Reading Time: < 1 minute If you’re planning to straight cut canola this year, you should first have a look at the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute’s report on considerations for the practice. These are quick tips from the report, which is available in full at pami.ca. Quick tips Seed early, to allow time for natural drying. Shatter-resistant varieties pose a […] Read more
Planning to straight cut canola?
PAMI has a few quick tips to help ensure your harvest hits the bin
PAMI to close Portage la Prairie location
Revenue challenges in recent years blamed for Manitoba site's closure
Reading Time: < 1 minute The product development, testing and design firm Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI), will be closing its Portage la Prairie, Man. location at the end of July. Citing revenue challenges in recent years as the reason for downsizing, the institute informed staff and clients of the closure of its River Road facility in Portage, prior to […] Read more
Old combines hold their own at harvest
A PAMI survey finds canola losses can be minimized by operators who understand their machines and how to set them
Reading Time: 6 minutes When the Dowling farm at MacDowall, Sask., runs any of its three New Holland combines of various vintages, canola losses out the back are basically the same. The three models are a TR96 from 1991, a TR99 from 2000 and a CR970 from 2004. “I was impressed with how consistent they were,” says Sheldon Dowling. […] Read more
Keeping your stored grain cool and dry
With increased storage depth comes increased risk. Are we moving enough air through today’s larger grain bins?
Reading Time: 5 minutes For anyone visiting the rural Prairies for the first time in a few years, one of the first things they might notice is that those are not their dad’s grain bins — 20,000- to 50,000-bushel bins are now a common sight. But bigger bins mean bigger challenges in managing moisture, and bigger losses if things […] Read more
Comfort builds for straight combining canola
New research and grower experiences are answering important questions about straight combining canola in Western Canada. Comfort with the practice rises as more growers explore where and when it might work and how to improve results
Reading Time: 6 minutes Dale Beutler of Whitewood, Sask. did not have a good first experience straight combining canola. It was 2015. Like many canola fields in the area that year, the one he left standing for straight combining had been reseeded and was late. By the first week of October, stems were still green —even though seeds were […] Read more
Is stored canola at bigger risk than ever?
Huge bins, straight combining and delivery contracts for June and July have all potentially increased the storage risk for canola. But the basics for safe storage — eight per cent moisture, 15 C or less and regular monitoring — still apply
Reading Time: 4 minutes We don’t really know whether canola in a 25,000-bushel bin stores differently from canola in a 2,000-bushel bin. We don’t know if straight combining reduces or increases canola storage risk. And we don’t know the best way to store canola for 11 months through fall, winter, spring and summer weather changes. Given that many canola […] Read more
Moisture in or moisture out?
Are you really drying that grain when you turn on the fans?
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s the disaster no one wants to admit — a bin of spoiled grain can represent the loss of a producer’s entire year of profits. When grain spoils due to problems with storage, “farmers usually sell it, burn it or hush it up,” says Joy Agnew, project manager for Agricultural Research Services at the Prairie […] Read more
Shatter losses in straight-cut canola
PAMI research funded by WGRF shows that the type of header makes a difference
Reading Time: 5 minutes Halfway through a study examining the role that harvest equipment plays in shatter losses when straight-cutting canola, Nathan Gregg is noticing some trends. “We saw higher losses out at the edges of headers,” says Gregg, a project manager with the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) in Humboldt, Sask. “And losses dropped off as you moved […] Read more
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