Brad Barlow combining durum wheat on September 4, 2018, near Griffin, Saskatchewan, taking advantage of the nice weather before the rains came.

2018 weather—just part of cycle

Maybe there is climate change, but farmers figure this really isn’t out of the ordinary

Many farmers across Western Canada are counting on October to be a decent harvest month after combines in many areas came to a screeching halt about mid-September as daily rain showers, snow flurries and in some cases snowfall terminated what had largely been a hot, dry summer. But producers contacted in late September for this […] Read more

This photo was taken on August 1, 2009. There was great crop growth, from old fashioned methods.

Cover crops and green manure

In the Palliser Triangle, cover crops aren’t the answer in a dry cycle

The current interest in soil health issues has expanded our thinking and spawned much research and new farm-scale work with many new-to-us plant species. Cover crops are planted in the non-commercial season to add diversity to the mix and juice up the soil organisms that go along with the different plants. In wet years, cover […] Read more


By the end of July, Shaun Cory said it was likely he’d have to bring cattle home early from one pasture.

Long rotations: midsummer management

In the second of a three-part series, Lisa Guenther talks to farmers about their rotations

This harvest, farmers in southwestern Manitoba and southeastern Alberta are dealing with dry weather, while producers in northwestern Saskatchewan have excess moisture. This summer Grainews has been talking to three farmers from three provinces about how they manage their rotations. The idea is to see how producers manage longer rotations and what are the benefits and challenges. […] Read more

Bernie McClean's annual crop rotation includes canola, CPS wheat, malt barley and oats.

Extending rotations, in the field

Part 1 of 3: How real farmers are extending their rotations

There seems to be no shortage of articles, presentations and research exhorting farmers to lengthen rotations. Longer rotations benefit everything from weed control to disease suppression in crops. But what are farmers doing to maintain or extend rotations? Grainews spoke to three farmers to find out how they’re managing their rotations. And while each farmer […] Read more


On Dalgarno’s operation he gets yields between 850 and 1,000 clean pounds per acre after dockage has been taken off.

Quinoa a profitable rotation crop

This Manitoba farmer says quinoa has been an agronomic bonus for his farm

Quinoa is no longer just for health nuts. Most Canadian consumers are familiar with the ancient grain, and it’s increasingly used as a value-added ingredient in boxed cereals and baked goods due to its high protein and fibre content. And though its low acreage still puts it in the “niche” category of production in western […] Read more

blackleg in canola

New labels for blackleg resistance

New “groups” for blackleg resistance on some canola seed this spring

Agronomists agree the best way to control blackleg in canola is rotation — only growing canola once every three years, at most. Besides rotations, scouting and fungicide can help in the fight against blackleg. And, last spring a new item was added to the list of blackleg-fighting tools: a new labelling system. This season, you’ll see some new letters on some of your seed […] Read more


Water Use Efficiency (WUE) and your crop

Water Use Efficiency (WUE) and your crop

Q & A with CPS

Q: While we have little control over available moisture for crop production, how can it impact the final result? What is meant by the term “Water Use Efficiency (WUE)?” A: When we consider inputs that are essential for crop growth we tend to think of fertility. However, there is one ingredient that every single cropping […] Read more

There’s a perception in the farming community that soil erosion and degradation are in the past, but that simply isn't the case.

Don’t forget lessons of the Dirty 30s

Although there’s a perception that dust is past, tillage erosion is on the rise in Manitoba

It seemed like the beginning of the end of the world: friends and neighbours dying of “dust pneumonia” and massive dust storms sweeping the land. These are some of the recollections of people who were alive in the “Dirty 30s,” recorded for an oral history project by Daryl Ritchison, interim director of the North Dakota […] Read more


This soil is repairing and building, and looks like cottage cheese.

Balancing the soil biology

Helping Mother Nature with the fungi:bacteria ratio can keep our soils more productive

Soil health. Sounds like a good target we should be aiming at. Where do we start? What do we measure? How do we know when we get there? The first thing we need to find out is where are we? Nicole Masers is an agro-ecologist with Integrity Soils. For her three-day course in regenerative soil […] Read more

Reporter’s Notebook: Removing the stigma of clubroot

Reporter’s Notebook: Removing the stigma of clubroot

If we’re going to deal with clubroot, we need to consider the psychological issues

Back in 2015, I was in Australia, talking to farmers and others in agriculture about how they were handling herbicide resistance. Australian farmers have the unenviable task of dealing with weeds that are resistant to several modes of action. The country ranks number two globally for the number of herbicide-resistant weeds. During that trip, Brad […] Read more