The Rural Voice, 1982-12, Page 8Dr. King and regional manager McDonald of Taralan Corporation analyze a stalk of
corn on a farm near Seaforth which is on the Taralan system.
crop characteristics were expressed in a
formula to predict yield for any field or
crop in the world. Originally the mathe-
matical model involved 31 factors, but it
has been honed and now involves 53.
Taralan's approach allows the producer
control over all but about seven of these
53 factors, and even some of these can be
modified by inputs such as irrigation,
manure, planting schedules and the like.
The corporation's brochure states:
"These factors (of which soil test values
are only a part) are all inter -related. All of
these factors are assigned values to
determine their effect on increasing,
decreasing or leaving yields the same so
that crop management can be evaluated.
"There are over 650 steps to make each
evaluation for one field. Accordingly,
Taralan uses its own computer to ensure
that all the factors are considered and that
information is readily provided. The
inputs and processes are a corporate
secret. The result is the most complete,
complex and precise evaluation possible
for crop production for any field in any
soil type, any climate and any crop."
The Taralan system is much more
intensive than other programs available to
Ontario growers and its yield prediction is
Is crop consulting the way of the future?
Is crop consulting the way of the
future? Or is it a service that farmers
don't really need, another way of
separating them from their hard-earned
money? Is the question that black and
white? And does the the answer lie
somewhere in-between?
Pat Lynch, soils and crops specialist for
Perth and Huron counties with the
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and
Food, agrees that services provided by
businesses such as Taralan Corporation
are far more intensive than anything that
can be provided at this time by a
government extension service. And he
feels there may be a need for something
more intensive. He points out there are
about 6,500 farmers growing crops in the
two counties, and only two full-time
OMAF soils and crops representatives for
them. The resources are spread pretty
thin. Taralan, he thinks, works more
along the lines of a 30:1 ratio; farmer to
field representative.
However, while not downgrading their
services Lynch feels Taralan is more of a
fertility program than a "true" crop
consulting service, and such a service
should be more intensively involved in the
total farm operation.
Lynch says Taralan's system, or com-
puter model, was originally developed
around and for peanuts and has been
adapted to other crops such as corn.
Computers, and computer models, are
only as effective as the information they
are fed. is adapting a model developed
around peanuts for corn, or other crops, a
wise system in the long run? Or, will it
prove to be too rigid when it encounters
other variables?
Lynch doesn't pretend to know the
answer, if there is one, but he feels
questions such as this are worth asking.
The crop consulting concept isn't as
well developed in Canada as it is
elsewhere, for instance the United States
where in some areas "scouts" from
universities perform some of a crop
-consultant's functions, such as testing,
for a fee of approximately $4 per acre.
But Lynch cautions, this too is not true
crop consulting as he perceives it should
be. Lynch feels there are no "true" crop
consultants in Huron and Perth counties,
although in his travels he has encountered
the sentiment that such may be needed, if
not now, in years to come. Some
individuals in Oxford County may be on
the verge of establishing more along the
lines of a true crop consulting business
that involves "the whole ball game", but
nothing is yet official.
While a government extension service
may not have the manpower to provide
intensive crop consulting to farmers, such
services have one big advantage over
private firms. They are privy to a vast
amount of valuable research information
that is unavailable anywhere else. Per-
haps, Lynch suggests, if a specific number
of farmers were to express a need for a
crop consultant in the future, they might
be able to hire a consultant provided by
the government, a consultant who would
then have access to all this invaluable and
costly government information.
Perhaps this is the way the crop
consulting concept may develop.
PG. 8 THE RURAL VOICE/DECEMBER 1982