Strongest Bank in North America Looking for Growth in PEI

In June 2011, the National Bank of Canada was awarded the Number One Bank in North America for its financial strength by Bloomberg Markets magazine and they are setting their sights on agriculture in Prince Edward Island. 

Located in Charlottetown and Summerside, the National Bank Financial Group’s branches have been concerned with their lack of visibility.  To this point they have relied on word of mouth as their advertising platform and it has worked well so far. That is because it has been a positive message from Island farmers that have been dealing with National Bank.

National Bank Financial Group is one of the top six chartered banks in Canada, and the undisputed leader in Quebec.  With more than $4.0 billion worth of approved credit to farms and agribusiness across Canada, the National Bank Financial Group has been involved for a long time in farming communities.  The firm is proud to trace its roots back to 1859, attributing their success to customer service.  Dallas Kelly, Manager of Agribusiness in the Charlottetown branch, admits that the cookie cutter approach to credit does not work for farming.  “Every farm has their own cost of production based on many variables and that doesn’t work with fill-in-the-blanks credit applications.”  Customer service for Mr. Kelly includes farm visits to get to know the farmer and to see the operation that the farmer is proud to own. 

This week, National Bank is one of the many sponsors of the Dairy Cup of Golf, an annual event at Mill River Golf Club in support of PEI 4-H.  They are sponsoring two teams to golf in the event, as well as two of the course holes.  This will be the third year that National Bank has attended the golf tournament.  Carl Arsenault, Branch Manager of the bank’s Charlottetown location, says, “Everyone enjoys a day of golf and when we can put our sponsorship money toward a great cause, such as 4-H, we are happy to participate.”

Dr. Gary Morgan of Veterinary Management Services in O’Leary has been organizing this event for twelve years.  The monies raised at this event go directly to PEI 4-H Dairy Team to allay costs for participants headed to Toronto for the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in November. 

National Bank Financial Group is proud to support all commodities of agricultural business.  Being awarded the Number One Bank in North America for financial strength and Number Three in the World suggests this is just one sign that National Bank has a commitment to grow this market.  As well, a realignment of priorities to fit the agriculture model will help to focus on agriculture.  A recent renovation at the Charlottetown Branch also shows the long term thinking behind the bank’s affirmation of support and success in Prince Edward Island. 

Gwyn Bellefontaine

Raw Milk vs Whole Milk

There has been for some time an issue regarding the sale of raw milk.  It is against the law to sell raw milk.  Raw milk just means that it hasn't been pasteurized, a quick heat treatment and cooling process that kills most bacteria in milk.  It's not about dirty milk, pasteurization doesn't clean the milk...if there is cow poop in the milk, then your milk will be brown.  It's about killing unsafe contaminants that can be spread to humans by drinking cows' milk. 


The usual disease culprit is that of tuberculosis, which can be contracted through raw cows' milk but with pasteurization, the bTB bacteria are killed and your milk is "safe" again.  Not all cows have tuberculosis.  In fact, tuberculosis in cows was eradicated in Canada in the 1950's through a major cull.


My point is not about tuberculosis, but more about the holistic ideals that "raw milk cures".  People swear that because they have been drinking raw milk, they have been saved from disease and their families are healthier.  That could well be, but do you think that maybe it's not because you are drinking raw milk but because you are drinking "whole" milk? 


Pasteurization is only done to kill bacteria and any type of contaminant that can be affected at temperatures of up to 77 degrees Celcius.  But because these people are drinking the natural product, straight-from-the-cow, raw milk, they are drinking whole milk that has probably four percent fat or higher.  When a cow is milked, she is producing an average 4% milk, not this reduced fat, pasteurized milk that you buy at the store.  When you go to the store and buy your 2% milk, 1%, or even skim milk, you are not getting the full fat milk that the cow produced at the farm.  The fat is reduced for your health conscious minds because you think you may get fat if you drink high fat milk.  Well did you think that maybe you might get healthy?


