Farmers received a record $26.7 billion in market revenue between January and September, up 13.7% from the same period last year. This total was 16.1% above the previous five-year average between 2002 and 2006, a period which included the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) situation and low commodity prices.

Grain and oilseed prices, up sharply from recent lows, along with strong grain deliveries, pushed crop receipts to a record $12.9 billion. This was up 25.6% over the same nine months last year, and 28.7% higher than the previous five-year average.

Livestock receipts rose 4.4% to $13.8 billion, mainly due to higher exports of cattle and hogs into the United States and increased dairy and chicken prices. Livestock revenues were 6.3% above the previous five-year average.

Farmers received $3.0 billion in program payments during the first nine months of 2007, down 15.4% from the previous year and 6.6% below the previous five-year average.

Total farm cash receipts—crop and livestock revenues plus program payments—hit a record high $29.6 billion through the first nine months of 2007. This was 9.9% above the same period for the previous year and 13.3% higher than the five-year average.

Provincially, farm cash receipts fell in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, where potato receipts declined from the high levels observed in the first nine months of 2006. Overall revenues remained flat in Nova Scotia and British Columbia. Increases ranged from 6.2% in Quebec to 23.3% in Manitoba. Manitoba had a good harvest in 2006 after a disastrous year in 2005.

Farm cash receipts are the first economic indicator available from Statistics Canada for the agriculture sector. They measure gross revenue for farm businesses only. They do not represent farmers' bottom line, as farmers have to pay their expenses and loans. Statistics Canada will publish preliminary estimates of net farm income for 2007 on May 26, 2008.

While prices for grain and oilseed producers rose substantially in 2007 from low levels, inputs also increased. For example, the Industrial Product Price Index indicated that Canadian fertilizer prices rose 20% during the first nine months of 2007 compared with the same period in 2006. In addition, livestock producers faced much higher feed costs. For instance, feed barley prices were 73.6% higher during the January to September period in 2007 than in the same period in 2006.

Both farm cash receipts and operating expenses can vary widely from farm to farm because of several factors, including commodities, prices, weather and economies of scale. In addition, a rapidly appreciating Canadian dollar against the US dollar reduces returns to Canadian producers who depend heavily on international sales. From January to September 2007, the value of the Canadian dollar increased by more than 15% against its American counterpart.

Higher grain and oilseed prices boost crop receipts

With an expanding biofuel sector and production issues in many of the world's grain and oilseed production areas, prices have surged from very low levels in the 2005/2006 crop year. Large stocks of grains at the end of 2006 also contributed to strong deliveries by Canadian farmers during the first nine months of 2007.

Revenues from wheat (excluding durum) rose 59.2% as a result of higher marketings, prices and Canadian Wheat Board payments. Receipts from barley jumped 49.7%, while corn receipts rose 46.3%, bolstered in both cases by higher prices.

Canola receipts hit $2.4 billion during the first nine months of 2007, while soybean receipts reached $610 million, both record highs. These records were driven by a 40.6% increase in price for canola and gains in both marketing (+32.0%) and price (+22.0%) for soybeans. Although canola deliveries were slightly below the previous year level, they were almost 50% above the previous five-year average.

Potato receipts fell 9.5% to $603 million, as a drop in prices more than offset a 5.0% increase in marketings. Very good growing conditions in 2006 had resulted in record yields. High supplies put pressure on prices, which fell 6.0% below the previous five-year average for a January-to-September period.

Farm cash receipts for the floriculture, sod and nursery industries rose 1.9%, continuing a long-established upward trend.

Increases in dairy and poultry along with modest gains in cattle and hogs improve livestock receipts

Despite lower prices this fall, the average prices for cattle and hogs from January to September were slightly above the corresponding prices in 2006. However, producers also faced dramatically higher feed grain prices, fueled by the growing ethanol market and tighter world supplies.

