The Mega Deduction, Parliament predictions, & Canada gets cozy with the EU

Thanks for tuning in to this Friday edition of RealAg Radio! On today’s show, host Lyndsey Smith is joined by Meagan Murdoch of Burson and Kelvin Heppner of RealAgriculture for the RealAg Issues Panel! Also on today’s show, Smith is joined by Jen Dale of ProvenSeed for a spotlight interview. 00:00 - Coming up… 01:19 - RealAg Issues Panel 16:29 - RealAg Issues Panel 30:56 - Jen Dale of Proven Seed 36:40 - RealAg Issues Panel 49:03 - RealAg Issues Panel 54:26 - BONUS Issues Panel Segment Thoughts on something we talked about on the show? Connect with host Lyndsey Smith at lsmith@realagriculture.com, on X/Twitter by using the hashtag #RealAgRadio, or give us a shout on the response line, 1-855-776-6147. Trending U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Sept. 4 directing federal officials to explore options to move ahead with mandatory country-of-origin labeling (MCOOL) on beef products. The order instructs U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins, in consultation with the U.S. Trade Representative, to review the government's existing authorities over the next... Read more » What an incredible week we had. We had the Investment Summit to start the week and we've got being friends with benefits with the EU by the end of the week. It is time for the RealAg Issues panel. I've got Kelvin Heppner and Meghan Murdock are going to join me. We are going to unpack the biggest storeys of the week and it starts right now. This RealAg Radio podcast is brought to you by CropPlan Canola. Meet CP26L2P, CropPlan's earliest maturing LibertyLink canola hybrid with top-end yield potential, exceptional pod integrity, and a strong disease package. CP26L2P New Generation 2P is built to perform across Western Canada. In WinField United Canada farmer field trials, it delivered 102% of trial average yield. Talk to your local independent ag retailer to learn more. It's time for RealAg Radio on Rural Radio, channel 143 on SiriusXM. RealAg Radio and RealAgriculture.com are your home for insight and analysis of the issues that are impacting your farm business. Let's get real and get connected with RealAg Radio. Hello and welcome to RealAg Radio here on Rural Radio Channel 143 SiriusXM. It is time for the Friday Issues panel. I am your host, Lyndsey Smith. This week has felt like 3. And there's a heck of a lot to unpack, so let's get to it. Joining me for the issues panel, I've got Kelvin Heppner of Real Agriculture fame in southern Manitoba. How are you, Kelvin? Doing well here, Lyndsey. The sun is shining today, although it's been, yeah, it's been off and on rainy most of this week again, so not a lot of progress in the field again. We got some— now I know like the crop reports, they all, for the Prairie provinces, they all come out on a different day, they all have kind of a Different end date, but all of them for last week were kind of sad, like the numbers are pretty stark. Yeah, the Saskatchewan and Alberta ones especially. Here in Manitoba, there's pockets where harvest is more advanced, but Saskatchewan yesterday, what was the number? It was, it's less than half of the normal percentage of harvest progress at this time. I'm just trying to find it here, but yeah, it's here, 32% complete as of this week, and the 5-year average is 71% complete as of this week. Just goes to show the struggle of getting this crop off, and of course quality and costs are escalating in terms of what this crop is going to look like. It's a battle out there. It absolutely is. We had Colin Dubozak join us yesterday on the Farm Rapid Fire out of Biggar, Saskatchewan. He said the dryer has been going non-stop since the beginning, so yeah, don't blame him. Also, he introduced me to the Snack Bucket, and we'll talk about that later. Also joining us for the issues panel is Meghan Murdock, Senior VP with Burson, based out of Toronto, Ontario. Meghan, there were some things happening in your city this week. Yeah, the Jays were losing, which was the biggest news of the week. So— oh, were you talking about the Investment Summit? Oh, the film festival. Lyndsey means the film festival. Yeah, there were so— yeah, it was a really big week. Thank you for going to the Jays. Shaun will be so pleased that you did. Yes, but yes, the Investment Summit. What is that the name? Well, what was the name? Yeah, the Canada Investment Summit. Yeah, I mean, it's been a very busy week in Toronto. I'm very glad that it's Friday and that I get to spend the next hour with you fine folks. And, you know, sad that Shawn's not here, but, you know, I think we'll get through it. I think we will. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, let's— I want to stick with the Investment Summit for a minute. This was Prime Minister Carney's— it was announced in April, planned for this, for this time, essentially opening Canada to the world to say, hello, come and invest here. The goal, stated goal anyway, was looking to attract something like $1 trillion. Meghan, on LinkedIn, for those who are there, you had a column looking at sort of, yes, this is great, but what happens next? Now that it's over, there's talk of maybe there'll be another one. What's your at least first impression of how this went? Was it a success? Yeah, it, I think, was a resounding success, certainly in the government's view and from, you know, an external point of view, it looked to have, you know, went as well as they could have hoped. A lot of, you know, positivity in the city around it. You know, he set a big goal for himself, right? $1 trillion, as you said, he wants to attract $1 trillion over the next 5 years. So not necessarily you know, intended to get it all in one day, but he got awfully close. I think it was about $700 billion at last count, roughly, the kind of commitments that were made. Much of that was actually domestic commitments. So we saw a lot of the pension funds, a lot of the banks, a lot of corporations come to the table with significant commitment to invest in Canada. that was largely spurred by some of the tax and regulatory changes that he announced in the lead-up to it. Would there have maybe even been more commitments made if that announcement would have come sooner from government so that international and domestic investors could have thought through that and maybe lined something up for the announcement around the summit? But Yeah, it was a great opportunity, certainly, to showcase Canada to the world. A lot of connections were made. I think that was probably one of the biggest takeaways for many that attended, just re-establishing those connections, deepening partnerships, deepening relationships. And now, of course, everyone starts to think through, okay, what's next? How do we actually get shovels in the ground? What impact will this actually have? You know, what are the tax implications? So yeah, as quickly as it came, I think the tides are changing now to question what's next and what impact this will have on Canada longer term. I'm— and there's so much we'll cover today. One of the things will be this relationship discussion with the EU, which we'll get to. I'm I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it. Monday, Tuesday was the investment summit, and I feel like there was, to your point, Megan, a lot of positivity, a lot of discussion, a lot of like, this is Canada thinking big. There's— we'll talk next