I have a friend who works on high-power transmission lines. That sort of work isn’t for everyone, but he loves the field and he’s been doing it for decades.

It’s important work and he’s good at it; so good that he got promoted a few years ago to crew foreman after a fair bit of sweet talking and promises by his employer. One might look at that and think it’s well-deserved recognition for hard work and skill. When you speak to him privately, he’ll confess he has regrets.

He’s received a small pay bump and a massive increase in stress and responsibility. He describes it as “not worth the extra $2 an hour.”

That increase is about a three per cent wage hike, based on publicly available average wages for his trade. He’s tried to go back to his old role, but his employer has been putting him off, saying they can’t find anyone to replace him.

Like the rational economic actor that he is, he’s now considering his options, including a standing offer he’s had from an old boss to join him at a new firm.

What makes workers happy is a complex question best viewed with an open mind on the part of employers.

In that light, a recent study into compensation and benefits in the Canadian agriculture sector is a welcome bit of self-reflection. It signals a sector that’s beginning to ask the right questions.

Rather than wondering “Why doesn’t anyone want to work anymore?” the question seems to have become “What’s keeping people from working for us?”

That’s a great start.

The Canadian Agriculture Human Resource Council looked at 140 agriculture organizations representing 609 employees.

It found that agriculture wages lagged sectors like construction, manufacturing and transportation. How much varied by farm type. According to the survey, the highest paid farm workers were on grain and oilseed farms, where managers earned nearly $38 an hour and workers earned an average of just over $27 an hour. On dairy farms, however, managers earned an average hourly wage of $26 and workers made $21.

Those are figures from inside the sector. Statistics Canada figures for 2023 put the average agriculture sector wage at $24.77 an hour, across all types of jobs. The same StatCan figures put construction wages at $36 an hour. Manufacturing paid an average of $33.50 an hour. Accommodation and food service paid just under $22.

While the CAHRC figures paint a relatively rosy wage picture, StatCan likely paints a more accurate one. Unlike the CAHRC report, key sectors like horticulture, beef and poultry aren’t missing from the StatCan dataset.

Using that apples-to-apples comparison, agriculture lags construction by more than $11 an hour, manufacturing by close to $9 an hour, and beats out retail and food service by less than $3 an hour.

The CAHRC study also found the sector lacks many basic benefits that employees have come to expect, such as holiday pay, health insurance and even sick days. Certainly many farms offer some or all of these benefits, but that seems to vary widely by sector too.

Farms are competing with other sectors for employees. Based on wages and benefits, it is positioning itself as, at best, a middle-of-the-pack employer.

Farming’s not an easy job. Hours can be long and stress levels can be high.

Having a clear and honest assessment of the labour landscape in agriculture is a great start. The next step is addressing some of the shortfalls this study has identified.

The post Reflection key to ag labour challenges appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Predators that feed on infected birds have previously tested positive for HPAI in the U.S.

The goat lived on the same property as a poultry flock that tested positive for the disease, North Dakota State University (NDSU) said in an article on its website this month.

“While we don’t envision this zoonotic transmission to be commonplace, good biosecurity protocols separating livestock from poultry/waterfowl is a good production practice to reduce the potential spread of HPAI to our small ruminants during the spring migration of wild birds,” said Travis Hoffman, sheep specialist with NDSU Extension.

The goat shared the same pasture and water source as the poultry.

NDSU said that while there’s little information on HPAI infection in ruminants, it appears that in some species animals with compromised or immature immune systems are at great risk of infection. In the Minnesota case, only young goats were affected.

Limiting livestock’s exposure to potentially-infected poultry is the first line of defense against infection, NDSU said.

Avian influenza has spread among poultry flocks around the world to devastating effect. A strain of the disease has also been shown to have killed sea mammals in South America.

The post Minnesota goat confirmed infected with bird flu appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The national organization said its most recent round of funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada totals $1.7 million over three years. In the past, it has received about $1 million per year, said interim CEO Hugh Maynard by email.

Project-related funding, which rose significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, has also returned to pre-pandemic levels, Maynard added.

“This will not have an immediate impact on 4-H Canada programming, much of which was already well into planning when we learned of the funding changes,” he said.

