where farmers meettm · 2015. 5. 27. · 5-1-2015 4:08 pm 5-1-2015 4:08 pm henderson, shane...

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WHERE FARMERS MEETTM

1-800-563-5441www.OutdoorFarmShow.com [email protected] @outdoorfarmshow Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show http://cofs.quickmobile.mobi/

IO#-P4306_P4307_Country_Guide_Ontario_WEST&EAST_Front_Banner_May_2015.indd 1 15-04-02 2:40 PM

tied to railRailways built canada, and they built

the west. So where to next? PG. 18

if all seems quiet on the farm, check these six trends pg. 16 cROPs Guide a better way to spray canola sclerotinia pg. 46

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1GRACoL

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7” x 10”8.625” x 11.25”100%

NoneLynn.Skinner

NoneNoneMonica.VanEngelen

Bayer CropScience10287620

5-1-2015 4:08 PM5-1-2015 4:08 PM

Henderson, Shane (CAL-MCL)

NoneCountry Guide

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Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black

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ContentsBUSINESS

8 farm voteDoesitalwayspaytoputyour“X”besidethefarmer’snameontheballot?

12 who speaks for farmers?Thequestionisgettinglouder,especiallyinthiselectionyear:Whodoourfarmorganizationsreallyspeakfor?

15 reap the value of personality testingUnderstandingourselvesandothersisn’tjustabuzzphrase.It’showtobuildyourbusiness.

16 six numbers to chew onItisn’tasquietasyoumightthinkonthehomefront.Canada’sfarmsareevolvingasfastasever.

18 the journeyFromPrairiefarmtooceanport,ourrailwaysstillshocktheimaginationwiththeirengineering,andtheirbravado.

24 vital grain statsIttakesallthesenumberstokeepgrainflowingfromthefarmtotheportandbeyond.

26 spreading the blameAyearintothegreatgrainfiasco,it’snolongeronlyabouttherailways.Werethegraincompaniesasinnocentastheysay?

29 the container solutionContainersmightbetheWest’ssolutionforshippinggraininglutyears—ifwefixtheregulationsfirst.

32 first-gen farmingMaybenewfarmerslikeBarrieandMerelVothdon’tproducethecommoditiesyou’dchoose,buttheyknowwhatittakestofarm.

36 save the farmer, save the farmlandTenyearslater,wasOntario’sGreenbelttherightdecisiontomakeforfarmers,andfortheirfarmland?

40 when organic isn’t enoughMartindeGroot’scustomersdon’tjustwantorganic.Theywantanimalcomfort,energyself-sufficiency,andmuchmore.

44 digital marketing 101EveryoneknowstheInternetcanboostyourvalue-addedproject.Buthowexactlydoyoumakethathappen?

52 guide life — bring them back homeSavingoursmallcommunitieshaslesstodowithkeepingourkidsathomethanwithgivingthemreasonstoreturn.

58 guide hr — do you make smart mistakes?Here’showtogetbetteratlearningfromthemistakesthatallofusmake.

Our commitment to your privacyAt Farm Business Communications we have a firm commitment to protecting your privacy and security as

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may/june 2015

m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 5 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a 3

EVERYISSUE

pg. 18 to market by rail TransportationandlogisticsareemergingasdominantissuesinCanada’scompetitiveness.Howmuchdoyoureallyknowaboutwhatholdsthesystemtogether?

46 are you ‘always wrong’ at camp sclerotinia?Sometimesitseemsthere’snogoodwaytodecidewhethertosprayyourcanolaforsclerotinia.Shouldyouspendthemoneyandhopeyouspentitwisely?JayWhetteroffersananswer.

48 exploring the soybean nutrient cycleNewresearchaimstofinallyendtheguessworkabouthowtoadjustthefertilizerinyourrotationwhenyouaddsoybeans.

50 the couscous factorHere’ssomegooddurumnewsfromCigi.Canada’scropmeetsthequalityneedsofitslargestcustomer.

6 machinery guide Thisyear’ssmalltractorsarebiginperformanceandcomfort.

55 guide healthIfyou’repregnant,thesemedicinesarenowofflimits.

56 hanson acres Nowit’sDalewhoisbarkingaboutthedoginthenight.

CROPSGUIDE

EDITORIAL STAFFEditor: Tom Button 12827 Klondyke Line, Ridgetown, ON N0P 2C0 (519) 674-1449 Fax (519) 674-5229 Email: [email protected]

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Contents of this publication are copyrighted and may be reproduced only with the permission of the editor. Country Guide, incorporating the Nor’West Farmer and Farm & Home, is published by Farm Business Communications. Head office: Winnipeg, Manitoba. Printed by Transcontinental LGMC.

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

4 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 5

d e s k

Climbing on boardJohn Diefenbaker was no longer Prime

Minister when I got to shake his hand. Still, there was an election in the air, and my father, who distrusted Liberals every bit as much Dief (especially when they were led by Pierre Trudeau) had hauled his four boys to the high school audito-rium to hear the great man.

I particularly remember my father hooting at one of Dief’s lines:

“The reason the Liberals call it their election platform,” Dief rumbled, “is that as soon as the election is over, their plan is to climb on the next train and leave it far, far behind.”

I don’t know how many thousands of times Dief may or may not have used that line. It doesn’t really matter. He used it once while I was there to hear it, and that’s all that is important.

Nor do I know what Dief would say this year, but perhaps he might tell us that the only way to get rail back on the political agenda in 2015 is to pass a law banning any electioneering except whistle-stop campaigns from the back of a train, the way we did a century ago.

It would be a quiet campaign, at least, and in that way it would be proportionate to the lack of fresh insights in any of the major parties’ agricultural thinking.

The idea seems to be that there aren’t any new ideas worth exploring.

But here’s one, which starts with my own conviction that our railway dilemma is part of our even larger overall crisis

with our agricultural logistics and infra-structure.

The solution, I suspect, has got to involve farmers taking an ownership posi-tion in transportation, storage and diverse other segments of the market channel in diverse other commodities.

If that seems unrealistic, take a look at Commodity Bulk Handling Group (CBH), the largest co-operative in Aus-tralia, owned by 4,200 of that country’s farmers. As discussed by columnist Ger-ald Pilger in our December 2014 issue, CBH receives and stores 90 per cent of the grain produced in Western Australia at 197 receiving sites, and it has 100 per cent ownership of and operates all four of the region’s port terminals.

CBH also owns its own fleet of loco-motives and rolling stock, it has created a joint venture with Hudson Shipping to create Australian Bulk Stevedoring, and it does much, much more besides.

This isn’t a new Canadian Wheat Board. This is a business with $2 billion in assets that strives not to control market-ing, but to reduce costs.

Achieving similar success in Canada will take political vision and political lead-ership in order to equalize playing fields that have been shaped for today’s railways and grain companies.

Or we could have another non-event election, and everyone could get on their trains after. Are we getting it right? Let me know at [email protected].

Tom Button is editor of Country Guide magazine

ISSN 0847-9178

ISSN 0847-9178

Irish forage specialist brings research expertise to Canada

Emma McGeough’s Irish eyes were likely smiling indeed on that day back in 2010. As a recently successful PhD candidate for her doctoral thesis on the use of ensiled forages for � nishing beef cattle and e� ects on methane production and animal performance at University College Dublin and Teagasc Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre in Ireland, McGeough came upon the opportunity to pursue her interests in forage, grassland and livestock systems research in Prairie Canada.

“I grew up on a mixed beef, dairy and poultry farm in Ireland and so my interest in cattle, nutrition and forages stemmed from there,” says McGeough, who now spends her days as an assistant professor, Sustainable Grasslands/Livestock Production Systems in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Manitoba.

While the university has been her home base for two years and a bit, McGeough started her Canadian journey in Lethbridge, Alberta where she completed

a NSERC visiting post-doctoral fellowship at the Lethbridge Research Centre with Dr.’s Karen Beauchemin and Tim McAllister. The opportunity to apply for a position in the U of M’s Department of Animal Science arose in late 2012.

“Manitoba has a strong agricultural sector and a well-respected faculty of agriculture at the University of Manitoba,” says McGeough. “The position involves systems-based research in which I had particular interest.”

McGeough has seen some similarities in livestock and forages between her homeland and her new home. And — as one might predict — some obvious di� erences.

“There are many similarities in terms of the type of livestock and the extensive use of pasture that exist between the two regions with the most notable di� erence being in terms of the climate,” she explains. “Ireland has a much more temperate climate and does not face the same winter challenges, namely the extreme cold and snow. Thus winter hardiness of forages is an important factor here.”

When not teaching the agricultural minds of the future in the classrooms and study halls of the U of M, McGeough has been involved in a number of research projects. Two of these studies are funded by the Beef Cattle Research Council and are national in scope with outcomes that will be applicable to producers across Canada.

“Determining the environmental footprint of beef production in Canada is a collaborative project between the U of M’s Dr. Kim Ominski, Dr. Getahun Gizaw

and myself and Dr. Tim McAllister and Dr. Karen Beauchemin at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Lethbridge Research Centre in Alberta,” she says. “We are taking a holistic approach to calculate how improvements in the e� ciency of beef production in Canada over the past 30 years have impacted the environmental footprint of beef.”

McGeough says the second study is the evaluation of perennial and annual forages for stockpile grazing of beef cows in late fall/early winter, a project between several researchers at the U of M, Dr. Paul Je� erson (Western Beef Development Centre), Dr. Bruce Coulman (University of Saskatchewan), Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Development and Manitoba Beef Producers that aims to provide new knowledge on stockpiled grazing to extend the grazing season.

“We have � ve sites across Manitoba and Saskatchewan which will allow us to assess the suitability of forages for extended grazing under a range of growing conditions including soil type, topography, and precipitation,” says McGeough. “Through consultation with producers and other stakeholders via an industry-led steering committee the project aims to provide Prairie producers with information that will allow cattle to remain on pasture longer and reduce the economic and environmental cost of raising cattle. Both of these projects will be completed by 2018.”

McGeough is also excited to be a part of the new Beef Cattle Research Council New Researcher Mentorship Program launched in the summer of 2014.

CANADIAN FORAGE& GRASSLAND ASSOCIATION www.canadianfga.caPh: 780-430-3020

By Duncan Morrison — Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association

Machinery By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor

Size always matters when it comes to tractors. But that doesn’t always mean bigger is better. In fact, smallest is often best,

especially with the incredible technology, nimbleness and gutsy flexibility of today’s small tractors. Six different series of compact

and utility tractors are included in this month’s MachineryGuide, with the manufacturers offering the same level of durability and

reliability as in their more powerful models. Whether it’s moving hay bales or seed bags, these supposedly “small” tractors are big

at heart, and can endure the toughest conditions around the yard.

Kubota M6 SerieS Maximum versatility and ergonomic cab design are just two of the

many advantages to be found with the new Kubota M6 series tractor. Advanced control comes with the Intelli-Shift transmission and an eight-speed powershift with a three-speed high, mid and low range, giving you 24 gears in forward and reverse. When you choose the auto four-wheel-drive mode, the M6 tractor switches automatically to two-wheel drive for travelling speeds above 20 km/h. The system will then re-engage to four-wheel-drive below 17 km/h. That means a smoother ride, plus fuel savings and reduced tire wear. Kubota has also rede-signed the cab interior, with more room and rounded glass for a better view on the job at hand.

www.kubota.ca

6 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a M A y / j u n e 2 0 1 5

Kioti PX SerieSBuilt as much for comfort as for performance, Kioti brings its new

PX9020 tractor to market as a small but capable workhorse. At 91.2 horsepower, the PX9020 boasts several key features, including hydro-static power steering, rear differential lock, selectable ground speed power takeoff (PTO), dual remote hydraulic values and push-button four-wheel drive. It also comes with a rear PTO speed of 540 r.p.m. with an optional speed of 1,000 r.p.m. and a lift capacity of 4,850 pounds. Big or small, operator comfort has also become an expectation, and Kioti meets and exceeds that with a deluxe temperature-controlled cab and a moon roof.

www.kioti.com

M a y / j u n e 2 0 1 5 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a 7

MccorMick X6 SerieS The success of the X60 series mid-range tractor line is a tough act

to follow, yet McCormick believes it has done just that with its new X6 series. One of its two models — the X6.420, rated at 111 horsepower — falls into our below-120-hp category, fuelled by a Betapower 4.5-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine. The four-wheel-drive front axle is also standard, as is the fully locking front differential that engages simulta-neously with the rear differentials for true four-wheel pulling capability. a brand new four-post cab provides a more-modern look to the inte-rior, with greater visibility and a whole new level of comfort.

www.mccormick.it

New HollaNd T6 SerieSManoeuvrability, adaptability, comfort and visibility all come

together in new Holland’s versatile T6 series all-purpose tractors. There’s only one model in the 120-hp-and-below class — the T6.145, rated at 116 horsepower, but it also comes with the option of the auto Command continuously variable transmission. With its Tier 4B emis-sions standards and a 4.5-litre, four-cylinder engine design, you get better performance with maximum power. It can be ordered as “auto-guidance ready” or with new Holland’s IntelliSteer “auto-guidance complete” system installed and ready to use. you can also opt for the 52.2-gallon fuel tank plus an auxiliary modular tank for 58.6-gallon capacity, enough for 12 hours of operation.

www.agriculture.newholland.com

JoHN deere 6r SerieSjohn Deere’s small-frame design shows the company is putting

serious effort into the market segment, building machines capable of posting some strong performance numbers in a package that’s the right size for their owners. The 6110R produces 110 horsepower and offers control and comfort wrapped around manoeuvrability and handling. Deere has enhanced visibility while adding selective control valves and moving them further under the cab. The cab’s interior has also been updated, bringing control components up to the same standards inside the 7R, 8R and 9R series. Other features in the 6Rs are an IVT transmission, available premium lighting packages and increased service intervals, meaning less-frequent oil changes.

www.deere.com

caSe iH FarMall 100a SerieS The new Farmall 100a series tractor places two models from this

series into the 120-horsepower-and-lower market, with a bold state-ment on value. With 110 and 120 horsepower units available, the 100a series simply helps you get the job done, from livestock opera-tions to smaller-scale farms. Case IH also offers a redesigned cab, electronically controlled engine and a more economical drivetrain. The company says there are more standard features in this tractor than others in its class, including faster throttle response, quieter operation and increased fuel efficiency, plus a Tier 4B/Final-compliant engine design. Comfort is just as big in the smaller units, too, with a new cab featuring enhanced ergonomics, a new control panel and an available high-visibility roof panel.

www.caseih.com

b u s i n e s s

8 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a M a y / j u n e 2 0 1 5

t isn’t a unique story. In the late fall of 2010, Manitoba farmer Ian Wishart called a press conference to announce that he was head-ing into provincial politics, and that he had decided to seek the Progressive Conservative

nomination for his Portage la Prairie constituency.Until then, Wishart had been the well-regarded

president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP), the province’s general farm organization, so when he announced he was throwing his hat in with the right-of-centre Conservatives, more than a few political observers were surprised.

After all, during his tenure with KAP, Wishart had seemed to spend most of his time and energy on the environment, not on business issues, and the Alternative Land Use Stewardship (ALUS) program was largely his brainchild. While many conserva-tives such as former prime minister Brian Mulroney have strong environmental track records, it’s often seen as an issue that’s more important to the lefties.

Wishart had even worked very closely with the NDP government of Gary Doer on the water stew-ardship file, steering the government away from a perceived anti-agriculture bias as they addressed nutrient loading into Lake Winnipeg.

In short, if you didn’t know him, you could be for-given for predicting that if Wishart ever went stump-ing for votes, he wouldn’t be wearing Tory blue.

But that’s just what he did. Earlier this spring Wishart spoke at length with Country Guide in his office at the Manitoba legislative building, where he continues to serve as an MLA, most recently as critic for family services.

Wishart says it’s by design, not accident, that he and other members of the KAP executive were seen as apolitical during their time on the executive.

“I had actually been the president of my local PC constituency association years ago,” Wishart said. “It was very much a conscious decision to meet with, and work with, all parties. In our view it was the only way we could be a credible lobby-ing organization.”

It’s the nature of the work, Wishart said. As a farm leader, the job isn’t to chase your own politi-cal aspirations, nor the agenda of the party you may be personally predisposed toward. Instead, it’s to advocate on behalf of your industry and the interests of all its members.

Sometimes that middle ground isn’t so easy to find. “We spent a lot of time at KAP looking for consensus,” Wishart said. “It wasn’t easy, and some-times it just wasn’t possible — we lost the cattle pro-ducers, for example.”

He was referring to the 2008 decision by the Mani-toba Cattle Producers Association, which at the time said KAP and the cattle industry were too often finding themselves at odds, usually over positions on things like biofuels and corn tariffs that served to increase cattle producers’ cost of production.

But at times, it was even tough to keep grain groups under the one umbrella, especially with the controversy surrounding the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB).

When Wishart did decide it was time to move on and pursue other opportunities, he also decided that he wanted to do it in a way that wouldn’t hurt the organization he had been so closely associated with. This took time and planning, and his first step was to leave KAP well ahead of the provincial election, which came roughly a year later.

“We talk about the need for politicians to have a cooling off period if they’re going to leave govern-ment and become a lobbyist,” Wishart said. “I think the same is true of lobbyists who want to become politicians — they need a transitional period too. I don’t think it would have been right for me to just turn around and say, ‘Now I’m a politician.’”

Within the organization, there were discussions about how to smooth the transition and ensure the government remained willing to take a meeting with KAP, after the group’s former president had announced he wanted to join the ranks of the opposition.

“We were actually quite lucky in how that worked out,” Wishart said. “As it happened one of our vice-presidents, Rob Brunel, was from St. Rose, and the agriculture minister at the time was Stan Struthers, who represents the Dauphin constituency, which also includes St. Rose. Rob, who’s a really competent and well-spoken guy, stepped up and became interim president, which I think really helped to keep that relationship going.”

In the end, that was the important thing, Wishart said. He and the other members of the executive needed to manage the transition carefully so they wouldn’t ruffle any feathers, and so they could pro-tect the farm group’s long-standing public tradition of political impartiality.

Farm VOTE Does it always pay to put your “X” beside the farmer’s name on the ballot?

By Gord Gilmour, CG Associate Editor

b u s i n e s s

M a y / j u n e 2 0 1 5 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a 9

DiviDe anD conquer

The divisive nature of farm politics comes as no surprise to political scientist Grace Skogstad. A transplanted Albertan who grew up in an agricul-tural family, Skogstad now works at the University of Toronto where she has become a leading expert on the political discourse within agriculture and how it interfaces with the larger political issues.

Skogstad says a smooth, carefully planned transi-tion like Wishart’s is more achievable at the provin-cial than the national level. The provincial groups have smaller tents to try to hold together, she points out, and while friction is always possible, it’s easier to avoid in smaller political units.

“The provincial groups have, by and large, done a pretty good job at remaining impartial,” Skogstad told Country Guide during a recent telephone dis-cussion. “It’s at the federal level where it falls apart.”

At that federal level, the dynamic that emerges is of two competing sets of interests that can roughly be divided into whether the group’s core constitu-ency is oriented towards domestic production, or toward exports. Politicians then go about busily playing these groups off against each other, or using them for their own purposes, Skogstad said. That can mean some groups become very closely tied with

certain parties, or that they’re driven into the arms of other parties because they’re rejected as being ideologically impure.

