“All the greatest chemistry in the world cannot make up for poor handling of seed.” – TRACY SHINNERS-CARNELLEY Pesticide resistance has grown in the past decade. But on the bright side, new chemistry has kept apace of the bad bugs. “When I started working in potatoes, almost 10 years ago, we didn’t have a lot
Knowledge, New Tools Best For Fighting Bugs On Spuds
Bee Stings Top Concern Among Public
“How does anything survive on that kind of a schedule? That’s not the way to keep bees, I don’t think.” – MURRAY COX Do you get stung a lot? That’s the question asked by 95 per cent of the public who stop in to check out the beekeeping display at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.
Pro Cattle “Fitter” Brings Tips To RMWF Stage
Raising and preparing 4-H calves for the show ring is a rite of passage for many rural youth across North America. Much emphasis is placed on clipping, trimming and primping the animals’ coat to make it more appealing to the judges, but the real starting point begins long before the calf is loaded onto the
Trick Riding Not For The Faint Of Heart
“Trick riding is my favourite. I like going fast and hanging upside down.” – SALLY BISHOP Safety is a relative thing, it seems. Standing astride a pair of galloping horses, as in Roman riding, is less risky than trick riding, according to “equine extremist” Sally Bishop. “Trick riding is more dangerous, because you are strapped
Invite The “Good Guys” Over For Compost Tea
Conventional agriculture’s overwhelming focus on chemistry is fundamentally flawed, according to Matthew George, a lab director with Soil Foodweb Canada. By neglecting the important role played by soil biology, chemically dependent farming tries to supply the entire scope of a plant’s nutrient needs through artificial means, effectively bypassing natural processes. The result, he said, is
Switching The Ratios
The key to Elaine Ingham’s approach to enhancing soil fertility lies in adjusting the ratio of fungi to bacteria. For grasses, vegetables and brassicas, the optimal fungi to bacteria (F:B) ratio is 0.75:1, compared to 1:1 for row crops, and anywhere from 5:1 to 1,000:1 for old-growth forests, he said. Weeds, as hardier pioneer species,
Four Degrees Either Way Is A Big Deal, Says Expert
Climate change skeptics like to point out that if the weatherman can’t predict the weather with much accuracy, how can scientists be sure that global warming is actually happening? The answer is that putting together a weather forecast involves many often conflicting short-term variables. Analyzing climate trends over the long term is much easier, because
Tool Measures Bad Gas
Scientists claim that in 2006, agriculture accounted for roughly nine per cent of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions. But just how much any particular farm produces of the bad gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, has been difficult to determine – up until now. A new project featuring an Internet-based tool offers
Hot, Dry, Polluted
“We are nearing the end of the downswing. It is inconceivable that prices will continue to go down indefinitely when production is dropping at the rate it is worldwide” – TED BILYEA The world may be going to hell in a handbasket, but in the meantime, Manitoba’s grain and livestock farmers will be doing a
Micronutrients Keep The Wheels On In Crop Production
“If you look at all the micronutrients in soil, there’s enough to last your lifetime. The problem is that only a fraction of that is available at any one time.” – JOHN HEARD As if farming on the Prairies wasn’t already complicated enough. Micronutrients are one aspect of plant nutrition that is fiendishly difficult to
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
