One of the first thing he taught us is how to determine background-feeding profit. If its expenses — mainly the cost of the calf and cost of feed to bring it from 400 to 700 pounds is less than the sold calf revenue — a profit is enjoyed. If not, a loss is incurred. Today, this goal for profit still rings true, taking into account a list of new costs that were unheard of back then.

Another thing that really hasn’t changed in nearly half a century (wow) is that “backgrounding feeding programs” means different things to different people. Recently, I reviewed a number of market articles about value of feedlot-bound yearlings that have come off grass. This background situation differs from a producer who might calve his cow herd in the late spring, creep-feed their nursing calves during the summer and then overwinter weaned calves in drylot to be sold in the new year.

I find that most beef producers who background their cattle (grassers and late calvers, included) fall into three general categories:

1. Small-framed calves to be overwintered on all-forage diets to gain about 1.0 to 1.5 lbs. per head per day. They will most likely be returned to pasture during the next grazing season. Yearlings weighing over 750 lbs. and taken off pasture might be put onto growing/finishing rations in the feedlot.

2. Lightweight calves that gain 1.5-2.2 lbs. per head per day on all-forage diets, which might be supplemented with medium-energy byproducts or limit-grain fed. These calves might be returned to pasture or go onto a feedlot. This class could also include late-spring calves that are backgrounded all fall/winter and sold to a feedlot early in the new year.

3. Medium- to large framed calves that gain 2.0 -2.5 lbs. per head that are put on a high-plane of nutrition in a feedlot. This class may include December/January born calves with heavy weaning weights by fall.

A backgrounding example

A friend who operates a 400-head Angus-Simmental cow herd that calves in late spring is a good case study for option #2. All calves are weaned in mid-October. They pull out about 35 replacement heifers and the rest are backgrounded until the middle of February. He Usually sells the steers first and the heifers a couple of weeks later. For the first time in a decade, this year he is considering selling all weaned calves by November 1, for two valid reasons; 1. forage inventory is tight due to local drought, and 2. future backgrounding profits are risky.

To help him make an educated decision, I created a balance sheet to determine the profitability of feeding his steer calves from autumn (2023) to be sold next February (2024). The main parameters of his backgrounding feeding program follow:

• Weaned 550-lb. steer calves are brought to his home drylot (re: backgrounded 475-lb. heifers are on a similar but segregated program) and raised to 850 lbs., when they are sold.
• Backgrounding diets are based on feeding corn silage as a forage base, heavy screening pellets for supplemental energy, canola meal for protein and a well-balanced mineral-vitamin premix with monensin. Estimated ADG is 2.2 lbs per head daily, which keeps them in the drylot for 136 days.
• Commodity prices are based on the current markets. Expenses associated with yardage (labour and fuel), trucking and manure cleanout are similarly taken, but from local sources. Financial costs such as interest on bank loans, livestock insurance protection and commission are tailored to this operation.
• Saleable revenue of 550-lb. weaned calves as well as backgrounded 850-lb. animals are taken from the current livestock trade in Western Canada. For illustration purposes, this is a straightforward transaction of cattle at the time of sale.

Costs exceed revenue

In this real-life case, the expense of putting on 300 lbs. of saleable weight on these steers is higher than the revenue brought-in by these 850-lb. backgrounders. Notably, $200 is lost per sold calf. At face value, this producer is better to sell his all his spring calves (assuming backgrounding heifers fare no better) within weeks after this autumn’s weaning season.

His situation is not unique, but a current state of affairs in the backgrounding industry. To test my conclusion, I substituted in some reasonable yet lower input costs in the same spreadsheet, and the result did not significantly change. That’s because the input values of most feeder cattle are at historical highs, coupled with the high cost of feeding them. Plus, there are high non-feed costs such as high yardage and finance costs that were not even imagined four decades ago.

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Wheat ending stocks for 2022/23 were lowered to 3.540 million tonnes by AAFC, from an estimated 3.980 million tonnes in June. The new crop wheat carryout was cut by 700,000 tonnes, to 5.100 million. Wheat production for 2023/24 was pegged at 35.331 million tonnes, down from 35.751 in June but still well above the 33.824 million tonnes grown in 2022/23. 

