wheat stem sawfly

How farmers can help map, monitor and forecast pest outbreaks

Researchers can help producers develop pest management plans — but farmers’ help is needed to know which pests are where, and how many

Prairie scientists conducting research into field crop pests can always use more help from producers — whether it’s by granting access to farmland, or just by reporting what they see in the field.



Proven Seed silage corn plot

Corn’s amazing nature

Practical Research: The fusarium we see in small cereal grains is the anamorph of the pink mould seen in corn

Consider that if you grow corn after wheat or vice versa and have a wet summer or fall, be prepared for possible outbreaks of pink mould/fusarium head blight in either crop in such a rotation.

fusarium infected wheat head

Fungicide, glyphosate don’t hurt your hard red wheat quality

In terms of grain quality, this University of Manitoba-led research finds weather and variety matter most

The results of this study may not seem all that surprising: everyone expected weather and genotype to be the most impactful factors on wheat quality. But this research hadn’t been done before, so it offers up the good news that fungicides and glyphosate aren’t making things worse.


wheat plant waving hello

FEED ME: Can well-fed plants fend off diseases and insects?

We examine an Idaho farmer’s program for crop self-defence

Blake Matthews works with agronomist Jared Cook on an intensive cropping program that improves plant health and soil health, reduces pesticide use and somewhat increases profits. We check in with Prairie experts to see how that program’s principles could work in this region.

Powdery scab a puzzling potato problem

Powdery scab a puzzling potato problem

Biosecurity, such as avoiding the use of manure from livestock that ate infected potatoes, is a must

Powdery scab, caused by Spongospora subterranea, thrives in cool, moist conditions and can significantly impact potato crops by forming lesions on tubers and galls on roots.


early growth of potatoes

Potatoes Prairie-wide

Practical Research: How Prairie researchers uncovered a serious potato disease’s hiding place

As a consequence of cleaning up potato diseases, the most recent yields in Prairie potatoes, as of 2024, are 20 tons per acre for Alberta and 18 for Manitoba.