Grain elevators in both western and eastern Canada are reporting delays in accessing containers to fill for overseas customers. Regular train traffic is catching up after a series of setbacks this winter — a strike, a rock slide on the western tracks, and then blockades — but container traffic is another beast entirely. Container traffic… Read More
Welcome to March, which seems to be coming in like a lamb — we’ll have to see if the “out like a lion” holds true! March also means maple syrup, frost seeding, red clover applications on the wheat fields, and starting to nail down crop rotations and fertilizer rates. With many feeling the cash flow… Read More
Bigger isn’t always better, as is the case with the new 1745 MaxEmerge 5 planter, says John Deere. The manufacturer rolled out the planter at the National Farm Machinery Show (NFMS) earlier this month, touting narrow transport capabilities, a split-row configuration, a fit for small fields and no-till, and compatibility with older tractors. The key… Read More
Can twin-row soybeans flourish in a strip till world? That’s a question Maizex Seeds’ agronomist Greg Stewart explores with Woodstock, Ont., farmer Wes Hart on the latest episode of The Sharp Edge on RealAgriculture. Hart is a firm believer in the benefits of no-till corn, but he and his father, Doug, have never been satisfied… Read More
If you’re on Twitter, you might have seen John Kowalchuk creating a following for his #RumseySoybeans that he has tackled over the past five years on his farm in Rumsey, Alta. Soybeans are a tricky crop to grow, as they need a certain amount of heat units that central Alberta doesn’t always experience. This didn’t stop… Read More
Prolonged dry weather conditions bring the potential for potassium deficiency, especially in soybeans that require a lot of potassium, and remove up to 1.4 lb. per bushel. Potassium is vital to plant health as it regulates the opening and closing of pores (leaf stomata) on the plant’s surfaces that allow gases and water vapor to… Read More
Resistance is not going away Soybean growers in Eastern Canada will continue to face new and emerging weed resistance threats on their farms. As planning starts for the 2020 crop, Canada fleabane has now spread across all major soybean production areas in Ontario and has started to gain a foothold in Western Quebec. The latest… Read More
Add wheat to your crop rotation and it will increase corn and soybean yields, put more money in your pocket, improve soil health, and make your soil more resilient. That’s a big, bold statement but University of Guelph-Ridgetown professor Dave Hooker can prove it. All the data comes from a 25 year long-term tillage and… Read More
In 2015, Willard Jack was gearing up to tackle herbicide resistant Canada fleabane on his Belzoni, Mississippi farm. Five years later, that weed is just an afterthought as Jack is fully engaged in a fight with a much tougher resistant weed “monster” — Palmer amaranth. At the SouthWest Agricultural Conference (SWAC) last week at Ridgetown,… Read More
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
Grain markets ended the first full week of trading in 2020 mostly higher as the complex ignored some of the bearish data that the USDA presented in their monthly data dump, and instead, focused on the trade war deal expected to be signed by China and the U.S. next week. The main reason grain markets… Read More
Five years ago, Carl Brubacher decided it was time to change how he manages soil on his Arthur, Ont., hog and grain farm. With highly variable soil ranging from sand to heavy clay, he was determined to improve soil health and make the farm more sustainable. In this premiere episode of RealAgriculture’s Soil School, sponsored… Read More
A new soybean pest has hit the radar screen, and it could be a threat to soybean growers across Canada. Gall midge was first detected in Nebraska in 2011 and has since been confirmed in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota. On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Soybean School, OMAFRA entomologist Tracey Baute explains that the midge… Read More
Spring 2019 will be remembered by Ontario soybean growers as one of the toughest they’ve ever tackled. Unprecedented rainfall delayed planting, with the majority of soybeans being planted in June, and some acres having to wait until July. For some growers, those early rains were followed by a dry summer and then the rain and… Read More
If you’ve been waiting for Peter ‘Wheat Pete’ Johnson to answer your question about soil sampling, you’re going to have to wait another week, because this week is mostly about corn, corn, and more corn. And that’s just the kind of week it’s been in Ontario, as corn harvest ever so slowly creeps towards complete… Read More