Historic homestead lost » Pg 3
july 3, 2014
Mandatory swine tracking Rules came into effect July 1 » Pg 15
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 72, No. 27
Conservation agriculture gaining ground But breaking through tradition is difficult By Shannon VanRaes co-operator staff
I
t’s common to rebel against your parents, except it seems, when deciding how best to farm. “Never underestimate tradition,” Jodi DeJong-Highes told those gathered in Winnipeg for the sixth World Congress on Conservation Agriculture last week. The Minnesota-based extension educator and tillage specialist said there is one thing she hears more often than not when trying to convince farmers to adopt conservation practices like no tillage or strip tillage. “My dad did it, my dad’s dad did it, and this is the way it should be done to be a good farmer,” she related. “And that’s something where, if you’re a researcher, you can’t change that.” Changing how people think about farming and conservation may be one of the greatest barriers to adopting new technology, she said. Others agreed. “We have a mindset that has kept us trapped,” said Howard Buffett, of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. “If we used cellphones or smartphones, or whatever you want to call them, like we farm we’d still have one of those big AT&T things with the big antenna. We have not changed our thinking nearly as
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‘Interesting weather’ raises fusarium head blight risk Winter wheat is at risk now with spring wheat soon to follow
By Allan Dawson co-operator staff
T
he fusarium head blight risk in most of Manitoba was rated “extreme” June 26 by Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (MAFRD) and was expected to remain that way this week. “People should be getting prepared to protect their (winter and spring wheat) crops (with a fungicide),” MAFRD plant pathologist Vikram Bisht said in an interview last week. “Winter wheat is extremely susceptible to fusarium head blight. It normally escapes, but this year we have interesting weather.” Although many crops are behind because of the cool, wet conditions, winter wheat crops are heading and it won’t be long until they flower. Earlyseeded spring wheat is isn’t far behind. Plant diseases require three conditions to thrive — a source of inoculum, a host and the right environmental conditions. All three exist for fusarium head blight, a fungal disease that can dramatically cut wheat yields and quality. Fu s a r i u m t h r i v e s u n d e r moist conditions when temperatures are 15 to 30 C for 48 to 60 hours. Cereal crops — barley, oats and rye, as well as winter and spring wheat — are susceptible to fusarium at the flowering to soft-dough stage. For optimum fusarium suppression, apply a registered fungicide when at least 75 per cent of the heads are fully emerged to when 50 per cent of the heads on the main stem are in flower, MAFRD’s 2014 Guide to Crop Protection says. The guide says spray equipment must be set to pro vide good coverage to heads
See CONSERVATION on page 7 »
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Spring wheat infected with fusarium head blight. photo: lionel kaskiw, MAFRD
See HEAD BLIGHT on page 6 »