N.S. farm family boasts state-of-the-art egg laying operation

by Dan Woolley
A fourth-generation farming family operates what could be the most modern and technically sophisticated egg laying operation in Atlantic Canada – Seaview Poultry Ltd. on the Starrs Point Road just outside of Port Williams in Nova Scotia’s Kings County.

The Cox family partnership includes Tim Cox, his brother Warren, and their parents Chris and Susan.

In 2000, the Cox family exited the hog industry, not seeing any future in it, and entered into broiler production.

Two years later, the family bought the first egg quota Maple Leaf Foods sold off in 2002, plus the Maple Leaf poultry barn next to their farm, when the company pulled back from the Annapolis Valley poultry industry.

“I have been managing the layers since we bought the egg quota,” said Tim. “Around 2005, we bought into the Maritime Pride egg grading station in Amherst. My brother Warren is the president of Maritime Pride and chairman of its board of directors.”

On the broiler side of the Seaview Poultry enterprise, Warren and Tim have separate businesses, but the egg operation is jointly owned.

Tim continued, “In 2013, we added about one-third more production when we bought out another egg operator and built our first enriched egg production facility.”

His mother does Seaview’s bookkeeping while his father and brother raise crops on the farm’s 600 acres sown in corn, soybeans, and Winter wheat in rotation to feed Seaview’s poultry flock. Tim’s father also has a 20-head hobby herd of Simmental, Charolais, and Black Angus beef cattle.

NEW REGULATIONS

“In early 2019, we started building our second enriched barn. That was because of the new regulations that came in that would not allow us to house at less than 116.25 square inches per bird,” Tim said.

The enriched cages have perches for the hens and there’s a curtained area in their housing where they can lay their eggs.

When the Cox family built their two enriched layer barns, they installed computer-controlled systems for internal environmental conditions and egg production flow management from Poultry Management Systems Inc. of Michigan. Tim remarked, “It is so nice to work in here in the summer when it is 34 degrees outside that people don’t mind coming to work here.”

Besides computer control of the barn temperature, the egg flow from the layers’ housing is regulated to the egg packer, which packs and stacks eggs at the end of the main conveyor belt. Another innovation Tim likes is the “dim-to-red” lighting. “That really helps with the production and calms the birds down,” he said.

He also noted, “We spent a lot of money on ventilation. To get the most out of the flock, you need a consistent temperature in the barn.”

Tim also acknowledged the necessity in recent years to change their management procedures and protocols. “There are a lot more animal welfare audits and paperwork required,” he said. “The marketplace demands it.”

He added that during the past 10 years, Seaview has had “pretty good organic growth” due to quota expansion responding to market demand.

Currently, Seaview has 56,000 layers producing 53,000 eggs daily. His broiler business, which he owns jointly with his wife Lissa, produces 850,000 kilograms of chicken annually.

ENRICHED HOUSING

Seaview’s second enriched cage housing system went into production in April 2020.

The layers in the new enriched barn are housed in four 225-foot-long cage rows, five feet wide and six tiers high. There are horizontal conveyor belts along the side of each cage row that carry away eggs as they are laid, depositing them into two vertical elevator belts which then place the eggs onto another conveyor belt that sends them to the Moba egg packer and tray stacker.

Seaview’s state-of-the art layer housing has attracted a lot of attention from those interested in the poultry industry. Tim regularly hosts group tours of his new egg processing production facility. He has had accountants, bankers, and politicians on the premises.

“All of them are really shocked at how well the conditions are in the barn,” he said.

Tim has also hosted groups of his fellow poultry producers. He believes everybody in the egg laying industry will have to eventually transition to enriched layer housing. “Farmers are blown away by all the automation in here,” he said.

Every 13 months, he changes out his layer flock. Jeff and Kelly Clarke, fellow Annapolis Valley poultry producers, grow the Cox family’s replacement pullets and also mill their feed.

The Cox family operate their Seaview Poultry farm with five employees.

Along with all other Canadian poultry farmers, they face increased foreign competition in the domestic marketplace.

On Nov. 28, the federal government announced $691 million in compensation for Canadian poultry producers for their loss of domestic market share resulting from the CETA and CPTPP trade deals.

