File photo of a P.E.I. potato field against the backdrop of the Confederation Bridge. (Onepony/iStock/Getty Images)

P.E.I. table stock potato exports to U.S. now allowed

New U.S. order replaces previous requirements; seed potatoes still blocked

Exports of Prince Edward Island table stock potatoes are again officially allowed to enter the mainland United States, after new U.S. entry rules regarding potato wart were published Friday. Canada’s federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said on Twitter that officials with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) are now preparing to certify exports of eligible […] Read more

Herbicide carry-over a risk in 2022

Herbicide carry-over a risk in 2022

Reading Time: < 1 minute Saskatchewan’s pulse, canola and wheat commissions have created a six-page fact sheet on factors affecting herbicide carry-over and the risk that poses. “Herbicide carry-over becomes a concern after dry conditions because soil moisture largely dictates the rate of soil residual herbicide breakdown due to its influence on two of the major degradation mechanisms: microbial activity […] Read more


Kim Owen’s tweet of these photos of his father Richard Owen standing in the same spot in the same field (in July 2020 and then in July of this year) was retweeted nearly 1,000 times.

Fall didn’t deliver — now we need a very snowy winter

Hope for wet, but plan for dry, say experts as drought conditions remain widespread in province

Reading Time: 5 minutes Much of Alberta will need as much as three times the usual amount of snow this winter to get out of drought conditions before spring, says an AgCanada agro-climate specialist. “We’re looking at 250 per cent to 300 per cent of normal snow accumulation or large snow accumulation added to early rainfall,” said Trevor Hadwen. […] Read more

The massive worm beds at Annelida Organics’ two production facilities house 70 million red wigglers, producing about 20,000 pounds of castings (poop) a day, says Brooklynn Fournier, the company’s agricultural account manager.

Edmonton company worming its way into plant food and ag markets

Vermicomposting: The worms turn waste into an increasingly sought-after soil supplement

Reading Time: 5 minutes Note: Her passion for red wigglers is legendary. To date her love letter to vermiculture has sold over 200,000 copies. She was, the Worm Woman from Kalamazoo. Mary Appelhof, a Michigan high school science teacher, is now considered the mother of vermiculture. An environmentalist who saw earthworms as a way to recycle food waste, Appelhof […] Read more


Soil electrical conductivity data can reveal a lot about a field, says Lewis Baarda, seen here placing an instrument called an EM38 in a sled prior to field mapping.

Could soil electrical conductivity maps give productivity a little jolt?

This easy-to-obtain data could be a way to use fertilizer and irrigation more effectively

Reading Time: 4 minutes You might get a charge out of this — measuring the ability of soil to conduct electricity, turning that info into field maps of moisture, and then using that info to fertilize or irrigate more effectively. Soil electrical conductivity is something that may already be measured on your farm. “Often if farmers are getting their […] Read more

It just makes “more sense to work with Mother Nature,” says Nora Paulovich, who has played a pivotal role promoting soil health practices in Alberta.

Research leader’s passion for soil health proves infectious

Reading Time: 4 minutes Nora Paulovich developed a passion for soil health during her years leading the North Peace Applied Research Association. Her legacy is that so many other Alberta farmers now share her belief that building soil health needs to be Job 1 on their farms. Cover crops, integrating livestock into crop production, and regenerative agriculture were among […] Read more


Its’ important to build a rotational system that incorporates diversity in plants and manage those pastures so the plants can continue to grow.

Schoepp: A solid foundation is key to resilience and can’t be neglected

This summer spoke volumes about the need for rotational grazing and regenerative practices

Reading Time: 3 minutes General Motors declared bankruptcy in June of 2009 after steadily losing money since 2005. GM’s plight has become a case study and is often used in education programs for directors on boards, but it also holds a lesson for farmers. During the time of its decline, GM was scrambling to produce a vehicle for everyone […] Read more

Farming is inherently risky, but there are ways to mitigate it and that begins with soil testing, says one Strathmore-area agronomist.

The ball game has changed but the fundamentals haven’t

After a bruising year, farmers need a game plan to lower their risk in 2022, says veteran agronomist

Reading Time: 5 minutes Start planning to minimize next year’s risk as soon as you’ve parked the combine — and that starts with fall soil testing, says agronomist Matt Gosling. “There has probably never been a more critical year in my 18 years of doing agronomy to soil test,” said the owner of Strathmore-based Premium Ag. “Soil testing is […] Read more


A 3-D illustration of Bacillus anthracis bacteria. (Dr_Microbe/iStock/Getty Images)

Anthrax kills southeastern Saskatchewan sheep

Spores forced up by changes in soil moisture

Dramatic shifts in soil moisture are again bringing anthrax spores to the surface on the Prairies, this time in a southeastern Saskatchewan sheep pasture. Lab results on Wednesday confirmed anthrax as the cause of death of one animal in a flock of sheep in the R.M. of South Qu’Appelle, about 50 km east of Regina, […] Read more

(MyLand.ag)

AGI to buy into soil microbe breeding firm

Machinery maker to take minority stake in MyLand

A U.S. company ramping up a system to harvest, reproduce and restore beneficial microbes from a field’s own soils, as a way to restore peak fertility, expects to get backing soon from a Canadian farm equipment maker. Winnipeg-based Ag Growth International (AGI) said Monday it has signed a conditional letter of intent with Phoenix-based MyLand […] Read more