A clean routine continues to be the best defence against clubroot. While the canola disease has yet to be found outside of Alberta, many producers think its spread is only a matter of time. It has been confirmed in counties along the southeastern border with Saskatchewan and is suspected and confirmed one county away from […] Read more
Production
Cleanliness is next to podliness
Grasshopper threat looks low
Grasshoppers should not be a significant threat in Alberta this year, but parts of the province could see higher numbers than they did in 2008. Alberta’s 2009 grasshopper forecast map predicts a decreased risk of economically significant grasshopper populations throughout the province’s central and southern regions. However, parts of eastern Alberta along the Saskatchewan border […] Read more
Farm boy youngest CCA
Hendrik Feenstra is the youngest person to pass the American Society of Agronomy’s Certified Crop Advisor exam. The 12-year-old’s father, Jack, said being the youngest CCA was something his son identified as a goal from an early age. “Kids say lots of things, and maybe I promised he could take the test, a couple of […] Read more
Good money grows on the right trees
SEXSMITH, Alta. – Val Chledowski says his father would roll over in his grave if he knew what was happening on his northern Alberta farm. When Chledowski’s father emigrated from Poland in the 1920s, he cleared trees from the land with an axe and grub hoe. Last year, Chledowski planted 500 acres of trees on […] Read more
Now it’s mid-row – now it isn’t
BRANDON – Some soil, seed and fertilizer combinations favour mid- row banding and others don’t. And dragging extra mid-row hardware around when it isn’t needed may seem inefficient and potentially damaging to yields because of unnecessary tillage. Farmers could quickly solve this dilemma by lifting or lowering those mid- row openers. That’s the premise behind […] Read more
Circulate stored grain to halt insects, spoilage
The late warming of the Prairies this year has reduced the likelihood of grain spoilage in bins. However, as temperatures rise, threats to stored grain will increase dramatically. “Seeding may be delayed in many regions, but that only means farmers will have less time to worry about protecting stored grain from damage once they get […] Read more
AC/DC: for those about to weld
Novice welders often wonder if they really need both AC and DC. They’re confused when they look at the different combinations on the buzz box stick welding machine. The simple answer is no, you really don’t need AC and DC. The basic AC machine can produce a good weld if it’s used right. It reliably […] Read more
New Products
Land roller; Calculator location Land roller Regina’s Rite Way Manufacturing Company Ltd. is delivering a new line of land rollers for 2009. The largest is an 85 foot model, while the smallest is eight feet. Despite the variation in oper-ating widths, the machines all transport at a constant width of 12.5 feet. The rollers fold […] Read more
Engineers go mobile when cubing biomass
Improving a machine that already exists is challenging, but building a machine from scratch is an entirely different matter. Engineers at the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) in Portage la Prairie, Man., are attempting to do the latter as they build a mobile unit to cube biomass in the field. “Biomass’s biggest challenge is transportation,” […] Read more
Biomass generates interest
The concept of generating more of Manitoba’s energy with biomass is heating up. The provincial government recently announced it will spend $450,000 to develop a biomass energy strategy, study the feasibility of using biomass energy at a Pine Falls paper mill and examine the possibility of using biomass energy at the new Assiniboine Community College […] Read more
