What’s the secret to growing those gigantic corn yields that turn a select few U.S. farmers into corn yield contest kings? Purdue University corn guru Dr. Bob Nielsen has been pouring over National Corn Yield Contest data and crop input and management summaries from winners for almost two decades. What has he learned? After all… Read More
Category: Agronomy
Jenneth Johanson farms in an atypical growing region at Lac du Bonnet, Man., about 100 km northeast of Winnipeg. She farms on productive land where the eastern Prairie meets the Canadian Shield, some of which is classified as organic soil: peat. Farming on peat has its challenges: it has low water holding capacity, it’s high… Read More
How early is really early when it comes to seeding? For this episode of The Agronomists, Brian Beres, research scientist at AAFC Lethbridge, and RealAgriculture’s Peter Johnson, weigh in. Does it pay to deviate from the seeding date prescriptions? Watch below on your own time, and don’t miss a new episode of The Agronomists every… Read More
Soil testers are no stranger to phosphorus — especially if you farm across the prairies. Haley Tetreault, agronomy extension specialist with Sask Wheat Development Commission, says that second to moisture deficits, phosphorus deficiencies in soil is high on the list when it comes to looking at yield robbers. As we sit in the middle of… Read More
We cover a lot of different agronomy topics here on RealAgriculture, but one area that doesn’t get attention all the time is cover crops. Anne Verhallen, soil specialist at OMAFRA, joins Bernard Tobin to discuss her recent presentation at Ontario Agriculture Conference, and why cover crop agronomy isn’t talked about all that often. “I think… Read More
Look out Wheat Pete, we’ve got a new person to talk with about wheat agronomy! Just kidding, we’ll always be consulting Peter about wheat. But for today’s LIVE, Kara Oosterhuis is joined by Haley Tetreault, agronomy extension specialist with SaskWheat. SUMMARY Filling gaps for producers, creating resources to use Tetreault’s position is province-wide, but she’s… Read More
To paraphrase and slightly adapt the KISS principle, let’s keep it simple, soybeans. Horst Bohner, soybean specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, says that while there are a multitude of factors at play in achieving the top soybean yields possible, many farmers could likely make bigger gains by honing in… Read More
The new virtual Ontario Agricultural Conference received strong reviews during the first week in January, and Ontario certified crop advisors have picked up the education baton and delivered another win this week for ag extension. Ontario Certified Crop Advisors (CCA) chair Deb Campbell says it’s tough to replace the face-to-face interaction and learning that farmers… Read More
This week’s Wheat Pete’s Word kicks off with a quick explanation and an update on host Peter Johnson’s “extra 15 minutes” concept. The agronomy questions keep rolling in, and this week, Johnson puts off some of the wheat questions and instead tackles some sulphur questions, forage questions, and questions on spring cover crops. Have a… Read More
The topic of soil health has gained a tremendous amount of followers over the last ten years. There’s a large, dynamic community devoted to the topic, too — from farmers and researchers, to consultants and extension specialists. Dr. Abbey Wick, extension soil health specialist and associate professor at North Dakota State University (NDSU), recently presented… Read More
The Government of Saskatchewan and SaskCanola have released the 2020 Saskatchewan Clubroot Distribution Map, which outlines the rural municipalities where clubroot has been identified. Since 2017, 75 commercial canola fields have been confirmed to have clubroot, which is an increase of 24 fields since last year’s update. The number of fields with the clubroot pathogen… Read More
There are some aggressive targets for a reduction of fertilizer in the new climate plan proposal recently released by the federal government. At first glance, the support of the proposal by Fertilizer Canada doesn’t make a lot of sense. To explain, Clyde Graham, executive vice president of Fertilizer Canada, recently chatted with Shaun Haney on RealAg… Read More
The federal and Saskatchewan governments are investing $9.8 million in 39 crop-related research projects through Saskatchewan’s Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) in 2021. The annual ADF announcement delivered by Premier Scott Moe, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, and her Saskatchewan counterpart David Marit kicked off this year’s virtual CropSphere conference, as Saskatchewan crop commissions held their… Read More
Clean fields and fit soil will kick the soybean crop off to a strong start, but there’s so much more to big yields than warm soil. In this episode of The Agronomists we go to Ontario’s soybean specialist Horst Bohner and Manitoba’s pulse specialist Dennis Lange to hone in on three major factors that determine… Read More
How have agronomists fared over this last year? Are growers changing their rotation plans because of such great commodity prices right now? And, how do you keep up with the agronomic information during this pandemic? For this RealAg LIVE! episode, host Kara Oosterhuis checks in with Steph Berlett of Agromart Group. Don’t miss a new… Read More