“I think the best management practice that someone could do for weed resistance is the one you’re not currently doing on your farm,” says Rory Cranston, technical strategy lead with Bayer. “Weeds figure out habits. They don’t figure out different system approaches.”

Cranston spoke on a panel about herbicide-resistant weed management at the Bayer CropScience booth during July’s Ag in Motion show at Langham, Sask.

Shaun Sharpe, a weed ecology research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), who was also on the panel, said afterward that using novel approaches to weed management doesn’t mean throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Chemical control is the backbone of weed management strategies, he says, but the backbone is breaking — and farmers will have to adapt.

In conventional terms, spraying is timed to optimize yield, which seems like sound logic. The problem is that weeds that emerge later are often ignored because they don’t affect yield.

“Conventionally, we’ve just been leaving those alone. But, of course, those weeds produce seeds that go back into the seed bank,” Sharpe says. “Something like wild oat that emerges later has more potential to grow and produce seeds later in the season.”

The pillars of any weed management strategy are chemical control (herbicides), cultural control (crop rotation, cover crops), mechanical control (mowing, hand weeding) and, to a lesser extent, biological control.

Sharpe says farmers should focus on cultural strategies to reduce weed populations.

“We want to get canopy closure quickly, and we want to have a very competitive crop. So we want to pick crops that are going to be competitive against weeds, and we want to plant them in a way that we’re going to get good canopy coverage quickly.”

Those strategies could include higher seeding rates, using cover crops or introducing intercropping.

While none of these techniques are new, Sharpe says there is more interest in intercropping as a weed control method.

“When I was at AIM, I spent a lot of time at the intercropping plots for AAFC. I found that there is a lot of good feedback from the growers. They’re interested in how you seed it, how you harvest it, whether you can spray anything in it, and how it does against disease and weeds.”

AAFC is focusing on intercropping as a management strategy to combat herbicide resistance.

“I think that that system is going to grow. It’s just going to take some time, because it’s a new way to farm for a lot of folks who are doing monocultures,” Sharpe says.

“There’s still a lot of agronomic questions to answer, but I think it does have a lot of potential, and there was definitely a lot of interest from farmers.”

One thing is certain, he says: no one is under the illusion that herbicide chemistries will be the saviour of agriculture as they once were.

“With herbicide resistance, we’re not going to spray our way out of it. That’s been the message for a few years now.”

Emerging technologies are helping farmers be more efficient with spraying. Targeted use of chemicals can extend their effectiveness and prevent emergence of herbicide resistance.

Optical spot sprayers are one tool in the fight. Boom-mounted cameras can detect a weed and spray it. The sprayers have been around for a while and the technology has recently been adapted for spray drones.

One company is taking the precision spraying concept beyond the seek-and-destroy approach of optical spot sprayers. Geco Agriculture’s predictive weed control system promises to pinpoint the location of weeds before they emerge.

It will even predict patches of herbicide-resistant weeds and it’s relatively inexpensive.

“They don’t need any new equipment, and they don’t need to adopt any new practices on the farm,” Geco Agriculture CEO and founder Greg Stewart says. “Really, what they’re buying from us is the analysis.”

The company pulls farm data (crop rotations, spraying records, et cetera) from the past five years and sources imagery data from satellite providers.

In recent years, LiDAR (light detection and radar) and NDVI (normalized difference vegetative index) technology have exploded in terms of accuracy and scope, and they’re having a massive impact on agriculture.

But despite the resolution these satellite images can provide, it’s the scope rather than individual images that interests Stewart.

“What we really do is take a step back and try to understand how the weed population is evolving dynamically over several months and then over several years,” he said.

“You can get somewhere between two and four satellite images per week, depending a bit on cloud cover. We’re actually trying to leverage all of that data.”

New tools to bear

With crop and spraying data collected from the farm, combined with the satellite data, Geco runs an analysis that produces several tools to manage weed pressure.

The first one is a five-year history of weeds in the field. An analysis produced today would go back to 2019 and indicate what weed patches looked like in each of those years, whether they’re getting better or worse, and the crops in which they appeared.

