He tells them two things:

• don’t hold your breath and
• you’ll need to work with what you have.

WHY IT MATTERS: Wild oats is a tough weed to control, with no one herbicide capable of tackling the Prairie pest.

“Do not expect any quick help on that front with wild oats,” said Micklich, precision ag specialist and owner of Progrow Agriculture in Vegreville, Alta., in a presentation at Agronomy Update 2026.

“It is an extremely complicated plant,” he said.

“It’s actually hexaploid, so it has six different sets of chromosomes. What that means is it’s extremely unpredictable on … how each chemical interacts with each other in the target sites. So it’s just an extremely hard plant to map out.”

But don’t despair. Cultural control practices — such as increasing seeding rates and adding an early-maturing crop to rotation — can go a long way towards removing these pesky oats from your field, he said.

“There is no shortage of options to be used in the fight against wild oats.”

However, producers may need to reconsider any “this is what I’ve always done” attitudes they may be harbouring, advised Micklich.

“We need to move to ‘what do I need to do? And how can I manage this?’ We need to be more long-term focused.”

READ MORE: Farm gets aggressive on wall-to-wall resistant wild oats

Herbicide-resistant wild oat (HRWO) is of “special concern” according to Alberta Grains. And for good reason: according to the most recent herbicide resistance survey, resistance is building and building fast.

The survey results reveal that 69 per cent of Alberta fields sampled for resistance in wild oat contain HRWOs.

Of that percentage, 62 per cent of fields are resistant to Group 1 herbicides, 34 per cent to Group 2 herbicides and 27 per cent are resistant to both.

Those numbers are growing. The producer organization points to “drastic increases” in HWRO in Alberta since a Western Canada-wide survey in 2000.

Make the switch to TKW

There are several tasks producers should perform prior, during and after the crop season when dealing with HRWO. Micklich pointed to examples such as scouting for post-spray efficacy, identifying cross-resistance, seed sampling and reaching out to dealers for resistance testing if necessary.

One of the most important things producers can do to fight HRWO is increase seeding rates. However, some may have to make an adjustment in how they measure seed.

For producers who haven’t made the switch from bushels or pounds per acre to 1,000 kernel weight (TKW, sometimes known as total seed weight or TSW), or the weight of 1,000 seeds, this will be the time to do so.

In 2019, Harry Brook, agrologist with Alberta Agriculture, told Alberta Farmer Express why TKW is a more precise gauge of seed size measurement.

“Where there is significant variation in seed size between one variety and another, bushels per acre is a poor seeding tool to use,” he said.

“With peas, for example, there can be as much as 75 per cent seed size variation. That can have a big impact on plants per square foot.”

Added Micklich, “when you’re just doing a two bushel an acre measurement, that’s a volumetric measurement. It’s just not that accurate anymore.”

“What we want to do is use 1,000 kernel weight and calculate it off of what your target plant per square foot is, because if you just use bushels off of seed weight, your rate will sway. It can sway up to 20, 30 per cent just based off of seed weight if you’re just doing 120 pounds an acre and that’s it.”

Add early maturing crops to rotation

Adding early maturing crops such as peas and winter wheat to a rotation is likely the most important tool growers can use prevent reoccurring wild oat growth, said Micklich. The idea is to kick wild oats out of the seed bank before they’re physically mature, decreasing their survivability drastically.

“So if we can knock it off the plant in mid-August where it’s not quite mature … you reduce the survivability of that seed over winter.”

Taking preventative measures against wild oats early – particularly with late-harvested crops like wheat and canola — makes sense because there aren’t many control options once the oats establish.

“That (wild oat) seed will reach maturity before we get to it and (the seeds) will drop. So you’re just replenishing that seed bank. I wouldn’t say you’re starting from square one, but you’re just not eliminating that seed,” noted Miklich.

“A lot of times in east-central Alberta, by the time we harvest canola, it’s getting close to freezing. Most guys aren’t going to be doing a post-harvest spray. So you just get yourself in a weird spot where there’s nothing you can do to try and reduce that seed bank until the spring.”

Herbicide layering now a must-do

With so much herbicide resistance already a part of wild oats, producers don’t have much choice but to layer herbicides to control the weed, said Miklich.

“This is mandatory — you’re just getting ahead of it by initiating this.

“The concept of it is we’re trying to use different groups or modes of action sequentially throughout the growing season.

