Armed with diplomas from Olds College, Dallas and Natasha purchased his parents’ grain farm in Kirriemuir, in east-central Alberta, which they built to 11,300 acres and operate as Conquest Agro Service Ltd. That would be enough for many couples to handle, yet it was just the beginning for these go-getters.

“After we married in 2009, we purchased the town’s general store, known as Kurriemuir Ag & Oil,” said Natasha. “It includes a post office, farm parts, hail insurance and land consulting, and it’s a place for people to gather, so we didn’t want to see it go. It’s a way I can contribute without driving into town, and I get lots of help from our three children: Reese (seven), Tegan (four) and Ryker (six months).”

Of course, when you’re juggling two enterprises with your other obligations, there’s only one thing to do: start a third one. In 2011, the pair bought Dryland Agro, an independent chemical, seed and fertilizer retailer. They saw it as a good fit with the grain farm, one that has enabled them to gather knowledge and network while doubling their retail sales.

Though their efforts may sound award-worthy to some, they were still pleasantly surprised by the OYF nomination.

“I was ecstatic,” said Dallas. “I didn’t think we were any different from many young couples trying to make a living in agriculture. To be in the same realm as other like-minded and forward thinking people, while doing what we love, is very satisfying.”

On-farm, Dallas measures progress not by specific projects or milestones, but by incremental improvements.

“With ever-increasing costs for land and equipment, my focus is on doing more with less,” said Dallas. “How can we make the land more productive? What does the soil need to produce five to 10 per cent more? Rather than swinging for the fences, if we can improve eight to 10 smaller things over a year, it has a huge impact on the bottom line.”

For their next enhancement, the pair is looking at clearing more land that is not user-friendly — such as bush — to boost efficiency.

“Equipment is so large today that the time it takes to turn in areas of bush is wasted time,” said Dallas. “If we can clear those spots out and have nice long runs, it will make everything flow better, and saving one to two hours a day really adds up.”

The couple is putting that saved time to good use, addressing the lack of farming knowledge among young people in larger centers.

“We participate in the local Altario school agricultural residency program by having kids from other schools and divisions tour our farm, camp out and really educate themselves about what we do and why,” said Natasha. “There is such a disconnect between rural and urban right now that if children aren’t better informed at an early age, they won’t seek out that knowledge later in life.”

On the home front, there are three children learning those lessons about agriculture on a daily basis and reaping the rewards.

“Our ability to run this business together as a family is priceless,” said Natasha. “How many kids with parents working late can head out to the field and spend quality time as a family? Even when that time is spent labouring, they learn the value of working as a team and see that it takes a lot of moving parts to make something happen.”

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Located in Cobble Hill, B.C., in the southeast corner of Vancouver Island, Lockwood Farms has gone from 399 laying hens in 2014 to over 5,000 today. In spite of the growth, their focus remains on producing high quality eggs as well as vegetables in a sustainable, ethical manner.

“The farm is like our fourth child, though with much higher demands than the other three put together,” said James. “When making production or purchasing decisions, we look at it holistically to ensure that animals, people and the environment are considered at every step.”

As an example, they have recently introduced insect larvae — produced on landfill waste near Langley — as a protein source for their hens.

“This is something we’re doing in partnership with Enterra Feed Corporation and are very excited about,” said James. “Enterra produces black soldier fly larvae, which we ship to our feed company and have them mill it into the layer ration. Insect protein is the most sustainable protein available to humans and animals as it doesn’t require the same land mass as other sources. Whereas you derive about 360 kg/acre of protein from soy, insect larvae can produce 120,000 kg/acre; that’s about as environmentally friendly as you can get.”

Part of supporting the environment is securing the future for the couple’s three children. Though they guard against pushing seven-year-old Keighley, six-year-old Jayce and Simphiwe (age five) into farming, they lend their time to supporting other young people who wish to experience the lifestyle.

Lockwood Farms is a member of WWOOF Canada — World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, Canada — which in turn is part of the Federation of WWOOF Organizations, a worldwide community that promotes awareness of ecological farming practices by providing visitors with the opportunity to live and learn on organic properties.

“We have had about 100 people who trade labour for room and board,” said Cammy. “We love opening our home, working alongside the participants and sharing our life with them.”

Though they were pleased to win the award, calling it bittersweet would be an understatement.

