Agronomic Advice

Edible bean acres have been increasing since 1997. Manitoba producers planted a record crop in 2002 with acres ending up at 311,000. Acres have stabilized around the 200,000 acre mark and is expected to be the same for 2006. In the past, this increase in acres has been due to high bean yields and strong bean prices. In recent years Manitoba has also seen an expansion in soybean acres. This shift in acres has come from canola and also from edible beans mainly in areas were dry bean expansion was limited to soil type and soil surface drainage.

In order to keep bean growers up-to-date with new varieties, agronomic practices, and harvesting techniques, Parent Seed Farms has an agronomist on staff. Dennis Lange has been with the company since 1997 and helps growers fine-tune their edible bean practices through grower meetings, field scouting tours and other specialized agronomic services.

Parent Seed Farms contracts production of pulses and special crops with producers throughout the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and also in North Dakota and Minnesota. Parent Seed Farms believes in working with producers to provide a quality product to the marketplace.

Parent Seed Farms also grows and maintains field scale trials of several varieties of wheat,edible beans and soybeans. These trials are done in order to provide field scale comparisons and to provide growers with meaningful data.

The Parent Seed Farms field tour in late July. It showcases new varieties and agronomic advice though weekly updates which can be heard on local radio stations every Tuesday from late May through to September. This radio program is called “Walk the Plots” and its goal is to provide producer updates at key times during the growing season. These reports can be heard on the following radio stations. CFAM Radio 950, AM 1250 Radio, CJRB radio 1220 at 1:30 pm Tuesday and CFRY 920 AM, at 1:45 pm Tuesday.

The plot data helps to educate producers and allows them to make informed decisions based on data from their own growing region.