THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2013
VOL. 91 | NO. 5 | $4.25
INTO BROWN ROT | BITING BERRY YIELDS P74
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RESEARCH | CEREAL BREEDING
Farmers look to remake cereal research
Taking charge of water
BY BRIAN CROSS SASKATOON NEWSROOM
A collection of prairie farm groups has joined forces to look for new ways to fund public and private cereal breeding programs in Western Canada. Lethbridge farmer and pedigreed seed grower Ryan Mercer said work is underway to identify a new funding model for cereal variety development in the West. A steering committee has been formed to oversee the initiative. The committee has commissioned a report that will examine different funding mechanisms used in other major cereal producing and exporting nations. Dorothy Murrell, former director of the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre, and Carman Read, an Alberta consultant who is helping establish new wheat and barley commissions in Saskatchewan, will help prepare the report, which is expected this fall.
Manitoba farms | On-farm reservoirs may ease water problems and boost irrigation BY ED WHITE WINNIPEG BUREAU
Manitoba farmers spend the first few weeks of spring desperately trying to get water off their fields and then spend the rest of the summer fearing drought. Water and nutrient management experts made the observation during Keystone Agricultural Producers’ annual meeting last week. They said managing water better could benefit farms and solve some of the phosphorus criticism the industry faces. “We’re not realizing all the benefits of controlling that surface water, particularly when you consider that this is a prairie environment where there is net loss of water,” David Lobb, an agricultural water management specialist at the University of Manitoba, said during a panel discussion. “There is a benefit of actually holding some of that water back and managing a lot better.” Drainage issues were raised at KAP’s annual meeting. A number of resolutions from delegates were about drainage, and some heated arguments were about flooding and drainage in the Red River Valley. The topic has become dominant in Manitoba in recent years, pitting city against country. Many have claimed that farmland is a primary cause of the phosphorus that is causing Lake Winnipeg to become increasingly algae-covered. SEE RESERVOIRS, PAGE 2
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SEE CEREAL RESEARCH, PAGE 2
JANUARY 31, 2013 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4
Tommy Deedman of Belmont, Man., works through a cold winter’s day to split his winter supply of wood. | LILLIAN DEEDMAN PHOTO
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