“We lost James’s dad at this time last year and were nominated shortly afterwards,” she says. “It’s sad that we couldn’t share the award with him as we were such a great team and owe much of our success to his efforts.”

In recent years, the couple has worked on building the business to a stage where they can take themselves out of it at times, freeing them up for other pursuits like travel and overseas adoption. Going forward, the Lockwoods plan to expand their flocks and vegetable production while exploring different growing systems.

Through it all, what keeps them going is the joy of producing good, healthy food for people and fielding compliments from chefs about their quality.

“I thrive on putting seeds in the ground and watching miracles happen, or marveling at how chickens produce eggs,” she says. “These are things we get to witness every day, so I feel quite fortunate.”

They suspect that James’s dad would feel the same.

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When they met in university, Craig was a fourth generation farmer taking agricultural business management and Jinel was studying education. In 2004, they joined Craig’s parents’ cow-calf operation and feedlot just as BSE (mad cow disease) was wreaking havoc on the Canadian beef industry. At a time when many might have cashed in their chips, the Ferences doubled down.

“Our response to BSE was to diversify,” said Craig. “We branched out into some grain farming and a custom farming operation, and just kept growing from there.”

Today, the farm at Kirriemuir in east-central Alberta (not far from the Saskatchewan border) has grown to include 4,000 mother cows, an 8,000 head feedlot and 15,000 crop acres, in addition to their custom farming business. Last but certainly not least, it includes their two daughters aged three and nine and their seven-year-old son.

No doubt the ability to thrive under adversity contributed to their OYF nomination, and winning the award has brought unforeseen benefits.

“Apart from feeling honoured to even be considered, we’re pleased at the chance to meet people from so many areas of agriculture and learn about their niche,” said Jinel.

In keeping with their commitment to growth, the Ferences integrated corn into their operation four years ago; something Craig considers a “game changer.” The multi-use crop (for both grazing and silage) has impacted every area of their business, but the changes don’t stop there. They recently bought 62 quarters of land and will be altering how their farm is managed over the next few years, as the larger land base allows them to bring a lot of their cattle back home on a permanent basis.

They work to improve organic matter with vertical tillage, perennial forages and utilizing manure — all measures to improve the land they will pass on to the next generation. Double F Farms wants to be a responsible caretaker of the land, say the Ferences. Cattle genetics are closely monitored and cattle are culled heavily. No animal older than seven years is kept as they feel this helps to reduce their workload. Incorporating corn into their operation has been one of their greatest successes because of its many uses when feeding cattle.

With the size of their operation, employees are key, so the Ferences have secured employees through the foreign worker program. This is rewarding but not without a large learning curve when it comes to paperwork and language barriers. Communication with financial institutions and partners is also key to their success while forward contracting and hedging help minimize financial risk.

Not surprisingly, passion drives much of what they do.

“I’m very pleased that we are a multi-faceted enterprise,” said Craig. “I enjoy the cows and corn, but I love the other areas too. I also enjoy the business side of things in dealing with the futures market and forward contracts. There are down days and down markets, but there are also plenty of sunny days and upswings. It’s exciting to see the kids getting more involved as well. I worked side-by-side with my dad on the farm growing up and I look forward to the same relationship with my son.”

“What drives me is raising our kids with strong rural values and showing them the full spectrum of farming from producer to consumer,” said Jinel. “I also love giving back to our school and community and helping our foreign workers start a new life in Canada.”

Life for recent immigrants can be a challenge, but if they take a page from the Ferences’ book, they won’t let that stop them.

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On their 11,500-acre grain and oilseed farm near Norquay in east-central Saskatchewan near the Manitoba border, the Lindgrens have made the business a true family affair, working alongside their four children who range in age from eight to 12.

“This is a fourth-generation enterprise and I grew up farming with my dad and uncle,” said Jordan.

After meeting in agriculture school, Jordan and Jennifer married and moved back to his farm.

“My dad had no boys, so I became his ‘right hand girl’ on a cattle and grain farm,” said Jennifer. “Jordan and I both wanted to raise a family on the farm, so when we met it was a perfect fit. We celebrated 100 years for our farm in 2011 and it’s nice to be part of something with such strong roots.”

All four kids are active on the farm, and in spite of their young ages, they play a big role in the Lindgrens’ success.

