The report, titled Forces Impacting Animal Agriculture In Canada: A Synthesis, delves into the issues surrounding cattle, dairy and poultry production in the country and how it is interconnected within various factors in day-to-day life of residents.

Al Mussell, CAPI’s director of research, said the report draws from a lengthy technical report and while both that and the Synthesis document come to the conclusion of the importance of animal agriculture, the actual economic impact may not be so clear.

“It makes the point, and really drives home, that animal agriculture is extremely important in Canada. It’s extremely important from an economic growth perspective but it is particularly important regionally in rural areas that otherwise would not have the same levels of employment, levels of income in local communities,” said Mussell.

It’s also an industry that is built on using farming byproducts to increase the value of animals.

The report also highlights that Canada has some of the lowest CO2 emissions from the production of pork and beef, outclassing Western Europe, South America and Australia.

As well, the report highlights that farmers are the most trusted people in the Canadian food system and that animal agriculture in the country produces $90 billion in sales, 164,000 direct jobs and roughly two-and-a-half times that in indirect jobs.

The importance of animal agriculture provides options to farmers whose crops have been ravaged by hail and drought, and enhances pasture lands through grazing.

Mussell said such points can get lost in the complexity of the agricultural food production system.

“The motivation for writing this report, this major initiative on our part, comes out of the concern there are quite a number of people who need to be involved in decisions that relate to animal agriculture but don’t bring particular expertise to it,” said Mussell.

“Those people are in a difficult spot because there is always a tendency to fall into a subset of isolated facts that might take you in a particular direction when in fact this is a much more complicated type of a system.”

The report is designed to provide a well-rounded perspective to such decision makers to offer a balanced understanding of the value of animal agriculture and its importance to many communities.

“In Canada, we have an excellent animal agriculture system. It’s not perfect. There are problems. There are challenges and they need supportive policy to make headway on those challenges,” Mussell said.

One is the continuing diminishing of cattle inventories in the country over the past two decades.

On the other side, the positive parts of the industry when it comes to improving biodiversity through responsible grazing techniques might not be fully understood, Mussell said.

“You look at what we are able to do today to make better use of grasslands, lighten up the footprint of animal agriculture within that — pretty impressive and that’s over and above the basic conversion efficiency of animal agriculture.”

That conversion efficiency applies across Canada and involves calculating land not suitable for crop production and otherwise would be wasted if it were not used for livestock feed, said Mussell.

“We manage all of this in a manner which is profitable for each of the segments involved and which also supports communities that can work together to deal with the many issues that can come up and mitigate those by working together,” said Mussell.

The Forces Impacting Animal Agriculture In Canada: A Synthesis report can be found on the CAPI website.

— Alex McCuaig reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Medicine Hat, Alta.

The post Report aims to show animal agriculture’s interconnections appeared first on Country Guide.

Unifor workers in both Ontario and Quebec walked off the job Sunday following a breakdown in talks between the union and the system operator, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp (SLSMC).

Negotiations with a federal mediator are slated to resume on Friday, but Devitt said there is little time to spare because the longer the seaway is closed, the bigger impact the strike will have.

“What we’re doing is calling on government and the parties involved to get this strike over as soon as possible.”

Devitt said storage capacity in southwestern Ontario, which is home to the province’s grain and soybean production, is limited because of the close proximity to port access. The strike is occurring at a particularity critical point in the harvest, he added.

“We’re in the last third of soybean harvest, and corn is just getting started in Ontario. It’s been a late start for the growing season and wet weather these last few weeks. We’ve got a huge amount of corn and soybeans that are either in the field or need to get to market,” he said.

“We rely on boats moving out the St. Lawrence around the world at harvest in Ontario.”

Port terminals in southwestern Ontario are filling up and deliveries are starting to be restricted.

Storage capacity is currently being used for soybeans, which means corn can’t be harvested and stored, Devitt said.

“If we don’t free up that room in the countryside from beans, we’re not going to have room for corn,” he said.

