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TH4678RR continues to shine as the silage data comes in. Finishing with 29.4 tons/acre in this trial. It has awesome stay green to it, which keeps it moisture longer so you don't have to chase moistures with the chopper! TH4477 GT also did great in this trial as well! It is a dual purpose variety for Southern Alberta. Great silage yield potential as shown in this trial but also has great grain yield potential! Pricing is available now, talk to Blair at [email protected] or call the office 403-739-2233 
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TH4678RR is a new variety in the Thunderseed lineup for 2026. It has great plant height and amazing tonnage potential. It gives you great quality as well to really help pack on those pounds! Pricing is available now  Wheat yields can be as much as 25% higher when following a pulse crop Details here: https://canadianagronomist.ca/legume-contributions-to-nitrogen-nutrition-in-wheat/ or below: 
We carry a wide range of barley varieties because they are so unique! In these plots the yield is not as important as the relative yield to another variety, under the same management. These are not scientific or replicated, but we do have bookmark varieties on each end of the plots to make sure the plot is somewhat even. It is on irrigation and managed to the triticale field around the plots This demo was seeded April 28th and harvested Sept 8th. Plant stand targets were 25 plants on the barley with 10% mortality built in. 40 lbs of 11-52 was placed in seed row & 175 lbs of 46-0-0 was banded before seeding. Crop rotation was potatoes last year. A PGR (Moddus) was used on half the plot to try and showcase lodging and a fungicide was applied at the start of flowering on the whole plot. We did see lodging differences where there was a PGR applied. Medium to Good Moisture Situations The top 2 were Esma and SY Stanza - 2 European bred varieties that do well under medium to good moisture and stand well. They do risk lower bu weights if it does get dry late season. Esma - VUA on farm save seed SY Stanza - Can farm save one year off Cert on the same amount of acres. SY stanza won last years demo, it's registered as a malt but most using for a feed (If you liked Sirish this is its replacement in our lineup) Dryland: The top dryland variety where you are in the mid to low moisture situations: CDC Durango - many customers saying it beat their Austenson and other 2 row feed varieties AAC Synergy malt barley is often grown on dryland to have malt insurance coverage (in AB if you sign a malt contract) but is often used for feed due to bu weight. Malt: One variety we missed in our demo plots was AAC Synergy malt barley, some grow for malt but many grow for feed under dry conditions since it seems to do well and maintain bu weight. Bill Coors 100 was also good, (some customers had similar yields to their Esma) SY Stanza is registered as a malt (also a non GN) but most of our customer will use it as a feed or forage. 2 Row Grain or Forage Flex CDC Renegade is our 2 row smooth awn forage or grain flex variety. It's taller and can lay down more vs. our other varieties, but is a better choice vs. CDC Cowboy and CDC Maverick 6 Row Grain or Forage Flex New this season is AB Fortify to replace AB Tofield. AB Fortify is a super smooth awn with improved yields and our 6 row choice for 2026. We did have some lodging in our demo plots that impacted the grain yield. We do expect to sell out of this and if needed fall back on AB Tofield. We also had an experimental on each end of the plot that did very well, more to come on that over the next few seasons! The 3 crop pictures below are left to right in the plots to match the chart below.      