Ahmed Abdelmagid, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), shared survey results at Manitoba Ag Days 2026 in Brandon earlier this winter.

WHY IT MATTERS: As white mould has become more common, it’s crucial for growers to pinpoint when and where the disease is likely to hit.

He said the disease, also known as sclerotinia, has emerged as the primary concern found during late-season field assessment, but noted that overall the intensity of the disease wasn’t high.

“White mould emerged as a most common one in 65 per cent of the fields surveyed … but the intensity was about 20 per cent,” Abdelmagid said.

The eastern region showed the highest severity at 72 per cent, while the southwest region saw the disease in 80 per cent of surveyed fields, though intensity remained relatively low at eight per cent.

The survey covered 72 fields across Manitoba’s six regions, with assessments conducted at both mid-season and late-season to capture diseases that appear at different growth stages. Manitoba producers seeded 1.6 million acres of soybeans in 2025, with 98 per cent precision seeded, achieving average yields of 45 to 50 bushels per acre.

Long-term challenge

White mould presents particular management issues because the fungus produces “survival structures” called sclerotinia that can persist in soil for up to 10 years.

“If it existed in one … field, this means it will last,” Abdelmagid said.

The disease requires specific environmental conditions to develop: temperatures between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius and high humidity. Weather prediction and field history are critical for determining fungicide timing.

“If you have seen it recently, like in the previous season, for example, or previous two seasons, this means you have duration,” Abdelmagid said.

The survey was conducted by Manitoba Agriculture field staff including Dennis Lange, provincial pulse and soybean specialist with Manitoba Agriculture.

While mould pressure was more severe in the later part of the 2025 growing season, Lange said.

“In that August time period, we had lots of growth in a number of fields, and we saw more white mould this year than we have in previous years.”

Management options limited

Looking forward, it’s important for producers to assess exactly where in their fields white mould is likely to show up, usually in fields that do not have a lot of air movement or have very dense canopy.

“Growers may want to adjust their seeding rates down a little bit, just to compensate for that excess growth,” Lange said.

If the canopy is wet at the time of flowering, that increases the potential for white mould, he added.

Producers should apply fungicides just before flowering if the field has a white mould history and weather forecasts predict high rainfall and humidity during that critical window.

Management strategies include crop rotation, using tolerant varieties, reducing seeding rates and implementing wider row spacing, though Abdelmagid said no soybean varieties currently offer complete resistance to the disease.

Other diseases

Beyond white mould, the survey identified other key diseases affecting Manitoba soybeans. Bacterial blight and septoria brown spot were common during mid-season surveys, appearing in 85 per cent of fields, though their overall impact on yield remained minimal.

Northern stem canker and frogeye leaf spot continued to appear throughout the season. Phytophthora root rot, while less prominent in the survey, remains a critical disease requiring both genetic resistance and seed treatments for effective management.

“Genetic resistance, in combination with the seed treatments, is so critical to manage Phytophthora root rot,” Abdelmagid said.

Abdelmagid said he hopes to work with North Dakota on developing a weather-based prediction system for white mould similar to systems used in Ontario, which would help producers determine optimal spray timing.

The post White mould tops 2025 disease threats in Manitoba soybean fields appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

In potatoes, the fungus Verticillium dahlia is the main cause of potato early die complex. In a 2021 interview with the Co-operator, Mario Tenuta, University of Manitoba soil scientist and main investigator with the Canadian Potato Early Dying Network, suggested the condition can cause yield loss of five to 20 per cent. Other research from the U.S. puts that number as high as 50 per cent.

It also becomes a marketing issue when stunted spuds fall short of processor preferences.

Verticillium in potatoes can significantly reduce yield and, being soil-borne, is difficult to manage.

Preliminary research results suggest earlier planting of risk-prone fields could reduce losses, in part due to colder soil temperatures earlier in the season.

Unlike other potato fungal issues that can be addressed with foliar fungicide, verticillium hides in the soil.

“Commonly we use soil fumigation and that’s very expensive,” said Julie Pasche, plant pathologist with North Dakota State University.

There are options. In 2017, labels expanded for the fungicide Aprovia, Syngenta’s broad-spectrum answer for leaf spots or powdery mildews in various horticulture crops. In-furrow verticillium suppression for potatoes was added to the label.

There has also been interest in biofumigation. Mustard has been tagged as a potential companion crop for potatoes, thanks to its production of glucosinolate and the pathogen- and pest-inhibiting substance isothiocyanate.

