Retired winter wheat breeder Rob Graf describes some of the benefits of his new winter wheat variety AAC
Coldfront. With improved yield and an improved disease package, it is a variety that appears to have a good fit
across Western Canada.

Improved varieties on the ground and in the pipeline

AAC Coldfront fires on all cylinders — it’s high yielding, has high quality, good standability and improved winter hardiness

Rob Graf wrapped up his career as a plant breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada on a high note this summer as he introduced another new top-performing winter wheat variety that appears to have a great fit in all crop regions across Western Canada. At a field day on Stamp Seeds’ farm at Enchant, north […] Read more

Larry Penner plans on including winter cereal crops in his rotation for several reasons – it spreads out the workload, benefits wildlife, improves weed control and, at the end of the day, the crops are also profitable.

Benefits of winter crops outweigh the challenges

Depending on seeding conditions, the best approach may be to ‘seed shallow and pray for rain’

As the calendar rolls around to August and September each year, south-central Alberta farmer Larry Penner finds himself in two time zones — seeding time and harvest time. For a good part of his farming career, Penner has been a believer of including a winter cereal crop in rotation. He says the timing can be […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Ending stocks tumble due to drought: StatCan

Canola stocks are below 'pipeline levels'

MarketsFarm — Severe drought in Western Canada during the summer of 2021 has played a major part in reducing the stocks for Canada’s principal field crops at the end of the 2021-22 marketing year, according to Statistics Canada. Canada’s central data agency released a report Wednesday presenting total ending stocks for the country’s major crops […] Read more

Dave and Lynne Longshore of Bar-E-L Angus have worked with Bullseye services for years to make sure their cattle have proper nutrition at all stages of the production cycle leading to healthy, fertile bulls, and cows that produce vigorous and robust calves.

Nutrition key to optimizing purebred performance

It’s all about fertile females and bulls with breeding soundness

Dave Longshore doesn’t take any shortcuts when it comes to proper nutrition for his purebred Black Angus operation in central Alberta. It’s important to produce healthy, sound and fertile bulls that will be offered as breeding stock, and if cows and heifers aren’t fed a well-balanced ration with proper mineral supplements, that will also mean […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Greater crop production estimated prior to StatCan report

Extended time lag between survey, data's release criticized

MarketsFarm — Analysts are expecting Canadian crop production totals for the 2022-23 marketing year to be substantially higher compared to drought-stricken 2021-22, but still not enough to fully replenish supplies. Statistics Canada (StatCan) will publish its first satellite image model-based yield and production estimates for principal field crops on Monday. Traders and analysts are interested […] Read more

Maintaining and improving soil organic matter is vital to crop production and soil health. I consider the soil micro-organisms much like a feedlot — I have to think about feeding the soil biology.” – Tim Nerbas.

Sask. farmer’s soil health approach results in ‘soil armour’

Farmer Tim Nerbas protects his soil with a layer of organic material he calls “soil armour.” He says that and other conservation farming practices to improve soil health on his farm may take time — but it’s worth the wait

Northwest Saskatchewan farmer Tim Nerbas knows if he does the best job of managing crop production above ground, it is probably providing the most benefit to all activity going on below ground. He doesn’t test to measure the amount of organic matter in the soil on his 4,000-acre grain, oilseed and pulse crop operation near […] Read more


Photo: File

Manitoba crops variable: report

MarketsFarm – Crop development was highly variable across Manitoba during the week ended Aug. 2 depending on localized rainfall and drainage, with fields in the southern growing areas of the province generally better than those to the north, according to the latest report from Manitoba Agriculture. Localized insect concerns were reported, with some spraying required. […] Read more

Oat crops topped out at 81 per cent good to excellent in Alberta.  Photo: iStock

Alberta crops improve tremendously over last year 

Crops in Alberta remain in good shape as the latest crop report noted all crops across the province are 72 per cent good to excellent. That’s a huge improvement compared to this time last year when drought pushed crops down to 20 per cent good to excellent. Rain, especially in June proved to be very […] Read more


Wet conditions have made fungicide spraying difficult for ground application.  Photo: Thinkstock

Fungal diseases posing an issue with Manitoba crops

As crop conditions vary across Manitoba, the latest crop report noted that frequent rains and warm temperatures have increased the risk of a number of fungal diseases. Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development (MARD) said farmers continued to apply fungicides on their wheat, oats, barley, canola, and pea crops. However, wet conditions in a number of […] Read more