This year’s Manitoba Ag Days takes place from Jan. 17-19 at the Keystone Centre in Brandon.
Reporters from the Manitoba Co-operator will be at Ag Days taking in and talking to many speakers and exhibitors in order to report back to you, our readers.
Below, we offer a wrap-up of what we covered, and upcoming stories you can look for in future issues of the Manitoba Co-operator.
The clubroot situation for Manitoba canola growers
By Shannon VanRaes
Manitoba Co-operator reporter
VIDEO: Holly Derksen of Manitoba Agriculture talks about what the province learned about clubroot’s spread in 2016, offering a view of the provincial clubroot map and the steps canola growers can take if they’re concerned about clubroot spores in their soil.
A carbon pricing approach for Manitoba farmers
By Greg Berg
Online editor
VIDEO: Sean Goertzen of Keystone Agricultural Producers spoke about what may lie ahead for carbon pricing in Manitoba and the two-pronged approach its proposing to the provincial government that could ultimately help benefit local agriculture.
Corn: Is Goss’s Wilt on the rise in Manitoba?
By Shannon VanRaes
Manitoba Co-operator reporter
VIDEO: Holly Derksen of Manitoba Agriculture talks about the spread of Goss’s Wilt in Manitoba and what corn growers can do to manage the bacterial disease.
Get ready to sell your canola
By Allan Dawson
Manitoba Co-operator reporter
VIDEO: Prepare to sell new crop canola soon and more than you might normally, said Oil World’s Thomas Mielke at Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon on Jan. 17. Manitoba Co-operator reporter Allan Dawson hears the reason why.
Grain entrapment unit demonstrated at Ag Days
By Greg Berg
Online editor
VIDEO: Glen Blahey of the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association talks about the BEGRAINSAFE grain entrapment unit at Manitoba Ag Days and participates in a demonstration of how to safely remove a person – a dummy in this case – trapped in a grain bin.
The Because I Love You List
By Lorraine Stevenson
Co-operator reporter
Every farmer needs a “Because I Love You List,” an Eddystone-area rancher told an Ag Days seminar this week.
Angela Fox was 33 and mother of four children when her husband, Jay Fox, died in a farm accident in 2012. Heartbroken and overwhelmed, she was nonetheless able to carry on farming. They had talked over how to handle various personal and business matters in the event of an accidental death.
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Complicated farm businesses absolutely need to do this kind of pre-planning, said Fox who handed out templates for Because I Love You lists to her Ag Days audience.
These lists contain critical information such as passwords and who to call for farm help, to details on investments and farm business agreements.
Preparing such a list “is not only responsible, it’s a gift you leave behind,” she said.
Fox and Country Guide associate editor, Maggie Van Camp, whose husband also died in a farm accident, share their story and discuss the importance of this pre-planning in an article published in the Manitoba Co-operator in 2016.
Great Tastes of Manitoba seeks new content sponsors for 2017
By Lorraine Stevenson
Great Tastes of Manitoba first aired in 1990 and is now Manitoba’s longest-running locally-produced television series.
More than a quarter-century later, seasons of the half-hour CTV show showcase a range of Manitoba foods, with dietitians and home economists sharing recipes and offering expert advice.
Great Tastes of Manitoba now wants to create another way to tell agriculture’s story. These would be webisodes, or content available for download or streaming outside the show, said Donalee Jones, the show’s senior producer, during an Ag Days talk Wednesday.
“What we’d like to develop are stand-alone webisodes about farm practices or meeting farmers and then those can be shared outside the 30 minute broadcast,” she said.
Great Tastes of Manitoba is now pitching the idea to farm organizations and agricultural businesses and offering sponsorships to start developing this content.
In an upcoming issue of the Co-operator read more about Great Tastes of Manitoba’s own story, how it engages the public, and new sponsorship opportunities for 2017.
Cattle producers widely use pain control products, says Ag Days speaker
By Lorraine Stevenson
Co-operator reporter
Most western Canadian cattle producers now use pain control on animals when conducting procedures such as castration, said a veterinarian speaking at Ag Days Wednesday.
