Have you signed up for MFGA's 2024 Green Gold program

Mar 15, 2024

The Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association is looking for producers to take part in their 2024 Green Gold program.

The goal of this program is to encourage growers to be strategic with their alfalfa hay crop harvest, making decisions based on specific feed, market needs and field observations.

Producers with hay fields that are mostly alfalfa, fairly new and in good condition are being asked to sign up.

Participants send field samples through May and June to the Central Testing Laboratory (CTL) for analysis and receive field reports twice a week based on those samples.

CTL will predict the best date for the first cut based on when the alfalfa stand is at optimum quality.

The MFGA notes that with the environmental conditions over the last few years, some fields have reached optimum quality well before the traditional early bloom stage or 150 RV.

They say if producers had waited, harvest would have been delayed by up to 2 weeks and RFV would have been in the 110 range.

Courier costs for the program are being picked up by MFGA.

For more information and to sign up for the program click here.

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Video: Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Darcy Unger just invested millions to build a brand-new seed plant on his farm in Stonewall, Manitoba so when it’s time for his sons to take over, they have the tools they need to succeed.

Right now, 95% of the genetics they’ll be growing come from Canadian plant breeders.

That number matters.

When fusarium hit Western Canada in the late 90s, it was Canadian breeders who responded, because they understood Canadian conditions. That ability to react quickly to what’s happening on Canadian farms is exactly what’s at risk when breeding programs lose funding.

For farmers like Darcy, who have made generational investments based on the assumption that better genetics will keep coming, the stakes are direct and personal.

We’re on the brink of decisions that will shape our agricultural future for not only our generation, but also the ones to come.

What direction will we choose?

On The Brink is a year-long video series traveling across Canada to meet the researchers, breeders, farmers, seed companies, and policymakers shaping the future of Canadian plant breeding. Each week, a new story. Each story, a piece of the bigger picture.

Episode 3 is above. Follow Seed World Canada to catch every episode, and tell us: Do you think the next generation will have the tools they need to success when they takeover? How is the future going to look?