What happens in your fields during the growing season plays a critical role in determining the numbers that pop up on the combine yield monitor at harvest. One way to better understand those final yields and improve future management decisions is to utilize digital agronomy tools that are now widely available to both growers and… Read More
According to a recent survey, farmers are requesting changes to the two proposed models of seed royalty collection presented earlier this year by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The Alberta Federation of Agriculture (AFA), the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS), and the Keystone Agricultural Producers of Manitoba (KAP), have taken the past three months to… Read More
Under the AgriScience program within the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the Prairie Oat Growers Association (POGA) is set to receive $1,982,915 to improve oat varieties for the Canadian oat industry. “The breeding work being done in Brandon at the AAFC location would not be possible without the continued support of the Government of Canada and all… Read More
Testing for DON in Ontario’s 2018 corn crop was an incredibly frustrating process for growers. With gibberella ear rot infecting a wide swath of corn in the province, many growers were exasperated when samples from the same load of corn taken from a field would show wide variation in DON levels — sometimes from 3… Read More
The Ontario government announced $1.3 million in funding through the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, a funding partnership with the University of Guelph. The research projects at the University of Guelph will focus on increasing production and decreasing economic losses caused by crop diseases and pests on Ontario farms, including: Surveillance for blight management decisions in… Read More
The first project within the protein supercluster was announced on Wednesday. Protein Industries Canada has committed $4 million into the project with industry partners backing it with another $4 million. The project will be led by Calgary-based Botaneco — which researches and produces new lipid and protein products to sell for higher values and open… Read More
By Sean Mitchell and Dr. Alfons Weersink As wet planting conditions persist across Ontario, many growers have switching on their mind: should they switch to shorter-season corn hybrids or even leave corn in the bag and plant soybeans? From an economic perspective, the best choice is likely to switch to shorter-season corn with lower heat… Read More
If you grow winter wheat in Ontario, chances are wet weather chased you out of the field this spring before you applied nitrogen. That’s what happened to RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson. In this episode of the Wheat School, our resident agronomist compares wheat that received early spring nitrogen to another part of the field where… Read More
It might seem counter-intuitive, but slowing down corn emergence may actually boost yields. Last fall, RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson took a close look at corn research plots and concluded that optimum distance between corn plants matters far less than uniform emergence. He also discovered that achieving perfectly uniform emergence takes planting deep. We already know… Read More
As Canada continues to develop a new seed royalty structure, researchers have been comparing models in other countries to better understand the financial implications to farmers, the effectiveness and ease-of-use of the options, and the eventual impact of changes on plant breeding programs. Richard Gray, professor and Canadian Grain Policy Chair at the University of… Read More
Corn is moving into new territory — mainly west and north — but the agronomic information farmers in these new areas rely on is still largely based on data from places such as Illinois and Iowa. This has provided a basis for new corn farmers to get started, but there are a lot of differences… Read More
There’s a new research project underway and a soil scientist from the University of Manitoba is taking the lead on the team. Dr. Mario Tenuta will be guiding a team of Canadian researchers to determine best practises on how to apply nitrogen fertilizer in corn crops in ways that not only increase yields and economic benefit… Read More
Imagine planting corn hybrids that could produce 40 to 80 percent of their nitrogen requirements. It’s only 10 years away, says University of Wisconsin–Madison researcher Dr. Vania Pankievicz. The breakthrough comes from a Mexican corn variety called Sierra Mixe. At the recent Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario conference in London, Ontario, Pankievicz explained that the 15-foot tall variety,… Read More
The integration between Alberta Wheat and Alberta Barley has been extremely successful, says Tom Steve, executive director with the now one-year-old Alberta Wheat and Barley Commission. “We’ve realized cost savings of about $350,000 a year,” Steve says. “A lot is related to salaries for sure, but we have a stronger management team now that’s focussed… Read More
There are a lot of concerns in the pulse market at the moment. Things such as competition from the Black Sea region, and what’s happening with the election in India, can keep farmers up at night. While you have one eye on the markets, it’s also important to keep the other on agronomy. This is… Read More