Category: Agronomy

The Saskatchewan Wheat Commission has launched an online, map-based tool designed to help farmers anticipate fusarium risk on their farms. The tool, available on the Sask Wheat website, is a series of fusarium risk assessment maps that will be updated daily using data collected from approximately 421 weather stations across Saskatchewan. The maps are generated... Read More

You know the weeds are going to be there eventually, but a really dry start to the 2015 growing season means not just the crop is struggling to emerge and take off. While decreased weed pressure is a good thing, some pulse producers are having to navigate a tricky situation — the weeds are finally... Read More

Syngenta Canada Inc. has announced the registration and launch of Clariva pn seed treatment, a biological seed treatment for the management of soybean cyst nematode (SCN). Clariva pn works by reducing SCN feeding and reproduction, a "targeted, direct and proven solution," to the pest, says Nathan Klages, seedcare and inoculants product lead with Syngenta Canada.... Read More

The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has tallied up the in-season bee death numbers for both 2014 and 2015 (planting only), and the numbers are nothing short of staggering. The PMRA recently reported to the federal bee health roundtable that during the planting period there was roughly a 70% decrease in the number of reported... Read More

Soybeans are a new crop for many farmers in Western Canada, but there are some acres that have been in soybean rotation for over a decade or more. While soybeans may be a newer crop, they are susceptible to some common diseases on the prairies. With disease pressure comes the need to evaluate fungicide options,... Read More

Knee-high on the 15th of June doesn’t have the same ring to it, but at least some Ontario corn growers report that they’ve got it. Unfortunately, that advanced corn is growing right next to ugly, short, ragged corn and that’s got farmers asking — is the yield potential still there? That’s where we start this... Read More

Stripe rust was reported in early spring in Alberta, likely having over-wintered in the southern part of the province, and now there are reports in Manitoba of the fungus arriving on winds from the U.S. In this Wheat School episode, Holly Derksen, plant pathologist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, describes how stripe rust... Read More

The Grain Farmers of Ontario have sought legal advice on behalf of its members and have words of caution for farmers: do not allow beekeepers on your land without a waiver of liability. GFO has contacted members with guidance following concerns that surround possible liability issues with hosting beekeepers' livestock on their land, the group... Read More

Now that Verticillium longisporum has been found in Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is working on getting a handle on the distribution of the new disease threat to canola. The verticillium wilt pathogen, which has caused significant economic losses in Europe’s rapeseed crop, was found in a canola trial plot at an undisclosed research... Read More

The soil beneath our feet is teeming with organisms, each with an incredibly important role in the pedosphere. Among the organisms is a group commonly referred to as earthworms (from the phylum Annelida). (video on earthworm scouting is at the end of this post) Invaders Though a few species are said to remain from the... Read More