Cash receipts from cattle and calves rose 2.9% to $4.8 billion in the first nine months of 2007 as revenue from exports increased 23.2%. During this period, cattle and calf exports reached over 900,000 head, but they remained below the 1.2 million head exported for the same period in 2002, prior to the BSE situation.

Hog revenues were 2.6% higher compared with the first nine months of 2006, boosted by higher exports. Export-generated revenues increased 13.8% over the same period in 2006, while receipts from slaughter were virtually unchanged. Despite showing a higher level for this period, the overall hog price was 7.0% below the previous five-year average.

Revenue from most supply-managed commodities rose during the first nine months of 2007. Dairy receipts were up 6.8%, as were those for chickens (+10.5%), turkeys (+13.5%) and eggs (+1.2%).

Program payments down from record levels

The large decrease in program payments can be primarily attributed to a decline in payments under the Grains and Oilseeds Payment Program. As a new program in 2006, it delivered $730 million in the first nine months of that year. However, during the same period in 2007, it delivered only $6 million as it wound down.

With better growing conditions in 2006, particularly in Manitoba, crop insurance payments were down 28.1% to $330 million.

Payments under the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program and CAIS-related programs remained relatively stable, totaling $1.3 billion during the first nine months of 2007. The new Cost of Production Payment program, which was designed to help address high production costs over the last four years, delivered $311 million.

Farm cash receipts
	January to September 2006	January to September 2007p	January–September 2006 to January–September 2007	July to September 2006	July to September 2007p	July–September 2006 to July–September 2007
	$ millions		% change	$ millions		% change
Total farm cash receipts	26,973	29,648	9.9	8,875	9,764	10.0
Total market receipts1	23,485	26,696	13.7	7,962	9,062	13.8
All wheat2	1,926	2,955	53.4	769	1,068	38.9
Wheat excluding durum2	1,523	2,424	59.2	615	912	48.3
Durum wheat2	403	531	31.8	155	155	0.0
Barley2	296	443	49.7	108	159	47.2
Deferments	-194	-327	68.6	-105	-162	54.3
Liquidations of deferments	385	492	27.8	10	8	-20.0
Canola	1,764	2,448	38.8	636	940	47.8
Soybeans	379	610	60.9	105	178	69.5
Corn	441	645	46.3	128	150	17.2
Other cereals and oilseeds	334	469	40.4	154	213	38.3
Special crops	503	766	52.3	239	357	49.4
Potatoes	666	603	-9.5	217	197	-9.2
Floriculture and Nursery	1,483	1,511	1.9	352	359	2.0
Other crops	2,298	2,293	-0.2	1,006	1,044	3.8
Total crop receipts	10,280	12,909	25.6	3,619	4,509	24.6
Cattle and calves	4,625	4,757	2.9	1,496	1,543	3.1
Hogs	2,583	2,650	2.6	876	840	-4.1
Dairy products	3,605	3,850	6.8	1,177	1,312	11.5
Poultry and eggs	1,821	1,977	8.6	611	687	12.4
Other livestock	570	553	-3.0	182	171	-6.0
Total livestock receipts	13,205	13,787	4.4	4,343	4,553	4.8
Net Income Stabilisation Account	309	269	-12.9	9	3	-66.7
Crop Insurance	459	330	-28.1	176	185	5.1
Income Disaster Assistance Programs	2,115	1,705	-19.4	571	385	-32.6
Provincial Stabilization	463	608	31.3	139	126	-9.4
Other programs	143	40	-72.0	18	4	-77.8
Total payments	3,489	2,952	-15.4	913	702	-23.1
p preliminary 0 true zero or a value rounded to zero 1. Total market receipts is the sum of crop and livestock receipts. 2. Includes Canadian Wheat Board payments. Note: Figures may not add up to totals because of rounding.