The oats carryout for 2023/24 was another notable adjustment, dropping to only 450,000 tonnes, from an estimated 1.000 million in June and the current marketing year target of 1.250 million tonnes. Total Canadian oats production was forecast at only 2.816 million tonnes in 2023/24, an 800,000 tonne drop from the June estimate and below the 5.226 million tonnes grown in 2022/23. 

Canola production for 2023/24 was raised to 18.800 million tonnes, from 18.400 million in June. However, ending stocks were left unchanged at the relatively tight levels of 650,000 tonnes for the current crop year and 600,000 tonnes in 2023/24.  

New crop production estimate for both peas and lentils were lowered from the June report as AAFC factored in Statistics Canada’s latest acreage estimates to 2.900 million and 2.100 million tonnes respectively. Pea ending stocks for 2023/24 are now forecast at 225,000 tonnes, from 375,000 in June and 400,000 the previous year. Lentil ending stocks are forecast at 125,000 tonnes, which would be down from the 200,000 tonnes projected in June but still up from the 100,000-tonne carryout anticipated for the current marketing year. 

— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.

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Biden said thousands of people with prior federal convictions could be denied employment, housing or educational opportunities and his executive action would relieve such “collateral” consequences.

Biden’s move fulfills a campaign promise and is likely to please members in his left-leaning political base ahead of the November midterm elections in which the president’s fellow Democrats are defending control of the House of Representatives and Senate.

“Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It’s time that we right these wrongs,” Biden said.

He urged state governors to follow suit.

“Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either,” Biden said.

Shares of cannabis growers and sellers surged following Biden’s comments, with Tilray Brands and Canopy Growth both jumping more than 20 per cent.

The results of a classification review could have wide ramifications. Presently the drug falls under the same classification as heroin and LSD and is in a higher classification than fentanyl and methamphetamine, the president said.

If marijuana classification were to ease at the federal level, that could allow major stock exchanges to list businesses that are in the cannabis trade, and potentially allow foreign companies to begin selling their products in the U.S.

While many states have legalized the medical or recreational use of cannabis, the substance remains illegal under U.S. federal law, forcing most major banks to deny their services to cannabis-related businesses.

The issue has forced U.S. marijuana companies to trade their shares over the counter or by listing in Canada, with the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange prohibited from listing them.

The president’s action drew praise from some members of Congress.

“The Progressive Caucus applauds this action by President Biden today to advance criminal and racial justice,” said Representative Pramila Jayapal, who chairs a group of left-leaning lawmakers, in a statement.

Biden said he had directed Attorney General Merrick Garland to develop an “administrative process” to issue certificates of pardon to those who are eligible.

“The Justice Department will expeditiously administer the President’s proclamation, which pardons individuals who engaged in simple possession of marijuana, restoring political, civil, and other rights to those convicted of that offense,” the department said in a statement.

Biden said certain rules needed to stay in place even as regulations around the country loosened.

“Finally, even as federal and state regulation of marijuana changes, important limitations on trafficking, marketing, and underage sales should stay in place,” Biden said.

— Reporting for Reuters by Jeff Mason and Doina Chiacu; additional reporting by Noel Randewich, Shariq Khan and Richard Cowan.

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DFC and Toronto-based, TSX-traded Pizza Pizza — which as of March 31 included 622 Pizza Pizza and 103 Pizza 73 outlets across eight provinces — announced Thursday the company will showcase DFC’s Blue Cow in select Pizza Pizza marketing campaigns nationwide.

The Blue Cow logo rollout began in Ontario this spring and will spread across all Pizza Pizza and Pizza 73 locations throughout Canada later this year, DFC said.

Upgraded to its current form in 2016, the Blue Cow is DFC’s symbol certifying products as made with 100 per cent Canadian milk and milk ingredients.

