If you were farming on the western Canadian Prairies in 2019, you’ll most likely shudder at the thought of flea beetles, knowing how rampant they ran throughout the spring. Syngenta recently rolled out a new flea beetle option for seed treatments in Western Canada, called Fortenza Advanced, that has the active ingredients sulfoxaflor and cyantraniliprole…. Read More
In 2015, Willard Jack was gearing up to tackle herbicide resistant Canada fleabane on his Belzoni, Mississippi farm. Five years later, that weed is just an afterthought as Jack is fully engaged in a fight with a much tougher resistant weed “monster” — Palmer amaranth. At the SouthWest Agricultural Conference (SWAC) last week at Ridgetown,… Read More
Alberta’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has come out with its grasshopper outlook for the upcoming farming season, and indications are that populations could put serious pressure on growing crops. The 2020 grasshopper forecast map is based on adult grasshopper counts conducted in early August 2019 by participating agriculture fieldmen across the province. This year’s… Read More
With spring less than three months away, Nufarm Agriculture Inc. has unveiled its new post-emergent grass weed herbicide — Epic. The product contains pinoxaden, for spring wheat, durum wheat, and barley, and can be used as an option for the selective control of wild oats, green and yellow foxtail, Persian darnel, volunteer oats, volunteer canary… Read More
It’s a new year, and we’re back with the first Wheat Pete’s Word of the decade! Peter Johnson, host of Wheat Pete’s Word, says that although we are only eight days in, 2020 is already roaring ahead steadily. The mantra for 2020 according to Wheat Pete is “perfect vision.” If we can see clearly, we’ll… Read More
The Food and Agriculture Organizations (FAO) of the United Nations has declared 2020 the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH), and it’s looking for relevant human-interest stories. Calling it a once in a lifetime opportunity to “raise global awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect biodiversity and the environment,… Read More
Changing weather patterns played havoc with corn planting and harvest in 2019 and they also affected insect cycles and how pests impacted the crop. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs entomologist Tracey Baute notes that the cold, wet spring had a big impact on western bean cutworm (WBC). A significant reduction in early-season… Read More
A new soybean pest has hit the radar screen, and it could be a threat to soybean growers across Canada. Gall midge was first detected in Nebraska in 2011 and has since been confirmed in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota. On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Soybean School, OMAFRA entomologist Tracey Baute explains that the midge… Read More
The good news is tar spot — a new corn leaf disease — has yet to be found in Ontario cornfields. The bad news is it’s only a matter of time before the yield robber is confirmed in the province, says Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plant pathologist Albert Tenuta. On this episode… Read More
As growers actively manage herbicide-resistant weeds on their farms, many are also looking at how to secure future effectiveness of other crop protection tools, including fungicides and insecticides. In this first episode of a new season of RealAgriculture’s Resistance Management School, we take a look at the current state of fungicide resistance in field crops… Read More
Have you ever thumbed through your child’s textbook only to be left shaking your head? RealAgriculture founder Shaun Haney was helping his youngest son with his science homework when a small sidebar on herbicide resistance caught his eye: In my sons grade 9 text book it says that herbicide resistance is due to weeds and… 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
There are some surprising yields being reported across much of Ontario — some shockingly good, others disastrously bad. For at least one farmer, a timely rain or two on just half the field means the same surprise happened in the same pass of the combine. In this week’s edition of Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter… Read More
From the two brothers working on identifying the disease across provinces, to the sister-like relationship between soybean cyst nematode (SCN) and sudden death syndrome, it’s a family affair when talking SCN. Albert Tenuta, plant pathologist for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, joins RealAgriculture’s Bern Tobin for this episode of the Soybean… Read More
Is frosted corn, toast? It all depends, says Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson, so head on out and start checking those cob shanks! On this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word, Johnson covers some key cover crop questions, why wheat seed rates might at max right now, and there’s some gibberella out there that needs attention. Have a… Read More