New Zealand doesn’t share a lot in common with Canada, however, when it comes to growing high-yielding wheat Kiwi growers do count on similar management practices to put big-bushel wheat crops in the bin. Syngenta commercial products lead Sam Livesey, a New Zealand native, concedes that the country’s wheat industry is diminutive (135,000 acres) but… Read More
Ontario’s winter wheat crop has been fighting an uphill battle ever since last fall and the struggle will likely continue right through to harvest. On this episode of the RealAgriculture Wheat School, agronomist Peter Johnson explains that the highly variable crop will likely mean harvesting headaches. Last week at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown College… Read More
Ontario’s unplanted acres hold the potential for outstanding 2020 winter wheat yields, but growers will have to manage disease risks while planting early to turn that potential into profit, says RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson. Across the province, heavy clay soils, especially in the Niagara Region and Essex County, have not been planted. Johnson has had… Read More
The 2019 Ontario wheat crop can best be described as a dog’s breakfast…and that’s perhaps being kind. What’s left in the fields varies from not bad, to not too bad but with dead patches, to relatively uniformly poor and stagey. Depending on the field, the challenges are different. Uniform fields are easy to manage when… Read More
Ontario is dotted with fields of “wimpy wheat.” That’s what RealAgriculture agronomist, Peter Johnson is calling late-emerging, thin, spindly winter wheat that lacks vigour and did not tiller. In this episode of RealAgriculture Wheat School, Johnson explains these plants are simply suffering from cold injury after a rugged Ontario fall and an equally tumultuous spring… Read More
If you grow winter wheat in Ontario, chances are wet weather chased you out of the field this spring before you applied nitrogen. That’s what happened to RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson. In this episode of the Wheat School, our resident agronomist compares wheat that received early spring nitrogen to another part of the field where… Read More
There’s some tough-looking winter wheat across Ontario and many producers are wondering whether they can save their crops. In some instances, growers have forward-contracted wheat for delivery at $7 a bushel. That’s difficult to walk away from, says RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson. “We will lose some acres on the heavy clays, but where we can,… Read More
One of the big stories in the Canadian wheat industry this year has been re-emerging demand for Hard Red Winter (HRW) wheat in Ontario. Hard Red Winter used to occupy up to 18 percent of wheat acres in the province, but that number has dropped to an estimated 7 per cent in recent years and… Read More
Can Ontario winter wheat growers mix ammonium thiosulphate (ATS) with herbicides and fungicides to address sulphur deficiency symptoms or should they apply it separately with streamer nozzles? That’s a question Mike Cowbrough and Joanna Follings wanted to answer with 2018 research plots. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs weed specialist and cereals… 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
Can dissolved urea increase your wheat yield? If it burns the crop will it still put more bushels in the bin? In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Wheat School we catch up with our resident agronomist Peter Johnson as he inspects a field of winter wheat that received 15 gallons per acre of dissolved urea with… Read More
Over the last decade, the average yield increase for corn tips the scale at five bushels per acre, per year. During the same period wheat yield gains have averaged a meagre one bushel per acre, per year. What is the future of wheat if it can’t match the yield gains of crops like corn and… Read More
Do wheat varieties with higher leaf wax levels perform better in dry, stressful growing conditions? That’s a question RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson and C & M Seeds general manager Ellen Sparry tackle on this episode of the Wheat School as they tour C & M’s research site at the company’s Harriston, ON, location. Sparry notes that… Read More
Canadian wheat has long been known for its high quality — as a premium wheat for blending into lower quality grain to meet minimum requirements for baking. But how does Canadian wheat stack up when it comes to cost of production, yield, and farmgate prices? Where does Canadian production fit in the context of increasing… Read More
Wheat breeding is a poor cousin when you compare it to the investment and resources corn and soybean plant breeders have at their disposal to develop new and improved plant genetics. The arrival of CRISPR technology, however, is giving wheat breeders hope that they may finally get a leg up on their big-crop cousins. At… Read More