“The Canadian Wheat Board is a good example of this,” Skogstad said. “Were they a Liberal group, as they were often accused of being? Or was it that they found themselves continually attacked by the Conservatives and they found a friend in (Wascana Liberal MP) Ralph Goodale?”

A similar dynamic appears to be coalescing around supply management groups and the Cana-dian Federation of Agriculture which counts them as important members. This was highlighted at the time of the last federal election when the CFA’s high-profile president Bor Friesen, another Manitoba farmer, left to run for the Liberals.

Skogstad also pointed out the CWB and its sup-porters weren’t the only agricultural organizations to get sullied by this dynamic. On the other end of the spectrum, many of the grains groups became very closely allied first with the Reform party fol-lowed by the Conservative party, in no small part through an Alberta government strategy.

“The Alberta government supported, if not out-right funded, some of the western grain groups

Continued on page 10

When he left the farm lobby to run for a Manitoba seat, Ian Wishart knew he could be hurting KAP’s farm members

because they wanted to put political pres-sure on the Wheat Board,” Skogstad said.

Make no mistake, political affiliation really can yield short-term benefits by opening doors and getting movement on important files when the political winds are blowing in the right direction.

But when the wind shifts, it can also quickly turn into a stumbling block.

After the last federal change in govern-ment, for example, it was an open secret that groups like the Canadian Federation of Agriculture were suddenly finding min-isterial access to be a problem, while the newly formed Grain Growers of Canada seemed to find every door was open.

This is the real political danger of not playing nice, said Wishart.

“Governments change periodically,” he said. “It’s a very important part of our system of government. And if you’re seen as too closely aligned with one party or the other, that probably won’t work out too well for you.”

In fact, Wishart said nothing he’s seen during his time working as a member of Her Majesty’s loyal opposition has changed his thinking on this issue. He has encountered groups that do a very good job of working with everyone, and groups that are clearly also pushing a larger political agenda.

At times he’s even had fairly blunt dis-cussions with some that have, in his view, crossed the line.

“I’ve sat down with them and told them, ‘I was a lobbyist’ and I’ve told them what group I represented,” Wishart said. “Then I’ve told them they should be meet-ing and open to working with everyone. Because if they’re not willing to, they need to understand that as the critic responsible for this portfolio, I am their advocate to my caucus. If they’re completely unwilling to work with me, it’s awfully hard for me to go back to my caucus and say ‘this is a good group and we should listen to them.’”

That doesn’t mean a good lobby group needs to pretend they believe something they don’t, or pander to any party’s agenda. It just means they need to be open to the discussion, and to the possibility there is more common ground between most of us than a lot of true believers might think.

“I find, quite frequently, that if we get right down to it, our goals are the same,” Wishart said. “Where we disagree is on tactics, on what the right way to address the problem is. That’s a very worthwhile discussion to have.” CG

ELECT A FARMERIt’s an old complaint that’s simply not supported by numbers. If you look at the num-

bers at all, farmers are actually over-represented in government.It comes a surprise to many farmers across Canada, especially since it often feels like

they’re up against the rest of the country, with a voice that gets drowned out by urbanites and non-farmers.

For the past 10 years, we’ve been electing 308 men and women to federal Parliament from constituencies from coast to coast to coast. At the same time, most popu-lar estimates say that about two percent of the Canadian population are farmers (the exact number, according to the 2011 census, is 293,925 primary farm operators, or closer to one per cent of the population).

If farmers were represented at the two-per-cent rate, there would be six or seven sitting members of Parliament, or three or four, based on the census calculation.

Instead, there are 23 in the current 41st Parliament, according to a Parliament of Canada online database that tracks the previous occupations of our nation’s leaders (www.parl.gc.ca).

That includes 19 Conservatives, three Liberals and a lone New Democrat — which translates to almost 7.5 per cent of the House of Commons having farm roots.

To parse the numbers a bit further, let’s look as some other professions and how they stack up. Take teach-ers — both primary and secondary teachers. There are about 445,000 of them across the country, based on the same 2011 census secondary results, which is just over 1.3 per cent of the Canadian population. If they were rep-resented at that level, there would be four teachers sitting in the House of Commons. Instead there are 25, or about eight per cent of the members, a very similar rate of over-representation.

How about the popular stereotype of the lawyer turned politician? That one hits the nail on the head, according to the numbers. The total number of lawyers practising is harder to track, but the best available estimate was from a Macleans article on the nation’s overabundance of legal eagles in Canada, which pegged it at about 90,000, or about a quarter of one per cent of the national population. There are 43 of them sitting in the current Parliament, or just under 14 per cent of the total.

What this likely reveals is that Canadians have a short list of occupations we feel com-fortable electing to represent us. They tend to be white collar professionals or business people with a track record of public involvement.

Farmers also make the cut.Less represented are the blue collar trades, or the service industry, perhaps most

famously highlighted after the NDP’s “orange crush” surge in Quebec during the last election when the party’s unexpected winners were at times mocked for having non-traditional careers for parliamentarians, like bartender or interpretive guide.

This also seems to extend to other trades, for example electricians. There are about 86,000 licensed electricians in Canada, just marginally fewer than lawyers, again repre-senting about a quarter of one per cent of the national population. Most people would probably agree it’s good honest work, and few can argue with the benefits of reliable electricity. However, there’s only one former electrician in the ranks of Parliament — the NDP’s Malcolm Allen, who also happens to be that party’s agriculture critic.

None of this really means that much of course. It’s just back-of-the-envelope figuring. Having members of a profession participating at the legislative level is no guarantee their issues are being addressed — just ask a farmer.

So the question farmers should be asking is: If they’ve got good representation, are their issues being addressed adequately? And if not, why not?

Continued from page 9

1 0 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a M A y / j u N e 2 0 1 5

b u s i n e s s

farmers in the house of Commons

that’s times farmers’

population rate

lawyers are times as likely to

Get in

23

4

6

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Who speaks for farmers?Amid the falling commodity prices and rising input costs, one question is getting louder. Who do our farm organizations really represent?

By Gerald Pilger

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he last few years have been tumultuous for Canadian grain farmers, especially in the West. Not only have we seen the end of the single-desk CWB monop-oly, but we also watched as Ottawa

passed Bill C-18, the Agriculture Growth Act (which included the approving UPOV 91) and as major changes were made to AgriStability.

Farmers complain about poor rail movement of grains too, and we are worried about Canada’s repu-tation as a reliable supply of high-quality grains.

Yet we also have groups, organizations and asso-ciations on opposite sides of each of these questions, each claiming to represent the opinion of the major-ity of grain growers.

How can this be?We need to ask, are the organizations that claim

to represent farmers actually listening to their mem-bers? If not, who are they listening to?

Did the farm groups actually represent their grassroots membership in the debate over the priva-tization of the CWB? Or, more recently, were the positions of farmers and farm organizations really aligned with taking our former Plant Breeders Rights in the direction of UPOV 91?

There are other troubling questions too, such as whether these groups feel that if farmers knew as much about today’s complex issues as the groups know, we’d endorse what the groups are doing. It’s the familiar “Trust us, we know better” argument.

Worse yet, could it be that farmers really don’t know the organizations that claim to represent them? Or are farmers so divided that there is simply no consensus possible, so farm groups are free to sup-port any position they choose, knowing there will always be some farmers they can claim to represent?

These questions led me to poll the farm groups, asking them who they represent, and what are their positions on the issues facing farmers today.

The answers won’t shock you, but it’s worth pay-ing close attention to the nuances.

I should also explain that I began this exercise by trying to identify all the groups claiming to represent farmers. However, in Alberta where I farm, a quick check proved this would be an impossible task. The 2015 directory lists 530 agricultural associations and organizations in my province alone

Even when agricultural societies, livestock asso-ciations, and municipal districts and counties were excluded, there were still more organizations than could be covered in the pages of this magazine. So instead, I decided to pose seven questions to the agri-cultural organizations that I thought are probably most familiar to most farmers.

It’s arbitrary, but I selected farm groups that have a high public profile and have been mentioned in mainstream media recently.

Following are condensed answers I received from 11 farm organizations. I hope you will use them to judge not only your knowledge of these organiza-tions but also how their positions may compare to other organizations you may belong to.

I urge all readers to get to know the organizations which claim to represent your views.

Voluntary organizationsVoluntary is the key word here, with individu-

als typically paying a membership fee to meet the organization’s funding needs. These groups can range from regional commodity associations to national general farm organizations. For example, the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association has 450 members (97 per cent are farmers), and it describes itself as a “voluntary farm advocacy orga-nization dedicated to developing policy solutions that strengthen the profitability and sustainability of farming and the agricultural industry as a whole.”

WCWGA seeks open and competitive markets, an efficient grain-handling and transportation system, science-based environmental and food safety policies, the elimination of production-distorting subsidies and the removal of barriers to market access.

WCWGA achievements include grain marketing freedom for Prairie farmers, modernization of Plant Breeder Rights, including the adoption of UPOV 91, elimination of KVD criteria for registration of new wheat varieties, and the expansion of the rail inter-switching limit from 30 to 160 km.

National Farmers Union is a 100 per cent farmer, direct-membership organization with a goal of develop-ing economic and social policies to maintain the family farm as the primary food-producing unit in Canada. It is funded by its membership fees and voluntary donations.

The NFU considers its most important achieve-

ment to be “our continued ability to bring together the voices of farmers of all kinds and sizes — from small CSA opera-tions to large grain farms, organic and conventional, all across Canada…”

It also says, “The NFU succeeds by bringing its members’ views and priori-ties into the public discussion of agricul-tural issues in Canada.”

Alberta Federation of Agriculture is the province’s largest producer-funded general farm organization. Its 250 mem-bers represent nearly 1,000 farm families, and 95 per cent of the membership is from the farm. The other five per cent consists of commodity organizations, associations and non-profits.

The federation says it is dedicated to

advocating, promoting and encouraging a sustainable agricultural industry with viable farm income levels; healthy rural communities with an outstanding qual-ity of life for our families; fair marketing and trade practices; and a strong value-added industry in rural Alberta.

AFA has spearheaded the develop-ment of risk management tools for farm-ers and was instrumental in addressing the grain transportation crisis and push-ing the federal government’s order-in-council to address the issue.

General farm orGanizationsNot all general farm organizations

are voluntary. Saskatchewan and Mani-toba have instituted two very different

approaches for giving a voice to all farm-ers through a provincial general farm organization.

Keystone Agricultural Producers is Manitoba’s largest general farm pol-icy organization, and it is funded by a checkoff at point of sale from roughly 4,000 producers. All members must be actively engaged in primary agricultural production.

The goal of KAP is “to ensure that primary production in Manitoba remains profitable, sustainable, and globally competitive.” Activities related to this goal have included lobbying for better rail movement of grains, removal

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of the education tax of farmland and buildings, working for improved producer-payment security, and easing restrictions on winter nutrient applica-tion. KAP has also promoted Manitoba agriculture through its Sharing the Harvest campaign.

Agricultural Producers of Saskatchewan is Saskatch-ewan’s voluntary general farm organization. It differs from other farm organizations in that its 98 members are the rural municipalities of Saskatchewan who in turn represent the nearly 18,000 agricultural produc-ers in these RMs. There are 18 associate members who represent agricultural-related organizations. Almost all APAS funding comes from the RM mem-bership.

“The goal of APAS is to provide a respected, uni-fied voice that positively influences agricultural and rural communities to achieve a respected, thriving agri-cultural sector…” APAS has been able to obtain fed-eral and provincial financial support for Saskatchewan farmers, and it is addressing the transportation issues.

Commodity organizationsThese are legislated organizations for the purpose

of increasing research, development, innovation, and market opportunities for a specific commodity. Most are funded primarily through a checkoff from the sales of that commodity, and all sellers are automati-cally members. However, in most cases the checkoff is refundable if you do not want to be a member.

Alberta Barley, for example, represents approxi-mately 11,000 Alberta barley farmers who have paid the barley checkoff to Alberta Barley in one or more of the last three crop years. Its purpose is “to advance the interests of Alberta barley farmers through leadership and investment in innovation and development. Research and market development are currently Alberta Barley’s top priorities.”

Alberta Barley has applied for and received fund-ing from government and industry. Besides research, some of this grant funding was used for develop-ing materials for informing health professionals and dietitians about the health benefits of barley to increase demand. Alberta Barley has also created the GoBarley campaign to increase consumer demand.

Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission collects a $0.52/tonne checkoff from 24,000 wheat growers and uses this fund to grow the province’s wheat industry. “Our vision is to ensure wheat is a stable, sustainable, profitable, and internationally competitive crop; capturing the benefits for Saskatch-ewan farmers and the community.”

The commission focuses on three goals, including research to improve yields, quality, and agronomics; market development to increase value and market-ability; and advocacy so the interests of Saskatch-ewan wheat growers are presented to government, industry, and the public.

Manitoba Corn Growers Association has been “designated to represent all corn producers in the

province of Manitoba.” It too is funded by a refund-able producer checkoff. Industry associate member-ships are also available upon payment of an annual fee. There are currently 1,200 members with about 30 to 50 of these being associate members.

Some 80 per cent of the checkoff levy goes to research programs and work intended to encourage the growth of corn acres in Manitoba. This includes development of earlier corn hybrids and sound agro-nomic practices for growing corn in Manitoba.

assoCiations of assoCiationsIn many instances, provincial commodity organi-

zations or other like-minded associations have cre-ated umbrella organizations to better represent the views of farmers and industry members or to partici-pate in activities of interest to all groups instead of each provincial group repeating what another asso-ciation is already doing.

The Canadian Canola Growers Association rep-resents the interests of five provincial canola asso-ciations. It is the national voice of 43,000 Canadian canola growers, and it is funded through its own business operations, including acting as an admin-istrator of the Advanced Payments Program for 45 field crop and livestock commodities.

The canola association’s primary role is to use its combined influence to enhance the profitability of Canadian canola growers. Besides the cash advance program, the CCGA is a strong advocate for a more responsive and effective rail system, and it works to increase international trade of canola products.

Cereals Canada is a new organization seeking to fill in the co-ordination and market development gaps resulting from the end of the CWB monopoly. It strives to ensure a profitable and vibrant future for all links in the grains value chain.

To do this, Cereals Canada represents 20 different organizations of producers, crop development and seed companies, and grain handlers, exporters, and proces-sors. The organization will focus on market develop-ment, innovation, and industry leadership. The Team Canada sales teams are examples of the market devel-opment work Cereals Canada is doing.

Cereals Canada is trying to promote a common message across the value chain on issues such as grain transportation, variety registration, and the wheat classification review.

Grain Growers of Canada is another national umbrella organization of 14 grain, oilseed, and pulse groups representing more than 50,000 producers and it is funded primarily through the membership. The Grain Growers of Canada believes Canadian farm-ers are efficient, competitive and want to make their living from the marketplace. Therefore it focuses on maximizing the global competitiveness of Canadian farmers by influencing federal policy. It strives for research into seed, value-added processing, and the bioproducts field. Its single most important achieve-ment has been to see the end of the single desk, for which it advocated since its formation. Cg

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nderstanding ourselves and others is one of the increasingly important skills needed to be effective in agri-business organizations.

In order to harness the full potential of their organizations and to hit the financial, stra-tegic and operational goals of their businesses, the best managers report that they need to know how to get the best from their people. For this reason, in addition to strategic human resources management in both CTEAM and CFAME, we use the Myers-Briggs Typology Instrument. We ask participants to complete a self-report that looks deeply at their own personality preferences and how the differing ones of others might be better appreciated and managed.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument (MBTI) is one of the most widely used psychological-type tools. The information it provides helps people identify their natural styles (TYPE) in four areas. These include:• The way people gain and use their energy (extra-

vert/introvert);• The way they take in information or gather data

(through their senses or the big picture);• The way people like to make decisions or come to clo-

sure (through logical analysis or the impact on people);• The way they like to organize their lives (through

structure or open-endedness).These four areas, when combined, give us insight

into why we sometimes act the way we do, prefer to do things in a particular way, or are disturbed when others do things differently. It is as if we are each wearing our own set of “life lenses” through which each of us sees situations in our own way.

In the work world, our own TYPE and the dif-ferent types of our co-workers can influence how we behave and what we consider important. While the MBTI describes only one aspect of human personal-ity and by no means is meant to compartmentalize, this knowledge adds another “set of tools to the interpersonal tool box” when working with a wide variety of employees.

The value of self-understanding and how others are different becomes particularly powerful when applied in our work situations.

Knowing more about your MBTI TYPE can help dramatically in understanding differing communica-tion styles. While some prefer frequent face-to-face interaction, communicating by talking, with detailed information provided in a structured format, others prefer written communication, conceptual overviews without detail and more open-ended approaches.

Ensuring that communication is effective for these different styles results in fewer misunderstandings and minimizes conflict over perceived misinterpretations.

What people find motivating and rewarding in their work environments also varies, depending on their TYPE preferences. While some individuals are motivated by continuing feedback and specific sug-gestions, others are much more energized by a broad reinforcement only at the completion of a project.

Team development can be enhanced by a thor-ough understanding of the style preferences and gifts of team members. Ensuring that the talents and differing approaches are being used maximizes the value of each member. For example, ensuring that those with “big-picture” talents are also talking with those whose talent is in the details creates a better result than if either is ignored.

Work styles can be dramatically different but still effective when individuals understand TYPE. Depending on different profiles, the pace of work, the tolerance for interruptions, the balance between dis-cussion and individual time and the need to accom-modate different time management approaches as long as the work gets done can either be sources of conflict or can create environments in which people can work to their full potential. Sometimes managers use their preferred style even though it ignores utiliz-ing the full talent of their employees, simply because they imagine their way is the only way.

Understanding our own leadership style, its strengths and how it might be perceived by others can dramatically increase our leadership ability. For example, a strong, aggressive leadership style can be effective for some workers, but for others it shuts down communication and useful discussion, can cur-tail individual initiative and cause passive reactions by those intimidated by that style.

Understanding how our style may affect others allows us the flexibility to modify our approach to obtain the best result from each employee.

Research repeatedly shows that teams composed of diverse personalities outperform those where the members are similar-type individuals. The insight that MBTI provides can ensure that those diverse styles mesh into an effective, productive and sat-isfying work environment. We have seen the posi-tive business and personal improvements when our course participants adjust their management pro-cesses after engaging in the Myers-Briggs module. CG

Susan Martin in an instructor in AME’s training courses (www.agrifoodtraining.com).

Reap the value of personality testing

m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 5 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a 1 5

By Susan Martin, MBA

A M E - M A n A g E M E n t

Six numberS to chew on

By Maggie Van Camp, CG Associate Editor

It isn’t as quiet as you might think on the home front. Yes, today’s farms seem stable, but the next evolutionary wave is gaining energy

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The spring rush is over, so now is the time to take a

moment and reflect. As you gaze across fields flush with new

growth, think about how much things have evolved in the last

few years. Although that lone tree out there still leans to the

east, and the sun still sets in the west, change has become

the new norm. Today we need to understand, accommodate

and capitalize on change.

Predicting the evolution of Canadian agriculture is never easy,

mainly because the evolution of agriculture is driven by the accu-

mulation of countless decisions by countless farmers in an indus-

try so vast, so complex and so varied, it’s impossible to take every

critical factor into account.

But here’s a start, in the form of six numbers that reflect

some of the important national trends in the last few years.

Take them in, roll them around, and ask yourself: Where are

these trends driving us?

