Greg Stamp knows that a higher seeding rate generally produces a better crop.

Western Canadian farmers may experience a few hiccups of their own when it comes to protecting their crops thanks to recent decisions by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) surrounding three common neonicotinoids. 

Yield and quality are not everything to farmers; they’re the only things. In agriculture, success is measured by numbers, and the statistics for barley yield in recent years do not tell a winning tale.

The implications for the development of self-fertilizing crops are enormous, but research is in its early days, said Bennett. His team is now focusing on identifying the genetic components and the associated microbes that carry out the process.

Launched in 2015, 4P, which stands for “public, private and producer partnership,” includes Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Canterra Seeds and the Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC). The pact is aimed at improving CPSR varieties.

Lower tire pressures in field equipment can reduce compaction while increasing yields, fuel efficiency and tire life. Advancements in central tire inflation (CTI) systems are making it easier for farmers to toggle efficiently between safe tire pressure for road travel and optimum pressure for field operations.

Present in this province for almost a century, stripe rust is not new to Alberta cereal farmers. However, disease outbreaks have been increasing in frequency and severity, creating a push for research into better management of rust.

The 2017 Alberta Weed Survey took two years to complete and was carried out by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) with funding from the Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC), Western Grains Research Foundation, the Alberta
Pulse Growers Commission and the Alberta Canola Producers Commission. The previous Alberta survey was carried out in 2010.

Barley was once a dominant crop on the Canadian Prairies, with farmers planting nearly 14 million acres of the golden grain in 1971. By 2017, however, the number fell to just under six million acres. Farmers, faced with depressed prices and slowly declining yields, have been switching to more profitable crops.

No longer the stuff of science fiction, the invasion of farms by robots is imminent. Dubbed mobile agricultural robotic swarms—or MARS, for short—they are now primarily geared to seeding maize, but such vehicles are expected to eventually carry out various field tasks.