About half of the fields in Red Deer County have been checked for clubroot 帽 and so far nothing has been discovered, said Art Preachuk, agricultural services manager for the county.矛What we're doing is a spot check at the entrances to the fields, where the disease usually shows up 帽 by blinds, lease roads, field roads,卯 Preachuk said.矛It's soil borne, so it usually has to come in on equipment or something.卯By performing checks safely, Preachuk said they can prevent the spread of the disease, should any be discovered.矛We don't drive our trucks into the entrances, and we wear disposable boots so we don't transfer anything around.卯Although inspections have not been finished in Mountain View County, nothing has been found yet, said agriculture services manager Jane Fulton.矛We have randomly selected fields from high-risk areas instead of doing every field within the county, for efficiency,卯 said Fulton.矛However, if we do find a confirmed clubroot site we will expand our surveying.卯RD County cleans up flowering rush near InnisfailFlowering rush, newly added to the Weed Act last year, has been found thriving along Buffalo Creek, south of Innisfail, said Preachuk.The weeds were placed in eco-friendly paper bags, which will be burned at a later date.Preachuk said he and his crew will likely have gathered three or four half-ton loads of flowering rush by the time they are done at Buffalo Creek.Weather complicating farming efforts in RD CountyFarmers are constantly battling the rain as they attempt to cut and dry their crops, said Preachuk.矛They're trying to get silaging done and haying done, which has been (nothing) short of a real struggle,卯 he said.矛When you get a drizzle every other day, you can't get in there and do that haying.卯Preachuk said Red Deer County residents may notice certain fields having bales around their outside perimeters, while further in some is cut, and closer to the centre, there is still a crop standing.矛They don't want to knock it all down and have it all rot,卯 said Preachuk. 矛They're sort of hedging their bets, and maybe they'll get a portion of it off good.卯Although areas of both counties have experienced minor cases of frost already, Preachuk said he doesn't think it was enough to hurt the crops.矛It's just a wake-up call that fall is coming,卯 said Preachuk.矛Crops overall are looking vey good. We need heat. We can go without rain until October. But Mother Nature makes up its own mind, I guess.卯
