Each of the plots was labelled with a sign listing the name of the variety, how yield compared to a check variety, a resistance rating for diseases such as fusarium or stripe rust and other information.

However, none of the signs had information on drought tolerance and how the variety might yield during a hot and dry growing season on the Prairies.

Which leads to the question: should wheat, oat and barley varieties come with a drought tolerance rating so farmers have that information when choosing what to grow?

Drought tolerance important in 2025

“It would definitely be useful, (but) it’s a matter of having the resources to pull that information together,” said Beattie, an oat and barley breeder with the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan.

Picking a drought tolerant variety of spring wheat was important in parts of Saskatchewan in 2025, especially the western half of the province.

For instance, the region around North Battleford received less than 25 millimetres of rain in April, May and the first couple weeks of June.

See all of our Ag in Motion coverage at the Western Producer.

“We were a couple of weeks ahead of schedule (for crop development), mostly due to heat stress and drought,” Quinton Cubbon, a crops extension specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture in North Battleford, said in the third week of June.

“The lower leaves on some (cereal) plants, you could see the drought symptoms. They were turning brown. Some of the wheat (was) already heading out.”

Some farmers in the region could have selected a spring wheat variety or barley that performs well under drought, but that sort of information is mostly anecdotal.

At Ag in Motion, Beattie pointed toward the plot for CDC Maverick, a feed barley. It has a reputation for doing well under dry conditions, he said.

Farmers seeking yield stability

Drought hardiness is an important trait for growers, right up there with disease tolerance, said Todd Hyra, western business manager for Secan, a supplier of certified seed.

However, what farmers are really seeking is yield stability in bad years and strong performance when growing conditions are better.

“It’s about consistency. Growers like to have the big yields, but they don’t like to see the downside (of yield),” he said, standing by the Secan tent at Ag in Motion.

“Having something that is yield stable is an important piece of that.”

Canada’s system of registering new varieties does identify the lines of cereals that provide that stability. Potential varieties are tested across a range of geographies and growing conditions. That weeds out the varieties that are inconsistent, such as a spring wheat that has the top yield at one location but is ranked No. 25 at a different site on the Prairies.

That sort of variability is a red flag, Hyra said.

“You’re trying to find the products that shoot the lights out, under exceptionally good conditions and are stable under other conditions.”

Ask seed growers, dealers

The registration system does deliver on yield stability, but certain cereal varieties do have more tolerance for drought.

Farmers can get such information from their local seed grower or dealer.

A seed grower would know if a spring wheat variety has stronger yields in a dry year because they’ve grown it and compared its performance to other wheats.

Plus, farmers always talk to other farmers about what variety they grew last year and how it performed.

“That (chatter) between farmers and back to the companies is where you really learn new things about the variety,” Beattie said.

“We do rely on that (informal) system.”

Having a rating system for drought tolerance might be helpful, but it would require a lot of data collection, he added.

“You would have to continually grow every variety that’s come out in the past 10 to 15 years,” Beattie said.

“It’s a tough piece of information to gather.”

The post VIDEO: Cereal drought tolerant ratings hard to compile appeared first on Country Guide.

The potato farmers are “happy to know that their hard work is not just being put into the ground. It’s feeding hungry people,” said Emily Owen, Second Harvest’s senior foodraising manager for the Prairies.

Second Harvest, billed as Canada’s largest food rescuer, was on hand at the outdoor farm show Ag in Motion near Langham, Saskatchewan, from July 15 to 17 to connect with farmers and raise awareness of their presence on the Prairies.

Initially founded in Ontario in 1985, the non-profit expanded across Canada in the last few years as the COVID-19 pandemic and economic forces spiked food insecurity, Owen said.

‘Rehoming’ food

Second Harvest essentially acts as a logistics manager for community groups and organizations that feed people. Farms, bakeries, grocery stores, restaurants, and other members of the food supply chain, contact Second Harvest to let them know they have food.

“Anything that a human can eat,” Owen said, though there are a few food safety caveats.

Second Harvest has an app through which companies can tell them they have food to donate.

The organization will then pick up the food and find a non-profit, food bank or community group that needs it. They’ll rehome the food locally if they can. The donating company, meanwhile, gets a tax receipt.

In the case of the 1.5 million pounds of potatoes, which were donated in Manitoba, those were split up into 2,000 lb tote bags, and some were taken for packaging—Second Harvest works with local processors to wash and package potatoes sometimes, Owen explained.

Some of the potatoes were sent to northern Manitoba. Some went to a storage facility in Ontario and as far as Montreal. Quite a few went into Saskatchewan.

