Crosby Devitt's Nuffield Journey An account of my 2012 Nuffield Scholarship

The second leg of our travel in Brazil took us to Brasilia, the capital city.  We met up with Milton Suzuki, Bayer Field Trial Manager, who organized our itinerary and guided us through rural Brazil.  We are accompanied by Sally Thomson, an Australian who has spent significant time in Brazil and Pablo Manfrim, a Brazilian farmer.  It is great to be travelling with people so knowledgeable about Brazilian agriculture to interpret both language and what we  see.  I am grateful they are taking their time to help us experience the real Brazil.

Brazil is a very large country and we are spending significant time in the bus.  We left Brasilia first thing March 28th and travelled to Wehrmann Farms in Christalina County, in the Goias State.  They grow corn, soybeans, potatoes, carrots, onions, and are the largest garlic producer in Brazil.  They also run their own potato, garlic, corn and soybean breeding programs.  It was amazing to learn that they grow vegetables year round and can plant and harvest almost any day of the year.  The climate in this part of Brazil provides flexibility for farmers, especially when they have irrigation in the dry season (May-September).  I saw soybeans at the 3rd trifoliate, pod set, and ready for harvest all on the same farm.  Soybean rust is a major problem in this area, with farmers averaging 2.5 fungicide applications per crop – this would seriously change the economics of the crop if we had that amount of rust pressure in Ontario.  As a result of soybean rust, the government has disallowed soybean production from May to August, as an attempt to break the disease cycle.

On March 29th, we visited a very impressive crop farm.  Adalberto Piassa farms about 15,000 acres of corn and soybeans in a 100% no till system. To help maintain soil structure and control diseases, he plants a grass cover crop that grows under the corn crop.  I was amazed at the lushness of this grass under the corn.  Adalberto explained that he keeps the corn clean for the first 30 days after planting and then lets the grass grow.  He figures he doesn’t lose any corn yield and adds 10% to his soybean yield the following year.  He called it the ‘Santa Fe’ system.

Grain drying is quite cost effective as their main source of fuel is eucalyptus wood.  These extremely fast growing trees are planted and harvested for wood production on the farm and it runs their grain dryer and heats air going into their bin aeration systems.  Judging by their crop coming out of the field, I expect they would only need to dry corn and soybeans by a couple percent.

These eucalyptus trees are 5 years old!  Harvest is underway.  Is this the ultimate biofuel crop?

Wood based grain drying system

CaseIH and John Deere combines working side by side. Soybeans were running 62 bu/ac in this 1200 acre field.

Red coloured soil – naturally low in Phosphorous and Potassium. Gypsum and lime applied to correct pH and P & K fertilizer applied to provide crop nutrients.

A view from the farm yard

Grass crop growing under canopy of corn.

The final country on our Nuffield Global Focus program is Brazil.  On March 25th, we touched down in San Jose de Rio Preto, a city of about 500,000 people in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.  We met up with Pablo Manfrim, a Brazilian farmer who guided us through the country for the week.

I quickly realized that this part of the world is much different than home in Canada.  Within about an hour of driving in the country, I saw several things I’d never personally seen before: mango trees, coffee trees, banana trees, rubber trees, eucalyptus trees, sugarcane, and Nelore cattle.  Right now, farmers are near the end of their summer cropping season and are gearing up for harvest and planting of the ‘winter’ crop.

Brazil is a huge country with a lot of diversity. We spent our first 3 days in the South Central state of Sao Paulo, an area that has traditionally been dominated by beef cattle.  This area of Brazil has undergone a dramatic agricultural transformation in the past 10 years. There has been a massive shift from beef cattle to sugarcane production and we saw plenty of evidence to show us that this shift continues today.  Another big shift has been investment in farming by large companies looking for income and diversification.

We were fortunate to be able to meet with both small family farmers and large corporate farming enterprises.  They farm side by side on similar land, but have vastly different approaches.  The small farmers we met with were primarily dairy and beef farmers, milking 40-70 cows on 60-200 acres.   The two large farms we visited were each cropping 30,000 to 50,000 acres of land, primarily in sugar cane.  One of the farms also had a 35,000 head beef feedlot, based on a corn silage and corn grain diet and were transitioning to more sugar cane.

