The College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan is well on the path to exceeding its long-term enrolment goals.

The target is 830 undergraduate students by the 2015-16 school year, which is only 30 less than the current enrolment.

"We have been seeing steady increases over the last five years," says Murray Drew, associate dean (academic). "From 2011 to 2012, we have seen a 10 per cent increase to about 250 first-year students."

There are also 210 students in second year, 180 in third year and 160 fourth-year students. Approximately 55 per cent of the agriculture students are women.

The most popular area is animal science, which covers beef, swine and poultry. About 25 per cent of animal science students indicated at orientation that they plan to enter veterinary medicine. The University of Saskatchewan is home to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.

Other fields of study include agronomy, ag business, ag economics, rural resource management and a two-year ag diploma program. The diploma program is designed for students intending to return to the farm, but a number decide to stay longer and pursue their four-year degree. A new degree program in animal biosciences will be added next year.

"This will be a slightly different flavour than our traditional animal science degree," Drew says. "We would prepare students more to work in veterinary-related fields, pharmaceuticals, genetic companies, those kinds of things."

Drew credits good employment opportunities as one of the main reasons for higher enrolment. Two-thirds of students come from a rural background while the remaining third grew up in urban areas.

"I think the word is getting around that agriculture isn't just farming anymore," Drew says. "There are many opportunities to get involved in agriculture and the job market is very solid. I think a lot of urban students have got that message and are getting into agriculture."

University officials are confident about exceeding the long-term enrollment goal.

"The constraint will be packing them into the classrooms," Drew says. "We designed our classrooms with the number of students we had 15 years ago in mind, but it is a happy problem to have."

Video: Ask an Expert: Exports with J.P. Gervais
J.P. explains why primary food exports have increased twice as much as processed food exports. He also tells us why the Unites States remains our most important trading partner, despite an increase in Canadian exports to emerging markets.

Video: Breeding research increases nutrition in crops
The Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan has developed over 300 crop varieties since its inception in 1971. Dr. Kofi Agblor explains the advances possible from conventional plant breeding, including enhanced nutrition in pulse crops like lentils.

Watch more FCC learning videos on our multimedia page 

The head of Quebec's farmers' union says the agreement signed between the Union des producteurs agricole and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is the fruit of 20 years of bridge-building between Quebec producers and a dozen developing countries on three continents.

"We have developed a lot of expertise that we think is important for us to share with others," said Marcel Groleau, president of the Union des producteurs agricole from Rome the day after he and the director general of the FAO, José Graziano da Silva, signed a memorandum of understanding on co-operation.

The goal of the MOU is to implement "common actions with a view to promoting the development of a type of family farming that is efficient, economically viable, socially cohesive, fair and sustainable, structured in professional organizations and integrated into the market." 

The agreement is a followup to the World Bank's 2008 annual report, which stated that family farming is as efficient as industrial agriculture in reducing hunger -- with the added benefits of being more effective in providing social structure and ensuring food security in developing countries.

In a statement released by the UPA, this week's MOU means "the FAO recognizes that global food security depends on the ability of farmers to feed the world and that to achieve this goal, they need to have fair local, regional and national policies that encourage the development of family farming and the establishment of young farmers to secure generational renewal."

According to Groleau, Quebec producers, through the UPA's international development wing, have played and will continue to play a pioneering role in those efforts.

"Producers everywhere know how to plant and harvest crops (but) when it comes to selling our products, that's much harder to do because there are few buyers. Producers end up competing against themselves," Groleau says.

He says that producers in Quebec have acquired an expertise in organizing themselves and bringing their products to market.

"Too often in developing countries, producers try to develop markets before they produce," Groleau says. "Our approach is to try to help them create strong producer organizations with solid structures on which they can build strong markets."

He adds that the 40,000-member UPA, of which farmers are required to join, invested about $5 million a year for the past 20 years, including about 70 per cent of which is administered on behalf of the Canadian International Development Agency in capacity-building projects in Africa, Asia and South America.

