Maybe since my facts are limited, I will take a page out the Trump management handbook for my opening position. “I think USMCA is the worst deal for Canada ever. Everyone is stupid. And until it is fixed I will never talk to another American again, I won’t even watch American TV, not even Dancing With The Stars. The Americans are dead to me.”

I figured that would be a good starting point and then I can always back up from there — as needed I’ll get my people to craft a new statement on what I actually meant.

I am glad there is some sort of a NAFTA/USMCA trade document on the table. So far as I write this just before deadline for our October issue I have seen news releases from the Grain Growers of Canada who “applaud” the new agreement.

“This is a historic agreement that serves the interests of grain farmers from coast to coast,” said Jeff Nielsen, President of Grain Growers of Canada (GGC). “We would like to thank Minister Freeland, Prime Minister Trudeau, chief negotiator Steve Verheul and the rest of the negotiating team for their hard work in delivering a deal that gives farmers the certainty they need to continue to invest and grow.”

The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association also seemed pleased.

“The SSGA has supported the successful negotiation of a trilateral agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico. The NAFTA agreement had been very beneficial for the beef industry. This modernized agreement represents positive progress for trade relations and will provide benefits to the Canadian economy and to Saskatchewan,” SSGA President Bill Huber stated. (Although I’m not sure if that means they are happy with the agreement or just happy the process is over.)

And not surprisingly the dairy processors association was “deeply disappointed” as they estimated the new deal will cost processors about $2 billion.

“Over the past year and a half, we have repeatedly heard our government state that it would stand up for the Canadian dairy sector. However, what was agreed to last night demonstrates very little support for our interests,” said Mathieu Frigon, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dairy Processors Association of Canada (DPAC). “Rather, along with CETA and CPTPP, the commitments Canada has made under USMCA significantly undermine its domestic dairy sector. In order to address these issues head on, we expect to be part of the industry working group promised by Minister Freeland in order to address these issues head on.”

Canadian trade

Let’s face it trade in both directions is important to Canada so all I can tell in this wacky-era of U.S. politics that some sort of trade door remains open and if it is good for the U.S. hopefully that means it isn’t too bad for Canada.

I won’t give the Trudeau government much credit, but I think Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland did an excellent job as the front-person for trade talks. Maybe the Canadian negotiators all cowered in the corner when the Americans entered the negotiation room, but I doubt it. My impression is that she represented the country well in what must have been difficult discussions. I bet she’s glad she doesn’t have to pack a bag and head for a Washington hotel room for a while. The novelty of that for me would have worn off a long time ago.

And while part of Canada’s supply management sector isn’t happy — no word from the poultry and egg people yet — I am sure it will weather the transition. And let’s be honest we are only talking money here. We need to keep that $2 billion cost in context — that’s less than half the cost of buying a new oil pipeline that will likely never get built, so it could be worse. And on the bright side, for the low, low cost of $6 billion all dairy processors can come to Calgary in 2026 for the winter Olympics and forget their troubles. There is always money for important stuff, and yes it CAN buy happiness.

The post The USMCA is stupid appeared first on Grainews.

The first time I remember that term used with respect to agriculture was when a respected farmer on Sceptre heavy clay soil said the wheat/summerfallow rotation of the day was not sustainable. To be sure, the old half-and-half rotation was responsible for gradually, but surely, reducing the fertility and productivity of even our best dryland soils.

Phosphorus, then nitrogen

Phosphorus was the first nutrient to seriously reduce wheat yield. By the 1950s P was a big limiting factor. The photo at the top of this page shows a huge barley response to P for barley planted on summerfallow. The researcher, Bob McKercher, told me that the landowner, Mr. Whatley, never seeded a crop without P fertilizer after seeing the effect.

P fertilizer extended the productivity of the soil, and summerfallow allowed us to suck even more of the nitrogen out of the soil organic matter.

