Calgary-based Cervus — which operates 64 dealerships in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, including 38 devoted mainly to Deere farm equipment — expects increased demand to run up against “supply chain constraints” in its first-quarter financial report on Thursday.

“Strong industry demand, compounded by supply chain constraints related to the pandemic and severe weather events, impacted the availability and timing of equipment from our manufacturers in the quarter,” Cervus CEO Angela Lekatsas said in the company’s release.

“We expect manufacturer supply chain issues, including semiconductor shortages, may continue into the second and third quarters of the year, and are working in partnership with our manufacturers to minimize the impact to our customers and our business.”

While major automakers’ difficulties in sourcing chips to complete new vehicles are well known, major farm equipment manufacturers including Deere, CNH and Agco have also taken a hit.

While semiconductor makers have said they plan to boost production, chips are currently harder to come by as demand for consumer electronics such as smartphones and gaming systems is amped up by the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Agco official last month told Reuters the company is informing farmer customers they may have to wait as long as six months for their new machinery, putting delivery well past harvest in markets such as the U.S.

However, Lekatsas said Thursday, “despite a decrease in equipment and service revenues from continued impacts of the global pandemic, we achieved a five per cent increase in gross profit quarter over quarter, from this change in the proportion of revenue from product support.”

Lekatsas noted the company’s “successful execution on initiatives to grow parts sales, which increased 11 per cent in the quarter, driving a seven per cent increase in overall product support revenue.”

Cervus booked net income of $2.987 million on $253.93 million in revenue for the quarter ending March 31, up from a $2.703 million net loss on $256.88 million in revenues for the year-earlier period.

The dealer chain’s revenue in 2021 Q1 included $174.63 million from equipment and $79.31 million from “product support.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Cervus expects chip shortages may continue into fall appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

But that’s certainly not the only thing she’s done during her long stint volunteering with Carman Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Thrift Shop.

She’s been volunteering with the non-profit enterprise since its start, and today is still among its 100 others arranging, sorting, folding, fixing, cleaning and pricing thousands of donated items that keep this thrift shop thriving.

The eagerness of customers streaming through its doors each day is matched only by the generous time given by volunteers to keep the store shipshape, and raising mountains of money for Mennonite Central Committee’s international work.

In 2017 sales of donated clothing, furniture, household items have raised $386,288 — the most money it’s ever generated.

After expenses are paid, and a portion of the funds turned over to local causes, that’s $240,000 for MCC’s international work.

They are rather pleased, in a modest sort of way, about it.

“There are stores that are bigger than ours and they make more money than we do,” said Frank Elias, a retired school principal and current president for the organization. Places like Winkler and Steinbach occupy space several times larger than Carman’s. There are 16 MCC Thrift Stores in Manitoba.

“But in our 5,000 sq. feet we generate about $65 to $70 per square foot,” he said. “There’s no store in Manitoba that matches us for performance.”

Those sales now add up to about $1,500 for every day the store is open.

Not too shabby for a shop that had a humble start in a basement.

It was 1975 when a few feisty local church women, inspired by the newly opened and original MCC Thrift Shop in Altona, decided to try selling donated goods here too.

Anna Penner, who has also volunteered since its beginning, remembers the early days. They’d price everything in the basement under a single bare light bulb, hung from a ceiling so low some bumped their heads on it.

“That first store was just a teeny little hole in the wall,” she said.

Some didn’t think it would last either. But $13,000 raised that very first year quelled the skeptics, and in years to follow Carman’s MCC Thrift Shop would outgrow its location several times.

The current location, purchased in 2004, occupies a former IGA grocery store. It’s a bright, spacious place, organized like a department store, with sections for household goods and furniture, tools, jewelry and clothing, a toy department, plus a library filled with books and magazines.

Liz Moffatt began volunteering here about five years ago and said Carman’s store is extra special among all she’s visited.

“I love thrifting, and I go across the country to visit thrift stores,” she said. “I always tell these ladies, ‘you have undoubtedly the best going as far as displays and merchandising.’ It really is remarkable.”

The bustling store is more than a place just to shop too. Customers regularly chat and power visit here. Parents are comfortable with children in tow, because the toys in the toy department can be played with while they shop.

“That’s the kind of store that we are. Everyone is given a friendly greeting. We have that kind of atmosphere,” said Elias.

