| | Featured (on-line) Resource | Mental Snacktime | In Case You Missed Them - HortSnacks-to-Go 2017/2018 Winter Webinar Series | Prepare Yourself - Canadian Agricultural Partnership | Alternative Prairie Orchard Models report | Berry and Vegetable Price Survey - 2nd Call | Potato Pest Management Workshops - Presentations | Q and A | In the News / Articles Worth Reading
Featured (on-line) Resource
Mental Snacktime – Concern
- “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.” – Pope John XXIII
- “Concern yourself more with accepting responsibility than with assigning blame. Let the possibilities inspire you more than the obstacles discourage you.” – Ralph Marston
- “Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. No man is free who cannot control himself.” – Pythagoras
- “A leader must be a good listener. He must be willing to take counsel. He must show a genuine concern and love for those under his stewardship.” – James E. Faust
- “Just as a cautious businessman avoids investing all his capital in one concern, so wisdom would probably admonish us also not to anticipate all our happiness from one quarter alone.” – Sigmund Freud
In Case You Missed Them – HortSnacks-to-Go: 2017/2018 Winter Webinar Series
Prepare Yourself for the Change from Growing Forward 2 (GF2) to Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP)
Starting April 1, 2018, programs under the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership will open in stages. To learn more about the various programs, their requirements and their open/close dates, visit and subscribe to receive program updates on the new CAP website (www.cap.alberta.ca). If you were subscribed on the GF2 website, you’ll have to subscribe again, due to FOIP rules.
The majority of the programs are now merit-based, rather than first-come-first-served, although there will likely be intakes for each program. Not all programs will be open at once and there are different programs under each of the 5 pillars. More information on each of the pillars and programs will be available as they start to open up or get ready to open.
Alternative Prairie Orchard Models report
Over the past couple of years, there has often been a question as to whether starting a new orchard is a good financial move or whether a different model might make more sense. With changes in markets, economies and other factors, it is important to understand how a particular model measures up and what the return on investment might be.
In 2017/2018, an economic study was undertaken to compare a start-up orchard with a fully operational “going concern” orchard, to establish a baseline comparison. These models were then compared with 8 other models, ranging from co-operatives, crops shares, rejuvenation scenarios, etc. While the information used was formed around Saskatoon berry economics, with a little tweaking, these model comparisons could be used for any prairie fruit crop.
Click here to see the full report, which included assumptions, comparisons, summary and detailed tables.
Berry & Vegetable Price Survey – Second Call!
Having price information is valuable for people of all experience levels, to use as a reference against your own pricing and to compare against when calculating your cost of production and setting your prices.
Each year, I put a call out to producers, asking them to share what they were charging for their fruit and vegetable crops the past season (both u-pick and pre-pick for FM), as well as any price changes that they anticipate for the coming season. From that, I assemble average prices (as well as the range) to share with the industry. It is coming up on that time of year again, as experience has shown that earlier is better for everyone involved.
For those readers that get this newsletter electronically, I will send out the formal request in a separate, direct email. I hope to publish the summary in the April 2018 edition of Hort Snacks (May at the latest). For those that get this by hard copy, please feel free to send in your information by mail, fax (403-742-7527) or give me a call.
The following is an outline of the type of information I need.
| Crop | U-pick price | Pre-pick price | Farmers Market Price | Unit of measure for each market
(e.g. per pound; per head/bunch) |
| Examples of Crops wanted | Fruit – strawberries, raspberries, Saskatoon berries, black currant, dwarf sour cherries, Haskap, chokecherries, other fruit; Vegetables – beets, carrots, radishes, rutabagas/turnips, corn, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, kale, spinach, lettuce (head and/or leaf), cucumbers (pickling, slicing), potatoes (baby, regular), rhubarb, peas, snap peas, snow peas, beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic, Swiss chard, winter squash, zucchini, pumpkins, etc. |
Potato Pest Management Workshops 2018
Topics and Speakers with PDFs of Presentations
Click on the presentation topics to be access a PDF version of the presentation. Please do not copy, distribute, or duplicate the presentation files, without first seeking and obtaining the consent of the presenter.
Q and A
Q: What is one insect pest/disease that you are concerned about that you are watching for?
A: The only two pests over the last couple of years is slugs and aphids that have impacted my food forest.
A: Apple Curculio. It makes destemming more difficult as the larvae attach themselves to the base of the stem and the stems do not come off easily.
A: Root maggots in Cole crop and flea beetles
A: Late Blight in potatoes.
A: All of the blights.
A: Thrips
A: Botrytis is my main disease and for insects it’s cabbage moth
A: Flea beetle. Hard to control without chemicals :(
A: Psyllids
A: Black knot fungus (Dibotryon morbosum)
A: Producing plant in the genus Prunus, I am concerned about the spread of black knot fungus.
A: Flea beetle
A: Lygus Bug
A: Pepino
A: This year it will be the Red Lily Beetle. I have hundreds of lilies!
A: Flea beetles, every damn year...
A: Fungicide
A: Shore flies and fungus gnats are a huge concern in young plant production for us. Aphids is close second they come out of "nowhere"
A: Tent caterpillars
A: Powdery mildew
A: Broad Mites aaaaggghhhhhhh
A: Plutella (Diamondback Moth)
A: Colorado potato beetle
A: Aphids
A: Thrips and powdery mildew
A: Root maggots in Cole crops, weather-related, but common because of large canola acreage. Control?
A: SWD
A: Black knot on Saskatoon bushes
Next Month’s ? What new piece of equipment did you invest in over the past 2 years? Why did you choose to invest in that particular equipment?
In the News / Articles Worth Reading:
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