Reading Time: 3 minutes For the past decade the focus on food and farming has been on sustainable systems. To be sustainable means to meet production needs without compromising the future, particularly our future natural resources. To farm sustainably is to ‘do no further harm’ or to maintain the current balance and to accept a level of accountability for […] Read more
Schoepp: To sustain is one thing, to regenerate is something else
Sustainable agriculture has been a step forward but it is not the end of the journey
Native pollinators want to be your buddies
Some simple things can make your land more attractive to pollinators
Reading Time: 4 minutes There’s no denying that native pollinators are important — and there are things you can do to encourage these keystone species to come live on your land. Native pollinators are critical for forages and crops, agroforestry specialist Luke Wonneck said during a recent Foothills Forage and Grazing Association webinar. “Pollination is plant sex. Because plants […] Read more
Keep watch for wheat midge this growing season
This silent killer is a ‘big bad’ threat and may be out in force in some areas this year
Reading Time: 5 minutes Ask any wheat farmer about orange blossom wheat midge and they may tell you it’s the ‘big bad’ of crop insects and comparable to fusarium in terms of pure destructive power. “It’s kind of insidious,” said AgCanada entomologist Tyler Wist. “Often if you’re not out looking for it you don’t even know it’s there. Then […] Read more
Grasslands conservation effort gets $70-million boost
Major grasslands initiative to fund 800 stewardship projects across the Prairies
Reading Time: 4 minutes There have been a lot of grasslands conservation efforts, but none as large as the Weston Family Prairie Grasslands Initiative. Five organizations are being given nearly $25 million by the Weston Family Foundation for what may be the largest grasslands conservation effort ever in Canada. And each of the five groups will be committing additional […] Read more
Health Canada steps back from bans on two neonics
New limits, some cancellations to be put in place
A federal proposal to protect aquatic insect habitat by cancelling all registered outdoor uses for two popular ag insecticides has been walked back in a major way. Health Canada on Wednesday announced its special review decisions on the risks to aquatic bug life from the use of clothianidin and thiamethoxam, both pesticides and seed treatments […] Read more
Business is hopping for Ontario cricket farms
Two Ontario enterprises that raise crickets and turn them into protein powder are expanding
Reading Time: < 1 minute Turns out Canada is a happening place for cricket farming. Two Ontario companies that raise crickets for food announced new funding last month for their expansion plans. Entomo Farms, one of North America’s leading cricket producers, announced it closed a round of fundraising totalling $3.7 million to support growth and expansion. Founded in 2014 by […] Read more
Here’s what pests might be waiting for you in your fields
Bertha army worms get the biggest red flag in three new pest monitoring reports
Reading Time: 3 minutes There could be a bertha army worm outbreak in parts of the province this year, but cabbage seedpod weevil survey numbers are down, and, save in the south, grasshoppers aren’t a big worry, according to new provincial pest forecasts. Bertha army worm Keep watch is the take-away from last year’s survey, which consisted of 350 […] Read more
Average year expected for insect pests in Alberta
But as usual, local conditions mean producers need to ‘scout, scout, and scout’
Reading Time: 3 minutes Insect pressure dropped in 2020, and Alberta producers can expect much the same for 2021. “In general, 2020 wasn’t really a big insect year, especially compared to past years,” said Boyd Mori, an assistant professor of agricultural and ecological entomology at the University of Alberta. “We had flea beetle pressure like we always do, but a lot […] Read more
Wheat stem sawfly survey finds some hot spots in southern Alberta
Populations of the pest seem low in most areas, but some fields had moderate or high damage
Reading Time: 2 minutes Populations of wheat stem sawfly are increasing in parts of southern Alberta, the latest provincial survey has found. The survey, conducted in the fall, found increased levels of sawfly damage in Forty Mile County. However, sawfly numbers seem to have declined in Willow Creek and Vulcan Counties, but that might just be a reflection of […] Read more
Weevil and plot trial lessons from the past year
Results from the 2020 pea leaf weevil survey and the Plot2Farm trials are now available
Reading Time: 2 minutes Producers in the area around Edmonton as well as in southern Alberta may be at greater risk of seeing pea leaf weevils this spring. In a recent blog post on the Alberta Pulse Growers website, provincial insect survey technologist Shelley Barkley provided a summary of the annual survey for the pest. The survey, taken in […] Read more
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