January 2010 Archives
Dave Wreford, my editor in my Country Guide days, was in Miami, Florida last week for the Pan American Weed Resistance Conference. He's "retired," but still busy. He was in Miami covering the event for the daily "show news" email newsletters we often do. Incidentally, Grainews field editor Lee Hart is in Edmonton right now doing show news reports from Farm Tech 2010.
Click here for all of Dave's reports from Miami. I've pasted one of his reports, below, titled "Resistant weeds surge on the Prairies."
Dave's article:
Field surveys from 2001 to 2003 found herbicide resistant weeds on 20 per cent of cultivated land across Western Canada. However, a random survey of 300 fields in Alberta in 2007 indicated that wild oats resistant to Group 1 herbicides had jumped to 39 per cent of fields in that province, up from 11 per cent six years earlier. Those numbers suggest rapid spread.
That was only part of the bad news in Hugh Beckie's presentation at the Bayer CropScience weed resistance conference in Miami, Fla. this week.
The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada weed scientist also reported that Group 2 resistance had been identified in 19 weed species, including economically important weeds such as wild mustard, chickweed, spiny annual sow thistle, Russian thistle, bindweed and cleavers. And "all kochia populations" can now be considered group 2 resistant, he said. "This is a weed that's really on the move."
The bad news continues. Although still low, reports of weeds with multiple (Group 1 and Group 2) resistance are increasing. Beckie has had reports of growers having to re-spray wild oats with Group 1 and 2 products, and getting control with neither. Some of these plants also appear to be resistant to Avenge and Avadex.
Beckie, who works for AAFC in Saskatoon, blamed the popularity of Group 1 and 2 herbicides for their developing problem with weed resistance. Cereal growers, he explained, have relatively few options for in-crop control of grassy weeds. And since cereals are the most widely grown Prairie crops, use of these two herbicide groups has been heavy since their introduction about 30 years ago. At that time, before introduction of herbicide tolerance technology, they were also widely used in canola.
The good news is that in Western Canada, weed resistance to herbicides with other modes of action remains low (phenoxies) or nonexistent (glyphosate and glufosinate).
Beckie sees no magic bullets for grain growers caught in a Group 1/2 resistance bind. To the extent possible, he suggests crop and herbicide rotations. Also worth considering: herbicide mixtures, rotation to herbicide-tolerant canola, spot control (patch management), and maybe even a return to the old residual products such as Avadex and trifluralin.
Recent research, he adds, indicates that herbicide mixtures are more effective than rotations in mitigating herbicide resistance evolution in weeds.
Wes Woods, Saskatchewan marketing rep for SeCan, called with a warning about unloading those large grain storage bags with a grain vac. He knows of two farmers on the Prairies who were “shrink wrapped” when they were working inside the bag with the nozzle end of the grain vac. The empty bag closed around the hose at the open end and the vac quickly sucked all the air out of the cavity. Quick thinking in both cases saved the men from suffocation. One man gnawed a breathing hole in the bag with his teeth. That’s pretty heavy plastic, so it took a lot of chewing. The other guy managed to extract a jackknife from his pocket and slice a small breathing hole.
Grain vacs are not the recommended extraction tool. The baggers have their own extractor. They cost as much as a grain vac, so if you’ve already got the vac, one can understand the temptation to use your vac for the job. But for goodness sake, be careful. “New vacs are much more powerful than old ones on the market,” Woods notes.
He also warns growers who have stored out-of-condition grain in the bags to check them regularly for spoilage. Just like a silage bale in plastic, wet grain will ferment in the oxygen-free environment. “Are baggers cost efficient in the long run?” Woods asks. “With bags full of varying quality product — tough, hot — this winter, we are all about to learn a lot more about the systems.”
Do you have personal close calls with bags? Do have tips about making these bags work better? Please email me and I'll share your comments with Grainews readers.
Allana Minchau, from a cow-calf ranch in Alberta, is working at a large dairy near Culverden, New Zealand for six months. She's there on an Agriventure through the International Agriculture Exchange Association (IAEA). She is writing regular reports for Grainews. Below is her latest, which she tried to send a few weeks ago. It finally got through to me last week.
In the photo are Allana in the back row at the right. Beside her is another Agriventure traveler, Mette Andersen from Denmark. The others are Allana’s host family: Emlyn and Hilary Francis and their three children, Isaac, Annie, and Lewys, in front.
