As participation in on-farm research grows across the Prairies, researchers are working to strengthen how strip-trial results are analyzed so farmers can make more confident decisions.

A recent panel at Ag Days in Brandon offered a snapshot of where on-farm research stands today.

Farmers involved in Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers’ On-Farm Network shared their experiences and why they continue to participate.

WHY IT MATTERS: Improving how those trials are designed and analyzed can make the results more reliable and help growers make better management decisions.

Simon Hodson, who runs Rosebank Farms in Lenore, Man., said the value isn’t necessarily a breakthrough yield response — it’s confidence.

“It’s not an emotional choice, it’s a data-backed decision,” he said.

A null result can still be useful

Andrew Doerksen of Beaver Creek Farms at McGregor, Man., and Jayden Buchanan, who farms near Crystal City, Man., echoed that sentiment.

Several panelists pointed to “no statistical difference” results as some of the most useful outcomes. While that finding can feel anticlimactic, it often confirms that an added input or higher rate isn’t delivering enough return to justify the cost.

Soybean planting rates were one example.

Trials showed similar final plant stands across a range of starting populations, giving growers confidence to reduce seeding rates and save on seed costs.

Inoculant trials also showed little consistent yield benefit in many cases. With tight margins and rising input prices, those null results translated directly into savings.

READ MORE: On-farm research translates crop breakthroughs into ‘farmer speak’

Chris Forsythe, on-farm network agronomist with Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers, said most trials do not produce dramatic yield differences.

“Maybe 10 to 20 per cent of the time there is a difference, but 80 per cent of the time there isn’t,” he noted. Used carefully, that information helps growers avoid unnecessary inputs, extra passes or equipment purchases.

In one Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers trial on Doerksen’s farm, residual nitrogen spikes proved less consequential than expected, suggesting soybeans may tolerate more fluctuation than previously assumed.

Other trials have revealed subtler insights. In a wheat PGR trial on Hodson’s farm, yield did not change, but plant height did.

“If we weren’t working with the agronomists, we wouldn’t have been able to gain that information, and we might not have realized the value in that product,” said Hodson.

Strengthening trial design

Across the panel, the common thread was not chasing yield gains but narrowing uncertainty. Replication across multiple farms and public reporting strengthened certainty that findings were not local anomalies.

However, realism comes with a tradeoff.

WATCH: AgGronomyTV: Evaluating on-farm research

Field-scale trials capture the variability farmers live with, yet that same variability can make results harder to interpret. Long strip trials, differences in soil zones and yield monitor lag — the delay between crop entering the header and yield being recorded — can all mask real treatment responses.

A project funded by the Western Grains Research Foundation, SaskOilseeds, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers and SaskWheat and led by University of Saskatchewan professor Steve Shirtliffe, is focused on improving how on-farm trials are designed and analyzed.

Research officer Racquelle Peters, who manages the project, said on-farm research fills a gap that small-plot trials cannot. While small-plot research provides generalized recommendations under controlled conditions, field-scale strip trials reflect commercial realities.

“It feels more real to them, and there’s a good reason for that,” said Peters.

READ MORE: A whole new approach to on-farm research

“When you have that small plot research, which is also very valuable, they’re able to provide generalized recommendations, whereas, with the on-farm trials, you get specific recommendations, and that is very meaningful to farmers.”

Most on-farm trials follow a structured strip-trial layout designed to compare treatments fairly across a field. Improving how that framework performs under real field conditions is a central goal of Shirtliffe’s research team.

“What we’re doing is that we’re looking at ways to optimize that, using data that already exists,” said Peters.

Part of that effort involves re-evaluating older trial data with updated analytical tools, testing whether different approaches can strengthen the conclusions drawn from farmer-run trials.

Working at field scale means working with the variability farmers manage every season. That realism can make subtle treatment effects harder to detect.

The project is exploring approaches intended to improve sensitivity without sacrificing the practical advantages of on-farm trials.

Improving field-scale sensitivity

One method, the modulated on-farm response surface experiment, replaces single-rate strips with smooth ramps of application rates within a single pass. That allows researchers to analyze responses as a curve rather than a simple comparison of averages, improving sensitivity when identifying optimal input rates.

