Every farmer at some point in their career has to deal with gremlins. From the moment you park your machinery it’s a virtual free for all of loosening bolts, fraying belts and poking holes in things. That’s why every year at seeding, sure enough, as soon as you take that equipment out to use it,… Read More
Month: August 2012
FREEDOM —-The lack of a specific constraint, or of constraints in general; a state of being free, unconstrained. We have finely past the date of August 1, 2012. For decades some farmers have been lobbying to be removed for the clutches of the Canadian Wheat Board’s wheat marketing monopoly. How many times have all of us heard from our neighbors,… Read More
Stopping the spread of clubroot takes diligence. If you’re in an area where there is a clubroot presence, it’s important to get out and scout your fields regularly looking for signs of infection. If you don’t know you have it, you may unknowingly spread it through soil transfer from equipment moving field to field. If… Read More
Farmers rely on science to find solutions to crop stresses, such as resistant varieties against disease or pests or new active ingredients to attack weeds and diseases. While using Mother Nature’s own flora and fauna in our favour is not a new concept (think inoculants), using naturally occurring bacteria and fungi to combat pests is… Read More
Markets picked up in Alberta this week with 112-113 being reported which is a couple dollars higher than last week making Canada more even with the US jump last week. The US feels like its low were in a couple weeks ago which may mean the worst of the summer cash prices is over. We… Read More
Agritechnica tout’s itself as the world’s largest exhibition for agricultural machinery and equipment. It is a massive display of agricultural ingenuity from almost every major manufacturer and some you’ve never even heard of. It takes place in November in Hannover, Germany and definitely takes a more European approach when it comes to farm shows. You’ll… Read More
The economics of farming naturally put “high yield” at the top of every plant breeders list, but something like yield is interwoven with a number of other factors. Just to allow a plant to maintain its intrinsic yield potential you have to develop it to be able to compete with weeds, stand well and have… Read More
A little trouble now may help you deal with a lot of trouble down the line. That’s exactly what happened when corn in Ontario went through a dry spell in late May and early June. That dry period caused corn in those fields to develop deep and dense roots. Fast forward now to the six-week… Read More
Lentils are the main crop that will get hit with Reglone (diquat) and I will touch on them first. Ideally the staging is so that the lowest third of the plant pods are rattling and the seed itself is hard and doesn’t split; the middle third of the plant will be hard and not juicy,… Read More
Farm Credit Canada has been serving the financial needs of Canadian farmers since 1959. Since that time, the organization has evolved and adapted to meet the changing needs of the agricultural industry. Currently holding a portfolio of a staggering $22 billion and counting, FCC has shown tremendous growth and continues to serve the needs of… Read More
After a chemical manufacturer discovers a new crop protection chemical family, the normal response within the industry is to focus research on better versions of the same chemistry. This typically results in several new brands being launched, each claiming to be slightly better than the last. This seems to be the case with DuPont’s new… Read More
BASF Canada Inc. announced this week the registration of Xemium as an active ingredient. It’s an interesting roll-out of a new active, as it’s not actually available in any fungicide formulations for broad acre crops as of yet. The fungicide, a carboxamide, is however now registered for use on a number of row crops and… Read More
One of the key components involved in cultivating a 300-plus bushel corn crop is establishing a good, uniform stand. Unfortunately for producers in drought affected regions of Ontario, those conditions have taken their toll in that area. Despite an early season that helped to foster good root development, stress from hot and dry conditions kept… Read More
When we talk about the total package approach in any crop breeding program, we mean that every effort has to balance a number of key elements, not taking away from any of them while trying to add to all of them. In chickpea, as with most crops, those efforts are directed at the areas of… Read More
Clubroot is gaining traction in Alberta and continues to spread each year. The first line of defense against the spread of clubroot is awareness. That has to include information on identification and prevention in order to be truly effective. That’s why events like the Canola Galla are important. The event was all about getting producers… Read More