AMC Connection
Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada
September 2nd, 2016: The Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada (AMC) is pleased to announce a new corporate partnership with Farm Credit Canada (FCC) taking immediate effect. FCC joins Canada's Farm Progress Show and Supreme Basics as one of AMC’s key corporate partners.
Under the leadership of president, Leah Olson, AMC has a new strategic plan that was rolled out in December 2015 that focuses the organization on advocacy and increasing knowledge about the important economic contributions of agriculture equipment manufacturers across Canada. More than half of the agriculture equipment manufacturers are located in communities less than 10,000 people and despite their remote location, provide great employment opportunities in manufacturing, finance, marketing and various other realms.
In addition to employment, agriculture equipment manufacturers produce some of the most innovative products globally. In 2015, Canada exported just over $1.8 billion of agriculture implements globally. Key markets included the United States, Australia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Germany.
"We recognize the national scope and commitment of Farm Credit Canada to the agriculture industry which aligns well with the strategic plan we launched last December at our annual general meeting," said Olson. "Our mission is to grow the agriculture equipment manufacturing industry in Canada and with partners like FCC, we know this can be done.
ABOUT AMC:
The Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada (AMC) is a national, member-driven organization dedicated to sustaining a strong, viable and highly respected Canadian agricultural manufacturing industry. With just under 300 members, our mission is to: "foster and promote the growth and development of the agricultural equipment manufacturing industry in Canada." To find out more about what we do for members, please go to: www.a-m-c.ca. Connect with us on LinkedIn or engage with us on Twitter @AMCShortlinecda.
ABOUT FCC:
FCC is Canada’s leading agriculture lender, with a healthy loan portfolio of more than $28 billion. Our employees are dedicated to the future of Canadian agriculture and its role in feeding an ever-growing world. We provide flexible, competitively priced financing, management software, information and knowledge specifically designed for the agriculture and agri-food industry. Our profits are reinvested back into agriculture and the communities where our customers and employees live and work. Visit fcc.ca or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and on Twitter @FCCagriculture
Media Contacts:Leah Olson
President, Agriculture
Manufacturers of Canada
(306) 522-2710 ext 225
leah@a-m-c.ca
Sue Exner
Marketing Manager, Farm Credit Canada
(306) 780-6781
Innovation Product: Heavy Equipment Jack
Manufacturer: Eastwood Products based in Arborfield, Saskatchewan
Last
month our innovation spotlight was on AgTron’s new Legend Wi-fi and ISO Section
Aware Blockage and Rate Systems. This
month, we are highlighting the patent pending Heavy Equipment Jack being
manufactured by Eastwood Products.
Louis Sigouin, a recently retired farmer has dabbled with manufacturing a few times throughout his career. His products, all designed and manufactured as a means to making farm operations safer and more efficient, include the combine harvest screen, the bin lid winch, the H20 Fire-Pro and a High-Clearance Sprayer Jack.
With a reputation for continuous improvement, he was approached last fall by a local equipment dealer to find a solution to lifting large and heavy equipment. The dealer was having safety issues with the jacks they were using. Sigouin spoke with a few technicians in various dealerships to better understand the challenges they were facing. He recognized the problem was broader than the equipment dealers, as farmers were also struggling with the weight and size of their equipment when needing to lift or manipulate it.
Feedback
from those intended to use the jack has been vital. Safety is always an important factor when
working with heavy equipment and it is what has motivated Sigouin and his
business partner, Dan Edwards, to develop the Heavy Equipment Jack. Although launched at the Ag In Motion show,
the Heavy Equipment Jack has undergone revisions to make it stronger without
adding too much cost. Sales and interest
have been encouraging with the High Equipment Jack being bought and used in more
than six locations across Western Canada.
Looking to the future, Sigouin highlights "We’ve introduced our Heavy Equipment Jack to the Canadian market and we are definitely looking at the US market which is larger."
To learn more about the Heavy Equipment Jack, please email Louis at: Ljsign@sasktel.net
For an overview of items manufactured by Eastwood Products please go to: www.eastwoodproducts.ca
ABOUT THE INNOVATION PROGRAM:
This article was written as part of AMC’s desire to highlight the great work being done by agriculture equipment manufacturers to help save farmers money and time. This year, AMC partnered with Ag in Motion (AiM) and will host an innovation awards ceremony at the opening reception of the AMC Annual Convention and Trade Show. The opening reception is Wednesday, November 30th at the Fairmont Palliser Hotel in Calgary, Alberta.