about the tax announcement that was made. And then it feels like a bit of an own goal for the Prime Minister to then turn around and say, oh, by the way, airports are up for privatisation and we're now cozying up to the EU more so. And Anyway, we'll get there. But Calvin, on this point of the Productivity Mega Deduction, I've had to cheque the name several times, everybody, because Carney is a very serious guy, but he does have a sense of humour. This feels like somebody naming a new herbicide where it's like, this is the super gold platinum version of a mega deduction. So anyway, it is the Productivity Mega Deduction. It's a super deduction. Kelvin, this potentially has huge implications for agriculture. We have to remember this is a direct response to the One Big Beautiful Bill as well, so there is probably some allusion to that in, in the name of this as well, and it follows the productivity super deduction that was in the budget back in, in the 2025 federal budget. So this expands it, so now 100% immediate expensing on the majority of capital investments on a permanent basis, not just a temporary basis, Buildings are the big excluded capital item, investment item that will not be covered unless they are focused on manufacturing or clean energy tech, then they're still eligible for some of this accelerated measures. But yeah, this is something that farmers have— we've enjoyed this benefit on a temporary basis in the past when the government has allowed us to write off 100% of capital expenses in the first year of use, and it looks like this is going to become a permanent measure. It will require a legislative Progress here in terms of legislation will have to get through Parliament, but traditionally the Canada Revenue Agency enacts or allows accountants and businesses to follow tax changes as they are announced, or they take effect when they're announced, not necessarily when the legislation is ratified. So in essence, this, this should be in effect. We're still sorting through the details as to what's all covered, but farm equipment, trucks, all kinds of machinery, hardware, software, ag tech stuff. Should all be— it looks like it will be covered by this. And like you said, Lyndsey, from a tax competitiveness standpoint, Finance Canada estimates that the marginal effective tax rate on new investment in agriculture will drop from 7.6% down to a negative 6% with this new deduction. So a negative marginal effective tax rate. And overall for the Canadian economy, it's supposed to drop it from 13% to 6.4%. That would be the lowest in the G7 and well below the US rate of 16.9%, which was the benchmark that was set with the One Big Beautiful Bill last year. Yeah. Yeah, it's a big move. Yeah, it's a big move. It's a big move here and should, I think, in many ways potentially have a bigger impact at the farm gate and in our industry than a lot of the other measures government rolls out aimed directly at agriculture. This is sure at the general economy, but it could have a big impact in agriculture as well. So, and thanks for that, Kellan, because, Meghan, as you alluded to, the announcement of this super mega deduction potentially could have changed— There's no super in this one. This is just the mega one. Well, I'm playing fast and loose with the names here, Kellan, but it's like, that could change the game for investors. I mean, that might be the difference between Yes, we're going to do this and maybe we hold off. So, Meaghan, from the perspective of like that investment and the business side, how— I mean, Calvin's outlined how big a deal it could be at the farm level. What about at a company level and an international company and investor level? How attractive is this? Oh, it's very attractive. And it is just the latest or just another reason why Canada is such an attractive place to invest, right? So time and time again, and we heard it again this week, Canada is resoundingly attractive, right? We have strong labour force, we have a predictable government, and I think maybe amongst other things, great natural resources, yada, yada. But what was a big kind of stumbling block or a hurdle is some of our regulation, some of our tax systems. So this was a really significant move, and one particularly by a Liberal government. You could have imagined this from a Conservative government to encourage business investment. This, this was a massive game changer. And so it just really adds to a long list of why Canada is such an attractive investment climate. for foreign investment. And I think for people who hadn't been paying attention closely, this signals, sends the message of a culture change that Canada is open to business to the entire world. Even, and Meghan alluded to, could have imagined a Conservative government maybe doing this. Stephen Harper did say that in his concluding speech. I wish I had thought of hosting an event like this. This is great. This is along those lines. And so I think that we've— this is putting a kind of the exclamation point on the fact that there has been a culture change in Canadian, at least at the high levels of government in Ottawa, and bureaucracy. It's events like this that forces bureaucracy into action to rally around these types of causes. And so I think that that's maybe the most significant thing coming out of this investment summit. Yeah, and the regulatory changes, right, though, one one review, one year, massive, you know, and really to Calvin's point, putting feet to the fire of the bureaucracy to finally kind of make some changes. And I think investors could see that this will be the case in Canada for some time, right? We wouldn't also anticipate even a different future government to reverse these key changes, which is really important because they know that they can come in for the long term. Which is really the kind of investment we're looking for as well. I think there was some concerns that, you know, investment will come in and they will buy current assets, right, and not necessarily grow the economy or build new assets or opportunities here. But I think we've seen certainly more interest in building here, which is great. Yeah, I think 2 key points, Meaghan. You're right, it's permanent and we've got a majority government that is offering stability and all those sorts of things. And so yeah, it really does sort of signal that this is a step change for Canada. We do have to take a break. I want to send a shout out though to Kayhart. We've got some reads to get through. The way a crop is harvested influences the conditions for next year's seeding. The Kayhart Raptor stripper header and Spider disc The drill are designed to support low disturbance farming practises from harvest through seeding. Learn more at kheartindustries.com. All right, we're going to take a quick break here on RealAg Radio and we'll be back with more right after this. Today is part 5 of our Future of Canola series brought to you by Bayer CropScience and Karen Clements, Chief of Staff, North America Breeding. Canola is a real Cinderella storey. It's been an incredible crop for us. I think is highlighted by a recent R&D investment that we've made announcing a $45 million investment in a new canola innovation facility to be built in Winnipeg over the coming years. Really, that sort of investment when you're competing with other crops like corn and soy doesn't happen unless we see a future not only in the crop but also in the growers