Last fall, producers heard that a new, sterile mustard variety specifically designed for biofumigation had been cleared for sale in Canada, although seed supplies for 2024 are expected to be slim. AAC Guard was specifically noted for its effectiveness against verticillium wilt.

Timing is everything

Researchers at NDSU want to study the advantage of natural plant growth patterns.

“What we’d like to look at are other things we can do differently, like verticillium fertility management and water management, as well as some other areas and how they may be affected by planting date,” Pasche said.

The idea is to find a chink in the fungus’s life cycle.

Verticillium infects roots in the spring. From there, it colonizes the plant, moving through the root vascular tissue and into the stem. This is the cause of in-season vegetative wilting, Pasche noted.

As it progresses, plant cells die, leaving behind tell-tale black dots on dead tissue. Magnification of those dots reveals what look like dark bunches of grapes — tiny spheres containing melanized hyphae, a resting form of the fungus called microsclerotia.

The dark colour comes from melanin, the same pigment found in human skin. This pigmentation protects the microsclerotia from ultraviolet light.

The post Early bird may dodge verticillium woes in potatoes appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“Because we produce so much beyond what we need for our domestic demand for food, we really do need to keep in mind market access and those requirements that we see with our export partners,” said Krista Zuzak, director of crop protection and production for Cereals Canada.

Why it matters: Non-compliance with regulations on pesticide residue can be traced back to the farm and can result in fines.

Zuzak was part of an online panel discussion sponsored by Keep It Clean, which offered pre-harvest tips to help farmers remain compliant with MRLs and other factors that can affect market access.

She was joined by Greg Bartley, Pulse Canada’s director of crop protection and crop quality, and Ian Epp, an agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada.

Keep It Clean is a joint initiative of the Canola Council of Canada, Cereals Canada, Pulse Canada and the Prairie Oat Growers Association, and is mandated to provide tools and timely updates on chemistry-based market access risks.

“The Keep It Clean program provides resources for on-farm best practices and focuses on how we can meet those standards for both domestic and export customers,” said Zuzak.

The program is structured around five principles:

• Only acceptable pesticides: Keepitclean.ca offers an annual product advisory list (updated at the end of April) that lists products that are off limits.
• The label is king: Read and follow the label before applying any crop protection product. Information should include application rate, timing, and pre-harvest interval, the minimum amount of time between the last application of a pesticide and when the crop can be harvested.
• Manage disease pressures: Outside of yield protection, weeds can bring market access issues that must be considered.
• Proper crop storage: Proper storage helps maintain crop quality and keeps the bulk free of harmful cross-contaminants. Storage bins should be checked regularly to ensure they’re kept cool, dry and well ventilated.
• Deliver what you declare: The Declaration of Eligibility affidavit is a legally binding document, and any incorrect information, intentional or unintentional, can be traced back to the farm and individuals held liable for the costs associated with the contamination of a bin or shipment.

Notes for pulses

Chlorothalonil is a late-season fungicide for chickpea growers and a hurdle for crops bound for the European Union.

“The EU has revoked these MRLs for chlorothalonil. If you’re using this late season, go talk to your buyer, make sure that they’re aware you’re using the product and make sure there are no marketing concerns,” said Bartley.

Glufosinate ammonium, likewise “has been on the advisory for a long time, and for good reason,” Bartley noted. “In Western Canada, if you do use this product on lentils, it will cause non-compliance.”

There is also the subject of pre-harvest glyphosate, although growers will likely run into the domestic threshold before it becomes a concern for trade.

“When we look at all of our major markets, the glyphosate MRLs are typically at a level that’s higher than the Canadian MRLs right now,” said Bartley.

Nevertheless, he warned that there is still a marketing risk due to consumer perception and the possibility of regulatory change.

“It’s worth a conversation with the grain buyer, just make sure there are no restrictions,” he said.

Notes for canola

As far as pre-harvest glyphosate in canola, “if we apply it correctly, it’s an excellent tool,” said Epp. “But there’s a heck of a lot of scrutiny under this product globally.”

Epp noted the importance of timing. Pre-harvest glyphosate may only be applied when grain moisture content is less than 30 per cent in the greenest part of the field.

“In canola, that’s 50 to 60 per cent seed colour change,” he said. “Getting that right and really scouting those green parts can be challenging.