The AiM innovation program received 13 applicants in its three categories: five in the equipment category, six in crop and two within service. Judges are independent and AMC does not yield influence on which product, or company is selected as the winner of the AiM innovations program.
Have you registered yet?
Early bird pricing ($325 for the convention and trade show) for the 46th Annual Convention and Trade Show ends on September 16th, 2016, after which it increases to $400/delegate. Register today to take advantage of the savings.We have already sold over half of our trade show booth spaces, and have a number of first-time exhibitors & sponsors. If you are considering having a booth at the trade show, please register as soon as possible as we anticipate it being a sellout! The deadline for securing your booth space is October 31st.
Click here to complete your trade show or convention registration.
Speaker Announcement
We are very excited to have Andrew Campbell as our keynote speaker on Thursday evening. Andrew is a farmer, with a passion for agriculture advocacy, social media and new technology. With the farm, he and his family milk holsteins and grow cash crop and forages in Southern Ontario’s Middlesex County. With all kinds of information available about modern farms, and not all of it being true, Andrew is keen to make sure people get the full story on what farmers do on a daily basis, why they do it and what they care about. He’s been featured on CBC, CTV, and other media outlets across Canada for his work in opening up his farm with pictures on social media as the FreshAirFarmer. He’ll highlight the important opportunities and challenges of social media in the Ag industry, and help AMC members better understand how to use it by walking delegates through a live Twitter demonstration. Follow Andrew on Twitter at @FreshAirFarmer..
More speaker announcements will be made in the coming weeks.
Industry Tour
Once again, we will be offering industry tours to convention delegates. This year our tour will feature Standens Industries. The cost of the tour is $25/person, which includes lunch and transportation. Space is limited, so please register early to guarantee your spot.
Convention Hashtag - #AMCC16
New this year, AMC will be promoting convention news regarding sponsors and speakers on social media before and during the convention, Please follow us on Twitter at @AMCshortlinecda, and share your attendance via social media by using the hashtag #AMCC16.
Sponsorship Opportunities
AMC would like to thank its sponsors for their generous support of the convention. This year, we are offering different sponsorship packages that enable members to sponsor a specific component of the convention. There are still sponsorship opportunities available. To view sponsorship options for 2016 please visit www.a-m-c.ca/sponsor or contact April Jackman a 519-784-4582.
By PETER MAZEREEUW
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016 12:00 AM
Canadian businesses are calling on the government to reverse orders to Canada’s export credit agency that stop it fromsupporting trade with Russia, saying it has cost them millions of dollars in business.
But the government and official opposition are standing firm, saying the move is an extension of the more targeted sanctions against the country for its incursion into Ukraine.
Export Development Canada, a Crown corporation, stopped providing insurance and financing for business deals between Canadian and Russian companies in 2014 on orders from the Conservative government at the time, according to spokesperson Phil Taylor.
That policy was brought in along with a package of trade sanctions as a response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, according to Global Affairs Canada.
However, whilethe trade sanctions are targeted against specific individuals and entities in Russia, and the Russian oil and gas industry—with its direct ties to many of Russia’s power players—the EDC ban affects any and all transactions between Canadian and Russian businesses that require the special financing and insurance the export bank usually supplies.
"This is affecting everyone," said Sebastien Dakin, a regional director for the Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association (CERBA).
Do business in Russia at your ‘own peril’
Companies seeking to export everything from food and clothing to manufactured goods to Russia don’t have access to insurance offered by EDC, and so are taking a risk when they ship goods that they will receive payment once those goods arrive. They also can’t access EDC financing for buyers, and so often have to find customers in Russia able to pay for large orders up front. Some members have had to stop selling to Russia altogether, said Mr. Dakin.
CERBA has lobbied the government on the issue, as has the Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada. The exports from AMC members have dropped from about $144 million in 2012 to about $23 million last year, said president Leah Olson.
"The industry has been very impacted by the policy. We strongly support the notion that EDC should be active in that whole market region, including Russia," said Ben Voss, president of Morris Industries, a company that sells air carts, air drills, and other agricultural implements.
The government hasn’t changed its mind. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland (University-Rosedale, Ont.) reiterated that the ban on supporting business in Russia"is the guidance provided to EDC."
