Saskatchewan farmers grow field crops – including canola – in one of the harshest climates for farming in the world. Our growing season is short, our winters are (very) cold, our summers are hot, and there is often too much or too little rain. After decades of farming in these conditions, Saskatchewan growers have become...

Social media has opened a window into the lives of farmers that has never existed before. On any given day you can check in with The Tulepps, and many others in the agricultural community, as they post about what they are doing and why they are doing it, with full transparency. Sisters Stefanie and Cassandra...

Farmer Panel

What do you do with data?

Data, data everywhere but not a way to use it. That may be how farms feel when they consider combine yield maps, thumb drives, computer spreadsheets, notebooks (paper and phone) and wonder how to make better use of it all. Canola Digest asked its six panelists, how do you put your data to work? Melissa...

Feature

The rise of verticillium stripe

Verticillium stripe’s prevalence has been on a steady upward trajectory in the Eastern Prairies. In Manitoba, it was found in 38 per cent of canola fields surveyed in 2022 – a level similar to sclerotinia stem rot. But severity remains uncertain. Researchers don’t know if it causes sclerotinia levels of yield loss.

Feature

Using data to map the profitability of VR

Wayne Schneider, an Alberta Canola director who farms at Nisku, is back using variable-rate (VR) fertilizer applications on his farm – but he doesn’t know whether it provides a return on investment. “Right now, I can’t answer that question,” he says. Schneider is working with Conservis, a farm data management company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota,...