Reading Time: 2 minutes A biological sample that a Chinese researcher was accused of smuggling into the United States and that prosecutors cast as a “dangerous biological pathogen” is a common type of fungus already widespread in U.S. crop fields that likely poses little risk to food safety, experts said.
Experts doubt FBI’s claim that crop fungus smuggled by Chinese students is a threat
Two Chinese researchers accused of smuggling ‘potential agroterrorism weapon’ into U.S.
Fusarium poses threat
Reading Time: < 1 minute U.S. federal prosecutors have accused two Chinese nationals of smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen that had the potential to be used as an agricultural terrorism weapon into the United States for research.
Back to normal for cereal leaf disease in Saskatchewan
Reading Time: 2 minutes Precipitation has more or less returned to normal in Saskatchewan, but that also means cereal growers need to be more aware of leaf and other diseases, says a plant pathologist.
CMBTC study finds new malting barley lines a fit for Manitoba
Agronomic traits in new varieties overcome disease issues that held crop back
Reading Time: 2 minutes Manitoba farmers have improved prospects to access the more-lucrative malting barley market, according to a recent study. The report by the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC), in collaboration with the Manitoba Crop Alliance, says new Canadian malting barley varieties can be grown successfully in Manitoba. With yields and quality comparable to the check variety […] Read more
Alberta deregulates fusarium
Crop disease comes off province's 'zero tolerance' list
Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta is moving to keep fusarium in check by means other than the “zero tolerance” policy it has in effect on agricultural pests such as rats, rabies and clubroot. Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen announced a ministerial order Wednesday to remove Fusarium graminearum from the list of pests covered by the Pest and Nuisance Control Regulation, […] Read more
Getting positive results from fungicide
Combining new technology with good agronomics helps result in a positive return from a fungicide application
Reading Time: 5 minutes The decision to apply a fungicide in any given year weighs the risk of damage from the disease against the cost of a fungicide application. As the risk for disease has spread across regions and crops, discussions on the economics of disease management can be heard on farms across Canada. But despite a rainy spring […] Read more
New cereal fungicide seeks to carve out its own niche
Cerefit's dual mode of action acts as a preventive and curative
Reading Time: 4 minutes In the fight against diseases in winter wheat in Eastern Canada, the agri-food industry has done a remarkable job in effectively managing fusarium head blight — for decades considered the crop’s greatest disease threat. Seed companies have screened and eliminated susceptible varieties while timing of fungicide applications has advanced to the extent that fusarium is […] Read more
Disease outlook for the 2020 crop season
We can’t be sure which diseases will attack this year, but indications are that once they arrive, they’ll be here to stay
Reading Time: 7 minutes What will be the big disease concern this year? Will it be tar spot in corn, or frog-eye leaf spot in soybeans? Or will growers be facing more of the same, with soybean cyst nematode and northern corn leaf blight? Forecasting diseases is iffy at best. The truth is that most disease pathogens, once they […] Read more
A decade of midge-tolerant wheat
New varieties are in the pipeline for CWRS and SWS classes
Reading Time: 4 minutes Over the past 10 years, western Canadian farmers have deliberately seeded 27 million acres of wheat susceptible to orange blossom wheat midge — and saved themselves an estimated $1 billion in lost yield and quality. To be clear, only 10 per cent of the seed on those acres was susceptible to midge, and that’s been […] Read more
Careful grain sampling key when looking for mycotoxins
Ontario’s worst-ever year for DON infection in corn may provide some guidance for managing the problem in Western Canada
Reading Time: 5 minutes For Ontario corn growers dealing with an outbreak of deoxynivalenol (DON), 2018 was a year to forget. “It was a really major, widespread issue,” says Art Schaafsma, a professor in field crop pest management for the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus. He says the last time the industry saw widespread issues with DON was in […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
