Mixed messages on Bt planting protocols
Seed companies' conflicting views on refuge plots have farmers confusedBY TOM BUTTON
The European corn borer is much closer than scientists had feared to developing resistance to the new Bt hybrids. The upshot is, even if every corn grower in North America plants a non-Bt refuge, the pest may develop widespread resistance within 10 years. If some growers plant all their corn acres to Bt hybrids, the gene could be worthless within five.Despite the risk, seed companies are sending conflicting messages. Novartis is telling growers they must plant 20 per cent of their acres to non-Bt hybrids. Pioneer and DeKalb, which sell a different gene, are insisting on five per cent.
Bruce county corn grower Doug Eadie says he wants a consistent, industry-wide program to manage the resistance threat. "When you see what the corn borers have done to the crops in my area this year, you'll understand why we don't want to lose the effectiveness of Bt.
"Just tell me what I have to do," continues Eadie, who is also an Ontario Corn Producers Association director and represents it in a multi-party group called the Corn Borer Action Coalition. "If the accepted figure is 20 per cent, I'll live with that," Eadie says. "It won't be easy, but if that's what we have to do to save Bt, I'll do it."
Other coalition experts fear that the mixed signals will make it easier for farmers to ignore the plea for refuge planting, already a tough sell.
The confusion could also spur Ottawa to impose stringent standards that all corn growers would have to follow, much as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is studying.
"If we don't have refuges, we'll have resistance. It's as simple as that," says Art Schaafsma, pest scientist at Ridgetown College. "The risks are even greater than we thought."
Schaafsma belongs to NC205, a group of U.S. and Canadian government, university and industry insect experts who are searching for a way growers could slow down the development of resistance for at least 10 years.
New studies show that corn borers have the genetic potential to develop resistance, Schaafsma points out. A handful of genes have already been found that give the pest partial tolerance. Rates of in-breeding are also higher than expected, and other studies show the moths don't fly nearly as far as earlier thought.
That's important because it strikes at the core of the refuge concept. Scientists say that if corn growers plant 100 per cent Bt hybrids, the only borers that remain will be borers that have genetic resistance. They'll mate with each other, laying resistant eggs, and soon the population will explode.
The refuge concept is intended to ensure there's enough ordinary borers so that any borer that does have resistance will be likely to mate with a non-resistant moth. The thinking is that the hybrid eggs won't have any more than middle-range resistance, and be killed by the high doses of Bt protein in the Bt hybrids.
At a special meeting called by the EPA late September, the NC205 group renewed its call for growers to plant non-Bt corn on 20 to 30 per cent of their acres. In Ontario, the corn borer coalition tentatively voted to follow those recommendations.
Now, Novartis Seeds says it will tell its growers they must plant 20 per cent of their acres to non-Bt hybrids. Pioneer and DeKalb, which market hybrids with Monsanto's YieldGard gene, are calling for five per cent.
Both are legal, says Morven McLean of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which controls the release of biotech genes. As part of the agreements that the agency co-signed, Novartis pledged to ensure its growers plant 20 per cent refuges. Monsanto pledged five per cent.
Pioneer Hi-Bred is sticking with five per cent for 1999, says company spokesman Art Stirling. The company has been convinced by Monsanto research that the smaller refuges are big enough, Stirling says.
Stirling says the Monsanto gene protects more of the plant than the Novartis gene, including the ear, and also lasts longer through the season. That makes it less likely that borers will build up resistance by exposure to low Bt doses, so a smaller refuge is enough.
Schaafsma thinks all genes need 20 per cent refuges. "Monsanto swings a big stick economically, but the scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports 20 per cent," Schaafsma says. "Ontario needs to go to 20 per cent."
The food inspection agency thinks the situation is "confusing" for growers, McLean says, and it wants a single, industry-wide policy. "There's already agreement in principle on 20 per cent."
Mclean says the stakes are high. Future sales of Bt genetics depend not just on the companies educating growers about the need to plant refuges, although that's important, but on growers doing it. The agency, she says, will conduct random audits to track progress.
"These are binding agreements," McLean says. "The resistance management plans must be carried out."
© copyright 1998 Agricultural Publishing Company Limited.
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Low dollar pressures inputs
Suppliers are predicting widespread price increases this winter for herbicides and fertilizersBY TOM BUTTON
The weak Canadian dollar has helped prop up corn and soybean bids into harvest, preventing this year's awful prices from dropping to the bleak levels faced by American farmers.Now it's time to say good-bye to those savings. Input suppliers are predicting widespread price increases this winter for fertilizers and herbicides.
