Reading Time: 3 minutes The symptoms of late blight don’t vary much from strain to strain, but recent evidence suggests that these strains are changing more quickly than ever before, setting growers up for an even bigger control challenge. Rick Peters, a Charlottetown, P.E.I.-based research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), told growers at this winter’s Manitoba Potato […] Read more
Shifting sands
Fighting the “potatoes are fattening” image
Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s no denying the impact of the image. A morbidly obese woman struggles up a short flight of stairs, while in the forefront of the advertisement are three servings of french fries, growing from modest to mammoth. “Portion sizes have grown, and so has obesity, which leads to many health problems,” reads the headline of […] Read more
The rise of iFarmer
Three generations ago Canadian farmers got their market information from the local elevator and their weekly farm paper. A generation on, they shushed the kids and strained to hear the markets on the CBC’s noon-hour farm report. Just a generation ago, a handful took the electronic plunge and bought a DTN system that gave them […] Read more
Phosphoric Acid Helps In Late Blight Fight
Reading Time: 3 minutes Manitoba potato producers are looking forward to phosphoric acid being registered for both pre-and post-harvest application for control of late blight. The product, registered under the trade name Confine in Canada, is a promising post-harvest application that prevents the spread of late blight infections in storage to healthy tubers. It’s also showing promise as a […] Read more
Western Bean Cutworm An Emerging Pest In Ontario
Reading Time: 2 minutes Edible bean growers are being warned the western bean cutworm is headed their way. “You’ve never heard of it, and I hope you never do,” agronomist Chris Gillard told attendees at the recent Manitoba Special Crops Symposium. “But I think it’s coming.” The cutworm, an ongoing pest problem in the southeast corner of Nebraska for […] Read more
Networking Paying Off For Sunflower Association
Reading Time: 2 minutes Talking to political leaders and policy makers is beginning to pay off for the National Sunflower Association of Canada, says president Kelly Dobson. “In the past three months we’ve had more meetings with more people – other grower groups, company representatives and government officials – than we have in the past 10 years,” Dobson said […] Read more
Edible Bean “Desiccants” A Residue Challenge
Reading Time: 2 minutes Edible bean growers love their desiccants, and for good reason. The products let them dry their crops down and even them out prior to harvest, make the harvest operation much more manageable and even give a bit of a weed control boost. So what’s the problem? Residues in a word – likely something that’s being […] Read more
Shareholder Activism Leads To Crop Protection Product Changes
Reading Time: 3 minutes “I think all agriculture products are going to face this challenge, not just potatoes.” – Yves Leclerc It all began with a filing at the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A group of unlikely McDonald’s Restaurant shareholders – including a college investment fund, an ethical investment adviser and a labour group registered a “shareholder’s […] Read more
Editor’s pick: Manitoba Tory MLA calls for Manitoba TB strategy
The Winnipeg Free Press newspaper is reporting that opposition MLA Len Derkach is calling on the province to increase its support to cattle ranchers battling to prevent infected deer and elk from transmitting the disease to their herds. Derkach says ranchers in the area surrounding Riding Mountain National Park have been battling this problem for […] Read more
Higher grain prices not source of higher food prices: report
Food prices in Canada are up but directly linking this trend to higher grain prices is an over-simplification according to a new report by the George Morris Centre. The independent agriculture think tank, based in Guelph, Ont., says drawing a straight line between the four per cent increase in food prices over last year and […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
