“When you do something yourself on your own farm, you can be pretty certain it will work in your conditions,” said Lewis Baarda, research program manager at Farming Smarter.

“It’s great to know that in theory something works, but until we actually get it on the farm, we can’t know really how well it works. On-farm research is where we do that last piece of adapting technologies to a farm. It’s that critical step between uptake and adoption to really prove the concept in a real-world setting.”

His organization launched its Field Tested program in 2018 and it’s been well received by farmers, he said.

“We can’t manage a crop in the field as precisely as we can in a small-plot trial — there’s variability in soil and moisture and nutrients,” said Baarda. “There’s all of these things in the real world that do affect how some of these technologies scale up to a field scale.”

Farmers are curious and eager to adopt new technology, but they need to know “if it makes sense for them,” he said.

“There’s a spirit of innovation and curiosity in agriculture and doing it yourself on your own farm is quite appealing because you know that those aggregate results may not apply specifically to your situation.”

Baarda predicts more producers will start doing on-farm research.

“If you can find something that will save you $10 an acre on this quarter and extrapolate that over the size of a large farm over a number of years, you can see it pays off,” he said. “So I absolutely think we’re going to see more and more of this and that some farms are just going to integrate it as part of the way they do things.”

Growing interest

“We’ve seen increased adoption and grown the number of trials we’re doing because of that, and now heading into 2022, we’re continuing to grow as the program continues to gain more attention from producers across the province,” said Jeremy Boychyn, agronomy research extension specialist with Alberta Wheat and Barley.

This year’s trials are examining the impact of higher seeding rates, using nitrogen-fixing bacteria and plant growth regulators, wider row spacing, and split in-crop nitrogen application. (Descriptions and locations of this year’s Plot2Farm trials can be found online.)

It can be challenging to create an on-farm trial that will generate information farmers can be confident in.

“There’s been a lot of scenarios where producers would maybe do one strip with a management practice that’s slightly different,” said Boychyn. “But those don’t always give us information that’s realistic — and probably less often than we like.”

Underestimating the work involved is another common issue, Baarda added.

“It takes a lot of effort and a lot of energy to implement an on-farm trial,” he said. “It can be easy to assume that you’ll just toss it into the middle of your workflow. But it is quite challenging, and to do a good job of it, there’s a lot of pieces that need to fall into place.”

And making sure it doesn’t slip down the priority list is critical, too.

“All the important things that happen for an on-farm trial happen at the same time as all the important things on a farm,” he said. “We’ve got production bottlenecks for seeding, for spraying, for harvest, and that’s exactly when we’re trying to take some extra time and resources to study these things. That’s a big part of the challenge — to still make it a priority when things are busy.”

Replicate and randomize

As much as possible, producers should incorporate trials into their existing workflow in an area that’s representative of the entire farm.

“Set aside a quarter section or even a piece of a quarter-section for a trial, but have it be a decent piece of land — not just what’s on the back 40 that you’re not really sure what to do with,” he said.

“Choose something that will be reflective of what’s happening on the rest of the farm so that when you get those results, you have the scientific validity to say that you can expect that same outcome again because it’s on a good piece of land that’s representative of what’s happening on the rest of the farm.”

Planning is also critical to ensuring trials are replicated and randomized — two absolutes that can’t be skirted.

“If you’re going to put in all that work, it’s critical to make sure that the outcomes you get are something you can trust and that you know the results are valid,” said Baarda. “That’s where some of the principles like replication and randomization come in.”

Boychyn agrees.

“We really want to implement replicated, randomized trials. That is where we’re going to get the most amount of value for the amount of time you spend on it,” he said. “Take the time to develop a plan, to work with your agronomist, to make sure it’s being implemented properly at seeding, and to collect whatever data you’ve determined you need to collect.

“You’d hate to go through that entire process to not collect the data in a way that’s going to give you useful information back.”

Some of the data may also take several years to collect, so be patient, he added.

“Making sure it’s designed and set up in a way that the information is going to be valuable is a long-term process, but it’s worth it in the end if it’s done properly.”

The post They don’t wear lab coats but more farmers doing on-farm research appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Rates peaked last autumn, then started rising again in the new year before finally beginning a steady downward trend in February, according to the World Container Index. Its composite index (a blend of different routes) was US$7,500 on June 16, a drop of more than a quarter from the September peak of more than $10,000. 

But that’s still well above year-ago levels. 

“The underlying issues that we’ve faced for the past two years around the availability of containers for export remain,” said Greg Northey, Pulse Canada’s director of industry relations. “Anybody who is trying to move product is still facing a lot of the same headwinds that we had before around getting access to containers and getting vessels to move those containers.” 

Demand is typically lower at this time of year as the bulk of grain has already been shipped (and last year’s crop was a small one). But it’s not just grain that’s been impacted, said Northey. 

“There are all kinds of products — food products, wood products, metal products — that are facing disruptions. One of the main issues is cost,” he said. “The prices now are still two to three times higher than they were prior to 2020.” 

Global shipping lines are making fewer empty containers available in Canada. 

“They have a preference to move empty containers from Canada back to Asia — China particularly — to have them filled with consumer goods from China to come back to North America,” said Northey. 

“It’s a more profitable move for them to have the container go back empty rather than make it available for export for Canadian exporters.” 

That may seem counterintuitive but the logistics of getting containers to where they need to be coupled with the lower backhaul price favours sending containers back empty. 

“If you’re a Canadian exporter or shipper and your market just hap- pens to be China, it makes sense for the shipping line to allow that empty container to be filled before going back to China. But if you have a destination that’s not China, that container is going to take a lot longer before it becomes empty and available to send to China,” he said. 