The small farmers we met were taking part in a Brazilian government supported research and technology transfer project – PROJETO BALDE CHEIO, aimed at increasing productivity of small farmers.  This program is targeted toward dairy farmers with less than 250 acres, and includes veterinary support, agronomy and irrigation consultation as well as networking opportunities.  Farmers in this project are growing a fast growing grass called Mombaça, which is mob grazed by their dairy cattle. It was really interesting to learn about their farming systems and see that they are able to support their families in an efficient and productive smaller scale enterprise.

The large farms we met were diversified and achieve their goals through expansion and spreading infrastructure costs across many acres.  While we were at one farm, they had crews harvesting corn silage, combining soybeans, cutting sugarcane, planting corn and planting sugar cane.  The second farm we visited focussed primarily on sugar cane.  They own several sugar and ethanol plants and own and contract thousands of acres of sugar cane.  It was great to see cane harvest in progress and check out the harvesting equipment.

It will be interesting to see how these farmers fare in the future.  The contrast between small and large is stark, and I wonder if they will be able to happily coexist. Small farmers are generally constrained by the land they own and focussed on maximizing productivity.  Large farmers have access to cash and can expand, but return on investment must be sufficient to keep their owners interested.

Our Nuffield Global Focus program took us to the Yaqui Valley in the Sonora State of Mexico from March 19 to 23rd. The Yaqui Valley is home to one of the most important agricultural research stations on the globe – CIMMYT (The International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center).  CIMMYT is where the Green Revolution started under the leadership of the late Dr. Norman Borlaug.  It was here that new wheat varieties were developed that helped Mexico, Pakistan and India become self sufficient in wheat production by the mid 1960s and is said to have saved a billion people from starvation.

Today, CIMMYT runs an international wheat and corn breeding program and shares their genetics freely to any interested breeders from around the world.  They have 450 acres of plots at the Yaqui Valley station and coordinate plots and research at many other stations around the world.

Dr. Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his accomplishments.  I had the honour of shaking his hand in 2005 at the International Wheat Conference in Argentina where he was the keynote speaker.  His speech focussed on the need for farmers to develop and adopt new technology.  The topic of his speech has stayed with me and it is inspiring to see his work carried on today with such enthusiasm.  International collaboration was evident, as we met scientists from Australia, USA, South Africa, Mexico, and France during our short time there.

Our hosts shared some quotes by Dr. Normal E. Borlaug that I found interesting, and still relevant:

“Is Very important that Farmers get Involved To Protect Research From the Vagaries of Political Pressure”

"To produce, you must leave office, go into the field, get your hands dirty and sweat, is the language that they understand the soil and plants"

In the field, Dr. Ravi Singh showed us some of the historic wheat varieties developed at CIMMYT.  This plot is the variety Sonalika, which was grown on more than 12 million hectares in South Asia.  CIMMYT is home to a gene bank of over 120,000 lines of wheat.  These historic lines are important as we develop new technologies to search the genome and select traits that are desirable in today’s growing conditions.

While in Mexico, we also met with the primary farm and research organizations in the state of Sonora – AOASS and PIEAES (The Agricultural Research and Experimentation Board of the State of Sonora). These groups are very forward thinking and their goals are aimed at maximizing returns for Mexican farmers in the state of Sonora.  We toured one of their grain elevators, and were able to view the city of Obregon from the top of their silos.

Our 6 days in California flew by and now I am in the air on the way to Obregon, Mexico.  Almost every farmer we met mentioned that California has only had 30% of normal precipitation this winter.  Winter rain is important to recharge the underground aquifers and above ground irrigation water reservoir systems throughout the state.  Winter rain is stored becomes summer irrigation water.  It was mentioned they were looking for a ‘March Miracle’ in the form of rain.  Well, they got it!  We had a good two to three inches of rain while we were there, a significant amount for this area.  The precipitation also provided us with a bonus on Sunday – skiing at Yosemite National Park!