A growing need

Canadians throw away enough good food to feed more than 17 million people, Second Harvest’s website says. Meanwhile, food insecurity has spiked in recent years.

Food Banks Canada reported there were more than two million visits to Canadian food banks in March 2024—at the time, the highest number in history and a 90 per cent increase from 2019. High food inflation and housing cost inflation were named as key causes.

In Saskatchewan, Second Harvest has seen a growing number of nonprofits, but also schools, churches and daycares, said Katharine Hepp, operations manager for Saskatchewan.

“Schools are saying we have more and more kids coming to school hungry,” she said.

Second Harvest rescued 3.5 million pounds of food in Saskatchewan last year.

“You can see that the need is going up on the nonprofits’ end, and these donors are amplifying what they’re doing in order to help meet that need,” Hepp said.

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According to Gerard Roney, founder and managing director of Advantage Feeders in Australia, controlled creep feeding is a good way to develop a calf’s rumen, allowing for better uptake of energy and protein at an earlier age.

“We have a lot of control on how (the rumen) operates, and this is the most important thing we’ve got on our livestock farms,” Roney said at the Ag in Motion 2025 farm show near Langham, Sask., as part of a learning session presented by Huber Ag Equipment.

Follow all of our Ag in Motion coverage at the Western Producer.

Roney discussed how producers can help control the length of the papillae on the rumen wall, which pulls volatile fatty acids out of the rumen to be used as energy. Feeding starch lengthens the papillae, and the longer the papillae, the more energy the rumen can extract.

“It’s helpful to start at the beginning of the calf’s life,” said Roney, sharing an image of the undeveloped rumen wall of a six-week-old calf, which was smooth and without long papillae.

“All our calves are born with the sterile environment, so they don’t have any microbes in their gut to start with.”

He compared this to an image of the developed rumen wall of a calf of the same age, which had a greater surface area to allow for more energy uptake.

“The difference is this rumen had grain from the (start), so it’s really showing us we can get that rumen developed where they can eat pasture and digest it really quickly.”

While unrestricted creep feeding can lead to unnecessary feed expenses, he said, the idea behind controlled creep feeding is to allow for rumen development as early as possible before moderating for better feed conversion.

“What controlled creep feeding is, is providing that feed ad lib until that rumen starts to get going roughly that 100 days of age, so we feed them as much as we can early on,” said Roney.

“Once that intake starts going more than two pounds a day, for instance, we start using the feeding system to restrict intake.”

At this point in the calf’s life, pastures are usually providing more of the energy and protein they require.

“We’re just giving them a small supplementation, keeping that papillae long and getting really good growth rates.”

As an example, Roney compared an unrestricted creep feeding situation — where calves consumed 370 kilograms of creep feed per head prior to weaning — to a controlled creep feeding situation that reduced intake to about 120 kg per head.

“If feed is $0.40 per kg, it’s a $100 per calf saving,” he said.

“The younger we feed animals, the higher the feed conversion, so that’s really the best time to supplement an animal.”

Watch for more livestock-related coverage from Ag in Motion 2025 in Glacier FarmMedia publications in the coming weeks.

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“It was, you know, exciting,” Nykolaishen said, adding he “put a lot of work into this, and to get recognized like that was pretty fulfilling.”

Follow all of our Ag in Motion coverage at the Western Producer.

Nytro and Green Lightning received the award for the Green Lightning Nitrogen Machine, which converts atmospheric nitrogen into a plant-usable form. It’s meant to help farmers reduce the cost of their nitrogen inputs.

“What you get is essentially water, but it has elevated levels of nitrate/nitrogen in the water,” he said. “It’s used as fertilizer, generally foliar application, so you spray it on, but it can be applied into the dirt at seeding time as well.”

The 10-foot container model allows farmers to cheaply create their own nitrogen.

“The proposition of the Green Lightning Machine is to reduce your cost input year-in and year-out,” Nykolaishen said. “The cost-per-pound of nitrogen through the machine is approximately three and a half cents.”

The innovation award Nytro and Green Lightning took home was for sustainability. Nykolaishen explained the machine’s environmental benefits.

“First and foremost, the product is salt-free, so you’re not adding any salt to the soil.”

“And then you’re making it on your farm,” he said. “Synthetic fertilizers generally come in (from) overseas and getting to port and then having to get out to your farm. This is made on your farm, you know, where you need it.”

The post VIDEO: Green Lightning and Nytro Ag win sustainability innovation award appeared first on Country Guide.

