Average CWRS (13.5%) prices lost C$3.70 to adding C$2.20 per tonne, according to price quotes from a cross-section of delivery points compiled by PDQ (Price and Data Quotes). Those prices ranged from about C$269.00 per tonne in southeastern Saskatchewan to C$290.40 per tonne in southern Alberta.

Quoted basis levels varied from location to location and ranged from C$47.00 to C$68.30 per tonne above the futures when using the grain company methodology of quoting the basis as the difference between the U.S. dollar denominated futures and the Canadian dollar cash bids.

When accounting for currency exchange rates by adjusting Canadian prices to United States dollars (C$1=US$0.7186), CWRS bids ranged from US$193.30 to US$208.70 per tonne. That would put the currency adjusted basis levels at about US$13.40 to US$28.70 below the futures.

Looking at it the other way around, if the Minneapolis futures are converted to Canadian dollars, CWRS basis levels across Western Canada ranged from C$9.60 to C$20.70 below the futures.

Average CPRS (11.5%) wheat tacked on 20 cents to losing $3.50 per tonne. Bids ranged from C$247.30 per tonne in southeastern Saskatchewan to C$272.00 per tonne in southern Alberta.

Average CWAD prices gave up C$1.10 to adding C$0.60 per tonne. Bids ranged from C$322.00 per tonne in northwestern Saskatchewan to C$341.20 per tonne in southern Alberta.

The December spring wheat contract in Minneapolis, which most CWRS contracts Canada are based off of, was quoted at US$6.0425 per bushel on Oct. 31, dropping 13.75 cents on the week.

The Kansas City hard red winter wheat futures, which are now traded in Chicago, are more closely linked to CPRS in Canada. The December Kansas City wheat contract was quoted at US$5.6925 per bushel on Oct. 31, forgoing 17.75 cents from a week ago.

The December Chicago Board of Trade soft wheat contract settled at US$5.7050 per bushel on Oct. 31, losing 11 cents.

The loonie was down 0.37 of a cent on the week, settling at 71.86 U.S. cents.

The post Prairie Wheat Weekly: Declines in U.S. wheat, loonie lead to mixed prices appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Researchers with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the University of Manitoba are genomically mapping the 2013-released AC Vesper VB spring wheat to understand a trait that appears to repel female wheat midge from laying eggs on the plant.

“(It) seemed to have a different form of oviposition deterrence — which is egg laying deterrence — than other wheat did,” said lead researcher Tyler Wist, who works in the AAFC Saskatoon Research and Development Centre.

“It matched to a different area on the chromosomes, basically.”

The team involved in the “Enhanced surveys, wheat resistance traits and midge genetic variation to preserve the Sm1 gene” project (or, as Wist likes to call them, the Midgebusters) planted a population of Vesper crosses and sent them to AAFC Brandon, where they’re being qualified for midge-deterring traits.

Sm1 is the gene that drives midge tolerance in spring wheat.

If Vesper passes the deterrence test, the next challenge is breeding its traits into a modern spring wheat with today’s expectations.

“Our AAFC wheat breeders would cross-breed so that we get that region that we want — that region that seems to do something interesting against wheat midge — and then cross-breed it into modern wheat that’s got disease resistance and good standability, doesn’t lodge and has Sm1.”

The overarching project is designed to genetically map wheat varieties for midge tolerant traits and develop an understanding of egg-laying deterrence on wheat.

The research is timely because of higher wheat midge pressure this year compared to recent years, said Wist.

A major focus is on extending and expanding the life of the Sm1 midge-resistance gene. The first midge tolerant wheat variety came out 14 years ago, but varieties since then continue to depend on this gene.

The team wants to discover new resistant genes and traits in order to stack them into new varieties, extending the life of Sm1 in the process.

“It’s a single resistance gene and so, if we lose it, then we’re back to spraying. And there’s only one chemical left that’s registered for spraying against wheat midge (dimethoate) and it only kills adults.”

Work in the field

The project involves 150 midge traps set up across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, baited with female midge pheromones. To date, the traps have captured 38,200 male midges.

That sub-project aims to find a correlation between the pheromone-based method of trapping male midges and the instances of females laying eggs in wheat plants in the field.

