fusarium head blight in wheat

More than one way to fight fusarium head blight

An integrated approach, using multiple best practices, can offer better chances of success

Fusarium head blight has been a stubborn threat to cereal crops in Western Canada since the 1990s. Some years are worse than others, but when the conditions favour this fungal pathogen, fusarium can cause significant losses in yield and crop quality in wheat, barley, oats and corn. The two primary weapons against fusarium — fungicides […] Read more

Leaving taller standing stubble in a field increases its aerodynamic roughness heading into later fall and winter.

Retain your rain

Farmers can get creative to manage water efficiency on Prairie fields

Growers often dismiss the unpredictability of precipitation as pure luck — but they can stack the odds in their favour with the right strategies. “There’s a lot of different dynamics going on with the water balance in the Prairies,” says Phillip Harder, research director and hydrologist at Croptimistic Technologies. In addition to summer rains during […] Read more


At left is a wheat crop seeded on shorter or more conventional stubble height, which trapped less snow over winter. At right is a more robust crop growing in taller stubble that was able to capture more snow.

Research confirms value of taller crop stubble

Technology is available to help set up, measure and monitor on-farm research projects

Leaving taller crop stubble in the fall can improve the odds of higher crop yield in the following year, says Saskatchewan crop consultant Mike Palmier. His field observations in the 2021 growing season, followed by on-farm research trials through 2022 and 2023, produced data to support a recommendation to leave taller crop stubble. Even a […] Read more

While it’s toughest on tractor tires right after harvest, stubble may still be hard on your tires even the following spring.

Expect stalks and stubble to become more stabby

Also: rubber is most prone to trouble from stubble when brand new, before it can harden naturally

Don’t let its adorable little yellow flowers from the summer fool you — canola today can be “like little rebar” in your tractor tires. That was a late takeaway from an ag tire clinic for farmers at Melfort, Sask. in July, hosted by staff from retailer Kal Tire and manufacturer Firestone Ag. It’s not that […] Read more


A drone image, taken by Dr. Philip Harder, then with the University of Saskatchewan’s Centre for Hydrology, shows the test field in February 2023 with different amounts of snow trapped by different stubble heights.

Stubble height can make yield difference

Under extremely dry growing conditions, do your best to manage the moisture that’s there

You may not think leaving stubble just a bit taller would make much of a difference — but field scale research in Saskatchewan is showing even two more inches of stubble height, for example, can trap snow that could translate into about $40 or more per acre in extra yield. That’s not just wishful thinking, […] Read more