It’s a simple building located at the MBFI Brookdale Farm north of Brandon, but there, some interesting magic happens that could be a model to provide industry focus on challenges in the sector.

In Manitoba, that challenge is how to support the beef industry so that enough cattle remain on farms to maintain prairie grasslands. Those grasslands have been degraded as so many more acres have moved into crops. Those soybean, canola, corn, wheat and pulse crop fields used to be grazed by cattle, and before them bison and deer and other animals.

It’s a classic case of groups with different main interests and needs coming together to solve another problem that affects them both.

Christian Artuso, Manitoba program director for Bird Studies Canada is a good example. A former vegetarian when he arrived on the prairies to continue his education, he realized how important beef farming is to the maintenance of the prairie ecosystem in order to keep the birds he studies thriving.

And they haven’t thrived, with some Prairie bird species numbers down by 95 per cent over the past 60 years.

Artuso is working with groups that now help to encourage more meat animals in the province.

The MBFI is a collaboration among Manitoba Agriculture, Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP), Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA).

Together the umbrella organization is greater than its parts. It recently hired its first full-time general manager and is creating research projects around the province. It was able to secure the use of long-term Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada forage research lands just outside of Brandon when AAFC shut down its beef research program in the province. It is running many trials on beef and grazing – bale grazing, corn grazing, rotational grazing and ways to keep water running to cows during the winter.

Ontario examples

I’m not a big fan of increasing the number of organizations serving agriculture, including having organizations create more organizations. The amalgamations we have had in agriculture have served the sector well. Grain Farmers of Ontario has more stability and effectiveness than its predecessors would have had.

There are some examples in Ontario already. The Thames River Phosphorus Reduction Collaborative brings together conservation groups and agriculture groups so that both sides have some say in what solutions are found to manage phosphorus load going into Lake Erie. Together it is more efficient to coordinate research funding and communications on the issue.

There are other smaller projects that have come together – after all, in order to qualify for organization-level funding for the Growing Forward programs and the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a group has to be part of a collaboration of some sort.

One of the most interesting parts of the MBFI is its ability to bring together people who might not have been considered a ‘fan’ of a practice – say farming’s impact on the environment – to support something that makes sense for both groups. In this case it’s encouraging beef farming to maintain Prairie habitat.

I also heard this sort of language when I talked to people and organizations around the plan for a National Food Policy for Canada. Food security groups realized that there are ways they need to support the message of agriculture – even if they have some issues with some branches of food production. In the same way, farm groups have had to work with environmental and food security groups.

As some people in Manitoba found, when they came together to work on one project, a portion of their worldview changed.

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Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal said the five-year program will start April 3, which, he added, will mean a seamless transition between the current federal-provincial agriculture and food funding partnership, Growing Forward 2, and its sequel, CAP.

Why is this important? Federal-provincial funding programs have become a major source of project funding for farm organizations, farmers and food companies. Having the program in place on time will means there will be less lag time between current and future programs.

Leal announced the program’s rollout at the OMAFRA building in Guelph Tuesday, on Canada’s Agriculture Day, to a room full of Ontario’s agriculture leaders and organization representatives.

“The emphasis going forward over the next five years of course will be on innovation creating export opportunities,” said Leal.

“One of the ways we think we can continue to build agriculture in Ontario is those value added jobs. By putting and emphasis on scaling up, we’ll have entities in Ontario who can compete with anyone in the world.”

Here are preliminary facts on how the product will roll out in Ontario. Workbooks will be available soon, said Leal.

The $1.5 billion will be paid for 60 per cent by the federal government and 40 per cent by the province.

Of $1.5 billion, $1.1 billion has been set aside for business risk management (BRM) funding and $417 million for strategic initiatives.

The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association will continue to be the delivery organization for farmer-level programs, the Agricultural Adaptation Council will provide funding for agriculture organizations and partnerships and OMAFRA will continue to provide funds for food processors. This follows the process for Growing Forward 2.

