Dry Iraq Tries New Drought Resistant Grains

Iraq this year plans to start sowing a new generation of grain seeds it hopes will be more resistant to drought and soil salinity and could help bolster its wheat crop in a couple of years, an agriculture official said. The Iraqi government’s meteorological department last week said it expected three years of drought, and

Crop Report – for Sep. 1, 2011

SOUTHWEST REGION Little to no precipitation fell over the past week. Weather was favourable for harvest operations. Winter wheat and fall rye harvest is 90 per cent complete with yields below average. Most areas are reporting winter wheat yields in the 40 to 50 bushels/acre range with good quality and average protein. Several producers started


Daylily Division

September is a good time to dig up, move and divide perennials. Naturally we want to wait until late September or early October to do this for perennials which are still producing some bloom; there is no point in cutting short the bloom period as it is short enough as it is in my area.

CWB Sees More Wheat And Durum This Year

The Canadian Wheat Board raised its 2011-12 outlook for wheat and barley on Friday, as a warm, dry summer looks to produce bigger harvests than a year ago. Spring floods left an estimated six million acres unplanted across the Prairies, but a hot summer with timely rains has helped crops in Alberta and most of


Try Sowing Seeds For A Fall Crop

Late summer is the ideal time to start your fall garden. You may be able to grow a “second season” crop of your favourite cool-season vegetables and lovely fall flowers. Now is the time to gear up for some additional growing weather, which lies in the cooler season ahead. WHAT TO GROW Sometimes, gardeners don’t

Weeds Could Taint Crop Quality In Storage

Despite dry weather conditions for this year’s grain harvest, this spring’s wet weather may influence the quality of harvested grain when it goes into storage. Weeds may be present at harvest because wet spring weather meant many western Canadian grain producers were unable to apply their usual weed controls. If immature weed seeds are not


Crop Report – for Aug. 25, 2011

SOUTHWEST REGION Scattered rainshowers across the Southwest Region at the beginning of the week brought 10 to 30 mm in isolated events. Winter wheat and fall rye harvest is 60 per cent complete with yields reporting in the 40 to 70 bushels/acre range. Most areas are reporting average quality. Producers will be starting to plant

In Brief… – for Aug. 25, 2011

Correction:Due to an editing mistake, an opinion piece from Lydia Johnson which appeared in the Aug. 11 issue, contains the erroneous statement: “They did this fully knowing that they were going to ‘stuff’ this water into the already overcapacitated Lake Manitoba, which does have a proper outlet drain for the extra diverted waters to go


Unearthing The Potential

As I looked down at the thick mat of rotting vegetation PhD student Caroline Halde was holding up for me to peruse, it was hard to fathom – at first – why anyone but the most devoted of researchers would find this exciting. I was at the University of Manitoba’s Ian N. Morrison Research Farm

Joe Farmer Goes To Washington (Part 2)

Ihave to admit I didn’t pay much attention to Dan Glickman when he was U.S. secretary of agriculture for the Clinton administration in the late 90’s, but I did have a chance to listen to his keynote address at the Soil and Water Conservation Society’s (SWCS) annual meeting in Washington, D.C. What struck me was