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This article features Henk Kamper from Vauxhall in it talking about the value of certified seed and what it brings to his farm: link here
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Alberta Pulse Growers Taber MTG
APG will be hosting their regular Zone 1 AGM, Dec 3rd 9:30-3:30 at the Taber Community Centre. A soil health component will be part of the event. Register here RVT info Also did you know there is pulse regional variety trial information by site, and crop? details here Irrigated Crop Production Update The Irrigated Crop Production Update 1 day conference in Lethbridge will be held January 23rd. Early bird registration is open now: link here I came across this website with a soil probe that gives you a geo referenced nutrient analysis in 30 seconds, farm management is changing fast: https://www.chrysalabs.com/
2 days ago on Nov 18 2024, we dormant seeded a spring barley, spring wheat, and a durum. Dr Brian Beres (speaking at out Dec 10th event) suggested to wait until the soil was consistently below 2 C at seeding depth which did not happen until Monday. That afternoon after seeding we had 2" of snow. The goal is to have them not grow now but to have them start growing mid to late winter and take advantage of early season moisture, mature ahead of disease and be harvested earlier. The plots were treated like a fall crop field as it is beside our fall rye, winter wheat, fall triticale demo plots. Look for them on our June and late July crop tours in 2025.  We are working with Western Tractor and Crop Intelligence on a fall crop moisture probe. I was thinking that we did not understand how fast fall crops and especially hybrid fall rye use moisture in the spring. This is the first time they have left a moisture probe out over winter so it may need to be re-set in the spring. We have a link to the environmental data on our home page While the soil moisture charts are great, I really like the soil temperate feature at 2" Western Tractor and Crop Intelligence will be at our Dec 10th event so chat with them if you have questions!    We have 2 newer spring triticale varieties available this season. Triticale has a larger / stronger root system vs other crops so it can tolerate sandy or dry conditions better vs some crops. We have an awnless spring triticale called TriCal Surge that is perfect for all types of forage use. We also have the brand new AB Sunbeam spring trit (awned) and is perfect for silage forage or grain.  This season we don't have many changes in CRWS offerings and we get the question "What is the best CWRS for me?" Often stand-ability, top end yield, and disease package are the top 3 needs. I really like it when we can pick a wet area variety, a general performer, or the right insect prevention variety that fits best in our customers fields. Here are some options: SY Manness - Best for medium to high moisture, stands, is early, and responds to high inputs AAC Wheatland VB - All around top yields and stands well AAC Hockley - All around top yields and stand well that is not a VB AAC Hodge VB - Top disease package AAC Brandon - Industry standard CDC Adamant VB - Semi-solid stem for sawfly resistance Here are our 2024 and older seasons spring cereal yield demo results Next fall we will be launching 3 new CWRS varieties (Westking, Stoughton VB, & Oakman VB solid stem)
We have some customers who are swathing crop, swathing too early, and cutting too low with the straight cut headers to pick up sawfly impacted crops. Low cutting also leads to less snow trap, soil erosion risk and less structure for pulse crops to support themselves in the next season. Currently we carry 2 solid stem durum and one semi solid CWRS AAC Grainland Durum - best in dry areas AAC Stronghold Durum - best medium to wet areas CDC Adamant VB CWRS (semi solid) You can also reduce sawfly impact by not growing a wheat or durum back to back or near sawfly impacted fields, but we have found winter crops are not impacted due to how early they mature and how early we can harvest them.  Plant breeding funding has been a long standing contentious issue in Western Canada. Who should pay for the varieties we grow? This article talks about the history of funding and the challenges going forwards.
Challenges I see right now:
This is Greg's opinion and I may not be right 😀 but I am seeing troubling things in the seed world right now that we need to address as an industry. Winter crops can change the weed spectrum and suppress some weeds, but can you go herbicide free in crop? This research shows you might be able to in the right situations. I think early seeding is key (Late Aug - Early Sept) so that the crop can tiller out in the fall vs. the spring. Their research also showed that fungicides can increase yield and protein (news to me on the protein) https://canadianagronomist.ca/reducing-herbicide-inputs-in-winter-wheat/     Sencor is sometimes used in chickpea production (more common in Saskatchewan). Canadian Agronomist has some crop injury research that is relevant if you are a user of it or are considering trying some. https://canadianagronomist.ca/metribuzin-is-tough-on-chickpeas/  I've heard of a few people with light bu weight barley this year, I think there are a few buyers who will work with lighter bu weight barley but I do receive texts from AG Value Brokers: (Bushel weight discounts down to 42lbs) on a discount schedule Bid:($6.03bu) $277mt less bushel weight discounts delivered Lethbridge Area Jan/Feb/Mar Picked up options available depending on location. Please call 1-800-679-2915 for more information - Chase Honess P# 1-403-329-3444 C# 1-403-863-4079 I have done business with them years ago, but this is not an endorsement, so do your due diligence for your own farm.  We are launching 3 varieties of yellow peas this season making it hard to chose the best one to buy. All will be equal to better versus the varieties we are replacing. You might of noticed that we have added and dropped a few varieties quickly over the past 5 years like: CDC Inca, CDC Lewochko, and CDC Hickie, this was mainly due to inconstant yields on our farm. While others like AAC Lacombe, AAC Chrome, AAC Carver we have moved on from due to seed coat breakage issues. Here is our 2025 Yellow Pea Offering and Guide:
 Look for us at Agri-trade in the SeedNet booth Nov 13-15th in Red Deer, see map below  We participated in a grain corn trial east of Vauxhall with TFS Expanse. Thunder varieties did very well, in this trial that had a lot of solid yields for the year that it was! TH4072 RR - reliable variety for grain and silage in all areas TH6278 VT2P - Great yield for silage and grain - speak to Blair if this can be grown for grain in your area! Seed pricing is available, contact Blair at [email protected] or can call or text him at 403-634-4349 Corn Seed  We participated in a silage corn trial just north of Coaldale. TH6180 VT2P was the top variety in this trial! It was seeded May 31st, 2024 and taken off on October 8th, 2024. TH6180 VT2P is a great silage variety for most of Southern Alberta. It is a 80 day variety that has great agronomics and good quality. Thank you to Kasko Cattle for putting this trial on! Seed pricing is available, contact Blair at [email protected] or call or text him at 403-634-4349 Corn Seed   Molson Coors has a nice article talking about their history and the future of malt barley production in Montanna: https://www.molsoncoorsblog.com/barley-program-montana
Alberta Pulse Growers works with Chuck Penner of LeftField Commodity Research to provide market outlook reports. This report goes over the post harvest sentiment as the markets settle out https://albertapulse.com/2024/10/pulse-market-insight-261/
This article talks about the uncertainty around India : https://albertapulse.com/2024/10/pulse-market-insight-262/ As farms grow and become more complex the type of management need changes as well. Here is a nice post about ways you can level up your farm business:
https://uncommonfarms.com/blog/the-power-of-collaboration-farm-teams-and-their-impact |
AuthorsBlair Balog - Seed Specialist at Stamp Seeds Archives
June 2025
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