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
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
If this harvest season keeps up, Wheat Pete’s Word host Peter Johnson is going to have to change his name to Corn Bjorn. Because, yes, that’s nearly all he talks about in this week’s edition, but we promise it’s still interesting stuff, even if wheat hardly gets a mention. From what to do with high-fine… Read More
One extra soybean per plant based on a population of 165 plants per acre equals one bushel. Based on that math, it only takes two or three pods per plant for growers to add six to nine bushels per acre to their harvested yield, says Veritas Farm Management manager Aaron Breimer. Throughout Ontario cash crop… Read More
Every farm is different, from its soil to its business goals. While there are many factors to consider, finding a seed that delivers excellent yields and consistent results is key. With that in mind, Brevant™ seeds is excited to provide farmers the new Enlist E3™ trait for 2020 planting. High Yielding Genetics Co-developed by Dow… Read More
As growers actively manage herbicide-resistant weeds on their farms, many are also looking at how to secure future effectiveness of other crop protection tools, including fungicides and insecticides. In this first episode of a new season of RealAgriculture’s Resistance Management School, we take a look at the current state of fungicide resistance in field crops… Read More
What happens in your fields during the growing season plays a critical role in determining the numbers that pop up on the combine yield monitor at harvest. One way to better understand those final yields and improve future management decisions is to utilize digital agronomy tools that are now widely available to both growers and… Read More
Are you a hand-shelling corn kind of farmer, or do you like a hand-held moisture meter kind of person? We’ve got something for everyone in this episode of Wheat Pete’s Word, including some neat devices for moisture testing, why corn is drying down faster than many thought possible, and what’s up with funky-coloured wheat. In… Read More