“When I was out chatting with our various elements of the Ontario ag community, the certainly looked at GF2 and indicated to me that not a lot needed to be changed,” Leal said. “It could be some fine-tuning in a couple areas.”

The Growing Forward 2 program contributed to 6,800 projects with Ontario producers, processors, organizations and collaborations.

OMAFRA deputy minister Greg Meredith thanked OMAFRA staff who had worked to get the program ready on time.

“A billion and a half dollars for our farmers, for our innovators, food businesses — that’s a big story, folks, and that’s a big opportunity.”

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @jgreig on Twitter.

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Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, speaking Friday at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, announced a $1 billion suite of six federally funded programs to roll out through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

The Canadian Agricultural Partnership, due to launch April 1 next year, will be the five-year, $3 billion follow-up to Growing Forward 2, the current five-year federal/provincial/territorial ag policy funding framework.

As in previous ag policy frameworks, business risk management (BRM) programs including AgriStability, AgriInvest, AgriInsurance, AgriRecovery and livestock price insurance will be jointly funded by Ottawa and the provinces/territories. The six Canadian Agricultural Partnership programs to be funded solely by Ottawa will include:

AgriScience, supporting “pre-commercialization activities and investing in cutting-edge research.” The program will have two components, Clusters and Projects. The agriculture department is now accepting applications from industry groups under the Clusters component; interested groups can call 613-759-1977 or inquire via email.

AgriMarketing, for national industry associations and small and medium-sized enterprises to increase and diversify exports to international markets and “seize domestic market opportunities through industry-led promotional activities.”

AgriCompetitiveness, backing industry-led efforts to help the ag sector “leverage, co-ordinate and build on existing capacity, enhance safety, adapt to changing commercial and regulatory environments, share best practices, and provide mentorship opportunities.”

AgriInnovate, backing agribusinesses to bring innovations to market or adopt “leading-edge” technologies and processes.

AgriDiversity, to strengthen the sector by incorporating the views of a “more diverse set” of industry players, to help diverse groups “take a greater leadership role, building the entrepreneurial capacity and business skills of under-represented groups (and) facilitating the sharing of industry experience, best practices and knowledge.”

AgriAssurance, to help national industry associations and small and medium-sized enterprises to “make meaningful and verifiable claims about the health and safety of Canadian agricultural products” and “build industry capacity to increase public confidence in the food system, respond to market requirements and meet consumer demand.”

Calling it “an exciting new chapter for agriculture in Canada,” MacAulay outlined Ottawa’s priorities for the new framework as “growing trade and expanding markets; innovative and sustainable growth of the sector; and supporting diversity and a dynamic, evolving sector.”

BRM changes

The Canadian Agricultural Partnership will also include the BRM program changes to which ag ministers agreed in July, effective in the 2018 program year.

Among those changes, the reference margin limit (RML) for AgriStability will be changed to “ensure producers from all sectors will have improved access to support under the program, regardless of their cost structure” and guarantee all producers at least 70 per cent of their reference margin.

A late participation mechanism will also be added to AgriStability. During “significant events,” provincial and territorial governments can trigger the mechanism to allow producers to enter the program late, “in situations where there is a significant income decline and a gap in participation.” Producers who enroll late under the mechanism will see a 20 per cent cut in benefits.

Also starting in the 2018 program year, a $250 minimum payment will apply under AgriStability, while under AgriInvest, the minimum payment will be adjusted from $75 to $250.

Maximum allowable net sales (ANS) eligible under AgriInvest will be reduced to $1 million, down from $1.5 million, and annual government matching contributions will be limited to $10,000 per AgriInvest account, down from $15,000. — AGCanada.com Network

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The MP for the western Saskatchewan riding of Battlefords-Lloydminster since 1997, Ritz announced via Twitter Thursday morning that he “will not be returning to my seat in the House of Commons this fall.” The Commons resumes sitting Sept. 18.

Ritz, who turned 66 earlier this month, didn’t give a specific reason for his departure in his brief statement. In an interview with the Manitoba Co-operator’s Allan Dawson after the 2015 election, Ritz said his wife didn’t want him to run again, but he had unfinished business on the ag file.

