(File photo by Dave Bedard)

ICE weekly outlook: Attention on weather after short-covering rally in canola

MarketsFarm — ICE Futures canola contracts have recovered off of lows hit at the beginning of the month, with speculative short-covering a feature as attention in the markets turns to North American growing conditions. While canola ran into some resistance Wednesday, there may still be more room to the upside. Canadian canola is at a […] Read more



The nymph (juvenile) stage of 
the twice-stabbed stink bug.

New and notable Prairie crop pest insects

Haven’t heard of canola flower midge? Can’t identify those RED BUGS showing up in your fields? Didn’t know alfalfa weevil populations are developing insecticide resistance? Everything you need to know about new insect threats

Most Prairie farmers know more than they might want to about common crop pests like grasshoppers, cutworms and flea beetles. However, nature likes to throw curveballs, and pests are no exception. Here’s what you need to know about several new-to-you pests currently catching Prairie farmers by surprise. Alfalfa weevil While alfalfa weevils are familiar to […] Read more

Emergence was patchy overall and there were large areas where no canola was growing at all.

Crop advisor casebook: Emergence issues in canola

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the June 2, 2020 issue of Grainews

Joe, who grows canola, wheat, barley and lentils on his farm near Delisle, Sask., called me in early May about an alarming problem that, in just a few days, had turned a promising-looking canola field into an eyesore. Joe had finished seeding his crops and was checking his fields for emergence when he spotted the […] Read more





An artists’ rendition of the Merit Functional Foods plant under construction in Winnipeg. (Meritfoods.com)

Plant protein processor backed for expansion

Lenders arrange up to $85 million for Merit Functional Foods

The money has been lined up to fund a major expansion for a Winnipeg pea and canola protein processing plant that’s still being built. Merit Functional Foods Corp. announced May 4 it has secured a debt financing package of up to $85 million from “a syndicate of lenders” including Export Development Canada, Farm Credit Canada […] Read more

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou leaves her family home in Vancouver in this May 8, 2019 file photo. (Photo: Reuters/Lindsey Wasson)

Huawei extradition ruling could unleash more Chinese backlash

More punitive trade measures expected

Ottawa | Reuters — A British Columbia court ruling that could permit the extradition of a senior Huawei executive to the U.S. leaves Canada vulnerable to further retaliation from Beijing, analysts said. Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou on Wednesday lost a challenge to a U.S. bid to extradite her to face bank fraud charges, […] Read more



What we did not  realize  was  canola  had  the  rooting and uptake ability to suck the soil P to very low values.  
A few years of big yields with big N and big water and P becomes the limiting factor.

Les Henry: A recipe for 65 bushels per acre of canola

Some lessons learned many years later

When cleaning visuals from talks of years gone by, I stumbled on one from 1978 — the year canola was born. It showed what it took to produce 65 bushels per acre of canola in garden patch agriculture (i.e., small plots). In 1978, the highest average RM yield of canola in Saskatchewan was 29 bushels […] Read more