grain bins and barley field

Would your farm pass the stress test?

When you pencil out 
your farm budgets, 
calculate some “what if” 
scenarios as well

New provincial guidelines for estimating 2017 crop production costs are being released across the Prairies. These guidelines can help producers predict their operating costs, breakeven yields and profitability. Producers should also be doing a “stress test” to see how much deviation from those predictions the farm can actually bear without losing money, is the advice […] Read more

Once you suspect resistance, sending the seed for testing can confirm or allay your fears.

Are there resistant weeds in your fields?

The answer to this question is probably yes. Testing can give you a definite answer

Every season more farmers face the challenge of herbicide-resistant weeds. “Herbicide resistance is the genetic capacity of a weed population to survive a herbicide treatment that, under normal use conditions, would effectively control that weed population,” said Dr. Jeanette Gaultier, weed specialist with Manitoba Agriculture. It’s sometimes described as evolution happening at an accelerated pace […] Read more


Garden Peas

94 is out there — don’t settle for average

Agronomics, fertility and overall nutrition can raise field pea yields as high as 94 bushels per acre

It was only a plot, and it wasn’t necessarily a realistic crop nutrient program most producers would consider following, but an ATP Nutrition demonstration at a Saskatchewan farm show last summer, showed Prairie farmers it is possible to produce an 94 bushel field pea crop. That 94 bushel yield, on plots at the Ag In […] Read more

Pat Pfiffner, a farmer and senior technologist with Alberta Agriculture holing a soil penetrometer.

Rutted fields and soil compaction

What are the best ways to alleviate damaged fields in the spring?

Persistent rains with cold, damp conditions in September and October made harvest last fall even more stressful that usual for many farmers. Trucks, grain carts and combines in wet fields have left moderate to severe ruts in fields across the Prairie. Ruts must be fixed before spring planting. Many farmers are also worried about soil […] Read more


Getting better at what you do is the first step.

Staying competitive in a new world

Production is up in the Former Soviet Union and South America. Are you ready?

Up until about the last decade the advantage North American farmers had over those in Russia, Ukraine and South America was the use of machinery, technology, genetics and agronomics to produce higher yields. This kept per acre costs low enough to generate profits. Over the last 10 years farming in these other regions has caught […] Read more

Faster breeding with the Scanalyzer

Is field-scale robotic phenotyping: the next generation of precision ag?

It’s the world’s largest ag robot, and it could be called Precision Agriculture: Next Gen. Technically, it’s called the LemnaTec Field Scanalyzer. It’s a field-scale machine that looks at individual plants and quickly assesses many agronomic traits including leaf area, plant height, biomass, tip burn and drought tolerance, entirely on its own. LemnaTec, a German […] Read more


This tillage radish is in the early stages of getting to work.

The economic value of growing cover crops

Not all of the economic benefits of cover crops can be measured easily, but it’s worth a try

The first question that comes up when cover crops are discussed is “Do they pay?” Net returns from cover crops will be determined by what goals were set, what species were grown and other intrinsic benefits from the cover crop. In any business, net profit is the difference between costs and revenue. The two ways […] Read more

Planning large-scale agricultural landscapes requires a lot of organization and co-ordination.

Studying the whole ecosystem

Matthew Mitchell’s research looks at how soybeans are affected by nearby forests

How can farmers produce food while also providing more environmental and societal benefits from the land they’re managing? That is a million dollar question that Dr. Matthew Mitchell is trying to answer. While completing his PhD in natural resource sciences at McGill, Mitchell was part of a larger, two-year study looking at how people affect […] Read more


Adding a pulse crop to your rotation will put N back into your soil, some even require less water to produce.

Get your farm ready for global warming

Agronomy management: How can you adapt your Prairie farm to changing climate conditions in the years to come?


Many Prairie farmers have gradually come to accept that global warming is real. Over the past 60 years, our Prairie climate has been gradually changing. In most regions of the Prairies the length of the growing season has increased, the amount of heat (growing degree days and crop heat units) has increased and the number […] Read more

Agriculture Canada researcher Bob Blackshaw, right, with Univeristy of Alberta master’s student Mat Vercaigne talk to producers during a field day in Lethbridge on “forgotten” herbicides that can help manage resistance.

Old, new products deliver multi-modes of action

The challenge is to hit weeds with two or more active ingredients to reduce resistance

Old chemistry, new formulations, multiple modes of action — these are all elements farmers can include in their weed control toolbox heading into 2017, say weed researchers and crop protection specialists. One of the most important elements these days for either preventing or managing herbicide resistance in weeds is to approach control with multiple modes […] Read more