Farmer selected the crop when looking for ways to expand his wheat-canola rotation to solve disease and insect problems
GALAHAD, Alta. — The addition of hybrid fall rye to the crop rotation has helped limit disease, control weeds and produce better canola crops, said a Rosalind, Alta., farmer. “Consistently it performs. It is rather remarkable,” said Matthew Enright, who started growing the crop when he moved back to the farm in 2015. Enright said […] Read moreStories by Freelance writer
Drones put to work tracking down water stress relationship
A University of Saskatchewan researcher is using drones to study the correlation between the thermal temperature of a plant and water stress, which typically means a shortness of water. “I’m using UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) to collect the thermal electromagnetic radiation that comes off of crops and using that to correlate it to crop volumetric […] Read more
Enjoying the sweet smell of success
Kristen Primrose — yes, that’s her actual name — is a flower farmer in Alberta’s Cardston County. “It was an accident,” she says with a laugh. “I was pregnant and didn’t get my garden in,” she says. “We had all these black oil sunflower seeds we were feeding the chickens and I wondered if they […] Read more
Sask. sheep exhibition shows market growth
Organizers scrambled to find room for 160 sheep and lambs from 32 producers for the Grasslands Sheep Exhibition
HUMBOLDT, Sask. — Sheep numbers at the 2023 Grasslands Sheep Exhibition in Humboldt, Sask., were up 50 percent over last year’s show, which organizers said is an indication of industry growth. Sheep producers from across the Prairies participated in the July 21-23 exhibition. Organized by the Saskatchewan Sheep Breeders Association and the Saskatchewan Sheep Development […] Read more
Cover crops may help better control flea beetles
Researcher says cover crops may make it harder for flea beetles to find canola, and can attract bugs that prey on the pest
Flea beetles can wreak havoc on canola but new research from the University of Manitoba could offer natural ways to control the pests. Associate professor of entomology Alejandro Costamagna started research on the value of cover crops in 2022 on mitigating flea beetle damage in canola. He said cover crops may help decrease flea beetle […] Read more
Plant lovers stay ahead of the backhoe
A grassroots plant group in Alberta works with developers to conserve native species that are at risk of disappearing
With more than 75 percent of native grassland on the Prairies already lost, one conservation group organized and got to work when a major new interchange was slated to begin construction on uncut grassland near Cochrane, Alta. The Alberta Native Plant Rescue, a grassroots and loosely organized group of volunteers, came together late last year […] Read more
Berry bounty not always worth cheering about
An abundance of saskatoons in the family berry patch meant pies needed to be made, but that’s where the trouble started
I am sure my mother dragged me off to the wild saskatoon berry patch long before I was off the bottle, and she probably put me down on an anthill by mistake, because my earliest recollection of berry picking is being eaten alive by bugs. Along with the hot humid atmosphere of the bush were […] Read more
Sealers see new revival as interest in canning increases
Shelves of canned preserves were once a fixture in many basements, despite an occasional mishap due to ring failure
Exploring the cool, dark recesses of Grandma’s dugout cellar, I would come across the dilapidated old cupboard braced against the far side of the coal bin. An ambitious spider had draped cobwebs from shelf to shelf. I gingerly reached through its gauze curtain to discover a veritable treasure chest of good eating. High bush cranberry […] Read more
Young woman takes over family trucking company
A Sask. university student makes the decision to assume responsibility for her father’s firm following a death in the family
CANDIAC, Sask. — She celebrated her 21st birthday this June in a bin shovelling grain. With a trucking company to run, Leanne Kotylak had no time for elaborate coming-of-age parties. While the farm-raised woman has always loved anything to do with trucks and farming, she was thrust into the role of owner and operator of […] Read more
Researchers encourage plants to be co-operative
Discovery of co-operative traits could be used in modern breeding programs to provide efficient ways to increase yields
Plants compete. They grow tall and spread their leaves to reach sunlight and outshine other plants. Roots will spread deeper and wider in search of water and nutrients, entangling themselves with neighbours’ roots. But a recent experiment by researchers at the University of Zurich and Agroscope, Switzerland’s centre of excellence for agricultural research and affiliated […] Read more
