Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a big concern for wheat growers each season, but some years, like 2020, the risk is incredibly high for a huge portion of the Prairies. The provincial FHB risk maps were lit up red and yellow for much of the growing season until about now. For many, early August may… Read More
Hot, dry weather isn’t letting up for many areas of Ontario, and the impact of heat is showing up in wheat yields. In this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter Johnson has got some timely reminders for farmers as we head into the middle of summer. From leafhoppers in alfalfa, to peak flight of western… Read More
Buckle up, it’s time for Episode 2 of Ontario Diagnostic Days! Managing plant disease and insects is the focus of Day 2. Watch below, for: We kick things off with a report from Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ field crops pathologist Albert Tenuta, who shares identification and management strategies for two yield-robbing… Read More
Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson is back for this episode of RealAg LIVE! and he’s brought his own fancy charts and weather requests. Listen below or download the podcast for later, and get a mid-season agronomy update for Ontario, some crop info for water use, and a nitrogen comparison show-down. Don’t miss RealAg LIVE! each Tuesday… Read More
Usually when a farmer considers using a planter in Western Canada, it’s to plant canola crops, not pulse crops. But there are those exploring that option in Alberta. Scott Gillespie, independent agronomist with Plants Dig Soil Consulting, has been working at scaling up plot trials he first saw at Farming Smarter. In this episode of… Read More
A certain caterpillar that blew in on the wind may be wreaking havoc in your cereal crops. John Gavloski, provincial entomologist for Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development, joined Kara Oosterhuis for this episode of Wheat School to talk all things armyworm. Armyworm is different from bertha armyworm in a few ways: their preferred food is… Read More
Grow great wheat! It’s a catchy slogan, sure, but HOW do you grow great wheat? In this episode of the Wheat School, Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson is fired up about the synergistic relationship between wheat inputs. “As we add all these fungicides, we add more nitrogen, we add these plant growth regulators, how does that… Read More
Wheat yield results are starting to trickle in from across Ontario, and the verdict is… pretty good! In this mid-July edition of Wheat Pete’s Word, host Pete Johnson covers off what seems to have contributed to yield and what didn’t seem to hold the wheat crop back. Plus, there are some insect pressures to watch… Read More
It started cool, turned hot and dry, and now the rain has started to fall — just in time for corn pollination. Ontario’s 2020 growing season is a far cry from perfect but it’s certainly much better than last year at this point. Doug Alderman, vice president of sales and marketing for PRIDE Seeds, says… Read More
A good parasite doesn’t kill its host, but a good parasitoid does. What’s the difference and why? In this episode of the Pests & Predators podcast, host Shaun Haney is joined by Tyler Wist, research scientist and field crop entomologist with Agriculture Agri-food Canada at Saskatoon, Sask., to explore the role of parasitoids in field… Read More
Kochia is a big concern for farmers across the Prairies, primarily because it’s a tough weed to kill, and the population is rife with herbicide resistance. Most farmers are aware of Group 2 resistance — which is old news — but newer Group 9 resistance is cropping up, which further complicates control of this prolific… Read More
After a challenging spring that saw getting the crop planted take precedent over pre-seed weed control, soybean growers in Western Canada have had to be diligent in catching up with potentially yield-robbing kochia, lamb’s quarters, volunteer canola, and other weeds in-crop. To keep yield losses down to less than five per cent, most soybean varieties… Read More
As mid-July hits, much of Ontario got a million dollar rain, but it also came with incredible wind and wild weather for some places. Western Canada also experienced some volatile weather and parts of Alberta that are typically dry are actually saturated (and not in a good way). This week’s Wheat Pete’s Word focuses on… Read More
There are well over 100 species of grasshoppers across Canada, but there are four that like cereal crops in particular. Of those four, certain species can dominate a certain region. All of them can make short work of a crop in no time, left unchecked. John Gavloski, provincial entomologist for Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development,… Read More
While you’re out scouting your peas, lentils, or faba beans for disease at early flowering, have a look for pea aphids too. “Flowering is a good time to be scouting for aphids in peas,” says John Gavloski, provincial entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development. “The most damage they can do is going to occur… Read More