In this case, DFC said Thursday, the Blue Cow “assures Pizza Pizza’s customers that the mozzarella cheese topping they know and love is made with 100 per cent Canadian milk.”

The logo has been displayed on product labels and in campaigns by processors such as Agropur, Lactalis, Gay Lea, Organic Meadow, Fairlife and Bothwell Cheese, as well as by fast food chains such as McDonald’s Canada in a soft-serve ice cream campaign last summer.

In all, DFC said, the logo has been used by over 500 licensees, including about “three dozen” restaurant chains, on about 8,600 products.

“DFC looks forward to partnering with Pizza Pizza as it expands across the country, further supporting our commitments behind the Blue Cow that have made it one of Canada’s most trusted brands,” DFC president Pierre Lampron said in a release.

The logo, he noted, is recognized by “no fewer than nine out of 10” Canadians.

“Customers know the Blue Cow and now they can support Canadian farmers by grabbing a slice of their favourite pizza,” Adrian Fuoco, vice-president of marketing for Pizza Pizza Ltd., said in the same release.

Pizza Pizza, he said, is “a homegrown success story, enriching the livelihoods of over 700 local franchisees, and the Blue Cow reaffirms our strong ties to hardworking Canadian farmers and small business owners.”

The chain in recent years has built up backstories for several of its products and ingredients, billing its chicken products as coming from birds raised without antibiotics and fed all-vegetable-grain diets, and pizza dough made with 100 per cent Canadian wheat. It also committed itself to source egg ingredients from “100 per cent cage-free sources” by 2025.

The chain has also launched new products such as plant-based protein toppings and crust options such as a cauliflower-based crust and an “Uncrust” for keto dieters.

‘Food preparation’

The Canadian chain’s cheese sourcing hasn’t always been Blue Cow-grade, however.

Eight years ago, it was a sore spot with DFC and Canada’s provincial milk marketing boards, when the chain was found to be importing pre-packaged pizza topping kits combining shredded mozzarella and sliced pepperoni from the U.S.

The pizza kits at that time were classified for tariff purposes as a “food preparation” and thus weren’t subject to the tariff rate quotas (TRQs) imposed on dairy imports under Canada’s supply-managed dairy marketing system.

The dairy organizations at the time criticized the chain’s actions as “a blatant example of circumvention of the government’s tariff system” on cheese imports.

DFC and the provincial boards in 2013 tried to challenge the Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA) classification of the pizza kits at the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT), but were rejected for lack of standing.

Later that year, the federal government plugged that loophole by requiring that the cheaper U.S. mozzarella in such kits be classified under the tariff lines for fresh cheese, regardless of their packaging.

The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, a longtime critic of Canada’s dairy pricing framework, criticized the federal government at that time for having “suddenly shut down a pizza cheese import process that the courts have twice upheld.”

Deliveries up

In its year-end financials in early March, Pizza Pizza reported overall system sales of about $488.3 million for the year ending Dec. 31, down from $553.5 million in 2019.

Same-store sales growth was down 12.5 per cent in 2020 from 2019 on the pandemic-related loss of walk-in sales and “non-traditional” sales such as those from its kiosks at sports and entertainment venues.

However, the company noted an increase in delivery sales at its Pizza Pizza and Pizza 73 stores alike, which “partially offset this reduction.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Olymel, the meat packing arm of Sollio Co-operative, reopened its plant at Red Deer this week after announcing Feb. 15 it would temporarily close the facility due to a major COVID-19 outbreak among plant staff.

According to local media, over 510 cases of COVID-19 are believed to be connected to the Olymel outbreak, including over 90 currently-active cases, along with the deaths of three plant workers and one other person. The provincial opposition New Democrats said Thursday three plant employees “are currently fighting for their lives in intensive care.”

Officials with Alberta Pork this week estimated the total slaughter backlog stemming from the shutdown at more than 100,000 hogs.

The new set-aside plan, to be cost-shared 60-40 between the federal and Alberta governments at a total budget of $4 million, is to support producers who had hogs booked for processing at Olymel in Red Deer between Feb. 8 and March 31 and held them back from shipping.

