It's all about the service

Cory Bourdeaud'hui took a visitor on a farm tour Wednesday and Thursday last week. Lisa Adams came up from St. Louis, Missouri for a tour of Prairie farms. Lisa buys ad space and helps organize media campaigns for Dow AgroSciences, and Cory thought she should get up close with a few farms in Western Canada. I tagged along.

For one stop, we visited Murray Froebe at Agassiz Seed Farm near Homewood, Man. Murray sat us down with his whole crew at coffee time, and we talked about where they get their information and what kind of ads have an impact on them. Murray reads (he had copies of Grainews and the Manitoba Co-operator on the coffee room table) and he follows a few websites, including farmzone.com because "they give you a wind forecast" with their weather report. Murray says he also relies on advice from the three independent retailers in the area. He says he doesn't do surveys anymore, but he doesn't mind a quick call from sales reps.

After a few minutes, the crew went back to work. Some were loading a semi trailer with bags of soybeans for tofu, and others were getting ready to spray Basagran — if it was hot enough.

We had a goodbye chat in the driveway (see the photo), then went to a diner in Carman for lunch. Then we traveled west to the immaculate and spacious Jonk potato seed farm near Bruxelles. Stan Audette, communications manager for  Dow AgroSciences, was on the tour with us, and he was really impressed with the Jonk operation, particularly their massive new shop.

(Side comment of interest: Stan told one farmer we met that crop protection pesticides will likely go up in price next year because so many of them are petroleum based.)

It was a beautiful day for a drive because about half the acres we saw were in canola and most of them were in flower. This was all new for Lisa so I took a photo for her to share with her friends in St. Louis. I also told her why canola oil was so much better than the vegetable (soy) oil she has been using.

That evening, we went to Mirlycourtois French restaurant in Winnipeg's Exchange District. The food was very good. Cory and I shared fois gras for an appetizer, and I had scallops (coquille St. Jacques) for my main course. But along with the great food, we had great service. The waiter explained everything with great detail and knowledge and without pretentiousness. Cory said, "Jay, is he the best waiter you've ever had?" I said, "He's definitely in the top three." I guess Cory went on and on a bit on the way home because his wife Jenny, who joined us, finally said, "Enough about the waiter!"

The next day we went to JRI's Kelburn Farm, which has all sorts of research plots. And then we had a short visit with Guy Saurette, who farms near Aubigny, about 50 km south of Winnipeg.

(Photo two, left to right: Cory Bourdeaud'hui, Murray Froebe, Earl Froebe, Lisa Adams and Stan Audette)