To paraphrase and slightly adapt the KISS principle, let’s keep it simple, soybeans. Horst Bohner, soybean specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, says that while there are a multitude of factors at play in achieving the top soybean yields possible, many farmers could likely make bigger gains by honing in… Read More
Category: Soybeans
Clean fields and fit soil will kick the soybean crop off to a strong start, but there’s so much more to big yields than warm soil. In this episode of The Agronomists we go to Ontario’s soybean specialist Horst Bohner and Manitoba’s pulse specialist Dennis Lange to hone in on three major factors that determine… Read More
Tillage destroys soil structure, cuts organic matter and decreases soil water infiltration. If that’s the case, reducing tillage makes sense, right? But the decision is not that simple, says Jodi DeJong-Hughes, University of Minnesota soil and tillage extension specialist. In her presentation at the virtual Ontario Agricultural Conference, DeJong-Hughes notes that there’s no hard and fast… Read More
Welcome back for this 2021 season of RealAg LIVE! To kick off the New Year, we’re talking planning, planning, and more planning when it comes to corn acres in the year ahead. To get the goods on what main areas to focus on — from hybrid selection and trials, to resistance management, overall agronomy, and even… Read More
Whether you’re an experienced soybean grower, or are looking to get into this interesting leguminous oilseed crop, there’s always something to learn. In this episode of Soybean School, we take a look back at the past year’s soybean season in Manitoba — what went right, what went wrong, and what kind of knowledge we gleaned… Read More
Corn rootworm, manure, and soybeans — farmers don’t often hear those three words in the same sentence but we’ve come to expect the unexpected in 2020. With growing resistance to corn rootworm traits in Ontario, many farmers who typically plant continuous corn will look to control the pest by expanding rotations to include soybeans. But… Read More
When it comes to planting soybeans, is spring tillage necessary? Can no-till soybeans handle the challenge that a cool, wet spring and heavy corn residue can throw at them? With 2020 in the books, it’s time to dig into some harvest data and find some answers to these questions. On this episode of Soybean School,… Read More
Glyphosate-resistant waterhemp was first identified in Ontario in 2014. Since that time the weed, which hails from the pigweed family, has spread across the province with confirmed sightings in 14 counties in 2019. To make matters more troubling, waterhemp resistance continues to grow beyond glyphosate, and now includes multiple resistance to Group 2, 5, 9… Read More
When it comes to gauging the success of management decisions, it’s important to run more than one replication in a trial — observing differences is a great way to decide on what might deserve a closer look next year. In this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter Johnson shares some of the plot results that… Read More
When it comes to strong soybean plant establishment, growers often focus on seeding rates, seeding depth, and tillage. Those are all important management practices, but Horst Bohner emphasizes the need for growers to also set up and run their planter or drill effectively, to produce optimal plant stands that deliver top yields. On this episode… Read More
Do you need to manage herbicide-resistant weeds? Could you use more flexibility during the busy planting season? Does heavy weed pressure make it difficult to keep fields clean early in the season? These are all questions growers should be asking as they plan their 2021 soybean weed control programs, says BASF technical development manager Rob… Read More
Nothing good happens after midnight, or when corn is left out in the field. Some farmers are learning that DON levels in corn can really spike if the crop has been left out to let that gibberella grow. In this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter Johnson has that caution, plus a discussion on being… Read More
Creating new crop hybrids or varieties is expensive and time consuming with no real guarantee of a straight line to success. After all, it takes years to bring new lines to market, and industry demands can shift in that time frame. One company that’s heavily invested in soybean breeding is Syngenta Canada. The company is… Read More
Keep your soil covered, do as little tillage as possible, maintain a living root system 365 days a year, and fit it all into an economic model that makes money: this is sustainable soil health. It’s a challenge, for sure, but it’s one Dresden, Ont., farmer Woody Van Arkel is happy to tackle. On this… Read More
Back in June, the Canadian Plant Technology Agency reported some nefarious goings-on regarding Kazakhstani groups trying to acquire Canadian plant genetics. “What has happened is that Kazakhstan companies recognize the Canadian varieties as being leading genetics that would work in their country,” says Lorne Hadley, executive director of Canadian Plant Technology Agency. “For the second… Read More