Read Full Transcript
Mike Howell: The Dirt with me, Mike Howell, an economics podcast where I present the down and dirty agronomic science to help grow crops and bottom lines. Inspired by economics.com farming’s go-to informational resource. I’m here to break down the latest crop nutrition research use, and issues helping farmers make better business decisions through actionable insights.
Let’s dig in. Well, hello again, listeners. We appreciate you tuning in this week. Uh, today we are still on location here at the Calgary Stampede. We are continuing our series, uh, spotlight in Canadian agriculture, uh, here in the, in the Alberta area. Uh, today to help us talk about this a little more, we have, uh, Mr.
Scott Exner with us. Uh, Scott is the chairman of the International Ag and AgriFood Committee here at the Calgary Stampede. Uh, Scott, welcome to the Dirt.
Scott Exner: Thanks, Mike, and welcome to the Calgary Stampede.
Mike Howell: I’m, I’m really enjoying it. Scott been here for a couple of days now and seeing a lot of interest in things.
Scott, before we really get into it, if you would take just a few minutes and tell us, uh, a little bit about what you do, uh, here in the Calgary area.
Scott Exner: Sure. Well, my day job is, I practice law in the food and agricultural sector. Been doing that for about 30 years, uh, besides volunteering with the International AgriFood Committee here at the Stampede, also sit on the board of the Alberta Food Process Association and also on the board of a plant processing company.
Mike Howell: Okay. Uh, well, Scott, today we wanted to focus a little bit on the, uh, international Ag and AgriFood Committee. Uh, find out a little bit about what the purpose of that is, uh, uh, get into that a little bit. So before we get really in depth, uh, tell us a little bit about the committee, uh, what the, the goals of the committee are.
Scott Exner: Sure. Well, stampede is about 30 subcommittees. We’re one of the 30. We’ve been around for about 42 years, and our mission is sort of welcome international visitors to the stampede, give ’em a friendly Western. Hospitable welcome. We have a lounge here on the second floor of the Nutrient Center. We invite international guests to come up and have some food and drink on us.
Uh, we also have a major event during Stampede. It’s our international reception. Uh, we basically invite food producers and people in the food ag industry throughout southern Alberta to sort of join us for a night of network.
Mike Howell: Okay. Uh, about how many international guests do you have coming through, uh, these events?
Scott Exner: We usually have about 1800 to 2000 during the two, during the 10 days. So it’s quite a few.
Mike Howell: Okay. Yeah. That, that’s a big, big event. So you, you talked about all the international visitors coming in and, and working with them and seeing what their issues are. Uh, why is creating the, the international connection is so important to the stampede.
Scott Exner: Calgary Stampede has all been a gathering place for people. Uh, we’re known for our chuck wagon and our rodeo, but we’re also sort of known for connecting people. Uh, we just completed an expansion of the BMO Center last year. Huge conference center. Many meeting rooms has a chance for people to actually have meetings, their annual conferences here as well.
So Stampede really has a long-term vision of being sort of a hub for thought leadership in agriculture and food and connecting people is a major part of that, obviously.
Mike Howell: Uh, Scott, you mentioned the meeting rooms and I, I haven’t seen those yet, but, uh, traveling around, I, I go to a lot of meetings around the country and we’re always stuck in a hotel room somewhere, or maybe in a, a corporate office in a boardroom.
Having these meetings, uh, this is a little bit different atmosphere. How do, how do the visitors take to having a meeting in a location like this?
Scott Exner: Well, I think they love sort of having a relaxed atmosphere, enjoying a drink, enjoying some food. Watching some entertainment, uh, whether it be the rodeo, the Chuck wagons, or here at the Nutrien Event Center.
Um, obviously the second meeting can always be in a boardroom, but I think they find the relaxed atmosphere, uh, chance to mingle with our committee members who are very well connected. Uh, so, and, and also meeting other producers from around the world. Uh, and not only producers, but off then government officials, uh, people from consulates and hearing what other people do around the world in agriculture and food.
Mike Howell: Scott, you keep talking about visitors from, from all over the world. Uh, can you talk a little bit about, uh, more specifically where these guests are coming from and what they’re doing here?
