Northeast Agriculture Research Foundation

Video of chickpea plants being swathed.

These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago but WE CAN SWATH OUR PLOTS NOW! This is the Zürn multi-tool carrier and we tried swathing flax, chickpea, and canola with it. It will also be very useful for some of our intercropping trials next year like hairy vetch - fall rye. Video in the next post.

Today we dug up polymer-coated urea that had been buried for 1 week!
No combining this week thanks to the snow and rain we got last weekend - The field is too wet to get in with equipment. Also the chickpeas have gone down (lodged) so they won't be fun to pick up🥲

Today we also banded different enhanced efficiency fertilizers for a trial, combined soybeans, and combined our faba bean-wheat intercrop trial. Thoughts from the combine operator Brianne: "The wheat threshed better than I expected!"
We are now 90% done harvest! 🥳
And we found unidentified larvae 🤔

We buried organza bags with polymer-coated urea and biodegradable polymer-coated urea today. The idea is to dig out one bag per week and weigh the prills to assess product loss over time. This project is led by CLC in Prince Albert with expert input from @lecowell.bsky.social

And "that's a wrap" on the flax! (credit to Brianne for the pun!)
We finished flax (brown and yellow) and red clover harvest yesterday. Flax went mostly well (wrapped just a couple of times) but clover plugged the combine in pretty much every plot.

Here is a video of Michael harrowing! (Beware, it's got sound!)
We spent a few hours this morning getting the 3-point hitch on the tractor to operate properly just so we could hook up the harrows to it but the actual harrowing took 1/16th as long lol
(3/3)

SERF is our partner in this project and there is one collaborating producer at each site to conduct the field-scale portion of the project. It started this year and will run for 2 more.
At NARF today we harrowed some plots to encourage volunteer growth. Pics below show before vs. after harrow (2/3)

We got funding from @natureunitedcanada.bsky.social for a project to see if leaving oat volunteers to grow as cover crops (instead of terminating them via fall burnoff) has beneficial effects on the soil & the following canola crop. It's both small-plot as well as field-scale. (Thanks NU!)
(1/3)

Two weeks ago we seeded intercrops of fall rye-hairy vetch, and winter camelina-hairy vetch for a demonstration of fall-seeded intercrops. Yesterday we did plant counts on them. They've come up nicely!

This trial is being conducted here at NARF, Melfort (NE Sask) and at SERF, Redvers (SE Sask).

We are >50% done harvest today! 🥳 Here is our little (combine) trooper.
Dust is in the air, weather has been amazingly cooperative for harvest, and it seems like everybody is tired, overworked & itchy😪😅 Happy and safe harvest, everyone! We all got this! ✊

Here's a video

A cat had kittens in one of the old sheds at the farm!
Video in the next post!

Andrew seeding with the single-row, push seeder as Brianne and Lauriche look on

Lauriche with her pet, dead grasshopper she found when cleaning seed. She kept it in her locker for the remainder of the year.

Aaliyah, Lindsay, and Lauriche picking haskaps while Gayelene, Michael, and Andrew look on

Lauriche and Lindsay standing in the box of the truck while picking apples on their last day

Some more fun moments with students this year:
1) Seeding chickling vetch with single-row seeder
2) Lauriche with her (dead) grasshopper she found while cleaning seed, named "Jiminy no hop"
3) Picking haskaps at @info_at_CLC field day
4) Apple-picking in the AAFC orchard on the students' last day

Lauriche, Aaliyah and Lindsay posing on the side by side.

Summer students with Michael and Gayelene during a regenerative farming field tour

The students decorated the side by side for the Melfort parade. Here's them posing in front of it along with Brianne and me.

Gayelene's office is Our Spot for morning meetings every day. This was the last morning meeting this year with all 4 of our summer students.

We had an incredible group of summer students this year and last week we said goodbye to them as they headed back to university. It feels quiet around here without them, so here are some pictures from some fun occasions: Melfort parade, field tours, UTVing in the field, and the last morning meeting.

Whether you are a farmer or are just interested in agriculture and would like to learn more about ongoing research in Melfort/ Northeast SK, you are welcome!

Tour trials and listen from experts from Sask Pulse Growers, SaskBarley, SaskOilseeds, SaskWheat, SaskForage, plant breeders at Crop Development Centre at USask (including @peasoybeanusask.bsky.social), SK Agriculture, Oat Grain Millers, SaskOats, ECRF (Yorkton), CLC (Prince Albert), and AAFC.