“I think of like turning one strip into a dozen mini-plots without any borders,” said Peters.

For fixed-rate decisions, such as fungicide application, the project is also testing precision strip trials that alternate treated and untreated segments within a single pass.

READ MORE: Sask. producer learns from his own on-farm trials

Varying the length of those segments helps account for yield monitor lag and allows spatial analysis to separate real treatment effects from background noise.

“It’s kind of like an on-off treatment system,” Peters said.

Keeping trials farmer-friendly

Peters said improving trial design isn’t about making on-farm research more complicated for growers. Most modern equipment already supports variable-rate prescriptions and precision application, so many of the improvements focus on making better use of the data already being collected.

That matters because on-farm research only works if it fits into normal operations. At the Ag Days panel, growers repeatedly stressed that trials must be practical and easy to integrate into busy seasons.

“The goal is to get precise, trustworthy recommendations that reflect their local conditions,” said Peters.

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Small-field trials on Bourgault Industries’ 2,000-acre commercial farm in northern Saskatchewan focused on canola seeding rates, and nitrogen and phosphorus placement.

Agronomy manager Curtis deGooijer said five years of data shows that less can equal more when it comes to overall yield, emergence efficiency and plant architecture and maturity.

WHY IT MATTERS: Trials involving seeding rates with proper nitrogen rates and placement can save agricultural producers input costs while maintaining or increasing yields and emergence efficiency.

DeGooijer told the recent Farming Smarter conference and trade show in Lethbridge that for singulation, rates were 10 seeds per sq. foot and then subsequently halved to five seeds and 2.5, while volumetric started at five pounds per acre and was then halved to 2.15 and 1.25.

He said yields held up even at the lowest rates, especially when conditions and fertilizer placement were managed properly. They were 49.1 bushels per acre at the lowest seeding rate and 49 bu. per acre at the highest.

The real differences were seen with plant architecture and emergence efficiency.

“We do a lot of emergence, not just at two-leaf, but then afterwards as well. Our actual emergence rates started to decline. So simply by reducing your seeding rate, you’re getting better emergence,” said deGooijer.

Emergence dropped from 72 per cent with the lowest seeding rate to 59 per cent with the highest.

Bigger plants

He also said lower seeding rates produced much larger plants with strong branching than the highest seeding rate. As well, yields from the lowest seeding rate were two bu. per acre more in the dry year of 2021 than the highest seeding rate.

“When I find in canola, what you see above ground is a pretty good indicator of what’s below ground,” he said.

“The root system underneath is a bit larger underneath. So a dry year, less plants seems to do better because of a bigger root system on it. Those plants, they can dive down there, get that moisture, get those nutrients.”

In wet years, he added, yields and emergence increased approximately five bu. per acre with the higher seeding rate.

READ MORE: Tips to achieve a uniform canola crop

The stalk stands were examined after harvest, showing that production was higher with lower numbers of plants.

“You had more plants starting to compete with each other a little bit. They didn’t really produce a whole lot of grain,” he said.

“The less plants we had, the lower seeding rate, the less unproductive plants we had as well. The dry years, lower plant stem does better, and the wet years, the higher plant stem does better.”

DeGooijer said this information could help farmers manage high spots that are drier with lighter soil and lower wet spots where moisture pools instead of practising a one-size fits all seeding rate.

“In a dry area, maybe I do want less plants. I want bigger plants to really tap down into those hilltops. I want less plants up there to drive those roots down, and bigger rooting system.”

The good place

He emphasized the potential of combining lower seeding rates with proper nitrogen rates and placement.

A nine-year nitrogen placement trial with canola showed a 17 per cent reduction in emergence with mid-row placement compared to side-banding, while yields remained consistent, hovering around 55 bu. per acre.

Phosphorus placement trials highlighted the importance of side-banding for better crop health.

DeGooijer emphasized the impact of fertilizer placement on plant stands and yield, suggesting tailored seeding rate strategies based on local conditions.

“Put them together, that gives you your plant stand. Plant stand is what is going to control the next things, your maturity with flowering, timing and frost,” he said.

