BRANDON – At first blush, it would appear that organic and no-till farming suffer from irreconcilable differences. Both systems have their own benefits, both were born out of ideology and both are driven today by economics. But will they ever co-exist in the same field? Pat Carr, a researcher with North Dakota State University’s research […] Read more
Production
Searching for the organic no-till dream
Quality red lentil milling begins with grower
Premium lentils are sold on quality, based on their having that red cotyledon and good milling efficiency. A Saskatchewan farmer and researcher said milling efficiency is something that producers can control. University of Saskatchewan research by agrologist Jesse Bruce of Moose Jaw, Sask., shows that the timing and method of harvest has a significant effect […] Read more
Farmer builds better combine concave
BRANDON – Farmers are often better at engineering than engineers. Prairie agricultural history includes thousands of implement inventions, innovations and improvements devised by the guys in the field running the machines. The more complicated the machine, the more room for farmers to make improvements. That’s the situation Dallas Skayman found himself in recently. Until this […] Read more
Magnesium cited as fix for ‘washy grass’
Most people associate epsom salts with a relaxing soak in the tub, but Doug Gunnink has a different use for what is also known as magnesium sulfate. He sprays it on his pasture. Gunnink, who has a grass-fed beef operation in southern Minnesota, told producers at a Manitoba Agriculture workshop on healthy grasses in Neepawa, […] Read more
Balance fertilizer with canola prices
Fertilizer and commodity prices often dictate producers’ approaches to canola production, especially at seeding time. Maximizing yield in a financially effective manner is key to canola production, says Rigas Karamanos, an agronomy researcher with Viterra in Calgary. “You don’t want to come up short of nutrients when the prices are where they have been or […] Read more
High performance at high speed in heavy residue
BRANDON – The German-built Amazone Catros is engineered to handle the ultra-high crop residue cover European farmers regularly face. However, the time has come for the Catros to get to work on Canadian farms, says Paul Degelman of Degelman Industries in Regina. “This is a high-speed, single-pass surface tillage system designed to manage high corn […] Read more
Don’t fall for ‘fertilize for less’
They come in waves – products that promise to do more growing for less money. The waves usually occur when the price of fertilizer moves out of step with commodity prices. While prices for fertilizers such as nitrogen and phosphorus are lower than the stratospheric highs of 2008, this year’s prices are still stronger than […] Read more
High yielding wheat in limelight
Growing bigger wheat crops due to genetics is only a few cycles of the calendar away. But bigger yields can start this spring. Brian Beres told farmers attending the mid-February Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association’s annual conference in Saskatoon that they have the potential to profitably grow high yielding wheat varieties, but it is just that, […] Read more
New plows bust through hardpan soil
BRANDON – As awareness of hardpan increases, more companies have introduced sub-soilers to bust up the solid layer that prevents moisture, nutrients and roots from accessing the untapped soil below. The common assumption has been that severe prairie winter conditions are bad enough to freeze and fracture the hardpan layer. But that’s not true, said […] Read more
Reading electrical system schematics
I’m dealing with the Massey 850/860 and 8560/8570 combines as examples, but this column is intended to show how to follow any schematic. It isn’t as difficult as many folks think. I hope that by following along with the illustrations on the opposite page, readers might gain confidence in working with electrical systems. This is […] Read more