Longtime volunteers say donations to the store are increasingly generous. It’s astonishing how much comes in and it seems to be of higher and higher quality all the time.

That’s a sign of how much stuff everyone has, of course, and how frequently upgrades of things like furniture and electronics happen nowadays. They take it all because that couch or radio goes happily out the door in to another home. There’s no question where a lot of this material would be ending up otherwise, says Penner.

“The landfill.”

The MCC team doesn’t throw away stuff either. They’ve devised a colour-coded price tag system that shows what’s been on the shelves awhile. Those items are gathered up for Union Gospel Mission in Winnipeg where they’re redistributed to those who need them.

“The bulk of it is clothing,” said Elias. “They also take some shoes.”

That’s been very helpful because Carman would otherwise run out of space mighty quick, he adds.

“At one time we had a terrible time with where we put the excess. To put it in the garbage just didn’t seem right.”

Evidently, some donors feel that way about nearly anything. They had a pair of false teeth given to them.

“And we had a bag of dried tea bags come in once,” adds Wiebe. “Someone thought we could use them again.”

Donors also turn over some very valuable items.

“This just was handed to me and I don’t know if it’s gold but it’s very pretty,” said volunteer Laura Thielmann, holding up a lady’s locket. Items like these will be appraised.

“We do have gold given to us,” she adds.

And many one-of-a-kind vintage items and antiques. Store volunteers started selling these through silent auctions a few years ago, seeing this as not only giving more people a chance to purchase something they really like, but a way to earn more money with these items too. Sales from silent auctions last year brought in $34,000, and these events definitely draw the customers. It’s commonplace on the final day of sales to have buyers milling about, bidding each other up to the last anxious minute, said Elias.

All the cash through the register, minus store operating expenses is turned over to Mennonite Central Committee to support its international relief, development and peace programs in 55 countries. Those programs include providing food and other assistance in times of crisis around the world, and tools and education to support sustainable agricultural practices among the world’s farmers. MCC also does peace-building training in areas of conflict throughout the world.

A portion of funds raised here also support the local community, of course. The thrift shop donates to the Handi-van service, the hospital auxiliary and many other organizations and projects. They’ve provided funds for refugee assistance and store credits for them to start their lives with household items from here. Families who lose homes to fire also come to begin rebuilding their lives.

Volunteers tell heartfelt stories about what a difference the thrift store can make for individuals.

“I remember this young boy who came in and said, ‘I can’t play soccer because I have no shoes and I can’t afford any,’” recalls Helen Kroeker. “They don’t let them play soccer unless they have the right shoes. I said, ‘well, come with me.’ We got him a pair of soccer shoes for $2. He was so happy.”

It’s those kinds of moments that are especially gratifying. Volunteering has cemented lifelong friendships too of course. And it’s gratifying knowing the work they do supports important causes both locally and internationally.

This store provides a place to put their faith in action, says Penner. She said she used to wish she could go overseas to do mission work.

“So this is my long-term mission trip,” she said. She has also volunteered here since 1975.

“Christ said, ‘When I was hungry you fed me. When I needed clothes you clothed me,’” said Elias. “While we’re working here we do exactly that. Someone picks up that pair of pants. That’s $3. That’s going to feed many people.”

Tempted to visit Carman MCC Thrift Shop? Please note it is closed for the holidays December 24 until it opens again January 2. Regular store hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday.

The post Blessings from bargains appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Actually, there is no one driving that grain cart tractor as it navigates the field and pulls up to unload the combine on his Killarney-area farm.

Reimer has programmed it to be driverless.

Reimer was awarded first place by judges with the Inventors’ Showcase at Ag Days last week for turning his tractor into a robot, wiring its electronics to the autopilot out of a drone.

It can unload a combine on the go and navigate autonomously within the field, communicating with the combine. It’s controlled by the touch of a screen that signals its GPS locations.

“It does a calculation to figure out where the tractor should be, tells the tractor to go to that GPS location, and just does that repeatedly on a loop,” Reimer told reporters in Brandon last week.

“In order to call the tractor over you just hit ‘start unloading. The tractor drives over on its own, you have to speed it up the first time, then when it gets close it slows down automatically. When you’re done unloading, you just hit “empty.”

A driverless tractor was just an idea rolling around in his mind a year ago.

“I’ve thought it was a good idea for a long time. I just didn’t know how to do it,” he said.

