But while farmers are using their devices for everything from surfing the Internet, to purchasing fertilizer and checking weather forecasts, producers, farm organizations and commodity groups are overlooking the basics of communication when it comes to getting their stories into urban publications.

“Nobody uses the telephone anymore, right? Nobody calls anybody,” said Owen Roberts, an agricultural journalist and head of research communications at the University of Guelph. “I know it’s a little bit scary, calling up a reporter and saying hey, I’ve got a story for you, but I know as a reporter… or as a communications professional at Guelph, when someone calls me and says, I’ve got a story for you, I listen.”

Ed Cassavoy agrees.

The director of reader engagement and content commercialization at the Toronto Star joined Roberts to speak about reaching urban audiences during a seminar at the University of Manitoba last week. He said he gets about 1,000 emails a day, while an assignment editor would receive even more.

“Killing off emails is easy,” said Cassavoy. “A lot of it is junk.”

However, phone calls are harder to ignore and even if an editor or reporter is too busy to speak to you at that moment — or even blows you off altogether — a brief connection is made and the door is opened a crack.

“If you work that person over time, in an honest way, trying to explain it, that will bear much more fruit than shooting out emails and PR releases,” Cassavoy said, adding he’s still surprised some organizations simply fire off emails and hope for the best.

“You really have to concentrate on reaching the right people and I’m always shocked that in this world with all this information at your fingertips there’s a lack of awareness and research done to find the right people to contact in the media,” he said. “You’re not trying to spread this to every possible person in the world, you focus on the key markets, the key journalists, the key publications and key editors and have a connection with them, which takes some work.”

Roberts notes that one benefit of having a relationship with a journalist or editor is that issues can be dealt with proactively, rather than reactively. It also gives agriculture another avenue from which to lobby elected officials and government.

“We know government is sensitive to media,” Roberts said.

Social media and other electronic platforms are also important, but still don’t reach as large an audience as a paper of record would, he said. Meaning that getting agricultural issues into mainstream publications remains important.

“Print continues to be a really vital way to get news out and to have something on the record that people can refer to,” he said.

A strong social media presence can help provide background or a repository of images that can be used to illustrate and buttress an article — or even alert a journalist to a possible issue, story or source — but social media is still unlikely to reach as many people as a newspaper.

“One story in the Star and Metro News is 1.8 million readers,” said Roberts, noting the combined readership of the Toronto Star and its affiliated daily publications.

Cassavoy added that number didn’t include online readership or social media views.

But to get to that point, communicators, farmers and researchers still need to be able to pitch a story or issue in a way that connects with an urban audience.

“Tell me the point of the story in one sentence,” Cassavoy said. “What’s the headline?”

Food continues to be the driving issue for urban readers, especially factors affecting prices, he added, noting stories rooted in technology also grab reader attention.

“Most of our readers are not going to read about agriculture, right, and we already know that, you guys already know that, so how do you get at them? You have to entice them, it’s got to be about something they care about,” he said.

Roberts said getting people to take notice of a story on agriculture boils down to answering two questions, “so what and who cares?” Having a story that is entertaining is also important, as is realizing that agriculture may not be the whole story, it may be one part of a larger story.

How to show success in media penetration can be challenging for academic institutions that are increasingly interested in the metrics of success, said Yvonne Lawley, a researcher with the University of Manitoba’s department of agriculture interested in reaching a larger audience who attended the seminar.

“In the broader media, it’s much harder for me to demonstrate whether I’ve done a good job or not,” she said.

Roberts agreed that it was easier to track academic citations, but said there are ways to gauge success in mainstream media, including tracking social media followers and interactions, as well as the number of incoming queries an expert or researcher receives.

Apiarist and philosophy professor, Phil Veldhuis, wondered what impact the current diversity of opinions in the agricultural community could have on getting media coverage of farming issues, noting “not everyone in agriculture is going to tell the same story.”

And that’s OK, according to Roberts, who said a diversity of opinions and perspectives will help cultivate a wider interest in agriculture issues.

“I’m OK with there not being one voice for agriculture, I’m OK with there being a bunch of different voices, because I think that reflects diversity that exists,” he said.

The post Diversity of opinions OK appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The Globe and Mail was the worst offender — TPP negotiators have done a pretty good job of keeping the talks secret, so in the absence of details or whenever they were stuck for a column topic, writers would fire off a piece on how Canada’s ‘overprotected’ and ‘politically powerful’ dairy farmers were the main sticking point for the deal.

When the talks failed to meet a July 31 deadline last week, it finally emerged that there were other issues at play, such as auto parts and drug patents. The U.S. has done a masterful job of portraying Canadian dairy access as the main sticking point, but it now turns out that virtually every other country opposed the U.S. position on the length of time for drug patent protection. And when it comes to protected agricultural markets, the granddaddy of them all is U.S. sugar, and the U.S. was unwilling to budge on Australian requests for more access.

Whether or not the TPP talks continue, there will be pressure on supply management, especially for dairy. In the short term, Dairy Farmers of Canada has been doing its best to fend off attacks through advertisements and press releases. In the long term, one of the best arguments is that when it comes to herd size, animal welfare and government support, we don’t want the U.S. system. Maintaining public support for supply management depends on demonstrating that on all those points, our system is better.

