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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
The cereal leaf beetle is a relatively new pest of cereals in Alberta, first spotted in 2005. And, if you are Dr. Haley Catton, research scientist in cereal crop entomology with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, you’ll describe these creatures as a “beautiful, small, jewel-like beetle.” Those doing the scouting might not be so enamoured by… Read More
Seeding; the time of year when we put the crop in the ground, help it as much as we can, and then when we can do nothing more for the upcoming crop — we wait. Producers are continuously wondering how many of the seeds put in the ground will emerge and become viable plants. In… 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
There’s more reason than ever to make sure you’re setting your wheat seeding rate in weight or seeds per acre versus a “bushels per acre” rule of thumb. That’s because of a few things, says Dr. Brian Beres, with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Lethbridge. First off, the genetic yield potential of wheat has improved over… Read More
If you always wait for the calendar to hit late April or early May before seeding wheat, you could be leaving yield on the table or at the very least making the seeding season more hectic than it has to be. Multi-year ultra-early seeding research out of Alberta suggests that early March seeding and maybe… 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
When most people hear the term biotechnology they think GMOs. It’s important to know that biotechnology is much more than just GMOs because understanding this helps us to understand how scientists are helping to provide food for the seven billion people on the planet. In this episode of the Wheat School, Dr. Harpinder Randawa, research scientist with… 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
Nature is pretty amazing, but that wonder and adaptability can translate to a huge problem in a crop. Wireworms, for example, can determine they don’t like what is on the menu when you seed your crop in the spring, wait until the following spring, and attack a more vulnerable crop instead. What’s more, they can… Read More
In any industry, you can go backwards by merely standing still. In research, even something as traditional as wheat research, the same is true. You have to keep moving forward or other players will pass you and your innovations will be obsolete before they even get out of the laboratory. Luckily for Canadian farmers, there… Read More
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) at Lethbridge, Alta., is a big sprawling facility that does a wide variety of research. That being said, they are particularly known for their wheat research, and for good reason. They do innovative work, and the research team has bred many stalwart wheat varieties for Canadian farmers. In this episode… 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
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