“Then I stumbled across an autopilot that’s out of a drone, and the lightbulb went on in my head. It has the algorithm for navigating a vehicle. I thought if I can put it in my tractor, it’ll take care of that.”

Reimer, who is president of his new company Reimer Robotics, was in Brandon last week to share the idea with other farmers. The software and hardware deployed are open source.

“Anyone can pick up this technology and work on it,” he said, adding he hopes other producers will build on the concept and advance the innovation.

Reimer deployed the tractor-turned-robot on his family’s farm this past fall. They’ve never had a harvest go more smoothly, he said.

It’s meant to be labour saving, but in their case it was labour maximizing, he said.

It meant the person otherwise sitting with the grain cart all day was able to do many more jobs instead of just sitting idle.

“I had him swathing and harrowing and running for fuel and doing all these other jobs that keep our operation running smooth,” he said.

“We got all our fertilizer on. Everything just worked really good and part of the reason was we were able to get so many more things done while we were combining.”

Reimer is adamant that robotics like this won’t replace working on the farm. The notion that farmers one day will sit in offices controlling farm equipment remotely is “still science fiction stuff,” he said.

“It’s just going to change how we work,” he said. “Up to this point, farms have been growing and what’s allowed farms to grow is that equipment has got bigger and more efficient so you can get more done with one tractor than you used to be able to, but it is reaching the limits of what we can fit on our roads.

“I think we’re going to start to see more tractors, but smaller. So instead of having one tractor, maybe you’ll drive one but the other one will be unmanned.”

The post Tractor turned robot maximizes farm labour, says inventor appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Earning second prize in the Inventor’s Showcase was Agrimatics, a tablet and smartphone-based grain cart weighing and calibration application. Heralded as the first-ever tablet and smartphone-based grain cart weighing and data management system, Agrimatics automatically detects how much grain has been harvested and makes the data available across multiple devices using a remote connection.

Visit the Agrimatics website to learn more.

Agrimatics is located in Saskatoon, Sask.

The post VIDEO: Agrimatics’ wireless tech uses iPad, smartphones to track grain carts appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

University of Alberta researchers David Mitlin and post-doctoral fellow Zhi Li have developed a fast-charging supercapacitor using eggshell membranes — a plentiful egg industry byproduct.

“We sell the liquid egg whites and the yoke to food processors, and we have no use for the eggshells,” said Li. “But we have the technology to separate the eggshell membranes from the physical hard shell.”

The membranes have a unique structure that allows them to hold three times the electrical charge of a battery, making them ideal for use as a supercapacitor.

“It’s similar to a battery because it stores energy, but it’s different from a battery because it can charge very quickly,” said Li. “You can charge it in 30 seconds or, in some cases, even five seconds. That’s impossible for a battery.”

And like a battery, these egg-powered supercapacitors can be used in electronics, vehicles, and yes, even smartphones.

“If you have an iPhone, your battery is dying in one year or two years, but if you have a supercapacitor, it will probably last you more than 10 years,” he said. “That’s amazing for some applications.”

If it all works out, it’ll be great news for egg farmers, too, said Jenna Griffin, industry development officer for the Egg Farmers of Alberta.

“The market for shell eggs has been declining over the years,” she said. “There’s been a trend toward more processed and liquid egg products.”

While there are some low-value markets for eggshells, many processors simply send them to the landfill. But making batteries could use a fair number of them.

“If you do some back-of-the-envelope numbers, you can see the practicality of what they’re doing,” said Griffin. “There’s somewhere between 150 million to 200 million dozen eggs broken in Canada, and from that byproduct, they can make about seven million batteries.”

Every year, supercapacitor production in the world nearly doubles to meet the growing demand for better power sources. But this is the first supercapacitor built using eggshell membranes, said Li.

“There is a market for supercapacitors, and there are supercapacitors available,” said Li. “But there is no commercial capacitor available utilizing this kind of functionality.”

While Mitlin and Li have not yet commercialized their findings, they said they hope to scale up production as funding becomes available. Until then, Li will continue exploring the energy potential of other agricultural products and byproducts.

“There’s tons of biomass grown by farms or farmers, and each of them has a special structure,” he said. “Eggshells are just an example. There’s lots of things we’re interested in that are grown by farms or farmers.”

The post Alberta researchers use eggshells to build better battery appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“We don’t have as many people paging the office,” says Ag Days webmaster Tom Tolton. “We used to have message boards up and lots of people paging, but today they all have cellphones to communicate with each other.”

