Syngenta Canada has applied for registration of Fortenza insecticide in soybeans. The diamide insecticide is currently used in corn, and the company has submitted trial data to demonstrate its effectiveness for wireworm, seed corn maggot, and European chaffer control in soybeans. Last week, Syngenta agronomic services manager Chris Denys told those attending the Crop Masters tour… Read More
Category: Seed Treatment
A scratchy-voiced Peter Johnson needs you to get out there and scout, scout, scout for aphids on soybean. While you’re out in the fields, you also need to check for all sorts of other insects because hot, dry weather is helping creepy-crawlies multiply. It’s also time to get that first white mould suppression pass on,… Read More
Many Ontario farmers will remember when they routinely sprayed soybean crops to control bean leaf beetle. That changed 10 years ago with the introduction of neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatments, which helped suppress populations of the pest in Ontario and many U.S. states. But the pest is mounting a comeback as neonic use continues to decline and… Read More
As part of its ongoing assessment of neonicotinoid pesticides (or neonics), Health Canada has proposed renewed three-year registrations for two of the three neonics under review, with some added restrictions. The review, which began in 2012, was initiated to assess the potential risk to pollinators from the nicotine-based products used to control insect pests. Farmers… Read More
Less than ideal conditions have slowed down canola development and left the crop vulnerable to tiny 2.5 millimetre beetles in some areas this spring. Flea beetles are the number one pest in canola on the Western Canadian Prairies. In this Canola School episode, we talk with Tyler Wist, entomologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Saskatoon, about how… Read More
Deciding which product to use is not easy. Depending on the category, the plethora of products or services is extensive and noisy. Whether it is biologicals, precision agriculture, or seed enhancements, to name a few, it can be very difficult to try and figure out which products are the best fit for your farm. At… Read More
Taking a break from peas or lentils for six years is a tall order for fields where aphanomyces has been a problem. Are there in-field options or tools for managing this relatively new disease? Syama Chatterton, pulse crops pathologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, has been conducting field trials across the prairies over the last two… Read More
Clarence Swanton has worked for 16 years on a super cool project that takes about 40 minutes to explain properly, as he did at the recent Southwest Agricultural Conference. Perhaps more impactful, however, is the time-lapse video he showed whereby the mere presence of weedy surroundings actually killed a tobacco seedling. Perhaps this makes sense —… Read More
Stating a “weight of evidence” that neonicotinoid imidacloprid poses too high a risk to aquatic insects, Health Canada announced today a proposed three-year phase out of the insecticide. In Canada, imidacloprid is used in some cereal and potato seed treatments, as well as within the horticulture industry. Health Canada says it drew on data submitted… Read More
Harvest is rocking and rolling for most corn and soybean growers in Ontario save for @WheatPete himself who took an equipment breakdown as a chance to get the Word done early this week. This week’s Wheat Pete’s Word covers a lot of ground, including the why behind high test weight corn, the nitrogen connection to high… Read More
Syngenta’s SeedCare Institute is officially setting up shop in Canada. The company’s Canadian facility, located at its Honeywood research facility in Plattsville, Ontario, is now part of a network of 12 centres of excellence around the globe, focusing on advancing seed treatment technology and innovation. At the official launch last week, Anja Pires, Syngenta Global… Read More
Ontario MPP for Huron-Bruce, Lisa Thompson, has launched an initiative aimed at addressing concerns that the next phase of Ontario’s neonicotinoid regulations will unfairly limit farmers’ choices and the professional reach of agriculture professionals. Last week, Thompson introduced to the provincial legislature Bill 4, the Supporting Agricultural Experts in Their Field Act, 2016, in counter to changes… Read More
The number of microbial products on the market has skyrocketed in the last few years, as companies invest in understanding interactions between soil bugs and crops. “There’s a lot of attention on microbials right now. All the big ag companies have a microbial division. It’s an exciting to be involved in biologicals,” notes Jon Treloar,… Read More
Soybean growers have a new tool in their fight to manage the impact of sudden death syndrome (SDS) and soybean cyst nematode (SCN). Earlier this month, Bayer CropScience received registration for Ilevo/Votivo, a new soybean seed treatment. At its recent Dead Weeds Tour, Bayer’s D&L Manager Luc Bourgeois told growers it will be the first… Read More
If agriculture wants to reduce the potential impact neonicotinoid seed treatments have on pollinators, it has to modify standard vacuum planters. That’s the verdict from Ridgetown College, University of Guelph researcher Dr. Art Schaafsma. “Essentially, what we’ve created is a drift problem,” says Schaafsma, who spoke publicly about his research for the first time last… Read More