and in the real estate and the environment. Where do you see some of the innovation gaps for canola when you look at the R&D programmes? We leave a lot of yield in the field, and this kind of notion of we need to target the yield ceiling so that when the plant gets everything that it needs, the right amount of heat, the right amount of rain, the right amount of sun, that ceiling is really high, sort of 70, 80 bushels for canola. But we also need to make sure that we bring the floor along with it so that in the years that we don't get all of those things, it's not an absolute wreck and the yield monitor is only showing single digits. Oh, it feels good to get the last of the crop in the bin. Sure does. And next is soybeans. figuring out our grain marketing plans. Lately, I've been hearing a lot about a CCGA cash advance and how we can use it for cash flow on the farm now so we don't have to rush to sell our crops. This year, we can get up to $500,000 interest-free. Hmm, a CCGA cash advance could be a good idea. I'll give them a call in the morning. Visit ccga.ca for details. Cash advances are made under the Government of Canada's Advance Payments Programme. Welcome back to RealAg Radio here on Rural Radio Channel 143 SiriusXM. Defining your freedom starts by redefining your farm's management. The SenseHub Dairy ecosystem offers a variety of features to empower you with more insights into your operation. It's time to farm with more freedom. Learn how with SenseHub Dairy. I am Lyndsey Smith. I am your host for, well, not just today, but of course the whole week and for weeks to come, you lucky ducks. It is Friday, it is the issues panel. I've got Meghan Murdock with Burson and Kelvin Heppner with Real Agriculture joining me. Meghan, we did mention in the first segment that there was an announcement about airports. You are correct, you corrected me in the break, we have not privatised our airports, but Carney did announce that there would be more access. to Canadian airports for companies. What are your thoughts? Do you think this is a good thing? Do you think it's just going to drive up costs? What do you think? Yeah, and I mean, my thoughts are one thing, but certainly thoughts of those even more knowledgeable and credible in the marketplace since this announcement are the ones probably that we should pay real attention to. And by and large, it has been praised pretty widely by by those closer to it, you know, those with a lot of experience in airports in Europe, the way that this works around the world, largely seen as a great opportunity to get some injection of investment into our airports, really make them, you know, global leading airports, ensure that, you know, the experience is as good as it can be for the travellers going through them. I personally haven't seen anyone really flag that decision by Carney. I think people are pretty comfortable with the fact that he is going to retain government control over them and ownership of the land, which I think was a great kind of nuanced decision to do, right? How can we get investment without losing control over them? Yeah, it's not actual privatisation. It also is for 4, I think, major airports. Of the list, I'll be honest, and I don't know, there's whole storeys written about Toronto. That's another beast. I got to tell you, maybe we keep this to the positive, but probably my least favourite airport out of them is Montreal. So I hope maybe that there will be some improvements there. Kelvin, do you have a favourite Canadian airport? Yeah, put me on the spot. I know. I don't— I like the small ones. I like the prairie ones where you don't get lost and you can't get stranded at the wrong— in the wrong terminal when you're 10 minutes late, that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. Meghan, do you have a favourite? Yeah, I have to go with Kelvin too on that one. You know, Saskatoon or Regina, you kind of just walk right on the plane sometimes, which is great. I recently went through Montreal, Lyndsey, unbelievable delay on the bag. It was just crazy trying to get a— trying to get an Uber out of the airport was an experience I've never had before. Yeah. Yeah, it's— it— so of all of them, if an injection of investment capital can do some good, I'm going to guess it's Montreal. I'm going to shout out— I was in Winnipeg last week, so shout out to the Hug Rug. I'll give Winnipeg International Airport that one. They've got a hug rug, which I really like. But I too like the very simple one line. You can almost see both ends from one end. It's great. Okay, so we'll leave it there. Kelvin, I did want to touch on earlier this week as part or during the Investment Summit, we did also get a major announcement. I think it's like the biggest capital announcement. Bell quadrupling the size of an AI centre in the Regina area. What details do we have of this one? Oh, well, I don't have the details right in front of me, but I think this is Scott Moe and the Saskatchewan government looking to take advantage, and Bell of course too, looking to take advantage of the opportunity right now in demand for AI compute and the whole discussion around sovereignty and developing it in Canada and Western Canada. We've got the cool climate to help with the cooling, we've got the water, necessary. And sure, it's the electrical, the power generation, that's maybe the biggest question mark here, is this is going to take a huge amount of Saskatchewan's power in the future, potentially, if it all follows to plan. And so it's, to me, it makes a lot of sense to develop this AI compute capacity in Canada from many different angles. Why is it in Calgary? Yeah, and a Canadian company. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, exactly. From the sovereignty perspective, from the economic development and planning for the future perspective, I don't see there being less demand for, for this type of capacity. And so to have it located in the Prairies, uh, certainly a good news storey. And yeah, the electric, the power part of it will need to be sorted out to ensure that Saskatchewan and Prairie people living in the Prairies don't see this, don't pay for it on their, on their power bills. But that's something that I know these governments are also thinking about. So certainly a big announcement this week. And like you said, I think the largest capital investment announcements in Canadian history. Yeah, I think it's like north of $50 billion, I think. And as we've talked about on the show before, it is interesting, you allude to it, Kelvin, that there's a discussion about like these, the companies and these these builds, there is an expectation of them having to improve and build the power network to actually power them. So, yes, I think, I think most governments are keenly aware that this has to be a net positive, including on the power cost, right? Yes. And so that all of those pieces have to fit together. But definitely a huge announcement this week. And it is, I will note, it is, there was a project already. This is a quadrupling of its size was the announcement this week. So it is also already under construction. which is kind of cool. Also this week, it feels like we're just going to talk in billions from now on, but I spoke with Heath MacDonald this week right after the announcement that Farm Credit Canada will be rolling out $1 billion in finance for the agri-food processing sector. Kelvin, this is lending, these