Canola

Those canola fields that were full of the nice yellow flowers this summer have lost their color !
As each yellow flower fell off a pod was formed and the color of the canola was green ! Next the color went to brown as the plants were swathed and left in rows to mature and dry out for harvest. Two of our farmers did get the Kernels Canola off ! Steve and Loni Marvin got theirs into the elevator already. There was 400 bushels from that 10 acre field after dockage was deducted. We priced that at $ 10.00 per bushel a couple of months ago. The price has sneaked up a little higher than that now ! Traditionally $10/ bu is a great price for canola.
Jardine Family farms also told me today that the field is harvested. It isn't in the elevator but will be later this week. We got 37 bu per acre on 20 acres at Brookdale, Manitoba. We got a really good basis on this. The basis is part of the pricing part of a canola contract. Low basis and high futures gives you lot's of money ! Once it arrives at the elevator we will look at the pricing.
It rained again today in southern Manitoba... Harvest seems to be taking a commercial break
... we'll be right back after this message ! :)

The first Kernels field for this year is now Harvested !

Ron and Fran VanHeyst beat everyone with Earl's help and they took advantage of the brief period of nice weather at the end of August and harvested the wheat ! The wheat graded # 1 and had good protein. The protein is 14.1 . The moisture was just dry at 14.5 %. The dockage was 1.4% Dockage is made up of chaff and straw and broken seeds , weed seeds, dirt and other stuff ! After the dockage % was analyzed the net weight of clean grain ( the stuff we get paid for ) was 7.878 net tonnes.... there are 36.744 bushels in a metric tonne and that means we got 289 bushels. This field was small but bountiful ! This means it ran 50 bushels per acre. Not bad at all for the inclement weather this summer !

You'll see the field after harvest. All that is left is the stubble... Also you'll see Ron and Fuzzy ! Which one is Fuzzy ?

Canola at Kinistino

Gerald VanBurgsteden wrote on Sept 13 " The canola swaths are sitting in the muck... we had 4 inches of rain last week ! "
There is a slightly positive side...the swaths won't likely blow away in heavy winds when they are wet ! Canola dries out quicker than any other crop when things start to dry... The mud can cause a lot of problems driving the combines and the trucks in . Once in awhile crops need to have some very cold weather to firm up the ground to support the harvest equipment !

The Road to .....

This picture is worth a thousand words... aren't they all ?

But this one has more meaning than most...

You could interpret this one in the food aid mindset.

See the road beyond Ron's field ? This is a field that has been grown with care and with a purpose. It is being multiplied in yield and value by the nature God has provided and by people across North America teaming up to use the resulting produce to help those in need.

Does this road represent the Road to Africa in this case ? We are helping people resettle in Sudan, Africa to get their lives back to normal where they can grow crops and food of their own.

I think it does. It is also a road that has a destination for the virtual farmers.... We don't know when we will arrive at that destination but I know everyone on that road is on the right track. They have found it in their heart to make a difference helping people they have never met to have a better life ! For the recipients of our farming proceeds I know it is a Road to Hope.

Just imagine unexpectantly getting desperately needed help from across the ocean. It can make a life and death difference to those people and their children and soon their childrens children. Without hope that road would be awfully dark.... Maybe we can take that road using GPS ... God Provides Sustenance ! If we can keep working with others to give others food and shelter and the chance for hope, someday this little road will be a 4 lane highway !

Van Hyst Wheat Just before Harvest

Ron and Fran's wheat is nearly ready to Harvest ! Earl of VR Farms will be doing the combining.

As the VanHyst wheat grows