A newsletter for our friends and associates

May 2000

Contents:

Organic Forever!

We said last year that organic food was hitting mainstream markets. This year is only proving it to be true. Janet & Bruce Duncan arrived from a trip to England and they observed that organic food has a significant presence in the supermarkets. As you will see in this bulletin, growth can presents some challenges and we will explore ways to deal with them.

Happy Organic Crop 2000!

Important Marketing Meeting

I invite you to an important marketing meeting on Wednesday, June 14th, 2000 at 7:30PM, at the South Nation Conservation Office in Berwick. If you missed the production workshops, then you should at least attend this one.

It is the same problem each time. I need 40 tonnes of soybeans, but 20 producers want to sell quickly and get paid. From whom should I buy this week? At the meeting, I will propose a marketing pool to ensure a fair treatment and a steady cash flow for all producers. We will also review the market evolution for all your organic field crops.

Market News

The new demand for organic livestock products is going through the roof. Hence, we are shipping a lot of feed grains and mixed feeds. Small and large dairy farmers in New York and Vermont are converting to organic methods in surprising numbers. We are also shipping large volumes of feed wheat to Israel. That means strong stable prices for feed grains this fall.

The food market is still growing strongly, but the popularity of soybeans among producers is bringing the price down to $550/tonne this year, probably lower in 2001. The developing world is discovering organic agriculture (low input expenses, but US$ premiums for crops). Hence, they are shipping organic soybeans and buckwheat into Europe and Japan at very competitive prices.

$$$ Need Cash? $$$

The Agricultural Commodity Corporation and some of the commodity marketing boards offer interest free loans and crop advance payments. The federal government also launched a Spring Credit Advance Program. Get details from www.agcommcorp.org or 1-519-766-0397.

New Buckwheat Variety

As you know, I supply the conventional buckwheat market. The market now requires the new MANASOBA variety which is much larger than current varieties and reported to yield 10% better. All conventional buckwheat producers must buy new seed since the current varieties will go through the cleaner as dockage! I am now contracting conventional buckwheat at $300/tonne; seed sells for $22 per 50lb bag.

Organic producers may consider this offer as the 1999 organic buckwheat is still in storage. With the Chinese competition, the market for the 2000 buckwheat crop will be unpredictable. To earn a quick predictable revenue, then I offer a contract for the conventional market but with new seed.

New Feed Price List

Last summer, I was predicting a gradual decrease in feed prices. I was wrong! The strong growth in organic animal products is supporting the price of feed grains and corn in particular. In 1999, Eastern Ontario produced almost 500 tonnes of organic corn for food and feed. It was all gone by April and we are now receiving corn from Indiana, USA.

Hence, the feed prices are holding steady. I rounded the bag prices to the nearest dollar, up 5 cents for layer and down 45 cents for chick grower. That saving however is offset by an extra 50 cents per bag for transportation because of the real cost of owning a truck and the recent fuel price increases. Please find enclosed an updated price list of feeds, grains, and livestock supplements.

A Feed Dealer Near You

We continue to recruit an interesting list of retailers that offer our organic livestock feed. They carry the popular feeds and can order anything that we offer including bulk foods.

Try These Feed Supplements

Our list of feed ingredients keeps getting longer. Our mixed feeds derive energy mainly from corn with help from barley and buckwheat. The primary source of protein is roasted soybeans with a contribution from wheat. Oats round out the recipes. Alfalfa provides protein and beta-carotene. An important source of protein is oilseed cake including flax, canola and sunflower.

Homestead Organics is a dealer for BioAg, owned and operated by Murray Bast. We offer their full line of feed supplements, soil amendments and cleaning products. We carry a stock of the popular items and receive special orders on request for everything else.

Kelp provides trace minerals and vitamins in order to improve conception rates, feed utilization, and general health. Animals prefer the mineral salt over the processed salt blocks. Culbac is a probiotoc that maintains a healthy balance of digestive bacteria. We have a full range of mineral premixes for ruminants, hogs, horses, poultry. They contain chelated minerals for improved nutrient availability, kelp, Culbac and vitamins.

Liquid colostrum whey is used to treat milk fever and mastitis, to ease calving and to dry up cows. Diatomaceous earth manages intestinal parasites, fly larva and storage insects. It is also used in combination with sulfur for delousing. Apple cider vinegar helps balance the rumen PH. Organic feed-grade flax oil is a good source of essential fatty acids and energy. We also plan to stock homeopathic references and remedies.