“It all comes down to the fact that for a container filled with bicycles from China, they can charge $25,000 for that container to come back to North America, while an export container from Canada that’s going to India is around $3,000 to $4,000. 

“From a financial standpoint, it makes a lot more sense to have that empty container moved back to China as quickly as possible to be refilled to come back.” 

Canadian exporters have already seen ripple effects from that, including the removal of routes and vessels that normally would have served major markets in India and South America. 

“It’s rejigged the whole market that we would have usually relied on for our exports,” said Northey. 

“So you’re not able to ship, or you’re only getting about 50 per cent of the capacity that you would usually have, so you’re having to store it and your storage costs go up. 

“It just becomes a big drag on trade execution in the sector.” 

Pulse Canada is working with other commodity groups, both inside of agriculture and outside of it, to address the impacts on the supply chain. 

“We’ve been really trying to generate a lot of information and evidence around how container lines have been conducting business and what kind of impact it’s having in Canada, both in agriculture and a variety of other commodities,” said Northey. “Our long-term goal is to try and create a fair, functioning market on the container side.” 

Earlier this spring, the federal government launched a task force on supply chain issues that came out of the pandemic and the Competition Bureau has also joined a group looking at potential anti-competitive behaviour. 

“Canada, along with the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, have announced that they’re taking a real look at whether competitive forces are allowed to flourish within the container line industry,” he said. “We’ve already conducted an impact assessment in Canada of what these disruptions have meant for our shippers. So there’s been a lot of activity on our side.” 

Northey hopes some progress will be made before this year’s pulse crops are harvested and ready to ship. 

“While we are encountering issues now, our big concern is the next crop year,” he said. “If we don’t have the supply chains and container service that we need to move our products around, it’s just going to exacerbate those broader global food security problems.” 

The post Pulse sector fears another ‘container crunch’ come fall appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“The biggest challenge for producers through the drought was finding good-quality feed for a feasible price. A lot of low-quality fibre like straw was fed,” said Courtney O’Keefe, ruminant nutritionist at Blue Rock Animal Nutrition.

“A lot of guys were feeding unusual diets — pulling together what they could — and the cattle weren’t getting enough out of those lower-quality feeds if they weren’t being additionally supplemented. A lot of times, those cattle would be fairly deficient in quite a few nutrients.

“I’d say a lot of guys were able to get their herds through the season, but they could see future issues in those animals.”

For most producers last year, their feeding problems were twofold. The first was the sheer lack of availability for certain cattle feeds or ingredients, which resulted in rations deficient in certain nutrients.

“The biggest challenge from this last winter was feed availability — trying to find the cheapest ration possible that still meets the cattle’s needs,” said Janelle Smith, ruminant nutritionist at the Coaldale Veterinary Clinic. “For my clients, that’s been the biggest challenge. They still want to meet their cattle’s needs, but they may be using some unusual feeds that have required a bit more attention to balance the minerals.”

But droughts can also impact feed quality, and that’s what many producers found last year.

“In a drought situation similar to what we had last summer with such extreme heat, the heads of the crop won’t fill, so you might have a little lower energy content in your silage than you would normally have,” said Smith.

“On the pasture side, native pasture is a little bit more adapted to the drought situations we have here. But tame pasture will just simply mature and lose quality faster than it normally would in a good year. So for cattle on pasture, there could be the potential for deficiencies following a drought.

“But if you’re not testing your feeds, there’s no way to know what you have for sure.”

Producers may notice that their animals are leaner this year than they have been in previous years as a result of these nutrient deficiencies.

“If producers weren’t adequately supplementing with protein or energy, the biggest thing you’ll see suffer is the body condition score of those animals,” said O’Keefe, adding that body condition score can also affect the animal’s ability to be bred back.

“The biggest thing I’ve seen in herds across the province is that cows are definitely a little leaner than they have been in previous years.”

Getting feed tests

“Especially with minerals, you sometimes won’t actually see any issues until it’s clinically presenting itself when you have cows go down due to, say, calcium deficiency,” said O’Keefe. “Sometimes it’s hard to see just by physically looking at them, so that’s why I recommend testing your feed and seeing what you have.”

Generally, vitamins A, D, and E will be low following a drought, while the most common trace minerals that cattle are at risk of deficiency are selenium, copper, zinc, iodine, cobalt, and manganese. Deficiencies can present in many different ways, but typically, producers will see lower-than-average weight gain, poorer immunity, a higher pull rate, lower-than-average pregnancy rates, delayed puberty in heifers, and a decreased ability to be bred back.

“If you are trying to cut costs in some way and minerals are what you choose to cut out of your rations, you run the risk down the line that that could lead to lower-than-average pregnancy rates, immunity, and gain on your calves,” said Smith.

Any vitamins or minerals that are low will need to be supplemented, particularly for bred heifers, said O’Keefe.

“The thing to remember with bred heifers in comparison to mature cows is that they’re still growing themselves while also growing a calf. So their demands are higher in comparison to that mature cow,” she said.

“You want to have longevity in that heifer and make sure she stays with the herd. She already has enough working against her, so if you can, that’s a group of animals that I would focus on making sure you’re meeting their requirements.”

Beyond the poorer health and lower performance producers can expect to see, these deficiencies could also impact cow retention in the herd as well.

“If they’re short now and it’s affecting their body condition score, or if they’re deficient in certain nutrients and it affects their ability to be bred back, they probably wouldn’t be staying in the herd,” said O’Keefe.

That’s also why it’s so important to have the feed tested, she added.

“That’s going to give you information on exactly what you have and whether you’re deficient in anything,” said O’Keefe.

