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Optimizing the Alfalfa Harvest for Dairy Success

By Catherine Dehdashti

As spring brought warmer temperatures and rain, Minnesota’s alfalfa fields hosted many a winged creature, as well as University of Minnesota Extension educators conducting the work of the Alfalfa Harvest Alert Program. 

Now in its 29th year, the collaboration between Extension and the Central Minnesota Forage Council serves farmers gearing up for the first cut of alfalfa, a valuable component of dairy cow diets.

The Alfalfa Harvest Alert helps forage producers make timely and informed decisions about when to harvest. Local Extension educators, like Jackie Estrem and Taylor Herbert, take scissors-cut samples and work with a lab to analyze them, providing data to optimize yield and quality.

Source : umn.edu

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Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Video: Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Darcy Unger just invested millions to build a brand-new seed plant on his farm in Stonewall, Manitoba so when it’s time for his sons to take over, they have the tools they need to succeed.

Right now, 95% of the genetics they’ll be growing come from Canadian plant breeders.

That number matters.

When fusarium hit Western Canada in the late 90s, it was Canadian breeders who responded, because they understood Canadian conditions. That ability to react quickly to what’s happening on Canadian farms is exactly what’s at risk when breeding programs lose funding.

For farmers like Darcy, who have made generational investments based on the assumption that better genetics will keep coming, the stakes are direct and personal.

We’re on the brink of decisions that will shape our agricultural future for not only our generation, but also the ones to come.

What direction will we choose?

On The Brink is a year-long video series traveling across Canada to meet the researchers, breeders, farmers, seed companies, and policymakers shaping the future of Canadian plant breeding. Each week, a new story. Each story, a piece of the bigger picture.

Episode 3 is above. Follow Seed World Canada to catch every episode, and tell us: Do you think the next generation will have the tools they need to success when they takeover? How is the future going to look?