Harvest weed seed control has been widely adopted in Australia as a tool in fighting herbicide resistance. When it comes to North America, farmers in southern States, such as Arkansas, have started implementing these concepts, but the idea of destroying weed seed viability has yet to take off here in Canada. In this Wheat School episode,… Read More
2016 was likely the worst year on record for fusarium head blight (FHB) infection in Western Canada, as the disease has spread west and north since becoming a problem in southern Manitoba in the early 1990s. According to the Canada Grain Commission’s harvest sample survey, almost a quarter of cereal samples in Alberta tested positive for… Read More
15 months ago, Jason Reinheimer flew with his family from Australia to Saskatoon to become the first employee and senior breeder for Limagrain Cereals Research Canada. Limagrain Cereals Research Canada, established in 2015, is a wheat breeding partnership between France-based Limagrain and Western Canada-based Canterra Seeds. In the video below, Reinheimer explains their breeding goals of developing wheat varieties that… Read More
Deciding which product to use is not easy. Depending on the category, the plethora of products or services is extensive and noisy. Whether it is biologicals, precision agriculture, or seed enhancements, to name a few, it can be very difficult to try and figure out which products are the best fit for your farm. At… Read More
Are you tired of planting wheat every year? What if you only had to plant the crop every four years? If those questions spark your interest, you won’t want to miss this episode of Real Agriculture’s Wheat School featuring Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research scientist Jamie Larsen. He’s working to develop perennial wheat that would grow… Read More
The marriage of agronomy and data really can deliver better profits for growers wedded to precision planting technology. That was the message from the A-Team – Pride Seeds agronomist Aaron Stevanus and Veritas agronomist Aaron Breimer – earlier this month when they spoke to growers at the Southwest Agricultural Conference at the University of Guelph’s… Read More
Can we push feed and even malt barley varieties to sky-high yields? Steve Larocque, of Beyond Agronomy, has completed a four-year field trial that says yes, but there’s a catch. Inspired by what he saw on a 2010 trip to New Zealand, where feed barley averaged 207 to 210 bushels per acre, Larocque started digging… Read More
How have soybeans changed over the past century, and what can growers learn from this evolution? Purdue University agronomy professor Shaun Casteel has some answers. Speaking at the recent Ontario Certified Crop Advisor annual conference, Casteel shared insights from his research comparing varieties from 1923 to those available in 2011. In this episode of Real… Read More
As crop yields and nutrient removal rates continue to increase, many growers wonder whether it’s time to top up fertilizer rates. At the core of the discussion in Ontario is whether critical soil test values for corn and soybeans are still valid and whether they pack the nutrient punch needed to allow new hybrids and… Read More
Clarence Swanton has worked for 16 years on a super cool project that takes about 40 minutes to explain properly, as he did at the recent Southwest Agricultural Conference. Perhaps more impactful, however, is the time-lapse video he showed whereby the mere presence of weedy surroundings actually killed a tobacco seedling. Perhaps this makes sense —… Read More
Who are the most profitable corn growers? The answer to this question is really quite simple, says Ken Ferrie, one of North America’s leading agronomists and crop consultants. The most profitable corn growers are those who most effectively manage the big three crop production variables: sunlight, water, and nutrients. An independent agronomist, the Illinois-based Ferrie… Read More
Wheat and barley growers across North America have been waiting for advancements in breeding techniques to make the crop types more competitive with corn, soybeans, and canola. At the recent Montana Grain Growers Association convention in Great Falls, Shaun talked to Dr. Hikmet Budak about a new advancement in plant breeding that really excited the crowd… Read More
You may vary inputs based on field history or soil type, but have you considered treating your wheat differently, based on variety? It turns out that there are significant differences between how varieties respond to nitrogen, fungicide, and plant growth regulators. How a variety performs depends not just on its age, but where the background genetic… Read More
Soil preservation is gaining seatbelt and sugarless gum status in our society. It’s simply no longer optional. Some soil advocates are now calling for every agricultural grant application to have a tick box explaining how the proposed project exercises best soil management practices. No doubt, pressure is mounting to acknowledge the unparalleled role those first… Read More
Everything old is new again. That’s certainly the case when it comes to interseeding cover crops into corn. In this episode of Real Agriculture’s Corn School, University of Guelph-Ridgetown College researcher David Hooker unearths some historic evidence of Ontario farmers’ and researchers’ fascination with cover crops and their efforts to interseed them in growing cornfields…. Read More
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