Protecting honeybees and pollinators is a key focus for Ontario farmers. Limiting exposure of the bees to certain insecticides, namely neonicotinoid-based corn and soybean seed treatments, plays an important role in a thriving bee population in the province. Corn planter air exhaust has been identified as a possible risk to moving neonicotinoid particles off the... Read More
Category: Crops
With the canola crop maturing later than normal in parts of Western Canada, there’s some concern about frost hurting the crop. Temperatures dipped close to freezing in some parts of the Prairies earlier this week, with reports of light frost in northern Alberta. In this Canola School, Warren Ward, agronomy specialist for Eastern Saskatchewan with... Read More
It may have an ominous sounding name, but black chaff is rarely a cause for major concern in wheat, says a crop pathologist with Manitoba Agriculture. Black chaff is one of several wheat disorders that will catch a grower’s eye at harvest due to the dark colour and discolouration that appears on wheat heads. As... Read More
A better understanding of soil properties like electrical conductivity, organic matter and pH levels can go a long way in precision agriculture applications. As Veris Technologies president Eric Lund explains in the following video, mapping these properties is useful in variable rate fertilizer application, as well as for site-specific management when seeding, applying lime or... Read More
The Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) will receive $735,000 under Growing Forward 2 for new equipment to support applied research projects for the agricultural sector, it was recently announced. Every year, PAMI conducts about 100 projects in Manitoba and Saskatchewan to address challenges in the agricultural sector, in areas such as equipment design, agronomy and... Read More
With canola swathing underway across Western Canada, now is the time for growers to assess the toll that diseases have taken on the crop. The “what to look for” list at this time includes the main suspects: blackleg, sclerotinia and clubroot. In this episode of the Canola School, Keith Gabert of the Canola Council of... Read More
When a growing season doesn't go exactly as hoped — a late spring, a cool summer, too much rain — corn growers get understandably nervous. Corn is a C4 plant — it can tolerate hot weather and needs rather warm weather to grow, set yield and mature. As much of Ontario deals with "weird and... Read More
UPDATE: Brian Hall, of OMAFRA, says lab test confirms the primary disease is bacterial brown spot, a disease that has never been found in Ontario before. It is affecting azuki beans only, so far. The disease is also being reported in Colorado, Nebraska and Michigan. @realag_lyndsey all adzukus that have scouted in east central #ontag... Read More
With the news last week that the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association has become a member of Cereals Canada, some farmers in Saskatchewan are now wondering where their provincial organization — the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission — stands. According to its strategic plan unveiled earlier this month, the goal for the newly-formed Cereals Canada... Read More
Storing grain in bags has certainly caught on in popularity in recent years, however temporary storage does create one possibly permanent problem — what do you do with the grain bag itself? Recycling is an option for many grain farmers (re-using it as a slip and slide isn’t typically an option if you’re unloading in... Read More