Category: Crop Schools

With the rise in gluten-free and low carb dieting, wheat has received a bad rap and developed a nutritional reputation that it doesn't deserve, says a cereal research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Based at the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals in Winnipeg, Dr. Nancy Ames is concerned consumers are not realizing... Read More

Manitoba farmers whose soil test results say they have soybean cyst nematode in their soil may want to get a second opinion, says a soil ecologist from the University of Manitoba. While the number of soybean acres has exploded on the eastern side of the Prairies over the last few years, Western Canadian growers have... Read More

With clubroot disease showing up in fields east of Alberta over the last few years, there's work underway in Manitoba to survey the entire canola-growing region of the province for the presence of clubroot spores. So far, spores or symptoms have been found in 13 fields in 10 rural municipalities in Manitoba. Spore concentrations in... Read More

Research into the role of inputs in field peas has often looked at each individually, with little known on the effects of combining inputs. The Western Applied Research Corporation (WARC) looked to change that with a study that's wrapping up this year. Over the past three years, trials have been conducted at Scott, Melfort, Swift... Read More

Increasing nitrogen rates can actually prove detrimental if producers don't also take the time to apply fungicides, says Peter Johnson, cereals specialist with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. That's because the resulting improvements in canopy can actually increase the potential for disease development. Enter the nitrogen/fungicide duo. "That synergy is so significant," says... Read More

One of the leading causes of herbicide injury in canola is insufficient sprayer cleaning, says Clark Brenzil, provincial weed control specialist for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. Whether due to drift or residue, herbicide injury can result in drastic yield losses, besides being an eye-sore to drive by. Related: Spray Tips with Tom Wolf —... Read More

Bids for peas in Western Canada will likely move higher in the coming months, thanks to lower supplies and strong exports, says an analyst with Mercantile Consulting Venture. Posted prices for yellow peas have recently been in the $6.50 to $7 per bushel range, but as part of this Pulse School episode filmed last week,... Read More

White mould love tight soybean rotations. What's the best plan of attack for 2015? A good chunk of wheat acres didn't get planted in the fall of 2014, during what some have dubbed a "harvest from hell." Many of those acres are likely to go into soybeans, and for good reason. But, agronomically, it's not... Read More

Canola supplies could be tight by the end of the 2014-15 crop year, depending on who you believe. On one hand, Statistics Canada last week pegged 2014 canola production at 15.6 million tonnes. On the other hand, most of the trade is estimating production at between 14 and 15 million tonnes, with carry-out stocks next... Read More

Now that there's a little more time on our hands, we can look back at the growing season and see where issues and inefficiencies arose. One of the major concerns this year in Western Canada was herbicide injury, especially in canola crops, where some growers thought their Liberty Link canola was seeing injury from its... Read More