Globe & Mail Article: From Bushel To Bread: How Canada's Wheat Feeds The World. Jay Schultz, Wheatl

[joedales]

I saw this in Saturday's Globe & Mail and thought others might want to check it out. Have a safe seeding spring season,

Joe Dales


The Globe and Mail plans to spend the next few months following a bushel of hard red spring wheat grown in Alberta until it is turned into bread by a foreign buyer. Here is a little bit of the start of the article.


From Bushel To Bread: How Canada's Wheat Feeds The World.
Globe and Mail
by Eric Atkins

Jay Schultz scoops up a handful of earth and lets it slide off his palm. The soil is dark brown and mixed with a rich mulch of husks, chaff and straw from last year’s harvest.

But the field is wet and still cold from the long winter. A stiff wind is blowing across the wide open landscape of Wheatland County, Alta., and there are flakes of snow in the air.

Planting will have to wait.

Mr. Schultz’s family has been farming this land east of Calgary for generations, growing wheat and canola across 6,000 acres. But this is always an anxious time of year. The short growing season in Western Canada means the planting window is measured in days, not weeks. And everyone on the Schultz farm knows what’s at stake.

“It’s now,” Mr. Schultz’s father, Ray, says as he sips coffee at the family farm house. “We should be seeding today.”




Here is the link to the article on the Globe website.

<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/wheat-kings/article18731866/"target="blank">
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/wheat-kings/article18731866/
</a>

What did you think? It is pretty simple but does provide some information to the uneducated consumer on where their wheat/food comes from.

[hobbyfrmr]

Nice article, positive perspective for a change. Mr.
Schultz is doing awesome. He is very smart and
efficient.

[wd9]

Then why does he have a 2 year rotation?

[blackpowder]

I think keeping constant spin is a good thing.

Obviously the $2.50/bushel cost was bull.
Somebody with a calculator will think wheat farming
is pretty rosy.

[hobbyfrmr]

I agree on the rotation and the cost per bushel.
Bushel yeilds can vary year to year. dollars per
acre is more accurate in my opinion. no matter,
the good part is they are highlghting the
technolgical advances and gained efficiencies of
the industry. At least people in the cities have
some insight on prairie grain farmers.
If the entire grain producing area was full of
organic hobby farmers trapped in the late 70s to
mid eighties it wouldnt make much of a news
story plus the famine would be devastating.
I do think the article is a positive message to the
general public.

[fjlip]

The technology and gained efficiencies along with ONLY a $2.50 cost per bu will make the other 98% just want to pay us less. $400,000 just for a seeder equaling cost of a HOUSE, 200,000 bu at $7 = $1,400,000, they all think farmers are millionaires. If we complain about rail roads or costs, the public will laugh. Makes it sound like the ONLY place to farm is Alberta! Sask is full of LOSERS! Do not agree that the article will help our image at all.

[mcfarms]

They must think they have something
figured out they just bought 1100 acres
at a price even the hutterites right
beside it couldn't even touch.

[farmaholic]

Without knowing anything about them, and
making a general statement..... some things don't
have to make sense if there other sources of
money available. Investors, oil royalties, you name
it...... It can't pay for itself with some of the prices
being paid for land.

[farmgal71]

I thought it was a pretty good article for a paper like the Globe which has to explain everything to the consumer.

Thanks to Jay Schultz for putting himself out there as an example, takes courage.

I think it does show the consumer why they need to support agriculture, we are feeding them and they need why we need to invest in good policies like pushing the railroads to move the grain more effectively.

[agstar77]

The curse of efficient ag feeding more people with less labour and bigger machines, will be its' downfall. You can not farm on today's scale without being a millionaire or borrowing from a corporation. Fewer farmers and farms mean all the feelgood promos will only be that. A way of life is ending and the corporate parade has begun.

[bucket]

agstar

I agree BUT let's discuss one earth
farms, maxcrop, wildhorse group,
assiniboa farmland.

Its not all sunshine and lollipops for
the big boys.

[wmoebis]

Interesting article. Can't wait until
they get into marketing and delivering.
Wonder if the inside story will be
covered?

Just like "The Edge Of Night", Keep you
on the edge of your seat until next
episode.

[pourfarmer]

Curious to see how much detail they go into about
spraying the crop and desiccation.. my bet is they
dont mention it at al

[agstar77]

Agriculture is going through a teething period with the likes of one earth. Need a long term plan highly paid and invested management as well as a motivated workforce with benefits such as pension and profit sharing. More or less family farm without the family. The large capital investment is the major problem.