are not grants, and that's important. Right. Walk us through what this billion dollars is. Yeah, like you said, it's loans that are going to be available to agri-food processing and value-add processing, and this is something that we knew was coming. It was announced as part of the National Food Security Strategy a couple of months ago. This was the details of it and the actual process opening up in terms of they are seeking interest. There's a 60-day call-out now for expressions of interest to evaluate shovel-ready projects and different ideas that— proposals that are out there in terms of accessing this lending. And so this is the follow-through, and it'll be interesting to see what kind of demand there is for this, as we know that there's many different sizes of projects, scales of projects, different things like that that we talk about there being potential in, and FCC is certainly trying to catalyse, to use that word that often gets used in these circles, around that with this announcement. They also announced $150 million for Velocity Agri-Capital Partners, a fund that is led by Arlene Dickinson this week. And so interesting to see FCC hand that money over to another fund to decide how to use it instead of doing that internally, which I wonder if that has to do with FCC looking to offload that capacity or the kind of the oversight of that fund and that money. Yeah, and Dickinson's Growth Equity Fund is going to leverage $500 million total, and that will help businesses find customers in Southeast Asia. I saw this announcement as potentially— and Calvin, curious what you think— I think it was reflective of FCC's CEO's more private experience, eh? Like, this is a different approach to investment, and I wondered if you thought it was, you know, kind of a sign of Justine's time in the finance world. Yeah, I think it is. They are definitely trying to innovate to find ways of driving, kind of unlocking the potential of Canadian agriculture, and one of the big questions around the investment summit was why isn't there more discussion about agriculture? And the challenge there is that a lot of our projects are not large enough in scale to attract that huge amount of investment. And so FCC is playing this role in some ways, or trying to play this role of getting that capital into the smaller projects that don't necessarily get the billion or billionaire fund type Assistance, but, or support backing. But yeah, it is. I'm curious to see how FCC navigates investing directly in businesses versus, and like, and, and there's been talk about them taking equity stake in companies and that type of thing. And here the move to give funds to Arlene Dickinson's fund was kind of not that. It was a move to kind of offload the direct investment in companies. So. Right. That part of it, I'm curious to watch the next steps. And then, and then on the big billion-dollar fund that we kind of knew was— that's the government and FCC looking to prioritise value-add in our economy as we try to develop, again, part of this whole food sovereignty discussion and more value-add in our backyard. Certainly something that I think as farmers we should benefit from as well if we have more local domestic processing. Yeah, there was talk around, you know, why agriculture wasn't taking up more airtime at the Investment Summit. And it was interesting, Shaun recently had an interview with PwC about a report that they released around the need for investment in infrastructure in order to maximise the potential of different industries. And, you know, for better or for worse, agriculture actually is doing really well at diversifying and getting product to market in the larger scheme of things. That report specifically called out the need for even greater investment in other areas such as critical minerals and oil and gas, but actually kind of, you know, saying agriculture could certainly use investment as well. But by and large, that industry is actually kind of a bright light amongst other industries that really need investment in infrastructure. Well, and the way I took that too, Meghan, is in looking at like the prospectus for this week, some of these projects, there will be a knock-on effect, right, for agriculture in that if we're improving infrastructure at ports and railways and etc., It's not a slam dunk that it benefits agriculture, but I'm going to guess that when we put these all together. So now that same interview though, what I found interesting too was that all that being said, we need to make sure that when infrastructure is developed, it doesn't leave agriculture out, right? Like we want to make sure that when these projects are done, they're aware of what an agricultural demand might be on that infrastructure and making sure that it's it's actually going to work. And so if that's the case, like, I think collectively the more robust infrastructure that Canada has, it will be a benefit to agriculture, even if that isn't the first customer on the list. At the same time, we know what happens on the railway side when grain falls down the list of priorities. We don't necessarily always benefit. So yeah, so I think there is— that was one of my sort of critiques too, is like, where's agriculture on this list? But at the same time, when you think bigger picture, it sort of is, just maybe not at the first level. Let's pause there for a moment. We've got a product spotlight on today's show. We're going to go to that next, and then the issues panel will be back right after this. Looking for expert insights to power smarter decisions on your farm? The Dirt Podcast features industry voices diving into what matters most. soil fertility, market trends, agronomic strategies, and practical tips you can use in the field. Get the information you need to stay ahead in today's evolving ag landscape. Search The Dirt: An Economics Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, or visit Nutrien-eKonomics.com to tune in. Get all the information you need to keep your pulse crop healthy and profitable with the Pulse School on RealAgriculture.com. The Pulse School is a free YouTube video series covering agronomy, research, and more across a host of different pulse crops. It's also available as an audio podcast wherever you download or stream your favourite podcasts. Cheque us out on YouTube or visit RealAgriculture.com/ThePulseSchool, brought to you by BASF Canada. I'm Lyndsey Smith, host of The Agronomist, and I want to thank you for tuning in for over 200 episodes of our beloved little programme. Join me Monday nights, 8 PM Eastern on YouTube for our live and interactive agronomy Q&A. Each week, our guest panel will handle some of your toughest agronomic questions live streaming on YouTube, Facebook, X, and RealAgriculture.com. Tune in Monday nights or go to RealAgriculture.com/agronomist and sign up for our email notifications. And don't I'm Lyndsey Smith with Real Agriculture. It's time for today's product spotlight. Joining me now, it's Jen Dale. She's the Proven Canola Manager. Jen, how are you doing? Awesome, thanks for having me, Lyndsey. Well, it is, it is that time of year where we're looking at how this season went, some of the trials and tribulations, but we're Immediately looking at making those big decisions for next year and those hybrids. Proven, of course, has some new hybrids coming for 2027. What's new in the portfolio? What are you most excited about? Yeah, we're really