Provincial farm cash receipts
	January to September 2006	January to September 2007p	January–September 2006 to January–September 2007	July to September 2006	July to September 2007p	July–September 2006 to July–September 2007
	$ millions		% change	$ millions		% change
Canada	26,973	29,648	9.9	8,875	9,764	10.0
Newfoundland and Labrador	69	79	14.5	23	26	13.0
Prince Edward Island	289	270	-6.6	80	79	-1.3
Nova Scotia	335	336	0.3	109	111	1.8
New Brunswick	341	323	-5.3	99	100	1.0
Quebec	4,682	4,974	6.2	1,550	1,679	8.3
Ontario	6,439	6,869	6.7	2,158	2,369	9.8
Manitoba	2,637	3,251	23.3	874	1,100	25.9
Saskatchewan	4,739	5,347	12.8	1,516	1,638	8.0
Alberta	5,743	6,491	13.0	1,909	2,090	9.5
British Columbia	1,698	1,707	0.5	558	572	2.5
p preliminary 0 true zero or a value rounded to zero Note: Figures may not add up to totals because of rounding.

Note to readers

Statistics Canada does not forecast farm cash receipts. These data are based on survey and administrative data from a wide variety of sources.

Farm cash receipts measure the gross revenue of farm businesses in current dollars. They include sales of crops and livestock products (except sales between farms in the same province) and program payments. Receipts are recorded when the money is paid to farmers before any expenses are paid.

Deferments represent sales from grains and oilseeds delivered by western producers, for which payments were deferred until the next year. Because these receipts are based on physical deliveries, any deferred payments are deducted from the farm cash receipts of the current calendar year and and included when they are liquidated (see "liquidations of deferments" in the farm cash receipts table).

Program payments include payments tied to current agricultural production and paid directly to farmers. However, the series does not attempt to cover all payments made to farmers, nor does it represent total government expenditures under all assistance programs. For example, the Canadian Farm Families Options Program announced in July 2006 is not included because it has been determined not to be business income for statistical purposes.

As a result of the release of data from the 2006 Census of Agriculture on May 16, 2007, estimates of farm cash receipts, operating expenses, net income, capital value and other data contained in the Agriculture Economic Statistics series are being revised, where necessary. The complete set of revisions will be released in The Daily on November 24, 2008.

Realized net income (the difference between a farmer's cash receipts and operating expenses minus depreciation, plus income in kind) dropped to $844 million in 2006. This figure was also below the previous five-year average between 2001 and 2005. New Brunswick and Saskatchewan were the only provinces to record gains in realized net income in 2006.

Total farm cash revenue from livestock and crop receipts, as well as program payments, edged up 0.5% to $36.9 billion. Meanwhile, higher interest rates as well as higher energy and labour costs drove up farm operating expenses 3.5% to $31.6 billion.

Realized net income can vary widely from farm to farm because of several factors, including commodities, prices, weather and economies of scale. This and other aggregate measures of farm income are calculated on a provincial basis employing the same concepts used in measuring the performance of the overall Canadian economy. They are a measure of farm business income, not farm household income. For details on farm cash receipts for the first three quarters of 2007, see today's "Farm cash receipts" release.

Financial data, collected at the individual farm business level using surveys and other sources, will soon be tabulated and made available for 2006. These data will help explain differences in performance of various types and sizes of farms.

In recent years, for example, data from Statistics Canada's Whole Farm Data Base have shown that net operating income of farms with revenues of $250,000 and over has been trending upwards. On the other hand, net operating income of smaller farms has not, even though many of these smaller operations still have positive net farm incomes.

Higher crop revenues boost market cash receipts

Market cash receipts, the revenues from the sale of crops and livestock, increased 1.9% to $32.4 billion in 2006. Crop receipts jumped 7.9% to $14.5 billion as prices began to recover from their 2005 levels. Tempering the increase in market receipts were weak hog prices, which pushed livestock receipts down 2.5% in 2006.

Increases in both deliveries and prices helped the recovery of crop receipts. There were strong increases in the deliveries of canola and wheat in 2006, as farmers made use of the record or near-record stocks gleaned from the harvests of 2005 and 2006.

