This is the first thing I have ever written forThe Western Producer.It’s a great day in my life.
I’ve read theProducerfor years, always with a sense of awe at the excellent reporting, the fathoms-deep (acres-wide?) knowledge of agriculture, the beauty of the photography and the quality of the writing.
The staff members are legendary for their commitment to the product, and it shows – every week in print, and every day online.
I managed to convince the paper that I deserve to work here, too. I hope I’m right. Everything I had been told about the high quality of the people here was understated, I have realized in four short days. I am honoured to be here, and humbled by the above-mentioned deep knowledge and work ethic. I will try to keep up.
Read Also
Going beyond “Resistant” on crop seed labels
Variety resistance is getting more specific on crop disease pathogens, but that information must be conveyed in a way that actually helps producers make rotation decisions.
It’s a particularly interesting time to come into theProducerfold, because it looks like it might be a particularly interesting spring. Not too many of us on the Prairies will soon forget the soggy summer of 2010, and we could be bracing for another drenching – on top of the significant snowfall we have not enjoyed this winter.
That brings me toProducercoverage over the next several weeks. You will regularly see a muddy little boot print accompanying a number of stories, alongside a short explanation that we are covering the issues of “working in the mud.”
That includes seeding advice and advances. Last week, for instance, Ron Lyseng wrote a story on Techno- Till packer plates that “slither through mud like skis.” Al Lowe from Meacham, Sask., found that his rig was sliding down hillsides last spring, but the plates helped him dig in and get the seeding done.
It remains to be seen whether this spring will be as insanely wet as the last, but the odds are fairly high considering how saturated many fields were even before the snow fell. (Not everyone is battling the wet conditions. Farmers in the northern Alberta-B. C. Peace region were fighting drought last year.)
Most of Saskatchewan’s growing region, and much of Alberta’s and Manitoba’s, have accumulated 100 to 200 millimetres of precipitation just since September, and that’s after the wettest spring and summer in living memory.
These are interesting times, indeed. We’ll be there to dig out the stories.
