Inputs - by Top Crop Manager

Looking to spice up or lengthen your rotation? For the past five years, the Diverse Field Crops Cluster (DFCC) has been working to make the decision to include special crops in your operation easier.

Led by Ag-West Bio and with funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) program and industry partners, the DFCC is supporting research and development of flax, camelina, canaryseed, sunflower, hemp, quinoa and mustard.

In this episode of Inputs, Eastern editor Alex Barnard is joined by:

• Carol Ann Patterson, DFCC project manager;
• Rick Mitzel, DFCC's mustard crop sector member and executive director of SaskMustard;
• Carlene Sarvas, DFCC's camelina crop sector member and camelina production lead at Smart Earth Camelina; and
• Jeff Kostuik, DFCC's hemp crop sector member and general manager of Verve Seeds.

The five discuss the purpose of DFCC, three of the seven crops included in the cluster, and what the project has achieved so far.

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• Diverse Field Crops Cluster website
• Mustard
• SaskMustard website
• Mustard production manual
• Cory Jacob, Saskatchewan oilseed specialist
• Camelina
• Smart Earth Camelina website
• Hemp
• Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance website
• Hemp production eGuide

Support for this episode provided by Nutrien eKonomics and Farm Credit Canada (FCC).

Pea seed-borne mosaic virus (PSbMV), first identified in Canadian field pea breeding lines in 1974, is an economically damaging pathogen affecting pulse crops, including field pea, lentils and fababeans. Its symptoms on pulses include mosaicked leaves, delayed or uneven crop maturation, and various forms of seed and pod deformation. 

Dr. Sean Prager, entomologist and associate professor in the department of plant sciences at the University of Saskatchewan. Prager runs a lab that focuses (mainly) on insect ecology and management, and is involved with a project looking at pea aphids as a vector of infection for PSbMV.

In this episode, Prager speaks with Inputs co-host Dylan Sjolie about what PSbMV is and how to recognize it in pulse crops, management options, and the recently funded PSbMV project with which he's involved. 

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• You can reach Prager on Twitter at @USaskEnt or via email at [email protected]
• Learn more about Prager's research at Prager Lab
• More information on project objectives can be found here: Saskatchewan Agriculture Development Fund

Support for this episode provided by AGI.

The Living Laboratories initiative, introduced by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in 2018 and implemented in several provincially organized labs in the intervening years, has been reframing the relationship between research and innovation. A collaborative effort between producers, industry groups and researchers, Living Labs projects examine practices in the field and emphasize evolution over replicability.

Tracey Ryan, applied research co-ordinator with the Ontario Soil and Crops Improvement Association (OSCIA) and co-lead of Living Lab-Ontario, discusses the six current projects taking place in Ontario, the learning curve involved in getting the moving pieces to work together, and the future of Living Lab-Ontario. 

 Never miss an episode of Inputs by subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Show notes

• OSCIA: Living Lab-Ontario
• Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFAO)
• Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO)
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada: Living Labs initiative
• Top Crop Manager: An innovative approach to advancing innovation

Support for this episode provided by Nutrien Smart Nutrition and Farm Management Canada (FMC).

Insect pests are a fact of life in agriculture. Having an idea of what coming in the season ahead is just one of the benefits of tracking what's in your fields and knowing what's happening in the fields a town – or a province – over. Thanks to a group of entomologists and ag collaborators, the Prairies are being kept well-informed.

In this episode of Inputs, co-host Dylan Sjolie speaks with Meghan Vankosky, an agricultural entomologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Saskatoon Research and Development Centre and co-chair of the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network (PPMN). She discusses the PPMN – what it is, how it came to be, and what insects it mainly monitors – as well as insect trends observed on the Prairies in 2022 and what the population maps indicate is likely to happen in 2023.

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• Meghan can be reached on Twitter (@vanbugsky) and by email at [email protected] 
• Prairie Pest Monitoring Network: https://prairiepest.ca/
• Saskatchewan producers can sign up to participate in pest surveys at saskatchewan.ca/pest-monitoring 

Support for this episode provided by FCC Next-Gen.

What information do canola growers need to improve their crop? The Manitoba Canola Growers Association set out to answer this question in 2022 through a survey and coordinating trials led by research manager Sonia Wilson.

Wilson joins co-host Dylan Sjolie in this episode to share details about her goals and position within the association, and insights about the trials conducted in 2022. With three different trials in 12 site locations, the Manitoba Canola Growers Association compiled data, now available on their website, to help canola growers in the province make better decisions.  