“Top seeds are green and firm to roll, the middle ones are mostly brown with some speckling and the bottom ones are completely brown to black,” Epp noted. “Pods can look dramatically different, either riper or less ripe, than the actual seeds, so we need to be cracking open those pods and looking at the seeds.”

Other harvest and market access considerations for canola include pre-harvest scouting for blackleg.

“While you’re in the field swathing and spraying your glyphosate at 60 per cent seed colour change, pull the plants and look for the blackleg. You want to pull at least 50 plants. You want to look at a variety you know throughout the field,” Epp said.

Judging blackleg levels can guide any decisions to switch varieties the next time canola is planted in that field.

“Good planning can make this disease a lot easier to manage,” said Epp.

Notes for cereals

For late season applications of glyphosate, Zuzak said cereals should first reach 30 per cent moisture. She suggested using the thumbnail test.

“You apply pressure to a grain kernel with your thumbnail, and you’re looking for how the imprint reacts,” she said. “If the imprint remains in the kernel, it’s at that hard dough stage and it’s ready for a pre-harvest glyphosate application, but if it springs back, this is telling you that your moisture is too high.”

Zuzak said wheat, barley and oats may be accepted if they’re treated with pre-harvest glyphosate, but it’s important to check with a grain buyer before making the decision to spray.

The exception is malt barley, which will not be accepted by grain buyers if sprayed with pre-harvest glyphosate.

Chlormequat, known by its trade name Manipulator, also warrants a call to the buyer, according to Zuzak, and buyers won’t accept malt barley treated with saflufenacil.

“This one doesn’t originate so much from an MRL issue. The reason for restricting saflufenacil on malt barley has to do with negative impacts on the malting process,” she said.

Zuzak reiterated the importance of reading and following the label because “we really want to keep that market access open for all of our crops.”

The post Do you know your trade MRLs? appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Now, research by the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) along with the College of Agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan and Agrimetrix in Saskatoon is asking, ‘Can we make them more aerodynamic?’

Why it matters: Spray placement is already a complex equation of wind and other weather conditions, but how does air disturbance from the sprayer itself factor in? 

It comes down to air disturbance from the sprayer.

It’s simple to assume that a boom with nozzles pointed straight down is going to put that spray onto the crop or the soil. Under the best of conditions, this is true, but nature rarely provides the best of conditions. 

“Drift is not beneficial. We want to concentrate the spray in the area that it is desired and not have it go anywhere else,” said Lorne Grieger, PAMI’s director of technical sales. “When you’re looking at the sprayer, how it’s physically put together in terms of the structure and how it’s operated, we want to understand how that impacts the potential for spray drift.”

If you’ve ever watered a garden patch by putting your thumb over the end of the hose, you have an idea of how hard it is to get an even spray exactly where you want it. You’ll have droplets of all sizes going in several different directions. Some spots will get more water than others.

A hose nozzle from the local hardware store will do a better job of even coverage and give you options ranging from a long jet of water to a fine mist. Still, it may be confounded by a sudden breeze that can misdirect the stream. 

In the garden, this isn’t a serious problem. With a pesticide, it certainly can be.

You don’t want anything drifting across the road to do damage in a neighbouring field. You want to account for every drop.

Measuring disturbance

The PAMI team’s work started with a computer simulator to get a broad idea of where drops might go during application.

“We used a tool called Computational Fluid Dynamics, which is a computer simulation of air flows,” Grieger said. “Then we coupled that with the equipment to understand what the impacts or implications are with using the physical structure of a high-clearance sprayer.”

Modelling a moving sprayer is more complex than you might think. It’s a solid object moving through the air while it dispenses a liquid out the back from a long boom. As it moves, it sets up small eddies and whorls within the air. To make it even more complicated, that air is moving too. This can have all kinds of influences on where the spray goes.

“Part of the simulation process is simplifying… a very complex type of system,” Grieger said. “This allows us to break it down into something that can be modelled and can be solved.”

The computer separates the equipment into its component parts: the tractor, the tank and the boom. The software can calculate how air would move around the different shapes and how it would probably act in very specific locations.

Researchers can then tweak some of the inputs such as ground speed or wind direction and come up with a good idea of how the air will behave around the sprayer and how it will affect the spray itself. 

Once satisfied with the data, it was time to test the model in the real world.

“We did simulation work looking at a self-propelled sprayer operating in the field.” Grieger said.

