“Since last January’s outlook, crop margins have improved, though for most producers they remain close to breakeven levels,” wrote FCC senior economist Justin Shepherd on Wednesday.

Stronger prices

Overall, cash prices have strengthened since January and, while not at 2022 peaks, exceed long-term historical ranges.

For canola producers, strong Canadian exports and positive news about U.S. biofuel incentives have improved demand expectations, Shepherd said.

In July, U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its forecast for 2025/26 global wheat production and wheat ending stocks—based in part on lower expectations for Canada. Excluding China, global ending stocks are nearly at a 20-year low, wrote Shepherd.

Biofuel policy is driving higher soybean crushings in the U.S. with the expectation that industrial use in 2025/26 will exceed food consumption for the first time.

Corn production is forecasted to jump this year in part due to a large Brazilian crop, “but higher consumption is expected to lead to ending stocks roughly unchanged year over year,” Shepherd added.

The U.S. corn crop is forecasted at 410 million tonnes, up from last year’s 378 million tonnes, noted analyst Jerry Klassen. U.S. corn will displace some feed barley in Alberta and will take 20 to 30 cents off the cost-per-pound gain for beef cattle.

Average crop year?

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) readings of the three Prairie provinces indicate average levels, suggesting yield potential within or slightly above the normal range, said Shepherd. July saw more rain than the previous year, though he noted some areas are seeing drought conditions.

Cypress County in southeastern Alberta has declared an agricultural emergency for the fourth time in five years. However, as of the week ending July 15, crop conditions were improving in much of the province. Heavy rainfall in Saskatchewan also benefited some of the less mature crops.

This year Ontario and Quebec saw planting delays due to excess moisture, however heat and rainfall have supported corn and soybean crops to progress toward typical development stages, said Shepherd.

Revenue outlook improved

Farmers’ revenue outlook has improved compared to FCC’s January forecast.

“This improvement is primarily attributed to slightly stronger pricing, as cost structures have remained relatively stable and yield projections are average across the major provinces,” Shepherd wrote.

Margins are expected to be higher than last year, but they continue to fall below the five-year average. For many producers, particularly once land costs are factored in, returns are projected to be at or near breakeven.

“It should be noted that actual results may improve should yields – or marketing opportunities – exceed our model’s baseline assumptions,” he added.

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Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced the three-year, $3-million initiative on March 6. It will be delivered by AAFC in partnership with the Privy Council Office’s Impact Canada. The PMWI aims to bring forward collaborative solutions that use creative, data-based approaches to help improve the wellbeing of producers; reduce the stigma around mental health in agriculture; raise awareness; and offer the support producers need, when they need it.

“Our producers do so much for us — often making personal sacrifices so they can deliver their top-quality products,” said MacAulay in a press release. “Their mental health should not be something they have to sacrifice. Through this new initiative, we’re giving Canadians an opportunity to come up with new solutions for producer mental wellbeing that will help reduce stigma and improve access to tailored support.”

The PMWI is now open for application intake until June 3, 2025. For-profit organizations, not-for-profit organizations and individuals registered to do business in Canada are encouraged to apply.

The initiative will use a three-stage approach to move innovators through the process of proposing, developing and implementing their solutions. At each stage, a jury, made up of subject matter experts, will recommend which innovative solutions move to the next stage and receive funding. Two grand prize winners will ultimately receive up to $500,000 each to scale their solutions, grow their impact and increase the potential to support the wellbeing of more producers across the country.

Key stressors for producers include climate change, isolation, stigma and the physical and emotional demands of farming, says the PMWI website. Anxiety, depression and stress from financial uncertainty, weather unpredictability and the unique pressures of managing farm operations were also cited as significant mental health challenges faced by farmers.

The post New initiative to promote farmer mental health launched appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

In eastern and western states, farmers blocked roads and squatted on railway tracks, delaying hordes of people getting to work, and preventing perishable produce from reaching markets.

Farmers from the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, neighbouring New Delhi, have been at the vanguard of the agitation since last month, and have set up protest camps in and around the capital.

“We will not allow the government to change the rules because they want to hurt farmers’ income by filling the pockets of big companies,” said Gurwinder Singh, a 66-year-old farmer from Punjab, a state known as the food bowl of India. The reforms enacted in September loosened rules around the sale, pricing and storage of farm produce that have protected farmers from an unfettered free market for decades.

