“We need a lot of stuff,” said Wayne Rempel, speaking at the Manitoba Organic Alliance annual meeting on April 4.

As well as his position with Peak of the Market, Rempel is president and CEO of Kroeker Farms.

Peak of the Market, formerly a regulated marketing board, has been a private enterprise since early 2022.

It now imports two or three loads of carrots a week from Ontario or Quebec because the local supply has run out, Rempel said. It also imports onions from California and Washington to cover demand during spring and summer.

Big grocery chains want consistent supply, Rempel said. If Peak of the Market can supply produce year-round, it doesn’t have to regain grocers’ attention after harvest in the fall.

Some vegetables can be challenging to store from fall harvest until spring or summer. However, there are opportunities for Manitoba farms to supply more carrots and onions, both conventional and organic, according to Rempel.

Peak of the Market is looking for everything from asparagus to zucchini. There’s also huge demand for local garlic. Asian vegetables like bok choy are in demand, he added. Some bok choy is grown in Manitoba and has performed well.

“It’s pretty easy to grow,” Rempel said.

Some vegetables, like asparagus, would be relatively easy to grow organically, in Rempel’s view, and squash or zucchini could be relatively easy to add because they require less equipment and can be harvested by hand.

Peak of the Market has a system for contract production and requires producers to adhere to its food safety program. It also requires a “significant” supply of vegetables. Producers must be able to wash and package vegetables on-farm.

The business has an agronomist who can help producers begin growing vegetables. Rempel said other producers are also often willing to share information.

The post Demand exists for more Manitoba veggies appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“These environmentally responsible initiatives will help protect the environment while advancing the Manitoba government’s priority to transition the province to a sustainable, low-carbon economy,” said Jeff Wharton, minister of environment, climate and parks, in a news release.

The Manitoba Organic Alliance (MOA) received $92,000 to develop a “web-based nutrient budgeting tool,” the news release said.

“The goal of this project is to help farmers increase their use of biological nitrogen (N) fixation in order to decrease their reliance on mineral fertilizers,” said Nadine Tonn, MOA’s program coordinator, in an emailed statement.

“In a conventional system, it is relatively straightforward to calculate how much N to apply in association with a soil N test,” Tonn added. “However, in a legume-based system where you are effectively growing your own N, the amount of N produced is not so easily calculated.”

Tonn said University of Manitoba researchers Martin Entz and Joanne Thiessen Martens developed a spreadsheet-based tool to calculate plant-available nutrients based on soil and foliar test results.

Students and some agronomists have used the tool, but it has been slow to catch on among farmers, Tonn said. The web-based app will simplify the process by using guided questions and simple written and video instructions.

“We hope to dramatically increase use amongst farmers and agronomists, which in turn is expected to increase the use of legumes in crop rotations,” Tonn said.

Carbon Lock Technologies Inc. received $125,000 for a project to “carbonize biosolids to address methane emissions and nutrient loading,” the province said.

“Biosolids” means human feces; in this case from the City of Selkirk’s waste system, co-founder Kevin Danner told the Co-operator.

Carbon Lock Technologies is a start-up company operating on a research scale out of Selkirk. It developed technology that turns food waste into biocarbon or biochar, which is essentially charcoal.

Plants draw carbon dioxide from the air as they grow, but when they’re discarded as waste they decompose and release carbon back into the atmosphere as methane, Carbon Lock’s website says.

Human biosolids also give off methane as they decompose, Danner said. Nutrients from the waste can leach into groundwater or get washed into waterways where they can lead to algae blooms.

When turned into biocarbon, that carbon is stable and will not decompose into methane. It can sequester carbon for hundreds if not thousands of years, Danner said. The company sees an opportunity to use this biocarbon as a soil amendment in Manitoba.

The porous carbon acts like “little micro sponges” that hold nutrients and moisture — potentially soaking up excess water when it’s wet and releasing it when it’s dry, Danner said. It can improve soil texture and aeration.

Other projects funded under the fund include $25,000 to the Lake Winnipeg Foundation to expand a water sample analysis program; $150,000 to Little Brown Jug Brewing Company to build a carbon dioxide recapture system; and $80,000 to the Fort Whyte Alive Foundation to improve site drainage and build six electric vehicle charging stations.

The post Province funds nutrient budgeting app, biocarbon project appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

It’s one of three free courses through the Farm Resilience Mentorship program (FaRM) hosted in Manitoba by the Manitoba Organic Alliance (MOA) and the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association (CFGA).

