Newsroom
2005
Excellence recognized at the 2005 CWB Master Grower awards ceremony
March 1, 2005
Winnipeg - Farmers who cultivated exceptional crops during a difficult growing year were recognized at a special CWB Master Grower awards ceremony, held yesterday during the 14th annual GrainWorld outlook conference. In total, ten farmers from across Western Canada were designated Master Growers.
"The CWB is pleased to recognize the outstanding knowledge and expertise of the 2005 CWB Master Growers," said Earl Geddes, vice president, Farmer Relations and Operations, who presented the recipients with commemorative plaques and bomber jackets emblazoned with the Master Grower logo.
The CWB Master Grower program was revamped in 2004 to honour growers in a broader range of classes than before. Under the improved program, award recipients will be inducted into a formal Master Growers' club and information about their crop management practices will be shared with other Prairie farmers and the agriculture industry. A list of the award recipients and information on their crop management practices is attached to this release.
Submissions from farmers wanting to be recognized as CWB Master Growers were assessed in early winter by the CWB and outside industry experts. Initial samples were judged on visual quality and those samples that made the cut were further analyzed to determine end-use market suitability.
Information about crop management provided by the farmer on their entry form was also evaluated for best growing practices. Awards were based on the best overall scores attained by combining visual inspection, quality analysis and management practices.
Award recipients are currently in Winnipeg participating in a four-day program designed to further their knowledge of the grain industry. The program, which began February 28 and ends March 3, is being offered by the CWB in partnership with the Canadian International Grains Institute and the Canadian Grain Commission.
This year's CWB Master Grower program encouraged farmers to produce top-quality malting barley and durum. It also promoted participation in the CWB's Identity Preserved Contract Program for Canada Western Hard White wheat and Canada Western Red Winter Select wheat.
Details on next year's Master Grower program will be announced in the early spring and will automatically be sent to all who applied this year.
Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. As one of Canada's biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based company sells grain to more than 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less
marketing costs, to Prairie farmers.
For more information, please contact:
Louise Waldman
Manager, Media Relations
Tel: (204) 983-3101
Cell: (204) 479-2451
Back row, from left to right: Ken Dutton, Robert Koester, Marvin Maronda. Front row, from left to right: Adrien Tinant, Reg Marginet and Gordon Hawkins.
CWB Master Grower crop management practices
Doug Bushell
Master Grower, malting barley
Milo, Alberta
Doug's farming operation is near Milo, Alberta. He has been growing malting barley for 30 years. His crop management involves a cereal and oilseed rotation and includes summerfallow.
In 2004, Doug grew both Harrington and AC Metcalfe varieties of malting barley, as they provide good yield, kernel plumpness and are in demand by local selectors. Doug practices zero till and uses a mid-row bander system for one-pass seed and fertilizer operation with low disturbance.
Since the malting barley is grown on summerfallow, he relies on soil tests as a guide to determine fertilizer rates applied at seeding to optimize yield and ensure protein is in the appropriate range for selection. Doug seeds at 1.5 bushels per acre and works towards an early seeding date. Growing these two-row varieties means Doug is able to straight cut at harvest time.
Ken Dutton
Master Grower, malting barley
Gull Lake, Saskatchewan
Ken began farming in 1974 on the same land homesteaded by his grandfather and farmed by his father. The farm is a mixed operation with grain crops and a cow-calf herd. Ken's main crops include malting barley and
durum; he practices half-and-half crop and chemfallow.
He has been growing malting barley for 25 years and has been moving out of Harrington recently. Last year he planted Merit and this was his first year growing CDC Kendall, which is the variety he submitted for the Master Grower program. Ken says he's very happy with the variety and he experienced above-average yield with this year's moisture conditions. He plans on growing more CDC Kendall this year.
Ken believes early seeding is critical to get malting barley selection in his area. Early seeding in the last week of April gets the crop off to a good start and tends to avoid the high heat of July, which helps maintain good kernel plumpness that selectors are looking for. He seeds at 1 to 1.25 bushels per acre and because of his early seeding practice, plans on a seed treatment to control smut and to improve early vigor.
Since Ken plants malting barley on summerfallow, he watches his fertilizer rates closely to optimize yield, while still maintaining protein in the proper range. When it comes to harvesting, he watches the weather closely and will swath one or two days ahead of combining. He will also cut out green patches where necessary to avoid green kernels.
Early seeding means Ken is usually harvesting in early August and normally takes barley off dry, without having to worry about aeration. If the forecast calls for rain, he will delay swathing and leave the crop stand to avoid chitting problems. He also believes that collecting a representative sample and communication with the selector is key to malting barley success.
For his durum, Ken has been growing Kyle but began switching acres to AC Avonlea in 2004. Sawfly has been a problem and he will swath where necessary to minimize losses. Ken has done top dressing in the past, to reduce piebald levels and improve grade, although he has not done this the last couple of years, due to a lack of pricing incentive.
John D. Entz
Handhills Colony
Master Grower, Canada Western Amber durum
Hanna, Alberta
Durum production has been a key rotation crop for the Handhills colony, located near Hanna, Alberta. Key crops on the colony include durum, malting barley, canola, peas, oats and wheat. A zero-till seeding system is used
and chemfallow is included as part of the rotation.