Prices gained strength during 2006 as the biofuel industry expanded and adverse growing conditions were experienced by some of the major grain-exporting countries. Late in the year, prices also benefited from the improved harvest conditions in 2006 that resulted in the marketing of higher quality crops.

A 31.0% jump in marketings helped canola revenues soar 37.0% to $2.5 billion. Producers of wheat (excluding durum) saw their receipts climb by 16.4%. Both stronger prices and marketings supported this growth.

The gain in crop revenues was also aided by a 13.7% rise in potato receipts as prices jumped 17.0%.

Plunging hog receipts drove down revenue in the livestock sector. The 13.2% drop left hog receipts at $3.4 billion in 2006, 8.7% below the previous five-year average. The main factor was prices, which were on average 12.9% below those of 2005.

Increased cattle and calf receipts moderated the drop in livestock revenues, climbing 1.8% to $6.4 billion. Cattle exports regained strength following the reopening of the American border to live cattle under 30 months of age on July 18, 2005.

The 1.0 million cattle and calves exported in 2006, while almost doubling the figure from the previous year, remained 40.0% below the pre-BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) peak in 2002. Canadian exports were hampered by a strengthening Canadian dollar and reduced US demand for Canadian cattle as drought-stricken US ranchers shipped cattle early to feedlots.

In the supply-managed sector, receipts declined a marginal 0.8%, the first decrease since 2002. A 4.3% drop in chicken receipts was more than enough to counteract small increases in egg and turkey receipts. Dairy receipts remained virtually unchanged from 2005.

Program payments fall from record levels

Program payments decreased for the first time in three years, falling to $4.5 billion in 2006, 8.1% below the record level of 2005. Despite the drop, the 2006 level was 3.7% above the previous five-year average.

Certain programs linked to cash flow problems and difficulties in the cattle sector were terminated in 2006, including the Farm Income Payment Program and BSE-related programs. However, new programs helped to prevent a precipitous fall in payments. These included the Grains and Oilseeds Payment Program and the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) Inventory Transition Initiatives, as well as other CAIS enhancements.

Crop insurance payments also played a role, declining 21.1% as a result of better growing conditions in 2006.

Operating expenses: Producers hit by increased interest charges, labour costs and fuel prices

Farm operating expenses were up 3.5% from 2005, the highest annual increase since 2001. Increases in interest rates, fuel prices and labour costs contributed, pushing up operating expenses to $31.6 billion in 2006. However, this rise was marginally below the average percentage increase in expenses over the previous 10-year period (1996 to 2005).

Interest expenses shot up 16.4%, the largest increase since 1981. Prime business rates jumped by over 30%, while one-year mortgage rates rose by more than 20% from their recent lows in the past couple of years. Farm debt continued to rise, increasing 4.3% in 2006, slightly below the average increase of 5.1% over the previous five-year period.

Although fuel price increases did moderate in 2006, price rises in diesel and gasoline were the major contributors to a 5.6% climb in machinery fuel costs. Labour costs continued their ascent, rising by 3.0% in 2006. Farm operators struggled to find workers in an increasingly tight labour market.

Manitoba producers incurred a 6.8% rise in operating expenses, the largest percentage increase in Canada. Added to factors already mentioned was an increase in crop expenses linked to a return to more normal levels of seeded acres. In 2005, seeded acres of field crops had declined by 9.3% as a result of excessive moisture that prevented planting in much of southeastern Manitoba.

Declining farm inventories drag down total net income

The value of inventories fell by $849 million in 2006, largely due to the conversion of on-farm stocks of canola and durum wheat into market deliveries, and lower stocks of feed grains. Increases in on-farm stocks of potatoes and soybeans helped moderate these declines.

