Bees and insect predators can help boost yields and cut losses, but farmers have to provide a good home
Shelterbelts don’t just keep topsoil from blowing way. They also provide homes for pollinator species, a group that includes butterflies, beetles, birds, wasps, flies – and even monkeys in some countries. But far and away the most effective of all are the bees, said Mark Wonneck, an ecologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. “They areShelterbelts the bee’s knees for pollinators
A sight for sore noses
Livestock barns with shelterbelts around them smell better because they look better, says Iowa University researcher
Intensive livestock operations are tremendously efficient at converting grain into meat. But all those animals gorging themselves under one roof generate a lot of odoriferous byproducts. Shelterbelts, known in academic circles as vegetative environmental buffers (VEB), can help such operations stay on friendly terms with neighbours downwind by trapping and dispersing odours. What’s more, beautifyingSouris River silt serves up free fertility
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 theRaw power on display
There’s horsepower and then there’s horse power. On the final day of the North American Belgian Championships, a small crowd at the main arena of Brandon’s Keystone Centre witnessed a stunning display of men and heavy drafts testing the outer limits of muscle, bone and blood. In the end, it was a combination of youth,
Breeder trials show winter wheat improvements
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.
KAP on board with N.D. fertilizer plant project
Keystone Agricultural Producers is joining the North Dakota Corn Growers Association’s bid to build a farmer-owned nitrogen fertilizer plant. With a feasibility study already completed, and sites in eastern North Dakota being examined for the $1.5-billion plant, the project is moving towards the business-planning stages. Following consultations with commodity groups with the organization, KAP has
Province says Shellmouth flooding couldn’t have been prevented
Farmers downstream maintain that province’s “blame it on the rain” position doesn’t hold water
This year’s flooding of cropland along the Assiniboine River downstream from the Shellmouth Dam couldn’t have been prevented, according to the province. “The Assiniboine Valley producers are farming vulnerable, low-lying Assiniboine Valley lands. In the 2011 and 2012 flood years, the inundation of crops was a natural occurrence,” according to a new report by theCommunity rallies around vet given her walking papers
Keri Hudson-Reykdal is fighting to keep her job and already has over 500 signatures in petition of support
The Ashern & Area Veterinary Board’s decision not to renew a popular local veterinarian’s annual contract has triggered an outpouring of support and calls for the decision to be rescinded. Dr. Keri Hudson-Reykdal — who has provided her services to the local community for 12 years, married a local third-generation rancher, and put down rootsBlame the ditches for downstream woes, says border farmer
Ducks Unlimited expert says many farmers aren’t obtaining drainage permits because “it’s much easier to dig the ditch and then beg forgiveness later”
If farmers along the Assiniboine River are wondering where all that water came from this spring, Peter Onofreychuk believes he has a pretty good idea. On a giant aerial photo unrolled on his kitchen table, the farmer from MacNutt, Sask., shows where drainage ditches have been dug on land upstream from him by a 12,000-acreExpert says climate change may be driving floods
Climate data suggests weather patterns are changing and flooding on the Assiniboine River may become more frequent, says John Pomeroy, director of the University of Saskatchewan’s Centre for Hydrology. It’s not just the three consecutive years of heavy spring rains that concern the professor, who is also a Canada research chair in water resources and
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