Grieger’s team mounted several small anemometers — sensors to measure both the direction and speed of the air at several points behind the sprayer and around the boom.

“The intent of using the anemometers was to understand how laminar or how turbulent the air would be at various locations behind the sprayer and the boom itself,” Grieger said. “We wanted to understand the direction of the air. Is it going straight or is it going to the side? Or it also may be going up.”

That last option, he noted, would certainly have the potential for extra drift.

Laminar flow is a layer of air moving from one point to another, very much like the air flowing from a furnace vent. Under ideal circumstances, it will flow straight and unimpeded along the floor. Staying with the vent analogy, when the dog walks into the warm stream, curls up and lies down, there is suddenly an uneven obstacle that the air has to move around. The dog is now a source turbulent flow. If he’s lying on his back with his legs in the air, the effect is even greater, since the strange shape can cause the air to move in strange directions.

That sleeping dog is a simpler obstruction than a sprayer moving across the field. 

“The combinations of the physical components can impact what you see behind the unit itself,” Grieger said.

If there’s a slight breeze blowing, it may be a laminar flow straight over the square cab, but it starts to move in all kinds of directions as it meets the less regularly shaped tank, tires or the boom, with all its hoses and superstructure. These are the eddies that wind up slipping under the nozzles, thus influencing drift.

There were a few takeaways from the work, some of which echoed standard advice from spray experts. Grieger’s team noted lower drift potential in lower boom heights and slower ground speeds, although a caveat on that last point noted that varying conditions mean there is no perfect speed setting for spraying.

The other thing they found, however, was that the aerodynamic efficiency of the boom was affected by the width of the tractor portion of the machine. Nozzles closer to the end of the boom were less affected by turbulence caused by the machine in the middle.

Impact

What Grieger’s work was really developing was research methods for analyzing the engineering of future farm equipment. The ideas generated by this kind of research could contribute to the development of better simulation software and better design and operation of equipment like sprayers.

“This is the first step in terms of overall understanding. What does it look like in the field when you’re using a high-clearance sprayer? What does it do to your spray drift potential?” Grieger said. “And then, once you have the data, you can use that as a benchmark for making any adjustments or changes to the implement.”

The post The aerodynamics of crop spraying appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

But despite all the available chemistry, sclerotinia always finds a way to keep driving around untouched.

Mark Belmonte, a professor of biology at the University of Manitoba figures if you can’t use chemistry to gum up its gas lines, jam its gears or puncture its tires, then get into its chips and jigger with its programming.

“We’re using what’s called RNA interference,” Belmonte told the Manitoba Agronomists’ Conference earlier this winter. “It interferes with the processing of genetic information within the cell.”

DNA is a giant technical manual. Each page, called a gene, holds the design drafts for the different parts of a bigger machine that we’ll call the cell. Different genes hold the blueprints for different working parts called proteins and within a living system, there are a lot of distinct proteins doing a lot of different jobs. Sclerotinia, makes a set of proteins that it uses to invade, infect, and ultimately kill its plant host.

Each cell has the full manual locked in a vault that we call the nucleus. The assembly line, called a ribosome, is located outside the nucleus. It needs the information so it can make proteins, but it can’t access the manual directly because DNA stays in the vault. The cell must have a copy of the page delivered so the ribosome can read it and get to work.

To do this, the scribes within the nucleus print out a portable copy of the gene. The message leaves the vault and it’s delivered to the assembly line within a strand we call ‘messenger RNA.’ The ribosome reads the page, gathers a set of materials called amino acids and makes them into proteins by hammering them together in the right order.

“If that message is essential for growth or for development then, when we get rid of it, we can knock it down and knock it out,” Belmonte said. “The idea is that we can slow down the growth of the fungus or, ideally, kill the fungus.”

The trick is to intercept the message before the factory gets it, and rewrite it, designing new RNA to mislead the cell and disrupt its ability to produce the proteins it is supposed to make. The first thing Belmonte and his lab had to do was find specific genes that coded for vital proteins.

“We did MRNA sequencing of sclerotinia grown on plates and on tolerant as well as susceptible lines of canola,” he said. “So we generated huge data sets and made an algorithm to identify the best targets.”

These algorithms help to sort through mountains of data and find and identify particular proteins that the fungus can’t work without. Then researchers can find the gene, the page within that technical manual, that holds the blueprint for that protein. Once they know what to look for they can find the RNA sequence that carries the message. What they are trying to do with this RNAi, or RNA interference, technology is to silence that gene by keeping its instructions away from the factory.