Assured of floor prices, most currently sell the bulk of their produce at government-controlled wholesale markets, known as mandis.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said the reforms would not hurt farmers’ incomes. More talks between the government and farmer organizations are due on Wednesday.

Home Minister Amit Shah late on Tuesday invited leaders of protesting farmers’ unions for talks.

“Most likely, the government on Wednesday will give a written proposal about the likely amendments in the laws. Once we receive the proposals, we will examine them,” farmers’ leader Hanan Molla told reporters after the meeting.

Social media has fanned sympathy for the farmers’ cause among the Indian diaspora abroad. During recent days, thousands of people have protested in support of the farmers outside the Indian embassy in central London. In Canada, rallies were reported over the past week in cities including Toronto, Calgary, Winnipeg and Charlottetown.

During the coronavirus pandemic, protest sites around New Delhi have turned into camps, with entire families cooking and sleeping in the open and Sikh religious organizations were providing them with face masks, water and food.

— Reporting by Reuters’ India bureau; writing by Rupam Jain and Mayank Bhardwaj.

The post Farmers protest across India against Modi’s farm market reforms appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Be it crippling regulations, lack of risk management programs for small farmers, or simply lack of local supply chains, several factors say Manitoba’s local food system has yet to fully mature.

“It seems that Manitoba lacks a clear idea of how local food fits into regional development strategies,” said University of Manitoba researcher Iain Davidson-Hunt, who led a study of local microbrewers.

“I would think that a policy environment that includes a focus on local food broadly and then craft beer within that framework can then open space for funding programs to invest in building a local/regional food system in order to help it grow,” he added.

‘Barley’ any local ingredients

Local brewers want to make beer from local barley and hops, but the supply chains don’t exist, Davidson-Hunt and colleagues found.

Manitoba farmers produce hundreds of thousands of tonnes of barley each year but very little makes it into Manitoba-made beer. Small brewers said they buy malt from Brewers Supply Group (with malting facilities in Alberta and Minnesota) and Country Malt Group (locations in Alberta and Ontario).

One brewer said he used to buy from Manitoba malter MaltEurop, but switched suppliers because he couldn’t get a product that met his needs.

Only Neepawa brewer Farmery consistently uses local barley — because it grows it itself and has it custom malted.

Manitoba doesn’t have a ‘craft’ or small-scale malting facility, which is one issue keeping local brewers from buying local malt.

Meanwhile, Manitoba has three commercial hop producers (including Farmery, which produces for itself). These don’t supply enough hops for all of Manitoba’s beer needs, but brewers like Brazen Hall’s Jeremy Wells said they buy local hops when they can.

Growers said hops are labour-intensive and take a lot of cash to get started.

No safety net

After their market garden got off to a record start, sudden flooding and wind damage sunk crops at Justin Girard and Britt Embry’s certified organic vegetable farm near Elie, this July.

The loss, which at the time they estimated to be at least $40,000 in sales, highlighted that small producers like Girard and Embry aren’t eligible for crop insurance despite deriving their entire income from their produce.

While Manitoba Agriculture Services Corp. insures vegetable acres, commercial vegetable growers must grow a minimum of three acres of each crop for it to be eligible for insurances.

Girard and Embry farm just over three acres, total. On that, they grow about 40 varieties and can gross $35,000 per acre in crops.

However, producers said an entirely different insurance model would be needed to even be relevant to their style of farming, which can involve growing dozens of crops at various planting and harvesting times throughout the season. Variety has been the small-producer’s insurance in the past.

Market gardener Bruce Berry compared the current MASC crop insurance model to offering a Caterpillar earth-hauler wheel to someone riding a bicycle.

In November, Direct Farm Manitoba, which represents small producers and food manufacturers, pitched a catastrophic-loss insurance to its members based off a model used in Quebec.

Quebec offers crop insurance for local market gardening, covering berries and small fruit, herbs, potatoes and market garden crops, according to a program fact sheet. The program covers excessive wind and rain, hail, late or early frost, tornadoes and hurricanes.

To be eligible, the farmer must cultivate a minimum of two acres, all crops combined, and grow a minimum of 10 different crops.

Cheese on the chopping block

Cheese makers Dustin Peltier and Rachel Isaak said the province’s overcomplicated and unfair regulations have forced them nearly to bankruptcy.

