Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization Archives

Keeping hemp company

Studying ways to maximize agricultural potential by underseeding hemp crops

By Don Norman December 12, 2018

One Manitoba agriculture research group is trying a few new things with hemp that involve the crop sharing the land. In 2017 and 2018, the Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization (WADO) conducted a study on relay and intercropping with hemp. With most of the data in from that two-year study, WADO’s Scott Chalmers spoke to an

Crops, News

Hemp quality starts at the farm

Good agronomy is the starting point to ensure food-grade hemp

By Don Norman December 12, 2018

Hemp processors are fixated on quality, and one of the most important links in that chain is at the farm level. Jeff Kostiuk, Hemp Genetics International director of operations, Central Canada, U.S. & international, recently spoke to an audience at the Canadian Hemp Trade Association Conference about what practices growers should work towards when considering

A tour attendee takes a closer look at quinoa variety trials near Melita.

Crops, Local news

To the bin or bust: quinoa a risky proposition

Producers find new challenges with the South American transplant

By Alexis Stockford October 3, 2018

Five years after planting his first quinoa crop, Ryan Pengelly of Tamarack Farms near Erickson has tasted success and failure. He’s placed his direct-marketed product on retail shelves and in farmers’ market stalls. He’s also experienced total crop failures other years. Pengelly, like other producers pioneering quinoa in Manitoba, is looking for agronomic answers in

Crops, News, Other

Intercropping coming closer

Research centres are building on their knowledge  base through the trial-and-error approach

By Alexis Stockford August 2, 2018

There are signs of both success and failure amongst the intercrop plots at Melita’s Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization. Some look great. Others are nothing but bare soil where nothing established. In others the crops aren’t playing well together and underseeded legumes are set to overtake the crop they were supposed to support. That’s just fine

Hairy vetch blooms mingle with hemp plants in WADO’s hemp-legume intercrop trials this year.

Crops

Mixing and matching intercrops with WADO

Results are in on last year's Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization’s intercrop trials

By Alexis Stockford January 10, 2018

Dry conditions and roving deer added extra challenge to intercropping in southwest Manitoba, but Melita’s Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization (WADO) still gleaned results this past season. Intercropping, also known as companion cropping, is an emerging practice in general. Farmers are drawn to it for potential overyielding, disease or weed management or increased water use in

Crops, Local news

Camelina worth considering for reseeding if other options limited

Smart Earth Seeds is contracting production, but it must be delivered to either Chaplin or Gull Lake, Sask.

By Allan Dawson June 17, 2015

With one eye on the rain gauge and another on the calendar, some Manitoba farmers are wondering about late-seeding crop options. Smart Earth Seeds, a Saskatchewan company, says camelina, is one to consider. There’s a long list of crops, including wheat, barley, oats, flax and buckwheat that can be seeded as late as June 20

Crops, News, Weather

Souris River silt serves up free fertility

By Daniel Winters August 10, 2012

Farmers soil testing in the wake of floods have found the silt left behind contained  surprisingly high levels of nutrients, including phosphorus and potassium

It appears there’s one upside from flooding — silt. After the deluge from the Souris River dried up, staff at the Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization (WADO) wanted to know what effect the flood had on research plots that were completely under water last summer. Soil tests of what appeared to be dark-coloured sand near the

Cereals, Crops, News

Breeder trials show winter wheat improvements

By Daniel Winters August 10, 2012

Winter wheat growers can look forward to superior new varieties coming down the pipe. A number of varieties, including Kestrel and Raptor, will drop out of the milling-quality Canadian Western Red Winter class and into the general purpose class a year from now. On Aug. 1, 2014, Falcon will also drop into the GP class.

Crops, Forages, Livestock

Winter Feeding System Saves Time And Money

By Lorraine Stevenson August 11, 2011

If there were more hours in the day, Wayne Heinrichs might never have taken up winter grazing. But bale shredding and refilling paddocks were taking the better part of an afternoon and those were hours the Brandonarea cattle producer didn’t have. So a few years ago, Heinrichs began looking at ways to extend the grazing

Cereals, Crops, Oilseeds

Canola And Peas “Love” Each Other

By Daniel Winters March 25, 2010

Results from intercropping trials are showing that planting two crops together offers higher yields than monocultures. It’s old hat for organic farmers, who have been seeding cover and relay crops since the days when Grandpa seeded peas and oats together, harvested them with a horse-drawn binder, and pitched the sheaves off a hayrack to his

Daily Network News

U.S. grains: Corn, soybeans higher in technical bounce; wheat firms

Bring focused approach to target systems, not producers says animal activist

Canada’s Food Price Report shows meat, pantry goods prices expected to rise “a lot” in 2026

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