KAP said the agreement in principle, which would ease tariffs on Canadian canola in exchange for reduced tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, is a welcome move for canola growers after years of trade friction.

However, KAP general manager Colin Hornby says the announcement still leaves unanswered questions for other Manitoba commodities.

“Overall, I would say it’s positive and moving in the right direction to see the tariff relief on canola products,” Hornby said. “Ultimately, we would like to see a permanent solution.”

He said KAP is also encouraged by renewed diplomatic engagement between Canada and China.

However, he said details remain unclear around canola oil.

“As for canola oil, it’s unclear. I don’t believe it was mentioned, so we’re still seeking clarity on whether canola oil is going to be impacted or not,” Hornby said.

From a Manitoba perspective, Hornby added pork remains outside the scope of the announcement.

“That’s something we’re going to continue discussing with the federal government and advocating for — the removal of tariffs on pork going to China,” he said.

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“I’m one of the lucky ones,” said Brenna Mahoney, general manager of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP). 

Mahoney entered the industry with no agriculture experience. She had training in human resources and got a term job at Cereals Canada. “I just happened to have a boss who saw potential and connected dots for me.” 

Mahoney spoke during a panel discussion on agriculture technology, education and labour during the Agriculture Enlightened conference in Winnipeg, Oct. 26. 

“When you write your next job description, are you putting agriculture as the number one requirement?” Mahoney asked. “Or are we looking at some of the soft skills?” 

“When we put out a job ad, you know, five to six years working in agriculture is usually the prerequisite so, you know, we automatically have to cancel people out,” she added. 

“We’re really trying to change that conversation around our table,” Mahoney said. 

The panelists discussed how Agriculture in the Classroom plants the idea of agriculture careers in the minds of young people. 

Mahoney told a story about how, at the diner in her small town, the young waitress told her she wanted to become a plant geneticist. When asked where she got that idea, the young woman said that Agriculture in the Classroom had come to her school. 

“And I saw whoo!” Mahoney said. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” 

Panel host Jennifer Flanagan, the CEO of Actua — a firm that connects students with the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields — said her organization recently partnered with EMILI and Agriculture in the Classroom Manitoba (AITC-M) to bring agriculture technology to young people, particularly Indigenous youth in the Prairie provinces. 

The project added agriculture technology jobs to a career exploration package Ag in the Classroom provides to teachers AITC-M executive director Katherine Cherewyk said in an interview after the panel. 

Technology is changing quickly, Cherewyk acknowledged. However, she said in her experience, when kids know what they want to do, they begin connecting how they can use new technology to reach their goals. 

For more coverage of Agriculture Enlightened, see future editions of the Manitoba Co-operator, the Western Producer and Grainews.

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The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association issued a strongly worded press release on Tuesday after striking picketers targeted Vancouver’s Cascadia grain terminal, co-owned by Viterra and Richardson International.

“A strike is one thing, but to intentionally target a port that is critical to the lives of grain farmers and to the entire Canadian economy is the height of reckless irresponsibility,” association president Gunter Jochum said.

Other commodity groups across the country had more measured responses to PSAC’s strike, which began April 19. On the day workers walked off the job, Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) president Jill Verwey weighed in with her organization’s concerns.

“KAP respects the rights of Canadian workers to collective action,” she said in an April 19 press release. “However, this strike could negatively impact grain shipments, resulting in backlogs and restricted cash flow for farmers, as well as increased demurrage costs for grain companies. Restrictions in cash flow could hamper a farmer’s ability to market their remaining 2022 crop as well as their ability to purchase inputs for the 2023 crop year.”

KAP expressed their concerns in writing to both the government of Canada and PSAC prior to the strike action and called on both to make sure adequate contingencies were in place to minimize negative impacts to the grain handling system.

The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) also weighed in, arguing that the supply chain has yet to fully recover from the impacts of COVID-19 and that a prolonged strike could be a major blow to producers.

“Delayed inspections will cause backlogs at ports. Every day a ship must wait means demurrage charges to grain companies, and these costs always make their way to the farmer,” APAS president Ian Boxall said.

To date, shipping hasn’t been dramatically affected. According to Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corporation (Canada’s Grain Monitor), while picketing at Cascadia was an inconvenience, it was limited to that location, only lasted a few hours and the impact was not significant.

“It’s the only terminal on the south shore where the entrance to the terminal property is outside the port security gates,” Hemmes said.

Terminals in Thunder Bay and Prince Rupert are also within port security gates, he added, and while some picketers have port passes, he says it’s unlikely they would use them for picketing.

