Brown said results-based budgeting means government departments review what they’re doing and what value they provide for Albertans.

That will affect the program since that in January, the federal government announced Japan would start accepting beef under 30 months instead of under 21 months, which had been the previous practice.

“The landscape has changed since January so that’s also a factor that we’ll consider when we review this,” Brown said.

Mandatory age verification was required starting in 2009.

“The intent of the regulation at the time was to ensure there was this critical mass of age-verified cattle that could be identified and accepted by export markets that would be under 21 months,” Brown said.

He said now that under-30-month beef is being accepted by markets such as Japan, processors can use  other tools such as dentition to confirm the age of the cattle.

There’s been a steady decrease in compliance since the policy was introduced, but Brown said compliance averages about 78 per cent.  Mandatory age verification hasn’t only been under an in-depth review since the change in Japanese import policy, Brown said. Internal reviews were conducted in the last couple years before the change, he said.  
Fred Hays, a policy analyst for Alberta Beef Producers (ABP), said international markets now accepting under-30-month beef means most products coming out of Alberta are covered.  

“It’s just about a non-issue right now,” Hays said about mandatory age verification. “Anything older than 30 months can easily be recognized.” Hays said ABP doesn’t have a policy on whether mandatory age verification regulations should continue.

“As far as we’re concerned… it’s being taken care of,” Hays said, now that most markets are accepting under-30-month instead of under-21-month cattle. Countries that open to older beef means have the potential to double their imports, Hays said.  

The post Alberta’s mandatory cattle age verification under review appeared first on Country Guide.

“It is early. I would say at this point we don’t have any reports of catastrophic damage to crops and livestock,” said provincial Agriculture Minister Verlyn Olson. “I’m sure there will be cases where there is some damage but for the most part, crops would, or could have been, covered by insurance.”

The assessments follow a stunning period of heavy rainfall beginning around June 19. A low-pressure system parked over the province’s southwest and, by June 22, had dumped 80 to 280 millimetres of rain in a region between Waterton Park and Banff, with up to 340 mm measured at some points in the Bow, Elbow and upper Sheep River basins.

The province is now assessing infrastructure damage suffered by irrigation districts and feedlots, and “is fully engaged in helping with rebuilding,” Olson added.

Farmers who have suffered damage should first check with their insurers, he said, adding it’s too early to know whether special provincial or federal programs may be available.

Livestock and crop producer groups said they haven’t received reports of widespread damage.

“There wasn’t a lot of general flooding,” said Kent Erickson, chair of the Alberta Wheat Commission. “I would say a very small percentage of grain land was lost.”

While many fields were negatively affected by downpours, others needed the rain, said Matt Sawyer, chair of the Alberta Barley Commission.

“It all balances out,” he said.

The situation is more uncertain on the livestock side as it will be a while before cattle can be counted, said Doug Sawyer, chair of Alberta Beef Producers.

“I’m very hopeful the cattle loss won’t be devastating as an industry,” he said. “But for (affected) individual producers, it is devastating.”

Feedlot owners say all they need is some sunshine.

“We weren’t ravaged by any flooding but a lot of moisture makes the pens pretty mucky,” said Bryan Walton, CEO of the Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association.

It’s a far different story when it comes to rural roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

“‘Extensive’ is the word I’ve been hearing from almost everybody,” said Bob Barss, president of the Alberta Association of District Municipalities and Counties.

“Nobody was ever expecting anything like this. I think probably the majority of people were overwhelmed.”

More than 300 bridges need to be inspected and a host of roads need repairing, Alberta Transportation spokesperson Nancy Beasley Hosker said.

“We are working as fast as we can and as safely as we can to get the roads open as quickly as possible. But safety is key,” she said.

Motorists should watch for lane closures and reduced speed limits, she said.

— Victoria Paterson is a reporter for Alberta Farmer in Calgary. Follow her @vspaterson on Twitter.

The post Alberta’s farms escape worst of flooding appeared first on Country Guide.

“The industry people who I’ve been travelling with have told me just about every day they’ve been here they’ve had very productive meetings,” Alberta Agriculture Minister Verlyn Olson, said Thursday on a press conference call from Kazakhstan.

Olson accompanied federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz on a trade mission that took the federal minister to Russia as well. According to a press release from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Kazakhstan is the biggest importer of Canadian purebred cattle.

