One of the things that makes Rainy Lake District somewhat unique is the weather: If you don’t like what you see, wait an hour.
Last Tuesday night (July 29), that hour happened at an inconvenient time for Kim Jo Bliss and her two staff at the Emo agricultural research station because what started out as hot and humid soon turned into a thunderous downpour.
It quickly put an end to the tour of the station’s experimental crops—leaving some 40 guests, if not high and dry, at least indoors for the duration of the evening.
Bliss holds an open house every year in which the public is invited to tour the research facility, which is operated by the University of Guelph through its Kemptville College affiliate.
The station grows a variety of cereal grains and forage crops to test various hybrids, soil mixtures, fertilizers, and pesticides for their suitability in this district.
This year, new crops of seed canola and soybeans have been planted while oats and malting barley are nearing the time for swathing.
In addition to ongoing research into forage crops and grains, the station, along with Voyageur Panel, also is involved in testing hybrid poplar trees as a replacement for the traditional ones currently used in the pulp-and-paper industry as a fibre source.
More than 4,000 cuttings were planted at Voyageur Panel’s site in Barwick and another 6,000 at the station, located along Highway 11/71 just west of Emo.
The new trees are expected to mature in 10-15 years, as opposed to the 40 years it normally takes before they can be harvested.
Because the trees were planted later than planned last year due to the flooding caused by torrential rains in early June, Bliss said the hybrid poplar project is proceeding slower than expected.
But she considers that to be merely a short-term setback.
“The trees here are doing well,” she remarked. “They’re a little slow right now because they are stressed by weed pressure, but we are using clarafibre to help them deal with it.”
Clarafibre is a by-product of the pulping process and usually is disposed in landfills, but it currently is being used to prepare the ground around the base of the young trees to help smother weeds.
Eventually, the material decomposes and becomes compost.
Bliss said the weather this year is helping to make up for last year’s setbacks, adding things should be back on track soon.
The trees themselves were started from cuttings that simply were stuck into the ground. Apart from spreading clarafibre, no additional preparation was required.
Because the cuttings were planted in late June and early July instead of a month earlier, the saplings only are six inches to two feet in height, but Bliss does not consider that to be a long-term problem.
“They make take closer to 15 to reach harvest size instead of 10, but that’s still a massive improvement over the traditional method,” she stressed.
“By and large, this has been an awesome year,” Bliss enthused. “We’re a bit dry, but we’ve had timely rain when we’ve needed it.
“Legumes are OK, but the grasses are down a bit because of little rain,” she said, ironically, as heavy rain pounded on the metal roof of the station and thunder rumbled across the sky, rendering conversation difficult.
Bliss said the first harvest of oats and malting barley are scheduled for this week, as well as the second cutting of forage grass.
The first wheat yields should be ready for analysis within two weeks.
Although the formal open house only takes place once a year, the public is invited to tour the research station any time during the summer months.
It is open Monday-Friday between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Over the next few weeks, Bliss and her staff will be busy in the fields (unless it’s raining), but people still are welcome to watch and chat.
For more information on tours and activities, call the station at 482-2354.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
