Highly competitive crops that make it difficult for weeds to gain a foothold in fields play a key role in effective herbicide resistance management. One way to make your crop more competitive is to increase seeding rates to produce higher plant populations. In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Resistance Management School, University of Manitoba weed scientist… Read More
Not only do dry soil conditions hamper seed germination, they also raise the risk of fertilizer toxicity for seedlings after they germinate, especially in a sensitive crop like canola. That means rates of fertilizer placed at seeding last year or the year before might not be safe this year, explains Don Flaten, soil scientist at… Read More
You may notice some new information on canola seed bags this year — a label that lists what type of blackleg resistance the variety contains. We’ll spare you all the quirky names and numbers for the actual genetic resistance, but Dilantha Fernando, with the University of Manitoba, says farmers can use the alphabetical designation of… Read More
How confident are you in your selected nitrogen (N) rate for wheat? Do you adjust that number based on yield potential? Variety? Soil type? How much N is enough to reach maximum potential? You might be surprised to learn that existing nitrogen rate recommendations are based off of older research, with older varieties, and without… Read More
The combination of increased soybean acres and high soybean aphid pressure on the prairies in 2017 has sparked conversations about thresholds, beneficial insects, and how to decide when spraying is warranted. The economic threshold for soybean aphids in Canada has traditionally been 250 aphids per plant on 80 percent of plants, with the population still… Read More
Most of the yellow patches in soybean fields in Western Canada and the northern U.S. have disappeared as the plants have recovered, or turned necrotic and died, but one of the big questions heading into harvest is: what toll did widespread issues with iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) earlier in the season take on yields? The… Read More
If farmers are going to pay a tax on carbon emissions, they should also receive credit for the carbon their farms remove from the atmosphere. Many in the farm community are trying to make that case, as the federal and provincial governments roll out pricing systems that appear to lean on the cost side of the… Read More
The struggle to get the crop off in wet conditions has left its scars on fields across parts of Western Canada, leaving farmers with tough decisions on how to manage ruts and soil compaction. A deep ripper or subsoiler might have a fit in helping fix the damage, says a biosystems engineering professor from the University… Read More
Mario Tenuta has been studying greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture for longer than he’s willing to admit. Never before has he seen this much interest in the topic. “We’ve always had interest in carbon sequestration and the use of nitrogen fertilizers and manures, but now where we are called to some form of action and reductions, now… Read More
A wet harvest has left farmers in many areas of Western Canada considering options for addressing soil compaction. One of the options that’s seen increased interest in recent years is the use of cover crops, specifically radishes, to break up root-restricting compacted soil. “Radishes are a cover crop that are being sold specifically for compaction alleviation. You… Read More
It’s been a long time since the last public research was conducted to support nitrogen fertilizer recommendations for wheat on the eastern side of the prairies. “The last time we did publicly-funded research on wheat yields and nitrogen fertilizer recommendations was actually about 45 years ago, so we were dealing with lower yielding wheat varieties… Read More
With the expansion of soybean acres in the west, Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers and the University of Manitoba are collaborating to address what MPSG has identified as a gap in research. MPSG is matching $400,000 from the federal and Manitoba governments to fund a five-year soybean and pulse research agronomist position in the U… Read More
When soybean aphids start multiplying in soybean fields, the decision to spray is typically triggered by the number of aphids found on each plant. The threshold for growers in Western Canada is usually reached when there are an average of 250 aphids per plant on 80 percent of the plants. The population should still be… Read More
Growers topdressing melted urea to boost wheat protein should be asking their supplier whether it contains a contaminant that’s toxic to wheat, suggests a soil scientist at the University of Manitoba. With the introduction of higher yielding wheat varieties, there’s been new interest in applying post-anthesis nitrogen to wheat to boost protein content in Western… Read More
If the world of soil biology had its own version of Facebook, crops like peas, lentils, corn and flax would be listed as “in a symbiotic relationship” with mycorrhizal fungi. The microscopic organisms help these crops access phosphorus in the soil. Wheat would probably be friends with mycorrhiza, as cereals see some benefit from having… Read More