It’s also my chance to immerse myself in continental integration, something that is key to understanding our (Canadian) place in a big North American economy and geography.

Intellectually I know that southern Manitoba’s Red River valley is essentially the end of the U.S. Midwest, with similar land, environment, farming possibilities. It also seems Midwestern, where you’re more likely to find a lot of industry mixed into small towns and knitted into rural communities than anywhere west of the valley, and where if somebody has a radio playing in a store or restaurant it’s probably playing rock’n'roll rather than country music.

But it’s only by sailing through and around that flow of land, environment and geography that I get a profound feel for how true that reality is. Winnipeg seems a terminus, a beginning, a bookend to those two regions – the Midwest and the Prairies. Depending on which way I look at it, Winnipeg seems like the beginning of both the Midwest and the Prairies, or where those regions run out of road and crash into the wilderness. But it’s a unique location from which to look at both regions and while I’m always thinking of my connection to the Prairies (I am a Regina boy, after all), the Midwest is much less in my mind. So this annual trip is part of righting that balance and refocusing my reporting.

With that preamble out of the way, I thought I’d note some of the continental integration and human-created non-integration that I witnessed and explored on my trip:

* The Rout of Prairie Crops: For the past couple of trips I’ve met with eastern North Dakota wheat growers and industry people to discuss the catastrophic failure of traditional prairie crops to hold their acreage against the onslaught of corn and soybeans. The corn/soybeans advance been unrelenting, wiping out almost all the acreage of oats, barley and flax, and making spring wheat a semi-rare sight in an area that used to be considered the heart of wheat country. This trip I met famers in North Dakota and Minnesota who still grow wheat, but do it mostly for rotation reasons. In the next few weeks I’m going to develop some features or a special report out of this, to be written with the subtext of: What’s happening down there is likely to be happening up here in a few years, and already is in Manitoba’s butt-end of the Red River valley. What reality is coming our way?

* Grain System integration: With the CWB monopoly gone, it seems absurd to have distinct Canadian and U.S. grain industries, elevator systems, anything that would impede the most efficient (and lowest cost) flow of crops out of and through western North America. North American farmers sell into a world economy, yet here in the west we have the prairies sliced into two pieces and have regulations that stop the grain flowing where it most sensibly should. That costs everybody. When I was down in North Dakota I heard about problems farmers south of the line have with delivering grain to Canadian elevators because of grading regs. Up here in Canada I’ve heard farmers complain that many U.S. elevators won’t take Canadian grains out of a nativist bias. When I was down in Minneapolis I visited CHS, the big U.S. cooperative grain elevator and supply company, and they told me they’d like to get into the prairie market since they are heavily invested across Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana, and might try to have a cooperative element to what they do in Canada. Wouldn’t that be a nice addition to the prairie roster of marketing options for farmers? New player, revived coop option. Be nice if Canadian-based players like Richardson and Glencore could expand south simply without many border complications, investing where it makes most sense for their continental systems and to be able to expand southwards without having to establish another different system. But I get the sense ironing out the wrinkles in this thing, one way or another, is going to be a many, many years thing. And I’ll be writing about it forever.

* Slightly severed ties in the North American hog industry: The World Pork Expo is still teeming with Canadians, either in the form of farmers attending to connect with the continental industry or as suppliers promoting their wares and services. The trade show has a heavy, heavy presence of Canadians, which makes sense because we’re a vital part of the North American industry. That part has been reduced by COOL, of course, and if the U.S. government continues its recalcitrant ways and worsens COOL, then that part will probably shrink more. Slightly disheartening for me as a Canuck was to find COOL being such a small concern at the show. It’s a huge deal for the Canadian industry, and often the U.S. industry at this show has loudly debated the issue, but this year COOL was swept under the rug, as farmers and industry showed much more interest in free trade with Europe, with the Trans Pacific Partnership, with porcine diarrhea. COOL just isn’t top-of-mind now to most folks in the American hog industry because it’s been around and everyone down there has adapted. The continental pull is too strong to cut Canada out of the North American industry, but the integration has weakened.

