Bill Strautman

LETHBRIDGE – Seeding rates can have a dramatic effect on the success of cereal crops grown in Western Canada. At the Agronomy Update conference held earlier this year in Lethbridge, Brian Beres presented research results from his own studies as well as related study results from other researchers. Beres, a research scientist with Agriculture Canada […] Read more

LETHBRIDGE – The high cost of nitrogen fertilizer makes it more important for producers to know their crops’ growth cycles and when nitrogen is most needed. Ross McKenzie told the recent Agronomy Update in Lethbridge that it’s important to understand the relationship between nitrogen and crop production before finalizing cropping decisions. “Crops take up a […] Read more

LETHBRIDGE – Grain farmers are restricted in the amount of seed row nitrogen they can apply without damaging germination and thinning plant stands. However, with the loss of ammonium nitrate, fertilizer companies have started introducing new technologies to slow the release of nitrogen. One aspect of these products is that more nitrogen can be applied […] Read more

A Syngenta seed treatment recently received an emergency registration for controlling pea leaf weevils in dry and succulent peas in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Yves Dooper, research and extension manager with Alberta Pulse Growers, said the registration covers application of Cruiser at 50 to 83 millilitres per 100 kilograms of seed in peas, where the higher […] Read more

DRAYTON VALLEY, Alta. – Innovative farmers have been using scrap steel produced by the oilpatch for years. Around Drayton Valley, posts made from oilfield sucker rod hold up much of the area’s fence wire. “Around here, sucker rod posts have been used for probably 40 years. But the twisted nail (to hold the wire to […] Read more

DRAYTON VALLEY, Alta. – While he was selling his sucker rod fence posts, Bob McLeod said one of his customers approached him with an idea for a gate latch system. The unit uses an over centre lever that makes it easy to open and close barbed wire gates in fences. It attaches to the post […] Read more

DRAYTON VALLEY, Alta. – Along with sucker rod fence posts, Bob McLeod has developed a corner post system made with oilfield scrap steel tubing. “The brace is made of 27/8 inch tubing, with three inch line pipe that fits over the tubing, so it can slide up and down,” said McLeod. “You lay that corner […] Read more

LETHBRIDGE – The results of a seven year study suggest that under proper conditions, farmers may be able to grow canola and peas more often in a rotation than now recommended. Stu Brandt, an Agriculture Canada researcher at Scott, Sask., told Alberta Agriculture’s Agronomy Update conference in Lethbridge that current recommendations to grow canola or […] Read more

MEDICINE HAT, Alta. – Field crops in Western Canada are always under threat of disease. Plant pathologist Ron Howard of Alberta Agriculture categorizes them as internal or external threats. “The internal threats are those diseases that we already know occur here and that could spread into new areas or develop new strains that could increase […] Read more

Western Canadian farmers face two cereal diseases that have the potential to be more damaging than they presently are: stripe rust on wheat and fusarium head blight on wheat, barley and oats. At the recent Agronomy Update in Lethbridge, Agriculture Canada plant pathologist Denis Gaudet said stripe rust is endemic to Asia and has been […] Read more