You Can’t Get Hay For Nothing

“People need to recognize that if they don’t look after their forages well, then their productivity will drop off quickly. Nothing depletes the soil of nutrients quicker than forages.” – JOHN HEARD, MAFRI SOIL FERTILITY SPECIALIST Of all common farming practices, harvesting hay off the same field year after year is probably the hardest on

Campaign Against GM Alfalfa Intensifies

“The genie’s out of the bottle.” – JIM LINTOTT, MANITOBA FORAGE COUNCIL Acoalition of 80 farm and food organizations, including Manitoba forage producers, is calling for an immediate halt to field testing of genetically modified alfalfa in Canada. The groups want existing test plots of GM alfalfa uprooted and full-scale commercialization of the crop blocked.


Frost Seeding Cheaper, But Results Can Be Sketchy

“If I had some really rough land and the stand was really bad and I wanted to get some legumes in, I might try it on some parts. I certainly wouldn’t go out and seed 160 acres that way.” – jane thornton There are two ways of reviving pastures that are past their prime. The

Oversold Biotech Hurts Plant Breeders

“Breeding has been hijacked by biotech’s bio-bulls–t.” – BRIAN ROSSNAGEL Misplaced hype over biotechnology is making it harder to garner research dollars for good, old-fashioned plant breeding, a plant breeder with the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre says. “Breeding has been hijacked by biotech’s bio-bulls–t,” Brian Rossnagel told the Prairie Grain Development Committee’s annual


Don’t Overlook That Special “K”

“You have two options: you can buy potash, or you can buy alfalfa seed every three years.” – JOHN HEARD Many farmers think hauling in potash at $900 per tonne onto their fields is something like bringing very expensive coals to Newcastle. There’s some truth to that, because thanks to the feldspar and mica content



Alfalfa seed crop a disaster in 2008

“There was no good crop anywhere.” – Les Jacobson, MFSA For Manitoba alfalfa seed producers, 2008 was the year they’d just as soon forget. Cool, wet weather throughout most of the growing season produced an alfalfa seed harvest less than half of normal. “There was no good crop anywhere,” said Les Jacobson, Manitoba Forage Seed

Atomic agency urges crop mutations to ease hunger

The UN atomic agency called Dec. 2 for greater trust and investment in using radiation to bolster crops against climate change and disease as a way to save millions from hunger. The technique has been around since the 1920s and proven effective but its spread has been limited by phobias over the words “radiation” and