“That way, you can balance those rations so that you’re not over- or underfeeding nutrients. More isn’t necessarily better — extra protein can cause an increase in energy loss. So you want to optimize what you have.

“Even on a good year but especially in a drought, farmers should utilize a nutritionist and a veterinarian to make sure you’re meeting those requirements before you run into a problem.”

The post Keep an eye out for drought-caused nutrient deficiency in your cattle appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“It’s not as novel as it was a few years ago,” said Markus Weber, president of LandView Drones. “For a lot of people when they buy a drone, the first season it’s a toy. They’re enamoured with the technology. They use it to get some great harvest and seeding videos.

“It usually takes a year for an individual to get past the pretty pictures and videos stage. But after that first year is when they turn their minds to what else this tool can do.”

Drone technology has moved forward in leaps and bounds over the last five years, and as prices have come down and the technology has improved, Alberta farmers have found ways to put these new tools to work on the farm.

“It really depends on the operation — they’ll use it either as a tool to find things like cattle in the pasture or for crop scouting or to develop some prescription mapping,” said Weber, adding that, while drones are still not meant for spying, a lot of models now have zoom capabilities.

“We’ve got small systems now like the Mavic 3 that have 28x hybrid zooms, so you can position the drone hundreds of yards away and zoom in to see whether there are noxious weeds along the far quarter section line.

“You can get a lot closer to the subject without flying closer to them by bringing in those optics.”

The zoom capabilities on high-end systems are even more advanced, he added.

“We have systems now that were developed primarily for infrastructure inspection and public safety that allow you to take pictures of the exact same location over and over again with zoom,” said Weber. “The benefit for agriculture is you can have benchmark sites that you revisit throughout the season to see how the crop is progressing.”

The technology for imaging sensors hasn’t advanced much over the last two years, he said, but prices have dropped, which has helped adoption rates. Drone software, on the other hand, has come a long way from where it was.

“The software side is always where the industry was lacking — getting more value out of the imagery,” said Weber. “But there’s software now that’s really good at extracting data points on individual plots. A lot of that has really been refined over the last two years to automate those processes.”

Unfortunately, the short battery life — which has been a primary complaint of drone users on the farm — has changed “only incrementally.”

“We’re not using a different power system than we were then, so flight times for the small drones you’d use for crop scouting have gone from about 20 minutes to about 35 minutes,” he said. “It’s almost 50 per cent more than it was two years ago, but it’s still only 50 per cent more. It would be nice if we could be flying for an hour or two, especially when we’re applying product.”

Drone spraying

“The big change over the last six to 12 months has been all this talk about spraying with a drone,” he said. “Initially we were thinking that the battery power would be such a limiting factor that it wouldn’t make sense to spray in Western Canada with drones. But the technology has been evolving rapidly, and there’s a lot of interest now in spraying with drones over both small and large acreages.”

Right now, the biggest limitation for using a drone to spray or spread crop protection products is the regulatory environment. Currently, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has listed drone application as off label for all pesticides.

But that will change, said Weber.

“The technology is advancing because there are so many users in other parts of the world,” he said. “On the spraying front, we’re seeing pulse-width modulation on these drones already, improvements to the design to have coarse-air sprays to reduce drift, that type of thing. Most of the systems now have a spreading system that you can buy to use with cover crop seeding.

“The PMRA just needs evidence that it’s safe to be applying by drone, so it’s just a matter of time before those regulations change.”

Other industries in Alberta are already testing drones for tasks such as seeding, spraying, and spreading. Lindsay Wadsworth, who works primarily in the forestry and oil and gas industries through his role as a manager at Integrity Industries North, has been using the new DJI Agras T30 to help one of his clients seed reclaimed forestry roads with conifers in the Grande Prairie area.

“The biggest thing for us is access,” said Wadsworth. “Most cut blocks are seeded with seedlings and humans, and they use roads to access the cut blocks. Once the cut blocks are seeded, they need to grow the roads back. But it’s not advantageous to send people in there with no access.

“So this is something they’re trying to see if it’s worth it or not, and that’s really where the drone comes in. The access issues are removed, so you can fly it around and get it done.”

Wadsworth has just begun this experiment, but so far, the drones — which are a flagship model of agricultural sprayer that has a 30-litre spraying tank and spreading system — work “surprisingly well.”

“These drones were really designed to spray quarter sections, so it’s a little bit outside of that scope,” said Wadsworth, adding that he has received government approval to run some spraying trials with the drones. “But as we’re actually getting conifers on the ground and hitting our seeds per square metre, we’ve got it figured out how to hit that target and move it around. The drone can fly up to 45 metres above the ground and still get us the coverage that we need.”

Barriers and benefits

“In a setting like this, to try to co-ordinate battery usage to battery charging is very complicated,” he said. “I was really hoping the battery would charge in 10 minutes like they said it would. It’s about a 10-minute turnaround from the time you get fertilizer in, go do your run, spread your 34 kilograms, land it, and swap the batteries. But the batteries were taking 25 minutes to charge.

“It’s definitely a limitation — do you go with two chargers? More batteries? It’s a little tricky.”

Timing the seeding operation is another challenge.

“Conifer seeds have a particular process to stratify — it needs to be hot, cold, hot, cold, so you can’t seed in the middle of winter, but you also can’t seed when it’s not getting cold at night. The timing window is really interesting, and we’re working on that.”

But one of the biggest barriers is just educating farmers about how drones can help their operations.

“This type of drone work could really help them get their lower areas seeded and get more seeds in the ground quicker,” said Wads-worth.” And as we experience more weather events, I think drones are going to save crops and people’s livelihoods.

“That’s the stuff I’m excited about — getting people actually utilizing these technologies.”

In the meantime, the producers who use them are already finding novel ways to use drone technology to improve their bottom lines.