By and by we realized that we could do away with sumerfallow if we adopted zero till, put on enough N fertilizer and included legumes in the rotation.

But the old half-and-half rotation lasted a long time with little or no fertilizer, if a farmer could still live off the smaller yields. It was sustainable, but at at a much lower level of production than newly broken prairie.

Organic farming

Organic farming that relies on summerfallow for weed control and nitrogen mineralization is not sustainable at anywhere near the yield of fertilizer and chemical farming.

Organic farms with livestock, legumes and diverse planting schemes are probably the most sustainable. If markets for organic grain and meat are available at seriously elevated prices, then that system is very sustainable.

Continuous wheat with no fertilizer

Continuous wheat cropping with no fertilizer is sustainable — with herbicides to control weeds, especially wild oats. The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada station at Scott, Sask., has a small field that has been planted neat (without fertilizer) to wheat for 107 years and counting — at least I hope it is still going. The average yield is about 15 bushels/acre. Nitrogen is the big yield-limiting factor (after moisture) but N in rain and free-living nitrogen-fixing soil organisms are enough for a small yield. At that small yield the “suck” on phosphorus, potassium and other nutrients is small.

It is sustainable, at a very low yield.

There is also the famous Rothamsted station in England where a portion of the Broadbalk field has been continuously cropped to wheat with no fertilizer since 1840. The yield is in the 15 to 20 bu./ac. range.

Two crops, one herbicide

It is my opinion that a two crop, one herbicide (glyphosate) rotation is not sustainable. The rat in the closet is weeds that become resistant to the excessive use of one herbicide. We use plenty of glyphosate even if we use it in-crop only for canola. My 2018 crop is canola and I very much look forward to what glyphosate can do so well for so little cost.

In addition to canola in crop, we make use of spring burn-off, pre-harvest and post-harvest sprays of glyphosate. We use too much already with just one crop that tolerates glyphosate and I also plead guilty to that charge.

Protocols for sustainable agriculture

Various parts of the market chain have been working on a “brownie point” system so a farm can be labeled “sustainable.” I have seen some guidelines that say you must not pull any bush or drain any slough if you want to get the label. In that case they should decommission agriculture in all of the U.K. When the Romans first landed they found little but bush and swamp. They cleared the bush and drained the swamps and made farmland of it.

I suspect that many of these protocols are drafted by folks with little understanding of actual farms. Perhaps I am wrong and some reader will enlighten me.

Beef sustainability

It is with some trepidation that I comment on the affairs of cowboys — stubble jumper that I am. But some of the things I have been reading of late leave me bewildered. Recent communications talk about a “Sustainable Beef Framework.” The tone of the piece is “Hurrah, we finally have it!”

A lead statement is “Even the overview of protocols set out in the Certified Sustainable Beef Framework runs nearly 60 pages.” I can just imagine the excitement that cowboys have reading 60 pages as an “overview.”

Imagine what the full document looks like. And what exactly are they trying to sustain?

Home on the range

Probably the most sustainable form of agriculture we have is the cow/calf ranching operations in the remaining grasslands of southern Saskatchewan and Alberta. Many of those operations are 4th and 5th generations of the same family line so they must be doing something right.

A quick peak at the “our values” section on Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association’s Wesbsite (www.skstockgrowers.com) shows some straightforward “sustainability” statements without a lot of flowery language or complicated protocols.

Environmental Stewardship: they simply state that they will use the grass and water in such a way that it is still there for generations to come.

Animal Husbandry: simply states that if they treat their animals with respect and ethical treatment, the animals will take care of them financially.

Spreading manure

One concern I have about livestock is too much manure spread over too few acres near intensive livestock operations. Many studies show it is easy to have too much of a good thing. At our own University of Saskatchewan a major new livestock research facility is being constructed near Saskatoon. The baseline groundwater monitoring is in place in spades. Modern instruments were installed before construction began.

