Agriculture – The Carillon

YOUNG AGRARIANS BUSINESS MENTORSHIP NETWORK
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Cultivating success: mentorship program nurtures new generation of farmers

Lori Penner 6 minute read Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024

Since 2015, the Young Agrarians Business Mentorship Network (BMN) has been a cornerstone in supporting new and young farmers. The program helps them develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence needed to manage their farm businesses by pairing them with experienced farm owners in their sector.

BMN began in British Columbia 11 years ago.

“The original idea started when we were seeing new farmers with a passion for the production and lifestyle. They were excited about contributing to the food security in their communities, but there was a gap in their business knowledge, particularly in British Columbia, where there wasn’t the same family farm generational model, and there were a lot of new people coming into farming,” says Melanie Buffel, Business Mentorship Network Manager for the Young Agrarians Foundation.

BMN expanded in 2022 to include Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. To date, the program has worked with 163 farmers on 118 farms, pairing them with 75 mentors. During their mentorship year, mentees reported impressive results: an average increase in revenues of 87 percent, a 65 percent increase in the volume of food produced, and a 42 percent increase in land production.

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COLUMN: Carillon Flashback February 24, 1993 – Bovine beauties featured on newest collector cards

Wes Keating 4 minute read Preview

COLUMN: Carillon Flashback February 24, 1993 – Bovine beauties featured on newest collector cards

Wes Keating 4 minute read Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024

Collecting celebrity sports cards has spanned generations and amassed more than a few fortunes for owners who had long-forgotten the cardboard ducats they hoarded as youngsters.

The fad of collecting cards has by no means been restricted to sports, but enjoys considerable popularity by comic book and automobile enthusiasts, movie buffs and country music fans as well. All in all, card collecting is serious business.

So why is it when talk turns to a new series of dairy cards, the temptation is to ask whether the set will include Moo-reese Richard, Tee-Moo Selanne, Randy Cow-lyle or Mario La-Moo?

Cattle-Lyne is the brainchild of Friedensfeld-area milk producer Wayne Fuchs, who expects the cards to be a hit with both the dairy farmers of the future and their classmates at school.

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Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024

CARILLON ARCHIVES

The idea of bovine trading cards has sparked national interest and a CBC television camera was on hand to film the first run of Cattle Lyne cards coming off the press at Derksen Printers.

Career opportunities focus of Amazing Ag Adventure

Wes Keating 8 minute read Preview

Career opportunities focus of Amazing Ag Adventure

Wes Keating 8 minute read Monday, Nov. 18, 2024

Dozens of high school students, at Agriculture in the Classroom’s Amazing Agriculture Adventure for the first time, learned that whatever their career choice for the future, they are likely to find it in some way connected to agriculture.

This year’s Amazing Agriculture Adventure again featured 10 interactive stations, giving elementary students a close-up view of different phases of agriculture from honey bees to beef, but added to the event for the first time, was a high school component.

High school students also toured the five stations at the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre and then moved on to the Manitoba Dairy Farmers dairy barn and outdoor stations, including one featuring beef. For the older students, volunteer presenters concentrated on the various agriculture careers involved, as well as providing details about raising livestock, protecting the environment and caring for animals.

The veterinary, dairy, beef and watershed stations helped students gain an understanding of how animals are cared for, how agriculture plays a role in their daily life, and how they could one day be part of an exciting career in agriculture.

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Monday, Nov. 18, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

Katharine Cherewyk, Executive Director of AITC-M and Carson Callum, General Manager of Manitoba Beef Producers and AITC-M Board Member, with Clover the life-sized beef calving model at this year’s Amazing Agriculture Adventure.

Trout fishing great on Ridgeland Colony

Wes Keating 7 minute read Preview

Trout fishing great on Ridgeland Colony

Wes Keating 7 minute read Monday, Nov. 18, 2024

Peter Waldner goes fishing every Tuesday, and if you make arrangements ahead of time, you will be able to get a taste of the freshest trout you will ever put in the frying pan. That is, of course, unless you catch it yourself.

Waldner, and a staff of five to 10, spend Tuesdays processing the weekly harvest of steelhead trout at the Colony’s “fish farm”, which began in a converted hog barn some 23 years ago, and more recently moved into a new state-of-the-art facility at the Ridgeland Colony, just off Highway 12, six miles north of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Peter Waldner is a willing tour guide for the new aqua-farming facility, but because bio-security comes along with all the bells and whistles, visitors get a birds’ eye view of operation from behind the glass of a second-level viewing room. Aqua-farming is nothing new for the Ridgeland Colony and it was more than two decades ago that fish were added to a long list of agricultural enterprises, which included dairy, pigs, poultry layers and honey bees. There is also Ridgeland Manufacturing, which today uses laser cutting and welding, to create a variety of parts for agricultural equipment.