* Weather: I travelled down in crappy weather, with greyness and rain all the way from Winnipeg to Fargo. Not a machine moving. That first night the weather in Fargo was unsettled and I developed a foggy, clothy, sludgy migraine that didn’t leave me for two weeks. Unsettled, tortured weather prevailed over North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa the entire time I was in the U.S., and when I crossed back to Canuckistan the same weather was here and held sway for a few more days, as did my migraines and foggy-headedness. If you want proof that the Midwest, the U.S. Great Plains and the Canadian Prairies are profoundly integrated, take the weather as testimony. When it’s crappy down there, it’s likely to be crappy up here, sooner or later. Sometimes we get it first, sometimes they do. But eventually most of it integrates and we get continental weather.

E. coli-tainted beef from the XL Foods plant in Brooks, Alta., sickened 18 consumers and led to the largest beef recall in Canadian history.

“We found a weak food safety system culture at the Brooks plant shared by both plant management and Canadian Food Inspection Agency staff,” said the expert panel, which agriculture minister Gerry Ritz appointed to get to the bottom of the incident that shook consumer and market confidence.

“And it was all preventable.”

Ritz immediately announced a new three-year, $16 million investment to fund 30 new CFIA positions to form inspection verification teams, which will have the power to swoop unannounced into any plant to test systems and check CFIA inspector performance.

Ritz and CFIA executives also promised to strengthen front-line inspector training as recommended by the panel, while insisting that has been happening all along.

Ritz told a Parliament Hill news conference and later the House of Commons agriculture committee late last week that the government has been implementing the panel recommendations and strengthening the system through the Safe Food for Canadians Act passed last year.

He insisted that the recommendations reflect much of what the government has been doing, which is “a clear indication and validation that our government is taking the right steps to keep consumers safe.”

Opposition MPs scoffed at the claim. They said a 2009 report that was written after contaminated meat from a Maple Leaf plant in Toronto killed more than 20 people recommended better training for CFIA inspectors.

Announcing a new system of inspection verification teams to check work of the inspectors simply proves the 2009 recommendations have not been implemented despite government claims, MPs charged.

Ritz rejected the claims but continued to dodge calls for a third-party comprehensive audit of CFIA re-sources as recommended by Sheila Weatherill in 2009.

He said food safety inspection systems “are not static and continue to evolve” while the rest of the world judges Canada’s system one of the best.

The expert panel, which was chaired by former British Columbia chief veterinary officer Ronald Lewis and also included food industry expert W. Ronald Usborne and Dr. André Corriveau, chief public health officer in the Northwest Territories, acknowledged Canada’s food safety system is well regarded in the world.

It said the XL incident showed some of the system’s strengths, including surveillance, the recall of 4,000 pounds of beef and beef products and management of the issue once the crisis was recognized.

However, it also found flaws and “inadequate responses” by two of the two main players in the incident: Canada’s second largest beef processor, which was unprepared, and CFIA staff, which at times seemed inattentive.

The report said there was a cascading series of failures.

XL did not follow its food safety system, did not properly maintain and clean its equipment and did not keep CFIA on-site inspectors in-formed of potential problems.

An example came Dec. 21, 2011, months before the issue became a public health scare.

“Although 40.9 percent of samples from all pre-grind raw materials produced (that day) were presumptive positive for E. coli O157:H7 … products from an entire shift were re-leased with no further action.”

There was no evidence that CFIA inspectors were informed.

Once the problem was identified the following fall, XL was slow to provide useful information and downplayed the seriousness of the incident to its customers, even as the industry and consumers were jolted as product recalls spread.

Despite a persistent allegation that U.S. inspectors found and reported E. coli contamination days before CFIA discovered it, the report said both CFIA and the Americans confirmed it on the same day, Sept. 4.

However, while the CFIA waited for more details from XL on the location and cause of the contamination before ordering a recall, retail giant Costco started its own recall days before the first recall notice from XL.