“You get a year with plus-35 weather in the first week of July. If you have a low plant stand that didn’t go into flowering yet, it misses that heat blast area and starts to flower a little bit later. That is going to be beneficial in having a later maturity big time. In the same sense, you get an early frost at the end of August, you got this low plant stand and later maturity, that’s going to hurt you on the back end.”

He said seeding rates must also be considered when managing weeds.

“Weed competition, if you are going to go to a lower plant stand, you might have to spray twice. If you want to only spray once, that’s where you have to consider having a higher plant stand because that comes into canopy closure.”

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Greg Stamp, however, hopes to show seeding in January isn’t so scary.

The Enchant, Alta. farmer seeded some spring wheat (AAC Oakman VB/AAC Westking) and durum (AAC Frontier) on Jan. 12 in a demo plot, mimicking recent research by Dr. Brian Beres on ultra-early seeding.

WHY IT MATTERS: With warmer southern Alberta weather, earlier seeding for spring wheat and durum opens up all sorts of possibilities for farmers, with research to back it up.

Beres conducted a four-year study that involved ultra-early seeding dates with hard red spring wheat on dryland sites in several locations across Western Canada, including Dawson Creek, B.C., Edmonton and Lethbridge, Alta., and Scott, Indian Head and Swift Current, Sask.

The overall conclusion was ultra-early seeding produced yields as good as — or, in several cases, higher than — crops seeded during the more traditional April/May seeding times. Seeding dates in the past have been more arbitrary, determined more by crop insurance deadlines than actual scientific research on sweet spots of seeding timing.

“The idea here is to treat the field like it’s a winter wheat crop. So we’ve got fall rye, trits, and winter wheat right beside it. Then we’re going to go in February and March again if we get a chinook and the soil temperature warms up. Then we’re going to plant our normal spring demos in late April, beside all these as well.”

As a dryland farmer, the goal is to take advantage as much as possible of early moisture, and beating the heat for flowering and maximizing disease control. Stamp was aiming for 1 C at one inch in his planting. Stamp used a Crop Intelligence weather station with temperature and moisture probes to see how the seeding is faring.

The early-seeding practice is the exception, not the norm, in southern Alberta, with other producers like Alison Davie at North Paddock Farms in Taber dabbling in it as well, according to Stamp.

“I think there’s value. I love this kind of research because it’s so practical to farmers. It’s not a typical practice, but I think long term, there’s going to be more people doing this,” said Stamp.

The initial hesitation by some farmers, Stamp admits, is in the logistics — namely, putting a drill in the ground in January, when people are at farm meetings, or on holidays, and/or equipment may be in the shop getting repaired. Another challenge is weed control.

Pre-planning has to be done in September-October, with spraying your field or laying down a residual herbicide — in essence, treating it like a winter crop. Wheat and durum varieties developed in Western Canada have adapted for cold tolerance, battling abiotic stress in more frigid temperatures.

“Even with seed, we need to have the varieties that the person is going to want to plant cleaned and ready to go, so they can buy seed at that point too,” said Stamp, adding he is targeting a high plant stand at 40 plants per square foot.

“There some work being done on what varieties are better. How does vigor impact this? Some of those things are unknowns at this point that we are assessing.”

Ultra-early seeding takes a shift in traditional mindsets, but it all comes down to the bottom line if the practice is to be continued.

“If there is money to be made or risks to be reduced, then I think there’s an opportunity there,” said Stamp.

Stamp is doing a field day in June with hopes Dr. Beres will speak on his ultra-seeding research.

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A new course by the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association delves into all these components and more.

“The High-Performance Forage course will be available early in 2026 to producers, agronomists and technical teams interested in improving the quality of Canadian forage available for market both domestically and internationally,” according to Kaylee Healy, the CFGA’s communications and knowledge technology transfer logistics manager.

The course covers a range of topics designed to give participants in-depth knowledge on the different aspects of growing high-performance forage across Canada, including examining regional challenges.

READ MORE:

• Grow forages, starve weeds
• Short- and long-term thoughts on forage management
• Lessons learned growing forage mixtures for beef production

This 12-module course is designed for producers who are already growing forage and who are ready to take their product to the next level to take advantage of existing and new markets. Participants can expect to walk away with an in-depth understanding of forage production and practical next steps to improve the quality of forage produced by their operations.