“Through all of the ups and downs in this industry, it’s so nice to have everyone’s support,” said Jordan. “Just because we’re a big farm and a business doesn’t mean we have to lose that family aspect. For us, it’s a priority, and we think of our employees as family also.”

In winning the award, they feel their “family first” approach has been validated, giving them more confidence that they’re headed in the right direction.

Recently, that direction has included participating in the Field of Dreams Program, where they partner with a local retailer and machinery dealership.

“As part of the program, we do all kinds of trials such as variety trials and treatment applications, to see what will work best on our land. Based on the trials we’ve started straight cutting our canola and top dressing the wheat to get higher yields. You can read a lot about various practices, but we’re big believers in putting them to the test ourselves.”

Shop is welcome feature

While their free time is limited, they are currently building a heated farm shop, just in time for winter.

“My father and uncle worked their whole careers without something like this,” said Jordan. “We transport our own grain and work on our own equipment, so it’s exciting to finally be getting this facility.”

Weather permitting, though, they prefer the outdoors.

“I spend a lot of time in the office, but when I’m working on the land next to my dad, uncle, wife and kids, there’s nothing like it,” said Jordan. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

“There’s nothing like the smell of turned soil in the spring, and harvest is everyone’s favourite time of year,” said Jennifer. “We’re living our dream.”

It doesn’t get much better than that; except, of course, when you share that dream with the whole family.

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Despite expected start-up challenges Tyler and Sacha have made it work. “We were both raised on farms, but neither of us had the chance to take over our family’s operation,” says Tyler.

Building on Sacha’s earlier experience of raising a small flock of sheep, she and Tyler began their farming career in 2008 with a focus on the sheep business.

“Our research told us there was good demand, and pasture-raised lamb was an area you could pursue without much initial capital,” said Tyler. “The food business was beginning to change at the retail level with respect to the organic and naturally raised food products, and we were confident it would happen in a bigger way. We started branding ourselves as ‘no hormones,’ ‘antibiotic-free’ and ‘pasture-raised,’ and built a reputable, trusted brand in the process.”

On their quarter section of hay and pasture land at Fort Steele, near Cranbrook, Sacha and Tyler built Cutter Ranch into a 200 head ewe flock. In 2010, they began pasture-raising hogs from farrow to finish. As that business took off, they shifted their farm focus to pork production, and scaled back the sheep flock.

“The OYF Award was meaningful because we believe what we are doing is important,” says Tyler. “There’s a lot of change in the agriculture business as to how people consume and the products they demand. We try to stay modern in how we put food into the marketplace, and the award confirms that we’re succeeding in that regard.”

Good management practices

Part of that success stems from their focus on maximizing effectiveness and working smarter, not harder.

“We’re getting more efficient with the business end of it, and dialing back the sheep side which doesn’t add enough to profitability while we focus on our core strengths,” he says. “Since we do a lot of retail business, we have to be very disciplined with accounts and billing, using financial analysis to strengthen our position.”

Moving forward, they plan to continuing scaling up their hog operation at a measured pace while strengthening their value-added products, which means developing some processing capacity or partnering with processors on the pork side.

“We are committed to adapting production to meet changing consumer tastes, whether it is ‘antibiotic-free or more animal friendly housing,” says Tyler. “That adaption is very costly to do and still maintain a stable level of production, so we’re going full steam ahead as we understand the marketplace and can build into it rather than having to retrofit production. This gives us a big advantage in production and marketing and allows us to provide a highly sought after brand with an excellent reputation for quality.”

Keeping up with ever changing demands is a challenge, but Tyler and Sacha have managed it without sacrificing production or the bottom line. Let’s see the Joneses do that.

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Interested? If not, you’re not alone, and you’re definitely not Gary and Marie Baars. The 2017 Outstanding Young Farmer Award winners from Chilliwack, B.C. didn’t let long odds and a shortage of experience hold them back, and now with a successful dairy operation they’re reaping the awards.

“I didn’t grow up on a farm,” says Gary Baars. “Dad never touched a cow or tractor in his life.” But Baars didn’t let that deter him from following an ag career.

“I started working on farms when I was eight and got my first real job at 12 with a dairy operation,” he says. “Though I always loved agriculture, I was told that if my parents didn’t own a farm I could never start a dairy business of my own.”