Inspection impacts

However, it’s not just picketing that’s at issue. Sixty-five per cent of Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) staff are on strike right now, and that includes most of the grain inspectors.

“There are some inspection staff that are not in a strike position, but those are limited to some managers in the regions and inspection specialists across the country,” said CGC spokesperson Rémi Gosselin. “So that means that the CGC’s provision of official inspection and certification of grain exports is significantly impacted.”

To minimize the impacts on grain producers, companies and grain exports in general, the CGC has developed contingency plans allowing inspection services to continue. “We’ve allowed grain companies to temporarily collect samples on our behalf and then provide those to us so that we can provide final inspections and certification on grain shipments so that exports meet importing countries requirements,” Gosselin said.

According to Hemmes, those provisions appear to be working.

“So far, the ship-loading stats don’t show anything in the way of delays to vessel departures or loading,” he said. “The CGC contingent that is managing the inspections seems to be keeping up, and between the terminals and the CGC, they have procedures in place that ensure inspection protocols are being maintained.”

However, Hemmes said it’s a heavy burden to bear for those doing the inspections. “Those managers are going to need a holiday when this is done,” he said.

Jochum said he’s pleased with the work the CGC has done to ensure grain continues to move, but he fears that if the strike is prolonged, cracks could begin to show.

Time for a third party?

The wheat growers’ association has long argued that the Canada Grain Act should authorize third-party weighing and inspection of vessels leaving Canadian waters. Jochum said this strike is a good time to revive the issue and could help insulate the supply chain from future disruptions.

The call for third-party inspectors to replace federal inspectors is a hotly debated topic. The issue was raised a number of times during the consultation surrounding the current Canada Grain Act review.

The What We Heard: Canada Grain Act Review Consultations report, released in 2021, said, “While it was unanimous that the CGC should continue to have a role in the setting of quality standards, approximately half of respondents that discussed outward inspection were in favour of the CGC accrediting and overseeing third-party inspection companies rather than performing inspections directly.”

The wheat growers say that third-party inspectors are already in place to meet the demands of overseas customers, and there is therefore no need to duplicate those services.

The other side of the coin notes that the CGC stamp of approval is part of why Canadian grain quality has an excellent reputation.

But Jochum is concerned that if overworked managers are unable to keep up in the face of a prolonged strike, that reputation could be tarnished anyway.

“The problem is they are swamped. They are working seven days a week,” he said. “If this strike goes on for any length of time, eventually someone is going to drop the ball along the way.”

— Don Norman reports for the Manitoba Co-operator from Winnipeg.

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Agriculture Minister Blaine Pedersen on Wednesday announced what the province billed as “a new rural service delivery model to modernize services provided to clients whose needs and expectations have changed.”

The new model, set to take effect April 1, will consist of 10 agricultural service centres, to be staffed by both the provincial ag department and Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC), the Crown crop insurance and ag lending agency.

Another nine rural offices will house department staff but will not be open to the public, the province said in a release.

Another five offices, meanwhile, will be devoted to “integrated resource management” and two other resource development offices will focus on minerals and petroleum respectively.

The new “multichannel” service delivery model will also involve development of an online chat program from which clients will be able to get “real-time assistance” via smartphone, tablet, computer or toll-free phone. An exact launch date for that program wasn’t given in Wednesday’s release.

Each office will also have a “client-accessible kiosk” for access to such online services, the province said.

Affected offices

The new consolidated ag service centres are to handle MASC’s insurance, lending, farmland school tax rebate and wildlife damage compensation services, along with licensing and permit applications, and also to provide information on ag department programs.

Those 10 combined offices will be at Arborg, Brandon, Dauphin, Headingley, Killarney, Morden, Neepawa, Portage la Prairie, Steinbach and Swan River.

Other workspace for department employees will remain — but will not be open to the public — at Beausejour, Carberry, Carman, Melita, Minnedosa, Neepawa, Portage la Prairie, Roblin and Virden.

Department and MASC offices set to close entirely under the new model include:

• the combined agriculture and MASC offices at Altona, Hamiota, Morris, Somerset, St. Pierre Jolys and Teulon;
• agriculture offices at Ashern, Gladstone, Lundar, Pilot Mound, Russell, Souris, Ste. Rose du Lac and Vita;
• MASC offices at Birtle, Deloraine, Fisher Branch, Glenboro, Grandview, Shoal Lake and Souris; and
• a petroleum branch office at Waskada.

The department’s “integrated resource management” offices will be at Brandon, Gimli, Lac du Bonnet, The Pas and Thompson; the minerals service office will be at Flin Flon and the petroleum services office at Virden.

