(file photo/farmnewsNOW Staff)

By Alice McFarlane

Crop Production Survey

Survey examines the future of crop production

Apr 5, 2021 | 5:00 PM

MELFORT, Sask. – The results of a survey conducted to gather information on the crop production issues of greatest concern to prairie farmers has been released.

Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) executive director Garth Patterson said farmers, research scientists, industry and farm organizations were asked for their views on what crop production would look like in the future.

“The reason we wanted to do this is because as funders of research, we need to prepare and anticipate for the future. We’re going to use this information to guide us in our research funding moving forward,” Patterson said.

WGRF’s research priorities have evolved throughout its 40-year history.Patterson said WGRF has always operated with the sole purpose of funding research that would benefit western Canadian crop producers.

The survey was conducted by Amaethon Agricultural Solutions from January to March 2021. In that time 60 interviews were conducted with a total of 187 participants from all regions of the prairies. Respondents were asked what western field crop production could look like in five years and in the longer term of 10 to 20 years.

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Patterson said one of the key take aways from the survey focused on farm size.

“There’s general agreement that farms will continue to get larger, and the major crops will be canola, wheat and pulses,” Patterson said. “There were some divergent views on the role of smaller acreage crops.”

On the research side the issues and opportunities were in soil and crop management, sustainability, and precision agriculture.

Now that the survey has been completed, Patterson said the next step is to talk to stakeholders about their views on the future direction of research.

“Once we get some agreement on the research questions, that’ll allow WGRF to move forward and make sure the research we’re funding complements the questions that are being asked,” he said.

Patterson said the report is worth a read even if it’s just the executive summary. If you go into the full report, he said it will give you a glimpse into the future.

“There’s a lot of optimism, but there’s also concerns, and I think really, for us, it’s important to have this information because it can help us make the right research investments moving forward,” he said.

Patterson said the report is just the first step. WGRF will conduct a series of workshops in 2021 to identify research implications that will influence WGRF’s future research funding initiatives.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

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