Winter wheat acres in Western Canada have fallen by half over the last five years. According to Statistics Canada, just over 1.3 million acres of winter wheat were seeded in the fall of 2011, while only 635 thousand acres were planted in the fall of 2015 (see the chart below). Canola harvest timing and weather... Read More
Category: Podcasts
It's hard to imagine a time before, at least, threshing machines. But the evolution of wheat is long, and complex. "Not many people know about the origin of wheat," says Mazen Aljarrah, plant breeder at the Field Crop Development Centre in Lacombe, in the following video. "Actually, it started maybe 10,000 years ago through a... Read More
Have you tested your fields for soybean cyst nematode (SCN) lately? If not, it may be time to put a shovel in the ground and do a soil analysis. In this episode of the Soybean School, Huron Commodities agronomist Wayne Wheeler provides tips on how to quickly assess whether or not the tiny root pest... Read More
If tansy ragwort is gaining a foothold in your pasture fields, it’s time to take action. The poisonous yellow-flowered plant has taken root in pastures and hayfields across North America and its liver-damaging alkaloids can kill livestock, explains Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs weed specialist Mike Cowbrough. In this video, Cowbrough offers tips... Read More
The Field Crop Development Centre (FCDC) and Lacombe Research and Development Centre hosted Lacombe Field Day on July 27 to showcase some of the work happening in central Alberta. And, for Flavio Capettini, head of research at FCDC, some of this year's excitement centres around a recently released barley variety. "We just released TR13609 —... Read More
The Manitoba Agricultural Museum and Canadian Foodgrains Bank teamed up with over 600 volunteers from 100 Canadian communities to attempt a record-breaking harvest this week, at Harvesting Hope: A World Record to Help the Hungry. Over two years of planning culminated into 139 (of 148) threshing machines harvesting wheat for 15 minutes at the Museum... Read More
There are still many areas in Ontario that are dealing with drought and high temperatures during grain-fill. Peter Johnson, resident agronomist at RealAgriculture, and host of the Word talks about some of the options for managing through a drought, with a particular focus on harvesting corn silage early. Johnson also covers insects to scout for,... Read More
Parsnip is great in soups or part of a roasted vegetable medley, but if you see it growing in a ditch it’s best to steer clear. Those volunteer plants are likely wild parsnip and they’re poisonous to the touch, explains Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs weed specialist Mike Cowbrough. The poisonous weed... Read More
Canadian researchers are working on ways to increase the use of pulses in snack foods, not just as a tool to improve market access for producers, but also as a way to improve the nutritional aspects of processed foods. "We've been working with pulses at CIGI here for over a decade now and we've learned... Read More
It's "adaptable and rugged," and, it's on the market. The Viking, Versatile's brand new vertical tillage unit, was unveiled in July, at Ag in Motion, just outside of Saskatoon, SK. "It's designed to aggressively chop, cut and size residue, and mix it into that top one, two, three inches of soil," explains Trevor Jubenville, in... Read More