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Rodent poisons allowed on B.C. farms during temporary ban

Reading Time: 2 minutes British Columbia has temporarily banned a stronger class of rodent poisons pending a review of their effects on non-target wildlife, but farm uses will be exempt. The province on July 21 announced an 18-month prohibition on sales and use of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs). The second-generation products are “more powerful” than the previous generation and […] Read more

Bean leaf beetle is another pest increasing in numbers in soybean and edible bean fields.

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


Tractor spraying soybean field at spring

Troubling gaps within PMRA

An interview with crop protection expert Craig Hunter on the avalanche of change that may be heading toward Canadian farmers

Reading Time: 5 minutes Last year, calls rang out for growers and their organizations to voice their concerns about an ongoing review of hundreds of crop protection formulations. The lobbying effort carried added urgency over and above similar efforts from the previous two years. The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) began conducting these reviews similar to those required in […] Read more

Garlic growers look to develop certified seed

Garlic growers look to develop certified seed

A certified program would help build a knowledge base for pest control measures

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Ontario garlic industry is gradually working to create a cleaner seed supply, which should help reduce disease transmission on cloves. “There is no certified seed in Canada at this time,” says Joann Chechalk president of the Garlic Growers Association of Ontario, and a Smithville, Ont. garlic grower. “Other countries are developing it. Spain and […] Read more


Figure 1: Lamb’s quarters control at 10 days after application of glyphosate (centre) compared to the tank mix of glyphosate + the “crop enhancer” (right) and the unsprayed control (left).

Pest Patrol: Mixing ‘crop enhancer’ with glyphosate for weed control

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

Reading Time: 2 minutes [Question:] I recently received this query. “I have a client who wants to mix a ‘crop enhancer’ with glyphosate to control weeds in glyphosate-tolerant soybeans. According to the manufacturer’s website, this product ‘can be combined with other applications (e.g. fertilizer, herbicides, insecticide, etc.).’ However, when I read the composition of the product, it appears to […] Read more

Lakeside Grain and Feed held an InterLock field demonstration in 2008 and today have roughly a dozen farmers who are using the system.

Tighter spray control in the field

Should you be looking at the InterLock system to reduce off-target risk?

Reading Time: 6 minutes What’s in a name? Plenty — especially when it comes to reducing off-target movement of spray applications. The buzz around the launch of Xtend soybeans in 2017 is creating a new level of scrutiny on spray applications. Like it or not, consumers and governments are watching, and increased diligence is warranted. Re-enter the InterLock system. […] Read more


crop spraying potatoes

Pesticide review a huge issue for horticulture sector

Time of worker re-entry after application and use of protective equipment are stumbling blocks

Reading Time: 5 minutes Canada’s horticultural growers say they’re concerned about a review of many of the broad-spectrum crop protection chemistries they’ve relied on for years. The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is conducting the review, with a final outcome due in 2018. That gives growers and other industry stakeholders the rest of 2017 to strengthen their arguments and […] Read more

Shawn Brenn of Brenn B Farms.

The challenge of optimism

A look inside a modern Ontario hort operation finds a farm family wrestling with issues that may soon dominate the farm agenda coast to coast

Reading Time: 8 minutes Some days, farming is more fun than others. Although he’s driven by a belief in agriculture, and although he’s working hard to keep building their farm enterprise, Shawn Brenn, president of Brenn B Farms Ltd. at Waterdown, Ont., admits there are also days when the frustrations can make him wonder. Every farmer knows the feeling. […] Read more


Chlorantraniliprole (Rynaxypyr) offers protection from wireworms (above) and suppression of seed corn maggot, plus control of black cutworms and armyworms.

New seed treatment in a different class

A new mode of action could help confound several pests in eastern Canadian corn

Reading Time: 3 minutes Corn growers across Eastern Canada looking for help against early-season insect pests such as wireworms, black cutworms and armyworms will likely have a new option for the 2017 growing season. The timing may be ideal, considering the frustration over new regulations governing the use of neonicotinoid-based seed treatments, which will further tighten for the coming […] Read more

Part of the challenge in dealing with this issue is the perception that it relates to food safety, which is incorrect.

Another big hurdle for Canadian producers

With MRLs, the problems begin when a test used for regulating trade gets treated as a verdict on food safety

Reading Time: 6 minutes In the past 25 years, agriculture has seen a full gamut of new programs from environmental farm plans to neonicotinoid-use restrictions in Ontario. Some are relatively farm friendly, some less so. Like them or hate them, they’re all meant to be in the name of sustainability, traceability and food safety and security, which are under […] Read more