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RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson is a big proponent of pushing nitrogen rates to pump up winter wheat yields. But for higher N rates to pay, growers must ensure the crop has an adequate supply of sulphur or they risk inducing sulphur deficiency. In this episode of the RealAgriculture Wheat School, Wheat Pete explains why growers need… Read More
Wheat tillers are nothing but a well-camouflaged weed, right? Not exactly. While excessive tillering can cause grief for fungicide timing and harvest management, one tiller can actually pull its own weight and contribute to yield. How do you best manage for one or two tillers? Say it with us now: nitrogen! If you wanted to… Read More
It’s late March and it’s cool in Ontario. Are you thinking about applying nitrogen to your winter wheat crop? If so, don’t mention it to RealAgriculture resident agronomist Peter Johnson – he may have a conniption. After he stops shaking, WheatPete will tell you that there is no benefit to putting nitrogen on wheat until… Read More
The price of wheat is down, yes, but there are premiums for protein, and RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson thinks there’s an opportunity to cash in. In this episode of the Wheat School, Johnson looks at new nitrogen research from University of Manitoba researcher Amy Mangin. It provides evidence of how growers can pump up their protein… Read More
How confident are you in your selected nitrogen (N) rate for wheat? Do you adjust that number based on yield potential? Variety? Soil type? How much N is enough to reach maximum potential? You might be surprised to learn that existing nitrogen rate recommendations are based off of older research, with older varieties, and without… Read More
Peter Johnson is back with another episode in our ‘Real’ Wheat Farmers series. This time our RealAgriculture’s resident agronomist is gleaning management tips from Hugh Dietrich who farms with his family at Lucan, Ontario. Dietrich’s advice for Johnson starts with the need to put phosphorus down with wheat in the fall. Tile drainage is also a… Read More
The bushel is a critical unit in grain farming. It’s used to describe volume in many contexts, including a crop’s yield per acre, the amount of grain that fits in a truck or bin, and as a fundamental piece of information in grain sales contracts. But not all bushels are the same. More specifically, a… Read More
Canada has a stellar grain safety record and reputation, but the president of Cereals Canada believes there needs to be more awareness of one specific mycotoxin that can show up after the crop is in the bin: ochratoxin A, or OTA. OTA is a potent toxin produced by fungus in storage. It’s considered to be… Read More
Whatever you do, get out there and plant your wheat. That’s the message agronomist Peter Johnson has for Ontario wheat growers in this episode of the Wheat School. “Either plant into moisture or plant in dust,” says Johnson, who notes that many growers across the province are hesitant to plant because of widespread dry soil conditions…. Read More
Not often do you hear of wheat outyielding corn, but that’s the case in our latest episode in the ‘Real’ Wheat Farmers series. RealAgriculture resident agronomist Peter Johnson can barely contain himself when Arthur, Ontario farmer Shawn Schill of Shawridge Farms tells him that one 200-acre field yielded 154 bu/ac of wheat, beating the average corn… Read More
Winter durum wheat isn’t grown in Western Canada, but the possible benefits have breeders working on developing it. As Jamie Larsen with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge discusses in this Wheat School episode, winter durum could perform well during dry years, and face reduced fusarium head blight (FHB) risk compared with spring durum. “We are… Read More
Stripe rust was back in Ontario wheat fields again in 2017. This year the presence of the disease was first confirmed in Essex County by AGRIS Co-operative. This marks the second consecutive year the disease has devastated farm fields in the province. But help is on the way. In this edition of RealAgriculture Wheat School,… Read More
Beneficial insects provide free labour in the field, preying on insect pests, but what is that labour worth? Because we don’t know the economic value of most of these insects, they don’t necessarily get factored into the decision to go ahead with spraying an insecticide. Finding economic values for the work these beneficial bugs are… Read More
Wet conditions in parts of Western Canada — especially in the central and northern areas of Alberta — meant some acres went unseeded this spring. Winter cereals are an option for farmers eager to get a crop growing in those unseeded fields (or in early harvested fields in more southern areas), but there are some… Read More
Herbicide resistance is not new in Canadian agriculture, but managing it is becoming a higher priority as the scope of herbicide resistant weeds grows. In Western Canada, number one on the ‘economically important’ list is resistant wild oats, notes Bob Blackshaw, weed scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in this Wheat School episode. “It’s the… Read More