Where are we headed in agriculture? What does the future hold for biotechnology and food production? Where will the next big innovations in these areas come from? Dr Stan Blade hopes those innovations will come from in Alberta. Dr. Blade is the CEO of Alberta Innovates - Bio Solutions. They help companies working on research... Read More
Category: Agronomy
By Shaun Haney RealAgriculture.com has been at several plot tours and company meetings this summer and there is a definite common theme of product development trending amongst the life science companies. It appears that in the near term the agronomic innovation will be derived in the areas of seed enhancement and fungicides instead of herbicides.... Read More
Can agriculture help to mitigate the effects of climate change while protecting biodiversity and maintaining profitability? That is what Dr Pam Berry refers to as the triple win scenario. Dr Berry is with the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University in England. She realizes that these opportunities are rare, but she also notes that it... Read More
By Holly Gelech, Biovision Seed Labs The 12th International Symposium on Pre-Harvest Sprouting in Cereals was hosted the week of July 24th in Red Deer, Alberta and was attended by 60 participants from all regions of the globe. The 35 speakers, who originated from Australia, China, Japan, United Kingdom, Africa, Canada and many others countries,... Read More
Looks can be deceiving when you're trying to figure out when your canola field is ready to be harvested. This year especially, varied staging in fields is a real issue. According to Jim Bessel, Senior Agronomy Specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, that varied staging will make harvest decisions a real "mindbender". Bessel says... Read More
For a lot of farmers across the west, figuring out when to swath their canola fields may be as stressful as trying to get it in the ground was. The overabundance of moisture and the cool temperatures that producers had to deal with at the beginning of the season have caused varied staging in areas... Read More
Test weights on wheat are down below average in parts of Ontario. Compared to this time last year, yields by test weight alone are down by as much as 10% in areas. There are a couple of reasons behind this. The first involves under-filled kernels from plants surrounding dead zones in the field being... Read More
Wheat is an important crop globally. From a food production standpoint, with regards to rotation on the farm and from an economic standpoint, wheat is "key" crop worldwide. The biotech industry has taken notice of this, and a great deal of new interest has been invested into wheat. Companies like Syngenta have expanded their efforts... Read More
Anyone who grows malt barley knows the number of specifications it has to meet in order to be acceptable. There are some years where those specifications can prove very frustrating to growers. When that barley doesn't meet specifications, one of the areas that gets the blame is variety, the grain company or the CWB. After... Read More
Corn is a plant that likes heat, but how much is too much? When you get into a situation where later planted corn is involved, that heat has to be balanced with the crops ability to access water. In less mature corn, that root structure may not be able to access. Parts of Ontario are... Read More