Brent Punga, owner of AgroMax in Regina, said the raw materials for the product have to be shipped from India.

Once they arrive, the company will begin making the product it discontinued several years ago after the federal government ruled it was too toxic to non-target wildlife and caused an inhumane death.

WHY IT MATTERS: Strychnine to control gophers was phased out in Canada starting in 2020 toward a complete ban by 2024. Burgeoning populations and considerable damage to crops and pastures, however, led the two provinces to request an emergency-use registration last fall.

Health Canada announced March 30 it had approved a revised application from the two provinces after initially denying their request for emergency use registration.

It is in effect in parts of each jurisdiction until November 2027, but producers and rural municipalities will have to wait until the poison is available.

Numerous farm organizations had also called for its reinstatement.

Alberta agriculture minister R.J. Sigurdson told the House of Commons agriculture committee that damages in the last three years had increased from $80 million to $800 million.

“This is becoming a disaster in Alberta,” he said earlier in March.

Some restrictions apply

The reinstatement comes with restrictions, including a narrower window in which strychnine can be applied and measures to protect species at risk.

Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister David Marit said for 2026, the product can be used between July 15 and Sept. 1.

In 2027, application can be done between March 1 and June 15 before plants green up, and again between July 15 and Sept. 1.

The species-at-risk measures include increased monitoring, carcass collection and disposal requirements, and enhanced mandatory training. More details on these are still to come.

Saskatchewan is currently developing a strychnine stewardship program and expects training to be available in late spring.

Seven Saskatchewan crop districts in the southwest, southeast, south-central and northwest will have access, based on Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. claims data and the presence of species at risk.

In Alberta, most of the grain-growing region is included.

Both ministers said program details are still in development.

“We are working to procure supply and fully implement the agreement as soon as possible, and we will continue to work closely with farmers and ranchers across the province in the coming days to share more information,” Sigurdson said.

Marit said producers in that province have been clear they face challenges managing gophers with the other products available to them.

Reaction, so far

Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president Bill Huber said the emergency registration was “a significant win for our members.”

“SARM will continue to work with governments and producers to ensure this tool is used responsibly and effectively,” he said.

Others thanked the provincial government for continuing to push producers’ concerns. Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association president Jeff Yorga called it a “common sense, made-in-Saskatchewan solution.”

Many noted the escalating damage and negative economic impacts since strychnine was eliminated.

SaskOats chair Elwood White said the population has increased sharply in some regions since 2023.

“This revised emergency use registration shows we can use strychnine safely while still protecting wildlife,” said SaskBarley chair Cody Glenn.

Grain Growers of Canada said it is only a temporary measure, and grain farmers need consistent access to effective pest management tools.

Not all were happy, though. Some comments on Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s Facebook page pointed out that strychnine puts pets and other animals at risk.

Animal Justice said it was disappointed and called the decision “an unscientific reversal of (the federal government’s) own earlier findings that the poison poses unacceptable risks to animals and the environment.”

In a letter, it and several other organizations said strychnine causes horrific pain and suffering for animals that can last for 24 hours.

The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation and SARM announced prior to the recent decision, as they also did last year, that landowners experiencing problems with gophers could contact the SWF. The organization would then connect landowners with experienced SWF members for gopher control.

The post Strychnine’s emergency use on Prairies comes with limited times, places appeared first on Grainews.

The practice is commonly treated as a get-it-done-early job, with fields rolled soon after seeding to push down stones and smooth the surface.

Extension guidance for post-emergence rolling has typically urged caution, often pointing to the first trifoliate stage as a safer window while also emphasizing the role of soil and weather conditions.

WHY IT MATTERS: Risk of yield loss from bent and broken plants is one thing, but risk of damage from squashing your soil should also be considered.

However, an ongoing study from the University of Manitoba is taking a stage-by-stage look at how that risk develops. The work is helping define the post-emergence window more clearly, showing low risk early and rising damage if rolling is delayed.

A multi-year study led by U of M researcher Kristen MacMillan, with support from Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers, tested rolling soybeans across a wide range of crop stages, from post-seeding through flowering, to better understand where that flexibility ends.

