J. L. (Les) Henry is a former professor and extension specialist at the University of Saskatchewan. He farms near Dundurn, Sask.
Saskatoon is the place to be January 10-17, 2009 for the combined Western Canadian Crop Production Show and Crop Production Week. The Crop Production Show at Prairieland Park is a huge display of equipment, input products and crop buyers ready to sign contracts. The show also includes an information theatre with topics such as “fertilizer strategies” with my U of S colleague Jeff Schoenau, and “land: rent or buy?”
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The Seager Wheeler Seed Show is part of the crop show and it has always been a highlight for me.
Crop Production Week information sessions are across town, mostly at the Saskatoon Inn. This is a weeklong series of meetings and information sessions of crop commodity groups and commissions.
THE AGENDA
Saturday, January 10
Sask Ag Grads Association (SAGA) curling, hockey, annual general meeting and mixer at TCU Place (formerly the Centennial Auditorium)
Sunday, January 11
SAGA annual meeting and banquet, TCU Place
Monday, January 12
Flax, winter cereals and canaryseed association meetings.
Saskatchewan Pulse Growers opening reception and poster session that evening at Prairieland Park
Tuesday, January 13
Pulse Day. The main event is at Saskatoon Inn with a video feed to Prairieland Park. Pulse Day is normally sold out so you should register ahead if you want a seat.
Oat meetings also take place on Tuesday
Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association meetings begin
Wednesday, January 14
Seed Growers continue
Canola meetings begin
Mustard meeting
Special Session: Be sure to catch “Fertilizer supply, demand and price outlook” at Prairieland Park. The speaker is David Ashbridge of Doane Advisory Services, St. Louis, Missouri. For $10, you can come for the beef-on-a-bun supper. Seats are limited. Get tickets beginning January 12 at Prairieland Park or Saskatoon Inn (Room 234). The presentation begins at 7:00, and there is no cost if you come just for the talk. I do not know David Ashbridge but have known of Doane Advisory Services for 30 years. The motto of the founder was “There is more in the man (or woman) than there is in the land.”
Thursday, January 15
Canola meetings continue
Friday, January 16
Canadian Wheat Board meetings, including a presentation by president and CEO Ian White on the board’s strategic vision, as well as agronomy,
markets and weather outlooks
Saskatchewan Fruit Growers Association meetings at Heritage Inn, across the road from Saskatoon Inn
Saturday, January 17
Fruit Growers’ meetings continue
It is a busy, exciting week and definitely the place to start crop planning for 2009. See you there.
Ag Days
Brandon, Man., January 20-22. Lots of machinery. Great seminars. Producer group annual meetings. They’re all under one roof at Brandon’s Keystone Centre. For more information, visit www.agdays.com.
FarmTech
Edmonton, Alta., Mayfield Inn & Suites, January 28-30. Leading agronomy experts will share their latest observations and recommendations. And as usual, FarmTech has guest speakers from outside Canada, include John Phipps, host of U. S. Farm Report, Jost von Freier, a farmer from Germany, and Ross Johns, Australian farmer and vice chairman of Australia’s Grains Research Development Corporation. For more information, visit www.farmtechconference.com.
