Sunflower Stands Look Strong

Aug 31, 2015

Sunflower stands look strong in Manitoba, and the past week of wet conditions was good for crops in some areas, helping with seed fill. However, if the wet weather continues, sclerotinia could become a problem, as it could cause head rot.

With sunflower harvest likely upwards of four weeks away, the National Sunflower Association of Canada's agronomist, Troy Turner, says producers should be looking at desiccants heading into September. Turner says desiccation can help with quality, but it needs to happen at a certain time. That would be when the sunflowers are at a 30 to 35 per cent moisture level.

"What that basically looks like is the backs of your sunflower heads will be a very bright banana yellow. Your florets of the faces of the sunflowers will brush off very easily, and then the bracts, which are the little leaf-like structures on outsides of the back of the head, they're going to turn brown," he says.

Source : PortageOnline

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.