Oct 12, 2011

Co-operative Partners Retreat 2011

Submitted by Dianne Kennedy, UPI Energy manager, corporate events and public relations

The 4th Annual Co-operative Partners Retreat (“CPR”) was held at the beautiful Blue Mountain Resort near Collingwood, Ontario from September 23 to 25, 2011.

CPR is an annual event sponsored by UPI Energy LP and partners of GROWMARK, Inc. and is hosted by UPI Energy, GROWMARK and the local FS Co-operative. This year’s Co-operative host was Huron Bay Co-operative Inc.

CPR provides the Co-operative general managers and senior management with networking opportunities to share results and successes from the previous year and look towards the coming year. The attendees received updates from UPI Energy president & CEO Robert Sicard. From GROWMARK, particpants heard from vice president of Member Services and Retail Dennis Farmer, vice president Agronomy Jim Spradlin and Claude Gauthier, Ontario region manager. Jeff Hurst, general manager of Huron Bay Co-operative presented an overview of the co-operative’s history and current dealings.

UPI presented the Millennium Joint Venture Audit Award to North Wellington Co-operative Services in recognition of excellence in energy marketing and operations. This was the third consecutive year that North Wellington Co-operative received this award, and the fourth time in five years. The co-operative's general manager Kelly Boyle and Allan Williamson, Energy Division manager were on hand to accept the award from Robert Sicard and Tony Silvestro, UPI director, Member Services.

Other FS Co-operatives participating this year were AGRIS Co-operative Ltd., La Co-opérative Agricole d’Embrun Limitée, Lucknow District Co-operative Inc., Co-opérative Régionale de Nipissing Sudbury Limited, Sunderland Co-operative Inc., Thunder Bay Co-operative Farm Supply and Vineland Growers’ Co-operative, Ltd. Also in attendance were representatives from County Farm Centre and FS PARTNERS.


From L-R- Robert Sicard, president & CEO UPI Energy LP,  North Wellington Co-operative's Energy Division manager Allan Williamson, general manager Kelly Boyle and Tony Silvestro, UPI Energy director, Member Services.



AALP Class 14 visits GROWMARK Ontario office and distribution centre

AALP Class 14 at GROWMARK, Kitchener office
“It is an excellent time to be in agriculture, an innovative, growing and diverse sector offering great opportunities for industry leaders like you,” said Frank Campbell, GROWMARK Ontario marketing director as he welcomed the 30 new Advanced Agriculture Leadership Program students to GROWMARK’s Ontario region office in Kitchener. "It is good to see such diversity in the room," says Campbell. "Whether you are involved in agriculture production or pursuing a career in agribuisness, your leadership will help drive the sector forward."

The main reason for the visit to GROWMARK was to get a better understanding of the co-operative model as well as GROWMARK’s leadership in the industry. After hearing from presenters about the co-operative model and GROWMARK’s initiatives in agronomy, energy, grain marketing, youth development and social media, the AALP Class 14 was given a tour of the GROWMARK distribution center. Pat Gallagher, GROWMARK Ontario logistics manager led the group and spoke about the complexity of crop protection and seed logistics, such as, the many regulatory agency compliance requirements and the state-of-the-art safe-storage practices.

Will Heeman, one of the AALP students present, was recognized as a graduate of the Co-operative Young Leaders Program in which GROWMARK supports. In 2007 Heeman was chosen to be the Ontario youth speaker at the GROWMARK’s Annual Meeting.

Pat Gallagher, GROWMARK Ontario logistics manager
gives tour of GROWMARK Ontario distribution centre.
AALP IS DELIVERED BY THE Rural Ontario Institute (ROI). Established in 1984, the program has graduated over 380 leaders who are now making a positive difference across Ontario and beyond.  Graduates use their increased skills and knowledge of the entire agri-food system to work with others to lead, direct and manage change within the industry. For more information visit http://www.aalp.on.ca/





Oct 4, 2011

Final yield and crop quality report for 2011 Crop Assesment Tour

By:    Don Kabbes, Great Lakes Grain marketing development manager
          Dale Cowan, Southern Co-operative Services senior agronomist


Reporting on 30 corn and 31 soybean sites, the Great Lakes Grain 2011 Crop Assesment Tour covered the trading area from Essex County to Simcoe County. On Sept 6, two smaller tours took place prior to the entire team meeting for the main two day event on September 7 and 8.