Given Alberta’s position as the largest beef producer in Canada, there are many potential opportunities in both the cattle sector and other agricultural products, including equipment, Olson said. “There’s huge potential.”

There are many similarities, he added, in the landscape of areas of Kazakhstan and parts of Alberta.

“When you drive out in the country here, it feels very much like maybe the Brooks country or maybe Hanna country, except there are no fences, it just goes for miles… so there is a great opportunity for us to sell cattle and farm equipment here,” he said.

Both Olson and Ritz mentioned that the Canadian Hereford Association and a large ranch in Kazakhstan are collaborating on education.

‘They’re working together on the creation of an agriculture school,” Olson said, noting the association donated $5,000 toward the project and that there’s some Lakeland College involvement.

“Happy to show them”

Ritz said he addressed trade concerns in both Kazakhstan and Russia as well. In Russia, he raised that country’s ractopamine ban, which last month saw “temporary restrictions” imposed that halted meat imports from all but 19 federally inspected plants across Canada.

Marketed in Canada by Elanco as Paylean and Optaflexx, both growth stimulants to make beef and pork leaner, ractopamine is now banned in certain countries citing concerns that residues could remain in the meat and cause health problems, despite scientific evidence indicating it’s safe.

Russia is sending a team of veterinarians to Canada and some other countries soon, Ritz said, to take a look at the systems around ractopamine use.

“We’re happy to show them the extent of what we can and cannot do when it comes to ractopamine,” he said.

They also spoke about the Customs Union partnership that’s eliminating internal customs borders between some countries, including Russia and Kazakhstan.

While Canada is in favour of free trade, Ritz wanted to make sure any new rules don’t create blocks for Canadian imports. He tackled the issue of new animal health protocols in Kazakhstan as well.

On this trade mission, according to a federal release, the livestock industry has signed commercial contracts valued up to $11 million.

Those contracts include an $8 million contract for Genesus of Oakville, Man. to export 6,500 breeding swine to Russia and a nearly $3 million contract for Xports International of Clearwater, Man. to export Canadian purebred cattle to Kazakhstan.

— Victoria Paterson is a reporter for Alberta Farmer Express in Calgary. Follow her @vspaterson on Twitter.

The post Ag players find Kazakhstan, Russia open for business appeared first on Country Guide.

The first provincial crop report was issued May 6, and at that time, less than three per cent of the province had been seeded, with the southern region being the most advanced at nine per cent.

“As a general rule for the grains and oilseed sector, it’s not bad yet,” said Humphrey Banack, second vice-president of Wild Rose Agricultural Producers and a grain and oilseed farmer near Camrose. His operation got seeding underway only a few days late, and while it depends on whom he talks to, the warm weather has been helpful.

Lukas Matejovsky, a crop statistician with Alberta Agriculture, said the recent five-year average for the first week of May is 8.2 per cent of seeding completed. The earlier crop report said excessive moisture is a problem in a number of regions, especially the northeast, northwest and Peace regions.

Shawna Mathieson, executive director of the Alberta Oat Growers Commission, said there are some wet spots in the province where her producers indicated that if they got a couple more inches of rain, they might not manage to seed some acres.

“Right now, if the warm weather holds, we should be good. In some areas if they get very much rain there may be some acres that aren’t seeded but farmers are being pretty positive right now,” Mathieson said. In general, oat growers were about a week behind but the warm weather meant the ground was drying out quickly, she said.

Matt Sawyer, who farms northeast of Calgary and serves as chairman of the Alberta Barley Commission, said he’s seeding into moisture. The southern part of the province has made great progress, in the central area many were close to done and near Barrhead he’d heard from another director that they were just getting started with seeding.

“Everybody’s rolling as hard as they can,” Sawyer said. A lot of progress had been made since the first crop report was issued, he added.

Rick Istead, general manager of the Alberta Wheat Commission, agreed. “A lot has happened since that crop report,” he said, noting some of his board’s directors in the south are already done seeding their wheat. Other areas were catching up, though some just got started in mid-May.

While getting the crop in earlier is always better, no one is panicking yet, Istead said. “This recent stretch of warm weather, warm days, warm nights and lack of precipitation has allowed them… with the equipment we have today (to) seed a lot of ground in a fairly short time,” he said.

Earlier is always better for canola too, but it’s not late yet, said Ward Toma, general manager of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission. While the south is more advanced, central Alberta was underway and those in the north were just getting started in the middle of the month.

