Survey Shows Low Crop Disease Risk In 2021

Aug 31, 2021

The province has completed its crop disease survey for 2021.

Manitoba Agriculture pathologist David Kaminski commented on canola.

"One of the diseases that is traditionally a problem for Manitoba is sclerotinia stem rot, also known as white mould in the other crops that are susceptible. It is the most substantial reduction. We saw virtually none this year."

Kaminski notes blackleg prevalence and severity was also down this year. He says the survey also showed no new cases of clubroot.

Disease in wheat was also low.

"In wheat, we see both foliar diseases and fusarium head blight. The latter is the one we're usually most concerned about. In 2020, we found it in a third of the fields. This year we have found it in less than one per cent of the fields."

Kaminski also commented on soybeans.

"We almost always see bacterial blight and soybean brown spot, with pretty high prevalence. For instance, in 2020, bacterial blight took the lead with 92 per cent of the fields surveyed and brown spot was found in 80 per cent of the fields. Not at really alarming intensity but still it was there. In our results so far from this year, we see more brown spot than bacterial blight, but brown spot is in a quarter of the fields and the severity is even less than last year."

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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.