Harvest weather has not been kind, but some great yields make up for it at least a little for many Ontario farmers. We’ve also got some good news on wheat acres, too. It can’t all be good, of course, and this fall weather has left many fields rutted and compacted. What to do about tillage?… Read More
Harvest woes aren’t just limited to Western Canada, as, while there hasn’t been snow (yet!), wet field conditions are keeping Ontario farmers out of the fields as well. Soybean harvest has hardly advanced since last week, and disease pressure continues to build in standing corn. This week’s Wheat Pete’s Word covers a harvest update, but… Read More
It’s not often that we hear about first-generation farmers. It’s also rare to hear about someone picking up and moving provinces to begin to farm, but that’s what Steve Larocque did, moving from near Greely, Ontario, to eventually farm at Three Hills, Alberta. Larocque isn’t just any grain farmer, either. Admittedly, he’s small scale and… Read More
A soil sensor that can detect compaction from above the ground in real-time is enabling a concept described as “variable depth tillage” for targeting compacted layers. The Topsoil Mapper made by Austria-based Geoprospectors is an example of a real-time sensor allowing farmers to account for variability as their tractor passes through a field, rather than… Read More
What happens when 400 innovative farmers, a team of agronomy and extension specialists, and a leading soil compaction researcher descend on an Ontario farm? You get Compaction Action – likely the most ambitious and insightful ‘hands-on’ farm research day ever attempted in the province. The event, hosted by the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFAO), featured… Read More
Are the roots of your corn crop running into a cement pad six inches below the surface? It’s time to find out. In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Corn School, AGRIS Co-operative agronomist Dale Cowan demonstrates how growers can effectively use a soil penetrometer to locate a soil hardpan and help eliminate the compaction so plant… Read More
Have you ever spotted an area of vigourous plants in your cornfield and wondered why they’re a growth stage or two ahead of neighbouring plants? There are plenty of agronomic insights we can glean from our fields to improve farm management and yield, says AGRIS Co-operative agronomist Dale Cowan. Quite often the opportunity is right… Read More
This week’s (almost!) cross-Canada Wheat Pete’s Word is packed full of great questions, worries about cold temperatures, solid timely answers on field management, and at least one alert, alert, alert! Your host Peter Johnson tackles questions on harvesting cereal rye (soon! this week!) while keeping compaction in mind, if corn seed is going to be… Read More
It’s the last week of April and not only is there crop in the ground in areas of southern Ontario, but there’s even a few corn and soy plants poking above ground! Don’t feel bad, though, if that’s not where you’re at — there’s plenty of field prep and planning still happening across not just… Read More
Mike Dorion calls himself ‘the compost kid’ and he believes farmers should think about their fields like he does his garden. The founder of Calgary-based Living Soil Solutions doesn’t suggest cash crop farmers use tea leaves to improve soil health, but he does preach the benefits of reducing tillage, banking organic matter to help increase… Read More
Will bare fields and warm weather cause wheat to break dormancy? And if so, could we be looking at a wheat price rally for 2017? That’s where we start with Wheat Pete’s Word, and from there Peter Johnson takes us on a wild agronomy ride that covers strip-tilling dry beans into hay ground, what to… Read More
As the winter learning season rolls forward, the agronomy questions are flooding in, and Peter Johnson, host of Wheat Pete’s Word, wouldn’t have it any other way. In this week’s episode, Johnson tackles some very complicated — but super important — ins and outs of nitrogen management. Confused about which crops leave a credit and why… Read More
If it’s done right, deep ripping can help address a compaction problem in the field, but if you’re not careful, it can also make it worse. As with any kind of tillage, you have the potential of breaking up soil aggregates with a deep ripper or subsoiler, but that’s not all, notes Aaron Daigh, soil… Read More
The struggle to get the crop off in wet conditions has left its scars on fields across parts of Western Canada, leaving farmers with tough decisions on how to manage ruts and soil compaction. A deep ripper or subsoiler might have a fit in helping fix the damage, says a biosystems engineering professor from the University… Read More
Arthur, Ontario farmer Carl Brubacker has had it with the plow. Over the years, Brubacker has seen too much erosion and watched his topsoil layer get thinner and thinner. “We try plowing shallower every year and we just keep bringing up stones.” Brubacker says plowing is not going to work long-term. “We’re looking for simplicity… Read More