The course is being developed with the help of forage specialist Dan Undersander from the University of Wisconsin, who brings knowledge of more than five decades of advancing forage production.

His expertise spans all aspects of forage management, including production and harvesting methods for hay, haylage, baleage and silage, as well as forage analysis and grazing. His work is supported by other subject matter experts from across Canada and the United States.

“We’ve been building this information for the last three years with Dr. Undersander,” Healy said.

“It’s building on a series of workshops held back in the early 2000s. They were in-person workshops geared towards agronomists and technical experts in forage to help develop higher-quality forage across Canada.”

What’s in the course?

The course takes a ground-up approach, starting with planning growing systems, defining the rations and yield potential. Planning the system helps identify goals, determine labour and management costs and determine crop goals. It is the foundation for the rest of the course and includes elements to help producers track and assess performance.

It’s important to understand the seed mix, including seed genetics, which will grow best in a producer’s region based on climate, soil fertility and other growing conditions.

The module also looks at seeding rates and seeding strategies.

Fertility is an important component of growing quality forage. It begins with understanding the nutrients and density required to match the seed selection made.

Emphasis on soil testing illustrates the need to understand soil pH and existing nutrients, plus soil additives including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, calcium and magnesium. This module also explores the use of liquid and solid manure and touches on the impact of salinity.

Seed management looks at different tillage systems designed to facilitate proper seed placement and other seedbed preparation considerations, while weed control covers topics such as assessing weed pressures and challenges. It specifically looks at when weeds cause a problem, how to manage weeds through pre-seeding and post-seeding, mechanical needs for weed control and when spraying may be required.

Disease and pest management dives into understanding the pressures that these problems place on crops. The module looks at how to identify problems and manage them.

The course offers a diverse look at harvesting and harvest systems, beginning with targeted harvesting time. This is a natural segue into matching forage quality to animal requirements and targeting moisture levels at harvest.

The harvest module also looks at minimizing field losses, selecting the best mower for your operation, the use of conditioning systems, racking, preservation and making baleage.

Making forage is only part of the equation. The course also features modules on storage including packing density, bunk filling rates and other storage considerations to minimize loss.

Producers feeding out forage will appreciate the module on feed-out management, which touches on topics such as maintaining a fresh bunk face, designing storage systems and engaging a nutritionist. It closes with tracking forage quality and building rations.

As the course winds down, participants will gain a better understanding of tracking and performance, including what records to keep, why producers should keep them and how to inventory quantity and quality in storage.

The initial plan, the tracking and the records help producers better understand the cost of production for an operation. Producers walk away from training with a template to develop the cost of production for their own operation, looking at the cost of harvest and storage losses and the overall cost of forage production.

The course closes with discussion on sustainable management, greenhouse gas impacts and management strategies to help producers with soil carbon sequestering and determining manure storage and application methods for their operations.

Producers will complete training with a plan on how they can improve the quality of forage they produce.

“The course presents information using a combination of written and video materials and provides resources and action items so producers can take the techniques and strategies outlined in the material and apply them to their farm,” Healy said.

Why now?

The CFGA has been working with Undersander and other experts for several years to create this training series based on the demand from producers and extension specialists to improve the quality of forage produced in Canada. It has been long recognized that forages are essential to maintaining the health of cropping systems in addition to being an important crop on its own.

Growers face a number of challenges regionally, including disease, pests, drought, excessive moisture and varying rates of soil fertility.

A pilot three-day workshop offered this past March in Manitoba underlined the desire for knowledge and the need to build new supports and connections for growers.

“With experts planning retirement or moving into other roles, the CFGA recognized the opportunity to capture this knowledge now and assist with transferring it to the next generation of producers, agronomists and technicians who are looking to improve Canadian forage,” Healy said.

“This free online course will be available through the CFGA’s learning management system in both English and French early in 2026.”

The new High-Performance Forage course joins other online educational opportunities provided by the CFGA, including Advanced Grazing Systems with sub-courses on dairy and brown soil zones.

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So far, 85 per cent of projected acres were planted by Manitoba farmers, well above the 57 per cent reported the week before. One year ago, 64 per cent of acres were planted, while the five-year average was 69 per cent.