The post Opinion: Dairy farmers get (undeserved) bad rap during TPP negotiations appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Today, our access to food is so easy that we need not contemplate the source either. There are far too many stories of people who think food production begins and ends in the supermarket, like the one a friend recently told me. A child he knew had explained how people used to eat animals in the “old days.” The girl thought we were lucky because now we didn’t eat animals. Instead, we ate food. I inquired as to the young lady’s age, surmising she would be at most five or six years. Imagine my surprise when I found out she was 10!

Perhaps this child was correct. Maybe in her family, no animals are eaten. They might be strictly vegetarian. Unfortunately, I suspect this is not the case. I fear it is more likely that the child is uninformed. I can imagine a mother or father not wanting to say, “That’s cow you are eating.” Meat is marketed as pork or beef, not pig or cow. Most of us are far enough removed from the process that we often don’t think of it as having once been a living animal. With all the media coverage on cases of suspected ill-treatment of animals in the food industry, is it any wonder people would want to forget where our daily fare comes from, especially when under the gaze of a sensitive child?

The power of the media is great and below a certain age and cognitive level, children cannot easily make the fine distinctions that adults do. Media promotions for the prevention of cruelty to animals are common and valid. They play a valuable role in a caring society. But what child wouldn’t think as a result of these campaigns that to eat any animal is cruel, even if that point is never raised in the promotion?

It’s commonly accepted that deliberately hurting an animal is bad. So wouldn’t killing a healthy animal be the ultimate in bad? For those people who follow vegetarian or vegan diets, the answer would be a resounding, “Yes!” People should have the opportunity to choose to be a vegetarian, but you cannot make an informed choice without enough information.

Glut of information

Ironically, there is a glut of information aimed at consumers. Numerous sources provide countless conflicting theories on the best diet, offer charts with nutritional levels and warn about bad-for-you foods, as defined by whatever special-interest group. We are flooded with reports on problems in commercial food production from contamination, to misrepresentation of ingredients, to deficient data on labels.

Somewhere between this overload of information and complete ignorance of our food sources lies the median of basic facts. Producers need to add to this noise, but it should be “Just the facts, Ma’am.”

I used to think programs like Ag in the Classroom were overstating their case, especially when they offered presentations in small rural schools. Surely the majority of people who have never lived on a farm still know where their food comes from, especially in a small ag-based community. But the child who was thankful that we now eat food instead of animals lives in a small ag-based community. Many more just like her live in large cities.

Food security is a big issue in North American. It seems odd, then, that so many people don’t really seem to have a clue as to what their food actually is or where it comes from.

The post The challenge of raising informed consumers appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Meat processors have faced a backlash over the use of an ammonia-treated beef filler they call “finely textured beef.” Food activists have campaigned to have it banned, but supporters say the product is safe to eat.

AFA is one of the largest ground beef processors in the United States and produces more than 500 million pounds of ground beef products annually, the company said in documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

In filing for bankruptcy, it cited “recent changes in the market” for its products and media coverage related to the filler, and said it was seeking a sale of some or all of its assets. AFA owner Yucaipa Companies, the investment firm founded by Ron Burkle, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The backlash over “pink slime” has prompted companies such as Beef Products Inc. (BPI) to halt production at some of its plants and has led some big U.S. supermarket operators, including Safeway Inc. and Supervalu Inc., to say they will stop buying the ammonia-treated beef.

The impact of the controversy is far reaching, said Gary Acuff, director of the Center for Food Safety at Texas A&M University in College Station.

“The public view of this product is pretty damaged at this point,” Acuff said. “I’m not sure they’ll recover from something like this.”

The post “Pink slime” pushes processor into bankruptcy appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

We’d been travelling ahead in time, losing a night as we left Washington, D.C. at around 11 a.m. on Saturday, flying 13 hours non-stop and landing at our destination at 8 a.m., nine hours ahead of the clocks back home.

The air felt heavy as we stepped from the plane, which is odd because we were stepping into thin air. At its highest point, the capital city of Ethiopia is 2,390 metres above sea level and we were told its elevation makes it the third-highest capital in the world (next to La Paz, Bolivia and Bogota, Colombia.)

But the early-morning haze was rich with smells — diesel from the multitude of vehicles travelling the streets, many of them belching black smoke as they sputtered along, and spices as we passed open-air restaurants and markets on our way to the hotel for a few hours of R and R before taking in a sightseeing tour of the city. There was also a hint of woodsmoke from cooking fires. We learned later in the day the most accessible fuelwood in the city is cut from eucalyptus trees growing rampant up the hillsides, which explains why there was an exotic tang to its acridity.

Sounds also add to this colourful assault on the senses. This is a land of open windows so the air is filled with everyday living, children, laughter, dogs, city traffic and even some crowing roosters. Frequently through both day and night, the haunting sounds of a soulful male voice chanting the Ethiopian Orthodox gospel in Amharic, the dominant Ethiopian language, ripple through the alleys and side streets near our hotel.