The report called XL’s response to the growing problem “underwhelming.”

“CFIA must foster a strong food safety culture among staff, who must be encouraged to take the initiative on potential food safety issues as soon as they are identified,” it said.

The landscape and the mild climate that lured British aristocrats dreaming of ranching are still attractive to present day retirees fleeing a harsh prairie winter.

It is also a landscape of conflict, where mining, forestry, recreation, agriculture and urban sprawl all lay claims on the land.

The limiting factor could be water quantity and quality.

“Water is always the primary concern,” said Ted Osborne, retired manager of the Coldstream Ranch on the outskirts of Vernon in the northern Okanagan Valley.

The 150-year-old ranch is a privately owned operation that includes 8,000 acres of deeded land, 5,000 rented acres and a crown lease of 180,000 acres of range. About 1,400 acres are irrigated.

The water is metered with an allocation of 2,200 cubic metres per acre. The ranch must pay domestic water rates if it withdraws more.

“You need to match your cropping with your water requirements,” Osborne told a tour group sponsored by the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association.

The tour showed how ranchers, foresters and municipalities can work together to protect riparian areas, rebuild forage supplies and sustain the timber industry.

The area receives 400 millimetres of precipitation a year and is home to 59 watersheds.

The water originates in the high mountain ranges that are owned by the crown and leased to ranchers and resource industries. Twelve of the larger watersheds provide drinking water for the Okanagan’s major cities.

Water management is part of the ranch’s history.

A previous owner of the ranch, John Hamilton-Gordon, Lord Aberdeen and Canada’s governor general from 1893-98, built an extensive irrigation and domestic waterworks system that included subdivisions for new settlers.

The ranch eventually became the site of the Okanagan’s first commercial orchard.

The operation wasn’t fenced in the early days and cattle moved freely.

However, the arrival of fences encouraged cattle to congregate around creeks, and water quality was affected.

The ranch is working with the provincial agriculture ministry and the City of Vernon to replant trees and fenced off 95 percent of its riparian areas to keep out livestock.

No public access is allowed on the private land, effectively closing it to mud boggers and all-terrain vehicle users, which Osborne considers a major source of water pollution.

Lisa Zabek of the agriculture ministry said these kinds of projects demonstrate collaboration and show how a few simple steps can preserve water and rebuild the ecosystem.

Cattle were monitored with GPS collars at the beginning of the project to see where they would actually travel for water and shade.

“We wanted to see if we could pull cattle away and into the actual production areas,” she said.

Vernon is also working with the ranch to improve water quality.

Renee Clark of the Greater Vernon Water Authority said Coldstream Creek travels through the ranch and ends up in Kalamalka Lake, which provides drinking water for 38,000 people.

“Our job is to provide safe drinking water and your job is to have good, healthy cattle and forestry is to have healthy forests,” Clark said.

“To do a good job, we all have to work together.”

The feed additive is used to increase leaner carcasses desired by consumers, but export customers Russia and China will no longer accept pork from animals fed ractopamine.

Darcy Fitzgerald, executive director of Alberta Pork, said producers have been advised not to use the additive. The Olymel plant in Red Deer has also issued letters describing a transition to a ractopamine-free facility.

Ractopamine, a beta-agonist, is approved for livestock use in Canada, the United States and many other countries. Marketed most commonly as Paylean in hog feed additives, the drug can increase carcass weight and dressing percentage and can also reduce the number of days to market.

“It means a disadvantage to us if we take it completely out of our system and our export markets as well, because then places like the U.S. have that advantage over us, to make use of it,” said Fitzgerald.

“So we’re looking to those processors here to pay some sort of compensation to us for not using it.”

Alberta Pork is suggesting compensation of $3 to $5 per animal at minimum, he said.

“And for all producers, even the ones that don’t use it, because they’ve gone through that loss of value themselves by not using it.”

Fitzgerald said some processors still accept animals that have been given ractopamine but that will end in about a month’s time at all Alberta and British Columbia processors.

