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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1985-08-28, Page 34Loss would be tragedy for agriculture claims Jones Farniersg Urged to baffle Describing the possible loss of the The professor said farmers should reviewed the tests being conducted on herbicide alachlor I Lasso{ as a tell their organizations to battle for narrow rows for white beans. He was "terrible tragedy" to Ontario the retention of the product. assisted by Brian Hall. farmers, Dr. George Jones this week Jones said it was not a carcinogen Forrest said there was a "real ad - took the occasion of the Centralia Col- and posed no threat. He said it was vantage" in yields in 14" rows as com- lege crops update program to urge impossible to use any product and not pared with 28". area farmers to fight for the retention have traces of it show up in water sup- The major problem, he explained. of the product. plies, but he said it remained there for was in disease control as narrow The professor from the University a relatively short period during the widths were more susceptible to white of Guelph told the wagonloads of application period. mold and it was necessary for farmers visiting his corn hybrid selec- If Lasso is lost, there would be on- growers to keep a close eye on their tion plots at the new research farm ly one product on the market to take crops. If a 48-hour wet spell arises, he that "Lasso is going to go unless you its place and Jones remarked that said it would be necessary to spray stick up for it". "someone will put the boots to you if the crop, but noted the -cost was Lasso is used to control weeds in you only have one product to choose". justified in view of the increased corn and soybeans production and has Regarding the corn hybrid selection been restricted by Agriculture tests at Centralia. Jones said the corn Canada and is subject to temporary was planted under "tough" conditions federal registration which expires at due to a dry spring and some of the - the end of 1985. A product review is results may be suspect. now being conducted. He said the biggest change in corn Alachlor has been found in some was to grow it in denser stands and water supply systems. to plant something that will stand up. Jones said it was not wrong for He said he was not certain that crop farmers to defend the product, saying specialists could breed superior silage it had been in use for 17 years and car- hybrids and said one of the biggest ried "very little risk". mistakes being made in beef feedlots He termed the possible loss as a was going to the exotic cattle breeds very serious problem for agriculture. in that they had to be finished on grain telling the farmers they would be los- and not silage. ing "one of your miracles" Bob Forrest of the College staff Times -Advocate, August 28, 1985 Page 15A for retention of chielalor yields. Weed control, it was explained. was no more a problem in the narrow rows than the wide ones. Problem weeds were outlined at one plot by Doug McLaren of the Guelph OMAF staff. He said it was critical that farmers learn to identify the new weeds so they don't become a problem. He indicated that proso millet is "now a serious problem in Huron" and has been listed as a noxious weed. To give farmers an idea of the weed problem, he said that one variety' which was first noted in Wisconsin in the late 197os has now mushroomed to the point where it infests 1,000,000 acres. McLaren said many of the weed varieties were triazine resistant and the species in that category continue to mount. Crop scouting was the topic of Pat Lynch, former OMAF crop specialist for the area and now an employee of Cyanamid Canada. He opened his talk by noting that there is a considerable amount of twitch grass in corn and told his au- CHECK SPRAYERS – - Area farmers Bruce Shopton and Hugh Rundle check over the spraying equipment used at the Centralia College research farm. T -A photo Bean production up considerably While bean production for 1985 is expected to be increased by about :$o percent from a year ago. This information was revealed at Wednesday's Crop Update Day al Centralia College by Charles Broadwell, manager of the Ontario Bean Producers Marketing Board. Broadwell said acreage in Ontario . is up this year to 95.000 acres from 79,000 accres in 1984. Coupled with an expected yield of 1.371 pounds per acre compared to 1,238 a year ago the total production in the province should be 1.:302,450 hundredweight. The big competition tor Ontario beans comes from Michigan and their production figures are also up ccon- siderably. Along with an increase of 20,000 acres to :340010 acres. Michigan yields per acre are expected to rise form 1.036 pounds per acre to .near 1,300 pounds. With similar production increases in Minnesota and North Dakota. Broadwell said total production could be close to two million bags.m re than • last year. McGillivray costs jump Water installation costs for new ser vices in the township were reviewed recently by McGillivray council Due to increasing costs of materials and labour on construction of exten- sions to existing lines. council agreed to increase the cost of water services. Effective September 1 the new rates will he $2.500 for a residence and $5.500 for a farm. The charge for take- off from the water Zine is to 'remain at $300. Applic.n►ts for part -lime help lot - •the road department were interview- ed and the successful applicant was Glen Bullock Ile has already started his employment. Elizabeth Hottson._a planning con- sultant attended