Market co-ordinators had prepared to limit shoppers, but that proved not to be necessary. According to a Facebook post, they never reached capacity as crowd-leery folks stayed away.

While the physical market continues to operate, more and more vendors have joined the online market, in which people can buy locally made food and goods and pick it up through a drive-thru. By all appearances, people have taken to it. The market has posted pictures on social media of tables lined up with pre-packed orders.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, more people seem willing to shop for food online.

About five per cent of Canadians switched to buying groceries online since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a May 4 report from Dalhousie University. While this seems like a small percentage, it represents a tripling from pre-COVID days.

In an April 21 article, Forbes reported a 129 per cent increase in U.S. and Canadian e-commerce orders from last year, and an overall 146 per cent growth in all online, retail orders.

Food industry experts have predicted that an increase in e-commerce will be one of the permanent changes to the food system after COVID-19 passes.

“I think that’s going to be a huge issue,” said Evan Fraser, head of the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph.

He added that retailers have been trying to figure out online grocery shopping for years, and now have been forced into action. He predicted retailers will invest big in e-commerce platforms.

“There is a new reality and we are overcoming some of those challenges,” said McCain Canada president Danielle Barran during a webinar with the Canadian Club Toronto on May 7.

Previously, Canada’s large size and relatively small population has made delivery costs a challenge, she said. Now the industry is seeing that e-commerce can work in Canada and will likely increase.

“Now it’s up to the industry to figure out how to get cost out of the system so it can sustain,” Barran said.

E-commerce allows for more potential choice than just a few big retailers, said Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of Agri-Food Analytics Lab, and professor in food distribution policy at Dalhousie University.

“E-commerce is basically bringing more democracy to the system,” Charlebois said.

A move to online shopping has made more room for small food producers.

Online sales combined with fears over meat shortages have allowed Michelle Shram and Troy Stozek to vastly increase sales of their grass-fed beef and lamb.

Shram and Stozek, who farm near Cartwright, Manitoba, list meat products on their website and deliver once a month to Winnipeg. Pre-pandemic, if they sold out at all, it was in the last few days of the ordering window. When they spoke to the Co-operator on May 4, they were already sold out within their first week and a half of listing.

New customers have found them by word of mouth, online, and through Direct Farm Manitoba, which lists local food sellers on its website.

At one time it was strange to order groceries online and wait in a parking lot to pick them up, Shram said. Now people are forced to stand in line to get into a ‘regular’ grocery store.

In April, the province and the federal government teamed up to provide $160,000 to Direct Farm Manitoba, in part to purchase an e-commerce platform that would allow the organization to move farmers’ markets and food sellers online quickly.

On May 1, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman gave Direct Farm Manitoba official permission to use city properties like community centres as “food hubs” — points to meet customers and deliver pre-ordered food.

While this was essentially official recognition of what was already happening, Direct Farm Manitoba president Phil Veldhuis explained, it was validation for a group that has often felt the need to prove its legitimacy.

“I think it’s pretty awesome that they recognize that this sort of, kind of weird, kind of obscure farm exchange is actually important and necessary,” Veldhuis told the Co-operator.

Disruption driven

Lately interruptions to supply chains appear to have increased interest in direct sales.

Given halts to cattle processing due to COVID-19 outbreaks among workers at packing plants, the association said it wants to facilitate beef sales straight off the farm as a way to help ranchers and make product available to consumers.

As news broke of disruptions at packing plants in early May, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association moved to facilitate direct beef sales among its members, according to a report from the Western Producer.

“When consumers buy their beef from the farm gate, they’re getting great value while helping out their local farmers and ranchers,” SSGA president Bill Huber said in a news release. “People like to know where their food comes from and this is a great opportunity for consumers to meet the people who produce the top-quality beef Saskatchewan is famous for.”

Fraser predicted there will be a strong, renewed interest among some consumers for buying local food and supporting shorter supply chains.

“My guess is that there will be a sustained increase in consumers wanting to support the local farm community through things like CSA-type models, and that will be enabled by better technology,” he said.

Big sellers?