Ag Days has embraced technology to make it easier for exhibitors and attendees to register and keep informed about the event.

For the first time exhibitors at Ag Days were able to register online for the 2012 show and the Ag Days website, which was first launched about eight years ago, also underwent a major facelift this year.

“The website is really important so that the 36,000 or more people who come to the event can look ahead of time and see what’s going to be there and when,” says Tolton.

Advances in mobile communications technology have changed people’s expectations about how and when information is delivered, and has allowed organizers to better meet those expectations by providing immediate and accurate updates about the show.

“In the past sometimes there have been changes and updates after we have printed the program,” says Tolton. “The website is the place that people can check for any changes or something new and unexpected.”

Technology is also having an effect on the program itself. This year Ag Days is using webinar technology for the first time to connect a speaker from Hamburg, Germany to participants at the Keystone Centre, who will be able to interact through floor microphones patched into the system.

Thomas Mielke, executive director of ISTA Mielke Gmbh, Oil World will present a seminar via the Internet about the global outlook for oilseeds during Wednesday’s session on agronomy highlights from around the world.

“This is really new for us,” says Tolton, “and it’s a great opportunity for participants to be able to ask questions of a speaker from the other side of the world. And it’s more convenient for the speaker as he can deliver the seminar right from his desk and doesn’t have to worry about travel time and costs.”

Organizers hope next year to go fully mobile, allowing web access and updates to be delivered instantly through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Although technology has changed the way in which people generally connect with each other, the one-on-one contact they can get at Ag Days is still important.

“For some of the exhibitors the show provides 70 per cent of their contacts for the year,” says Tolton. “That hasn’t changed, but the way that they make contact with their clients has. So technology plays a role behind the scenes, but the handshake at the show is still a big part of the attraction of Ag Days.”

The post Making connections at Ag Days appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

KAP is opposed to the west-side route because it is not the right way to proceed for farmers and other ratepayers. Our members have passed resolutions opposing the route and we want all farmers and Manitobans to know that we will not let this issue be ignored.

KAP has been working on Bipole III lobby efforts for 3-1/2 years. KAP officially opposes the west-side route because it will cost every Manitoba Hydro customer extra money for capital costs.

Whether someone has the transmission line running across their field or not, they will be paying for this project through their Hydro bill. Manitoba Hydro recently confirmed that the cost of the project is now pegged at $3.28 billion. This is up from the previous estimate of $2.24 billion. It is a bad business decision for the utility to incur excessive costs for the wrong reasons.

Our members have come to us with concerns about how the transmission line will affect the way they live and work. The major issues for farmers include access land for crop production, the impact on irrigation systems, aerial spraying and being forced to manoeuvre farm equipment around towers.

Weed control around the towers is also a concern. In addition, the hazard of hitting towers with equipment looms over every farmer affected by the west-side Bipole III route. Safety and liability are major concerns and farmers are left wondering what will happen to their insurance coverage and the related costs if they ever have a claim due to contacting a tower. The potential for electromagnetic radiation to affect electronics is also on the minds of farmers.

Our members have been telling us they are not happy with the compensation that has been offered to them and they have pointed out the unfair approach Manitoba Hydro is taking by dealing with individuals one on one. Furthermore, other utility providers deliver ongoing compensation throughout the life of the related infrastructure, while Manitoba Hydro has only offered a one-time compensation package. KAP questions why Manitoba Hydro is failing to provide landowners with compensation that takes into account the long-term financial impact of farmers having to work around the transmission line.

We believe Bipole III will have a negative effect on future real estate values. People who may want to expand their farmyards or residences will not feel that it is a safe and wise investment. This leaves landowners in a no-win situation.

Bipole III should not be constructed on prime agricultural land. An east-side route is preferable because it would have less of an impact on farmers’ livelihoods.

We will continue to advocate for the west-side route to be abandoned.

Doug Chorney is president of Keystone Agricultural

Producers. He farms near East Selkirk.

The post Bipole III Route Must Change appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Symonds’ exquisitely detailed model panorama – known as the Manitoba & North-Western Railroad – roars over 3,000 feet of 1/87th HO scale track. There are eight subdivisions and three divisions – the 1880 Division, the South Division and the North Division on the 28×38-foot custom layout. Each division has its own unique characteristics which create some interesting train operations. There are yards with turntables… hamlets, villages and towns… buildings with lights… little people everywhere… and special sound effects.

