Possible new way of detecting club root

Sep 18, 2019

Trained dogs might be able to detect club root.

Assistant Agricultural Fieldman Gary Murray told Agricultural Service Board members of a New Brunswick dog trainer, Bill Grimmer, who is training dogs to sniff out club root, a problem in canola crops. The plan is to bring the dogs to Alberta for a test to see how successful sniffing out club root is.

Murray said what is done by the MD when a club root infestation is suspected in a field is to walk the field in a large W shape and pick out about 100 plants for testing.

The root of the plant is needed for a positive club root verification. Club root can cause root swellings in canola and plants in the Brassicaceae family, choking off nutrients and causing premature death of the plant. Brassicaceae family plants include radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts and turnips.

The club root spores are difficult to remove from equipment after it has worked in an infested field.

Josh Fankhauser, representing the central ASB district, said he had visited the Vegreville area, where club root is a problem. Fankhauser said cleaning machinery after being in a club root infested field is “about a three-day job” for one person.

“They took the whole drill apart and washed everything,” Fankhauser said. “That was a big job.”

Club root infestations have not been a problem so far in the Municipal District of Willow Creek, but it is a threat, Murray said. It is a problem in northern Alberta and is showing up in southern Alberta, he noted.

Click here to see more...

Video: Is China Buying US Soybeans + USDA Nov 14th Crop Report could be “Game Changing”

After a week of a U.S./China trade truce, markets/trade is skeptical that we have not seen a signed agreement nor heard much from China or seen any details. There are rumors that China is buying soybean futures & not the physical. Trust in Trump?
12 MMT of U.S. soybean purchases by China by year-end is better than 0 but we all need to give it more time and give it a chance to unfold. China did lower the tariffs on Ag and is buying U.S. wheat and sorghum.
U.S. supreme court could rule against Trumps tariffs, but the Trump administration does have a plan B.
U.S. government shutdown is now the longest in history at 38 days.
But despite a U.S. government shutdown we will be getting a USDA November crop report next Friday and it could be “game changing.” If the USDA provides a bullish surprise with lower U.S. corn and soybean yields and ending stocks that are lower than expected both corn and soybean futures will break out above their ceilings at $4.35/bu and $11.35/bu respectively.
The funds continued their selling in live and feeder cattle futures on continued fears that the Trump administration want to lower U.S. beef prices. The fundamentals have not changed, only market psychology has.
Stocks markets continue to worry about a weak U.S. job market, but you can blame ChatGPT for that. In the future, we will have a more efficient, productive and growing economy with a higher unemployment rate until we have more skilled AI workers.
After 34 new record highs in the S & P 500 and 124 new records in the NASDAQ in 2025 we are back to a correction and investor profit taking as AI valuations may have gotten too stretched near-term ahead of NVDA’s 3rd quarter earnings announcement on Nov. 19th. But this is not an AI bubble.
75% of Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk!
It has rained in South America in the last 7 days, but both the American and European models agree that Central Brazil remains dry in the next 14-days!

CFA hosting ag leaders’ debate

U.S. soybeans dropping leaves