Free organics talk
A Morinville-area farmer will dig into the how-tos of intercropping this week at a province-wide conference on organics.About 300 people are expected to head to Fort Saskatchewan’s Dow Centennial Centre this Jan. 25 and 26 for the annual Organic Alberta Conference. The conference is meant to promote organic food production, which is farming that does not use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides and is certified as organic under federal standards.
Recent research by the Canadian Organic Trade Association suggests some 74 per cent of Albertans buy organic products each week – more than any other province, said Organic Alberta executive director Becky Lipton.
“We’re seeing significant growth in the organics sector in the last few years,” she said, with some 10 per cent of the nation’s organic farms now based in Alberta.
Lipton said her group has opened up parts of the conference to the public for free this year to acknowledge this interest in organic farming. Guests can take in five seminars on the nature of organic farming, tour the trade show and (for $10) go one-on-one with organic farmers at a “speed dating” event.
The conference also features a variety of talks on marketing and soil health for those who sign up for the full conference. Ward Middleton of Sturgeon County’s Midmore Farms (who could not be reached by press time) is scheduled to help run a workshop on intercropping – the practice of growing multiple crops in the same field in order to increase productivity. Nutrition advocate Sally Fallon Morell will speak on how traditional diets can teach us healthy eating habits as part of an organic food and wine gala Friday.
Tickets start at $120. Visit organicalberta.org/news/2019-central-conference for details.
Armyworms in wait?
Central Alberta farmers may be due for an armyworm invasion this summer, Alberta Agriculture suggests.Alberta Agriculture released the results of its 2018 Bertha armyworm survey last week. The survey said that an outbreak of this common canola pest was “possible or even likely” in Central Alberta and the Peace regions this year.
The Bertha armyworm is a major agricultural pest that can eat entire canola crops, said provincial insect management specialist Scott Meers. These worms can be anything from lime green to jet-black, but typically have a brown head and stripes on the side. The adult moths, which overwinter in the soil as pupae and emerge in the summer, are grey, four centimetres wide and nocturnal. Females can lay up to 3,500 eggs.
Based on the number of moths caught in its monitoring traps in any one year, the province ranks regions as having a low, uncertain, moderate or high risk of an infestation in the next year.
While most of the province was considered low risk (less than 300 moths per trap), one spot in Sturgeon County had enough moths to reach the “uncertain” level (300 to 600). A decent number of traps in the Edmonton-Red Deer-Lloydminster triangle had 300 to 1,200 moths, which approaches moderate risk.
It’s the trend in these numbers that’s important, Meers said. Moth numbers in these regions grew substantially in 2018 and already showed growth in 2017.
“That’s exactly how outbreaks start,” he said, and that’s why his office has predicted ones for Central and the Peace.
Meers said an outbreak was most likely to occur in Camrose, Beaver and Vermillion River counties based on the trap data. He did not suspect one would happen in Sturgeon, but didn’t rule it out – this region has decent snow-cover right now, and that means better odds of armyworm survival, as snow insulates the soil.
Check bit.ly/2FEhWMY for the latest insect forecast maps.