a recent meeting to discuss items of concern and modifications to the official plan regarding zoning bylaw updates. The contract to engage the firm 01 MacAulay Shiom Consultants was ap- proved to he signed • The agreement for fire protection with the town of Parkhill was review- ed and approved for signing. He added. "This looks a little bit like our record production of 1982." The marketing board manager was not very optimistic about the 1985 price outlook. Ontario prices Wednes- day were $24 for domestic and $23 for export markets. Broadwell said Michigan beans wertt,selting the same day for $14 in U.S. funds. Final payment on the 1984 crop are expected to be mailed out in earlyOc- tober bringing the total returns to about $23 per bag. Broadwell said if prices remained low stabilization payments were a possibility. He continued, "This isn't something to look forward to. but would be a con- solation. The beans would have to be sold first and then stabilization ap- plied for based on the past five years. In this case the net to the producer would likely be about $24." The beim board exports about 80 percent of the Ontario crop each year to more than.70 countries, including those receiving food aid. The United Kingdom continues to be the principal buyer. Consumers there put away 100.6410 tonnes each year. In Canada. the figure is about 18.1011 tonnes annually. Kirkton By MRS HAROLD DAVIS Mr. and Mrs. Jim McCurdy and Kevin of Blenheim, and Mr. and Mrs. Reg McCurdy Jason and Jeff of Woodham visited Tuesday with Mr. and Mrs. - Harold Davis and also Miller McCurdy at Kingsway Lodge. St. Marys. Garth Blackler enjoyed a week's vacation in Alberta. Mrs. Leon Paul has returned home from a three weeks vacation in Europe. Mr. and Mrs. Albert Weernink have returned home- from a trip to H.C. Mr. and Mrs. Bill Waghorn enjoyed a week's vacation in the U.S.A. Mr. Ilea Stephen was a dinner guest Sunday with his sister-in-law Mrs. Harold Grierson in London. Ile was accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Pfaff of Crediton. Miss Ethel Copeland'was a dinner guest in honour of Lloyd Zubriggs bir- thday of Radford Virginia. held al Listowel. Huron Apothecary Ltd. ,1 T WILSON PHARMACIST PHONE 235-1982 440 MAIN ST EXETER. ONT. PRESCRIPTIONS We accept most major drug plans Blue Cross, Green Shield, Drug Benefit, etc. Hours Mon. Tues., Thurs. 8 Fri. 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Wed. 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Sat. 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. a-• YOUTH SPEAKING SEMINAR — A workshop on youth public speaking was held at Centralia College on the weekend. Above, co-ordinator Amber Underwood presents certificates to Mark Ryan and Karl Morrison of Huron county. T -A photo v .41 dience they could control it, if they were serious about it, but would pro- bably never get rid of it entirely. He said the main factor is to spray twitch when it is actively growing. Lynch said farmers couldn't afford 100 percent weed control and that their spraying and tillage costs had to relate to the yield expectations and weed pressure. • His replacement as Huron and Perth crop specialist, John Heard. talked about soil conditions, explain- ing that three major types of compac- tion were tillage pans, traffic. and over tillage. He said he would rather compact a little ground a lot than to compact a lot of ground a little, noting that 80 percent of compaction arose on the first pass -over by a farm vehicle. Outlining strategic management. he said the five components were im= proved crop rotation. reduced tillage trips, minimum tillage principles. to till at proper moisture content of the land and to integrate the best varieties of seed along with weed and pest control. New soybean varieties under test at Centralia were outlined by John Schleihauf of the London .OMAN' of- fice. He indicated several new varieties had considerable potential. but advised farmers that the bottom line in choosing new varieties is their own farm test as soybeans are site specific. They were told to keep abreast oI 'new varieties as it was necessary to try and crank out some extra bushels under the same input costs. He touched briefly on winter wheat - and said not too many were dissatisified with aerial application. but results were still not quite as good as conventional seeding methods. "Time of planting is still of the most importance," Schleihauf concluded. You Can Deal With Confidence When You Deliver Your 1985 White Bean Crop to T1 I ! I 5 ! 1 II/TfIIle■', Ken R. Campbell & Sons Ltd., Seaforth Howson & Howson Ltd., Blyth, Ontario Palmerston Elevators Ltd. Bar' B - Dee Farms, RR 1 Bornholm are also white bean receiving satellites for Thompson's We want and appreciate your business Hyland Augusta Seed Wheat again the top yielder Followed by Hyland Howser Seed Wheat .y, Ev• Be sure you buy Blue Tag Seed Only This assures you of ''Certified #1 Seed 1 for "Purity" - "Quality" and Top Yields." Any other facsimile is not the same. Available only at Thompson's or a Hyland Dealer Also there is Cert. ##1 Fredrick seed wheat. For larger growers wishing Certified seed in Bulk we can supply. Please order ahead. ALL SEED IS TREATED WITH VITAFLO " 280" - Custom Fertilizer Spreading - Soil Sampling Service - Computerized Reports - Recommendations from a Qualified Staff •' For purity, top germination, disease free Sow only Certified Hyland Seed IE ED . raa•'T ' woR�s !i foe 1 r) ANS 1 DS /IRTI OURS Hensall 262-2527 Mitchell 348-8433 Granton 225-2360 Ailsa Craig 293-3223 Port Albert 529-7901