In the April 26 issue of Canadian Pork Market Review, analyst Kevin Grier said an Olymel-owned plant in Vallee-Jonction, Que., was offering money to producers to offset the loss of Paylean, though exact amounts were not specified.

Russia is Canada’s third largest market for pork, behind the U.S. and Japan.

Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz raised the issue of the ractopamine ban when he was in Russia late last month but did not win a reprieve.

Alberta Pork chair Frank Novak told Lethbridge-area producers May 30 that he is not impressed with government efforts on trade issues.

“Because everybody needs (food), every government on the planet considers it their right and their obligation to mess with the marketplace,” Novak said.

“Our value chain partners, people who are supposed to be working with us, have been masters at offloading every single problem they have on us. Paylean’s a problem? Now it’s your problem. Animal rights people? We’ll make an announcement. Now it’s your problem.”

A report from Reuters indicated Smithfield Foods Inc., the world’s largest hog processor, has moved two of its U.S. plants to accept only ractopamine-free animals and will convert a third by June 1.

The news prompted speculation that those changes helped make a deal that saw Smithfield purchased by China-based Shuanghui International for $4.7 billion.

Developed by the Winnipeg bioresearch company XiteBio Technologies, these inoculants differ from conventional products in the way they form co-operative, synergetic partnerships with background rhizobia that have inhabited the soil for millions of years.

As prairie growers continue to expand soybean acreage, they turn to growth stimulants such as the new inoculant called XiteBio SoyRhizo. This product increases soybean yield by three to nine bushels in documented field trials in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the United States, according to the company.

The inoculant for peas and lentils is called XiteBio PeasRhizo, and it increases pea yield by an average of 2.2 bu. per acre in similar documented field trials, said Manas Banerjee, president of XiteBio.

“These nitrogen fixing rhizobium should work 85 to 90 percent of the time,” said Banerjee, adding that he is confident in his numbers because the products have been registered and used in the States since 2011.

However, the inoculants didn’t officially receive Canadian registration until May 31, 2013.

The delay in paperwork meant the registration came too late for this year’s crop.

SoyRhizo and PeasRhizo represent a new approach to soil biology called advanced growth promoting technology (AGPT), according to Banerjee.

“Nobody else has this technology. It’s exclusive to XiteBio,” said Banerjee, adding that his challenge has been to develop biological inoculants that don’t fight with Mother Nature’s many soil borne agents.

He said any kind of biological agent we introduce into a teaspoon of soil is, by its nature, foreign to that soil. It either has to out compete and dominate the background biologicals already in the soil, or it loses out to those natural organisms.

The third option is to introduce new organisms that can co-operate with the indigenous ones.

“Take one teaspoon of soil. That’s one gram of soil. It has literally billions of natural biological residents.

“There are fungi, bacteria, algae, actinomycetes, protozoa, nematodes, earthworms and many other invertebrates. It’s a very hostile environment for any foreign biological agent.”

Banerjee has an example to explain how introduced biologicals cope in a soil environment where they are not welcome.

“For example, if somebody wants the president’s chair, there are two ways he can go about it. He can try to kick the president out, but if that president is very strong, you have no chance. He will win.

“It’s the same thing in soil. If you add something and the background microflora is stronger, then you lose the value of your inoculants. Your foreign biological inoculants will not become established.”

Banerjee said conventional competitive biological inoculants technology does not have a high success rate.

He says XiteBio instead focuses on AGPT rhizobium that will function alongside the natural background biologicals most of the time.

“That’s the second way to approach the president’s chair. How about if I go to make a friendship with the guy in the powerful chair? We make a handshake and I say ‘Can you make your chair just a little bit bigger.’

“That’s the way my XiteBio rhizobium works in the soil. Rather than fighting with the natural biological background, we try to find agents that get along well in the soil.

“We call it invigorating the natural microflora. We don’t force the new biological product on the existing natural system. We work with the existing microflora.”

