Category: Wheat School

  Test weights on wheat are down below average in parts of Ontario. Compared to this time last year, yields by test weight alone are down by as much as 10% in areas. There are a couple of reasons behind this. The first involves under-filled  kernels from plants surrounding dead zones in the field being… Read More

The Canadian wheat industry is changing, especially in the west. The elimination of the single desk is the key factor driving that change. Across the country, everyone involved in the industry is evaluating and strategizing in an effort to determine how this will affect their business and what they have to do to successfully adjust… Read More

Wheat is an important crop globally. From a food production standpoint, with regards to rotation on the farm and from an economic standpoint, wheat is “key” crop worldwide. The biotech industry has taken notice of this, and a great deal of new interest has been invested into wheat. Companies like Syngenta have expanded their efforts… Read More

  A big part of a successful pest control strategy depends on pests behaving in a certain way and us basing our control measures on that. When an insect pest deviates from typical behaviour, it can in some cases, negate any control strategy we implement based on that behaviour. Things like emergence patterns, feeding habits,… Read More

This episode of the Wheat School can be summarized as a bit of a fusarium clinic. Peter Johnson, Cereal Specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs gives us a first hand look at the difference in resistance between older wheat varieties and some of the newer generations. Here we get confirmation… Read More

In this episode of the Wheat School, we talk to Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada Plant Pathologist Kelly Turkington about the elevated risk of fusarium in parts of Alberta. Fusarium in Alberta is nothing new, however, weather conditions in Alberta in June and July have made the potential for infection that much greater. That abundance of… Read More

Studies are underway to help winter wheat producers to improve production in a number of areas and to help expand the amount of acres being grown by farmers across the west. The two year study by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission will look at a number of factors that… Read More

Stripe rust is one of those diseases that has been around for a while, but hasn’t really been that much of a threat. A few new developments with regards to the disease may have changed that. Firstly, resistance to stripe rust in one variety of winter wheat was found to be ineffective. Second, the disease… Read More

Is there a yield ceiling on wheat? In this episode of the Wheat School we put that question to Phil Needham of Needham Ag Technologies. The answer to that question is not as simple as a blanket yes or no. With every field and every farmer being different, that question is best answered by the… Read More

The Cereal Leaf beetle seems to be rearing its ugly head in winter and spring wheat fields near Bolton, Stayner and Seaforth, Ontario. Tracey Baute, OMAFRA Entomologist and author of Bautebugblog.com reports threshold levels of the pest in those fields, with significant feeding seen on the flagleaf. Baute recommends spraying infested winter wheat with insecticides… Read More