“We’re trying to match the pheromone trapping to the emergence of larvae in the heads because, of course, on the pheromone trap, we’re catching males and males don’t lay eggs,” said Wist.

“If we can get some kind of a good correlation between the males that are emerging and we’re catching on traps and actual damage and larval attack in the field, then we’ll have a better idea about what these pheromone traps mean.”

Current scouting knowledge does not have a good guideline for how many plant heads a producer should collect for a representative sample. Researchers are working on that number.

“What my technicians have been doing is dissecting the heads in groups of 10 so that we can say, ‘OK, does this group of 10, does it accurately reflect what we got when we dissected 200?’…(We’re) trying to figure out that best sample size that works for farmers, that works for agronomists and that works for us as scientists, because dissecting 200 heads takes a lot of time.”

Female midges emerge soon after males. Once the males are out, it’s time to start watching the crop.

“The crop staging that’s most susceptible to wheat midge is … as soon as the boot splits up (or as soon as the wheat spike is visible) until the mid-flowering. Then susceptibility drops right off and the larvae don’t do very well after that point,” said Wist.

Gene by gene

Evaluating other genes with suspected midge tolerance traits is another component of the project. One such gene, the egg antibiosis resistance gene, appears to kill wheat midge eggs.

The researchers’ work substantiates that suspicion, but the gene helped the plant kill the insects at a different stage than expected.

“The data looked really convincing, but what we actually wound up finding was that the eggs were laid and the eggs did hatch, but that the larvae died really quickly on those heads,” Wist said.

This effect only occurred if the Sm1 tolerance gene was present along with the egg antibiosis gene.

“Some of the crops that we produced (under the project) had zero wheat midge damage. And then the checks had almost 50 per cent seeds damaged. So the real big difference … is between the ones with these two genes and ones without any genes.”

Mechanical control

Team members investigated mechanical resistance traits in parts of the wheat plant, such as glumes and awns.

A glume is the covering that goes over the seed and covers the spikelet. Glumes with hair on them initially appeared to change the egg-laying behaviour of the female wheat midge, said Wist.

“And so, instead of putting her eggs underneath the glumes, she was actually putting them on top of the glumes, because I don’t think she could get underneath the glumes with all of the little spikes that were on there.”

However, hairy glumes did not reduce kernel damage.

“Probably what was going on there was the midge larvae were maneuverable enough that they could get themselves … under the wheat kernel and still cause their wheat midge damage. So that was unfortunate.”

An experiment with the awns of wheat plants also revealed few midge-repelling effects.

“Most wheat has awns, but there’s some evidence that awns will stop flying insects or deter flying insects from landing on the plant,” said Wist.

“So we were trying to evaluate that with wheat midge as well, and it didn’t have much of an effect itself, but even a small effect is better than nothing, especially if awns are already on most of the wheat that we’ve got in our cropping area anyway.”

This research is part of a co-operative project between scientists from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research centres in Swift Current, Brandon and Morden, as well as the University of Manitoba. It’s funded by the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

The post ‘Midgebusters’ lead research attack on wheat midge appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

It’s estimated that midge-tolerant wheat has saved farmers more than $3 billion in yield losses and grade dockage over the past decade. The program aims to ensure that each crop has a refuge of a non-tolerant variety so the program aims to ensure the viability of midge-tolerant wheat by ensuring populations of resistant orange wheat blossom midge don’t build up.

The survey can be found at surveymonkey.com/r/WFGPBM7.

For more on the program and a list of midge-tolerant varieties, go to midgetolerantwheat.ca.

The post Survey on keeping wheat midge at bay appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The counts are based on extensive sampling by agricultural fieldmen and applied research groups across the province last year, and the reports from Alberta Agriculture highlight survey findings by region. They also provide info on identification, life cycle, damage and pest management.

The reports can be found at the Government of Alberta website.

Here are some highlights of recent postings.

Grasshoppers

Grasshopper numbers have been increasing in the south and along the Saskatchewan border since 2021, and the affected area is expanding. “There is potential for outbreaks in the southern region and along the eastern border region in 2023,” the report states. “Grasshoppers tend to lay their eggs near areas of green growth in the fall that will provide potential food sources for emerging young the following spring.

