Canola plants were stunted or missing at the edges of and inside the small circles.

Crop Advisor’s Casebook: Crop circles made by space invaders or salinity?

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the March 7, 2017 issue of Grainews

Jim, a Fairview-area producer, dropped into our office for coffee one morning in early October last year. When he spotted me, he called me over, eager to show me some photos he had taken of one of his canola fields. Jim said he’d finished swathing the day before, and he found something unusual in this […] Read more

A striped flea beetle on a canola leaf.

Don’t rush canola into cooler soils

Agronomy tips... from the field

Your flea beetle management strategy this season is going to depend on what type of weather conditions and soil temperatures experienced in the days leading up to seeding. Striped flea beetles are going to be a significant threat to your emerging canola, and were responsible for about 90 per cent of the feeding damage we […] Read more



Seven days after Ken sprayed his herbicide-tolerant canola crop, most of the plants in one field were dead or dying.

Crop Advisor’s Casebook: What caused this 80 per cent loss in canola?

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the February 21, 2017 issue of Grainews

Ken, a central Alberta producer who farms 2,000 acres of cereals and oilseeds, in addition to 150 head of cattle, called me after he discovered 80 per cent of the canola plants he’d seeded in one field were dead in the seed row. He thought the problem might be a sprayer issue, since a prominent […] Read more



(File photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Canada’s canola stocks drop beneath ‘low’ line

CNS Canada — Canola supplies in commercial hands in Western Canada dropped below one million tonnes during the week ended Sunday, hitting only 854,600 tonnes, according to the latest Canadian Grain Commission report. Visible canola stocks are typically considered low whenever they move below one million tonnes. Current supplies on hand are the smallest since […] Read more



This is a photo of the female of the new “anonymous” midge species.

A new species of midge lands on the Prairies

Researchers say this 
new “anonymous” midge is not an imminent concern, but it’s worth watching

An anonymous midge species has been identified in Saskatchewan and central Alberta. The new species is similar to Swede midge (a species already present in Saskatchewan), but to this point does not appear to have caused significant, widespread damage in canola crops. Researchers are still trying to find out more about the as yet unnamed […] Read more


blackleg in canola

Blackleg management and agronomy

Agronomy tips... from the field

Three main tools go into a successful blackleg management strategy in canola: seed genetics, seed treatment and foliar fungicides. Blackleg genetics, along with seed treatments, can help you get into the season and established while protecting seedlings from blackleg for the first few weeks after seeding. At the two- to six-leaf stage, consider using a […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Visible Canadian canola stocks tighten

CNS Canada –– Canola supplies in commercial hands in Western Canada are tightening, with the latest Canadian Grain Commission weekly report showing only 1.05 million tonnes in the pipeline as of Sunday. Visible canola stocks are typically considered low whenever they move below one million tonnes. The current supplies on hand are the smallest since […] Read more