The Rural Voice, 1990-07, Page 52NEWS
NEW AG. REP. FOR HURON COUNTY
Bob Humphries, the new agricul-
tural representative in Huron County,
says he is looking forward to the chal-
lenge of working with a different group
of farmers.
"It's good for the counties to have
new ideas," he says. "Agricultural rep-
resentatives are like farmers. Every one
does things a little bit differently."
Humphries comes to Huron from
Dundas County, where he spent 12
years as agricultural representative.
Dundas, he notes, is primarily a dairy
county, first settled in 1783 by Loyalists
and now home of the McIntosh apple
and Upper Canada Village.
Humphries, 43, grew up on a farm
which has been in the family since 1835.
His brother is still farming the land.
"I'm very proud of my farm roots,"
Humphries says.
He graduated from the University of
Guelph in 1971 with a major in crop
science, joining the Ministry of Agricul-
ture in the same year as an assistant
agricultural representative in Simcoe
North.
years.
He and Norma have three children,
ages 18, 14, and 12.0
He stayed in that position for six
FAREWELL TO AG. REP. DON PULLEN
A capacity crowd of 500 friends, colleagues, and family from across Ontario joined
together June 15 in Seaforth to bid farewell to Don Pullen, Huron County's popular
agricultural representative for the past 27 years. Don and his family (from left: sons
David and Michael, wife Florence, and parents Hazel and Milne) listen as tributes
are made by Gordon Hill, Simon Hallahan, Jack Riddell, Dr. Clare Rennie, and Art
Bennett. Former agriculture minister Bill Stewart was also in attendance.
48 THE RURAL VOICE
CROPPING METHOD
CONTROLS PEST
by Ian Wylie-Toal
A return to some old methods of pest
control can help corn growers reduce
European corn borer (ECB) attacks.
Francois Meloche, an entomologist
at Agriculture Canada's Plant Research
Centre in Ottawa, has been studying
methods of intercropping and stubble
chopping to see how effective they are in
reducing ECB populations.
He says these methods have reduced
populations by 50 to 60 per cent over a
growing season.
Meloche says the intercropping
method is not new, and has been used for
a long time in South America. Soybeans
or red clover are sown in alternating
rows with corn. The companion crops
are planted a week or 10 days before the
corn so they are a decent size by the time
the corn germinates.
Meloche is not quite sure why the
extra crops reduce infestations of ECB,
but he speculates that when the moth is
searching for a corn plant to lay its eggs
on it becomes confused by the presence
of the other plants.
Chemicals released by the clover or
soybeans dilute the smells produced by
corn that ECB adults like. Some plants
even produce chemicals that could deter
the moths from entering the field.
Both crops are grown to maturity and
harvested. The obvious problem is how
to harvest two different crops, a problem
yet to be overcome. Meloche says the
greatest value of the work is that it
demonstrates another way to control
pests without resorting to chemicals.
Chopping corn stubble to control
ECB is not new either, he says, but its ef-
fectiveness has never been measured.
The method involves chopping corn
stubble left on a field after harvest
(choppers were designed as far back as
1927, Meloche notes). ECB larvae will
have migrated to the bottom two to three
inches of the stem, where they spend the
winter. Chopping the stubble also chops
overwintering larvae.
Chopping also has implications for
fungal control, Meloche says. Fungus is
killed when the stubble is plowed under.
Chopping ensures that the burial is more
efficient.0
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