National programming is also a small portion of overall club activity across Canada. Traditionally, 4-H Canada has passed funds from AAFC to provincial organizations. Since the parent organization was only notified of reduced funding in October, it requested and was granted a one-time contribution of $216,000 for its provincial branches.

4-H Canada also has an application pending with Employment and Social Development Canada to fund various programs, which would include money for provincial groups.

“We are optimistic that the traditional support provided by 4-H Canada to the provinces will continue,” Maynard said.

Meanwhile, 4-H Canada has laid off seven staff members. Maynard said staffing varies yearly, and recent reductions were partly due to projects ending.
In a statement, AAFC said 4-H Canada’s application exceeded the maximum yearly funding amount. That, plus a high volume of other applications, caused it to prioritize “projects that most closely align with program criteria.”

“Support for 4-H Canada continues under the new Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership’s ACP Program, with details for new support currently being finalized,” the federal government said.

The post Funding cut shouldn’t affect local 4-H clubs appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

That was a main takeaway from a Jan. 17 social media panel discussion at AgDays in Brandon.

The discussion, moderated by Filmore, Sask., grain farmer Sarah Leguee, featured three Canadian farmers with a serious social media game. Social media puts the farmer in touch with a huge audience to promote both the farm and agriculture in general, if they do it right.

Manitoba dairy farmer Amy Smith sees Instagram as her go-to platform and goes by “_that.farming.mama_.” She posts about life in agriculture from a female perspective.

John Kowalchuk is an Alberta grain farmer who prefers X (formerly Twitter) for his posts. He attributes his large following to “bad jokes and sunset pictures featuring farm equipment.”

Andy Pasztor is a farmer from Tillsonburg, Ont. Known for posting squeaky-clean pictures of his (mostly John Deere) farm equipment, he became associated with the hashtag #andyclean on Twitter. He since turned that hashtag into his own brand of soap.

The three panellists agreed that prospective social media users should be fearless and be true to themselves, but Pasztor added a caveat.

“Whatever is pressing you, don’t be afraid to speak it. But also remember, don’t tweet when you’re drunk. There are people who are out there who are watching you, who may impact you in the future.”

Kowalchuk had some sage advice in the form of a pithy aphorism.

“Don’t compare your Monday mornings to someone else’s Saturday nights,” he said, drawing on a hypothetical example to make his point.

“You might see some guy out there where everything’s running smooth on his combine, while I’m out here banging away on my combine, whether the pulley went, or wherever. But you’re comparing one of the tougher times in your life to all this peaches and cream. But it’s not reality.”

Feeling self-conscious is one hurdle often faced when pondering a social media post. The panellists had simple advice.

“Just got to do what’s comfortable for you. Don’t be uncomfortable being yourself on film,” said Pasztor, while acknowledging he still feels a bit silly during the creative process.

“When I make a video, I’ll try to do it when my dad or my brother are not around, because that’s super embarrassing.”

However, at 42, Pasztor sees his embarrassment as a generational thing and points out that younger social media content producers seem to have no problem with it.

“They’re always walking around with a camera, it seems very common now.”

Kowalchuk said the awkwardness eventually goes away.

“Just keep doing it more and more. If you do something enough times, you’ll get better at it and you feel more comfortable.”

Farmers are always thinking about return on investment. And if time is money, many wonder how to turn a social media hobby into something that helps pay the bills.

Smith was recently approached by equipment manufacturer Claas, who asked if they could partner with her to develop content.

“I assume it was because I tagged them in reels throughout the last few years. I like to tag the equipment brands in my posts,” she said.

“They wanted kind of a day in the life of me as a woman in ag, as a dairy farmer and as a mom, during corn silage. So I created a reel for them and a story series. It was a really cool opportunity.”

Pasztor says he didn’t get into social media for the money. It was mainly about making connections. But his Andyclean brand soap did arise from a hashtag, so monetization sort of fell into his lap.

Kowalchuk says he doesn’t think much about monetization. For him, social media remains a hobby.

“I don’t really have much time for that kind of stuff,” he said. “I’ve been asked a few times, and I always just say, ‘if you want me to use your product, I take hoodies and trips to farm shows.’”

