Saskatchewan Insect Update

It was a tough year for Canola producers given the marketing situation with one of our biggest customers China.

 

James Tansey is the Provincial Insect Specialist with the Ministry of Agriculture and says there was some good news for producers when it came to insect issues this year.

 

“Low populations of diamondback moth, low populations of bertha armyworm, apparently low populations of lygus bugs in Faba. Cabbage seedpod weevil and pea leaf weevil numbers were also very low this past year.”

 

He notes we saw a pretty heavy grasshopper infestation in some areas.

 

“In the Kindersley area, we saw some pretty heavy infestations around 20 per square meter. So, for a lot of crops, the less sensitive crops we're talking about thresholds of 10 to 12 per square meter; for the more sensitive crops like flax and lentil, we're looking at 2 per square meter. So, at 20 per square meter we're well over that. We also have another little hot spot in the southeast, and these were running around 10 per square meter.”

 

He says cutworms and red bug posed some problems while flea beetles caused a lot of damage for producers this spring.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.