The course is for both conventional and organic farmers.

Farmers will have access to online cover crop materials including videos and farm case studies. They’ll also have access to a mentor/facilitator and can join “Communities of Inquiry” peer groups where they can troubleshoot and share experiences with other farmers, MOA’s website says.

‘Class time’ will be out in the field, said Karen Klassen, MOA’s executive director. “I don’t know anyone, including myself, who would want to be on Zoom in July.”

Klassen and Scott Beaton will facilitate the cover crop course. Klassen runs a conventional and organic farm near Manitou and Beaton runs an organic farm near Stonewall. Beaton is also a conservation specialist with Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation.

While there’s much evidence of the benefits of cover crops, they’re not that common in Manitoba, said Klassen. Perceived risk is one obstacle.

“Hopefully this will help to normalize it and just give people the tools,” she said.

As part of the FaRM program, MOA will host two farm tours, one on Klassen’s farm July 11 and one on Beaton’s farm July 15.

This fall, MOA will begin another FaRM program looking at advanced nitrogen management. It will be designed for conventional farmers only, Klassen said, and will focus on farmers who plant a wheat/canola rotation.

CFGA is facilitating an Advanced Grazing Systems course.

The post Cover crop training, peer group to begin this summer appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The Manitoba Grazing Exchange was created through a partnership between the Manitoba Organic Alliance (MOA) and the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association.

The site allows livestock and crop producers to place pins on a map indicating where their farms are and to set up a profile that lists what they have to offer and what they’re looking for.

For instance, they have beef cattle and are looking to graze in spring and summer, are willing to haul water, or they have 150 acres of cover crops to graze, have temporary fence available, etcetera.

The idea is that producers can then search the map for opportunities near them.

All farmers are invited to use the site.

Potential benefits for integrating livestock into crop systems include breaking down the residue to improve the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, and to manage the residue for no-till seeding; keeping nutrients on the land; cycling nutrients to improve soil fertility; and alternative feed during drought, the Manitoba Grazing Exchange’s site says.

Organic farmer and MOA program director Karen Klassen teamed up with a neighbour to graze his cattle on her land, she told the Co-operator in a December interview.

The cattle ate or trampled the green manure and turned it into “brown manure,” she said.

“It’s beneficial for me to have (cattle) on the land, and it was definitely beneficial for him as well to have really nutritious, healthy food for his cattle in a drought year where almost everything else was drying up,” Klassen said.

“I don’t want to have livestock, so this is like the perfect way to get livestock back on the land without having to become a livestock farmer.”

Visit manitobagrazingexchange.com for more information.

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Sangamesh (Sangu) Angadi, a professor of crop stress physiology at New Mexico State University, presented some of his research on growing in water-limited conditions to members of the Manitoba Organic Alliance on November 2.

Where Angadi works, agriculture relies on irrigation. Water comes from the Ogallala aquifer, also known as the High Plains aquifer which stretches from South Dakota to Texas and is one of the largest in the U.S.

Extensive development around the aquifer has caused water levels to drop. In 2017 the average drop was about 15 feet, an article from Oklahoma State University said. This varies from spot to spot.

Angadi said his site at Clovis, New Mexico, can expect water to deplete faster because it’s at the tip of the aquifer.

At its current rate of decline, the southern states along the aquifer will have to return 35 per cent of agricultural land back into dry land within two decades, Angadi said.

He’s working on finding ways to reduce agricultural water use.

Meanwhile, “any plant stress that you can think of exists here,” Angadi said — high and low temperatures, high winds, sandblasting, and drought.

“That made my job interesting,” he said.

One of Angadi’s studies involved planting concentric rings of native perennial grasses in the fields — which are circular due to centre-pivot irrigation.

Angadi said farmers don’t farm the entire circle at any given time due to lack of water so planting grasses doesn’t waste space.

The grasses address several issues. High winds, for instance, are a problem but shelterbelts require too much water and couldn’t shield a whole field. Strips of grass in concentric circles showed they could slow wind speeds across the field.

They also cycled water more efficiently. Angadi explained soils are very level and have poor organic matter. After intense rainfall — how the area gets about half of its rain — most of the water leaves the soil. The buffers proved effective at soaking up water and holding it in the soil.

Comparing results with conventional fields showed the “clear benefit of a circular buffer strip,” said Angadi.

Next to the grass on the outer edge of the ring, the crop saw a nine per cent yield benefit. At the centre of the (cropped) ring, the crop saw a 20 per cent benefit, and at the inner edge of the ring it saw a 15 per cent benefit. Over three years, results were very similar.

