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
Every year is different when it comes to growing a crop. The summer growing conditions are unpredictable and, as we have seen this year, harvest can go from great to brutal in one weather event. The same is true with seed: every sample can offer its own surprises. RealAgriculture’s Dale Leftwich recently attended the Western… Read More
Ontario ministry of agriculture weed specialist Mike Cowbrough says it’s easy to pick on a herbicide when it doesn’t meet your weed control expectations. Unfortunately, he says, most growers don’t often have an opportunity to compare herbicide programs in their own field using check strips or unsprayed areas to test performance. But Cowbrough does have… Read More
Agronomist Peter Johnson has been visiting cornfields and elevators to get a handle on the extent of vomitoxin levels in the Ontario corn crop. In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Corn School, Johnson discusses Ontario’s recent Grain Corn Ear Mould and Vomitoxin (DON) Survey, and notes that some samples coming off the combine have tested as… Read More
With a little luck, RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson believesOntario farmers could still plant one million acres of winter wheat this fall. In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Wheat School, Johnson says it’s not too late to plant wheat in most of the province. Late-planted wheat can still deliver strong yields, but growers have to pay strict… Read More
Wheat midge is still a significant threat to wheat in Western Canada. While the threat has subsided a bit because of the discovery and use of the SM1 resistance gene, it’s important to remember that there is only one bullet in the chamber, and if it gets spent wheat crops will be, once again, at… Read More
Highly competitive crops that make it difficult for weeds to gain a foothold in fields play a key role in effective herbicide resistance management. One way to make your crop more competitive is to increase seeding rates to produce higher plant populations. In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Resistance Management School, University of Manitoba weed scientist… Read More
The concept of ‘flex’ corn hybrids has been talked about in seed circles for several years. The idea is quite simple: these corn hybrids have the ability to flex and create larger ears with more girth at lower populations. They produce higher yields when planted in the 28,000 seeds per acre range. The idea of… Read More
It might seem counter-intuitive, but slowing down corn emergence may actually boost yields. Plot results are in, and it would seem that optimum distance between corn plants matters far less than uniform emergence. And achieving perfectly uniform emergence takes planting deep. We already know that even emergence is key to top yields, but the mechanism… Read More
Harvest started strong in most parts of the Prairies and then has either came to a complete halt or fallen into a slow grind of doing a few acres, checking moisture levels, changing fields, waiting, and getting frustrated. RealAgriculture’s Saskatchewan field editor Dale Leftwich went out to a couple of fields with Canola Council of… Read More
The phone is ringing off the hook at PAMI. Some very difficult questions are being asked by farmers as a result of the late harvest and the cool, damp weather. There are no easy answers, of course, but luckily PAMI has done a lot of research over the years and although they can’t change the… Read More
Canadian canola producers are among the most efficient when it comes to cost-of-production — with the exception of seed costs— but Canadian growers also receive slightly lower on-farm prices than canola and rapeseed producers in other parts of the world. “We’re basically leading, together with Ukrainian producers, in cost-of-production,” explains Joerg Zimmermann in the Canola… Read More