This summer, we didn’t just talk agronomy - we pulled back the curtain and invited our Independent Ag Retail and industry partners to join us for an Answer Plot prairie crop tour to put agronomy on full display. The Answer Plot site is located just east of Saskatoon, and provides first-hand relevant data for the Independent Ag Retails on the Prairies who want to see it to believe it.
Answer Plot has been a fixture to the Prairie crop tour season since first launching in 2018. These tours have always been unique – providing actual demonstrations of various products and symptomology along with bringing new products and hybrids to the field. With a motto of “we fail here so you don’t have to”, the Playground section provides both new and seasoned agronomists an opportunity to explore different tank-mix combinations and application variations. It’s where we push the limits to see what actually works in Prairie soil, not just in a sales guide.
Canola Trials – The Good, The Bold, and The Experimental
Heavy hitters were in the ground with the canola variety tours showcasing the best of both Brevant® seed and CROPLAN® hybrids. Brevant’s new hybrid, B4021, joins B3020 with their pod-shatter premium (PSP) trait, providing straight-cutting confidence.
CROPLAN presented the full arsenal of all six hybrids, as well as ten experimental canola hybrids being considered for the 2026 growing season. More than just yield, the canola section also featured the pod-shatter trial, where hybrids will be desiccated late this summer and left until mid-fall to determine how much pod-drop and pod-shatter occurs when truly left to withstand Prairie conditions.
Herbicide Trials – Field Truth
Herbicides aren’t just labels or promises — they’re chemistry in action. At Answer Plot, products are put to the test, so agronomists can see exactly where it shines… and where it stumbles. No spin, no slideshows, just real-world performance in Prairie conditions.
ADAMA®:
- Efficacy of the new dual mode-of-action Group 1 + 2 graminicide, CAZADO™, in wheat, along with a lesson on symptomology for both groups.
- Tank-mix partner comparisons with and without Crimson® NG.
- A new experimental broadleaf product was previewed.
Corteva Agriscience™:
- OnDeck™ vs. other Group 27 products, showed its high crop safety and efficacy on weeds like green foxtail.
- A lower rate of OnDeck + Journey® HSOC was a combo that held its own compared to full rate OnDeck.
- The biosolution, Fortified Stimulate™, demonstrated its potential use for improving plant growth under stressful conditions.
Gowan®:
- A walk-through their impressive soil residual line-up and modes of action, as well as the first Group 14 wild oat product, Insight® Liquid SC.
- Tips for spotting soil residual efficacy by searching for “porcupine quills” on a scrape back following an Avadex® application.
KOCH™ Agronomic Services:
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Synthos™ vs. the standard phos enhancing products — at different MAP rates — to evaluate agronomic and economic benefits.
Nufarm:
- Pre-seed residual products, like their new Valtera Cereals, got their field trial moment.
- Oxbow™ came out to tackle tough kochia – with and without Crimson NG – and the visuals told the story.
- Extended weed control benefits of BATALIUM® were demonstrated compared with competitor products two to three weeks after application.
- Strong crop safety was also shown with Batalium.
Innovation that’s Impossible to Unsee
One of the most inventive highlights of the tour came courtesy of WinField® United Canada’s Agronomy Manager, Martin Carr. Martin crafted a blackout spray coverage demonstration tent (complete with air conditioning for maximum user comfort – although a heater may have been more apt for the Tuesday morning tour!) to show differences in droplet size uniformity and canopy penetration on canola treated with dye + water only vs. dye + water + MasterLock®. Armed with blacklights, this ingenious hands-on-application demo gave participants a unique way to see how MasterLock truly alters spray patterns to improve coverage. There was no arguing with what your eyes were seeing!
Playground Strips: The Wild West of Agronomy
Where else do you get to watch grass control trials in oats, spring wheat, and durum, hunting for ways to overcome graminicide antagonism with certain broadleaf products like bentazon and phenoxy’s? In some tank-mix combinations, Crimson NG helped in the battle against this antagonism. Or compare glufosinate products, applied at the same active ingredient rate, just to watch them perform completely differently? That’s the point here, the field calls the shots, not the label! These were just a few of the playground strip highlights, that were, as always, a hit. True to their name, this is where WinField United plays, testing out different product tank-mix combinations, water volumes, and even boom heights.
Crop Tour Insights
Groups rounded off their visit with conversations on:
- How to control kochia before it controls you
- What really makes straight-cut canola successful (and what doesn’t)
- Differences in canola seed treatments
- LockTech® 101
What Stuck After the Dust Settled
The mornings may have been brisk, but the energy on-site stayed warm — laughter, straight-talk agronomy, and the kind of conversations you can’t get from a webinar. As one attendee nailed it sharing, “It’s clear to see the work that’s put into the site, and that WinField United is addressing real issues we deal with most years”.
Another participant was already locked in for next year, saying they’ll be back “to see what new things are coming from WinField United in the future. I also enjoy catching up with the WinField United team and other people that I don't get to see very often.”
The glufosinate comparisons and new blackout tent demo stole the spotlight, earning top marks from both veteran agronomists and first-time visitors. And with lessons this relevant, it’s no surprise people are already marking their calendars for 2026.
For the full agronomy results and in-depth trial data, join us at the WinField United Agronomy Academy in Saskatoon, November 18–19, 2025.
