Although it’s been proven that high pH soil will not stop the spread of clubroot disease, liming has been used as a tool to curb the disease in other parts of the world. Early results from a research project underway in Alberta show raising the pH of acidic fields with lime could potentially aid in… Read more »
Category: Canola
Canola School: New test unlocks ability to match variety resistance with blackleg type
Researchers with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at Saskatoon have developed a lab test for identifying blackleg disease races in canola that complements the new blackleg resistance-gene labels on canola seed. Knowing both factors — the blackleg races present in a field and the disease packages available in seed — will allow farmers to select varieties with resistance… Read more »
Bayer Digital Farming introduces prescription maps for fungicide in canola
Fungicide can be added to the list of crop inputs farmers can selectively apply using precision agriculture tools, targeting relevant areas within a field while avoiding patches where treatment isn’t justified. Bayer Digital Farming launched Zone Spray on Friday. It’s a program within the company’s Field Manager platform that creates prescription maps for fungicide in… Read more »
Canola School: Innovation Team focuses on “training the trainer”
It’s a question people grapple with daily — is it better to be a generalist, with a knowledge on a great number of topics, or a specialist, who can talk with gumption about a specific field? The Canola Council of Canada has found a way to get the best of both worlds, with a group… Read more »
The cumulative benefits for Canada’s canola crop from CPTPP
It was the trade agreement that almost wasn’t, but now that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is headed towards completion, Canadian commodity groups are tallying up the potential impact the deal will have on trade in the coming years. Rick White, CEO of the Canadian Canola Growers Association, recently sat down with Shaun Haney to talk TPP11,… Read more »
Canola Council looking forward amidst membership changes
Grower groups and value chain organizations are under constant pressure to deliver value for their membership. Proving relevance and value to an aligned value chain is a complicated balance of keeping an organization moving forward and towards agreed upon goals. But reaching that consensus on direction and capitalizing on opportunities can be a challenge when… Read more »
Canola School: Welcome to Clubroot Anonymous
Switch to longer rotations, reduce soil movement, grow resistant varieties — the list of keys to managing against clubroot disease has become familiar for many canola growers in Western Canada, but an Alberta farmer with years of experience farming with high clubroot concentrations has another piece of advice: don’t be afraid to talk about it…. Read more »
Blackleg risks, management, and a yield loss calculator
There’s this thing about nature — it adapts. Many canola growers are getting a real taste of this in recent years by a slow but steady resurgence of blackleg showing up and stealing yield. For those who think, “hey, we have genetic resistance, didn’t we deal with this already?” read and listen on. Record canola… Read more »
Canola School: Winter canola and the eastern experience
When we think of canola, we think Western Canada. And there’s no doubt that the prairies are the canola capital, but Meghan Moran, canola and edible bean specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, reminds us that there are still canola growers in Ontario, too. While the all-time high of 90,000… Read more »
Monsanto planning to expand dicamba platform in soybeans, canola
Monsanto plans to expand its Xtend herbicide tolerance package, which combines tolerance to dicamba and glyphosate, in the coming years, adding other herbicide-tolerance traits, and introducing it to new crops, including canola. Monsanto, subsidiary The Climate Corporation, and The BioAg Alliance — Monsanto’s collaboration with Novozymes — shared their annual innovation pipeline updates in conjunction… Read more »
Canola School: Identifying the new mystery midge
Researchers with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are in the process of identifying and describing a tiny midge species that was first confirmed in canola fields in parts of Western Canada last year. It’s not swede midge, as was previously thought. This new species belongs to the same Contarinia genus, but is more robust, has hairier… Read more »
Canola Council welcomes continued access to EU biodiesel market
The European Commission published its decision to allow Canadian canola to have continued access to the EU biodiesel market this week. “This decision means continued access to an important market for Canadian canola,” says Jim Everson, president of the Canola Council of Canada (CCC). “The Canola Council has worked hard on this over the past… Read more »
Inside ‘The Real Dirt on Farming’
Where can Canadians find everything they need to know about farming all wrapped into a neat 60-page package? It’s all in The Real Dirt on Farming. Farm & Food Care Ontario officially unveiled the newest version of its flagship public outreach publication last month. This new Real Dirt is the fourth edition since the project’s inception in… Read more »
Canola 100 contest raises the yield bar to 85.88 bushels per acre
In year two of the Canola 100 challenge, presented by Agri-Trend and John Deere, farmers from across Canada once again showed that canola yields can be pushed higher. The Canola Council of Canada’s 2025 goal of a 52 bushel per acre average is well within the grasp of some Western Canadian farmers. This year’s new… Read more »
Canola School: One cool crop — how canola sequesters carbon and reflects the sun
Canola is a “cool” crop in more ways than one, including how it can have a role in mitigating climate change. “From the point of view of global warming or climate change, canola is different from other crops that we grow commonly, and that is that it produces a lot of residue for every seed… Read more »