Most places received very little precipitation over the past week. However, Snowflake and Cypress River in the Central region saw 21.8 millimetres of rain, while Glenboro in southwest Manitoba had 18.5 mm.

Seasonal accumulations of precipitation were near-normal in most areas, but eastern Manitoba and eastern parts of the Interlake have seen less than 60 per cent of historical seasonal totals. On the other hand, the Southwest and parts of the Central region received approximately 150 per cent.

Spring wheat seeding in Manitoba is near complete with the earliest seeded fields now in the three-leaf to one-tiller stages. Grain and silage corn were 98 per cent and 94 per cent seeded, respectively, with most fields emerged and minor frost damage. Oats and barley were 89 per cent seeded, while winter wheat and fall rye are growing well.

The majority of canola acres were planted over the past week and stood at 76 per cent planted. Sunflowers were 83 per cent planted, while flax was 54 per cent planted.

Many soybeans began to emerge last week while 76 per cent of acres were planted. So far, 28 per cent of dry beans were planted, including 45 per cent in the Central region.

Field pea seeding is complete with most fields emerged and the earliest seeded plants in the two- to three-node stage.

Most corn intended for silage and grazing were seeded with cereal silage seeding still underway. Alfalfa fields are growing more than grass due to the former’s roots accessing more subsoil moisture. Meanwhile, forages stand to benefit from additional rainfall. However, pastures have been affected by wildfires in the southeast corner of the province.

Cattle are being turned out to summer pastures, but some are waiting another week or two to ensure sufficient growth. Dugouts are in good condition considering the widespread dryness. However, lower water levels for livestock were found in Swan River and The Pas.

The post Manitoba Crop Report: Dry conditions speed up planting appeared first on Grainews.

Shawn Madsen, operations manager for Southland Pulse Inc. located northwest of the city, said the precipitation came right before growers brought their planters out into the fields. He rated the soil conditions as “pretty good”.

“For seeding, (it was) probably perfect conditions,” Madsen added. “But we need the rain again. We’re getting to that point where it’s getting pretty dry and we’ll see if there’s something in the forecast.”

He also said seeding has progressed to the point where some local growers will be finished their seeding in a matter of days. However, the story is different in other areas.

“Probably 100 kilometres to the north … northwest, northeast, I would say that number significantly dips down to around 50 per cent and less,” Madsen added.

He expects there to be slightly more pulse acres seeded this year. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in its April estimates, projected 3.516 million dry pea acres in Canada to be planted, compared to 3.212 million in 2024. However, AAFC also estimated small declines for lentil, chickpea and dry bean acres.

Pea markets have shown some price movement. Delivered bids for green peas in the Prairies ranged from C$14.50 to C$17 per bushel as of May 12, up 50 cents on the high end from the previous week, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire. Yellow peas were C$9.35 to C$10.25/bu., down 50 cents.

Despite this, activity has been quiet.

“(Market volatility has) gotten buyers kind of spooked to put something on paper. Farmers have just been busy planting and they are putting marketing on hold right now,” Madsen explained. “Farmers will probably take a look at what they have left and maybe start to market those last few bushels.”

On May 8, Statistics Canada reported that as of March 31, the country had 1.356 million tonnes of peas in stock, 947,000 on farm and 409,000 in commercial stocks. The figure is up from 955,000 tonnes in total (726,000 on farm and 229,000 commercial) in 2024.

The post Pulse Weekly: Saskatchewan pea plantings progress appeared first on Grainews.

That’s the advice of Greg Stamp of Stamp Seeds, a second-generation family seed farm and seed retailer at Enchant, Alta., northeast of Lethbridge. Stamp is a certified crop advisor and is the seed sales manager for the 7,000-acre operation that’s a major seed supplier for Prairie farms.

Stamp had some fall cropping tips for producers during the CropConnect 2025 conference in Winnipeg in February and in a subsequent interview with Grainews.

Growing crops that overwinter, such as a fall hybrid rye or winter wheat, is a different way of farming in some ways than a spring crop, so producers need to be aware of that, Stamp says — and farmers who start making preparations early in the year will provide their fall crops with the best chance of success.

He points out it can also help ensure fall seeding goes smoothly during what’s typically a very hectic time for farmers.

