environment Archives - Page 5 of 7

Bryce Geisel says that Group 2 herbicides are still important to Western Canadian farmers, despite resistance issues.

Developing resistance: Group 2 herbicides

Each herbicide group kills weeds differently. Weed resistance differs by herbicide group 

By Lisa Guenther November 2, 2017

When talking about herbicide resistance, Bryce Geisel likes to make sure people realize that spraying herbicides doesn’t cause resistance in a weed. Instead there are individual plants that, by chance, resist the herbicide. Those plants survive and pass on their resistance traits. “And with Group 2s in particular, it’s just altering the target site,” says […] Read more

This BASF-supplied photo shows a still vigorously growing pea crop (left) produced with Nodulator Duo compared to pea crop produced with a competing inoculant product.

Crops, Features, Pulses

New bacteria enhance N-fixing performance

Natural soil molecules recruited to help increase pulse crop growth and yield

By Lee Hart November 1, 2017

BASF Canada and Monsanto BioAg have both added different naturally occurring soil bacteria to pulse crop inoculants to enhance the nitrogen fixing capability and growth of pea and lentil crops. Pulsea crop growers are no doubt familiar with BASF’s Nodulator and Monsanto BioAG’s TagTeam pulse crop inoculants. They’ve been around for years. For the 2018 […] Read more

Columns, Crops

Farming through the drought cycles

Soils and Crops: Even with modern ag technology, we’re still reliant on rain or soil moisture

By Les Henry October 31, 2017

As the combines started to roll this fall, many were very surprised at how hard the truckers had to work. While not a barn burner, the 2017 crop will go in the books for many as good, and considering the lack of rainfall some will say it is great. We all like to point out […] Read more

Different types of soil have different properties. University of Alberta research is focusing on measuring soil quality.

Crops, Features

Controlling traffic to improve your soil

A new test offers another way to test soil quality improvements

By Julienne Isaacs September 22, 2017

It can be called “fractal hierarchical aggregation” or just “fractal aggregation.” Whatever the moniker, the new method of soil health testing promises to offer an important way to assess soil quality and land stewardship, says Guillermo Hernandez, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta. Hernandez is the lead researcher on a suite of projects […] Read more

Everyone enjoys seeing wildlife, but they can have a negative impact on farming and ranching operations.

Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock

Managing wildlife/agriculture conflicts

Animal Health: Proper compensation part of the solution

By Roy Lewis September 21, 2017

There have been many articles written on the escalating conflict between wildlife and agriculture (both livestock and grain production) in certain areas of Canada. Our governments struggle to find balanced management options. The most recent survey (2014) on wildlife damage by Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) and the Miistakis Institute shows a high percentage of farms […] Read more

Lystek takes municipal waste and turns it into a rich fertilizer for your land.

Crops, Features

Turning city waste into good fertilizer

Soil Management: Lystek International’s CFIA-registered fertilizer takes waste from sewage to nutrition

By Lisa Guenther September 20, 2017

One man’s trash is another’s treasure. It’s a familiar idiom at the heart of a Canadian company’s process for turning municipal sewage into fertilizer. Faced with the challenge of dealing with sludge, Canadian municipalities have done everything from dumping it in landfills to letting it flow into the ocean. Lystek International, based in Cambridge, Ontario, […] Read more

Features

Farm it like you’re ‘just’ renting it?

Do farmers look after rented farmland differently than land they own? Should they?

By Angela Lovell September 18, 2017

We’ve all heard the term “drive it like a rental” but could that also apply to farmland? Is a farmer more likely to use conservation practices like no-till or variable rate technology, or apply more fertilizer and/or manure to improve the fertility on land he or she owns than on rented land? In April 2013, […] Read more

Some plants had more affected leaves than others, however, there was no pattern to the affected plants or the location of the injured leaves on those plants. For example, the top leaves were affected on some plants, while the middle leaves of others were exhibiting symptoms.

Crops, Features, Pulses

Crop Advisor’s Casebook: What’s stressing these lentils?

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the August 29, 2017 issue of Grainews

By Angie Berner August 28, 2017

“I have never seen anything like it in 15 years of growing lentils,” Vaughn, a southern Saskatchewan producer, told me after he discovered yellowing, unhealthy-looking lentil plants in his field the week of June 23, 2016. Our office had already received several calls from Assiniboia-area growers with similar concerns. Producers had also dropped off samples […] Read more

Crops, News

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’

By Jennifer Blair August 25, 2017

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

Fruit/Vegetables, General

Five tips for eco-friendly gardening

May 31, 2017

The word eco-friendly can be used in many areas of our lives: at work, at home, at play. Being eco-friendly in all these aspects is quite a simple concept with incredible opportunities for creativity. The bottom line is eco-friendly is all about working with nature, not against it. As gardeners we play an ever-increasing unique […] Read more

GFM Network News

U.S. livestock: Chicago cattle futures climb on post-Thanksgiving trade

U.S. grains: Corn futures set June high on US export demand

California researchers create nitrogen-fixing wheat

Tag Archives environment