This may come as a surprise to those still suffering from flooding, but if the weather holds, a bit of seeding will take place in Saskatchewan this week. The extreme southwest corner of the province is usually the first out of the gate. Many years, seeding is underway there by the middle of April. This year, the deep southwest corner is still wet. Areas around Shaunavon, Consul and Maple Creek had a pile of snow and it has been slow to leave. Producers who are often in full swing with their seeding won’t be rolling for a while. However, north of the TransCanada highway up to the South Saskatchewan River, there are areas where seeding will soon be feasible. Remnants of snow banks can still be seen in some tree rows and side hills. However, there are weeds popping up in the field and the frogs have started to croak at night. That shows the soil is warming up. If you avoid the sloughs, you can drive across a lot of fields. While field work won’t become general this week, in this pocket of southwest Saskatchewan, there are likely to be some producers who at least get a start on seeding. I’m Kevin Hursh.
The Manitoba Canola Growers Association has opened a can of worms by conducting a farmer survey on the voluntary marketing of canola through the Canadian Wheat Board. The arguments for and against the single desk are well known. In this case, just the idea of voluntary canola marketing by the board has caused a wave of opposition. It should be noted that Manitoba Canola Growers is exploring the issue based on a request from its farmer members. Some producers like the idea of price pooling and there’s a perception that basis levels on canola are sometimes too wide. On top of that, the interested producers wonder about the use of producer cars for canola and the use of the Port of Churchill should the board be involved. Check out the Manitoba Canola Growers Association website for more information. The association says it supports the open market concept for canola. Voluntary canola marketing through the CWB would be just another option. If there aren’t enough producers willing to market some of their canola production in this manner, the idea will not proceed. That’s likely what will happen. However, it’s a reasonable idea to investigate and the visceral opposition is unwarranted. I’m Kevin Hursh.
The low European tolerance for glyphosate residue on lentils could make marketing the crop more difficult if glyphosate has been used in a pre-harvest application. Saskatchewan Pulse Growers and Pulse Canada have put together a fact sheet to answer some of the most common questions on the issue. They say that even if a producer followed label recommendations for pre-harvest glyphosate use on lentil crops, the glyphosate residues are likely over the European Maximum Residue Limit or MRL of 0.1 parts per million. However, the MRL should be less than the 4 ppm allowed in Canada. Testing for glyphosate residue costs about $500 a sample and it takes about two weeks to get the results. According to Saskatchewan Pulse Growers and Pulse Canada, lentil buyers will need to know if pre-harvest glyphosate was used so they can determine if the lentils can be marketed in Europe. Buyers may be asking growers to sign a declaration regarding the use of glyphosate or other crop protection products. Hopefully, the EU will increase its MRL to be in line with Canada and the U.S., but there are no guarantees and at best that process is likely to take 12 months or more. There’s no issue with the pre-seeding use of glyphosate, but for pre-harvest application, producers should go with Reglone if they want the option of marketing into Europe. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Many producers have geared up their equipment to take advantage of whatever seeding window is available this spring. In some cases, this has meant bigger tires, extra tires or even tracks for the tractor and drill to reduce the number of times the outfit will be stuck in the mud. Some producers purchased larger seeding outfits over the winter. Adding another ten feet to the width of the drill and / or another 200 bushels to the size of the seed and fertilizer tank makes it possible to cover more acres each day. Some producers have decided this is the year to add a second or third seeding outfit. While there has been a 25-year trend to direct seeding and reduced tillage, many producers are planning a tillage operation to help the soil dry before seeding. Some new tools feature a concept called vertical tillage. More than anything, there’s a heightened urgency following last year’s seeding disaster. Seeding won’t be possible until later than usual and it could easily be disrupted by wet weather. When seeding is finally possible, there won’t be any waiting around for drier conditions and warmer soil. There’s strong potential for profitability if you can grow a decent crop this year, but it all starts with getting seed in the ground. Producers will be pushing harder than ever to make that happen. I’m Kevin Hursh.
There have been severe flooding problems in many parts of Saskatchewan and the worst may be yet to come. However, we’ve actually been lucky with the weather over the past couple months. Temperatures throughout March were much colder than normal, slowing the snow melt. That has continued into April with most days cooler than average for this time of year. The cool weather means a late spring, but it has probably prevented some damage. Precipitation has also been kind to most of the province. Precipitation maps published by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada show that over the past month only southern regions of Saskatchewan have received above normal precipitation. The highest precipitation has been southwest of Swift Current and south of Gravelbourg. The rest of the Saskatchewan grain belt has had below normal precipitation since the middle of March. Saturated areas on the east side of the province could easily have received another one or two inches of moisture and that would have exasperated the problems. It may be difficult to count blessings in areas where most of the landscape is covered with water, but without this favourable weather, the problems could be even worse. I’m Kevin Hursh.
