Mad cows was really a trade issue

Most would agree that the ‘mad cow’ event of May 20th, 2003, following the discovery of our country’s first native bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) case, wasn’t really a food safety-centric crisis, at least in Canada. In retrospect, it was primarily a trade crisis. As domestic demand for beef shattered records in Canada that year, 35 […] Read more

Simple grain bag unloading

Neeralta Manufacturing at Neerlandia, north of Edmonton, Alta., has this year introduced a new grain bag extractor, that not only unloads nine- to 12-foot wide grain bags but also wraps and ties the plastic into a handy bale for easy disposal — all in one easy operation. The new extractor is available in both trailer […] Read more


Check water quality before spraying

You’ve got the sprayer ready and brought the right chemical home. 
Now make sure your water is right for the job

Before filling up the sprayer, you may want to check your water quality. Dr. Les Henry says some farmers might not know that hard water is affecting herbicides because they’re still getting a kill. But it may be that the chemical is “a lot less zippy than it could be if they were using good […] Read more

The best defence is the right depth

Avoid disease and delayed emergence by choosing the right depth and following these five steps to uniformity

If agronomist Doug Moisey doesn’t see any canola seed on the ground when inspecting a freshly sown field he worries. This might seem like an unconventional cause for concern, but as Moisey explains, “In normal seeding you’ll get some seeds bounce out of the furrow and that’s fine.” If no seeds are visible on the […] Read more


Pests to watch for in 2013

Southeastern Alberta farmers have the unfortunate privilege of being at the crossroads of insect issues lately, says Scott Meers, insect management specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. “It seems to be the area where virtually anything can happen, unfortunately.” Farmers in the Medicine Hat area will need to watch for a litany of pests, […] Read more

Rotary hoes

Farmers looking to reduce herbicide costs, control weeds in organic systems, or control herbicide-resistant broadleaves may find a new solution in an old technology


Rotary hoes aren’t seen much in Western Canada these days. The implement was once commonly used by soybean and corn farmers in the midwestern United States to control weeds and break up crusted soil. For the last seven or eight years, researchers with the University of Saskatchewan and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have been using […] Read more


The future of weed control

While high costs are still a hurdle to overcome, bioherbicides are in the works and could be a weapon in the struggle against herbicide resistance

While high costs are still a hurdle to overcome, bioherbicides are in the works and could be a weapon in the struggle against herbicide resistance. Researchers in Canada and the United States are developing bioherbicides that will not only give organic and conventional farmers more weed control options, but also, in some cases, control herbicide-resistant […] Read more

AppQuest: AGRIplot

Agriplot is a neat little app that allows you to mark points on a virtual map and then calculate the acreage inside that plotted area. You can also measure the distance between these two points. These plots can then be emailed whoever might need this information. To start a new plot you can either search […] Read more


A solid step in durum breeding

A new durum variety raises the bar for Prairie farmers and makes life a lot more challenging for one of their common nemeses — sawflies. AAC Raymore, released by SeCan to all its member seed growers in February 2013, is an amber durum (CWAD) with similar yield, quality and agronomic traits to AC Strongfield, but […] Read more

Adding adjuvants to chemicals

There are more and more adjuvants available to Prairie farmers. 
Find out what they are and what they can offer you

An adjuvant is a product that is added to a spray mixture to change its physical or chemical characteristics. “Adjuvants are designed to maximize a crop protection product’s ability to function by minimizing the constraints in a pesticide application process,” says Dale Ziprick, product manager with UAP. There are several different adjuvants and they have […] Read more


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