Tractor spraying soybean field

Avoiding herbicide mis-use

Herbicides have made it easier to feed the world, but beware of residuals and improper use

Herbicides are an integral and essential aspect of modern productive farming. Without our effective and efficient herbicides our dollar costs for food production would be double or triple what we now pay. Can your even visualize hand weeding agricultural and horticultural crops? As a youth I earned pocket money hand hoeing turnips and beets and […] Read more

Using standard rotary mower blades, the Weed Clipper can cut taller weeds above the crop canopy.

Introducing the Weed Clipper

Bourgault Tillage Tools debuts a new weed control option

One of the newest implements to hit the market in Canada this year, the Weed Clipper (video), came from Bourgault Tillage Tools, and it was on display in the Innovations Show Place at Canada’s Farm Progress in Regina in June. Designed to cut fast growing weeds that are taller than the crop, the Weed Clipper gives […] Read more


The relatively dry spring and hot dry summer were extremely favourable to kochia in Western Canada.

Herbicide diversity tackles kochia

As the weed works hard to outmanoeuvre chemicals, farmers expand the toolbox

Joe Wurz takes kochia control seriously. The southern Alberta farmer at the Lathom Hutterite Colony takes all weeds seriously, but a few years ago when he observed some healthy-looking kochia plants standing in a patch of dead kochia on farm fields near Brooks — all had been sprayed with glyphosate — he suspected herbicide tolerance […] Read more

Bernie McClean's annual crop rotation includes canola, CPS wheat, malt barley and oats.

Extending rotations, in the field

Part 1 of 3: How real farmers are extending their rotations

There seems to be no shortage of articles, presentations and research exhorting farmers to lengthen rotations. Longer rotations benefit everything from weed control to disease suppression in crops. But what are farmers doing to maintain or extend rotations? Grainews spoke to three farmers to find out how they’re managing their rotations. And while each farmer […] Read more


Herbicide resistance continues to grow on the Prairies, but so will the list of management techniques to keep weeds such as wild oats at bay.

Reporter’s Notebook: How will we be farming in 20 years?

Lisa Guenther points to two agronomic problems shaping our future cropping plans

Agriculture has undergone big changes in the last century. Yesterday’s farmers would be amazed by the technology contained in a tractor and seeder these days, or by the vaccines that protect livestock from disease. Or even by the phones we tuck into our back pockets, and occasionally drop in the muck. It’s an interesting exercise […] Read more

Fall quackgrass growth.

Pre- and post-harvest weed control

Q & A with CPS

Q: When should I start weed control for my crop? A: A weed-free crop at harvest represents the cumulative effort of field management during the season. To manage many weed species, the season begins the previous fall. Pre-harvest weed control tends to focus glyphosate application on perennial weeds such as quackgrass or Canada thistle. At […] Read more


Edge herbicide approved for use with hemp

Edge herbicide approved for use with hemp

Established chemistry increases weed control options in specialty crop

Will Van Roessel may be reducing hemp acres on his southern Alberta farm this year, reflecting market signals over increasing world production, but he will be using Edge herbicide to help control pre-emergent weeds. Van Roessel who along with family members operates Specialty Seeds near Bow Island, just west of Medicine Hat, says Edge is […] Read more

Weed specialist Clark Brenzil says that ideally wild buckwheat should be controlled at the four-leaf stage or smaller.

Wild buckwheat: A weed to watch

Glyphosate alone is just not enough. 
Why is buckwheat so hard to control?

Wild buckwheat consistently ranks among the top five problematic weeds in Saskatchewan weed surveys. Clark Brenzil, provincial weed control specialist at Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Agriculture, explains what makes this weed so tricky. Wild buckwheat is an annual weed found in cropland in the southern Prairies. Despite farmers’ best efforts, the weed is hardy and persistent […] Read more


Choosing that pre-seed herbicide

Choosing that pre-seed herbicide

Q & A with CPS

Q: What are some considerations when selecting a pre-seed herbicide application? A: There are significant benefits to applying herbicides prior to seeding or crop emergence. Pre-seed weed removal reduces competition for valuable moisture and nutrients required for seedling development. When selecting pre-seed herbicides, begin with the crop to be grown. Products available vary considerably by […] Read more

Because it’s a new weed, probably the first thing growers will notice is stray weeds sitting above the crop canopy.

Managing herbicide-resistant waterhemp in Manitoba

The weed’s movement into Manitoba calls for more vigilant field scouting

Waterhemp was found for the first time in Manitoba in 2016, southeast of Winnipeg in the area around the RM of Taché. The discovery led to the establishment of a waterhemp surveillance program led by Manitoba Agriculture in 2017. More waterhemp was found at a second site closer to the U.S. border. In both circumstances, […] Read more