Features & Production Tips

Will and Cindy Lowe farm near Kyle, Saskatchewan. These are their four children.

Meet your farming neighbours: The Lowes

Meet Will and Cindy Lowe from Kyle, Saskatchewan

By Julienne Isaacs January 9, 2020

Every farm has its own story. No two farms (or farmers) are exactly alike. Everyone got started in a different way, and every farm has a different combination of family and hired staff who make the decisions and keep things running. But, in general, even after you consider all of the details, farmers are more […] Read more

Cereals, Crops, Features

POGA speaks out on Value Creation

The Prairie Oat Growers Association have a plan to provide more funds to seed breeders

By Shawna Mathieson January 7, 2020

The Prairie Oat Growers Association (POGA) would like to provide comments on the Grainews editor’s column titled “Paying for seed breeding.” In this article, Leeann Minogue suggested that “We’re already electing farmers to commodity boards across the Prairies, and these boards are already investing our money into research and development. These elected reps are studying […] Read more

I could see lots of the worms crawling around next to an armyworm that I also observed on the plant.

Barley, Crops, Features

Crop advisor casebook: Can you identify the worms in this barley?

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the January 7, 2020 issue of Grainews

By Raeanne Denomie January 6, 2020

Like most farmers, Tom has dealt with his share of insect pests. He’s encountered many different pests at his 6,000-acre mixed grain operation near Wadena, Sask., over the years, but this past August he came across a new insect that had him stumped. Tom called me in early August to say he’d been out inspecting […] Read more

Cereals, Crops, Features

New cereal varieties hitting the market for 2020

Canterra, FP Genetics, Proven Seed and SeCan are bringing new options to the market

By Leeann Minogue December 20, 2019

If you’re looking for CPSR, CWRS, durum or even barley, these four companies are bringing a handful of new varieties to the market for 2020. Wheat and durum breeders have been working hard to come up with better fusarium resistance. Canterra has developed a new two-row malt barley variety, and Proven Seed has two new […] Read more

Features, News, Pulses

The state of pulse processing on the Prairies

The condition of the industry in the past and the possibilities for the future

By Vicki Dutton December 18, 2019

“I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In,” was a Mike Newbury song from 1968, a great song that captured the psychedelic era of the late 60s. The song refers to the LSD drug experience of that era, and while the comparison to drugs doesn’t fit, there is a parallel to […] Read more

Canola, Crops, Features

New canola varieties for the 2020 crop year

There are 27 new canola varieties hitting the market for Western Canada

By Leeann Minogue December 16, 2019

When Grainews asked seed companies about their new canola offerings for 2020, they came up with a list of 24 new varieties! And, keep in mind, these are only the varieties that are brand new for 2020. You might still be investigating new offerings from 2019 and 2018 as well. Many of these varieties include […] Read more

Corn, Crops, Features

Goss’s Wilt comes to corn on the Prairies

Four ways to cope with corn crops hit with Goss's wilt bacterium

By Leeann Minogue December 16, 2019

Corn acreage is on the rise across the Prairies, but this year, Goss’s wilt has hit some areas hard. Goss’s wilt is a bacterial infection, relatively new to Western Canada. It was first confirmed in Manitoba in 2009, officially found in Alberta in 2013, and in west-central Saskatchewan in 2018. Sherri Roberts, a crops extension […] Read more

Canola, Crops, Features

Weather worked against Manitoba grower’s Nexera canola crop

Increased contracting opportunity for high-quality specialty canola for 2020

By Lee Hart December 12, 2019

Just about every element possible worked against Dustin Williams’ Nexera canola crop on his southwest Manitoba farm in 2019. Cool, dry conditions at seeding, stagey crop development, multiple insect pressure, hail, poor harvest weather, too much rain, snow and ice. And then, just as the swathed crop was about to be combined, strong winds blew […] Read more

Harrows are more effective earlier on, when weeds are at the white thread stage.

Equipment, Features, Machinery

Comparing mechanical weed control options

Considering adding a mechanical option to your herbicide rotations? Try these

By Angela Lovell December 12, 2019

Mechanical weed control is not anything new. Farmers have been using harrows and various tillage tools to control weeds for centuries, and for organic farmers mechanical weed control remains the only option. What is new is the technology that is available to help make mechanical weeding more efficient and effective, like GPS or camera-guided systems […] Read more

Crops, Features

Make your own seed initiative enters its ninth year

Manitoba’s Participatory Plant Breeding program turns farmers into plant breeders

By Angela Lovell December 10, 2019

[UPDATE: Dec. 12, 2019] The University of Manitoba’s Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) program, now in its ninth year — brings together farmers and plant breeders as partners in the plant breeding process. The program is particularly useful in crop production systems that traditional breeding programs aren’t always geared for, like organic or under unique growing […] Read more

Daily Network News

Farmers see fertilizer price surge as Iran war blocks exports, threatening losses

OPINION: How the Iran war could create a ‘fertilizer shock’ – an often ignored global risk to food prices and farming

Farmers expected to boost canola area beyond Statistics Canada intentions report

Features