Ready, Set, Go

Mar 23, 2015

By Jochum Wiersma

The first spring wheat and oats have already been seeded, although winter will officially with us one more day according to the calendar. Is it too early to already be thinking spring and seeding small grains? Federal crop insurance guidelines stipulate that small grains are insurable when planted on or after March 21. And although this may be part of your decision process, mother nature doesn't keep a Julian calendar. So can we already seed small grains successfully? In 2012 I write a post that describes the requirements to get small grains established successfully and quantifies some of the risks of planting early. I have provided link to it here.

Bottom-line: The weather forecast for the remainder of the month is trending just slightly above average for both daytime highs and well as nighttime lows. If the frost has come out at least 12 inches and the soil temperatures are reaching 40 degrees F for most of the day, I think spring wheat and oats can be seeded successfully at this time.

Source: umn.edu

Video: EP 73 Diversity is Resiliency – Stories of Regeneration Part 6

During the growing season of 2023 as summer turned into fall, the Rural Routes to Climate Solutions podcast and Regeneration Canada were on the final leg of the Stories of Regeneration tour. After covering most of the Prairies and most of central and eastern Canada in the summer, our months-long journey came to an end in Canada’s two most western provinces around harvest time.

This next phase of our journey brought us to Cawston, British Columbia, acclaimed as the Organic Farming Capital of Canada. At Snowy Mountain Farms, managed by Aaron Goddard and his family, you will find a 12-acre farm that boasts over 70 varieties of fruits such as cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, pears, apples, and quince. Aaron employs regenerative agriculture practices to cultivate and sustain living soils, which are essential for producing fruit that is not only delicious but also rich in nutrients.