But, we must also have some basic research to determine how to concentrate the nutrients, phosphorus especially, so that it can be economically applied over many more acres. Part of the equation may be that stubble jumpers like me have to start paying for the P they receive in manure.

There are still way too many acres of phosphorus-deficient soil that are far removed from a manure source. On my little patch I have the eroded knolls well charged with P by moving topsoil and high rate of broadcast P fertilizer. But much of the area could still do with a good dose of manure or other P.

As this column has often stated: 100 years from now folks will look back and wonder why we took so long to figure out how to better use manure phosphorus.

Sustainability: The bottom line

In my opinion, much of the sustainability rhetoric we are hearing is mostly buzzwords, often crafted by folks far removed from a combine cab or a cow herd. Long-winded protocols are much like the Kyoto Protocol and other similar documents — too much verbage and too little common sense.

Rather than such a general buzzword such as “sustainability” we should be talking about specific air, soil, water, plant or animal problems that must be addressed.

The post What exactly is sustainability? appeared first on Grainews.

Anderson, who had started ranching in about 1937 near Fir Mountain, about 170 km southwest of Moose Jaw, is well known as a longtime columnist for the Cattleman’s Corner section of Grainews starting in 1975.

At the regional and national level, Anderson served as president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (1976-77), the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (1969-72) and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (1977-78) and as a chairman of the Saskatchewan Beef Stabilization Board.

Anderson also served as a delegate to the Saskatchewan and Canadian Federations of Agriculture and on several provincial agriculture advisory committees.

Among the accolades Anderson received over a lifetime in the industry were the Centennial Medal (1967); an honourary doctor of laws degree from the University of Saskatchewan; an honorary membership in the Northern International Livestock Hall of Fame; an honour scroll from the Saskatchewan Livestock Board (1984); induction in the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame (1987) and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit (1997); and membership in the Order of Canada (1999).

Anderson also wrote three books, Beyond The Range: A History of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers (1988), Grass Roots (1996), and Grass and Grain, a collection of his Grainews columns (2009).

Anderson acquired his first quarter section in the Wood Mountain Uplands at age 17, and by age 20 was an established shortgrass sheep rancher.

He then served with the First Canadian Parachute Battalion during the Second World War, parachuting in June 1944 into France. He was wounded and, days later, captured and spent 10 months in a prison camp in Germany.

“Did we do any good? We were out of action after two days,” Anderson wrote in Grainews in 2012. “However, it is believed by the military and other people that planeloads like ours and others confused the Germans so much that several divisions were held back from the front and thus our bridgehead at Normandy was made secure.”

Returning to southwestern Saskatchewan, Anderson resumed sheep and cattle ranching with his wife Lorene, who passed away in 2007 at age 87. He was elected in 1946 to municipal council for the RM of Waverley, where he served 40 years, including 27 as reeve.

Anderson also ran in two provincial elections and federally as a Tory candidate in the Assiniboia riding in 1972, where he was defeated by NDP MP Bill Knight.

Anderson also served as president of the Fir Mountain Co-op, Fir Mountain Hall board and Glentworth branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, and sat on the Fir Mountain United Church board. In his citation for the Order of Canada, he was also credited for helping to plan and build Waverley Gardens, a community skating and curling rink.

In 2012, Anderson noted his 26 grandchildren and great-grandchildren were living and working “scattered over much of the world,” and noted that “even through the years when I was tied down to the ranch, I travelled when I could and I always wanted to see what was over the next hill.”

The post Anderson recognized for a lifetime of contributions appeared first on Grainews.

And after all the trips and lobbying to the U.S. capital over the past eight years, I figured “You guys are wasting your time.” But lo, there at the end of 2015, President Barack Obama signed the order to do away with COOL.

The World Trade Organization kept holding the U.S. feet to the fire in its rulings that said COOL was unfair. Canada and Mexico (because it affected them too) joined with their threats and plans to impose about $4 billion in levies and surcharges on U.S. imports. The WTO ruled that $1 billion was fair.

