2015 Summer Field Tour Update

SFSDC held their annual field tour on July 21, 2015 near Carrot River, SK. with 25 people in attendance. Norm Klemmer with AG-Vision Seeds of Carrot River hosted the group and provided the gathering point for the afternoon.

This year’s tour included a presentation on forage crop plant diseases by Faye Bouchard, Provincial Plant Disease Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture. Faye described the basic requirements for plant disease development in all crops, and went on to describe forage crop plant diseases common to Northeastern Saskatchewan. She brought along samples of some of the diseases as well as a mobile microscope that provided up-close live video of disease symptoms and broadcast the images to nearby smart phones.

Danielle Stephens, Integrated Pest Management Agrologist with Saskatchewan Agriculture was also able to show those in attendance the symptoms of swede midge from nearby canola fields.

The tour group looked at 3 forage seed fields south of Carrot River. Denluc Farms provided the opportunity to look at their Slender wheatgrass, Dahurian wildrye and Pubescent wheatgrass fields. A good discussion was held on production of these forage seed grass crops and potential problems with crop establishment and management.

SFSDC would like to thank AG-Vision Seeds and Denluc Farms for their kind hospitality for the field tour and their support of our grower organization.ss fields. A good discussion was held on production of these forage seed grass crops and potential problems with crop establishment and management.

SFSDC also took part in the Northeast Agriculture Research Foundation (NARF) annual field day on July 22, 2015 at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Farm south of Melfort, SK. Over 100 people were in attendance for the field day and checked out projects on plant growth regulators on wheat, disease in canola, insects, soybeans, flax, crop fertility, as well as forage seed crop establishment.

SFSDC would like to thank Stu Brandt and the NARF crew for their efforts on the forage seed crop research program at their site and for hosting the field day.