Farmers who want to slow herbicide resistance need to understand weed biology, says Graham Collier. Collier is technical services manager at Nufarm. During a plot tour at Ag-Quest west of Saskatoon, he outlined some of the factors that contribute to herbicide resistance. One factor is the average risk of the herbicide group. Weeds are more […] Read more
Which weeds will develop resistance?
Stay ahead: know which weeds are most likely to develop resistance to which chemistry
Turning city waste into good fertilizer
Soil Management: Lystek International’s CFIA-registered fertilizer takes waste from sewage to nutrition
One man’s trash is another’s treasure. It’s a familiar idiom at the heart of a Canadian company’s process for turning municipal sewage into fertilizer. Faced with the challenge of dealing with sludge, Canadian municipalities have done everything from dumping it in landfills to letting it flow into the ocean. Lystek International, based in Cambridge, Ontario, […] Read more
Herbicide-resistant weeds: don’t be in denial
Herbicide resistance is a growing problem that all Prairie farmers need to address
Dealing with resistant weeds is a little like dealing with alcoholism, according to a Nufarm executive. The first step is to acknowledge that you’ve got a problem. Lachie McKinnon heads North American business development for Nufarm, and is also the Canadian manager. McKinnon shared thoughts on managing herbicide resistance based on his experience working in […] Read more
Hold off on closing producer-car loading sites, says APAS president
Government needs to "get off the pot" and do a full rail costing review
The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) is asking for a time-out on Canadian Pacific (CP) Railway’s planned closure of 10 producer-car loading sites. “It’s great to have legislation (saying) that we can get producer cars, but if there’s nowhere to drop them off, it’s not going to help anybody,” says Todd Lewis, president of […] Read more
CN sets new record for grain shipment
Better communication with partners and longer trains help move grain faster, more efficiently
Canadian National (CN) Railway set a new record for grain shipment in 2016-2017, nudging past the 2014-15 record by two per cent. The railway moved a total of 21.8 million tonnes in the last year, and also set new monthly shipping records during the fall and winter. The railway attributes its success to a combination […] Read more
Getting the call: summoned for jury duty
Some people will do anything to get out of the office. Lisa Guenther chose a chance to learn about the courts
This spring, I picked up some mail that had been sent to my old address. To my surprise and disdain, I’d received a juror summons from Sask Justice. How it works In many ways, jury selection in rural Saskatchewan is quite different from what we see in the movies or in American news stories. However, […] Read more
Adding heat to dry out grain in the bin
Supplemental heat can turn a poor drying day in November into a beautiful drying day, says Joy Agnew, who manages ag research services at Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI). “Even if it’s 100 per cent humidity outside and it’s cold, if you warm the air by 10 degrees, you cut the humidity by half. Now […] Read more
Putting new ag products to the test
For Bennie Dunhin, agronomy manager at Cavalier Agrow in northwestern Saskatchewan, the question isn’t whether or not a product works. “There’s no new product on the market that doesn’t work somewhere in the world. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a product,” says Dunhin, named Outstanding Young Agrologist by the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists this year. “It […] Read more
Getting back to the roots of our Prairie past
Reporter's Notebook: Lisa Guenther tours what’s left of Cleeves, a once-thriving Saskatchewan town
It’s a safe bet that most people haven’t heard of Cleeves, Sask. While Google maps still marks the spot virtually, little is left of the abandoned hamlet beyond caraganas, a dirt road and the basement of the school. Growing up in the Turtleford area, I’d heard of Cleeves. I knew it was somewhere around Spruce […] Read more
Diagnosing herbicide injury
Application can go wrong. Know how to limit and recognize herbicide injury
When it comes to diagnosing potential herbicide injury, record keeping is vital, say Canola Council of Canada agronomists. “With soil residual herbicides, herbicide history is really important,” says Ian Epp, agronomy specialist with the Council for northwestern Saskatchewan. Because soil residual herbicides are often applied the previous year, good record keeping is important, he adds. Last […] Read more
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