$12.8 billion net farm income

In 2009, total Canadian net farm income was $2.8 billion. Four years later, it was $10 billion more, with Statistics Canada’s saying a $5.6-billion rise in the total value of farm-owned inventories from the year before accounted for almost all of the increase in total net income in 2013.

That inventory increase came from a record production of several field crops in Western Canada, coupled with greater on-farm storage capacity and a railway system that simply couldn’t keep up.

According to 2015 Canadian Agricultural Outlook produced by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, aggregate net cash income for 2014 is expected to reach $14 billion, 10 per cent above the 2013 record.

Farm-level average net operating income is forecast to be $78,139, also an all-time high. Although grain and oilseed prices fell, strength in livestock prices and margins has buoyed average farm income.

Alberta fed cattle prices reached $202 on May 1, points out Jerry Klassen, a commodity market analyst in Winnipeg who maintains an inter-est in the family feedlot in southern Alberta. That is up 40 per cent over last year, while feeder cattle prices are up 40 to 50 per cent on average over the past year.

Lower energy values have resulted in larger disposable income for the average consumer, Klassen explains. Lower crude oil prices have also contributed to a weaker Canadian dollar, enhancing the competitive edge for Canadian cattle producers.

Finally, the North American economy is firing on all cylinders, causing a rise in wages, lower unemployment levels, greater disposable income and pre-recession-type consumer confidence levels that are causing a demand shift toward beef products.

5.5 million acreS of SoybeanS

Now the fourth largest crop in Canada, soybeans are pro-jected to keep growing. In 2014 Canadian farmers planted a record 5.5 million acres, up nearly two million from 2011. Notably, soybean acres in Western Canada have ballooned, with over one million acres in Manitoba alone. Better short-day bean varieties with herbicide tolerance have been the catalyst for the expanded acres, and this trend is expected to continue, thanks to more new varieties bred for Western Canada.

In response, a new national organization was formed last September replacing the Canadian Soybean Council and the Canadian Soybean Exporters Association. Members and direc-tors of the board include representatives from each of the major soybean grower associations across Canada plus industry repre-senting crushers, exporters and seed companies.

“Soy Canada will speak with a single voice for the industry and, working collectively, will develop and implement a strategic plan to grow the industry and maximize returns to all compo-nents of the value chain,” says newly hired executive director, Jim Everson.

1 6 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a M A y / J u N E 2 0 1 5

Net operating income and wealth post all new highs

14.3% increase in average farmland values

According to Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC) farmland report, the average value of Canadian farmland increased 14.3 per cent in 2014, fol-lowing increases of 22.1 per cent in 2013 and 19.5 per cent in 2012. Average land values have increased every year since 1993.

FCC’s chief agricultural economist, J.P. Gervais, has been predicting a soft landing for farmland values since crop prices began moving closer to the long-term average, fol-lowing abnormally high prices due to the 2008 U.S. drought.

Gervais doesn’t anticipate a collapse of farmland values, but he does see slower increases in the coming years. The most likely drivers of increased values are crop receipts and interest rates.

The highest increase last year was in Saskatchewan at 18.7 per cent but this is slower than in 2013, when average value jumped a colossal 28.5 per cent following a 19.7 per cent jump in 2012.

However, farmland in Canada is not appreciating everywhere, with increases in the Maritimes being much slower.

Overall, average net worth per farm is expected to set new records of $2.0 million in 2014 and $2.1 million in 2015.

In agriculture, strong crop receipts have kept the debt-to-net-income ratio relatively f lat for the decade. “It ’s important to remember that even as farm debt is rising, land values continue to increase on average across Canada,” says Gervais. “Interest rates remain low, and asset value and farm size continue to grow.”

1 in 3 farms changing hands

The 2015 Canadian Agricultural Outlook Survey, conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of a collection of ag companies, including Country Guide, found a third of the farm-ers they interviewed expect their farms to change ownership in the next few years, with 62 per cent going to family members or partners. Yet according to the survey, only 30 per cent of these farm owners were doing any formal succession planning to ensure a smooth transition to the next generation.

Statistics Canada pegs farm assets in Canada at $285 billion. With rough math, that means about $95 billion in assets will be switching hands in the next few years.

That’s the value of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s business empire, or

how much Brookfield Property Partners, one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated owners, has invested in real estate assets.

Gwen Paddock, national director for agriculture for RBC (one of the partners in developing the survey), says it’s difficult to quantify the amount of assets that will be involved in some form of transition over the next few years. It’s also difficult to nail down the impact that those transfers will have on the industry. Many are private, or there can be a complicated mishmash of ownership.

To make the process smoother, Paddock suggests farmers start planning at least five years before their projected sell date, whether it’s a partial or full sale. To start, she recom-mends getting professional help, such as financial advisers and accountants. Also begin gathering useful background information.

Early in your planning process, also involve key family members or partners, espe-cially those who may be taking over the farm.

5,668 + 16,600 TwiTTer followers

Two farmers, 2,000 miles apart, are shaping Canada’s e-farm future, with their combined 22,000 social media followers.

Andrew Campbell, a young dairy farmer from near Strathroy, Ont., has about 18,000 followers between Twitter and Instagram. “Twitter makes up the bulk of that — but I do post the pictures to Ins-tagram as well,” he says. You can check out his website at www.thefreshair.ca.

Nurse and mother, Sarah Schultz is also a farm wife to Jay Schultz who grows about 6,000 acres of wheat, canola and yellow peas in south central, Alberta. She also has a blog www.nurselovesfarmer.com and is on Face-book at fb.com/NurseLovesFarmer.

Schultz says the payback for being part of agriculture on social media includes all the connections she has made with people from all over the world, plus being able to have questions answered within minutes. “As a farm wife and mom who spends the majority of my time at home, social media has been a great way to still be social and have that human connection that sometimes gets lost living in a rural area,” Schultz says.

The downside includes getting pulled into arguments, and finding out how easy it is to be misunderstood. It’s extremely hard, if not impossible, to interpret some-one’s tone on social media, she warns, and it’s far too easy to have your words taken out of context.

Schultz has learned to choose her words wisely, and to be kind and respect-ful. “It’s guaranteed that you won’t agree with everyone on everything, but we can at least respect each other’s differences,” says Schultz. “I also go by the rule: tweet as if Grandma is watching.”

Andrew Campbell knows the impact that negative feedback can have in the social media world. Earlier in the year, he achieved some notoriety when animal rights advocates targeted him and his live-stock farming, yet he also received praise for how he handled being a lightning rod for activism. “It just shows the impor-tance of opening up our industry,” says Campbell. “We do need to address the issues and conceptions that the majority of consumers have, so we can continue farming the way we know is best for our land and livestock rather than being told how to do it.”

40% drop in new combine sales

According to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), year-to-date sales of self-propelled combines are very soft in Canada, dropping from 4,130 in March 2014 to 2,500 a year later. This big drop of 39.5 per cent follows a combine- and tractor-buying bump in October.

AEM, citing U.S. Department of Commerce data, sees similar 2014 trends around the world for all types of ag equipment. Exports of U.S.-made farm machinery ended 2014 down 29.2 per cent compared to 2013. Exports to Canada dropped 38.4 per cent.

All world regions recorded double-digit declines except Central America. Asia, Europe and Canada had the highest rates of decline.

AEM’s director of market intelligence Benjamin Duyck says the decline has continued into 2015. “We are currently experiencing a global ag downturn,” Duyck says. “The overall down-turn is a combination of various factors, mainly economic, but some of it is also driven by legis-lation and issues regarding the strong dollar.”

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t’s a trip that is so formidable, it weakened the knees of generations of politicians, entrepreneurs and engineers alike. Everybody could tell the northern Great Plains

would be an ideal place for growing cereal crops, and they knew too that the world would love to eat what we grow, but getting those crops to port from places like Bashaw, Alta., Wolsely, Sask., or Dugald, Man., would mean a long haul over hundreds of miles of prairie and then across a wall of mountains.

Then Canada got on with the job, cre-ating the rail system that in turn created our country, and that keeps creating the West today. If it too rarely gets called one of the wonders of the world, that only shows how poorly we understand it.

“It’s distance and volume,” explains Barry Prentice, professor of transporta-tion at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business. Trucks can’t do it, at least on the required scale. Nor is there a

St. Lawrence system or a Mississippi in the heart of the West.

Instead, it’s got to be rail.The secret of the railway’s efficiency is

the steel wheel riding on a steel rail that is anchored into a deep roadbed that supports the mass of a fast-moving freight train. This wheel and rail combination allows the use of heavy, high-capacity cars that, in spite of their size, have low rolling friction.

It’s a technology that came of age in Victorian Europe, about the same time the first generation of farm families set-tled in Western Canada, when the sheer expanse of the new land demanded some kind of connection with the heartland to aid settlement and cultivation.

The solution was to build a railway from the resource-rich west to the mills and fac-tories of the east. The stipulation was that it had to be a southern route, close to the bor-der to encourage new settlers to build politi-cal and economic ties with Ottawa rather than the expansionist United States.

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Above: These steel wheels riding on a steel rail explain why railways are so energy efficient. Friction is reduced because the actual point of contact is very rigid and very small. By contrast, a rubber tire deforms, so it has greater surface contact and a larger “flat spot,” losing energy at every rotation.

The journeyFrom Prairie farm to ocean port, our rail

lines still shock the imagination with

their engineering and bravado

This issue, we bring you four in-depth accounts of our rail system, why we should celebrate it, and how we might fix it.

With help from writers Richard Kamchen and Gord Leathers, these stories ask, can the country that built these engineering marvels not muster the brain power to save them?

Transportation may not be quite as essential to a healthy farm sector as the rain, but it’s close. It’s why our writers in the past year have brought you stories analyzing the great rail advances in Australia and Brazil. But how well do we know our own transportation infrastructure?

By Gord Leathers


The first Canadian transcontinental rail-way was the Canadian Pacific, running its mainline across the Prairies from Winnipeg to Calgary and then over the mountains to Vancouver. The Canadian National fol-lowed, although it was actually an amalga-mation of several existing railways cobbled together by the Canadian government into one transcontinental carrier.

The CN paralleled the CP west from Winnipeg but they crossed outside of Por-tage la Prairie where the CP headed for Regina while the CN swung north to Sas-katoon. They met again in Kamloops, B.C., before heading down the Thompson Valley to the Fraser and on to Vancouver.

Six by rail, or 280 by truckOver a century of development, railway

technology would evolve from tiny steamers pulling a string of boxcars over light gauge rails to the high-power diesel locomotives hauling the 120-car-unit trains we see today.

Those fragile 80-pound rails also super-charged the whole grain handling system, starting with country elevators on sid-ings, a length of track for 25 to 100 cars,

Prentice says. “One of the advantages of our system is that it doesn’t require much labour. We use a lot of electric motors and diesel to move things around.”

The first railways put grain in boxcars. The boxcar was suitable for its time because it carried merchandise west while hauling grain east, running loaded in both directions. As more and more towns were connected to each other by road, trucks gradually took over the lucrative merchandise haul. Incom-ing loads got lighter while outgoing loads of grain got heavier, so the railways responded with the covered hopper car, a dedicated car specialized for grain transport.

“A typical hopper car carries 92 tons of product, or the equivalent of 2.5 Super B trucks, so a full train of 112 cars is equiva-lent to 280 Super B truck loads,” explains Mark Hemmes of Quorum Corporation. “If that train is carried 1,000 miles to port it will have three or four crew sets, six to eight people altogether, while the 280 trucks will need 280 drivers.”

So a 112-car train vastly reduces the person hours required to haul that much grain over that much distance. In

doing this, that freight train also delivers over three times the fuel efficiency with one-third of the greenhouse gas emis-sions, with all of this at less than half the cost of a trucking fleet with none of the potential highway congestion.

Once our hopper car is full, it’s spliced into a train, and a lash-up of two or more locomotives is coupled to the front.

How many locomotiveS?The number of locomotives is based on

the weight of the train and the gradient. “The rule of thumb is to have a horse-power to tonnage ratio of about .80 to .90,” Hemmes says. “For example, if you have 100 cars with 92 tons of grain each, by the time you’ve added the weight of the cars plus the locomotives you have a train weighing in at 11,000 tons. Two loco-motives at 5,000 horsepower each gives you 10,000 horsepower and a ratio of 0.9 horsepower per ton of train.”

In the days of the boxcar, trains were pulled by steam locomotives, big external

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Above: The first railway locomotives were steam engines, such as the G5 light Pacific type above, built in 1944 and operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Among the last built before diesel, these represent the peak of conventional steam technology.

Right: Today’s diesel locomotive is, in fact, a diesel electric, running a generator with current fed to traction motors on the axle. The electric field of the AC motors delivers superior wheel adhesion to the steel track, enhancing pulling power.

My own contribution was to work with another source to pull together an infographic that aims to give a full picture of how the various pieces of the system go together. We hope you enjoy this package as much as we enjoyed doing it.


combustion engines that burned wood, coal or bunker C oil to make steam. This high-pressure steam was fed into a front-mounted cylinder that pushed a piston that then turned the large drive wheels.

The old steamers were magnificent beasts. They were immensely powerful but difficult to operate. Their energy effi-ciency was very low and they drank huge quantities of water, a scarce resource in many parts of the prairies. Beginning in the 1950s, North American railroads retooled for the more efficient diesels, and they’ve been running those ever since.

“Today locomotives are, in fact, diesel electric,” Hemmes says. “The diesel engine turns a generator and this powers trac-tion motors that are part of the locomo-tive’s axle system. A typical locomotive has six axles and traction motors. A typical train will have two locomotives for every 100 cars and each locomotive will have between 4,000 and 6,000 horsepower.”

The locomotives are coupled to the front of the train, and O-ring-sealed air pipes are connected to the cars. The locomotive’s big air compressors start pumping air into the braking system, and once the reservoir tanks are up to pressure, the crew waits for a clear signal from the traffic control.

When the line is clear, the engineer notches up the throttle and the train sets

off with a full load of grain headed west. If it’s a CP drag, it’s headed for Vancou-ver by way of Calgary. If it’s CN, then it’s going by way of Edmonton. Once over the B.C. border from Jasper it will head to Vancouver via Blue River to Kam-loops, or it may take the north line from Red Pass Junction to Prince Rupert.

Over YellOwheadThe CPR has the older route, and the

first surveyors in the region proposed to run the line through the Yellowhead Pass between Jasper and Mount Robson. It was the easiest route with workable grades but the government at the time was adamant that the railway should follow a south route. Today’s Trans Can-ada Highway parallels the CPR through some of the most spectacular scenery in Canada but, for the railway, this means a more difficult route with punishing grades over three formidable obstacles.

“When you have traffic moving through an area with a fixed capacity, like a section of track through the mountains, it’s a bottleneck that they call a pinch point on the railway,” Prentice says. “The rail-ways are very conscious of this and they’re continuously working on relieving them, but it’s futile effort in some respects. As soon as you relieve one pinch point, the cars move freely to the next one and things get backed up there. You can improve the system gradually over time but it will never be perfect because you’re always running from one bottleneck to the next.”

If our grain train is running on the CPR, it stops in Calgary where one or more additional locomotives are spliced into the middle of the train in prepara-tion for the two major pinch points along the way. One is the climb over the Kick-ing Horse Pass and the other is the brutal heavy haul over Rogers Pass between Golden and Revelstoke, B.C.

Our train leaves Calgary and follows the Bow River to Banff, where it starts a long climb through Lake Louise to the summit of the Kicking Horse Pass. Then it drops abruptly into the valley of the Kicking Horse River where the grades measure in at around 2.2 per cent, i.e. for every 100 feet our westbound train moves forward, it drops two feet.

“It was worse than that before,” Pren-tice laughs. “Before the Spiral Tunnels were built they had a grade that was 4.5 per cent or something and they had a few runaway trains.”

The original Big Hill was a treacher-ous stretch that required all the skill the running crews could muster to keep a descending train under control. To solve the problem, the CPR had to lengthen the line and, in doing that they managed to reduce the gradient from the ferocious 4.5 per cent to a stiff but manageable 2.2 per cent. To do this, they drilled the two Spi-ral Tunnels, among the great engineering wonders of the railway world, just east of the town of Field, B.C.

As our train enters the upper tunnel it begins a long left turn that takes it into the core of Cathedral Mountain. It continues the turn and follows a giant corkscrew path, still descending, until it pops out of the lower portal in a cloud of acrid brake-shoe smoke. At this point the engineer and conductor can actually look up and see the last of the train going the other way about 40 feet above them.

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An engineering tour-de-force, the Spiral Tunnels east of Field, B.C., are a way to drop a train close to 1,200 feet over a distance of about 11 miles. The original grade did a straight drop, too steep and too dangerous for safe railway operation, so the solution was to drill two corkscrew tunnels. That made the trip down almost four miles longer but only half as steep. This tunnel is the lower tunnel, drilled through Mount Ogden, and the locomotives emerging are pulling the hopper cars over top. The higher tunnel is on the other side of the valley in Cathedral Mountain.



The engineering challenges are staggering… ragged mountains, roaring rivers, extreme cold, and avalanches

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From there the train crosses the high-way and does a right hand bend into the upper portal of the second tunnel drilled into Mount Ogden. From here the train rolls out of the tunnel, the diesels once again watching the last of the cars mov-ing over top, and carries on through Field following the Kicking Horse River to Golden.

Railways often follow river courses because, in the mountains, one of the riv-ers will point to the summit of the pass. Once our grain train leaves Golden, it parts company with the Kicking Horse River and runs along the Beaver River into Rog-ers Pass. This is the Selkirk Range with spectacular Alp-like mountains marked by sharp peaks, steep slopes and deep valleys. The grades are steep, sitting around the 2.2 per cent mark, so again the going is slow.

Breathtaking rogers PassThe original line actually climbed to

the summit and crossed over the top of the pass. Nowadays, beside the highway on the western side of the summit, a series of huge stone bridge piers still stand. These piers supported a series of S-curve bridges that the old steam locomotives blasted over in order to crest the pass.

One of the old piers now lies on its side, knocked over by the careening snow packs that fall from the peaks, mute testimony to one of Nature’s formi-dable forces.

Still Rogers Pass vexed the company. Those heavy grades required big power, and this was the territory of the Sel-kirk-type steam locomotives built by the CPR, the largest steamers operated in the British Empire, although the Ameri-cans had even bigger ones, giants such as the Big Boys that hauled trains for the Union Pacific and the Great North-ern’s Yellowstones that roamed the passes to the south.

Until the ’80s, westbound trains would stop at the helper station in Bea-vermouth, where another lash-up of six diesels would set shoulder and help push the trains over Rogers Pass, but projected increases in traffic prompted the CPR to drill another tunnel under the pass. Now, heavy westbound trains take the lower route through the nine-mile MacDonald Tunnel and then roll downhill along the Illecillewaet River to Revelstoke. From there it’s on through the Eagle Pass in the Monashees to Kam-loops, where our train meets both the Thompson River and the CN line.

Joining forces with cPAfter Kamloops the CPR encoun-

ters its third major obstacle, one that it shares with the CN. Once again the railways follow the rivers, in this case the Thompson as it carves a deep chan-nel through interior B.C. At Lytton, the Thompson flows into the Fraser, and the Fraser cuts its own deep gorge through the Coastal Range to Vancouver.

These precipitous trenches were the site of some of the most difficult rail-way construction in the world. Both lines cling to the sides. Sidings are few and far between.

