Any crop breeding program is a balancing act. For every problem you look to address, you potentially open the door to new and unexpected ones or risk losing desired traits. The more traits you try and breed into a crop, the more you have to think about how those traits affect each other. That’s the… Read More
Category: Crop Schools
There really is no substitute for getting into your fields. You hear agronomists constantly banging that drum. That’s because there really is no substitute for getting into your fields. This is especially true when you’re trying to make a decision on when to swath your canola. A drive-by appraisal of the field just won’t cut… Read More
The threat of glyphosate resistance continues to plague growers with weeds like glyphosate resistant Canada fleabane spreading throughout Ontario. If left unchecked, the weed has the potential to become a much bigger problem in Ontario and eventually other parts of Canada as well. That’s where a “big picture” approach has to be brought in at… Read More
The last six weeks have been extremely dry throughout parts of Ontario. Crops across the board have suffered as hopes for bumper yields have been deflated by the stress of prolonged hot and dry conditions. Corn in particular started with a great deal of promise, but now sits in a grey area as to how… Read More
The Ontario corn crop was really off to the races. There was optimal planting dates, early timely rains and the crop looked fantastic. And then KABOOM!!!!! The Ontario corn crop is now subject to some of the same stresses as its US counterpart. Dry hot weather has really impacted the Ontario corn crop moving the… Read More
It’s not over till it’s over. That’s the truth behind getting out to scout your canola. Until that crop is off the field and in the bin, you need to be out looking for potential pest problems. Even though canola has an incredible ability to recover, late season pests can still do some damage to… Read More
This long and drawn out stretch of hot and dry weather in Ontario has sucked the potential out of a number of crops. High temperatures and no rain have put the brakes on some great looking early planted crops. For crops that manage to hang on through the stresses of a hot and dry July… Read More
Controlling glyphosate resistant weeds is a challenge. It’s a challenge that can be strewn with complications as well. Timing is a key factor in the control of glyphosate resistant weeds and if that timing is thrown off by any number of factors, a complicated situation can lead to a herbicide injury situation. That’s precisely the… Read More
With recent dry conditions slowly sapping the potential from the Ontario corn crop, producers want to protect their corn in any way they can. Leaf disease on top of heat stress can add insult to injury taking even more of your yield potential. A well timed fungicide application, when it makes good economic sense, can… Read More
The fortunes of a new wheat variety rise or fall depending on their end use characteristics. The food industry in particular needs varieties that exhibit certain traits during processing. If they don’t meet those specific needs in a commercial area like milling or baking, they simply can’t be used. SEE MORE EPISODES OF THE WHEAT… Read More
We’ll admit it, many people are terrible at following directions. You only look at directions if people’s lives may hang in the balance or if the product is extremely expensive and even then most farmers may just use them as a reference. Product labels on herbicides can arouse that response in even the most disciplined producer. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, being a… Read More
So much time and effort is put into pushing corn to it’s full potential. We try so hard to manage areas that are partially out of our control that when we see something like herbicide injury in our crop, it can feel a little bit like we shot the puck into our own net. Sometimes… Read More
In order to have an effective fungicide strategy, the approach behind it has to be more preventative than reactive. That approach can be a little scary sometimes when spraying based on a risk assessment instead of seeing actual symptoms. It’s an approach that can leave you wondering if you did the right thing, but if… Read More
The Ontario corn crop is sitting in a great position. If things continue to go well we could be looking at some bumper crops. The combination of early planting, good soil conditions and great weather have pushed corn in some areas to the tasselling stage giving those crops ample time for grain fill. There are… Read More
The wheat crop in Ontario has been through a lot. There was some frost damage early this year as well as some dry periods through April, May and part of June accompanied by some extreme heat at times. All that aside, as numbers start to come in from areas like Essex County they’re fairly decent… Read More