“The basis of it is you do a fall apply in say Group 15; a pre-burn, say, in a Group 2 or Group 15, and then an in-crop, say, in a Group 1 … Whatever group you would have the most efficacy with.”

Minimize tillage

There are several reasons to minimize tillage, but in the case of wild oats a big one is preventing the incorporation of wild oat seed underground where it can remain dormant for years, in the process increasing their life spans.

“When guys are high-speed discing their wild oat patches. that is one of the worst things we can do for it because you are burying that seed and it will sit in dormancy.”

What growers need to do, offered Micklich, is induce germination of the wild oats.

“So say, in a pea crop, if you’ve had that stubble sitting for a month in the sun, a lot of those wild oats will be germinated. Either the frost will get it or it will give us a point of attack to eliminate those seeds: a germinated seed that you can kill or do something with is one less seed in that seed bank.”

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Plant soybeans too early and you can run into frosts, adverse soil conditions and other problems that jeopardize plant establishment and early development. It could even mean a washed-out field requiring replanting.

Plant soybeans too late, though, and you could be sacrificing yield, since there are fewer days before the crop’s critical seed pod filling period in summer.

Seth Naeve, a soybean agronomist and an agronomy and plant genetics professor with the University of Minnesota, has studied the benefits and risks associated with early soybean planting in northern climes such as Minnesota. He shared some of his research findings with farmers at the CropConnect 2025 conference held in Winnipeg in February.

A good decision

In an interview with Grainews, Naeve explained the main yield constraint for northern-grown soybeans is our shorter growing season. He says the argument for earlier planting dates is in how they can help soybean crops get a jump on germination and plant establishment when fields warm up enough for that to happen.

Naeve’s planting date research includes soybean field trials conducted at four Minnesota locations in 2023 and 2024. The findings showed, on average, planting as early as possible was “a good decision,” according to Naeve.

“We have this challenge in the north in that we have good long days in the spring, but there is just not enough heat there at the same time,” he says.

READ MORE: Check out our Soybean Guide.

“Soybean is actually quite tolerant of planting early and sitting in the soil for a long period of time,” Naeve adds. “Soybeans tend to not come out of the ground until the ground warms up significantly enough … to support germination and emergence. By that time, we tend to be outside of the risk of imminent frost late in the spring.”

Naeve noted a range of management tactics can be useful for lowering risks associated with early soybean planting.

“We can increase populations. We can use a fungicide seed treatment. We can plant shallow or deep, depending on where the moisture is and what the weather forecast looks like. So, there are a lot of things we can do to help reduce the risk that we’re imposing on these soybeans by doing this real early planting,” he says.

Naeve points out the value of early soybean planting may be limited at the earliest end of the seeding window — but it is an incremental value that accumulates over time.

Say, if a farmer decides to hold off planting for a day but is then unable to get back into the field for two weeks — that 14 days can make a significant difference in yield potential, Naeve says.

According to Naeve, the relatively low cost of seed is another risk management consideration for early-planted soybeans.

“Soybeans are relatively inexpensive to replant. If a farmer has a limited number of days to plant, it may be the best risk situation for them is just to plant soybeans early and hold off on some of their other crops like corn (so) they can be then planted under a little bit better conditions,” he explains.

Naeve had one proviso with respect to early-planted soybeans. Findings from the Minnesota study suggest yield responses to planting date are closely tied to how productive the soil is.

In high-productivity environments with good fertility and adequate moisture, early planting with full-maturity cultivars maximized yield. In low-productivity environments, early planting offered no yield advantage.

“If it gets dry or there is low fertility, this trumps any kind of advantage we get from early planting. It basically caps the yield,” Naeve says, noting stressors such as pest infestations and hail damage are also yield-limiting factors.

“If there are other problems that cap our yields, there’s just nothing that we can do. We can’t add more fertilizer. We can’t put on a fungicide. We can’t plant earlier. We can’t do any of those things if the yields are going to be capped by something else.”

Critical period

Naeve discussed some other aspects of his research, which include examining when northern-grown soybeans are maximizing their yield potential.

Naeve says field experiments in three Minnesota locations in 2022 and 2023 indicated the critical yield period was the R4 stage (when rapid pod growth and seed development starts) up to just before the R7 stage (when pods and seeds begin to turn their mature colour).

The testing also identified the R5.5 stage, which typically occurs in late August in Minnesota, as the most important time for soybean yield establishment.

