An InVigor canola demonstration plot at Ag in Motion in 2019.

BASF announces InVigor seed treatment switch

Performance complaints earlier this spring led the company to switch gears on a recently debuted protection product

BASF will change the base seed treatment for InVigor canola hybrids in 2023 out of an “abundance of caution,” Brent Collins, BASF Canada head of seeds and traits, said Aug. 31. The company will remove Vercorace, debuted by BASF for the 2022 season as a broad-spectrum fungicide and flea beetle control, and release a seed

Flying bee

Neonic replacement not popular with farmers or beekeepers

They’re too expensive, ineffective and still harmful to bees, to cite just some of the concerns expressed

A proposed replacement for a key neonicotinoid pesticide is proving unpopular with everyone — including farmers and beekeepers. Farmers adopted neonic pesticides because they were safer and didn’t damage the environment as older pesticides did. With one of the three used in Canada being phased out, the search for replacements is on. Mark Brock, chairman


Canada’s top seed disinfectant

Canada’s top seed disinfectant

Our History: March 1953

Your seed treatment options in this ad from our March 12, 1953 issue included mercury-based Ceresan and Benesan, or C-I-L Bunt Cure, which was a non-mercurial treatment for wheat costing three cents an acre. Among the front page news items that week was the death of Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin at age 73, introduction of

Health Canada is calling for a three- to five-year phase-out of imidacloprid from farm use over potential risks to aquatic insects such as mayflies. (OttawaRiverkeeper.ca)

PMRA seeks phase-out for neonic pesticide imidacloprid

Canadian farm use of the pesticide imidacloprid, from the controversial neonicotinoid family, is facing a three- to five-year phase-out from approval over its potential risks to aquatic insects. Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) on Wednesday announced it had completed a re-evaluation of the pesticide and has kicked off a 90-day public consultation period,


Halo blight on a bean leaf. Since halo blight and common blight are bacterial diseases, they can be controlled with streptomycin, but the same antibiotic is critical for controlling human disease.

Antibiotic bean coatings under scrutiny

With growing concerns over antibiotic resistance in mind, 
bean blights will have to be tackled with blight-resistant varieties


For nearly three decades Health Canada has been threatening to end the importation of streptomycin sulphate-coated bean seeds. Now it is one step closer — sort of. “Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has not banned the import of streptomycin-treated bean seeds,” the federal department said in an emailed statement. “It should be noted,

Western corn rootworm larvae. (Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Ontario court rejects grower appeal on neonic rules

The group representing Ontario’s corn and soybean growers, seeking a stay on the province’s new restrictions for use of neonicotinoid seed treatments, won’t get its wish from the provincial Court of Appeal. The appeal court on Wednesday dismissed a March 9 application from Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) seeking an interpretation of the province’s new


VIDEO: Changing Times wants to change how you treat seed

VIDEO: Changing Times wants to change how you treat seed

Manitoba Ag Days 2016 Inventors' Showcase

Many farmers can purchase seed that’s pre-treated, but what if you wanted to go the DIY route and do it yourself? Changing Times is a manufacturer that makes both dry and liquid applicators so farmers can treat their seed on-site before heading out to go planting. How does it work? The dry applicator uses a sifting



honey bee pollinating a flower

Health Canada continues to assess neonic herbicides

There is debate over how much damage would be incurred by corn and soybean producers if neonics are banned

Health Canada is seeking more information from farmers and technical experts before it completes its assessment of neonicotinoid pesticides. A TV network received a leaked version of the report, which environmental groups said proved neonic pesticides should be banned. In an emailed response, the department said the draft report, which has been shared with agriculture

Grain Farmers of Ontario chair Mark Brock speaks with media Friday on the front lawn of MPP Deb Matthews’ riding office in London, Ont. (Ralph Pearce photo)

Pearce: GFO goes informative rather than inflammatory

It’s not that farmers in Ontario aren’t frustrated and angry concerning legislation aimed at curbing the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments. They are. However, during a protest Friday in front of Ontario Deputy Premier Deb Matthews’ riding office in London, executives with the Grain Farmers of Ontario and roughly 35 farmers took a more proactive