While droughts in 2001 and 2002 had caused on-farm stocks of grains and oilseeds to drop to levels not seen since the late 1980's, bountiful harvests in recent years had brought stocks up to record or near-record levels in 2005. And despite the large value of inventory change in 2006, on-farm stocks remained at very high levels.

Declining on-farm stocks of livestock were also a major contributor to the drop in the value of inventories. Cattle inventories fell 3.6% in the wake of renewed live cattle exports to the United States, while hog inventories declined 1.3%.

The reduction of on-farm inventories were a major factor in the decline of total net income, which fell from $2.3 billion to -$6 million in 2006, well below the previous five-year average of $2.7 billion. Total net income adjusts realized net income for changes in the value of farmer-owned inventories of crops and livestock.

Note to readers

Net cash income measures farm business cash flow (farm cash receipts minus operating expenses) generated from the production of agricultural goods. Net cash income represents the amount of money available for debt repayment, investment or withdrawal by the owner.

Realized net income measures the financial flows, both cash and non-cash, attributable to the farm businesses, similar to an income statement (net cash income minus depreciation plus income in kind). Realized net income represents the net income from transactions in a given year in that it includes the sale of commodities regardless of the year they were produced.

Total net income measures the financial flows and stock changes of farm businesses (net cash income minus depreciation plus income in kind and value of inventory change). Total net income values agriculture economic production during the year that the agricultural goods were produced. It represents the return to owner's equity, unpaid labour, management and risk.

Farm cash receipts measure the gross revenue of farm businesses in current dollars. They include sales of crops and livestock products (except sales between farms in the same province) and program payments. Receipts are recorded when the money is paid to farmers before any expenses are paid.

Farm operating expenses represent business costs incurred by farm businesses for goods and services used in the production of agricultural commodities. Expenses are recorded when the money is disbursed by the farmer.

As a result of the release of data from the 2006 Census of Agriculture on May 16, 2007, estimates of farm cash receipts, operating expenses, net income, capital value and other data contained in the Agriculture Economic Statistics series are being revised, where necessary. The complete set of revisions will be released in the November 24, 2008 version of The Daily.

Port McNeill, BC - In an unprecedented move, a diverse group of BC business people have placed an advertisement in a national newspaper. The ad strongly criticizes current Government policy (Federal and BC) that supports fish farms to the detriment of the natural environment and wild salmon stocks.

The timing of the advertisement is coincident with the unveiling of the SaveBCsalmon.ca website. Citizens can participate in their web-based petition.

Facing a pending government decision about fish farming, this previously unallied group of wilderness tourism operators, sport and commercial fishermen, seafood processors and concerned coastal residents pooled their resources to purchase the full page ad in the National Edition of today's Globe and Mail.

These businesses and individuals want fish farms moved away from BC's major juvenile salmon migration routes. Science shows that juvenile salmon die with even 1-2 sea lice. In nature, young and mature salmon (which host sea lice) rarely mingle. Fish farmers and Government must respect this natural law if wild salmon are to continue to exist.

Young Pink Salmon, from the Broughton Archipelago (2006), being predated upon by sea lice.

For twenty years, business people and residents on the BC Coast have maintained an accommodating attitude toward fish farming. Armed with rapidly evolving scientific evidence that sea lice associated with salmon farms are decimating local salmon stocks, accommodation is turning to anger.

"Fish farming is worth $600 million to the BC economy," said Craig Murray owner of Nimmo Bay Resort. "Wilderness tourism and fishing combined bring in over $ 1.6 billion to BC and is growing. Tourism is now a 10 Billion dollar industry and Premier Campbell has been challenged to double its revenue in the Province by 2015. But we can't survive without wild salmon, and government is making us the loser group! There are too many outside interests that compromise tourism and our wild salmon in BC. Both fresh and salt water anglers across BC and beyond should be aware of this injustice.

"Members of our organization have supported research on sea lice and even wild salmon habitat restoration, from their own pockets. We know the problem is real, we are not crying 'Wolf,'" stated Brian Gunn, president of the Wilderness Tourism Association. "We are businesspeople who feel the government is abandoning us, by allowing our lifeblood to drain away. We have had it."

