SARDA will host its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Extension Event on Feb. 21, 2017 from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm in the Chevalier Centre, Falher. The event is free and open to public. While a small portion of the event is dedicated to holding the required business meeting, we are excited to announce that we have three guest speakers participating. In addition to this, SARDA will present its first year research results on the Hail Project.
Director Opportunities
The SARDA Board is made up of 9 producers and 4 municipal reps. We require 4 individuals to put their names forward to stand as directors in 2017. Full term lasts 3 years. Individuals are nominated from the floor and voted in by the membership at the Annual General Meeting. The SARDA Board generally meets 4-6 times per year. In addition, Directors are encouraged to participate in one or more of the four standing committees. The SARDA Board supports and directs unbiased applied agriculture research and knowledge transfer in Peace Region.
Members and Directors must have current memberships to participate fully and vote at the AGM. Memberships can be purchased:
1. Online through www.sarda.ca (sidebar home page) , or
2. Forms and payments can be dropped at the SARDA Ag Research office located at the MD of Smoky River Building, or
3. Forms and payments can be mailed to Box 90, Falher, AB, T0H 1M0.
Please call Vance Yaremko at 780-837-2900 if you have questions or concerns about your membership status or if you wish to ask about becoming a Director.
Guest Speakers and Topics
Now that we have the business portion of the meeting covered, we would like to tell you about the exciting line up of Guest Speakers and their topics. These are in no particular order and I hope that you will plan on attending the event to welcome them to the Peace and to hear what they have to tell us.
Ken Coles is the General Manager of Farming Smarter, a non-profit research and extension organization based in Lethbridge, Alberta. He is a professional agrologist with 19 years of crop research experience. He is going to talk about the Night Spraying of Herbicides and Fungicides Project. Farming Smarter in Lethbridge, LARA in Bonnyville and SARDA Ag Research in Falher cooperated to complete this project.
Dr. Sheri Strydhorst is a Research Scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, based out of Barrhead. She is presenting her most recent research project data which focused on cultivar specific agronomic management to optimize input use efficiency. SARDA collaborated in this 3 year project
Robyne Bowness has over 24 years of research experience in the agricultural industry. Currently, she is working as a Pulse Research Scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, leading and collaborating on many pulse projects. She managed many research trials on pulse crops across Alberta and has been involved in the introduction and expansion of pulse crops across the prairies. She is planning to talk about growing red lentils in the Peace Region. SARDA also participated in this project.
In addition to these, we will showcase the hail damage project that has completed its first year of trials. The trials are looking at hail damage at four different stages of growth on canola, peas and wheat, at three different locations in the Alberta; Lethbridge, Vegreville, and Falher. InnoTech, Farming Smarter and SARDA are collaborated on this project. AFSC adjusters work closely with the research groups to determine the levels of damage using crop insurance protocols. In addition, fungicide and nutrient packages were applied to some of the damaged crops to mitigate the damage. Believe it or not, we can simulate HAIL!
Attendees are asked to pre-register for catering purposes by February 15. Registration can be done online (www.sarda.ca) or by calling the office (780) 837-2900. The event will start at 8:30 am and will end by 3:30 pm. The event is free and SARDA will provide a hot lunch.