While local food sellers may increase their market share, that market share is still small and it needs to work alongside the large-scale agri-food industry.

“What we seem to forget is the efficiency of the system itself,” said Charlebois. “Canadians have actually had access to a very affordable food basket for several years.”

The large-scale food chain probably won’t shorten much, said Fraser.

Fraser suggested that instead of shortening supply chains, large companies might move toward greater transparency in those chains.

He referenced companies like Grain Discover, which uses blockchain technology to track grain from the field, through the supply chain to the store.

Tracking food like this effectively creates a map of the supply chain, said Fraser. It allows companies to pinpoint weaknesses in the chain and make contingency plans.

“Unless you’ve actually got that map, you don’t know where the roadblocks might be, you don’t know where the bottlenecks might be, you don’t know where the alternative routes might be.”

The agri-food system also needs better strategy, said Charlebois. The stresses of the pandemic are an opportunity to think differently.

“I think we need to recognize that the centrepiece for any agri-food processing strategy has to be processing and then you start from there,” said Charlebois.

Each commodity can think differently about how to structure and give itself more options, he said. For instance, dairy could divert excess stock to making biodiesel or biogases, said Charlebois. Milk can also be used to make vodka.

“We haven’t been innovative enough,” he said.

The post An uptick in online sales may help Manitoba farmers appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The producer group passed a resolution Feb. 8 to lobby government for the new program.

The 45-42 vote was among the most polarizing resolutions of the 2018 AGM in Brandon.

Ben Fox stepped out of his role as MBP president to speak for the resolution, which emerged from his home district in the Riding Mountain area. Producers in his district argued that mandatory inspections would give more protection, proof of possession and a solid paperwork trail through inspection documents.

“It shows who owned the cattle, where they were shipped to, who gets paid for the cattle, it’s just a real simplified piece of paper that makes the industry and commerce flow that much easier,” he said.

If put in place, animals up for sale would need to have their ownership verified through a brand registry before hitting the sale ring.

Producers shipping cattle west are already dealing with inspections. Fox argued that Manitoba is decades behind the rest of the Prairies when it comes to inspection programs.

In Saskatchewan, inspections were offered through the province until 2014, when Livestock Services of Saskatchewan, a non-profit drawn from the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association, Saskatchewan Cattle Feeders Association, Saskatchewan Horse Federation and Livestock Marketers of Saskatchewan took up the reins. At the same time, the program raised costs from $2 to $2.75 a head.

“Livestock inspection is essential going forward in the marketplace that we deal with,” Fox said. “It was imperative that we got it passed and we did get it passed and we’re quite happy that it was able to pass. It just opens up a lot of security for the producers and for the lenders. It really is a win for the beef industry.”

Fox was unsurprised at the close vote. Similar resolutions have come before the membership in previous years.

Critics raised concern that the mandatory inspection might bog down the sale process, while also raising operating costs for producers.

Fox would like to see that $2.75-a-head fee from Saskatchewan reflected for any new program in Manitoba.

Cost is likely a breaking point for many producers who do not support a mandatory inspection, he said.

“It’s going to take some getting used to, but it’s definitely something good for the whole industry in Western Canada,” Fox said.

MBP general manager Brian Lemon says the producer group has not specifically brought up mandatory inspection program during its talks with the province.

“It’s certainly something that will make us more in alignment with what goes on in Saskatchewan and what goes on in Alberta,” he said. “Being a realist, you look at where the provincial government’s at and is it in a position where it’s going to want to take on new programs and stuff? I can see that there’s going to be a certain number of questions it’s going to ask.”

Lemon expects cost to be one of the province’s major questions before implementing an inspection program.

Lemon pointed out that the $2.75 charge per head in Saskatchewan may have a difference in a program developed for Manitoba and the province’s smaller cattle herd.

“Are we going to be in a position where we’re going to be able to actually dollar value that actually adds the same value? At the end of the day, producers I don’t think mind spending money if they see value for their expenditures. It’s when they spend money and they don’t see value that that’s what really irks,” he said.