To operate the massive model railroad, four control boards are used, which up to eight people can run the trains in lifelike scenarios.

“I’ve had as many as 18 trains going at once,” said Symonds, who received his first electric train set when he was 15. “Made up entirely of hopper grain cars and a couple of engines, the longest train running along the rails located in the basement of my home featured 100 units.”

From the era of the steam locomotive to the modern-day diesel unit, the 76-year-old hobbyist has a staggering 600+ prototypically accurate engines, 2,000 freight cars and 500 passenger cars. His collection has become a railroad museum with over 2,000 items including pictures, railroad artifacts, books, magazines and memorabilia.

Since opening to the public in the late 1990s, thousands have dropped by 412 Railway Avenue in the community of 250, which expands in the summer thanks to the lake and cottage country. Visitors’ comments have been favour-able – awesome, fascinating, very interesting and amazing.

“It’s more the older generations that fancy model railroading than youth today,” said Symonds, a retired Canadian National Railway (CNR) employee. “Seventy-five per cent of visitors are over 40 years, perhaps even 50.”

While he never looks at the layout as being 100 per cent complete, (part of the fun of model railroading, according to the self-proclaimed addict, is adding and subtracting), Symonds enjoys sharing his passion with others. To view the scenes, Symonds charges an admission of $4 per person, and tour or school groups are welcome with special rates available. Appointments are required by phone: (204) 585-2419 or email: esymonds@mts.net.

MARBLES AS TRAINS

Although Symonds has enjoyed model railroading from an electric format for the past 60 years, he can remember using marbles as trains as a youngster when his father, W. C. Symonds, was station agent at Sandy Lake.

“My first layout was on a 4×8-foot area in the freight shed, second was in the attic and third in the basement, where it has been expanded to what you see today,” said Symonds.

His collection includes a model of every engine that passed through the south Parkland community at one time. Prior to retirement in 1987, his position with CNR was to close a number of stations. His first was Sandy Lake, and upon that fateful day he remembers solemnly standing on the platform and shedding tears.

By opening his own railroad or at least a scale-model version, it was a means of keeping a personal dream alive of seeing a railway operating in Sandy Lake.

And while Symonds has enjoyed showing his collection, the senior citizen feels the time has come to scale back. “I’m looking for a community interested in a great tourist attraction, as my layout is for sale,” said Symonds. “Model railroads are extremely popular tourist draws down in the United States, and could be more so in Manitoba, if they were located on major thoroughfares such as Highway 1 or 16.”

Symonds feels the hobby of model railroading can enrich a community in other ways, by incorporating skills such as carpentry, electronics and art into the mix.

“Model railroading is a great teacher,” Symonds said. “Learning as you go, it’s amazing what can be created through your own hands with enthusiasm and some scrap material.”

KNOWLEDGE IMPORTANT

For the Sandy Lake model train enthusiast, who has been told he has more stock than a hobby store, knowledge is a vital tool in creating a well-designed layout. He stressed that to be a great model railroader one has to have interest in all aspects, or there will be flaws in the design. By sharing his enthusiasm for small-scale train operations countless friendships have been formed over the years. He has also helped a number get started in the wonderful world of toy trains by selling equipment and track for a basic layout.

Symonds has built nine railroads including “Roadside Canada” that toured Manitoba in 1967. Constructed in the inside of a school bus, Symonds teamed up with local clubs such as 4-H and Girl Guides to bring the attraction to a community. Among the many towns visited were Rossburn, Russell and Shoal Lake.

“I have had the privilege of sharing my hobby with some pretty special people – Jean Chrétien, Inky Mark, among others,” said Symonds. “Far too often communities overlook how personal interests can bring dividends.”

Symonds takes great pride that the Manitoba & North-Western Railroad has lent itself as a community attraction. Combined with a number of other attractions in town, he feels people can spend a friendly, enjoyable day in Sandy Lake, where the past meets the present on and off the rails. – Darrell Nesbitt writes from

Shoal Lake, Manitoba.

The post Bringing Model Trains To Life appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

But tell them it’s supposed to boost fuel efficiency, reduce emissions and extend engine life and you’ll have their attention.