The strike’s impacts could reach beyond southwestern Ontario if it continues. The seaway usually closes during freeze-up in January, and the backlog could hit western grain shipments coming out of Thunder Bay if a resolution isn’t found before the New Year, he added.

The Canada Labour Code requires workers to continue serving bulk grain vessels at ports in the event of a strike or lockout, as was the case during the longshore workers’ strike at West Coast ports this summer.

The SLSMC has sought a ruling from the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) on whether that Labour Code rule applies to seaway workers in this case.

SLSMC vice-president Jean Aubry-Morin said via email Tuesday that no deadline has yet been announced for the CIRB to rule on the matter.

— Alex McCuaig reports for the Western Producer from Medicine Hat, Alta. Includes files from Dave Bedard of AGCanada.com.

The post Seaway strike backs up Ontario grain appeared first on Country Guide.

Show manager Rob O’Connor said 13,084 attendees came to the Langham, Sask. event on Day 2, breaking the record set in 2019 and coming on top of 9,800 people filing through the gates on Day 1.

“That puts us slightly ahead of 2019 numbers by about five or 600,” said O’Connor.

“I feel really good about how yesterday, and even the day before — when we had the rain — how it worked out for everybody.”

While O’Connor is not expecting record-breaking attendance on the final day of the show, the weather is perfect, the exhibitors are ready and opportunity for picking up knowledge on the latest equipment, crop varieties, treatments and research is boundless across the 100-acre site.

“I think the feeling here is optimistic,” said O’Connor.

“Even when we had rain on the Tuesday of the show, it was very upbeat. There are a lot of people who expect that type of day isn’t good for a trade — which is probably true — except in the agriculture world.”

Staff are already fielding interest in next year’s show, which O’Connor said he anticipates will see more than the already-record number of 572 exhibitors travel to the event.

Honey Bee Harvest Equipment is just one of a number of companies using the show to launch new products; Spencer Groth, marketing manager for the Saskatchewan-based firm, said they’re launching its new air flex draper header, which fits on Case IH’s power unit.

Honey Bee launched its original air flex draper header eight years ago and is now introducing the latest version.

“What we’ve done with the Air-Flex NXT is we’ve built a new header around the original fundamentals — because the fundamentals work — but we’ve got new features that go around that original design,” he said.

Andrew Scheer, Regina-Qu’Appelle MP and former Conservative Party leader, took in the sights of the event on Day 2, calling it a great showcase of Canadian research and innovation.

“Year after year, the technology gets more sophisticated, the machinery gets more advanced and it’s an important part of this province’s economy, for our country in general,” said Scheer.

He said there is frustration in the ag sector about federal policies such as the carbon tax and initiatives that could limit fertilizer use and production, which would hurt the ability of producers to produce.

“Let’s take away some of the punishing policies like the carbon tax. Let’s park that idea and never see it in the light of day,” he said.

— Alex McCuaig reports for the Western Producer from Medicine Hat.

The post At Ag in Motion: Wednesday sets single-day attendance record appeared first on Country Guide.

Opening day saw the clouds roll in and the skies open up, but few were complaining about the much-needed moisture that rolled through much of Western Canada on Tuesday.

“We had some rain here yesterday for the first time ever,” show manager Rob O’Connor said of the nearly 10 cm of rain that fell.

Crews have made short work getting the site ready for Wednesday and, with the gates now open, the grounds are ready to roll for what’s anticipated to be a busy day.

“The weather today is looking really good… The site is drying up really well and we’ll probably attract a very large crowd,” said O’Connor.

“Usually, the Wednesday show is always our highest attended day.”

One of the featured exhibitors on Day Two is Morris Equipment, which is using the show to highlight its latest seed drill.

“It’s hard to be anything than to have a mood that’s absolutely ebullient today,” said Garth Massie, Canadian sales manager for Morris Equipment. “There is so much enthusiasm and, I think I speak for all the farmers in a big chunk of Alberta and Saskatchewan, we’ve got some rain, there is a little bit of hope, so I’m profoundly enthusiastic.”

The Saskatchewan-based company will be debut its 80-foot Quantum air drill to complement a line that already includes 40-, 50-, 60- and 70-foot models.