At the end of the program, eligible participants are to get payments based on the number of days eligible animals were fed within the scope of the initiative, up to a maximum of 23 days.

Applications are “tentatively” expected to be available March 12 through the province’s Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC) and the program is expected to remain open until March 25.

For program purposes, “the first seven days of delayed marketing is not considered extraordinary, and is often a normal course of business for producers,” AFSC said.

There will be two components to the program: maintenance feed costs, and destruction and disposal costs. “We are currently focused on the maintenance component of the program, and will address emerging needs over the next month as the situation unfolds,” AFSC said.

That is, if slaughter capacity “continues to be an issue” and a producer can’t wait any longer to market animals, the second component would then compensate for “extraordinary costs associated with the humane slaughter and disposal of non-marketable hogs.”

“The AgriRecovery program is designed to help producers in emergency situations, and the shutdown of the Olymel plant certainly constitutes an emergency for Alberta hog farmers,” Alberta Pork chair Brent Moen said Friday in a release.

Many Alberta hog farmers ship to Red Deer weekly basis, the hog farmers’ agency said, and the shutdown left them carrying out contingency plans and “alternative solutions” for marketing.

Those alternatives “have created unexpected financial burdens for producers, especially related to additional feed costs and marketing charges over-and-above normal expenses,” Alberta Pork said, putting costs per producer anywhere between “a few thousand dollars (and) tens of thousands of dollars.”

The hogs covered under the set-aside must have been scheduled for slaughter at the Olymel plant at Red Deer between Feb. 8 and March 31, must be fed in Alberta and must have been delayed from shipping specifically due to the COVID-19-related plant shutdown.

Only market-ready hogs are covered, AFSC said Friday. That excludes boars, sows and any hogs not considered market-ready.

Set-aside participants will only need to provide one application per producer for the duration of the program, AFSC said. To be eligible, a producer must be an Alberta resident and either a Canadian citizen or permanent resident at least 18 years of age, or be a corporation actively operating in Alberta.

The producer also must have an Alberta Pork producer number and be responsible for paying the feeding costs of the eligible animals located in Alberta.

An eligible producer must report farm income and expenses in Alberta for income tax purposes, AFSC said. If not required to file farm income tax, an applicant must provide documentation showing production and sale of ag commodities.

“Alberta’s government is committed to protecting lives and livelihoods. We want to make sure that hog producers are getting the supports that they need so that they can continue to do what they do best, which is producing safe, high-quality food, not just for Alberta families but for families all around the world,” provincial Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen said in a statement Friday.

Meanwhile, Alberta’s NDP on Thursday called for an “immediate” public inquiry into the COVID-19 outbreak at the Red Deer plant, and for a pledge from the provincial justice ministry that it won’t bring in legislation to “protect potentially negligent corporations from lawsuits launched by victims’ families.”

“People with no choice but to continue working in unsafe conditions have gotten sick and died,” NDP leader Rachel Notley said in a release. “We need to hold those responsible accountable and develop new practices to prevent tragedies like this in the future.”

Federal Ag Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, in announcing the hog set-aside program on Friday, said the government “also care(s) deeply about the health and safety of food production plant workers, who are doing essential work, and we have implemented a range of emergency safety and worker benefit programs to support their safety and wellbeing.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Federal Agriculture Minister Marie Claude Bibeau on Thursday officially announced the creation of the Canadian Pork Promotion and Research Agency (PRA).

The Farm Products Council of Canada (FPCC) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are now working with the Canadian Pork Council get the PRA established; it’s expected to be fully operational by the summer of 2021.

The idea of such an agency has been floated by the pork council for nearly a decade as a way to improve the current system used by the sector for promotion and research, characterized until now as a patchwork of efforts at the provincial level.

“The PRA will be an important vehicle for producers – it will help facilitate even greater collaboration across the value chain through increased research and promotion activities. In the long run, it will result in improving the long-term growth and competitiveness of the sector,” council chair Rick Bergmann said in a statement.

