With no restrictions, spending $153 million seems easy. But when the task at hand is to leverage that $153 million into leap-frogging an entire industry forward, knowing where to commit that cash becomes much more complicated. Bill Greuel, CEO of Protein Industries Canada, is tasked with ensuring the federal Protein Supercluster funding is invested prudently… Read More
Doing the best job possible at seeding pays dividends throughout the year, but is planter-precision necessary for top canola yield? That’s just one question research is trying to answer, not only on a trial basis but at a field level as well. Ken Coles, general manager of Farming Smarter, says it’s not always possible to… Read More
The western Canadian canola market is an attractive one with about 20 million acres of seed put in the ground each year. But while the acres are plentiful, it’s still a very competitive market. Nuseed, a division of Nufarm, wagers that its approach is the right one in bringing a new commercial commodity canola business… Read More
Spring, summer, or fall — when do you think is the best time to test for clubroot? Visual symptoms on the plant show up later in the season, yes, but that’s not when soil spore load is highest, explains Kim Kenward of 20/20 Seed Labs, in this episode of the Canola School. “Soil testing is the… Read More
As growers continue to plug away at harvesting remaining canola acres, a lot of the crop already in the bin is in less than ideal condition. On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Canola School, Canola Council of Canada agronomy specialist Angela Brackenreed offers management tips for growers who have canola in bins that could be 15… Read More
If dogs can detect trace amounts of drugs in luggage, could they be trained to sniff out plant disease, too? The short answer is yes — and a research scientist headed up a project to prove it in a one-year, proof of concept study out of Alberta. Mike Harding, research scientist with Alberta Agriculture &… Read More
What happens when there’s plenty of canola globally and a general bearish tone to the markets? A stubborn sideways market that simply bounces between a narrow price range, with no real reason to break to the upside. The rumour mill does help with some blips, but overall this market is just flat, says Wendy White,… Read More
What happens when you put two past colleagues with a shared passion for agronomy extension, quizzes, and talking into headsets together, then hit record? You get 20 minutes of banter about canola, of course, but also calling a baseball game, why faba beans need more love, six-year crop budgets, and over-sized banana statues. True story…. Read More
Manitoba Agriculture reports a new strain of clubroot has been identified in the Rural Municipality of Pembina. The soil-borne pathogen of canola and other brassica species have several pathotypes. The new strain of clubroot is identified as pathotype 3A, and is able to overcome some first-generation sources of genetic resistance in commercial canola varieties, says… Read More
According to the Canola Council of Canada (CCC), average harvest losses in the field can range from 0.2 to one bushel per acre, and can reach 5 bu/ac or more in extreme conditions. That’s why the council is encouraging producers to pay attention to what’s coming out the back of the combine. “The number one… Read More
Harvest is already a busy time of year, but a few extra moments outside the combine or swather could make a big difference for disease management on those fields in future years, and could help explain yield dips you might see on the yield monitor. According to Shawn Senko, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of… Read More
With just under two weeks left until the provincial election in Manitoba, the Progressive Conservative party has announced it would set the country’s highest biofuel requirements, if re-elected. Premier Brian Pallister says his government will increase the ethanol requirement in gasoline to 10 per cent and the biodiesel requirement from two to five per cent… Read More
For many parts of the Prairies, it’s been a challenging growing season — especially when it comes to canola. A late spring, high-speed winds, hail damage, and too late and then late moisture have made for canola fields that have numerous stages in the same field. Whether producers are swathing or straight-cutting their canola, they… Read More
Did you know that soil helps to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere, helps to clean water as it percolates through, and is filled with living organisms? Our soil and its health isn’t just imperative to agriculture — but to many other aspects of our ever-growing population. Jim Tokarchuk, executive director with the Soil Conservation… Read More
What do Chinese government leaders think of Canada? Can our government correct a policy course that has put Canadian agricultural exports on the ropes and knocked canola and meat out of the globe’s most lucrative economy? Earlier this week, RealAg Radio host Shaun Haney put these questions to Charles Burton, senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier… Read More