Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canadian farm incomes look set to fall in 2016 after a year of record profits, but will still reach above-average levels, according to a report from the federal government. Rising receipts for crops and livestock have boosted incomes in recent years, due to greater demand in developing countries and a weak Canadian dollar, […] Read more
Farm incomes set to fall from record high
The crop production wheel
Reading Time: 2 minutes Two years ago in the September edition of Country Guide, we ran a sidebar about a “complete systems” approach to production agriculture, including the depiction of a “production wheel.” The image comes from Don Lobb, an advocate for improving soil health and tile drainage. He created the guideline in a circular or wheel configuration, and […] Read more
Pest Patrol: Using the ‘Pest Manager’ app
Weeds and weed management information in the palm of your hand
Reading Time: 2 minutes We have good pest management information and research. The challenge can be to get that information to the farmers who need it. Earlier this summer, a smartphone app was launched called Pest Manager. Currently, only information on weeds and weed management is included, so I tell farmers it’s what you would get if a weed […] Read more
Soil bacteria may offer weapon against late blight in potatoes
Reading Time: 2 minutes Potato producers may soon have a new ally in their battle against late blight, and it’s right under their feet. Researchers have discovered bacterial strains in the soil that show promise as disease controls. Some bacteria suppress or inhibit late blight by over 90 per cent, according to an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) release. […] Read more
Is your soil lacking phosphorous? How to diagnose nutrient deficiency
Phosphorus deficiency is hard to identify and often goes unnoticed — even when significant yield loss can be occurring. Will an extra 20 lbs./ac. of phosphate pay off?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Soil phosphorus levels are critically low in more and more fields. These fields may no longer provide enough phosphorus for crops to reach their yield potential, which means the solution to yield stagnation — on some fields, at least — could be plain old boring phosphate. Canola takes up around 1.5 pounds of phosphate per […] Read more
Beneficial insects can fight in your corner, if you let them
A new field guide will be available both electronically and in print in time for you to use through the upcoming crop year
Reading Time: 6 minutes Farmers are only hurting themselves if they aren’t giving a helping hand to the natural allies in the fields that can assist them in controlling pests. Nature not only provides, as the old proverb says. Research proves that it also pays. In fact, new research even tells us how much it pays. Natural pest suppression […] Read more
Controlling crop weeds with beneficial insects
Flea beetles that eat leafy spurge are only the first wave of biological weed control
Reading Time: 5 minutes What is it about weeds? No matter how hard you try to eradicate them, they always come back. Worse still, each method of weed control has its drawbacks. Spraying with herbicides can lead to weed resistance if the same product is used continuously. Tillage can result in soil erosion (remember the Dirty ’30s?), and although […] Read more
More acres this spring for nearly all crops: AAFC
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canadian farmers are expected to take area out of summerfallow this spring for more acres of almost all major grains, oilseeds, pulses and special crops, the federal agriculture department said Friday. Canada’s total 2015-16 crop production is forecast to rise, due mainly to higher seeded area, due in turn to lower area in summerfallow and […] Read more
Pest Patrol: Are there any promising new mechanical methods for weed control?
The Harrington seed destructor is one possibility to help avoid spreading weed seed
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ray Harrington, an innovative farmer from Western Australia was struggling with herbicide-resistant weeds, so he took matters into his own hands by using a cage mill from an old mine that he adapted to process the chaff coming out the back of his combine. A team from the University of Western Australia, led by Michael […] Read more
The future of agronomic research
A new WGRF report sees urgent threats to the West’s research system
Reading Time: 5 minutes About five years ago, before she joined the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF), Pat Flaten was thinking about the state of agronomic research in Western Canada. At the time, she and her colleagues were thinking about bug researchers in Saskatoon. “We knew we had this great group of highly productive and experienced entomologists who were […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
