Wireworms are one of the biggest insect pests for cereals across the Prairies. Not only can they cause extreme damage to the crop, they are incredibly difficult to control. John Laurie, research scientist of molecular biology with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), and Haley Catton, research scientist of field crop entomology at AAFC, have been... Read More
Category: Video
Pea aphids love to feed off the sap flowing to new pods on the plant. The trouble is, just two aphids per plant at the right stage can siphon off as much as five per cent of yield. Laura Schmidt, production specialist with the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers, says that modern pea varieties are... Read More
Grasshoppers are usually associated with dry conditions and go hand-in-hand with drought. And yet, grasshoppers are once again showing up in high numbers and causing crop damage in areas of the Eastern Prairies where there's been flooding, and more than enough rain and soil moisture for the first half of the growing season. Why is... Read More
Innovation was at the forefront of Canada's Farm Show 2022 and FinDoor was in attendance to provide a spin on the vertically opening overhead door systems that have been the go-to, at least in Canada, for numerous years. FinDoor utilizes design and technology that is widely, and predominately, used in Finland and other Scandinavian countries... Read More
Diamondback moths blow in at some point early in the season (thanks, America!), and set about living on the Prairies and in the canola crop for the rest of the growing season. Jordan Bannerman, entomologist with the University of Manitoba, says that understanding when the moths arrive, through the use of pheromone traps, and how... Read More
A Saskatchewan-based, Indigenous owned and operated company is harvesting organic wild rice along with cultivating a sense of community pride, profit, and support. NWC Wild Rice Company is comprised of three different Indigenous groups: Metis, Dene and Cree, and was created in 2019 to establish a voice for the harvesters, opposed to having the product... Read More
Grasshoppers are out there, and, in some areas in the Prairies, in large numbers. It's important to get into your field and scout, not only for populations, but also as a friendly reminder that not all hopping insects are grasshoppers. There are other insects in the field that hop and jump but aren't grasshoppers, says... Read More
When should you apply nitrogen on a corn crop and how much? That question consumes countless hours every year for corn growers, researchers, and agronomists. Seven years ago, Rodney, Ont., grain farmer Mike Miller, like many growers, was also playing the guessing game. But that all changed when he bought a self-propelled sprayer and started... Read More
Research shows plant growth regulators (PGRs) are most effective — and least likely to cause damage — when they're applied with precise timing, and that stage can pass quickly as a cereal crop develops. There are three questions to answer before applying a PGR, explains Anne Kirk, cereal specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, in this video... Read More
A soil pH outside the neutral range can cause significant issue with nutrient availability. Western Canadian soils are largely in this range, however, over time, nitrogen fertilizer applications can create soil acidity issues that are very expensive to fix. Dr. Manbir Rakkar, assistant research professor at Montana State University-Bozeman, explains that managing acidic soil conditions... Read More