“That corresponds to this idea that farmers have had forever that August makes beans, or late August makes beans, or rains in August make beans. All those things are very true, and we have some data now that really shows why that’s true,” Naeve says.

“If you can support that soybean crop during that most critical time, then it can really make a lot of yield for you,” he adds.

“The way I talk about getting a good crop is, we basically build the machine early in the year, and then at the end of the year, we’re just making seed. If we can get a really nice, large machine built and if we do have good conditions late in the year, then we can really take advantage of it.”

Iron deficiency chlorosis

Naeve also offers some recommendations for managing iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC), a nutrient deficiency that causes yellowing of soybeans leaves and stunted plant growth. In extreme cases it can result in serious yield losses in soybean crops.

He referred to a study by a master’s student of his, Maykon da Silva, called “Strategies for IDC from a Systems Approach: Variety Selection, Iron Chelates and Seeding Rates.”

The research, which involved experiments at 10 Minnesota field sites in 2021 and 2022, examined trade-offs and interactive effects between soybean varieties, populations and iron chelate rates across a range of IDC levels.

Iron chelate products can help mitigate IDC in soybean by maintaining iron in a soluble form that can be available to the plant early in the season.

Naeve notes FeEDDHA, or ortho-ortho iron chelate, is commonly used for this purpose, but he cautions not all of these products are the same. He recommends farmers look for products containing higher levels of iron in the ortho-ortho form, because they are generally more effective against IDC.

The IDC testing results suggest soybean producers would be wise to consider applying iron chelates to any fields with a history of IDC, he says.

The study, he adds, showed better crop results with iron chelates used as in-furrow treatment rather than a foliar application.

“There are a number of factors that all go together to make (foliar applications) not very good practice,” Naeve says. “It’s better just to put (iron chelate) in the soil where the plant can access it.”

Soybean foliage doesn’t absorb minerals such as iron chelate nearly as well as the plant’s root system, he says — and soybeans seriously afflicted with IDC don’t have much leaf material left in any case.

Naeve says findings from the Minnesota study also suggest choosing a variety with the highest rating for IDC control offers the best defence for soybean crops.

“It also comes with relatively little cost. Those (IDC-tolerant) varieties don’t necessarily have a yield penalty, so just picking the right variety is of utmost importance” — and this can be particularly true in fields with severe IDC conditions, he says.

Naeve stresses it’s also important to select “proven” soybean varieties that have been adequately tested.

“I think practically speaking, the biggest risk here is that farmers grow new varieties that are relatively untested for IDC. That’s one of the bigger issues, and that’s a problem we see with industry rolling out these varieties quite quickly.”

Naeve says he’s found that to be particularly true with new herbicide traits in soybean. “Those first varieties that come out tend to really lag for IDC tolerance and/or resistance.

“Certainly, in the United States, we have so many new varieties come out and sometimes they get pushed to the market without good testing,” he says. “I know Canadians have a much better program for releasing and testing soybean varieties than we do in the U.S. It is much more conservative, so hopefully those get weeded out better than what we have here.”

Another finding from the Minnesota study was that bumping up seeding rates to increase soybean populations can be a beneficial practice for managing IDC. The research shows a higher seeding rate had a small but consistently positive effect on yield.

“I think if they’re concerned about IDC, farmers can increase their seeding rates a little bit,” Naeve says. “It’s a small benefit, but it is large enough to pay for the additional seed cost.”

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Before getting into the topic of saving your own seed, whether it be cereals or legumes or any crop except for canola, I talked to several consultants and seed growers. Their answers were that few growers use all-new seed every year. These few exceptions actually use new seed annually. In the case of midge-tolerant wheat, though, it’s not advisable to use your own seed for more than one year past certified, due to loss of resistance.

Many cereal growers — primarily of wheat, barley and oats — will buy some certified seed every year and multiply it up for their own requirements for the next couple of years. This is particularly true of new varieties which they want to try out, or because they need new clean certified seed due to contaminants in their own seed stocks.

Many farmers will send seed samples to one of the many Prairie or national seed testing laboratories to check up on their intended seed stocks. It’s good practice to know the germination of the seed lot, its vigour and the amount, if any, of destructive diseases such as fusarium head blight (FHB) in cereals or ascochyta on peas.

