Category: Water

To understand what happens with nutrients in the soil and how to manage zones within a field, you have to pay attention to how the soil handles water. If that wasn't obvious enough, it becomes clear when you visit Mitch Timmerman and his 'rainfall simulator' trailer. "Water can influence the fate of nutrients, the development... Read More

Ontario’s focus on the environmental side of farming has just been underlined and intensified, even more. With the midpoint mandate of her provincial government having been reached, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne put pen to paper last week to help guide both new and established ministers on the next part of their journey. Her mission was... Read More

Excess water after heavy rains in parts of Western Canada is not only impairing plant growth through oxygen deficiency, but it's also causing significant nitrogen losses. As John Heard, soil fertility specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, explains in this video, N losses depend on soil type, with rain causing leaching in sandier soils and more denitrification... Read More

The federal government is investing $1.1 million in developing a hydrological model for the Assiniboine River Basin, which spans more than 160,000 square kilometres of western Manitoba, eastern Saskatchewan and northwestern North Dakota. The project, led by the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA), involves IBM, Aquanty Inc. (a University of Waterloo spinoff company that... Read More

In this episode of In The Dirt, Salford’s Jim Boak introduces us to AGRIS Co-operative agronomist Dale Cowan and the role agronomists play in helping farmers implement and achieve 4R nutrient stewardship. Boak recommends farmers pay particular attention to how Cowan uses an approach called MOM to meet 4R objectives. This includes using the right... Read More

For farmers in the Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair watersheds, and Lake Huron’s southeast shores watershed, help to implement Better Management Practices (BMP) is here. It’s called GLASI, or the Great Lakes Agricultural Stewardship Initiative. Related: Agricultural Run-Off A Main Focus of Great Lakes’ Eutrophication Concerns “The official launch was last February at our... Read More

(We’re a day early with this week’s Word, because, hey, it’s Canada Day and our audio editor’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Rhett!) If you’re sick and tired of rain and wet conditions, you’re not alone — Ontario has recorded its wettest June in over one hundred years. Which means, with apologies to Western Canada facing a... Read More

There’s no two ways about it — huge swaths of Ontario’s growing region is now excessively wet. And not, “Hey, that was a heavy rainstorm!” wet, but soaked-right-through-for-the-third-time wet. With all this water, farmers are understandably nervous about what impact wet soil and standing water may have on the yield of the corn and soybean... Read More

While flooding in recent years has underlined the need for a collaborative approach to water management in Western Canada, some farmers and others involved in managing water on farmland are organizing themselves with the aim of creating a common voice focused on sustainable water management that supports agriculture. In Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Farm Stewardship Association... Read More

While tile drainage has been a part of farming in the U.S. Midwest and Ontario for decades, a growing number of producers in Western Canada are finding they can justify the cost of installing tile in their land. Take Craig Shaw for example. Speaking at FarmTech in Edmonton, the Lacombe, Alberta grain farmer gave three... Read More