March 3, Home office

Rejuvinating alfalfa

I got a call this morning from Bert Suknasky, who farms at Sturgis, Sask. He is looking for tips on rejuvinating an alfalfa stand to get an extra year out of it. He is getting mixed messages. One person tells him to put down nitrogen and harrow it in. Another farmer just puts down phosphate. Bert wants to know, "Which is it?" Bert is a grain producer who sells alfalfa for hay. The stand was originally 100 per cent alfalfa, but quackgrass and dandelion have encroached. He wants to know how to clean out the weeds and get the roots going again so he can get his yields back up. Do you have any advice for him. Please e-mail it to me. My address is at www.grainews.ca under "contacts." I will put the best answers on the blog here and in the paper.

Big baker in Ontario

Those of you who like to compare the wheat marketing situation in Western Canada to the situation in Eastern Canada will be interested in this news from Ontario. An Ontario government program to attract business has lured The Original Cakerie to London. The dessert-making company started in Victoria, B.C. in 1979, and it makes cakes for restaurants and grocery stores across North America, as well as M&M Meat Shops. The province of Ontario will provide $2.5 million to The Original Cakerie and its partner, the Ontario Wheat Producers' Marketing Board, for the construction of the new plant. As the Ontario government news release says, "Ontario's wheat producers and dairy and egg farmers will benefit from the company's need for local ingredients." The plant will employ 400 people and be up and running by January 2009.

The Ontario Wheat Producers' Marketing Board, which is a voluntary pool, represents over 16,000 wheat producers in the province. As the release notes, the Board will provide technical and research and development expertise to the new facility, and will contribute $60,000 in eligible in-kind products and/or services towards the project.