Andy Kieraszewicz never thought the sandy soils on the former tobacco land he farms at Rodney, Ont., could ever average more than 200 bushels of corn per acre. But a fervent commitment to rebuilding organic matter in the drought-prone areas across the 1,000-acre operation has the farmer now consistently producing eye-popping yields he didn't think... Read More
Category: Agronomy
Up to one million in funding is now available for maintenance on natural and constructed agricultural drainage projects. Previously, the Water Security Agency (WSA) only provided funding for natural watercourses. "Obstructions in natural and constructed watercourses can cause flooding and erosion problems and be a significant cost burden to producers and local governments," says Jeremy... Read More
By early July, many canola fields across the Prairies are in the beginning stages of bolting. According to Héctor Cárcamo, research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at Lethbridge, Alta., that's a great time to start thinking about the cabbage seed pod weevil. Before worrying about thresholds and spray timing for the insect pest that... Read More
What's in store for the 2022 soybean crop as plants move through the vegetative and reproductive stages? Will it be a white mould year? On this episode of the RealAgriculture Soybean School, BASF agronomist, Ken Currah, looks at the stark contrast between the 2021 and 2022 growing seasons and how it could impact disease management... Read More
After the crop is in and you start to see the fruits, or emergence, of your labour, it's time to keep a watchful eye out for any stress points to best be able to detect root rot. On this episode of the Pulse School, Mike Palmier, owner of MaxAg Consulting, goes through when to scout... Read More
Protecting yield potential from northern corn leaf blight (NCLB) and a newer pest, tar spot, requires being well-armed and ready to apply the right fungicides at the right time. That's because these diseases are not only big yield robbers, but the window to provide adequate control is quite narrow, and gets narrower with certain weather... Read More
Sometimes, it's the weather than gets farmers excited about double cropping, other times, it's crop prices. The 2022 growing season looked like it was shaping up for an early wheat harvest in Ontario but recent dry weather has slowed things down. This week on Wheat Pete's Word, host Peter Johnson tackles water use in corn... Read More
BASF says it expects to know more within a couple weeks on why certain InVigor canola hybrids in Western Canada have appeared to stall in their development after emerging from the ground. The company issued a statement late last week acknowledging it was aware of a performance issue with some InVigor varieties. In most of... Read More
Our collective knowledge of a particular pest, and also its enemies, builds over decades of observations, questions, and sound research. Sometimes, such as is the case with lygus in canola crops, research has to wait for the right person or timing to really get rolling forward. In this episode of the Pests & Predators podcast,... Read More
The decision whether to spray a fungicide for sclerotinia stem rot always comes back to the disease triangle — a susceptible host, the presence of the pathogen, and a favourable environment — and many canola-growing areas currently have all three. Under "favourable environment," sclerotinia requires moist soil conditions to germinate. The last few years have... Read More