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Tag Archives soil moisture

heavy rain in manitoba 2024
Crops, Features, Weather

Moving from dry to wet

Improved moisture conditions can mean different strategies

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Farmers in Western Canada can breathe easy. Rains across most of the Prairies this spring have gone a long way toward recharging groundwater levels and lowering the risk of drought across the region. “We had an extremely warm winter with lower-than-normal precipitation in most areas,” says Trevor Hadwen, agroclimate specialist for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. […] Read more
A canola crop in the RM of Fletts Springs, just northwest of the RM of Pleasantdale, in 2019.
Canola, Columns, Crops

Where the canola was: a history of Saskatchewan yields by soil climatic zone

Whether by nature, nurture or both, yields jumped in several zones around the turn of this century

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Editor’s Note: Les Henry, the esteemed Prairie soil scientist and our longtime soils columnist, left us on June 14 at age 83. Up until the day before his passing, Les was working on and revising this column for the next (July 11) edition of Grainews. We’ll still have this on paper for you in a […] Read more
(Lightguard/E+/Getty Images)
Crops, Markets

Seeding in Alberta ahead of pace

Overall spring seeding of all crops in Alberta was just over 18 per cent complete, according to the province’s first crop report of 2024. The pace was nearly seven points above the five-year average.
standing stubble from a fall harvested crop
Columns, Crops

Drought preparedness through soil and crop management

After each dry year, adapt your drought plan based on your experiences and what you learned

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As spring approaches, the agricultural community is becoming increasingly concerned about potential forecasts of drought across the southern Prairies. And rightly so; the print and electronic media have posted numerous drought-related articles. Wide areas of southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan and their dryland farms, irrigated farms and ranching areas could be affected. But what helpful […] Read more
A plot-scale unit seeds wheat into one of the research plots. Wheat varieties were chosen based on regionally popular varieties for each test site.
Cereals Production Guide, Crops, Features, Spring Wheat

It pays to adjust seeding rate based on moisture

Keep wheat plant count in line with moisture expectations — and limit the amount of tillering

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Research done across Saskatchewan recommends that the best way to optimize wheat yields is to adjust your wheat seeding rate to reflect moisture conditions, says a report from the Western Applied Research Corporation (WARC). The research concluded if you’re heading into what looks like a drier growing season, a mid- to lower wheat seeding rate […] Read more
A study shows that in terms of response to moisture-related stress, the crop type is more important than the specific variety.
Crops, Features, Weather

Curb risk from moisture stress for less

A Manitoba agronomist offers up some tips for farmers on a budget

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With swings between wet and dry extremes in recent years, Prairie farmers have seen more water stress problems in their fields. Not only do they make crops less productive, but they can also crank up the stress levels for farmers. “Historically, our two main risks in crop production long term have been excess moisture and […] Read more
Water lines are trenched in on the field to feed drip lines placed at the root level.
Features

Subsurface irrigation called way of the future

Early adopters in southern Alberta are using drip lines to run water directly to crop roots

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Glacier FarmMedia — Subsurface drip irrigation is a relatively new system to the Prairies, but one of southern Alberta’s early adopters is confident it’s an effective way to grow crops with water efficiency rates second to none. Subsurface irrigation systems deliver water directly to roots using drip lines and is commonly designed to be spaced […] Read more
A centre-pivot system at work near Cowley, Alta., about 40 km east of Crowsnest Pass. Snowpack in mid-February was estimated at 50-75 per cent of normal at monitoring sites in southern Alberta's Rocky Mountains.
Columns, Crops, Weather

Managing irrigation with limited water

Some irrigation districts are advising users to brace for limits on available water

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There is increasing concern with below-normal mountain snowpack and potential for limited irrigation water availability in 2024. Snowpack in mid-February was about 50 to 75 per cent of normal at most of the snow pillow monitoring sites in the Rocky Mountains of northern Montana and southern Alberta (visit the Alberta River Basins web page, then […] Read more
A combine harvests wheat in September 1952 at the Matador Co-operative farm in what's now the RM of Lacadena, about 65 km north of Swift Current, Sask.
Columns, Weather

Precipitation cycles: When will the dry cycle end?

There's no way to predict from here what the 2024 growing season will provide

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Many farmers in the Brown and Dark Brown soil zones of the Palliser Triangle have spent a few years now looking at the sky and hoping for rain. In some areas the snowmelt went straight to soil moisture and was a big factor in providing something for the trucker to do. But multiple years with […] Read more

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