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lady beetle killing pea aphid
Crops, Features

Attend against aphids

Multiplication won’t take long, so if you see just a few, keep checking

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Aphids may be nearly invisible to the untrained eye, but a research scientist who specializes in crop-destroying insects warns Saskatchewan farmers not to turn their backs on the tiny, pear-shaped pests. Tyler Wist, a field crops entomologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Saskatoon, spoke about the threat aphids can pose to some crops at the […] Read more
Red-morph English grain aphids, seen here feeding on wheat, are a common cereal pest on the Prairies.
Cereals, Cereals Production Guide, Crops, Features

Keeping aphids in check, online and off

Improvements could come for a smartphone app targeting the cereal pest, but you can also take steps to help the pest’s natural predators

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Cereal Aphid Manager is a useful smartphone app for farmers looking to control one of the main pests in wheat, barley, oat and rye crops in the Prairies. The tool’s scientific developer, Tyler Wist, believes it’s time to hit refresh on the mobile app first released six years ago. Cereal Aphid Manager helps farmers and […] Read more
Two-striped grasshopper and wheat midge numbers on the rise in Saskatchewan
Crops, News

Two-striped grasshopper and wheat midge numbers on the rise in Saskatchewan

Another dry spring could also increase flea beetle pressure

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Exactly which insect pests will chomp their way into your crops this year and how much damage they’ll do depends on wind, weather and, above all, your scouting and management choices. This year, Saskatchewan growers should keep an eye out for rising populations of two-stripe grasshopper and wheat midge, meanwhile dry spring conditions will increase […] Read more
If there are high levels of cutworms in your fields, control them before they do a lot of damage.
Crops, Features, Soybeans

Dealing with soybean aphids and cutworms

Hot, dry summer weather can bring soybean aphids into your fields


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Soybean aphids tend to come along with hot, dry weather, says Cassandra Tkachuk, production specialist for Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers (MPSG). “Moist conditions mean fungal pathogens can help take down populations of soybean aphid. Hot, dry conditions are conducive to them reproducing rapidly.” While this year’s harvest weather wasn’t hot and dry in most […] Read more
This aphid parasitoid died trying to emerge from the aphid mummy.
Crops, Features

New Cereal Aphid Manager app

Take this app on scouting and let it help you decide if you need to spray

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Aphids can be a big problem in cereal crops, and populations can build quickly. Knowing if and when to spray can be tricky. Decisions are driven by estimated aphid populations and factors can impact them — weather and natural predators. The new Cereal Aphid Manager app can help. This app uses considers these factors to […] Read more
The plants looked healthy. The crop was completely headed out and around the milky stage, with no signs of disease or abnormal growth on the plants’ leaves, stems or heads. What was attracting the beetles?
Cereals, Crops, Features

Crop Advisor’s Casebook: The secret of the swooping birds

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the April 11, 2017 issue of Grainews

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Last July, Henry, a Saskatchewan farmer, watched as a throng of birds swooped in and out of his durum wheat field. When he scouted the field, he also found some “black bugs,” which prompted him to give me a call. “You need to look at my durum,” he said. “Birds are swooping, so there must […] Read more
English grain aphids at different life stages. These cereal aphids double their reproductive rate once they start feeding on cereal grain heads.
Crops, Features

The new phone app for info on aphids

AAFC’s first smartphone app will help farmers scout and sample for aphids and their predators

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Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) is testing a new aphid app in the field this summer, which should be widely available by next growing season. The cereal aphid app is the first smartphone app developed by AAFC, says Dr. Tyler Wist, a federal research scientist based in Saskatoon. It will guide cereal growers and agronomists […] Read more
Black beetles on canola buds.
Crops, Features

Want better insect surveys? Here’s how you can help

Provincial entomologists are looking to widen their insect survey networks

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Every year provincial entomologists hit the fields, setting pheromone-baited traps and monitoring insect activity. Your help with these projects could improve the information available in your region. Alberta Alberta Agriculture and Forestry insect management specialist Scott Meers relies on growers. “We have large areas to cover, so when we get input from growers and agronomists […] Read more
Lining up the beneficial beetles from an insect trap. These are melanarius beetles, which belong to the carabid, or ground beetle, family. 
Ground beetles prey on pest insects. 

Crops, Features

Want to know which bugs are in your field? Try traps

Trapping beneficial beetles can help you see just what’s living on your land

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Wondering what types of beneficial insects you have beetling around your fields? Try a ground trap. “It’s nice to know that you’ve got some good guys in there that are eating the bad guys,” said Patty Reid, a research tech with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. There isn’t an economic threshold for beneficial insects such as […] Read more
(CanolaCouncil.org)
Crops, Reuters

EU food safety experts warn on crop insecticide

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Brussels | Reuters –– Dimethoate, an insecticide widely used to protect crops such as cherries, could be harmful to humans, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which advises EU policymakers, said Tuesday. The report follows a request from France, which is calling for a Europe-wide ban of the substance made by companies including BASF and […] Read more

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