Happy 2012
I think that is the first time I have actually written the New Year on any sort of document. It sure looks strange to see it the first few times you print it. With that new date comes our hope for a good and safe year for all our friends, neighbors and farmers. We sure had a challenging start to 2011 with the wet spring and then a beautiful fall but the lack of moisture made us wonder who turned the tap off. So far the winter has been beautiful with the mild temperatures and here we are in the beginning of January and winter seems half over. However it is Manitoba and that is probably wishful thinking.
We waited until 2012 to launch our blog because we wanted to start the New Year off right. We here at MZTRA have a renewed spirit and are looking forward to the new opportunities and challenges that we face in agriculture. As a farmer directed organization we have members that farm and face the same challenges that everybody else does in their operations so that presents our organization with a lot of good research ideas and even more good questions. We are proud to say that we are leaders in sustainable agriculture and we take that line seriously. Agriculture is a foundation for Western Canada and indeed a primary resource for the Canadian economy. MZTRA wants to help improve agriculture and make farmers more profitable. More profits mean more money in the rural economy and a healthy rural economy. Therefore we appreciate the magnitude of our task to help farmers make more money but also help them become more sustainable in their agronomic decisions. How do we improve soil health? What about compaction in a zero till system? What about vertical tillage? Is variable rate fertilizer the next step? How about variable rate seeding? What about all these products that promise yield gains? Things that matter to farmers on a field scale are what matter to us.
We want to use this blog to share our findings and ideas. We want to use it to share other information we find from various sources and offer different perspectives. We want to share pictures and up to date information here. The world is turning into an instant information sort of place. If we find something in the field we want to share it right away not a month from now. We want our success to become your success and our failures to become a lesson. So Amanda our Science Coordinator and myself Earl will use this to keep you informed and perhaps entertained with the goings on at MZTRA.
We have a newsletter in the works a website that is great and a Facebook page. We hope that this is another way we can connect with you. We hope to see you at Ag Days. We will post more updates before that though and reminders to come see us at our booth and share your research ideas and what matters to you. Make the most of the winter meeting and seminar season. What a great opportunity to network and share. We hope to see you at some of these meetings. The first reminder of our AGM is now. Mark your calendars for March 20 2012.
