Reading Time: 3 minutes Wireworm damage to field crops is poised to escalate, says a provincial crop specialist. “For several decades, Lindane (Vitavax Dual, etc.) insecticide applied to crops on the Canadian Prairies kept wireworm numbers low,” said Neil Whatley, crop specialist at the Alberta Ag-Info Centre. “Since the ban of this organochlorine pesticide in 2004, wireworm damage in […] Read more
‘We’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg’ when it comes to wireworms
Populations are growing and control methods shrinking, says provincial crop specialist
Corteva to stop making Lorsban
Chicago | Reuters — Corteva will stop producing the agricultural pesticide chlorpyrifos by the end of the year, the company said on Thursday, removing the world’s largest manufacturer of a chemical that has been linked to low birth weight, reduced IQ and attention disorders in children. Corteva, spun off last year after a merger of […] Read more
Students get hands-on education in sustainable food production
Reading Time: 5 minutes “Words without action are meaningless.” Teacher Steven Schultz couldn’t have predicted the effect those words would have when he said them in class one day 15 years ago. But at least one student took them to heart: She decided she wanted to take École Lacombe Composite High School off the electrical grid. She gathered a […] Read more
Cooking up a successful recipe for improved soil health
Brendon Rockey’s farm is far different than most, but his winning formula has lessons for other growers
Reading Time: 4 minutes In some ways, soil health conferences are like recipe swaps — with attendees always on the lookout for a mix of ingredients that will produce better results. One of those recipes presented at the sold-out Western Canada Conference on Soil Health & Grazing last month came from a Colorado potato grower who farms in high-elevation, near-desert conditions and no […] Read more
Ford recalls Super Duty pickups on post-crash fire risk
Reuters — Ford Motor Co. said Friday it would recall 547,538 of its Ford Super Duty pickup trucks across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, citing the risk of a post-crash interior fire. The second-largest U.S. automaker said the recall covers certain models between the years 2017 and 2019 with carpet flooring that could experience a […] Read more
U.S. seals demise of WTO appeals bench, trade officials say
Geneva | Reuters — The fate of the World Trade Organization’s top court was effectively sealed on Monday after the United States said it would not back a proposal to allow it to continue, trade officials said, although the WTO chief vowed to find a solution. The Trump administration has been blocking appointments to the […] Read more
Vietnam considers CPTPP-level tariff cuts on U.S. ag products
Hanoi | Reuters — Vietnam is considering cutting tariffs on several U.S. products, the ministry of finance said in a statement on Monday, after U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross urged Vietnam to reduce its trade surplus during a visit to Hanoi last month. Tariffs on chicken and processed chicken meat, almonds, grapes, wheat, pork and […] Read more
Spornado causes a whirlwind of new research
There’s an affordable way to detect fusarium or sclerotinia spores — but it’s not one-and-done technology
Reading Time: 5 minutes A device that helps alert growers to the presence of airborne pathogens has been popping up in some Alberta cereal and canola fields in the last couple of years. But while Spornado — and in-crop spore detection in general — is promoted as a tool to take the guesswork out of fungicide application decisions, this […] Read more
Alberta harvest continues, 11 per cent of crops remain
Alberta Crop Report: Conditions as of November 5
Reading Time: 6 minutes Following a cooler than normal growing season, September brought several wet spells, interspersed by two major dry spells, each lasting less than two weeks. In October, wet spells occurred more frequently, with the northern half of the province blanketed with a few cloudy days. Over the past month, all areas in the province experienced below […] Read more
New potato plant a win for Lethbridge
Reading Time: < 1 minute Cavendish Farms’ new Lethbridge frozen potato-processing facility is now open. Company president Robert K. Irving cited the high quality of potatoes grown in the area as one reason why Lethbridge was chosen for its $430-million state-of-the-art plant while Premier Jason Kenney called it “a vote of confidence in Alberta.” The new facility, which replaces an […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
