Reading Time: 4 minutes Linda Hall has a soft spot for the humble oat, mainly because she doesn’t think it’s really all that humble. “Milling oats are a high-value crop,” Hall says. “We’re seeing companies like Richardson buying up oat milling capacity, so the markets are there if we can grow the right kind of oat.” It all depends […] Read more
The Catch-22 of oat production
Tests in central Alberta yield some useful information on N rates and the effectiveness of plant growth regulators
Some old ways aren’t better, but…
Long-term rotation study underlines that summerfallow harms soil health, but the old mixed farming model looks pretty good
Reading Time: 4 minutes You might think that a long-term crop test might mean five years. A decade would be remarkable. But what could plots tell you about soil health if they’ve been going on for 87 years? They would tell you that Prairie farmers were right to stop keeping fields in fallow as part of a rotation and […] Read more
Can you count on AgriStability?
A lot depends on the kind of operation you’re running, and whether you use family labour
Reading Time: 5 minutes Sue and Jim started farming by buying 300 acres, with buildings. By renting additional land, they quickly expanded to 2,500 acres. They supported this expansion with machinery that was mainly leased, and hired custom harvesting. They relied on a bank line of credit for much of their operating money. The last five years were good, […] Read more
Could camelina be ‘the next canola?’
You’ve heard the pitch on this oilseed before, but this time it could actually be true
Reading Time: 4 minutes [Updated Dec. 12, 2016; at bottom] – Jack Grushcow says the sky’s the limit for camelina, and he isn’t referring to the brief but well-publicized test when it was used for jet fuel a couple of years ago. Grushcow is CEO of Linnaeus Plant Sciences, which owns Smart Earth Seeds, a company developing new camelina […] Read more
Stocking rates key to climate change adjustment
Low defoliation rates and leaving lots of litter are best for coping with weather variations from year to year
Reading Time: 4 minutes Fast and hard? Slow and easy? And how many animals per acre? Stocking and defoliation rates are a complex and even controversial issue, and depend a lot on the weather. Climate change could make them even more complex. To get a better idea on how producers should respond, Edward Bork and a team from the […] Read more
Clubroot continues its march across prairie canola fields
So far nothing appears to have slowed the spread of clubroot, so some are suggesting it might be time to rethink our approach
Reading Time: 9 minutes Over the past dozen years the canola industry has poured an ocean of effort into halting the spread of clubroot around the Edmonton area. And while there have been advances such as new resistant varieties, one uncomfortable truth remains — the disease continues to spread. Dan Orchard, a Canola Council of Canada agronomist who discovered […] Read more
A costly approach to dealing with crop insects and weeds
A head-in-the-sand approach to unfamiliar insects, diseases and weeds simply won't do. Be observant. Early identification and fast action — when required — are best
Reading Time: 5 minutes If Dan Orchard had not discovered clubroot in an Alberta canola field in 2003, we’d all be in ignorant bliss right now. Orchard really should have recognized the scientific principle that if something isn’t “discovered,” then it doesn’t exist and we don’t have to worry about it. He should have left well enough alone, as […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
