(man) As we know,
we're not going to be
growing more farmland
so we're going to have to
produce way more products
from the existing farmland
and find ways
to increase our productivity
to feed a hungry world,
which is what's coming at us.
[drums, guitar, & melodica
play in bright rhythm]
[woman voices the credits]
And the members of...
(male narrator)
Lord Selkirk undertook
a great risk
in settling the Highland clans
in the Red River Area.
Through determination
and agricultural practice
the settlers were able
to succeed
beyond their
wildest expectations.
But as the times have changed
so have the challenges,
now farmers are faced with many
obstacles they must overcome
to continue feeding the world.
(Greg Selinger) For over 200
years, agriculture has been
fundamental to the development
of settlement in Manitoba.
On the arrival of the Selkirk
settlers, they established the
first agricultural settlement
in Manitoba by Europeans.
And since those days, it has
flourished in this province.
It remains an important part
of our history,
and an important
dimension of our future
development as a province.
People have been migrating off
the farms
and into cities and towns
and the world just surpassed
that threshold where
the majority of the world's
population now lives in cities.
There's fewer
and fewer people on the farm,
feeding more and more people
in the city,
and I think that that trend
is likely to continue.
(Gary MacDonald)
I think the big driver
for agriculture now
is where we just
surpassed 7 billion people
on this planet,
and we're moving to 9 billion.
The 9 they anticipate
will happen about 2050.
Some of the experts are
certainly anticipating
that the worldwide
supply-demand curve
will continue to be strong
for the foreseeable future.
(narrator)
The high price of land
will be a challenge
to the next generation
of farmers.
If I was starting a farm today,
typically I would be starting
probably with a relative.
In a sense you're trading the
lack of money for sweat equity.
And that's how I started
with my dad.
I didn't have a penny,
it was my dad's money
that we stuck into this farm.
The price of land has increased
very, very quickly.
With the bit of increase in
grain price, we often see that.
(Gary MacDonald)
There is some young people
who
that they can acquire
are finding cropland
and gradually work their way
and build their way into it,
but it's a growing challenge
for that to happen.
As we see more
and more young people
migrating to the cities
for jobs, there's more demand
on the parents
and on the rest of the family
to produce more crop per acre
than what was ever done before
in order to be profitable
and to exist.
The future is unlimited.
These businesses have a high
demand for skilled people,
and for individuals that have
a genuine regard,
enthusiasm
for production agriculture,
that feel comfortable
in that environment,
and increasingly sophisticated
customers.
But it's a global business.
On the same hand, it's all
about production agriculture
and human food consumption
on a global basis.
(narrator)
In just over a decade
agricultural engineers
have discovered
new and innovative methods
of farming.
With these advances
in technology,
farmers have seen the size of
their equipment and farms
grow beyond
what was believed possible.
(Mitch Rezansoff)
As the equipment now
has computer technology
and wireless telecommunication,
satellite technology, we have
started to provide services
where we are now monitoring
the equipment remotely.
In some instances, we know
when a piece of equipment
is going to fail before
the farm manager knows it.
The guys I know locally,
friends of mine
who are tremendous farmers here
in this area of Manitoba,
they're not steering that
machine, they're on their iPads
and their cell phones, checking
what's going on in the world
relative to their crops
and their applications.
The technology is phenomenal
and how they apply it
to their farm operation.
We're starting to really
get into technology
since we've been expanding.
We're finding new things,
especially with the new
mobile phones.
It's really helping us for
planning, for record-keeping
and things like that
on our farm,
that's been something
that's really been a plus.
I just keep
a record of everything
that's going on in the phone.
So we've got a program here
called Farm At Hand.
(Dr. Don Flaten) One of the
technologies that has developed
along with large machinery size
is precision agriculture,
which gives farmers the chance
to meter out
different rates of fertilizer in
different portions of the field,
to look at different rates
of pesticide applied
in different areas of the field,
even to gauge crop growth.
Some of this precision
agriculture technology
has enabled large-scale farming
to still farm
on a really site-specific basis.
A farmer has to keep record of
everything that we're
doing on the farm from what
we're putting on the field
as far as inputs, taking
everything off, yields,
what bins we're keeping them in,
moisture, everything.
We started to look at combine
work activity last year
and pulling that data, how
the efficiencies of operators
changed or within the same field
were different and why.
GPS is one of the most major
breakthroughs in agriculture.
Most of it we're using
on our farm is for guidance.
And if we have a tractor
without GPS,
I don't know whether I have
an operator for that.
If you measure everything, you
now have very good knowledge,
and so what you need to do to
ensure that I'm maximizing
every single piece of equipment
across the farm.
