(Calgary, Alberta) Team Alberta will meet with the province’s agriculture minister and representatives from the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) this Wednesday to request immediate action regarding approximately one million unharvested acres still sitting in farmers’ fields throughout the province.

Team Alberta will continue to recommend that farmers in the hardest hit areas of Alberta be provided with options for removing last year’s crop without having their insurance payout compromised. This recommendation is consistent with the message Team Alberta has carried in discussions with the provincial government throughout the fall and winter of 2016 in anticipation of the spring seeding season.

“In many areas, destroying last year’s crop is the only solution that ensures farmers can seed this year’s crop early enough to avoid fall frost damage,” said Kevin Auch, Alberta Wheat Commission Chair. “We need quick action from the government to ensure farmers avoid a repeat of the circumstances they faced last year.”

The crop insurance program requires that farmers obtain a pre-harvest assessment before putting their crop to another use even though it may not be salvageable. Heavy snowfall over the Easter weekend likely ensured that crops in hardest hit areas will have limited commercial value. Additionally, weather forecasts for this week predict snow in regions throughout the province. Added snowfall will deteriorate conditions even more, making harvest virtually impossible and further jeopardizing the viability of this year’s crop.

“If harvesting simply isn’t an option because of timing and wet conditions, the procedures around crop insurance payouts will need to be adjusted so farmers’ crops aren’t compromised two years in a row,” said Jason Lenz, Alberta Barley Chair.

“Farmers that were hit with more wet weather last week are even worse off since the conditions aren’t conducive to harvesting,” said Greg Sears, Alberta Canola Producers Commission Chair. “With more snowfall predicted this week, the reality is that farmers in certain areas won’t have a viable crop again this year if options aren’t immediately made available to them.”

“Last year’s unseasonably wet conditions led the Alberta Government to declare a state of agricultural disaster,” said D’Arcy Hilgartner, Alberta Pulse Growers Chair. “Our intent with this meeting is to work with the government to find solutions that ensures last year’s disaster doesn’t put this year’s crop at risk.”

Team Alberta will keep farmers updated on potential options for unharvested acres following discussions with the provincial government.

Media Contacts

Victoria Russell
Alberta Wheat Commission
E vrussell@albertawheat.com
T 403.219.7906

Trevor Bacque
Communications Manager
Alberta Barley
E tbacque@albertabarley.com
T 403.219.6266

Megan Madden
Communications Coordinator
Alberta Canola Producers Commission
E megan@albertacanola.com
T 780.454.0844

Rachel Peterson
Communications Coordinator
Alberta Pulse Growers Commission
E rpeterson@pulse.ab.ca
T 780.986.9398

Team Alberta, along with the Grain Growers of Canada, were in Ottawa last week meeting with various parliamentarians to discuss priorities for Alberta grain farmers to ensure a viable and profitable crop sector.

“This collaborative outreach couldn’t have happened at a better time. There is a lot of good news for agriculture right now, most notably Agriculture’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the federal budget and Canada’s goal to grow agri-food exports to $75 billion annually by 2025,” said Mike Ammeter, a Director for Alberta Canola. “We were pleased by the prospect that the government views agriculture as an engine for growth and are committed to collaborate with them to unleash that growth.”

Alberta’s four major crop commissions that make up Team Alberta agree that aggressive progress in transportation, trade, research and innovation are not only needed to achieve Canada’s ambitious growth plan, but they are essential for our competitiveness. While in Ottawa, Team Alberta also raised the issue of cash ticket deferrals and the impact it may have on their membership.

“As farmers, our success is directly tied to the effectiveness of Canada’s transportation system and the ability to get our product to market, so we continue to share the message that accountability is the only way to make real gains,” added Jeff Nielsen, President of Grain Growers of Canada. “It is imperative a system is put in place that gives shippers the ability to negotiate meaningful, reciprocal, service level agreements and ensure a basic level of accountability for rail companies.”

“Alberta grain farmers are major exporters and to grow our exports we need free trade agreements with key global markets, such as the United States (U.S.), China, European Union (E.U.) and Japan,” added Warren Sekulic, Director with the Alberta Wheat Commission. “Non-tariff barriers to trade are our number one concern for market access. Biotech and pesticide regulations, and phytosanitary measures continue to impede our crops from getting into foreign markets.”

Alberta’s farmers are among the most innovative and sustainable in the world. They adopt and invest in technology, research and innovation that will increase efficiency and reduce costs, but also have tremendous benefits to the environment. Many of these practices stem from investment by growers in science and research.

“Team Alberta recommended that the federal government put peer reviewed science and risk based approach at the core of its regulatory decisions and future investments in innovation,” said Tim van der Hoek, Director with the Alberta Pulse Growers.

The Team Alberta outreach mission included a delegation of Directors and staff from the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission, Alberta Canola Producers Commission, Alberta Barley, Alberta Wheat Commission, and Grain Growers of Canada. The delegation met with representatives from all political parties and shared a united message about how the government can support Canadian farmers.

“Alberta is a significant contributor to Canada’s agricultural economy and Team Alberta saw tremendous value for our members sitting down with officials in Ottawa to discuss how the Canadian government could have a role to help achieve greater success for Alberta’s agriculture industry,” said Dave Bishop, Vice-Chair of Alberta Barley.