The couple, along with Peltier’s parents Gary and Silver Peltier, had taken up the mantle of Trappist-style cheese making after the monk who’d make it for decades retired. The unpasteurized cheese has been made in Manitoba at least since the early 20th century.

Peltier and Isaak said they’ve spent about $70,000 in repeated tests and discarded cheese and still haven’t met the province’s mark for validation.

Documents provided to the Co-operator showed that the province initially said it would test the first three lots of cheese Peltier and Isaak made.

Initial batches showed high bacteria counts, but a few months later the cheese had passed three rounds of testing. This wasn’t enough, the couple said. They were told they’d need to continue testing each batch of cheese.

In January 2019, Peltier and Isaak asked provincial inspectors how many more tests they had to pass before their process was validated. They were told they must pass 10 more tests.

After mediation with the province failed to resolve their issues, Peltier and Isaak reached the end of their rope. They stopped making the traditional, unpasteurized cheese.

Local food advocates said Peltier and Isaak’s case, while extreme, isn’t a one-off. Researcher Jeanette Sivilay wrote that among the local food community, “complex, inconsistently interpreted and applied regulations” are a large concern.

Regulations aren’t always clearcut, said Dave Shambrock, executive director of Food + Beverage Manitoba. Interpreting and applying them can put inspectors in awkward positions.

Sivilay, Peltier and Isaak spoke about fear of retaliation among the community.

“That’s a huge red flag,” said food advocate Erin Crampton, adding it speaks volumes to the tone and attitude of the Manitoba Agriculture organization.

Ag Minister Blaine Pedersen responded to Peltier and Isaak’s accusations, saying it is the province’s responsibility to keep the food supply safe.

Looking ahead

The cheese makers’ plight received an outpouring of support on Peltier and Isaak’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

Peltier and Isaak have since told the Co-operator that they’re not done. Photos of shirts emblazoned with “save the cheese” popped up on their social media, and the couple said they’re gathering information on how to best tackle regulatory hurdles.

Meanwhile, they’ve begun making cheese with pasteurized milk to generate cash flow.

Direct Farm Manitoba indicated it would take the Quebec model of crop insurance for small producers to MASC in spring.

The Pallister government’s winning election platform included a promise to exempt craft breweries and distillers from markup for on-premise sales of their products, and to work with the local craft brewers to reduce red tape and barriers to growth.

It remains to be seen what this will mean for local supply chains.

The post Year in Review: Local food producers struggle ahead appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“Lower back pain is a part of long days in the cab of a tractor or truck. I really like stretching and doing some yoga in the off-hours, and even for a few minutes while fuelling up,” says Gregory. “With beekeeping and chucking seed bags, your wrists really get a workout so I try to stretch them between yards as well.”

Gregory also stresses the importance of hydrating.

“Always carry a water bottle. You can work when you’re hungry but it’s brutal when you’re thirsty.”

As a farmer, it is not uncommon to spend hours in the tractor cab, but because the human body is designed to move, if you get out to fix or lift something after sitting for so long the risk of injury increases. While you want to take advantage of good weather to get the job done, your health must not take a back seat.

When stopping for meals, or if you get out to fix something, take a few minutes to do the following:

• For the back: Stand with feet shoulder distance apart facing your tractor tire with your feet slightly back. Cross your arms and lean forward into the tire arching your back. Hold for 20 seconds then straighten up. Repeat five times.
• For the legs: Stand with one leg out in front, knee straight and toes pointing towards the sky. Slowly bend forward at waist until you feel a gentle stretch in the back of your leg. Hold for 20 seconds. Do the same to the other leg. Repeat five times each leg.

While sitting in the tractor:

• For shoulders and neck: Tuck your chin in, push your neck forward and shoulders back. Hold both for 10 seconds. Release, look up to the sky for three seconds, release again. Repeat five times.
• For the hips and back: Turn towards an armrest, take a good grip — pull yourself towards the armrest. Hold for 20 seconds then come back to centre. Do it on the other side. Repeat five times.

At minimum, adults 18 to 64 should get 20 minutes of sweat-inducing physical activity each day to maintain normal health, according to the Canadian guidelines. As daily physical labour decreases on farms because of modern automated farm equipment, farmers may not get the exercise they once did.

A 2015 collaborative study by Queens University and the University of Saskatchewan analyzed 2,619 adult farmers and found that 65.1 per cent were overweight or obese, which was clearly linked with the use of mechanized equipment for farm work. This finding was particularly apparent on farm operations that produce grain commodities.

