That simple idea sparked a four-year research project at the University of Manitoba, where Yvonne Lawley, associate professor of plant science, and Alejandro Costamagna, professor of entomology have been testing whether standing cover from fall rye or spring-seeded nurse crops can reduce early feeding.

The work was demonstrated publicly at the U of M Field Day in Carman this past July, where Lawley and two graduate students presented the results and the agronomic questions arising from them.

Why it matters: Flea beetles remain one of the Prairies’ most frustrating canola pests, and early feeding damage can push growers toward costly in-season sprays.

The concept started with a social media thread.

Several farmers had accidentally left fall rye standing too long in spring, then noticed their canola seedlings seemed to suffer less defoliation. Rather than brush off the anecdote, after a gentle nudge from her grad students, Lawley dipped her toe into the discussion, then quickly became immersed.

“Agronomists and farmers were sharing their collective observations in the social media space about this effect,” she said.

The outcome of those discussions led to a formal study with support from Manitoba Canola Growers and funding from CARP (Canola Agronomic Research Program). The goal was to test whether a living cover could shield canola long enough for seedlings to outgrow their most vulnerable stages.

Small-plot findings

Graduate student Aleksander Zashev walked farmers through four seasons of small-plot trials comparing fall rye termination timings. Late termination — holding off until canola reached the two-leaf stage — consistently led to less defoliation and fewer flea beetles. However, those same treatments also posed the highest risk of yield loss. In two of the four years, tall rye shaded the canola enough to drag yields down.

A clear pattern was emerging: more biomass meant more protection, but the added competition risked greater yield losses.

Spring-seeded oats were also evaluated as a nurse crop because they pose far less agronomic risk than fall rye. Oats emerge later and grow shorter, so they are far less likely to shade canola seedlings. The oat treatments produced little change in defoliation or flea beetle numbers, except in one case at a higher seeding rate. The results were predictable, but still useful: they reinforced the pattern seen with rye — biomass is the main driver of the hiding effect.

Lawley said the challenge is finding the sweet spot between maximum hiding and minimal shading. Waiting until canola reaches the two-leaf stage offers the strongest hiding effect, but that same biomass can shade seedlings and slow early growth.

Data showed the most balanced option was terminating when canola was still at the cotyledon stage. Because glyphosate doesn’t kill the rye immediately, the standing plants provide a short window of protection before they die off.

“We have a seven-day window before that fall rye is terminated,” said Lawley.

Taking it to the field

Graduate student Raquel Chinchin Talavera presented the on-farm phase of the study. That phase was launched in 2024 with four cooperating growers in the south-central region of the Red River Valley. Full-field strips, 36 metres wide, were seeded with and without a cover crop to see whether the small-plot trends hold under real farm conditions.

Early observations show slightly more flea beetles in bare canola strips than in strips with a living nurse crop, though the wider spacing between monitoring traps means overall counts are lower than in the small plots. Yield data from the second season is still pending.

While the research has validated that standing cover can interrupt flea beetle activity, Lawley wants growers to be cautious in how they interpret the early results. There are still many unknowns. Row orientation, stand density and fertility management could all influence outcomes. And, significantly, the agronomic costs (yield hits from competition, shading, moisture use and possible nitrogen tie-up) are real.

So, would Lawley recommend this for large acres at this point?

“No, we’re still working on it,” she said. “I feel like it’s still a high-risk practice for canola at this point.”

Where it could lead

Despite the uncertainty, she sees potential. Growers already experimenting with fall rye or spring nurse crops for soil health or weed management may one day be able to layer flea beetle suppression into those systems. But before any of this becomes a recommendation, researchers need to fine-tune the agronomy enough to reduce the risk of yield penalties.

The project concludes its CARP-funded phase after the 2025 season, but Lawley has already seeded more fall rye to continue teasing apart the variables. She hopes future work can answer questions about seeding rate, termination timing, nitrogen management and how to optimize cover without compromising stand establishment. The biggest unknown remains how the flea beetle feeding process is disrupted.

“We still don’t understand the mechanism of how flea beetles are seeing, smelling, sensing the canola, and how having living cover interrupts it,” she said. “It would be worthwhile trying to understand that mechanism so we can optimize this practice.”