“The main thing a drone does is reduce time spent in the field,” said Weber. “You can access something that’s hundreds of yards away in a matter of seconds, as opposed to trampling crops to access it. Once canola is more than hip-deep, nobody is wading through it, but you can still get an aerial view of it extremely quickly.”

That allows producers to see problems they otherwise wouldn’t from the ground, he added.

“By getting up into the air, you really do see problems almost immediately,” he said. “I’ve had agronomists, for example, identifying phosphorus deficiencies in the first couple of seconds of a flight just by getting a few feet up and seeing the big picture.

“It’s hard to quantify what that’s worth on a per-acre basis. But figuring out what you’re doing wrong is important in order to be able to correct it as a farm manager.”

The post FROM TOY TO TOOL: The sky’s the limit for farming drones appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

But after several tough years — a global pandemic, drought in some regions and flooding in others, feed shortages, rising input costs, supply chain issues, and now war in Ukraine — farmers are finding their well of eternal optimism starting to run dry.

“We had a hard year last year,” said Megz Reynolds, executive director of the Do More Ag Foundation. “Coming out of the pandemic, you didn’t need to be in ag to be completely drained or to be feeling all the mental health effects that came with the pandemic.

“And then Russia invaded Ukraine, and we all watched the effect that, that had on fertilizer and fuel prices and the availability of those two items that are so crucial to planting and seeding.

“I’d say there’s a lot of anxiety and uncertainty across agriculture as a whole, but especially in Canada, right now.”

That isn’t unusual.

In a 2021 survey of farmer mental health in Canada, 76 per cent of farmers said they were experiencing moderate or high stress, she said.

“So many of us in the industry are living and functioning with chronic stress, so even when we feel like there’s nothing going on, there’s a very real chance that there is.”

As a result, it can be hard for farmers to recognize the toll that stress is taking as they try to push through it and tough it out.

“Farmers are eternal optimists — they have to be,” she said. “There are so many factors that are out of your control at any given time that if you can’t be optimistic, you can’t exist in the industry.”

But that eternal optimism is one of the things that often prevents farmers from asking for help when they’re struggling with their mental health.

“It doesn’t just prevent them from asking for help. It prevents them from even entertaining the possibility that there’s something going on and that they might need help,” said Reynolds.

“When something devastating happens — like the drought — instead of talking about that and what we’re suffering through, we just say, ‘Well, there’s always next year.’ We just try to move on, and we don’t take time to experience what we’ve just gone through.”

A big part of that is a deep-seated reluctance when it comes to seeking help.

“External stigma is the fear that our neighbour is going to think we’re less of a farmer if we’re seeing a therapist or going to counselling,” she said. “That’s the external stigma piece, and that can keep somebody from reaching out and getting the support they need.”

But internal stigma is, as far as Reynolds is concerned, the biggest mental health challenge within the agriculture industry right now.

“We’re finally talking about mental health, but there are still so many people who are quick to say, ‘It’s great that we’re talking about mental health and I fully support people getting help, but I would never need help myself. I would never reach out to anybody,’” she said.

“When you’re fighting that internal stigma, you’re not in a place where you’re able to even accept that there’s something going on that you need help with, be that depression, anxiety, addiction. That’s one of the biggest barriers that I see in our industry.”

And oftentimes, producers don’t know how to recognize the signs that they need help with their mental health. Changes to your sleeping or eating patterns, trouble focusing or finding motivation, being impatient or quick to anger, using alcohol or other drugs to cope, and other changes in your personality are all signs that your mental health may be suffering.

“It’s really easy to overlook all of these things, especially in agriculture,” said Reynolds. “We’re so used to running on little sleep during the busy season, eating too little when we’re on the go, or being short tempered because we’re stressed about the weather.

“In agriculture, we’re so used to living at this level of chronic stress that we’ve normalized all of these things. We don’t even realize that they’re going on.”

So how can producers ask for help with a problem they don’t even know they have?

Start small and start simple, said Reynolds.

“It’s really important to break reaching out for help into pieces that feel manageable for you at that moment,” she said.

“It might just start with calling a loved one or a friend and having a conversation where you talk about being worried about what this year will look like or the effects of last year’s drought — just opening the door to start talking about some of those things and how they affect you.”

Crisis phone lines exist, but there are also lines producers can call just to get support.

“You shouldn’t ever feel like you have to be in complete crisis mode before you call them.”

There are also one-on-one supports that can help, including talking to a mental health professional.

“One of the things that I love that’s come out of COVID is that there are more online therapy apps than existed beforehand, and that makes talking to a professional really easy,” she said. “You can even do it in the cab of your tractor during seeding.”

Reaching out for professional help will also give you the skills and coping mechanisms you need to be “better prepared when something does happen in the future.”

“No one ever taught us healthy coping mechanisms. We didn’t learn it in school. Our parents didn’t talk about it. We don’t talk about it as an industry,” said Reynolds.

“Right now, the common coping mechanisms used in agriculture are sleeping more, avoiding others, eating more or less, self-blame, and drinking alcohol. Those are what we have in our tool belt right now, and that’s why connecting with a mental health professional is so important so that we can replace those unhealthy coping mechanisms with healthy coping mechanisms.”

For more information or to access mental health resources, visit domore.ag.

The post Signs of mental health struggles easy to overlook in agriculture appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Despite what you might hear, carbon quantification in Canada is not very well advanced,” said Bryan Gilvesy, CEO of ALUS (originally an acronym for Alternative Land Use Services).

“We found it necessary to actually connect with some of the smartest people in the business to develop new methodologies to accelerate the pace at which we quantify carbon on farm sites in Canada. Without that, it’s difficult to prove our work, so to speak.”