It is important for you as a farmer to take care of yourself the same way you take care of your livelihood. Make sure you are exercising, resting, staying hydrated and taking healthy food out with you each day.

The post Farmers need to keep in shape appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“This is a classic issue of where the optics are awful,” Gifford told the 22nd annual Fields on Wheels conference in Winnipeg Dec. 15.

“It seems to me it is an equity problem and it is an understandable problem that has got to be resolved.”

American farmers can sell wheat to western Canadian elevators, but they can’t get an official Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) grade, even if the wheat is registered to grow in Canada.

That means American wheat must receive the lowest grade for the intended class, which for Canada Western Red Spring is feed.

It’s a trade irritant that St. Francois Xavier farmer and Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association director Gunter Jochum fears could lead to the U.S. blocking Canadian wheat imports.

Canada exports around four million tonnes of wheat to the U.S., making it one of Canada’s most important markets.

The U.S. only exports about 50,000 tonnes of wheat north, Jochum told the meeting.

Access to the U.S. market is a valuable safety valve, Jochum said.

Changes to the Canada Grain Act that would have allowed American wheat to be graded, died in Parliament a few years ago.

The CGC, which administers the act, says there are no regulations preventing American wheat from being sold to Canadian elevators. Canadian buyers and American sellers can agree on price-based quality specifications, CGC spokesman Remi Gosselin has said in previous interviews.

Colin Watters, executive vice-president of the Montana Wheat and Barley Commission, agrees. However, he told the conference since Canadian exporters are required to declare shipments that contain foreign grain, Canadian elevators won’t buy American wheat because of added segregation costs and the risk of downgrading Canadian shipments accidentally mixed with American wheat.

Watters said he’d be satisfied if American wheat, registered in Canada, could get a CGC grade. But he added some American farmers see Western Canada’s wheat variety registration system as a non-tariff trade barrier.

The system requires new wheats intended for milling to meet specific end-use quality, agronomic and disease standards for the intended class.

However, presumably the system is not a barrier because it applies equally to Canadian farmers. If a Canadian farmer delivers an unregistered wheat it’s only eligible for the lowest grade.

“It seems to me that with goodwill on both sides you could probably come up with a system that accommodates that, but it requires impetus,” Gifford later told reporters.

The post Complaints about Canadian grading of U.S. wheat justified: Gifford appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Such delays are worsening on the nation’s waterways, which are critical to commerce for the United States, the largest grain exporter in the world. Of the country’s $40 billion in annual grain and soybean exports, about 60 per cent is moved by barges on rivers, including the Ohio.

The shutdown, caused by worn or missing sections of a dam, snarled traffic from early September into early November through Locks and Dam No. 52 near Paducah, Kentucky. It was the second shutdown in two months at No. 52, which is among the country’s busiest locks with about $22 billion (all figures U.S. funds) a year of commodities flowing through it.

The lock, which has been earmarked for replacement by the Army Corps of Engineers for three decades, is one of many choke points along 25,000 miles of waterways used to transport everything from grains to consumer goods to coal.

It is a system increasingly under strain. Surging shipments of soybeans and corn — due to record harvests — are overwhelming parts of the antiquated network and causing more frequent and severe backups, according to interviews with farmers, shippers, grains merchants and barge operators.

Reverberations have cut across the U.S. agricultural supply chain — and international markets. This fall, delays in moving crops downriver bumped up grain prices at export terminals along the Gulf Coast, opening up an advantage for global competitors such as Brazil.

Most of the country’s 239 locks have exceeded their half-century design lives, and nearly half the vessels that use the nation’s inland waterways now experience delays, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The average delay per lock has nearly doubled on the waterways since the beginning of the century, rising to 121 minutes in 2014 from 64 minutes in 2000, the group said.

An October National Waterways Foundation study said a major lock failure in the Midwest could cost shippers $1.5 billion per year in added costs and overwhelm existing rail and road capacity. Every barge can hold as much grain as 16 rail cars or 70 trucks.

Swollen stocks

The delays here and elsewhere are boosting prices for key goods including soybeans, and eating away at the nation’s competitive edge against rival exporters like Brazil.

U.S. soybean export prices normally drop in the autumn, as newly harvested supplies flood the market. But the delays caused prices to rise, making it harder for the United States, the second-largest soybean exporter, to compete with Brazil, which ranks first.