We have introduced forage blends into our lineup. This year Blair planted three different blends to get a representation of how they would grow together. Blend #1 - CDC Haymaker forage oat, CDC Renegade 2 row smooth awn barley, 4010 forage pea Blend #2 - CDC Renegade 2 row smooth awn barley, Trical surge awnless spring triticale, CDC Haymaker forage oat. This blend would give you the option to spray for broadleaf weeds if you needed to! Blend #3 - CDC Renegade 2 row smooth awn barley, Trical Surge awnless spring triticale, 4010 forage pea, CDC Haymaker forage oat, SU Performer hybrid fall rye, Tadeus fall triticale, AAC Awesome soft white wheat Each of these plots were planted on May 27th, 2025 and harvested on August 28th, 2025. For the percentages on blends, please visit our forage blends page on our website!    Blair planted three different types of oats and forage sorghum after taking hybrid rye plots at milk stage timing, this was to mimic what a producer would do in his field. He planted CDC Byer, our new milling and double crop oat for 2026 against AAC Wesley and CDC Haymaker. Both CDC Byer and AAC Wesley have resistance against barley yellow dwarf virus, a disease that really took hold of double crop oats in 2024, some in 2025. CDC Haymaker is a traditional forage oat, is long season so not typically used for double cropping but can be used in a pinch. CDC Byer has a higher grain yield over AAC Wesley, this is why we switched to it. CDC Byer is a day behind AAC Wesley for heading timing, but with its higher grain yield, will see higher forage yields. Forage Sorghum continues to win the double cropping plots, but is behind oats for maturity which could prove to be a issue if there is an early frost in the fall Each plot was planted plant on June 27th,2025 and taken off on September 16th,2025    Canterra has a fantastic lineup again for the 2026 season. Whether you are looking for a liberty link or TruFlex or clearfield package for your farm, they have some of the best options for you. We have been Canterra members for a couple years now and absolutely love working with them and their products! Below are some of my picks for the 2025 season! CS4100 LL - Great pod shatter protection, mid maturing with great yields CS3000TF – Great yielding, standing variety that has a perfect fit for straight cutting. Short variety which gives it excellent standability CS3200TF – Brand new variety that has a 7+ rating on pod shatter, great yield potential. Fit for long season areas. CS3300TF – Brand new variety that also has a great pod shatter rating, 1st generation clubroot resistance which makes it a great fit for southern Alberta! Very early variety Contact Blair Balog at 403-634-4349 (call or text) or [email protected] for pricing or for any questions!
 Blair took the wheat and spring triticale plots off on August 6th at the soft dough stage. Surge spring triticale took the victory this year. It is an awnless variety that is great for silage and greenfeed. Here is our lineup for our soft wheat, GP wheat and spring triticale for 2026: Trical Surge spring triticale - Awnless, great for silage and greenfeed AB Sunbeam spring triticale - Awned, dual purpose, high grain yield and great forage potential Alotta GP wheat - High grain yield with lots of forage potential AAC Awesome VB GP soft white wheat - Great for grain and forage AAC Galore VB soft white wheat - Replacing AC Sadash in our lineup, great grain and forage yields   The barley plots were taken off on July 30th at the soft dough stage, a new 6 row smooth awn barley AB Fortify won the barley forage trial with CDC Durango and C15-314 tying for second. Here is what we have for our sales lineup for 2026 SY Stanza - replaces Sirish in our lineup Esma - Great irrigation variety CDC Durango - Great dryland variety that works under a pivot as well CDC Renegade - forage variety under irrigation, works great on dryland AB Fortify - replacing AB Tofield in our lineup, super smooth awns   TH4678 RR is a round up ready variety from Thunder Seed that is available for 2026. This variety has tremendous height to it and fantastic tonnage potential. In the pictures below you will see TH4678RR in a plot against a competitor, the height on TH4678 RR is exciting for what potential it can bring! There will be silage data available on this variety and others shortly!