In their vigour and germination testing results, laboratories in Canada will of course list any destructive disease infestations, but they also may list fungal contaminants which are not disease-causing but merely seed contaminants. This listing of contaminants tends to confuse farmers and it should be the responsibility of the seed testing laboratory to point this out — that is, to distinguish between real disease-causing fungi and those that are simply seed contaminants.

If you did not forward your intended cereal or legume seed sample for germination testing to a recognized seed testing laboratory, you can very simply germ test your own seed.

A simple seed germination test

This simple seed test will at least tell you if your seed is viable — that is, still alive. You cannot assume that two- or three-year-old seed or even last year’s seed is viable. Wheat, barley, oats and pea seed, for example, like most other agricultural seed, except treated canola, can last for three to five years in the bin. If the seed is dry at 10 to 12 per cent seed moisture and it’s less than two years old, it’s likely good but the older the seed, the greater the loss of vigour and germination.

Take your seed sample after November (some seeds have a delayed germination) up to seeding time, April or later, and place on a folded wet paper towel on a nine-inch (23 cm) plate, preferably Styrofoam, and place 50 to 100 seeds spaced out on top of the wet towel. Place the plate inside a regular-size zip-locking plastic bag. Seal the plastic bag and place in a warm room, away from windows. If the room temperature is 20 C or higher, you will have your germination percentage in less than a week — or in a very warm room, at 25 C or higher, three days. Inspect the plates every day or so, and tilt to remove any standing water on the plate after day one. Do not open. After three to seven days depending on temperature you will have an answer. You can easily check the germination, whether it’s 24 per cent or 95 per cent or perhaps even zero.

READ MORE: Seed quality, seed supply and management tips for 2022

In my case, for example, I conduct a few bioassays annually, and I have often been surprised how quickly over four to five years most cereal grains, peas, beans and lentils can lose their viability. Put another way, you may think a bin of oats looks good but you were not sure when the seed was harvested a few years back. Cereals, beans, peas, lentils and other seed lots when dry at 10-12 per cent moisture can stand -40 C in the bin. They are preserved. What they cannot take, if expected to remain viable, is high summer temperature or high moisture. They can lose germination in as little as three to five years. If you really want to preserve a modest seed sample, it should be very dry, around that 10-12 per cent moisture, and kept in a freezer when it can remain viable for 20 years or more.

Factors that influence seed germination and vigour

• Did you have an early frost in August? Freezing at -2 C or less can either kill the seed, or reduce the food reserves in the seed and affect vigour.
• Could you have used a glyphosate spray before the crop was mature? I have seen many field crops, such as cereals and peas. produce seed that is severely compromised in germination and vigour. In one field of wheat back some years ago the glyphosate treatment resulted in only 10 per cent of the seedlings showing any vigour while the other 80 per cent germinated but then grew very slowly and poorly.
• Did the grain heat up in the bin? Heating causes the seed to use up lots of energy, usually with accompanying moisture. High heat can kill the seed or, at lower temperatures, compromise the seed viability.
• Was it a very dry season and your crop yield was less than 50 per cent of expected? This is especially true of cereals, where the actual grain kernels may have much less than 50 per cent of nutrient reserves. Such seed will be low to very low in vigour — that is, seedling establishment.

In the case of canola, most of the crop is grown from proprietary hybrid seed and is purchased annually. In the instance where the grower ends up with extra bags of canola seed, then there are several options. Either seed extra land, when possible; dispose of the seed by burying it; or place it at a disposal facility since it’s pesticide-treated seed that could be toxic to farm animals or wildlife. Alternatively, the bags could be kept for the next growing season, but the bags should be stored in a cool insulated building to reduce germination loss. Seed viability could be checked the following year. If the viability is low, you could make adjustments for the seed’s percentage of germination — or, if compatible, it could be blended with the current season’s new seed.

Seeding rates for your crop seed

Alberta Agriculture has a relatively recently revised six-page fact sheet, titled Using 1,000 Kernel Weight for Calculating Seeding Rates and Harvest Losses. This fact sheet shows you how the 1,000 kernel weight can vary not only from one crop to another but between varieties of the same crop and from year to year. It’s a little heavy on the reading but gives you an excellent insight into crop seeding rates and is certainly well worth the effort, economically speaking.

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Small-seeded crops, such as canola, have garnered particular concern from agronomists and producers worried about germination, given power dry topsoil across much of the province.