By receiving funds from a 75-cent levy on imported live pigs, and a charge on imported pork meat, the agency can provide $2 million in additional research and promotion, the council estimates.

The PRA is also authorized to have a levy on marketings of hogs in interprovincial or export trade. That levy would continue to be collected by provincial pork boards and a portion turned over to the PRA for national-level work.

The new organization will be led by the industry, Bibeau said in an interview Thursday.

“The federal government is not taking over in any way, it’s really their wish to join forces,” she said. “I believe working together, joining forces, there will be economy of scales in the type of initiatives they launch through the PRA.”

Canada’s nine provincial pork associations will be responsible for ensuring PRA dollars are spent effectively, while the national organization is expected to provide them with opportunities to collaborate on various research and development projects.

Canada’s hog producers last month called on the federal government to invest $50 million over three years to combat African swine fever (ASF). Since 2018, the disease has spread into several European countries and every region of China, but no cases have been reported in North America.

The new entity doesn’t come with that federal investment as requested, but Bibeau said the PRA will still help the industry combat ASF.

“They would have more resources to better prepare, get better organized, make more prevention activity — to first, obviously, try to avoid having this disease on our territory,” she said. “And if we have it eventually, hopefully not, but we would be better prepared to face it.”

Ottawa will have little, if any, say in where the organization directs its dollars. The PRA’s board will be made up of industry stakeholders, responsible for deciding how and where the money raised will be spent.

The promotion and research model has been tested in other sectors. The Canadian Beef Check-Off Agency, the only other such national promotion and research agency, generates about $7.5 million each year, funding projects to expand markets and increase sales.

Canada imported 157,026 tonnes of fresh and frozen pork in 2019 and another 233,699 tonnes of processed pork, mostly from the United States.

The 75-cent per head import levy, if fully passed on to consumers, is expected to increase pork costs to the average Canadian by six cents per year, based on 22 kilograms annual per capita consumption — a level which an FPCC panel reviewing the proposal considered to be “marginal,” the government said.

The CPC originally submitted its proposal to the FPCC in 2015 for creation of the PRA. The creation of the agency was proclaimed in the March 7 edition of the Canada Gazette.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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That said, this is without doubt a year unlike any other, and to be prepared for the possibility of greater volatility and disruptions to markets and to people’s lives around the world, it could be prudent to spend more time on business management practices and take a wider view of what’s happening in terms of things like consumer behaviours and the entire value chain.

Farmers who understand how consumers and the value chain have changed and have sound business management practices will be better prepared for the challenges 2020 and 2021 may present.

Peter Chapman of SKUFood is a retail marketer, author, speaker and consultant with 30 years of experience in the Canadian food industry. He is an expert in all aspects of the value chain and believes that every sector of the food industry, including farmers, should be evaluating their market plans in the context of how the whole value chain, including consumers, has been changed.

As an example, Chapman says the makeup of the Canadian food industry used to be split at around 70 per cent retail and 30 per cent food service and institutional. Today the split is closer to 90 and 10 per cent, respectively.

“Producers who are selling their product to processors that are serving the food service market are going to have a lot of challenges because the demand is still not back to what they would have planned for,” says Chapman.

On the flip side, there is still plenty of demand on the food retail side of things. “If you go down the baking aisle in the grocery store there are still holes and products that we aren’t used to seeing where retailers have tried to get inventory from wherever to satisfy demand,” says Chapman.

Look further down the value chain

It’s always a challenge for the primary producer, who is at the beginning of the food value chain, to see what goes on further down, but in a year like 2020 it behooves them to do some research and try to follow the trends, so they can at least understand the potential impacts COVID might have on the markets they are selling into.

“I think all of us in the food industry have to communicate more with the different people in the value chain to see what’s going on, and I would urge producers to ask their buyers if they and their customers are adapting to a different consumer world than we would have planned for in 2020,” says Chapman.

That includes a shift in how people shop, which has changed a lot since the global pandemic began, and which is challenging the traditional marketing plans of some food companies.