Running trains in both directions faces tough limits, which has led to another of the wonders of the railway world, but this time, it’s a wonder of a different sort.

“The railways have entered into a co-production agreement,” Prentice says.

“There’s no room to put in a double track in the Fraser Canyon so one rail-way takes all the eastbound trains and the other takes all the westbound trains, and then they move back onto their own tracks outside the canyon.”

At Napa, close to the town of Ashcroft, B.C., the two lines run side by side, and it’s here that they trade routes. All trains bound for Vancouver, whether they’re CN or CP, take to the CN line, while all eastbound trains come up the canyons on the CP before moving back onto their own tracks.

Our CP grain train moves through the crossover onto the CN mainline and runs the canyons on the CN side of the river past Hell’s Gate and Yale. It then rejoins the CP mainline in Mission City in the Fraser delta and moves on to the port elevator in Vancouver.

It’s here that the journey ends and the train is unloaded in much the same way that farm trucks unload at the inland ele-vator. The car’s lower doors open over a collecting hopper and the grain pours out.



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Then do iT again

The empty cars then head back east for another load, and the cycle starts all over again. The cycling time for an empty car arriving at an inland elevator to be filled, shipped and return empty again is about 14 days.

That car cycle time has been coming down, thanks to longer train lengths of 50 to 100 cars and the hook and haul

idea, which means the cars don’t have to come into a classification yard like Sym-ington in Winnipeg.

Even so, to put this haul into perspec-tive, the distance from Minneapolis to ports in New Orleans is around 1,200 miles as compared to a 1,400-hundred-mile run from Winnipeg to Vancouver.

Don’t forget the mountains that our trains face, though, or all the other obsta-cles. Ice and snow on the tracks make mov-

ing difficult, and the cold compromises the O-ring seals on the air braking systems, forcing the railways to run shorter trains below -25 C.

Canada’s railways are vital for getting grain to customers all over the world but it’s not an easy job. Again, it’s all that land between the points where it’s grown and the points from which it’s shipped.

Says Prentice, “We’re a long distance from the water, and that’s the truth.” Cg

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RogeRs Pass — Above (r): A logistical bottleneck on the CPR is the fearsome climb up the eastern slope to the summit of Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Range. There’s a sustained grade of 2.2 per cent over a distance of 22 miles, which necessitates low speeds and reduced capacity. The initial solution was to keep a fleet of locomotives at Beavermouth as additional pushers. A westbound freight would stop and six SD40 diesels would be spliced in, and a long slow grind up to the summit requiring the brute force of up to 12 SD40 diesels would commence.

In 1984 the Mount MacDonald Tunnel was drilled. The new route cut an additional 280 feet off the climb and reduced the eastern grade from 2.2 to a much more agreeable one per cent.

The CisCo BRidges — Above (l): Nowhere is the challenge more evident than at the two bridges across the Fraser at Cisco Flats, where the CP crosses the Fraser and then goes right into a tunnel. Tunnels and bridges are expensive so surveyors and engineers avoid them if they can.


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Combine Average canola yields of approx.

35 bushels/acre Prairie-wide, or 0.793 tonnes/acre.

ship Ocean vessels designed to carry grain are generally capable of carrying

50,000 to 70,000 tonnes

This means it takes 5-7 trains to fill one ship. Assuming an average of 6 trains, each ship carries about 68,000 aCres worth of production.

DemanD Chain

super b truCk45 tonnes, or the production from roughly 57 aCres, if shipping canola.

train Most trains are around 100 railcars in length, meaning an average train would carry over 9,000 tonnes of canola to port, or 11,350 aCres worth of production.

railCar Depending on car design they carry

90-100 tonnes, or roughly the same as 2 super bs, the equivalent of 114 aCres.

supply Chain

Vital grain stats It takes all these numbers to keep grain flowing from the farm to the port and beyond

Country networkThe grain companies now turn to their network of country elevators and begin drawing grain from several different points at the same time to meet the grade and delivery deadline.

To give some indication of the scale of these operations, the two largest players, Viterra and Richardson, both have roughly 25 per cent of the handling capacity, and more than 50 elevator points.

On a given week, roughly 35 of their elevator points would likely ship.

terminal eleVatorThe grain company only has limited port capacity — many terminals can’t hold much more than one or two ships worth of grain, which means deliveries must be made on a “just in time” basis.

Most port facilities turn the whole capacity every 24-48 hours.

This translates into loading 4-7 ships a week, depending on rail service and ship size.

shipOnce the booking is confirmed, the selling company then generally has 3-7 days to load the ship upon its arrival.

CalenDarSales are made on a 30-day delivery window — for example, May 1 to May 30. The buyer then narrows the window down to two weeks, after booking commercial shipping.

ContraCtFor a specific amount of a certain quality: i.e. 50,000 tonnes of 1 CWRS 12.5 protein.

rail networkFederal mandate of 1 million tonnes a week means roughly 5,200 to 5,500 cars a week per rail line.

Depending on weather and other variables, the car cycle — which includes dropoff at a country position, filling, shipping to Vancouver, being emptied and returning to Prairie position, averages 10-14 days through the shipping season.

By Gord Gilmour


2014 Grain shipments by port• VancouVer 19.6 million tonnes• thunder bay 8.3 million tonnes• prince rupert 6.5 million tonnes• churchill 540,000 tonnes

shippinG season by port• VancouVer Year-round• prince rupert Year-round• thunder bay Early April to early January

(approximately 8 months)*• churchill Late July to early November

(approximately 12 weeks)

* Ships out of Thunder Bay are smaller, laker vessels with a 7-20 tonne capacity. Shipments are then transloaded at Quebec ports into larger ocean-going vessels.

VancouVer• richardson ............................108,000 tonnes

• carGill ...................................233,740 tonnes

• cascadia (Viterra) ...................282,830 tonnes

• pacific (Viterra) ......................199,150 tonnes

• alliance (P&H, Paterson) .........102,070 tonnes

prince rupert• prince rupert Grain ............209,510 tonnes

(Consortium owned by Viterra, Cargill and Richardson)

churchill• churchill Grain eleVator ...... 140,000 tonnes

(Hudson Bay Railway/OMNITrax)

thunder bay• superior eleVator .................176,000 tonnes

(Cargill, P&H)

• canada maltinG co. ..................62,800 tonnes

• richardson ............................208,500 tonnes

• mission terminal (CWB) ........136,500 tonnes

• Viterra a & b ..........................362,600 tonnes

• richardson ............................231,000 tonnes

• Western Grain by-products .......40,000 tonnes

A line running roughly through Regina and Saskatoon, which are the most expensive places to ship grain to port from, because it’s the farthest from tidewater in any direction.

Alberta and western Saskatchewan ship to Vancouver, Prince Rupert and the U.S.

Eastern Saskatchewan and Manitoba ship to Churchill, Thunder Bay and the U.S.

Grain terminals by port

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saskatcheWan

albertabritish

columbia

ontario

manitoba

EdMONTON

CALgARY

WINNIPEg

CHURCHILL

THUNdER BAY

VANCOUVER

PRINCE RUPERT


“�The�railways�got�blamed,�but�the�real�beneficiaries��of�the�situtation�were�the�grain�companies.”

—�U�of�S�transporation�expert�Richard�Gray

he 2013 harvest should have been a time of wild celebration. Prairie farmers had produced a bin-busting crop with a record-smashing 76 million tonnes, and with good crop prices, the entire West

should have struck up the music and started to dance.Instead, logistics turned the dream into a night-

mare, and although the railways pleaded their inno-cence, they attracted intense criticism from farmers, grain companies and government.

But was it fair for CN and CP?“Not entirely,” say long-time independent observ-

ers who have seen scores of shipping seasons, both good and bad.

“I don’t think it’s fair to have the railways shoul-der all the blame, but they certainly carry their share of it,” says Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corporation, the federal government’s grain monitor.

“You can’t expect the railways ever to be able to have the capacity to move a crop the size that it was in 2013-14,” adds Richard Gray, a professor of bio-resource policy, business and economics at the Uni-versity of Saskatchewan. “Even if they had all their ducks in a row, we’ve never been able to move a huge crop in one year and probably never will.”

Barry Prentice, a professor of supply chain man-agement at the University of Manitoba, argues it was irresponsible to put all the blame on the rail-ways, adding it was merely more expedient for Ottawa and the grain companies to do that than to be honest with producers.

“In my opinion, the railways were made the whip-

ping boy for the grain surge, and the industry could never have handled the volumes because no grain company has 30-plus per cent extra capacity on standby to deal with such demand, any more than the railways have 30-plus per cent more cars, crews and locomotives available,” Prentice says. “I personally feel that the grain companies were very remiss in add-ing that blame on the railways when they themselves knew very well they couldn’t move that extra quan-tity if the railcars had all been there.”

Prentice also scoffs at the notion the railways are the monolithic monopolies they’re made out to be, and he points out that some of the grain companies are large enough to buy and sell the railways they’re pretending to be powerless against.

“They’re not powerless at all,” says Prentice. “In fact, they’re even more powerful because they can direct deliveries to come to one elevator or another. They’ve got elevators on both lines, and they can punish one rail line if they want in favour of another any day… And with trucks with double trailers, you can haul grain across the border, you can haul it to a feedlot, we’ve got a lot more (domestic) processing — it’s not the kind of power of only one opportunity that we had 100 years ago.”

Gray goes so far as to argue the grain compa-nies in fact profited from the log-jam by way of widening basis levels.

“The ironic thing is the railways got blamed but the real beneficiaries of the situation were the grain com-panies. They’d have had huge basis,” says Gray.

S p R e a d i n G the blameBy Richard Kamchen

A year into the great grain fiasco, it’s no longer only about the railways

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A bAd stArt

The railways have consistently argued that the situation was beyond their control, saying that an unforeseen massive harvest caught them off guard, followed by a severe winter that forced them to move shorter trains.

“We missed it by a mile and a half,” CN’s execu-tive vice-president Jean-Jacques Ruest said in early spring 2014 about the pre-harvest crop production forecasts. “We missed it by 17 million tonnes as an industry, which means 10 million tonnes to CN, 10 million tonnes to CP. And when you miss it by that much and you have the winter from hell, this is why we’re here right now.”

The railways had assumed they wouldn’t need big capacity, and cost-cutting left them ill prepared to adapt. “Both railways had laid-off crews and leased-out rolling stock,” says Gray.

But nothing could have realistically prepared them for 2013, Gray continues. “If they had done everything perfectly, there might have been another few million tonnes that got moved.”

Even when the railways promised to provide 5,000 cars a week, no one was anticipating that every bushel would reach the west coast, Gray notes.

“If you talked to anybody in a grain company, they would have told you then and they’d tell you today there was never any expectation that the whole crop was going to get moved. No one in the know expected that,” Hemmes says.

Making the problem worse was that by mid-October, the 5,000-car promise proved unrealistic too. Both railways experienced derailments that would foreshadow impending doom.

“That was kind of the first domino that fell,” says Hemmes. “And after the middle of October, they could never keep up to the 5,000 cars a week.”

Hemmes says the railways are guilty, however, of worsening the impact by continuing to publish plans all the way up to Christmas that suggested they’d return to that 5,000-car level, and grain companies made sales based on those signals.

“That’s the single driver of what they use to sell into the marketplace, because without railway capac-ity, they can’t put their product in position at the port,” says Hemmes.

Grain companies make sales 10 to 12 weeks ahead, since they need to sign contracts in the coun-try to buy the grain and book an ocean vessel. “This is where it all started to fall apart,” Hemmes says.

But it’s the grain companies that are insulated from the pain, because they know the business will eventually come their way. “They know that what-ever they don’t move this week, they’ll move next week. What they don’t move this month, they’ll move next month. What they don’t move this quar-ter, they’ll move next quarter. There’s no risk for them whatsoever,” Hemmes says.

By contrast, the railways do feel pressure to move traffic in the more competitive container market.Otherwise the opportunity disappears, notes Paul Earl, director of the University of Manitoba’s Trans-port Institute.

But technically, the railways aren’t doing anything wrong. They’re operating within the confines of their regulatory and legislative obligations.

“It’s arguable that it wasn’t the railways’ fault at all because they were doing exactly what national transportation policy says they should do, and that is to operate as commercial entities,” says Earl. “And if you operate as a commercial entity, then you pursue the most profitable and efficient way to do what is in front of you.”

Their accountability is to their shareholders, and in a marketplace where there’s virtually no competi-tion, they have the capability of removing all kinds of risks and to optimize their productivity and asset utilization, says Hemmes. It’s why, for instance, they don’t maintain a lot of profit-draining surge capacity.

“And why should they? It’s not like there’s a competitive compulsion where they’re afraid they’re going to lose market share,” says Hemmes. “It’s a marketplace that’s entirely predicated on moving grain from the country system to the port by rail. You’re not going to truck it. It’s just not practical.”

Inherent flAws“Between the companies and the railways, they

probably need to figure out a better system,” says Gray, “especially for when you’re planning to ship 5,000 cars the first week of December and it’s 40 below and you ship 2,000. How do you sort that mess out? They don’t have a system.”

When cars fell behind, nobody knew what grain was going to move when. Some orders could be six weeks old, some two weeks old, and others a week old, but the railways weren’t obliged to take the old-est orders first, causing further confusion, Gray says.

Another major structural issue for grain compa-nies is how rail cars are moved to port. A train can leave a Saskatchewan elevator headed for the coast, but then be pulled into a yard in Edmonton and be broken up, leaving cars to arrive in Vancouver in no particular order over the next five to 10 days. Rail-ways try to maximize their throughput in the moun-tains, and will scatter freight, mixing heavy grain cars with light cars to do so.

“You’ve basically got somebody saying, just fill up my rail yard and I’ll pull out trains and make sure each train is a certain length and a certain weight,” says Gray, noting it might make sense from a railway per-spective, but it certainly doesn’t help grain movement.

“I think the system could be co-ordinated and improved a lot, but I don’t think the incentives are there to do it,” says Gray. Nor are industry players working well together to sort out the problems, he says. “And frankly when you think of the profits that are made when the system doesn’t work well, the incentives to sort it out aren’t very big.” CG


ttawa has long been in the busi-ness of trying to fix the problem of transporting Prairie grain to the west coast by rail. Yet the issues don’t get solved.

“None of the policies introduced by Raitt or Ritz did anything to deal with the surge,” University of Manitoba’s Barry Prentice says. “Worse, they have done nothing to prepare for the eventual repeat of the problem.”

Was there really anything that federal transporta-tion and agriculture ministers Lisa Raitt and Gerry Ritz could have done? After all, they did try. In March 2014, Ottawa set mandatory minimum grain traffic quotas for the railways.

Prentice dismisses the impact the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act had on improving CN and CP’s grain movement, which topped 50 million tonnes during the order and exceeded the mandated mini-mum by 5.5 million tonnes.

Prentice believes the grain would have got moved anyway, with the railways ramping up their efforts to clear the backlog once the brutal winter was behind them.

“It wasn’t like the government’s threat of doing something changed anything for the better. In fact, we found out it made things worse,” says Prentice.

To meet the mandatory minimums, the railways concentrated on mainline movement, which meant that producer cars, branch lines and cross-border movement suffered as a result. “Again, a further dis-tortion of the market,” Prentice says.

Agricultural economist Richard Gray of the Uni-versity of Saskatchewan calls the legislation a heavy-handed, blunt instrument for moving additional grain, and he believes the industry would be better served with revisions to the revenue cap that would strengthen railway incentives.

As it stands now, railways aren’t particularly fussy about when they move grain. The revenue cap means they get the same average fee per tonne-mile when they move the grain in the middle of January as they do earlier in the crop year. But it costs them more to move it in January.

Instead, Gray wants to see the revenue cap re-calculated, so every tonne of grain shipped between

autumn and January counts as 1.2 tonnes, which would provide a powerful incentive to railways.

“If it isn’t changed, I think we’re always going to have the situation where the railways are not going to treat capacity in any special way; they’re going to say we’ll get to the grain eventually, and eventually we’ll move it. And if that’s the case, you get grain stacked up on farms and you get the high export basis levels,” says Gray.

Yet Gray warns against eliminating the revenue cap, explaining that freight rates would rise and movement would suffer if the cap goes.

“Farmers’ willingness to pay depends on not mov-ing all their grain. As soon as you move all their grain, they can’t ship anymore,” says Gray. “So (railways) would actually raise rates, but it’s not clear they would move more grain. They actually might want to move less grain in order to keep those rates high.”

Prentice, however, favours the total and immedi-ate elimination of the revenue cap. He argues farm-ers aren’t better off at all with the revenue cap, and would actually receive better service without it. Mar-kets tend to allocate service to those most willing to pay for it, which for rail grain movement would have the effect of flattening out the peaks, making more efficient use of resources, and providing the incentive for the railways to do better.

“You just overload the system. We know there’s not enough cars — there can never be enough cars — and as a result of that, you’re always going to disappoint somebody. There’s always going to be customer service complaints unless the price is free to clear the market,” Prentice says.

He argues you get what you pay for, so that while farmers may be getting a good deal with a discounted freight rate, they’re also getting bottom-of-the-basement service.

“You don’t get the white tablecloth at McDon-ald’s,” Prentice says.

Prentice also heaps the blame for bad service on Ottawa. “It’s ironic that we have a Conservative govern-ment that is leaning against old Communist approaches to the management of the rail system. And if you think back to the old Soviet Union, customer service meant,

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The conTainer soluTion

Could containers be the answer to the West’s shipping woes?

By Richard Kamchen




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‘Stand in line and hope.’ … Why should we expect to get better service than the Rus-sians got if we’re playing it out with a Rus-sian system?”

The revenue cap policy has contami-nated the entire supply chain, causing Canada to earn a bad reputation for reli-ability, Prentice says. “You’re never going to become a reliable supplier if the incen-tives aren’t aligned correctly to deliver.”

Farmers may resist eliminating the cap because they feel they’re getting a great deal on freight rates, but Prentice says they’re paying for it with declining inter-national market share. “We’re viewed as an unreliable supplier internationally, and I think we get paid a discounted price because of that,” he says.

The revenue cap is also putting a lid on expanding container traffic, which would bring multiple benefits for farm-ers, with higher income for specialized grain movement plus help managing peak loads and surge capacity.

No one knows when there will be another mega-harvest. In a surge like 2013, the industry needs an elastic sys-tem that can expand when necessary but also contract when no longer needed.

“The problem with the bulk handling system is it’s a very rigid system...You

can’t afford to expand your system by 35 per cent for a once-in-10-years event,” says Prentice.

But you can rent containers on a short-term basis from the world market. They could be positioned on farms as temporary storage, and later be moved via container trucks, trains and terminals — all without adding congestion to the remaining bulk grain system.

The revenue cap, however, creates a double disincentive that discourages the railways from moving grain in containers.

When the revenue cap was estab-lished, containerized grain got lumped in with the bulk grain volumes and rev-enues. But railway costs are higher for container movement than bulk, and any higher revenue the railways earned for shipping containers would eat up the rev-enue cap faster.

To stay within the revenue cap, rail-ways would have to charge less on sub-sequent bulk shipments, says Prentice. In a system without a revenue cap, the con-tainer alternative would limit freight rate increases during peak demand periods.

“The development of a container-ized grain supply chain would enhance competition. If farmers have a choice of shipping grain through a bulk handling system or a containerized grain handling supply chain, then they are going to be

able to choose the one that delivers the best returns for them,” Prentice says.