Allana writes:
As the temperature continues to illuminate the New Zealand summer, I can only think of how differently the New Zealand Christmas is compared to a Canadian one. the Instead of winter parkas, toques, gloves, scarves and of course the cold of home, New Zealand Christmases include shorts, t-shirts, baseball caps, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Oh yeah, and gum boots. One constant on a New Zealand dairy farm is the gum boots. In rain or shine, when you are milking 1,200 cows, you will not want to be stepping in their feces with your shoes.
To celebrate the Christmas season with their staff, Hilary and Emlyn hosted a barbeque and clay bird shooting in between the morning and afternoon milkings. I needed the target practice and it created a good competitive spirit. It was indeed rewarding the first time I saw the flying orange disk burst into bits!
As all rancher and farmers know, livestock do not take the holidays off therefore milking continued as usual, although we started later in the afternoon. In addition, many farms around us were silaging up to Christmas day as we are in the middle of their summer here. In New Zealand, everyone has their large meal in the afternoon, and then for evening tea they have cold meats. Spuds, strawberries, cherries and peas are the tastes of a New Zealand Christmas as they are all fresh for the season.
Although Christmas didn’t feel the same as a Canadian one, it was still fantastic to experience Christmas in Kiwi style. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone back home! Till next time, Allana.
Andy Sirski, former editor of Grainews and regular contributor on the topic of off-farm investing, has two speaking engagements coming up.
First is January 29, in the morning, at the Beef Seminar in Teulon, Manitoba. His topic wiil be how he sees the beef industry going forward and how cattle producers might be able to use the Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) to create tax free cash flow and build wealth.The plan is for Andy to hang around for most of the day to answer questions from indivivduals.
Then on February 24, Andy will speak at the Foothills Forage Day in High River, Alta. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. with one speaker talking about risk management. After that, Andy will discuss how investments can fit into the long term plans of most farmers, young or old. He will discuss the Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) in detail and how he manages his investments. The meeting will be held at the Highwood Memorial Centre. Call 1-403-652-4900 to book lunch. Everyone is welcome.
This was a first. On Tuesday at Crop Week in Saskatoon I got to photograph nine beautiful young women. It was a nice change from my usual subjects: tractors, blighted wheat kernels and middle-aged balding men.At Saskatchewan Pulse Growers' meeting, Syngenta hosted the "Raising Pulses" fashion show. Rebecca Krip, marketing and communications specialist with Syngenta in Saskatoon, was the MC. The fashion show was a fun way to remind farmers where their pulse exports go, Krip says. Designers at Saskatoon's Academy of Fashion Design made dresses — with pulse crop decorations — to represent nine key markets for Saskatchewan pulses.
Designer Suzie Berdkan, a second-year student at the school, modeled her dress on the United Arab Emirates theme. She's second from the left in the top photo. I've included a close up of her dress design, which includes glued-on kidney beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas.
Kaitlyn Beek, in the hat, designed her outfit to represent Algeria. Jessica Moneo and Samantha Carnduff helped with the design.
While Krip introduced each model, she said which country the dress represented, what Canada exported to that country, and what the people of that country did with the pulses. Here's an overview with the model's name in brackets:
Algeria (Kaitlyn Beek) 96 per cent of Algeria’s lentil imports come from Canada. Popular Algerian pulse dishes include chickpea cakes, potato and chickpea salad and Harira — a lamb a chickpea stew.
China (Kayle Bodener) Since 2006 China has imported more than $207 million worth of Canadian pulses. 94 per cent of China’s dry pea imports come from Canada. Chinese use pulses in sweet bean soup, stir-fry’s and vegetable curries.
Columbia (Megan Burns) Since 2006 Columbia has imported more than $141 million worth of Canadian pulses including dry peas, lentils and chickpeas. Two of this country’s most popular pulse dishes are Frijoles (refried beans) and Lechona — pork stuffed with peas, onions and rice and cooked in a brick oven for 10 hours.
India (Paige Englot) In 2008 alone India spent over $422 million on Canadian pulses including dry peas, lentils and chickpeas. Indians use pulses in many vegetarian options including chickpea curry, garlic lentils and vegetable korma — a dish that includes vegetable, peas and lentils in a mildly-spicy cream sauce.
Spain (Samantha Carnduff) Since 2006 Spain has imported more than $157 million worth of Canadian pulses, using lentils in soup and pilaf — a healthy and popular dish made from lentils, rice and onions.
