Peter Johnson was practically giddy as he walked through wheat fields on a beautiful November day near Woodstock, Ontario. “We’ve got big acreage of wheat and big yield potential. How could Wheat Pete be any happier,” pronounced Real Agriculture’s resident agronomist as he digested the fact that Ontario farmers have planted almost 1 million acres… Read More
Category: Crop Production
AGCO and its Gleaner brand continue to roll out combine innovations at a hectic pace. At the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois, the company unveiled its new 3300 Command Series corn head. Now comes word that farmers will be able to ride Gleaner’s new S9 Series combines for 2016. The company says the 2016 transverse… Read More
This week’s Word begins with a Remembrance Day reminder from Peter Johnson, resident agronomist for RealAgriculture and host of this weekly podcast. From there, Wheat Pete gets into everything from ensuring your farm is a safe place to work to winter wheat acres in Ontario to nitrogen credits from working down an alfalfa crop. Have a… Read More
$8.8 million has been committed to a Western Canadian research project aims to help wheat breeders select important agronomic traits more efficiently. The Alberta Wheat Commission, the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission and the Western Grains Research Foundation announced Thursday they are contributing a combined $3.6 million over four years to the Saskatchewan-based research. Titled “Canadian Triticum Applied Genomics” (CTAG2),… Read More
The 2015 growing season is not only in the books, it’s also up on YouTube. Thanks to UAVs, GoPro cameras and simple film-editing software, it’s become easier to capture breathtaking visuals from each growing season. So whether you’re dreaming of getting back into the field as the snow starts to fly, curious what kind of airseeder… Read More
Ontario Grain Farmers lost the first round of its court battle to contest the province’s new seed treatment regulations, but the fight will continue. “At the end of the day this has always been a fight on principle,” says GFO Chair Mark Brock. “I don’t think we want to tuck tail and run because we got… Read More
The United Nations formally launched the “International Year of Pulses” at the headquarters of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome today. The international recognition aims to heighten public awareness about the role of pulses — dry beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas — in global food security, nutrition and environmental sustainability. Pulse Canada CEO… Read More
In this week‘s episode of Wheat Pete’s Word, Peter Johnson, resident agronomist for RealAgriculture and host of this weekly podcast, starts off by talking about RealAgriculture. Then, as always, Johnson provides an update on crop conditions in Ontario. He also responds to a whole lot of feedback, rants on tillage and marvels about this year’s forgiving fall. Have… Read More
Deere & Company is making another investment in precision planting technology. On the heels of announcing the acquisition of European planter manufacturer Monosem, Deere has signed a deal with Monsanto-subsidiary The Climate Corporation to buy its Precision Planting LLC equipment business and offer near real-time wireless connectivity with Climate Corp’s proprietary Climate FieldView platform. “To… Read More
Grain Farmers of Ontario has decided to appeal the Ontario Superior Court decision denying its request for a stay of the province’s new seed treatment regulations, which limit the use of neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean seed. GFO submitted a motion to the Ontario Divisional Court on November 3 to have the request reviewed. The organization… Read More
Harvest is in the homestretch and it’s time for farmers to start thinking about how the precision agriculture data they’ve accumulated can help build a winning strategy for 2016. In this Corn School episode, AGRIS Co-operative agronomist Dale Cowan looks at how farmers can combine performance data and field observations to diagnose issues that contribute… Read More
Deere & Company has announced a deal to acquire precision planter manufacturer Monosem, including the European company’s four facilities in France and two in the U.S. “Through this action, we continue to build on our leadership position in precision agriculture,” said John May, Deere’s president of Agricultural Solutions and Chief Information Officer, in a statement… Read More
This year’s corn crop is barely in the hopper, and it’s already time to make decisions about what to plant next spring as seed companies offer early booking discounts for next year’s acres. Do you decide to go with tried-and-true, or the newest star variety that looked really good in your neighbour’s plots this year? How many acres… Read More
15 degrees Celsius or cooler. That’s where temperatures should be at in stored grain to prevent an insect infestation. “The key is if you can get your grain temperature down to plus-15 as quickly as possible, any bugs that are in there will not be feeding and will not be reproducing,” explains Blaine Timlick, stored products… Read More
Crop Production Services is releasing a canola variety it says offers the “first true” multigenic resistance to clubroot disease, including the new 5X pathotype found in Alberta. The Proven Seed-brand variety PV 580 GC was formally registered on October 23. “The CPS Canadian Research and Development team has invested heavily in discovering and breeding new… Read More