THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2014
VOL. 92 | NO. 23 | $4.25
Big Data GROWING WITH FARMERS FOR 90 YEARS
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Are you losing control of your farm’s information? | P. 32
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AGRONOMY | WEED CONTROL
Herbicideresistant weeds heading north
SEEDING | WEATHER
Soggy fields delay seeding
N. Dakota, Minnesota brace for glyphosate resistance
Conditions better further west | Seeding in some areas could reach record late date
BY ED WHITE WINNIPEG BUREAU
BY SEAN PRATT SASKATOON NEWSROOM
Dan Mazier looks forward to June 1 because that is typically when seeding wraps up on his farm near Brandon. This year he is 50 to 60 percent complete and there is no end of headaches tr ying to get the remainder of the crop in the ground. “Last year we were a little bit later putting those late crops in but we were putting them into ideal conditions. It’s a totally different animal this year. We’re wet,” he said. “We were talking about bringing the cultivators out but that doesn’t even work. Harrowing seems to be the best in our soils. You dry out that top, top layer.” Mazier’s farm was already soggy
when it received another 50 millimetres of moisture in a flash rainstorm on May 29. Water is literally oozing out of the hillside on one patch of land. “I can’t drive anywhere near it. It’s just nuts,” he said. Attempts at seeding have been bizarre with soil rolling up in front of tires and then squirting underneath. “It was amazing, like you were in a constant wave,” said Mazier. “It’s like cheese, is about the only way I can really explain it. Trying to cut cheese.” Mazier has spoken to growers from Souris, Virden and Swan River who are facing similar to worse circumstances. “It seems to be generally the whole western side of the province,” he said.
“It’s quite an expansive area.” Based on his conversations and past experience, Mazier estimates there could be more land idled than the three million acres left unseeded in Manitoba during the floods of 2011. “It would be about the same area if not a little bigger,” he said. Bruce Burnett, CWB weather and crop specialist, estimates 60 percent of Manitoba’s crop was in the ground as of June 2. The situation improves as you move west across the Prairies, with Saskatchewan at 88 percent and Alberta essentially done. He is particularly concerned about southwestern Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan. “Those areas will probably go unplanted, portions of them at least anyways will go unplanted,”
said Burnett. “Farmers will be looking at maybe winter wheat for this fall rather than getting their entire intended area in.” Growers are “nearing the end of the runway” with crop insurance deadlines for a number of crops. For row crops like corn and soybeans it has already passed. Burnett believes soybean acreage will suffer greatly because it is concentrated in the region that is hardest hit and it is unlikely growers will tempt fate by planting beyond crop insurance deadlines for a crop that is so new to the Prairies. Mazier thinks acres intended for soybeans and wheat w ill be switched to Canada’s Cinderella crop. SEE SOGGY FIELDS, PAGE 3
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Expect an explosion of glyphosateresistant weeds in North Dakota this year, says a leading weed specialist. Herbicide-resistant weeds are becoming more common in the northern United States and are also spreading northwest toward southern Manitoba. But this year’s seeding problems in North Dakota and Minnesota mean that farmers in those states may not do what they know they should do to control the problem. Manitoba farmers should take on the challenge and show American farmers how to avoid the nightmare presently engulfing millions of acres south of the line. “You guys have the chance to show the rest of the world how to do this correctly,” said Jeff Stachler, a herbicide-tolerant weed expert, during a May 31 interview in Fargo, N.D. SEE HERBICIDE RESISTANT, PAGE 2
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Bruce Burnett, CWB weather and crop specialist, estimates 60 percent of Manitoba’s crop was in the ground as of June 2. The situation improves as you move west with Saskatchewan at 88 percent and Alberta essentially done. | ROBIN BOOKER PHOTO
ONLINE AT WWW.PRODUCER.COM | ENTER OUR #PLANT14 PHOTO CONTEST Women entrepreneurs a growing group Alberta survey shows more women than ever are starting their own businesses in new and old markets | P. 19
Seeder’s reach stretches 160 feet Multi Farming Systems sells a fully equipped 160 foot seeder, which the company calls a multi-planter, and has produced a 212 foot frame for a farmer, who tooled it up with his own hardware. | P. 76
The Western Producer is published in Saskatoon by Western Producer Publications, which is owned by GVIC Communications Corp. Publisher: Shaun Jessome Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240
JUNE 5, 2014 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Stn. Main, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4