The next tool is a map that shows areas of potential herbicide-resistant weed patches in the field.

Stewart said farmers can use this as a preliminary indicator of potential resistance areas before the patches reach the size at which humans typically detect them.

The third tool is a prediction model, which estimates where the weeds will be in the coming season. The predictions aren’t infallible, but Geco has been conducting tests at a research farm run by the Winnipeg-based agricultural tech accelerator EMILI (Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative), and their predictions are close to the mark.

“Last year, we made predictions for 2024. We were usually in around the 90 per cent hit rate using the prediction,” Stewart says.

The final tool is a prescription map.

“The prescription map is just a file that a farmer will typically upload into their sprayer or granular applicator,” Stewart says.

“They’ll use the map to direct these actions towards the weediest hotspots, which will allow them to beat down the weeds before the season comes on.”

Ability to spray more efficiently will lower input costs.

“All of a sudden, it makes that more economically digestible to a farm and they may be willing to incorporate that into the rest of their weed protection program. So, you get an affordable way of introducing this mode of action into your strategy, and you get to focus it on where the weeds are the worst.”

Over time, “mother patches” of weeds reveal themselves.

“These mother patches of weeds that are out there tend to be your worst actors, and they will tend to donate weed seeds to the rest of the field. So, if you are able to start suppressing them, you can suppress weed emergence more generally, throughout the field,” Stewart said.

That’s just the chemical side of things. Geco’s predictive weed control system can also contribute on the cultural side of weed management.

“We’re getting people who are inputting our prescriptions into a seed drill,” said Stewart. “So what they’ll do is up the rate of seeding into the areas that are predicted to be the weediest, and that gives you some crop competition to fight the weeds. It’s just another tool in the toolbox.”

The post Integrated weed management faces new future appeared first on Grainews.

That was a key message from an April online seminar on insect control in canola organized by the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences.

The three panelists — Alejandro Costamagna, an entomology professor at the U of M; Hector Carcamo of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; and Keith Gabert of the Canola Council of Canada — talked primarily about flea beetles and lygus bugs, two of the most common canola pests in Western Canada.

Carcamo, an entomologist based at Lethbridge, said when lygus bugs are spotted in canola fields, they shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as a threat. In fact, the opposite could be true.

“Just because an insect is there, it does not mean that it’s a pest. In some cases, it can be a beneficial insect.”

Carcamo said low levels of insect feeding can stimulate crops like canola to produce better yields.

“We have to remember that insects and plants have had this very long history of a kind of love/hate relationship, where the insects have been attacking the plants and the plants have evolved defences and so on,” he said.

“We need to understand the biology of the insects and we need to appreciate that insect/plant interaction. At low levels, lygus bugs are not a pest. If you have a few lygus bugs attacking the crop at the early flower stage, the plants can actually become more robust, and they can actually over-yield and overcompensate.”

Carcamo said lygus bugs and flea beetles typically pose a threat only at certain times or stages of canola growth. For lygus bugs, that’s at the end of flowering, when there are plenty of canola pods with small, soft seeds inside.

“In general, that is the stage when lygus bugs are going to have the greatest risk and potentially affect the crop,” Carcamo said. “The key message is you have to get out there and sample at the correct stage.”

Gabert, a council agronomy specialist based at Innisfail, Alta., agreed.

“We can start finding lygus as soon as it warms up here on the Prairies. You’ll find the odd one creeping into your truck or in the ditch when you’re going to check the field at seeding time. But that’s not really an indication (you’re) going to have a problem in that field.”

Costamagna said the seedling stage is the most dangerous time for flea beetle damage.

“It’s a matter of timing. You’ll find (flea beetles) every year in every place, but they might not be (there) at the wrong time for your crop. They might completely miss the susceptible stage.”

In sufficient numbers, the insects can damage seedlings, but the plants quickly grow large enough to better withstand flea beetle pressure.

READ MORE: Prepping for the 2024 canola crop

“(Canola) is an amazing plant in the sense that within a couple of weeks it grows to an enormous size,” he said. “There could be lots of (flea beetles then), and they would be inconsequential.”