For now, the idea remains a promising possibility rather than a new tool — a reminder that Prairie innovation often starts with a farmer noticing something odd, and a curious researcher willing to follow the thread.

“We’ve validated the observation that cover crops can hide canola from flea beetles. Now we need to de-risk it.”

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Manitoba’s crop experts outlined one tactic to help farmers find out at the 2025 Crop Diagnostic School earlier this year at Carman.

Farmers using a ‘nitrogen ramp’ approach will increase nitrogen rates in increments, based on soil test recommendations.

It involves taking “whatever the nitrogen recommendation was from your field based in the soil test, and then comparing that to the nitrogen ramp to see, are you actually hitting (the target)?” said Anne Kirk, cereal crop specialist with Manitoba Agriculture.

“When is it the greenest? And then also, considering, if we’re applying more nitrogen, is that economical as well?” Kirk added.

If you’ve tested a nitrogen ramp in your cereal crop, there are a few ways to determine if your plants are taking up nitrogen as intended.

It can just be gauged by the amount of biomass in your crop and the colour of the leaf tissue to the naked eye, Kirk said — but there’s a catch to that strategy. Changing light conditions throughout the day can trick the eye and make it difficult to gauge differences in the shades of green in the leaves.

Farmers can take the guesswork out of the process with a nitrogen ramp calibration strip, she noted. Similar to a paint colour swatch you might see in the local hardware store’s paint department, the tool can help give more concrete insight.

“It’s not to identify which one is sufficient or deficient,” but rather is a comparative measure, she cautioned.

“If you have 80 pounds of nitrogen per acre compared to 100, is there actually a colour difference, or are they about the same?”

For the more tech-savvy, a device called a SPAD meter measures the amount of chlorophyll in a leaf. To take a reading, the user presses the flag leaf between the two paddles on the meter.

Kirk noted that while these readings don’t mean much on their own and do not replace soil nitrogen testing, they can be helpful when measuring against other parts of your field or where a different application rate was put down.

Nitrogen application strategies

When it comes to fall or spring nitrogen application in winter cereals, there are pros and cons to both.

“If you’re applying all of your nitrogen in the fall, the risk is that you can have excessive leaching if you have a wet fall,” Kirk said. “You can also have denitrification (gassing off of that nitrogen) and it wouldn’t be available to the plants.”

A full burst of nitrogen in the fall could also lead to excessive top growth in your plants, which could mean a less healthy crown going into winter and perhaps more winterkill, added Kirk.

“If you apply all of your nitrogen in the spring, the risk is that it could be dry … and if it doesn’t rain, that nitrogen isn’t actually getting down into the soil to your plant,” she added.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, field conditions in a wet spring could mean a grower may not get nitrogen on the field before it’s too late.

To avoid risk, Kirk suggests using a split N application — a portion applied in the fall and a portion in the spring to reduce the risks from both of these types of potential losses.

The key is making sure that nutrient is available to winter cereals when the crop is likely to need it the most.

“We know that winter wheat takes up about 30 to 40 per cent of its total nitrogen needs by stem elongation,” said Kirk. “So we really want to make sure that nitrogen is on and available for the plant by the time stem elongation happens.”

For more information on nitrogen ramp calibration strips, visit the Manitoba Agriculture website.

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While some areas received little to no rainfall, other places saw more than 60 millimetres, including Windygates in the central region (72.4 mm), Ninette in the southwest (62 mm) and Zhoda in the east (54 mm).

Northwestern and eastern Manitoba, as well as the Interlake, have large areas where accumulated precipitation since May 1 is below 50 per cent of normal. Most of central Manitoba and the southwest are at 70 per cent or less, while some places received more than 80 per cent of the 30-year average.

Spring wheat quality was rated at 90 per cent good to excellent across the province with the Interlake showing the best rating at 60 per cent excellent. The earliest seeded spring wheat is in anthesis. Meanwhile, winter wheat and fall rye are in the grain fill stage, while most corn fields are in the V8 to V10 stages. Barley and oats range from stem elongation to head emergence. Fungicide applications to prevent Fusarium head blight are still ongoing.

