Local farmers ready to start Fall Harvest this week

Sep 19, 2019

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – With the forecast starting to show signs of improvement, local farmers are itching to start harvesting their fall crops.

Following a wet period of weather, Kelly Kassian, manager of Viterra in Fort St. John, says producers are now looking forward to getting their combines in the fields to start harvesting the fall crops such as peas, oats, and wheat.

According to Kassian, they are hoping for a bit of a breeze and sunshine to help dry out the wet spots that are in some of the fields.

“We need a little bit of a breeze going just to start drying out the ground a little bit because there’s a bunch of soft spots out in the fields and some guys are getting stuck, so if we can get that dried up, that would be a good thing.”

Kassian hopes that the good weather will stick around until November to ensure a good harvest.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.