winter wheat seedling

Winter wheat weathered Alberta’s wacky winter

Itching to check your winter wheat crop? Wait until spring seeding to give it time to recover, says Janine Paly

Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta’s weird winter weather conditions didn’t seem to wreck winter wheat crops across the province, says a local winter wheat agronomist. “From our spring assessment, the majority of the fields has very little damage, even with the unusual winter conditions we experienced across the Prairies,” said Janine Paly of Ducks Unlimited Canada. The Ducks Unlimited […] Read more

stripe rust on winter wheat

Stripe rust update for southern and central Alberta

Reading Time: < 1 minute Stripe rust continues to be reported in southern and central Alberta. Eric Amundsen at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge surveyed winter wheat fields for stripe rust last week and reported finding the disease in five of 12 fields (two in Cardston County, one field in each of Lethbridge County, County of Warner and M.D. […] Read more


stripe rust on wheat

Winter wheat stripe rust update

Four Alberta counties reporting, fungicide applications may be necessary in some cases

Reading Time: < 1 minute Stripe rust on winter wheat has now been reported in the following counties: Cardston, Lethbridge, Lacombe, and Warner. Additionally, there was a report of potential stripe rust in the Edmonton area and there is some evidence that stripe rust overwintered in Alberta again this year. Frequent scouting of winter wheat fields across the province is […] Read more






Janine Paly and student Kris Vaculchik assess a winter wheat project near Vermilion conducted by Ducks Unlimited Canada and Lakeland College last year.

Winter wheat uptake low despite big efforts to convince producers

The Western Winter Wheat Initiative wants to boost seeding 
to two million acres — but 2014 plantings were just a third of that

Reading Time: 3 minutes The goal is ambitious — convince Prairie farmers to plant two million acres of winter wheat by 2019 — but the backers of the Western Winter Wheat Initiative admit they have a steep hill to climb. Even though winter wheat yields were 32 per cent better than those for spring wheat in 2012 and offered […] Read more



South sees overwintering stripe rust

South sees overwintering stripe rust

Early-seeded winter wheat appears to be more susceptible even when resistant varieties are used

Reading Time: 2 minutes Researchers are continuing to monitor plots and a few fields for stripe rust survival throughout the winter and early spring. Evidence of overwintering stripe rust was found last year in central Alberta, and Agriculture Canada researcher Denis Gaudet has extended his stripe rust survey this winter to include some evaluations in southern Alberta. Eight winter […] Read more