“Areas with early green plant growth such as field margins, fence lines and roadsides are also areas that will give early indications of potential grasshopper problems.”

Wheat midge

Nearly 300 samples were taken across the province and the only hot spot for wheat midge was east and southeast of Edmonton. But the report notes “individual fields can be — and often are — highly variable.”“Producers should plan to monitor their fields when the midge adults are flying and their wheat is in the susceptible stage, from the boot leaf until anthers are visible on the heads,” it states.

Wheat stem sawfly

The survey was conducted in southern and south-central Alberta and while fewer fields had a high percentage of cutting, there were more fields with a moderate rating.“Cutting was found in all the municipalities traditionally known for wheat stem sawfly,” the report states. “In addition, damage of 10 to 25 per cent cutting was found in the M.D. of Pincher Creek as well as on the south side of Kneehill County.”

In all, cut stem counts were conducted in 81 fields in 20 municipalities and “overall, sawfly is a real risk in 2023.”

The post Pest survey results and maps now available appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“One thing biologists have noticed is there are certain varieties of wheat that, for whatever reason … where the midge will not lay eggs,” said James Harynuk, a professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Alberta.

“But they also know this wheat will protect other plants nearby. Whatever it is, there’s some molecule or collection of molecules being generated by this variety of wheat that are being released into the air.”

Harynuk and his colleagues are trying to identify the midge-repelling molecules. The next step is to determine the genes responsible for generating them. Once identified, they can be bred into new strains of wheat.

“Once you have this wheat that is giving good yields and protecting itself from the wheat midge, you can mix that in with your crop, because it protects the plants around it,” he said. “And then the rest of your wheat can be another variety that produces high yields.”

During an average year on the Prairies, wheat midge can cause up to $60 million in crop damage. That number can jump to $300 million in a bad year, said Harynuk.

“Wheat midge is the number one insect pest threatening wheat crops across Western Canada. They damage wheat by laying their eggs in the kernels to hatch their larvae.”

He said new wheat varieties may be available soon.

“Our goal is that by this time next year, we should know what the genetic markers are. And then it’s just a question of how quickly plant breeders can incorporate those genes into new varieties. It’s not going to be that far off.”

Depending on the molecules identified by researchers, deploying molecule emitters in fields could be a Band-Aid solution for dealing with wheat midge outbreaks until new varieties can be bred, said Harynuk, although he noted this could add labour costs.

“You might need 30 or 40 of these things per quarter section,” he said. “Yes, it’s a pain and a lot of work to do that. It’s an added cost, but maybe it’s not as bad as losing an entire field if there’s a bad wheat midge outbreak. It’s possible there will be an emergency Band-Aid solution available for next season.”

Working with Harynuk are Boyd Mori and A. Paulina de la Mata at the University of Alberta as well as Alejandro Costamagna, Curt McCartney and Chaminda Weeraddana at the University of Manitoba.

Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR) provided $660,000 for the research, with another $697,000 (in cash and in-kind support) coming from several groups including the University of Manitoba and the Canadian Wheat Cluster (which is administered by Alberta Wheat and its sister organizations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan).

The post Wheat varieties could move from midge tolerance to midge resistance appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“It’s kind of insidious,” said AgCanada entomologist Tyler Wist. “Often if you’re not out looking for it you don’t even know it’s there. Then at harvest you’re like, ‘Hey — where did my yield go?’”

In bad years, the bright-orange flies have caused yield loss of more than 50 per cent in Alberta, and forecasts are calling for higher numbers of wheat midge this year. Provincial officials say the area east of Edmonton, in particular, is a “high-risk situation,” especially if there’s higher-than-normal rainfall — the kind of conditions the insect thrives under.

The pest not only hurts yields but quality.

“Midge-damaged seeds are not great for milling,” said Wist. “When you take your grain to the elevator after a strong midge year, it can be graded down from a one to a two because it’s got more midge damage than it’s comfortable accepting.”

Wheat midge is also frustratingly resilient. Researchers have found they can lie dormant in cocoons indefinitely until wet field conditions cause them to come out and play. Soil core samples are taken to project the number of cocoons and forecast potential outbreaks.

“They’re like a ticking time bomb in your field,” said Wist.