"Canada has one of the strongest sanctions regimes [in] the world against Russia and we will continue to use it to apply economic pressure on the Putin government. By engaging with Russia on the one hand and demonstrating our firm resolve on sanctions on the other, we strengthen our ability to hold them to account," wrote Anne-Louise Chauvette, Ms. Freeland’s communications director.
Conservative foreign affairs critic Peter Kent (Thornhill, Ont.) said his party continued tosupport tough penalties against Russia in response to its military action in Crimea and east Ukraine, despite the "collateral damage" to Canadian companies.
"It’s unfortunate," he said, but "that’s the reality of life today."
"Official opposition policy is that sanctions have worked, and are working, and, if anything, should be strengthened," he said.
"Canadian companies doing business in Russia do that business at their own peril," he said.
Companies like Mr. Voss’s Morris Industries can’t easily turn to banks or other financial institutions to fill in for EDC, as most won’t take the risk of guaranteeing a purchase across borders, he said.
Global Affairs Canada explained the instructions for EDC to stop "pursuing business" in Russia by notinga similar policy put in place by the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
"Actions taken by the government of Canada in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea are made strategically and in close coordination with our partners," said GAC spokesperson Diana Khaddaj in an emailed statement.
Quebec aerospace manufacturer Bombardier experienced the "peril" described by Mr. Kent firsthand. The company suspended negotiations on a $3.4-billion sale of turboprop aircraft to a Russian company in late 2014 after the sanctions were imposed on Russia, and another Russian buyer was left to scramble for financing for a sale of the company’s CSeries jets last year after EDC stopped providing that service.
A spokesperson for Russia’s Ilyushin Finance Company, which had hoped to buy those jets, blamed EDC for its failure to go ahead with the purchase as planned, telling Aviation International News earlier this month that the hold on EDC financing for business with Russia was politically motivated.
IFC’s purchase order was eventually changed to include fewer jets and a single turboprop aircraft, AIN reported.
Bombardier declined to make a spokesperson available for an interview on the EDC policy. In an emailed statement, spokesperson Simon Letendre wrote that the company was continuing to pursue business in Russia.
Pork ban holding up Canadian exports
The EDC website explains the policy on Russia by referring to Canadian trade sanctions.
However, those sanctions do not require a blanket ban on trade between the two countries.
The current sanctions against Russia "are not comprehensive sanctions that prohibit Canadians from doing business with Russian entities" but are targeted to certain people, entities, goods, services, and technology, said Vincent DeRose, a partner in the Borden Ladner Gervais Ottawa law office who leads the firm’s defence and security group.
Industry Canada trade statistics show that manufactured machinery and equipment are among the biggest exports from Canada to Russia. Aerospace products including helicopters, airplanes, and flight simulators made up the top two most exported product groups tracked by Industry Canada last year, with a combined value of about $124 million.
Pork was the leading export from Canada to Russia by far up until 2014, but the Russian government banned meat imports from Canada and other Western countries that year in response to their sanctions.
Fortunately, Canadian pork producers have mostly been able to find other markets—primarily in Asia—for their formerly Russian-bound product, said Gary Stordy, a spokesperson for the Canadian Pork Council.
@PJMazereeuw
Peter Mazereeuw is a deputy editor for The Hill Times covering trade, immigration and more. He can be reached at peter@hilltimes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PJMazereeuw.Canada's Outdoor Farm Show - Learn more
November 30th-December 2nd
Annual AMC Convention and Trade Show - Mark your calendar for the 46th Annual AMC Convention and Trade Show being held from November 30th - December 2nd, 2016, at the Fairmont Palliser Hotel in Calgary, AB!
Executive Board Members |
||
 Chair Geof Gray Salford Group Inc. |
 1st Vice Chair Russ Klassen AGI |
 2nd Vice Chair Richelle Titemore S3 Enterprises Inc. |
 3rd Vice Chair Frank Capasso The CTD Group |
%20website.jpg) Treasurer Linda Turta Ram Industries |
 Past Chair Damir Gospic The CTD Group |
Directors |
||
 Bill Baker Agtron Enterprises Inc. |
 Calvin Mazurenko AT Films Inc. |
 Cam Cornelsen Norstar Industries |
%20-%2020151201%20(3).jpg) Cor Lodder Walinga Inc. |
 Grant Adolph Buhler Industries Inc. |
 Greg Archibald Schulte Industries |
 Nigel Jones Seed Hawk Inc. |
 Associate Committee Chair Robert Ablamowicz Axalta Coating Systems |
|