And the tastes: Our first meals in this country were richly spiced, some with a little heat, but deliciously prepared.

Despite the fact it was Sunday, a Christian holiday just like at home, the streets were busy. The African Union is holding its annual summit in Addis this week, bringing heads of states from across the continent to the city. Traffic jams were inevitable as security forces blocked the streets to allow diplomatic delegations to pass.

There was no such pomp and circumstance for our delegation, a group of five Canadian journalists accompanied by Jim Cornelius, executive director of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and Sam Van der Ende, CFGB’s Ethiopian project co-ordinator. We are here on a Media Food Study Tour with visas granted by Ethiopian government. But our hosts are forever conscious that in this part of the world, foreign journalists are sometimes suspect.

Touring projects

We are guests and we are here to learn more about food-security issues through the eyes of local CFGB partners. Over the next several days we will be travelling into the countryside to experience first hand the kinds of projects Canadian farmers and the bank’s 15 partners support through their fundraising efforts at home.

For me, this trip is an opportunity to do much more than escape the Prairie winter and reverse the thermometer from minus to plus. (Daytime temperatures here are hovering around 24 C and dropping to 11 C or so at night.)

And it’s kind of cool to think I’ve now been to two out of the three highest capitals in the world, having travelled to La Paz, Bolivia in 1997. (Guess there’s more than one way of moving up in the world.)

But I accepted this opportunity for a different reason. I suspect I’m not alone in this, but I’ve never been to this country. And until my arrival here, the first images that came to mind whenever Ethiopia is mentioned were images of famine and starvation portrayed in the media coverage of those tragedies.

Of course I know at a conscious level that Ethiopia is about much more than droughts and distended bellies. But shaking those subconscious imprints on our memories can be difficult.

Ancient and diverse culture

There is no question that famine has been a part of this nation’s history and that hunger continues to stalk vulnerable sectors of its population. It has no doubt influenced its culture and its view of the world. But it does not define Ethiopia as a country.

While on a tour of the national museum, our guide recites history in the context of millennia. Ethiopia’s Awash Valley is where the famous Lucy, a skeleton dating back 3.2 million years, was discovered in 1974. The specimen is scientifically known as Australopithecus atarensis, and considered the “missing link” in the evolution between apes and humans.

Ethiopians trace their civilization back to King Solomon’s times. Emperors in the 12th and 13th centuries were paying homage to their spiritual beliefs through structures such as Lalibela, a collection of churches carved out of a mountain in the country’s north that are considered architectural marvels even today. They successfully thwarted European invaders, not once, but twice, maintaining their independence as a sovereign country while much of the African continent was carved into colonies.

Ethiopia is home to about 80 million people occupying an area nearly twice the size of Texas. There are 80 different ethnic groups and a population that is spiritually divided mainly between Muslim, Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity with a sprinkling of indigenous religions.

But unlike Canada, which is considered one of the most urbanized countries in the world with 80 per cent of its population living in cities and towns, Ethiopia’s urban/rural breakdown is almost exactly the reverse.

It is a rural country with agriculture making up nearly half of its GDP and 80 per cent of its exports. Nearly 25 per cent of the population earns its livelihood from coffee, but Ethiopia is also known for its flowers, leather products, pulses, oilseeds, beeswax and increasingly, tea.

The sun is rising again. As we follow the Rift Valley south today, I know I’m going to be visiting communities in which food security remains elusive. I expect to learn about the complexities of the work the Canadian Foodgrains Bank supports.

But I also know my first objective for this tour — reformatting my simplistic image of Ethiopia — has already been accomplished. I plan to relax and enjoy the ride.

The post Sights, sounds and smells in a far-off land appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Here s something to think about next time you re adding sugar to your daily cup of joe; the total amount of sugar consumed daily by most Canadians adds up to about 26 teaspoons per day.

It works out to about one in every five calories consumed coming from sugar, or 21 per cent of our daily energy intake, according to data gleaned from a 24-hour dietary recall for the Canadian Community Health Survey and reported by Statistics Canada last week. The survey asked people to report everything they d ate and drank during a 24-hour period.

The findings have received a lot of media coverage and set off alarm bells about Canadians high sugar intake.

But as a Manitoba registered dietitian points out, we still need more information about where precisely all this sugar is found in our food. That s because those 26 teaspoons represent the sum of both naturally occurring and added sugar in our diet.

Naturally occurring sugar is found in nutrient-dense foods such as milk, fruits and vegetables, and we should

HIGH ROASTED ONIONS

If you grew onions in your garden this year, here s a great recipe to enjoy them as a side dish. The balsamic vinegar will highlight the sweetness.

2 medium onions,

peeled, trimmed, and

halved crosswise

12 whole cloves

1 tbsp. light soy sauce

1 tbsp. canola oil

1 tbsp. molasses

1-1/2 tsp.

balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp. coarsely

ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 450 F. Coat a foil-lined baking sheet with canola cooking spray. Arrange the onion halves on the baking sheet and pierce evenly with the cloves.

