Rural landscape with wheat field on sunset

Slowing growth to prevent lodging

Should you invest in a plant growth regulator for your cereal crops this season?

Where there’s enough moisture and high fertility levels, lodging can still be a major yield constraint. In cereal crops, plant growth regulators (PGRs) have been shown to produce shorter stems to reduce lodging and maintain grain yields. Researchers in Alberta are trying to optimize PGR use to prevent lodging and improve standability and harvestability in […] Read more

Should I treat my seed with a fungicide?

Should I treat my seed with a fungicide?

Q & A with Nutrien Ag Solutions

Q: Why should I treat my seed with a fungicide? When should my seed treatment include an insecticide? A: Seeds and seedlings are vulnerable to many soil-borne and foliar pests. Insects and pathogens can destroy germinating seeds and young plants, which are relatively tender and lack food reserves to recover from injuries or to survive […] Read more


Cooking on a winter-weather shoestring

Cooking on a winter-weather shoestring

First We Eat: Golden Vegetable Latkes

The view out my window is relentlessly white. Deep snow has collected across the yard, and the temperature is hovering around -30 C, as it has for the past week. The forecast for the coming week is no better. The roads are rotten. Winter weather means that this week’s cooking must be from the pantry, […] Read more

Clark Brenzil speaks to farmers at Saskatchewan Agriculture’s Crop Diagnostic School in 2017.

Herbicide carryover may be high risk

If it was dry after last year’s application, there may be soil-residual herbicides

Crop selection for the 2019 growing season could prove challenging for growers in some parts of the Prairies, as a lack of rainfall means soil-residual herbicides could impact crop establishment. Moisture after application is critical for herbicide breakdown. In areas where rainfall was patchy at best, growers need to be conservative when selecting crops to […] Read more


Some of the crowd from the agriculture industry attending the Ag For Life event at the ATCO centre celebrating Agriculture Day in Canada.

Celebrating Agriculture Day with food

The important things you can learn at a free industry luncheon celebration

Well that was a party and a half. There I was on Canada’s Agriculture Day in mid-February at a Calgary luncheon table with Alberta Beef Producers, Alberta Pulse Growers and Alberta Dairy Producers. Talk about shoving, pushing, name calling and aggression. It wasn’t over any philosophy of who had the best source of food protein… […] Read more

Insuring intercrops in Manitoba

Insuring intercrops in Manitoba

Manitoba farmers can now insure intercrops and also get incentives to grow them

In response to requests from producers for some kind of insurance on unconventional crops such as quinoa or multi-species crops like intercrops, Manitoba Agricultural Insurance Corporation (MASC) has introduced a new insurance product for what it calls ‘novel crops.’ At a recent intercropping workshop at Brandon in November, Robert Manastyr spoke on behalf of MASC […] Read more



Research plots in 2017 looking at nitrogen and phosphorus interactions.

Worried about pea disease? Try peaola

Intercropping peas and canola can minimize disease and lower production costs

With international pea processor Roquette opening a plant in Portage la Prairie, Man., in 2020, many growers will be thinking about taking advantage of the opportunity. Some, however, will be worried about one of the biggest challenges of growing peas: disease. There may be a solution, though. Researchers and experimental farmers are finding answers in […] Read more


Pulse and soybean diseases to watch

Pulse and soybean diseases to watch

Dry conditions in 2018 gave pulse growers a break, but there’s lots to watch for in 2019

While dry conditions during the 2018 growing season didn’t stop all instances of foliar, stem and root rot diseases across Western Canada, pulse growers didn’t see the high levels of pulse or soybean diseases associated with warm, moist conditions. But that doesn’t mean scouting won’t be necessary in 2019. The main diseases in pulse and […] Read more

Seed produced across the southern Prairies generally has pretty good quality, however, in central and northern areas that experienced bad weather last fall, poor seed quality is certainly an issue.

Some seed may be in short supply

Last fall’s ‘winter’ took a heavy 
toll on seed quality for 2019

Seed people are saying the 2018 harvest season was one of the toughest in decades on seed quality across parts of Western Canada. If you do have seed make sure it’s germination tested before seeding, and if you haven’t lined up certified seed you might be disappointed — certain crop types and varieties may not […] Read more