Of course, there’s the negative side of social media: the trolls. All panellists had some experience with trolls, especially the two who prefer X, which is known for being a somewhat combative platform.

Kowalchuk advises X users to always take the high road.

“You get it every once in a while, for sure. If you choose to respond, try to be positive. So if someone was looking from the outside and they would say, ‘OK, this guy’s making sense.’”

Pasztor said it’s important to put things into perspective when someone attacks on social media.

“It’s really easy to get really mad at a comment, but ask yourself what kind of person is going to take their time to put you down? Just don’t worry about people coming in and saying things. They’re probably living in their basement of their parents’ house.”

The post Upping the farm’s social media game appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

But it’s much more than that, said a developer of a new program at Olds College, and the college hopes to be a pioneer in training the workforce needed to increase food production efficiency.

“We put a lot of focus in Western Canada on broadacre farming, but we’re at that point in time where we’re looking for more efficiencies in agriculture,” said Jay Steeves, dean of the Werklund School of Agriculture Technology at Olds College and a developer of the school’s new indoor agriculture certificate program.

“I think that indoor ag provides that kind of efficiency for land and space and just even opportunity.”

The program, billed as the first of its kind in Canada, is a four-month course designed to train people in controlled environment agriculture. It is now accepting applications for its fall 2024 launch.

Those who enrol can expect a blend of on-campus and online courses. Following course completion, students will have the opportunity to complete an optional field placement.

The demand for skills is out there, Steeves said.

“I would say there’s two groups: one that is very horticulture-focused and have that skill set but lack a little bit on the technical skill set. And then there are groups that have the technical skill set but lack on the horticulture side.

“We did a feasibility study at the college and there’s probably about 50 or 60 different corporations around the area that are dabbling in this and would love to have more people with a skill set kind (of) across that entire spectrum.”

Controlled environment agriculture is a broad term that includes a number of indoor systems that take a tech-based approach to farming.

The GoodLeaf Farms indoor farming operation in Calgary is an example of an indoor agriculture effort at its most controlled, with every possible factor in the plant growth cycle — temperature, humidity, light — accounted for without the use of pesticides, herbicides or fungicides.

There are a number of different configurations. A well-known one is “vertical” farming: the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers. This is the model Goodleaf Farms employs.

Steeves also points to a largely European model he’s dubbed “cube” farming.

“Basically, it’s these small, very automated boxes that are designed with all of the technology built in so it’s less manual in nature,” he said.

“A lot of autonomy is built into the unit. The harvesting and everything else is done with a robotic arm and things like that.”

It’s these kind of modern facilities that the Olds College program hopes to explore. The college already has a large horticultural foundation to build on, said Steeves.

“With that, we’re looking at some different ideas in terms of what it could be for vertical farming and container farming. We try to play with some different ideas of what we want for equipment on site so we can work with a variety of different things and we’re not locked into one particular unit.”

The program will initially focus on fruit and vegetable growth but won’t necessarily be limited to that.

“There are some very creative ideas around mushrooms. There’s even talk of insects for a protein source. I would imagine that’s a ways down the road before we start dabbling in that. But I think as we start to dial in our program and figure out what could be the most successful there, the creativity will come with time.”

When it comes to student options, the key word for Steeves is “stackable.”

That may mean students who already have degrees or diplomas who want to upgrade their skills or those who graduate from the certificate program and decide to pursue a longer, more involved course of study.

“We’re looking at a variety of demographics,” said Steeves. “There’s potentially the high school student, but we’re also really looking for someone who wants to add on kind of a stackable credential. They’re already in industry but are looking to upskill a little bit or maybe they’re just looking for a career change and want to jump in.”

Program admission is limited to 30 students for the Fall 2024 term. More information is available at oldscollege.ca.

The indoor agriculture certificate program is partially funded by RBC as part of a $150,000 commitment it made to Olds College to promote and advance research and innovation in the controlled environment agriculture field.

The post Olds College to pioneer cutting-edge indoor ag training appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Over the years the First Nation, just north of Meadow Lake, Sask., has been converting the alfalfa field into a potato field and expanding the vegetable garden. This year, it planted 18 tonnes of seed potatoes and harvested about 90. They expected to harvest about 120 tonnes, but they didn’t beat the frost, says Jason Cardinal.

