Category: Crops

Farmers who know they can grow barley and “make malt” are sometimes frustrated by the narrow margin of error on the specs required for malting acceptance, and for good reason. Malsters have to be incredibly choosey in their choice of malting barley for one reason — meeting the brewmasters’ demands. From how the barley is... Read More

Spray Test Controls was in Regina for Canadian Farm Progress Show this month, to shed a little light on night spraying with their new blue LED light kits. In the embedded video above, Shaun Haney talks to Dale Wiens about the lights, two of which will light up booms of up to 150?. Related: TechTour:... Read More

After coping with excess moisture in many instances over the last few years, farmers in much of Western Canada are suffering from a case of “weather whiplash,” as Dave Phillips, veteran meteorologist with Environment Canada, has termed it. Much of the west has received less than 60 percent of average precipitation this growing season, with... Read More

(We’re a day early with this week’s Word, because, hey, it’s Canada Day and our audio editor’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Rhett!) If you’re sick and tired of rain and wet conditions, you’re not alone — Ontario has recorded its wettest June in over one hundred years. Which means, with apologies to Western Canada facing a... Read More

With changes to the way wheat is marketed and the arrival of higher-yielding varieties, there's growing interest in boosting wheat protein content with in-season nitrogen applications in Western Canada. The basic recipe is 10 gallons per acre of 28-0-0 with 10 gallons of water applied with a flat fan nozzle shortly after anthesis or flowering,... Read More

Grain Farmers of Ontario today announced it has commenced legal proceedings against the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. “Late last week, Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) filed a request to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to provide an interpretation of the neonicotinoid treated seed regulations,” says Mark Brock, chair of Grain Farmers... Read More

There’s no two ways about it — huge swaths of Ontario’s growing region is now excessively wet. And not, “Hey, that was a heavy rainstorm!” wet, but soaked-right-through-for-the-third-time wet. With all this water, farmers are understandably nervous about what impact wet soil and standing water may have on the yield of the corn and soybean... Read More

Following regulatory delays over several years, Monsanto Canada representatives say they’re confident the company will finally be able to introduce its soybeans with tolerance to both glyphosate and dicamba herbicides to the North American market for 2016. All the required biotech and herbicide approvals for the Roundup Ready 2 Xtend system are in place in... Read More

As a diverse set of volunteers in the agriculture industry, it's hard to assign a worth to the work beneficial insects accomplish, but their absence can speak volumes, if you're listening. To showcase that, Jim Broatch, pest management specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, talks root maggots in this Canola School, and how an... Read More

You have several corn fields and only one of you — how do you prioritize which field gets fungicide first? 2015 is shaping up to likely be a high disease pressure year, says Albert Tenuta, field crop plant pathologist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), and a little planning now... Read More