Posted: February 3, 2012

A showcase event for farmers to get an updated look at what's on the horizon for GPS is "Precision AG 2.0: The Next Generation," slated for February 22-23 in Calgary.

The event is hosted by the Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta (ARECA) and features two full days with over 30 speakers and interactive breakout sessions.

"This conference is about helping farmers get the most of precision ag technology," says Ty Faechner, Executive Director at ARECA. "GPS and GIS is now everywhere. The next level is to understand how we truly use this technology to the best of our capability to make a profit and grow the industry."

The conference features:

• Current information on practices and technologies being adopted by progressive farmers in Western Canada and abroad
• Topics for all skill levels and experience
• 35 tradeshow booths dedicated to precision agriculture
• The opportunity to meet with progressive and innovative practitioners of precision agriculture

More information is available on the ARECA website.

Posted: February 3, 2012

Evaluations are now completed on samples of suspected glyphosate-resistant Kochia identified last August in three Southern Alberta fields. Weed scientists from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, working on the evaluation project with Monsanto, confimed the presence of Kochia that resists glyphosate in these fields.

Two weed species in Canada were previously confirmed as glyphosate-resistant - all found in southwestern Ontario. Giant ragweed was confirmed in 2009 and Canada fleabane was confirmed in 2011. Glyphosate-resistant kochia populations have previously been confirmed in Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska. There are also suspected cases being investigated in North and South Dakota and Montana.

"We began this particular investigation of kochia in three chem-fallow fields in Southern Alberta last summer where we saw little-to-no kochia control after receiving multiple applications of glyphosate," explained Dr. Bob Blackshaw, one of two AAFC weed scientists working on this project. "That prompted us to do further work through the fall and winter that involved collecting samples of seed and completing the necessary grow out and spraying of plants to confirm resistance."

More information is available on the Monsanto Canada website.

Posted: February 3, 2012

Canadian cereal growers have a new combo-fungicide option for leaf diseases.

BASF Canada announced cross-country registration of Twinline, which is a liquid combination of its crop fungicides Headline and Caramba. The product is approved for use on wheat, barley and oats.

"It is BASF's goal to bring new, innovative products to the Canadian cereal market and Twinline is a result of that focus," says Mike Bakker, brand manager of fungicides at BASF.

Twinline controls a broad range of leaf diseases in cereals, including tan spot, septoria leaf spot, leaf rust, stripe rust, spot blotch, net blotch, scald, crown rust and powdery mildew. In addition to offering dual modes of action, the company says Twinline has "AgCelence," a feature unique to BASF fungicides "which often include greener leaves, stronger stems for better harvestability and higher yield potential compared to untreated acres."

Learn more on the BASF Canada website.

Posted: February 3, 2012

Western Canadian wheat growers can get a new liquid formulation of the Syngenta herbicide Sierra.

Registration of Sierra 2.0 was announced for the three Prairie provinces and the Peace Region of B.C. The post-emergent liquid herbicide is approved for use across the wheat classes, including durum. It contains the active ingredient flucarbazone, which works to control grass weeds such as wild oats and green foxtail, as well as broadleaf weeds including redroot pigweed, wild mustard, stinkweed, volunteer canola, green smartweed and shepherd's purse.

Syngenta says the herbicide also controls wild oat biotypes that have developed resistance to ACCase (Group 1) and triallate (Group 8) herbicides, and it controls green foxtail biotypes resistant to ACCase (Group 1) and dinitroaniline (Group 3) herbicides.

"This new Group 2 product builds off the power of Sierra herbicide while providing growers with the added benefits of a liquid formulation and built-in safener, for an easier-to-use product," says Jon Habok, cereal herbicides lead for Syngenta Canada.

More information is on the Syngenta Canada website.