I made a google map of our travel route in California.  If you are interested, you can find it here: http://g.co/maps/9btnz

Sunday, March 18th was  my 35th day away from home and the first day since February 13th I didn’t have a flight or meetings.  It turned out to be quite an adventure.  We took off at 7am from our hotel in Fresno, California and headed north toward the Sierra mountain range, about 50 miles away. The drive started out great.  It didn’t take long to leave the flat fertile ground behind and get into rough pasture ground with exposed rock as we travelled toward the mountains.  Soon the snow started!  At the small town of Coarsegold, we were stopped at a police roadblock.  No one was allowed to continue without 4 wheel drive or tire chains – the first time I’d seen that!  We managed to buy some chains for the van at a corner store and carried on.  The snow got heavier and heavier and we continued our incline.  Finally, we reached the Yosemite Valley, deep into park, with a good foot of fresh snow.  The views were spectacular!

After lots of photos and a quick tour around the valley floor, we headed to our ski destination – Badger Pass.  We weren’t well equipped with gear, but managed to rent skis and scare up some gloves.  The snow continued and we skied fresh powder all afternoon.  A ski hill staffer said it was the best ski day of the year.  They had 3 feet of snow in 36 hours at the hill – amazing considering that less than 50 miles away they never get snow and barely a frost.  The drive back down the mountain was rough.  The roads were plowed, but slick with ice.  We made it without any major issues – I didn’t expect my worst winter driving experience of the year to be in California!

Rhys showing off!

A common scene – no serious injuries!

Spectacular view from the lift.

Coyote sighting!

Monster Snowblower!

Installing tire chains

Here in California, there are a number of very large farming operations.  Today, we met with Harris Woolf California Almonds and Harris Ranch Beef Company.  We learned more about the benefits of scale and vertical integration in California agriculture.  Once again, we learned that access to irrigation water is key to farming in California.

Almonds are a huge industry in California, accounting for essentially all of the US production and about 80% of the global supply – 2 Billion pounds!  Their production is increasing through the planting of new trees and increasing production from existing orchards.  It takes 3-4 years from planting to first harvest, and once established, trees will produce for 24-30 years.  Yield are approximately 2500 lbs per acre and farm price is about $2.00 per pound, grossing around $5000 per acre. There is a lot of optimism in the industry for solid global demand and steady prices. 

The highlight of my day was a visit to the Harris Ranch Beef feedlot.  This family owned company has close to 100,000 cattle on feed in one feedlot.  Their beef is marketed under their own brand and is streamed to many different markets.  It takes a lot of coordination to run a feedlot of this scale.  They feed about 1400 tonnes of feed per day, have 40 cattle trailers on the road at all times, and process 900 head per day. I was really impressed by the quality of cattle and how healthy they looked. They are working with a number of cow calf ranchers to select genetics to match up to their markets.  I think this will be a key advantage to their company as it will drive out inefficiency and allow both the cow calf operator and the feedlot operator to capture the benefits of better genetics.

I’ve had this Led Zeppelin song stuck in my head for 2 days, and I’ve got an ‘aching in my heart’ – for home!  We arrived in Sacramento, California on March 13th after the better part of a week in Western Canada.  Brock Taylor, an agronomist from California specializing in irrigated cropping is our guide and chief source of knowledge for our 5 days in California.  It was raining and 15C in Sacramento upon our arrival – it’s been really dry so local farmers are happy to see this rain.

Our first day included a visit Superior Farms, the largest lamb company in the US.  A unique aspect of this company is that it is employee owned.  All employees earn shares and as a result, the company has a more engaged workforce, lower employee turnover, and higher quality work.  We saw the plant from start to finish, and it is a really efficient, clean outfit.  I used to do beef meat quality research, and it was nice to get back into a processing plant! I’ve included a before and after photo.

I am particularly keen on research to move farming forward, and it was great to meet with researchers at the University of California – Davis to discuss the state of agricultural research in California.  UC Davis is a key agricultural research institution in California, with a 5300 acre campus and 31,000 students across all fields.  Their annual research budget is $678 million.  Despite the large overall budget, agricultural education, research, and extension is under financial pressure.  This is a common theme among Universities in the developed world.  I believe we are in an era where investment in agriculture and food research should be increasing, not decreasing.  I think the general public would agree.

