CARBERRY, Man. – It’s easier to convince 30,000 prairie farmers to grow dryland rice than to convince three billion Chinese consumers to eat our prairie-grown wheat.
It’s a comment zero till researcher Dwayne Beck has made numerous times over the years when discussing how farmers on the northern Great Plains can become more profitable by diversifying into crops the world wants rather than producing crops that are easiest to grow.
The concept of exploring crops with fresh commercial demand is deeply engrained in the diversification centres spread throughout rural Manitoba.
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As for the dryland rice idea, one centre has already conducted field trials to see if the crop might someday be viable in Manitoba. Other centres are working with a crop that’s a rice substitute.
Each diversification centre is in a region where soil and climatic conditions differ significantly from the other locations. The premise is that any new crop or technology must be appropriate for local conditions.
A venture that holds promise in one locale might have no future even 100 kilometres down the road.
The diversification projects also give producers a chance to evaluate new crops and technology on a small scale without taking the financial risk themselves.
Each one receives guidance from a board of directors made up of local producers and agriculture industry representatives. Existing producer groups also provide funding and input.
Manitoba Agriculture provides the centres with core structure and funding. Department staff assigned to each centre includes a diversification specialist and a technician, as well as support from the regional “GO Team” that concentrates on business and marketing strategies.
From that starting point, each centre develops its own funding structure from the federal government and private industry.
Canada-Manitoba Crop Diversification Centre: Carberry-Portage-Winkler
Diversification specialist Tammy Jones took Beck’s rice message to heart last year and gave dryland rice a try.
“It was really just a shot in the dark, and it didn’t turn out too good,” she said.
“It grew and we got some heads, but the plants were really yellow. I know we had a weed control problem and I suspect a soil pH problem, also. But the main issue was the variety we obtained just grows too slowly for our climate.
“We might try rice again in 2009 if I can get better seeds. But frankly, I think it’ll be a long while before rice is a viable crop around here.”
While she admitted she didn’t expect much from the experiment, Jones said it’s important for prairie producers to wean themselves from dependence on a small handful of crops.
Jones manages diversification projects at the CMCDC farm near Carberry as well as the two satellite sites near Portage la Prairie and Winkler.
The Carberry farm was the first diversification centre, established as a federal-provincial project in 1993.
It has received significant financial support over the years from McCain Foods, Simplot and the Keystone Potato Producers.
It’s an important research farm because it set the stage for the other regionalized diversification centres that Manitoba Agriculture established more recently.
The Carberry farm sits on a half-section of land, of which 173 acres are irrigated. It includes a laboratory, a building for sample food processing, classroom, offices, workshops and storage buildings. It’s considered the ideal facility for a diversification research and demonstration project.
The satellite at Portage is the previous Agriculture Canada sub-station. It is also a well-equipped research farm with a laboratory, greenhouse, irrigation systems and offices.
The satellite at Winkler doesn’t have the complete infrastructure, but it does have 40 acres of sandy loam land with irrigation. The Portage and Winkler sites are managed through the Carberry office.
“There’s a grower group called the Crop Research Organization of Portage, and they’ve been very involved in field trials at that location,” Jones said. “We also have a producer advisory committee at Carberry.”
Finding alternative uses for potato land is one of the challenges. Potato infrastructure is expensive, with a high per acre investment in irrigation and tile drainage.
The investment can be justified only if there’s a continued high cash flow from a predictable cash crop.
“With that kind of infrastructure, the ideal situation is potato contracts. But we’ve seen some of those potato contracts disappear, so producers are looking at other options for that land.
“One of our goals is to evaluate other irrigated crops that can make good use of this infrastructure. It might not be as intensive as potato production, but with high yield and fewer costs, there may be other crops that can be profitable. We cast a wide, wide net when we go looking for alternate crops for potato land.”
Although most producers with a high investment in potato land would shun the suggestion of growing wheat, Jones said irrigated high-yielding soft wheat has shown potential. She is also trying soybeans and edible beans, similar to those grown under irrigation in Alberta.
European hemp varieties intended for fibre production are another option tried at the CMCDC irrigation sites.
The market for this specialized fibre is home insulation and a replacement material in fibreglass products.
The researchers have found that it grows well under irrigation, but on the negative side, it’s not a good crop to put into a potato rotation because there’s too much residue.
For more information, contact Tammy Jones at 204-362-0760 or visit www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/mcdc/mcdcres.
Parkland Crop Diversification Foundation: Roblin
Located in northwestern Manitoba, Roblin has the agronomic benefit of good rainfall and the disadvantage of a short and cool growing season.
“So we don’t have a lot of cash crop options in this area,” said Keith Watson, diversification specialist at Roblin.
“Because of the weather, it’s mainly a wheat-canola rotation. We can’t grow things like edible beans or soybeans. We’ve never really had a third crop alternative for our rotations like areas to the south.”
Which isn’t to say that local PCDF members have given up hope for a cash crop. In 2008, the Parkland group tended to 1,700 field plots with potentially profitable crops that grow well in the region.