According to Costamagna, insecticidal seed treatments limit seedling damage from flea beetles in the critical three or four weeks after emergence.

Scouting key

The three experts agreed that scouting is essential for flea beetle and lygus bug management, particularly at times when crops are most vulnerable.

Noting the canola council has resources online for managing both pests, Gabert said he recommends “aggressive” scouting for flea beetles. By the time producers notice significant crop damage, it might be too late.

“Typically, when a grower is really concerned about flea beetles, it’s because he’s come and looked at the field seven days too late. (They are) looking at a field that already has 50 per cent plus damage. It’s had that damage for quite some time, and the grower is reacting to some pretty ugly-looking crop,” said Gabert.

“(It) is really critical to get out and scout when the crop is struggling,” he added, because flea beetle pressure can accelerate quickly in warm, dry conditions.

The experts also emphasized the need to use recommended thresholds when making spraying decisions.

Costamagna said thresholds should be heeded to avoid excessive insecticide use. It’s a waste of money if there’s no economic return to applications and it also reduces the risk of insecticide resistance.

Carcamo said agro-ecosystems in Western Canada typically contain many natural enemies of insect pests, which help curb pest populations in crops.

“For example, for lygus bugs we have determined that we have fairly high levels of parasitism by a very tiny wasp called peristenus. It can inflict reasonably good mortality on lygus bugs in some areas, so conserving these beneficial insects is very important,” he said.

“That is why it’s crucial that we understand these economic thresholds.”

Canola producers can learn more about beneficial insects through the Field Heroes program, said Gabert. He commended that initiative for promoting protection of beneficial insects.

Carcamo said several cultural control tools within the framework of integrated pest management can help farmers ward off flea beetle and lygus bug problems in canola. One of them is early seeding. Including more crops in a rotation and extending crop rotations are other helpful measures.

“The more crops that you can integrate into your rotation, (the more) you are going to limit the amount of food available for an insect pest,” he said, adding a forage crop can also be useful in boosting beneficial insect populations.

“Crops like alfalfa, they can harbour a huge number of insects … which can be excellent sources for (insect) predators like ladybird beetles.”

The post When a pest isn’t a pest appeared first on Grainews.

The post VIDEO: Making Prairies less scary for bat habitat appeared first on Grainews.

Mark Versluys says applying a herbicide to knock back some of the more difficult weeds is an excellent start, but that needs to be followed by grazing management that supports a healthy, vigorously growing forage stand to compete with weeds.

Versluys says Canada thistle, for example, is a tenacious weed that if left uncontrolled can progressively take over pasture .

“Just from my own observation I have watched an area of grassland that four years ago perhaps had about a 10 per cent infestation of Canada thistle, and now it is about 40 per cent. It is an area where people don’t want to apply control measures, but it gets worse every year.”

All weeds have their reproductive strengths, but Canada thistle is well-designed to take over pasture. Its roots can grow anywhere from six to 18 feet deep, and can also spread up to 20 feet in lateral growth.

“Canada thistle is particularly problematic as it can reproduce from shoots that can pop up within 15 to 20 feet of the main plant and it can also reproduce with seed distribution,” says Versluys. “An individual plant can produce up to 5,000 seeds and those seeds can germinate within 10 days. Once it gets established, it easily spreads.”

Versluys recommends a control program for a particularly heavy infestation of Canada thistle that starts with an application of herbicide such as Corteva’s Grazon to first knock the weed to its knees.

Grazon will control the above-ground growth, but also has residual soil activity to control new sprouts and newly germinated seeds the following year. Timing of herbicide application can vary. An application in July is effective when new thistle plants have emerged. After fluff (when seeds have been released) can also be an effective time. “And in early fall, after a first good frost, when the thistle plants are working to store nutrients in their roots is a good time to apply herbicide so it can be drawn into the plants as well,” says Versluys.

Along with the herbicide application, Versluys recommends managing pasture to encourage a competitive forage stand. Fertilizer can be applied to support growth of forages. Summer and winter livestock management that keeps manure and urine on pasture is another valuable nutrient source.