This is showing our moisture
here, our average moisture,
instant bushels per acre, so
we're coming up to about 70.
(Mitch Rezansoff) At some point
in time,
we will get to the point
where you will program
that piece of equipment
to do a task in the field
and it will get the job done
and operate itself.
If we start to move towards more
autonomous equipment, where
you don't need an operator
in that piece of equipment,
could you get away
with smaller equipment,
but have more of it
in the field?
I could see that coming
in the future.
(narrator)
Climatologists across the world
have discovered
that farmers are faced with
an environmental problem
that could lead to serious
issues to the future of farming.
Weather is what we get over
a short period of time.
Climate is what you expect
to happen
over longer periods of time.
Climate change therefore,
indicates
that what you expect
is changing.
Climate change is something that
is going to be affecting us
more and more, and I know
in my short lifetime,
I've seen a lot of change
in our seasons
and our weather conditions.
If that continues, we don't know
if it's going to be
a continual high water problem,
which would mean
we have flood problems
on a permanent basis,
or if it will be
a water scarcity problem.
(Dr. Danny Blair)
The risk of drought is
my number 1 concern
for the prairies.
When we look at what the climate
models are saying
about the coming decades,
our number 1 worry is water,
not too much water, but not
enough water.
Drought and wet periods,
or floods if you will,
are a normal part of our climate
and they always will be,
but the worrisome thing for me
is the climate model suggests
that not only will
the summers get warmer,
if that comes along with drier
summers, that tells me drought.
It's almost inevitable,
that no matter where we travel
in the developing world,
when we talk to farmers,
they will say something
to the effect that, you know,
for hundreds and hundreds
of years for my fathers,
and grandfathers
and great-grandfathers,
they always knew that the rains
came at a certain date
and now they say the rains don't
come then anymore.
Water scarcity is our
number 1 limiting resource
and getting twice the crop
per drop
is what they're saying you need
to do around the world
to feed the world going
into the future.
What we're going to be doing is
using research and technology
to help improve productivity
and profitability for farmers.
What I'll be starting is
doing surveying
and installing tile drainage.
From that we're hoping
to hold water
that's coming off the field,
test to see what's happening
with phosphorous.
We're hoping to multiply it
and then reimburse that water
that has phosphorous from runoff
and nitrates back onto our field
through irrigation.
But properly installed tile
is going to help
in a dry or a wet year?
We're not removing moisture
that's actually going to
dry the fields out too much,
we're only taking off water
that's going to actually
hurt crop development.
So having all this water
might be a tremendous asset.
20% of all the fresh water
in North America
flows through Manitoba,
on average, sometimes more.
So this is a real
ace in the hole.
If you could capitalize in
storing some of that water
when it's here at
the wrong time, and then
use it through the growing
season, we may be in a position
to really be a dominant player
in world food production.
(Dr. Danny Blair)
The growing season right now
is about a whole month longer
than it was around 1900,
and it's a good change.
The data clearly shows that this
is going to continue,
so that maybe in 40 years or so,
we'll have another month
added to that frost-free season.
(Dr. Danny Blair)
But the agronomists
will tell you
that one of the consequences
of that is that
although you might be allowed to
plant your crops earlier,
that means that the maturation
dates of your crops
are also changing, and those
may not necessarily line up
with the precipitation patterns
that we've come accustomed to.
(narrator)
Researchers have discovered ways
to produce foods
that yield more per acre
even in extreme conditions
through genetic modifications.
(Peter Jones)
It's a double-edged sword
when you talk about
genetically-modified foods.
On one hand, one has
a changing environment,
almost unquestionably now,
either through drought,
but also through temperature
variations, means it's harder
for producers, for farmers, to
have yields consistently.
By modifying the genetics
around a plant,
one came make them more robust,
more hardy,
but of course, there are other
drawbacks in that process
and one has to be very careful.
When we start to look
at the types of risks
that are associated
with this technology,
they often fall into two camps.
There's a science-based risk,
in-the-field risk,
but there's also
a social, cultural,
and economic risk
that isn't even talked about
when we talk about risk
assessment of this technology.
Do the plants function
the same way
as a regular plant in the field?
And for the most part, they do,
they look the same,
they function the same as the
plant, but the trick with this
is that they're
genetically different.
And we're just starting
to understand
the full complexity
of what genomes can do,
and so when you insert a gene
into a new genetic context,
we don't necessarily understand
the full implications of that.
I think history has shown
that we've had 17 years now
of GM crops being grown fairly
broadly across North America,
and we've not had
any adverse effects.
So this technology is safe,
so if people are concerned
about it that way, I think we've
got a really good track record
and a strong regulatory system
to ensure those products
are safe
before they're released.
