It’s July and that means two things: sunburns and field tour season! Our apologies for this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word being posted a day late, but it was actually a field tour (and plot harvest) that pushed host Peter Johnson right to deadline. We promise it’s worth the wait, however, as this week’s episode is… Read more »
Category: Drought
What you see is what you get — David Phillips’ summer weather forecast
After a scorching hot week in Ontario that ended with some much needed rain for parts of the province, will we see a return to more average temperatures? That’s the question Shaun Haney puts to Environment Canada’s David Phillips, and the answer might not be what you want to hear. With warmer than normal weather… Read more »
Wheat School: Assessing the impact of drought in winter wheat
Much of Ontario’s winter wheat has fallen victim to hot, dry, June growing conditions, and yields will likely suffer, reports RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson. On this episode of the Wheat School, Johnson describes how drought-like growing conditions that brought high temperatures (34 degree days, 24 degree nights) and high winds for the better part of a… Read more »
Recent rains fail to ease moisture concerns of Prairie pastures
Ranchers in Western Canada have faced some real challenges this spring. For some early calvers the late winter posed some serious problems for mortality, and now the hot, dry conditions are posing major grass concerns. There has been talk of cattle already being pulled off southern pastures to be moved up north. From a marketing,… Read more »
Bring on the rain: How do you tempt Mother Nature?
Desperate situations require desperate measures. With an estimated 30% of the western Canadian prairies under significant drought threat, farmers in the southern area of the prairies are very concerned about crop and pasture conditions. Mother Nature may have a death grip on the rain tap, but is there something that you can do about it?… Read more »
Cool in the east, dry in the west & similarities to 1936: Drew Lerner’s summer outlook
A transition between weather patterns over the next three weeks will go a long way in determining the kind of weather we can expect for the rest of summer, while potentially offering some short-term relief in dry areas, according to Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc. Lerner joined RealAg Radio on Wednesday to discuss his… Read more »
Prairie ranchers monitoring pastures for predicted drought
As farmers in Western Canada are working hard at seeding across the Prairies, many ranchers are branding and taking stock on the quality of the spring 2018 calf crop. Also on the minds of many ranchers on the southern half of the Prairies: pasture conditions and what the bleak spring moisture outlook could mean for… Read more »
Opposing summer forecasts on either side of the Canadian Shield
As planting and seeding begins across the country, farmers look to Mother Nature to do her part and provide positive growing conditions through the entire season. Earlier this week on RealAg Radio, host Shaun Haney spoke with Michael Clark, of BAMWX, about the Canadian spring and summer forecast. Similar to most regions of North America,… Read more »
Connections key to building soil organic matter
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 »
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 »