Category: Agronomy

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

We should know better than to be surprised by the weather, but wow, some areas of the province have gone from too dry to rain, rain, rain. In some areas, reports of up to six inches of rain is causing ponding, flooding, and is delaying first planting, let alone replanting. And so, we can think... Read More

Seeding equipment manufacturer Bourgault Industries and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada say they have resolved a dispute over fertilizer placement research done over a decade ago. The disagreement revolved around the interpretation of the results of a study conducted by the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute, AAFC and the University of Saskatchewan from 2000 to 2002. The... Read More

Poor emergence or damping off of young soybean plants can be a sign of a seedling disease or root rot problem, especially following cool, wet weather as experienced in much of the soybean growing part of Western Canada this spring. As Holly Derksen, plant pathologist with Manitoba Agriculture, explains in this Soybean School West episode,... Read More

Ontario's government today unveiled the final version of the regulations governing the use of neonicotinoid-treated soybean and corn seeds. If you can hardly tell the difference from the proposed regulation launched late in 2014, you can be forgiven — the final regulation is only slightly tweaked from the original proposal. Ontario's Ministry of Environment of... Read More