Yield stability and income stability — that’s what farmers earn when they invest in regenerative agriculture. That message was heard often throughout the recent Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFAO) annual conference in London, Ont. It’s a tune that more and more farmers are singing as they increase efforts to enhance soil health on their… Read More
Farmers need to treat soil as more than a chemistry set — they need to think about biology and ecology. That’s the message Kansas farmer Michael Thompson shared with those attending the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFAO) annual conference last week in London, Ont. Thompson does admit, however, that farmers have been successful in… Read More
Kinze’ new high-speed planting system will allow growers to plant at speeds of up to 12 miles per hour when it hits farmer fields in 2021. Dubbed as “True Speed” by the manufacturer, the system will be available with Kinze’s new 4905 planter for corn and soybeans. Last week at the National Farm Machinery Show… Read More
The man who wrote the book on wheat production in the United Kingdom says it’s time to throw away that production guide and adopt a new approach to higher wheat yields. Roger Sylvester-Bradley, who leads the crop performance research team at ADAS Consulting, believes researchers need to learn from the tremendous yield variability they see… Read More
In Ontario, spring cereals such as wheat, oats, and barley are often viewed as the poor cousin of winter wheat, a crop that annually flirts with the one million acre mark in the province. In general, acreage for spring cereals has been flat or declining for the past decade, but Agronomy Advantage agronomist Deb Campbell… Read More
Dairy calves experience many challenges in early life, and producers need to be diligent in the hours and days after birth to ensure calf health and reduce mortality. Overall, research shows that eight percent of calves die within 48 hours of birth — this includes those born dead or those that die within the first… Read More
Many farmers in 2019 will be harvesting late-planted corn that struggled to mature as combines roll through fields this fall. Much of that corn will likely be heading directly to the elevator, but there will be marketing opportunities for growers who are willing to dry and store that grain. On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Corn… Read More
What do you do when farm customers need a tractor tire that delivers the flexibility to handle front-end loader jobs along with being able to work in row crops? That was the challenge tractor manufacturer Kubota faced earlier this year as its M7 series tractor users asked for a high-capacity loader tire with the additional… Read More
In 2019, many Ontario soybean fields showed signs of severe manganese deficiency. Many of the problem areas were a direct result of growing conditions that featured both soil temperature and moisture extremes, says AGRIS Co-operative agronomist Dale Cowan, who notes that many soils in southwestern Ontario tend to be naturally low in manganese. Any time… Read More
One of the big benefits of strip tilling corn is the ability to place fertilizer directly into the berm or strip for greater nutrient efficiency. But as growers rotate out of strip-tilled corn, how can they assess the overall fertility of a field where nutrient placement was concentrated in specific areas? On this edition of… Read More
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is a man of the people. There was no better evidence of that than this week when he sat with dairy farmers at the World Dairy Expo to listen to their concerns. Quite simply, U.S. dairy farmers are in a tough spot. After five years of depressed milk prices, producers… Read More
After a wet spring, the weather has turned hot and dry in Ontario and that could mean a proliferation of pests in soybean fields across the province. On this episode of RealAgriculture Soybean School, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs entomologist Tracey Baute says a change in the weather will likely bring on… Read More
Retiring alfalfa fields used to be a simple process. Conventional tillage farmers would just drop the mouldboard plow in the fall, while those under a minimum tillage system would rely on a glyphosate burndown before planting a new crop the following spring. With the introduction of glyphosate tolerant (GT) alfalfa, however, glyphosate is no longer… Read More
Contour drainage can sure draw a crowd. More than 400 people travelled to a drainage innovation field day last weekend at the Huronview Demonstration Farm at Clinton, Ont. The stars of the show were new contour and controlled tile drainage systems with surface drainage terraces. These systems will provide research insights on how these systems… Read More
Don’t skip that burndown. That’s Rob Miller’s number one recommendation for soybean growers as a cold, wet spring pushes into May. Miller, BASF’s technical development manager, notes 2018 post-harvest conditions prevented many growers from controlling weeds in corn fields last fall and the yield-robbers are lurking beneath corn residue, waiting to compete with the 2019… Read More
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