As I sit at my desk this morning I realize how hard it is to write an optimistic message. I am located in a fairly fortunate part of the province. My farm has had 1.75 inches of rain since the spring snow melt. There are many places in the province that have received very little, if any, rainfall this spring. The seasons of the year seem to be confused. Just before Christmas of '97 we were wearing summer clothing when we went outside. On June 1st of this year it snowed out here. The snow stayed on the ground for 18 hours and then things got worst, it froze for the next two consecutive nights. Temperatures dipped as low as -6 Celsius and stayed there for many hours during the nights. Farmers in the area have lost some oilseed crops. Most of them are reseeding these fields to oats or barley. There has been some talk in the country that the reason for the severe frost damage to many of the crops was due to the fact that they were direct seeded. Upon checking with some of the people that direct seeded and lost crops due to frost, I found that there was one thing many of them forgot to do - STRAW MANAGEMENT-If you have piles or large clumps of straw in your fields you are setting yourself up for problems. Anytime a crop has to struggle through a mat of straw, it is under stress and it doesn't take much for crop injury to occur.
May 3, 1998 was a day that showed me the benefits of direct seeding. We had a very strong southwest wind that day. The sky was full of dust and the neighbor's field was losing soil at a very rapid rate. I was seeding across the road into 18 inch mustard stubble with no dust blowing only some straw moving on the surface. Oh ! I forgot to mention that the neighbor had just finished cultivating and harrowing his field. It doesn't take many days like that one to assure me that direct seeding is one of the better ways of preserving the productive value of our soil and making sure that it is there for future generations. If you are just getting into direct seeding, been doing it for a long time, or just thinking about it, the SSCA puts on two direct seeding demonstration days annually. These are excellent times to see direct seeding in action. Try to take in one of them next year, there is always something new to learn.
I hope everyone had a safe spring. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of this busy season we forget the important things in life, like spending some quality time with our families. Taking time to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and high school graduation with them makes for a healthier family unit. As one person told me awhile back " I am a very successful farmer however I have lost my family by not being there when they needed me." So this summer, take some time to smell the roses and enjoy your family for after all "What is life all about?"