Are Ontario farmers doing a better job of getting phosphorus to stay put on their farms? Over the past decade, farmers, agronomists, researchers and governments have ramped up efforts to reduce the amount of phosphorus leaving farm fields and creating environmental challenges in areas such as the Lake Erie and Sainte-Claire watersheds. University of Waterloo… Read More
Category: Weather
How many crop heat units (CHU) does corn need to emerge? That’s a question many growers are asking as their corn seed shivers through the cold spring 2020 growing conditions. On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Corn School, we put that question to Dale Cowan, AGRIS Co-operative agronomist. He says that corn seed typically requires 165… Read More
What effect will extreme cold temperatures have on early-season weed control? That’s a question University of Guelph, Ridgetown College weed scientist Dr. Peter Sikkema has been hearing a lot lately. With farm fields across Ontario being punished by extreme cold temperatures that have dropped to nighttime lows of minus 5 degrees C, many growers are… Read More
With extreme cold temperatures continuing across Ontario, when should growers resume planting soybeans? Planting came to a halt late last week as Ontario finds itself in the grip of extended cold daytime and nighttime temperatures. Snow covered parts of the province during the weekend and into Monday. And there’s more to come — some areas… Read More
Soybeans can handle cold, dry conditions at planting, but growers need to be careful when a cold, wet forecast is bearing down on their farm. Planting is proceeding quickly across Ontario, but many growers are asking if they should park the planter as an early-May polar vortex approaches the province — daytime highs of 3… Read More
When it’s mid-April, relatively dry, but cool, should you plant soybeans? We tackle that question on the latest RealAgriculture Soybean School episode with Horst Bohner, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs soybean specialist. Bohner has a simple answer to our question. Basically, he recommends planting both soybeans and corn within the same window…. Read More
Yield stability and income stability — that’s what farmers earn when they invest in regenerative agriculture. That message was heard often throughout the recent Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFAO) annual conference in London, Ont. It’s a tune that more and more farmers are singing as they increase efforts to enhance soil health on their… Read More
After last year’s sudden switch to wet weather, forecasting into 2020 is proving challenging says Scott Kehler, chief scientist for Weatherlogics Inc. And with no clear patterns in the oceans, and even prediction models for seasonal weather showing little indication of what to expect, this summer’s forecast is even more challenging. Still, Kehler has some… Read More
In a stroke of good luck, both Anne Wasko of Gateway Livestock Exchange and Shaun Haney, host of RealAg Radio, were in San Antonio, TX this week to take in the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s annual convention. That means this edition of the Beef Market Update is a very special in-person recording, which makes the… Read More
Spring 2019 was certainly a challenge for Ontario corn growers. With more than double the annual spring rainfall, many growers kept hoping the rain would stop and a planting window would emerge, but in many cases that opportunity didn’t arrive until June. For Maizex agronomist Greg Stewart, it was the most delayed planting season he’s… Read More
It’s been a week of wild weather: extreme cold in the west, and warm and very wet weather in the east. Understandably, overland flooding in Ontario has many farmers asking about the impact on the wheat crop. Peter Johnson has the answer you need in this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word. Johnson shares some of the… Read More
While the forecasters are calling for a slightly longer winter than most would like, most are calling for less extreme weather events for the coming months — with a drier west and wetter east expected. “We will not have an El Niño or La Niña influencing the weather patterns for 2020, and this is the… Read More
Drew Lerner, of World Weather Inc. says he thinks 2020 is going to be a better year in general for weather across the Prairies. When he looks back at the extreme weather that occurred in the west in 2019, he agree that that was one nasty weather pattern many will not forget. There are two… Read More
It’s not the forecast anyone in Ontario wants to hear. While some are still finishing up 2019 harvest — a season hampered by a cool, wet spring, a drought, then a nasty fall — weather guru Drew Lerner, of World Weather Inc, says farmers may have to be just as patient in 2020. On the… Read More
Alberta’s northern agricultural regions are asking people not to snowmobile in areas where crops still remain unharvested. “It’s a disaster…in many parts of the Peace River region,” says Canterra Seeds’ Jesse Meyer. “We’ve got areas that are well under half done – so over half of the crop is still in the field.” Meyer says… Read More