Much has been said about the potential benefits of straight cutting canola. In particular with regards to yield and overall quality, straight cutting has been shown to provide some benefit. There are however some qualifiers attached to those benefits that have to work to avoid a wreck. It would be a disaster to lose your… Read More
Category: Canola School
Canola School is everything you need to stay informed on the latest Canola market developments. Real Agriculture brings you the most up to date Canola farming information to help increase your yields all season long.
I have been around canola fields my entire life and when you factor in all of the growing challenges and key points, the most misunderstood is the decision of “when should I swath?” I get more calls to our office during this time of the growing season than any other. Swath timing is incredibly difficult… Read More
Demand for canola from crushers has remained strong throughout the summer months, stocks are tight and exports are good. That being said, harvest is just around the corner and a number of questions will be answered regarding actual acres and yield potential. Everyone is aware of the disastourous year that Western Manitoba and Easter Saskatchewan have… Read More
Looks can be deceiving when you’re trying to figure out when your canola field is ready to be harvested. This year especially, varied staging in fields is a real issue. According to Jim Bessel, Senior Agronomy Specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, that varied staging will make harvest decisions a real “mindbender”. Bessel says… Read More
For a lot of farmers across the west, figuring out when to swath their canola fields may be as stressful as trying to get it in the ground was. The overabundance of moisture and the cool temperatures that producers had to deal with at the beginning of the season have caused varied staging in areas… Read More
Canola harvest is still a few months away, but it’s still a good time to get familiar with your combine. Last weeks “Picking up Profits” combine clinic put on by the Canola Council of Canada brought industry experts as well as a number of different combine manufacturers together in an effort to help producers limit… Read More
Lygus bugs are a pest that are not particularly picky when it comes to what they feed on. The bug has over 300 known host plants, and feeds on the sap of a plants new growth and reproductive tissue. Unfortunately, among the long list of plants they like to feed on is the canola plant…. Read More
The start of the 2011 growing season was challenging to say the least. Wet weather and unseasonably cool conditions in the majority of the west had producers stressed out and wondering if they would get a crop in at all. That was the case in fact in large areas of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Fast forward… Read More
When you consider the temperatures across the prairies even a month ago, it’s hard to believe we’d be here now talking about the effects of high temperature on canola. That’s the nature of life on the prairies though. While prolonged periods of high heat may not be in the cards for most of the prairies,… Read More
Wet conditions over the past few years have brought the importance of fungicide back on to the producers radar. Those conditions are the final piece of the puzzle diseases like sclerotinia need to get established and cause real damage to canola. The devastating results of fungal diseases are helping producers to realize the importance of… Read More
Sclerotinia has the potential to be a big issue in rain soaked areas across the prairies. The disease tends to be prevalent in wet conditions in temperatures between 15 – 25 degrees. Sclerotia spores can live in the soil for up to four years. The spores germinate in the summer and release wind borne spores… Read More
Conditions across a portion of the prairies have created a kind of “perfect storm” when it comes to conditions for weed growth. Cool conditions have delayed emergence of a number of weeds, causing them to be missed in a pre-seed burn scenario. Wet conditions have kept farmers from getting in to spray in a timely… Read More
Does the canola market have room to climb further? Supply seems to be one of the main factors in the bid for a major break through $600/MT . Carry over from 2010 wasn’t that big, and demand is still good with crushers still processing. There are other reasons to think that supplies will remain tight… Read More
Most people think, with wet, cool conditions, cutworms are not a problem. For the most part that’s true, but the cutworm is a very diverse insect with many different species and types. This makes it difficult to typify their behaviour as a whole and risky to ignore them just because of the weather. They can… Read More
Mother nature is really proving that she does not have a sense of humour. We have drought in Peace River, very wet conditions in Saskatchewan and flooding in Manitoba. The weather adversity impacting canola growers across the west is extremely serious and could have significant implications for the total production in 2011. For the farmers… Read More