Scott Exner: Yeah. Every year we probably have people from, uh, 25 different countries. Uh, obviously a lot from the United States, a lot from the uk, Australia, New Zealand.
We also have a lot of people from South Africa, um, and South America, whether it be Brazil or Argentina. Um, so also some from the Middle East. So any country that either. Makes food and exports it or imports it. We see them here at the Calgary Stampede.
Mike Howell: So
Scott Exner: that kinda
Mike Howell: leads me into my next question. Uh. You know, I, I didn’t never thought about the Stampede as being a place for, for international guests to come in and talk about this.
So, uh, what, what makes the stampede the, the place for these people to come? Why do they wanna visit here so much?
Scott Exner: Well, certainly it’s got a long reputation. Um, over a hundred years putting on a stampede. We’re a gathering spot and they know that we can bring people from all over the world and they can make the connection.
So, um, we sort of really rely on the Stampedes reputation for that and try to build on it and make it even more of a gathering place.
Mike Howell: Scott, can you talk a little bit about some of the key initiatives, uh, that you’re, uh, highlighting in this year’s? Uh, stampede,
Scott Exner: certainly while this lounge that we’re in here, it’s called the Main Alberta Lounge.
Uh, we feature products made by Alberta Food Processors. Sort of not only advertised it, the people live in Alberta, but people live in internationally. That’s sort of one of our objectives. Um, certainly with the BMO Center, uh, we try to. Have as many meetings as possible with international producers and organizations and encourage them to sort of set up their meetings.
So that’s certainly something we’re pushing. Uh, the BMO center’s only a year road, so we’re in the early days of that, but that’s certainly part of the long-term vision. And in that, the stampede is also announced three hotels that are being built, uh, within walking distance of the Stampede Park. So we certainly want to be able to accommodate those international conferences, and that’s part of our focus as well.
Mike Howell: Yeah. Scott, you mentioned some of the foods, uh, uh, benefiting the local people here. Uh, what are, what are some of the foods that are, are showcased here today? And I, I’m gonna be walking around the midway later on today, eating some of the new creations that they have. So, uh, not exactly sure what to expect, but what are, what are some of the foods that are highlighted here?
Scott Exner: Well, you certainly, some that you expect, anything made outta beef, whether it’s beef jerky, uh, a lot of bakery products. We’ve got a lot of, um, cheesecakes, things like that. Um, obviously many donuts are always part of the midway. Um, some of things that people may not know, Alberta is known for. We actually export a lot of honey, uh, which comes as surprise to many people.
So we try to showcase a lot of these products. Um, the other day we had some gluten-free flour, for example. Um, but trying to basically show all the products we do make here in Alberta and, uh, not only educate people living in Alberta, but people around the world.
Mike Howell: So Scott, it seems like one of the overall goals of this committee is to, to benefit the producers here in Western Canada.
Uh, can you talk a little bit about how they’re benefiting from the work that you’re doing here? Uh, maybe share a few of the success stories you’ve had over the years.
Scott Exner: Yeah. We certainly try to showcase their products and make the international connections. Uh, the one thing that we’ve done as a committee is focused on sustainability for many years as well.
Um, many of our committee members were involved in the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, uh, working with. Cargill and McDonald’s and showing how we can make beef sustainable. So a lot of times we’re working industry and producers and then we showcase those products, uh, at our huge reception and also here in the lounge.
So, and trying to make connections. It’s always interesting when we have farmers from Canada, meeting producers from other countries. They compare notes and a lot of ’em actually become friends over time. Uh, many people come back year after year and visit with the people they’ve met at Stampede.
Mike Howell: So Scott, uh, Nutrien did a, a study several years ago now, and we found that there’s a big disconnect between the producers and the consumers.
Uh. The perception of what’s actually going on on the farm. And this seems like a great place that we could get those two groups together. Uh, we’ve talked about that in several of our podcasts this week, but, uh, is, is this some way we can get these people together, uh, help bridge that perception gap? And
Scott Exner: yeah, by all means, we always say farm to fort.
You know, try to get everybody educated on where their food comes from, how it’s made, what all goes into it. And that’s certainly part of the reason we showcase made in Alberta products, for example, and try to educate the public on where their food comes from. And all the steps it goes through to get on their plate.