The colony chose the durum variety AC Avonlea because of its high-yield potential and quality. The crop was seeded into oat stubble in early May at a seeding rate of 85 pounds per acre at a one-inch depth. The colony follows soil- test recommendations and nitrogen and phosphorous was applied at time of seeding with a double-shoot system. The crop was straight cut and harvested in late September.
David Hannah
Master Grower, Canada Western Hard White wheat
Waskada, Manitoba
David and his parents, Clayton and Francis, operate a mixed farm with grain crop production and a small cow-calf herd near Waskada, Manitoba. David purchased his own land in 1999 and has been working off the farm for
the last number of years on oil rigs in northern Alberta in the winter. Their main crops include wheat, winter wheat, flax and canola; they also grow peas and oats, depending on the year.
This was David's second year growing Snowbird, a Canada Western Hard White (CWHW) wheat variety. He and his father like the benefits offered by CWB Identity Preserved Contract Programs (IPCP), such as growing premiums and storage payments. They
feel that implementing a higher seeding rate for Snowbird of 1.5 bushels per acre (compared to 1.3 bushels per acre for red spring wheat) improves stand establishment. They also believe that a good fertility program helps them achieve the higher
yield potential that Snowbird offers. Because all fertilizer is seed placed with their direct seeding system, they follow soil test recommendations closely, which ensures they are not over fertilizing and risking seed damage. They normally purchase
certified seed and when seeding early, they also use a seed treatment.
They grow CWHW on their flax and canola stubble, to maintain a proper rotation and minimize volunteers of red spring wheat. David plans to grow only white wheat on his land and they will grow red spring wheat on his father's.
The Hannah's have been including winter wheat in their rotation to spread out the spring seeding workload. This requires more planning in the fall to ensure seeding is complete by harvest, but they gain by reducing workloads in the spring. While they have been growing CDC Clair, they are looking at the Canada Western Red Winter (CWRW) Select IPCP and hope to try CDC Buteo, as certified seed becomes available this fall.
Gordon and Juanita Hawkins
Master Growers, malting barley
Wilkie, Saskatchewan
Gordon has been farming for 30 years, first with his two brothers and then with his wife, Juanita. The Hawkins run a mixed-farm enterprise with a cow-calf herd and 2200 acres of crop land. They also offer custom
cleaning. Gordon sits on the local Agricore United board and Juanita is a paramedic, 4-H leader and is involved with the Girl Guides of Canada.
Their crops include malting barley, wheat, canola and peas. Gordon has been growing malting barley for 29 years and this was his second year growing the two-row variety, CDC Kendall. He was very happy with the variety and plans to increase his CDC Kendall acreage for next year. He thinks some of his success in malting barley has been due to his close attention to the crop. He has the best success with malting barley when he puts it on canola stubble, which gives him a good rotation for managing volunteer cereals; his protein levels also tend to be lower. He has produced malting barley on pea stubble, but protein can become an issue in this case. When following wheat stubble, Gordon finds that volunteer cereals can be a problem.
Some tips Gordon offers to increase chances of farmers having their malting barley selected are to seed early and seed heavy, at two bushels per acre. Field selection is also important to ensure crop uniformity and he advises other farmers to avoid hilly fields. He also says it's important to pay attention at harvest time and constantly adjust combine settings to ensure there are no broken and peeled kernels. He thinks sampling at the time of truck unload provides to best opportunity to get a representative sample. He also recommends collecting a large sample to have lots on hand and delivering a sub-sample to a selector for evaluation as soon as possible.
Randy I. Heuchert
Master Grower, Canada Western Red Winter Select wheat
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Randy farms near Saskatoon and his crop rotation includes winter wheat, peas, spring wheat and canola. This was the second year Randy grew winter wheat.
One of the biggest challenges for including winter wheat in rotation in this area is winter survivability, so Randy pays close attention to variety selection and seeding practices to minimize the risk of winter kill. He grew CDC Osprey as a high-yield variety with good winter survivability and eligibility for the CWB Identity Preserved Contract Program for Canada Western Red Winter Select.
The crop was direct seeded late August into six-inch standing canola stubble at 1.5 bushels per acre with a shallow seeding depth of one-half inch. This stubble height promotes snow-cover trapping and when combined with early shallow seeding, helps the crop get established early in order to have good crown development prior to freeze up. The fertilizer program included starter nitrogen, plus phosphorous, potassium and sulfur at time of seeding; additional nitrogen was applied in early November. The crop was straight cut at harvest time.
Robert Koester
Koester Acres
Master Grower, Canada Western Hard White wheat
Rockyford, Alberta
Robert is second generation farmer who took over his father's farm about 20 years ago. Robert is a volunteer firefighter and is active in the local Lions Club and agricultural society.
Robert moved to a direct seeding system three years ago and says he has seen immediate time and fuel savings from on-pass operations. In time, he hopes to realize the additional benefit of improved crop yields due to increased moisture and soil conservation.