Tessa Thomas, a livestock and feed extension specialist with the Government of Saskatchewan, spoke about biosecurity at the Livestock Happy Hour at AIM on Tuesday, July 16. She said while biosecurity in the beef industry is not as thorough as in other livestock industries, it is just as important.

“Disease spread may not be on top of mind,” she said.

Follow all of our Ag in Motion coverage at the Western Producer.

“You get kind of used to your day-to-day routine, but you never know when disease can strike, and just some of our day-to-day actions can be improved to prevent that spread.”

When certain diseases spread, they can impact the state of Canada’s imports and exports, which means it is important to know what is going on when it comes to disease on an operation.

Thomas recommends having a biosecurity checklist. Many small things can be done, such as:

• Disinfect your boots and trailer.
• Keep animal movement and health records.
• Work with a vet.
• Have a herd health management program.
• Avoid bringing in dairy calves or calves from other farms.
• Isolate new animals.
• Isolate animals showing signs of illness.
• Avoid shared fence lines with other ranches (if possible).
• Have a disease response plan and a plan for disposing of dead livestock.
• Clean drinking facilities and feeders/bunks.
• Have a written biosecurity plan in place.

“There are a lot of small steps that we can take to make our farms just a little bit more biosecure,” Thomas said.

When disinfecting your boots and trailer, using household bleach is good enough, unless the disease is parasitic. She advised using a 1:32 ratio of water to bleach, but if you are concerned about disease, use a 1:10 ratio.

She also highlighted investigating deaths to figure out exactly what may be going on.

“Investigating deaths is something I know some people struggle with. I know there’s no way to save that animal, so sometimes it’s hard to put extra money out when they’re already dead, but it’s key to understand why that animal died, and it could save you a lot of money in the end,” Thomas said.

Though the checklist may seem like it consists of a lot of things, Thomas said the biggest thing with a biosecurity plan is that it doesn’t have to be complicated.

“You don’t have to go out of your way to make a really complicated thing. It’s easier to make something simple that you can follow and follow through with because small changes become habits. With big changes, sometimes it’s hard to follow through with things, so it’s always better to start small.”

The post Ag in Motion speaker highlights need for biosecurity on cattle operations appeared first on Country Guide.

“I’ve never been to an outdoor show like this before,” said Sara Wilshaw on Wednesday afternoon, after touring the show site and speaking to equipment manufacturers. “This is amazing. Incredible. And the live demonstrations are so important, I think.”

Follow all of our Ag in Motion coverage at the Western Producer.

In her role Wilshaw is responsible for helping Canadian businesses secure and explore international markets, find new customers and partners and grow Canadian exports.

Wilshaw told the Western Producer that buyers she met at the event welcomed the opportunity to escape the meeting room, observe equipment in the field and touch and test it.

“The feedback I’ve gotten has been so positive,” she said.

Wilshaw said the current volatile trade environment means it’s more important than ever to take a systematic approach to growing trade and exports.

“This is why we need partnerships, and why you’re hearing folks talking about our trading partners,” she said.

She noted Canada currently has 15 trade agreements, covering 51 different countries and spanning the globe. She also noted that CUSMA remains in effect in North America and trade continues to flow between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. even in the face of tariff threats.

“It is still working, there’s a lot going in CUSMA-compliant to the United States,” she said. “It is still, and always, going to be an extremely important trading partner for us.”

When asked about Canada’s canola trade to China, she noted she’s not directly involved in it, but that the entire Canadian government is aware of the issue and working on it.

“The government, and ministers, are acutely aware of it, up to the Prime Minister,” she said.

For more stories on international trade from Ag In Motion, see future issues of Glacier FarmMedia publications.

The post Outdoor farm show a trade supercharger says commissioner appeared first on Country Guide.

The company is building two new product distribution centres.

The warehouse in Brandon is scheduled to open Sept. 1, 2025, while the one in Grand Prairie, Alta., will begin operations on Jan. 1, 2026.

Follow all of our Ag in Motion coverage at the Western Producer.

Those are two big growth markets for FBN. The company had been working with third party warehouses but decided to take more control of product distribution.

“We think that we can grow the business on our own faster and better by doing it ourselves,” FBN general manager Breen Neeser said during an interview at Ag in Motion 2025.

FBN has a big warehouse in Saskatoon, another in Yorkton and one in Langley, B.C. that it is in the process of selling.

The two new distribution centres will stock all FBN’s agricultural product line.

Neeser said the expansion is not related to competitor AgraCity announcing that it was having cash flow problems, but it hasn’t hurt the project.

“We’ve been able to hire a couple of their former salespeople,” he said.

FBN is also in the process of expanding its crop input offerings beyond agricultural chemicals.