Undeterred, Gary kept milking every night despite taking social work at university during the day. He also started contract unloading of hay and sold his first bale to a dairy farm in 2006. In 2008 he began TNT Agricultural Services in Chilliwack, hoping that he could cash in on hay and cattle sales in BC. Two years later he met his future wife Marie, and by 2011 they had rented their own farm, bought 13 cows and begun milking in earnest while still selling hay.

As their business grew, so did their confidence, prompting them to buy a farm from Marie’s grandmother and merge it with their own.

“We went from milking 40 cows to 200,” says Gary. “It was a big expansion for us as it provided a place to move more cows through and boost our cash flow on the milk side. We now sell about 5,000 cows a year and recently started an organic dairy where we milk another 100 cows.”

They were thrilled to win the regional Outstanding Young Farmer Award.

“We’ve worked so hard over the years and rarely stopped to think about how far we’ve come,” says Gary. “The award is a good chance to reflect on that and on all the people who have helped us along the way.”

After all that hard work, the next step is a natural one: work even harder.

“Our No. 1 goal is to buy a farm where we can milk our conventional quota,” he says. “I’d also like to see us diversify and farm other commodities so we don’t put all our eggs in one basket. I don’t think the latter is Marie’s goal though!”

Even if they don’t do everything on their list, they’re not about to complain.

“When I started in farming I didn’t have a family, but I dreamt about letting my kids grow up on a farm and seeing them work alongside me,” says Baar. “At age three, my son Noah is already helping to milk and haul cows, and while his sister Hannah is only one, we hope she will follow his lead.”

Their story could well serve as inspiration for those new to the business. If you have a vision of where you’d like to be in farming and how to get there, and are willing to work for it, you’ve got all you need to succeed.

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“I’m not a farm kid; I grew up in the city, but I’ve always had a passion for agriculture,” says Marc.

Growing up on a dairy farm, Hinke shared that passion, so when they met at the University of Alberta and married soon after, it was a match made in turkey heaven.

“In 2010, Hinke’s parents said we could take over one of the family’s turkey farms, but only if I got work experience first,” says Marc. ”

He quit his job and worked on a chicken farm full-time, gaining hands-on exposure to barn management and learning as he went. When an opportunity arose in 2012 to run the Pine Valley Turkey Farm near Devon, Alberta, they jumped at it. Two years later, they had a chance to turn tragedy into triumph.

“Hinke’s dad suffered a fire at his turkey farm in Redwater in 2013 and lost two large production barns,” says Marc. “Since he was close to retirement, he approached us to take over and spearhead the rebuild.”

Despite the huge learning curve, they had the barns rebuilt a year later and now grow upwards of 140,000 turkeys per year.

“At one point, Marc worked in Redwater while I was at the farm in Devon with two babies,” says Hinke. “It got pretty crazy, but we have fallen in love with raising birds: the science of how they grow, nutrition, lighting programs.”

Their passion for poultry was noticed by CIBC, one of the main award sponsors, who nominated them for the OYF award.

“We were a bit blown away when we won,” says Marc. “It was daunting going against multigenerational farms when we’ve only had seven years in the business. We feel honoured to be part of the OYF family.”

While their time in the business has been brief, they’ve made the most of it so far.

“When we rebuilt the barns after the fire, we made alterations that let us produce more turkeys without extra labour costs,” says Marc. “Once the new barns and production unit are complete, our Redwater farm will be able to produce double the amount of turkeys as our Devon operation.”

They also began buying local grain after the rebuild and mixing it on-farm, allowing them to save on feed costs and reduce their carbon footprint.

Most importantly, they now have three daughters: Annelies, four; Emilie, three; and Natalie, one.

And befitting award winners, there are more changes to come.

“This year we’re converting to straw bedding so we need to renovate our hay shed to boost biosecurity,” says Marc.

Other enhancements are more about innovation than expansion. That includes technology upgrades to old barns and internet-based systems for the new ones. They’re considering a viewing platform in a new barn to facilitate tours.

New barns, new systems and a fresh perspective. Is it all moving too fast for industry rookies like the Therriens? If it is, it’s news to them.

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“I’m a third-generation farmer and our family just received the century award for 100 years in the business,” says Derek.

As a self-described “typical farm kid,” Derek took a two-year Farm and Ranch Management program at Olds College and went home to work the farm in Minton, Saskatchewan. Meanwhile, Tannis studied education at the University of Regina with a biology major that “turned out to be quite helpful.” In the midst of it all, the pair found time to get married in 2002.

