Plot tours show usefulness of agronomic research

Industry is eager to learn and improve thanks to new research, Toban Dyck says.

In the days leading up to the event, heat warnings had been issued. Temperatures were climbing to unsafe levels and remaining there until late in the day.

Last week, on one of July’s dog days, a 70-person blend of farmers and ag-scientists met on a shadeless patch of earth a few kilometres from Melita, Man., a town of slightly more than 1,000 people in the southwest corner of the province.

Everyone attending had to drive, and most had to drive for a significant distance. Registration was at 8:30 a.m. and the sun was already warm. The event was taking place where one gravel road intersected with another, kittycorner to a canola field. Everyone knew how to get there (the rural grid seems to come pre-installed in most farmers).

The few acres that made up this patch of earth were full of perfect rectangles, each of which was testing something specific on a specific crop under specific conditions. Behind each small test area was a grad student doing thesis work, a professor testing a theory and a commodity group conducting research or a mix of the two.

The event was something called a plot tour. These happen all over Canada at this time of year. Universities put them on. So do commodity groups and government agencies. Private agriculture companies host plot tours, as well, but farmers, I learn time and time again, are not dull and take these in with a grain of salt.

The rate at which new technologies are introduced into the agriculture sector is staggering. Every year, there are different chemicals, inoculants, treatments entering or about to enter the market, each one packaged with a list of promises.

Some of these plots are designed to test those promises against the reality of a growing season. Other plots are there to test theories, such as the effects of an early seeding date on protein in soybeans. The possibilities for the kinds of research a farmer will be exposed to at these tours border on infinite.

A public fearful of what it interprets as a sector doing harmful things with its food should be emboldened by the fact that, all over the world, highly educated and intelligent people are working on behalf of the agriculture industry to ensure its moves remain grounded in sound science and sustainable agronomics.

Standing in line at registration were two people — I’m assuming a couple — dressed entirely in athletic gear. They were farmers interested in learning. Standing behind them was a man in tight jeans, big belt buckle, shirt tucked in, wearing a cowboy hat and hipster boots.

All of these people and the many other characters in attendance were there on a hot, sunny day to absorb high-level, relevant information from university researchers and not-for-profit agronomists in order to make their farms better. Full stop.

As a farmer myself and as someone who works to help independent research get into the hands of farmers, I am routinely astounded at the amount of quality information available to growers.

Farmers have constant and easy access to current agronomic research geared toward making Canada’s farms as sustainable and marketable as possible.

I write about this over and over again to paint a picture of the modern farmer as someone who takes seriously the food he or she produces. None of us are above reproach and all of us have ample room to improve. And perhaps, one day, the workings of the agriculture industry will be better understood by the public that so heavily relies on it.

The wheat on my farm is close to ready. Harvest is around the corner.