North Battleford, SK – More than 100 area farmers gathered in North Battleford, Saskatchewan on October 17 to see corn harvest in action. Grain corn – used for animal feed, ethanol production and food additives – is a new crop for many farmers in Saskatchewan. Recent improvements in technology and genetics have brought the crop to this part of the world, where farmers are successfully growing the crop for local ethanol and feed plants.
“Corn is sparking a lot of guys’ interest because in terms of dollars per acre, it’s a high value crop out here,” says Boyd Risling, Pioneer sales rep, owner of RisRock Ag Services Inc.
Risling says this marks the second year his customers have been growing corn. He arranged the harvest demonstration, which featured equipment from CASE and a line-up of speakers including DuPont Pioneer agronomist Aaron Miller to speak to the unique soil preparation and fertility requirements corn requires.
“If you decide to grow corn it’s a big leap because you need a planter and a corn header,” Risling says. “It was good for our customers to have a chance to see how that equipment works, how the field looks when the crop is harvested and to ask questions that will help them plan for how they’ll work it into their crop rotations for the future.”
Source: DuPont Pioneer
