U.S. EPA to require weed-resistance restrictions on glyphosate

Reuters — U.S. regulators will put new restrictions on the world’s most widely used herbicide to help address the rapid expansion of weeds resistant to the chemical, Reuters has learned. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed it will require a weed resistance management plan for glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s immensely popular Roundup […] Read more

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


Five tips to get your seed off to the right start

Five tips to get your seed off to the right start

Seed growth specialist Nick Petruic has 5 tips for getting your seed off to the right start

Nick Petruic is a seed growth specialist for Bayer, based at Avonlea, Sask. He likes to remind his customers that it doesn’t matter how much nitrogen you’ve put on or how weed-free your field is if your seed doesn’t get out of the ground. Petruic has five tips for getting your seed off to the […] Read more

kochia in a canola field

Practical ways to fight herbicide resistance

Do you have herbicide resistant weeds growing in your field? 


Brian Wintonyk wants farmers to be able to identify herbicide resistant weeds in their fields and know what to do about them. Wintonyk, western crops agronomist with Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc., was on the agenda at the third annual Grain Expo, a crop production conference held in Regina in conjunction with Agribition in November. He […] Read more


corn field

Avoiding herbicide resistance

Worried weed scientists gather to discuss the future of weed control without new chemistry

The loss of glyphosate is something that we should all lament,” said Steven Powles, director of Australia’s Herbicide Resistance Initiative. Powles compared the importance of glyphosate to penicillin, calling it a one-in-100 year herbicide. Powles was speaking to a gathering of weed scientists at the Weed Science Society of America’s second herbicide resistance summit in […] Read more

Wild oats present in a grain crop.

Using ecological systems

Diversified, long-term crop rotations can pay off for Prairie farmers with strong management skills who are prepared to invest the time to carry them out


Updated Sept. 19, 2014 – Canadian farmers have good management skills, but those skills aren’t being rewarded in the conventional system, says a Manitoba researcher. “On well-managed organic farms, or ecological farms, I’ve seen farmers really being rewarded for their management skills,” says Dr. Martin Entz of the University of Manitoba. Entz says there is […] Read more


Combine in a field.

Australia tackles herbicide resistance

Farmer Down Under are looking to mechanical weed control 
to deal with herbicide resistant weeds

The expensive and time consuming weed control measures most Australian grain farmers are facing should stand as a clear warning to western Canadian farmers not to take the issue of herbicide resistant weeds lightly. Australian weed researcher, Michael Walsh, recently speaking to prairie farmers at the FarmTech Conference in Edmonton, made it abundantly clear if […] Read more