I am learning that irrigation water is key to agriculture around the world.  In California, almost 10 million acres are under irrigation. California is has the biggest agricultural farm gate value of any US state with a value of over $40 billion per year.  Without irrigation water, it would be a fraction of that.  In Ontario, we are sheltered from the global reliance on irrigation water because we are surrounded by the Great Lakes – the largest group of freshwater lakes on earth, with 21% of the world’s fresh surface water.

There is nothing like a drive through the prairies to gain an appreciation of the shear size of Canada. On March 10th, we loaded up our mini van for the 700km trip from Winnipeg, Manitoba  to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan for the second leg of our Canadian Nuffield experience.  It was nice to slow the pace somewhat and experience some real Canadian culture.  We stopped for lunch in Portage le Prairie with Nuffield Scholar Brent Wright and a couple of keen young farmers.   Thanks to Brent for arranging tickets to the Brandon Wheat Kings vs. Saskatoon Blades hockey game – it was great fun explaining the rules to our Aussie friends.  Their typical sports of choice are cricket and Aussie Rules Football, or as they call it, ‘footie’.  After a night in Brandon, we finished the drive Sunday morning.

The second Canadian cultural experience was CURLING!  Thanks to Kelvin and Shelley Meadows, we had a great Sunday afternoon learning to curl.  We had a few crashes and a lot of laughs.

Along our theme of innovation, the next two days were filled with meetings with farmers and agribusinesses involved in Saskatchewan agriculture.  We learned about carbon credit trading, crop insurance, financing agricultural expansion, improving perceptions of farming among the public, impact of trade, farm equipment manufacturing, and value added processing of prairie crops.

It was great to spend some driving time with our group to discuss the experiences we’ve had and our perspectives on what we’ve heard.

Facts about Canadian Agriculture:

• 167 million acres are farmed by 229,373 farms
• The vast majority is owned and operated by independent farmers with an average age of 52.
• Land prices are increasing at a pace higher than any other time in history (7% in the last six months)
• 50% of our agricultural exports go to the US.

After a couple of days in Washington, we boarded Air Canada for the Great White North – Winnipeg, Manitoba!  After almost 4 weeks away from Canada, it was great to be back in familiar territory.  I had been talking up the cold weather in Canada to my Aussie travelling companions and the weather didn’t disappoint.  It wasn’t cold by Canadian standards, but we were able to experience –15C with a solid wind chill.  Much different than the +45C some would be experiencing at home in Australia. After one cold day, it warmed up to a nice +5C.  My wife Carie sent Canadian scarves for everyone, which were much appreciated!

Thanks to Wally Doerksen, Nuffield Scholar and retired farmer from Steinbach, Manitoba, we had several meetings with farmers and organizations that showcased innovation in Manitoba agriculture.  There are major changes occurring that affect the structure of wheat marketing in Western Canada.  It was interesting to meet with a CWB official to learn about their plans for marketing wheat in the future.  The Australians went through a similar process that  deregulated their wheat marketing system a few years ago.  We had some lively discussion among our group. It was refreshing to talk with farmers that have first hand experience moving from a single desk to open marketing of wheat.  We can learn a lot from farmers in other countries about how they have dealt with change and survived marketing turmoil.  Do we do this enough?

While in Manitoba, we had our first real discussion about the beef industry.  Canadian beef farmers are finally seeing decent prices and optimism after almost 10 years of struggles as a result of BSE in Canada disrupting export markets.  I spent close to 10 years working in the beef industry before switching to grains.  Its nice to see the industry getting fair returns what I would consider the best food in the world – nothing beats a Triple A Canadian steak!

Through my travels, I am continually impressed by farmers from around the world. They all seem to possess similar traits – things like quiet optimism, modesty, acceptance, family values, and integrity. No wonder the general public ranks farmers among the most trusted professionals, ranking up with doctors and nurses!  It’s kind of like those stories you hear about twins that were separated at birth.  When they are reunited as adults they share incredible similarities.  In the case of farmers, it can’t be genetics that cause the similarities, so it must be their environment.   Perhaps it’s because farmers around the world face common challenges, such as weather dependency, volatile markets, independent, asset based business and often isolating work.