The heart of SoyRhizo is an ancient nitrogen fixing bacterium called Bradyrhizobium japonicum. Combined with the AGPT process, this bacterium increases nodulation which leads to stronger soybean plants with higher yields.

Banerjee said PeasRhizo is the sister to SoyRhizo, using the same basic concept but with the natural agent Rhizobium leguminosarum, which is naturally suited to peas and lentils. It also enhances nodulation, which in turn maximizes pea and lentil yield.

Both XiteBio products have proven to be successful in the Illinois, Indiana, Iowa regions and through the Canadian prairie provinces.

The biological background of soil changes significantly throughout the vast tract of land, going south to north, as well as east to west.

How can scientists develop commercial rhizobium products that are effective through such a wide range of soil types and climate conditions?

“We aren’t trying to invigorate every type of microflora in the soil, only the ones we need to interact with the soybean roots or the pea and lentil roots. Those are the rhizobia we’re looking for,” Banerjee said.

When asked if either product can save crops under extreme stress, Banerjee was blunt, saying that the rhizobia require oxygen and moisture to survive and to enhance nodulation.

“In a flooded field, there’s no benefit at all because the oxygen is cut off. The bacteria die.

“In drought conditions, there might be a small benefit if the rain comes soon enough, because the plant is healthier. But the bacteria must have moisture, so I would have to say that any benefit you see would not be significant.”

Acidity is another factor that negates the benefits of the rhizobium. Banerjee said potential customers should save their money if their soil pH is in the range of 5.0 to 5.5.

“There are no rhizobium products that work well in those acid situations. For our products, we’re looking for normal soil situations with the soil pH around 6.5 or better.

“Rhizobium bacteria can work in acidic soils if the farmer limes it up to 6.5. But the number has to be high enough so bacteria can survive and thrive and colonize the soil.”

Banerjee said his products are user friendly.

“It’s all in one package. There’s no need to mix powder and water. Just open the package and use it. As long as it doesn’t freeze or bake, it should work for you 85 to 90 percent of the time.”

For more information, contact Manas Banerjee at 204-257-0775 or visit www.xitebio.ca.

Canola Council of Canada agronomist Kristen Phillips said canola typically emerges within seven to 10 days and gains a leaf every five to seven days.

“Spraying before that two-to-three-leaf stage gives you the biggest yield benefit,” she said.

“Once you spray in that four-to six-leaf stage it’s more of a cosmetic spray and some of your yield has already been lost.”

Even with rainy, cooler weather there should be time to hit that critical stage.

“It’s not going to go from the one-to-four-leaf stage in three days, so you’re going to have still that week of window for ideal crop spraying.”

Most of the canola on the Prairies is now in the ground and emerging.

Phillips said there is a higher chance of yield reduction the longer producers have to wait to spray, but most will switch to aerial application if they can’t get into the fields.

Canola council research has shown yield advantage of three bushels per acre when controlling weeds at the one-to-two-leaf stage compared to the three and four-leaf stage. When compared to the six-to-seven-leaf stage, the advantage is seven bushels per acre. With canola prices around $12, that represents profit of $36 to $84 per acre.

Each herbicide tolerant canola system has its own options.

The window for spraying Roundup Ready varieties with glyphosate is any time from seeding to the six-leaf stage.

Applying it after this point could cause yield loss. A mix with Lontrel can be used to control thistles, buckwheat and large dandelions after the two-leaf stage.

Low drift, or coarse droplet, sprays might not provide enough droplets per square inch because of the low water volumes used with glyphosate.

The canola council recommends producers make sure they use enough water volume to make sure even the smallest weeds are covered. Water volume of five to 10 gallons per acre is preferred.

For LibertyLink varieties, the spraying window is emergence to early bolting, and the rate is based on weed species and pressure.

Liberty should not be mixed with Lontrel for thistle control. If thistles are a problem, Lontrel can be applied before the Liberty or after the thistles have recovered from the Liberty application.

The Canola Council said research at the Agriculture Canada station at Lacombe, Alta., found that just 10 Canada thistle plants per square metre can cause a 10 percent yield loss in canola.

