Hello folks and happy snowstorm to you all,

If you are looking for some winter learning opportunities, we have been teaming up with local industry groups to support sessions related to the three beneficial management practices of OFCAF.

Also, as you may have heard, OFCAF has been announced for another three years! With this announcement, our team and AAFC are working hard to update the program requirements for the 2025 – 2026 year. Applications should be open within the next four weeks! So, stay tuned to more information on program eligibility and application assistance.

Here’s our current list:

Atlantic Poultry Conference – February 18 – 20 – Old Orchard Inn, Wolfville Ridge

A great opportunity for our Feathered industry groups! What a jampacked line up of speakers, workshops, and booths. The OFCAF program is happy to support Dr. Kayla Price who will be speaking on ammonia in poultry manure.

For more information: Atlantic Poultry Conference – Altlantic Canada’s Premiere Poultry Gathering

Horticulture Nova Scotia’s Soil Health Day featuring the New NS Soil Lab Analysis – March 3, Brooklyn Fire Hall, Brooklyn (Windsor)

It is a great opportunity for us to understand the progress happening with the new biological nitrogen analysis (BNA) developed by the provincial lab and Dal. Hort NS has been working with horticulture producers this past year to develop baseline results and gather more data for the lab. This analysis will be a valuable tool in addressing available nitrogen in systems and allow industry and producers to increase their decision power for nutrient management planning. There is also a great line up of speakers! 

Register here: Soil Health Results Workshop : Monday, March 3rd | SurveyPlanet

Ask Us Anything on Grazing Cover Crops – March 19, Virtual 

For those with questions about grazing cover crops, here is a great opportunity to ask our specialist about cover crop species, seeding, timing, and more. Please share you past experiences or successes! Hosted by Caitlin Congdon (Field Crop specialist), she will be asking Katie Trottier MSc (Ruminant specialist) and Shane Wood MSc (Forage specialist) all your questions!

Register here: Ask Us Anything – Grazing Cover Crops – Perennia

 

Webinar Recordings to watch out for:

Dan Undersander webinar series:

We have teamed up with the NSDA on a webinar series with Dan Undersander, the incredibly friendly forage and alfalfa guy to chat with us for three different webinars!
Yesterday, Dan gave a great information session on legumes in forage. This alfalfa man spoke a lot about red clover. As a cold season species that works well in slightly more acidic soils (we will need to lime), there is a lot of opportunity for frost seeding as a single species and or adding it to a grass mix and can be a great addition to many systems for grazing and forage. The next webinar will be held next Wednesday and Dan will be speaking on everything on silage. Grab a coffee and start writing your questions down because Dan loves to interact with the audience!  Do not worry if you missed the first two webinars, all three will be available on the Perennia website. Thank you NSDA for organizing this great series!
Registration link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=EzOyjnXORUOlail6JBK020IfTLwrflZEmfopLDsNKOBURjUzSURUQ1BGVE9IQVBUV0xRSllQNTlVTC4u&fbclid=IwY2xjawIa3wBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHQGzs2xd_mjlgrMWwHtB7SUxtJkE3UGzmTzfSchdBMjnHtN0hH-TR7vmeQ_aem_PkBvjtDkNWMiB9tyNUyZ9g

Getting into the Weeds Session 1: 

Dr. Mason MacDonald from DalAC gave a great presentation on plant physiological responses to increase moisture and flooding conditions and the impact on nitrogen uptake or lack there off, and in turn nitrogen losses. It was a great webinar to remind us how adaptive and smart plants are and their evolutionary responses they’ve developed to survive. It was also a helpful refresher on some good old fashion processes like photosynthesis and glycolysis

 

To check out other great BMP videos check out our YouTube Channel (17) NS Perennia – YouTube

Thanks Everyone!

Dont hesitate to reach out

Georgia Lewis

glewis@perennia.ca