United Kingdom (Samantha Workman) Since 2006 the UK has imported nearly $150 million dollars worth of Canadian pulses, with much of this spent on dry beans and chickpeas. British pulse dishes include split pea soup and a popular breakfast, beans on toast.
United Arab Emirates (Suzie Berkdan) UAE is a growing market for Canadian pulses, which are used to make hummus — a chickpea and sesame sauce — and lentil soup.
United States (Jessica Moneo) The U.S. spent nearly $130 million on Canadian dry peas, chickpeas and dry beans over the past three years.
Canada (Dakota Ballantyne) Canada is the world's leading pulse exporter, accounting for 83 per cent of the world’s total exports. Each year Canada produces close to five million tonnes of pulses, mostly in Saskatchewan, and exports to over 150 countries. In 2008 sales from lentils, peas, mustard and canary seed added up to approximately $1.9 billion.
I'm at Crop Week in Saskatoon this week. I spent part of Monday at Saskatchewan Flax Development Council's meeting at the Saskatoon Inn. The fiasco of GM Triffid surfacing in flax shipments to Europe was a big topic, obviously. It looks like growers will be asked to use only certified seed in 2010 and provide proof at delivery of the crop that their seed was tested to be Triffid-free.
Canada's flax industry has to get Triffid out of the system for good. For 2009 production, all growers must test their flax before it can be delivered. Only Triffid-free flax can go to Europe. If you have a bin test positive for Triffid, the flax industry says it will work with you find an alternative market.
David Sefton (in the photo) farms at Broadview, Sask., and is a director with Saskatchewan Flax Development Council. He encourages growers to visit the SaskFlax website for updates and instructions on how to deal with Triffid. And on February 1 at 1:00 p.m. and again February 2 at the same time, flax growers can listen in on a Triffid conference call. Call 1-800-610-9767 and tell the operator you
want to participate in the "Flax Industry Update Call." It's free and all are welcome.
On the call you will hear from Flax Council of Canada, flax seed testing labs, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, and Viterra representing the flax trade. You will have a chance to ask questions.
Mark Horvath from Guy, Alta., finally cashed in his Agricore United shares. He reminds other shareholders that if you haven’t cashed in your old shares, don’t forget.
"Farmers dig out those Agricore United share certificates and cash them in," he says. Common shares are worth $20.50. Preferred shares are $24.57. The company Computershare has the task of holding and distributing money for outstanding certificates.
“Being an average sized farmer, I recieved about $8,000 for my loyalty to Alberta Wheat Pool,” Mark says.
Computershare will provide cash for share certificates until June 15, 2013, so you still have time. After that, Viterra will take back the money, or offer an extension. That's up to Viterra. Computershare's phone number is 1-800-564-6253.
"Farmers dig out those Agricore United share certificates and cash them in," he says. Common shares are worth $20.50. Preferred shares are $24.57. The company Computershare has the task of holding and distributing money for outstanding certificates.
“Being an average sized farmer, I recieved about $8,000 for my loyalty to Alberta Wheat Pool,” Mark says.
Computershare will provide cash for share certificates until June 15, 2013, so you still have time. After that, Viterra will take back the money, or offer an extension. That's up to Viterra. Computershare's phone number is 1-800-564-6253.
Marianne Stamm from Jarvie, Alta., is working on an article for Grainews about liquid fertilizer. A company in her area had a workshop recently about the benefits of liquid fertilizer, and Marianne's article will share some of the highlights.
Here is a teaser:
—With dry fertilizer it is difficult to get all the nutrients to every seed. Especially the prills of P are spaced fairly far apart, simply because there isn’t as much P in a blend. You just won’t get P prills to every seed. With liquid fertilizer you get every nutrient to every seed all the time because every drop of the blend has every nutrient in the same strength.
—Only in liquid fertilizer can you get all three forms of N – nitrate nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen and urea. The three different forms release their nutrients at different times, so that the plant has some N available from the first moment on until maturity.
—With liquid fertilizer it is possible to put more nutrition closer to the seed than with dry.
—With liquid, one-pass farmers can seed far more acres at a time before having to fill again.
—Liquid fertilizer is easy to store and handle. There aren’t any safety concerns as with anhydrous ammonia. You just need to have a few tanks to keep a supply handy in spring.
I'd like to get your thoughts. Do you agree with these arguments in favour of liquid fertilizer? Are these benefits enough to overcome the extra cost? Please email me.