“Consumers are not making decisions in stores the way they used to, they are in the mode of going into the store and getting out as quickly as they can,” says Chapman. “We are also seeing four times greater sales online for foods than we did prior to the pandemic, so if processors that producers are selling into have the ability to access those channels, they are probably seeing increased demand, whereas if their processor is not in that arena, they could struggle.”

Some supply chain disruptions could spell opportunities as well for Canadian producers and food companies.

“What we are seeing in the United States, because they are having a much more challenging time with this virus, is more interruptions of supply down there than normal, so there is the possibility that, whereas, in the past, there was a certain amount of production in the U.S. that would compete with our Canadian products, now that production in some places could be somewhat at risk,” says Chapman.

As well, Canadian consumers want Canadian food right now. “In the past, I would have argued that although Canadian consumers talked about wanting to purchase local food, they didn’t always do it, whereas in 2020, there are a lot more of them actually doing it,” says Chapman. “We all hoped COVID-19 would be done this year, but that doesn’t appear to be reality and we are going to be dealing with this type of consumer behaviour certainly in 2021 as well.”

Sound business management practices are crucial

A key component of weathering any crisis — and farmers have had many over the years — is to be prepared. That starts with some sound business management practices, like having a written business plan. However, 79 per cent of farmers still don’t have written plans, and when a year like 2020 comes along, it illustrates the value of having one.

“We know that farmers who invest in their management practices can increase profitability by up to 525 per cent,” says Heather Watson, executive director of Farm Management Canada (FMC), quoting findings from FMC’s Dollars and Sense report of 2015. “We also know farm business management is linked to personal well-being, including mental health and increased confidence in making management decisions.”

Planning ahead is crucial in preparing farmers to be flexible enough to adapt to unforeseen challenges. “Employing business management practices can help farmers get through tough times,” says Watson. “Planning ahead is the key. Eighty-eight per cent of farmers report following a written plan has contributed to their peace of mind.” (Findings are from FMC’s 2020 report Healthy Minds, Healthy Farms).

Planning means preparing for whatever might happen in the future and putting measures in place to mitigate risk and seize opportunity. “Plans change. They must be responsive to the ever-evolving business environment,” says Watson. “This is a key shift in current perceptions of planning, and the riskiest thing for any farm manager is to sit still and hope the business environment will return to what it was before so they can stay the original course.”

FMC’s research shows the strongest motivators for implementing farm business management practices are to manage risk, increase profitability, reduce stress, prepare for farm transition and get the business on track.

This research was done prior to COVID-19, which has no doubt elevated the stress levels of Canadian farmers and their families considerably; however, when farmers take the time to review their current positions and conduct scenario planning including best-case, worst-case, and most-likely-case scenarios, it helps provide a path forward, no matter the circumstances, says Watson.

“The business-savvy farmer is positioned to confront change with confidence and seize opportunity, carving out a steady path for resilience and sustainable growth for long-term prosperity,” she says.

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Farmers’ organizations say one of the three laws could lead to the government stopping buying grain at guaranteed prices, a move that would disrupt wholesale markets which have so far ensured fair and timely payments to farmers.

President Ram Nath Kovind’s approval is likely to further stir protests, leading farmers’ organizations said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already lost a key political ally from the northern Indian state of Punjab, one of India’s two breadbasket states, where farmers form an influential voting bloc.

The country’s main opposition Congress party has also backed the protests.

Under the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill — one of the laws already approved by parliament — growers can directly sell their produce to institutional buyers such as big traders and retailers.

Nearly 85 per cent of India’s poor farmers own less than two hectares of land and they find it difficult to directly negotiate with large buyers.

Modi’s administration has clarified that the wholesale markets will operate as usual, and the government only aims to empower farmers to sell directly to buyers.

— Reporting for Reuters by Neha Arora and Mayank Bhardwaj.

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“Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter and sister,” Harsimrat Kaur Badal said in a tweet after tendering her resignation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet plans to make permanent three emergency executive orders introduced in June, which it says are aimed at giving farmers freedom to sell directly to institutional buyers such as big trading houses, large retailers and food processors.