Cardinal has a background in data science and mechanics, and he brings that high-tech lens to Flying Dusts’s agricultural ventures. Speaking at the 10th annual Indigenous Ag Summit, held during Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, Cardinal explained how they survey the land base with drones, using the images and maps for land use planning, elevation mapping, tree canopy counts, calculating flood risk and checking crops and bison.

That tech also attracts students and young people to the market garden.

“We do a lot of drones and that seems to really entice them because the technology is something they’re really interested in. It enables them to make videos, TikTok videos and things like that. Get cool footage. We’ve got a lot of bison running and things like that.”

Summer students are put to work doing everything from building a chicken coop to growing and selling produce. A community elder mentors the students, teaching them how to manage the greenhouse, as well as about traditional foods and medicines. This year, they also planted about 200 fruit trees, creating a “food forest.”

Students can also earn their green certification at the market garden over two years through the University of Saskatchewan.

The market garden produces a range of vegetables, including three types of potatoes, cabbage, carrots, peas, lettuce, squash, peppers, tomatoes and more. Right now vegetables are grown on five acres, but there are 20-25 acres available for vegetables.

Along with chickens and bison, the First Nation also has over 150 beehives, which is a relatively new venture for its members. Workers have been taking courses on bees and learning from a beekeeper, who hails from the Philippines, hired by the reserve.

The market garden has a temperature-controlled potato storage facility and commercial kitchen, Flying Dust’s website notes. Supervisors run the market garden, which also has a board of directors.

Cardinal says the biggest challenge right now is distributing the produce, as they are a bit short on transportation-related infrastructure. However, Flying Dust plans to purchase a new truck to help distribute produce in the community, which should alleviate some distribution pain.

The Riverside Market Garden aims to provide fresh produce to the community, as well as other communities within a 100-mile radius, says Cardinal. They’re also building a community meat shop to process meat from bison and cattle.

The market garden sells into the Co-op and the Meadow Lake Farmers’ Market. It also has sales agreements with Sobeys and Thomas Fresh (which sells to Costco and Walmart). Cardinal says they’re looking for more customers, as currently, the market garden is producing more than the people in their community consume.

This year, they did a lot of food preservation, such as freeze-drying and canning, and involved students. “We did pickles and peppers and beets and stuff like that. So it was a really nice experience, getting to see that firsthand.”

— Lisa Guenther is editor of Canadian Cattlemen.

The post At Agribition: Northern community integrates tech, education into market garden appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Bill C-234, which passed the House of Commons in late March, remained on the Senate’s order paper for debate Wednesday afternoon, after adjournment Tuesday night without a vote on third reading of the bill — nor a vote on a proposed amendment from the Independent Senators Group (ISG).

The new amendment, put forward Nov. 9 by Ontario Senator Lucie Moncion — an ISG member appointed to the Senate in 2016 by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — would amend the bill’s proposed sunset clause so that after eight years, approval for an extension would require Parliament to pass a new bill.

Marc Gold, a non-affiliated senator who serves as the Liberal government’s representative in the Senate, was among those speaking Tuesday in favour of Moncion’s amendment.

Gold said that without Moncion’s proposed change, a review and extension of the bill’s proposed farm fuel exemptions beyond eight years “could proceed with a simple resolution passed in both chambers or by a decision of the executive branch, with no role for parliamentary scrutiny and oversight or committee examination and study.”

Senator Don Plett, leader of the opposition, called Moncion’s proposed amendment “frivolous” and said C-234, as was passed in the Commons, would already allow for a further extension to be initiated — and the length of that extension determined — only by the government, via an order-in-council.

A further extension also wouldn’t be granted unless approved by both the Commons and Senate, he added.

As written, C-234’s language for extending the time frame of its sunset clause “is not unique to this bill,” he said, citing a similar sunset clause for rail interswitching provisions in Bill C-30, the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act.

Rather, Plett said, by forcing a Senate-amended C-234 back to the Commons, “the only utility of this amendment is to carry the (Liberal) government’s water and defeat the bill.”

