This mornings frost warning had some Ontario farmer’s teeth chattering, but it wasn’t the cold that did it. Farmers in the certain counties of Ontario would be understandably nervous depending on how far along their corn crop is. Frost at the wrong time can take a sizeable bite out of your corn yield. Once temperatures… Read More
Tag: Ken Currah
Even if you were never the type to peek at your Christmas gifts early, there are few farmers who can help themselves from trying to get a bead on the corn crop coming. Luckily, assessing corn cob development is a useful task at this point in the growing season, as it offers up not only… Read More
Big iron, excellent distribution networks and long hours meant that roughly 80% of the southern Ontartio corn and soybean crop went in the ground between May 6th to 20th. As Ken Currah, with PRIDE Seeds notes in this RealAgriculture.com Crop Update Ontario, available horsepower and machinery means that when the ground is fit, it’s off… Read More
As if a late spring and cold weather weren’t bad enough, current planting conditions in some areas of Ontario are ripe for a millipede feeding frenzy. Millipedes prefer cool soil temps and will stay deep in the soil profile, munching away on organic matter, as long as surface soil temps are warm and increasing. But… Read More
Is it warm enough to plant? It’s a common question these days and one that has many a farmer out checking soil temps often. The tricky part about spring soil warm-up is that the optimal soil temp for germination isn’t necessary the optimum soil temp for sprouting and emergence of the corn crop. Add in… Read More
Rain or shine, drought or not, nitrogen is king when it comes to targeting the highest yields possible in corn. While it may not be a surprise that even in a dry year corn responds to added nitrogen, there’s still work to be done on the economic levels of that response with environmental stewardship in… Read More
As farmers approach the mid-way point of the Ontario corn harvest (and quickly surpass it, we hope), preliminary reports suggest decent yields in spite of challenging conditions. That said, it most certainly wasn’t an ideal growing season, and farmers aren’t likely to see their highest ever production this year. What a challenging year does allow… Read More
August rains make grain. That’s an old saying, but it held true this year in Ontario. The Ontario soybean crop managed to hold on through extreme hot and dry conditions to receive those timely rains and produce what was, overall, a great crop. In this episode of the Soybean School, Ken Currah of PRIDE Seeds… Read More
A little trouble now may help you deal with a lot of trouble down the line. That’s exactly what happened when corn in Ontario went through a dry spell in late May and early June. That dry period caused corn in those fields to develop deep and dense roots. Fast forward now to the six-week… Read More
One of the key components involved in cultivating a 300-plus bushel corn crop is establishing a good, uniform stand. Unfortunately for producers in drought affected regions of Ontario, those conditions have taken their toll in that area. Despite an early season that helped to foster good root development, stress from hot and dry conditions kept… Read More