Reading Time: < 1 minute To hear the latest episode of Between The Rows, CLICK HERE. The show is also available to you each week through Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
Author Archives
This week on ‘Between The Rows’
Episode 208, Jan. 21, 2021
Canada’s mink farms brace for COVID
Producers have had time to increase biosecurity efforts at the farm level
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s 40 mink farms are operating under heightened biosecurity requirements after reports of COVID-19 jumping from humans to mink in Europe. Alan Herscovici, an industry spokesperson who operates the website Truthaboutfur.com, said early reports out of Denmark and other European countries gave Canadian producers some time to prepare. “These farms have always had a certain […] Read more
Opinion: Canada has many research success stories — but there should be more
If we can’t bridge the farmer-researcher gap, we’re leaving money on the table
Reading Time: 3 minutes Every year around the world, billions of dollars, euros, yen and yuan are spent on agriculture research. In Canada alone, public funding of “research in support of agriculture,” to quote the federal government, topped $557 million in the 2016-17 fiscal year. That figure may wax and wane with the budgetary vagaries of government, but it’s […] Read more
High disease risk sees many Manitoba canola growers spraying fungicide
A wet spring creates canola fields full of sclerotinia as flowering blooms
Reading Time: 3 minutes This season Manitoba canola growers shouldn’t be asking if they should be spraying fungicides — they should be asking themselves if there’s any possible reason they shouldn’t. Clinton Jurke, director of agronomy for the Canola Council of Canada, says it’s been a moist spring, yield looks good in much of the province and dense canopies […] Read more
Integrated Pest Management gaining credibility
More and more growers are beginning to embrace the IPM approach to insect control, and the system is beginning to bear fruit
Reading Time: 7 minutes A few years back Owen Olfert and other entomologists approached a group of growers with what might have seemed like an outrageous request — don’t spray for wheat midge. They were in the process of introducing a new parasite to knock back midge populations, but there was a problem — the critter in question was […] Read more
Crop pest scouts may gain from ‘app’lied knowledge
Insect ID is a challenge — but Prairie entomologists say there will soon be an app for that, and a whole lot more
Reading Time: 7 minutes One of the most challenging aspects of crop protection will always be the flying, crawling and chomping critters that show up every season, hoping to take a bite out of your profits. There are a lot of them, they can be hard to tell apart, and wind and weather can determine if insects arrive in […] Read more
Farmland for rent
Too often it seems you don’t hear land is up for rent until you learn someone is already renting it
Reading Time: 7 minutes It isn’t like commercial real estate, or even like housing markets where so much information is available. If you’re interested in a house, for example, your realtor can tell you what the last six houses sold for in the same neighourhood. If you want to rent office space in downtown Calgary or Toronto, finding out […] Read more
High-tech seeding
New equipment options promise growers more and better control over this critical field operation
Reading Time: 7 minutes Over the years, few field operations have caused growers more head scratching. Seeding is the critical first step in getting a good crop, and there are many variables in play. Is the seedbed right? Are the fertilizer and seed separation acceptable? Is the seed placed evenly? Is it being sown at the right depth? As […] Read more
The fine balance of controlling crop diseases
It's a classic example of where short-term decisions can mean long-term problems
Reading Time: 7 minutes Randy Kutcher recalls that when he moved to Saskatchewan 25 years ago, farmers were using hardly any fungicide. “They were using a bit of fungicide for sclerotinia in canola, and that’s about it. Now it’s pretty much part of the program, and often crops are getting two or more applications, and it’s almost become like […] Read more
The long-term battle of fighting crop diseases
Fighting crop disease isn’t a single-season job — you’ve got to be in it for the long haul and protect and maintain the capacity to do the work
Reading Time: 7 minutes In the winter of 1820, farmers at the embryonic Red River Settlement, at what is now Winnipeg, faced disaster after their seed grain was destroyed. The colony had dabbled in wheat production for the previous few years, but with little success. It was make-or-break time for the cold-hardened and dispossessed Scotsmen who had migrated via […] Read more
GFM Podcasts
Special Podcast
As Canada’s oldest farm publication, with roots back to 1886, Country Guide is about the business of farming, providing farmers with strategic business thinking. In each issue, enjoy stories on Profiles, Products and People.