Grain companies, however, would probably like the idea of containers to go away because containers would reduce their role as an intermediate. Farmers, Prentice says, could sell specialized prod-ucts without grain companies.

“In the age of the Internet, bar codes, electronic funds transfers and other communications strategies, there are no reasons why farmers could not deal as directly with their overseas customers as eBay or any other decentralized market-ing system,” Prentice concludes.

But Quorum president Mark Hemmes warns about the limitations of containers as a solution.

When Canada would most need the supplemental capacity — the fall/post-harvest period — is when container capacity is most constrained, thanks to the Christmas rush.

Container capacity is also constrained by the flow of inbound consumer goods traffic. It’s this movement that commands the higher price. The supply of outbound container capacity depends on how many containers are available at imported goods’ destinations, and that’s mostly driven by the demographics of the receiv-ing area, so southwestern Ontario gets far more containers than the Prairies.

“The alternative is to reposition con-tainers from one location to another. The railways of course charge for that, which increases the overall cost of movement,” says Hemmes.

Hemmes adds that container owners wouldn’t embrace having their equip-ment float around the Prairies looking for movement as that won’t come close to generating the kind of revenue of inbound traffic.

“They therefore will not always allow for those movements to occur, and will opt to move the empty container back to port position and load it on an outgoing vessel quickly in order to return it to the head haul point of origin,” Hemmes says.

Hemmes adds that 20-foot containers are better suited to grain than 40-foot units since they have greater logistical efficiency. But there are about twice as many 40-foot containers as 20-footers.

Yet Prentice insists it’s time for a tech-nological overhaul. “Bulk grain handling has changed very little in the past 150 years, since we gave up on burlap sacks,” he says. “Containerization is a new sup-ply chain based on ‘steel sacks.’” CG

“�A�containerized�grain�supply�chain�would�enhance�competition,”�argues�U�of�M�economist�Barry�Prentice


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This summer, such a place will exist. Introducing Ag in motion, Western Canada’s newest and only outdoor farm expo. Debuting July 21 to 23, on a half-section (320 acres) near Saskatoon, SK, it’s the only show that provides an outdoor venue for progressive farmers in Western Canada that want to see and experience the latest agricultural innovation, all in one place. Ag in motion will feature field equipment demonstrations, live crop plots and interactive exhibits such as “ride and drives” and smaller equipment demos.

“Ag in motion will offer farmers a unique opportunity to compare crop plots and machinery, in action, and ultimately help them make decisions about the best products for their operations,” says Show Director Rob O’Connor. “There’s nowhere else in Western Canada where farmers can actually see multiple pieces of farm equipment in operation, take a test drive, or compare different crop varieties all in one place.”

What does an outdoor show look like?The Ag in motion team brings together the expertise of seasoned farm show organizers. The Expo is operated by Glacier FarmMedia, who owns Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, the country’s largest outdoor farm show held annually near Woodstock, Ontario. Also part of Glacier FarmMedia are Western Producer, Manitoba Co-operator, Grainews, Country Guide, Canadian Cattlemen, Alberta Farmer Express and AgDealer. The team knows what’s involved in delivering an outdoor show, and the potential such a venue provides.

Now in its 22nd year, Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show delivers 750 exhibitors and 42,000 visitors each year. Most attendees come to

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Ag in motion is applying the same model and will become a must-see event by showcasing cutting-edge agricultural advancements that empower Canadian farmers to help meet their goals in producing high quality, safe food in a competitive marketplace.

To learn more about how an outdoor show looks and operates, view the videos on the Ag in motion website, www.aginmotion.ca.

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ow serious are Barrie and Merel Voth about their start-up goat dairy venture? Serious enough that they wrote exactly two exit options into their

farm lease agreement. Bankruptcy. Or death.“Oh, but don’t write that!” says Merel. In April last year, when they signed on the

dotted line for their five-year lease agreement at Silver Creek, between Vernon and Salmon Arm, B.C., they tied themselves — and their landlords — as tightly as legally possible to the contract. And no wonder: Hillside Dreams Goat Dairy represents more than a 12-hour-a-day job, and more than every nickel of their savings. This start-up farm is the culmination of 16 years of Barrie’s dreaming and scheming, apprenticing and planning.

Admittedly, the Voths’ farming venture might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Even by agriculture’s fairly extreme standards, the hours at Hillside Dreams are long, physically demanding and labour intensive. But both Merel and Barrie agree: the joy found building this dream, the family time it affords, and the opportunity to work the land together make it worth all that effort and more.

The alarm clock rings at 3:30 a.m., seven days a week, 365 days a year. With more than 300 not-so-patient four-leggers in the barns across the laneway, hitting snooze isn’t even a possibility.

By 3:45 a.m., Barrie is forking hay, pour-ing grain, checking mamas, moving newborns, mixing bucket after bucket of formula. An hour later, he pulls a lever, making the gates of his high-tech milking parlour whoosh open. With surprising orderliness, the first of 145 full-uddered milking goats separate themselves from a milling, maa-ing flock and slot them-selves into milking position, ready to contrib-ute their share towards the 250 litres Barrie collects at each milking time.

Though the incredibly early morning start can be tough, especially in the dark and cold of winter, the early hours allow intentional family downtime once the earliest chores are done.

FIrST-GEn FArMInG

By Madeleine Baerg

Like other new farmers across Canada, Barrie and Merel Voth may not produce the commodities you’d expect, or farm at the scale you’d like, but they’re committed, brave, and very, very smart

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The sacrifices are real, the work is long, but the joys, say Barrie and Merel Voth, are worth it all


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Finding balance, especially because they are proud par-ents to six-month-old baby Mattias, is a top priority.

“One of the best parts of farming is that we always have a fancy breakfast. That’s when we spend quality family time together, just hanging out between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., doing some devotions, and taking Mattias for a walk,” says Barrie.

Granted, by breakfast Barrie will already be four hours into his work day. By many people’s standards, that many hours of hard labour would equal a work-day half done. Not on this farm. After breakfast and family time, Barrie will still have another eight or more hours of barn-time to go before he tucks his four-legged ladies in for the night. And with baby Mattias strapped to her back for many of those hours, Merel will work right alongside.

Barrie has dairy farming in his blood but, because his dad gave up a (cow) dairy quota when he was

two, Barrie can’t claim being born and raised in farm-ing. Still, there’s little question that every part of him was born to be a farmer.

At 16, he got his first goats. By 22, he’d bought his first farm house, started breeding goats, and was already six years into a 16-year, self-made apprentice-ship at cow and then goat dairies. Now, at 32, he’s weeks away from celebrating a huge milestone: the one-year anniversary of officially rolling their very own goat dairy into production.

“We realised we could afford to buy a farm or start a farm, not both. We could afford land but then we’d have no animals because land is so expensive. So, we decided to hold off on buying our own place for another five to 10 years and instead we went in search of a place we could rent,” says Merel.

Finding a suitable place with the right kind of space and buildings, acceptable on-site accommoda-tions, and reasonable proximity to the processing plant that buys their milk was a longshot.

“I drove around all these little farm roads, knock-ing on doors at any places that looked like they could maybe suit us. I knocked on a lot of doors. In January, I drove by this place. It had the barns and, by chance, it had been a cow dairy until just three or four months before, so the place had potential,” says Barrie.

“Perfect!” I say. “Almost like it was meant to be?”“Oh, so, so not perfect,” counters Merel.The house needed serious work to be liveable;

the barns needed even more. And so, in the midst of Merel’s last trimester of pregnancy, her last weeks of thesis completion towards a masters degree in social work, and the 14-, 16-, even 18-hour days of grinding, sawing, chiseling, and constructing to convert a former cow dairy into a goat-appropriate operation, Merel and Barrie lived in an RV. A rough RV. A rough RV with a leak in the roof right above their bed.

“It gave us a true appreciation for a flush toilet, a kitchen and a full-size bed with headroom,” says Merel. “It was a strength-building exercise for our marriage.”

And that’s just the start. In fact, if adversity builds strength, Barrie and Merel must sport some very big muscles. On their first goat-buying trip east, they managed -35 C temperatures only to have their truck break down, leaving them wondering whether it was meant to be, says Merel.

Delivery of the high-tech milking equipment, ordered directly from Holland, was delayed and then delayed again resulting in Barrie hand-milking, up to 40 milking does (nanny goats) four hours per day for weeks.

The hottest days of the summer fell on “goat moving day”: Merel and Barrie managed to corral, load, and truck 180 worried goats, 40 goats at a time, the 50 km from their old farm (now sold to finance the business startup) to the new farm.

“I never had postpartum depression but I prob-ably had some form of post-farm-starting depression. You just can’t catch a break some days,” says Merel.

That said, much more important to the Voths than

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the hard times and learning experiences have been the wins and many successes even in just this first year of operation.

“So far, I think we’ve been pretty lucky and we’ve made a lot of good decisions,” says Barrie. “Ask us in five years what we’d do different because we’re still in too much startup mode to be able to answer that now. But overall, I’m happy with the choices we’ve made along the way.”

Partially, that’s because the Voths know how to ask good questions of peo-ple who can provide good answers.

“It’s great to have a dream and a vision but you need certain people on your team: people to help us be realistic, like a great landlord, a mentor, a lawyer, an accountant, a good feed rep, a good vet. That way, it’s not just us on our own, and our decisions can be grounded in good economics, not just a love for goats,” says Barrie.

In the midst of farm startup last year, Barrie competed in a program called Launch-a-preneur, a competition sup-ported by Okanagan University College, the Shuswap Community Futures, and

his town’s economic development soci-ety. The competition is exactly what it sounds like: a takeoff on popular TV show “The Dragon’s Den.” The competi-tion strives to support and help establish innovative, local, brand-new entrepre-neurs. The competition connected Merel and Barrie with a business mentor who has since become an invaluable resource.

“You can say you want to milk this many goats, but how much does it cost to keep each goat per day? Where is that going to take us in five years? That’s what our business mentor helps us with. She’s crazy about numbers, but in such a good way,” says Barrie. “We want to grow — I’m hoping to be milking 250 goats by the fall next year — but we need to be grow-ing using good economics.”

One person who hopes to take a slightly more backseat role on the farm is Merel. When her maternity leave is over in November, she plans to return to full-time social work at the local hospital. By then, they hope to have hired a part-time employee for the farm. But for now, Merel is a hands-on, heart-in part of this

team, moving goats, cleaning machines, lugging pails of milk replacer formula to hungry goat kids.

“The reality is, I’ve never wanted to be a farmer’s wife. That was never the dream,” she says with disarming honesty. “There are a lot of ways to support this farm’s success. For now, that means I’m here; later it’ll mean I’m contributing to keeping us going by going back to off-farm work.”

Back in July last year, B.C.’s Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick went for a drive along a quiet country road, looking to chat with a farmer or two along his meandering way. By chance, he pulled over beside a faded red, quintessentially “farmy” barn, deceptively quiet in the mid-morning sun. There, he met a couple who in words and work ethic prove that agriculture has a bright future.

“He wanted to talk farming: to hear about what we’re doing and to find out about our plans for the future,” Barrie says. “We told him we’re planning to be in this for the long haul, one April kidding season at a time.” CG

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apidly rising populations, sprawl-ing cities, shrinking farmland, and the feared effects of climate change prompted the Ontario government to create its Greenbelt around Toronto

10 years ago, with the goal of protecting some of the nation’s top agricultural land from development and fragmentation.

After a decade, it seems it may be working.The greenbelt approach to land use planning has

garnered mostly cheers — but some jeers too — from municipalities, environmentalists, planners, develop-ers, farmers, academics and others. The plan’s future is currently being discussed by all of them under a comprehensive review with many, sometimes con-flicting, ideas being offered up about its legacy and impact, and where it should go from here.

At stake is 1.8 million acres of highly productive farmland, natural treasures, and environmentally sensitive ecosystems right beside some of the most densely populated land in the country. The Greenbelt encircles what is called the Greater Golden Horse-shoe, home to more than nine million people (i.e. a quarter of Canada’s population) including the cities of Hamilton, Toronto and Oshawa.

To farmer Jason Verkaik, however, the perspective is exactly wrong.

“We should have greenbelted the whole province generations ago and put up the cities and towns around the protected area,” says Verkaik, who grows mostly carrots, onions and beets on 220 acres of the Holland Marsh and who is president of the Ontario

Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association. The Hol-land Marsh, north of Toronto, is part of the Green-belt, and its rich soil makes it a key producer of vegetable crops.

While Verkaik knows his idea is no longer a real option, he’s not anti-city. He is a progressive farmer — he tries new vegetable varieties, is plugged into the latest muck crop research, and appreciates his urban customers. He says things like “farmers feed cities, but farmers also need cities.”

But Verkaik draws the line at letting urban people decide policy for farmers because he feels non-farm-ers don’t have a full perspective of all the issues. He recalls, for instance, attending one of the province’s stakeholder organization meetings in March, and emerging with a clear take-home. “Some people have pretty intense agendas,” Verkaik says. “Not always do they balance that out with people’s need to eat.”

Still, Verkaik stuck to his message at the meeting. If you want to protect farmland, he told everyone who would listen, you have to protect the farmer and his business.

“We have to have a system in which the next gen-eration wants to continue the business of farming as a great way of life that’s good for the world, where you can make a profit at it and have some security,” Verkaik says.

Many of the academics and non-profit organizations who have studied the Greenbelt agree with Verkaik.

In 2013, Wayne Caldwell, the University of Guelph’s director of its School of Environmental Design and Rural Development published a study about the Greenbelt called Possibility Grows Here. He feels that farmers’ needs and concerns must be more clearly on the table in the Greenbelt Plan.

“If agriculture is to be there, it won’t be there by accident — there have to be intentional policies to support agriculture — both nationally and pro-vincially, and in terms of economics and land use,” Caldwell says. “There’s a need for a vision to clearly state what we want agriculture to be like in 20 or 30 years, and policies to adequately support it.”

The Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy (CIELAP) also agrees. As its 2010 study that

Save the farmer, Save the farmland

By Lois Harris

10 years later, was setting up the Ontario’s Greenbelt worth the pain? More farmers are saying yes

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“�It�won’t�be�there�by�accident,”�says�Caldwell.�“There�have�to�be�intentional�policies�to�support�agriculture.”

covered the Greenbelt in an international context says: “Protecting the Greenbelt’s valuable agricultural land base from loss and fragmentation needs to be comple-mented with measures to ensure the con-tinued economic viability of near-urban agriculture. Municipalities and the pro-vincial government should collaborate with local agricultural action committees and others to develop and implement supportive policies, including expan-sion of markets for locally grown foods and other more direct farm-to-consumer mechanisms, diversification of on-farm activities, and strengthening of farming capacities.”

The CIELAP study compared Ontar-io’s plan with other greenbelts in Den-mark, England, Brazil, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany and the U.S.

Ontario’s version, while being the youngest, was also the most effective, the report says. It concludes, “Compared to other greenbelts around the world, this Greenbelt is underpinned by one of the strongest legal frameworks, impressive political commitment, a clear diversity of benefits, enthusiastic community organi-zations, and a supportive public.”

When asked what it is doing for farm-

ers, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH), which is con-ducting the current review, says the province “has a wide range of economic supports, programs and resources to sup-port the agri-food sector.”

MMAH says the early feedback from the farming community includes support for several key planks, such as strength-ening agricultural land protection, pro-viding flexibility for on-farm economic activities, streamlining implementation and approval processes that affect farm-ing, and supporting farmers.

Some of the support that farmers have received has come in the form of grants from the Friends of the Greenbelt Foun-dation and later the Greenbelt Fund.

The foundation, created in 2005 shortly after the Greenbelt legislation was passed, has put nearly $36.7 million into farming, environmental, tourism and other projects in the area. The Hol-land Marsh Growers’ Association was set up in 2008 with $400,000 from the foundation.

The Greenbelt Fund, started in 2010, helps businesses and organizations all across the province. Between 2010 and 2014, it invested $7.9 million in local

food-boosting projects — about 80 per cent in the form of grants. The organiza-tion says that for every $1 it invests, local food sales increase by $7.

The fund also sponsors Ontariofresh.ca, an online business connector that puts farmers and customers together.

While there is much to recommend the Greenbelt Plan, there are also some downsides, including the vast array of regulations and legislation that affect and overlap it.

The current province-wide review is called “co-ordinated” because it includes not only the Greenbelt, but also the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the Niagara Escarpment Plan and the Oak Ridges Moraine Conserva-tion Plan. The government set up a series of public consultations around the region to garner input into the plans’ future.

Most participants at the Caledon

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Town Hall meeting in late March agreed that it was wise to look at the four plans together. But some questioned why there had not been better co-ordi-nation in the first place, and asked if there could be more consolidation coming out of the talks.

With 78 per cent of his municipality in the Green-belt, Caledon mayor Allan Thompson expressed his frustration as a municipal leader trying to help farmers and businesses with all the rules: “We need one set of policies for agriculture, and one set for businesses and small communities,” he said after the initial presenta-tion. “I don’t have a comfort with what you’re show-ing here — are you bringing this all together?”

Thompson pointed out that a Greater Toronto Area Agricultural Action Plan already existed and it covered the entire area, from Durham Region to Niagara. That plan was published around the same time the Greenbelt legislation was passed in 2005, and was supported by the federal and provincial governments, the Golden Horseshoe municipalities, and all the local federations of agriculture. It offered recommendations related to economic development, education, marketing, land use policy, and account-ability and responsibility.

Over and above the four plans being reviewed, the Planning Act and Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) set the basic ground rules and directions for land use planning in Ontario. In addition, there are no fewer than 18 other laws, strategies, plans and guidelines that affect what happens in the area.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing says that changes made to the PPS in 2014 provided added flexibility for on-farm economic activities. It also says that the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is developing a “Farms Forever” program to comple-ment steps already taken to better protect farmland and to support the growth of the agri-food sector.

Keith Currie, vice-president of the Ontario Federa-tion of Agriculture (OFA) was also at the Caledon meet-ing as part of the panel heading up the province-wide review. Two of the six panel members represent farm groups. Former Toronto mayor David Crombie chairs the panel, and Debbie Zimmerman, CEO of the Grape Growers of Ontario, is the other farm representative.

Currie says that while the OFA was initially against the Greenbelt legislation, in his words, “time heals, and the Greenbelt is not going away.”

The OFA is Canada’s largest farm organization, with 37,000 members. In its December 2004 submis-sion on the draft Greenbelt Plan, it said the province could not protect a greenbelt without providing for the economic viability of farming, and that it mustn’t impose a one-size-fits-all approach to a diverse region.

There were concerns about making sure every-body knew that lands in the Greenbelt were privately owned, but that since environmental and drinking water protections are a public benefit, everybody should pay for the work farmers do in this regard.

Currie pointed out that some concerns have per-sisted including the “leapfrogging” effect that the Greenbelt has produced, with urban sprawl stopping at the city limits, but picking up again on the other side of the restricted area.

“There are certain unintended consequences that have happened over the years, and leapfrogging is one,” Currie says.

Currie thinks that some of the confusion could be taken out of the entire process by maintaining what is unique to each of the four plans, and referring their common aspects to the overarching Provincial Planning Statement.

Currie also thinks that the size of the Greenbelt should not be expanded until some of the more con-tentious aspects of the plan are fixed. He, too, agrees with the concept of protecting not just the land, but also the farmers, which extends to supports like good transportation routes and available suppliers.

