Farmers are concerned by China’s recent decision to ban the import of Canola from three Canadian companies but are hopeful it will be sorted out.
    In March, China banned the import of Canola from Richardson, and a few weeks later from Viterra. A third company that has not been named has also been banned. While pest in the seeds has been cited as the reason, many believe that it is a political response to the detention of Huawei Vice President  Meng Wanzhou.
    While this is a concern for producers. Starland area farmer Brian Heck says he is going to treat it as status quo.
    “I just feel it might work its way out, might get over itself,” said Heck. “I am trying to be optimistic about it. I have talked to other guys and they are dropping 10 – 20 per cent of their acres of canola due to this reason. There is no point in growing a crop, if it is not going to make any money.”
    He says typically for farmers they can get the best deal on seed if they purchase in the fall, which has committed many farmers, however, he says farmers can cancel their orders.
    About 40 per cent of Canada’s Canola goes to China. From August 2017 to July 2018, 4.3 Million Tonnes of Canola was sold to China. The ban appears to have been putting downward pressure on prices.
    Any time there is a little fear in there, the price drops accordingly, “ said Starland Ag Fieldman Al Hampton.
He says many farms are taking a measured approach.
    “I think some people are nervous. From the people I talked to, if they purchased their seed last fall, they are likely going to seed it. I don’t know if it will change too much on plans, I think with every crop there is a certain element of risk in it,” he said. “If you know what your cost of production is  and your cash flow, you can target some prices and still get a reasonable price, I think that is how most guys will do it.”
    He says he rotates four crops and it can be tricky to move things around, so you have to weigh your odds.
        “Most of the people I chat with are not optimistic, but they are probably realistic in saying prices will likely be a buck or two a bushel lower than what we have been used to and you will just have to pencil out what your costs are and whether or not it makes sense,” he said.
    As for Heck, he likes to be optimistic.
    “I just hope it works out the best for everybody, that’s about the only attitude you can have in farming today,” he said.

    People get called into the line of duty at the most unexpected times, and for a former Drumheller resident, it was delivering a baby at a grocery store parking lot in Edmonton.
     Tamala Peters, who now resides in Leduc, tells the Mail she was on her way shopping with her fiancé at the Superstore April 3 at about 1:30 p.m. when she heard a woman screaming.
    “It was an adult woman screaming so you wonder if there was something wrong, but as soon as we went over there, she was yelling ‘call 911,’” said Peters. “The woman said ‘the baby’s coming’ so I dialed 911.”
    She soon realized the baby was coming right way and handed her cell phone to a bystander to continue the call. The woman was on the front seat of her truck and appeared pinned in the vehicle. Peters helped the woman remove her jeans and the baby soon followed. In fact, it appeared the woman’s jeans were the only thing keeping the baby in.
    “The poor little thing wasn’t breathing, so I flipped the baby on its stomach and cleared its airway and kept encouraging it to cough it out and a few seconds later it started to cry,” she said.
    Peters held and kept the baby warm until the ambulance arrived. The paramedics clamped off the umbilical cord and took the baby to the ambulance, and began treating the mother.
    “I didn’t even know if it was a boy or a girl, I didn’t know what she had,” Peters said.
    She soon learned it was a girl and the mother and baby are doing fine.
    “I was just shaking, I was in shock, it happened so fast. You are present in the moment it is happening, and then you stand back and all the paramedics are trying to get her out of the car and take care of the baby… I  couldn’t believe it happened it was so surreal.”
    Peters was an EMT–A but had never attended a birth before, let alone one in the field.
    “Imminent birth is certainly  a section that you read up on, but it is  a rare occurrence for an EMT to ever actually be a part of a live birth in the field, so much so that EMS awards their staff with  a certificate and a stork pin if they ever deliver in the field,” she said.
    EMS  has extended that honour to Peters and on Friday, April 5, she was presented.