Got
Mike Howell: it. Well, Scott, we’ve, we’ve talked a lot about the, uh, stampede here today. Uh, I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been here. Uh, you know, coming up I thought it was just a rodeo. I had heard about the Chuck Wagon races and, and looking forward to both of those events. But, uh, other than all of that, uh, what, what do you wish more people knew about?
Uh, what, what’s another reason for people to make the trip to, to Alberta to, to see this?
Scott Exner: I think realize how broad the egg food and egg sector is. Uh, not just primary production. We’ve got grain handling, we’ve got food processing, biotech, craft breweries, uh, wide variety of things. So I think first of all, how broad the sector is.
Uh, secondly, and you know, I didn’t grow up on a farm, but I’ve been involved in the sector for 30 years. It also can be a great career choice, whether you’re an engineer, you have an MBA. Uh, you’ve got an agricultural degree. There’s lots of room for good career choices, and we try to educate people on that as well.
Um, I taught a class at the University of Calgary College of Law for a couple years on food and agriculture, and a lot of the students said they hadn’t really realized this is a sector they can even practice law. And so we try to, you know, bring more people and see it as a, an industry that they can really be involved in.
No matter what their career choice as well. Yeah.
Mike Howell: And Scott, you know, that’s something I’ve been telling young people for years now, uh, to work in agriculture. You don’t have to be out in the field getting your hands dirty every day. We, we need lawyers, we need accountants, uh, we need tech people to, to work on these, uh, artificial intelligence projects and, uh, the drones and the sea and spray technology, uh, all of this is directly, uh, related to agriculture.
And, uh, you know, there. There’s a vast array of things that somebody can do and still work in the field of agriculture.
Scott Exner: Yeah, it’s an exciting field to be in and we try to open up people’s eyes to it a little bit more and realize all the potential.
Mike Howell: So. Well, Scott, we really appreciate you taking time outta your day to visit with us.
Uh, is there any closing message you wanna leave our listeners with before we sign off today?
Scott Exner: Well come to the Calgary Stampede. We welcome everybody from around the world. Uh, we hope you have a great few days here, Mike as well. And, uh, we’ll show you some Western hospitality.
Mike Howell: Well, I, I have seen that hospitality already.
I’ve, I’ve got to partake of some of the Canadian beef already and, and some of the other, uh, delicacies here. I’m, I’m really enjoying my time here. So, uh, listeners, thank you for tuning into this segment. If you will, uh, stick around for just a couple of moments and we’ll be right back with segment two.
Farming isn’t farming without questions, and now there’s a place to go for answers. At economics, an entire team of agronomists is waiting and ready to help for free. No question is too big or too small. Visit Nutrien-ekonomics.com at submit your question with the ask an agronomist feature.
Listeners, welcome back for segment two. Uh, we’re glad you’re tuning in for to our Ask and Agronomist session this week. Uh, we’ve got Lyle Cowell back in the studio with us this week. Uh, Lyle, welcome back.
Lyle Cowell: Thanks for having me again, Mike.
Mike Howell: While this week, our question is, is talking about protein content. Uh, we know we can do things and some, some crops get paid a bonus if we’re getting, uh, added protein to that crop, uh, what can we do to increase our protein content, especially in these cereal crops?
Lyle Cowell: Right? So when it comes to managing protein and. Thinking about it for will the farmer make more money by managing protein? The primary crop is going to be wheat. That’s, that’s the, that’s the crop that tends to see premiums for improved protein. What improves protein and wheat. Now we have to think of it as, uh, protein is a concentration, not a content.
So you have to, what we’re trying to do is increase the concentration of protein. In the seed, the primary nutrient that’s going to impact protein is nitrogen, because every protein, the backbone of every, every protein is nitrogen. So when it comes to nutrient management to improving protein, we first of all have to think about nitrogen supply, and that might be in most cases, making sure that we have enough nitrogen at the start of the growing season.
Our spring wheat’s a pretty short grow, uh, growing season, so we don’t have a lot of time to adjust this. So focus on making sure you have enough nitrogen right at the start of the season. Um. In some cases, if it’s a very, very good growing season, and if it looks like the protein premiums for your wheat crop are going to be quite good, then you might consider top dressing with say, a liquid nitrogen fertilizer, UAN fertilizer.
