THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2017
VOL. 95 | NO. 33 | $4.25
Dry in Alberta Crops struggle in dry conditions in southern Alberta | P.5
Efficient barley SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923
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Researcher says variety would make better use of nitrogen | P.14
ENTER OUR #HARVEST17 PHOTO CONTEST. SEE DETAILS ON PAGE 9
HARVEST
Rain headache unlikely However, fall frost poses danger for northern Prairies BY SEAN PRATT SASKATOON NEWSROOM
SEE RAIN, PAGE 4
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EARLY HARVEST |
Stulor Farms works to harvest a red lentil crop on this 700 acre field north of Elbow, Sask., Aug, 6. The farm started harvest in the last few days of July, the earliest in its history, said Stuart Ector, the grandfather of the operation. Ector assisted the harvesting crew along with his son, Lionel Ector, and Lionel’s sons, Mike and Stuart Ector, son in-law Jason Boyle, relative Darren Stronski and hired hand Igor Bondarenko. | ROBIN BOOKER PHOTO
CROP DEVELOPMENT
Drought-proof canola remains elusive BY ROBERT ARNASON BRANDON BUREAU
Modern canola hybrids yield more, are resistant to diseases such as clubroot and blackleg and their pods are less likely to shatter when straight combined. However, the specific trait that many canola growers needed this year does not exist: tolerance for heat and drought. It’s possible, thanks to better genetics, that the latest canola
hybrids are more tolerant of 30 C temperatures and dry topsoil than previous varieties. That’s difficult to know for certain, said Justine Cornelsen, an agronomist with the Canola Council of Canada. “Right now I think we struggle with a good way to measure that (trait) in varieties,” Cornelsen said. “We kind of just do observations. This variety performed really well in a dry year, compared to the rest. But you’re going to have other fac-
tors at play. Was it because of the heat or the moisture (that) was causing this one to out-perform the others? We don’t really know.” It’s been smoking hot and dry in many regions of Western Canada this summer. Regina recorded only 1.8 mm of rain in July and temperatures regularly topped 30 C. Hundreds of canola crops have suffered in the scorching conditions. SEE DROUGHT-PROOF, PAGE 5
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SEASON OF FIRE | FEED SUPPLY BIG PRIORITY FOR B.C. CATTLE PRODUCERS | PAGE 53 Pulse checkoff Saskatchewan Pulse Growers has decided to keep its levy at a reduced level for at least one more year. | Page 45
On the move Growers are familiar with small on-farm treatment machines and large stationary plants at their seed dealers, but the trend toward high-volume mobile trailers is new and rapidly gaining momentum on big farms and for custom operators. | Page 50
u xhHEEJBy00001pzYv$:. AUGUST 17, 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
Drew Lerner expects normal harvest weather conditions this year with rainfall picking up in September. “It’s not going to be like last year,” said the president of World Weather Inc. “It’s not going to be just big, heavy deluges of rain, one right after the other.” But there will be sporadic rainfall that will at times disrupt harvesting activities. “We are going to see a little bit more rhythm in the atmosphere with rains coming and going periodically,” said Lerner. He expects the remainder of August to be drier than normal with rain starting in early September and continuing throughout the month, especially in the eastern portion of the Prairies. “I really do believe that the harvest will go OK,” said Lerner. However, he is worried about the fate of the late-seeded crops in northern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan. “I’m not quite sure we’re going to see enough dry and warm weather to really help accelerate those crops to the finish,” he said. His biggest concern for farmers in those regions where the crops are late is the fall frost. “A normal first frost freeze would be a bad thing for those guys. They need it to be late and I’m not sure we can pull that off,” said Lerner. If anything, he suspects the frost could arrive early this year. Frost hit northeastern Russia over the weekend, which is two to three weeks earlier than normal.