A long seeding window meant the earliest seeded canola is in full flower while late-seeded canola is in the four-leaf stage to rosette. Also, the earliest seeded flax fields are flowering while late-seeded fields are up to 15 centimetres tall and are budding.

Field peas have flowered in most areas, with the earliest seeded fields having progressed to the R2 and R3 stages and beginning to pod. Soybeans planted early are in the R1 and R2 stages, while those planted later are in the V3 to V5 stages.

Pasture conditions vary across the province, with dry and grasshopper-damaged areas found in the east, southwest, the Interlake and the Rural Municipality of Kelsey in the northwest. Beef hay quality has been good in areas with sufficient moisture, but some fields in the east, Interlake and the RM of Kelsey are seeing yields as low as 25 per cent of normal. While some dairy producers in eastern Manitoba are anticipating a second cut of hay, others in the Interlake don’t expect one unless there is substantial rainfall. Corn for silage is faring well, even in drier areas.

Cattle on pasture are in good condition, but fly pressure and foot rot were observed. Water levels in dugouts and natural waterways are lower than normal, with some at 50 per cent capacity.

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So, how can you assess your winter wheat or fall rye to give you peace of mind that the crop will grow once warmer temperatures kick in come spring?

–> WATCH THIS: AGronomyTV: Did your winter wheat survive the cold?

Anne Kirk, cereal crop specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, says late April or early May is often a good time to dig up a few plants and assess their roots.

“The crown of the winter wheat plant is what stays alive over winter, and that’s where the new roots are coming out of,” says Kirk. “You can dig up your plants and you should see new, white, actively growing roots coming out from that crown.”

This is your indication that the crown is alive and will start to regrow once temperatures consistently stay above freezing.

If outdoor temperatures are still on the cold side and you want to know the viability of your winter cereal crop sooner, Kirk offers a second approach.

“If it’s early April, and you’re a little worried about your crop and trying to decide if you should make a re-seeding plan, you can go out dig up some plants. Keep them in their soil, put them in a pot in the house and add some water to see if those crowns are alive.”

In this case, new green shoots should begin to grow within a week – a good sign that your crop is okay.

Kirk said that all registered winter wheat and fall rye varieties have fairly good overwintering. Choosing seed from your provincial seed guide with a winter rating also helps ensure that your crop should survive most winter conditions.

A winter cereal crop that has overwintered well should have about 20 to 25 plants per square foot. Having fewer plants isn’t necessarily bad as long as it’s relatively even throughout the field, as the plant will compensate with tillering, Kirk said.

But if things haven’t gone your way and re-seeding is necessary, it’s important to choose a crop that won’t cause additional problems.

“Not seeding to a winter wheat crop is probably a good consideration. The risk is wheat streak mosaic virus.”

To avoid this plant virus, you need at least two weeks of no active growth in your field to replant spring wheat.

“It’s also hard to kill winter wheat,” Kirk said. “So even if you’re doing a herbicide or tillage, you’re going to end up with some winter wheat volunteers. So wheat streak mosaic is a risk.”

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The current pace stood 12 points above the five-year average, rather remarkable given the amount of rain Manitoba received over the last eight days.

For cereals, the report said most of the province’s spring wheat has been seeded, while oats and barley catching up. Also, the winter wheat and fall rye were in average to above average condition.

Among the oilseeds, the planting of sunflowers was more than 80 per cent finished, with canola and flax at 30 per cent each.

Manitoba Ag placed soybeans at 40 per cent planted.

For the pulses, field peas reached 96 per cent complete while dry beans were getting started.

The department noted the largest amount of rainfall was 88.5 millimetres in the Morden area, down to 3.2 mm in the Elma area.

The cooler temperatures Manitoba has experienced has slowed forage growth, but that and pasture conditions are expected to improve. However, in the province’s southeast recent wildfires adversely impacted pastures and infrastructure.

Nearly all of Manitoba’s corn for silage or for grazing has been planted.

The ag department reported a number of pests are active, including striped and cruciferous beetles, dingy cutworms, wireworms in the central region. In the Interlake, flea beetles are becoming more common and there have been low counts of diamondback moths in traps.

