Does NFU represent the average farmer? Some interesting characters on their board.

[shtferbrains]

My grandmother believed if you cut a thistle in the rain they would die. She said if the stem you cut off got wet before thet sealed themselves they drowned. I figured I'd try the theory a couple times, wait for rain clouds then get to work but everytime i went out the clouds parted and i got skunked on rain. Anyone else hear that idea?

I had an infested field, put it into hay, first year was bad but after the first 2 years of hay there weren't any thistles in the hay, its back to annual crop now and thisltes are no longer an issue. Not sure if it was just chance or if i could replicate that.

Used to be a lot of Dehy Alfalfa around here. Probably 130000 acres at it's peak.

Part of the reason it was attractive was the thistle control it provided.

Very few thistles after the first year.

Helped with annuals like wild oats.

Paid pretty good in a CWB environment as it helped with quota acres.

$7 gig gas, crow pay out and better shipping\quotas and better herbicides/higher fertilizer rates were some of the reasons we no longer see much. Also seed alfalfa.

Caseih and seldomseen probably were closer to it.

It was a good way for grain guys to take advantage of forage .

[Guest]

Painted Lady Butterfly(thistle caterpillar?).
Probably never control thistle.

yes they will and very hard on borage , cleaned us right out one year.chop down a stawk the size of your finger

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Pouring boiling water into a freshly cut thistle stem is supposed to be an effective means of controlling the root system. It may just be feasible on field scale if you coupled that with the new plant identification technologies. Not much else looks like a thistle stem.

[jamesb]

He has done. You should attend a meeting he is presenting at. This guy has it figured out - of course he's not a crop only farmer he integrates livestock and alfalfa into his rotations. Very, very smart guy.

Who is this farmer? I have several organic farming neighbours, some of them successful, most seemingly mining the soil with very poor farming practices. The organic industry needs more champions that can be looked upon by more farmers (organic and conventional) favorably.

[sumdumguy]

Wild food gatherers love thistle puree. If they take away the Round Up, we may have to eat our way out of this one. 🍵 Canada’s Native Soup

[grassfarmer]

Who is this farmer?

Peter Eggers, LaGlace Alberta.

[Oliver88]

And thank you for posting the link too, chuck. This way anyone else can check the bio's and press releases and verify what I posted is accurate.

It is Noteworthy that none of the three supporters made any attempt to defend, or refute any of the claims, but instead only attacked the messenger .

AF5, have any NFU members contacted you to inform you that the listed priorities on their website are a mistake?

There are some very scary anti-agriculture items that they are supporting including the LEAP MANIFESTO.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

AF5, have any NFU members contacted you to inform you that the listed priorities on their website are a mistake?

There are some very scary anti-agriculture items that they are supporting including the LEAP MANIFESTO.

No, and the member(s) on Agriville have made no attempt to distance themselves or defend them either, although, at least one does sound surprised at the policies they are supporting. Perhaps that is because they are busy doing their own homework, doing some soul searching and discovering who they are actually in bed with, or else it is because they really do support such self destructive rhetoric. I made some polite suggestions to Grassfarmer that perhaps he could use his position from within to bring these outrageous policy positions to the attention of the actual farming members who he states are many. Have not seen any response from him on the subject. Just attacking me for pointing it out for public consumption.

Not sure if this is good or bad. Good because by taking such an extreme anti-everything stance, they become completely marginalized and lose all credibility, or bad because there are those in government who may not be aware that this organization has been taken over by the anti-everything crowd, and may still use their support to justify the latest attack on our livelihoods. Personally, I would rather they take a more moderate stance, which would entice more farmers to get involved, and we could offer a united voice, instead they are causing even more division, allowing us to be divided and conquered.

Still waiting for Grassfarmer to point out to me where I was lying, when I quoted from their website?

Edit to add that if any members do want to reach out to me and either justify their policy stance, and defend their membership, or claim that all of those press releases were mistakenly sent out, or prove that I have somehow misunderstood all of those press releases, please feel free, I respond to private messages on Agriville.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Ab5 et al

Want to point out that I have never belonged to no Ag farm group.

Well, thanks for clarifying that. Does the double negative indicate that you have always belonged to some Ag farm group, or never belonged to all of them? What possessed you to come to the defense of NFU and their indefensible anti-industry policies if you have no affiliations? Do you personally support the issues they list in their press releases?

You seem to be all hell bend on posting anything that comes to mind chastising any other Canadian who doesn't have the same political view as your's, and now have focused on a Ag farm group who has NDP association. My honest view is you were part of the now defuncted Wild Rose Party and can't seem to find a place to park your ideology so you use Agriville to get your crap out!

Just wondering if you could do a synopsis on the WCWGA, particularly which Ag companies sponsor them? You could also question yourself with a list of Ag related Companies who sponsor them who do they really represent in Ag?

Sorry, I don't know anymore about WCWGA than I did about NFU before I just looked into them. But unlike NFU, no one on Agriville trots out the WCWGA's stance on positions everytime an issue comes up, or if they do, they seem to be mostly in line with most farmers positions.

And I've been very vocal in my opposition to the Wild Rose party from the start. I hold them completely responsible for splitting the vote and allowing the socialists to get in. That was not the way to effect change.

But I will make you a deal, if you want to research who sponsors NFU, I'll check into who is sponsoring WCWGA in return.