Conservation congress comes to Winnipeg

staff / The Sixth World Congress on Conservation Agriculture will be held in Winnipeg in June 2014. “That conference will showcase Canadian farm developments such as no-till farming systems to the world,” says Don McCabe, president of Soils Conservation Council of Canada. “The Beneficial Management Practices employed in conservation agriculture are the backbone of sustainability.

Fall Tillage: Downsides Outweigh The Positives

Canola Council of Canada Growers have made great strides in advancing no-tillage and conservation-tillage practices. General benefits include reduced fuel use, reduced soil erosion, higher soil moisture reserves (which are welcome most years), and a general increase in profitability. Any return to tillage, even if only one field or across the whole farm for only


Assistance Available For Restoring Eroded Land

Before some Manitoba farmers seed next spring they have weeds to work down, others have ruts to smooth out, while some have big washouts to repair in the wake of spring flooding. Farmers can apply for financial assistance to restore farmland scarred by water erosion, an official with Manitoba’s cabinet communications said last week. Each

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


Crop Report – for Jun. 30, 2011

SOUTHWEST REGION The Southwest Region received 15 to 60 mm of rainfall over the past week. There was little change in seeding progress. Some producers worked on planting greenfeed, but rainfall brought seeding operations to a standstill. All crops are showing the effects of the wet conditions. Majority of crop that was broadcast seeded still

Reading The Small Print In The Soil

What is a healthy soil? It is difficult to def ine that term so we prefer to use the term soil quality. Soil quality can be measured in terms of organic matter, fertility, texture, salinity, cation exchange capacity, pH and a number of other factors, all of which have identifiable quantitative numbers that can be


Climate Change A Mixed Bag For Farming On The Prairies

In an 1860 report to the British government, Captain John Palliser recommended against settling the southern Canadian Prairies because he considered the area too arid and poorly suited for farming. Now, a century and a half later, his words may be prescient. The Palliser Triangle, a 200,000-square-km area named after the 19th century explorer and

Researchers Peg GHG Value Of Wetlands

Farmers who switch to zero tillage may brag about sequestering climate-altering carbon in their soil. But if they also drain a few swamps on their land, they’re just spewing hot air – or rather, greenhouse gases. That’s called “leakage” in the carbon credit market: the taking on of one agricultural practice to offset greenhouse gas


Volunteer Corn Reduces Yield In Corn And Soybean Crops

Ohio’s Purdue University Extension Service reports that volunteer corn is causing major yield reductions to both corn and soybean crops. With 70 per cent of Indiana’s annual corn crop resistant to glyphosate, volunteer corn has become increasingly difficult to control. “We’re rotating Roundup Ready corn with our soybean crop, which is typically 95 per cent

No-Tillers Tap Benefits Of Underground Livestock

North Dakota grain farmer Glenn Bauer is reaping the benefits of “livestock” in his operation – but you’d need a microscope to see most of them. “We don’t have any cows, but we’ve got a lot of livestock that we try to feed below the surface,” Bauer said during a panel presentation on no-till soil