While weed control considerations for winter wheat are similar to other cereal crops, producers should be mindful of herbicide selection and timing.

Identify the problem weeds, and then select an appropriate product after consulting with your crop protection guide.

In-crop applications in spring generally coincide with pre-seeding glyphosate applications and seeding operations.

Aim to spray when the winter annual weeds are still small, but actively growing, and spray within the proper winter wheat growth stage for the herbicide used.

Crop injury can result if the herbicide application is followed by a frost. Colder temperatures may interfere with the plant’s ability to metabolize the herbicide’s active ingredients. Applications following a frost should be postponed for two to three days depending on the severity, or until the weeds are actively growing.

Ensure that any burn-off chemicals have been well rinsed from the sprayer tank, to prevent crop damage.

For more information, visit wintercereals.ca.

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“My role is to help ensure the best-quality potatoes as possible.”

Another crop of process potatoes destined for McCain’s french fry plant east of Coaldale is in the ground. Typically, McCain contracts about 11,000 acres with 32 growers in the province. About 25 per cent of the growers is exclusive to McCain, while the rest also contract with other potato processors in southern Alberta, such as Lamb-Weston and Maple Leaf.

While negotiations were still underway in mid-April, McCain’s field manager Mitch Cook expected an agreement to be reached shortly. He has meetings with a group of five growers under the Potato Growers of Alberta, who negotiate on behalf of the rest of the process potato growers. The negotiation takes about five months. Last year, an agreement was signed on March 28.

At the field level, growers for McCain plant about 90 per cent Russet Burbank, but also grow Shepody and Ranger Russet varieties. Growers plant around the middle of April, and harvest August 6 to 10 for earlies and mid-September for Russets.

Potatoes are stored on the farm up until the following August. Nothing is stored on-site at McCain. Instead, farms truck the potatoes to the plant on a regular basis throughout the year, delivering anywhere from 600 to 1,000 tonnes each day.

While Cook spends much of his time handling the phone lines and being the “go-to” guy for growers, agronomist Ross May spends his days working at the field level. May and a field rep work with growers to monitor agronomics, storage conditions and potato colour, using McCain’s CropMet and StoreMet programs. Different temperatures are required for different lengths of storage, since some potatoes are stored for 12 months or longer, while others are more short term. “My role is to help ensure the best-quality potatoes possible,” says May.

Some of the field issues for growers are blackleg and potato leaf row virus, says May. Over the past few years, blackleg has become more of a problem. There are no pesticides that control the bacteria, which thrive in cool, wet soils. It often comes in with the seed and can spread quickly, rotting the tubers to liquid. May says that 2004 to 2005 was one of the worst blackleg years in southern Alberta. Since then the growers have done a good job of controlling the spread.

Another disease affecting process potatoes is potato leaf roll virus. It is spread by the green peach aphid, which can be controlled. The most effective control method, however, is to plant virus-free seed. On the whole, the Alberta potato industry has low disease rates and relatively few insect pests.

According to the Potato Growers of Alberta, 68 per cent of Alberta’s potato crop is grown for processing potatoes into french fries and chips or other potato products such as shredded potato patties.

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There’s more french fries and potatoes than you could ever imagine. A tour of the facility reveals one of the most technologically advanced french fry plants in Canada.

Jared Shular, stat ist ical process control (SPC) coordinator at McCain’s plant in Coaldale, says the plant is nearly 10 years old and until recently was the newest McCain plant in the country. It is located about 12 kilo-metres east of the town. In 2008, a new $65 million state-of-the-art potato-processing plant was opened in Florenceville, New Brunswick, replacing the first factory ever built by McCain more than 50 years ago.

Today, McCain Foods has more than 20,000 employees working in 57 factories on six continents around the world. Through its food service and retail divisions, McCain products are found in thousands of restaurants and supermarket freezers in more than 130 countries around the world.

At the Coaldale facility, there are 275 employees, working on various shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except Christmas and New Year’s. Typically, there are four 12-hour shifts of two days and two nights, and then four days off, says Jim Rideout, plant manager.

Departments at the 190,000-square-foot facility include human resources, McCain competitive edge, production (including receiving, processing and packaging), shipping, maintenance and quality control. A sophisticated system of conveyors, washers, slicers, dicers, fryers and freezers processes up to 33,000 pounds of potatoes per hour, or 200 million pounds annually.

The plant produces about 30 different products on its main line and by line for a variety of clients. Shular says most of the product is shipped overseas since the Coaldale plant is the closest McCain’s facility to the Pacific shipping routes. In the packaging area, boxes with Arabic or Mandarin text show just how far Alberta potatoes are shipped.

