Behind the Lines - February 2016

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Anyone familiar with the pork industry knows the measures that producers take to keep their pigs healthy. Isolated barns with gates at the road and warning signs. Showering in and showering out. Even making sure that the feet of a trucker hauling feed, livestock – or deadstock, for that matter – never hit the ground inside a production area compound. So what about the crops that you grow in your fields, especially the crops aimed for human consumption?

Well, there are parallels in crop growing now as biosecurity is making its way into field crops, greenhouse and vegetable operations.

You might compare expensive truck washings after hauling pigs to the United States to cleaning your combine thoroughly before taking off a crop of beans destined for an export market which regards even a trace of a genetically-modified crop as a taint.

Changing boots after being in a barn? Maybe think about cleaning your boots thoroughly before you go from one farm to another to avoid being the unwitting transporter of weed seeds, virus spores, and nematodes.

The consequences of a biosecurity failure likely aren't as immediate as in a pig barn, but allowing pests of the insect, weed and virus kind into your fields unobserved has a cost down the road in terms of reduced yields and expensive chemical and mechanical solutions. Field Editor Mary Baxter's story, including the finer points of kicking dirt off machines when they leave a field, starts on page 10.

It's hard to find much sarcasm in a typical issue of Better Farming especially when it comes to crop advice. With income tax season upon us, however, and the irony of industrious, careful farm businesses forced to surrender their hard-earned dollars to governments that aren't always known for prudent spending, we thought a little deviation from the norm could be justified. On page 24, therefore, crops writer Pat Lynch opines on why you shouldn't underseed with red clover in your next wheat crop.

Local food production has become a catchphrase in Ontario and elsewhere in North America, where self-sufficiency has become a watchword and a goal. Now opinion leaders in Europe are wondering if small countries aren't better off in specialization in agricultural sectors. Our German-based writer Norman Dunn's column begins on page 42.

This month, in our ever-popular Crop Scene Investigation series, you will find the answer to the white mould mystery in Mike's soybean field, which we presented in our January issue. There were an exceptionally large number of correct responses and it's worth mentioning that many lacked complete contact information. We need to know how to call you when you win! On page 21 we present you with a new mystery: the case of the brittle soybeans. BF

ROBERT IRWIN & DON STONEMAN