The growing season is complete and it has seen its fair share of moisture. Crops progressed, but temporary standing water in many fields during July and August in the northeast region of the province lowered yields.

The SFSDC research program at the Northeast Agriculture Research Foundation (NARF) site near Melfort SK was expanded this year. The projects are wrapping up as another growing season comes to an end. There were some challenges along the way this year, as the spring started out uncharacteristically dry in the Melfort area.

SFSDC worked with the Saskatchewan Forage Council (SFC) to hold the annual field tour on July 26, 2016 near Saskatoon SK. We were hosted by the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) and the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Research Station.

The NARF research field day will be held at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Farm 2 km south of Melfort SK on Wednesday July 20, 2016. Registration is at 8 am with plots tours throughout the morning and afternoon.

The Saskatchewan Forage Seed Development Commission’s top goal is to enhance yields and economic returns for our levy payers. We have taken steps to expand our research program this year with that goal in mind.

The Saskatchewan Forage Network was created to facilitate a collaborative approach to research, technology transfer and industry development for all forage and livestock industry stakeholders in Saskatchewan.

Dave Wong, retired Market Specialist with Alberta Agriculture, has compiled many forage seed market summaries and market perspectives over the years.

The 2015 Forage Seed Growers’ workshop was hosted by SFSDC in Nipawin, SK on December 2, 2015. The agenda included an excellent line-up of speakers and presentations were made by:

The 2015 SFSDC Annual General Meeting was held in Nipawin, SK on December 2, 2015. David Maxwell, Chair welcomed the group and introduced the Board of Directors and speakers for the day as well as provided his annual report.

Copper is an essential micronutrient needed for proper fertilization and seed formation. Copper deficiencies are not widespread in Northeastern Saskatchewan, but where they occur they can result in very substantial yield losses to susceptible grain crops. Deficiencies are most common on organic (peat) and coarse textured (sandy) soils.

It has been a very interesting year in Saskatchewan. The spring was better than the past two years for getting crops into the ground in a timely manner because there was not as much surface water in many areas.

Research has always been the main objective for the SFSDC and the Directors look for ways to expand the research program with the Commission’s limited funds.

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.

Forage Seed Grower Workshop and Saskatchewan Forage Seed Development Commission Annual General Meeting

Guidelines for Estimating Forage Seed Production Costs 2016 is now available from Manitoba Agriculture.

So far, 2015 has been a better spring for getting crops into the ground in a timely manner. At the time of writing this article, concerns were growing about dry soil conditions and some good rains would be much appreciated.

Nels Smelland has been farming in the Nipawin, SK area most of his life and started growing grass seed in 1985. Nels grew both Intermediate and Crested Wheatgrass for the first 25 years, and then took on production of Slender Wheatgrass for the past 5 years.

In June 2013, 0.22 lb/ac of foliar EDTA chelated copper was applied at the flag leaf to established timothy (3 locations) and hybrid bromegrass (1 location) on replicated miniplots in the Choiceland, Nipawin, and White Fox, SK regions.

The SFSDC Annual General Meeting was held on December 2, 2014 in Nipawin, SK.