CROP SCENE INVESTIGATION – 26: What’s ailing Art’s alfalfa?


by BERNARD TOBIN

When it comes to scouting fields, it’s tempting to do inspections through the windshield of your truck as you drive down the side road at 60 kmh. But farmers know it’s important to put it in park and hit the dirt, especially in corn, soybean and wheat fields.

Joel Bagg, a forage specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, wishes forage fields, particularly alfalfa, were also on that list. Unfortunately, these fields too often get the drive-by treatment. Like other crops, it’s also important to dig up forage roots to find out what’s going on in fields that are not meeting expectations.

“The problem is that very few people ever do diagnostic work on forage,” laments Bagg.

Better Farming - May 2010