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

Drs. Fran Walley and Rich Farrell, together with their graduate students Nils Yannikos and James Woodhouse, recently completed a three year research study examining the impact of enhanced efficiency fertilizer products in forage grass seed production.

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.

Adger Banken, Director Export and Procurement with DLF-Trifolium in The Netherlands used a webcast link to provide his presentation and speak to the group.