Manitoba Agronomists Gather Online For Annual Conference

Dec 18, 2020

The Manitoba Agronomists Conference took place online this week.

Provincial Pulse Specialist Dennis Lange gave a presentation on dry beans.

"We ended up with about 185,000 acres of dry beans in the province, which is up from what we've seen in previous years," he said. "Most times in the last number of years, we've been kind of averaging around the 130,000 range. Definitely a lot more beans that went into the ground this year."

Lange expects to see a few less dry bean acres next year.

"We might be in that 180,000 range, a little less than what we were seeing this year, maybe even down to maybe that 160,000 range. Time will tell. Probably the biggest reasons for that is we do have competing crops. We do have crops like peas that did really well this year. We have soybeans, yields were also much better this year. We got more moisture. A lot will depend upon a grower's rotation."

He says one of the challenges the dry bean industry has is volunteer soybeans, which can cause shipment rejections at the bean plant. Soybeans are considered a food allergen in the dry bean markets.

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Video: Dicamba Returns for Georgia Farmers: What the New EPA Ruling Means for Cotton Growers

After being unavailable in 2024 due to registration issues, dicamba products are returning for Georgia farmers this growing season — but under strict new conditions.

In this report from Tifton, Extension Weed Specialist Stanley Culpepper explains the updated EPA ruling, including new application limits, mandatory training requirements, and the need for a restricted use pesticide license. Among the key changes: a cap of two ½-pound applications per year and the required use of an approved volatility reduction agent with every application.

For Georgia cotton producers, the ruling is significant. According to Taylor Sills with the Georgia Cotton Commission, the vast majority of cotton planted in the state carries the dicamba-tolerant trait — meaning farmers had been paying for technology they couldn’t use.

While environmental groups have expressed concerns over spray drift, Georgia growers have reduced off-target pesticide movement by more than 91% over the past decade. Still, this two-year registration period will come with increased scrutiny, making stewardship and compliance more important than ever.