The results show a clear window where post-emergence rolling causes little damage and no yield loss — and a sharp line where risk rises quickly.

Rolling is standard practice on many soybean farms, particularly on stony ground. The goal is to protect low-hanging soybean pods and reduce harvest losses by smoothing the seedbed.

However, MacMillan said rolling can also create unintended soil problems.

“We’re crushing those soil aggregates,” she said.

“We’re dispersing them into very fine particles.”

That can lead to surface sealing and poor infiltration during rainfall events, a problem in years when moisture is already limited. It can also increase the risk of wind erosion, especially on finely worked ground.

Those risks prompted the team to ask a simple question: if rolling has downsides, how long can growers safely delay it?

The study compared an unrolled check with rolling at multiple soybean stages: post-seeding, emergence, cotyledon, unifoliate, V1–V2, V3–V4 and flowering.

Rolling was also done under different conditions, including warm, sunny days and cooler, cloudy ones, when plants are more brittle. The roller used in the trial was slightly heavier than most commercial rollers, creating a conservative test.

At the cotyledon stage, damage was minimal.

“Only about one per cent of the plants in the plot were broken,” MacMillan said.

“This was really surprising.”

She noted that the seed furrow plays an important protective role early on. Plants emerging within the furrow were often shielded from the roller, while damage was more likely where the furrow was flattened by tractor tires.

At the unifoliate and early trifoliate stages, results were similar. Plant breakage remained low — generally less than three per cent early, and still less than 10 per cent through V2 — with no yield loss observed.

“Plants were bouncing back very nicely,” she said.

As soybeans advanced toward V3 and V4, damage increased sharply, with tire tracks playing a big role in plant breakage.

By the third to fourth trifoliate stage, about 17 per cent of plants were broken overall. Within tire tracks, damage climbed to 24 per cent, compared with about nine per cent in undriven rows.

“More than double most of the plant damage is happening from the tire tracks,” MacMillan said.

Yield losses followed the same pattern, increasing as rolling was pushed later into the season.

At flowering, results were unequivocal. Nearly half of all plants were broken when rolled at R1, with severe stem damage visible immediately after the pass.

“That was really late,” MacMillan said.

“Those plants did not look happy.”

Based on two years of data so far, the study points to a practical takeaway: growers have roughly a two- to three-week window after emergence where rolling can still be done safely.

Under Prairie conditions, that typically means the first three weeks of June, when soybeans range from unfolded cotyledons through V2.

Rolling beyond that point carries rising risk, especially once soybeans reach the third trifoliate stage and tractor tire damage becomes unavoidable.

MacMillan said the work is ongoing, with one more year of data still to come. However, the pattern has been consistent.

“There is a window,” she said.

“They can be rolled post-emergence, and that can help reduce those soil impacts.”

The post When post-emergence soybean rolling works, and when it doesn’t appeared first on Grainews.

A few years back I checked on a number of canola and grain fields north of Edmonton that had been heavily hailed in late June. All the fields, encompassing several thousand acres, looked like chopped vegetable salads. The owners talked wipeouts for the season but I advised them to wait a few weeks. Well, by late July all the fields were growing well and healthy in a good-moisture year, but obviously a month behind in crop maturity. At the end of a rainy summer and a long frost-free fall, all of the growers in the hailed area took off crops close to their target yields.

Thunderstorms with heavy rain and little or no hail can, depending on intensity, produce as much as five to 10 lb. of nitrate per acre from the reactive nitrogen dioxide produced by the lightning. Such storms contribute as much as one seventh of the planet’s fixed nitrogen fertilizer.

When you observe a thunderstorm, you’ll see the lightning bolts of the storm repeatedly strike into the ground, unless of course there is some high-ground tower nearby. Have you ever wondered what that lightning bolt did when it hit the Earth?

My first test came in Ontario in 1972 when I was checking out a rutabaga crop that was partially infested on a lower part of the field with clubroot. For your information, a rutabaga is just a winter annual Argentine canola. I found there was 100 per cent infection of the rutabagas in this lower part — but there was one healthy rutabaga, plumb in the middle of this group. I dug up this rutabaga and replanted it in a University of Guelph greenhouse, thinking that I had discovered a new kind of resistance, only to find there were already clubroot-resistant rutabagas readily available but customers did not like the varieties. They preferred the very clubroot-susceptible Laurentian rutabaga.