Combine the soy sauce, canola oil, molasses, vinegar, and black pepper in a small jar, secure with lid and shake vigorously until completely blended. Brush one tablespoon of the soy mixture evenly over the onions. Bake 25 minutes, brush one tablespoon of the soy mixture evenly over the onions, bake 5-10 minutes or until richly browned on edges and onions are tender. Remove from oven and, using a flat spatula, remove the onions and place on serving platter, spoon remaining soy mixture evenly over the onions and sprinkle with the sugar and salt.

Serves 4: 1 onion half per serving

This recipe is found on the Manitoba Canola Growers Association website

( www.canolarecipes.ca) be eating more, not less, of these foods, says Portage la Prairie-based certified diabetes educator Karen Graham.

It s what we eat and drink with added sugar, such as soft drinks and juices, cakes and doughnuts, that are the big concern. These foods have very little nutritional value and have become a major source of sugar to our diet in recent years. In consultations with clients newly diagnosed with diabetes, Graham says she regularly finds people consuming 50 to 100 teaspoons of added sugar a day much of it derived from these latter sources.

A simple change more of us could be making to reduce sugar intake would be to drink more water instead of the sweetened drinks we currently consume, she said.

There is currently no dietary recommendation for the intake of total sugar, nor has consensus been reached on consumption of added sugars, the Statistics Canada report notes.

The Institute of Medicine recommends that no more than 25 per cent of total daily energy intake (calories) should come from added sugars. The World Health Organization and the Canadian Diabetes Association recommend a daily maximum of 10 per cent of calories from added sugar.

ZUCCHINI OATMEAL MUFFINS

With more threats of frost last week, I picked the last of the zucchini in the backyard, including a couple as big as dachshunds. Thanks toSandra Ryland of Elphinstonethis week for sending us several great zucchini recipes including this one for a tasty muffin.

2-1/2 c. flour

1-1/2 c. sugar

1 c. chopped pecans

1/2 c. quick-cooking

oatmeal

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

4 eggs

1 medium zucchini

shredded (about 3/4 c.)

3/4 c. vegetable oil

In a mixing bowl, combine first seven ingredients. Beat eggs and combine with zucchini and oil. Pour over dry ingredients, stirring only until moistened. Batter will be lumpy. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake 400 F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes a dozen muffins.

Sendyourrecipesorreciperequeststo:

ManitobaCo-operatorRecipe Swap

Box 1794, Carman, Man. R0G 0J0

or email lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

TORTILLA PIZZA MELT

Manitoba Turkey Producers sent us this recipe earlier in the month for a kid-friendly meal or snack. You ll find more recipes children enjoy on the website at www.turkeyfarmersofcanada.ca/recipes/Kids – Favourites.

1 6-to 7-inch whole

wheat tortilla

1 tbsp. ketchup or pizza

sauce

1/8 tsp. Italian seasoning,

basil or oregano

3-4 slices (pre-sliced)

fresh mushrooms

3-4 slices (pre-sliced)

turkey pepperoni

1 mozzarella or cheddar

cheese slice or 3 tbsp.

shredded cheese

Cooking spray

Preheat toaster oven or regular oven to 375 F. Place tortilla on counter. Use rubber spatula or table knife to spread ketchup or sauce on tortilla; sprinkle seasoning over ketchup. Arrange mushroom slices on 1/2 the tortilla and top mushrooms with pepperoni slices. Break the cheese slice in half to fit over the pepperoni. Fold other half of tortilla over the cheese, press gently. Spray toaster oven or baking pan or small sheet with cooking spray. Using pancake turner, place folded sandwich on pan. Spray top of tortilla with cooking spray. Bake in oven six to eight minutes or until slightly crisped and cheese is starting to melt. Remove pan to cooling rack and let stand two to four minutes. You can also bake as a grilled cheese sandwich by spraying a non-stick skillet pan with cooking spray, placing on a burner over medium heat and cooking sandwich for three to four minutes each side or until lightly browned.

Recipe courtesy of Mushrooms Canada ( www.mushrooms.ca)

The post Recipe Swap – for Sep. 29, 2011 appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“It just sort of verifies what we knew. We know we’re one of the largest arts centres in Western Canada.”

– CINDI PATRICK REMPEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STEINBACH ARTS COUNCIL

If, as they say, art is “the knocking from the soul that gets answered,” rural Canada has opened its doors.

Canada’s small and rural municipalities are home to as many artists as Montreal and Toronto combined, according to a new analysis of where this country’s musicians, visual and performance artists make their home.

Hill Strategies Inc., which does statistical research on Canadian arts activities, finds about one-quarter (36,500) of the estimated 140,000 working artists in 2006 were living in smaller or rural municipalities (populations under 50,000).

In Mani toba, Steinbach ranked as having the highest concentration of working artists of the three Prairie provinces. The report cited 65 working artists, or those employed primarily in the occupation of creating art, in Steinbach in 2006.

The finding pleases, but doesn’t exactly surprise Cindi Patrick Rempel, executive director of the Steinbach Arts Council. Since the inception of the Steinbach Cultural Arts Centre 13 years ago, this area has invested heavily in programming for emerging artists in both visual and performing arts, Patrick Rempel said.