Never miss an episode of Inputs by subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Show notes:

• Visit the Manitoba Canola Growers Association on Twitter @CanolaGrowers
• View more information and results from the Canola On-Farm Research Program
• Reach Sonia via email

Farming is an innovative business, and managing resistance is one area where that shines especially bright. Many farmers who deal with resistance – whether herbicide-resistant weeds, insecticide-resistant insects, or fungicide-resistant diseases – have developed some method of coping that works for them – and might for others. But aside from the local coffee shop or deep-diving on Twitter, how do you share those tips and compare notes with other resistance-managing farmers?

Jennifer Hubert, executive director of plant biotechnology with CropLife Canada and head of Manage Resistance Now, is looking for on-farm, resistance management success stories with the recently launched Pest Management Challenge. From rotating crops or chemistries to unique, complex strategies, all forms of resistance management great and small are welcome in the challenge.

In this episode of Inputs, Hubert discusses Manage Resistance Now, the importance of maintaining the tools we currently have, and the goals of the challenge – one of which is to create a peer-to-peer information-sharing hub.

Never miss an episode of Inputs by subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

• Manage Resistance Now
• The Pest Management Challenge
• Economic gains from resistance management (factsheet)

Support for this episode provided by Nutrien ESN and Farm Management Canada.

Plot2Farm looks to ask agronomic questions and conduct discussions about best management practices with the goal of helping farmers make better decisions. The project, led by the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions and co-ordinated by Jeremy Boychyn, agronomy research extension specialist, is a producer-driven program with the framework and support for producers to conduct their own research programs that can be easily implemented on farms throughout the province.

In this episode, co-host Dylan Sjolie learns more about the program from Jeremy Boychyn, who also shares highlights from some of the trials conducted to date.

Learn more about Plot2Farm here and follow Jeremy on Twitter @BoychynJeremy

Never miss an episode of Inputs by subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

It's the most wonderful time of the year – to look back on the previous season and start planning (or finish planting) for next year! Given some challenging conditions during fall 2021 and summer 2022, how did the winter and spring cereal crops fare?

In this episode of Inputs, Sophie Krolikowski, acting cereals specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), discusses the 2022 season, starting with planting in fall 2021, how winter cereals planting has gone so far for the 2023 growing season, and some upcoming events and initiatives farmers can participate in.

Never miss an episode of Inputs by subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

• Field Crop News
• OMAFRA Publication 811: Agronomy Guide for Field Crops
• Ontario Cereal Crops Committee
• Resistant Wild Oat Action Committee (through the Canadian Weed Science Society)
• Great Lakes YEN (yield enhancement network)
• Ontario Agriculture Conference (formerly SWAC)

Support for this episode provided by Gowan and Farm Credit Canada.

Palmer amaranth is a term that makes farmers and agronomists shudder a little each time it's mentioned. Native to the United States, it's an invasive weed that has been on the radar in Canada for several years due to its ability to develop herbicide resistance so quickly. As Kim Brown-Livingston states, it grows quickly and causes incredible economic damage, making it a super (concerning) weed.

In this episode, Brown-Livingston, provincial weed specialist with Manitoba Agriculture and Rural Development, chats with co-host Dylan Sjolie about Palmer amaranth. With recent findings of the weed in Manitoba, Brown-Livingston shares details about Palmer amaranth, and what to do if it shows up in your field.

Never miss an episode of Inputs by subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Show notes:

• International Herbicide-Resistant Weed Database
• Contact Kim Brown-Livingston via email or on Twitter @storytimewitkim

Soils at Guelph wants to get the science-backed, sustainable word out about soil health. Led by the ag research power trio of Kari Dunfield, Laura Van Eerd and Claudia Wagner-Riddle as co-executive directors, it serves as a multidisciplinary, collaborative knowledge hub for researchers and industry stakeholders to bring together their expertise and questions about soil.

In this episode of Inputs, Heather White, knowledge mobilization and communications co-ordinator at Soils at Guelph, discusses what the initiative is, the collaborative nature of the work conducted through Soils at Guelph, and opportunities for grower involvement.

Never miss an episode of Inputs by subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Show notes

• Soils at Guelph is on the web and on Twitter @SoilsAtGuelph
• Cooking with Covers: A three-part video mini-series on cover crops put together by White's predecessor;
• The Soil Your Undies program;
• Have a soil question? Want to get involved? Reach out to the Soils at Guelph team at [email protected].

Support for this episode provided by Nutrien eKonomics and Corteva.