In mid-August, the price of soybeans loaded for export at U.S. Gulf Coast terminals was about $14 per metric ton below the cost of soybeans loaded at Brazil’s Paranagua port, according to industry data. By mid-November, the U.S. advantage had been cut to less than $4 per ton. Brazil’s soybeans have a higher protein content, and therefore attract a premium.

Top soy importer China is expected to buy twice as many soybeans from Brazil in the fourth quarter as it did last year, much of it at the expense of U.S. shipments.

Export markets are key for farmers and grain processors due to rising crop yields. In the past two decades, U.S. corn output has outpaced domestic use by 20 per cent, and soybeans by more than 70 per cent.

“Being near the river used to be an advantage, but now having to wait on dams and infrastructure is more of a liability to farmers,” said Marc Bremer, a farmer in Metropolis, Illinois.

Bremer sells most of his corn and soybeans to facilities known as elevators, which receive and store grain and load barges on the Ohio River. This autumn, he lost up to $30,000 in revenue when prices tumbled because disruptions caused crop stockpiles to swell at these facilities. He said he may delay buying new farm equipment as a result.

The log-jams hit local grain buyers — the elevators — that cut bids on crops to the lowest levels since the Port of New Orleans was shuttered by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Elevators, including those owned by Bunge, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland, typically fill barges with corn and soybeans en route to the Gulf of Mexico. But the backup meant they were unable to ship out supplies — overwhelming their storage, too.

‘Hidden cost’

Along the river in Shawneetown, Illinois, Bunge piled soybeans outside on the ground, putting them at risk of damage from rain or animals, because the elevator’s bins were full due to the backlog, local farmers said. An employee of Bunge’s elevator said it took this step because of “market conditions.”

Randy Anderson, a farmer from Galatia, Illinois, said he was told to hold back pre-arranged deliveries of crops to the Bunge elevator. Instead, he was forced to take time away from harvesting to load the crops into his own storage bins.

“That could have been time I could have been in the field,” he said. “That’s a hidden cost.”

The effect was also felt by shipping companies, which make more money the more trips their barges make. Barge operator Campbell Transportation Company of Pittsburgh estimated a loss of $1 million in revenue in September and October because of the delays.

“This was the difference between a small profit and a big loss,” said Peter Stephaich, Campbell chief executive.

Replacing Locks and Dam No. 52 and nearby No. 53 on the Ohio River has been on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ to-do list for about 30 years, even as its backlog of other projects has grown.

Known as the Olmsted Locks and Dam, the replacement is set to finally be completed next year. Its cost has risen to about $3 billion from an original estimate of $775 million.

In the meantime, the short-term work to fix the dam continues. Divers working in pitch-black water needed a week to repair the largest hole in the 90-year-old dam, one of the last on the river made of wooden slats. Repairs to three other worn and corroded sections may be completed this month. For the seven-man crew of the Oliver C. Shearer, one of 70 towboats hauling hundreds of barges carrying goods, the delay at Locks and Dam No. 52 meant killing time. But there was only so much paperwork, repairs, or waxing the checkerboard floor of the vessel that the crew could do.

“You start beating your head against the wall,” Michael McCloud, the boat’s captain, said in October as he looked out at idle barges on the Ohio River from the vessel’s bridge.

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“It was awesome… a lot of fun,” recalls farmer Mark Peters with a wide smile. Peters and his wife Yanara, of Spruce Drive Farms, grow certified seed potatoes 12 miles northwest of Portage la Prairie.

On Saturday, October 14, they brought in two potato trucks and a conveyor to a vacant lot in Portage and set up for their second Community Potato Give-Away.

Word about the event spread throughout the week and people were already lined up by 8:30 – a half-hour before the giveaway was slated to start. While many had driven, others walked, pushed strollers, rode bikes or scooters. As the potatoes were unloaded from the truck onto the 36-foot conveyor, folks gathered around filling bags, boxes, containers of all sizes and even backpacks.

Community effort

Volunteers worked alongside the Peters, helping load and carry the spuds as well as encouraging those who were unsure of what to do to find a place along the conveyor and help themselves. The atmosphere was light and jovial. It didn’t matter who you were, or where you came from, everyone was welcome to as many potatoes as they wanted.