In addition to helping fellow farmers, Groleau says the UPA has helped build an international network that is useful to both producers and the Quebec government.

"The FAO considers us a partner and collaborator for the development of future policies," he says. "I think that's good for Quebec as a whole to be part of that, and to open doors around the world."

Provincial pest management officials in Ontario's wine-producing regions are watching for a new pest, the spotted wing drosophila.

SWD can cause injuries to fruit when it lays eggs, which may in turn provide entry points for sour rot organisms. According to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, SWD has been identified in all grape-growing regions of Ontario, and adult flies have been trapped in Niagara and Prince Edward County vineyards.

In a bulletin to growers, Wendy McFadden-Smith, the province's tender fruit and grape IPM specialist and Hannah Fraser, entomology program lead (horticulture) urge producers to proceed cautiously.

They say fruit thinned from now to harvest -- particularly if it has sour rot -- is very likely to harbour SWD and other vinegar flies that can move sour rot organisms into fruit as it ripens.
If sour rot or botrytis becomes a problem and the crop must be dropped, producers are advised to remove it from the vineyard or cultivate it into the soil in the row middles.

"It's wise to do as much as possible to minimize the impact of this pest with good sanitation of late-season thinned clusters and use of a product that has some activity against SWD in routine sprays for other insect pests," they say.

OMAFRA's SWD team and minor use co-ordinator have joined forces to come up with recommendations for several products for SWD management that are also registered for other grape insects, such as the grape berry moth, multi-coloured Asian lady beetle and yellow jackets.

Overall, though, they say further research is needed on SWD impact in Eastern Canada.

Effective Oct. 31, New Brunswick farmers will have substantially less paperwork to fill out when applying for the registered professional agricultural producer card and the purchaser's permit for tax exempt fuel.

"In the past, the (fuel tax exemption program) application was quite lengthy, at least 10 pages, so reporting on it was quite extensive," says Josée Albert, chief executive officer of the Agriculture Alliance of New Brunswick. "The goal was to combine both together to reduce paperwork."

The AANB began working on this project six years ago and last year became part of an industry/government working group that was established to make the changes to the programs. The working group consisted of members of the AANB, the N.B. Departments of Finance and Agriculture and the N.B. arm of the National Farmers Union.

NFU-NB is applauding the changes which it feels offer a more streamlined program that is easier for producers to understand and use.

"The major concern for our organization with regard to any changes to the regulations has always been to ensure that they will make it easier for farmers to track their expenses," says NFU-NB president Jean-Eudes Chiasson.

The main improvements include one four-page application form for both programs, a single card to cover both programs, simplifying the reporting of farm truck fuel usage on farms to obtain a tax refund and reducing and simplifying auditing procedures.

It also includes an expansion of the farm fuel tax exemption program to cover all on-farm activities that use fuel. To determine that refund, producers must record odometer readings at the beginning and at the end of their fiscal year, and then indicate how much of this activity was farm related.

Producers who currently register their farms with the province are already receiving renewal letters outlining the changes. Others can call the N.B. Department of Agriculture, the NFU-NB or AANB for more information.

Nova Scotia entrepreneurs working with plant, animal or marine-based resources now have a facility to help create new products.

The Perennia Innovation Centre -- what the provincial government calls a business incubator -- is now open.

"We need to think about and do things differently to grow the agriculture industry and our economy," says Agriculture Minister John MacDonell. "The sky is the limit at the Perennia Innovation Centre where curiosity, creativity and business savvy combine to help us find new ways to grow the agriculture industry."

The centre is housed in a 25,000-square-foot building in Perennia Innovation Park. It leases space that can be custom designed to meet clients' needs, as well as labs and other spaces that can be used on a fee-for-service basis.

The centre was built with $5.9 million in provincial and $3.3 million in federal funding, including money from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the federal-provincial AgriFlexibility agreement.

"This facility is a good step forward for agriculture," says Beth Densmore, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture. "Having the innovation centre available to test new ventures and products will reduce the burden of setup and lab expenses for our agricultural entrepreneurs."

