Many growers equate efficiency with applying their nitrogen "up front" instead of opting for split applications.

Nitrogen use in corn re-examined

Research from the U.S. Midwest sparks controversy, but the solution may be easier

Glacier FarmMedia — When it comes to nitrogen use in corn, it’s always been a question of how much to apply. University of Illinois research on the source of N — that is, how much a corn plant gets from fertilizer and how much from soil — has initiated a considerable amount of debate since […] Read more

Enhanced efficiency fertilizers must pay off

The potential yield gain isn’t enough to entice farmers, soil scientist says

Glacier FarmMedia — Enhanced efficiency fertilizers work. They might even be able to pay for themselves. But right now the bottom line impact is too unclear for a lot of farmers to embrace them, University of Manitoba soil scientist Mario Tenuta acknowledged during a discussion at St. Jean Farm Days last month in St. Jean […] Read more


Researchers to put numbers to verticillium yield loss

The team behind blackleg and clubroot yield loss models tackles the newer canola disease

Glacier FarmMedia — Canola industry leaders have been worried about verticillium stripe and its impact on crop yields for several years. Reports out of Europe suggest the fungal disease could cause losses of 10 to 50 per cent on oilseed rape. However, extreme losses are usually confined to a small number of fields in England […] Read more

Western bean cutworm hybrids have a VIP3 trait that doesn’t work on ECB, yet they still have a corn borer protein.

Old corn pest returns with new threat

Some populations of European corn borer have shown Bt resistance in Manitoba and elsewhere

Glacier FarmMedia — Bt corn hybrids have been the story of success in transgenic innovation, a gold standard of biotech pest management, first with European corn borer (ECB) and then corn rootworm (CRW). Now comes a case from Truro, N.S., where a resistant corn borer population confirmed in 2018 also appears resistant to another protein. […] Read more


Traders are seen focusing on a handful of key countries including Brazil, India, the U.S. and China to gauge the global urea market.

Get urea booked sooner rather than later, trader says

Farmers will want to lock in supplies before seasonal demand kicks in

Glacier FarmMedia – The global urea market is in a period of mixed signals. Buyers in Australia and Southeast Asia made purchases in early January, putting upward pressure on prices. Plus, stocks in North America are relatively low, which is also supportive. On the other side of the coin, China may delay exports until the […] Read more

green spring wheat in a demonstration plot

Field-scale trials with wheat present seeding and yield mystery

Trials see little yield difference by boosting seed count -- but don't plant less

Glacier FarmMedia — Call it an agronomic mystery. It’s been proven time and time again that, barring unforeseen challenges, the more seeds planted, the more crop harvested. But those aren’t the results the Alberta Grains Plot2Farm program has seen in its field-scale trials on spring wheat. Four years of field trials have consistently shown that […] Read more


bluewhite tractor modified for autonomy

Will very-high-horsepower tractors go extinct?

Autonomy might revert farms back to lower-horsepower models

As manufacturers have once again begun to amp up the muscle in their flagship tractor models, we continue to hit new highs in size and horsepower. But is that trend likely to continue? Advancing technology might actually reverse it, and see farms return to smaller machines — at least, that’s the opinion of some of […] Read more

A Case IH Steiger 385 tractor upgraded with a new Trimble GFX system for tillage and NH3 applications.

Old equipment, new life: Cost-effective tech upgrades

An ag tech expert talks about how existing farm machinery can be upgraded to perform at the same level as new equipment

What’s old can be like new again, says the president of a Saskatchewan company that specializes in helping producers outfit older farm machinery with the latest in precision farming technology. Matthew Yanick, who founded Rocanville, Sask.-based MY Precision Ag, spoke at the recent Manitoba Ag Days farm show in Brandon about the benefits of equipping […] Read more


Oat protein’s properties are the subject of study at the University of Manitoba.

Oat protein: the next oat milk?

Researchers pursue a new health claim — not for oat fibre, but for oat protein

In a lab at the University of Manitoba, Lovemore Malunga holds up a Ziploc bag containing a whitish-light brown powder. He opens the bag and carefully pours the powder into a small, plastic container. A master’s student, Vanessa Alexander, takes the container and places it on a scale. She adjusts the scale — to account […] Read more

black calf on pasture

Time to buy some cows?

Cattle right now are more profitable than crops, this farm management expert says

Glacier FarmMedia — When all costs are factored into the equation, raising cattle should be more profitable than growing crops in 2024 — and in some cases, much more so. “Right now, I can tell you that the returns per acre are higher than any of the crops,” said Ben Hamm, a farm management specialist […] Read more