Lady beetle making a meal out of aphids.

Participants wanted for on-farm study of flowering habitats

Study will look at impact of flowering habitats for pollinators, natural enemies of pests

Pollinators and natural enemies of pests may improve the health of agroecosystems. Have you considered practices to enhance them on your farm? If so, we want to partner with you for an on-farm project. Project Establish flowering plants at crop field margins to determine if this habitat increases crop productivity by increasing pollinators and natural

Doing the math on intercropping

Doing the math on intercropping

Rocket science starts to look easy when farmers delve into the complexity of this system

On the surface intercropping is a simple idea — grow two crops together in one field and take advantage of the synergies that result. Proponents say it helps build the farm’s bottom line and soil health while lowering dependence on expensive inputs. But underneath that simple idea is an array of complicated decisions and compounding


Yvonne Lawley (l) presenting tillage research to growers at a field meeting last summer.

Soybeans raise tillage issues

As the low-residue crop creeps into new areas, new techniques are needed

Agriculture researcher Yvonne Lawley doesn’t want Manitoba farmers to rethink soybeans — she wants them to consider techniques to incorporate them into their production system more safely. The University of Manitoba professor says the crop’s earned a reputation as a soil buster, and at times that’s warranted. But they also bring a lot to the

Blain Hjertaas takes attendees through the carbon and hydrological cycle during a March 14 workshop on agriculture and climate change in Pipestone.

Confronting climate change through the power of plants

Carbon sequestration was front and centre as producers gathered in Pipestone to ponder how agriculture could change the conversation around climate change

Blain Hjertaas insists farmers already have the key to solving climate change. It’s growing in their fields. Ground should never be bare, the holistic management instructor argued in Pipestone March 14, part of an event dissecting agriculture’s role in climate change. Hjertaas argued that conventional annual cropping leaves gaps in early spring and in fall


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

Mixing and matching intercrops with WADO

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

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

Yearlings and dry ewes graze on rotational perennials -- grass plants, legumes, and forbs -- at Menoken Farm, a demonstration farm just east of Bismarck, N.D.

Cover crops ‘essential’ to in-field grazing

Confined livestock do little to help build soil health

Got cows? On your cropland? Jay Fuhrer certainly hopes so. The soil health specialist believes cropland and large ruminants are a natural fit. He advocates turning animals out of the barn and onto the land whenever possible. “Soils, plants and animals evolved together,” he told producers gathered in Winnipeg for the annual Dairy Farmers of


The University of Manitoba’s Martin Entz, an agriculture professor and cropping systems specialist, suspects reduced tillage and organic production may not be mutually exclusive.

Can organic no till work in the field?

Environmental benefit is part of organic market value, but organic weed management usually means tillage, commonly considered a black mark for soil health. Is there a middle ground?

Hairy vetch may be the key to reducing tillage in organic farming, at least in the short term. Martin Entz, a professor and agriculture systems expert from the University of Manitoba has been looking at mulches for organic weed suppression, rather than the tillage typically used. “We found that when we used the right mulch,

Ryan Boyd discusses his experiment interseeding winter wheat with soybeans during a June 29 field tour at his operation north of Forrest, Man.

Polycropping soybeans and winter cereals

Ryan Boyd says an RTK guidance system is his first, but not his last foray into precision agriculture

Ryan Boyd is hoping winter cereals and soybeans will be a match made in polycrops heaven. The Forrest-area producer has previously experimented with cover crops and mob grazing in order to increase soil organic matter and infiltration, but this year has turned his gaze to precision agriculture. His operation was the focus of a June


It’s time to make soil great again

It’s time to make soil great again

Continuing to lose topsoil will make it harder to feed a growing population

David R. Montgomery is a professor of earth and space sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is author of the award-winning non-fiction book, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, and his latest book, Growing A Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life was to be released in May. This article was originally published

Speaker Clayton Robins gives a first-hand account of cover crops as used on his own operation in Rivers, Man., Mar. 1.

Soil management, cover crops and recouping costs explored

Farm-specific cover crop integration was the backbone of the latest Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association grazing club workshop

Clayton Robins knows something about fighting soil salinity. His farm, located near Rivers, Man., sits on top of what he’s described as “starry night” soil, speckled with white pockets of high salt content. It’s an issue he says has largely disappeared since he first added a secondary NS simultaneous crop focused on soil management rather