Not promising
In a recent issue of The Western Producer the headlines were Alta. needs CWB help for open market. (WP, March 27) I know the Alberta government wants an open market for wheat and barley but to expect the CWB to go along with this is rather ridiculous. Most of the Wheat Board directors have been elected by a majority of farmers in favour of the board. Also a 10-year test period is quite a long time.
The article went on to say the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association at its annual convention spent most of its time discussing this.
Read Also
Agriculture needs to prepare for government spending cuts
As government makes necessary cuts to spending, what can be reduced or restructured in the budgets for agriculture?
Almost everything I ever read in the papers that the wheat growers do is bash the board. Also I read in one of the farm papers that their membership was way down so they were going to try and polish their image. I think it will take a lot of polish. I belong to the Keystone
Agricultural Producers and they seem very active working for the farmers.
I think there’s a great deal more of a problem with wheat than the CWB. First the U.S. gives their farmers a very large subsidy and now they’ve put a duty on our wheat. Another thing is wheat is not the king it used to be. I would estimate in this area only about 20 to 25 percent of the seeded acreage is wheat and very little barley. There’s so many other crops have taken over, canola, beans, corn and sunflowers to name just a few.
Also many other countries in the world are now producing a lot of wheat so that will tend to keep the price low.
So in closing I would say in my opinion that the prospects for wheat, whether Wheat Board or open market, does not look too promising.
– Jack Wheeler,
Treherne, Man.
Bring a spade
Re: Earthworms are a plant’s friend (WP, Feb. 27)
Regarding the article “Earthworms are a plant’s friend,” my experience with earthworms leads me to a very different conclusion. The earthworms I have been fighting with for the past 30 years leave the soil hard and void of fibre, especially so in areas that aren’t tilled such as flower beds.
The article also claims earthworms remove surface litter. I haven’t noticed such activity even though I have given my earthworms ample grass clippings in the hope that they might do just that.
On one occasion I filled two three-gallon pots with loose
fibre-filled soil. In fall when I emptied the pots I noticed the soil in one of the pots had a large lump that didn’t crumble when dumped. Upon investigating I found earthworms in the lump. No earthworms were present in the other pot.
I have raised flower beds (two that are 50 feet long by 1.5 feet wide). About every seven years I have to dig all the dirt out of the beds because all the organic material has been removed by the earthworms and all that remains is hard clay lumps that look like Swiss cheese.
Needless to say, my flowers didn’t thrive.
This year when my perennial flower bed wasn’t doing well, I assumed it was just the lack of moisture even though I had been watering.
I started this flower bed in 1997 using dirt from my garden plus some peat moss. When I cleaned up the bed in fall I discovered the problem was most likely the condition of the soil. Hard as rock – swiss cheese rock.
I have talked to gardening neighbours and they have had similar experience with earthworms. It’s a myth that earthworms are good for the soil and if you don’t believe me, I would be most delighted to help you acquire all you want for your garden or field. Just bring a spade.
– Evelyn Johnson,
Spiritwood, Sask.
Sask. potatoes
In a recent letter (WP, April 10) by Brad Wall, MLA for the Saskaskatchewan Party, was a true example of the Saskatchewan Party on how to grow
Saskatchewan in their criticism of Spudco.
There was a major processor that approached the Saskatchewan government and said they would build a processing plant at Lucky Lake if Saskatchewan could grow enough potatoes. This was a wonderful opportunity for the area. I expect the processor investigated the feasibility of such a project.
To make the project possible it required a lot of money to get it established. The people in the area could hardly come up with that kind of money in a short span of time that was required.
While the potato industry has expanded and is expected to reach 20,000 acres with farmgate value of $80 million. It is the best paying crop in the area. It would have been better if the processing plant had stayed in Sask., and I think there should be an investigation as why they moved to Alberta. I don’t think it right for a province to buy an industry.
Saskatchewan has the best tasting potatoes, I expect it due to the pH of the soil. We have had friends from Ohio, Chicago and California who liked our potatoes so much that they wanted to take them home with them.
The question is do we want a government that is willing to do something about developing Saskatchewan or a party that has a dream that it might happen?
Maybe there were mistakes but that happens when you try to do things.
– Alex Olson,
Spy Hill, Sask.
Define viable
Re: Volunteer canola ready to explode by Michael Raine on Bill Greuel (WP, March 27).
It was reported that 0.2 volunteer plants per sq. metre equate to 25,000 viable seeds germinating per acre.
Since there are 4,040.7 sq. m per acre, 0.2 plants per sq. m equals 808 plants per acre.
Thus 25,000 ‘viable seeds germinating’ produce 808 ‘volunteer plants,’ an average of 30.9 ‘viable seeds germinating’ are required to produce each ‘volunteer plant.’
If I have not missed something, and if Mr. Raine has
reported correctly, we really do need to know Mr. Greuel’s
definition of viable.
– Allan Liggins,
Coquitlam, B.C.
Not puppets
Well, Mr. Johnston (Food and politics, Open Forum, April 10) maybe this will lessen (or move out) foreign agri-business in Canada and put the land back into the hands of Canadian family farms/ business, so we can feed the nation (ours) with quality local products.
I don’t buy beef, dairy, poultry, vegetables or any other article grown/made in the U.S. I’ve been aware of the ‘games they play’ for a long time.
I salute that we are not puppets on a string.
– Glow Lemon,
Vernon, B.C.