“As farms have grown bigger, there is a need for larger equipment. Formerly, we only went up to 70 feet; now we’re helping out some of those customers that have been asking for something larger,” said Massie.

“This 80-foot (model), it’s going to fit the bill for a lot of customers. We’ve had a very positive response to it.”

Massie said the air system has been modified with the primaries across the back allowing for more efficiency due to the need for less hose to get to the seed runs.

“It’ll be a neater, tighter, tidier machine overall,” he said.

Ag in Motion runs until Thursday.

— Alex McCuaig reports for the Western Producer from Medicine Hat.

The post At Ag in Motion: Exhibitors ready after rainy first day appeared first on Country Guide.

However, the big pulse crop south of the border has made inroads in the western provinces.

Manitoba has seen the biggest growth in soybean acres with well over a million planted annually in recent years, becoming the third largest crop after canola and wheat.

Growth has been far less dramatic in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Justine Cornelsen, agronomic and regulatory service manager with Brett Young Seeds, said soybeans are still considered a relatively new crop to the western Canadian market that is currently centred in southern Manitoba.

One of the biggest barriers for growth for the crop is the length of the growing season.

“Through genetics and selective breeding, soybeans are becoming more favourable for growing conditions here in Canada. We’ve got some shorter-season varieties that are on the market now,” said Cornelsen.

While several exhibitors at the Ag in Motion farm show outside of Saskatoon have been showcasing the latest varieties, growth in acres planted in Saskatchewan remain limited.

“We do see them in the southeast corner predominately, but it is moving across (the province), especially with the really big push for proteins,” said Cornelsen.

“It’s a tougher crop when we get looking at heat units, That’s why they are staying down there in the south — they don’t do well in that light, sandy soil. In Saskatchewan, we have a lot of that. That’s where there is a drawback in growing them into the northern regions as well.”

While wheat and canola are dominant in the province, soybeans are a good nitrogen-fixing crop to put in a diversified rotation under the right conditions.

However, the crop can also attract similar pests as peas, which can be an issue.

“As for a fit, I think they would work really well with canola and wheat. We see that happening in Manitoba quite frequently. A lot of growers are on a three-year rotation with some sort of cereals, canola and then their beans,” said Cornelsen.

“There are things to watch for. Disease like sclerotinia — like any broadleaf plant — so as soon as you have that in your canola, your beans are susceptible to that, so there is the chance to build that over time. It’s an environmentally dependent disease, so it’s not as big as a worry.”

Alberta and Saskatchewan’s growing season hasn’t provided the best environment for the moisture-loving soybean recently, but Cornelsen said research continues in incorporating more drought-resistance into the crop.

“They don’t do well when it’s dry, but finding that shorter season or varieties that will tolerate some drought is definitely a focus of plant breeders. We’re trying to select for varieties with good IDC (iron deficiency chlorosis) ratings. That iron chlorosis is something we don’t typically see in the States. It is a disease that is a Western Canada issue.”

Cornelsen said IDC can particularly be an issue for soybeans in hot, dry conditions.

The Manitoba crop is looking good this season. She said it has the moisture and is growing extremely well in the heat. Last season saw a record-breaking yield in the province, she added.

The crop’s future outside the Keystone province will largely depend on whether farmers are up for the challenge of taking on a new variety, one that requires use of specific harvesting equipment and storage while operating in an environment that hasn’t seen the crop grown before.

“It’s different,” said Cornelsen.

“It’s challenging yourself to grow something new, but there is a lot of investment and knowledge that needs to be taken in before you hop into a new crop like beans.”

Ontario remains the largest producer of soybeans by harvested area with more than three million acres in 2022.

Specific numbers for Saskatchewan are less certain with an estimated 100,000 acres seeded in recent years and Alberta seeding around 6,500.

— Alex McCuaig reports for the Western Producer from Medicine Hat.

The post At Ag in Motion: Soybean proponents still eye western expansion appeared first on Country Guide.

“It is the highest amount of exhibitors we’ve ever had,” show director Rob O’Connor said as the gates opened Tuesday.

