BOISSEVAIN, Man. – Art Peters was a bit distracted one recent Saturday morning. He was trying to get the harvest finished, dealing with a flat tire and wet conditions while doing a newspaper interview.
But he handled it calmly and with an understated wry humor.
The pressure began right from his decision to buy a farm 26 years ago while he was at the University of Manitoba.
“By the third year of university I owed $60,000.”
But the decision proved right for him. He got a mortgage from the seller of the farm, which was a help during the high-interest years of the late 1970s. Peters located in this southwestern Manitoba area because his father had farmed here. Although his dad had pigs, Art didn’t want livestock.
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“We have a seed plant and grain. With cattle it would be too much management.”
Art farms his 2,600 acres along with his brother Harold, for a total operation of 4,500 acres. They plan crop rotations of 50 percent cereals, 25 percent oilseeds and 25 percent pulses.
They also practise zero till. But because this normally dry area has been wet the past couple of years, Art says the rotations are somewhat mixed up.
“We try to put 20 percent of our crop in in April and it was May this year. We were fortunate we didn’t get a frost.”
He and Harold have worked out a good blend for farming: Art prefers the economic and organizing side while his brother prefers the technical, machinery and agronomic end.
Living 25 kilometres from the American border has allowed them to remain aware of what their southern neighbors are doing. Art attended a seminar in Grand Forks, N.D., and learned how more Americans are using satellite monitoring systems and other technology and have a healthier respect for soil testing results.
The Peters have bought a yield monitor and GPS receiver. That’s not “Go Plowing Steve,” jokes Art, but a Global Positioning System.
In the cab of the combine, Harold explains how it works.
The recorded data notes details of the field – how much grain was harvested, its moisture level – and the combine operator can also add details like weed patches. All this can then be studied later to help tailor fertilizer, seed and chemical application to different parts of a field. But Harold notes it is not a “plug in and play” item.
Their attention to precision farming has not gone unnoticed. Art is scheduled to speak at a workshop in Brandon Dec. 11 on the topic.
Farmers need technical knowledge and must pay strict attention in gathering information and applying it, which can be difficult after hours in the cab.
Art notes there have also been changes to keep up with in the seed industry. With government deregulation and plant breeder’s rights, more major companies are getting into the seed breeding and selling area because the stakes are bigger. The Peters have some demonstration plots of new varieties. This year they tested Dawn barley and Barrie and Majestic wheat. But Art says there are too many varieties being developed and sold that are not substantially different from what is already available.
For marketing grain there are several advantages in their location, including a highway that never has road restrictions and an export port in Boissevain with customs brokers to handle the paperwork.
The Peters have had export permits from the Canadian Wheat Board and usually haul their oilseeds to a crushing plant in North Dakota. Right now those permits are difficult to get from the board.
“When the truck hits the road, it doesn’t matter whether you’re driving 20 minutes or two hours,” says Art about the costs of hauling to the U.S.
No monopoly
He is clear about the wheat board’s sales monopoly.
“My canola, lentils and peas, there’s no wheat board looking after me there. … I’d vote for an open market position.”
But he’s also aware that while American farmers respect entrepreneurism, they can also be quite protectionist of their domestic market. These problems can be worked out though, Art said: “Things can really change if there’s something in it for everybody, then it’ll really fly.”
Of Art and Leona’s three sons, the youngest, nine-year-old Scott, is the most eager to go farming. Kurt, 20, is helping harvest this fall after a stint of custom harvesting in the U.S. last summer, while Brad, 17, has developed an interest in computers.
Leona was raised on a small farm on Vancouver Island and came to the Prairies after meeting Art. But she relives some of her past in the family’s winter recreation – downhill skiing in the Rockies. Back at home, most of their volunteer time is taken up by their local church.
