Suncrest College and the East Central Research Foundation organized a field day for those interested in crop research. The event was open to the public. Under the scorching hot July sun, three trailers full of people pulled up to a patch of chickpeas. The lush, green plants are not local to the area. “Can they survive and thrive?” was just one of the many questions posed during the field day excursion. Mike Hall, research coordinator of the project, jumped off the trailer and faced the audience, eager to chat about Yorkton’s very own chickpea plot. Interest was high, and Hall received a variety of questions about the green plants that reached up until his shins. The audience wanted to know more about chickpea seeding, fertilizing, ideal temperature, and possible diseases. This is just one of the many agricultural experiments run just outside of Yorkton. “So, we’ve got chickpeas, we’ve got intercropping with flax, we’ve got flax trials, pea trials. We’re trying soybeans again,” Hall told CTV News, before the tour. “All the work we do is on a small plot. You can maybe you see a small plot combine behind me,” he said, while pointing to the machinery behind his back. “So, we farm in miniature, basically.” Everything he mentioned to CTV News later took shape as the tour begun. The trailers left the chickpeas and moved on to some bean and canola patches. Throughout the presentation, Hall invited an expert to talk about a certain plant or procedure that was used to treat the greenery. One of the speakers was from Agratactics Agronomy, who polled the participants about their soil testing habits. He then explained the importance of using variable rate. This is a technology that takes different conditions into consideration when distributing seeds and chemicals across a field. After the tour, Patricia Desjarlais, told CTV News that she particularly liked learning about variable rates. Although, she was quick to bring up the chickpeas. “I think the chickpeas growing in this area was something very interesting,” she said. “I just started eating chickpeas and yeah, it’s kind of interesting,” she added with a laugh. Unfortunately for Patricia, east central Saskatchewan is still far from becoming a chickpea powerhouse. “Sometimes the best learning experience is the one that fails for farmers because they don’t need to be talked into doing something that won’t work in their area,” concluded Glenn Blakely, the founding chairman of the board for the research field back in the 1990s. “So sometimes that negative response, results in a research farm are the best information we can get.” Blakely has seen plenty of research coming from the lands around Yorkton. “I’m very glad to come every year,” he told CTV News. “I don’t farm anymore. But I like to keep the interest in the research firm.” Thursday marked just one of the many field trips across the province, and it will open its gates for spectators again in the future.
