The 2018 Ontario soybean crop is one for the record books, but you never would have predicted that back in July when much of the crop was desperate for rain. Not only did the 2018 Ontario crop set a record yield average at 54 bu/ac, it smashed the previous record of 48.3 set in 2012… Read More
The 2018 Ontario soybean harvest got off to a roaring start in early fall but quickly ground to a halt as poor weather parked combines. In early December, many growers are still struggling to bin their beans. The wet weather has left growers asking how they can manage higher moisture, wet soybeans. Management decisions are… Read More
There are a number of reasons why herbicides sometimes fail to control weeds. Perhaps surprisingly, one of the easier things to rule out is whether the weed is herbicide resistant. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs weed specialist Mike Cowbrough says many universities across Canada conduct testing for herbicide resistance, but growers have… Read More
Thousands of acres of Ontario corn will have to be destroyed this fall due to high DON levels. A big challenge growers face when destroying those acres now and into winter is ensuring volunteer corn doesn’t make a mess of next year’s soybean crop. In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Corn School, our resident agronomist Peter… Read More
A hot, dry early summer encouraged some rarely seen insects to set up shop in corn fields in 2018. Steph Kowalski, agronomy lead for the Agromart Group in eastern Canada, admits she was surprised by the number of reports of thrips in corn crops in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces this year. Thrips are generally… Read More
Nature is pretty amazing, but that wonder and adaptability can translate to a huge problem in a crop. Wireworms, for example, can determine they don’t like what is on the menu when you seed your crop in the spring, wait until the following spring, and attack a more vulnerable crop instead. What’s more, they can… Read More
In any industry, you can go backwards by merely standing still. In research, even something as traditional as wheat research, the same is true. You have to keep moving forward or other players will pass you and your innovations will be obsolete before they even get out of the laboratory. Luckily for Canadian farmers, there… Read More
How can growers adjust their combines to reduce vomitoxin levels when harvesting the 2018 crop? RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson has some answers. In this episode of Real Agriculture’s Corn School, Johnson visits with custom combine operator David Killins, of Killins Custom work, at Dorchester, Ontario. Johnson acknowledges that while cleaning corn does help, it’s not… Read More
Verticillium stripe, also known as verticillium wilt, is a relatively new-to-Canada canola disease. First identified on a research farm in Manitoba in 2014, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) conducted a nation-wide survey to determine the extensiveness of the pathogen in 2015, and found it to be in multiple locations. In this episode of Canola… Read More
Farmers are planting too much soybean seed. That’s a conviction agronomist Pat Lynch is firm on. “What we’re doing is determining the population based on the poor parts of the field because we don’t want to have these thin spots.” says Lynch. While high seeding rates help populate under-performing areas of the field, they produce… Read More
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) at Lethbridge, Alta., is a big sprawling facility that does a wide variety of research. That being said, they are particularly known for their wheat research, and for good reason. They do innovative work, and the research team has bred many stalwart wheat varieties for Canadian farmers. In this episode… Read More
Earlier this year, Dr. Peter Sikkema, professor with the University of Guelph and his research team confirmed Group 14 resistance in waterhemp at multiple locations in Ontario. Sikkema’s research team, including graduate student Lauren Benoit, has also confirmed waterhemp with cross-resistance to Groups 2, 5, and 9, as well as 14. In this episode of the Resistance Management… Read More
Every once in a while a group with a real passion for something get a chance to get together and talk about what they care about. If you get to be in room with with them, you can’t help but feel the energy and, most likely, learn something. The Western Forum on Pest Management (WFPM)… Read More
Have you ever discovered small, misshapen, poorly pollinated corn ears mixed in with a field of impressive, high-yielding cobs? PRIDE Seeds agronomist Drew Thompson received a call in August from a grower telling just this story. When Thompson visited the field he noted that no nutrient deficiencies were apparent (no firing or discolouration) so out came… Read More
Each fall the Western Forum on Pest Management meets to review the previous growing season. Scientists, researchers, and agronomists get together to compare notes on what happened during the previous growing season. This helps everyone get a better understanding of the issues so that they can help each other help farmers. Dale Leftwich, field editor… Read More