Uh, generally you can zip across a wheat field with a sprayer with, uh, stream nozzles, um, keeping in mind that we call it top dressing and full hair application, but most of that nitrogen’s gonna be taken up by the roots. So we have to, you know, we can manage that a little bit if you’re going to do that.
Here’s the thing, every time I hear a farmer talk about top dressing nitrogen, three times out of four, they top dress the nitrogen after it rained. You’re far better off to look at the forecast and try to do that before it rains, because again, we’re really targeting root uptake of that nitrogen. So when it comes to fertilizer management.
Those really are the two things that you can do. Manage your nitrogen that you apply to make sure it’s sufficient before the crop starts growing. And once in a while you might see some benefit from top dressing, low rates of nitrogen later in the season. Now there are other aspects to this. Uh, the varietal differences make a significant difference between.
Whether or not a wheat crop might have high or low protein, uh, making sure all the other nutrients are in place so you have a healthy crop. Uh, making sure that there’s not excess diseases, leaf disease in the crop that might damage the crop. And then the big thing, especially in dry land agriculture, is the weather.
If it’s dry, you’re probably gonna have high protein wheat because your wheat seed’s gonna be smaller, higher concentration of protein. If it’s really wet and you have those really nice big plump seeds, your concentration’s gonna be a little bit lower. So we can manage it to some degree. But in the end, the weather’s still the king.
Mike Howell: Great information Lyle. And I don’t know about your local weather, man. Uh, mine’s pretty terrible if, if we depend on him to get anything, we’re, we’re in bad shape. But, uh. If, if our listeners wanna find out an accurate weather forecast, they can, uh, check out our nutrien weather, man. Uh, Eric Snodgrass, uh, he’ll get you a as close as anybody on that weather and he got some, uh, great information on the weather as well.
You be, uh, Lyle, I’m gonna make this a two part, uh, session here on this question. Okay. Uh, since I’ve been here in Canada, I have learned that not all crops need that extra protein or, uh, protein concentration. What about the maltin barley and how do we keep from getting too much protein in our maltin barley?
Lyle Cowell: Yeah, so there’s a crop that we want to maximize yield and not have too much protein, and that’s a balance. A little bit opposite what we’re trying to do with hard Red Spring wheat. So again, it’s still the same principles, managing your nitrogen supply carefully. And then managing which varieties you might choose.
But that’s a bit more limited because only certain varieties are malt quality. Then hoping that you have the right weather. Now what can you do? Well, don’t get carried away with nitrogen supply. Uh, malt barley is not going to be low protein. If you grow it on fields that you applied 20 tons of manure on last year, you can manage it a little bit topographically, uh, if you are in an area that has soil salinity.
And that’s the case for about half of Western Canada. You are not going to have malt barley on those saline areas because there’s going to be a lot of nitrogen there and the, and the seed’s gonna be thin. So if you have saline areas in the field, maybe harvest those areas separately from the rest of the, the field and don’t get carried away with nitrogen rates, uh, from fertilizer.
Um, again, weather is king. Managing it through varieties and some other aspects can, uh, can, uh, get us to the right goal. So it is a bit of a balance still with nitrogen rates, but we also don’t want to sacrifice yields. So in the end, you just have to look at that, that you have to look at what your potential yield is.
And if for a given field, it’s 90 bushels of. Barley per acre, then don’t fertilize it to expect 120 bushel crop of barley per acre, because all that’s gonna do is drive higher protein. Small steps you can take. Once again, the weather’s gonna tell you what the real protein’s gonna be in the end. Okay.
Mike Howell: Well, great information.
We really appreciate it. Uh, listeners, thank you for tuning in this week. Uh, and as always, if you have questions about anything we’ve talked about today, you can always visit our website. That’s Nutrien-ekonomics.com. Until next time, this has been Mike Howell with the dirt. Hey guys. If you like what you heard today, do us a favor and share this podcast with someone else.
It could be your neighbor, your friend, your crop advisor, or whoever you think would enjoy it. Your support helps ensure future episodes, so please like, subscribe, share, and rate the show wherever you’re listening from.
