A soil test is an excellent starting point for any fertility plan, but interpreting the results can leave some people scratching their heads. There are several strategies to soil sampling itself — analysis and recommendation strategies vary as well. One Saskatchewan company takes a somewhat different approach to testing and recommendations, using made-in-Saskatchewan technology. In… Read More
Category: Fertility
Farming would be much, much easier and far less risky if we could control the weather. We can’t, of course, so the first point of any “most limiting factor” list — the weather — is always moot. After that, though, there are several management factors well within farmers’ control that deserve some attention when gunning… Read More
Peter Johnson, wheat specialist with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, made quite the splash at Farm Tech last week. A regular in RealAgricutlure.com’s Wheat School, @WheatPete (as he’s known on Twitter) has very set views on maximizing wheat production, and he’s not afraid to tell a farmer, point blank, what that farmer… Read More
Any farmer who loves a good list missed out on one fantastic presentation by Ken Ferrie at the recent CornSmart conference held recently at Guelph, Ont. Drawing conclusions from the 2012 growing season, Ferrie, an independent agronomist with Crop-Tech Consulting, ran through the seven key areas of corn production management where he feels farmers need… Read More
Rain or shine, drought or not, nitrogen is king when it comes to targeting the highest yields possible in corn. While it may not be a surprise that even in a dry year corn responds to added nitrogen, there’s still work to be done on the economic levels of that response with environmental stewardship in… Read More
If nitrogen is the instant gratification nutrient, phosphorus (P) is the golden nest egg of retirement. Unlike a pension, it won’t take 35 years to see a benefit to using P fertilizer, but it does require constant investment to keep the soil bank account full. The beauty of P fertilizer is that it won’t be… Read More
Sometimes during the long winter grind of farm shows you need something to make you smile. we definitely found that smile in the Yara booth at the Crop Production Show in Saskatchewan. SEE MORE CROPWEEK 2013 COVERAGE Showcasing some beauty Norwegian flag pants, the Yara team did a great job of gaining attention to their… Read More
Potassium is critical for in-plant water management, which means that adequate levels of the nutrient at various depths is a key component of how well a crop handles drought stress. While no one can accurately predict a drought, managing overall soil health and nutrient levels is a great way to add some drought risk management… Read More
In part 1 of our conversation with Dr. Hugh Earl of the University of Guelph he talked about the impact water stress can have on soybean yields. That study suggested that at some point during a number of growing seasons, even if rainfall was adequate, some yield was being lost to water stress. One of… Read More
The standard 90 pounds of nitrogen on wheat in Ontario just doesn’t cut it anymore. That’s according to OMAFRA Wheat Specialist Peter Johnson. Johnson noted that some of the top growers in Ontario are using anywhere from 130 to 150 lb of nitrogen applied to ground that doesn’t have residual nitrogen from a cover crop…. Read More
Do you know how many pounds per bushel of phosphorus and potassium corn pulls out of the soil? Nitrogen gets all the attention in crop production, but these two nutrients are also very important to corn production, and, in years of decent yields, the total pounds per acre of P and K drawn out of… Read More
Recently, I asked if farmland prices had surpassed the point of profitability. The response was mixed — prices in some areas were listed as quite high, but often actual sales occurred at a lower, more manageable price. As balance, however, prices far beyond even the $15,000 an acre discussed have since been reported in areas… Read More
The macronutrients — nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur — get most of the attention when planning for crop nutrition needs, as they should, but more and more farmers are looking at a crop’s need for micronutrients to reach maximum yield potential. Micros are needed in very small amounts but are critical for optimal plant health… Read More
Time is money. When it comes to something like preinoculated seed, the convenience factor can save you valuable time and also the stress of being unsure of whether or not you properly applied your inoculant. In this video, Mike Verhoef answers some of the questions about preinoculated seed and talks about the benefits growers can… Read More
Better timing of manure application with in-crop needs was the motivation behind developing a new low disturbance, shallow injection manure application toolbar. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (OMAFRA), along with industry partners, developed the multi-coultered toolbar to try and find a made-in-Canada solution for in-crop manure applications for not just pastures… Read More