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The Rural Voice, 1998-06, Page 10r WEST WAWANOSH MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY 1879 (69 1998 'Neghd our helping Neghbout" 529-7921 TRACTOR SAFETY Avoiding Rollovers /i ■ Never hitch loads higher than drawbar • Avoid backing downhill or turning uphill ■ Start slowly, change speed gradually ■ Back out if possible when mired in mud • Avoid crossing steep slopes IN Lock brake pedals before high speed travel • Keep loader buckets low during transport YOUR LOCAL AGENTS/BROKERS Frank Foran, Lucknow 528-3824 Lyons & Mulhem Insurance Brokers Ltd., Goderich 524-2664 Banter, MacEwan, Feagan Insurance Brokers Ltd., Goderich 524-8376 Kenneth B. MacLean, Paisley 368-7537 John Nixon, Brussels 887-9417 Delmar Sproul, Aubum 529-7273 • Clinton 482-3434 Goderich 524-9899 Donald R. Simpson, Ripley 395-5362 Chapman Graham & Associates, Owen Sound 376-1774 McMaster Siemon Insurance Brokers, Mitchell 348-9150 Miller Insurance, Kincardine 396-3465 Orr Insurance Brokers Inc., Stratford 271-4340 P.A. Roy Insurance Brokers Inc., Clinton 482-9357 Georgian Bay Insurance Brokers Ltd. 371-2104 Owen Sound 1-800-950-4758 Westlake - McHugh Insurance Brokers Zurich 236-4391 Moore Insurance Broker Ltd., Dublin 345-3512 Hemsworth Insurance Brokers, Listowel 291-3920 Kleinknecht Insurance Brokers, Linwood 698-2215 G.L. Barclay Insurance Inc., Grand Bend 238-6790 "INSURANCE FOR FARM, RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL AND AUTO" 6 THE RURAL VOICE Scrap Book This genetic research is a real turn-off If other seed companies adopt a new system patented in Texas there won't be any need for signing technological use agreements for high-tech crops. Scientists from the United States Department of Agriculture in Lubbock, Texas and the Delta and Pine Land Company, a major cotton and soybean seed company, have a patent on a system to control unauthorized planting of seed. The seed is treated with an inducer that turns off a gene. The seed grows into a plant in the usual manner and, in turn, produces seed. However, the second generation of the seed won't germinate. "It's almost like an on-off switch," said Sandy Hays, a spokesperson for the USDA's agricultural research division. "The inducer is the thing that turns the switch off, in this case." The patent covers plants and seeds of all species from transgenic and conventional breeding programs. Scientists have been working on the research since 1993. So far the treatment program has only been demonstrated on tobacco seed, an easy plant to work with. Some work has been done on cotton but the earliest this technology could be commercialized is 2004, Hays said. "That could be kind of the ultimate way of enforcing plant breeders' rights," said Barry Campbell, president of the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association. Generally seed growers rely on the companies that own varieties to deal with farmers who illegally reproduce seed and sell it to others, Campbell said. "It's hard to go and bang on your neighbour's door and say 'You shouldn't grow this because it's against the rules,'" Campbell said. There might be ways commercial farmers could use the treatment too, Campbell suggested. For example, seed treated in this way wouldn't sprout during a wet harvest period. The treatment might also help clean up farmers' rotations, Campbell said. Seed that falls on the ground wouldn't grow back as a contaminant. But Rural Advancement Foundation International, a group opposed to biotechnology, worried farmers may not be able to save their own seed to plant the following year. Seed prices could also rise, hurting farmers in developing countries.0 --Source: The Western Producer Processed sewage sludge fertilizes British crops Processed sewage sludge, made into fertilizer pellets that resemble coffee granules, is being uscd to fertilize crops on an experimental farm in Britain. Southern Water Company, which runs Moated House farm in Sussex in southern England, grew its first crop using the process last year, resulting in a crop of broad beans for cattle feed. This year the company's recycling experts plan to grow hundreds of tonnes of corn, oats, wheat and beans on the 185 -acre farm. "The first trial has been a great success, proving that the treated material makes an ideal fertilizer and soil conditioner," says Peter Soulsby, recycling manager for the company. The process uses an improved wastewater treatment method to remove thousands of tonnes of additional solid wastes, then create pellets. The company has been disposing of sewage sludge at sea. The company treats about 300,000 gallons of wastewater every day, creating 65,000 tonnes of sludge. "We will not put in any artificial phosphates because there is enough in the by-product," said Soulsby. He also noted that it takes six tonnes of fuel oil to make one tonne of nitrogen fertilizer so the fertilizer is a valuable resource. Soulsby notes the nitrogen in the pellets has the additional benefit of being slow releasing. "A lot of chemical fertilizers tend to release nitrogen very quickly and there is a danger that you get lush growth because the plant responds to it quickly and you lose a lot of nitrogen into the ground."0 —Source: British Information Services.