Is that pesticide still good?

Farmers often pre-buy pesticides and bulk buying is on the rise. The reasons for doing so makes sense — some want put-off taxes by purchasing before their year-end; others purchase early to take advantage of sales and promotions from chem companies. There can also be money saved by buying pallets, large totes or even bulk […] Read more

Protocol For Testing Farm-Saved Seed

1) To ensure the highest confidence in the testing procedures, a sample of seed must be drawn across the entire lot of seed. This may be done a number of ways; however the best and most preferred method is to sample directly from a clean seed stream. This includes but is not limited to sampling […] Read more


Seven Steps To Reduce Fungicide Resistance

Prairie crop production is being more intensively managed than ever before. Tight economic margins, developments in crop genetics and pushing crop rotations are factors, as is the influence young educated farmers moving into decision-making roles. This, along with the slow reduction of input costs due to increased competition and products coming off patent has made […] Read more

Seven Steps To Avoid Resistance

1. Seed varieties with good disease resistance ratings and ensure minimal disease occurrence on farm-saved seed 2. Good crop rotations reduce the level of disease pressure (one in two is not a crop rotation) 3. Only spray when necessary. The less often fungicides are applied, the longer it will take for resistance to occur 4. […] Read more


The Rebate And Reward Rundown For 2011

Grower reward and rebate programs for 2011 have changed substantially. If one of the criteria you use for choosing a pesticide is manufacturer programming, you will find some companies have reduced or even dropped their reward programs. Other companies have increased their offers. In fact, every company which offered a rebate last year has made […] Read more

Farmers Bullish On 2011 Crop

Prairie farmers are hoping it either dries out or they get some moisture over the next few months before seeding, so they can optimize the value of their 2011 fertilizer program. Depending where they farm in Western Canada, farmers contacted for this farmer panel are facing the extremes in soil moisture conditions. In southeast Saskatchewan […] Read more


Alberta Pulses Top A Million Acres

It was a milestone year for Alberta pulse growers in 2010, with the net acreage harvested exceeding one million acres for the first time. Statistics Canada figures showed about 1.1 million acres were seeded in 2010, and of that 1,073,000 acres were harvested, says Mark Olson, Alberta pulse industry development specialist. “It is exciting news […] Read more

Stress And Environment Team Up On Canola

There are times when investigating the cause of damage to a crop that there is no one clear answer to the problem, and one is left to theorize based on all of the evidence available. This happens to be one of those cases. In 2009, I received a call from Ted, who farms 3,700 acres […] Read more


Crop Advisor’s Casebook – for Feb. 7, 2011

There was plenty of environmental stress on the 2010 crop, so I was not surprised when I was contacted in mid- June about an unhealthy field of canola. Mike is the owner of a 7,000-acre grain farm in southeastern Saskatchewan, and an excellent producer. He grows wheat, canola, barley, peas and flax. Mike was concerned […] Read more