The GM crops that we grow have
helped us get higher yields,
they've helped us deal
with some disease,
and they've helped us be able
to plant these crops
and be able to succeed as
a small business.
If we hadn't modified nature and
agriculture 50 to 100 years ago,
we wouldn't even be
on the Prairie,
so everything is modified
in some way.
Genetic modification is just
practical application of science
to agriculture.
We embrace science,
and we embrace innovation
and we embrace biotechnology
in absolutely every aspect
of our life,
why wouldn't we embrace it
in agriculture,
and why wouldn't we give those
same benefits to farmers
and to food production to help
make our food better?
I think this technology
is very interesting.
I think it has huge promise
for the future of society
if it is used properly,
if we take into account that
there's a larger public good
that needs to be offered
if we're going to
crack into the genetic structure
of living organisms.
It can't be for profit.
If we do it because it might
increase food for people,
it might help with health
issues, it might allow us to
transcend some of the ecological
problems that we face.
Those are laudable reasons
to use the technology.
The technology is not good
or bad, it's how it's used.
I'm scared that consumers won't
give farmers the freedom
to be able to access those tools
and those innovations
that can help make
a difference. Right?
So I would argue that farmers
need more choices,
more options,
yes, they need to be regulated,
yes they need to be proven
to be safe,
but we need innovation
in order to progress.
There are people that think
we should go back
to how our grandparents
used to farm.
That's a nice viewpoint,
but it's not going to
feed 9 billion people.
(narrator)
Advances in food science
has proven
to produce more food
on less land.
Researchers are now
discovering ways
to make food more nutritious.
Through scientific studies
of individual diets,
these scientists have discovered
key ingredients
for personal nutrition.
I think we all know that there
is going to be a food shortage,
that we're gonna have to really
be concerned in the future
and that we have to start
considering this food to be
nutritional, to be nutrient
dense, that we have to think
about how
this is going to affect people
on a worldwide level.
We have very significant
investments
in the kinds of foods that
people want to eat, there's
a greater shift now towards
healthier foods, and we have
one of the best research
consortiums in the world.
(Peter Jones)
Agriculture appears to be moving
towards higher production
and higher health benefits.
We're seeing this from all
commodity groups.
They really want to be looking
at human health benefits.
Nutraceuticals
and functional foods
is actually the road to go down,
it is the next evolution,
and taking these ingredients
and putting them into the foods
themselves,
and preventing some of the
diseases and effects
that we're gonna experience
down the road as we age,
we can do a great service
to the consumers,
to healthcare, to governments.
(Dylan McKay) There's lots
of snake oil out there too,
is the biggest problem
with this industry is there's
so many products out there that
claim health benefits and don't
have the hard scientific
evidence to back it up.
There's such a lot of scientific
data now that speaks to how,
depending on how you reach out
in the supermarket,
you can really impact
your body's metabolic state
and therefore, it's risk to
certain degenerative disease.
As a research scientist,
I'm thinking about
consumer all the time,
as the Canadian public,
as worrying about pressure
on our healthcare system,
that all of this science needs
to get to the people
who need to benefit from it.
The benefit to the consumer
of research
in this agriculture continuum
that spans from the farm
to the fork,
we're really getting
a better hold
on how the various ingredients
found in these commodities
can make us healthier
and improve wellness
of Canadians overall.
(narrator)
The Canadian International
Grain Institute
otherwise known as CIGI,
is teaching farmers
what their crops are being
used for across the world.
By promoting this knowledge,
farmers can continue
to provide nations with
the highest quality grains
We take this current knowledge,
this currency of knowledge
that we've got,
and it's only useful if you
give it to people. Eh?
Today we're doing
our program here
with 25 pretty senior farmers
from all across Western Canada,
helping them understand
how their grain that they're
producing is used
by their customers
around the world.
So this is our pasta
and extrusion plant
and our main focus here
is durum wheat.
(Earl Geddes) Part of extending
that global market knowledge
that we've got, that's
the big role that CIGI's got,
making sure that our customers,
or potential customers for
Canadian field crops
understand we're growing some
of the very best,
safest, healthiest food
in the world.
These provincial food
development centers are critical
to moving innovation forward
into the marketplace.
(narrator)
As the world's population
continues to grow,
distribution of food
will become critical.
I don't want to be the one,
I don't think anybody wants
to be the one
who decides who gets to eat
and who doesn't get to eat.
It's a very, very hard concept
for North Americans
to understand because
we've never been hungry.
It's not always the case
for other people.
Foodgrains Bank
got started in the mid '70s.