Why it matters: Canola timing has created a dilemma this year as producers don’t want to waste their seed treatment window in soil too dry to germinate, but there’s little in the forecast to suggest a more moist seed bed in coming weeks.

According to SMOS satellite data, reported as part of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Drought Monitor, saturated surface soil moisture sat over 10 per cent below normal across much of Manitoba during the month of April. Almost all agricultural regions in the province were in severe to extreme drought, the monitor reported, as of the end of April.

Conditions have led some agronomists to urge producers to wait for better moisture or risk running out the clock on their seed treatment.

Common best practice puts effective seed treatment window at three weeks post-seeding — stretching perhaps to four, under poor feeding conditions for flea beetles, according to Manitoba provincial extension entomologist John Gavloksi.

Plants that have not yet reached the three- to four-leaf stage at that point are still vulnerable to economic levels of damage.

It’s an issue Manitoba producers have run into in the not-so-distant past. In 2019, Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. reported a spike in reseed claims, partially driven by flea beetle damage in early-seeded canola. Cold, dry weather that spring hindered germination and stressed plants with frost.

“The reality is anything that really is going to keep the plants either from germinating or from growing vigorously as a seedling is going to increase the risk of flea beetle injury,” Gavloski said.

Weather models, however, have cast doubt on the chance of rain should farmers choose to wait.

“That’s making it very tough this year to make that call,” Gavloski said. “At some point, you have to get the canola in the ground. In an ideal world, you would get a rain within a few days of that seeding, but that may not happen this year.”

Justine Cornelsen, agronomist with the Canola Council of Canada at Virden, Man., says producers are starting to chase moisture when seeding, and the first priority for many is to simply get it in the ground.

“I’ve kind of been telling people that we are still the middle of the month. We’ve got an open forecast. If you can, try to time it with the rainfall,” she said, although she acknowledged rain is far from certain.

Producers should also scout to know how far down moisture is on their specific fields.

“For canola seed, if you can set it on moisture, it will still germinate and get going,” she said. “We’re at the point now in the province where our soil temperatures are nice. If you’re into moisture and you’re seeding now, that canola should come up and out of the ground relatively quickly.”

From there, though, growth will slow if crops do not get rain, she added.

“It’s going to take a little while for that rooting system to really reach down,” she said. “My other concern is, if you look at the forecast, we’re supposed to be like 30 C, so really, really hot in already-dry conditions is going to stress out that crop.”

Into that, she added, flea beetles are “here and ready to eat.”

Producers can, however, set themselves up for success with the right plant population, according to the agronomist.

The Canola Council of Canada recommends a target of five to eight plants per square foot.

Cornelsen urged producers to proactively scout and know their plant stand to know how much grace they have before plant losses fall below that range.

“Look at the damage,” she said. “If you’re seeing extreme damage, if they’re starting to take plants or you’ve reached that 25 per cent defoliation, that’s where that (foliar) application should happen.”

It is difficult to gauge how heavy flea beetle pressure will be this year, Gavloski added, since little crop is out of the ground. At the same time, however, he added, the province has seen chronically high levels of the pest regularly, and it is reasonable to assume that similar challenges wait this year.

— Alexis Stockford is a reporter for the Manitoba Co-operator at Brandon, Man.

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Winnipeg-based Issues Ink publishes Germination, Spud Smart, the Alberta Seed Guide, European Seed and Seed World.

Its Seed World Group division also includes Seed World Create, a consulting unit providing marketing and communications services to the seed industry, including virtual events for seed organizations.

The Winnipeg firm’s “niche expertise in seed and its growing network of global customers deepens and complements our global relationships,” Farms.com CEO Graham Dyer said in a release Thursday.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Issues Ink, which has operations in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Switzerland, is to continue as a “self-contained” group within the wider Farms.com group.

Issues Ink president Shawn Brook, in the same release, said the two companies “will work together leveraging our strategic strengths to continue to provide outstanding levels of service to our global clients during these dynamic times.”

Farms.com, which operates out of offices at Guelph, Ont. and Ames, Iowa, already has several print assets in the Canadian ag sector. It took over Guelph-based ag journals Better Farming and Better Pork in 2016, and Victoria-based Small Farm Canada in September this year.

Farms.com’s online assets also include sites such as Agriville.com and AgCareers.com. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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And while it’s still early in the growing season, the interplay of conflicting patterns from the south and north will determine whether the dry areas receive timely precipitation during the growing season.

