May 2009 Archives

Growing degree days for everywhere outside southern Alberta are way lower than normal. The maps here show the growing degree days (GDD) for this year (top map) versus the normal (bottom) levels for April 1 to May 25. Click on them to enlarge. Prince Albert, Sask., for example was at 72 to 92 GDD as of May 25. Normal is 122 to 144. Morden, Man., was at 113 to 133 when normal is 214 to 236.

These maps are based on a GDD Base 5 reading. That means it doesn't start counting until average temperatures reach 5°C for the day. To calculate a GDD, add the high and the low and divide by two to get an average.  For example, if the high is 15°C and the low is 1°C, add them to get 16 then divide by 2 to get 8 GDD for that day. Thanks to Trevor Hadwen, agroclimate specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, for providing the maps and explaining them. See more maps at  AAFC's Drought Watch page.

This confirms what we already know. It has been a cool spring. And that means crops emerge slowly. The Canola Council of Canada's Canola Watch No.4, issued this week, says:

"The number of days to 50% germination is a useful benchmark as the first half of plants to emerge usually accounts for the majority of crop yield. Research has shown much lower and slower canola germination at low temperatures. Soil temperatures above 5°C have little effect on the time to 50% germination, however the number of days to 50% germination increases dramatically at temperatures below 4°C (with germination taking as long as 9 days at 3°C or over 12 days at 2°C)."

Flea beetle protection running out

Canola Watch also warned farmers to watch for flea beetles. With such slow emergence, seed treatments to protect young canola plants from flea beetles have used up a lot of their usefulness before the plants break through the soil surface. The CCC report says:

"Entomologists warn that flea beetle pressure will intensify in the coming days, especially if the warm temperatures predicted arrive. Seed treatment protection starts when the seeds are first put into the soil (not when the plant emerges). As a result, protection may be tapering off in some of the earliest seeded fields. As canola emerges in the coming days, be prepared for significant flea beetle activity. Scout thoroughly and often as canola is most vulnerable to flea beetle feeding at the cotyledon to two-leaf stage.

"If flea beetles are present, check affected fields daily as problems can escalate quickly, especially if canola plants are growing slowly or are under stress. Be prepared in case additional control measures are required. The economic threshold for flea beetle control is when 25 per cent or more of the cotyledons are damaged. If 25 per cent defoliation is reached, foliar insecticide application may be needed if plants are growing slowly or are under stress, and if beetle feeding activity is increasing.

"Evidence of feeding does not automatically mean spraying is warranted. Unwarranted spraying can cause harm to beneficial insects and can also contribute to the development of insecticide resistance. With current seed treatments, flea beetles must feed on leaf material and ingest the insecticide for control so some feeding damage is normal. Flea beetles make their way into canola crops from the edges of fields. By catching a problem with flea beetles early, producers can often spray the perimeter of their fields and stop the infestation before it becomes widespread.  Growers are advised to be particularly careful in areas that saw high flea beetle populations around swathing time last fall as this can be used as an indicator for spring pressure. These areas include: Lethbridge, Alberta; Vauxhall, Alberta; St. Albert, Alberta; parts of southern Saskatchewan; and south central Manitoba.

The report also provided this links for more information on flea beetles:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops/insects/fad09s00.html
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops/insects/fad52s00.html
http://www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/Default.aspx?DN=3eb86279-cec4-4718-b3a6-9b7e71736bf2
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/faq8031

I listened to a few of the BBC's Farming Today radio programs this afternoon. Here are a few highlights:

—A huge greenhouse project is going up in Kent in southeast England. Thanet Earth will have seven greenhouses, the biggest being 25 acres under one roof. Total greenhouse capacity for the project will be 125 acres. I went to the website for more details. Thanet Earth on its own will add 15 per cent to the "salad" vegetable production in the U.K., but as one commentator said, that still represents only three or four per cent of total consumption. The U.K. imports most of its produce.

Backers of the project are Fresca Group — the U.K.'s largest privately-owned fresh produce supplier — and three large "salad growing specialist" companies. The site will produce three crops: tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. One million plants in total.

Plants will grow in nutrient-rich water. They will be watered little and often, which is apparently better for the plant than one a day in larger quantities. The plants will not grow in soil because there are too many diseases and too many pests in soil.

The project will require 500 employees. And because it will boost local production, there has been a "huge amount of interest from retailers and consumers," said one spokesman on the YouTube video at the Thanet Earth website.

—The tight market is encouraging turkey producers in the U.K. to produce smaller birds — as small as four kg (or around nine pounds.) One company is actually splitting five kg birds in half, and retailing 2.5 kg halves. I think that's a great idea. For one thing, with a half, you get all the parts, including the dark meat, which I prefer. If I could buy half a fresh turkey in Safeway, I'd probably eat turkey more than twice a year.

