An early pasmo symptom is brown lesions on flax leaves.

Pasmo in flax every year, but severity varies

That makes decisions about applying a fungicide to protect the crop challenging sometimes

If you grow flax in Manitoba, it will have pasmo. The fungal disease, also known as Septoria linicola, can be found in every western Canadian flax field, every year. But the severity varies, making it tricky for farmers to decide whether to apply a fungicide, says Rachel Evans, the Flax Council of Canada’s extension agronomist.

This barn at the Glenlea Research Station will be retrofitted for dairy research.

Mechanization focus of new dairy research

Dairy research facilities to get update at 
Glenlea Research Station

Dairy research in Manitoba has got a $1.4-million boost. Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler made the announcement at the University of Manitoba last week, indicating the cash will be used to retrofit an existing hog barn for dairy research at the Glenlea Research Station, just south of Winnipeg. “It’s


Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay speaks during an event at the University of Manitoba.

Dairy issue to be contentious

As the first round of NAFTA talks wraps up, government reaffirms commitment to supply management

Canada’s minister of agriculture says concessions in non-supply-managed commodities will not be offered up to U.S. negotiators as a way to ensure the security of Canada’s dairy industry during the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. “I’ve never heard that said except in the media,” said Minister Lawrence MacAulay, following an announcement at

VIDEO: Hi-tech cultivator cuts weeds down to size

VIDEO: Hi-tech cultivator cuts weeds down to size

Inter-row cultivator uses a camera and computer to get rid of weeds

Mechanical weed control was one of the features at Crop Diagnostic School last month in Carman. Here, Katherine Stanley of the University of Manitoba explains some of the technology the Garford cultivator uses that allow it to remove weeds from your crop without damaging it in the process. Video editing by Greg Berg.


Dr. Yvonne Lawley of the University of Manitoba presents initial data in front of her newest line of plots evaluating the impact of tillage on soybeans.

To till or not to till? For soybeans that’s the question

The Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization is testing out planting dates and 
pre-seed tillage systems in its latest round of soybean experiments

Conventional wisdom says to break out the harrow before planting soybeans, the better to expose black earth and warm the soil, but new research is putting that assumption to the test. Dr. Yvonne Lawley of the Unive­rsity of Manitoba is measuring the effect of seeding date and different tillage systems on soybeans through several regions

Aphid mummies.

Assessing whether or not to spray soybean aphids?

There’s an app for that, but farmers still need to scout and take beneficial insects that prey on soybean aphids into account

Uncertain about applying an insecticide to control soybean aphids? There’s an app for that. It’s called the Aphid Advisor and it not only takes into account the soybean aphid population, but the population of six main insects that prey on soybean aphids. “Instead of having a fixed, economic threshold like we are used to having


Editorial: New opportunities

Editorial: New opportunities

Agriculture is often viewed, especially by outsiders, as a staid and conservative place where things are done by tradition. To be fair, it’s often true. After all, you’re practising a craft that’s 12,000 years old and the foundation of human civilization. Without farming we’d all be hunting and gathering our next meal with no time

Adding more nitrogen in crop, instead of in the fall or spring before planting, is one way to use nitrogen more efficiently. The 4R tour visited Tyler Russell’s cornfield near Carman where about 60 pounds of nitrogen was applied at the V4 stage. Depending on the crop, more will be applied just before tasselling.

Better nitrogen efficiency, now and in the future

The June 28 4R nitrogen stewardship tour looked at current research and tools that could be coming in the future

Increasing yields while applying the same or less nitrogen is good for farmers and the environment. It also sums up the goal of the 4R stewardship program. The four Rs refer to applying nitrogen to crops using the right source and rate at the right time and right place. “That’s our big challenge,” University of


VIDEO: Avoiding drift when spraying dicamba on Xtend soybeans

VIDEO: Avoiding drift when spraying dicamba on Xtend soybeans

Crop Diagnostic School: Terry Buss with Manitoba Agriculture offers some advice for producers

Tips to avoid drift when applying dicamba to Roundup Ready 2 Xtend Soybeans were part of the 2017 Crop Diagnostic School at the University of Manitoba’s Carman research station on July 5. Terry Buss, Manitoba Agriculture’s Farm Production Extension Specialist for Pulses, spoke with Manitoba Co-operator reporter Allan Dawson about what steps producers should take

Edward “Ted” Poyser, 90, now retired soils specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, can recall the work underway in the 1940s and onward, that went into the development of the Manitoba Soil Survey.

How Manitoba’s provincial soil was named

Ted Poyser, now retired soils specialist with the province vividly recalls the work that went into the Manitoba Soil Survey

Edward “Ted” Poyser doesn’t remember too much about the Manitoba village the provincial soil is named after. “Just that it wasn’t a very big place,” says long-retired provincial soil specialist now 90, who grew up on a farm at Austin, Man. Many decades have passed since he and his colleagues spent time there, digging and