Before applying a plant growth regulator containing chlormequat to wheat, make sure you’ve confirmed you have a buyer willing to purchase it, because most of the major grain companies say they won’t. Potentially a valuable tool in reducing lodging, many growers are interested in applying Manipulator, a PGR introduced in Canada by Engage Agro in… Read More
Tag: Manitoba Agriculture
Last week the new Progressive Conservative government in Manitoba changed the name of its agriculture ministry back to the Department of Agriculture. Previously it was the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, or MAFRD. Many people on twitter were cheerleading the decision as if this was agriculture finding its roots with the name change. Some said they found… Read More
Bring back the old letterhead and golf shirts. Manitoba’s new government has changed the name of its agriculture department back to what it was prior to 1999. An Order-in-Council passed on Tuesday, the day Brian Pallister’s government and cabinet were sworn in, changed the “Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development” to simply “Department of… Read More
Farmers are dealt a hand of cards each year. There are cards of fortune and cards of misfortune. Maybe it’s a wet spring or corn prices below $4/bu or skyrocketing fertilizer costs. Maybe you get all three in the same hand. A farmer can’t always choose what they’re dealt, but they can choose how to respond…. Read More
Regulatory restrictions are not on the radar in Manitoba, but the province’s agriculture entomologist suggests farmers in Western Canada should ask themselves “why?” before using neonicotinoid seed treatments. The Ontario and Quebec governments are restricting the use of insecticide-treated seed in response to concerns about neonics hurting bee health, but there haven’t been the same problems with pollinator populations… Read More
This year, the organizers of the Crop Diagnostic School in Carman, Manitoba, decided to do something a little old-school. “We decided to demo soil-applied herbicides here at the farm this year for the Diagnostic School, in part because we’re seeing an increased use in the products,” Jeanette Gaultier explains in the following interview. Gaultier (who may or… Read More
Wind and rain have taken a toll on some of the best-looking cereal crop acres in Western Canada and the northern U.S. over the last few weeks. Large sections of wheat, barley and oat fields have been knocked flat (some several times) in parts of southern Manitoba and North Dakota. Yield losses from lodging can range… Read More
After ramping up efforts to test for clubroot disease over the last year, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development has confirmed the presence of the nasty soil-borne pest in 48 fields within the province. The provincial ag department has released an updated map showing positive clubroot cases by rural municipality (see below), while noting “positive findings… Read More
Another gene that has provided resistance to crown rust in oat varieties grown in Western Canada is losing its effectiveness. The Pc91 gene was a source of resistance to crown rust in some of common varieties in recent years, including Souris, Stainless, HiFi, AAC Justice and CDC Morrison, but changes in the crown rust pathogen population in… Read More
A joint initiative of the Manitoba Canola Growers Association and Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development is working to map the incidence of clubroot spores in Manitoba. With funding through the federal government’s Growing Forward 2’s Growing Actions program, the Pest Surveillance Initiative (PSI) is working to map clubroot incidence on a township-range basis. If… Read More
The corn borer is a relatively low-level pest in much of the corn crop in Western Canada, but it certainly poses a risk. What’s more, just because you planted a corn borer-resistant variety doesn’t mean you get out of scouting — every farmer who grows corn should be scouting for the pest, says John Gavloski,… Read More
There’s a difference between new technology that becomes a useful tool and new technology that’s just a toy. The difference is largely in the practical application of what any given technology makes possible. Exhibit A: the smartphone — great and powerful technology, but likely also overwhelmingly used to share silly cat videos and status updates…. Read More
Managing for nitrogen losses in crop production is important, absolutely, but N isn’t the only nutrient at risk of being lost from the plant’s refrigerator. Phosphorus, that other macro-nutrient we know and love, is also subject to losses — and while losses may go relatively unnoticed in the cropping system, our lakes are rivers pay… Read More
Yes, compaction happens. You know that, I know that. But we in Canada are ever so fortunate because while compaction does happen, Mother Nature, at her cruelest -30 degree C self, actually helps us battle it with our wicked Prairie freeze-thaw cycle. Right? Well, yes, but a more resounding no, actually. Marla Riekman, land management… Read More
Ever had a soil test come back with some surprising nitrogen levels? While it’s typically lower than expected (don’t we all wish N didn’t just disappear?), every now and then a crop may have left some behind due to any number of factors, like water availability, timing of mineralization or some other something that maybe… Read More