ALUS is a non-profit that has nearly three dozen chapters across the country, with 17 of them in rural municipalities in Alberta. The local groups, led by producers, help farmers provide ecosystem services through projects such as installing riparian buffers, planting windbreaks and eco-buffers, managing sustainable drainage systems, and creating pollinator and wildlife habitat. ALUS provides some of the funding and/or a modest annual payment for land taken out of production.

• Read more: Doing the right thing in the right way is the key, says award-winning rancher

The $5-million carbon sequestration project is being funded by Sustainable Development Technology Canada, an arm’s-length government “foundation” that assists companies in implementing environmentally sustainable technologies.

“They’ve recently expanded their mandate, taking a whole-business approach to sustainable development solutions for Canadians,” said Gilvesy. “The ALUS program and the farmers involved in it provide a novel and very innovative approach to sustainable development solutions for Canadians. It’s with that in mind that we struck a relationship with them.”

A substantial portion of the funding will be used to develop metrics and tools for carbon quantification of ALUS’s project sites. Eventually, the goal is to have a network of demonstration sites to test “innovative technologies in regenerative agriculture and nature-based solutions.”

“That will help us provide the marketplace with carbon solutions,” said Gilvesy. “ALUS is principles based, and one of the principles that’s embedded in the way we operate is the need to relate to the markets our farmers are working with.

“We need to develop a marketplace to support their hard work producing ecosystem services. That then expands the notion of what a farm and ranch does — food, fibre, and ecosystem services are all productive parts of our farms and ranches.”

Many companies are keen to work with organizations like his, he said.

“There are corporations that have landscape impacts that have no other way to address them than to engage with ALUS and the ALUS farmers and ranchers as solution providers.”

The organization already has an initiative called the New Acre Project, which allows businesses to sponsor ALUS projects and expand its reach into new communities.

The new $5 million in funding will see six new community chapters set up.

“We’ve got a bit of a queue for community partners across the country, and there’s a queue of farmers wanting to join the program as well,” said Gilvesy.

“We’re working through the list of those candidates right now to make sure we’re tapping into the strongest possible partners across the country.

“But we’re pleased that this program has grown to the point where we see a demand that we’re trying to catch up to.”

A key part of the ALUS model is that farmers, ranchers and others involved in a community group tailor projects to their local area and conditions. That will continue to be the focus, even as the organization grows, said Gilvesy.

“Funding is really important, but we’re also keenly aware at ALUS that we have to make sure we continuously build the strong support systems that can allow a program to grow to scale more rapidly,” he said.

“We’re very cognizant that we build those support systems in a sustainable way that can support this rapid growth so we can survive for the long term.”

The post Farmer-driven stewardship organization gets major funding boost appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“The more data we have, the harder it is to figure out what to do with it,” said Simon Knutson, agriculture technology faculty instructor at Olds College. “The technology has advanced a lot more over the past few years, but we’re still leaving the majority of users behind.”

The tech in the hardware is continuously being improved — whether it’s in drones using near-infrared sensors to monitor crops, probes and sensors in fields, yield mapping or variable-rate functions on equipment.

At the heart of all of this is data — all of these tools generate reams of it, but most farmers aren’t making the most of the information being collected on their operations, said Knutson.

“I think there are a lot of farms out there that are still not doing some of the basics,” he said. “As an example, every fairly modern combine that’s out there probably has a yield monitor, but the majority of farms still don’t really do anything with that data.”

And the gap between the basics of data management and analytics and what the technology can do keeps widening.

“A lot of the fancy new technology just skips right over the basics, and the majority of farms are not there yet,” said Knutson. “It’s very intimidating for somebody who hasn’t done a whole lot of this. Suddenly you’re seeing all of this advertising and going to trade shows where they have all the fancy tools, and that can be fairly intimidating.

“We need to take several steps down the ladder and get some of these farms onto the first rung.”

Part of the challenge with that, he said, is that these different platforms and technologies aren’t yet fully integrated — though that continues to improve as these tools become more mainstream.

“We have seen a lot of the new platforms and technologies that are coming out are integrating with other platforms,” said Knutson. “I still don’t think we’re there yet, but it has definitely improved over the past two or three years. We have seen advances there.”

But generally, the rapid advances in technology just makes it harder and harder to catch up.

“It seems like the wall is getting higher and higher because things are advancing so much,” he said. “Sometimes we’re still putting the cart in front of the horse. We are at risk right now of isolating or alienating anybody who didn’t get on board with this five or 10 years ago.

“Somebody just needs to help them get going and get value out of the data they probably already have.”

Making it useful

“The focus for us over the last few years has been on mapping different soil properties in the field,” said Knutson. “There are so many potential variables that could influence yields and that we could potentially manage, but that doesn’t mean that they actually relate to anything individually.

“The HyperLayer project is looking at how we can work with all these different data layers to make sense of them and see if we can try to identify how we can use all of this data to make decisions.”

That’s the trickiest part of data and analytics, he said, adding that machine learning and modelling can help with that.

“The more layers you have, the more difficult it is to interpret it,” he said. “I have so much data I could give to the students, but the majority of that data is extremely complex to try and make use out of it when we’ve got multiple layers.

“Just having the data is one thing. Actually understanding it and being able to use it to make decisions is another thing altogether. So the challenge will be for the students to actually turn the data into something useful.”

Once they’ve had some training, students are comfortable merging two or three different data layers to make use of the information they provide. But they soon get to a point where things get complicated fast, he said.

“When I asked the students before they started what they thought they’d be doing, they said, ‘We’ll be taking all these different layers and making maps out of them,’” said Knutson.

