Reading Time: 3 minutes Competitive broadleaf weeds, specifically lamb’s quarters and velvetleaf, are easier to kill when herbicides are applied during the day, generally between the hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Most will joke that this is simply because civil servants like me do not want to work before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m. Touché. However, […] Read more
Pest Patrol: Improving spray coverage and reducing drift
Working 9 to 5: What a way to kill those weeds!
The road ahead for soybean growers
Soybean Guide: What makes you so sure that you can plant more soybeans and still pull off good yields?
Reading Time: 8 minutes Soybeans, soybeans — and more soybeans. That’s the forecast from most corners of the agri-food industry, whether it’s based in Western Canada or in the East. Soybean production in Canada was big in 2014 and it’s on a path to grow even bigger in 2015. At the same time, that growth will come at a […] Read more
A cover crop that buzzes
Phacelia can fit a variety of cropping systems, and it’s popular with bees
Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s a new arrival in cover crops called phacelia that has the compelling advantage of being neither a cereal nor an oilseed. In fact, phacelia is a completely new species in Canada’s agriculture, which may prove to be a very good thing indeed. Phacelia is a member of the waterleaf (Hydrophyllaceae) family. Unlike oilseed radish, […] Read more
Stacked tolerance traits taking on herbicide-resistant weeds
Next-generation herbicide stacks are on their way to help fight not only weed resistance, but more weed species too
Reading Time: 8 minutes A number of next-generation herbicide-tolerant crops are in the pipeline for soybean and canola growers, but the offerings won’t include any magic bullets. Instead, what we’re likely to see first are more stacked tolerance traits. It’s because life science companies have their own kind of stacking to deal with. Their new traits are lined up, […] Read more
Advanced corn crop management
Corn Guide: Nutrient uptake during grain fill is the new pathway to even higher yields
Reading Time: 8 minutes It’s a fair comment these days that corn production has reached a new level of complexity. Corn is anything but a simple, straightforward crop, even without taking into account the changing economics forced on producers by falling prices, and the constantly shifting mix of imports, exports and trait acceptability, Now comes research into a specific […] Read more
Herbicide-resistant weeds are our biggest threat
There’s no reason why the West must become an Arkansas-style nightmare because of weed resistance, but we may be heading there anyway
Reading Time: 7 minutes Neil Harker calls herbicide-resistant weeds the biggest threat to sustainable crop production in Western Canada. “We’ve been the grim reaper talking about this for ages, but this is a watershed moment,” says the research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lacombe, Alta. “There are places in North America going back to the plow and […] Read more
Pest Patrol: Weed control update on vetch
Can I do anything to get rid of vetch before seeding soybeans?
Reading Time: < 1 minute In my last column, I discussed my optimism for vetch control in soybeans using a few different pre-plant burn-down herbicides. Specifically, I had been impressed by some preliminary results when either flumioxazin (found in Valtera, Step-Up, Fierce and Guardian Plus) or saflufenacil (found in Eragon, Integrity and Optill) was mixed with glyphosate and the adjuvant Merge. […] Read more
Pest Patrol: options for tufted vetch
Can I do anything to get rid of vetch before seeding soybeans?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Tufted vetch (Viccia cracca) is a weedy perennial legume that is difficult to manage in cropping systems that use reduced tillage and particularly when annual legume crops like soybeans are grown. Tufted vetch also exhibits high tolerance to many herbicides, most notably glyphosate. A rate response study was conducted by the University of Guelph over […] Read more
Another story on Canada fleabane?
Yes, because the message isn’t getting through, and the situation is getting serious
Reading Time: 4 minutes It may seem repetitive, but that’s because the message isn’t changing. Canada fleabane keeps becoming a bigger problem with each passing year. The weed has been the topic of presentations at the Southwest Agricultural Conference dating back to 2012, as well as at FarmSmart Conferences and in a steady stream of weed and herbicide bulletins. […] Read more
Fine tuning for weeds
With more resistance, it’s time to be sure we’re using the right words the right way
Reading Time: 4 minutes In Ontario alone, farmers are now facing three different weeds with resistance to glyphosate, and a considerably longer list of those that are resistant to Group 2 chemistries. No one is blaming farmers, or saying today’s farmers aren’t as sharp as their parents. After all, today’s farmers have had to learn about new pests, new […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
