It might only be the middle of October, but it looks and feels like winter in parts of Western Canada, especially as you move north and west in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Snow and freezing rain have left many canola growers with a helpless feeling as crop that was ready to be harvested is now under… Read More
Category: Canola
Canola seed companies are releasing more varieties with claims they have reduced susceptibility to sclerotinia, but how do they determine those ratings? Coming off a season with high sclerotinia pressure, what does it mean if a variety is labelled as ‘partially resistant’? In 2011, the Western Canadian Canola/Rapeseed Recommending Committee started searching for a test that… Read More
Just east of Westlock, Alberta, whole fields of standing canola are encased in ice. This latest storm that rolled through late Saturday night was insult added to the injury of five to ten inches of snow that fell Friday, October 14, 2016. These scenes at Westlock aren’t rare right now: huge areas of central and northern… Read More
Judging by conversations with farmers across the prairies, social media, and conferences, 2016 is the year of straight-cut canola. Not long ago, canola straight-cutting was a fringe activity but it appears to be going mainstream. Increase in canola straight-cutting is due in part to tailored hybrids, growers learning from each other, and a focus on lower… 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
Canola growers across Western Canada are continually searching for ways to raise yields in the most efficient manner. Growers continue to push to achieve this objective and will even develop production techniques that many people thought was impossible a relatively short time ago. Apparently interest in straight cutting is definitely growing. According to last years… Read More
We can expect salad dressing to someday provide some of the same health benefits as fish, adding value to canola as a food ingredient and addressing marine sustainability concerns. Scientists with Dow AgroSciences say they’ve figured out a new way to produce canola oil rich in DHA and EPA — the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil associated with heart… Read More
If the world of soil biology had its own version of Facebook, crops like peas, lentils, corn and flax would be listed as “in a symbiotic relationship” with mycorrhizal fungi. The microscopic organisms help these crops access phosphorus in the soil. Wheat would probably be friends with mycorrhiza, as cereals see some benefit from having… Read More
Dry conditions at seeding followed by plenty of rain left some canola growers in Western Canada wondering if their canola had enough nitrogen to reach its yield potential. As a result, there was increased interest in top-dressing N on canola this growing season. As Jack Payne, regional agronomist with Farmers Edge, explains in this Canola… Read More
Would your canola crop benefit from a top-dress or rescue application of nitrogen? A tissue test will give you an idea of whether plants are deficient, but you’ll have to wait for results. As Jack Payne explains in this Canola School episode, there are now several versions of in-field sensors that help agronomists and growers assess… Read More