Colleen Munro

With the rally in the wheat markets this summer, canola’s star status in the commodity firmament has been somewhat dimmed. But that doesn’t mean the crop still isn’t a big part of most farmers’ mix this year. Acreage is still the second largest on record, at a little better than 13 million. To rectify that, […] Read more

Turkey is one of the world’s largest producer of wheat. Sixth, to be exact. In 1994-95, this Near East country produced 16 million tonnes of wheat and durum. In the past 10 years, average production has been 18 million tonnes. But Turkey isn’t usually much of a force in world markets, because it has a […] Read more

SCOTT, Sask. – With most of Saskatchewan’s parkland infested with wheat midge this year, farmers have yet another major pest to worry about. Adult wheat midge started to emerge in early July from infested spring wheat, durum and Canada Prairie Spring wheat crops and will do so for about six weeks. Populations tend to peak […] Read more

SCOTT, Sask. – There’s an easy way to tell the difference between the larvae of diamond-back moths and Bertha army worms. If you touch them, diamond-back moth larvae will wriggle away. But Bertha larvae will curl up in a tight ball, Agriculture Canada entomologist Bob Elliot told farmers attending the annual field day at the […] Read more

SCOTT, Sask. – The trick, says research scientist Ken Kirkland, is predicting the first day of winter. That’s the day you want to pull the air seeder out of the quonset, get into the field and start seeding next year’s herbicide-tolerant canola. “You want to seed late enough that there is no germination,” said Kirkland, […] Read more

Welcome to the best rally the wheat markets have seen in 16 years. It has even outdone the rally of 1988, when the Canadian Prairies and American Upper Great Plains spring wheat crops were scorched by drought. July wheat prices at the Kansas City Board of Trade and the Minneapolis Grain exchange – which are […] Read more

SASKATOON – Turning bull calves into steers in the future could be as easy as giving them a needle. Just as producers routinely vaccinate against diseases like IBR, so they could also inject against the hormone that causes puberty in bull calves, said Andrew Van Kessel, animal scientist with the University of Saskatchewan’s animal biotechnology […] Read more

SASKATOON – Sometimes science can be a matter of luck. Sheila Schmutz, a molecular geneticist at the University of Saskatchewan’s department of animal and poultry science, is working on a worldwide project to map every bovine gene. Her lab is working on locating the genes on just one of the 60 bovine chromosomes, called chromosome […] Read more

ASSINIBOIA, Sask. – Black was the color of choice during a recent Saskatchewan Stock Growers’ Association tour, held prior to its annual convention. Aberdeen Angus was the most common breed viewed on the Willow Bunch and St. Victor area ranches toured by two busloads of participants. Even Conn Yorga of Windy Hill Limousin Ranch, Limo […] Read more

DAFOE, Sask. – Bourgault wasn’t there. Flexi-Coil wasn’t there. John Deere wasn’t there. Neither was Morris or Conserva Pak or Concorde or Haybuster. Most of the leading manufacturers of direct-seeding equipment opted out of the fourth annual Direct Tech, which moved to a new site near Dafoe, Sask., and went to a two-day format. Seeding […] Read more