› › › A LITTLE CP ATTACKS › TOO CLOSE INTER- FOR COMFORT SWITCHING Frost visits parts of the Fights move to allow others south last Friday » Pg 8 on its tracks » Pg 25 SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | VOL. 72, NO. 38 | $1.75 MANITOBACOOPERATOR.CA Manitoba bee mortality down Bee mortality in Manitoba varied greatly from region to region last winter, but most honey producers saw improvements By Shannon VanRaes CO-OPERATOR STAFF espite the prolonged cold weather Manitoba D endured last winter, bee mortality actually declined in the province. “We’re calling it a high nor- mal,” said Rheal Lafreniere, Manitoba’s provincial apiarist. “When we take all the num- bers that got reported to us, mortality came out to around 24 per cent.” Normal winterkill numbers fall between 15 and 25 per cent, he added, noting that in 2012- 13 the average winter loss — including spring culls — was calculated at 46.4 per cent. “Twenty-four per cent is still high, so we’re not calling it a great year, but we’re not calling it a bad year either,” Lafreniere said. Southwest Manitoba has traditionally been considered part of the semi-arid Palliser Triangle. Today Wade (l) and Ryan Flannery are among the area farmers Losses are calculated using whose fields are sprouting cattails, not crops. PHOTO: MEGHAN MAST a mail-out survey. This year 63 beekeepers responded, repre- senting just over 50 per cent of the province’s colonies. Apiarists also provide the top three causes they attribute bee mortality to, although Southwestern Manitoba — Lafreniere notes that responses are anecdotal, adding there may be other causes of mortality not yet considered. semi-arid to semi-fluid Seventeen per cent of bee deaths were blamed on cold Dedicated minimum- and zero-till farmers are now dragging out tillage See BEES on page 7 » equipment that’s been in store for years By Meghan Mast early explorer John Palliser declared as too The next morning he borrowed another CO-OPERATOR STAFF/ NEAR PIPESTONE dry to farm. He was wrong about that, but neighbour’s tractor and managed to pull farming success in the area has historically everything out. hen Ryan and Wade Flannery depended on moisture-conserving prac- Later in the season he dug out his dad’s began working on the drilling tices, and farmers were among the first to deep-tillage cultivator. “I haven’t used it W rigs to supplement grain farm- develop minimum and zero till. since I was a kid,” he said. ing, they did not imagine that several years These days, the tillage equipment is He added some new shovels, cylinders later they would be working for oil compa- being pulled out of the weeds. Troy Mayes, and hydraulic hoses and cultivated deeper nies year round. a grain farmer from Pierson, said his fields than he ever had. “My dad thought we “We (initially) went to the drilling rigs for are so wet the sandy clay loam swallows were going too deep but I thought if I was something to do for the winter and now it’s his equipment. In the spring he tried to going to go over it, I’d sink it in good and turned into a full-time deal,” said Wade. harrow with a small four-wheel-drive trac- get it aerated.” The Flannery brothers and many other tor with triples. Mayes is reluctant to alter his farming farmers in southwestern Manitoba are “It just sunk out of sight,” he said. When practices too much based on a few wet developing strategies to cope with poor he tried to rescue the machine with his years, but has made some changes. He yields and drowned crops after consecu- larger four-wheel drive, it got stuck as well. added triples on his tractor for better flo- tive wet seasons. By the end of that night there was a five- tation, and he is considering burning for Southwestern Manitoba is traditionally vehicle pileup — including a neighbour’s weed control. recognized as part of the Palliser Triangle, backhoe that tried to excavate the sub- the broad area of Western Canada that merged machines. See WET SEASON on page 6 » PRIVATIZATION: FNA WANTS FARMERS TO TAKE OVER CWB » PAGE 9 Publication Mail Agreement 40069240 2 The Manitoba Co-operator | September 18, 2014 INSIDE DID YOU KNOW? LIVESTOCK Conflicts threaten How to get well fleeced plant genetic resources Tips on raising sheep Highest concentration of important wild crop relatives for more than just meat 12 is in Syria and Lebanon Staff In a release, the research- ers say that 12 per cent of the uture crop-breeding wild relatives are threatened CROPS improvements could with extinction and all are F be hampered by con- likely to be already suffer- flict in the world’s war zones, ing a loss of genetic diver- say researchers from the sity due to habitat loss and Weed spotters’ University of Birmingham in alteration, conflict, intensive the U.K. agriculture, urbanization workshop Many of today’s most and mismanagement of the Public asked to help important crops evolved from environment. in war against wild ancestors in the “Fertile The Birmingham research- ers are now working with the invasives 17 Crescent” of the Middle East, arcing around the Arabian UN’s Food and Agriculture desert from Jordan, Palestine, Organization and govern- Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey ments in the area on a strat- and ending in Iraq and Iran. egy to conserve wild relatives Wild relatives of these crops by identifying and promot- FEATURE still grow in the area, and ing the establishment of offer important genetic fea- managed conservation sites International tures for future crop breeding. in the wild, while taking The researchers say the samples and placing them recognition for highest concentration of A sample of Aegilops tauschii, a in gene banks as a safety these wild relatives is in Syria wild relative of wheat, collected backup, where the genetic John Heard and Lebanon, currently one in Afghanistan. It has natural material can be kept for up of the world’s most unstable to 300 years. MAFRD soil scientist resistance to the Hessian areas. fly, a major pest of cereals “It is very important that wins CCA of the The researchers have devel- we conserve these species in 26 worldwide. PHOTO: USDA/ARS Year award oped an inventory of 173 secure gene banks, but it is crops and their 1,667 priority critical to conserve them in wild relatives, along with their arundinaceum is a relative of their natural habitat as they particular traits. For example sugar cane and can survive will continue to adapt to CROSSROADS Aegilops tauschii, a wild rela- very low temperatures, and changes in the climate as well tive of wheat, is resistant to Prunus ferganensis, the wild as threats from pests and dis- Hessian fly which is a pest relative of peach, is tolerant eases,” said lead investigator Quilt show raises of cereal crops, Saccharum to drought. Nigel Maxted. cancer funds Honours well-known member of the Hutterite community 28 READER’S PHOTO Editorials 4 Grain Markets 11 Comments 5 Weather Vane 16 What’s Up 8 Classifieds 38 Livestock Markets 10 Sudoku 42 ONLINE Visit www.manitobacooperator.ca for daily news and features and our digital edition. (Click on “Digital Edition” in the top right corner.) At our sister site, AGCanada.com, you can use the “Search the AGCanada.com Network” function at top right to find recent Co-operator articles. Select “Manitoba Co-operator” in the pull-down menu when running your search. 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