“It was business as usual for us until 2006 when we decided to buy a disc drill to reduce disturbance and increase moisture savings,” says Derek.

Since the local machinery dealer had no interest in bringing one in, the couple wound up in Gettysburg, South Dakota, where they bought their drill and had a life-changing encounter in the process.

It was there that they met Dwayne Beck, the research manager at Dakota Lakes Research Farm in Pierre, South Dakota. And it was there that Derrick says everything changed for the couple.

“Dr. Beck was one of the first guys to push no till, low disturbance farming with high diversity rotations. His approach involved little or no herbicides or fungicides, and he was the first we had heard talking about cover crops,” says Derek. “When we saw the good yields he was producing and the huge improvements in soil under dry land and irrigation, we were hooked.”

When the Axtens headed home to run Derek’s family farm with daughter Kate (now 13), son Brock (now 11) and Derek’s father, they did so with the confidence to try these practices for themselves, and they haven’t looked back.

“Since then we have significantly reduced the amount of synthetic fertilizer we use and haven’t employed insecticides in six years,” he says. “We’ve gone from being focused solely on the plants to really addressing the soil and what it needs. If you take care of the soil, it will take care of your plants.”

The Axten’s tell their children that it’s OK to try new things and be different from others, and have taken this to heart in their farming operation. With cost of production and the soil’s health as their key focus, they have now incorporated intercrops (seeding one or more crops together), cover crops, controlled traffic farming (using same track for all operations), compost extract and compost teas into their operation. It has been a real change in mindset for the Saskatchewan farmers.

What resonates most for them, however, is that farming is fun again.

“Before it felt like just a job and a lot of number crunching,” says Derek.

And those numbers weren’t good, as the Axtens found themselves making little money while costs continued to rise. As Derek put it, “something had to change.” And change it did, as their new farming practices led to improved yields and significantly reduced input costs. Even their accountant was impressed, to the extent that he nominated them for the OYF award. The Axtens will be among seven regional finalists from across Canada competing for national OYF honours in Penticton later in November.

“We were shocked and pleasantly surprised to win because what we do isn’t typical,” says Tannis. “It’s not organic or conventional, so sometimes we think we may sound crazy. This award gives us a platform to share what we do and hopefully inspire others to follow suit.”

While they have no plans for big changes in what they do, they want to start using short perennial sequences and try to get their cover crops established sooner so they make the most of every minute.

And of course, they’ll keep on daring to be different. Hey, if they can do it while enriching their soul and their bank account at the same time, who can blame them?

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The tour began last month in Alberta, where co-presenter Dr. Miles Dyck offered an overview of 4R Nutrient Stewardship research in Alberta.

As an associate professor of soil science in the Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta, Dyck was a natural choice due to his involvement with the university’s Breton Plots. The long-term research plots are used to study the impact of agriculture management on soil properties and processes.

For Dyck, the timing of this tour couldn’t be better. “Agriculture today faces considerable scrutiny around its environmental footprint,” said Dyck. “Fertilizer in particular is often under the microscope, especially in connection with greenhouse gas emissions from soil following fertilizer application.”

The 4R Program, which stands for right rate of nutrient fertilizer, right placement, right timing of application and right product for the application or crop, seeks a “win-win” for farmers and industry.

“The idea is to increase fertilizer use efficiency by applying it in a way that maximizes its use by the target crops. In that way, we can improve productivity and minimize the environmental impact at the same time.”

As part of his presentation, Dyck highlighted a few key points for participants.

The rules of rotation

“Specifically, our research results have shown that long-term management of crop rotation and fertilizer application has a big impact on the levels of soil nutrient reservoirs. We have noticed that in the treatments where the fertilizer applications of nitrogen, potassium and sulfur match the removals in the harvested portions of the crop, soil quality and crop yield increase while the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions (amount of emissions per kilogram of grain or crop produced) goes down.”

Another interesting point concerned the two long-term rotations being studied by Dyck and his colleagues.

“One is a simple two-year rotation of wheat fallow and the other is a more diverse five-year rotation that includes three years of cereals (wheat, oats and barley) and two years of alfalfa-brome hay.”

