THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017
VOL. 95 | NO. 15 | $4.25
Glyphosate in food CFIA tested food for residues but won’t release details. | P. 14
Chicken welfare Restaurants bring in new rules; producers say they already outdo them. | P. 52 DISEASE RESISTANCE
Farmland ownership SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923
|
WWW.PRODUCER.COM
Who’s buying land in Saskatchewan? | P. 3
GETTING ORGANIZED
Wheat midge tolerant gene at risk Soft white wheat growers asked to blend AC Sadash with AC Andrew BY BRIAN CROSS SASKATOON NEWSROOM
A gene that has been found in the wrong place could potentially be putting part of the prairie wheat sector at risk. SeCan, a farmer-owned seed distribution company, has learned that soft white wheat varieties in Western Canada, in particular AC Sadash, inadvertently contain a gene known as Sm1. Sm1 is the wheat gene that confers tolerance to the orange blossom wheat midge. To protect the efficacy of the gene, all wheat varieties that contain the trait are blended with a refuge variety that is susceptible to midge damage.
»
SEE WHEAT MIDGE, P. 5
Ryan Berg lines up his grain auger to transfer barley from his truck to another grain bin on his farm south of Didsbury, Alta., April 6. | MIKE STURK PHOTO
OVER-WINTERED CROPS
Growers in many parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan are anxious to harvest crops left in the field last fall BY BRIAN CROSS SASKATOON NEWSROOM
Hard-luck farmers across Western Canada are gearing up for an encore performance in a two-act play that nobody wanted to see. Approximately 2.3 to 2.4 million acres of farmland went unharvested last fall, including an estimated 1.3 million acres in Saskatchewan
and roughly a million more in Alberta. Last week, grain growers who would normally be tuning up seeding units were firing up their combines, hooking up to grain carts and getting ready to pick up where they left off late last year. “Harvest has, umm, I guess started, you could say, in a few areas of the province,” said Shannon Fries-
en, a provincial crop specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture. “Certainly in parts of (southern Saskatchewan) and even the westcentral, producers are either getting in the fields or are hoping to get in there in the next week or two.” As of April 6, spring harvest operations were “just getting under way,” Friesen said.
Combines started rolling in some parts of the province last week but progress was slow, delayed by wet field conditions and tough grain. In some cases, growers will choose between harvesting tough, low-quality feed grain and drying it or leaving their crops to dry naturally.
PUTTING YOU IN CONTROL WITH LIQUID MUSCLE.
DuPont™ Travallas™ liquid herbicide delivers high-performance control on your toughest broadleaf weeds in spring wheat, durum wheat and spring barley. Questions? Ask your retailer, call 1-800-667-3925 or visit travallas.dupont.ca As with all crop protection products, read and follow label instructions carefully. Member of CropLife Canada. Unless indicated, trademarks with ®, ™ or SM are trademarks of DuPont or affiliates. © 2017 DuPont.
»
SEE FARMERS GEAR UP P. 4
u|xhHEEJBy00001pzYv,:; APRIL 13, 2017 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Stn. Main, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4 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
Farmers gear up for late harvest