Bill Strautman

As the temperature climbs and crops start to emerge, various insects are chewing fields in parts of northern Alberta. Jennifer Otani, an Agriculture Canada pest management biologist, said she has seen flea beetles in her research field plots and farmer’s fields near Beaverlodge, Alta. Numbers range from zero to 25 flea beetles per card within […] Read more

BIGGAR, Sask. – Since Richard Elenko mounted a hose boom on his water trailer, filling his sprayer has become a simple and efficient job. “Everybody has a water tender. Some guys use a truck, some guys use a trailer. And most guys mix their chemical through a handler,” said Elenko, who farms north of Biggar. […] Read more

REGINA – When today’s high-speed, high-pressure sprayers reach the headlands and the operator shuts off the nozzles to turn, there’s often a bit of spray run-on until the pressure winds down inside the boom and the diaphragms in the nozzles close them off. Arnie Josephson, sales and marketing manager with Brandt Agricultural Products in Regina, […] Read more

A new insect pest is feeding on young pea and alfalfa seedlings in southern Alberta. Robert Phillips, owner of Phillips Fertilizer in Lomond, Alta., said farmers and agronomists first noticed damage from pea leaf weevils in fields near Lomond around mid-May. “Most of our peas are in the two to three node stage. The weevils […] Read more

EDMONTON – Fusarium headblight sparked an interest in double nozzles, leaving farmers with key questions about sprayer technology. At the FarmTech conference this winter, Tom Wolf, a research scientist with Agriculture Canada in Saskatoon, talked about sprayer issues including single and double nozzles, the direction nozzles face, droplet size and how water volume affects spray […] Read more

RED DEER – With hybrid canola seed costing as much as $5 a pound or more, some growers may be considering bin-run seed this spring to keep their input costs down. “Certainly the most controversial topic I’ve dealt with this winter has been farm-saved hybrid canola seed, or bin vigour. The interest in bin-run seed […] Read more

Farmers normally have a 24 to 48 hour window to get their pulse seed into the ground after inoculating it with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Wait too long and the bacteria start to die off. But coating the inoculated seed with a polymer can extend the life of those bacteria up to 30 days, allowing growers to […] Read more

Pat Michetti and Ken Getty have 10 dealers coating pulse seed for western Canadian farmers. Five of their machines are mobile, which Michetti said they build for dealers at cost. Farmers prefer the mobile machines, she added. “The mobiles are set up to accommodate if he’s coming out of a bin, a semi or a […] Read more

CHURCHBRIDGE, Sask. – In 2002, Warren Kaeding was looking for a better seed treater. Around that time, a seed company from Delisle, Sask., had secured the rights to a polymer coating called Protec. The company had designed a treater for the coating and was looking for interested dealers. “They called us, we looked at it, […] Read more

BIGGAR, Sask. – Anyone who has hauled canola seed or granular inoculant bags up an air cart ladder understands the desire to find a better way. Some air seeder manufacturers have devised lifts and other systems, but Richard Elenko came up with his own solutions. “Most of these air seeder carts have either an eight-inch […] Read more