“And it is important to manage grazing during the year to avoid disturbing the soil which gives the weed an opportunity to establish in the first place” says Versluys.

“Herbicide in itself is no silver bullet for weed control, but it can be an effective tool when used in combination with proper fertility and good grazing management which encourages a vigorously growing and competitive forage stand.”

There is good weed control information on the company website and producers can also contact the company’s range and pasture specialists and regional account managers to discuss weed control options.

The post Herbicide is only part of the pasture weed control program appeared first on Grainews.

A: Insects can eat into your profits. They can appear at any time during the growing season and can cause damage that is patchy, scattered and difficult to gauge. Accurate estimation of both pest population and potential crop damage levels can only be obtained by thorough field scouting. Proper pest identification is key as damage is unique to each insect species.

Targeted pest control measures should be engaged when pest populations reach levels of economic significance — this is called the economic threshold. An economic threshold is the insect population level, or the extent of crop damage, where the value of the crop loss exceeds the cost of pest control. Typically, thresholds focus on potential yield loss and costs associated with control measures.

Economic thresholds can be based on pest population or crop damage. The threshold for lygus bugs is based on pest population. A sweep net is often used to determine the number of lygus bugs present. In canola, research has shown lygus bugs can cause a yield loss of approximately 0.09 to 0.13 bushels per acre per insect per sweep. Since damage per insect has been determined we can calculate how many insects per sweep need to be present to cause crop loss that is greater than the cost of control measures.

Crop damage can sometimes be deceiving. This can lead to an overestimation of damage and early activation of control. The economic threshold for flea beetles is based on crop damage. The economic threshold is the 25 per cent defoliation level for canola at the cotyledon growth stage. This level of defoliation can cause yield loss due to seedling death and reduced plant growth.

Economic thresholds give growers a valuable piece of information to help make difficult pest management decisions easier.

Jordan Peterson is a manager of agronomic services with Crop Production Services in northern Alberta.

The post Insect economic thresholds: what do they mean? appeared first on Grainews.

Insect populations depend on weather, climate, management, wind patterns and previous season environmental conditions. Consequences of improperly managing insects include crop and yield loss and decreasing crop quality, which can result in both economical and biological impacts. For example, root maggot damage can make plants more vulnerable to pathogens such as blackleg.

For insect pests that feed on crops early in the growing season, seed treatments can be an effective management technique by protecting crop seedlings when they are most vulnerable to attack from both, insects and pathogens. Farmers can control insects through both management and chemical techniques, including seed treatments, which place the protection at the right place, at the right time in the correct dose.

Here are three important factors to consider when selecting a control method:

1. Adhere to economic thresholds. Not all insect damage is of economic importance and using action or economic thresholds can assist growers in deciding if chemical controls need to be applied.
2. Understand the pest affecting the crop and to scout fields often. Using a seed treatment will help get the crop off to the best start, but insects can attack crops throughout the season so managing and scouting for these various pests is important.
3. Foliar treatments can be utilized as well. This depends on the pest and the timing of the pest. For example, a seed treatment will often not protect crops against later-season pest infestations. For example, in canola, a seed treatment is unlikely to prevent an outbreak of bertha armyworm later in the growing season. If thresholds are reached, then foliar sprays may need to be applied to assist in protection.

For more information on seed treatments and purchasing seed, speak to your seed company, crop protection representative, extension personnel, or retail or crop advisor.

Kristin Hacault is seed treatment sales and marketing leader for DuPont Pioneer and DuPont Crop Protection Canada.

The post Controlling bugs with seed treatments appeared first on Grainews.

“Seldom, if ever, do preventative insecticides actually pay us,” says Scott Meers, insect specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. “When we spray just to try and keep insect pest populations down, we take out the natural enemies too. Natural enemies are really important in the control of the vast majority of our insect pests. It’s really important when we are below the thresholds to let those things do their work because we may never get to the thresholds if we allow them to be successful.”