The strips also added biodiversity benefits and bird habitat.

For Manitoba farmers, buffer strips are “another tool in the tool box,” Martin Entz told the Co-operator.

Entz is a professor of cropping systems and natural systems agriculture at the University of Manitoba. He hosted the webinar.

“Before glyphosate-based no till, vegetative buffers were tested in places like Swift Current to see how they could help with water use efficiency — by trapping snow and reducing water evaporation from soil,” he said. “This application is of interest to Manitoba organic farmers today.”

A study in the late 1980s and early 1990s used four-foot-tall wheatgrass rows, spaced 50 feet apart as windbreaks for non-irrigated alfalfa fields. Over-winter recharge of the soil averaged one inch greater than in the open field and led to an average nearly one-third increase in hay yield.

A 1990 study using tall wheatgrass strips in a wheat cropping system found it increased spring soil water reserves by an average of 23 mm or just under one inch. Over six years, spring wheat yields averaged 15 per cent higher yields between the strips than in open fields.

“Today with perennial wheat (Kernza) on the horizon, there are new possibilities to harvesting some grain from the perennial strips,” Entz added. “Exciting stuff.”

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“It wasn’t felt that the research and development and marketing were actually benefiting organic grain farmers,” MOA project manager Karen Klassen told the Co-operator.

“This is the first organic grain levy that’s in Canada… so it’s pretty exciting for us on that front,” Klassen said. She added that there are other organic levies but this is the first to be mandated.

The province registered the checkoff regulation on August 12, said MOA in an August 16 news release. A majority of certified organic grain producers approved the motion for a 0.5 per cent levy in an April 2020 mail-in ballot.

Effective immediately, organic grain buyers with offices in Manitoba will be required to remit checkoff fees to MOA on a quarterly basis. Buyers that do not have offices in Manitoba will be asked to voluntarily remit the fees.

“This is great news for the Manitoba organic sector that will help to level the playing field for organic farmers in the province,” said Royden Loewen in the news release. Loewen is an organic grain farmer and head of the new Manitoba Organic Development Fund.

The producer-led development fund will steward the collected levies, Klassen explained.

The levy will help address challenges specific to organic growers, said Loewen.

“For instance, this drought year has shown us just how difficult it is to manage weeds while limiting the loss of soil moisture associated with tillage. We need more research and more solutions,” he said.

To date, farmers have paid checkoffs on organic grains, pulses and oilseeds through conventional farming groups like the Manitoba Crop Alliance, said Klassen. If they do nothing, they will continue to do so.

Both the conventional and organic checkoffs are refundable, she added.

Klassen acknowledged that a year of extreme drought is an unfortunate time to take a share of organic farmers’ profits. It was a long-running project. She said MOA will work hard to answer producers’ questions and hope to mitigate future weather challenges.

MOA said at the last official count, there were 233 organic operators in the province, of which 178 are primary producers and 74 are processors. Total organic acreage in the province is 127,597 acres.

The post Organic checkoff gets the green light appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“Organic farms are really well positioned to be improving their soil health from their current standpoint and also in reducing greenhouse gas emissions because, as you know, there is no nitrogen fertilizers used so we already have that,” said Karen Klassen, MOA’s program manager.

“(Organic farmers) just can add to that by making sure we’re using the nutrients as efficiently as possible and building up our soil even more,” she added.

The project, announced in the organization’s newsletter May 3, will use a suite of activities, including existing extension work, field tours, and workshops, to help organic farmers improve soil health. The intent is to boost fall cover crops, use of perennials, livestock integration; to reduce tillage, and to improve crop rotations.

The Conservation Trust funded the project for $100,000. The Conservation Trust is a fund the province began in 2018, which is managed by the Winnipeg Foundation and the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation.

As part of the project, MOA will build a website that “will match people with livestock with people with land,” said Klassen.

She said many people with livestock are searching for grazing land and a growing number of farmers are thinking about integrating livestock into their farms — for instance, an organic farmer may want cattle to graze a field during a green manure year.

The website is in its early stages. Klassen said they hope to have it up by November. It’s open to organic and conventional farmers.

Also in the works, a consulting agronomy program for farmers who attend MOA workshops and want to integrate or boost soil health practices on their land — cost shared 50-50 to a maximum of $7,000.

