Corn diseases to watch for this season

Corn diseases to watch for this season

Corn growers will need to be on the lookout for goss’s wilt and fusarium stalk rot

With seeding time fast approaching, now is a good time to take note of two corn diseases that could pose challenges to growers in 2018. One disease that has received a lot more attention in recent years is goss’s wilt, a bacterial disease of corn. Damage from sand-blasting, rain, strong winds or hail can cause […] Read more




Seeding advances past five-year average, crops begin to emerge

Saskatchewan Crop Report for the week ending May 14

Thanks to good seeding conditions, Saskatchewan producers made up the time lost in previous weeks. Thirty-five per cent of the crop is now in the ground, just ahead of the five-year (2013-2017) seeding average of 32 per cent for this time of year. Crops are starting to emerge. Seeding is furthest advanced in the southeast, […] Read more


Stewart Collin took this photo of a field south of Foremost, Alta., on April 23, 2018. He estimates at least 15 per cent of his acres won’t get seeded this year.

Farmers hoping for a balance in moisture

As spring finally takes hold, producers report a wide range of seeding conditions

The 2018 seeding season is starting out as a Goldilocks year for many western Canadian farmers — with conditions ranging from too dry, or too wet, they are looking for that middle ground that is “just right.” Producers in parts of Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan are reporting enough moisture to get the crop started, but […] Read more




Seeding starts after cool, late spring

Saskatchewan Crop Report for the week ending April 30

A cool and late spring has delayed field work across the province. However, seeding has just nicely started in the southern areas. Most other areas have some field activity with harrowing, pre seeding herbicide and fertilizer applications. Many producers will be seeding within the week. Field conditions vary greatly across the province. The southern regions […] Read more


calf eating grass

Spring is welcome, but it brings its own issues for calves

Pen Checker Diary: Nicer weather comes with a whole parcel of animal health risks

Those of us in the agricultural field find ourselves continually affected by our Canadian weather. A constant of this weather is that it is continually changing, and when the bitter cold temperatures of winter begin to ease and the spring sun appears in its brilliance, Old Sonny and I tend to feel pretty good about […] Read more

D3: The digital dumbing down

Not all information is better in the digital age. Especially data about the weather

We are now in “the information age.” Information, mostly good but sometimes sketchy, is literally at our fingertips. As I wrote this piece if a spelling error occurred, my software program underlined it in red. Then I quickly opened a web browser and put my spelling of the word into Google and up popped the […] Read more