Mark Burnham is doing his best to promote more wheat acres in Ontario. It can be a tough sell, but there’s no disputing the soil health benefits of having wheat in the rotation. The Cobourg, Ont,- farmer, who runs a mixed farm with his family, believes a corn-soy-wheat rotation, with some hay and cover crops,… Read More
Regenerative, restorative, and climate-smart agriculture — they’re all terms with roots firmly planted in farmers’ commitment to improving soil heath. Farmers who subscribe to these philosophies typically commit to five core practices: minimizing soil disturbance, maximizing soil diversity, keeping soil covered, maintaining living roots year-round, and integrating livestock. But how quickly should farmers be integrating… Read More
When Bloomfield, Ont. farmer Tyler Lester started planting cover crops, the goal was to help keep livestock out of pea crops to address food safety concerns raised by vegetable crop customers. With a healthy deer and wild turkey population that too often ventured into the crops, Lester and his family hatched a strategy to plant… Read More
Yield stability and income stability — that’s what farmers earn when they invest in regenerative agriculture. That message was heard often throughout the recent Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFAO) annual conference in London, Ont. It’s a tune that more and more farmers are singing as they increase efforts to enhance soil health on their… Read More
Farmers need to treat soil as more than a chemistry set — they need to think about biology and ecology. That’s the message Kansas farmer Michael Thompson shared with those attending the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFAO) annual conference last week in London, Ont. Thompson does admit, however, that farmers have been successful in… Read More
Like most Ontario farmers, 2019 was a trying year from Mike Belan. The Lambton county farmer sat tight last spring as his Brookston clay loam soil absorbed heavy rain, but Belan was confident his farm could withstand Mother Nature’s moisture assault. He’s learned to be patient thanks to a 30-year investment in building healthy, resilient… Read More
If you’ve ever adopted a new way of doing things after attending a field day or conference, do you let the researcher or extension staff know? Sometimes, research can be a rather thankless job, and many researchers don’t hear back on their work being applied on-farm. Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson came across just such an… Read More
The use of herbicides on-farm is a hot topic right now — especially when we’re talking glyphosate. At Agritechnica in Hannover, Germany, RealAgriculture’s Shaun Haney caught up with Irene Kramer of JBM, to talk about the JBM Mulcher, a unit designed to help reduce the use of herbicides. RealAgriculture’s coverage of Agritechnica 2019 is made… Read More
Have you thought about how much time you spend just re-filling during planting and seeding? Fill times for spraying often get plenty of attention, but there’s actually plenty of hours to gain at planting too, depending on your set up. In this week’s edition of Wheat Pete’s Word, a much healthier Peter Johnson is talking… Read More
For years, Tim Williams has dutifully planted crops to the edge of the trees and bush that line the fields he farms near Petrolia, Ont. Every year, he looks at his yield maps to see the same red line indicating no crop yield in these areas that hug the bush and woodlots. But today there… Read More
Five years ago, Carl Brubacher decided it was time to change how he manages soil on his Arthur, Ont., hog and grain farm. With highly variable soil ranging from sand to heavy clay, he was determined to improve soil health and make the farm more sustainable. In this premiere episode of RealAgriculture’s Soil School, sponsored… Read More
It’s December 18th, have you checked your corn bins lately? Host of Wheat Pete’s Word, Peter Johnson has more than a few public service announcements this week, and one of them is all about high moisture corn turning into big blocks of ice (and, conversely, yucky heated hot spots) in the bin. But before we… Read More
If you’ve been waiting for Peter ‘Wheat Pete’ Johnson to answer your question about soil sampling, you’re going to have to wait another week, because this week is mostly about corn, corn, and more corn. And that’s just the kind of week it’s been in Ontario, as corn harvest ever so slowly creeps towards complete… Read More
There are a few treats out there in among the tricks of this harvest season. Surprisingly, mature corn and decent soybean yields are making some farmers happy as they put the 2019 growing season to bed, but there are plenty of areas still struggling with immature and wet corn and super low soybean yields. In… Read More
Is frosted corn, toast? It all depends, says Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson, so head on out and start checking those cob shanks! On this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word, Johnson covers some key cover crop questions, why wheat seed rates might at max right now, and there’s some gibberella out there that needs attention. Have a… Read More