Any golfer will tell you that sometimes you have to go back to the fundamentals to find success. You make sure your feet are planted in the right place and then you build from there. The same analogy works for hockey, or welding, and even farming. RealAgRadio host Shaun Haney and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada… Read More
EDITOR’S NOTE This situation is evolving daily — please contact Agricorp directly for the latest parameters on dealing with high-ppm corn. ** Agricorp is keeping a close eye on vomitoxin levels in Ontario’s corn crop and telling growers not to destroy any crop at this time. The provincial risk management program provider has indicated it… Read More
Wheat breeding is a poor cousin when you compare it to the investment and resources corn and soybean plant breeders have at their disposal to develop new and improved plant genetics. The arrival of CRISPR technology, however, is giving wheat breeders hope that they may finally get a leg up on their big-crop cousins. At… Read More
Wheat has been progressing rapidly thanks to seasonally high temperatures in many areas over the past few weeks, quickly moving into and through the early flowering stage. Early flower is when a fungicide application to prevent fusarium head blight (FHB) is recommended. “Typically we’d expect flowering to start three days after head emergence, and flowering… Read More
As the calendar inches ever closer to June, host of Wheat Pete’s Word and resident agronomist, Peter Johnson, is tackling your top agronomy questions for side-dressing N, fusarium nozzle selection, and early season weed control in this week’s edition. From two strategies for planting edible beans into dry ground, to the first of the hay… Read More
Crop input decisions would be made so much easier if only one year’s weather would predict the next. But we know that one dry year doesn’t make a trend, so while 2018 is looking dry in Western Canada will it stay dry for the growing season? Will crop disease be less of a threat because… Read More
We often focus our efforts on what to add to a total mixed ration in order to offer our animals the highest plane of nutrition necessary for their life stage. But, what about the substances that could create serious health concerns, or even death? “Moulds are a fungal growth, and the mycotoxins are actually a… Read More
Fusarium, fusarium, fusarium. It’s certainly on many minds right now, with fungicide season underway and all too fresh memories of fusarium-infected grain from 2016 Since you can’t really scout for the disease, we have to use models, such as the brand new risk tool launched by the Alberta Wheat Commission and the Alberta Climate Information… Read More
The FHB1 gene for fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance has been around for some time, but now it’s available in stronger agronomic varieties that deliver yield punch. That’s good news for North American wheat growers, says Bryan Gerard of Indiana-based Gerard Seed Solutions. In this episode of RealAgriculture Wheat School, Gerard explains that the FHB1… Read More
For parts of Western Canada, the rain keeps on pouring. Early wet conditions could be conducive to root rot problems in pulses. Fortunately, for three of the four main culprits —rhyzoctonia, fusarium and pythium, the plants will generally grow through the vulnerable early seedling stage if a seed treatment has been applied, notes Robyne Bowness-Davidson, pulse… Read More
Are you looking to step up your fusarium control measures this spring? In this episode of RealAgriculture Wheat School, resident agronomist Peter Johnson reviews the basics of managing fusarium in Ontario’s wheat crop and also offers some tips on how growers can elevate their control efforts. For Johnson, effective fusarium control starts with the basics:… Read More
Summer may feel a long way off, but being prepared to manage heat stress in dairy cattle goes a long way in warding off the production losses that go along with it. We’re also well into the 2016 feed crop, and there are reports of several farmers struggling to keep mycotoxin (specifically DON/vomitoxin) levels low enough… Read More
Do wheat varieties perform in line with the ratings provided during the registration process? When it comes to fusarium head blight tolerance, the short answer is yes, but the long answer is it depends on the year. Holly Derksen, plant pathologist with Manitoba Agriculture, explains that the province has been tracking resistance performance of wheat… Read More
The rain that helped Western Canadian farmers grow big wheat yields in 2016 also created some quality problems that are complicating the marketing of the 31.7 million tonne crop. Almost half (48.6 percent) of the Canada Western Red Spring wheat samples received by the Canadian Grain Commission in its voluntary harvest sample program were downgraded… Read More
Ontario’s corn crop is showing high vomitoxin levels and growers are being urged to harvest as quickly as possible to preserve corn quality. Last week, the OMAFRA Field Crops team revealed that 26% of the samples taken in its annual vomitoxin survey had DON concentrations of 2.0 ppm or greater. At these levels, vomitoxin produced… Read More