Wednesday’s announcement didn’t specify whether or where MASC would continue to offer bilingual services. Its two listed bilingual offices, at St. Pierre Jolys and Somerset, are both slated to close.

“Meeting the needs of our clients with professional knowledge, current research and data, connections to appropriate links, and timely, unbiased information has always been a priority for our department,” Pedersen said in Wednesday’s release.

“The array of services that will be provided online, by telephone or in person at agricultural service centres throughout the province will offer producers a convenient and client-focused means to access the programs and services that are available to them.”

Keystone Agricultural Producers, the province’s general farm group, had warned earlier this year that the province should carefully consider any cuts it might make to MASC services, as adjusters will still need to be able to assess claims in a timely manner.

“I need to make important decisions about whether to rip up a crop and re-seed,” KAP president Bill Campbell told the Manitoba Co-operator in May. “Most of the work will be done out of the district offices. There aren’t many adjusters going from Portage to Swan River.”

In a separate statement Thursday, Campbell said that while KAP “welcome(s) the option to access forms, applications and information online, the opportunity to speak face-to-face with specialists is essential. This will be more challenging for many producers, particularly in western Manitoba.”

KAP, he said, has been “assured that these measures will not impact staffing levels” but he reiterated the organization’s members “are concerned about ongoing access to staff and have noted this issue for some time.”

Following provincial health guidelines, all ag department and MASC offices have been closed to walk-in or other unscheduled visits for months already due to the COVID-19 pandemic. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Monday appointed Doug Chorney — an agricultural engineer and grain and oilseed grower at East Selkirk, Man. — to a three-year term as chief commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC), starting immediately.

Chorney, who was president of Manitoba’s Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) from 2011 to 2015, was named a CGC assistant chief commissioner in 2017. He’s been the CGC’s acting chief commissioner since Patti Miller, who was named to the chief spot in 2017 for a six-year term, took early retirement in June this year.

To replace Chorney, Bibeau on Monday named Patty Rosher, currently KAP’s general manager, to a four-year term as the CGC’s assistant chief commissioner, also effective immediately.

Rosher had come to KAP in March last year from the Manitoba department of agriculture, where she had worked since 2013, in roles such as director of policy (2018-19), director of the transformation branch (2017-18) and acting chief operating officer for the Food Development Centre (2016-17).

Rosher’s experience in the ag sector also includes 17 years at the Canadian Wheat Board, including a five-year stint as its manager for marketing and sales before the CWB’s deregulation in 2012. She also currently serves as vice-chair of Genome Prairie, a not-for-profit organization set up to manage and support large-scale genomics research in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Rosher had recently spearheaded development of a strategic plan for KAP that proposes adding two new standing committees (research and innovation, and grassroots participation) and potentially cutting the number of districts representing the group across the province.

“I am confident that these two individuals will provide excellent leadership for our grain growers across the country and help the Canadian Grain Commission maintain a competitive and efficient grain sector,” Bibeau said in a release Monday.

The Winnipeg-based CGC serves as the regulator of standards and procedures for Canada’s grain handling sector and as the official certifier of Canadian grain.

The commission establishes, recommends and maintains grades and standards for Canadian grain, is responsible for Canada’s system of grain grading and inspection and serves as one of Canada’s scientific research organizations on grain quality. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Her department used data provided by grower groups – including Manitoba’s Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) and the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) – to arrive at the figures.

The federal estimate of the costs also factored in data provided by provincial governments, including those from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

In all, the costs of carbon pricing on grain drying work out to between 0.05 to 0.42 per cent of total on-farm operating expenses, according to the federal government.

Citing high costs, grain farmers have asked for an exemption from the carbon tax for grain drying. Their case for doing so appeared to be bolstered by a particularly wet 2019 harvest, but the federal Liberal government is not considering such a measure at this time.

“The analysis that has been made by the department do not show that the impact of the price on pollution has a significant impact on grain drying, that it has a significant impact on the operation costs,” Bibeau said during a press availability Tuesday. “The impact is a very small percentage in the operating costs, so this is why we are not moving forward with more specific relief.”

Instead, federal officials hint at other approaches to offer relief to grain farmers. In February, the federal and Alberta governments partnered to launch the Efficient Grain Dryer Program. Aimed at covering the cost of improving energy efficiency on dryers, $2 million was retroactively made available to cover 50 per cent of eligible expenses.

A review of carbon pricing on “trade-exposed industries” — including agriculture — was also planned for early 2020 by the federal government. The current status of that review is unclear, but preliminary looks at carbon pricing’s impact on certain sectors of the economy are ongoing, according to federal officials.

