Spring is upon us. So is instability and uncertainty on the economic side. Will drought be our concern as planting season is soon here? Will Trump’s erratic attempt at fixing the U.S. economy by devaluing debt owed by the U.S. Government and held by billionaire investors; and how will that affect farming in North America anyway?
All this is to say, part of farming is living with wild fluctuations in weather, climate, and the markets we sell in to and buy from.
For my part, I recently ordered an expensive part for a power steering system on an older tractor. With out the part the tractor would be a “boat anchor” as we say. I bought direct on the internet on the advice of equipment parts dealers. We were all unsure what stated tariffs to be imposed by the POTUS (President Of The United States) as of this week would mean to agricultural machinery parts coming from the US.
My parts source said he did not know of any tariffs or duties at the border that would inflate my cost. He said if the UPS ( parcel delivery) will take the package they will also undertake to pays all border “fees” which we prepaid to him, the supplier.
I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. It did arrive—no additional costs.
One big threat seems to to have been avoided. Had tariffs been put on fertilizer coming from Canada to the U.S. (90 per cent of the potash for corn plantings in the US comes from Canada. We could have had a big surplus which may have tanked the price for Canadian farmers. Didn’t happen as of this week.
So far tariffs on beef cattle or products crossing into the U.S. have been avoided. Good news.
Snow melting, frost thawing, then drought could be threatening. If our production of feed both for hay and pasture are decreasing then it might be time to reseed. Seed, fertilizer and equipment operation cost are going up so big decisions need to be made about what kind of seed to source.
Let me mention one key forage crop: alfalfa, the king of forages because of its high protein and drought tolerance. It is good for growth both as hay or as pasture. The trouble with reseeding it into fields that has existing, albeit poor, residue of older alfalfa is that the old plants can stop the newer seeding. The word is that alfalfa is “allelopathic” to the same species. The old alfalfa plants kill the new alfalfa seedlings.
That means the old crop has to be destroyed by frequent tillage or if you choose, herbicides.
That said, in a well prepared seed bed, still be careful to search for the right variety. Some recent commentators in the farm press remind us that farmers are slow adapters to new varieties. “Tried and true” seems to be the watch word. My advice is read the advice. A good source is the Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC).
Good agronomic advice is hard to come by since forage trials on our varied spoils is not plentiful to say the least. Good news though since the B.C. Government Ministry of Agriculture just hired a forage expert after a long “dry spell”.
Happy planting.
