A Legal student is now the face of 4-H in Alberta after winning the group’s prestigious Premier’s Award earlier this year.
Alberta Agriculture announced last week that Legal’s Jacob Onyschuk had received the award, which was presented in April but only publicized last week. The award goes to the most dedicated 4-H Club member and makes the recipient the official spokesperson for all the clubs in the province.
Onyschuk, 20, says he joined 4-H about four years ago when his family moved to Legal from St. Albert. He met a girl through a local church with links to 4-H, sparking his interest in the group. “I thought it was super-cool she had a pet cow.”
Onyschuk is now an active member of the Bon Accord and Vimy Dunrobin 4-H clubs, raising and showing cows, steers and goats. He’s organized regional workshops, chaired the Northwest Regional Beef Committee, and is now helping to organize an international youth agricultural summit.
Onyschuk has accomplished a lot in just four years, says 4-H spokesperson Mark Shand, who helps administer the Premier’s Award.
“He’s been a volunteer at every single [club] program he can go to,” and was highly praised by club members.
Onyschuk says he was overwhelmed with joy when he was unveiled as the winner during the annual 4-H Leader’s Conference at Olds College. “It was such a cool feeling having the support of so many people.”
For winning the award, Onyschuk will get to represent 4-H Alberta at official functions and have lunch with Premier Alison Redford.
Onyschuk says he plans to finish his degree in animal science and become a full-time farmer. The world’s population is soon expected to hit nine billion, he notes, and farms will have to nearly double their production to feed everyone.
“It seems like an incredibly exciting industry with so much potential.”
Got cutworms in your canola? Canola researchers want them and could give you an iPad if you send them over.
Agronomist Troy Prosofsky of the Canola Council of Canada recently put out a call for samples of live cutworms as part of a three-year research project on the pests.
Cutworms are soft, caterpillar-like worms that grow to about an inch in length, according to Alberta Agriculture. They are notorious for eating the leaves and seeds of canola plants and can wipe out entire harvests if left unchecked.
Farmers might be most familiar with the bertha armyworm, one of the few cutworms specifically monitored by the province. Generally pale green with a yellow stripe on their sides when young, these worms will abseil down on silken lines from the undersides of leaves when disturbed.
There are about seven species of cutworm in Alberta, Prosofsky says, but surprisingly little is known about them. Many cutworm attacks are missed or mistaken for other problems, such as weather or disease, so they aren’t well studied.
What is known is that they seem to be turning up more often. Alberta used to get surges of cutworms every 30 years or so, Prosofsky says, but now it’s more like every five or eight. His team wants to breed cutworms in the lab to figure out what natural and chemical controls can best beat them.
Prosofsky is asking farmers to scout their canola fields this summer and send samples of any cutworms they find to him. Anyone who does will be entered into a draw for a tablet computer of his or her choice this fall.
“We want them to be living specimens,” Prosofsky adds, so the worms have to be handled gently. Put about 10 to 30 worms in a dirt-free container, he advises, along with some canola plant for them to eat. He’ll also need to know where and when the worms were found, what they were eating, and what was planted in that region last year.
Prosofsky says he’s hoping to get about 150 samples from Alberta this summer.
For details, contact Prosofsky at 403-332-1412.
