Brennan Turner recently asked farmers if they’d prefer extra bushels but lower prices, or sky high prices but a poor crop. Not surprisingly, farmers would prefer inventory, likely in part because Canadian farmers are quite comfortable with storing grain. Of course, the yields and volumes coming off fields this fall has left many farmers without… Read More
Category: Pulses
Pulse crops are prime targets for harvest dry-down applications, if only because of their indeterminate growth. Add in some less-than-stellar weed control at times, and a desiccant or pre-harvest application of glyphosate can be a great harvest management tool. There are a few things to keep in mind, however, in order to maintain top yield… Read More
Those farmers involved in forage seed production are likely quite familiar with a wick weeder — a unit that uses chemical-soaked rope to deliver herbicide to weeds towering above the crop. But, increasingly, wick weeders are being used in more conventional operations as well in pulse crops, where herbicide options are sometimes limited, and even… Read More
A visual assessment of pulse crops isn’t enough to know how well or poorly your inoculation program worked this year. What’s more, it’s important to track nodulation to ensure enough time to go in with a rescue nitrogen application, if warranted. So how do you know if your pulse crop is fixing enough N? Time… Read More
Which input do you think is the most critical to a pea crop’s success — starter N, inoculant type, fungicide seed treatment or seeding rate? If you guessed seeding rate, you get a gold star, but by how much and what impact, if any, do these other inputs have on maximizing pea yields? Those answers… Read More
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was in Saskatoon, Sask., today, to announce $15 million worth of further investments to the agriculture industry from the AgroInnovation Program and the new Growing Forward 2 policy framework. “Thanks to the commitment to innovation today and over the years, special crops and pulse industries are well-positioned to capture new market… Read More
Wild oat control is, like it or not, an increasingly costly issue in Western Canada. Not only is herbicide expensive (costing growers over $500 million annually), we are also seeing an increase in resistant wild oat populations. There are several fields with confirmed resistance to both Group 1 and Group 2 products. Farmers do and… Read More
Thriving in wet, soggy soils (and thus seldom acknowledged as a problem-pathogen in Canada), aphanomyces is difficult to differentiate from other root rot microorganisms based on symptomology alone. Molecular techniques and identification of spores in the lab are the best means of identification, and as of right now, there is no commercial test available for… Read More
Plant health is affected by a multitude of factors, making identifying problems in a field a daunting task. Nobody is capable of identifying every nutrient deficiency, disease symptom, insect species or weed present. But, anyone involved in production should clearly understand the ins and outs of scouting, and what you’ll need in order to ask… Read More
Ascochyta blight is a disease caused by three species of fungi, which are very difficult, if not impossible, to differentiate in the field. Fortunately, diagnosis of a specific pathogen causing ascochyta symptoms is not usually necessary, as control measures are very often the same. Out scouting? Look for purple-brown lesions on the stem, tendrils and… Read More
Applying fungicides to pulses early is crucial, particularly with polycyclic diseases which can spread through the canopy quickly. Downy mildew is one of these polycyclic diseases, but it’s trickier than most to control due to a few factors, says Kan-Fa Chang, research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. Chang says limited fungicide options makes in-crop… Read More
There are times, in my wanderings on the Internet, that I really do wonder — how did I miss this? Earlier this week, Dr. Tom Wolf, former Ag Canada researcher and current nozzle/spraying expert extraordinaire, alerted me to a certain three minute video featuring his colleague Steve Shirtliffe. Shirtliffe is a professor with the University… Read More
Farmers who had included pulses in their initial crop rotations for 2013 are likely to rewarded for sticking with the crop thanks to continued big demand and lofty prices for most crop types. That’s according to Chuck Penner, owner of LeftField Commodity Research, who spoke with RealAgriculture.com’s Shaun Haney in this episode of the Pulse… Read More
Does your farm have the cleavers? In this episode of the Pulse School, Ken Sapsford, research assistant at the University of Saskatchewan, explains issues surrounding the abundance of cleavers across the prairies. With the shift towards no-till farming practices, cleavers, which were once considered a summer annual, are now overwintering, particularly in the presence of… Read More
Crop diseases, including those that affect pulses, can develop quickly if conditions are ripe. Add to that that fungicide products are nearly all protective and not curative, and timing and application becomes crucial to effective use of the products. In this SoundCloud interview, Debra Murphy, Saskatchewan field editor for RealAgriculture.com, asks Glendy Clezy and Todd… Read More