In a separate endeavour, MOA is also partnering with Quebec miller and cereal processer La Milanaise, SeCan and Alliance Seed to run on-farm trials on organic wheat varieties. La Milanaise wants to source organic wheat in Manitoba, said Klassen. It’s most familiar with wheat varieties grown in Quebec, and is testing these to see how they grow in Manitoba.

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Alberta gained 82 certified producers (counting livestock operations) from 2015-16, according to the 2016 Organic Agriculture in the Prairies report. Saskatchewan and Manitoba, meanwhile, only added 16 producers each.

Acres, however, tell a different story. While Manitoba counted only 186 organic producers in 2016 (including 33 livestock operations), organic acres jumped over 20 per cent from about 92,000 acres to 112,000 acres. Acres in Alberta increased by only three per cent, although their organic sector, at 438,000 acres, is still far above Manitoba.

“That leads us to think that perhaps there’s more of a trend of consolidation, that producer numbers aren’t necessarily growing, but they are expanding or multiple operations are becoming one big consolidated (operation,)” Jill Guerra of the Canada Organic Trade Organization said.

Guerra presented the Prairie Organic Grains Initiative (POGI) report during a May 9 webinar.

Manitoba remains the smallest organic sector of the Prairies while Saskatchewan, which not only saw similar percentage growth in acres as Manitoba, but topped one million acres in 2016, is still the top organic province of the three.

• Read more: Organic processing in Manitoba a bright spot

The Manitoba organic industry, however, argues that the report is still a good news story, pointing to the quick increases in Manitoba acres.

“In Manitoba, we’re not seeing large numbers of farmers transitioning, but we are seeing fairly significant acres transitioning,” Kate Storey, Manitoba Organic Alliance president, said. “We had some pretty big producers who have decided to go organic. That makes it a bit easier because the thing about organics is it’s a completely different production system and you have to get your head around how to fertilize your crop and do your weed control and all that.”

The relatively small number of farmers has helped the organization concentrate resources and support, she added.

Laura Telford, Manitoba Agriculture organic specialist, also noted the trend.

“I think that reflects what we intuitively know. The increases that we’re seeing in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are largely in organic field crops, which tend to be larger,” she said.

Alberta saw a number of market gardeners certify, Telford said. Both Telford and Guerra also noted a sharp rise of organic producers near La Crete, Alta., many of which, Telford said, are small.

The Manitoba organic expert added that the 2016 data denotes the first time the Prairie organic sector reached numbers similar to what they enjoyed before the 2008 global recession.

“I consider it finally reaching that milestone and now that we’ve got back to where we were, we can start to seriously grow,” Telford said.

By the numbers

Breaking down acres by crop held little surprise for the Manitoba experts. Cereals were still the most common field crop in the province, taking up almost 40,000 of the 51,300 acres of organic field crops planted, while over half of Manitoba’s organic acres were forage, pasture and natural areas.

“Hemp was a big one that jumped out at me,” Telford said.

Organic hemp swung abruptly from 267 acres in 2015 to 2,210 the year after, a significant jump even considering the relative volatility of small-acre crops year to year.

Both buckwheat and corn also nearly doubled, while organic fruits and vegetables enjoyed a boost from 830 to 1,630 acres.

Telford does not expect the report to change much in the sector’s ongoing debate over crop insurance.

The sector, and the Manitoba Organic Alliance in particular, has been fighting to expand Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation’s list of insurable organic crops. Only oats, wheat and flax can currently be insured.

MASC has typically required a crop to consistently top 5,000 acres before it will be insured.

True acreage might be hard to determine, according to Storey. Data accuracy has been a significant problem and a consistent talking point between the industry and regulators, including her own organization’s talks with MASC.

“Data is one area where organics is really struggling,” Storey said. “We don’t have data collection services, so (that) ‘acres and number of farmers’ report, that’s the best data that’s available. We don’t know how, exactly, accurate it is. We could have a lot more acres. That affects everything. Data collection in Manitoba, we’re depending on private companies to reveal their confidential information. That data is mostly inaccessible; it’s inconsistent.”

Barley provides an example of that disagreement. POGI’s 2016 report puts Manitoba’s organic barley acres close to 4,500, near the MASC threshold. At the same time, MASC has previously put 2016 organic barley acres at 1,960, a number presented at the Manitoba Organic Alliance AGM in October 2017. MASC presenters cited the Canada Organic Trade Association annual report for the numbers at the time.

Storey argued that the existence of the POGI report itself is cause for optimism, since it may help close some of those data gaps. She also championed the idea of a national data collection system.

Work has now begun on the 2017 Organic Agriculture in the Prairies report.