“We are looking at a fairly large area of the Prairies continuing to degrade over the past two weeks,” said Trevor Hadwen of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Drought Watch department in Regina.

Central Saskatchewan was the worst off, he said, with very little moisture this spring and some areas entering their third year of drought conditions.

Western Manitoba and eastern parts of Alberta are also dry, according to Drought Watch data.

In areas that are already seeded, much of the crop is lying dormant or only seeing spotty germination, according to Hadwen. Some producers have reportedly stopped seeding until they get more moisture. Switching acres to shorter-season crops remains a possibility.

“It’s too early to talk about leaving land fallow or writing off the whole crop,” said Hadwen, adding that the pasture situation was more of an issue.

Feed supplies were already tight and producers moved their cattle out to grass early in many areas. Cool and dry conditions have slowed grass growth, heightening the risk of overgrazing. Hadwen encouraged supplemental feeding in order to reduce pressure on pastureland.

“One good rain will provide some optimism, especially in those areas that are already doing a little better,” said Hadwen. However, he added, there was little precipitation for the driest areas in the immediate forecasts, with moisture reserves already depleted.

“It’s all about the U.S.,” said meteorologist Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc. in Kansas.

Heavy rains hitting the U.S. Midwest were effectively keeping the moisture from moving north into Canada, he said. The wet fields there will take some time to dry out, which will slow the movement of the jet stream.

A conflicting influence caused by warmer water in the Gulf of Alaska was also limiting moisture from the west.

Lerner forecast a status quo of limited shower activity and cooler temperatures over the next two to three weeks, aside from the most southern parts of the Canadian Prairies.

The jet stream is then forecast to move north into the second week of June, bringing some more significant moisture to the southern Prairies. However, Lerner said, northern parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta may have a tougher time getting the moisture due to the continued influence from the Gulf of Alaska.

“The two patterns will fight each other over the summer,” said Lerner. He expected the northern Prairies would not see a high volume of rain, but should see timely showers to help with crop development.

“If one (weather influence) becomes stronger than the other, it could rewrite the whole outlook.”

— Phil Franz-Warkentin writes for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.

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Seed people are saying the 2018 harvest season was one of the toughest in decades on seed quality across parts of Western Canada. If you do have seed make sure it’s germination tested before seeding, and if you haven’t lined up certified seed you might be disappointed — certain crop types and varieties may not be available.

Snow, cold and wet conditions during much of the past September and October harvest really did a number on certified seed production through much of the central and northern Prairie regions.

Morgan Webb, owner of Seed Check Technologies at Leduc, Alta., near Edmonton says the quality is the worst he has seen in more than two decades of testing seed. While Ward Oatway, president of the Alberta Seed Growers Association, who farms at Clive, northeast of Red Deer, says farmers who haven’t already booked their seed may find seed for some cereals in particular difficult to find.

Seed produced across the southern Prairies generally has pretty good quality, however, in central and northern areas that experienced “almost three different winters” over the fall months, poor seed quality is certainly an issue.

“It is the worst season I have seen in more than 25 years of testing seed,” says Webb. “Germination rates are terrible.” Due to relatively dry growing conditions during crop flower, the level of seed-borne diseases is quite low, but seed germination and vigour rates are another matter.

Webb says seed quality in crops across the southern Prairies is quite good, for the most part. “Germination rates and vigour tests show great quality,” he says. “However, because it was quite dry across these areas, seeds tend to be thin and light.” Webb says it is particularly important to perform a 1,000-kernel seed count and weight (rather than the bushels-per-acre estimate) before seeding this spring. He recommends farmers use online seeding rate calculators to help determine a proper seeding rate.

Hard frost and freezing at different times during September to November took a toll on seed quality. Any crops harvested early, or crops that missed the snow and freezing temperatures weren’t affected.

Peas and canola largely OK

Oatway says pea seed supplies are generally good since pulse crops tend to be harvested earlier, and much of the hybrid canola seed is produced in southern Prairie regions, so supplies shouldn’t be greatly affected.

On his own farm at Clive, he managed to get peas, hard red spring wheat and barley harvested before the early onset of winter. But his fields of Canadian Prairie Spring Wheat seed were hit hard by snow and frost.

Cereal seed supplies from around Wetaskiwin in central Alberta and north appear to be the hardest hit, says Oatway. He says there have been many calls from people looking for barley and oat seed and it is extremely limited. “Cereal crops tend to be harvested later so those seed supplies were hit hard,” he says.