The grower then took me to other parts of the hilly rutabaga field and pointed out several dead, damaged areas of rutabagas. These damaged rutabagas were in roughly circular patches 10 to 15 feet in diameter. The rutabagas were dead and wilted in the middle of the circles, but healthy on the outer edges. I guessed and said “lightning bolts” – the grower smiled and said yes. He said he’d seen these spots on his lightning-prone cropland for years before he figured out the answer. He complimented me on my guess.

Subsequently, in travelling around Prairie cropland in Western Canada over the years, I pointed out many times that these diseased “spots” in canola, potato and cereal croplands were lightning strikes, to the relative amazement of many farmers. I even diagnosed a “diseased” farm vegetable garden in the Peace region that was indeed a lightning strike.

Bolted down

Unfortunately, lightning strikes can be far more destructive when peat and forest land are involved. I remember talking to Canadian forestry researchers at Edmonton in 1986 about lightning damage The personnel showed one aerial photograph of forest stands in Alberta’s foothills with brown/bleached specks dotted here and there. Again, I guessed lightning damage, as a good guess, and they were very surprised. It had taken them a few years to arrive at lightning bolts as the cause.

The lightning strikes during rainstorms, which killed off groups of trees, did not result in forest fires. Now, with drier weather conditions in recent years, these lightning strikes have frequently started forest fires. The persistence of up to 60 or more of these forest fires in Alberta, for example, is due to dry or fairly dry peat bogs. The irony is that we have people who oppose peat harvesting for horticultural soil mixes without the thought that these drying bogs become major fire hazards during dry windy summers. Peat bog fires can last for years. Vast areas of Russia’s Siberian forests have been severely damaged by fires, due to fire control failures and indiscriminate peat harvesting and drainage projects.

Trouble in the trees

Another aspect of lightning damage is the surprising number of tree “kills.” When you notice in particular very large spruce trees, especially around the more southern Prairie farmsteads, you often see one or more dead spruce trees in the farm shelterbelt or individual dead specimens. It could be disease, or perhaps prolonged spring flooding, but a very common cause is lightning.

Over the years I have been asked to look at specimens of dead spruce trees, both white and Colorado spruce, in cities and rural areas. Many times, I have diagnosed lightning strikes as the cause. How do I know? When lightning hits a spruce tree in, let’s say, August, nothing is obvious. Unfortunately, by May or June the following year, the tree is obviously dead. If indeed lightning was the cause then the lower four to five feet, if not trimmed, will still be green. If the spruce tree is close to a house, the spruce can be healthy green up to the house eaves. Lightning will jump the last few feet into the house or ground. In a shelterbelt, lightning may kill one to perhaps four or five adjacent trees.

Remember, lightning strikes are very common on the Prairies, so when you see these odd dead patches of cropland or suddenly dead spruce trees, think of those summer storms. If lightning hits a cottonwood or pine tree it usually causes the upper branches to split severely, damaging the tree, which may not be killed, as with a spruce tree.

On the old fable that lightning never strikes twice in the same place, I have proof that it can and does. The Leduc Rugby Club (near Edmonton) has had to replace one of its 40-foot (13-metre) goal posts twice in two years, due to them being shattered by lightning strikes at the exact same spot.

The post Lightning gives and takes in Prairie fields appeared first on Grainews.

The province’s weekly crop report released on Aug. 7 said while crops have rapidly developed due to warm and dry conditions, isolated thunderstorms brought moisture to areas which could no longer help early seeded crops.

Old Wives in southcentral Saskatchewan received the most precipitation in the province at 132 mm, followed by Vanguard in the southwest at 119 mm and Cadillac, also in the southwest, at 95 mm.

Despite the rains, topsoil moisture levels for cropland areas were five per cent surplus, 54 per cent adequate, 33 per cent short and eight per cent very short. Hayland topsoil moisture was four per cent surplus, 48 per cent adequate, 37 per cent short and 11 per cent very short. Pasture topsoil moisture was four per cent surplus, 52 per cent adequate, 32 per cent short and 12 per cent very short.