Pain control is a requirement of animal care codes of practice. Dr. Roy Lewis, an Alberta-based vet working for Merck Animal Health, said he thinks producers are already ahead of the curve.
“We’re already years ahead of the requirements of the code, I think,” he said.
Lewis’ presentation discussed some of the new products now available for pain control and the benefits cattle producers see using them. Animals recover more quickly when administered these products, he said.
“They’ll gain better, milk better,” he said.
Lewis also spoke about prudent use of antimicrobials and preventative treatments producers can adopt to minimize their use.
For more on this story see an upcoming issue of the Co-operator.
Ag Days Inventor’s Showcase winner
Arnold Innovations’ AI100-Lexion hydraulic ratcheting wrench
By Greg Berg
Online Editor
Plugging your combine is one of those things you don’t want to see – but it happens – now there’s a hydraulic ratcheting wrench that can make the task of unplugging your Claas Lexion series combine much easier. Arnold Innovations’ returns to Manitoba Ag Days this year with a new wrench design, and for its efforts, it took home the win in the Manitoba Co-operator Inventor’s Showcase.
Don’t let this happen to you, says Ag Days speaker
Curtis Weber offers a cautionary tale on farm workplace safety
Co-operator staff
A momentary safety lapse nearly cost then-17-year-old Curtis Weber his life in 1999.
He was severely burned on his third day on a new job as a construction labourer while helping move a steel grain bin. It touched overhead power lines. He survived and is today a much sought-after speaker warning audiences about what can happen when you’re afraid to ask questions about a dangerous job assignment.
“Try to envision me being your son or your daughter or your husband or your wife,” he told a pin-drop-quiet Ag Days seminar Tuesday.
“Take this home to your families and have those conversations. You’re working in an industry where incidents do happen.” Weber also lost part of his arm and a leg in in the incident.
For more on his story please see the upcoming issue of the Co-operator.
Climate change needs ‘made in Manitoba solution
Province discusses flooding at Ag Days
By Allan Dawson
Co-operator reporter
The Manitoba government is still working on its climate change plan, agriculture minister Ralph Eichler and Premier Brian Pallister told reporters during separate scrums at Ag Days, Jan. 17.
Before Christmas Eichler said the plan would be revealed early this year.
“We only have one chance to do this,” Eichler said.
“That is why a made-in-Manitoba solution is a priority for our government in order to ensure that we get it right.”
Manitoba government to consult with KAP to make its checkoff more efficient
The current system is often frustrating to farmers and farm product buyers and costly to KAP
By Allan Dawson
Co-operator reporter
The Manitoba government is going to change the Keystone Agricultural Producers’ (KAP) refundable funding checkoff, Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler announced at Ag Days Jan. 17.
“The current funding structure creates needless and excessive administration costs for farmers and KAP and purchasers of agricultural products,” Eichler said. “A review of the system is something that the industry has been requesting for a long time. This government is committed to doing just that. Consultations will begin immediately on how to implement those changes to what the government considers a more efficient alternative system.”
New safe handling program announced at Ag Days
CASA launches BEGRAINSAFE program
By Lorraine Stevenson
Co-operator reporter
A new exhibit for the BEGRAINSAFE program launched by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association is on display at Ag Days this week.
The interactive trade show display and a mobile entrapment trailer demonstration unit in the Westman Place Arena aim to help educate farmers about the risks associated with handling grain. The risks are rising, say farm safety officials.
Weber says Trump the wild card
The maverick president will be a market-mover, like it or not
By Gord Gilmour
Commodity analyst Larry Weber says he’s changed his morning routine recently.
In the years he’s been in the business of analyzing grain markets, the first thing he always checked every morning was the news wires, looking for world events that could make a difference in markets.
“Now I’m checking Twitter to see what Donald Trump might have tweeted last night,” Weber told farmers at Ag Days during his semi-annual market outlook presentation at the event.
“I check it because that’s what’s moving markets. Canola is up $4 today because of what he said last night. Friday the world is going to change, and I’m scared. In all my time, I have never been so fearful of an incoming president.”