The company recently launched six bulk liquid fertilizer products.

FBN had already dipped its “toe in the water” with its Pro Ag fertilizer products, which were distributed through the Langley warehouse.

However, this is a new venture with a Saskatoon company that manufactures fertilizers for pre-seed and post-seed applications.

Neeser said it is way better to be working with a company in the heart of the Prairie region than attempting to do it from a distance.

“The fertilizer business is freight sensitive,” said Neeser.

“You can only go so far on a truck before you market yourself out on cost.”

The company is selling both nitrogen-based and phosphorous-based products.

“They’re all blended fertilizers,” he said.

Nigel Buffone, senior director of crop protection with FBN, said the company has not forgotten about its core business, launching 10 new crop protection products and co-packs for wheat in 2025.

FBN is attempting to provide farmers with the closest thing to pre-mix products by using its manufacturing facilities to package products together in case sizes such as 40, 160 and 320 acres.

Those co-packs are designed to make life easy for growers, eliminating the math.

Buffone said the company is identifying successful herbicides and bringing those products to its members.

“I think in the cereals market, we will have a solution for every acre next year,” he said.

Neeser said the next venture for the company will be livestock products.

“We’ll probably dip our toe in the water this fall and get into some of those,” he said.

The post Strong demand for generics prompts FBN expansion appeared first on Country Guide.

“That’s one of the biggest things we’re doing now,” Joel Merkosky, president of Johnston’s, said during an interview at Ag in Motion 2025.

“That’s a huge focus of what we’re going to be doing moving forward.”

The company made its name by selling off-patent crop protection products.

“We’re trying to find an offramp off of that, viewing those more as emergency use products and focusing (instead) on resilient soils,” said Merkosky.

Follow all of our Ag in Motion coverage at the Western Producer.

That doesn’t mean the company is done selling agricultural chemicals. Johnston’s is in the process of building a 10,000 sq. foot warehouse in Moosomin, Sask., and leasing space in Calgary to store its old and new product offerings.

However, it sees regenerative products as the future, which is why it recently established Johnston’s Regenerative, a new branch of the company.

Better ways of boosting soil health

Michael Launer, director of sales with Johnston’s Regenerative, says there are better ways to improve soil health than spreading more synthetic fertilizers on fields.

He claims that farmers who work with Johnston’s typically cut their fertilizer use by 25 to 35 percent and see a 15 to 20 percent increase in yields.

“That’s a pretty bold claim, but you know what, we’ve got the proof to back it,” he said.

Launer said the firm “takes a lens to the soil,” conducting a full-spectrum soil analysis in conjunction with Cropland Solutions, a lab based in Tofield, Alta., headed by Karthi Narayanan.

Narayanan holds a Ph.D. in applied microbiology from the University of Saskatchewan and is an advocate of regenerative agriculture.

Launer said Narayanan’s analysis provides insight into what is transpiring on the farm and how the fertility program can be improved.

“It’s amazing what can be achieved without driving the cost of their programs up,” he said.

Exploring more factors of soil health

Traditional lab tests analyze the amount of micro and macro nutrients in the soil.

Narayanan’s lab delves deeper, exploring factors such as water holding capacity, oxygen levels, microbial respiration rates, humic and folic acid levels, sodium saturation rates, calcium-to-magnesium ratios and ammonium levels.

Each soil test costs $100, and two to three are typically required per quarter section. The price includes a review of the lab results and recommendations.

The tests are made available to the company’s more than 4,000 farmer customers.

Growers are asked what crop they intend to plant, what is their usual fertility program and what is their targeted yield for that field.

The recommendations can sometimes be shocking. Last year, Johnston’s told a farmer to cut his fertilization program by 85 per cent on one field.

“His agronomist damn near fell out of his chair,” said Launer.

The farmer had been applying 250 pounds of fertilizer per acre despite having hardly any rainfall on that field. Much of the previously applied fertilizer was still sitting in the soil.

The recommendation was to also apply biologicals to help cycle the nutrients.

The grower agreed to use Johnston’s recommendations on one-third of his field.

“He outperformed the rest of his field by 23 per cent on that,” said Launer.

“So now this year we’re doing all of his field and his brother’s.”

Soil may be deficient in biology

Launer said 90 per cent of the fields they analyze are deficient in biology due to the over-use of synthetic fertilizers.

Johnston’s sells biological products such as worm castings and bio-stimulants through its partnership with Annelida Soil Solutions. However, the grower can purchase them from anywhere.

He said existing agronomy methodology is based on selling farmers more synthetic fertilizer every year.