Many farmer organizations agree that the new laws will remove an impediment to selling directly to big buyers such as Wal-Mart and Tesco, but oppose the legislation because they say that producers will be left with no bargaining power.

The laws also remove farm goods from the list of essential commodities and provide a framework for contract farming.

Badal was the only representative in cabinet from the Shiromani Akali Dal, an ally of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

She termed the three bills as “anti-farmer” in her tweet.

Badal’s party has a strong base in the northern state of Punjab, one of India’s two bread basket states, where farmers form an influential voting bloc.

Modi’s BJP enjoys an overwhelming majority in parliament, and the Shiromani Akali Dal hasn’t made it clear whether it would pull out of the ruling coalition.

Both houses of parliament still need to approve making the bills permanent.

India’s main opposition Congress party has also criticized Modi’s government for trying to change age-old rules that govern Indian agriculture.

Currently, India’s antiquated Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act (APMC) requires all farmers to sell their produce at the wholesale markets in most of the country’s 29 states.

Modi’s administration has clarified that the wholesale markets will operate as usual as the APMC Act hasn’t been abolished, and the government only aims to empower farmers to sell directly to buyers.

— Mayank Bhardwaj reports for Reuters from New Delhi; additional reporting by Neha Arora.

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As annoying as it is, those comments underscore an increasingly important theme in Canadian agriculture: communication. It used to be enough to grow and market your crops, but that has changed dramatically over the last several years.

The impact of this is being felt in a real way — perhaps more now than in recent years.

People prefer to buy organic food, even if they can’t define what exactly the word means. Shoppers search the shelves for the container claiming to be “non-GMO” knowing little more than what the letters stand for. Actors take to the stage at awards shows denouncing an entire industry with little indication they have set foot on a dairy farm. High-ranking politicians warn of “extremists” holding protests generally denouncing an entire industry. Protestors halt railways to draw attention to a cause with little, if any, recognition of what’s in the stopped cars along the track.

Consumers make some of those decisions because they have looked into the issues. Mostly, though, they do it because it feels like the right thing to do. For all of their clout in political circles, farm organizations have struggled to combat this.

Ironically, the failure can at least in part be attributed to the agriculture industry’s inability to abandon the facts.

Farmers and the organizations representing them make decisions based on evidence, logic and science. Consumers are making decisions on feelings and emotions.

Our state of public discourse in this modern era seems to be entirely online, conducted in explosions of a few sentences at a time. People bang away on keyboards driven by the emotions in their hearts rather than the information in their heads. Discourse is fragmented, and we’re all awash in information with, for the average person, little ability to distinguish what’s news, what’s marketing, and what’s downright wrong.

Informed public debate was once sacred, the goal of political discourse and the foundation of good decision-making. No longer. Politics has devolved into elected officials speaking in platitudes, talking a lot but saying little while trying to make people feel good about their actions.

The result of this post-truth world is having the displeasure of living in an age where we have never before had the means to be this connected to one another, but are left with an ever-growing divide between us. Friends and enemies, left and right, consumer and corporation.

Feelings, not facts.

It’s all kind of sad, but at least within agriculture there is a growing recognition of this.

And there are some great ideas on how to combat it, including one from Andrew Campbell.

He spoke at Farm Credit Canada’s Ag Day celebration in Ottawa recently, sharing with the crowd of 500 people why it is important for farmers to share their side of the story.

“To the consumer, our side of the story doesn’t exist unless we tell it,” he said, suggesting to the audience everyone in the industry should make an effort to explain to anyone who will listen why they are in agriculture.

“Just go out and be real, and be honest and be transparent. Because what I found, and I know a lot of other farmers have found in the past, is that, you know, just having that kind of emotional transparency into what we do and why we do it actually goes a long way.”

It’s a good point, grounded in optimism.

The agriculture industry should be commended for sticking to the facts. But farmers need to learn how to leverage those facts and tap into emotions. Until that happens, complaints about bad communication will persist.

— D.C. Fraser writes for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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