Maybe this raw milk issue would be a non-issue if processors sold pasteurized whole milk that we could all enjoy.  The CFIA inspectors would be happy because it would be safe to drink without fear of disease, farmers wouldn't have to go to jail because they are selling an illegal raw milk product, and you can lead a healthy, happy life because you know you are drinking natural whole milk the way the cow intended....just without possible disease contaminants

Time's up already?

Below was written a few weeks ago and I've left in all of the typing mistakes and added some corrections to show you that I can't type as fast as my mind will think.  I tell myself I want to be a writer but suffer from writer's block and perfectionist punctuation issues.  This is what came out...


Fifteen minutes a day...that's all it takes.  I'm supposed to just write about whatever is on my mind and just keep writing for 15 minuts.  I have too many thoughts for that and I cant't type that fast and it's hard to not stop for spelling mistakes because I am a wee bit of a perfectionist.  I'm already making mistakes and trying to change them.  Blank....still blank. I can't fix my mistakes. I...blamk.  All I can think abou is my run to the finihs line at the Johhnny Miles race.  I go tto the end near the end with about 1 km lef tand I had told Paula who was running with me the whole way that tmy plan was to get to the turn around pint and take our pace up a nothch to a 5:30 pace to finihs.  I didn't know if I could do it because I was tired tired tired and my legs the quads were feekking (feeling) klike they would lock up at any time,  Ihad thought earlier about hitting the wall and wondering if that happensd to half marathon runners.  I thought I couldn't do that becussd hat (because that) was only for marathoners and I'm not one so therefore I could not hit the wall. I wasn't even going to come close. I would not hit the  wall.  We were on trxack to hit a 2:10 half naarathon and we were going to do ti.  When we got the bridge and up the metal grate and under, i hit the huge pipe and a tall person might have to  duck for. Up we wen t onto the gracel (gravel) that took us onto the path along the river to our turn around opiutn (point).  That was hard.  my legs were burning.  I ran it though and took long steps and pucshe (pushed) it to hit the uphill with pride. Pauls (Paula) nad I ketp going, she was looking like more of a runner than I was and I was hoping that she wasn't being as negative in her mind as I was and I couldn't talk to her because I knew I waould say  soemthing negative which I didn't need to pass on to her.  We kept going and goping, eventually we saw my sister, Debbie and she was looking tiredbut still running liek a tropoper (trooper).  Shwe wasn' that far ahead of us, I deceided.  If I could keep thispace, I might even catch upt  ot her, especially if we can do our pace pick up after the turn around point.
When I finally saw rhat poster board, Paila was ahead of me by a few steps and we made the utrn and suddenly it was downhill.  Ok Paula, lets pick it up.  I realaly had to convince my self and as I examined my waych, I said to her with a pissed off voice that Shit we missed our 2:10 finish.  I had miscalculated oiur time.  Damn.  I was ready to quite and then Paula's little voice said that we were going to come close to oru 2:10.  for whatever reason, I believed her.  Not much of me but I was kicking myself inside for somehow missing a minute miscalculation a minute of the race. we had been so close but we really did each take  a pee break, and I had to stop many times for water breaks, weven ifg they were for only 15 seconds. It's not (like) we really stopped moving to have a drink.
My mind had to get off the negaticve thought so I needed to think about the finihs,. I needed to think about my training runs. How did I keep going when my sister and sister in law were biking beside me as I ran? I thought about mty dance pace so I started counting.  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.  this was my cadence.  it was a fast pace and I still can hear it in my head...1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.  I couldn't think of my legs, I couldn't look at anything but te fact taht I was crossing the line and Paula was a few steps behind me.  i wanted her to keep my pace but I couldn't push her to do it and I wasn't sure I could keep it up.  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.  Over the bridge and people were cheering me on.  i saw the lady ahead of me making the turn and someone told me that it was just a few more feet to the finsh.  I had to keep that pace through this last street.  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.  Just keep moving.  As I crossed the first mat, I then heard my name over the speakers.  GWYN BELLEFONTIAINE of th ISLAND GIRLS from Rpince Edward ISland.  he saidf my name right!  And he knew that I was one of the Island Girls!  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8!  I remembered to smile and I raiesed my arms in vicotry and crossed the finish line in stride with a huger smile.  I hope they got that picture because I do'nt really want t he agony to show. 
As i slowed to a walk, i strated to get dizzy and closed my eyes and let the man talk to me and someone put a red ribbon with a medal over my head.  He suggested I sit but there was no way I could sit at this point.  I heard Paula's name over the loudspeaker and inside I cheered her victory.  Not only that, I was grateful to her for getting me to the finihs line.  If I hadn't been running with her, I probably would have walked the whole thing and gave up like a spoiled rotten kid and sulked the whole way home.  Thanks again Paula.  Great race. 