When researchers looked at the long-term data from these crops, they found that rotation had a significant effect on how the crops responded to nitrogen fertilizers. For example, the two-year rotation needed 90 kg of nitrogen per hectare (80.3 pounds per acre) to grow a wheat crop with a comparable yield to wheat in the five-year rotation with only 50 kg N/ha (44.6 lbs. N/ac.).

“The biological nitrogen fixation of the alfalfa in the five-year rotation adds a lot of nitrogen and reduces the amount needed for the cereal crops.”

Also emerging from the focus on rotations was the fact that forage crops use a lot of sulfur and potassium, so in the five year rotation the wheat responded to sulfur as much as to nitrogen.

“For wheat to respond to potassium and sulfur fertilizer is rare in western Canada. For producers, the take home message is that rotations have really diversified over the last 20 years and even if you’re not growing a forage crop, you may be growing canola or pulses that also have a high demand for sulfur.”

Record and react

Since research shows that long-term management impacts soil, farmers may want to pay attention and keep records of crops, yields and nutrient applications over time. Results from this research indicate that nutrient deficiencies can emerge after changing crop rotations. Further, addressing P, K and S deficiencies will increase crop nitrogen uptake and nitrogen use efficiency. Using tables on the Alberta Agriculture and Forestry website, or working with an agronomist, producers can take use yield information to estimate nutrient removal from different crops.

Alberta was the first stop on this webinar tour and organizers were pleased by the response, with 68 people taking it in.

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“Any time an application of spray is made, there are always small droplets that can move away from the intended target,” said Dr. Tom Wolf, applications specialist with Agrimetrix Research & Training.

Generally speaking, herbicide drift is linked to wind, yet that only tells part of the story.

“When we apply spray, droplets emerge from the nozzle that range in size from two mm down to five microns, which is basically invisible to the human eye. Because the particles are so tiny, they aren’t really affected by gravity and tend to float like a mist or smoke or fume, moving with the air currents.”

Since drift is linked to wind, the solution is simply to spray when it’s not windy, right? You knew it couldn’t be that easy.

“It’s tempting to spray when it’s calm, but if there’s no wind the droplets will often stay suspended for a while behind the sprayer.”

• Read more: Dicamba drift gets real
• Read more: Maximize your sprayer productivity

When the first breeze occurs the next morning, those droplets will move with it, often to somewhere they shouldn’t be.

One person who has seen the consequences of herbicide drift is Jason Deveau, application technology specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Known in the industry as the “spray guy,” Deveau — along with Wolf — has written extensively on the topic for sprayers101.com and on Twitter (@nozzle_guy for Wolf and @Spray_Guy for Deveau).

“If a herbicide goes astray it can damage someone else’s crop and have a huge financial impact,” said Deveau. “It can also stir up a lot of hard feelings as people get emotional when their livelihood is affected.”

So emotional, in fact, that a northeast Arkansas cotton, soybean and corn farmer was shot to death earlier this year, allegedly in an argument over dicamba herbicide drift. For that reason, Deveau said communication is critical in combating the problem.

He also advises following herbicide label instructions closely, especially in regard to buffer zones.

“Under Health Canada regulations you may not release one of these products within a certain distance downwind of sensitive areas like bodies of water or population centers.”

Lowering the boom

Other tactics for lowering drift risk include limiting the height of the boom so wind is less apt to pull the spray away from the target, and limiting driving speed as higher speeds tend to increase drift.

And while just avoiding wind isn’t the answer in itself, Deveau said you can safely assume that “if you’re chasing your hat around the field, it’s probably not the best time to spray.”

For Wolf, the lack of a clear-cut solution to herbicide drift is a real source of frustration.

“I have been working in this area of research my whole career and I never expected herbicide drift to stay at the forefront of our concerns for as long as it has. The problem remains largely unsolved and causes great difficulty for our industry, so it’s something we really have to get a handle on.”

Two things offering him some hope are the move to low drift nozzles and the use of automatic boom height holders. Still, he’s concerned that with the push to improve productivity, farmers are driving their sprayers faster and raising boom heights, thereby exacerbating the problem.

And his concern doesn’t end there.

“We are about to embark on a new generation of genetically modified crops and will be spraying dicamba on them. It has the potential to do a lot of harm to other crops if it drifts so we have to be extremely cautious.”

The issue of herbicide drift is here to stay.

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