HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1976-06-30, Page 20Page 20 -Citizens News, June 30, 1976
He grows mustard ... intentionally
To most area farmers a field
covered in the flowering yellow
of the mustard plant would be a
field to spray and plow under. To
James Cleave of Bayfield, the six
acres of waving mustard is an
investment in the future,.
James has planted the six
acres of mustard to see if it
is a viable alternative to corn and
beans asa cash crop for the
area. His "domesticated"
mustard differs from wild must-
ard in several ways. The seeds of
the wild mustard are black and
drum -shaped and contain more
oil where the domesticated seeds
are round and yellow. In fact,
if you check almost any farm
kitchen around pickling time you
are almost sure to find a jar of
the small yellow seeds.
When the seeds are cleaned
and ground you have the powder-
ed mustard widely used in salad
dressings and regular table use.
There is a big demand for the
mustard seeds as in addition to
being used in the home, the
mustard powder is widely used in
such processed meats as hot
dogs and bologna to help pre-
serve the meat. Both the United
States and Japan are large im-
porters of the powdered mustard
and this demand is growing.
James became interested in
the idea of growing an alter-
native cash crop after talking
with Bill Ferguson of Zurich.
Bill was looking for a good honey -
producing crop for his bees and
James wanted an alternative
to beans as a cash crop. They
first thought of growing rape
which is an excellent honey
producing crop. The seeds con-
tain the oil most vegetable cook-
ing oils are made from. Un-
fortunately, there is nowhere in
Ontario_ to get the rape seed
processed so it was not economic-
ally viable.
It was Jame's son, Barry, who
first noticed several articles last
winter concerning the growing
demand for mustard. There was
a processing plant being built
just outside of Ottawa so they
jumped in the truck and went to
talk to them.. They returned
with 50 lbs. of seed and a con-
tract.
No special equipment is needed
to sow or harvest the mustard
The seed should be sowed
around 8 lbs. to the acre as
early in the spring as possible
as it will stand a fair bit of frost.
James sowed it with a grass
seeder hooked behind the drill.
Harvesting is about the same
time as grain crops and the mus-
tard can be straight combined.
The reel and knife are set for
combining wheat while the inside
screens used are the size used for
clover.
"As far as James knows, he is
the only one in the county grow-
ing commercial mustard as a
cash crop. If he is successful in
making money this year, he hopes
to grow even more next year.
He expects to get 45 to 50 bushel
to the acre but will be happy with
30.
So far there has been a lot of
interest expressed in the crop by
his neighbours, both good and
bad.
"Some of my neighbours want
to leap the fence and spray the
field before it spreads to their
farms," says James, "but they
shouldn't worry. This mustard is
very sensitive to weed sprays
and is much easier to kill than
wild mustard. Unlike wild must-
ard this seed does not have the
ability to lie dormant in the
ground for years at a time before
sprouting." Treflan and Fura-
dan may be used to control
weeds and flea beetles in the
crop.
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Bill Ferguson has set up 21
permanent hives in the bush just
behind the mustard field. Must-
ard is an excellent honey -
producing crop and the bees
make the most of it.
"I've tasted some of the honey
off the honey -combs back there
and it is really good," says
James.
"Everybody is laughing about
our mustard field now, but they
still want to go back and take a
look at it," says James. "They're
interested whether they want to
admit it or not."
What will it mean to the
farmers in this area if .lames'
experiment works?
"If we're successful, it means
farmers will be able to sink their
money into another crash crop
besides corn and beans. The only
drawback now is we have to take
the seed all the way to Ottawa to
get it processed but if enough
mustard was being grown in the
area I'm sure a processing plant
would be built a lot closer than
that. "
NOT JUST A WEED — James, left and Barry Cleave examine the
pods of their six acres of mustard to check on the growth of the seeds.
If they have a good mustard crop this year they intend to plant even
more next year making mustard the newest cash crop in the
photo by McKinley.
area.
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