And because the forecast for wheat midge’s natural predator is low in Alberta this year, wheat midge-controlling tools in 2020 are limited to midge-tolerant varieties, scouting and the use of dimethoate spray.

“You have the option of trying to plant so that your heading date doesn’t coincide with the wheat midge emergence but that’s always tough to do,” said Wist, who jokes the pests come out just as farmers are out on the lake for Canada Day.

It’s pretty close to the truth though as they attack around late June or early July just as wheat heads are starting to emerge, laying eggs on them which hatch into larvae.

“The larvae crawl down and start feeding on the developing seed. That’s how yield and grade loss happen,” said Wist. “It’s well synchronized with spring wheat so the same rains that get spring wheat to pop out of the ground also get the wheat midge to pop out of the ground.”

Even without this synchronization, wheat midge can also attack the wheat’s tillers because they emerge later than the plants’ primary heads.

“You have to be vigilant the whole time your crop may be in the danger zone,” he said.

Finding and fighting midge

Because it’s difficult to detect wheat midge with the naked eye, you have to make a point of looking for it. Forecasts (available at www.alberta.ca — search for ‘wheat midge forecast’) help, but your best bet is to take a net to the field (preferably at dusk when they start flying) and do sweeps.

There are a couple of key numbers to keep in mind while scouting.

One midge on 10 wheat heads is considered ‘grade threshold’ or the minimum amount you can have without your wheat being downgraded. One midge on five heads is the point where you have a real problem.

“That’s where you get 15 per cent yield loss at the yield threshold,” said Wist. “If you can catch them while they’re emerging you can spray them and kill the adults.”

Pheromone-based traps can also catch male wheat midge.

“They mimic a female wheat midge smell, attracting males by releasing a chemical concoction that they fly towards. They start emerging from the soil and come right to those traps because it’s their biological imperative to get to a female before another male does.”

However, you likely won’t need to scout at all if you plant one of the around 35 wheat midge-resistant varieties on the market today, said Wist.

All feature the Sm1 gene which essentially makes the wheat kernels unpalatable to the midge larvae. These varieties have been on the market for a little over a decade and the threat of wheat midge developing resistance is a distinct possibility.

And just like some people may enjoy ice cream with pickles, entomologists quickly noticed a two per cent subset of wheat midge — a.k.a. “virulent midge” — aren’t put off by the Sm1 gene.

“They were able to grow to adulthood,” said Wist. “That’s a big red flag because if those wheat midge are the only ones that survive then they can pass on their resistance to the next generation and eventually you have a population of wheat midge that just doesn’t care about the Sm1 gene.”

Researchers also quickly discovered that the virulent midge contained a recessive gene.

“So if the wheat midge larvae had two copies of the recessive gene they could overcome Sm1.”

To combat this, resistant varieties come with a built-in ‘refuge’ — 10 per cent of the seed in a bag is midge-susceptible wheat. All wheat midge-tolerant varieties today contain this refuge and have ‘VB’ (varietal blend) on the packaging after the name.

“Right now there’s no excuse not to plant midge-tolerant wheat,” said Wist. “If you look at a forecast map and it says you’re in a red zone or in an area near a red zone you could be in trouble with wheat midge. ‘Plant it and forget about it’ is one way I’ve heard it described.”

Insecticide can be effective but requires careful timing around its emergence.

One of the biggest problems with spraying is the fact that farmers have lost an important tool. Chlorpyrifos — formerly the most commonly used insecticide for wheat midge — is undergoing deregistration by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency for large-scale crop use.

Dimethoate is now the sole insecticide farmers can use, but Wist believes it’s not as effective because it strikes the adult midge more than the eggs.

“It hasn’t been shown to be as efficacious against the eggs,” he said.

In certain conditions and certain years, producers have a natural ally which goes by the tongue-twisting title of Macroglenes penetrans. A parasitoid (which differs from a parasite due to the fact that it kills its host), the wasp-like insect uses its stinger to lay eggs into other insects.

“They come out about four or five days after the wheat midge, which themselves only live four or five days. The parasitoid comes in and stings the egg and the first-instar larvae and puts its own egg inside it.”

Basically, the parasitoid larvae overwinter below the soil inside a wheat midge and re-emerge in the springtime.