Crops in areas that have received sufficient rain so far this year were generally at normal stages of development while moisture-stressed crops were typically ahead of normal growth stages. As a result, harvest progress across Saskatchewan was at one per cent with most operations in the southwest. The province’s winter wheat crop was 13 per cent harvested, followed by seven per cent of fall rye. One per cent of lentils and peas were also combined. Most producers were servicing equipment, hauling grain and cleaning bins to prepare for harvest.

Fall cereals were the most developed with 97 per cent developing normally or ahead of schedule. Pulse crops were at 94 per cent, spring cereals were at 92 per cent, annual forage was at 91 per cent, perennial forage was at 90 per cent and oilseeds were at 87 per cent.

Pasture conditions varied due to the wide range of moisture across the province. Six per cent of pastures were in excellent condition, 36 per cent were good, 32 per cent were fair, 19 per cent were poor and eight per cent were in very poor condition.

Minor crop damage was reported in areas experiencing hot temperatures paired with dry conditions. There were also reports of grasshoppers, wind and wildlife causing minor crop damage in certain areas.

The post Saskatchewan Crop Report: Varied precipitation as harvest begins appeared first on Grainews.

Nevertheless, crop conditions improved across the province according to its weekly crop report released on July 18.

The percentage of crops rated in good to excellent condition improved five points from two weeks earlier at 66 per cent. The central region had the best rating at 87.4 per cent, followed by the northwest at 80.4 per cent. The northeast region was rated at 67.8 per cent, while the south had 60.5 per cent and the dry Peace region trailed every other area at 27.6 per cent. The south region was unchanged from two weeks earlier, while every other region improved.

The five-year provincial average was 61.6 per cent while the 10-year average was 62.9 per cent. The Peace region is the only one below its five- and 10-year averages.

Potatoes were the best rated crop by far at 99.1 per cent. Mixed grains (84.8 per cent) and flax (72.4 per cent) were the only other crops rated 70 per cent good to excellent or higher. Crops in the worst condition were chickpeas (55.6 per cent), durum (59.1 per cent) and winter wheat (59.9 per cent). Spring wheat was rated at 67 per cent while canola was at 64.4 per cent.

Crops were developing ahead of schedule, with spring cereals nearing full flowering, compared to the historical average of late head emergence. Approximately 74 per cent of broadleaf crops were in the flowering stage and 20 per cent have begun podding. Spring cereals in the Peace region were in the early milk development stage, while crops in the south region were in early heading to mid-flowering. Crops in all regions were developing quicker than usual. Gophers were detected in a small fraction of fields in the south, central and northwest regions.

Despite rainfall in some areas, surface soil moisture declined provincewide by three points from last week at 53 per cent good to excellent. The five-year average was 57.4 per cent while the 10-year average was 57.5 per cent. The central region had the most moisture at 81.3 per cent while the Peace region was at 31.2 per cent. The northwest and northeast regions showed heavy declines at 19 points (to 44 per cent) and 18 points (to 38 per cent), respectively.

Sub-surface moisture levels were unchanged at 47 per cent, below the five-year (51 per cent) and 10-year (53 per cent) averages, respectively. The central region rated the highest at 70 per cent while the south and Peace regions were at 37 per cent.

Pasture conditions in Alberta improved four points from last week at 48 per cent good to excellent, but still below the five- and 10-year averages. The best rating was in the central region at 71 per cent while the worst was in the Peace region at 23 per cent.

Dryland tame hay was 66 per cent baled as of July 15, well ahead of historical averages, while yields totaled 1.2 tonnes per acre on average. Growth conditions were 40.3 per cent good to excellent in Alberta. The central region was at 64.6 per cent while the Peace region was at 19.4 per cent.

The post Alberta Crop Report: Rains in the south, dryness in the north appeared first on Grainews.

Michael Brown, an agronomy manager for SPG specializing in lentils, chickpeas and dry peas, has heard reports of crops affected by both ends of the spectrum when it comes to weather.

“It’s quite variable across the province in all pulses. Some areas look quite good. There are areas that have seen heavy rain (where) low spots have drowned out and there are areas that are extremely dry,” Brown said.

