Category: Agronomy

In this segment of our Canola School, Matt Stanford of the Canola Council of Canada discusses how you should be caring for the canola seed you purchased. Matt talks about why you should keep a seed sample and a blue tag from every lot of seed to help you if issues arise. I tell customers... Read More

In this segment Matt Stanford walks us through the key points in field selection, the proper canola seeding speed and obtaining the proper seeding rate. All three things are key factors in getting a great stand. In canola growing, cutting corners can cause pain through the growing season.

There is an over abundance of research that is done every year and presented to you to prove which product your farm needs to ensure success. Whether it is seed, chemical, agronomic enhancement or a miracle herbal additive, the amount of information is monstrous. There are many private research trials and public trials for all... Read More

I get asked all of the time whether a grower should do a preseed burn off and my answer is always, "when do you want to spend your money? Up front or at spraying time." I do get a lot of weird looks when I say that reply but it is true. I have walked... Read More

There has been a lot of confusion amongst some people regarding Monsanto's application for GM drought tolerant corn for feed and food use in Canada and the United States. The application has been made and could be ready if approved fro commercialization in 2012 or 2013. This gene will provide farmers with the ability to... Read More

In part 2 of my interview with Lloyd Dyck, CEO of Brett Young we discuss how the access to credit is a bigger concern than the commodity price volatility for people in agriculture. Lloyd also talks about the forage business at Brett Young, where forage genetics are coming from and how hybrid alfalfa is growing... Read More

This is part 1 of 2 of my interview with Lloyd Dyck, CEO of Brett Young. Brett Young is truly unique because it is family owned and provides a a very diversified product line to the marketplace. In this video Lloyd discusses how the future growth of the company is in biologicals like PodCeal and... Read More

There is much speculation around canola acres for 2009 in Western Canada. Farmers are hesitant to order canola seed, retailers are hesitant to speculate on inventory, distributors are cautious, and seed companies will not treat on speculation just to make sure seed is available for spring. What we have here is a system that is... Read More

This is part 3 of 4 of my interview with Syngenta Canada President, Jay Bradshaw. In this segment Jay talks about how the variety registration system in Canada needs to be improved and how transgenic wheat will bring benefits to farmers and consumers. Transgenic wheat is an issue that will have to eventually be dealt... Read More

Last week while I was in Edmonton I listened to Stan Blade, Executive Director of the Alberta Agricultural Research Institute (AARI), talk about where Alberta is focusing cereal research in the long term. Currently in Alberta the three biggest products in terms of value are beef (3.104 billion), canola (1.216 billion) and wheat ( 1.251... Read More