Closeup of a plowed field, fertile, black soil.

The five principles of soil health

USDA researcher says healthy soil needs a systems approach

At the Regenerative Agriculture Forum in Brandon in November, Jay Fuhrer, soil health specialist with the Natural Resource Conservation Service of the USDA, spoke about soil health. Fuhrer has identified five principles of soil health, and how they work to improve soil health and increase productivity. Fuhrer defined soil health is defined as “the continued […] Read more

Farming Smarter has been looking at the potential of precision planters for grain, pulse and oilseed crops for several years.

Precision planter research is encouraging

Still many questions about how it would fit for grains, pulses and oilseed crops

Southern Alberta researchers say there is increasing evidence that seeding a wide range of western Canadian field crops with a vacuum or precision planter makes sense, but they need co-operative weather to prove it. That’s how Ken Coles and Lewis Baarda with the Lethbridge-based Farming Smarter applied research organization sum up results of several years […] Read more


Scoular sidewalk chalk art at the Engredea Expo in Anaheim, Calif. in 2017. (Scoular video screengrab via YouTube)

Scoular to sell edible bean business

MarketsFarm — The Scoular Company has made a deal to sell its edible beans business in Manitoba and the northern U.S. to a Michigan edible bean processing and exporting co-op. Cooperative Elevator Co., which is owned by over 1,100 U.S. farmers and operates mainly in Michigan’s “thumb” northeast of Flint, announced Friday it will buy […] Read more

(Jeremy Woodhouse/DigitalVision/Getty Images Plus)

CFIA rethinking limits on travellers’ personal food imports

Consultation running until March

The federal government is considering changes to the amounts of food travellers can bring into Canada with them from other countries for their personal use. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Thursday announced public online consultations on the proposed new limits, which CFIA said would “better reflect the volume of foods typically moved by travellers […] Read more


Farmers take a look at smaller-scale plots on a tour of the research farm at Carman, Man., in the summer of 2019.

Testing the cover crop hypothesis

Agronomy researchers are catching up with what farmers are doing in their fields

It’s an exciting time for cover crop research. Last summer, many large-scale cover crop trials were underway across the Prairies looking at everything from cover crop combinations, rotations and planting methods to pollinator strips. One of the biggest ongoing projects, funded by Western Grains Research Foundation, Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers and Manitoba Pulse and […] Read more

Due to disease issues, peas shouldn’t be grown more than one in three years in a rotation.

Tips for adding peas to your farm in 2020

Frost tolerance and early planting may be the advantages that lead you to peas

With pea-processing giant Roquette planning to begin operations at its new plant in Portage la Prairie, Man., in mid-2020, growers may be thinking about increasing pea acreage year this. Peas offer several benefits, but the crop does present some challenges as well. Manitoba Agriculture provincial pulse specialist Dennis Lange explains. If the summer is hot […] Read more



Developing an inoculant strategy

Developing an inoculant strategy

If you’re growing soybeans, you should have a plan to get them inoculated

Soybeans can biologically fix 50 to 60 per cent of their nitrogen, with the rest coming from soil reserves. Bradyrhizobium japonicum is a bacteria specific to soybeans that causes nodule development on plant roots, working symbiotically with the soybean plant to fix nitrogen. Because this rhizobium is not native to Canadian Prairie soils, soybean growers […] Read more


Dry weather affects inoculant efficacy

Dry weather affects inoculant efficacy

Dry spring weather may have reduced soybean inoculant effectiveness

The August Bean Report from the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers (MPSG) suggested one of the reasons that some growers were seeing yellowing on their soybean crops could have been due to a nitrogen deficiency because of inadequate nodulation, with the possibility that dry conditions earlier in the season may have reduced the efficacy of […] Read more

Herbicide “layering” strategy delivers multiple punches

Herbicide “layering” strategy delivers multiple punches

Effective for weed control and reduces risk of herbicide resistant weeds surviving

Corey Loessin has for several years been delivering the one/two and sometimes multiple punches through the pulse crop weed control program on his northwest Saskatchewan farm. Primarily growing red lentils and yellow peas near Radisson, northwest of Saskatoon, Loessin says his main objective is to use different products with varying modes of action to control […] Read more