The post Mandatory livestock inspections split MBP membership appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Doug Chorney, a farmer from East Selkirk, Man., is the new assistant chief commissioner and Lonny McKague, who farms at Ogema, Sask., is the new commissioner.

Their cabinet appointments take effect Feb. 13. That’s also when Canola Council of Canada president Patti Miller becomes the CGC’s new chief commissioner.

Miller was appointed for six years, Chorney and McKague for five and four years, respectively.

All serve based on “good behaviour,” which means they can only be fired for wrongdoing.

Although appointed, they had to apply for the jobs.

The CGC, Canada’s grain industry watchdog ensuring grain quality control, has been without commissioners since Dec. 5, 2016 when Murdoch MacKay’s appointment expired.

Assistant chief commissioner Jim Smolik’s term expired Nov. 24, and chief commissioner Elwin Hermanson declined to be reappointed. His term expired Jan. 20, 2016.

All three were appointed by the former Conservative government.

In separate interviews Chorney and McKague said they will continue to farm, although McKague, says his farm, which includes about 20 purebred Limousin cows, has been scaled back.

Chorney, a professional engineer with a degree from the University of Manitoba, served as Keystone Agricultural Producers president from 2011 to 2015.

He has also been on the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation’s board since June 2015, but resigned to take the position.

Chorney also served on many other boards and committees.

McKague was a director and a founding member of Ogema Elevator Ltd. and of Red Coat Road & Rail, a short line railway.

He is past president of the Canadian Limousin Association, the Ogema Agricultural Society and of the local Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association.

He also served as a past director of Ogema Credit Union, was a 4-H leader and ran unsuccessfully for the Liberals in the 2006 federal election.

McKague studied vocational agriculture and agriculture business management at the University of Saskatchewan.

The post Farmers Doug Chorney, Lonny McKague appointed to Canadian Grain Commission appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Inspection Agency insists a herd of pigs in Alberta infected with the H1N1 swine flu got it from a person, even though a prime suspect in the case was cleared.

“Contact with an infected person remains the most likely source of infection on this farm,” CFIA said in a statement last week although it acknowledges the source of infection remains unknown.

An earlier suspect was a carpenter who returned from Mexico, where H1N1 originated, to work at the Alberta farm April 14. The man went home with flu-like symptoms. Afterwards, the pigs also exhibited flu-like symptoms and blood tests showed the animals had H1N1. But tests confirmed the carpenter didn’t.

As a result, the source of the only known case of H1N1 flu in pigs in the world remains a mystery.

But because the virus originated in humans, the “virtually identical composition with the human strain” in the Alberta pigs makes people the most logical source, CFIA said.

CFIA said there was no evidence than an animal infected the herd. The farm was a farrow-to-finish operation which did “not have a history of purchased additions.”

Emergency Grazing Lands Opened

The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association welcomed the announcement last week by Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud and Environment Minister Nancy Heppner opening 100,000 acres of Fish and Wildlife Development Fund lands for emergency grazing across the province.

“This announcement is welcome news to Saskatchewan’s cattle producers that are being affected by drought,” said Calvin Knoss, president of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association. “We feel that this is a step in the right direction that gives producers another tool to help manage through this difficult situation.”

Knoss said his group will continue to monitor the situation and work with the government to help producers find solutions.

The most immediate concern facing producers in drought regions is water-supply shortages and looming forage supply shortages for this upcoming winter, said stock growers past president Ed Bothner. “The opening of this additional grazing land will help to extend the grazing season which help alleviate the supply and demand pressure on forage supplies,” he said.

The post Source Of Infection A Mystery appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

A substantial list of long-term positives were listed by presenters at the recent Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association annual meeting in Moose Jaw.

Pork, poultry and beef supplies are all dropping in North America. Eventually the supply shortfall will spark price increases.

As the world economy improves, demand and prices will improve for many beef products, including the hides. The automobile industry is the biggest market for leather and Government Motors (GM) and the other manufacturers are in a huge slump. Hides that were worth $40 to $50 per animal are now selling for $10 or less.

An improvement in the economy will also see consumers buying more of the high-end beef cuts and consuming more of these cuts in restaurants.