For more on this story and other Ag Days coverage, see the upcoming issue of the Manitoba Co-operator.
Small spuds a big business
Little Potato Co. head says agriculture needs to be ready to try new things
By Gord Gilmour
Co-operator editor
One of the biggest challenges Edmonton’s Little Potato Company had to overcome was convincing the industry it was worth their while to try something different.
CEO Angela Santiago told attendees at Ag Days that everyone in the value chain, from growers on, was married to the way they were already doing business.
That reluctance led to issues that nearly saw the company permanently derailed at a crucial juncture.
“At one point our bank unceremoniously dropped us after we’d signed a lease and ordered new equipment,” Santiago said. “They just didn’t believe in what we were doing, it was too untraditional.”
But that lack of believe has been the doubters loss.
It caused them to pass up an opportunity that, in hindsight, is one of the few growth areas for potato consumption.
French fry consumption is at best stable, and traditional table potatoes are seeing their market shrink. But little potatoes, or “creamers” as they’re known in the trade, have exploded to reach over 10 million pounds a year.
“We haven’t made it easy for consumers to take potatoes home,” Santiago told the Co-operator in a conversation following her presentation.
For more on this story, and other Ag Days coverage, see the upcoming issue of the Manitoba Co-operator.
Ag Days at 40
Forty years ago, a business-minded group of Manitobans saw the need for a gathering that would be by, of and for those living and working in the world of agriculture.
Way back then though, the group had no way of knowing their one-room “Weed Fair” would explode in popularity and evolve over the next four decades as Manitoba Ag Days, Canada’s largest indoor farm show.
New products highlighted at Ag Days
Once again Manitoba Ag Days is expected to be a launch pad for a wide range of new farming technology and products.
“All new products are listed in the show guide and on the website at www.agdays.com,” Kristen Phillips, Manitoba Ag Days general manager said. “All qualifying entries are judged and the Best New Product Award is presented at the show. Winner of the Best New Product 2016 was MacDon with its R1 Series pull-type disc mower.”
Farm safety to be a highlight of Ag Days
Canada’s agricultural industry is one of the top three most hazardous industries in which to work.
According to the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA), while 85 per cent of Canadian producers believe safety is a priority on their farm, less than 10 per cent currently have an agricultural safety plan on their farm or ranch.
Students go on an ag adventure
Ag Days will see students scouring the show site, seeking clues and gathering information about agriculture.
That’s because Agriculture in the Classroom will once again be designing and delivering the Manitoba Ag Days Adventure. This year’s theme is “Agriculture — Think Global, Act Local” where students in Grades 7 and 8 take part in the World Game where they are introduced to global agriculture challenges.
Ag Days ‘Under The Influence’
Agvocates rejoice. If you want to hear stories, build stories, tell and promote stories, then the 2017 Manitoba Ag Days lineup of speakers is certain to make you happy.
“Sharing our story is important when it comes to agriculture and advocating agriculture in general,” says Kristen Phillips, Manitoba Ag Days general manager. “I am particularly excited about the inclusion of Terry O’Reilly from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as the keynote speaker at our event. Terry breaks the art of storytelling down, shows how to harvest stories from businesses and how to package those stories into powerful marketing that wins hearts and dollars.”
Ag Days all-in on agriculture
One of the most important features of Ag Days is that over the past 40 years it’s steadfastly remained 100 per cent focused on agriculture. That ongoing commitment sits well with producers and prospective volunteers and board members, says Kristen Phillips, the event’s general manager.
“The board members are committed to ensuring the show remains 100 per cent about agriculture,” Phillips said during a recent interview. “They strive to ensure the show features equipment, to parts, to agriculture services, and all things in between. If it’s a part of a Manitoba farming operation, you’ll find it at Manitoba Ag Days.”
Ag Days pays it forward
Whether it is the generosity of attendees or the philanthropic mindset of organizers, there is no doubt goodwill abounds at Manitoba Ag Days.
“Manitoba Ag Days has a strong “giving back” philosophy,” said Kristen Phillips, Manitoba Ag Days general manager. “We are a not-for-profit organization and will continue to operate this way.”