Innovation and diversity are the order of the day at Ridgeland and the next enterprise being considered, according to Peter Waldner, will be the processing of fish byproducts by composting heads and bones left behind when the steelhead trout are filleted for market.

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Monday, Nov. 18, 2024

RIDGELAND COLONY PHOTO

A maze of pipes supply food and oxygen, as well as remove waste and recycle the water in the advanced rearing tanks at Ridgeland Aqua Farms.

Farming: A bigger learning curve than it used to be

Lori Penner 6 minute read Preview

Farming: A bigger learning curve than it used to be

Lori Penner 6 minute read Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024

A hundred years ago, farmers were still using horses to get their work done. It’s hard to imagine that, when you see today’s fields, packed with high-tech machinery and computers doing the navigating instead of the farmer’s seasoned eye.

Over the past century, agriculture has hit some major milestones, from commercial fertilizers and hybrid corn to GMOs. But the real game-changer has been the evolution of tractors and implements.

Nowadays, precision is everything. Each seed is planted at just the right distance and depth, with sensors on every row keeping track and sending updates to the cab. If something’s off, the farmer knows right away. Planters use pneumatic downforce to keep the pressure just right, adjusting on the fly based on how firm the ground is.

Spraying tech has also come a long way. Modern sprayers can shut off row by row to avoid over spraying and can even target just the weeds, leaving the bare ground alone. This means farmers can use less herbicide while still getting the job done.

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Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024

LORI PENNER THE CARILLON

Jeremy Hughes, product manager at Horsch, says while farmers can’t control the weather, they can take advantage of new technology which allows more efficiency.

COLUMN: Carillon Flashback September 14, 1962 – Marchand tobacco may become next new cash crop for Manitoba

Wes Keating 4 minute read Preview

COLUMN: Carillon Flashback September 14, 1962 – Marchand tobacco may become next new cash crop for Manitoba

Wes Keating 4 minute read Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024

After several years of experimental production, tobacco grown at Marchand is beginning to show promise of becoming another new cash crop for Manitoba.

Mars Lipsit, manager of the Marchand project, told The Carillon News that judging by the yield of some of the 33 varieties being grown, a target of 1,500 pounds per acre could be met, not that far into the future. The 1,500 pounds is the production yardstick used to determine when the tobacco crop would become profitable, he said.

The tobacco growing experiment was panned by Winnipeg daily newspapers last year, claiming trying to grow tobacco in Manitoba was a waste of time, as the crop could never be grown profitably in the province.

Lipsit hopes these naysayers will take note of the results of this year’s experiment. Dr. A. C. Ferguson of the plant science department at the University of Manitoba agrees with him.

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Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024

CARILLON ARCHIVES

C.S. Prodan, ag rep and tobacco specialist, with tobacco leaves from the 1955 crop grown on an experimental plot at Davidson Farm at Marchand.

Southeast diversity spells success for Hutlet Seeds

Wes Keating 8 minute read Preview

Southeast diversity spells success for Hutlet Seeds

Wes Keating 8 minute read Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024

After more than four decades at the helm, Marc Hutlet has decided to turn the ever- expanding seed company at Dufresne over to the next generation. But while his daughter Karis and Ben Signer are handling things on a day-to-day basis, Hutlet is not completely out of the picture just yet.

Like the farmers he has been serving for generations, he still isn’t ready to retire, and his dedication drives him to keep a finger on the pulse of the agricultural diversity that has seen southeastern Manitoba grow and flourish.

Many of those farmers, who also have turned their operations over to the next generation, joined Marc at the annual fall crop tour the first week in September. Hutlet was very much present, visiting with customers, while Karis and Ben talked about the soybeans and corn that made up the two test plots on Provincial Road 210, east of Landmark.

While the company agronomists were wrapping up their presentation, Marc was back at the road, firing up the barbecue to serve up smokies to the hungry crowd attending the event. There were probably close to 80 farmers there, some for the soybeans, some for the corn, Hutlet said.

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Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

Mike Weir, area agronomist for Pioneer Hi-Bred, chats with Eric Peters, who has been a Marc Hutlet seeds customer since the 1990s.

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‘Fall on the Farm’ more than just one day for Froese family

Wes Keating 8 minute read Preview

‘Fall on the Farm’ more than just one day for Froese family

Wes Keating 8 minute read Monday, Oct. 7, 2024

Members of the Froese family from the Grunthal area have been demonstrating the pioneer skill of hog butchering at the annual Fall on the Farm Day at the Mennonite Heritage Village for much more than a decade.

