Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada requires that all ingredients, as well as the percentage of each, must be on the label of a product sold in Canada. Your job as the product user is to read that product label.

Perceptions and misconceptions versus realities in agriculture

Practical Research: In the court of public opinion, the drama can fog the facts

Since my retirement from Alberta Agriculture in 2002 I’ve acted as a legal expert in a number of lawsuits. Often, when a farmer is sued by a lawyer on behalf of a client, the farmer will immediately seek his own lawyer or lawyers for advice. While the lawyer may be well apprised of provincial and […] Read more

As picturesque together as they may be, onions and garlic should be kept in separate areas while growing in the garden.

More on Prairie vegetables and fruits

Part 6 of a series: Let’s look further at what grows well on the Prairies — and when it doesn’t, why

In previous issues I dealt with potatoes and the cabbage family of garden vegetables, but perhaps I should also take a look at all and any successfully grown Prairie vegetable crops. To do this, I should list all vegetable crops into related categories, as in the table shown here, so we can more clearly plan […] Read more


The use of drones to deliver field pesticides, such as in this illustration, has an uphill road ahead, not just in terms of regulation but in technical development.

Don’t hold your breath for a drone sprayer

The dynamics of spraying via drone are complex and unforgiving — as are regulations

Glacier FarmMedia — Precision agriculture has simplified many on-farm practices and procedures, particularly in the past five years as seen in the rush to automate tractors, planters and weed management systems. But those are two-dimensional applications, and although those can go awry and complicate a grower’s plans, adding a third dimension — in the air […] Read more

Jeff’s durum crop was patchy and uneven. Most of the affected areas were on the tops of knolls within the field.

Crop advisor casebook: Why is this durum crop patchy, uneven and with discoloured leaves?

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the February 4, 2020 issue of Grainews

Jeff, a mixed grain and livestock producer who farms near Vulcan, Alta., called me in early June about a problem in one of his durum wheat fields. Earlier that day, Jeff had noticed the crop looked patchy and uneven while driving by the field. When he walked into the field to investigate, he could see […] Read more


This leaf yellowing was not uniformly distributed throughout the field, but a large proportion of the field had been affected.

Crop advisor casebook: Is a local lack of moisture injuring this barley?

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the April 9, 2019 issue of Grainews

John contacted me in late May last year about his barley crop. The plants were coming up yellow in patches across the field. John farms about 2,800 acres near Whitewood, Sask., where he grows wheat, barley, canola and soybeans. It had been a dry spring and John thought environmental stress due to lack of moisture had caused the plant injury. […] Read more

The plants were at the four-leaf stage with one or two tillers, and were already quite large. The leaves were starting to burn on the tips and the roots were shrivelling up.

Crop advisor’s casebook: What’s causing the half-circle pattern in this wheat field?

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the November 6, 2018 issue of Grainews

John is an Alberta producer who has a mixed farming operation located north of Vermilion. His main crops are wheat and canola. John called me mid-June this year to examine his wheat crop after he noticed some patches in the field’s outside rounds were slowly dying. As I approached the field, I could see what […] Read more


Not only were Rob’s wheat leaves yellowing (chlorotic), but their centres 
were forming bands.

Crop Advisor’s Casebook: The case of the yellow-tinged spring wheat

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the December 5, 2017 issue of Grainews

In June 2016, I had an interesting situation arise when Rob, a Brunkild-area producer, called me about his yellowing red spring wheat crop. While out scouting his other fields for crop staging, Rob noticed one of his wheat fields, which he had sprayed with herbicide a few days earlier, had a yellow tinge to it. […] Read more

The plants in the field’s inner region were already starting to bloom, while the plants in the perimeter remained green and weren’t nearly as tall.

Crop Advisor’s Casebook: What’s holding up this canola’s blooming stage?

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the May 16, 2017 issue of Grainews

Kyle farms 2,000 acres of canola, oats and peas west of Yorkton, Sask. He called me the first week of July, last year, when he discovered part of his canola crop wasn’t flowering with the rest of the field. Kyle thought perhaps environmental factors, seeding issues or nutrient deficiencies could be stressing the crop. The […] Read more