You are invited to our field days on July 23 & 24!
July 23rd - Focus on main crops in NE Sask
July 24th - Special crops, regenerative farming trials
Register for July 23:
eventbrite.ca/e/1431611802...
Register for July 24:
eventbrite.ca/e/1431996984...
*Free tour with lunch both days*!

Did you know that the gas used in fire extinguishers is actually a fertilizer? It's Monoammonium phosphate, or MAP! MAP is a common phosphorous fertilizer used in crops.

Lars Andreassen from AAFC providing fire extinguisher training to summer students

Lauriche, Ishita, and Lindsay all happened to be wearing their bucket hats on the same day!

Michael talking Lauriche through the basics of operating the tractor

Michael directing Lauriche (in the driver seat) while she backs up the tractor/seeder combo. Lindsay is on the back of the seeder looking over and helping.

And here are some random pics from the field season so far!
- Fire extinguisher training by Lars from AAFC
- (Happenstance) Bucket Hat Day
- Tractor training for summer students
- Teaching students to back up the seeder! (They did very good!)

Correction, we don't have a seed date trial for lentil this year. But we do for winter cereals - We've got winter wheat, winter triticale, and fall rye! Conservation Learning Centre out of Prince Albert is leading that one.

Brianne and Gayelene's selfie on the back of the seeder!

Busy seeding!

They had fun! (2/2)

#TakeBackTuesday It's been 2 months since we spring seeded our first trial on April 25! We started with early seeding dates for seed date trials. This year we have seed date trials for canola, pea, faba bean, lentil, chickpea, soybean, and flax. Here's Michael, Brianne, and Gayelene in action! (1/2)

2 students (Lindsay and Andrew) soil sampling with the soil punch attached at the rear of the truck. Other students also soil sampled but aren't pictured.

We started out flagging and soil sampling, I think the students must've soil sampled for 5 whole days as some trials required extensive soil sampling by hand. Safe to say all of them are pros now!

And while sampling a farmer's field that we're doing a trial in, this sweet dog came to say hi!

It is a high-clearance multi-function tool carrier with the ability to attach various implements on its front and rear. This purchase was made possible through generous funding provided by Sask. Pulse Growers, SaskCanola (now SaskOilseeds), and SaskBarley. Our sincere gratitude to them! (2/2)

NARF crew posing in front of the Zurn multi-tool carrier. Missing: Gayelene, but she will be in future pictures!

Zurn multi-tool carrier on the trailer.

Michael getting into the multi-tool carrier with the Zurn guy and Brianne looking over.

An update is long overdue re: ongoings at NARF! Today we seeded our last spring-seeded trial. We have over 15 diff crops this year. Over the next few days I'll post pics and videos of all the things that have happened!

First off, we got a Zürn multi-tool carrier! 1/2

Last week was buzzing with activity at NARF as the weather turned and we could finally get out and work in the field!
We've been busy flagging for trials, soil sampling, picking up & distributing seed, and Michael has been getting equipment ready for seeding!

Description of the event from the registration page. The event is called, "Home Grown Research: Learn the latest from AgriARM Research Sites in your Backyard".

Then on March 27th, Brianne will be presenting results from a 3-yr project titled, "When does it pay to apply fungicide to faba beans and what does the weather have to do with it?". This is a free webinar organized by Sask Ministry of Ag. Register here: register.gotowebinar.com/register/445...

Agenda for the event put up by Collective Impact on March 26, 2025. The event starts at 10:00 AM and ends at 3:00 PM. It is free to attend and coffee and lunch will be provided. To RSVP, contact Kassy at 306-921-9928 or email kassy@collectiveimpact.ca by Friday, March 21st 2025.

We are presenting at two events next week! First up, on March 26th in Melfort, Ishita will be presenting results from regenerative agriculture focused trials from 2024 and give a teaser of upcoming trials on the same theme (intercropping/ companion cropping & more).
Event by Collective Impact 🧵

This week we are in Saskatoon participating in Ag shows and forums. Here's Brianne and I at the AgriARM booth at Western Crop Production Show on Tuesday. Today is the last day of CPS so if you are in Saskatoon, stop by and check out all the exhibitors!