Category: Crop Production

First found in Canada in southern Alberta in the 1990s, the pea leaf weevil is continuing to expand its territory to the east. The invasive pest whose larvae feed on the rhizobia in nitrogen-fixing root nodules has since spread across most of the pea-growing areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan. It was first detected in Manitoba,... Read More

There's no doubt that nitrogen prices have seen a steep price increase again as of late. Most of this momentum is being propelled by the current state of the natural gas market. Sam Taylor, farm input analyst with Rabo AgriFinance, says North American natural gas prices are the highest they've been since about 2008. "What... Read More

BASF is switching the main seed treatment package on its InVigor canola varieties for 2023, after determining "many, many factors" led to certain canola fields getting off to a noticeably sluggish start in 2022. The company, which has long held the largest market share in canola seed in Canada, published a statement in late June... Read More

With harvest underway and temperatures continuing to soar across the Prairie provinces, canola growers will want to weigh their options when it comes to when they swath — not only in the growing season, but on the day as well, to prevent green lock. Doug Moisey of Pioneer Seeds Canada, says during the days where... Read More

On Wednesdays we listen to Wheat Pete's Word. Welcome back to another episode as we close out August and look forward to September. On today's show, Peter 'Wheat Pete' Johnson dives into some of the yield numbers coming out of Ontario, which in most areas, are turning out better than expected. He also goes over... Read More

The North American agriculture industry's first autonomous fertilizer spreader is debuting in Boone, Iowa, at the Farm Progress Show this week. Whether farmers are finding it difficult to find skilled workers or simply want to increase efficiencies and free up more man-hours to complete other tasks, the new Case IH Trident 5550 with Raven autonomy... Read More

Spring planted canola is a dominant crop in Western Canada, but for Ontario farmers, the better option is winter canola. Still a minority crop, winter canola is gaining attention in the province, especially since the introduction of a new variety, Mercedes. What does it take to grow this brassica, starting in the fall? There are... Read More

Alberta Barley, Alberta Canola, Alberta Pulse Growers and the Alberta Wheat Commission have announced a new farmer-focused event set to take place at the Edmonton Convention Centre on January 24 and 25, 2023. The four organizations have previously been involved in hosting the FarmTech conference. The Alberta Seed Growers are the one Farmtech partner that... Read More

Improved growing conditions for much of Western Canada has Statistics Canada predicting a much larger crop for 2022 harvest than was previously reported. The latest principal field crop report, published August 29, is derived from predictive modeling based on July field conditions. StatsCan says the Crop Condition Assessment Program shows that overall plant health in... Read More

There's been a fair amount of interest in comparing the results of canola seeded with a drill versus a planter over the last decade, but as the percentage of acres sown with planters has increased, farmers and agronomists are also looking to compare different planter setups. This Canola School episode takes us to a planter... Read More