excited. We have 2 new launches for 2027, PV785TCN and PV281CLCN. I'm really excited about both of them as they add to our portfolio. We've made a strong commitment on agronomics, specifically the disease management piece, so blackleg and clubroot continues to be an important challenges across Western Canada, but we want to make sure our portfolio continues to evolve with these pressures. For us, the new genetics need to have a purpose, and it's about understanding what our growers need. So now, of course, whenever you're bringing some of these lines forward, it is, as you mentioned, sort of always that balance of yield potential but also having a strong package to combat disease and those sorts of things. So what does the proven breeding and testing programme look like? How does that investment translate into the hybrids that growers see today and into the future? There's a significant commitment behind Proven Breeding Programme. Our canola breeding programme is based right in Saskatoon, here in Western Canada, and we have 5 dedicated research farms across Western Canada and then more than 110 large-scale trials from corner to corner of the West. This gives us a strong connection between the breeding, the research, and what's actually happening in growers' fields. What I think is important is developing these genetics, we're testing them across Western Canada, We're using what we learned to continue to move the portfolio forward. You mentioned blackleg, clubroot. Are those the key diseases that growers are asking about, or when you're talking to growers, what is top of mind for them when they're thinking about the added aspects of a hybrid? We've heard a lot over the past couple years the expansion of clubroot across Western Canada. We've seen blackleg, especially in a year like this with the high moisture, blackleg continues to pop through, and then in pockets we're starting to have that Verticillium discussion, specifically in Manitoba, and some parts of Saskatchewan as well. I didn't realise Verticillium was such an issue about standability that it shreds the stem. So anyone who's out there, if you see shredded stems, there you go. These are the things I learned. Okay, now this is, as we mentioned off the top, as we move through harvest, as we move in, you know, to fall, we do start thinking about booking some seed, making some of those decisions for next year. Tell me about Proven's early book programme. Yeah, so our Power Play programme is underway now and growers who book before October 30th— sorry, who book before October 31st can save $75 on every bag of Proven canola and $25 on every bag of Proven corn. It's a strong financial opportunity but also driving those early agronomic conversations with our local field staff. Now there's also at I'm sort of one of those people, if I know what I want, I'm going to put that money down and make sure I'm going to get it. How important is it to have those conversations and make those choices early? Making those choices early, making sure that you're getting the variety that you want, that's the best fit, and also making sure that you have the best seed treatment option for your local area. Right, actually, that's a good point. Let's touch on that for a moment. What kind of lineup do I need to think about when it comes to seed treatments? Is that a key part of putting in these orders early? Yes, especially as we see flea beetle pressures and cutworms in some pockets. PROVEN has the widest options of seed treatments, whether it be a helix sulfo-based or upside to the Lumiderm, Buteo, Lumiposa options. We have every option that a grower will need to have a successful season. Okay, all right, so you heard it here. Ask those questions, get that hybrid lined up, make sure you made your choices, which of course, Jen, brings us to where can people go if they've got questions Or want to book early. So any of the Nutrien Ag Solutions retailers across Western Canada, they'll be excited to have a conversation with you. All right, so head on out there, make sure you get in touch and avoid that disappointment. If you've got a hybrid you want, you better get out there, you better snatch it up. All right, Jen, thanks so much for joining me here on the show today, really appreciate it. Thanks, Lyndsey. All right, we'll be back with more right after this quick break. Get ahead for next season and get rewarded for planning early. Buy and take home Vantage Ag products by October 12th and save 10% off current suggested retail pricing. Then buy with confidence with our best price protection programme. 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All right, let's bring in the issues panel once again. I've got Kelvin Heppner and Meaghan Murdock. I am Lyndsey Smith, your host for this week and the next 2. We are just having so much fun here, everybody. I'm enjoying it, but my brain is tired. There you go. Okay, also this week It feels like we have so much to get to and we're grinding through, everybody. We did see that Prime Minister Carney ended his investment summit, made a few discussions here in Canada, and then off to the EU he went. And now, are we or aren't we an associate member or up for associate membership? Does it even exist? We're not sure. But Meghan, maybe I'll start with you. As an Someone in agriculture and with a background in agriculture for you as well, Meaghan, all this talk of like closer relations with the EU seems great, but we have a trade deal with the EU that hasn't actually been fully like ratified yet. So are we jumping ahead here or what? I don't think so. I don't see it that way. I mean, I think, you know, whatever the Prime Minister can do to strengthen that relationship with, you know, a huge market for us is a good thing. It's additive for sure. It's not going to take away from, you know, anything whatsoever. You know, I think that's good. And in his remarks, you know, he outlined several priority areas that would, you know, be helped by this strategic partnership. Critical raw materials and energy security, defence and security cooperation, digital sovereignty, digital trade and financial services, you know, certainly many, many areas there that he thinks that this relationship can support with, and I don't think that takes away to any degree the, you know, the agriculture importance with that. Kelvin, I mean, Meghan, it brings up a good list. There's plenty of wonderful things that we could align closer on in the EU. We already do, I think, on a lot of things, at least philosophically. But on the trade file, and then I want to talk the politics of this, but on the trade file, is the EU a slam dunk as far as a win for Canada, or Are they really a difficult partner? Definitely the latter. Farthest thing from a slam dunk. If you look at the Canada-EU trade deal and the challenges with, like you said, even getting it ratified, a bunch of member countries have yet to ratify that deal that was signed almost a decade ago now. And so it's— or has it even been longer than that? I forget now, but it's probably about that. If you look at beef, for example, can't get Canadian beef shipments into the EU that were anticipated when that deal was negotiated. We have challenges with durum into Italy all the time. We have issues with them wanting to put reciprocal requirements when it comes to maximum residue limits on grain imported from North America. And so there's nonstop protectionist measures