Predators or parasitoids can have very significant impacts on pest populations in many different crop systems, says Jordan Bannerman, an instructor with the Department of Entomology at the University of Manitoba. Just because a grower sees bertha army worm in a canola field, it doesn’t mean that bertha army worm will necessarily reach economic levels. “Some years you can have 75 per cent of bertha army worms killed by parasitoids in a field and they’re never going to reach a level that’s near where it is cost effective to apply an insecticide,” says Bannerman.

Spraying to control pests that are not at economic levels can also harm pollinators and encourage the development of resistance in pest insect populations, adds Bannerman.

A great example of how natural enemies work is cereal leaf beetles, which are fairly new to the Prairies. “One of the programs through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has been releasing parasitoids to the cereal leaf beetle to establish them in newer areas,” says Meers. “Cereal leaf beetles have been in the Prairies for six or seven years, and we have seen minimal spraying, and it’s most likely because this parasitoid is holding populations below thresholds.”

Imprudent pest management can have a long lasting impact — far past the residual period of an insecticide. “A lot of the pest management activities that we are employing, can have a negative, long term because it can take a long time for beneficial insect populations to rebuild,” says Bannerman.

The enemy of my enemy

The first and most important step in a good pest management strategy is to be able to identify both economic pests and their natural enemies. “For insect pests, accurate identification of the pest species, and being able to distinguish them from non-pests and from other insects, and knowledge of pest life cycles is paramount,” says Bannerman. “This facilitates more efficient monitoring strategies and specific targeting of economic pests.”

A good place to start is with provincial government crop protection guides and websites. Visit http://prairiepestmonitoring.blogspot.ca for regular updates throughout the growing season. This website is funded by the federal and provincial governments and several levy-collecting commodity organizations. They’ve gathered information about most common agricultural pests as well as maps and other valuable information.

Canola growers can find a useful diagnostic tool on the Canola Council of Canada’s website (www.canolacouncil.org). The tool can help producers identify canola pest issues and when to spray specific products for specific canola pests.

These resources also provide information about the life cycles and behaviour of different insects to help growers understand when it’s best to scout for them, how to target specific economic pests. When you’re making spraying decisions, these sites are great resources for economic thresholds based on science and economics, as well as the experience of agronomists and entomologists.

If you reach economic thresholds

Growers should only use an insecticide when the economic threshold for an insect pest is reached — the economic threshold is the point at which the cost of control is equal to the loss being caused by the insects activities.

How do you know? It’s all down to careful scouting of the fields with sweep nets to count insect populations. “It’s important to check several spots in a field,” says Meers. “Bertha army worm, for example, we’ll see often see well above threshold in one part of the field, and below threshold in another part, so if you just check one place you may find it really low or really high and that might not be indicative of the whole field. Producers should check several spots in the field before they make their decision if they’re above or below threshold.”

As a general rule, says Bannerman, it’s more productive to scout insects during the heat of the day, when there is no dew on the plants, particularly if you’re using a sweep-net. “Where and how you scout will depend upon the insect or insects you are concerned about,” he says. “There are some cases where scouting should occur at specific times, like wheat midge scouting should occur at dusk. It really comes down to knowledge of the life cycle and behaviour of the pests you are concerned about.”

Some insects will invade the edges of the field first and then spread out through a field, so growers may be able to detect this pattern and get away with spraying just the boundaries of the field. “You can only make that decision with good scouting,” says Meers.

What to spray and how

If insects are at the economic threshold in your field, you’ll have to decide which product to spray. “Refer to the label guide because each product will be different,” says Meers. “Some insecticides are better on certain classes of insects than others, so it’s important to make sure you’re choosing something that will be effective. Producers can consult provincial crop protection guides, or their local agrologist if they need advice about which product to use.”

It’s hugely important to adhere to the pre-harvest intervals for each insecticide product. “Pre-harvest intervals should be adhered to because a failure to adhere to our pre-harvest intervals is going to result in residues in the crop, and could mess up international markets,” says Meers. “You have to get the timing right so you have enough time to allow for the pre-harvest interval.”

Bannerman suggests the following four tips farmers can use to reduce the impact that their pest control activities have on beneficial natural enemies and pollinators:

1. Don’t spray unless the pest is at economic levels.

2. When you spray, use an insecticide class/formulation that is as specific as possible or has reduced impacts on non-targets.