According to the federal government, the $691 million will be used “for 10-year programs for Canada’s 4,800 chicken, egg, broiler hatching egg, and turkey farmers” and the program details will be “designed in consultation with sector representatives and launched as soon as possible.”

“At the end of the day, I would much rather house birds and produce eggs for the Canadian consumer,” said Tim. “But when the government feels a need to give up market access to get a trade deal, it is important that the loss is compensated.”

Cover crop research on Island farm yields positive results

Dr. Judith Nyiraneza, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in P.E.I., at work in the field. (AAFC photos)

by Emily Leeson
“We have to do anything we can to minimize the time soil is left bare without anything growing,” says Dr. Judith Nyiraneza, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) based in Charlottetown.

Nyiraneza and Oyster Cove Farms of Hamilton, P.E.I., recently completed a two-year study that tested the performance of cover crops planted following the potato harvest. 

Nyiraneza said that a variety of cover crop options can help producers better manage soil health and reduce the environmental impacts of soil erosion.

When soil erodes, the valuable topsoil is lost. As it is blown away by winds or washed away by rainfall, the quality of the soil decreases – ultimately resulting in lower yields and potentially higher costs for producers trying to remedy their soil’s decreasing productivity. Erosion also increases the potential for groundwater pollution as agricultural chemicals from the soil are swept into water sources. 

Nyiraneza said several factors account for the high risk of erosion on P.E.I. While the humid climate and sandy soil set the stage, traditional farming practices also play a role. With more than 80,000 acres of potatoes grown on the Island each year, the aggressive production takes its toll on the land. Growers gearing up for a short window of spring planting tend to till in the fall, leaving the land exposed to the snowmelt of early spring. Even after the potato planting, fields are relatively bare for several more weeks until the crop fully develops. Oscillating periods of drought and intense rainfall worsen the erosion problem. 

The two-year study tested the performance of Winter rye, Winter wheat, and Spring barley planted after the potato harvest. 

Cover crops work in many capacities. They increase organic matter and available nitrogen in the soil, promote beneficial insects, deter weed growth, bring up deep-rooted minerals, and increase the soil’s moisture-holding capacity. Cover crop plant growth also protects against erosion from wind and water – holding the soil in place and protecting it against the impact of heavy rainfall and run-off. 

“Soil particles are detached by rain impact, and if there is a slope they are transported to other places,” said Nyiraneza. 

During the study, the researchers used splash pans in cover crop fields to measure the soil movement caused by raindrops and the soil’s vulnerability to erosion. They measured the amount of carbon and nitrogen in the soil and measured the nitrates in the soil at different times throughout the fall, spring, and summer.

“We also did analysis on the yield quality of Winter wheat and Winter rye the following summer,” said Nyiraneza. 

A splash pan used to measure soil movement caused by raindrops and the soil’s vulnerability to erosion.

All three cover crops – Winter rye, Winter wheat, and Spring barley – showed promise. “They decreased the risk of soil erosion and reduced the amount of carbon and nitrogen that would be lost in soil compared with no winter cover control,” said Nyiraneza.

Winter rye and Winter wheat were also able to recover quickly in the early spring, providing additional protection when the snow is melting and the risk of erosion is high. They also offer the potential of a second cash crop. The yields of Winter wheat ranged between 4.5 to 7.6 tons per hectare and Winter rye ranged from 3.2 to 5.1 tons per hectare.

With the initial two-year study complete, Nyiraneza is continuing the research as part of the Living Lab-Atlantic initiative and in partnership with fellow AAFC scientists Dr. Aaron Mills and Dr. Andrew McKenzie-Gopsill, and Ryan Barrett, research and agronomy specialist with the P.E.I. Potato Board. 

“We are testing all kinds of strategies to keep the ground covered,” she said.

Instead of looking exclusively at seeding winter cover crops after the potato harvest, they are investigating the potential of seeding the field ahead of the harvest. 

“After harvest, there is a short window,” said Nyiraneza. “However, there are growers who plant cover crops just a few days ahead of the potato digging, so that while they are digging, they cover the seed with soil and then it does germinate.”

“Today we are testing multiple species,” she said. “When you seed ahead of potatoes, you have more potential. You can use oats, radish, oats mixed with radish, or mustard mixed with radish. There are more possibilities when you seed a little bit earlier – late August or early September.”

