herbicide resistant kochia

Kochia tumbling into Prairie pulse crops

Scouting — and testing for herbicide resistance — will be important this spring

Glacier FarmMedia — Concerns about the spread of kochia are growing for Saskatchewan’s pulse producers. Michael Brown, agronomy manager for Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, and Martin Carr, agronomy manager for WinField United, have seen the pesky tumbleweed spread throughout Saskatchewan, Alberta and the United States. The weed is resistant to some herbicides, among them Groups 4, […] Read more


The Canadian Grain Commission building on Main Street in Winnipeg. (File photo)

Grain commission revokes GFI licenses 

Global Foods and Ingredients shut down operations May 7 

The Canadian Grain Commission has revoked six licenses for Global Food and Ingredients, a plant-based and plant protein company with facilities in Saskatchewan.

Yellow peas. (Victoria Popova/iStock/Getty Images)

GFI closes Saskatchewan operations 

Global Food and Ingredients, a plant-based and plant protein company with facilities in Saskatchewan, has announced a “wind down” of its business operations. A May 7 news release on the GFI website says the company cannot service its outstanding debts.


Honey-brown discolouration of pea roots, characteristic of Aphanomyces euteiches.

Aphanomyces still a stubborn foe

Research offers hope, but proper crop management remains the best defence for today

In today’s bad news/good news ledger of pulse crop diseases, the bad news is there’s still no quick fix for controlling root rot in field peas and lentils. On the good news side, there are management options that help reduce the risk, research is narrowing in on some treatments that may help control the disease, […] Read more

Seed treated with Vibrance Total, a combination of five different fungicide groups being brought to market for the 2024 season.

The year in pulse crop inputs

A quick look at new actives, new combinations and expanded labels

Following up on last issue’s roundup of product launches and label expansions in the cereal crop input market, here we’ve put together a quick list of new and/or improved pulse crop inputs that were announced in our earshot during the past year, including several due out for the coming growing season. Again, if we’ve inadvertently […] Read more



For fresh eating and freezing, fava beans must be picked when they are full-sized beans.

Fava beans for Prairie gardens — and fields

Part 3 of a series on Prairie farm gardens

The fava bean (Vicia faba) in Canada is often misunderstood, treated as though it is strictly a southern European or Middle Eastern legume crop. I have even seen the large fava bean type labelled as a Chinese crop. In point of fact, all of Europe grew fava beans. The beans were traditionally classified according to […] Read more