from a lot of European countries. And so I think this is concerning in agriculture when farmers, when we hear this, we think, hang on, we can't have any harmonisation of regulations here if we're becoming an associate member along those lines. That would potentially reach back to the farm gate here. That's something that would be in, like, definitely something we don't want in Canadian agriculture if it comes to that. I think this whole associate membership thing, and this is getting into the politics, is more performative than actual reality or anything practical. It's a made-up— there is no category of associate member. When Brexit happened, there were some people in the UK that that kind of, uh, had second thoughts about Brexit and, and were like, oh, hang on, maybe we could maintain some associate membership status with, uh, with the EU. And EU headquarters basically shot that idea down as, as like, that's not— that, that's nothing that actually exists. And here now we are with the president of the European Union this week actually referring to Canada as being invited to become an associate member. And I think some of the member countries were like, what? We, we don't We're not sure what's going on here. It seems to be driven by the top of the EU and then probably the Prime Minister's Office here in Canada as well. So it seems performative and maybe more about leverage in Canada-US relations than anything else. Yeah, but I don't think we can argue that it's performative and also restrictive in the same breath, right? It either is important or isn't important. I think Kelvin, you raise a good point on maybe, maybe, Lyndsey, to your question, like, it maybe it's not so much about what does this give us, but what risk does this have in terms of our relationship with Washington? So, you know, certainly the proposal drew swift pushback from Washington right away, not surprisingly, with the president warning that this could be, you know, a way to essentially undercut Of course, the Prime Minister rejected those threats, stating that Ottawa would not be cowed into abandoning the relationship, and called the alliance a positive process. So maybe, maybe, Lyndsey, the question is, is it worth the risk if it is performative to what Calvin said? Well, and that's, I guess, the crux of this for me is politically, it, as I off the hop on today's show said, like, is this an own goal kind of thing? Especially this week, right? Because the investment— I don't think it's an own goal. I think it's good. Well, okay. So let me put it, okay, that's excellent. But let me put it, I mean that in our relationship with the US. So I feel, and in that perspective, that's what I mean is that we had this investment summit, which there were Americans at as well. We, you know, we, we are talking about making a stronger Canada and allowing investment ways that companies can make money and access our, our critical minerals, et cetera. And, but then, you know, is it necessary to be talking? Now, granted, it was the, you know, the head of the EU who, who used the term in, you know, in her opening speech of associate membership and welcoming Canada. And, and Carney did sort of push back on that, on, on the, on how it was worded. Trump did say, you know, if this is a punitive relationship, that, that he would retaliate. He said if, right? So I, I don't think there was like a slam dunk, like, oh, how dare you? I, I, I don't read it that way. But I mean, clearly there was a, hey, what's going on here from the US? So Kelvin, that's sort of, I guess, my way of thinking of this is everything is so incredibly, you know, walking on glass here. Yeah. with the US to then, you know, just before Parliament resumes sitting, while we're still in the mix of these tit-for-tat tariffs, to then go and cosy up to the EU. It does feel a bit like it's, it's not the smartest thing for the optics, at least, of the Canada-US relationship. And you think not. So go. I think it's the opposite. I think it's, it's Carney flexing Canada's muscle. It's showing Carney's riding high coming out of the investment summit. And here he's got the EU wanting to tag on to Carney's rise in global popularity right now. He's got the EU, the European Union. It's a massive population, massive economic driver of a lot of the world still, even though they are set in their ways in terms of regulation and all of that. It's still a major market of the world that wants to ride Carney's coattails right now. It sure seems like that is leverage in terms of pushing back and showing that Canada won't be pushed around by, by the American administration right now. Yeah, and do you think it's taken that way? Sorry, yeah, Meghan, go ahead. No, I was just going to say, and the Prime Minister argues that if Canada is a stronger, more resilient country, we'll be a more effective partner to the US as well. Yeah, right. And so, so yeah, so I guess that that's my question, is that does it land that way? I guess, Calvin, is that like— because this is still one of my big questions I think I have about the relationship with Carney and Trump is that at least, like, we sort of— I feel like we think like they have a good relationship. And Carney shared the storey about his gift from the White House this week. And, you know, and made— and like, it sounds like they actually do get along, like, on a personal level. And so I, like, I hope that's true. I think that's true. So, but then, like, is this a move that, you know, Trump would see as, like, does he respect this and go, Yeah, you know, right, like this is Canada. Trump understands this type of leverage. It's the same thing countries around the world, like it's the same thing he admires in President Xi and like countries use leverage, and I think that is something that he understands. Okay, we shall see where it ends up because that's the question. Meghan, I guess Finally on this though, we did talk about— so this is aligning on defence, on maybe some tech stuff. There is potentially a discussion of being able to move maybe back and forth and within the EU and Canada, etc. Do you think that actually happens? I feel like that's a pipe dream, that probably not. Do you think it actually happens if this extra close relationship ends up becoming something. Yeah, I mean, yeah, there was like an academic and youth mobility item, so— Yeah, something like that. Canada's ambition to negotiate formal participation so that, you know, there's greater youth and student mobility and the next generation of research in that space. So, a little bit unclear as to exactly what that will be. But as someone who has lived abroad, I think that that would be a pretty amazing opportunity for Canadian youth or, you know, young adults to have that opportunity. I don't know, like, we can do it to a pretty good degree right now as a Commonwealth country around the world, right? We have a lot of reciprocal agreements. Yeah. But having that with the EU, like we have with the UK, would be a pretty phenomenal opportunity in both directions. I think so too. To be 20 again. Okay. All right, we're going to pause there for a moment. We've got one more segment here with the issues panel, and we'll get back to that right after this quick break. seed innovation and unwavering commitment to farmers, Pioneer 100 Series canola hybrids deliver a step change in yield performance and agronomic traits. This isn't just better canola, it's different