The average corn yield in the co-operative trading area came in at 159 bushels per acre. May planted corn was estimated at 169 bushels based on plant populations of 30,807, June planted corn was estimated at 146 bushels per acre based on 28,605 plants per acre on average. As reported in the preliminary issue the two main factors affecting yields the most from observations were plant population and Nitrogen deficiencies.

At approximately 5.3 bushels per 1000 plants the June planted populations have given up 12 bushels of corn yield to May planted corn. Western Bean Cutworm damage was most pronounced in the Bothwell area, however Smartstax and Herculex traited corn limited the damage. The affected cobs however may have been prone to ear mold infection.

All fields showed Nitrogen deficiency to various degrees. We encourage you to check your own fields to obtain plant harvest populations, observe N deficiency, ear molds and to check on stalk quality to determine standability. At the time of the tour stalk quality was quite good. However as grain fill continues and the cob dominates the sugar demand, cooler nights and shortening hours of sunshine, stalks may have weaken significantly from early September. Determining which fields should be prioritized for harvest will help to conserve yield and maintain combine efficiencies.
The main deviation from estimated yield to actual will be due to the extent and the number of areas challenged by drainage.

The two sites of Oakwald are interesting to note from the Ayr location of FS PARTNERS. It is the site of the Max Yield Plots (field scale). The main difference is an aggressive fertilizer build program as soil fertility is very low and the application of a fungicide. Between those two treatments we estimated a 63.2 bushel / acre yield increase over the farmer’s standard practice this is a highly responsive site.

The soybeans are coming in at 44.8 bushel per acre average. With a more diligent effort to count only beans filling the pod cavity we may have underestimated soybean yields slightly. There were a significant number of pods on the upper most nodes that were yet to be filled or aborted. If they fill before harvest there will be many fields in the upper 40 and low to mid 50 bushel per acre range. The final ten bushels will be weather driven.

Most noticeable was the onset of leaf diseases. Septoria Brown spot was higher up on the canopy due to rain splash in August. In August of 2010 the trading areas had less than 10 mm of rain this August we are well in excess of 100 mm. Rain in August makes soybeans! It also brings on plant disease. Bacterial Blight was evident and Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) was easy to find in most fields in the southwest. Soybean Cyst Nematode was also noted. All of these disease point to too high of frequency of soybeans in the rotation.

Soybeans in seven inch rows continue to be the most variable in plant populations and the most difficult to estimate yield. Row spacing of 15 inch offered similar yield and the opportunity to lower plant populations by approximately 30,000 seeds per acre or 14 per cent reduction in seeding costs. Overall it appears the trend in 2011 was to reduce seeding rates.

Again the two sites of Oakwald are interesting to note from the Ayr location of FS PARTNERS. It is the site of their Max Yield Plots (field scale). The main difference is an aggressive fertilizer build program as soil fertility is very low and the application of a fungicide. Between those two treatments we estimated a 9 bushel / acre yield increase over the farmer’s standard practice.

We wish to thank the co-operators who allowed us onto their farms, without them this tour would not be possible. This affords us an opportunity to sharpen our skills as crop specialist in a field classroom. There is no better way to learn than being in the field. We do not do this tour alone, the generous support from DEKALB who were our single sponsor in 2011 and valued supply chain partner allowed us to do this in a first class way.

This tour along with many hours of training throughout the year from GROWMARK and supply chain partners allows us to become better agronomists so we in turn can help you reach your goals and objectives of being better farmers.