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The Durum Summit in Swift Current has some agronomy and breeding sessions. Top takeaways:
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At the Durum Summit in Swift Current it was said that most events talk about durum as part of wheat, but here durum takes main stage! Marlene Boersch mercantileventure.com/about/ spoke on market trends in Durum A summary:
I attended the Durum Summit in Swift Current SK, an event bringing industry, farmers, buyers, and breeders together. Keven Hursh talked about the state of the durum industry in Canada and Canadian agriculture.
Mediocre news on the water forecasting for 2025. Most snowpacks are at the lower part of the averages so far. Lots can change as most snow pack comes in February & March so lots can change yet. Reservoirs came into winter at higher levels vs the previous year, so that will help with 2025 water supply. John Pomeroy was speaking at the Irrigated Crop Production Update in Lethbridge about changes to water patterns for Southern Alberta. Based on his research he thinks
I also think water efficient crops like hybrid fall rye, winter wheat, winter triticale will become more common to take advantage of early moisture and flowering before the hottest days of the year. Marlene Boersch of Mercantile Consulting Venture Inc has an update on peas and lentils showing global trends and outlooks: https://saskpulse.com/resources/outlook-for-canadian-peas-lentils-2/
I was at a cover crop workshop put on by APG this fall and someone asked why don't you just seed a fall crop for soil health and the response from Ken Coles was yes why not. I do find it interesting how simple it could be to ad diversity in more ways than one. This research below is tied to nutrient cycling in winter and surprisingly there is more activity than you would expect in frozen soil: https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/crops/winter-cold-doesnt-stop-all-fertilizer-emissions-new-research-shows/  I haven't listened to this episode from Growing the Future's podcast but I like the writeup about it so plan on listening. It's write up talked about self worth, perspective, and being tied to the business. I sure love the stories of businesses it seems!: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/growing-the-future/id1481269255?i=1000683520958
Cody Garrett with Scoular told me that they were bidding $6.25-$6.35 PU for rye for March. When I put that number in to my net return charts, on irrigation its about 10% more net vs a CWRS and on dryland its about 50-100% more net return vs a CWRS depending on yield differential and when rains come. They are also looking for #1 flax brown or yellow Cell: (306) 951-7977 [email protected]  This week I wanted to focus on forages, as a large % of our sales are for forage use. They are used in many different ways so I wanted to provide some ideas of how they are bing used. Forage Flexibility Forages is a broad group and is a large % of our sales. From alfalfa and grasses to fall triticale, polycrop blends and corn. Blair wrote a nice blog post showing some options in every forage type: https://www.stampseeds.com/blog/cover-crops-and-forages
What is a Polycrop? Polycrop is a trending name for cover crop forages that have a diverse blend of crop types to allow for diversity of growth and regrowth. We offer custom blends of these Click for more info on Polycrops from the Beef Cattle Research Council Spring Triticale for Drought Tolerance We have 2 newer spring triticale varieties available this season. Triticale has a larger / stronger root system vs other crops so it can tolerate sandy or dry conditions better vs some crops. We have an awnless spring triticale called TriCal Surge that is perfect for all types of forage use. We also have the brand new AB Sunbeam spring trit (awned) and is perfect for silage forage or grain and stands well vs other triticale.  Sales Update
Chuck Penner with Left Field Market Research www.leftfieldcr.com talked about mustard, canola, durum and wheat markets mid January 2025. Slides below. Here are some takeaways
Wheatland Conservation area had a great presentation about mustard seeding rates, nitrogen rates and varietal yields. Some conclusions from the slides below:
There has been some pretty big advancements in mustard breeding in the past few years. Brown Elite Hybrid Mustard & Composite AAC Yellow 80 Yellow Mustard have been big changes in mustard varieties. In the pipeline:
We work alongside Imperial Seeds to bring you the best cover crop and forage products (Cover Crops) for your farm or ranch! Here are some forage and blends that are favourites of our customers:
Corn has become a large part of our forage sales with very early to long season options: : https://www.stampseeds.com/corn.html Blair had a trial with an irrigated win as well: https://www.stampseeds.com/silage-trials.html Forage blends We have had customers blending triticale or a smooth awned barley with forage peas to maximize yield potential and quality Can also add in fall rye or fall triticale to the mix to give grazing potential once forage is taken off to maximize potential on that field with fall regrowth Forages available for blends:
A big publication is always the regional variety trials comparing varieties across the province. We use this to gain perspective vs varieties we know and understand and to compare to what we are seeing in our own yield trials. https://www.seed.ab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/rvt-spring2025.pdf 
Structure and communication is critical in farm businesses, take a look at this article outlining some ideas around farm management and planning: Article on X here
Farms who have grown have really had to step up HR practices, but I think it has a place for any size of farm, no matter if you hire 1 or 20 people. This podcast had some interesting ideas in it that some of us can implement on our farms. https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-truth-about-ag/id1740590178?i=1000681753331
January 9th is farm transition day with FMC, this website has a farm transition toolkit, and there is also a virtual event that day around planing for farm transitions on Jan 9th: https://fmc-gac.com/ftaday/
Bruce Warkentin of MNP had a neat graphic from 2018 on crop types on irrigation and acres of each. The diversity is amazing. For a larger image click here.  Hybrid winter wheat in the USA is becoming closer to a reality. https://www.corteva.com/resources/media-center/corteva-announces-breakthrough-in-wheat-technology.html
How soon we see this in Canada in winter wheat or in spring wheats I am not sure. These advancements eventually should help stabilize crops in drought and improve top end yields. Lentil Management Normally we grow lentils on dryland but this year we had our red lentils on irrigation. Our best field did 48 bu average per ac, the other field was lower, it had some lower ground and volunteer alfalfa on the outside edge as we added a corner arm onto it recently. We used 65 lbs per ac of 11-52 in seed row and targeted 14 plants per sq foot. Here is some information from APG on lentil market classes and production. & SPG also has some great lentil production info as well. Herbicides
We have Clearfield red and green lentils available and the acres seem to keep growing! Reds are earlier and shorter vs. green lentils. CDC Lima CL - Large Green
CDC SImmie CL - Small Red - a newer option to try Yields CDC Proclaim has been a solid varieties in dry and wet years that its a wonder anyone grows CDC Maxim still, see AFSC reported yields chart:   Pulse Market Changes Russia had implemented a 5% export tax on pea, lentil, & chickpea's which should increase the current floor price of pulses https://www.interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/108916/ India has extended its duty free period to Feb 2025, I doubt that means lots of new export business for Canada this season, but it does give me some hope of good pea prices longer term. https://ukragroconsult.com/en/news/india-extends-duty-free-import-of-yellow-peas-by-two-months-till-february-2025/ Thanks to Chuck Penner of LeftField for the links Pea Management Plant Stand:
Yellow Pea Seed Offerings We are launching 3 varieties of yellow peas this season making it hard to chose the best one to buy. All will be equal to better versus the varieties we are replacing. You might of noticed that we have added and dropped a few varieties quickly over the past 5 years like: CDC Inca, CDC Lewochko, and CDC Hickie, this was mainly due to inconstant yields on our farm. While others like AAC Lacombe, AAC Chrome, AAC Carver we have moved on from due to seed coat breakage issues. Here is our 2025 Yellow Pea Offering and Guide:
Green Pea Seed Green peas have had new crop prices (fall 2025) in the $11-12 range picked up making them a lot higher than current new crop yellow pea bids. The risk with green peas is bleaching due to rain or environmental factors like extreme heat closer to maturity causing some discolouration. We have CDC Forest green pea seed cleaned and ready. They did well on irrigation this season, standing well and yielding about 77 bu per ac. (our yellow peas were seeded later and 40 km away so thought to compare.) Our yield demo for peas on irrigation was flooded out and uneven so we had to mow it out. 4010 Forage Pea 4010 pea seed Most of our customers use these in forage blends to increase protein in silage. I was told recently that 4010's are considered by some to be a maple pea. Taslar (Hasan Taslar 306-500-5522 ) is interested in contracting 4010's. I don't know much about this company but I do see they are bonded by the CGC so thats good! This variety will go flat on you when grown alone so roll your land and ideally seed between stubble so the stubble holds up the plants better when they lodge.  |
AuthorsBlair Balog - Seed Specialist at Stamp Seeds Archives
June 2025
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