“I asked them afterward what they think of that now, and they said, ‘It’s too complicated. We can’t take 20 different layers and do really anything with them because the data is all telling us different things.’

“It’s really changed their mindsets on what they thought precision agriculture is versus what it actually is.”

That’s been a key challenge with some of these new technologies, he added — balancing the expectations about how they’ll perform with the reality of how they actually perform in practice.

“It’s kind of like when you watch “CSI” (Crime Scene Investigation, the popular TV franchise) — they click a couple of buttons and all of a sudden they’re looking at the answer,” he said. “That doesn’t happen in the real world, but I think a lot of farmers think that way as well.

“They think we have all this technology — they should just be able to click a few buttons and it’s done. But we’re still not there, and probably not going to be for most of our lifetimes.”

As such, it’s important for producers to have a “really clear picture” of what they hope to achieve from any new technology they bring onto the farm.

“There’s been a lot of instances where people just run out and buy something without really knowing what it is that they’re looking to get out of it,” said Knutson.

“You really need to have a plan with where you want to go. Just going out and buying a drone or signing up for one of these platforms is all great — as long as you have a justification for it. You need to know what you are actually looking to get out of it at the end of the day.

“I think sometimes people skip over that because they see something new and shiny and just want to get into it.”

The post College aims to tame the data beast running amok on today’s farms appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

But in the decade since then, the Westlock-area farmer has come to view the disease as more of a chronic condition — still risky, still potentially devastating, but ultimately manageable with just a little work.

“It was initially quite the shock to the system — you’re worried about whether you’re going to be able to continue to farm,” said Guelly.

“But the more you learn about it, the more you learn how to cope. Now it’s probably not in my top three things that I worry about anymore.”

Over the last decade, the understanding of how to manage clubroot effectively has advanced, as have clubroot-resistant genetics. And with that has come a shift in mentality.

“Like anything, it’s a matter of finding out more information about it — what sort of things you can do to reduce your spore load and find a new way to farm, in some senses,” said Guelly.

“A lot of it is just a matter of doing a few extra things and being a little more careful to make sure you’re not spreading it around.

“It’s not something you can completely forget about — you’ve got to keep it on your radar — but it’s certainly not as big an issue as I was initially worried it would be.”

Joining the ‘clubroot club’

“I’m finding that a lot of the people who were at some of those speaking engagements are calling me now and saying, ‘I just joined the clubroot club. What do I do?’” he said, adding the number of calls he received increased last summer.

“In a lot of cases, I just talk them off the wall, and then put them in touch with the right people and the right information so they can try and deal with the disease.”

But although clubroot has become more manageable, it has continued its seemingly inevitable spread across Alberta, despite measures taken to prevent that.

“With everything we’ve tried to do to reduce the spread, maybe we’ve slowed it down a little bit, but it still seems to be spreading pretty rapidly,” said Guelly.

As of last year, clubroot had been confirmed in over 3,300 fields in Western Canada.

“I hate to speculate, but I think it’s fair to say that we will see more clubroot in the next five years,” said Angela Brackenreed, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada. “To what degree will we see it spread in the next five years? That really depends on how effectively we can continue to utilize the genetic resources that we have and the integrated pest management strategies that we know work.”

But the fact is clubroot can spread easily and rapidly.

“It’s a really tough one to stop in its tracks. Anything that moves soil can move this disease,” said Brackenreed. “Because of the nature of this pathogen and the mechanism of its spread, it has certainly grown in severity and concentration, but we are really fortunate to have a lot of resources being put behind this disease through agronomic management, resistance, and breeding.

“I’m confident that we’ll continue to see more advances in that area in the coming years.”

Guelly agrees.

“It’s not something we can eradicate. The best we can do is try to keep the spore loads low.”

‘Everyone is making the switch’

That’s changed as seed companies shifted production primarily to resistant varieties — there are now more than 50 available in Alberta.

“I think the bulk of people are using that on their farm now, and it’s one of the easiest things they can do to try to reduce their risk,” said Guelly.

“That’s a great thing in my mind. I look at that and have to smile, seeing that everyone is making that switch. It’s one of the easiest things to do, and I’m glad that they’re grabbing the low-hanging fruit.”

Growers should be switching to resistant varieties as early as they can, even in the areas of Alberta where clubroot hasn’t yet been detected, said Brackenreed.

“We have growers who are able to grow pretty exceptional crops even in the face of clubroot with this resistance available to them,” she added.

“We’ve seen just an amazing amount of genetic resistance come on the marketplace in recent years, and that will certainly help us to slow down the spread of this disease.”

However, relying too heavily on genetic resistance hastens the day it breaks down, so other management strategies also need to be used, she said.

For Guelly, the change that has had the biggest impact was extending his rotation.

“We were in a two-year rotation for probably 15 years, and we know now that the bulk of the spores die within the first three years,” he said. “If you can stretch that two-year rotation into a three-year rotation, that’s one of the biggest things you can do.”

That two-year break between host crops — including weeds such as volunteer canola — can reduce spore levels by 90 per cent, said Brackenreed.

“We talk about rotation a lot, and sometimes it seems like producers are still asking, ‘Is this really going to be effective for me?’” she said. “But we know it can be extremely effective if we’re utilizing rotation and managing host weeds.”

Scouting diligently is also key, she said.

“The longer that this goes undetected in a field, the more it’s going to spread throughout the field and to other fields on your farm.”

Sooner is always better, added Guelly.

“It’s a lot like other human diseases — the sooner you find it, the sooner you can start changing your practices while the spore load is low,” he said. “You can continue to grow canola with a healthy rotation if you have low spore loads.

“But if you wait too long and the spore loads get too high, you’ve got to take more drastic measures.”

