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AgriSuccess Express
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Federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl held a news conference on Thursday morning to announce an Enhanced Spring Credit Advance Program, as well as longer-term changes to expand the cash advance program. He also had more information on the retroactive changes being made to the CAIS program.
Strahl says the Enhanced Spring Credit Advance Program (ESCAP) should be available in a matter of days. The loan maximum for spring advances is being doubled to $100,000 and the loan will remain interest-free. The repayment period is being extended to September 30, 2007.
Producers who have already taken their spring advances will still be able to take advantage of the higher interest-free limit and extended repayment period.
To implement the changes, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will work with farm organizations that administer the advance including the Canadian Canola Growers Association, the Canadian Wheat Board, the New Brunswick Potato Agency and the Federation des producteurs de cultures commerciales.
Strahl has also introduced amendments to the Agricultural Marketing Programs Act to expand cash advance programs to cover livestock as well as more crops. The overall limit on advances will be increased from $250,000 to $400,000. The interest-free portion will increase from $50,000 to $100,000.
The changes are expected to mean an additional $600 million a year in cash advances to producers.
The Agriculture Minister also commented on the retroactive changes being made to CAIS for 2003, 2004 and 2005. Changes to inventory valuation are expected to provide an additional $900 million to producers. The expanded rules for negative margin coverage are expected to mean an additional $50 million.
Additional payments will be capped at $500,000 for particular farm operation. The payments will be prorated to fit within the $900 million envelope. The calculations are being made with no need for producers to apply or provide additional information.
Payments resulting from the changes are expected to begin flowing this fall.
A Trustee (Grant Thornton LLP of Vancouver) has been appointed to divest the former United Grain Growers terminal in Vancouver.
The sale was a condition of the approval by the Competition Tribunal for the merger of United Grain Growers and Agricore to form Agricore United back in 2001. Although the terminal seemed to be close to a sale on a couple of occasions, it has never been divested.
In August of last year, Agricore United filed an application with the Competition Tribunal saying conditions had changed and the sale should no longer be necessary. The company has now withdrawn its application and supports the matter being referred to the Trustee to determine whether the Trustee can divest the Vancouver Terminal in a manner that meets the objectives of the original Consent Agreement.
Agricore United says it does not expect either this process or any potential disposition of the terminal to have a material impact on its ability to handle its grain originations in the Port of Vancouver.
Agricore United is the largest grain handler and crop input retailer in Western Canada.
During the continuing stretch of wet weather throughout Ontario, processing crop producers need to carefully monitor their transplant plugs to ensure and maintain the plant’s health and vigor.
Janice LeBoeuf, a vegetable crop specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) reports that the transplanting of tomato plugs was going “full speed ahead” until the onset of wet weather, but that growers will now be holding back their plugs until field conditions have dried and improved.
“Research has shown that, if properly stored, tomato transplants can be held for up to two weeks with little reduction in plant stand or vigor,” she says.
The key is proper storage.
“It’s kind of an art form to hold them without letting them grow too much,” says LeBoeuf. She says that plants that grow too tall will be subject to field injury until the plant has hardened because the wind will whip them around. “But you don’t want to stunt them either and hurt them… there is a delicate balance,” she says.
During holding, plugs must not be allowed to dry out and should be watered regularly — ideally in the morning with spot watering undertaken in the afternoon for drier plugs. Although LeBoeuf says some growers may try to withhold water to control growth, she says this is not generally a good idea.
Plugs may be returned to the greenhouse or stored outside during holding. If stored outside, they should be placed in a location that is well protected from the winds but will still allow the plants to receive direct sunlight.
Plug racks should also be elevated to allow airflow underneath the racks and should not be placed directly on the ground. “If they are touching the ground the roots will start to touch into the soil (and) you damage roots when you rip them out,” she says.
Plugs must be brought indoors if there is a threat of frost but should not be stored in an enclosed building for more than a day or two.
LeBoeuf also recommends that growers try not to fertilize the plants; however, if planting is delayed for longer than five to seven days, or plants begin to show signs of deficiency or stunted growth, plugs can be fertilized with a low-phosphorous soluble formula applied with a sprinkler wand or a dip tank.
In Ontario, about 4,000 acres are dedicated to the fresh market tomato industry, with about 17,000 acres committed to the processing industry for juice or canned and diced products.
OMAFRA has several excellent publications available to assist processing growers, with most available online: Seeding & Transplanting, OMAFRA Pub. 363, Vegetable Production Recommendations (pp.39-46); OMAFRA Factsheet 96-023, Growing Vegetable Transplants in Plug Trays (www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/96-023.htm); OMAFRA Factsheet 94-061, Plug Transplants for Processing Tomatoes (www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/94-061.htm); OMAFRA Factsheet 01-019, Growing Onion Transplants in Plug Trays www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/01-019.htm).
