Author (#31): January 2012 Archives

I was at the FarmTech conference in Edmonton this past week and I may have crossed over to the dark side. At least I am moving from the bright white light of confident skepticism into a grey area. The dark side may be just around the corner.

I am talking about moving over to the dark side of micronutrients. Maybe they do work. I am still at the maybe stage, but I have seen a number of products around for years, I look at the research and testimonials and it seems to make sense and certainly the with-and-without pictures look good.

(Photo Caption: As you can see by these comparison photos supplied by the Hart FixAll Company, five ounces per 1000 acres of an enriched “tea” made by soaking old Grainews in 

tap water can make a huge difference in wheat yields.  That's salinity not snow in the top photo. Okay, I am just being a smart ass here, these photos have nothing to do with micronutrients. I just needed an illustration to break up the grey copy.)

But at the trade shows plenty of farmers stop to talk to these micronutrient guys. The micro companies all have nice displays. I don’t see any of their representatives riding bicycles to get to the shows. Somebody must be buying this stuff.

However, I have to balance that with the fact, Independent, Third Party, Western Canada Research Scientists (ITPWCRS) are reluctant to give these products a ringing endorsement. Some argue there isn’t enough micronutrient in any specific treatment to make a difference to the crop, some say studies show there is no general deficiency for X nutrient in Western Canadian soils, most dismiss farmer testimonials as being unreliable — who is going to buy or use something for five years and then tell you it doesn’t work, and others simply say there is no evidence collected by ITPWCRS to show these products are effective. And that may all be valid, too.

SOMETHING TO IT

 But there is something in my head that keeps telling me, I think these products have a role. Maybe soil scientists don’t fully understand plant physiology. Maybe there are personality clashes. Maybe there are some old dogs not interested in learning new tricks. I have heard sometimes in life it is hard for people to admit they were wrong. Maybe it requires a leap of faith. There are lots of powerful things in life, like love, electricity, and God, that aren’t easy to see or quantify, but I know those forces are there.

I am not suggesting that God is out peddling Omex’s C3 foliar product, or ATP’s ReLeaf, but maybe he has a couple disciples on the micronutrient sales force.

That’s the other thing. I look at the people selling these products and most don’t look like crooks. Most are pretty good talkers, but that’s not a crime. I have known a few farmers and ITPWCRS who can bend your ear, too. Most micronutrient product promoters are well educated and look like people of conscience. I don’t get the impression they are leaving the house in the morning with “another big day of screwing farmers” purpose in mind. They believe in the products they sell.

I am not a farmer, or an agronomist, or an ITPWCRS so have very little technical standing in this discussion. I did ask wise old, former Grainews editor Jay Whetter for his opinion and the advice he recalled from a researcher, “If farmers are doing all the proper things to produce a crop, and yields seem to reach a plateau, then maybe they should look at micronutrients.”

 NO MIRACLES

And that may be the key to this whole product line. If you are a low-budget, corner-cutting producer to begin with, don’t expect a $5 or $7 per acre micronutrient treatment to double your yield or do anything at all really. But if you are following all the good agronomic practices — good seed, proper seed bed, proper seeding rate, proper fertility, wear newer jeans and have a nice pickup, and you expect more from your crop, micros may have an effective fit. And as I have heard enough times over the years about any product — you don’t have to do the whole farm, make your own on-farm test strips to see for yourself.

One of the companies is planning to buy me lunch this week and as is well known in the ag media world, a good lunch, nice pen, or an attractive ball cap is pretty well all it takes to win over a skeptical writer. And geez, if they throw in dessert I might get evangelical about how a little micro can change your life —  so praise the Lord and pass the boron.

Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

I, like everyone else, am delighted the South Korean market is now open to Canadian beef — go forth all you dedicated Canadian cowboys and cowgirls and produce and sell more beef —  but honestly one of my first thoughts when I saw the release about the agreement was of the movie “Dumb and Dumber” (it is one of my favorites).

