"The skies they wuz blue,
The sun she was hot,
Where were all the farmers?
In air conditioned trucks they were not.
Pray tell, what was the lure
That had the farmers in the fields
Checking and figuring
Talking of yields?
Why a 1/2 ton tour
Where they saw insects, diseases and weeds
And discussed why a guy
Should direct seed."
Okay, I may not be Elizabeth Browning but the fact of the matter is SSCA staff organized or participated in over 70 tours and addressed about 3000 people during the summer tour season. The weather on most tour days was ideal for baling or going to the lake and yet all the tours were pretty well attended. Blazing skies be darned, the producers were there for information.
And information sharing is the main function of a summer tour. The sharing occurs in 2 ways. Firstly, it enables everyone to actually SEE what happens. Whether the focus is research or demonstration, it's much easier to grasp the result when you can observe the plots or the fields, make your comparisons and draw your conclusions.
The other function of the summer tour is to initiate informal discussion. Tours are very loosely structured so most of the resource people speaking at various sites along the tour encourage questions and comments, either at the site or as the tour jostles along the road to the next stop. Tours are also a good time to meet with folks from a little further down the road and learn from them, too.
Conferences and equipment field days are important learning forums but the summer tours bring everything together. And don't think that you're "goofing off" by attending a tour. You're working just as if you were on the tractor (although it's probably cooler in the tractor!). Tour work involves gathering and then storing information to be retrieved later when you're making decisions about your crops, varieties, herbicides, or system. And if a donut or a beer come with the tour, so much the better!
When next summer rolls around, don't hesitate to give your Regional Conservationist a call and ask about tours coming near you! We plan our own tours and are generally kept well informed about tour dates for the various Research Foundations, Ag. Canada Stations and the Conservation Learning Centre.
Tours are informative and even a little bit of fun (never been on a tour yet when I haven't heard a good story or two!). Hope to see you on one next summer!