By Garth Donald, Dynagra We have to look back in history to understand how seed treatments came to be. Some of the first seed treatment goes as far back to when the first settlers came to North America. This was just by accident that some of the seed bags fell in the salt water and… Read More
Sean Gardner may have the future of the wheat industry in his hands. As the Monsanto Global Wheat Lead, Sean is charged with the task of leveraging Monsanto’s current breeding technologies to bring biotech wheat to the market and to develop a value capture model for wheat. It is no secret that the wheat game… Read More
Want to know how to increase your spring wheat yield by 40%? Looking for a way to spread out the seeding of your spring crops? If you are in an area of Canada that is applicable to frost seeding the rewards can be high but it is definitely not a simple process. I talked to… Read More
Emotion is a powerful thing. Many people make decisions based on emotion and not science. There is some irony in all of this based on our scientific knowledge has never been higher. We know more about the genome of plants than ever before in our history. Yet at the same time emotions are high and… Read More
I talked to Dustin Gosnell, Director of Strategic Planning and Corporate Policy, Canadian Wheat Board about GM wheat and the CWB’s position on the latest WTO issues. Agricultural trade issues are really sensitive and controversial issues right now. Never mind the trade issues that North America has with China and the other BRIC countries but the… Read More
In my opinion, inoculants are a very interesting product. Products like Nodulator fix Nitrogen which has benefits for this years soybean or pulse crop but also has extreme benefits for next years cereal crop to. Its one of those amazing innovations in agriculture that we take for granted sometimes until you really sit down and… Read More
At one time we mainly used shovels to move grain. When the auger was invented it was a huge innovation for not only moving grain but also for saving the backs of farmers. At CropWeek there was more augers than you would believe. The auger is no longer the only way to move grain today… Read More
Wheat midge has great impact on wheat growers in many areas. This year will be the first year that farmers will be able to purchase midge tolerant varieties. There are three different varieties right now and more in the pipeline. It is critical that as an industry we properly manage this great new innovation in… Read More
Treating your seed has become much more popular through the years as products become safer for the user and the environment. No longer looked upon as snake oil by farmers, seed treatments provide another form of insurance to getting a great yield. Whether it is corn, soybeans, canola or cereals, farmers are seeing the benefits…. Read More
I attended the Canadian Seed Trade Meeting this week in Montreal. Every year the Canadian seed trade gets together to discuss the issues affecting the industry and meet within the industry to discuss business deals. The seed industry has many issues affecting it currently. Between flax exports, potential introduction of transgenic wheat, pollen flow and… Read More
By Garth Donald, DynagraVRT Farmers look at many costs when they are making a crop plan. But the one thing I always hear from a lot of growers is that certified seed doesn€™t pay year after year. Coming from Manitoba to Alberta back in 1997 I wondered why there were not more seed growers and… Read More
I was at AgriTrade in Red Deer, Alberta on Wednesday and I talked Sarah Foster from 20/20 Seed Labsabout how they are finding lower germination results in peas this winter due to glyphosate damage. It is essential that you test your saved seed before you make any plans on planting. Planting high quality seed is critical to giving yourself… Read More
Trevor Nysetvold from BioVision Seed Lab, talks about some of the early seed quality results from the fall 2009 harvest. Obviously harvest is dragging on for many producers but Trevor says that the early results are interesting. Trevor talks about germination and fusarium results so far. Trevor recommends sampling procedures for farmers to get the… Read More
As I have noted before on this site, this summer has been very interesting in terms of the changing landscape in wheat research and breeding. Monsanto, Bayer, and Syngenta are all engaged in the wheat breeding game. I have received, many emails from readers, asking the same question. “What will this mean for my farm… Read More
In case you have not been following the story very closely, the debate over biotech wheat is about to restart again. Cereal breeding in North America has been on the downtrend. The past three months have brought wheat breeding investments by Dow Agro, Monsanto and Bayer. These strategic moves are quite obviously being executed so… Read More