‘Intimidation’

Debate on C-234 was to continue Tuesday evening but Quebec Senator Raymonde Saint-Germain, also an ISG member and Trudeau appointee, rose at that time on a question of privilege, citing an incident on Nov. 9 which she said infringed on senators’ privilege “to conduct our business free from obstruction and intimidation.”

At the Nov. 9 session, she said, ISG Senator Bernadette Clement’s motion to adjourn debate on the proposed amendment was met with some Conservative senators “demonstrat(ing) physical and verbal intimidation directed at members of my group and myself.

“After violently throwing his earpiece, (Plett) stood before Senator Clement and me as we sat at our desks, yelling and berating us for proposing this routine motion that would see debate resume the following week, when we returned,” Saint-Germain said, adding that another Conservative senator, Michael MacDonald, shouted the word “fascists” at ISG senators.

Later, Saint-Germain said, “at least two” Conservative senators retweeted a post on social media platform X “that not only spread misinformation about the proceedings but encouraged members of the public to call and harass” Clement and Senator Chantal Petitclerc, adding that it “elicited high volumes of threatening phone calls and emails to these independent senators.”

Clement, speaking Tuesday evening to Saint-Germain’s question of privilege, said “Canadians deserve to know that adjournment doesn’t mean a bill is being nixed, but that nuanced explanation wasn’t offered by people pointing the finger at me.”

Senate Speaker Raymonde Gagne noted some senators who had been mentioned in Saint-Germain’s question of privilege weren’t present Tuesday evening, and said she would hear “brief additional arguments” on the matter on Thursday.

However, Conservative Senator David Wells then put forward a separate question of privilege stemming from the same Nov. 9 sitting, saying Moncion had “walked over from her seat and accused me of bullying” after the session was suspended.

Such an action, he said, “creates an atmosphere that may hinder any senator from even contemplating engaging in free debate, lest they be accused of bullying.”

Moncion replied that she was not threatening in her approach but wanted to call attention to a separate tweet from Wells alleging that Gagne, as speaker, “in concert with the ISG leadership has shut down debate” on C-234.

“Receiving a point of privilege was disappointing, but I understand where you’re coming from,” she said. “You want an apology from me, I apologize, Senator Wells, and I apologize in front of this whole chamber.”

Asked by Gagne if he wished to pursue the matter further, Wells replied that “given the debate and the open discussion we’ve had as well as my professional and personal regard for Senator Moncion, I consider this issue closed.”

Debate on Moncion’s amendment resumed briefly before the Senate adjourned for the day at 11 p.m. to resume at 2 p.m. ET Wednesday. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Internal dispute over privilege, bullying allegations ties up C-234 appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

It’s the next tractor for Massey Ferguson with the unique 18 cm gap between the cab and the engine, which makes it more conformable for the operator and with better sight lines.

It’s also new highest horsepower tractor available from Massey Ferguson at 425 maximum horsepower. Five other versions of the 9S will step down in horsepower to a low of 285.

The tractor is engineered for flexibility, with a significant range of weight that can be added to the tractor depending on use, and all the latest automation, including automated headland turning.

The tractor will first be available in Europe and then at points after that in the rest of the world.

Precision conditioning for hay?

Also in the AGCO area, Fendt has created a way to change the conditioning level as a mower is cutting through a hay field. I well remember a hay crop where most of it was ready to go, but one area with more biomass was not. I fed those bales first, but it was not optimal.

The new Fendt adjustable conditioner will have three ways to evaluate when the conditioner should be changed. A farmer will be able to alter it from the cab, or it can be automated, either from a satellite evaluation of biomass used to create field map, or from sensors on the mower. From a complexity perspective, a quick control from the cab would make the most sense to me.

Automation options developing, but slowly

There are many agriculture companies dabbling in automation, artificial intelligence, or both. AI, especially I think is losing its precisions and is being applied to anything with advanced computer processing. That also means the technology is becoming more prevalent.

The newest forms of autonomous units, shown at Agritechnica, are coming from companies not involved in making tractors today, including Kuhn and various startups ranging from Naio to Robotti to AgXeed, which might be the most market-ready autonomy product out there, with sales already to 20 countries, including Canada.