One of the biggest concerns in 2005 was the pos-sibility that agricultural land values inside the pro-tected Greenbelt would plummet — something that would be confirmed, somewhat, by research.

A study from the University of Guelph pub-lished in 2010 found that the value of land under immediate development pressure (within five kilometres of the Greater Toronto Area) fell by about 24 per cent or $3,000 an acre as a result of the Greenbelt legislation. The agricultural land between five and 40 kilometres of the cities showed no drop in value.

One of the main goals of the Greenbelt Plan is to “prevent the loss and fragmentation of agricultural land” — something it has not yet achieved. In fact, the current review’s discussion paper says, “Between 2006 and 2011, the region as a whole lost 4.4 per cent of its total farmland area — just over 160,000 acres (65,000 hectares) — an area larger than the City of Toronto.”

Part of the problem, however, may be the grand-fathering of land deals that were approved prior to the legislation taking effect.

“The land counts as agricultural until it is taken out of production,” says Wayne Caldwell. “It could be years between the purchase and actually doing anything other than farming on the land.”

Caldwell is currently looking into official plan amendments and anticipates that some approvals were granted decades ago and don’t reflect current planning practices.

“It doesn’t mean the Greenbelt Plan isn’t work-ing,” Caldwell says.

Where the future takes the Greenbelt is in the hands of the many residents, farmers, environmen-talists, organizations, experts and others who are weighing in at the 16 regional town hall meetings. Written submissions are also being received via the Environmental Bill of Rights registry and the Min-istry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, with a draft document that will be submitted to provincial gov-ernment in the fall. CG

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EMPOWERINGFARMERS

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™ Denotes a trade-mark of Canada’s Outdoor Shows Limited Partnership.

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ith the milk from their 60-cow, mostly Holstein herd, Martin de Groot, his wife Ineke Booy and their family make their Maple-ton’s Organic line of ice creams

and fresh and frozen yoghurts in their on-farm dairy at Moorefield, Ont., shipping their winter surplus through Harmony Organic Dairy Products.

What they sell is much more, however, including a way of farming that has become a top priority for their customers, coupled with a policy of transpar-ency that lets those customers roam the farm at will.

But that doesn’t mean he’s inefficient.Two years ago when de Groot built a new barn,

for instance, he chose a Lely robotic milking system for maximum cow comfort. “With a voluntary milk-ing system, the cow can get milked when she wants to… most of them choose to be milked every six to seven hours,” he explains.

Yet it also means he can capture reams of data to help his herd management, making it easier to track heat cycles and mastitis, for example. And after 35 years, de Groot himself is freed from milking, so he can allocate his time where it pays the most.

De Groot’s cows do seem the epitome of relaxation as they chew their cuds while lounging on the compost bedding pack in the free-stall barn. But that bedding not only boosts cow comfort, it boost efficiency too, generating heat from the composting process to keep the barn warm in winter, explains de Groot.

Although the compost bedding pack isn’t com-mon in Canada, it’s popular in Europe where there is more concern about greenhouse gas emissions, says de Groot. The aerobic composting process ties up the nutrients and prevents greenhouse gases from forming, which also means there is minimal smell.

Another co-comfort feature of the barn is the flexible feeding fence. The plastic uprights move with the cows allowing for access to the feed while preventing neck abrasions.

Cows also have access to a Luna Lely cow brush which allows them to get a good back scratch. They use it several times a day, making for a happier, healthier, more productive herd, says de Groot.

A Ventec Polymat G3 insulated curtain shields the cows from adverse weather but gives the cows a lot of natural light year-round. When the weather is good, the cows have access to pasture.

Signs in the barn explain to visitors the various features that optimize cow comfort, and a glass viewing area allows visitors to watch the cows being milked.

Mapleton’s Organic has a diversified marketing strategy. De Groot sells their ice cream and frozen yoghurt nationally and through stores in Toronto such as Whole Foods, Fiesta Farms, The Big Car-rot, and some Sobey’s stores as well as through many smaller stores in Ontario such as Pfenning’s Organic in St. Agatha and Fiddleheads in Kitch-ener and Cambridge. Ice cream cones are sold at local shows and festivals such as Canada’s Out-door Farm Show in Woodstock and at the Hillside Music Festival in Guelph. More recently, Maple-ton’s Organic has also begun selling soft-serve fro-zen yoghurt through ice cream chains.

When organic isn’t enoughTheir consumers don’t just want organic, says Martin de Groot. They want animal welfare, cow comfort, energy self-sufficiency… and they want to see it all in action

By Helen Lammers-Helps

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Ideally, de Groot would like to sell all of his products in Ontario to cut down on shipping.

In 2005 he built an on-farm store and café to attract urbanites on their way to their Lake Huron cottages, and now in summer the store is very busy on Friday nights with cottagers stocking up for the weekend and stopping on Sunday nights on their return home. The store is ideally located at about the halfway point for cottagers, and also sells lunches and meat from the other animals they raise on the farm.

In addition to the retail outlet, Mapleton’s Organic has a small demonstration barn with an assortment of animals, a crop demonstration area and a maze. “The little demo barn was the best investment,” says

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Becoming customer focused doesn’t have to mean you sacrifice efficiency, de Groote says


de Groot. “People love it. The children go to the barn first and then to the store,” he says.

Mapleton’s Organic also tours up to 1,500 school children through their barns every year.

Originally, de Groot sold his organic milk to Organic Meadows, a co-operative organic milk dairy, but left the co-op in 2000 to build his ice cream plant.

The biggest challenge, he says, has been market-

ing. It was slow in the beginning and the ice cream side of the business lost money for the first few years. “Nothing comes overnight but if you believe in it and have perseverance, it will come,” he now says.

In keeping with the farm’s commitment to sus-tainability, wastewater from the dairy is used to heat the farm store and office through in-floor heating, and solar panels were installed on the barn roof this past March, making Mapleton’s Organic a net energy producer.

Coming of age on a dairy farm in the Netherlands in the 1960s, de Groot says his original plan was to help the world’s poor. He graduated from univer-sity with a degree in tropical animal husbandry and worked in countries including Ghana and Indonesia. Meanwhile, Booy’s parents had moved to Canada and purchased the dairy farm at Moorefield with the plan for her two brothers to take over. When the boys changed their minds, her parents asked de Groot and Booy if they wanted to take over.

De Groot said it seemed like a good opportunity and in 1980 they settled on the farm where they raised four children. De Groot says the neighbours were very helpful as he learned to farm in Canada and he appreciates how welcoming Canada is to immigrants of all ethnicities.


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Although de Groot had some experience with organic farming in the Netherlands, he hadn’t planned to farm organically. It was Booy who became concerned about conventional agricul-ture’s impact on the environment. Although he was initially skeptical, after meeting some successful Ontario organic farmers, de Groot became con-vinced it could work.

While health and sustainability helped the plan make sense, de Groot also embraced the the idea of selling real food to real people. “I am a food pro-ducer, not a commodity producer,” he says.

De Groot grows all of his own feed on his 450 acres, all of which is certified organic. The transition to organic was hard, admits de Groot. It took time for soils to adjust and he took a hit financially at first, and there was also an impact on their social life.

Today he has a new social network of organic farmers and customers, and in summer, they host Fridays on the Farm with people gathering for food, fun and a sense of community.

De Groot has eight full-time employees includ-ing his daughter, Arwa, the farm’s herdsperson for the past two and a half years. In the summer they employ several summer students and also take on

several WOOFers, volunteers who want to experi-ence the organic lifestyle through the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms program.

Mapleton’s Organic sells 400,000 litres of ice cream and frozen yoghurt and 100,000 litres of fresh yoghurt each year. They sell nine flavours of ice cream wholesale but even more flavours — some of them seasonal — are sold direct to customers.

Flavours include ginger, lavender and maple, with seasonal flavours including dandelion in the spring, pumpkin in the fall and candy cane at Christmas.

De Groot sees more opportunities for farmers to produce what consumers want. A quarter of con-sumers say they want to know more about where their food is produced, he points out. And, de Groot adds, they’re willing to pay for “a good story and to have faith in the product.” CG

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Organic initially hurt their bottom line, de Groote admits. Now, organic adds to it


nyone can tell you (in fact, they prob-ably already have, more than once) that the Internet is too powerful a tool to ignore for marketing your value-added products. But exactly how can

you harness its potential to reach your own goals?When creating an online presence, Nigel Gordijk,

owner of Common Sense Design in New Hamburg, Ont., aims to develop a website using a content management system which allows his clients to update it themselves.

This way, the client can keep it relevant without the added expense of going back to the website designer for changes every time, explains Gordijk, who specializes in marketing for small and medium businesses, many of them agricultural.

Gordijk also recommends you develop a conver-sational tone in your writing that is more friendly and engaging than corporate-speak. “Just imagine you are speaking to the person in front of you,” he advises.

People do business with people, Gordijk empha-sizes, so he recommends farmers profile the people involved in making the product. “It gives a genuine sense of the unique character and personality,” he says. People buy at supermarkets for the conve-nience, but they buy direct from the producer for the farm connection, so include information on the care and attention to detail that goes into the prod-uct. Many consumers appreciate the labour of love involved in farming, says Gordijk.

Testimonials by satisfied customers are very effective too, Gordijk adds. “Third-party feedback always has more credibility than a sales pitch. After all, these are people who have given you their money.”

If you are actively involved in your community, celebrate this on your farm website, says Gordijk. “This creates a sense of goodwill and encourages others to participate as well,” he says.

Don’t forget to let people know how to reach you, especially including a good map. Gordijk says you can add a vicinity search engine to a website so people on the go can find you.

On the technical side, make sure your website works with different-size screens, including smart-

phones. If your customers are out driving around and decide they want to pick up some farm-fresh strawberries, make sure they can find you.

And remember that your website is never done, adds Gordijk. “Launch with the basic information and then build on it over time,” he says.

Cindy Wilhelm, owner of Dragonfly Garden Farm in Chatsworth, Ont. says her website includes their farm philosophy and business hours. “This saves me explaining to each customer why our farm is wonder-ful,” she says. Her website also has an online store which is important for generating sales. Wilhelm says her e-newsletter is one of her main sales tools.

But a website should rarely be your only e-tactic.Consider social media too, with their online plat-forms for sharing opinions, experiences and other content. Here, your goal will be to create content for others to respond to, explains Dr. Andreas Boecker, a professor in food, agriculture and resource eco-nomics at the University of Guelph. These platforms include but are not limited to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, blogs and Instagram and can be used in conjunction with your website. For example, you could use a YouTube video to demonstrate how you make your cheese.

Canadians are among the most active users of social media, and at present the two most impor-tant social media platforms are Facebook and Twit-ter. Your market will determine which one is most important to your business, says Gordijk. Twitter users tend to be younger and Facebook users tend to be older, explains Gordijk. Although things can shift rapidly in the online world, Facebook currently has 1.32 billion users worldwide and is most popular in the 35 to 54 age group. On the other hand, Twitter which has 271 million users is most commonly used by those aged 18 to 29.

When it comes to social media, Gordijk advises that you should avoid bombarding your followers with sales information. Think of it as cultivating a community instead, he says. “You can be a source of information on the industry,” says Gordijk who emphasizes the need for patience. “You won’t build an audience overnight.”

Digital Marketing 101In this last column of our value-added series, we look at how social media can boost your value-add project


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One of the advantages of social media is the opportunity to engage your customers and create a two-way conversation.

Consider encouraging participation by sponsoring contests. For example, Cambridge asparagus grower, Tim Barrie, hosts a “guess the first day of asparagus harvest” contest every spring.

Before creating a social media account, it’s important to understand what you are trying to accomplish. It should be part of a larger marketing strategy. Whichever social media channels you choose to use, designate someone who is passionate about your business to be in charge of it. It’s important to be adding fresh content on a regular basis.

Use photos as much as possible. It’s OK to use your smart-phone to take pictures. “People know you are a small business and expect a certain amount of spontaneity,” says Gordijk.

Murphy’s Bakery near Alliston, Ont. has been very success-ful using social media. They take pictures of their cupcakes or pumpkin pies using an iPhone and then post them to Facebook. Many of the people coming in to buy them say they came because they saw the photos on Facebook.

Meghan Snyder, co-owner of Snyders Family Farm near Ayr, Ont. says Facebook is a very important marketing tool for their family-focused daytime activities. However, they also run a Hal-loween-themed Fear Farm at night, and for that market, Twitter is more important, she says.

Having Facebook and Twitter accounts is essential, says Snyder. “It’s equivalent to having a Yellow Pages ad back in the ’90s,” she says. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, Snyder uses Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube, but she admits she struggles to tap into the full power of social media. “It takes time away from other work, but I think it’s important,” she says.

Social media is just one marketing tool that Snyder uses. Others include networking, word of mouth, and print advertis-ing. Snyder also buys ads on Facebook and will likely buy ads on Twitter this fall. She sponsors events which she promotes through her social media channels.

“Cool posts, contests, great images and social media take most of the money I used to use for print advertising,” Snyder says. “I still do a lot of radio though.” CG

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Get more from soCial mediaIf you’re new to social media, you’ve got some learning to do. But

it isn’t that tough. To begin, just “listen” in on a social media channel for a while to get a feel for it before you post.

also check out books, even if it sounds counterintuitive to buy a paper book to learn about paperless communication. a good place to start is UnMarketing by Scott Stratten (john Wiley & Sons Inc., 2010), although of course you can also check out Stratten’s website at www.un-marketing.com.

even when you begin posting, recognize that you will need to continue to learn. When it comes to Twitter, for instance, try posting at different times of day to see what time is most effective. Then repeat your tweets for greater effectiveness.

“Think of it like showing a car commercial,” says nigel Gordijk of Common Sense Design. not everyone is on at the same time, so you need to show it more than once.

use separate accounts for personal and business social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Keep it positive. For example, don’t complain about the problems you are having getting a building permit from the municipality. and don’t bash the competition.

use photos as much as possible.also let your customers know when you are at an event and invite

them to come and visit you.To build a following, follow others in your industry. They may follow

you back.and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Social media is more forgiving

if your language isn’t perfect, but avoid the overuse of exclamation points. “Don’t use three exclamation points when one will do,” says Gordijk.


CropsGuide By Jay Whetter

are you ‘alWays WronG’ at Camp sClerotinia?

h, all the joys of summer camp… first loves, campfires and archery supremacy. And don’t forget wood ticks, swimmer’s itch and the stench of a cabin on weiners and beans night.

In fact, it probably isn’t too big a stretch to say that the way we remember summer camp is probably as diverse as the way growers look at sclerotinia stem rot, the most widespread and costly canola disease across the Prairies. This article divides growers into four cabins based on

their approach to the fungicide spray decision. Two cabins agonize over the decision. Two cabins don’t.Which cabin are you in?

CaBin 1: seekinG a sure thinG

These growers are well read, they follow Canola Watch, they attend crop tours, and they scout their fields. They have heard all the reasons to spray for sclerotinia stem rot, but they have run the numbers on cost and they’re not seeing the clear benefit they think they should be seeing.

The cost of the fungicide, plus the application cost, plus crop trampling losses, plus the opportu-nity cost of scouting add up to $40 per acre, based on these campers’ assessment of the latter two costs, so they want to see at least a five bu./ac. ben-efit from spraying — preferably more.

In their experience, losses have not been enough to make the decision a lock. If it’s really wet dur-ing flowering, they may spray, but most years they won’t bother. Yet in the years when they don’t spray, they worry they’ve left profit on the table. There is a gap in knowledge and forecasting ability that makes the decision agonizing for them.

CaBin 2: alWays WronG

Growers in this cabin fear they’re always making the wrong spray decision. At harvest one year, they see fairly serious levels of disease and realize they should have sprayed. They react by spraying the fol-lowing year no matter what, even though it turns out conditions were not favourable for disease and yield losses were very low. Now their mind is in turmoil because they feel they miss the mark every year. They beat themselves up over this disease and are frus-trated with their decision-making.

CaBin 3: they Just sprayThese growers spray every year because they know

they’re in a high-yield high-moisture area and the risk, to some degree, is going to be there every year. So they just accept the fact that spraying fungicide is part of

their risk management program — like buying crop insurance. Agonizing? Heck no.

Cabin 4: July is for Chillin’

This camp doesn’t agonize because they’re not spraying for sclerotinia stem rot. Period. When herbicide spraying is over, this group stops thinking about their canola crop until bertha army-worms show up. They won’t change this approach until the year they’re out look-ing for berthas and find that 25 per cent of stems are shredded and falling over.

In a way, it’s hard to find fault with this laissez-faire approach if it suits their per-sonal approach to risk management. And sclerotinia stem rot — unlike clubroot — is a disease that’s already everywhere and doesn’t really require advance planning to prevent it. This “yield losses are always the same as the cost of control” approach to sclerotinia doesn’t threaten the farm like it would for clubroot. Besides, it also doesn’t hurt neighbours, and it saves the grower from having to wrestle with all the other variables that come with a fungicide spray decision, including timing, product, and whether to spray twice.

help for Cabins 1 and 2Cabins 3 and 4 may not need much

help, but it would be good to make the decision a little less ulcer-inducing for Cabins 1 and 2.

“We like Camp 1’s lead-in approach. We like to see growers become familiar with the factors that increase the risk, and scout in the days leading up to flow-ering,” says Curtis Rempel, the Canola Council of Canada’s vice-president for crop production and innovation. “The grower’s frustration at not being able to accurately predict the loss and decide whether fungicide will pay may be a mat-ter of mindset more than anything.”

Three things need to happen for sclerotinia stem rot disease to develop. Canola plants must be at the vulnerable or susceptible stage, which is flowering. The fungus must be present at the same time. And there has to be moisture in the form of rainfall or dew. This is the dis-ease triangle. “If one of these is missing or out of sync, you will not likely have much sclerotinia in your crop,” Rempel says. “If these three factors all line up,

you will have the disease and it will likely be a yield robber.”

The most uncertain item in this tri-angle is the moisture. Lots of smart peo-ple all around the world are trying to improve weather forecasting. Yet fore-casting remains hit and miss once we go beyond a couple of days. No one can pre-dict with any degree of certainty whether rains during flowering will turn off and stay away for three weeks. So, until long-term accurate forecasts are possible or until a curative fungicide hits the market, the decision to spray a pre-emptive pro-tective fungicide depends on moisture conditions leading up to petal drop.

“With rain, dew or high humidity before and during flowering, and yield potential of at least 30 to 35 bu./ac. — which generally means a denser more humid canopy and more potential for yield loss — the scenario is set for a likely return on the fungicide investment,” Rempel says.

Another factor making the fungicide spray decision agonizing for Cabins 1 and 2 is a complete lack of confidence in their ability to estimate yield loss. Visually, it can be difficult to tell how many plants have lost yield, even if growers are seeing high incidence and severity of infection. It could be two bu./ac., or five or 30.

“The rule of thumb to estimate yield loss is to take incidence and divide by two,” says Faye Dokken-Bouchard, pro-vincial plant disease specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. Incidence is the percentage of plants in a field that have visible symptoms of the disease. If 20 per cent have whitened brittle stems typical of sclerotinia, then estimated yield loss would be 10 per cent.

“If farmers don’t have their own records, they can use provincial disease survey data to see the potential for infec-tion,” Dokken-Bouchard says.