Gradually the stigma of the 2003 BSE (mad cow disease) outbreak is subsiding and more countries are opening their borders to Canadian beef.

It’s important to have markets for the cuts that most North Americans don’t want to consume. Good returns on products such as livers and tongues increase the overall value of the carcass.

As our beef herd shrinks, the domestic market is becoming more important to the industry. That means less reliance on exports. Your domestic market is usually your best market.

Unfortunately, the longer-term optimism is being clouded by short-term reality.

Brian Nilsson, co-CEO of XL Foods was the highlight speaker at the Stock Growers convention. By purchasing the Tyson Foods packing plant at Brooks, Alta, XL has become the largest beef processor in the country. Two companies, XL and Cargill, now absolutely dominate the Canadian industry.

Nilsson believes there are great times ahead. But XL has temporarily closed its beef slaughter facility in Moose Jaw, a facility that specializes in cull cows.

U. S. packing plants face much less onerous rules on how they must deal with Specified Risk Materials such as the brain and spinal cord.

Far more tissue has to be removed under Canadian rules for over-30-month cows. Those same cows sent live to U. S. packing plants have about a $30-a-head advantage.

Nilsson says he plans to reopen the Moose Jaw facility in September, but without a change in the overly stringent Canadian rules governing SRMs, it’s tough to see how the plant will attract enough cows to be viable.

The rapidly rising value of the Canadian dollar relative to the U. S. greenback is hurting price prospects on both live animals and our beef. A 90-cent dollar is not helpful.

Another short-term problem is the drought in western Saskatchewan and into Alberta. A huge region has had less than 40 per cent of normal precipitation since April 1.

Hay and pasture land needs early growing season moisture. There has been irreparable damage to yield potential. Already there are reports of producers culling their cow herds because they won’t have enough feed. A continued sell-off of breeding stock will increase beef supply and weight on price levels.

Most observers believe that calf prices this fall should be a bit better than last year, but cow-calf producers could still end up working for little or no net return. Faith that the longer term should be better is all that’s keeping many producers in the business.

Kevin Hursh is a consulting agrologist and farmer based in

Saskatoon. He can be reached at kevin@hursh.ca.

The post Cattle Experts Say It Will Get Better appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Readers will also know that I lambasted some of the groups claiming to represent cattle producers for their unwillingness to oppose the consolidation in the industry. One such representative defended this by saying that the packers (XL and Cargill) write good cheques, so why would we criticize them? (They may be good but they are so darn small!)

The columns I wrote about this brought me probably the largest response since I began writing, more than 700 columns ago. While some of it was negative, most was positive. There are a lot of angry cattle farmers out there. Angry at governments, and angry at the leadership of farm organizations.

SURPRISED

One large cow-calf producer who phoned me surprised me a bit when he said that now that XL was going to own Lakeside Packers, it would soon close XL Beef in Moose Jaw, and likely its plant in Calgary. Even for someone as jaded as me, that seemed a bit much. “Of course,” he said. “Lakeside is operating below capacity, so why would they keep the other two plants open?”

Geez, what a cynic, I thought. But, of course, it turns out he was right. XL announced on April 24 that it is “temporarily” shutting the Moose Jaw plant down, with a likely resumption of operations in September. One employee was less optimistic, saying the September reopening was more a wish than a likelihood.

Neither the Canadian Cattlemens Association and the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association appeared upset with Nilsson Bros., owners of XL. CCA president Brad Wildeman said, “If there’s nothing to slaughter, you can’t expect to keep it open.” SSGA president Ed Bothner was equally sympathetic. “It’s out of their control.” Even the head of the union at XL bought the argument. “Who would think in Saskatchewan we’d have no cows?”

BELOW CAPACITY

Since the plant at Brooks has been operating at about 75 per cent capacity, and Moose Jaw has had a reduced kill lately, the logical assumption is there just aren’t enough cattle to go around. Of course, during BSE, with the border closed, prices were low because there wasn’t enough slaughter capacity in Canada to kill all the animals available. Now that the border is open, (at least for now) cattle are again heading to the U. S. and Canadian plants are short.