 But who was the dumb one in this situation? Have we Canadians been dumb for trusting the quality and safety of

 Canadian beef all these years — we never stopped eating Canadian beef after the BSE crisis — , or were some bureaucrats in South Korea dumb for taking nine years to issue their approval of the Import Health Requirements? (Photo caption – a friend of mine who use to live in South Korea sent me this photo of beef in China foraging on a landfill, and according to South Korean media reports some of these beef end up being exported to South Korea. And South Korea is worried about the safety of Canadian beef? Hello!)

I will never be in politics and my chances of being picked for some plumb diplomatic posting are dwindling daily, but I look at the situation where we as Canadians —our government agricultural, trade and beef marketing people — are dealing with the relatively modern and progressive democratic country of South Korea and I have to wonder “what the hell took nine years to figure out?”

How many pounds of Canadian BSE-laden beef was ever shipped? None. How many cases of Mad Cow Disease were found in humans because they ate BSE-laden Canadian beef? None. How many people have died (or even got sick) from eating Canadian BSE-laden beef? None. Is there such a thing as Canadian BSE-laden beef? No.

How long did it take leading world food science and human health communities to decide, after the BSE crisis, that Canadian beef is of high quality and safe to eat? Almost since Day 1. What country has strict and costly rules about removal and disposal of Specified Risk Materials from beef carcasses, now considered to be hazardous waste? Canada. What country has implemented a national livestock identification and traceability program and has a pretty stringent program for random animal health testing? Canada.  

How many people have you coaxed, cajoled and catered to for nine years to eat a steak dinner at your kitchen table? I don’t know about your household, but at mine the answer is….None.

Here is where my resume` for a plumb diplomatic or marketing job gets a little weak.  But my approach on this whole post BSE marketing thing would be to approach the South Koreans, or any market for that matter and say: “Yes, we had a problem. We have dealt with it. We have put every possible safe guard in place. We have stacks of scientific evidence that shows that our product is safe. We are here today, with a high quality, high value, product that is completely safe. Do you want it or not?”

I am a slow reader, but it probably wouldn’t take much more than 30 seconds to read that off. It certainly wouldn’t take nine years.

I am hoping in this whole business there was an enormous, unbelievable quagmire of politics and many other wide ranging trade issues at play, and this really wasn’t a simple question about whether Canadian beef is safe to eat. Was it any safer on January 20, 2012 when this agreement was signed than it was five years ago?

All the cattle organizations are thanking federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz and trade minister Ed Fast for 

hammering out this agreement with South Korea. And the Canadian Cattleman’s Association was also very dedicated in it’s efforts over the past decade to get this market open. God love them for their patience and persistence.

And it is good. Another $30 million beef market is a great thing. I know I sound a bit like one of the predictable, whiney, never satisfied, too-little/too-late opposition parties, but I still have to go back to my original point — if it takes nine years to convince a customer that you have a good quality, safe product they really enjoyed at one time, either your message isn’t very clear, or they are so thick headed that maybe you don’t want them as a customer anyway. I hear that garbage-grazing beef from China is really tasty, but it needs a little HP Sauce.

Lee Hart is editor of Cattleman’s Corner based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

I have always ascribed to the theory if you can get your point across with a bit of humor it has much more impact than a hardnosed serious message — unless of course you are selling funeral services, but even then I’m not so sure.

So I have to give credit to this Australian company promoting Angus beef pies for this advertisement. I think I have attached a clip here if you visit this YouTube website http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqviCx3BsrQ  .

I just think it is pretty clever, and has much more impact on me than a bunch of attractive 30-year-olds, laughing and chatting in a restaurant as they wait for someone to grill the most perfect steak. Maybe if I was an attractive 30-year-old I might feel differently, but unlike these commercials I have never been anywhere with that many attractive, happy people.