canola. Pioneer 100 Series. Contact your local Pioneer sales representative or visit pioneer.com/100series to learn more today. In crop protection, you know the drill. Pay more for the brand or choose a generic and hope for the best. Life Scientific believes you shouldn't have to choose. Using reverse engineering science, we replicate the full formulation of proven products, delivering performance you can trust at a price that makes sense. Life Scientific. No secrets, just science. Visit lifescientific.com/north Welcome back to RealAg Radio here on Rural Radio, Channel 143 SiriusXM. I am your host on this Friday, Lyndsey Smith, and every season begins with the conditions left behind from the last. From the Raptor stripper header to the Spider disc drill, Kayhart designs equipment to support low disturbance farming practises throughout the year. Welcome back to RealAg Radio. the production cycle. Visit khartindustries.com for more. All right, it's our last segment. We're bringing in Meaghan and Kelvin. We got just a couple minutes here. Kelvin, maybe I'll start with you on this one because I think it's really important when we talk about serving on boards and our producer groups, etc. SaskOilSeeds, SaskPulse both had openings, several openings on their board. All 7, so there was 3 on one, 4 on the other, All were acclaimed to their positions, the directors. How do we feel about this, that we're not having elections for board members? It seems to be the most common occurrence right now when it comes to openings on boards, and yeah, I'm certainly— it would be, it would probably benefit our organisations if there was more. I'm not sure we need division into where we've got people disagreeing or polarisation happening, but if If there were races and more competitiveness in these races, it probably would generate more interest, more participation, more engagement, all good things. And it does, yeah, full credit, I want to say congratulations and thank you to the people that have let their names stand in all the other groups as well. There's lots of opportunities this time of year as you look ahead to winter meeting season with elections happening at those annual meetings of opportunities right now to let your name stand and And thank you to all those people, and I am concerned. It is an issue I think we have in our industry of the next generation of leadership and the boldness that some of these— that you need to have in some of these roles. There's places where I think we're missing— there's opportunity costs to not having good leadership in farm organisations, and that's something that seems to me is becoming more of an issue. Well, and I worry about fatigue, right, for so many of these people. Exactly. And that's just it. The good leaders get tired and burnt out. Yes, that's right. And so, and you don't necessarily have that succession of, you know, the way things are done and the next person up. Meaghan, when you look at something like producer groups, you know, or involvement in your own industry, I mean, sometimes some boards have vacancies at times, right, of like trying to find people to serve on them. Your thoughts on, you know, if people are just acclaimed, should we be worrying about fatigue for some of our leadership? Yeah, certainly. You know, I sit on a couple of boards, both voluntary, so that's, you know, it's a hard bar when there's no financial compensation as well to offset how challenging and how much work that those positions bring with them. Definitely, you know, looking to the next generation of trying to get new people on boards, you know, giving them the right experience that they need to be an active participant on those boards. You know, I don't think agriculture boards are any different than the rest of Canadian boards in that regard. So yeah, I mean, Definitely a problem with relying on people for too long and what that does to the organisation and, you know, the thinking or proactivity or innovation that the board drives. I'm of two minds on this at times. One, I feel like maybe we're too nice sometimes, right? We're like, well, that guy still wants to run, so I'm not gonna, right? Like, they got it locked down. It's That's good, which is, that can be totally true, but just because you run for a seat up against somebody doesn't mean that you, it's a judgement of them, right? It's that you maybe have ideas that you want to bring or some fresh perspective. So there's that. And then the flip side is I also see in some organisations, sometimes being a board member is really, really exhausting. You may have, you know, a lot of drama or a lot of things involved, or maybe it is super demanding and it's a volunteer position, etc. Right. Like, so there is this balance of like, what holds us back at times. And, you know, there's probably 100 other reasons why people don't run, but I think it is really important that we have strong representation and that people are willing to learn. And certainly I also serve on a couple boards and it can be super rewarding. You meet some great people, get some good perspective. So yeah, congrats to all who are acclaimed, but would love to see more competition for it. We got to leave it there. Meghan, thank you so much for joining us here on the show. Really appreciate it. Thanks, Lyndsey. Thanks for having me. Nice to see you both. All right, and Calvin, have a wonderful weekend. Thank you. Take care, everyone. All right, everybody listening on the podcast, we'll be back for our bonus segment, and for everybody else, we'll talk to you on Monday. Cheers, everybody. Thank you for downloading this RealAg Radio podcast brought to you by CropPlan Canola. Looking for a canola hybrid that packs a punch? CP26L2P combines strong yield potential Exceptional pod shatter tolerance and excellent disease protection in Cropland's earliest maturing LibertyLink hybrid. Talk to your local independent ag retailer and put CP26LTP to work on your acres. And we are in the bonus. Thank you everyone for downloading the RealAg Radio podcast, or of course, if you're watching on YouTube, you're welcome. Okay, so Calvin Heppner, Meghan Murdock joining me here. Parliament resumes next week after however many weeks they've been off. Calvin, just quickly tell us about the gruelling schedule that is ahead for our parliamentary members. Yeah, I believe they're back, they're back for a week, then they have a constituency week at home again, then they're back for a week, and then we have the Thanksgiving break. And so it's, it's a soft start to the fall season in Ottawa. Okay, well, we got to ease into some of these things. Like, I kid, Like, because I recognise that being an MP is at times a really hard job, but wouldn't it be nice? Week on, week off. Anyway, okay, so Meghan, looking at what's ahead, what are you maybe most anticipating in this return to Parliament? Well, there's probably a lot to keep our eyes on, but certainly after this week and the very massive level of investment committed to at the Canada Investment Summit, you know, I would expect, or at least hope, that a major focus will be on getting projects built and, you know, moving those commitments into reality. Cabinet ministers have indicated that, you know, they need to be making some regulatory changes so that, you know, approvals on projects will be expedited. And another area I think where our team will be watching is red tape reduction. You know, what