The frost that hit much of agro-Manitoba May 30 only caused light damage for the most part but it's one more stress along with growing flea beetle feeding in canola, cutworms in various crops, packed soils and hot dry winds. This frost damaged canola seedling was photographed near Starbuck May 31.

MASC records more than 480 reseeding claims so far

Flea beetles, wind, crusted soil and frost have been the main perils

After the harvest from hell last fall Manitoba farmers are struggling with spring seeding setbacks. As of June 4 the Manitoba Agricultural Service Corporation (MASC) had received more than 480 reseeding claims representing 130,000 acres, due to perils including frost, flea beetles, crusted soils and hot, dry winds, or a combination of some or all,

Seeding nearly complete across province, flea beetle spraying ongoing

Manitoba Crop Report and Crop Weather report for June 9

Southwest Region Very hot and windy conditions started the week. Blowing soil in much of the southern parts of the region on Thursday and Friday. Rain fell over the weekend, which was much needed in some areas. There is some standing water in low-lying areas from thunderstorms near Brandon. There are also reports of a


High winds, recent frost hurts crop development

Manitoba Crop Report and Crop Weather report for June 2

Southwest Region Some scattered showers in the southwest region last week. St. Lazare and Russell received 4 to 7mm respectively. Crops need some good moisture in some areas of the region, as soil surface is quickly drying with very windy conditions. Temperatures were variable throughout the week. Daytime highs were normal; while nighttime lows dropped

(Dave Bedard photo)

Insurance customers’ contact info dropped into MASC email

Crown crop insurance agency warns of privacy breach

A contact list of crop insurance customers at Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. has gone out via email to several dozen of the Crown ag insurance agency’s customers. MASC on Monday said a file containing names and contact information of an unspecified number of AgriInsurance clients was “attached in error” to an email sent last Tuesday


One might suspect the wilted sunflower seeding on the right was damaged by frost May 30, but Anastasia Kubinec, Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development's (MARD) manager of crop industry development, says a cutworm was the culprit. She says farmers should be checking their fields for more than frost damage right now.

Frost was mostly light, but check your fields for other crop stressors right now

Flea beetles and cutworms are on the rise, while packed soils and dry hot winds are other things to watch for

[UPDATED: June 2, 2020] Potential frost damage might be the least of the many crop stressors Manitoba farmers see as they scout their fields the next several days. “Frost is just one of the factors we’re looking for right now,” Anastasia Kubinec, Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development’s (MARD) Manager of Crop Industry Development, said in



This field of soybeans near Altamont was snow covered Oct. 17, 2019, but was eventually harvested last fall. However, more than 400,000 acres of annual insured crops weren’t harvested as of Nov. 20, 2019.

What acres remain from harvest 2019 unclear

It’s believed a lot of corn and sunflowers were combined this winter, but it’s not clear how much of other crops remain to be harvested

Last fall thousands of acres went unharvested because of wet conditions. How much crop was taken off between then and now is unknown, as are the number of acres still worth harvesting. “From what we understand most producers really haven’t been able to address their unharvested acres in any fashion either to combine it, or destroy it, or whatever,” David Van Deynze, Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation’s

File photo of a sunflower crop in Manitoba. (MysticEnergy/Getty Images)

Strong demand supports sunflowers

MarketsFarm — Global demand for sunflower oil is steadily increasing, according to Scoular’s Robert Deraas. Deraas, director of the Scoular Co.’s sunflower and bird food division, explained Wednesday at CropConnect in Winnipeg that the majority of Canadian sunflowers are grown for oil purposes. Increases in demand are driven largely by health-conscious consumers who use sunflower


2019 was a crop year full of surprises

2019 was a crop year full of surprises

It was a challenging year, but the data shows there were still some surprising good yields

There were lots of surprises during the 2019 growing season, including just how well many Manitoba crops yielded, on average, despite challenges from April to November. The good, bad and ugly are captured in Yield Manitoba 2020, out this week with the Manitoba Co-operator. Of the 13 insured Manitoba crops under the microscope for the

Members of the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association voted 66-16 at CropConnect on Feb. 13, 2020 in favour of their group’s merger into the Manitoba Crop Alliance. (Manitoba Co-operator photo by Geralyn Wichers)

Manitoba growers approve five-way commodity group merger

Manitoba grain growers represented by five separate commodity organizations have voted to greenlight a merger they now expect to make official by August. A total of 165 ballots were cast Wednesday and Thursday during the groups’ annual general and special meetings at the CropConnect conference in Winnipeg, with members at the various events voting between