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The Rural Voice, 1998-01, Page 13Scrap Book Award winners keep bees working happily Happy bees mean more profits for thousands of farmers whose crops depend on the tiny insect for pollination. Two researchers, who have developed two products to keep bees working happily, were recently awarded the 1997 Manning Award. Dr. Keith Slessor of the Department of Chemistry and Dr. Mark Winston in the Centre for Pest Management, at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, shared a passion for honeybees and a curiousity about the role of the queen bee. They identified five chemical components of the queen bee's mandibular gland pheromone. They then developed an appropriate blend of these components and created two commercial products named "Bee Boost" and "Fruit Boost". Bee Boost acts like a pseudoqueen, exerting a fundamental level of control over bee behaviour and governing many bee activities. The product can stimulate bee performance for greater pollen collection, calm a queenless hive, and improve other activities. Fruit Boost is a sprayable formulation that can be applied to crops in bloom. It stimulates bees to forage in treated flowers with greater intensity. This increases the success of pollination and in tum dramatically increases crop yield and the weight and grade of fruit produced. With the annual value of crops in Canada requiring pollination running at $650 million, the two products could substantially increase earnings for growers.0 — Source: Manning Awards T 1 1998 Training Courses for Huron County > Understanding your farm income taxes - the basics (2 evenings, Jan. 28 and 29; repeated March 23 and 26) $70 > Buying vs leasing: machinery replacement strategies (Jan. 17) $60 > Animal agriculture: issues and actions (Jan. 31, repeated Feb. 4) $50 > Negotiating skills and conflict resolution (Feb. 21) $75 > Marketing your crops effectively (3 days - Jan. 10, 24 and Feb. 7) $95 > Opening your gates to tourism (March 11, 12 repeated 25, 26) $70 > Making Win95 work for you (4 evenings - Jan. 20, 27, Feb. 10, 11) $125 > Upgrading to Windows 95 technology (2 evenings - Feb. 17, 18) $60 > An introduction to the Internet (4 evenings - Feb. 9, 12, 23, 26) $120 • Using the Internet in a farm operation (2 evenings - March 11, 25) $75 Computerizing farm records (4 evenings, Mar. 18, April 1, 8, 15) $125 > Farm accounting using QuickBooks (4 sessions - Feb. 24, 25, Mar. 3, 4, repeated March 10, 17, 24, 31) $125 • Register now! Courses with insufficient registration will be cancelled. L J OATI Coordinator: for information about the courses Alison Lobb, (519) 482-7167 OATI Registration Site: to register for courses Clinton OMAFRA office, (519) 482-3428 1-800-265-5170 Suspended Free Stalls Designed with your cow's comfort in mind. Mount on wall or on headrail pipe. Longer dividers that accomodate up to an 8' platform. Headrail supports stall. Heavy duty wrap around clamps are attached to stall, spreading weight of each stall over a larger surface. All free stalls made of heavy duty, hot -dipped, galvanzied 2 3/8 O.D. tube. Free Stalls For more information contact your local BSM Dealer: ATWOOD LENCO SUPPLY LTD. (519) 356-2282 TARA H. NICHOLSON & SON (519) 934-2343 GRANTON AVONBANK FARM EQUIPMENT (519) 225-2507 KINCARDINE LOWRY FARM SYSTEMS (519) 395-2615 MILDMAY MIDWAY FARM SYSTEMS (519) 367-5358 WELLESLEY PROGRESSIVE FARMING (519) 656.2709 DRAYTON RICK STRUYK FARM EQUIPMENT (519) 638-5076 WALTON KEITH SIEMON FARM SYSTEMS LTD (519) 345-2734 BSM Agri Ltd. R.R. x4 Arthur, ON, Canada NOG 1AO Tel.: (519) 848-3910 Fax (519) 848-3948 Website: http/Nwvw.bsmagn.com JANUARY 199R 9