A man who helped bring about extensive change in how Canadian farmers work the land has died.
John Harapiak was key in the development of nutrient and soil management strategies prairie farmers have come to depend on.
He died Jan. 14.
As the chief agronomist for Western Co-operative Fertilizer, Harapiak has been described by his agronomy colleagues as visionary when it came to leading the way in the evolution of crop production in Western Canada.
Harapiak is credited with researching areas that directly benefit producers and also ensuring that those messages reached into the countryside.
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He conducted extension work with producers and encouraged graduate students to pursue research that would benefit agriculture as a whole.
Harapiak’s research led farmers to move away from broadcast fertilizing methods to banding, which improved yields and efficiency.
He also helped set up guidelines for rates of application, showed the effects of tillage and fertilizer in western Canadian soils and crops, developed top dressing rates for prairie crops, created a fertilizer research checkoff and championed the creation of the regional Certified Crop Advisor program.
He was 73.
