It’s a pound to the acre so far this year and when you have 5,000 acres to cover, the season can seem long indeed. It isn’t a new canola seed, a micronutrient blend of fertilizer or a herbicide. It is gopher poison and Shanna Stolhandske is getting tired of filling 750 bait stations and burying […] Read more
Stories by Michael Raine
Baby plants give nitrogen cold shoulder
Plants need nitrogen, but they don’t like it. And if phosphate fertilizer is placed with the nitrogen, plants will be reluctant to access it as well. Garry Meier of Meier Farms at Tisdale, Sask., said the issue of nitrogen placement rises along with the rates being placed in the soil. In a single pass system […] Read more
Invention award first step on long road
REGINA – It took Brian Olson years of hard work to become an “overnight success.” Twenty years after his big idea arrived at the big show, Olson is proud to offer proof that the judges were right. He was farming near Tompkins, Sask., in the 1980s and had seen drought and declining market conditions derail […] Read more
Bright ideas on display at Progress Show
Regina’s Western Canadian Farm Progress Show is featuring 17 new inventions in its Royal Bank New Inventions area this year. Here are three: VBine Energy of Moosomin, Sask., has a patented windmill design it hopes will make high performance windmill electrical generation available to smaller businesses, especially those with masts and smoke or ventilation stacks […] Read more
Monster combine eats through crop
REGINA – North America’s largest combine was unveiled to the public at the Western Canadian Farm Progress Show in Regina last week. The New Holland CR9080 is the company’s new rotary line and drew a lot of attention at the three-day event. Producer Jim Thompson of Edmonton said the features that give the machine its […] Read more
New self-seeding grass variety ideal for pasture
With the potential to grow as tall as the average farmer and with roots that stretch deep into the soil, grouse needle grass will be released as a Canadian variety within the next two years. The plant reaches two metres only under the right moisture conditions, but it easily grows to a metre under the […] Read more
Rolling soybeans can improve harvest
Post-emergent rolling of soybeans can improve harvest and, ultimately, yield. Manitoba Agriculture crop production adviser Brent Reid said producers should consider taking the time and investing the money in field rolling to get all the crop they can from the field. “Soybeans set their first pods very close to the ground. If you can’t reach […] Read more
Mower keeps driver out of ditch
Highline Manufacturing has introduced a roadside mower that keeps municipalities out of the ditch. “We went out to look at a concept mower created by a fellow at St. Brieux, (Sask.,)” said Blake Neudorf, who heads Highline’s research and design team. “We opened the shed door and knew we had to develop the idea. It […] Read more
Implement maker likes rural base
LANGBANK, Sask. – Sixteen years ago Seed Hawk Inc. operated from an abandoned farmyard in the middle of nowhere. For a startup farm equipment maker, the middle of nowhere helped germinate success. “We couldn’t have done this on the outskirts of Regina. It would have cost too much and here we are surrounded by our […] Read more
Seeder makes overlap a thing of the past
For Monty Shivak, it was the kind of problem that could make a guy swear. “A mile of field left to seed, just 44 feet wide, when he’s got a 60 to 80 foot seeder, doubling up on all that seed and fertilizer.” Pat Beaujot thought so, too. As it turned out, the president of […] Read more