—The British Health and Safety Executive is encouraging pig barn workers to wear ear protection. During feeding time, the noise can reach 100 deciBels, the report says, which is equivalent to a chainsaw.

—The May 12 episode has a report about the British Wool Board, which sounds a lot like the Canadian Wheat Board. British sheep farmers with more than four sheep have to sell their wool through the board UNLESS they are exporting it directly or processing it themselves. The Farming Today reporter asked, "This sounds like a fairly old system. Is it really still viable when you can have an individual farmer selling direct?"

The report also noted that world wool prices are extremely low. It often costs more to shear the wool than the wool is worth. 

I can't make it to every field day across the Prairies, so the least I can do is help spread the word. If you're in a grower group or a seed retailer or with a government-funded agency, you're probably planning a summer plot tour. Send me the details — including plot details, directions, time and date, and a contact person —  and I'll post them on my blog. 

Lee Hart wrote a short piece for Grainews about the Chinook Applied Research Association (CARA) field day July 8.

Here are the details:

About 25 different field-scale and research plot size trials have been established on farmland near Chinook, which is east of Hanna along Highway 9. Most of the plots, seeded in late April, compare a variety of fertilizer or nutrient treatments on hard red spring wheat. There are side-by-side comparisons of seed and foliar treatments with products such as Omex micronutrients, Alpine phosphate enhancement product, and Power Rich micronutrients and foliar fertilizers.

There is also a compost demonstration sites, and CARA has established some disease demonstration sties. Along with the research trials, there will be several speakers available during the day, including Rod Whitfield, vice president of the Royal Bank of Canada, Dan Hawkins with FarmLink Marketing Solutions, and Brent Tarasoff, agrologist with Field Quest Consulting of Red Deer. 

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Location: 4.5 kilometres (three miles) west of Chinook and one-half kilometre south. Lunch is available on site. There will be signs. For more information contact CARA at 403-664-3777.

The photo, from Richard Pitman of the Hanna Herald, shows students from area high schools at an April 29 field day to seed plots for the July 8 event. 

         It seems many farmers across the Prairies are wondering if a large shed is the answer to their grain storage shortages. I talked today with Greg Stamp from Stamp Select Seeds of Enchant, Alta., who keeps overflow and uncleaned seed in a huge potato storage shed. The family doesn't grow potatoes anymore, but they've got this 100 by 120 foot shed that they now use for seed.

They divide the shed into smaller storage areas using concrete blocks to build temporary and moveable walls. They have an alley down the middle for the loader. Greg actually uses a row of mini-bulk bags -- filled with seed or fertilizer -- with stacks of concrete blocks on either side to provide a serious buffer between seed lots. He says someone storing grain wouldn't have to go that far. Just a stack of concrete blocks would be enough.

The Stamps use a Case skid steer loader to move seed from inside the shed to an auger at the door. The loader isn't big enough to dump directly into the back of a semi, but it fits up and down the central alley and into each storage area with ease.

Greg says they use the shed for extra capacity. Their first choice for convenience and separation of seed is a row of Wheatland hopper bottom bins. I asked if he would put up a grain storage shed if he didn't already have the old potato storage shed handy. "I would consider it," he says. It could be used for machinery storage after the grain is removed. And on one occassion, Viterra paid the Stamps a fee to store 3,000 tonnes of urea in the shed. A shed can be used for many other uses besides just grain.

Update from the field

The Stamps are done seeding except for one field. They got started in late April, seeding into better than usual moisture. They had good seeding weather through early May. The only reason they're not already done is that they were waiting on some more "Go" CWRS seed. "We expect Go to overtake Superb in areas with good moisture and high fertility," Greg says. That's high praise since the Stamps also grow Superb and have had some very good results with it. 

I was at the Manitoba Food Processors Association conference yesterday, and heard Dana McCauley speak about food trends. One trend she noted is the rise in hamburgers, particularly gourmet hamburgers. With the economy down, people aren't eating steak and lobster as much, but they will splurge on a special hamburger. Well known TV chef Bobby Flay has a new hamburger joint called Bobby's Burger Palace with locations in New York and New Jersey. McCauley also says the founder of Quiznos has a new chain called Smashburger. I love hamburgers -- loaded hamburgers with toasted buns and lots of cheese -- so this new trend suits me fine.

Other trends from McCauley's talk:

—Local food is still hot. She talked about Ontario's Foodland Ontario logo that recognizes local food. Farmers' markets continue to get more popular.

