Reading Time: < 1 minute The industry association Keep it Clean reminds that insecticide and fungicide applications must meet pre-harvest interval (PHI) requirements, which is the minimum acceptable number of days between applying a product and swathing or straight-cutting the crop. While most fields are still several weeks away from PHI being an immediate concern, pre-planning maximizes options. Keep it Clean’s […] Read more
Know your timing between spraying and swathing
Digital supercluster backs precision fungicide development
Project aims at wheat leaf rust, reducing pesticide load
A West Coast ag tech company in the crop pest control business is setting its sights on wheat leaf rust, with support from one of Canada’s five research superclusters — but not the cluster you might expect. Out of the five federally-supported superclusters launched in early 2018, Protein Industries Canada has been most closely linked […] 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
Pesticide makers create resistance website
Reading Time: < 1 minute The organization representing pesticide makers has a new online tool to help minimize herbicide resistance on farms. Three out of five Canadian growers are now dealing with herbicide-resistant weeds, Paul Hoekstra, a senior official at Syngenta and chair of CropLife Canada’s resistance management committee, said in a news release. Manage Resistance Now promotes using a […] Read more
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
UPL to buy crop chem firm Arysta
Indian chemical manufacturer UPL has raised the financial backing for an all-cash deal to become what’s expected to be the world’s fifth biggest crop chemical firm. UPL on July 20 announced it will pay $4.2 billion to buy 100 per cent of Arysta LifeScience — the maker of Everest and Inferno herbicides, among other products […] Read more
Consider canola crop’s potential yield before spraying
As July approaches and crop canopies close, sclerotinia will be on the minds of many canola growers. But will it pay to spray? Fungicide applications are more likely to be profitable when the canola hits 30-40 bushels per acre, said Colleen Redlick, senior technical development specialist at BASF. Justine Cornelsen, agronomy specialist with the Canola […] Read more
Honeybees’ attraction to fungicide ‘unsettling’
London | Thomson Reuters Foundation — Honeybees are attracted to a fungicide used in agriculture with “unsettling implications” for global food production, a U.S. scientist said on Tuesday. Tests carried out by a team from the University of Illinois showed bees preferred to collect sugar syrup laced with the fungicide chlorothalonil over sugar syrup alone. […] Read more
U.S. study links bumblebee declines to fungicide use
A new look at the environmental factors around declining bumblebee populations and ranges points to a less-than-usual suspect: fungicides. “Insecticides work; they kill insects. Fungicides have been largely overlooked because they are not targeted for insects, but fungicides may not be quite as benign — toward bumblebees — as we once thought,” Scott McArt, assistant […] Read more
Packed agenda for agronomy update
Reading Time: < 1 minute More than two dozen speakers will be offering their insights at Agronomy Update in Red Deer on Jan. 19-20. Topics include aphanomyces, clubroot, fungicide timing, P and K decline, straight combining canola, insect control, and managing herbicide resistance. The conference kicks off with presentations on field crops pathology followed by soil management, grain marketing, and crops […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