Specific queries can be directed to LeBoeuf directly at 519-674-1699 or via e-mail at Janice.leboeuf@omafra.gov.on.ca.
The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has granted temporary registration of potassium bicarbonate and the end-use product MilStop Foliar Fungicide.
The temporary registration is for the control and suppression of powdery mildew on tomatoes, sweet peppers, cucumbers, pumpkins, and on the ornamental plants, flowering dogwood, bee balm, African daisy, hydrangea, phlox and poinsettia, grown in greenhouses.
MilStop is a contact fungicide, with potassium bicarbonate as the active ingredient acting as a protectant and a mild curative fungicide. PMRA recommends application when environmental conditions are favourable for disease development or applications at the beginning of disease infestation.
Information from PMRA is available in English at http://www.pmra-arla.gc.ca/english/main/new-e.html or in French at http://www.pmra-arla.gc.ca/francais/main/new-f.html.
With above normal temperatures and limited precipitation, strong seeding progress was made this week in most parts of the prairie region.
The crop report from Manitoba Agriculture dated May 15 reported about 50 per cent of canola, flax and sunflowers had been planted. However, there was a wide variation in progress depending upon previous precipitation levels.
Provincially, 75 to 80 per cent of the potatoes were planted, field pea planting will soon be complete and soybean seeding was described as being in full swing.
Winter cereals across Manitoba continue to look excellent. Fertilizer and weed control operations are nearing completion on these crops.
The May 14 crop report from Saskatchewan Agriculture pegged seeding progress provincially at 25 per cent. This varied from a high of around 70 per cent in some southwestern crop districts to well under 10 per cent in many east central and northeastern areas, where surplus moisture continues to be a problem.
Crop specialists with Alberta Agriculture estimate seeding in that province is now 80 to 90 per cent complete. Adequate moisture for crop germination is available in virtually all areas.
The growing concentration of ownership in the Canadian grocery industry is threatening the vitality – even the existence - of many Quebec food producers, says the head of the province’s biggest farming federation.
"The situation is becoming very difficult, very frustrating," Laurent Pellerin, president of Quebec's Union des producteurs agricoles, told AgriSuccess in a telephone interview on Wednesday. "Things are getting harder and harder for Quebec producers. It’s a daily battle."
According to Pellerin, fallout from ownership concentration has included a marked reduction in the number of buyers. A decade ago, Quebec producers sold to four big grocery chains and a half-dozen regional chains. However, since 2004, when Métro bought A&P, three Canadian grocery giants – Métro, Sobeys and Loblaws – now control more than 90 per cent of the $15 billion Quebec grocery market which, in turn, represents a quarter of the Canadian market.
"The market entry of products (in grocery stores) has become very controlled," says Pellerin. The situation, he added, is being duplicated in the processing industry, which buys about 85 per cent of Quebec agricultural produce – meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables – and represented about $9.5 billion in 2002. Although there are about 1,500 companies in the field, seven per cent of them now account for 70 per cent of total deliveries.
The UPA head says the arrival of price-conscious, box-store competitors like Wal-Mart and Costco on the Quebec grocery scene has not helped matters. "They all have the same strategy: squeeze every cent they can from the supplier, order big volumes and get guaranteed delivery. That puts a tremendous amount of pressure on producers," says Pellerin, who represents some 44,000 producers across Quebec, almost 90 per cent of whom run small- or medium-sized enterprises.
Adding to the frustration of producers over increasingly limited shelf space for their products is the growing centralization of purchasing at the big chains’ head offices. While Métro is based in Montreal, Pellerin lamented the fact that Loblaws, which came on the Quebec grocery scene in 1998 when it bought the Provigo chain, has been moving its buying and distribution functions to Toronto in recent months.
While cost effective for the company, Pellerin says the move removes Quebec agricultural products from their context and pits them against foods from around the world.
"It’s sad for Quebec producers because it just makes it that much harder for them to get their products on store shelves in their own province," says Pellerin. The solution, he adds, is for Quebec producers to get involved in distribution efforts at the local level and create networks that will help distinguish their products.
The new Manitoba Weather Program will give producers Internet access to data from 26 weather stations. The announcement was made May 15 by Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk.
The 26 weather stations have been set up around Manitoba to fill some of the gaps in current coverage. Each station measures temperature, relative humidity and rainfall. Most units will also be equipped with wind monitoring sensors and some will also record soil temperature and solar radiation.
