Tar spot has moved through the U.S. Midwest, into Michigan and Wisconsin, and now officially calls Ontario home. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ plant pathologist Albert Tenuta has seen the evidence in a field near Ridgetown, Ont., and there are also reported sightings of the corn leaf disease in Lambton and Essex… Read More
James Hammerton, who farms with his family at Sweaburg, Ont., is giving double crop soybeans a solid go, with the aid of a stripper header to harvest the preceding wheat. On this episode of the Sharp Edge, RealAgriculture’s Bernard Tobin is joined by Greg Stewart, agronomy lead with Maizex Seeds. Stewart interviews Hammerton about his… Read More
Sometimes, when you’re doing things a little differently, you just have to build what you need instead of buying it. Greg Vermeersch and his team at VanMeer Farms at Courtland, Ont., modified a planter frame to custom build a 32-row strip tiller unit. It’s a fair bit of engineering, and on this episode of The… Read More
It’s time for T3 fungicides to control fusarium head blight in Ontario’s winter wheat, but growers may also have another troublemaker in the cereal crop that they’ll need to tackle this time of year. There have been growing reports of cereal aphids in the Ontario winter wheat crop this spring, and growers need will to… Read More
Should you go ground or air? That’s the question many growers struggle with as they try to determine the best method of applying disease-fighting fungicide to their growing corn crops. On this episode of RealAgriculture Corn School we tackle that question with two of North America’s leading plant pathologists — University of Kentucky’s Kiersten Wise… Read More
Are Ontario farmers doing a better job of getting phosphorus to stay put on their farms? Over the past decade, farmers, agronomists, researchers and governments have ramped up efforts to reduce the amount of phosphorus leaving farm fields and creating environmental challenges in areas such as the Lake Erie and Sainte-Claire watersheds. University of Waterloo… Read More
When winter kill makes it tough to grow alfalfa, what can dairy producers turn to for a protein source for milking cows? Believe it or not, forage soybeans may be a fit. That choice is gaining popularity with dairy farmers in eastern Ontario. “It’s hard to beat good alfalfa from a protein-grown-on-the-farm standpoint, but the… Read More
COVID-19 has certainly made Canadians more aware and concerned about their food supply. But will public acknowledgement of the importance of the agriculture and food sector lead to more financial and policy support? “This is the first time many Canadians have gone to the grocery store and seen bare shelves… and it’s got them thinking,”… Read More
How many crop heat units (CHU) does corn need to emerge? That’s a question many growers are asking as their corn seed shivers through the cold spring 2020 growing conditions. On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Corn School, we put that question to Dale Cowan, AGRIS Co-operative agronomist. He says that corn seed typically requires 165… Read More
Soybeans can handle cold, dry conditions at planting, but growers need to be careful when a cold, wet forecast is bearing down on their farm. Planting is proceeding quickly across Ontario, but many growers are asking if they should park the planter as an early-May polar vortex approaches the province — daytime highs of 3… Read More
From microwave ovens, to X-rays, and even potato chips, many important discoveries have been stumbled upon by accident. The same may to be true when it comes to weed control and the continuing fight to control glyphosate-resistant Canada fleabane. On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Soybean School, Mike Cowbrough, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural… Read More
Strip tillage for corn continues to gain momentum as more growers cultivate strips to reduce total tillage and place seed and fertilizer in soil that warms faster prior to planting. But what about weed control? How do growers keep yield-robbing weeds at bay in these cultivated strips and optimize the potential of the growing environment… Read More
The McBlain family farm, located southeast of Brantford in Ontario’s Brant County, hasn’t seen a plow in a generation. Tyler McBlain’s grandfather started no-tilling back in the 1980s. Since that time the farm has gradually moved to a no-till system for soybeans and wheat while all corn is now produced in a strip till system…. Read More
When it’s mid-April, relatively dry, but cool, should you plant soybeans? We tackle that question on the latest RealAgriculture Soybean School episode with Horst Bohner, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs soybean specialist. Bohner has a simple answer to our question. Basically, he recommends planting both soybeans and corn within the same window…. Read More
Typically, it’s tough to grow organic soybeans without turning to tillage for weed control. When done well, organic yields can rival conventional production, but it comes at a cost — from equipment and labour requirements to long-term soil degradation. There are production systems, however, that are proving to deliver yield without these drawbacks. In the… Read More
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