What’s your nitrogen strategy for winter wheat? When it comes to spring nitrogen applications, the first thing growers need to consider is their planting date, says RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson. That planting date typically correlates with a specific amount of fall growth, which growers can use to guide them in their spring nitrogen applications. On… Read More
If there’s one thing farmers should understand, it’s biosecurity — and yet, somehow there are many who aren’t taking the physical distancing protocol seriously. Wheat Pete, for one, is having none of it. Of course, the host of Wheat Pete’s Word, Peter Johnson, only spend a little bit of time on that topic for this… Read More
With 20 years of teaching and research achieved, Don Flaten says it’s time to retire. It’s a retirement well earned, as the soil scientist with the University of Manitoba has taught over a thousand students the ins and outs of soil, its importance, and revealed to many the complexity of nutrient interactions. Flaten has also… Read More
Wheat Pete’s Word host Peter Johnson is a lot of things — dynamic and opinionated for starters — but he’s also rather humble. This episode marks 250 episodes of this podcast and he’s likely not going to make a big deal of it, but the rest of the RealAgriculture team is! In this 250th episode,… Read More
Welcome to March, which seems to be coming in like a lamb — we’ll have to see if the “out like a lion” holds true! March also means maple syrup, frost seeding, red clover applications on the wheat fields, and starting to nail down crop rotations and fertilizer rates. With many feeling the cash flow… Read More
John Deere’s new ExactRate liquid fertilizer application system is designed to help farmers deliver accurate nutrient placement at precise rates during planting. The company rolled out the new system last month at the National Farm Machinery Show (NFMS) at Louisville, Kentucky. In this interview, Deere product manager Brady Alley explains that ExactRate is another of… Read More
For farmers worried about 2020, and perhaps already tight budget constraints, cutting input costs may seem like a quick fix, but how is it impacting your bottom line? Resident agronomist Peter Johnson says finding that balance and making those tough decisions comes down to management. “The beauty of soil fertility is that your soil is… Read More
Knowing your soil and accepting your climatic challenges for what they are is key to choosing the right crops, cover crops, and soil amendments that will perform best. That said, sometimes it takes a major event to push for significant changes to the current status quo. Jenn Doelman farms at Douglas, Ont., and is a… Read More
Do you adjust plant populations, fertility, or other product applications on headlands? If not, why not? In this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word, Peter Johnson answers questions on liquid vs. dry fertilizer and fertilizer set ups, plus what to do with soil test results on sandy soils. He also throws down the challenge of using precision… Read More
Georgia farmer Randy Dowdy established a new world record yield for soybeans in 2019, setting the bar at 190 bushel per acre on a 3.27 acre plot. While Dowdy now reigns as the ‘yield king’, Missouri farmer Kip Cullers helped blaze the trail for contest yield winners when he put up a 160.6 bushel per acre… Read More
When it comes to corn fertility and higher yield, nitrogen is the star of the corn production show. But Carleton Place, Ont., farmer Mark Foster and agronomist Paul Sullivan feel it’s time potash received its share of the spotlight. At the SouthWest Agricultural Conference earlier this month, the pair shared how they have unleashed the… Read More
Add wheat to your crop rotation and it will increase corn and soybean yields, put more money in your pocket, improve soil health, and make your soil more resilient. That’s a big, bold statement but University of Guelph-Ridgetown professor Dave Hooker can prove it. All the data comes from a 25 year long-term tillage and… Read More
Are Ontario cash crop growers making effective use of tissue testing to enhance yield and crop performance? The answer requires a little perspective says Jack Legg, agronomist with Guelph-based SGS Agri-food Laboratories. Tissue testing, which provides an accurate measurement of the nutrients within a plant at a given time, has traditionally been used to confirm… Read More
Like with human health, maintaining or creating healthy soil is more about doing lots of things right vs. adding one product. And, just as with human health, there’s no magic pill to solve a problem — anyone who tells you there is, is probably selling something. Dr. Don Flaten, soil scientist at the University of… Read More
Is 100 bushels per acre a reality for Ontario soybeans? If so, what can Ontario growers do to push soybean yields to the next level? Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs soybean specialist Horst Bohner believes one of the keys to making the yield jump is getting more nutrition into the soybean plant…. Read More