The vanguard of autonomy in horticulture, with the most market-ready advances being adopted in fruits and vegetables. There are a couple of reasons for this, including labour being so important and so difficult to find in fruit and vegetable production. There are also standardized production areas in fruit and vegetable – trees and vineyards are planted to exact specifications.

There are lots of companies buzzing around agriculture looking for how they can join the rush to agriculture automation and artificial intelligence. I met a guy from Britain, who lives in Sweden as I was picking up pizza near where I’m staying in Hannover, Germany for Agritechnica. He works for a company that provides software that manages sensors in large machines and uses computers to monitor and recommend maintenance. They expect there are places where such software could provide value in agriculture. Also, in a strange quirk, that guy’s uncle is a former premier of Nova Scotia, John Savage.

– John Greig is a senior editor with Glacier FarmMedia. Watch for much more detail on these and many more stories and videos from Agritechnica in our Glacier FarmMedia newspapers and websites.

The post Agritechnica update: A new big horsepower Massey, adjustable hay conditioning and automation matures appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Provincial Agriculture Minister Andre Lamontagne on Thursday announced the passage of Bill 28, which amends legislation governing organization of farming activities and the accreditation of UPA.

The bill allows the UPA to launch a review of its funding structure and begin consultations with farmers on new regulations that would change how farms are categorized and represented — and, in turn, the annual UPA dues those farms pay, the province said.

Said new regulations would then be submitted to the Regie des marches agricoles et alimentaires du Quebec — the province’s marketing regulator for farm production — for its approval.

EN FRANÇAIS: Plus d’équité entre les producteurs agricoles et l’UPA

The province’s current Agricultural Producers Act allows only for flat-rate annual fees for UPA membership, at either a fixed single or double rate depending on a farm business’ legal structure.

The bill is meant to give UPA greater flexibility in setting farms’ annual dues through parameters such as a farm’s volume of production or its acres under cultivation as well as the size of the farm’s operating company.

Such a move, the province said, will result in “greater equity” given the diversity in farm businesses in all four corners of Quebec.

“It will be possible from now on to develop a more equitable formula, as producers have demanded for several years,” UPA president Martin Caron said in the association’s release Thursday, thanking Lamontagne and politicians from multiple parties for both the quality and speed of the discussions leading up to the bill’s passage.

More flexible and equitable contributions to UPA in turn will encourage new small farms and start-up farm businesses, Lamontagne said in the province’s separate release, noting the bill meets a 2022 election campaign promise by the governing Coalition avenir (CAQ).

The bill applies to all 42,000 UPA-represented farmers in the province and to related farming and ag industry stakeholder organizations, the province said.

UPA noted the bill will also allow those other associations more flexibility in funding their operations. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Legislation allows Quebec’s UPA to rework funding formula appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

In a sitting on the afternoon of Nov. 7, senators voted no to the adoption of amendments made by the committee for agriculture and forestry. Twenty-eight voted yes, and four abstained.

The Senate then voted to conduct the third reading of the bill the next time it sits which, as per the Senate website, is Nov. 8. If the Senate votes to approve the bill without amendments after the third reading, it will be ready for royal assent.

Bill C-234 had its first reading in February of 2022. The private members’ bill proposed exempting fuels used for grain drying and heating of barns and greenhouses from the federal price on carbon.

While under consideration by the Senate’s committee for agriculture and forestry, senators voted by a narrow margin to remove barn and greenhouse heating from the bill.

Senator Pierre Dalphond proposed the amendment, telling the committee that while witnesses had made it clear there were no viable alternatives to drying grain with propane and natural gas, alternatives are possible with barns and greenhouses.

This received pushback from agriculture groups, not only because it would diminish relief for livestock and vegetable producers, but because an amendment would delay the progress of the bill.

On Monday, the Grain Farmers of Ontario and Ontario Pork put out statements urging the Senate to pass the bill as soon as possible.

Within minutes of the vote, Grain Growers of Canada released a statement applauding senators for voting down the amendment, and calling for swift passage of the bill.

Updated Nov. 8, correcting the name of Grain Farmers of Ontario.

— Geralyn Wichers reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Steinbach, Man.

The post Senate votes down C-234 amendments appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.