With harvest sputtering off to a slow start we all have combines in mind. My barley (malt, I hope — perhaps wishful thinking) is safely in the bin and dry. It was my great pleasure to run Curtis Block’s S 680 for a few hours in that crop. For me, that marked 61 continuous years […] Read more
Combines I have known, Part 1
While we’re thinking harvest, Les Henry remembers some combines he’s loved
Lessons in asparagus… and water
When a soil scientist grows vegetables, it soon becomes a lesson in the water table
Western Canadian farmers have two main ways to generate income: growing something that either goes through a grain auger or walks on two or four legs. But there are other things to grow. In 2002 I planted a small asparagus plot: 1,000 crowns of Jersey Knight male sterile hybrid imported from New Jersey. It is […] Read more
How to find the seed in the ground
There is a better way to find your planted seed, and your anhydrous ammonia
When zero till seeding began in the 1980-90s, field days to demonstrate new seeders that could accomplish the task were common. Many colours of paint would make a pass down the field and farmers took off like gophers to dig around and find out where the seed was placed. A trusty garden trowel was the […] Read more
Weather, soil moisture and crops
Your definition of drought will depend on the amount of subsoil in your fields
My 2016 barley crop was seeded May 8 into excellent moisture at a depth of 1.0 to 1.5 inches — a bit deeper in some soft sloughs. Up to the date of seeding there had been essentially no spring rains. A May 4 burn off with 2,4-D + Glyphosate took care of the volunteer canola […] Read more
Dam it anyway: the up side of dams
Detractors see the negative side effects, but dams can bring the world many benefits
Not long ago I saw a TV short piece with a city dude going on about the wildlife possibilities made possible by letting rivers run wild and flood as they do every so often. The gist of the argument was that all dams are bad and that all rivers should be left to run and […] Read more
The “other” moisture
Surface moisture is easy to measure: Moisture from the water table is another story
In making soil moisture maps as of freeze up the past few wet years, I have come to realize that we should have maps of areas where the surface moisture that we grow crops with has little or no connection to the water table. This piece adds a bit to that idea. In the 1980s […] Read more
Climate and weather cycles
There have always been climate cycles. The question is "Where are we now?"
One of the biggest topics for discussion in recent years is climate change and how we have to shut down the world as we know it to keep alive in the future. On the CO2 and fossil fuel issue Canada is a rounding error. It is all about China. And China must change. Not so […] Read more
Water chemistry: the Coles notes
Measure your water in the field before you use it in the house, the field or the barn
This piece is all about encouraging the energetic young folk that are advising farmers to measure it in the field when a water question comes up. There are many additives for spray water on the market but check the water source first. A change of water may be the best and cheapest route. Water chemistry […] Read more
Nitrate in the environment
Agriculture is a big part of nitrogen movement. Let's measure what we're doing
This column has dealt with “nitrate down the well” a few times in the past. To make a long story short: Nitrate-contaminated farm wells have been known since 1945 when the first case of infant “blue-baby” was related to a contaminated farm well in Iowa. A 1948 survey of 2,000 Saskatchewan farm wells found 18 […] Read more
Trying tile drainage on your farm
There's information out there. Do your homework before starting tile drainage
I am not an engineer and will not give recipes for pipe size, spacing or equipment. Rather, I’ll look at the principles and steps a farmer should take before investing big bucks in tiles. Tile drainage is not a new technology. Many of the better soils of the world are on flat, low lying, high […] Read more
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