Phosphate rock mining in the island country of Nauru, 2007. Unlike nitrogen, which can be captured from the air through natural cycles, phosphate is a declining resource which must be mined or captured from waste. Credit: Lorrie Graham/AusAID/Wikimedia Commons

Martison Phosphate Project aims to make Canada self-sufficient in phosphorus

Reading Time: 3 minutes A lot of what determines what Canadian farmers pay for phosphate fertilizer and how readily they can get it happens outside of Canada’s borders. According to Stephen Case, chief executive officer and president of Fox River Resources, Canada has become completely reliant on phosphate sourced from other countries like the U.S., Russia and Morocco. He’s […] Read more

Getting acceptance for gene editing

Getting acceptance for gene editing

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology offers recommendations to ensure plant breeding tech continues to benefit agriculture

Reading Time: 2 minutes The rapid pace of change brought by genome editing tools has created many new opportunities for the agri-food industry, but they aren’t without challenges. Regulatory hurdles must be considered, and the tools must benefit society as well as the agriculture industry.


How best should growers and agronomists interpret the gigabytes, if not terabytes, of ag data available to them?

Dealing with your farm data

Just because growers have data doesn’t mean they use it

Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Launch of the first GPS yield monitors altered the world of on-farm data collection. That was followed by variable-rate technology, precision planting and aerial/satellite imaging. Most growers have now been accumulating data for 20 years or longer, and many have resolved to keep that data in the hopes of finding value from […] Read more

Spring wheat with Lalrise Start SC applied with seed treatment, right, versus seed treatment alone on the left, in Western Canada, in May 2022.

New seed treatment designed to boost cereal crops

Product centred on enhancing phosphorus solubility and improving early vigour

Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Boosting nitrogen use to reduce nitrogen-based fertilizer applications, has been a feature of several products in the past five years. Lalrise Start SC liquid inoculant aims to improve another key nutrient. The seed treatment designed to enhance phosphorus solubility has received full commercial registration and will be available in spring 2024 for […] Read more


The U-shaped Dot A-U1 “loads” a SeedMaster row-crop planter on to its platform during the demonstration at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show. (Ralph Pearce photo)

Pearce: Autonomous platform makes Eastern Canada debut

It’s been dubbed “the future of agriculture” and for the first time, farmers in Eastern Canada had the opportunity to see the Dot A-U1 Power Platform with in-field demonstrations at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show. The precision ag system, designed by Dot Technology Corp., attracted considerable attention going through its paces during the annual ag showcase, […] Read more

A healthy wheat head at left and one with severe symptoms of fusarium head blight at right. (Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Pearce: Multiple modes of action an emerging reality for fungicides

As growers face more challenges from weeds, diseases and insects, many researchers, agronomists, advisers and farmers have shifted thinking from “control” of pests to “managing” them. Some of this trend is attributable to single-mode-of-action products and a reliance on one or two chemistries or technologies — but the adaptability of weed, disease and insect species […] Read more


A second pump in a continuous-rinse system pushes water out of the sprayer instead of diluting the mixture. (Ralph Pearce photo)

Pearce: New system improves on rinse-and-repeat for sprayers

When Dr. Jason Deveau talks about sprayer cleanouts, he knows it’s not a happy subject. During the 2017 edition of Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show at Woodstock, Ont., Deveau, the application technology specialist for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) at Simcoe, spoke to farmers about a new continuous-rinse system. In some […] Read more




Planting in the Delhi region on April 18. (Supplied photos)

Pearce: Rain expected to stall Ontario potato planting progress

Rainfall expected for much of southern Ontario is expected to narrow what’s been a relatively early planting window for Ontario’s potato growers. Two weeks ago, the reports from the Ontario Potato Board were full of warm temperatures and dry soils, and growers, particularly around Leamington and Delhi, took full advantage. One farmer in the Delhi […] Read more