Last Mountain Times June 11 2018

10 Monday, June 11, 2018 • Last Mountain Times
Crop Report
For Period May 29 to June 4, 2018
The majority of the province received much-needed
moisture this past week, helping to alleviate
concerns about dry field conditions.
The amount of rain varied across the province,
with some southwestern areas receiving very little,
while many fields in the southeast are saturated
and flooded. The Lampman area received 256 mm
of rain. Fields and roads are flooded in many areas
of the southeast and it will be some time before
they are dry enough to be accessed. In contrast, the
southwestern region remains very dry as it has received
little rainfall over the past few months. There
are concerns that crop and hay yields in the region
will be affected if rain does not arrive soon.
Topsoil moisture conditions have improved in
much of the province, thanks to the recent rainfall.
Provincially, topsoil moisture conditions on cropland
are rated as 12 per cent surplus,
67 per cent adequate, 18 per cent short
and three per cent very short. Hay land
and pasture topsoil moisture is rated
as seven per cent surplus, 63 per cent
adequate, 25 per cent short and five per
cent very short.
Seeding operations are nearing completion,
although the rain will delay progress in some areas.
Ninety-six per cent of the crop is now seeded, up
from 91 per cent last week and well ahead of the
five-year (2013-2017) average of 90 per cent for
this time of year. Seeding is furthest advanced in
the south, where 98 per cent of the crop is seeded.
Ninety-seven per cent is seeded in the west-central
region, 96 per cent in the northeast and northwest
and 93 per cent in the east-central region.
Crop growth is delayed in much of the province
and most crops are behind their normal developmental
stages for this time of year. The majority of
crop damage this past week was due to localized
flooding, lack of moisture, hail, strong winds and
insects such as flea beetles and cutworms. Farmers
are busy finishing seeding and completing in-crop
pesticide applications when they can.
SaskPower received six reports of farm machinery
coming in contact with electrical equipment in the
last week. The total for May was 154. No incidents
have been reported so far in June.
-Sask Agriculture
Rookie heroes
Three down football is back, and already there’s a
‘quarterback crisis’ ?
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who last won the
Grey Cup before Google and Facebook were household
words, appeared to finally have a line-up that
might be enough to end the drought. Bingo, starting
quarterback Matt Nichols goes down in practice
with a knee injury, and he’ll be watching from the
sidelines for the next 4 to 6 weeks. Ouch !
Last year, it was painfully obvious that a major
weakness in Winnipeg was the lack of an experienced
backup. It looked like the problem had been
solved when the Bombers signed veteran Darian
Durant. He appeared to be washed up at 35, and he
gratefully accepted and cashed a $70,000 signing
bonus to come to Winnipeg where he would definitely
be #2 behind Matt Nichols.
Once that bonus was in hand, it seems Darian
decided it was quite OK to take the money and go
home. He sent them an e-mail just before training
camp that essentially said “So long suckers!” If he
ever shows his face in Bomberland again it will be
too soon I would say.
Until Matt Nichols is healthy once more, Winnipeg’s
quarterbacking will be in the hands of three
young men with a grand total of
ZERO experience in regular season
play. But keep your eye on a
23 year old from South Dakota
named Chris Streveler.
I’m not sure why, but I have a
hunch that he has the potential
for a familiar Cinderella story.
Sixty years ago, Kenny Ploen
was Mr. Everything at quarterback
for Winnipeg, having
played in both the Rose Bowl and the Grey Cup in
the same year. In 1958 Ploen was hurt in Winnipeg’s
first game, and Bud Grant gave the ball to a 23 year
old rookie from Michigan named Jim Van Pelt. He
lit things up in such a way that Mr. Ploen couldn’t
get his job back, and the coach used him on defence
where he was also very good.
The latin motto is Carpe Diem – ‘seize the day!’
There was a similar story in Edmonton many
years later involving another rookie you might have
heard of named Ricky Ray.
Let the games begin .
And there’s nothing on
Welcome to 2018 and the era of far too many
choices. Remember when we complained that there
was “nothing to watch” most of the time on that
piece of furniture we called ‘The Idiot Box’ ? Not
any more. Our choices are growing by the hour
it seems, and traditional TV and cable are in the
fight of their lives for eyeballs and the all important
advertising dollars.
The number of Canadians who are ‘cutting the
cord’ is growing by leaps and bounds. Netflix is the
big kid on the block when it comes to online streaming,
but other services are also growing quickly.
What’s the response of our government in Ottawa?
For almost 50 years, the focus has been on regulation
through an agency called the CRTC, the Canadian
Radio Television and Telecommunications
Commission. Today’s ever evolving landscape has
moved way beyond the ability of any public agency
to control things, but tell that to Justin Trudeau and
friends.
The Liberals are enlisting a special panel of seven
‘experts’ to help rewrite Canada’s broadcasting
regulations so that Netflix and others will be forced
to embrace more Canadian content. The panel will
apparently also be asked to review the mandate
of the dear old CBC with the aim of protecting the
public broadcaster against possible funding cuts by
less friendly regimes in the future.
CURRIE’S
CORNER
ROGER CURRIE
The seven ‘wise people’ are expected to be given
18 months to complete their work, but their final report
will not be delivered until after the next federal
election ... most interesting.
Heaven knows what these people will come up
with, or what the communications landscape will
look like then, but here’s a free suggestion. Why not
hire a well-known consultant from Chicago. I’m
talking about a lawyer named Newton Minow who
was appointed to chair the USA’s Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) by President John F.
Kennedy in 1961. Before being appointed, he seldom
watched any television. After spending several days
at home in front of his ‘idiot box’ he declared in a
famous speech that he and his colleagues at the
Commission were presiding over a “Vast Wasteland”.
Newton is still going strong at 91 years of age.
So many choices .
- Roger Currie
Disclaimer: opinions expressed are those of the writer.