Equipment and implement demonstrations, trial plots featuring the latest crop varieties along with experts able to discuss management techniques as well as the latest on everything cattle producers need from marketing to tools of the trade are on offer during the three-day event.

O’Connor said the event has been bouncing back since the pandemic as the demand for large in-person exhibitions comes back in fashion.

“Even with the show last year, we saw a big demand to have big events again,” he said. “What we really felt that was after last year almost getting back to the numbers we had in 2019 — within single digits — we felt very confident the show this year will be just as strong or better than the past years.”

O’Connor anticipates attendance for this year’s event will again be in the 30,000 range.

“When you consider there is 90,000 farmers in the Prairie provinces (and) we get attendance of 30,000, it feels pretty good.”

While the physical size of the exhibition grounds hasn’t changed, O’Connor said the layout has been changed to fit into all the exhibitors into the more than a half section of space.

The new layout includes Irrigation Alley, Ag Tech Alley and demonstration space for a half-dozen drone companies to highlight the latest in aerial vehicles for the agriculture industry.

— Alex McCuaig reports for the Western Producer from Medicine Hat.

The post At Ag in Motion: More to see per acre in 2023 appeared first on Country Guide.

Harvest weed seed control might not be a golden bullet to tackle glyphosate-, fluroxypyr- and dicamba-resistant weeds, but according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researcher Breanne Tidemann, it’s part of the range of solutions needed to stem the tide.

“You’re not going to spray your way out of this,” Tidemann said about herbicide resistance during her presentation at Ag in Motion.

“If you get a new product or new mode of action that works really well, everyone is going to adopt it, the selection pressure is going to go through the roof and we’re going to break that next tool, too. So, continuing to hope, cross our fingers, wishing and praying a new product is going to come out and save us is a little bit naïve, a little wishful thinking.”

However, the ability to mechanically separate weed seed at the point of harvest is part of the diversification solution that looks beyond just chemicals.

Development of harvest weed seed control started in the early 2000s in Australia before moving onto commercialization with the Harrington Seed Destructor trailer unit.

There are limitations to the implement, mainly that the weeds need to be either tall or short enough to fit in the header. However, once they do, the weed seeds are largely ground up into a flour-like material, doesn’t broadcast and can be an effective tool in not only limiting spread but getting to the core of the issue. As long as weeds are harvested, seed destructors have a more than 95 per cent rate of success.

Canadian research with the unit began in 2014, but since then, integrated harvest weed seed control implements for combines have been developed and are now commercially available.

While initial research is promising in demonstrating the implement will have significant impact on both weed control as well as limiting broadcast, weeds will likely be able to adapt even to mechanical attempts at tackling weeds.

“Weeds will adapt. Weeds are dirty little buggers that will find some way — they’ll mature more quickly, they’ll drop there seeds earlier, they’ll become more prostrate,” said Tidemann.

“We’ll see adaptations, I firmly believe that, particularly if we switch whole hog from only herbicides to only relying on this.”

She said it’s about redundancy, adding the solution is to use a range of techniques.

As far as where the technology goes next, Tidemann said the speed in which it’s already progressed is impressive and manufacturers of weed seed harvest control implements are continually improving the product.

“They are really listening to farmers,” she said.

“A farmer will say, ‘I had a problem with a metal bolt going through and it damaged my mill, I had to do a lot of repairs.’ The next thing you know, they’ve got a magnetic strip to catch metal pieces before they go through the mills.”

As development work continues, Tidemann said she hopes the technology is more widely adopted in Canada.

“My understanding from talking to colleagues (in Australia) is 80 to 90 per cent of their farmers are using some form of harvest weed control,” she said.

“Western Australia is showing it can be incorporated into a system and it can help and it can work.”

There is a cost, with units running in the $100,000 range, but Tidemann said it’s likely less than what farmers might think because it can be used on one combine that can tackle particularly weed patches rather than being required on every combine.

— Alex McCuaig reports for the Western Producer from Medicine Hat.

The post At Ag in Motion: Harvest weed control still in the mix appeared first on Country Guide.