turns out our final race times were 2:11:13 and 2:11:18.  Only a minute off our mark.  Only one pee break away, only 4 water breaks.  If only I could run with a full bladder or if only I wasn't telling myself that I was thristy.  I wasn't thirsty, I was tortallly hydrated from the previous night's drinking water. 

All's well though.  As disappointed as i think I am, I still finihsed my third half marathon in better time than ever, a personal best for me.  Now I just need to concentrate on the next run....Harvest Fest 25K, Here i come!!!

Agriculture and Forestry Day

Today I spent the day with hundreds of school children from grades 1, 2, and 3, teaching them how potatoes grow.

     I was running late for work and had to go to the bank so I called the office to let them know that I would be late. It seems that I was needed to be in early because I had been volunteered for something. My call was put through to the marketing guru and she tried to explain what was happening but really, I was just to get the stuff off my desk and get there by 9:30. On my way.  

     When I got to the office, I asked for directions to where I was to go and grabbed the posters and plant and bag of potatoes that were on my desk. When I got there, my table was empty and waiting for my arrival.

     It seems that the Potato Board was a part of a larger event with Ag Canada, Farm Safety, Forestry, 4-H, and others for an Agriculture and Forestry Education day being put on by the Agriculture Sector Council (of which I am the Chairman. Go figure that I’d be outta the loop on both counts.)

     I had a chance to glance at the information that I was to inform the students but I still really didn’t know what I was about to embark on. I couldn’t just read the information from the sheet so I paraphrased and learned to fit it all into the five minute window that I had the attention of each group.

     We started off by raising our hands if we had potatoes for supper last night. Usually about half of the group did. Then we discussed how they were cooked or prepared. Mostly mashed. Some had french fries, one or two were baked.

     Then I started with the potatoes that I had brought with me and asked what the little knobbily-bits were on the potatoes we had on display. Not very many of the kids knew what the eyes were and when I told them they were eyes, they all asked if potatoes can see. One little guy held up three fingers and asked the potato "how many fingers?"

     I told them how you can cut the potato into smaller pieces and keeping at least one eye on each piece will ensure the potato "seed" will grow to become a plant. I mentioned that the potato farmers are now on the fields with their newly cut potato "seeds" and planting the potatoes in the rows that they see in the fields on their way home.

     Then I told them that in about three weeks time, the potato with the eye will sprout and showed them a small potato plant growing in a glass-sided pot. I showed them the roots of the plant and how the roots grow down and look "fuzzy" and the leafy plant grows up.

     I then told the kids that when they are on summer vacation, the plants are still growing and showed them with my arms in a V-formation above the pot approximately how big the plant would get. I explained that a flower will grow from the plant, just like in their home garden and asked what colour the flower might be.

     Yellow was always the first colour chosen and I wonder what type of psychology is behind that choice. The next colour choices were pink or red. Pink is one of the answers I was looking for, that and purple and white because those are the colours that I have seen on the potato fields in my area.

     I used the flower pot with the clear window and held the small potatoes that I had brought with me against the glass to give the impression that the tubers were connected to the roots and explained that now was the time (after the flower fell off the plant) that the potatoes started to really grow. With this demonstration of holding the small potatoes against the glass of the flower pot, I told them that from July until October when most of PEI’s potatoes are harvested, the potato will grow "this much" and held up a large potato bigger than my hand. Their little eyes would bulge at the site of this big potato.

