The Rural Voice, 2001-10, Page 37yellow cooking onion seed from
Asgrow, a company which supplies
all types of vegetable seeds for
market gardening.
Like most input costs, the seed
prices keep going up and represent
the largest expense to the farmer. For
example, one pail of pelletized onion
seed, enough to plant one acre, costs
about $700. At present, potatoes and
onions aren't genetically modified
products because of the market
demands against it. Mostly
consumers want to keep up the good
taste they have.
Growing staples for the local
market means the
Vandenberks aren't really
concerned with export -related
problems, such as potato wart fungus.
which caused problems in Prince
Edward Island last winter.
Wetness is the big growing
problem in the marsh. Like many
farmers at this end of the township,
Vandenberk has his fields tile -
drained. There are ditches along the
roads and between the fields with
culverts under the roads. Because the
area fields are low-lying, they are
outfitted with pipes and pumps and
maintained by the local township.
Lambton Shores with costs levied
through taxes. After a rain, the local
farmers head out with a wagonload of
extra pipes to check for surface
water. Although they are continually
checking for wetness, a day in the
puddle is all it takes for a potato crop
to be ruined. If a crop is lost through
continuous wetness, the farm must
depend on income from insurance.
Occasionally as a result of
wetness, crop -dusting helicopters are
used rather than the traditional
methods of applying herbicides.
In early spring. in March, many
area fields are under several inches of
water and are visited by hundreds of
swans, especially if the previous crop
was corn.
This surface water is removed
with the water actually pumped
upward into the nearby Ausable river.
The pumps are turned on April I and
by the third week of April, the black
soil is drying and they are planting.
Bill said.
The men, Bill and John
Vandenberk, do the seeding and
planting of the potato and onion
crops.
To produce onion and potato fields
k. Delaval Animal Care
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Newly clipped animals stay cleaner, helping
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Easy CutTM
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Mildmay (#308 Bruce Cty. Rd. 16) 519-367-5595
Minimum Stretch
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519-392-6929
Toll free 1-800-265-3080
til
"For increased land v+ilue and greater crop yields"
Wan help you an
._ r
your ainage require i7 ents
Contact Bruce Tile or Your Local Bruce Tile Drainage Contractor:
• Tait Brothers, Chatsworth • Barry Weigel Drainage, Mildmay
• Schmidt Drainage, Harriston • K.M M. Farm Drainage, Walton
• Ron Williams Drainage, Listowel • Bruce Cook,Atratford
• Tait Brothers, Grand Valley • Harold Kuepfer, Newton
Maximum Water Intake
-- anien tea.iO -
OCTOBER 2001 33