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The study’s co-author Jourdyn Sammons presented its results during a rotational grazing lunch-and-learn hosted by the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association at Ag in Motion last July.

Researchers measured the performance of four different blends, grazed by yearling steers in 14-acre paddocks over two years at the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence near Clavet, just southeast of Saskatoon.

One annual blend included forage brassica, forage peas and barley, while the other included fall rye and clover. Two perennial blends were also tested, including a hybrid bromegrass and alfalfa blend, and a mix of sainfoin and meadow bromegrass.

Researchers measured the enteric methane emitted by steers on the various blends. The study also looked into soil health metrics, although those results are still being analyzed.

The study highlighted different potential advantages across the blends.

The hybrid bromegrass and alfalfa treatment consistently produced high biomass and provided adequate nutrition. Steers gained well on it, making it profitable — as long as a producer has time to establish perennial stands.

For producers needing a quicker turnaround, a barley, pea and brassica mix also grew plenty of biomass, topping production from the sainfoin and meadow bromegrass blend.

Sammons expected the sainfoin and meadow bromegrass to produce the least methane, due to chemical compounds in the sainfoin. However, the barley, pea and brassica blend beat it, coming in with the lowest emissions in the study.

Steers grazing the fall rye and clover blend had the best average daily gains, but the “yield wasn’t adequate to provide enough forage for a producer,” Sammons said in an interview.

“I wouldn’t say it would be a profitable investment, even though it did produce the high-quality forage for a period of time.”

Those results could be due to how they handled fall rye. Although fall rye is typically seeded in the fall, overwintered and grazed in the second year of growth, U of S researchers seeded their fall rye in spring. It was grazed while still immature, so it didn’t yield as well as hoped.

“The steers did really well on it, but they were only on there for a short amount of time.”

The annual blends also had more shallow moisture, which Sammons says they weren’t expecting.

“Typically, you would expect that your perennials would have more moisture continuously, but I think the biggest difference is that because the perennials are growing all year long — although they’re dormant in the winter — there’s more continued growth.”

Annuals, on the other hand, are seeded mid-spring, grazed and then quite likely “toast” right after grazing, she says.

“I think because of that and the continuous pull of the perennials, that’s why we’re seeing the increased levels of moisture in the shallow levels of the soil.

“But the flip side of that is because of the deeper rooting systems, because of the more complex tap roots that our perennials may possess there, they are able to utilize that moisture and they are able to access the moisture.”

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Manitoba Agriculture said about half of the spring wheat in the central and Interlake regions has been seeded. As well as corn, barley and oats were going into the ground along with canola, sunflowers, soybeans and field peas.

Survival rates for fall rye and winter wheat look good so far, with up to 90 per cent of both crops in the central region. Most of those winter crops have been fertilized. Also, numerous hay fields have been fertilized while current supplies remain adequate.

Overall, planting progress advanced five points on the week. The current pace is twice that this time last year and two points ahead of the five-year average.

Fields throughout most of Manitoba have dried out and can support farm machinery.

An overhanging factor is continuing good soil moisture. The report said the most precipitation was nearly 13 millimetres in the Virden area, with Gardenton in eastern Manitoba next at five. Most regions are well below their precipitation levels, except for the southeast with more than 100 per cent compared to its 30-year average.

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That’s the advice of Greg Stamp of Stamp Seeds, a second-generation family seed farm and seed retailer at Enchant, Alta., northeast of Lethbridge. Stamp is a certified crop advisor and is the seed sales manager for the 7,000-acre operation that’s a major seed supplier for Prairie farms.

Stamp had some fall cropping tips for producers during the CropConnect 2025 conference in Winnipeg in February and in a subsequent interview with Grainews.

Growing crops that overwinter, such as a fall hybrid rye or winter wheat, is a different way of farming in some ways than a spring crop, so producers need to be aware of that, Stamp says — and farmers who start making preparations early in the year will provide their fall crops with the best chance of success.

He points out it can also help ensure fall seeding goes smoothly during what’s typically a very hectic time for farmers.

“Farms are very busy when these crops need to be planted in the fall, so getting the crop in the ground in time and having enough staff in place to make that happen can be challenging,” Stamp says.

