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Sunday, June 2, 2013

Finished Seeding June 1

Not bad considering. It could have been a lot sooner if things had worked out different. I ended up re-seeding one field. Those herbicide resistant wild oats staged a real come-back when the rain hit them right after seeding. Plus new ones came up. I went ahead and applied avadex to the small half of the field, quickly incorporated it with the field cultivator and then re-seeded to flax. I didn't have enough flax seed cleaned to do the big half over again so I opted for canola. Probably a  better choice anyway since that will give me at least two chances to spray out the wild oats with glyphosate (roundup). 6 operations on that field. Good grief! So much for low disturbance farming. Well seven if you count the rock picking but that was done pretty fast and furious so hardly counts.
Now I am hearing from the modern efficient farmers at Agriville that flea beatles and cutworms are running rampant in emerging canola fields. I have not checked and am almost afraid to look at mine. We escaped the frost warning a couple of nights ago.
In other news GMO roundup resistant wheat has been discovered in the U.S. state of Oregon. Although varieties were tested in the nineties , no GM wheat was ever approved for commercial production so it is a mystery where this came from. Its not good for the wheat market. More fuel for the anti GMO fanatics. Been there and done that a few years ago when the Triffid flax problem cropped up in 2010. It hurt our markets, price, and forced all flax growers to pay for an expensive gene test before they could sell their flax. It took a while but prices are back up now. I still would like to know just what is so harmful about genetically modified crops . I guess the bottom line is that the customer is always right, even when he his wrong.
Today being Sunday and somewhat of a day of rest I took it easy and listened to CBC Sunday Morning while picking rocks in relative ease and comfort.

2 comments:

  1. hey Ralph thought I might be able to shed some light on the 'whats wrong with gmo's' comment you made... for me the biggest problem with GM foods is there hasnt been enough long term studies done to know for sure its 100% safe. Also, do you think if there was a problem with RR foods would the big M let us know? They are legally bound to do everything in their power to make a profit for their shareholders, seems they wouldnt want to disclose any potential health risks associated with GM foods (or R-UP). With the amount of food/dollars/fields on the line they cant just pull the plug right now on gm crops since we're relying on them to feed us cheap, and abundant food. Sadly nothing will change until the price of food increases and we learn to stop wasting so much food. Also, do you not wonder why GM crops are banned in like 30 other countries? Anyway Im not knocking guys who grow gm crops, you are simply supplying what is demanded by the consumer, however they may be a uneducated consumer. Glad to hear your crops are in :) we finished up on 2nd.

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  2. I agree that we have not seen any long term results from glyphosate and GM canola on human's health yet. Short term it sure has simplified weed control in canola for me. Not too happy with the seed price and tech fee as it puts our seed costs over $50 per acre.

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