“Once we can ensure the molecules we’re designing have no off-target effects we can make them in the lab and spray them onto the fungus,” Belmonte said. “And what’s going to happen is that double-stranded RNA is taken up by the cell.”

This is where the business really starts. The fungus takes the RNAi strands into its cells where it meets an enzyme called “the dicer.”

“And the dicer is going to do exactly what it says,” Belmonte explained. “It’s going to dice up these molecules into the short interfering RNAs and then it’s then going to target a specific Messenger RNA found within the cell.”

At this point a protein called Argonaute binds with it, lops off the redundant “sense strand” and becomes the RNA Induced Silencing Complex or RISC. It’s now a piece of hacked genetic code and the RISC complex takes it, hijacks a strand of real RNA and splices the new instructions into it. When the new strand gets to the factory that one piece of code on it tells the ribosome, ‘You know all that stuff I told to do? Don’t do any of it.’

It silences the gene so the ribosome makes no protein. It’s like telling an automotive assembly line not to worry about lug nuts, just put the wheels on without them. What comes off the line may look like a car but it certainly can’t act like one.

This is a new way of dealing with pathogens because researchers are not actually targeting organisms per se. They are taking aim at a gene and this means they can narrow their focus to very specific targets.

“We can start to move away from some of the traditional broad spectrum fungicides because we know there certainly are beneficial fungi out there,” Belmonte said.

Having said that, there are other pathogens, such as botrytis, that have some genes in common with sclerotinia. The future may see very tightly aimed molecular fungicides controlling a few different pathogenic molds while leaving the beneficial types alone. Plants could even be engineered to produce double stranded RNAs to confound fungal pathogens that are baked right into the mix.

“We’ve developed a topical, next generation molecular fungicide that’s able to protect the plant against disease,” Belmonte said. “The idea is that we can use RNAi technologies as a solution to improve global food security. We know that sclerotinia infects hundreds of different plants globally and causes billions of dollars in damage to growers and that affects their bottom line every year.”

The post Genetic attack cutting edge of sclerotinia fight appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The grace window given to the multi-site contact fungicide by Health Canada ran out as of November 2022.

The fungicide has been “a staple in the industry for fungicide use,” said Dan Sawatzky, manager of the Keystone Potato Producers Association.

“I think there are other chemistries that people can bring into the mix… it’s not that we’re completely dependent on this,” he added. “We’ll survive it.”

He noted additional costs associated with some of those alternatives.

Why it matters: Mancozeb is one of several priority potato pesticide ingredients in the regulatory crosshairs in the last 10 years, due to either their impact to human health or the environment.

In 2018, mancozeb’s registration was re-evaluated by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). The agency initially proposed cancelling all uses of the fungicide, with the exception of greenhouse tobacco, citing the environmental risks to small birds and mammals with foliar application, as well as human health concern for anyone working with the fungicide as a seed treatment.

In early 2019, with the public consultation window on the proposal closing, the government gave the Canadian Horticultural Society and Canadian Potato Council an extra 60 days to state their case for the product. Industry had previously argued that the PMRA’s evaluation had overestimated rates of mancozeb being applied. The industry groups released a survey meant to gather real farm data on mancozeb use, number of applications, rates, and other information.

In 2020, the PMRA said mancozeb still met the bar for human health and the environment when used in limited foliar treatments, although all seed treatments were on the chopping block, including potato seed pieces. Foliar applications were limited to eight a year.

[RELATED] Natural pest control still a challenge

All mancozeb products would have to have new labels within 24 months of the final decision, the agency said.

The PMRA also gave the industry two years to phase out sales of cancelled products, with one further year of permitted use.

Tracy Shinners-Carnelley, vice-president of research, quality and sustainability with Peak of the Market, said the transition away from mancozeb has been happening in the field. But that is not the only fungicide registration decision on her radar.

Other Group M fungicides have also come under re-evaluation in the last decade.

Chlorothalonil, an active ingredient in broad-spectrum fungicides Bravo and Echo, went under a special review last year, following its own re-evaluation decision in 2018. That decision had allowed a handful of foliar applications per year.

In February 2022, however, the PMRA proposed cancelling chlorothalonil for all food uses, taking it completely off the table for potato production. Current label uses were found to be unacceptable for both human health and for aquatic organisms in outdoor use.

