Are Ontario cash crop growers making effective use of tissue testing to enhance yield and crop performance? The answer requires a little perspective says Jack Legg, agronomist with Guelph-based SGS Agri-food Laboratories. Tissue testing, which provides an accurate measurement of the nutrients within a plant at a given time, has traditionally been used to confirm… Read More
Did you know that around 70 per cent of Canada’s beef exports go to the United States? Depending that much on one market means that if there is ever an issue with the United States border crossing (hello, BSE crisis), Canadian export options become slimmer than we’d like them to be. This is why Ellen… Read More
The future of how breeding is funded in Canada is under review and headed for change. The “value creation” consultations created much engagement and debate last winter, where producers were asked to weigh in on an end-point or trailing royalties on new varieties. While some people have attempted to halt the process, others have tried… Read More
No one wants to see crop under snow, especially when that crop is either a) not really ready to harvest or b) most of your acres. Western Canada has been hard hit by snow cover this fall, and it seems the early start to winter now extends to most of Ontario, too. The recent snowfall… Read More
Syngenta Canada has put a halt to its cereal seed research and development program. The move to end the program will be effective December 31, 2019. The company says it will continue to serve Canada with its current seed portfolio, recently registered varieties, licensing arrangements, crop protection, and seed care. “We plan to grow our… Read More
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
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