"I contributed to the ad, because anglers across BC abide by a long list of conservation measures to protect adult salmon - only to have the young fish killed by sea lice. What a waste," observed Chris Bennett of Blackfish Lodge.

"I just don't get it," says Steve Kelly of Coastal Springs Float Lodge. "When the Department of Fisheries and Oceans say they need to protect wild salmon, they just close us and the season down. But here, with a rising pile of evidence about the danger of sea lice, they allow fish farms to be filled up year after year. This just results in more sea lice killing more baby salmon. Where is the government science on this issue?"

"My family helped buy this ad because we feel that the Minister is taking the Coast the wrong way," says Donna Mackay, of Mackay Whale Watching. "We are very concerned. This summer, the Orca whales (killer whales) that our business depends on were hunting over a huge area of ocean. We believe it was because of a lack of wild salmon. For our business, it was bad news, but worse for the Orca's which are already listed as a threatened species. They cannot survive without wild salmon."

On May 16, 2007, the Special Legislative Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture (SCSA) tabled their report. After traveling the length of British Columbia to hear about the fish farm controversy, the SCSA made a daring recommendation - move the fish farming industry from open net pens into closed containment within 5 years to protect wild salmon. Pat Bell, the BC Minister of Agriculture and Lands in charge of fish farm siting has been silent on responding to the Report, but he has approved four more open net pen sites since May 2007.

There is great potential in increasing the Danish production of biogas. Biogas replaces fossil fuels and reduces the emission of greenhouse gases. Increased biogas production will make it possible for Denmark to fulfil its international climate obligations.

In Denmark, biogas can be based on animal production. Contrary to other types of renewable energy, biogas production does not entail a reduction of food production. Another advantage is that when animal manure is treated in the biogas plant, leaching of nutrients to the aquatic environment is reduced as are odour problems as less slurry is spread.

Waste products, which would otherwise be expensive to get rid of, enter into biogas production. Biomass from natural areas such as meadows can also be included in biogas production. That way undesirable nutrients are removed from natural areas and production of biogas can contribute to the management of caring for natural areas that in turn have an added value as suppliers of renewable energy. There are approximately 500,000 hectares of lowlands in Denmark.

However, there is still a long way to go before the total potential of biogas is realized. In existing biogas plants turnover of organic material from, for example, animal manure and straw is still only 50-60 percent of that which is theoretically possible.

There are many proposals for methods to improve biogas production. However, scientific documentation and testing of the methods under practical conditions is often lacking. The new experimental biogas plant at Research Centre Foulum will change that. The new plant, which is financed by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, will provide scientists, students and biogas producers with new opportunities to develop and test methods and technologies on a large scale. The new plant is the world's largest experimental biogas plant.

Our ambition is that the new biogas plant will contribute to bringing Denmark to the global forefront in the area of consumption of energy and nutrients from animal manure and other types of biomass, says the Minister of Agriculture Eva Kjer Hansen.

Besides carrying out research that can optimise the processes in the actual biogas reactor, it will also be possible to do experiments in the various parts of the biogas supply chain.

The location at Research Centre Foulum gives access to an extensive choice of raw materials from the centre's herds of dairy cattle, pigs, poultry and mink. The centre can also supply energy crops, straw and other types of biomass.

The experimental plant consists of four experimental reactors each with their own holding tanks as well as a dosage system for adding solid material such as leftover feed, deep straw manure, energy crops and so on. The plant will therefore be one of the most advanced and flexible experimental biogas plants in the world.

We expect the various technological ideas that will be tested at DJF's new biogas plant will contribute to making future biogas plants more efficient and reliable, improve their economy and achieve a greater environmental bonus compared to the first generations of biogas plants, says Head of Department of Research Facilities Gunnar Hald Mikkelsen at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus, who are responsible for the new plant.

