Starting in May, Prairie farmers will have access to an up-to-the-day fusarium head blight forecasting tool for winter and spring wheat, durum, and barley. The new forecasting tool is based on over five years of research and field-level proof-of-concept work supported by Alberta Grains, SaskWheat, SaskBarley, the Manitoba Crop Alliance, the University of Manitoba and… Read More
Category: Wheat
Here’s something you maybe didn’t know: Host of The Word, Peter ‘Wheat Pete’ Johnson started Wheat Pete’s Word a full NINE years ago, back before podcasts were cool. So let’s kick off the 10th year with something really special — like the second warmest winter on record since 1895! Johnson also discusses evaluating geese damage… Read More
It’s too soon to know if March will leave like a lion or a lamb, but points west are getting some heavy snow and much of Ontario is back to very cool and even cold temps. Cooler temps haven’t slowed down farmers’ enthusiasm for frost seeding or putting on some nitrogen and sulphur on wheat… Read More
Wheat seed placed in a furrow across a field spells possibility to a farmer, but to diseases that lurk in the soil, wheat seed is food, not a potential crop. Using untreated wheat seed means that each seed could be vulnerable to seed- and/or soil-borne diseases, explains Shad Milligan, Seedcare technical lead for Syngenta Canada…. Read More
There’s plenty of excitement for both economic and environmental reasons about the potential for biological nitrogen fixation for corn and other crops that don’t fix their own nitrogen, but a soil scientist from North Dakota State University says farmers and agronomists should be asking several key questions before counting on added organisms to supply N… Read More
Grower groups and the federal government have partnered on providing funding for wheat research to the tune of over $20 million over five years. With over $11.2 million in funding coming from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership AgriScience program, a further $9.3 million will come from: Manitoba Crop Alliance… Read More
Oh my goodness, what a wild swing in temperatures! Ontario hit some record high daytime temperatures for February, only to have a huge cold front move in that had already socked in the Prairies. As much as we’d all like to think this is spring, it only feels that way. The calendar still says February,… Read More
When you think about managing crop residue breakdown, do you think about the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of the residue? If not, it might be time to do so, as genetic advancements in corn, for example, has actually made it somewhat harder for stalks to breakdown. That’s just one discussion in this week’s episode of Wheat Pete’s… Read More
Wheat yield is made up of many yield components ranging from thousand kernel weight to head size and kernels per head. But when it comes to driving higher yields, all those components take a back seat to the number of heads per square metre. It’s the big data point emerging from three years of data… Read More
Leaf twisting, burning, cupping, or crinkling — those are just some of the signs that a crop may be suffering from herbicide injury. Why do herbicides cause crop injury? University of Guelph weed researcher Dr. Peter Sikkema says injury causes can be classified into seven basic categories. That list includes extreme weather, unique or variable… Read More