Robert's crop rotation includes wheat, peas and canola. This was Robert's second year growing Snowbird Canada Western Hard White (CWHW) wheat and he still includes Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat and Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) wheat in his acreage. Robert decided to grow Snowbird because of new market opportunities, CWB Identity Preserved Contract Program (IPCP) premiums and guaranteed delivery. He plans to increase his Snowbird acres for next year.
Because he still grows red spring wheat in rotation, Robert believes a minimum one- year break is needed to ensure clean fields and maintain crop purity. For this reason he puts his Snowbird on canola stubble or back-to-back on Snowbird. He also believes equipment cleaning is key when changing crops, proper on-farm storage and attention to bin cleaning are key components for managing IPCPs.
Reginald (Reg) Marginet
Master Grower, Canada Western Red Winter (CWRW) Select wheat
Holland, Manitoba
Reg is a third generation farmer and has been farming for 30 years. His farm operation consists of commercial grain crop production as well as pedigreed seed production. His crops include red spring wheat, winter wheat,
canola, flax, malting barley and oats. He sits on the municipal council for the rural municipality of Victoria and is a member of the Holland Agricultural society.
Reg introduced winter wheat into his crop rotation to spread out the workload and says the change has been positive for his operation. This was his fourth year of growing winter wheat and his first year in the CWB Identity Preserved Contract Program for CWRW Select with the variety McClintock. His McClintock produced 78 bushels to the acre and while this yielded about 10 per cent less than his non-Select acres, he has gained about $14 per acre on contract and protein premiums and storage payments through the CWRW Select IPCP. While he was unable to seed winter wheat last fall due to the poor weather, he plans to put more McClintock in the ground this coming fall.
Reg says the keys to success when growing winter wheat are seeding it on good canola stubble (for snow trapping) and sowing as early as possible. Good planning is needed in order to have everything ready for seeding the winter wheat in the busy days of early September. Reg stresses the need for a strong nitrogen fertilizer program, to take advantage of high yields and the protein payments available with the Select program. He uses ammonium nitrate to minimize volatility losses and targets an application of 90 pounds to the acre in early spring. While winter wheat generally escapes fusarium head blight infection, Reg plans on a Folicur fungicide treatment. This treatment has paid off in terms of yield benefit and minimizing fusarium levels, which improves the grade and is critical for acceptance in the CWRW Select CWB IPCP.
Marvin Maronda
Master Grower, Canada Western Red Winter Select wheat
Lomond, Alberta
Marvin Maronda is a third generation western Canadian farmer from Lomond, Alberta, where he and his brother Eldon own Fairview Ranch. The Marondas have a dryland operation and grow red spring, red winter and extra strong
wheat, durum, malting barley, canola, mustard and yellow peas. Marvin also backgrounds and fattens calves.
Marvin's family has been farming in the Lomond area since 1908. He graduated from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in 1971 with a diploma of applied arts and worked briefly in the field of journalism. He later studied meteorology at schools in Ottawa and Toronto, before working as an aerological observer in the Canadian High Arctic for Environment Canada. Marvin began farming full time in 1975 with his late father Martin Maronda and his brother Eldon.
Currently, Marvin is a director of the McGregor Water Users Co-op and president of Bethany Lutheran Community Church. He sits on the United Farmers of Alberta (Vulcan) Advisory Board and is a member of the Lomond Cemetery Committee. He is active in the SAIT Alumni Association of Calgary and is a member of the Chin Coulee Feeder's Association.
Marvin says incorporating winter wheat into his crop rotation has provided many benefits. For example, in a semi-arid location, the crop can take maximum advantage of early spring moisture. Because it matures early, it extends the harvest window forward. The same early maturity helps circumvent the damage that would be done by sawfly in later maturing cereal crops. Marvin also believes winter wheat can be a very high-yielding crop. Seeding in the fall means a reduced workload the following spring; it also helps prevent wind and water erosion problems by providing ground cover over winter and it can provide pasture if needed. Seeding winter wheat in the fall also provides undisturbed nesting sites for migratory waterfowl in the spring and enhances the populations of ducks and geese.
Adrien Tinant
Master Grower, Canada Western Hard White wheat
Cadillac, Saskatchewan
Adrien has been practicing zero till for 10 years and some of his land has been in continuous crop for 16 years. His alternates cereals (mainly durum wheat), with legumes (peas and greenfix lentils) in his crop
rotation. This was the first year he grew Snowbird to replace some of his durum acres. He was extremely happy with the yield of Snowbird, given the above normal moisture conditions. He planted Snowbird at 1.2 bushels per acre and applied a seed
treatment of nitrogen and phosphorous. He believes the Snowbird benefited from having legumes in rotation.
Adrien plans to increase his Snowbird acres and further cut back his durum acres for this coming year. He stresses that following proper crop rotation is the key to maintaining variety purity and minimizing volunteer spring wheat. As Snowbird has a hollow stem, Adrien feels farmers need to be aware of sawfly. In his case, sawfly did cause significant stem cutting of the Snowbird on the headlands and Adrien used a pickup reel to gather in as much as he could when straight cutting. He also says that proper on-farm storage and segregation is important for CWB Identity Preserved Contract Programs (IPCP).