The post Organic acres up, farmer numbers stable appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“The report doesn’t release the type of processing. I think what we’re seeing there is an increase in primary processors,” she said, pointing to new grain cleaners as an example. “Especially in Saskatchewan, the large increase, it’s a lot of new operators to support the growing field crop acres.”

Already the largest organic producing Prairie province, acres in Saskatchewan jumped from 893,000 to over a million from 2015-16, according to the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative and Canadian Organic Trade Alliance. That was matched by 33 new organic processors in the same period.

Manitoba, meanwhile, has seen “at least” five new grain buyers, according to Telford.

“That has massive impact,” she said. “It may seem like a small number, but it’s a very big deal. It means that we are starting along that road to reducing transportation. Now in Manitoba, we have local markets for not only wheat, which we’ve had for a long time, but now we’ve got a local organic fababean processor. We’ve got three organic flax processors… those may not be reflected in those 2016 numbers.”

Primary processors have also been expanding services, she added, with the addition of tools like colour sorters.

Manitoba Organic Alliance president Kate Storey says proper market development is key for organics, including the juggling act between processing demand and producer supply.

“Organics is a growth industry and you have to keep balance,” she said. “You can’t have the market outgrowing the production and that’s what we’re seeing. Sometimes production gets ahead of the market and then the prices go down and people get discouraged.”

Telford’s work has been critical in assessing processor needs and bringing more processing capacity to the province, Storey said.

The post Organic processing in Manitoba a bright spot appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Maurice Gaultier, Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) insurance sales and service manager for the southern region, faced pointed questions Jan. 18 during his organic insurance update at Ag Days.

MASC and the Manitoba Organic Alliance have been looking for a middle road on insurance for months. Both have said that the program is not working as it stands. Farmer uptake lags, there are wide concerns over valuation and MASC’s bottom line lands in the red every season.

There will be no substantial changes to the program this year and a 2019 timeline is still questionable as well, Gaultier said, to the disappointment of the crowd.

• Read more: Organic Alliance says crop insurance needs an update on organic production

The issues

MASC’s price valuation falls far short of what a producer could expect on the market.

The insurance provider values oats and wheat at 1-1/2 times their conventional price, a bar that both sides agree is below market price. Flax, meanwhile, doubles its value.

Organic red spring wheat is valued at $9.39 per bushel, while winter wheat brings in $6.94, oats are valued at $4.16 and flax goes up to $22.10 a bushel.

Those prices are “a joke,” producers told Gaultier Jan. 18.

“It hasn’t been $9 in 10 years,” one listener said when presented with wheat valuation numbers.

Yuri Genik, who farms near Dauphin, estimates that the actual price point lies between two and four times conventional prices.

MASC, however, argues that it is already losing money from the organic program.

The corporation lost about $300,000 on the organic program between 2005 and 2015, Doug Wilcox, MASC manager of insurance program development, said during the Manitoba Organic Alliance annual meeting in October.

“We’re paying out far more than what the premium is actually bringing in,” Gaultier said.

Higher values will also come with higher premiums, MASC warns. Organic wheat now comes with a $17.72 per acre premium, compared to $6.22 for conventional, while flax will cost the producer $20.74 an acre, compared to $7.27 in conventional flax. The spread is tighter for oats, at $13.34 compared to $6 per acre for conventional.

Gaultier also noted that a producer’s coverage will improve with successful years. There is a 10-year transition for each crop before probable yield is based entirely on individual yield, although the corporation also has a five-year fast track for new organic producers.

Genik isn’t totally satisfied with that argument.

“They’re charging us a much higher premium for a lot less coverage… it doesn’t take somebody very smart to figure out that, that just isn’t a sustainable thing to be even carrying,” he said. “It doesn’t take risk off. It actually, in some cases like myself, added risk to the plate because of the cost of the insurance and what just happened after.”

His farm was “devastated” last year after a hard spring meant he missed seeding windows, he said.

Conventional only

Despite complaints in the room, Alan McKenzie says he has had good experience with his adjusters. The longtime organic producer was one of several organic speakers on the lineup during Ag Days.

“We’ve had very good adjusters who’ve treated us fairly and, yes, the organic coverage is not near enough money for what you pay for it, so we, half of the time, just use conventional coverage because it’s dollar-for-dollar better bang for your buck,” he said.

About three-quarters of his crop could be insured organic this year, but only a quarter of his acres will typically have organic insurance, he said.

