winter cereals Archives

winter wheat roots, southern manitoba, april 2025

How farmers can tell if their winter wheat survived the cold

Green leaves are great to see, but that’s likely last year’s growth

By Greg Berg May 28, 2025

The green leaves of a winter wheat field may look encouraging to an untrained eye, but it’s not always the best measure of how well your cereal crop has survived the winter. So, how can you assess your winter wheat or fall rye to give you peace of mind that the crop will grow once […] Read more

Crops, Features, Winter Wheat

Tips for planting a successful fall crop

Seed expert says farmers who start planning early and have everything ready to go at seeding will have a smoother time

By Mark Halsall May 5, 2025

Growing crops that overwinter, such as a fall hybrid rye or winter wheat, is a different way of farming in some ways than a spring crop, so producers need to be aware of that, Greg Stamp says.

Early-spring seeding of winter wheat may create more grazing days and reduce production costs.

Beef Cattle, Cereals Production Guide, Crops, Forages, Winter Wheat

Early-spring-seeded winter cereals can bring more, better forage

The practice does have some risks — but maybe not the ones you think

By Jeff Melchior January 17, 2025

Glacier FarmMedia — Seeding winter cereals “ultra-early” in the spring can hedge against drought by offering an alternative feed source, according to Alberta research results. The project’s origins can be traced to the extremely dry year of 2021, which left many producers in the province’s eastern Lakeland region in need of feed and water resources. […] Read more

When stock water levels drop, a solar water system can help extend the quantity and preserve quality in the remaining water.

Cattleman’s Corner, Columns

Prepare your ranch and business plan for bouts with drought

A Little Bit Western: There are ways to extend feed and water — but do so with caution and monitoring

By Tara Mulhern Davidson October 17, 2024

In late summer I was invited to the Canadian Beef Industry Conference in Saskatoon to share my perspective on navigating drought. I would prefer covering a more cheerful topic, but as a fourth-generation Palliser Triangle dweller who resides on a ranch abandoned not once but twice by its former occupants, I’ll admit I’ve got experience […] Read more

File photo of wheat being loaded onto a bulk vessel at port in Russia. (YGrek/iStock/Getty Images)

Markets, Reuters

Russia’s Kursk region declares emergency due to winter grain crop failure

By Reuters October 17, 2024

Russia's Kursk region has introduced emergency measures due to a drought which killed winter grain crops, the local government said on Thursday.

Some winterkill in winter wheat doesn’t necessarily mean the surviving crop is unsaleable

Crops, Features, Weather, Winter Wheat

Conditions ripe for winter cereal wreck

Snow cover decline, temperature flux, pooling, freezing all potential problems

By Jeff Melchior April 17, 2024

Glacier FarmMedia — Minimal snow cover, frigid temperatures in mid-January and above-average temperatures after that may have set the stage for winterkill in winter crops. The risk is high enough to cause concern among crop specialists. “The eastern Prairies are in a little bit better shape than (Saskatchewan and Alberta) but there’s huge swaths that […] Read more

Retired winter wheat breeder Rob Graf describes some of the benefits of his new winter wheat variety AAC
Coldfront. With improved yield and an improved disease package, it is a variety that appears to have a good fit
across Western Canada.

Crops, Features

Improved varieties on the ground and in the pipeline

AAC Coldfront fires on all cylinders — it’s high yielding, has high quality, good standability and improved winter hardiness

By Lee Hart October 6, 2022

Rob Graf wrapped up his career as a plant breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada on a high note this summer as he introduced another new top-performing winter wheat variety that appears to have a great fit in all crop regions across Western Canada. At a field day on Stamp Seeds’ farm at Enchant, north […] Read more

Jesse Meyer says winter cereals have been a big part of his family’s Peace River region farming operation for about 30 years. Winter cereals help spread out the workload, are an important part of risk management and are sought after in the marketplace.

Cereals, Crops, Features

Crop rotation built around winter cereals

For more than 30 years fall-seeded crops have been a key part of this Peace River region farm business plan

By Lee Hart March 14, 2022

Growing winter cereals is anything but an afterthought on the Meyer farm in the central Alberta Peace River region. For the past 30 years, the family farm at Woking, which is about 45 minutes north of Grande Prairie, has included winter cereals in the rotation, and particularly over the past 10 years, winter crops have […] Read more

Cereals, Crops, Markets

Feed weekly outlook: Clearer picture of coming crop means lower prices

By GFM Network News August 13, 2020

MarketsFarm — Prices for feed barley and wheat have been trending lower recently, according to Brandon Motz of CorNine Commodities at Lacombe, Alta. While there has been some harvest pressure, Motz said “it’s more of an equalization of the crops. “We got through the crunch of July not knowing exactly where things were at. As […] Read more

Fall rye flowering in south-central Manitoba. (Allan Dawson photo)

Crops, Weather, Winter Wheat

Fall rye’s popularity catching on Prairies

By GFM Network News December 7, 2018

CNS Canada — It’s good and bad news when it comes to winter cereal acreage in Western Canada. Winter wheat acres in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are down this fall, while acreage in Alberta increased, and fall rye acres in all provinces rose. “I think a lot of the guys that were growing winter wheat have […] 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