     My next question to the group was to see if they knew how many potatoes one plant could produce. I got a variety of answers from one potato to a hundred million. I told them that a plant would ususally produce about 10 potatoes (which I knew I could be completely wrong but figured from my two weeks of potato harvesting experience, I wasn’t far off). So, if one plant could make ten potatoes, how many potatoes can 10 plants make?  what about the row of potatoes the farmer plants and times 10 potatoes?  Now times all the rows in the fields?  MILLIONS of potatoes! 

     That was about the time the whistle blew and off they went to the next station and I repeated the whole story again with the next group.

     I could now tell you all about the children that stood in front of me and surrounded my table and how they interacted or behaved but that is probably something that parents and teachers already know. All in all, a good day.

The science behind the story I told:

     As I write this, I am concerned about whether I was actually telling the proper story of how a potato grows. You see, I just started working for the PEI Potato Board a few weeks ago and I was only hoping the anything I told these children was right. I totally relied on my two weeks of seasonal worker employment on a potato harvester last fall and all of my ag experience and education for this spur-of-the-moment exercise in what I term is my "forte", that being agriculture communications.

     So I went to ask the experts (Greg and Scott) in the office next door. I was wondering about the potato blossom and when the tuber actually starts to grow. At first I thought that maybe because of the flower, the tuber didn’t grow until the flower was done blossoming but as the day progressed I was questioning that theory.

     It turns out, I was wrong. The flower really has nothing to do with the tuber’s growth but they do occur on the plant at about the same time. The blossom is all about seed set and since seeds are not an important part of commercial production, the flower is meaningless. The potato starts from the eye, which produces a genetic clone of the original potato plant and seeds are produced based on pollination from other plants and are capable of cross pollination between varieties.

     I also learned that early potatoes are actually based on days to maturity of each variety rather than just going out to the field and digging up small potatoes. The Jemseg potato variety is a short season plant, in that it takes about 60 days to maturity. The Russett Burbank is a long season variety of about 120 days to maturity.

     You can still dig your potatoes early and it wouldn’t make a difference to the "ripeness" of the potato (I think) but if you want a specific size of potato, then that is based on days to maturity of the particular variety.

     I still have a whole lot of other questions but it would take me several pages to write all of the answers so as I learn, maybe I’ll share my knowledge.

    So, for Agr and Forestry Days, I hope the children learned something that they will take home with them and share their experience. Who knows, maybe one day, one of these kids will look back on their school outing as something very valuable. 

Technology Can't Motivate Like Friends Can

I'm almost ready to run a half marathon that I have been training for since April.  I did 19kms last weekend.  Turns out I was a little ahead of my training schedule because we were still on 17km but since I wasn't running with my group the past few weekends, I just went.  I had my sister and sister-in-law on their bicycles as my trainers on these last two runs and they were great motivation.  Mostly because they just talked away and I didn't have to partake in the conversation much and it was good to have them there for company.  I probably wouldn't have gone if they weren't coming with me.

I keep telling myself that I have a goal to run a 2hr half marathon one day but I'm not ready to hit that this time.  If I can bring my time down to a 2:10 half marathon, that's still going to be a personal best. My very first ever running event was a half marathon, which I would not recommend to anyone.  Start with a nice 5k event somewhere.  Anyway, my time for that run was 2:24 and change.  My second half marathon wasn't until almost 10 years later and my time was 2:14 and change.  I ran my 19k training last weekend in about 2:04 and that's including a talk break with a friend and her dog in the village, a pee break in the trees, and a bunch of walk breaks.  I say that it was about 2 hours and 4 minutes because we left my mother's place at 6:45 pm and when I stopped running it was 8:49 pm.

I was using my iPhone stopwatch as my timer and it even does laps but when we stopped to talk with a friend and her dog, I eventually remembered that my time was still running and I stopped the watch.  When we took off again, I started the stopwatch again but must have touched the reset button and it erased all of the previous time.  It was at about 42 minutes, I think.  When I finally made it to my imaginary finish line, the watch was at 1:21:40.6 but the actual time was 8:49 pm.