Industry has three years to adjust.

Those types of fungicides “are really the backbone of a good disease management program for potatoes,” Shinners-Carnelley said. “They’re great tools for resistance management. They have a broad spectrum of activity and they’re cost-effective options.

“When we look at them as a group and look at the changes that have happened and the potential for more change and reduction in those uses, it’s really going to have significant impact in terms of how growers put together a good fungicide program.”

Producers will have to shift their philosophy on fungicide, Shinners-Carnelley said. Available products are increasingly specialists, rather than broad-spectrum Group M fungicides had control over both late and early blight, she noted. Now, she said, the trend is towards a suite of early blight products and a separate list for late blight.

“It does make it a lot more complicated for growers and agronomists to put together good programs that touch base and cover off all of these things,” she said.

Most potato producers do have agronomists to help absorb that more complicated reality, Sawatzky said.

The loss of mancozeb seed treatment is “unfortunate,”, particularly in light of the surprise special evaluation, he said. “But the PMRA is doing what they’re supposed to do and we have input on that process.”

The post Adjusting to the new fungicide reality appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Supply chain issues of all stripes have kept inventories of all kinds across the country depleted, even as spring approaches.

The list of ag products facing supply issues is long, and growing longer. Both crop protection products and fertilizer are caught in the net, according to industry, while producers have reported issues getting parts or certain feeds. Seemingly random shortages, such as a shortage of ear tags in both the pork and cattle sectors, have likewise extended the feeling of widespread shortages.

“We are concerned about the ongoing supply chain issues that will be facing Manitoba farmers this spring,” said Bill Campbell, president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers.

His own retailer has warned that crop protection products for a pre-seed burn-off may be thinner on the ground than usual, he said.

Why it matters: Global disruption, a supply chain ravaged by COVID-19 stresses and transportation shortages are among the reasons cited for the difficulties in keeping ag products on the shelves.

In a Feb. 1 release, crop protection company Adama urged producers to be more deliberate with planning their input supply this spring.

“We want producers to better understand supply chain interruptions and how they will impact individual farms,” general manager Cornie Thiessen said. “Our message is simple: Do what is agronomically right by planning ahead and have discussions with your retailers earlier than normal.”

It may also be time to shop around to different retailers or source from multiple businesses, Thiessen said.

“Farmers will need to be careful here,” he said. “Someone may take their order and even their money, but will they be able to fulfil an order? Suppliers may not be able to get product to retailers, and subsequently to farmers, in time.”

Glyphosate is among the products of concern. On top of a strained manufacturing and shipping environment being felt across industries, Bayer in mid-February announced a “force majeure” event (unforeseen events triggering what might be known more colloquially as an “act of God” clause) that would temporarily disrupt shipments of Roundup.

A letter, distributed to retailers by Bayer’s global head for active ingredient manufacturing, Udo Schneider, noted issues with one of the company’s ingredient manufacturers.

A “key raw material supplier experienced a mechanical failure in its manufacturing plant which leads to a substantial reduction in production rates,” and would take an estimated three months to address, the letter said.

A representative of the company’s Canadian branch later cited Bayer’s efforts to limit the impact, including stocking up on “additional materials,” Glacier FarmMedia reported.

Ray Redfern of Redferns Farm Service in Brandon is well aware of the looming issues. While it’s not yet clear how the Bayer announcement might impact his business, he said that his company made its orders earlier than typical — hopefully reflected in their place in line. He has also not yet received notice from any manufacturer that their orders will be short.

He and other retailers have also looked outside the North American market in the hopes of filling in any potential gap, he noted. Several truckloads have already arrived.

“On balance, I’m going to be optimistic for the moment that we will find a balance that looks after most of our customers,” he said.

He is, however, expecting that demand for certain products is going to run ahead of supply. As well as glyphosate, Redfern tagged potential issues for other products, such as those that include Methylcyclopropene (MCP) in the mix. And while there has not yet been confirmation that existing orders will be short, Redfern noted that some companies have capped orders on some products.

“We’ll have some products that we won’t get enough of to handle the demand if the demand is normal, or especially if it was increased due to the plant populations,” he said.

As well as glyphosate, the ADAMA release noted issues with glufosinate and MCPA.

