5/13/2008:
Today, we North Dakotans have been holding our collective breaths as we have waited for some moisture to come at the beginning of this growing season.
In 1967, however, farmers had better weather to work with. A report done by the Northern Pacific Railway even showed that with "a relatively mild winter and moisture, dropped in unseasonably late blizzards," as well as with an increased soil moisture due to recent rain, the crop potential of North Dakota looked like a future green promise on the horizon.
Whereas today, especially in this region, there is an increased focus on "growing" ethanol, back then, farmers reported that they intended to seed some more small grain than they had the year before, and to increase wheat acreage by 23 percent.
However, despite the agreeable weather for the soil, seeding conditions were not favorable. By May 1, less than 25 percent of the wheat seeding had been done within the Bismarck to Dickinson area. In many areas of the state, different farmers reported that they had not even started any field work. And in fact, the temperatures were not very high, slowing a speedy germination.
On this date, scientists in Canada reported that they were working on ending such planting worries as plagued farmers by developing a plastic-coated seed. It would be possible to plant it in the fall, and the plastic coating would stall germination. It would be cracked by frost in winter and would, by spring, be ready to start growing as soon as it started warming.
Dr. Kurt Schreiber, who was working on the project, said he saw many possibilities for the coating process of seeds. He said that fungicides, insecticides, fertilizers and other materials could be added, as well, and that mass-producing such seeds would be fairly cheap. On another project, he also intended to do more testing for mosquito control in particular over the spring.
Of course, farmers still had their crop to consider. Without these magic, decidedly inorganic seeds, many of them were already considering growing feed grains, which would take a shorter time to germinate and would ripen faster than wheat.
Today we look at plans like that of the plastic-coated seed and can detail its problems. But then, as today, constant growing pains lead to different dreams. And in the end, who doesn't dream?
By Sarah Walker
Sources:
The Bismarck Tribune, Saturday, May 13, 1967