Northeast Saskatchewan, according to the survey, has had five years in the past 15 where the overall average incidence rate was 20 per cent or more. The high-est recorded average was 31 per cent in 1999. Using the rule of thumb to esti-mate yield loss, one year in three had a region-wide yield loss of 10 per cent or more due directly to sclerotinia stem rot. “Given that the northern region also

tends to be the highest yielding area of Saskatchewan, the economics are there to justify a fungicide spray when moisture conditions are favourable for disease,” Dokken-Bouchard says.

In dry years, there has been virtu-ally no sclerotinia stem rot, Dokken-Bouchard adds.

Growers looking for their own data could leave a few untreated check strips in each field they spray. Set up an accu-rate and fair comparison and take the strips to yield. (The Canola Council of Canada’s Ultimate Canola Challenge is showcasing on-farm research this year, and has protocols growers can use to pro-duce good data.) One year is not enough to provide a clear pattern, but over five years, growers can see the typical yield loss from sclerotinia stem rot and note the factors that contribute to higher yield loss. If a few neighbours collect data and compare notes, that’s even better.

“With this information, you get a bet-ter picture of the risk in your area,” Rem-pel says. “If fungicide provides a return on investment one year in five, perhaps you’ll be a little less likely to spray. If two or three years in five pay off, and one of those years pays off really well, you may find yourself creeping into Cabin 3.”

Another factor is a grower’s own toler-ance for risk. “If you know going in that you’re willing to accept a three bu./ac. yield loss, a five bu./ac. yield loss or a 10 bu./ac. yield loss before taking action, this makes the decision easier,” Rempel says.

With a few on-farm trials, familiarity with the situations that lead to economic loss, and an assessment of one’s personal appetite for yield loss, the decision to spray comes down to a simple mathematical equation. If potential yield loss exceeds your risk tolerance, you spray. If it doesn’t, you don’t. That’s the best a canola grower can do. Everything else is up to Mother Nature. And as farmers in all camps know, you can’t beat yourself up over that. CG

Jay Whetter is communications manager with the Canola Council of Canada. For more on the Ultimate Canola Challenge, search for articles at www.canolawatch.org. While there, sign up for the free and timely agronomy newsletter.

canola production


f you had asked Saskatchewan farmers 25 years ago if they thought they could grow soybean, they would likely have laughed out loud at the very idea.

Fast-forward to today, however, and StatsCan says 300,000 acres of soy-beans were planted in Saskatchewan last year, up from 170,000 acres in 2013, and the province’s soy acreage is on its way up again in 2015 as farmers attempt to diversify their rotations with a profitable crop.

That rapid expansion has Jeff Schoe-nau thinking about what’s going on in the dirt.

Schoenau wants to know what soy-beans are taking out of the soil, what they’re putting back in, and how that affects subsequent crops.

“The expansion of short-season soy acreage into Western Canada got us thinking about the nutrient requirements of soybean,” says Schoenau, who serves both as professor of soil science at the University of Saskatchewan and also as the strategic research chair in soil nutri-ent management for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture.

“That’s been fairly well documented for other pulses in Saskatchewan, but not for soy grown under our condi-tions,” Schoenau says. “We’re also inter-ested in the amounts of nitrogen that soy fixes from the atmosphere and the general effects of soy on nitrogen cycling and the availability of nutrients to fol-lowing crops.”

To figure all that out, Schoenau and his team have partnered with Tom Warkentin and his pulse crop crew at the Crop Development Centre to work on a three-year study funded jointly by the WGRF, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers and Saskatchewan’s Agriculture Devel-opment Fund.

The project will explore both the nutrient requirements of soybeans and nutrient cycling in a typical Saskatche-wan rotation, and it will also make side-by-side comparisons with the nutrient cycling of pea and lentil rotations.

Nutrients in“We have four research sites in total;

two in the dark brown soil zone that are in Saskatoon and Scott, and two in the black soil zone that are near Rosthern and York-ton,” Schoenau says, adding that the sites are being managed by PhD student Jing Xie as part of her thesis work.

In year one (2014), three new soybean varieties, three new pea varieties and three new lentil varieties were seeded into replicated plots. Soil testing was done to get baseline soil nutrient levels at each site prior to planting.

In order to accurately track the flow of nitrogen through the soils and crops, a tracer called N15 (a stable isotope of nitrogen) was added to all three pulses just after seeding. Because this will be the only fertilizer application over the three years of the study, the N15 will clearly show where the soy residue is having an influence on N availability in subse-quent crops, including cycling through soil micro-organisms and into the plant.

The first goal of the study is to quan-tify soy nutrient uptake levels. To do this,

researchers look below ground using PRS (plant root simulator) probes during the growing season to measure how the three crops use soil-available nitrogen.

They also look above ground by col-lecting the yield and nutrient concentration of both grain and straw, then using that data to calculate overall nutrient uptake and removal for each crop type. This, combined with the PRS probe data, will give researchers an accurate measure of nutrient uptake for each crop and let them see how soy compares to pea and lentil.

Nutrients outNutrient release to subsequent crops

is also being measured above and below ground by looking at crop residues, including roots and stubble.

For the below-ground view, intact soil cores were taken after harvest from all three crop types. The cores were taken to the lab and then frozen. Next, they were thawed in April — a process meant to mimic the winter and spring field condi-tions that can influence nutrient release.

As they thawed, nutrient release rates were measured using PRS probes. “It allows

4 8 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 5

New research aims to end the guessing on fertilizing soybean rotations

CropsGuide By Clare stanfield, for WGrf

exploring the soybean nutrient cycle

A hopper full of best-in-class technology.Through Western Grains Research Foundation, producers have helped fund research and development for more than 200 varieties of wheat and barley. You most likely recognize more than a few of them, and you’ve probably had some success growing several of them too. Western Grains Research Foundation is a producer-funded and producer-directed organization. Working together, we produce some of the world’s finest and most technologically advanced grains.

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us to measure the release rate of available nitrogen and phosphate,” says Schoenau. “Nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide gas pro-duction is measured at the same time.”

The nutrient contribution of above-ground residue was also measured in the lab, where researchers did an incubation study early on where they took residues from each pulse crop, put them on top of two different soil types, and then grew wheat in them to check differences in nitrogen uptake.

To reproduce that on a field scale, once the research plots were harvested and threshed last fall, researchers put the residue back on the respective plots ready for the 2015 planting.

Next stepsEssentially, the first year of the three-year

rotation has been completed and nutrient uptake calculated for each of the three pulse crops in the study. Now it’s time to see what they have left behind and how useful it is.

In the spring of 2015, one variety of spring wheat is being seeded into the soy-bean, pea and lentil stubble, with no added

fertilizer. “We’ll harvest that this fall and measure the nutrient content in the grain and straw to determine nutrient uptake as a function of stubble type,” says Schoenau.

In the spring of 2016, canola will be seeded into the wheat stubble, completing the rotation. Yield and nutrient content of the grain and straw will be measured to determine the third year knock-on effects of each of the three pulse crops.

Schoenau and his team are still compil-ing data from year one. Already, though, he’s seeing some trends and he thinks that soy might be on a lower rung in terms of nutrient contribution than lentil or pea. He just wants to know how much lower.

“We know peas and lentils contribute about one-half to one pound of nitrogen per bushel as an additional N credit over a non-legume,” Schoenau says. “It will be interest-ing to see where soybeans fit in.”

That’s good because, as of now, Sas-katchewan farmers are making educated guesses when it comes to the soy nutrient cycle and could be losing money on fertil-izer they don’t really need, or by not fertil-izing enough.

“Our research will be used to develop more accurate fertilizer recommendations for the soybean crop itself, as well as for the crops that will be grown after it,” says Schoenau. “It’s important information if we want to maintain and, indeed, increase crop production in Western Canada in an economic and environmentally sustainable manner.” CG

WGRF is a farmer-funded and directed non-profit organization investing in agricultural research that benefits producers in West-ern Canada. For over 30 years the WGRF board has given producers a voice in agricultural research fund-ing decisions. WGRF manages an Endowment Fund and the wheat and barley variety development check-off funds, investing over $14 million annually into variety development and field crop research. WGRF brings the research spending power of all farmers in Western Canada together, maximizing the returns they see from crop research.

WGRF


CropsGuide By ellen Goodman, CiGi

The couscous factorCanada’s durum meets the high quality

requirements of its biggest market

lthough durum wheat is synonymous with pasta as an end product, Cana-da’s biggest durum-importing region actually uses a significant percentage of its imports for couscous.

“North Africa is different from the rest of the world with respect to the use of durum because a lot of it is used for couscous, whereas when the rest of the world buys durum they make pasta,” says Ashok Sarkar, senior adviser in technology at Cigi (Cana-dian International Grains Institute).

Couscous is a coarsely ground product made from durum semolina, which is the milled endosperm of the durum kernel. A large portion of the milled durum is also used for producing hearth bread.

The North African countries of Morocco, Alge-ria and Tunisia prefer the high quality of Canada Western Amber durum wheat to meet their specific

processing and end-product quality requirements, Sarkar says. North Africa imports well over one mil-lion tonnes of CWAD annually.

In 2013, the three countries sent industry rep-resentatives to Cigi for a durum technical program where they learned more about Canadian durum and also met with industry representatives. Last December Cigi, Cereals Canada, the Canadian Grain Commission, and a western Canadian wheat pro-ducer together visited North Africa to hold new crop seminars for customers.

“Algeria imports a large quantity of Canadian durum mainly through a government organization, just as Tunisia does although Tunisia imports less,” Sarkar says. “Both countries value quality even though they are price-sensitive markets. Morocco, which imports durum through private trade, focuses especially on higher quality and likes to buy No. 1 CWAD for its couscous and pasta production.”

Sarkar explains that North African consumers generally demand a high-quality end product with the appealing yellow colour that the higher grades of Canadian durum can provide. The high grades also contain more hard vitreous kernels, which results in the milling of a greater amount of durum semolina rather than residue flour. Semolina has a higher value, giving the customers a better return.

Overall, durum customers may look for hard vitre-ous kernels, bright-yellow colour, a high percentage of semolina yield, low ash content, good cooking proper-ties, and low cadmium content (which usually applies more to the European Union than North Africa).

“Fortunately, the basic quality requirement for couscous is the same as for pasta,” Sarkar says. “The only difference in couscous is that you aren’t neces-sarily looking for high protein which processors are concerned about in pasta. Couscous is made up of tiny particles so it isn’t a problem with respect to firmness to the bite as it would be in pasta products. Also, pasta is cooked in boiling water where overcooking can negatively influence texture, especially when there is insufficient protein present in the semolina.”

Sarkar points out that with its 50 per cent share of the world export market, Canada is the world’s best durum wheat producer, so that even in more difficult crop years the overall quality remains high enough to still meet customers’ processing require-ments. “The durum colour is excellent. Our breed-ing program has been phenomenal. Our durum varieties are so good that despite (negative) factors affecting quality such as environment, the overall quality is still very good.” CG

CouscousCouscous is a popular north african/mediterranean dish that originated

as early as the ninth century. since couscous has no real flavour of its own, it is used as a nutritious base for vegetable and meat dishes. Traditionally the semolina grains milled from durum wheat are formed and dried, then are cooked by steaming in a pot called a couscoussièr, a process which can take about 45 minutes to an hour. However, today, instant couscous products are also available, particularly in places such as north america, which only require soaking the semolina in boiling water for about 10 minutes.

Calling all farmersWe need your help to tell a story that directly affects your livelihood.

As farmers we need all of the tools in our tool box, be they aspects of conventional, or organic production. The use of GMO technology is one of those tools and we need your help to protect it.

KNOW GMO the MOVIE will be “an uplifting discussion about food” and is going to be a world-class, science-based documentary designed to show consumers what the words genetically modified actually mean. It will demonstrate how biotechnology is contributing to global food security, decreasing disease and conserving land, all in a sustainable manner. Filming across North America has already begun.

If you care about how the story of agriculture is being told, we need your support to make this movie a reality. Please go to www.knowGMOtheMovie.com to learn more and to donate.

Robert Saik PAg, CACExecutive Producer

Donations are tax deductible through the Farm & Food Care Foundation (KNOW GMO MOVIE)

We need the help of farmers to tell the story. Please visit

to learn more and to donate.

www.knowGMOtheMovie.com

“Fear sells and is easy to believe. We made a mistake in not telling agriculture’s story. We assumed people understood what farmers did”

lorie farrellHawaii Farmers and Ranchers United


ural communities across Canada know the challenges all too well. Pop-ulations are shrinking, and services of all kinds are getting harder and harder to maintain, not only for businesses

but also for new Canadians, the disabled, the elderly and those suffering from mental health challenges or addictions.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Doug Griffiths, a former Alberta minister of municipal affairs and author of a book on community building says these problems are not inevitable.

Griffiths knows a thing or two about small towns. He grew up on a ranch and visited hundreds of communities in Alberta while doing the research for a comprehensive report called Rural Alberta: Land of Opportunity. The report lists 70 recommen-dations concerning education, health care, transpor-tation, community infrastructure, arts and culture, and more.

After writing the report, Griffiths went on the speaking circuit to share what he’d discovered, when one day it dawned on him that people weren’t really getting the message. So he used a trick he had learned when he was teaching school. He turned his message around and developed a presentation which he called 13 Ways to Kill your Community.

Griffiths explains his rationale. When he talked to his students about what success looked like, they would tell him, “Yeah, yeah we know.” But when he turned it around to, “What would you have to do to fail?” they were able to recognize their destructive behaviour.

Griffiths used the same principle for his presentation on rural communities, which he then turned into a book (published by Frontenac House). That book then went on to become a national bestseller and is now in its fourth printing.

Questions to askWhat’s the most important factor when it comes

to whether or not your small town will succeed?No. 1 is your attitude, says Griffiths. “As the old

saying goes: If you believe you can or you can’t, you’re right,” he explains. “Attitude creates the culture and that’s what’s most critical to success or failure.”

Then Griffiths makes his point: “The community itself has to decide it wants to be successful. And it has to believe that it can achieve its goal with or without government participation.”

Griffiths lists the factors that must come together for healthy communities, ranging from a good water source to creating a welcoming atmosphere, support-ing local businesses and the arts, and more.

Griffiths knows that the one you thought would be on the top of the list is the one that’s missing.

The fallacy that Griffiths repeatedly heard from well-intentioned people when he was on the speaking circuit was that communities must keep their young people at home.

It’s a misconception, Griffiths says. Instead, young people should be allowed to go off and explore and learn new things. The point is not about finding ways to keep the youth from leaving, says Griffiths. “It is dependent on you finding a reason for them to want to come back.”

Rural communities can have a lot to offer, agrees Dee Ann Benard, executive director of the Alberta Rural Development Network, a not-for-profit part-nership of Alberta’s 21 post-secondary institutions whose goal is to enhance communities.

Healthy communities that are welcoming can be good places to raise kids in a more relaxed environ-ment where people know each other, Benard says. “It’s amazing what people can do in rural communi-ties.”

Benard points to the success of Olds, Alta., a town of 8,500 people an hour north of Calgary. When companies began leaving town due to slow Internet connection, a non-profit corporation was created to install a high-speed fibre optic network. Now residents and businesses have access to Internet speeds 10 times faster than what’s available in cities across Canada, and at competitive pricing. This is a boon for business, residents and the agricultural col-lege located there.

Like the other provinces, rural Prince Edward

Bring them back homeSaving our small communities has less to do with keeping our kids at home than giving them reasons to return


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Island is also experiencing an aging and shrinking population. Tired of governments that didn’t seem to be doing enough, in October 2013 Prince Edward Island community newspaper publisher Paul MacNeill organized a conference that brought together key people from the four Atlantic provinces. The grass-roots event was funded by the province’s community newspaper industry association, which put up $25,000 for the event.

MacNeill says they were very selective about who was allowed to participate. People had to apply and there were no government bureaucrats allowed. With the funding, they were able to pay travel expenses for those who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to attend.

Some 250 people participated in the conference in George-town. “It was fascinating to see how energized people were when they came together,” says MacNeill. The conference was a great success and several positive initiatives have resulted from the conference, he says.

Dr. Judith Kulig, a professor of health studies at the University of Lethbridge found some common elements that helped small towns cope with natural disasters. Communities that were better able to weather a natural disaster had a positive attitude and a willingness to work together across different ethnicities and reli-gions. They also had a sense of belonging, good communication, and strong volunteerism and leadership. However, the trick is that these things need to be in place before the disaster hits.

Clergy can be an important resource for a town dealing with a natural disaster or other problem, says Dr. Cam Harder who estab-lished the Centre for Rural Community Leadership and Ministry (CiRCLe M) at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. The centre hosts an annual conference and provides training, mentoring and resources to help rural clergy of all denominations better serve their rural congregations and contribute to the development of healthy communities.

“Clergy can help people by forging strong social bonds, by improving communication, and by offering free counselling and rituals that help people look forward with hope,” Harder says.

There’s also a need for leadership development and capacity building in rural organizations, says Rob Black, chief executive officer of the Rural Ontario Institute (ROI) in Guelph. “There are a lot of organizations doing good things, but the members are getting older. We need to find ways to engage younger mem-bers and rebuild and reinvigorate the leadership,” Black says. Black works to strengthen rural organizations by helping them with succession planning, leadership development and board governance.

Some rural organizations may need to consider amalgamat-ing, says Black. “You need to be open to change, to doing things differently,” he says. “It’s a mindset, and the words you use can make a difference.” Black prefers the term amalgamation over merger. “Merger sounds like a takeover, but amalgamation sounds more co-operative.”

Black knows about the pains of amalgamating two organiza-tions. The ROI was formed five years ago from an amalgama-

tion of two organizations: the Centre for Rural Leadership and the Ontario Rural Council. “It can be tricky when you have two boards, two staffs, etc. but if we don’t change, maybe none will survive,” he points out.

Community building can also happen on a more informal scale. Coming together around a humanitarian project can be a good way to build community, says Glen Whetter, a minister at the Fellowship Community Church in Goodlands, tucked away in the southwest corner of Manitoba.

Whetter was involved in an auction fundraiser organized jointly by several churches of different denominations which raised $16,000 for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

Individuals can make a difference too. In addition to being a minister, Whetter is also a cattle farmer and together with his wife, Erma, they host a post-harvest potluck. “People are very appreciative of the opportunity to meet their neighbours,” Whet-ter says. “Farms are bigger, people are more spread out and they travel more. People are so busy they don’t have much chance to get together.” CG

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There are many reasons to rinse.

Empty Pesticide Container Recycling Program>

No excuse not to!{ For more information or to find a collection

site near you visit cleanfarms.ca

Now, take your empty fertilizer containers along for the ride!

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Only rinsed containers can be recycled

Helps keep collection sites clean

Use all the chemicals you purchase

Keeps collection sites safe for workers

Maintain your farm’s good reputation

10901A-CFM-5Reasons-QRTPage-CountryGuide.indd 1 4/2/14 11:59 AM

“ The community itself has to decide it wants to be successful,” Griffiths says. “And it has to believe it can achieve its goal with or without government participation.”

BRITISH COLUMBIAJune 14-20: Seasonal to warm with a few hotter days in the Interior. Sunny with spotty showers or thundershowers.June 21-27: Pleasant, warm, sunny on most days aside from a few showers west and north, isolated thundershowers east.June 28-July 4: Highs 20s west with iso-lated showers. Sunny east, highs in the 30s and isolated thundershowers.July 5-11: Sunshine dominates. Warm to hot. Scattered showers west, isolated heavier thunderstorms east. July 12-18: Sunny and often dry apart from isolated showers or thunderstorms. Highs 20s west, 30s in the east.July 19-25: Often warm to hot under sunny skies. Some shower activity west and north, spotty thunderstorms elsewhere.July 26-Aug. 1: Sunshine and often dry weather prevails aside from sporadic shower or thundershowers. Warm.Aug. 2-8: Warm weather persists with a few hot days in the Interior. Sporadic shower or thundershower activity.

