Snow on farmland at Turtle Lake in northwestern Saskatchewan on Oct. 14, 2016. (Lisa Guenther photo)

Saskatchewan snowpack points to below-normal runoff

Thanks to above-normal temperatures that drew down much of Saskatchewan’s snowpack in January, the province now sees “below normal runoff potential” in most areas outside the southeast. Saskatchewan’s Water Security Agency on Thursday released its 2017 preliminary outlook for spring runoff, noting the province has another six to 10 weeks of possible snowpack development. The […] Read more





Stripe rust overwintered further north than usual going into the 2016 growing season, Cargill’s Linda Freitag said at SWAC. (OMAFRA photo)

Greig: Lessons learned from Ontario crops’ pest pressures

The warmer winter and subsequent drought defined the 2016 cropping season in Ontario, resulting in more disease and insect pressures and then challenges managing them. Three agronomists gave an overview of the 2016 cropping season at the SouthWest Agricultural Conference in Ridgetown, outlining challenges and wins for the year. Leanne Freitag, Cargill’s manager of agronomy […] Read more






Soil moisture (top five cm of soil) on Prairies for November 2016, measured as difference from average. (AAFC Drought Watch map)

Winter wonderland piles on saturated eastern Prairies

CNS Canada — While a wave of snow slowly pummels parts of Saskatchewan and much of Manitoba, one soil moisture expert says water is still trickling through the soil into natural water channels. According to Trevor Hadwen, agroclimate specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Drought Watch program in Regina, this is a good thing, as […] Read more



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