can the government do to encourage investment by kind of getting out of the way, which is always music to our ears, as we know. For farmers too. Kelvin, I think perhaps, although it is, you know, one week on, one week off, I'm gonna guess one of the people that is most happy to return to Parliament will be Pierre Poilievre. It has not been a great summer for Pierre Poilievre, and he does really well in Parliament. Kevin, what are your thoughts on where things are at on the Conservative side? Oh, it's a bit of a mess right now. They did have a meeting in, in B.C., but there is definitely not a complete full pull right now when it comes to unity. You have Jamil Javani and others kind of freelancing and doing their own thing. And so Poilievre is having to navigate that and wrestle with that within the party. And a lot of that comes with Of course, the expectation a couple of years ago that they were going to form government and that he had all this sway then, he had all this control over caucus because people were expecting cabinet seats and that type of thing. And here it's dragged out under the Carney government and Carney soaring in the polls at almost unprecedented highs. And it's, it's looking pretty bleak. But you're right, this will be a chance for Poilievre to get back into the spotlight and get back into the discussion. Certainly they're going to push on the transparency around the Canada-US trade negotiations. I'm guessing they'll lean into that some more and try to get more details. dirt on what happened in those talks and what's happening as we assume there is still some informal back-and-forth communications happening ahead of that upcoming tariff deadline or the import ban deadline here at the end of September, and so expect that. We also have a budget. We have to remember the Carney government has flipped the budget to a fall schedule, and so we've seen some farm groups in the last couple weeks release their budget consultations, their recommendations for the federal budget, and so expect we'll hear We did not get a cabinet shuffle. Do you think there's still time, Meghan? Do you think we'll get one? I mean, there's always plenty of time. I guess the question would be why or for what reason. You know, it certainly feels like Carney's got a great bench that's, you know, it's really more about maybe filling gaps or thinking ahead to a future election. I don't see any immediate need to do that. push for one, unless either of you have seen something different. Kelvin mentioned, you know, the polling is certainly in the Prime Minister's favour. The latest Nanotracking that I've seen was that the Liberals have a commanding 48.3%, more than 17 points ahead of the Conservatives. And then Carney is preferred as PM with 56% of Canadians compared to just 21% For Poilievre, I mean, it's, it's not specific to Poilievre, but opposition leaders do not get any media attention when they're out of Parliament. So, you know, they're always kind of clamouring to be back in QP and in front of the press gallery so that they can get a bit of the pie of attention. And, you know, so that'll be good for him. And then noting too, the Prime Minister won't even be in the House the first week, I believe, because he'll be at the United Nations General Assembly in New York for the first 3 days. So Pierre will probably be looking for the Prime Minister to get back to QP so that he can kind of be perceived or, or be seen to be on the Prime Minister's level and, you know, having those, those strong debates that he is so well known for. What are your, both of your thoughts on a snap election call? Is, would that pop the Carney bubble if, uh, in terms of turning Canadians sour on, on him and trying to turn this momentum into political gain? I've thought about that too. I just don't think it's in his, his realm. Like, I don't, I mean, I think he's increasingly thinking politically, but it's just not in him. to be more of that political manoeuvre, you know, of like, how can I get, you know, 4 more year mandate? Like, I just don't see that as being part of his, what gets him up in the morning. Yep. I feel, I agree, Meaghan. And I've said this before and even before sort of the majority, et cetera, that I get the sense that Carney has like, A list of like, here's what I want to, or not even a list, a plan of like, here are the things I wanna accomplish. Here's the things I wanna do. I think I get the sense very secure, right, in leadership and the seats he's got. I think he's got the runway to do what he wants now. Yeah. The longer maybe he's in office, maybe yes, the more political he gets as far as that. But like, I, or his— Or his staff. Exactly right. The people around him. But I think like Carney himself, I don't see him as a like, hey, let's turn this into me being prime minister for 10 years. I just don't think that that's the plan or that he wants to. Yeah. And so, so I, I don't know. I don't think, I don't think that there is really any appetite, at least from Carney's perspective, for an election. Realistically though, my question then turns to the Conservatives. What are you going to do in the next 3 and a half years or 3 years or whatever to turn this thing around? Like, in my mind, do you just let— I used to think like Poilievre was out the door. Now, I mean, as a party, do you just let him run his course and until the next election is really in your sights, you don't change anything? I don't know. I am not a political strategist. And so if you have thoughts, you can send them to lsmith@realagriculture.com. You could send them to Shaun, but he's not going to read them for a while. So there you go. Anyway, it's a It's an interesting discussion, right? But I don't think so. I think we will be— it will be years until the next election, and so the bigger question for me is what do the Conservatives do to have a fighting chance in the next one? Let's leave it there. Wonderful to have both of you on the Friday Issues panel. Kelvin, what are your big plans for the weekend? Oh, I'm in full hockey dad mode this weekend. Oh, I knew it. Too wet to get into the field. The soybeans aren't quite ready yet, and we have our first tournament of the weekend in Brandon, and we have tryouts at home as well. So, uh, okay, headed in 2 different directions in our household again this weekend. Okay, Meghan, I have zero hockey for my weekend. How about you? Yeah, yeah, my cat doesn't play very much hockey, so I'm really clear. Um, I think I'll just be resting up from what was like just an insane week here in Toronto. Um, I'll probably be navigating congestion trying to get around the Toronto Film Festival that literally blocks all the main arteries for the week and a half or so that it's here. But otherwise, just taking it easy. Yeah, and thinking about what comes next. I might find a pumpkin spice latte because I love them. And I had my first one this week. It was very good. It is, I just love autumn. Anyway, I say that though, I'm enjoying like beautiful autumn because Ottawa, autumn in Ottawa and in the Ottawa Valley is gorgeous, not so great for the Prairies, so Kelvin, I'm sorry. Okay, let's leave it there. It's good here too, come on, give us a fair shake. We've had some beautiful sunrises, sunsets, a lot of fog lately. All right, yeah, we should start talking old wives' tales. Okay, no, we'll leave it there. I'll be back of course on Monday. Thank you both and cheers everybody.