March 1, 1996
(Fisheries, Food and Agriculture)

Grain production workshops scheduled

The Department of Fisheries, Food and Agriculture has scheduled grain production workshops for three locations next week, beginning with one in St. John's March 4 at the Battery Hotel.

Another will be held on March 6 in Deer Lake, at the Deer Lake Motel, and a third is scheduled for March 7 at the Lions Club in McKays. All workshops begin at 9:30 a.m.

Each workshop will cover such topics as results to date of grain growing experiments, recommendations for grain production, harvesting and storage of local grain, and the economics of grain production. As well, farmers who have been involved with grain growing experiments will share their experiences with delegates.

These workshops relate to grain production trials conducted by the Department of Fisheries, Food and Agriculture as part of its overall effort to find economical ways of growing, harvesting and storing grain. Under the department's Alternative Feeds Program, funded under the Strategic Economic Plan, experiments are carried out to determine if wheat, barley and oats can be grown successfully in this province. A companion project involves feed trials, for which locally-sourced material such as seal silage and fish silage are part of the feed ingredients.

The objective of the Alternative Feeds Program is to make the province less dependent on imported grain. Currently, farmers spend about $10 million annually to import 46,000 tonnes of cereal grains. This contributes significantly to farmers' operating costs.

Media are welcome to attend the workshops.

A workshop agenda follows.

Contact: Ed O'Reilly (709) 729-6787.

9:30 a.m. Welcome and Introduction

David Mackey, A/Director Production and Marketing