Adventures In Safety

The Alberta Farm Safety Program has many resources and tools designed for rural kids. The latest resource made available is a brand new activity book. This is one of the most popular resources, and features Farm Safety Star. New Adventures with Farm Safety Star is 24 pages of hazard hunts, puzzles and colouring posters. Topics […] Read more

Co-Op Lines Get The Thumbs Down

Savvy Grainews readers will recall a story I did not long ago about high yielding wheat varieties. Who am I kidding! With the amount of paper you receive in the mail, I don’t for a minute think that you read every story in every issue. That said, because I had done a little write up […] Read more


One of the major goals of applied research trials is to get people thinking. A rough 2009 growing season stirred up more questions than answers at CARA

The Chinook Applied Research Association (CARA) can’t control the weather. The oldest farmer run, applied research association in Alberta, can evaluate and demonstrate a wide range of crop and forage production and management practices, as it has done for 30 years, but as the 2009 growing season proved, Mother Nature again has the final say. […] Read more

Don’t Ignore Herbicide Resistant Weeds

Herbicide resistant weeds in Western Canada This list is compiled from www.weedscience.org.The number in brackets is the herbicide group to which resistance has been confirmed. Wild buckwheat (2) Wild oats (1) (2) (8) (multiple groups) Common hempnettle (2) (4) False cleavers (2) (4) (multiple groups) Kochia (2) Ball mustard (2) Green foxtail (1) (2) (multiple […] Read more


Six Ways To Fight Weeds

Weed control checklist In addition to proper herbicide use (rotating groups between fall, spring and in-crop applications and adhering to rates and re-cropping restrictions), there are several methods to fighting weeds. They are: 1) Increase seeding rate — Instead of the old pounds per acre, work backwards from a target plant population, keeping in mind […] Read more

Weed Control Options In Mustard Still Limited

A fall application of glyphosate is of tremendous benefit in reducing the populations of perennials such as Canada thistle and dandelions, winter annuals, and even kochia Venture YELLOW MUSTARD BROWN/ORIENTAL MUSTARD Registered Assure II Avadex Clethodim Edge Fortress Poast Trifluralin Venture Not Recommended Muster Gold Muster Toss-N-Go Registered Assure II Avadex Clethodim Fortress Muster Gold […] Read more


Growing Durum In The Desert

We wandered down to Arizona for a few days in February. I heard a rumour that they grow durum in Arizona — lots of it. I found this very intriguing as most years I have a hard time growing durum in Saskatchewan, let alone trying to grow it in the desert. This gave me something […] Read more

Critical Weed-Free Periods By Crop

If weeds can be kept out of the crop during the critical early stages of growth, you should be able to minimize losses (from weed competition) to under 5%. Even late emerging weeds will have difficulty overtaking the crop due its competitive advantage of later growth stage. Below are the critical weed-free periods by crop: […] Read more


Watch Crop Stage For Optimum Weed Control

Getting a jump on the competition is a basic business principle; any advantage is better than none at all. In farming, your biggest competition is often weeds soaking up moisture and nutrients before or when the crop goes in. This competition directly steals yield out of the bin and takes away from your bottom line. […] Read more