It’s a new year, and we’re back with the first Wheat Pete’s Word of the decade! Peter Johnson, host of Wheat Pete’s Word, says that although we are only eight days in, 2020 is already roaring ahead steadily. The mantra for 2020 according to Wheat Pete is “perfect vision.” If we can see clearly, we’ll… Read More
There are some surprising yields being reported across much of Ontario — some shockingly good, others disastrously bad. For at least one farmer, a timely rain or two on just half the field means the same surprise happened in the same pass of the combine. In this week’s edition of Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter… Read More
Is frosted corn, toast? It all depends, says Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson, so head on out and start checking those cob shanks! On this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word, Johnson covers some key cover crop questions, why wheat seed rates might at max right now, and there’s some gibberella out there that needs attention. Have a… Read More
Welcome to another edition to Wheat Pete’s Word with your host and RealAgriculture’s resident agronomist, Peter ‘Wheat Pete’ Johnson! This week, Johnson is on the Soil Network tour, but even the cross-Ontario trek couldn’t keep him from recording this week’s Word. On this episode, learn about a new worm issue in corn, how the grain… Read More
Testing for DON in Ontario’s 2018 corn crop was an incredibly frustrating process for growers. With gibberella ear rot infecting a wide swath of corn in the province, many growers were exasperated when samples from the same load of corn taken from a field would show wide variation in DON levels — sometimes from 3… Read More
Could 2019 be another ‘gibb’ year for corn growers? That’s a question RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson encounters almost daily. When asked, he says there’s “not a chance” of the widespread gibberella outbreak Ontario growers experienced in 2018. However, he notes that “in isolated areas, we do have a high risk of gibberella ear rot infection… Read More
Farmers across Canada will have five new fungicides in their disease management toolbox in 2020. This week, Syngenta Canada rolled out Miravis, a new fungicide umbrella brand that will offer five new products growers can use to fight disease in a range of crops. In this video, Eric Phillips, Syngenta Canada’s fungicides and insecticides product… Read More
The corn is growing like a bad weed, while the earliest of the fall-seeded crops are starting to get harvested. Just in time, Ontario is getting some heat and humidity, and that means all sorts of questions for the host of Wheat Pete’s Word. In this week’s Word, Peter Johnson covers fusarium/DON development in the… Read More
Difficult planting conditions across Ontario this spring are set to test growers yet again as corn fungicide application timing approaches. On this episode of the RealAgriculture Corn School, Ridgetown College, University of Guelph professor Dave Hooker explains that growers looking to control gibberella ear rot can expect a 50 per cent reduction in DON when… Read More
Starting in 2019, Ontario growers will have access to a tiered salvage benefit when dealing with deoxynivalenol (DON) in the corn crop. Announced this week via the provincial government, the new tiered salvage benefit will more “accurately reflect the additional costs associated with harvesting and handling corn affected by DON and help producers trying to find… Read More
Following statistical analysis of five performance trials in south-western Ontario in the fall of 2018, the Ontario Corn Committee (OCC) determined that some corn hybrids differ significantly in their susceptibility to DON. Spurred by the findings, the committee has voted to conduct voluntary inoculated trials for rating hybrids for susceptibility to DON accumulation at Ridgetown and Ottawa… Read More
The Ontario government has announced changes to the Commodity Loan Guarantee Program (CLGP) to help farmers affected by abnormally high levels of deoxynivalenol (DON) in the 2018 corn crop. The CLGP provides access to short-term operating loans for the purchase of crop input supplies, such as seed, fertilizer, and pesticides. It is administered on behalf… Read More
How far have we come in 30 years of plant breeding and agronomic knowledge? Well, in this edition of Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter Johnson reflects back on corn and soybean yield averages for Ontario and the gains may surprise you. What about wheat? Well, you’ll have to listen to find out if we’ve made… Read More
From an environmental standpoint, Ontario experienced a perfect storm in 2018 that produced an epidemic of gibberella ear rot in corn and resulting unprecedented DON levels. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs field crop plant pathologist Albert Tenuta compares the conditions that created the classic silk channel infection in corn hybrids to what… Read More
Ontario grain farmers dealing with high DON (vomitoxin) levels in their corn crop can now apply for funding to cover DON testing. The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) has announced a new intake for cost-share opportunities to support DON testing under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP). The initiative will support producers whose corn crop or corn products… Read More