Rail movement picks up as harvest operations starts to wind down

Sep 26, 2023

David Przednowek, assistant vice-president of grain for CN Rail, says now that we're looking towards the end of September and early October, that's always going to be full run rate.

"It's certainly coming a little bit faster than we would have been projecting based on our customer demand forecast. Now saying that, our volumes have ramped up quite a bit here in grain shipment, week six and seven, which are the first two weeks of September. We averaged 600,000 tonnes of shipments of grain and processed grain products, that compares to maybe 425,000 tonnes in the previous two weeks."

He notes if you go back to grain shipping week four and five, which would be the middle of August, that was only around 325,000 metric tonnes.

Przednowek says with the volume of grain they pick up, in order to be prepared they rely on the customer demand forecast as they start pulling cars and locomotives out of storage to meet that need.

Another key need of course is staff and over the last few months CN has been furiously hiring more people.

He says a key push to hire more staff centers around the Federal Government's regulatory changes relating to work-rest rules for freight railway companies which came into effect in May of 2023.

"As we took a look at what the potential impacts of that would be, besides the fact that you're still in this job market, which is the tightest in 60 years and you've got a lot of baby boomers exiting the workforce. On top of that, you've got changes in work rest rules that you know modeling it out before you see the rules come into effect in May of 2023. You're expecting that hundreds of more people will be required to do the same amount of work, as would have been done prior to those changes in the work-rest rules taking place."

He notes while they've been planning and working towards that, what actually happens out in the field can look quite different than what you anticipate.

To hear Glenda-Lee's interview with David Przednowek click on the link below.

Source : Pembinavalley online

Video: From Conventional to Regenerative: Will Groeneveld’s Journey Back to the Land

"You realize you've got a pretty finite number of years to do this. If you ever want to try something new, you better do it."

That mindset helped Will Groeneveld take a bold turn on his Alberta grain farm. A lifelong farmer, Will had never heard of regenerative agriculture until 2018, when he attended a seminar by Kevin Elmy that shifted his worldview. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a deep exploration of how biology—not just chemistry—shapes the health of our soils, crops and ecosystems.

In this video, Will candidly reflects on his family’s farming history, how the operation evolved from a traditional mixed farm to grain-only, and how the desire to improve the land pushed him to invite livestock back into the rotation—without owning a single cow.

Today, through creative partnerships and a commitment to the five principles of regenerative agriculture, Will is reintroducing diversity, building soil health and extending living roots in the ground for as much of the year as possible. Whether it’s through intercropping, zero tillage (which he’s practiced since the 1980s) or managing forage for visiting cattle, Will’s approach is a testament to continuous learning and a willingness to challenge old norms.

Will is a participant in the Regenerative Agriculture Lab (RAL), a social innovation process bringing together producers, researchers, retailers and others to co-create a resilient regenerative agriculture system in Alberta. His story highlights both the potential and humility required to farm with nature, not against it.