Growing fresh produce year-round in New Brunswick

by George Fullerton
Calvin Weber and his family in Roachville, N.B., have a goal to provide their customers with fresh-harvested tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers almost year-round. They do this using a 140-by-40-foot greenhouse and selling their produce directly from a storefront attached to the greenhouse.

The greenhouse has been in production for three years.

The Evergrow’in Produce operation on the outskirts of Sussex involves the entire Weber family, including Calvin’s wife Betty and their children Carolyn, Jason, Twila, Delores, Loretta, and Curvin. It’s not unusual to see the youngest children in the greenhouse or at farmers’ markets.

Calvin explained that his family’s move to New Brunswick from southern Ontario was prompted by their Mennonite community outgrowing their church and school there. Their community began looking for land and business opportunities across Canada and the result pointed to the Sussex area.

Additionally, Calvin investigated historic weather data in Sussex that suggested there was a good opportunity for a successful greenhouse and retail operation there. Growing up, Calvin worked in his family’s welding shop and half-acre greenhouse operation.

While the greenhouse produces pretty much year-round, the Webers also market garden about two acres of crops in their backyard through the regular growing season.

DEDICATED CLIENTELE

Because the greenhouse offers fresh Cherry tomatoes, normal size tomatoes, English cucumbers, and peppers, Evergrow’in Produce has developed a dedicated local clientele. The Webers extend their marketing by attending farmers’ markets in Sussex and Kingston through the summer and autumn.

“The farmers’ markets are an important opportunity to introduce our family and our produce to a large number of people,” said Calvin, adding that once people learn about the freshness and quality of their produce, they become regular customers, many of them showing up at their store.

“We have a lot of regular customers from the local area and we also have regular customers who travel from Fredericton, Moncton, and Saint John to buy our products,” he said. “We even have a customer from Miramichi who comes fairly regularly. They really appreciate the fresh high-quality food we produce.”

The Weber storefront is not exclusive to that family’s operation. Several families who belong to their Mennonite church family also sell their produce through the Weber store.

For instance, the Evergrow’in Produce store sells a variety of lettuces grown by Calvin’s brother Ethan at his greenhouse in nearby Plumweseep. Additional products provided by church families include fresh eggs, breads and other baked goods, jams, jellies, chicken, and pork products.

The Webers periodically produce and circulate a newsletter that highlights produce available at their store.

Calvin explained that the greenhouse frame was fabricated from parts of four different greenhouses he recovered from junkpiles in southern Ontario.

“It was a tricky project to get the pieces to fit together, but we made it work,” he said.

BURNING PELLETS

Initially, the heating system was a round boiler, which Calvin fabricated himself. The boiler was designed to consume 144 cords of fuelwood through the heating season. The roundwood boiler was supplemented by two wood pellet boilers.

Calvin explained that the roundwood boiler operation proved impractical because it required stoking every three hours in cold weather. This past year, the roundwood boiler was replaced with two additional pellet-burning boilers, and the old boiler is used as an expansion chamber for hot water. Each pellet boiler has a 400-pound hopper that feeds pellets into the burn chamber.

“We went to pellets for the convenience of automatic feeding,” said Calvin. “We source the pellets locally from Wards Creek Industries. They are clean-burning and generate very little ash. We are very happy with the performance of the pellet boilers.”

The hot water from the boilers circulates in a series of two-inch-diameter steel pipes, two of which extend the entire length of the greenhouse between each row of pants. The pipes double as tracks for carts and elevated platforms for tending and harvesting the crops.

From the boilers, water at 190 degrees Fahrenheit enters the piping network through to individual manifolds.

GROWING TECHNIQUES

Fourteen rows of plants grow in a soil medium and are supplied with additional nutrients mixed in the drip irrigation water.

Calvin explained that he likes to see about four inches of growth each week on the tomato plants. That growth results in a very long tomato vine during the year the plants produce. To accommodate the growth, the vines are laid down along the trough that contains the roots, and the vine is pruned of leaves, leaving only the last 10 feet or so suspended from above to produce the fruit.

To tend the plants and fruit, Calvin fabricated a cart out of construction staging and equipped it with a 12-volt motor, which is activated with a foot pedal.

