lygus bug on sunflower plant in manitoba in 2024

Could trap crops help fend off lygus in faba beans?

A study explores how bracketing crops such as safflower or sunflower could help manage lygus in faba fields

The idea under study here is simple: plant something even more attractive than faba beans along the field edge, draw lygus in and hit them with an insecticide before they move on.

lygus bug

Lambda-cy back in the toolbox

After two years reviewing updated data, regulators rule in favour of a popular pest control product

Prairie farmers are welcoming the return of some important insecticides to the crop protection toolbox — although there’s still some headshaking over why use of the products was interrupted in the first place, and why it took two years for the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) to re-evaluate registration data. Although producers such as […] Read more


Proper machine maintenance, cleaning and monitoring can help reduce the incidence of combine fires during harvest.

Take steps to prevent combine fires in sunflowers

In warm, dry, windy weather, cleaning, monitoring and maintenance become even more important

Row-crop harvest is in full swing across North Dakota, with many crops near completion. Weather conditions have been extremely warm and dry, allowing producers to harvest crops without the pressure to get the grains harvested before winter arrives. However, dry and warm conditions increase the risk of combine fires — especially when harvesting sunflowers. In […] Read more

Here’s a closer-up look at a plot of CDC Esme growing outside the SeCan booth at Ag in Motion at Langham, Sask. in July.

Essential oils: New Prairie oilseeds for 2025

Details on new sunflowers, mustards and flax

Seven new varieties of sunflower, mustard and flax will be available to plant in Western Canada next year, thanks to new seed releases from Corteva, Mustard 21, Nuseed and SeCan. Here’s a rundown on the new offerings. RELATED READING: Corteva: Pioneer P63HE920 is a high oleic sunflower hybrid that is suitable for growing in the […] Read more



Toby checks out a southern Manitoba sunflower field in this file photo. (Glen Hallick photo)

Manitoba sunflower yields better than anticipated

Some crops may be left over winter

MarketsFarm — With most of Manitoba’s sunflower harvest believed to be almost complete for 2023, yields have proven to be better than expected, according to Dennis Lange at Manitoba Agriculture. “I’ve heard good comments from some in the industry that the sunflower crop looks pretty good this year,” Lange said, noting Manitoba yields were estimated […] Read more


File photo of a sunflower crop in Manitoba. (MysticEnergy/Getty Images)

Manitoba sunflowers doing well with fewer acres

Few pest, weed problems appear so far

MarketsFarm — Despite fewer acres under hot and dry conditions, things are going well for Manitoba’s sunflower crop. Out of the 88,000 acres planted for sunflowers across Canada, 77,000 of them are in Manitoba, according to Statistics Canada’s (StatCan) principal field crop acreage estimates released June 28. Both figures represent the fewest number of acres […] Read more

File photo of barley being unloaded at a grain terminal in Ukraine on June 23, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Igor Tkachenko)

Ukraine’s farm output could take 20 years to recover, study suggests

Some crop sectors may recover more quickly

Kyiv | Reuters — Ukraine’s agricultural sector could take 20 years or more in parts to recover from the ravages of Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to a Kyiv-based research centre. Ukraine is a major global grower and exporter of wheat, corn, sunflower and sunflower oil, but its production has fallen sharply since the war start […] Read more


File photo of young plants in a soybean field in Argentina. (Gracieross/iStock/Getty Images)

Argentina soybean crop smaller than expected, USDA attaché says

MarketsFarm — Argentina’s 2022-23 soybean crop is likely much smaller than official projections as high temperatures and a lack of moisture cut into yields, according to an update from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Buenos Aires attaché. The USDA post from the South American country pegged the soybean crop at only 36 million tonnes, which […] Read more

(Laura Rance photo)

Corteva cuts U.S. jobs while exiting Russia

California plant produces seed for sunflower growers

Chicago | Reuters — Seeds and pesticides company Corteva will eliminate U.S. jobs next year, as its exit from Russia reduces demand for its commercial sunflower seeds produced in California, the company said on Monday. Corteva will cut 51 positions from a Woodland, California facility, run by its Pioneer Hi-Bred International subsidiary, that supplied Europe […] Read more