2010 Winter Wheat Variety Performance Data Now Available – for Sep. 2, 2010

To assist Manitoba farmers with variety selections this fall, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI) and MCVET (Manitoba Crop Variety Evaluation Team) is publishing the most recent variety descriptions and performance data for winter wheat. Farmers should consider a number of factors when selecting a winter wheat variety, including yield potential, agronomic and disease



Crop Dollars Washed Away

What’s the price tag to the crops sector from this record rainfall spring? Great question, but it’s very difficult to answer. Flooding damage to homes, businesses and roads will gradually be assessed with a high degree of accuracy. Replacement values can be estimated. You can’t simply rebuild a crop that’s been lost. Now that the

Bees Need Diverse Landscape To Thrive

If you’ve ever complained about there being too many bees around, consider yourself lucky. Pollinators – such as bees, butterflies and bats – are responsible for the continued existence of more than 70 per cent of the world’s flowering plant population. But they are significantly decreasing in number. By carrying pollen from the male to


Thoughts On Father’s Day

A man bought a house and decided to plant a special tree seed to commemorate the date when he bought the place. However, the seed did not sprout even though he watered it faithfully every day. He thought that maybe the following year it would start to grow better and faster. To his surprise, the

Early-Season Scouting Pays Off

Early scouting can help ensure canola crops make it through the first few weeks in good shape. “With the wet conditions, many growers across the Prairies are struggling to get all their canola acres seeded. In the rush to finish seeding, they must remember to scout those fields that have already emerged,” says Troy Prosofsky,


Bee Sensitive To Helpful Insects, Urbanites Urged

What do Mount Everest and honeybees have in common? Check out May 29. That was the day in 1953 when Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people to successfully climb the world’s highest mountain. Hillary was a beekeeper from New Zealand. This year, May 29 was the day proclaimed by Ottawa,

Midwife Crop Could Help Green Shoots Break Through

Aunique trial at the Brandon AAFC research farm will see if planting seed of other crops in the furrow along with canola can help the notoriously weak seedlings break through the soil crust and improve establishment rates. Research scientist Byron Irvine said that companion crops such as canary seed, flax, camelina, and golden German millet


Short Winter Eases Manitoba Bee Losses

“Weather is a big part of the losses in Canada.” – RHEAL LAFRENIERE, MAFRI Ashort winter may have moderated the loss of Mani toba honeybee colonies this year, following three years of abnormally high losses. Winter colony losses appear closer to traditional levels of 20 to 25 per cent, compared to annual losses of around

DuPont Says EPA Approves Optimum AcreMax I Seeds

DuPont said May 3 the Environmental Protection Agency has approved its Optimum AcreMax I, a product the company says will save farmers time and make it easier for them to use hybrid seeds. The decision, which was not unexpected, lets the company, also known as E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. , better