Reading Time: 5 minutes Late in 2019, agronomists in mid-western Ontario urged producers to opt out of growing continuous corn or corn on corn in an effort to break the cycle of resistance that had developed within corn rootworm. The issue had arisen because of resistance to three of four Bt Cry proteins, reducing the effective modes of action […] Read more
A new trait for corn rootworm
The RNAi trait will launch in Canada in 2023 and complement current Bt Cry protein traits
Rethinking trap crops in canola
Shatter-resistant varieties may allow the theory to be put into practice
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s the usual tradeoff: the agricultural research community has to balance promising new concepts in pest management against ease of use and efficiency gains for farmers. One such concept, an integrated pest management strategy called “trap cropping,” hasn’t always been an easy sell. The basic concept is that pests are controlled in a lower-value crop […] Read more
Getting to the root of corn rootworm
How alarmed should you be about the threat of corn rootworm due to the expansion of continuous corn acres?
Reading Time: 6 minutes For a large percentage of growers in Eastern Canada, corn production isn’t just one crop in the rotation, it’s the main crop in that rotation. For others — mostly livestock producers — it’s the only crop. That dominance is creating concerns as the incidence of resistance of corn rootworm becomes a more-pressing issue. Even so, […] 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
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
What’s going to ‘bug’ you in 2020?
Western bean cutworm is quickly climbing the ranks as our biggest threat
Reading Time: 6 minutes Insect pests never seem to get the respect they deserve. If they present a threat during a growing season, they move front and centre, but more often they’re a much lower concern than fertility, weeds and diseases. Some of that is thanks to today’s improved genetics and commercial varieties and hybrids that produce their hardier, […] Read more
A new insecticide for soybean aphids
Sefina’s control of soybean aphids differs from other products
Reading Time: 4 minutes Much anticipation always arrives with each new growing season. Successes are kept in perspective while past challenges are minimized, and the promise of a fresh start is enticing, if not a small source of anxiety. It’s much the same for a product launch: there’s the potential to help growers enhance their crop production, whether it’s […] Read more
20 years of Bt corn hybrids
Growers are armed with more powerful, more precise tools than ever in history — but the war on corn pests is far from over
Reading Time: 7 minutes In any discussion of agricultural biotechnology, Bt corn hybrids shine as a huge success. Launched in 1996 in the U.S. and Canada, their 20-plus years in eastern Canadian production are worth celebrating for their unparalleled control of European corn borer (ECB). The technology has performed precisely as designed — without the development of the resistance […] Read more
The economics of Western bean cutworm
For bean growers, it turns out this is a very different — and difficult — pest
Reading Time: 5 minutes From year to year, edible bean growers face a variety of challenges, including some that are unique to their particular sector. In the past, they have had to deal with bean leaf beetles and potato leaf hoppers, as well as wireworms and seedcorn maggot. As with other field crops, each new growing season seems to […] Read more
Prairie insect outlook for 2018
Provincial websites offer a wealth of identification and monitoring information which is continually updated through the season
Reading Time: 8 minutes With snow still on the ground as this article is written, it’s difficult to predict how conditions may change over the next few weeks as farmers approach seeding. That said, lower-than-average precipitation across the Prairies over the winter indicates it will take some excessive spring moisture to significantly change the dry conditions that seem likely […] Read more
More than cutworms “bugged” corn crops in 2017
Pests in 2017 have been a more complicated picture, based largely on a mixed bag of weather-related challenges
Reading Time: 5 minutes Coming out of winter and looking ahead to any growing season, it’s impossible to predict which insect pests will be the biggest challenge for growers. In 2001, for instance, soybean aphids first became a widespread issue for Ontario farmers, and the fear took such firm root that we’d have to deal with them in 2002 […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