At the recent SARM convention, the provincial government announced $500,000 for a Beaver Control Program. It’s a one-year pilot program. SARM has now announced the program guidelines. The program will pay $15 for the removal of each adult beaver in participating RMs with the RM responsible to at least match the $15. So a minimum of $30 will be available for the removal of each problem beaver. To participate, RMs are required to submit an application by May 31. RMs must also pass a bylaw allowing beavers to be hunted in the municipality. About 150 RMs have already completed the process. Beaver tails will to be delivered to designated RM officials as proof. With high water levels, many regions are reporting all sorts of problems with beavers. Their dams are leading to additional flooding. When the provincial government initially announced the funding, it was also supposed to help with the removal of beaver dams. Dam removal was dropped apparently because there’s already a program in place through the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority for channel clearing. Some producers are disappointed saying that program is painfully slow and full of legal requirements. I’m Kevin Hursh.
According to the pollsters, nearly a million Canadians support the Green Party. That’s scary when you read their agriculture platform. According to the Greens, we should all be small, organic peasants selling our produce into local markets. Organic agriculture, they say, will help reverse climate change, provide food security, restore soil health and improve human health. They would pay for farmers to switch to organic farming practices. Of course, if a bunch of producers switched to organic it would put price premiums at jeopardy for all organic producers. They seem totally oblivious to all the progress agriculture has made to becoming more sustainable and environmentally friendly – advances such as millions of acres of pulse crops that produce their own nitrogen and direct seeding that has dramatically reduced soil erosion. The Green Party’s anti-business and anti-science doctrine has little regard for facts, but we need to keep explaining the safety and the benefits of crop protection products and biotechnology or the Greens will continue to win converts. I’m Kevin Hursh.
It seems like cellulosic ethanol has been five years away for the last 15 years. Now, we’re starting to see the establishment of more facilities that will produce ethanol from wheat straw, corn stalks, and other sources of biomass. Novozymes in partnership with Mossi and Ghisolfi Group is building the world’s largest cellulosic ethanol plant in northwestern Italy. The plant is scheduled to start production in 2012. At 50 million litres per year, the plant will not be very big as compared to many of the facilities that make ethanol from corn and wheat. However, the companies involved say the plant will be 10 times larger than the largest cellulosic demonstration facilities in operations today. Novozymes if the world’s largest producer of industrial enzymes and it will supply the enzymes for turning cellulose into sugar which will then be fermented into ethanol. The companies are heralding this as the dawn of a new green era. The plant is designed to use a number of feedstocks. Here in Saskatchewan, there has been a promise for many years from Ottawa-based Iogen about a cellulosic plant in Birch Hills or Prince Albert. It has never happened. Perhaps cellulosic ethanol is finally ready to move beyond a few small demonstration facilities, but the development to date has been disappointing. I’m Kevin Hursh.
There are some very positive aspects to the beef industry these days, but there are negatives as well. The good news is profitable prices. Feed grain prices in Western Canada are low as compared to American corn and that has helped feeder cattle values on this side of the border. However, the high value of the Canadian dollar has not been helpful. American feeder cattle prices are at record highs. Our record high was set back in 2001 when the value of the Canadian dollar was only 64 cents. Cull cow prices are amazingly good, with D1 and D2 cows approaching an average of 80 cents a pound. The downside is that we continue to loose processing capacity. XL Foods has announced that the operations of XL Beef and XL Meats in Calgary will be suspended due to the low supply of cows and “challenging competitive conditions in the Canadian marketplace.” Reports indicate that about 500 employees will be affected. XL says the processing plants may reopen in the fall when mature cow numbers are historically more plentiful. They used to say that about Moose Jaw too. The big beef facility at Brooks that XL bought from Tyson continues to operate, but labour contract talks are reportedly stalled so there could be trouble there as well. I’m Kevin Hursh.
A big trade issue has surfaced involving the European Union, lentils and glyphosate residue. A shipment of organic lentils from Turkey has exceeded the EU’s tolerance for glyphosate residue. This issue is now limiting lentil trade between North American and Europe. Glyphosate is registered for pre-harvest use on lentils, but Europe has the ridiculously low tolerance of 0.1 parts per million for glyphosate residue on lentils, whether conventional or organic. Why there would be any glyphosate on organic lentils is another question, but O.1 ppm is a very low level. By comparison, Europe’s Maximum Residue Limit for peas is 100 times higher at 10 ppm. They allow 50 ppm of glyphosate on mushrooms. Here in North America, the MRL for glyphosate on lentils is 5 ppm in the U.S. and 4 ppm in Canada. That’s 50 and 40 times what is allowed in Europe. Many Canadian lentil crops never see a glyphosate application, but any that do are unlikely to pass the 0.1 MRL. The Canadian and American lentils industries are working together to address the trade challenge. Pulse Canada and the U.S. Dry Pea and Lentil Council will hold meetings across Europe this week to discuss the issue with European buyers. They’re also submitting data to EU authorities to request a new import tolerance. North American lentil trade to Europe exceeded $110 million in value last year. I’m Kevin Hursh.