ALBERTAJune 14-20: Sunny with seasonal to warm temperatures but showers or heavier thun-derstorms on one or two days.June 21-27: Sunshine dominates but look for scattered thunderstorms on a couple of days. Highs often in the 20s.June 28-July 4: Often hot and sunny but, on a couple of occasions, scattered showers or thunderstorms, heavy in places.July 5-11: Generally hot and sunny. On a couple of more humid days, expect heavier thunderstorms.July 12-18: Sunny with highs in the 20s, some 30s. Scattered showers or thunder-showers, risk severe in places.July 19-25: Warm to occasionally hot and

humid with a few passing heavier thunder-storms.July 26-Aug. 1: Pleasant under sunny skies on most days apart from isolated showers or thunderstorms. Aug. 2-8: Warm, sunny but a couple of cooler days bring showers or heavier thun-derstorms.

SASKATCHEWANJune 14-20: Sunny with seasonal to warm temperatures. Scattered showers or heavier thunderstorms.June 21-27: Sunny. Highs often in the 20s. A couple of more humid days trigger show-ers or thunderstorms.June 28-July 4: Hot on several days under sunny skies apart from a few spotty thun-derstorms, some heavy.July 5-11: Hot weather dominates under sunshine. Passing showers or thunder-storms on a couple of occasions.July 12-18: Very warm to hot and at times humid. Spotty heavy thunderstorms occur at a few localities.July 19-25: Sporadic thunderstorm activity in some areas, otherwise sunny with warm to hot temperatures. July 26-Aug 1: Sunny with comfortable temperatures. A couple of hotter days set off heavier thunderstorms.Aug. 2-8: Highs often in the 20s under sunshine. Minor cooling brings a few show-ers or thundershowers.

MANITOBAJune 14-20: Sunny with highs often in the 20s. Scattered shower activity or heavier thunderstorms.June 21-27: Warm and sunny but a few showers or thunderstorms on a couple of more humid days.June 28-July 4: Sunny and often hot. Occa-

sional muggy days set off heavy thunder-storms at a few localities.July 5-11: Hot conditions dominate under sunny skies apart from isolated showers or heavy thunderstorms.July 12-18: Very warm to hot with a few humid days triggering showers or thunder-storms at a few places. July 19-25: Passing thunderstorms on a couple of occasions, some heavy in places, otherwise sunny, warm.July 26-Aug. 1: Pleasant temperatures on most days under sunny skies. Spotty show-ers or thunderstorms.Aug. 2-8: Variable temperatures and weather as warm sunny days alternate with showers.

w e a t h e r


June 14 - July to August 8, 2015

HOTTERAND

DRIERTHAN

NORMAL

DRIER THAN NORMALHot

Dry spells

Hot periodsScatteredt/storms

Hot s

pells

Isol

ated

t/sto

rms

NEAR-NORMAL TEMPERATURES

ChangeableScatteredshowers

Scattered

showers /

t/storms

NEAR-NORMALTEMPERATURESAND RAINFALL

Prepared by meteorologist Larry Romaniuk of Weatherite Services. Forecasts should be 80 per cent accurate for your area; expect variations by a day or two due to changeable speed of weather systems.

June 14 through July to August 8, 2015

NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTSHot, dry weather is expected to scorch British Columbia this summer and very likely spread eastward across the Prairies and into north-western Ontario. Elsewhere across Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, look for more typical summer conditions with temperatures averaging close to normal but with an occa-sional hot, humid spell. Showers and thunder-showers should bring average amounts of rain to most of Eastern Canada. Although thunder-shower activity will be welcome in most areas, a few thunderstorms will have the potential of creating locally heavy rain, strong winds and bursts of hail.

NEAR NORMAL MILDER THAN NORMAL

h e a lt h

Drugs and pregnancy: To take or not to take?

or pregnant women, taking drugs can be a real concern. They may need the drug to control or treat a condition, but there can be a balancing act between their health and their baby’s safety. It is esti-

mated that two to three per cent of babies are born with birth defects which can range from minor and correctable to more serious.

Besides drugs, birth defects can be caused by infections of the baby during pregnancy; genetic material of either or both mother and father; envi-ronmental exposure to harmful substances; or even a mother’s medical conditions. But sometimes the causes are never known.

During the first three months (i.e. the first tri-mester), a baby’s systems are developing and are most vulnerable to harmful exposure, but some-times a mother may not even know she is pregnant during this time.

The term teratogenetic refers to a drug or other substance that causes birth defects. It comes from the Greek word “teratoid” meaning “monster” because sometimes the baby’s appearance is not normal.

On the other hand, however, because drugs are not studied in pregnant women, there is little or no data regarding safety. Drug manufacturers usually include a statement that the safety of their drug is not known in pregnant women.

If you do take drugs to control a medical con-dition or even use non-prescription medicines or natural remedies and are considering starting a family, it is a great idea to check out your list of medications prior to conception. Changing to another drug, using a non-drug remedy, or even stopping the drug completely may be options for a healthy pregnancy.

Some drugs are recognized as harmful, for example male or female hormones, cancer drugs, tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs. Seizure medica-

tions such as phenytoin and some diabetes drugs can be harmful too, but you still want to control your condition.

Often, you will be changed to other, safer alter-natives. Vitamin A and its derivatives, for example isotretinoin, are used for serious acne, yet birth defects are possible as a result of either mom or dad taking it. The recommended option is to stop the drug well in advance of pregnancy.

Lithium used to treat psychiatric conditions, anticoagulants such as warfarin, and the cardio-vascular drug group known as ACE inhibitors are all contraindicated during pregnancy. A change to another effective, but safe, drug is the suggested course of action.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ASA, ibuprofen, and naproxen can increase the risk of bleeding and are found in many non-prescrip-tion medicines.

Medicated skin creams and ointments are usu-ally safe. However, if they are applied to dam-aged skin, absorption into your body is possible. Non-drug approaches are also considered safe, for example moisturizing creams for dry skin, steam and increased fluids for coughs and colds, ice or heat and massage for aches and pains.

Contraception is usually recommended if you regularly take any medication that does have tera-togenetic effects. This includes non-prescription medicines and natural remedies with these effects. If you are considering starting a family or you are pregnant, remember to always read the package information prior to taking any medication because once you swallow the tablet or capsule, it may be too late. And keep this in mind too. The only safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy is none!

Marie Berry is a lawyer/pharmacist interested in health and education.

By Marie Berry


If you have ever been told to take iron tablets because your “blood is low,” you will have been amazed at the number of available options. Choosing one can be difficult and confusing! next month we’ll look at the various formulations and provide you some hints on selecting the one that’s right for you.

a c r e s

5 6 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 5

a c r e s

The dog in the nightDale gets an answer to his question, “What do I have to pay to get a decent sleep around here?”

By Leeann Minogue

ale was out in the shop alone early on Tuesday morning, bent over the collie as it slept in its cushioned bed. Dale was barking at the dog. Loudly. “Ruff! Ruff!”

Jeff came in to pick up a wrench to tighten a dripping hose fitting on the air seeder before he took it to the field. He saw what his father was up to and froze in his tracks.

“I knew this day would come. You’ve lost it.”Dale straightened up, trying to pretend he wasn’t

embarrassed. “I’m fine,” he said. “Just giving that mutt a taste of his own medicine. He kept me awake, now I’m keeping him awake.”

Jeff shook his head and walked past Dale to the workbench.

“Damn dog’s been barking all night for the past two nights. It’s hard to get any sleep around here! Don’t you hear him?”

“Didn’t hear a thing,” Jeff said. “Buddy must be barking at something on your side of the yard.”

“It’s not bad in the winter,” Dale said, “but now that it’s warmed up we like to sleep with the win-dow open. Damn dog. If I lived next door to me, I’d call the cops.”

Jeff laughed and left with his wrench, talking as he walked out. “Don’t know how they’d stop it.”

That night, all was quiet when Dale was pulling back the covers to get into bed.

“Guess my barking back at the dog worked,” Dale told Donna. “Listen to that!” And just as he cocked his ear toward the window to draw Don-na’s attention to the silence, Buddy started barking again. Dale cursed.

“Why don’t you put in some earplugs?” Donna asked, reasonably.

“Don’t be crazy. Earplugs are for tractors with no cabs. If I sleep with earplugs I’ll be dreaming about plows all night.”

Dale tossed and turned. Once in a while Buddy

would take a break from the barking. Dale would almost fall asleep, but just as he was drifting off, sudden sharp barking would wake him up again.

The next morning he drank as much coffee as he could.

“I can’t keep working like this,” he said to Donna as he refilled his cup. “Seeding is hard enough without me being awake all night. What’s Jeff going to say when I have to knock off in the middle of hauling fertilizer to take a nap?”

“Look,” Donna said. “I know it goes against your beliefs, but you can’t go on like this. Why don’t you just turn on the air conditioner?”

“We’re not going to do that when there’s perfectly good air right outside. We’re not made of money. What if people found out?” When Donna started to smile, before she said anything out loud, Dale realized he sounded just like his father and stopped talking.

On Thursday night, Donna put in earplugs and went straight to sleep. Dale tried sleeping with the window shut. The house was warm. He turned his pillow over and over, looking for a cool spot. He woke feeling like he’d barely slept.

On Friday morning Dale saw a chemical com-pany truck pull into the yard. When they saw a young woman park by the shop, both Dale and Jeff went over to say hello. Just as she stepped out of her truck, Buddy tore around the corner of the shed, sped toward the slough and pounced on a muskrat. The three of them gaped at the ruckus, trying to figure out which animal was doing more squealing. Eventually, Buddy emerged from the mess, brandish-ing a dead muskrat in his teeth.

The woman introduced herself and asked a few questions about their fungicide use, but Dale and Jeff could tell she was in a hurry to get away. “Good thing I’m already married,” Jeff said.

“Me too,” Dale said. “Lots of women wouldn’t stick around after that.”

“Guess we found out what Buddy’s been barking

m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 5 c o u n t r y - g u i d e . c a 5 7

at,” Jeff said. “Maybe now you can get some sleep. It would be good if you could put in a full day’s work without having to lie down in the middle of the day.”

Dale glared at Jeff and headed for his truck. But he wasn’t hopeful. Dale thought the worst of Buddy’s barking had been aimed more to the north side of the yard.

There was some barking that night, but Buddy was quiet enough that Dale opened the window. When he went to the bathroom around 3 a.m., it was still silent. “You OK?” Donna murmured when he came back to bed. “Shhhh!” Dale hissed at her. Then he stage-whispered, “Don’t wake up Buddy. I think he’s listening at the patio doors. If he hears us, he’ll start barking again.”

Of course, the dog started barking.Donna had hit the end of her rope. “Dale, we both

like the fresh air. I know running the air conditioner in May is a crazy luxury. And God knows I know what your father would say if he found out. But we’re not going to live like this anymore! Close that damn window and turn on the AC.”

Dale grunted, scowled at Donna and got out of bed. But instead of closing the window and resetting the ther-mostat, he opened his dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of socks.

“What are you doing?” Donna asked.“What do you think? I’m going out there to find out

what the heck he’s barking at and get rid of it so we can get a decent night’s sleep.”

“Be careful,” Donna said, snuggling back into the cov-ers and closing her eyes.

As soon as Dale stepped out onto the deck, bare knees on show between his boots and the bottom of his warm spring jacket, Buddy stopped barking and ran straight over.

“All right, boy,” Dale said, squatting down to put his hands on either side of the dog’s head and look it in the face. “Where is it?”

As if he was auditioning for the part of Lassie in the next remake, Buddy nodded at Dale and headed straight for the trees at the north side of the yard. Dale followed, cursing when the evergreen branches scraped his calves.

Dale followed the dog through the rows of evergreens and into another row of poplars that his father had planted decades ago. They were more overgrown than Dale had realized. “Have to get out here and clean this up,” he muttered.

The dog sat down and gave one more loud bark. Dale followed the dog’s gaze and realized that less than 10 feet away, a mule deer had braced herself in the tall grass, using her body to guard two tiny spotted fawns cowering behind her.

“Twins,” Dale whispered. “Gorgeous.” The doe looked straight into Dale’s eyes. Dale looked back for a good 20 seconds before he sighed and turned back to the house.

Before he took his boots off, Dale gave Buddy a dog treat from the jar by the door. On his way back to bed he stopped at the hallway thermostat to turn on the air conditioner. Buddy was barking again. Dale closed the bedroom window, muting the sound, and crawled back into bed.

Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews, a playwright and part of a family grain farm in southeastern Saskatchewan.

“Do you have questions about my display?” A fresh-faced young girl peers up at me. Displays created by children in Grades 4 to 8 fill a large room. The exhibitors are hoping to advance to a provincial competition. Topics range from the 50th anniversary of the Canadian flag and the invention of the iron lung for

polio patients to the Keystone XL pipeline, Nellie McClung, Tommy Douglas and rodeo queens.

The young girl catches me looking at a photo of female air force pilots posing in front of a Second World War airplane. She explains that female pilots flew in wartime for several countries, “but not in Canada.” They ferried airplanes from place to place, towed targets for aerial gunnery practice, served as flight instruc-tors and flew check flights on recently repaired airplanes. “The women were better pilots than the men.”

“Tell me why?” I query. “Women were required to fly many types of airplanes while men

were trained to fly only one type, usually a fighter. When the women were assigned to an airplane they had never flown, they would read about its peculiarities and eccentricities in the Ferry Pilots Manual. Then they would climb into the cockpit and fly away, sometimes across the Atlantic Ocean.” Female ferry pilots in England had no armament. If pursued by an enemy plane they had only their wit and flying skills for protection, while men had fire power.

The young girl taught me something new. I reflected that learning is a process that goes from the inside to the outside. Her curiosity took her back many years before she was born. Her pride in the achievements of women was obvious.

As a preacher, I sometimes forget that learning cannot be injected. John Westerhoff in his book Building god’s PeoPle writes, “Too often we try to push things into people, and our pushings are brushed aside. Learning is like the process of a chick hatching from an egg: the chick hatches by pecking from within. A blow from the outside will destroy the hatching process.”

Michael Yaconelli in his book dangerous Wonder repeats an often-told story about the well-known pianist, Ignacy Jan Paderewski. “His concert in New York had been sold out for six months. When the night arrived, people came dressed in tuxedos and fancy dresses. A mother brought her nine-year-old son who was complaining about piano lessons. The mother thought hear-ing a great pianist might motivate him to practise.” The boy was restless and impatient during the concert. His mother admonished him, “Sit still and don’t move.” During the intermission, the mother was distracted by adult conversation. The boy walked onto the stage where a fine Steinway piano stood. He began to play “Chopsticks.” People in the audience were furious and his mother was horrified. Paderewski heard the commotion. He quickly left his dressing room and returned to the stage.

There was a collective hush. What would the great pianist do? Paderewski whispered to the boy, “Don’t stop. Keep on playing. You’re doing great.” Then he put his arms around him and began playing a concerto based on the tune of “Chop-sticks,” still saying, “Don’t stop. Keep on playing.”

Jesus says we should be like children. Ready to learn, listen-ing for the voice of God and taking time to play. “Don’t stop. Keep on playing.”

Suggested Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-15, Mark 10:13-16

Rod Andrews is a retired Anglican bishop. He lives in Saskatoon.


et’s be honest, even though we don’t want to admit that we make mistakes. We do make them. It seems that it is inherent to the human condition. Human beings are error prone. I am a human

being; therefore, I make mistakes.In fact, the more decisions we make, the more

mistakes we will make. This is a law of statistics.But the true challenge for leaders is, “How do you

react to your mistakes?” Studies have looked at what happens in people’s brains as they make errors. In one study, researchers set conditions where people had to make decisions. They gave them direct feedback, providing the opportunity to learn for the next deci-sion. People seemed to react in two different ways when they made mistakes. For some people, mistakes triggered the “wake-up call.” The brain became more attuned to find solutions and fix the problem.

These individuals were much more prudent in the next decision. In short, they learned from mis-takes and improved their performance. Like our ancient ancestors who realized that they had to learn from their mistakes in order to survive, these people “woke up” and got better the next time.

However, not all brains react like this. In some, a “shut off” was triggered. The brain reacted to the error as a threat against itself. It produced anxiety and a protective instinct around its ego. To avoid feeling bad, these people pushed away the feedback and tried to forget, deny or ridicule it — anything to restore their value in their own eyes. As a result, this type of person does not learn anything from their mistakes and will selectively seek positive feedback.

This phenomenon is called “confirmation bias.” People want to feel good about themselves. There-fore, we often look for feedback that is consistent with our self-image. When we need to boost our ego, this can be helpful. However, confirmation bias is the enemy when we need to avoid mistakes.

Are you more of the “wake-up call” profile or the “shut-off” profile?

If you think that intelligence is malleable — that we can improve, and even get really good at some-thing when we practise deliberately — you are more the “wake-up call” type, likely to pay more attention to mistakes and to learn from them.

However, if you think that your intelligence and talent are fixed — i.e. that you’re either good at something or you’re not — you are likely to be the “shut-off” profile.

Alternately, if it seems to you that the more experience

you have, the more you trust your judgment, this also make you more prone to being the “shut-off” profile.

Other studies show that narcissistic personalities will “shut off” because they cannot stand to be wrong.

So, as a leader, what attitudes can you develop to help you learn from your mistakes?

First, embrace mistakes as opportunities to improve, to learn, and to perform better. Don’t put too much trust in your judgment and your experi-ence. Instead, recognize that issues are complex, so we always have to learn. Keep your ego in check; it can blind you and prevent you from learning.

What do you do after you realize that you have messed up?

Admit your mistake rapidly. Don’t wait until oth-ers discover it and take it to the next level.

Ask yourself, “What did I learn about the situa-tion, about me, about others?”

What do we learn as a group? Could I have pre-vented it? How? What was a sign that I didn’t listen to?

It’s your team; it’s your mistake. Take all the responsibility. Whether you have a direct role or not, don’t put the blame on others. People admire leaders who take responsibility.

What will we do differently next time? In the agricultural world, we now have to make

more complex decisions more quickly. Our industry is unlike it was 30 or 40 years ago, when one year was like any other and we tended to repeat the same deci-sions over and over. Because the rate and complexity of decisions is higher, the rate of our mistakes goes up too.

If you want to have an edge over your com-petitors and be a better boss, you have to approach errors differently.

Seize the moment of truth. You need time to stop, reflect, then to act differently afterward. This greater consciousness allows us to improve ourselves. Look at your and your employees’ habits and belief sys-tems to help prevent other mistakes. This will help lift your farm’s performance to another level.

If you live long enough, you will make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you’ll be a better, more successful person. CG

Pierrette Desrosiers, MPS, CRHA is a work psy-chologist, professional speaker, coach and author who specializes in the agricultural industry. She comes from a family of farmers and she and her husband have farmed for more than 25 years (www.pierrettedesrosiers.com). Contact her at [email protected].

Do you make smart mistakes?

H R

By Pierrette Desrosiers, psychologist and coach

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