In Thursday’s statement, he thanked his constituents, colleagues in both the House and Senate, the civil service and staff with whom he worked as an MP and as agriculture minister.

“They have all proved themselves to be exceptional people, with the best interest of our great country Canada at heart,” he wrote.

Fellow Saskatchewan Tory MP Randy Hoback thanked Ritz via Twitter on Thursday, replying that Ritz “made being a farmer profitable and cool.” B.C. Tory MP Dan Albas tweeted that the party will miss Ritz’s “stand-up get-it-done style” in caucus.

Ritz, who lives at Brightsand Lake, about 125 km north of North Battleford, most recently served as the Conservatives’ critic for international trade under interim Tory leader Rona Ambrose. He was not on the shadow cabinet roster announced Wednesday by the party’s new leader, fellow Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer.

A farmer, general contractor and newspaper publisher, Ritz’s career in federal politics dates back to before the 1993 federal election, when he served as campaign manager for Elwin Hermanson, the Reform Party MP for what was then Kindersley-Lloydminster.

After the 1993 election, Ritz served as constituency co-ordinator for Hermanson. As ag minister, Ritz appointed Hermanson in 2008 to a stint as chief commissioner for the Canadian Grain Commission.

After Hermanson departed for provincial politics, Ritz ran for federal office himself, replacing Hermanson as the Reform Party MP in the 1997 election. He ran successfully under the Canadian Alliance banner in 2000 and has been the Conservative MP since 2004.

Before Harper’s Tories won government in 2006, Ritz served as the associate finance critic (1997-2000), then as associate ag critic (2000-02), deputy whip, (2001-02), public works critic (2002-03) and lead ag critic (2003-04).

After Ritz replaced Chuck Strahl as the Tories’ minister for agriculture and the Canadian Wheat Board in 2007, he oversaw a long-time Tory policy goal through to completion, leading the deregulation of the CWB’s single marketing desk for Prairie wheat and barley and the privatization of the CWB into what’s now G3 Canada.

Elsewhere on the long list of Ritz’s impacts on Canada’s ag sector, he was one of the point men in the federal response against the U.S. government’s mandatory country-of-origin labelling (COOL) law, leading to the law’s eventual repeal on beef and pork in late 2015 following years of challenges and appeals at the World Trade Organization.

Ritz, as ag minister, also helped spearhead the federal response to a massive rail freight backlog on Prairie grain, legislating mandatory minimum grain handles and expanded interswitching on Canada’s Big Two railways in 2014.

He also oversaw the government’s construction of the Growing Forward ag policy funding framework (2008-13) and its successor, GF2 (2013-18). GF and GF2, jointly funded by the federal, provincial and territorial governments, both evolved from the previous Liberal government’s repackaging of agriculture supports and risk management programming into the Agriculture Policy Framework (APF) in 2003. –– AGCanada.com Network

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Jeff Leal’s decision, announced in August, resulted in a Dec. 21 threat from Ontario’s largest tomato processors to significantly cut back their tomato purchases from Ontario farmers in 2017.

Processing tomato prices have been negotiated by the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers on behalf of producers. But processors want to negotiate with producers individually — and the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission’s now-stalled proposal had been expected to lead to regulatory adjustments toward that end.

“It was the right decision,” Leal said during an interview with Glacier FarmMedia, looking ahead to 2017 in Ontario agriculture.

Leal’s decisions, such as overruling the OFPMC, are made with advice from OMAFRA and ministerial staff, he said.

“I depend on them to help me make the right decision that will benefit the agriculture sector in the province of Ontario.”

His directive to the commission is “very clear,” he said. “We have to come up a solution that benefits both parties and a very detailed economic analysis needs to be done before we reach the solution on this particular matter.”

Leal stepped in after farmers protested during the short consultation period, scheduled during last year’s production season, on the changes proposed by the OFPMC.

