Driving today Palliser/Goyder

[Guest]

Tile Drainage "fixes" too wet areas and the surrounding issues (alkalinity/salinity, poor soil structure).

Irrigation "fixes" too dry areas.


Pipelines and aqueducts move water from the "too wet" to the "too dry" areas and their issues (low OM, low productivity, poor soil structure).

Oh wait a second. I forgot. We're in western Canada.

Nobody move! Nobody dream! Nobody do anything!

what we gotta do is get rid of that ball and chain we've had since confederation

[WiltonRanch]

what we gotta do is get rid of that ball and chain we've had since confederation

Agreed. It will eventually happen but things will have to get really bad before it will take hold.

[GDR]

Does that mean the too wet areas shouldn't be "farmed" either because of the challenges they face?

Precisely, both extremes likely suited best to grass production but hunger for cropland is never ending. Lots of acres plowed up here the last 10 yrs that likely should not have been.

[malleefarmer]

GDR your spot on hunger for cropland here in oz people cropping in areas deemed way to dry in the past. And was grazing country only.

Flip side its good for livestock guys less and less acres for animals and sheep flock and cattle flock about 60% of what is was say mid 80s.

When i was up dawsons creek in the peace region i never actually asked but was that traditional livestock country say 30 years ago and cropping has since occured or im wrong?

Didnt venture to far from the ranch think it was south of town about 15 miles and very little crops were i was.

[Klause]

And then there's 4 million plus acres of fertile clay soil right here in Canada that isn't being farmed yet... Land like this...

[malleefarmer]

http://www.eldersrealestate.com.au/rural/buy/property-cropping-sa-karoonda-707777

This farm i mentioned a few months back sold for $400 per acre had a alot of cooch grass or quack grass you guys may call it, and most said no good for cropping blah blah the buyer my next door nieghbour plans to sow feed on it for stock and graze it, no real intention of making it a cropping block. He got a good buy.

Good cropping land is double that now 750 to 820 per acre for 2t to 2.5 t ha country.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

And then there's 4 million plus acres of fertile clay soil right here in Canada that isn't being farmed yet... Land like this...

I'm sure they know what they are doing in their soil and climate, but if I took my clay and pulversized it into dust like that, then rolled it, then got rain, I'd have genuine concrete that no seedling could possibly penetrate. I just checked their rainfall, looks like summers are similar to ours, but wetter in fall and winter, for an average of 815mm per year.

[farmaholic]

What weather cycles were the respective areas in when Palliser and Goyder saw what they say wasn't fit for grain agriculture?

I think every area has the ability to produce a crop, but I think our expectations for each area might have to be different. I guess what it comes down to is can it be done economically?

I wish I could "consistently" grow 50 bu/ac canola. 60 bushel wheat and peas. 40 flax. I know better, I've been a Slum of tbe Ghetto farmer my whole life...its a bonus if it happens, not a "given"!

[AlbertaFarmer5]

What weather cycles were the respective areas in when Palliser and Goyder saw what they say wasn't fit for grain agriculture?

I think every area has the ability to produce a crop, but I think our expectations for each area might have to be different. I guess what it comes down to is can it be done economically?

I wish I could "consistently" grow 50 bu/ac canola. 60 bushel wheat and peas. 40 flax. I know better, I've been a Slum of tbe Ghetto farmer my whole life...its a bonus if it happens, not a "given"!

Palliser visited during a drought: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.4296/cwrj3104263