Besides BioAg products, we also have a herbal dewormer for ruminants. We stock vitamin B Complex, vitamin E, selenium, organic soy oil, gypsum, bentonite clay. Equipment cleaning is non-toxic with the help of hydrogen peroxyde and white vinegar.

And These Soil Amendments

Sol-u-bor is applied as a foliar spray to correct a boron deficiency. A soluble seaweed extract serves as a seed soak and a foliar spray to improve the crop's nutritional value, reduce insect damage and prevent fungal diseases. Greensand and soft rock phosphate slowly release essential trace minerals in gardens and fields. You can provide nitrogen with high protein meals: alfalfa, soymeal, flax, canola.

...And we have books too!

In our mission to help people develop organic methods, we have collected a good array of reference books for sale. Canadian Organics Growers has recently published the Organic Livestock Handbook. Their new edition of the Organic Field Crop Handbook is due this summer. Growing Food Organically is a primer on organic gardening. We also have the three books from Joel Salatin: Pastured Poultry, You Can Farm, and Salad Bar Beef. For help in the kitchen, there is the Green Door Cook Book, Real Food for a Change, and Organic Gourmet. Why We Do It! provides a good profile of organic farmers and their decision to farm organically. Get ahead of the weeds by studying your enemy with Weeds and Why They Grow. Diana Beresford-Kroeger of Merrickville On has an excellent book on the organic management of a native home garden with Bioplanning a North Temperate Garden. If you loose too many chickens to predators, then you need May Safely Graze - Protecting Your Livestock. In the future, we will carry more books about homeopathy for livestock, poultry production. And from Homestead Organics, take a look at our new pamphlet on organic poultry production.

Invest in Storage

The market cannot consume and pay for the year's crop at harvest time. It must be stored. A grain producer would need many storage bins for the crop rotation. It would be more economical to rent storage space and invest your capital. Homestead can provide this storage service but your production has been increasing faster than we can build or rent bins. It is possible that we will not have space to store everyone's crop.

We need financing to build infrastructure. We are seeking private loans of any amount with a three year term at 8% simple interest per year. The loan is a non-secured promissory note, payable with interest at the end of the term. Investors obtain priority access to storage space for their crops.

Meet the Homestead Team

Their are lots of faces to remember at Homestead Organics with several people dedicated to serving you. My partner, Isabelle Masson, answers the phone, serves you in the retail store, manages the transaction certificates, keeps the books and writes the checks. My father Murray Manley is busy with his farm and his new truck driving career so you will not see him around as often. Denis Hart and Doug Bryski share the production duties in receiving your grain, seed cleaning, feed manufacturing and delivery.

My son Yannick met many of you on weekday afternoons and on Saturdays, but he is away at university this fall. Nicole Bryski takes over from Yannick after school hours as our building care taker and for customer service on Saturday mornings.

Micheal Larsson has joined us this May as your marketing agent for whole grains. The grain producers will deal with Micheal for grain marketing, seed sales, grain grading and quality assurance. Lastly, you can call me for feed rations, bulk feed orders, scheduling, management and market development. I also work in production during busy days.

Organic Seed for 2001

The organic standards around the world are tightening the rules for seed. Until now, untreated, non-GMO, conventional seed sufficed. Next year, verified organic, either common or pedigreed seed will be strongly suggested. Organic seed will become mandatory by 2003. Homestead Organics is working with the Ecological Farmers Association and a few seed processors to provide organic certified seed for certain crops in 2001 and virtually all of them by 2003. Call us if you wish to produce organic seed.

Summer Farm Tour

The EFAO invites you to a farm tour in Eastern Ontario. Greg and Carola Tibben will show us their 200 dairy goats. Next door, Pieter and Maria Biemond have an interesting greenhouse dairy barn. We will also tour 400 acres and an amazing array of field crops. Bring your lunch and swimsuit for some great fellowship, sharing and swimming.

It runs from 11AM to 3:30PM, on Saturday July 8th. Meet at the Tibben farm, 11639 Waddell Road, Iroquois. Go west from Williamsburg or east from Dixons' Corners. At Dundela, turn south on MacIntosh Road. At the stop on Waddell Road, turn left and it is the second farm on the left.
 
 

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