Certified canola, wheat, and barley seed need a germination test level of at least 85 per cent to be considered No. 1, while peas, durum and hulless barley need a germination rate of 80 per cent to be certified No. 1. Vigour test rates, when measured by percentage, should be in about the same range. The certified No. 2 seed germination rates are 75 and 70 per cent, respectively.

“Most years farmers would never see certified No. 2 seed but this year they might because of limited seed supply among some crop types,” says Webb.

Seed batches with lower germination and vigour rates will still grow, but farmers need to adjust seeding rates accordingly. If the germination rate is 85 per cent, in theory the seeding rate should be increased by 15 per cent. Again, the online calculators can help farmers calculate a seeding rate based on several factors including 1,000 kernel weight, targeted plant density, and estimated seedling mortality rates.

Certified seed comes with an identified germination and vigour rate on the label. If producers are growing their own saved seed, it should be tested, says Webb.

“That would be my recommendation every year, but particularly in a year like this it is crucial,” he says. Just because seeds may visually look good, that is no guarantee of quality.

“Many crops last fall froze hard and then they got wet and froze again, so there can be varying degrees of sprouting happening inside the seed which isn’t always visible on the outside of the kernel,” he says. “Sprouting not only affects germination rate, but also seed vigour.”

Due to the stresses seed crops faced last fall, quality can continue to decline over winter. If a producer happened to have bin-run seed germination tested last December, for example, it would be worthwhile to have it tested again before seeding in May. And using home germination tests doesn’t always provide a true picture either, says Webb. The wet, cold conditions might have caused harvest dormancy, which means the seed might not germinate, but could still be quite viable once dormancy is broken. Seed test labs can evaluate that.

“One of the biggest mistakes is in not having seed properly tested,” says Webb. “It is one of the most affordable inputs in helping producers optimize yield and profits.”

The post Some seed may be in short supply appeared first on Grainews.

“Very little moisture is required in the fall to get that seed to germinate and start growing, especially if it’s been seeded shallow,” said Amanda Swanson, a southern Saskatchewan winter wheat agronomist with Ducks Unlimited.

The final crop report from Manitoba Agriculture, released Monday, said germination and stand establishment of winter cereal crops were good but seeded acres were down across the province.

Reports in mid-September from southern Saskatchewan and Alberta said limited acres of winter cereals had been seeded due to dry conditions. A brief reprieve came in the second half of September as rain fell.

“We always recommend guys to seed first and then usually the rains will come. Even if the rains don’t come and it doesn’t germinate in the fall it will germinate, come up in the springtime,” Swanson said.

If moisture doesn’t come until spring it doesn’t mean the crop won’t come up, Swanson said, adding it’ll just act more like a spring wheat than a winter wheat.

Farmers in Western Canada last fall seeded 535,000 acres of winter wheat, eventually harvesting 398,000 acres, according to Statistics Canada. Production in the three Prairie Provinces came in at 546,400 tonnes, which was well below the 1.02 million grown in the previous year.

Swanson has been speaking to producers across southern Saskatchewan and those who seeded winter cereals have said germination is at the two-leaf stage — the three-leaf stage being ideal.

“(The) seeding date didn’t really make a huge difference this year just with the conditions being so dry,” she said. “The crop stages for the majority are at the same stage across the board regardless.”

Swanson has heard from colleagues in northern Saskatchewan though that the situation is different, with the area not having been as dry.

“There were lot of unseeded acres in the north and guys had fields that they wanted to get back into production and they were going to seed (them to) winter wheat,” she said.

Swanson estimates that while winter cereal acres seeded in southern Saskatchewan may be down, they may have been offset with increased acres in the north.

In Manitoba, Jake Davidson, executive director of Winter Cereals Canada, is waiting for numbers from Statistics Canada on seeded acres to be released, but from what he has heard he thinks crops are doing well.

“It just stayed warm so long for people. We had people (seeding on) chem fallow, stubble and their crops are up excellent,” he said.

Some directors with Winter Cereals Canada are based in western Manitoba and from what Davidson has heard from them, he thinks winter cereal acres seeded north of the Trans-Canada Highway should be in good shape.

— Ashley Robinson writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting. Follow her at @AshleyMR1993 on Twitter.