“If I’m feeling confident that it’s a good, clean field, I’ll just roll the dice and run conventional on it, where, if I’m concerned that it might have some weed pressure issues or something like that, that could cause some red flags to show up, or I’m just kind of worried in general, then I’ll kind of throw the organic coverage on it,” he said.

At the same time, current valuation is “ridiculous,” he added.

“You can traditionally show that wheat has been 2.5 times (conventional), so I think that’s where it should really come out at — at least twice anyway,” he said, pointing to the markup on flax.

“I understand too that higher valuation comes with a higher premium and then it comes to a point of, how much you can afford. But definitely it’s way too low,” he said.

Katherine Storey, president of the Manitoba Organic Alliance, agrees.

“You can’t have numbers like that and expect people to participate,” she said.

Shrinking pool

Laura Telford, organic specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, estimates that there are over 170 organic producers in Manitoba and a small portion of those insure organic.

MASC says that some farmers may choose to insure their crops conventionally, although it’s unclear how many producers have taken them up on the option. Farms that choose conventional insurance take a risk on weeds, since weeds are a designated peril in organic insurance and farmers can get coverage for having to reseed.

MASC’s profit problem may stem from this shrinking pool, farmers say. Profitable producers have slowly dropped out of the program, creating a higher proportion of high-risk users in the pool and eating at MASC’s bottom line, they argued Jan. 18.

“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Genik said.

“The cost of the premiums are high, the coverage is terrible and so, in the end, it ends up that more and more people keep dropping out. The ones who are actually doing a fairly good job or doing the best they can, the ones who will be supporting the program with higher yields and much fewer claims are now gone, so now you’re left with a lot more of these people who have claims more often that are basically taking away from the system,” he added.

Storey, however, says it shouldn’t matter how many are participating in the program.

“Either the program works or it doesn’t and it’s our job to figure out why it’s not working and maybe we won’t be able to offer a solution because of that small pool, but at least we should be able to identify where in the program the programs are happening,” she said.

Lack of data

The small pool also ties into data availability.

MASC is confident in its conventional crop data, since the vast majority of acres are insured. With fewer participants, that is not the case in organic insurance.

MASC estimates that only one-third of organic producers are insured organically and kicking data back into the corporation. They guess another one-third are using conventional insurance and one-third do not insure with MASC at all.

The corporation says changes this year may help address some of that lack. Farmers will be able to report acres as organic, even if they’re not insured organic.

Price data is also a sticking point, David Van Deynze, MASC vice-president of insurance operations says.

“Typically, for our conventional crops, there’s a lot of forecasting data,” he said. “There’s a lot of people who are in that business to say what the price of wheat is going to be a year from now — canola, same thing — there’s just not that level of data and forecasting tools available for organic crops, so it’s a challenge for us to essentially predict what the organic price is going to be into the future and that’s kind of the way our insurance program is designed.”

Producers in the Jan. 18 meeting argued that they are already producing acreage and yield data in their seeding and harvest reports.

They have provided contracts to indicate what they would have been paid for a crop while trying to make a claim, they added.

Van Deynze, however, says there is an inherent bias to relying on claims for price data.

“Only a small percentage of producers actually make claims, right? So we don’t get a very representative dataset in the first place,” he said. “And then secondly, sometimes with contract prices, if there’s a claim, there could be a claim on a crop because of quality issues, for example, so now you’ve got a price that we receive, but it might be a lower quality than what the normal quality is for a particular crop.”

More crops needed

Only three crops meet the acreage needed to be insured, MASC says, although the Manitoba Organic Alliance argues that hemp, peas, fall rye and barley should also make the list.

Wilcox’s figures showed 1,964 acres of organic barley and 2,991 acres of rye in 2016, he presented last October. MASC usually requires a consistent 5,000 acres before insuring a crop.

“We’ve been asked once or twice in the past to potentially insure those crops, but we’re worried about taking on a large acreage of organic crops when, with the core programs we have right now having high losses, we’re hoping to get those programs organized and straightened out before we expand to forages or barley or hemp or whatever is recommended we go forward with next,” he said at the time.

Storey says that all issues brought up Jan. 18 have also made their way to a working group between the Manitoba Organic Alliance and MASC.

The group has had two meetings, with another expected in February or March.

“We’re understanding the program more. They’re understanding organics more. I think it’s going in a good direction. I have no idea how long it’s going to take,” Storey said.

Changes can’t come fast enough for Genik. The producer says he will not insure organic again until changes are made.

This article first appeared on OrganicBiz.

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