Geri Kamenz, chair of the commission, has since resigned and been replaced by Jim Clark, executive director of the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association, as interim chair.

Wynne’s jobs challenge

Processing has played a major role in the 42,000 jobs Leal said have been created toward the province’s goal of adding 120,000 new jobs in the sector by 2020.

“We want to continue to grow the agriculture sector in Ontario,” said Leal, who last Thursday was appointed as Ontario’s minister responsible for small business, on top of his agriculture responsibilities.

The sector’s job growth so far has occurred mostly in retail and processing, he said, but has been seen throughout the supply chain.

One of the strengths of the sector is that it includes all of the steps of the agrifood chain, he said, from farm supply to farmers to processing and markets for final sale.

Ontario is also a major agricultural exporter, handling $10 billion of Canada’s $30 billion in agrifood exports to the U.S. — which has Leal concerned with the anti-trade rhetoric emerging from the U.S.

“We know that president-elect Trump has targeted Mexico, but you have to be watchful of unintended consequences when someone else is the target… you may get hit by the wake that sometimes leaves.”

Meanwhile, Leal has led trade missions to China and, last year, India, where he said there is opportunity. He noted he’s been impressed by Ontario food’s reputation around the world.

“When I was in China people knew about Foodland Ontario and the quality of our food. Canada and Ontario represents both quality and safety second to none and that is a premium that Ontario and Canada has and it is a great way to open doors in every part of the world.”

China is more interested in quality food products, while India needs technology that can help its food infrastructure to help reduce food waste. About 40 per cent of the crop in India is wasted due to poor storage logistics, said Leal.

Neonics: ‘Change is difficult’

At home, treatment regimens for Ontario’s crops will continue to evolve, Leal said, and there will be new products developed that can replace neonics as seed treatments.

“Our farm community continues to work through the framework that has been provided,” he said. “For society in general, change is difficult.”

The government, he noted, supported Conservative MPP Lisa Thompson’s private member’s bill, which aimed to define professional pest advisors.

Thompson’s bill was meant as a response to the concern that there were not enough advisors available, as per the province’s definition, to allow farmers to apply to use neonic pesticides.

Precision diagnostic technology, such as drone imaging, could also enable farmers to more precisely manage pesticide applications in the future, Leal said.

Carbon caps

Leal said he also continues to work on the province’s climate change action plan.

“Carbon sequestration is something farmers know something about. Farmers are our best environmental stewards and we need to remind our urban audience of that.”

Leal, however, couldn’t list any way in which farmers could benefit from their ability to sequester carbon. Farmers are being hit by increased fuel costs following implementation of an emissions-regulating cap-and-trade system in Ontario.

Early cap-and-trade systems allowed farmers to sell carbon credits on account of their crops’ carbon sequestration, particularly in crops under minimal tillage. However, the systems that have been developed are more regulatory and managed by governments.

All funds collected through cap-and-trade will be returned to the people of the province, including farmers, Leal said, but he indicated some of those returns would come through program spending, not directly via tax cuts.

A project to upgrade the 40-year-old provincial soil map was one example he gave of a program that could be paid for by cap-and-trade funds.

Growing Forward sequel

Ontario, Leal said, is pleased at the response it’s getting from federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay in discussions on the next agriculture policy funding framework, now being negotiated to replace Growing Forward 2 in 2018.

Farmers’ biggest concern over Growing Forward 2 is that so much funding was reduced and program eligibility tightened under the new framework.

“We want to make sure that business risk management plans that we share jointly with the government of Canada are effective for the farm community,” Leal said.

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @jgreig on Twitter.

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The funds will go towards the development of quality standards and measurement techniques for Canadian biomass, and research into overcoming technology barriers to the adoption of natural fibres in the composites industry, a news release says.

The Growing Forward 2 (GF2), AgriMarketing Program, will provide up to $982,075 to identify quality gaps and develop quality standards and measurement techniques to facilitate the commercialization of Canadian biomass in four bioproducts sectors: biomaterials, biochemical, biofuels and bioenergy.

