We usually review the past year fondly, but in this one’s instance
Some of 2020 we’d just as soon view far back in the distance
While for many farmers the year was one of the best
For others harvesting and preparing our food, it was a year full of stress
Even if they could go to work, it was not without fear
So before we begin rhyming badly about farming last year
Let’s give thanks to fellow food workers like cooks, servers and cashiers
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Now I don’t like to brag, but I must say as a matter of fact
My last year’s forecast for perfect weather was almost exact
“Warm, gentle spring winds will start on March 15 precisely
By the middle of April they’ll have dried the soil nicely
Then no rainfall till farmers have finished what they need to be doin’
After that an inch or so weekly (at night only) starting in June
Around mid-August I predict the rain gods will remember
To hold off for a few weeks till the end of September”
OK, on that last line I was a little bit wrong to be stating
Because after September for rain, many farmers were still waiting
But after 2019 when things just got wetter and wetter
Except for haying and fall work, 2020 couldn’t have been much better
After farmers had finished filling their last combine hopper
The Prairie grain and oilseed crop was another big whopper
We’ve had big crops before, but getting them moved has been tough
Sometimes the railways just won’t get off their duff
Maybe it’s because demand for other products has been lacking
But let’s give railways credit — grain exports have really been cracking
And since China’s the one buying most of the cargoes
Why do we still hear talk about canola embargoes?
I used to write stories about it in the ’70s, so now they’re archival
But now the Wild Oat Action Committee has seen a revival
Back then farmers were told to spray weeds with persistence
Now they say to hold off, wild oats now show resistance
So you must rotate your chemicals — there are very good reasons
Not to use pinoxaden, clodinafop and sethoxydim for consecutive seasons
And tralcoxydim and quizalofop for two years you shouldn’t be using
I don’t know about you, but to me farming seems to be getting confusing
But help is at hand, some big companies are planning to sell us
New high-tech farming solutions, including Google and Telus
Google says it has robots that can cruise through your fields
And assess the best treatment for each individual plant’s yield
If that means a separate dose of chemical that each plant gets
They’ll need a sprayer with pretty small nozzles and jets
While many have been a great help for making decisions agronomical
I think some precision-farming ideas may just not be economical
Some critics have claimed that cattle producers are culpable
Of feeding grain that directly for humans is more efficiently gulpable
The cattle producers replied “That’s just not the case
“Our dogies mostly eat grass which would otherwise just go to waste”
But A&W’s ads for grass-fed beef drew some grumbles from feedlots
They shouldn’t — good advertising is more of what the industry needs lots
And for beef sales there’s certainly a lot to be gainable
If outfits like McDonald’s advertise burgers made from beef that’s sustainable
Most news coverage of throne speech ag items only mentioned a few acres
That might get irrigated in Saskatchewan around Lake Diefenbaker
It missed the most important item — what the speech did actually say
Was to start a new Canada Water Agency to revive the PFRA
It’s about time, because long term the most important issue of course is
The protection of our national soil and water resources
I used to think margins were a place in a book to be scribbling
But apparently they’re something else over which there’s been quibbling
Farmers say that at 70 per cent there’s no way they can figger
To get a way to make an AgriStability payment to trigger
The feds say they’ll raise the margin by 10 per cent more
Of course if the provinces agree; this is an old game — I’ve seen it before
So much for the past year, before that we’re ending
You’ll want some advice for the year that is pending
What should you grow, which crops are my best guess of?
I recommend the ones that everyone else will grow less of
Of course, with the provision that you shouldn’t lose sight
Of my advice not to make your rotations too tight
As for weather, I’m pretty sure what I’m seeing
Is enough snow to replenish moisture, and for cross-country skiing
After that, to repeat last year’s forecast I’m definitely willing
Except with a bit more moisture in August for soybean pod filling
I’d tell you much more, but is always the case
This is all that they give me, I’ve run out of space
So once again, best wishes on behalf of everyone here
For good crops and good prices, and a Happy New Year!
