Crop Aid SS is a Saskatchewan-made spray that’s intended to help farmers manage saline soils by leaching salts away from the root zone.
Tag Archives Soil salinity
New soil treatment targets saline patches in fields
A Saskatchewan company’s product focuses on water flow through the soil, offering an alternative to gypsum and organic amendments
Soil sampling for Prairie farmers: How to test for nutrients and avoid common mistakes
Agronomy Management: Take representative soil samples, choose the right depths, analyze key nutrients
Taking representative soil samples, choosing the right depths, and analyzing key nutrients can improve fertilizer planning and crop performance on western Canadian farms.
Understanding tile drainage
Tiling can be a good solution for fixing multiple problems, but it can also be complex to install, and costs vary widely depending on the farm. Make purchasing decisions easier by doing your homework first.
Removing excess water is the big payoff for tile drainage. Submerged fields and saturated soils can slash yields, cause salinity problems and even spell the loss of the entire crop, if it’s bad enough. However, it is not an inexpensive fix, nor is it a simple solution, and it won’t work for every farm. That’s […] Read more
Moving from dry to wet
Improved moisture conditions can mean different strategies
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
Prairie soils’ organic carbon climbing
Data from StatCan and AAFC highlight positive changes made in agriculture since the 1980s
Glacier FarmMedia — For much of the last five years, the federal government has been setting targets for Canadian farmers to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer and methane emissions from cattle. The government has provided funding to help producers cut methane and nitrous oxide emissions from primary agriculture, while constantly beating the drumbeat of […] Read more
Shop smart when selecting seed for salt tolerance
Soil tests are recommended before deciding how best to manage salinity
Glacier FarmMedia — Producers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are asking plenty of questions about how to manage salinity in their soil. Jeff Schoenau, a soil science professor with the University of Saskatchewan, is among those fielding questions, although he says the amount of visible salinity in his province is “normal” for April. “I think probably […] Read more
More on Prairie vegetables and fruits
Part 6 of a series: Let’s look further at what grows well on the Prairies — and when it doesn’t, why
In previous issues I dealt with potatoes and the cabbage family of garden vegetables, but perhaps I should also take a look at all and any successfully grown Prairie vegetable crops. To do this, I should list all vegetable crops into related categories, as in the table shown here, so we can more clearly plan […] Read more
Make it drain: Is tile right for your fields?
A producer and an agrologist consider whether tile is worth your while
Tile drainage may be the best tool in the toolbox to manage saline soil in fields, a southwestern Manitoba farmer told an audience at the recent Ag Days farm show. Aaron Hargreaves, who co-owns Harwest Farms south of Brandon, said he and his four partners have struggled with soil salinity on their farm since they […] Read more
Les Henry: The soil salinity story
How it all happened
Over the years, I have found readers like to hear about “how it all happened.” Sure, the results and how the results can direct crop practices is important. For soil salinity, our results have been communicated broadly for decades and practices have changed, but, in this piece, I will let you know how it all […] Read more
Les Henry: On salty ground
We’ve come full circle in the soil salinity cycle
This topic was not on the to-do list for this winter. Soil salinity is a very hot topic right now and many farmers are concerned they will have no land to farm if it carries on like this. The last time I remember such concern about soil salinity was during the late 1970s and early […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