The centre helps clients work with Dalhousie University's Faculty of Agriculture, researchers and students. The province says students can gain valuable experience with companies at the centre through course work, internships and part-time positions.

Alberta Agriculture has just launched its new web-based SheepBytes ration balancer.

Susan Hosford, SheepBytes project manager, says feed generally accounts for 40 per cent of the cost to produce a lamb for market. So a program that can help producers manage both nutrition and cost is a valuable tool.

The new recommendations take into account updated nutrition requirements released by the National Research Council in 2007, replacing the 1985 guidelines. Hosford says producers can use the requirements to build rations for today's larger, more prolific ewes and faster-growing lambs.

Hosford explains there are several advantages that make a web-based application particularly useful. For example: the computing power doesn't need to be on the computer since it's on the server. Updates are done automatically at each sign-in, so data is backed up and safe on the server if the computer crashes.

The information is accessible from any computer, cell phone or mobile application and can be made available to feed company nutritionists or veterinarians for consultation purposes.
The program offers a tool that can build a feed ration tailored to individual flocks based on feed test results specific to a producer's operation.

Otherwise, the application uses a generic feed library built on average feed analyses from Eastern or Western Canada, defaulting to the user's geographic location.

Rations can be formulated for lambs, ewes or rams at any stage of production, of differing body weights and differing body condition scores. Producers using their own feed data can calculate the cost per animal for specific rations and then change and compare the results.

The application includes a yardage calculator for larger operations as well a calculator to estimate wastage during feeding. It can even take into account water quality based on the user's own water test results.

Environmental conditions affecting energy needs such as cold, heat, wind chill and wet or dry wool can be factored into the ration. Printable feed reports and updated inventory levels can also be produced.

Alberta Lamb Producers will administer the program, which is open to sheep growers across the country. Check www.sheepbytes.ca.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has released a new apple variety.

The Salish is described by the department as medium-sized, tangy, juicy and very crisp apple with a pinkish red blush over a yellow background colour.

The apple is a late harvest variety and has good storage and shelf lift, high yields and good growth habits for high-density orchard.

Previously called the SPA493, the apple was developed and tested by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientists, in partnership with the Okanagan Plant Improvement Corporation.

Like all AAFC varieties, this new apple was developed using traditional cross-pollination methods. It originated from a cross between Splendour and Gala cultivars made in 1981 at AAFC's Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Summerland, B.C.

The Okanagan Plant Improvement Corporation licenses new domestic  and international varieties of tree fruits that appeal to consumers and growers. It also helps refine horticultural practices.

"With already 15 orchardists committed to growing the Salish, we look forward to having increased production year after year," says John Kingsmill, general manager & CEO of PICO. "This delightful apple holds the promise of being one of the best."

With a farm gate value of $160 million, apples were the second most valuable Canadian fruit in 2011.

It has been a year of extremes for Prince Edward Island farmers.

First it was the warmest summer in 65 years, leaving fields desperate for water by the dog days of August. When the rain finally came, turning it off proved to be tough.

It was the rainiest September in Charlottetown since Environment Canada began keeping records. A total of 315 millimetres of rain fell on the Island capital during the month, and there was plenty left over to go around the province. The average rainfall for the city in September is 95 millimetres.

The first half of October also held little in the way of good news, with 43 millimetres recorded in Charlottetown by Oct. 15.

While many potato growers, particularly in the eastern part of the province, are dealing with wet fields and the threat of wet potatoes rotting in storage, Gary Linkletter is happy with how the season is shaping up on his own farm. The chair of the P.E.I. Potato Board is a partner in family-owned Linkletter Farms in Summerside, about an hour's drive west of the capital.

As of mid-October, they were halfway through the harvest and "all of the rain we have had so far seems to have soaked into the ground -- we haven't had any real puddles, even in low lying areas, but it is getting close to the saturation point now."