“For me, fall crops are all about early planning. When you try and do this just a few days before you go in to seed, it just causes stress and problems for everyone,” he adds. “If you want to grow a fall crop, you should be planning right now.”

One way to avoid planting headaches, he says, is to grow an earlier-maturing non-cereal crop like canola or pulses in fields slated for fall cropping. This enables farmers to get the spring crop off earlier so there’s more time to get that fall crop in.

Buy seed early

Stamp also recommends farmers buy their seed early once the decision is made to seed some fall acres — and plan a timeline for when those fall crops will be seeded, so as to ensure they have everything they need once the ground is ready.

An important part of that, he says, is making sure there are enough people on hand to do the job. “That’s so critical. Schedule that help for Sept. 1 or end of August so you can get rolling on your fall crop.”

Many farmers have a relative or a neighbour who lends a helping hand at harvest, he notes; one suggestion would be to have them arrive during that window for seeding winter wheat or hybrid rye, freeing farmers up to get started.

Another tip for successful fall planting is to have a tractor and seed drill prepped and standing at the ready prior to the start of harvest.

“It can take half a day to hook a tractor up sometimes, by the time you’ve got monitors set up and troubleshoot problems,” Stamp says. “If you have a spare tractor that you’re not using on the harvest run, have that tractor hooked up and ready.”

Stamp also recommends farmers leave stubble up from the harvested spring crop, then seed their fall crops between the rows. This can help trap snow in fields, providing an insulating layer for crops so they better withstand the rigours of winter.

Winterkill is always a danger for fall crops, which is why Stamp urges farmers to use a dual seed treatment to maximize protection against disease and insects.

“I’m a big believer in winter crops getting a fungicide/insecticide seed treatment for stress mitigation and winter survival,” he says.

“Some people would consider planting an untreated fall crop, and I think that’s a mistake. Personally, I would not put a winter crop in the ground without a fungicide/insecticide seed treatment.”

The danger of winterkill is another reason to ensure fall crops have correct plant populations, Stamp says.

He urges farmers to follow the advice of their seed retailers or agronomists on proper seeding rates for fall crops such as winter wheat or hybrid rye. “I’ve just seen people try and cut rates too much and then they’re not happy with the crop,” Stamp said.

Stamp also suggests seeding fall crops with a narrower-spaced drill can be beneficial come springtime.

“The narrower your drill, the better, because you’ll have more even flowering,” he says. “If you do have the choice, I’d go for seven-inch row spacing, especially on a rye.”

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The department said there have been small amounts of peas, spring wheat and oats primarily seeded in the central, eastern and Interlake regions of the province. Meanwhile, no oilseed crops have been planted to date.

Planting projections

Statistics Canada forecast Manitoba farmers to seed 3.22 million acres of spring wheat this year, up from 3.18 million in 2024. Planted canola acres were projected at 3.12 million, down from last year’s 3.34 million. Soybean acres are to expand to 1.63 million this year from 1.43 million in 2024.

The report noted Manitoba’s winter wheat and fall rye survived the winter in good condition. However, a better assessment for winterkill will be made after the first stretch of warm weather.

Moisture conditions

As for soil moisture, Manitoba Ag reported good conditions in the province’s northwest and Interlake. There are concerns about low levels in the eastern and southern regions.

While numerous areas of the province received little to no rain over the last week, an area from Findlay to Reston in the southwest had up to 44 millimeters.

The amount of spring run-off depended on the region, with the central and southwest seeing minimal to average flows. Numerous fields in the northwest and the Interlake were saturated.

Most of the province’s cattle remained in their winter-feeding areas as there has been limited forage growth on pastures and hayfields. The report said there are still adequate supplies of hay.

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StatCan reported deliveries of all grains last month were about 5.06 million tonnes, up nearly two per cent from previous March. Total wheat was just short of 2.90 million tonnes, rising 16.75 per cent from a year ago. Durum deliveries of 536,000 tonnes improved 73 per cent compared to March 2024.

However, deliveries of canola of about 1.46 million tonnes, fell almost 22 per cent and those for rye were down more than 20 per cent at 13,774 tonnes.

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