How long will tough canola last in bags?

A northeast Saskatchewan blog reader has a lot of canola left to harvest and it's still damp. He'd like to put it into big plastic bags — you know those 10,000 bushel bags we've written about in Grainews — and wonders how long canola at 14 per cent moisture will last in these oxygen-free environments.

The farmer writes:  "We have put very tough oats and barley into grain bags before, and it has kept alright for short periods.... We are thinking that keeping the air out of the canola should work similarly to how it does with cereals, which is that it will keep it from spoiling, but we aren't real sure.

"Being able to bag (the canola) in the field would give us a small hope of getting it all done this fall if weather straightens up. If it needs to get to a bin in our mudhole of a yard, it simply won't get done."

Please email me if you have suggestions.

Feedback on my GPS guidance blog of Oct. 27

On October 27, I asked the question: In hilly land, you can have the most accurate signal at the tractor, but if your implement doesn't follow in line, what's the point of spending all that money? 

This prompted the following response from a western Saskatchewan farmer: 

It's embarrassing to feel shame when you speak out against technology. Unfortunately that is the way it is. If you don't have autosteer, you're nobody. I am a young 35-year-old farmer that believes in zero till and has a fairly up-to-date farm. I even hate the wheat board (lol). My point is, I am not backwards and yet see GPS as a giant we don't need in agriculture.

What about just good, old fashioned, steering the tractor down the field. If people farmed less land and didn't need huge drills, it is still possible. I have a 40-foot drill and I will put myself up against any GPS system up hills, down hills, along hills, and on flat ground. I can drive it straight, without overlap or misses and I can react as I need on hillsides and so on.  Famers used to have the name of being able to drive really well. Now they can't even combine if their autosteer is not working. I think it's time to step back and take a look at the huge barrel technology has put us over and remember that we can still drive. Instead of being in the back pocket of yet another huge, multinational corporation, that, once you buy their product, you need to keep coming back for upgrades for, you can be driving your tractor down the field free of charge.

I'm all for getting the best out of my land and growing the best crop I can cheaply, but that includes not spending money to do a job I can do — steering. How hard is it to hold the wheel and turn it a bit one way or the other as you go down the field? I don't feel any worse at the end of a long day. I think it would be absolutely boring, to the point of falling asleep and causing a wreck, to have my tractor driven for me.

If you want to use this in a story feel free, I just don't want my name on it.