2012 was an excellent year to evaluate the very real opportunity of double crop soybeans in Ontario. A relatively early wheat harvest can open the door to just enough time for a soybean crop planted in early July to reach maturity. With bean prices where they are, it’s a gamble some farmers are willing to… Read More
Category: Agronomy
If one-inch pass-to-pass accuracy is your goal when it comes to precision farming, you’re going to need more than a basic guidance system to get there. That said, creating an extremely accurate guidance system for all equipment can require several components, including extra receivers and RTK towers. Each component is going to cost you, so… Read More
Western Canadian farmers growing field pea and dry beans have a new option for control of broadleaf and grassy weeds in Viper ADV. A liquid product with two modes of action, Viper ADV can help farmers with their fungicide resistance management plan without severely restricting re-cropping options. Lyndsey Smith spoke with Glen Forster, technical development… 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
While I may get called out for jumping the gun here, but now that the holidays are over and the extreme weather of winter is upon us (super cold on the Prairies, balmy in Ontario), I can’t help but start asking about the planting season. Yes, really. A good farmer friend was over this weekend… Read More
Harvest management and timing is always important, but for a shatter-prone crop like canola, it’s paramount to preserving yield in the field and the swath. As canola acres have jumped, so to has the rush at harvest to try and swath and harvest all of the acres at the optimum timing. That can prove a… Read More
If some is good, is more better? Well, that depends on what we’re talking about. Horst Bohner, soybean specialist with OMAFRA, definitely supports moving towards optimal number of plants per acre and that might mean higher seeding rates, but when it comes to tillage and fertilizer, less can certainly be more. Soybeans are unlike other… Read More
Owning the latest and greatest technology is great, but actually using it to its full potential is what makes the cost worthwhile. When that involves your iPhone, it’s understandable that some apps amount to bells and whistles, but when the technology sits inside your tractor cab, having the latest and greatest needs to earn its… Read More
I am attending CropWeek 2013 in Saskatoon this week which always involves some great discussions in the sessions and the hallway. I had a grain /seed industry insider ask me a really interesting question today. “Do we really need to re-create the wheel with wheat? Does wheat royalty collection for research really need to be… Read More
The 2012 drought that hit Ontario producers hard, hit Indiana farmers even harder. So hard in fact that it was one of the worst yielding crop years on record. That number being relative to what’s expected given technology and management practices of the time. Needless to say, that puts drought tolerance as an issue that’s… Read More
Any way you look at it, 90 million dollars is a lot of money. That’s the amount the Western Grains Research Foundation has accrued over the years due to the railways exceeding their revenue cap. That’s sad news for farmers who paid much more than they should have for transport, but the good news is… 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
It can seem like an efficient way to solve two problems at once — add an insecticide in with the fungicide on canola and, voila, all your pest troubles go away. But not so fast. While applying an insecticide when pest insect levels are at or above threshold may be the right move, adding an… Read More
If ever we needed a new curse word, let me humbly suggest kochia. If you thought it was tough to kill before, it’s quickly becoming even more difficult. As Clark Brenzil, provincial weed specialist with Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, explains, not only should kochia be taken off the label of every Group 2 herbicide, it’s… Read More
It sounds a little out there — plants talking to each other, warning them to arm themselves against predators and biotic stress, but it’s real. The research into plant communication is actually decades old, but for some time it was largely ignored by the research community. That is, until now. Rob Saik, president of the… Read More