alberta farmland and wind turbines

Benchmarking soil health in Alberta

Researchers at the Chinook Applied Research Association’s Soil Health Lab have adapted a soil health assessment from Cornell University to evaluate Alberta soils

Part 2 of 2: New analyses provide test results with handy scores that assess soil using a simple format, and make it easy for Alberta farmers to spot where an intervention or practice change might have the biggest effect.




combine header

Powdery mildew can be combine fire risk

Dust from the disease can ignite to cause combine fires; producers advised to frequently clean their equipment

Depending on the crop, powdery mildew may not be much of a yield killer for grain growers — but dust from the fungal disease can build up to cause fires in combines.



Aerial shot of the Gray farm. PHOTO: WSA

Turning excess water into an asset with consolidation drainage

Farmers in the “prairie pothole” region are using its natural storage capacity to their advantage

After heavy rains flooded his yard, a Saskatchewan farmer turned to a consolidation drainage and irrigation project to better manage water on his land. Here’s how it works — and how the WSA and funding help make it happen.



Photo: Jun Zhang/Getty Images Plus

Prairie forecast: Looks like summer weather

Highlights: We appear to be in a fairly predictable weather pattern as the overall weather picture has been pretty good. We saw upper-level ridging last week bring average to above average temperatures across the Prairies. The forecasted area of low pressure over the eastern Prairies materialized as forecasted. As often typical with upper-level lows, the […] Read more