“In the spring you get a little black wasp instead of a little orange fly,” said Wist.

But that means this year’s parasitism won’t have an effect until next year and that’s bad news for Alberta, as samples found very, very low parasitism in a survey conducted last year.

The post Keep watch for wheat midge this growing season appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

But it depends where you farm, so Meers recommends you bookmark the website of the Alberta Insect Pest Monitoring Program, first checking out last year’s survey maps and then this year’s forecasts and (later in the growing season), the live insect reports.

“All the forecast maps do is tell you if the risk is high in your area and if so, you need to go check your fields,” said Meers. “There is no direct recommendation to spray — it’s strictly information that your risks are higher and therefore you need to pay more attention.”

That said, a lot of producers are going to be paying attention to this trio:

Public Enemy No. 1: Bertha Army Worm

Populations have been increasing in east-central Alberta between Camrose and Vermilion, and there’s a noticeable buildup in the central Peace.

“We won’t really know until we get into the monitoring season, but every indication says we are going to have an outbreak in 2019,” said Meers.

Bertha army worm is primarily attracted to canola but will feed on pretty much any broadleaf crop.

“They really, really like quinoa and we’ve seen them cause significant damage to fababeans in the past.”

Because it loves Alberta so much, bertha army worm gets a lot of attention — there will be counts of the insect from 350 traps throughout the province, said Meers.

“Those traps will go up mid-June and will run until the end of July. By the third week in July we will have a pretty good indication of what we’re expecting for a bertha army worm outbreak.”

For quick results, just Google ‘bertha army worm monitoring Alberta.’

Public Enemy No. 2: Grasshoppers

There were higher populations in some areas last year — and it looks like a trend is developing.

“There is a forecast for increasing grasshoppers in southwestern Alberta including Vulcan, Lethbridge, Willow Creek, and continuing to Cardston and Warner,” said Meers. “If we get another spring favourable to grasshoppers we could have some serious outbreaks down there.”

Peace Country down through north-central Alberta bears watching as traditionally, grasshoppers in these areas seem to have a schedule.

“They seem to outbreak every other year in odd-numbered years.”

But a dry, warm spring matters more than the calendar.

“If we get heavy rainfall (in May and early June), we often see the freshly hatched grasshoppers are negatively impacted. After that point, their populations are not really weather related. They’re pretty tough.”

Grasshoppers prefer cereals but since they consume as much as 100 milligrams of plant material daily, they’ll eat whatever is in front of them, including canola, lentils, and peas.

Public Enemy No. 3: Wheat Stem Sawfly

These baddies also found southern Alberta to their liking last year.

“We are seeing increases in wheat stem sawfly in 40-Mile County and the Foremost areas, the southern parts of the MD of Taber over into Warner and up into Willow Creek and Vulcan and parts of Lethbridge,” said Meers. “I would also say that we are seeing an increase in the Special Areas in the eastern part of southern Alberta.”

It’s what’s grown in drier regions that attracts the aptly named pest.

“Those drier areas tend to have a heavy wheat component in their rotations.”

Forces for good

A bit of good news is that wheat midge seems to be on the decline.

“Wheat midge is at an all-time low level right now and seems to have run its cycle,” said Meers. “It looks like parasitism has held the populations in check. However, we have some individual fields in central Alberta that are at moderate risk. For producers, if they are getting midge downgrading, they need to pay really close attention to wheat midge in season.”

Areas that regularly have problems with cabbage seed and pea leaf weevils will likely continue to have problems with those pests.

But again, use the provincial data to enhance your scouting. The pest monitoring network also has specifics on scouting periods.

“If you look at the cabbage seed pod weevil, for example, the scouting period is the early flower — if you scout prior to the flower or at the end of flowering, you miss your opportunity to manage that issue,” said Meers.

“That’s why there’s some power in these maps. There are always links from the maps to further information on those species. Dig into some of the life cycle and scouting recommendations that are tied to the maps.”

Lastly, remember Twitter has a constructive side.

“We are constantly updating the issues on Twitter,” said Meers, whose Twitter handle is @ABbugcounter. (His tweets bear the hashtag #ABbugchat.)

