August 2, 2026 • 9 mins
Our Canadian correspondent Greg Erickson catches up from Canada as the harvest season draws near.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is the muster justin Timberlake. Is the music this
Afternoon like I Love You, a song that featured on
the Love Actually soundtrack, one of the greatest movies that
ever come out. Greg Erickson joins us next. He's based
in Canada, farming just outside of Millet Millet in the
arable sector formerly avoid Moomoo. Good afternoon, Greg, how.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
SAgs, good things? Andy? Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
You're always good to catch up. So normally when we
speak to you, you're talking about the depths of winter
and how cold it gets, but you're finally seeing summer
or late summer vibes.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, we've had typically a bit of a wit summer
so far, but the last week or two has been
really nice and warm, thirty thirty degrees and a bit nice,
nice and humid and a little more around today. But
it's drying up slowly and hopefully it continues drawing up
as harvest the croats.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Any idea what your average rainfall will be there?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Oh, it's four hundred and fifty mills ish plus snowfall
snow melt.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So very similar to central the target.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, kind of kind of.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
And then they well, a lot of the rain is
centralized between sort of April and October, so that fall
and fiftwo Mills is really just in the growing season
and then the snow melt really just hopefully if you
get enough snow over the winter, it will mean your
your soils are saturated or at least wet or was
(01:34):
damp before seeding starts, so that you can have a
good season.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So how are the crops looking at the moment?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
They vary a little bit. So we've had because we
had quite a wet June. We had.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
We had some rough, some rough growing growing times in
certain areas, especially around Millet. If you go down sort
of half in our south where a lot of air
land is, it's looking really good. But right now it's
around here, it's it's looking like there's a lot of
standing water and paddocks and whatnot. So but where it's
(02:09):
where it's high areas, like the high parts of the ground,
it's it's looking like it'll be all right now.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Involve your job as organizing silage teams to go out
and about, and they seem to travel quite a fear
way around the province.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, yeah, so they and I I'm involved with.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
We have three silace crews and we have one goes
down to southern Alberta and then one go to Saskatchewan
and they do a couple of different walls, have different
feed lots owned by the same guy in Saskatchewan, and
in one of the crew sort of stays around the
Millet area, and yeah, we do a whole bunch of
(02:48):
lusern and a whole bunch of barley silage. And later
in the season we'll be doing the corn or the maze.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Tell me you don't tell me that you don't measure
the silage and bushels.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
No, no, solis, just don't, thank God.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
So we get the talage coming back into the equations.
So the whole metric imperial debate kicks off again, right.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
It does, yes, constantly.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
That's a subject for another day though, mate, we'll continue on. Look,
there's been a lot of talk with terriffs from President
Trump out of the US, but he's gone pretty hard
on Canada. Was it like fifty percent terrorifts that he
was trying to implement.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, so he's still I guess he's still upset that
the first terrorists got ki washed.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Anyway, so he's here.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
He did put fifty percent tariffs on a few things,
and it's not a huge issue so far. I think
I think Canada in general is kind of just well,
he's still talking and we're just ignoring him. So right
now everyone is just carrying on. There's not a real
big pushback.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
There's no angry words or retaliation. That's just let's just
carry on.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
So and the media and the likes. When he comes
out of these announcements, it hardly gets some ramur.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It gets a murmur on like other talk shows and
the news and all the rest of that stuff, but
it doesn't reverberate into everyday life. You don't hear anyone
talking about it anymore. Like when it first started, the
whole elbows up thing with Canada supporting Canadians, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
That was very big, But now you don't hear anything
of it.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
I remember you talking about that because it was the
uncertainty with everything going on, especially with the Iran conflict.
And we talk about the fuel situation in New Zealand.
Prices have rebounded as the war continues. You guys are
a bit more self sufficient, though, what are you saying
at the pump for prices at the moment.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Oh, pump prices of the pump now around dollar sixty.
They I'm sorry, dollars seventy. They went down quite a bit,
but yeah, they same as you. They bounce back up
in the last couple of weeks, but they were down
to a dollar thirty again, which.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Is a bit of relief. But yeah, they'll they'll stay
up and as long as the conflict continues.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And that's for a litera that's yes, not a gal on,
not a goon. Oh good, but I got that out of
the road. So how would you describe the mood of
the rural sector in Canada at the moment considering the
geopolitical situations that are being faced.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Pretty good? Yeah, pretty good.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
So because we have so we didn't have any rain
leading up until seeding, and then we still didn't get
any rain until the very end of seeding, and so
there's a lot of worry around. No one thought there
was going to be any crops and there we've had
a lot of rain, so that's packed up and everyone.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
That's gone away.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
And now the prices for wheat have resen and the
prices for beef have just kept climbing. So the sentiment
is pretty good at the moment.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So what's driving the arable market?
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Ah, that is a great question. I think it is
to do with drought out in like Ontario, et cetera.