Liberty should be applied as medium to slightly coarse droplets and with water volume of at least 10 gallons per acre. It relies on contact activity and poor coverage from not enough water volume can cause problems.

The window for Clearfield canola varieties is the two-to-six-leaf stages. There are several options for products and tank mixes and producers should check their provincial guides to crop protection for more information.

Kochia control in Clearfield canola is difficult. More than 90 percent of kochia is now resistant to Group 2 herbicides and there are no mixes with herbicides for Clearfield canola that will control the weed.

The Group 2 products used in the Clearfield system usually work well when applied as a coarse spray. Conditions should be warm to ensure good control.

Phillips added that a second pass of weed control is often not worth the cost of the chemical.

“If you have a late flush of a grassy weed, you may not need to control it because it’s going to be outcompeted by the canola, because it’s already cabbaged over and it’s not going to produce seed anyway,” she said.

Hugh Beckie at Ag Canada’s Saskatoon Research Centre classifies wild oats as one of the 10 worst annual weeds in the temperate agricultural regions of the world.

Research indicates that more than 10 million acres of Western Canada is affected by herbicide resistant weeds, with many of those having wild oats or avena fatua.

Farming practices have created the issue. A reliance on a few chemical products, combined with a move away from tillage, has selected for resistant genetics, and has caused weeds that no longer respond to many products, especially those chemicals with a single mode of action.

Estimates on the financial effect of wild oats on Canadian prairie farmers suggest the pest costs more than $500 million annually in lost crop yields.

One large scale study revealed that more than 20 percent of the fields from which seed samples have been tested contained herbicide resistant wild oats.

In that study, more than 1,000 wild oat samples were submitted for testing over a 10 year period. Group 1 resistance was found in 68 percent, while five percent were both Group 1 and Group 2 resistant.

Other than tillage and adding a forage to the crop rotation, rotating herbicides and using herbicides with multiple modes of action are needed to avoid and correct for resistant pest plants, say agronomists.

The challenge with wild oats is that it often emerges along with the crop and if that crop is a cereal, it can limit herbicide choices.

Despite effective herbicide introductions in the 1970s and 1980s, the pest remains abundant.

The seed can remain viable in the soil for as long as seven years, so tillage of mature plants isn’t recommended.

Using bin-run seed can compound efforts to control the pest. Producers can delay seeding, providing time for them to catch wild oats with spring applications of herbicide ahead of the crop.

Higher seeding rates make fields less hospitable to the plant and post planting, harrowing can be effective at killing newly sprouted oats.

Targeted application of fertilizer in, or near seed rows keeps some of it away from wild oats and makes crops more competitive, squeezing out the weed.

Canola and other herbicide tolerant crops are effective against the pest.

In broadleaf crops, there are several grassy weed herbicides that can be effective, but control often requires application at the right time in the weed’s development.

Reduced tillage keeps wild oats seeds in the seed bank from germination and can significantly cut infestations.

The group celebrated 100 years at its annual conference May 29-June 1, with a gala attended by 450 people and a visit to the birthplace of 4-H at Roland, Man.

Rob Black, former Canadian 4-H Council president and chair of the 100th anniversary committee, said 4-H’s strength is its long history.

“Not too many can say they made it to 100,” he said.

“Another strength is our family culture. This is a big family,” Black said of 26,000 members, 8,500 members and 40,000 projects.

Black called on former members to serve as ambassadors and help raise the profile of the program.

“Two million or more folks have been impacted by 4-H over the last 100 years. That’s absolutely an opportunity,” said Black. “Our alumni are a tremendous opportunity.”

“If we talk to, connect with and re-engage a percentage of those two million, just think of what we could do,” he said.

Students Valerie Stone and Breanne Durie, 4-H Youth Advisory Committee members, are part of the 4-H legacy.

Stone said the group has helped her achieve goals at university and fostered leadership and communication skills.

“I know what 4-H has given to me and I want to give it to others,” she said. “I want to use it to make an impact on other people.”

