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Pulse Weekly: China includes peas in tariff threat

India extends duty-free period on yellow pea imports

Canadian yellow peas were hit with bad news on March 7, but the pulse received good news on March 10. In the bad news, China announced that Friday it's prepared to impose 100 per cent tariffs on its pea imports from Canada effective March 20, as well as imports of canola oil and canola meal. Plus there are to be 25 per cent levies on imports of Canadian pork and aquatic products.


A soil scientist collects a sample from a test plot. The zero- to six-inch depth should be sampled separately from deeper samples to accurately determine P fertilizer requirements.

Understanding soil phosphorus, Part 2: Soil testing for plant-available P

Agronomy Management: The proper test for your soil and region can help answer questions your plants’ roots will ask this season

In my previous Grainews article, I discussed soil phosphorus (P) cycling in soil, effects of crop rotations and fertilizing on soil P, and how crops take up soil P. In this article I’ll discuss soil tests used to estimate plant-available P. Next issue, we’ll discuss how to develop wise phosphate fertilizer recommendations for your farm. […] Read more

Topsoil being removed from a depression area in a soil landscape restoration site in southern Manitoba.

Restore productivity on your eroded knolls

Landscape restoration, cover cropping, residue redistribution and adjusting crop inputs are some management practices that can help

The eroded knolls or hilltops common in Prairie farmland are typically the least productive, often yielding considerably less than other parts of a field. Curtis Cavers, an agronomist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada based at Portage la Prairie, Man., says there are ways to boost crop productivity in these problem areas. Cavers provided an assessment […] Read more


It’s well documented that if a micronutrient is missing or deficient, your expected yield could crash.

Soil fertility, revisited 

Practical Research: The history of crop production on the Prairies was one of nutrient extraction at an alarming pace

Soil fertility: a simple concept that requires long and well thought out answers. There are lots of articles on soil nutrient testing, along with many procedures, methods and interpretations.  Early on in the 1970s with Alberta Agriculture, my colleagues and I were very surprised with the answers to the soil testing questions we asked. A […] Read more

Canola plant with verticillium stripe symptoms.

Researchers scramble to understand verticillium in Canada

While research into verticillium stripe is still in its infancy, agronomists are recommending crop rotation and better field practices

Verticillium is a newcomer among Canadian crop diseases, and according to Justine Cornelsen, agronomic and regulatory services manager with BrettYoung Seeds, researchers still have much to learn about it. “It was first identified on a farm south of Winnipeg in 2014, but it has now been identified in many other production regions,” she says. As […] Read more



Fusarium head blight symptoms in wheat. The key target for fungicidal treatments will always be the head tissue.

Managing against fusarium takes a multi-part strategy

Tweaking fungicide timing could provide farmers with better control

Kelly Turkington, a longtime plant pathologist for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, strongly supports the notion that an integrated approach to managing fusarium head blight (FHB) offers the best chance of success for cereal producers. Even so, Turkington says, in much of Manitoba and northeastern Saskatchewan, that strategy hasn’t always worked as well as […] Read more


Producers with early contracts received good prices, especially for organic crops such as oats and flax. Photo: File/Greg Berg

Oats swinging higher, but rangebound

Futures no longer connected to cash market

As oat futures fluctuate on the Chicago Board of Trade, they remain rangebound, said Progressive Ag analyst Tom Lilja in Fargo, N.D. However, to Scott Shiels of Grain Millers Canada in Yorkton, Sask. there’s a disconnect between those futures and cash prices for oats.