“We’re thrilled to hear this, absolutely,” she said. “It just sort of verifies what we knew. We know

Slightly more than one in three (35 per cent) of this country’s painters and sculptors create their art outside major urban centres. So do almost half (47 per cent) of artisans and craftspersons.

Appealing landscapes, lower cost of living and quality of life in the countryside are cited as key factors encouraging artists to live rurally.

Across Canada, the 10 municipalities found to have the highest concentration of artists, were in British Columbia (the Denman and Hornby islands), Quebec’s Eastern Township of West Bolton, and in Cape Dorset, Nunavut. we’re one of the largest arts centres in Western Canada.”

She attributes the Mennonite culture of southeastern Manitoba for the cultural foundation for arts expression. The churches have long fostered creative expression through music and significant talent has emerged from this region, she said. Now, with an arts centre fostering all types of artists, a rich new vein of creative expression has been tapped.

New visual artists are featured at exhibits offered at the centre every month. “The bottom line is that there are new artists that are now finding opportunities to come out of the woodwork,” she said.

There’s been an economic benefit to arts sector promotion too; job creation. The centre now employs six full-time staff in programming and administrative positions, plus another 33 persons in contract jobs as art instructors. Additionally, there are nearly 200 volunteers associated with the centre.

These are highly valued jobs, notes Patrick Rempel, adding that finding work even remotely related to art can often be next to impossible. “One of our goals at this arts centre was to provide a place where you could actually have a ‘real’ job in the arts,” she said.

Arts facilities or activities don’t have to be extensive to reap important benefits for communities, the Hill report says. It cites other studies which have explored how the presence of arts facilities and activities contribute substantially to quality of life of small and rural communities through local theatre groups and choirs, and facilities such as small galleries and arts centres.

The Creative City Network of Canada, which commissioned a series of reports on revitalizing rural communities through the arts sector, notes “the arts and creative activities can profoundly affect the ability of a town not only to survive over time, but to thrive.”

These facilities and events “create and maintain rural identities, foster a collective sense of belonging, and enable community building and community cohesion,” it notes.

Art sector development may be an untapped vein for community and economic development, according to another report by the Ontario Rural Council, titled Economies in Transition: Leveraging Cultural Assets for Prosperity. It notes that “many rural and small-town communities have a wide range of cultural assets (creative occupations, facilities and spaces, community organizations, cultural heritage, natural heritage, festivals and events, creative industries/ businesses) that could form the foundation for attracting and supporting creative sector businesses and jobs.”

Arts activities flourish where there is overall community recognition of its value, the Hill report notes. This comes through individual champions, leadership in organization, media coverage, regular arts activity, a “critical mass of artists,” funding, and organizational support.

Patrick Rempel said strong civic support for the cultivation of the arts has been fundamental to growth of their arts sector. Both the City of Steinbach and surrounding Hanover municipality contribute substantially financially to the centre, she said.

“They gave us the building and operating funding. That’s huge for us.”

Artists in the Hill report analysis included actors, choreographers, craftspeople, composers, conductors, dancers, directors, musicians, producers, singers, visual artists and writers.

Canadian artists on average earn 37 per cent less than other workers in the labour force, the report notes. Their average income is $22,700 a year.

The Hill report was funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Ontario Arts Council. It is found on the Hill Strategies Research website at http://www.hillstrategies.com.

lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

The post Study Finds Strong Arts Presence In Rural Canada appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Continued poor demand from U. S. packers for Manitoba cattle, the steady free fall of Canada’s hog industry and the strength of the Canadian dollar prevented the cattle market from gaining ground, price-wise, this week.

The key issue of interest, based on conversations with cattle producers in Manitoba, is the continued appreciation of the Canadian dollar.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any good news for cattle producers in Manitoba,” said Camilla Sutton, a currency strategist with Scotiabank in Toronto.

“The Canadian dollar is likely to strengthen towards the US96-cent level by the end of 2009 and was seen moving closer to the US97-cent area by the end of the first quarter of 2010,” she predicted.

The assumption that the global economy is on a much better footing than it was at the same time a year ago, coupled with broad-based U. S. dollar weakness and an anticipated recovery in the North American equity sector, are all factors that will help the Canadian dollar appreciate, she said.

“I know there are a number of cattle producers in Western Canada who would love to see the Canadian dollar drop back down into the US85-cent level and lower, but that just does not appear to be in the cards at the moment,” Sutton said.

She warned that as the Canadian unit moves closer to parity with the U. S. dollar, the push to make the two currencies even will pick up. “The push to parity for the currencies will be like a magnet once it begins,” she said.

There will be day-to-day, week-to-week fluctuations in the value of the Canadian dollar that could see the unit possibly weaken to as little as US86 cents, she noted, but those occurrences will likely be rare and not be of any duration.

LOOKING AHEAD

Herb Lock, a livestock analyst with FarmSense Marketing in Edmonton, felt that any light at the end of the tunnel for cattle producers is probably just the outlook for the global economic recovery.

He forecast that fed cattle prices in Western Canada should be able to hold their ground at current levels at least for a while, and potentially grind higher as time moves on.