“Farms are very busy when these crops need to be planted in the fall, so getting the crop in the ground in time and having enough staff in place to make that happen can be challenging,” Stamp says.

“For me, fall crops are all about early planning. When you try and do this just a few days before you go in to seed, it just causes stress and problems for everyone,” he adds. “If you want to grow a fall crop, you should be planning right now.”

One way to avoid planting headaches, he says, is to grow an earlier-maturing non-cereal crop like canola or pulses in fields slated for fall cropping. This enables farmers to get the spring crop off earlier so there’s more time to get that fall crop in.

Buy seed early

Stamp also recommends farmers buy their seed early once the decision is made to seed some fall acres — and plan a timeline for when those fall crops will be seeded, so as to ensure they have everything they need once the ground is ready.

An important part of that, he says, is making sure there are enough people on hand to do the job. “That’s so critical. Schedule that help for Sept. 1 or end of August so you can get rolling on your fall crop.”

Many farmers have a relative or a neighbour who lends a helping hand at harvest, he notes; one suggestion would be to have them arrive during that window for seeding winter wheat or hybrid rye, freeing farmers up to get started.

Another tip for successful fall planting is to have a tractor and seed drill prepped and standing at the ready prior to the start of harvest.

“It can take half a day to hook a tractor up sometimes, by the time you’ve got monitors set up and troubleshoot problems,” Stamp says. “If you have a spare tractor that you’re not using on the harvest run, have that tractor hooked up and ready.”

Stamp also recommends farmers leave stubble up from the harvested spring crop, then seed their fall crops between the rows. This can help trap snow in fields, providing an insulating layer for crops so they better withstand the rigours of winter.

Winterkill is always a danger for fall crops, which is why Stamp urges farmers to use a dual seed treatment to maximize protection against disease and insects.

“I’m a big believer in winter crops getting a fungicide/insecticide seed treatment for stress mitigation and winter survival,” he says.

“Some people would consider planting an untreated fall crop, and I think that’s a mistake. Personally, I would not put a winter crop in the ground without a fungicide/insecticide seed treatment.”

The danger of winterkill is another reason to ensure fall crops have correct plant populations, Stamp says.

He urges farmers to follow the advice of their seed retailers or agronomists on proper seeding rates for fall crops such as winter wheat or hybrid rye. “I’ve just seen people try and cut rates too much and then they’re not happy with the crop,” Stamp said.

Stamp also suggests seeding fall crops with a narrower-spaced drill can be beneficial come springtime.

“The narrower your drill, the better, because you’ll have more even flowering,” he says. “If you do have the choice, I’d go for seven-inch row spacing, especially on a rye.”

The post Tips for planting a successful fall crop appeared first on Grainews.

But as MarketsFarm analyst Bruce Burnett says in a recent Western Producer article, “It’s not like there’s a magic commodity that you can switch to that would be instantly profitable if you’re trying to replace your canola acreage.”

The best option for canola producers may be to apply agronomy practices that can improve profits for little to no added cost, says the Canola Council of Canada (CCC), which recently posted the article “9 agronomy tips to help increase canola profit” on its website.

Know the appropriate target plant stand

The “five to eight plants per square foot” rule has been a plant stand recommendation for canola for about as long as canola has existed.

Some recommend targeting the lower end of that range when seed costs are high and the crop selling price and yield are low. However, it’s essential to not go too low, the council says. Plant populations lower than five per square foot can compromise yield. Also, thin stands are more vulnerable to flea beetles and weed competition.

Target uniform seed emergence

Prioritizing a uniform plant population, in both the field and crop staging, can get a high-yielding crop off to a good start.

There are many ways to achieve this, but a few prominent methods include seeding into warmer soils, being mindful of proper seeding depth, leveling the drill and limiting seed-placed fertilizer. Keeping seeding tools well-maintained and slowing down when seeding also help.

Ideally, producers should seed into soil temperatures of 5 C or higher, particularly if there’s a good chance of warmer weather in the forecast. This should create “reasonably” good rates of seed survival and emergence, Jason Casselman, a CCC agronomy specialist at Fairview, Alta., said via email.