There are a few tactics, however, that may save corn and soybean growers some of those scarce dollars, such as buying 1998 inventory chemicals, and opting for products that aren't made in the U.S.
Fertilizer dealers say they have no choice but to make farmers pay the exchange rate. "Our margins are already very thin," says Henry Neutons, manager of Kent County Fertilizers. "We can't take this hit on our own."
Take phosphate prices. They're rising, even though the base product in U.S. greenbacks is the same price.If current trends hold, MAP could be $15 to $20 per tonne higher this spring than last, simply because of the low loonie.
"Timing is everything," says Harry VandenBroek, farm services manager for the W.G.Thompsons chain. "We need to make our purchases when there's the best combination of a strong dollar and weak phosphate and nitrogen prices."
Neutons agrees there's little else that growers or dealers can do. "We're trying to do the best possible job with the timing of our purchases, that's what it boils down to." Through fall, Neutons bought just enough fertilizer to meet demand. He thinks phosphate prices in particular may slide early in the new year, and is hoping the dollar may gain some ground.
If fertilizer dealers don't do a good buying job, Neutons adds, they'll be hurt in the spring when farmers back off on their fertilizer programs, switching more acres to soybeans. "That's what the industry is afraid of, especially since commodity prices are so low," Neutons says.
Farmers don't have the same choice with herbicides. No matter what crop they plant, they still need to control the weeds. But there may be more flexibility in herbicide markets.
Companies such as DuPont are working with distributors to get their 1998 inventories into the countryside. "They're still available at last spring's price," says Kerry Teskey, product manager for the company.
For the most part, however, that means growers would have to go with second-choice products. "We're sold out of our most popular control materials," Teskey says. "You aren't going to find any 1998 Ultim or Ultimax."
Prices on most products will rise in 1999, even though the company is trying to hold the line on price increases at their U.S. factories. "We're going to try to absorb some of the exchange rate," Teskey says. "We won't be able to absorb it all."
Greg Dunlop, eastern Canada vice-president for Novartis Crop Protection, thinks when 1999 prices are unveiled mid-winter, growers will see varying impacts on different products. Atrazine, for instance, is manufactured in the U.S., and the Canadian company expects there may be price hikes because it needs to pay American prices with weaker Canadian dollars.
Products such as Dual may be affected less, since the company is moving to its lower rate Magnum brands.
"The effects are going to be product specific," Dunlop says. But, he adds, "Overall, there's no question there's going to be some pressure on costs."
© copyright 1998 Agricultural Publishing Company Limited.
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Pioneer holds line - and cuts
Responding to economic challenges faced by growers, Pioneer Hi-Bred Ltd. will not raise prices for 1999 corn and soybean seed products, and will offer price reductions on selected corn hybrids with the YieldGard1 gene for European corn borer, the company said late-September.Additionally, the company will offer herbicide and insecticide package price-discount programs through AgrEvo with Pioneer seed purchases. A special credit program for 1999 seed purchases includes financing at three per cent below prime or zero per cent interest for qualified customers. Pioneer says it will be introducing more than 50 new corn hybrids and some 20 new soybean varieties to the North American market for 1999 planting.
For details, contact your Pioneer sales agent. - Staff
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Walton breeder Bruce Schmidt sold his dairy herd and quota last spring. But his passion for Jerseys didn't walk out the door with the last brown cow.As president of Quality Jersey Products Limited of Seaforth, the largest exclusive user of Jersey milk in Canada, Schmidt is one of a three-member management team running the plant. The others are Huron county dairyman Bill Wallace, and Tammy Sparling, the plant's treasurer.
Quality Jersey ran its first test batches through the plant last March. Late September, the plant, a former lumber sales buidling, was running at 20 per cent of its capacity, but Schmidt says it is poised to meet the demand for cheese that traditionally picks up for the Christmas market. It will be producing a line of specialty cheeses that have until now tended to be imported from the cheese-loving nations of Europe.
Initial financial backing for the plant came from 14 voting investors. Each bought at least 15 shares at $1,000 a share. There are another 28 preferred shareholders who also hold stock in the plant.
The plant is supplied exclusively with milk from 10 Huron county registered Jersey herds - all within 25 km of the plant. As part of a contract with Dairy Farmers of Ontario, no grade Jerseys or Holsteins are allowed on these farms.
