Manager’s Report Drought levels experienced in the Peace Region create difficult decisions for area farmers. Many may scale back expansion plans or work off farm to supplement this year’s losses. Throughout SARDA’s mandate area there was high rainfall variability. The High Prairie area had sufficient moisture throughout the season and had excellent yields, while areas in Northern Sunrise County, MD of Smoky River, and MD of Greenview experienced dry conditions. In May 140% of normal precipitation fell in a general rainfall throughout most of the Peace, but in June, a critical growing month, only 22% of average rainfall was recorded at the Ballater and Valleyview weather stations. In July, 26% of average and 51% of average rainfall fell at Ballater and Valleyview respectively. SARDA’s plots also suffered, making it difficult to find statistical differences within tested treatments. For upcoming seasons SARDA has obtained three rainfall collectors with data loggers to more accurately assess the amount of rainfall per site and record the date of each occurrence. This year SARDA demonstrated, and then purchased an RTK (Real Time Kinematics) system for seeding our trials from Ross Ag. Ltd. This improved our efficiency approximately 50% by eliminating extensive staking. This was especially noticed when using the large plot ConservaPak drill. The RTK system will also allow us to pursue research into inter-row seeding and determine if there are benefits. SARDA was able to replace our plot combine, following harvest, this fall. Much gratitude must go out to past management as their dedication to sound fiscal management allowed this to happen. While our existing combine was still functional, it was decided that the high Canadian dollar and the good resale value of the existing combine made it the correct time to trade-up. We look forward to taking delivery of the new combine sometime in July 2011. SARDA constantly evaluates itself on its research and the delivery of that information. This year we focused on improving communication by revamping our newsletter, creating videos of trials and conferences, creating open houses to replace formal tours, and creating tailgate workshops. The “Back Forty” newsletter has seen many changes over the years. Printing costs have factored in how many issues and how often we publish it. By printing through South Peace News on newsprint we increased our pages and reduced our publishing costs. We mass mail them to all rural mailboxes to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to read local pertinent information. For members, we will still publish “Back Forty Updates” that will deal with local information such as pest outbreaks, upcoming events, and other issues of a timely nature. Videos should soon be available on our website www.sarda.areca.ab.ca. We will be taping presentations of experts at our workshops and conferences in order to share their information with those who could not attend. We will also try to take film of our trials to give information in another way. We hope that local producers find the information beneficial to their operations. This way you can view the videos at your convenience. Throughout the years SARDA has hosted field tours of our plot work as well as other interesting sites such as the sawmill tour of Boucher Bros. Ltd. Tour participants have progressively become smaller. Thus, we are changing our format to that of an open house with a Barbeque. Along with our open house we will try to hold a tailgate workshop. Feel free to come and go as you please, view the plots, and enjoy the food. Tailgate workshops were spawned from the idea we needed to respond quickly to issues of immediate importance. By developing a phone list and a Facebook following we can inform producers of a workshop taking place in a few days notice. These will generally be field workshops for a hands on look of the issue, be it cutworms, frost, or nutrient deficiencies. Add your name to our phone list, inform us of any issues you want an expert to consult on, and we will try to accommodate and ensure you are notified.

This year saw the hiring of new staff members Gary Braithwaite and Carol Boucher. Gary was the agricultural fieldman for the MD of Big Lakes for 15 years. Gary will take over the role of technician and ensure that trials are maintained properly throughout the growing season. Gary is also our resident videographer. He has been a monster on the camera taking copious video and photos of trials and events. Carol Boucher comes to us after working for Viterra for several years. She is assisting us in the office, compiling the newsletter and annual reports, as well as, keeping us laughing. Both staff members bring a wealth of knowledge and spirit to these positions. We seeded our 2nd year of a four year rotational study near Gauthier Farms. We are attempting to determine the economic and agrologic effect of 4 year rotations compared to 2 year and 0 year rotations of common cereal and oilseed. Kabal Gill has done an excellent job coordinating this trial and securing additional funding to have these trials progress. One of the long term trials also examines the long term effects of over and under fertilization in regards to yield and nutrient management. A third trial will be examining the relationship of soil test results under two different regimes of zero till and conventional till. You will find reports on these trials in the Annual report. ARECA, our parent organization, secured additional funding for ARA’s in Alberta nearly doubling that of past years. Of particular note was the 1.2 million dollar fund the Alberta Government gave ARECA to be disbursed over three years to ARA’s. Thus, SARDA received an additional $43,000 dollars per year for three years. Along with additional funding, there was a change in how environmental programming will be funded. The yearly application for AESA funding has been changed to three year applications through municipal districts. Of the 1.8 million dollar fund 0.6 million was put into AOF for environmental funding, with the remaining 1.2 million dollars to be distributed to municipalities through a merit based application. Shelleen Gerbig our AESA program coordinator waded through the difficult task of how to achieve the goal of environmental funding. We successfully obtained $70,000 through three MD`s to provide environmental program. Shelleen has also applied for additional funding through AOF, and we should know about this funding sometime in May. As the manager I have been striving to create a team dynamic that allows our staff to accomplish personal goals and ensure they are satisfied with their positions. In order to deliver high quality programming we need long term staff. I hope to ensure that SARDA has a place in our communities and that we grow a strong agricultural sector within the Peace Region. Finally, I want to thank the producers of the Peace Region for your continued support over the past 25 years. Your cooperation with SARDA on trials and events allows us to help each other. We will continue to bring you the information you want and need. Have a successful season in 2011. Sincerely

JP Pettyjohn SARDA Manager