Bill Strautman

It’s relatively easy to check for disease and insect damage and inadequate soil moisture but nutrient deficiencies can be more difficult to diagnose. Robert L. Mikkelsen, western director of the International Plant Nutrition Institute, says a quick review of terminology will help farmers know what to look for and how to describe what they find […] Read more

MAPLE CREEK, Sask. – A homemade 100 ton brake is an integral part of Skyline Farms. The father and son team of Ken and Jason Sawby farm together in southwestern Saskatchewan and operate a custom manufacturing business called High Desert Enterprises out of the shop. The main beams for the brake were taken from an […] Read more

Protecting saskatoon berries’ bloom stage from infection by plant pathogens is an important part of maintaining top production potential. Philip Northover, a pathologist with Manitoba Agriculture, said “protect the flowers from rain showers” is a simple way to sum up saskatoon berry disease management. Practices that reduce surface wetness from rain will also lessen disease […] Read more

NISKU, Alta. – A new plant growth modelling system developed in Manitoba is helping saskatoon berry growers control disease and predict harvest dates. Quinn Holtslag, an instructor in the green space management program at Red River College in Winnipeg, recently completed a PhD on disease forecasting in saskatoons at the University of Manitoba. In 2006, […] Read more

Morris Industries introduced a prototype Morris Contour Drill in 2006. This year, it has produced a few commercial units and has them in the field for the 2007 seeding season. “It’s an independent opener drill, which seems to be the way things are going nowadays. It’s not the same as, but on the same principle […] Read more

To navigate around the sloughs, bush and other obstacles on his farm near Stony Plain, Alta., Johannes Heupel has developed his own GPS mapping program that runs on a laptop computer. It’s called FarmerGPS. “When GPS started, the first time I looked at it was four or five years ago. With the LED light bars, […] Read more

Surface water sources on farms are notoriously difficult to keep clean. Water weeds, algae blooms and other plant growth are constant concerns. And when those plants die and sink to the bottom, their decomposition produces foul water and other issues. Doug Millar has lived with water concerns for years. He runs a 100 head commercial […] Read more

MEDICINE HAT – Farmers will need to be on guard against several pulse crop diseases this year, says an Alberta Agriculture plant pathologist. Ron Howard said Canadian pulse crop disease threats for this year include anthracnose on lentils and dry beans, Stemphylium blight on lentils and bacterial wilt in beans and peas. External pulse crop […] Read more

LETHBRIDGE – The decision to stop manufacturing ammonium nitrate in 2006 partially because of its link to bomb making prompted fertilizer companies to develop new products to replace it. One product, a slow release, polymer coated urea produced by Agrium, is called ESN. Researchers have been working with ESN for a few years, trying to […] Read more

LETHBRIDGE – Spreading the workload is a big issue on prairie farms as producers try to find enough time for field preparation and seeding in the spring. Rob Dunn, a conservation cropping specialist with Alberta Agriculture in Lethbridge, says earlier seeding dates can help solve the problem. He said farmers in southern Alberta probably have […] Read more