University of Minnesota Archives | Manitoba Co-operator

A new algorithm can help tell pork producers a PEDv outbreak may be imminent.

Researchers create algorithm to predict PEDv outbreaks

The high-tech approach already has an 80 per cent accuracy rate

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff February 6, 2019

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed an algorithm that could give pig producers advance notice of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) outbreaks. The proof-of-concept algorithm has potential for use in real-time prediction of other disease outbreaks in food animals. PEDv is a virus that causes high mortality rates in preweaned piglets. The virus

Desmond Essien speaking at the New and Emerging Research session on December 12 at the Prairie Livestock Expo in Winnipeg.

Hogs, Livestock

Biofilters a natural way to control hog barn odour

Odour mitigation is an important question for the future of Manitoba’s growing hog industry

By Don Norman January 15, 2019

A new research project at the University of Manitoba is taking aim at hog manure odours the natural way. PhD student Desmond Essien is investigating the potential of using biofilters as an odour mitigation technology for use in swine barns in Manitoba. Essien spoke about his research at the New and Emerging Research sessions at

Canadian dairy cows produce roughly 8,500 litres of milk per cow per year.

Dairy cattle, Opinion

Opinion: Counting cows

By Suzanne Armstrong September 18, 2018

Comparing the shelf price of milk in other countries is far too simplified a way of trying to compare complex differences between complete systems of producing and marketing milk. The CFFO prides itself on considering agricultural issues not only from an economic perspective. Last week’s commentary considered the social impacts of Canada’s supply management system,

Melissa Pawlisch, director with the University of Minnesota’s Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) was a guest speaker at the Manitoba Sustainable Energy Association conference in Winnipeg earlier this month.

Local news, News

Clean energy can drive rural economy

Speakers call for switching out some of the $4 billion now spent on fossil fuel imports to Manitoba with homegrown renewable energy sources

By Lorraine Stevenson April 30, 2018

Businesses are powered by solar panels on rooftops in downtown Minneapolis while small towns across the state source solar energy from “solar gardens” and farms harness the power of the sun to power up their barns. Minnesota has become a leading U.S. state for its adoption of solar and other renewable energy sources, thanks to

Wheat stripe rust, seen here, and oat crown rust, are the subjects of a joint U.S.-Australia study.

Cereals, Did you know?, News

Winning the race against rust

The latest technology has scientists poised for a breakthrough  on this tough crop disease

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff March 5, 2018

With its ever-evolving virulence, rust is a disease of major global concern for farmers. Now a group of scientists says cutting-edge genome sequencing technology could provide a better path forward than the traditional approaches using fungicides. The scientists, from U.S. and Australian government agencies and universities, recently released the results in mBio, a journal from

It’s a crucial window to ensure soybean harvest quality as the crop comes off and goes into the bin.

Crops, Oilseeds

Avoid soybean loss during harvest, drying and storage

Shattered beans can badly affect the profitability of your crop

By NDSU Release October 2, 2017

Harvest timing can have a huge impact on soybean shatter losses, according to North Dakota State University Extension Service agricultural engineer Ken Hellevang. “Field losses, splits and cracked seed coats increase as moisture content decreases,” he says. “Shatter losses have been shown to increase significantly when seed moisture falls below 11 per cent or when

Soybean aphids in a field near Portage la Prairie photographed July 26, 2017.

Crops, Oilseeds

Get scouting, soybean aphids showing up in fields

When populations hit 250 and are still rising consider applying an insecticide, but don’t forget to take beneficial insects into account. There’s an app for that

By Allan Dawson August 22, 2017

Soybean aphids can now be found in many Manitoba fields and farmers should be scouting for them, John Gavloski, Manitoba Agriculture’s extension entomologist, said in an interview July 27. As of last week populations were generally well below the economic threshold, but some higher populations did exist, he said. Some spraying was going on in

Corn rows in a strip-till versus no-till study in Urbana, Illinois, which showed the strip-till areas had higher yields.

Crops

Is strip tillage the new black for Manitoba farmers?

By Angela Lovell January 30, 2017

The answer is ‘maybe’ — and probably ‘yes’ for sandy soils, but no research has yet been done in clay soils, according to University of Manitoba graduate student, Patrick Walther whose master’s thesis focused on soybean response to different tillage treatments. Walther compared four tillage treatments in soybean crops — standard double disc, vertical till

Crops

Enhancing N efficiency

There are products available to protect you from nitrogen loss,  as well as management techniques to apply

By Angela Lovell January 25, 2017

Leaching deep into the ground, gassing off into the atmosphere, soil denitrification from microbial activity — all ways you can lose your valuable nitrogen fertilizer. Finding ways to reduce these losses and help producers get more value from their N fertilizer is crucial, and that begins with understanding how these losses occur, said researcher Fabian

Cereals, Crops

Wheat hybrids possible but are benefits big enough?

Some wonder if the money would be better spent on open-pollinated lines while  finding better ways seed companies can get financial returns

By Allan Dawson January 13, 2017

It seems commercializing hybrid wheat has been just over the horizon for years, but it’s now on the market in Europe and Marcus Weidler, head of Seeds Canada, for Bayer CropScience, says the company is developing hybrid wheat for Canada. “Hybrid wheat in Europe is a commercial reality,” Weidler said in a Dec. 15 interview.

Klassen: Strong demand underpins yearlings

Bayer books second-quarter loss after settlement

U.S. grains: Wheat futures fall on U.S. export woes

GFM Network News