Anyone that had a piggy bank as a child knows very well that pennies can add up quickly. The same principle works when farmers save pennies over the course of thousands of acres — the savings add up. Crop dividers mounted on high-clearance sprayers help minimize crop damage by gently splitting plants ahead of the… Read More
Category: Agronomy
When it comes crop nutrition, the macronutrients dominate both the management discussion and the fertilizer bill. That focus is certainly justified as primary macronutrients — nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium — play a critical role in ensuring a successful crop. Farmers are also rewarded when they pay attention to secondary macronutrients, including sulphur, calcium and magnesium…. Read More
Even the highest quality equipment begins to wear down over time. Fixing and eventually replacing that equipment can be expensive and difficult on farms and ranches. The same is true for non-profit agricultural research and extension organizations. In February of 2024 the province of Alberta announced a capital grant as part of the spring budget… Read More
Snow mould, and stripe rust, and land rents, oh my! How on earth could there be so many disease alerts this early in the season? Well, Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson would tell you forewarned is forearmed, and both stripe rust and snow mould could be an issue in this upcoming growing season. Also on this… Read More
Two years after handing off distribution of its conventional soybean seed portfolio, Syngenta Seeds is making a similar move with its traited NK brand soybeans across Canada. Starting with the 2026 crop season, NK traited soybeans will be distributed by Pitura Seeds in Western Canada and Jackson Seed Service in Eastern Canada. “The strategic relationships… Read More
Welcome to a very special episode of The Agronomists, hosted by Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson! For this episode, Pete is joined by Dennis Pennington of Michigan State University and Gord Speksnijder, YEN participant from Ontario, to unpack learnings from the Great Lakes Yield Enhancement Network. On this episode, hear about head counts, seeding dates, N… Read More
Grandmother’s garden is often the first place that children learn about the benefit of having worms in the soil. They learn from an early age that you don’t throw worms away, you put them back into the ground where you found them, says Mike Launer of Annelida Soil Solutions. Annelida has created a business out… Read More
The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has reinstated livestock grain feeding use for insecticides containing lambda-cyhalothrin. A regulatory announcement in late 2022 changed the labeled approvals for crops treated with lambda-cy products, and resulted in two growing seasons with restricted use and access for growers. Syngenta shared the reinstatement news today, noting that a label… Read More
More farmers are using 4R nutrient stewardship with nitrogen fertilizer application; however, there’s still work to be done on fine-tuning N rates and incentivizing change. For more than 10 years, Fertilizer Canada and Stratus Ag Research have been asking farmers about their nitrogen management strategies and gauging the rate of adoption of 4R management —… Read More
Farmers need to rethink how they apply crop protection products and there’s plenty of novel weed control technology to address cost, labour and environmental stewardship challenges, says Cornell AgriTech weed scientist Dr. Lynn Sosnoskie. At the Ontario Certified Crop Advisor annual meeting in January, Sosnoskie described a whirlwind of technology ranging from electrification and robot… Read More