Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canopy Growth Corp. said Thursday it will buy rival Supreme Cannabis for $323.3 million, as the world’s biggest cannabis producer bolsters its portfolio to tap surging demand. Shares of Canopy, up 15 per cent this year, fell around 4.6 per cent to $36 after it announced the cash-and-stock deal for Supreme, which owns […] Read more
Canopy Growth to buy rival Supreme Cannabis
Deal comes as pot demand lights up
Pest Patrol: Weed Zapper offers an alternative solution for killing weeds
#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA
Reading Time: 2 minutes One day during the summer of 2019, our future daughter-in-law came home one day pretty pumped about a new piece of farm equipment she had heard about. Shelby’s father’s farm has been in organic crop production for about 20 years now, and “some guy” was coming to try to zap the weeds in the soybeans. […] Read more
Can less be more when tackling herbicide resistance?
A coming formulation of glufosinate seeks to cut rates yet maintain efficacy
Reading Time: 4 minutes In the past five years, growers across Canada have been hearing more and more about a new weed control mantra. It’s called “doing only what’s necessary.” Weeds continue to challenge and frustrate in the field, of course, and there are always new issues like resistance in species such as Canada fleabane in the East or […] Read more
New threat to weed management
Metabolic-based resistance is setting off alarms south of the border. There won’t be any easy answers
Reading Time: 6 minutes Here in the 2020s, herbicide resistance seems just part of the reality of managing weeds. It’s certainly not a new topic. We faced resistance to atrazine in the 1970s, then Group 2 ALS inhibitors in the 1990s and a more recent, widespread resistance to glyphosate. But of course the resistance threat keeps getting more complicated: […] Read more
Pest Patrol: Controlling weeds in non-GMO soybeans
#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA
Reading Time: 3 minutes Weed control has always been a concern in non-GMO soybeans. Control of broadleaf weeds like lamb’s quarters and common ragweed has been inconsistent, and growers are always looking for ways to improve their results. General principles for weed control in non-GMO soybeans 1. Budget $80 to $85 per acre for weed control and plan for […] Read more
Using a multi-prong strategy against herbicide resistant weeds
There are more pre-seed control options available to suppress herbicide-resistance, but use cultural management as well
Reading Time: 4 minutes More than half of western Canadian fields under annual crop production contain at least one herbicide-resistant biotype, according to surveys from 2014 to 2017. In Alberta, roughly 60 per cent of fields surveyed have resistant weeds; in Saskatchewan that figure is 57 per cent and in Manitoba it’s 68 per cent. “The surveys have been […] Read more
Pest Patrol: Management practices that controlled glyphosate-resistant weeds in 2020
#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA
Reading Time: 3 minutes Several Ontario agronomists recently shared their most successful strategies for managing glyphosate-resistant weeds. Four general strategies were identified: 1. Inclusion of winter wheat in the crop rotation By early spring, winter wheat’s dense ground cover does not provide a good environment for annual weeds, like waterhemp, to germinate. There are also many herbicides that are […] Read more
Pest Patrol: Bluegrass becomes an emerging problem in field crops
#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA
Reading Time: 4 minutes In Ontario, turf-like grassy weeds are being found in more cultivated fields. In herbicide-tolerant corn and soybean, control with glyphosate has been inconsistent. In cereal and forage crops, fast growth of these grasses in the spring makes them too big to be controlled with herbicides. Let’s review what is being found in fields and how […] Read more
Pest Patrol: Crop injury from herbicide residues more common in 2020
#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA
Reading Time: 4 minutes In 2020, a few farmers observed leaf injury in their soybean crops. The injury caused parts of the leaf to turn white, then yellow (see photo at top). This injury is typically caused by “bleaching” herbicides. It was odd, though, because the bleaching herbicide had been applied to the previous year’s corn crop, and it […] Read more
A new plan of attack for resistant wild oats
With more wild oats showing resistance to Group 8 herbicides, this action committee is going on the offence
Reading Time: 5 minutes In the 1970s, the Wild Oat Action Committee was formed to encourage farmers to control the pesky weed, especially with herbicides. Now a new version is back, but with an ironic twist — the herbicides aren’t working. A recent Prairie-wide study reveals 69 per cent of tested wild oats proved resistant to some modes of […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