I heard this comment this week: Farming is like a poker game, once you put the seed in the ground, you are all in.  I can identify.

On March 4th we said goodbye to Europe and headed West to North America. We hit the halfway mark in our Global Focus Program while in Washington, DC.  After a short night’s sleep, we started the morning on March 5th with a meeting at the Canadian Embassy.  It was interesting to have both a Canadian and Australian Trade Councillor in our meeting at the same time to discuss trading partnerships between our countries and the US.  I always knew that the US was Canada’s biggest trading partner, but hadn’t really contemplated the significance of trade to both countries.  Did you know that there are reports for each US state and Canadian province that outlines the Canada-US trade and the most significant products for each area?

While in DC, we learned a lot about the US Farm Bill and proposed changes for the next 5 year program, starting in 2013.  The amount of dollars in the US Farm Bill is staggering, but we learned that about 80% of it is directed toward domestic food aid and nutrition programs.

In Canada, we hear a lot about the US Farm Bill and its impact on Canadian agriculture.  I found it really valuable to see first hand where some of these discussions take place and speak with US government staff that are directly involved with developing the programs and negotiating budgets.  One of our meetings was held in the US Senate Committee on Agriculture room.  This was an impressive room with a balcony overlooking the US Capitol Building. The decisions made in this room have shaped US Agriculture and the impacts of these decisions have had global reach.

We did a fair bit of walking around Washington to get from one meeting to another.  Some of my Aussie friends were fascinated by the squirrels running around the parks.  Apparently they don’t have squirrels in Australia!  Another first for 3 of our travellers was SNOW!!  It happened that we were standing outside the White House gate when the first flakes came down.  This photo was snapped within a minute of these guys seeing their first flakes.

I’ve just arrived in Washington, DC after spending the past four days in London, England at the second leg of the Nuffield Contemporary Scholars Conference.  We spent March 1st at New Zealand House – on the 18th floor with a panoramic view of the city of London.

We had many thought provoking speakers that really highlighted issues facing UK farmers.  For example, there are a number of charitable organizations in England that get involved in agriculture that are not necessarily farmer driven.  A couple examples are the Soil Association http://www.soilassociation.org/ and GM Freeze http://www.gmfreeze.org/.  We heard from these organizations and learned about their goals for agriculture.  Although the views of these groups are often controversial and polarizing, they mostly want the same thing as everyone on the planet – a healthy, affordable food supply grown in a sustainable way.  The differences come in how the words healthy, affordable and sustainable are defined.   As farmers, we often are so caught up in our own business, we forget how those that aren’t farmers view our industry.  We should be ready and willing to talk about how we farm and the benefits that new technology brings to a more sustainable food supply.  I think a lot of issues around genetically modified crops and pesticides come up through the fear of the unknown.

On the evening of March 1st, the New Zealand High Commission hosted a reception for us that the Nuffield patron, HRH Duke of Gloucester attended.  He is the Queen’s first cousin.  I had a chat with him and upon learning I was a farmer from Canada, he was quite interested in the difference between genetically modified and non-genetically modified soybeans.  It appears that this issue is front and centre in the UK, even among royalty!

We had the good fortune on March 3rd to get into the English countryside and visit some farms.  We learned about the practical aspects of their farm subsidy programs.  UK farmers receive significant support from their government, but it comes with expectations.  Most of these expectations are around the preservation of a natural environment for wildlife and people.  For example, their programs include support for hedge restoration, land set aside for wildlife corridors, and winter feeding for birds.

A couple things I gleaned:

• Lots of groups present VIEWS on issues, rather than FACTS.  It is important to understand the difference.
• We’ve all heard of NIMBY (not in my backyard), but have you heard of BANANA’s ? Ban Anything Near Anyone Near Anywhere.

One of the perks of being a Nuffield Scholar is that we become honorary members of the Farmers Club, located in the heart of London.  This members only club offers great dining and lodging in a historic building within walking distance of the British Parliament.  I was able to take full advantage of the privilege by having a breakfast meeting with a UK farm research manager and was able to learn about how their farmers are setting up research partnerships with government to advance their sector.