Health Canada is following in the European Union’s footsteps as it moves to ban the use of neonic pesticides due to concerns about their impact on bees and other wildlife. But many farmers are fighting to maintain the status quo.

Canola growers, in particular, say the ban would increase costs and put their crops at risk of being lost to flea beetles. They say other types of pesticides are not as effective and therefore require higher volumes to be applied to crops.

[Editor’s note: For more on neonics, see GLP’s article With the ‘bee crisis’ fading and European farmers fearing an insect invasion, EU’s neonicotinoid ban fiasco stumbles into the New Year]

“The alternatives are worse — worse for the environment, worse for farmers who are applying it, and just substandard in every way,” said Renn Breitkreuz, chairman of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission.

…

In August, Health Canada proposed a ban on neonics that would phase out the chemicals in the next three to five years. When Health Canada asked for public feedback in the fall, canola farmers obliged with letters detailing their concerns.

…

Breitkreuz said neonics are safe for farmers to handle, have little impact on the environment and are very effective in controlling pests.

Read full, original article: Canola, chemicals and bees: Why Canadian farmers are fighting a proposed pesticide ban

The Canola Council of Canada (CCC) is continuing to demonstrate the value of canola meal for dairy producers.

Gordon Speirs, a dairy manager at Shiloh Dairy in Wisconsin, participated in a recent on-farm trial where canola meal was fed at high inclusion rates.

“Canola contributes to cost-efficient production. We no longer have to source and store expeller soybean meal,” he said.

The Canola Council of Canada (CCC) conducted the on-farm trial with the help of GPS Dairy Consulting, a group of independent dairy nutritionists in Wisconsin. The purpose of the trial was to determine whether producers could increase efficiency by replacing multiple high-priced protein sources, such as animal protein blends and treated soybean meal, with canola meal while maintaining milk yield.

Two Wisconsin dairies volunteered to participate in the trial. The trial rations replaced animal protein and high-bypass soybean meal with canola meal and rumen-protected lysine.

Results from both dairies showed the following:

- The trial ration was comparable in price or less expensive;
- Their yield weight of milk, fat and protein increased – including a daily milk increase of nearly 2 litres per cow on farm one and 3.5 litres per cow on farm two; and
- The additional canola meal allowed them to streamline sourcing protein ingredients.

"Although the field trials were small, we are encouraged by the positive results, and will continue to research the uses of canola meal for dairy animals," says Brittany Dyck, canola meal manager with the CCC.

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Canola 100 winner, Merle Klassen, accepting his award at the Farm Forum Event in Calgary. Wednesday, December 5.

Facing new limits on available funding, Canada’s canola value chain organization plans to refocus its work on its “core strengths” and collaborate with other players.

The Canola Council of Canada on Wednesday announced a revised work plan, coming out of a “priorities review” undertaken after one of Canada’s biggest grain companies called a halt to annual funding for several oilseed industry groups.

Richardson International announced in January it would withdraw yearly commitments worth over $1 million combined to the Canola Council, Soy Canada and the Flax Council of Canada — the lion’s share of which had gone to the canola body.

The Winnipeg-based Canola Council’s resources “are now more tightly focused on the industry’s current priorities and the CCC programs most valued by members,” the council said in a release Wednesday.

From the perspective of the Canadian canola grower, that tightened focus will mean “less emphasis” on extension-style agronomy work by council staff, such as “individual field walks and on-farm support.”

Rather, the council said, it will put more focus on “engaging commercial agronomy in effective delivery and amplification of knowledge and best management practices to growers,” to be co-ordinated through a new CCC “sustainable supply committee.”

The council’s own agronomy specialists will still have “geographic responsibilities,” but are also expected to increase their focus on their “individual areas of specialization” such as clubroot, blackleg, stand establishment, weed management, storage management and others.

Staff will still provide “credible, evidence‐based data and knowledge to support all areas of CCC activity” from production issues though to “supporting market access objectives,” the council said.

Some council programming will also be moved to “other parts of the value chain,’ the CCC said. For instance, it plans to reduce its role in administering the Canola Performance Trials and transfer that responsibility to other stakeholders.

Other activities, such as the Ultimate Canola Challenge and sentinel site program, will be wrapped up, the council said.

The council said its team will also be “less involved” in provincial disease and pest surveying.

Market access and government advocacy remain “top priorities of the full canola value chain,” the council said, but CCC members “can also expect to see more advocacy on cross‐commodity issues” as the council offers “leadership and additional support” to the Canada Grains Council and Canadian Agri‐Food Trade Alliance.

Consumer‐oriented canola promotions will be “discontinued” in large markets where canola is “firmly established,” the council said, and its marketing work will shift to “maintenance and nurturing of the Canadian canola brand.”

In “new and emerging” markets, the council said it will work with the Canadian Canola Growers Association to develop and deliver a program for canola brand promotion and awareness, particularly in countries such as South Korea, Vietnam and Chile, where “free trade agreements are creating new opportunities.”

To fund its work, the council said, it plans to decouple its budget from a levy linked to production, processing and handling and instead tie the budget directly to “priorities and programs.”

The funding model will “provide more predictability for annual contributions,” the council said. Half the budget funding would come from producer groups, the other 50 per cent from the industry.

Thus, the council said, its core budget for 2019 will be $5.2 million, down from $8.7 million in 2017.

Core funders of the council include the three Prairie provinces’ checkoff-funded canola grower groups, the Canadian Canola Growers Association and (through the CCGA) the Ontario Canola Growers and B.C. Grain Producers Association.

Other funding sources include a voluntary processor levy through the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association, contributions from life science companies such as Bayer, BASF, Corteva, Syngenta and Nutrien and a voluntary levy on export companies such as Viterra, G3, Bunge, Cargill, Parrish and Heimbecker and Providence Grain.

“We’re very pleased that all segments of the value chain are fully behind the direction we are taking,” council president Jim Everson said in a release. “It’s a direction that will enable us to continue our record of leadership, while enhancing our partnerships.”

“With (council members’) input, we determined that the Keep it Coming 2025 strategic plan should remain our industry’s roadmap, and we will reset our priority activities to better respond to today’s needs,” council chair David Dzisiak said in the same release.

The Keep it Coming 2025 plan is based on achieving 52 bushels per acre to meet global market demand of 26 million tonnes by 2025. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

Canola News |

via Grainews https://www.grainews.ca
December 11, 2018 at 08:47AM