)638-2232
New 30.5L-32 16 ply, $2,195; 20.8-38 12 ply
$866; 18.4-38 12 ply; $783; 24.5-32 14 ply, $1,749;
14.9-24 12 ply, $356; 16.9-28 12 ply $558. Factory
direct. More sizes available new and used.
1-800-667-4515. www.combineworld.com
CPS Prepay
Program
We know that farming is enough of a gamble so if you
want to sell it fast place your ad in the Alberta Farmer
Express classifieds. It’s a Sure Thing. Call our toll-free
number today. We have friendly staff ready to help.
1-888-413-3325.
If you want to sell it fast, call 1-888-413-3325.
Ask your CPS retailer how to
earn 5% toward your crop
input purchases.
FARMING
IS ENOUGH OF
A GAMBLE...
Advertise in the
Alberta Farmer
Express Classifieds,
it’s a Sure Thing!
Stretch your
ADVERTISING DOLLAR!
1-888-413-3325
1-888-413-3325
10/12-19585_3A
19585-3A CPSClassified_4x4_BW.indd 1
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40
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA
Vibrant roots
fuel better performance.
Crops thrive with Cruiser Maxx® Vibrance™. When the Vigor Trigger ® effect meets
Rooting Power ™, you get enhanced crop establishment from stronger, faster-growing plants,
above and below the ground. It also protects your wheat and barley crops against a broad
range of insects and diseases and delivers best-in-class Rhizoctonia control.
CLIENT
SYNGE
PROJEC
CRUISE
WHEAT
PUBLIC
ALBERT
DESIGN
JEFF AN
(
) ME
FINAL S
UCR: 24
CLIENT
PROOF
ART DIR
PRODU
Visit SyngentaFarm.ca or contact our Customer Resource Centre at 1-87-SYNGENTA (1-877-964-3682).
Always read and follow label directions. Cruiser Maxx® VibranceTM Cereals, Rooting PowerTM, Vigor Trigger ®, the Alliance Frame,
the Purpose Icon and the Syngenta logo are trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. © 2012 Syngenta Canada Inc.
4977-1BB SYNGENTA VIBRANCE_Wheat Rocket.indd 1
12-10-01 12:25 PM