—Provenance. Where is the food from and who grew it? Loblaws/Superstore is featuring faces of farmers on some chicken packages. McCauley showed a egg carton from Tesco's in the U.K. It contained six free-range eggs from three different chicken breeds. The package showed photos of each breed and an explanation of where they came from.

—Recipes are a good way to promote a product. This isn't a new idea. I know the canola, pulse, pork and beef producer groups are good at this. With the trend to more home cooking, McCauley suggests you keep this going.

—She listed nutrients and food content of concern, as rated by Canadians, starting with the most important: Whole grains, fibre, protein, total fat, calories, sugar, vitamins and on and on. Carbohydrates were a ways down the list, which shows the Atkins Diet craze has faded.

She had many more trends, but that's enough for now. I will touch on others in upcoming issues of Grainews or later on this blog.

I'm writing an article for the June issue of Grainews on storing grain in a multi-purpose building. The translucent tarp-topped sheds are one option. With a concrete bottom and sides, they provide a clean dry place for surge capacity. Then when you empty the grain, you can store machinery or bales or dry fertilizer inside. I got this photo from Cover-All, one manufacturer of these buildings.

Many European farmers use flat-bottomed sheds for all their on-farm grain storage. They scoop out the grain with loaders. I'm sure an auger and bin sweep is more efficient, especially for a very large building like the one in this photo. But I'd like to hear from farmers who use multi-purpose buildings to store grain. What are the benefits? What are the down sides? Email me your thoughts or post a comment. 

Popular Mechanics magazine had an article in its May 2009 issue titled, "50 tools everyone should own." The magazine posted the whole article on its website. It's not only the list itself that makes the article great. It's the detail. The author, Logan Ward, explains what size or variety of each tool you should own  and provides useful tips on how to use each tool.

For example, he writes that you can use a centre punch (No.2 on the list) to "tighten a loose handle on a knife or shovel by centering the punch on the rivet and then firmly striking it with a ball-peen hammer, expanding the rivet’s head."

Ward also includes lots of great history. For spray lube (No. 25), he included a short history of WD-40. "The name stands for Water Displacement 40th attempt, since it took inventor Norm Larsen, founder of the Rocket Chemical Company in San Diego, 40 tries to find a formula to stop metal corrosion by displacing the water that causes it. WD-40 removes adhesive, cleans bike parts, stops squeaks and loosens rusted bolts. And it has a few more unusual applications: Police once used it to remove a naked burglar stuck in an a/c vent."

Here is his advice for buying an extension cord (No.50): The minimum spec for most DIYers should be a 14-gauge cord rated for 15 amps. But a 12-gauge cord is better, and a 10-gauge contractor-quality cord better still, because it ensures minimum voltage drop along its length.

The average farm shop will have most if not all of the tools on the list, but you'll have fun reading the article — and you'll probably learn something useful.

Frank Campbell with AgriConnect says he has people ready and willing to help out on farms across Western Canada this spring. If you would like someone to help for a week or a month or whatever, go to Farmsitters at www.agriconnect.com. Click on "Request a farmsitter" and fill out the form.

Or if you want to be a "farmsitter," fill out the "Become a farmsitter" form.

Campbell says he has 200 people in the database right now. This includes people right across Canada with skills to run a drill or a combine. Or if you just want someone to stay in your house and feed the animals while you're on a holiday, the Farmsitter database has people to do that, too.

         As it says on the AgriConnect website, "There are countless landowners in the Canadian Western Provinces who need help, and there are people out there willing to help. The problem is, there has been no formal way to link them up. Until now."

Syngenta guarantees a yield boost from its Cruiser Maxx seed treatment for cereals. In a news release, Colin Bletsky, seed care sales manager with Syngenta Crop Protection Canada, says,  “Regardless of pest pressure, independent trials and scientific research indicate that growers are likely to see a significant return on their seed care investment, through improved stand, increased plant health and higher yields.  When pests are present the results can be even more dramatic."

To qualify...

Cereal growers from Western Canada who qualify for the guarantee program are required to plant at least 160 acres of wheat or barley, with a minimum of 10 acres of untreated seed and the rest with seeds treated with Cruiser Maxx Cereals. Yield from the treated and untreated areas will be harvested separately using a yield monitor or weigh wagon to measure the results.

Syngenta guarantees that participants will see a minimum 1.5 bushel per acre yield increase with the treated seeds versus the untreated seeds.  Any grower who doesn’t experience at least a 1.5-bushel yield increase will be reimbursed for the cost of the Dividend XL RTA portion of the Cruiser Maxx Cereals seed treatment up to a maximum of $5,000. Participation is limited.