Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development's annual “blue book” is now available in downloadable form from the ministry's website.
Staff at AARD responded to producers who said they wanted a portable, searchable version of the manual, which lists updated information on pesticides.
The book is produced annually to update farmers on the latest changes in what pesticides are available, even though the chemistries for individual products are the same.
“We've been hearing for a number of years that people are wanting to have a downloadable version of it so that instead of carrying the book with them, they can carry it on an iPad or something like that. A lot of producers are still going to want a copy of the book (as a) spare,” said Harry Brook, the technical editor of the herbicide portion of the book and a crop specialist with AARD.
“For some agronomists that do a lot of travelling, they'd like to have something a little more portable and that's where an Acrobat version that's searchable can meet the need.”
Brook said that once patents expire on particular chemical formulations, many different companies will begin producing the same chemical.
But farmers need to know that it's basically the same product as many others on the market, and the blue book explains that, as well as the chemistries involved in different products, their application rates and what they will combat.
“There's a lot of pesticides out there, but there's really not nearly as many as you think. We have limited chemistries that are effective as herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and they have to go through stringent testing with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency before they're approved,” he said.
“The blue book is a summary of label information in a format that you can find out the rates, find out weed control, weeds suppressed, application rates, what it can be mixed with, what it has to be mixed with, that sort of stuff,” Brook added.
Brook said the value of the book is that it is current. But each year brings new products, so the book must be updated.
The book is also useful for showing what plants are resistant to certain chemicals, sprayer safety and sprayer calibration.
“There's a lot of good information in the front as well that can be referred to all related to the activity of spraying,” Brook said.
"We've been hearing for a number of years that people are wanting to have a downloadable version of it so that instead of carrying the book with them, they can carry it on an I-Pad or something like that."Harry Brooktechnical editor blue book