Apart from the experimental plant, the new plant also includes a production plant that will treat approximately 29,000 tonnes slurry and 2,000 tonnes biomass from the barns and fields at Foulum. On this basis the plant will be able to produce about 850,000 cubic metres methane gas, which will be utilised for heat and electricity at the local thermal power station.

Copyright Farmnews

In a dusty field west of Ames, agricultural engineer Stuart Birrell of Iowa State University watched proudly as a big green combine he's modified chewed through row after row of corn, collecting the kernels, stalks and cobs.

Finding a way to economically supply cellulosic biomass crops - such as cornstalks and cobs, prairie grasses or wheat straw - to the next generation of bio- refineries will be a critical first step in the evolution of the ethanol industry.

Birrell, associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State, has been working since 2001 to develop a combine that can simultaneously harvest corn kernels, cobs and other parts of the plant called stover and keep the grain separate.

"We've looked at a whole lot of different options," he said.

Much more needs to be done so crop residues can be collected, transported and stored at biorefineries on an economic basis, but Birrell recently unveiled a combine attachment that, he thinks, can become an efficient way to collect biomass. He will speak about his research at the Biobased Industry Outlook Conference at 10:15 a.m. Monday, at the Scheman Building on the Iowa State campus.

Deere & Co., the U.S. Department of Energy and the Agriculture Department have provided funds for the research.

Last month, at the Iowa State Agricultural Engineering Farm, Birrell demonstrated a John Deere 9750 STS combine made in 2000 that he has adapted for dual harvesting chores with the help of Deere engineers.

Birrell said his work is based on keeping costs low for farmers and for using a flexible system that can be adapted to existing machines.

"We want to keep it simple so switching from harvesting corn for grain to harvesting grain and stover is no more difficult than switching from corn to soybeans," he said.

Kevin Ehrecke, a senior staff engineer at Deere's Silvis, Ill., operation, said it will be a minimum of five years before a stover harvesting attachment will be sold by Deere.

Birrell's attachment cuts cornstalks and cobs into pieces that are about two inches long and blows the material into a wagon being pulled beside the combine.

One of the limiting factors of biomass crops, Birrell said, is that the harvested material is lightweight and fluffy, which means it takes a lot of it to make a little ethanol.

Birrell wants to make the harvested biomass material more densely packed so more tons of the material can be hauled to the biorefinery in a wagon or truck for processing.

Birrell's attachment can be switched on or off - he won't say how - so that the stover can either be collected in a wagon or truck, or blown out the back of the combine onto the ground as it is now in a conventional combine.

This design of the attachment is new enough and unique enough that it won't fit all models and all years of combines, said Ehrecke, the Deere engineer.

But, he said, it eventually will be configured so it will have a universal fit for all Deere combines.

Also speaking at the ISU conference will be twin brothers Jay and Ty Stukenholtz of Nebraska City, Neb., inventors of a combine attachment that simultaneously harvests corn cobs and kernels and keeps them separate.

While the Stukenholtz twins and Birrell are working the same side of the street, they are walking slightly different paths.

The Stukenholtz brothers have come up with a combine attachment that separates whole cobs from corn kernels and sends the cobs to a tank mounted on top of the combine.

They have made about a dozen variations of their attachment in 10 years.

More sessions on biomass storage and transportation will be held at the Biobased Industry Outlook Conference:

- A biomass storage and transportation session will feature Tom Richard, associate professor at Pennsylvania State University; Michelle Long, manager of biofuels and hydrogen for Chevron; and Shashi Nambisan, director of ISU's Center for Transportation Research and Education.

- Another session will feature speakers who are involved in the Poet biorefinery in Emmetsburg. Poet, formerly known as the Broin Cos., is retrofitting the Emmetsburg plant to use cobs to make ethanol in an expansion funded by Poet and the Department of Energy.