Merkosky said Johnston’s also just became the western Canadian distributor of Weed-It, a precision spraying system.

The chlorophyl-detecting system is built into booms that are then installed on self-propelled sprayers.

The Weed-It system sends a red light to the soil during the pre-burn process and spot sprays exactly where it detects a weed.

Merkosky claims the system has a 98 per cent hit rate while using 10 to 15 per cent of normal pre-seed chemical levels. The weeds can also be hit using higher rates of chemical.

“You can do a far more potent mix because you’re not spraying your whole crop,” he said.

The company is selling 120-foot units for $300,000 and 132-foot units for $335,000.

The post Agriculture chemical company embraces regenerative farming appeared first on Country Guide.

The new FD2 Plus FlexDraper has two inches of extra flex at the cutterbar allowing it to follow the contour of the ground more efficiently to harvest more crop.

Follow all our Ag in Motion coverage at the Western Producer.

In 2020, MacDon released its FD2 FlexDraper design with increased capacity, deeper drapers and a new cutting system.

“Now we’re adding to that with the Plus where we’ve brought out a flexible cutter bar,” said Russ Henderson, product manager with MacDon.

“A lot of competitive flex drapers have a very large flex range,” added Henderson, “But that drops the cutter bar away from the reel, and if the reel and cutter bar aren’t working together, you can be leaving crop in the field.”

The new FD2 Plus FlexDraper comes in widths from 30 to 50 feet.

Watch for a video of MacDon’s new FD2 Plus FlexDraper coming soon to AgDealerTV.

The post MacDon shows new FD2 Plus FlexDraper at Ag in Motion appeared first on Country Guide.

Scientists from the University of Saskatchewan and the National Research Council are studying alfalfa with yellow flowers to see if it can provide drought tolerance in future varieties for Western Canada.

Follow all of our Ag in Motion coverage at the Western Producer.

“(The) yellow flowering alfalfa is probably coming from northern Mongolia and some parts of Russia. It’s a very dry area,” said Bill Biligetu, a plant science professor at the University of Saskatchewan.

The forage crop breeder was at Ag In Motion 2025 July 15, one of thousands who attended the farm show northwest of Saskatoon.

Drought tolerant, high-performance alfalfa

Biligetu came to Ag In Motion to talk about his research on forages, including a project on drought tolerant alfalfa.

He’s part of a team of scientists who are evaluating a diverse germplasm of alfalfa with the broader goal of designing a new variety that can deal with drought and still produce a sufficient volume of forage. The other project leaders are Allan Feurtado of the NRC and Maryse Bourgault from the U of S’s plant sciences department.

The Beef Cattle Research Council and Results Driven Agricultural Research in Alberta are funding the project, which started last fall and continues until 2028.

“Superior alfalfa genotypes with high performance under drought will be selected for new population development,” says the project description.

“At least three new populations will be developed based on flower color, root traits and agronomic (yield).”

An alfalfa that performs during periods with low moisture is needed in parts of the Prairies. Southwestern Saskatchewan, for instance, has suffered through dry growing seasons since about 2018.

Focusing on the roots

The scientists have set up experiments in the lab and at the Livestock Forage Centre of Excellence southeast of Saskatoon to study how the roots of different types of alfalfa grow into the soil when they lack moisture.

Focusing on the roots should give them clues on how alfalfa plants respond to drought and scavenge for moisture.

It’s possible that yellow-flowering alfalfa is better equipped to find water in the soil.

“Typical Canadian varieties … have a big tap root. There is other purple flowering alfalfa that have (a combination) of branch and tap roots,” Biligetu said.

“If you look at yellow-flowering alfalfa, they have branched roots. The branches are bigger than the purple flowering alfalfa.”

This may help plants collect water from a wider zone, he added.

Improving yellow-flowering alfalfa yield

There is a yellow flowering alfalfa on the market in Western Canada called AC Yellowhead. It’s extremely winter hardy and persistent, but yield is smaller than other alfalfa varieties.

“(It’s) suited for pastures in both northern and southern areas and for hay where one harvest per year is intended,” says the Secan technical description of the variety.

Biligetu is hoping to blend the drought tolerant traits from a yellow-flowering variety with the high yield from a purple alfalfa and then create a new variety that can handle drought and produce a substantial amount of forage.

Getting to that point will take some time, partly because the scientists need to identify the genes that help alfalfa cope with drought.

“(We are) extracting DNA from all these alfalfa (types) and then we are sequencing them, so we have the genomic information,” he said, adding that drought tolerance is a complex trait.

“I don’t think we can find one or two genes. It’s more likely many genes.”

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