Roger farms about an hour out of Regina. He’s got 2,000 acres of mainly wheat, barley, canola and peas. He called me last year after harvest and I could tell right away that he was feeling frustrated.
Roger was confident he’d done everything properly to meet malt barley quality specs, but the sample he’d submitted was rejected. Folks at the elevator told Roger the sample showed some evidence of green and immature kernels, and was chitted too.
To add insult to injury, other producers in the immediate area had no trouble getting their crops selected for malt.
Read Also
Producers aren’t panicking over tariffs and trade threats
The Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA) surveyed its members this spring to get a sense of how trade uncertainty was…
“You know,” Roger said, “things looked pretty good all year and then it seemed to mature later than other crops in this area.” Roger wondered if the rain shower his barley had taken just prior to harvest was to blame.
I quizzed him about a few things over the phone. His fertilizer program was sound at 65N-25P-15K-0S; the application had been determined and applied according to the soil test. Roger was confident there were no fertilizer deficiencies apparent in the crop. His barley had been treated with a fungicide which appeared successful as he could find no signs of leaf disease.
Before I headed out for a closer look, I checked my files. My notes suggested that earlier in the year when scouting Roger’s barley for leaf diseases, I had noticed a large number of tillers in the crop.
My notes said: “While overall the barley looks healthy, the number of plants seems less than optimum.” Without even seeing his crop, I had a pretty good idea what the problem was.
What happened to Roger’s barley that kept it from meeting malt barley specs? What can Roger do to ensure his barley does make the grade next year?
Send your diagnosis to COUNTRY GUIDE, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1; e-mail [email protected];or fax 204-947-9136 c/o Krista Simonson.
Correct answers will be pooled and one winner will be drawn for a chance to win a COUNTRY GUIDE cap and a one-year subscription to the magazine. The correct answer, along with the reasoning which solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor’s Solution File.
