wheat and barley

Making change for cereal crop development

In the wake of deregulation, the cereals sector has needed to reorganize itself, and so far it seems like the major pieces have been picked up

Reading Time: 7 minutes When the Canadian Wheat Board was losing the single desk, there was no shortage of dire predictions about what the fallout might be. Even many of those in favour of an open market conceded that there were a lot of moving parts, and it was going to be necessary to proceed with caution lest very […] Read more

Preliminary research suggests strip tillage is an option for exposing enough soil to get it warm enough to plant corn in Western Canada.

Corn isn’t just about crop heat units

New shorter-season hybrids are just part of the Prairie corn picture. Just as important will be the local research to fine-tune how they’ll fit into the production system

Reading Time: 5 minutes As the life-science companies begin to deliver on their promise of shorter-season corn for the Prairies, another challenge arises. Typically corn is grown in rotation with soybeans in a far wetter climate in a corn-soybean rotation. How will it fit in a drier landscape, and in rotation with wheat, pulses and canola? There aren’t many […] Read more


(Jack Dykinga photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Minogue: Wanna start a cereal seed company?

Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s clear from where the Prairies’ cereal growers’ groups sit that it’s time for farmers to get more involved in wheat and barley breeding — and they have a new report in hand suggesting ways to do so. Options in the report, from the newly-formed Wheat and Barley Variety Working Group, range from improving the […] Read more

Maria DeRosa has developed a DON test using aptamers, which are synthetic pieces of DNA.

Mycotoxin detection may get even simpler, cheaper

WGRF-funded research produces test that can detect fusarium toxins at the elevator

Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s a typical kind of research story,” says Maria DeRosa with a knowing laugh. “Something doesn’t quite work and you think, oh no! This isn’t what I anticipated. But then it turns into an opportunity you hadn’t thought of before.” She’s right, of course. Science is littered with stories of successful accidents, and for DeRosa, […] Read more


wheat in hand

The future of agronomic research

A new WGRF report sees urgent threats to the West’s research system

Reading Time: 5 minutes About five years ago, before she joined the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF), Pat Flaten was thinking about the state of agronomic research in Western Canada. At the time, she and her colleagues were thinking about bug researchers in Saskatoon. “We knew we had this great group of highly productive and experienced entomologists who were […] Read more

swathing canola

The mechanics of straight cutting canola

It’s a question more canola growers ask with every harvest. 
Do I go straight cut or swath?

Reading Time: 5 minutes Frankly, it’s not always easy to make harvest decisions because a lot can depend on variables beyond a grower’s control. But of the factors that a grower can control, the research until now has been weighted fairly heavily toward the crop itself — varietal suitability, optimal harvest timing and so on. What about harvest equipment? […] Read more


durum wheat kernels

Developing new seed varieties for better crops

Reducing risk for the entire grain industry is key to variety development

Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s not easy growing grain for a living. Between bad weather, plant disease, insects, rising input costs and fluctuating markets, it can be tough to make a buck. That’s why new seed varieties are so important to Canadian wheat growers, says Ron DePauw, a senior wheat breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s, Semi-Arid Prairie Agricultural […] Read more

Agronomy project aims to raise yields 25 per cent

Agronomy project aims to raise yields 25 per cent

Complex project will study intensive systems approach to crop management

Reading Time: 5 minutes Sheri Strydhorst isn’t doing a lot of fishing this summer. And if her research bears out, you just might be willing to give it up, too. An agronomy research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development in Barrhead, Strydhorst is leading an incredibly complex, multi-layered, multi-site, multi-crop research project designed to find out the extent […] Read more


The wild side of chickpeas

The wild side of chickpeas

New genes from wild relatives will make chickpeas a better option for more farmers

Reading Time: 4 minutes It wasn’t all that long ago in Canada that it was hard to find hummus in a grocery store — unless you went to a specialty shop. “Now hummus is everywhere!” says Bunyamin Tar’an, associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan. “Any food store you go to has it, so it’s a growing market, and […] Read more

canary seed

Not just for the birds

Promising new research is exploring a whole new human food market for canary seed, a minor crop that Canada’s farmers play a major role in

Reading Time: 4 minutes Did you know that Canada is the world’s largest supplier of canary seed? “Canada accounts for 75 per cent of the world trade in canary seed, with exports worth $50 to $90 million annually,” says Pierre Hucl, a professor in the department of plant sciences and crop development centre at at the University of Saskatchewan. […] Read more