Editor’s Rant: No soy registrado

Editor’s Rant: No soy registrado

Why’s a potentially helpful nematicide for soy crops not up for registration here?

Surely a made-in-Canada nematicide would be a boon for Prairie soy growers before soybean cyst nematode gets any further foothold up here on the Prairies, right? Well, no.

lygus bug

Lambda-cy back in the toolbox

After two years reviewing updated data, regulators rule in favour of a popular pest control product

Prairie farmers are welcoming the return of some important insecticides to the crop protection toolbox — although there’s still some headshaking over why use of the products was interrupted in the first place, and why it took two years for the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) to re-evaluate registration data. Although producers such as […] Read more


Keeping reference materials current for the farming community could help ward off weeds and pests before they become endemic.

Recognize the value of books, fact sheets, texts

Practical Research: Don’t assume that your phone will have all the answers at hand

During my long tenure with Alberta Agriculture we, as a crop protection unit, produced many farmer information presentations, fact sheets, books, booklets, broadcasts and seminars. From 2000 onward, Alberta Agriculture severely cut down on this and other farm information units. The books and fact sheets are fully relevant today but they need upgrading and maintenance, […] Read more

Rebate roundup 2023

Rebate roundup 2023

Make your crop input dollars go further this year with cash-back rebates and reward programs

With the high price of fertilizer and other crop inputs these days, it’s more important than ever to be mindful of cash-back rebates and other grower reward programs as you prepare for the 2023 growing season. With this in mind, here’s our annual roundup (in alphabetical order) of rebates available to farmers in Western Canada […] Read more


During the growing season, the pathogen produces fruiting bodies called pycnidia that appear as pepper-like
spots within lesions on young leaves. Once the leaves are infected, the fungus can spread into the stem,
eventually leading to the most damaging phase of the disease — stem cankering — usually at ground level.

New products, genetic tools aimed at key crop diseases

It takes a multi-pronged approach to control diseases that constantly change

Western Canadian canola, corn and soybean growers will have valuable new crop protection tools for the 2023 growing season, as Corteva Agriscience introduces new packages of seed treatment products that control a range of crop pests. Known as the LumiGEN seed treatment packages — each tailored for canola, corn and soybeans — the idea is […] Read more

Tips for the safe use of crop protection products

Tips for the safe use of crop protection products

Q & A with an expert

Q: How do I use crop protection products safely? A: Agricultural field pesticides are valuable tools to help growers control weeds, certain insects and crop disease. It is imperative that pesticides be used safely to protect both the applicator and the local environment. Each pesticide will have details as to its safe use on the […] Read more


Adjuvants help keep pesticide ingredients suspended in spray water and improve adherence to what you are targeting.

What to do – and what not to do – when using adjuvants

How to get the most out of your crop protection products

Most pesticide labels include a section indicating what type of adjuvants will help you get the most out of your crop protection applications. These labels feature language such as “required,” “recommended” or “can be used” to help you understand which adjuvants are essential to your mix and which ones are optional. But it’s not as […] Read more

It’s not very common a pH adjustor would need to be added to a product where there was not a recommendation on the label to do so, says Rory Cranston.

What to do and what not to do when using adjuvants

How to get the most out of your crop protection products

Most pesticide labels include a section indicating what type of adjuvants will help you get the most out of your crop protection applications. These labels feature language such as “required,” “recommended” or “can be used” to help you understand which adjuvants are essential to your mix and which ones are optional. But it’s not as […] Read more


Lachie McKinnon is Nufarm’s Canadian manager.

Nufarm working its way up the middle

Don’t be too hard on the Aussies — 
they have to deal with Canadian winter

Be ready for the Aussie invasion. Some of them are here now, and more are likely to follow. It is probably a slight exaggeration to say having lunch with the fairly new-to-Canada country manager of Nufarm is really an Aussie invasion, but Lachie McKinnon is the second Australian I have met in the past 20 […] Read more

Grain buyers want you thinking about residues before you harvest

Grain buyers want you thinking about residues before you harvest

It hasn’t happened yet, but exceeding pesticide residue limits on exported grain could cause a ‘big problem’

Grain growers are again being urged to heed the labels on their pre-harvest pesticides and avoid going over maximum residue limits. “We’re selling our crops mostly into export, and our exports markets are very sensitive to residual levels of different crop protection products that we use,” said Alberta Wheat Commission chair Kevin Auch, who farms […] Read more