“How much higher will that push be?… It probably will not be as much as producers would like it to be,” Lock said.

He agreed the Canadian dollar will continue to be a big hurdle, as will the downward spiral in the Canadian hog sector.

“That sector continues to get beat up and the media hasn’t done it any favours, especially with their continued coverage of the H1N1 flu situation,” Lock said.

Media coverage on the issue has certainly stirred up emotions to the point where it is frightening consumers, he said.

Feeder cattle generally have been selling above the year-ago price, he noted, while yearlings have been selling below the previous year’s level, which was a bit of a surprise given that feed grain prices are also below what they were at the same time a year ago.

Lock felt that in the big picture, there will be plenty of cow-quality feed around, especially with the lateness of the Prairie harvest this year.

Another problem for cattle producers remains the U. S. government’s country-of-origin labelling law, or COOL, which is keeping more animals in Canada than had been anticipated. “We are missing the U. S. packers from the Canadian auction yards,” he said.

FROM THE AUCTION FLOORS

Note: All prices in Canadian dollars per hundredweight (cwt). These prices also generally represent the top one-third of sales reported by the auction yard.

Ashern Livestock Mart: An estimated 592 head of cattle were sold at the sale held Sept. 2. In the slaughter market, age-verified D1 and D2 cows sold for $42-$50.50, while D3 and D5 cows traded from $34 to $42; older shelly cows, $20 and up; and good bulls, $45-$55.

Feeder steers weighing 800-900 lbs. ranged from $85 to $96.75; 700-800 lbs., $90-$103.50; 600-700 lbs., $92-$108.50; and 500-600 lbs., $95-$109.

Feeder heifers weighing 700-800 lbs. traded at $85-$95; 600-700 lbs., $88-$98.25; and 500-600 lbs., $88-$93.

Gladstone Auction Mart: The Sept. 1 sale saw a total of 426 head of cattle sold at the Gladstone yard. In the slaughter market, bulls sold from $34 to $53.25 while cows brought $20-$47.

Feeder steers in the 900-to 1,000-lb. weight category traded from $80 to $91.50; 800-900 lbs., $80-$96; 700-800 lbs., $80-$97.75; 600-700 lbs., $85-$105; 500-600 lbs., $80-$103.50; 400-500 lbs., $88-$109; and 300-400 lbs., $94-$105.

Feeder heifers weighing 900-1,000 lbs. sold from $60 to $83.50; 800-900 lbs., $65-$87.50; 700-800 lbs., $65-$94.25; 600-700 lbs., $70-$96; 500-600 lbs., $70-$97.50; and 400-500 lbs., $71-$94.

Grunthal Livestock Auction Mart: Results from Grunthal are not available.

Heartland Livestock Services, Brandon: A total of 320 cattle were on offer in Brandon during the week. A1-A2 steers went for $75-$82; A1-A2 heifers, $75-$81; D1-D2 cows, $40-$48.25; feeder cows, $35-$40; shells, $15-$35; and good bulls, $56-$63.

Feeder steers weighing 900-1,000 lbs. brought $85-$88.50; 800-900 lbs., $88-$94.75; 700-800 lbs., $92-$100.50; 600-700 lbs., $95-$103; and 500-600 lbs., $105-$114.

Feeder heifers weighing 900-1,000 lbs. sold for $80-$88.50; 800-900 lbs., $85-$90; 700-800 lbs., $85-$90.50; 600-700 lbs., $85-$93; 500-600 lbs., $88-$95; and 400-500 lbs., $95-$105.

Heartland Livestock Services, Virden: There were about 1,243 cattle sold at the sale held Sept. 2. Butcher steers brought $77-$80.50 while butcher heifers sold from $76 to $79.50. Age-verified/young cows sold for $44-$49.50; D1-D2 cows, $40-$44; D3 cows, $36-$40; shelly cows, $25-$35; and mature bulls, $56-$62.25.

Feeder steers weighing 900-1,000 lbs. brought $87-$93.50; 800-900 lbs., $90-$97.75; 700-800 lbs., $94-$104; 600-700 lbs., $97-$107; 500-600 lbs., $100-$112; 400-500 lbs., $103-$118; and 300-400 lbs., $105-$118.

Feeder heifers weighing 900-1,000 lbs. traded from $80 to $88; 800-900 lbs., $86-$93; 700-800 lbs., $86-$94; 600-700 lbs., $87-$97; 500-600 lbs., $88-$102; and 400-500 lbs., $90-$105.

Pipestone Livestock Sales: There were 369 cattle sold at the sale held Aug. 31. Included in the sale were 80 slaughter animals and 289 feeders.

In the slaughter market, D1 cows sold for $40-$45 and D2, $36-$39; D3 cows, $28-$35; and bulls, $42.75-$61.75.

Feeder steers weighing over 900 lbs. fetched $81.75-$90.25; 800-900 lbs., $85-$93; 700-800 lbs., $87-$99.25; 600-700 lbs., $90-$101.50; 500-600 lbs., $90-$105; and 400-500 lbs., $95-$101.