“We decided early on that there’s no point in working on canola. There are already lots of players in canola,” he said.
“So we’re looking at other possibilities. Right now, it looks like hemp is one of the best potential alternative crops for our rotations.”
Northwestern Manitoba has led in hemp agronomy and production since the crop was first introduced.
Farmers produced a hemp surplus in 2006, which the market has since absorbed.
Watson said all the diversification centres are aware of the inherent danger of dealing in low-volume crops.
“Overproduction is a basic challenge you’ll face anywhere and anytime you’re dealing with a small crop,” he said.
“It’s so easy to flood the market. You really need to be careful.”
However, Watson said the hemp market is growing and becoming more stable.
“Our local buyers for the hemp grain are increasing their market share by five to 10 percent per year, so that shows promise for local growers.
“And we expect to have a hemp fibre processing facility open in 2009, so that makes a complete, solid market for the grain and fibre.”
PCDF is also working with new varieties of zero tannin faba beans for hog rations. Hogs reject traditional faba beans because of tannin concentrations in the hull but readily accept the zero tannin beans.
Silage peas for beef rations are another promising crop. They grow well in the region and produce a high volume of high protein feed.
Noting that peas are typically grown in drier areas, Watson said they do have disease problems in wet years, but it’s not a big enough problem to pull them from the field trials.
“We’re working directly with the plant breeder on pea varieties,” he said.
“I guess you could say we’re the leading edge when it comes to pea silage. They do very well in the northwest. We’re also working directly with the plant breeder on silage barley plus the new barley varieties designed for human consumption. Tortilla chips made with barley is the first product to hit the market. These varieties have only been available for 10 years, so they’ve come a long way fairly quickly.”
Watson said his region’s government GO Team is now looking at other types of food processors that can incorporate barley into their products.
The PCDF is conducting field trials and market research into flax, hulless oats and pulse crops that may be viable for the region.
“We’re also looking at camelina,” Watson said.
“When it first came out, people promoted it as a zero-input replacement for canola, with high oil content. So we thought we’d better at least try it. Well, we all know you cannot grow a crop on nothing. It just does not happen. Camelina does have a lower fertility requirement than canola, but it needs a lot more work (before it’s viable).”
For more information, contact Keith Watson at 204-622-2009 or visit www.mts.net/~pcdfnw/index.htm.
Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization: Melita
The diversification centre in Melita has field tested 60 crops in southwestern Manitoba.
The area has mainly loam sand soil and is generally drier and warmer than the other regions, according to WADO technician Scott Chalmers.
“Our goal is quite clear. We try to link industry needs with producers who can fill those needs.”
“We cater to both ends of the value chain, the grower end and the user end. Our job is to improve that value chain. WADO is highly driven by economics. We’re trying to move away from reliance on just a small number of traditional crops. We’re demonstrating that producers have a lot of options and opportunities to put more cash crops into their rotations.”
Chalmers said hemp is one of the notable alternative crops gaining ground in the region. He attributed this success to a firm market and grower contracts through Farm Genesis, a local company in Waskeda.
The camelina work confirms that the short season oil seed crop requires fertility. Chalmers said the researchers have also found it requires a good burnoff to be competitive.
“Diversification” doesn’t strictly mean new crops,” he added. It can also apply to diversified markets for existing crops such as wheat for ethanol or barley as a forage.
“One of the options that’s looking really good is high yield wheat grown specifically for ethanol production. This is a non-food grade of wheat. Its sole purpose is bio-energy.”
He said more crops in the rotation help producers spread out the risk. Different crops have different weaknesses and strong points in terms of frost, disease, too much or too little water, seeding time and vagaries of the marketplace.
For more information, contact Scott Chalmers at 204-534-7633.
Prairie East Sustainable Agriculture Initiative: Arborg
While CMCDC was experimenting with rice, the Interlake region was making progress with a potentially high-volume rice replacement crop known as hulless oats.
All the diversification centres are working with hulless oats, but Arborg has taken the lead on this specific project.
Once the hulless oats are cleaned, they resemble long grain rice but with more of a tan colour. The cleaned hulless oats are sold to be mixed in a ratio of 1:3 with whole grain rice to create a different texture and nutrient profile.
The hulless oats are processed, packaged and marketed by Scott Sigvaldson at Wedge Farms near Petersfield, Man.
PESAI has satellite sites near Stonewall and Beausejour and is involved in a wide range of plot work through Manitoba Crop Variety Trials.
“Right now we still rent plot space from farmers, usually five to eight acres,” said James Lindal, the diversification technician in Arborg.
“Our plan is to buy land near Arborg so we’ll have permanent plots and a yard site for buildings. We’re also getting more into making better use of marginal land through grazing. We’ll be working on extended grazing trials with swath grazing and corn grazing. This will all be large scale, large acreage work.”
For more information, contact James Lindal at 204-364-3066.
Not all centres have their own websites, but within the next two weeks Manitoba Agriculture is expected to launch a new website encompassing all diversification centres. It will be located at www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/diversification.
