There are so many different roles in the farming and agriculture industry, it’s rare to find someone who ended up in exactly the job they always thought they’d have. More often than not, a string of opportunities is presented to a person with talents and interests and the wherewithal to pursue them, and — boom… Read More
Author: Agronomyteam
It’s July and that means two things: sunburns and field tour season! Our apologies for this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word being posted a day late, but it was actually a field tour (and plot harvest) that pushed host Peter Johnson right to deadline. We promise it’s worth the wait, however, as this week’s episode is… Read More
Wheat breeding is a poor cousin when you compare it to the investment and resources corn and soybean plant breeders have at their disposal to develop new and improved plant genetics. The arrival of CRISPR technology, however, is giving wheat breeders hope that they may finally get a leg up on their big-crop cousins. At… Read More
A scratchy-voiced Peter Johnson needs you to get out there and scout, scout, scout for aphids on soybean. While you’re out in the fields, you also need to check for all sorts of other insects because hot, dry weather is helping creepy-crawlies multiply. It’s also time to get that first white mould suppression pass on,… Read More
Crop conditions across Western Canada are quite variable based on sporadic moisture. Even just field to field, the conditions can be so different that farmers and agronomists are facing some really challenging decision making situations. When conditions like drought set in, it can be easy to make assumptions on what is or not happening in… Read More
It’s not often that we hear about first-generation farmers. It’s also rare to hear about someone picking up and moving provinces to begin to farm, but that’s what Steve Larocque did, moving from near Greely, Ontario, to eventually farm at Three Hills, Alberta. Larocque isn’t just any grain farmer, either. Admittedly, he’s small scale and… Read More
Wheat has been progressing rapidly thanks to seasonally high temperatures in many areas over the past few weeks, quickly moving into and through the early flowering stage. Early flower is when a fungicide application to prevent fusarium head blight (FHB) is recommended. “Typically we’d expect flowering to start three days after head emergence, and flowering… Read More
Dry conditions across much of Western Canada have some growers wrestling with the decision on whether or not to apply a fungicide — or to go with one application instead of two — to prevent leaf disease and fusarium head blight infection. There are several factors to consider, says Kelly Turkington, with Agriculture and Agri-Food… Read More
Ontario has turned into the land of extremes, where wet areas are suffering through excessive rainfall when it happens, while other areas wither in the dry and the heat. There is one near-perfect area — the Ottawa Valley — and host Peter Johnson figures it’s so perfect out that way, he doesn’t have to answer… Read More
It’s been 10 years since the presence of western bean cutworm (WBC) was confirmed in Ontario. Since then, the yield-robbing pest has moved beyond provincial hotspots such as Bothwell, Thamesville, and the sandy soils of Tillsonburg, and it continues to march eastward through to Quebec and into the Maritime provinces. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food… Read More