Is there a yield and quality advantage to using biological nitrogen fixation products? This is a question the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission (Sask Wheat) is aiming to answer in a trial at Scott, Saskatchewan. Carmen Prang, agronomy research specialist with Sask Wheat, says there are different fertility treatments the trial is targeting: a low, medium,... Read More
Category: Western Canada
After six years of moving toward becoming one entity, Alberta Barley and the Alberta Wheat Commission will become Alberta Grains as of August 1, 2023. "Alberta Grains will build on the strengths of both organizations to create a unified voice for the province's 18,000 wheat and barley farmers. With a focus on economic sustainability, innovation... Read More
Those green plants sticking out of the crop — are they regular redroot pigweed, or a much nastier pigweed species, such as waterhemp, or even Palmer amaranth? This has become an increasingly common question for farmers and agronomists on the eastern side of the Canadian Prairies as waterhemp that's resistant to multiple herbicide groups continues... Read More
There are so many things that can't be controlled on the farm, including when Mother Nature decides to provide some moisture. Irrigation provides more control over the moisture situation — however, the water is not limitless. Maximizing the water allowance not only makes growers happy, because it allows them to become more profitable, but it... Read More
If you're wondering what on earth is going on with the canola market, you certainly aren't alone. Shaun Haney, RealAgriculture founder, took this question to Jonathon Driedger, vice president of Leftfield Commodity Research, to gain some clarity. At the time of the interview, November canola was almost at $800. At the end of May, the... Read More
Port workers in B.C. who have been on strike for the past 13 days will be returning to work, after the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada agreed to a proposal from federal mediators on Thursday. The two sides have reached a tentative four-year agreement and are finalizing... Read More
The federal and Saskatchewan governments have announced a change to crop insurance offered by Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation (SCIC) to allow more acres of low-yielding crops to be redirected to help livestock producers. Following on the heels of a similar announcement in Alberta last week, SCIC is again doubling the low yield appraisal threshold, allowing... Read More
Manitoba dairy farmer David Wiens has been elected to serve as the president of Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC). Wiens, who has served as vice-president of DFC since 2011, succeeds Pierre Lampron in leading the national dairy producer organization. He farms together with his brother Charles at Grunthal, Man., milking 230 cows and farming 1,600... Read More
When talking soil, often the topic focus is on soil type, nutrients, moisture, or microbiology. But what about soil structure? As Steve Larocque, Alberta farmer and founder of Beyond Agronomy explains in this Soil School episode, the physical types of soil can't be changed, whether it be sand, silt, or clay. However, how land is... Read More
True armyworms hungry for grassy plants, including wheat, have arrived in large numbers in parts of the Prairies this summer. The pest, which migrates north as a light brown moth, arrived in Manitoba during the last week of May, explains John Gavloski, entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture, in this armyworm-focused Wheat School episode filmed at the... Read More