When it comes to planting no-till wheat, Phil Needham, of Needham Ag Technologies, says farmers need to think first about the combine before rolling out the drill. “You can buy the best piece of seeding equipment on the market, but it’s only going to be as good as the residue management (in a no-till system)… Read More

High disease levels have winter wheat growers in Western Canada concerned about the market prospects for the crop. Samples brought to elevators in some areas — especially central Manitoba — have contained up to 20 percent fusarium damaged kernels. Buyers have started discounting grain based on the related potential vomitoxin levels. So where will this… Read More

Cereal leaf beetle was first discovered in Alberta in 2005, with Saskatchewan and Manitoba finding populations shortly thereafter. As its name suggests, the insect prefers to feed on cereals, though it may extend its host range to grasses, even occasionally feeding on corn. Both adults and larvae feed on the leaves in strips between veins, causing a… Read More

Wheat leaf diseases aren’t always capable of overwintering in Canada. Besides often needing shelter from harsh winter conditions, the pathogens also suffer from a relative lack of alternate hosts. This year, however, stripe rust — a disease caused by the fungus Puccinia striiformis — took sanctuary in winter wheat fields in parts of the prairies, safe… Read More

Is all protein in wheat the same? Are there several kinds of protein? What happens to protein when wheat is in storage? Is gluten strength the same as protein quality? What is gluten, anyway? If you’ve asked yourself these questions (and more!) you’re most certainly not alone. Understanding the role protein plays in crop quality… Read More

Growing Degree Days (GDD) are an indicator of expected crop development based on weather conditions. GDDs are calculated by taking the mean temperature over a day and subtracting a base temperature. For most cereal grains, the base temperature is considered 5 degrees C, as they require around 1200 GDD to reach maturity. GDD = (Tmax + Tmin)… Read More

Seed size can vary significantly, making planting by weight or volume alone a rather untrustworthy endeavour. So it’s no wonder calculating seeding rates based on the thousand kernel weight (TKW) of the desired crop is advised by so many researchers and agronomists. In this Wheat School, Richard Marsh of Syngenta re-joins Lyndsey Smith to compare plant stands achieved… Read More

Did you know that wheat seed that has been negatively impacted by glyphosate application will show no visible signs of damage? So though you may be able to see mechanical damage, there are many factors that hide beneath the surface, including disease presence and susceptibility. That’s why it’s important to send seed for a test that goes… Read More

 

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