Feeder heifers weighing over 900 lbs. sold for $74-$85; 800-900 lbs., $77-$88; 700-800 lbs., $82-$91.75; 600-700 lbs., $82-$92.50; and 500-600 lbs., $75-$86.50.

Ste. Rose Auction Mart: A total of 358 cattle sold at the Sept. 3 sale. In the slaughter market, D1 and D2 cows ranged from $38 to $46, while D3 cows brought $28-$37 and bulls sold from $50 to $55.

Feeder steers weighing 900-1,000 lbs. traded from $86 to $93; 800-900 lbs., $90-97.50; 700-800 lbs., $90-$102.50; and 600-700 lbs., $95-$107.

Feeder heifers weighing 900-1,000 lbs. sold for $80-$86.50; 800-900 lbs., $88-$91; 700-800 lbs., $88-$94; 600-700 lbs., $90-$95; 500-600 lbs., $89-$94.50; and 400-500 lbs., $90-94.50.

Taylor Auctions, Melita: The sale held Sept. 3 resulted in 62 slaughter cattle and 100 feeders being sold. In the slaughter market, A1-A2 steers over 1,000 lbs. traded at $77-$81.50; A1-A2 heifers over 850 lbs., $75-$79; D1 and D2 cows sold from $40-$50; D3 and D5 cows, $35-$40; and good bulls, $58-$62.

Feeder steers weighing 900-1,000 lbs. brought $88-$95; 800-900 lbs., $90-$98; 700-800 lbs., $92-$109; 600-700 lbs., $95-$105; 500-600 lbs., $100-$108; 400-500 lbs., $105-$110; and 300-400 lbs., $110-$114.

Feeder heifers weighing 800-900 lbs. traded from $82 to $90; 700-800 lbs., $85-$92; 600-700 lbs., $90-$95; 500-600 lbs., $92-$98; 400-500 lbs., $95-$102; and 300-400 lbs., $100-$105.

Winnipeg Livestock Sales: There were about 260 head of cattle sold at the sale on Sept. 1. In the slaughter market, choice steers and heifers sold for $72-$75.75 and select steers and heifers for $69-$72. Dry fed cows brought $32-$42; good fleshed, $32-$37; lean, $25-$32; young age verified, $42-$49; and good bulls, $49-$56.

Feeder steers weighing 800-900 lbs. brought up to $95; 700-800 lbs., up to $101.25; 600-700 lbs., up to $106.50; and 500-600 lbs., up to $104.

Feeder heifers weighing 800-900 lbs. traded up to $87.50 and 700-800 lbs., up to $93.

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It was a welcome change after 10 days of cycling without a support vehicle, camping out under the stars in all kinds of weather, and living on a diet of high-energy snacks – especially the ubiquitous “trucker breakfast.”

The lean and fit former farm boy picked up a guitar and sang for the audience that had gathered Aug. 16 on a stage in the town’s picturesque park.

There are two main reasons for the trek, said Saunderson.

“Money and awareness. It’s not something a lot of people know about. Since it’s a lesser known form of cancer, it doesn’t get as much recognition, publicity or funding as a lot of the others.”

Saunderson, 27, was working in London, England as a mechanical engineer last year when his 63-year-old father Vern was diagnosed with the terminal disease.

COMING HOME

He immediately quit his job and flew back to Canada so that he could be on hand to offer support.

Some 6,000 Canadians are diagnosed with multiple myeloma each year, of which more than 95 per cent are people over the age of 45.

According to the website www.myelomacanada.ca,

the cause of the rare form of bone marrow cancer is unknown, but statistical analysis shows that it tends to affect workers in sectors that are heavily exposed to chemicals, such as farmers, petroleum and tannery workers, as well as cosmetologists.

Genetics may play a role. Blacks are twice as likely as whites to get it, and Asians the least affected, although Japanese survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb attacks and those exposed to Agent Orange have shown higher-than-normal incidence of the disease.

Because the vast majority of people with myeloma are elderly, it is thought that susceptibility may increase with age, or may be the result of a lifelong accumulation of toxins or genetic damage, the website added.

“It can be treated, but not cured,” said Saunderson, who added that existing treatments can only be expected to drive the painful and debilitating cancer into remission, and life expectancy is typically not more than five years.

LINKS EXPLORED

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Society of Hematology suggested that there may be a link between exposure to pesticides and multiple myeloma.

In the study, blood tests of 678 men aged 30 to 74 who applied chlorinated pesticide dieldrin, fumigant carbon tetrachloride/carbon disulphide and fungicide chlorothalonil were found to be twice as likely to test positive for the antibody that indicates the early stages of multiple myeloma.

That study rang a bell for Saunderson’s father, who remembers using chlorothalonil to spray peas on his 2,000-acre farm two or three decades ago.

“It may not be 100 per cent the cause, but if could have been a contributing factor.”

Shane’s father has since retired, and sold most of the farm as he concentrates on battling the disease. He’s not jumping to conclusions as to the cause of his illness.

“He’ll admit that there’s a chance that some of the chemicals he worked with could have contributed, but at the same time it could be just an entirely coincidental thing. You never know,” he said.

“He’s got it, so we have to deal with it. It’s not a matter of pointing fingers.”