The GF2, AgriInnovation Program, will provide up to $1.9 million for research into how the strength and quality of composites can be affected by farming practices, varieties and weather. The CIC will also develop more robust natural fibre reinforced composites, combining these fibres with plastic resins, to produce parts for buses, cars and farm equipment that have reliable performance characteristics.

The Composites Innovation Centre Manitoba Inc. (CIC) is a not-for-profit corporation that supports and stimulates economic growth through innovative research, development and the application of composite materials and technologies for manufacturing industries.

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The B.C. Agriculture and Food Climate Action Initiative (CAI) brought agricultural producers together with local governments and provincial agencies to identify collaborative solutions and actions to adapt to the challenges facing the sector.

A newly released adaptation plan outlines the priority impact areas and a series of strategies to strengthen the resilience of the Okanagan agriculture sector in a changing climate, according to a release.

“Agricultural producers in the Okanagan need to be aware of the potential impacts of climate change and start planning for the future,” said Erin Carlson, who represents the B.C. Cherry Association on the Climate Adaptation Advisory Committee. “This strategy is an important starting point. It has brought focus to the discussion and resources necessary to start moving plans into action.”

The initiative is being supported by a $300,000 investment from the federal and provincial governments through Growing Forward 2.

Climate models show a strong warming trend for the Okanagan, particularly in the summer. Precipitation is expected to decrease in the summer, and increase in the winter, with a marked decrease in the amount falling as snow, the release says.

Extreme weather events are also expected to become more frequent and more severe. Changes to temperature and precipitation patterns will impact river systems, resulting in less predictability and increased variability in the timing and volume of water flows. Warmer temperatures and higher rates of evapotranspiration will increase demand for irrigation and put pressure on water storage.

“For growers, these changes could have a significant impact on crop yields and quality, as well as increasing the cost of securing the water needed for production,” Carlson said. “We need to be prepared to manage the risks of shifting weather patterns and extreme weather events, as they have the potential to be devastating for the fruit crops that our region is known for.”

The Okanagan Regional Adaptation Strategies report identifies four priority impact areas:

• Warmer and drier summer conditions
• Changes to pest populations;
• Increase in extreme precipitation events;
• Increasing wildfire risk

As the action plan is implemented, project results will be shared with the intent of bringing new information, resources, tools and practices into use across the province.

The BC Agriculture and Food Climate Action Initiative was established by the BC Agriculture Council in 2008, and is led by an advisory committee of agricultural producers, food processors and representatives from various government agencies. The Initiative has been supported by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC with funding provided by

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the BC Ministry of Agriculture through Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.

For more information on The Okanagan Regional Adaptation Strategies visit the Climate Action Initiative website.

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Its 2016 Conference Report (the Report), which summarizes the need for the agricultural sector to better disseminate research results to producers, farmers, industry, academia, consumers and among the research community.

“Last year, we broke new ground by releasing Canada’s first-ever agricultural research policy, a long-standing objective for the sector and for AIC,” said AIC CEO Serge Buy. “This year, we are continuing our work by raising awareness of the need to better communicate and disseminate agricultural research. We need to collectively ensure that game-changing results have the impact that they deserve in Canada and internationally.”

A key finding is that research dissemination has often been neglected in past policy development or is left until the end of the project cycle. This needs to change in order to increase stakeholder engagement and allow for greater impact of results, the AIC release says.

It suggests including funds for knowledge transfer and extension activities in the next Federal-Provincial-Territorial Policy Framework, noting “enhanced collaboration across the sector can enable the environment needed to implement new participatory research methods and enable effective knowledge transfer.”

Another is that the sector needs to find new ways to encourage and support knowledge transfer activities.

The report also discusses the role that Intellectual Property (IP) has to play in the dissemination of research outcomes.

Although the commercialization of research results can certainly lead to a positive rate of return on investment, IP management is often debated or misunderstood and not recognized as a potential dissemination route for Canadian innovations.

