It seems whenever a new disease or pest rears its head, the old wives tales and myths follow closely on its heels. Take, for example, the advent of clubroot being found in Alberta about 10 years ago. Never fear, said many in the more eastern parts of the prairies, our high pH western Canadian soils... Read More
Category: Western Canada
Preg-checking cattle can feel a little bit like heartbreak when the vet yells, "open!" But the disappointment of selling a good cow is nothing compared to the devastation that can occur from an undetected breeding problem. Feeding cows over winter is not cheap, nor is it always easy (as some of us newbies learned from... Read More
Can you spot a chemically damaged wheat seedling from a healthy one? Unlike some other damage or infection, chemically damaged cereal seedlings don't always look that bad off in the very early stages. In fact, seedlings can even put out a mostly healthy shoot, but upon further investigation the trained eye will notice that the... Read More
Those of you brave enough to include malt barley in the rotation next year (sorry, that's my Manitoba showing), the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre has released its list of recommended varieties for 2014. Listing the top picks for both 2-row and 6-row varieties, the recommended list is a helpful tool in selecting varieties that... Read More
If Canada thistle is a headache in an annual cropping system, it's a migraine in perennial crops, where control strategies tend to be expensive and rumours about what works and what doesn't spread as quickly as the weed itself. Canada thistle is not only a prolific seed producer, it also proliferates through its creeping root... Read More
It's not every day that you get to meet two Twitter legends, let alone convince them to let you videotape the discussion that ensues. I was just so lucky last week, when I met Cami Ryan (@doccamiryan), researcher at the University of Saskatchewan, and Michele Payn-Knoper (@mpaynknoper), professional speaker and founder of Cause Matters Corp.... Read More
I'm likely one of the few women who are positively giddy for November. Because November is Movember and I'm a huge fan of fantastic iterations of facial hair. The whole awareness campaign behind Movember is just icing on the cake (moustache?). I've encouraged the boy half of RealAgriculture.com to participate, but he hasn't agreed. Could... Read More
Canola seedlings faces a host of enemies before they even see the light of day — seeds can get bashed around in the air seeder, plowed down too deep, hit by root rots or burned by seed-placed fertilizer. There are ways and means of minimizing the impact of each of these threats to your eventual... Read More
Farmers could play a big role in the movement to turn food waste from a habit into a villain. In some circles, food waste is now being called the number one issue in the food business. It’s described as a major stumbling block in the drive to feed the world. According to this line of... Read More
A three-year deal still needs to be ratified by workers, but Canadian National (CN) railway reports today that a tentative deal has been struck with the Teamsters union and a rail strike has been averted. The threatened strike would have crippled an already severely taxed logistics system trying to move the huge 2013 crop. As... Read More