Durie, who represents YAC on 4-H Canada’s board, wants to ensure members ideas are heard and that 4-H continues.

“It’s been such a successful program for us and given us so many opportunities, it’s the least we can do to ensure the program remains there and becomes a better and stronger program for youth. We all know what a difference it makes,” she said.

Valerie Pearson, president of the Canadian 4-H Council, said the group celebrated its past but must now look forward and not rest on its laurels.

“Because you have history and tradition, you may want to hold on and not move forward but to continue to grow, you always have to try to improve, look at what you’ve done and new opportunities for the future,” she said.

That could include reaching out to more urban youth as farm numbers and rural populations continue to decline.

“4-H will always be connected to agriculture,” said Pearson, noting the projects are a window into farming, even if devoted to hobbies of chocolate making and woodworking. 4-H encompasses leadership skills, public speaking, self-confidence, values, honesty, integrity and personal development.

“There’s more than folks in agriculture who need that and want that.”

“We know where the trends are going with the rural population. We have no choice but to go out of traditional agriculture,” she said.

Shannon Benner, 4-H Canada’s new chief executive officer, is less certain about an enhanced urban focus.

“There’s a lot of opportunities in the rural to grow our programs first,” she said.

“Do one thing really well and get it to a point where we’re very competent,” she said.

Benner, who noted there were triple the number of members in the 1970s compared to current figures, said the group’s goals are to retain current members, add new memberships and increase funding.

“It has a long rich history and we need the financial basis on which to do it for years to come,” she said.

That includes fostering current donors’ support and finding new money from government and corporations.

“Old members could be ambassadors for what we do, spokespeople,” Benner said. “There’s an opportunity to engage our members and have them help us. There’s a huge wealth of generations, legacies.”

Benner noted the gala was a good beginning.

“This is the catalyst for looking ahead to the next 100 and making sure they’re done with excellence,” said Benner.

The group’s 100 year initiatives include a food bank drive that has already collected 17,000 of the 26,000 pounds of food targeted. That represents one pound of food collected by every 4-Her.

http://on.fb.me/ZPZCVI

Today, Darren and Tricia MacDonald operate the family’s farm in southern Manitoba while balancing a number of related businesses.

“We’re pleased to see it has evolved and Darren has taken it on as the fourth generation,” said Darren’s father and John’s grandson, Waind MacDonald.

“Some young guys can’t keep it up or there’s not enough interest or not enough money.”

Waind and his wife, Vyra, live a short commute away in Portage la Prairie, while their daughter lives in Warren.

Waind helped his mother, Norma, farm in the years following his father death in 1956, with Darren joining the operation decades later after completing a diploma in agriculture at the University of Manitoba.

Vyra said the MacDonalds always kept up with the changing landscape and Darren is no exception, choosing diversification over expanding his 600 acre land base.

“Anything he puts his hand to, he makes go,” she said, citing his ability to work long days and seldom stop for meals.

Additions of custom spraying, water hauling, drainage tile installation and crop diversification in recent years are among ways the younger MacDonalds have made a living for them and their three sons, Brady, Josh and Quinn.

They are renovating the elder parents’ former farm home and are currently living in a refurbished church in High Bluff.

“There’s always things I see a market opportunity for and I’ve got lots of contact in neighbours and businesses,” said Darren.

He grew potatoes with a partner for 13 years but stopped in 2005, when he felt the business was changing and would have required a major investment to continue.

He noted changes in agriculture in Canada in his years of buying, selling and renting land.

“What people are spending on inputs in a year now, people were buying land for 30 years ago,” Darren said.

He hires out custom work for his edible beans, saying it doesn’t pay to own equipment for 300 acres. It’s also tough to compete with the oil patch for good farm labour.

Darren’s farm benefits by having specialized equipment available to support crops of winter and spring wheat.

“My land is all (tile) drained, we were first on the list,” he said.

Like Darren, Vyra and Waind also embraced changes and off-farm work.

