How to deal with the challenges of agriculture – weeds, disease, insects – without immediately turning to crop protection products is always a question to explore.
It’s not that I see crop protection products as a bad thing, for the farm, the environment or the consumer as long as they are used properly and their impact monitored to catch any issues should a problem arise.
But, crop protection products do come with a price tag, a hefty one depending on the product, so alternatives that improve the bottom line on the farm are a good thing.
In general terms I also suspect crop protection products are much like medicines, overuse can lead to weeds and bugs becoming immune to their effects, much like bugs can when it comes to treating human maladies.So when you can break the chain of usage of such products it is going to have the potential of positive effects beyond the immediate control of the problem at-hand.
Of course the issue is what alternative methods are effective, and more importantly are effective on today’s large-scale farms?
On smaller holdings you can often implement systems that are more labour, or time, intensive where you can’t afford either if you are dealing with thousands of acres.One example is the use of insects to control weeds.This is not a new idea. Leafy spurge, for example, is the preferred banquet for five species of Aphthona flea beetles, and a decade or so ago the little bugs were released on some spurge spots in the Saltcoats area to see how they deal with the weed.
Of course anytime you turn to bugs for help it can limit what you spray if another problem arises since it might well kill off the bug population.
Goats and sheep will also graze leafy spurge and they too have been used in trials to deal with the weed.
And, years ago I did a story on a swine producer north of Yorkton who had Muscovy ducks running around his barn as a natural fly control.The ducks are fine in a small operation, but imagine the sheer number needed in a facility housing a few thousand hogs.
Of course the secret in any of the examples noted here is to use controls that are more natural. Nature has a way of putting checks and balances into things and while those checks and balances get out of whack when humans start mucking about in the system they can be kick-started by producers as a solution at times too.
The trick for farmers is re-established natural controls in a way that work within large scale agriculture. •
— By Calvin Daniels