This weekend I'll run with my running group and use my Garmin for distance and time accuracy.  For whatever reason, I couldn't get the MapMyRun app on my iPhone to work properly and do all of the things that the Garmin does.  I think it's going to work tomorrow but that means I have to carry it again.  I will just because I want to know that it works and then I don't have to re-do the whole thing on the computer when I get back.

Well, it's time to stop drinking tea and start hydrating for the morning.  I should also think about a pasta dinner for some energy.  I need to charge my phone, my watch, and myself,  and then go meet my friends at 7 in the morning.

Until next time, have a great day.

Reichen's Story. Written by his Mom, Adrien

I am fortunate enough to have a great group of friends and we call ourselves runners. The Island Girls running group meets in Kensington, Prince Edward Island and we have just started our training for the Johnny Miles half marathon in mid-June. On Wednesday, April 6th, 2011, a Running Room store is opening in Charlottetown, PEI and as part of their Grand Opening, they are sponsoring a 2.5k and a 5k run/walk with all monies going to the IWK Childrens' Hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Adrien and Wayne have just run their first 10k race last weekend in a spring snowstorm as part of the W3 Wear Red race festivities.  Below is their IWK Story...Come join us on Wednesday evening to run/walk as far as you can and help the IWK help little children like Reichen.  

Why we LOVE the IWK - Reichen's story

by Adrien Bernard Sherry on Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 9:33pm

keywords: IWK, Isaak Walton Killam Childrens' Hospital, Halifax, Spina Bifida, 

Reichen was born with a "hole" in his back; it looked like a belly button.  We saw numerous doctors in Summerside but none of them knew exactly what it was, or if it was serious. UNTIL we saw Dr. Wong, one of the Paediatricians in Summerside.  He knew right away that it was something that required immediate attention.  He took pictures and emailed them to the neurology dept. at the IWK and we were sent for an MRI the next week.  Reichen was 7 weeks old for our first trip to the IWK to have his MRI.  The MRI was in the morning and we had an appointment with a pediatric neurosurgeon at 1pm to discuss the results.  

Dr. Dan McNeely, is one of the pediatric neurosurgeons at the IWK.  He told us that Reichen had Spina Bifida Occulta and Tethered Cord Syndrome.  Spina Bifida Occulta is the mildest form of Spina Bifida and referred to the hole in his back.  The hole was open all the way into his spinal column so he was had a major risk for meningitis and other infections.  Tethered Cord Syndrome was something they would NOT have seen without the MRI, but is quite common in children with Spina Bifida Occulta.  It meant that his spinal cord was attached (tethered) to his spine.  The spinal cord is supposed to float freely in the spinal fluid but his was attached/tethered.  The risk was that as Reichen grew the spinal cord would stretch and worst case scenario, break causing paralysis from the waist down.  We were terrified but Dr. McNeely and his nurse Coleen were so supportive and understanding.  Dr. McNeely pulled out his blackberry and said “We need to schedule surgery as soon as possible; I am available June 22nd or July 6th.”  It was amazing, there was no waiting for phone calls or letters, and we scheduled Reichens surgery right there for June 22nd. 

Dr. McNeely preformed Reichen surgery on June 22nd, Reichen was 9 weeks old.  The absolute hardest thing I have ever done was hand over my 9 week old baby to the surgeons, but they took such great care of him.  They were able to “un”tether his spinal cord and close the hole into his spinal column.  The surgery took about 5 hours.  Reichen was a trooper, he had to lay flat on his back in his bed for the first 48 hrs (very challenging for breastfeeding!) and needed pain medication but was a pretty happy little baby!

We were able to come home 4 days later, amazing! We returned in August for a check up and Reichen passed with flying colors. Every year we attend the spine bifida clinic at the IWK  where Reichen has an ultrasound and appointments with specialists who check to make sure everything is working properly.  At our appointment in 2010, they were so pleased with his progress that we got to skip a year!! 

