Crop Management
Better burn off | High quality water provides a strong foundation for spring weed control
Farmers need to pay attention to their water when spraying glyphosate, says Chelsea Norheim of Rack Petroleum in Biggar, Sask. “With all spray solutions, 99 percent of what you spray out is water,” the agrologist said. “It only makes sense that water should be the first thing you should be looking at in terms of […] Read more
Crop Management
Researchers partner to study Manitoba fields
Runoff from crops | Project takes a closer look at crops, production and water quality
SIOUX VALLEY, Man. — Henry Wilson bends over to inspect a device that looks an awful lot like R2D2 from Star Wars. The Agriculture Canada research scientist from nearby Brandon is standing on a flat area of a hilly field, still covered with canola stubble and patches of snow in late April. He releases the […] Read more
Thanks to this researcher, prairie soil now stays put
It was a dry, hot, windy day in the spring of 2012. Snow had long since disappeared from the Prairies and weather stations everywhere reported high gusts. “Just looking out the window here. Nothing but blue sky everywhere. Twenty-five years ago, this would’ve been black,” said the voice on the phone. It was Agriculture Canada […] Read more
What is in the cards for tractors?
Innovations to come | New hydraulics, power take-off and electrical parts will drive how future tractor models are used
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tractors have been evolving since the first mobile farm power source was allowed to drive itself forward rather than be pulled by horses. “It’s an iron horse that evolved over time, from pulling to powering. Now it’s an office too,” said Ed Kreis of John Deere Waterloo Works in Waterloo, Iowa. […] Read more
Count costly corn seeds
Seed costs using a 16-row, 30 inch corn planter to plant 34,000 seeds per acre:
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. — Corn growers face a multitude of critical decisions as they try to extract the most value from their high-cost planters. Those decisions become more important as they start to understand the real time cost to run that planter, independent corn consultant Bill Lehmkuhl told a recent Pioneer planter clinic in […] Read more
Grapple allows formushroom stacking
The big grab | Grapple simultaneously grabs two big round bales and rotates them 90 degrees
BRANDON — The Haukaas rotating grapple is designed to gently move a pair of big round bales through a 90 degree arc for quick loading and stacking. As producers take hay quality more seriously, they become more interested in equipment that lets them do a better job of handling bales without damaging the wrapping material. […] Read moreWhat to grow: pencilling out margins, weighing the risks
Recent commodity price tumbles for new crop means this year won’t deliver the solid financial returns of last year. However, most prairie planting choices will still deliver black ink, as long as yields are average. The late snow and cold temperatures mean yields are unlikely to be stellar because most crops perform to their peak […] Read more
Dow, Monsanto combine herbicide, insecticide traits
New control | Glyphosate, 2,4-D and rootworm tolerance mixed
Dow and Monsanto are working together on a new trait combination that puts glyphosate and 2,4-D tolerance together with Monsanto’s yet to be released, third generation, RNA interference-based rootworm technology. Breeding additional agronomic traits into the latest plant varieties and strains has been the cornerstone of the crop genetics industry for 12 years. Herbicide resistance, […] Read more
Quick disease identification vital
It’s all about mirrors | Two optical technologies sort out problems in plants and animals
PINAWA, Man. — A new infrared device uses mirrors to identify a wide range of harmful bacteria in plants and animals. Another new optical invention is designed to identify and delete fusarium and ergot kernels from grain shipments. Both inventions may have far-reaching health and economic implications for identifying and isolating bacteria that downgrade or […] Read more
Best ways to keep heat in, cold out
Fibreglass was the standby material for construction insulation for decades. It looks like cotton candy and is actually made in a similar way, although from hot sand rather than sugar. Fibreglass was used in insulation applications of all sorts: wall cavities and ceilings in residential construction and roofs in commercial installations. It found its way […] Read more
