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The Rural Voice, 1978-02, Page 15Rootworm heading into Bruce county The northern corn rootworm infesting he prime cornlands of southwestern Ontario. has munched its way north to Bruce county. Pat Lynch, soils and crops specialist with " )the Ministry of Agriculture and food in ng ird JT. lid 1p, 00 it. ns op it ad 30 s. gs of re tg is ;s to ly t - :t ,1 d •e >. e y of e n e n 1 1. Stratford, told the Grey -Bruce Farmers Week in Hanover in early,January that the best way to fight the little pest is crop rotation. The tiny larvae is less than three millimetres long but has been cutting corn yields by as much as 25 bushels an acre. Mr. Lynch said If crop rotation is not practical the next best control is insecticides, Mr. Lynch said, but these should never be applied the first year corn is planted on land. To make things worse. he said. the ‘sestern rootworm made its appearance in Ontario a couple of years ago and the two types have been crossbreeding. producing an offspring that seems to have the worst aspects of both breeds. Called the northwest mixture, it is more prolific with the larger size and 'greater appetite than the western type and has the aggressive- ness of the northern variety. While the insect stage of the cycle feeds on the corn silk, it is the less visible larvae stage that does the real damage chewing ay.ay at the roots in mid-June to mid-July period. thus reducing nutrient and water uptake. A secondary problem is that the injured root systeni is more seceptible to diseases such as root rot. Both rootworm and root rot tend to increase with continuous corn production on land. There is a shortage of funds for research into rootworm and its controls. Mr. Lynch said. And as if the damage being done to corn crops hasn't been bad enough. last year the worm decided to vary its diet by sampling tomato plants. If it continues this trend, much higher crop losses could result. W.O. Breeders income up in 1977 Total income of $2,582.777, up 5168.000 from 1976 was reported when the annual meeting of the Western Ontario Breeders Inc. was held. Dec. 15, 1977. The year end for the company was Oct. 31. Of the total, 65 per cent came from nsemination servicings done in member erds and 20 per cent came from sales of semen in Canada and abroad. The remainder came from special services provided to cattle owners by the company. Total operating profit before depreci- ation was $203,891 which came down to a net profit of $56,799 after depreciation and profit on the sale of some assets during the year. This compares with a net loss of $43,000 in 1976. Total assets of the company at the year end were $2,520. ' Total inseminations were down 3,046 to 130,601 nearly all of which were accounted for on the beef breeds. Dairy servicings stayed more stable, accounting for 84 per cent of the total. Holstein sires accounted for 78 per cent of the total servicings. The decline in the use of beef sires and reduction of beef semen sales in the past two years has led to a substantial reduction in the number of beef sires in stud. Prediction for lower pork, higher beef prices made After warning that his predictions last year were wrong. Prof. Larry Martin of the University of Guelph told a group of Waterloo and Wellington county farmers that pork prices will likely slump and beef will show a "substantial increase" this year. Speaking in Kitchener Jan. 20 Prof. Martin recalled that a year ago he, along with most other experts. had predicted that pork prices would slump to the $40 range but instead they stayed at the $60 range. Still he predicted that an increase in hog numbers this year would drive prices down. He cautioned that statistics from the U.S. department of Agriculture, used as the basis of many predictions, have been juggled drastically and often in recent months. The production and prices in the U.S. are the biggest influence on Ontario prices, he said. Experts there are predicting an increase in production ranging . from slightly less than the U.S.D.A.'s estimate of a six to eight per cent increase in the second quarter. 12-14 percent in the third quarter and eight to nine per cent in the fourth all the way up to a production estimate by an Ohio professor who says production will increase 16-18 per cent in the third quarter and fall off to 10 per cent in the fourth quarter, compared to the same quarters last year. Prof. Martin himself predicted an eight to nine per cent) increase in the third quarter and nine to 10' per cent in the fourth. In Canada the agriculture department is predicting an eight to 10 per cent increase in the first half with the increase becoming greater as the year goes on. The prediction of both Prof. Martin and the department of agriculture is that THE production will remain steady in the west due to high initial payments for grains by the Canadian Wheat Board so all production increases will come in the east, with most of that in Quebec. Hog production in Quebec is growing rapidly and this year for the first time more hogs are likely to be produced there than in Ontario. Hog kills in Quebec (including' some Ontario hogs sold to Quebec packers) increased 13.9 per cent last year compared to 5.3 per cent in Ontario. Across Canada there was a 13 per cent increase in the first quarter last year but only four per cent in the second quarter. Prof. Martin said the cold winter caused some problems which helped keep hog numbers down, he said. Prof. Martin said the new hog indexing system could have a major impact on total production figures. In theory, he said, farmers might increase live weights by as much as 20 pounds. If they increased the average weight of hogs by just 10 pounds, hog production would increase by 45 million pounds or six per cent without any increase in numbers of hogs shipped. On the beef side, Prof. Martin predicted an increase in the supply of fed beef in the first half balanced by a decrease in the supply of non -fed beef, veal and female stock. Herd reduction, he said, will stop in the second half and "there may even be some increase" leading to "chances of a substantial price increase." Cargill looks to expand corn operation Record Ontario corn crops have caused Cargill Grain Co. Ltd. to look at expansion and building of a new corn handling operation, Dave Gilmour of Winnipeg, head of Eastern Canadian operations for the company. Speaking at a sales meeting of P -A -G seeds, a division of Cargill, he said that the devalued Canadian dollar coupled with a record crop of nearly 150 million bushels makes Ontario corn attractive for foreign buyers this year. Two years ago Cargill sold five million bushels of Ontario corn to the Soviet Union and since October has sold another four million bushels to the export market and could reach 10 million by summer. The big increase in Ontario corn production in recent years has made Canada self sufficient in corn and led Cargill and other companies to look at export markets. The company estimates that by 1981 Ontario corn production will jump a further 25 per cent to 200 million bushels. "There would have been a larger export program this year but the logistics problems involved in moving Ontario corn RURAL VOICE/FEBRUARY 1978, PG. 15.