The Annual Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station’s Crop Tour will be held on July 13, 2016 at their location on Little Norway Road. All our welcome!
We have some very interesting experiments to show you on our July 13, 2016 Annual Tour! There is a wide diversity of crops/crop varieties and a lot of new products. Main attractions to the participants could be as follows:
- Two dozen new varieties of durum and hard red spring wheat from all over Canada and North Dakota.
- Two dozen varieties of feed, food and malting barley.
- Sixteen new varieties of (mostly) milling oats.
- Five new grain corn varieties (first time at TBARS).
- New varieties of oil seeds and grain legumes: Twelve varieties of soybean (from Brett & Young Seeds via La Coop fédérée, Québec and Quarry Seeds; paid tests), four canola varieties from Bayer Crop Science and two from Brett & Young Seeds; both paid tests (first time at TBARS), six varieties each of peas (mostly green peas from the University of Saskatchewan) and edible beans (from the University of Guelph), 42 biotypes of flax from the University of Saskatchewan (paid test) and nine flax varieties including CDC Buryu, CDC Plava and CDC Melyn (mostly from western Canada).
- Latest varieties of forage grasses, alfalfa and trefoil.
- Three nutrient management trials on flax to find out the optimum rates of N, P, K & S for flax production. The experiment on N includes a treatment each from ESN (polymer coated slow release N fertilizer) and Manipulator (growth regulator).
- Two experiments on canola to maximize economic seed yield by combinations of macro and micronutrients, sources of N/and split application of N, growth regulator (first attempt in Canada) and fungicides.
- Testing BioAg products such as LCO, Quick Roots and Jump Start on soybean; paid test by Monsanto (first time at TBARS).
- Optimizing seeding and harvesting dates of MasterGraze corn for high yield of quality forage.
- An experiment comparing 10 annual forage crops (both non-legumes and legumes including fababeans and cowpeas; cowpeas were never tried before at TBARS!) for comparative yield and feed quality evaluation. This would be of interest to livestock producers; especially the dairy farmers.
- An experiment comparing five perennial forage legumes (alfalfa, red clover, Galega and Sainfoin-two varieties; Nova and Mountain View).
- An experiment to explore June seeding options with spring cereals, peas, flax and canola (seeded in mid June).
- Evaluation of NK21, a new fertilizer blend with ammonium nitrate overcoming its explosive nature, for alfalfa production (paid test).
- Fall Vs. spring application of urea and ESN for spring wheat production (paid test).
- Six year old stands of Galega with bumper weed free growth. Side by side alfalfa plots, as at writing, are full of thistles and dandelions and alfalfa isn’t even half the height of Galega.
- Comparison of lime sources with wood ash for crop production.
Plus, some other interesting things such as briefing by our board on our current and future partnerships with other organizations in the northern Ontario! We expect researchers/lead personnel from the Lakehead University, NOFIA, RAIN, OMAFRA and all Local/Regional Farm Organizations to participate in our annual tour. Come visit us on July 13, 2016 at 10 AM to noon! The tour will culminate into a free BBQ lunch by the members of the Thunder Bay Soil and Crop Improvement Association (TBSCIA), some of whom are members of TBARS too. We thank TBSCIA for its generosity and you all for your visit in advance. Cheers!!!