“What I loved about it, is that we’re not just targeting one sector of our community. We had people of all ages, all income brackets and walks of life stop by,” said Mark. Many people on fixed incomes and social assistance came up to him to express just how much this was helping them out, shake his hand and thank him. Others stopped by out of curiosity or because they knew the Peters. Some didn’t even need the potatoes but just thought it was a cool idea.

For Yanara, the feeling of community was incredibly gratifying.

“Discovering how people are there for each other, like those taking potatoes for perogy fund­raisers to support other needs in our area. Or the grandmothers who cook extra meals for the children in their community,” she said. “We’re all the same and we all have a story.”

“You had people who come back two or three times,” Mark added. “But they’re not coming back for themselves. They’re coming back for their neighbours, their friends, their families.” And that is exactly what the event is all about. The inspiration to reach out and help others. Filling a need. Building and extending community.

Farmer outreach

Inadvertently it also bridges the farmer-consumer gap. The young ones in the crowd often opened up the best conversations. “Why are the potatoes dirty?” “How come there are so many different shapes and sizes?” “Why are you giving them away?” Many discussions ensued on food waste, what happens to produce before you find it on your store shelves, and why it feels good to give back when you can.

The inaugural event in 2016 was a result of circumstance. Seed potato production standards are very precise. That year, some of the Peters’ crop did not meet seed specifications but was perfectly suitable for the consumer market. However, without a contract to sell consumer potatoes, there was no place for those spuds to go. They could have left them in the field and avoided incurring any more costs, but that type of waste didn’t sit well with the Peters. They opted to dig the crop and the “Community Potato Give-Away” was born.

Being cognizant of local vegetable fundraisers in the community, they waited until those were over before proceeding. The event was a success, in more ways than the Peters could have imagined. The heartfelt gratitude and connections made were powerful and lasting.

“It was always on my heart,” said Mark. “I really wanted to do that again.”

Uncertainty

However, this past summer rains eluded his area. Only the smaller of his two potato fields had access to irrigation. The potatoes in the larger field suffered under the intense summer heat, not looking healthy at all. Peters worried, unsure if he would even have enough to fill his seed contracts.

Once harvest was underway, those worries slowly receded. Whether it was divine intervention or answered prayers, that field with little to no rain produced amazingly well. On the last day of harvest, Mark had a good idea of what was left in the field and didn’t think it could all fit in his storage bin. The giveaway would happen.

He set up a sizer to separate the larger potatoes (less desirable for seed) as they were unloaded. One and a half truckloads were set aside for donation. Along with the Portage la Prairie event, six 2,000-pound totes were filled to be delivered to remote reserves across the province. The fact that the Peters don’t even mention the effort, cost and time that goes into this, speaks volumes.

Many asked if this will be an annual event. When it comes to farming, it all depends on the year and success of the crop. The Peters remember and appreciate how generous people were with them when they were young adults, so when they are in a position to give back, they definitely will.

“It’s only potatoes, but it just brought so much to the community,” Mark said. “It’s a great opportunity to interact with people and hear their stories. The most basic need is being met with the most basic vegetable.”

The post Building their community one potato at a time appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

It also featured a low-key and subdued tone with markets filling and animal quality average rather than exceptional. Producers could be reducing herds, given the time of year, and engaging in a general cleanup of their flocks and herds.

During the sheep sale, wool ewes dominated, but were not of top quality or even well maintained. Many were matted with burrs and struggled to even find and keep low bidding. The quality animals that were on offer were rewarded with better prices. A group of seven 157-pound Suffolk-cross ewes with good quality and structure fetched $1.25/lb. Overall there was less bidding than at the last sale.

Ram selection was limited, but despite this there was less buyer interest, allowing buyers to be more picky. The best example of this was a group of Suffolk-cross lambs and a Rideau-cross lamb with an average weight of 188 lbs. that brought $216.20 ($1.15/lb.). Meanwhile two Cheviot-cross rams and a Dorset-cross ram at 172 pounds brought $163.40 ($0.95/lb.). A 95-pound Katahdin-cross ram brought $103.12 ($1.075/lb.).

Lambs also saw selective bidding from buyers. Two 120-pound Rideau-cross lambs brought $192 ($1.60/lb.), yet a group of three 120-pound lambs later brought $163.20 ($1.36/lb.). A group of seven 111-pound lambs brought $1.66/lb.