Seeding at one- to one-and-a-half inches below the packer furrow is the recommended seed depth for canola. This can reduce days to emergence as well as the seed energy necessary to emerge, he says. A depth of one inch is also the recommended start point in dry soils.

Leveling a seed drill calls for knowledge of the tool’s seeding depth range. For example, the overall seed depth average of a given drill may be one inch but the range could be zero to two inches.

“The result can be highly variable emergence date, reduced seed survival and an uneven field,” Casselman says.

“Follow the operator’s manuals to level the drill, check that openers are in good shape and inflate tires to the same pressure.”

Be mindful of how much fertilizer you’re placing in the seed row, he adds, as seed-placed fertilizer can increase seedling mortality. Limit seed-placed fertilizer to phosphate fertilizer at rates of up to 20 lbs./ac.

Choose seed with disease resistance

If you have fields with yield-robbing levels of blackleg, be sure to use blackleg-resistant canola varieties that match the blackleg races in that field. The council website can help producers find labs that test stubble for race, and also features a list identifying cultivars with blackleg-resistant genes.

Clubroot-resistant cultivars and higher sclerotinia stem rot tolerance can help reduce yield loss with relatively little additional cost, the CCC says. But resistant cultivars aren’t the only tool in this particular toolbox: starting off with more plants per square foot and an improved seed treatment may offset some need to spray.

Manage flea beetles with plant density

Much the same can be said for flea beetle management. If you’re planning one or more flea beetle sprays, target a higher number of plants per square foot. That, plus an improved seed treatment, may also offset the need to spray.

Meet crop needs for fertilizer

Generally speaking, you don’t want to cut fertilizer rates. While doing so may reduce upfront costs, the chances of improved profitability at season’s end are remote.

“Fertilizing for a 50 bu./ac. target yield is usually more profitable than fertilizing for a 40 bu./ac. target yield, as long as weather allows crops to get close to those targets,” the council says.

Casselman again recommends limiting seed-placed fertilizer to minimize seedling damage. For soils with low to medium phosphorus levels, he suggests placing a starter rate in the seed row (15-20 lbs. of phosphorus pentoxide, the equivalent of around 30 to 40 lbs./ac. of monoammonium phosphate (MAP)).

“Soil tests will often recommend a higher rate of phosphorus for canola, so the balance is best added into the fertilizer blend placed outside the seed row,” he says.

The risk of seed-placed fertilizer comes from the nitrogen component of ammonium phosphate, ammonium sulphate and all nitrogen fertilizers, he says.

“Ammonia can damage seedlings through direct toxicity while nitrate will damage seedlings by desiccation through the salt effect.

“These salts, when dissolved in soil water, have an osmotic effect that can hold back moisture from germinating seeds and seedlings. When soil moisture is lacking, this effect is worse for seed and seedlings.”

Potassium should stay out of the seed row because of its high salt index. The same goes for sulphur, which can damage seedlings when in close proximity.

“Canola has a much lower tolerance to seed-placed potassium than cereals, and stands can be reduced if seed-placed potassium rates exceed safe rates, especially with drills that have low seedbed utilization,” says Casselman.

It’s best to apply fertilizer at time of seeding. Doing so tends to avoid the kind of losses associated with fall application. It also eliminates the need for an in-crop top dress.

Control weeds early

Farmers are all too familiar with the dangers of weeds, but they should know canola’s yield potential is more vulnerable to early weed competition than most grains. That’s why early weed control is paramount.

“If a farmer budgets for two sprays, early applications cost the same as late applications, but early applications can increase yield and profit,” the council says.

“For perennials and winter annuals that have overwintered and for competitive annuals like kochia, a pre-seed tank-mixed burn-off is often the most economical first application.”

Cut when all seeds are firm to roll

Canola achieves optimum seed yield and quality when swathed at 60 per cent seed colour change (SCC) or later, the CCC says.

To estimate the SCC in your field, Casselman recommends taking a plant and dividing the main stem into thirds and then inspecting the stems from each third. At 60 per cent SCC, seeds from the top third of the main stem will still be green but firm to roll.

“Seeds from the middle third will be mostly brown, with some speckling and mottling. Seeds from the bottom third, the most mature, will have completely turned brown‑black in colour.”

