Lyndsey Smith

Of over 500 fields sampled in 2023, just one new field was added to the list of fields where clubroot DNA was detected. Clubroot is a serious, soil-borne disease of canola. By proactively monitoring clubroot in Saskatchewan, the Government of Saskatchewan says it is working with producers and other industry partners to minimize its impact. The 2023 results bring the total number of commercial fields with visible clubroot symptoms tested since 2018 to 82. However, the number of commercial fields…

What drives maximum corn yield? We kick off a new season of The Agronomists talking about the king of them all — corn. To tackle the topics of hybrid selection, the planting pass, disease considerations, and fertility, host Lyndsey Smith is joined by Paul Sullivan of Sullivan Agro, Mark Foster of Jockbrae Farms, and Nicole Rasmussen with Corteva. Be sure to hit play, or download the podcast for listening later. Scroll down to collect your CM CEU credits! This episode of The Agronomists is brough…

Azure Sustainable Fuels Corp. is on track to begin producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2027. That plan got an $8.4 million boost through the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) today. Sustainable aviation fuel can be used directly in aircraft engines by blending up to 50 per cent with traditional jet fuel, and has the potential to reduce aviation sector emissions by up to 80 per cent, CIB says. The use of Azure’s SAF in existing jet engines could reduce airline emissions by approximately 2…

It is true that mental illness can be incredibly difficult to see compared to a broken leg or an open wound, for example. But just like any other illness or health challenge, there are sometimes outward signs of mental health that can be observed by others. Deb VanBerkel is the chief programming officer for the Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing, and she says that there can be physical and noticeable signs that someone you know is struggling with their mental wellness. If someone who has…

Western Canadian farmers and ranchers have endured several years of drought over the last five seasons. While AgriRecovery and other national drought programming has been triggered in all the Prairie Provinces, there are other provincial insurance products available. Both Saskatchewan and Alberta have modified moisture deficiency insurance products in the last two years, with Alberta changing several aspects of its Moisture Deficiency Insurance to better match actual conditions and get payouts t…

In closing out the first quarter of 2024, Farm Credit Canada has released a report comparing current harvest equipment sales to last year and the five-year average. Not surprisingly, combine sales are way down over the five-year average, but nearly all harvest equipment classes have pulled back significantly from 2023 sales, a strong sales year. Leigh Anderson, senior analyst with Farm Credit Canada, joins Lyndsey Smith in this conversation further exploring Farm Credit Canada’s most recent repo…

If the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry was looking for a grade on its soil health report, Jim Tokarchuk would give them an A+. Tokarchuk is the executive director for the Soil Conservation Council of Canada, and he appreciates that the Senate committee did an excellent job in covering the issue with a Canadian perspective, paying attention to the regionality of Canadian agriculture. The 25 recommendations made in the report, “Critical Ground: Why soil is essential to Canada’s econom…

It was only a matter of time. In the last month, agriculture has been significantly impacted by two major cyber attacks. In June, CDK Global announced to its 15,000 car and equipment dealerships, some of them ag equipment sites, that its network was down as a result of a cyber attack. In the last two weeks, Federated Co-operatives Limited in Western Canada had its cardlock system and inventory system go down. Chris Law, partner with MNP, says unfortunately cyber threats are real and likely only to increase over time. Agriculture's internet of things and data sharing leaves it vulnerable to cyber attacks; agriculture is also a key part of any economy, and that makes it a target to bad actors,...

Reports of hay shed fires this week in southern Ontario are a stark reminder to continue to monitor hay and straw after it has gone in to storage. This year’s wheat harvest is proving challenging due to wet conditions, and that was before the tail end of Hurricane Beryl dumped between 4 and 7 inches…

For the foreseeable future, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is on borrowed time. There’s always been the hard deadline of October 2025 when a federal election must happen, but the end of the NDP’s supply and confidence agreement with the Liberals means that Trudeau’s government will likely face several confidence motions in the coming months…