It started because there were
famines and food needs
in Asia and Africa,
but here in North America,
particularly in Canada,
there was food surplus.
We need to think
really seriously
not just about what we have
and what we want, but what is
best for people who don't have
the same access and the same
luxuries that we do.
The Canadian government
is one of the most stable
and generous funders
of food aid in the world.
The government has made
a commitment
to make sure that there is
money available every year
for humanitarian assistance,
for food assistance,
to make sure that people around
the world have food to eat.
(Dr. Danny Blair)
We should always be concerned
about feeding the world.
The population is over 7 billion
and continues to rise.
Although there have been major
increases in crop productivity
and expansion around the world,
the specter of climate change,
it's worrisome what it might do
to those benefits,
those gains that we've made in
feeding the world's population.
So we're trying to figure out,
how can you produce more food
on that same amount of land
or less land
in order to meet the demands
of a growing world.
And honestly, we don't suffer
from food shortages here,
but if you look
at the developing world,
which is the fastest-growing
area of biotech crop production,
it is the difference
between life and death
or feeding your family,
or being able
to send your child to school.
We, of course, would like to see
everyone in the world
have enough food to eat, and we
would like for everyone
everywhere in the world
to have access
to all the food they need to
lead healthy and active lives.
(narrator)
Lord Selkirk would be
justifiably proud
of his agricultural experiment
of the Northern Great Plains.
Aided by education
and technology, today's farmers
seem equal to the challenge
of feeding us and the world.
(Morris Deveson)
And they were told, this is
a land of ice and snow,
it's fur country and you can't
farm here, it's not possible.
(Jacquie Aitken)
Land that you could have, and it
could be yours and yours alone,
and it was free
and it was free to you.
If you worked hard, nobody
would take it away from you.
(Lord Selkirk)
Thomas 5th Earl of Selkirk
was an idealist
and a philanthropist, and he
inherited a very large fortune,
and he used that fortune
to charter ships
to Red River Settlement,
which turned out to be
the beginning of Winnipeg.
(Phyllis Fraser)
The hardships were huge,
they had huge challenges,
and without the support
of Chief Peguis and his people,
they would have starved.
(Blair Rutter)
The ownership of land
and the respect for property,
that was something
that was really important
to the Selkirk Settlers,
and why they were so determined
to persevere in the face
of all these hardships.
(Dr. Paul Earl)
What of course,
sparked the settlement
in any kind of numbers,
in any kind of volume,
was the building of the CPR.
Sir John A. Macdonald's
intention was
to tie the country together.
(Laura Rance)
It's been said that
if men were the pioneers,
women were the settlers.
They were the ones
that created a home,
and they were doing this
all the time
while they were caring for
and producing children.
(Curt Vossen)
Winnipeg was the gateway
to Western Canada,
and it was a headquarters
of the agricultural business
in Western Canada,
particularly the grain trade.
(John Heimbecker)
Almost 90% of all
of the grain in Canada
was delivered
to the cooperatives.
Today there are
no more cooperatives.
(Bill Matheson)
In my personal opinion, the
Wheat Board was a perfect tool.
I didn't have to wake up
in the morning and say,
oh, where's the market today?
(Peter Cox)
The idea that the farmer
cannot sell his own property,
I find it abhorrent.
(Mike McAndless)
There's an old saying
in risk management
that if you don't manage
your risks,
they can very well end up
managing you.
(Cam Henry)
The biggest factor that effects
how well my farm produces
is the weather,
and I can't control it.
That's a tough game to be in
if the biggest influencing
factor you can't control.
(Brett Sheffield)
I'm extremely passionate
about farming.
It's something that I wake up
every day thinking about,
it's something that on my off
time I spend time researching,
whether for planting a seed
or watching to make sure
that it's growing
or there to harvest it.
And watch something
that we've done in
the beginning of the year
and see how it turns out
in the output in the end
and we're there along
every step of the way.
(Marg Rempel)
We can't always count
on the financial rewards
to carry us through, so
sometimes we need the passion,
we just need the plain grit
to get us through
some of
the more difficult times.
(Jim Janzen)
If we have a tractor
without GPS,
I don't whether I have
an operator for that.
(Trish Jordan)
There are people
that think we should go back
to how our grandparents
used to farm.
That's a nice viewpoint,
but it's not going to
feed 9 billion people.
(John Longhurst)
Food is sort of the baseline, it
means just having what you need
so that you can pursue
the life that you dream of
or that you hope for
for your children.
[drums & melodica
play in bright rhythm]
[woman voices
the following credits]
And the members of...
To order a copy of the 4-part
series "Built on Agriculture,"
call or visit
our on-line store...
