surveillance Archives

Back to blackleg

Lab-testing canola stem samples can help verify the disease and its specific race

By Jeff Melchior October 9, 2024

Everyone knows blackleg has been all over canola crops throughout Western Canada this year — but producers will still have to wait a bit to find out just how much the fungal disease has impacted Prairie crops. That’s why Clint Jurke, agronomy director with the Canola Council of Canada, is waiting until survey data is […] Read more

Columns, Editor's column

Editor’s Rant: Bumper sticklers

Crop forecasting is a thankless job, but necessary

By Dave Bedard August 19, 2024

They were good calls at the time. Just a few weeks ago a clutch of farm writers from across Canada converged on Glacier FarmMedia’s Ag in Motion show west of Saskatoon. Some of those writers, myself included, drove past quite a lot of handsome crops en route. In some stretches, the usually blue watery mirages […] Read more

The wheat midge is orange in colour and closely resembles a mosquito because of its small size.

Crops, Spring Wheat

Going, not gone: Some hot spots remain for midge

Recent low wheat midge counts no guarantee the problem won't return

By Jim Timlick May 6, 2024

Wheat midge populations on the Prairies have been declining for the past few years, but a researcher specializing in insect pests says farmers need to remain vigilant about the threat they pose to crops. “My advice (to farmers) is don’t turn your back on wheat midge, even if you are in a (low level) green […] Read more

A May 2022 RADARSAT Constellation Mission satellite image of fields in Manitoba, including many affected by flooding. Adoption of satellite imagery in agriculture is seen to have lagged compared to other sectors.

Equipment, Features

Farm focus needed for eyes in the sky

An ag expert with NASA talks about why on-farm adoption of satellite imagery has lagged

By Jim Timlick May 1, 2024

Satellite imagery has potential to revolutionize agricultural management, but that isn’t likely to happen unless on-farm adoption rates increase, the head of a NASA-led consortium said during a recent event in Winnipeg. NASA Harvest executive director Alyssa Whitcraft told attendees at this year’s Canadian Crops Convention that use of satellite imagery has exploded in some […] Read more

An artist's rendition of a Landsat satellite in Earth orbit.

Crops, Features

Checking crops from orbit may be underused option

The available satellite imagery of our crops may be an underused tool for field analysis

By Robert Arnason March 14, 2024

Glacier FarmMedia — Last fall on her farm near Holland, Man., Anastasia Kubinec was struggling with a decision about a canola field. In one part of the of the field, it seemed like the crop was ready to combine. But other areas were possibly too wet and too green. One option was going in with […] Read more

This file photo shows a rack of blood samples being tested for bovine tuberculosis in New Zealand dairy cattle. (Lakeview_Images/iStock/Getty Images)

Beef Cattle, Livestock

Bovine TB probe wraps with no exact point of entry found

'More stringent' tests now being run on U.S. rodeo cattle imports

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News August 13, 2020

Federal inspectors have formally closed the book on a 2018 outbreak of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in a British Columbia cattle herd, but with “no definitive source of infection” found. The probe dates back to October that year, when a beef cow of an unknown age, from a cow-calf operation in B.C.’s southern Interior, was culled, […] Read more

File photo of piglets at a hog operation in China. (KuLouKu/iStock/Getty Images)

Hogs, Livestock, Reuters

Chinese researchers warn of new virus in pigs with human pandemic risk

By Reuters, GFM Network News June 30, 2020

Shanghai | Reuters — A new flu virus found in Chinese pigs has become more infectious to humans and needs to be watched closely in case it becomes a potential “pandemic virus,” a study said, although experts said there is no imminent threat. A team of Chinese researchers looked at influenza viruses found in pigs […] Read more

Features, News

Invest in security on your farm

Relatively simple cameras can offer safety and security

By Julienne Isaacs September 5, 2019

Many farmers can tell stories of break-ins, stolen vehicles or stolen fuel. This trend isn’t only anecdotal: crime rates are going up in rural areas. According to Statistics Canada, 21 per cent of crime in 2017 took place in rural areas, with rates of violent crime 63 per cent higher in rural communities than urban […] Read more

A macrophage (immune response) cell in early stages of infection with African swine fever virus, magnified about 1,000x. (Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Hogs, Livestock, Reuters

U.S. to begin testing sick and dead pigs for African swine fever

By GFM Network News May 16, 2019

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture within weeks will begin testing sick and dead pigs for a hog virus that has killed herds across Asia in an effort to minimize devastation if the disease enters the United States, the agency said on Thursday. Increased testing aims to help U.S. officials detect cases […] Read more

Hogs, Livestock

Pigs could soon move off Alberta’s PED-infected farm

By GFM Network News February 7, 2019

The first, and so far only, Alberta hog farm to catch porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) could see animal shipments restart on a supervised basis “in the coming week.” The provincial ag ministry on Thursday said its investigation of the PED case, discovered Jan. 3 at a 400-head farrow-to finish operation, “continues to suggest that the […] Read more

Alberta crop conditions improve: report

U.S. grains: Corn sets contract lows on expectations for big US crop

U.S. livestock: Cattle strength continues

GFM Network News