Market lambs held in a price range from $1.67-$1.74/lb. The presence of burrs clearly showed a negative effect on price, with a winning bid of $1.44/lb. Exotic breeds were of little interest to buyers. Two 95-pound Icelandic-cross lambs brought $1.02/lb.

Feeder lambs saw slightly more buyer interest and more bidding activity. There appeared to be no price differences between wool and hair lambs. The average price ranged from $1.69 to $1.80/lb. An exception was a group of five 80-pound Dorset-cross lambs bringing $1.86/lb.

Lightweight lambs had the buyers in a selective mood once again. Four 74-pound Dorper-cross lambs brought $1.47/lb. A 70-pound Cheviot-cross lamb brought $1.61 per pound. A group of sixteen 77-pound lambs brought $1.98/lb.

A 60-pound Dorper-cross lamb brought $1.71/lb. A 65-pound Dorset-cross lamb brought $1.82/lb.

A 40-pound Dorset-cross lamb brought $2.10/lb.

In the goat sale, Alpine-cross does were the feature of the dairy side of the doe class, though many of the animals still required fattening. The thin appearance of an 85-pound Alpine-cross goat doe resulted in a price of just $0.91/lb., while an 85-pound Boer-cross goat doe brought $1.77/lb. The seasonal markets are filling so the visual appearance of the animals is showing more in the bidding.

There was also a large contingent of goat bucks at the sale, the result of herd management. The heavier Alpine-cross goat bucks were slightly lower in price when compared to the Boer-cross goat bucks. A 165-pound Toggenburg goat buck brought $0.59/lb. An 80-pound Pygmy goat-cross buck brought $0.78/lb.

Relative to some recent sales, buyers had an excellent selection of goats to choose from, including goat kids. This predictably resulted in lower bidding this sale. Sellers were disappointed to see this, knowing that growing demand towards the holiday season will likely result in higher prices at the next few sales.

There were quality Boer-cross goat doelings at this sale for any farmer starting to add to the herd.

The 60-plus-pound goat kids attempted to continue the strong bidding, as past sales. However, the bids fell short. The average price ranged from $1.98-$2/lb. The September 20, 2017 sale recorded a price range from $2.33-$2.68/lb. for meat and dairy goat kids in the weight class.

The 50-plus-pound goat kids could not maintain the prices seen at the last sale. The average prices ranged from $1.37-$1.67/lb., compared to an average price last sale of $2.15/lb. for goat kids.

The 40-plus-pound goat kids reflected the buyers’ choice nature of this sale in the bidding. Two different groups of Alpine-cross goat kids at 45 pounds brought $0.94 and $1.67/lb. Four 40-pound Boer-cross goat kid wethers brought $1.44/lb. and a group of 47-pound goat kids brought $1.44/lb. Six 40-pound Pygmy-cross goat kids brought $0.65/lb. Last sale, the goat kids ranged from $1.69-$2.52/lb. in this weight class.

Three 37-pound Boer-cross goat doelings brought $1/lb.

The Ontario Stockyard Report reported that all classifications saw difficulties in sales. The demand created very limited interest, so prices were much lower. Even the goats had stress and pressure on the bidding, not reaching the past sales standards.

The post As markets fill, prices drop appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Hands Free Hectare was aiming to test the concept in the field and consciously chose smaller machinery, said Jonathan Gill, a researcher at Harper University.

“There’s been a focus in recent years on making farming more precise, but the larger machines that we’re using are not compatible with this method of working,” Gill said. “They’re also so heavy that they’re damaging farmers’ soils.”

Another reason the researchers decided to go small was the reality of short windows to complete work, often around weather. When human operators are necessary, bigger is better, but when they’re removed, many smaller machines managed by a single farmer are likely to be better.

“We believe the best solution is that in the future, farmers will manage fleets of smaller, autonomous vehicles,” Gill said. “These will be able to go out and work in the fields, allowing the farmer to use their time more effectively and economically instead of having to drive up and down the fields.”

Martin Abell, mechatronics researcher for the company Precision Decisions, the key corporate partner for the project, said the project has proven what’s possible and affordable.

“The whole project cost less than 200,000 British pounds (C$341,960),” Abell said. “We used machinery that was readily available for farmers to buy; open source technology; and an autopilot from a drone for the navigation system.”

Not only was the crop successfully raised and harvested, it also yielded decently, at 4.5 tonnes per hectare (67 bu./acre).

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