Producers should not expect a recommendation to offer an exemption on grain drying coming out of that formal review when it is completed, however.

“Where the impact is significant, exemptions have been given,” Bibeau said, citing exemptions for operating farm machinery and vehicles, and for heating greenhouses.

“This pollution pricing policy, it’s an important part for a greener economy and for more sustainable development, and I think we also want to recognize farmers are doing a lot in terms of improving technologies, improving their practices to be good stewards of the land also,” she told reporters, “but I don’t think the price of pollution, waiving the price of pollution is the right approach, but we want to recognize the farmers for the good things they are doing for environment and we have more work to do on that.”

Critics – and producer groups – are taking issue with the figures Bibeau cited, arguing it is a far cry from the actual carbon costs they are paying to dry grain.

Conservative Party of Canada agriculture critic John Barlow brought the issue up during a meeting of the Commons standing committee on agriculture on Wednesday, saying he has seen higher figures from producers than the averages provided by Bibeau.

“I’ve got some ranging to a couple thousand dollars a month, and one that’s close to $10,000 a month,” he said, adding that Bibeau’s stats were “out of touch with reality.”

KAP has previously calculated Manitoba corn growers were paying around $3 an acre in grain drying-related carbon costs.

Grain Farmers of Ontario, in a separate statement Thursday, noted its numbers put the average cost of carbon pricing on the fuel to dry a corn crop at $5.50 per acre.

Thus, “on a 1,000-acre farm the carbon tax bill would be more than $5,000,” GFO chair Markus Haerle said. “That is really just the tip of the iceberg. We estimate that the cost of the carbon tax is $14 per acre if you take into account transportation, inputs, and more.”

During the committee meeting, federal deputy agriculture minister Chris Forbes said data from KAP, APAS, GFO and provinces were used to arrive at the federal estimate.

He admitted there were “slightly different estimates and that’s why we come up with a range.

“It’s based on grain farmers…there’s no kind of broader number of farms included there.”

Carbon pricing for provinces without their own plans went into effect in 2019, starting at $20 per tonne before rising to $30 a tonne in April. Costs will increase until 2022, when they reach $50 a tonne.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan on Monday released new estimates on the financial impacts of carbon pricing, accounting for all “major farm expenses not currently exempt” from the tax.

Such costs, APAS said, include grain drying, rail transportation, heating and electricity, as well as hauling crops off the farm by truck. The group said it will press for a carbon tax exemption on all farm expenses, including those from 2019.

Using the example of a household managing a 5,000-acre grain farm in Saskatchewan, APAS said the tax in 2020 would amount to an “$8,000 to $10,000 bill” and when the carbon tax increases to $50 per tonne in 2022, “this bill will go up to $13,000-$17,000 for the same household.”

APAS and Manitoba’s general farm organization, Keystone Agricultural Producers, have gone public with such numbers as federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has asked the provinces and ag industry for hard numbers to back up assertions of how much the tax costs farmers.

“We’ve responded with estimates that are backed up by producer bills in 2019,” APAS president Todd Lewis said in Monday’s release.

“Farmers don’t set our prices, so those increased costs are coming directly off our bottom line.”

APAS vice-president Bill Prybylski said the group’s numbers “reflect my personal experience down to the penny,” and described 2019 as “unprecedented in terms of the role grain drying played for farmers in our province. Without using propane to dry our grain, the wet fall would have meant losing a huge portion of our crop.”

Manitoba’s KAP last month reported its corn-growing members paid an average $3.69 on grain drying per acre, and the average farmer growing 500 acres of corn paid an estimated $14,145 on fuel for dryers, of which $1,722 went to carbon tax.

Grain transportation is also a “huge and unavoidable” carbon-taxable expense for farmers, APAS noted Monday. “Trucking my crop to the grain elevator, and then shipping it by rail to the coast is one of my biggest annual expenses,” the group’s vice-president Ian Boxall said.

“Our hope is that this is the evidence (Bibeau) is looking for,” Lewis said of APAS’s latest numbers. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Dauphin-area rancher Ben Fox, president of Manitoba Beef Producers and the District 13 representative on the group’s board, announced Tuesday he had resigned as MBP president to seek a “federal party nomination.”

MBP didn’t say which nomination Fox will seek, but the Brandon Sun reported Wednesday that Fox will run for the Conservative Party candidacy in the northwestern Manitoba riding of Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa.

