irrigation Archives

Audrey Murray’s previous research work included examining how wetlands like this on Prince Edward Island potato farms helped to naturally filter water from field runoff before it entered nearby streams and rivers.

Taking dairy wastewater to the irrigation pivot, via wetlands

A new nature-based solution could help dairy farmers in Alberta against water shortages

By Mark Halsall August 11, 2025

Many Alberta dairy farms rely on irrigation water to grow feed crops to sustain their cattle herds, but drought and water shortages in recent years has made that more difficult. Federal ag researchers are seeking one of those dairy farms to help develop a possible new source.

Coal Mine in the mountains, Alberta Canada

General

Letter to the Editor: Selenium, science and the risk of overstating harm

July 9, 2025

A letter to the editor of Grainews regarding an April 8, 2025 column on the risks of selenium contamination in waterways.

Crops, Machinery

ReinCloud 3 app offers improvements for irrigators

Nebraska’s Reinke Manufacturing updates its software for farm managers

By Scott Garvey July 2, 2025

Compared to previous versions, the new version of Reinke’s ReinCloud is billed as more intuitive, allowing irrigators to flow more data-driven information into their water management.

taking a picture of a cereal crop in alberta

Cereals, Crops, Features

Getting greener: How Prairie cereals have reduced their carbon footprint

Reports shed new light on Prairie cereal growers’ work implementing best practices

By Don Norman April 25, 2025

Cereals Canada released several reports on March 20 highlighting the relatively small environmental footprint of Canadian wheat, durum, barley and oats compared against other top-producing countries.

Crops, Features

Control drainage costly, but beneficial

Tiling can improve soil conditions, accelerate warming, boost crop growth and reduce nutrient runoff

By Miranda Leybourne April 20, 2025

“…soil will be ready for germination much earlier [and] drained soil will be better than undrained fields.”

A panorama photo of the Bow River on the west side of Canmore, Alta. The Eastern Slopes form the headwaters of the Bow, Oldman and Red Deer rivers, flowing to the
South Saskatchewan River.

Columns, Crops, Livestock

Selenium: Agricultural, environmental and human concerns

Agronomy Management: From a water quality standpoint, health of rivers and lakes should be of highest priority

By Ross H. McKenzie March 31, 2025

As selenium accumulates in soil over years, more Se will be taken up by plants, making crops less suitable or unsuitable for human or livestock consumption.

Equipment, Machinery

Reinke introduces updated E3 irrigation system

The new model brings new features and improved distribution accuracy

By Scott Garvey March 24, 2025

The Nebraska company describes E3 as its first precision series of spans and end booms with uniform coupler spacing — which helps ensure a uniform water application rate along the entire length of the machine.

Equipment, Machinery, Traction & Compaction

IrriCup wheels improve traction on pivots

CupWheel airless tires from Galileo Wheel reduce risk of pivots getting stuck

By Scott Garvey March 24, 2025

The design uses a unique concave sidewall that allows for a flatter, track-like contact with the ground, which manufacturer Galileo Wheel says offers a 30 per cent increase in traction over regular tires.

Israel-based Galileo Wheel has just introduced an airless version of its CupWheel technology for skid steers.

Equipment, Machinery, Traction & Compaction

Galileo Wheel introduces airless SkidCup skid steer tires

Improved traction and puncture-free performance with new tire design

By Scott Garvey March 9, 2025

In 2011, at Agritechnica in Germany, Galileo Wheel’s co-founder Avishay Novoplanski debuted a completely new ag tire design for tractors, called the CupWheel. It uses a unique concave sidewall, giving the tread surface a flatter, track-like contact with the ground, which the company says offers a 30 per cent increase in traction over regular tires. […] Read more

Topsoil being removed from a depression area in a soil landscape restoration site in southern Manitoba.

Crops, Features

Restore productivity on your eroded knolls

Landscape restoration, cover cropping, residue redistribution and adjusting crop inputs are some management practices that can help

By Mark Halsall March 9, 2025

The eroded knolls or hilltops common in Prairie farmland are typically the least productive, often yielding considerably less than other parts of a field. Curtis Cavers, an agronomist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada based at Portage la Prairie, Man., says there are ways to boost crop productivity in these problem areas. Cavers provided an assessment […] Read more

Klassen: Feeder market slips off record highs

China trade envoy meets US Midwest delegation as agriculture exports loom large in talks

Wildfire smoke helped counter extreme heat, benefitting this year’s canola crop

GFM Network News