Water Drainage/Sask Water Security Board

[oneoff]

Any vegetatation growing where it is not desired is a weed. You don't get to decide that because it is wet enough to grow willows that they have become a permanent fixture. If you are talking about poplars; you will find that they die off when submerged in water; something that can be easily noticed in the Carlyle/Stoughton area.


I stll stand by the fact that trees have no God given, nor chuck given right in former grassland areas that were always historically barren of those deciduous trees (probably in your own area).

[oneoff]

Some farmers may well have a special relationship with crop insurance and government payments. As they become secure; they tend to forget that their hands have always been in someone's pockets and that basically is the reason that they still remain in the farming business.

What bothers me is the disdain shown by those who spew BS about already wet conditions benefitting by trapping snow drifts that melt slowly and miraclusly it all disappears into a water table at the ground surface.

When rainfall exceeds evaporation; as it probably did this season; soils become soaked sponges and overgrown with foxtail barley, sowthistles and in some cases yellow mustard, thistles etc. Those that don't know what a weed is; will some day wake up to find that not only they have lost the battle; but will have made it more difficult for even effective control when weather conditions allow better control methods practiced by most farmers. And that completely ignores nasty noxious weeds that defy anyone's control.

An all around crop and financial and maybe ecological disaster from what I've seen; and I doubt any particular cereal or lentil farmers's methods fared any better than another in years such as this past one.

I got a chance to see fields in the past couple days that are a complete and utter disaster. Never saw such a mess in 40 some years farming.

Better wait to plant those poplar shoots; because the outside round just isn't where it was in those past 40 years. And it wasn't mainly caused by drainage; or lack of trees.

I'd refer you to Google Eath photos to view those same fields from 6 or so years ago. There is no resemblance of whole areas of once grain fields that are now small lakes and tall cattail marshes.

Growing a few pounds of alalfa seeds or feeding ruminants grass that then belch methane gas isn't considered friendly to the environment either. Especially if one doesn't even have those animals; and no hay is produced. If farmers cut their dependence on diesel fuel; there certainly would be a lot less done by absolutely ever farmer. But I don't hear a similar call for that from all back to the 1910's farmers.

And that all we are worried about; isn't it.
That and how someone else tries to make a living, grow and market using their chosen production system.

[oneoff]

Anyone else is welcome to have the last words.

[chuckChuck]

I would say by the looks of it, this year round up ready canola is fast becoming a weed especially in round up ready soybeans! It will be only a matter of time before glyphosate becomes useless thanks to farmers who don't understand biology and can't imagine farming without dependence on chemistry.

Nature is not static, it is always changing and evolving. Trees replace grassland when the conditions allow it. Our geologically recent landscape and soil is only about 10,000 years old. Humans interrupted the natural process of fire, but nature provided the wet spell that allows cat tails and trees to flourish. Trees have recorded significant growth the last few years.

What is the point in clearing land that will only be farmed less than 1/2 the time? This wet spell will pass and we will again farm more acres.

Bad weather has been part of farming for 10,000 years. Farmers have some control over their ability to survive. The 1980s were farm more destructive. High interest rates and dry weather killed many farms.

Severe flooding is terrible. Farmers need to build more resilience into their farming systems. We have adopted a very expensive energy intensive farming system. Input suppliers and grain merchants would like nothing more than total control of the seed to market. Many crops are already there. Farmers take all the risk on borrowed money.