Tyce Masich, a crop extension specialist with the province, said pulses in western areas of Saskatchewan are struggling.

“Provincially, approximately 60 to 70 per cent of lentils, field peas, and chickpeas are in good to excellent growing conditions, and the remaining 30 to 40 per cent are in fair to poor condition,” Masich said.

“Pulse crops in much of the northwest and southwest regions are struggling due to persistent dry conditions in these areas and some crops in these areas are ahead of normal growth stages. This means that crops are maturing quicker due to stress from dry conditions.”

Severe weather has hit the province in recent weeks, but damages to pulse crops appear to be minimal.

“There has been hail in some areas. Smaller hail during vegetative stages wouldn’t affect pulses too much, but larger hail like we saw in Lumsden or hail into flowering and podding can cause large yield losses and reduction in grade,” Brown explained.

”Some producers in areas that have received high levels of rainfall in late June and early July are spraying fungicides to mitigate disease risk,” Masich added.

There is expected to be more pulse acres grown in Saskatchewan this year. In Statistics Canada’s latest estimates released on June 27, the projected areas for chickpeas, lentils and dry peas in Saskatchewan are set to increase modestly compared to last year. However, dry pea acres were trimmed from StatCan’s March estimate.

Brown identified the drivers behind the additional acres, both in terms of economics and agronomics.

“Strong market prices played a big part in the increase. Factor in some of the reduced input costs with pulses and the potential net return was attractive to producers,” he said. “We also heard of some pea and lentil acres that are fighting Aphanomyces shifting to chickpeas as they have partial resistance.”

To have good crops this year, moderate temperatures and plenty of rain are needed.

“Temperatures in the mid-20 (degrees Celsius) would be ideal. When it starts getting too hot, the plants get stressed and we start to see some flower and pod abortion,” Brown said. “A lot of the province is still teetering between adequate and short for soil moisture and we’ll need some July rains to carry through to harvest.”

“Producers are highly encouraged to scout fields for disease and insect activity over the next few weeks so potential control can be taken at optimal times if necessary,” Masich said.

The post Pulse Weekly: Conditions vary across Saskatchewan appeared first on Grainews.

If you’ve got time for some reading right now, here we’ve gathered a list of links to recent years’ articles on the subject from across our sister publications.

Impact of smoke on crops is more than a little hazy, Alberta Farmer, 2019

As smoke over Prairie skies became an annual phenomenon, many farmers were wondering about the cumulative effect on their seeded crops. The answer to that question, though, “is so plant- and environment-specific” and not much research has been done to further clarify, agronomist Jeremy Boychyn told Alexis Kienlen.

How is corn impacted by wildfire smoke?, Manitoba Co-operator, 2024

How does a smoke-obscured sun and poor air quality affect corn crops? To be sure, it reduces sunlight (bad) — but it also helps to diffuse sunlight (good).

“The way it breaks out is that wildfire smoke can negatively impact the crop, but it can actually positively affect the crop,” Purdue professor Dan Quinn told our associate editor Don Norman last spring.

The potential impacts to field crops from wildfire smoke, Farmtario, 2023

Ontario’s ag ministry put together these lists of the pros and cons of wildfire smoke on crops during wildfires in Ontario and Quebec in 2023.

Wildfire smoke’s crop yield impact thought to be minimal, Western Producer, 2024

Whether wildfire smoke has an impact on crop yield is one thing, but as smoke’s effects on grape crops in California and Australia have shown, its effect on crop quality may be quite another.

Smoke and weather a complex topic, Manitoba Co-operator, 2024

Weather expert Daniel Bezte examined what we know about wildfire smoke’s effects on weather, including temperatures, precipitation and atmospheric stability.

Click here for information from the Canadian Red Cross on how to support evacuees from wildfire-threatened communities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

The post What we know about how wildfire smoke affects Prairie crops appeared first on Grainews.

If you’ve got time for some reading right now, here we’ve gathered a list of links to recent years’ articles on the subject from across our sister publications.