The exclusivity clause was one of the hoops that Quality Jersey management had to jump through during the last five years to get the new plant running.
"There has been no shortage of critics," Schmidt told a gathering at the cheese factory's grand opening last month.
Farm Credit Corporation provided mid- and long-term financing for the operation, with the Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development Fund (CanAdapt) guaranteeing the loan, says Bob Down, Hensall, chairman of the Agricultural Adaptation Council.
Down says Quality Jersey is "a perfect example of the kind of projects that CanAdapt funds," because it creates rural jobs and increases sales of provincially grown products.
It's a very efficient plant, with lots of room for expansion, says Peter Gould, marketing manager for the Dairy Farmers of Ontario. He was lavish in his praise of the operation, pointing out that "it's more common to see plants close than to see plants open up" as the provincial processing industry consolidates.
There's good potential for growth at the Seaforth plant, Gammon says. Once the registered Jersey herds in the Huron area have committed milk, it's likely that Quality Jersey will look to the concentration of Jersey herds in the Brant and Oxford county areas. "A number of those people are investors here," Gammon says. "There's a good chance that their milk will be coming here."
Quality Jersey's business plan calls for expansion next year. The plant's production, says Gould, is limited only by the number of customers who can be convinced that Jersey milk cheese is a topnotch product.
The Seaforth plant is much bigger than other operations that make specialty Jersey milk cheeses, Gammon says. One plant in B.C. takes milk from two or three Jersey operations. Another on-farm plant makes cheese from about 35 cows.
Quality will be producing cheeses for markets that are now supplied by imports. The right to process milk was granted under an agreement with the Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC) under the Domestic Dairy Product Innovation Program (DDPIP).
Bound by rules of commercial confidentiality, the CDC's director of strategic planning, policy and communications, Chuck Birchard, says he can't comment on the Quality Jersey Products company: "I can't [even] tell you if they have an allocation."
Birchard says the DDPIP was set up in 1989 by the Canadian Milk Supply Management Committee, which represents all the provinces making industrial milk as well as processors. The program gives plants making innovative products access to milk from farms without taking it away from other plants.
The access to milk isn't permanent. It is subject to review every five years and may be canceled for all plants taking part in the program in the year 2001.
Quality Jersey's Schmidt says the amount of milk that is delivered to the plant depends on predicted future sales. The Jersey milk is picked up from qualified producers in a separate truck, then as much is delivered to the plant as it orders from DFO. Quality Jersey pays for trucking charges beyond the normal fees charged to producers. Milk that the plant doesn't need is marketed into regular channels.
Quality Jersey took over the production facilities of Cambridge-based Pinnau's Dairy Products Ltd. last year, moving much its equipment to Seaforth. Yogurt, sour cream and quark - a low-fat, cheese like product - continues to be marketed under Pinnau's Sno-White label.
Quality Jersey marketing manager Kirk Walker says Pinnau's old customers have stayed with them in the transition. "The trade recognizes the importance of small companies," Walker says.
Most cheese production so far has been in larger packages. The Seaforth plant doesn't have a store, but three outlets in town sell the cheese. Later this month, Quality Jersey will launch its Baby Gouda and Baby Edam line - 180-gram packages of specialty cheeses - which will be available at grocery store counters as well, Walker says.
Limburger cheese, part of the old Baden line of products, will also appear in grocery counters in October. Quality Jersey cheeses are already at Sobey's, Dutch Boy and other groceries across southwestern Ontario, in Toronto, Niagara, and as far east as Peterborough.
© copyright 1998 Agricultural Publishing Company Limited.
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Go West, young Jersey
Purebred Jersey exports from Canada have taken off this year, says Jersey Canada secretary-manager Russ Gammon.Canadian Jersey breeders sold more animals to the U.S. and Mexico in the first eight months of this year than they have in any 12 months in 27 years, Gammon says. And Canadian registrations are up eight per cent this year, even with all the animals leaving the country.
The U.S. increase, says Gammon, can be attributed to a new cheese plant in California, built by a dozen operators who need high solids content milk.
The California plant isn't demanding that farmers milk only Jerseys, as Quality Jersey Products in Seaforth does. "If you have Guernseys or a high-testing Holstein herd, it's fine," Gammon says. But Jerseys are finding a special welcome there, and about 80 operations in the San Joaquin Valley near San Francisco are buying up Jerseys from across the U.S. and drawing them out of Canada as well.
© copyright 1998 Agricultural Publishing Company Limited.
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