 Our largest demo of the season was harvested a few weeks ago and results are in. What I love about this, is the yield is not as important as the relative yield to another variety, under the same management. These are not scientific or replicated, but we do have bookmark varieties on each end of the plots to make sure the plot is somewhat even. This demo was seeded April 28th and harvested Sept 8th. Plant stand targets were 35 plants on the durum, 40 on the spring wheat and 25 plants on the barley with 10% mortality built into all of those. 40 lbs of 11-52 was placed in seed row & 175 lbs of 46-0-0 was banded before seeding. Crop rotation was potatoes last year. A PGR was used on half the plot to try and showcase lodging and a fungicide was applied at the start of flowering on the whole plot.  2025 Durum If you had not heard of AAC Brigham VB before that's ok because I hadn't one year ago either :) A surprise yield from AAC Brigham VB durum led the durum this year. For standability Stronghold was the best, followed by Succeed VB / Brigham VB, then Frontier , then Schrader. Maturity was all very similar. Sales lineup for 2026 season: AAC Brigham VB - replaces AAC Succeed VB AAC Stronghold - can be amazing for yields and standability but can risk bacterial blight AAC Schrader - I rating for FHB AAC Grainland - solid stem with yield stability when its dry Next season (fall of 2026) AAC Frontier launches - it is the first variety with ergot resistance and it also has a I rating for FHB (hollow stem though)  Our largest demo of the season was harvested a few weeks ago and results are in. What I love about this, is the yield is not as important as the relative yield to another variety, under the same management. These are not scientific or replicated, but we do have bookmark varieties on each end of the plots to make sure the plot is somewhat even. This demo was seeded April 28th and harvested Sept 8th. Plant stand targets were 35 plants on the durum, 40 on the spring wheat and 25 plants on the barley with 10% mortality built into all of those. 40 lbs of 11-52 was placed in seed row & 175 lbs of 46-0-0 was banded before seeding. Crop rotation was potatoes last year. A PGR was used on half the plot to try and showcase lodging and a fungicide was applied at the start of flowering on the whole plot.   2025 SWSW, SWGP, GP Red It was neck and neck for yield and standability for these classes of wheats, The biggest thing to take away is that the price of these are not far off of a CWRS so the extra yield vs a CRWS makes them an easy decision for 2026. Chart is above with the CRWS chart Galore VB SWSW - replacing Sadash VB & Paramount VB. Galore seemed to stand a little better vs the other SWSW and has the I rating for FHB. Alotta (GP red) stands amazing & has the GP+ red market or feed or forage Awesome GP (soft white) is in a class on its own for forage or feed it seems and has an I rating for FHB. 
Our largest demo of the season was harvested a few weeks ago and results are in. What I love about this, is the yield is not as important as the relative yield to another variety, under the same management. These are not scientific or replicated, but we do have bookmark varieties on each end of the plots to make sure the plot is somewhat even. This demo was seeded April 28th and harvested Sept 8th. Plant stand targets were 35 plants on the durum, 40 on the spring wheat and 25 plants on the barley with 10% mortality built into all of those. 40 lbs of 11-52 was placed in seed row & 175 lbs of 46-0-0 was banded before seeding. Crop rotation was potatoes last year. A PGR was used on half the plot to try and showcase lodging and a fungicide was applied at the start of flowering on the whole plot.  2025 CWRS 2 years ago SY Manness was our plot winner, last year AAC Westking, and this year AAC Stoughton VB. Each season's conditions may dictate what variety is a winner so picking one near the top of the pack in each each season is key! Westking, Stoughton VB, Manness were in the top 4 for yields and these 3 have the best disease package, falling numbers and stood the best of all the varieties we have carried. We have reduced to 4 varieties in the CWRS sales lineup this season: AAC Westking - replacing AAC Brandon, AAC Hockley in our lineup this season. AAC Stoughton VB - replacing Wheatland VB & Hodge VB in our lineup. (as well as anyone growing Starbuck VB) SY Manness - great for irrigated or medium + moisture areas Oakman VB was comparable to AAC Brandon for yield & stood better. Its the new solid stem CWRS replacing Adamant VB in our lineup so will be a big seller for dryland customers the season.   This sorghum sudan-grass was planted by a customer after taking his CDC Durango off on July 7th! Incredible growth here! Picture was taken on September 15th. Great potential to add on swath grazing in the fall!  