The thing about this is that cattle are being shipped to the U. S. In other words, there are more cattle available to kill, but someone else, in the U. S. is willing to pay more for them than the Canadian plants. So there is something to slaughter, and it isn’t out of XL’s control. Just pay more and you’ll have more cattle. And the cow numbers in Saskatchewan are down, all right, but only a bit over two per cent from six months ago. There are still cows in Saskatchewan.

And, if there are less cattle overall, it is because farmers stopped raising them, and began to sell off their cows because there was no money in it. Let’s face it.

SHORT-TERM THINKING

The packers made a killing during BSE. If they had passed more of that back to the farmer, there would be more cows now, and no one would be talking about shortages of animals. So the packers are victims of a problem of their own making.

Now, I know that the market doesn’t work that way. The packers will never pay more than they have to, because they are business people, not charitable institutions, and they mainly think short term. To get money out of them, we need to have competition. That is the nature of our economic system. Rob Leslie, senior analyst at Canfax, knows that. He is quoted as saying the closure will mean lower prices for feeders and fat cattle. “We’re reducing capacity and the plants don’t have to go out there and be quite as aggressive on their bids to procure cattle.”

Now if XL had not been allowed to buy Lakeside, and another buyer had been found, would Moose Jaw have closed anyway? Maybe. Or maybe not, since it is expected there will be more cattle available in the fall.

So tell me again why the cattle organizations figure consolidation in the packing industry is okay. I haven’t had a good laugh in quite a while.

Paul Beingessner writes from his farm near Truax, Sask.

The post Cattle Producer Predicted XL Closure appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“We’re not happy about this.”

– andrew dickson, mpc

Manitoba livestock producers say a $71 million hog and cattle support program announced last week not only gives Saskatchewan producers an unfair advantage, it could lead to trade retaliation from the United States.

“There’s a very real possibility,” said Andrew Dickson, Manitoba Pork Council general manager. “We’re not happy about this.”

The program, announced Feb. 26 by Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud, will pay Saskatchewan hog producers $20 for each market hog and $10 for each weanling, isowean and feeder pig sold between July 1, 2008 and January 31, 2009.

Cattle producers will receive $40 for each beef breeding cow and bred beef heifer owned as of January 1, 2009.

Maximum payments are $2 million per operation. Boars, sows, feeder cattle and dairy cattle are not eligible.

Joe Bouchard, Manitoba Cattle Producers Association president, said the program puts Manitoba beef producers at a disadvantage. “It’s $40 a cow their guys are getting to help with cash flow or to buy whatever they need to operate that we don’t have here in Manitoba.”

But Bouchard and Dickson said they were not so much concerned about the money as they were about a possible trade challenge if the U. S. sees the payments as an unfair subsidy. “To have money with no strings attached brings up the risk of a trade challenge and that’s the last thing we need right now for our industry,” Bouchard said.

Bouchard said MCPA is also asking for provincial support of $100 a cow. But the money would be tied to an environmental goods and services program for cattle producers proposed by the association.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Agriculture Minister Rosann Wowchuk indicated Manitoba isn’t about to follow the lead of other provinces in unilaterally announcing livestock support programs.

“Mani toba has always believed that taking a balanced approach is the best way – working with the federal government and trying to deliver programs that will work for producers,” the spokesperson said.

Hog producers are particularly leery because Manitoba is Canada’s largest exporter of live pigs to the U. S.

Hog and live cattle exports have fallen sharply in recent months because of the U. S. country-of-origin food labelling rule.

But Dickson noted Manitoba still exports large numbers of weanling pigs to the U. S. and the Saskatchewan program covers weanlings farrowed in the province and fed outside Canada.

Dickson said he and other pork council officials visited hog producer meetings in Minnesota and Iowa in January and trade issues with Canada were low on American producers’ minds at the time.

But that could change if protectionist forces in the U. S. see what they consider subsidized foreign animals coming into their market, said Dickson.

Saskatchewan producers, meanwhile, welcomed the program.

Ed Bothner, Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association president, said beef producers have been hard hit by a combination of lingering BSE fallout, high feed costs, a rise in the Canadian dollar and now COOL.

