If there’s one thing farmers should understand, it’s biosecurity — and yet, somehow there are many who aren’t taking the physical distancing protocol seriously. Wheat Pete, for one, is having none of it. Of course, the host of Wheat Pete’s Word, Peter Johnson, only spend a little bit of time on that topic for this… Read More
There’s no denying that the COVID-19 outbreak is having a huge impact on our daily lives. But even among the negativity and scary unknowns, there is some good — like maple trees pushing out buds and soil warming up and drying out in southern Ontario. In this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter Johnson has… Read More
Wheat Pete’s Word host Peter Johnson is a lot of things — dynamic and opinionated for starters — but he’s also rather humble. This episode marks 250 episodes of this podcast and he’s likely not going to make a big deal of it, but the rest of the RealAgriculture team is! In this 250th episode,… Read More
In the ongoing war against weeds, growers have historically combatted different weed groups with different herbicides. Now, wheat growers have a powerful new comrade in the battle against broadleaf and grassy weeds. New BATALIUM™ Herbicide has a unique, high-performance formulation with 3 modes of action, providing all-in-one weed control in a single application. It’s long… 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
If you’ve ever adopted a new way of doing things after attending a field day or conference, do you let the researcher or extension staff know? Sometimes, research can be a rather thankless job, and many researchers don’t hear back on their work being applied on-farm. Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson came across just such an… Read More
Wide vs. narrow rows — which is best for top yields? As always, it depends. It depends on the crop you’re growing, your climate, and the architecture of the variety or hybrid you choose. There are other factors too, as discussed in this episode of Wheat Pete’s Word, with host Peter Johnson. Available equipment, what… Read More
Do you adjust plant populations, fertility, or other product applications on headlands? If not, why not? In this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word, Peter Johnson answers questions on liquid vs. dry fertilizer and fertilizer set ups, plus what to do with soil test results on sandy soils. He also throws down the challenge of using precision… Read More
The man who wrote the book on wheat production in the United Kingdom says it’s time to throw away that production guide and adopt a new approach to higher wheat yields. Roger Sylvester-Bradley, who leads the crop performance research team at ADAS Consulting, believes researchers need to learn from the tremendous yield variability they see… Read More
In Ontario, spring cereals such as wheat, oats, and barley are often viewed as the poor cousin of winter wheat, a crop that annually flirts with the one million acre mark in the province. In general, acreage for spring cereals has been flat or declining for the past decade, but Agronomy Advantage agronomist Deb Campbell… Read More
Have you thought about how much time you spend just re-filling during planting and seeding? Fill times for spraying often get plenty of attention, but there’s actually plenty of hours to gain at planting too, depending on your set up. In this week’s edition of Wheat Pete’s Word, a much healthier Peter Johnson is talking… Read More
You’ll have to excuse Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson’s voice for this episode of Wheat Pete’s Word, as the poor lad is suffering from a terrible cold. But a little frog in his throat isn’t going to stop him from tackling the week’s questions, updates, and challenges. Get a quick summary of some of the recent… 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
Following the June announcement of a proposed merger, the boards of Canadian International Grains Institute (CIGI) and Cereals Canada are moving closer to a vote on full amalgamation of the two entities. Dean Dias, interim CEO of CIGI, says that both organizations have been in conversation over what a merger would look like, what governance… Read More
Syngenta recently rolled out Miravis, a brand new fungicide available for the 2020 growing season. RealAgriculture’s Kara Oosterhuis caught up with Syngenta Canada’s Randy Retzlaff at the Crop Production Show at Saskatoon, Sask., to talk about Miravis Ace — a version of the fungicide that is targeted at spring wheat, winter wheat, and durum wheat…. Read More