A study being conducted by researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s London Research and Development Centre could soon provide Canadian potato growers with new insight on how to fight one of the industry’s most troublesome pests — the Colorado potato beetle. The five-year study is officially known as the Development of Regional Management Strategies and Decision-Making Tools for Control of the Colorado Potato Beetle. Work on the project began this past summer…
A few years ago, Todd Kabaluk was given some fuzzy wireworms. That might not sound like an auspicious gift, but Kabaluk is a research biologist in integrated pest management with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). He was immediately interested. As it turned out, these fuzzy wireworms were the first step on the path toward a new possibility for controlling wireworms. Wireworms are the tough-to-control, soil-dwelling larvae of click beetles. AAFC has found…
Syngenta Canada Inc. is pleased to announce the registration of Vibrance® Ultra Potato as a new seed piece treatment for the suppression of pink rot and control of key seed- and soil-borne diseases, including late blight. Vibrance Ultra Potato combines difenoconazole (Group 3), sedaxane (Group 7), and mandipropamid (Group 40) in a convenient liquid pre-mix formulation. It protects potato seed pieces and seedlings to help ensure strong stand establishment, so the crop…
Managing Potato Virus Y Live on: Wednesday, September 5, 1 p.m. EDT Register here: https://spudsmart.com/webinar/ Join our webinar and find out how to manage potato virus Y. During this webinar, participants will learn: How to plan today to manage PVY Management tools PVY What challenges growers are facing with respect to PVY and why New tactics researchers are developing to fight PVY New control product available Speakers: Mathuresh Singh, director of Agricultural Certification Services…
Nitrogen use efficiency is a topic that is an intersection of food security, environmental sustainability and economics in our agricultural production systems. We need to use nitrogen to produce a good harvest. So says Dr. Guillermo Hernandez Ramirez, the study’s lead investigator and an assistant professor in the Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta. “However, by using nitrogen fertilizer we also have the risk of losing some of that…
The development of new technologies and systems for the application of potato production inputs has received a funding boost at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI). The National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has awarded Dr. Aitazaz Farooque, an assistant professor at UPEI’s School of Sustainable Design Engineering a Discovery Grant and Discovery Accelerator Supplement. Farooque’s research — Development of Precision Agriculture Technologies to Improve Crop Productivity and…
There’s a growing sense of unease among Canadian potato producers as the countdown continues on the deregulation of Thimet 15-G. In the face of increased wireworm pressure across the country, especially in Prince Edward Island, growers aren’t the only group troubled by the phasing out of the only insecticide registered in Canada for use on potatoes that kills wireworms. “Growers need a product that kills wireworms. They are concerned about it and we…
With wireworms on the rise in Canada — and the main weapon against them soon to be taken off the market — it’s a question that’s top of mind for many potato producers these days. Is there another silver bullet out there that will take the place of Thimet? Wireworms are thin, hard-bodied larvae of the click beetle that feed on the roots of cereals and other crops including potatoes. In recent…
The clock is ticking on Thimet 15G, the insecticide of choice for controlling wireworm in potatoes in most areas of Canada. Because Canada’s regulators have decided to phase out Thimet due to environmental concerns, the pesticide will no longer be available for use on potatoes as of Aug. 1, 2015. With wireworm populations steadily rising in Prince Edward Island and other parts of the country, there’s a question hanging over the potato…
In the battle against potato pests, what’s old is becoming new again. Biological pesticides, or biorational pesticides as they are also known, are gaining growing acceptance among farmers, despite the fact that biological pest control technology is anything but new. In fact, this type of pest control — that is, using ‘natural’ substances produced by Mother Nature to combat diseases and insects — is the oldest weapon in a farmer’s arsenal. “The…