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John, a Manitoba producer, asked me for a recommendation on an in-crop herbicide that would best suit the needs of his wheat crop.

It was the end of May when I made my way out to John’s 3,000-acre farm near Starbuck, Man. I wanted to scout his field before advising him on crop inputs.

When I approached the field, I thought the wheat crop looked normal. However, the initial scout revealed the crop had a thin plant stand. After carrying out plant stand counts, I confirmed wheat plant density in this field was lower than average, with approximately 180 to 190 plants per square metre. As a result, higher weed pressure was being exerted on the crop.

At this point, I thought it was important to determine the cause of the thin plant stand. Examination of insect pressure and environmental stresses were good places to begin. John thought we should also look at seeding depth and fertilizer placement.

“Maybe I seeded too deep,” he told me, “or applied too much phosphate fertilizer in the seed row.”

That season, weather conditions had been favourable for crop growth. Thus, neither precipitation nor excess heat were factors decreasing plant stand density, and adverse environmental conditions could be stroked off our list.

In addition, we didn’t find any insects, or evidence of pest damage, that could be responsible for the thin plant population.

John and I dug in the soil looking for seed to determine the seeding depth of the crop. We found ungerminated seed at the correct depth, eliminating another possible source of decreased plant density.

Also, soil moisture levels were good, and John’s seed drill has a two-inch spoon opener, ensuring the safe application of 77 pounds per acre of 11-52-0 (monoammonium phosphate) fertilizer, while also preventing salt toxicity. His drill also has mid-row banders for placement of 46-0-0 nitrogen (urea), eliminating the risk of seed burn due to additional salt or ammonia toxicity.

After ruling out these other factors, I knew we had to re-examine the cause of the ungerminated seed we had found earlier that day. I felt the ungerminated seed was at the heart of John’s thin plant stand mystery.

Crop Advisor’s Solution: Review germination reports before seeding

After eliminating insect pressure, environmental stresses, seeding depth and fertilizer placement as sources of the thin plant stand, we scrutinized John’s routine seed and soil tests.

John admitted he didn’t read the results of the one test that could have made a difference to his plant stand — the seed germination test.

According to laboratory test results, the bin-run seed’s germination rate was 78 per cent, which resulted in the wheat field’s low plant stand density. Consequently, the crop was experiencing more weed pressure and more tillering.

With more tillers, in addition to an in-crop herbicide, the fungicide timing at heading was closely monitored for a two-pass application strategy because the crop was at varying stages of flowering.

However, at harvest, yield was reduced, and increased fusarium was present in the grain sample.

In addition to germination rate, having seed analyzed provides useful information, such as seed vigour and presence of disease, which can then be used to determine optimal seeding rates. Seed analysts can also offer ways to improve germination of a seed lot with the information provided by test results.

In this case, the purchase of treated, certified seed would have produced a wheat field with a high germination rate and minimal disease in, or on, the seed. This year, John will start the season

off with treated, certified seed to reduce disease risk, and he will be able to set his seeding rate based on seed size and optimal plant stand density.

Dan Friesen works for Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Starbuck, Man.

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Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s latest Seeded Acreage Report is expecting 1.1 million acres to go into the ground this year, putting pressure on seed supplies, and putting the integrity of that supply at risk, the council says.

They’re concerned saved flax seed could contain the unapproved GM variety Triffid, which has been largely purged from the system.

“If you choose to plant your own farm-saved seed, we strongly encourage producers to test your farm saved seed prior to planting to maintain the integrity of the seed supply,” the council wrote in a release.

“Flax producers were instrumental in the elimination of Triffid from the system, but it is critical that producers continue to use a known source of Triffid-free seed.”

They’re also reminding growers most new flax varieties are protected by Plant Breeders’ Rights and can only be sold by an authorized dealer.

Certified seed is still in good supply, and the council is recommending growers returning to flax start off planting certified seed.

They say using certified seed comes with a number of benefits to growers, including:

• assurance of the genetic purity of varietal traits,
• strict standards governing the presence of weed seeds, and
• good germination standards and germ testing prior to sale.

They also note that using bin-run seed includes risks, such as:

• storage damage that can impair germ potential,
• the risk of germination impairment through pre-harvest glyphosate applications, and
• the risk of re-contaminating the seed supply with old varieties such as Triffid.

More information on the reconstituted seed program can be found on the council’s website. Information on seeding considerations for 2017 can also be found there.

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