Sometimes, when you're doing things a little differently, you just have to build what you need instead of buying it. Greg Vermeersch and his team at VanMeer Farms at Courtland, Ont., modified a planter frame to custom build a 32-row strip-till unit. It's a fair bit of engineering, and on this episode of The Sharp... Read More
Category: Agronomy
It's our first RealAg Q&A LIVE! in studio at RealAgriculture headquarters in Lethbridge, Alberta! Today's guest is none other than Canola School superstar and agronomist with the Canola Council of Canada, Autumn Barnes. She sits down with host Shaun Haney to talk about all things canola — from plant stand counts, to throwing wrenches, to... Read More
Some years are disease years and some are insect years. 2020 is shaping up to be an insect year, which is perhaps not surprising given the dry bias to the weather. In this mid-June edition of Wheat Pete's Word, host Peter Johnson answers so many of your agronomic questions, including what to do about armyworm... Read More
A timely rain after seeding can erase plenty of sins, but a pounding rain can do the opposite, and lead to punishment for small canola seedlings that have to break through crusted soil. Crusting has hampered emergence and forced some reseeding in canola fields in parts of Western Canada again this year. Of course, there's... Read More
Concord has announced a new 39-foot model of its Precision Shank Drill (PSD) for 2021. The new size model offers the same benefits of the previously released PSD, but with a lower horsepower requirement to reach its potential seeding speed of 8 mph—originally 500 horsepower was required, but the new model only needs 425. "We're... Read More
When planting soybeans after corn does the oilseed benefit from pre-plant tillage? A little spring tillage certainly enhances yield, says Horst Bohner, soybean specialist for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). Based on accumulated OMAFRA trial data, growers can expect plant stands to be 10 per cent higher and fields to... Read More
The hangover effects from a wet fall are giving farmers in parts of Western Canada a headache this spring. Saturated soil conditions right until freeze-up forced fieldwork that normally happens in fall to be delayed until spring. As a result, heavy harrows, vertical tillage machines, traditional cultivators, and even fire — all the tools in... Read More
Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum, is a major concern for wheat growers across the Prairies. The fungus affects grain yield and produces mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol, or DON, that accumulate in grain. The presence of DON leads to a downgrade in quality when that grain enters the market. Victoria Linden,... Read More
While Canadian farmers maintain access to over-the-top use of dicamba herbicides in herbicide-tolerant crops, American farmers are dealing with significant uncertainty regarding access to the product not just this season, but for next year and years to come. The 9th Circuit Court in the U.S. vacated dicamba's over-the-top registration June 3rd, 2020, ruling that the... Read More
You've finished seeding, and now you're getting curious as to how the crop's looking and what kind of plant stand you've got. Getting an idea of how many plants per square foot or square meter is a really good idea, but more importantly, an early emergence evaluation helps diagnose any plant stand issues and what... Read More