I had the privilege to attend the Pulse & Special Crop Convention this week on behalf of Alberta Pulse Growers. Trade issues and size of the crop in peas and some classes of lentils may cause acres to go down next year for some pulses. Red lentils stocks to use looks lower than other lentils, Peas looks to be in a tough spot as well and a lot will depend on the trade relationship with China     The below chart is best case scenario for peas:          Below: The growth in global pulse trade has grown and is forecasted to continue to grow, but the market share by Canada is shrinking as growth in other markets production is taking up the new pulse trade. See below:   Hybrid fall rye Hybrid fall rye varieties yield were neck and neck for yields this season. Ergot was also very similar between the 3 harvested hybrid rye varieties. Winter Wheat For winter wheats we were surprised that AAC Icefield was equal to AAC Coldfront Winter Triticale We don't have a grain winter trit but the Tadues is a big yielder for us for seed and forage. AB windchill fall trit launches next season our grain/forage flex triticale variety. This season we had 2 acres of it, it had 2 PGR's and yielded 150 bu per ac.   Fall crops are very important to put a seed treatment on. The stress mitigation of the fungicide and insecticide helps winter crops survive winter stress better. Dr Brian Beres research: https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2134/agronj2015.0497 When using a seed treatment for fall crops, the seed treatment companies have a winter survival benefit to credit you, if your winter crop fails, (slight programming differences by brand) Below we had a customer compare untreated winter wheat vs. a fungicide and insecticide treatment and the fall results showed a big difference in stage The next picture is from May 19 showing the difference in the same field. (Davis McCarthy of Simplot) I really think there is value to fall crop seed treatments for establishment & winter kill. Seed Treatment Coverage Thoughts Seed treating is a fun topic! Some people go without, some apply it haphazardly, and some people are right on with use rates. Quality of Treatment We calibrate each seed lot so we are within 1% and usually within 1/2 of a % of target use rate. Coverage is another issue though, as you can be accurate on rates, but is coverage as good per seed or on each seed? Good coverage with treatments means every seed and each area of the seed is coated with the same amount of treatment. That's why rather than using larger drums or faster treaters we went a different route for faster treating. Dusting Off On dusty seed like rye and triticale we ad additional products to reduce dusting off and improve coverage. Shipping Treated Seed When booking seed we do work with a trucking company who does haul treated seed if you don't want to put it in your own trucks.   Hybrid Fall Rye SU Cossani - Grain type, stands great, drought tolerance and big grain yields SU Performer - Grain or forage, constant stable high yields with VG winter hardiness KWS Serafino - Grain or forage, low ergot risk, industry standard! Fall Rye Hazlet Fall Rye - conventional rye Fall Triticale Tadeus - forage, shorter, stands well, tolerates later seeding, top yields, VG winter hardiness, certified seed use only Exp 209 - awnless, taller, certified seed use only (name coming soon) NEW! Winter Wheat AAC Coldfront - Earlier, yields more vs wildfire, VG winter hardiness & I rating to FHB AAC Icefield - Hard White Winter Wheat (GP)- large showy heads, forage or feed or milling Page with all fall crop varieties and some agronomy information on fall rye, winter wheat, and winter triticale.  The Truth About Ag had an interesting podcast about land values with Trent Klarenbach. Notes I made were that the farmers who hold the most land are over 60 years old and experienced the 80's and the generation buying land is at larger risk than ever before due to current land prices. Food for thought: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-truth-about-ag/id1740590178?i=1000718690213Non-Apple link: https://www.realagriculture.com/2025/07/the-truth-about-farmland-values-with-trent-klarenbach/
AAC Coldfront was provided for a FoodGrains project near Granum last season yielding 39 bu per ac on dryland. It missed the rains early season. Its amazing how last season winter crops were easily the best and this season they may not be! On average I think winter crops do make more money per ac.
If you bale straw here are some rough estimates of how much that may be worth with crop prices for each:  Winter crops and durum look pretty good for the cereals as well as corn. Blair does sell some awesome grain corn 😉 https://www.stampseeds.com/corn.html   As crop prices settle out, I did a rough comparison of crop prices vs. yield after in crop costs. Hybrid fall rye looks like an easy choice, and has the added benefits of weed suppression.   We receive lots of fall crop questions so here is a fall crop FAQ: https://www.stampseeds.com/all-fall--winter-crops.html Ideal Seeding dates
 Some varieties resist disease in unique ways. Genetic expression can show in crispy leaf tips. Breeder Dr. Richard Cuthbert told me it is associated with Adult Plant Resistance (APR) genes - Lr34, Lr46, and/or Lr67. Many varieties of wheat have these genes and overall the gene(s) are a net benefit. AAC Oakman VB (the new solid stem CWRS launching this fall can show this)  |
AuthorsBlair Balog - Seed Specialist at Stamp Seeds Archives
April 2026
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