Right after you view the commercial you may want to make plans to attend a feedlot conference sponsored by Certified Angus Beef and Elanco Animal Health, coming up Jan. 25, 2012 in Lethbridge.

It is a one-day event with registration at 9 a.m. and an Angus beef lunch. Theme of the conference is “Hitting The Consumer Target” so several speakers during the day will be talking about what different sectors of the beef industry want in terms of cattle and meat quality as they supply their consumers.

The Certified Angus Beef and Elanco Animal Health folks have their messages, and you can also hear about the Canadian packer perspective, the retailer perspective, and the foodservice/restaurant perspective. There will be a talk on carcass traits, and a presentation by a U.S. feedlot manager on hitting quality targets.

The conference will be held at the Coast Lethbridge Hotel (which use to be the old El Rancho on Mayor Magrath Drive.) I think you just have to show up and grab a seat.

For more information contact: Janet Kanters at office 403-644-2966; cell, 403-901-4559 or by email at: jkanters@mccormickglobal.com

Lee Hart is editor of Cattleman’s Corner based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

Well my jeans are too tight today, so I think that speaks volumes about how 2011 went, as well as what’s ahead for 2012. It was generally a pretty good year, but there’s always room for improvement and a place for “change” in the coming months.

I didn’t make any New Year’s Resolutions because they never really seemed to work or last much beyond January 

9 most years. I guess if there is any plan or goal for the year it is generally try to do a bit better at correcting all the flaws. A friend of mine sent me an email with this photo of a rooster with a caption “Made it through another year”….well I have a little more meat on my bones than this bird, but it does illustrate how I feel some days.

I got a year older in 2011 which for some reason didn’t mean much when I was 30, but now that I am 60 there seems to be more urgency to make the best (or better) use of my time. As friend Terry Hockaday, the brains behind Meristem Information Services, and I were discussing again the other day, time sure seems to speed up as you get older. Terry and I both have a habit of reading the obituaries in the Calgary paper every day. Part of that is to “make sure my name isn’t there”, as Terry says, but also unfortunately there are often names there we do recognize. And even if I don’t know people, I can’t help but note there seems to be more names of people born in the late 40s and early 50s making those pages. I don’t think I am on death’s door, but I start to feel a certain reality there are probably more years behind me than ahead.

My Dad died when he was 89 and my Mom turned 86 last year and I know one of the tough realities for them over the past 20 years was that all their friends on “the road” were dying off. My Mom has two life-long neighborhood friends left — one has issues with dementia and the other lives in a senior’s apartment about 15 miles away. And although my Mom still gets around pretty good there seems to be more days when she doesn’t feel like going out to warm up the car, load up the walker, and head off somewhere to fight with heavy doors and perhaps do more walking or standing than she likes, so she stays put beside the fireplace and occasionally naps.

I think one of the messages in that story is that I not only have to take better care of myself, but I also have to encourage friends to live healthy so I have someone to talk to when I am 90.

My plan or pledge for the year is to be more productive and be a bit more efficient with my time — at least that’s what I say in public…it is a bit like the Pope calling for world peace (it may not happen). Grainews editor Lyndsey Smith is off for a few months doing the maternal thing, so I have to break in acting editor Leann Minogue. She and her husband farm in southern Saskatchewan. I have only spoken to Leann a couple times as we plan stories over the coming months, but she seems to be okay with my long-standing policy of over-promising and under-delivering. So we should get along fine.

And I really have to have a serious sit down talk with Scott Garvey, machinery editor. He is being way too productive and that reflects poorly on everyone else (i.e. me)…Remember Scott, it is over-promise and under-deliver.

But enough rambling…it is January 2 and I really need to get working on this pledge for the year — being more productive. I could go talk to a farmer today but do I really feel like warming up the car, loading up the walker, and heading off somewhere to fight with heavy doors and perhaps do more walking or standing than I like. Maybe I’ll just stay put beside the fireplace and think about it. But no naps…napping is for old people.

Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com