An adult lygus bug. (Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Matador, Voliam insecticides back in ‘limited’ release

Revised labels prohibit feeding, foraging of treated crops

Syngenta Canada no longer plans to keep its lambda-cyhalothrin insecticide products off the market in Western Canada this year — but it’s planning to have a smaller supply. The crop chem and seed company announced Friday it will have a “limited amount” of its lambda-cy-based products Matador 120EC and Voliam Xpress available in the West […] Read more

File photo of grain silos and other buildings at harbourside at Saint Nazaire on France’s west coast. (Sissoupitch/iStock/Getty Images)

French agency drops fumigant ban on non-EU grain exports

Limit on phosphine won't apply if use required for export

Paris | Reuters — French health safety agency ANSES on Thursday cleared the use of phosphine pesticide in contact with grains exported outside the European Union when importing countries require the process, averting a halt to shipments from the EU’s top grain exporter. In late October ANSES cleared the use of phosphine tablets used for […] Read more


File photo of a southern Alberta field as spring approaches. (BrendanHunter/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie soil moisture picture growing clearer

Alberta driest; Saskatchewan variable; Manitoba mostly OK

It’s a variable soil moisture picture on the Prairies as seeding season draws nearer. The east has enough moisture — and in some cases too much. And it gets progressively drier toward the west, with portions of Alberta nearing critical condition, according to one weather watcher. Bruce Burnett, weather and markets director for the MarketsFarm […] Read more

File photo of grain silos and other buildings at harbourside at Saint Nazaire on France’s west coast. (Sissoupitch/iStock/Getty Images)

France says pesticide ban will not hit grain exports

Fumigant can't be in 'direct contact' with grains

Paris | Reuters — France will ensure that a decision by health and safety agency ANSES to ban the use of a pesticide in direct contact with grains does not hamper its exports outside the European Union, its trade and agriculture ministers told Parliament on Tuesday. In late October ANSES cleared the use of phosphine […] Read more


Agronomy update recap available

Agronomy update recap available

Reading Time: < 1 minute If you missed this year’s Agronomy Update (or can’t read your notes), PowerPoint slides from the January event are now available at agronomyupdate.ca. Slides from two dozen presentations can be downloaded for free. Among the topics are nitrification and urease inhibitors, micronutrients, fusarium graminearum, bacterial leaf streak, aphanomyces, verticillium wilt, herbicide mixing, flea beetles, managing […] Read more

Wheat stem sawfly.

Tips on battling wheat stem sawfly

Reading Time: < 1 minute A new video from Alberta Wheat offers advice on managing wheat stem sawfly from Scott Meers, the long-time provincial insect management specialist and now a consultant. It covers topics such as when to plant a solid- and semi-solid-stem variety (and lists current offerings for spring wheat and durum), recommended seeding rates (for both solid- and […] Read more


A farm worker unloads Ukrainian-made fertilizer from a truck on April 5, 2022 to use on a wheat field near the village of Yakovlivka, outside Kharkiv, after it was hit by an aerial bombardment. (Photo: Reuters/Thomas Peter)

Ukraine faces lack of herbicides, pesticides for spring seeding

About a third of needed chemicals reported to be at hand

Kyiv | Reuters — Ukrainian farmers, which have already started the 2023 spring sowing, have only around 35 per cent of the herbicides and pesticides they need, analyst APK-Inform quoted on Monday official data as showed. The Russian invasion has left Ukraine seriously short of finances, seeds and crop protection products, which could have a […] Read more

A grasshopper in a canola field near Starbuck, Man. in the summer of 2019. (MarketsFarm photo by Glen Hallick)

Adama’s lambda-cy products to be available this year

Company to continue selling Silencer, Zivata after recall

The Canadian arm of ag chem firm Adama says it’s relabelled its inventories of lambda-cyhalothrin insecticide products Silencer and Zivata and will have them available for sale to farmers in 2023. The company had said last November it wasn’t yet sure those products would be available this year under an approaching deadline following a 2021 […] Read more


Survey on keeping wheat midge at bay

Survey on keeping wheat midge at bay

Reading Time: < 1 minute Wheat growers are being asked to fill out an online survey on their use of midge-tolerant wheat. The Canadian Wheat Research Coalition (an alliance of the three Prairie wheat commissions) operates the Midge Tolerant Wheat Stewardship Program. It’s estimated that midge-tolerant wheat has saved farmers more than $3 billion in yield losses and grade dockage […] Read more

Experts aren’t sure why, but the Bruner’s spur-throated grasshopper (left) only makes an appearance in the Peace Country every odd-numbered year. However, Packard’s grasshopper (middle) and the two-stripe grasshopper can show up any old time.

The autumn weather was lovely — especially for grasshoppers

Those areas that had the pests last year will likely see more this year, but there are ways to reduce their numbers

Reading Time: 4 minutes Compare Alberta grasshopper survey maps from the past two years and one thing becomes clear: If you had grasshoppers last year, there’s a good chance you will this year, too — and likely in higher numbers. “When you look at the map from 2021 and compare it to the survey that was done last year, […] Read more