Reading Time: 3 minutes Prairie canola growers had a bit of a fright in 2007 and 2008. Swede midge, a pest causing serious damage and yield loss to canola crops in Ontario, had been found in some areas of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and farmers were rightly alarmed. It turns out that it was just a wake-up call, but one […] Read more
Getting the jump on swede midge
The canola pest hasn’t become established in Western Canada, but researchers want to be prepared if it does
Detecting stripe rust in wheat before it strikes
Resistance is low in current varieties. An early warning system could allow for fungicide application only when needed
Reading Time: 5 minutes Stripe rust is wily and tough. For the longest time, Canadian farmers could depend on cold winters and a fairly hot, dry summer climate to keep it at bay. But stripe rust is also highly adaptable and around 2000, scientists noticed a change. “Pathogens always evolve,” says André Laroche, a research scientist with Agriculture and […] Read more
Stay calm and spray on
A field guide to fungicide resistance management
Reading Time: 6 minutes Do you have questions about fungicide resistance? Have you ever wondered if that fungicide you used before is still working as it should? Are you worried about losing fungicide tools? Well, you’re not alone. “There have been a lot more questions about fungicide resistance in the last two years than in the last 10,” says […] Read more
Harnessing the power of the rhizosphere
Biochar — heat-treated organic material — can give the root zone a boost
Reading Time: 3 minutes Have you ever noticed how lush the crabgrass can get around an old firepit? It’s a small yet compelling example of the benefit that burnt wood residue can have on plant growth. But there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye in that interchange between plant, charcoal, soil and air, and Prem Pokharel […] Read more
Putting a value on crop diversity
Economists and agronomists are getting together to compare the benefits of short and long rotations
Reading Time: 3 minutes Have you ever stared at your crop plan and wished that it didn’t rely so heavily on canola? Or wheat? Or peas? Or any crop that is too often called on for cash flow at the expense of proper rotation? Agronomists have been beating the drum of crop diversity for years and farmers understand that […] Read more
Hope ahead for more durable clubroot resistance
A combination of two resistance genes shows promise against multiple pathotypes
Reading Time: 3 minutes Since it was first discovered in Alberta in the early 2000s, clubroot has proven a wily opponent for plant pathologists and breeders. Back then, researchers identified a handful of clubroot pathotypes, mostly minor, and one major one that was responsible for most infections and yield loss in Western Canada. Plant breeders focused on that and […] Read more
Finding the value of cover crops for Western Canada
Cover crops are now standard practice farther south in the U.S., but do they have the same results on the shorter-season Prairies?
Reading Time: 3 minutes When Yvonne Lawley wrote her research proposal for a study of cover crops, she was specific about the wording of the title: Testing the cover crop hypothesis across Prairie Canada. It’s the word “hypothesis” that grabs you. What could be theoretical about cover crops? Some farmers have been using them for decades to help build […] Read more
Take a new look at the Western Grain Research Foundation
The organization is ready to embark on the next 40 years of funding vital crop and agronomic research to benefit western Canadian growers
Reading Time: 5 minutes When you do a job well for a long time, it can sometimes go unnoticed — people simply get used it. That’s why every once in a while it’s good to take a step back and see things with fresh eyes. Agricultural research, for instance — just gets done. New varieties come out regularly, new […] Read more
The power of knowing your soil
Much of Saskatchewan’s soil has been studied at least once over the decades. A WGRF-sponsored project puts all the results in one location available to everyone
Reading Time: 4 minutes Have you ever wondered why crops don’t seem to do well on a certain bit of land and it’s not always obvious why? Angela Bedard-Haughn is here to help you figure that out. The professor of soil science in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan is leading the Saskatchewan Soil […] Read more
If you can’t spray ’em, crush ’em
While there’s no single solution to herbicide resistance, the Harrington Seed Destructor may be part of the toolbox
Reading Time: 5 minutes Some of the most creative insights and practical solutions for battling herbicide-resistant weed control come from Australia. It was there, in 1996, that the world’s first documented case of glyphosate resistance was found in annual ryegrass, which is Australia’s No. 1 weed problem. As of January of this year, the Australian Glyphosate Sustainability Working Group […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