Another way to keep spore loads low is by limiting soil movement by reducing tillage and sanitizing equipment.

How that looks on a farm depends on the farmer and the circumstances — but pressure washing every piece of equipment every time when exiting a field is not something you’ll see in the real world.

“Ideally we would go through all of the steps of biosecurity and we would reduce our risk by almost 100 per cent,” said Brackenreed. “We know that this is effective. We know that it works. But it is incredibly time consuming and potentially not practical in some circumstances.

“So I think we need to look at it as how can we be strategic about our biosecurity rather than looking at it as an all or nothing.”

Guelly has started doing a rough clean of his equipment between fields, saving his ‘hot fields’ for last so that he can more thoroughly sanitize the equipment once they’re done.

“I’m not saying we’re getting out and spraying with bleach between every field or anything,” he said. “I’ll stop when the field’s done and knock off the bulk of the dirt clumps that are on the equipment, and that gets rid of the bulk of any spores that you’re going to move from place to place.”

Something like that is “more reasonable and more realistic,” added Brackenreed.

“Even just removing the visible big clumps of soil can reduce the amount you’re moving by over 90 per cent. That’s huge.”

Even so, none of these management strategies are a “magic wand that will get it out of the soil.”

“Once it’s there, we have to deal with it being there, and it’s a constant hamster wheel trying to stay on top of it,” said Brackenreed.

“So it’s really important in an effort to keep these spore levels low and local that we deploy genetic resistance early — that we don’t delay in the use of that tool — and that we take seriously these other integrated pest management techniques that we know work.

“They won’t work magic immediately, but when we look at them through a longer-term lens, they are effective.”

But the real key to managing clubroot is spotting it early — and remembering that finding clubroot doesn’t have to be a death sentence for your canola crop.

“If you do find it, it’s not the end of the world,” said Guelly. “You’ve got to change a few things that you’re doing on your farm, but it’s not going to end your farming career.”

The post Clubroot diagnosis no longer a death sentence appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“When the drought hit last summer, one of the questions that came up was what if guys had to cull really hard,” said Brenna Grant, executive director of Canfax.

“Every operation has been impacted differently by this drought. Some were able to purchase feed and bring it in. For others, there may have been other constraints aside from feed availability, like cash flow.

“So we wanted to know what herd recovery would look like if you were to rebuild from within the herd versus purchasing replacements.”

Canfax researchers looked at how long it would take 17 benchmark farms in their Canadian Cow-Calf Cost of Production Network to rebuild in the 10 years after the drought if they either maintained their herd size in last year; culled but retained their heifers in the following years; or culled in 2021 and purchased bred heifers to rebuild the herd to its original size.

They also evaluated three different culling rates — 25 per cent, 50 per cent, and 75 per cent — on these farms (all located between B.C. and northwest Ontario).

While it’s tough to pinpoint how many cattle producers across Canada would have culled at those different rates during the drought, the national statistics show that cow marketings in 2021 were up 6.5 per cent, to just under 2019 levels, and culling rates were also in line with 2018 and 2019 levels.

“So we were in liquidation, but it’s one where we were really surprised that we were only down one per cent in beef cow inventories on Jan. 1, according to Statistics Canada,” said Grant.

“We’ve heard of areas that have stockpiled feed last year, and that might have been one of the reasons why we didn’t see liquidation as hard as we expected.

“Some of those areas that were able to stockpile feed were able to purchase those cows and keep them within the breeding herd.”

But the full impact of the drought may not have been realized yet.

“Cow slaughter is up seven per cent year to date from last year, remembering that we weren’t in a liquidation rate of cow slaughter in the first quarter of last year because the drought wasn’t quite evident yet. So I think the drought impact is not done yet.”

And those impacts will be felt even harder by producers forced to cull at higher rates because of a lack of feed availability or other cash flow concerns.

“Everything is so driven by economies of scale, and one of the things that happens when you cull really hard is your per-cow costs are impacted because you still have all of your overhead costs but you don’t have as many cows to spread them over,” said Grant.

“Either choice you make, the objective is to minimize the equity drain on the operation. Yes, you want to rebuild as quickly as possible once you have your grass back and it’s suitable to restock, but there are cash flow considerations and other concerns producers are going to be looking at.”

Strategic rebuild

“In previous droughts, you have a big increase in bred heifer prices when everyone who has liquidated is now looking to rebuild. That creates strong demand for bred heifers, and then prices go up,” said Grant.

“If you’re purchasing replacements, the rebuild happens faster — which is a pro — but when you look back to the 1985 drought, basically three years later, bred heifer prices had increased by 36 per cent between the drought year and the peak.”

Ultimately, though, the researchers found that at both the 25 and 50 per cent culling rates, rebuilding with your own heifers would be more profitable for the majority of farms.

“I think there are a lot of producers who would choose this option anyway just due to cash flow considerations,” said Grant. “Even if you’re rebuilding from your own herd, you have the opportunity cost of not selling that heifer calf, but usually, as long as you have reasonable development costs for those bred heifers, that is a better option for most.”

But once you’re over a 50 per cent cull rate, “it simply takes too long to rebuild from within because you don’t have the sheer number of heifer calves you need to rebuild with,” she added.

“Now you’re talking about potentially eight to 10 — or more — years to rebuild to your ideal herd size, and you still have all of your overhead costs during that 10-year period.”

Additionally, if feed is available and cash flow isn’t a concern, purchasing feed — even at higher prices — was more profitable long term because it allows for the economies of scale to be maintained.

It’s important to talk things over with your lender, she added.

“Do you want to get a loan now for feed and maintain your herd size, or do you want to get a loan later for purchasing bred heifers? So it’s important to have that conversation and talk about cash flow challenges and the risks associated with those two choices.”