They cheerfully spend a long day of slicing and cutting, while preparing a whole hog for everything from head cheese, and crackles, to smoked bacon and spare ribs. All the while, members of the family answer questions and show visitors how each part of the pig was used and how things used to be done by pioneers on a farm, that, back then, very much needed to be self-sufficient.

For many older museum visitors, who dropped by the demonstration table, this was the way they remembered it as it used to be, but for the Bill and Sheila Froese family this is very much the way it still is.

Froese Heating and Ventilation has been the family business for 23 years, but the family farm is 140 acres with some cattle, pigs for butchering and chickens, which supply the family with the main ingredient of chicken noodle soup, as well as fresh eggs.

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Monday, Oct. 7, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

Every member of the Froese family has a job during the cutting up of a 200-pound pork carcass at the museum. They are: Bill, Sheila, Mark and Katherine (holding Kianna and Josie), Rachel, and Joanne.

Red River Ex venue adds animals to Fibre Festival

Wes Keating 6 minute read Preview

Red River Ex venue adds animals to Fibre Festival

Wes Keating 6 minute read Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024

Attendance for the annual Manitoba Fibre Festival at Red River Exhibition Place has swelled to over 2,000 visitors and 80 vendors in the dozen years the event has been showcasing all-things-wool, from farm to fibre, with workshops, craft sales and a wool auction.

For two days in September, Fibre Festival visitors had the opportunity to wander through the spacious Red River Exhibition Place, where hundreds of woollen craft items were on sale, take in a workshop, watch a spinning wheel demonstration or visit the animals in the adjacent barn.

This year, Eastern Manitoba was again well represented at the Fibre Festival, both in the barn and the exhibition hall.

Andre Laframboise and his wife Katheryn, who own Raspberry Roost at Cooks Creek, brought angora rabbits and alpacas for their display in the Red River Ex barn.

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Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

Victoria Radauskas of In Between Farms enjoys collaborative fibre farming with her neighbor, Christel Lanthier of Ferme Fiola Farm at Ste Genevieve.

Leather craftsman found Fibre Festival a great venue

Wes Keating 6 minute read Preview

Leather craftsman found Fibre Festival a great venue

Wes Keating 6 minute read Friday, Oct. 4, 2024

It may be unusual to see a leather craftsman setting up his display among 75 or so exhibitors at the annual Fibre Festival which features everything wool, but Niverville’s Chuck Allen says he knew in advance that he would have fans in this group.

Allen is the leather craftsman at Earth and Hide in Niverville and time away from the General Store at any number of craft shows and markets.

He did not originally have the annual fibre festival the Red River Exhibition Place on his schedule for this year but a snapshot from a friend changed his mind. Allen says his friend at Wolseley Wool, sent a picture to his phone showing five of his bags hanging on hooks at one of her knitting sessions.

“You have fans”, the message said.

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Friday, Oct. 4, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

Allen works on a piece of cow hide at his Cedar Avenue shop in Niverville.

COLUMNCarillon Flashback August 6, 1965 – Co-op hits jackpot after five-year wait

Wes Keating 3 minute read Preview

COLUMNCarillon Flashback August 6, 1965 – Co-op hits jackpot after five-year wait

Wes Keating 3 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024

The first experiment in co-operative strawberry growing ever tried in Manitoba has finally paid off, after a five-year wait. With the close of the strawberry season last week, the Reynolds Fruit Growers Co-op at Hadashville announced to its elated members that for the one-month-long picking season, it had produced 22½ tons of berries.

For a solid month, thousands of householders from Winnipeg and other towns and districts have been swamping to the 16-acre plot to harvest the 45,000 lb. crop of berries.

For the privilege of picking their own berries, they paid 25 cents per pound and poured a total of over $11,000 into the treasury of the 74-member Reynolds Fruit Growers Co-op.

The Co-op’s resounding success this year only came after a series of failures as hail, too much rain and spring frost destroyed three crops in a row. This year’s crop was the first one actually harvested.

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Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024

CARILLON ARCHIVES

Co-op Manager Bill Wowk with a basket of top-grade strawberries, part of a bumper crop the Reynolds Fruit Growers Co-op grew at Hadashville this year.

Watershed is literary month focus for Agriculture in the Classroom

Wes Keating 5 minute read Preview

Watershed is literary month focus for Agriculture in the Classroom

Wes Keating 5 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024

Water is wasted and polluted every day around the world, but the agriculture and food industry in Manitoba has had great success sharing about what farmers are doing to keep water clean and ensure the sustainability of watersheds for the benefit of all.

Manitoba’s 14 watershed districts, over the next three years, will be contributing $40,000, towards an Agriculture in the Classroom program focussed on watershed stewardship.

Katharine Cherewyk, Executive Director of AITC-M, says this welcome support marks a significant step forward in her organization’s mission to educate Manitoba’s youth about the importance of clean water and a sustainable watershed.