“Saskatchewan cow-calf producers appreciate the efforts being made by Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud and the provincial government to get badly needed financial assistance into the pockets of producers,” Bothner said in a statement.

Bjornerud said his government views its $71 million as a 40 per cent contribution. He called on Ottawa to come up with another 60 per cent, the way federal-provincial agriculture programs are usually funded.

But federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz poured cold water on the idea.

In a statement, Ritz said Saskatchewan floated the plan at a recent federal-provincial agriculture ministers’ meeting and every other province rejected it.

Ritz also warned about the risk of a trade challenge.

“Federal funding for this type of program would likely result in retaliation from our trading partners,” he said in a statement.

Alberta last year unilaterally launched its own livestock support program worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The program produced controversy both inside and outside the province. Producers in other provinces also fear trade retaliation as a result. Alberta beef producers object to mandatory provisions, including traceability and premise identification. ron@fbcpublishing.com

The post Saskatchewan Program Worries Manitoba Livestock Producers appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Livestock industries? Well, no. With the exception of Alberta throwing a whack of money at its cattle farmers, other provinces and the federal government appear ready to turn a blind eye to an industry sinking into the ground.

It’s interesting to compare the situation of livestock producers to that of autoworkers. The auto industry in Canada exists largely because of a trade agreement with the United States, known as the Auto Pact. It shifted some auto manufacturing from the U. S., where most of Canada’s cars were made, to Canada, mainly Ontar io. The pact required that for every car sold in Canada, one had to be built here.

The cattle and hog industries in Canada, with their present levels of production, exist largely because of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Prior to this, Canada’s beef industry was mostly sized to fit domestic needs and the hog industry was similarly small. When Canadian livestock were allowed into the U. S. tariff free, our production began to grow. That was further accelerated by poor grain prices in the 1980s and ’90s. Marginal lands were converted back to grass and feed grains were cheap.

Both industries are in huge trouble today, and the government is bailing one of them out. Guess which one?

So why do provincial and federal governments in Canada see the auto industry as worth saving and the livestock industry as so much waste to flush down the toilet? The answer may lie in location and politics. The auto industry in Eastern Canada means seats for any government that wants to rule or keep ruling.

Ontario voters will go Liberal, Conservative or even NDP at the drop of a hat (or a dollar). Western voters, particularly rural ones, vote Conservative no matter what. The federal government seems totally uninterested in agriculture, with the exception of dumping the Canadian Wheat Board. Equally, in Saskatchewan, the governing party seems assured of rural votes. In return, it is ignoring Saskatchewan’s large livestock sector.

Here’s the awful irony. When the Liberals ruled Canada from an eastern base, they ignored western agriculture. Commentators would of ten say we should not expect good treatment from a party we refuse to vote for. Now the party we vote for is in power, and we still get nothing because they expect we will always vote for them.

The same dichotomy seems to be playing out in Saskatchewan. The NDP was largely estranged from rural Saskatchewan during its long reign. Now the Saskatchewan Party, solidly entrenched in rural Saskatchewan, categorically says it has no help for the livestock industry. (And the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association president Jack Hextall says, darn it…oh well… okay.)

The exception to this perverse rule is Alberta. The reigning Conservatives have doled out big bucks to the livestock sector to keep it afloat.

To compound the situation, it is unlikely that pouring money into this industry would do much good in the long run anyway. A recent study by the National Farmers Union shows that livestock returns, which were relatively constant for many decades, took a tumble with the advent of NAFTA and the consolidation of the packing industry. The example of calf prices illustrates this. Prices for 500-to 600-pound calves today are just over half their 1942 to 1989 average.

So, following the advice of governments and the economic dictates of the time, farmers increased livestock production and packers consolidated. When the system fails, as it has today, governments are quite prepared to dump the farmer. But then, that has been the way of thinking in government for a long time. Farmers are the problem, the solution is to get rid of more of them and leave only the efficient. It’s so much easier than challenging the conventional wisdom about business and trade.

Paul Beingessner farms and writes from his home near Truax, Sask.

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