McCain Foods Limited was incorporated in 1956 and the first french fry plant started up in 1957 in the McCain brothers’ hometown of Florenceville, New Brunswick. In its first year, the company’s 30 employees produced 1,500 pounds of product an hour and earned sales of $152,678.

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“We need industry to step up here and keep it free.”

– FRANK CAMPBELL

While farmers, farm workers and even the media have welcomed Canada’s first farmsitting service with open arms, industry seems to be lagging behind with its support.

Currently AgriConnect is free, with the Red Deer-based service maintaining a database of names and connecting farmsitters with farm or acreage owners across Canada. Compensation is negotiated between the landowner and the farmsitter.

A handful of sponsors, mainly agricultural associations, have helped keep the service free of charge, but more are needed says Frank Campell, president of AgriConnect.

“We need industry to step up here and keep it free. If we have to start charging a $75 fee for someone to use the service, and if we couldn’t find someone to farmsit for them, then we’d have to reimburse the fee.”

Sponsors receive advertising on AgriConnect’s website and other promotional material.

Campbell says he can understand industry’s reluctance to put money towards a new company, but AgriConnect has been on its feet and growing for almost two years. With a database of 200 farmsitters, AgriConnect has helped more than 100 farmers and acreage owners find temporary help. Many farmsitters are retired farmers who want to keep active in the industry.

WESTERN CANADA-WIDE

The majority – about 70 per cent – of users are in Alberta, although AgriConnect is actively promoted across Western Canada, including British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. “We’ve even placed a person from Germany on a farm,” says Campbell.

One of the most publicized stories is about “a little old lady at Penhold who hadn’t been away from her place since her husband passed away seven years ago,” recalls Campbell. “She was a teacher and wanted to attend a teacher’s convention in Las Vegas for a week, but needed someone for just 15 minutes a day to look after her animals.”

Another favourite, says Campbell, is about a farm couple from Manitoba who were looking to travel and farmsit over the Christmas holidays, since none of their children were coming home that year. Consequently, there was a couple near Strathmore who had never been away from the farm at Christmas and wanted to go visit their kids in Ontario. AgriConnect put the two couples in touch. After five days on the Strathmore farm, the Manitoba couple looked after another place over New Year’s and then asked, “Is there anywhere else for us to go?”

Campbell says the economic situation today has not affected the number of requests coming in to AgriConnect. “Agriculture has always been a bit tight, farmers are always cautious, but there was never really a big boom for the industry,” he says. “If there’s one industry that’s steadier than most others right now, it’s agriculture.”

One way that AgriConnect is expanding its reach is by working informally with Agr icul tural Employment Alberta, a southern Albertabased farm employment placement company. That firm focuses on full-time, part-time and seasonal positions. It will refer any temporary or farmsitting positions to AgriConnect, and vice versa.

sarah.sutton@fbcpublishing.com

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“Triticale is the best choice for carbohydrate production. It yields 20 per cent more than other cereals.”

Triticale has a bright future due to $15.5 million in new funding from the federal government, says one of two science directors in the new Canadian Triticale Biorefinery Initiative.

“Triticale is a high-yielding crop that produces a large amount of biomass,” Francois Eudes told the Southern Applied Research Association’s annual meeting here in early March.

As a cross between wheat and rye, triticale is a cereal, but it has limited human use, as it is primarily used for silage.

“Triticale is the best choice for carbohydrate production. It yields 20 per cent more than other cereals,” says Eudes.

Furthermore, triticale has low input costs for production and is adapted to growth in marginal areas. Eudes says triticale is so diverse because it inherits the hardiness from its rye parentage.

As for biosafety, there are fewer regulatory issues with triticale. Its plants and seeds are visually identifiable and don’t naturally hybridize with other crops or wild native species. Therefore, there is no risk of environmental contamination.

Researchers are now developing “designer triticale” for fuel, material and chemicals, since total utilization of the crop supports the bioeconomy. “Biorefineries will provide an opportunity to move from a ‘one-to-one’ to a ‘one-to-many’ product development ratio,” says Eudes. “I can’t envision a bioeconomy with only one product – you need many products to share the cost.”

There are several themes being pursued under the Canadian Triticale Biorefinery Initiative, including economics, processing, platform chemicals, polymers and advanced materials, future competitiveness, and enabling biotechnology through the development of new tools and genetic engineering. Eudes says future competitiveness is where Agriculture Canada plays an important role, as researchers at the Lethbridge Research Centre and elsewhere continue to create and test new varieties.

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