Starting with Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month (CALM) in March 2024, AITC-M introduced Caring for Our Watersheds to hundreds of Manitoba early years classrooms.

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Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024

AGRICULTURE IN THE CLASSROOM

Katharine Cherewyk outlines Agriculture in the Classrooms programs at an agriculture industry conference in Winnipeg earlier this year.

Ridgeville farmer shows neighbours benefits of SRR Watershed projects

Wes Keating 7 minute read Preview

Ridgeville farmer shows neighbours benefits of SRR Watershed projects

Wes Keating 7 minute read Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024

Last year’s winner of the Manitoba Watershed Association’s “District Builder Award” has never been averse to trying something new and has certainly taken a leadership role in a growing regenerative agriculture community in the Ridgeville area.

Seine Rat Roseau Watershed manager Joey Pankiw says Neil Claringbould was one of the first producers to sign up for the Alternative Land Use Services program in 2019, when he converted 40 acres of cultivated land into perennial grasses along a creek on his farm.

The next year, the Ridgeville farmer went back and added pollinators to the site, adding further environmental benefits.

Over the years, Claringbould has implemented several other ecological projects on the acres he farms in the Ridgeville area. He has fenced off riparian areas and dugouts to protect sensitive wetland areas, and created water retention ponds to help with water management in his area.

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Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024

SRRWD PHOTO

Before perennial grasses were planted in this horseshoe-shaped low lying area, the St Elizabeth area landowner would have to go back to seed after the water went down in spring. He no longer has to do that.

Blumenort shop good fit for Ridgewood farmers

Wes Keating 7 minute read Preview

Blumenort shop good fit for Ridgewood farmers

Wes Keating 7 minute read Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024

It may not be too long before the next generation of Penners will be found working on the family farm, four miles east of Blumenort. But this time around, they will not be farming, but rather becoming part of the family’s welding, machining and manufacturing enterprise.

In 2008, Elden and Corey Penner, like many others at the time, found it impossible to make a living raising hogs. Elden opted for an off-farm welding job with Brian Thiessen, and Corey went on to do other things.

Thiessen had left hog farming to others in 2004, sold his farm to the Penners and established a machine and welding shop at Blumenort.

Years later, when Thiessen decided to retire, Elden and his son Corey purchased Blue Ridge Welding, and the father and son team was re-united at what is today Heritage Steel Works.

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Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

When Elden Penner gets back to his restoration project, this pile of spare parts will again be a “just-like-new” 1951 Farmall-A tractor.

There’s always next year for optimistic producers

Wes Keating 8 minute read Preview

There’s always next year for optimistic producers

Wes Keating 8 minute read Friday, Aug. 9, 2024

The formula for success for any scientific experiment, or perhaps even for the invention of a better mousetrap, is to follow the same steps for each experiment until those steps produce the same satisfactory result time after time. A Grunthal area berry producer found out this year that formula doesn’t apply to farming, especially when it comes to growing saskatoons.

Harvey and Karen Enns are at a loss to explain why their crop of saskatoons this year did not live up to expectations. The berries certainly were of good quality, Harvey says. There just weren’t enough of them.

In fact, regular pickers who look forward to visiting Rock Creek Saskatoons every year were just as disappointed as Harvey and Karen. The couple did not open their farm as a U-pick this year, as they had picked all the available berries themselves during two weeks in July.

The couple says they did everything the same as ever, and the weather was good, but the bumper crop they enjoyed last year just didn’t materialize. Although they are disappointed, Harvey and Karen are looking forward to a better crop next year.

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Friday, Aug. 9, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

Harvey and Karen Enns have been growing saskatoons on three acres of their Grunthal area farm since 2011.

No place like home: A farm girl’s journey to resilience

Lori Penner 7 minute read Preview

No place like home: A farm girl’s journey to resilience

Lori Penner 7 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2024

Last November’s Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference welcomed keynote speaker, Kim Ulmer, RBC Regional President for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, and Western Ontario.

Amid her responsibilities of curating positive experiences for both business and personal banking clients, Ulmer’s heart remains rooted in the vast expanse of Manitoba’s fields and boundless skies, where she makes her home alongside her husband and son.

Ulmer’s presentation, reflecting on her journey from the rolling hills of Saskatchewan to the vibrant cityscape of Sudbury and the awe-inspiring tundra of Canada’s north, echoed the sentiment that indeed, there is no place like home.

Hailing from the farming landscapes of Melville, Saskatchewan, Ulmer said her upbringing instilled in her the values of family, friendship, and the profound connection to the land. Like Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz,” she embarked on a transformative journey that began amidst the golden wheat fields of her youth, ultimately leading her down her own metaphorical yellow brick road.

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Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2024

December 26, 2024

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