Robert Stevenson hitched up his cultivator in 2007. It was only for a 10 acre patch of bothersome foxtail barley, but it was the first time in years that the farmer from Kenton, Man., had needed to till for weed control. The pedigreed seed grower put half of his farm into zero till in 1974. […] Read more
Production
Resistant weeds stalk zero till
One molecule runs the zero-till show
Zero tillage hinges on the effectiveness of one molecule – glyphosate, says Rick Holm, a weed specialist from the University of Saskatchewan. “If we lose glyphosate for whatever reason, the system is in big trouble.” Holm said he does not see a problem in the foreseeable future, but emphasizes that producers must be as prudent […] Read more
Get that grain off the ground
CRAIK, Sask. – Grain piles on the ground have been a common sight in recent years. While it’s nice to have those pyramids looming on the horizon, gathering that grain can be a chore. Rick Wildfong uses three different units to pick up piled grain on his farm near Craik. The first is a 13 […] Read more
New technology speeds soybean breeding
DuPont, along with its seed business Pioneer Hi-Bred, has announced that the first commercial seed lines from a new, speedier plant breeding method are ready to go into farmers’ fields. DuPont calls its new process Accelerated Yield Technology. AYT uses proprietary molecular breeding techniques to rapidly scan and identify the genes that increase yield. The […] Read more
Common sense vs. high tech in pasture
When Alberta rancher Steve Kenyon takes over a new piece of leased land, the first thing he does is drive posts and string electric fence wires. “It’s the biggest bang for the buck,” Kenyon told the recent Manitoba Grazing School in Brandon. “I plant fence posts so I can manage my grazing. I need to […] Read more
New Products
Moves bales Worksaver Inc. recently introduced its new clamp-on bucket bale spear for loading large round bales. The CBSF-2000 clamp-on bucket bale spear for front loaders features a tapered spear with a usable length of 42 inches and a handling capacity of 2,000 pounds. For more information, contact Worksaver Inc., P.O. Box 100, Litchfield, Illinois, […] Read more
Tom and Emmy Droog – Alberta couple Spitz out expansion plans
Blame it on the Canadian Wheat Board – that’s Tom Droog’s excuse for starting his Spitz International sunflower seed business. Droog grew up on a farm in Holland that produced sugar beets, potatoes, grain and flax. “For Dutch standards we had a sizable farm – 125 acres,” he said. Emigration must have been in the […] Read more
Baldur Stefansson – The father of canola
Wheat dominated prairie farming after Lord Selkirk’s first settlers arrived in what is now Manitoba in 1812 with a few small bags of seed. The cereal was loosely related to indigenous native grasses so it was logical that wheat would account for nearly all cultivated acres as agriculture spread west across the Prairies. But dependence […] Read more
Charlie Balmer
A list of the leaders in soil conservation doesn’t usually include spray plane pilots or farm mechanics, but circumstances create odd partnerships. Charlie Balmer never expressed an interest in soil conservation. When the young Swiss immigrant ended up in Elie, Man., in 1954, his passions were airplanes and farm machinery. By 1961, his mechanical ability […] Read more
Jerome Bechard
Jerome Bechard has been called the father of the air seeder, but that is only one of his many accomplishments. Bechard’s parents came to Saskatchewan from Quebec in 1905 and Jerome was born in the Lajord area in 1911. He farmed with a bachelor brother until the brother died at the age of 33. His […] Read more
