CFIA tackles reforms - The Western Producer

WEATHER | WIND DAMAGE
Sandblasting
winds cut down
canola crops
BY WILLIAM DEKAY
SASKATOON NEWSROOM
Andre Charlot’s canola field of
dreams became a nightmare last
month.
“Before, the land was just like a garden.
It was nice land and that (field)
was the one that blew the most,” he
said.
Charlot is referring to several days
of strong northwest winds that blew
across his land, obliterating a good
chunk of his canola crop.
High winds hit south-central Manitoba
the hardest in the third week of
May. Winds of up to 100 km/h battered
emerging crops. Dried out topsoil
was flung into the air, where it
buried or sandblasted freshly
emerged canola, shearing off the
tender stems.
“In that case, there’s no chance of
recovery. It quit that growing point
and there’s no chance it’s going to
grow through that,” said Angela
Brackenreed, the Canola Council of
Canada’s regional agronomist in
Manitoba.
She said south-central Manitoba
typically has lighter soil. Sandy knolls
were most susceptible to the wind,
but the damage was widespread.
One of these fields was Charlot’s
400 acres of canola near Emerson in
the southeastern Red River Valley.
“We had two days of bad winds,” he
said. “It’s not that they were fast. It’s
just that they were steady, like 50 to 60
kilometres and after a while the topsoil
gets so dry it finally starts to lift
and blow.”
Charlot described his land as
mainly flat with ditches running
through. Many ditches after the
windstorm were full of straw and dirt.
“I was amazed at how much the
topsoil moved,” he said.
“On the hills (knolls) there was a
couple of inches gone. It took not
only the canola but the dirt too.”
He said the situation reminded him
of the late 1980s, when the same thing
happened to his emerging crops.
Jack Froese has also had crops
destroyed by sandblasting, but nothing
like May’s storm. The Winkler
farmer had to reseed 1,100 acres of
canola.
“It sheared off the stems, and the
canola that was left there looked
pretty sickly,” he said. “We had been
fairly dry here as well. It didn’t take
much to shear off the stems.”
Froese said he is amazed by how
different this year’s growing season is
from last year.
“It was kind of strange because last
year it was so wet we only started
seeding on the 16th of May and this
year we were actually done for the
first time on the 16th of May. And
then we ended up reseeding these
1,100 acres — total opposite.”
Brackenreed put it another way.
“If there is a bright side to this, they
were early to begin with so it definitely
was not too late to reseed and
they’re still in good position to maximize
yield this year with when they
seeded.”
CROP REPORT
THE WESTERN PRODUCER | WWW.PRODUCER.COM | JUNE 7, 2012
Last week, heads were forming on a winter wheat crop near Souris, Man. More winter wheat was planted in southwest Manitoba and southeast
Saskatchewan this spring compared to previous years, as farmers seeded the crop into fields drowned out in 2011. So far, the crop looks great in
both provinces and its development is ahead of schedule. | ROBERT ARNASON PHOTO
WEATHER | WINTER WHEAT
Prairies expect lush winter wheat crop
Mild weather helped | Most fields progressing ahead of schedule; producers reminded to watch for fusarium
BY ROBERT ARNASON
BRANDON BUREAU
Winter wheat growers in Manitoba
and Saskatchewan are feeling more
buoyant this spring after two years of
minimal acres and one year with
high levels of fusarium head blight.
Prairie acreage has doubled from
last year and the 2012 crop looks fantastic,
said Jake Davidson, executive
director of Winter Cereals Canada.
“I haven’t seen a bad looking crop
yet,” he said.
Winter wheat growers and cereal
experts were worried about the fate of
the crop earlier this year. Much of the
Prairies had minimal snow cover and
growers thought the wheat would be
exposed to frigid temperatures. However,
temperatures rarely dipped
below - 25 C, said Brent Schram, a
producer from Rapid City, Man.
“With the lack of the snow, the mild
temperature (this winter) was a good
thing,” he said.
Schram, who seeded 700 acres of
winter wheat last fall, said his crop
WINTER WHEAT ACRES
(000 acres) 2011 2012 % change
Man. 185 540 +191.9%
Sask. 210 560 +166.7%
Alta. 175 115 -34.3%
Source: Statistics Canada
looks good and he expects it to head
out in a week or so. Heads had already
formed on other winter wheat fields in
Manitoba by the end of May, suggesting
the crop is progressing nicely and
ahead of schedule.
“It got a good start last year. It got
really good growth and root structure,”
Davidson said.
“Hutterite colonies that I work with
are guessing they will be harvesting
in the third week of July.”
The crop isn’t heading yet on Mark
Akins’ farm near Hearne, Sask., but
his 480 acres are in great shape.
“I seeded it in good time in September
and it looks unbelievable,” said
Akins, whose crop was nearing the
flag leaf stage in late May.
“ It’s a very aggressive, early crop. I
sprayed it, in crop, probably three
weeks ago, so it’s very early.”
Akins planted winter wheat last fall
on two quarters that were too wet for
spring seeding in 2010 and 2011. The
other quarter was seeded into canola
stubble.
All three quarters look great and
Akins is especially pleased by the
moisture removal.
“We’ve had a lot of water this spring
and compared to everything else, it
seems to be taking the water really
well. Otherwise, your newly seeded
spring crops, they’re just too small to
take up any water.”
While Akins is an experienced winter
wheat grower, many producers in
southeastern Saskatchewan and
southwestern Manitoba planted
winter wheat this year onto unseeded
fields simply to remove excess
moisture from their land.
Akins said disease scouting and
fungicide application will be key over
the next several weeks. Growers need
SEE OUR WEEKLY PROVINCIAL CROP REPORTS ON PAGES 18 & 19 »
5
to watch out for signs of tan spot, septoria
and rust.
“Definitely, protect that yield with
fungicide,” Akins said. “When you’ve
got a crop that’s leafy, with lots of
yield potential … fungicide is money
well spent.”
Fusarium head blight hammered
winter wheat in Manitoba in 2010,
and disease levels were significantly
higher in winter wheat than in spring
wheat.
Fusarium isn’t typically a significant
risk for winter wheat because
the crop normally flowers before hot
and humid weather arrives.
Nonetheless, Schram isn’t willing
to gamble on fusarium this year. He
plans to spray his winter wheat fields
in a month or so.
Davidson hopes growers who
seeded the crop last fall to soak up
excess moisture will develop a fondness
for winter wheat this summer.
“I think when guys see yields 20 to
25 percent higher than their spring
wheat crop, I think they’re going to
fall in love.”