PREDICTING FLOODS
TAKING ON THE WORLD
New simulation model key to getting insurance » PG 3
Himark BioGas marketing unique system worldwide » PG 2 Publications Mail Agreement # 40069240
V o l u m e 1 2 , n u m b e r 1 0 M ay 1 1 , 2 0 1 5
Harmony Beef opening pushed back Rich Vesta says plans to open last summer were ‘totally unrealistic’ but the venture continues to move forward By Alexis Kienlen af staff
I
t was supposed to open last summer, but the owner of Harmony Beef says it will be a while yet before his plant starts slaughtering cattle. “Quite honestly, when we started, we were overaggressive in our time frame,” said Rich Vesta, an American businessman and former top executive in the U.S. meat-packing industry. Vesta completed the purchase of the former Rancher’s Beef Plant in Balzac in late 2013, calling the facility world class, but also in need of upgrades to put it on the leading edge of slaughter plants. The new startup date is Sept. 14, he said. “We want to operate as soon as we can, but we want to make sure everything is correct before we operate the plant,” said Vesta. “Our original goal that we set when we bought the plant was totally unrealistic. We could not have complied with our own time frame, regardless of the city or county.” A development permit for the plant’s planned waste water treatment facility has been an issue, even though the proposed system
see HARMONY } page 7
Pest and disease watch for 2015 Some of the usual suspects could be back this year, especially if you are pushing your rotations By Alexis Kienlen af staff
T
he new growing season is underway, with a combination of old and new challenges and opportunities. Alberta Farmer reporter Alexis Kienlen asked some experts about things that producers should look out for this growing season. Here’s what they had to say:
Plant diseases
It’s difficult for plant pathologists to predict the possibility of diseases, said Kelly Turkington, a plant pathologist with the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research centre in Lacombe. “With diseases, you can get a feel for what has developed the previous year or two years previous depending on your rotation, but by and large, it’s really influenced by what happens in the growing season, especially in terms of weather conditions,” said Turkington. It’s much easier to predict potential insect problems, as experts can look at populations and egg counts.
But if plant diseases have been a problem in the past, they will likely continue to be an issue in the future, especially in tighter rotations. Stripe rust is a disease to watch out for this year, especially in central Alberta. “There may be some issues developing earlier than normal in winter wheat,” Turkington said. Stripe rust usually develops in early to mid-June in winter wheat, and in June to July or even later in spring wheat. “In the broad sense, in cereals, I would look at what happened last year, especially if you’re going back into the same field with the same cereal or two years previous if you’re running the typical canola/cereal rotation,” said Turkington. Alternating wheat/barley with canola is a rotation, but it’s not a particularly good rotation because the residue from two years prior remains in the field, contributing inoculum for an epidemic. If you’re out scouting for weeds in lay May or early June, you may observe symptoms of tan spot and septoria in wheat or net blotch and scald in barley.
“You can use that as an indication that you’ve got a risk developing and you may want to come back in later to protect the upper canopy leaves,” said Turkington. Fusarium head blight is another disease that used to be found mainly in southern Alberta, but that is starting to change. “There’s certainly areas in central Alberta that are starting to see an increasing detection of fusarium graminearum in grain or seed samples, which is an indication that the pathogen is starting to build up on infested residues, which are the main source of disease,” he said. This is mainly due to the tighter rotation. To reduce disease pressure, it’s a good idea to have at least two years between cereal crops, and three years or four years between canola crops, to reduce the risk of blackleg.
Clubroot watch
Clubroot is still an issue, so farmers should scout for patches with poorer growth, or where the plants are dying, said Stephen Strelkov, plant pathologist and professor at the University of
Alberta. Patches with poor yield or improper senescense are also suspect. Sclerotinia can also be the culprit, so if producers want to make sure they’re dealing with clubroot, they should pull out the roots to check for galls and root malformations. “Even if you’re growing a clubroot-resistant variety of canola, you should still look, given that there are some new strains that can overcome the resistance,” said Strelkov. He encouraged producers who are growing resistant varieties to watch for the disease, so experts can be made aware of the extent of resistance breakdown and new strains of the pathogen. “Try to mitigate the spread by preventing unnecessary movement of infested soil, and working infected fields last,” he said. If possible, producers should also sanitize their equipment and vehicles or at least try to remove the biggest chunks of soil, to minimize the spread of the inoculum on machinery. Anyone who finds clubroot in their field can phone their county
see PESTS } page 6
DEAL IN PERIL: Chicken allocation plan challenged } PAGE 33