The next day, he was heading out back on the road towards Winnipeg, and planning more updates for his entertaining blog at www.prairie-pedal.comso that people can follow his travels. Those interested in donating to the cause can find information on his website, or follow the links to www.Canadahelps.org.

So far, he said, the trip has paid off in media coverage and greater public awareness for the rare form of cancer. His website has gotten 2,000 visits in the last couple weeks, and he has raised over $20,000 for research, including $5,000 from the Souris area alone. daniel.winters@fbcpublishing.com

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“Manitobans are willing to pay $294 per household over a five-year period for wetlands, according to the survey results. If 100 per cent of wetlands are restored in the province, the public is willing to pay $358 per household over five years. This is even after those polled were told this money would come out of their own pockets.”

– PETER BOXALL, UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

The public wants the provincial government to do a better job of looking after wetlands, a survey has found.

What’s more, we’re willing to pick up the tab, even if it means almost $1,500 per household paid out over five years.

In January of last year, 2,000 Manitobans were surveyed in an Ipsos Reid poll commissioned by Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and the University of Alberta aimed at gauging the public’s receptiveness to an ecological goods and services program (EGS) in the province.

Almost 90 per cent of respondents expressed some level of concern about the issue of wetland loss in Manitoba. Many felt that the government should pay the largest por tion of wetland restoration costs, but that landowners and conservation groups should share some of the financial burden, the survey found.

Shane Gabor, a biologist with DUC, said that it shows the magnitude of support from the public for halting the loss of water quality and natural capital when wetlands are drained or degraded.

“DUC’s science supports the need for an EGS program that provides financial incentives to landowners to conserve wetlands on their land,” he said.

“This sur vey conf i rms that as they learn more about wetland conservation, Manitobans are concerned with their loss and want the government to show leadership by investing in the conservation of wetlands in Manitoba.”

CITIZENS CONCERNED

Peter Boxall, with the Department of Rural Economy at the University of Alberta, noted that the public was not as familiar with the issues surrounding wetland loss in comparison to other environmental issues.

“This is attributed to the significant media coverage of water pollution in Lake Winnipeg and the current hot topic of climate change,” he said.

“What the public doesn’t realize is that wetland drainage contributes to Lake Winnipeg’s problems.”

Water quality was the most important reason cited by those who favour the implementation of an EGS program, he added, noting that the role of wetlands goes far beyond the purification of water to include air quality, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, groundwater recharge and flood and erosion control.

“There is significant support for wetland conservation in Manitoba,” Boxall said, adding that the willingness to pay for wetlands is higher than other studies he has done recently concerning environmental services, possibly because their value is perceived to be higher in the public eye.

“Manitobans are willing to pay $294 per household over a five-year period for wetlands, according to the survey results. If 100 per cent of wetlands are restored in the province, the public is willing to pay $358 per household over five years. This is even after those polled were told this money would come out of their own pockets.”

WILLING TO PAY

Brian Sterling, a Manitoba Cattle Producers Association director from Tilston, who is a strong proponent of an EGS program, said that the results of the survey were “very interesting” and could help the public see the livestock industry in a different light.

“We’ve always thought that there was a willingness to pay if you could prove what the best management practices would do for you and for society,” he said.

“The livestock industry has no interest in draining and cropping wetlands. In fact, we have a lot of interest in maintaining them. We love our wetlands because it’s our backup in case we don’t get rain.”

The MCPA, along with other producer organizations, university researchers and the federal and provincial governments are currently working on a wide-ranging three-year study at a cost of $500,000 to gather quantifiable data on the multifunctional land use value of forages and a holistic picture of the carbon life cycle of cow-calf operations.

He noted that the cow, as a methane-belching ruminant, is widely blamed for contributing to global climate change of up to two tonnes of carbon-equivalent emissions a year.

WHOLE SYSTEMS APPROACH

But that’s because in purely academic studies, the animal is considered outside of the context of her role as an important food production unit that occupies a niche in a healthy, sustainable Prairie ecosystem that offers a whole host of environmental benefits, including wetland preservation.

“If you do a life cycle analysis, that old cow is responsible for probably 20 to 30 tonnes of offsets,” he said. “The big question that we would like to have scientific proof of is how much wetland is there because of the livestock industry.”

In the Tilston area, where drought tends to be the rule rather than the exception, Sterling has had first-hand experience with wetland restoration.

Figuring his cattle operation would benefit from faster aquifer recharge, a few years ago he experimented with live trapping beavers and releasing them on a shallow creek that winds through his property in the hope that they’d build a dam as a hedge against drought years.

“Those God damned beavers, they brought in friends. If they’d have stayed at two to three pairs, I’d have been away. Then they started knocking down acres of friggin’ trees,” he said with a laugh.

The beavers did build a dam, but in the wrong place. Eventually, DUC came in and built a small dam to hold back the water. Now, the beaver population has stabilized at a comfortable level.

He then planted some corn to try to bring in migrating geese – which it did in spades.

“We’ve got literally hundreds of geese nesting here now. It was really too successful. We don’t need that many.” daniel.winters@fbcpublishing.com

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