“If we are not seeding we are very, very close to seeding across the province now,” he said, adding those in the Peace region might run up against deadlines.

The May 6 crop report said some areas in that region still had several inches of snow on the ground but producers were hoping to get started within five to 15 days.

— Victoria Paterson reports for Alberta Farmer from Calgary.

The post Alta. growers catching up on seeding appeared first on Country Guide.

Co-op members passed a non-binding resolution last month that would see the company stop selling pork from farms using the stalls within five years.

The move needs the approval of the co-op’s board, but company officials have met with Alberta Pork and won’t make any hasty decisions, said Cindy Drummond, the co-op’s communications manager.

“We support the industry and the safe treatment of animals, and I think the pork producers are saying the same thing,” she said.

If the no-stall resolution is implemented, the co-op will look at a reasonable time frame before it stops selling pork from those farms in its 24 stores, she said.

The executive director of Alberta Pork commended the company for taking a level-headed approach, and said he hopes the public will pay attention when a draft of a new national code of practice for pork producers comes out in June.

“It’s based on science, not on emotion,” said Darcy Fitzgerald.

Although the public may be skeptical, producers are truly committed to using the most humane production practices available, he said.

“I know we always say economics and welfare don’t go together — but they really do,” said Fitzgerald. “I mean, it’s in the best interest to have the best animals and the healthiest animals.”

He noted group housing was once the norm, and gestation stalls were adopted in order to reduce aggression in herds and ensure every pig had adequate water and food.

“There’s problems in both systems. It all comes down to management,” Fitzgerald said.

Much of the opposition to stalls is coming from people opposed to animal agriculture. It’s also coming at a time when it’s tough for producers to afford changes to their production systems.

“It’s much easier in a climate where you’re actually making money,” Fitzgerald said. “Our guys are probably losing $35 a pig and they’re being asked to make more changes.”

— Victoria Paterson is a reporter for Alberta Farmer in Calgary. This article appears in the April 29 issue.

Related stories:
Tim Hortons expects stall-free pork by 2022, April 4, 2013
Olymel joins move back from gestation crates, March 22, 2013

The post Calgary Co-op weighs stall-free pork appeared first on Country Guide.

"We came as close as we could," Chicken Farmers of Canada’s David Janzen said at the Alberta Chicken Producers’ annual general meeting here Feb. 26.

"In the end, we couldn’t reach an agreement."

Alberta wants additional allocation in order to reflect the province’s population increase, but despite years of negotiations — including more talks in early February — the issue couldn’t be resolved.

Reps from from provincial organizations "gave it their best shot," said Janzen, adding it’s time to take a break before heading back to the negotiating table.

"I want to make it crystal clear that CFC is absolutely committed to achieving a solution acceptable to all 10 provinces," he said. "This is not simply an Alberta issue… this is about all 10 provinces agreeing."

Alberta has more than 11 per cent of the population but just 9.15 per cent of chicken production — the gap is equivalent to 16 million kilograms of chicken a year.

Janzen had earlier reminded the crowd about the current negative press supply management has been receiving.

"The problem with internal bickering is it strips us of our credibility," he said.

Proposed compromise

David Hyink, vice-chair of Alberta Chicken Producers and the group’s alternate director to the national body, described the final meeting in Ottawa as "emotional" and said those in attendance did "all they could" to help bring an agreement about.

In the end, Quebec almost supported a proposed compromise, but didn’t. Nova Scotia was the other province that didn’t vote for the proposed deal.

This means the letter of intent to withdraw from the national supply management system at the end of 2013 couldn’t be revoked, Hyink said.

But he said the Alberta Chicken Producers will continue to search for a solution, and agreed with Janzen that a break is needed.

Alberta is now poised to exit the federal-provincial agreement at year’s end. But the next allocation is due to be set in September and Hyink said a solution needs to be found before then.

Even if Dec. 31 passes without a new agreement, there will still be controls in place for matters such as animal care through the province, he added.

"It’s not going to be a free-for-all," Hyink said.

Talks are likely to resume in April or May, said Karen Kirkwood, executive director of the Alberta Chicken Producers.

However, since the letter can no longer be revoked, Alberta will have to be signed back into the national allocation system by provincial agriculture ministers.

— Victoria Paterson is a reporter for Alberta Farmer in Calgary.

The post Alta. chicken producers poised to exit national system appeared first on Country Guide.