3. If possible, apply the insecticide when natural enemies and pollinators are less active such as in the evening.

4. Use products with low residual times when possible. †

The post Don’t jump the gun on pest control appeared first on Grainews.

According to provincial agriculture minister Jeff Leal, the intent is to reduce neonicotinoid use in Ontario by 80 per cent by 2017. The changes, if passed, would come into effect July 1 of this year for the 2016 planting season.

“Our organization has spent a significant amount of time reviewing and evaluating the draft regulations and brought forward numerous questions to the Ontario government regarding various aspects of the plan,” says Mark Brock, Chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO). “The lack of clarity, inability to address very real on-farm challenges with respect to implementation of the regulations, and the timelines imposed on the industry as a whole create an unmanageable, widespread burden to agriculture.”

“The regulations, as drafted, create insurmountable barriers to access neonicotinoid seed treatment — essentially, the government has developed a ban on the product,” he adds.

The proposed changes will create a new class of pesticides in Ontario, Class 12, for corn and soybean seeds treated with three neonicotinoid insecticides: imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, and clothianidin.

Anyone wishing to buy neonic-treated seed will have to complete Integrated Pest Management (IPM) training specific to growing corn and soybeans either online or in a classroom.

Although no such training currently exists, the government says the course will be available by this fall — successful completion will result in certification valid for five years.

This is in addition to the Grower Pesticide Safety Course that farmers must already complete in order to buy and use crop protection products in Ontario.

For 2016 the government is proposing a “voluntary” approach that allows the purchase and use of neonic-treated seed on up to 50 per cent of a farmer’s corn or soybean acreage if a written declaration is made. To plant treated seed above that level, farmers must complete a pest assessment to determine whether their levels of infestation by specific pests meet pre-determined thresholds set by government.

Farmers will be able to perform their own pest assessments this year, but as of 2016, those pest assessments will have to be completed by independent, third-party pest advisors, the proposed regulations say.

Under the regulations, two pest assessment methods can be used: a soil pest-scouting assessment to confirm the presence of two pests above thresholds (grubs and wireworms) or a drop damage assessment that will confirm damage as a result of four pests above the thresholds (grubs, wireworms, corn rootworm, and seed corn maggot).

The proposed regulations only target neonicotinoid-treated soybean and corn seed, and don’t include other neonics such as those used in the edible horticulture industry in foliar sprays or granular form.

Environmental activist groups in particular have taken up the bee cause and campaigning actively for this type of legislation, believing neonics to be behind an increase in bee deaths in Ontario in recent years.

The issue isn’t that clear-cut, though, say farm groups, who recognize the importance of addressing bee health in a science-based way, but feel that more research is needed to determine what’s behind the decline in bee numbers.

Simply pointing the finger at neonics won’t solve the problem, they say, as there are a few things that don’t add up.

Not all beekeepers in Ontario have been dealing with bee death, for example, and it hasn’t come forward as a major issue in Western Canada, where neonic-treated seeds are also widely used in canola production.

There is no denying that dust from the use of neonic-treated seeds was a problem, but farmers took action once it was identified, such as changing the fluency agent used during planting to reduce the amount of dust created, and using deflectors to keep dust close to the ground.

This helped dramatically reduce total dust emissions, and bee deaths reported to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency during spring planting in 2014 were down by 70 per cent.

Bee nutrition is a much bigger issue, according to Craig Hunter, pesticide specialist with the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association.

The southwestern Ontario landscape has evolved dramatically over the last several decades: corn and soybean acreage has expanded, hay and pasture acres are down, and farmers have taken out large numbers of fence rows to increase field size. This means fewer forage areas for bees to get food and water, leaving weakened bees that are much more susceptible to threats.

Currently, this is legislation limited only to Ontario. However, it’s worth noting that Ontario was one of the first provinces to institute a ban on cosmetic uses of pesticides in 2009 — and cosmetic use bans are now in place in nine out of 10 Canadian provinces.

The post The latest buzz on bees and neonics appeared first on Grainews.