The Rural Voice, 1982-04, Page 17Growers launch new seed company
Three area men are among a group of
Ontario seed producers which has formed
a new Guelph -area company, First Line
Seeds Ltd., to market "premium quality
seed" to Ontario farmers. They are Bev
Hill of Varna, Hugh Scott of Staffa and
Gordon Strang of Exeter.
;he new company's president is Peter
Hannam of Guelph, a former president of
both the Ontario Federation of Agriculture
and Canfarm. Other principals in the
company include: Alex Connell of Palmer-
ston, John Hazlitt of Goderich, Ralph
Hedley of Canfield, Don Langford of
Kerwood, T.N. Martin of St. Thomas,
David Murray of Lambeth, Paul Parkinson
of Rockwood, Russell Park of Sarnia and
Jim Timmings of Rockwood.
The new company says it will offer a
special premium grade of soybean seed
labelled "Vigour Plus" this crop year, and
seed of other crops will be introduced
later.
A press release from the new company
says "Vigour Plus" is tested twice for
vigour. a step beyond simple germination
testing, to insure the establishment of a
good stand under stress conditions for
growers. The new soybean seed will be
tagged in two categories; red for excellent
and white for good.
"Soybean growers have long com-
plained about poor stand establishment,
even after having their seed tested for
germination quality," the press release
states. "In many cases, the tests showed
more than 85 per cent germination. the
certified standard, yet producers obtained
only medium levels of stand establish-
ment...Poor performance has raised
questions about the adequacy of the
germination test. The test measures
performance under favorable conditions
only."
The company says strict quality control
procedures are enforced at all stages of
production and processing of "Vigour
Plus" to maintain high standards. Then
the seed is tested on an automatic seed
analyser, and "research results show a
strong correlation between vigour tests on
the automatic seed analyser and field
emergence under stress conditions."
First Line Seeds Ltd. at RR2, Guelph is a
private venture owned by seed growers,
each well known in their local communi-
ties. It wants to contribute more to the
success of Ontario agriculture by getting
more involved in the seed industry.
Huron breeder
has top Yorkshire
Bodmin Farms Ltd., R.R. #5, Brussels,
for the second month in succession had
the top indexing Yorkshire boar selected
for the Station Tested boar sale at the
Ontario R.O.P. Swine Test Station.
This March test station "graduate"
had an index of 129 and very low backfat
thickness of 10.3 mm (.41 inches) and
average daily gain on test of .85 kg (1.87
lbs.).
The highest indexing boar in the entire
group of 122 boars was a Landrace from
McDermid Farms, Stayner.
Herd health course at Belmore
Seen above in the library of the Belmore Community Centre is veterinarian Dr. Stan
Alkemade discussing herd health with a class of pork producers who are attending a
10 -week evening course on all aspects of swine management. This off -campus
course is one of several being put on by Centralia College of Agricultural
Technology at Belmore, Atwood and Wellington Place under a Canada Manpower
Re-training program. All of the courses, covering sheep production, financial
management, production management for dairy and swine producers, have been
well attended and hopefully will be repeated next year if there is sufficient demand
for them.
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THE RURAL VOICE APRIL 1982 PG. 15