apricot and almond stars

A literary celebration of food

First We Eat: Like a good meal, ‘One Book One Province’ is meant to offer a shared experience

On the Prairies, the month is a hopeful time for food lovers: we’re perusing seed catalogues, planning our gardens and dreaming about salads made from the season’s first greens.

early growth of potatoes

Potatoes Prairie-wide

Practical Research: How Prairie researchers uncovered a serious potato disease’s hiding place

As a consequence of cleaning up potato diseases, the most recent yields in Prairie potatoes, as of 2024, are 20 tons per acre for Alberta and 18 for Manitoba.


File Photo: Willowpix/iStock/Getty Images

Prairie forecast: Warm weather gaining ground

Forecast issued April 23, covering April 23 to 30, 2025

We start this forecast period with an area of low pressure exiting the eastern Prairie and taking the rain and wet snow with it. To the west, a weak frontal system looks ready to drop into northern Alberta where it should bring scattered showers.



wheat harvest

Know your wheat yield components for a better crop

Knowing the four components of wheat yield and how to ‘crunch’ numbers can help farmers boost their harvest

Most producers could tell you their yields for 2024 — but one U.S.-based grain expert wants to see more attention paid to what he describes as the four core components that went into creating those yields.

Photo: Kat72/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Prairie forecast: Temperature rollercoaster to continue

Forecast issued April 16, covering April 16 to 23, 2025

Spring is the toughest time to forecast, but this spring is being particularly tough. The atmosphere is in a very meridional flow right now. That means there are lots of troughs and ridges. So, instead of a persistent westerly flow across our region we are seeing warm southerly flows as ridges build, followed by cool northerly flows as the ridges collapse and are replaced by troughs of low pressure.





kochia in saskatchewan

Kochia’s expanding herbicide resistance puts pressure on no-till systems 

Kochia populations in Saskatchewan and North Dakota are now resistant to group 14 herbicides, leaving fewer options for Prairie farmers

Based on preliminary data from a recent Prairie-wide kochia survey, AAFC’s Charles Geddes suspects Group 14-resistant kochia is now present in multiple fields in Saskatchewan and expects it could soon be confirmed in other regions as well.