Proudly Canadian
Proudly Canadian
There is renewed interest in spring wheat, but growers are worried about the state of winter wheat already in the ground
Seed growers across Manitoba say wheat sales are up this year, while oats and barley are moving more slowly. “Our area is showing a renewed interest in spring wheat with some new lines that performed well in 2012 and better pricing relative to other cereal options,” said Craig Riddell of Warren-based Riddell Seed Company. “InBased on MAFRI cost-of-production estimates, winter wheat tops the charts followed by soybeans, sunflowers, and canola
With highly variable costs and prices, choosing the most profitable crop to grow each spring is a bit like throwing darts at a moving target. But farmers who seeded winter wheat last fall will be pleased to hear that their dart is likely to land dead centre, says Gary Smart, a farm management specialist withRecently retired plant pathologists Andy Tekauz and Jeannie Gilbert will be replaced, but the positions will be in Morden, not Winnipeg
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada isn’t easing up in the battle against fusarium head blight, says the director general for the department’s Prairie/Boreal Plain Ecozone. “Fusarium work is a high priority,” said Stephen Morgan Jones. “It is, along with the rust diseases, a very high priority for us.” Jones said two recently retired fusarium experts fromIndustry insiders say $2.2 billion will be pumped into wheat research in the coming decade and that will be a game changer
If research into the crop pays off, King Wheat is ready to elbow aside canola, say some industry experts. Seed and chemical companies are pumping up their research and will soon be turning out new seed varieties, treatments and fungicides, Todd Ormann, head of crop portfolio for cereals at Syngenta Canada, told attendees at the
