Late blight has cost potato growers worldwide billions in damaged crops. (Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Soil bacteria may offer weapon against late blight in potatoes

Potato producers may soon have a new ally in their battle against late blight, and it’s right under their feet. Researchers have discovered bacterial strains in the soil that show promise as disease controls. Some bacteria suppress or inhibit late blight by over 90 per cent, according to an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) release. […] Read more

stripe rust on winter wheat

Stripe rust update for southern and central Alberta

Stripe rust continues to be reported in southern and central Alberta. Eric Amundsen at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge surveyed winter wheat fields for stripe rust last week and reported finding the disease in five of 12 fields (two in Cardston County, one field in each of Lethbridge County, County of Warner and M.D. […] Read more



soybean field

Who’s representing your soybeans?

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” This opening line of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice is still relevant today if we replace “single man” with “up-and-coming crop,” and “wife” with “industry association.” As soybean acreage grows, […] Read more


combining in the field

Canola rotations are key

Recommended crop rotations lower inoculum levels and risk of disease

Crop rotation is of utmost importance to manage residue and soil-borne diseases, and many insect species,” says Randy Kutcher, cereal and flax pathologist, University of Saskatchewan. Knowing this, it’s surprising that many growers still don’t heed rotation recommendations, especially with the potential for devastating diseases like blackleg. Blackleg is a residue-borne disease, he explains. “Residues […] Read more

root rot in a pea plant

Minimizing the impact of Aphanomyces

There are no in-crop solutions to root rot in peas and lentils. But there 
are ways to minimize your risk of losing yield to Aphanomyces

Given the wet springs and dry summers we’ve seen in recent years, Aphanomyces euteiches — Aphanomyces root rot — has become a real problem for pea and lentil growers. First confirmed in Saskatchewan in 2012 and then in Alberta in 2013, the disease has been slowly creeping across the country, destroying crops in its wake. Making […] Read more


Wheat seedlings growing in Petri dishes

Taking research inventory

Last month the Western Grains Research Foundation released a new report. “Fertile Ground: Agronomic Research Capacity in Western Canada” is the result of a lot of surveys conducted by the Edmonton-based consulting firm, Toma and Bouma Management Consultants. The WGRF funded this study to take a snapshot of the current state of Prairie agronomic research. […] Read more



Female Palmer amaranth plants can grow to over 10 feet tall.

Palmer amaranth is a looming concern

This aggressive, herbicide resistance weed has been travelling north, and may be in our fields soon

Prairie farmers may soon have a new problem Palmer amaranth, an aggressive, invasive weed species native to the desert regions of the southern United States and Mexico, is spreading into the Northern Plains. A few patches of the weed were spotted last year in Aberdeen, South Dakota; North Dakotans are on high alert. According to […] Read more

man standing in a wheat field while talking on a microphone

A short history of durum wheat breeding

As private companies step up cereal breeding investments, 
Andrea Hilderman reviews our public breeding triumphs

Dr. Ron DePauw has been actively involved in the breeding program at the Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre (SPARC) in Swift Current, Saskatchewan for many decades. Over the years DePauw has led diverse teams that have made extraordinary leaps forward in the agronomic and end-use qualities of durum for Western Canada. Durum team leaders have […] Read more