Herbicide Tolerant Lentil Variety Available 2006?

[charliep]

I have read a couple of articles about a herbicide tolerant lentil coming out in 2006 (Clearfield I think). Anything out of Saskatoon on this? Thoughts?

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie;

That is right... although I don't know if it really is a big advantage cost wise.

CDC Saskatoon will register new lentil varieties, then in two more years new varieties will be released with the clearfield trait.

One application will be nice instead of two.

Lentils that bleach less, that is retain colour better and grade higher under wet weather harvests, are also being developed.

Looks like Pulses are moving forward.. innovation certainly is helping the industry.

[JACKFLASH]

Charlie:

This the breakthrough that we need. When growing pulses your weed control was always substandard. I hope we can get more herbicide tolerants in lentils, peas and chickpeas.
Monsanto should make a RR variety, change these types instead of RR wheat. Putting gene technology in dicot plant types way cheaper that than monocot plant types.

[carebear300]

Round up ready wouldn't be an advantage for me as I spray at least half of my lentils pre harvest with roundup for thistles. It works real good on the thistles and helps dry down the lentil crop.

[boone]

jackflash; It may be prudent to call any and all your customers before you ask for RR lentils, has been offered and from what I hear Peas, Flax, Mustard, Lentils, Beans, Wheat there just is no positives. It appears to have a high gag reflex.

[parsley]

boone,
From what I read, Denmark officially banned Roundup, in November, saying the reason is that the toxic chemical is NOT breaking down in the soil, reulting in polluting their water, at a level that is 5 times higher than what is considered safe for the human environment and people's health.

Has there been any release in Canada about that?

Parsley

[charliep]

Just to make sure I understand, the new herbicide tolerant variety is a Clearfield one?

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie;

The Herbicide Resistant Lentil is Clearfield... NOT RR, and NOT GMO but bred by normal plant breeding tech.

[carebear300]

I already use pursuit on my lentils and get pretty dam good weed control, it is not registered tho as you all know. I spray one third rate on stubble before I seed directly into it. I am well satisfied.

[carebear300]

After the crop has emerged I spray out the grassy weeds and volunteer cereals with Poast or a similar grassy weed herbicide.

[JACKFLASH]

To all on this thread:

It seems I am the moving target. Carebear 300 hundred states his operations to grow a good lentil crop. Lots of operations,lots of time, lots of risk. When I see breakthroughs in varieties to allow us to use better chemicals that are registered all good. So attack me when my imagination wonders. We all know what early weed control doesn for yield,conversly less operations, less risk, less time.

Boone yes we move into the grey area on RR crops, but with less fish stocks in the world and more dependacy on alternative proteins. Where do we turn to feed the world.

Parsley,Where do I go to get the info on Denmark banning Roundup. Here is a warning signal that too much of a good thing can do. We need this info so we can be better stewarts of our farms. I know I would be screwed if Roundup was not in my toolbox.
Parsley: the problem arises in the use rates in an intensive cropping operation,over years and years.

Lastly Monsanto blundered going into the wheat market. When we have execellent weed control alternatives. My farm is not ready for RR wheat at this time. So again using my imagination where RR crops would benefit,in a 4 year rotation. That technology would benefit in pulses, mustards,where weed control is substandard.
So to sum up Monsanto spent billions chasing a market if licensed could return 10,s of billions. Where they could have shifted gears and went to other seeds like pulses, etc. Still made some money and showed more benefits to the farmer and world markets.

[parsley]

Hi JACKFLAH,

1. I read it in an American farming publication. I'll try it on a Denmark website in the next day or two.

2. In a paper, the following:

On average farm in Canada, the REALIZED NET INCOME was between $10,000 and $20,000 in the 1950's, the 60's the 70's. For the last five years, the average farm earned $595.00/year from the markets alone. The bulk of income came from the wife working=off farm income,savings.liquidation of assets, debt and government payments.

BUT the GROSS INPUT over the last decade went from $30,000 to $140,000/year.

It's pause for thought.

Parsley

[parsley]

That should read $959.00/year as money the Canadian producer earned on the soley the markets in the last five years.

Sorry about that.

Parsley

[TOM4CWB]

Jackflash;

You didn't say anything wrong...

We all hope for solutions that help our crops grow well... without spending huge sums to a chemical company... and RR Canola has done this for many.

Hope we can find better solutions in the future... GPS guided solutions within .25 of an inch... weed with mowers, lazers... electrolysis... our imaginations are our creativity...

Please keep on using yours Jackflash!

[charliep]

Jackflash

I suffer the same questions at different times.

1) My thoughts are to evaluate new products/technology based on risks/benefits. Some risk is okay - the direction is to establish how much and ways of evaluating to prevent going too far down the wrong road.

2) In a world where we can land a little machine on Mars and communicate with it to tell it where to go/have it send back pictures, why can't the world develop processes to keep product separated in a way that meets customers very specific needs?

3) Parsley - I hear your comments about margins. Hard to beat the trend to bigger. Maybe an alternative is to get better. In my opinion, better will be improved marketing/working towards customer desires.