Category: Barley

Now in its third year, the Alberta Wheat and Alberta Barley Plot2Farm program is turning out some excellent data regarding questions on nitrogen management, the timing of plant growth regulators, and seeding rates. Jeremy Boychyn, agronomy research extension agronomist with the commissions, says the field-scale, on-farm research program provides producers with the framework to implement… Read More

The annual recommended list of malting barley varieties is out, and one prominent name is off the list: AC Metcalfe. Topping the list this year is AAC Connect, distributed by CANTERRA Seeds, and CDC Fraser, from SeCan. List veteran CDC Copeland and AAC Synergy round out the list of recommended varieties. The Canadian Malting Barley… Read More

Perhaps not overly surprising due to the extreme drought conditions that plagued the Prairies last growing season, but Statistics Canada is estimating that crop production across the nation will be up by at least 50 per cent this fall. Stats Can, which is moving towards using alternate data methods outside of farmer surveys to obtain… Read More

Grasshoppers are usually associated with dry conditions and go hand-in-hand with drought. And yet, grasshoppers are once again showing up in high numbers and causing crop damage in areas of the Eastern Prairies where there’s been flooding, and more than enough rain and soil moisture for the first half of the growing season. Why is… Read More

Research shows plant growth regulators (PGRs) are most effective — and least likely to cause damage — when they’re applied with precise timing, and that stage can pass quickly as a cereal crop develops. There are three questions to answer before applying a PGR, explains Anne Kirk, cereal specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, in this video… Read More

The Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC) passed a resolution to pursue a farmer plebiscite to amalgamate with Alberta Barley at their annual general meeting (AGM) January 26. Alberta Barley passed a similar resolution during their AGM in Banff last month, giving the two commissions the ability to conduct a farmer plebiscite on the future of the… Read More

Fall seeding of spring cereals may sound like a wild idea — and it is — but research out of Western Canada is trying it for durum. Meanwhile in Ontario, a new seeding trial could help farmers decide if it’s time to upgrade the drill. For this episode of The Agronomists, host Lyndsey Smith is joined by Agriculture… Read More

The Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions are launching a consultation on amalgamating to form a single commission. The Commissions will be soliciting farmers’ opinions beginning in July with an online survey, followed by virtual town hall events after harvest in October, and further dialogue and sessions during regional meetings in November. The commissions have been… Read More

The winter wheat in Ontario is ready to be staged for fusarium head blight (FHB), and with such an impactful disease, we figured it was important to bring some guests on to talk about it! Taking us on this journey with host Lyndsey Smith is Joanna Follings, cereal specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture,… Read More

Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are used to control or modify plant growth processes. In the case of wheat and barley, PGRs are used to influence the hormones responsible for cell elongation, which results in a crop with thicker, shorter stems. “Right now there are two plant growth regulators available for wheat in Western Canada,” says… Read More