Prairie Coordinator's Report - May, 2003

Brenda Frick, Ph.D.

In February, the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada (OACC) out of Truro, NS hired me as the Prairie Coordinator. I am based at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. I hope you find that I can bring the OACC closer to you and your priorities. The mandate I was given includes research, extension and "networking".

In the last 2½ months, I have tried to do a lot of listening. I have introduced myself and asked about your concerns at the Going Organic conference in Red Deer, and the Growing Together conference in Brandon. I participated in the Organic Updates at Yorkton and Scott, and in the annual meeting of SOD. And I have met in person or by phone or email with researchers and producers across the prairies to develop collaborative research projects and to look for ways we can work together more effectively. I invite you to contact me as well, and tell me what you would like to see. My contact info is at the end of this article.

I am developing some information for producers and extension people. I wrote articles that appeared in Western Producer on managing weeds according to their germination time, and on using rotations for weed control. My next article will also go to the weekly papers, and will be on planning around grasshoppers. These articles and more information about research done on the prairies will be posted on OACC's website at www.organicagcentre.ca

On the research side, planning is well underway. After consultation with producers, researchers and extension people, I am eager to engage in the following research program. Some of these will need farm cooperators. If you are at all interested, please call me. Again, the number is listed at the end of this article.

Prairie-wide

• Andy Hammermeister, Roxanne Beavers and I (all from OACC) are looking to see if higher than recommended seeding rates will improve yields and weed competition in wheat (yes, we are trying to learn from producers). The seeding rate experiment involves 30 co-operators across Canada with 20 of these on the prairies. These producers will each run one replicate of the experiment, including a normal, 1.25, 1.5 and 2X seeding rate of spring wheat. Plots will be compared for yield and weed competition. We have some cooperators, but are asking for more. If you are planning to grow wheat this year, we could use your help.
  
  
• Odean Lukow from the University of Manitoba is doing a wheat quality study and has asked for my help in finding cooperators. She is asking for 5 kg samples for full-scale milling tests. She hopes to find conventional and organic pairs growing the same varieties in the same areas. Would you like to be part of her study?
  
  
• Wyss Gabriela from Switzerland is doing a study of bromide contamination in wheat. She too has asked for my help in finding cooperators. She is looking at organic wheat to indicate the background level of this chemical in the environment. She will then compare this to samples that have been treated with bromide, to see how much contamination this causes. She is looking for 2 kg samples of wheat. Would you like to be part of this study?

Saskatchewan based

• I plan to follow-up work by Eric Johnson of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) at Scott on post-emergent harrowing. I will go on-farm and document the effectiveness of harrowing by counting crop and weeds before and after harrowing, and nearer to harvest. Producers would be requested to leave strips so we could compare the effects of harrowing, and not harrowing. I will take photos that I hope to include in a "how-to" guide. I am asking for producers to volunteer. If you are planning to harrow this year, and are fairly near to Saskatoon, please call me.
  
  
• I plan to study intercropping of legumes in flax and wheat in small plots on organic farms. This study is inspired by Elmer Laird and the Back to the Farm Research Foundation. I plan to look at yields, weed competition and soil fertility in the flax and wheat, and in these crops when they are grown together with legumes.
  
  
• Stu Brandt (AAFC - Scott) and I will look at black medic this year, growing it with and without a crop and considering its agronomics and weed competition. Black medic is a small annual, self-seeding legume has been used by some producers as a living mulch. Others consider it a weed. I would like to know more about it.
  
  
• OACC will be involved in the work Diane Knight, Steve Shirtliffe, and their graduate students at the University of Saskatchewan will be undertaking this summer. They are looking at cover crops, and at weed and fertility levels.
  
  
• Elmer Laird of the Back to the Farm Foundation is looking at a variety of different intercrops. OACC will support this effort, including providing some student help in data collection.
  
  
• Kirby McCuaig and a handful of producers in southwestern Saskatchewan have organized to look at different inoculants, seeding rates, and weed control techniques. OACC will support this effort, including providing some student help in data collection.

Alberta based

• Jill Clapperton (AAFC - Lethbridge) and Gisela Duerr (OACC) will look at a variety of annual and perennial cover crops, comparing weed levels and crop growth in the years of the cover crops and in the years following cover crops.
  
  
• Gisela Duerr (OACC) and the Producers of the Diamond Willow Range will conduct a management study of tall buttercup on rangeland
  
  
• Dan Johnson (AAFC - Lethbridge) and Gisela Duerr (OACC) will be looking at non-chemical grasshopper management.
  
  
• Dean Spaner and Heather Mason at the University of Alberta will look at "heritage" wheats and weed competition. OACC will support this effort, including providing some student help in data collection.
  
  
• Gisela Duerr (OACC) and the Diamond Willow Ranch will look at ways to manage rangeland weeds.

Manitoba based

• Jane Froese at the University of Manitoba will be looking at organic field management to identify practices that reduce soil erodibility. OACC will support this effort, including providing some student help in data collection.
  
  
• Producers in Manitoba have expressed interest in researching green manures and specialty crops. OACC will support this effort, including providing some student help in data collection.

Help Wanted:

• Spring wheat seeding rate - Please call me if you would be willing to seed wheat in strips of each seeding rate, according to a protocol we would provide.
  
  
• Post-emergent harrowing - Please call me if you are planning to harrow your crop for weed control, and are willing to let us watch and take some photos and counts.
  
  
• Wheat samples - Please call me if you would like support grain quality research by supplying samples.
  
  
• Directions - Please call me if you have suggestions for me about what needs to be done, what neat things you've heard of or tried, or what information you would like to have.

Contact information:

Brenda Frick, Ph.D., P.Ag.
Prairie Coordinator
Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada
c/o Department of Plant Sciences
University of Saskatchewan
51 Campus Drive, Saskatoon
Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5A8
Tel: (306) 966-4975
Fax: (306) 966-5015

Email: brenda.frick@usask.ca

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