Should growers sell their wheat straw after 2021 harvest? That’s a question RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson has been asked often in recent weeks. With fertilizer prices up 125 per cent and straw prices hovering around three cents per pound, many growers say they would rather blow the straw back on the field, take the nutrient credit… Read More
Grasshoppers are a concern this year for many soybean growing areas. The decision process to spray, not to spray, when to do it, and how much of the field should get covered requires scouting to get an average number. Brunel Sabourin of Antara Agronomy joins Kelvin Heppner in this episode of Soybean School to discuss… Read More
Edible bean growers in Ontario experienced a little bit of everything in 2021 — from excellent soil conditions, to frost and hard-to-find moisture. On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Edible Bean School, host Bernard Tobin and Hensall Co-op agronomist Josh Moffatt explore four different Oxford County fields, and share lessons learned from the spring planting rollercoaster…. Read More
Pulse crops can show a lot of height variability during the growing season, and this early on, staging a pulse crop for a herbicide application certainly requires more than just a drive by. “You really have to get out in a field to get staging on peas right,” says Daniel Packer, senior brand manager of… Read More
It’s been a challenging start for wheat in much of Western Canada this spring due to hot and dry conditions, which might lead growers and agronomists to ask “what if?” this cool season crop had been planted earlier. Wheat’s yield potential is determined early on, at the three to six leaf stage, explains Brunel Sabourin… Read More
Many Ontario farmers would have heard about Yield Enhancement Networks (YEN) for the first time about two years ago at the Southwest Agricultural Conference. ADAS, an independent provider of agricultural and environmental consultancy services in the U.K., formed the first YEN back in 2012, with the goal of setting up collaboration between industry partners, agronomists, and… Read More
Every year, Sask Wheat and other Prairie wheat groups go out and sample soil to look for wheat midge cocoons that have overwintered, and then create a forecast map from that information. The wheat midge forecast map is showing a lot of red, which is a bit alarming. Wheat midge is definitely on Tyler Wist’s… Read More
Soil health, in a rotational grazing and cattle operation sense, starts with ground cover and consistently adding organic matter that will eventually become sequestered carbon. Logistics-wise and from a management stand-point, how is improved soil health achieved in a cattle operation? In this Soil School episode, Bernard Tobin is in the field with Aaron Bowman,… Read More
You may recall from previous Wheat School episodes, the research trial using different seeder technologies looking at the effects on a wheat crop throughout the growing season. In this Wheat School episode, we’re joined for another Follings’ research farm report with Joanna Follings, cereals specialist with OMAFRA, and Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson, RealAgriculture’s resident agronomist…. Read More
Doing a stand establishment assessment might not be the most glamorous part of scouting, but it’s a really important piece of information to know how many canola seeds were put in the ground, how many have emerged, and why. “We know that canola seed is a premium input; it’s not a cheap thing to buy,… Read More
Proper staging is critical when applying in-crop herbicides in corn, but there are multiple ways to measure corn’s growth stages, and herbicide labels don’t always use the same method. Agronomists often use the “leaf collar” — or V-stage — method to describe growth stages, while others use plant height. However, herbicide labels often refer to… Read More
A spring of extremes — first cold, dry and windy, then hot, dry and windy — has resulted in weeds getting a head start in many soybean fields in the soybean-growing areas of Western Canada. While wind and cold temperatures delayed burnoff applications at the start of the season, questions about when to spray in… Read More
Winter canola isn’t actually that new of a crop to Ontario — there were certainly some acres produced in the 80s and 90s — but there’s been a resurgence in the last five years with increased availability of a new variety. Meghan Moran, OMAFRA canola and dry edible bean specialist, joins Bernard Tobin in a… Read More
Canola is an adaptable crop, but stressors such as frost or wind shear can make flea beetle damage more serious or staging the crop more difficult. Ken Wall, grow team advisor with Federated Co-operatives Ltd., joins Kara Oosterhuis in the field for this episode of the Canola School to talk about the impact of the… Read More
Early-season corn scouting requires a little bit of time and attention, but can really pay off for the rest of the year and even into the next. Sara Meidlinger, market development specialist with Pride Seeds for Western Canada, joins Kara Oosterhuis for this Corn School episode. Scout representative areas of the field including good and… Read More