Customer Appreciation Events Write Up 2019
Apr 08, 2019
2019 marks the first year as our complete integration into the Shur-Gro Family. We held our annual customer events again in July for our Elie, Oakville, Portage, MacGregor & Westbourne branches combined. These events have long been our annual way to thank our farmers for choosing us as their Ag Retailer and we know we wouldn’t be in business this long without these loyal customers.
At both our events this year we served Canadian raised beef. Many of our customers have diverse farms that include beef cattle production & we enjoy being about to support them by serving the fine product that they raise. Many neighbours enjoyed the evenings, discussing the past spring seeding & what the future harvest might hold.
Once again, we would like to thank all our customers for their business. We hope everyone has a safe harvest with good yields.
Fungicide timing is wrapped up for the most part. So, what are your agronomists up to currently in your fields?
Lately we’ve been out checking the progress of crops & scouting for possible insect infestations. Dry conditions over the past several years have led to higher populations of grasshoppers. Some fields had insecticides sprayed for grasshoppers already to control nymphs, but we are still finding them to be a problem in several very high population areas. We will likely see more grasshopper feeding damage in soy & dry beans as the cereals & canola get harvested. Grasshoppers are harder to control at the adult stage since they develop wings & can fly out of the field to avoid being sprayed by contact insecticide products. With most grasshoppers being into the adult stage now, there are few products that can be used to control them. John Gavloski with Manitoba Agriculture sends out pest reports for what we (industry professionals) are seeing across the province. You can find his reports here:
https://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops/seasonal-reports/insect-report-archive/index.html
Other insects we have been monitoring are soybean aphids & diamondback moth larvae. Soybean aphids have not been found yet, thankfully. Some canola fields North & North East of Portage have been found to be way above threshold for diamondbacks (100 larvae/square meter). Both insects generally blow in from the south on strong winds & are deposited in fields as the wind dies down. This makes finding them more difficult as they can be sporadic patches in the field. Your Shur-Gro Agronomist will contact you if we find any levels to be concerned about & suggest a method of monitoring/control depending on the crop/insect stage.
Fields are getting closer to harvest & that means next we will be looking at yield estimates & whether a field needs pre-harvest weed control. If you are seeing anything in your fields & you are unsure about it, give us a call.