One of the most powerful and inexpensive tools farmers have in the pest management toolbox is crop rotation. A well-planned rotation can add yield stability, more yield, decreased weed and insect pressure, and keep diseases in check. The question is, how do we know which crops should be in a rotation and what benefits we… Read More
Category: Crops
When does it make sense to re-tile cash crop fields? That’s a thought process that Mount Brydges, Ont., farmer Larry Cowan shares with RealAgriculture’s Bernard Tobin in this report, recorded earlier this summer. Cowan has been retiling an average of 150 acres each year for the past eight years. In this field, which was tiled… Read More
For the average Canadian, the long, lonely drive along the Trans-Canada Highway across southern Saskatchewan and Alberta is capital B boring. For those not from the Prairies, the seemingly endless, mostly flat landscape can seem underwhelming when you’re used to rolling hills and mountains or cities and towns. But those who take the time to… Read More
Wheat is a unique crop, in that it is grown and consumed in every arable region of the world. But all that production and demand also means wheat is one of the most competitive commodities to grow and most challenging to gauge market direction. Darren Padget, past chair of U.S. Wheat Associates, says that all… Read More
Speed and flexibility is everything when a farmer is in the middle of harvest and needing to get grain trucks emptied as quickly as possible. The X-Tend on AGI’s swing auger allows for a great level of flexibility by making it so that the grower doesn’t need to move the truck back and forth on… Read More
How does commercial nitrogen fertilizer impact soil organic matter? Does adding nitrogen burn up organic matter or does it actually enhance organic matter levels in farm soils? Earlier this year, Syngenta soil health assessment lead Jordan Wade and Washington State University agronomist Andrew McGuire teamed up to answer that question. After reviewing decades of academic… Read More
AGT Food and Ingredients Inc. has announced the sale of all shares of its shortline rail and bulk handling infrastructure in Mobil Grain Ltd. to GCM Grosvenor, a global alternative asset management firm. The sale includes MobilGrain and its operating subsidiaries: Last Mountain Rail, with 140 kms (87 miles) running from the Regina Plains to… Read More
Mid-November seems a little late to be spraying in southern Ontario, but the warm temperatures have made for some great opportunities and fall weed control simply works, says Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson in this latest episode of Wheat Pete’s Word. Fall weed control is especially worth it on perennial sow thistle, Canada thistle and on… Read More
Demand for nitrogen fertilizer is relatively stable, given the very clear return on pounds applied. But farmers are looking for ways to scale back input costs, and other macronutrients, such as phosphorus, might be on the chopping block. In addition, large areas of the U.S. have turned wet, further decreasing the amount of fall fieldwork… Read More
With herbicide resistance on the rise, the need for more tools in the toolbox is higher than it has ever been, because as Dr. Breanne Tidemann of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada says, there are no magic bullets. While any single management strategy is unlikely to be the final solution to herbicide resistance and weeds generally,… Read More