1200 farmers from across western Canada and northern U.S., met at the Regina Exhibition Park, February 9 and 10, to attend the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association's annual Direct Seeding Conference. The success of this year's conference reflects that even in light of the poor farm economy, farmers recognize the value of attending our conference in helping them gain an edge with their crop production system.
"The purpose of the conference was to bring farmers together to get the latest information on direct seeding and how to implement these practices on our farms," says SSCA president Don Kelsey. "Farmers had the opportunity to have their questions answered by researchers, industry experts and other farmers," says Kelsey.
This year's conference featured keynote speaker was Wolfgang Sturny, an agronomy researcher from Switzerland. Dr. Sturny talked about the problems and issues around direct seeding in Europe.
The conference had seven sessions, which offered a mixture of farmers and researchers to provide both experience and first hand information. This year we also held two concurrent sessions each day providing a greater variety of information. This year's sessions covered topics on crops for the different soil zones, precision farming, direct economics, direct seeding equipment, crop rotations and emerging issues in direct seeding. Speakers talked about how to integrate all this information into a successful direct seeding system.
Once again, the informal evening "Bear Pit" sessions were well attended. There were four concurrent "bearpits": How to Start Direct Seeding, Pulses and Oilseeds, Winter Cereals and Soil Carbon. These sessions provided farmers with the opportunity to have their questions answered by experts in less formal, smaller groups.
The trade show had 80 exhibitors showing the latest in crop production technology and information related to direct seeding. The trade show continues to be a major attraction of the conference.
For the first time, Winter Cereals Canada held their annual business meeting during one of our conference sessions.
Extra copies of the conference proceedings for sale for $10 through any SSCA staff member. Plans are already under way for the 2001 annual meeting and conference in Saskatoon.