The stations are collecting and transmitting weather information from April through October with the information available on the Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI) website at http://web2.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/weather/index.php.
"The data collected by these weather stations will help producers make decisions regarding their crops including where and when they need various applications that will deliver the most benefit," said Wowchuk.
MAFRI is collaborating with several organizations to share data and support the expansion of weather monitoring in Manitoba.
The weather stations are located at Moosehorn, Ashern, St. Pierre, Teulon, Gladstone, Souris, Selkirk, Arborg, Hamiota, Minnedosa, Virden, Boissevain, Russell, Birtle, Killarney, Grandview, Steinbach, Treherne, Morris, Ste. Rose, Starbuck, Woodlands, Ethelbert, Dugald, Eriksdale and Carmen.
Livestock producers in the B.C. lower mainland face the daily challenge of manure management in an area where the population is dense, the land base is limited and rainfall can top 48 inches in a six-month period. A new liquid manure composting system that can transform the manure into a nutrient rich, dry organic fertilizer just might offer a viable solution to the challenge.
Dr. John Paul, a former Agriculture Canada research scientist with a PhD in soil microbiology and soil nutrition, is in the process of installing a farm-scale composting system on a 300-sow farrow-to-finish hog farm in the Abbotsford area.
The system, which is slated to be operational in June, will be able to convert about 500,000 gallons of liquid manure into an odourless, dry, soil amendment that can be used by home gardeners and commercial farming operations.
Paul's company, Transform Compost Systems Ltd., developed the system to help area farmers deal with manure management in an environmentally sound manner. As Paul explains, "In an area where land sells for $50,000 per acre the amount of land available is very limited. The system is site specific, so in places where land is expensive and no other land is available, then the operation becomes a practical alternative in a small area."
The system uses a covered concrete pit or channel. Liquid manure, containing six to eight per cent solid material, is pumped from storage pits and blended in the channel with a bulking agent such as horse manure. The bio-drying process uses aeration pipes on the floor of the channel that pump air into the composting material and an auger-type device that continuously mixes the manure.
The process produces heat that evaporates moisture leaving a dry, odorless nutrient-rich material after about eight weeks. More liquid hog manure can be added every few days. Aeration and mixing continues until the process is complete. The channel is then cleaned out and a new batch started.
Paul estimates the final cost of the pilot project now underway will be $250,000. Although sales of the fertilizer should help offset the cost of installation, Paul says the real benefit of the system is to reduce the cost of manure management rather than provide a source of revenue.
Paul believes the process will be ready for commercial installations in about eight months. He notes that the system is modular and can be adapted to fit any size of operation.
For more information on the project check the website of the Soil Conservation Council of Canada at www.soilcc.ca.
The Pest Management Regulatory Agency has approved LI700 as a deposition aid and drift reduction agent for use with glyphosate herbicides in Canada. United Agri Products (UAP) distributes the product.
Garth Render, marketing manager with UAP out of Winnipeg, says LI700 has been sold for about 10 years in Canada for use as a penetrating surfactant and a pH reducer. Now, there's a registration for the product's ability to reduce spray drift.
LI700 reduces the number of small droplets that are prone to drifting off target. This is accomplished without increasing the number of very large droplets in the spray pattern. Large droplets tend to bounce off onto the soil surface instead of staying on the plant.
Glyphosate is the most commonly used herbicide in Canada. In addition to controlling weeds prior to seeding, it's used in Roundup Ready crops of canola and soybeans. Drift onto non-target crops can cause extensive damage.
For application of glyphosate with five gallons per acre of water, the registered rate of LI700 for drift reduction carries a price of about 80 cents an acre. Render says work is ongoing to register the product at lower rates.
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool has announced an investment in Pool common shares by Mitsui and Co., Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan.
Mitsui has agreed to purchase $8 million in common shares at a price of $7.6436 per common share on a private placement basis. In return, the Pool has entered into a multi-year supply agreement and will become one of Mitsui's primary suppliers of oilseeds into Japan.
"Through this new commitment, we will enjoy even greater access to significant Japanese markets solidifying demand for Pool-originated Canadian oilseeds and other grain commodities," Pool CEO Mayo Schmidt says.
The Pool will use the proceeds from the Mitsui investment for general corporate purposes.
Mitsui, together with its subsidiaries and associated companies, is one of the Japan's largest general trading companies.
Wine, cider and fruit liqueur producers in Nova Scotia are working to develop regulations and industry standards for their products.
Called Nova Scotia Wine Standards, they are expected to help the industry prosper, says Ron Chisholm, the province's agriculture minister.