And it wasn’t even that the U.S. government administration that supported COOL. The U.S. agriculture secretary, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the U.S. meat industry all were in agreement with WTO rulings. It was just relatively strong and somewhat radical Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-Calf) that lobbied long and hard to have COOL created.

Writer Jeff Gaye in the January issue of Beef Business, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers magazine, had a good article on the rise and fall of COOL (available at skstockgrowers.com). In the article SSGA past-president Harold Martens said at one point COOL was costing the Canadian meat industry about $640 million per year in lost business and it also cost Canadian producers about $2 million to fight COOL. I’m not sure what the final figures are, obviously the fight was a worthwhile investment.

But I decided over the years that these trade matters are fickle and irrational. I remember sitting in the office of Nithi Govindasamy years ago and marvelled as he talked about the slow pace of trade negotiations. Govindasamy is now deputy minister of Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure, but back in the day he was a young international trade specialist with Alberta Agriculture.

But I guess the grain guys also know a bit about patience and persistence. How many decades of lobbying and protesting did it take to end the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly? I was probably the last to discover this information, but recently during some reading I learned that when the wheat pools were created back in early 1920s they themselves created a Central Selling Agency to pool the price and market grain. That system was successful for several years, but then the Agency ran into financial difficulties after a crop failure in 1928-29, so the federal government stepped in to bail it out, and then created the CWB in 1935.

Maybe now that the CCA guys have a lot of spare time after slaying the COOL dragon, they can work on dismantling or fixing the Middle East oil cartel to get the world economy going again.

Coming Events

• Alberta Beef Industry Conference — Beef producers from across Western Canada are invited to the annual Alberta Beef Industry Conference, Feb. 17 to 19 at the Sheraton Hotel in Red Deer, Alta. The conference will feature more than a dozen speakers on a wide range of topics including marketing, business management, nutritional advice, animal health, and North American and global economics and markets. One session bound to have an interesting message will feature former Alberta Conservative cabinet minister Doug Griffiths with a talk on 13 ways to kill your beef industry. For more details visit the conference website at: www.abiconference.ca
• SSGA Spring Break — If you’re looking to get away to someplace warm, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association may still have room on its seven-day spring break trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico March 4 to 11. Along with being able to attend the Campeonato Nacional Charro Rodeo, it sounds like there will be plenty of time to relax at the Sheraton Buganvillias. Cost of the trip is CDN$1,610 (based on double occupancy). Call Katherin at 1-306-690-5309 for details.
• Livestock care in Alberta — Fresh opportunities, global perspectives and lively discussion are set to capture the spotlight at the 2016 Livestock Care Conference, March 22-23 in Olds, Alta., hosted by Alberta Farm Animal Care (AFAC). The Livestock Care Conference begins Tuesday, March 22, with special sessions including a sheep-handling workshop,and the AFAC Annual General Meeting. The main speaker agenda is Wednesday, March 23, kicking-off with a message from the provincial Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and a welcome and update from the AFAC Executive Director. Brenda Schoepp discusses The Interconnetion Between Human and Animal Welfare; Dr. Jennifer Walker talks Animal Welfare at the Intersection Between Politics, Policy, Profit & People; Leona Dargis presents on Animal Welfare Around the World; Dr. Alexandra Harlander discusses Hot Topics in Poultry Welfare; and Marion Popkin presents on All About Rabbits. In addition, the conference features a ‘Bear Pit’ Panel Session on “When Manure Hits the Fan.” Bear Pit panelists include Darren Vanstone of World Animal Protection, Jackie Wepruk of National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC), Brandy Street of the BC.SPCA and Michelle Follensbee of the Animal Welfare Branch of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. Complete agenda details and registration information is available at www.afac.ab.ca. Follow at hashtag #LCC2016.

The post The next project after COOL appeared first on Grainews.