Planning it out

Producers can expect more of an intellectual mix-and-match exercise when choosing herbicide, Redfern said. Producers may well have to spend more time looking for alternate products to achieve the same chemistry, he noted — something that puts more emphasis on the relationship between farmers and their retailer.

“We expect to have to be able to spend more time to be able to understand what products would work and to try and give growers alternatives to the one that they may have chosen to use themselves.”

Unlike fertilizer, however, stocking up early on herbicide is a less viable solution.

Crop protection, Redfern stressed, should be based on actual weed plant populations and scouting in the field, and is therefore a shorter-term decision made in season.

This may, however, be a year for more attention to non-chemical weed control.

More emphasis on things like seeding rates and crop competition may help set the producer up for success, should chemical control be less available, he noted. Timing could also go a long way to setting producers up for success, Redfern said.

He echoed the message put out annually by provincial weed specialists, who urge producers to tend to their weeds early, when the plants are most vulnerable and easy to spray out.

“This would be a year to try and make sure that you do all of those things to mitigate the weed population,” Redfern said.

It may also be the year for breaking with the company program, the Adama release suggested. Thiessen urged producers to prioritize agronomics over potential product discounts.

Clock ticking on decisions

Those who have not already taken delivery of their fertilizer may be in for a similarly tough time.

Fertilizer supply has been a topic of concern, and a source of several challenges for his company, Redfern said. As well as issues sourcing the product, the company has had to stockpile more than its typical stored supply.

Some producers are balking at the price of fertilizer, which has increased by an order of magnitude since last year, he also said.

While some farms weathered last year’s drought better than others, bolstered by high grain prices, Redfern noted that cash flow or credit issues have made some producers reluctant to lock orders in.

“We think that part of that is because usually booking means that we want to say, well if you want to lock in a price, we need more than just to say, ‘I’d like it in the spring,’” he said. “We need to have a commitment and in most cases it’s either a percentage or its purchase price. There’s a significant number of growers who didn’t have the biggest crop last year and so cash flow and availability of cash is limited.”

Those producers may be in for a rude awakening when it comes to last-minute fertilizer purchases.

While his company says it will try to accommodate farm plans, Redfern also warned that if supply issues limit availability, much like fertilizer did last fall, the company would have to prioritize orders that had been booked earlier.

Likewise, he warned against waiting in the hopes that urea prices might drop.

“Our view is that they won’t likely,” he said. “In fact, we would say that there’s every likelihood the longer the growers delay this and the more pressure they put on the system to respond, the more likely the price is to go up.”

In short, he argued, this is the year for early decisions and, if possible, an effort to store part or all of the fertilizer order on farm.

Campbell, meanwhile, also stressed the need for an early brainstorming session with the farmer’s chosen retailer, “having that knowledge of, will there be product there when I get to seeding or do I need to store some? What does it look like? What does the seeding intentions in North America look like and all of those things that they will have a better handle on than the individual farmer.”

“Relationships matter,” he said. “Make sure you have that conversation early. Go over your plans. Maybe have options. Look at all of the flexibility that you may have.”

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The normal function of silks is to facilitate seed formation, as sperm, when released from pollen, will travel up the silk to fertilize the egg.

This also creates a conduit for fungal pathogens which seek abundant nutrients and moisture.

“Many pathogens, such as fusarium, have figured out that if you go up through the silks you will end up in a future developing seed,” said study leader Manish Raizada, a professor of plant science at the University of Guelph.

“It’s a free passage along the silk road.”

Raizada’s lab focuses on finding beneficial microbes for crops. Many years ago his team found that some bacteria from seeds and roots when sprayed onto silks helped suppress fusarium and DON mycotoxin.

“It dawned on me, what if plants had actually put protective bacteria microbes in the silks, to begin with? It seemed like something natural selection, or farmer selection, over time might have happened.”

When they looked further into pollinated silks — fusarium enters the crop immediately after fertilization before the silks die — they found that pollinated silks contain 5,000 different species of bacteria.

“We were shocked, at the level of diversity,” said Raizada.

To test the effects of fusarium infection, the team compared microbe populations between silks treated with fusarium and untreated.

In the treated plants, many rare bacteria disappeared from the microbiome. Yet 10 to 15 kinds of bacteria increased in numbers after infection.

“This diversity was greatly reduced in terms of the microbiome, but the total number of bacteria went up, it actually doubled,” he said. “What’s going on with the silks is not random, it’s quite reproducible and so we think those bacteria that go up are somehow protecting the silks or damaging the fusarium.”