Of course, this all assumes that there will be a period of recovery following the drought, as happened during the drought of 1985 and 1986.

“For a multi-year drought, that might not be the case, and then it will just push that rebuild out another year,” she said. “When the driving consideration is how to maintain equity in your operation, that really puts a strain on producers if they had liquidated last year and they’re unable to rebuild in a timely fashion.

“That means they’d have to go another year without that income, but they still have those overhead costs to cover. So they may not be considering rebuilding until next year or even further out potentially, depending on how quickly grass comes back.”

But hopefully this study will have cattle producers thinking ahead so that they can strategize their herd rebuild and capitalize on any opportunities that come up.

“We knew that it wasn’t necessarily going to be helpful for producers this year,” said Grant. “But it’s important for them to be thinking about how to protect farm equity so that they can be set for the future when it comes time to rebuild and they do have grass.”

The Canfax study can be found online.

The post Be strategic when rebuilding your cattle herd following drought appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Now, thanks to another global crisis disrupting supply chains, vegetable oil is getting the same treatment in some parts of the world.

“There’s already a strong demand for vegetable oils generally, and any impact on the availability of oils on the global market is only going to add pressure to that shortage,” said Jim Everson, president of the Canola Council of Canada.

“The world economy is growing after the pandemic, and as those economies grow, the demand for products increases. It’s not just the current circumstances — it’s a longer-term trend.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine halted sunflower oil exports from both countries. Together they account for roughly 60 per cent of global sunflower oil production. And Ukraine produces most of the sunflower oil used in the United Kingdom — where major retailers such as Tesco and Waitrose are limiting shoppers to two or three bottles.

And supplies tightened further in late April — when faced with high prices and dwindling supplies, Indonesia (the world’s largest palm oil exporter) put a ban on veg oil exports.

“Palm is the most voluminous oil traded in the world, so when the growth of that sector slows down, the demand for other vegetable oils increases,” said Everson, adding that was already happening prior to the war in Ukraine.

And, of course, Canada has less canola oil to sell — last year’s crop hit a 14-year low at just over 12.5 million tonnes (versus 19.5 million tonnes in 2020).

“Canadian canola is responsible for 65 to 70 per cent of the world trade of canola or rapeseed, so when we have a really bad crop, that impacts the market,” he said. “Canola prices are high because of the shortage, and because of the challenges there, that’s unlikely to be a short-term thing. The fundamentals behind the supply-and-demand situation are in support of that.”

And that could be good news for Canadian canola growers.

“Canola oil doesn’t really compete against palm or sunflower oil because of the freight, but if the Ukrainian sunflower oil doesn’t come through, then they’ll start looking here to meet their demand,” said Ward Toma, general manager of Alberta Canola. “The longer this carries on, the greater the chance that it’s really going to boost prices.”

Rationing demand

“The country that would probably be impacted the most by both of these events is India. They’re a huge, huge importer of low-cost vegetable oils from that part of the world,” said Toma.

“If you take that away from them, they’re going to have to start buying up more expensive oils in the short term — soybeans or canola from North America. So short term, there might be a little boost to canola markets as people panic a bit and start looking for alternatives.”

But that will just encourage some countries to increase veg oil production, he said.

“India has made a long-term pledge to increase palm oil production in their country. So that might actually limit the scope of future demand that we might get out of that marketplace.”

So any boost to prices will be short lived — or might not happen at all, Toma predicted.

“If we have extra demand coming outside of the normal, it might be just too expensive for that demand to get filled. That’s what high prices do — they ration demand.”

Moreover, big increases in the price of fertilizer, fuel and other inputs mean margins haven’t increased despite record-high canola prices, he said.

Last year’s drought has also reduced expected canola acres for this year, with StatCan’s late-April forecast predicting a seven per cent drop this year.

“It’s still very dry throughout large chunks of the canola-growing regions of the Prairies,” said Toma. ““And when you’re putting canola in, that’s a lot of money… and if the risk of not getting a crop increases because they have no water, they might not want to take on that risk.”

If StatCan’s survey proves accurate, it will be even more important that this year’s crop is “normal or better than normal,” said Everson.

“We’re hoping… that we don’t have a repeat of the heat dome we had last year and that we don’t have another short crop,” he said. “We hope to get back to those normal circumstances, and when we do, the world is really going to be looking for Canadian canola because of the high demand that’s out there.

“I think the signal to growers is a good one for canola, so we’re optimistic about acreage this year.”

Supply chain disruptions

“As we get ready for our crop in 2023, there’s already issues around container access and fertilizer access and pricing,” he said. “We always seem to have challenges with rail service, and with the economy growing, there’s going to be other commodities using the Canadian rail service this fall.

“We’re going to need to make sure we have really excellent logistics for our rail service this year.”

Equally important is ensuring farmers can access inputs in the fall and next spring for next year’s crop, especially with recent government discussions about reducing greenhouse gas emissions from nitrogen fertilizer, he added.

“We need to be sure that as an industry, farmers continue to have access to the inputs that they require to grow our product,” said Everson. “Nitrogen fertilizer is critical to canola, so we have to be sure that our efforts to reduce the emissions that come from liquid nitrogen use do not mean that farmers cannot have access to nitrogen.”

In the meantime, canola producers should keep an eye on the markets to take advantage of any pricing opportunities that crop up.

“I think there will be some short-term shocks to the marketplace,” said Toma. “On the face of it, from a market standpoint, it looks like there’s going to be an opportunity — and the opportunity does exist if farmers can capitalize on it.”

The post Sold-out shelves are back — but now it’s vegetable oil in short supply appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.