This column is part of a series that marks the Western Producer’s 100th anniversary by taking a deep dive every week into a past issue of the paper.
Another year, another drought, and the one three years ago was a doozy, as most of us still remember.
The Aug. 5, 2021, issue was full of stories about the drought, including one that urged cattle producers to use caution if thinking about feeding poor canola stands as greenfeed.
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Precautions included testing the canola hay or silage for sulphur and nitrate levels and blending the canola forage with other feed sources so that canola was 50 per cent or less of the ration.
Then there was the fight over canola yields.
The provincial agriculture departments were talking about drastic drops in yield, but Agriculture Canada was still calling for an average yield, which would produce a 19.89 million tonne crop.
Farm group leaders scratched their heads in dismay.
“They’re way, way off,” said Jack Faroese, a director with Manitoba Canola Growers.
“I don’t think there’s a 13 million tonne crop out there, let alone 18.”
Other stories talked about how finding feed was now cattle producers’ main focus, while a hay exporter defended his business of selling hay overseas while prairie producers ran short.
Derek Bunkowsky, chief grain inspector with the Canadian Grain Commission, said the agency was anticipating problems with crops that didn’t fill properly because of a lack of moisture.
In non-drought news, the North American hog industry was shocked to hear that African swine fever had been found in the Dominican Republic, a proverbial stone’s throw across the water from the United States.
There was much worrying about how long it would take the disease to arrive in Canada, but Western Producer reporter Ed White wrote in his weekly Hedge Row column that the development might have been needed to goad us into preparing for ASF’s inevitable arrival.
Someone must have been listening because much preparation has occurred in the last three years, and the disease hasn’t arrived yet.