Raizada’s lab is now testing whether these bacteria, when sprayed separately onto silks, can protect against fusarium attacks.

“Now that we have revealed that this microbiome exists and have pointed out which bacteria are helpful, there is an opportunity through sprays or breeding to ‘stack’ good bacteria.”

The lab also found that the types and abundance of bacteria changed seasonally, as does the risk of the fusarium with changing weather patterns from year to year. This may be part of the equation.

“If we can understand which bacteria a plant needs to protect itself against fusarium, that is something that potentially we can breed for,” said Raizada.

If they can isolate some of these bacteria, a spray may be developed to either coat onto seeds, or directly spray onto silks. The other possibility is breeding.

“What we are seeing is we are now identifying pieces of bacterial DNA, and other bacteria that breeders could potentially select for to stack beneficial bacteria and perhaps to stabilize the ear from year to year.”

These findings are creating a new tool for producers as plants are beginning to develop resistance to fungicides on the market.

As well, fungicides are not providing efficacy against mycotoxins.

“Because we are focusing on the bacterial microbiome they won’t be susceptible to fungicides. You should be able to stack the bacteria with the fungicides,” said Raizada.

“Microbiome-assisted breeding, some fungicides and bacterial sprays is what will provide complete durable resistance across years, across genotypes, and environments.”

As well, a separate market is available for organic producers as they are not permitted the use of fungicides but can use bacterial sprays.

“I don’t want to say there are no downsides to this,” said Raizada. “The traditional complaint about the use of bacteria is that they are not stable. They may not work well across different varieties, different environments or temperatures.”

This article was originally published at Farmtario.

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At Crop Diagnostic School in July, David Kaminski, plant pathologist with Manitoba Agriculture, said 2019 was a challenge for producers when it came to timing fungicide applications. In this video, Kaminski discusses some of the conditions Manitoba producers faced this growing season in their canola and cereal crops and some of the factors at play they need to consider when deciding to spray a fungicide when protecting against sclerotinia and fusarium.

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Now Manitoba potato producers are being urged to share how they use the chemical as their industry attempts to preserve it as an aerial fungicide, and they have just days to do it.

Why it matters: Health Canada has proposed a ban on mancozeb for potatoes and other horticultural crops. Meanwhile, Manitoba potato producers argue that the ban will eliminate an aerial fungicide tool in a province very reliant on aerial application.

The Canadian Horticultural Society has released a grower survey detailing farm mancozeb use such as number of applications, rates or the pathogen being targeted.

“Right now, they make assumptions based on the highest rate in all the applications to understand how the environment and worker safety is being affected, but if they’re able to find out better data on what is actually happening, then we might be able to keep some of these products,” Darin Gibson, president and research agronomist at Gaia Consulting said.

He said it’s likely less of the product is getting into the environment than regulators are assuming.

The federal proposal would cancel mancozeb for all uses outside of greenhouse-grown tobacco.

Health Canada updated the PMRA’s proposed changes for mancozeb Oct. 5, launching a 90-day consultation period. The government later granted the Canadian Horticultural Society and Canadian Potato Council an extra 60 days to gather data from horticultural producers, including the potato industry.

“Environmental risks to birds and small wild mammals were identified for foliar sprays of mancozeb on all crops and were not found to be acceptable,” the federal proposal states. “Therefore, all foliar applications are proposed for cancellation.”

The scientific review found post-application risks for workers were acceptable for most agricultural use, but cited unacceptable hazards for those handling mancozeb during potato seed piece treatment, as well as seed treatments for barley, corn, flax, oat and wheat, with the exception of on-farm slurry application.

The survey is of particular interest to Manitoba producers, Keystone Potato Producers manger Dan Sawatzky said during the Manitoba Potato Production Days in Brandon.

Manitoba is historically reliant on aerial application, he said, and argued that local producers stand to be significantly impacted if aerial application of mancozeb is disallowed.

“Alberta is also an aerial province, but they don’t have nearly as much disease as us, and so they do not apply as many fungicide applications as we do,” Gibson said.

Only 135 producers had responded to the growers survey as of Jan. 25, 16 of which came from Manitoba.

Those numbers are not enough to paint a picture of grower use in Manitoba, Gibson said. Survey organizers are looking for more farmer participation.

The survey is available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/TWW76JJ until Feb. 8, 2019.

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