We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful facility available to us.  Reichen is doing extremely well; he can do everything a normal 3yr old can do.  He is also fully potty trained!!  Bowel and bladder function were a concern in the beginning but he is doing just great!

This year we are celebrating Reichen’s success with his first ever 2.5km fun run on Wednesday April 6th. PLEASE JOIN US!!  The Running Room is opening in Charlottetown and they are having a fundraiser for the IWK.  EVERYONE is welcome, it is a family event.  There will be a 5km run/walk and a 2.5km run/walk.  Registration is $10 and 100% of that goes to the IWK.  PLEASE register for this event, if you can’t attend at least you made a donation to one of the BEST hospitals in the world!

Facebook Friends

Facebook can be a great thing and it can be a reason to wonder why you are attached to such people.  Then you realize that you can delete them from your life!

I am a "friend" of the Farm PEI facebook page and I think I am making an enemy of this guy/person, I'm assuming it's a guy but correct me if I'm wrong.  There have been a few posts that I read that I wonder what it has to do with farming in PEI and then there are posts that just slam agriculture and all its practices.  I replied to his post that maybe he shouldn't bite the hand that feeds him quite so harshly.

Well then the war was on.  I can't "un-friend" the guy, I can't delete the page because I feel like I am his devil's advocate, always seeing the good in agriculture and its farmers. I'm putting it on myself to inform the reader that all of what he is posting (mostly from American websites) is not truth.  In fact, I am going to contact a few scientists and ask some questions about the validity of the information he is linking to his facebook friends.  I'm also hoping that a few other "friends" will add their comments because there aren't many people replying to his posts, maybe because they are scared of the conspiracy theory?

I've made a few inquiries to the intention of the Farm PEI facebook owner but to no avail, yet. I don't mean to stop this person from bringing up some issues but let's see both sides of the argument.   I hope that if and when I do meet this person, he (she) will sit and have a beer with me and discuss farming in PEI, farming in Canada, farming in general, with a little less severity than is portrayed on the facebook page.

If you get to his facebook page, he seems to like music too.

Farm Technician Apprenticeship Program

   Friday, February 25th, 2011 marked a banner day in farming history with the first Blue Seal Certificates being awarded to five young men from Prince Edward Island, Canada.  The Farm Technician Apprenticeship Program is the only apprenticeship of its kind in Canada, combining on-farm experience with in-class training.

   Jeff Stewart, Basil Attwood, Chad Lawless, Kyle MacLeod and Lawrance Purdy are the first official Farm Technicians in Prince Edward Island, in Canada even.  Dr. Leslie MacLaren, Co-President of the Nova Scotia Agricultural College told them in her address that "you can now confidently call yourself a professional".

   This group of young men has spent the past three years in training for this program by attending 8 weeks of classroom learning with 10 months of log book skills upgrading.  The 8-week classroom sessions began with courses such as farm safety and preventative maintanence and in their third year of the program they learned about farm financial programs, attained their 3A Class licence, and endured intense courses regarding cropping systems and weed management.

   The Prince Edward Island Minister of Agriculture, George Webster, said to the group, "farm labour is not what it used to be" and went on to say that the farm labourer needs to be highly skilled and that "knowledge is the key to continuous progress."

   Sarah MacDonald, NSAC's Manager of Continuing Education said that adult learners have a strong connection  to what they are learning and it showed through their commitment to the program.  These five graduates of the Farm Technician Program "are leading the way for others to follow."

In my opinion, this program is exceptional.  I would offer up a few changes but on the whole, farming is now a job that needs a professional status.  There are so many skills needed to be a farmer or a farm worker in this century.  With the farming community reducing in size, what used to be considered common sense on the farm is now an unknown skill that needs to be taught, hence the need for an apprenticeship program.

Check out the link to the NSAC Press Release regarding the graduation of the first Blue Seal recipients of the Farm Apprenticeship Technician Program on February 25th, 2011:

 NSAC delivers educational component of unique farm apprenticeship program