- Martin Keller, director of the recently established U.S. Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, will speak about plants and microbes in bioenergy. Keller is leading the center's efforts to improve biomass crops and new methods of processing them into biofuels by modifying plant cell walls to reduce resistance to breakdown. Poplar trees and switchgrass, a native grass easily grown in Iowa and much of the United States, are the focuses of the research.

The industry reported record revenues of $968.7 million, up 24.7% from 2005.

Finfish sales, which accounted for 89.5% of total operating revenues, increased 26.2% to $867.2 million. Revenue from molluscs increased 4.1% to $71.7 million.

Nationally, product expenses grew 5.6% to $590.4 million in 2006. These consist of the costs of products and services purchased from other businesses, excluding capital and labour costs. Feed costs, which account for over 50% of all product expenses for finfish producers, increased 19.6% from $252.6 million in 2005 to $301.9 million.

The aquaculture industry produced a gross output, including sales, subsidies and inventory change, of $981.7 million in 2006, a substantial increase of 21.4% from 2005.

The gross value added by the industry to the economy, the difference between gross output and total product inputs, reached $395.8 million, up 58.4% from 2005.

Since successful breeding efforts in the 1970s made it possible to grow soybeans beyond southern Ontario, soybean area has increased eightfold, and this crop has become an economic success for farmers. Today's inaugural release from the 2006 edition of Canadian Agriculture at a Glance reviews the progress of this crop.

The online analytical article, "The soybean, agriculture's jack-of-all-trades, gains ground across Canada", is the first in a series that will eventually appear in the 2006 print edition of Canadian Agriculture at a Glance. Statistics Canada publishes Canadian Agriculture at a Glance every five years to showcase Census of Agriculture data. When the 2006 print publication is released in 2009, it will contain more than 30 analytical articles.

Farmers reported to the 2006 Census of Agriculture that they grew soybeans on just over 1.2 million hectares, a nearly eightfold increase since 1976. That was the year that varieties were introduced that could perform well in Canada's shorter-season growing areas. Until then, climate restricted soybeans primarily to southern Ontario.

In spite of a 4.1% drop in area between the 2001 and 2006 Censuses of Agriculture, Ontario was still by far the leader in soybean production in 2006, accounting for nearly three-quarters (73%) of Canada's soybean area, just over 872,400 hectares. Quebec placed second in terms of planted area, with 178,161 hectares.

However, it was the growth in soybean area between 2001 and 2006 in the Prairie Provinces that was particularly notable, according to today's report. Manitoba's soybean area increased sevenfold to just over 141,800 hectares, while Saskatchewan's increased sixfold to just over 2,200 hectares. Area in Alberta was about half that in Saskatchewan.

Although soybeans remain far behind canola and wheat as Canada's top cash field crop, in Ontario they were the most valuable field crop in 2006, generating $547 million and eclipsing the receipts from corn ($449 million) and wheat ($275 million).

Nationally, farmers' cash receipts from canola amounted to $2.5 billion in 2006, about 3.5 times the $680 million soybean crop. In comparison, farm cash receipts for wheat (excluding durum) amounted to $1.8 billion, potatoes, $899 million, and corn, $753 million.

The report chronicles the multitude of uses driving the demand for this versatile crop, from livestock feed to food-grade oils and soy foods such as soy milk, tofu and natto. It also highlights the crop's industrial uses, from plastics, fibres, lubricants and chemicals to biodiesel. Part of the Canadian soybean breeding program has focused on premium-priced beans tailored for the human food market.

In spite of placing seventh in world soybean production, Canada is a vigorous participant in soybean trade. Of the estimated 3.5 million tonnes of soybeans grown in Canada in the 2006 crop year, over 40%, or 1.5 million tonnes, were exported.

Japan led the list of overseas buyers in 2006, importing $138 million in Canadian soybeans. Malaysia was a distant second ($52 million), followed by the Netherlands ($49 million) and Iran ($43 million).