The canola council set the 60 per cent target based on a multi-location study from the early 2000s, It found canola swathed at 50 to 60 per cent SCC on the main stem yielded at least eight per cent more than fields swathed at 30 to 40 per cent SCC. Canola swathed at 60 to 70 per cent SCC yielded 11 per cent more than fields swathed at 30 to 40 per cent.

Minimize combine loss

Harvest losses out of the back of a combine are not negligible. In fact, these losses can exceed 10 per cent of yield in challenging harvest conditions or when going too fast with a poorly-set combine.

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure” applies here and in this case, management requires a drop pan, the CCC says.

“The right settings will require some trial and error, especially when learning the ropes with a new combine. Growers can reduce losses to one or two per cent with attention to detail and adjustment to changing harvest conditions.”

Rotate crops to improve yield

Generally, two- to three-year breaks between canola crops is considered enough to reduce crop disease severity, select for weed resistance and increase yield. Adding a third crop to a wheat-canola rotation isn’t easy, but the long-term benefits of doing so can improve canola profitability.

More specifically, a one-year break between canola crops can reduce carryover of blackleg fungus onto canola stubble, says Casselman. However, it takes a break of at least two full years (a one-in-three rotation) to reduce disease severity and yield loss risk.

A three-year break (a one-in-four rotation) for all intents and purposes eliminates yield loss risk from blackleg.

For clubroot, growing resistant hybrids is an effective tool when combined with a minimum two-year break between canola crops, Casselman says.

Evidence from three rotation studies in Canada — two at Normandin in Quebec’s Saguenay region and one in Alberta — indicates two years between host crops (one-in-three rotation) is the minimum rotation to manage clubroot spores in a field, he notes.

“Thomas Ernst, who did the Alberta study, observed an eight- to 20-fold drop in resting spore concentrations with a two-year break after growing clubroot-resistant canola. With a one-year break, Ernst found that resting spore numbers never dropped enough to provide any reduction in risk.”

According to Casselman, University of Saskatchewan professor Christian Willenborg, a weed scientist, declared volunteer canola the major weed associated with continuous canola cultivation. Volunteer canola covers a gamut of risk, from yield reduction to unwanted crop competition to higher disease build.

“They can also reduce harvest quality if volunteers mature later and increase green seed counts,” Casselman says.

Some tips for reducing volunteer canola include short breaks between canola crops, rotation of herbicide tolerance systems and using pre-seed and fall herbicide timing on top of in-crop applications.

“Rotation with other crops provides expanded options to rotate among herbicide groups. Winter cereals or perennial legumes can be part of a system of integrated weed management,” he says.

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On April 22, Trump seemed willing to reverse his actions on China, saying that tariffs on imports will be cut substantially — but not entirely — with a new trade deal.

Terry Reilly, senior agricultural specialist at Marex in Chicago, said Trump’s comments eased pressure off of soybean prices, but not so much for soymeal and soyoil.

“Products remain on the defensive, which is limiting rallies in (the soy) market,” Reilly said. “Volatility will always remain when you’re in a headline-trading environment … The fundamentals haven’t changed all that much. We’re just watching these outside commodity markets, which should continue to influence grain and oilseed markets.”

However, he added that the trade is looking more closely at the rapid pace of plantings for corn, soybeans and spring wheat. The USDA reported, as of April 20, 12 per cent of the U.S. corn crop, eight per cent of the soybean crop and 17 per cent of the spring wheat crop were planted. The figures are two, three and five points above their five-year averages, respectively.

Reilly said corn’s planting pace was “impressive” due to the larger amount of corn acres to be planted this year compared to 2024. He added that wheat export demand is slow, but tighter global supply as well as dry conditions in the Black Sea and the U.S. could give prices a boost.

Soybeans are also on track to be planted “in a timely manner” after corn plantings and, in some cases, during.

“When you get cool temperatures in a good window in April, (farmers) will grow soybeans as well,” Reilly explained. “That might be weighing on new crop prices relative to old crop. Old crop supplies are going to tighten up if we continue to see these producers sell. I think beans are going to be a little bit hard to find in the summer months if crush margins are as strong as they are right now.”

He expects corn and soybean prices to stay put in the short-term, with wheat prices moving upward.

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