combining in the field

Canola rotations are key

Recommended crop rotations lower inoculum levels and risk of disease

Crop rotation is of utmost importance to manage residue and soil-borne diseases, and many insect species,” says Randy Kutcher, cereal and flax pathologist, University of Saskatchewan. Knowing this, it’s surprising that many growers still don’t heed rotation recommendations, especially with the potential for devastating diseases like blackleg. Blackleg is a residue-borne disease, he explains. “Residues […] Read more

Canola field next to wild grasses

Putting the farm “on trial”

Farmers are always experimenting. Here are Sarah Weigum’s 
thoughts about different ways of doing research

Last summer I travelled to Indian Head, Sask. where I had the pleasure of visiting the Bell Farm historical site. The Bell Farm is probably Canada’s first mega-farm, topping out at 53,000 acres in the late 1800s. In 1887, a portion of this farm was sold to create the Dominion Experimental Farm, now known as […] Read more


Know when to apply fungicide

The fungicides that assist in defending yield-robbing diseases like Sclerotinia in canola are only beneficial if they are applied before the symptoms appear. So how do you choose to spray or not? If you have the following three conditions, a foliar fungicide application is a smart choice. A strong and potentially high-yielding stand. A good-looking […] Read more