We’re moving into prime white mould season — mid-summer and into August. While conditions were very favourable for disease development through June (wet and cool), mid-to-late July’s heat and dry conditions could have slowed progress of the disease. While you won’t be able to gauge infection levels in soybeans without scouting (hint: go do that… Read More
Tag: Bernard Tobin
If you’ve noticed more than a few fleabane “escapes” in recent years, you’re not alone. Glyphosate resistant Canada fleabane has spread across more than 700 kilometers of Ontario crop land in just five years. Despite its incredible distribution, Canada fleabane wasn’t the first glyphosate resistant weed found in Ontario, says Dr. Peter Sikkema, field crop… Read More
Is wheat falling behind when it comes to research advancements and attracting investment? That depends, answers Bryan Gerard, president of Gerard Seed Solutions based in Indiana, if you’re comparing the dollars and cents to totals spent on corn and soy, or comparing the historic value invested in the crop. RealAgriculture’s Bern Tobin caught up with… Read More
There are still lingering questions as to how farmers access, pay for and use seed varieties under UPOV ’91, which Canada adopted with the passing of Bill C-18 back in March of this year. For those that claim that under the act farmers lose their right to save seed, Patty Townsend, executive director of the… Read More
Soybean growers could soon have access to a new tool for weed control as plans are in place to introduce varieties that are tolerant to both dicamba and glyphosate to North America in the next year or two. Dicamba tolerance will be valuable in giving farmers the ability to use multiple modes of action for weed control, particularly in… Read More
It’s perhaps not the hybrid cereal you were hoping to see first released, but the first true hybrid cereal grain has been launched in Ontario and it’s not wheat but fall rye. This new line of grain crop piqued farmers interests at the recent C&M Seeds field day. “This is a grain crop,” Tim Meulensteen of… 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
Some of the most useful tools on the farm are also those with the lowest number of wires. While sophisticated soil mapping tools and software exist, the lowly soil probe still has a significant role to play on the farm. In this video, Bernard Tobin heads down to Ridgetown, Ontario, to tour a few fields… Read More
There are few Ontario farmers not grappling with the fallout of the May 23rd frost — corn and soybeans both have started to grow through the damage, though persistent dry conditions up until the last few days had stopped some re-growth short. Farmers also likely saw the coming weed spectrum while out scouting frost damage… Read More
There was a time when it was hard for farmers to access credit — so much so that it spurred the creation of a farm credit corporation, now known as Farm Credit Canada. Those old enough to remember FCC’s creation are also old enough to recount the hardship that was farming in the early 1980s…. Read More
Soybeans can handle slightly colder temps than corn, but their exposed growing point means that frost damage can be far deadlier and permanent. That seems to be the case across much of Ontario, as farmers head to the fields to assess the full fallout of Saturday morning’s hard frost. In this Soybean School episode, PRIDE… Read More
We’re 72 hours out from the late May frost that occurred across much of Ontario, and farmers are busy scouting corn fields for damage. Thankfully, most farmers and crop scouts are already seeing green signs of re-growth — a welcome sight — but reports are trickling in of badly damaged areas within fields. Why did… Read More
A job worth doing is worth doing well, and if you’re treating soybean seed at home on the farm, you may be over or under applying product. There are custom seed treatment options available, on a field by field basis, that may become even more popular as new regulations come into force for next season…. Read More
Those with seasoned soybean ground may be tempted to skip the inoculant, but depending on the type of soil you have and what conditions were like last year, an inoculant investment now should payback in-season. As Shawn Brenneman, Syngenta agronomist and sometimes soothsayer, explains to RealAgriculture’s Bernard Tobin in this Soybean School, inoculant payback is… Read More
Do you manage your corn crop differently, based on whether or not you’ll be using a fungicide or topped-up nitrogen rates? That may end up being a new recommendation, as research is beginning to offer clues on how each input works with the other — sometimes providing not just additive benefits, but synergistic ones (think:… Read More