The cover crop of fall rye seeded late in 2018 appeared to have a lasting effect to help control weeds as Fensky seeded flax in the spring of 2019.

Regenerative agriculture beats high input costs

Alberta farmers apply a new mindset to crop production

Shorty Fensky says it was largely a matter of farm economic survival as he forgets about the “Y” word and applies crop production practices that focus on profitability for their family run mixed-farming operation in central Alberta. Fensky, who along with his brother Cevin produce cattle and crops at Thorsby, about half an hour southwest […] Read more

Canadian Canary seed production translates to about $100 million in export values each year and totals more than 80 per cent of the world’s overall Canary seed crop. The photo above shows a Canary seed field ready for harvest.

Want to try Canary seed in your crop rotation? Caution is advised

Prices are up right now, but there’s no guarantee they’ll stay there

Canadian farmers, nearly all of them in Saskatchewan, grow approximately 300,000 acres of Canary seed each year for export as bird seed. Canadian Canary seed production translates to about $100 million in export values each year and totals more than 80 per cent of the world’s overall Canary seed crop. The cereal can pay producers […] Read more


Some crops are a little more salt tol­erant — like canola shown above as well as alfalfa, corn, oats and wheat — and you will probably not see sig­nificant yield loss until you hit a conductivity number of about two mS/cm, says Lyle Cowell with Nutrien Ag Solutions.

Crops and saline soils

Plant something, but choose carefully

When it comes to planting most annual cash crops on saline land, Lyle Cowell does not mince words: stop. “When a cattle farm has a cow that is no longer productive, that cattle farmer will not continue to try to breed that cow. It will be culled,” says the agronomist with Nutrien Ag Solutions in […] Read more

Organic farmer Boyd Charles, pictured here with wife, Gloria, of Stoughton, Sask., says his pelletized and cooked chicken manure packs more fertilizer punch for his grain crops than commercial fertilizer ever could.

Saskatchewan organic producer wins with chicken manure

Pelletized, cooked manure an organic fertilizer solution

Ask Boyd Charles what he considers his happiest day as a farmer and he’ll probably tell you it was the day he sold his sprayer. “I was tired of giving away most of my profit to the chemical companies,” he says of his decision to become an organic farmer in 1996. He hasn’t looked back. […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

StatsCan confirms canola stocks tightening

Wheat stocks also down from previous year-end

MarketsFarm — Solid demand from exporters and domestic crushers continues to eat rapidly through Canada’s canola stocks, which as of Dec. 31 were down nearly 24 per cent from the same date a year earlier, according to new data released Friday from Statistics Canada. The government agency pegged total canola stocks in the country as […] Read more

Proline Gold is a new canola fungicide that offers protection against sclerotinia. Its liquid formulation provides systemic and contact protection with two modes of action. The above photo shows a sclerotinia stem lesion.

New fungicides and insecticides heading your way in 2021

New products to control insects like flea beetles and diseases, such as blackleg and sclerotinia, in canola, and more

One season is never the same as the next, so farmers face different disease and insect issues every year. This is one of the reasons there are new solutions being developed and coming to market every year — to help farmers protect their crops throughout the growing season from new and old disease and insect […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Canadian flax prices, exports going up

MarketsFarm — High demand and an accompanying increase in overseas exports have resulted in reduced domestic supply for Canadian flaxseed, helping drive prices for the crop to highs unseen in years. Marlene Boersch, owner of Mercantile Consulting Venture in Winnipeg, said the amount of flax from Canada going to the U.S. and European Union is […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Railways overshoot grain revenue limits for 2019-20

Grain revenues run $5.3 million over caps, CTA rules

Canada’s big two railways have about two more weeks to hand over about $5.6 million in Prairie grain revenue overages and related penalties for the 2019-20 crop year. The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) on Dec. 22 ruled Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) each overshot their maximum revenue entitlements (MREs) for the […] Read more


(iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Four-way Seeds Canada merger approved

Four organizations to amalgamate in February without CSGA on board

A merger of four Canadian seed industry organizations has been cleared to proceed without its fifth partner. Members of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA), Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada (CSAAC), Canadian Seed Institute (CSI) and Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) have voted in favour of amalgamation, the groups announced Wednesday. An inaugural board […] Read more