Fields of grain waving in the breeze are not the first images that come to mind when one thinks of the Yukon, but someday crops such as barley and wheat could be more common sights in the territory.

Since 1988, the Yukon Agriculture Branch has been running trials at the Takhini Forestry Farm on the Mayo Road, testing different varieties of plants and the best techniques for growing them.

On these demonstration plots, tucked away in a clearing in the forest, an effort is being made to overcome the cold hard realities of farming in the Yukon. Most soils in the Whitehorse area are rated as Class Five in terms of agricultural capability, meaning that only a few forage crops and cold-hardy vegetables should grow on them.

Right now hay is the main crop grown in the Yukon, but many people think that a wider range of crops can be coaxed to grow on these soils. Tony Hill, an agrologist with the Yukon's agriculture branch, points out the barley on one test plot as proof positive that ratings are not everything.

"We should not be able to grow grains here, but we can," he says. "This is the Yukon on July 24 and the heads are already starting to fill in on the barley."

Hill is hoping for better results with the grains than last year. While the cool wet weather in 2000 helped produce a bumper crop of potatoes, the wheat, barley and oats never matured properly.

The agriculture branch first tested grains in the central Yukon, where the agriclimate rating is typically one class higher than around Whitehorse. As luck would have it, the trials there coincided with some of the warmest summers on record and the crops flourished.

"For two years, we had Class Two conditions," says Hill, meaning that most crops would grow well in the area. "In those years if you had enough water, it would be like growing wheat in the Prairies."

While conditions for farming are more favourable in the central Yukon, with its lower elevations and higher summer temperatures, 70 percent of the Yukon's farms are located in the Whitehorse area, where there are more jobs to supplement farm incomes.

Climate will always be the number one factor limiting agriculture in the North. Hill jokes that global warming could eventually make the Yukon the world's breadbasket, but no one is waiting until climate change improves conditions.

The soils on most farms around Whitehorse are made up of glacial silts that fill the river valleys of the region. At the demonstration site, these soils are 400 feet deep and virtually free of stones. But they are also short on organic matter and have little natural fertility.

Before a crop was sowed at the test site, the soils were improved for four years with a technique known as green manuring in which crops of clover and oats are plowed into the ground.

This technique did not increase the soil's organic matter as much as expected, but it is a cost-effective way to improve the fertility of the soils. "You cannot buy that amount of compost and manure, but you can grow it," says Hill, pointing to a crop almost ready to be plowed under.

This sheltered clearing averages a frost-free period of only 50 days, and Hill says the level site is not ideal for some crops. Ten kilometres away, at a farm on the banks of the Takhini River, a field planted with rows of raspberries and strawberries looks infinitely more bountiful even to the non-farmer.

For the last four years different varieties of berries have been tested here, as well as techniques for improving the soil. A taste test of one ripe strawberry confirms that fruit trucked in from the south will never, ever compare with homegrown delights like this one.

The farmer growing these test crops hopes that berries will be a cash crop for him some day. Hill says that the berries are another example of the type of niche market waiting to be filled in the Yukon.

Potatoes and turnips, vegetables that can be stored for some time, are another example of crops that can be grown profitably here. If people can start growing barley and wheat economically, less feed for livestock would have to be trucked up the highway.

Hill says that there is definitely a pioneering mentality among farmers in the Yukon. Many have moved here from farming communities in other areas, and are prepared for the challenges of farming in the North.

Some delight in testing the limits, such as the farmer outside of Dawson who is experimenting with fruit trees, and has already grown apples, pears and crabapples.

But on these demonstration plots, and others scattered around the territory, Hill hopes that they will learn enough that farming can be a full-time occupation for more people north of 60.

For more information, contact Tony Hill at the Yukon Agriculture Branch at 667-3417.