Impact of smoke on crops is more than a little hazy, Alberta Farmer, 2019

As smoke over Prairie skies became an annual phenomenon, many farmers were wondering about the cumulative effect on their seeded crops. The answer to that question, though, “is so plant- and environment-specific” and not much research has been done to further clarify, agronomist Jeremy Boychyn told Alexis Kienlen.

How is corn impacted by wildfire smoke?, Manitoba Co-operator, 2024

How does a smoke-obscured sun and poor air quality affect corn crops? To be sure, it reduces sunlight (bad) — but it also helps to diffuse sunlight (good).

“The way it breaks out is that wildfire smoke can negatively impact the crop, but it can actually positively affect the crop,” Purdue professor Dan Quinn told our associate editor Don Norman last spring.

The potential impacts to field crops from wildfire smoke, Farmtario, 2023

Ontario’s ag ministry put together these lists of the pros and cons of wildfire smoke on crops during wildfires in Ontario and Quebec in 2023.

Wildfire smoke’s crop yield impact thought to be minimal, Western Producer, 2024

Whether wildfire smoke has an impact on crop yield is one thing, but as smoke’s effects on grape crops in California and Australia have shown, its effect on crop quality may be quite another.

Smoke and weather a complex topic, Manitoba Co-operator, 2024

Weather expert Daniel Bezte examined what we know about wildfire smoke’s effects on weather, including temperatures, precipitation and atmospheric stability.

Click here for information from the Canadian Red Cross on how to support evacuees from wildfire-threatened communities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

The post What we know about how wildfire smoke affects Prairie crops appeared first on Grainews.

In Alberta, cereals, pulses, potatoes, sugar beets and other crops were damaged in communities like Vauxhall, Medicine Hat, Okotoks, High River, Cochrane, Strathmore, Bassano and others.

Alberta claims comprised more than 75 per cent of the 1,642 cases.

In Saskatchewan, wheat, barley, lentils, peas and canola were damaged in communities like Estevan, Oxbow, Regina, Weyburn, Alameda, Swift Current, North Battleford, Moose Jaw, and others.

In Manitoba, wheat, canola, corn and soybeans were damaged near Virden, Beausejour, Steinbach and Tourond.

“With harvest beginning in some areas, producers are reminded to leave adequate representative areas for adjusters to assess, if they are harvesting, cutting, or salvaging their crops,” said Yves Dooper, Agricultural Financial Services Corporation.

The post Hail hits crops at more than 1,600 farms across Prairies appeared first on Grainews.

Pasture conditions in much of Saskatchewan were diminishing due to the hot and dry conditions. While sporadic rainfall in north and east parts of the province will benefit later seeded crops as they mature, but came too late for early seeded crops.

Harvest progress came in at six per cent complete, which was slightly ahead of the five-year average of five per cent done. The southwest was the furthest ahead in the province at 16 per cent harvest complete. The southeast trails behind with 11 per cent of crops harvested. The harvest has yet to start in both northwest and northeast Saskatchewan.

Winter wheat and fall rye harvested acres greatly increased in the last week. Provincially, 55 per cent of winter wheat was harvested and 42 per cent of fall rye. Pulse crop harvest continued with 28 per cent of lentils and 26 per cent of field peas harvested. Eight per cent of barley crops, three per cent of durum and two per cent of spring wheat have been combined. Harvest progress for oilseeds was insignificant as only one per cent of canola and mustard were harvested.

Cropland topsoil moisture was 29 per cent adequate, 48 per cent short and 23 per cent very short. Hayland topsoil moisture was 24 per cent adequate, 47 per cent short and 29 per cent very short. Pasture topsoil moisture was 16 per cent adequate, 47 per cent short and 37 per cent very short.

The limited rainfall in Saskatchewan was impacting livestock water supplies and some livestock producers were concerned about water availability for their animals. Provincially, one per cent of livestock water supplies were severely short and 31 per cent moderately short. When asking producers if they are concerned about water availability on their farm, 77 per cent indicated they aren’t concerned while 23 per cent said they were.

The majority of crop damage in Saskatchewan during the week was from dry conditions paired with hot temperatures. Grasshopper damage to crops was also reported during the period.

The post Saskatchewan harvest underway amid hot and dry weather appeared first on Grainews.