As for the quality and size of the crop, Linkletter says that has been variable between varieties and fields. He adds "the profile is definitely smaller than last year -- we had great profile in 2011 -- some fields have been what we expected, other have been a pleasant surprise and others have been just pitiful."

While only about five per cent of the soybean harvest was completed by mid-October, David Mol says many growers are starting to get concerned about the amount of rainfall. The president of the Island Grains and Proteins Council says "the beans are ripe and they are ready for harvesting but there just hasn't been two days of sunshine together to allow the fields to dry up enough to get the equipment on."

Mol says if there is some good weather for the last two weeks of October, "we should be in good shape. The crop looks good but, like anything, it can't stay in the field too long."

Linkletter echoes that sentiment.

"We really need a break in the weather the next few days or we are going to run into a risk of frost," he says.

There does seem to be some good news in the offing. The forecast through until the end of the month calls only for isolated showers. If that proves to be the case, that should give growers in Canada's smallest province a fighting chance to complete the harvest by Halloween.

"That is the target every year," Linkletter says. "After that, you are living on borrowed time in terms of frost."

Global wheat markets continue to trade choppily in range-bound fashion. The United States Department of Agriculture's most recent production and supply/demand report, released Oct. 11, lowers its estimate of world wheat ending stocks to 173 million tonnes, mostly due to three million tonnes cut to Australia. That continues along a journey of the world wheat pile getting smaller since spring.

The big news from the Canadian perspective recently is reports of China buying Canadian spring wheat, with confirmed sales of 295,000 tonnes in the past two weeks, but total sales (unconfirmed) that may be as high as 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes. This signals China's biggest appetite for the high-protein wheat in years.

Traditional price premiums for higher-protein wheat have diminished sharply this year with big, high quality crops in Western Canada and the U.S. Northern Plains, which would allow Chinese millers to blend Canadian supplies with domestic wheat relatively cheaply.

The sales may point to Chinese wheat production being lower than official estimates indicate -- or to protein levels in its domestic production that may be lower than expected. But that is just speculation at this time.

While China buying Canadian wheat is big news, I'm not sure of the price the business was done at or even which companies and/or if the CWB is involved. But Minneapolis and Winnipeg spring wheat futures have barely exhibited a murmur on the news.

Even though there has not been much response in the flat price, the spreads have shown movement on this talk of Chinese spring wheat purchases. Earlier this week, Minneapolis spring wheat futures premium over Chicago soft red winter wheat futures rose to 76 cents a bushel, the highest level in almost three months.

The confirmed sales, just two-and-a-half months into Canada's 2012-13 marketing year, represent more than three-quarters of China's purchases of wheat, excluding durum, from Canada for all of last year.

But wheat markets overall remain a mixed market -- trading choppy, though with a slight downward trending trading range with ample supplies pressuring prices, with periodic optimism on export news providing support.

While export offers from the Black Sea (former Soviet Union) have declined and exportable supplies from the European Union are expected to tighten following recent sales, there are still ample world supplies to compete against North American offers.

At this time, end-users have demonstrated a reluctance to chase prices to higher levels and I don't expect them to begin now, at least in the short-term. So the wheat market remains range-bound.

It seems for now, the wheat market remains entrenched in its broad trending channel. Awareness/expectation of better export business provides the hope of impending price support, while that lack of importer chasing price higher caps rallies.

Wheat still has to prove that demand can live up to projections for the marketing year. The risk that (a) it might, and (b) the likelihood that $7 a bushel corn is low enough through to U.S. Thanksgiving, should be sufficient to hold bottom end of the sideways price range and allow for a revisit to upper end in the coming month. That's once and if the U.S. registers a one million tonne weekly sale. Until then, evidence is lacking that users are eager to chase the market higher.

PFCanada is biding its time, giving the market an opportunity to replicate another one of those price-jumps toward the upper end of its range before pursuing further cash sales.

Mike Jubinville of Pro Farmer Canada offers information on commodity markets and marketing strategies. Call 204-654-4290 or visit www.pfcanada.com to find out more about his services.