There’s consensus that healthy soils with higher organic matter deliver a range of benefits from supplying nutrients, to building soil structure, to increasing water-holding capacity, and reducing erosion. But are enough farmers taking the required steps to increase soil health and organic matter? United States Department of Agriculture research agronomist Shannon Osbourne believes a stronger working… Read more »
Category: Drought
Wheat Pete’s Word, Jan 31: Planter pressure, cover crop queries, and cold, dry weather
Let’s get down to the nitty gritty on this week’s top agronomy questions, shall we? Peter Johnson is back for this last January 2018 instalment of Wheat Pete’s Word, and it’s an action-packed episode. Out west, farmers have two main concerns — lack of moisture and lack of moisture. This brings up two questions in this… Read more »
Pump up Organic Matter — Feed Your Soil Like a Cow
How important is organic matter and how can you add more to your soil? Soil organic matter is farming’s Holy Grail and every farmer should want more, says Peter Johnson, RealAgriculture’s resident agronomist. In this video, Johnson shares some simple strategies on how farmers can pump up organic matter levels to hold more water and… Read more »
Soybean School: What We Learned in 2016
Growing soybeans in Ontario in 2016 was a real nail biter. Even Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs soybean specialist Horst Bohner admits to being pretty nervous as the soybean crop struggled through a dry July. Many farmers were lucky when rains arrived in August, but a good portion of the province –… Read more »
Wheat Pete’s Word, Nov. 30: Winter Learning, Thick Wheat Stands & Clover, & Performance Trials
If your wheat stand looks more like a golf green than a cereal crop, should you still put down clover early in the spring? And why the push for longer season varieties? Yes, it’s time for Wheat Pete’s Word here at RealAgriculture, and Peter Johnson has a fact-ion (see what we did there?) packed podcast… Read more »
Corn School: A Fresh Look at Interseeding Cover Crops in Corn
Everything old is new again. That’s certainly the case when it comes to interseeding cover crops into corn. In this episode of Real Agriculture’s Corn School, University of Guelph-Ridgetown College researcher David Hooker unearths some historic evidence of Ontario farmers’ and researchers’ fascination with cover crops and their efforts to interseed them in growing cornfields…. Read more »
Dry Weather Trend to Continue through Ontario Harvest
It’s been dry, to very dry, to a full-on drought in Ontario this year, and that dry trend doesn’t look to be letting up substantially heading into the harvest season. That’s according to Bryce Anderson, senior agriculture meteorologist with DTN, who spoke with Shaun Haney, to recap what weather farmers can anticipate for the #harvest16 season. From… Read more »
Soybean School: Drought Leads to Green Stem Syndrome
Drought conditions in Ontario could slow harvest in some soybean fields this fall where plants suffer from Green Stem Syndrome. In this edition of Real Agriculture Soybean School, Pride Seeds market agronomist Dan Foster explains Green Stem Syndrome happens when there is partial or complete leaf drop but the soybean plant stem remains green. “The… Read more »
Corn School: Doing the Math on Subsurface Drip Irrigation
It’s been four years since Todd Boughner of Judge Farms took the plunge and installed 67 acres of subsurface drip irrigation on a sandy soiled farm near Delhi, Ontario. When Real Agriculture first visited the project, Boughner, the farm manager, was busy working with a crew to install drip tape across the entire field in… Read more »