And in Saskatchewan they haven't had a great year, and
so I think the prices have gone up due to
the volume not being as high as it could be.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Like nationwide problems with the cattle market in Texas due
to a couple of outbreaks of disease. Do you see
a spike in your market they're regarding beef.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Well, the market hasn't stopped spiking.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
It's it's been going up steady since or the last
eighteen months. And the news of the screw worm in
Texas and well, any sort of news at all this
results in the market going up. There is no no,
no news of the market dropping in any anyway. So
(06:47):
the cattle market is bonkers here, especially the beef market.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
So it's pretty buoyant times in the sector in general.
What about red for sheep as such the.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Lamb sheep, Ah, good luck finding any certainly, certainly good
luck finding a market.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
But there is virtually no sheep here. There's more sheep.
There'll be more sheep in Waymumu than there are in Alberta.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
That's a hell of a comparison, Greg, it.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Is, yes, because there's a a lot of dairy cows
in Oneman with these days.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Just finally, the Commonwealth Games have wrapped up. Has been
big news here, a lot of people saying it's not
resonating the same general truncated format, but in Canada you're
having to go online to even hear about it existing
in Canada. Let's remember as part of the Commonwealth in
a big way.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yes, yes, Canada is a very significant part of the Commonwealth.
Canada thinks it's quite important in the Commonwealth, and we
don't hear anything about the Games here virtually nothing, So
it is all any news updates I get are all
from my New Zealand media feeds and it's just as
(08:00):
just not a thing here now. Like you said, it
is a strange truncated format, so that may have something
to do with it, but I think it's part that
to do with sport here is I mean sport around
the world. It is very easy to get and so
that the Games has sort of taken a backfoot.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
So it's it fair to say the Calm Games in
Canada's not featuring Jude to streaming and all the options
available regarding sporting events.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I think.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
So it's also the middle of summer here, so people
aren't as or people are very busy, so they're not
as focused on the sport and everything else.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
They're all on holiday at the moment.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
So, and also in Canada at the moment, there is
the baseball playing like the American Baseball League is big
here because of the Toronto Blue Jays they considered Canada's team.
And also there is the Canadian Football League going on
at the moment, So there is no shortage of sport
(08:57):
here on at present. So the Comwealth Games haven't made
a dent.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Interesting, Greg, Hey, thanks to your time. As always, we'll
let your carry on and next time we catch up
it'll be into harvest mode. Appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah, not a.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Problem, Greg Erickson. Formerly avoid Moomy these days in Canada.
You're listening to the Muster. Before we wrap up, Logan
Severy of the Southern Tribune to talk a bit of
local sport.
This is the muster justin Timberlake. Is the music this
Afternoon like I Love You, a song that featured on
the Love Actually soundtrack, one of the greatest movies that
ever come out. Greg Erickson joins us next. He's based
in Canada, farming just outside of Millet Millet in the
arable sector formerly avoid Moomoo. Good afternoon, Greg, how.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
SAgs, good things? Andy? Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
You're always good to catch up. So normally when we
speak to you, you're talking about the depths of winter
and how cold it gets, but you're finally seeing summer
or late summer vibes.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, we've had typically a bit of a wit summer
so far, but the last week or two has been
really nice and warm, thirty thirty degrees and a bit nice,
nice and humid and a little more around today. But
it's drying up slowly and hopefully it continues drawing up
as harvest the croats.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Any idea what your average rainfall will be there?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Oh, it's four hundred and fifty mills ish plus snowfall
snow melt.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So very similar to central the target.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, kind of kind of.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
And then they well, a lot of the rain is
centralized between sort of April and October, so that fall
and fiftwo Mills is really just in the growing season
and then the snow melt really just hopefully if you
get enough snow over the winter, it will mean your
your soils are saturated or at least wet or was
(01:34):
damp before seeding starts, so that you can have a
good season.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So how are the crops looking at the moment?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
They vary a little bit. So we've had because we
had quite a wet June. We had.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
We had some rough, some rough growing growing times in
certain areas, especially around Millet. If you go down sort
of half in our south where a lot of air
land is, it's looking really good. But right now it's
around here, it's it's looking like there's a lot of
standing water and paddocks and whatnot. So but where it's
(02:09):
where it's high areas, like the high parts of the ground,
it's it's looking like it'll be all right now.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Involve your job as organizing silage teams to go out
and about, and they seem to travel quite a fear
way around the province.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, yeah, so they and I I'm involved with.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
We have three silace crews and we have one goes
down to southern Alberta and then one go to Saskatchewan
and they do a couple of different walls, have different
feed lots owned by the same guy in Saskatchewan, and
in one of the crew sort of stays around the
Millet area, and yeah, we do a whole bunch of
(02:48):
lusern and a whole bunch of barley silage. And later
in the season we'll be doing the corn or the maze.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Tell me you don't tell me that you don't measure
the silage and bushels.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
No, no, solis, just don't, thank God.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
So we get the talage coming back into the equations.