"Nova Scotia's wine industry is looking to government for the legislative framework, which will ensure managed growth and development of farm and winery businesses," he says.
A new symbol to identify wines made purely from Nova Scotia grown grapes and fruit has also been adopted. The logo features a lobster claw holding a tilting glass of wine.
Compared to other wine producing areas of the country, Nova Scotia's wine industry is small, with nine wineries in production. However, it's a thriving industry that's on an upward trend, the industry states. Chisholm noted there are more wineries slated to open in the next few years.
The industry also has a lengthy history in the province. Grapes for wine production have been traced back to the 1600s. In 2003, about one million pounds of grapes were grown on approximately 300 acres of property in nine counties in Nova Scotia. The prime growing regions include the Annapolis Valley, Malagash Peninsula and the LaHave River Valley. The crop was valued at $640,000. The province's wine industry is valued at $5.3 million with 8.7 per cent of the total wine sales in the province.
"Nova Scotia grape growers and wineries have built a world class reputation through the quality of the products they sell," says Hanspeter Stutz, treasurer of the wine association and owner of Grand Pré Wines. "Our long fall allows our grapes to ripen slowly increasing their flavour intensity. Our wineries are winning international awards for their efforts and beautiful wines."
Information about the Winery Association of Nova Scotia is at www.nswines.ca.
On Friday, May 12, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) offered some surprising production and supply/demand data that will shape grain market economics going into the growing season. It was bullish for wheat and corn, and more on the bearish side for soybeans.
Soybeans
The USDA provided its first estimate of U.S. soybean ending stocks for the 2006/07 crop year to an all-time record 650 million bushels, slightly under the average analyst estimate of 678 million bushels. There is almost no concern about running out of soybeans over the coming year, short of a significant production problem.
A 650 million bushel U.S. carryout estimate would normally be viewed as price bearish. From a historical perspective, numbers such as these would point to prices immediately dropping to US $5/bu and 18 cents/lbs or lower for soybeans and soyoil, respectively.
But as we have seen this winter, the market has defied such price expectations as the unrelenting influence of emerging spec index fund buying and ideas that bio-diesel demand will very shortly assume similar significance in soyoil consumption, as we’ve seen with corn for ethanol.
Corn
Chicago corn futures are rising, supported by fund and technical buying. The USDA’s new crop ending stocks estimate came in below all pre-report guesses, due to an expected increase in ethanol demand and use, along with lower 2006 U.S. corn production.
The USDA estimated 2006-07 ending stocks at 1.141 billion bushels, well below the average estimate by analysts of 1.582 billion and almost 50 per cent lower than the revised 2.226 billion bushels estimated in the current crop year. The USDA predicts that total corn usage should rise six per cent to a record 11.6 billion bushels, due in part to rising demand for corn from the ethanol industry. Ethanol demand is forecast to rise to 2.15 billion bushels in 2006-07, up from 1.6 billion in 2005-06.
The 2006 growing season through the U.S. Midwest Corn Belt is off to a strong start. Not only is the planting/emergence pace rapid, but the moisture profile has been recharged. The strong start doesn't ensure a huge crop, but it increases odds for at least trend line yields.
But with new-crop U.S. corn carryover already projected sharply lower than 2005-06 estimated ending stocks, any weather scare this summer could send the market upwards steeply.
Wheat
The bull was back in wheat with futures pushing upwards into fresh contract highs for Kansas City and Minneapolis wheat futures. Market focus was on the USDA data for U.S. winter wheat production and U.S./world supply/demand estimates.
The U.S. wheat production estimate was lower than expected at 1.87 billion bushels and world wheat stocks were reduced. The U.S. hard red winter crop took the biggest hit with 2006 production expected to be more than 200 million bushels lower than 2005, due to drought conditions in the U.S. Plains.
U.S. 2006 wheat ending stocks were seen at 447 million bushels, down from the latest prediction of 547 million bushels for 2005-06. World wheat ending stocks for 2006-07 were seen at 128.1 million tonnes, down from an estimated 143.7 million tonnes for 2005-06.
Traders will continue to watch the weather and recognize that it's getting too late to boost U.S. winter wheat crop prospects much in the Plains. Also note that the USDA's weekly crop condition ratings have dropped from when the survey work was done, and that continued declines will have traders tightening yield prospects even more.
Attention will increase on North American spring wheat production prospects in the weeks ahead.
Mike Jubinville of Pro Farmer Canada offers information on commodity markets and marketing strategies. Call 204-654-4290 or visit http://www.pfcanada.com to find out more about his services.
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