Pollination is provided by bumblebees acquired from southern Ontario. Calvin explained that honeybees follow their natural instinct to fly out of the greenhouse’s ventilators to forage, but in winter that results in instant death. Bumblebees, on the other hand, are happy to live in the greenhouse.

The Webers hold a U-pick event for customers on Christmas Eve, after which they remove the tomato vines. On Boxing Day, they plant the new crop of tomato plants, which are close to two feet tall. Calvin said their goal is to have tomatoes to pick by early February. 

The Webers plan to optimize efficiency and triple their current production. Calvin said the long-term dream is to eventually build an additional greenhouse and a larger store to sell more products produced locally.

New NSFA president introduces himself and recaps virtual event

by Tim Marsh
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tim Marsh, and I am the newly elected president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture (NSFA).

I’m a dairy farmer along the dike land in Poplar Grove, Hants County. I milk 90 Holsteins, have a herd of around 200 head, and farm 750 acres, which includes almost 300 acres of dike land.

Before taking over the family farm in 2000, I graduated from Acadia University and was a geologist for a gypsum mining company. My passion for geology and soils is evident. I’ve served as chair of the Soil and Crop Improvement Association of Nova Scotia and was also a Nova Scotia representative on the Soil Conservation Council of Canada.

I was also one of the original directors on the Dairy Farmers of Nova Scotia board and have served as chair of the Hants County Federation of Agriculture.

I enjoy spending time with family. My wife Shelley and I often take the grandkids to search for agate in the Bay of Fundy. Shelley and I have three sons: Tyler is now driving trucks, Peter is at home on the farm, and Craig farms on P.E.I.

Along with my move into the NSFA president’s role, we have a new slate of officers on the NSFA council. Victor Oulton is past-president, Allan Melvin is the first vice-president, Lauren Park is the second vice-president, and Chris de Waal is now corporate secretary and treasurer. In addition to the new slate of officers, I’m excited to welcome Alicia King and Jocelyn Durston to the NSFA council table and would like to congratulate Lauren Park and Joe Piotti on their re-election to the council.

MEETING RECAP

We celebrated our 125th year as an organization with a five-day virtual event, Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, with the annual general meeting held on Dec. 3. It was certainly different from past AGMs.

I thank everyone who participated in our webinars and business meetings throughout the week. I also thank you all for your patience and understanding as we navigated our first virtual AGM.

On Nov. 30, we welcomed Clinton Monchuk, farmer and executive director of Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan. He gave a great presentation on public trust and the challenges we face as an industry.

On Dec. 1, we formally introduced the Agri-Environmental Program (AEP), a three-way partnership between the NSFA’s Environmental Farm Plan Program, the Nova Scotia agriculture department, and Perennia. We also presented a soil webinar, which was the first in an upcoming series of AEP webinars.

On Dec. 2, the Nova Scotia Young Farmers (NSYF) association held its annual meeting at which directors Megan McCully, Alana Bent, Jillian Bent, and Mandy Vosman were re-elected. After its AGM, the NSYF and our AgSector Program tackled the topic of farm transition. We welcomed farmers from three operations and a Farm Credit Canada transition specialist to discuss their transition stories and answer some questions from the audience.

During the AGM on Dec. 3, we welcomed Kings-Hants Liberal MP Kody Blois, Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston, Progressive Conservative agriculture critic John Lohr, and NDP agriculture critic Lisa Roberts. We appreciate them all taking the time to bring greetings to our members and allow for a quick Q&A session ahead of Agriculture Minister Keith Colwell.

We thank Minister Colwell for the Q&A session with our members. We appreciated hearing from him and our members.

During this meeting, we also passed our four standing policies for 2021, passed resolutions, and held the NSFA council election.

On Dec. 4, Farm Safety Nova Scotia (FSNS) launched its mental health campaign titled “We Talk. We Grow.” We are thrilled with the warm reception the campaign has received so far and look forward to bringing further mental health supports to Nova Scotia’s farming community.

Following the mental health campaign launch, FSNS welcomed Dr. Bill Howatt of Howatt HR Consulting, who discussed “mental fitness.”

The FSNS annual meeting rounded out the day with the election of two new board members, Janice Lutz and Foster Murphy.

I hope you all enjoyed our virtual event. Hopefully, I’ll see you in person for our 126th AGM!

(Tim Marsh is president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture.)