So the whole metric imperial debate kicks off again, right.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
It does, yes, constantly.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
That's a subject for another day though, mate, we'll continue on. Look,
there's been a lot of talk with terriffs from President
Trump out of the US, but he's gone pretty hard
on Canada. Was it like fifty percent terrorifts that he
was trying to implement.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, so he's still I guess he's still upset that
the first terrorists got ki washed.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Anyway, so he's here.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
He did put fifty percent tariffs on a few things,
and it's not a huge issue so far. I think
I think Canada in general is kind of just well,
he's still talking and we're just ignoring him. So right
now everyone is just carrying on. There's not a real
big pushback.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
There's no angry words or retaliation. That's just let's just
carry on.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
So and the media and the likes. When he comes
out of these announcements, it hardly gets some ramur.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It gets a murmur on like other talk shows and
the news and all the rest of that stuff, but
it doesn't reverberate into everyday life. You don't hear anyone
talking about it anymore. Like when it first started, the
whole elbows up thing with Canada supporting Canadians, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
That was very big, But now you don't hear anything
of it.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
I remember you talking about that because it was the
uncertainty with everything going on, especially with the Iran conflict.
And we talk about the fuel situation in New Zealand.
Prices have rebounded as the war continues. You guys are
a bit more self sufficient, though, what are you saying
at the pump for prices at the moment.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Oh, pump prices of the pump now around dollar sixty.
They I'm sorry, dollars seventy. They went down quite a bit,
but yeah, they same as you. They bounce back up
in the last couple of weeks, but they were down
to a dollar thirty again, which.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Is a bit of relief. But yeah, they'll they'll stay
up and as long as the conflict continues.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And that's for a litera that's yes, not a gal on,
not a goon. Oh good, but I got that out of
the road. So how would you describe the mood of
the rural sector in Canada at the moment considering the
geopolitical situations that are being faced.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Pretty good? Yeah, pretty good.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
So because we have so we didn't have any rain
leading up until seeding, and then we still didn't get
any rain until the very end of seeding, and so
there's a lot of worry around. No one thought there
was going to be any crops and there we've had
a lot of rain, so that's packed up and everyone.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
That's gone away.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
And now the prices for wheat have resen and the
prices for beef have just kept climbing. So the sentiment
is pretty good at the moment.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So what's driving the arable market?
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Ah, that is a great question. I think it is
to do with drought out in like Ontario, et cetera.
And in Saskatchewan they haven't had a great year, and
so I think the prices have gone up due to
the volume not being as high as it could be.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Like nationwide problems with the cattle market in Texas due
to a couple of outbreaks of disease. Do you see
a spike in your market they're regarding beef.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Well, the market hasn't stopped spiking.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
It's it's been going up steady since or the last
eighteen months. And the news of the screw worm in
Texas and well, any sort of news at all this
results in the market going up. There is no no,
no news of the market dropping in any anyway. So
(06:47):
the cattle market is bonkers here, especially the beef market.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
So it's pretty buoyant times in the sector in general.
What about red for sheep as such the.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Lamb sheep, Ah, good luck finding any certainly, certainly good
luck finding a market.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
But there is virtually no sheep here. There's more sheep.
There'll be more sheep in Waymumu than there are in Alberta.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
That's a hell of a comparison, Greg, it.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Is, yes, because there's a a lot of dairy cows
in Oneman with these days.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Just finally, the Commonwealth Games have wrapped up. Has been
big news here, a lot of people saying it's not
resonating the same general truncated format, but in Canada you're
having to go online to even hear about it existing
in Canada. Let's remember as part of the Commonwealth in
a big way.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yes, yes, Canada is a very significant part of the Commonwealth.
Canada thinks it's quite important in the Commonwealth, and we
don't hear anything about the Games here virtually nothing, So
it is all any news updates I get are all
from my New Zealand media feeds and it's just as
(08:00):
just not a thing here now. Like you said, it
is a strange truncated format, so that may have something
to do with it, but I think it's part that
to do with sport here is I mean sport around
the world. It is very easy to get and so
that the Games has sort of taken a backfoot.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
So it's it fair to say the Calm Games in
Canada's not featuring Jude to streaming and all the options
available regarding sporting events.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I think.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
So it's also the middle of summer here, so people
aren't as or people are very busy, so they're not
as focused on the sport and everything else.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
They're all on holiday at the moment.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
So, and also in Canada at the moment, there is
the baseball playing like the American Baseball League is big
here because of the Toronto Blue Jays they considered Canada's team.
And also there is the Canadian Football League going on
at the moment, So there is no shortage of sport
(08:57):
here on at present. So the Comwealth Games haven't made
a dent.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Interesting, Greg, Hey, thanks to your time. As always, we'll
let your carry on and next time we catch up
it'll be into harvest mode. Appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah, not a.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Problem, Greg Erickson. Formerly avoid Moomy these days in Canada.
You're listening to the Muster. Before we wrap up, Logan
Severy of the Southern Tribune to talk a bit of
local sport.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!