All Research Projects
2022-2025
In response to growing interest of cover crops, we have begun a 4-year project investigating the viability, management, and benefits of their adoption. While it is known that cover crops have many benefits for erosion control and weed suppression, we want to explore the lengths of their benefits for your soil.
2022-2025
Farmer yields are managed by balancing cultivar selection and agronomic practices. We hypothesize that feed barley yields could be improved by adopting new cultivars and improved agronomic practices.
2022-2024
Land rollers are commonly used to push rocks into the soils and improve harvest operation during silage crop production. Other benefits of land rolling
2020 - 2024
Extended grazing is a key component of many beef operations increasingly cow-calf operations in western Canada use corn grazing in late fall/early winter. Benefits include increased yield, energy content, and increased average daily gain for late fall/early winter grazing of pregnant cows. However, pure stands of corn are low in dietary crude protein thus unsuitable for grazing of other classes of cattle with higher nutrient requirements.
2022-2025
This study was designed to test the efficacy of Acetic acid in combination with surfactants to desiccate seed alfalfa. The goal is to increase the options for growers and improve harvestability and/or yield.
2022-2025
Desiccating seed alfalfa 1-2 weeks earlier may improve desiccation efficacy and lower the risk of inclement weather interrupting harvest activities without impacting harvestability or grain quality (dockage and/or germination).
2019-2022
Canada and the U.S. produce approximately 86 MMT of wheat per year. Still, grain yield in both countries rarely surpasses 50 bu/ac. This project aims to identify the management practices that contribute to higher yields.
2021
Alfalfa weevils are a pest in seed alfalfa production because the larvae eat the flower buds off the plants. This study focuses on testing several insecticide options for farmers, aiming to help them protect their crops from this pest.
2020-2023
This study proposes to test the efficiency of management practices including strip tillage and precision planting in managing crop residues and improving canola emergence, growth, and yield.
2019-2023
Glyphosate resistance in kochia populations is a growing problem, with over 50% of strains carrying resistance. This study looks at site-specific patch management in an effort to reduce and/or control local populations.
2017-2023
This project will evaluate the viability, impact, and benefits of including cover crops in crop rotations across Prairie Canada (including MB, SK, and AB).
2019-2023
Precision planters are typically used to seed conventional row crops such as corn or soybeans, however producers are experimenting with them to plant small grains and other crops.
2019-2023
Biostimulants are a relatively new class of crop additive that are suggested to promote healthy growth of crops resulting in higher yield/quality crops. Their use has expanded after the changes in regulations on fertilizers in Canada
2022-2023
Industrial hemp has emerged as an important multi-purpose end-use crop with a strong and growing market demand in Alberta. The lack of effective strategies for proper management of weeds is one of the major challenges to hemp producers in Alberta.
2020-2023
Many diseases that infect and devastate crops are due to spores that are deposited in field by air currents. These diseases are often difficult to identify until it's too late to effectively prevent them.
2022-2023
An exploratory project initiated spring of 2022 to evaluate feasibility of upland rice production in southern Alberta.
2018-2022
Fusarium head blight (FHB) has become a major limitation to cereal crop production across much of the prairies in recent years, particularly for bread and durum wheat growers, and the disease is also impacting barley growers.
2021-2022
Winter crops provide a distinct advantage over spring crops in extending the growing season under western Canadian conditions.
2019-2022
A biological and physical baseline developed within the province will provide a framework that can help define strategies for managing and improving the productive capacity, and sustainability, of our soils.
Ongoing
Distribution and abundance of insect pests in Alberta that affect field crops is correlated with climate, weather, agronomic practices, and natural enemies.
2018-2022
This project combines seeding rate and date trials that were separate in the first project to study their interaction effects. The fertility trial determines the optimum rate and timing of fertilizer to maximum hemp fiber and grain yield.
2019-2022
This trial is takes key findings from Farming Smarter's small plot precision planter research program and evaluates performance in a real-world field environment, fostering adaptation development and adoption.
2021-2022
We propose to develop, deploy, and assess an automated, sensor-integrated open-source system to provide continually updated irrigation prescription maps for variable rate irrigation systems with our farm partner in Alberta.
2020-2021
Flea beetles are one of the major canola pests in Alberta. Currently neonicotinoid-based seed treatments are often used to protect canola seedings from flea beetle damage.