For a growing season that started so dry for so many, some farmers are now hoping for a string of two or three days of dry weather to get hay done or start harvest on spring-planted crops. It’s also been a trying week for Ontario’s Compaction Day planning crew who ended up cancelling the event… Read More
Tag: Peter Johnson
What’s with this late season rain in Ontario, and what will the impact be with crops in grain- and pod-fill stages? With soybean harvest around the corner, we’re starting to hear more yield estimates or predictions, and the focus is shifting to seeding plans for this fall. On this week’s edition of the Word, our… Read More
As the summer days stretch and the forest fire smoke settles in over huge areas of the country, farmers are wrapping up wheat harvest in the east and starting harvest in earnest in the west. Late-season agronomy typically centres on harvest management, but diseases and insects are still lurking, especially in the corn crop. In… Read More
Over the last decade, the average yield increase for corn tips the scale at five bushels per acre, per year. During the same period wheat yield gains have averaged a meagre one bushel per acre, per year. What is the future of wheat if it can’t match the yield gains of crops like corn and… Read More
This season’s hot weather and wild rain (and lack of it) is having a surprising impact on the soybean crop, says Wheat Pete’s Word host Peter Johnson. That’s where we start with this week’s episode. From there, Wheat Pete answers your questions on seeding rate, good coverage for insecticide applications, cover crop establishment, and so… Read More
Harvest is somewhat paused with all the rain and storms rolling through Ontario. Once wheat is ready, it’s time to roll, roll, roll, but what happens when you’re held up by weather? Peter ‘Wheat Pete’ Johnson tackles that, plus top tips on salvaging drought-stressed corn, and choosing cover crops, in this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word…. Read More
Do wheat varieties with higher leaf wax levels perform better in dry, stressful growing conditions? That’s a question RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson and C & M Seeds general manager Ellen Sparry tackle on this episode of the Wheat School as they tour C & M’s research site at the company’s Harriston, ON, location. Sparry notes that… Read More
Quite literally, when it rains it pours, it seems, as much of Ontario got some to too much rain over the weekend and into this week. Is it too late for this year’s thirsty crop? Peter Johnson, host of Wheat Pete’s Word, says possibly not, as this rain comes at a critical stage for the… Read More
A week of spotty rain has some farmers singing and others moaning, as this challenging growing season marches into mid-summer. The questions for host Peter Johnson continue to roll in, and this week’s episode of Wheat Pete’s Word covers it all from plot results, to fungicide questions, to a correction, and on to grain storage… Read More
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
Average yields of 110 to 115 bushels per acre on soil that is often more than 60 percent clay? That’s impressive. And that’s why Parkland Farms is featured on our latest episode of ‘Real’ Wheat Farmers. In this video, RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson peppers Parkland Farms agronomist Clark Aitken with questions on how the Lambton… Read More
A scratchy-voiced Peter Johnson needs you to get out there and scout, scout, scout for aphids on soybean. While you’re out in the fields, you also need to check for all sorts of other insects because hot, dry weather is helping creepy-crawlies multiply. It’s also time to get that first white mould suppression pass on,… Read More
RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson is keeping a close eye on relay intercropping trials planted in Ontario this summer. The objective of the research is to evaluate whether Ontario farmers could effectively plant soybeans into standing wheat versus double cropping soybeans that are planted after wheat is harvested. In this video, Johnson inspects an intercropping trial at… Read More
Ontario has turned into the land of extremes, where wet areas are suffering through excessive rainfall when it happens, while other areas wither in the dry and the heat. There is one near-perfect area — the Ottawa Valley — and host Peter Johnson figures it’s so perfect out that way, he doesn’t have to answer… Read More
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