Paying farmers to store carbon in their soils is, at least in theory, a win-win scenario.

Editorial: The carbon credit reality

Canadian farmers, industry and governments should pay close heed to the recent announcement that one of Canada’s largest food processors has inked a deal to buy carbon credits from American farmers. Maple Leaf Foods will pay $20 per tonne to U.S.-based Indigo Ag for carbon stored on American farms applying soil-building practices. It represents a

John Deere says its new line of heavy harrows features a quick folding and unfolding sequence to help farmers move more quickly between fields. (Deere.com)

Degelman to make heavy harrows for Deere

Regina company reaches OEM agreement for new line

Major U.S. farm equipment manufacturer John Deere Co. has launched a new line of heavy harrows — and is going to Saskatchewan to get them. Regina equipment maker Degelman Industries announced Tuesday it has reached an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) agreement to provide Deere with a line of three heavy harrow models, the HH50, HH70


“Soils, wherever you are on the planet, were never formed with monocultures.” – Blake Vince.

This farmer sees cover crop benefits

It’s not just about the environment; it’s also about the bottom line

Farmer Blake Vince says he’s seen both benefits and challenges as he’s made cover crops part of his operation near London, Ont. At November’s Farm Forum Event virtual conference, he appeared by way of a pre-recorded presentation done weeks earlier at his no-till farm. Standing in the middle of a cover crop that was planted

The long shadow of the 1930s dust bowl may have resulted in an inaccurate assessment of wind erosion risk.

Soil erosion concerns overblown?

Academic says soil loss to wind erosion isn’t backed up by data

David Lobb has spent much of the last year challenging long-established beliefs about wind erosion. The University of Manitoba soil science professor and his team recently completed a study of the historical and contemporary evidence of wind erosion on the Prairies and the findings run counter to deeply rooted assumptions about wind erosion that have


Don Flaten.

Flaten recognized for outreach and community engagement

The soil science professor has been presented an award from the University of Manitoba

Don Flaten’s tireless efforts to engage and reach the province’s agricultural community have been recognized by his employer. The University of Manitoba has given him its Dr. and Mrs. Ralph Campbell Outreach Award “for meritorious service in outreach activities.” The honour is given to university staff members who “consistently invest countless hours of time and

University of Manitoba researchers Mario Tenuta, Don Flaten and Xiaopeng Gao, along with provincial soil fertility specialist John Heard, were at the field tour site July 23 to answer questions.

Self-guided 4R tour brings new research in era of COVID-19

Through video, University of Manitoba researchers presented new research on increasing nitrogen use efficiency in grain corn

Soil fertility specialists from the University of Manitoba brought the latest “4R” research to the public while keeping a healthy distance, thanks to an innovative self-guided field tour July 23-25 near Carman. “The beauty of a self-guided tour is that people can do it at their leisure,” soil ecology professor, Mario Tenuta told the Manitoba


Eight participants in the Manitoba Soil Science Society's drop-in tour Aug. 12 will be able to extract their own soil monolith for a $50 fee. Everyone must register to attend the tour and monolith extraction spots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Soil society modifies its Aug. 12 summer tour

Bus tour replaced with self-guided tour that requires registration

The Manitoba Soil Science Society (MSSS) has replaced its annual summer bus tour with an event Aug. 12 at three sites in rural Manitoba participants get to themselves, MSSS president Megan Westphal said in a recent email. The sites are near Elm Creek (Red River Clay), Haywood (Almasippi) and Bruxelles (Dezwood). Participation is free, however,

Canola stubble pokes out of the hills in Chad Berry’s direct-seeded potato demonstration.

Spud growers let soil lie

Under the Hill Farms is testing minimum-tillage potatoes on a field scale

Potatoes aren’t usually the poster child for minimal tillage. The reality of the planting, hilling and digging cycle usually means plenty of black dirt, some of it airborne. But dramatically reducing tillage is exactly what Chad Berry, of Under the Hill Farms near Glenboro, is trying to do. Berry’s farm, in association with Simplot Canada,


Seeding season is underway, but many producers are facing fields like this one near Somerset.

Filling in the trenches before spring seeding

Producers are trying to find time to deal with the ruts they left while scrambling to get crop in last fall

Manitoba’s grain farmers are still racking up the butcher’s bill from last year’s “harvest from hell.” Some are still trying to get last year’s harvest off the field, some have been forced to burn that unharvested crop thanks to fields too wet or crops too far gone to be worth combining. Some are trying to

Ray Archuleta (left) with his volunteers, (left to right): Mike Bennet, Tyson Dueck, Codie Dueck and Markus Dueck.

Spreading the word

Pioneers of regenerative agriculture speak in Rosa

In late January, U.S. conservation ag guru Ray Archuleta asked for four volunteers to come to the front of the room and help him with an experiment. Called the ‘slake test’ it was designed to demonstrate soil stability to the 100 attendees at a soil health workshop at the Shevchenko Ukrainian Centre in Rosa. Archuleta,