Ron Preston, president and Kevin Kenney, biofuel systems engineer, with Nebraskabased CleanFlex Power Systems get that a lot. Their company has a patented system to retrofit diesel engines to run on at least 15 per cent, 120-proof ethanol and 85 per cent diesel.

But the technology allows diesels to run on up to 95 per cent 120-proof ethanol and just five per cent diesel.

One hundred and twenty-proof ethanol is 60 per cent pure ethanol and 40 per cent water.

Let that sink in – 40 per cent water.

WATERED DOWN

With the CleanFlex system, up to 38 per cent of the fuel burned in a diesel engine could be water; 57 per cent would be ethanol and just five per cent of it diesel.

Water, although a vital resource is renewable. And it costs pennies a gallon versus dollars per gallon for diesel, which is finite.

And there’s more. CleanFlex claims its system reduces fuel consumption 10 to 30 per cent, or boosts horsepower by that much, slashes nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions by up to 50 per cent, reduces particulate emissions and results in cooler-running engines.

“Engines run cleaner and greener and it gives longer engine life,” Preston said during a recent demonstration at Blight Equipment, a CaseIH and New Holland dealership.

Manitoba Hydro officials were to see a demonstration later in the week.

LUBRICITY

Usually the first question farmers ask is about lubricity. Won’t ethanol and water damage the engine’s fuel injection pump, fuel injectors and pistons?

Nope. The 120-proof ethanol is stored in a separate fuel tank and delivered to the cylinders through the engine’s air intake system, bypassing the injection pump and injectors.

“The point of combustion is where we go in (and the two fuels meet),” Preston said.

The ethanol-water mix enters the cylinder in a vapourized state. And even though ethanol alone has less energy (British thermal units) than diesel fuel, combining the fuels results in a slower, cooler, but more thorough burn, Kenney said. The water is converted to steam, which creates power.

“We put a steam engine inside a diesel engine,” Kenney said. “That’s what we’ve done. We’ve harnessed a bigger horse with the same bridle.”

STEAM TREATMENT

The steam also adds lubricity. The diesel fuel burns better, resulting in less nitrous oxide emissions.

“We have a pre-treatment and we are eliminating emissions so they never happen,” Preston said. “Some of the other technologies are trying to take care of emissions after the fact.”

In the United States, 200-proof ethanol sells for $1.60 a gallon (U. S.). Dilute it by 40 per cent with water and the cost of 120-proof ethanol drops to around a buck a gallon or 25 cents a litre.

Despite being 40 per cent water, 120-proof ethanol won’t freeze even at -73 C.

Like any new technology, potential users want independent, third-party data proving it works, and in this case, that it won’t harm engines. The Southwestern Research Institute in Texas is currently studying the CleanFlex system, Preston said.

In the meantime, several engines continue to burn the ethanol-water and diesel combination including the firm’s own 2005 Ford Powerstroke diesel three-quarter-ton truck.

“We’ve seen a 30 per cent improvement with fuel economy,” Preston said.

A highway tractor with a 475-hp Cat engine has logged almost 42,000 miles in the United States without any trouble, according to Preston. Fuel costs have dropped 40 per cent. One of the truck’s fuel tanks holds enough 120-proof ethanol to cover 6,000 miles.

If the truck runs out, the engine continues to operate normally just on diesel.

NON-INVASIVE

Kenney says computers and modern electronics are key to making the system work so flawlessly.

“This system is non-invasive,” he said. “We’re not changing anything on the engine. This is bulletproof.”

According to CleanFlex, its system, properly installed, will not cause engine damage, therefore, it shouldn’t void new engine warranties.

“We’ve talked to many (machinery) company engineers that don’t see a problem,” Preston said, but he agreed engine makers will need to be convinced, just as they were when ethanol and biodiesel first hit the market.

CleanFlex is ready to commercialize its technology. Retrofitting an engine would cost $5,000 to $7,500 and will take half a day by a trained installer, Preston said.

Preston hopes someday diesel engines will come from the factory already fitted with the CleanFlex system.

The American government and military are interested because it fits with the goal of reducing dependency on imported oil, he added. American farmers are interested because it has the potential to dramatically increase the demand for their corn, which is made into ethanol.

There are hurdles, such as making 120-proof ethanol generally available, especially to serve truckers, but Preston is confident the challenges can be overcome.

Before Preston and Kenney left they poured two pails of ethanol into the company truck, followed by a couple of jugs of distilled water.