Media Contacts

Trevor Bacque
Communications Manager
Alberta Barley
T 403.219.6266
E tbacque@albertabarley.com

Lindsey Ehman
Public Affairs Manager
Grain Growers of Canada
T 613.233.9954
E lehman@ggc-pgc.ca

Megan Madden
Communications Coordinator
Alberta Canola Producers Commission
T 780.454.0844
E megan@albertacanola.com

Rachel Peterson
Communications Coordinator
Alberta Pulse Growers Commission
T 780.986.9398
E rpeterson@pulse.ab.ca

Amanda Ryan
Communications Manager
Alberta Wheat Commission
T 403.219.7902
E amanda.ryan@albertawheat.com

March 30, 2017 (Winnipeg, MB) – The Canadian pulse industry is pleased that India has officially renewed the fumigation derogation (waiver) that will enable trade to resume. India extended the fumigation derogation until June 30, 2017. The June 30 deadline will be based on the bill of lading date.

“As Chair of the Pulse Canada Board, I want to thank the Government of Canada, and in particular Minister MacAulay. I was part of Minister MacAulay’s mission to India in early March and know that the Minister, High Commissioner and high level staff have made the long-term resolution of Canadian pulse access to India a top priority,” said Lee Moats. “We will continue to bring the Canadian farmer and Canadian trade perspective to the table and work with the Government of Canada to achieve long-term, predictable access to our largest market.”

Pulse Canada is the national association representing growers, traders and processors of Canadian pulse crops. The Canadian pulse industry has grown to become a global leader, and is the world’s largest supplier of pulses with exports to over 150 countries.

Media Contact

Courtney Hirota
Director of Strategic Communications
E chirota@pulsecanada.com
T 204.925.3782

Backgrounder

• Canada is India’s largest supplier of pulses and India is Canada’s largest market for pulses, accounting for more than $1.1 billion and more than 1.9 million tonnes in 2016.
• Approximately 33 per cent of total Canadian pulse exports and 42 per cent of Canadian pea exports moved to India in 2016.
• Plant protection officials from India and Canada met in October 2016 to discuss derogations and India’s intent to move away from allowing pulses to be fumigated upon arrival. Canada was provided with the option to prepare a systems approach package outlining the best management practices and critical control points in the pulse supply and export chain where the risk of pests regulated by India are mitigated in Canada.
• Canada presented the package that detailed Canada’s pest risk management system and its application to managing India’s plant quarantine concerns.

Thank you to all growers who participated in the PMRA comment period for imidacloprid. Canada’s pulse industry grower groups and Pulse Canada made a submission to the PMRA with respect to the re-evaluation decision on imidacloprid.

The pulse industry submission to the PMRA stated that for Canadian agricultural producers to compete in the domestic and international marketplace, they need to produce high quality food in an efficient manner, and that requires access to the latest, safest pesticides available. Farmers in Canada need access to these products at the same time that farmers in other exporting countries attain and retain access to them so that they can compete using equivalent production tools.

The pulse industry submission is based on significant input, data and expert opinion from the agronomy resources within the Canadian pulse value chain, as well as a toxicology report commissioned by key members of Pulse Canada to conduct a peer review of the proposed re-evaluation decision. The submission documents the importance of imidacloprid as a tool in sustainable cropping systems.

Alberta Pulse Growers will be working alongside Pulse Canada, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers, and Ontario Bean Growers throughout the review process.

Dear APG Members:

As you are likely aware, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) of Health Canada has proposed a re-evaluation decision for imidacloprid.

The proposed phase-out of the use of this insecticide is based on the perceived risk that imidacloprid may pose to aquatic invertebrates.

On behalf of our members, and alongside other cropping sector representatives, we are asking the PMRA and Health Canada to work alongside the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada roundtable of industry stakeholders to improve the quality of the information on which this important decision is based. It is imperative that sound science, peer review and due process are followed as the issue impacts not only the Canadian agricultural industry, but also our national food security.

We are asking our members to voice their concerns to the PMRA and their own government representatives. Please read the letter linked here, and if you are in agreement, please sign, date and email the letter to the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, the PMRA, the Federal Minister of Health and the MP and MLA for your area. Email addresses and other contact information is provided here.

The deadline for submissions to the PMRA is Thursday, March 23, 2017.

Please contact APG Policy and Program Specialist Nevin Rosaasen at nrosaasen@pulse.ab.ca with any questions or concerns.

The Alberta Pulse Growers Commission has confirmed that pulse growers who paid service fees (check-off) are again eligible for the Scientific Research and Experimental Design (SR&ED) Tax Credit.

The SR&ED Tax Credit can be earned on the portion of the producers’ service fees which were paid to an approved research entity as determined by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Each year, a percentage of the Alberta Pulse Growers investment into research is calculated for the per cent eligible for that tax year. Producers who have paid check-off this past year and have not asked for refunds are eligible claimants for this year’s credit.

For the 2015–16 fiscal year, 21 per cent of pulse check-off fees that were deducted from a producer’s cash ticket are eligible for the tax credit.

The SR&ED Tax Credit application form can be downloaded directly from the CRA website. Individual producers need to apply using the form T2038 (IND) and Canadian controlled private corporations should utilize the form T2SCH31.

For more detailed information about the SR&ED Tax Credit, APG advises you to contact an accountant or the Canada Revenue Agency.

• History of SR&ED with Alberta Pulse Growers
• Summary of APG research investments in 2015–16

The Alberta Pulse Growers Commission represents 5,000 growers of field pea, dry bean, lentil, chickpea, faba bean and soybean in Alberta. Our vision is to have Alberta pulses recognized by consumers as environmentally friendly, healthy, nutritious, and recognized by all producers as being an essential element in a sustainable cropping system.

For more information, please contact:

Rachel Peterson
Communications Coordinator
T 780.986.9398 ext. 3
E rpeterson@pulse.ab.ca