On July 12th the B.C. Grain Producer’s held annual Summer Farm Tour in the Cecil Lake area. This tour is to showcase the on-farm research that is going on in the BC Peace Region. This research has been funded by the BC Hydro Agriculture compensation fund, the ability to get the agriculture community together to share knowledge and mentor new farmers is so important to the success of our sector.
Farmers and Industry reps from around the region boarded a bus to four different stops where they had the opportunity to learn and discuss different agricultural topics. The first stop was at River Crest Farms, showcasing a field filled with an uncommon crop for the region: corn! The corn grown at this site was being grown for cattle grazing, with the hot dry conditions the region has had the corn is off to a good start.
The second sto
p of the tour was at PW Farms. The PW Farms site demonstrated a side-by-side wheat variety trial CDC GO vs Intrepid as well as a land clearing site. During the stop young farmer Miles Wuthrich explained what has been done so far and what his goals for the field in the future are. Kevin Thiessen another farmer from Buick whom has been experimenting with different types of land clearing shared his challenges and success with Miles and the rest of the group.
The third stop of the summer tour visited River Crest Farms to visit a planter vs drill canola seeding trial. Thank you to Tobin and Amias Dirks for bringing their equipment to the field, mowing an area to enter the field and for this replicated research trial. The group had an opportunity to take a look at the planter as Amias Dirks explained the piece of equipment and how it works in comparison to the drill. Tobin Dirks then went over the layout of the seeding trial, the trial would compare drill seeding canola with 11-52-0 Phosphorous with seed versus a planter with different types of liquid phosphorous. Jason Casselman with the Canola Council of Canada lead a discussion on canola plant stand counts, fertility and soil sampling and harvest guidelines. We finished the stop Keith Uloth with the BC Pest Monitoring and Weather project talked about the work he has been doing. He gave an update on the type of insects that are impacting the region as well as Aphanomyces.
The fourth and final stop was held at Fred & Madeleine Lehman’s Living Lab site. This site displayed a cover cropping portion with a mixture o
f crimson clover, hairy vetch, forage peas, and oats, and a separate area with a calcium soil amendment. Cover cropping had been added in hopes of fixing compaction issues. Director of Peace Region Living Lab project, Dr. Akim Omokanye, spok
e about what the Living Lab project is and what the goals of the project are. Summer students Liam Walsh and Ella Bennett demonstrated the various Living Lab tests such as water infiltration, soil compaction, and soil moisture. UNBC Professor Dr. Theresa Adesanya gave extra context on the Living Lab tests and led a discussion on soil compaction. Lastly, Fred Lehman, Dr. Adesanya, and various attendees talked about different ideas to solve problems with the field.
With the conclusion of the farm tour the attendees gathered back to the Cecil Lake Hall to have supper. Supper and desert were prepared by the Cecil Lake Womens society Discussion continued over dinner for the attendees. After dinner, various door prizes such as plant count rings were drawn and handed out through a raffle. The raffle wrapped up the night for BCGPA AGM and Summer Tour. Thank you to Ministry of Ag, LH Willms Inc, & Canola Council for the door prize donation.
Thank you to all the helped organize this event, sponsors, speakers and to all the attended. Special mention to the host Farms PW Farms (Dave, Karen & Miles), Rivercrest Farms (Dirks Family especially Tobin & Amias) Transpine Farms (Fred & Madeleine Lehmann) These producers went above and beyond to make sure that this tour ran smoothly and the fields looked great. This event was a huge success!!
Thank you to our Silver sponsors
Thank you to Our Bronze Sponsors