The riding is currently held by Conservative MP Robert Sopuck, who announced in May he wouldn’t seek re-election. Canada’s next election is set for Oct. 21, 2019.

Fox had been elected in February last year as MBP’s president, having previously served as the association’s secretary.

For the Tory nomination, Fox will run against Dan Mazier, who quit his post as president of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) last month to seek the same nomination.

Floyd Martens, a Roblin resident, school division trustee and past president of the Canadian School Boards Association, is the only other declared candidate for the nomination so far, according to the Sun.

Tom Teichroeb, MBP’s vice-president and District 8 representative and a rancher at Langruth, about 65 km northwest of Portage la Prairie, now becomes the group’s interim president.

MBP said Tuesday its board will meet Aug. 28 to discuss filling the resulting executive vacancy. District 1 representative Gord Adams of Deloraine is currently MBP’s second vice-president. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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“It does exempt some farm costs — farm fuel, for example,” he said. “I know we’ll get pushback from some industry groups that are not agriculture. But the farmer is in a different situation. For the most part they are a taker of international price. They don’t have the ability to raise a fee or a levy on a customer so it would handcuff the ag community to a degree.

“I also know… initiatives that farm families have taken to green up their place, to clean up the environment. We could talk about the benefits of zero-till just as one example. There are many, many farm families in this province that are the reason we’re the greenest province in the country right now. And I am asking for respect from the federal government on this issue.”

The news is sure to be welcomed by Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP), the province’s general farm organization, which has asked for agriculture to be exempt from a direct carbon tax on fuel used to produce crops and livestock.

Pallister and Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires will release the plan, more than a year in the making, at Oak Hammock Marsh near Stonewall on Friday.

Although Manitobans will have an opportunity to help shape some aspects of the plan, Pallister said he’s certain it plan will be better than the federal government’s.

“We just can’t sit back and say no. If we do say no we get Mr. Trudeau. That’s the threat from Ottawa.”

As part of Canada’s commitment to cutting carbon emissions in the battle to slow climate change the federal government says it will impose a $50/tonne carbon tax, starting at $10 in 2018 and peaking by 2022, if provinces don’t do it themselves.

“We have a plan that we will be announcing tomorrow with Manitoba specific priorities in mind, essentially designed by Manitobans for our situation, respectful of our green record,” Pallister said Thursday.

In a previous interview he said Manitoba’s plan will recognize the contribution Manitobans have made to reducing carbon emissions by investing in hydroelectricity, which is nearly emissions-free.

A leaked document suggests Manitoba’s plan will include a $25/tonne carbon tax — half of what Ottawa wants imposed by 2022. Pallister has declined to comment on that report.

“We are dedicated environmentalists,” he said. “Each and every one of us knows the threats of climate change. Each of us understand also that we’re stewards for the resources entrusted to us for the generation and those who follow thereafter. We understand the intergenerational obligation we have towards sustainability.”

Pallister said concerned citizens were able to get the federal government to revise its controversial tax reforms and Manitobans might be called again to defend the province’s climate plan.

“If the federal government doesn’t like our plan and they come down and try to invoke theirs,” he said, “I am going to need Manitobans to stand up and say ‘Hold it, we’ve got a plan that is better.'”

Pallister said also his government will be accountable for its plan, which he described as “a realistic, balanced strategy that balances the sustainability needs for our economy with our environment… You can’t deal with one and ignore the other.

“We need to marry the prospects of a made-in-Manitoba plan for both the economy and the environment and we have it and it is going to work better than the federal plan. I am confident of that.”

— Allan Dawson is a reporter for the Manitoba Co-operator at Miami, Man. Follow him at @AllanReporter on Twitter.

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“One retailer I talked to said it was the cheapest nitrogen prices in 15 years,” according to Dan Mazier, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers.

Prices also seem to be softer for phosphate, though not nearly to the same extent as nitrogen, he said.

Having a good canola crop this year has helped sharpen attention on fertilizer, he said.

“Everybody is doing their best to get those nutrients back into the system before spring seeding.”

In Saskatchewan, it’s a similar story, with some key twists.

According to Todd Lewis, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, prices are down but he’s not certain it will mean more fertilizer will be applied than usual.

Cheap prices for fertilizer don’t mean as much when you don’t have the moisture to go along with it, he noted.

“We were so dry this year,” he said, referring in particular to southern Saskatchewan.

Heading closer to springtime, he expects commodity prices will influence whether additional applications will be made or not.

“If canola is strong in price in the spring, guys may put on a touch more,” he said.

— Dave Sims writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting. Follow CNS Canada at @CNSCanada on Twitter.

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