2016 was a good year to grow soybean varieties with strong genetic resistance to sudden death syndrome (SDS). Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs plant pathologist Albert Tenuta explains that this season’s cool, wet early growing conditions, which then gave way to drought in many regions of Ontario, helped the disease pack a… Read More
Category: Agronomy
Is there a hierarchy of jobs on the farm? Especially at harvest, is the combine driver king/queen, with each supporting role moving down the totem pole? We’re half-kidding, of course, but recently there’s been some (mostly in fun) banter about who does what at harvest, like this: Harvest Facts The Combine Operator is a psychopath…. Read More
If a corn plant emerges one, two, or three days after its neighbour, will it yield less? We’re about to find out as Corn School makes its first return visit to the flag test that Real Agriculture resident agronomist Peter Johnson planted this spring. National Corn Growers Association yield contest champion Randy Dowdy, who harvested… Read More
The amazing rise of soybean acres across Manitoba and into Saskatchewan is possible only because of the development of early, early soybean lines. Just how early? While zeros and double zero maturity ratings are great for “short” season areas in Ontario and Quebec, it’s the triple zero lines that shine in places like Arborg, Manitoba,… Read More
It might only be the middle of October, but it looks and feels like winter in parts of Western Canada, especially as you move north and west in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Snow and freezing rain have left many canola growers with a helpless feeling as crop that was ready to be harvested is now under… Read More
Hang on and let’s go — it’s time for this week’s episode of Wheat Pete’s Word on RealAgriculture.com! To start this week, Peter Johnson, resident agronomist and life-long Wild Man, shares a neat stay-awake reminder for all y’all out there harvesting. Bottom line? Stay safe, and let’s get this crop in the bin. From there,… Read More
Sponsored Post: If harvest efficiency is what you’re after, straight-cutting canola looks mighty appealing. But, as with any new practice on the farm, there are lessons to be learned ahead of wide-spread adoption. In this episode of the Growing Series podcast, Saskatchewan-based Cargill agronomist Janel Delage and Shaun Haney from RealAgriculture.com get down to brass… Read More
Canola seed companies are releasing more varieties with claims they have reduced susceptibility to sclerotinia, but how do they determine those ratings? Coming off a season with high sclerotinia pressure, what does it mean if a variety is labelled as ‘partially resistant’? In 2011, the Western Canadian Canola/Rapeseed Recommending Committee started searching for a test that… Read More
Ontario’s winter wheat crop is growing like gangbusters thanks to unseasonably warm fall temperatures. But could it grow too much? “No way,” says agronomist Peter Johnson in Real Agriculture’s latest Wheat School episode. “The only thing we have to worry about is if it’s still growing on Christmas Eve, like last year.” In that case… Read More
Ontario’s corn crop is showing high vomitoxin levels and growers are being urged to harvest as quickly as possible to preserve corn quality. Last week, the OMAFRA Field Crops team revealed that 26% of the samples taken in its annual vomitoxin survey had DON concentrations of 2.0 ppm or greater. At these levels, vomitoxin produced… Read More
Just east of Westlock, Alberta, whole fields of standing canola are encased in ice. This latest storm that rolled through late Saturday night was insult added to the injury of five to ten inches of snow that fell Friday, October 14, 2016. These scenes at Westlock aren’t rare right now: huge areas of central and northern… Read More
There are revolutionary developments happening in the world of molecular biology that could soon make their way to the farm or field. That is, if society allows it. Chances are you’ve seen a headline containing the terms ‘gene editing’ or ‘CRISPR’ in the last year or two. It likely involved a scientist excited about how this new… Read More
Looking for a faster way to triple rinse your sprayer? OMAFRA’s application technology specialist Jason Deveau has an idea for you. At Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show (COFS), Deveau teamed up with HJV Equipment’s Adam Ireland to demonstrate the concept of continuous rinsing. In this video, Deveau notes that the concept comes from Europe where there… Read More
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should adopt a new practice across the entire farm in one year without first evaluating it on a much smaller land base. Never has this been more evident, perhaps, than the #PlantGreen concept sweeping the Ontario landscape. First off: Ontario farmers should be applauded for their rapid adoption… Read More
To understand what happens with nutrients in the soil and how to manage zones within a field, you have to pay attention to how the soil handles water. If that wasn’t obvious enough, it becomes clear when you visit Mitch Timmerman and his ‘rainfall simulator’ trailer. “Water can influence the fate of nutrients, the development of… Read More