“Intellectual property rights (IPR) affect nearly every part of the research process from initial development to the sharing of results with other researchers. It is also an area of great debate and misunderstanding not only in agricultural research but also in other areas of scientific research,” the report says.

It promotes making that protection stronger. “Stronger IP agreements and partnerships can also help Canadian agricultural research achieve a competitive advantage at the international level.”

A subsequent, in-depth Best Practices Report for Research Dissemination that highlights a number of best practices from across the sector will be released by AIC in late Summer 2016.

To view the 2016 conference report go to the Agricultural Institute of Canada website.

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The next agricultural policy funding framework is due to launch April 1, 2018, the government said in a release Monday.

The first phase of the government’s consultations, including the online questionnaire, is set to run until the end of July this year.

The website will also allow stakeholders to offer input on “what they would like to see included in the next agricultural policy framework,” the government said.

Also, “additional consultation activities will be ongoing in the coming months to gather feedback that will help inform the next framework.”

“I will continue to consult with stakeholders from across the country as we work in partnership with provincial and territorial governments to develop the next policy framework,” federal Ag Minister Lawrence MacAulay said in Monday’s release.

“These open and transparent consultations with Canadians will help shape the direction of future policy and programs to meet this objective. My goal is to help the agriculture and agri-food sector be more innovative, safer and stronger.”

The federal Liberals set up the first multi-year agricultural policy framework, known simply as the APF, in 2003 under then-ag minister Lyle Vanclief. The federal Conservatives followed up the APF with Growing Forward (2008-13), and again with GF2 (2013-18).

GF2 committed $3 billion in federal, provincial and territorial funding for programs to support “innovation, competitiveness and market development.”

GF2 also backed a business risk management suite of programs, including AgriInvest, AgriStability, AgriInsurance and AgriRecovery, which to date have laid out over $4 billion to help producers manage “severe market volatility and disasters.”

The questionnaire and further consultations are meant to help the next APF’s developers “better understand where GF2 is working well, and where challenges could be addressed.” — AGCanada.com Network

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Canadian Prairie Garden Puree Products has acquired new equipment and modified its existing operation in order to cook more types of fruits, vegetables and pulse crops like chickpeas, navy beans and lentils, then rapidly chill and package the pureed products into sterile pouches.

CPG is billed as the only company in the world with this technology, which is considered more cost-effective and environmentally friendly than traditional processing methods. The technology is also meant to ensure the purees retain better colour, flavour, texture and nutritional benefits without any preservatives or additives.

The funds were announced by federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and his Manitoba counterpart Ron Kostyshyn on Thursday.

The company’s expansion allows it to buy millions of tonnes of culled vegetables that might otherwise be sent to a landfill or sold at a lower price for animal feed. In five years, the company plans to expand to nearly 60 employees from its current nine.

CPG, located at the Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie, has received several awards in 2015 for its products including for Best New Product at the Manitoba Food Processors Association’s awards and a “NEXTY” award at the Natural Products Expo West in California.

The purees can be sold to other food manufacturers and other food service customers.

The company’s unique process allows purees to be stored at room temperature for up to two years. The sterile packaging system also uses 30 per cent less water and energy than other processes currently in use in the industry.

The Growing Value money, flowing through the federal/provincial Growing Forward 2 (GF2) ag policy funding framework, represents 50 per cent of the cost of the new equipment.

Growing Value, part of the federal/provincial Growing Forward 2 ag policy funding framework, is meant to provide financial assistance to agribusinesses to “make changes to adapt to market forces and environmental considerations” or to “increase their ability to compete in domestic and international markets.”

Covered projects can include “value-added processing productivity improvements and related equipment purchases” as well as “adoption of environmental sustainability practices.”

“This funding is critical to the success of small businesses like ours. My partners, Harvey and Martin Pollock, and I are very grateful to receive it and will put it to work, growing and expanding our young business,”said Kelly Beaulieu, chief operating officer and owner, in a release. –– Manitoba Co-operator staff

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