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Agriculture Roundup for Monday, July 27

Jul 27, 2020 | 10:00 AM

Clubroot

There are benefits to looking for clubroot in the middle of summer.

Clubroot galls can start to form on canola roots about three weeks after canola emerges, and it takes another month or so for them to be noticeable.

Dan Orchard, agronomy specialist for the Canola Council of Canada, said the galls would look like white or yellow deformed roots, and above-ground symptoms may not be obvious yet.

He suggested investigating thin looking areas of the crop to see if there’s an issue.

SaskCanola director Keith Fournier farms along the Alberta border, and he said if clubroot is close to your area, you have to farm as if you have the disease yourself.

He also said it’s important to scout your crop and check out any area that looks different.

If you catch clubroot at this time of the growing season, it allows you to take focused action on the troubled areas. If the patch is small enough, you can cut off all of the plants with galls, then cut up the galls and dispose of them. A Canola Watch article suggested that you could burn the galls or put them in a garbage bag and take them to landfill.

Destroying the galls now means minimizing the amount of inoculum that is released back into the soil for future infestation.

Finding clubroot early also gives producers an opportunity to reduce soil movement from field to field, and even expand the number of years between canola crops.

FCC financials

Farm Credit Canada (FCC) is reporting a strong financial performance for the year ending March 31st.

The Regina-based federal farm lending agency had net income of $632 million.

“FCC continues to be a strong and stable presence in Canada’s agriculture and food industry, ready to support producers and processors in pursuing opportunities and overcoming challenges,” FCC president and CEO Michael Hoffort said in a news release.

He added “[f]rom the impact of adverse weather to market and supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important FCC continues to maintain a strong financial position to support those in Canada’s agriculture and food industry through these difficult times.”

A $500 million federal government contribution in March also helped FCC increase it’s lending capacity by $5 billion.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FCC will hold their annual public meeting online on August 26.