“I was always in agreement it’s wonderful to have bigger tractors and equipment to make the job go easier,” Vyra said.

Her last job as a travel agent allowed the couple to take trips to far-flung destinations.

“I wanted to be out and doing something. I am not a person who could sit at home,” said Vyra, who also served as a figure skating judge and 4-H leader.

She juggled chores, scooting home to make meals after fieldwork.

Bigger machinery, more fertilizer and better weed control were advances witnessed by Waind, whose father, Cecil, was among the first to switch to gas power from horses.

“We had to wait till the first crop of weeds appeared,” he said. “We bought a half section for $47,000. We bought it for the price of a pick-up truck now.”

“My first (tractor) I thought was great but it was terrible,” he said of the hot, dusty, noisy machine.

The couple always knew Darren would take the farm into its second century.

“By eight, he was driving the grain truck and picking up in the field on the fly,” said Vyra.

Today, Waind helps the four farm hands and keeps busy with old vehicles like a 1966 Chrysler sedan and the 1948 Ford truck his father bought new.

He and Darren are both content with their career paths.

“It’s a good lifestyle, not working for anybody else or working inside,” Darren said.

Waind, who once drove the school bus in the winter, agrees.

“I could always make some money. I liked it,” he said.

Officials from Richardson International announced June 10 that the company will expand grain storage capacity at elevators in Carseland, Alta., Crooked River, Sask., and Shoal Lake, Man.

An additional 14,000 tonnes of storage will be added at each location, boosting capacities by 54 to 68 percent. Two new steel storage bins at each site will be able to hold 7,000 tonnes of grain.

The additional capacity will allow Richardson to accommodate ongoing growth in its local grain handling business and enable elevators to load 100-car trains more efficiently, said Darwin Sobkow, the company’s executive vice-president of agribusiness operations.

Richardson is also upgrading crop input facilities across the Prairies.

Recently acquired elevators at Arborg, Man., Letellier, Man., Kindersley, Sask., and Lacombe, Alta., will become full-service crop input centres with high-speed dry fertilizer blenders, bulk fertilizer storage and a 6,000 sq. foot chemical and seed storage warehouse.

Richardson acquired the four former Viterra locations earlier this year as part of an $800 million deal with Glencore International.

In early May, Richardson acquired 19 grain elevators, 13 crop input centres, an export terminal in Thunder Bay and an oat and wheat milling business from Glencore.

All but six of the elevators had crop input facilities on site.

“We are putting services into another four, so that means 17 of the 19 elevators that we acquired will have full crop input services,” Sobkow said.

Richardson is also building a 35,000 tonne fertilizer distribution centre at its Pioneer elevator north of Sask-atoon and will add high-speed dry fertilizer blenders at locations in Oyen, Alta., Magrath, Alta., Kamsack, Sask., Shellbrook, Sask., Saskatoon, and Shoal Lake, Man.

Construction is already underway at most locations, and completion of all projects is expected before the end of the year.

“We continue to make investments to better serve our current and future customers,” Sobkow said.

“We look to provide efficiencies by having fully integrated grain handling and crop inputs businesses and being a multiple-service provider.”

Sobkow said Richardson will be well-positioned to improve service to western Canadian farmers and expand its market share in the Canadian grain handling and crop input sectors.

He did not anticipate additional acquisitions, but said the company will continue to assess opportunities as they arise.

He did not rule out further investments aimed at enhancing facilities already owned by the company.

“We currently are not looking at any future acquisition opportunities at this time … but we will continue to add storage to our current network,” he said. “With Viterra becoming Glencore as well as the … (changes) at the wheat board, we believe that customers’ demands are changing and we want to be positioned … to meet those demands. We believe space is one component that will allow us to meet that demand from our customer base.”

Also last week, Cargill announced plans to increase rail capacity at its grain elevator and crop input facility at Rosetown, Sask.

Capacity will be doubled to 100 rail cars. Construction on the Rosetown project is slated to begin this month with completion anticipated in the fall.