Ever since I was a kid, everything “futuristic”, in books and TV pointed to automation as the pinnacle of what the future would hold. From the Jetsons and their automatic sidewalks and dishwashers to my personal favourite, the old “Science International – What Will They Think of Next” tv show, automation was the future of… Read More
It’s important, when you’re going about the business of farming that you really think about it not as a series of distinct and separate seasons, but as a series of interconnected processes. Not just in an obvious “seeding naturally leads to harvest” kind of route, it’s more like, “how I set my machine at harvest… Read More
Is blackleg resistance breaking down in current canola varieties? The only way to really know is to first scout (swath-timing, harvest and post-harvest are all great times to scout) for the disease and confirm infection. Resistant varieties may still become infected, so seeing infected plants in your crop isn’t necessarily cause for alarm, but if… Read More
The canola crop is ripening at an incredible pace — should you wait and straight cut or try and swath ASAP? How fast is too fast to combine canola, in either scenario? These are questions that come up every year, but the trade-off between swathing and straight-cutting are especially important this year as the canola… Read More
Pulse crops are prime targets for harvest dry-down applications, if only because of their indeterminate growth. Add in some less-than-stellar weed control at times, and a desiccant or pre-harvest application of glyphosate can be a great harvest management tool. There are a few things to keep in mind, however, in order to maintain top yield… Read More
With harvest getting underway or very near in many parts of the prairies it is an exciting time for many farmers and industry individuals. Even though the most important information — yield — will be in your hands soon, there is still a lot of other pieces of data that you can learn from the… Read More
The summer of 2013 is turning out to be nothing like the last two years, which may prove problematic for several first-time soybean growers in the province. While 2013 soybean acres likely did not hit the massive 1.3 million mark once estimated, there are likely about a million acres of the nitrogen-fixing crop out in… Read More
In a perfect world, all canola fields would have uniform maturity and one large, heavily podded main stem, making swath timing decisions easy peasy. The reality, of course, is that emergence problems, hail events and heat stress can all cause maturity variability, excessive branching or yield-heavy secondary stems that need to be included in the… Read More
Even if you were never the type to peek at your Christmas gifts early, there are few farmers who can help themselves from trying to get a bead on the corn crop coming. Luckily, assessing corn cob development is a useful task at this point in the growing season, as it offers up not only… Read More
While fusarium head blight is an annual threat to winter and spring wheat crops each year in Ontario, the U.S. and parts of Western Canada, wet and humid weather can cause the disease to flourish even more than average, consuming yield and knocking down grades. This year has proven no different, and, as the winter… Read More
With high fusarium levels threatening the quality of this year’s wheat crop, Peter Johnson, cereal specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, is urging farmers to take the grain off early so as to minimize the growth and spread of the disease. That’s all good and well, say farmers, but the crop is… Read More
Monsanto Canada recently announced its commitment of $100 million over the next 10 years towards breeding earlier maturing corn varieties aimed at the western Canadian market. Monsanto Canada today announced details of a long-range plan focused on breeding corn hybrids with earlier relative maturities (RM) that are adapted to the diverse geography and climatic conditions… Read More
Perhaps I should preface this list with a caveat — the best way to make perfect hay is to ensure it doesn’t get rained on. And now that we’ve all stopped belly-laughing we can get down to the business of making hay in a more realistic setting. I’ve listened to Dr. Dan Undersander, from the… Read More
With many growers across Western Canada experiencing a later than normal spring, seeding has been delayed for some. Once you being to get into the middle part of May and beyond, there is an increased likelihood of running into a fall frost. Here are some tips to help shorten the season as much as you… 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
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