It looked weird. allan@fbcpublishing.com

The post Run Your Diesel Engine On Ethanol, Water And Diesel appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Bernie Peet is president of Pork Chain Consulting Ltd. of Lacombe, Alberta, and editor of Western Hog Journal. His columns will run every second week in the Manitoba Co-operator.

Quality assurance programs for agricultural products are rapidly becoming a fact of life for farmers, yet many view the cost of such schemes purely as an expense, with no tangible benefits. But Martin Barker, managing director of U. K.-based Genesis QA, says it is possible for producers to extract value from QA programs because they generate a mass of potentially valuable data.

Speaking during a recent visit to Alberta, Barker said that QA programs not only need to be competitively priced, but also should enhance clients’ performance and increase value by providing benefits.

“We have been successful because we will often recover the full cost of membership through the benefits we provide, primarily from the data we collect,” he says.

Data collected during on-farm audits can be used to rank farms, allowing the best producers to benefit. “We have been working with the world’s insurers to derive benefit from this,” says Barker. “One large-scale pig production company in Britain, which we ranked as one of the best, managed to save the equivalent of $80,000 per year on insurance, compared to QA scheme membership fees of $8,000.”

Producers with a lower ranking can be shown what they have to do to improve and how much they could save on insurance, which provides an incentive, he adds.

Genesis QA was started “out of frustration” about 15 years ago, when assurance schemes for the main agricultural sectors were proliferating in the U. K.

“There were six single-sector schemes and as a mixed farming operation with cattle, pigs and sheep, we were constantly being bombarded with paperwork to fill in for the various schemes and had different inspectors coming to the farm,” Barker explains.

“We set up a whole-farm scheme, which took out all the elements common across all farm enterprises, such as feed storage, use of medicines, staff training, etc., and put them all together. This avoided all the duplication and created a ‘mainframe with bolt-ons’ approach. Also, a single farm approach saves significant cost by increasing the efficiency of farm auditors.”

The Genesis system provides the platform for internationally recognized certification that can be used by agricultural industry QA programs, food processors and retailers.

“We can certify any set of standards, anywhere in the world,” he says. “There is an equivalence process so that standards that are recognized by accreditation bodies in one country are recognized in most others.” Genesis now serves 18 of the top 30 food groups in the world including Wal-Mart, Tesco, Danish Crown and Smithfield.

BALLPOINT ON STEROIDS

Genesis uses technology to benefit the producer and to create value. Central to data capture on the farm – by both the producer and auditor – is the Digipen, a regular ballpoint but bristling with electronics. It writes on special paper, which has minute dots, allowing it to track the letters and numbers with a camera in the tip of the pen. The data is packaged up by a microchip and sent via a Bluetooth mobile phone connection to a server, which stores the data.

A pig producer who enters production data such as breeding and farrowing information can then get reports back very quickly, without having to enter the data again as with regular herd-recording programs. This not only saves time but gives rapid access to reports and other information.

“If a sow number is entered incorrectly, the producer gets an e-mail back to his mobile phone, so he can go and correct the error immediately,” says Barker. “Where data is entered into a computer from written records, errors can take a long time to track down.”

Data from the farm is combined with information from other participants in the production process such as the processor, trucking company, feed supplier and producer organizations. This allows sharing of the “pot” of data for mutual benefit and, again, prevents entering the same data more than once. “When a producer buys feed, the supplier generates a delivery sheet. If the supplier then uploads the data to the Genesis ‘Data Warehouse,’ the producer can include it in his records without any effort,” says Barker.

“Similarly, the producer’s vet can access farm reports from the system.” However, he stresses, it is the producer who controls the data and only the producer can authorize access by a third party.

Information about farms can be used to benchmark an individual farm or group of farms against international or retailer standards. “We can tell a producer where he stands relative to certain standards and what he has to do to meet a particular standard,” Barker says.

Wherever possible, Genesis tries to generate income from using the data to keep costs down for producers. “We get paid by banks to rank their client portfolio against those of their competitors, he says. “At the same time, we can get improved access to finance and better loan rates for the higher-ranked producers within the scheme.

“Quality assurance is an integral part of a mature supply chain, but many producers perceive it to be something completely different to what it is,” Barker concludes. “We imposed regulation and quality assurance in the U. K. 15 years ago, which was a burden on producers, but now we’ve evolved it to work for us and bring benefits.”

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