2017 may well be remembered for the spring that just kept on giving. From flooding to hail, Mother Nature threw just about every challenge imaginable at Ontario farmers during the early portion of the growing season. But despite difficult conditions that wreaked havoc on spring tillage, planting, weed control and nutrient application, farmers have persevered…. Read more »
Category: Corn School
Real Agriculture’s Corn School provides you with everything you need to increase your corn yields. Each week we bring you the latest news and information from the corn market including corn futures, videos, articles and more. Join our Corn School email list and never miss a beat!
Corn School: Managing western bean cutworm
It’s lining up to be a big corn pest year and the insect to watch for in the weeks ahead is western bean cutworm (WBC). In this edition of RealAgriculture Corn School, OMAFRA entomologist Tracey Baute explains that late planting across Ontario has left the young corn crop more susceptible to an increased number of… Read more »
Corn School: Fungicide strategies for 2017
When it comes to plant development and yield potential, Ontario’s corn crop is all over the map. With pollination quickly approaching, many growers are now wrestling with fungicide strategies for a highly variable crop. In this episode of RealAgriculture Corn School, BASF agronomist Ken Currah reviews the struggles of the 2017 crop and discusses where,… Read more »
Corn School: Tool helps eliminate compaction for bigger yields
Are the roots of your corn crop running into a cement pad six inches below the surface? It’s time to find out. In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Corn School, AGRIS Co-operative agronomist Dale Cowan demonstrates how growers can effectively use a soil penetrometer to locate a soil hardpan and help eliminate the compaction so plant… Read more »
Corn School: Does wet soil need more nitrogen?
The rain keeps falling in Ontario and all the water-logged soils make it tough to get a good read on how much nitrogen is available to the province’s corn crop. In this edition of RealAgriculture Corn School, agronomist Peter Johnson discusses whether corn acres need supplemental nitrogen and how much they might need. It depends on… Read more »
Corn School: Can fungicides help minimize hail damage?
Ontario crops have experienced widespread hail damage in recent weeks and many growers are asking how they can minimize the yield impact. In this episode of RealAgriculture Corn School, agronomist Peter Johnson takes us to a field of eight-leaf corn that has been shredded by a recent hailstorm. He says at this stage, yield loss… Read more »
Corn School: ‘Aha moments’ in your fields
Have you ever spotted an area of vigourous plants in your cornfield and wondered why they’re a growth stage or two ahead of neighbouring plants? There are plenty of agronomic insights we can glean from our fields to improve farm management and yield, says AGRIS Co-operative agronomist Dale Cowan. Quite often the opportunity is right… Read more »
Corn School: Getting to the bottom of rootless corn
Dan Foster has seen a lot of agronomic head scratchers in his career, but he witnessed a first in a cornfield near Sarnia, Ontario this spring. On this episode of Real Agriculture Corn School, Foster, Pride Seeds market development agronomist based at Chatham, takes you to a field with rootless corn syndrome. Foster describes how… Read more »
Corn School: Cool weather calls for more sidedress nitrogen
Ontario’s cool, wet spring not only delayed planting, but also put the brakes on nitrogen mineralization, limiting the nutrient’s availability to the growing corn crop. According to OMAFRA pre-sidedress nitrate testing (PSNT) survey results released this week, corn growers are looking at the lowest rates of available nitrogen since the survey began in 2013. In… Read more »
Corn School: Time to start talking NPK and S
The N-P-K conversation – nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium – is the focus of most corn nutrient management discussions. But is it time for the letter S (sulphur) to be a routine part of that conversation? In this edition of RealAgriculture Corn School, AGRIS Co-operative agronomist Dale Cowan is joined by crop sales specialist Mike Veenema to… Read more »
Corn School: Cold and wet means less available nitrogen
What a difference a year makes. In 2016, Ontario’s cold and dry spring conditions produced plenty of available nitrogen for the emerging corn crop. But when you fast-forward to 2017, those cold soils are now waterlogged and the wet conditions mean there’s very little nitrogen available to the crop. The wet soil conditions have a… Read more »
Corn School: No second chances for hitting your population target
Planting season can be a busy, chaotic time, but not paying attention to details, such as variation in seed size, can be costly and impact yield potential for the rest of the growing season. “There are no second chances as it relates to population. What you put in the ground now is what will make your… Read more »
Corn School: How does delayed planting impact yield?
How much corn yield potential are you losing as the rain continues to fall across Ontario? As of May 5, you haven’t lost anything yet, but yield potential does start to diminish around May 10, says Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) corn specialist Ben Rosser. In this episode of RealAgriculture Corn… Read more »
Corn School: Should You Plant a ‘Fixed’ or a ‘Flex’ Hybrid?
Do I plant a workhorse or a racehorse hybrid? That’s a typical question corn growers contemplate when making seed choices. But with the growth of precision farming and advancing genetic progress, there’s now a new question to contemplate: should I plant a fixed, flex, or semi-flex hybrid? In this edition of Real Agriculture Corn School,… Read more »
Corn School: Knowing vs Hoping — Randy Dowdy’s Principles for Growing Record Yields
There are many aspects of farming that are beyond a farmer’s control (weather, markets…), but there are also variables that can be managed better than they have been in the past, according to the Georgia farmer who has set world corn and soybean yield records. “We make big yields and we blame the weather. We make… Read more »