“Every Wednesday at 10 a.m. we do tweet chats where we talk about what’s hot and what’s going on that week,” he said.

“We have a Twitter outreach during the summer months — that’s a good way to know what’s happening.”

The post There’s a time of year when it pays to go looking for a fight appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

If tolerance is lost, it could cost growers $60 million annually and up to $36 per acre, said Mike Espeseth, co-chair of the communications committee of the Midge Tolerant Wheat Stewardship Team.

A single gene, called Sm1, provides midge tolerance. First identified in soft red winter wheat varieties, it took breeders more than 15 years to cross the naturally occurring trait into red spring wheat, with the first varieties released in 2010.

But it was recently found the Sm1 gene is naturally occurring in the majority of soft white spring wheat varieties. And that’s a problem because some midges are naturally tolerant to the Sm1.

“The Sm1 gene is the only known source of midge tolerance,” said Espeseth, whose organization is a broad coalition of breeders, government, seed growers, and producer groups.

“We all know that stewardship is important. We want the growers to know that we’ve got to protect that Sm1 gene because it’s all we’ve got for tolerance for midge.”

To avoid that scenario, farmers seeding midge-tolerant wheat need to adhere to a critical stewardship practice.

“Anybody who buys midge-tolerant wheat is required to sign a stewardship agreement saying they won’t use farm-saved seed one generation past certified. And that’s to keep the refuge at that 90/10 level,” said Espeseth.

All midge-tolerant wheat is sold as a varietal blend composed of 90 per cent that is tolerant and 10 per cent that isn’t.

“It’s called an inter-dispersed refuge system and that disrupts the midge’s ability to produce resilient offspring. Eventually the midge will be able to overcome that resistance. Having it sold at 90/10 split is thought to extend the life of the Sm1 gene for that much longer.”

A short video explaining how a refuge leads to resistant midge population can be found at www.midgetolerantwheat.ca. The website also has a list of resistant varieties, which includes soft white spring varieties such as AAC Chiffon, AAC Indus, AC Sadash and AAC Paramount as well as Canada western general purpose varieties such as AAC Awesome.

“All the growers who were growing those varieties were asked to start following stewardship practices and get soft white seed with the refuge added,” said Espeseth.

Producers can either source certified seed with the refuge added or add a refuge variety, AC Andrew, to their existing supply. One bushel of AC Andrew to every nine bushels of tolerant soft white spring variety provides the necessary refuge. Farmers unable to source seed or add the refuge should spray insecticide to eliminate the possibility of resistant midge.

The website also has a tool for seed distributors and seed retailers.

“All the midge-tolerant agreements are now online and they are evergreen, which means that you just have to sign it once,” said Espeseth.

Farmers should go to the website and talk to their seed growers about midge-tolerant wheat, he said.

“It’s on the whole industry to protect this tool,” he said.

Alberta Agriculture’s 2018 wheat midge forecast says the risk is low in the Peace region and the south, with a higher concern for parts of central Alberta.

But farmers need to “assess their risk based on indicators specific to their farm,” said the department’s website.

“Specifically, producers should pay attention to midge downgrading in their wheat samples and use this as an indication of midge risk in their fields,” it states.

The post Safeguard wheat midge tolerance or lose it, growers warned appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“We are looking for fields that producers would be happy to have us check. For allowing us on their fields, we will provide those producers with a report of the survey results,” said insect management specialist Scott Meers.

Pea fields in Peace Country are of special interest because pea leaf weevil has been confirmed in that area. Meers would also like to increase the number of bertha army worm traps in Alberta.

“We are trying to get four to five traps per county across the province,” said Meers.

For more information, contact Shelley Barkley at bugs.r.us@gov.ab.ca.

The post Fields wanted for insect survey appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Wheat midge lays eggs in the wheat head and the larvae will then feed on the wheat kernels. One midge for every four to five wheat heads can decrease yield around 15 per cent. If there is more than one midge per eight to 10 wheat heads there is a risk of a reduced grade.

• More on the Alberta Farmer: Good bugs can save you big bucks when wheat midge arrives

The Canadian Grain Commission limits midge damage in No. 1 CWRS wheat to two per cent and eight per cent in No. 2.

The post Get the facts on wheat midge appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.