It’s easy to see what’s going on with your corn crop above ground. You can see things like changes in colour, difference in height, physical damage. When it comes to a diagnosis however, in most cases it pays to start looking underground. Root analysis can keep you from throwing good money after bad. Adding nutrients… 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!
Any farmer who loves a good list missed out on one fantastic presentation by Ken Ferrie at the recent CornSmart conference held recently at Guelph, Ont. Drawing conclusions from the 2012 growing season, Ferrie, an independent agronomist with Crop-Tech Consulting, ran through the seven key areas of corn production management where he feels farmers need… Read More
Rain or shine, drought or not, nitrogen is king when it comes to targeting the highest yields possible in corn. While it may not be a surprise that even in a dry year corn responds to added nitrogen, there’s still work to be done on the economic levels of that response with environmental stewardship in… Read More
Everyone has an aunt or an uncle or someone that uses “blanket” terminology. You know what I mean, they call blu rays and CD’s DVD’s or call all mp3 players “iPods”. We’re all guilty of it on some level, but the truth is terminology is important. Just ask Tony Vyn about using the terms “drought… Read More
Potassium is critical for in-plant water management, which means that adequate levels of the nutrient at various depths is a key component of how well a crop handles drought stress. While no one can accurately predict a drought, managing overall soil health and nutrient levels is a great way to add some drought risk management… Read More
The 2012 drought that hit Ontario producers hard, hit Indiana farmers even harder. So hard in fact that it was one of the worst yielding crop years on record. That number being relative to what’s expected given technology and management practices of the time. Needless to say, that puts drought tolerance as an issue that’s… Read More
An early spring with warm conditions, decent moisture at planting and high-yield-potential genetics make for a best-case scenario in the face of unfavourable weather conditions. The 2012 corn crop generally started out with excellent root structure and good moisture before Mother Nature turned off the top and cranked the heat. In spite of the dry… Read More
Do you know how many pounds per bushel of phosphorus and potassium corn pulls out of the soil? Nitrogen gets all the attention in crop production, but these two nutrients are also very important to corn production, and, in years of decent yields, the total pounds per acre of P and K drawn out of… Read More
In a good news/not so good news scenario, the 2012 corn crop is showing very low incidence of ear molds. That said, there are likely to be areas with higher numbers, and farmers are reminded to scout or test each field for possible infection, especially if the crop is destined for feed use. In this… Read More
As farmers approach the mid-way point of the Ontario corn harvest (and quickly surpass it, we hope), preliminary reports suggest decent yields in spite of challenging conditions. That said, it most certainly wasn’t an ideal growing season, and farmers aren’t likely to see their highest ever production this year. What a challenging year does allow… Read More
There are more than a few weeks ahead yet for the corn harvest, but as a testament to constantly improving genetics and the hardiness of the crop, preliminary corn yields for 2012 are actually quite good. There are areas that are hurting, yes, but some farmers are pleasantly surprised with yields and quality, especially in… Read More
Harvest is always a busy time and weather and mechanical delays are to be expected. But if all is going reasonably well and you’ve got several fields ready to harvest all at once, have you ever thought about the best way to prioritize harvesting one field over the other? Right now, there are still soybeans… Read More
The Ontario corn crop isn’t going to break any yield records in 2012, but most producers are going to fare OK once decent prices are factored in to the lower yields. One bright spot in a tough year is variety comparison — in a good year, it’s difficult to really be objective as to what… Read More
It was the great Kenny Rogers that said “There’ll be time enough for countin, when the dealin’s done”. Well, Kenny Rogers never grew corn….at least not to my knowledge. The truth is, there is a benefit of having an idea where your crop will yield before it’s off the field. The trick comes in estimating… Read More
The price of corn is something that’s weighing heavy on the minds of producers right now. Not producers only, but everyone affected either directly or indirectly with the crop is wondering where corn will top out and where it’s headed as we look to 2013. In this episode of the Corn School, Moe Agostino of… Read More