Allan Dawson

Now’s the time to scout canola fields for flea beetles, says Derwyn Hammond, the Canola Council of Canada’s Manitoba agronomy specialist. Fields thinned by frost May 27, or struggling because of the cool, dry spring, are especially vulnerable. “In stands that have been thinned out that’s going to focus that flea beetle population on a […] Read more

Facing rising phosphate prices, Prairie farmers who have routinely applied 30 to 40 pounds of phosphorus an acre each year may be able to cut back to 20 pounds this spring, or even altogether, one Manitoba soil scientist suggests. With prices not expected to get much cheaper until new mines come on line, farmers are […] Read more

As eager as farmers may be to do so, it’s still too cold to plant soybeans in Manitoba. “Mother Nature is telling me it’s not time to plant (soybeans),” Bruce Brolley, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives’ pulse crop specialist, said in an interview Friday. “In addition to the cold soil temperature, the grass isn’t […] Read more

Observers of the Canadian Wheat Board say a vote by the CWB’s directors on the firing of one of its vice-presidents may show an important shift in their willingness to defend single-desk marketing of Prairie barley, the Manitoba Co-operator reports in its Feb. 7 issue. The decision last week to axe Deanna Allen, the CWB’s […] Read more