Reading Time: 2 minutes Sequencing the infamously complex genome for bread wheat — a game-changing task for wheat breeding that’s been estimated to take four or five more years — may now just take another couple of years, following a milestone announced Wednesday. The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC), a team co-led by Canadian researchers, announced Wednesday it […] Read more
Genetic codebreaking on wheat years ahead of schedule
Agriculture classes on university campuses continue to grow
It isn’t only a robust farm economy that’s driving post-secondary ag education, but job opportunities and heavy recruitment too
Reading Time: 5 minutes The story is the same across the country. “Our application numbers in all of our programs are up,” says Joe Varamo, manager of academic programs for Ontario Agricultural College, Canada’s largest ag university, where total ag enrolment has climbed to 2,600, up from 2,000 just four years ago. “We’ve gone from accepting approximately 450 students […] Read more
Going underground for soil ecology
Soil is far more than just dirt. Are you nurturing the organisms that help it grow great crops?
Reading Time: 5 minutes A warm, early-July breeze blew through a wheat field in northeastern Saskatchewan, not far from Nipawin. The heads had just emerged and were still green, but the field was taking on that fuzzy look that you typically get with a fresh, bearded cereal. This field was unusual, however, because even though you couldn’t see it, […] Read more
The ‘ghostly nature’ of phantom nutrients
Micronutrients are the acid test of crop fertility. Some believe in them. Others just don’t
Reading Time: 5 minutes For the most part, our Prairie soils aren’t short of micronutrients. Deficiencies are rare, and they are also difficult to pin down, in part because such shortages are usually associated with highly localized soil conditions and because some of these conditions change with varying moisture or pH levels. As well, since these micronutrients are only […] Read more
To sample, or not to sample (soil). Who’s right?
Some of your neighbours have stopped soil sampling. Others are sampling more than ever.
Reading Time: 5 minutes In any year, at most 10 per cent of the fields are soil sampled,” says Tom Jensen, a director in the North American program of the International Plant Nutrition Institute. “Some people say 20 per cent of farmers do some soil testing, but they may only do it every couple to three years.” Farm consolidation […] Read more
Exploring the soybean nutrient cycle
New research aims to end the guessing on fertilizing soybean rotations
Reading Time: 4 minutes If you had asked Saskatchewan farmers 25 years ago if they thought they could grow soybean, they would likely have laughed out loud at the very idea. Fast-forward to today, however, and StatsCan says 300,000 acres of soybeans were planted in Saskatchewan last year, up from 170,000 acres in 2013, and the province’s soy acreage […] Read more
Could containers be the answer to the West’s grain shipping woes?
A containerized grain supply chain would enhance competition, says University of Manitoba economist
Reading Time: 5 minutes Ottawa has long been in the business of trying to fix the problem of transporting Prairie grain to the west coast by rail. Yet the issues don’t get solved. “None of the policies introduced by Raitt or Ritz did anything to deal with the surge,” University of Manitoba’s Barry Prentice says. “Worse, they have done […] Read more
Is your soil lacking phosphorous? How to diagnose nutrient deficiency
Phosphorus deficiency is hard to identify and often goes unnoticed — even when significant yield loss can be occurring. Will an extra 20 lbs./ac. of phosphate pay off?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Soil phosphorus levels are critically low in more and more fields. These fields may no longer provide enough phosphorus for crops to reach their yield potential, which means the solution to yield stagnation — on some fields, at least — could be plain old boring phosphate. Canola takes up around 1.5 pounds of phosphate per […] Read more
Keeping up with the high cost of farm living
When farmers have more, they spend more. The question is, can farm families stop spending if they have less?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Maybe the biggest surprise is that the numbers aren’t all that surprising. Researchers at the University of Illinois have found the average amount of family living expendables skyrocketed from about $53,000 per farm in 2004 to $81,000 in 2013. After starting at $84 per acre, living costs jumped in that one decade to $121 per […] Read more
The new cattle ranch
How different are today’s startup cattle operations?
Reading Time: 7 minutes UPDATE, Feb. 13, 2016: Iain Stables is to appear in Provincial Court in Saskatoon on April 14, 2016, facing 29 criminal charges relating to missing farm equipment and machinery RCMP reported found on a rural property south of Delisle, Sask. Click here for more details on the charges. The allegations have yet to be proven in court and […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
