20th Feb 2012 Canadas’ weather Guru

Today I met with Ray Garnett, arguably Canadas’ guru when it comes to seasonal weather forecasting. Ray has been in the game a long time. He grew up on a farm and after studying in Winnipeg University he worked for the Canadian Wheat Board. Initially this was as a market analyst, but later when the Wheat Board could see the importance of knowing what their competitors crops were doing they set up a crop forecasting division. This allowed Ray to begin his work on researching climate teleconections. He has identified 170 different ones but has narrowed this down to five that have the biggest affect on the Canadian prairie weather. His is also convinced that there is a strong connection between cyclical Solar activity and our weather including the current perceived “Climate Change”. He holds greater concern that we are entering a phase of  solar induced “Global Cooling” which will have a much greater affect on production than global warming. Global cooling historically has seen the contraction of a large number of societies across the ages.

Left to Right; Myself, Rex Newkirk(CIGI), Ray Garnett

 Rays used his connections in the wheat industry to organise a tour of Canadian International Grain Institute (CIGI). This organization has among other things the role of analyzing the yearly milling and baking performance of all grain varieties before they are exported. It also works on developing new uses for Canadian grain products, educating farmers and customers on the products, and running research milling and baking to diagnose reasons for customer problems and complaints. Previously most off it’s funding came from the Canadian Wheat board, however with deregulation, their contribution has been replaced by a grower levy.

Facilities to test noodle qaulity

State of the art educational facilities at CIGI

We also visited the Prarie & Atlantic Storm Research Centre. The centre monitors storm development across the province of Manitoba and is charged with informing the public and government agencies. One particularly interesting thing I found was that they allow each of the employees time in their schedule to research a topic of their choice and then to present their paper. This has resulted in some really valuable research for the organisation.

Dale Marciski showed us through the Prarie & Atlantic Storm Research Centre

In the evening Ray organised a dinner meeting with John Duvenaud. John provides an Information brokerage services. His business among other things produces a market newsletter for Canadian farmers.