***Original published in South Mountain Press, November 9, 2018***
Farmers Persevere Despite Challenging Fall Weather
In spite of inclement fall weather conditions, Shoal Lake area farmers are not too far behind with their usual field work for this time of year. Farming is difficult at the best of times but some long hours during the dry spells between the snow and rain falls got most farmers caught up.
Then once harvest is in the bins, farmers usually like to get a jump on fall field work before freeze up forces them to push it into next spring. For farmers growing crops such as wheat or canola, the practice is to apply nitrogen in the form of anhydrous ammonia by deep tilling and injecting the fertilizer into the soil. During those brief October dry spells, highway motorists would have noticed the numerous large white anhydrous ammonia (NH3) trucks shuttling back and forth to replenish the farmers out on their fields.
Shoal Lake Shur-Gro Manager Wes Arnfinson says that although there is still some harvest left to be brought in, his company is seeing normal demand for fall fertilizer application. Their customers are mostly applying NH3 this time of year along with some granular nitrogen. Since the area does not have enough heat units to support good soybean growth, their outlet does not see much demand for phosphorous or potassium at this time of year.
Other local Ag Supply companies are also reporting close to normal levels of business for this time of year. Over at Richardson Pioneer, Senior Director Gerald Bryson says they are seeing, ‘A slightly less than average fall fertilizer season taking place. Volumes would be around 90% of average and it may not be done yet based on weather.’ His company is keeping up with the usual fall surge of demand for NH3. Dry fertilizer blends were also applied in normal quantities and supply was less of a problem.
As for Federated Co-op Limited, they should be getting caught up on suppling local Co-op Agro Centres with propane for farmer’s grain dryers. Back on October 9, the company released a statement stating that it’s been ‘impossible to keep up’ with demand. The company alleviated the situation with the hiring of more drivers and re-distributing its trucking fleet.
Of course, Mother Nature is not finished with the farmers yet. Unseasonable cold weather is moving into the area and as soon as the ground freezes down a couple of inches then fall work will grind to a halt.
As for the rows of downed canola or the fields of flattened wheat, it may have to wait to be combined after a full freeze-up or into next spring. Unfortunately, quality and quantity of those crops by that point will have degraded to the status of animal feed.
Either way, crop insurance reps will be busy with the expected numerous crop insurance claims being filed due to this fall’s poor weather.
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.
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